Based on Feminist theory, which may include patriarchy (e.g Assignment

Based on Feminist theory, which may include patriarchy (e.g. MacKinnon; Pateman), the essay is about The pay gap between men and women in Australia) - Assignment Example The gender wage gap is larger for the private sector than the public sector, and it is highest in the health care and social assistance sector. As women grow older, the wage gap also increases. This item is relevant to the study because it provides statistics for existing wage gap differences and where they can be found. It is also linked with other statistics and studies that determines that gender discrimination is the predominant cause of the gender wage gap. Dr. Lena Madesin Phillips established The International Federation of Business and Professional Women (BPW International) in 1930. BPW International is part of international networks of business and professional women with affiliates in 95 countries. This web page offers numerous articles regarding gender pay gap across the world. It shows that Australia’s wage gap is lower than Austria, Germany, and Belgium, but higher than New Zealand and France. Eveline, J., & Todd, P. (2010). Gender mainstreaming: The answer to the gender pay gap? In C.L. Bacchi (Ed.), Mainstreaming politics: Gendering practices and feminist theory (pp.163-190). South Australia: University of Adelaide Press. Eveline and Todd (2010) examined if gender mainstreaming is an effective policy in decreasing wage gaps between men and women. They conducted a systematic review of gender mainstreaming in Australian states. They defined gender mainstreaming as a strategy for embedding gender concerns into studying and developing institutional arrangements, market structure, wage policies, and social norms. They stressed that the application of the enterprise bargaining system since the 1990s worsened gender wage gap in Australia. They noted from their review that gender mainstreaming cannot be effective as a gender wage gap corrector without supporting industrial relations policy changes. This item is relevant to the topic because it studies the effects of gender pay gap in Australia and focuses on the

Rebuttal on Mark Twains the World Is Not Civilized Essay Example for Free

Rebuttal on Mark Twains the World Is Not Civilized Essay Mark Twain says that the human race I cruel, and uncivilized. Unlike the animals, humans have the ability to care for those who are weak, sick, and otherwise unfortunate. In the wild if an animal is sick or weak, they are abandoned by their own species and are, ultimately, a source of food for another. The wounded are killed without a hesitation. Man has compassion, not only for our species but for the others. There are many organizations that are created to help people in need. There is the Red Cross that steps in during an emergency to provide shelter, blood and food to those who need it. There are homeless shelters that take in the homeless to shelter them from the elements. There are soup-kitchens that feed the homeless. There are childrens homes that provide a safe place for orphaned or abandoned children to grow up. There is Breast Cancer Awareness, AIDS foundations, and a society to end world hunger. All of these organizations are founded to help someone or something that is in need. Twain says â€Å"I was aware that many men who have accumulated more millions of money than they can ever use have shown a rabid hunger for more, and have not scrupled to cheat the ignorant and the helpless out of their poor servings in order to partially appease that appetite. Even though it may be true that rich men want to get richer, the wealthy people are the ones that are most charitable. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, two of the richest men in America, give millions of dollars annually to various foundations and charities that help people all over the world Man also helps the animals. There are many organizations that help animals and the planet. Some of those include PETA and Green Peace. We even try to help the earth. New inventions are being created just to help the earth. They start business just to keep specific animals from going extinct. We share and support other countries. When the hurricane in Haiti happened people helped. Resources were given because of the generosity of man. When countries are in need they are helped. When the flood came to Tennessee the people gave some time for community service. Some people that didn’t get hit by the flood could have done nothing but they decided to help others. Man created governments to stop the fighting. Laws were created in order to have a calm and safe environment. Man Negotiates to prevent wars and battles from happening. We also come up with compromise and treaties in order to get peace. For example the Treaty of Versailles was ratified after negotiating and finally coming to a compromise. We don’t just go ahead and fight who ever walk across our territories like the lions.

Poverty Elimination by NGOs

Poverty Elimination by NGOs Assessing NGOs performance in poverty reduction is a difficult task. However, it is worth learning from other observations conducted on NGO performance in alleviating poverty NGOs have increased the scale on the type of roles they play. In this contemporary time, NGOs are tremendously working, and helping government, institutions, and the rural poor in the fight against poverty in Sub-Saharan African, which was their traditional role during the World Wars. Although NGOs are appraised for their tremendous work, other scholars have opined that they do not see their essence due to the fact that many have fallen below expectations. In this Chapter, however, researchers task is to review the literature of other scholarly works as it relate to NGOs roles in poverty alleviation. Desai (2005) has mentioned that NGOs have an important role to play in supporting women, men and households, community groups, civil society groups and expected that they can meet the welfare. She accounted some role and functions for NGOs, such as counseling and support service, awareness raising and advocacy, legal aid and microfinance. These services help the people to achieve their ability, skill and knowledge, and take control over their own lives and finally become empowered and self-reliance. I agree with the author, because if a project like microfinance is enforced, the living standard of people will be improved. This evidence will be seen in the next chapter. Strom quits (2002) has also noted three major functions for NGOs such as (service delivery (e.g. relief, welfare, basic skills); educational provision (e.g. basic skills and often critical analysis of social environments); and public policy advocacy as this is the case with NGOs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Baccaro (2001), in his writing depicted how particular NGOs with a definite mission statements can promote the organization and empowerment of the poor, particularly poor women, through a combination of micro-credit, awareness-raising, training for group members which is capacity building and other social services, with