Tell Tale Heart Analysis Essay Example for Free

Tell Tale Heart Analysis Essay Poe creates horror in The Tell Tale Heart by using literary devices such as irony and similes. There are two kinds of irony that he uses. The irony that he uses is situational and dramatic irony. When the narrator, the man who killed the old man, is done killing the old man, he cuts his body up and puts the body under the floorboards. When the three policemen come, the reader thinks that the narrator will get away with his crime because he executed his crime so well and he hid the body so well. When the policemen are done searching the house they all sit down and the narrator sits on top of the old man’s dead body. While the policemen are chatting, the narrator hears the beating of the old man’s heart and the sound of it grows louder and louder and louder until finally, the narrator confesses his crime because he can’t take hearing the sound anymore and he thinks the policemen are mocking him. The narrator didn’t really hear the sound of a heartbeat, but the sound of his guilt. This is an example of situational irony since the reader expects him to get away with the crime, but in actuality, he confesses his crime instead. Three policemen came to inspect the house because a shriek had been heard by a neighbor. The readers know that the reason a shriek was heard is because the narrator killed the old man and while the narrator was killing him, he let out shriek, but only once. This is an example of dramatic irony because the readers know that the narrator killed the old man which resulted in the shriek. However, the policemen don’t know that. After the narrator killed the old man and buried his cut up body under the floorboards, he heard the old man’s heartbeat. It wasn’t actually the sound of a heartbeat; it was the sound of the narrator’s guilt since he killed the old man. In the story it said â€Å"It was a low, dull, quick sound like a watch makes when inside a piece of cotton. † This is an example of a simile because Edgar Allan Poe compares the sound of the old man’s beating heart with the sound of a watch inside a piece of cotton.

Human Resource

Human Resource Human Resource (H.R): Introduction The word â€Å"manage† as used in business can simply be defined as the art of dealing with people with the aim of bringing the best out of then so as to improve the productivity of the business. It is not easy to manage some of the things we have that have no life let alone people. People are complex in themselves and to have different people from different backgrounds to work together can prove to be very difficult. It is however possible for people to come together for a common goal. It does not matter how they are going to achieve their goal but the common thing that they want to achieve plays a very important role in taming people to put their differences aside and work together. Rothwell (2008, p.23) argues that it is mandatory for a leader in a business to be very good at people-skills for it is the people working at the business that are the most important people in the business. Without employees in a business then the business does not achieve its goals. They are the people that make things move. There is therefore no escaping people-skills if a business venture is to highly perform. â€Å"Management is nothing more than motivating other people†. These are the words of Lee Iacocca – former CEO Chrysler. It is therefore important for a manager to have some basic tips on how to manage people. It is vital that a manager delegates most of the objectives set to achieve so that he or she gets time to manage the team he or she has been given to manage. It also helps the manager to clear his or her mind. It is very important that the person who delegates has a clear head on his or her shoulders. Pearce and Conger (2002, p.41) identify that one of the most important â€Å"X factor† is team work. A strong team delivers most of the things put before it. This paper will focus on teamwork and critically analyse it on how it can be used to improve performance. When people come together, more ideas are bound to be generated, there is strength in numbers and also there is the variety being applied in order to achieve a common objective. Whenever humans come together with a common objective there is very little that they cannot do. It is important that the tem leader gets to have a one on one understanding with each of the team members so as to know the individual strengths of the team members. It is in this way that the responsibilities are divided. One does what they are good at but with the conscious awareness that he or she is only but a piece of a jigsaw, that there are others that are also specialising in their area of expertise to complete the jig saw into one complete thing that makes economic and objective sense (Michaels, 1994, p.45). The only reason a company would invest in its people is so as to enhance performance of the business. They are the key players in an organisation and should be handled with care. There are various ways in which organisations or businesses entice and build their employees so as to achieve higher quality and quantity performance. A business is judged by its outcome. It is the various people employed to work for the venture equipped with the spirit of teamwork that determine the performance of the business. It is quite clear that team work is then a very important factor as it is the ship in which if the business sails, it will never drown or subdue to the waves of furious business challenges. The winning team It is always feels good to be associated with winning. It makes one feel like they are pursuing a worthy cause. If a team is to be put together in a business then it better be a winning team. It is not enough to hire professionals who know what they are supposed to do at exactly which time to have a winning team but recruiting a group of people who will work together in the most efficient of ways. A team that has people who share the same destination work extremely well with each other. It is only when people in a team do not share a vision that they do not work well. A team is defined by the togetherness in achieving the specific goals and objectives of a business. When people share a vision then what do they have to fight over and not work together? Nothing. Differences may exist between individuals but for as long as they have a common goal then they can do anything despite their differences. In order for a team to have a common goal, then it is good practice for members to meet in order to discuss the various projects that have to be undertaken. The secret behind managing people is in a business is to make the employees or the team members feel like they coined and own the business objectives, vision and mission. Koestenbaum (2002, p.74) reveals that this will help people to have a common sense of direction. This implies that he