An Analysis Of Boys and Girls

An Analysis Of Boys and Girls According to R. W. Connell when sex role theory provided the main framework, there was a fairly straightforward account of how people acquired gender. Babies were, from the start, identified as either female or male and put in pink and blue baby clothes respectively. Blue babies were expected to behave differently from pink babies rougher and tougher, more demanding and vigorous. In time they were given toy guns, footballs and construction sets. The pink babies, by contrast, were expected to be more passive and compliant, also prettier. As they grew older they were dressed in frilly clothes, given dolls and make-up kits, told to take care of their appearance and be polite and agreeable (94). This type of gender practice can be seen in Alice Munros story Boys and Girls. This is a story about a young girls resistance to womanhood in a society infested with gender roles and stereotypes. Munro makes the point that gender stereotyping, relationships, and a loss of innocence play an impor tant, and often controversial role in the growing and passing into adulthood for many young children. This story takes place in the 1940s on a fox farm outside of Jubilee. During this time, women are viewed as second class citizens, but the narrator is not going to accept this position without a fight. Alice Munro creates an unnamed and therefore undignified, female protagonist and thus she proposes that the narrator is without identity or the prospect of power. Unlike the girl, the young brother Laird is named a name that means lord and implies that he, by virtue of his gender alone, is invested with identity and is to become a master. This stereotyping in names alone seems to represent that gender does play an extreme role in the initiation of young children into adults. R. W. Connell claims that the socialization model recognizes just one direction of learning towards the sex role norms. It is difficult, in such a framework, to understand the changes of direction that often appear in a young persons life, coming apparently from nowhere. Such changes can be seen in the story. Growing up, the young girl loves to help her father outside with the foxes, rather than to aid her mother with dreary and peculiarly depressing work in the kitchen. In this escape from her predestined responsibilities, the narrator looks upon her mothers assigned tasks to be endless, while she views the work of her father as ritualistically important. This view illustrates her happy childhood, filled with dreams and fantasy. Her contrast between the work of her father and the chores of her mother, symbolizes an arising struggle between what the narrator is expected to do and what she wants to do. Work done by her father is viewed as being real, while that done by her mother is considered boring. Conflicting views of what is fun and what is expected lead the narrator to her initiation into adulthood. The protagonist in the story begins to realize societys views of her when her father introduces her to a salesman, while she is working outside, as his new hired hand. She is almost pleased until the salesman replies I thought it was only a girl. Even her grandmother bombards her with commands, Girls keep their knees together when they sit down. And Girls dont slam doors like that. The worst is when she asks a question and her grandmother answers Thats none of a girls business. Even after that, she continues to slam doors and sit awkwardly because she feels that it keeps her free. In other words, she is not ready to accept and claim her gender identity a tendency that disturbs her mother and it is at this time, that the mother, good intentionally shackles her daughter to her correct place in the world to prepare her for stereotypes later on in life. However, after talking with her mother, the narrator realises that she has to become a girl; A girl was not, as I had supposed, simply what I was; it was what I had to become. Here, the narrator realises that there is no escape from the predetermined duties that go along with the passage of a child into being a girl and a girl into a woman. Boys and Girls by Alice Munro highlights and emphasises the theme of initiation. The story depicts initiation as a rite of passage according to gender stereotypes and a loss of innocence. Conformity plays a vital role in determining the outcome of the narrators passage into adulthood. Throughout the story, the narrator is confronted with conflicting thoughts and ideas regarding her initiation into adulthood. Ultimately, she wishes to work with her father, and stay a tomboy, but through a conflict with her mother and grandmother, she comes to realise that she is expected, like the women before her, to adopt the gender stereotype which comes with her growing and passing into adulthood. Similarly, her younger brother, Laird, is also initiated, but into manhood, something he yearns for. In conclusion, Munros story illustrates the struggles between the dreams and reality of the rite of passage and initiation, based on gender stereotypes society has placed on men and women.

Re-entry Student :: essays research papers

Motivation to Return to School I decided at that moment that I would return to school and graduate with my bachelor?s degree. I made a promise to myself that I would finish my education. If I complete my education, I would make my parents proud of me. Plus, I want to be the first person on either side of my family to attend graduate school. Adults return to college primarily because they desire a higher paying career or a professional job. This could be a registered nurse, an elementary school teacher, a policeman or an attorney. It could also be an accountant, a journalist, a librarian, an interior decorator or a beautician (Smith, 2001). After being on the road for three years, I decided to check into returning to college at the University of Delaware and the University of Pennsylvania. Both universities informed me that I would have to retake my first two years that I had completed at Chattanooga State. I would have to commit for another four to six years of college. I did not have the time to do this. I wanted to be finished with my bachelor?s degree within two years if possible. So, later, when they realize that their choices are limited, their futures sealed or semi-gelled, they decide that school is where they need to be (Smith, 2001). I had made arrangements for an apartment before I had moved, so all I had to do was wait for the moving van to bring my furniture in. I went looking for a job and found a position with the Veterans Affairs. While I was unpacking and settling in, I filled out and submitted my paper work for UTC.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After a few weeks, I received a response from UTC stating that I was accepted and could start fall semester. I was so excited about finishing my education. My major was Healthcare Administration. Older women -- those in their mid-20s and older -- returning to college make up better than half of the evening enrollments in area colleges. Nontraditional students are usually in their mid-20s to mid-40s, enrolling part time vs. full time. They generally attend evening classes and have jobs and family obligations to balance with their studies (Richards, 1999).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During the meeting with my advisor, I was advised that I would take an extra ten to fifteen classes before I could graduate. I was looking at the catalog at the course I could take and the advisor told me to take my freshman classes first before getting into major classes.

