They’re all wasted! Essay Example for Free

They’re all wasted! Essay â€Å"They’re all wasted! † proclaims The Who’s Roger Daltrey in 1971’s â€Å"Baba O’Riley,† a song widely and mistakenly believed to be titled â€Å"Teenage Wasteland† because of the refrain. Putting an emphasis on â€Å"all,† this is a sweeping indictment: the youth are all wasted, not just one group or in one way, but everywhere and in every faculty. Every potentialfor rebellion, discipline, pleasure, beliefhas been squandered. But The Who were far from the first to imagine this modern wasteland. T. S. Eliot’s poem, â€Å"The Wasteland,† provides a wide-ranging critique of modernity, while also modeling the aesthetics of the new epoch, that makes statements like The Who’s intelligible while building on established literary and social conventions. The historical context for Eliot’s poem can be divided into three major components. First, there is the literary tradition writ large, the collected textual productions of the world over the last several millennia. â€Å"The Wasteland† makes reference to the Bible (20-3), Buddhism (173), Dante (62-5), Shakespeare (172), Greek tragedy (218), and many more sources: the Norton Anthology’s cup runneth over with footnotes. Second, there is English literature. It is more likely that Eliot’s peers would measure him against the immediate backdrop of national history, not least because education in excellence in English literature is also education of the excellence of English literature. Thus Eliot must be able to demonstrate knowledge of Shakespeare and Marvell at the minimum, but also make an original contribution to the English literary tradition coming out of the nineteenth century. As in â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock† Eliot addresses nineteenth century British Romanticism with modern inversions of the celebration of unadulterated nature. In the opening paragraph we have a modernized parallel of Wordsworth’s â€Å"A Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free†: Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade, And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten, And drank coffee, and talked for an hour. (8-11) The natural world is pleasing and comforting to humanity in this miniature. The surprise of rain does not seem to dampen the spirits of the characters but rather, through the stop in the colonnade, causes them to pause and so appreciate the reappearance of the sunlight. The construction â€Å"Summer surprised us† gives the natural world and its seasons a kind of playful agency, as in the Romantic tradition. However, we cannot think of Eliot as remaining within the Romantic tradition despite his utilization of it as a literary option. The third vital context is the recently concluded World War I. Hence the agency of the natural world, insomuch as Eliot images such agency for literary purposes, is as ambivalent as human nature. The opening lines, also drawing on literary precedent in Chaucer’s â€Å"Canterbury Tales,† depict a less loving nature. April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. (1-4) The April showers that bring May flowers, to paraphrase Chaucer, bring a conflation of life and death instead of pilgrims. April is personified, as in Romanticism, but here it is so that it can be labelled cruel. Life is not an abstractly generative force: since at least Sidney’s â€Å"Astrophel and Stella† and Shakespeare’s â€Å"Sonnets,† English literature has had a rich tradition of sexual metaphorics, using phrases like â€Å"Dull roots† for phallic impotence and â€Å"spring rain† for ejaculatory procreation. But Eliot cannot simply celebrate this cycle of rebirth in the shadow of the muddy graves of World War I. The â€Å"mixing / memory and desire† recasts the common literary relationship between sex and death in a perverse light, since â€Å"memory† transgresses the partition between the living and the dead, the present and the past. Memory exhumes what is past, does not allow it to die and rest in peace. This corpse is now also the object of â€Å"desire. † The cycle of death and rebirth has been stalled in modernity and in the vision of â€Å"The Waste Land. † Eliot’s poem both represents and partakes of this modern problem; in fact, the necessity of participating in the forces of social infertility to represent it might be one of the most distinctively modern aspects that Eliot represents here. The broad scope of historical literature that he can draw on is the result of the British empire contacting and importing cultural products from around the globe. His knowledge of languages and availability of translations when necessary further speak to world literature as a thoroughly modern phenomenon. The need to reject or critique prior traditions is also part of the modern awareness of the dialectical nature of history. Of course, this also marks (ironically) a point of continuity with Victorians like Baudelaire (67). The fragmented form of â€Å"The Waste Land† is part of this modern rejection of tradition, but to depict this fragmentation Eliot must also gather together multiple traditions. They are juxtaposed with each other but without a master narrative to organize them. To further drive the point home Eliot also uses non-standard grammar or spelling, or seemingly nonsense words and sounds: â€Å"O O O O O that Shakespeherian Rag† (128). This ambiguity then contrasts with the grim and undecorated conversation circling, like Hemingway’s â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants,† around an abortion: â€Å"I can’t help it, she said, pulling a long face, / It’s them pills I took, to bring it off, she said† (158-60). Stylistic innovation and rejection of stifling â€Å"rules† of art allow Eliot to create a radically new expression of the human experience, but in doing so he simultaneously duplicates the rootlessness and anomie he is seeking to overcome. â€Å"The Waste Land† articulates combatting notions of history, progress, and form that do not reach any conclusive resolution in the poem or in its subsequent readings. With the aid of hindsight the critic can understand Eliot’s growing religious conservatism in subsequent works like â€Å"Journey of the Magi. † By trying to include every literary and theological mode, he winds up putting them all at a discount; even if one’s chosen credo is somewhat arbitrary it at least allows entrance into the myth of rebirth. The forces in tension in â€Å"The Waste Land† chart two continuing political alignments. The will or willingness to subscribe to any belief is most darkly visible in the rise of the Third Reich; the willingness to subscribe to none is most visible in our inability to decisively commit to the prevention of subsequent atrocities. Eliot’s poem provides a space for considering these questions without prejudicing the question through contemporary political affiliations. The political question can be momentarily set aside if we imagine, for the time being, that this is merely art for art’s sake. Works Cited Eliot, T. S. â€Å"The Wasteland. † The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M. H. Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W. W. Norton and Co. , 2000. 236

Communication Healthcare

