The Classification and Hierarchy of Values Essay -- Philosophy

The Classification and Hierarchy of Values ABSTRACT: I attempt to look into the issue of the ranks of values comprehensively and progressively. Anti-values can be classified into the following six categories by ascending order: (1) the act of destroying the earth-of annihilating humankind and all other living organisms; (2) the act of mass killing of people by initiating a war or committing treason; (3) the act of murdering or causing death to a human being; (4) the act of damaging the body of a human being; (5) the act of greatly harming society; (6) all other crimes not covered by the above. Higher values can be classified into the following five categories in descending rank: (1) absolute values such as absolute truth, absolute goodness, absolute beauty and absolute holiness; (2) the act of contributing to the development and happiness of humankind; (3) the act of contributing to the nation or the state; (4) the act of contributing to the regional society; (5) the act of cultivating oneself and managing one's family well. Generally, people tend to pursue happiness more eagerly than goodness, but because goodness is the higher value than happiness, we ought to pursue goodness more eagerly. In helping people to get the right sense of values and to internalize it, education and enlightenment of citizens based on the guidance of conscience rather than compulsion will be highly effective. 1. Classification of Values I will discuss what kinds of values exist, before talking about their hierarchy. Walter Goodnow Everett classified values into the following eight categories; (1) economic values, (2) bodily values, (3) value of recreation, (4) value of association, (5) character values, (6) aesthetic values, (7) intellectual... ...other crimes not covered by the above. Then, the higher values can be classified into the following five categories by the ranks from the highest one ; (1) absolute values such as absolute truth, absolute goodness, absolute beauty, and absolute holiness, (2) the act of contributing to the development and happiness of the mankind, (3) the act of contributing to the nation or the state, (4) the act of contributing to the regional society, (5) the act of cultivating oneself and managing the family well. Generally speaking, people tend to pursue happiness more eagerly than goodness, but because goodness is the higher value than happiness, we ought to pursue goodness more eagerly. In helping people to get the right sense of values and internalize it, education and enlightenment of citizens based on the guidance of conscience rather than compulsion will be highly effective.

BUSINESS LOYALTY Essay -- essays research papers

Brand Loyalty â€Å" Brand loyalty-that certain something that makes a consumer keep buying over and over again-is an elusive quality. It begins with the consumer’s preference for a product on the basis of objective reasons-the drink is sweeter, the paper towel more absorbent. The brand name is the customer’s guarantee that he/she will get what they expect†(Fisher). As far back as companies go the main question asked when selling their product, how can I get people to purchase my product? This is still a very important issue in the day- to- day operations of any company, but now they are asking a whole new question. In today's fast changing markets, where people are bombarded by advertisements everywhere, people are starting to realize that they don't need to stick with one product for life, and they see that there are many substitutes available. As a result of this new type of market, companies have started to put a large effort towards the development of Brand loyalty. I sha ll explore the topic of Band loyalty and explain its importance in today's business market, and how it motivates a consumer to purchase a given product or service. The phrase Brand loyalty refers to consumers sticking with a brand out of feeling of commitment for that brand. "Consumers attachments to certain brands are so powerful that this loyalty is often considered as a product attribute in and of its self†(Solomon). Solomon’s quote, is showing the attachment that people feel when they purchase a product for a long time, and are still very happy with it, is a huge plus in its self. People enjoy the luxury of not having to scavenge around the supermarket in search of a new product. Brand loyalty is also very attractive to the companies since they enjoy their work being easier, and less costly. It is less expensive and less time consuming to keep old customers, rather than spend money and time advertising towards new ones. "Furthermore, companies with faithful customers tend to be less susceptible to economic down turns or new competitors"(Harrell). There are numerous ways that a company can create Brand loyalty. When the consumers can name the brand for themselves, they are more likely to care about it. To help create that relationship many companies create an entire culture around their brand. By giving the consumer some degree of culture in addition to the product you ar... ...r getting more than a product. It shows that people want to belong to something. For example, the hippies that go to Ben & Jerrys, or people, who go to Starbucks, are getting more than ice cream and coffee. These people are getting an experience that cannot be matched elsewhere. The question is what sounds better if someone asked you what did you do last night? I got coffee at the local coffee shop or I got coffee at Starbucks. When people think of Starbucks they think of the big comfortable chairs and all the people, some even have a fireplace, and newspapers, and board games. Starbucks has created a culture of sitting and drinking coffee and this has become a big big business. This culture is what has made them as successful as they are today. It is as easy as saying if you don't adapt to the times you will not survive in this new market place, so the companies that don't develop Brand loyalty will be at a serious disadvantage. These companies will lose market share, and ultimately pay the price, and that is them going out of business. There is no real excuse for this to happen to any company, considering that there are so many methods, which one can create Brand loyalty.

