Henrik Isbens A Dolls House :: A Dolls House Essays

A Doll’s House When the play â€Å"A Doll’s House† by Henrik Ibsen was first performed, society was much different, and the play shocked many people. Today we don't have quite the same problem, but a deeper look at the "meaning" of the play reveals that it is about problems themselves, not a specific issue. Perhaps a play about gay parenting, internet privacy, or AIDS in the workplace can strike chords of concern in our contemporary audience, and Ibsen's works (perhaps) should be viewed in light of their impact upon social awareness rather than as purely historical pieces. If Nora’s story seems somewhat "archaic" to us, because of our own enlightenment, then we can in a sense thank Ibsen for his pioneering work as a social conscience. Rather, what the play symbolizes about our needs in society, to communicate, and to work towards understanding and tolerance, are much more important issues to a modern day audience. It makes us wonder; can we still learn from Ibsen? Yes we can. Many modern day values are presented in this family. Money is still such a vital role in society. If you don’t have it your worthless, and if you do you are nice to have around. People need money, and still today they will go out of their way to get it. At the time Ibsen's wrote and presented this play it was unheard of that a women COULD leave her family in pursuit of herself and her own happiness. Nowadays this idea is commonplace. Ibsen showed that women were first people, not just doll's, not a â€Å"play thing† for her husband. And that women are intelligent and had others needs then raising a family, and taking care of the home.

Probation and Electronic Monitoring Essay -- essays research papers

I am doing this paper on electronic monitoring. I am doing this paper because I need a paper to write for you and this is the page I opened to in the book to get the idea. No, really because I believe that electronic monitoring is a terrific way to police probation and parolees when probation and parole officers are so severely overworked. By not having to check in on the offenders as much, because at any time we can hit a button and know exactly where they are, or be notified instantly when they are somewhere they shouldn’t be, it would be a lot easier on probation and parole officers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Electronic monitoring is a good idea and should be used more. The advances in technology can be very useful in community corrections. Implementing GPS technology into these el...

