Apollo s Enchantment

Apollo s Enchantment Free Online Research Papers Apollo s Enchantment is an oil based on canvas, That is 43 3/4 x 56 in wide with a wooden frame around the paining. It is a circle of mythology Greek gods around one their our. In the top center is Zeus in a cherry red toga with women around him. Athena is to top right next wear a dark white and obstinate orange wrapped around the dark white on her head is a navy blue helmet. In the center right below Athena is Ares he wearing a heartthrob red toga with helmet of heartthrob red and gusto gold. To the bottom right is Artemis wearing a forest green dress with a golden pot in her hand. In center on the bottom is Aphrodite wearing a daisy yellow dress with a golden cup in her hands. In the center of the painting is Apollo sit on stool of gusto gold with a extra white on him awhile he is holding golden lyre. To the bottom left is Hermes wearing a lusty red toga with a golden magic wand. In the center left is Hades wearing a show stopping red toga around are ghostly white people serving him.To the top left is Poseidon wearing cayenne orange with pearly white hair surrounding him are blissful blue people. Emphasis is based on the one focus point of the painting. The art that is the main point of this painting is Apollo. The work is center my the light images around Apollo. Taking Apollo from the other mythology gods around him are dark to focus the light around Apollo in the larger art scale. Directional forces influences as to pay attentions to parts of the artwork. Like the way it is in a circular motion around Apollo. By the way all others god are looking towards him in the center of the celebration. Well this based on imagination because of the mythology Greek gods. I think the gods are have a celebration the light of Apollo. By having Apollo in the center they are stating that they will lost with the light of that god to the darkness for those who the protect. With their eyes on Apollo they are in trance by his glow and the truth of mankind behind him. West has very good craftsmanship in this art. He knew of the mythology Greek gods. He drew them are what the represent in the Greek mythology aspect. He understand that Apollo is god of music, playing a golden lyre and his chariot with four horses an drive the Sun across the sky. The god of healing who taught man medicine,The god of light, and The god of truth.If didnt do his task the mortal world would be in darkness .To use oil based paint made it hard because of it slow drying procedures. At is magnitude of painting at this moment of time when those around were searching for an higher source to believe in. This theme is not timeless there are still many people believe and worship the mythology Greek gods. It is an beautiful painting I would see it again. It made me want to take time in the little things we take for granted. Like the air we breathe and the warm of a sunny day. Research Papers on Apollo 's EnchantmentWhere Wild and West MeetThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsThe Hockey GameCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite ReligionAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XResearch Process Part OneThe Fifth HorsemanThe Spring and AutumnMind Travel

20 Steps to Ensure You Always Have a Job

20 Steps to Ensure You Always Have a Job While nothing is certain when it comes to careers, it always pays off if coworkers and managers can count on you- personally  and professionally. Aim to be the person who not only gets the job done, but does so with class and integrity. Here are 20 tips you can take with you no matter what field you’re in. Internalize them, practice them, and find success. Rest assured, if you do this, you will ensure you always have a job.

Learning Antiracism

Louise Derman-Sparks and Carol Brunson Phillips’ Teaching/Learning Antiracism offers a curious glimpse into a course aimed at fighting racism. The co-authors provide the reader with an approach to combating racism in the classroom with theoretical background as well as practical strategies for achieving this end. While I was initially confused about how this text might relate to a course on special education, it soon became clear that racism, like ADD and LD, imposes a severe limitation on the ability of many students to learn in a typical classroom. The text begins with a startling, yet quite appropriate, theoretical stance towards the problem of racism. Later, this theory is used to justify the pedagogical approach of these two teachers in their actual classroom. Much of the theory used in the beginning of this text is reminiscent of a classic text on racism called The Nature of Prejudice, written some fifty years ago. The authors clearly lay out some of the evidence indicating that we still live in a racist society. They also account for the rationalizations behind racism and the historical basis for many of the modern forms of racism that continue to persist. One of the statements that really struck me was in regard to the field of psychology and its response to this issue: while denial, delusions, projection, phobias, and distortion are all scientifically recognized psychological disorders – and all aspects of racism racist behavior is still not recognized as a mental illness. This text also makes it clear that the issue of racism is as damaging to the oppressed as it is to the oppressors. It is interesting to me that we have a number of clinically recognized â€Å"special needs† which demand accommodations of various kinds in the classroom. Each of these needs is to some extent recognized by the general public as legitimate, while at the same time is viewed with suspicion by others. For example, while it is... Learning Antiracism Free Essays on Teaching/Learning Antiracism Louise Derman-Sparks and Carol Brunson Phillips’ Teaching/Learning Antiracism offers a curious glimpse into a course aimed at fighting racism. The co-authors provide the reader with an approach to combating racism in the classroom with theoretical background as well as practical strategies for achieving this end. While I was initially confused about how this text might relate to a course on special education, it soon became clear that racism, like ADD and LD, imposes a severe limitation on the ability of many students to learn in a typical classroom. The text begins with a startling, yet quite appropriate, theoretical stance towards the problem of racism. Later, this theory is used to justify the pedagogical approach of these two teachers in their actual classroom. Much of the theory used in the beginning of this text is reminiscent of a classic text on racism called The Nature of Prejudice, written some fifty years ago. The authors clearly lay out some of the evidence indicating that we still live in a racist society. They also account for the rationalizations behind racism and the historical basis for many of the modern forms of racism that continue to persist. One of the statements that really struck me was in regard to the field of psychology and its response to this issue: while denial, delusions, projection, phobias, and distortion are all scientifically recognized psychological disorders – and all aspects of racism racist behavior is still not recognized as a mental illness. This text also makes it clear that the issue of racism is as damaging to the oppressed as it is to the oppressors. It is interesting to me that we have a number of clinically recognized â€Å"special needs† which demand accommodations of various kinds in the classroom. Each of these needs is to some extent recognized by the general public as legitimate, while at the same time is viewed with suspicion by others. For example, while it is...

Free Essays on The Suffering, The Dukkha

THE SUFFERING, THE DUKKHA: One major specific experience of suffering of my own came to me on October 20th 1998. I will never forget this tragic day of suffering. This is the morbid day my mom’s soul left her body and past away physically. This experience was a shocking event that no one expected and devastated the entire family. She was only 47 and in decent health. She went to the doctors and got check ups. She ws recovering from surgery. The surgery was done to cut out a piece of cancer on her lung. The cancer was the size of a quarter ($.25). She had a difficult time breathing and was stressed out. She got the cancer from cigerette smoking. Due to the stress and being weak she went back to smoking. This caused extreme tension within the family. One day she went out to get a pack of cigerretes and never came home again. She had a seizure while driving and the car flipped over. My family and I thought she past away due to the accident. We then found out by the town sherrif that she past away due to neglagence. If the police officer had pulled my mom out and laid her down flat she would then be able to breathe properly. So a lenghty lawsuit was soon to transpire. The lawsuit delivered much anxiety and stress for my father. The lawsuit inolved tampered tapes of the ambulance. We eventually won the lawsuit. Now when October arrives I get depressed and have many negative thoughts in me. Instead of thinking of my favorite seasons, the beautiful fall. Leaves, cool tempertures, Halloween, sports, school, my birthday, and Christmas coming. I think of this suffering my family and me went through. My suffering includes hatred, anger, guilt, stress, and much more. Leading to a heavy depressed state. I had hatred for the tobacco companies. Giving my mom and many others cancer. By paying billions to experts and commercials to seduce the public and but them in a trance of acute false pleasure. Little did the public know of the chronic eff... Free Essays on The Suffering, The Dukkha Free Essays on The Suffering, The Dukkha THE SUFFERING, THE DUKKHA: One major specific experience of suffering of my own came to me on October 20th 1998. I will never forget this tragic day of suffering. This is the morbid day my mom’s soul left her body and past away physically. This experience was a shocking event that no one expected and devastated the entire family. She was only 47 and in decent health. She went to the doctors and got check ups. She ws recovering from surgery. The surgery was done to cut out a piece of cancer on her lung. The cancer was the size of a quarter ($.25). She had a difficult time breathing and was stressed out. She got the cancer from cigerette smoking. Due to the stress and being weak she went back to smoking. This caused extreme tension within the family. One day she went out to get a pack of cigerretes and never came home again. She had a seizure while driving and the car flipped over. My family and I thought she past away due to the accident. We then found out by the town sherrif that she past away due to neglagence. If the police officer had pulled my mom out and laid her down flat she would then be able to breathe properly. So a lenghty lawsuit was soon to transpire. The lawsuit delivered much anxiety and stress for my father. The lawsuit inolved tampered tapes of the ambulance. We eventually won the lawsuit. Now when October arrives I get depressed and have many negative thoughts in me. Instead of thinking of my favorite seasons, the beautiful fall. Leaves, cool tempertures, Halloween, sports, school, my birthday, and Christmas coming. I think of this suffering my family and me went through. My suffering includes hatred, anger, guilt, stress, and much more. Leading to a heavy depressed state. I had hatred for the tobacco companies. Giving my mom and many others cancer. By paying billions to experts and commercials to seduce the public and but them in a trance of acute false pleasure. Little did the public know of the chronic eff...

