The Stone Angel :: essays research papers

The Stone Angel Event by event, memory by memory the scales fall from Hagar's eyes until she sees clearly her own nature. No longer blaming others, she dies courageously by being fully responsible for her own life. What are the stages of Hager's enlightenment. The novel The Stone Angel portrays an image of a ninety-year-old woman, Hagar Currie, who confronts her past of personal failures in an attempt for rejuvenation before death. Hagar has lead a life dominated by authority and memories of whom she is expected to be. As she goes through life she continually tries to escape from her fears and gain acceptance. Through events and journeys, Hagar is able to release herself from the restrictions that have prevented her from leading a satisfactory life. Thus, to reconcile with herself and her fate, Hagar must flee from three domestic confinements: her father, her husband and her eldest son. As a child, Hagar was hampered by the pride, social standards and disciplines of her father, Jason Currie. Hagar's life had been dominated by the authority of her father and that is what drove her away from him. Jason Currie was a very proud, self-made man who pushed his values on his children. It is easily seen that many of the father's traits belong, also, to his daughter, such as his pride and stubbornness. Hagar is often closely compared to the stone angel that stands over her mother's grave, doubly blind. It is for this reason that Hagar lived a joyless life for which she was unable to express herself. Jason Currie was excessively caught up in his own dynasty, his image, and was determined to have his children uphold this image. He wanted his children, especially Hagar, to display his pride and behave at the level of his standards. Hager's emotional reactions and superficial outlook were determined by the views expressed by her father's examples and reinforced by punishment. With a father who will tolerate no weakness of any kind, Hagar learned how not to express any emotions. Such as when Hagar says "Oh, look! The funniest wee things, scampering" (Pg.9) while looking at the sultanas, her father's commodities. This was an insult to her father's reputation and pride and makes it known through punishment. However, no matter how much he strikes her hands she refuses to cry. It is at this point that the reader sees how much like her father she really is.

