Family and marriage ten theories Essay Example for Free

Family and marriage ten theories Essay 1. Family Ecology- The ecological context of the family affects family life and children’s outcomes. It explores how the family is influenced by the environment.This theory studies how family lives and decisions. It basically brings forth the idea that every choice that you make affects your family, your lifestyle, the surrounding events as well as historical events. Key Concepts Natural physical-biological environment- This concept deals with climate and climate change, soil, plants and animals. Social- Cultural environment- This concepts deals with human made things as well as cultural artifacts. Theorist/ Individual- This concept was discovered/ or created by ecologist Strength and Weaknesses- Some strengths of this theory is that What You Think- I think that this theory is totally correct. I feel like every choice I make does affect my family. It affects their lifestyle as well as how they view things, as well as how they form their opinions. These decisions that I am making now, affects how we live and will affect how they decide they will live when they get older. These decisions are things like, where we live, how we live, work ethics, as well as the food we eat. 2. The Family Life Course Development Framework Families experience predictable change over time. This basically brings forth the idea that families go thru unpredictable changes, which add and subtract from their family composition. This means birth, death and the leaving home of a family member. Key Concepts Family Life Course- Events that add and subtract from a family’s composition Developmental Tasks- tasks that have to be completed before you can transition to the next stage. On Time Transitions- Events that occur when they are supposed to, as opposed to being too early, or too late. Role Sequencing- The order in which major transitions take place. Theorist/ Individual- Life Course Therapist, and Ueker and Stokes Strength and Weaknesses Some of the strengths of this theory is that it analyzes the family as a unit. What You Think- This theory basically states that family life begins with marriage. This is crazy and untrue. I say this because nowadays family life begins when you have a kid as opposed to when you get married. 3. The Structure- Functional Perspective- The family performs essential functions for society. This deals with the way families fulfill basic societal needs, such as raising children responsibly, providing economical support, and emotional security. Key Concepts Social Institution- Family Structure Family Functions Functional Alternatives Theorist/ Individual- Social Scientist Strength and Weaknesses- Some of the strengths is that it analyzes the way families raise their kids, as well as how the family meets the needs of its members. The weaknesses of this theory is that it analyzes the family as a whole, as opposed to analyzes each person individually and how they deal with each other. What You Think- I think that each perspective is uniquely different and this perspective analyzes how families fulfill its members needs. The needs that they analyze, are basically what makes a family functional. These needs are things that each members needs to feel like they play a part in the unit. 4. The Interaction- Constructionist Perspective By means of interaction, humans construct socio-cultural meanings. The internal dynamics of a group of interacting individuals construct the family. Key Concepts Interaction Symbol Meaning Role Making Social Construction of Reality Destruction Postmodernism Theorist/ Individual Strength and Weaknesses- The strengths of this theory is that it looks at the family as a whole to see what is being done collectively to create the closeness. One of the weaknesses is that it does not look at the obvious, it should analyze the person that keeps the family together. Each member is following the lead of one person, who’s main goal is to keep the family together. What You Think- I think this theory basically analyzes family practices and what things, like rituals, bring them together, or create a apparent closeness. These are things that can be used to identify, or analyze another persons behavior, when they don’t come from a family like structure. 5. Exchange Theory- The resources that individuals bring to a relationship or family affect the formation,continuation, nature and power dynamics of a relationship. Social exchanges are compiled to create networks and social capital. This meaning that when people are engaged in social exchanges they limit their costs and maximize their rewards. Key Concepts Resources Rewards and Cost Family Power Social Networks Social Support Theorist/ Individual- Social Therapist Strength and Weaknesses- The strengths of this theory is that it analyzes relationships and people’s economic perspective on forming the relationships. The weaknesses are that the perspective analyzes the people’s economic perspective on forming relationships but it doesn’t analyze thoroughly what type of person they are, and how they attract friends, and form relationships. What You Think- I think this is a great theory. It basically means that when you are forming relationships with people you are analyzing what you can get from the relationship, as opposed to what you are giving in return, or what you have to bring to the table. It basically states the person with less committment to the relationship has more power.  This is because the person with less committments not the person competing for the relationship,as if they don’t care either way, whereas the other person actually cares and wants the relationship to bloom. 6. Family Systems Theory- The family as a whole is more than the sum of its parts. This meaning that the family, becomes whole, although it is comprised of interrelated parts. Key Concepts System- a combination of elements or components that are integrated and organized as a whole. Equilibrium- balance Boundaries- ideas about who is in the family and who is out  Family Therapy- Theorist/ Individual- Psychotherapist Strength and Weaknesses- Some of the strengths are that the theory is that it bases its theory off of research of the family and how it is comprised of different parts. One weakness is that it does not analyze the different personalities within the family as well as the family interactions to determine what keeps them balanced. What You Think- I think that the Family Systems theory is a theory that basically researches the family and it looks at a system as a combination of elements. This is good because it looks at how the family actually interacts together. 7. Conflict and Feminist Theory- Gender is central to the analysis of the family; male dominance in society and in the family is oppresive of women. It is the opposite of structure functional theory. The theory argues that human physiology, genetics, and hormones predisposed individuals to certain behaviors. Key Concepts Male dominance Power Inequality- Theorist/ Individual- theoretical scientist/ social scientist Strength and Weaknesses- Some strengths of these two theories are that they basically analyze what causes certain people to be treated unfair and unequally. It basically tries to ask and answer the question as to what makes males more dominant than females. One of the weaknesses is that it can not effectively  answer this problem, nor solve it because it still exists. What You Think- Conflict Theory analyzes unequal Power. Feminist Theory analyzes gender issues. 8. The Biosocial Perspective- Evolution of the human species has put in place certain biological endowments that shape and limit family life choices. Key Concepts Evolutionary heritage Genes Hormones Brain Processes Inclusive Fitness Theorist/ Individual- Behaviorist Strength and Weaknesses- One of the strengths is that it analyzes the fact that a persons environment helps shape them. One of the weaknesses is that their research found that they could not the factors considered were dependent upon each other, as opposed to just one. What You Think- I think that this theory basically analyzes how a person sees the world and how their behaviors are affected by their environment and family life. 9.Attachment Theory- Early Childhood experience with caregivers shape psychological attachment styles. This brings forth the idea that during infancy and childhood a young person develops a style of attaching to people. Key Concepts Secure Insecure Anxious Attachment Styles Theorist/ Individual- Behaviorist Strength and Weaknesses- some of the strengths are that it analyzes why kids act the way they do and how they get attached to people. The weaknesses are that it does not leave the door open to explain if they are conditions that worsen the child’s ability to attach to a person, or What You Think- I think that the theory is dead on and it explains why a child acts a certain way towards people they don’t know, meeting new people, and why they don’t want to be seperated from their care giver.

