Comparing Nathaniel Hawthorne :: essays papers

"Dr Heidegger's Experiment" An eccentric aging physician, Dr. Heidegger, calls together his old friends and contemporaries to test his waters of the "fountain of youth." As the doctor himself sits by to enjoy the show, each of his four aged friends eagerly quaffs more and more of the magic potion, each draught further carrying them backwards into their shared youth. Having grown young, smooth-skinned and agile again, the three men begin to fight for the favors of the fourth compatriot now restored to her former beauty. In the heat of the fracas, they begin to grow tired and within minutes the effect of the "waters" has worn away. The participants in the brief respite from old age are devastated by the transience of the experience. Despite Heidegger's warning that he has learned to appreciate the advantage of age by watching the four of them make themselves fools, they learned no such lesson and resolve to make a pilgrimage to Florida to seek the Fountain. "The Birthmark" A devoted scientist, in a brief step from his laboratory pursuits, marries a beautiful woman with a single physical flaw: a birthmark on her face. Aylmer becomes obsessed with the imperfection and needs to remove it, to be happy with his wife. The tale evolves around his progressive frenzy to use his scientific skills to render his bride perfect and the faith of his submissive wife that the union can survive only if he accomplishes his goal. The author tells us that Aylmer "had devoted himself, however, too unreservedly to scientific studies..." and, in the secrecy of his laboratory he prepares the potion for Georgiana that results in the disappearance of the birthmark and the death of Aylmer's experimental subject. Comparison "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" and "The Birthmark" can be compared in many aspects. Nathaniel Hawthorne used many of the same writing techniques in both stories. Both pieces share two common reoccuring themes. Also, the symbols in the story have like meanings. In both "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" and "The Birthmark", Hawthorne uses the same writing style. In both stories Nathaniel Hawthorne writes as a realist, as opposed to a romancer. In "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" Hawthorne writes about an actual event in history, Ponce de Leon's search for the Fountain of Youth on the Florida Peninsula. It does not matter if the Fountain of Youth exists or not it is a "real" legend. "Dr Heidegger's Experiment" is a situation that could have taken place. It is not a fantasy. "The Birthmark" is also a piece that could have happened. A beautiful woman could certainly be born with a

This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona

Amanda Sehdev 03/19/2013 Setting Essay In Sherman Alexie’s â€Å"This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona†, a young man named Victor finds out that his father has passed, but can’t afford to travel from Spokane to Phoenix, especially after the fact that he had just lost his job at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The first setting in Spokane describes what Victor and other Indians go through on the reserve, this cultural aspect is actually interesting because nobody knows what others go through and how tough their lives may actually be.Victor asks the tribal council if he can borrow money from the tribal council until he gets the assets that his father left for him. All they can offer him is $100, which he agrees to take. Victor’s mother barely has enough money to help him out and his family doesn’t really keep in touch with him. Victor’s old childhood friend Thomas Builds-The-Fire hears about his issue and offers to help only under the con dition that he can tag along. Thomas is a storyteller on the reserve, who everyone thinks is weird and nobody wants to listen to because he tells the same story over and over again.Victor agreed to let Thomas help him and let him ride along. On the flight to Phoenix, Thomas and Victor were sitting next to a woman, who was flexing her body in all sorts of directions. Thomas embarrasses Victor by asking her questions and talking during the whole flight, even though she did turn out to be a nice woman. Once they landed, they got a taxi to the trailer where Victor’s dad lived. Walking into the trailer was a little hard for the two of them because Victor’s dad had passed away in the trailer and was not found for over a week.They describe that Arizona is over one-hundred degrees during the summer, so I can only imagine the stench that came out of the trailer. Victor told Thomas that he didn’t have to help but he still insisted. After they had retrieved all the belongi ngs that Victor felt was worth keeping, they put their stuff in the pickup truck that his dad left behind and headed home. They traveled through Nevada describing how they didn’t see any wildlife and lack of water. It just so happened that when Victor asked Thomas to drive, he ends up running over the first animal that they see in Nevada. After that, Thomas decided that he should drive again.When they get home, Victor thanks Thomas for his help and gives him half of his dads ashes because they were all like family. Thomas tells Victor that he is going to take the ashes to Spokane Falls, where Thomas’s father had found Thomas and brought him back to the reserve. After they got back and said their good-byes, they both knew things would end up going back to the way they were before. Victor found himself wondering where all the ties of the community went and the sense of the community. The setting in this story is just background, I don’t think that there was much d escribed about where they were or what the surroundings were.

