Amst Final Essaay - 1183 Words

Jane Drew AMST-185-005 12 December 2014 Final Essay Love has a lot to do with race it has a way of bringing out both good and bad in some people and unfortunately in some cases the issues of love and race are taken too far. In today’s society it is not as much of an issue to see interracial couples together as it used to be in the past, but that does not mean that it is not still an issue for some people. Throughout the semester we have studied different ways that not only in the cases of love but also family, friendship, and community are affected by racial issues both past and present, which only goes to show that racism still exists in our world today despite all of the progressions that we have made towards fixing the issue.†¦show more content†¦Madge eventually decides that she feels so shameful for what she had done to Bob and drops charges against him, which is nice but also must have been very awful for Bob because he has to live with the fact that the only reason why he was released was because of a guilty conscience of a heavy accusation, not because they asked him what went on between the two. Hines put this scene in the book because he wants the readers to get a sense of how easily it was to put someone of color in jail without questioning it instead of sitting down and listening to both sides of the story. There is not any justice whatsoever unless you were lucky enough to have a person like Madge take back their accusations which probably was a huge rarity especially during that time period. Black is†¦ Black Ain’t is a documentary by Marlon Riggs and is the epitome of love, sexual orientation, family, and racism all tied together. Riggs, metaphorically comparing African Americans to his grandmother’s pot of gumbo adding language, religion, traditions, and many other characteristics that make up African Americans seeing that so many different things go into the pot for a great end result. Blacks have become so adapted to being insulted by Whites and being t hrown names by every other race except for their own, they came to the realization that what does being black actually mean? Black, negro, African American, colored, all of these

The Reasons We Drink Beer Free Essays

The reasons we drink beer There are most likely hundreds of reasons, good and bad, why people drink beer. Everyone who drinks beer has their own personal reasons. Beer is a worldwide commonly known and used beverage that has become a part of our society. We will write a custom essay sample on The Reasons We Drink Beer or any similar topic only for you Order Now It’s been brewed and consumed for over several thousand years. Why is this drink so popular? Today we’ll explore a handful of reasons why people drink beer. Taste – Beer is an acquired taste. I doubt there are many people who admit that the very first beer they ever tried in life tasted very good. But those who kept trying beer grew accustomed to how it smelled, felt in the mouth and tingled the tongue. Once your taste buds lose their training wheels a whole new world of flavors are opened up to you. Buzz – Let’s face it, alcohol is a big reason why many people drink beer. It provides mind altering capabilities that offer some people enjoyment, others a distraction, and still for others nothing more than problems. Getting a beer buzz is an attraction for many as well as a regrettable side affect. Everyone has different limits, so get to know just how much beer is enough to get your buzz on. Social – Sharing a beer with friends or acquaintances is one way of sparking conversation and just being, well, sociable. It becomes a common bond between partakers. Not only does it loosen the tongue a bit, but also causes some to open up a bit. Identity – It’s funny how some people find a beer they like and stick to it. For some, it becomes part of their identity. Brand loyalty is hard to break for some. The beers you started drinking when you were a young adult often become the beverage of choice later in life. Many beer drinkers will try other beers for a new experience and find a new brand to identify themselves with. The type of beer you drink may say something about you that you didn’t realize. Variety – Beer comes in over 100 different styles and in thousands of different brands. No one beer brand is identical to the next. You could spend your entire life trying to sample all of the beers that are available in the world and still not be able to try them all. Very few beverages can claim this kind of variety. Health – This could be an entire subject in of itself. There must be dozens of reasons why beer is healthy for you. Taken in moderation, beer: †¢ is good for your liver. It expands the blood vessels and helps speed up metabolism. †¢ can help lower your risk of heart attacks and stroke. †¢ prevents cholesterol from oxidizing. Some hop compounds prevent LDL from oxidizing and clogging arteries. †¢ boosts vitamin B5, B12, folate and other valuable mineral levels. Unfiltered beers have more of this benefit. †¢ may help in combating cancer. The compounds in some hops are showing promise for preventing certain types of cancer. Bingham report 1998) †¢ helps ensure healthy bones. Bone improving nutrients are leached from the brewing process in a form that is readily accessible to the body. †¢ helps you relax and sleep more easily. Two vitamins, lactoflavin and nicotinic acid are present in many beers and helps to promote sleep. Beer is also a natural sedative. †¢ Contains antioxidants that can help slow th e aging process. †¢ Contains fiber. A liter of beer can have up to 60% of your daily recommended fiber. †¢ Helps fend off gallstones and kidney stones. Peer Pressure – One of the sad reasons why many drink beer. The pressure to conform and fit in with others is a constant issue. Many people, especially teens, drink beer just because their friends are doing it. For others, drinking beer is a right of passage in life. Heritage – Breweries have been part of communities for generations and generations. Many communities in ancient and modern society rally around their local brewpubs and breweries throughout the world. Beer was one of the many bounties of a year long harvest. Locally made beers garner more loyalty. Colorado – we live in one of state’s that produces the most amount of beer in the nation. With nearly 100 different breweries and brewpubs, the availability of hundreds of quality craft beers simply can’t be ignored. Colorado is a travel destination for many of the world’s beer drinkers. Even one of the biggest beer festivals in the world, the Great American Beer Festival, is held here each year in October. Food – Beer makes the perfect compliment for lots of different kinds of food. Pairing food and beer is becoming quite popular, just as it has been for wine. There are beers that go well with just about every type of food, from meats, appetizers (cheeses, breads, snacks) and desserts How to cite The Reasons We Drink Beer, Essay examples

Criminal Psychopath free essay sample

We used cluster analysis to replicate and extend those findings to: 1) an independent sample; and 2) a PCL-R factor model that reduces predictor-criterion contamination. Additionally, we validated initial results using a novel clustering method. Results show that psychopathy subtypes are replicable across methods. Moreover, comparisons on other variables provide external validation of the subtypes consistent with prior theoretical conceptualizations. Criminal offenders differ in important ways, and the classification of offenders into homogeneous groups has long been the subject of scientific inquiry.Such subdivision may inform efficient application of treatments and may be useful in the prediction of future dangerousness. Personality disorders are often considered useful in classifying criminal offenders. Among these, psychopathy, with its association with impulsivity, egocentricity and remorselessness, may be of particular use in offender taxonomies. Psychopathy is reported to predict both violent and non-violent recidivism as well as lack of treatment response and a variety of deficits in emotional and cognitive function. We will write a custom essay sample on Criminal Psychopath or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The gold standard for assessing psychopathy is the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised.Extensive research attests to the reliability and validity of the PCL-R as a measure of psychopathy. Of the different structural models that underlie PCL-R scores, the two-factor model has dominated the literature. In this model, Factor 1 consists of items related to affective and interpersonal behavior, whereas Factor 2 items are related to antisocial lifestyle and social deviance. Alternatively, a three-factor model of psychopathy has been proposed in which Arrogant and Deceitful Interpersonal Style, Deficient Affective Experience, and Impulsive and Irresponsible Behavioral Style comprise the dimensions underpinning psychopathy.These three factors correspond closely with the three domains — affective, interpersonal and behavioral and   then argued that the two-factor model provides an insufficient description of psychopathy and that all three factors in the newer model are necessary for characterizing the disorder. Recently, a four-facet model has been proposed that incorporates the three factors utilized by Cooke and Michie, along with a facet comprised of PCL-R items r elated to antisocial behavior. A variety of sources suggest that there is heterogeneity even within the subset of offenders who exhibit psychopathic features.One source of differences among psychopaths may relate to trait anxiety. There is considerable controversy regarding anxiety and psychopathy. Although deficient anxiety has been posited as the mechanism underlying psychopaths’ failure to respond to punishment, findings regarding this deficiency have been inconsistent with several studies reporting little association between psychopathy and self-reported anxiety and other studies noting unique positive and unique negative relations between anxiety and scores on each of the two dimensions reported to underlie psychopathy.It remains plausible; however, that elevated trait anxiety distinguishes a subgroup of psychopaths. Consistent with this view, numerous differences between high-anxious and low-anxious psychopaths have been demonstrated. As you can see psychopaths vary in many different ways. There can be so many outcomes when comparing them. Along with that there can be a very wide range levels on psychopaths. I was learning a lot about criminals in this state of mind just by researching information for this paper.