Effects of Welfare Reform

Effects of Welfare Reform Kelsey Campbell Imagine being a single parent having six kids and being able to only afford a two bedroom apartment. While working two jobs just to pay bills, put food on the table, and keep the kids off the streets. Any of the kids school events are missed to pick up extra shifts for that extra dollar. Then one day someone suggests applying for Welfare benefits but what about the kids? What about their image at school? What would their friends think of them? What about the change in lifestyles? What would people think about one using the government for money? While doing some research at the library about Welfare something pops up about Welfare Reform, but what is that? Welfare Reform is when one is given a specific job by the government to complete that must be preformed to receive the welfare benefits. While continuing Welfare Reform research one discovers that with Reform benefits you can also receive money for housing, day cares, and childhood education. Now with Welfare Reform benefits one is able to work only one job while affording a household, groceries, and still yet make it to school functions to see the kids without anyone ever knowing you receive these benefits, also helping keep childrens self-esteem up and keeping the kids from feeling poor.ÂÂ   Welfare Reform greatly affects families through working parents, home care of children, and education upon children. The effects of families on Welfare Reform are through the working parents. Working parents spend their days off at work so they can tend to worry those responsibilities instead of spending quality times with their kids and family which can leave the children unsupervised while parents are away. Although the kids can suffer from the working parent, the working parent also provides the money to pay bills and support the kids. This gives the kids more money through the working parent. Also the working parent through Welfare Reform can receive health care benefits to not only protect the kids but keep them healthy. According to Brandwein the ties that bind Those with reform jobs have a better welfare benefits and better exemption options(Brandwein P32). Those who do reform over welfare accept the responsibility of an acquired job. This job is not an option and must be preformed. The better your job is the less welfare you need to receive with less welfare comes better jobs the more advan ced the job is the further youll go to achieve success with health care and insurance, this will lead to a greater extent of socially advanced and happier children. ÂÂ  While parents are a main focus on how children receive money and how children are brought up, they are also the main source of where the child lives and grows. The care effect of children depends on how children are raised. Children who grow up in foster homes are homeless and parentless. Minors without biological parents or guardians tend to feel unloved, unwanted and worthless. While foster homes are run by the government, the more kids in the system the more money the foster home receives, which also changes with foster childrens age. According to Craig foster care and welfare; Foster parents receive federal money to care for children this makes foster children tax less and foster parents tax free (Craig P124). Not only does foster care effect children whose parents use welfare but adoption can affect children if parents are on welfare. Adoption is a forever home for a child; those on welfare can adopt and dont have restrictions to adopting. Kids who enter a home on welfa re from adoption can lack the feeling of comfort and love. Similarly to how parents are an effect on childhood homes, childhood homes effect what kind of care and education children receive. The care effect of children depends on how children are developed through life. As a child grows up they may be put in day care for parents to work they may be home with a stay at home parent but schooling is inevitable, eventually a child begins school. Neither Child care nor education is cheap, according to Lowry expanding federal responsibilities, the average price to put a child through day care 5 days a week 12 months a year is about $10,000 a year while the average price to put a child through public school is close to $16,000. While on welfare reform you can receive free child care and reduced education to preform jobs, but if a job isnt preformed then child care benefits are lost (Lowry P166). This is an important citation because it proves just how expensive it to just bring children up properly.ÂÂ   Your education makes a different in what you can do in life so an education is an important part of a Childs life; a poorer education makes a poorer future. Children who come up from poorer schools receive a poorer education also making it harder to excel in higher courses at higher age levels of different schools. In conclusion, Welfare Reform has affected many families throughout the working parent, home care of children, and the education skills upon children. Throughout this paper I have explained to you the struggles of a family using Welfare reform and the benefits of a family using Welfare Reform. Remember back to the first paragraph and what parents have to do to provide for child, the struggle to feed, bath, and house children on a low income without help. Now recap on paragraph two, in this paragraph I explained the struggles on foster care and adoption homes that dont use Welfare Reform, and then what positive effects they get through using Welfare Reform; Such as having tax less children in foster care to help reduce tax for foster parents. Last we will review paragraph three, in this paragraph I explained the struggle to put children through day care or schooling with a low income without Welfare Reform, and then I proceeded to explain what benefits Welfare Reform has to help with child/day care and a childhood education. Works Cited Brandwein, Ruth A. The Ties That Bind. Battered Women, Children, and Welfare Reform, edited by Ruth A. Brandwein, SAGE Publications International Educational and Professional Publishers,1999, pp.54-63. McCuen, Gary. Expanding Federal Responsibilities. Welfare Reform; the Politics of Wealth and Poverty. edited by Marcia R. Lowry, Gary E. McCuen Publications Inc,1996, pp.128-139. McCuen, Gary. Foster Care and Welfare. Welfare Reform; the Politics of Wealth and Poverty. edited by Conna Craig, Gary E. McCuen publications Inc,1996, pp. 121-127.

Realism And Grotesque In Gullivers Travels English Literature Essay

Realism And Grotesque In Gullivers Travels English Literature Essay Gullivers Travels is a pivotal work in the history of the novel as it exhibits the ways the novel inherits and develops Menippean satire and grotesque aesthetics. Gullivers Travels has rarely been regarded as a proper early novel like Robinson Crusoe or Pamela largely due to two conventional understandings of genre and aesthetics. The first common understanding is that the novel and Menippean satire are mutually exclusive genres. Critics have turned to Menippean satire as if to argue that the genre of Gullivers Travels is kind of a prose fiction that is not the novel. Northrop Frye, for instance, begins his discussion of Gullivers Travels by mentioning that most people would call Gullivers Travels fiction but not a novel. It must then be another form of fiction, i.e. Menippean satire (308). In turn, critics who claim Gullivers Travels as a novel tend to ignore the Menippean tradition of the work; Maximillian Novak asserts that once we consider Gullivers Travels as a work of fiction, we cannot shunt it off into a meaningless category such as anatomy or Menippean satire, in his reading of the work as a picaresque novel(35). The second conventional idea is that the grotesque and realism are also two disparate aesthetic realms, and that grotesque aesthetics in Gullivers Travels- from its use of the fantastic, metamorphosis, or the mad man theme to its excremental vision-does not fit into the realistic aesthetic of the novel. The seeming generic instability of Gullivers Travels mostly derives from our preconceived notion of the novel as a genre of probable realism with verisimilar characters and plausible plots. In fact, even the most acute critics of Swift are not entirely free from this prevalent given notion of what the novel should be. Brean Hammond, who appropriates Bakhtins conception of novelization to explain the cultural shifts of the long eighteenth century toward a hybridization that breaks down traditionally observed generic boundaries, surprisingly turn s to a conventional notion of the novel when he argues that Gullivers Travels is not a novel like Robinson Crusoe partly because Gulliver is not a character like Crusoe, a character who is a credible approximation of