Essay on Metamorphosis of the Family in Kafkas Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis of the Family in Kafka's Metamorphosis      Ã‚   In Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, the nature of Gregor Samsa's reality changes insignificantly in spite of his drastic physical changes. Gregor's life before the metamorphosis was limited to working and caring for his family. As a traveling salesman, Gregor worked long, hard hours that left little time to experience "life." He reflects on his life acknowledging the "plague of traveling: the anxieties of changing trains, the irregular, inferior meals, the ever changing faces, never to be seen again, people with whom one has no chance to be friendly" (Kafka 13). Gregor, working to pay off his family's debt, has resigned himself to a life full of work.    Kafka himself paralleled this sentiment in a quote taken from his diaries noting that no matter how hard you work "that work still doesn't entitle you to loving concern for people. Instead, you're alone, a total stranger, a mere object of curiosity" (Pawel 167). Gregor submerges himself in work and becomes a stranger to himself and to life. Any type of social contact beyond porters, waitresses or bartenders was non-existent. He had once met a "cashier in a hat shop, whom he had pursued earnestly but too slowly" (Kafka 76).    There was no room in Gregor's life for people other that his family and as a result was condemned to a life without love or caring not to mention basic companionship. He worked diligently to provide for his family and that remained his only goal in life. Gregor's family relied on him to be the "breadwinner" of the family, but gave him nothing in return. The life that he had led until now was one fully of obligations and loneliness; he came home to empty hotel rooms or his apathetic fam... ...g him and longing for his demise. Can anyone be sure that their lives are good and perfect and that their families would understand and accept any change that could arise? The fact is that above and beyond all things a person must consider themselves first, however selfish it might appear. Sense of self will keep you through all the adverse times in life and be a companion to rely on when no one else cares.    Works Cited Eggenschwiler, David. "'The Metamorphosis', Freud, and the Chains of Odysseus". Franz Kafka: Modern Critical Views. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. 199-219. Emrich, Wilhelm. Franz Kafka: A Critical Study of His Writings. New York: Ungar, 1968. Kafka, Franz. Metamorphosis. Trans. A.L. Lloyd. New York: Vanguard Press, Inc., 1946. Pawel, Ernst. The Nightmare of Reason. New York: Vintage Books, 1984.

Huck Finn :: essays papers

Huck Finn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a well acclaimed book, written by Mark Twain. It was written from 1876-1883, but the story itself is supposed to have taken place some forty to fifty years earlier, back in the era of slavery. The setting for this book is very similar to the place where Twain grew up. He was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, but changed the name to St. Petersburg for the story. This town was situated right along the Mississippi river which plays a very significant role in the tale. Each character in the novel exhibits a certain personality. Personalities of which Twain encountered while being a river boat pilot for four years. The narrator is actually Huck Finn himself. Chapter one introduces Huck Finn and the reader gets to know what he is like. At fist glance he may appear to be only an out of control teenager, but there he is in fact a very dynamic character, just wait until things begin to unfold. Huck yearns to be free from all authority. His guardian, Widow Douglas, is constantly nagging him to be â€Å"sivilized,† but this seems to go one ear and out the other. He enjoys smoking, cursing, hunting and fishing. But she would rather that he learn to be polite and go to school. The reader also sees in this chapter that Huck is superstitious. This occurs when he accidentally kills a spider, which supposedly brings bad luck. The chapter ends when he hears something in the tree outside his bedroom.... Chapter two introduces Huck’s best friend, Tom Sawyer. They both sneak out together, almost getting caught by Jim, the Widower’s slave. But they weasel their way out of it by pulling a trick on him. Which provides Jim with another bizarre story to tell, he always stretches the truth. Both Tom Sawyer and Huck share the same love for adventure and have great imaginations. For instance, they begin to create a plan to start a band of robbers. Tom pulls his knowledge of robbers from books he has read, so the plan ends up quite extreme. He wants all of the robbers to actually kill the people they rob, just because he read it in a book. Huck is definitely more realistic than his friend and backs out of it. During chapter three we find that Huck has been learning how to read and write. And he also begins to see signs of his Pap’s return. His pap is the town drunk, who just wanders around looking