Concealed Carry Right Should be limited Essay

Because of the establishment of concealed carry legislation by all states over the years, it has been increasingly possible for almost every American citizen to carry concealed weapons in public places. As unfortunate and horrifying gun violence tragedies like the Newtown School Shooting and Sandy Hook school shooting repeatedly occur, whether citizens should have the right to carry a conceal handgun in public has created a massive uproar. People have different views about this issue. Just as the Second Amendment states that every human being has the constitutional right to keep and bear arms, many gun-rights advocates believe that reasonable citizens have the right to carry any kind of concealed weapons for self-defense purposes. On the other hand, people who argue against the right of concealed carrying claim that the Second Amendment does not state that law-abiding citizens are allowed to carry concealed guns in public and they may consider concealed handguns as an inefficient for m for defense purpose as it creates more chances for potential crimes and injuries. As you can see, both sides have made very strong argument. Even though citizens without criminal records have the constitution right to keep and bear firearms, citizens’ rights to carry concealed handguns should come with limitations outside the home. In general, allowing individuals to carry concealed weapons does not benefit both of them, citizens and the public since it is not effective for self-defense and creates more chances for gun violence. To begin with, the United States has always been a nation of individuality. In the past, all Americans advocated armed self-defense to fight for liberation and to protect their lives from violence. In the era of emancipation, writers such as WEB Du Bois also supported that guns are necessary tools to defend African Americans’ lives. Hence it is not surprising that gun ownership is legalized in the United States. Needless to say, guns have become a part of American culture. However, when hearing news of mass shootings recently, most people from outside the United States think they must have happened in the United States. And it is because the majority of the deadliest mass killings in the world took place in the United States in the past few years.  Accordingly, a comparison study on twenty-six developed countries that held by the Harvard Injury Control Research Center at the Harvard School of Public Health showed that the United States has the highest level of gun ownership per capita and also has the highest rate of gun homicides. (Bagnall) Guns increase the gun violence in the society and further infringe on the base philosophy security of the United States. Lao-Tzu’s philosophies create persuasive argument on gun issues. As he suggested in Tao-te Ching â€Å"weapons are the tools of violence; all decent men detest them. Weapons are the tools of fear; a decent man will avoid them except in the direst necessity and, if compelled, will use th em only with the utmost restraint† In his opinion, law-abiding citizens should have no need for weapons. If people were unable to carry concealed guns, there would be probably less need for protection by concealed weapons. The goal for the society is to reduce violence as much as possible. As a matter of fact, allowing unstable people to carry concealed guns in public makes it easier for them to use guns to commit as many gun-related crimes in public as possible. Janet Bagnall, a columnist who writes for the Times and Colonist Newspaper has made a strong argument that â€Å"where guns were more available, there were more homicides.† Carrying concealed gun is not a way to protect people, but to put other people at risk of an injury or even death as it increase chances that people shoot each other when they are intoxicated, nervous, or irritable. Precedent Obama was quoted in an Apr. 2, 2008 article saying, â€Å"I am not in favor of concealed weapons. I think that creates a potential atmosphere where more innocent people could (get shot during) altercations.† (ProCon) A per son from other countries such as England or Costa Rica or Japan is less likely shoot and kill someone when he has the impulse to do so since lethal weapons are not easily accessible in those countries. However, it might be easier for that person to misuse his guns and be involved in criminal activity if the person happen to be an American citizen and own a murderous weapon, as America is a country flooded with guns. The high gun owner rate makes guns more accessible for criminals. In addition, people with concealed weapons even kill many more people in cheaper, quicker, and easier ways than if they did not have handguns. For instance, the shooting spree on the campus of Virginia Tech that killed thirty-two people was less likely to happened or killed less people if the  gunman couldn’t carry a handgun. It is true that â€Å"guns did not kill people, people kill people.† Since handgun is primarily designed to kill people and not for sport or other purposes, it is not a toy that should be carried in a person’s purse. It is true that the high ownership of guns is out there in the United States, and no one can guarantee that it can be completely reduced by bannin g concealed carry. However it would stop insane and violent people from using guns easily in public places and then gradually reduce gun violence. What is more, concealed weapons are not effective for self-defense in bars, theaters and other public places. Many people with concealed guns are more likely to be attacked than a victim who has no gun, as they are not properly trained on conflict resolution and thus unable to fight back to the attacker or to solve the conflicts. For instance, just imagine what would happen if guns were taken away from citizens and used to overpower them or other people in public places? According to the data sets that were provided by the Violence Policy Center, only 0.8 percent of victims of both attempted and completed violent crimes involved using guns as self-defense behavior between years 2007 and 2011. The most reliable data show that guns were used only 338,700 times in self-defense, and this includes off-duty police. Truly handguns deter criminals from committing crimes such as burglary in people’s homes. Given that there are more than 300 millions guns in the United States, it is impossible to suggest that guns are an effective form for self-defense in public. Allowing citizens to carry a concealed handgun does not lessen the chance of being attacked. Instead, it increases the chances of unintended public shootings. Aristotle made a strong argument in the Nicomachean Ethics, a wise man will never put himself into needless danger. Carrying guns will never be intelligent action as it potentially put one’s lives into danger. If citizens are permitted to carry concealed guns in public areas, criminals are also more likely to be armed. The reason is that there is always a chance that victims would be armed. Moreover, killing with guns is not necessary even it is for self-defense. Applying Aristotle’s virtue ethics, living is necessary to be happy. Caring about others is human nature as people are social animals. But killing with guns will absolutely unnecessary for personal happiness as it may lead to horrible thing happen on other people. Gun violence is not the only way to fight against violence. There are still many other ways that citizens can defend themselves in  public. Most important, the Second Amendment limits the concealed carry right. Every constitutional right comes with reasonable restrictions when it begins to threaten the nation and other citizens. In other words, although individuals’ freedom of religious belief is advocated by the constitution, they are still not allowed to practice human sacrifice, as it is a violation of human rights. In the same manner, individuals can get themselves into troubles of libel and slander, defamation even though they have freedom of speech. Hence gun rights are not an exception either. It is true that the Second Amendment guarantees that individuals with clean records are allowed keeping arms for defending themselves and their property lawfully at homes. The law clearly states that reasonable citizens have the right to bear arms and keep the government secure. But it does not mean that they can carry guns everywhere. According to Adam Cohen who is a former member of the New York Times editorial board, the Supreme Court in Heller declared â€Å"America has a long tradition of bans on concealed weapons – and of courts upholding them.† Therefore, the Second Amendment does not extend to the right to carry a concealed weapon in public. Law-biding citizens can keep their guns at home and that is enough. Guns do not make sense for solving problems and are not going to not make today’s society better. To sum up, carrying concealed weapons in public threatesn the constitutional order. Recent mass shootings have become one portion of the long-term trend of gun violence in the United States. As mentioned above, the dangers of concealed weapons in public places are something that should no longer be ignored. Without doubt, there are only two reasons for carrying guns in public. One is to prevent individuals from danger and another is to commit a crime. If everyone are not allow to carry concealed handguns in public places, then why is there a need for individuals to carry guns? Though it is unlikely that the debate between gun ownership and concealed carry rights will ever end; one thing is certain, legalizing concealed carry may obviously cause more lethal crimes to occur. The American political system needs to find a balance between security and freedom. Banning concealed carry is something the federal government of America should take into considerations. Work Cited ProCon.org. (2014, October 28). Concealed Guns ProCon.org. Retrieved from http://concealedguns.procon.org/ Bagnall, J. (23, December 12). Column: Gun laws make a difference in mass killings. Retrieved November 17, 2014, from http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/columnists/column-gun-laws-make-a-difference-in-mass-killings-1.32450 Lao-Tzu. Tao Te Ching. Retrieved November 18, 2014, from http://taoism.net/ttc/complete.htm Guns are Rarely Used to Kill Criminals or Stop Crimes New VPC Analysis Reveals. (2013, April 15). Retrieved November 17, 2014, from http://www.vpc.org/press/1304self.htm Ross, W.D. Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle. Retrieved November 20, 2014, from http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.2.ii.html Cohen, A. (2013, March 4). The Next Gun Control Battle: A Right To Carry Firearms in Public? Retrieved November 18, 2014, from http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/04/the- next-gun-control-battle-a-right-to-carry-firearms-in-public/

