Compare and Contrast of Short Stories Essay Example for Free

Compare and Contrast of Short Stories Essay In â€Å"The Ones That Walk Away From Omelas† and â€Å"The Lottery†, Ursula Le Guin and Shirley Jackson portray a supposedly perfect society built on clandestine secrets. In the short story â€Å"The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas†, Omelas’ inhabitants are smart and cultured, and it seems like a utopian city of happiness and delight. Everything about Omelas is your every desire, disregarding the secret of the city: the good fortune of Omelas requires that a single unfortunate child be kept in never-ending filth, darkness and misery, and that all its citizens should be told of this when they come of age. After the truth is told to the people of Omelas most are initially shocked and disgusted and somehow manage to live there life and make it worth it for the child’s existence; others just walk away from the city of Omelas. In the short story, â€Å"The Lottery†, a small village of about 300 have an annual lottery; women, men, and children participate, to see who will be the chosen one to guarantee enough rain for the corn crops. The winner is to be stoned to death. The way the authors use irony to depict the story societies as wonderful and perfect then towards the end the dark secret is discovered is very intriguing and captivating, which makes you want to keep reading. In the story, â€Å"The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas†, Omelas seems to be this beautiful and cheerful place. The story takes place during a festival and there are children running around laughing and there is music. It talks about a race and how the horses are excited, â€Å"(the horses) flared their nostrils and pranced and boasted to one another â€Å" with silver, gold, and green braided into their manes. The story has and air of excitement and celebration that is soon questioned when the author begins to talk about the child.

One Year in a Life of Crime Essay Example for Free

One Year in a Life of Crime Essay There are many contributing factors that can lead to living a life of crime, totally unaware of how self-satisfying actions can negatively affect the people around you. The show HBO’s America Undercover â€Å"One Year in a Life of Crime†, is a perfect example of how there can be many factors that will lead you down a path of self destruction. But in the end it is the relationships we have with our parents, family and friends that ultimately shape the type of person we are and affect the decisions that we make. A contributing factor is something that is partly responsible for a development or something that lead to the cause of something else. If we can identify the contributing factors to an undesirable situation that we may be in, then we can learn to avoid them in the future. Or we can even learn from other people’s mistakes. The show â€Å"One Year in a Life of Crime† could be very beneficial for a younger audience to identify contributing factors that lead you down the wrong path in life. Maybe if the thieves’ in the show could have viewed something like this at an earlier time in their life, things might have turned out different for them. Rationalizing and wishful thinking is a contributing factor that prevents the thieves’ from thinking realistically about their future. Rationalization, also known as making excuses, is a way to devise self-satisfying but incorrect reasons for ones behavior. To not see reality for what is it. We all do this from time to time but the individuals in the show seem to rationalizing everything as a way to justify the bad choices they have made. Rob rationalizes his stealing in the scene where we meet his father for the first time. Rob’s father Ed works all week long and only brings home $80, which Rob describes as peanuts. To survive, you have to make extra money, is one way Rob justifies his stealing. In his mind, if he didn’t steal, his family couldn’t survive. In many scenes we hear Rob wishing for this and wishing for that. I wish for a big business so I can make a million dollars and if only I could get some money together to buy hot dog truck. Rob is unwilling to work hard to achieve any of his goals. Fred, who is Rob’s mentor in regards to shoplifting, is even worse when it comes to rationalizing he’s behavior. He can’t believe his old lady left with their little girl after he promised to stop getting high but then couldn’t follow through with his promise. He tells an old friend he wants to stop doing drugs and stealing but it’s just too much for him to handle now that his old lady has left him. Rationalizing helps them justify their own lazy attitude towards hard work and making an honest living. The prevailing attitude towards stealing instead of working is another contributing factor that keeps the thieves’ from getting ahead in life. Easy money for little effort, such as shop-lifting, can be very attractive to some people and they will choose this life style. But the way life works is the more you put into something the more you will get out. If you’re willing to work hard and not give up, there is a good chance you will be successful in whatever you choose to do. When we look at Rob we can see he is always looking for easy money. Rob can’t believe his father works for such little money when there are other ways to make a living. He thinks his father is foolish. When Rob was working for a neighborhood mechanic he had saved over