Guantanamo Bay Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Guantanamo Bay - Essay Example The US has faced frequent attacks for holding inmates without trial and for their alleged mistreatment." (Guantanamo Bay). The United Nations has also got involved in the issue now and they have demanded for the immediate closure of this camp. The same has been strongly opposed by the US government and they have put forward that the inmates are treated very humanely in these camps and hence denying all the allegations made against the US. The camp was originally established to keep the suspected terrorists of Afghanistan. "Pentagon officials insist the US is entitled them to hold "enemy combatants" - who do not enjoy the rights of prisoners of war or US citizens accused of crimes - without charges or trial for the duration of hostilities. (Guantanamo Bay). The United nations have proofs of torture in these camps and hence they demand an immediate action by the US. The UN claim that the torture in these camps have reaches another level, the inmates are exposed to extreme temperatures and are fed through nasal tubes, the inmates are also exposed to extreme conditions produced by light and sound. ... The US soldiers slam the heads of the prisoners against the cell; many more unimaginable things are done by the US soldiers' day in and day out. "The US says interrogations are yielding useful intelligence, including some from inmates who have been detained for up to two years." (Guantanamo Bay). "The current Cuban government considers the U.S. presence in Guantnamo to be illegal and the Cuban-American Treaty to have been procured by the threat of force in violation of international law" (Guantanamo Bay). There have been enough proofs found which show that the US soldiers have crossed all the limits and hence they must immediately pull out of Cuba, else the world is likely to witness another war. Major Issues A recent article published in The Guardian claims that a former Guantanamo inmate is a present Taliban leader heading many major operations. This is very bad news for the US and for all the other countries fighting terrorism. The inmates are being treated unfairly by the US army and the same motivates the inmates to escape the Bay and avenge the unfair treatment that they got from the US army. This is a huge problem which must be sorted out as soon as possible, many more members will join Taliban in order to teach the US a lesson in other words to give them a taste of their own medicine. The world is very familiar with the way the US soldiers treated Iraqi citizens. It is not very difficult to figure out why the inmates are turning against the US and joining dangerous groups. "The new Talibanmilitarycommander leading attacks against British troops in southernAfghanistanwas released fromGuantnamo Bay15 months ago after persuading a US military tribunal that he wanted to live a peacef ul life with his family, according to US

9.1 Select and Discuss an Image Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

9.1 Select and Discuss an Image - Coursework Example As can be depicted from the art, it was able to portray John Sloan adherence to realism and hence socialism. The central focus of the art is the beach with the people in it, most probably depicting the behavior of people inside; consequently, showing the realist nature. His preference for expression of what is happening in the contemporary settings, as can be seen by the woman touching her hat, in the middle ground. The other people, still in the middle ground have turned their focus on the woman, appreciatively, as they continue lounging on the beach sand. They embrace each other with joy and passion, as can be seen by those women supporting themselves on the men. Intuitively, the artist constructively uses women in his piece as objects of desire in the society. He depicts the ability of different genders to interact with one another with a recommendable touch, within our contemporary world. The use of happy women in the picture also portrays Sloan’s realism view about the modern New Yorkers. One can assume that the women in the middle ground are happy beside the male characters because of the presented gleeful atmosphere. This insinuates the new independence found within the New York residence that makes them interact freely with each other. Just like realist before him, he was able to capture the essence of independence found in the urban life. Nonetheless, the artist also depicts beauty of urban life in his art. They are wearing gleaming hats which fits them in a glamorous manner. Further, the women have also worn dresses which discern the curves and beauty of their bodies, as shown by the one adjusting he art. The realism nature of the piece also comes out when accessing the artist’s ability to depict urban genre scenes. As aforementioned, the beach had few visitors at the time; he makes use of dark palette, bold and sketch brushwork to give the island park an

Christian Counseling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Christian Counseling - Essay Example This is the reason why church counseling had been given birth. The issues that could be addressed by individuals towards the church are not limited. The fact that the authorities of the church are believed to have been continuously assisted by God in all their ways, it could not be denied that the assistance they provide believing individuals is indeed practical and applicable. People spend millions of dollars on self-help books and professional counseling. While the advice thus found may sometimes be helpful, a Christian's faith leads him to a far better source of aid. Says James: "So, if any one of you is lacking in wisdom, let him keep on asking God, for he gives generously to all and without reproaching; and it will be given him. But let him keep on asking in faith, not doubting at all, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and blown about." (James 1:5,6) A Christian's faith is the guarantee that such divine aid will be provided. He has no hesitancy about approaching God in this way, for 'he has this freeness of speech and an approach with confidence through his faith in [Christ].'(Ephesians 3:12) True, the degree that professional counselors garnered from their respective universities cannot be denied to have a certain level of high standard when it comes to dealing with individuals who are having problems of different sorts. However, this truth cannot also be denied of the fact that their counseling procedures are based upon the capability of humans to resolve their issues. How the Church Handles Counseling On the contrary, the church relies on the most powerful source of knowledge and practical counsel, the Bible. Admittedly, the direction God gives people can at times seem difficult, perhaps even impossible-to implement. Abraham, for example, received God's promise that he and his wife were to have a son. Considering the fact that their reproductive powers were 'dead,' attempting to have this child seemed futile. Yet, says Paul: "Although [Abraham] did not grow weak in faith, he considered his own body, now already deadened, as he was about one hundred years old, also the deadness of the womb of Sarah. But because of the promise of God he did not waver in a lack of faith, but became powerful by his faith, giving God glory and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to do." (Romans 4:19-21) From Abraham's example, it could be noted that the only thing needed to have fine results from the Church's way of counseling is to have faith that these particular guidance assistances could lead to the betterment of the situations that each individual deals with at present. While God is not at this time performing such direct miracles, Christians today find

Safety Not Guaranteed Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Safety Not Guaranteed - Movie Review Example After the Seattle Magazine’s editor Bridget screams on its staff for getting new ideas, Jeff springs up with an idea of writing an article about a queer advertisement that was posted in a newspaper. Bridget agrees and two interns including Darius and Arnau to work with Jeff in finding out about the advertisement poster. For this purpose the three of them go to a small town in order to look for the poster of the advertisement and Jeff is also determined to look for Liz. After watching out for the post office box, Darius and Arnau area able to identify the man who posted the advertisement – Kenneth, a queer man who has great interest in physics and quantum mechanics. Jeff goes to meet Kenneth at his house as a travelling partner but he is turned down. Jeff sends Darius thinking she is more suitable in piquing Kenneth’s interest. It happens that Darius and Kenneth soon bond and later, although it is not explicitly stated, Darius and Kenneth travel across time togeth er. ... Stage 2 occurs as Darius is able to interest him so that after she leaves her phone number on a soup can, Kenneth calls her. Darius pretends to have read the advertisement and have come as a travelling partner with Kenneth and when Kenneth calls Darius they both decide on a meeting spot to discuss about their â€Å"mission†. Kenneth believes that government agents are after him for discovering a way to travel back in time and so he is also a little suspicious of Darius. It happens that when Darius drives off to meet Kenneth, her car is being followed by people making Kenneth paranoid so that he cancels their meeting. At this point, Darius seems to have passed stage 3 of friendship and seems to be going towards a more romantic type of a relationship where the stage 1 has already been initiated with their meetings and interactions. Their next interaction occurs when the two decide to meet at a restaurant to discuss about their mission. The two have a friendly conversation althou gh Kenneth seems not to want to disclose much information. Kenneth then feels a sudden instinct to reach out to his car but Darius stops and reassures him thereby enabling the building of trust. There is an intense increase in their communication and closeness as the two prepare for their mission running through woods, learning to shoot at the bottles, and learning to prevent getting caught by the government agencies. This allows Kenneth and Darius to bond so intensely that Darius starts loving Kenneth and this relationship goes to a new step of commitment as in the end it implicitly seems that Kenneth now lets go of his efforts to be with Belinda, Kenneth’s girlfriend, as he has Darius with him now who has travelled with him back

Corporate governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 2

Corporate governance - Essay Example ts relation to growth and development of companies and also the scandals that arise where good governance is eliminated and the ways in which these scandals can be eliminated in businesses through proper regulation and legal control. Corporate governance in UK dates back to the growing anxiety in 2002 where corporate scandals had started being experienced in the US. UK set up the Smith committee and the Higgs committee to investigate these failures and the reports were evident of the latent manegiarialism in companies. This raised concerns on integrity of the managerial system of companies. It was argued that high-quality corporate governance was supposed to reduce costs and improve good working conditions of the workers. It was caught up in a scandal in 2008 in which there was an asset scandal which led to loss of value of the bank’s shares. It had a win- win situation where traders who won were rewarded hand those who lost their money to the bank. This was a short term performance that led to the loss of the value. They could have used a much longer term performance. It has been up with a number of controversies e.g. that of environmental pollution particularly in African countries. In 1990 protesters were against the company’s environmental record because of the possible pollution that was caused by the proposed disposal of Brent spar. This was a platform in the North Sea. Shell reversed the decision despite the massive support it received from the United Kingdom government. It maintained that the sinking of the platform would also have done better for the environment than the revised decision. Shell had also another scandal in 2004 of overstatement of oil reserves. This resulted to the loss of confidence of investors and stakeholders for the group. The financial services authority fined them 17million Euros. This also saw the departure of Phillip Warts. In Africa, it has led to environmental issues some of which are very extreme. Many pipes are much