visions, missions and objectives of a business need to have a strong base upon which, a strong team is built. Any team has problems but it is up to the team leader to be very sensitive to any slight behavioural change that would reduce the performance of the team in the long run. The team leader as a people manager should also talk to the team members and encourage them. When one is given motivation to do something, a person is performs even better as they flourish in the though that it is not only him or her that believes he or she can do it but also the team leader. There are teams made up of simple human beings like any human being but thee is always something about the teams. They have the attitude that they were born to win. An example of one such team is â€Å"Manchester United Football Team†. They believe that they are winners. When a person believes something, it is very difficult for them not to make it a reality. It is important that people managing people instil a winning attitude in their team members (Lawler et al., 2004, p.14). It goes a long way in building a strong competent team. How Teamwork affects other key performance areas This can be illustrated by a diagram which is shown below: According to Vandenberg and Lance (1992, p.156), under managing self we have several issues that are worth elaborating and they are eight in number. The very first one is the creative nature and originality of the self. Teamwork improves the ability of a person to get creative and think of ways to get out of tasks presented to him or her that are challenging. This is because the person is always trying to get out of something and always jogging his or her mind to get out of something. The person also wants to be original. It is very difficult to find unethical leadership in a person who leads a team or even the team member himself or herself. A person is always out to improve and to build the winning team so as to achieve the objectives of the business and also get to improve the performance of the team. Performance is core in teams so the self is built to consider ethics when tackling organisational challenges (Walker, 2002, p.36). It is the people around us that build us. Man is no island. People in good teams have been found to have a better way of communication and also have the character to go with this. For a good team to succeed, the members that comprise it have to be in constant communication with each other. A marriage is a good example of a team. Whenever there is breakdown of communication in a marriage then it becomes difficult for things to move. Good marriages are ones in which there is constant effective communication going on, on the regular (West, 2004, p.6). It is through teamwork that a person becomes effective in communication and also gets to know the character he or she should acquire in order to succeed in the business world. Managing people is not only about managing other people but also managing the self. Team work greatly helps in doing this. In teams, it is normal for people to make contributions that they own in order to steer their objective forward. This helps to build a person I problem solving skills which is a factor important to have in the business world. Williams and Anderson , (1991, p.604) concurs that the values of the self are also improved or built. In good effective teams, good values are encouraged as undesirable ones are normally discouraged. This helps a person to always focus on having good values whose practice leads to them sticking. Effective teams have brainstorming sessions where team members contribute in order to make the achievement of their objectives a success. This helps a person to improve their thinking capacities and also helps team members to think in a way that optimises the performance of the business (Blau, 1985, p.279). It gives the individual that deliberate way of thinking that involves thinking in a certain direction. Team members benefit by being in such teams. For a team to succeed then the personalities of the persons in it need to be on point. It is the work personality that helps team members to be able to work through their differences with that common vision in mind. When members learn the personality they need to have in order to work together they will definitely practice this as all of them want to get to the goal so bad. In life, it really matters how badly, one wants to get something as if one does not want something so badly, they will not put differences aside, they will not work hard enough and they will not value input from team members. Under managing people, there are four key areas that need to be discussed and team work is a major component or ingredient in managing people. Arbinger Institute (2002, p.9) suggests that there is team work, the diversity of people, transformed leadership and motivating people. Team work is intertwined with the three issues as it is in team work that people are motivated to push on in order to improve performance. Leadership Leadership is also transformed in team work as most of the time, it is not the team members that learn from the team leader but it is the team leader most of the time rather than not that learn from the team members (National Institute of Social Work, 1996, p.11). The members teach the leaders on hoe to lead knowingly or unknowingly. This gives birth to a new way of leading especially if the leader of a tea listens to his members. Teams can be made up of a rich diversity of people which can either be used to achieve the objectives of a business or also allow the differences that exist within to ruin the team. In International Companies, recruitment as in the type of the company is done at an international level. This means that people will be mixed from different cultures and backgrounds and also different races as well (Block, 1996, p.33). It is quite challenging building a team of people of the same background. It is quite tasking to build a team that comprises of different people. People of one background have been seen to appreciate the music from another background even when they do not know what they are saying. It is in this regard that a team leader needs to direct his team members to be able to dance to the same tune which is synonymous to achieving the same objectives of the business. Such teams come to appreciate diversity. They come to understand that people are different but sure can work together in order to achieve a common goal. Brown and Wardle (1996, p.12) argues that managing work is also another factor that is intertwined with team work. In order to manage a team then the work also has to be managed; the work needs to be kept track of. It is very important that work goes on smoothly in a team even when the management of the team has to be changed for this purpose. Managing work involves the judgement of decisions and also the ability to manage the decision. A decision can be evaluated on