Optimism vs. Pessimism in Popes Essay on Man and Leapors Essay on Wom

Optimism vs. Pessimism in Pope's Essay on Man and Leapor's Essay on Woman     Ã‚   Both Alexander Pope's Essay on Man, Epistle 2 and Mary Leapor's Essay on Woman expound the fatalist contention that neither man nor woman can "win," as each individual exists in a world of trade-offs. Yet, by each author's singular technique of sculpting his ideas with the literary tools of contrast, argument, and syntax, the cores of the two essays turn back to back, evolving into distinct, but contrary perspectives of Man's (in respect to mankind) and Woman's existence. Pope asserts that a profusion of trade-offs establish a certain equilibrium point where Man hangs "on this isthmus of a middle state" (Magill 2629). After defining the boundaries of Man's oscillations through a procession of clever paradoxes of words, Pope conciliates Man's unpredictable balance, or fulcrum point, as the essence of Man as an individual. Although consistent with Pope's theory of life's extremes, Mary Leapor utilizes contrasting imagery within specific female case studies to decry the life of Woman as doomed to slavery by her inevitable fate. The two poets' views ultimately oppose each other. While Pope experiments with punctuation and precision, Leapor explores the effects of personalization. By subtly but convictively proposing an optimistic perspective, that Man's confused position is his claim to fame, Pope intones his poetry with an uplifting vitality readily conducted to his reader; whereas Leapor opines Woman's confused position as the doom of life's essence and transitively condemns her reader to the incurable pessimism she so vividly relates.    The essence of man, as defined by Pope, is a series of paradoxical, yet concrete sets of contrasting wo... ...les: 1968.    Dixon, Peter. The World of Pope's Satires. Methuen & Co, London: 1968.    Lonsdale, Roger. Eighteenth Century Women Poets. Ed. Oxford University Press, London: 1952.       Morris, David B. Wit, Rhyme and Couplet: Style as Content in Pope's Art. Jackson-Wallace, New York: 1993. Rosslyn. From Alexander Pope: A Literary Life. Cambridge UP, Cambridge: 1993.    Sherburn, George. The Best of Pope. Ronald Press Company, New York: 1929.    Soloman, Harry M. "Johnson's Silencing of Pope: Trivializing an Essay of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual. New York: 1992. on Man." The Age    Tillotson, Geoffrey. On the Poetry of Pope. Clarendon Press, Oxford: 1950.    Thomas, Claudia N. Alexander Pope and His Eighteenth-Century Women Southern Illinois Readers. University Press, Carbondale: 1994.       Optimism vs. Pessimism in Pope's Essay on Man and Leapor's Essay on Wom Optimism vs. Pessimism in Pope's Essay on Man and Leapor's Essay on Woman     Ã‚   Both Alexander Pope's Essay on Man, Epistle 2 and Mary Leapor's Essay on Woman expound the fatalist contention that neither man nor woman can "win," as each individual exists in a world of trade-offs. Yet, by each author's singular technique of sculpting his ideas with the literary tools of contrast, argument, and syntax, the cores of the two essays turn back to back, evolving into distinct, but contrary perspectives of Man's (in respect to mankind) and Woman's existence. Pope asserts that a profusion of trade-offs establish a certain equilibrium point where Man hangs "on this isthmus of a middle state" (Magill 2629). After defining the boundaries of Man's oscillations through a procession of clever paradoxes of words, Pope conciliates Man's unpredictable balance, or fulcrum point, as the essence of Man as an individual. Although consistent with Pope's theory of life's extremes, Mary Leapor utilizes contrasting imagery within specific female case studies to decry the life of Woman as doomed to slavery by her inevitable fate. The two poets' views ultimately oppose each other. While Pope experiments with punctuation and precision, Leapor explores the effects of personalization. By subtly but convictively proposing an optimistic perspective, that Man's confused position is his claim to fame, Pope intones his poetry with an uplifting vitality readily conducted to his reader; whereas Leapor opines Woman's confused position as the doom of life's essence and transitively condemns her reader to the incurable pessimism she so vividly relates.    The essence of man, as defined by Pope, is a series of paradoxical, yet concrete sets of contrasting wo... ...les: 1968.    Dixon, Peter. The World of Pope's Satires. Methuen & Co, London: 1968.    Lonsdale, Roger. Eighteenth Century Women Poets. Ed. Oxford University Press, London: 1952.       Morris, David B. Wit, Rhyme and Couplet: Style as Content in Pope's Art. Jackson-Wallace, New York: 1993. Rosslyn. From Alexander Pope: A Literary Life. Cambridge UP, Cambridge: 1993.    Sherburn, George. The Best of Pope. Ronald Press Company, New York: 1929.    Soloman, Harry M. "Johnson's Silencing of Pope: Trivializing an Essay of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual. New York: 1992. on Man." The Age    Tillotson, Geoffrey. On the Poetry of Pope. Clarendon Press, Oxford: 1950.    Thomas, Claudia N. Alexander Pope and His Eighteenth-Century Women Southern Illinois Readers. University Press, Carbondale: 1994.      

