The Birth Mark

Critical Essay 4 Close Reading â€Å"The ‘Birthmark† that was written a little over a century ago by Nathaniel Hawthorne, seems to be an early story of our modern fascination with physical flawlessness. In looking at today's society, it is simple to see that humans are fascinated with perfection. This fascination may be for physical perfection, emotional perfection, or career perfection. Unlike today's society, where flawlessness is wanted by the person directly involved, the character in this story looks for flawlessness in the one he should love without condition.The character becomes so obsessed with wanting perfection that he gives up true happiness. Thus, we can say that â€Å"The Birthmark† expresses a very profound meaning; men make an effort to change nature in order to make it more flawless than it already is. Even though â€Å"The Birthmark† by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written in the mid-1800s, its subject and ideas still play a part in todayâ€⠄¢s society. â€Å"In the late eighteenth century, where the story took place, science was still somehow associated with magic. †(1) And Aylmer's ‘science', could be called alchemy, which is somewhere between science and magic.It can be stated that Aylmer, the scientist in â€Å"The Birthmark,† is very much a result of this age of invention. Aylmer could have been a scientist or maybe even a magician. But we can definitely say he was in pursuit of control. He seeks control. The story starts off with a scientist who finds a bride. As the story continues on the freshly married couple starts to make discoveries about each other. Aylmer who is a man of perfection bases his decision to marry Georgiana believing that she is nothing but perfect. Nevertheless, his bride, Georgiana, appears to have a birthmark on her face that Aylmer wants to remove.Aylmer believes that the birth mark is a symbol of flawlessness on a beauty; On the other hand, Georgiana believes it is a b lessing. To me Aylmer made the mistake of marrying Georgiana because of perfection. In life we must understand that not everyone is perfect. Everyone has flaws including ourselves, and in this story Aylmer did not understand this. Georgiana’s birthmark on her face made her very different and special from other women. Aminadab said, â€Å"If she were my wife, I’d never part with that birth-mark† (Hawthorne 6). This quote opposes what Aylmer thinks; that the birthmark is ugly and needs to be removed.Aminadab tells Aylmer that the birthmark is unique, and he would not want to remove it because it makes her different. The birthmark has a very unique shade and shape to it, â€Å"In the usual state of her complexion- a healthy, though delicate bloom; – the mark wore a tint of deeper crimson, which imperfectly defined its shape amid the surrounding rosiness† (Hawthorne 2). Hawthorne often refers to the birthmark as the â€Å"Crimson Hand. † Not onl y is the color of the birthmark unique, but the shape is unique, as well. Not all birthmarks are crimson and look like a hand, and few people have a birthmark as unique as Georgiana did.Although Georgiana birthmark is unique, it is also a human flawlessness to Aylmer. Aylmer wanted to prove to Georgiana it was flawlessness to her face. Aylmer convincingly said, â€Å"No dearest Georgiana, you came so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature, that this slightest possible defect- which we hesitate whether to term a defect or a beauty- shocks me, as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection† (Hawthorne 2). Aylmer thinks the birthmark makes Georgiana ugly and wants to do whatever it takes to remove it from her face. Aylmer cannot stand to look at his wife with this horrible birthmark on her face.I feel as though everybody has their own beauty that’s within them that can’t be changed. I understand that nobody can change the inner or outer beauty of a person it wil l always be there no matter what changes they make or try to hide. Beauty is something unique and it shouldn’t be altered by any one, each individual has something that is beautiful about them even if there outer appearance is not so beautiful. In the end of the story we understand that the symbolism of the birth-mark had represented death because, Georgiana died at the end of the story because, Aylmer was trying to change something that was meant to be left alone.Hawthorne said,† As the last crimson tint of the birth-mark that sole token of human imperfection-faded from her cheek, the parting breath of the now perfect woman passed into the atmosphere, and her soul, lingering a moment near her husband, took its heavenward flight. † (p. 650) Had Aylmer would have accepted his wife as she was she probably wouldn’t have died of the death of his hands. So it was his fault really because, he made her felt as if her birth-mark was an ugly thing on her face. When it really was not ugly it brought her appearance out it made her even more beautiful and special.As individual we must learn sometimes to let things be, as I like to say â€Å"let and let God. We must know that everything is not meant to be change. â€Å"The Birthmark† is very psychological, rigorously dealing with the plain mind of the characters as if the portentous narrator told the story from within their mind, other than observes it from the outside. The description by a person outside of the story, other than a character from within, does not inspire the reader to understand with one character more than the other. It also allows the reader to understand the story and its characters based on how the audience feels.Using third person point of view, Hawthorne defines the characters and lets the audience to try to understand what each of them is thinking. Hawthorne wrote a great story in this story Hawthorne sends a message that we as individuals have always made every eff ort for perfection in all aspects of our life, but sometimes our own pleasant perception of it dominates the possibilities that some people will take to achieve those aspects of perfection. Whether an athlete decide to us drugs in order to be able to run faster or to hit harder, for them to be able to reach a greater level than anyone else to that unachievable goal of perfection.Better yet, surgeons who try and play God and perform plastic surgery on patients to make the patient believe and feel that they have the perfect look and smile or appearance. â€Å"The Birthmark† was a very interesting book, in that Hawthorne explores a person’s sense of perfection and how far they will go to reach it. Works Cited Booth, Alison and Kelly J. Mays. The Norton Introduction to Literature, Shorter Tenth Edition. New York, London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010. SparkNotes Editors. â€Å"SparkNote on The Birthmark. † SparkNotes. com. SparkNotes