a human being,-i.e. a verisimilar character-but a device that can be exploited for satiric purposes(250, 270). Hammond is right that [Gullivers Travels] is ideologically opposed to the set of attitudes and beliefs that was fuelling the development of the novel as a genre; part of the intention of the work lies in the parody of Robinson Crusoe or the stuff of 1720s romanceby Haywood, as he remarks(270). That does not mean, however, that Gullivers Travels is not a novel. Swift might have intended his Menippean work partly as a Scriblerian satire that attacks modern hack writings. Paradoxically, or according to the process of novelization, however, Gullivers Travels turned out to be a significant addition to the novelistic tradition; the novelistic energies that Swift desp ised and denigrated boomeranged and informed his satire, and transformed it into a novel. Gullivers Travels is not exhaustively explained by our conventional notion of the novel, but it does not mean that it is not a novel. Rather, Swifts work characteristically challenges our common notion of the novel, and reveals the rich tradition of Menippean satire that is absorbed in the novel. In a similar vein, the grotesque aesthetics of Gullivers Travels belies our confined notion of realism, or realistic aesthetics. It manifests that (novelistic) realism is not limited to probable realism, a mixture of empirical episteme and the modern transformation of classical mimetic aesthetics, but also involves low realism-crudely put, an antonym of idealism or classicism. At a superficial level, the grotesque and realism could look like two separate or almost opposite notions. Geoffrey Harpham and Mikhail Bakhtin, however, illustrate that the grotesque and realism are compatible notions at a fundamental level, and that the history of the grotesque is also the history of the recognition of that compatibility. Harpham provides a useful account of the shift of the notion of the relation between the grotesque and realism. According to him, while the Renaissance regarded grottesche as pure fantasy, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries we find [the grotesque] associated with car icature in.. .Rowlandson, Hogarth, Goya, most of whom we would not associate with fantastic art, and by the beginning of the twentieth century.. .Thomas Mann commented.. .that the grotesque was properly something more than the truth, something real in the extreme.' According to this narrative, the history of the grotesque is a gradual recognition of the fundamentally realistic characteristic of the Grotesque, which is distinct from the mimetic realism of the Classical (xviii-xix). Bakhtin offers another powerful narrative on the history of the grotesque, or the intricate relation of the grotesque and realism. The grotesque and realism are almost synonymous for Bakhtin, as is epitomized in his core term of grotesque realism. Grotesque realism, which lower[s] all that is high, spiritual, ideal, abstract and is opposed to severance from the material and bodily roots of the world, is culminated in the literature of the Renaissance after the medieval culture of folk humor(19-20, 32). As starkly opposed to classical aesthetics, grotesque realism is closely linked to some other central concepts of Bakhtin, like the carnival spirit, the material bodily principle, folk humor, or the ambivalent and regenerating laughter of the people. Bakhtin also historicizes the concept of the grotesque, confining grotesque realism to the Renaissance grotesque, although he underscores the living tradition of Renaissance grotesque realism in world literature. He explains that the Renaissance grotesque is reduced and transformed in later periods, and thus the Romantic grotesque (and the modernist grotesque) is more like an individual carnival, marked by a vivid sense of isolation, losing laughters regenerating power.(37). One notable element in Bakhtins historicization of the grotesque is, however, that the eighteenth-century grotesque is almost invisible between the Renaissance grotesque and the Romantic grotesque. One reason would be, as Bakhtin implies, that the eighteenth century directly inherited the Renaissance grotesque but also embedded the elements of classicism or cold rationalism: a time that the positive bodily hyperbole of Rabelais and the bourgeois disciplined body were uncomfortably commingled and intensely struggled with each other. Thus the eighteenth-century grotesque was the space in which the Renaissance struggle between the Grotesque and the Classical was continued in a displaced form of the struggle between the lingering force of the Renaissance grotesque and now ascending bourgeois rationalism, classical bourgeois reason. The Augustan formal verse satire of Dryden, Pope, or Swift played out the unprecedentedly intense contention between the classical-rational and the grotesque through an odd mixture of refined, sophisticated forms and disorderly, brimming-over contents. Swift also embodies the bitter conflict of the classical-rational and the grotesque through (the relation of) the Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos in Gullivers Travels, a Menippean satire and a novel, which remarkably displays the peculiar characteristic of the eighteenth-century grotesque. Although critics have increasingly acknowledged that Gullivers Travels is a Menippean satire, there are few detailed readings of the work in the Menippean tradition, particularly in relation to Bakhtins concept of the genre as an authentic precursor of the novel. While scrutinizing the relation of the Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos as a privileged locus of the Swiftian grotesque, the political dimension of the grotesque will be revealed, which is embedded in the Yahoos as an allegory of the Irish, or colonial subjects, and then briefly examine the political dimension of (low) realism. The Menippean fantastic usually generates three effects, which are fully used in Gullivers Travels. First, the fantastic adventure provides a new, non-human perspective that defamiliarizes our accustomed world, or debunks our habitual, human-centered way of thinking. As Bakhtin describes, it provoke[es] and test[s] a truth by using the observation from some unusual point of view, from on high, for example, which results in a radical change in the scale of the observed phenomena of life(116). Secondly, the Menippean fantastic engages popular imagination or a comic, carnivalesque spirit; the popularity of Gullivers Travels, particularly as a classic childrens book, is considerably indebted to this folkloric imagination embedded in the fantastic. Thirdly, the fantastic offers an occasion to critique the authors (and the assumed readers) contemporary reality, usually by imagining an upside-down world or a Utopian society. In the imagined spaces of Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa, or Houyhn hnmland (or Yahooland), Swift cuttingly criticizes the domestic policies of England as well as the overall imperialism of Europe. Gullivers first meal at the Brobdingnagian farmers house illustrates how the three levels of the fantastic-ultimate questions, popular laughter, and a critique of contemporary reality-are simultaneously generated in Gullivers Travels. When the farmers wife gave him something to eat and drink, Gulliver says he: made her a low bow, took out my knife and fork, and fell to eat, which gave them exceeding delight .1 took up the vessel with much difficulty in both hands, and in a most respectful manner drank to her ladyships health, expressing the words as loud as I could in English, which made the company laugh so heartily, that I was almost deafened with the noise. (85). To imagine Gulliver taking out his fork and knife from his magic pockets, in which he seems to have everything necessary wherever he is stranded, is certainly hilarious. Apart from that, why is this scene full of humor, and why does the reader participate in the Brobdingnagians delight and laughter at Gullivers actions? To use knife and fork in eating is a common custom in eighteenth-century Europe, and to drink to her ladyships health in a most respectful manner is also a well-mannered behavior. Yet from the perspective of the Brobdingnagians, to whom Gulliver is like a small dangerous animal or a strange animal at first (83, 90), his socially tailored and overly polite behaviors could look affected or ridiculous mostly because of the incongruity between a strange animal and his pretense to be a perfectly civilized man. Their giant perspective makes us see Gullivers pride in his being a gentleman who acts according to the social code, and by extension, the pride of all humankind in his or her exclusive claim to high civilization. Moreover, a non-human view renders the European manner of using knife and fork