William Blakes Songs of Innocence Essay Example For Students

William Blakes Songs of Innocence Essay Flakes use of the pastoral in Songs of Innocence and Experience Put simply, Flakes Songs of Innocence and Experience Juxtapose the innocent pastoral world of childhood against an adult world of corruption and repression. The collection as a whole, by meaner of paired poems in Innocence and Experience (The Lamb, The Tiger; The Echoing Green, The Garden of Love/London; The Nurses Song (l and E); Introduction (l and E); The Chimney sweeper (l and E), etc) explores the value and limitations of two different perspectives of the world. The same situation or problem is seen through the eyes or perspective of Innocence first, then Experience. We will write a custom essay on William Blakes Songs of Innocence specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Blake stands outside Innocence and Experience, in a distanced position from which he recognizes and attempts to correct the fallacies of both perspectives. He uses the pastoral, in many songs, to attack oppressive and destructive authority (Church, King, parents, adult figures), restrictive morality, sexual repression, established religion the Established Church, social inequality, militarism. The pastoral is a literary style that presents an idealism and artificial picture of rural life, the naturalness and innocence of which is seen in contrast with the corruption and artificiality of city and court. The pastoral is often seen as a nostalgic looking back at a lost paradise, a lost Eden, a lost Golden Age. However, Blake does something different with the pastoral. Firstly, he rejects the nostalgia of the ideal in order to show the real human condition. He does this by opposing pastoral ideal and urban reality both within the single states of Innocence and Experience and between the two states. (For example Introduction of Innocence, The Shepherd). Secondly, he radically redefines the relation of the pastoral to the city because the Songs as a volume could be said to take place in the city. Blake frames the obviously pastoral scenes within an urban setting in a way that breaks down the conventional city/ country dichotomy and his criticism is aimed at not merely social problems, but the source of these problems a limited way of seeing. Within Innocence, Blake takes us into the frame, or confinement of the pastoral space and explores inner tensions, exposing and attacking social problems. For example, in The Little Girl Lost of Innocence, the pastoral setting is that of a desert wild that becomes a garden mild. The reference is the biblical image in Isaiah 35 of an ideal mime in which the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. Lacy, the innocent child, lives In the southern clime/Where the summers prime/Never fades away (distinctly pastoral! ). She had wandered oleomargarine the wild birds song. Blake brings in a contrast between Locals trust and her parents fear (that she is lost and will come to harm). For Lacy, there is no cause for distress, except consideration of her mothers feelings (if my mother sleeplessly shall not weep). The other side of the conflict is the parents fear and concern: As far as they are concerned, there is nowhere safe; (Where can Lacy sleep? . Their concern becomes more and more self- centered, until it becomes emotional blackmail (oho can Lacy sleep,/elf her mother weep? ). A moral prescription is then introduced Lacy ought to be worried and we notice that this is Justified only by the mothers distress, not by any real danger. By meaner of the command, Then let Lacy wake, Blake shows how fear turns into tyranny. The parents fear of nature has made them unreasonable They command their daughter to be unhappy, simply because they are. Stanza 8 resolves the conflict as Locals surroundings become transformed the desert is bright. Locals positive perception dominates the rest of the poem The imperative, Let in the line, Let thy moon arise, underlines her opposition to her parents. The pivotal word, bright stands between Locals and her parents attitudes to nature (for the parents, it is a dark, unknown world of fear; for Lacy, it is safe and bright. ) The lion licks Locals bosom and the lioness Loosed her slender dress. The dress is a symbol of her parents upbringing, which Locals perception can cast off. .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0 , .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0 .postImageUrl , .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0 , .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0:hover , .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0:visited , .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0:active { border:0!important; } .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0:active , .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0 .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u40cb7cc0649b6bfb9a69cae2be4b62d0:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience EssayShe is naked, so shame is removed (a reference to Adam and Eves nakedness in the Garden of Eden). In the ext poem, The Little Girl Found, the lions masculinity, his mane, was what frightened the parents (soon his heavy man/Bore them to the ground). So, the poem conveys the need for sexual freedom, natural energy, sexual energy, feared by Locals parents. (In The Little Girl Found, the parents perception of the lion as fearful is transformed -then they followed/Where the vision led- by meaner of transforming their vision, their perspective, the parents fear disappears (nor fear the wolfish howl,/Nor the lions growl). Within the pastoral frame of the Garden of Eden, Blake explores inner tensions, exposing and attacking social problems. (In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, which Blake wrote between the two parts of the Songs, he stresses that mans instincts are not fallen (sinful from the moment of birth) and therefore to follow the instinctive desire for love and pleasure cannot be wrong: The soul of sweet delight can never be defiled. On the contrary, it is the thwarting of desire that leads to corruption and a warping of the personality: Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse enacted desires. The conventional goodness of Flakes time, therefore, is Just a passive failure o act out desire and is not something to be admired, unlike evil which is evidence of positive energy:. Good is the passive that obeys reason. Evil is the active springing from energy and Energy is eternal delight. So, in the volume of Songs of Innocence and Experience, the tensions, oppositions or conflicts are within the frames of a song, as well as between the two contrary worlds of Innocence and Experience. The Songs not only Juxtapose pastoral ideal with urban reality (echoing Greenwoods; Echoing Green/The Garden of Love), but within the single state of Innocence, pastoral images are Juxtaposed with a flawed urban society. The oppositions also exist within the single states of Innocence and Experience. The Songs of Innocence begins with a clearly pastoral Introduction followed by The Shepherd, The Echoing Green and, of course, The Lamb'(in Flakes final order of the Songs). These songs show pastoral harmony between humans and nature. However, we are led out of (or in and out of, depending on the order of Songs), pastoral and into a disturbing world of social difference and injustice through such lyrics as The Little Black Boy, The Chimney Sweeper'(l). Yet even these songs eave a pastoral element. Tom Decree, in The Chimney Sweeper, is identified with the lamb of pastoral and of innocence through his hair, That curled like a lambs back. The black boys mother describes his body as a shady grove that enables the soul to bear the beams of love, identifying the time on earth as a little space, akin to a pastoral retreat, rather than a time of preparation labor. The pastoral narratives in both poems seek to free the boys from the stigma of their blackness, but ironically that freedom, in the form of a pastoral paradise, is attainable only after death. In The Chimney Sweeper'(l), an angel opened the coffins and set them all free. /Then down a green plain leaping, laughing they run,/And wash in a river and shine in the sun. In The Little Black Boy, Gods voice will call: Come out from the grove my love and care,] And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice. Only in death will the white boy be taught to reject his ignorant racist views: And then Ill stand and stroke his silver hair/And be like him, and he will then love me. So, Blake uses the pastoral to attack social evils and injustice, but also exposes the limits and inadequacies of the pastoral ideal. He transcends the pastoral to show the limits of pastoral innocence; to criticism the human condition; and to show a new vision. He does this by rejecting the nostalgia of the ideal to show the real condition by opposing the pastoral ideal with urban reality. .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e , .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e .postImageUrl , .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e , .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e:hover , .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e:visited , .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e:active { border:0!important; } .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e:active , .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ueae190dabe2e85a57376963f10aaf73e:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Blakes Songs Of Innocence And Experience EssayThe dual presence of town and country, idealization and realism, celebration and regret provides the tension that is fundamental to the pastoral space. The pastorals critical function is based upon the writers handling of internal tensions between oppositions. Flakes objective in Songs of Innocence and Experience is to show the wow contrary states of the human soul. He shows that we create our worlds by meaner of our perception of it. (Milton: A mind is its own place, and in itself/Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven Paradise Lost). Our world is Innocent loving, meek and mild, delightful, protected, gentle if we perceive its creator as loving, caring and protective. But there are limits to this vision; we are vulnerable because we are ignorant of the dangers and threats that exist. The world of Experience is one that is dark, authoritative, oppressive, uncaring and repressive of enjoyment. We see ourselves imprisoned in this despair if we perceive its creator as oppressive, cruel, punitive and Judgmental and if we perceive ourselves as imprisoned in Original Sin. The two worlds opposed are those of childhood innocence and adult experience. He uses iconic pastoral images (piper and muse, shepherds, rural idyll, innocence of childhood, the Garden of Eden, gardens and greens, lambs, pathetic fallacy) and pastoral states (harmony, Joy, protection, care, love) and opposes these to urban images and states of adult authority and cruelty, state and church repression and authority, dishonest and destructive emotions. Blake sets up oppositions, in the frames of the poems (as artistic creations) between Innocence and Experience and within Innocence and Experience. Blake provides (in Songs of Innocence) pastoral images, but shows the limits of pastoral innocence. In Songs of Experience, he writes in anti-pastoral mode and uses pastoral images to show the destruction of innocence, as well as ways to regain innocence in a vision of a New World. Discussion of putting the complex into the simple: Approaches discussion of The Lamb and The Tiger, pages 91 101 Songs of Innocence and Experience can be regarded as anti-pastoral: Blake exposes he limitations of a comfortable image of pastoral innocence by 1) redefining the relationship between city and country (Russ in rube the country in the city); 2) he uses the pastoral as a frame to expose social injustice and human suffering; 3) he uses pastoral images to show true innocence, then subverts these, both in Innocence and Experience, to expose the dark world of adult authority and repression. Blake use pastoral, not to show the contrast between rural and urban, but to expose the injustices of the human condition. Blake was a poet of the city, of London, and his pastoral setting is in the greens, parks and gardens of London.