Failure of the Arab League

In the wake of any great conflict, states will try and assemble a system that is based on unity and prevention of further conflict, there are several aspects usually addressed, including the economy and the international relations. In the wake of World War 2 the UN assembled to form the new world order (Pinfari, 1. ) In the Middle East, 6 founding members (Egypt, Transjordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq) formed the Arab League, an organization founded upon a common sense of Arabism with a goal of Arab unity (Pinfari, 2.) In the wake of the Cold War, Africa found itself at a political disadvantage because of the fragmented politics of the continent, they were at a geographical advantage and wanted to make use of that, so they formed the African Union to address inner-conflicts and the mayhem caused by the remains of colonialism after the Cold War (Dersso, 13-14. ) On the other side of things the European Union formed in the late 1990’s with a different mission in mind when compared to the two aforeabmentioned organizations.The Arab League and the African Union’s missions were more ambitious than those of other political organizations such as the EU and the UN, due to many reasons why this paper will focus on discussing their economy, their judiciary and the effect of pan-Arpabism and a pan-African perspective. When nations group under one banner as is the case in the examples mentioned, the issue of their individual political sovereignty is brought into the foreground as countries value their autonomy.The European Union is more of a â€Å"union† in the judiciary sense than the Arab League: while the Arab League clearly states in its charter that the League has no right to intervene in the internal affairs of a member country unless their overall safety is compromised, this then makes way for dictators like Qaddafi to rule for years in what certain scholars would view as a tyrannical manner.The judiciary of each country is separate from the Arab League which isn’t the case with the EU, whereby the Court of Justice of the European Union has the right to supersede any national court of law (Wallace, 484), by so doing maintaining peace in a more efficient way. How does this make the Arab League’s mission more ambitious, is that they are seeking peace and unity based on a sense of Arabism rather than an effective judicial system (Reiser, 1), and it is ambitious to assume that this will prevail.When discussing the Organization of African Unity (OAU), their mission can also be seen as more ambitious than that of the EU, the OAU’s mission was to establish widespread security and unity between African members of this union through the ideal of â€Å"African Solutions for African problems,† but like the Arab League, their mission contains certain clauses that are emphasized in discourse, yet not much is done to re-enforce them (Dersso, 13), and often the governments of individual states will do as they please, as is the case with the Rwanda genocide in 1994,with no higher judicial force to intervene, and that is where they fail (Tavares, 23.)Africa however should not be grouped with the Arab League, even though they are comparable, because after the Cold War, Africa had been depleted because of their division into pro-USA forces and pro-Soviet forces during the Cold War, as they underwent a number of proxy wars for the USA and the Soviet Union. After having served their purpose Africa was then disregarded and faced with â€Å"indifference† from forces that had had an increasing interest in it before (Dersso, 15.)When discussing the economy there are also rather ambitious initiatives on the AL and the OAU’s parts, in their missions they strive for unity, but one of the main constituents of said unity, is economic unity, whereby member states implement policies that will be beneficial to one another’s economies as is the case with the EU, they have a unified currency and an open market, whereby, goods, services and people are not taxed when traded between members.The EU is the only Regional Insisution with a separate monetary system which makes , â€Å"the EU has become greater than merely an arena of inter-state co-operation and has taken on many state-like powers† (Bradbury 18). This however does not work with the Arab League, because of the lack of a policy which dictates the existence of such a market but also because of the division in wealth in the Middle East, oil-rich states such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar control the capital and give money to the poorer members such as Egypt, in exchange for one thing that Egypt has in abundance: labor and cheap labor at that (Korany, 279.)Also how can the Arab League hope to achieve such unity when travelling between member states still requires visas and there are still taxes on products traded between member states? Again, the mission is ambitious with no real actions taken to implement. As for the OAU, the member states are still very much in conflict as is evident by Africa’s human rights violations and constant violence. After all , Africa is simply too large and divided to ever fit under one banner.After all, overcoming colonialism is not simple; North Africa is an attest to that, with French being a prominent language, even though it was the tongue of their colonizers. In the Arab League’s charter there is a clause which dictates that states in aggression shall be forced into deliberations by the League itself and shall receive a majority vote on what they are expected to do, â€Å"the league’s decision shall then be effective and obligatory.