Manhood and Misogyny in “Death of a Salesman”

An important aspect of Miller's â€Å"Death of   a Salesman† is the play's denouement — which is commonly accepted as being the moment that Loman commits suicide, and in doing so, hopes to provide his son, Biff, â€Å"with insurance money for a fresh start† (Phelps 239).This ending is commonly construed to represent a pyric victory   on Loman's behalf because it implies that he has — in the end — acted out of love for his family.However, as H.C. Phelps points out in his very astute article â€Å"Miller's Death of a Salesman† (1995) the emotional climax of the play is not at the moment of Loman's actual death, but earlier when Loman â€Å"makes his final, irrevocable decision after the play has reached its undoubted emotional climax, Biff's dramatic declaration to his father† (Phelps 239) which is essentially a confession of his self-perceived worthlessness.The play's emotional climax, viewed in one way, seems to offer closure which hints at possible happiness, even in suicide, even in death — but according to Phelps' explication, the true resonance of Loman's suicide and death is not heroic but only tragic and ironic.In â€Å"Death of a Salesman,† the theme of happiness or completeness of life is central to the play's dramatic impact. The play explores how the lives of a man and his sons are connected through contemporary ideas of manhood and family. In the play, many aspects of masculinity are presented in a way that promotes irony.Part of the identification with manhood which exists for the male characters in the play is steeped in misogyny or in the objectification of women. This misogyny is important to the overall theme of family and manhood in the play because it shows, through irony, that the diminishment of womens' experience and labor by men contributed to the fragmentation of the family.Part of this fragmentation includes the degradation or de-evolution of male-bonding and particularly the bonding between a father and his sons.   As Phelps points out in his brief but penetratingly able essay, the perceived closure of the play's end is really better perceived as ironic and as a natural extension of the play's essentially fragmented and misogynistic presentation of American social realities.A good example of this fragmentation is the character of Linda who is presented in the play as being both subservient to her husband, Willy, and held in low esteem by her own sons.While the overt dramatic impact of this arrangement of characters might seem to suggest only the cold detachment of the modern male or the inability of the modern male to overcome chauvinism against women, a careful reading of play reveals that this disconnect between the male characters of the play and the character of Linda is symbolic of the incompleteness of modern male experience.In fact, the main sense of distress for   the Loman family comes not from poverty or emotional barriers, but merely from Loman's absence from his domestic sphere. This absence is symbolic of the western, primarily American, male experience.When Linda implores Willy to â€Å"Talk to them again. there's no reason why you can't work in New York† (Miller) she is imploring that Willy take more of an interest in his familial than professional life.   This familial perception of male-responsibility is a crucial aspect of Loman's suicide because it is â€Å"primarily due to their insistence on Biff's love for his father, not to any explicit comment by his son, that Willy decides to take his own life† (Phelps 239).However, as Phelps points out, â€Å"Linda and Happy are repeatedly shown to be among the most deluded, obtuse, and mendacious characters in the play† (Phelps 239) so their assurances to Willie that Biff loved him are, for the alert reader, according to Phelps, mere lies which are rooted in misogyny and fragmentation of relationships.Later in the play, Willy's involvement with â€Å"the Woman† shows clearly that the misogynistic aspects of masculinity as represented by Miller extend not only to the domestic and familial spheres, but to the erotic and sexual spheres. When The Woman asks Willy â€Å"Whyn't you have another drink, honey, and stop being so damn self-centered?† (Miller) Loman's reply is â€Å"I'm so lonely† (Miller) and the deeper meaning of his answer lies in the fact that his very misogynistic attitude has cut him off from feminine love or even feminine erotic response.Because Loman is unable to relate to his wife's need for his patriarchal presence in his own home and also unable to relate to The woman's need for erotic stimulation   and celebration, Loman is in fact cut off from the primary energy-sources of true manhood: fatherhood, husbandry, and Eros. The impediment to Loman's happiness is not actually poverty but misplaced male-identity and misogyny.Loman's discord with femininity is reflected also in the b ehavior of his sons who recklessly abuse women and conduct themselves as womanizers. Similarly, when Biff and Happy talk about Betsy they â€Å"they refer to [her] as a pig [†¦] and a pig suggests â€Å"pigskin,† the material that footballs were traditionally made of, and compares their relationship with Betsy to sport† (Ardolino).Because the misogyny of Loman's sons is manifested primarily through their sexual response and sexual behaviors, the thematic impact of their relationships with women as represented in the play seems to suggest that the corruption of Eros is the first casualty of misogyny and that the deterioration of the family and finally of manhood and the self follow quickly thereafter.The corruption of Eros is a symbol and symptom of the degeneration of family values which has taken place under the predominantly materialistic society which is represented in â€Å"Death of a Salesman;† however, the sexual function is merely a preliminary casua lty of the malaise and â€Å"soul derangement† which Miller perceives in the society which he is endeavoring to dramatize in the play.Closely associated with erotic love is †¦ love itself, and even this emotion is so tainted by mendacity, by corruption, and by atrophy within the social microcosm of the play, that the absence of true love is what actually drives the play's climax: not reconciliation or closure, but tragic despair and loneliness.   Biff's final words to his father are â€Å"I'll go in the morning.Put him—put him to bed† (Miller) and as Phelps points out, these words are â€Å"a tepid and ambiguous expression of concern† (Phelps 239) adn reveal, not love, but the absence of love which is, in fact,the true motivation for Loman's suicide.The key aspect of the lack-of-love interpretation is to realize that it is a misogynistically determined outcome: a symptom of a male-ordered social-universe which has sacrificed essential elements of h uman survival, like love, to the more expedient materialistic concerns of the moment.In conclusion, while the interplay between men and women in Death of a Salesman seems at surface level stylized almost to the point of cliche, penetrating and revealing themes emerge from a careful reading of the gender-based themes of the play.Primary among these is the idea of corruption of male authority and male energy by the disconnect from erotic love and finally a misogynistic bearing toward women in general. To put it in simplistic terms, the play is trying to show that turning away from the nurturing energy and experience of what is usually called â€Å"feminine† in American society has corrupted American society's sense of manhood and allowed the disintegration of the family to follow.The key to retrieving the balance of family lies not in riches or material success but in finding harmony between the masculine and feminine natures which are the focal energies of all families.Phelps' article, while eschewing lengthy examinations of gender-based, or socially based explications, does manage to uncover, according purely to the characterizations of the play itself, a continuity of expression which inverts the commonly associated emotional resonance of the play's close and offers and incisive and very ably expressed interpretation of the play's climax which seems to me much more faithful to the overall tone of the play as Miller intended it to be experienced.Works CitedMiller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. Penguin Books, 1976.Ardolino, Frank. â€Å"Like Father, like Sons: Miller's Negative Use of Sports Imagery in Death of aSalesman.† Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 25.1-2 (2004): 32+.Phelps, H. C. â€Å"Miller's Death of a Salesman.† Explicator 53.4 (1995): 239-240.Rosefeldt, Paul. The Absent Father in Modern Drama. New York: Peter Lang, 1996.

