Truth Of Juvenile Delinquency Essays - Criminology, Crime, Penology

Truth Of Juvenile Delinquency A movement has taken hold nationally to change the juvenile justice system, and erase any distinction between young offenders and adult criminals. Almost all fifty states have overhauled their juvenile justice laws, allowing more youths to be tried as adults and scrapping long-time protections to help rehabilitate delinquent kids and prevent future crimes. The current debate over juvenile crime is being dominated by two voices: elected officials proposing quick-fix solutions, and a media more intent on reporting violent crimes than successful prevention efforts. Politicians feel that best and easiest solution is to simply lock up youth offenders for long periods of time, and ignore rehabilitation. The most recent studies demonstrate that putting young offenders in adult prisons leads to more crime, higher prison costs, and increased violence. Yet, we are spending more and more on corrections, and less on prevention efforts. Some states spend more on corrections than they do on higher education. The cost of keeping juveniles in prison as compared to putting them into rehabilitation programs is astronomically higher. The Average cost of incarcerating a juvenile for one year is between $35,000 to $64,000. However, the average cost of an intervention program is $4,300 per child a year. Also the effectiveness of prisons to prevent juveniles from becoming repeat offenders is low. Kids, who have already spent time in adult prisons, are far more likely to commit more serious crimes when they are released. Crime prevention programs work and are cost-effective. They have been shown to reduce crime substantially when compared to imprisonment after crimes have been committed. There have many crime prevention programs around the country that have been very successful in helping to reduce juvenile crime. Many states use early intervention programs that are designed to help parents of troubled kids in raising their children. These programs offer strategies and tactics for hel ping supervise and discipline troubled children. This is done because it is believed that one of causes of delinquency is that parents of kids with delinquent tendencies simply don't know what to do with them. This program as well as other similar ones, have been shown to have quite an influence on crime prevention. Media reports on juvenile crime are greatly exaggerated. While some headlines suggested that a ?ticking time bomb? of so-called ?superpredator children? is waiting to explode, the studies show that this is simply not true. Crime level indicators show that the male ?at risk? population will rise over the next decade, but the levels are far from the explosive level that the media would like to suggest. In fact, the levels are lower than those reached in the late 1970's , when the ?at risk? population last peaked. The public also holds greatly distorted views about the prevalence and severity of juvenile crime. Contrary to public perception, the percentage of violent crimes committed by juveniles is low, only 13% of violent crimes are committed by young people. Also, most juvenile arrests have nothing to do with violence. Most kids only go through the juvenile justice system once. Also, most youths will simply out grow delinquent behavior once they mature. The true ?juvenile predator? is actually a rare breed. But the media thrives on sensationalism, so they make it appear that crime is everywhere in order to sell more news papers, or have people watch their broadcast. Juvenile crime does exist and youths do commit violent acts. However, it is not on the scale that many people would like the public to believe. The solution is to this problem is not a simple one and can not be solved by simply putting kids in adult prisons. More effective solutions should be explored and put to use. A movement has taken hold nationally to change the juvenile justice system, and erase any distinction between young offenders and adult criminals. Almost all fifty states h ave overhauled their juvenile justice laws, allowing more youths to be tried as adults and scrapping long-time protections to help rehabilitate delinquent kids and prevent future crimes. The current debate over juvenile crime is being dominated by two voices: elected officials proposing quick-fix solutions, and a media more intent on reporting violent crimes than successful prevention efforts. Politicians

The Definition of Hydrophobic With Examples

The Definition of Hydrophobic With Examples To be hydrophobic means to fear water. In chemistry, it refers to the property of a substance to repel water. It isnt that the substance is repelled by water so much as it has a lack of attraction to it. A hydrophobic substance exhibits hydrophobicity and may be termed hydrophobic. Hydrophobic molecules tend to be nonpolar molecules that group together to form micelles rather than be exposed to water. Hydrophobic molecules typically dissolve in nonpolar solvents (e.g., organic solvents). There are also superhydrophobic materials, which have contact angles with water greater than 150 degrees. Surfaces of these materials resist wetting. The shape of water droplets on superhydrophobic surfaces is called the Lotus effect, in reference to the appearance of water on a lotus leaf. Superhydrophobicity is considered a result of interfacial tension and not a chemical property of matter. Examples of Hydrophobic Substances Oils, fats, alkanes, and most other organic compounds are hydrophobic. If you mix oil or fat with water, the mixture will separate. If you shake a mixture of oil and water, the oil globules will eventually stick together to present a minimum surface area to the water. How Hydrophobicity Works Hydrophobic molecules are nonpolar. When they are exposed to water, their nonpolar nature disrupts hydrogen bonds between water molecules, forming a clathrate-like structure on their surface. The structure is more ordered than free water molecules. The change in entropy (disorder) causes nonpolar molecules to clump together to decrease their exposure to water and thus decrease the entropy of the system. Hydrophobic vs. Lipophilic While the terms hydrophobic and lipophilic are often used interchangeably, the two words dont mean the same thing. A lipophilic substance is fat-loving. Most hydrophobic substances are also lipophilic, but exceptions include fluorocarbons and silicones.

Should Environmental Rights be inserted into the Canadian Charter of Essay

Should Environmental Rights be inserted into the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms - Essay Example Through the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canadians are afforded the right to life, liberty of expression, security and protection from discrimination. However, these liberties and rights can only work against themselves if the people are not allowed to enjoy them with the right to be in healthy environments. To this end, this paper will critically evaluate why environmental rights should be inserted into the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Approaching the protection of certain rights through statutory and constitutional means is a practical and achievable initiative and, in the present age of global warming, all citizens in the world, including future generations, are entitled to protection from unhealthy environments. Therefore, the Canadian federal government must consider how the rights of its citizens to an environment that is balanced ecologically and healthy are ensured, both through statutory and constitutional means. Denying Canadians the right to live in healthy environments cannot be justified. Since a nation’s Constitution defines its people in more ways than just a simple set of legal instructions, it should also exemplify their highest values and aspirations. Therefore, as the supreme law of the land, it is only fair that the Canadian Constitution mirrors its people’s connection to their environment which sustains health and life. Sadly, in the industrialized world, Canada ranks extremely po orly in terms of environmental performance. According to a survey conducted by the Center for Global Development, based in Washington, Canada was placed 27th out of 27 among the industrialized countries (Erin 61). From this, there is evidently an urgent need to include environmental rights in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This will also serve the purpose of confirming the federal government’s public trust obligation of protecting the environment under its authority.

Prohibit gay couples from obtaining a marriage license Research Paper

Prohibit gay couples from obtaining a marriage license - Research Paper Example The Equal Protection Clause, which forms part of the 14th amendment, prohibits the states from making a legislation that can deny the citizens equal protection under the law (Newton 34). The 14th amendment only mentions the state governments but not the federal government. In this case, the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 cannot gay couples the right to marriage in the society. Accordingly, the 1996 Defense of Marriage act has not conclusively denied the states the right to grant gay marriage license since it only grants the states the right to not recognize gay marriages performed n other states. In addition, the Defense of Marriage Act1996 legally implied that States has the option of recognizing same-sex marriage. In Massachusetts Supreme Court decision of 2004, the jurists adhered with the equal protection clause since banning gay marriages denied the citizens the right to benefit from various federal government programs and right to be treated equally in the society regardless o f the sexual orientation. Jurist activists have observed that equal protection clause of the 14th amendment desired to protect some groups from subordination and thus sexual orientation should be strictly safeguarded (Cahill 165). Strict constructionist jurists oppose the making on laws on the bench since they prefer a conservative approach when issuing judgments on gay marriages. Strict constructionist jurists are of the view that law-making duties should be left to the executive and legislators and judges should never make judicial decisions under the influence of their personal political or policy agenda (Newton 78). The jurists are bound by the ‘original intent’ of the applicable law and exercise judicial restrain in controversial public agendas such as legalization of gay marriages and granting of gay couples a license. These jurists are opposed to the idea of states granting marriage license to gay couples. They argue that the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 is th e underlying law that guides marriages in the constitution. The jurists would argue that the Act prevents the federal government from recognizing any gay marriages. Accordingly, the jurists strictly observe the Act since the States are protected from recognizing gay marriages that have been executed in other states (Cahill 67). Accordingly, the Act conclusively defines marriage as the union between a man and a woman and does not mention the possibility of any gay unions. Strict constructionist jurists argue that Supreme Court of Minnesota in the case of Baker v. Nelson (1971) clarified that any marriage occurs between a man and a woman and entails the possibility of procreation and support of children. In addition, the opponents of gay marriage license argue that marriage is not a right like the right to life or fair trial since it is a privilege and only heterosexual marriages can procreate and serve the purpose of the society (Cahill 265). Although the US is a secular society, a m ajority of the individuals identify with a particular religion such as Christianity, Islam or even Baptism. All the religions claim that marriage is sacred and involves the union of a man and woman with the aim of procreation (Merin 87). According to strict construction