School Crime Essays

School Crime Essays School Crime Essay School Crime Essay According to the National School Safety Center, the rate of violent school crime has dropped between 2003 and 2004.   The rate of violent crime victimization at school remained lower than the rate of victimization away from school.   Younger children were more likely to be victims of violent crime at school, while older students were more likely to be victims of violent crime away from school.   Although there was some movement in other crime statistics, those for fighting and drinking at school remained flat (National School Safety Center, 2006, p. 2).Some of these findings are also reflected by the findings of the Departments of Education and Justice between 2005 and 2006.   However, the second report indicates that an increase in homicides occurred between 2004 and 2005 over the figures reported between 2000 and 2001.   An average of 55 victimizations were reported per 1000 students during the 2004-2005 school year, with approximately one homicide or suicide school-age youth at school per 2 million students.   Regardless, these figures are still down from the same block of figures from the 1990s (Departments of Education and Justice, 2006, Executive Summary).The media, however, chooses to report school violence as if it is a steadily growing wave, with an increasing number of increasingly more violent occurrence every year.   Despite the steady decrease of the incidence of violent crimes in schools, the media chooses to report that violent crime remains a problem in schools, despite the use of safety devices such as metal detectors and despite the presence of security guards.   The media tends to focus on reporting the sensational occurrences and speculating on why so many Columbine-like shootings seem to be occurring, rather than reporting the actual decline in school homicides.   This presentation detracts from the efforts that have been made to correct the incidence of school violence.ReferencesDepartments of Educ ation and Justice.   (2006).   NSSC review of school safety research.   Retrieved March 31, 2007 from schoolsafety.us/pubfiles/school_crime_and_violence_statistics.pdfNational School Safety Center. (2006).   Indicators of school crime and safety: 2006. Retrieved March 31, 2007 from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/crimeindicators/index.asp

A Perfect Response to an Imperfect Storm

A perfect response to an Imperfect storm Twelve days. That’s how long it took for Mississippi power to restore electric power to the heavily damaged areas of southern Mississippi after hurricane Katrina slammed into the Mississippi gulf coast on august 29, 2005, with 145-mph winds and pounding rain. That’s remarkable, given the devastation that news photos and television newscasts so graphically displayed. It’s something that even the federal and state governments could not accomplish. How bad was the damage company employees dealt with? One hundred percent of the company’s customers were without power.Sixty-five percent of its transmission and distribution facilities were destroyed. And yet, this organization of 1,250 employees did what it had to do, despite the horrible circumstances and despite the fact that more than half of its employees suffered substantial damage to their own homes. It speaks volumes about the cultural climate that the managers of Mississippi power had created. As a corporate subsidiary of utility holding company southern company, Mississippi power provides electric services to more than 190,000 customers in the Magnolia state. When Hurricane Katrina turned toward Mississippi. Managers at Mississippi power swung into action with a swift and ambitious disaster plan. After Katrina land fall, Mississippi power management team responded,† with a style designed for speed and flexibility, forget thing done amid confusion and chaos. † David Ratcliffe, senior executive of southern company said, â€Å"I could not be prouder of our response. † What factors led to the company’s ability to respond as efficiently and effectively and effectively as it did?Imagine this is your second day at work as a manager supervising a team of financial analysts in the major technology corporation. Your boss the chief financial officer, calls you in and asks you to have your team find â€Å"creative† ways of improving sales figures. Look back at the framework in exhibit 3-8 and think about the potential consequences as you decide which of the following option you will choose, and why. Option A: Call a meeting of your analyst team and present the boss’s request as a hypothetical challenge designed to sharpen their skills. Present the results to your boss without telling the team. Option B:Work by yourself to dream up a few outlandish, impractical ideas so you can avoid being seen as someone who is not committed to your company’s success. Option C: Privately discuss the situation with the human resources manager who hired you (or another manager you trust) and explain why you are concerned about your boss’s request. One key element is the company’s can-do organizational culture, which is evidenced by important values inscribed on employees’ identification tags â€Å"Unquestionable trust, Superior performance, Total commitment. † Because the values were visible daily, employees knew their importance.They knew what was expected of them, in a disaster response or in just doing their everyday work. In addition, through employee training and managerial example, the organization had, â€Å"steeped its culture† in Stephen covey’s book, The 7 habits of highly effective people. (The company’s training building – the covey Center-flooded during the storm. ) These ingrained habits-be proactive; begin with the end in mind; put first things first; think win/win; seek first to understand then to be understand; synergize; and sharpen the saw-also guided employee decisions and actions.Another important element in the company’s successful post-storm response was the clear lines of responsibility of the 20 â€Å"storm directors,† who had clear responsibility and authority for whatever task they had been assigned. These directors had the power to do what needed to be done backed by unquestionable trust from their bosses. Said one, †I don’t have to ask permission. † Finally the company’s decentralized decision making approach to contribute to the way in which employees were able to accomplish what they did. The old approach of responding to a disaster with topdown decision making had been replaced by decision making being push further down to the electrical substation level, a distribution point that serves some 5,000 people. Crews working to restore power reported to these substations and had a simple mission – get the power back on, â€Å"Even out –of –state line crews, hired on contract and working unsupervised, were empowered to engineer to there solutions. † What the crews often did to â€Å"get the power back on† was quite innovative and entrepreneurial.Would these stack holder change if there was a disaster to which company had to respond? Answer: Stakeholders are the groups and individuals who affect and are affected by the achievement of the organization’s mission, goals and strategies. Providing electric services to more than 190,000 customers in the Magnolia state is important to Mississippi power and stake holder. To provide electric services, to more than 190,000 customers in the Magnolia state; trust among stack holder is very important. Unquestionable trust, Superior performance, Total commitment will be the concern among the stake holders. Another important element is, clear lines of responsibility in case of stake holder. Yes, these stack holder change if there was a disaster to which the company had to respond. The reason behind it is, they learn a lot during the disaster and learn the importance of togetherness and planning. 2. What could other organization learn from Mississippi power about the importance of organization culture? Answer: There are so many lessons learned from the case of Mississippi power to all the organizations and individuals as well. The important learned is, to maintain the good culture of organization.Along with that, respect each other is one of the aspect all the organization can learn from Mississippi power case. Since, values were visible daily, employees knew their importance. Another point is, we should be ready with the disaster recovery plan and we should keep on working on that. One more point the other organization learn is, decentralized decision making approach to contribute to the way in which employees were able to accomplish what they did. Avoid responding to disaster with top down- decision making, instead; decision making being push further down ground level.