Intro to Religion Essays - Black Elk, Healers, Lakota People

Intro to Religion Intro to Religion Final Writing Assignment Native American religions and witchcraft are alike in many ways. First of all, both are nature religions, meaning they both hold nature sacred and many of the symbols and ideas come from nature. Starhawk says that The Old Religion, as we call it, is closer in spirit to Native American [emailprotected] Both religions teach its followers the importance of understanding and action. Through reading Starhawk and Black Elk essays in the textbook, it easy to see the meaning of understanding and action. Each of these elements are crucial to the beliefs of the follower. Black Elk was a holy man of the Lakota people of the Sioux tribe. He writes of rituals and beliefs of his people in his book The Sacred Pipe. The sacred pipe is very important symbol to his people. It symbolizes the medicine wheel, all four directions living in the same space. Pinches of tobacco are placed in the pipe along with grains and seeds for all relatives and the pipe takes on new meaning. It also symbolizes how everything in the universe is unified. The pipe is very important in the lamenting process, which is discussed in Black Elk's writings. He goes into great detail about lamenting. It is looked at as a quest for healing, answers, and as a rite of passage. If a person wishes to lament, they must seek the right aid and advice, otherwise something could happen. Black Elk says that if it is not done correctly, "a serpent could come and wrap itself around the

Comparing Past Participles in Spanish and English

Comparing Past Participles in Spanish and English You dont have to look far to see the close relationship between English and the languages derived from Latin. While the similarities are most obvious in vocabulary, English also includes key aspects of its grammar that have analogs in Latin-based languages, including Spanish. Among them is the past participle, an extremely useful type of word that can be used, in English as well as Spanish, as either part of a verb form or as an adjective. Forms Taken by Past Participles Past participles in English arent always as obvious as they are in Spanish, because they often take the same form as the past tense, in that they usually end in -ed. In the verb form, you can tell when an -ed verb is functioning as a past participle in that it is combined with some form of the verb to have. For example, worked is a past-tense verb in the sentence I worked but a past participle in I have worked. Less commonly, a past participle can also be used in the passive voice: In The play is produced, produced is a past participle. Spanish past participles typically end in -ado or -ido, thus bearing a vague similarity to the English equivalents. But their form is distinct from the simple past tenses, which include words such as comprà © (I bought) and vinieron (they came). Both Spanish and English have numerous irregular past participles, especially of common verbs. In English, many, but far from all, end in -en: broken, driven, given, seen. Others dont follow that pattern: made, hurt, heard, done. In Spanish, nearly all of the irregular past participles end in -cho or -to: dicho, from decir (to say); hecho, from hacer (to make or to do); puesto, from poner (to put); and visto, from ver (ver). Here are some of the most common irregular past participles in Spanish: Abierto (from abrir, to open)Cubierto (from cubrir, to cover)Escrito (from escribir, to write)Frito (from freà ­r, to fry)Impreso (from imprimir, to print)Muerto (from morir, to die)Roto (from romper, to break)Vuelto (from volver, to return) Using Past Participles as Adjectives Another similarity between English and Spanish is that past participles are frequently used as adjectives. Here are a few examples that the two languages share: Estoy satisfecho. (Im satisfied.)Los Estados Unidos. (The United States.)El hombre confundido. (The confused man.)Pollo frito. (Fried chicken.) In fact, while it often is awkward to do so, most verbs in either language can be converted to adjectives by using the past participle. Because they function as adjectives in such Spanish usages, they must agree in both number and gender with the nouns they accompany. The same is true in Spanish when the past participle follows a form of either ser or estar, both of which are translated as to be. Examples: Los regalos fueron envueltos. (The gifts were wrapped.)Las computadoras fueron rotas. (The computers were broken.)Estoy cansada. (I am tired, said by a female.)Estoy cansado. (I am tired, said by a male.) In Spanish, many past participles can also be used as nouns, simply because adjectives can be freely used as nouns when the context makes their meaning clear. One sometimes seen in news stories is los desaparacidos, referring to those who have disappeared due to oppression. Frequently, adjectives used as nouns are translated using the English one as in los escondidos, the hidden ones, and el colorado, the colored one. This phenomenon also appears in English, although less commonly in Spanish. For example, we might talk about the lost or the forgotten where lost and forgotten functioning as nouns.) Using the Past Participle for the Perfect Tenses The other major use of the past participle is to combine with the verb haber in Spanish or to have: in English (the verbs probably have a common origin) to form the perfect tenses. Generally speaking, the perfect tenses are used to refer to actions that are or will be completed: He hablado. (I have spoken.)Habr salido. (She will have left.) ¿Has comido?  (Have you eaten?) As you can see, the past participle is one of the ways that verbs in both Spanish and English gain their versatility and flexibility. Watch for uses of the past participle in your reading, and you may be surprised to see how often the word form is put to good use. Key Takeaways Past participles function very similarly in English and Spanish, as they are both verb forms that can function as adjectives and sometimes as nouns.Past participles combine with haber in Spanish and have in English to form the perfect tenses.Regular past participles end in -ed in English and -ado or -ido in Spanish.

Predictions to Support Reading Comprehension

Predictions to Support Reading Comprehension As a teacher, you know how important it is for students with dyslexia to make predictions while reading. You know it helps aid in reading comprehension; helping students both understand and retain the information they have read. The following tips can help teachers reinforce this essential skill. Supply students with a predictions worksheet while reading. You can create a simple worksheet by dividing a piece of paper in half, long ways, and writing Prediction on the left hand half and Evidence on the right hand half. As students read, they stop from time to time and write a prediction on what they think will happen next and write a few key words or phrases to back up why they made this prediction. Have students review the front and back of a book, the table of contents, the chapter names, subheadings and diagrams in a book prior to reading. This helps them gain an understanding of the material before reading and think about what the book may be about. Ask students to list as many possible outcomes of a story as they can think of. You might make this a class activity by reading a portion of a story and asking the class to think about different ways the story might turn out. List all the ideas on the board and review again after reading the rest of the story. Have students go on a treasure hunt in a story. Using a highlighter or having students write clues on a separate paper, go through the story slowly, thinking about the clues the author gives about how the story will end. Remind students to always look for the basics of a story: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. This information will help them separate the important and nonessential information in the story so they can guess what will happen next. For younger children, go through the book, looking at and discussing the pictures before reading. Ask the student what he thinks is happening in the story. Then read the story to see how well he guessed. For non-fiction reading, help students identify the main topic sentence. Once students can quickly identify the main idea, they can make predictions about how the rest of the paragraph or section will provide information to back up this sentence. Predictions are closely related to inferences. To accurately make predictions students must understand not only what the author said, but what the author is implying. Help students understand how to make inferences while they are reading. Read a story, stopping before you reach the ending. Have each student writ e their own ending to the story. Explain there is no right or wrong answers, that each student brings their own perspective to the story and wants it to end in their own way. Read the endings aloud so students can see the different possibilities. You can also have students vote on which ending they think will most closely match the authors ending. Then read the rest of the story. Make predictions in steps. Have students look at the title and the front cover and make a prediction. Have them read the back cover or the first few paragraphs of the story and review and revise their prediction. Have them read more of the story, maybe a few more paragraphs or maybe the rest of the chapter (based on the age and the length of the story), and review and revise their prediction. Continue doing this until you have reached the end of the story. Make predictions about more than story endings. Use a students previous knowledge about a subject to predict what concepts are discussed in a chapter. Use vocabulary to discern what non-fiction text will be about. Use knowledge of an authors other works to predict writing style, plot or the structure of a book. Use the type of text, for example a textbook, to predict how information is presented. Share your predictions with the class. Students model teachers behaviors so if they see you making predictions and guessing about the en ding to a story, they will be more apt to employ this skill as well. Offer three possible endings to a story. Have the class vote on which ending they think matches the authors. Allow for plenty of practice. As with any skill, it improves with practice. Stop often in reading to ask the class for predictions, use worksheets and model predictions skills. The more students see and use predictions skills, the better they will be at making predictions. Â   References: Helping Students Develop Strong Content Area Reading Skills, 201, Joelle Brummitt-Yale, K12Readers.com Tips for Teaching: Comprehension Strategies, Date Unknown, Staff Writer, LearningPage.com

Data Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Data Management - Essay Example Data collected from the survey will be numerically coded and processed and analyzed using he computer software, Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) Version 17.0.0 (2008) and Minitab 15 (2009). Findings regarding the effectiveness of the education-based programs will be reported using appropriate graphs and tabulations. It is believed that education has buttressed it hold on its significance in development. In fact, Comim (2009) argues that â€Å"a proper understanding of current trends in development is not without a proper account of the role of education in the promotion of human flourishing† (p. 88). This study, therefore, aims to undertake assessment of how an educational programme among the Karen minorities in Thailand affected their quality of life and has prepared them towards brighter prospects in the future. With already more than â‚ ¤1.5 million laid out for its University Scholarships and Teacher Training projects, it is high time that a quantitative analysis of the joint effectiveness of the two education-based programmes be carried out to examine how the Karen tribes have benefited from their participation. The evaluation will consider the profile of the respondent Karen tribe beneficiaries in terms of the following variables designated as numbers 1 to 5 in the questionnaire: age, gender, programme, course, and category of participation. 1. Level of satisfaction of the programme participants with respect to the variables indicated in item numbers 6-19 in the questionnaire, namely: fair and equitable selection process; commitment and attitude of the KHT staff towards the participants; availability of provisions and resources for the conduct of the programme; monitoring of students/trainees while under the programme; support given to the students/trainees while under the programme; support given to students/trainees after completing the programme; funding, quality of education/training provided;

Mid-Term Exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Mid-Term Exam - Essay Example On the other hand, there are data that lead to the assumption that race can be a decisive criterion for the criminal behaviour against juveniles. The views of the theory do not seem to agree totally on such an aspect, however it would be rather difficult to formulate a precise assumption since the identification of the exact reasons of a specific criminal behaviour can just assumed (as already explained above). A series of issues like the personal experiences and the stress can severely affect human behaviour and in these terms the criminal behaviour against juveniles could not be considered as having a particular cause. However, the weakness of juveniles to respond to the attack (psychological or physical) is regarded as a common reason for the development of criminal behaviour against them. In the case of suicide, it is also this weakness of juveniles to respond to the pressure of a particular difficulty. The statistics involving in the criminal behaviour against juveniles are indicative of the extension of the problem. More specifically, in accordance with a series of statistics published by the Youth Violence Research Bulletin (2004) ‘between 1981 and 1998, 20,775 juveniles ages 7–17 committed suicide in the United States—nearly as many as were homicide or cancer victims; males were the victims in 78% of these juvenile suicides; over the same period, the suicide rate for American Indian juveniles was far higher than for any other race’. It seems from the above figures that there is a relation between suicide and race. Conditions of living or work can be considered as potential reasons for the above differentiation. Towards the same direction, in a research made by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention it has been found that ‘a white juvenile between ages 7 and 17 was nearly 1.5 times more likely to commit