†This however, did not seem like a viable clause as there have been many conflicts between states in the Arab League and interventions were long and tedious and ultimately rendered useless, when there are clauses and no way to implement them, then it is ambitious to place them in the charter in the first place. The importance of pan-Arabism and pan-Africanism is also note-worthy.Pan-Arabism started in the Middle East with leaders like Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser and his nationalistic sentiment; it is a concept which dictates that Arab nations should unite because of a shared Arab identity (Reiser, 1983. ) Ever since pan-Arabism was introduced, Arabs have been asking themselves what it stands for and what is it based on (Reiser, 1983), it was the leaders ambition, one that was evidently misplaced as the citizens of member states don’t see each other as Arab, rather, Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese etc.One also begins to ponder the role of colonialism here; different nations have colonized the members of the Arab League, for example: Egypt was colonized Britain and France, Libya by Italy, North Africa by France and Jordan by Britain, there are remnants of these â€Å"cultures† in these countries, and hence there is a difference in psyche and a difference in identity.Pan-Arabism and pan-Africanism are both supposedly built on an â€Å"identitarian† principle yet Hall argues that identity get created through discourse, it’s not a stable entity but a process that is incomplete and is reproduced through process (Hall 16). This same problem exists in Africa and pan-Africanism has the same logical holes in it, African states were and still are very much divided (as I have mentioned previously), so how can they all exist under one African umbrella? Hence, the Arab League fails (Pinfari, 1. ) The OAU fails. ï » ¿Failure of the Arab League In the wake of any great conflict, states will try and assemble a system that is based on unity and prevention of further conflict, there are several aspects usually addressed, including the economy and the international relations. In the wake of World War 2 the UN assembled to form the new world order (Pinfari, 1. ) In the Middle East, 6 founding members (Egypt, Transjordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq) formed the Arab League, an organization founded upon a common sense of Arabism with a goal of Arab unity (Pinfari, 2.)In the wake of the Cold War, Africa found itself at a political disadvantage because of the fragmented politics of the continent, they were at a geographical advantage and wanted to make use of that, so they formed the African Union to address inner-conflicts and the mayhem caused by the remains of colonialism after the Cold War (Dersso, 13-14. ) On the other side of things the European Union formed in the late 1990’s with a different mission in mind when compared to the two aforeabmentioned organizations.The Arab League and the African Union’s missions were more ambitious than those of other political organizations such as the EU and the UN, due to many reasons why this paper will focus on discussing their economy, their judiciary and the effect of pan-Arpabism and a pan-African perspective. When nations group under one banner as is the case in the examples mentioned, the issue of their individual political sovereignty is brought into the foreground as countries value their autonomy.The European Union is more of a â€Å"union† in the judiciary sense than the Arab League: while the Arab League clearly states in its charter that the League has no right to intervene in the internal affairs of a member country unless their overall safety is compromised, this then makes way for dictators like Qaddafi to rule for years in what certain scholars would view as a tyrannical manner.The judiciary of each country is separate f rom the Arab League which isn’t the case with the EU, whereby the Court of Justice of the European Union has the right to supersede any national court of law (Wallace, 484), by so doing maintaining peace in a more efficient way. How does this make the Arab League’s mission more ambitious, is that they are seeking peace and unity based on a sense of Arabism rather than an effective judicial system (Reiser, 1), and it is ambitious to assume that this will prevail.When discussing the Organization