an aim to reduce poverty among societies. NGOs general aim is to alleviate poverty through activities that promote capacity building and self-reliance. Langran (2002) has mentioned that NGOs through capacity building help to sustain community development assist government in the provision of basic social amenities. NGOs are often created in order to expand the capacities of people and government there by breaching the gap of poverty (Korten 1990). NGOs are praised for promoting community self-reliance and empowerment through supporting community-based groups and relying on participatory processes (Korten 1990; Clark 1991; Friedmann 1992; Fowler 1993; Edwards and Hulme 1994; Salamon 1994).In Sub-Saharan Africa for instance where survival for daily bread is a major hurdle, NGOs have been seen as liberators of human suffering the evidence is in Sierra Leone were sixty percent of citizens survival dependent upon donors. Sustainable development, on the other hand, has emerged over the past few decades as an important paradigm for poverty alleviation. As Bradshaw and Winn (2000) have noted, sustainability is rooted largely in an environmental approach, particularly in the industrialized countries. But, the goal of sustainable development is to find a balance between three pillars social, economic and environmental of communities (Sneddon 2000). Hibbard and Tang (2004) in their study in Vietnam have noted the importance of NGOs roles in sustainable community development. One of the roles was that NGOs balance the social, economic and environmental factors in promoting sustainable development. Another important role of NGO that they discovered was decentralization of the central government which helps the local communities to acquire more power in order to make their own decisions. As in the case of Sierra Leone where civil society groups and other NGOs like MERLIN, Caritas and CRS, have succeeded in winning bills for decentralization in the Health ministry. But, sometimes the local communities lack specialists to do professional work and resources that are important for the particular projects. In this situation, NGO assists local staff with drafting sustainable development plans that are functional under the umbrella of a central government policy. Finally, they concluded that poverty alleviation is process-oriented, and it requires extensive community participation and relies on network to share resources, knowledge and expertise. From the literatures, it could be summarized that NGOs play an important function in fighting poverty via promoting sustainable community development. Sustainable community development emphasizes on a balance between environmental concerns and development objectives, while simultaneously enhancing local social relationships. Sustainable communities meet the economic needs of their residents, enhance and protect the environment, and promote more human local societies (Bridger and Luloff 1997). Through the functions of providing microfinance, initiating capacity building and self -reliance, peace building projects, relief services during emergencies, NGOs could bridge the gap of poverty in Sub-Saharan African. Below are the reviews of NGOs roles, functions and strategies they used to fight poverty. 2.1- NGOs MICROFINANCE ROLE A STRATEGY FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION Microfinance is another important sector that NGOs have fully ultilised in reaching out to the poor. Their roles in this sector, has immensely contributed to alleviating poverty among the poor. The purpose of using microfinance to alleviate poverty is as a result of what role microfinance can play and what impact it created on the beneficiaries. Microfinance has a very important role to play in development according to proponents of microfinance. In the 1990s, scholars have increasingly referred to microfinance as an effective means of poverty reduction (Rekha 1995; Cerven and Ghazanfar 1999; Pankhurst and Johnston 1999). The microfinance has long existed in Africa, but saw it decline when government established banking institutions took over Oxaal and Baden (1997). The World Bank found, in 1998, that the poorest 48% of Bangladeshi families with access to microcredit from Grameen Bank rose above the poverty line. In Peoples Republic of China (PRC), for instance, microfinance programs have helped lift 150 million people out of poverty since 1990 (UNHDR, 2005). Similarly in, in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Liberia, MkNelly and Dunford (1998) Mansaray (1998-99), found that microcredit beneficiaries increased their income by $36, compared with $18 for nonclients. Clients of microfinance generally shifted from irregular, low-paid daily jobs to more secured employment in India (Simanowitz, 2003) and Bangladesh (Zaman, 2000). Otero (1999, p.10) illustrates the various ways in which microfinance, at its core combats poverty. She states that microfinance creates access to productive capital for the poor, which together with human capital, addressed through education and training, and social capital, achieved through local organization building, enables people to move out of poverty (1999). By providing material capital to a poor person, their sense of dignity is strengthened and this can help to empower the person to participate in the economy and society (Otero, 1999). The aim of microfinance according to Otero (1999) is not just about providing capital to the poor to combat poverty on an individual level, it also has a role at an institutional level. It seeks to create institutions that deliver financial services to the poor, who are continuously ignored by the formal banking sector. Mayoux (2000) and Cheston and Khan (2002) have pointed out the importance of microfinance in empowerment, particularly women empowerment. Microfinance is defined as efforts to improve the access to loans and to saving services for poor people (Shreiner2001). UNCDF (2001) states that studies have shown that microfinance plays key roles in development. It is currently being promoted as a key development strategy for promoting poverty eradication and economic empowerment. It has the potential to effectively address material poverty, the physical deprivation of goods and services and the income to attain them by granting financial services to households who are not supported by the formal banking sector (Sheraton 2004). Microcredit programs provide small loans and savings opportunities to those who have traditionally been excluded from commercial financial services. As a development inclusion strategy, adopted by NGOs through the provision of funds to both locally established groups and government and private institutions, microfinance programs emphasize womens economic contribution as a way to increase overall financial efficiency within national economies. This is because in Sub-Saharan Africa, as whole women are said to be bread winners and care takers of their families. It should be noted that women are always at mercy regarding social misshapes .According to Cheston and Khan (2002), one of the most popular forms of economic empowerment for women is