Dupont Case Study Essay

Tom Harris is the General Manager of Dupont, which is the major employer in their community. Big changes had taken place when the Orlon plant had closed down, but few changes had taken place. Projects such as getting rid of one operation and installing another was being seen as regular business so there was no change management rubric. GM Harris went to the University of Virginia seeking advice from the academic community to bring some of the latest thinking in business to the Dupont plant. He specifically wanted to introduce his managers to new ideas and how to apply those ideas to improving to the plant. He stated he was not looking to improve overall organization effectiveness. He stated he was under increasing pressure to do more with less. A general bulletin was sent out to all employees stating the work culture that would be built. It stated that a representative from University of Virginia would be spending time at the plant and had been asked to give new perspectives on the work being done and the organization as whole. The hope was that it would help develop people and continually improve production. The most important goal was to help the staff appreciate and develop what goes right, assist in building on the strengths and to make the plant work better for everyone. It was also made clear that the representatives presense was not to suggest there was a particular problem, and the result is due to the plants desire to continuously improve. Over a six month time period interviews were conducted with workers and managers. Time was spent in the workplace and the representative learned about the day to day activities at the plant. This produced a description of the shared stock of knowledge that organizational members used to interpret events and generate behavior. What was made explicit with that process was the local widely used everyday common sense model performance unique to the plant and it’s atmosphere. A part of the culture that came out of this fact finding was that the local model of teamwork was organized around a southern stock-car racing metaphor. It was used to explain teamwork and the pattern for accomplishing it. Everyone knew the metaphor, so it was understood. The General Manager and the other managers were surprised to learn of the NASCAR metaphor, but it explained why they had not recognized existing teamwork in the workplace for they had different language used for teamwork. This metaphor gave them a language to introduce change for improvement. It also illuminated of the local meaning of effective supervision, high performance, and what constituted a good day at the plant with making improvements. Managers were instructed to use the findings of the study. It was felt the new understanding could be used to interpret the local meaning of effective work to capitalize on strengths, to expand and develop existing good practices. This would also help to problem solve. It was found too that the findings of the study could also be used as a basis for experiements. There existed a Leadership Core Team who were instructed to introduce change as an experiment. It was to be explained that it was to be tried and watched closely, and if after a designated time it was not working as planned, it can be stopped.

