Free Essays on Meiji Restoration

rusting propped up against their desks as they kept the accounts of their lords. Many of these Samurai ceased being able to make a reasonable living so they went into debt to the merchants. The merchants, who were at the very bottom of the Confucian hierarchy, began to have more and more power over the Samurai who were in their debt. Merchants, once scorned under the Confucian hierarchy, became more powerful as Japan’s barter economy gave away to a new money economy. The hustle of the merchants turned the world of the Samurai upside down. Japan was a society about to explode. The coming of the West had struck the spark. In 1853, four American war ships steamed up the bay near Yedo. Commanded by Commodore Perry, the Americans had come to open up Japan. They wanted water and coal for their whaling ships and china trade. The Japanese were astounded at the power of Perry’s vessels. They called them black ships for the ominous smoke that billow... Free Essays on Meiji Restoration Free Essays on Meiji Restoration The Meiji Restoration For two centuries Japan had been locked away from the outside world. By 1615, after a century of civil war, the powerful Lord Tokugawa had defeated his enemies and declared himself Shogun, ruler of all Japan. Tokugawa divided society into four ranks: at the bottom were the merchants; then came the artisans; just above them were the farmers, who gave up half their rice harvest to those at the top, the Samurai. Only Samurai had the right to carry swords. The law of the land set them apart. The Tokugawa Shogunate was a kingdom built for war that began to crumble after 200 years of peace. It was the most orderly place imaginable. It was a completely schematized society where everybody knew who he was and what he had to do. But, in fact, because it was so idealized and so orderly and so tidy, history got away from it. The Samurai were the elite in the Tokugawa system - had not been allowed to raise its swords for 200 years. In between, had become civil servants, swords rusting propped up against their desks as they kept the accounts of their lords. Many of these Samurai ceased being able to make a reasonable living so they went into debt to the merchants. The merchants, who were at the very bottom of the Confucian hierarchy, began to have more and more power over the Samurai who were in their debt. Merchants, once scorned under the Confucian hierarchy, became more powerful as Japan’s barter economy gave away to a new money economy. The hustle of the merchants turned the world of the Samurai upside down. Japan was a society about to explode. The coming of the West had struck the spark. In 1853, four American war ships steamed up the bay near Yedo. Commanded by Commodore Perry, the Americans had come to open up Japan. They wanted water and coal for their whaling ships and china trade. The Japanese were astounded at the power of Perry’s vessels. They called them black ships for the ominous smoke that billow...

The Meaning of National Accounts in International Economics

The Meaning of National Accounts in International Economics National accounts  or national account systems (NAS) are defined as a measure of macroeconomic categories of production and purchase in a nation. These systems are essentially methods of accounting used to measure the economic activity of a country based on an agreed upon framework and set of accounting rules. National accounts are specifically intended to present specific economic data in such a way as to facilitate analysis and even policy-making. National Accounts Requires Double-Entry Accounting The specific methods of accounting used in national account systems are characterized by a completeness and consistency that is required by detailed double-entry bookkeeping, also known as double-entry accounting. Double-entry bookkeeping is aptly named as it calls for every entry to an account to have a corresponding and opposite entry into a different account. In other words, for every account credit there must be an equal and opposite account debit and vice versa. This system utilizes the simple accounting equation as its basis: Assets - Liabilities Equity. This equation holds that the sum of all debits must equal the sum of all credits for all accounts, else an accounting error has occurred. The equation itself is a means of error detection in double-entry accounting, but it will only detect value errors, which is to say that ledgers that pass this test are not necessarily free of error. Despite the simplistic nature of the concept, double-entry bookkeeping in practice is a tedious task requiring great attention to detail. Common mistakes include crediting or debiting the incorrect account or simply confusing the debit and credit entries entirely. While national account systems hold in common  many of the same principles of business bookkeeping, these systems actually based in economic concepts. Ultimately, national accounts are not simply national balance sheets, rather they present a comprehensive account of some the most complicated economic activities. National Accounts and Economic Activity The systems of national accounting measure output, expenditure, and income of all major economic players in the nations economy from households to corporations to the nations government.  The production categories of national accounts are usually defined as output in currency units by various industry categories plus imports. Output is usually approximately the same as industry revenue. The purchase or expenditure categories, on the other hand, generally include government, investment, consumption, and exports, or some subsets of these. National account systems also incorporate measurement of the changes in assets, liabilities, and net worth. National Accounts and Aggregate Values Perhaps the most widely recognized values measured in national accounts are the aggregate measures like gross domestic product  or GDP. Even among non-economists, GDP is a familiar measure of the size of the economy and aggregate economic activity. Though national accounts provide a plethora of economic data, it is still these aggregate measures like GDP and, of course, their evolution over time that is of most interest to economists and policymakers as these aggregates concisely present some of the most important information about a nations economy.