United States Military Functions as the Worlds Police Essay

United States Military Functions as the Worlds Police - Essay Example The incidents that are going to be looked at include: attack on Libya in operation ‘Odyssey Dawn’ in the year 2011; Operation New Dawn of Iraq in the years 2010 and 2011; Operation Neptune Spear which sending of two batteries of Patriot missiles and 400 troops Turkey in the year 2012; and Drone strikes launched on al-Shabab militants in Somalia in the year 2012. Looking at the attack of Libya in Operation ‘Odyssey Dawn’ in the year 2011 the most notable thing is that the attack was more political than it was for the sake of international security and stability. The then Libyan leader, Colonel Gadhafi had been a non-cooperator with the western government's something that is believed to have put him in bad records with the government of the USA. In my opinion, the attack was not really necessary. Operation New Dawn of Iraq in the years 2010 and 2011 is one of the involvements of the US military that is believed to have been highly unnecessary. Due to the period of the involvement, a good number of the United States of America citizens believe that this must have cost the country a lot of finances that would have been used in solving the problems that the country was facing internally at that time (Lane, 2004). Internationally, it was sometimes seen as a case of overindulgence of the internal affairs of another country. There are a number of factors of US history since 1865 that has led to the U.S’s rise as a world superpower policeman. These factors include: their economic superiority and stability, which enabled them to spend on improving their military; the US-Spanish eviction from the Cuba war of 1898 which played a pivotal role in the establishment of the United States of America as the highest ranked world power; and the three years long war during which the US defeated the Filipino insurgents that helped them in gaining control over a point of geostrategic and trading significance (Meernik, 2004).