the basis of the results of the work that is done or the work that has been achieved in order. The team can easily be evaluated on the same based on the decisions the team made. A team can be judged based on the decisions they made. The decisions they make have to improve performance in the business or organisation (Covey, 2009, p.62). Once the decision is made, then it needs to be managed. When a decision is not managed, then it beats logic to have made the decision in the first place. It is important that team members carry follow through their decisions in order to achieve the task given to undertake. A good team is one that manages the team members well. A strong human resource management is a must in strong teams. Whenever the human resource in a team is good, there are very slim chances of a team not doing its best to accomplish whatever task that is presented before them. We have seen that people are very important and it is through people that a business gets to achieve its objectives. According to Dimma (2007, p.47), a good human resource department forming part of a team will value the employee and make that employee as reasonably comfortable as possible in order for the business to achieve its objectives. A good human resource sub team will provide incentives to persons working in their business; give them a reason to turn down job offers given by other businesses or companies. Good teams also ensure that they manage the information they have in a way to improve performance rather than sitting on information. It is the information we gather in business or in life that assist us in making decisions hence the word informed decision. It is important that a team acts on the basis that it has information. Innovation, Priority management and Objective setting are al components of managing work but also relate to team work (Harrison, 1972, p.28). It is in teams that innovative ideas, decisions and work emerge from. This is because of the team aspect. Teams also prioritise in terms of work so as not to leave important work pending for a long time than usual. It is important that a team sets for itself objectives aside from the objectives of the business so as to also have a common goal in terms of work. Team building and Team Work Companies have been seen to spend quite a lot of money so as to improve the team building skills of their employees. This goes on to show just how important team work is important in the world we live in today especially in the business world. It is essential that a manager has team building skills as it is part and parcel of managing people. It is an important part of managing people. The same people can work by themselves but achieve less productivity. A good, strong team is one in which these same people come together and work towards a goal but perform much better than when they were working on an individual basis. This is the idea behind merging. Some companies merge because together, they have more yields and perform on a different level, giving their customers higher quality of service than when the companies were doing it on their own (Iverson and Roy, 1994, p.39). This is the secret of synergy. Individuals are different but synergised so as to achieve optimum performance. In team building, there are two very important factors to consider. One factor that we have to appreciate in team building is the diversity that exists in terms of the personalities that exist and also the skills. The different people have to be in such a way that they fully exploit their potential to the last drop but again, the weaknesses of the same people are covered for by the other people‘s strengths. Their different personalities have to be in a way that they balance out. In a good team, all ideas, works and decisions in a team made by different individuals are directed to a common purpose either created within the team or the objectives of the business (Goodwin, 2005, p.91). The goals have to be clearly understood by the team members. When some team members get it while others don’t then already there is a loophole and the team is bound to fail because of a different set of goals embedded in the different team members’ minds. Team building Activities aimed at team building are very important so as to assist in the establishment of a strong team. To have a great team takes a lot of hard work, dedication and determination. Team building activities are therefore very important in that they assist in the building of a great team. It is important that a team is led by someone but not just anyone but a good leader. It may not help that a team has clearly understood the objectives, they ma have the same personality thus resulting in conflicts mostly because of fighting (Charan, Drotter and Noel, 2001, p.29). If everyone in a team wants to be a leader then we have a problem as each team member will be acting so as to show how he or she can dominate people. This has led to in-house fighting on too many an instance. There are many factors that have to be overcome to have a good team which is reason the more for team building activities to be taken seriously. There are basic techniques that have to be in place for an effective team to be built. The most obvious one is that all the team members need to have understood and clearly have the goals and objectives behind having the team and also the goals and objectives behind having the business or organisation. There also has to be a clear chain of command in that every single team member is completely aware of their duties and responsibilities and there should be no grey area in this. All the roles have to be distinct so that in the case that there is competition over a certain role then the role needs to be split into smaller distinct roles so as to avoid conflict in the team built. A team leader also needs to be able to spend time with his or her team members so as to understand the various personalities and skills he or she has in the team and also appreciate the same. When a team leader is fair, open, honest and loyal then it becomes a little bit easier to have the same back from the employees or team members. This may be summarised to leading by example. It is in team building activities that members learn how to trust each other and also be open with each other. When this is done then they work together better. The activities should have social times deliberately to prompt people to bond and share their experiences. They get to know each other better which is good for the business as this will help them accommodate each other’s faults but accentuating their strengths (Brion, 1989, p.32). This is what we want to achieve by having a team working on something. An example of one such activity is scheduling the week such that a specific day of the week is set aside so that employees or team members can share lunch. It is over this that they bond. The secret to having an effective team built