What is origin of christianity Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

What is origin of christianity - Case Study Example In order to do that, it is important to know what Christianity is. And in order to discover the essence of Christianity, one must first understand its history. This study hopes to discover the origins of Christianity. Its higher goal is to show Christians today what they have in common. Through a review of the history of Christianity, people from various religious denominations to discover the legacy of Christ and understand that this image of Christ is the representation of what we are striving for as species. This study will look at published articles and books detailing the history of Christianity – from its founding to its breakup roughly 500 years ago. It looks at the reformation and the rise of Protestantism in order to appreciate the characteristics of the new Catholic Church and the Anglican. Some materials which will be used for this study includes books and peer-reviewed articles that answers the questions above. Biblical quotes will also be used and compared with historical events so as to provide context and to answer the abovementioned

Company Law liability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Company Law liability - Essay Example He manages the business individually. By passage of time the business expands and the business activities will expand. When such business expansion takes place it will become difficult for the Sole Trader to manage with the business. At this time the sole trader needs some more people to help him and share both investment and also returns of his business. This necessitates the conversion of Sole Trade to Partnership form of business where two or more people come together and enter into a deed of partnership agreeing to carry on the business jointly by investing. They share both the profits and loss of the partnership according their share of investment or as mutually agreed by them. The partnership firm need not be a conversion of sole trader. It can be formed directly by two or more persons join together with a common objective and mutual agreement. In the partnership firm the liability of the partners is unlimited, their personal property is also liable for discharge of firm's debt s. The further expansion of partnership firm inviting more capital to cop up the expansion of the business necessitates formation of a limited company. In a limited company funds are pooled from the public in the form of shares. The amount so pooled is known as share capital. Again this limited company need not be a conversion of partnership firm. It can be directly formed. As it is seen that... 1. Limited liability: In a Public limited company the liability of the share holders is limited to the extent of share capital of the individual share holders, where as in a partnership firm the liability of the partners is extended to their personal property. Eg: If a shareholder holding one share whose face value is 10. His liability is limited to 10. 1. Decision Making: In a company major business policy decisions are taken in the meeting of the board of directors in a democratic way. This will give good productive and efficient decisions which leads to business prosperity. When compared to the partnership firm where the partners take the decisions either individually or jointly. 2. Borrowing powers: A limited company will have more borrowing powers than the partnership firm. The company can borrow the funds from shareholders, financial institutions and any other sources as per the decisions taken in the board's meeting. 3. Investment: The shareholders come forward easily to invest in a public limited company in the form of shares or debentures since the liability is limited. 4. Perpetual existence: Public Limited Company is having a unique feature of perpetual existence. Though the shareholders join and leave the company remains existence. The shareholder's either leaving or causing death do not effect the existence of the company. This is called as perpetual existence. 5. Transferability of shares: Another unique advantage of Public Limited Company is the free transferability of shares. This feature attracts the Public in investing in the company. With this feature the shareholders can transfer their shares freely as and when they wish. Disadvantages: Every business setup has its own disadvantages too. The Public Limited