a thousand dollars but thought the job wasn’t paying enough. In his mind, the amount of time and work he needed to put-in, didn’t equal the pay he was receiving. Stealing is easier and doesn’t require a full day’s work. It’s hard to say no to easy money when there is only a small chance of getting caught and if you do get caught, then the punishment is light or non-existent. When a city does not have the resources to deal with a large volume of crime, the justice system can seem like a revolving door for the criminals. If the smaller criminals have to be overlooked because the system is swamped with major crimes, then the threat of jail time for shoplifting looses its power. Time after time we see both Fred do little jail time for his crimes. The first time me meet Fred, he’s accidentally been released from jail after only doing 60 days of a one year sentence. He’s been out of jail for one day and he’s already back to shoplifting. Four months later Fred is arrested for Grand Larceny and Vehicular Homicide. He uses an alias along with a phony I.D. to hide his extensive criminal record and ends up out of jail in just three weeks after plea-bargaining down to minor charges as a â€Å"first offender†. Fred was responsible for the death of someone and because of an overwhelmed justice system he is set free. After you get away with something like this how much of a deterrent is the law when it comes to shoplifting? Not much to Fred because just three months later he’s arrested for stealing silverware and end up in jail for six months. Of course each time we see the thieves’ stealing they are always with a friend, an accomplice, someone who thinks and acts the same way they do. Enabling is a larger contributing factor as to why our thieves live the life that they do. An enabler is a person who, through their actions, allows someone else to behave in a destructive way. Enabling/reinforcing negative behavior by lying, ignoring or covering up for someone not only allows negative behavior to continue but also slows down the process of learning to be responsible for the consequences of their actions. The most common example in the show is the relationship the thieves have with each other. Rob is mentored by Fred in the ways of shoplifting and along with their friend Mike, reinforces their life style as being just and the only way they can survive in the world. Rob’s wife Angela is the perfect example of an â€Å"enabler†. Throughout the year that the show takes place we see Angela enabling Rob to continuing stealing. All she wants is for Rob to marry her and if stealing is the only way for Rob to make money, then she will support whatever decisions he makes. At the end of the show we see Rob has become a drug addict and Angela is still with him even though she hates what Rob is doing to himself. She would rather say nothing then confront him. It’s a lot less work being an enabler then it is confronting Rob and trying to help him. Mike’s mother is another example of how enabling has a negative impact on learning to be responsible for one’s own actions. She bails Mike out of jail and losses the bail money because her son takes off. I’m guess here, but I would bet she knows where he is hiding out and her only reaction is to be indifferent to Mike decision which just cost her $750. The relationships we have with our friends and family play a strong role on how we think and the decision we make. The most important contributing factor as to why the thieves are in their situation has to do with how they were raised. The values they were taught and relationship they have with their parents. We can see Rob is in a pattern of self-destructive behavior and one of the biggest influences is his father. From the show we find out that Rob’s father is an alcoholic, would hit him and also throw out Rob’s toys. Rob even describes a scene where his father rips apart one of his favorite toys, a stuffed bunny rabbit. Here we can see why Rob might think it is ok steal. He learned from his father that if you are strong or smart enough to impose your will on someone then it is ok to take what you want. In Rob’s eyes this is how the world works. This is what his father did to him so he is repeating the same behavior when he shop-lifts. We can only guess at the relationship Fred has with his parents but we know that one of his uncles was a drug addict and Fred witness his un cle taking drugs. It’s a good possibility Fred’s family didn’t discourage drug use or educate him in regards to the negative impact drugs will have on your life. From the time we are born we start to soak in our environment. We start to learn from everything around us. How we act socially mainly comes from the observations and interactions we have with our parents. We learn how to speak, how to ask for things and how to interact with others. When we are children the most important relationship we will have is with our parents and this can greatly affect our adolescences and adulthood. Our role models in life can help shape who we will become. If we see from our parents that hard work and following the rules doesn’t get you very far then we might have an attitude that working hard isn’t the way to go. Without good role models the odd are stacked against us and some individuals will take the easy road of a thieves’ life style. We can change our behavior later in life but it can be a difficult process and most people are not even aware that a change is needed.