Students Must Not Take Part in Politics

STUDENT MUST NOT TAKE PART IN POLITICS Albert Einstein observed: â€Å"It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacity to give validity to his conviction in political affairs. †Ã‚   I’m sure, this pretty much sums up why we’re debating on this topic today, since we students are considered to have become â€Å"politically aware† by the age of 18. So, what exactly do we understand by the word â€Å"politics†. Politics is the  art  or  science  of influencing people on a civic, or individual level, says most of us present here.I’msure all of it sounds really great but in reality, politics has been synonymous with violence and vandalism ever since its origin, and associating students with it only worsens the scenario. Students are mainly at a tender age and cannot make proper political judgements as they can be easily misled by emotional values or brainwashed by big leaders from big political parties and with the political parties realising the benefits of harvesting voters young, university elections have entered the big league.Big money, big campaigns, big names and big intimidation. We have to understand, that when we use the term â€Å"student politics†, the body to benefit the most from its decisions should be the students themselves. Unfortunately, it is not really so. Infact , the students are the worst sufferers in the war of Power and there is only one reason for this-the financial benefit the so-called student leaders are receiving aims at promoting the mission and vision of the national political leader.This is why, despite the existence of several student unions since times immemorial, government colleges and institutions continue to be in their sorry state with no development or advancement whatsoever. In order to develop a political awakening within the students,we need not join politics at a time when we should be educating ourselves, rather we can engage in social services and l earn how to speak up for what’s right or wrong without any fear in a non-violent yet an impactful way.Student politics has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, like expensive campaigning, violence, nepotism, threatening, intimidating professors, and conducting strikes. Student leaders, once elected, think themselves of more like ministers, surrounded by hangers-on and unapproachable to the students actually in need. Attacks on the principal and higher authorities in Raiganj and Rampurhat College are just a few examples of how terrifying and horrific the reality regarding student politics is.At the end of the day, for an ordinary student, all that student politics means is loss of study time, without any redressal of problems. In fact, some may even suffer discrimination when student leaders carry out nepotism in various forms like wanting to take up all hostel space to accommodate their supporters, and insist on out-of-turn admissions or forcefully make the students sw ear allegiance to their party in exchange of such favours or resort to violence yet again. Student politics has become as bankrupt of issues as national politics.What matters now are affiliations, caste, history, religion, and of course money. It was never imagined that student politics would breed terrorism, extortion, vandalism and even murder. Students have been used as tools taking them away from pursuing their academic goals. These days student politics is not concerned about the academic problems, such as computer facilities, photocopies at nominal charge, but only about violence, and cadre politics of flexing muscles in the academic areas.And the main casualty of all this violence is Education. The campuses these days have turned out to be arsenals of sophisticated weapons. But this was never the objective that drove the parents to send their wards to join colleges and universities or pursue higher studies. What could be more shocking for the parents than their wards coming b ack home in a coffin as a sequel to campus violence? It is high time that everyone realises the incalculable harm that â€Å"politics in its ugliest form† has done to the student community.It is evident from the growing incidents of campus violence that Hooliganism is gaining ground than idealism among student leaders. The student unions have become more inclined towards their political identity rather than protesting against ceratin causes for the welfare of the students. Only recently, a second-year BCom student of Prabhu Jagabandhu College in Andul, Howrah, died after he was thrown into a canal by members of a rival students' union. Two days after this incident, a student Of Ashutosh College lost vision in his left eye after being an innocent victim of campus violence once again.Such incidents are not only limited to India,only last year, in the north-eastern region of Nigeria,26 students were killed,in the aftermath of students union elections, at the college hostels, whe rein the the newly elected leader of the student union alongwith his supporters other went from door-to-door, shooting or stabbing their victims. Student Politics has increasingly led to the loss of innumerable young and promising talents of the country. Last but not the least, in spite of the strong presence of students taking part in politics, an inhuman dearth of noble natures in Politics at the national level is being witnessed.Students who are active in politics tend to neglect their studies for that. They have got themselves scholarships or loans and a chance to study at a college or university. Why not wait until they have finished their studies first? The discredit very much lies with the students taking part in politics, because, unless they are educated and refined themselves, there is little hope of its resurgence because it has been rightly said that without education, man is a splendid slave, a reasoning savage.

