Fire Facility Tour Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Fire Facility Tour Report - Essay Example They have an engine truck that they use as a backup when necessary. On each of their trucks are printed, â€Å"Dedicated. Professional. Quality. Care. Service.†, which is their theme. In order to properly use this equipment, as well as the self-contained breathing apparatuses, hoses and rescue operations, the fire fighters here undergo a minimum of two years of training. Along with the basic training that they receive, they also undergo aircraft accident response procedures, despite the fact that this fire station is not a first responder to such incidents. However, in the event that an air accident occurs within their jurisdiction, they require training for such responses in their area. Therefore, they have been trained in aircraft accidents, understanding that fires occur in the engines, cabins, wheel well and fuel tanks. They have to understand for their own safety how each material that is used in the building of any aircraft will act in the event of a fire, in order to pr operly evaluate their safety and how to douse the fire quickly and safely. In the last two years, they have responded to two aircraft accidents, which were used as training exercises for the team. They used a single engine Cessna for the training exercise in which the plane was crashed into the ground. There were no injuries, as this was a training exercise that was staged and used only highly trained professionals. This accident happened in a large field about 10 miles from the station. The response time for this fire station to the scene was 20 minutes. It is this type of staged accident that puts the fire fighters’ training to the test. They were sent to the scene of the aircraft accident with three engine trucks, using one from an adjacent fire station, one ladder truck, two rescue ambulances from another jurisdiction and one Battalion Chief. Upon arrival, the men were already in full fire fighting gear. They jumped out of their trucks, grabbed their hoses and ran to the scene of the accident with no hesitation. The fire fighters took a very quick account of the wind direction, where the fire was emanating from within seconds and went to work. The fire was doused within minutes, using a structural fire fighting foam product mixed with the water. This required an exceptional amount of teamwork, coordination and trust in one another. They use this training in the event that the local airport notifies their respective communications center that additional assistance is needed, thus dispatching the Osceola County Fire Department for help. Although there are no mutual aid agreements in place, the Osceola County Fire Department is always ready and willing to be dispatched at any time. They run three eight-hour shifts, with five separate crews on each shift. This allows them to be well manned and ready to respond to any fire, at any time. Touring Lieutenant Huskket’s fire station was not only interesting and educational, but fun as well. It allowed me to learn more about the inner workings of a fire department and what exactly the fire fighters have to endure in training as well as reality. I not only learned about the techniques and tenacity of these brave men, but found a new respect for them and their character as

The human nature Essay Example for Free

The human nature Essay How much is human frustration worth? Is it worth losing a chance to buy a present for the girl you like? Or is it worth participating in a lottery which is nothing more but a silly tragic fatal ritual? I was asking these questions while reading James Joyces Araby and Shirley Jacksons The Lottery. For me, both stories represent the ultimate point of human despair: at this point, the person is no longer able to control his (her) life and surrenders under the pressure of overwhelming circumstances. I think that frustration is the central element of both stories; it touches the depth of the readers soul and turns into disruptive revelation about the perversity and hideousness of the human nature. Human strength and endurance has no limits; human evil and self-interest are unlimited, too. James Joyces Araby shows human frustration in its powerlessness in the face of insuperable circumstances. Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlour watching her door. [†¦] When she came out on the doorstep my heart leaped (Joyce 62). The whole life of the anonymous narrator is filled with joy of seeing the young lady walking in front of him, and passing her before their ways diverge. He lives his life from morning to morning, when he will see Magans sister again. This is the life full of waiting; this is the life full of expectation, anxiety, dreaming and almost physical attraction. The same is the life of villagers whom Jackson describes in her The Lottery. It is the life full of expectation mixed with the feeling of threat, fear, and imminence of the coming end: Bobby Martin already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones (Jackson 10). As the young boy cannot wait to visit the bazaar I could not call my wandering thoughts together. I had hardly any patience with the serious work of life which, now that it stood between me and my desire, seemed to me childs play (Joyce 63), the villagers cannot wait to hear when the new victim of the annual ritual will be declared: guess we better get started, get this