Empirical evidence to support the theoretical framework Essay Example for Free

Empirical evidence to support the theoretical framework Essay Wolfgang and Ferracuti present a general a general version of this subculture of violence thesis, which was drawn on Sutherland’s differential association theory, as well as other approaches, in order to explain why certain groups have higher rates of violence (Cote, 2002 p. 88). The subculture of Violence theory relied to some extent on Wolfgang’s earlier study of homicide in Philadelphia. Wolfgang had found that a significant number of homicides that occurred among lower-class people seemed to result from very trivial events that took on great importance because of mutually held expectations about how people would behave (Waters, 2006 p. 62). The authors of the theory began their work by presenting a variety of propositions and constitute the thesis, ranging from psychoanalytic theories of aggression, medical and biological studies, the frustration-aggression hypothesis, containment theory, child-rearing practices, and social learning and conditioning propositions. Wolfgang and Ferracuti has pointed out that the subculture of violence approve of violence unconditionally and that violence is not necessarily supported by all members of sub-society (Cote, 2002 p.88). One case presentation is provided in which the theoretical framework of subculture of violence is depicted. States that have a higher population of black people but low in white homicide rates, such as Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, contain a large proportion of blacks who come from the South (Hazlehurst and Hazlehurst, 1998 p. 36; Smith and Berlin, 1998 p. 268). On the other hand, the states in which the migrant blacks were reared also show a high white homicide rates. Critically analyzing these facts, one can infer that in the Southern states, there is a subculture of violence more intensive than in other parts of our country, which is shared by both black and white races and which is carries North by both races when they migrate to these new areas (Smith and Berlin, 1998 p. 268). As an example, the analysis of racial stands and status present in the United States, trivial insults are expected to be met with violence, and failure to respond in this way is met with social censure from the peer group adapted this theory to explain violence among American Blacks (Cote, 2002 p. 88; Hazlehurst and Hazlehurst, 1998 p. 36). Maintenance of a manly image is important in the subculture, and individuals who are unable to resolve conflicts verbally are more likely to resort to violence in order to assert their masculinity. Behavior is partly a response to social conditions, and partly the result of an individual’s acceptance of the ideas and values which he has absorbed from the subculture of violence (Hazlehurst and Hazlehurst, 1998 p. 36). Critiques on Subculture of Violence Theory. Fine and Kelinman (1979) have offered a general critique of the notion of subculture as it is used by social scientists. Many of their criticisms are relevant fir understanding the limitations of subculture of violence theory. They note that problems in previous subculture research include (1) a confusion of the ideas of subculture and sub-society, (2) the lack of a meaningful referent for subculture, (3) the homogeneity and stasis associated with the concept, and (4) the emphasis on defining subcultures in terms of values and central themes. They suggest that the subculture construct, to be of maximal usefulness, needs to be linked to processes of interaction among members of groups (Greene and Gabbidon, 2000 p. 133). In addition, it would be difficult to support an argument that a subculture exists in relation to a single cultural interest, and the thesis of a subculture of violence does not suggest a monolithic character (Bean, 2003 p. 229). Tedeschi and Felson (1994), for instance, were unable to identify a community or subculture that placed a positive value on violence. Furthermore, the subculture of violence hypothesis has been criticized on the grounds that it makes a circular argument (Walters, 2002 p. 81-82). Darnell Hawkins (1983) offered a number of criticisms of the subculture of violence theory that could apply equally to other â€Å"cultural† theories (Mann, 1993 p. 115-116): 1. There is an overemphasis on individual value orientations which, when aggregated, are said to generate a subculture. 2. The theory is not empirically grounded and is challenged by some research findings. 3. A great deal of the theory underemphasizes a number of structural, situational, and institutional factors that affect interpersonal violence; for example, for African Americans such factors extend from historical patterns evolving from slavery to the ramifications of an individual homicide, to the manner in which the criminal justice system operates. 4. The theory downplays the effects of the law on criminal homicide patterns. 5. In addition to the implanting of values, there are other possible ways that the social, economic, and political disadvantages faced by African Americans may lead to high homicide rates. Criticisms of the theoretical framework are subjected to various differentiations of human totality. The primary domain associated in the theoretical framework itself is the concept that subculture is the prime effectors of criminal and deviant behavior occurrence, which is not always and not entirely factual. As the statement of criminal governance and behavioral psychology implies, there are still various organizations and domains present in the both intra and inter-personal human attributes, such as physical nature, cognitive capacity and status, moral perspectives, environmental strains and stresses present, and the social conflicts that cover broad scope of conceptualities. Conclusions. In the summary of the theoretical framework presented, Subculture of Violence Theory by Marvin Wolfgang and Italian criminologist Franco Ferracuti (1976), has produced significant contributions in explaining how social community of subculture and violence affects the behavioral deviancy. The major point of the theoretical framework emphasizes more on violent behaviors resulted by a sub-cultural environment that encourages and legalize violent behavioral patterns. The theory assumed that violence only occurs if violence itself is intrinsically present in the community, and eventually, encourage its occurrence. If the subculture engages in behavioral conflicts of violence, chances are, the individuals involved in such acts or those that are indirectly related to the occurrence of that act shall primarily be influence to redo the violent behavior due to the concept of violence-legalizations. The theoretical framework has been based in the reflection of lower-class norms and a learned response to the pressures encountered in lower-class living, empirical support for the existence of impoverished inner-city areas, and the homicide occurrences in African Americans and whites. The social policy implicated involves mainly the racial equity between the races exampled. Reference Bean, P. (2003). Crime. Routledge. Cote, S. (2002). Criminological Theories: Bridging the Past to the Future. Sage Publications Inc. Flowers, R. B. (2002). Kids Who Commit Adult Crimes: Serious Criminality by Juvenile Offenders. Haworth Press. Greene, H. , Gabbidon, S. L. (2000). African American Criminological Thought. SUNY Press. Hazzlehurst, K. M. , Hazzlehurst, C. (1998). Gangs and Youth Subcultures: International Explorations. Transaction Publishers. Heitmeyer, G. F. , Hagan, J. (2003). International Handbook of Violence Research. Springer. Lee etal, M. (2003). Solution-Focused Treatment of Domestic Violence Offenders. Oxford University Press. Mann, C. (1993). Unequal Justice: A Question of Color. Indiana University Press. Smith, A. B. , Berlin, L. (1998). Treating the Criminal Offender. Springer. Vito etal, G. F. (2007). Criminology: Theory, Research, And Policy. Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Volavka, J. (2002). Neurobiology of Violence. American Psychiatric Pub. Walters, G. D. (2002). Criminal Belief Systems: An Integrated-Interactive Theory of Lifestyles. Praeger/Greenwood. Waters, N. (2006). Ten List for School Safety: Teach These Laws to Safeguard Generations. Tate Publishing. Wolfgang, M. (2001). The Subculture Of Violence: Towards an Integrated Theory in Criminology. Routledge.