Responsible Borrowing Worksheet Essay

Many students borrow federal student loans to pay for college. The goal of this assignment is to help you learn how to borrow responsibly, which may mean that you do not borrow at all or that you borrow only what you truly need. To borrow responsibly, you must understand your options and establish a financial plan for your entire program. With that plan in place, you can then focus on your classes and making connections with instructors and other students. Step 1 Watch the â€Å"Responsible Borrowing (Financial Aid)† video on the orientation website located here: http://www.phoenix.edu/student-orientation.html. Respond to the following questions: What is financial aid? Financial Aid is any grant or scholarship, loan, or paid employment offered to help a student meet his/her college expenses. Such aid is usually provided by various sources such as federal and state agencies, colleges, high schools, foundations, and corporations. How do grants differ from loans? Grants are money you don’t have to repay and are usually based on your financial need while loans are money you borrow that you must pay back, usually with interest costs. The major grants are Cal Grants, federal Pell Grants and some smaller federal grants What effect does class attendance have on funding availability? Students must attend school continuously, with no attendance breaks greater than 14 days, to retain disbursed federal financial aid funds. A leave of absence must be requested and approved if a student requires more than 14 days away from class. Step 2 Navigate to the Personal Finance category of the GEN/127 PhoenixConnect Community. Explore the resources provided and some of the discussions shared by the community members. Respond to the following questions: What did you find about student loan repayment plans? I found out that there are interests rates that cling to the loan and also you should pay close attention to the money you burrow in unsubsidized and subsidized loans because you will have to pay that back and also may sure you keep up with how much your borrowing and the dates that you will have to start repaying, you don’t want them to go into default. Why is having an educational financial plan important? You will need this so you can map out how much needs to be funded for your course and class, its very vital you pay attention to this because you could end up not having enough, thesethings you want to plan out and make sure of so you wont have any bumps or faults along the way. Step 3 Access the Financial Plan at www.phoenix.edu/financialplan. Enter your program and respond to the questions. Explore the information about options for payment, reducing cost, and military students (if applicable). If you have already completed the plan as part of the enrollment process, you can use those results for this step. Based on this plan, what is your estimated monthly payment when you enter repayment? My estimated monthly repayment fee is $56 a month. As a result of completing the plan, what changes can you make to reduce the amount you may borrow? Why? I can check for the cost of the classes so I wont borrow so much, just what I need to pay the cost of each class that way I wont over draw.