of African Unity (OAU), their mission can also be seen as more ambitious than that of the EU, the OAU’s mission was to establish widespread security and unity between African members of this union through the ideal of â€Å"African Solutions for African problems,† but like the Arab League, their mission contains certain clauses that are emphasized in discourse, yet not much is done to re-enforce them (Dersso, 13), and often the governments of individual states will do as they please, as is the case with the Rwanda genocide in 1994,with no higher judicial force to intervene, and that is where they fail (Tavares, 23.)Africa however should not be grouped with the Arab League, even though they are comparable, because after the Cold War, Africa had been depleted because of their division into pro-USA forces and pro-Soviet forces during the Cold War, as they underwent a number of proxy wars for the USA and the Soviet Union. After having served their purpose Africa was then disregarded and faced with â€Å"indifference† from forces that had had an increasing interest in it before (Dersso, 15.)When discussing the economy there are also rather ambitious initiatives on the AL and the OAU’s parts, in their missions they strive for unity, but one of the main constituents of said unity, is economic unity, whereby member states implement policies that will be beneficial to one another’s economies as is the case with the EU, they have a unified currency and an open market, whereby, goods, services and people are not taxed when traded between members.The EU is the only Regional Insisution with a separate monetary system which makes , â€Å"the EU has become greater than merely an arena of inter-state co-operation and has taken on many state-like powers† (Bradbury 18). This however does not work with the Arab League, because of the lack of a policy which dictates the existence of such a market but also because of the division in wealth in the Middle East, oil-rich states such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar control the capital and give money to the poorer members such as Egypt, in exchange for one thing that Egypt has in abundance: labor and cheap labor at that (Korany, 279.)Also how can the Arab League hope to achieve such unity when travelling between member states still requires visas and there are still taxes on products traded between member states? Again, the mission is ambitious with no real actions t aken to implement. As for the OAU, the member states are still very much in conflict as is evident by Africa’s human rights violations and constant violence. After all , Africa is simply too large and divided to ever fit under one banner.After all, overcoming colonialism is not simple; North Africa is an attest to that, with French being a prominent language, even though it was the tongue of their colonizers. In the Arab League’s charter there is a clause which dictates that states in aggression shall be forced into deliberations by the League itself and shall receive a majority vote on what they are expected to do, â€Å"the league’s decision shall then be effective and obligatory.†This however, did not seem like a viable clause as there have been many conflicts between states in the Arab League and interventions were long and tedious and ultimately rendered useless, when there are clauses and no way to implement them, then it is ambitious to place them in the charter in the first place. The importance of pan-Arabism and pan-Africanism is also note-worthy.Pan-Arabism started in the Middle East with leaders like Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser and his nationalistic sentiment; it is a concept which dictates that Arab nations should unite because of a shared Arab identity (Reiser, 1983. ) Ever since pan-Arabism was introduced, Arabs have been asking themselves what it stands for and what is it based on (Reiser, 1983), it was the leaders ambition, one that was evidently misplaced as the citizens of member states don’t see each other as Arab, rather, Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese etc.One also begins to ponder the role of colonialism here; different nations have colonized the members of the Arab League, for example: Egypt was colonized Britain and France, Libya by Italy, North Africa by France and Jordan by Britain, there are remnants of these â€Å"cultures† in these countries, and hence there is a difference in psyche and a difference in identity.Pan-Arabism and pan-Africanism are both supposedly built on an â€Å"identitarian† principle yet Hall argues that identity get created through discourse, it’s not a stable entity but a process that is incomplete and is reproduced through process (Hall 16). This same problem exists in Africa and pan-Africanism has the same logical holes in it, African states were and still are very much divided (as I have mentioned previously), so how can they all exist under one African umbrella? Hence, the Arab League fails (Pinfari, 1. ) The OAU fails.