The Disposable Camera

The Disposable Camera The Disposable Camera Brief This report aims to explain and understand the fundamental workings behind the popular and revolutionary disposable camera. The connection between the Lens and the Film will have most emphasis and explanation where appropriate. This will be achieved by a physical dismantling and any online information available. Introduction Photography is undoubtedly one of the most important inventions in history. It has enabled people to capture and cherish moments in time and preserve them for years to come. During its developing life the disposable camera has become inexpensive to manufacture, and thus cheap to the consumer compared with other more ‘user adjustable opposites. The basic technology, first conceived in 1814, is fairly simple. It requires 3 standard elements; an optical element (the lens), a chemical element (the film) and a mechanical element (the camera body). It is the manufacture and assembly of these parts that create a precise image of what we see before us. The basic overview of the device Disposable cameras are all manufactured in the same manor; not to allow removal and reloading of the film. Instead, these single-use cameras are built around the film, with the main process of rolling it from one side of the camera to the other without a protective casing. When the user is ready to take a picture, they â€Å"point and shoot† at the desired subject and press the shutter release button. This button activates a spring-loaded piece of plastic that flicks open for a pre-defined length of time. The length of time is usually defined by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO); this is commonly regarded too as the â€Å"shutter† or â€Å"ISO† speed. The, now open shutter makes an impression on the film. All cameras work with the process of light thus the inside of a disposable camera must be very dark. The light that entered the camera is focused and captured on a portion of the photosensitive film, creating a photo image. This printed film is then advanced into the container on the right to stop any more light from continuing to expose the film. As this happens a new section of the film is moved into position. Once the film has been exposed, the physical camera body is no longer needed. To get the photos of the film it needs to be taken to a professional developer; here, the film is removed and developed (usually in a professional darkroom or in a commercial photo developing machine). The developed photos are then collected by the photographer while the casing is discarded or recycled. The FujiFilm 35mm Disposable Camera Under exposed photos have always been a criticism of disposable cameras, where not enough light is gathered through the pre-defined shutter mechanism. To combat this, the FujiFilm 35mm has a built in flash. To activate the flash, a little flap on the front of the camera has to be pulled up, See Fig.01. This flap connects a metal strip inside the camera to the circuit board causing a charge to flow. This moves electrical energy from the pre-installed battery to the transistor ready for the shutter release to be activated. As the user presses the shutter release button, the charged transistor releases its energy to the flash causing light. However, this only happens if the red LED is lit on the top of the camera (indicating the flash is fully charged and ready to use). The flash is usually in sync with the shutter to â€Å"Freeze† the image. The process in which the chemical film is pulled the correct distance for use with a new image is controlled by a series of gears on the top right of the camera. As the user turns the top right gear, the white gear (Fig.06) is pulled by the holes in the film; this pulls another gear until it reaches a â€Å"stop† position. This is how the camera knows when a new section of film is ready for exposure, also releasing the shutter button for the user to take another photo. Simply, the film that the light image is produced upon is useless on its own. It is actually the chemicals that are on the film that react to the input light to cause the end photo result. The chemicals on the film are Silver Halide salts which are bonded by gelatine. The variable crystal size determines the sensitivity, contrast and resolution on the film. The shutter mechanism is possibly one of the most important processes the camera must undertake through the capture process. Within the FujiFilm 35mm is relies highly on the springs to operate the removal of the shutter from the lens. As the user presses the shutter the white arm is released pushing a flap connected to the shutter. This pushes the shutter away from the lens, while the spring relocates it into the correct position. See Fig.07. At the same time the two circuit strips are connected, Fig.08. The Lens The optical element is an essential part to any camera as it angles the light entering the device into a standard that the camera can read. At its simplest, a lens is just a curved piece of glass or plastic, which can slow down and angle the light to redirect it into a â€Å"real image† what is in front of the lens. This make/model of camera incorporates a fixed lens; this basically means that the lens is not customisable by the user. In terms of taking a photo; an object cannot be focused upon if its too close to the camera. The process of taking a picture can be explained very easily. As light travels into a denser medium, at an angle, it changes speed; as glass and plastic are denser materials than air, the light slows down as it enters the camera. Due to the light hitting the medium at an angle, some of the light will slow down before the rest, causing a resultant change in angle. This is commonly referred to as â€Å"Refraction†. Put simply, imagine you are swimming through water; eventually you reach a patch of oil at an angle. The side of your body that hits the oil first will slow down while the opposite side will keep the same potential energy and momentum as before, thus causing a change in direction. In a standard converging or â€Å"Convex† lens, the glass curves out (away from the camera body). This makes the light bend towards the centre of the lens on entry. Effectively, this reverses the image horizontally. (Fig.09) A standard disposable camera gives a minimum distance from the â€Å"real image†. This is its focal range. Anything below the given distance will be processed blurry as the lens cannot refract the light enough to focus on the film. The amount the light is angled on entry is proportional to the structure and curvature of the attached lens. (Fig.10). Standard compact disposable cameras have an aperture (size of the shutter hole) in the range of f/11 to allow the image to be in focus from 4 feet to infinity. The standard lens used in cameras today is most commonly manufactured from a single moulded plastic sheet and mechanically pressed into the camera. Camera Recycling With the government clamping down on waste due to over consumption and the lack of re-using acceptable products, many companies now recycle disposable cameras. There are two options currently available; the first is to re-load the film and replace the original battery to brand new ones. The second is to send of the plastic parts, which are all fully recyclable, off to be remade into something else. Conclusions The disposable camera has become cheap, user friendly, inexpensive to manufacture and a brilliant way to capture images in time. Through many years of development, they have become smaller and more manageable becoming the device we all could not live without today. Although, by making it increasingly smaller and compact, its now fairly complex and contains a large number of parts, increasing the overall sale price. As a result, manufacture and assembly of the components would be very time consuming. The time has come for a completely robotic production and possibly a compact disposable camera that has the ability to place your SD card into and remove once the camera has been used. Bibliography 1. Overview of how the camera works http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/camera.htm 2. Camera electronics http://www.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=camera-flash.htmurl=http://www.exo.net/~pauld/activities/camera_electronics.html 3. History of the Camera http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_camera 4. What is photographic film? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photographic_film 5. Manufacture of a disposable camera http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4925657_how-disposable-camera-manufactured.html