Social Work and Looked After Children | Book Review

Social Work and Looked After Children | Book Review Cocker, C. Allain, L. (2008) Social Work and Looked After Children. Exeter: Learning Matters Ltd. (This is number 8 on the list) The area of looked after children have received considerable attention within the social work and policy discourse over recent years. The book Social Work and Looked After Children by Christine Cocker and Lucille Allain was chosen for this review because it is not just another addition to the discourse, it represents a comprehensive and definitive submission which navigates the system of state care for children from the moment they enter the system until the moments they leave. The area of looked after children is an important aspect of social work, entailing the care of extremely vulnerable young people usually suffering from trauma. Social work students usually approach the area with some level of fear and trepidation and there was a definite absence within the discipline of a comprehensive simple to use guidebook. This book is simple, but not simplistic and addresses the core concepts within the area of looked after children robustly. It addresses complex issues from legislation a nd policy to minority issues, disability, and theoretical debates deftly. While the book was seemingly created for the student practitioner, comprehensive span, research summary tables, bullet point tips and summaries of key frameworks and policies within each areas makes it a must have for any serious student and social work practitioner committed to working with vulnerable children and young people. The book starts by outlining the relevant policies that direct work with looked after children. It offers a comprehensive summary of the history and ethics of working with looked after children and the values which underline the policies. In tandem, it presents a statistical trajectory mapping the number of looked after children in the care system in recent years to set the foundation for the discussions within the book. The second chapter is an excellent accompanying foundation chapter which identifies the main legal frameworks guiding work with looked children e.g. The Children’s Act of 1989 and the Every Child Matters policy document of 2003. Central to the thesis in this chapter, was the emphasis that work with looked after children should attempt to remove labels of exclusion and reinforce the entitlements of the child, according to the United Nations Convention’s Rights of the Child document. The various pathways by which children entered the system was examined and these were considered in relation the existing legal frameworks and how the conditions surrounding their entry into care, should be of vital importance to social workers whose main aim to support the child by understanding the entirety of their cases. The navigation from entry to exit of the care system, highlighted its strengths and weaknesses and in so doing zoomed in on areas where social workers need to be especially alert, for example, in their support and assessments of foster parents and the conditions of residential care homes for vulnerable children. The examination of the child assessment process, presented a chronological and in-depth look at one of the core tools of the social worker. Cocker and Allain focused on the important skills such as observation, reflection and empathy needed by the social worker to deliver best practice meeting the needs of the child and also to build the future client pra ctitioner relationship. The authors emphasized the importance of planning the assessment by studying the child’s files and reflecting on your own judgments regarding the issues emerging before beginning the assessment in order to avoid projecting your own values and stymie the future client relationship or create barriers to getting information which may best support the client. The book considered the importance of communication skills to the social work practitioner and in work with looked after children. It examined the impact of language on culture, the various types of communication patterns both verbal and non-verbal and highlighted how being able to engage the looked after child to participate in their own recovery through expression was central to successful practice. It also highlighted the need for practitioners to recognize that their language is inclusive and does not make the looked after child feel as if they are being controlled. It implores the practitioner to be aware of the power in language and to ensure that the way they communicate does not impart discriminatory undertones about the looked after child’s vulnerable position. While the issue of ethnicity and disability is often examined on the fringes of the mainstream work, this book dedicates two rigorous chapters to both areas. The chapter identified the importance of cultural awareness in working with looked after children especially considering the high numbers of minority children in looked after facilities. Cocker and Allain underline the need for practitioners to be vigilant in ensuring their practice is anti-discriminatory and impressively, they also link communication with ethnic minority looked after children as one are which is usually affected by cultural ignorance. They argue that looked after children from ethnic minorities are usually very aware that are sometimes treated differently because of not only being in care but because of their ethnicity and are therefore very attuned to individuals who are culturally ignorant of their needs. They highlight the dangers this can pose to developing trust within the client practitioner relationship and encourage vigilance in this area. Also considered was how attachment issues must be interrogated within social work assessments and interventions with look after children. The authors acknowledged the debates about using attachment framework with looked after children and acknowledged that while there is a risk of using attachment theory in a deterministic manner with looked after children who are constantly in transition between carers, it can also be useful to build problem solving skills, coping strategies and to build self reliance and resilience. Also addressed were the mental health needs of looked after children and implored social work practitioners to seek out inter-agency collaboration with other specialist for such children. They also address the importance of education in the lives of looked after children and explore the disjointed and inconsistent educational experiences they usually experience. Social work practitioners are encouraged to support the educational experience of looked after children as this can help to improve their self esteem and outlook. Finally, the book looked at the issue of adoption and permanence and discussed how this process can be emotional and confusing for the looked after child. It provides great advice on how to support both adoption parents and the looked after child through the process of change for example in working with them on how to display empathy and how to communicate with the child. In conclusion, there was a need for a comprehensive text on looked after children and as is demonstrated in this review, the areas interrogated by Cocker and Allain in this text, provides a first-rate resource with which to study, debate and get guidelines on current issues within the subject. 1 What is the Most Credible Justification of Punishment? What is the Most Credible Justification of Punishment? What is the Most Credible Justification of Punishment? Punishment has been a part of the human society ever since the beginning of civilization. Throughout the history, wrong doings or wrong acts have simply stood out like sore thumbs, greatly affecting the very emotions of man. These wrongful acts, which have been later termed as crimes, are as noticeable as kind acts but the only difference is that the former harbours condemnation than praise; punishment than reward. Man sees such crimes as condemnable especially those that are heinous such as rape, murder, arson, genocide and other types that puts humanity into shame and the community into disarray. Wrongdoers who have been accused of committing crimes would be brought into trials to give them the chance to defend themselves. However, if they fail to do so, then the hands of justice will strike them down and cast down on them the necessary punishment they deserve according to the legal laws created by the governing bodies. When this happens, people will say that â€Å"justice has bee n served† or that the criminal â€Å"got what he deserves†. Some will feel that the punishment is necessary to avenge the man or the woman who have been seriously wronged by the offender. Other people will see that this type of action is necessary in order for the criminal to realize the sins he has committed. Greek philosophers of the past realized this too early when Socrates stated that â€Å"to serve as a corrective measure that would be of benefit to the criminal by helping him to overcome his evil tendencies† (Patterson, 1985, p.44). There would also be those who will acknowledge punishment because they will see it as something that benefits the whole community or the country. For instance, when a corrupt president is ousted and sentenced with capital punishment, people will rejoice because they will see it as something beneficial not only to a certain individual, but to the whole country as well. These are just some of the common views toward punishment th at can be observed in our everyday lives, from commentaries in newspapers, news on the television and the radio, to simple informal conversation with acquaintances, friends and relatives. It seems that punishment is already deeply embedded within the very core of human civilization and most have accepted this act without question. However, in a philosophical sense, punishment in all its form has many loopholes, problems and questions that need to be resolved. Existing punishment theories such as Consenquentialism and Retributivism have tried to defend the importance of punishment to human society – how it can benefit the society, the victim, and the offender or the criminal. According to Duff, cited in Hart (1968, pp.1-27), â€Å"there are three justificatory issues that must be addressed in order to justify punishment. The first thing that should be asked is the ‘general justifying aim’ of a system of punishment. We should identify what justifies the creation and maintenance of such a system what good does it achieve and what duty does it fulfil. Next is to identify who may properly be punished. It this case, the principles or aims that should determine the allocations of punishments to individuals should be identified†. Finally, the theorists should know the appropriate amount of punishment needed and the factors that would affect the severity a sentence the sentencers should impose. Duff (2004) added that â€Å"philosophers should also know which concrete modes of punishment are appropriate, in general or for particular crimes†. These four main questions should reveal an acceptable justification of punishment. Unfortunately, each type of punishment theory offers a different type of answer to all of those questions. In this sense, the values of one may clash with the other, creating more doubt and confusion than realization. Basically, the Retributist and the Consequentialist or a Retributist-consenquentialist all compete in providing most justifiable explanation of punishment. Among these three, there could be a normative account of punishment that is morally acceptable to society. After all, it is the responsibility of theorists to provide an acceptable explanation of this human act. However, as Duff (2004) stated, â€Å"philosophers must be prepared or must be open to the startling and disturbing possibility that this â€Å"pervasive human practice cannot be justified.† Now, with all these issues at hand, is there a theory that best justifies punishment or is there hardly any? Is there a credible j ustification of punishment? Understanding Punishment and its Purpose To have an understanding of which type of punishment offers the most credible justification of such pervasive human act, we must first have an understanding of the concept of punishment. Punishment is always coined as legal because of it is written in the legislation. Generally, it is defined it as â€Å"†¦first a cultural process and secondly a mechanism of particular institutions, of which criminal law is but one† (Simon, citing from Newman, 1983, pp. 2-3). In a non-general specific account of legal punishment, Hart’s â€Å"five elements of legal punishment† offers an interesting explanation: the involvement of pain or other consequences that are unpleasant; the involvement of an offence against legal rules; an act that is of an actual or supposed offender for his offence; administered intentionally; and finally, only the authorities can impose and administer such an act or in the old clichà © â€Å"nobody is above the law† (Hart, 1968, pp.4-5; Zaibert, 2005, p.225; Gottschalk, 1999, pp.195-196). On the other hand, ideologies such as retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation offer some alternative definition of punishment (Wilson, 1975, pp.6-12; Allen, 1981, p.1; Gottschalk, 1999, pp.195-196; Hoffman, 2002, pp.1-2; Jiang et al, 2007, p.85). The different views basically shape the current application of punishment in today’s world as it encompasses from an individual to a broader cultural belief. Further, these different views have their own justification of punishment. Within the definitions of punishment also come the two types laws specifically mandated for punishment: civil and criminal law. Duff (2004) explains that â€Å"civil law deals in part with wrongs which are non-private in that they are legally and socially declared as wrongs, but at the same time, private in that it is up to the person who was wronged to seek legal redress†. On the other hand, a criminal case refers to a case† between the accused criminal and the whole political community, the state or the people, and the defendant† (Duff, 2004). Nonetheless, Duff (2004) explained that â€Å"it is difficult to distinguish the civil from the criminal law†. The problem is to determine which crimes should be accepted as public and which crimes should be accepted as private ones. Should it be that all crimes are both public and private in a sense that it has wronged both the norm and the individual? Should the crime committed against the society be the ultimate j ustifiable explanation of punishment or should it be more focused on the crime committed against the individual? It can be argued that none of these accounts are credible enough to justify punishment since from every angle, it is also an act that the society detests and it is a horrifying gruesome act if not mandated by law. McDermott (2001, p.403) stated that â€Å"punishment is morally troubling because it almost always causes human suffering†. For instance, throughout the history of punishment in the United States, those who had committed the most severe forms of crimes have suffered in cruel and painful methods such as â€Å"hanging during 1853, the electric chair, the gas chamber, and the latest most humane type of capital punishment, the lethal injection† (Turley, 2008, p.13a). â€Å"Means of punishment have changed over time but the ends have always been the same – bringing pain to the sentenced. Even though the government claims that new forms of punish ment are less painful such as the lethal injection, cases of botched executions are still taking place causing much more pain to the punished† (Turley, 2008, p.13a). Basically, the cries of the society to abolish the death penalty or to lessen the pain that is involved with it also shows that humans can instinctively feel uncomfortable that such acts are nearly as heinous and horrible as the acts committed