Analysis of A Korean War Captive in Japan, 1597-1600 essay

Analysis of A Korean War Captive in Japan, 1597-1600 essay Analysis of A Korean War Captive in Japan, 1597-1600 essay Analysis of A Korean War Captive in Japan, 1597-1600 essayThe Korean War at the end of the 16th century was the manifestation of Japanese aggression and ideology of the territorial expansion. The war was the manifestation of imperialist ambitions of Japan. On the other hand, the Korean War was not a mere invasion of one country by another. Instead, the war was the clash of two different civilizations. On the one hand, there was Confucianist Korea oriented on the internal development, while, on the other hand, there was Japan oriented on the territorial expansion and creation of the huge empire with Japan dominating in Eastern Asia. However, at the moment of the war, the scope of conflict was unclear and it is only due to such works as A Korean War Captive in Japan, 1597-1600 by Kang Hang. Kang Hang became one of the first authors, who has managed to uncover Japan for Korean people and for Korean monarch above all. At the same time, this book is the insider story told by the outsider because the author was a captive in the war, who was always devoted to his country and monarch but was forced to stay in captivity in Japan, where he learned cultural norms and traditions of Japanese, their lifestyle, ideology and philosophy.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kang Hang has experienced the war in Cholla Province and experienced the horrors of Japanese occupation. The invasion of his country by foreigners, who disregarded the local culture, norms and traditions, has had a considerable impact on the personality of the author and his perception of the invasion, Korean and Japanese culture, which he has mirrored in his book. The Korean War was the clash of totally different forces, countries and cultures. Korea was traditionally oriented on the internal development and was never concerned with invasions. Instead, Japan was traditionally oriented on external invasions and such a trend was determined by scarcity of natural resources that forced Japanese to expand their empire to get wider opportunities to get access to new resources and maintain the fast progress of their country. At the same time, the development of the military conflict between Japan and Korea had a considerable impact on the population of both countries and relations between them. Japan attempted to dominate, while Korea attempted to preserve its independence. In such a context, the invasion of Korea by Japan was a terrible experience for Koreans because they suffered the inhuman attitude to Koreans from the part of Japanese. Japanese treated Koreans as being absolutely inferior to Japanese. This is why the war involved numerous casualties, especially from the part of Koreans, whom Japanese viewed as second-class citizens and, therefore, Japanese did not care much about the life of Korean people. Kang Hang witnessed the horrors of the invasion and suffered from the extermination of his compatriots and sufferings of his people.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Moreover, Japanese invasion resulted in the captivity of the author. Therefore, the invasion of Korea was not only the offense against Kang Hang’s country but also the offense against him in person (Yasunori 2). The capture of the author has had a considerable impact on his personal life and his perception of the surrounding world, which he mirrored in his book. The captivity was terrible for Kang Hang as a Korean because he was aware of the fact that Japanese will never treat him as equal. Moreover, he was also aware of the fact that the captivity would ruin his traditional lifestyle and deprive him of an opportunity to stay at home, which was the main value for him as a Korean. This experience has had a considerable impact on his book, where he clearly reveals his position as a captive of the invader, who treated him as a second-class citizen and whose life was not worth anything. He conveys clearly his fears about his future, but, at the same time, he preserves his spiritu ality and system of values, which helps him to view his position philosophically.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Furthermore, Kang Hang lived as the captive in Japan but, at the same time, he remained Korean, with extensive knowledge of Chinese culture. Moreover, he was a devoted Confucianist and he continued to promote his ideas in Japan, even while he was a captive. As a result, he gained respect of Japanese that helped him to develop close interpersonal relations with Japanese to learn their culture, values, views and beliefs. Kang Hang preserved his traditional beliefs and values. He even tried to expand his influence on his captors promoting his Confucian ideas. Naturally, his captivity experience has influenced his perception of himself, his country as well as Japan and Japanese consistently and the book reveals how his views evolved in the course of time. The difference is particularly striking at the beginning of the book and at the end, when he starts the book as a Korean, who hates invaders and completes the book as a man, who has deserved the respect of his captors but who is still trying to do his best for his country, even if it is just a book. However, this book became the true revelation, which helped Korean monarch to understand better the enemy, their goals, intentions, philosophy and lifestyle. The information Kang Hang supplied the monarch with in his book became very important for the struggle of Koreans against Japanese invasion.