Mobile Security

Mobile Security Introduction In the modern world, mobile devices are an important part of people’s lives. They include laptops, Personal Digit Assistants (PDAs), and smart phones. They offer a communication opportunity both in personal life and in business transactions (Furnell, 2009). In the recent past, there has been a notable growth in sales of smart phones due to their multiple functions.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Mobile Security specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More For example, there was 40% sale of smart phones in United Kingdom in 2012. Most people now prefer smart phones compared to traditional models of mobile phones. In addition, most people encourage their employees to use smart phones for easiness of communication (Braunberg, 2013). The use of these mobile devices is very important in the society today due to shifting from analogue communication systems to digital communication systems. Nowadays, most people will prefer using a smart phone rather than use a very heavy computer. This is because the smartphone is portable and can even fit in a handbag or pocket. Use of PDAs and mobile phones in the places of work is largely contributing to easing of communication. These devices operate nearly the same as desktops besides providing personal information to the owner. They contain features such as phonebook, notepad, and calendar. In addition to these features, mobile devices receive voice calls and text messages (Jansen Scarfone, 2008). Due to increase in their demand, there has been rise in hacking and theft. Therefore, it is important to take security measures to protect them. Organizations store most of their information in these devices. Lack of security can cause such organizations to loose very important data and information thus compromising their productivity. Among the security concerns that loss of devices can lead to include: data leakage via these devices, virus infectio n hence distorting the information and even unauthorized traffic interception. These concerns call for enhanced security measures of mobile devices (The Government of the Hong Kong, 2011).Advertising Looking for research paper on computer science? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Security of mobile devices The ubiquitous nature of the wireless devices makes it more vulnerable to security attacks compared to the wired ones. Reports on unauthorized traffic interception as a form of security makes unauthorized people access an organization’s email and other private data sent over the hacked network. Consequently, security is a significant aspect in the wireless systems than in wired communication systems (Venkataram Babu, 2010). According to Braunberg, 2013 organizations need to take care of the different applications and software used by the mobile devices. In this case, they should ensure that the devices use o nly the allowable applications. This would reduce cases of malware attack and viruses. Security of mobile devices encompasses security of all information and data saved and stored in the tablets, smart phones, laptops, and PDAs. These measures protect the confidential data against abuse. In addition, such security measures ensure that only the authorized persons can access the information. When unauthorized persons access some information, there may be cases of identity theft, financial theft and breakdown in communication (Paulus, Pohlmann Reimer, 2005) Mobile phones and PDAs need a secure infrastructure for suitable management. Security measures should follow proper identifications of the organization’s information systems, guidelines, standards, procedures, and development. This will enhance integrity, availability of information system resources and even confidentiality. In addition, this will ensure the development of a well-organized and wholesome security system for t he mobile devices of such organization. (Jansen Scarfone, 2008) The first generation of analogical mobile phones had an electronic serial number that could confirm the terminal to allow access to the service. On the other hand, the recent mobile devices use GSM. Each subscriber receives a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) required before using the service. SIM has the user’s identity and authentication key, which is only active during the subscription time.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Mobile Security specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Moreover, SIM is an independent terminal, which is removable. SIM is one of the major forms of mobile security. The SIM ensures security in that the user requires a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to open up the SIM. This form of security is effective when the user does not share the PIN with anybody (Pagani, 2005). Another way to secure the mobile devices is ens uring proper configuration of its devices. The devices should have the right services and applications to avoid frequent upgrade, patches, and any other safeguards. These upgrades and patches can introduce virus and malwares hence infecting the device. The devices should receive configurations according to the companies’ requirement. Moreover, in case of introduction of new security checklists and protocols, the administrators should manage their installation effectively (Jansen Scarfone, 2008) Many network administrators concentrate on avoiding eavesdropping and authentication. They know that security of any network is very significant to organizations. Everybody loves privacy and would work to ensure security of his devices to avoid occurrence of hacking leading to unauthorized access to the emails, use of one’s credit card to make purchases and even sending inappropriate emails to other people on his/her name. Contrary to the wireless devices, the wired devices get their security from system administrators who are the only people allowed to access authentication of the device. On the other hand, the wireless devices depend on encryption to prevent eavesdropping. This form of security measure uses a static key in most occurrences; this can include a key got from the static key, negotiated key, a shared static key and sometimes a dynamically- generated key. They use this type of security measure because anybody can access the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) of the wireless device (Weiss, 2002) Due to their high demand, most wireless devices are prone to theft. Therefore, it is worth noting when storing data that the device can get lost or stolen. With this in mind, there is another approach, which can ensure security of the stored data. This is use of password. This approach generates a unique combination of character to every mobile device.Advertising Looking for research paper on computer science? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More However, the system administrator should observe the clear password management policy. In this case, only the person with the password should access the data. In addition, the system administrator can destroy the stored data remotely in case there is loss or theft of the device (The Government of the Hong Kong, 2011) Recommendations In the modern world, increased mobile security measures should come first because there is an increase in the use of mobile wireless devices. The current measures are costly, non-universal, and ineffective. The device users should be very keen on the cost of protecting their confidential information. Most of them need a device that will not cost any further above the purchase price. The system administrators, on the other hand are keen on the cost of the security measures. They also want an approach that is cheap but effective in protecting their users from traffic interception. The measures must be effective in providing protection and authentication (W eiss, 2002). Use of biometrics is another technological mobile security measure that is very effective. This rapid evolving technology improves the security of numerous mobile applications. Its architectural design consists of enrollment and authentication roles. The authentication role ensures that the biometric data rightly compares with the stored template. This will prevent an unauthorized person from accessing the data because the biometric data and the stored template have to match. The enrollment role on the other hand, enables creation of a template by the user and then acquires biometric information. This will make sure that only the administrator can access the information stored in the mobile device (Apampa, Wills Argles, 2010). Another important security measure that is effective is setting an idle timeout. This approach ensures that the device goes off if it is idle for a specific time. In order to open the device, the owner should feed the system with the PIN number a nd the configured password. In addition, it will help unauthorized person not to access any information in the device. The idle timeout has an auto lock feature that controls access to the device. This system locks the device automatically unless opened using the correct code. It is important to note that the code is usually unique and it does not depict commonly used characters. The user should avoid writing or storing the PIN number and password in a place accessible by an unauthorized person. It is also crucial for the mobile devices users to have a data backup. Organization’s data and information should not just be in one copy. However, it is important for the data stored in the devices to be in another secure device. This is a guarantee that no matter what happens there is data available. This is especially important for organizations, which may require the information. In addition, the organizations ought to acquire the software that automatically deletes any informatio n put if the password input is wrong for several times. This will ensure the device does away with the data before the unauthorized person can access it. Conclusion Mobile devices are very important gadgets of communication in the modern world. They include mobile phones, tablets, Personal Digit Assistants (PDAs), and laptops. These devices are portable, hence used in different places and by different people. The main use of mobile devices is not only receiving voice calls and texts messages but also stores personal information for the owner like notepad, phone book, and calendar. Currently, many organizations store important data in the mobile devices. However, with increased demand there is increased theft and hacking of the devices. The ubiquitous nature of the wireless devices makes it more vulnerable to security attacks compared to the wired ones. The security of mobile devices covers all data and information stored or saved in the smart phones, tablets, PDAs, and laptops. Secu rity is very important because lack of it leads to loss of confidential information. Various approaches can ensure security of mobile devices. These include configuration of a password, setting an idle timeout and data backup. In addition, use of SIM, PIN numbers and backing up data ensure security of mobile devices as well as data stored in them. These approaches deter unauthorized access to confidential data and information stored in the devices. Reference List Apampa, K. M., Wills, G., Argles, D. (2010). User Security Issues in Summative E-Assessment Security. International Journal of Digital Society, 1, (2), 135-147. Braunberg, A. (2013). Mobile Security Buyer’s Guide. Web. Dwivedi, H., Clark, C. Thiel, D. (2010). Mobile Application Security, New York: The McGraw-Hill. Furnell, S. (2009). Mobile Security, Cambridgeshire: IT Governance Ltd. Jansen, W., Scarfone, K. (2008). Guidelines on Cell Phone and PDA Security. Pagani, M. (2005). Mobile and Wireless Systems beyond 3 G: Managing New Business Opportunities, Pennsylvania: Idea Group Inc (IGI). Paulus, S., Pohlmann, N., Reimer, H. (2005). Isse 2005 -Securing Electronic Business Processes: Highlights of the Information Security Solutions Europe 2005 Conference, New York: Springer. The Government of the Hong Kong, (2011). Mobile Technologies Security. Web. Venkataram, P., Babu, S. (2010). Wireless Mobile N/W Security, New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Weiss, J. (2002). Wireless Networks: Security Problems and Solutions. Web.

Safety Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Safety Management - Essay Example Establishment of an effective safety action plan requires resources and time, and therefore, support of the senior management. When developing a new action plan, an organization can have a committee comprising of employees, board members and managers to facilitate acceptance, resistance to change reduction and increase chances of safety action plan success. Management support on a safety action plan remains essential in ensuring safety recognition, adequate performance results and necessary support or training provision to employee so as to improved safety, therefore, resulting in a safe working environment (Binkley 157). Whether the action plans entails introduction of a new action plan or modification of old process, it is essential for the safety manager to communicate the steps and the purpose of the safety action plan process before implementation. It is also essential that a safety manger reviews the performance management system of the organization and make necessary adjustmen ts. As mentioned earlier, safety management is a continuous process of planning, monitoring and review of processes; a safety action plan should be based on this continuity by first planning, where expectations are first identified, clarified and agreed upon. The planning process should also include identification on how results of the plan will be measured, agreement on the process of monitoring and action plan documentation (Ruding 15).