Communication Healthcare This essay will look at communication within a healthcare setting and will give examples from literature to demonstrate the importance of communication. It will use the work of (Ellis Beattie, 1986) and also (Egan, 1990) as models for effective communication. It will discuss whether these models are adequate alone to enable effective communication and will also draw on personal experiences from the clinical area. Communication underpins all other nursing interventions (Minardi Riley, 1997). Communication is a fundamental tool for healthcare delivery (Rungapadiachy, 1999). To listen to another person is the most caring act of all, Listening and attending are by far the most important aspects of being a nurse (Burnard, 1992). (Roper, 2001) Emphasizes communication as an integral part of the unique function of nursing. (Peplau, 1988) used the term, psychodynamic nursing, to describe the dynamic relationship between a nurse and a patient. Peplau described four phases of this relationship: The orientation phase, in which the person and the nurse mutually identify the persons problem. The identification phase, in which the person identifies with the nurse, thereby accepting help. The exploitation phase, in which the person makes use of the nurses help. The resolution phase, in which the person accepts new goals and frees herself or himself from the relationship. Peplau also identified six nursing roles of the nurse: Counseling Role working with the patient on current problems Leadership Role working with the patient democratically Surrogate Role figuratively standing in for aperson in the patients life Stranger accepting the patient objectively Resource Person interpreting the medical plan to the patient Teaching Role offering information and helping the patient learn (Betts, 1992) states that people have a basic drive to relate to one another, which is expressed through communication. Even if conversation doesnt take place, smiling as is not smiling a form of communication albeit non verbal. Communication can be conceptualized as a series of components that require a message, transmitter, receiver and a channel for transmission. All of these elements can be categorized into either verbal or non-verbal components. Both of these categories combine in the skill of active listening, which is a cornerstone of effective communication (Minardi Riley, 1997). (Ellis Beattie, 1986) used a diagram to illustrate the communication system, (appendix a). The communication system is divided into verbal and non-verbal parts. The verbal communication consists of words, clauses and sentences, which enables the exchange of information, clarification of issues, demonstrating understanding and to offer support and direction. The non-verbal system contains four elements: Prosodic, which is used to give emphasis to verbal communication through intonation and rhythm. Paralinguistic, which are the vocal but non-verbal expressions such as mmm, ah which will allow the person offering the information the confirmation that they are being listened to. Kinesic, is body language, for example facial expressions, gestures, position of the recipient. And The standing element, which may include physical appearance, personal space. Although a model of communication can simply demonstrate the communication process it can also oversimplify. A model only provides a framework for observing, understanding and predicting what occurs when two people communicate (Heath, 1995). Effective communication between a nurse and a patient is a conscious, goal directed process that differs from casual or social interactions. It is undertaken as a tool with which to develop trust, effect change, promote health, provide limits, reinforce, orient, convey, identify and work towards goals (Schultz Videbeck, 2002) An important aspect within effective communication is the ability to understand the message. Each element of communication must be examined separately. For example, within the Kinesic element, (Egan 1990) offers the acronym, SOLER, when considering the aspect of body language. Egan suggests to: Sit Squarely in relation to the client, Maintain an Open posture, Lean slightly towards the client, Maintain reasonable Eye contact, Relax. Through personal experience whilst in the clinical area I have implemented this acronym and found it effective although needing to examine my own actions later to assess whether its was used to its full potential. I have found that to sit squarely with the client isnt necessarily the best position this has offered periods of discomfort both for myself and visibly to the patient. By sitting in this position there is less opportunity to break eye contact without appearing distracted or disinterested. Open body posture can give a sense of disinterest as well as increasing anxiety in myself in situations where there may be a risk of physical aggression. In the suggestion that Egan gives of relaxing, this has been easier at times when the other suggestions of Egans have been modified. (Betts, 1992) states it is important not to stare at the patient for too long as this can be seen as an intimidating gesture as also can distance where too close can be seen as an invasion or a threat or too far can be interpreted as the nurse being unable to cooperate. Within the verbal element it is also important for the nurse to recognize the difference between a person saying what they mean and meaning what they say (Minardi Riley, 1997). An example of this from my own clinical experience was whilst having a conversation with a patient, they told me that they just wanted to kill themself. When we explored this statement further the patient said that they didnt actually mean they wanted to kill themselves but rather that they felt they couldnt cope with current problems. By sitting and discussing these problems, a number were able to be resolved and others discussed. In this situation and with such an alarming statement for a student nurse it would have been an easy get out to dismiss the statement. (Speight, 1991) however, states that by responding in this way could have led to the patient being unwilling to explore this statement further. Speight suggests that reflection can be used as a communication technique. For example, when the patient made the statement, the response that could be used is one of â€Å" you want to kill yourself?† and thereby encouraging a further response from the patient about the statement. To enable effective communication the healthcare worker must also be aware of the individual factors involved. All communication between individuals has internal factors that can influence the sending or receiving of the message, these may include beliefs, goals, physical and emotional states and the perceptions of others roles, status and personality. External factors may include environmental, social, biological, psychological and economic influences (George, 1990). (Minardi Riley, 1997) suggests that it is also important in being an effective communicator to ensure that the language used during communication is at a level that can be understood through familiarity of words. Once the basics of communication are understood, in order to turn this into effective communication it is important for the healthcare worker to examine their own actions through reflection (Minardi Riley, 1997). This may be done with the aid of a model of reflection such as Gibbs reflective cycle (appendix 2). Gibbs identifies five points for reflection. Description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action. By using Gibbs reflective cycle I have been able to identify obstacles either personal, environmental or on a physical level. This I believe has led me to a greater understanding of my own actions, thoughts or feelings and helped me identify solutions to these obstacles. Conclusion In conclusion, this essay has identified and examined models of communication and discussed the various elements involved. It has given examples from literature to stress the importance of communication and identified elements needed towards communication being effective within healthcare. It has drawn on personal experience form the clinical area to demonstrate the skills required in maintaining a therapeutic relationship and also identified the need for ongoing reflection during the communication processes.