by the criminal. Nonetheless, it can be strongly argued that to detest punishment as much as to detest the crimes committed by the criminal is a selfish act that is against order. Detesting punishment for its moral grounds can be argued as something that is on the side of social disorder rather than order simply because there is no alternative means to instigate order other than punishment. The utilitarian nature is perhaps the most credible justification of punishment since it is not bounded by individual feelings or emotions, but rather by a cluster of feelings and emotion s. Allowing criminals to roam free in the streets may be a moral act of compassion but it does not remove the fact that these criminals are dangerous and there is a very real risk that they may cause further damage to the society. Of course, this characteristic is also evident within the retributivist principle but its aim is more on the individual rather than the â€Å"good of the majority†. Kant stated that â€Å"even though it is not for the good of all, a wrongdoer must still be punished for the benefit of the wronged† (Kant and Hastie, 1790, p.82; Barber, 1994, pp.246-250). For Kant, the moment an individual does an unjust act; â€Å"he already gives himself the right to punished† (Kant and Hastie, 1790, p.82; Barber, 1994, pp.246-250). The Retributivists’ View Retributivism is a theory of punishment that argues â€Å"people should always and only be treated as ends and never as means, and that are the actions of government legitimate only to the degree to which they are consistent with this model of citizenry† (Clear, 1994, pp.8-9). The belief that the state should inflict harm in order to confirm the moral order established by the laws of the state is the purist view of retributivism. â€Å"Retributivism puts more importance on the moral grounds compared to the classic utilitarian view, which more on the political side† (Clear, 1994, pp.8-9). The retributivist believes that â€Å"punishment is necessary because it is simply deserved by the offender† (Walker, 1991, Clear, 1994, pp.8-9). The main theme of this theory is the old clichà © â€Å"eye for an eye†, within which it promotes revenge, just deserts and practices fairness and proportionality. The retributivist belief is the backbone of the levels of punish ment that our society currently has – from the petty illegal parking fine to the severe capital punishment. The theory shows that â€Å"the harshness of punishment should be proportionate to seriousness of the crime† (Hoffman, 2000, p.1). However, if this is the case, then punishment is nothing more than a mere personal vendetta executed with the help of the state. This reasoning basically limits punishment’s benefit to the victim alone. But in contrast to this generalization, Ten (1993, p.43) argued that: â€Å"Retributive punishment is only inflicted on the wrongdoer, whereas revenge is sometimes inflicted on an innocent person close to the revengee, either because this is an easier target or because it is thought that this would hurt the revengee more.† Retributivism has some serious problems that are not evident in some punishment theories like utilitarianism. â€Å"Retributivist has the hard job of explaining why it is more than mere vindictiveness to punish offenders rather than use these seemingly more humane alternatives† (Bennett, 2004, p.325).As Dewey pointed out in his theory of punishment â€Å"when we are concerned with morality, we are concerned with developing the future responsible agency of a person, and thus moral education is the relevant practice involved† (Dewey cited In Shook, 2004, p.69). Retributivism is not concerned with the future responsible agency of the offender because its objective is to end it by inflicting the same amount of damage inflicted on the offended. In this case, critics can strongly argue that retributivist offer a non-credible explanation on why punishment is necessary, both morally and politically. According to its critics, its moral flaw lies in its lack of regard to the huma nity of the offender; while its political flaw lies in its lack of regard for the society at large. However, the stance of this paper is against those views simply because a consequentialist can inflict the same amount of punishment as a retributivist could inflict if the situation grants it. For instance, a state that punishes an angry soldier marching down the street for protest just because it can promote sedition can also have the same weight as punishing an important public figure who has wronged the public in many possible ways. The soldier can be subjected to torture and imprisonment as forms of punishment, and these acts can basically strip off the soldier any possible future possible agency of change since to his belief, the State tells only lies and teaches its beliefs that are a sacrilege to its own (as when corruption and bribery within government is accepted as reality and the norm). In other words, humane is a complex word that is yet to be defined by both the consenqu entialist and the retributivist. What may be humane to another person may not be humane to another and so on. The point is that no matter how some scholars defend the idea of punishment as a mere tool for control, its methods of punishment can be as inhumane as those of the retributivists’. The Complexity of Consequentialism Consenquentialism seems to be just an excuse for those are in power to demonstrate their power without any regards to its citizens. Its first component is that â€Å"an action or institution is right if it maximally achieves whatever are intrinsically good states of affairs while minimizing whatever are intrinsically bad states of affairs† (Katz, 1999, p.64). The other component stresses that â€Å"welfare is the only sort of thing that is intrinsically good† (Katz, 1999, p.64).Thus, this theory claims that â€Å"together and alone, people only act to maximize happiness† (Kunz, 1998, p.10). However, maximizing happiness simply means minimizing those who suffer. In other words, consenquentialism does not aim for the equality of justice but more on the biased side of favouring those flocks of people who think that â€Å"this† is the way to maximize happiness. Aside from being biased, it also puts those in power untouched by this so-called punishment since they can easily reason out that ousting or punishing them will have a negative impact on, say, the economy. Bell (1993, pp.118-122) supports this rationale when he stated that â€Å"consequentialism promotes abuse in power of authority figure because they can easily justify that what is done is for the good of the majority. Basically, these people in power can develop an unsympathetic stance for reformists and revolutionists as it mutes the critique of society and restricts possibilities of action by beginning with the way things and people are†. Further since to consenquentialists’ claims about maximizing happiness, they then refer to digits results that can be statistically tested. However, it seems that statistical tests were not in their favour. It was found that â€Å"the calculation of net social welfare that utilitarianism demands often cannot be equated with the intuitive demands of justice† (Moore, 1999, p.64). Furthermore, it has been argued that â€Å"sometimes; innocence is sacrificed for the general welfare, while the guilty are freed in order to meet what is perceived as â€Å"good for all† â€Å"(Moore, 1999, p.64). Comparison of views in justifying punishment Consenquentialism is far too complex to justify punishment as compared to the simplicity and straightforwardness of retributivism. Because of the larger and more general claim of consenquentialism, it is in a position where it has to prove its claims of maximized happiness through generalized means. However, according to Katz (1999, p.64-69), â€Å"consenquentialists are yet to prove this†. Even the concept of deterrence, a claimed benefit of consenquentialism, has its share of loopholes that are difficult to explain†. In a specific study that tried to prove the impact of deterrence, â€Å"data on state homicide rates were employed and execution rates between 1976 and 1997 were examined across 50 states and the District of Columbia were estimated. The study found that that the death penalty indeed helps (to) deter criminal acts† (Yunker, 2001, p.310). Further, the relationship between deterrence and homicide rates was also criticized because â€Å"only relatively few supportive data exists† (Simson, 2001, pp.306-307). Simson (2001, pp.306-307) stated that â€Å"most case studies failed to emphasize the relationship between the two variables†. Also, Walker (1991, p.52) supports the claims that â€Å"deterrence is unsupported statistically†. On the other hand, retributivistic punishment only limits its case within the offender and the victim. If the victim becomes satisfied after he or she heard or witnessed the punishment of his or her offender, then the goals of retributivism have been achieved. Deterrence is basically not the aim, rather, the restoration of the dignity of the victim by inflicting the same level of punishment to the offender. The individual’s happiness, although not the main cause of happiness of the country as a whole, is a beginning that may produce more ripples of happiness that externally affects others in society. For instance, it may signal the development of a fair and equal justice system where all who have committed serious crimes will be punished no matter how powerful he or she might be. Retributivism also is more ethical because it answers to individual sins and crimes rather than on a questionable and complex common good that consenquentialists claim. It does not disguise itself as justice because it is in fact justice to victim unlike consenquentialism that can be used as a mask to hide the truth or to twist and distort the beliefs of those who are weak. Conclusion On the whole, retributivism is more honest and more transparent than consequentialism since it only concerns giving legal retribution to those who are victimized. However, Retributivism still needs to explain several points, such as â€Å"proving why wrongdoers deserve to suffer† (Shafer-landau, 2000, p.210). Further, it needs to emphasize and justify how the level of punishment metered out to the offender can possibly equal that of the crime inflicted on the victim. For instance, how would a retributivist punish a rapist? â€Å"Sexually violating the rapist may not be a good idea and the retributivist must find another alternative punishment to somehow level it with damaged caused to the victim† (Waldron cited in Shafer-landau, 2000, pp.197). Others might argue that â€Å"the retributivist principle is one that is â€Å"cold-hearted† and has no concern for the welfare of the criminal† (Bennett, 2002). Finally, retributivism has been interpreted as a backw ard belief that has no regard for the common good (Bennett, 2002. p.148). Basically, retributivism receives as nearly as much criticism as the less favoured theory in this paper, consenquentialism. However, the consenquentialist must answer on how it could actually give justice to the victim without inflicting too much punishment on the criminal. There is perhaps no answer to this since the very core of punishment is inflicting pain on the offender as a form of justice for the victim. Considering the welfare of the offender may take away the feeling of satisfaction from a justice-thirsty victim. Consenquentialism seems like a â€Å"wolf in sheep’s clothing† where it pretends to be the better alternative but the reality is it is just as lacking as retributivism. It presents an almost perfect view that happiness may be maximized, but in reality, ends up providing the retribution the victim needs but with less weight or more humane as they claim. Duff (2000) even stated t hat â€Å"the utilitarian principle of maximizing happiness is only a ‘fantasy’ because the consenquentialist should figure out â€Å"how much pleasure, and how much pain, various possible practices and policies are likely to produce  and then somehow add the pleasures, add the pains, and weigh them against each other† The acceptance of the consenquentialist’s method of punishing the innocent for the benefit of good is also morally unacceptable. Again, Duff (2000) explained that â€Å"even if we would, in some extreme situation, recognize that an innocent ‘must’ be punished, we would also realize that this involved a significant moral cost, a significant wrong done to the innocent person, which the utilitarian cannot recognize.† (i.e. that the end justifies the means). They cannot recognize the intrinsic wrong of injustice that is done to an innocent scapegoat for what it is. Ironically, scapegoat can also be considered as an evil ac t given the circumstances, which may promote corruption and disregard for justice. Bibliography Allen, F.A. (1981).The decline of rehabilitative ideal. New Haven: Yale University Press. Barber, K.F. (1994). Individuation and Identity in Early Modern Philosophy: Descartes to Kant. Albany State University of New York Press Bell, L.A. (1993). Rethinking Ethics in the Midst of Violence: A Feminist Approach to Freedom. Md. Rowman Littlefield, Lanham. Bennett, C. (2002). The Varieties of Retributive Experience. The Philosophical Quarterly, vol.52, no.207, pp.145-163 Bennett, C. (2004). Punishment. UK: Blackwell Publishing. Clear, T.R. (1994). Harm in American Penology: Offenders, Victims, and Their Communities. University of New York Press, Albany NY. Duff, R. (2000).In Defence of One Type of Retributivism: A Reply to Bagaric and Amarasekara. Available from: [2 [21>0 February, 2008] Duff, A. (2004).Legal Punishment. Available from: [20 February, 2008] Gottschalk, M. (1999). Monkeywrenching as Punishment? CJPR, vol.10, no.2, pp. 193-211 Hart, H. L. A. (1968). Punishment and responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hoffman, D.E. (2000). Criminal Justice. Cliffs Notes, CA: Foster City. Jiang, S., Lambert, E.G. Wang, J. 2007. Study among College Students Capital Punishment Views in China and the United States: A Preliminary. Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol, vol.51, no.84 Kant, I. (1790). The Science of Right. W. Hastie (Trans).Raleigh: Alex Catalogue. Katz, L, Moore, S Morse, S. (1999). Foundations of Criminal Law. New York: Oxford University Press. Kunz, G. (1998). The Paradox of Power and Weakness: Levinas and an Alternative Paradigm for Psychology. Albany State University of New York Press McDermott, D. (2001). The Permissibility of Punishment. Law and Philosophy, vol. 20, pp.403–432 Newman, G. (1983). Just and Painful: A Case for the Corporal Punishment of Criminals. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co. Patterson, C.H. (1975). Plato’sEuthyphro, Apology, Crito Phaedo: Notes. Lincoln: Neb John Wiley Sons, Inc. Shafer-landau, R. (2000). Retributivism and Desert. Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, vol.81, pp.189-214 Shook, J. (2004). Dewey’s Rejection of Retributivism and His Moral- Education Theory of Punishment. Journal of Social Philosophy. 35 (1), pp.66-78. Simson, S. (2001). Does Capital Punishment Deter Homicide? A Case Study of Epistemological Objectivity. Metaphilosophy, vol.32, no.3, pp.293-307. Ten, C.L. (1993). Crime and Punishment. In P. Singer (ed) A companion to Ethics. Blackwell Publishing. Turley, A. (2008). The punishmentfits the times. USA Today, 16, Jan, p.13a, Available from: Academic Search Elite [26 February, 2008] Walker, N. (1991). Why Punish? Oxford University Press. Wilson, J.Q. (1975) Thinking about Crime. New York: Basic Books. Yunker, J.A. (2001). A New Statistical Analysis of Capital Punishment Incorporating US Post moratorium data. Social Science Quarterly, vol.82, no.2, pp.287-311. Zaibert, L. (2005). Prolegomenon to a Theory of Punishment. Law, Culture and the Humanities, vol.1, pp.221- 246 Zaibert, L. (2006). Punishment and Revenge. Law and Philosophy, vol.25, pp. 81–118