John Proctor’s decision to die is the right one? Essay

In the play, The Crucible, John Proctor quoted ‘Because it is my name!, Because I cannot have another in my life. How may I live without my name, leave me my name! ( page 138).’ He has very strong belief’s that if his name is blackened there is no reason to live. John Proctor also chose to die because he could not double cross his friends, the fact that he has three children, John could not raise his children to walk like men in the world if he himself was not a true man. Therefore for the sake of his name,reputation and his kids, John’s decision to die is the right one. Family life and friendship is very important to John Proctor, husband and father of three, if he lived then he could not possibly raise his kids to be men in the world if their father is a sell out to his friends. He wanted to teach them that they should stand up for what they believe in and not give in to unjust courts and/or other examples in life. By dying he taught his kids that not only he is not a sell out but he also taught them that he stood up for what he believed in. John Proctor is not a man known to go to church often, but he must of remember this quote from the bible: ‘No one has love greater than this that someone should surrender his soul in behalf of his friends'(John 15:13). This quote means that someone should surrender his or her soul for their friends, and by dying and standing up for what he believed in he taught his kids a valuable lesson. Proctors decision to die also solved his inner conflict with himself. This conflict is his adultery with Abigail, which really exasperated him. ‘Because it speaks deceit and I am honest! But I’ll plead no more! I see now  your spirit twists around the single error of my life, and I will never tear it free!’ (page 60). This quote made from John Proctor explains how he can not tear his guilt away from himself, and that he feels very bad for making this single big error of his life. By choosing to die John did not have to live with the guilt of defying his wife and God. The most important reason John Proctor decided to die is that he would not blacken his name throughout the town. If John betrayed his friends by confessing their sins, a man of his nobility could not live through the guilt. Also John did not want to ruin his reputation as a man who stands up and would die for what he believes in. John Proctor knew the importance of a name and how it defines someone. If John Proctor were named a sell out, then his whole family would be instinctively named as sellouts too. John Proctor was a man with strong beliefs that if his name was blackened he would have no reason to live at all. When he chose to die, he proved to everyone that he is not a sell out to an unjust court. Friendship and family is very important to John Proctor and he did not want his family to be looked upon as sell outs because of his wrongful doings. It is a very good decision that John stood his ground and died for what he believed in . Bibliography -Miller, Arthur, The Crucible, New York U.S.A., Bantam Books, 1981 – John, New world translations of the holy scriptures, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Watchtower Books, 1984

Cultural competency Essay

Cultural competency is an important strategy of eliminating racial disparities and improving quality in health, human and social services. The goal of cultural competency in these services is to create a health, human and social service system and practitioners who are capable of delivering the highest-quality care to all clients regardless of their cultural background, ethnicity, and race and language proficiency. If the professionals are not culturally competent they will not be in a position to handle social problems (Lecca, et. al. 1998, p. 71). Professionals offering these services do require an interpreter in certain situations such as; when the provider is not thoroughly effective and fluent in the target language should always use an interpreter. In situations when a client is not mentally fit a provider may need an interpreter. In cases in which language and literacy rate of the patient and practitioner vary due to different cultural groups, an interpreter will be required. Incase the client is a child who is under five years or more or an elderly person an interpreter is required. If the client is unconscious the provider can request for an interpreter (Lecca, et. al. 1998, p. 89). To minimize these problems, a professional should use an interpreter of the same sex as the client to avoid client from feeling insecure. Family members should be avoided as interpreters. Professional should learn basic words and sentences to minimize use to interpreter since they don’t deliver effective works due to biasness. They should address patients directly without any direct commentary to or through interpreter. Incase the professional suspects any problems and gets a negative response, then s/he should know that the interpreter knows what he wants. Interpreter should not be confused through backing up rephrasing or hesitating. Finally providers should attain training to be culturally competent to avoid cases of having an interpreter so as to offer effective service to clients (Lecca, et. al. 1998, p. 210). Using of an interpreter is not a good idea because the service given to the client will not be sufficient since an interpreter may be bias. Incase the interpreter is of different sex, s/he no knowledge on the service provided to clients of other sex leading to poor or wrong service being given to the client. There is no guarantee that practitioner’s conversion will be correctly interpreted to the patients and patient’s comments may not be conveyed accurately (Lecca, et. al. 1998, p. 211). List of References Lecca, P. J. , et. al. (1998), Cultural Competency in Health, Social and Human Services: Directions for the Twenty-first Century. NY: Garland Publisher