Speech on Christianity after Festive Season

Speech on Christianity after Festive Season A Job to Do It is all over. That for which we hoped has come and gone. Christmas is over. All of the excitement and energy has waned. The decorations have disappeared; boxed and stored in the attic, the garage or the basement for another year. School vacation is over. The old year is gone, and a new one has begun. Everything is back on schedule. We are back to life, as we know it. It happens every year. It is part of life not just a Christmas, but at other times as well. Something is on the calendar for which we are filled with great anticipation-birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, vacations, graduations, a new job, a new adventure. Then in the blinking of an eye, the time has passed, and we are back to life in the ordinary, the normal, maybe it is a new normal, but there is a routine. There are things that need to be done groceries need to be purchased, the house needs cleaned, bills need to be paid-we have a job to do, whether it is our employment, parenting, school work, housework. Whether you are in childhood, or are an adolescent, teenager, young adult, middle age, or enjoying the years of retirement, there are things that we have to do each day. We all have a job to do Through the advent season, Christmas, and now into the New Year, into the season of Epiphany, the stories, the lives of John and Jesus have been intertwined. We have heard the sister stories of the announcements of their births, the sister stories about their births and today, the weaving of their stories continue, even now, in their adulthood. They too have a job to do. Johns job is to be the one who prepares the way of the Lord. He is the voice crying out in the wilderness. In the other gospels, he is the prophet, the baptizer. Luke presents him differently. His job is not to baptize. His job is to preach. He is a preacher first and foremost for Luke. Like any good preacher, some of his sermons point out the peoples sinfulness and their need for repentance. He reminds them that they have wondered off the path, ventured into dangerous territory, and turned away from God and Gods purposes. Like any good preacher, some of his sermons focus on how we are to live life in the sphere of Gods influence. He preached sermons that answered the question What shall we do? How do we live as people of God? These are the sermons that remind us of what we learned in Sunday School, Kindergarten, or around the dining room table-share, treat people fairly, be honest, and dont be greedy, but be content with what you have. All throughout life, we need to be reminded of these values. Like any good preacher, some of his sermons focused on the judgment of God and his coming into to the world. The messiah, the anointed one comes to turn the upside down things right side up. A day will come when God will reveal himself and he will rid the world of evil, and restore creation to its rightful order. John was to preach repentance, covenant living, and the coming of the kingdom of God. John had a job to do. Jesus had a job to do as well. He came to the Jordan. He heard the words of his cousin. He stepped in line with the other people. If you want details about his baptism, you need to read the other gospels, because Luke is not interested in that event. For Luke, Jesus, in human flesh, joined the crowd and was baptized without notice. Just as his birth was unremarkable, for Luke so was his baptism. Luke tells us that sometime after his baptism, while he was in prayer, the Holy Spirit came upon him. I like to think that he was in prayer seeking, like you and I do, discernment and direction for fulfilling Gods purposes, that the Holy Spirit came upon him, anointing him for the tasks that lie ahead, and through the blessing You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased[i] he was set apart for the task ahead. Through his baptism, his commitment to prayer, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the blessing of God, and his experiences of the wilderness temptations, Jesus was commissioned for the job for which he was born, the job that will lead him to Calvary and the tomb. We will learn more about his job throughout the coming weeks What is important for us to know is that after the visitations of the angels, the heavenly choir, the journey to Bethlehem, the smelly shepherds, the visitation of the Magi, the singing of Joy to the World, life got back to normal. John and Jesus grew up. The cousins matured. John and Jesus both had jobs to do. This morning, we are here to ordain and install Stephen Anderson, Mary Anne Fitzgerald, and Bernice Gibson to the office of Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). They too, now have a job to do. The Holy Spirit led the nominating committee, through their prayer for discernment, to these three persons. The Holy Spirit came upon them as they sought Gods will on the matter and led them to accept the job as Ruling Elder. Upon further assessment, this congregation, through its prayer for discernment, confirmed the call of God upon Stephen, Mary Anne, and Bernice, and elected them to the office of Ruling Elder, to lead this congregation in the work of the Kingdom of God. Now today, we will ordain and install them to the office, and bestow upon the apostolic authority to guide us in our Christian vocation. Beginning today, they will attend to the job they are called to do. These three will join the other Ruling Elders on session who have also been called and confirmed in the job before them. In that job, they will need to be prepared to be honest, pure, and loving in their lifestyle. Leadership is a privilege, and with privilege comes responsibility. God holds teachers of His truth doubly responsible because we who lead are in a position where we can either draw people toward Christ or drive them away from Him. This is illustrated in the life of the famous author Mark Twain. Church leaders were largely to blame for his becoming hostile to the Bible and the Christian faith. As he grew up, he knew elders and deacons who owned slaves and abused them. He heard men using foul language and saw them practice dishonesty during the week after speaking piously in church on Sunday. He listened to ministers use the Bible to justify slavery. Although he saw genuine love for the Lord Jesus in some people, including his mother and his wife, he was so disturbed by the bad teaching and poor example of church leaders that he became bitter toward the things of God. Indeed, it is a privilege to be an elder. But it is also an awesome responsibility. The Ruling Elders have a job to do. But so do you. Each of you has a job to do. Just as the commission of Jesus began with his baptism, and was confirmed through his prayer life and his struggle with the temptations of the world, each of us, regardless of whether we hold a position of authority and speak from the pulpit, make decisions in the session room, teach Sunday School classes, work in the nursery, provide for fellowship or pray for those who do, we have a job to do. Kimberly Leetch rightly states, Every time we feed a hungry soul, visit one who is isolated, celebrate a widowers birthday, give money to charity, reduce, reuse, and recycle, we are bringing about Gods kingdom on earth. Gods kingdom is not an otherworldly, unreachable place. This is Gods kingdom. Right here. Right now.