Nonfiction Piece

Essay ProposalThis piece draws a portrait of a stranger in a coffee shop. Offering a kind of weekly enigma to me, she has come to represent the constant allure of mystery in the seemingly trivial. This essay focuses on that enigma, and the possible answers I have for them.I start the essay with a snapshot of what this woman is. What does she look like? What does she do? In giving a descriptive appraisal at the beginning, I lay the foundation of the mystery. I note her gestures – the faint inclination of her head when she looks at her watch, the expectation apparent on her face when someone walks through the door, and the inevitable disappointment almost every time – and raise the question that would bring us closer to â€Å"solving† her mystery: Why? Why does she look the way she does? Why does she act this way? Why is she there? In this part of the essay, I create the mythos I have woven about her through the answers to these questions.In this essay, I depict he r as I see her – the woman waiting. Because of the questions she has raised in me, I have assigned her an identity.  This essay presents her as what she seems to be, and then seeks to go further, bringing both reader and author along for a venture into who she is, or at least, what she might be. In writing this, I thrust the philosophy that everyone really has a story. The natural inclination of the curious man is to find out. And if one cannot know, then you can always let your imagination run free.Literary Nonfiction EssayThere she is again, alone in the table at the far corner. Today, she has brought books with her: sonnets by Pablo Neruda, a creative writing textbook, and a discredited memoir. The book of poetry has been opened, and rests on her lap. A notebook, bound in leather, lies open on the table. A pen rests on the stark whiteness of the pages. She is looking at none of these. She smokes bent cigarettes every five minutes or so. She drinks her coffee as she glanc es at the door, trying not to look as if she were truly alone – that by looking at the doorway once in a while, she can pretend (and the world with her) that someone is coming to meet her.  Her cellphone, too, lies open. She takes a bite from her slice of lemon cake. The phone's screen remains dark, no matter how long she stares at it.Outside it is raining.She looks up, scans the crowd, most of whom are oblivious of her presence. I cannot be. I have known her for far too long. No, I do not know her name, and I do not think I will ever ask. But I have seen her so many times before, her presence is more familiar than a stranger’s should be. Today, I have positioned myself only two tables away from her. Because I know I can never march up to her and demand what she is, I content myself with absorbing everything I can of her. I have sat closer to her today. I cannot help this fascination. I simply want to know.Her gaze finally rests beyond me, towards the door. I see her face more clearly than I ever have before, after all these weeks. Oval, and wan – her forehead is high, her eyes wide and dark. It is not a delicate face, for perhaps the prolonged sadness has seeped into her bones that her face has toughened, has become stronger. Her cheeks jut out and her lips are thin and pale. Her mouth is arranged into its usual tightness. She sighs when the door opens, then closes, and turns away. She looks at her watch. She sighs once more, leafs through the open book of poetry.When will she realize that she is the only woman in a cafe of lovers? Or has she always known? She has one mug all to herself, the others have to share. One cup of coffee, one white porcelain rim, for two bleeding mouths of bleeding hearts.  Inevitably, I think of the possibility of the reluctant lover. Every week, I see her here, always alone. I have never seen her leave with someone. I have never seen anyone, man or woman, stride over to her table, hold her hand, to lead he r outside.Perhaps she has waited with the smallest of hopes that soon, someone would come to end the waiting. But perhaps the reluctant lover roams now the asphalt streets, in a suit and tie, a briefcase hanging from one hand as though it is an extension of his body. And this woman, with her poems and novels and empty notebooks – she is here, waiting, being watched by a person who has seen enough of her to realize that she is waiting.  Another woman – more of a girl, really – is at another corner. But she smokes her cigarette with the ease of one who knows that someone will meet her. Soon she will be gone and this woman, this woman, would light another cigarette and turn another page of one the books she has brought.I see her cellphone buzz, vibrating on the surface of the table. She twitches, then snatches it. Her eyes run over the illuminated screen, taking in the message quickly. Then, her lip curls, and she tosses her cellphone back to the table.Has she be en told that she has to wait longer?She returns to her book but her gaze is blanker now. This book she has been reading has quite possibly turned out to be a chore and all too soon, the words blur until they are white. There is too much of her coffee, and the crystal grains of sugar have refused to melt. The lemon cake crumbles. Even her cigarette offends her, and she puts it out, only half-consumed.  With her, this woman, her waiting – things pale and darken at the same time. Knowing these things are just distractions, something to pass the time that just seems to crawl slower and slower that it sometimes falls still: the coffee cannot be finished, the cigarette doesn’t burn, the page goes on and on and on. Something has cloaked her – is it the knowledge that all these are things she'd rather not be doing? Shouldn't be doing in the first place?She must finish her coffee, and only crumbs should be left on her plate. The book, open on her lap, can be replaced. There are two other books in her bag, and she takes them out: poetry speaking of a requited waiting.  She must think now: all this talk about unrequited love, when poetry should be made about unrequited patience: waiting for the phone to vibrate, waiting for the crumbs to settle, waiting for the coffee mug to empty, waiting for the cigarette to turn into ash, waiting for the books to turn to the last page, waiting for the rain to stop, waiting for the clock to strike ten, waiting for someone to come through the door with the spaciest of smiles just for her. Waiting, waiting, waiting.If she wrote – and I have feeling that she does, in spite of the blankness of her notebook now – how many times has she written about women like her?  She looks at her watch. Her phone vibrates one more. Listless, she picks it up, punches at the buttons. In but moments, her face clears, she sags in her chair. She is starting to smile.  I wonder then: the reluctant lover (but only in h er mind, only when they are not together.) Has the un-reluctant lover tells her that he is near? Would Neruda, then, glow again?Because she is a woman who waits diligently albeit unwillingly, week after week, later, she will be disgusted with how much everything makes sense now. Even waiting in a parked car, while errands are run, will make her smile. The rain will fall harder. The drops will be opaque against the windshield and yet it shall leave shadows on her jeans.Oh, that smile.And she will think: Everything should be a familiar novelty, a novel familiarity. Yes, even waiting for him to come back with a bag or two of bread, while a Japanese love song drifts from the radio. She will think the song talks of a fulfilled longing, of a waiting ended.  But now, she is still waiting. But now she is sure that someone shall come for her.  She looks at me, sees me watching her. The smile she gives me is fleeting, the token nicety for strangers who stare too long at you. I smile back at her.She looks at the doorway, but it seems more out of habit, than anticipation.One last look, then it is time for me to go. Nonfiction Piece Essay ProposalThis piece draws a portrait of a stranger in a coffee shop. Offering a kind of weekly enigma to me, she has come to represent the constant allure of mystery in the seemingly trivial. This essay focuses on that enigma, and the possible answers I have for them.I start the essay with a snapshot of what this woman is. What does she look like? What does she do? In giving a descriptive appraisal at the beginning, I lay the foundation of the mystery. I note her gestures – the faint inclination of her head when she looks at her watch, the expectation apparent on her face when someone walks through the door, and the inevitable disappointment almost every time – and raise the question that would bring us closer to â€Å"solving† her mystery: Why? Why does she look the way she does? Why does she act this way? Why is she there? In this part of the essay, I create the mythos I have woven about her through the answers to these questions.In this essay, I depict he r as I see her – the woman waiting. Because of the questions she has raised in me, I have assigned her an identity.This essay presents her as what she seems to be, and then seeks to go further, bringing both reader and author along for a venture into who she is, or at least, what she might be. In writing this, I thrust the philosophy that everyone really has a story. The natural inclination of the curious man is to find out. And if one cannot know, then you can always let your imagination run free.Literary Nonfiction EssayThere she is again, alone in the table at the far corner. Today, she has brought books with her: sonnets by Pablo Neruda, a creative writing textbook, and a discredited memoir. The book of poetry has been opened, and rests on her lap. A notebook, bound in leather, lies open on the table. A pen rests on the stark whiteness of the pages. She is looking at none of these. She smokes bent cigarettes every five minutes or so. She drinks her coffee as she glances a t the door, trying not to look as if she were truly alone – that by looking at the doorway once in a while, she can pretend (and the world with her) that someone is coming to meet her.Her cellphone, too, lies open. She takes a bite from her slice of lemon cake. The phone's screen remains dark, no matter how long she stares at it.Outside it is raining.She looks up, scans the crowd, most of whom are oblivious of her presence. I cannot be. I have known her for far too long. No, I do not know her name, and I do not think I will ever ask. But I have seen her so many times before, her presence is more familiar than a stranger’s should be. Today, I have positioned myself only two tables away from her. Because I know I can never march up to her and demand what she is, I content myself with absorbing everything I can of her. I have sat closer to her today. I cannot help this fascination. I simply want to know.Her gaze finally rests beyond me, towards the door. I see her face mo re clearly than I ever have before, after all these weeks. Oval, and wan – her forehead is high, her eyes wide and dark. It is not a delicate face, for perhaps the prolonged sadness has seeped into her bones that her face has toughened, has become stronger. Her cheeks jut out and her lips are thin and pale. Her mouth is arranged into its usual tightness. She sighs when the door opens, then closes, and turns away. She looks at her watch. She sighs once more, leafs through the open book of poetry.When will she realize that she is the only woman in a cafe of lovers? Or has she always known? She has one mug all to herself, the others have to share. One cup of coffee, one white porcelain rim, for two bleeding mouths of bleeding hearts.Inevitably, I think of the possibility of the reluctant lover. Every week, I see her here, always alone. I have never seen her leave with someone. I have never seen anyone, man or woman, stride over to her table, hold her hand, to lead her outside.Pe rhaps she has waited with the smallest of hopes that soon, someone would come to end the waiting. But perhaps the reluctant lover roams now the asphalt streets, in a suit and tie, a briefcase hanging from one hand as though it is an extension of his body. And this woman, with her poems and novels and empty notebooks – she is here, waiting, being watched by a person who has seen enough of her to realize that she is waiting.Another woman – more of a girl, really – is at another corner. But she smokes her cigarette with the ease of one who knows that someone will meet her. Soon she will be gone and this woman, this woman, would light another cigarette and turn another page of one the books she has brought.I see her cellphone buzz, vibrating on the surface of the table. She twitches, then snatches it. Her eyes run over the illuminated screen, taking in the message quickly. Then, her lip curls, and she tosses her cellphone back to the table.Has she been told that she has to wait longer?She returns to her book but her gaze is blanker now. This book she has been reading has quite possibly turned out to be a chore and all too soon, the words blur until they are white. There is too much of her coffee, and the crystal grains of sugar have refused to melt. The lemon cake crumbles. Even her cigarette offends her, and she puts it out, only half-consumed.With her, this woman, her waiting – things pale and darken at the same time. Knowing these things are just distractions, something to pass the time that just seems to crawl slower and slower that it sometimes falls still: the coffee cannot be finished, the cigarette doesn’t burn, the page goes on and on and on. Something has cloaked her – is it the knowledge that all these are things she'd rather not be doing? Shouldn't be doing in the first place?She must finish her coffee, and only crumbs should be left on her plate. The book, open on her lap, can be replaced. There are two other books in her bag, and she takes them out: poetry speaking of a requited waiting.She must think now: all this talk about unrequited love, when poetry should be made about unrequited patience: waiting for the phone to vibrate, waiting for the crumbs to settle, waiting for the coffee mug to empty, waiting for the cigarette to turn into ash, waiting for the books to turn to the last page, waiting for the rain to stop, waiting for the clock to strike ten, waiting for someone to come through the door with the spaciest of smiles just for her. Waiting, waiting, waiting.If she wrote – and I have feeling that she does, in spite of the blankness of her notebook now – how many times has she written about women like her?She looks at her watch. Her phone vibrates one more. Listless, she picks it up, punches at the buttons. In but moments, her face clears, she sags in her chair. She is starting to smile.I wonder then: the reluctant lover (but only in her mind, only when they are not together.) Has the un-reluctant lover tells her that he is near? Would Neruda, then, glow again?Because she is a woman who waits diligently albeit unwillingly, week after week, later, she will be disgusted with how much everything makes sense now. Even waiting in a parked car, while errands are run, will make her smile. The rain will fall harder. The drops will be opaque against the windshield and yet it shall leave shadows on her jeans.Oh, that smile.And she will think: Everything should be a familiar novelty, a novel familiarity. Yes, even waiting for him to come back with a bag or two of bread, while a Japanese love song drifts from the radio. She will think the song talks of a fulfilled longing, of a waiting ended.But now, she is still waiting. But now she is sure that someone shall come for her.She looks at me, sees me watching her. The smile she gives me is fleeting, the token nicety for strangers who stare too long at you. I smile back at her.She looks at the doorway, but it seems more out of habit, than anticipation.One last look, then it is time for me to go.

Computer and Long Distance Education

Computer and our life Importance of computer: Computer is an important machine in our life. Without computer our life is nothing. We need to use it in every sector of our life. What type of work sector that is we are using computer. It makes our job easier and simple. Computer creates a great opportunity for us. We are changing our life style quickly through computer. We are using it in education sector, medical sector, research and experimental job, designing, architectural designing, planning, public administration and etc. Computer changed our education system.We can learn through long distance education system. Now we do not need to go far from home to learn something. We can save our time and money by this. Without that we are able to get every service at home. Computer is also able to provide us another service. Now doctor can do operations through computer. It resumes risk for a patient. Doctors do not need to work more. Computer also helps us in research like educational, sci entific, medical and etc. Really, computer is a great invention of human life. Computer and communication: ————————————————-Without helping in our work we can communicate through computer. Now-a-days computer is the powerful communication media. Generally it communicates through network and internet is the well known network system. We can talk, chat, mail through computer. We can keep contract with international community by internet. E-mail is a blessing for us. We can communicate with anyone easily for e-mail. It is a cheapest communication in the world. We are doing corporate dealing through it. It plays a role in our economy. It makes our life easier. Without that we can do video chat trough internet.Facebook and other social sites are a blessing for us. By using of those we can make an international brotherhood. Without those facilities we are also sharing videos and other important things like as usual important information. We can read newspaper by internet. Newspaper also updating continuously and we can able to get news quickly. Simply internet is a fastest way to get information. It becomes a part of our life. Type of computer: There are many kind of computers. We use them in various works. They are given below: No. | Type of computer| Working ability| Using sectors| 1| Personal computer| Capable to do personal works. | Most of time using for personal works. | 02| Embedded computer | Do specific jobs. | 1. Microwave 2. Washing machine | 03| Network Servers| Do clients job, act like a server. | Internet browser | 04| Mainframe Computer | Capable to do sharing work. | 1. Bank 2. Insurance| 05| Mini computer | Mid ranger computer. | | 06| Super Computer| Able to do lots of job. | 1. Experimental jobs 2. Scientific jobs| H2O X2+2? +? +? c 32 °c TEXT 2 TEXT 1 1. PLABON I. VAI II. BOSS 2. ANDROID I. W 5 II. W10 * 5700TK 7000TK 3. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. * †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ * 456321 * 566986 * †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Computer is an important machine in our life. Without computer our life is nothing. We need to use it in every sector of our life. What type of work sector that is we are using computer. It makes our job easier and simple. Computer creates a great opportunity for us. We are changing our life style quickly through computer. We are using it in education sector, medical sector, research and experimental job, designing, architectural designing, planning, public administration and etc. Computer changed our education system.We can learn through long distance education system. Now we do not need to go far from home to learn something. We can save our time and money by this. Without that we are able to get every service at home. Computer is also able to provide us another service. Now doctor can do operations through computer. It resumes risk for a patient. Doctors do not need to work more. Computer also helps us i n research like educational, scientific, medical and etc. Really, computer is a great invention of human life Computer is an important machine in our life.Without computer our life is nothing. We need to use it in every sector of our life. What type of work sector that is we are using computer. It makes our job easier and simple. Computer creates a great opportunity for us. We are changing our life style quickly through computer. We are using it in education sector, medical sector, research and experimental job, designing, architectural designing, planning, public administration and etc. Computer changed our education system. We can learn through long distance education system.Now we do not need to go far from home to learn something. We can save our time and money by this. Without that we are able to get every service at home. Computer is also able to provide us another service. Now doctor can do operations through computer. It resumes risk for a patient. Doctors do not need to wor k more. Computer also helps us in research like educational, scientific, medical and etc. Really, computer is a great invention of human life http://www. search-document. com/doc/1/1/law-of-diminishing-marginal-utility. html