Shakespeares Hamlet Essay: Comparison of Gertrude and Ophelia :: comparison compare contrast essays

Comparison of Gertrude and Ophelia within Hamlet      Ã‚   Shakespeare developed 126 female characters in his dramas. In his tragedy Hamlet there are Ophelia and Gertrude. This essay will explore the similarities or commonality of these two characters.    One obvious feature which both Ophelia and Gertrude have in common is that they are both recipients of Hamlet’s ill-will. T.S. Elliot in his essay, â€Å"Hamlet and His Problems† explains how Gertrude is the object of the protagonist’s disgust:    Hamlet is up against the difficulty that his disgust is occasioned by his mother, but that his mother is not an adequate equivalent for it; his disgust envelops and exceeds her. (25)    L.C. Knight in â€Å"An Approach to Hamlet,† agreeing with T. S. Eliot, comments on the â€Å"obsessive passion† which the prince exercises in his chastisement of Gertrude:    I am of course aware that what Hamlet says to his mother in the Closet scene may be regarded as part of a necessary and proper attempt to break the alliance between her and the smiling murderer; but through it all runs the impure streak of the indulgence of an obsessive passion.[. . .] If with genuine, even with passionate, concern, you want to help someone in great need, someone in desperate ignorance of his true condition, do you, I wonder, say, â€Å"This is what you are: see how ugly you look†? Well, perhaps you may; but certainly not in such a way that you seem about to make an aggressive attack. (70)    In similar fashion, Ophelia is verbally abused by the hero; and this episode is elaborated on in detail later. In the Introduction to Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet, David Bevington enlightens the reader regarding the similarities between Gertrude and Ophelia as the hero sees them:    Yet to Hamlet, Ophelia is no better than another Gertrude: both are tender of heart but submissive to the will of importunate men, and so are forced into uncharacteristic vices. Both would be other than what they are, and both receive Hamlet’s exhortations to begin repentance by abstaining from pleasure. â€Å"Get thee to a nunnery†; â€Å"Assume a virtue if you have it not.† (9)    As Bevington says, both Gertrude and Ophelia are â€Å"tender of heart,† motivated by love and a desire for quiet familial harmony among the members of their courtly society in Elsinore. At the first social function in the play, Gertrude is motivated out of love for her son to advise:

Existentialism vs. Phenomenology Essay

Existentialism vs. Phenomenology and the response to Hegelian Idealism Absolute idealism was a huge part of Western culture but through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the greatest political movement took place. Marxism was this great political movement. The movement had an affect on theology and art. Jean-Paul Sartre, a continental philosopher who lived in the nineteenth century was an existentialist. Some of the main themes of extentialism are: †¢ Traditional and academic philosophy is sterile and remote from the concerns of real life. †¢ Philosophy must focus on the individual in her or his confrontation with the world. †¢ The world is irrational (or, in any event, beyond total comprehending or accurate conceptualizing through philosophy). †¢ The world is absurd, in the sense that no ultimate explanation can be given for why it is the way it is. †¢ Senselessness, emptiness, triviality, separation, and inability to communicate pervade human existence, giving birth to anxiety, dread, self-doubt, and despair. †¢ The individual confronts, as the most important fact of human existence, the necessity to choose how he or she is to live within this absurd and irrational world. (Moore-Bruder, 2005) The extentialist believed that there was no answer to the existential predicament. They say life can only deteriorate and without struggling through life a person can find no meaning or value to the life they lead. Some of these themes had already been introduce before Jean-Paul Sartre came up the additions. The philosophers, Arthur Schopenhauer, Soren Kierkegaard, and Friedrich Nietzsche were the contributors to these themes. All three had a strong distaste for the optimistic idealism of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and for metaphysical systems in general. Such philosophy, they thought, ignored the human predicament. For all three the universe, including its human inhabitants, is seldom rational, and philosophical systems that seek to make everything seem rational are just futile attempts to overcome pessimism and despair. Soren Keirkegaard’s fundamental question in life was is there anything in this world or outside it to which the individual can cling to keep from being swept away by the dark tides of despair? He was as almost entirely concerned with how and what the individual actually chooses in the face of doubt and uncertainty. He thought the only way to be grated relief from despair was to have a total commitment to God. Friedrich Nietzsche was convinced that the world was run by a cosmic force and that it is driven by will to power or will power. This way of thinking was quite different from Keirkegarrd. Nietsche believed you had to control your own destiny and seize what was yours. He led a more exciting life, a more passionate one. Keirkegaard was very depressed and spent most of his life battling despair but found comfort in God. Nietzsche used to say â€Å"Which is it, is man one of God’s blunders or is God one of man’s? † While both of these men had different views from each other they agreed to disagree with extentialism. Existentialism as a philosophical movement was something of a direct reaction to perceived social ills and was embraced by artists and writers as much as by philosophers So it is not surprising that two of the greatest existentialist philosophers, Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre, wrote drama, novels, and political tracts as well as philosophical works. Phenomenology interests itself in the essential structures found within the stream of conscious experience—the stream of phenomena—as these structures manifest themselves independently of the assumptions and presuppositions of science. (Moore-Bruder, 2005) Phenomenology, much more than existentialism, has been a product of philosophers rather than of artists and writers. But like existentialism, phenomenology has had enormous impact outside philosophical circles. It has been especially influential in theology, the social and political sciences, and psychology and psychoanalysis. Phenomena is the distinction between the way something is immediately experienced and the way it â€Å"is. † Both Hegel and Kant were philosophers of Phenomenology. Also, Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger were phenomenologists. Husserl introduced transcendental phenomenology, whose purpose it was to investigate phenomena To investigate phenomena in this way is to â€Å"bracket† or â€Å"exclude† one’s presupposition about the existence or nature of an â€Å"external† or â€Å"physical† or â€Å"objective† world. Husserl called this process phenomenological reduction without making any assumptions about the world. Heidegger, too, was convinced that it was necessary to look at things with fresh eyes, unshrouded by the presuppositions of the present and past. According to Heidegger, we are basically ignorant about the thing that matters most: the true nature of Being. It is usually with reference to his earlier work that Heidegger is sometimes called an existentialist. Heidegger himself resisted this appellation. Yet he was very much influenced by Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, and the concern expressed in his early works with such existentialist themes as fear, dread, meaninglessness, and death is quite evident. Sartre studied in Germany for a brief time in the 1930s and was influenced by Heidegger. Sartre attributed the concept of abandonment to Heidegger, and Sartre and Heidegger both were concerned with the concepts of bad faith, authenticity, a life’s project, and others. In philosophy it is true that each view even if they are opposing influence one another. In the last third of the twentieth century, diverse Continental voices were raised against what they saw as suspicious assumptions about the meaning of right and wrong, the nature of language, and the very possibility of human self-understanding. Some Continental philosophers have been suspicious about Western metaphysical systems that they claim lead to the manipulation of nature or that set up a certain ethnic or cultural perspective as absolute truth. As the years go by new philosophers try to prove the others wrong and so is the development of philosophy always on going. Reference Moore-Bruder. 2005. Metaphysics and Epistemology: Existence and Knowledge: The Continental Tradition. The Power of Ideas, Sixth Edition. Mc-Graw Hill.

Ethical Considerations For Testing Essay

There have been many debates throughout the years regarding ethics and when, where and how they are to be used. Many people are unsure of how ethical beliefs should be combined with the proper ways of instructing and testing. Is it ethical to give someone a test if they are not prepared for that test? In the real world, if an individual is not prepared for a certain business meeting, they can simply reschedule. This is the controversy that comes to mind when ethics and testing are combined. Many people believe that there is no ethical considerations given for testing. It is thought by some that students are forced to take a specific test that they are, in fact not ready for, which would prove to be very unethical. However, each curriculum and test is based on things that each student should have already been made aware of during the duration of classes. Therefore, they are, in fact, ready to complete the test. Ethics is overall, a major branch of philosophy, which encompasses and deals with good living and the right conduct. Where there are many different forms of ethics such as business ethics, being thical basically means making the correct and proper decisions. The proper decision concerning testing procedures and the way they are distributed is quite simple. First, the student is taught the material that is to be on the test. Next, the student is to study this material so it is memorized to an extent in their head, given an appropriate amount of time, which usually entails about a week or so. Finally, once all of the criteria has been fully absorbed, and the teacher feels that the content hat is being taught has been sufficiently learned, a test will be given. This test is simply to ensure that the content that was discussed in classed has been effectively learned by the students. It is to my belief that it is not considered unethical for a test to be given simply because a student complains that they were not prepared enough. The teacher has already gone through the necessary preparations for the test, and the rest of the studying is left up to the student to ensure that they are prepared. It is, in fact, true that in the real world if a person working has been scheduled a specific or certain meeting, that they can simply reschedule that meaning if they do not feel they are appropriately prepared enough. Ethically, the proper decision for this person would be to reschedule their business appointment. However, it is not ethical for a student to attempt to reschedule a test unless they have substantial reason for doing so. Examples of such reasoning would be having missed a few days of school due to a sickness.