[ii] Each of us has a job to do. We may not all be preachers like John the Baptist. We may not all be called to be the decision makers. We may not all be called to positions of leadership in the church or in the community. However, we are called to live acts of kindness, to share what we have, to treat others with respect and dignity, to be content with that with which God has blessed us. When Martin Luther became discouraged and filled with doubt, he would put his hands on his head while saying, I have been baptized. Â   Â   Friends, remember your baptism. In it, God claimed you, God called you out of the world, and he placed you back in the world to serve him: to serve God and to serve human need. Remember your baptism. Remember, that because of your baptism, you have a job to do. Amen. [i] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Lk 3:22. [ii] The Rev. Dr. Kimberly Kace Leetch. Clergy Stuff. www.clergystuff.org.

outsourcing at clarendon :: Globalization essays, research papers

INTRODUCTION Clarendon Street Consultants (CSC) is a long-standing consulting firm based in Chicago. With a history of operations spanning more than forty years, our firm has established a faithful client base, which it serves through five privately-owned offices. The firm has recently been confronted with the controversial issue of outsourcing American jobs. Proponents of the measures claim that the outsourcing of labor is beneficial for Americans in terms of cost savings for corporations and the creation of better-paying jobs for workers. Those that oppose these measures point out the loss of American jobs at the expense of low income households, as well as a greater dependence on other countries. CSC has decided to examine the issues of outsourcing American labor from a bilateral perspective—the firm will analyze the issue based on its positive impact on profitability and American society. The firm wishes to form its own conclusion based on available information. This conclusion will help CSC in its own future outsourcing-related issues, and will guide the advice given to clients on the subject. A recent article on the subject of outsourcing from Business Today proved useful in our analysis. In the article, author Max P. Michaels heavily favors outsourcing. Michaels, who is a member of the India Business Council, gave a few valid arguments supporting the use of outsourcing in the U.S. However, in order to get a clearer picture of these arguments, I found it useful to analyze the article itself and the arguments in favor of such a position. ARGUMENT In his article, Max P. Michaels concludes that â€Å"Offshoring is Good for America† (96). In order to determine why Michaels believes this is so, we must first take a closer look at his argument. He has provided the following reasons to support his conclusion that offshoring is good for America: †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cross border outsourcing of American labor results in U.S. wealth creation †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cross border outsourcing is good for shareholders, consumers, and workers in America ANALYSIS Cross-border Outsourcing Creates Wealth Michaels provides his first reason for his argument by stating that â€Å"America is going through a wave of wealth creation, this time triggered by cross-border outsourcing† (96). Restated, the reason simply states that cross-border outsourcing causes wealth creation. This is a good reason to support the author’s conclusion, but there are a few impediments to his argument in the article. First, the author uses ambiguous wording to describe his presentation of the facts. The phrase â€Å"disruptive creation† is used twice in this section, without leaving the reader with any clue as to the author’s meaning (96).

International Copyright Essay -- Intellectual Property Rights

The idea that an author of a literary work has certain inalienable rights to his work has been an institution found on a national level in many countries for centuries. These rights have taken on different forms depending on the legal tradition of the country where it is applied. In systems with a common law tradition, based on utilitarian ideals, the rights were referred to as copyright. In systems that relied on a civil law tradition, based on philosophical thought and the basic idea of a moral and natural order, the rights became to be known as author’s rights and later expanded to neighboring rights. Although these rights, and the laws that went along with them, developed in many countries around the same time in history international copyright would take substantially longer to develop. International copyright law is an evolution of thought that has emerged after many years of international political communications between the many states of the world. The Statute of Anne, created 1694 in England, was the world’s first copyright act. It was titled â€Å"An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by vesting the Copies of Printed Books in the Authors or Purchasers of such Copies, during the Times therein mentioned† (Goldstein, 5). The act gave anyone the ability to gain copyright through the simple registration of their work and gave legal protection for a term of fourteen years from the date of original publication. This term could be renewed for an additional fourteen years if the author was still alive after the initial term of protection was over (Goldstein, 6). This became the foundation on which later copyright legislation would be built on. Author’s rights developed in France, Germany, and several other states... ...ks Cited Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Marrakesh. 15 April 1994. Print. Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works: Paris Act. Paris. 24 July 1971. Print. Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms. World Intellectual Property Organization. 29 Oct 1971. Print. Goldstein, Paul. International Copyright: Principles, Law, and Practice. NewYork: Oxford UP, 2001. Print. International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations. Rome Convention, 1961. Rome. 26 Oct 1961. Print. North American Free Trade Agreement. Part Six, art. 1701-1718.14. 7 Oct 1992. Print. Universal Copyright Convention. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 6 Sept 1952. Print.