Expression Through Experience: the Impact of Writers Lives Through Poetry

A. J. Vega Professor Alba English 1317: Introduction to Literature February 13, 2013 Expression Through Experience: The Impact of Writers Lives Through Poetry Poetry comes in various styles, writings, languages, and elements, but it is not just the literature that is different: the poets have their own unique way to write and express themselves through poems. From the 1600s’ to the present, poetry and literature as a whole has changed greatly based on the experiences and events that have taken place in the lives of writers.Like many other people in this world, they have witnessed death, tragedy, heartbreak, and loss of hope, which inspired their writings and changing the world of literature. Because of this, many people can relate to these poems because of similar experiences and can reflect on their perspectives and compare their ideals to the poets that express their thoughts in their work. People like Robert Frost, William Shakespeare, and Matthew Arnold, all unique poets, have made connections to their lives and invested their time into writing poems to express their ideas and feelings to relate to people everywhere.Robert Frost was an American poet during the Naturalism period. This period lasted from the end of the nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. During this period there was brutality of human live and of nature as well (Alba). According to Josh Rahn, â€Å"The dominant theme of Naturalist literature is that persons are fated to whatever station in life their heredity, environment, and social conditions prepare them for. † This implies that people’s lives would be dependent on their own experiences like where and how they lived, who they were and their status in society.Rahn would also relate the Naturalist period to be â€Å"the logical growth of literary Realism† (Rahn). The Naturalist writers of this time did not include religion in their literature, and does not expect the world to change, whether their p erspectives about it are good or bad. At the same time of the Naturalist period, the Progressive Era took place. This is a time where America was starting to be acknowledged as a powerful nation in the world, but internally, the nation was suffering. This was the time leading intoWorld War I and right before the Roaring Twenties and then the Great Depression, which were all unexpected and rapid events occurring right after another. Robert Frost was born in San Francisco in 1874 and moved to the New England area at the age of eleven. Frost married Elinor Miriam White, who was his main inspiration for many of his poetry before her death in 1938 (Academy of American Poets). He was also inspired by British poets during that time like: Edward Thomas, Rupert Brooke, and Robert Graves (Academy of American Poets).Much of Frost’s work that he wrote described the area and landscape of New England, one of which is â€Å"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. † The title, â€Å"St opping by Woods on a Snowy Evening† already gives a general idea of what the poem is describing in which the narrator is in the woods while it is snowing. What makes this poem so interesting is its many interpretations, its different perspectives and its eerie setting that is portrayed. As Frost describes the cold, snow-filled evening through intricate imagery (describing the New England winter nights), a question of why the narrator stops in the woods arises.He admired the dark, snowy, woods a lot which would imply that he enjoyed living in the North New England area and that he often looked around and took notice of his surroundings. Also, many would like to interpret the last two lines of the poem, â€Å"And miles to go before I sleep,† in various ways. It is emphasized by its repeated two lines in the last stanza and based on his personal life it could be metaphorical to after losing his wife that he must continue to live. It is hard to tell why Robert Frost wrote t his poem, because of the vagueness of the poem.Maybe it was about Frost visiting an old friend or acquaintance or even a close relative. The mysteriousness about the poem puts the reader in a sort of disequilibrium, to fathom why would someone stop in the woods on a snowy evening. William Shakespeare was a famous British writer and poet during the English Renaissance. This period took place from 1500 to 1660, right after the medieval period, known as the Dark Ages, where a â€Å"rebirth† transformation occurred (Alba). People had a thirst for learning, reading literature, and rt; many of the things were man centered, rather than being focused on God, taking a shift from religion to the ideas on humanity (Alba). Also, advances in medicine and the discovery of the human circulatory system came about (Alba). One of the most important things that came about during the English Renaissance was the invention of the printing press in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg (Rahn). Through the pri nting press, literature was made very accessible to people, and encouraged reading and learning and an increase of different ideas to spread.As Rahn describes that it â€Å"maximized printing efficiency in a way that changed the world of arts, letters, and ideas forever. † It was timely