Toulmin Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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The touristic developments in Libya Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

The touristic developments in Libya - Essay Example Despite being the second largest oil producer in the world, Libya continues to be underdeveloped even though the UN embargo was lifted in 2003. To understand the prospects of tourism in Libya, it is necessary to know the economic situation, the political condition, the natural resources, the local culture and the people, and the infrastructure in Libya. Libya’s economic progress has been very slow and it has been dependent on overseas technology, expertise for expansion and modernization, and upgradation of the vital infrastructure (Infrastructure Libya, 2009). However, even after two decades of isolation and sanction, Libya continues to be Africas second largest oil producer after Nigeria (Gearon, 2007). It has an authoritative form of government as the government has total control over the oil resources which accounts for approximately 97% of the export earnings, 75% of the government receipts and 54% of the GDP (BNEA, 2007a). It is believed the economy has been mismanaged and the income of the country has mostly been used to increase personal influence of the bureaucrats. This has resulted in high inflation and increase import prices. As a consequence, the standard of living continued to decline up to 2003. Because of the bureaucratic form of government privatization and growth were constrained. There was excessive contro l over prices, credit, trade and foreign exchange. The country also experienced periodic shortage of food and other resources. The country is however endowed with natural resources such as Petroleum, natural gas, gypsum. Wheat, barley, olives, dates, citrus, vegetables, peanuts, soybeans are the agricultural produce of Libya but almost 75% of the food required in Libya is imported (BNEA, 2007). The country has business relations with different for different products. While it exports crude oil and major petroleum products to Italy, Germany, Spain, Turkey, and France, it

Single, Married, Separated and Life after Divorce Essay

Single, Married, Separated and Life after Divorce - Essay Example many convincing bible verse evidences, the author proposes that the spouses must strive to keep their marriage alive, resolving individual or family risk and enhancing resilience. The intended audience of Munroe Myles’s book is anyone who can read a book. The audience includes married and single readers. The audience includes the separated or divorced readers. The audience target includes people who are currently in love or breaking out of love. Singleness. â€Å"One lady approached the author stating â€Å"I can’t take it anymore. I am tired of being single. I need a mate now. I am growing older, and life is passing me by (Munroe 11).† The author describes that there are many advantage to being single. First, one will have a unique person. There is no nagging spouse or noisy children. The cultural, social, and economic tenets of society dictates that it is best for a person to get married, a world order (2 Cor 4:4) Further, the author reiterates that the bible does not equate being single as bad or equate being single as being alone. Being single is not the same as being alone. The author insists that one should not marry until one is totally singe. To marry, one must first be separate, unique, and a whole person (Munroe 12). Often marriages crumble into separation or divorce because the marriage partners are not unique or single. The goal of the Christian life is to be separate, unique, and whole person, a vessel that holds a priceless treasure, Jesus Christ (2 Cor 4:7) (Munroe 14). Married. The author insists that the traditional concept of marriage is that it is the basic building block or foundation of society. The reiterates that â€Å"marriage works perfectly only if the right ingredients are mixed together (Munroe 68).† The lack of the minimum required ingredient declines to the state of separation or divorce. Further, the author insists that one should marry only to comply with God’s will (Munroe 140).When the marriage breaks up; society also

The Accounts Receivable (Sales Ledger) of Cookridge Carpets Essay

The Accounts Receivable (Sales Ledger) of Cookridge Carpets - Essay Example The firm that is analyzed in the paper is Cookridge Carpets Ltd. It is a large carpet, soft furnishings and bed Dealership Company located in Southampton. The company was established in the year of 2007, works as the main dealer for Memo@memory foam beds and mattresses. The company is owned by two brothers Peter and John Cookridge. The Cookridge Carpets has three major stakeholders: Suppliers, customers, and staff. Memo Beds, in the year of 2010, offered the main dealership to the Company in the area of Southampton as the local dealer for the Memo Beds. The Company provides its services to the local residents of the Southampton and the local residents are the main customers of the Cookridge Carpets. The owners of the business have a considerable experience in direct sale of carpets and beds to the locals. However, recently they have gained accessed to the Internet and have made a significant sale via the Internet. As a result, the business has considerably increased. Currently, the c ompany employs 20 members of staff including nine direct sales staff, two cleaners, three internet sales staff, one accessories salesperson, two car delivery drivers and three part-time staff in the small accounts department. There are three staff members in the accounts office: Sonja Douglas, Stefan Kalinowski and Margaret Peterson. Sonja Douglas is Wages clerk. Stefan Kalinowski is Accounts Clerk and Margaret Peterson is also Accounts Clerk. Accounts payable or purchase ledger is maintained by Peter Cookridge and Margaret Peterson also works in this department.... 1.3 PIC 1.4 There are three staff members in the accounts office: Sonja Douglas, Stefan Kalinowski and Margaret Peterson. Sonja Douglas is Wages clerk. Stefan Kalinowski is Accounts Clerk and Margaret Peterson is also Accounts Clerk. Accounts payable or purchase ledger is maintained by Peter Cookridge and Margaret Peterson also works in this department. All suppliers cheques are signed either John or Peter. And, Accounts receivable or sales ledger is maintained by Stefan Kalinowski. Stefan’s main function is to maintain all the sales related transactions and maintain the receivables records as well. 2- Software (PIC 3.3., 3.4) 2.1 PIC 3.3 There is four computers in the office and is maintained by a standalone basis along with linked to the same printer. Microsoft Office Excel Spreadsheets are availed to record information and data pertaining to the inventory of carpets, beds and soft furnishings. When the company was established two new computers were purchased and currently r unning the Windows Vista operating system; they are also enabled with Microsoft Office 2007 along with a three use licence. In addition, when the computer system was first time introduced in the company, a password ‘Paula C’ was used and is still currently operational throughout the company. 2.2 PIC 3.3The company is using the most basic type of accounting techniques in the shape of Microsoft Office Excel Spreadsheets and may not serving the ultimate objectives of the company. Although the use of Microsoft Office Excel Spreadsheets can be cost effective, yet it cannot be 100 percent reliable as it is so easy that even a lay man can amend, delete or change data present in

History of Health and Human Services Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

History of Health and Human Services - Essay Example The development of human services is thus affected by the beliefs and values held by the society over time. Since beliefs and values keep changing, the human services field develops accordingly.3 The current health and human services can thus be viewed as representing the current attitudes, beliefs, and values of the contemporary American society. There are also questions as to which group of people and the types of problems should be helped, to what extent and how. Many people and events have also shaped the development and direction of the field. This paper will try to outline the history of Heath and Human Services field from the start of US history up until the year 1880. It will try to explain the main pioneers of this field among other issues such as the main Acts. However, it will first give a brief history of the era before US independence in order to understand the development of the field better and its foundation. Pre-independence Era The US human services are based on the Elizabethan poor laws of 1601 of England. According to Woodside and McClam this law guided the social welfare practices in England and US for the next 350 years by specifying who was to provide what services to those in need.4 Before inception of this law, the early communities used to believe that diseases were caused by supernatural beings such as demons. The work of medicine men was thus to exorcise the evil spirits. As society progressed, so did their beliefs and development of human services field. The Hippocrates were more civilized began to attribute diseases and disabilities to brain malfunction as opposed to demons. Diseases were thus treatable with use of exercise, vegetable diets and change of lifestyle.5 The renaissance era marked the beginning of formal state intervention in provision of social services. The state established the poor laws which segregated people into three categories. The poor were placed in shelters and some were sent to poorhouse or almshouse. These houses were under poor conditions and lacked essential services; they were congested, food was in short supply not forgetting the stigma associated with such houses. Most people were against helping the poor and saw it as a means of promoting laziness. The situation was worsened by the industrial revolution. There was growth of urban centers due to introduction of the factory system. This led to mass migration of people from rural to urban areas hence an increase in urban poor and prompting the need for public institutions to cater for them.6 The new beliefs during this period were centered on the protestant work ethic. This was the belief that hard work portrays virtuousness and deserves to be rewarded while laziness deserved punishment.7 As such, wealth was considered as the reward for hard work and poverty as punishment from God. This philosophy was neither considerate of the poor in society nor those with disabilities or could not find a job. The poor were not to be helped but to be encouraged to work hard so as to earn a living and improve their well-being. The introduction of the less eligibility concept was geared towards encouraging people to work. It maintained that assistance given was to be lower than the lowest wage paid to any working person.8

Electronic frontier Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Electronic frontier - Assignment Example The giants who own the market in the digital world try to kill any competition that they get but this can no longer be done as I can simply challenge any of the plea with the use of the EFF. With the help of the organization I can make sure that my circle of privacy is not violated by the state authorities. I can make a fine line when I want to be anonymous on the internet and express my views accordingly. With the help of EFF I believe that I can challenge anyone who finds my anonymity illegal or tries to find my identity and threaten me in any case. If I find out that anyone is trespassing the line of my privacy I can always approach the organization and inform my government regarding the necessary issues so as to avoid any legal repercussions. I believe that I can protect my privacy to the fullest of extent if given the knowledge provided by the organization. The newest technology allows one to detect when anyone is trying malinger against you or is trying to impose something that I may not have even done. My information and logs should not be accessed by any given company unless they have issues of national security against