The Return: Shadow Souls Chapter 31

â€Å"I'm feeling much better,† Elena told Dr. Meggar. â€Å"I'd like to take a walk around the estate.† She tried not to bounce up and down on the bed. â€Å"I've been eating steak and drinking milk and I even took that vile cod liver oil you sent. Also I have a very firm grasp of reality: I'm here to rescue Stefan and the little boy inside Damon is a metaphor for his unconscious, which the blood we shared allowed me to ‘see.'† She bounced once, but covered it by reaching for a glass of water. â€Å"I feel like a happy puppy pulling at the leash.† She exhibited her newly designed slave bracelets: silver with lapis lazuli inserts in fluid designs. â€Å"If I die suddenly, I am prepared.† Dr. Meggar's eyebrows worked up and down. â€Å"Well, I can't find anything wrong with your pulse or your breathing. I don't see how a nice afternoon walk can hurt you. Damon's certainly up and walking. But don't you go giving Lady Ulma any ideas. She still needs months of bed rest.† â€Å"She has a nice little desk made from a breakfast tray,† Bonnie explained, gesturing to show size and width. â€Å"She designs clothes on that.† Bonnie leaned forward, wide-eyed. â€Å"And you know what? Her dresses are magic.† â€Å"I wouldn't expect anything less,† grunted Dr. Meggar. But the next moment Elena remembered something unpleasant. â€Å"Even when we get the keys,† she said, â€Å"we have to plot the actual jailbreak.† â€Å"What's a jailbreak?† Lakshmi asked excitedly. â€Å"It's like this – we've got the keys to Stefan's cell, but we still need to figure out how we're going to get into the prison, and how we're going to smuggle him out.† Lakshmi frowned. â€Å"Why not just go in with the line and take him out the gate?† â€Å"Because,† Elena said, trying for patience, â€Å"they won't let us just walk in and get him.† She narrowed her eyes as Lakshmi put her head in her hands. â€Å"What're you thinking, Lakshmi?† â€Å"Well, first you say that you're going to have the key in your hand when you go to the prison, then you act like they're not going to let him out of the prison.† Meredith shook her head, bewildered. Bonnie put a hand to her forehead as if it ached. But Elena slowly leaned forward. â€Å"Lakshmi,† she said, very quietly, â€Å"are you saying that if we have a key to Stefan's cell it's basically a pass in and out of prison?† Lakshmi brightened up. â€Å"Of course!† she said. â€Å"Otherwise, what would a key be good for? They could just lock him in another cell.† Elena could hardly believe the wonder of what she had just heard, so she immediately began trying to poke holes in it. â€Å"That would mean we could go straight from Bloddeuwedd's party to the prison and just take Stefan out,† she said with as much sarcasm as she could inject into her voice. â€Å"We could just show our key and they'd let us take him away.† Lakshmi nodded eagerly. â€Å"Yes!† she said joyfully, the sarcasm having gone right over her head. â€Å"And, don't be mad, okay? But I wondered why you never went to visit him.† â€Å"We can visit him?† â€Å"Sure, if you make an appointment.† By now Meredith and Bonnie had come to life and were supporting Elena on either side. â€Å"How soon can we send someone to make an appointment?† Elena said through her teeth, because it was taking all her effort to speak – her entire weight was resting on her two friends. â€Å"Who can we send to make an appointment?† she whispered. â€Å"I'll go,† Damon said from the crimson darkness behind them. â€Å"I'll go tonight – give me five minutes.† Matt could feel that he had on his most cross and stubborn expression. â€Å"C'mon,† Tyrone said, looking amused. They were both gearing up for a trip into the thicket. This meant putting on two of the mothball-clove-recipe coats each and then using duct tape to fasten the gloves to the coats. Matt was sweating already. But Tyrone was a good guy, he thought. Here Matt had come out of nowhere and said, â€Å"Hey, you know that bizarre thing you saw with poor Jim Bryce last week? Well, it's all connected to something even more bizarre – all about fox spirits and the Old Wood, and Mrs. Flowers says that if we don't figure out what's going on, we're going to be in real trouble. And Mrs. Flowers isn't just a batty old lady at the boardinghouse, even though everybody says so.† â€Å"Of course she isn't,† Dr. Alpert's brusque voice had said from the doorway. She put down her black bag – still a country doctor, even when the town was in crisis – and addressed her son. â€Å"Theophilia Flowers and I have known each other a long time – and Mrs. Saitou, too. They were both always helping people. That's their nature.† â€Å"Well – † Matt had seen an opportunity and jumped at it. â€Å"Mrs. Flowers is the one who needs help now. Really, really needs help.† â€Å"Then what're you sitting there for, Tyrone? Hurry up and go help Mrs. Flowers.† Dr. Alpert had ruffled her own iron-gray hair with her fingers, then ruffled her son's black hair fondly. â€Å"I was, Mom. We were just leaving when you came in.