The Nude in Post World War II Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Nude in Post World War II Art - Essay Example But these movements were construed as being of European origin, and were considered essentially foreign to the United States. In the 1930s some American artists staged a strong rebellion against European influences in American art. Grant Wood's American Gothic was typical of a movement called regionalism, whose agenda was to celebrate what was typically American, and to do it in a style that avoided any references to European modernism. But for other American artists the regionalists' embrace of nationalism could only hinder the arts. Kenneth Clark, in his book, the Nude: A study in Ideal Form, studies the classic nude in Greek art. We observe that several of the factors that inspired interest in nudes then, are true today too. Thus, "the nude gains its enduring value from the fact that it reconciled several contrary states. It takes the most sensual and immediately interesting object, the human body, and puts it out of reach of time and desire; it takes the most purely rational concept of which mankind is capable, mathematical order, and makes it a delight to the senses; and it takes the vague fears of the unknown and sweetens them by showing that the gods are like men and may be worshiped for their life-giving beauty rather than their death-dealing power." The idea of "recThe idea of "reconciling contrary states" is, in fact, one of the most significant benefits of creating and viewing the nude. Our everyday life is littered with opposites with which we must somehow work and make sense. Realizing reconciliation in our corporal existence helps us to understand how this is accomplished. The body is both an object, inanimate and art-like, and a subject--a person, a personality. It is universal and yet individual and unique. It is an art form based on geometry, line and angle, light, shadow, meter-reading and lens distance as much as on spontaneous inspiration. The nude in nature reminds us that we are a part of the environment, while making it clear that really we are not. The industrial nude reminds us that we are man-made, yet we are separate from our creations. We see the beauty in the awkwardness of our bodies. We feel peace, although we remain ill at ease. We watch opposites work to create union--harmony despite conflict. All art is sensuous in that it heightens and delights the senses both in the making and the viewing. It is the transformation of the emotional into the physical, the spiritual into the corporal. It is the language of the unspeakable. It gives form to the intangible. It is the very act of extracting what is sacred within us and giving it shape in an experience which is sensual and, in its purest form, arousing. As previously noted, this arousal is efficiently sublimated in most art forms. We can safely enjoy the arousal of the art piece without defining the emotion. We are not suspicious or threatened by our feeling because we know that it is not in regards to the art object (ie: the piece of pottery or abstract sculpture). We are simply aroused by the art itself. The excitement of art is naturally true of figure art as well, but we suddenly become alarmed, because we fear we might be aroused by the subject matter. In truth, we are most likely responding to both the subject and the ar t

Ethnic group Essay Example for Free

Ethnic group Essay Prejudice is an opinion or judgement without due examination toward one side of a question from other considerations than those belonging to. Or we can say that prejudice is a bias on the part of judge, juror or witness which interferes with fairness of judgement. Prejudice involves negative feelings when they are in the presence of or even think about members of the group. Prejudice often involves stereotypes, suggesting that all members of a group behave in certain ways and have certain characteristics. Therefore, prejudice has both cognitive and affective components. Affective component is the positive or negative attitude/ feeling. Beside the cognitive component contains stereotypes. Prejudice will be dealt as a single set of dynamics that function to dehumanize people who are identifiably different in some way from the people whose perceptions are limited by the dysfunction we called prejudice. This approach is taken for two reasons. First, it is easily defensible through the uderstanding of the dynamics of prejudices and second the continued separation and classification of prejudices according to the superficial categories of those who are prejudiced is a disservice to those who are the targets of discrimination and a distortion of reality. Much of prejudice stems from our pre-judging other people’s habits, customs, ways of speaking and value. We often do this with no basic for the judgement other that the fact that they (the customs, values, ways of speaking, etc) are different form our own. When we are confines to a single culture, it’s incredibly difficult to see that one’s way is not the only way, that one’s truth is not the only possible way in which things are done. To travel around the world and seeing the variousity of culture may become the nicest thing to do for reducing prejudice. There is no better way to be convinced of this than to go to another country where millions people are doing something different from you. Another way to reduce prejudice is to make a friend with many background culture. From that, we can learn that we are all different and we have to accept that differences. By accepting and learning that differences, the number of prejudicing people will be decrease. Prejudice reduction refers to a collectionof techniques designed to break down these destructive stereotypes. Most often prejudice reduction programs take place on a small scale for example in workshops which bring together people from different groups to help them develop a better mutual understanding. At times, efforts are made to reduce prejudice among the general population. This can be done with wide spread media efforts and public education programs often implemented during the grade school years. In both small scale and large scale efforts, a first step which is critical to the success of these programs is an ability to overcome the many communications problems cited elsewhere in this training program. This is because a great deal of prejudice arises from simple misunderstandings and the tendency to make worse case assumptions in the absence