Enron And The Decision Making Factor Essay Example for Free

Enron And The Decision Making Factor Essay Introduction – Students, analysts and critics of modern business practice will always consider the colossal Enron collapse as an important text book case about how a lot of different things inside the company can trigger a nearly overnight downfall of a once prestigious company. If there was any Cinderella story in the world of blue chip trading and high portfolio business, Enron was the ultimate opposite, if not the witch herself who was killed by her own lethal potion. The Enron collapse resulted in the formulating of many different opinions pointing to the many different possible reasons why Enron – with all the promise and potential that it has a few years before it went south – made the nosedive that made it one of the worst disasters in the history of trade, commerce and business. There is no doubt that most of the opinions that surfaced explaining the reason why such an eventuality befell Enron placed the blame on the wrong things that the top management echelon did for the company; they are after all the one which is responsible for the present and the future of Enron. Critics looking at the Enron debacle scrutinized what happened leading to the collapse using many different perspectives and considering many different factors, both in the professional capability of the company’s leaders as well as the impact of the surrounding factors beyond Enron’s control. One of the most important facets in the debate regarding the fall of Enron is decision making. Evidently, a lot of wrong decisions were made, with one every wrong decision acting as a building block that eventually became an insurmountable wall of consequences all borne out of wrong or faulty decision making processes that yielded results that did the company more harm than good. Indeed, the decision making linchpins significant to the establishment of the case that the Enron collapse was due in some extent to the decision making aspect of the leadership strata of the company can be identified easily as it is scattered throughout the timeline of Enron’s very near and not so distant past leading to the eventual fall of the company that hid behind the facade of the building the ugliness created by the qualities of its leaders that caused the chaos that burned down Enron down to meager, worthless ashes. This paper will pick the significant moments wherein the decision making capabilities and abilities of its top management leaders were at play and use these moments to establish the ethical and other considerations coming to play during the analysis of the decision making efforts of the leaders and why the outcome of such exercises led to the fall of Enron and not towards the company’s betterment, which is the main task of the company’s top executives. The paper will utilize these occasions to stress its argument regarding the role of effective, ethical and sound decision making of top executives leading to either the success or bankruptcy of companies, in this case that of Enron, and discuss key aspects of this line of thought. The paper will not criminalize the actions of the executives of Enron; rather, it will infuse inputs from other professionals regarding important aspects in the discussion of corporate decision making (ethics, result-orientation, etc). Background – Various angles have already been explored by many different individuals every time the topic of analysis is Enron and its collapse. Because of this, the paper is moving to focus on an aspect that is focused more on Kenneth Lay and the rest of his top executive clique’s personal characteristic that could have played an important role in the outcome of Enron’s operation. Decision making is both a personal characteristic as it is a professional credential, even an asset. Some people are being paid handsome amounts of money for their ability to transform decision making moments into an opportunity that provides a positive result and expected outcome for the company. Ehringer (1995) puts it simply: The ability to make good decisions is the defining quality of our lives (Ehringer, 1995, p. 1). When Lay, Skilling, Fastow and other Enron bosses were placed in their respective positions, they were expected to exercise a high level of intuitiveness, business acumen and professional foresight so that every decision making opportunity is met with the company’s best interest long term and short term in mind. They were where they were because those who placed them there believed that they can make decisions to which the company can benefit from. When Enron collapse, many people and organizations criticized the questioned the decision making capabilities of the top executives – was the collapse an effect of the result of the decision that they made? Was the decision made putting the benefit of the company and the employees first, or are the decisions shaped so that it benefited them first? How bad was the breach in the ethical considerations that a professional should take every time he or she makes a decision that puts the future of the company on the line? These are just some of the questions that may also be present in the minds of those who followed the Enron case. Sure there were varying degrees of deception and fraudulent acts from the part of many select individuals who sinned against Enron and its employees, but these cases would have been minimized or even averted altogether if the important decision making privileges was limited to a select few, or if the future-altering decision making capability is disseminated largely among a huge group of people that can provide a check and balance system for Enron. Roberts (2004) explained that if it is possible for others to make the decisions for a unit, then new options arise to design the decision-making process as well as the incentive schemes to get better performance on both dimensions. For example, the design might specify that a decision about a project arising in one unit that affects another would be implemented if and only if both units agree to it, (Roberts, 2004, p. 51). Enron is an energy trading firm which was performing well in the early part of its existence. By the start of the 21st century, the problems that the bosses were trying to hide from the public and from the employees started to stank. Soon, events unfolded like dominoes falling one after the other as a consequence of information spilling out into the public’s attention. Before 2004, the public already had a clear idea about how Enron bosses were supposedly the one responsible for the defrauding of the employees and their company shares and other benefits, as well as the one responsible for the bankruptcy of Enron. One by one, key company officials stepped out of the light and implicated a new name, which will in turn implicate a much bigger name, until the dragnet sent out to see who was accountable for the fraudulent acts in Enron caught its top bosses, including Lay, Skilling and Fastow. Many individuals faced criminal charges, and many more simply went home not just jobless but are robbed of lifetime investments which Enron bosses manipulated and soon lost because of the wrong decisions they made on how to run the company and make it prosper and grow. Examples of how Enron management made wrong decisions during decision making moments abound in the history of the company. Take for example what happened in 1987 instead of declaring the $190 million loss the company experienced, they concealed it instead, leading to criminal charges. This habit of Enron for opting to conceal losses instead of declaring it became a dangerous vice; when Fastow was aboard Enron, the same outlook affected the decision making of Enron, leading to increase in pile of cases wherein Enron through its top management consciously made actions that defraud the employees and the public. There was also the case of poor public relations by Enron which fanned the flames of panic that removed any possible opportunity for Enron to remedy the financial situation without creating hysteria that saw many stockholders selling their stocks due to the continued falling of the stock value of Enron. Statement of Problem – The most important decision that Enron’s executives faced was not the decision on whether or not to publicly announce about the bankruptcy; in fact, there was no decision making factor during that instance since the predicament of the company has already been decided regardless of what the top executives might have opted for: they were flat out broke and the public needs to know about this, that was the situation. The true decision making moment for Enron’s bosses was the time when they were deciding what the best option to take is with regards to the financial aspect of the company, including taxes, earnings and financial loses. It was a matter of facing a decision making task that provided the Enron bosses with two options – to do the right thing, or to opt for something that is morally and ethically inappropriate. The decision reached in this particular decision making instance was laced with the hope that the option they took would be free from serious repercussions and give them enough time to fix it all up again. Unfortunately for Enron, things did not work out as planned, and the criminal liability of the Enron bosses stemmed from the fact that they decided to do something which they consciously knew was detrimental to the welfare of the Enron company and its employees. During that particular instance, Lay could have opted to do the right thing and faced the consequences by coming clean, he may have a more sympathetic public to support him in whatever efforts he may wish to undertake to revive Enron, and not be faced with the collapsing stock value since those who can sell theirs sell it in a frantic phase to rid themselves of the stock of the company which is nearing imminent bankruptcy. This showed how the people do not give second chances to those who squander their decision making privileges by making decisions bereft of the consideration of the good of the greater many. Decision making John Hintze (2006), in his discussion about making smart decisions during decision making, used the case of the Enron collapse to open his discussion and establish the fact that problems are something that is foreseen, something that happened nonetheless owing to bad decision making. Hintze wrote, should we have seen 9/11 coming? What about the Enron collapse? The Signs were there; people pointed them out, but the appropriate steps were not taken by those in a position to do something. Why is this? Politics? Greed? Those certainly contributed, but there was something else at work here, too: A failure of common sense in decision making (Hintze, 2006, p. 123). Enron: Bad decision making Nothing can prove more about how bad the decision making went inside Enron camp more convincingly than the fact the company transformed from prosperous to poor overnight. This was the general characteristic of Enron through the traits shown by its leaders that reflect the Enron personality. There were earlier discussions in the paper about snippets on instances pointing to Enrons penchant for making bad decision or for going to the resolving of a problem utilizing an option that is more questionable. Fox (2004) explained that Enron believed that its expansion into international projects were positive initiatives simply because they put the company in more potential markets. In truth, Enron made bad business decisions that werent supported by the deals economics. The bad business decisions piled up, stretching from India to Brazil, pressuring the company to do something about its finances’ (Fox, 2004,p. 307). At least at this point, Fox is not pointing at the unethical aspect of the Enron decision making machinery, just the fact that they made decisions that were bad for the future of the company, but not to the extent of deliberately sabotaging the company or putting the company in danger with all known risk for personal gain. For Fox, it was a bad call plain and simple. But the matter of the fact is that not everyone sees it the way Fox does, and there are those who believe that there were ethical breaches in the decision making in Enron among its top bosses. The (absence of) Leaders in decision-making – Decision making in retrospective is one of the common line of thinking used when investigating events that led to growth or debacle. It is because decision making played an important part in shaping the future of the company; it is here where the foundation, or lack of it, was created via the decisions the bosses made or failed to make. To trace the problems or mark significant actions resulting from decision making which eventually resulted to either the success or failure of the company, it is not only the decision making events that are looked back to; the persons that made them were also put under the microscope, and among the qualities scrutinized is their decision making ability and their other characteristics that affect their decision making attitude and behavior. Professionals debate about the idea of a good decision, a bad decision, good intentions and bad intentions and how the good and bad effect that comes into play afterwards account for the overall accountability of a person wielding the power to