The Impact Of School Phobia On Education Psychology Essay

The Impact Of School Phobia On Education Psychology Essay Phobia, which is a type of anxiety or fear, is a basic human emotion usually considered to be a response to objects or situations that threaten physical safety or emotional well-being. School phobia is a situational phobia found in early childhood whereby the child refuses to attend school due to a certain overwhelming fear. Many youngsters at some time in their school years might actually experience different forms of fears be it anxiety, phobia from games, answering a question in class, or even reading out loud in front of their peers. Furthermore, studies have shown that there are particular symptoms associated to school phobia that could vary from stomachaches, nausea, fatigue, shaking, racing heartbeats, to going on frequent trips to the toilet. Children who suffer from school phobia are exposed to panic attacks especially when the parent forces them to attend school without even realizing that there might actually be a critical problem which needs to be dealt with properly, inc reasing the youngsters worries and the guardians frustrations even more. Not only do children miss home while being away in the school setting, but they are also faced with a whole new world of brand new genuine experiences, challenges and pressures, be it social or academic; this sudden change will undoubtedly leave them feeling down, suffering from separation anxiety. Moreover, they are probably not so used to having so many rules set for them, that they will feel scared, exhausted or depressed. School phobia, School Avoidance, and School Refusal are terms used to describe children who avoid attending school. Persistent nonattendance at school has been the subject of considerable concern among educationalists for well over a century. Fears of the dark, birds, etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ are socially and legally more acceptable than avoidance of school. Certainly, school phobia generates massive anxiety in both parents and teachers. School refusal symptoms occur most often on school days, and are usually absent on weekends and during the summer holidays. On the other hand, the older children who are new attendees in a new school, the situation could leave them not to adapt to the new place and environment, since they may no longer feel comfortable due to the sudden change in their friendships, teachers, and classrooms. School phobia is also due to the feelings of insecurity; a child who is used to being at home around his/her parents all day will feel threatened or torn away from his/her beloved ones. The youngster will feel so worried and panicky that he/she will even experience fear from school buses if they had to return home in one. School phobia must be treated directly, however, if the child is severely affected, then it is best to ask for professional help such as a referral to his/her doctor or head teacher. For these reasons it was important to study this problem and find ways to solve it in order to help phobic children. 1.2 Purpose of the Study: This study talks about Childrens Phobia in Preschools because it will enlighten a positive issue and it will serve the society in a positive way, by helping parents as well as teachers solve a problem which has not been given enough importance in the past years. In order to be able to deal with children and help them with their problems and overcoming them and to be capable of reaching high objectives, one certainly need to carry out serious research and learn professional methods for dealing with certain dilemmas. In this research the researcher will be able to identify school phobia, learn more about school phobia and its nature, recognize the causes of school phobia, recognize the warning signals of school phobia, recognize the typologies of school phobia, identify the way to deal with phobic children, and identify the treatment of school Phobia. 1.2 Research Questions School phobia affects the childs education as well as his/her future. The problem usually starts with the child complaining or finding the silliest excuses just to keep him/her away from school. Some questions need to be answered such as: -What is a phobia? -Who is the phobic child? -How does the child develop phobia? -What is the role of the teachers and parents in identifying school phobia? -How can a phobic child be helped to overcome his phobia? Chapter Two Literature Review 2.1- Identifying School Phobia: Early investigations of persistent nonattendance talked only in terms of truancy; however, this simple view failed to explain the condition. Early pioneer studies found evidence that clearly linked truancy with delinquency. They realized that poor parental control, mental dullness, temperamental instabilities and broken homes were cited as important factors contributing to truancy. However; the first man to describe a form of absence that was later most commonly referred to as school phobia or school refusal was Dr. Broadwin in 1932, p 5: The child is absent from school for periods varying from several months to a year. The absence is consistent. At all times the parents know where the child is. He is near the mother or near the home. The reason for the truancy is incomprehensible to the parents and the school. This classical description has practically has practically become the very definition of school phobia. Other findings by Partridge (1939) noted a group of children he labeled as psychoneurotic. These children appear to differ from other truants in that they were obedient, reasonably well-adjusted and liked school. He regarded them as victims of an emotional bond between parent and child. In order words, these children suffer from s different type of school phobia, which is mainly derived from a poor or nil relationship of the parents with the child. It is basically then, an emotional problem that causes absences. 