of reliable information. At the workshop level, facilitators can help people explore their stereotypes, and learn to communicate with each other in a more open, trusting, and receptive way. At the community or societal level, misunderstandings can be addressed through carefully crafted public media campaigns and/or education programs designed to counter common stereotypes and present all groups in their best possible light. Still, correcting poor communication may is not usually enough to overcome prejudice. Better communication may simply prove that the parties do, in fact, hold each other in mutual contempt, or that they are, indeed, trying to undermine each others interests. Often such hostility is the result of escalation processes which transform relatively minor provocations into intense confrontations. For this reason strategies for limiting escalation are also an essential component of effective prejudice reduction. This also can be attempted in workshop settings or at the larger, community level. On the other hand, we will talk about stereotypes. Stereotypes are generalizations or assumptions that people make about the characteristics of all members of a grup based on image that often wrong about what people in that group are like. Most stereotypes probably tend to convey a negative impression. By stereotyping we infer that a person has a whole range characteristics and abilities that we assume all members of that group have. Researches have found that stereotypes exist of different races, cultures or ethnic groups. Although the terms race, culture and ethnic groups have different meanings, we shall take them to mean roughly the same thing at the moment. Not surprisingly, racial stereotypes always seem to favor the race of the holder and belittle other races. It is probably true saying that every ethnic group has racial stereotypes of other groups which can be seen to benefit each group because it helps in the long run to identify with one’s own ethnic group and so find protection and promote safety and success of the group. A brief description of stereotyping includes: grouping people together based on their race, ethnicity, religion, languange, customs, appearance, gender or culture; denying people rights because of the group belong to; believing that one’s own group is superior beside other groups are inferior. And the ways to reduce stereotyping includes: promoting first hand knowledge through personal experiences; putting one self in another’s shoes and considering multiple perspectives; working toward a meaningful goal with others when all share equal status. It will naturally be difficult to change stereotypes and prejudice, because such change will need to overcome all of the cognitive processes such as biased information search, interpretation and memory behavioral confirmation, as well as social processes, such as pressures to conform to the beliefs of others, all of which work to maintain stereotypes intact. Nevertheless, social psychologists have developed numoerous theories about when and why stereotypes will or won’t change and some interventions have been effective at changing stereotypes. In general, there are three types of change in beliefs that can help reduce negative intergroup encounters. Perhaps the most obvious change involves creating more positve perceptions of the group as a whole. When we reduce an individual’s level of prejudice or change his or her stereotypes to be more positive. But change does not always have to involve becoming more positive about the group. If we change the perceptions of the variability of a group such that the individual no longer believes that all of the group members are the same, we have also reduce stereotyping, even if the beliefs have not become more positve overall. Finally, we will have been succesful if we have been able to reduce the tendency for an individual to use social categories when judging others, with the result that they are more likely individuate others instead.

The Work of F. Scott Fitzgerald :: Fitzgerald Author Essays

Francis Scott Fitzgerald once said "Mostly we authors must repeat ourselves?that's the truth. We have two or three experiences in our lives? experiences so great and moving that it doesn't seem at the time that anyone else has been so caught up" (de Koster n. pag.). Fitzgerald's works contain many themes that are based from experiences in his life. Many of these experiences he talks about were with the women in his life. People like his mother, Ginerva King, and Zelda Sayre all had major impacts on Fitzgerald. The women in F. Scott Fitzgerald's life influenced his writing in a number of ways. The first major woman to make and impression on Fitzgerald's life was his mother. Mary (Mollie) McQuillan was of Irish decent. Her parents were Irish immigrants who became rich as grocery owners in St. Paul (Bruccoli 1). Mollie inherited a fair amount of money from her family, but the family had difficulty maintaining the high standard of living they were accustomed to (Bloom 11). When they fell into financial trouble it was her father they turned to. The fact that Fitzgerald's mother, rather than his father, was the financial foundation for their family influenced Fitzgerald greatly. Even as a young boy he was aware of this situation. The theme that arose from this about a wife's inherited money appears frequently in Fitzgerald's writing (Magill 679). When the Fitzgeralds fell into financial trouble, the family had to depend on Mollie's family's money. When times like that came Mollie "abandoned the attempt to Tarleton 2 keep up her personal appearance (neglecting both grooming and fashion), which embarrassed her fastidious son. Scott later recorded a dream in which he admitted being ashamed of her" (de Koster 15). Furthermore, Fitzgerald's attitude toward his mother influenced him as a person. Because two of Mollie's children had died before Fitzgerald, she was very protective of him. She often worried about his health and babied him. But "her attempts to spoil him stren gthened his distaste for her" (de Koster 15). She wanted her only son to have "social ambition" ("Brief Biography 1). Fitzgerald's negative description of her in "An Author's Mother" where he describes her as "a halting old lady" in a "preposterously high-crowned hat" reveals his feelings (de Koster 15). Fitzgerald was affected by all these emotions towards his mother in his personality and his work. Another influence on Fitzgerald was his first love, Ginerva King.