make decisions that will have a tremendous impact on the future of the company, something which happened in Enron via Lay, Skilling, Fastow and the rest of the top figures of the company. Acuff (2004) explains that ‘if they make a decision that might not have been the decision I would have made, and they come and talk to me about it, we look at it and discuss it. There are a lot of different ways to skin the horse. I don’t go saying my idea is the only one that will get you where you want to go. I hold people accountable for good decision-making. If a bad outcome results from a bad decision thats a problem. But if a bad outcome results from a reasonable decision, then thats business, and it could happen to anyone (Acuff, 2004, p. 87). This was the predicament of those who are trying to evaluate the decision making actions of Enron top executives did they make decisions, even bad decisions with the sake of the company in mind, and gambled with their careers because they know that if their plans and actions go well, it is extremely beneficial for the company, in a very Machiavellian approach towards getting things done regardless of the means by which th ey did it, or were they just plain guilty of fraudulent actions? People who are burdened by the decision that impacts a lot of people is not always amenable to taking the high and moral grounds, that is why the adage about the end justifying the means, about getting things done at what ever cost, about delivering against the odds became popular because of people like the Enron bosses who (probably) acted upon their decision making duties by risking what can be a popularly bad decision. Indeed, it may be easy or even convenient for most people adversely affected by the Enron collapse to attribute the colossal corporate debacle to the top management figures of the company by criticizing their decisions as well as their faculty for sound decision making. While it is true that Enron’s top executives are responsible for the collapse of the company, it is not that easy to measure the level of ethical decision making attributes of Enron’s top brass. Goethals et al (2004) pointed out that â€Å"the complexity associated with ethical decision making and behavior, especially as it applies to leadership and the workplace, makes the construct extremely difficult to research†, adding that â€Å"Measuring an individual’s level of ethical decision making is challenging, particularly because the measurement instruments that are available have problems with priming and social-desirability effects; that is, questionnaires or other similar modes of data collection cue respondents to give answers that they believe are socially acceptable rather than answers that truly reflect their own actions or opinions (Goethals et. al. , 2004, p. 461). † Proof of which is the fact that all of these executives in question are career corporate leaders even before they joined Enron; their credentials played an important role regarding their selection for a corporate position as high as theirs. Because of this, as well as the factors that affect the credibility of the ability for identification of the real public pulse regarding the persons involved in the issue, ethical decision making levels of the persons involved is hard to ascertain, making claims for questionable ethical decision making consideration of the people lose important ground and stand on insufficient set of stable legs for proof and justification. Still, there are those who believe that the level of ethics that influences the decision making capabilities of the Enron bosses are without a doubt questionable, and this includes Mimi Swartz and Sherron Watkins who was quoted in the book edited by Kathy Fitzpatrick and Carolyn B. Bronstein. In the article, it mentions about how Swartz and Watkins â€Å"blame Ken Lay, former CEO of Enron, and other company executives for privileging greed and arrogance over ethical business decisions† (Fitzpatrick and Bronstein, 2006, p. 79), the gist of the published work co-authored by the two individuals. Nalebuff and Ayres (2006) wrote that the problem often arises because people ignore the costs and benefits that their decisions have on other people. We call this approach Why dont you feel my pain? The more technical term for these effects is externalities. Decision makers who ignore externalities are bound to make bad decisions (Nalebuff and Ayres, 2006, p. 67). This explanation greatly tarnishes the ethical value of the decision making ethics of Enron bosses because it shows that they are prone or inclined to make decisions even if the result of such decisions lead to negative effects that other people will experience. Niskanen (2005) believes that Lay, one of the top bosses of Enron, â€Å"should be judged on the basis of his personal actions, directions to subordinates, or the actions of subordinates that he implicitly condoned by knowing about it without attempting to correct not on the basis of what he should have known† (Niskanen, 2005, p. 6). Lays condoning of actions is a result of a personal and professional decision that he made or failed to make and because of that, Niskanen believes that Lay is answerable for any criminal charges that would result from that particular action (or inaction). Watkins was thinking of the company and its employees and their future and hers as well, when she made the decision to let her superiors, particularly Lay, know about the possible accounting problems and the making public of the current and real financial and trade status of the company. This clearly illustrates the difference in ethics when it comes to decision making. Decision making, ethics and public perception Decision making in business is not merely a power or a privilege that one can use at will without thinking of the consequences that might happen should the decision resulted into something that is considered as adversely negative and detrimental to the welfare of the employees, their jobs and the company they work for. Those who are provided with such amenity to go along with their job description should consider that it is also their responsibility to make sure that their employees and subordinates do not think that they are squandering away their decision making privilege and everything that goes along with it. This was the prevailing attitude or outlook of the Enron employees especially nearing the imminent collapse of the company. The absence of ethical consideration resulted to the losing of the credibility of the bosses of Enron because they were not careful with how they undertake their decision making tasks. While bankruptcy is something that is very difficult to accept and impacts greatly in the lives of the employees especially the rank and file blue collar workers, there is a sense of adding insult to injury during occasions wherein the employees are starting to realize that all of the unfortunate things that happen in the company and in their careers are all a result of the faulty, incompetent and unethical decision making of the top management echelon and not because the company was helpless in the onslaught of a devastating economic problem, like how companies closed down during the Great Depression despite the efforts of American businessmen to keep the different industries alive and breathing. During the collapse of Enron, the US is experiencing a very stable economy far from that which characterized US economy during the Great Depression, and is shielded securely from the impact of whatever it was that was happening in the global economic and business landscape, and so during the Enron collapse, the collective finger was pointing an accusing index digit to Enron bosses and majority of the cause of their indignation originates from the sloppy decision making capabilities of Enron bosses who lost their credibility the moment they lost Enron. Brazelton and Ammons (2002) wrote in the book they co-wrote: â€Å"The Ethics Resource Center conducted a survey in 2000 in which it learned that 43 percent of respondents believed that their supervisors are generally poor examples of honest managers, and the same number were pressured to compromise their own integrity or that of their organization during decision making. The survey also identified a strong connection between employees perceptions of their supervisors and their own ethical behavior (Brazelton and Ammons, 2002, p. 388). † Enron decision making: the two-pronged factors It can be pointed out that one of the problems that happened to Enron is the ineffective of decision making among top executives first, their top executives failed to make correct decisions when they are required to do so, and second, Enron was not fully complimented with a set of professionals which could have contributed to the decision making process, and in the process provided the possibility of infusing new or different ideas that could have altered the outcome of the decision making process. Fitzpatrick and Bronstein (2006) did not look exclusively on Enrons bosses and the decisions they made in the management of Enron and the companys money and asset, rather, the two editors focused on the absence of a key top management personnel and took the presence of such a void as a sign that Enron is not even prioritizing the welfare of the company and its employees. The book Ethics in Public Relations: Responsible Advocacy, which includes the Enron case as one of the important case studies to point out the importance of the role of public relations, explains that perhaps the governance of these companies was such that they did not care about their publics, and did not want the advice of senior-level public relations officer playing an active or dominant role in organizational decision making (Fitzpatrick and Bronstein, 2006, pg 179). Conclusion – Niskanen (2005) summed up the Enron case on its characteristic of thriving in bad decisions made by its corporate leaders by saying in the book that the most important lesson from the Enron collapse, however, is that Enron failed because of a combination of bad business decisions, not because its accounts were misleading adding that the major business decisions that most contributed to its collapse were a series of bad investments, most of which were in the traditional asset-rich industries; the failure to reconcile two quite different business models; and the decision to focus management objectives on reported revenues and earning rather than on the present value of future cash flows (Niskanen, 2005, p. 6). Are they poor in decision making, or was the decision making adversely affected by other concerns and priorities outside of Enron that the results of the decision made for Enron looks like those who made the call did not even think about how this course of action will affect Enron? There are no sufficient proofs to point that the case was the latter; for a company that became seventh all in all in the Fortune 500 at least once, it is unthinkable how there will be conscious efforts to sink the company by making wrong decisions, deliberately or not. The point of the paper is not the assertion of the guild of Skilling, Lay or even Fastow, it’s the establishing of the point that decision making, when not handled properly, can turn even the most profitable company into a nose-diving wreck in a short period of time, that decision making plays an important role in how a person defines his or her life and how he or she leads a company and that because of these factors, no one should have an excuse why decision making was taken lightly and without much thought or care. All the people can see is a group of people who made wrong decisions several times, the resulting web and how they got trapped in that web, that is assuming that there was no malice or hidden agenda that the bosses perpetrated in lieu of Enron’s collapse. In the end, only Lay (now deceased) and the elite circle of the Enron executive clique will be the ones who would really know about the truth regarding ethics and the decision making in Enron leading to the collapse of the company. Many would ask, and some would presume, the reasons as well as the level of guilt of these leaders when it comes to breaching the ethical requirements needed when undertaking decision making for a company. Regardless, the decisions they made created far reaching ripples and altered the lives of many individuals who invested not just their time, strength and lifes savings into the company but as well as their but as well as their faith and trust, which are not in shattered pieces because of the bad decisions that Enron executives made. Crawford (2006) further elaborated on the pointed by explaining that bad decisions by a major company, however, cause major disruptions for all of the companys stakeholders’. He pointed at the case of Enron as one of his examples, saying that ‘the Enron disaster, as one example, certainly had devastating impacts on the lives of most of Enron employees (including the middle managers and professionals who invested in the company-sponsored Enron 401[K] plans) and also caused suffering for many individual investors who purchased Enron stock on the open market. Thousands of other Enron stakeholders, including Enrons suppliers and customers, also suffered, (Crawford, 2006, p. 26). Indeed, Enron’s decision making had a hand in how the company turned out to be.