Democracy According To Karl Popper

Democracy According To Karl Popper Karl Popper (1902-1994) was one of the most provocative philosophers and thinkers of the twentieth century. Born in Vienna, he grew up in a city witnessing great intellectual ferment and cultural excitement. One of his most celebrated and well-known books, The Logic of Scientific Discovery, appeared in Germany in 1934; it marked Poppers decisive break with the philosophers who formed the prestigious Vienna Circle and exposed many of his most influential arguments and ideas, above all we should remember his theory on the growth of scientific knowledge. On the eve of World War Two, Poppers life took a dramatic turn: because of the threat of German invasion, in 1937 he was urged to leave his own country and he emigrated to New Zealand where, reflecting on the tyranny that was sweeping around Europe, he wrote The Open Society and Its Enemies, published in 1945. This work is undeniably a classic, Karl Popper decided to write it in March 1938, when the Nazis invaded Austria. This personal background says a lot about Poppers motivation for writing The Open Society, and about its main theme as well. In this book as well as in The Poverty of Historicism, he attacks totalitarianism and its intellectual supports: the attempt to impose a large-scale planning on the lives of human beings in the light of holistic and historicist considerations. In order to analyze Poppers idea of democracy we shall sets out key tenets of his social and political thought, as well as a few of problems with them. The paper will try to underline Poppers conception of human nature and show how this provides a framework for his theory of history, his critique of historicism and his conception of the open society and democracy. After considering Poppers central political values of freedom and reason, well go through the political programmes of democracy and piecemeal social engineering; after these considerations it will be possible to conclude that Popper can not sustain an exhaustive anti-dogmatism and, contrary to the philosphers own declaration, his political ideas can not be classified as liberal in any honest way. Historical and Intellectual Background Even if Popper rejected Marxism in 1919, he claimed to be a socialist till 1932; it was the socialistic ethic and its idea of justice to which he retained adherence, not its political strategies. Awareness of the growth of authoritarianism in the Soviet Union and what he saw as deficiencies in the Marxist theory and practice of Austrian social democracy pressed him to revise further his political views. Both the idea and the experience of violence were catalytic. Social democracy, by holding to their threat of achieving their objectives by violent means, were implicitly provoking state authorities to a ruthless response, Popper then adopted a more traditional, liberal political stance: deciding that freedom was more important than equality he reaffirmed his rejection of violence. The central core of Poppers social and political theory resides in The Poverty of Historicism and The Open Society and Its Enemies, regarded by the author as his war effort: they were intended as a defense of freedom against the obvious impulse towards totalitarianism and authoritarianism. Poppers further espousal of the values of reason, toleration, peaceful discussion and respect for the individual all find their predecessors in Kants moral and political philosophy. The Austrian thinker extends Kants ethical precept of criticism and self-criticism providing a foundation for his philosophy of critical rationalism and joins Kants optimistic idea and hope in the possibility of obtaining social reform and peaceful relations within and between nations. Human Nature To explain human behaviour and history Popper refuses the utility of a general theory of human nature; his conception of human nature may be found in his knowledge of biology and psychology since he considers human beings similar to any organism, in that they have inborn needs or expectations. According to the author, people tend to hold on to the uniformities they discover, become afraid of change and even wish to dominate others; so if this occurs, the failure of a regularity provokes social disorder and also encourages people to create traditions and taboos. Even though the attachment to regularities is a source of dogmatism and intolerance (attitudes which are anathema to him), Popper advocates social regularities, like social traditions, more favourably than would many other liberals. He suggests that the maintenance of traditions (by which he seems to mean culture or settled ways of thinking and acting) brings order and predictability into our lives and even provides the founda tion of social structures: the important political task is to discriminate between valuable and harmful traditions. This conception of human nature has direct implications for the sort of society he wants to promote and the principles by which it is to be guided. He suggests a slow, gradual reform because this kind of change will not suddenly remove the traditions to which people have become accustomed and thereby create anxiety, terror and violence. There are many contradictions between Poppers advocacy of boldness, novelty and revolution in intellectual but not in social life: I think they might be explained more with reference to his theory of human nature than to his epistemology, even if he justifies the distinction in epistemological terms, it becomes clear that objective knowledge is preferable because of the constraints it exercises over subjective fears and impulses. This account of Poppers conception of human nature demonstrates his concern for the practical impact of ideas upon the social life of human beings, here we may notice a conservative tone in his political thought. Epistemology and History Poppers social and political thought includes a more general, speculative philosophy of history which indicates the character of historical progress. For the author, ideas are the main influences upon whether or not human progress is maintained: all social changes and conflicts, wars and revolutions can be seen as the result of conflict between opposing ideas and ideologies. Even with these conclusions, he shares with the historicists, whom he so vehemently attacks, a belief that there exists a direction to human history given by the growth of knowledge. He claims that the growth of knowledge, and thus the history of science, is the heart of all history. The social dilemmas produced by the most crucial episodes in the evolutionary history still remain; for the author these are best exemplified in the evolution of the different social arrangements that have arisen from the exercise of different human facilities. So the open and the close societies represent ideal types of two differen t stages of social and cultural evolution. According to the author where the lower biological needs are dominant, the social structure has the character of a closed society in which all social life is guided by myths and rigid taboos. A kind of magical attitude prevails, in the closed society there is no scope for self doubt and personal moral responsibility; changes in these kind of societies come about more by the introduction of new magical taboos than by ration attempts to improve social conditions. Popper affirms that the breakdown of the closed society began in Greece around 600 B.C., when new intellectual values, methods and ideas of acquiring knowledge arose together with an original style of politics. The Ionian School inaugurated a new tradition of critical thought: its innovation was to question and discuss dogmas and traditions instead of merely accepting them. Within this historical and philosophical transition, according to Popper, we can trace the emergence of a scien tific method. The ideas of criticism and democratic practice allowed human beings to commence their entrance into the open society where they could become aware of the importance of personal decisions and individual moral responsibility. Where biological and physical bonds became weaker more abstract relations, like exchange and cooperation, linked together people and groups. Democracy and the Open Society One of Poppers most striking contributions to contemporary political thought maybe found in his conception of democracy and of what he defines as open society. The idea of the open society operates both as a minimalist ideal to be sought after and as a celebration of the achievement of modern rationality and liberal democracy. Much of its appeals lies in its apparent capacity to limit the impact of our inevitable errors and to contain potentially harmful social tendencies. The open society, which is basically identified by the author as his idea of democracy, aims to promote criticism and diversity without succumbing either to violence or irreconcilable social division. This adventure in a creative and critical thougth produces conflict, but such problems are resolved by peaceful means; the values of freedom of thought and speech, toleration and individualism operate as both a motivation for, and a constraint upon, individual behavior. Those more substantial differences are to be channelled into the democratic process whereby governments can be replaced by free and regular elections. Popper recognizes the presence of certain dangers in the historical evolution of the open society: he suggests that it could become an abstract society in which social relations might become too rational but, although Popper acknowledges that modern industrial societies exhibit many such features, he denies that the process of abstraction or rationalization will actually complete itself. According to the philosopher there will always be emotional needs which human beings can not satisfy in an abstract society; in this view we see the distinction made between the private and the public sphere. The familiar function of the private sphere provides emotional and biological regeneration for authentic life in the public sphere; though Poppers neglect of the problems of unequal power and authority within family and personal life places him clearly in the mainstream of patriarchal political thought. Even though he knows, and admits, that such democracies fall short of his ideal, he is quite optimistic about their potential. Anyway we must recognize that the transition to the open society remains incomplete and its achievements are always and constantly under threat. On the one hand, biological needs, old traditions but especially the difficulties of living with rationality and personal responsibility all combine to challenge the new society; the passions of our lower nature are always liable to rise up and overthrow the controls instituted by self critical scientific rationality. On the other hand the open society may be inherently self-destructive because critical thought continually erodes those older closed traditions that sustain social institutions. Democracy performs a vital function for both politics and epistemology. I tprovides a peaceful means for reform and change pf government, while ensuring the freedom of thought and speech necessary for intellectual progress. This process encourages a pluralism of ideas and groups, it is the necessary precondition for the working out of political meaningn and aims, and is vital for the processes of critical through and the goal of emancipation through knowledge. Poppers theory of democracy typically grows out of his criticism of other approaches to government, initially Platos than Marxs. Our philosopher denies that the guiding principles of politics should be determined by answers given to the question Who should rule?, instead we should ask How can we so organize political institutions that bad and incompetent rulers can be prevents from doing too much damage? which is followed by an other essential question How can we get rid of those rulers without bloodshed and violence?. In responses, Popper argues that democracy should be founded upon a theory of check and balances: basically we are assuming that even the best rulers might fail, so this theory relies on institutional means for curbing their power. The major check is provided by periodic elections that enable people to oust their government without using violent means: this shows the difference between democracy and its opposite, tyranny which consists if governments which the ruled can not get rid of except by way of a successful revolution. He denies any true meaning or essence of democracy, but he asserts it doesnt mean the rule of people or even that the majority should rule, if only because this is impossible in any practical way. Democracy relies upon the political methods of general elections and representative government and Popper considers that these are always open to improvement; so in such a system individuals are allowed both to criticize the majoritys decisions and, within the law, to revise them. Actually Popper provides little details on the practical aspects, like the methods of representation, size and nature of electorates, and length of terms of office. He does reject proportional representation because of its origins in dubious theories of sovereignty and also because of its propensity to produce unstable coalition governments; in Poppers view, two party government is preferable if only because it allows for more serious internal self-criticism after elections defeats: his view of democracy is, in this sense, a relatively conventional elaboration of liberal pluralist principles. But on their own these principles may not guarantee the survival of liberal democracy: issues of representation, size, nature of electorates and so on all have a bearing upon weather citizens would consider themselves to be member of a legitimate democracy. A pluralist system of checks and balances may be so restrictive as to prevent a duly elected government and business to manipulate public opinion there may be little pressure at all upon those in office in order to change their policies. Assuming that the mass of people can not govern,Poppers theory of democracy may be reduced to a theory of competing elites; for this reason his procedural arguments lie within the tradition of realist and revisionist democratic theory that gives priority to competitive elites and argues for democracy as a method for choosing governments. But Popper departs from realist democratic theory because he recognizes that control over government is not all there is to creating a democratic state and society; his solution, however, is not to encourage widespread political participation but to require that the state protect democracy in two ways. First, since democracies must always be open to new ideas, protection must be given and assured to minorities, except to those who violate law and especially those who incite others to the violent overthrow of the democracy, so we must exclude just those violent changes that could put the democracy in dangerous. Second, because Popper is concerned to avoid the misuse of political power and economic power, he exhortes democratic states to engage in social and economic reforms; he strongly affirms the need of institutions to be constructed in order to protect the economically weak against the economically strong. So he sees the necessity of some sort of economic interventionism as well as some social reforms, the necessity of reforms are essential ingredients for a democratic order: the democratic system should work step by step in order to safeguard freedom form exploitation. Although such strategies create greater possibilities for increased state power and bureaucracy, these may be diminished by strengthening democratic institutions and by following the principles of piecemeal social engineering. This kind of policy is not as restrictive as it is commonly thought, but it odes rule out the nationalization and socialization of the entire private industry of a country. A separate point in favo r of piecemeal social engineering is thought to be its scientific character. Popper considers it methodologically superior to holisitc and revolutionary programmes, in part because social engineers accept the limitations of their knowledge. By reformulating key questions about democracy, Popper sidesteps some of the more usual difficulties of universalist democratic theory. By requiring state action to remedy certain kinds of social and economic problems, he offers more of a policy substance that the usual realist and proceduralist forms of democratic theory. His goal is to avoid or at least minimize the violent conflict that he sees inevitably arising from arguments over the good society. Whereas we may not be able to agree on abstract universal values, the shape of an ideal society or the ultimate good of people, we can generally reach agreement on concrete social and economic evils such as poverty and disease; Popper doesnt develop any universal values but he doesnt abandoned the m. I think a major advantage of Popper commitment to non-violence, public-criticism and freedom of speech is that allows us to retain a critical perspective upon all kinds of governments. His idea of minimal proceduralism and gradualism, for example, may accommodate democratic aspirations less developed or developing countries without subscribing to wholesale westernization and modernization. Poppers substantive policy proposals reject the radicalism of laissez-faire economics and offer the social benefits of gradualism, stability and security. Their negative utilitarianism encourages governments to ameliorate the worst aspects of individualism and capitalism, and allows a legitimate role for state intervention in society and economy. Popper combines ethical proceduralism with a requirement for state-initiated reform, his theory advances somewhat beyond the usual forms of democratic elitism and revisionism. Poppers social and political thought comprises elements which may be designed as liberal, social democratic and conservative. He deeply respects individual freedom and emphasizes the power of ideas in promoting progress while critical rationalism lies primarily within the mainstream of the liberal tradition. Nevertheless his conception of human nature is a combination of liberal and conservative assumptions, which sets out both an optimistic view of human potential and a largely pessimistic account of human needs. Poppers social vision, however, is a liberal rationalist one: an open society in which the values of freedom, reason, toleration and non-violence prevail; he suggests institutional guidelines for building and maintaining democracy, advocating policies such as piecemeal social engineering, oriented towards protecting individuals form the ravages of the market. But for a liberal philosopher, however, the guiding values of liberty, rationality, toleration and non-violence of t he open society are relatively undeveloped. Poppers conservativism is most evident in his political realism and his uncritical attitude towards contemporary liberal democracies. Underlying his stress upon the need for creative and revolutionary thought there is the fear that this will bring social disorder. Hence, such intellectual processes need to be contained within firm traditions whose overthrow cannot be countenanced except to establish a democracy. I believe we might see his political project as an attempt to provide more suitable tradtions or controls upon human thought and action; but I still find an unavoidable conflict between his liberal rationalist values and his perception of the perverse and intractable nature of individuals even if his ethical individualism and cosmopolitism differentiate him form most conservatives. Popper sees totalitarianism of all stripes as essentially tribal, as a closed society, a rebellion against the strain of civilization. He assaults it by using his philosophy of science (which greatly emphasizes falsification, i.e. the refutation of statements and theories) to criticize the doctrines of those whom Popper takes to be behind modern totalitarianism, namely Plato, Aristotle, Hegel and Marx. Brian Magee ably summarizes Poppers reasons for defending the Open Society: Because he regards living as first and foremost a process of problem-solving he wants societies which are conducive to problem-solving. And because problem-solving calls for the bold propounding of trial solutions which are then subjected to criticism and error elimination, he wants forms of society which permit of the untramelled assertion of different proposals, followed by criticism, followed by the genuine possibility of change in the light of criticism. Regardless of any moral considerations he believes that a society organized on such lines will be more effective at solving its problems, and therefore more successful in achieving the aims of its members, than if it were organized on other lines. Such a society is what Popper takes to be social democracy, entailing the prob lem-solving of piecemeal social engineering. This social democracy may indeed have once inspired the intellectual elite of the West, seeking (as many were) alternatives to fascism and communism, but today it inspires hardly anyone. And for good reason, for what else is democratic social reconstruction but that postwar system of fine-tuning the economy, the reign of countless redistributive social programs designed by politicians and social scientists to meet those alleged social needs that a host of interest groups are pressing upon the political systems of the West as non-negotiable demands? Since the Second World War, most of the Western democracies have followed Poppers advice about piecemeal social engineering and democratic social reform, and it has gotten them into a grand mess. Intervention has been piled upon intervention; regulations have been continually modified in unpredictable ways (Popper advocates such revisions in the light of experience); taxation has increased dras tically to finance social welfare programs (as has inflation, with its resulting economic fluctuations); and the unhampered market economy, so forcefully defended by Poppers close friend F. A. Hayek, has been reformed out of existence. Interventionism, piecemeal or not, has worked its inevitable way, and has led to precisely those consequences that Mises, Hayek, Rothbard and others had predicted: economic stagnation and political conflict. Democratic institutions themselves are threatened by those whose vested interests are entwined with the State apparatus. Dime store tinkering, even with freedom of criticism and revision, is leading to the closed society that Popper so fears. There is indeed nothing new in this warning; it is the theme of both Ludwig von Mises Socialism and F. A. Hayeks The Road to Serfdom. In short, the Open Society is not enough. If the Open Society is equivalent to a society in which everything and anything is open to democratic revision except the basic institutions that make democratic revision possible then Popper is only focusing on one need of human beings (that a dubious collective need), not the broader need for liberty that is implied in the outline of his argument as stated by Magee. Popper makes a great deal of noise about individualism, but nevertheless only applies the structure of that argument to collective processes of hypothesis, testing (action) and revision in the light of experience; the argument would apply to individuals as well, since they are the sole constituents of society. By focusing on this collective democratic character of the Open Society, Popper ignores the more basic need for individual liberty in art, business, science, and all other areas as well.The arguments for democracy that Popper presents, then, are in principle identical to arguments for individual liberty. It is the principle of non-aggression, the first principle of liberty, that properly limits the domain of democracy. If Poppers arguments for democracy (as opposed to his advocacy of democracy itself) are valid, then it is not the rigidity of a technology of social engineering that we should seek, but an unhampered market economy, where people can constantly act on their own judgment and can continually revise their plans in accordance with the new information brought by change. This brings us not to social democracy, but to the doctrine of libertarianism. Far more important than the principle of democracy, then, even by Poppers own arguments, is the principle of individual liberty. Liberty is paramount, democracy at best secondary: democracy is important only insofar as it is the servant of and means to the end of liberty. Thus, in following the logical implications of Poppers views (which are not, after all, that original), we move from the open society to the Free Society, and find ourselves agreeing with Michael Polanyis claim, contra Popper, that the Free Society is not an Open Society, but a society committed to a very definite set of rules. In Poppers Open Society, the principle of democracy is regarded as fixed, as not being open to revision. In the Free Society, it is the far more fundamental principle of individual liberty and non-aggression that is not open to revision (though its implications may be refined with growing knowledge). Poppers reasoning is, by and large, correct, but it is individuals who must solve problems to survive, not societies, and therefore individuals who must be free to think and act to achieve values and to revise mistaken plans and impressions in the light of experience or more critical thought. Why is it important to consider The Open Society and Its Enemies after all these years? Very simply, because these are the times when totalitarianism is on the rise, and Western democracies are in the midst of crises that are threatening the stability of their basic institutions, and perhaps even their very survival. In this battle against totalitarianism todays right-wing social democrats the neo-conservatives such as Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Irving Kristol and Daniel Bell are once again raising the banner of social democracy against tyranny. But this is pointless, for such democracy combined with social engineering and statist reforms is inherently unstable and is unjust as well. No mere democratic machinery, no mere procedure, is enough to oppose fascism or communism, not in a world of those real social dynamics that are set in motion by interventionism. Only liberty can fully oppose closed societies, and only if liberty is seen as something that is not to be bargained away or a bandoned through as series of insignificant piecemeal reforms. Liberty must be regarded as the ultimate political end, foremost among those political values held dear by reasonable men and women, the highest and most noble political form possible to human beings. I do not wish to leave the impression that The Open Society is worthless. It is indeed a heuristic work, tossing off suggestive arguments and insights on nearly every page, and the criticisms of Plato, Hegel and Marx are always pregnant ones. Popper is a great and forceful advocate of reason, science and progess, and his passionate idealism shines forth continually from the pages of this work. But so too does nearly every moth-eaten philosophical cliche around, e.g., the attack on certainty, the fact/value dichotomy, and the Humean assault on induction. Moreover, Popper is unnerving in his treatment of capitalism. Opponents of the Open Society who see it as being too coercive are slighted by Poppers astonishing smears of laissez faire, his continual granting of Marxist historical points against capitalism, and his cheerful parading before us of those democratic reforms that have all but obliterated the unhampered free market economy. Social democracy, the Open Society, has been tried and found wanting. The question that faces us now is simply whether those lovers of experiment and flexibility are experimental and flexible enough to advocate that liberty be given a chance. If it is not given that chance, there may be no tu rning back, and we may yet arrive in an era when we shall look back at the totalitarianism of the 1930s as a veritable golden age. But in one sense, at least, Popper is right: the future is ours to shape. Liberty has never been fully tried. It is the task of readers of this journal to remedy that unfortunate situation; if we do not, no one else will.