Paul Tillich Response to Modern Criticism Essay Example for Free

Paul Tillich Response to Modern Criticism Essay This course explores the themes of Paul Tillichs philosophical theology, with special attention to his analysis of meaning and its apparent loss in modern society. The course will also evaluate Tillichs response to the problem of meaninglessness and his effort to interpret the Christian message. WHAT IS EMPIRICISM? According to John Scott Gordon Marshall, empiricism, in philosophy, is â€Å"the attitude that beliefs are to be accepted and acted upon only if they first have been confirmed by actual experience†. This broad definition accords with the derivation of the name from the Greek word empeiria, meaning â€Å"experience. † Primarily, and in its psychological application, the term signifies the theory that the phenomena of consciousness are simply the product of sensuous experience, i. e. of sensations variously associated and arranged (Andrew M. Colman: 2003:242). It is thus distinguished from Nativism or Innatism. Secondarily, and in its logical (epistemological) usage, it designates the theory that all human knowledge is derived exclusively from experience, the latter term meaning, either explicitly or implicitly, external sense-percepts and internal representations and inferences exclusive of any superorganic (immaterial) intellectual factor. Empiricism is thus opposed to the claims of authority, intuition, imaginative conjecture, and abstract, theoretical, or systematic reasoning as sources of reliable belief. Its most fundamental antithesis is with the latter (i. e. with Rationalism, also called intellectualism or apriorism). Forms of Empiricism According to Catholic Encyclopedia empiricism appears in the history of philosophy in three principal forms: (1) Materialism, (2) Sensism, and (3) Positivism. a. Materialism: Materialism in its crudest shape was taught by the ancient atomists (Democritus, Leucippus, Epicurus, Lucretius), who, reducing the sum of all reality to atoms and motion, tau ght that experience, whereof they held knowledge to be constituted, is generated by images reflected from material objects through the sensory organs into the soul. The soul, a mere complexus of the finest atoms, perceives not the objects but their effluent images. With modern materialists (Helvetius, dHolbach, Diderot, Feuerbach, Moleschott, Buchner, Vogt, etc. ), knowledge is accounted for either by cerebral secretion or by motion. b. Sensism: All materialists are of course sensists. Though the converse is not the case, nevertheless, by denying any essential difference between sensations and ideas (intellectual states), sensism logically involves materialism. Sensism, which is found with Empedocles and Protagoras amongst the ancients, was given its first systematic form by Locke (d. 1704), though Bacon (d. 1626) and Hobbes (d. 1679) had prepared the data. Locke derives all simple ideas from external experience (sensations), all compound ideas (modes, substances, relations) from internal experience (reflection). Substance and cause are simply associations of subjective phenomena; universal ideas are mere mental figments. Locke admits the existence, though he denies the demonstrability, in man of an immaterial and immortal principle, the soul. Berkeley (d. 1753), accepting the teaching of Locke that ideas are only transfigured sensations, subjectivizes not only the sensible or secondary qualities of matter as his predecessor had done, but also the primary qualities which Locke held to be objective. Berkeley denies the objective basis of universal ideas and indeed of the whole material universe. The reality of things he places in their being perceived and this perceivedness is effected in the mind by God, not by the object or subject. He still retains the substance-reality of the human soul and of spirits generally, God included. Hume (d. 1776) agrees with his two empiricist predecessors in teaching that the mind knows only its own subjective organic impressions, whereof ideas are but the images. The supersensible is therefore unknowable; the principle of causality is resolved into a mere feeling of successiveness of phenomena; its necessity is reduced to a subjective feeling resulting from uniform association experienced in consciousness, and the spiritual essence or substantial being of the soul is dissipated into a series of conscious states. Lockes sensism was taken up by Condillac (d. 780), who eliminated entirely the subjective factor (Lockes reflection) and sought to explain all cognitional states by a mere mechanical, passive transformation of external sensations. The French sensist retained the spiritual soul, but his followers disposed of it as Hume had done with the Berkeleian soul relic. The Herbartians confound the image with the idea, nor does Wundt make a clear distinction between primitive con cepts (empirische Begriffe, representations of individual objects) and the image: Denken ist Phantasieren in Begriffen und Phantasierenist Denken in Bildern. c. Positivism: Positivists, following Comte (d. 857), do not deny the supersensible; they declare it unknowable; the one source of cognition, they claim, is sense-experience, experiment, and induction from phenomena. John Stuart Mill (d. 1870), following Hume, reduces all knowledge to series of conscious states linked by empirical associations and enlarged by inductive processes. The mind has no certitude of an external world, but only of a permanent possibility of sensations and antecedent and anticipated feelings. Spencer (d. 1903) makes all knowledge relative. The actual existence of things is their persistence in consciousness. Consciousness contains only subjective feelings. The relative supposes the absolute, but the latter is unknowable to us; it is the object of faith and religion (Agnosticism). All things, mind included, have resulted from a cosmical process of mechanical evolution wherein they are still involved; hence all concepts and principles are in a continuous flux. d. Classical Empiricism: Classical empiricism is characterised by a rejection of innate, in-born knowledge or concepts. John Locke, well known as an empiricist, wrote of the mind being a tabula rasa, a â€Å"blank slate†, when we enter the world. At birth we know nothing; it is only subsequently that the mind is furnished with information by experience. e. Radical Empiricism: This was advanced by William James, an American pragmatist philosopher and psychologist, based on the pragmatic theory of truth and the principle of pure experience, which contends that the relations between things are at least as real as the things themselves, that their function is real, and that no hidden substrata are necessary to account for the various clashes and coherences of the world. James summarized the theory as consisting of (1) a postulate: â€Å"The only things that shall be debatable among philosophers shall be things definable in terms drawn from experience†; (2) a factual statement: â€Å"The relations between things, conjunctive as well as disjunctive, are just as much matters of direct particular experience, neither more so nor less so, than the things themselves,† which serves to distinguish radical empiricism from the empiricism of the Scottish philosopher David Hume; and (3) a generalized conclusion: â€Å"The parts of experience hold together from next to next by relations that are themselves parts of experience. The directly apprehended universe needs, in short, no extraneous transempirical connective support, but possesses in its own right a concatenated or continuous structure. † The result of this theory of knowledge is a metaphysics that refutes the rationalist belief in a being that transcends experience, which gives unity to the world. According to James there is no logical connection between radical empiricism and pragmatism. One may reject radical empiricism and continue to be a pragmatist. Jamess studies in radical empiricism were published posthumously as Essays in Radical Empiricism (1912). According to him, it is only if it is possible to empirically test a claim that the claim has meaning. As all of our information comes from our senses, it is impossible for us to talk about that which we have not experienced. Statements that are not tied to our experiences are therefore meaningless. This principle, which was associated with a now unpopular position called logical positivism, renders religious and ethical claims literally nonsensical. No observations could confirm religious or ethical claims, therefore those claims are meaningless.

A Rose For Emily Essay -- essays research papers

A Rose for Emily Emily’s Father   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout this story, the overbearing presence of Emily Grierson’s father is perhaps the greatest influence on her behavior. The story describes how Miss Emily’s father rejected her suitors by standing in front of her and aggressively clutching a horsewhip whenever the young men came to call. Without her fathers influence and overprotective behavior it is likely that Emily would have made one of her suitors her husband when she was still of suitable marrying age for that time period.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Emily’s father died the women of the town called on her to offer their condolences and aid as was their custom when someone suffered a tragic loss. Emily met the ladies at the door and with no trace of emotion or grief on her face she sent them away explaining that her father was indeed alive and well. Emily kept this up for three days and finally gave in just as the townspeople were going to forcibly take the body from her. All of her life up until his death Emily’s father controlled her and made all of her decisions for her. When he died Emily was left alone finally able live her own life, but since her father had been controlling her for so long she wasn’t able to function without him. Since she wasn’t able to function without his presence Emily chose to live her life as if her father was still with her. She spent the majority of her time inside of her house because that was where she could b...

