Gay Marriage Rights

After the legalizations in Massachusetts and, most recently, California, gay marriage has been a growing trend in the United States. In the 8 months since the legalization, more and more gay couples have been rushing to California to tie the knot. However, California and Massachusetts are not the first to make an effort to strengthen the bonds of homosexual couples some European countries including Denmark, Holland, some Scandinavian countries, and others have legalized same-sex marriage and have found the results positive. Gay marriage has been a contradictory issue since gay men and women began requesting marriage licenses.However, gays are denied their rights to marriage licenses, which is denying then their rights as American citizens. Gays should be treated equally to heterosexuals and granted their rights to marry the person they love, whether they are the same or opposite gender. Although the idea of a same-sex wedding hasn’t been legal long enough for statistics to be developed on children of same-sex marriages’ developmental upbringing, or that they are harmed by their environment, many people seem to think that they will be less healthy or normal if the couple that raises them are homosexual.People believe that the children will grow up to be gay, or different from any normally raised child, if they don’t grow up in a â€Å"normal† family. The results of studies testing these ideas are quite contrary to the popular belief of heterosexual couples. In fact, the studies show that children raised by gay couples seem to be more adjusted than the â€Å"normally† raised ones. The argument that children raised in homosexual households will grow up to be gay is completely illegitimate.In a study of over 300 children of homosexual parents, there have been no indications that there are any disturbances in the development of the child’s sexual identity, or the lifestyle that the child will live later in life. In reality, most children raised by heterosexuals are not raised in normal households. With divorce also becoming popular we have families with three kids and only one parent. There is no doubt that homosexuals want to have children, and not only is the ban of gay marriage denying their rights to be married, but also denying them their rights to have a two-parent family with children.Some also say that marriage is between a man and a woman for procreation purposes, and that gays cannot naturally produce children. If this were the case then wouldn’t the state prohibit marriage between heterosexuals when one, or both, are sterile? If the purpose of marriage is, in fact, for procreation then who’s to say that post-menopausal women should have the right to marry? Children in foster care and orphanages are also a problem, so why not kill two birds with one stone and give gays their rights and orphans or unwanted children a home and a family that loves them?Another argument against gay marriage is that it is against religion. Whose religion? Some religions, such as Buddhism, actually celebrate gay marriage. The fact that gay marriages are illegal goes against not only the gays’ rights, but their rights also. And the fact that people are bringing the bible into their arguments also means that other religions religious rights are being infringed. The bible has no standing in American law, this was made clear by the first amendment of the United States constitution, and no one has any right or authority to set rules based on something they take as a moral injunction stated by the bible.The Christian and catholic religions cannot speak for all religions, and the United Stated government is allowing them to do just that. The main purpose of our government is to preserve the rights of the citizens, and at this, our government has failed. Homosexuals are not the only people being denied their rights, but also the members of certain religions that support same-sex marriages. Along with this, people also say that gay marriage would force churches that have an objection to perform gay marriage to perform same-sex weddings.There is no law stating that any church would be required to marry any couple, heterosexual or otherwise, that they do not wish to. Gay marriage would not change the churches right to refuse to sanctify any marriage that they do not wish to. It would only give churches the opportunity to legally wed gay couples if they would like to. None of the arguments above are valid. So now, let us examine the true reasons that people oppose the marriage of homosexual couples.Most people just are not comfortable with the idea. For years now, society has promoted the idea that two men or two women being married is wrong. This is mostly because of the arguments mentioned previously. However, none of those objections make sense! So neither does the idea that gay marriage is wrong. Being uncomfortable with a proposal is not a valid reason to oppose it. It is selfish to infringe other human beings’ rights for your