Icon or Symbol: A Teachers Moral Dilemma :: Education Teaching Papers

Icon or Symbol: A Teacher's Moral Dilemma Works Cited Missing It all happened so quickly. One moment I was at my blackboard, the next moment I was between two juvenile males who were trying to prove a "pride point" with their fists. I had, without a conscious thought about it, drawn a crown on the board. Next I heard chairs hitting the floor and screams of profanity. I was called a not-so-nice name by one of my students, followed by his strange comment: "We know who your favorites in this class are." Another student from across the room overturned his chair and, breath coming fast, managed to get out the words "Don't get on her, man. And don't you never mess with the crown! Don't mess with my blood, man!" Then they were at each other's throats and I was between them, not knowing what had happened. I work at a juvenile prison for all male offenders. Quite honestly, I feel as if my students and I speak different languages sometimes. After talking to students and counselors after this incident, I discovered that the crown I had drawn to represent Prince Hamlet of Denmark was interpreted as a gang symbol by the members of my class. By drawing the crown, I had somehow affiliated myself with the Ghetto Boys of Indianapolis. This angered my students who consider themselves members of a rival gang. What would Shakespeare think of such a situation? I guess the real question is what do I think about such a situation and how do I define my role in the classroom? Peirce's theory of signs and his classification from the point of view of the object of the sign (representant) is helpful in understanding this classroom incident. Peirce defined a sign as "anything which is so determined by something else, called its object, and so determines an effect upon a person, which effect I call its interpretant" (Houser 257). In this view, educators use signs all of the time, to interact with students. In fact, in his article "Toward a Peircean Theory," Nathan Houser relates Peirce's belief that "signs are the matter, or the substance of thought" (257). Peirce goes even further to say that life itself "is a train of thought" (Houser 256). In other words, life and signs are "fundamentally related" and unseparable for all humans (Houser 257). As a teacher, I present my students with signs (representants) in hopes of helping them to understand inf ormation.

J.d. Salinger Essay -- essays research papers

Born on January 1, 1919, Jerome David Salinger was to become one of America’s greatest contemporary authors. In 1938 Salinger briefly attended Ursinus College in Pennsylvania where he wrote a column, "Skipped Diploma," which featured movie reviews for his college newspaper. Salinger made his writing debut when he published his first short story, "The Young Folks," in Whit Burnett’s Story magazine (French, xiii). He was paid only twenty-five dollars. In 1939, at the age of 20, Salinger had not acquired any readers. He later enrolled in a creative writing class at Columbia University. Salinger was very much interested in becoming an actor and a playwright, which was quite odd because he would later in life become a recluse (Wenke, 3). Salinger adjusted his writing style to fit the literary marketplace. He was writing for money and began writing for magazines like Good Housekeeping and Mademoiselle. Many of Salinger’s characters have unique chara cter traits. "Salinger presents a number of stories that consider characters who become involved in degrading, often phony social contexts," states a major critic (Wenke, 7). These characters are often young and have experienced a lot of emotional turmoil. They have been rejected by society and mainly categorized as "misfits." This alienation of the personality is often viewed as a sign of weakness by society when in fact the outcasts ultimately gain strength from their experiences as shown in Nine Stories, The Catcher in the Rye, and Franny and Zooey. Salinger is telling a tale of the human condition in its reality through his novels. Nine Stories is a collection of short stories of people who are uncertain of the next path to take in life. They are lonely, needy, and searching for love. One of these stories, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," is the story of a young couple who try to understand their life together and the true meaning of love. Seymour Gl ass has just been released from the Army Hospital and he is unable to adjust to life with his "crass wife Muriel amidst the lavish and vulgar atmosphere of their post-war second honeymoon" (Gwynn & Blotner, 19). It has often been called "the loveless tunnel of love." Salinger portrays Muriel in the first part of the story as superficial. ... ...at lead us to believe that life has leading characters and minor characters, important details and unimportant details, beginnings, middles, ends" (Bryfonski, 521). Many critics acclaim that Nine Stories and The Catcher in The Rye are Salinger’s most famous and important works (Bryfonski, 521). The Glass family saga starting in Nine Stories and continuing in and ending in Franny and Zooey shows how the lack of love and the influence of society can lead to destruction unless you find enough inner strength to rise above it. Many of Salinger’s characters are connected to other fictional characters by other authors. In The Catcher in The Rye, the young Holden Caulfield is compared by critics to Huckleberry Finn: He has a colloquialism as marked as Huck’s†¦Like Huck, Holden is neither comical or misanthrope. He is an observer. Unlike Huck, he makes judgements by the dozen, but these are not to be taken seriously; they are concepts (Lomazoff, 7). Holden i s also compared to Hamlet but to a lesser degree; they are both not totally in the minds. The majority of Salinger’s characters learn from being alienated. Through learning this one aspect, they gain strength from it to move on.

Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s house Essay

Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s house is all about women’s rights. We can infer from the theme of the novel that the author Henrik Ibsen was a strong Feminist as he created characters that fought for the rights of women. The central character of A Doll’s house, Nora fought for the same cause. Nora attempts to become a strong individual even though she was being locked in a male dominated world. Her husband Torvald’s dominating nature was the one that was preventing her from become self motivated. She appeared inexperienced, naive and vulnerable till the end when she surprised everybody by boldly leaving her husband and children to live an independent life. Nora’s world appeared to be so childish that the author has named it as a ‘doll’s house’. She appeared as an alien to the real world with no real world experience. She was even found humorous in few incidents. But we can see the same Nora being serious and trying to be superior as she says â€Å"one isn’t without influence†. This shows the feminist views of the character or the author. A Doll`s house speaks about women’s rights. Even though Nora is constructed as immature and silly, we can see that this nature is enforced by the society around her. However her true nature was destined to be revealed later. Nora is found to be an independent woman who was restricted within the ‘dollhouse’ by her husband. Her life was like that of a butterfly that is trying to get out of the cocoon to show its true colors. We can see Nora striving, throughout the play, and finally unveiling her original self. She is indeed a classical hero. She was submissive to her husband and was enthusiastic and smart. We can say that Nora was always right in her attitude as this was the best she can be towards her dominating husband. Towards the end of the play she discovered herself and took the big shocking decision to leave her husband and children for ever. The feminist ideologies of Nora were revealed in the end of the novel. She was found subordinate to her husband Torvald who believed that women are frail and can never make decision of their own. However finally Nora gets hold of her individuality and dares to take the great decision to abandon her husband and children. Nora’s great passion for life and her strong feministic beliefs stimulated her to take the decision of her life. She courageously broke away from the doll house that appeared as a prison for her all through these days. Nora was always under the care of someone, first with her father and then with her husband. Nora was a materialistic, impulsive and babyish. But Nora appeared as a bold woman in the final scene of the play. We can see Nora the classical hero walking out of her house in the final scene to live her life. All this makes us doubt whether she was pretending to be silly all through these days to adjust with the patriarchal oppression she was suffering from her husband Torvald. Nora finally becomes fully independent to renounce the false union of marriage and the burden of motherhood. She says â€Å"Never see him again. Never. Never. Never. Never see the children again. Them too. Never. never. Oh – the icy black water! Oh – that bottomless – that -! Oh, if only it were all over! Now he’s got it – he’s reading it. Oh, no, no! Not yet! Goodbye, Torvald! Goodbye, my darlings. † Nora was the upholder of women`s rights. She struggled against the selfish, stifling, oppressive and dominating attitude of her Husband Torvald and the society which he represents. Nora journey lead to her self-discovery as she fought against the exploitation of women by men. Torvald represents the orthodox society and Nora is the advocate of feminism. Torvald did not give any privilege to Nora and called her silly names throughout the play. He called her ‘squirrel’, ‘lark’, ‘little skylark’, ‘little songbird’, ‘little person’, ‘little woman’, and ‘little featherhead’. Torvald never forgot to use the word ‘little’ before these names. He considered her as ‘little’. He was also very possessive and always used ‘my’ before these names. Torvald never considered Nora equal to him. He thought she is inferior to him. The feminist beliefs of Nora rise up at last and she comes to know that she has been a foolish doll in a toy-marriage and walks out of her house slamming the door behind her and surprising Torvald. Nora was just considered like any other possession of Torvald. She was not given any humane privilege. The feminist beliefs of the author hated this attitude of Torvald and encouraged Nora to break away one day from the ‘doll house’. Nora recognizes her rights at last and is awakened. She stops pretending to be what she is not. She became a strong woman and takes control of her own destiny. Torvald considered his wife, children and status symbols and had a very narrow definition about marriage. He thinks that it is the duty of the wife to be good to her husband and children. She deems women as helpless creatures separated from reality and moral force. The author highlighted the self realization of the main character Nora and the way she becomes an example to feminist ideology. The novel thus becomes an extraordinary work in which a man portrays strong feminist ideologies. The attitude of Nora reveals the strong feminist views of the author. Nora always wanted to get out of the clutch of her husband as she says to Rank and Linde â€Å"I’ve the most extraordinary longing to say: ‘Bloody hell! ’† She finally gets out all her social and traditional commitments and obligations as become free as a hero. She is such a classical character that our hearts are with her even though she took the pitiless decision to leave her moral husband and innocent little children. She can be called as a hero as a fought for a good cause, the freedom for the weaker sex. The position of women in the 1800’s, during the time of Nora was too low. They lived as housewives with no right to vote, own property, and make any significant transactions. Nora recognized her slavery and preferred to break away and live a life with freedom. It is nothing but her courage to fight against oppression made her the most admirable stage heroine of the century. What she has done is perfectly justifiable in the light is modern ideology and culture. She was just being a model to the women of modern days. She stepped into a wider world and making her husband understands that he is not the noble person that she expected him to be. She understands that she can no longer continue as a shadow of her husband. She turned out to be a classical hero in the contemporary male dominated society that oppressed women to the core and considered them as a second-class citizen.She just initiated an awakening and made a classical turn in history. Sources Ibsen, Henrik. ‘A Doll’s House’. Introduction to Literature: Reading, Analyzing, and Writing. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1990. Henrik Ibsen. Doll’s House: The Wild Duck: The Lady from the Sea . J M Dent & Sons Ltd, 1979. Marianne Sturman. CliffsNotes on Ibsen’s A Doll’s House & Hedda Gabler. Cliffs Notes, 2003. Egil Tornqvist. Ibsen: A Doll’s House. Cambridge University Press, 2004. Henrik Ibsen A Doll’s House and Other Plays. Penguin Classics, 1965.