microfinance, which provides credit for poor women who are usually excluded from formal credit institutions. This issue of gender discrimination in the microfinance sector have been researched and debated by donor agencies, NGOs, feminists, and activists (Johnson and Rogaly 1997; Razavi 1997; Kabeer 1999; Mayoux 2001; Mahmud 2003). However, underneath these shared concerns lie three fundamentally different approaches to microfinance: financial sustainability, feminist empowerment, and poverty alleviation. All three microfinance approaches have different goals coupled with varied perspectives on how to incorporate gender into microfinance policy and programs (Mayoux 2000). The microfinance empowers women by putting capital in their hands and allowing them to earn an independent income and contribute financially to their households and communities. This economic empowerment is expected to generate increased self-esteem, respect, and other forms of empowerment for women beneficiaries. Some evidence show that microfinance would empower women in some domains such as increased participation in decision making, more equitable status of women in the family and community, increased political power and rights, and increased self-esteem (Cheston and Kuhn 2002). Well-being as an output of microfinance not only covers the economic indicators, but also other indicators such as community education, environment, recreation and accessibility to social services. It is related to the quality of life (Asnarulkhadi 2002). In order to gain economic sustainability, NGOs through microfinance help the communities to reduce poverty, create jobs, and promote income generation. In the developing countries, sustainability is linked more closely to issues of poverty and the gross inequalities of power and resources (Hamnett and Hassan 2003). This is due to the fact that in the Third World countries like sub-Saharan Africa, the ecological system, climate, sometimes conflicts with the socio-economic needs of local people who depend on a local ecosystem for their survival (Nygren 2000). In contrast, in the developed countries, as Bradshaw and Winn (2000) have noted, more priority is given on environmental aspect of sustainable development. Despite the importance attached to microfinance as an effective tool for poverty alleviation, yet it cannot be over ruled that this sector do have many problems. This has even led some scholars to doubt it usefulness, there by suggesting that NGOs still need to do more to reach out to the poor. Littlefield, Murduch and Hashemi (2003), Simanowitz and Brody (2004) and the IMF (2005) have commented on the critical role of microfinance in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Simanowitz and Brody (2004, p.1) state, Microfinance is a key strategy in reaching the MDGs and in building global financial systems that meet the needs of the most poor people. Littlefield, Murduch and Hashemi (2003) state microfinance is a critical contextual factor with strong impact on the achievements of the MDGsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦microfinance is unique among development interventions: it can deliver social benefits on an ongoing, permanent basis and on a large scale. Referring to various case studies, they show how microfinance has played a role in eradicating poverty, promoting education, improving health and empowering women (2003). However, other scholars are not enthusiastic about the role of microfinance in development because of it lapses, and it is important to realize that microfinance is not a all done strategy when it comes to fighting poverty. Hulme and Mosley (1996), while acknowledging the role microfinance can have in helping to reduce poverty, concluded from their research on microfinance that most contemporary schemes are less effective than they might be (1996, p.134). They state that microfinance is not a total solution for poverty-alleviation and that in some cases the poorest people have been made worse-off by microfinance. Wright (2000,p.6) states that much of the skepticism of MFIs stems from the argument that microfinance projects fail to reach the poorest, generally have a limited effect on incomeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦drive women into greater dependence on their husbands and fail to provide additional services desperately needed by the poor. In addition, Wright says that many development practitioners not only find microfinance inadequate, but that it actually diverts funding from more pressing or important interventions such as health and education (2000, p.6). As argued by Navajas et al (2000), there is a danger that microfinance may siphon funds from other projects that might help the poor more. They state that governments and donors should know whether the poor gain more from microfinance, than from more health care or food aid for example. Therefore, there is a need for all involved in microfinance and development to ascertain what exactly has been the impact of microfinance in combating poverty. Considerable debate remains about the effectiveness of microfinance as a tool for directly reducing poverty, and about the characteristics of the people it benefits (Chowdhury, Mosley and Simanowitz, 2004). Sinha (1998) argues that it is notoriously difficult to measure the impact of microfinance programmes on poverty. 2.2. NGOs CAPACITY BUILDING ROLE A STRATEGY FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION Capacity building is another NGOs strategy and role that helps to bridge a gap between the haves and have not in society. Capacity building is an approach to development that builds independence. It can be: A means to an end, where the purpose is for others to take on programs. Is a process, where the capacity building strategies are routinely incorporated as an important element of effective practice (NSW Health 2001). Langran (2002) has defined capacity building as the ability of one group (NGOs) to strengthen the development abilities of another group (local communities) through education, skill training and organizational support. Capacity building is a strategy used to develop not a set of pre-determined activities. There is no single way to the build capacity of an individual or groups of individuals. Although experience tells us that there is a need to work across the key action areas, practitioners approach each situation separately to identify pre-existing capacities and develop strategies particular to a program or organization, in its time and place. Before beginning to build capacity within programs, practitioners need to identify pre-existing capacities such as skills, structures, partnerships and resources. Frankish (2003) has counted a number of dimensions for community capacity including financial capacity (resources, opportunities and knowledge), human resources (skills, motivations, confidence, and relational abilities and trust) and social resources (networks, participation structures, shared trust and bonding). UNDP (1997-2009) has introduced capacity building as the process by which individuals, groups, and organizations increase their abilities to