The Envious Role in “Roman Fever” Essays

The Envious Role in â€Å"Roman Fever† Essays The Envious Role in â€Å"Roman Fever† Paper The Envious Role in â€Å"Roman Fever† Paper The fine line between the fear of the unknown and what is known can sometimes become blurred. In the short story â€Å"Roman Fever†, Edith Wharton does just that by telling the story of two ladies who were ‘childhood friends’. Both are recently widowed, and encounter each other in Rome by coincidence while traveling abroad with their daughters Jenny and Barbara. One of the ladies, Alida Slade, has long suspected that her intimate friend, Grace Ansley was involved with her fiance many years ago and has been harboring some sort of dark secret about that liaison. As the story unfolds, Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley wonder about the familiar situation they have found themselves and their daughters in while in Rome. The similarity between the two holidays has brought many of Mrs. Slade’s lingering doubts back to the surface. Mrs. Slade’s actions throughout the story are motivated by the fear of what she does not know and the fear of what she suspects to be true. In addition, Mrs. Slade’s inherent dislike of Grace, her feelings of insecurity, jealously, and their current circumstances will force her into revealing a long kept secret of her own that she hopes will reveal the truth she has sought all these years. Mrs. Slade’s peculiar behavior throughout the story is directly motivated by all of these factors. Jealousy and envy have always played a major role in the intertwined lives of Alida Slade and Grace Ansley. The feelings of jealousy and envy date back to when Alida and Grace first met while on a holiday in Rome as younger women. As they begin to reminisce about the onset of their friendship many years ago, they realize that although they have been friends for many years, they are relative strangers. Sitting outside in silence, the two women, â€Å"who have been intimate since childhood, reflect how little they knew each other† (Wharton 1368). Slowly, the reader begins to understand that there had been a subtle, hidden competition for Alida’s fiance, Delphin. Alida worried that Grace was attempting to steal her fiance from her. This fear fuels the jealousy and envy Alida feels towards Grace and the resurfacing of those feelings motivates Alida’s odd behavior of revisiting the past in the story. Although Alida Slade projects an image of well-bred confidence, she is actually very insecure and relentlessly compares her life to that of Grace’s. Seeing as they end up living across the street from one another, the reader soon realizes that although their lives are ironically similar, Alida considers hers to be lacking by comparison. The only big diffence is that of how Alida feels. Grace does not show the same feelings as Alida. From the onset of the story, Alida’s thoughts are in the forefront, while Grace’s thoughts assume a lesser role. The readers automatically make more of a connection with Alida more so than Grace. This leads the readers to feel what Alida is feeling and thinking instead of Grace, allowing more of an eventful feel to the story. Through Wharton’s use of the third person omniscient point of view, the reader senses the underlying competition between the two women. Alida sees Grace and her husband Horace made a â€Å"good-looking, irreproachable, exemplary†, (Wharton 1368) couple, stereotyping them as â€Å"museum specimens of old New York†, (Wharton 1368), which in itself is exactly like her, yet she does not see it. After further analyzing the story, the reader realizes that Alida’s envy of Grace, compounded with her own doubts of fears about the past intensifies her hatred for Grace and her desire for revenge. Alida Slade had long speculated that Grace and her fiance, Delphin, were once romantically involved, and even after all these years married to Delphin, she still feels inferior to Grace because of her doubts. Additionally, since the death of her well known husband, Alida’s life seems dull and she craves the attention that was part of that lifestyle. By creating drama with Grace, she hopes to at long last discover the truth and feed her need for attention at the same time. During the conversation on the terrace, Alida begins to make subtle comments, as if she is trying to make Grace irritated and admit to the affair. These elusive comments eventually substantiate the dramatic conclusion between the two friends, although the reader may miss many of the comments because of their subtlety. Alida mentions a story about Grace’s Great-aunt Harriet that Grace’s mother had once told them. As Grace is commenting on the tale, Alida stops her mid sentence and purposely adds, â€Å"but she really sent her because they were in love with the same man†, (Wharton 1372), as if to nudge Grace’s confession along. As the conversation progress, so does the underlying tension. Alida’s comments to Grace become short and terse, almost to the point where she is bluntly stating her true feelings; something Alida has never done with Grace. Alida wants Grace to admit to the affair with Delphin and when she does not, Alida clearly says, â€Å" You had been out late sight-seeing, hadn’t you? †(Wharton 1373) Grace still does not admit to the affair and Alida finally plays her trump card, telling Grace that is was she who wrote the letter that proposed the secret meeting, not Delphin. An outside source, James Phelan, point of view claims â€Å"Alida seeks to injure Grace and establish her own power over her by telling Grace about the forgery† (343). In other words, Alida knows telling Grace will put the feelings of being jealous and envious out of the way, even if it was