† Tyrone, seeing Matt's grim horror-story of a car, had politely offered to drive them to Mrs. Flowers's house in his Camry. Matt, afraid of a terminal blowout at some crucial moment, was only too happy to accept. He was glad that Tyrone would be the lynchpin of the Robert E. Lee High football team in the coming year. Ty was the kind of guy you could count on – as witness his immediate offer of help today. He was a good sport, and absolutely straight and clean. Matt couldn't help but see how drugs and drinking had ruined not only the actual games, but the sportsmanship of the other teams on campus. Tyrone was also a guy who could keep his mouth shut. He hadn't even peppered Matt with questions as they drove back to the boardinghouse, but he did give a wolf whistle, not at Mrs. Flowers, but at the bright yellow Model T she was driving into the old stables. â€Å"Whoa!† he said, jumping out to help her with a grocery bag, while his eyes drank in the Model T from fender to fender. â€Å"That's a Model T Fordor Sedan! This could be one beautiful car if – † He stopped abruptly and his brown skin burned with a sunset glow. â€Å"Oh, my, don't be embarrassed about the Yellow Carriage!† Mrs. Flowers said, allowing Matt to take another bag of groceries back through the kitchen garden and into the kitchen of the house. â€Å"She's served this family for nearly a hundred years, and she's accumulated some rust and damage. But she goes almost thirty miles an hour on paved roads!† Mrs. Flowers added, speaking not only proudly, but with the somewhat awed respect owed to high-speed travel. Matt's eyes met Tyrone's and Matt knew there was only one shared thought hanging in the air between them. To restore to perfection the dilapidated, worn, but still beautiful car that spent most of its time in a converted stable. â€Å"We could do it,† Matt said, feeling that, as Mrs. Flowers's representative, he should make the offer first. â€Å"We sure could,† Tyrone said dreamily. â€Å"She's already in a double garage – no problems about room.† â€Å"We wouldn't have to strip her down to the frame†¦she really rides like a dream.† â€Å"You're kidding! We could clean the engine, though: have a look at the plugs and belts and hoses and stuff. And† – dark eyes gleaming suddenly – â€Å"my dad has a power sander. We could strip the paint and repaint it the exact same yellow!† Mrs. Flowers suddenly beamed. â€Å"That was what dear Mama was waiting for you to say, young man,† she said, and Matt remembered his manners long enough to introduce Tyrone. â€Å"Now, if you had said, ‘We'll paint her burgundy' or ‘blue' or any other color, I'm sure she would have objected,† Mrs. Flowers said as she began to make ham sandwiches, potato salad, and a large kettle of baked beans. Matt watched Tyrone's reaction to the mention of â€Å"Mama† and was pleased: there was an instant of surprise, followed by an expression like calm water. His mother had said Mrs. Flowers wasn't a batty old lady: therefore she wasn't a batty old lady. A huge weight seemed to roll off Matt's shoulders. He wasn't alone with a fragile elderly woman to protect. He had a friend who was actually a little bigger than he was to rely on. â€Å"Now both of you, have a ham sandwich, and I'll make the potato salad while you're eating. I know that young men† – Mrs. Flowers always spoke of men as if they were a special kind of flower – â€Å"need lots of good hearty meat before going into battle, but there's no reason to be formal. Let's just dig right in as things are done.† They had happily obeyed. Now they were preparing for battle, feeling ready to fight tigers, since Mrs. Flowers's idea of dessert was a pecan pie split between the boys, along with huge cups of coffee that cleared the brain like a power sander. Tyrone and Matt drove Matt's junker to the cemetery, followed by Mrs. Flowers in the Model T. Matt had seen what the trees could do to cars and he wasn't going to subject Tyrone's whistle-clean Camry to the prospect. They walked down the hill to Matt and Sergeant Mossberg's hide, each of the boys giving a hand to help the frail Mrs. Flowers over rough bits. Once, she tripped and would have fallen, but Tyrone dug the toes of his DC shoes into the hill and stood like a mountain as she tumbled against him. â€Å"Oh, my – thank you, Tyrone dear,† she murmured and Matt knew that â€Å"Tyrone dear† had been accepted into the fold. The sky was dark except for one streak of scarlet as they reached the hide. Mrs. Flowers took out the sheriff's badge, rather clumsily, due to the gardening gloves she was wearing. First she held it to her forehead, then she slowly drew it away, still holding it in front of her at eye-level. â€Å"He stood here and then he bent down and squatted here,† she said, getting down in what was – in fact – the correct side of the hide. Matt nodded, hardly knowing what he was doing, and Mrs. Flowers said without opening her eyes, â€Å"No coaching, Matt dear. He heard someone behind him – and whirled, drawing his gun. But it was only Matt, and they spoke in whispers for a while. â€Å"Then he suddenly stood up.† Mrs. Flowers stood suddenly and Matt heard all sorts of alarming little pops and crackles in her delicate old body. â€Å"He went walking – striding – down into that thicket. That evil thicket.