The Importance of Airline Safety Essay -- Airlines Airplanes Aviation

The Importance of Airline Safety Many people travel by airplane all around the world. For some people it is the only way they can get to where they are going. On a daily basis, averages of 28 to 30,000 seats are filled on airplanes (Bear, Stearns Co. URL www.hotelonline.com). At each airport, there are hundreds of arrivals and departures worldwide. Even though airline officials say flying is safe, accidents kill many people because airlines neglect to prevent human error or repair faulty equipment. Sometimes I think the only reason an airplane could crash is if something on the plane were to break. However, most of the time that is not the case. A survey conducted by Boeing found that flight crews were responsible for at least seventy-three percent of all fatal airplane accidents. (Gray 17). Forty-one percent of these accidents occurred during landing because of unstable approaches. Also an investigation by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on the causes of airline accidents revealed that more than eighty percent of all airline accidents involved some degree of human error (Helmreich 62). This is very alarming when people are putting their lives in the hands of flight crews. Forty-four passengers died aboard a new British Midland 737 after its crew shut down the wrong engine after the other one malfunctioned (Greenwald 40). Do you really think that flying on an airplane, over which you have absolutely no control is very safe? Reasons for flight crew error can be explained by the conditions under which they are flying. Flight crew fatigue is a largely increasing problem on many of the jumbo jet flights today. Although there are laws that prohibit cockpit crews from sleeping in flight, there have been many weary pilots that have been known to nod off on occasion during some of their seventeen hour, non-stop flights (Urquhart 15). Perhaps laws should regulate the number of hours a flight crew is in the air instead of prohibiting sleep in flight. Another condition, alcohol abuse, has been found to inhibit the abilities of some flight crews. A northwest crew flying from North Dakota to Minnesota was found to be intoxicated on the job ("Air Safety" 61). Some people refuse to drive at night because of the number of drunk drivers on the road. Would passengers want a drunken pilot to be responsible for their... ... since the 1960s (Shrontz 40). Getting to some places throughout the world depend solely on air travel; therefore, people must trust their lives to flight crews, safety inspectors, and maintenance crews and believe that all problems are being addressed and corrected. Bibliography 1. Bear, Stearns, Co. Internet Connection. URL www.hotelonline.com 2. "Air Safety". Time Magazine. Compact Publishing, Inc. Business Notes. 26 March 1990: 61. 3. Gray, Paul. "Our Regularly Scheduled Crash" Time Magazine. Compact Publishing, Inc. Grapevine. 20 August 1990: 17. 4. Greenwald, John. "Tarnished Wings". Time Magazine. Compact Publishing, Inc. Business Notes. 13 March 1989: 40. 5. Helmreich, R.L. "Managing Human Error in Aviation". Scientific American. May 1997:62. 6. Nelan, Bruce W. "Are 747s Safe To Fly". Time Magazine. Compact Publishing, Inc. Europe. 19 October 1992: 52. 7. "New Qualms about the DC-10". Time Magazine. Compact Publishing, Inc. Nation. 7 August 1989:20. 8. Urquhart, Sidney. "This is Your Captain Snoring" Time Magazine. Compact Publishing, Inc. Grapevine. 7 October 1991: 15.