2.2- The Clinical Presentation of School Phobia: The clinical representation of school phobia has been extremely well described by Hersov in 1977: The problem often starts with vague complains of school or reluctance to attend progressing to total refusal to go to school or to remain in school in the face of persuasion, entreaty, recrimination and punishment by parents and pressures from teachers, family doctors and education welfare officers. The following are the best ways to tell whether the child is or is not school phobic: Severe difficulties in attending school, often amounting to prolonged absence, severs emotional upset shown by such symptoms as excessive fearfulness, undo tempers, misery, etc. Staying home with the knowledge of the parents when should be at school at some stage of the course of the disorder. Absence of significant anti-social disorder such as stealing, living, and wandering. Children suffering from psychosis, gross physical illness, asthma, truancy and neurotic disorders other than school phobia are not considered suitable for investigation on the subject. All other factors need to be ruled out. 2.3- Causes: Peer difficulties, learning problems, depression, or parents who are overly anxious about these perceived physical ailments are common causes of school avoidance. Separation anxiety is another common diagnosis for school phobia but there can be other problems, too. School phobia is usually a symptom of other problems. If physical causes have been ruled out and the behavior is continuing, then parents might want to have an evaluation by a psychiatric specialist. A school-phobic child is usually afraid of leaving home in general, rather than afraid of anything in particular at school. For example, he may experience homesickness when staying at a friends house. Often the first test of a childs independence comes when he must attend school daily. Aside from poor attendance, these children usually are good students and well behaved at school. The parents are typically good parents who are conscientious and loving. Such parents are sometimes overly protective and close, and the child finds it difficult to separate from them (separation anxiety). He may lack the self-confidence that comes from handling lifes normal stresses without his parents help. Sometimes a change of schools, strict teacher, hard tests, a learning problem, or a bully may appear to be causes of childs fear of going to school. But such factors may be only part of the problem, and your child should still go to school while these problems are being resolved. 2.4- Symptoms of School nonattendance warning signals Children who fear school send warning signals that are hard to ignore. Mysterious illnesses that surfaced as excuses to escape school in the lower grades resurface in middle school, resulting in tardiness, cut classes, and unfinished homework assignments. Often a childs normal living patterns, including eating, sleeping, and school success, are disrupted. 2.5- Typologies of School Phobia Many people have attempted to classify phobia; however, Coolidge, Hahn, and Peck (1975), in a study of 21 cases, presented evidence of two times of school phobia that they called neurotic and characterological. The neurotic group was mostly young girls. The primary conflict in this group seemed to be centered on the childs symbiotic tie to the mother. The characterological group consisted mainly of older boys who were regarded as being generally more disturbed. This comparison was developed by Kennedy. He included parental characteristics and communication patterns to differentiate between the two different types. Another very interesting finding was that of Yule, Hersov and Treseder in the 80s; they found that there may be sub-types of school phobia and they outlined a crude classification based on likely treatment implications. Separation anxiety at first school entry complicated by poor parental management. It is argued that in such cases some form of in vivo (carried out inside a living organism, like in a test or experiment) desensitization is the most appropriate first step. School phobia occurring in a vulnerable child following a major change in schooling: usually, the problem is sparked off or started by additional home-related anxieties. Systematic desensitization alongside attention to practical issues in the childs physical and social environment is likely to be the most effective treatment option. 2.6 Theories of School phobia: 2.6.1 Psychoanalytic Theory It was obviously advanced by Freud in the early 1900s and subsequently modified and interpreted by others such as Klein, Arieti, Sperling, and Renik. As we all know, Freud developed his theory of personality development by proposing three interacting structures; the id, ego, and super-ego. The id referred to impulsive, instinctual trends within the personality concerned with the satisfaction of the basic emotional needs, in other words it referred to the libido. Freud argued that phobias arose from conflict of psychic energy (libido). However, later psychoanalysts felt that aggression and dependence also played a role in phobias. According to the psychoanalytic theory, this is how it develops: An early, poorly resolved dependency relationship between mother and child. Inadequate fulfillment of the mothers emotional needs, usually because of a poor marriage. A temporary threat to the childs security causing a transient increase in the childs dependency needs. Exploitation of this situation by the mother. A similar relationship between the mother and her own mother. Expression of