Wilfred Owen Anthem for Doomed Youth Analysis

Anthem of the Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen The poem I chose to study is â€Å"Anthem of the doomed youth† by Wilfred Owen. Wilfred Owen, the son of a railway worker, was born in Plas Wilmot, near Oswestry, on 18th March, 1893. Owen's youthful illusion of the glory of fighting as a soldier was reflected in his words to his mother on his return to England shortly before volunteering for the army†¦ â€Å"I now do most intensely want to fight. † In the summer of 1917 Owen was badly concussed at the Somme after a shell landed just two yards away.After several days in a bomb crater with the mangled corpse of a fellow officer, Owen was diagnosed as suffering from shell shock. While recovering at Craig Lockhart War Hospital he met the poet Siegfried Sassoon. Owen showed Sassoon his poetry, who advised and encouraged him. So also did another writer at the hospital, Robert Graves. Sassoon suggested that Owen should write in a more direct, colloquial style and thus guided him into writing â€Å"Anthem for the doomed youth† amongst several other poems he wrote during his stay at the hospital. Anthem for a doomed youth† it is a Shakespearean sonnet with a rhyming scheme of abab cdcd effe gg. It's a very traditional format, which isn't surprising as Siegfried Sassoon, a very experienced and traditional poet, collaborated with Owen to write this much thought out piece. Because the poem was a collaboration, the style stands out from many of his other pieces of work, as this is more traditional to what Owen would have normally written. In most cases, sonnets take their title from the first line; in this case the first line sets the mood for the reader by starting off with a question that the poet then proceeds to answer.Though the poem is war based, the title itself suggests innocence with â€Å"youth† which may suggest a connection with the church, as an anthem is a choral composition. However, the word â€Å"doomed† also adds a si nister touch to the sonnet which could also be taken as a premonition of doom, which intrigues the reader to read on to find the cause of the supposed â€Å"doom†. Instantly with the first line Owen refers to the soldiers who die in the battle as â€Å"these who die as cattle†. It makes the men seem like a sort of strength with no real meaning behind it, like soldiers sent to battle and inevitably be slaughtered yet not fully realising why.The next two lines then take the reader to the battle, where the disturbing and frightening atmosphere of gunshots is emphasised as a, â€Å"monstrous anger† He also gives the atmosphere a more dramatic effect by using alliteration, â€Å"rifle's rapid rattle† which emphasises the harsh and unrelenting sounds of the battlefield. So loud and unrelenting that it drowns out their quick prayers made in haste, not allowing them their moment of God's guidance, â€Å"Patter out their hasty Orisons. In the next line, â€Å"No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells†, this could be a more personal belief of Owen's, that fighting and killing are wrong in the eyes of god, as he said in a letter to his mother, â€Å"namely that one of Christ's essential commands was: Passivity at any price! Suffer dishonour and disgrace, but never resort to arm. Be bullied, be outraged, be killed, but do not kill. † In the next few lines of the octave he changes the, what I feel like sort of a homely religious scene into something more disturbing and frightening, as mourning choirs becomes a â€Å"shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells. And it seems that throughout the poem he likes to keep a sense of innocence about the soldiers, calling them â€Å"boys† which emphasises on how the young the soldiers were, which makes the sonnet more moving and causes the reader to feel sympathy ands perhaps some sort of sadness. In the last few lines of the poem Owen mentions what when they die they don't have a decent funeral, merely memories of those they left behind, â€Å"but in their eyes shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. It reminded me mainly how the soldiers weren't the only ones who had suffered throughout the war, all those loved ones that they left behind had nothing to bury or see for the last time, just memories of their husbands, sons, brothers, fathers and uncles. The poem itself flows smoothly as Owen keeps the rhythm going at a slow and steady pace, causing the reader to think about it more carefully, using mainly full stops rather commas. This may suggest that Owen wants the reader to stop for a moment and think about what he just said, to try and picture it in you mind, â€Å"Only the monstrous anger of the guns. On that line I think that Owen probably wanted us, as the reader to imagine the tremendous noise that would be surrounding the soldiers. It would have struck fear into the hearts of the soldier and reader as it did to me. And also when he says  "glimmers of goodbyes. † This brings a lot of emotion to the sonnet; it made me feel sadness and sympathy for those left behind in the war. The soldier who wrote this sonnet experienced many tragedies and horrors serving at the front line for what he thought at first, to be a noble cause, which turned out to be a mass slaughter for causes unknown to the common soldier.I felt that Wilfred Owen captures the reality of the war in this very touching and moving sonnet; by emphasising the number of deaths of the innocent he outlines the severity of the war. And I like the fact that because of his first hand experience, he wrote what no journalist or any sort of media could have portrayed as romantic or heroic, he wrote what he saw before him, in the eyes of his fellow men and soldiers