District Nurses Work Within The Primary Health Care Team Nursing Essay

District Nurses Work Within The Primary Health Care Team Nursing Essay District nurses work within the primary health care team. They support patients at home or in residential care. They also provide a teaching role by enabling patients to care for themselves or by helping family members learn to care for their relatives. (NHS, 2011) Nurse consultants spend at least of 50% of their time working in direct contacts with patients. They are highly trained and are responsible for developing personal practice. They are involved in research, development and teaching. (NHS, 2011) Specialist nurses are also known as clinical nurse specialists. They specialise in a specific area of nursing, for example, patients suffering from diseases such as cancer, diabetes or viruses. . Some clinical nurse specialists also have a teaching and advisory role. They may also be involved in advising medical and nursing staff about caring for patients with particular conditions and/or in teaching nurses and other professionals. (NHS, 2011) Practice nurses work in a GP surgery and are part of a primary healthcare team, which involves other health professionals such as doctors and dieticians. In larger practices, there may be several practice nurses sharing duties and responsibilities but in smaller ones, youd be working on your own, taking on many roles (NHS, 2011). Asthma is a long-term condition  that can cause a cough, wheezing and breathlessness.  Asthma can be well controlled in most people most of the time. When a person with asthma comes into contact with something that irritates their airways (an asthma trigger), the muscles around the walls of the airways tighten so that the airways become narrower and the lining of the airways becomes inflamed and starts to swell. Sometimes sticky mucus or phlegm builds up which can further narrow the airways (NHS, 2011). Salbutamol is a beta 2 agonist. Salbutamol works by acting on receptors in the lungs called beta 2 receptors. When salbutamol stimulates these receptors it causes the muscles in the airways to relax. This allows the airways to open. Side effects of these types of medication can include nervousness, tremor and headache. (BNF, 2011) Angina describes the pain and chest tightness and sometimes breathlessness or choking feeling caused when blood flow in the arteries that supply the heart is restricted (BUPA, 2011). Glycerol Trinitrate can be helpful in reducing angina attacks, rather than reversing angina started, by supplementing blood concentrations of nitric oxide. Side effects from Glycerol Trinitrate include, headache, dizziness, and diarrhoea, feeling sick and flushing (BNF, 2011). Congestive cardiac failure is something that happens when a heart does not have enough strength to pump blood around the body properly; this leads to fluid collecting inside the lungs and body tissue, which then leads to congestion. It tends to affect older people. It is a long term condition and can be managed with medication and changes in lifestyle. One of the treatments available for use in congestive heart failure is Furosemide, which is a diuretic. Diuretics get rid of excess fluid and salt from a patients body, but in turn the body produces extra urine. They reduce swelling in ankles, make breathing easier and potentially increase life expectancy. Cerebrovascular accident is the medical term for a stroke. The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that: A stroke is caused by the interruption of the blood supply to the brain, usually because a blood vessel bursts or is blocked by a clot. This cuts off the supply of oxygen and nutrients, causing damage to the brain tissue. Aspirin is used in both the treatment and in the prevention of strokes. It works by thinning the blood, therefore reducing the risk of clots. Common side effects include stomach problems such as vomiting and pain. Long term effects can be serious and include a small risk of internal haemorrhage, which could lead to death. Diabetes is a condition in which the body produces too much glucose as a result of a decrease in the amount of insulin that is present in the body. In a healthy individual the pancreas produces insulin which helps to regulate the amount of sugar that remains in the blood stream. In the body of someone with diabetes there is not enough insulin in the blood stream to break down glucose and create energy. There are two types of Diabetes known simply as Type 1 and Type 2. In Type 1 diabetes the body is unable to create insulin on its own and is diagnosed generally during youth mainly during the teenage years. It is very uncommon as it is an inherited trait and only 5-10% of all people who suffer from diabetes fall into the Type 1 category. With type 2 diabetes, the illness and symptoms tend to develop gradually. This is because in type 2 diabetes you still make insulin (unlike type 1 diabetes). However, you develop diabetes because: you do not make enough insulin for your bodys needs, or the cells in your body do not use insulin properly. This is called insulin resistance. The cells in your body become resistant to normal levels of insulin. This means that you need more insulin than you normally make to keep the blood glucose level down, or a combination of the above two reasons. Diabetes is associated with short term problems such as hypoglycaemia which can lead to death and many long term health issues which can develop as a result of the illness. The risk of these potential health problems can be reduced through lifestyle and diet management. Synthetic Insulin is used in the treatment of type 1diabetes in a carefully planned insulin therapy programme to replace the insulin that has not been produced by the pancreas. The longer a person has type 2 diabetes the greater the risk that they will have to start insulin therapy at some point throughout their lives. Appendectomy Removal of Appendix in cases of acute appendicitis. Total Knee Replacement Replacement of the whole knee joint. Used to treat severe knee pain, trauma, long term arthritis and mobility problems. Coronary Artery Bypass Graft A surgical procedure used to treat coronary heart disease. It diverts blood around narrowed or clogged parts of the major arteries, to improve blood flow and oxygen supply to the heart.   Total Mastectomy A total mastectomy is also known as a simple mastectomy. It is a procedure that removes all of the breast tissue of an affected breast. The most common form of the surgery, referred to as traditional total mastectomy, includes the removal of the areola and nipple. However, the surgery can be performed using skin and nipple sparing techniques. It also leaves the muscle under the breast left intact. Prostatectomy A prostatectomy is the surgical removal of all or part of the prostate gland. Blockages like tumors of the prostate can affect the normal flow of urine in the urethra. A prostatectomy can help with this. Laparoscopy A laparoscopy is a surgical procedure that is carried out using a laparoscope which is a small, flexible tube with a camera on it. Using a laparoscope means that a surgeon can access the inside of the abdomen and the pelvis without the procedure being invasive because large cuts are not needed; Sometimes known as keyhole surgery. According to The department of Health (2005) MRSA stands for Meticillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus. It is a very contagious strain of the Staphylococcus type of bacteria. It can cause many different infections and some of these can be very serious. About 3% of the population are known carriers of MRSA and it can be transmitted by a carrier to another person or themselves through an open wound or into the blood steam. In order to reduce the risk of infection of MRSA healthcare workers can practice proper hand hygiene and they can encourage patients to wash their hands after going to the toilet. Gloves can also be used with known carriers. The Department of Health (2007) explains that Clostridium Difficile is a bacterium which is the major cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea and colitis, an infection of the intestines. It most commonly affects elderly patients with other underlying diseases. It is present in a small proportion of the population but is usually kept in check by the good bacteria. When this good bacteria is not present illness develops. People who have been treated with antibiotics are most at risk. The disease can be spread by healthcare workers, therefore washing hands after contact with a patient can help prevent the spread and reducing the use of antibiotics can help reduce the harm that the bacterium can cause. Adult nurses work with old and young adults with a variety of health problems, chronic and acute. They are involved in many roles including caring, counselling, managing and teaching to improve the quality of a patients life, often in challenging situations. Adult nurses can hold positions at most levels of the NHS career framework. Adult nurses work at the centre of a multi professional team that can include doctors, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, radiographers, healthcare assistants and others workers. They assess, plan, implement and evaluate care for individual patients. Adult nurses can work in both hospital and community settings. Learning Disability Nursing The World Health Organisation defines learning disabilities or LD as: a state of arrested or incomplete development of mind. Learning disabilities is an umbrella term encompassing a range of disorders and deficits that create problems for an individual in relation to learning. People with LD often have physical problems that go hand in hand. Learning disabilities are often diagnosed by psychologists, through a combination of intelligence testing, academic achievement testing, classroom performance, and social interaction and aptitude. Other areas of assessment may include perception, cognition, memory, attention, and language abilities. IQ or Intelligence Quotient is an attempt to measure intelligence using standardized tests. According to the British Institute of Learning Disabilities (2006) it is often used to classify the level of intellectual impairment in someone with learning disabilities. Below 20 would be classed as a profound learning disability; 25 to 35, Severe; 35 to 50, Moderate and 55 to 70, Mild. Errors in fetal development. Problems during pregnancy. Toxins in the childs environment. Tobacco, alcohol and other drug use. Genetic factors. According to the British Institute of Learning Disabilities (2006), between 1 and 2 percent of the UK population have a learning disability. According to Autism.org.uk, autism is a developmental disability that lasts for a lifetime. It affects how they make sense of the world around them and how they communicate and relate to other people. It is a spectrum condition so even though people with autism share difficulties, their condition will be personal to them and will affect them in different ways. People with autism sometimes experience over- or under-sensitivity to sounds, touch, tastes, smells, light or colours. According to the NHS (2010) Epilepsy affects the brain and can cause repeated seizures, also known as fits. Epilepsy usually begins early in someones life, although it can potentially start at any age. The severity of the seizures can vary in different people. Some may experience a trance-like state for a short time,  while some others lose consciousness completely and have convulsions where they shake uncontrollably. Downs syndrome is a genetic condition where a person inherits an extra copy of one chromosome. This additional genetic material can result in characteristic physical features such as a flatter than normal face and also intellectual features which can vary from moderate to severe LD. Cerebral palsy is not a learning disability, but is common to have a LD if you also have cerebral palsy. It is a physical condition that affects the movement and control of a body. It is caused by a lack of development in part of the brain during pregnancy or childhood. The severities of problems are dependent on which part of the brain is affected (Mencap, 2010). When talking about people with LD, dual diagnosis refers to the comorbidity of learning disabilities and mental health problems. People with LD often suffer with depression or anxiety. It is important for nurses to be aware of the common conditions in LD because they can easily be missed if they are not actively looked for. It can be much more difficult for someone with LD to communicate a problem with their health and also, symptoms can be missed due to diagnostic overshadowing which means that secondary illnesses are missed because the symptoms are mistaken to be related to the primary disorder. Most people with LD live at home with help from families and day care services. Care for people with LD is often provided by family members with support from a range of healthcare workers and professionals such as nurses, psychologists, speech therapists, physiotherapists and specialist behavioral therapists; healthcare assistants and day workers. Direct payments are made by councils to people receiving social care services, instead of the council providing the service directly (direct.gov.uk). LD nurses work in a variety of setting which include the home, family, adult education, education for young people and community/residential settings (NHS Careers Website). Social Role Valorisation is the name given to a concept formulated by Wolf Wolfensberger, Ph.D in 1983 which follows the principle of normalisation. Normalisation is a set of principles that underlie the idea that people with a learning disability should live in ordinary places, doing ordinary things, with ordinary people: essentially experiencing the normal patterns of everyday life. The five service accomplishments identified by OBrien and Tyne (1981) were: Community presence; Relationships; Choice; Competence; Respect. Person Cantered Planning is way of seeing and working with all people with disabilities. It helps people with disabilities plan and organise their future in a more ordinary way. Fundamentally the person is at the centre and family members and friends are made full partners in the plan. The plan should reflect what is important to the person and the capacities that they have. It should also help a person to make a valued contribution to society. People with learning LD have been referred to as patients, clients and service users. Service user is the current term used within healthcare but the term client is still used by some and probably depends on who you are talking to. The four principles of the 2001 white paper valuing people are: right, independence, choice and inclusion. Right means that people with learning disabilities should have the same rights and choices as everybody else. Independence means the people with LD should be helped to live lives that are as independent as possible. Choice means that people with LD should be empowered to have choice in the treatment they receive and the lives that they lead. Inclusion means that people with LD should be included in society, have access to services and helped to gain valued social roles within society. One of the issues with LD nursing is mental health. People with LD often also suffer with mental health problems. There is a distinct difference between a person having a mental illness and a learning disability,

The Full Monty Movie Analysis

The Full Monty Movie Analysis The Full Monty is a movie based on a group of men who have been made redundant due to effects of economic change and political misfortune. This leads to a shift in social organisation, when taking into consideration in conventional social order men are anticipated to be the primary breadwinners. As a final way out, the group decide to put on an amateur strip production for the ladies in the local workingmens club as a way to make money. For the purposes of this sociological analysis of the film, The Full Monty, two sociological theories will be consulted namely from Raewyn Connell regarding hegemonic masculinities and social order and Émile Durkheim concerning egoistic and anomic suicide. 2. Key Theorists Raewyn Connell, is an Australian sociologist acknowledged for her work in the fields of sociology, education, gender studies, political science and history (University of Sydney, 2010) She is currently a Professor at the University of Sydneys Faculty of Education and Social Work .Connells work deals critically with social structures, inequalities and social justice, gender relations and gender identity politics in the context of hegemony, especially hegemonic masculinity. She is for the most part recognised for her widely-cited book, Masculinities (University of Sydney, 2010). David Émile Durkheim (April 15, 1858 November 15, 1917) was a French positivist sociologist. Durkheim developed the sociological positivism of Auguste Comte in greater detail, hence developing a rigorous methodology combining sociological theory with empirical social research.[2] Also influential in anthropology, Durkheim was a structural functionalist and an early proponent of solidarism.[3]HYPERLINK #cite_note-3[4] During his lifetime, Durkheim gave many lectures, and published numerous sociological studies on subjects such as education, crime, religion, suicide, and many other aspects of society. 3. Hegemonic Masculinity and Social Order The Full Monty is set in Sheffield, North England after Thatchers era (1979-1990) (Tamba, 2002). After the fall of the steel industry in Sheffield, mens roles in society were compromised, they were no longer able to be the breadwinners of the household and as such the women became the providers and started impeding on the hegemonic masculinity of these men. Official figures show that the number of men of working age with jobs has fallen from 92 per cent in 1971 to 75 per cent. The number of women who are employed has risen from 56 per cent to 69 per cent, narrowing the gap between women and men to 6 per cent (Watt, 2010). This gives women more financial independence and often leads to them wearing the trousers in a relationship, further contributing to the mans loss of masculinity. The men in the film feel inadequate and hopeless with being unemployed. With women increasingly becoming the breadwinners and traditionally roles being reversed by their newfound economic independence, men were forced to re-examine their relationships and deeply held beliefs about gender roles (Tamba, 2002) The group in this film come up with this strip act which is directed at getting money as they are all struggling financially. However, a number of social issues and perceptions arise on the lead up to the act. Social order is challenged when certain traits are defined as either being specifically feminine or masculine. When the men are together in Geralds house taking off their clothes, they start comparing themselves to the Chippendales, who were the strip group that gave Gaz the idea to do it themselves. They show their insecurities about their bodies and as such their masculinity. Dave, one of the members of the group, finds himself dealing with a weight complex. He views himself as overweight, unappealing and repulsive. As he discusses this with the rest of the men, one of them, Gerald states that fat David is a feminist issue. This perception is generalised, meaning that it is only women who should have to conform to the models of attractiveness that are set by men. However, Dav e challenges this notion with this concern about his weight and appearance. In the beginning of the movie whilst they were taking auditions for the group, the presence of Horse, a black man, sets about a succession of wild whispers and accusations about how black men have good bodies and bigger sexual organs. The film yet again contradicts this theory as Horse, upon hearing they were going to do the full Monty is seen buying a penis enlargement product. 5. Durkheims Suicide Durkheim (1897) stated that there are four types of suicide, these are based on the degrees of imbalance of two social forces: social integration and moral regulation. In the film, a young man, Lomper, was a security guard at Harrisons, the steel mill where Dave and Gaz once worked. After Lomper finally loses his job long after the mill shut down, he tries to commit suicide by asphyxiating himself in his car by carbon monoxide poisoning. By coincidence Dave and Gaz are out jogging and pass Lomper trying to start his car. Dave, who stops to help, tries to have a conversation with Lomper however cuts off the contact after getting no response. After a few seconds, whilst walking away, Dave realises that Lomper was trying to asphyxiate himself and runs back to save Lompers life. The subsequent scene shows Dave, Gaz and Lomper sitting on a hill, talking about different ways of committing suicide. Dave suggests getting a mate to run you down right fast (with a car), to which Lomper says he hasnt got any mates. Gaz rebuts telling him they just saved his life, so dont tell us were not your mates. Lompers inclusion in the group gave him a newly-optimistic attitude on life. Lompers attempted suicide can be attributed to two of Durkheims types of suicide. The first is Egoistic suicide. This form of suicide is the result of a weakening of the bonds that normally integrate individual into the collectivity. Durkheim refers to this type of suicide as the result of excessive individualisation, meaning that the individual becomes increasingly dethatched from other members of the community. He went on to discover that particularly males who were unmarried, with less to bind and connect them to stable social norms and goals, committed suicide at higher rates. Lomper who says he has no friends is an example of this type of suicide. He is not sufficiently bound to a social group and left with little social support or guidance, therefore his attempted suicide into this category of an Egoistic suicide. The second type of Durkheims suicide that Lompers attempt subscribes to is Anomic suicide. Durkheim says that anomic suicide occurs in times of social upheaval and moral disorder in which people do not know where they fit in within their societies (Germov Poole, 2008: 28). The male characters in the film were once proud workers in the heavy steel industry who suddenly found themselves without a job, without hope and without a proper role in society. During the economic downturn of the industrial business in Sheffield a lot of the men lost their jobs, including Lomper. According to the British Medical Journal (1999) between 1980 to 1991 the suicide rates for males aged between 25-65 was double compared to the under 25 age group. This could show that these higher age groups were more greatly affected by the social defragmentation as they were the ones most likely in the now devastated steel industry. Consequently Lomper was not sure where he fit into society once he lost his job and h e had no friends to converse with, making him a person with an increased risk of suicide according to Durkheim (1897).