† She set off for the thicket as Sheriff Rich Mossberg had when Matt had watched him. Matt and Tyrone went hurrying after her, ready to stop her if she showed any signs of entering the remnant of Old Wood that still lived. Instead, she walked around it, with the badge held to eye height. Tyrone and Matt nodded at each other and without speaking, each took one of her arms. This way they skirted the edge of the thicket, all the way around, with Matt going first, Mrs. Flowers next, and Tyrone last. At some point Matt realized that tears were making their way down Mrs. Flowers's withered cheeks. At last, the fragile old woman stopped, took out a lacy handkerchief – after one or two tries – and wiped her eyes with a gasp. â€Å"Did you find him?† Matt asked, unable to hold in his curiosity any longer. â€Å"Well – we'll have to see. Kitsune seem to be very, very good at illusions. Everything I saw could have been an illusion. But† – she heaved a sigh – â€Å"one of us is going to have to step into the Wood.† Matt gulped. â€Å"That'll be me, then – â€Å" He was interrupted. â€Å"Hey, no way, man. You know their ops, whatever they are. You've got to get Mrs. Flowers out of this – â€Å" â€Å"No, I can't risk just asking you to come over here and get hurt – â€Å" â€Å"Well, what am I doing out here, then?† Tyrone demanded. â€Å"Wait, my dears,† Mrs. Flowers said, sounding as if she were about to cry. The boys shut up immediately, and Matt felt ashamed of himself. â€Å"I know a way that you both can help me, but it's very dangerous. Dangerous for the two of you. But perhaps if we only have to do it once, we can cut the risk of danger and increase our chance of finding something.† â€Å"What is it?† Tyrone and Matt said almost simultaneously. A few minutes later, they were prepped for it. They were lying side by side, facing the wall formed by the tall trees and tangled underbrush of the thicket. They were not only roped together, but they had Mrs. Saitou's Post-it notes placed all over their arms. â€Å"Now when I say ‘three' I want you both to reach in and grab at the ground with your hands. If you feel something, keep hold of it and pull your arm out. If you don't feel anything, move your hand a little and then pull it out as fast as you can. And by the way,† she added calmly, â€Å"if you feel anything trying to pull you in or immobilize your arm, yell and fight and kick and scream, and we'll help you to get out.† There was a long, long minute of silence. â€Å"So basically, you think there are things all around on the ground in the thicket, and that we might get hold of them just by reaching in blindly,† Matt said. â€Å"Yes,† Mrs. Flowers said. â€Å"All right,† said Tyrone, and once again Matt glanced at him approvingly. He hadn't even asked â€Å"What kind of things could pull us into the Wood?† Now they were in position and Mrs. Flowers was counting â€Å"One, two, three,† and then Matt had thrust his right arm in as far as it would go and was sweeping his arm while groping. He heard a shout from beside him. â€Å"Got it!† And then instantly: â€Å"Something's pulling me in!† Matt pulled his own arm out of the thicket before trying to help Tyrone. Something dropped down on it, but it hit a Post-it note and it felt as if he'd been whacked by a piece of a Styrofoam. Tyrone was thrashing wildly and had already been dragged in to his shoulders. Matt grabbed him by the waist and used all his strength to haul backward. There was a moment of resistance – and then Tyrone came popping out as if suddenly released like a cork. There were scratches on his face and neck, but none where the overcoats had covered him or where the Post-it notes were. Matt felt a desire to say â€Å"Thank you,† but the two women who had made him amulets were far away, and he felt stupid saying it to Tyrone's coat. In any case, Mrs. Flowers was fluttering and thanking people enough for three. â€Å"Oh, my, Matt, when that big branch came down I thought your arm would be broken – at least. Thank the dear Lord that the Saitou women make such excellent amulets. And, Tyrone dear, please take a swig out of this canteen – â€Å" â€Å"Uh, I don't really drink much – â€Å" â€Å"It's just hot lemonade, my own recipe, dear. If it weren't for both you boys, we wouldn't have succeeded. Tyrone, you found something, yes? And then you were caught and would never have been released if Matt hadn't been here to save you.† â€Å"Oh, I'm sure he'd've got out,† Matt said hurriedly, because it must be embarrassing for anybody like The Tyreminator to admit they needed help. Tyrone, however, just said soberly, â€Å"I know. Thanks, Matt.† Matt felt himself blush. â€Å"But I didn't get anything after all,† Tyrone said disgustedly. â€Å"It felt like a piece of old pipe or something – â€Å" â€Å"Well, let's have a look,† Mrs. Flowers said very seriously. She turned the strongest flashlight on the object Tyrone had risked so much to bring out of the thicket. At first Matt thought it was a gigantic rawhide dog bone. But then an all-too-familiar shape made him look closer. It was a femur, a human femur. The biggest bone in the body, the one from the leg. And it was still white. Fresh. â€Å"It doesn't seem to be plastic,† Mrs. Flowers said in a voice that seemed very far away. It wasn't plastic. Matt could see where little tiny bits had curled up and away from the exterior. It wasn't rawhide, either. It was†¦well, real. A real human leg bone. But that wasn't the most horrifying thing; the thing that sent Matt spiraling out into darkness. The bone was polished clean and marked with the imprints of dozens of tiny little teeth.