is also to have the practice of involving the team members in the decision making process so that they feel like they own the decision. When one owns something, it is very difficult for them not to take care of it and watch it grow. The goal can be set in a group. The tactics to be used to undertake in undertaking challenges presented to a team are also brainstormed by the team with them being encouraged to give possible solutions. This leads to the obligated feeling of a team member since a sense of ownership has been cultivated in him or her, which leads to the commitment of team leaders to the cause of the team. There is also need to keep the lines of communication open in a team. It is through this that a team can succeed. Conclusion In today’s world, it is not so fashionable to do things on an individual basis as performance is result driven. The world expects so much from people that the only way the same expectation can be met is through team work. Most of the world’s greatest achievements have been accomplished because of team work. It is very difficult to achieve the results desired in a business single handily. It will have to be in a team. Team work is a very important aspect of business (Curry, et al., 1986, p.851). This explains why businesses always want to now if one is a team player before recruiting them into their companies. Business owners will look at a person’s history to be able to establish whether they are team players or not. It is quite normal in the global arena to find teams in businesses as people have appreciated strength in numbers. To achieve almost perfection in a business and to boost sales or improve the quality of businesses, team work is essential. It is important to have team skills whether one will eventually be a team member or a team leader (Kelley, 1999, p.63). A team leader is a leader to the extent of the performance of his or her team. A team leader is always a member of another team only on a different level. It is quite clear that the world revolves in team work. It is safe to say that the world is a family of teams; its just that they have different objectives and different personalities and skills. References Arbinger Institute, 2000, Leadership and self-deception: getting out of the box, London: Berrett- Koehler Publishers. Blau, G 1985, The measurement and prediction of career commitment, Journal of Occupational Psychology, Vol. 58, pp.277-288. Block, P 1996, Stewardship: choosing service over self interest, Sydney: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Brion, J.M 1989, Organizational leadership of human resources: the knowledge and the skills, New York: Jai Press. Brown, J., Wardle, M 1996, Chance favors the prepared mind: leadership, teamwork and mapping change for human resources, Cambridge: H.M.S.O. Charan, R., Drotter, S.J., Noel, J. L 2001, The leadership pipeline: how to build the leadership-powered company, London: John Wiley and Sons. Covey, S.R 2009, Principle-centered leadership, California: Summit Books. Curry, J., Wakefield, D., Price, J., Mueller, C 1986, On the causal ordering of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 29, No.4, pp.847-858. Dimma, W.A 2007, Tougher Boards For Tougher Times: Corporate Governance In The Post- Enron Era, Mombay: Wiley-India. Goodwin, N 2005, Leadership in health care: a European perspective, New York: Routledge. Gratton, L., Hailey, V.H., Stiles, P 1999, Strategic human resource management: corporate rhetoric and human reality, Cambridge: Oxford University Press. Hare, S.E., Hare, A.P 1996, SYMLOG field theory: organizational consultation, value differences, personality and social perception, Michigan: Praeger. Harrison, R 1972, Understanding your organization’s character, Harvard Business Review, pp.22-32.. Hersey, P., Blanchard, K.H 1988. Management of organizational behavior: utilizing human resources, 5th ed., London: Prentice-Hall. Iverson, R.D., Roy, P 1994, A causal model of behavioral commitment: evidence from a study of Australian blue-collar employees, Journal of Management, Vol. 20, No.1, pp.15-41. Kelley, R.E 1999, How to be a star at work: nine breakthrough strategies you need to succeed, Atlanta: Times Business. Koestenbaum, P 2002, Leadership: the inner side of greatness : a philosophy for leaders. 2nd ed., Cairo: John Wiley and Sons. Komives, S.R., Lucas, N., McMahon, T.R 1998, Exploring leadership: for college students who want to make a difference, Michigan: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Lahiry, S. 1994, Building commitment through organizational culture, Training and Development, Vol. 3, pp.50-52. Lawler, E.E., et al. 2004, Human resources business process outsourcing: transforming how HR gets its work done, Boston: John Wiley and Sons. Michaels, P 1994, An expanded conceptual framework on organizational commitment and job satisfaction for sales force management, Journal of Business and Society, Vol. 7, No.1, pp.42-67. Mowday, R., Steers, R., Porter, L 1979, The measurement of organizational commitment, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 14, pp.224-227. National Institute of Social Work, 1996, Leadership, teamwork and changing practice, New York: National Institute for Social Work. Parcells, B., Coplon, J 1995, Finding a way to win: the principles of leadership, teamwork, and motivation, Edinburgh: Doubleday. Pearce, C.L., Conger, J.A 2002, Shared leadership: reframing the hows and whys of leadership, Boston: SAGE. Phillips, D.T 1997, The founding fathers on leadership: classic teamwork in changing times, Beijing: Warner Books. Ramsey, R.D 2005, Lead, follow, or get out of the way: how to be a more effective leader in todays schools, 2nd ed., Berlin: Corwin Press. Rothwell, W.J 2008, Human Resource Transformation: Demonstrating Strategic Leadership in the Face of Future Trends, Edinburgh: Davies-Black Publishing. Roth, K.K 2004, Executive Leadership Attributes Relating to Transformed Organizational Human Resource Services: A Study of Transformational Leadership, Amsterdam: Universal-Publishers. Schermerhorn, J., Hunt, J., Osborn, R 1994, Managing Organizational Behavior, New York, NY: Wiley Sons. Stogdill, R.M 1974, Handbook of Leadership: A Survey of Theory and Research, New York, NY: Free Press. Storey, J 2004, Leadership in organizations: current issues and key trends, London: Routledge. Vandenberg, R., Lance, C 1992, Examining the causal order of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, Journal of Management, Vol. 18, No.1, pp.153-67 Walker, J 2002, Ready, Aim, Inspire!: 101 Quotes on Leadership Teamwork, Washington: iUniverse. West, W.A 2004, Effective teamwork: practical lessons from organizational research, 2nd ed., New York: Wiley-Blackwell,. Williams, L.J., Anderson, S.E 1991, Job satisfaction and organizational commitment as predictors of organizational citizenship and in-role behaviors, Journal of Management, Vol. 17, No.3, pp.601-17.