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Nevertheless, Kang Hang always felt being a stranger in Japanese society. He had different values, beliefs and philosophy and he could not adapt Japanese system of values and philosophy. Therefore, his assimilation was virtually impossible. On the other hand, he has managed to understand better the traditional Japanese system of values and culture. In such a way, he remained an outsider in Japanese society but, on the other hand, he has managed to understand Japanese culture, system of values and philosophy better (Kim 92). In such a way, the position of Kang Hang remained quite controversial but he has managed to view Japanese culture from inside, although he remained a stranger and outsider. Paradoxically, the outsider has managed to have a look on Japan from within. In this regard, his critical thinking skills have played probably the determinant part.   At the same time, Kang Hang was flexible enough in his self-perception that he could view Japanese culture from a different perspective. He has managed to set himself free of many biases and stereotypes Koreans had in regard to Japanese. Instead, he observed their life, traditions, cultural norms and beliefs, their socioeconomic and political system, their military and made his notes, which laid the foundation to his book. In such a way, he has managed to collect the valuable information about the country, which has ruined his life and made him a captive, who has lost his home and his country, but who has remained devoted to his people for the rest of his life.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kang Hang describes Japanese from different standpoints because his perception of Japanese changes and evolves in the course of time. At first, he views them as brutal invaders, who attempt to invade his country and his home. At the beginning of his book, it is possible to trace the impact of traditional Korean views on Japanese as aggressive and dangerous enemies (Turnbull 132). These views prevail at the beginning of the book but steadily the author’s narrative becomes more thoughtful and less emotional. His initial hatred is replaced by interest and transforms into the quest, where the author of the book wants to find out what Japan is and what Japanese people actually are. He has managed to cope with his biases and stereotypes and observe Japanese in their real life environment. These observations helped him to change his views on Japanese and, mo re important, helped him to make other Koreans to view Japanese from a different standpoint.Steadily, he expands his view of Japanese and views them as representatives of the totally different culture compared to that of his own. To put it more precisely, he comes to the point, when he realizes that his Confucianist background with his focus on himself, his home and his country, confronts the different culture and philosophy of Japanese people, who viewed the invasion and expansion of their empire as prior to their personal life, well-being and prosperity of their home or family. The author uncovers the striking difference between Korean and Japanese cultures due to his experience of being a captive of Japanese and the time he has spent in Japan became the valuable time, when he has being learning Japanese as a   nation but not as a hated enemy.Nevertheless, Kang Hang basically tries to explore his captors from the standpoint of a representative of Confucianist philosophy. Remarka bly he does not view them exactly from the standpoint of a captive. He attempts to take his position from a philosophic ground. He has managed to evaluate critically his observations and reject his biases and stereotypes concerning Japanese, which he has learned during his life in Korea. He has also managed to reject his personal negative attitude to Japanese, who actually ruined his life by capturing him and moving to Japan. Instead, he makes objective judgments on the ground of his experience and observations, which he has made in the course of his life in Japan as a captive.At the same time, Kang Hang always remains loyal to his monarch. In this regard, his attempts to view Japanese from the broader, Confucianist perspective are just attempts to get more information about Japanese and to understand them better. While working on his book, he serves rather as a spy of his monarch than a mere writer. At any rate, he manifests his loyalty to the monarch. If he were biased, he could n ever make objective judgments about Japanese and uncover what Japanese actually were. Instead, he would just give the description of Japanese, Koreans and Korean monarch wanted him to make. Instead, he gives a relatively objective description of Japan and its people on the ground of his objective judgments because he views them philosophically.Kang Hang provides the broad scope of information about Japan, starting from the regular life of Japanese people to their political system, ideology, values, beliefs and philosophy. The author also attempts to give insight into the military structure of Japanese army but his focus is broader and expands his scope. He serves as the spy, who focuses on fundamental concepts of Japanese society and culture. His book helps to understand Japanese culture and uncover the essence of Japanese culture and nation. The detailed description of Japan provided by Kang Hang became an important source of information about Japan for Korean monarch and Korean pe ople.Thus, Kang Hang became a captive of Japanese but, instead of describing them as monsters slaughtering Koreans, he has managed to conduct the in-depth study of Japan and Japanese people to create the book that uncovers the truth about the life, ideology, value and culture of Japan and different aspects of life of Japanese. This is why his book is a valuable source of information about the 16th century Japan.