or making a gallant compliment on the hostess not so much absolute social etiquette but one cultural custom among many cultural possibilities. To Brobdingnagians, it makes little difference whether a small animal like Gulliver uses knife and fork (as in Europe) or his fingers (as in some other cultures), although using fingers for food is an unequivocal sign of barbarism from a European perspective. Likewise, a humble showing of gratitude for food would be as good as a showy display of a toast for the hostess in a Brobdingnagians view. The Olympian perspective of the Brobdingnagians, which almost innocently exposes the limited view of human beings, also serves as a device of a severe attack on human folly or pride. When Gulliver finished his talking of[his] own beloved country, the Brobdingnagin king could not forbear taking [Gulliver] up in his right hand, and stroking [him] gently with the other, after an hearty fit of laughing, asked [him] whether [he was] a Whig or a Tory. Then turning to his first ministerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ he observed how contemptible a thing was human grandeur, which could be mimicked by such diminutive insects as I (100). What makes the kings rhetorical question incisive does not derive from any political considerations but from the sheer size difference between the king and Gulliver; the kings gesture of stroking [Gulliver] gently with his left hand nullifies a pressing problem in eighteenth-century England into a trivial or meaningless one. The exorbitant pride and atrociousness of humans, w hich the king points out repeatedly, looks more preposterous in the frame where giants are human and Gulliver is a diminutive insect. We humans become the most pernicious race of little odious vermin or an impotent and groveling an insect (123, 125) from a Brobdingnagianss view. Laughter is reduced to the level of bitterness here. The fantastic convention of Menippean satire is entangled with another main convention of the genre: metamorphosis. Gullivers travels into fantastic lands are coextensive with his experiences of metamorphosis into a strange, monstrous, unnatural or grotesque being. Metamorphosis, like the fantastic, holds a formal generic significance as opposed to the classical aesthetics of high genres. It destroy[s] the epic and tragic wholeness of a person and his fate: the possibility of another person and another life are revealed in himà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ he ceases to coincide with himself, as Bakhtin notes. To compare Gullivers fantastic travels and Odysseuss epic journey around their encounter with a monster and its effect on their identities is illuminating. When Odysseus confronts a savage monster, Polyphemus, it is his fate and his character to defeat the Cyclops by using his wiles, as is evidenced in Polyphemus later recall of the prophecy. Throughout his long journey, Odysseuss identity nev er changes, despite his varied disguises, with any encounters with monsters, like Charibdis, Scylla, or Circe. The boundary between a hero and a monster, or the self and the other, cannot be blurred in Odysseus. In contrast, Gullivers encounters with giant Brobdingnagians, which he understandably regarded as monsters at first (seven monsters like himself came toward him 82), shakes his identity to the core. While the Brobdignagians regard themselves as humans, it is Gulliver who becomes a monster, or an unnatural anomaly among those humans. The scholars of Brobdingnag unanimously conclude that Gulliver is Lusus Naturae, or a freak of nature (98). Metamophorsis assumes a permeating line between a hero and a monster, and Gullivers experience of being transformed into a monster among the pigmy Lilliputians or the giant Brobdingnagians (as far as to see himself as a freak) manifests a different concept of self and the other in Menippean satire from that in high genres like The Odyssey. While Odysseus unfailingly defeats various monsters in his way home to reestablish his (social) identity, Gulliver suffers being transformed into grotesque figures in his fantastic adventures only to be mad when he is back home. Gullivers experience as a grotesque being is not only significant in the frame of the fantastic but also holds a strong social resonance-to people in the margin or periphery, a metaphoric transformation into a grotesque being is neither rare nor bizarre, anyway. Gullivers odd trials in Brobdingnag or Lilliput not only involve becoming a symbolic monster, like a diminutive insect or Man-Mountain, but also signify being thrown into a socially abject, precarious position, like a slave or a highly vulnerable courtier. In Brobdingnag, Gulliver has to go through the ignominy of being carried about for a monster, till [he is] half dead with weariness and vexation since now he is [his] masters slave (92, 93, 95). Likewise, despite the high title of Nardac in Lilliput, Gulliver is notified of his friends generous proposal to get him blind and eventually starved to death as an alternative to capital punishment, on which Gulliver says having never been designed for a courtier either by my birth or educationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 1 could not discover the lenity and favor of this sentence (69). Gullivers denial of his own identity, or the denial of his monstrosity among the normal inhabitants of Brobdignag, certainly anticipates his total conversion in Houyhnhnmland, his ardent wish to be like the Houyhnhnms and the insistent denial of his Yahooness. And as much as the fantastic lands are overlapped with the real world, Gullivers denial of his abject, grotesque identity so as to be like his dominant masters comes to signify the split identity of a colonial subject. In fact, Gullivers shifting and conflicting subject positions (as a colonized and a colonizer) throughout the whole narrative prepares him for his ultimate madness, a total split identity between his Yahooness and his desire to be a Houyhnhnm. The eventual madness of Gulliver, who always keep[s his] nose well stopped with rue, lavender, or tobacco leaves to avoid the [offensive] smell of a Yahoo (271), or converse[s] with [his horses] at least four hours every day to improve his virtue (266), reflects not so much Swifts stark misanthropy but a common Menippean experiment with a split self. As is typical of Menippean satire, Gullivers madness contains a comic element. Even the most serious reader would smile at the moments like as soon as I entered the house, my wife took me in her arms, and kissed me, at which having not been used to the touch of that odious animal for so many years, I fell in a swoon for almost an hour (265), or I feel my spirits revived by the smell [the groom] contracts in the stable (266). Scattered throughout Bakhtins works, we can find references to Swift as a central author in the eighteenth century, who inherited and developed the Renaissance grotesque and Menippean imagination: the contents of the carnival-grotesque elementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ were preservedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ in the work of Swift; this line of experimental fantasicality continuesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ in Rabelais, Swift, Voltaire and others. Yet there seem to be some notable differences between the Renaissance or Rabelaisian grotesque (that Bakhtin stresses) and the Swiftian grotesque. A conspicuous example of this difference is the peculiar image of the body in Swift, his excremental vision, or the hallmark of his scatological imagery. Bakhtin explains that in Rabelaiss grotesque realism, the bodily element is deeply positive it is opposed to severance from the material and bodily roots of the world (19). As any reader would remark, however, the body image in Gullivers Travels is hard to be described as deeply positive. Swifts body is rather full of filthy, despicable, ugly, burdensome, obscene, or scatological images. Gullivers description of the monstrous breast of a nurse in Brobdingnag ( the hue both of [the nipple] and the dug so varified with spots, pimples and freckles, that nothing could appear more nauseous 87), or of a woman beggar in the country with a cancer in her breast, swelled to a monstrous size, full of holes (105), is only a couple of memorable examples that display negative images of the body in Gullivers Travels. Swifts body also does not involve the image of brimming-over, ambivalence, or regeneration, which Bakhtin asserts are the core principles of the material bodily lower stratum in the Renaissance grotesque. In Gullivers Travels the exaggerated bodily image becomes deplorable repletion, from which all diseases arise (233), or the ultimate culprit of bodily diseases. Human beings are sick because we eat when we were not hungry, and