Customer-Driven Learning at Radisson Hotels Essay

In the case study titled â€Å"Customer-Driven Learning at Radisson Hotels Worldwide† the background, growth, and service guarantees of the Radisson Hotel chain is discussed. Radisson Hotels was founded in 1938 by Curtis L Carlson of Carlson Companies Inc. The company’s headquarters were located in Minneapolis, Minnesota and was divided into four operating groups – Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Carlson Marketing Group, and Carlson Leisure Group. In 1975 Radisson only had ten hotels but quickly grew to three hundred and sixty locations in forty seven countries by 1998 by partnering with existing hotel companies creating Radisson SAS Worldwide under the â€Å"growth at any cost† model. By 1998 Carlson Hospitality Worldwide included Radisson Hotels Worldwide, Country Inns & Suites by Carlson, TGI Friday’s, Regent Hotels, Italianni’s, Friday’s Front Row Sports Grill, Friday’s American Bar, and Radisson Seve n Seas Cruises (Schroeder, pg 454). Also in 1998 Curt Carlson’s daughter Marilyn Carlson Nelson took over as CEO of the Carlson Companies. It was at this time that Brian Stage, Radisson’s president, and Maureen O’Hanlon, Radisson’s executive vice president, started taking initiatives to transform the â€Å"growth at any cost† model to becoming a more customer-focused brand. To achieve this transformation from the current diverse hotel quality, they included a service guarantee, a guest satisfaction measurement program, and employee satisfaction measurement program, and an information technology initiative. Their goal was to make Radisson the â€Å"most trusted and respected brand worldwide† (Schroeder, pg 454). To support these strategies, Stage and O’Hanlon initiated a 100% guest satisfaction program, a fully integrated guest information system, guest and employee satisfaction measurement programs, guest recognition and rewards program, and a genuine hospitality program . Customer satisfaction is a relative concept that varies from one customer to another (Schroeder, pg. 147). A service guarantee is a promise by a company to compensate the customer in some way if the defined level of service delivered is not duly met. An effective service guarantee sets clear standards of performance for customers to expect and to which employees adhere (Al, 1993; Rose, 1990; Hart, 1988). It communicates to workers the level of service the organization intends to offer to its customers, as well  as provides a clear and strong task identity (Cahill & Warshawky, 1995). It mandates that every decision and employee must focus on the customers. Successful implementation of a service guarantee would require managerial emphasis and proper allocation of resources on key determinant variables. Management staff is primarily responsible for the formulation and communication of service priorities to frontline staff as well as the design of recovery measures for resolving customer complaints. Quality of service and the ability to attract and retain customers dictate the success or failure of hotel service providers. Hotels typically measure quality through inspections and with customer-satisfaction data. David Kearns once said â€Å"Performance benchmarking is the continuous process of measuring products, services and practices against the toughest competitors or those companies recognized as the industry leaders.† In today’s competitive environment, customers are quick to abandon services that do not meet expectations. The ease with which customers can switch from their current service to another, demands that providers deliver the highest possible levels of service quality and performance. To be successful, hotels must deliver positive customer experiences with rich, value-added services supported by comprehensive service quality management. Significant changes are occurring in the hotel industry that affect how providers run their businesses as well as what services they offer. There is a greater need to attract new customers, find new revenue sources, reduce operational costs and increase customer satisfaction. Successful quality management of next-generation services requires end-to-end service management across complex, multitechnology, multivendor infrastructures. Providers need to be able to quickly assess the impact of events on the performance and availability of revenue-generating services, establish and ensure aggregate service quality levels, and provide a detailed analysis of an individual subscriber’s experience that correlates back to broader service quality trends. In effect, providers need to be able to visualize service quality, prioritize their efforts and communicate relevant information to all stakeholders. This means they need to consolidate key data from disparate systems and from multiple vendors. They  need to be able to model relationships and dependencies between the network, applications and databases so they can see what resources are critical to their service. Communication plays a vital role in managing overall service quality. Providing relevant service intelligence to those who need it such as operations, IT, executives and customer care, helps providers rapidly resolve issues and minimize service impact on customers. They can quickly relate performance to business metrics. They can get a real-time view to better understand the customer experience. By improving communication across all levels of the value chain, they can help improve overall service quality and customer satisfaction. With the improved communication, Radisson must train all employees from all franchises in the same fashion to create a more consistent customer-driven concept. Many companies and franchise systems have found themselves in a situation where rapid change and deployment is critical to the company’s success. It’s absolutely essential to have a roadmap under these conditions. Once training is completed, studies and surveys must be done that include guests and employees to provide information that can be used to increase customer and employee satisfaction as well as help shape the direction for a defined service guarantee. Once defined, the service guarantee should be implemented to continually provide quality measurements and improve employee motivation. Providers also need a real-time view to understand the customer experience. How many customers are experiencing the service? Who is impacted by service issues? Providers need to be able to quickly assess the impact of events on service performance and availability, as well as how the business is affected. By providing a detailed analysis of an individual subscriber’s experience and correlating it back to broader service trends, providers can better manage the overall customer experience. Information technology software delivers comprehensive service quality management and customer experience management that help service providers  differentiate through improved service quality and lower operational costs. It gives them the ability to monitor and manage, from a single, central location, the availability, performance and quality of services. Information technology software equips them with a complete view of all the resources that comprise a service, from very beginning all the way to the customer. Information technology software not only plays a part in accelerating the drive to improve service quality but additionally measures information needed to improve customer and employee satisfaction. It can measure and create reports against key measurements to more effectively monitor availability, quality of virtually any service. By delivering new, high-quality services to market, they can attract new customers and generate new revenue streams. By enabling an improved customer experience, providers can help reduce churn, positively affect the uptake of that particular service and impact a subscriber’s willingness to try new services. Delivering consistent high-quality services to customers in a franchise business is more difficult than in a non-franchised business. In a franchised business, all employees must be trained in the same manner as well as have access to the same information. There are no exact guidelines, nor books to follow, nor formulas to adhere to when it comes to establishing and maintaining strong franchisor-franchisee relationships. It must be a strategic choice that is constantly enhanced, nurtured, and developed (Howe, 2003). Once a relationship is commenced it must be sustained, and any effort to maintain a high-quality affiliation requires the vital component of effective, two-way, communication. The franchisor is responsible for providing the channels for communication. A commitment to high-quality communication will also help to align the goals of the management team, hotel workers, owners, corporate management, and corporate staff. There are other benefits that come from this commitment to a two-way exchange of ideas and perspective. It cultivates a mutual respect and commitment between the employees, building trust and therefore solidifying a fully functional and working relationship. This should be designed to keep in touch with the franchisees’ core needs and goals, and provide an environment that enables  franchisees to approach the franchisor with questions, concerns, or ideas for improving the programs or recommended changes. Another means of communication is an intranet site accessible only by the franchisor, franchisees and their employees that provides a forum for questions, news updates, and other business information. Through these various forms of communication the franchisor can educate franchisees on the brand strategies and enhance their ability as keepers of the brand (Howe, 2003). Through a commitment to each of the key elements of effective two-way communication franchisors and franchisees can strengthen the strategies and consumer level execution that will drive their brand’s performance (Howe, 2003). Since the beginning of the change that Stage and O’Hanlon brought about, services have been implemented to acquire and satisfy customers. These services include the Express Yourself pre-arrival online check-in, the â€Å"Curtis-C† reservation system, the â€Å"Yes I can!† training program, the gold points plus customer reward program, and their 100% guest satisfaction service guarantee. These programs are designed to link the customers with the staff. The information technology used to create the check-in and reservation systems is an amazing service that benefits both the guest and the staff. The â€Å"Yes I can!† training program has been developed to train all employees consistently throughout the franchises to assist in aligning the goals of each franchise with their new brand strategy. The gold points plus reward program is a program that allows it’s customers to earn reward points that can be used for free stays or air miles. It also gives its members access to exclusive hotel and travel offers as well as in-hotel benefits. The website for the gold points program also lets it’s members make online reservations, check-in online, and select their stay preferences. In the matter of the last ten years, Radisson Hotels has escalated from a once â€Å"unfocused† brand into one of the world’s leading, full-service global hotel companies. This has been successfully accomplished through the organization of its franchises and implementation of information technology systems. Radisson Hotels & Resorts is committed to change and innovation in  all key areas including its growth strategy, operations, franchising, sales and marketing, and technology, to operate with maximum effectiveness in a highly competitive business environment (The Radisson Story). Technology will undoubtedly continue to develop and Radisson Hotels should continue to progress along with it to stay on top of the service industry as one of the best global hotel companies out there. References Al, L. (1993). Service guarantees in outpatient clinics: a case study. Health Care Management Review, 18 (3), 59-65. Cahill, D. J., & Warshawky, R. M. (1995). Beyond competence: unconditional guarantees as a customer-service tool. Journal of Customer Service in Marketing and Management, 1 (3), 67-77. Hart, C. W. L. (1988). The power of unconditional service guarantees. Harvard Business Review, 88 (4), July/August, 54-62. Howe, Michael C. (2003). Keys to a successful franchisor-franchisee relationship: through a commitment to each of the†¦ Franchising World. http://www.allbusiness.com/management/657315-1.htmlImprove service quality and enhance the customer experience. December 2007 ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/software/tivoli/whitepapers/GMW14002-USEN-00_SP.pdfKearns, David. Chairman of the New American Schools Development Corporation, formerly chairman and CEO of the Xerox Corporation and Deputy U.S. Secretary of Education. Rose, M. D. (1990). No strings attached. Chief Executive, 60 (Jul/Aug), 30-33. Schroeder, Roger. (2008). Operations Management: Contemporary Concepts and Cases 4th Edition. McGraw-Hill. New York, New York. The Radisson Story. http://www.radisson.com/section/aboutus.story/aboutus.sidemenus