Bag of Bones CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I climbed the stairs to the deck instead of going around to the front door, still moving slowly and marvelling at how my legs felt twice their normal weight. When I stepped into the living room I looked around with the wide eyes of someone who has been away for a decade and returns to find everything just as he left it Bunter the moose on the wall, the Boston Globe on the couch, a compilation of Tough Stuff crossword puzzles on the end-table, the plate on the counter with the remains of my stir-fry still on it. Looking at these things brought the realization home full force I had gone for a walk, leaving all this normal light clutter behind, and had almost died instead. Had almost been murdered. I began to shake. I went into the north-wing bathroom, took off my wet clothes, and threw them into the tub splat. Then, still shaking, I turned and stared at myself in the mirror over the washbasin. I looked like someone who has been on the losing side in a barroom brawl. One bicep bore a long, clotting gash. A blackish-purple bruise was unfurling what looked like shadowy wings on my left collarbone. There was a bloody furrow on my neck and behind my ear, where the lovely Rogette had caught me with the stone in her ring. I took my shaving mirror and used it to check the back of my head. ‘Can't you get that through your thick skull?' my mother used to shout at me and Sid when we were kids, and now I thanked God that Ma had apparently been right about the thickness factor, at least in my case. The spot where Devore had struck me with his cane looked like the cone of a recently extinct volcano. Whitmore's bull's-eye had left a red wound that would need stitches if I wanted to avoid a scar. Blood, rusty and thin, stained the nape of my neck all around the hairline. God knew how much had flowed out of that unpleasant-looking red mouth and been washed away by the lake. I poured hydrogen peroxide into my cupped palm, steeled myself, and slapped it onto the gash back there like aftershave. The bite was monstrous, and I had to tighten my lips to keep from crying out. When the pain started to fade a little, I soaked cotton balls with more peroxide and cleaned my other wounds. I showered, threw on a tee-shirt and a pair of jeans, then went into the hall to phone the County Sheriff. There was no need for directory assistance; the Castle Rock P.D. and County Sheriff's numbers were on the IN CASE OF EMERGENCY card thumbtacked to the bulletin board, along with numbers for the fire department, the ambulance service, and the 900-number where you could get three answers to that day's Times crossword puzzle for a buck-fifty. I dialed the first three numbers fast, then began to slow down. I got as far as 955-960 before stopping altogether. I stood there in the hall with the phone pressed against my ear, visualizing another headline, this one not in the decorous Times but the rowdy New York Post. NOVELIST TO AGING COMPU-KING: ‘YOU BIG BULLY!' Along with side-by-side pictures of me, looking roughly my age, and Max Devore, looking roughly a hundred and six. The Post would have great fun telling its readers how Devore (along with his companion, an elderly lady who might weigh ninety pounds soaking wet) had lumped up a novelist half his age a guy who looked, in his photograph, at least, reasonably trim and fit. The phone got tired of holding only six of the required seven numbers in its rudimentary brain, double-clicked, and dumped me back to an open line. I took the handset away from my ear, stared at it for a moment, and then set it gently back down in its cradle. I'm not a sissy about the sometimes whimsical, sometimes hateful attention of the press, but I'm wary, as I would be around a bad-tempered fur-bearing mammal. America has turned the people who entertain it into weird high-class whores, and the media jeers at any ‘celeb' who dares complain about his or her treatment. ‘Quitcha bitchin!' cry the newspapers and the TV gossip shows (the tone is one of mingled triumph and indignation). ‘Didja really think we paid ya the big bucks just to sing a song or swing a Louisville Slugger? Wrong, asshole! We pay so we can be amazed when you do it well whatever â€Å"it† happens to be in your particular case and also because it's gratifying when you fuck up. The truth is you're supplies. If you cease to be amusing, we can always kill you and eat you.' They can't really eat you, of course. They can print pictures of you with your shirt off and say you're running to fat, they can talk about how much you drink or how many pills you take or snicker about the night you pulled some starlet onto your lap at Spago and tried to stick your tongue in her ear, but they can't really eat you. So it wasn't the thought of the Post calling me a crybaby or being a part of Jay Leno's opening monologue that made me put the phone down; it was the realization that I had no proof. No one had seen us. And, I realized, finding an alibi for himself and his personal assistant would be the easiest thing in the world for Max Devore. There was one other thing, too, the capper: imagining the County Sheriff sending out George Footman, aka daddy, to take my statement on how the mean man had knocked li'l Mikey into the lake. How the three of them would laugh later about that! I called John Storrow instead, wanting him to tell me I was doing the right thing, the only thing that made any sense. Wanting him to remind me that only desperate men were driven to such desperate lengths (I would ignore, at least for the time being, how the two of them had laughed, as if they were having the time of their lives), and that nothing had changed in regard to Ki Devore her grandfather's custody case still sucked bogwater. I got John's recording machine at home and left a message just call Mike Noonan, no emergency, but feel free to call late. Then I tried his office, mindful of the scripture according to John Grisham: young lawyers work until they drop. I listened to the firm's recording machine, then followed instructions and punched STO on my phone keypad, the first three letters of John's last name. There was a click and he came on the line another recorded version, unfortunately. ‘Hi, this is John Storrow. I've gone up to Philly for the weekend to see my mom and dad. I'll be in the office on Monday; for the rest of the week, I'll be out on business. From Tuesday to Friday you'll probably have the most luck trying to reach me at . . . ‘ The number he gave began 207-955, which meant Castle Rock. I imagined it was the hotel where he'd stayed before, the nice one up on the View. ‘Mike Noonan,' I said. ‘Call me when you can. I left a message on your apartment machine, too.' I went in the kitchen to get a beer, then only stood there in front of the refrigerator, playing with the magnets. Whoremaster, he'd called me. Say there, whoremaster, where's your whore? A minute later he had offered to save my soul. Quite funny, really. Like an alcoholic offering to take care of your liquor cabinet. He spoke of you with what I think was genuine affection, Mattie had said. Your great-grandfather and his great-grandfather shit in the same pit. I left the fridge with all the beer still safe inside, went back to the phone, and called Mattie. ‘Hi,' said another obviously recorded voice. I was on a roll. ‘It's me, but either I'm out or not able to come to the phone right this minute. Leave a message, okay?' A pause, the mike rustling, a distant whisper, and then Kyra, so loud she almost blew my ear off: ‘Leave a HAPPY message!' What followed was laughter from both of them, cut off by the beep. ‘Hi, Mattie, it's Mike Noonan,' I said. ‘I just wanted ‘ I don't know how I would have finished that thought, and I didn't have to. There was a click and then Mattie herself said, ‘Hello, Mike.' There was such a difference between this dreary, defeated-sounding voice and the cheerful one on the tape that for a moment I was silenced. Then I asked her what was wrong. ‘Nothing,' she said, then began to cry. ‘Everything. I lost my job. Lindy fired me.' Firing wasn't what Lindy had called it, of course. She'd called it ‘belt-tightening,' but it was firing, all right, and I knew that if I looked into the funding of the Four Lakes Consolidated Library, I would discover that one of the chief supporters over the years had been Mr. Max Devore. And he'd continue to be one of the chief supporters . . . if, that was, Lindy Briggs played ball. ‘We shouldn't have talked where she could see us doing it,' I said, knowing I could have stayed away from the library completely and Mattie would be just as gone. ‘And we probably should have seen this coming.' ‘John Storrow did see it.' She was still crying, but making an effort to get it under control. ‘He said Max Devore would probably want to make sure I was as deep in the corner as he could push me, come the custody hearing. He said Devore would want to make sure I answered â€Å"I'm unemployed, Your Honor† when the judge asked where I worked. I told John Mrs. Briggs would never do anything so low, especially to a girl who'd given such a brilliant talk on Melville's â€Å"Bartleby.† Do you know what he told me?' ‘No.' ‘He said, â€Å"You're very young.