first, perform core functions, solve problems, define and achieve objectives; and second, understand and deal with their development needs in a broad context and in a sustainable manner. NGOs, through the provision of education, skills and knowledge, develop the capacity of community towards achieving sustainable development. In fact, NGOs act as a capacity builder to help the communities to develop the resources, building awareness, motivating to participation in project and finally improving the quality of communitys lives. Inger Ulleberg (2009) has supported the view that NGOs play important role through the provision of skills for the rural poor. He has maintained that through capacity building, NGOs have been able to reach the poor, and has contributed to the development of the beneficiaries through skills training, the given of technical advice, exchange of experiences, research and policy advice which is key to todays development. Through the case study of Afghanistan NGOs, it suggested that these areas of interest have yielded fruit for the intended beneficiaries. The activities have usually strengthened the skills of individuals, as it was intended but have not always succeeded in improving the effectiveness of the ministries and other organizations where those individuals are working. This according to Kpaka (2007) considered it as a failure on the part of the implementers because of improper allocation of stratetigies and argues that they failed because of poor planning and poor implementation strategy. 2.3.NGOs ROLES OF SELF-RELIANCE AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT A STRATEGY FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION Self-reliance is another strategy that affects sustainable community development. Effective community development sits on the foundation of self-reliance. The concept of self-reliance is strategically situated within the essence of community development and is related to other concepts like mutual-help, self-help, participation of the indigenous people and rural progress. Self-reliance encourages the necessity for people to use local initiatives, their abilities and their own possessions to improve their condition. Fonchingong and Fonjong (2002) have pointed out that self-reliance is increasingly being adopted as modus operandi for community development. Therefore, to attain self-reliance, NGOs and community groups must discover their own potential and look for ways to innovatively develop such discovered potential to use as sources of wealth for the development of the community (Ife and Tesoriero 2006). Motivating and mobilizing people to be self-reliant and to participate in development activities become an important objective of the NGOs. According to Kelly (1992), self-reliance means that the people rely on their own resources and are independent of funds sourced outside the community. Self-reliant strategy relies on the willingness and ability of the local people to depend on their own available resources and technology which they can control and manage. A self-reliant strategy requires the optional use of all available human, natural and technological resources (Agere 1982). Although dependence on the state maybe desirable in the short term, it should not be a long term objective, because the aim of the community development must ultimately be self-reliance. Mansaray (1982) has maintained that reliance on external resources will lead to the loss of autonomy and independence of the community, therefore communities should be bound to carry out autonomous programmes. This according to him, autonomous communities can flourish only in the absence of such external dependency. According to Korten (1990), the second strategy of the NGOs focuses on developing the capacities of the people to better meet their own needs through self-reliant local action. In the second generation strategy, Korten (1990) mentioned that the local inertia is the heart of problem in a village or community. There is a potential energy in a community but remains inactive because of the inertia of tradition, isolation and lack of education. But this unwillingness on the part of the local beneficiaries can be broken through the intervention of an outside change agent, who supposedly are to be NGOs, whose role is to who help the community realize its potentials through education, organization, consciousness raising, small loans and the introduction of simple new technologies. It is the stress on local self-reliance, with the intent that benefits will be sustained by community self-help action beyond the period of NGO assistance (Korten 1990). Therefore, NGOs, through the strategy of self-reliance, has facilitated sustainable development of the community through its participation in the community actives, project sponsorship, monitoring and evaluation processes. 2.4. NGOS PEACE BUILDING ROLE A STRATEGY FOR POVERTY FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION NGOs roles are extended to peace building in Africa. The crucial role played by NGOs in the restoration of peace in war affected zones, is one seen as important. Many African countries have witnessed war and are still going through the trauma of war. Countries like Sierra Leone, Liberia, Angola, Somalia and many are witnesses of NGOs intervention in peace building. From the evidence of the current conflict in Afghanistan, Richard Barajas, Rachel Howard, Andrew Miner Jeff Sartin, Karina Silver (2000), have maintained that NGOs can play peace building roles. The presence of NGOs in Afghanistan according to them have led to the restoration of fair peace as their propagation of the human rights law, and their involvement in the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes, is fostering cooperation among the warlords. I am in total agreement with them. The role of Peace Wing in Sierra Leone, for instance, justify the effectiveness of peace building NGOs through their organizat ional strategies which was able to bring the rebels out of the bush and negotiating between the government and war factions to negotiate a peace talk rather using guns and bullets to cease war. 2.5. NGOs HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE/RELIEF SERVICES ROLES FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION The provision of food and non-food items during emergency periods and war time and other disasters periods, often see NGOs functions as important one. The provision of these items is short run but very significance in alleviating poverty. According to Kpaka (2007), humanitarian assistance is a fastest means to fight poverty and ensure sustainability in todays society. During emergency period, governments are unable to settle their displaced and refugee population, because of inadequacies of resources. As a result of the shortcoming of the government, the issue of NGOs influx into a country becomes unquestionable Kpaka (2007). Conflict and other disasters that occurred in society always left a strong poverty bench mark. During these conflicting periods, lives, properties, and physical infrastructures, diseases, and other hazardous issues are left as