drank without the provocation o f thirst (233), as Gulliver mentions to his master Houhynhnm. Gullivers Travels embodies the intimate relation of the grotesque-allegorical and realism in its own peculiar manner. Gullivers Travels is a crucial work in the discussion of realism in the novel partly because it illustrates how grotesque aesthetics, a crucial part of low realism, positively invokes the authors bad contemporary reality. If realism still matters, one reason lies in that it evokes the embroiled relation between text and world, the real world in which all kinds of oppression, constraints, or injustice-i. e. the objects of Swifts satire-are still happening. It is not surprising that the definition of realism is so various as to seem nearly meaningless, for the definition of reality is so much different as that of realism, depending on each individual or each period; terms like psychological realism, fantastic realism, or historical realism, already imply what the user of the term thinks is the fundamental reality-psychology, fantasy, or history. The political dimension of realism constitutes an integral part of it since realism involves an inevitable question of whose reality is at sta ke. Houyhnhnmland is also Yahooland, according to whose reality is dominant. The Houyhnhnms have had debates for ages about the extermination of the Yahoos, but the Yahoos in turn seem to be ready to have rebellion or mutiny, given a provocation, like the inhabitants of Lindalino. Swift gives a most horrible form to the Yahoos, and even does not give a voice to them: they only howl. However, he makes the reader see that Houyhnhnmland is also Yahooland, not explicitly nevertheless, but still powerfully and disturbingly.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight :: Fourteenth Century English Literature Essays

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a poem written in the fourteenth century by an anonymous author. It describes the adventures of Sir Gawain, during which his morality is put to the test. The story develops around the Christmas game with the Green Knight. In this game the challenger, the Green Knight, proposes to exchange blows with an axe within a one-year interval. At the time Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written, Sir Gawain was considered to be the most noble and admirable of the knights of the Round Table. His actions, therefore, in this poem, testify to the reader that his knightly honor is unblemished, despite the moral tests he is put through in the story. The main idea behind the poem is to show that the perfect Christian knight, is not just the strongest and bravest warrior, but also the most moral and honorable person. Therefore, Sir Gawain is tested in order for us to see if he is a perfect knight. GRAPH The second part of the poem (stanzas 1 through 3) presents us with a change in the poem's tone, as compared with the previous festival atmosphere of the castle. We are given a detailed description of passing time. The change in weather and all the surroundings seems to be governed by fate, but as the poet notices the "First things and final conform but seldom" (Norton, 212). The vivid description of passing clouds, "fostering showers"(212) and singing birds signifies the beginning of summer-time, which changes with the portrayal of harvest season, the ripening of the fruits and the turning of green grass into gray (Norton, 213), marked by arrival of the autumn. We see how the eternal cycle of seasons is once again approaching its end. The cold winter is very close now, and that also means that so is Sir Gawain's journey to find Green Knight and complete the Christmas game: "And so the year moves on in yesterday's many, And winter once more, by the world's law draws nigh." (Nor ton 213, lines 529-530)

Goals And Accomplishing Your Dreams Essay -- essays research papers

Goals and Accomplishing Your Dreams   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For many years jobs such as doctors, accountants, and corporate executives were considered high profile . In the last decade, careers in the field of law have become more important due to the increasing number of lawsuits. One of my many long term goals is to become a tax lawyer. This is a goal I have held near to my heart form several years. I can see myself walking into a packed court room with my Italian suit and penny loafers on. The court room grows silent as my client pleads not guilty. The judge raps his gavel and a court date is set. It is a goal that is very distant and may change, but it is one goal that I must strive for to achieve. For many teenagers this is the leading cause of failure later in life. Many people loose their focus. A wise man once said, â€Å"Dreams are what life is made up of.† This statement is true in the sense that if you have dreams you have something to look forward to; something to focus on; even something to live for. Knowing that you are a VIP is important in the decision-making process.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To accomplish your dreams, you must first face adversity in the eye and conquer your fears. For me personally, training to be a lawyer will take time and commitment. I must constantly look at where I am now and evaluate where I need to go from here. There will never be a time in your life where you are at the top. You must keep climbing the ladder of success. For...

An Overview Of The Malaysian Energy Sector Environmental Sciences Essay

Natural resources such as the air current and Sun are efficaciously utilize to bring forth energy. Since these types of resources are theoretically infinite, it offers attractive force to be utilised and developed extensively. In 2008, approximately 19 % of primary energy for the universe ‘s ingestion is sourced from renewable resources. Large hydropower constitutes the highest per centum followed by biomass. Modern engineerings like air current, solar, geothermic and other engineerings produce really less of the universe ‘s demand. Figure 2.1 and 2.2 high spots the present renewable energy scenario [ 7 ] . Malaysia is a state that rich with renewable beginnings of energy, such as biomass, biogas, solar, and mini-hydro. Renewable energy is expected to play a larger function in the close hereafter in the position of the depletion of non-renewable fuels militias and growing in energy demand. The Malaysia Government is beef uping the function of the renewable energy as the fifth fuel in energy mix. However, the part of renewable energy to the entire electricity coevals mix is really low. As of December 2009, renewable energy merely contribute & lt ; 1 % ( 55.5 MW ) of the electricity coevals for the national grid. Malayan authorities has approved the Renewable Energy and Action Plan in April 2010 and will implement in 10 Malaysia Plan and beyond. In 2003, the entire electricity generated in the state was 83,300 GWh of which 72.8 % was contributed by gas, 16.3 % coal, 6.2 % hydropower, 4.0 % oil merchandises and 0.7 % by biomass and other fuels. Out of the 78,900 GWh produced by the public-service corporations and IPPs, 45,450 GWh or 57.6 % was contributed by IPPs ( Statistic of Electricity Supply Industry in Malaysia, 2004 ) . At the terminal of 2003, the sum installed coevals capacity of the public-service corporations and IPPs in the state was 18,800 MW with a works mix of 58.2 % gas turbine and combined rhythm, 19.3 % coal, 11.3 % hydropower, 7.5 % oil, 3.4 % Diesel and the staying others. The state ‘s electricity production from 2005 to 2009 is shown in Table 2.1. The entire supply of energy in Malaysia increased from 2000 to 2005 and go oning addition in 2010. The chief beginnings of supply were rough oil and crude oil merchandises, and natural gas. The portion of petroleum oil and crude oil merchandises declined while that of coal and coke increased, reflecting reduced dependance on a individual beginning of supply in maintaining with the Fuel Diversification Policy. In 2010, all of the chief signifiers of energy supply had experienced growing in response to spread outing demand but, consistent with the Fuel Diversification Policy, the portion of crude oil merchandises was declined to 61.9 % while that of natural gas was increased to 15.8 % in 2010. However, although rough oil and crude oil merchandises is still lend the greatest proportion of the entire supply, a farther addition in the usage of coal and coke had allowed some decrease in the one-year growing rate of the oil supply, while the parts by natural gas and hydro had remained about the same. The security, dependability, quality and cost effectual supply of energy had been enhanced through an optimum energy mix preponderantly from domestic beginnings. The monetary value of rough oil in international markets is expected to stay high so that