Prepared Reading on “The House of The Spirits” Essay

She is the main protagonist of the novel, Estaban Trueba’s wife, Blanca, and the twin’s (Nicolas and Jaime) mother. She has the gift of foresight, as she is able to foresee the future, although she cannot change it. Another supernatural gift that she has is the power to speak with spirits. She is the character that binds the intertwined families together. She has a tendency to resemble that of a mute after encountering domestic problems with her husband Esteban, but her love for her family prevents her from leaving the house of Esteban. Clara’s character is static. She remains the same, calm, woman all throughout the novel—from the beginning right up to the end. Esteban Esteban is the head of Clara’s family because he is the husband of Clara. He is also the father of a number of illegitimate children at the Tres Marias because of his insatiable appetite for sexual pleasure. He co-narrates the novel along with his granddaughter Alba. He is from a class lower than that of Clara’s family, but through persistence and hard work at the mines in Tres Marias, he was able to make a fortune, thanks mostly to the efforts of the peasants at the mines whom Esteban maltreats, especially the women—as he was able to rape almost every young peasant girl in Treas Marias. Despite obsessively loving Clara, his violence has caused conflicts within the family. Alba, his granddaughter, is the only person apart from the prostitute Transito, whom he was able to get really close with. Blanca Blanca is the daughter and first born of Clara and Esteban and the mother of Alba. She is the lover of Pedro Tercero; her love for him is what describes Blanca best, despite her and Pedro Tercero not being officially together. She was once married to Jean de Satigny, a French man who was arguably more interested in gaining power in marriage than marrying out of love, but she divorced him because of his disturbing sexual practices. Pedro Tercero Pedro Tercero is Blanca’s faithful lover all throughout the novel, even if they are separated most of the time. He was a revolutionary; when the Socialist government came into power he opted to join them. Ironically, he saved Esteban’s life despite the latter hating him so much because of his relationship with Blanca. Conflict / Plot Summary The conflict of the novel is divided within the three generations of the women in the Trueba family. The main conflicts are: Clara’s conflict with her husband Esteban, Blanca’s conflict with her love for Pedro Tercero, and Alba’s conflict at the hands of Esteban Garcia. Additional conflicts which are present all throughout the novel are the conflicts of Esteban Truebo and the sociological conflicts between the socialists and the conservative parties. Esteban was not an inherently rich man. Though he was definitely a class above the peasants that he treats badly, he was far from being as rich as the del Valle (Clara’s family). Despite being significantly poorer than the del Valles, he was able to persuade the family into agreeing for their daughter to be married to him. He was supposed to marry Rosa at first, the sister of Clara, but while he was away trying to earn a fortune at the mines, she died before they were able to be wed. Wanting to fulfill his promise to his mother who just died, Esteban looked for a wife again, and he opted not too look far, thus marrying Clara. With his fortune established and his promise to his mother fulfilled, Esteban was still far from resolving all his conflicts because more would come after his wedding. After the wedding of Esteban and Clara, Ferula, Esteban’s sister, moves in with them. Clara and Ferula became really close friends, so close that Esteban was suspiciously jealous of her affections for his wife. One day, Esteban came home ahead of schedule and found Ferula sleeping on the bed of Clara. This prompted Esteban to kick Ferula out of the house. Ferula, on her way out, curses Esteban to be lonely for the rest of his life. Blanca, the first born of Clara and Esteban, was born a year after her parents’ wedding. During a trip to the Tres Marias, she met Pedro Tercero, son of Pedro Segundo, the caretaker of the Tres Marias. Blanca and Pedro Tercero fall in love. As their relationship matures, they realized that Esteban would not approve of their relationship because first, Pedro Tercero was just a son of a peasant, and second, he was a revolutionary, a fact that would not go well with Esteban because Esteban was a conservative. The conflict that the relationship of Blanca and Pedro Tercero created would result in the conflict between Clara and Esteban. Jean de Satigny, a prowling opportunist, revealed the love affair of Blanca and Pedro Tercero to Esteban. Outraged, Esteban sent Blanca away and threatened to kill Pedro Tercero. However, Esteban only managed to sever three fingers of Pedro Tercero. While in his enraged state, Esteban hit Clara. He hit Clara so hard that several of Clara’s teeth broke loose. Clara never spoke to him since but remained in the house of Esteban all her life, in a civil relationship minus the conversations. Several years after, a change in government would result into more trouble for Esteban. The socialist party won the election, and the peasants at the Tres Marias revolted, taking Esteban as a hostage in the process. Fortunately for Esteban, her daughter Blanca loved him very much despite his outrageous reactions to her relationship with Pedro Tercero. Through Blanca’s special request, Pedro Tercero was able to convince the peasants to let Esteban go. Esteban was forced to stay inside his house because the new government was looking for him. Esteban was oblivious to the fact that the new head of the government was his own grandson, Esteban Garcia. Esteban Garcia was the grandson of Pancha, one of the numerous peasant girls whom Esteban Trueba raped during his early years at the Tres Marias. Now, the grandson wanted revenge for the ill-treatment that her grandmother received. However, instead of focusing his revenge towards the real culprit, he instead harassed and molested Alba, the granddaughter of Esteban and Clara, on several occasions. When he attained power in the new government, he abducted Alba and placed her inside a concentration camp where she was raped and tortured by several men including Esteban Garcia. Esteban Trueba was able to save her thanks to the help of an old friend, Transito Soto, a prostitute that asked Esteban Trueba for money to start her own whorehouse. With Alba recovered, Esteban Trueba and Alba wrote the story of the family. Esteban Trueba died soon after, but Alba continued to write the story while pregnant with her kid. Technique Allusion to Real Life Events Although the setting of the novel was unspecified by Allende, there are events in the novel that resemble that of Chile and the events that happened before the novel’s publication. Allende alluded to these real life events in order for his novel to become partly biographical and to make it as an allegory to enable the readers, especially Chileans, to relate to the story more. The political unrest present in the novel parallels that of the conflict in Chile during the 1920’s. The 1920’s were turbulent times for Chile—strikes and collision between political parties were prevalent. Another real life event shown in the novel is based on a natural disaster. In chapter 5, a very strong earthquake is mentioned, much like the great Chilean earthquake in 1939. Even some of the characters in the novel are based on Allende’s family. Narrative Irony Irony is also present in some parts of the novel. The behavior of the two opposing classes provides the irony. The upper classes often see themselves as more civilized than the lower class, but in the novel, their behavior suggests the other way around. For instance, in the story, Esteban Trueba is a violent man, and he exploits the workers at the Tres Marias, while the peasants appear to react in a more calm and react appropriately at the face of adversity. The irony presents the characters in a more realistic way. Authorial Reticence Magical Realism uses authorial reticence in order to justify the â€Å"magic† in the text. By excluding the clear opinions of the characters towards the magical elements in the novel, the text becomes realistic while obviously fantastic. For example, Clara is clairvoyant, but nobody seems to mind or be surprised about it. On the other hand, Rosa is described to be over the top beautiful, but she had green hair, yellow eyes and transparent skin. Themes / Key Quotations One of the major themes in the novel is the oppression that women experience. Esteban Trueba is the epitome of a woman exploiter in the novel. He treated them like property, only existing for his sexual satisfaction and an object to continue on his genes. In chapter 3, when Esteban was looking for a wife, even after the de Valle family revealed to him Clara’s supernatural powers, he concluded that â€Å"none of these things posed any obstacle to bringing healthy, legitimate children into the world† (Allende, 1985, p. 88). His primary concern was to have a wife that would bear his children no matter how peculiar the qualities of Clara were. Another theme is the concept of luck. The first instance of luck was Esteban’s luck at the mines. The Tres Marias was already a shabby place when Esteban decided to gamble all his money into its renovation. Luck struck him as the mines proved to be very productive. Ironically, Alba was the luckiest of them all, as Clara claimed, â€Å"There’s no need to worry about this little girl. She will be lucky and she will be happy† (Allende, 1985, p. 223). Despite being captured, molested, and tortured by Esteban Garcia, Alba was still considered to be lucky because ultimately, she was able to escape and able to elude Esteban Garcia’s attempts to kill her. One prominent motif that appears throughout the novel is writing. The whole story is in fact, the combined writing efforts of Esteban and Alba. As Alba recalled, â€Å"it was my grandfather who had the idea that we should write this story† (Allende 1985, p. 366). Throughout the novel, the characters were involved in writing, from Clara to Alba. Reference Allende, I. (1985). The House of the Spirits (M. Bogin, Trans. ). New York: Bantam Books.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Mary Shelly’s epic novel Frankenstein is one of the key texts in contemporary literature as it explores the possibilities of human scientific advances. The novel is full of tragedy and this may have resulted from the difficult life that the author lived in her childhood. The novel is dark and gripping, and it is an illustration of the depraved state of human beings. Frankenstein is a story full of tragedy.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Frankenstein by Mary Shelley specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The novel begins in Geneva, Switzerland, with the youthful Victor Frankenstein, his adopted cousin and sister, as well as his mother and father. The first tragedy in the novel is depicted by the life of Victor. The tragedy of Victor is seen due to his loneliness and struggle with the world on his own. His tragedy was a tragedy of fulfilling the wishes of his parents, even if he did not want to. Regarding him as a to y, his parents perceived that he â€Å"was in their hands to direct to misery or happiness† (Shelley, 34). Victor’s childhood was full of miseries and this subconsciously made him to desire to have somebody he could control as he wished. More so, his parents failed to instruct him on how to differentiate between what is right and wrong. This failure led to the second tragedy in the novel: the creation of the monster. Victor had a keen interest in Natural Philosophy and Chemistry and he went to school in the town of Ingolstadt in Bavaria, Germany, where he created the monster. In spite of his desire to have someone to control, he was unable to exercise authority on the monster because it was another living being who could make its own decisions. The monster was a ‘dream come true’ to him but it brought more tragedy than he had anticipated. Because Victor did not think about the scientific consequences of his actions, this dramatically changes the mood of th e novel as the new ‘being’ creates havoc throughout the story. In the creation, he did not consider the previous warnings by various scientific experts that not paying attention to all the aspects of scientific discovery is detrimental. Once the monster knew how to read, write, and think critically, it brought tragedy to its creator as well as to other humans. Another tragedy in the novel appertains to the difficulties that faced Victor and his family after the creation of the monster. Soon, his younger brother is brutally killed and he is forced to go back home.Advertising Looking for essay on british literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Upon reaching, he again comes face to face with the creature. The monster enters into a bitter argument with Victor and gives him a terrible request to create another ‘being’ to be his friend, otherwise it will not leave his family and mankind alone. The creature tells Victor that he will not relent until it gets rid of him and all his family members. The tragedies in the novel took place in a chain reaction. Victor’s parents neglected to teach him morality and he went ahead and created a being that caused chaos throughout the story. The monster was Victor’s puppet. On the other hand, Victor was his parents’ puppet. The lack of responsibility from both sides is what caused chaos in the story. Thus, the story of tragedy reveals that one evil generates another evil. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor Jones, 1818. Print.