hostility to the child, not only making him more dependent, but also by direct inhibition of any opportunity for the child to express aggressive or hostile feelingsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and also seductive behavior towards the child. Moreover, Development of strong hostility toward the mother, largely unconscious, and express by exploitation of the mothers guilt toward him and also by fears of the mothers safety cause by unconscious destructive wishes, thus forcing him to be with her to assure himself of her safety (Chiland and Young, 1990). The theory implied by this line of reasoning involves bringing the unconscious conflicts into open within the context of a therapeutic relationship. The conflicts are analyzed and a more mature way of satisfying dependency needs is sought. There has been great disagreement among psychotherapists, however, about whether the mother and child should be separated or treated together and how quickly a child should be made to confront reality and return to school. 2.6.2 Self Concept Theory: Leventhal and Sills point out that many of the descriptive findings associated with school phobia do not seem to support an explanation based solely on separation anxiety. They emphasize that many of these children maintain normal lives outside school hours. They proposed that the main feature relevant to school phobia is the finding that: These children commonly over-value themselves and their achievements and then try to hold on to their unrealistic self-image. When this is threatened in the school situation, they suffer anxiety and retreat to another situation where they can maintain their narcissistic self-image. This retreat may very well be a running to a close contact with mother. So, in other words, what Leventhal and Sills thought is that children with a superiority complex, when put down in any way, would avoid going to school and would rather stay in a safe environment. The treatment emphasized by self concept theorists involves bringing the home and school environment into balance. The parents need to be more realistic and her teachers more accommodating and at the same time the child needs confronting with reality by returning him to school as soon as possible. The therapist deliberately precipitates a crisis by forcing the family to address the issue of immediately returning the child to school. The therapist uses this situation therapeutically by helping the parents to resist the childs manipulative demands and win the power struggle. Anticipation and detailed planning is called for to ensure that the parents are successful. 2.6.3 Learning Theory: The principles underlying behavioral treatment are derived from learning theory. Learning theory has evolved from experimental studies in the laboratory. There theories explaining how phobic behavior is learned to compete for attention: Respondent, Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, and the Two-Stage Theory of Fear and Avoidance. Respondent Conditioning Theory: Phobic are regarded as conditioned fear and avoidance responses to specific stimuli. Repetition of the feared situation in association with the newly created phobic stimuli will strengthen the fear and avoidance responses to the stimuli. Operant Conditioning Theory: its main principle is that behavior is influenced by its consequences. Behavior that is rewarded is likely to occur more often whereas behavior that is punished will decrease in frequency. On the basis of this theory, one can argue that phobias and associated behaviors like temper; tantrums are maintained through positive reinforcements in the childs environment. Two-Stage Theory of Fear and Avoidance: Suggested that fear could motivate behavior and was not merely a conditional reaction to stimuli associated with pain. He further argued that fear reduction became an operant reward for avoidance of the noxious stimulus. A wide variety of behavioral techniques have been developed arising out of classical and operant paradigms as well as social learning theory, however, although behavioral approaches concern themselves with the immediate problem of returning the child to school, arguments surrounding the preparation for and the timing and pacing of the return parallel those in the psychodynamic camp. Increasingly therapists employ a mix of approaches tailored to take account of the unique range of child, family and school related issues that may be involved in any one case. Nonattendance at school is not a distinct, but rather, it is comprised of multiple syndromes; prominent examples are truancy, childhood phobia, and separation anxiety disorder. An intriguing aspect of school nonattendance syndromes is that their form and features are modeled by the varying contributions of causative factors, including genetic endowment, brain dysfunction, family psychopathology, and individual symptoms. This makes school nonattendance an especially useful model for the study of the development of psychopathology in childhood (Martin and Greenwood, 1995). . This suggests that the study of this group of disorders from socioeconomic and cultural viewpoints would provide a new understanding of the disorders and their causes, and how cultural influences on the development of the child are mediated. Childrens rejection of school will in turn bring societys rejection of children. The society has a great role this whole issue, since children will not be able to overcome the phobia so easily if the society shows rejection and disapproval. 