† I thought that was a patronizing thing to say, but he was right, wasn't he?' ‘Mattie ‘ ‘What am I going to do, Mike? What am I going to do?' The panic-rat had moved on down to Wasp Hill Road, it sounded like. I thought, quite coldly: Why not become my mistress? Your title will be ‘research assistant,' a perfectly jake occupation as far as the IRS is concerned, I'll throw in clothes, a couple of charge cards, a house say goodbye to the rustbucket doublewide on Wasp Hill Road and a two-week vacation: how does February on Maui sound? Plus Ki's education, of course, and a hefty cash bonus at the end of the year. I'll be considerate, too. Considerate and discreet. Once or twice a week, and never until your little girl is fast asleep. All you have to do is say yes and give me a key. All you have to do is slide over when I slide in. All you have to do is let me do what I want all through the dark, all through the night, let me touch where I want to touch, let me do what I want to do, never say no, never say stop. I closed my eyes. ‘Mike? Are you there?' ‘Sure,' I said. I touched the throbbing gash at the back of my head and winced. ‘You're going to do just fine, Mattie. You ‘ ‘The trailer's not paid for!' she nearly wailed. ‘I have two overdue phone bills and they're threatening to cut off the service! There's something wrong with the Jeep's transmission, and the rear axle, as well! I can pay for Ki's last week of Vacation Bible School, I guess Mrs. Briggs gave me three weeks' pay in lieu of notice but how will I buy her shoes? She outgrows everything so fast . . . there's holes in all her shorts and most of her g-g-goddam underwear . . . ‘ She was starting to weep again. ‘I'm going to take care of you until you get back on your feet,' I said. ‘No, I can't let ‘ ‘You can. And for Kyra's sake, you will. Later on, if you still want to, you can pay me back. We'll keep tabs on every dollar and dime, if you like. But I'm going to take care of you.' And you'll never take off your clothes when I'm with you. That's a promise, and I'm going to keep it. ‘Mike, you don't have to do this.' ‘Maybe, maybe not. But I am going to do it. You just try and stop me.' I'd called meaning to tell her what had happened to me giving her the humorous version but that now seemed like the worst idea in the world. ‘This custody thing is going to be over before you know it, and if you can't find anyone brave enough to put you to work down here once it is, I'll find someone up in Derry who'll do it. Besides, tell me the truth aren't you starting to feel that it might be time for a change of scenery?' She managed a scrap of a laugh. ‘I guess you could say that.' ‘Heard from John today?' ‘Actually, yes. He's visiting his parents in Philadelphia but he gave me the number there. I called him.' He'd said he was taken with her. Perhaps she was taken with him, as well. I told myself the thorny little tug I felt across my emotions at the idea was only my imagination. Tried to tell myself that, anyway. ‘What did he say about you losing your job the way you did?' ‘The same things you said. But he didn't make me feel safe. You do. I don't know why.' I did. I was an older man, and that is our chief attraction to young women: we make them feel safe. ‘He's coming up again Tuesday morning. I said I'd have lunch with him.' Smoothly, not a tremor or hesitation in my voice, I said: ‘Maybe I could join you.' Mattie's own voice warmed at the suggestion; her ready acceptance made me feel paradoxically guilty. ‘That would be great! Why don't I call him and suggest that you both come over here? I could barbecue again. Maybe I'll keep Ki home from VBS and make it a foursome. She's hoping you'll read her another story. She really enjoyed that.' ‘That sounds great,' I said, and meant it. Adding Kyra made it all seem more natural, less of an intrusion on my part. Also less like a date on theirs. John could not be accused of taking an unethical interest in his client. In the end he'd probably thank me. ‘I believe Ki might be ready to move on to â€Å"Hansel and Gretel.† How are you, Mattie? All right?' ‘Much better than I was before you called.' ‘Good. Things are going to be all right.' ‘Promise me.' ‘I think I just did.' There was a slight pause. ‘Are you all right, Mike? You sound a little . . . I don't know . . . a little strange.' ‘I'm okay,' I said, and I was, for someone who had been pretty sure he was drowning less than an hour ago. ‘Can I ask you one question before I go? Because this is driving me crazy.' ‘Of course.' ‘The night we had dinner, you said Devore told you his great-grandfather and mine knew each other. Pretty well, according to him.' ‘He said they shit in the same pit. I thought that was elegant.' ‘Did he say anything else? Think hard.' She did, but came up with nothing. I told her to call me if something about that conversation did occur to her, or if she got lonely or scared, or if she started to feel worried about anything. I didn't like to say too much, but I had already decided I'd have to have a frank talk with John about my latest adventure. It might be prudent to have the private detective from Lewiston George Kennedy, like the actor put a man or two on the TR to keep an eye on Mattie and Kyra. Max Devore was mad, just as my caretaker had said. I hadn't understood then, but I did now. Any time I started to doubt, all I had to do was touch the back of my head. I returned to the fridge and once more forgot to open it. My hands went to the magnets instead and again began moving them around, watching as words formed, broke apart, evolved. It was a peculiar kind of writing . . . but it was writing. I could tell by the way I was starting to trance out. That half-hypnotized stare is one you cultivate until you can switch it on and off at will . . . at least you can when things are going well. The intuitive part of the mind unlocks itself when you begin work and rises to a height of about six feet (maybe ten on good days). Once there, it simply hovers, sending black-magic messages and bright pictures. For the balance of the day that part is locked to the rest of the machinery and goes pretty much forgotten . . . except on certain occasions when it comes loose on its own and you trance out unexpectedly, your mind making associations which have nothing to do with rational thought and glaring with unexpected images. That is in some ways the strangest part of the creative process. The muses are ghosts, and sometimes they come uninvited. My house is haunted. Sara Laughs has always been haunted . . . you've stirred em up. stirred, I wrote on the refrigerator. But it didn't look right, so I made a circle of fruit and vegetable magnets around it. That was better, much. I stood there for a moment, hands crossed over my chest as I crossed them at my desk when I was stuck for a word or a phrase, then took off stirr and put on haunt, making haunted. ‘It's haunted in the circle,' I said, and barely heard the faint chime of Bunter's bell, as if in agreement. I took the letters off, and as I did found myself thinking how odd it was to have a lawyer named Romeo (romeo went in the circle) and a detective named George Kennedy. (george went up on the fridge) I wondered if Kennedy could help me with Andy Drake (drake on the fridge) maybe give me some insights. I'd never written about a private detective before and it's the little stuff (rake off, leave the d, add etails) that makes the difference. I turned a 3 on its back and put an I beneath it, making a pitchfork. The devil's in the details. From there I went somewhere else. I don't know where, exactly, because I was tranced out, that intuitive part of my mind up so high a search-party couldn't have found it. I stood in front of my fridge and played with the letters, spelling out little pieces of thought without even thinking about them. You mightn't believe such a thing is possible, but every writer knows it is. What brought me back was light splashing across the windows of the foyer. I looked up and saw the shape of a car pulling to a stop behind my Chevrolet. A cramp of terror seized my belly. That was a moment when I would have given everything I owned for a loaded gun. Because it was Footman. Had to be. Devore had called him when he and Whitmore got back to Warrington's, had told him Noonan refuses to be a good Martian so get over there and fix him. When the driver's door opened and the dome-light in the visitor's car came on, I breathed a conditional sigh of relief. I didn't know who it was, but it sure wasn't ‘daddy.' This fellow didn't look as if he could take care of a housefly with a rolled-up newspaper . . . although, I supposed, there were plenty of people who had made that same mistake about Jeffrey Dahmer. Above the fridge was a cluster of aerosol cans, all of them old and probably not ozone-friendly. I didn't know how Mrs. M. had missed them, but I was pleased she had. I took the first one my hand touched Black Flag, excellent choice thumbed off the cap, and stuck the can in the left front pocket of my jeans. Then I turned to the drawers on the right of the sink. The top one contained silverware. The second one held what Jo called ‘kitchenshit' everything from poultry thermometers to those gadgets you stick in corncobs so you don't burn your fingers off. The third one down held a generous selection of mismatched steak knives. I took one, put it in the right front pocket of my jeans, and went to the door. The man on my stoop jumped a little when I turned on the outside light, then blinked through the door at me like a nearsighted rabbit. He was about five-four, skinny, pale. He wore his hair cropped in the sort of cut known as a wiffle in my boyhood days. His eyes were brown. Guarding them was a pair of horn-rimmed glasses with greasy-looking lenses. His little hands hung at his sides. One held the handle of a flat leather case, the other a small white oblong. I didn't think it was my destiny to be killed by a man with a business card in one hand, so I opened the door. The guy smiled, the anxious sort of smile people always seem to wear in Woody Allen movies. He was wearing a Woody Allen outfit too, I saw faded plaid shirt a little too short at the wrists, chinos a little too baggy in the crotch. Someone must have told him about the resemblance, I thought. That's got to be it. ‘Mr. Noonan?' ‘Yes?' He handed me the card. NEXT CENTURY REAL ESTATE, it said in raised gold letters. Below this, in more modest black, was my visitor's name. ‘I'm Richard Osgood,' he said as if I couldn't read, and held out his hand. The American male's need to respond to that gesture in kind is deeply ingrained, but that night I resisted it. He held his little pink paw out a moment longer, then lowered it and wiped the palm nervously against his chinos. ‘I have a message for you. From Mr. Devore.' I waited. ‘May I come in?' ‘No,' I said. He took a step backward, wiped his hand on his pants again, and seemed to gather himself. ‘I hardly think there's any need to be rude, Mr. Noonan.' I wasn't being rude. If I'd wanted to be rude, I would have treated him to a faceful of roach-repellent. ‘Max Devore and his minder tried to drown me in the lake this evening. If my manners seem a little off to you, that's probably it.' Osgood's look of shock was real, I think. ‘You must be working too hard on your latest project, Mr. Noonan. Max Devore is going to be eighty-six on his next birthday if he makes it, which now seems to be in some doubt. Poor old fella can hardly even walk from his chair to his bed anymore. As for Rogette ‘ ‘I see your point,' I said. ‘In fact I saw it twenty minutes ago, without any help from you. I hardly believe it myself, and I was there. Give me