Just off main street †summary Essay

In â€Å"Just Off Main Street† author Elmaz Abinader depicts the physical and social barrier between Americans and hyphenated Americans such as Arab-Americans who live in dual sensitivity facing identity crisis, racism and other various problems living in America. In the first part of the story â€Å"Crossing The Threshold† we learn of young Abinader, her family, their customs and how they are separated from the rest of the families in their town. In the second part of the story â€Å"Making A Writerâ€Å"Abinader explains how entering college changes her view on her identity that lead to the person she is today. Abinader grew up in a small Pennsylvanian town, her father and uncle ran three businesses through which they served the neighborhood. From the store gate Abinader saw no difference between her father and the people on the streets. This idea soon changed when she met the two Barbie like girls in school, she realized there was nothing in common between her and the other kids. Even though they didn’t know how her lifestyle was, they made fun of her. After she reaches home she understands her life and that of her peers are separated by the â€Å"magic door†. Since it’s a Wednesday Abinader’s mother prepared Arab delicacies which have â€Å"hypnotic† effect on her. The three boys and three girls of the Abinader family had after school duties, devotion to God, obedience to parents, and good school grades dominated the family. They gave little importance to interactions that took place outside the house. On holidays, relatives visited, they ate together, danced and enjoyed but Abinader knew that her life inside and outside the â€Å"magic door â€Å"would always clash, she would never be accepted by her peer and felt like an outcast. Abinader went to university of Pittsburgh when she grew up. That had nationality classrooms which represented different cultures. The Syrian-Lebanese room, one she wanted to see was locked and required permission to access. When she finally got into it, the royal furnishing and exoticness of the room made her feel proud. Soon she wrote about her heritage culture but she realized the Americans â€Å"exoticized† her. Focused on her writing, she wrote about her family and their history that was suppressed inside. Her writing was still inside the door.Outside the door she felt unwelcomed. Abinader didn’t give up and continued writing about the issues on identity, culture, etc. She participated in activism as a U.S citizen, marched, protested and created committees. Her writing made her feel like an activist as it conveyed her message more directly.