over with, sos we can go back to work (Jackson 13). The deeper Joyce goes into the young boys soul, the larger is the prairie between his promise to visit the Araby bazaar and the realization of his inability to fulfill the promise: Nearly all stalls were closed and the greater part of the hall was in darkness (Joyce 65). How bright and shockingly sincere Joyces revelation could be, Jacksons story has gone far beyond Joyces reasonable limits. Jackson has gone even deeper to the moment of unexpectedness which emphasized the unlimited nature of human mercenary character. In the light of Jacksons The Lottery, Araby produces an impression of the boy’s relatively mild reconciliation with the surrounding opportunities and circumstances. Moreover, I feel that Joyce still leaves some hope that everything will change: ultimately, there will be another bazaar and another girl, although the young boy does not yet understand it. On the contrary, Jackson uses unexpectedness to emphasize how far human coldness, rationality, and perversity can go; the author shows, how easily humans turn into beasts when they pursue material interests, leaving no hope to escape the lottery’s trap. Jackson shows how human desire to kill turns into a usual feeling, when it becomes regular for and acceptable by other community members: the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten oclock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner (Jackson 10). Conclusion Both stories end up in frustration; for Joyces character, frustration is reflected in the hollow sound of two pennies that fall against the sixpence in my pocket (Joyce 66). A creature driven and derided by vanity (Joyce 66) is the end result of Joyces striving towards recognition and love. For Tessie Hutchinson, frustration becomes real as she holds the slip of paper that has a black spot on it, the black spot Mr. Summers had made the night before with the heavy pencil in the coal company office (Jackson 17). Later, this frustration turns into the feeling of inevitability of tragedy, when a stone hit her on the side of the head (Jackson 17). In both stories, frustration is the shocking reflection of the human hideousness, cruelty, and indifference which leave no chance for spiritual and physical resurrection. Works Cited Jackson, S. â€Å"The Lottery†. 10-17. Joyce, J. â€Å"Araby.† 61-6.

Psychoanalytical Concepts of Crisis in Masculinity

Psychoanalytical Concepts of Crisis in Masculinity The late 60s saw a rapidly materialising concern about the status of masculinity. Before the 60s it seemed that the idea of masculinity was safe males could be useful within modern capitalist societies, providing for their families and gaining a sense of satisfaction from their place in society. But society began to change, economically, socially and especially in relation to the position of women. The rise of feminism was changing womens attitudes about the way in which they were (and are) treated. In turn this was starting to affect how men viewed themselves. Carroll (2004) explains how in American society the breadwinner ideal was being eroded with support from professional groups including psychologists and cardiologists working all the hours and a constant striving for material wealth might not be good for you. How, asked men, do we define ourselves now? This essay will examine the crisis in masculinity from the point of view of psychoanalysis through the Oedipal complex and the castration complex and then move onto evidence from social and cultural theories. To examine how masculinity might be in crisis, it is first necessary to examine how psychoanalytical theories posit that boys gain their masculine identity or in other words how they become men. Modern psychoanalytical theory, as did Freud himself, places a great emphasis on the early relationships of the young boy with his parents or caregivers. It is the vicissitudes of these relationships that will have important consequences for development. In Freudian terms, this early relationship is overshadowed by the Oedipal conflict. The mother shows a great interest in the child and the boy realises that his father represents his main rival to this relationship. The boy desires the mother, but the father stands in the way. Attempting to maintain these conflicting influences at some kind of equilibrium is the central drama of development from a psychoanalytical viewpoint. What, then, are the most important processes that occur in early life that influence the construction (or otherwise) of the male identity out of the Oedipal crisis? Greenson (1968) explains that psychoanalytic theory concentrates on the idea of disidentification, this is divided into two processes: firstly a boy must sever the emotional ties he has with the primary caregiver usually the mother and secondly he needs to identify with a male role-model usually the father. The identification with the father should allow the boy to have a way of communicating with the outside world, to tempt the boy away from psychological closeness with the mother and provide the support needed to avoid the boys return to a symbiotic relationship with his mother. The relationship with the mother, then, is seen by Klein (1975) as a delicate balancing act. It provides a prototype for later relationships with women and so needs to be warm and loving, but it is difficult for a man to have relationships with women if he is too close to his mother. Horrocks (1994) argues that, in fact, the male child is surrounded by femininity throughout his early childhood, and it is important for him to break away and discover a world of men for here lie the roots of the male identity. The central paradox, though, is that the man wishes to escape this cocoon of womanhood but there is also the desire to become close to a woman. One danger in this dynamic is that the early influence of the mother is too great and not sufficiently counter-acted by the father this leads to an inability to separate himself from the mother (Horrocks, 1994). The role of the father in the masculine identity is seen as crucial by psychoanalysts. Horrocks (1994) sees the role of fathering as an introduction to manhood, the introduction to a role that has previously been shrouded in mystery. While there are some initiation rights and ceremonies in some cultures, overall, and especially in western societies, it is not particularly strong. There has actually been a disconnect between the son and his father, now the father heads out to work everyday and no longer has a chance to bond with his son. Horrocks (1994) sees one of the most important functions of the father as to show the young boy that it is possible to live with the mother, to have conflict, fear and guilt, but still to live together. It is through the father-son relationship that the boy can learn that it is possible to live a civilised existence without continual recourse to violence and satiation of primitive longings. The damaged modern male, the male in crisis, is seen by Horro cks (1994) as unfathered. Women are viewed as dangerous to have a relationship is to have a battle and the man must draw himself away from women from time to time to maintain his safety. By never really making a strong connection, the modern man in crisis feels damaged and abused and uses the methods of abuse and damage to relate to others because he knows no other way. This analysis of the Oedipal complex and its effects, as well as the possibility of transcendence, actually describes a rather prototypical interaction between the young boy and his caregiver. Blazina (2004) describes how some criticisms and refinements of this model have been made by subsequent theorists. Bergman (1995), for example, has argued that it is not necessarily with the mother the boy should be disidentifying. There are many situations where the father is actually the provider of the most emotional nurturance. In this case it is better to see the individuation as occurring with the primary caregiver rather than the mother. Blazina (2004) also maintains that there should not be such emphasis on the cutting off of the other identity. Where the other identity is feminine, there is now greater acceptability of feminine qualities in men so these can be integrated into male identity without compromising maleness. For the crisis in masculinity, Freuds conception of the castration complex is of great interest. Freud (1925) theorised that the castration complex had the following stages. Firstly a boy guesses from the evidence of his own anatomy that everyone has a penis. Secondly he finds out that women do not have penises and assumes that they have been mutilated in some way. Thirdly when he begins to masturbate, he is told that he will be castrated. Fourthly, finding that the breast has already been removed, summarises that the penis will be next. Finally, the Oedipus complex is destroyed by this threat of castration. According to Horrocks (1994), Freud saw this sequence of events as concrete, whereas many psychoanalysts now see this in more allegorical terms, as mediated by culture and society. Through gender, both men as well as women are denied a whole world of being, the world of the other gender. After the process of partitioning men and women both feel a sense of loss at the things that they will not be able to experience. In men this castration complex expresses itself in a variety of different ways. Men have a desire for love, a fear of their own sexuality, and, in particular, a fear of their own anger. Horrocks (1994) describes how, as a psychotherapist, many men talk about their fear that their anger will be exposed to the world. To stop this, they have to bottle it up and repress the emotion. As a result, in heterosexual men, this is recognised by the women with whom they have relationships and they are rendered impotent and asexual. A man who acts in this way behaves passive aggressive ly he is motivated to manipulate those around him by his anger. This prohibits a direct connection with other people because his relationships are based on manipulation. The result of this is that feelings are kept inside and denied. A similar problem is seen, in Horrocks experience, in macho men. The castration of the macho man leaves him profoundly afraid of expressing his own feelings. This denies him the possibility of acting emotionally in any situation as this will simply reveal his weakness as he sees it. It is the emotional parts of himself that this man hates and wants to hide away the feminine parts of him are an embarrassment. By being cut-off from his own feelings, the psychologically castrated man experiences an emptiness within himself that he attempts to fill with methods that will never work. The emptiness inside is often experienced as a dead feeling, almost of death itself. It is precisely this almost death from which, Horrocks argues, many