and expensive to rewrite copies of different literature, which made it hard for people to get a hold of and read, but now that it was accessible, everyone felt encouraged to start reading, especially the fascinating works of Shakespeare. William Shakespeare was known for both his poems and his other literature and also known as a â€Å"word smith,† where he would make up words derived from different languages, to further describe something that was happening in any of his works (Alba).Shakespeare composed his sonnets between 1553 and 1601, and published in 1609, which consisted of 154 different sonnets written in Shakespearean (Academy of American Poets). The Shakespearean writing techn ique is written with three quatrains and a couplet, making it a fourteen line poem, called a sonnet (Alba). All the sonnets fell into two groups: sonnets 1 to 126 were written for â€Å"a beloved friend, a handsome and noble young man,† and 127 to 152 were addressed â€Å"to a malignant but fascinating ‘Dark Lady,’ whom the poet loves in spite of himself† (Academy of American Poets).This is interesting and yet mysterious, as Josh Rahn explains that, â€Å"very few details of the playwright’s life are known today. † What is known about Shakespeare is that he married Ann Hathaway at the age of eighteen and had two daughters (Academy of American Poets). One of the sonnets Shakespeare wrote, Sonnet 116 talks about what true love is in the eyes of Shakespeare. Since this is the one-hundredth and sixteenth sonnet, this poem was addressed to one of his beloved relatives.Maybe Shakespeare was a mentor to his relative and was trying to describe what l ove is to him or her and trying to encourage the relative to not give up on the power of love because it could be mistaken for something else. In the first stanza, Shakespeare first lets the reader know what love is not before he continues to what love is. He describes love to not be a marriage of two people, and change or fall when things happen. He continues on his second stanza where Shakespeare describes that, â€Å"It is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempest and is never shaken† (Shakespeare).The â€Å"ever-fixed mark† that Shakespeare describes is the North Star, the only star in the sky that never moves when traveling; it was a great way for navigation, especially for naval exploration (Alba). During this time, naval exploration began, in which the Americas were discovered and Britain had the greatest navy at the time (Alba). Compared to the North Star, love is never changed and will always be there and will be the â€Å"star to ever wandering bark† (S hakespeare). He also capitalizes the word â€Å"time† in this case, also personifying it to provide emphasis and power to the word. Love’s not Time’s fool† simply relates to the fact that love is forever and that is not controlled by time and does not diminish over time. His last two lines of his sonnet portray his confidence in his own intellectual thoughts and ideas on love. If he was not right, then he never did write, which is not true at all. The Victorian Era (named after Queen Victoria in England) lasted from 1832 to 1901, ending immediately the death of the Queen (Alba). During that time, â€Å"Nearly every institution of society was shaken by rapid and unpredictable change† (Rahn).All of Europe’s nations economies increased and accelerated, the steam engine technology grew, leading to an increase in factory production, and a large income of wealth started the rise of the â€Å"middle class,† according to Josh Rahn on his writi ngs of the Victorian Era. Apart from the positive progress scientifically and economically, there were negatives that affected the demographic of Europe at that time. People were looking towards science and leaving their faith and religion (Alba).The theories of evolution and natural selection, according to Rahn, â€Å"brought humanity down to the level of an animal, and seemingly reduced the meaning of life to a bloody struggle for survival. † They had no need for a God in their lives and relied on their strength and wisdom alone. This led to both an increase in optimism and hope for the future, yet also for others, the downfall of human society and the loss of hope in the world. Matthew Arnold, who lived during the Victorian Era was the son of a clergyman and had religion in his whole life (Alba).He studied at Oxford University and eventually became a professor of poetry at Oxford through his â€Å"reputation as a poet† (Academy of American Poets). One of the things that Arnold struggled with in his writing was that his poetry reflected his problems with psychological isolation (Academy of American Poets). Although he was the son of a minister, he often had trouble with his own faith and â€Å"sought to establish the essential truth of Christianity† (Academy of American Poets).One of the most well known things that Matthew Arnold was known for was his critical essays which â€Å"established criticism as an art form, and has influenced almost every major English critic,† making him undoubtably encouraging with his writings (Academy of American Poets). During this era, he felt encouraged to write, â€Å"Dover Beach. † Dover Beach, located in England, is a vacation spot and a place for romantics with white cliffs that are made