farther efforts will be made to cut down dependance on crude oil merchandises and to use their expeditiously. Between 2000 and 2005, the beginnings of fuel for power coevals were farther diversified with the increased usage of coal, consistent with the scheme to guarantee security and dependability of electricity supply every bit good as to cut down the high dependance on gas. Altogether, between 2000 and 2005, a sum of 6,420 MW of new coevals capacity was installed. Attempts were undertaken to cut down the high dependance on natural gas in the coevals mix by increasing the usage of coal. As a consequence, the portion of coal in the entire coevals mix increased from 8.8 per centum in 2000 to 21.8 per cent in 2005 whereas that of natural gas declined from 77.0 per centum to 70.2 per cent. During this period the electricity transmittal system was further expanded with the completion of new transmittal undertakings associating coevals workss to the chief grids every bit good as supplying connexions to new industrial and commercial countries. Execution of the rural electrification programmed ( which now stands at 92.2 % ) benefited abodes in Sabah and Sarawak in peculiar. Peak demand for electricity was grown at an mean rate of 7.8 % per annum and reached 20,087 MW in 2010. Enterprises are being taken to further heighten the efficiency and viability of the public-service corporation companies and the independent power manufacturers enabling a decrease in the modesty border while bettering the security, dependability, quality and cost effectivity of supply to clients. The fuel mix for power coevals will chiefly consist coal and natural gas, with coal playing an progressively of import function. New coal based independent power manufacturer workss utilizing electrostatic p recipitators and a fuel gas desulphurization procedure will enable coal-based production to run into environmental criterions. In add-on, as portion of attempts to advance the optimum use of municipal waste for electricity coevals, a pilot undertaking on waste-to-energy is being implemented in Peninsular Malaysia. When Malaysia formulated its first energy policy, concern over efficient use of energy and the demand for energy development to take history of environmental issues were cardinal. These concerns were driven by the oil crises of 1973 and 1978 and the implicit in issue was the demand to guarantee equal and dependable supplies of energy. The Energy Policy of 1979, the National Depletion Policy of 1980 and the Four Fuel Diversification Policy of 1981, have provided the model for the development of energy supply. The chief push of the energy policy works within a model of three wide policy aims ; supply, use and environment aims. These policy aims are instrumental in steering the preparation of the Malaysia five twelvemonth development programs. Since so the focal point in the energy sector has shifted to the sustainable development of non-renewable resources and the variegation of energy beginnings. The Four Fuel Diversification Policy identified the state ‘s preferable energy mix as oil, natural gas, coal and hydro power. In 2001, Government articulated the Five Fuel Policy, adding renewable resources and associating this to sustainability and efficiency.2.1.3 Status of Renewable Energy Utilization2.1.3.1 Biomass EnergyBiomass is all the Earth ‘s life affair, dwelling of stuffs produced by photosynthesis or organic byproducts from a waste watercourse. Therefore it is a signifier of stored solar energy. It includes a broad assortment of organic wastes and residues, typically from the agricultural sector, forestry, nutrient processing sector, carnal manures, sewerage and municipal solid wastes. In photosynthesis, turning workss organize energy and O by capturing sunshine, H2O and C dioxide from its milieus. The energy may so be released either by burning of the solid fuel or by transition into liquid fuels such as methyl alcohol and ethyl alcohol or biogas which chiefly consists of methane and C dioxide. This sort of utile energy produced from biomass is called bio energy. Biomass is an appealing energy beginning because it does non bring forth CO2 emanations merely because when it is converted into utile energy, it will breathe the CO2 it originally absorbed during photosynthesis. Biomass power workss exist in over 50 states around the universe and are no uncertainty a major energy supplier for many states throughout the universe. It accounts to about a 3rd of entire primary energy ingestion in the development states. Even for industrialised states, the energy part from biomass can be important. The states that derive the larger proportion of entire primary energy from combustible renewable and waste are Finland ( 20 % ) , Austria ( 7 % ) and Germany ( 5 % ) [ 8 ] .2.1.3.2 Solar EnergyEnergy that can be straight generated from the Sun is fundamentally divided into two classs ; solar thermal and solar photovoltaic ( PV ) . In solar thermal, it can be in a signifier of active solar warming where the energy from the Sun is collected with either flat-plate or evacuated tube aggregators and is used for domestic hot H2O or swimming pool warming. Alternatively, it can be inactive solar warming that uses air to go around collected energy in edifices to cut down the en ergy required for warming of habitable infinites. For bring forthing electricity straight from the sunshine, there are two chief ways ; solar thermic electricity and solar PV cells [ 9 ] . Solar thermic electricity dressed ores sunlight utilizing a system of aggregators. The concentrated sunshine so heats the H2O to sufficiently high temperatures to turn a steam turbine and hence generate electricity. Solar PV cells use a particular surface that emits negatrons when exposed to visible radiation. The traveling negatrons produce a DC current that can be passed through an inverter to bring forth jumping current.2.1.3.3 Wind EnergyWind power is the transition of air current energy into utile signifier, such as electricity, utilizing air current turbines. Most modern air current power is generated in the signifier of electricity by change overing the rotary motion of turbine blades into electrical currents by agencies of an electrical generator. Wind power is used in big graduated table air current farms for national electrical grids eve ry bit good as in little single turbines for supplying electricity to rural abodes or grid-isolated locations. Wind engineering is the fastest turning engineering in the universe, turning at over 32 % on mean yearly [ 8 ] . At the terminal of 2009, planetary installed capacity was 157,899 MW of which Asia acquires 24.6 % . China leads the list with entire installed capacity of 25,104 MW to day of the month. India runs 2nd with 10,926 MW followed by Japan with 2,056 MW and Taiwan sits in 4th with coevals of 436 MW [ 10 ] .2.1.3.4 HydropowerHydroelectricity is a well-established engineering, and the first renewable engineering to be developed. It is already a major subscriber to universe energy supplies, and provides one sixth of the universes one-year electrical end product and over 90 % of electricity from renewable [ 7 ] . Hydroelectricity eliminates the fuel gas emanations from fossil fuel burning, including pollutants such as S dioxide, azotic oxide, C monoxide, dust, and quicksilver in the coal. Hydroelectricity besides avoids the jeopardies of coal excavation and the indirect wellness effects of coal-burning. Compared to atomic power, hydroelectricity generates no atomic waste, has none of the dangers associated with U excavation, nor atomic leaks. Unlike U, hydroelectricity is besides a renewable energy beginning. Compared to weave farms, hydroelectricity power workss have a more predictable burden factor. If the undertaking has a storage reservoir, it can be dispatched to bring forth power when needed. Hydroelectric power workss can be easy regulated to follow fluctuations in power demand. Unlike fossil-fuelled burning turbines, building of a hydroelectric works requires a long lead-time for site surveies, hydrological surveies, and environmental impact appraisal. Hydrological data up to 50 old ages or more is normally required to find the best sites and runing governments for a big hydroelectric works. Unlike workss operated by fuel, such as dodo or atomic energy, the figure of sites that can be economically developed for hydroelectric production is limited ; in many countries the most cost effectual sites have already been exploited.2.2 Future Developments2.2.1 Energy GrowthThe Malayan economic system coming out of the recent economic downswing ( 1997- 2000 ) in the ASEAN part, coupled with a positive mentality of the Malayan economic system in the medium term, means that future demand for electricity is expected to increase significantly. In the following