men in the crisis of masculinity are suffering. Without the connection with his own emotions, or those of anyone else, he is only half a man, not able to experience himself or others properly, safely cocooned within an empty world. Within Freuds writings, woman were theorised to suffer from envy of the male penis, but Freud did not acknowledge the possibility of men being envious of the female breast. The male-centred idea that penis envy is fundamental to psychoanalysis is attacked by the introduction of the idea of breast envy. Klein (1975), for example, has pointed out that both male and female children have very strong feelings towards the breast both are attracted to it and both want to destroy it. Instead of defining both sexes in terms of the penis one having and the other jealous a reciprocal envy provides balance that acknowledges the lacuna in mens lives as well. The breast does, after all provide, not only nourishment, but also love to the child, and so a womans breast is a symbol of these qualities. Horrocks (1994) argues that men have a strong desire to return to the breast, to return to the originator of life and at the same time men attack the breast and want to destroy it. Melanie Klein posited that the idea of womb envy was also an important component in the male psyche. Minsky (1995) describes how the Kleinian viewpoint sees the development of male power as being rooted in the fear of the womb. Like the young boys envy of his mothers breasts, he also becomes envious of her womb and the power it has to create new life. To make up for this envy, men are forced to concentrate their efforts on cultural and creative efforts and to suppress womens forays into the same field. Minsky (1995) explains that it is the phallus that then saves men and provides a distraction from the envy of the womb. Lacan has a different take on the Oedipus complex. He sees the father not as a real father but as a representation or a metaphor for culture (Lacan, 2004). It is through the young boys experience of cultural factors such as language that he is pulled away from the mother. The mother represents desire for Lacan and so culture, through the representation of the father, pulls the boy from what he desires. This cutting off is like a castration and the child then attempts to substitute this with a search for truth (Minsky, 1995). Many of these psychoanalytical ideas about the roots of a crisis in masculinity are analysed in social theories in terms of a conflict in gender roles. ONeil, Helms, Gable, David, Wrightsman (1986) have defined gender role conflict as where socialised gender roles have an adverse psychological effect which causes a restrictive effect on the self through barriers created around personal creativities and freedom. ONeil et al. (1986) identify four different types of role conflict. There is a restriction in the range of internal emotionality; similarly, there is a restriction in the types of emotional behaviour that are possible towards other men this results in an inability to communicate feelings. Personal achievement and constant comparison to what others have creates a constant sense of fear and worry. There is a conflict between the requirements of work and those of the family which results in stress and health problems, and a simple lack of time to relax. Evidence to support these ideas of role conflicts has come, for example, from Sharpe Heppner (1991) who found a connection between role conflict and problems with intimate relationships. Watts Borders (2005) point out, though, that many of these studies have not been carried out in younger, adolescent boys. In rectifying this hole in the research, Watts Borders (2005) investigated role conflict in adolescent boys. Their findings were in line with the theories put forward by ONeil et al. (1986). The boys in their study said they found there was a societal pressure to restrict their emotionality, both internally and between themselves and other boys. Further they theorised that many of the boys had only been exposed to a very limited range of emotions from male role models indeed many denied experiencing any emotions other than anger. Cultural theories, which intersect with Lacans ideas, are also important in how the crisis in masculinity has been studied. Whitehead (2002) considers arguments that have been played out in the public domain. Firstly he considers the publication of Stiffed: The Betrayal of Modern Man (Faludi, 2000). The thesis of this book is that it is now the male who finds himself objectified and the subject of much sexist consumer culture. In addition the mans secure attachments and relationships with the world of work are no longer as strong and exclusive as they once were. Men seem also, in Faludis view, to be failing to fight back against the new culture, failing to take on this creeping emasculation. Now that feminism has attacked the patriarchal systems of power and control, masculinity has been left undermined and unsure. The rise of feminism has surely encouraged many men to question how they view women and then apparently left them confused. Faludi (2000) places the blame for this crisis in masculinity at the door of culture and encourages them to work together to combat it. While the argument has some elements of truth, quite how men and women are supposed to step outside of culture is not clear. Without men and women, there is no culture people are intimately bound up