strong legacy in our society. To remedy these legacies, Humanitarian NGOs have different strategies to implement their relief programmes. Generally, the roles of NGOs are still debatable as many sees their roles as positive and others sees these roles as not proper. It has been noted that, NGO contributions in poverty reduction are limited. Edwards Hulme (1995:6) stated that it is difficult to find general evidence that NGOs are close to the poor. There is growing evidence that in terms of poverty reduction, NGOs do not perform as effectively as had been usually assumed by many agencies. More specific evidence is provided by Riddell and Robinson (1995) who conducted a case study on sixteen NGOs undertaken in four countries in Asia and Africa. They found that while NGO projects reach the poor people, they tend not to reach down to the very poorest. NGO projects also tend to be small scale. The total numbers assisted are also small. Furthermore, it is also rare for NGO projects to be financially self sufficient. Finally, although NGOs execute a number of very imaginative projects, many of them appear to be unwilling to innovate in certain areas or activities. Therefore, because of these limitations, the roles of NGOs in alleviating poverty cannot be exaggerated. 2.6. CONCLUTION The literature established the important roles played by of NGOs in the fight against poverty through micro-finance, capacity building, self-reliance, peace building, sustainable community development, and empowerment especially womens empowerment all aiming at poverty alleviation. NGOs through the micro-finance help members of community to access jobs, income-generation and improve economic situation there by alleviating poverty from the poor. And then they would become empowered economically. NGOs developed the capacities of community such as skills, abilities, knowledge, assets and motivates the community to participate in the project to improve the quality of their lives. NGOs act as capacity builders that help the community to achieve the empowerment particularly individual empowerment. Since the philosophy of community development is independent from any outside agents, thus the community must rely on their own resources. NGOs do assist the community to discover their potentials and also mobilize community to be self-reliant. Therefore, the final outcome of community development is the independence of the community from external agents in formulating its agenda and managing its affairs. This process involves capacity building, where people get involved in human capital training, transferring of authority from donor to recipient and receive supports from stakeholders (World Bank group 1999). When people become fully empowered, they are able to contribute toward sustainable development (Lyons et al. 2001). Therefore, NGOs through some programs and functions, such as microfinance, capacity building and self-reliance help community to be empowered, and finally contribute towards sustainable community development. However, though many dont see a need for NGOs in the fight against poverty alleviation in Sub-Saharan Africa, I strongly believed that presence in black Africa is importance. Their strategies and approaches they use to fight this disease is one that should not be neglected. Having looked into all the literature NGOs, in the next chapter, researcher will be discussing the strategies adopted by some NGOs in the fight against poverty.

Life and Work of Leonardo da Vinci Essay -- Leonardo da Vinci Painter

Life and Work of Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci had a powerful mind and was a very curious and daring boy. Leonardo was so curious about flying, he jumped off a barn with wings that he made by himself. Leonardo loved nature and exploring. He would also like to draw geometrical shapes. Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452 in Vinci, Italy. Vinci was a farming community with hillsides, growing grapes, fruit trees and olives. His mother was a peasant woman and his father was a notary. He was often alone, exploring and experimenting in the hills and other areas of his home. This gave him a bond and a love of nature that is reflected in all his art and sculpture. As a teenager, Leonardo was apprenticed to an artist and sculptor, named Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence. By the age of twenty-one Leonardo was an accomplished painter and sculptor. He painted many portraits of royalty, dukes, duchesses, kings and queens. His most famous portrait is the 'Mona Lisa'. The subject was the wife of a Florentine merchant. Its fame is due to her strange and mysterious smile. It is thought that Leonardo used court jesters to make her smile as he worked. Margaret Livingstone, a present-day authority on visual processing, has a scientific explanation about Mona Lisa's smile. When people look at a face, their eye goes to the eyes, and the peripheral vision, (the side vision), which is less accurate, goes to the other areas of the face. So, when someone looks at the eyes of Mona Lisa, the peripheral vision goes to her mouth, and the shadows painted there by Leonardo suggest to the viewer that "elusive smile". If you just looked at her mouth, she doesn't seem to be smiling at all. With Leonardo's extensive study of optics, this could have been deliberate, adding to h is genius. Leonardo experimented with different types of paints and plaster. This was probably one of the reasons for his interest in these arts, because he left so many works unfinished. Through his painting and sculpture, he found away to pursue his experiments and use the things he learned, and still be accepted by the society he lived in.. By 1503 he worked to aid Florence's war with Pisa. He designed an aqua duct plan to cut off the water to Pisa so that Florence would win the war. He was then established as a creative and talented engineer. He was often in the employ of the Nobility for his ... ... are loose papers, which come from various times of his life, are about the physical and geographical effects of water. Leonardo hoped to write a book about this subject. The Renaissance was a special time in the history of man. The word renaissance means rebirth. The Renaissance came following the Dark Ages. It was an explosion of creativity in art, literature, science and music. Leonardo da Vinci was born in these times. He was known as the "Renaissance Man", because he himself was an 'explosion' of all these things, and brought so much to them. Before the Renaissance, people had to spend their entire lives just struggling to exist. As you can see, Leonardo was a genius. He was extremely open-minded in his thinking. He wanted to know things, just for the sake of knowing them. He put pieces of knowledge together in different and new ways, like pieces of puzzles. His imagination gave him ideas that were hundreds of years ahead of his time. What we can learn from Leonardo is there is always something to discover in learning new things, and that something can be found in looking at something in many different ways. And each person can be many things throughout their lifetime.