Anglo-Saxon Religious Poetry

Anglo-Saxon Religious Poetry The influence of Christianity came to England from Ireland with the arrival of St. Augustine’mission. The ancient vernacular poetry unredeemed in its worldliness and paganism was sanctified by the Christianization of England. In consequence there was a marked change in the content and emotion of English poetry while leaving it form and general technique unaltered. Instead of seeking themes common to old-Germanic the Christianized Anglo-Saxons adopted a new world of Latin Christianity along with themes and attitudes common to entire Christian world.This enabled the Anglo-Saxon poets to work on Biblical stories, associating them with Hebrew imagination. The special class of poetry which is called Christian poetry and this religious poetry flourished in about the 8th century in North England. Alliterative verse came to the aid of clerkly Latin to give expression of the faith of the Laity and make it popular. The subject of the poet’s song is no w the story of Christ and the deeds of saintly heroes. Caedmon The English poet who took the first attempt to write poems on Christian themes was Caedmon.What scholars know of Caedmon's life comes from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People. He is known best during the time fl. 658-680 AD. , and Bede tells us that he was an illiterate herdsman to a monastery of Whitby who one night in a dream learned how to sing beautiful Christian verses praising God's name. Following his dream, Caedmon became the foremost Christian poets. Earlier he had so little gift of song that he used to leave the feast when he found the harp approaching him he used to leave the feast.One night as he lay asleep in the stable a mysterious being appeared to him in his dreams and commanded him to sing. At his bidding Caedmon at once sang in praise of the Lord, the Creator, verses which he had never heard before. When he awoke he remembered these verses and made others like them. Thus the unlettered C aedmon was miraculously transformed into the first religious poet of England. Caedmon is remembered today for his poetic paraphrases of The Bible.He paraphrased in verse the book of Geneis, Exodus, Daniel and Judith. He is supposed to have sung about  creation of the world, the origin of man, his reign, of exodus, the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection of Christ, the ascension of Christ into heaven, the advent of the Holy Ghost and the teaching of the apostles. He also sang of future judgement, the horrors of hell and the joys of heaven. Research and scholarship however, no longer admit all the poems attributed to Caedmon by Bede to be directly his work excepting the nine-lined poem quoted by Bede in his account of Caedmon’s first inspiration. Genesis A and B The most interesting of the poems in the Junius Manuscript is Genesis.Genesis A of 3000 lines is an account of Satan’s rebellion against God and his fall with the angels into Hell, narrating the subs tance of the first 22 chapters of the Biblical book of Genesis. The poem contains an interpolated passage of 600 lines strikingly different in language and style from the main body of the poem. This has been named Genesis B, a rudimentary Paradise Lost, describing the temptation of Adam and Eve, their Fall and Satan’s rebellion Exodus It relates to the escape of the Israelites and the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea.It is boldly and vigorously written and has an older Epic note. It is written more in the convention of heroic poetry rather than scriptural lore. Exodus brings a traditional â€Å"heroic style† to its biblical subject-matter. Moses is treated as a general, and military imagery pervades the battle scenes. The destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea is narrated in much the same way as a formulaic battle scene from other Old English poems Daniel Daniel, as it is preserved, is 764 lines long. There have been numerous arguments that there was or iginally more to this poem than survives today.It is a paraphrase of the first five chapters of the Biblical book of Daniel. The poet uses his materials for homiletic purposes and tries to inculcate such Christian virtue. The primary focus of the Old English author was that of The Three Youths, Daniel and their encounters with the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II. Prosaic in tone, it also bears an interpolatory passage relating to the poem of Azariah. Judith The finest of the poem attributed to Caedmon is Judith of which a fragment of 350 lines, survive. It is a perfect poem full of action and passion.The Old English poem â€Å"Judith† describes the beheading of Assyrian general Holofernes by Israelite Judith of Bethulia. It is found in the same manuscript as the heroic poem Beowulf, the Nowell Codex, dated ca. 975-1025. The Old English poem is one of many retellings of the Holofernes-Judith tale as it was found in the Book of Judith, still present in the Catholic and Orthod ox Christian Bibles. What is certain about the origin of the poem is that it stems from the Book of Judith. After the Reformation, the Book of Judith was removed from the Protestant Bible.However, it is still present in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles. Similar to Beowulf, Judith conveys a moral tale of heroic triumph over monstrous beings. Both moral and political, the poem tells of a brave woman’s efforts to save and protect her people. Judith is depicted as an exemplar woman, grounded by ideal morale, probity, courage, and religious conviction. Judith's character is rendered blameless and virtuous, and her beauty is praised persistently throughout the poem.Cynaewulf Beside Caedmon, the other most important Old-English religious poet is Cynaewulf. Cynewulf lived roughly c.770-840 AD, yet very little is known about his life. The only information scholars have on Cynewulf's life is what they can discover from his poetry. Two of Cynewulf's signed poems were disco vered in the Vercelli Book, which includes Cynewulf's holy cross poem â€Å"Elene† as well as Dream of the Rood. Where many scholars will argue that all of the poems in the Vercelli are in fact Cynewulf's, the noted German scholar Franz Dietrich demonstrates that the similarities between Cynewulf's â€Å"Elene† and The Dream of the Rood reveals that the two must have been authored by the same individual.The four poems attributed to him trough his runic signatures are Christ. Juliana, Elene and The Fate of the Apostles. Unsigned poems attributed to him or his school are Andreas, St. Guthlac, The Phoenix, The Dream of the Rood. The four poems, like a substantial portion of Anglo-Saxon poetry, are sculpted in alliterative verse. All four poems draw upon Latin sources such as homilies and hagiographies (the lives of saints) for their content, and this is to be particularly contrasted to other Old English poems, e. g.Genesis, Exodus, and Daniel, which are drawn directly fro m the Bible as opposed to secondary accounts. Christ Of all his works the most important and popular poem is Christ, a fragmentary didactic poem in three parts – the first celebrating the Nativity, the second Ascension and the third Doomsday, narrating the torments of the wicked and the joys of the redeemed. Andreas and Guthlac These are poems related to lives of Saints. The first narrates the story of the adventures and sufferings and success of St. Andreas in his travels related to missionary work. Juliana and EleneThese are legendary stories of St. Juliana and the discovery of the True Cross by the mother of Emperor Constantine, St. Helena. They are poems with little artistic merit except for their adventurous element and the rareness in Anglo-Saxon poetry of being dedicated to women. In terms of length, Elene is by far the longest poem of Cynewulf’s corpus at 1,321 lines. It is followed by Juliana, at 731 lines, Christ II, at 427 lines, and The Fates of the Apostle s, at a brisk 122 lines. Three of the poems are â€Å"martyrolical,† in that the central character(s) in each die/suffer for their religious values.In Elene, Saint Helena endures her quest to find the Holy Cross and spread Christianity; in Juliana, the title character dies after she refuses to marry a pagan man, thus retaining her Christian integrity; in Fates of the Apostles, the speaker creates a song that meditates on the deaths of the apostles which they â€Å"joyously faced. † Elene and Juliana fit in the category of poems that depict the lives of saints. These two poems along with Andreas and Guthlac (parts A and B) constitute the only versified saints' legends in the Old English vernacular.The Ascension (Christ II) is outside the umbrella of the other three works, and is a vehement description of a devotional subject. The exact chronology of the poems is not known. One argument asserts that Elene is likely the last of the poems because the â€Å"autobiographica l† epilogue implies that Cynewulf is old at the time of composition, but this view has been doubted. Nevertheless, it seems that Christ II and Elene represent the cusp of Cynewulf’s career, while Juliana and Fates of the Apostles seem to be created by a less inspired, and perhaps less mature, poet.The Fates of the Apostles It deals with the various Christian Gospels in an Elegiac manner. It is the shortest of Cynewulf’s known canon at 122 lines long. It is a brief martyrology of the Twelve Apostles written in the standard alliterative verse. The Fates recites the key events that subsequently befell each apostle after the Ascension. It is possible that The Fates was composed as a learning aid to the monasteries. Cynewulf speaks in the first-person throughout the poem, and besides explaining the fate of each disciple, he provides â€Å"advice† and â€Å"consolation† to the reader.Cynewulf’s runic signature is scrambled in this poem so that the meaning of the runes become a riddle with no unequivocal meaning. Runic signature All four of Cynewulf's poems contain passages where the letters of the poet’s name are woven into the text using runic symbols that also double as meaningful ideas pertinent to the text. In Juliana and Elene, the interwoven name is spelled in the more recognizable form as Cynewulf, while in Fates and Christ II it is observed without the medial e so the runic acrostic says Cynwulf.The practice of claiming authorship over one’s poems was a break from the tradition of the anonymous poet, where no composition was viewed as being owned by its creator. Cynewulf devised a tradition where authorship would connote ownership of the piece and an originality that would be respected by future generations. Furthermore, by integrating his name, Cynewulf was attempting to retain the structure and form of his poetry that would â€Å"undergo mutations† otherwise. From a different perspective, Cynewu lf’s intent may not have been to claim authorship, but to â€Å"seek the prayers of others for the safety of his soul.†It is contended that Cynewulf wished to be remembered in the prayers of his audience in return for the pleasure they would derive from his poems. In a sense his expectation of a spiritual reward can be contrasted with the material reward that other poets of his time would have expected for their craft. The Phoenix The poem is about a mythical bird which burnt itself to be reborn from its own ashes, symbolic of Christian soul. The Dream of the Rood The poem is set up with the narrator having a dream. In this dream or vision he is speaking to the Cross on which Jesus was crucified.The poem itself is divided up into three separate sections. In section one, the narrator has a vision of the Cross. Initially when the dreamer sees the Cross, he notes how it is covered with gems. He is aware of how wretched he is compared to how glorious the tree is. However, he comes to see that amidst the beautiful stones it is stained with blood In section two, the Cross shares its account of Jesus’ death. The Crucifixion story is told from the perspective of the Cross. It begins with the enemy coming to cut the tree down and carrying it away.The tree learns that it is to be the bearer of a criminal, but instead the Christ comes to be crucified. The Lord and the Cross become one, and they stand together as victors, refusing to fall, taking on insurmountable pain for the sake of mankind. It is not just Christ, but the Cross as well that is pierced with nails. The Rood and Christ are one in the portrayal of the Passion—they are both pierced with nails, mocked and tortured. Then, just like with Christ, the Cross is resurrected, and adorned with gold and silver. It is honored above all trees just as Jesus is honored above all men.The Cross then charges the visionary to share all that he has seen with others. In section three, the author give s his reflections about this vision. The vision ends, and the man is left with his thoughts. He gives praise to God for what he has seen and is filled with hope for eternal life and his desire to once again be near the glorious Cross. It is the finest of religious poems in OE, the finest narrative of the Passion in medieval verse (late 7th century, later modified; preserved in the Vercelli Book). The tree of which the Cross was made relates the story the first English dream-poem Anglo-Saxon Religious Poetry The influence of Christianity came to England from Ireland with the arrival of St. Augustine’mission. The ancient vernacular poetry unredeemed in its worldliness and paganism was sanctified by the Christianization of England. In consequence there was a marked change in the content and emotion of English poetry while leaving it form and general technique unaltered.Instead of seeking themes common to old-Germanic the Christianized Anglo-Saxons adopted a new world of Latin Christianity along with themes and attitudes common to entire Christian world. This enabled the Anglo-Saxon poets to work on Biblical stories, associating them with Hebrew imagination. The special class of poetry which is