The Pandas Thumb -- Stephen Jay Gould Essay -- essays research papers

The Panda’s Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History With a touch of humor, geology, evolutionary theory, biology, cartoon characters and even some references to baseball, The Panda’s Thumb definitely makes excellent reading for people with all types of interests. The old clichà ©, â€Å"Don’t judge a book by its cover,† or in this case, title, holds true for The Panda’s Thumb. Theories concerning adaptations of the panda are only a fraction of the many exciting facts held within the pages of this publication. Gould is able to put what he writes about in words that are easy to understand without compromising the quality of the information. Many questions are raised in this book. Some questions that science just can’t answer at the moment. Time is a major theme in some of the essays in The Panda’s Thumb. I found these essays of utmost interest. Stephen Jay Gould writes as if you were sitting in a chair across from him having an insightful conversation. His essays are written in ways that are down-to-earth, entertaining, and easy to understand. Bits of humor are scattered throughout the book. One passage read, â€Å"The history of any one part of the earth, like the life of a soldier, consists of long periods of boredom and short periods of terror.† These little scraps of humor are placed in the just the right locations. After reading one of his essays concerning bipedalism (walking on two feet) I chuckled at the following statement, â€Å"It is now two in the morning and I’m finished...

Feminism and Cultural Relativism in Human Rights Discourse: Sex-determi

Feminism and Cultural Relativism in Human Rights Discourse: Sex-determination Test in India ABSTRACT: Feminists and cultural relativists are highly critical of human rights even if their criticisms have taken two diametrically opposed sides. This has created a conflict between the two groups. In this paper, I summarize the views of feminists and cultural relativists and then show that there are many similarities between them despite their differences, for they share a common ground concerning human rights discourse. Based on the similarities, I believe that both must work together on this matter by making changes in an inclusive way with regard to human rights violations. This is true not only at the international level but also at national levels. To demonstrate this, I analyze the issue of the sex-determination test in India and show that if feminists and cultural relativists joined hands, then the problem of aborting female fetuses in India (due to cultural conditioning and leading to the larger problem of adverse sex ratios) could be resolved. I conclude by proposing th at medical technology could be channeled in the direction of progress if feminists and cultural relativists work jointly for the promotion of women's rights by recognizing 'different voices' of women across race, class, age, culture, sexual orientation and wealth. Recently, during the world conferences organized by United Nations in Vienna, Cairo and Beijing, the human rights discourse has taken different forms and have created bitter differences among different camps. In these international conferences, feminists claim victory over cultural relativists as feminists were able to reaffirm women's human rights. (1) Feminists and cultural relativists are the... ... (5) See Claude Ake, "The African Context of Human Rights," Africa Today, Vol. 32, number 5 (1987) (6) Hilary Charlesworth, "What are Women's International Human Rights"?, Human Rights of Women, supra note 25, at 617. (7) See Shashi Tharoo, "The Universality of Human Rights and their Relevance to Developing Countries," Nordic Journal of International Law, Vol. 142 (1990 (8) See Radhika Balakrishnan, "The Social Context of Sex Selection and the Politics of Abortion in India," Power and Decision: The Social Control of Reproduction, by Gita Sen and Rachel C. Snow, 266-283; Amartya Sen, "The Economics of Life and Death," Scientific American, (May), 40-47. (9) See the growth of population chart in Amulya Ratna Nanda, Census of India, 1991, Series-1, Registrar General & Census Commisioner, India, Statement 2, 21. (10) Bombay Case Reporter, 20:3, (1988) 2-7.