Global Warming and Water Resources Essay

Climate change is a global problem. Its causes a string of effects but particularly, it affects water resources. As global warming affects the marine ecosystems and as it contributes to the melting of the polar ice caps, mankind is facing a bleaker future. Climate change, also known as global warming or the greenhouse effect is caused by the excessive amounts of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere. These greenhouse gases prevent heat from escaping the atmosphere resulting in a considerable warming of temperature. This phenomenon results in many problems. This greenhouse effect is natural and without it, the Earth would be too cold to sustain the current ecosystem, but the problem is the warming of the planet is reaching very high levels (West, What is the Greenhouse). The melting of the polar ice caps is a major concern especially when talking of global warming. One particular aspect is that the melting of the polar ice caps will result in rising sea levels. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, sea levels would rise by as much as 230 feet if all the polar ice caps melted. This will provide a threat to people especially those living near the coastlines (5 Deadliest Effects, 2007). The ice caps are formed from fresh water and the melting of these polar ice caps makes seawater more saline. Thus, it creates an imbalance in the marine ecosystem. In one case, swarms of jellywish invaded the waters near the coastline where they usually do not reside in. A survey by Oceana indicated that they are ten jellyfish for every square meter in some coastal areas in Spain. According to Frances Peters from the Institute of Marine Science in Barcelona, higher water temperature and higher water salinity forces these creatures to move to waters near the coastline (BBC, 2008). The melting of the ice caps also threatens different species of animals in the arctic region. Due to the changes in their natural habitat, some animals in this part of the world may find it hard to adapt to the changes which can ultimately lead to their extinction (5 Deadliest Effects, 2007). Climate change also results in seawater turning into acid. Excess carbon dioxide is absorbed by the sea and when carbon dioxide is mixed with seawater, a weak type of carbonic acid is formed. Erosion provides the waters with a natural buffer to the acid which is the calcium coming from rocks that underwent weathering. However, rising carbon dioxide levels have began to alter this balance. The rising acidity of seawater poses a threat to the thriving marine ecosystems including the corals (Spotts, 2004). A huge portion of the Earth is water and water is a main component of life. If water resources are affected by climate change, thus, all living things would be affected. A disturbance in the balance of marine life as an effect of global warming will affect the world’s food supply since many people rely on fish as food. Coral bleaching results in the fish having no food or shelter (Markey, 2006). Climate change has also resulted in many problems for people such as droughts and floods. These two incidents affect food production. Droughts constitutes in the absence of an irrigation system for the field while floods destroy planted crops. Drinking water also becomes a problem in some extreme cases of droughts (Struck, 2007) Experts indicate that it is not too late to stop global warming. It may be prevented by cutting down on the greenhouse gas emissions which is why the Kyoto Protocol came into existence. The Kyoto Protocol aims to bring down emission levels of countries that have ratified it. The United States refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol which 178 countries signed on the ground that it will have severe economic effects on the country. Many criticized the administration of George W. Bush for such a response (West, Should the United). Methods of limiting greenhouse gas emissions can be done to curb the problem such as using more environment-friendly means of transportation and resorting to energy sources that produce no greenhouse gas emissions. These can be done by countries to limit their greenhouse gas emissions to comply with the demands of the protocol. Electrcic cars or other alternative vehicles that produce no emissions should be adopted. Using coal to produce electricity should also be put to a halt since it produces huge amounts of carbon dioxide. There are many alternative energy sources aside from fossil fuels such as solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy an hydroelectric energy. All these can produce virtually no amount of greenhouse gases and are even more economical. If every nation would adopt these steps, global warming could easily be stopped and reversed. The challenge here is the transition. It would take great effort to completely change all energy sources to more environment-friendy energy sources. The use of non-fossil-fuel-powered vehicles may also be difficult to adopt since not all people can afford to get a new vehicle at a given time. Adopting these steps eliminate dependence on oil and oil-producing countries. On the other side of the fence, these steps would result in decreased revenues from oil which could render some people jobless. Educating the public would also be an important step to make them more aware. This would not be too hard as a process since the media is now becoming more aware of environmental concerns such as global warming. Politicians are also starting to put attention on the subject. All these steps must start from government efforts since they have the resources and the attention of the public. The steps must be done in large scale proportions. Even little efforts to help decrease greenhouse gas emissions but the cooperation of everyone is needed to really have an effect. Legislating laws to demand compliance would be a viable step.