Descartes methods of doubt Essay

?In this paper, I will be examining Rene Descartes’ reasons for doubting all of his beliefs. I will begin with Descartes’ first meditation, showing how he argues his reasons of doubt. Followed with Descartes’ second meditation, presenting the one piece of knowledge that Descartes finds irrefutable and explaining why he believes it to be so. Descartes formulates three different skepticisms while reflecting on a number of falsehoods he was led to believe throughout his life. Upon reflection, Descartes decides that he must establish a new foundation of beliefs, he declares, â€Å"I must once for all seriously undertake to rid myself of all the opinions which I formally accepted† (Descartes, p. 17). Descartes decides that if there is any reason to doubt one of his present beliefs, then the belief as a whole must be rejected. Descartes starts with his beliefs, which he has come to through his own senses. It is hard to doubt one’s own senses but Descartes acknowledges that even the most trusted senses have the ability to be deceitful. For example, when I look up at the sun it appears to be relatively small, but in reality the sun is much larger then I perceive it to be. Therefore, my sense of sight is not completely accurate, which then causes me to doubt my sense of sight. Unless the object in view is close at hand, then how could I possibly doubt that the object exists? Descartes finds reason for doubt even with objects up close. To argue this claim he formulates his dream hypothesis to prove that our senses can still be misleading even in cases like this, he states â€Å"I have in sleep deceived by similar illusions, and in dwelling carefully on this reflection I see so manifestly that there are no certain indications by which we may clearly distinguish wakefulness from sleep† (Descartes, p. 18). When Descartes’ senses fail in separating the two states, his trust in his senses are doubted because his senses cannot differentiate dreams from reality. It is this doubt that leads Descartes to the realization that beliefs derived from senses cannot be fully trusted, and in fact proves that there may not be any physical matter as all. Descartes dives even deeper into the role of senses in dreams, as well as art; stating â€Å"Things which are represented to us in sleep are like painted representations which can only have been formed as the counterpart of something real and true† (Descartes, p. 18). This shows that what we perceive to be real is the driving force behind our imagination. Furthermore, our dreams spawn from our imaginations’, which means that our dreams consist of only thing that we perceive to be real. Now looking back to what I previously stated, if our senses cannot be trusted to differentiate dreams from reality then how can I be sure that I’m not asleep at this very moment and that I am only dreaming of typing on a laptop. Aside from Descartes disbelief in his own senses, Descartes doubts the validity in sciences. Descartes justifies this uncertainty with his evil genius hypothesis; he says, â€Å"Some evil genius not less powerful than deceitful, has employed his whole energies in deceiving me† (Descartes, p. 19). This quote suggests, it is possible that our foundations of math and science are false, and that all beliefs may be deceptions. This skeptical hypothesis is arguably the most powerful of all skeptical hypothesizes. With this premise, doubt can be found in any belief that can be conceived and Descartes concludes that nothing has ever existed. After Descartes attempts to rid himself of all belief that he considers to be false he is left with to many doubts to forget, Descartes expresses his emotions by saying, â€Å"I had all of the sudden fallen into very deep water, I am so disconnected that I can neither make certain of setting my feet on the bottom, nor can I swim and so support myself on the surface. † (Descartes, p. 133). We can see the mixed emotions Descartes experiences with this statment. I believe that this disconcert stems from the fact that Descartes now doubts everything he knew and once believed to have validity. I also believe that it is this distress that led him to unearth the one piece of knowledge that he is unable to deny. After much thought, Descartes realizes that the only belief he cannot deny is that he himself exists. Descartes then states, â€Å"But there is some deceiver or other, very powerful and very cunning, who ever employs his ingenuity in deceiving me. Then without doubt I exist also if he deceives me† (Descartes, p. 134). This quote displays to me that Descartes knows that if he is able to be deceived, by whom ever it may be, then in fact he must exist because if he did not exist then he would not be able to be deceived. Therefore, Descartes finally finds validity in a belief, which he vitally needs at this time of conflicting thought upon all of his former beliefs. In conclusion, Descartes’ doubt in all of his believes is formed through his skeptical hypothesizes, beginning with senses are deceiving at a distance, which doubts sizes and shapes at a distance when perceived, but not up close. Following with his dream hypothesis, which can doubt things up close facilitated by the imagination, but cannot doubt truths of mathematics and sciences. Closing with the evil genius hypothesis, which is able to doubt mathematical facts such as a square having four sides, but this final hypothesis brings the one undisputable belief of existence.