of salt with smooth, round rocks and pebbles that replace regular sand that would normally be on the beach (Alba).There are two perspectives as to why Matthew Arnold wrote this poem: that he was talking to a loved one to try to find something to hold on to while the world is dark and seemingly falling apart, or that he is trying to seduce a woman. Since he struggled with various problems in his personal life and the changes that had been occurring in Europe, he must have been trying to find something positive in his life to escape from the real world and focus on the present time. Arnold proclaims in his last stanza of his poem, â€Å"let us be true to one another!For the world, which seems to lie before us like a land of dreams, so various, so beautiful, so new, hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light† to try to keep an optimistic point of view in the darkness of everything around him (Arnold). The way that Arnold uses metaphors to compare the sea to the faith that used to be strong and shake the rocks back and forth now dies in the encompassment of the earthly things that darken the hopes and dreams and people with its â€Å"melancholy, long, withdrawing roar† (Arnold).Matthew Arnold was not trying to use crafty words to seduce a woman into bed with him, he was begging for a light of hope to beacon from this Dover Beach that seems to have lost its own light through the struggles, doubts and despair of others. Through these different poets and writers, people can get a clearer understanding of what it meant to live in various time periods, and the struggles and achievements that they went through and relate it to their poems and writings.Robert Frost, William Shakespeare, and Matthew Arnold affected the literary world through their writings and influenced others to express their lives through the art of poetry and other literature. As their works continue to live on, people will continue to be influenced by both their lives and poetry and hopefully shape their perception on life based on both their individual experiences, and the experiences expressed through these writers. Works Cited Academy of American Poets, 1997-2013. Web. 09 Feb. 201 3. Alba, Brandy. â€Å"Dover Beach† Lecture. Concordia University Texas. 30 Jan. 013. Lecture. Alba, Brandy. â€Å"Sonnet 116† Lecture. Concordia University Texas. 25 Jan. 2013. Lecture. Alba, Brandy. â€Å"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening† Lecture. Concordia University Texas. 01 Feb. 2013. Lecture. Arnold, Matthew. â€Å"Dover Beach†. The Victorian Web, 2002. Web. 10 Feb. 2013 Frost, Robert. â€Å"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening†. The Random House Book of Poetry,1983. Poetry Foundation 2013. Web. 10 Feb. 2013. Rahn, Josh. The Literature Network. Jalic Inc. , 2011. Web. 09 Feb. 2013. Shakespeare, William. â€Å"Sonnet 116†. Amanda Mabillard, 1999-2010. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.

Police and Criminal Justice

In the United States today, the average citizen is unaware of the corruption that goes on in our Criminal Justice System. Law enforcement and Police Officers are abusing their power. If this goes unnoticed it could grow larger and cause bigger problems in our country. The United States Criminal Justice System is one of the best in the whole world. In other countries there is little or no policing. Police officers in the US are well-trained and it is hard to reach their position without a strong education.A huge quality of a perfect Police Officer is a perfect control of temper because a quiet determined manner has more effect than violent action. But everyone isn't perfect and there are Police Officers out there that abuse their power and create a dangerous environment for the people around them. During the 1960's Police Brutality was at an all time high. Police were being biased and attacked those that they did not like because they had the power to do so. On March 3, 1991 when Rodn ey King and his friend Bryant Allen were driving in Los Angeles, they refused to stop for an officer trying to pull them over.Instead they increased their speed and when the Police finally stopped the car they viciously beat King for a period of two minutes. He was left with 11 skull fractures, brain damage, and kidney damage. The police officers did not realize though that their actions were being videotaped. They were eventually tried and found not guilty by an all white jury. This set off 6 days of rioting and the case prompted an era of reform. In the book, â€Å"Essentials of Criminal Justice† written by Larry Siegel, it notes some of the things done by Police Departments to make sure that Policemen are not abusing their power.These include, â€Å"increasing the intelligence standards on the Police Force, officers to be given mental exams to weed out officers that are mentally unfit for the job, and oral boards, which are sitting down with Police Chiefs and answering qu estions about the Job†. Although all these precautions are set to limit or diminish abusive power, it is still a problem that needs to be dealt with. According to Diane Wetendorf, who wrote a book on Abusing Power in Law enforcement she states that, â€Å"Society grants members of law enforcement enormous power over citizens to enable the police to keep the