called Christian poetry and this religious poetry flourished in about the 8th century in North England. Alliterative verse came to the aid of clerkly Latin to give expression of the faith of the Laity and make it popular. The subject of the poet’s song is now the story of Christ and the deeds of saintly heroes.CaedmonThe English poet who took the first attempt to write poems on Christian themes was Caedmon. What scholars know of Caedmon's life comes from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People. He is known best during the time fl. 658-680 AD., and Bede tells us that he was an illiterate herdsman to a monastery of Whitby who one night in a dream learned how to sing beautiful Christian verses praising God's name. Following his dream, Caedmon became the foremost Christian poets. Earlier he had so little gift of song that he used to leave the feast when he found the harp approaching him he used to leave the feast. One night as he lay asleep in the stable a mysterious being appeared to him in his dreams and commanded him to sing.At his bidding Caedmon at once sang in praise of the Lord, the Creator, verses which he had never heard before. When he awoke he remembered these verses and made others like them. Thus the unlettered Caedmon was miraculously transfo rmed into the first religious poet of England. Caedmon is remembered today for his poetic paraphrases of The Bible. He paraphrased in verse the book of Geneis, Exodus, Daniel and Judith. He is supposed to have sung about  creation of the world, the origin of man, his reign, of exodus, the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection of Christ, the ascension of Christ into heaven, the advent of the Holy Ghost and the teaching of the apostles.He also sang of future judgement, the horrors of hell and the joys of heaven. Research and scholarship however, no longer admit all the poems attributed to Caedmon by Bede to be directly his work excepting the nine-lined poem quoted by Bede in his account of Caedmon’s first inspiration.Genesis A and BThe most interesting of the poems in the Junius Manuscript is Genesis. Genesis A of 3000 lines is an account of Satan’s rebellion against God and his fall with the angels into Hell, narrating the substance of the first 22 chapters o f the Biblical book of Genesis. The poem contains an interpolated passage of 600 lines strikingly different in language and style from the main body of the poem. This has been named Genesis B, a rudimentary Paradise Lost, describing the temptation of Adam and Eve, their Fall and Satan’s rebellionExodusIt relates to the escape of the Israelites and the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea. It is boldly and vigorously written and has an older Epic note. It is written more in the convention of heroic poetry rather than scriptural lore. Exodus brings a traditional â€Å"heroic style† to its biblical subject-matter. Moses is treated as a general, and military imagery pervades the battle scenes. The destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea is narrated in much the same way as a formulaic battle scene from other Old English poemsDanielDaniel, as it is preserved, is 764 lines long. There have been numerous arguments that there was originally more to this poem than sur vives today.It is a paraphrase of the first five chapters of the Biblical book of Daniel. The poet uses his materials for homiletic purposes and tries to inculcate such Christian virtue. The primary focus of the Old English author was that of The Three Youths, Daniel and their encounters with the Babylonian king  Nebuchadnezzar II. Prosaic in tone, it also bears an interpolatory passage relating to the poem of Azariah.JudithThe finest of the poem attributed to Caedmon is Judith of which a fragment of 350 lines, survive. It is a perfect poem full of action and passion. The Old English poem â€Å"Judith† describes the beheading of Assyrian general Holofernes by Israelite Judith of Bethulia. It is found in the same manuscript as the heroic poem Beowulf, the Nowell Codex, dated ca. 975-1025. The Old English poem is one of many retellings of the Holofernes-Judith tale as it was found in the Book of Judith, still present in the Catholic and Orthodox Christian Bibles.What is certa in about the origin of the poem is that it stems from the Book of Judith. After the Reformation, the Book of Judith was removed from the Protestant Bible. However, it is still present in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles.Similar to Beowulf, Judith conveys a moral tale of heroic triumph over monstrous beings. Both moral and political, the poem tells of a brave woman’s efforts to save and protect her people. Judith is depicted as an exemplar woman, grounded by ideal morale, probity, courage, and religious conviction. Judith's character is rendered blameless and virtuous, and her beauty is praised persistently throughout the poem.CynaewulfBeside Caedmon, the other most important Old-English religious poet is Cynaewulf. Cynewulf lived roughly c. 770-840 AD, yet very little is known about his life.The only information scholars have on Cynewulf's life is what they can discover from his poetry. Two of Cynewulf's signed poems were discovered in the Vercelli Book, which i ncludes Cynewulf's holy cross poem â€Å"Elene† as well as Dream of the Rood.Where many scholars will argue that all of the poems in the Vercelli are in fact Cynewulf's, the noted German scholar Franz Dietrich demonstrates that the similarities between Cynewulf's â€Å"Elene† and The Dream of the Rood reveals that the two must have been authored by the same individual. The four poems attributed to him trough his runic signatures are Christ. Juliana, Elene and The Fate of the Apostles.Unsigned poems attributed to him or his school are Andreas, St. Guthlac, The Phoenix, The Dream of the Rood. The four poems, like a substantial portion of Anglo-Saxon poetry, are sculpted in alliterative verse. All four poems draw upon Latin sources such as homilies and hagiographies (the lives of saints) for their content, and this is to be particularly contrasted to other Old English poems, e.g. Genesis, Exodus, and Daniel, which are drawn directly from the Bible as opposed to secondary accounts.ChristOf all his works the most important and popular poem is Christ, a fragmentary didactic poem in three parts – the first celebrating the Nativity, the second Ascension and the third Doomsday, narrating the torments of the wicked and the joys of the redeemed.Andreas and GuthlacThese are poems related to lives of Saints. The first narrates the story of the adventures and sufferings and success of St. Andreas in his travels related to missionary work.Juliana and EleneThese are legendary stories of St. Juliana and the discovery of the True Cross by the mother of Emperor Constantine, St. Helena. They are poems with little artistic merit except for their adventurous element and the rareness in Anglo-Saxon poetry of being dedicated to women. In terms of length, Elene is by far the longest poem of Cynewulf’s corpus at 1,321 lines. It is followed by Juliana, at 731 lines, Christ II, at 427 lines, and The Fates of the Apostles, at a brisk 122 lines. Three of the poe ms are â€Å"martyrolical,† in that the central character(s) in each die/suffer for their religious values.In Elene, Saint Helena endures her quest to find the Holy Cross and spread Christianity; in Juliana, the title character dies after she refuses to marry a pagan man, thus retaining her Christian integrity; in Fates of the Apostles, the speaker creates a song that meditates on the deaths of the apostles which they â€Å"joyously faced.† Elene and Juliana fit in the category of poems that depict the lives of saints. These two poems along with Andreas  and Guthlac (parts A and B) constitute the only versified saints' legends in the Old English vernacular.The Ascension (Christ II) is outside the umbrella of the other three works, and is a vehement description of a devotional subject. The exact chronology of the poems is not known. One argument asserts that Elene is likely the last of the poems because the â€Å"autobiographical† epilogue implies that Cynewulf is old at the time of composition, but this view has been doubted. Nevertheless, it seems that Christ II and Elene represent the cusp of Cynewulf’s career, while Juliana and Fates of the Apostles seem to be created by a less inspired, and perhaps less mature, poet. The Fates of the ApostlesIt deals with the various Christian Gospels in an Elegiac manner. It is the shortest of Cynewulf’s known canon at 122 lines long. It is a brief martyrology of the Twelve Apostles written in the standard alliterative verse. The Fates recites the key events that subsequently befell each apostle after the Ascension. It is possible that The Fates was composed as a learning aid to the monasteries. Cynewulf speaks in the first-person throughout the poem, and besides explaining the fate of each disciple, he provides â€Å"advice† and â€Å"consolation† to the reader. Cynewulf’s runic signature is scrambled in this poem so that the meaning of the runes become a riddle w ith no unequivocal meaning.Runic signatureAll four of Cynewulf's poems contain passages where the letters of the poet’s name are woven into the text using runic symbols that also double as meaningful ideas pertinent to the text. In Juliana and Elene, the interwoven name is spelled in the more recognizable form as Cynewulf, while in Fates and Christ II it is observed without the medial e so the runic acrostic says Cynwulf. The practice of claiming authorship over one’s poems was a break from the tradition of the anonymous poet, where no composition was viewed as being owned by its creator. Cynewulf devised a tradition where authorship would connote ownership of the piece and an originality that would be respected by future generations.Furthermore, by integrating his name, Cynewulf was attempting to retain the structure and form of his poetry that would â€Å"undergo mutations† otherwise. From a different perspective, Cynewulf’s intent may not have been to claim authorship, but to â€Å"seek the  prayers of others for the safety of his soul.† It is contended that Cynewulf wished to be remembered in the prayers of his audience in return for the pleasure they would derive from his poems. In a sense his expectation of a spiritual reward can be contrasted with the material reward that other poets of his time would have expected for their craft.The PhoenixThe poem is about a mythical bird which burnt itself to be reborn from its own ashes, symbolic of Christian soul.The Dream of the RoodThe poem is set up with the narrator having a dream. In this dream or vision he is speaking to the Cross on which Jesus was crucified. The poem itself is divided up into three separate sections. In section one, the narrator has a vision of the Cross. Initially when the dreamer sees the Cross, he notes how it is covered with gems. He is aware of how wretched he is compared to how glorious the tree is. However, he comes to see that amidst the beautif ul stones it is stained with blood In section two, the Cross shares its account of Jesus’ death.The Crucifixion story is told from the perspective of the Cross. It begins with the enemy coming to cut the tree down and carrying it away. The tree learns that it is to be the bearer of a criminal, but instead the Christ comes to be crucified. The Lord and the Cross become one, and they stand together as victors, refusing to fall, taking on insurmountable pain for the sake of mankind. It is not just Christ, but the Cross as well that is pierced with nails. The Rood and Christ are one in the portrayal of the Passion—they are both pierced with nails, mocked and tortured. Then, just like with Christ, the Cross is resurrected, and adorned with gold and silver. It is honored above all trees just as Jesus is honored above all men.The Cross then charges the visionary to share all that he has seen with others. In section three, the author gives his reflections about this vision. Th e vision ends, and the man is left with his thoughts. He gives praise to God for what he has seen and is filled with hope for eternal life and his desire to once again be near the glorious Cross. It is the finest of religious poems in OE, the finest narrative of the Passion in medieval verse (late 7th century, later modified; preserved in the Vercelli Book). The tree of which the Cross was made relates the story the first English dream-poem  Christ is portrayed as a young Germanic hero:Long years ago (well yet I remember)   They hewed me down on the edge of the holt, Severed my trunk; strong foemen took me, For a spectacle wrought me, a gallows for rogues. High on their shoulders they bore me to hilltop, Fastened me firmly, an army of foes!   ‘Then I saw the King of all mankind In brave mood hastening to mount upon me. Refuse I dared not, nor bow nor break, Though I felt earth's confines shudder in fear; All foes I might fell, yet still I stood fast.   ‘T hen the young Warrior, God, the All-Wielder, Put off his raiment, steadfast and strong; With lordly mood in the sight of many He mounted the Cross to redeem mankind. When the hero clasped me I trembled in terror,   But I dared not bow me nor bend to earth; I must need stand fast. Upraised as the Rood I held the High King, the Lord of Heaven. I dared not bow! with black nails driven Those sinners pierced me; the prints are clear,   The open wounds. I dared injure none. They mocked us both. I was wet with blood From the Hero's side when He sent forth His spirit. ‘Many a bale I bore on that hill-side Seeing the Lord in agony outstretched.   Black darkness covered with clouds God's body, That radiant splendor. Shadow went forth Wan under heaven; all creation wept Bewailing the King's death. Christ was on the Cross.It appears from a survey of Old English Christian poetry that the poets chiefly aimed at popularizing the holy writ and only occasionally added pious commentaries to the original.