Best Novel of the Twentieth Century Essay

Best Novel of the Twentieth Century Alfred Nobel gave his last name to one of the most prestigious literature prizes today. He specified that the award should go to ‘the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in the ideal direction’ (Cited in Danson & Gupta, 2005) Over the years the criteria the prize was awarded on kept on changing along with the changing times. â€Å"In 1964, the French philosopher, novelist and playwright Jean-Paul Sarte voluntarily declined the Nobel Prize. † (Danson and Gupta, 2005, p. 212) The prize for the best novel of the twentieth century will follow guidelines that perhaps even Sartre would consider just and accept the prize if it were offered to him. Today, the Nobel Prize is regarded as one of the highest honors in literature but there was a period in history when Sartre’s refusal threatened its universality of honor. Five years later, Samuel Beckett received the award and the Nobel Prize gained back some of its authority as a universal honor. Becket had contemplated whether he should accept the award or not because he realized the recent controversy arisen by Sarte’s rejection but did not want to simply mimic his actions. (Danson & Gupta, 2005, p. 213-4) â€Å"The Booker Prize was launched in 1968 to provide a benchmark for the ‘best of contemporary British fiction’ by awarding a prize for what was deemed to be, in the joint opinion of the judges selected by the management committee, the most outstanding novel by a ‘British or Commonwealth writer’ in any given year. † (Danson & Gupta, 2005, p. 295) Tom Maschler found the booker prize and can be viewed as a successful marketer of his time. His goal was to ensure that serious British fiction gains market share through public relation-ing efforts, specifically, the use of touch programs. He did for books back in the 1960’s for books, what people do for movies now: create a lot of hype before the release date, a lot of publicity, and going big at the box office. Stated by Iyer in 1993, â€Å"the Booker [had become] London’s way of formally commemorating and coronating literary tradition †¦ the closest thing in writing to the movies’ Academy† (cited in Danson & Gupta, 2005, p. 295) â€Å"Plato suggests that literature is not an end in itself; it has a broader social responsibility which imposes a duty on poets to make sure that their works are not immoral or untrue. Poetry and art in general have fundamental responsibilities to the society that produces them. If poets are unwilling to tether their imitations of life to the demands of that society, Plato argues, then they should be kicked out of the republic. † (Danson & Gupta, 2005, p. 4) This idea by Plato is the concept behind instrumentalism. If Plato was alive today, he would condone ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ all the way. Just like any big corporation should be held responsible for what its actions are outside of producing a certain product or service, Plato believed that poet was responsible for what he was producing. In reality, Corporate Social Responsibility, if analyzed in the long run, can be the best thing for a company. If a company carries out its duties other than delivering a great product to society, it gains the people’s trust, maintains goodwill, and cashes in on the steady profits in the long term. In the same light, according to Plato, a poet must create poetry responsibly and cater to the needs and demands of his society. In doing this, the poet must create works that might eventually become simply a thing that society demands. By doing this, literature looses its essence and becomes simply what the public wants but to create continuously what the public wants and have it accepted by them is an art of its own. To observe the cycle like this, Plato’s simple theory of producing work responsibly becomes producing work to cater to a specific demand, which then becomes a sort of artistic economics, and simply a work of beauty like Oscar Wilde’s. For this reason, instrumentalism or aestheticism alone cannot be the judge of good literature. Basically, both the Nobel and Booker were found to expand British literature, the former by means of transforming the judging criteria from time to time and the later by 21st century marketing tactics. â€Å"A neo-Kantian might advise the Nobel or Booker judges as follows: derive your standards for judging literary works themselves rather than by following extant rules of literary judgment; look to exemplary works of genius for guidance in judging the work before you; treat such works as models, and never reduce them to a list of determinate rules, formulae or precepts. † (Danson & Gupta, 2005, p. 203) Keeping in mind the advice given by the neo-Kantian the new prize for the best novel of the twentieth century will weigh the literatures strength according to its aesthetics, instruments, and modernist views. The goal of the prize is not to simply canonize a work of literature or deem it best because beauty is a more important characteristic than content or vice versa. The goal is to view the work for it is, just like a human being, and appreciate what it intends to do or tell. Like the age old example of ‘apples and oranges’, the prize will look at each work for what it is. A work may not be deemed the best simply because it is more inclined towards Wilde’s criteria or Plato’s criteria. No one will be thrown out of ‘The Republic’ but instead the competition will be different because the apples will be competing against the other apples and the oranges against the other but not against each others. In other words, a work may be the best aesthetic piece of literature or the best instrumentalist literature. The winner will be the work which tells of something deeply moving and presents new ideas that are life changing way in the most beautiful manner possible. The winner will the perfect blend of apples and oranges and the runner up will be the best apple, the best orange, or the less perfect blend of the two. â€Å"†¦Writers such as Oscar Wilde and Joris-Karl Huysmans advocated a view of art which denied that it should have any moral, political or social function. † (Danson & Gupta, 2005, p. 4) Cuddon stated in 1982 that â€Å"art for art’s sake† (cited in Danson and Gupta, 2005) was the fundamental of aestheticism. When we consider Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando, it has all the elements of beautifully portrayed writing and meaning and content. What causes this text to be the winner of the prize for the best book of the twentieth century is that as time went on, the books purpose and meaning evolved. â€Å"In a survey of the Nobel Prize, Kjell Espmark (1999) discerns the following phases: from 1901 to 1912, prizes were given to writers who demonstrated ‘a lofty and sound idealism’; from 1912 to 1920, a ‘literary policy of [political] neutrality’ was followed; in the 1920s, award winners were marked as a possessing a classical ‘great style’; in the 1930s, ‘universal interest’ was considered key; from 1946 to 1977, writers were chosen who had made a ‘pioneering’ contribution; from 1978 to 1985, attention was given to ‘unknown masters’; from 1986 onwards, the emphasis had been on recognizing the literary productions of the ‘whole world’†(Danson & Gupta, 2005, p. 211) Unlike the Nobel prize and its changing criteria over the years, Orlando was viewed differently as time went on. â€Å"We read Orlando now most often as a feminist work that explores the boundaries of gender and sexuality and the limits of women writers within literary history, or as a sharp critique on the possibilities of biography. But Orlando was often first read by its contemporary audience as a gossipy portrait of Vita Sackville-West. †(Tetterton, 1995) When the novel was first written it was a mere work of comedic art with no instrumental purpose but to paint a certain portrait of someone. Virginia Woolf’s writing is difficult to read and understand because of the transitions she makes and her style of writing. Back in the day, this novel was, â€Å"†¦taken as the delightful joke that Woolf herself claimed it to be. It was a hugely successful joke — not just critically, but financially as well, both in England and America. It was Orlando that enabled the Woolf’s to purchase their first car, and it put them on stable financial footing for the rest of their lives. † (Tetterton, 1995) The novel perhaps served an instrumental purpose to the Woold family but not society, it was viewed as a work of fiction and no action was taken against it because of the hints of lesbianism since the main character was a man when he fell in love the princess. This work could be simply viewed as ‘art for the sake of art’ at the time by the audience but it had a greater purpose. Some say that it was a secretly a love letter to the woman Virginia Woolf loved. When we read Orlando now we pay more attention to the gender issues present in the book. The book was not viewed as an important work I feminine and lesbian literature back in the day because none of the feminist movements had occurred yet. When we look at the work now we can’t help but get a sense of what Woolf was really trying to say. It was only in the later years that the work evolved from simply aesthetical and comical to instrumental. Woolf shed’s light on the issue of lesbianism and gets away with it in the era where other writers were being banned for bringing up the same subjects. She fulfils the purpose of feministic liberation because after the 300 years the main character becomes a liberated and free woman in the early nineties. These demands were initially not required by society and no one but Virginia and her contemporaries who felt the same way craved the need for someone to bring about this revolution. Today, Virginia Woolf’s Orlando caters to the demands of society and the feminist revolution that is still shaping itself and the freedom of exploring one’s sexuality freely. Virginia created the perfect blend of aestheticism and instrumentalism with the aide of time. In the century that it was written in, the novel served its aesthetic purpose and in the next century it the audience learnt to look at its real instrumental purpose. Woolf created this perfect blend and proved that she was two steps ahead of the whole world. She was a modernist because she re-evaluated where society currently stood and where it needed to go and through what means. Woolf paved a way for future writers to explore new territory and have the freedom of self expression. One argument presented by Kelly Tetterton at the The Fifth Annual Virginia Woolf Conference at Otterbein College, June 18, 1995 is that the segue the audience made from the comical to the serious category is through the publication method of the book. She points out, â€Å"Partly yes — we are far more sensitive to issues of gender than those readers of long ago because it’s now part of our social consciousness; even those who might disagree with such a critical approach must now acknowledge the validity of the approach itself. And partly no — we are simply reacting to what we’re given to read. Take a look at the most recent paperback covers for Orlando — one from Harcourt Brace Jovanovich and one from the Quality Paperback Book Club. Anyone casually glancing at these covers is likely to suspect that issues of gender and sexuality are involved in the text beneath the covers. The 1973 HBJ paperback gives us two almost identical figures, one male and one female, divided by a clock; the 1993 QBC book cover is more abstract, but there’s a prominent pink triangle on its spine and back. If we are better readers today, it’s because we have some help from the publishers. † (1995) The second half of her argument is valid because the pictures or hype that surrounds a text greatly affect how a work of literature is viewed. The different publications have a sort of Booker Prize affect on the audience. The different paperback version somewhat manipulates what’s inside and this factor can be used to sway the judgment about the work greatly. Nevertheless, the publication or marketing aspects do not take away from the book itself because part one of the argument presented by Tetterton is just as valid and in sync with the entire critique of the book making it the best book of the twentieth century. â€Å"In 1934, the first issue of the British journal Left Review published a position statement by the Writers’ International, a group of radical writers. The statement included the following thoughts on what role writers should play in the British society:†¦It is time for these, together with the working-class journalists and writers who are trying to express the feelings of their class, to organize an association of revolutionary writers. † (Danson & Gupta, 2005, p. 117) Interpreting this role British writers were asked to play in society is the very fundamental of instrumentalism, producing responsibly what the society demands as a whole. The author of Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon replied to this message in a mostly positive manner except for two discrepancies. This declaration stated that literature â€Å"is anything but elevated, self-contained or sacrosanct, as the aesthetes had claimed; rather, for the Writers’ International, literature has the potential, even and obligation, to criticize society and to contribute to the building of a socialist future. † (Danson & Gupta, 2005, p. 118) Gibbon said, â€Å"I hate capitalism; all my books are explicit or implicit propaganda. †(cited in Danson & Gupta, 2005, p118) The first of the two points Gibbon disagreed with was that capitalism was perhaps dead economically but the literature was thriving, untouched, and unharmed and that there was a huge difference between the two. Second, he thought that writers should actually work for the socialist coast and not just say it. (Danson & Gibbon, 2005) The use of Scottish accents and dialects is present throughout the entire novel. This style earns him points for true instrumentalism. He sticks to his roots, much like the writers of today who add flavorful touches of their mother tongue in their works. From the earlier point about supporting the revolutionary cause of socialism he strips away whatever he can of capitalism by staying true to his origins no matter what. â€Å"The young Chris must choose between life on the land, her Scottish identity, and the English part of her which draws her away from home towards books and education. Yet even once she has made her decision, the way of life of her community is altered forever by the Great War. † (BBC) The story is about a little boy understanding what really is going on around him and how he must deal with everything. The book is runner up to Orlando by Virginia Woolf because it is the best work of instrumentalism at its extreme whereas Woolf’s novel encompasses all the concepts of aesthetics to modernism to instrumentalism. Sunset Song is a great example of a believing in a cause and writing for it to change the society as a whole and lead into a revolution. â€Å"However, it is important that while Sunset Song mourns the loss of a past age, it is not hopeless. The images of light and the morning star in the closing pages of the novel anticipate the rest of the trilogy, emphasizing Gibbon’s desire to construct a future rather than simply mourn the loss of a Golden Age. † (BBC) Gobbin, like his response to the Writers’ International delivers what he has said and paints a window to the future. He can be viewed as a modernist in the sense that he re-evaluated how society was going to reach a certain place and stuck to different ideas and did not conform to capitalistic views. â€Å"Gibbon uses the narrative device of flashforward, or prolepsis, at the start at each of the four main parts of the novel. † (Danson & Gupta, 2005, p. 132) His style of writing and the techniques he uses also earns him points for creatively constructing the passage of work. â€Å"All Gibbon’s sympathetic characters – the Guthries, Chae Strachan, Long Rob and, more ambivalently, Ewan Tavendale – are associated with the traditional peasant way of life. In contrast, the characters who embrace small-scale capitalist production – Ellison, Mutch, Munro and Cuddiestoun – are represented as thoroughly unattractive. † (Danson & Gupta, 2005, p. 141) The author clearly indicated his leaning towards socialism through his characters and their analysis throughout the book. He successfully achieves his goal of taking a stance against capitalism and that lands him into the runner up spot in the best writer of the twentieth century. â€Å"An important motivation at the core of Gibbon’s writing, closely connected to his political commitment, is his desire to rescue the forgotten, unrecorded histories of Scotland’s poor. † (Danson & Gupta, 2005, p. 150) Gibbon is one of those revolutionaries whole believes that all the toil and blood and hardship that went into making the future what it is today should never be ignored. It should be remembered and used as inspiration to move forward and achieve even greater things. (Danson & Gupta, 2005) Virginia Woolf takes away the award from Gibbon’s for first place because she is a modernist in the true sense. Gobbin beautifully portrays what an instrumentalist should do and inspires people and connects with them on a deep level from the get go. He has always presented his work seriously and believed it to bring about a change and get to the end through revolutionary socialist means. The judgment criteria of this award is not to award a socialist when a socialist revolution is going on or a capitalist when capitalism as it its peek. The goal is to judge literature for what is no matter what guards the standards of society now. Gibbon’s is a story that can be read in the democratically inclined times of today and still have an impact and show the clarity of how one can stick to his beliefs and paint a convincing and moving piece of literature. References Brown, R. D. , & Gupta, S. (2005). Aestheticism & modernism: debating twentieth-century literature 1900-1960. Twentieth-century literature : texts and debates. London: Routledge. Brown, R. D. , & Gupta, S. (2004). The popular and the canonical: debating twentieth-century literature 1940-2000. Twentieth-century literature : texts and debates. London: Routledge. Gibbon, L. G. (1981). Sunset song. New York: Schocken Books. Tamir, E. (2007). Gupta/Johnson’s A Twentieth-Century Reader and Johnson’s Debating Twentieth-Century Literature, 1940-2000. Science-Fiction Studies. 34, 343-345. Tetterton, Kelly (1995, June, 18). Virginia Woolf’s Orlando:. Retrieved May 18, 2008, from http://www. tetterton. net/orlando/orlando95_talk. html The Writers. BBC, Retrieved May 19, 2008, from http://www. bbc. co. uk/scotland/arts/writingscotland/writers/lewis_grassic_gibbon/works. shtml Woolf, V. (1928). Orlando: a biography. New York: Harcourt, Brace.

Gender and Hand-Grip Strength essays

Gender and Hand-Grip Strength essays Hand-grip strength plays an important role in assessing clinical situations, daily activities such as picking up a glass full of water, and for vocational reasons. Measurement of hand-grip strength determines the isometric strength of the muscles. Isometric strength or static, or static, strength is the muscle contraction in the joint angle that does not have a change in length but it affects the muscle tension and connective tissues. Hand-grip strength measures the muscles of the hand and the forearm. Studies have shown that the dominant hand is usually stronger than the non-dominant hand due to capability and daily use of the hand A cross-sectional study conducted by Luna-Heredia, E, Martin- Pena, G, and Ruiz-Galiana, J assessed the effects of hand-grip strength on 517 subjects with 267 of them being females and 229 being males to test out the normal reference values of hand-grip strength in men and women related to anthropometry.2 The grip-strength was measured with BASELINE and GRIP-D dynamometer on the dominant hand and non-dominant hand to find measures of each hand with the maximum of 3 trials on each hand. Results showed that males have higher grip strength in left and right hand compared to females by all age groups. The male subjects' non-dominant hand results were 21% greater in hand-grip strength compared to females and dominant being 22% greater. The average kg for male dominant hand was 39.95 kg vs. 25.72 kg in females and average male non-dominant hand was 35.1 vs. 22.8 kg in There are several determining factors that influence the hand-grip strength which are gender, age, height, weight, dominant handedness, physical activity, and occupation.2 These data are important in finding out what type of therapy is needed for the injured hand and for creating a training program that is sport specific. The purpose of this lab is to compare the gender differences in mal...