Equity andTtrusts- problem question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Equity andTtrusts- problem question - Essay Example 250,000, and if the civil partner /spouse has survived more than 28 days of the deceased , then he is entitled to receive whole of ? 250,000 or less. If the net estate is more than ? 250,000 , then , the first ? 250,000 together with the personal possession to civil partner/spouse. Fifty percent of the balance should be equally shared among kids. The civil partner /spouse will also have the right to the interest on the balance amount of deceased estate during his life time only, and then children of the civil partner /spouse will receive the same in equal shares after the life time of the civil partner or spouse. (www.graysons.co.uk). In case of intestacy, if the claimant is not a registered civil partner or married, then he may not get a share in the deceased property automatically. If the deceased has not provided for the cohabitating partner in some other way, then such partner can make a claim under the provisions of the â€Å"Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Ac t 1975.† In case of cohabitation, the surviving partner has to demonstrate that she or he had maintained either partly or wholly by the deceased. Further, a cohabitating partner has to make the claim within the 6 months from the date of the issue of letters of administration. (www.direct.gov.uk) The position of children’s of cohabitated couple is somewhat awkward under U.K laws. Schedule 1 to the Children’s Ac 1989 offers power to the courts to order some financial relief for the advantage of children despite the status of the parent’s affiliation.(Barrington, A,2001). Stack v Dowden This case was about the rights over a property over which cohabitation partners lived together before their separation. This case codifies new structure within which cohabitant rights are to be decided and will pave to greater simplicity and certainty for future cases. In this case, the cohabitant couples separated after having four children. There was one residential place, w hich was co-owned by them and a suit was filed the estranged male partner for equal division. Finally, the House of Lords upheld the Court of Appeal’s ruling that Ms Dowden was entitled to 65% and Mr. Stack to 35% House of Lords might have given higher share to female partner on considering the factor that she had four children and also contributed substantially for the purchase of that house. (www.publications.parliament.uk). In this case, Pauline Jonathan will be the legal heir of Jonathan Reisberg as she is the daughter of Jonathan’s erstwhile wife. In the problem, it has been stated that they were in separation for the last fifteen years and there is no mention about a divorce. Since Lorraine Lexington is a cohabitating partner, either she or his children have no legal rights to inherit Jonathan’s estate as he died intestate. Lorraine Lexington, as a cohabitating partner can make a claim under the provisions of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Depen dents) Act 1975. The triplets can seek relief under Schedule 1 to the Children’s Ac 1989 offers power to the courts to order some financial relief for the benefit of children despite of the status of the parent’s relationship. Validity of a Cheque under UK Laws Under UK laws, there is no definite guideline about the validity of a cheque. Banks in UK normally will refuse to honour the cheques if it is more than six months old. However, it is at the discretion of the bank that deals with it. Cheques will