peace and to preserve social rder.They are granted a great deal of freedom to use their Judgment regarding which laws to enforce, when and against whom. This wide range of options and authority can lead to the abuse of their power. Some police officers come to see themselves not as simply enforcers of the law, but as the law itself. † Police that abuse their power look at things from a Personal view rather than a professional view. Police Brutality exists in many forms including False Arrest, Intimidation, Racial Profiling, Sexual Abuse and Surveillance abuse.This exists because officers are not rotecting and serving , they are rather going after those that they do not like. In other Countries, Police Departments are corrupt and work with Politicians to create a world run by the Police and Politics. In alt â€Å"H the Sky', a book written by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn, the police are very corrupt and it causes mayhem in their country. The police in India are tied into Politics and Criminals. The police work with the leaders of prostitution businesses, called brothels. The police take bribes from the leaders and look the other way when something wrong is happening.In Half the Sky stories are told about the corruption within the Police Forces. When people come running to the police about a rape or something bad that had been done to them, the police usually side with the criminals and nothing is done about the crime. In India the average person doesn't have a say at all. If they are convicted of a crime they did not do they cannot go to court and have a trial like we do. They are sent right to Jail without being questioned. Police work with High power criminals and run most of the big prostitution businesses.This is what the US ould lead to if Policemen that abuse their power are not stopped. On November 7, 2013, I conducted an interview with Alice Perry about corruption in Law Enforcement. Alice Perry is a Criminal Justice Professor at Westfield State University and has a huge background in Law Enforcement. She has prosecuted many Police Officers in the US that have abused their power. She has convicted officers for stealing drugs from the evidence room, and also an officer that was selling drugs in state prison. She also told me a story about the police abusing their power in Etowah County, Alabama.According to a blog on the American Civil Liberties Union's website, it states that â€Å"About once a month, a marked sheriffs car shows up, unannounced and after dark, outside a family's home in Alabama. Uniformed officers walk to the family's door, in plain sight of every neighbor. They knock and demand to be let in. If the family refuses, the police threaten them with arrest. Once inside, the officers search the family's home – all without ever obtaining a warrant. † When one member of the family was a child he was convicted of a sexual offense and had to register as a sex ffender.The policeman had no right to search the house randomly without a warrant, and caused unwanted attention and embarrassment to the family. This is police abuse of power and must be stopped or it may happen to families throughout the country. Perry also explained to me that it is crucial for policing to be honest and law-abiding because they have so much power and could cause harm to civilians. They must perform the Job as if they are always being videotaped. I brought up the Half the Sky book and the issues there and asked if she thought that law enforcement layed a big role on why people live such a harsh life there.She replied, â€Å"Absolutely. Ty ranny exists in those countries. If you're afraid of the police you won't say anything or report crimes because you're afraid of being thrown in Jail. In M ©xico 45% of prosecutors and Judges are on cartels payroll. Around 50% of police officers are on the same payroll. The cartels and Politician's have a relationship together and this creates a lawless environment. † We must not let the Police become power driven and turn into corrupt officers like the Police in India. There is a way to stop this. We must ecome aware of Police Brutality and Abusive power and act on it.State, Federal, and Local Authorities should ensure that abuses including torture, brutality, and other excessive force by Police officers should not be tolerated and the Officers should be held accountable for their actions and be brought to Justice. Police Officers are using excessive force and are not getting in trouble at all. The victims are not speaking up and this could cause the abusive Police Officers to think that they can't be stopped and they will continue doing so. Another solution to all of this is to introduce training rograms designed to minimize the risk of unnecessary force.These training programs should include gender issues and sensitivity to minority groups. This would help steer a lot of Police Officers from being Abusive toward minority groups and become less biased. Other training programs should include ethics and integrity training. We can help out by making the community aware of the issue, whether it's by having guest speakers, showing videos, or having meetings and explaining the issue. If we don't take action then our Law Enforcement could become as corrupt as other countries police forces.