2.7- Psychodynamic Treatment of School Phobia Early treatment of school phobia was largely psychoanalytically based. Two studies were mostly implemented, the traditional psychodynamic treatment and the family therapy. Traditional Psychodynamic Studies, these studies are interpreted as those focusing treatment on the individual child or the mother-child relationship. The analytic treatment was focused entirely on the child, but they realized the importance of treating both the mother and child. Treatment with respect to the father was felt to be most efficiently handled by helping the mother clarify and restructure her feelings about her husband rather than dealing with the father direct. The dilemma in this study is whether the child should or shouldnt return to school immediately. Studies showed a slight difference in percentages when it came to decide which method was more effective, hence it remains undecided (Blagg, 1987). Family Therapy (By Skynner): These approaches transcend the parent-child dyad in addressing the entire family system. School phobia is regarded as symptomatic and sometimes protective of faulty family functioning. Treatment approaches consistently emphasize the importance of early return to school although the manner by which this is achieved varies greatly from therapist to therapist. Skinner refers to his approach as a conjoint family psychotherapy. The central problem within school phobia is seen as the parents failure to help their child relinquish omnipotent demands for exclusive possession of the mother. Skinner argues that school phobic children are protected from the challenges of reality by their mothers. Skynner claims that bonds within these families run vertically from parent to child with a consequent weak relationship between spouses. The main elements are stressed in this treatment: The whole nuclear family is included in treatments as well as other family members where necessary. An emphasis is placed upon non-verbal communication and confrontation of the parents over the hidden rule system. Attention is directed to the here and now of family interactions although past events may be considered as and when they arise There is a focus on an early return to school. An effort is made to weaken the mother-child bond and strengthen the marital bond. In the more straightforward cases, interpretation of the problem develops insight in parents enabling the family to marshal its own resources and solve the problem. Skynner advocates the use of medicine to help in the confrontation stage. In addition, excessively timid pupils are helped by attendance at psychotherapy groups. Only minimal attention is paid to school factors Skynner feels that school phobia is best understood as a psychosocial problem rather than a purely medical intra-psychic or even intra-familial disorder. It is interesting to note that the early traditional study emphasize the importance of the conformation of the feared situations; however, the later studies favored immediate, even forced, return to school. 2.8 Behavioral Approaches and Treatment of School Phobia: The behavioral approaches are divided into three: treatment based on classical conditioning, treatment based on operant conditioning paradigm and treatment based on social skills training. Systematic Desensitization: This approach involves working the child through carefully graded fear hierarchy starting with the least feared situations, building up to most feared situations. At each stage the child is helped overcome any anxiety by concentrating on a behavior that is antagonistic to the anxiety. Emotive Imagery: It is a technique that some behavior therapists have found to be very powerful. They use normal relaxation procedures in conjunction with systematic desensitization. In this approach the therapist develops imagined scenes that conjure up feelings of excitement, self-assertion and general positive effect as means of inhibiting anxiety. Flooding or implosion: These procedures involve immediate confrontation of the maximally feared situation without any careful preparation via graded exposure to less threatening circumstances. The subject is maintained in the intense feared situation until the anxiety shows visible signs of waning on the classical extinction model. The assumption here is that the subject feels anxiety as a result of prior classical conditioning the vivid presentation of the condition stimuli and the absence of any primary unconditioned stimuli will eventually lead to the extinction of the anxiety response (Sharpe, 2000). Operant-based treatment approaches are concerned with changing the reinforcement contingencies affecting an individuals behavior. It involves maximizing the incentives for being in school by building into the school program extra positive reinforcement and minimizing incentives for remaining at home during the school day by removing positive reinforcement (like greater personal freedom, extra adult attention): This treatment is based in reinforcement. Natural reinforcement is added in the individuals life in preference to the introduction of more artificial reinforcement like sweets. Nevertheless, in certain cases, tangible reinforcements may be necessary in the early stages of the treatment program. Many children who suffer from school phobia have major problems in relationships with bodes language and posture. It is true that many children may need sheltering from ridicule but others need help in improving their bodily skills. This treatment involves attention in many areas such as: Body posture especially the subjects stiffness and lack of mobility in the trunk and limbs. Nervous mannerisms such as giggling, facial grimacing, and tone of voice, eye contact

Ancient Native American Traditions Essay -- History culture Indians Es