Ineffectiveness of Communism Exposed in Animal Farm :: Animal Farm Essays

At one level, George Orwell’s â€Å"Animal Farm† is an entertaining fable of an animal revolution in England. However, beneath this innocent storyline lie several bleak invited readings presented through textual features such as literary devices, characters and events which parallel the Bolshevik Revolution. These readings, achieved through marginalising certain information and privileging other information, lead readers to adopt a pessimistic attitude toward particular groups and political ideologies. Among Orwell’s invited readings are the tendency of communist governments to become corrupt, the abuse of extensive authority and the effectiveness of propaganda. Throughout â€Å"Animal Farm†, Orwell leads readers to view communism pessimistically by suggesting that communist governments are hypocritical and violate ethical principles. Communism is founded upon beliefs of freedom and equality. Indeed, when Old Major paints vivid pictures of animals living freely, he also points out that â€Å"no animal must ever tyrannise over his own kind† and that â€Å"all animals are equal† (p.6). However, later in the novella, the pigs, having established themselves as the upper class, reign supreme. The pigs force the other animals to labour endlessly while they lead lives of luxury. Their oppression culminates at the modification of the final commandment to â€Å"All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others† (p.85). Despite Old Major’s dream of liberation and equality for all animals, democracy fails to materialise at Animal Farm. Here, Orwell’s text suggests that communism often becomes corrupt and violates the principles that founded it, leading readers to view communism negatively. This is reinforced when Orwell draws parallels between the corruption of Animal Farm and the corruption of the ideals of the Russian Revolution. Rivals for Soviet leadership Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin are burlesqued by Snowball and Napoleon respectively. Privileged readers who are aware of the events in the Russian Revolution comprehend the irony and are thus presented with two communist governments that failed. Consequently, readers are led to believe that communism rarely works. While communism may be an unsuccessful form of government, its disastrous effects were worsened by extensive authority in the hands of corrupt leaders. Orwell privileges the concept that the vices of leaders possessing extensive authority are reflected in the society which they govern. Napoleon, who is the leader of Animal Farm, is naturally selfish. This trait is exhibited when Napoleon and the pigs lead luxurious lives while the other animals live in poverty. For example, after Mr Jones is overthrown: â€Å"it was agreed that the milk and the windfall apples†¦should be reserved for the pigs alone† (p.

Gallium :: essays research papers

Gallium 1871 Dmitrii Ivanovich Mendelev predicts the existance and properties of the element after zinc in the periodic table. He Gives it the name "eka aluminium". 1875 Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran discovers gallium. Its properties closely match those predicted by Mendelev. Gallium, atomic number 31, is very similar to aluminum in its chemical properties. It does not dissolve in nitric acid because of the protective film of gallium oxide that is formed over the surface by the action of the acid. Gallium does however dissolve in other acids, and alkalies. Gallium was discovered (1875) by Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, who observed its principal spectral lines while examining material seperated from zinc blende. Soon after he isolated the metal studied its properties, which coincided those that Dmitrii Ivanovich Mendelev had predicted a few years earlier for eka-aluminium, the then undiscovered element lying between aluminum and indium in his periodic table. Though widely distributed at the Earth's surface, gallium does not occor free or concentrated in independant minerals, except for gallite. It is extracted as a by-product from zinc blende, iron pyrites, bauxite, and germanite. Silvery white and soft enough to be cut with a knife, gallium takes on a bluish tinge because of superficial oxidation. Unusual for its low melting point ( about 30 degrees C, 86 degrees F ), gallium also expands upon solidification and supercools readily, remaining a liquid at temperatures as low as 0 degrees C ( 32 degrees F ). Gallium has the longest usefull liquid range of any element. The liquid metal clings to glass and similar surfaces. The crystal structure of gallium is orthorhombic. Natural gallium consists of a mixture of two stable isotopes: gallium-69 ( 60.4 percent ) and gallium-71 (39.6 percent ). Somewhat similar to aluminum chemically, gallium slowly oxidizes in moist air until a protective film forms, and it becomes passive in cold nitric acid. Gallium has been considered as a possible heat-exchange medium in nuclear reactors, although it has a high neutron cross section. Radioactive gallium-72 shows some promise in the study of bone cancer; a compound of this isotope is absorbed by the cancerous portion of the bone. The most common use of gallium is in a gallium scan. Gallium scans are often used to diagnose and follow the progression of tumors or infections. Gallium scans can also be used to evaluate the heart, lungs, or any other organ that may be involved with inflammatory disease.