with it and part of it. The second set of arguments centre around research carried out by Professor Richard Scase as part of the European Commissions Futures Programme (Scase, 1999). This research found that many women are choosing to live alone as their opportunities in the workplace increase and especially as the roles they can adopt widen. It is hypothesised that this is having a knock-on effect on men who find it difficult to cope with this new situation. Evidence for this is in the rising rates of suicide between 1991 and 1997 they have increased by 60%. Social research finds that men are choosing to remain living at home rather than move out on their own (Office of National Statistics, 2000). Whitehead (2002) sees this as evidence that men are failing to cope with the new challenges they are facing. Further cultural and social evidence that men are in crisis is provided by Beynon (2001). Relying heavily on role theory, Beynon (2001) points to the changes in work patterns particularly the fact that less than half the men over 55 are in work. There is also a sense in which these men are caught between attempting to maintain the old-style macho posturing and the new-man type behaviour requiring a man to be in touch with his feelings. Beynon (2001) claims that generally men are less likely to tackle any psychological or physical illness which faces them. In marital breakdown, Beynon (2002) argues, the man is normally most responsible, with women starting 75% of divorces. Similarly nine out of ten men move out of the marital home after the breakdown of a marriage. This reason, however, is probably more of an artefact of the legal system and simple practicality than an indictment on men. Apart from anything else, men generally die younger and are much more likely to suffer from heart disease. The worrying facts and figures continue through both crime and education and other major areas of life. Violent crimes are mostly committed by men, indeed it is men who are mostly the victims of violent crime, and so it is violence that is seen as an important component of masculinity. Whitehead (2002) sees this violence discourse as having a powerful effect on peoples attitudes to men. Men are seen as being unable to cope with the demands of modern life, especially those men on the social and economic fringes, and so the resort to violence is only natural. Within education, in the schools, male performance is significantly lower then female. Despite much theoretical attention as well as some evidence from research on role theories and other areas, there has been a fair degree of criticism of the idea of a crisis in masculinity. Writers have asked whether the crisis of gender is anything new. Mangan (1997) (as cited in Whitehead, 2002) argues that masculinity, like femininity is constantly in crisis, constantly changing and adapting to new circumstances. Indeed, some of the fundamental ideas from psychoanalysis support the idea that masculinity is always a matter of crisis men will always have to cope with breast envy, womb envy and a castration complex. This question aside though, some commentators have asked if there is really anything to explain at all with the rise of feminism, men have suffered a loss of power relative to women and are trying to cope with that loss, some less successfully than others. Whitehead (2002) suggests that the crisis in masculinity is, in reality, an illusion confined to academic journals and has no meaning for people in the real world. Heartfield (2002), in arguing against a crisis of masculinity, talks of the fetishising of sexual difference, an exaggeration of the differences between men and women. Heartfield (2002) suggests that it is instead the working classes that are in crisis, not men in general. These ideas are far removed from those that come from psychoanalysis where many of the roots of future struggle are born in that difference. In conclusion, psychoanalytical ideas about the crisis in masculinity are grounded in the biological differences between the sexes and how these are dealt with psychologically. Other psychoanalysts and Lacanian ideas have taken these literal conflicts and, to some extent, moved them away from a focus on biological difference and introduced more cultural and social ideas. Social and cultural theories provide a wide variety of, and some reasons for, a possible crisis in masculinity. In particular, the use of role theory has provided an important analysis. Despite using the language of role conflict, the male preoccupations and problems described by role theory have many things in common with those arrived at by psychoanalytical means. Nevertheless, many authors have questioned whether this crisis in masculinity really exists and whether it is anything new. References Bergman, S.J. (1995) Mens psychological development: A relational perspective In R.F. Levant W.S Pollack (Eds.), A new psychology of men (pp. 33-67). New York: Basic Books. Beynon, J. (2001) Masculinities and culture. Buckingham: Open University Blazina, C. (2004) Gender Role Conflict and the Disidentification Process: Two Case Studies on Fragile Masculine Self. The Journal of Mens Studies, 12, 2, 151-161. Carroll, B. E. (2004) American Masculinities: A Historical Encyclopedia. London: Sage Publications Ltd. Faludi, S. (2000) Stiffed: the betrayal of the modern man. London: Vintage Freud, S. (1925) Psychical consequences anatomical distinction between the sexes, SE, 19, 248-258. Greenson, R. (1968). Disidentifying from mother: Its special importance for the boy. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 49, 370-374. Heartfield, J. (2002) There is No Masculinity Crisis, Genders 35. Retrieved 5 January 2006 from http://www.genders.org/g35/g35_heartfield.html Horrocks, R. (1994) Masculinity in Crisis. New York: St. Martins Press. Klein, M. (1930) The psychotherapy of the psychoses. British Journal of Medicine and Psychology, 10, 242-4. Klein, M. (1975) Love, Guilt, and Reparation and Other Works. London: Hogarth Press and Institute of Psycho-Analysis Lacan, J. (2004) Ecrits: A Selection. New York: W. W. Norton Co Ltd. Mangan, J. A. (1997) Shakespeares First Action Heroes: critical masculinities in culture both popular and unpopular, unpublished paper. Minsky, R. (1995) Psychoanalysis and Gender: An Introductory Reader (Critical Readers in Theory Practice). Oxford: Routledge. ONeil, J. M., Helms, B. J., Gable, R. K., David, L., Wrightsman, L. S. (1986). Gender role conflict scale: College mens fear of femininity. Sex Roles, 14, 335-350. Office of National Statistics (2000) Social Trends 30. London: The Stationery Office. Scase, R. (1999) Demographic and Social Trends Issue Paper: Mosaic Living. EUR 18967 EN, Brussels: European Commission. Sharpe, M. J., Heppner, P. P. (1991). Gender role, gender-role conflict, and psychological well-being in men. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 38, 323-330. Watts, R. H., Borders, L. D. (2005) Boys Perceptions of the Male Role: Understanding Gender Role Conflict in Adolescent Males. Journal of Mens Studies, 13,2 267-280 Whitehead, S. (2002) Men and masculinities: key themes and new directions. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Understanding The Legal Systems Of The World Law Essay

Understanding The Legal Systems Of The World Law Essay I truly believe that our modern society needs Law. Laws are guidelines that set out appropriate behaviour, so we are required to follow this system of rules, in order to keep everything balanced and stabilized. Without the fulfillment of these desired tasks, man simply will become equal to animals or worse still, allow their darker sides to emerge and control their lives. Legal Systems of the World For this purpose every country has a certain system that the all citizens are required to obey: up to date there are about two hundred countries in the world and each of them makes its own Legal System that is based on certain characteristics and factors of the country. The Legal System consists of certain laws and rules that shape the citizens morality and behaviour in the society. There are many academic terms describing what legal system is but from my point of view the best one is the description by J.H Merryman: The three most widespread Legal Systems are: Continental Law Legal System, Common Law Legal System and Religious Law Legal System. Each of these legal systems is unique and has its own specific features and individual structure. Lets take a brief look on each system and see how systems differ from each other or discover their similarities. Common Law Legal System History, sources and structure The common law system prevails in Britain and its former colonies, including Australia, Canada, and the United States. Traditionally, the common law system, as the name implies, was governed not by a code, but by court-made law that developed incrementally over time. It is different from the civil-law system, which is introduced mostly in Europe and in areas colonized by France and Spain. The body of decisional law based largely on custom as declared by English judges after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The common law doctrine of following precedent, known as stare decisis remains an important component of both the English and American legal systems today. English common law was based primarily on custom, tradition, and precedent rather than a formal written legal code. Over centuries of experience, the common law became the major influence on the development of American criminal law both before and after the American Revolution. After the Revolution, the common law continued to be the basic law of most states. However, today almost all common law principles and rules have been enacted by legislative bodies into statutes with modern variations. ). One of the interesting characteristics of the system is that the common-law system allows judges to look to other jurisdictions or to draw upon past or present judicial experience for analogies to help in making a decision. T his flexibility allows common law to deal with changes that lead to unanticipated controversies. Civil Law Legal System History, sources and structure and developed in Continental Europe and around the world. It is divided into two branches: the codified Roman law and uncodified Roman law. The Differences and Similarities between the Legal Systems Common law and civil law legal systems share similar social objectives: individualism, liberalism and personal rights. A major difference between the civil law and common law is that priority in civil law is given to doctrine over jurisprudence, while the opposite is true in the common law: it finds in judge-made precedent the base of its law. The civil law doctrines function is to draw from cases the rules and the principles which will clarify and purge the subject of impure