Howards End :: essays research papers

Young, pretty Helen has left her London home to visit the Wilcox family estate, Howards End. (Helen and her sister Margaret met Mr. Wilcox and his wife while traveling in Germany.) Margaret was also invited to Howards End, but stayed home to care for their 16-year-old brother Tibby who has hay fever. From Howards End, Helen sends Margaret several letters describing the beautiful estate and the energetic, materialistic Wilcoxes. Her last letter sends a shock through Margaret when she reads it: Helen has fallen in love with Paul the youngest Wilcox son. When Mrs. Wilcox dies not long afterward, she leaves a handwritten note behind asking that Howards End be given to Margaret. But her pragmatic husband,Henry, a prominent businessman, and her greedy son Charles, a struggling businessman, refuse to act on the matter and never mention it to Margaret. One night, Margaret and Helen run into Henry, and they discuss the case of Leonard Bast; Henry warns them that Leonard's insurance company is doomed to failure, and they advise him to find a new job. But poor Leonard, who associates the Schlegels with all things cultural and romantic--he reads constantly, hoping to better himself--resents this intrusion into his business life and accuses them of trying to profit from his knowledge of the insurance industry. Margaret and Henry develop a halting, gradual friendship. When the lease expires at Wickham Place, the Schlegels begin looking for another house (their landlord wants to follow the general trend and replace their house with a more profitable apartment building). Henry offers to rent them a house he owns in London, and when he shows it to Margaret, he suddenly proposes to her. She is surprised by her happiness, and after considering the proposal, she accepts. Shortly before Margaret and Henry are scheduled to be married, Henry's daughter Eviemarries a man named Percy Cahill; the wedding is held at a Wilcox estate near Wales. After the party, which Margaret finds quite unpleasant, Helen arrives in a disheveled state, with the Basts in tow. She declares indignantly that Leonard has left his old company, found a new job, and been summarily fired; he is now without an income. Helen angrily blames Henry for his ill-considered advice. Margaret asks Henry to give Leonard a job, but when he sees Jacky Bast, he realizes that he had an affair with her 10 years ago, when she was a prostitute in Cyprus. Margaret forgives him for the indiscretion--it was before they even met--but she writes to Helen that there will be no job

Helping Bereaved Children Understand, Grieve and Deal with Death

Children's varying personalities and attitudes determine their respective cognitive or psychological understanding of death, expression of grief, and coping mechanism. For the purpose of ascertaining these three stages that bereaved children undergo, this paper identified and discussed the different perceptions of children about such loss, their manifestations of sorrow and how parents, teachers and counselors can help. The specific situational examples and experiences of bereaved children were presented in order to have a clearer and acceptable picture of how such tragic event affects the lives of helpless yet unpretentious children.Helping Bereaved Children Understand, Grieve and Deal with Death Accepting the death of a loved one is difficult yet telling, explaining and making a child understand the loss is a more challenging task. Just as the adults or parents of the children are dealing with their own grief, it is perceived that the younger ones should be spared from the same ago ny. This is for the reason that children, with their fragile minds and emotions, find it more difficult to cope with death. However, not allowing a child to understand, grieve and cope with the trauma of death is risky.Children should be supported and not be left alone when they deal with death. It is during their search for answers about a lost life that children most need the help of others. It is also during this time that they should be allowed to express their emotions and be reassured by the family that death is a natural aspect of life. Children will be inevitably affected by a death of a family member, friend, or someone within the community. Children's tender age, psychological understanding, emotional expressions, and coping mechanisms can be protected by love from people around them.Children, generally, have the distinct trait of holding back their true feelings, while some of them are more open to express their emotions. However, adults must take note that irrespective o f this positive or negative quality, children who suffer even more profoundly also need to understand and cope with death. Children's Cognitive Understanding of Death Death is a very hard experience for the younger ones to accept or realize. According to Doka (2000), children fight with a mixture of thoughts such as â€Å"inevitability, universality, nonfunctionality, and irreversibility of death.† Following the death, children would still be dealing with apprehending what their immature minds can only think and handle. They pass through the stages of â€Å"cognitive, spiritual, emotional and social development† (Doka, 2000). Doka (2000) explained that younger children are inclined to perceive death based on their own limited view. Thereafter, growing children tend to show sympathy. It is also during this stage that they are more capable of accepting and understanding the situation and collect themselves. However, Doka (2000) noted that younger children manifest a â₠¬Å"short feeling span.† This is because they can prolong their intense emotions only for a limited period (Doka, 2000). Fighting with death is not only confined to children who are in dangerous circumstances or to those who are psychologically or emotionally unstable. Nowadays, it is a proven fact that majority of children have directly or indirectly experienced death or death-related events even at their early lives. An article from the Encyclopedia of Death and Dying said that curiosity regarding death is a portion of children's average degree of development and search for information about the world.The same article specified an example about a dead fish floating in the water. This scenario can grab a child's interest but at the same time can be a troubling experience. If analyzed, the child's inquisitive instinct automatically desires to learn more. However, the same child is likewise conscious of the possible danger of the situation. That is, if a living animal can die th en other living things such as humans can also die. Children's exposure to death is usually not only attached with some degree of anxiousness but also of elation.This is because of the idea that the discovery of something sensitive such as death has actually led them to life's many mysteries (Children and Adolescents' Understanding of Death, 2007). The same article proved that there are a lot of