A researcher strongly believes Essay

1.A researcher strongly believes that physicians tend to show female nurses less attention and respect than they show male nurses. she sets up an experimental study involving observations of health clinics in different conditions. In explaining the study to the physicians and nurses who will participate, what steps should the researcher take to eliminate experimental bias based on both experimenter expectations and participant expectations.? The first step should be to consider that using an experiment in clinical conditions is a bad idea. An ethnographic study might be a better approach. The next step should be to consider what is really being studied. Is the point of the study to determine how physicians treat female nurses when compared to male nurses, or is it to determine the degree of difference? Would the individual’s gender (both that of the doctor and that of the nurse) make a difference? The results of a study would not be valid without considering the possibility that it is gender, not sex, that makes the difference. If pressed to design this experiment, I would gain permission to do the observation (or experiment, if you prefer). Then I would ask the doctors and nurses involved to participate in training vignettes. I would film the vignettes so that my work could be triangulated by other researchers. I would have a research assistant play the role of a patient, but would not disclose to the doctor and nurse that this was not a real patient. I would ask the doctor(s) to film the training vignette, perhaps of the way to decide whether or not to order a particular type of test, twice. The first time they would be given a male or female nurse; the second time, the reverse. The videos would be observed by myself and a research diary kept, with my personal feelings about the vignettes and the participant’s actions recorded so that any bias could be accounted for later. I would write my conclusions about the individual’s behaviors. Then, I would have two other researchers do the same. The conclusions of the three researchers would be compared and if two of the researchers had the same opinion about the behaviors of the physician, that opinion would be recorded as the official observation. The outlier observation would be recorded and archived. If the time was available I would film each physician six times: with a masculine male nurse, with a feminine male nurse, with a masculine female nurse, with a feminine female nurse, and with an obviously transgender male and female. The repetitive nature of doing this could easily be explained by saying the â€Å"client† was not clear what they wanted yet. 2.In what ways is the â€Å"fight-or-flight response helpful to humans in emergency situations? The fight or flight response helps the individual who is in an emergency situation to get the â€Å"blood pumping† so that the body can effectively run, or fight. The heart rate goes up; the individual may sweat or develop goose bumps. The sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system governs flight or fight. Once the emergency is over – or perhaps, there never was an emergency, but the person believed there was – the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system takes over and helps calm the body down. The parasympathetic system stores energy for the next time it is needed in an emergency. The simplistic answer to this question is that fight or flight helps the human body prepare to survive. 3 Much research is being conducted on repairing faulty sensory organs through devices such as personal guidance systems and eyeglasses, among others. Do you think that researcher should attempt to improve normal sensory capabilities beyond their â€Å"natural† range (for example make human visual or audio capabilities more sensitive than normal)? What problems might this cause? This is both a question of science, and of ethics. We may be able to do something (even without unwanted side effects) but this does not mean we should. Once the capacity exists to better ourselves through technology, individuals who are in competitive situations will want this technology to make themselves more competitive. Perhaps a cochlear implant, for example, can be used not only for the non-hearing to hear, but to make the hearing have something resembling super-hearing, without being detectable by others. It is easy to foresee a situation where CEOs would want this implant to make  it possible to hear what members of the board are muttering, or that football players would want it so they can hear what the opposing quarterback is saying in the huddle. From a technical perspective, however, the human body is not comprised of stand-alone parts any more than a car or truck is. The body is put together in a system. The body’s parts are designed to work together in a particular way, much the same way that the carburetor, air filter, engine, spark plugs, and cooling system are designed to work together in a vehicle. The vehicle cannot work correctly if the driver of a 68 Mustang takes out the fuel pump designed for that vehicle and inserts one designed for a 2002 Humvee. The frame is not the same; the engine is not the same. Parts are not plug-and-play; they are not interchangeable. They have to be matched. In a car, trying to string together parts designed for a variety of vehicles will result in one of three outcomes: either the parts won’t work together as a whole, they will work together but badly, or they will work together and then blow out prematurely. The human body would be exactly the same. One size does not fit all.

Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries Article

Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries - Article Example This topic bears importance in that if wielded appropriately it may just be the ticket out of poverty lines for developing nations. Growth of the economy by seven or eight percent is achievable but only if there is investment of around 35 to 40 percent of the GDP. National savings undoubtedly fall short of this by a huge margin. Therefore, it is up to foreign borrowing and investments to meet this gap. Thus, it is imperative for the governments of developing nations to providing incentives to investors. This paper will focus on the foreign direct investments in developing countries and the impact it causes to both participating parties (Moran 75). The political and social changes of late 20th century and the recent technological advancements have brought about immense changes in the economic situation of the present world. The planned economies are failing and their retreat from the global economy. The development and the rising influence of free and open market economies and the ever stronger tendency towards a world economy. Predicts broad changes in various interacting phases (e.g. economical, political and social) of the global community in the future. The old restrictions and monopoly of the old world transformed into friendly smiles and gentle politics with policies of closed economies being dumped and nations embracing the open capitalist economies. This phenomenon has puzzled many. Everyone however seems to agree on a single point. There would be no foreign direct investment if the markets were perfectly competitive. Therefore, markets are to work efficiently and ensuring there is no barriers in the form of trade or c ompetition; then the phenomenon of FDI is much more likely. Many theories have tried explaining this phenomenon. These theories attempt to explain this phenomenon based on different assertions such as perfect and imperfect competition of markets. The currency based methods as well as those that