The Gambia

For my first location I will be investigating the Gambia. I have chosen the Gambia because it's not a very large country and there's plenty of information available for it. The Gambia is mainly a winter sun destination this means that most visitors go there when it's cold here but hot there in the months of November to February. It's a long haul destination with a 6-hour flight and is Africa's smallest country only 30miles wide and 300miles long and is known as the ‘smiling cost'. The Gambia is very popular because it's a bird watchers paradise with tropical birds never seen before and also because everyone speaks English also it has famous museums to learn more about the slave trade like ‘Roots'. Majority of the population is Muslim. Development of tourism in the Gambia The Tourism in Gambia started some 40 yrs ago, when Gambia got its independence from British rule in 1965 and has increased every year from than. The development of hotels has had a definite increase with statistics recording around 660 tourist in 1965, than a very big increase from 1975 with over 25, 000 and the latest records show an even larger increase with 112,986 tourists in 1998/99. This is a very large number of tourists considering that the population is only 1,367,124 (approx). The main increase is due to the all inclusive hotels were guest pay one price up front for all their food, drink and entertainment in the hotel. The all inclusive hotels have been a problem because tourist do not bother to leave the hotel and see the natural beauty and meet the local people which means they do not benefit from the tourist because they cant sell the souvenirs or other things and the tourist miss out because they do not get to explore the beauty of the country and try local cuisines which also means that local restaurants loose out. Another problem is that not all of the money stays in the country because usually the hotels are foreign owned and the money reaches the mother company and this is when leakages occur. There are a few advantages due to the hotels which are that many local people get jobs in the hotels which means less unemployment and also the contribute to the local economy due to government taxes. The government did try to close the all inclusive hotels down because of all the problems they were causing but because of this tourist stopped coming all together so they had to bring them back again. The impacts of tourism on the physical environment Tourism in the Gambia has had both positive and negative impacts. The infrastructure of the country has a big part in the environment, the negative sides of the infrastructure are that building work such as hotels and restaurants mean that large amounts of land has to be cleared to make room for all the facilities which mean that the natural rainforest have to be cut down which also may mean the loss of habitat. There is a great deal of soil erosion and footpath erosion on frequently visited destinations, which in the future could cause problems. The positive sides are that with the new hotels and restaurants for the tourist they need to make basic things like clean running water, electricity and a sewage system, which will also benefit the local people. Another advantage is that greater awareness on the interests in the landscape and vegetation is being taken, also there is a greater need for preservation of ancient monument. The impact of tourism on the local community Majority of the Gambia is Muslim who have very strict food, drink and dress regulations. Tourist especially from European countries who know little about the belief may behave in an inappropriate manner while visiting there. Women lay topless on the beaches and men walk around half naked around the market area, this causes conflict between the tourist and local people because the locals were bought up to learn that those things are wrong. An example is if tourist walk around holding hands it would upset the local community because they think that there children mite start to think its okay to do this. Because of the tourist the crime rate usually goes up because of tourist getting drunk causing disturbance, women getting raped and more drug related crimes go up and this could also mean that the local people think this is the correct way to behave, this is known as the demonstration affect this causes great conflict between generations because the new generation may think that there religion is old and out of date and change their traditional morals and general behaviour. Also traditional ways of cooking will be changed because most tourist want fast food so local restaurants will have to change there ways of cooking and also music and arts will be changed because of foreigners wanting TV's and radio's. English words will replace the local language. All this means that the local communities will loose there traditional way of life and will have to change to survive. It can also be argued that all of these problems are not all due to the impacts of tourism because in the modern world you have TV were the local's can see the lifestyle of foreigners and will try to copy it, reading magazines and also because of the people travelling to other countries all adds up to the changes.