Elevating Class and Language Between Two Plays Essay

A person’s language is often connected to his or her social status. A person from a higher status will have a different dialect of the same language than someone from lower status. People brought up in poor surroundings or poverty are keen to swearing and have little concern to speaking properly as their language was intended. People from high society are the opposite. They are very much concerned with using their verbal skills and their rhetoric, and they are able use it as a form of power over others. These ideas of language between classes can be seen in the plays â€Å"The Tempest,† by William Shakespeare, and â€Å"Pygmalion† by Bernard Shaw. Though Shaw’s play is much more focused on the language based transformation of â€Å"Eliza Doolittle,† and the interaction between her and Professor Higgins, Shakespeare’s creates a similar relationship between the lowly Caliban, and his master Prospero. Both plays show that a superficial change in education, or language, cannot realistically change a person or their social class, rather the real changes to these characters are made internally. Both Eliza and Caliban come from poor backgrounds. Eliza is a very poor flower girl with terrible English. She swears often, by saying â€Å"bloody† constantly between sentences. As Shaw describes her initially as â€Å"the flower girl† she is unsympathetically described as ugly and disgusting, â€Å"Her hair needs washing rather badly: its mousy color can hardly be natural. She wears a shoddy black coat that reaches nearly to her knees and is shaped to her waist† (Shaw, 13). Even her accent makes her feel like a second class citizen. Beneath all of this, Eliza is still a proud girl, â€Å"I’m a good girl, I am† (2). Because â€Å"The Tempest† contains magic, Caliban is born the son of the deceased witch Cycorax. Like Eliza, Caliban also maintains his pride as he believes he is the rightful owner of the island which Prospero later took control over. Also like Eliza, much of his speech is riddled with slurs and cursing. His demonic blood allows Prospero to treat him like a lower class, subhuman monster, similar to how Professor Higgins treats Eliza like a lower class citizen due to her looks, her demeanor, and consequently her social status as a flower girl. In response, Caliban responds with hostility whenever Prospero calls for him, â€Å"As wicked dew as e’er my mother brush’d/ With raven’s feather from unwholesome fen/ Drop on you both! a south-west blow on ye/ And blister you all o’er!† (20), and Prospero responds in kind by sending spirits to harass him and pinch him. The extent of the transformation that learning language had over both characters is limited to being just a tool for them to use while unfortunately (to their masters) keeping the same personality. What changes to Eliza is most definitely a surface level change and not a deep identity level change, at least through the length of the experiment. Though Higgins manages to transform Eliza’s appearance from that of a low-status flower girl to that of a refined young lady, she remains a cockney flower girl underneath her facade of a proper accent speaking proper English. Her real personality remains persistently unchanged until the end of the play. This is the same with Caliban who, through learning language from Prospero, remains bitter, hateful, and envious throughout â€Å"The Tempest.† Caliban remains â€Å"ungrateful† for being taught language by Prospero, â€Å"You taught me language, and my profit on’t/ Is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you /For learning me your language!† In this popular quote, Caliban uses the language taught to him against Prospero to display his disgust towards Prospero’s efforts to change him. It also draws a sharp similarity between the treatment between higher and lower classes in both plays. Eliza’s relationship with Higgins’ language is similar to Caliban’s relationship with Prospero in that both Eliza and Caliban understand language as a reminder of their low social status compared to their â€Å"masters.† Both characters also remain â€Å"ungrateful† in the narratives of their â€Å"masters,† when they are mostly more concerned to keep their own personal dignity. The difference in narratives between the characters learning language, and those teaching it in both plays is very similar. Both Higgins and Prospero, in their understanding of what they are doing by teaching Eliza and Caliban language, are teaching them a way to elevate their status. Because both â€Å"masters† are concerned with social status, they believe their students should strongly value their gifts of language education. Both Higgins and Prospero also consider their subjects highly ungrateful. When Higgins mother objects to his experiment, Higgens retorts, â€Å"You have no idea how frightfully interesting it is to take a human being and to change her into a quite different human being by creating a new speech for her. It’s filling up the deepest gulf that separates class from class and soul from soul.’ (Shaw, 78),† while believing that changing Eliza’s speech will not only change her class, but her soul. At the climax of the play between Higgins and Eliza, after Eliza asks to return the belongings Higgins gave and lent to her, Higgins becomes upset, â€Å"If these belonged to me instead of to the jeweler, I’d ram them down your ungrateful throat.† He feel so strongly the importance of language in self-improvement, that he failed to see that it did not have an honest impact on Eliza. This is similar to how Prospero views Caliban as ungrateful towards his teaching of language, â€Å"Abhorred slave,/ Which any print of goodness wilt not take,/ Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,/ Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour†¦Ã¢â‚¬  As can be seen here, it is evident that Prospero painstakingly underlines and exaggerates the value of the language he taught Caliban. â€Å"†¦One thing or other: when thou didst not, savage, /Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like/ A thing most brutish, I endow’d thy purposes/ With words that made them known. But thy vile race,/ Though thou didst learn, had that in’t which/ good natures/ Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou/ Deservedly confined into this rock,/ Who hadst deserved more than a prison.† Here Prospero acknowledges that class and language, though related, are not necessarily tied together. He makes a point that Caliban cannot overcome his class through learning language. Swearing in Pygmalion has an interesting dual use. It is primarily expressed in the word â€Å"bloody† by both Eliza and Higgins. Their use of it, however, shows the difference in class between the two. Eliza, who has been poor all her life, thinks nothing of using the word since she has been around it all the time. It is a merely an adjective or a harmless form of expression to her. Shaw deliberately makes Eliza’s speech terrible in order to highlight that one’s speech is dominated by their environment. Higgins, on the other hand, knows the use of this word and uses it to express his anger and frustration. Eventually Eliza does make use of her learned dialect, and it helps her greatly. It allows her to marry a man of the upper class and start her own business, as Higgins foreshadowed. This change was only able to come about after the internal self respect she gained by defending her self-respect from Higgins after the slipper incident. Caliban, a slave who ironically speaks in the same noble verse and Prospero, also benefits from the learned language in the way he is perceived by the other characters in the play such as Trinculo. Though at moments they were both ungrateful, both Eliza and Caliban became empowered and were able to gain a sense of freedom from their own social class by learning language.