elements, and thus provide both the practice and the courts with a guide for the solution of particular cases in the future. The common law author focuses on fact patterns. He or she analyzes cases presenting similar but not identical facts, extracting from the specific rules, and then, through deduction, determines the often very narrow scope of each rule, and sometimes proposes new rules to cover facts that have not yet presented themselves. Common law jurisprudence sets out a new specific rule to a new specific set of facts and provides the principal source of law, while civil law jurisprudence applies general principles, and that jurisprudence is only a secondary source of law of explanation. Civil law judgments are written in a more formalistic style than common law judgments. Civil law decisions are indeed shorter than common law decisions, and are separated into two parts the reasons and the order. This is because civil law judges are especially trained in special schools created for the purpose, while common law judges are appointed from amongst practicing lawyers, without special training. The method of writing judgments is also different. Common law judgments extensively expose the facts, compare or distinguish them from the facts of previous cases, and decide the specific legal rule relevant to the present facts. Criminal Law and Civil Law Basic Information There are two branches of law: Criminal Law and Civil Law. That means that when a person breaks any law, he or she may be judged according to what branch of law it is. Criminal Law those laws for redressing public wrongs that injure society in general and Civil Law those laws for redressing private wrongs to individuals.  Civil law attempts to right a wrong, settle a dispute, or honor an agreement. The victim is being compensated by the person who is at fault, this becomes a legal alternative to, or civilized form of, revenge. Criminal law consists of two main branches substantive criminal law and procedural criminal law. Substantive criminal law prohibits certain forms of conduct by defining what acts constitute crimes and establishing the parameters of penalties. Procedural criminal law regulates the enforcement of the substantive criminal law, the determination of guilt, and the punishment of those found guilty of crimes. Criminal Procedure and Civil Procedure Criminal Procedure. The branch of the criminal law that deals with the processes by which crimes are investigated, prosecuted, and punished. Thus, procedural criminal law is the process followed by police and the courts in the apprehension and punishment of criminals from the filing of a complaint by a member of the public or the arrest of a suspect by the police, up to the time the defendant is sent to jail, or, if convicted, to prison. Civil litigation that deals with private disputes between parties is subject to the rules of civil litigation, sometimes referred to as civil procedure. Criminal cases, deals with acts that are offenses against society as a whole, such as murder and robbery, as subject to the rules for criminal law, and is also known as the rules of criminal procedure.

Essay on the Defense of Walls in Mending Wall :: Mending Wall Essays

Opposing the Unthinking Defense of Walls in Mending Wall The speaker in "Mending Wall" questions his neighbor's stolid assumption that "good fences make good neighbors." Perhaps, what he objects to is not so much the sentiment itself as the unwillingness or inability of the other to think for himself, to "go beyond his father's saying." Just so; we must try to get beyond the apophthegm-like opening line of "Mending Wall," testing carefully for gradations of tone as we proceed. Is it the proverb-like authority of "something there is . . . " that makes it so natural to equate "something" with the speaker? Once this equation has been made, the reader joins the speaker in sympathizing with this mysterious "something" and hence in opposing the neighbor's unthinking defense of walls. Frost rings subtly drastic changes on the sound of a phrase like "good fences make good neighbors." By the time the poem ends, this line has acquired some of the pat stupidity of a slogan. Similar turns of the screw affect the opening line, when to it is added the darker phrase "that wants it down" and again when the speaker refuses to name the antiwall "something." "Elves" is the closest he gets, yet "It's not elves exactly, and I'd rather / He said it for himself." Elves may mean not willowy things out of Tolkien but darker forces of the wood, for the next image is one of darkness. The neighbor is viewed as subtly menacing, "an old-stone savage armed." Yet this man has been the one to defend boundaries. The apparently relaxed and leisurely pace of the poem has made us lower our own boundaries and forget who is on what side. At any rate, although the speaker's ironic evasiveness undermines any confident interpretation, Poirier is surely right when he makes the following point: . . . .it is not the neighbor . . . a man who can only dully repeat "good fences make good neighbors"-- . . .it is not he who initiates the fence-making. Rather it is the far more spirited, lively, and "mischievous" speaker of the poem. While admitting that they do not need the wall, it is he who each year "lets my neighbor know beyond the hill" that it is time to do the job anyway, and who will go out alone to fill the gaps made in the wall by hunters.