Critical Approaches Paper: The Wife of Bath Essay

Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) was an English author, poet, philosopher, courtier as well as a diplomat. Sometimes referred to as the father of English literature, the man is most famous for The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer’s major works also include the translation of Roman de la Rose; The Book of the Duchess; The House of Fame; Anelida and Arcite; The Parliament of Fowls; the translation of Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy as Boece; Troilus and Criseyde; The Legend of Good Women; and the Treatise on the Astrolabe (Geoffrey Chaucer, 2007). Being a well-rounded intellectual, Chaucer was aware of the gender stereotypes permeating his medieval society. As a matter of fact, men of the Middle Ages deeming marriage â€Å"a full great sacrament† took most seriously the woman’s promise â€Å"to honor and obey. † The slightest breach of this vow of obedience was hailed as a crying offense to both God and man. The principal vice of the medieval times was pride. Disobedience was but an offshoot of this self same vice. And so, obedience was due not only unto God and one’s parents, but, as the old phrase went, â€Å"to husbands and other benefactors and sovereigns. † Women were known to be subjected to men, and there was not as much thought poured over women’s equal right to manage affairs. Thus, we find in medieval literature instances such as the ones briefly touched on by Frederick Tupper (1968) in Types of Society in Medieval Literature: An old Parisian benedict of the fourteenth century, playing mentor to his young bride offsets Petrarch’s story of the obedient Griselda with the example of a wife rightly burned for the disobedience into which she was led by her pride – quite as CRITICAL APPROACHES PAPER: THE WIFE OF BATH Page # 2 grievous an offense this, so he tells us many times, as the fault of Eve or of Lucifer. It was during this period that Chaucer chose to represent his woman in literature – the Wife of Bath – as an extraordinary lady who believed in subjecting her men to her desires. The lady is open to express her views about a different role that women can play despite the essential gender stereotypes of medieval society. The Wife of Bath has control of her husbands’ property, presumably acquired through successive marriage settlements. She therefore has no need to make efforts to please her mates, if such efforts would have given her greater authority over her men in terms of wealth or pleasure. According to her Prologue, her first three husbands had â€Å"bad luck in bed,† for which they are chided by her. The woman would demand payment in bed, in return for which she would make payment (sexually) of the marriage debt she owed them (Nelson, 2002). Knowing that all medieval women do not behave like her when it comes to controlling their husbands’ property or getting money out of them, the Wife of Bath is asking young girls to back out of marriage altogether. Why please a man when it is more fruitful over all to please and serve God? – is her final argument on the question of marriage. The Wife of Bath says that three of her husbands were good, and two were bad. The first three were rich, old, and submissive, although she tormented them with accusations that were total lies – she confesses to the rest of the pilgrims. She accused her husband of having an affair, for example, and then launched into a tirade in which she charged him with a bewildering array of accusations. If one of her husbands got drunk, the Wife of Bath claimed that every wife was out to destroy her husband in particular. She also made her husband feel guilty this way, and so CRITICAL APPROACHES PAPER: THE WIFE OF BATH Page # 3 he gave her what she wanted. The Wife of Bath admits that she deliberately caused her husbands grief. She teased them in bed by refusing to give them full satisfaction until they had promised her money. She says that she made them work at night, in fact, to pay her marriage â€Å"dette. † What is more, the woman admits proudly that she used her verbal and sexual power to bring her husbands to total submission. In point of fact, the Wife of Bath uses the same tactic, i. e. , verbal power to bring the young knight to total submission in her Tale. She confesses in her Prologue that she failed to follow the marriage rule of â€Å"biheste is dette. † But when the young knight in her Tale is sentenced to death by King Arthur’s court for raping a defenseless young woman, his only chance to escape the penalty of execution is to find the answer to the question, ‘What do women want most? ’ The young man’s search for the answer is fruitless until he meets an old woman who promises to give him the answer if he would promise her, in return, to grant the request she makes of him. The rapist promises to keep his word, and after he has supplied Arthur’s queen with the answer that can save his life, the old woman asks him to marry her. In this case, as in the personal story of the Wife of Bath, the woman is subjecting the man unto herself by asking him to make a promise for something in return (Nelson). The Wife of Bath is knowledgeable enough to admit that more than a few Fathers of the Church, including the Apostle Paul, had proclaimed the importance of virginity. But if virginity was so critical, there would be