Symposium De Virtual essays

Symposium De Virtual essays Webster defines cyberspace to be the online world of computer networks, which only makes you believe that Webster has no clue what its talking about. Yes, it is a large network, but it is oh so much more. It has its problems such as cyber crime, hacking, invasion of privacy and other things that need regulations, but the main grandeur of the Internet, is spectacular. My Point of view differs from any I know, which makes cyberspace the concept of concepts. If a survey were being done on how people experience cyberspace, you would immediately notice that no two answers would be the same. Experiencing cyberspace is something that is different for every person. I myself, experience cyberspace psychologically, I experience it in my mind. There have been many attempts at trying to define the complex term, but up to date, no one has pinned the tail on the donkey. There cannot be one solid definition for a word that possesses so many meanings. I personally associate the word cyberspace with the idea of being able to travel to distant places without ever leaving my chair (which I rarely do). Obviously, I know that there is no way of visiting different places or countries using my home computer, but in my mind, when I see the location that I am connected to, it feel as though a part of me is there. The best part is that I can switch from place to place without having to walk a single inch of land. I dont feel a sense of distance or location, e xcept when it takes a long time to connect to a host. When I travel from place to place (site to site), I dont cover any known physical distances, but instead I cover visual distance. Just as many people do, I refer to the places that I visit as virtual worlds. I like calling them this because I never actually get to see the reality of the "world". I only get to see it electronically and digitally. The feeling that I experience while in cy ...

General Sir William Howe in the American Revolution

General Sir William Howe in the American Revolution General Sir William Howe was a central figure during the early years of the American Revolution (1775-1783) when he served as commander of British forces in North America. A distinguished veteran of the French and Indian War, he took part in many of the conflicts campaigns in Canada. In the years after the war, Howe and his brother, Admiral Richard Howe, were sympathetic to the concerns of the colonists. Despite this, he accepted a post to fight the Americans in 1775. Assuming command in North America the following year, Howe conducted successful campaigns that saw him capture both New York City and Philadelphia. Though victorious on the battlefield, he consistently failed to destroy General George Washingtons army and departed for Britain in 1778. Early Life William Howe was born August 10, 1729, and was the third son of Emanuel Howe, 2nd Viscount Howe and his wife Charlotte. His grandmother had been the mistress of King George I and as a result Howe and his three brothers were the illegitimate uncles of King George III. Influential in the halls of power, Emanuel Howe served as Governor of Barbados while his wife regularly attended the courts of King George II and King George III. Attending Eton, the younger Howe followed his two elder brothers into the military on September 18, 1746 when he purchased a commission as a coronet in Cumberlands Light Dragoons. A quick study, he was promoted to lieutenant the following year and saw service in Flanders during the War of the Austrian Succession.  Elevated to captain on January 2, 1750, Howe transferred to the 20th Regiment of Foot. While with the unit, he befriended Major James Wolfe under whom he would serve in North America during the French and Indian War. Fighting in North America On January 4, 1756, Howe was appointed major of the newly formed 60th Regiment (re-designated 58th in 1757) and traveled with the unit to North America for operations against the French.  Promoted to lieutenant colonel in December 1757, he served in Major General Jeffery Amhersts army during its campaign to capture Cape Breton Island. In this role he took part in Amhersts successful siege of Louisbourg that summer where he commanded the regiment. During the campaign, Howe earned a commendation for making a daring amphibious landing while under fire. With the death of his brother, Brigadier General George Howe at the Battle of Carillon that July, William attained a seat in Parliament representing Nottingham.  This was aided by his mother who campaigned on his behalf while he was overseas as she believed that a seat in Parliament would aid in advancing her sons military career. Battle of Quebec Remaining in North America, Howe served in Wolfes campaign against Quebec in 1759. This began with a failed effort at Beauport on July 31 that saw the British suffer a bloody defeat. Unwilling to press the attack at Beauport, Wolfe decided cross the St. Lawrence River and land at  Anse-au-Foulon to the southwest. This plan was executed and on September 13, Howe led the initial light infantry assault which secured the road up to the Plains of Abraham. Appearing outside of the city, the British opened the the Battle of Quebec later that day and won a decisive victory. Remaining in the region, he helped defend Quebec through the winter, including participation in the Battle of Sainte-Foy, before aiding in Amhersts capture of Montreal the following year. Colonial Tensions Returning to Europe, Howe took part in the siege of Belle ÃŽle in 1762 and was offered the military governorship of the island.  Preferring to remain in active military service, he declined this post and instead served as the adjutant general of the force that assaulted Havana, Cuba in 1763.  With the end of the conflict, Howe returned to England. Appointed colonel of the 46th Regiment of Foot in Ireland in 1764, he was elevated to governor of the Isle of Wight four years later. Recognized as a gifted commander, Howe was promoted to major general in 1772, and a short time later took over training of the armys light infantry units. Representing a largely Whig constituency in Parliament, Howe opposed the Intolerable Acts and preached reconciliation with the American colonists as tensions grew in 1774 and early 1775. His feelings were shared by his brother, Admiral Richard Howe. Though publicly stating that he would resist service against the Americans, he accepted the position as second-in-command of British forces in America. American Revolution Begins Stating that he was ordered, and could not refuse, Howe sailed for Boston with Major Generals Henry Clinton and John Burgoyne. Arriving May 15, Howe brought reinforcements for General Thomas Gage. Under siege in the city following the American victories at Lexington and Concord, the British were forced to take action on June 17 when American forces fortified Breeds Hill on the Charlestown Peninsula overlooking the city. Lacking a sense of urgency, the British commanders spent much of the morning discussing plans and making preparations while the Americans worked to strengthen their position. While Clinton favored an amphibious attack to cut off the American line of retreat, Howe advocated a more conventional frontal attack. Taking the conservative route, Gage ordered Howe to move forward with a direct assault. Bunker Hill In the resulting Battle of Bunker Hill, Howes men succeeded in driving off the Americans but sustained over 1,000 casualties in capturing their works. Though a victory, the battle deeply influenced Howe and crushed his initial belief that the rebels represented only a small part of the American people. A dashing, daring commander earlier in his career, the high losses at Bunker Hill made Howe more conservative and less inclined to attack strong enemy positions. Battle of Bunker Hill. Photograph Source: Public Domain Knighted that year, Howe was temporarily appointed commander-in-chief on October 10 (it was made permanent in April 1776) when Gage returned to England. Assessing the strategic situation, Howe and his superiors in London planned to establish bases in New York and Rhode Island in 1776 with the goal of isolating the rebellion and containing it in New England. Forced out of Boston on March 17, 1776, after General George Washington emplaced guns on Dorchester Heights, Howe withdrew with the army to Halifax, Nova Scotia. New York There, a new campaign was planned with the goal of taking New York. Landing on Staten Island on July 2, Howes army soon swelled to over 30,000 men. Crossing to Gravesend Bay, Howe exploited the light American defenses at Jamaica Pass and succeeded in flanking Washingtons army.  The resulting Battle of Long Island on August 26/27 saw the Americans beaten and forced to retreat. Falling back to fortifications at Brooklyn Heights, the Americans awaited a British assault. Based on his earlier experiences, Howe was reluctant to attack and began siege operations. Battle of Long Island by Alonzo Chappel. Public Domain This hesitation allowed Washingtons army to escape to Manhattan. Howe was soon joined by his brother who had orders to act as a peace commissioner. On September 11, 1776, the Howes met with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Edward Rutledge on Staten Island. While the American representatives demanded recognition of independence, the Howes were only permitted to extend pardons to those rebels who submitted to British authority. Their offer refused, they began active operations against New York City. Landing on Manhattan on September 15, Howe suffered a setback at Harlem Heights the next day but ultimately forced Washington from the island and later drove him from a defensive position at the Battle of White Plains. Rather than pursue Washingtons beaten army, Howe returned to New York to secure Forts Washington and Lee. New Jersey Again showing an unwillingness to eliminate Washingtons army, Howe soon moved into winter quarters around New York and only dispatched a small force under Major General Lord Charles Cornwallis to create a safe zone in northern New Jersey. He also dispatched Clinton to occupy Newport, RI. Recovering in Pennsylvania, Washington was able to win victories at Trenton, Assunpink Creek, Princeton in December and January. As a result, Howe pulled back many of his outposts. While Washington continued small-scale operations during the winter, Howe was content to remain in New York enjoying a full social calendar. Two Plans In the spring of 1777, Burgoyne proposed a plan for defeating the Americans which called for him to lead an army south through Lake Champlain to Albany while a second column advanced east from Lake Ontario. These advances were to be supported by an advance north from New York by Howe. While this plan was approved by Colonial Secretary Lord George Germain, Howes role was never clearly defined nor was he issued orders from London to aid Burgoyne. As a result, though Burgoyne moved forward, Howe launched his own campaign to capture the American capital at Philadelphia. Left on his own, Burgoyne was defeated in the critical Battle of Saratoga. Philadelphia Captured Sailing south from New York, Howe moved up the Chesapeake Bay and landed at Head of Elk on August 25, 1777. Moving north into Delaware, his men skirmished with the Americans at Coochs Bridge on September 3. Pressing on, Howe defeated Washington at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11. Outmaneuvering the Americans, he captured Philadelphia without a fight eleven days later. Concerned about Washingtons army, Howe left a small garrison in the city and moved northwest. Fighting around Cliveden during the Battle of Germantown. Photograph Source: Public Domain On October 4, he won a near-run victory at the Battle of Germantown. In the wake of the defeat, Washington retreated into winter quarters at Valley Forge. Having taken the city, Howe also worked to open the Delaware River to British shipping.  This saw his men defeated at Red Bank but victorious in the Siege of Fort  Mifflin. Under severe criticism in England for failing to crush the Americans and feeling he had lost the kings confidence, Howe requested to be relieved on October 22. After attempting to lure Washington into battle late that fall, Howe and the army entered winter quarters in Philadelphia. Again enjoying a lively social scene, Howe received word that his resignation had been accepted on April 14, 1778. Later Life Arriving in England, Howe entered into the debate over the conduct of the war and published a defense of his actions. Made a privy counselor and Lieutenant General of the Ordnance in 1782, Howe remained in active service. With the outbreak of the French Revolution he served in a variety of senior commands in England. Made a full general in 1793, he died on July 12, 1814, after a prolonged illness, while serving as governor of Plymouth. An adept battlefield commander, Howe was beloved by his men but received little credit for his victories in America. Slow and indolent by nature, his greatest failure was an inability to follow up on his successes.