The Middle Age

The Middle Age has been portrayed as a tumultuous period that started from the fall of Rome in 476 AD to the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation in 1517.   In spite of all the negative depictions of the period, the two most important contributions of this period are: (1) the rise of independent nations out of the fragmentation of the former Roman Empire; and (2) the rise of urban towns which eventually became centers of trade and sustained economic activity in Europe. Morris Bishop, in the book The Middle Ages, describes this period of European history both as â€Å"a continuation and a formation.† It is a continuation in the sense that it continued the Roman legacy and civilizations, assimilating the â€Å"barbaric† civilizations along the way (Bishop, p. 7). But more importantly, this is a formation, according to Bishop, because out of this period emerged the modern Europe of our times. Out of the ashes of the former â€Å"grandeur that was Rome† arose independent nations with a common language and tradition. The Carolingian Empire founded by Charlemagne in 800 AD was subdivided into different geographical patches because of inheritance over his grandsons and great grandsons. These geo-political subdivisions of Europe eventually defined the boundaries of modern Europe as we now know it. It gave birth to the independent nations of France, England, and the Italian city-states. Moreover, it was during the Middle Age that the masses of the different regions of the former empire developed their vernaculars (from Latin vernaculus, â€Å"out of one’s house†) that eventually became the modern languages. During the height of the Roman Empire, Latin was used as the language of nobility, politics and church. In medieval times, the Christianized â€Å"barbaric† tribes gradually developed their own version of Latin. The geo-political subdivisions mentioned earlier hastened the rise of these vernaculars that would later develop into independent languages of Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese. With common political background and language, the independent kingdoms arose. The Crusades also helped strengthen these newly-created kingdoms by weakening the hold of the nobility and ending the feudal system, thus making the nobles swear allegiance to the king. Indeed, much of Europe’s boundaries, geographically and politically, were in essence created during the Middle Age. Economic activity during the early Middle Age was almost halted by the constant wars that plagued the boundaries of the former empire. Transferring goods from one location to another proved dangerous, and with the rise of Muslim armies controlling east of the Mediterranean, trading between the eastern and western regions of the empire declined. The latter part of the Medieval Period, however, was characterized as a period of relative peace, and even though there were political instabilities, especially within the crumbling Byzantine Empire, trading flourished within commercial districts and towns. The medieval towns laid the foundations of trading that now characterize modern economy. The system of economy shifted from the land-based feudalism to that of money-based mercantilism. Merchants emerged, and they engaged in banking, which financed economic activity. Even kings and nobles borrow money from the merchant class, and they were regarded as an important component of the society. With the rise of the merchant class, the material growth led to the fostering of the arts and literature, as these merchants became patrons of the arts and supporters of artists. Citizens engaging in the businesses or the trades established guilds to promote mutual aid and protection, the forerunners of present-day labor unions. Even the land laborers, who were then very much oppressed, were empowered during this period, as described by Barbara Rosenwein: â€Å"Peasants, like town citizens, gained a new sense of identity and solidarity as they bargained with a lord keen to increase his income at their expense† (Rosenwein, p. 224). In summary, the Middle Age created a strong and materially progressive Europe. The independent nations of modern-day Europe owes much to the events that occurred during the period between 500 and 1500 AD.   The Middle Age also created an atmosphere of active trading and economic activity, which in turn caused proliferation of the arts and culture. Bishop, Morris. The Middle Ages. Houghton Mifflin Books, 2001. Rosenwein, Barbara. A Short History of the Middle Ages. Broadway Press, 2004.

Ariel Dorfmans Death and the Maiden 40 lines analysis Essay Example for Free (#40)

Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden 40 lines analysis Essay Death (671) , Sylvia Plath (42) , Ariel (31) company About StudyMoose Contact Careers Help Center Donate a Paper Legal Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Complaints The following forty lines from Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden (1990), take place in scene 1 of Act 3, after Roberto has been tied up by Paulina and threatened with being tortured the same way as she had been, and then shot. In response to Paulinaà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s threats, Roberto begins confessing the brutality of his actions and his motives. This confession may be true; however, Gerardo has advised Roberto to indulge Paulina, to confess as this would save his life. Whatever the case, the extract is important because it portrays how a man can slide into brutality, without initially meaning to. Second, the extract is important because it helps expose the iniquities of dictatorial military governments. Finally, it is also important because it gives us an idea of Roberto’s character and personality. In this extract we clearly see the stages by which a respectable doctor became a brutal sadistic torturer. Though Roberto’s brother told him that helping the torturers could be a way to â€Å"pay the communists back for what they did to [his] dad,† Roberto stresses that he accepted the job for â€Å"humanitarian reasons.† Firstly, he wanted to help the prisoners who â€Å"were dying† from the tortures as â€Å"someone to help care for them, someone they could trust.