whatever it is you have for me.' ‘Fine,' he said in a prissy little ‘all right, be that way' voice. He unzipped a pouch on the front of his leather bag and brought out a white envelope, business-sized and sealed. I took it, hoping Osgood couldn't sense how hard my heart was thumping. Devore moved pretty damned fast for a man who travelled with an oxygen tank. The question was, what kind of move was this? ‘Thanks,' I said, beginning to close the door. ‘I'd tip you the price of a drink, but I left my wallet on the dresser.' ‘Wait! You're supposed to read it and give me an answer.' I raised my eyebrows. ‘I don't know where Devore got the notion that he could order me around, but I have no intention of allowing his ideas to influence my behavior. Buzz off.' His lips turned down, creating deep dimples at the corners of his mouth, and all at once he didn't look like Woody Allen at all. He looked like a fifty-year-old real-estate broker who had sold his soul to the devil and now couldn't stand to see anyone yank the boss's forked tail. ‘Piece of friendly advice, Mr. Noonan you want to watch it. Max Devore is no man to fool around with.' ‘Luckily for me, I'm not fooling around.' I closed the door and stood in the foyer, holding the envelope and watching Mr. Next Century Real Estate. He looked pissed off and con-fused no one had given him the bum's rush just lately, I guessed. Maybe it would do him some good. Lend a little perspective to his life. Remind him that, Max Devore or no Max Devore, Richie Osgood would still never stand more than five-feet-seven. Even in cowboy boots. ‘Mr. Devore wants an answer!' he called through the closed door. ‘I'll phone,' I called back, then slowly raised my middle fingers in the double eagle I'd hoped to give Max and Rogette earlier. ‘In the meantime, perhaps you could convey this.' I almost expected him to take off his glasses and rub his eyes. He walked back to his car instead, tossed his case in, then followed it. I watched until he had backed up to the lane and I was sure he was gone. Then I went into the living room and opened the envelope. Inside was a single sheet of paper, faintly scented with the perfume my mother had worn when I was just a kid. White Shoulders, I think it's called. Across the top neat, ladylike, printed in slightly raised letters was ROGETTE D. WHITMORE Below it was this message, written in a slightly shaky feminine hand: 8.30 P.M. Dear Mr. Noonan, Max wishes me to convey how glad he was to meet you! I must echo that sentiment. You are a very amusing and entertaining fellow! We enjoyed your antics ever so much. Now to business. M. offers you a very simple deal: if you promise to cease asking questions about him, and if you promise to cease all legal maneuvering if you promise to let him rest in peace, so to speak then Mr. Devore promises to cease efforts to gain custody of his granddaughter. If this suits, you need only tell Mr. Osgood ‘I agree.' He will carry the message! Max hopes to return to California by private jet very soon he has business which can be put off no longer, although he has enjoyed his time here and has found you particularly interesting. He wants me to remind you that custody has its responsibilities, and urges you not to forget he said so. Rogette P.S. He reminds me that you didn't answer his question does her cunt suck? Max is quite curious on that point. R. I read this note over a second time, then a third. I started to put it on the table, then read it a fourth time. It was as if I couldn't get the sense of it. I had to restrain an urge to fly to the telephone and call Mattie at once. It's over, Mattie, I'd say. Taking your job and dunking me in the lake were the last two shots of the war. He's giving up. No. Not until I was absolutely sure. I called Warrington's instead, where I got my fourth answering machine of the night. Devore and Whitmore hadn't bothered with anything warm and fuzzy, either; a voice as cold as a motel ice-machine simply told me to leave my message at the sound of the beep. ‘It's Noonan,' I said. Before I could go any further there was a click as someone picked up. ‘Did you enjoy your swim?' Rogette Whitmore asked in a smoky, mocking voice. if I hadn't seen her in the flesh, I might have imagined a Barbara Stanwyck type at her most coldly attractive, coiled on a red velvet couch in a peach-silk dressing gown, telephone in one hand, ivory cigarette holder in the other. ‘If I'd caught up with you, Ms. Whitmore, I would have made you understand my feelings perfectly.' ‘Oooo,' she said. ‘My thighs are a-tingle.' ‘Please spare me the image of your thighs.' ‘Sticks and stones, Mr. Noonan,' she said. ‘To what do we owe the pleasure of your call?' ‘I sent Mr. Osgood away without a reply.' ‘Max thought you might. He said, â€Å"Our young whoremaster believes in the value of a personal response. You can tell that just looking at him.† ‘He gets the uglies when he loses, doesn't he?' ‘Mr. Devore doesn't lose.' Her voice dropped at least forty degrees and all the mocking good humor bailed out on the way down. ‘He may change his goals, but he doesn't lose. You were the one who looked like a loser tonight, Mr. Noonan, paddling around and yelling out there in the lake. You were scared, weren't you?' ‘Yes. Badly.' ‘You were right to be. I wonder if you know how lucky you are?' ‘May I tell you something?' ‘Of course, Mike may I call you Mike?' ‘Why don't you just stick with Mr. Noonan. Now are you listening?' ‘With bated breath.' ‘Your boss is old, he's nutty, and I suspect he's past the point where he could effectively manage a Yahtzee scorecard, let alone a custody suit. He was whipped a week ago.' ‘Do you have a point?' ‘As a matter of fact I do, so get it right: if either of you ever tries anything remotely like that again, I'll come after that old fuck and jam his snot-smeared oxygen mask so far up his ass he'll be able to aerate his lungs from the bottom. And if I see you on The Street, Ms. Whitmore, I'll use you for a shotput. Do you understand me?' I stopped, breathing hard, amazed and also rather disgusted with myself. If you had told me I'd had such a speech in me, I would have scoffed. After a long silence I said: ‘Ms. Whitmore? Still there?' ‘I'm here,' she said. I wanted her to be furious, but she actually sounded amused. ‘Who has the uglies now, Mr. Noonan?' ‘I do,' I said, ‘and don't you forget it, you rock-throwing bitch.' ‘What is your answer to Mr. Devore?' ‘We have a deal. I shut up, the lawyers shut up, he gets out of Mattie and Kyra's life. If, on the other hand, he continues to ‘ ‘I know, I know, you'll bore him and stroke him. I wonder how you'll feel about all this a week from now, you arrogant, stupid creature?' Before I could reply it was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that even at her best she still threw like a girl she was gone. I stood there with the telephone in my hand for a few seconds, then hung it up. Was it a trick? It felt like a trick, but at the same time it didn't. John needed to know about this. He hadn't left his parents' number on his answering machine, but Mattie had it. If I called her back, though, I'd be obligated to tell her what had just happened. It might be a good idea to put off any further calls until tomorrow. To sleep on it. I stuck my hand in my pocket and damned near impaled it on the steak knife hiding there. I'd forgotten all about it. I took it out, carried it back into the kitchen, and returned it to the drawer. Next I fished out the aerosol can, turned to put it back on top of the fridge with its elderly brothers, then stopped. Inside the circle of fruit and vegetable magnets was this: d go w 19n Had I done that myself?. Had I been so far into the zone, so tranced out, that I had put a mini-crossword on the refrigerator without remembering it? And if so, what did it mean? Maybe someone else put it up, I thought. One of my invisible roommates. ‘Go down 19n,' I said, reaching out and touching the letters. A compass heading? Or maybe it meant Go 19 Down. That suggested crosswords again. Sometimes in a puzzle you get a clue which reads simply See 19 Across or See 19 Down. If that was the meaning here, what puzzle was I supposed to check? ‘I could use a little help here,' I said, but there was no answer not from the astral plane, not from inside my own head. I finally got the can of beer I'd been promising myself and took it back to the sofa. I picked up my Tough Stuff crossword book and looked at the puzzle I was currently working. ‘Liquor Is Quicker,' it was called, and it was filled with the stupid puns which only crossword addicts find amusing. Tipsy actor? Marion Brandy. Tipsy southern novel? Tequila Mockingbird. Drives the DA to drink? Bourbon of proof. And the definition of Down was Oriental nurse, which every cruciverbalist in the universe knows is amah. Nothing in ‘Liquor Is Quicker' connected to what was going on in my life, at least that I could see. I thumbed through some of the other puzzles in the book, looking at 19 Downs. Marble worker's tool (chisel). CNN's favorite howler, 2 wds (wolfblitzer). Ethanol and dimethyl ether, e.g. (isomers). I tossed the book aside in disgust. Who said it had to be this particular crossword collection, anyway? There were probably fifty others in the house, four or five in the drawer of the very end-table on which my beer can stood. I leaned back on the sofa and closed my eyes. I always liked a whore . . . sometimes their place was on my face. This is where good pups and vile dogs may walk side-by-side. There's no town drunk here, we all take turns. This is where it happened. Ayuh. I fell asleep and woke up three hours later with a stiff neck and a terrible throb in the back of my head. Thunder was rumbling thickly far off in the White Mountains, and the house seemed very hot. When I got up from the couch, the backs of my thighs more or less peeled away from the fabric. I shuffled down to the north wing like an old, old man, looked at my wet clothes, thought about taking them into the laundry room, and then decided if I bent over that far, my head might explode. ‘You ghosts take care of it,' I muttered. ‘If you can change the pants and the underwear around on the whirligig, you can put my clothes in the hamper.' I took three Tylenol and went to bed. At some point I woke a second time and heard the phantom child sobbing. ‘Stop,' I told it. ‘Stop it, Ki, no one's going to take you anywhere. You're safe.' Then I went back to sleep again.