momentary, making Alida feel better about herself. Alida craves the powerfulness between the two. In another telling comment, Alida reveals another purpose of her writing the letter. She hoped that Grace would go out into the damp night to supposedly meet Delphin and catch a cold or â€Å"Roman fever† as one would say and be out of the picture for a few weeks, but then goes on to say, â€Å"Of course I never thought you’d die†, (Wharton 1374), subconsciously imitating Great-aunt Harriet story about sisters (or friends) in love with the same man. Alida was motivated by jealousy and fear to attempt to rid herself of Grace. Mrs. Slade’s socio-economic class also indirectly motivates her jealousy of Mrs. Ansley. Wharton often wrote about things that she was familiar with and her lifestyle is reflected in the story â€Å"Roman Fever†. Edith Wharton was â€Å"born to wealth and privileged in the leisured society of the nineteenth-century Old New York† (Benstock vii), as was Alida Slade and Grace Ansley. People from such an entitled background have certain expectations. When these expectations are not fulfilled, people can rebel against their moral upbringing and seek retribution. This is the case with Alida Slade and her desire to feel superior to Grace Ansley. Although Alida does not find out until the end of their time together in Rome, Grace does not feel the same way Alida does seeing as Grace ultimately got whar she wanted. Unfulfilled expectations also feed Alida’s insecurities about the relationship between Grace and Delphin. Alida expects to marry well and continue to lead the lifestyle that she is accustomed to and Grace may have cause a disruption in those plans. Wharton also skillfully convolutes the seemingly separate stories of the two main characters and that of their daughters by comparing illusive similarities and linking Alida’s motivation to both. History seems to be repeating itself when the reader takes a step back from the story and compares the women’s lives and the similar circumstances their daughter’s now are experiencing. Alida envies Grace’s daughter Barbara and in her mind, her own daughter Jenny pales in comparison. She drops hints of her true feeling to Grace when she thinks aloud â€Å"how two such exemplary characters such as you and Horace had managed to produce† a daughter like Babs (Wharton 1371). This not only is a subtle foreshadowing, leading to the ending of the story, but exemplifies exactly how Alida feels. As seen throughout the text, â€Å"This type of resentment toward the envied person, ‘agent-focused resentment’, when the envious person feels that another has acquired superiority unfairly† (Comins 10) provides Alida with added motivation. Alida even catches herself thinking â€Å"Jenny [is] such a perfect daughter that she needed no excessive mothering. ‘Now with Babs Ansley I don’t know that I should be so quiet†, (Wharton 1369). Then when Grace defends her own daughter, Alida very bluntly says, â€Å"I appreciate [Babs]. And perhaps envy you† (Wharton 1371) and â€Å"I have always wanted a brilliant daughter †¦ and never quiet understood why I got an angel instead† (Wharton 1371). Alida is fearful that her daughter will experience the same type of self-doubt she experienced when competing with Grace. Wharton’s title, â€Å"Roman Fever† is symbolic to the story because Roman fever, which used to refer to Malaria, represents the burning desires that are left unstated between the characters. Grace Ansley figuratively developed Roman fever when she burned with love for Delphin. Alida Slade figuratively contracted it when Grace’s love for Delphin filled her with hatred and the desire to seek revenge by writing the letter. Roman fever secretly continues to simmer below the surface for the next twenty-five years. It flares up again when the two friends encounter each other in Rome and the similarities between their daughters and their current situation threatens to make history repeat itself. The â€Å"fever† motivated both women to exorcise the demons from their past, each with the hopes of hurting the other, just as they had been hurt themselves. The reader has to wonder, if Alida had never written the letter in the first place, would any of this had happened? Delphin may have desired Grace, but since he was already engaged to Alida, so he may have never acted upon those desires. That is until Alida wrote to Grace, posing as Delphin and Grace replied. Now, although she has had Delphin all these years, she still feels the need to punish Grace and attempt to recover the feelings of superiority she lost when Delphin died. She subconsciously attempts to achieve this by revealing her secret and fails. This illistrates the age-old saying, â€Å"be careful what you wish for, you just might get it†. : Benstock, Shari. No Gifts from Chance a Biography of Edith Wharton. Austin: University of Texas, 2004. Print. Bowlby, Rachel. â€Å"‘I Had Barbara’: Women’s Ties and Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever’† Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 17. 3 (2006): 37-51. Print. Comins, Barbara. Outrageous Trap: Envy and Jealousy in Whartons Roman Fever and Fitzgeralds Bernice Bobs Her Hair' Edith Wharton Review 17. 1 (2001): 9-12. Print. Phelan, James. â€Å"Narrative as Rhetoric and Edith Wharton’s Roman Fever: Progression, Configuration, and the Ethics of Surprise. † A Companion to Rhetoric and Rhetorical Criticism. Ed. Walter Jost, and Wendy Olmsted. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. , 2004. 340-353. Print. Wharton, Edith. â€Å"Roman Fever. † The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. Ed. Ann Charters. 8th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. 1366-1375. Print.