The Problem with Eating Animals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Problem with Eating Animals - Essay Example Considering food intake should be in harmony with the natural order, it is okay to eat animal meat because that balances the ecological system by creating food chains which maintain nature. Too many animals conflict with humans and therefore resulting in undesirable natural order. Animals try to find their daily diets by grazing around and they might end up destroying plantations like it has been witnessed before where animals such as elephants invade plantations in search of food. This is due to their large numbers that have led to small grazing grounds. As described in the bible, animals are created to be ruled and eaten by man.Having feelings for animals implies that we regard them as humans which should not be the case since naturally humans were created to depend on animal meat as a source of food. Writers argue that eating meat violates animal rights, the reason being they have the life. I doubt that animals have the same feeling as humans and therefore eating animal meat is pe rfectly okay since they do not have a structured life as humans do. Eating meat does not compromise the integrity and stability of the human environment. It is therefore not wrong to eat meat since the order is still maintained-it is ethical. Humans do eat meat out of necessity and not pleasure, therefore, this is morally acceptable. This is a self-preservation mechanism which is meant to preserve life. Just like shooting someone in self-defense is not the same as killing someone for the sadistic reason.

Critically evaluation of the role of insurance within a wider system Essay

Critically evaluation of the role of insurance within a wider system of risk financing and management - Essay Example They may audit firms to make sure that their risk management practices are adequate to guard against risk. This paper will examine risk management, in general, along with examining risk management in the case of banks, cyber firms, and farming. Risk Management Risks must be identified, and this is the first part of the risk management process, according to Carter et al. (1994). The identification process of risks may be approached by a combination of methods, including intuitive management; using department experts; using standard questionnaires and checklists; using expert computer-based systems; using structured interviews; through brainstorming sessions; or using outside specialists/consultants. The second process is risk quantification, and this means that the impact and probability of a each risk is estimated for each risk. After that, the estimate is quantified by using a spreadsheet which estimates timescales and costs. The next process is risk prioritising and filtering,which means that the important risks are recognized and controlled, and risks are prioritized according to whether they care a Category 1 risk (cost effect only); Category 2 risk (contingency plans and costs affected); or Category 3 risk (programme contingency and cost affected). The Category three risks are the higher priority, and the risks are prioritized from there. ... Mitigating strategies include avoiding the risk altogether by removing the cause of the risk; transferring the risk, which means that the risk is passed to somebody capable of handling that particular risk; reduction of the risk, which would consist of investing in insurance or some other up-front investment; management of the risk, which means that the risk is managed continuously until it is managed out; and contingency, in which funds are produced for the risks which are of low likelihood and impact, or have not been revealed. The next step after that is risk monitoring, reporting and control, which necessitates the use of a risk register, which is carried out by the risk manager. A risk audit is the step after his, which ensures that proper procedures are being followed to manage the risk. The final step is the project completion, which means that the risk manager assesses the project after completion, and assesses the adequacy of the risk management. Interplay Between Insurance and Risk Management According to MacMinn (1987), there is an interplay between insurance and risk management. Specifically, corporations purchase insurance as one way to control their risk (Arrow, 1964). While there is the theory that purchasing insurance is sometimes inefficient for a firm, because the cost of the insurance often exceeds the expected loss, so many firms who are risk averse would not want to purchase insurance because they are interested in maximizing profits, insurance still plays a large role in risk management (Godfrey et. al, 2009). This is because, according to Godfrey et al.(2009), the markets do not always behave rationally. When a corporation does not purchase insurance, that corporation is assuming that the