Ancient Native American Traditions The novel "Reservation Blues" does not describe or deal with real Indians. The real Native Americans were forever destroyed by the government the second that they set foot upon the makeshift reservation. That very second saw the perish of all the age-long values and traditions that, before that moment, defined, raised, and watched over every Indian boy and girl, every Indian husband and wife, and every Indian father and mother. The U.S. government easily and nonviolently accomplished what the army has been struggling to do for many years, it wiped out a whole race of people, turning them into a mindless horde that was of concern to no one. The result were people who were hardly more Indian than you or me, people without culture, morals, or traditions; these people were lost. The only thing they had in common was the color of their skin and nothing else. This paper takes a look at ancient Native American traditions such as: unity, storytelling, communication with nature, and pride in their culture and shows how they were all but absent from this particular reservation and the mindsets of its inhabitants.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The greatest thing that Indians shared is unity. Their culture viewed the tribe as a living and breathing thing, needing every member's cooperation and participation in order to survive. Throughout the years, Indians have always relied on each other for help and support, whether hunting, raising children, or defending their territory. In addition, possessions were shared equally between the members, and everything was done for the benefit of the tribe. On the Spokane reservation there is no such concept as unity. People live for their own good, barely tolerating their own kind. Defying their ancestor's traditions, characters such as Victor and Joseph bully others into submission in order to get what they want or just for fun. Michael White Hawk attacks the band members out of jealousy. After the band starts their public performances, the whole town splits into two groups, one supporting the musicians, the other detesting them. There is no unity to be found anywher e. Same thing goes for support. Not many souls believed in them. "Tribal Chairman David WalksAlong was even more pessimistic about the future of Coyote Springs. "Listen, those Skins ain't got a chance in New York City...Coyote Springs is done for. I'm... ... and courageous animal, looked up to by the children, but in the real world it was simply a mean of amusement. The Spokane tribe had hastily forgot one of the most important concepts of Indian heritage, the concept that should have defined them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The only thing on the Spokane reservation that still contained Indian culture and heritage was Big Mom, or the nature. However, no Indian ever remembered, or wished to remember his or her own roots. They knew about Big Mom’s existence, yet they refused to believe in her. It was simpler to live life as they did, without any real purpose or direction. â€Å"There were a million stories about Big Mom. But no matter how many stories were told, Indians still refused to believe in her. Even though she lived on the reservation, some Spokanes still doubted her.†(199) She watched the Indians deny and defy everything that was in their culture, all the traditions and all of the morals, powerless to stop it. The-man-who-was-probably-Lakota saw and understood what was happening, and repeated the same line over and over again, â€Å"The end of the world is near, the end of the world is near.† However, for these Indians the end had already came and gone.

The Individual And Society :: essays research papers fc

In this paper I will try to explain the puzzle of whether individuals are products of society or society is a product of individuals. I believe that in general, and in the beginning, the answer to this question, is that society is a human product. I will start by presenting early man, the hunter and gatherer as an early form of society, but lacking critical qualities of a society. Then I will continue to support my theory by analyzing the beginning of known society some three and one half thousands years ago. I will present the individual as creation of society, or more precisely, an ongoing social recursive conditioning. I will also present society as creation of individuals. Finally, I will conclude my paper with some thoughts on the paradox of who is the product and who is the producer of the individual and society. EARLY MAN According to Charles Darwin, man developed from the ape. Darwin’s theory of evolution appears to be unsupported though, because for thousands of years these apes have been there, but none of them have developed into human beings nor did Darwin ever find the missing link. Although unproved, there must be a process of evolution. And if there was evolutionary process, a few of the steps in-between still must be missing. Since man is not asexual, man did not, and could not, survive or prosper by himself. Early man grouped together with other hunters and gathers to form a family which brought order, direction, and stability to his life. According to Rousseau, â€Å"the earliest and only natural societies are families (Primis 192).† The point here is that the individuals choose to become a part of something larger than the individual. But if Rousseau is correct, there was a time when the individual gave up certain freedoms to find security within a group. This is contra to Thomas Hobbes view. It was not until significant scientific advances in the nineteenth century that the view of this seventeenth century philosopher Hobbes has his views rejected. Hobbes stated that the life of early man was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. Hobbes thought that early man was scarcely even human and a club-wielding savage. At either rate, early man lacked the qualities that were considered by John Locke as necessary to begin a society even though it is believed that groups and families existed. Society as Product of Individuals