old ages, the demand is forecasted to turn at an mean rate of 6-8 % per annum. Furthermore, Malaysia ‘s pe ak demand is forecast to 21052 MW in 2010 for the Peninsular entirely [ 18 ] . In the twelvemonth 2010 it was anticipated that the fuel mix in Peninsular Malaysia were 58 % oil and gas, 33 % coal and the remainder hydro and other renewable beginnings of energy [ 18 ] . This was non come without an environmental cost since the focal point is on coal and gas to provide the future demand for power. Extra coal and gas-fired generators ( 10 GW in entire ) will breathe an extra 31 million metric tons CO2 ( coal ) and about 8 million metric tons CO2 ( gas ) per twelvemonth. The entire electricity demand growing in Malaysia was about 5.8 % in 2002/2003. The growing in electricity demand was driven more or less every bit among residential, commercial and industrial sectors. In footings of demand, about all sectors exhibited growing in their ingestion of energy in 2003, with industrial demand driven by a growing in the fabrication and building sectors. Supply growing was driven by three major factors: Commissioning of new power workss, ensuing in an addition of installed capacity Greater imports of coal for power workss Completion of the State Petroleum Company ‘s ( PETRONAS ) Liquid Natural Gas works ( MLNG3 ) , built in Bintulu to back up higher demand for LNG.2.2.2 Malaysia ‘s Energy PoliciesEnergy has contributed significantly towards the rapid growing of the Malayan economic system. Today, approximately 80 % of Malaysia ‘s entire population lives in Peninsular Malaysia, the hub of the state ‘s economic activities. As Malaysia progresses towards going a developed state, energy ingestion will correspondingly addition. In run intoing increasing energy demand, concerted attempts have been undertaken to guarantee greater security and sustainability of energy supply. Consumption of energy nevertheless produces some unwanted impacts on the environment and clime. Hence, sustainable usage of energy is being given attending in Malaysia. Malaysia energy policy came in the 70 ‘s, a clip of lifting petroleum oil monetary values and find of new oil beginnings in the Peninsular Malaysia. A Petroleum Development Act ( PDA ) was enacted in 1974 and followed by the National Petroleum Policy in 1975. However, a more comprehensive national policy on energy came in 1979. This National Energy Policy contains three principal policy aims to steer future energy policy sector development. They are as follows: Energy Supply: Assurance of equal energy supply through the decrease of the dependance on oil, and through the development and use of alternate beginnings of energy. Energy Use: Promotion and encouragement of the efficient usage of energy and the riddance of uneconomical and non-productive forms of energy ingestion. Environmental Conservation: Minimization of environmental debasement in recognizing the supply and use aims. In relation to the dependability and security of energy supply, Four-Fuel Diversification Policy was introduced in 1981, concentrating on four chief beginnings of fuel, viz. oil, hydro, gas and coal which was besides aimed to cut down the dependence on oil in the energy ingestion, peculiarly in the power sector. This policy is so expended in the twelvemonth 2005 to include renewable energy ( RE ) as the fifth fuel to supplement energy supply from conventional energy resources.2.3 Renewable Energy Programs and Incentives2.3.1 Small Renewable Energy Power ( SREP )To ease the execution of RE undertakings, a SREP was implemented on 11th May 2001 by the authorities to promote and escalate the use of renewable energy in power coevals. A SREP undertaking can be more than 10 MW in size, but the maximal capacity that will be allowed for power export to the distribution grid must non be more than 10 MW. Under SREP, the use of all types of RE, including biomass, biogas, municipal waste, solar, mini-hydro and air current, are allowed. As in 2010, 43 undertakings with mark capacity of 286.15MW have been approved by the authorities utilizing assorted types of renewable energy ( Fig 2.3 ) , with the most approaching from biomass and mini hydro. However, merely ten 10 undertakings are presently in operation with a entire capacity of 56.7MW. Figure 2.3: Status and Potential SREP Projects in Malaysia Under SREP, the old Renewable Energy Power Purchase Agreement ( REPPA ) selling monetary value agreed upon by the National Power Utility ( TNB ) for all RE grid connected undertakings, ranged from 14-17 cent/kWh ( US4.6 cents/kWh ) . However, the electricity duty of 17 cent/kWh ( US5. 6 cents/kWh ) seems non to supply high adequate rate of return to pull investors or undertaking developers given the size of the undertaking under SREP. Consequently, the Government has increased the electricity duty for biomass and biogas undertakings to 19 cent/kWh ( US6.2 cents/kWh ) in September 2006 and later the monetary value has been adjusted to 21 cent/kWh ( US6.9 cents/kWh ) effectual August 2007. However, the monetary value for other RE resources such as Hydro and Solar remain at 17 cent/kWh. The addition in duty is expected to escalate farther the SREP undertaking development.2.3.1.1 Progress SREP ProjectSeveral RE undertakings approved between the old ages 2007 to 2008 hold made important a dvancement. These undertakings will provide a sum of 65.75 MW when they are connected to the electricity grid by the terminal of 2010. It is deserving observing that these undertakings have progressed over a period during which alterations were made to the cardinal elements of the SREP Program – viz. an addition in the monetary value of electricity sold to the public-service corporation by RE manufacturers, and the standardisation of REPPA to cut down the dialogue clip period ( or the demand to flush negotiate ) for RE capacity below 2 MW. These alterations addressed the two factors that were found by the 2006 survey to hold impeded the execution of SREP approved undertakings.2.3.2 Biomass Power Generation & A ; Demonstration Project ( BioGen )Biomass Power Generation and Demonstration ( BioGen ) Undertaking was so introduced in October 2002 with the ultimate aim to advance and show biomass and biogas grid-connected power coevals undertakings and cut down the growing rate of GHG emanations from fossil fuel by using extra oil thenar biomass residues. BioGen facilitates development of the grid-connected biomass-fuelled little power systems, disseminates awareness information in palm oil industry, provides edifice and proficient aid in policy preparation, and fiscal installation aid through favourable bank loans and revenue enhancement freedom among others. Some of BioGen important undertakings include the first 14MW ( export 10 MW ) power works in Tawau, Sabah which uses oil thenar residues ( empty fruit clump, fibre and shell ) that successfully mitigate 40,000 50,000 dozenss of CO2 in 2004 and more late, a 46.2MW and 500 kW power workss are grid connected and commissioned in April 2009 and a sum of 700MW off-grid electricity has been produced by private thenar oil Millers.2.3.2.1 Progress BioGen ProjectTo day of the month, merely two all-out theoretical account undertakings have been implemented and scheduled for committee in early 2009 ( some 7 old age s after the beginning of the BioGen FSM Demonstration Project ) , viz. : MHES Asia ‘s 13 MW IPP running on biomass utilizing EFB as fuel FELDA Serting 500 kW power works utilizing biogas from palm oil factory wastewaters ( POME )2.3.3 Malaysia Building Integrated Photovoltaic Project ( MBIPV )The MBIPV undertaking caters for the successful execution of GC-BIPV ( Grid Connected-BIPV ) installings in Malaysia under the UNDP/GEF supported Malaysia Building Integrated Photovoltaic ( MBIPV ) Technology undertaking. The undertaking period coincides with the 9th Malaysia Plan period 2006 to 2010. The undertaking includes the development of appropriate, proactive and incorporate programs and policies that will make contributing environment for widespread acceptance of BIPV beyond the 9th Malaysia Plan period to work solar PV energy in Malaysia. The Undertaking aims to develop the model for a national BIPV plan for the tenth Malayan Plan ( 2011-2015 ) and beyond, supported with suited and customized mechanisms for local conditions to speed up the market development and heighten the development of the PV industry in the country.A2.3.4 SURIA 1000Suria 1000, a national plan to promote the acceptance of solar energy, was introduced during the gap ceremonial of the International Energy Conference for Sustainable Asia on 27th November 2006. One of the major enterprises under the UNDP-supported Malaysia Building Integrated Photovoltaic ( BIPV ) Project, Suria 1000 targets the installing of solar cells at places and offices.