affirmed studies of death consciousness among children. The article used cases involving a father and son as an example to show that even with a child as young as sixteen-month-old can be aware about the concept of death. The child's awareness about death came as soon as he saw that the caterpillar, which he has been admiring, was crushed by a passerby.The toddler anxiously reacted about the death and eventually refused to return to the place. After less than two years of being born unto this world, the same child can already and clearly connect life with death (Children and Adolescents' Und erstanding of Death, 2007). With an early introduction to education, preschool children are inclined to view death as just short-lived and correctable. Crenshaw (1999) said that children believe that their deceased loved ones are just somewhere and it is still possible to see or speak with them.Confusion sets in among preschool children especially regarding the details of death. This is because of the children's innate nature of thinking about things in an exact or factual manner. Crenshaw (1999) added that children ask questions such as can a dead person still breathe even if buried in a coffin and how can a dead old man who is buried be with God in a place like heaven at the same time. These queries manifest the preschoolers' difficulty in relating intangible philosophical and religious ideas into their very limited realization of death (Crenshaw, 1999).Younger grade-school children between the age of six and eight usually perceive death in a personalized and imputable manner that oftentimes connotes fear (Crenshaw, 1999). Their fear is reflected in the things they imagine or invent, such as when they imagine that a dreadful ghost in a skeleton costume is following them. Children's fear of death causes them to protect themselves. They use a defense mechanism that death is limited and only happens to physically weak people, the elderly, lame people, and people who are slow in running and are unable to escape â€Å"the ghost or spirit† that hunts them (Crenshaw, 1999).During this stage, children dream a lot of such frightening depictions of death. As they get older by the year, they reach a significant mark in their psychological growth that allows them to realize and accept that death is a true happening of life (Crenshaw, 1999). At age nine, they start to acknowledge death as a normal activity that happens to all living things and that it is permanent and unavoidable (Crenshaw, 1999). Crenshaw (1999) noted that this is the start of such realization of death but it is until children reach their adolescence that they are able to strengthen this understanding.The National Association of School Psychologists or NASP (2001) affirmed the Crenshaw report and stated that children pass through developmental stages in understanding death. It is initially significant to acknowledge that every child has his or her distinct understanding of death. This cognitive ability is based on a child's developmental degree, psychological ability, quality or attribute, spiritual inclination, acquired instruction from parents and others around, information from the media, and death-related events in the past.The association, however, said that there are general circumstances that can be used to understand how children feel and cope with death. These considerations are seen during the stages from being â€Å"infants and toddlers, preschoolers, early elementary school, middle school and high school† (NASP, 2001, p. 2). NASP (2001) further explained that when someone is dead, infants and toddlers observe that adults are in sorrow yet they do not actually understand what death is and its impact and importance for them.Young children in preschool manifest denial of death by perceiving it only as a temporary breakup and a reversible situation. Nevertheless, children between five to nine years old begin to understand that death is permanent. They also recognize that some events may lead to death (NASP, 2001). Preschoolers and even early grade-schoolers connect the causes of death with some supernatural imaginations and real life events such as the September 11 bombing of the World Trade Center (NASP, 2001).Because of the 9/11 tragedy, they are able to grasp the idea that if an airplane hits a building, its passengers and those in the building will possibly die. Thus, these children envision that being in tall facilities is fatally dangerous. It is during this stage, however, that children are unable to draw the difference between w hat they visually see and the actual happenings around them (NASP, 2001). Moreover, they view that death occurs to others, not to themselves or even their immediate family members (NASP, 2001).

Confession of a Former Drug Addict: Learning the Value of Family

Confession of a Former Drug Addict: Learning the Value of Family Misguided Youth â€Å"Oh now that I think back about it, I was really stupid when I was young and that my mother is really unfortunate to have a son like me! † Kong said as he ended with a short embarrassed laugh while he recounts the past he isn’t exactly proud of in mandarin. Kong, 36 , had spent most of his youth in and out of the drug rehabilitation centre and prison. His parents separated while he was still young and their mother decided to bring him and his younger brother along to move into their grandmother’s place at Ang Mo Kio.Kong was the eldest among the grandchildren left in his grandmother’s care. With his mother busy at work to support the family and his grandmother busy attending the younger kids, the mischievous boy always finds the chance to sneak out of the house. It was then when he got acquainted and started hanging out with the older kids around his neighborhood. These a re the friends that very much influenced and helped mold him into a teenage delinquent. â€Å"I was encouraged by them to join their gang, to skip school and hang out with them.And it was then when I learn how to shoplift, cutting chain off bicycles to steal, extorting money from other kids and getting into fight for the most minor reason, just for the sake of getting into trouble and seeking thrill out of it. †, Kong explained how he was a wayward boy that followed whatever his peers instigated. â€Å"And it felt really good to be part of the gang and ‘cool’ to be doing things other normal ‘good’ kids didn't dare to do. † It was then when young Kong’s misbehaviors and actions, prove that it can have direct consequence on his family, and the first to experience it was none other than his younger brother.Both brothers were studying in the same neighborhood secondary school. Kong’s truancy and bad records kept piling up and finally one day, he even threatened to hurt the school’s principal while being called to discipline. That’s when the school decided enough is enough, and Kong’s expulsion was announced. But not just him alone, his younger brother was to be expelled along with him. Sure the younger brother