Organized Religion :: essays research papers

ORGANIZED RELIGION   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the movie As Good As It Gets, No one in the movie makes a direct reference to God. This is a little odd because all Melvin, Carol, and Simon are all going through very hard times in their life, and at no point in the movie does one of them ask God for help or anything like that. The reason this is odd is because, normally, when a person is going through a very hard time in their life they will ask God for help and will promise something in return, but not these three people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The reason for them to not ask is because they think that they do not need any help and can get through everything by themselves. This is shown very blatantly at two points in the movie. The first time is when Carol has just gotten help from a doctor that Melvin got to take care of her son, Spencer Connelly. After Dr. Green has left and Carol is talking to Beverly Connelly, her mother, they get into an argument about because Carol does not want this help because she says that doing this lets a â€Å"crazy man† into their life. But Beverly yells back saying that this isn’t something you can send back. When Carol tries to refuse the help from Melvin, this shows that she does not want the help.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second time this is shown is when Melvin, Carol, and Simon go to see Simon’s parents so Simon can get some money. He needs the money because he was attacked by some men that were robbing him, and when this happened he started to lose everything he had. But when Simon is at the hotel the night that Carol and Melvin go out to eat he calls his parents wanting to talk and let them know he is in town and wants to see them so he could maybe get some money from them so he has enough to get him started again. They do not answer the phone and he just leaves a message, but when he calls the next morning after having a revelation while sketching pictures of Carol, his mother answers the phone and asks if he needs anything or any help.

Musical Analysis Essay

The first piece I chose was Frederic Chopin’s Prelude in E-Minor (op. 28 no. 4). It was performed by Aldona Dvarionaite (2009). Chopin was a composer in the Romantic period. This is a sad piano piece. Chopin wrote primarily for the piano. The piece range was almost monotone in nature. The sound was in scale rising and lowering using the same melody throughout the piece. The tones were kept uniform repeating over and over again. I found this piece of music one dimensional. It was dark and depressing in nature. It is not music that I would seek out to relax and enjoy. Piece number two was composed by Johannes Brahms – OP. 49 No. 4 Wiegenlied / Lullaby written in the romantic period. This piece was performed by Das Slovakische Kammerochester (2007), I found this music comforting an familiar. Kammerochester performed this from the original composition on the violin. I played this music to my children and my grandchildren to relax them and put them to sleep, singing the lyrics, as my mother sang to me. The melody was rythmatic and soothing to my ears. Johannes Brahms repeated the same tones in the beginning, middle, ending. I was able to discern both the violin and harp in the music, mimicking each other. The lullaby has so many precious memories for me, I cannot help feeling joy with this music. Moving on to the Classical Period I chose to listen to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Requiem, conducted by Karl Bohm (2007). This piece had much more depth in texture and tonality. Mozart raised and lowered the power of the piece using both instrumental diversity and note volume to emphasize the piece. Listening to this piece brought me memories of going to the cathedral with my Grandmother. The entire mass was sung in Latin, so it was the music that led you to understanding the mass. The beginning of the piece was sad changing the tone to almost a jubilation or celebration of life. I enjoyed this piece immensely. My second classical selection is Ludwig Von Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, performed by Elisso Bolkvadeze (2010). This is a piano piece with complexity in the melody I find myself feeling melancholy. I cannot help but feel that there was deep sorrow in the person who wrote this music. It is almost that the person was lost amidst his sorrow. The melody repeats itself but is different though out the performance. I almost wanted to find this person and hug them to remove such pain from their life. I was strangely mesmerize, unsure whether to enjoy the music or turn away from the pain. From the Baroque Period I selected one of my favorite pieces, Sebastian Bach Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 (2011). There is a complexity in Bach’s compositions that I have not heard in the other composures. I felt energized and excited by this rendition. Bach uses Texture, tonality, melody, and complexity in this piece. The range of emotions changes from moment to moment. It is whimsical at one moment, changing veracity in a moment notice. One does not have to do anything but allow themselves to get lost in the music. There are distinct differences in styles, each with their own merits and shortcomings. In order to appreciate music, one only needs to listen, and let the emotions go through them. I may have my preferences to what I enjoy, but a person needs to make that decision on their own. Music would not be what it is today, if we did not have artist with the imagination and passion to bring it to the public.