Comparing Updikes A&P and Joyces Araby Essay -- comparison compare c

Comparing Updike's A & P and Joyce's Araby  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   John Updike's A & P and James Joyce's Araby share many of the same literary traits. The primary focus of the two stories revolves around a young man who is compelled to decipher the difference between cruel reality and the fantasies of romance that play in his head. That the man does, indeed, discover the difference is what sets him off into emotional collapse. One of the main similarities between the two stories is the fact that the main character, who is also the protagonist, has built up incredible, yet unrealistic, expectations of women, having focused upon one in particular towards which he places all his unrequited affection. The expectation these men hold when finally "face to face with their object of worship" (Wells, 1993, p. 127) is what sends the final and crushing blow of reality: The rejection they suffer is far too great for them to bear. Updike is famous for taking other author's works and twisting them so that they reflect a more contemporary flavor. While the story remains the same, the climate is singular only to Updike. This is the reason why there are similarities as well as deviations from Joyce's original piece. Plot, theme and detail are three of the most resembling aspects of the two stories over all other literary components; characteristic of both writers' works, each rendition offers its own unique perspective upon the young man's romantic infatuation. Not only are descriptive phrases shared by both stories, but parallels occur with each ending, as well (Doloff 113). What is even more telling of Updike's imitation of Joyce's Araby is the fact that the A & P title is hauntingly close in pronunciation to the original story's title. T... ...rallels, including the ending self-revelation and climax" (Doloff 255). Works Cited Coulthard, A.R. "Joyce's 'Araby'.," The Explicator, vol. 52, (1994) : Winter, pp.97(3). Doloff, Steven. "Aspects of Milton's 'Paradise Lost' in James Joyce's 'Araby'.," James Joyce Quarterly, vol. 33, (1995) : Fall, pp. 113(3). Doloff, Steven. "Rousseau and the confessions of 'Araby'.," James Joyce Quarterly, vol.33, (1996) : Winter, pp. 255(4). Joyce, James. Dubliners. (New York : Penguin, 1967). Norris, Margot. "Blind streets and seeing houses: Araby's dim glass revisited.," Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 32, (1995) : Summer, pp. 309(10). Updike, John. "A & P." Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories. (New York : Knopf, 1962). Wells, Walter. "John Updike's 'A & P': a return visit to Araby.," Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 30, (1993) : Spring, pp. 127(7).

The Harlem Renaissance :: American History

Harlem Renaissance was an African American cultural movement of the 1920s and early 1930s that was centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. Also known as the New Negro movement, the New Negro Renaissance, and the Negro Renaissance, the movement emerged toward the end of World War I in 1918, blossomed in the mid- to late 1920s, and then faded in the mid-1930s. The Harlem Renaissance marked the first time that mainstream publishers and critics took African American literature seriously and that African American literature and arts attracted significant attention from the nation at large. Primarily music, theater, art, and politics. The Harlem Renaissance emerged amid social and intellectual upheaval in the African American community in the early 20th century. Several factors laid the groundwork for the movement. A black middle class had developed by the turn of the century, fostered by increased education and employment opportunities following the American Civil War (1861-1865). During the Great Migration, hundreds of thousands of black Americans moved from an economically depressed rural South to industrial cities of the North to take advantage of the employment opportunities created by World War I. As more and more educated and socially conscious blacks settled in New York's neighborhood of Harlem, it developed into the political and cultural center of black America. Equally important, during the 1910s a new political agenda advocating racial equality arose in the African American community, particularly in its growing middle class. Championing the agenda were black historian and sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which was founded in 1909 to advance the rights of blacks. This agenda was also reflected in the efforts of Jamaican-born black nationalist Marcus Garvey, whose "Back to Africa" movement inspired racial pride among blacks in the United States. African American literature and arts had begun a steady development just before the turn of the century. In the performing arts, black musical theater featured such accomplished artists as songwriter Bob Cole and composer J. Rosamond Johnson, brother of writer James Weldon Johnson. Jazz and blues music moved with black populations from the South and Midwest into the bars and cabarets of Harlem. In literature, the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar and the fiction of Charles W. Chesnutt in the late 1890s were among the earliest works of African Americans to receive national recognition. By the end of World War I the fiction of James Weldon Johnson and the poetry of Claude McKay anticipated the literature that would follow in the 1920s by describing the reality of black life in America and the struggle for racial identity.