Jane Loevinger and Her Theory of Ego Development Essay

Human development is a fascinating subject. Psychologists have long studied the recurrent patterns of how humans develop physically, emotionally, and psychologically. If psychologists can find patters, then they can begin to predict behavior and understand how and why people behave the way they do. Many theories have been put forth to try to explain some of the consistencies people go through as they develop. Jane Loevinger is one of those developmental theorists. Her theory of ego development has been a significant contribution to the psychological world. Loevinger was born in 1918. She grew up in Minnesota as the daughter of a lawyer and homemaker. Her home was comfortable, but not full of a lot of love. After finishing her undergraduate and master’s degree at the University of Minnesota, she ended up at the University of California. There she was a research assistant for Erik Erikson. She learned a great deal during this time about her own thoughts and beliefs about psychology (www. webster. edu). In 1943 she finished her PhD dissertation on the construction and evaluation of tests of ability. Her critique of test reliability made her no friends in the psychometric world, and publications refused to publish her work. She ended up paying for the publication herself. After finishing her dissertation, Loevinger quit working full time to have her two children. During this time she felt the guilt and pressure all moms feel. Working moms feel guilty for all the time they spend away from their children, and stay-at-home moms feel guilty for not doing anything professionally. She also felt discriminated against because of her gender. After working in unfulfilling part-time jobs, Loevinger finally decided to get back to research. She was one of the first psychologists to focus her testing on the demographic of women. She began working with a small group of women, and eventually designed the Sentence Completion Test (SCT) which consists of thirty-four open-ended questions that measures ego development. This test led her to develop her theory of ego development, which states that a person’s ego development follows nine typical phases (psychology-health. today. com). Loevinger’s theory of personality asserts that as people grow, they begin to internalize social rules, become less impulsive, and mature in their decision-making processes. The first stage of development is the infancy stage. This is the very beginning of development and ego. The infant does not know how to do anything but cry when it needs something. No thoughts are about anything other than the self. The impulsive stage is similar; when a young child wants something, they want it now. They are starting to understand consequences at this stage, so there is some awareness of others. The self-protected stage is when children first exhibits self control. They understand rewards and consequences, and are very motivated by them. The next stage, the conformist stage, is when conforming to the group of peers in paramount. There is no identity outside the group, and the disapproval of others is a major problem. Behaviors are judged by what happened, not by the intentions behind them. Finally, in the self-aware stage, there begins to be a bit of maturity. This is when people begin to become individuals. There is more to life than the group, and an inner sense of self is emerging. The conscientious stage takes those ideas even further. Here the person has goals and ideals, a sense of responsibility, and feels guilt not only about breaking a rule, but because of the thought of hurting others. Motives are taken into account as well as actions. During the individualistic stage, there develops a greater tolerance of other people, as well as an awareness of inner conflict. During this stage, the person will pull away from the group toward a more individual identity. People in the autonomous stage show a great deal of maturity. They worry about their needs verses the duties of their lives, they want self-fulfillment, and they can understand more than one point of view. Finally, the integrated stage is reached when a person fully understands their own identity. She is self-actualizing, and can understand behavior motives and intentions of others as well as herself. While not all people will be able to reach this last stage of integration, Loevinger shows a road map of how to get there. I feel her developmental theory is meaningful today, because people still have inner struggles throughout the course of their lives. When I think about all of my friends and family, I can see which stage they are each in. Loevinger contributed a theory that definitely stands the test of time and is relevant to people today. I can also look back over my life and see that some decisions I made were direct results of the stage I was in at the time. I feel like I am always trying to improve myself on the inside, and be a good person on the outside, so I feel I am in the conscientious stage. I know some of my friends who are still in the conformist stage, and this is probably a source for much of our conflict. I cannot understand why they are so concerned with what others think about them, but it might be simply because they have no matured past that stage yet. I think most young adults fall somewhere between the conformist and self-aware stages. That is why so many young adults get into trouble; they follow the group and try drugs or things they would not ordinarily try on their own. The group mentality can be very problematic, and the power it has over young adults is scary. Loevinger contributed a theory of ego development that has made a significant impact on how we understand why we act the way we do. Her stages of development represent specific time frames of life and the decisions that many people make during those times. Her theory is relevant today and still has valid implications for anyone studying human development. References Women’s intellectual contributions to the study of mind and society. Retrieved May 17, 2009, from http://www. webster. edu/~woolflm/loevinger. html Writer 44. Jane Loevinger’s theory of ego development. Retrieved May 17, 2009 from http://psychology-health. today. com/2009/03/01/jane-loevingers-theory-of-ego-development/

Discuss Changing Family Structures in the Uk and Give Examples of Sociological Theories That Provide Explanations as to Why and How Families Have Changed.