someone still to produce virgins! Thus, she would leave virginity to the perfect, and allow herself instead to use her gifts as best as she could. Besides her use of intellect in marital affairs, undoubtedly the gift that she refers to is sexual power. She uses this power not only to enjoy her life to the full, but as an instrument to manipulate her men as well. CRITICAL APPROACHES PAPER: THE WIFE OF BATH Page # 4 Patricia Clare Ingham (2002) calls the Wife of Bath one of the most ingenious readers in the history of literature, and sees the aggressive â€Å"re-reading of scripture† on the part of the Wife of Bath as a means of displaying and resisting the medieval anti-feminist tradition or misogyny. The Wife of Bath frequently misquotes the scriptures. Scholars believe that these â€Å"misreadings† of texts were a mark of political and cultural acuity on the part of the Wife of Bath, as these bad readings give us a clearer picture of the culture of the time and the medieval gender relations (Schibanoff, 1986). The Wife of Bath’s re-readings of scripture have additionally been referred to as a â€Å"utopian group fantasy,† whereby the women would direct themselves against the anti-feminist tradition of the time, which was actually a social institution that was neither necessary nor the only face of truth of the Middle Ages. This idea of â€Å"group† or sorority was, in fact, explored by Brian W. Gastle, who wrote that although it is difficult to prove that women had gathered forces to beat the odds, there may have been a sorority of this kind that functioned outside the boundaries set by the established guilds to which working women also belonged. The Wife of Bath, as we know, is into the cloth making business (Ingham). The lady blasts clerkly writers for their biased perspectives, and in so doing, activates the literary tradition for an entirely new set of social uses, such as understanding the importance of women. Her assessment of the politics of writing is interlinked with her representation of the politics of reading. She desires the production of an entirely different kind of literature, the kind that the feminist classroom would read. Her Tale is included in this category, of course, and it is revolutionary. Still, critics worry that the Wife of Bath may be strangely affirming masculine desire through her Tale. As Lynne Dickson (1993) puts it, the Tale may really â€Å"reward the CRITICAL APPROACHES PAPER: THE WIFE OF BATH Page # 5 concession of masculine ‘maistrie’ with the very thing patriarchy wants to begin with. † The Tale is, after all, about a rapist knight who can turn magically into a dutiful husband; and about an aged lady who becomes a sweet young thing yet again; apart from an old middle-class woman, â€Å"comen of so lough a kynde,† who gains status and rule from her aristocrat husband. Most scholars have interpreted the Wife of Bath’s interest in sovereignty of wife over husband as an expression of her dissatisfaction over the rule of her nation. Sovereignty extends beyond the confines of the bourgeois household in this case, given that the Irish were concerned about sovereignty over a nation at the same time as Chaucer and his contemporaries were writing about sovereignty over a husband (Eisner, 1957). Indeed, there do appear to be political questions posed in the Wife of Bath’s Tale, especially when the recalcitrant knight objects to his marriage to the old lady, saying, â€Å"Alas, that any of my nacion/ sholde evere so foule disparaged be! † The old lady wonders aloud if the knight’s rejection comes through his subjection to the laws of the court: â€Å"Is this the lawe of Arthures hous? † she asks; â€Å"Is every knight of his so dangerous? † Only a lady of charisma, of great political insight coupled with leadership qualities, could have addressed intricacies of the political life of the nation at the time of the Wife of Bath when gender stereotypes were comprehensively controlled by the authorities, including the Church. The woman seems to know how to tackle legal terminology to boot (Ingham). She truly is remarkable for the Middle Ages, and deserves a continual round of applause from everyone today. CRITICAL APPROACHES PAPER: THE WIFE OF BATH Page # 6 References 1. Dickson, Lynne. (1993). â€Å"Deflection in the Mirror: Feminine Discourse in the Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale. † SAC, 15, 1993, p. 61-90. 2. Eisner, Sigmund. (1957). A Tale of Wonder: A Source Study of the Wife of Bath’s Tale New York: Burt Franklin. 3. Geoffrey Chaucer. (2007). Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Geoffrey_Chaucer. (24 February 2007). 4. Ingham, Patricia Clare. (2002). Pastoral Histories: Utopia, Conquest, and the Wife of Bath’s Tale. Texas Studies in Literature and Language, Vol. 44, Issue 1. 5. Nelson, Marie. (2002). Biheste Is Dette: Marriage Promises in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Papers on Language & Literature, Vol. 38, Issue 2, 2002, p. 167. 6. Schibanoff, Susan. (1986). â€Å"Taking the Gold out of Egypt: The Art of Reading as a Woman† In Gender and Reading: Essays on Readers, Texts and Contexts (Ed. Elizabeth Flynn and Patrocinio P. Schweickart). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. CRITICAL APPROACHES PAPER: THE WIFE OF BATH Page # 7 7. Tupper, Frederick. (1968). Types of Society in Medieval Literature New York: Biblo and Tannen.