Tips for Writing Your Dissertation Methodology - Proofed

Tips for Writing Your Dissertation Methodology - Proofed Tips for Writing Your Dissertation’s Methodology Chapter The methodology chapter is one of the most important parts of any dissertation. This is because it’s where you set out your research approach, data-gathering techniques and various other crucial factors. As such, your methodology must be clear, concise and packed with detail. A good methodology chapter will provide a step-by-step breakdown of every stage of your research, ideally so that subsequent researchers would be able to recreate your work at a later date. If that sounds like a lot of pressure, try not to worry: We have a few tips to help make sure that your work fits the scientific bill. And don’t forget that Proofed’s expert proofreaders are available to check your work before handing in, so now there’s no reason that your methodology shouldn’t be perfectly preserved for future scientists! 1. Outline Your Research Approach Your research approach makes a massive difference to the methods you use. Quantitative research, for instance, deals with numerical data and statistics, while qualitative research often focuses on subjective meanings. Clearly stating the approach you’re using will help your reader follow your work. 2. Be Descriptive Detail is key when it comes to methodology. Make sure to describe how your data was gathered and analyzed, as well as relating the sampling method used if relevant. 3. Justify Your Choices Every decision you make should be justified. One way to do this is to consider how the methods you choose help to answer your research question. You may also wish to compare your method with those used in similar existing studies. 4. Methodological Limitations Different methods each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Consider whether the methodology you have chosen has any constraints, perhaps by comparing it with alternative methods that you could have used. 5. Ethics Modern research demands high ethical standards, especially if human subjects are involved. If this is the case with your work, your methodology section should include details of how you have minimized the risk of harm to your subjects. This will include issues of confidentiality and consent. 6. Generalizability Your methodological choices have a direct impact on whether your results can be validly applied to other populations. You should therefore consider whether your work can be generalized within the methodology chapter. 7. Appendices The appendices are your best friend when writing up your methodology. This is where you can put any indirectly relevant material  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ including questionnaires, consent forms and other documents used in the research – so that the main body of your methodology section remains clear and succinct.

Employment Law & Practices in the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Employment Law & Practices in the UK - Essay Example This paper will discuss terms implied at common law into a contract of employment and give an example. The second part will give advice on payment of holiday, working hours and working on holiday. 2. Part 1: Contract of employment. Employees and independent contractors are terms used in the contract of employment. An employee is a person who gives service in place of another in exchange for a salary. Independent contractors resemble employee’s contract but extend service to another. The employee enters into a contract of service while an independent contractor enters into a contract of services. The independent contractors are not entitled to workplace agreement, awards and standards. To differentiate contracts of employment, tests implied by common law are used to determine the relationship. The individual work of an employee and power, together with the command of the employer are assessed. Other tests include: who pays taxed income of the employee and who supplies the resou rces for work. Another test is if the employee can transfer the services to another employer or cause another contract. Lawyers determine if the employee can benefit or lose financially in the contract (Cabrelli, 2008, p. 7). An example is the case involving â€Å"Hollis Vs Vabu Pty Ltd in 2001† (Human rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 2001, p. 1), the court tested their relationship and saw that their relationship was a contract of employment. Vabu was in control and obtained revenues. Common law causes people to be responsible. It implies confidentiality, being skillful and careful at work. The employer should give a termination notice. The employee and employer should maintain good relations and adapt trust when they work together. Lawyers recommend a written employment contract to define terms of working relationship. New employees need to write a contract of employment so that they obtain specific information on their job description, job title and the relevant te rms of work. They will be aware of their expectation, and obtain information on how to exit incase the contract is no longer favorable. A written employment contract can help an employer retains a competent employee. The agreement on the length of time to serve the employer reduces the number of reasons an employee can chose to terminate a contract. The employee is able to retain the employees they have trained. Another advantage is that the employee becomes obligated to maintain confidentiality. The protection of the company secretes goes beyond the contract. The employee cannot reveal secretes of company which could cause unfair competition. An employment contract will get the best employees if they give the best deal (Honeyball, 2012). Moreover, an employment contract is a way of controlling the employees work. The written contract of employment gives specific details on compensation. Besides being used as evidence in disputes, the written agreement can be used to resolve argumen ts. The contact causes the employer and employee to create a good working relationship as Smith and Baker (2010, p. 66) mention. The challenge with the employment contract is the possibility of the employee being unable to accomplished tasks as agreed. Abrupt termination may not apply because of the agreed length of contract. The employer and employee may have to renegotiate their terms. This is because the funds may not be adequate and could cause financial constrain (Emir, 2012). Another disadvantage is that