Night World : Black Dawn Chapter 15

Maggie shuffled behind Chamber-pot Emptier,heading back toward the castle. She was carryingpiles of folded linen sheets given to her by Laun dress, and she was doing her best to look like a slave. Laundress had smudged her face artisticallywith dirt to disguise her. She had also sifted ahandful of dust into Maggie's hair to dull the auburn into a lifeless brown, and when Maggie bowedher head over the sheets, the hair further obscuredher features. The only problem was that she wasconstantly afraid she was going to sneeze. â€Å"Those are the wild animals,† Chamber-pot Emptier whispered over her shoulder. She was a bigboned girl with gentle eyes that reminded Maggieof the calves tethered by Laundress's hut. It had taken Laundress a while to make her understandwhat they wanted of her, but now she seemed tofeel obligated to give Maggie a tour. â€Å"They're brought in from Outside,† she said. â€Å"And they're dangerous. Maggie looked sideways at the wicker cageswhere Sylvia and Gavin had walked earlier. Fromone a brown-gray wolf stared back at her with afrighteningly sad and steady gaze. In another a sleek black panther was pacing, and it snarled asthey went by. There was something curled up inthe back of a third that might have been a tigerit was big, and it had stripes. â€Å"Wow,† she said. â€Å"I wouldn't want to chase that.† Chamber-pot Emptier seemed pleased. â€Å"Andhere's the castle. It's called Black Dawn.† â€Å"It is?† Maggie said, distracted away from theanimals. â€Å"That's what my grandpa called it, anyway. Helived and died in the courtyard without ever goingin.† Chamber-pot Emptier thought a moment andadded, â€Å"The old people say that you used to be ableto see the sun in the sky-not just behind theclouds, you know. And when the sun came up inthe morning it shone on the castle. But maybethat's just a story.† Yeah, maybe it was just a story that you couldsee the sun in the sky, Maggie thought grimly.Every time she thought this place couldn't surpriseher anymore, she discovered she was wrong. But the castle itself was impressive †¦ awe inspiring. It was the only thing in view that wasn't dusty brown or pallid gray. Its walls were shinyand black, almost mirror-like in places, and Maggie didn't have to be told that it wasn't built of anyordinary human stone. How they had gotten it tothis valley was a mystery. Delos lives here, she thoughtasEmptier led herup a stone staircase, past the ground floor which was just cellars and storage rooms. In this beautiful, frightening, impressive place. Not only lives init, but commands it. It's all his. She got just a glimpse of the great hall, whereshe'd seen slaves setting a long table yesterday. Chamber-pot Emptier led her up another floor andinto a series of winding corridors that seemed to go on for miles. It was dim in this internal labyrinth. The windows were high and narrow and hardly let any ofthe pale daylight in. On the walls there were candles in brackets and flares in iron rings, but theyonly seemed to add wavering, confusing shadowsto the twilight. â€Å"His bedroom's up here,† Emptier murmured finally. Maggie followed her closely. She was justthinking that they had made it all the way withouteven being challenged, when a voice sounded from a side corridor. â€Å"Where are you going? Who's this?† It was a guard, Maggie saw, peering from underher hair. A real medieval guard, with, of all things,a lance. There was another one in the opposite cor ridor just like him. She was fascinated in the middle of her terror. But Chamber-pot Emptier of the not-so-quickwits reacted beautifully. She took time to curtsey, then she said slowly and stolidly, â€Å"It's Folder fromthe laundry, sir. Laundress sent her with the sheetsand I was told she could help me. There's morework because of the guests, you know.† â€Å"It's Chamber Maid's work to spread sheets,† theguard said irritably. Chamber-pot Emptier curtsied again and said just as slowly, â€Å"Yes, sir, but there's more work because of the guests, you see-â€Å" â€Å"Fine, fine,† the guard broke in impatiently. â€Å"Whydon't you go and do it, instead of talking about it?†He seemed to think that was funny, and he turned and elbowed the other guard in the ribs. Chamber-pot Emptier curtseyed a third time and walked on, not hurrying. Maggie tried to copy the curtsey, with her face buried in the sheets. There was another endless corridor, then a doorway, and then Emptier said, â€Å"We're here. Andthere's nobody.around.† Maggie lifted her face from the sheets. â€Å"You're absolutely wonderful, you know that? You deservean Academy Award.† â€Å"A what?† â€Å"Never mind. But you were great.† â€Å"I only told the truth,† the girl said placidly, butthere was a smile lurking in the depths of her gentle cowlike eyes. â€Å"There is more work when guestscome. We never had them before three years ago.† Maggie nodded. â€Å"I know. Look, I guess you'd better go now. And um-Emptier?† She couldn't bring herself to say the entire name. â€Å"I really hope you don't get in trouble because of this.† Chamber-pot Emptier nodded back, then went toreach under the bed and retrieve a ceramic container. She walked out again holding it carefully. Maggie looked around the room, which was verybig and very bare. It was somewhat better lit thanthe corridors, having several bowl-shaped oil lampson stands. The bed was the only real piece of furniture in it. It was huge, with a heavy wooden frameand carved bedposts. Piled on top of it were quiltsand what looked like fur coverlets, and hanging allaround it were linen curtains. I'm probably supposed to take all that stuff off and put the clean sheets on, Maggie thought. Shedidn't. The rest of the furniture seemed to be largechests made of exotic-looking wood, and a fewbenches and stools. Nothing that offered a hidingplace. But on one side there was a curtaineddoorway. Maggie went through it and found a small anteroom-the wardrobe Jeanne had mentioned. It wasmuch bigger than she'd expected, and seemed tobe more of a storeroom than a closet. Okay. So I'll just sit down. There were two stools beside a figure thatvaguely resembled a dressmaker's dummy. Maggie dropped her sheets on a chest and pulled one ofthe stools close to the doorway. Through the spacebetween the linen curtains she could see almost theentire bedchamber. Perfect, she thought. All I have to do is wait untilhe comes in alone. And then She stiffened. She could hear voices from somewhere beyond the vast bedroom. No, she couldhear a voice, a musical girlish voice. Oh, please, she thought. Not her.Don't let him come in with her. I'll have to jump out and hit herwith something; I won't be able to stop myself†¦ . But when two figures came in the room, she hadno desire to jump out. It was Sylvia, all right, but she wasn't with Delos.She was with Hunter Redfern. Maggie felt ice down her spine. Now, what werethese two doing in Delos's bedroom? Whatever itwas, if they caught her, she was dead meat. Sheheld herself absolutely still, but she couldn't tear herself away from the curtain. â€Å"He's out riding, and he won't be back for another half hour,† Sylvia was saying. She was wearing a dark holly-green gown and carrying a basket.†And I've sent all the servants away.† â€Å"Even so,† Hunter Redfern said. He gently movedthe heavy wooden door until it was almost shut.Not all the way, but enough to screen the bedchamber from anyone outside. â€Å"You really think he's spying on our rooms?† Sylvia turned in a swirl of skirts to look at the tallman. â€Å"He's brightmuch smarter than you give himcredit for. And these old castles have spy-holes and listening tubes built in; I remember. It's a stupidprince who doesn't make use of them.† He remembers, Maggie thought, for a moment too full of wonder to be scared. He remembers thedays when castles were built, he means. He's reallybeen alive that long. She studied the handsome face under the bloodred hair, the aristocratic cheekbones, the mobile mouth-and the quick flashing eyes. This was thesort of man who could fascinate people, she decided. Like Delos, there was a sort of leashed tension about him, a reserve of power and intelligence that made an ordinary person feel awed. He was a leader, a commander. And a hunter, Maggie thought. All these peopleare hunters, but he's the Hunter, the epitome ofwhat they are. His name says it all. But Sylvia was talking again. â€Å"What is it that he'snot supposed to know?† â€Å"I've had a message from Outside. Don't ask how,I have my ways.† â€Å"You have your little bats,† Sylvia said demurely.†I've seen them.† There was a pause, then Hunter said, â€Å"You'd better watch yourself, girl. That mouth's going to getyou in trouble.† Sylvia had her face turned away from him, butMaggie saw her swallow. â€Å"I'm sorry. I didn't knowit was a secret. But what's happened?† â€Å"The biggest news in your short life.† Hunter Redfern laughed once and added with apparentgood humor restored, â€Å"And maybe in mine. Thewitches have seceded from the Night World.† Maggie blinked. It sounded impressive the wayhe said itbut more impressive was the way Sylviafroze and then whirled breathlessly. â€Å"What?† â€Å"It's happened. They've been threatening for amonth, but most people didn't believe they'd reallydo it.† Sylvia put a hand to her middle, pressed flatagainst her stomach as if to hold something in.Then she sat on the fur-covered bed. â€Å"They've left the Council,† she said. She wasn'tlooking at Hunter Redfern. â€Å"They've left the Council and everything else.†Ã¢â‚¬ All of them?† Hunter Redfern's fine red eyebrows went up. â€Å"What did you expect? Oh, a few of the blackestpractitioners from Circle Midnight are arguing, butmost of them agree with the liberals in Circle Twilight. They want to save the humans. Avert thecoming darkness.† He said it exactly the way Maggie had heard lumberjacks say, â€Å"Save the spotted owls. Ha!† â€Å"So it's really beginning,† Sylvia murmured. Shewas still looking at the stone floor. â€Å"I mean, there'sno going back, now, is there? The Night World issplit forever.† â€Å"And the millennium is upon us,† Hunter said,almost cheerfully. He looked young and†¦personable, Maggie thought. Somebody you'd vote for. â€Å"Which brings me to the question,† he said smoothly, looking at Sylvia, â€Å"of when you're goingto find her.† What her? Maggie's stomach tightened. Sylvia's face was equally tight. She looked up and said levelly, â€Å"I told you I'd find her and I will.†Ã¢â‚¬ But when?You do understand how important this is?† â€Å"Of course I understand!† Sylvia flared up. Herchest was heaving. â€Å"That's why I was trying to sendher to you in the first place-â€Å" Hunter was talkingasif he didn't hear her. â€Å"If it gets out that Aradia, the Maiden of all the witches,is here in the valley-‘ Iliknow!† â€Å"And that you hadher and let her slip throughyour fingers-â€Å" â€Å"I was trying to bring her to you.I thought thatwas important,† Sylvia said. She was bristling and distraught. Which was exactly what Hunter wantedher to be, Maggie thought dazedly. He really knows how to play people. But the analysis was faraway, in the shallowestpart of her mind. Most of her consciousness wassimply stricken into paralyzed amazement. Aradia. The Maiden of all the witches. So it wasn't Arcadia at all, Maggie thought. She might have mentioned that,after I've been calling her Cady for days. But then she hasn't been conscious much, and when she was we had more urgent things to talk about. Aradia. Aradia. That's really pretty. The name had started an odd resonance in hermind, maybe bringing up some long-forgotten mythology lesson. Aradia was a goddess, she thought.Of†¦ um, sylvan glades or something. The woods.Like Diana. And what Maiden of all the witches was, she hadno idea, but it was obviously something important.And not evil, either. From what Hunter was saying, it was clear that witches weren't like other NightPeople. She was the maiden Bern and Gavin were talkingabout, Maggie realized. The one they were supposed to deliver. So Sylvia was bringing her toHunter Redfern. But Cady herself told me-I mean, Aradiatold me-that she was already coming tothis valley for a reason. Before she could even properly phrase the question, her mind had the answer. Delos. In a coincidence that lifted the hair on Maggie'sarms, Sylvia said, â€Å"She won't get to Delos.† â€Å"She'd better not,† Hunter said. â€Å"Maybe you don't realize how persuasive she can be. An ambassador from all the witches, coming to plead her case †¦ she just might sway him. He has a despicable softspot-a conscience, you might call it. And we know he's been in contact with the human girl who escaped with her. Who knows what messages the little vermin was carrying from her?† No messages, Maggie thought grimly. Not withthis vermin anyway. But I would have carried themif I'd known. â€Å"Gavin said Aradia was still unconscious fromthe truth potion-that she was practically dead,†Sylvia said. â€Å"I don t think she could have given any messages. I'd swear that Delos doesn't know she'sin the valley at all.† Hunter was still brooding. â€Å"The witches have oneWild Power on their side already.† â€Å"But they won't get another,† Sylvia said doggedly. â€Å"I've got people looking for her. All the nobles are on our side. They won't let her get toDelos.† â€Å"She should have been killed in the beginning,†Hunter mused. â€Å"But maybe youhave a soft spotfor herlike you do for that human boy.† Behind the linen curtains, Maggie stiffened. Like you do.Not like you did.And who else couldthe human boy be? She gritted her teeth, listening so hard she couldhear the blood in her ears, willing them to talkabout Miles. But Hunter was going on in his smooth voice,†Or maybe you still have some loyalty to thewitches.† Sylvia's pale face flushed. â€Å"I do not! I'm finishedwith them, and you know it! I may be a spellcaster, but I'm not a witch anymore.† â€Å"It's good to see you haven't forgotten whatthey've done to you,† Hunter said. â€Å"After all, youcould have been a Hearth-Woman, taken yourrightful place on the witch Council.† â€Å"Yes†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Like your grandmother and her mother beforeher. Theywere Harmans, and so was your father.What a pity the name isn't passed through the maleline. You ended up being just a Weald.† â€Å"I wasa Harman,† Sylvia said with muted ferocity. She was staring at the floor again, and sheseemed to be speaking to herself rather than toHunter. â€Å"I was. But I had to stand there and watch my cousins be accepted instead of me. I had towatch half humansbe accepted-be welcomed.They took my place-just because they were descended through the female line.† Hunter shook his head. â€Å"A very sad tradition.† Sylvia's breath came raggedly for another minuteor so, then she looked up slowly at the tall man in the center of the room, â€Å"You don't have to worryabout my loyalty,† she said quietly. â€Å"I want a placein the new order after the millennium. I'm through with the witches.† Hunter smiled. â€Å"I know it,† he said, lightly and approvingly, andthen he started pacing the room. He got what hewanted out of her, Maggie thought. Almost casually, he added, â€Å"Just be sure thatDelos's power is kept in check until everything's decided.† Sylvia bent and lifted the basket, which Maggiehad forgotten about. â€Å"The new binding spells will hold,† she said. â€Å"Ibrought special ingredients from one of the oldestMidnight witches. And he won't suspect anything.† â€Å"And nobody but you can take them off?† â€Å"Nobody but me,† Sylvia said firmly. â€Å"Not eventhe Crone of all the witches. Or the Maiden, forthat matter.† â€Å"Good girl,† Hunter said, and smiled again. â€Å"Ihave every confidence in you. After all, you havelamia blood in you to balance the witch taint.You're my own eighth-great-granddaughter.† Maggie wanted to punch him. She was confused and frightened and indignantand furious, all at once. As faras she could tell,Hunter Redfern seemed to be manipulating everybody. And Delos, Delos the prince and Wild Power,was just another of his puppets. I wonder what they plan to do if he won't join their new order? she thought bleakly. After a few minutes, Hunter turned in his pacingand walked by the door. He paused brieflyasiflistening, then glanced at Sylvia. â€Å"You don't know how happy it makes me just to think about it,† he said, in a voice that wasn't strained, or overly cheerful, or too loud, or anything that rang false. â€Å"To finally have a true heir.A male heir of my own line, and untainted by witchblood. I would never have married that witchMaeve Harman if I had known my son was still alive. And not only alive, but out having sons! Theonly true Redferns left in the world, you mightsay. Maggie, with her teeth set in her lower lip, didn'tneed to guess who was on the other side of thedoor. She watched tensely. And Delos came in, right on cue.