The DEA :: essays research papers

On our planet, phenomena’s occur occasionally in nature. Tornadoes, earthquakes, and flashfloods are all types of phenomena’s that could occur. Most of these mysterious events are small and go unnoticed; however, on a rare occasion these sorts of event can be horrendous. One such occasion occurred back around 4,000 BC (Werner Keller, 48). As the story goes, God’s population was growing rapidly on earth. At this point, he had been growing bored with the same people on earth so he made sure no man would live past the age of 120. Given this time, the people of earth started to take advantage of the human race; these acts of selfishness disgusted God. He decided to destroy everything on earth. A man by the name of Noah had lived his life by God’s nature, which eventually led to a close relationship between the two. God had told Noah to build a boat with exact measurements. God had instructed Noah to put two of every kind of animal into the boat; one had to be male and the other female. Then God told Noah to get into the boat with his family, their families, and the animals. Then for forty days and forty nights the clouds seemed to have poured endless amounts of water onto the earth (Genesis 6:1-9). Floods rushed through the landscape, destroying everything in its path. The waters were higher than the tallest mountains, standing above the highest peaks. All living things on earth had died. The water covered the earth at this level for five months (Paul S. Taylor, 1). In time the water began to dry up. Eventually Noah was able to leave the ship and release all he had brought with him. From this point, evolution occurs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story of the great flood has been debated many times as far as its historical accuracy. Many experts seem to think that such an event would be unnatural while others believe that this great worldwide flood actually did occur. In today’s society, more people are beginning to question catastrophic events that occur in nature. This great flood seems to be a very common example of this. This research paper will investigate the Holy Bible’s reliability as scientific and historical literature by focusing on its recording of the great flood. Many people are interested in these world phenomena’s; this paper will aim to end some of the controversy about this particular phenomenon.

A Prayer for Owen Meany Essay -- Literary Analysis, John Irving

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving through a Jungian Archetypal Lens Carl Jung was a Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist who developed many theories concerning the unconscious mind. Jung’s theories state that the unconscious part of a human’s psyche has two different layers, the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. The personal unconscious is unique to every individual; however, the collective unconscious â€Å"is inborn.† (Carl Jung, Four Archetypes, 3) The collective unconscious is present in everyone’s psyche, and it contains archetypes which are â€Å"those psychic contents which have not yet been submitted to conscious elaboration† (Jung, Archetypes, 5); they are templates of thought that have been inherited through the collective unconscious. Jung has defined many different archetypes such as the archetype of the mother, the archetype of the hero, the archetype of the shadow, etc. These Jungian archetypes are often projected by the collective unconscious onto others. If the novel A Prayer for Ow en Meany by John Irving is examined through a Jungian archetypal lens it is possible to discern different archetypes projected by the protagonist’s unconscious self to illustrate the effects of the collective unconscious on character and plot analysis. Tabitha Wheelwright embodies the archetype of the mother. Which shows us how with reflection, John sees her with a divine quality; he mythologizes her. Jung’s theory states that: â€Å"Parents are early major carriers of projection, and children unconsciously project omnipotence and omniscience onto them. These are what Jung called archetypal projections. The parents become gods, invested with powers that people have attributed to the divine. ‘Daddy can do anything! He’s the str... ...f it is not accepted first. Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving is one of the many novels that can be analysed through a Jungian archetypal lens to show how the unconscious projection of archetypal images affects how a person views others people's actions and their behaviours. In this novel the narrator John Wheelwright projects different archetypes onto different people dependant on their role in his life. This shows us how the novel A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving is not objective because as a reader, you see all events and characters though John’s eyes. Everything that you read is tainted by the archetypal images John’s unconscious self which are being projected onto different characters and situations. This leads the reader to the question of how does one know that the story of Owen Meany is true, and that all the characters are portrayed truthfully.

Faulkner’s Religious Views in a Rose for Emily Essay

Introduction A. General words about William Faulkner and his A Rose for Emily B. The definition of gothic fiction C. The development of gothic fiction in modern time II. The gothic characteristics in A Rose for Emily A. The topic is mainly about murder, dead, violence and necrophilia, which is the â€Å"gothic topic† B. The character of Emily is stubborn, eccentric and mysterious, who is involved in â€Å"gothic form† C. The description of environment adopts the typical â€Å"gothic style† D. The flashback in A Rose for Emily expresses the mysterious atmosphere III. Conclusion: The perfect combination of the gothic form with realistic content in A Rose for Emily Abstract: This paper discusses the creative purpose of A Rose for Emily on the angle of the traditional gothic elements of European and American literature. It points out that William Faulkner uses the gothic characteristics in many aspects, such as topic, hero, environment and plot, etc. Meanwhile, he fills it with fresh air, symbolic meaning and his own emotion. All of these make A Rose for Emily rise at a perfect peak—the combination of gothic form and realistic content, so that the short storyis not only superior to the traditional â€Å"Black Romanticism†, but superior to the â€Å"Realism† in Victoria Age. Key words: William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily, gothic characteristics. I. Introduction A. General words about William Faulkner and his A Rose for Emily William Faulkner is one of the most distinguish writer in American literature. He was born in the South, and he wrote people, background and cases in the