Marketing and Communications Strategy: Hackney Empire Theatre Essay

I. Introduction The dynamic nature of marketing strategy is not caused by its rapidly developing theories or its changing paradigms. It is caused by the fact that different environment requires different strategies. The difference between strategies could be very significant even though the markets are geographically located in the same region. Due to this dynamic nature, the study of marketing and communications strategy will never be completed. Concerning the issue, this paper will assess the marketing and communications strategy for exotic theatre buildings. The particular object of analysis is the Hackney Empire Theatre, which is one of the oldest and most valuable landmarks in London’s history of Theatre industry. The paper will discuss about generating marketing and advertising strategies for the theatre, segmentation and positioning strategies and also communication strategies. II. Hackney Empire Theatre Simply defined, Hackney Empire Theatre is a Music Hall built in 1901. The building is a historical place in London, especially for the performance art industry, because famous characters have all performed there, like WC Fields, Marie Lloyd, Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin. The building has been changing its function several times. It has even been scheduled for demolition at one time. Nevertheless, the building survived all the threats, and today it becomes a historical landmark for many reasons. One particular reason is because the building was a leading centre in alternative comedy boom in 1980’s. Stand-up comedian of all sorts had performed in this building and many famous ones too. One of its famous occasions is the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition. The latest development on the building is the fact that it was closed for three years from 2001 to 2004, in order to install more seats and to make the building suitable for opera performance. III. Marketing and Advertising Strategies Advertising strategies usually come about when we are finished designing our marketing schemes. In order to generate the best marketing plan, we need to first completely understand the marketing objectives. In its website, the Hackney theatre mentioned that one of its objectives is to become a recognized leader within the theatre industry, especially in offering opportunities for innovation, dialogue and engagement through all forms of theatre. In order to achieve that we need to first perform to things, which are: understanding consumers’ environment where we will operate and; understanding the potentials and conditions of the facility we are running. Both of these activities can be performed by means of strategic analysis tools. The first strategic tool that we should use to generate a marketing plan is the Porter’s Five Forces Analysis. This analysis tool helps manager understand conditions of the business environment and psycho-dynamics of the market. In terms of the theater industry, Porter Five Forces can help us understand the following factors: –  The theatre world is developing. It is used to be understood as a hard place to live, with competitive atmosphere and mediocre pay, but today the industry reported that it has contributed over  £ 2.6 billion annually to the UK’s economy. Arts council invests over  £ 100 million in 230 theatre organizations in UK for the development of the industry. So young artists and new performances are on the rise (Guide, 2000). – The environment face a rising level of competition, because audiences are also tempted by modern theatre buildings that are recently built – There is actually no competition to the historical value of the building, so the Hackney Empire Theatre will always have a unique place in visitors minds, but maintaining the attractiveness of that unique value is a challenge – The building has a different class or stature among other building. It is not easy for competitors to match the image of the building. – Its main customer segment is the high class society looking for entertainment in a presentable facility. Another analysis tool that we can use to guide our marketing and advertising strategy is the SWOT analysis. In terms of the Hackney Theatre building, the SWOT analysis could provide us the following knowledge: – Hackney Empire Theatre building’s strengths lie on its brand image and historical value. It is important that we maintain such atmosphere of class in every promotional event. – Its threatening weakness could be its ‘ancient’ image, which could be a turn-off for young and innovative artists Thus, a marketing strategy that attracts this segment should be prepared – Opportunities lay along with its efforts of dealing with its threats. If management of the building manages to design the building’s image so that it will attract young artists and novel performances, then it would generate a new opportunity for the building’s popularity (Guide, 2000) From the considerations that have been revealed by the analysis tools, we can generate various effective marketing and advertising strategy, for example: passing away discount tickets, making an advertisement to local TV and radio shows, making a demo performance in nearby campuses, etc. IV. Segmentation and Positioning Strategies In addition to the considerations made above, it is also critical that we understand the market enough to generate a marketing segmentation and positioning plan. Segmenting our customers will allow us to: better serve customers and wants, achieving higher profits, creating opportunities for growth, maintaining sustainable customer relationship, etc. Marketing segmentation requires us to do the following: identify customers based on their relevant characteristics to our business offerings; identify their needs and; developing a profile for every customer segment; evaluating the attractiveness of each segment; choosing one or several target segment and then develop a marketing mix for each targeted segment. There is no space for a detailed segmentation analysis within this paper, but in terms of theater audience, there are mainly 4 groups of people, which are: season ticket buyer, public single ticket buyer, public groups and corporate clients. Referring to the the Hackney Theatre building, the strongest marketing segment is still the upper class society looking for novel forms of sophisticated entertainments. This means the potential target segments are first: the corporate clients, second: the public single ticket buyer and followed by season ticket buyer. Thus, the marketing mix of our marketing and advertising plan must be designed to serve the first particular segment before others. For instant, the suitable advertising plan would be newspaper advertisement, internet advertisement, brochures sent directly to corporate managers, etc (Katz, 1955). V. Communication Strategies In using the mass media to influence our targeted customer segments, it is necessary that we consider these communication theories. The first is called the Hypodermic Needle Theory. This theory represent the view that people would be significantly (whether consciously or not) affected by the mass media they are exposed to and all its content. The second theory is called the two step flow theory. Under this view however, we are urged to understand that mass media influences people by multiple steps. First, it is the TV watchers and newspaper readers that are affected first, and then these groups of people will influence others on what they capture from the mass media. This explains why some effort of marketing through the mass media failed (Davis, 1981). In connection to the theatre industry, management of the theatre building should manage their advertising plan so that it would target mostly the people who are attracted to mass media. Convincing these types of people is the start of convincing the entire population. In practice, theatre advertising should made dramatic and attention getting, without losing its integrity as a high-class performance of art. Such a design might require the assistance of an expert in such advertising field.