Imperial Crusades Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Imperial Crusades - Essay Example Instead, following the rise of nationalism in the  nineteenth  century, imperialism gives rise to a struggle between competing empires  (German Empire,  British Empire and Imperial Russia).  Today the term is used broadly to refer to any report  domination  established by a nation or a country or other countries. Imperial crusades refer to modern wars which took place between Muslim and Christian states. Prominent wars which are termed as imperial crusades are the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia (Cockburn and Clair, 2004). These three wars affected millions of people worldwide and their economic costs were huge. The paper compares and contrasts the causes and impacts of the imperialistic wars of Afghanistan and Iraq. Both wars are termed as imperialistic because they are perceived as a US design to gain control over global resources. The paper discusses similarities and differences between these two wars to gain meaningful insights. Discussion To compare and con trast the two wars termed as imperialistic wars of US – Afghanistan War and Iraq War, it is essential to evaluate the key facts of the two wars. Iraq War The  Iraq war began in  March  2003  with the invasion of Iraq. The war was termed by the coalition  led by the  United States as â€Å"Operation Iraqi Freedom  " against the Baath Party of  Saddam Hussein  and ended in December 2011 with the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops.  The invasion led to the rapid defeat of the Iraqi army, the capture and execution of Saddam Hussein and the establishment of a new government.  President  George W.  Bush  formally declared the completion of the fighting  on May  2003, under the banner  Ã¢â‚¬ËœMission Accomplished’ (Israeli, 2004).  However, violence against coalition forces rapidly led to an  asymmetrical war  involving several groups of insurgents, militia, members of Al Qaeda, the U.S. military forces and the new Iraqi government.   Iraq Body Count, which bases its analysis on data published in the media, estimates that 114,731 Iraqi civilians have died in the violence, mainly composed of attacks, and at least 250,000 Iraqi civilians were wounded (Murray and Scales, 2003). The war led to the exodus  of two million Iraqis fled abroad mainly to Syria Syria  and  Jordan  but also to Europe and United States.   War in Afghanistan The  Afghan War  to the military insurgency of the  United States  along with coalition forces and with the military contribution of the  Northern Alliance against  the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. This war was part of the "  war against terrorism† declared by the  Bush administration  following the  attacks of September 11, 2001  in  New York and Washington (Fiscus, 2004).  The purpose of the invasion according to the United States and its allies was to capture  Osama bin Laden, destroy the organization  Al Qaeda  which allegedly had bas es in the  country with the support of the  Taliban. The  initial attack  drove Taliban out of power, allowing the establishment

Transmission Electron Microscopy Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Transmission Electron Microscopy - Coursework Example With the support of ray, diagrams explain how the images were obtained. Your explanation must include comments about the location and use of the objective and selected area apertures. A TEM consists of condenser lenses to focus the electron beam on the specimen, an objective lens to form diffraction in the BFP (Back focal plane) and the image in the image plane, and other lenses to magnify the image or the diffraction pattern on the screen. In order to obtain images in TEM, we either focus on the central spot (direct beam), or on the scattered electrons (diffracted beam). This is done by inserting an aperture (selected area aperture) into the BFP of the objective lens followed by selecting the appropriate beam. Bright field image (Figure 1) The given micrograph depicts a dark MgO crystal on a light and bright background. The topography on the face of the crystal is very clear. Such an image is called a bright field image and has a very high contrast. ...The parts of the crystal in Br agg orientation appear dark, and the amorphous parts of the crystal are bright. The objective diaphragm is adjusted in such a way that an aperture appears in the back focal plane of the objective lens, allowing only the direct beam to enter and blocking the diffracted beam. The objective aperture, when inserted, controls the collection angle. The placement of the SAD (selected area aperture) is critical as it should be adjusted to obtain only the direct beam in this case. Darkfield image (Figure 2) The micrograph in figure two depicts a bright MgO crystal on a dark background. Such an image is obtained by selecting only the scattered electrons using a selected area aperture, enabling them to reach the image plane. The electrons that are not in the direct beam are selected to form a dark field image. The objective aperture is moved sideways to select the un-scattered electrons. This method is of high utility in case of observing certain specific crystallographic orientations of the s pecimen. The dark field image can also be obtained through another method, called centered dark field operation. In this case, the objective aperture is not shifted and the primary/direct beam is used instead. "The beam is tilted in order to allow only the scattered/diffracted electrons to go through the objective aperture (William and Carter 2009). Selected area diffraction pattern SAED (Figure 7) The given micrograph clearly depicts the symmetry of the lattice of MgO crystal through a selected area diffraction pattern. Selected area diffraction patterns are obtained by inserting the SAD aperture into the image plane of the objective lens and aperture on the optic axis in the middle of the viewing screen (William and Carter 2009).

Harmful Effects of Anti-Shia Discrimination Assignment

Harmful Effects of Anti-Shia Discrimination - Assignment Example The most agreed upon cause for the prejudice can be traced to the dispute that arose after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, which led to a split among the Muslim community into two fundamental sects: the Shi’a and the Sunnis. The Sunnis also referred to as the followers of the way, decided on following the caliphate maintaining that any Muslim, who is devout in the eyes of his peers, has the potential of being a successor of the Prophet. However, the Shi’a believe that only a person who is elected by Allah can succeed the Prophet after the Prophet has declared him his successor, deciding on Imam Ali as their religious authority. Following this split, the Sunni Muslims have over the centuries perceived their rival sect as a threat to their religious authority, and politically as well. Sunni leaders, especially under the Umayyad, began a systematic marginalization of the Shi’a, who formed a minority of the Muslim community, while the Abbasids also turned on the S hi’a, killing, persecuting, and imprisoning them (Walker 18). The Shi’a community to this day remains marginalized and persecuted sect in the majority of Muslim states. This discrimination has harmed the Shi’a by ensuring that they are less educated than Sunnis, cannot practice their religion, and cannot get work in their countries. Discrimination against the Shi’a has led to their inability to practice their religion, which has caused resentment towards their Sunni counterparts, as they are denied their right to worship. For example, Chehab in Sunni vs. Shia: All You Need to Know claims that â€Å"Jordanian tribes have banned Shi’as from paying homage at the historical grave site of a prominent Shi’a imam† (13).  This led to protests in which over fifty Shi’a members either were killed or went missing. The Shi’a Muslims are also disallowed to access religious centers such as mosques, forcing them to perform their pray ers on Friday in their houses (Chehab 13). This means that Shi’a Muslims, despite being part of the broader Islam family, are second-class religious citizens in most Muslim dominated countries. They are treated no differently than Christians, who are discriminated against in the same way and might as well be without religion. This has all the hallmarks of an irreversible religious war if unchecked. In addition, all able-bodied Muslims are required to visit Mecca at least once in their lifetime, which is one of Islam’s five pillars, to perform the Hajj. Although this event is supposed to count as one of the most intense religious times in the Muslim calendar, a group of Shi’as who were on a pilgrimage was arrested in 2009 by the Saudi religious police. This was part of Sunni Muslims,’ particularly the Wahhabi sect’s, aim to â€Å"purify Islam of any innovations or practices that deviate from the seventh-century teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions† (Giritlioglu 1). The incident resulted in one of the pilgrims, a fifteen-year-old boy, being shot in the head and chest, while a Shi’a sheik was knifed by an unknown person in the back for being what he termed as a rejectionist. Allowed to continue, such actions can only lead to reprisal attacks in Shi’a majority countries, resulting in a never-ending cycle of violence.