Discuss changing family structures in the UK and give examples of sociological theories that provide explanations as to why and how families have changed. This essay will discuss the various family structures in society. It will give theoretical explanation as to why and how families have changed. The essay will also bring statistical, historical and political evidence to back up the reason for these changes. During the pre-industrial society the ‘extended family’ was the most common family structure.This family structure involves three generations including the parents, children and either the grandparents (vertical-extended) or uncles and aunts (horizontally-extended). The extended family structure was essential for this society as families were a ‘unit of production’ so they needed as many workers as they could get. Michael Anderson (1971) argued that in ‘critical life situations’ there was a dependence on the extended family for help and sup port. Then Parsons (1949) said large families were economically beneficial, so the extended family was the most suited structure.However, during in the industrial revolution family life changed. It was no longer seen as a ‘unit of production’ but now a ‘unit of consumption’. The ‘nuclear family’ emerged and became the main family structure. However, the extended family may become popular again as in our current society people are living longer and state funding on residential care has decreased so this has shifted the care and responsibility onto the family. Also, there has been an increase in Multi-generational families. ‘The earlier age of child-bearing reducing the age gap between generations’ (Fulcher and Scott, 2011: 446)The ‘nuclear family’ consisted of two generations, the mother, father and their children. Parsons (1949) argued that industrialisation resulted in a shift from the extended family to the nuclear f amily, as its characteristics are more typical for a capitalist society. Parsons (1956) believed that you must move where there is work and that you should only take your immediate family with you not everyone. This is why nuclear families were more beneficial as it was easier to move for work with just your immediate amily. With the industrial revolution and the growth of capitalism, production was no longer carried out by family members, but by workers. Public policies were put in place during 1940-1970 such as the welfare state, which was designed to support family roles (breadwinner and caring mother). Since then there has been significant changes in public policies such as the divorce reform act (1967), the abortion act (1967), the equal pay act (1970), the sex discrimination act (1975) and maternity leave was introduced.This gave women more freedom and more opportunities especially within employment and lifestyle choices. This lead to social change; postponement of marriage an d childbearing, the number of divorces in England and Wales increased from 6,000 in 1938 to more than 48,000 in 1968, and in 1960 the fertility rate was 2. 72%, dropping to 1. 93% in 1998. Due to these rapid increases in divorce cohabitation has become more preferable for couples as there are no legal ties, the couple can see how it goes before making any major decisions such as marriage.Also couples may marry later as weddings are expensive and they don’t have the money to afford one due to the recession, however living with each other saves money. This was the democratic and educational revolution and the era of the nuclear family. However, with new policies in place and such major social change, from the 1970s onwards it became the ‘post-industrial society’ and the rise of post-modernism. This society brought new family structures, and units that were previously perceived as unacceptable became acceptable.Since the divorce reform act (1967) divorces have rapid ly increased resulting in many re-marriages, introducing the reconstituted family unit. This family includes children that live with one biological parent and a step-parent. These families may also include step/half brothers and sisters. Divorce has also meant there are many more single-parent families. This is a family structure where only one parent takes care of the children. This can be due to birth outside of marriage, divorce and death or imprisonment of a partner.Murray (1990) would argue that the rise in single parent families is due to the underclass and fatherless families. Boys without fathers are inadequately socialised and don’t have a male role model. When they have their own children they wont have an understanding of a ‘dad’ role, so this may result in them being absent in the child’s life and separation from the wife/partner. Marx (1848) would argue that the breakdown of marriage is due to the conflict that the capitalist society is creati ng and this is affecting relationships.Feminist, Delphy (1977) argues that the exploitation of women’s labour is rooted in ‘the domestic mode of production’ within the household, not in the capitalist mode of production. ‘Men hold a superior position within the domestic mode of production and exploit women through marriage’ (Fulcher and Scott, 2011: 435). This exploitation could create conflict and domestic violence may occur resulting in separation/divorce. Lastly, some individuals blame single-parent families on the permissiveness of the sexual revolution.Jeffrey Weeks (1989) believes that post-war changes in capitalism has led to a new pleasure-seeking attitude in females, which resulted in sexual behaviour as a source of pleasure rather a means of producing children. This can relate to why there are so many single-parent families headed by women from births outside marriage. Finally the most recent type of family structure is ‘same sex fami lies’. This involves a homosexual couple (gay or lesbian) that take care of children. This is the newest family unit as the civil partnership law was only passed in 2004.Since then 45,000 have been formed up until 2010. Homosexual couples have been apparent for a long time however only recently have the attitudes towards them become more acceptable resulting in the civil partnership law. Beck (1992) says this is because of individualisation; people are designing their lives based on their own choice not expectations. Also, people have very different attitudes now to previously in history, so homosexuality is more widely accepted. In conclusion, family structures are constantly changing and there is never only one type.Family structures tend to base around suiting the type of society there in. Policies can increase or decrease certain family structures. For example the divorce reform act (1967) increased single parent and reconstituted families and decreased the nuclear family . Also new family structures, same sex families have been introduced because of policies and change in attitudes. There may be new family structures in the future as society progresses. References- Fulcher, J. and Scott, J. (2011) Sociology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.