Gender politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Gender politics - Essay Example Early societies used to value and respect physical strength only because it was the characteristics that were necessary for them to survive. Thus the early warrior society underscored physical strength where brawn mattered because it was perceived to be necessary for survival. This emphasis on physical superiority relegated women to domesticated duties that made her look weak and inferior. They were boxed and stereotype as mothers and wives whose use was only limited to attending the home, taking care of children and husbands and not making any significant impact in society. The advent of universal education and along with it is the maturing society has changed this perception and attitude towards women albeit slower. When schools and universities were opened to women, it was found that they are as capable as men. They have also proven that they are more than capable to handle responsibilities beyond the confined of their homes. Slowly, the perception about women transformed especial ly when society no longer put so much emphasis on brawn and physical strength to survive and prosper. And while many women today may still prefer the comfort of their homes, they now have the option to pursue professional endeavors outside of their homes. Today, women can be found in almost any endeavor contributing and making significant impact in our society just like men. ... Had this been the old age, it would have been tantamount to having women as warriors, leaders, artisans and entrepreneurs which used to be unthinkable. Women’s positions in their respective endeavors were not merely given for the sake of accommodation. Women occupy what they are doing now because it had been proven that they could be as effective as men and they can contribute significantly as much as men could do. The proof can be seen in the list of the world’s most powerful people where Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany and considered as the most powerful person in EU is placed at number five (Forbes, 2013). Her case is not isolated. There are other women who also occupied positions of power who are making significant impact not only in their respective countries but also in the world. Amongst are Dilma Rouseff who is now the President of Brazil and Geun-hye Park the President of South Korea. In business and technology, one of the most prominent technology mak er IBM also has a woman as its Chief Executive Officer in the person of Virginia Rometty. The list can go on and this extends to other endeavors as well. The maturing society has discovered that women have distinct strength that is not apparent to men. Old societies found them to be weak but with proper understanding, they were after all as strong as men. For example, women’s predisposition to be emotional was used to perceived as a weakness that they could not be trusted to a position of responsibility because their being â€Å"emotional† would make them easily panic. Experience and study found this not to be true. This higher emotional sensibility is in fact a strength especially in 20th century where people needs

Race and Gender Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Race and Gender - Essay Example receptionists and clerks Francine (139). Labor market discrimination is the differentiation of the workers based on characteristics such as origin, race and gender. Such factors lack a role in the determination of an individual productivity. For example there are various forms most common being wage discrimination, where the discriminated group is paid less for the same kind of jobs. Another form of discrimination is the employment discrimination where by an individual is excluded from an occupation that is performed by a person with an equal productivity. A general misconception prevails that discrimination is only practiced by the employer. However research has proved that customer discrimination also exists in the market where customers prefer to transact with a certain kind of people. Human capital the concept of human capital recognizes that not all labor is equal and that the quality of employees can be improved in investing in them. Nobel laureate Theodore Schultz believed hum an capital was like any type of capital that could be invested into through formal education, job training, and geographic migration. For example statistics carried out in the US between the years 1970-2007 showed the gender differences in educational attainment. Beginning in high school tends to differ in types of courses taken and chosen specialization. Differences between men and women at the college level are more substantial and persistent Francine (152). Experience-Earnings profile is the assumption that holds that given the traditional division of labor in the family, women anticipate shorter and less and continuous work careers as opposed to men. Hence making them select occupations that require less investments in education and job training than those chosen by their male counterparts. Women tend to spend more hours on house work thus reducing the efforts they may put