Maine - A novel- J.courtney Sullivan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Maine - A novel- J.courtney Sullivan - Essay Example In this excerpt, like the other three women, Maggie is struggling with universal issues that are affecting women in this last century. As a result, she is forced to confront the real truths about themselves together with their relationships. Maggie is thirty-two years of age, and she is pregnant. However, she is still waiting for that perfect moment to break the news to her imperfect boyfriend (Sullivan, 430). However, when she got pregnant, her boyfriend backed away showing the continues string of inapproriate partners for the four women. Maggie can be located in her generation in the way she dressed. Sullivan writes, she appeared in â€Å"tiny tight dress in Lewinsky blue† (431). When Alice learns that Maggie is pregnant, she says, â€Å"Well, that’s, then,† (437). This shows her anger towards Maggie’s pregnancy. This contributes to the theme of love and anger in the story. As the story drifts towards the end, Kathleen says to Maggie, "Its going to be okay," (444) to which she responds, "It has to be"(446). This shows the existence of love between the women. This brings out the charms of Maggie’s adopted home in Brooklyn. Sullivan portrays three generations of women in the Kelleher’s family who take the guilt in their secrets of their private lives. In alternating accounts late spring and early summer, the female figures contradict and complement each other in surprising but contradictable manner. By the time the story comes to an end, the reader is also ready to leave the beach. Summarily, through Maggies, the story unveils the theme of sibling rivalry, irrational love, social climbing, alcoholism, and Catholic guilt all at the centre of this Keller family. Sullivan uses the four women to show their contrasting behaviours since they belong to different

Death According to Socrates and Roland Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Death According to Socrates and Roland - Essay Example A majority of sixty voted to convict Socrates, and he jokingly offered to pay a fine of 100 drachmae, a fifth of his property. The prosecutor was not happy with this and pushed for the death, a penalty of which the jury agreed by a margin of 360 to 140. Although his supporters encouraged him to flee, Socrates did not and would not repent for his actions professing that he would rather die in his own manner than live like those who had condemned him. Socrates stated, "I say, gentlemen, to those who voted to kill me, that vengeance will come upon you immediately after my death, a vengeance much harder to bear than that which you took in killing me" (Plato 40). In essence, Socrates believed his death would teach others to hold fast to their convictions, even in the face of condemnation by an unjust society. The Song of Roland is touted as the oldest known major work of French literature. It is written as an epic poem depicting heroic deeds that took place in 778 A.D., when Charlemagne's retreating army was attacked by pagan armies. Roland was an army soldier, said to be a nephew of Charlemagne. The tale speaks of betrayal and revenge within Charlemagne's army, with Roland and his fellow soldier Oliver being left with only an army of twelve peers when thousands of Franks attack. Oliver pleads to Roland to retreat, however, Roland states, "Hold the field, let us not be beaten! The French say: 'A curse on the man who runs away! Until death itself not one of us will fail you'" (Merwin 35). Roland and his peers are successful in battle after a bloody fight which includes slicing off limbs. Roland eventually suffers a severe injury to his temple, not through battle but by blowing his horn at the urging of a comrade to call Charlemagne's troops. "Count Roland, in pain and anguish, and in grea t sorrow, blows a blast on his ivory horn, and the bright blood flows from his mouth, and the veins burst on his forehead, but the sound of the horn swells and mounts" (Merwin 55). Roland continues to fight, despite his injury, tries to unsuccessfully break his sword, and then "His brains have begun to seep out through his ears. He prays for the peers, asking God to summon them to His presence, and then for himself he calls upon the angel Gabriel.appearRoland is dead and God has taken his soul into heaven" (Merwin 69 & 73). It is clear that Roland fought a valiant fight and his honor and morality would not allow him to surrender even in the face of impossible odds. Therefore, Roland believed that his death would teach others to never give up on beliefs and values, even if faced with certain demise and destruction. How Does Socrates' and Roland's Beliefs Reflect the Values of Athens and Medieval Europe Socrates' beliefs do not appear to reflect the values of ancient Athens. He was not satisfied with accepting the mores of the day and questioned the influential figures of the time, whose reputations for wisdom and virtue he debunked through his questioning. Socrates also taught his students this method of inquiry, which greatly upset the established order and moral values of Athens. Socrates criticized democracy, including the local voting process, yet he also fought and argued for obedience to local