Sexual Harassment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sexual Harassment - Essay Example The aim of this study is to present scenario of the sexual harassment that occurs in the school environment. This stirs great concern because approximately 81 percent of students experience any form of sexual harassment during their stay in school and 27 percent repeatedly encounters such situations. These students may encounter harassment from other students, which comprise 85% of the student while 40 percent from the teachers and other personnel of the school ("Sexual Harassment Information for Teens" 2006). Sexual harassment is one issue that has a subjective definition. Its meaning varies on the context of different groups, organizations or bodies that implement sanction against harassment. To this effect, teens and adults encounters confusion on the grounds of sexual harassment, thus, they may not voice out such experiences ("Every Teen Counts" 1997). As quoted on the study conducted by Susan Strauss, according to the National Advisory Council on Women's Educational Programs sexual harassment is any action that attacks the sexuality and the sexual aspect or a person acquired with the emphasis on the authority over students that can hindrance the development of full potential and capabilities (1993). Some forms of sexual harassment that female students encounter may include having physical contact, making sexual comments, receiving unwanted communications and indecent propositions. Physical contact can occur in different ways like grabbing or holding sensitive areas of the body and kissing against the will. Giving offensive names, starting rumors or sexual jokes about a person along with bad gestures are forms of sexual harassment. Also, any form of communication that is not welcomed, which may be hostile or distressing to the recipient, is considered as sexual harassment. This may include calls, letters and any form of stalking. Another action that is considered as harassment is indecent proposals. For students, this usually comes in the form of higher grade or academic standing in exchange for sexual favors ("Sexual Harassment Information for Teens" 2006). A survey of the American Association of University Women on 1993, whose results were quoted by Kathryn Wells Murdock and D avid Kysilko in their research, other forms of sexual harassment in school includes any actions that assault the sexuality of a student. Oftentimes, being called gay or lesbian, and other acts of gender-related public humiliation toward same or opposite sexes are included in the grounds for sexual harassment. More than half of the respondent students, 66% were victims of sexually-offensive jokes or actions, which are frequently considered as harmless stunts. This is a misconception because it leaves marks on the victim's personality (1998). Effects of Sexual Harassment Being the object of sexual harassment causes changes in a person's physical and emotional well-being. Effects can be observed in the significant changes in the behavior of a victim of sexual harassment. Some of the indications include self-consciousness, lost of self-esteem, depression and anger towards the attacker. With regards to emotional aspect, female students have more observable indications of sexual harassment experiences compared to male students, although the percentage of the female and the male students that experiences harassment is almost the same. Physical indications

Turner Construction Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Turner Construction Company - Essay Example Turner Construction It was founded in the year 1902 by Henry Chandlee Turner with a start-up capital of $25,000 in New York City and one of its first jobs was to build a concrete vault for the Thrift bank in Brooklyn, value of which was only $600. From those humble beginnings, it started carrying out large scale projects both in the private and government sector throughout America, only pausing during the World Wars, when it diverted its focus in the construction of military camps and other government buildings. Tuner and his family members as well as representatives managed the company for close to 90 years, until 1999, when it was acquired by the German construction company HOCHTIEF Germany for $370 million. With the takeover by Hochtief AG, Turner Construction Company got access to majority of Hochtief’s operations in geographical territories like United Kingdom, Australia, etc., as well as to the clients in the heavy construction field. Thus, it is operating as the subsidiary of HOCHTIEF in o ver 40 countries, employing around â€Å"6,000 internal employees and tens of thousands of subcontractors working on up to 1,500 job sites at any given time in 30 states and multiple countries.† (Whitney 2007).... That is, according to some experts, construction industry comes under the manufacturing sector. As Valence (2010) states, as the construction industry provides services like management, coordination and other finances related activities, it has to be classified as a service industry. However, he (2010) further adds that as it also develops and delivers products like buildings and structures, it can be constituted under the manufacturing sector. Langford and Male (2008) validates this confusion by stating that although it is commonly known as a service industry, it is a misnomer to classify so because it comes up physical products in the form of constructions. However at the same time Langford and Male (2008) provides a balanced stance by stating that given the nature and diversity of activities carried out in the construction industry, it can be classified both as a service as well as manufacturing industry. When the service and manufacturing aspect of Turner is focused, it seems tha t Turner Constructions views itself as the service industry. Because, it is stated to offer â€Å"a broad range of construction services, including general contracting, construction management, project management, design-build, multiple building programs, maintenance services, planning and preconstruction and feasibility studies.† (morgan.experience.com). Although, it offers all the above services to clients in all sectors, however, starting from the recessionary period in 2008, it has restricted itself to focusing on certain sectors. That is, the Turner Construction â€Å"learned a tough lesson in diversification during the late 1980s and 1990s, when commercial contractors suffered from the overbuilding in that sector.† (Wood 2011). So, in