wasn’t exactly the good obedient student, had been seen around Kong, caused some mischief and playful enough to skip school occasionally.But he never crossed the line or got involved with Kong’s unlawful activities. Still, the school found these reasons enough to get the siblings off their ground permanently. â€Å"The principal felt that because he’s my younger brother, he’s nature is surely as bad as me! Just because he’s my younger brother. † Kong said while shaking his head slightly. â€Å"You may think that’s unfair but things were different back then during that time. Now if something like this happened nowadays, you will see the principal and school getting onto news! † Kong ended with a laugh. From Bad to WorseHis mother and grandmother blamed him for dragging his younger brother into that situation because of the troubles he brewed and being a bad influence. But this incident didn’t make Kong reflect on his actions. He didn't think of it as a big deal. He didn’t care about anything. The teenager’s rebellious nature only served to take things for the worse. Soon after getting expelled from school, he soon finds himself experimenting with drugs. It was the norm as people around him were doing inhalants and drugs. The first he experimented was glue sniffing. Then he moved on to trying out ecstasy and heroin etc.Experimentation turns into dependency. The addiction works in an insidious way, it crept in and slowly took over Kong’s life before he realized. Days of drug taking ritual turned to weeks, then months and years. It seems like Kong wasn’t the one controlling th e drugs, it was the other way round. Spending his life in a drug-fuelled haze, it revolved around being troubled over where to find money to support his next supply of drugs. Keeping up with the addiction proof to be not cheap. Although he had joined and worked for the lion dance troupe that was associated with his gang, it wasn’t enough to keep up with his expenses.To satisfy with his drug cravings, he resorted to theft and robbery, even stealing from his family. The one he hurt most during this period was his mother. Seeing her cry because of him was nothing new. His desperation for drug even made him turned his hand on his very own mother. Kong recalls that particular incident that he will feel bad for as long as he lived, â€Å"This one time I was having this great urge for drugs, but I didn't have money with me, I ransacked the house and approached my mother in the kitchen. But she wasn’t willing to hand me any money and was screaming at me to quit.I got impatien t and this sudden surge of anger rose up and I exploded,† He slapped his own mother across the face. Kong then continued remorsefully, â€Å"I was an unfilial and disgraceful son. Unfit to be human for hurting my mother like that. Like what they say, I deserved to be struck down by lightning. † Relatives chided him as being ‘useless, and a shame to the family. ’ Kong ended up caught and admitted to the drug rehabilitation centre. After his release, Kong was still mixing around with the ‘bad’ group of friends as he felt being shunned by the society and this was the group of people most accepting of him.He couldn’t stay clean and soon fell back to his old ways after gaining freedom. He was sent back to the drug rehabilitation centre once more for relapse. â€Å"I was stubborn and self-centered. I didn't really try hard or be determined enough to change my life. I just thought I was unlucky to be caught the first few times. ’ Kong s ays. He continued his old ways, involving in gang fight and robbery with hurt. He was sentenced to imprisonment for a total of 7 years and given 10 strokes of cane. Turning PointWhen he was finally released from Changi Prison, Kong, 30 by that time, felt that he had already wasted a large part of his youth. He made sure to remind himself of the guilt and shame. The heart wrenching moment etched in his memories when he saw how his mother broke down in tears when he was sentenced, how his aged grandmother with declining health having to make her way to visit him in prison over the years. â€Å"I robbed my mother for years because of my rebellious nature, because of my selfishness. All I did was lying and being dishonest with everything they confronted with me.I never thought about the damage I imposed on my family because of my actions. I took advantage on how they dote, only to make them heart-broken. † Kong confessed. Now, he deeply understands for mistakes he made, he wonâ⠂¬â„¢t be the only one paying his dues. His family and loved ones will inevitably bear his consequences one way or the other. Among the tattoos that he was inked over his body during his rebellious younger days, he is now sporting a ‘sak yant’ on his back, a traditional form of tattoo normally performed on followers by Buddhist monks in Thailand.He decided to embrace Buddhism and was on a religious trip to Thailand to receive a ‘sak yant’. But the tattoo wasn’t what he received. It was there where he got to know this local young woman from Chiang Mai, who soon became his wife. Kong and his wife now have two young daughters. Unfortunately, their first daughter Elina, 6, is diagnosed with minor autism and currently attending a special school. But their younger daughter has an even more unfortunate fate. Rita, now 3, was born with a severe spinal deformity which was curved at 80 to 90 degree in ‘S’ shape.She is the youngest and one of the m ost serious cases of congenital scoliosis in Singapore. Two titanium rods each 15 cm to 20 cm long was inserted into her body to straighten her spine and ribs when she was 2. Every six to nine months, Rita will have to go through operations until she is 14 years old, to expand the rods allowing growth. Being the sole breadwinner of the family, Kong currently works as a cargo assistant with a monthly salary of $1600. He tried to working overtime whenever possible so as to provide more support to his family.He was able to cover more about half of the medical expenses from his own Medisave and Medifunds for Rita’s medical expenses. He shared how he learnt humility and helpfulness receiving help from relatives and donations arranged by the hospital. â€Å"Sometimes I think that maybe it’s because of my past deeds, it might have been my karma that caused even my daughters to have to suffer. Being a father made me realized how much the heart hurts when parents see their chi ldren suffer, like how my mother used to feel.Even now, I haven’t revealed all Rita’s condition to my Thai wife. I’m worried she may not be able to take it. Sometimes she will cry while looking at the long deep surgery scars running on Rita’s back. .† Kong said. â€Å"I’m really grateful for my family and relatives who knew of my past, but still accepted me, loved and cared for my daughters as their own too. † Kong added. Even though life may not have turn up perfect, family is now the fuel and motivation for Kong to not turn back his old ways, to be a responsible father and son.