Histo-Bio Reading of the Farming of Bones Essay Example for Free

Histo-Bio Reading of the Farming of Bones Essay â€Å"Our motherland is Spain; theirs is darkest Africa, you understand? They once came here only to cut sugarcane, but now there are more of them than there will ever be cane to cut, you understand? Our problem is one of dominion. Those of us who love our country are taking measures to keep it our own†. This statement was memorized by both the Haitian and Dominicans prisoners tortured by the soldiers during the â€Å"Parsley massacre†, which was a clear illustration of the xenophobia the Tyrannical leader, General Trujillo had. Thus, a wave of genocide which decimates the Haitian emigre population is justified (Brice-Finch, 1999). Farming of the Bones, a novel of Danticat, does not only vividly reveal a detailed, fictional narration of what happened to the Haitians before, during, and after the â€Å"El Corte† or provide us a glimpse of the author’s life as a Haitian. The novel, considered to be one of the literary records of history of Haitians, was able to captivate the lives of Haitians in a land they partly owned. The Farming of Bones is a stark reminder of the massacre as well as a tribute to the valor of those Haitians who escaped the terror (Brice-Finch 1999). At that particular time, Haiti was being colonized by the Americans. This event pushed some of the natives to go to Dominican Republic and find work to be able to help their families left in Haiti. Most of them became cane workers, housemaids, houseboys, etc. as expected, most of them were being oppressed by their employers in different ways. Some of them were overworked but underpaid and some are physically abused. However, amabelle did not suffer the same fate as a personal maid since she was adored, if not loved by her employers. Papi and Donya Valencia, her patroness, never failed to treat her right. However, when the tyrant General Trujillo felt that the number of Haitians is continuing to grow, he felt it was high time to â€Å"cleanse† their land. After hearing news of the killings, Amabelle then decided to leave her patrons and go back to Haiti with her lover Sebastien and his sister. However, when she was about to leave, the cutting in 1937— a part of General Trujillo’s dictatorial regime, Donya Valencia bled—an event that made her stay at the house a little bit longer. Because of the slight delay, Amabelle was not able to meet Sebastien and Mimi by the church—the meeting place for those who will cross the border with Doctor Javier. It was said, nonetheless, that all those who were to meet in church were arrested by the soldiers together with the doctor and the priests. Amabelle then decided to go and find Mimi and his brother. She journeyed with Yves, a good friend of Sebastien. While they were on their journey, there were several instances of them having themselves almost killed by the Dominicans. Their companions, whim they met on the way, also died one by one and Yves and Amabelle were the only ones to return to their homeland. There, they attempted to have normal lives so they kept themselves busy; however, no matter what they do, it was very clear that the ghosts of the past would haunt them until death.the border region. These instances from the novel clearly mirror the 1937 Parsley massacre and had shown a very precise documentary of the said horrifying event. Such instances are as follows: First, General Trujillo was really the name of the tyrannical leader of Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961, who ordered to kill all the Haitians so that, generally, they could have their country only for themselves. In the novel, him despising the Haitians was clearly shown in his actions. He was the sole mastermind of the â€Å"cleansing† of their border and he was also the one to pay very small amount of money to all the victims after the almost one-week bloodbath. Second, the narration of the Parsley Massacre was exactly how the event happened in 1937. The trucks containing the Haitians were real. The â€Å"killing spree†, where the peasants are to line by six and jump off a cliff if they were not able to say â€Å"perejil† (parsley) correctly, since the color of the Dominicans and Hatians are almost the same, also happened the same way it was in the novel. A quote from Senyora Valencia illustrates this point: â€Å"And in the parsley he said ‘pewegil’ for perejil. The Generalissimo had him in plain sight and could have shot him in the parsley, but he did not because the Generalissimo had a realization. Your people did not trill their r the way we do, or pronounce the jota. ‘You can never hide as long as there is parsley nearby,’ the Generalissi mo is believed to have said. On this island, you walk too far and people speak a different language. Their own words reveal who belongs on what side.† In this particular event, Dominican troops killed between 10,000 and 15,000 Haitians in approximately 2-6 days, particularly from October 2nd to October 4th 1937 (Upchurch, 1998). Third, the River of Massacre is really the name of the river at the borderline of Haiti and Dominican Republic. The Massacre River was named for a seventeeth century bloodbath, but as Danticat makes clear, it has continued to live up to its name. The river divides the small Caribbean island of Hispaniola into the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Because the countries are so close, their fates have historically been intertwined. The Farming of Bones begins in the Republic, during the regime of General Rafael Trujillo (Upchurch, 1998). Fourth and last in the significant similarities in events in history and the novel was that even though the Dominican leader taught its people to be cruel and to have no mercy for the Haitians, some of them chose to defy the General and helped hide several peasants during the mass killing. Senyora Valencia was a great example of such Dominicans: â€Å"Do you truly understand? During El Corte, though I was bleeding and nearly died, I hid many of your people. I hid a baby who is now a student at the medical school with Rosalinda and her husband. I hid Sylvie and two families in your old room. I hid some of Donya Sabine’s people before she and her husband escaped to Haiti. I did what I could in my situation.† In history, however, it is believed that although we must acknowledge that the Haitian-Dominican conflict stemmed from the occupation of the Dominican Republic by Haiti, it would be dangerous, and unfair to the Dominican people, to attribute Trujillo’s acts and ideology entirely to the same origin. Most of the Dominican people did not participate in Trujillo’s massacre of the Haitians. In fact, Many Haitians were saved by good-hearted Dominicans who could not imagine and could not accept the killings of thousands of innocents for petty reasons. The best example of this fact is the Dominican politician, Jose Maria Peza Gomez, who is believed to be of Haitian descent, and who escaped the massacre because a White Dominican family adopted him. As for the author’s relation to the characters, I found Amabelle most likely to share the life of Edwidge Danticat. There are few similarities in them but if you would compare Danticat’s life to that of other characters, it is most likely that you would find it difficult. For one, Danticat had always wanted to be a writer ever since she was a child. Her parents, on the other hand wanted her to be a doctor. In Amabelle’s case, she had always been veering away from her parents’ love for giving birth and chose to just sew clothes and at the same time serve Senyora Valencia. Another, I think, is the point in her life when her parents transferred to New York to work there. She was very young then and yet had to live without her parents with her. Amabelle experienced this when her parents drowned while crossing the river at the border. Both of them were forced to live without their parents at a time when they need guidance, love, and care from the person who brought them into this world. Third and last point is when Danticat transferred to Brooklyn to live with her real family. Adjustment to this new family was difficult, and to make it worse, she also had difficulty adjusting at school, because she spoke only Creole and did not know any English. Other students taunted her as a Haitian, a boat person, or a refugee. This time, it’s not only Amabelle who experienced the same treatment from other people but all the Haitians in the Dominicans part of the land. As evident in the novel, most of them suffered greatly because of their race, social status, and language. Obviously, it is very apparent that the novel Farming of the Bones was a literary record of what had happened to the 1937 massacre and a bit of the author’s life. In fact, the massacre, Danticat told Mallay Charters in Publishers Weekly, is not just a part of our history, as Haitians, but its also a part of the history of the world. Writing about it is an act of remembrance. References: Brice-Finch (1999) A review of The Farming of Bones, in World Literature Today, Vol. 73, No. 2, p. 373. Munro, M. (2006) Writing Disaster: Trauma, Memory, and History in Edwidge Danticat’s The Farming of Bones. London: Faber and Faber Upchurch, M. (1998) â€Å"No Room for the Living,† in New York Times Book Review. Lancer, J. The Conflict between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Retrieved from http://www.allempires.com/forum/ Wucker, M. (1998) The River Massacre: The Real and Imagined Borders of Hispaniola Retrieved from: http://windows.on.haiti-the.river.massacre.files.html (2005) Edwidge Danticat. Retrieved from http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/danticat_edwidge.html (2009) 70 Years Ago in the Dominican Republic! Retrieved from http://fowomouvriye.org/Bulletins/001/TheHopeAct.html (2012) The Farming of Bones: Author Biography. Retrieved from http://www.enotes.com/farming-bones (2012) Dominican Republic. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominica

Analysis Of Giddens On Agency And Structure Sociology Essay

Analysis Of Giddens On Agency And Structure Sociology Essay Anthony Giddens, a famous writer on society, had developed his thoughts in his books year after year. His book titled, Constitution of Society, written in the year 1986, has leaded him far ahead to achieve his goals. Each of the chapter, in this book; has covered the agency and structure theory and proposes good statements (Giddens, 1986). The author has clearly described what he means with the agency term. He has also given due focus on time and the social actions for space. The discussion on the ways of handling different norms by the people, and the social constraints that exists in the society, are done as well. In addition, he uses empirical research in his book to elaborate further the aspects associated with structure and agency within the society. The text thus discusses the routine practice, which becomes a social act as a principle of duality for the agency- structure relationship. It aims to understand what the strength areas covered in the text is. Additionally, weaker sections are also given consideration. Thus, the report here discusses about various aspects of relationship that exists between agency and structure. The notion of duality by the author is considered too, with due focus on the book Constitution of Society, by Giddens. The notion of studies done to relate the two terms is also covered within the scope of this report. Furthermore, the researchers involved to explore the term are also discussed hereon. This helps in understanding the extent to which both the terms are integrated in this society. These all have helped to reach to certain outcomes of the report at the end. Discussion Agency and structure have been termed as indispensible parts in the social context. These terms are required to relate at one or the other instance. Agency is termed as the capability of individuals to generate wide variety of powers in causal term, while the structure is the set of rules and regulations existing within the society (Frohlich et al., 2001). The relationship between these two instances is yet to explore. Some of the researchers stand in the point, that the two terms inter- relate in themselves, while others consider these as different terms. There does not exist, any discussion of relationship between structure and agency in real terms (Macintyre, 1997; Frohlich et al., 2002) according to some of the researchers. While others state that, these structure and agency are considered as co- dependent and recursive in nature (Nussbaum and Sen, 1993; Sen, 1992). This clearly demonstrates how conflicting the terms are in social context. There is no generalized thought in this arena, instead complete satisfaction and dissatisfaction is noted for the question at hand. This needs to be further explored to understand the concepts associated with the terms. There are different contexts, which integrates the agency and structure. Structural forces are the main determinants for the relationship between agency and structure (Williams, 2003). Thus, the structural forces shall be considered in discussion to understand the concept associated with the terms. This might also help in exploring the text by Giddens in a better manner. Although, in his writings, the discussion of structural forces is missed, he has attempted to use time and geography as basic parameters in his studies. There are number of authors who studied about the relationship of agency and structure (Musolf, 2003; Callinicos, 2004), however the work done by Giddens is important to note in his books such as Constitution of the Society (1986). Most of the writers believed that agency and structure are different terms; however, Giddens consider them as similar. Giddens consider these two as different ways to look one thing. Researchers contribute to routine activities, i.e. those that take place in a similar manner for continuation. Routine activities are considered as social for the organization, as these activities occur in regular fashion. This regular fashion further becomes the set of rules for the society. These rules act as the social orders for an organization. Giddens also consider that time and space results into organizing us in a better manner. Time and place are being considered as important aspects not only for the agency but also for the structure of society. The author considers the time as an aspect, which affects the routine practices. Proper time management is helpful in attaining good routine activities. Thus, author lays focus on right use of time to obtain maximum outcomes. In case one wishes to generate results, there is the need to perform with dual nature. The collaborated approach of using structure and agency is required at such instances. This would entail proper use of time management technique to minimize the wastage of social time. The author thus lays importance on the time. Time is the aspect that demonstrates routine activities. Time is an indispensible part for ones life. He considers people to utilize properly the daily schedule, to make optimal use of time. In case one does not use time in a proper manner, it mi ght result in losses of ones routine plan. Giddens also discussed about the consequences attached with improper use of time management. In case, one does not use the time in a proper manner, it affects the routine activities of an individual. However, if one wishes to work on his knowledge, he can act well in this arena. This affects the agency structure by the mismatch that generates due to lack of control on structure concerned of an entity. For the society to develop with its full potential, it shall discuss the relation between structure and agency (Hay and Wincott, 1998). This shall not be ignored. Giddens had worked to elaborate the point further. However, his writings were not able to describe clearly the point due to lack of clarity in his thought process. His attempt to contribute to agency structure relationship was though worth noting, but for a new reader, it becomes a point of confusion. Giddens, in his book named as Constitution of Society, had not given any clear definition of the terms considered in his writings. The content seems tough to be understood by a reader who has not gone through the previous writings of the author. Thus, it necessitates the basic concept to be clarified, before going through the book. The relation between agency and structure is always at perennial (6). It is not a one-time process. The author thus attempted to describe the relationship considering the time-geography too. This was in line with the time management of the author. This demonstrates the importance of time, and its relation to the geographic unit. The ways geographical parameters change with time are also discussed. Additionally, the variation of structure and agency with different time and geographic locations is considered in the study as well. This relationship between agency and structure is also well studied by researchers such as Rothstein and Hall (1993), Thelen, and Steinmo (1992). This is the reason, many researchers attempted to explore the relationship. However, the complexity associated with them in social context has acted as a hurdle to describe the two characteristics. Giddens further followed the tradition in his writings. He was unable to thoroughly explore the relationship between the two terms. The agency and structure were not thoroughly discussed in his writings. The discussion on duality of these terms was there though; the basic concepts associated with them were not described. Thus, on looking other side of the coin, we can see that the book of Giddens lacks in clearly describing the duality and social practice concept. It does not describe the ways in which practices are constituted, the way in which it relates social system etc. The book also misses practice concept, which is important to attain sust ainable analysis. Thus, the book is tough to understand for someone, who has not read previous books of the author. It directly summarizes the duality structure for understanding the agency- structure relationship. This way, he created a sort of confusion situation in the minds of readers who have not read his previous writings. For an individual to understand the text by Giddens it becomes mandatory to understand the basic concepts associated with the topic; else, it would become tough for them to understand the discussion done in his writings. The authors lacks in discussing the reason, why people want certain things. It just discusses the wants of people. The subject here is constituted in a social manner. There is also the discussion laid that wants arise from the needs, which are related to ontological security. The theory discusses the way individuals can achieve proper results using the agents. Thus, the concept of agency- structure relationship has always been a tough task. It is with not only Giddens, but also the researchers such as Dahlgren and Whitehead (1991) had failed to establish a relationship between these two characteristics of society in the daily life of the world. There is thus the need to understand the basic concepts in hand. The social context, with reference to time is to be understood at initial stages. This would help in creating a framework for the point at hand, and the integration of these two characteristics of society will be done in a better manner. The research in todays life is exploring further the structure and relationship and the behavioural pattern (Williams, 1995). These further explorations are expected to help the society in analyzing these duality and routine practices in the right manner. There would be lack of clarity, and the outcomes will be with a stronger research background. Thus, the main point of confusion exists to know the re lationship between structure and agency (Gerhardt, 1979), which if explored by the researchers, can lead to attain certain outcomes, which would help us in further understanding the concept at hand. This would entail the need to use proper time management techniques. The weak background of Giddens shall not be over- focused, but shall be given an opportunity of further exploration using the basic concepts at hand, to reach to the outcomes. This would help us to attain the results at a greater pace, and with clear outcomes, which does not have conflicting situations, as at present. Conclusion On considering the notion of duality and the social practice of relationship between agency and structure, we have come up with some important findings. We can interpret that the writings of Giddens are quite conflicting at certain instances. These act as the constraining and enabling at the same time. At certain instances, Giddens talk about the practical aspect of life. He considers time as real and factual to work out on the life. However, at other instances assumptions are encouraged by the author. This raises the problem of lack of clarity in his thought process. Additionally, the complexity involved with the writings of Giddens, enforce one to go through the basic concepts, prior to reading the text under review. Thus, there was a mixed approach obtained. At some instances, it was noted that the structure and agency are well integrated with each other, while at others there was noted the lack of control and dependency of one characteristic on the other. This mixed approach has resulted in further elaboration of the associated concepts, which would help in understanding the point. Else, it would be tough to understand this text in hand, with lack of control over the text and lack of clarity by the author. The basic concepts can however be of great help in understanding the concept at hand, and the associated relationship. Thus, overall the text was a good collection of data, but lacks clarity and mandates the reader to go through basic concepts, prior to going through the text at hand. This way, one would be able to understand the associated characteristics in a better manner.