South. As the appearance of Faulkner, the South appeared the literary glories of â€Å"the South Renaissance†, which ever was called â€Å"the literary desert. â€Å"(Yu Jianhua, 2004: 460) Maybe there is never an American writer such as Faulkner who catches so many eyes of professors and critics. Even his short story, A Rose for Emily, some writers have discussed and explored it in many ways. However, this essay tries to discuss Faulkner’s creative purpose in the gothic style, which had a great influence on European and American literature. And it is to discover something new to give the reader enlightenment and thinking. B. The definition of gothic fiction The word â€Å"Goth† came from the name of a Germanic trap. The gothic people were famous for their brutal and uncivilized qualities. They ever lived in north Europe , then invaded in Rome Empire around the third AD century to the fifth AD century, and set many kingdoms in Italy, Spain, south part of France and north Africa. A thousand years later, after the Rome Empire died out, Italian Vasari (1511–1574) used the â€Å"Goth† for the first time to refer to an architectural style in middle age, which was â€Å"tall sharp pointed, vaulted roof or tower ,narrow windows, colorful glass, darkness houses, gloomy ladders. â€Å"(Xiao Minghan, 2001: 9) The so-called â€Å"Gothic Revival† appeared in aspects of architecture and literature during eighteenth century to nineteenth century, which was the gloomy and depressed tone in middle age. Meanwhile, some literary works enjoyed the same tone with â€Å"Gothic fiction† in the time. Take Horace Walpole for example, his â€Å"The Castle of Otranto† set an example for early classic gothic fiction. The birth of â€Å"Gothic fiction† is not only related with the â€Å"Gothic feeling† of the cemetery poetry of England, but related with the â€Å"Gothic style† aesthetic standard of Edmund Burke (1729–1797) as well. C. The development of gothic fiction in modern time The gothic style became prevail and spread quickly from England to the whole Europe and the U. S in the eighteenth century. And it had a great influence on American literature to some certain extent. Charles Brown (1771–1810), the most famous American representative in this field, vividly portrayed the terrified psychology of his hero in a gloomy tone and mysterious environment. II. The gothic characteristics in A Rose for Emily Faulkner lived in the South for a life long, and the field of south fertilized him and shaped his character. â€Å"Therefore, his habit, thinking way and life attitude closely related with this unfortunate field. â€Å"(Jay Parinier, 1989:2031) As the representative of the American traditional thinking,† the most important and unconscious content† had deeply precipitated in the deep of his heart. That is why he showed his love to his hometown in such an unusual way–exposed the faults and gloomy aspects of the South. Maybe gothic characteristic in A Rose for Emily is the best way to express his emotion. A. The topic is mainly about murder, death, violence and necrophilia, which is the â€Å"gothic fiction† First of all, the topic is mainly about murder, death, violence and necrophilia. It â€Å"vividly pictures a terrified story of an old virgin. Emily is the last member of the Grierson. She is a slim and gentle lady, but she almost loses her beauty when she appears again in her 30’s, â€Å"She looks bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue. â€Å"(para6) She dies in her 74 years old finally. â€Å"Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town. â€Å"( para3) As long as Emily is dead, all the proud and dignity of gentle lady is dead out. Even in order to give her a hand, the premayor Colonel Sartoris only uses an excuse to avoid hurting her. Emily has been separated from the outside for nearly forty years after her father’s death and after the missing of her fiance. â€Å"Daily, monthly, yearly we watched the Negro grow grayer and more stooped, going in and out with the market basket. â€Å"(para33) Sometimes, people could see her through the window, only find her â€Å"like the carven torso of an idol in a niche†. (para33) It is until the end of her funeral that the people discover the secret which they find Homer’s skeleton in a locked room. Obviously, the gentle lady deliberately performs and covers a murder. Critics regard that Emily retaliates by killing the north man with poison because he refuses to marry her. However, on another angle, Emily is too empty to comfort herself. In order to make a man accompany with her, she has no choice but kills him–in the way, she can stay with him forever. But this â€Å"gain† just is the forever â€Å"lost†. The moment she kills him, she is dead in spirit. The grief, desolation and sadness fill in her inner heart forever. Emily can not stand the fact that a south lady courts a north worker but fails. It is a perfect satire under the history condition in that time. Even like this, she still â€Å"carried her head high enough–even when we believed that she was fallen. † (para21) In a word, the topic of A Rose for Emily is the â€Å"Gothic topic†, which describes about murder and dead. B. The character of Emily is stubborn, eccentric and mysterious, who is involved in â€Å"gothic form† The character of Emily is involved in â€Å"Gothic form†. She is stubborn, eccentric and mysterious. She has been isolated from the outside world for forty-year since her father is dead and Homer’s missing. Her door remains closed all the year round and refuses all the visitors. Actually, she is an unrealistic stubborn woman. She does not want to dispose of her father’s body, and â€Å"She told them that her father was not dead. † (para15) Despite the law, she refuses to pay the taxes and repeats that â€Å"I have no taxes in Jefferson. â€Å"(para8) Moreover, she asks the officials to get explanation from Colonel Sartoris, who ever remit her taxes. It seems that she dose not know Colonel Sartoris was dead before ten years. † It can be believed that her refusal to pay the taxes symbolizes the refusal to accept the changed society to some extent. â€Å"(Zhu Zhenwu, 2003:34) She takes pain to keep her superior, dignity and the southern fair lady impression. Emily is a typical example of the dead south. † The failure of the Civil War brought corruption and decline to the South, which was very obvious in economy and politics. â€Å"(Zhang Kuiwu, 2002:74) However, it is imperceptible in moral and psychology. The South originally had their own unique economic form, cultural style, life way and moral standard, even their own language. All of these elements â€Å"easily stimulated the southerner rise a feeling of the nostalgia, which had solidified for the failure of the South in the Civil War. â€Å"(Yu Jianhua, 2004: 460) Therefore, the war led to a strange contradictory phenomenon: the old South