Essays and Articles

The role of media in today's world| (Muzna Shakeel, Karachi)| | | | | | In the world of today, media has become as necessary as food and clothing. It has played significant role in strengthening the society. Media is considered as â€Å"mirror† of the modern society, infect,it is the media which shapes our lives. The purpose of the media is to inform people about current ,new affairs and to tell about the latest gossip and fashion. It tells about the people who are geographically divided. The role of media has become one way of trading and marketing of products and prejudices.The media claimed to be governed by righteousness and equity, but greed and self-aggrandizement has poisoned its virtues. Media is in charge of : 1 information 2 education 3 entertainment 4 advertising 5 correlation of parts of society Society is influenced by media in so many ways. It is the media for the masses that helps them to get information about a lot of things and also to form opinions and make j udgments regarding various issues! It is the media which keeps the people updated and informed about what is happening around them and the world. Everyone can draw something from it.Media has had a bad effect on a generation, mainly because ,youth is strongly influenced by media. Teenagers and children wish to follow the people ,who get recognized and do what they do to get noticed. Sometimes, they focus on bad part of the media and strive to be a part of it. However, many are not succumbed to a life of crime! These are the things which get into Young civilian minds! The media affects people's perspective. Too much intervention of media in everything is a matter of concern. Media can be considered as â€Å"watch dog† of political democracy.Through the ages,the emphasis of media on news has camouflaged. Media these days, tries to eye the news ,which could help them to sell the information that is gathered worldwide, so that they could pave a way of success and fame of their re spective channels. Fm radios, newspapers, information found on net and television are the mass medias that serve to reduce the communication gap between the audience, viewers and the media world. For the sake of publicity and selling, important figures, their lifestyles are usually targeted.Unimportant and irrelevant news, that usually have no importance are given priority and due to a reason or the other ,they get onto the minds of the viewers and in this ways many a times,important political,economical and sociological news get neglected and gradually,lose their importance! No doubt,media has played significant role in making world a global village and to reduce the communication gaps amongst the people living in the far areas but unfortunately,media these days has become a COMMERCIALIZED SECTOR,eying the news which are hot and good at selling.The goal is to gain the television rating points. I believe,if the media identifies its responsibility and work sincerely and honestly ,the n it can serve as a great force in building the nation It can change opinions because they have access to people and this gives it a lot of strength. This strength can either be used constructively by educating the people or it can be used destructively by misleading the innocent people. Power of the media can transform the whole society especially in the developing countries it can be used as a ‘weapon of mass destruction'.But I think the most important use of media is to educate the people about the basic human rights. The dilemma of the developing countries is that people are not fully aware of their basic rights and if they know, they don't know about what to do and where to go. They don't know their collective strength. Even they don't know how to protest and what is the importance of protests. Media should portray the facts. They should not transform the reality. Education and discipline is key to progress. This is the difference between a nation and a crowd.Media men ha ve access to people and they have an audience. Their programs have an impact and people listen to them. That's why they are more responsible for the betterment of the society. They should work to educate the people, to help the people and to liberate the people and to empower the people Media plays a very important role in the building of a society. Media has changed the societies of world so much that we can't ignore its importance. First of all we should know what the media is. Media is a source of information or communication. Media includes sources like print media and electronic media.Newspapers, magazines and any other form, which is written or printed, is included in print media and in electronic, media radio, television and Internet etc. are included. When there are so many channels and newspapers we cannot ignore its importance in the society. Media has lot of responsibility on its shoulders as today's society is very much influenced by the role of media. We believe in what media projects to us. We change our minds according to the information provided through it. In the past when the media was not so strong we were quite ignorant about what is happening around us.But today we come to know very quickly what is happening around us. We have the access to all the international news channels that provide us the facts and figures. Considering this fact that media has the power to influence society, it should know its responsibility towards society. It should feel its responsibility to educate the society in a positive way. It should be giving us fair analysis and factual information Media plays a vital role in every one's life. In today's modern society media has become a part and parcel of our life. Its duty is to inform, educate and entertain.It is considered as the 4th pillar of our society. They put their lives in danger like in times of terrorist attacks or natural calamity just to inform us about it. Media is a bridge between the governing bodies and general public. It is a powerful and flexible tool that influences the public to a great extent. Media is voice of the voiceless and a great force in building the nation The newspapers can play a very vital role in the reconstruction and regeneration of a nation by highlighting and pin-pointing the social, economic and moral evils in the society. Can be helpful in eradicating these evils from the society.They can also start propaganda against the economic evils like short-weights and measures, smuggling. Black-marketing income tax evasion hoarding corruption and bribery. THUS the newspapers can help greatly in the nation- building activities. Newspapers provide some material for every type of interest. They give us stories, the crossword puzzles, the post page, the expert's comments on certain affairs of national and international importance. Some pages are meant for women and children as well. Newspapers also provide us information about various matters and things through advertis ements.They can help the advertisers to boost up their sale and the consumers to consume the new goods. In other words, newspapers provide a wholesome intellectual food, trade contacts and also job opportunities. It is through the newspapers, many a time that marriages are arranged, and lost things are found. People pay homage to their dead relatives through the obituary notes in the newspapers. In short, newspapers contain all what is needed and desired by every person relating to any field of life. Newspapers play manifold character in almost all fields of life and are becoming more and important day by day.Education plays a vital role in the all round development of the society. Educated masses help in the development of a civilized society wherein they carry on their activities smoothly and hassle-free. People in a educated society communicate with each other, understand each other’s problems and provide solutions. An educated society, city, state, and country lay the fou ndation of a great world. Education plays the biggest role in society because without it, we wouldn't have doctors, lawyers, etc†¦ Plus, some people who don't have education usually end up as delinquents.

The Effect of Group Minds on Behaviours

The Effect of Group Minds on Behaviours The Affect of Group Minds on Behaviours The effect of group minds on behaviors implies the general influence group minds have on individuals’ thinking and opinions. The term â€Å"group minds† refers to joint intellect with regards to a conception in sociology and philosophy. This term in science fiction is widely explained as shared awareness.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on The Effect of Group Minds on Behaviours specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In the book ‘‘group minds’’ by Doris Lessing, she brings out the fact that many people all over the world live in groups. Some of these are social and work groups not forgetting the family and the very minute percentage of the population that is contented by living in solitude. Such people are viewed in a negative way as to be either bizarre or egocentric. Lessing (12) portrays the ideology that people opt not to live alone for a lengthy period of time rather, they tend to look for groups to belong. A hazardous fact is not belonging to a group but rather the lack of understanding of the social laws that rule groups and those that govern people individually. Group minds tend to think alike or in a better term, people in a group are ‘like-minded’ nevertheless, the challenging aspect of it is having a clear individual mind as an affiliate of a particular group. Doris Lessing expounds on group minds by caring out an experiment where an individual is separated from a group and he /she is not given clear instructions on the task ahead which entails the comparison of different lengths of wood that have a slight difference from each other yet the group of people are collectively asked to perform the same task. In the outcome, the majority group will stubbornly confirm that the lengths are equal while on the other hand, the minority, that is the individual who performed the task alone, will state that the pieces of wood differ in length. However, the group will continue persisting that right is wrong and after a period of enragement and even frustration, the minority will change their stand and join the majority thus most people give in to the major opinion hence the term â€Å"obey the atmosphere†. The affect of group minds is usually strong and many agree that the most challenging thing is to differ with one’s group in opinion. A large number agree that they often side with the majority just because it is simply, the majority, even in situations where it is wrong. A group mind is one major underlying hypothesis that goes unnoticed in a group and members of a group not only submit to the group but they also hardly notice that they have a collective mind and never have a difference in opinion and to them, other people not belonging to their group seem insignificant.Advertising Looking for critical writing on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Members of this group are so resistant to change that no debate about their postulations can be held. Only 10 percent of the total population of the world can be called natural leaders since they have independent minds and do make their own decisions by themselves without influence from majority groups. In individual thinking, a person differs and rings out that one factor that is often overlooked by a group of people and this issue of overlooking by the group is brought about by the group thinking that they are right. According to Lessing (56), when you analyse the way a stance towards a particular book is viewed by everyone, people say the same thing whether positive or negative until there is a drift in opinion: this may be an element of some wider social drift. She gave an example of a women’s movement where a publishing house governed by women re-assess the work of women writers who have been disregarded by the co mmunity due to the ‘group thinking’ of the masses. In some cases, a shift of the general opinion occurs due to a person standing out against the general opinion and other people join him hence creating a new ideology that subsequently becomes general. When a well respected person of the society says that something is good yet someone who isn’t known in the society thinks it is not, it is difficult to differ and better yet, it is more difficult to differ when quite a lot of people say the opposite. The external pressure that people undergo and succumb to often comes in form of groups such as patriotism, loyalty groups, beliefs and needs. However the hardest pressure that is difficult to control is the internal one which stresses that you follow the majority. An experiment popularly known as Milgrma is used to illustrate the group thinking phenomenon whereby, people who are randomly chosen were put in one room and an opaque screen divides the room. In the second pa rt of the room a number of volunteers are put in and they are wired to a machine that is used to run electric shock up to a point of killing a person similar to an electric chair. That machine gives them indications on how they are to react to the electric shocks either with a grunt then groan and screams and finally with a plea to cease the experiment. Those people who were randomly chosen and put in the first room actually thought that people in the second half of the room were connected to the electrocuting machine. They were instructed to administer shock gradually increasing and hence ignore the grunts from the other side. Out of this sixty-two percent of them continued administering shock up to 450 volts level and at the voltage of 285 the guinea pig had already become silent after giving an excruciating scream. Those that administered the shocks had a firm belief that they had given the painful shocks at their best and they experienced a great deal of pressure though they kep t on increasing the volts of electricity.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on The Effect of Group Minds on Behaviours specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More After the experiment many of them found it incredulous that they had the capability of such actions and some of them said that they were only following the instructions given to them. This experiment very openly and clearly shows how majority of people follow orders issued to them regardless of their degree and nature even if atrocious in order to obey the authority above them. Such an example is the German Nazis who did not question the orders given unto them. ‘Group mind’ is an element of the general human behavior. Doris Lessing points out that by a person joining a group in the name of finding people like themselves, the chances of that group changing the views and opinions of that person are usually high. She also warns that if a person does n ot think for himself/herself, that person is a part of a group and may end up never having the opportunity to be a standalone individual with his/her own views (Behrens and Rosen 96). Solomon Asch, the author of Opinions and social pressure†, carried out several experiments to demonstrate the effect of group minds in human beings. In one of the experiments, college students were asked to give their views regarding various issues and at a later date they were asked the same question but this time around they were first given the views of the authorities and majority of their peer groups on the same issues. In the outcome, many of the students changed their views towards the direction of the opinions of the majority. This proves the extent to which group minds has affected the society as a whole. The fact that a particular group has the majority rule tends to shift views even in the event of there being no argument for other views. People should strongly criticize the power of s ocial pressure since an affect of group minds causes uncritical submission to members of a group. According to Asch (105), the capability of rising above group thinking and the phenomenon of group minds through independent thinking is a factor open to human beings. In another experiment a group of about eight to nine students were put in a room for a â€Å"psychological experiment†in visual acuteness. The experiment was about giving the comparison between lengths of lines where two white cards are marked by a black line. One card had a single black line while the other had three which had varying lengths. The students were to make a choice on which vertical line had the same length as the one that was on the first card. Initially their answers were to be given in the order in which they were seated and they gave the same matching line and in the second round they gave a common answer. However, in the third round one person differed from the rest in his answer and he looked su rprised by the disagreement and on the fourth trial he still disagreed while his colleagues are unanimous on their decision.Advertising Looking for critical writing on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More What was duly noted was that the more he disagreed in the other trials, the more he got worried and hesitant and one occasion he paused before giving his answer and spoke in a low tone of voice or he grinned in an embarrassed manner. The experimenter had given instructions to the other members of the group to give wrong answers unanimously and the dissenter had no idea about this. The dissenter who was also the minority had actually given the correct answer but he was opposed by a majority group that was giving the incorrect answer in unanimity. Out of 123 people put to this test, a large number of them followed the majority group due to group pressure that resulted from group minds. The minority shifted their answers to the majority which was out rightly misleading them in 36.8 percent of the varieties. Although the individuals differed at some point, a quarter was independent and hardly agreed with the majority but at some other point some students affirmed with the majority in al most all the occasions. This experiment conclusively shows that those students who followed the majority could not free themselves as the ordeal went on and on while the independent did not end up following the majority as the trials continued. Those that followed the majority did so because their suspicions failed to free them at the moment of making a concrete choice. In addition, an experiment was carried out and it gave the conclusion that when an individual is subjected with only one person giving a contradictory answer to his, that individual is only influenced slightly. But as the trials continue and the opposition is increased to two people, he starts experiencing pressure and doubt on his answer. In a case where the minority number keeps on decreasing where the members shift their answers and join the majority. So long as the minority subject has a person siding with his answer, he has invariable independence but immediately that person defects, the chances of the dissenter following the majority in the next trial increases sharply. Philip Zimbardo in his book, The Stanford Prison Experiment,† studied the psychological effects of a person as a prisoner or as a prison guard. He carried out the Stanford Prison study where his subjects were 24 college students who were allocated duties to be either â€Å"prisoners† or â€Å"guards† in a model of a prison situated in the Stanford Psychology Building at the cellar. In this experiment, the volunteers knew they were participating in a study but they did not have a clue when it would begin. When they were arrested at random and taken to the prison they were in a placid state of distress. The â€Å"prisoners† underwent humiliation where they were undressed, shaved and searched and just like in an actual prison they wore uniforms, ID numbers and given an escort to the cells by the guards. It was difficult for the prisoners to show any individual personalities due to the changes they h ad undergone which had brought isolation to them. The psychologists in this experiment did not issue any instructions to the guards on how to treat the prisoners all they were to do was to maintain order in the replica prison. The volunteer prisoners portrayed signs of shock and uneasiness and they ridiculed the guards as they tried to reclaim their individualism (Zimbardo 123). The guards formulated a tactic to fight back so as to maintain order and discipline to the disobedient prisoners who had rebelled. The prisoners who had started the rebellion were stripped and put in a solitary confinement by the guards while those that had no involvement in the riots were given the privilege of laying in their bed, bathing and food while their colleagues lacked those three things. But after sometime even those prisoners that obeyed were also subjected to punishment to a point where visiting the toilet was an advantage to that particular prisoner. At this point the prisoners thought themselv es to be actual criminals and both themselves and the guards took to their roles and acted way beyond their jurisdiction of what was expected and thought of them hence leading to psychological suffering. Many prisoners had been emotionally disturbed and five of them were removed from the study earlier on when it was concluded that a third of the guards portrayed vicious trends. After the experiment, the volunteers, that is, both the guards and prisoners were assembled into the same room for assessment so as to put across their feelings to each other and evaluations were drawn to the Milgram experiment. Due to the distress the participants underwent, the study ended within 6 days as opposed to the planned two weeks. The aim of this experiment was to test the philosophy that personality characters of prisoners and guards were swiftly the key to understanding offensive prison circumstances. The experiment was terminated by Zimbardo when Christina Maslach who was conducting interviews o pposed the horrendous conditions of the prison. Out of more than fifty people who had seen the prison, he noted that only one of them had raised the issue of its ethics and that one person was Christina Maslach. In the excerpt from Ian MeEwans novel, ‘Atonement’, he states the German Luftwaffe had raided soldiers who were retreating and those on the beaches without the Royal Air Force(RAF) responding to this hence, they followed orders and followed the majority. This shows the affect of group mind in the military. Atonement is a British film that revolves around romance, suspense and war and it is generally described as â€Å"redemptive and astounding†. In the film, Turner tried to maintain order on the movement that was before him a thing that he almost succeeded. A short man who worked with Royal Air Force (RAF) was cornered by the crowd and received a beating from some members of the crowd. The man was a minority while the crowd had the majority rule. The crow d laughed at the man as he was kicked and no one questioned them. A sense of individual responsibility eroded the crowd as they circled around the short man as the members of the crowd got reckless and irresponsible. Turner took the assumption that he could not do anything to help the man because if he did so, he would be risking getting lynched by the mob. The factual threat that had occurred to Turner was the ‘righteous state of mind’ of the mob. As a man decided to whip the short man, Mace tricked the crowd to thinking that he was going to drown the man an idea that the crowd was so excited about. In this, the minority which was comprised of Nettle ,Turner ,Mace and the wounded man ended up winning through their wise thinking whereby, instead of trying to stop the crowd they coerced it since the multitude had â€Å"group minds† (MeEwan 89). Conclusion Group minds on behaviors greatly affect human behavior and regardless of human beings having sufficient inform ation about themselves, they do not use it to develop their lives. This aspect greatly influences the actions of a group whereby whatever the group has decided as a whole cannot be questioned and each and every member of the group does not have the power to think individually. It is therefore appropriate and correct to state that group minds negatively impacts the lives of those belonging to a particular group. On the contrary, individual thinking enhances progression in people’s lives and it defeats the illusion behind democracy where people have the capacity to assess situations before following a group and its views. Asch, Solomon. Opinions and social pressure. Prentice Hall Inc., 1955. Print. Behrens, Laurence and Rosen, Leonard. Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. New York: Longman Pub Group, 1996. Print. Lessing, Doris. Group minds. Toronto: Knopf Canada, 2001. Print. MeEwan, Ian. Atonement. New York: Nan A. Talese, 2002. Print. Zimbardo, Philip. Stanford prison experiment: A simulation study of the psychology of imprisonment. Philip G. Zimbardo, Inc., 1972. Print.