† Later on, however, Roberto became involved in more â€Å"delicate operations† and was asked to â€Å"sit in on sessions where [his] role was to determine if the prisoners could take that much torture.† This indicates that he was there while the prisoners were tortured, watching these brutal scenes. Roberto thought this † was a way of saving people’s lives,† as he â€Å"ordered them to stop or the prisoner would die;† however, watching brutalized him, and slowly the â€Å"virtue [he] was feeling turned into excitement.† Soon, â€Å"brutalization took over [his] life† and he began â€Å"to truly like what [he] was doing,† so much so that, from an observer, he became a participant. Torture became a â€Å"game† for him, a game that was â€Å"partly morbid, partly scientific,† as he tortured women to find out things like â€Å"How much can this woman take? More than the other one? How’s her sex? Does her sex dry up when you put the current through her? Can she have an orgasm under those circumstances?† By the end, Roberto had become a sadist totally obsessed with â€Å"carry[ing] out all [his] fantasies† of sexually torturing women who were â€Å"entirely in his power,† women with whom he could do â€Å"whatever [he] want[ed].† So, stage by stage, we see in the example of Roberto how men can slide from positions of respectability and motives of kindness and compassion to becoming human monsters, men who delight in the sufferings of others. The tragedy of Robertoà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s slide from being a humanitarian to being a torturer is emphasized by the style of his speech, which reveals that he is an intelligent, educated, insightful man. Firstly we see how Roberto’s diction indicates his intelligence and level of education. Words such as â€Å"brutalization† and â€Å"morbid,† and phrases such as â€Å"he lost his capacity for speech,† â€Å"humanitarian reasons† and â€Å"install a totalitarian dictatorship† clearly manifest his ability to speak articulately and in a high register. We also see how analytically capable Roberto is, as he does not just describe his own actions but explains why they occurred, carefully dissecting his his motives for working with the torturers, not to â€Å"pay the communists back† but â€Å"for humanitarian reasons.† He can organize his account in clear, logical stages, with phrases like â€Å"It was slowly, almost without realizing how,† â€Å"At first,† â€Å"But afterwards,† â€Å"By the time,† â€Å"I began to,† and â€Å"It became.† Additionally, even in the circumstances in which he is giving this confession, in fear of his life, Roberto uses figurative language, suggesting that he has good rhetorical abilities. He uses euphemism, for example, in calling torture sessions â€Å"delicate operations,† and he uses metaphors when he refers to his brutalization as â€Å"the mask of virtue fell off,† and to his descent into sadistic torture as â€Å"the swamp.† So, we see how Roberto’s use of language clearly reveals his high level of education and intelligence, and this makes us even more horrified at how such a sophisticated man could have become a brutal torturer of women. More than exposing the degeneration of individual men, exemplified in Roberto, however, this extract also exposes the iniquities of military dictatorships, like the Pinochet regime in Chile, which Dorfman himself had to flee from. We see how military governments divided families: though Roberto became a doctor devoted to saving lives, his brother, determined to â€Å"pay the communists back for what they did to [their] father,† took another path, joining the military dictatorship and becoming a â€Å"member of the secret services.à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½Ã¢â‚¬  We also are given the impression of how military dictatorships can convince people to support them by manipulating their sufferings under previous governments, promising some kind of compensation, as Robertoà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s brother joined the dictatorship to â€Å"pay the communists back for what they didà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ to his father à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½the day the peasants took over his land at Las Toltecas.† Such governments also persuade people to support them, as Roberto did, by deceit and lies, getting Roberto involved in torture by saying the prisoners needed â€Å"someone they could help care for them,† but actually slowing criminalizing Roberto as a torturer. The fact that â€Å"they† have had such an enormous influence on Robertoà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s personality shows just how psychologically manipulative such regimes can be. Finally, the fact that, throughout his speech, Roberto refers to the government only as â€Å"they† evokes the way in which such governments work in the shadows, secretly and anonymously, to torture and terrorize. Thus this extract does not only show how Roberto and men like him deteriorate when they become involved in torture; it also shows how dictatorial regimes can manipulate such men, facilitating and enabling this deterioration to occur. In conclusion, this extract is very important as, whether Robertoà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s confession is true or feigned, it reveals how even the best of men may slide into such brutality and how military governments can create vile monsters out of exemplary human beings. Through the details of Robertoà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s confession, Dorfman is inviting his audience to consider how a man becomes sub-human. If a respectable doctor, a benefactor to the community, could turn into such a monster because of the effects of such a regime, then what would happen to the rest of society? Dorfman tries to make the reader consider that this incident that has turned Roberto’s life into a monster might happen to anybody in our society; especially in a switch of regime. Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden 40 lines analysis. (2017, Nov 13). We have essays on the following topics that may be of interest to you