â€Å"die† as long as the failure of the war, but it more obstinately â€Å"survive† than any other times. The South â€Å"died† in society and economy, but it is still â€Å"alive† in the culture and mental. Pitiable Emily is solidified by time. She falls into the past glories and honors of the South, but can not be brave enough to face the real life. Faulkner vividly pictures the southerners’ subtle, complicated and contradictory psychology through Emily. Emily only is the epitome of the southern declining aristocracies. As the famous critic Malcolm Cloy says â€Å"The southern people lived under so heavy pressure that they almost lost their rational behavior, but responded mechanically. â€Å"(Yu Jianhua, 2004: 460) Thus, they broke out some uncontrollable violence and unreasonable behaviors occasionally. On the other hand, they tightly clung on the luxury and glories in the past to escape the reality, which seems extremely unrealistic and ridiculous. In this way, Faulkner criticizes the southerners who live in a new time but keep outdated mind. And this distorted psychology is exactly the spiritual essence of the collapsing old south. Standing on a new angle, Faulkner re-examines closely and explains all of these, and sympathizes the southerners’ thinking way and moral standard. C. The description of environment adopts the typical â€Å"gothic style† Besides the topic and â€Å"character are the gothic elements, the description of environment in A Rose for Emily adopts the typical â€Å"Gothic style†. Emily’s house and both inside and outside environment are gothic ones. Emily’s house is a special style building made of wood. When her parents are alive, the house is noble style, which â€Å"had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the Seventies. â€Å"(para2) As the time passes, however, the house still keeps its outdated style and â€Å"lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay. â€Å"(para2) We could feel an incompatible atmosphere with the age. Several years later, the deputation has a chance to go into Emily’s house for the first time. They went into â€Å"a dim hall from which a stairway mounted into still more shadow. † (para5) Moreover, there was â€Å"a dust and disuse–a close, dank smell†(para5) in the air. The parlor was â€Å"furnished in heavy, leather–covered furniture. â€Å"(para5) Faulkner describes a dim and mysterious picture for us. It was really shocking what the town people see in Emily’s base room. â€Å"A thin, acrid pall as of the tomb seemed to lie everywhere upon this room decked and furnished as a bridal. â€Å"(para39) Homer’s skeleton â€Å"had apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace. â€Å"(para40) The second pillow which in the same bed was the indentation of a head. It is clearly that it was Emily’s â€Å"long strand of iron–gray hair. † (para41) Homer had been missed for forty years, and Emily had been slept with his skeleton for forty years. A sepulchral atmosphere spreads the air. It is shocking and absolutely terrified. But it is not Faulkner who originally adds the terror element in fiction; it is the traditional style of â€Å"gothic fiction. † Faulkner not only uses this style in A Rose for Emily, but exaggerates several details such as murder, violence, etc. D. The flashback in A Rose for Emily expresses the mysterious atmosphere Last but not least, Faulkner deliberately sets a flashback form to tell the story. At the beginning, Emily is dead at her seventy–six years old. The whole town went to her funeral for different purposes: the men have a respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women curious to see her inner house. Who is Emily? What kind of person is she? Faulkner immediately catches readers’ interest to read on. She once was beautiful and slim, but her father drove all the men who pursue her. Only after her father died, she could date with a Northerner. Unfortunately, she could not marry with him, which hurt her so deeply that she had to keep herself far from the world from then on. However, the ending is out of expectation. She was shrewd and unscrupulous. She secretly murdered her fiance by rat poison, and kept his body in her bed and slept with him for forty years. It is really tricky and surprising. The ending may be unreasonable to some extent, but it really shows Faulkner’s creativity. He adopts the flashback to add much profound meaning to the short story, which is superior to the normal narrative way of the general fictions. Actually, many signs and symbols in the story indicate that the ending is like this. Emily is a cruel murderer, she kills her fiance. But it is necessary to clasp the essence through the appearance. In Emily’s age, men had absolutely power to control women. It can be believed that it is Emily’s father who indirectly destroys her whole life to some certain extent. She is forced to kill her fiance to pursue her happiness. As the critics remark that â€Å"villain–hero in rational gothic fiction is murderer as well as victim. â€Å"(Pu Ruoqian, 2001: 47) The â€Å"villain–hero† is not the original crime. The real crime is the distorted humanity, which is formed by the hierarchy rule and moral standard. III. Conclusion All the gothic elements in A Rose for Emily present a perfect gothic fiction. However, Faulkner is not completely imitate the gothic tradition, he uses a clever method to perform a story of his own age. He is fond of gothic style which is the main literary style in Victoria time, may be because he thinks the gothic style accords with the environment of decline of the south. Besides this, he fills with the realistic content and his own emotion to the gothic style. Gothic style once was regarded as â€Å"Black Romanticism†, but Faulkner combines it with realism. Furthermore, Faulkner pours the fierce emotion and fresh air into the old form, which makes A Rose for Emily superior to the gothic fiction and the literary main stream in Victoria time. The background of A Rose for Emily is in the age when Faulkner lived, which is a new form and different from the gothic tradition, and apparently helpful to express the realistic meaning of the work. From what has been discussed, we know the gothic style was not popular in Faulkner’s time. However, A Rose for Emily exposes the real psychology of the southerner, and accepts some irrational aspects of human’s deep heart, which widens the extent of realism and the influence to human. From this, A Rose for Emily can stand out from any other American fiction forms of the time. Faulkner benefits a lot from the gothic tradition, which he improves and thus is superior at the same time. References Jay Pariniet, The Norton Anthology of American Literary, (p2031). New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1989. , , : , 2002. , , , 2001/1. , , , 2001/3. , , : , 2004. , ? (P74–82), : ,2002. , : , , 2003/4.