A Critical Examination of Cultural Influences in the Film Bend It Like Beckham Essay

The film ‘Bend it like Beckham’ resonates with me strongly, as the conflict between Western and Indian culture is all too familiar. The main character ‘Jess Bhamra’ personifies this conflict in the most perfect and relatable way. Being a first generation Australian-born girl with Indian heritage, I can personally attest to having to simultaneously maintain two very different cultures that so often clash. ‘Bend it like Beckham’, is a film telling the story of an Indian girl whose only real goal in life, much to her parents’ dismay, is to play professional football. As Jess embarks on her trying journey of self-development in a cross-cultural space, she befriends fellow football enthusiast and player Jules who convinces Jess to join the local women’s football team. This friendship provides an interesting perspective on the Western culture, by offering the responder an insight into the struggles of Jules’ life, some of which are very same struggles present for Jess. The diasporic identities that are Jess’ parents are not ill intentioned, however slightly overbearing in their persistence of Jess’ obligations to her traditionally Sikh family. Thematic aspects of etic-emic distinction are raised in this film and include the role of women, homosexuality, stereotypes, cross-generational behaviours and integration by relational theory. All such themes are highlighted by the culture clash at play, as Jess attempts to grasp some sense of identity in an over-protected Indian space. Women’s roles in both Western and Indian cultures are thoroughly scrutinized in the film. Jess expresses some discomfort in assuming the traditional role of a Sikh woman as stipulated by her parents. This is the main source of discontent throughout the film, as her ethnocentric parents truly, and somewhat naively, hold the belief that becoming a lawyer and marrying a man within their community is the key to happiness. As was noted in Article one of Part A, the Asian culture holds loyalty to family-kin relationships and obedience to elders in very high esteem. In this regard, Jess’ Western values of freedom of choice and personal fulfilment take a backseat. This is highlighted in a conversation that occurs with her Western teammates, where hey ask her how she is able to ‘stand’ getting an ‘arranged marriage’ to which she replies, â€Å"It’s just culture† with a certain nonchalance. In doing so Jess is demonstrating that she is culture-bound, conditioned to the Indian cultural practiced of ‘arranged marriages’. The ultimate attribution error committed by Jess’ parents is not a result of ill-intentions, rather a prot ection mechanism against unknown western influences. The role of women in the Western culture is not spared of social commentary in this film. It is interesting that Chadha, the Indian-born writer, director and producer of the film, chooses to examine the social constructs surrounding the implications of a women’s football team in England. As there is no professional English women’s football league, one can safely assume that football is not an appropriate past time for women. This idea is reaffirmed by Jules’ mother who, throughout the film, holds a very traditional English view on the role of women in society. She often expresses her disapproval with sentiments such as, â€Å"Nobody’s going to go out with a girl who’s bigger muscles than him! † Jess’ mother subscribes to the Indian tradition of a woman as a homemaker by saying, â€Å"What sort of family would want a daughter-in-law who could play football but not cook? † expressing much the same outlook as Jules’ mother, varied only by the respective women’s contexts. Such generalisations about women’s social placement is also seen in Article four of Part A. Adams et al. (2010) acknowledges the place of women in Spanish society as home-maker figures by hypothesising women to be more able in polychronic environments. It is also seen that the Western culture as a whole participates in the alienation of the team as a result of unfeminine associations. This is seen when Jess makes the point that ‘Indian’ girls do not play football. Jules pointedly remarks, â€Å"It’s not just an ‘Indian’ thing. How many people come out to support us? The girls clearly seek an equality matching relationship with the men’s team. The concept of homosexuality is broached in this film. While the notion is still taboo in Indian culture, Chadha makes a statement by depicting the West to be more informed but equally disapproving. This is illustrated by the undue paranoia felt by Jules’ mother when she mistakes the friendship between Jules and Jess as something more. When confronted, Jules exclaims, â€Å"Mum, just because I wear trackies and play sport does not make me a lesbian! The matter-of-fact feel of this conversation and level of homosexual awareness in the Western culture is contrasted by Jess’ grandmother’s remark, â€Å"Why did she call Jess a lesbian? I thought she was a Pisces† Her obvious lack of knowledge in confusing homosexuality and astrological star signs indicate her culture blind nature. As if to reiterate the secretive taboo that is homosexuality in the Indian culture, Chadha scripts Tony, Jess’ childhood male friend, as a homosexual. Jess’ reaction to the news is indicative of a typical first-generation non-resident-Indian, a result of cultural conditioning. Her shock is portrayed through her exclamation, â€Å"But you’re Indian! † as if to say homosexuality is simply non-existent in the Indian culture. Jess soon recovers and displays an acceptance far greater than that of her own grandmother or Jules’ mother and tells Tony that she is â€Å"okay† with him â€Å"liking David Beckham†. While Chadha aims to resist and counter some stereotyping, the stereotyping of Indian communities as ‘backward’ and ‘conservative’ is still very prevalent throughout the film. Jules’ mother innocently typifies the Indian culture in her first encounter with Jess by making statements such as, â€Å"I bet your parents are fixing you up with a handsome young doctor soon† and â€Å"Jess, I hope you can teach my daughter a bit about your culture, including respect for elders and the like. † She soon learns of Jess’ involvement in Jules’ football club and meekly states, â€Å"I’ve never seen an Indian girl play football before†. Jules’ mother exhibits culture-blind behaviour and has very fixed notions about Indian culture; she exudes disbelief as Jess dispels these essentialising notions. Chadha further breaks free from the stereotyping of arranged marriages by scripting Jess’ sister, Pinky, as having a ‘love’ marriage. When Jess tells her teammates that her sisters’ marriage was a ‘love match’, the display of acculturation allows for her teammates to learn that the Indian culture is not as backward and conservative as is perceived. It seems that for an Indian family living abroad, the generational gap between parent and child is magnified by the overlay of cross-cultural aspects. Jess and her father share the same penchant for sport and both qualified to participate in quasi-professional teams in England. When both characters are on the receiving end of racial slurs on the field, they both react true to their cultural upbringing. Jess’ father demonstrates an ‘Eastern’ submission and interdependent self-concept by walking away from the sport and quashing any hopes of returning to the field. Jess, however, displayed a more ‘Western’ dominance and independent self-concept by physically retaliating, costing her a ‘red card’ and a temporary suspension from playing. The Eastern mentality of obedience is also noted by Chang et al (2007) in stating â€Å"anti-hierarchical behaviour is not allowed in Taiwanese workplaces†. The movie culminates in Pinky’s extravagant wedding, very true to Indian culture. As an unfortunate coincidence, the football Grand Finals are held on the same day, rendering Jess unable to attend her football match and compelling her to her sister-of-the-bride duties. Throughout the movie, Chadha depicts Jess’ parents in a harsh, dictatorial light however, her fathers’ wish for her happiness compassionately exceeds his own expectations, â€Å"If it’s the only thing that will put a smile on your face one the day of your sister’s wedding, go and play. Jess reluctance to leave suggests that she strongly identifies with family ties and cultural commitments. Urged by Tony, she ultimately leaves the wedding to play the last half of the football match, winning the game and landing an opportunity to play professional football in America. Through Relational Theory her parents understand that to have a meaningful social relationship with their daughter they must actively seek to understand her cultural viewpoint and schema. This feel-good film is a perfect illustration of Contact Hypothesis whereby Chadha has brought to life some contentious issues of Eastern and Western culture and allowed for a gradual process of cultural integration throughout the film. Concepts such as the gender roles, homosexuality, stereotyping and generation gaps are highlighted so as to demonstrate that multicultural societies should not invoke permanent differences, rather form fluid identities which enable people to accept and internalize all components of culture beneficial to their lives.