A Synapse Happens When Psychology Essay

A Synapse Happens When Psychology Essay A synapse happens when the electrical activity in the pre-synaptic neuron influences the post-synaptic neuron. There are two types of synapses in the body, the electrical (gap junctions) and chemical. Electrical synapses occur in pre and post synaptic neurons that are joined via gap junctions. A chemical synapse releases a neurotransmitter molecule that is triggered by an action potential. The neurotransmitter is then released into the synaptic cleft. The neurotransmitter is diffused across the cleft and binds to receptors on the post-synaptic neuron and can trigger a new action potential. In further detail, when an action potential begins in a neuron, it travels down the axon, when the action potential reaches the axon terminal, calcium channels open, and calcium ions rush into the neuron. The neuron then makes and stores neurotransmitter in vesicles. When calcium binds to the vesicles, the vesicles carry neurotransmitter toward the presynaptic membrane. When the vesicles contact t he axon terminal membrane, the neurotransmitter is released into the synaptic cleft. The action potentials arriving at the presynaptic terminal cause voltage-gated calcium ion channels to open. Calcium ions (Ca2+) diffuse into the cell and cause synaptic vesicles to release acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter molecule. After the release, the neurotransmitter is still in the cleft, which then can be removed by diffusion, re-uptake, and deactivation. A reuptake is when a transporter moves the neurotransmitter back into presynaptic neuron which uses energy. Deactivation is when the enzyme breaks neurotransmitter down into parts. The acetylcholine is broken with the acetyl cholinesterase. This happens in the synaptic cleft. Neurotransmitter diffuses across the synaptic cleft and binds to receptors on the postsynaptic neuron. The postsynaptic neuron receptors are activated. In this case, these receptors allow Sodium in the neuron by facilitated diffusion, causing an action potential to sta rt in the postsynaptic membrane. Neurotransmitters are released from receptors and diffuse back to the synaptic cleft. Vesicles recycle some neurotransmitter to prepare the neuron for its next action potential. Acetylcholine molecules diffuse from the presynaptic terminal across the synaptic cleft and bind to their receptor sites on the ligand-gated sodium ion (Na+) channels. This causes the ligand-gated sodium ion channels to open and sodium ions diffuse into the cell, making the membrane potential more positive. If the membrane potential reaches threshold level, an action potential will be produced. There is a specific neuron for each colour, shape, when we think of two different things; two neurons make a connection, these results in thinking, learning and our behaviours. Learning involves neurons in the brain and the synapses between them. Neurons ad synapses make connections in order for us to think and learn new things. Signals are sent from one neuron to another by jumping ac ross the synapse. In the process of sending signals, it involves the presynaptic neuron, the neuron sending the signal, the neurotransmitter which is a chemical released by neurons at the synapse for the purpose of relaying information to other neurons via receptors. The synaptic cleft is the space across which a nerve impulse passes from an axon terminal to a neuron or effector cell. The receptor molecule is a protein that recognizes a specific 3-dimensional shape which then goes into the postsynaptic neuron, the neuron which receives the signal.