United Kingdom and United States Relations

United Kingdom and United States Relations The relationship between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (U.K.) goes back almost two hundred years before the United States declared independence from Great Britain. Although several European powers explored and formed settlements in North America, the British soon controlled the most lucrative seaports on the east coast. These thirteen British colonies were the seedlings of what would become the United States. The English language, legal theory, and lifestyle were the starting point of what became a diverse, multi-ethnic, American culture. Special Relationship The term special relationship is used by Americans and Brits to describe the uniquely close connection between the United States and the United Kingdom. Milestones in the United States-United Kingdom Relationship The United States and the United Kingdom fought each other in the American Revolution and again in the War of 1812. During the Civil War, the British were thought to have sympathies for the South, but this did not lead to a military conflict. In World War I, the U.S. and the U.K. fought together, and in World War II the United States entered the European portion of the conflict to defend the United Kingdom and other European allies. The two countries were also strong allies during the Cold War and the first Gulf War. The United Kingdom was the only top world power to support the United States in the Iraq War. Personalities The American-British relationship has been marked by close friendships and working alliances between top leaders. These include the links between Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan, and Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George Bush. Connections The United States and the United Kingdom share enormous trade and economic relations. Each country is among the others top trading partners. On the diplomatic front, both are among the founders of the United Nations, NATO, World Trade Organization, G-7, and a host of other international bodies. The U.S. and U.K. remain as two of only five members of the United Nations Security Council with permanent seats and veto power over all council actions. As such, the diplomatic, economic, and military bureaucracies of each country are in constant discussion and coordination with their counterparts in the other country.

Explain how krebs in a soldier home would rather observe life than Essay

Explain how krebs in a soldier home would rather observe life than live it. give reason as to why he feels that way use exa - Essay Example But in the later part of the story he is referred to as Krebs, to elucidate the transformation in his character. The Krebs is a German word which in English means cancer. The author very interestingly refers to Harold’s character as Krebs in the later part of the story because he wants to describe the transformation that the character went through, which completely left him disdained from all earthly emotions. He wants to be part of a simple life than involve in complexities. He has transformed into a person who just observes life rather than living it. In the story â€Å"A Soldier’s Home†, Hemmingway describes three very important situations which mark Harold’s transformation into Krebs. It was the time of the First World War, when most of the young lads joined the army to fight for their motherland. Harold Krebs was one such young man who joined the army after college. It was only after his return from the war that the first instance of his transformatio n was marked. Krebs was a little late to return home and was not part of the celebration that the other soldiers received on their return. By the time he came back all the hysteria regarding the war has settled down, people were no longer interested in war stories but Krebs wanted to experience the thrill and in couple of occasions he even lied about the stories. People were interested in lies not the realities of war. This gave birth to a raging conflict within Krebs, against the entire community. People were not interested in his stories and that left him in a state of shock. There were many criticisms regarding this point. As Hemingway’s "Soldier’s Home" opens, Harold Krebs, the protagonist, has just come back from World War I. All the other young men his age have settled back into small-town life and found a niche for themselves as contributing members of the community. But Harold, for some reason, cannot do this; instead, he plays pool, "practice[s] on his clarine t, stroll[s] down town, read[s], and [goes] to bed."(Bernardo, K., n. d.) "Nothing was changed in the town except that the young girls had grown up". â€Å"It appears as if the town was never affected by the war, not as Krebs had been. The town radiates conformity, such as the girls all wearing the same clothes. Harold's mother and father wish for him to conform too, as he once did in college where he too wore the same clothes as his fraternity brothers†(Comtois, Jean P., n.d.).   The second instance in the story which depicts Krebs character slowly turning into an observer of life rather than living it is when he starts appreciating the beauty of the girls of his hometown, but does not want to involve into any relationship with them. In war he had learnt that, one did not need girls to survive, though few of his soldier friends thought differently, he did not believe that the complexities of relationship were worth it. When all of his other contemporaries had returned from the war and settled down into the culture of the town, it was he who could not relate to any emotion and did not even feel it to be worth it. He only felt comfortable eyeing things from a distant. Even this phase of Krebs life was up for many criticisms some of which are, â€Å"