Reality Television and the Youth Essay

Reality television has evolved over the past sixty years. They have gone from clean practical jokes to a portrayal of an American family to how to party, lie and deceive. The more the focus is on partying, drugs, sex, vulgarerness, the more our young people will portray these traits. There needs to be more focus on good wholesome clean fun, which keeps the youth safe and healthy. The way to change the way our society is headed is to stop the programing that is hurting all of us. Reality shows of today teaches the youth that it’s alright to disobey their parents, its alright to party, do drugs, have sex with multiple people, get pregnant, and that the guys that don’t have to stay around or take care of the situation they helped put the girl in. The cause and effects of today’s reality shows far outweigh the advantages they have. It’s hard to believe that reality shows have been around for almost sixty years. The very first reality show was produced and aired in 1954, the show is Candid Camera. It was innocent practical jokes on unsuspecting strangers on the streets. The reactions were funny and the jokes were tasteful and clean. The next show is where our reality shows stem from. Its was produced and aired in 1973. An American Family, only had twelve episodes and during this time there were two reasons it became infamous. The two reasons were the demanded divorce from wife Pat and that their son Lance came out and openly announced he was gay, he was the first openly gay person. This is where our reality television stems from. An American Family show really opened up the airways for the nastiness that is called reality television. ttp://usatoday30. usatoday. com/life/columnist/popcandy/2003-01-08-candy. htm Reality television is on just about every channel now days, there is no way to get away from some type of reality show. The main type of reality show is one that is based on nakedness, deceitfulness, and selfishness. These shows teach our young girls that they need to look a certain way, act mean, and do whatever they can to get as many guys as possible. There are so many diets out to keep all women thinking they all need to be skinny like the models or actresses. There are many different types of women, and there is no way we can all be a size 2. Women and girls do not need to be mean to one another; we can all get along and be friends. There is nothing wrong with being with one man. It’s actually healthier to have less sexual partners that to sleep with every man possible. Reality shows teach guys that it’s alright to have sex with as many women as possible to show how masculine they are. They teach guys/men that it’s alright to treat women like a fast food meal, once they are done with them, they can just throw them away. Reality shows do not show how a man should treat a woman with respect, and kindness. Gentlemen are hard to find these days, because the men of the house is either not there or don’t care what his son is doing. It’s nice to see a young man hold the door open for women of all ages. http://healthland. time. com/2011/10/18/what-reality-tv-teaches-teen-girls/ Children are like little dry sponges, the cleaner, good, interesting fun water you put in them that’s the type of person they will be. But if you pump them full of nasty and filthy water that’s the kind of person they will be. I want to have a society of clean, mature, and independent teens with morals and standards. As parents we take care of our children when they are toddlers, but as soon as they are in their adolescents parents start to drift away from the kids, most of the time kids are pushed away and they end up watching whatever they can find. Reality television shows are a biggest part of the way young people act the way they do, but quite a few of the cartoons that are on the airways are just as bad as the reality shows. Here’s want needs to happen, is parents need to change before the children can change. There needs to be more reality shows with morals, standards, and how to have respect for those around us. We need to get away from all this junk that is on the air now. If we had some better shows on the air and show how families should be, our country would be able to turn around. I think there should be a class that teaches respect and morals, instead of sex education, teach the girls to respect themselves and the guys to respect the girls as well as themselves. There would be less and less unwanted teen pregnancies. It would also make for a better home life and easier relationships between parents and kids. These classes should be mandatory for the kids and if parents have any problems with that, than they to need to be able to sit in on a class or two. As mentioned before, this is the type of programing that most of the young people that are still impressionable watch, not to mention the parents. If you are a parent and you have young kids in your home the last thing you should want to do is let them watch these type shows. We have to change something and it needs to start at home. Family’s need to change the way they watch TV, because we need to make the right choices for our kids and give them a good, clean, moral start. If they chose to watch these type shows later in life it was their choice. We need to talk to our kids about true reality and what will happen if they make certain choices. If they chose to have sex then there is a high possibility that they will get pregnant or get someone pregnant. Tell them that there is nothing 100% other than not doing it. Plus it shows that they respect themselves, and if the other person respects them than everything will be as it should be. Our kids have known from the time they were little and they started asking questions we told them the truth that they could understand at that age. Now that they are teens we answer as we would an adult. They have to right to know the truth and the whole truth. We don’t believe you are helping them if you hold stuff back that will help them make the right decisions. If it’s alright to disobey your parents, or to lie, cheat, steal, have big parties, drink and use drugs, have sex and get pregnant, and have guys just want you for what you look like and not what you think, than we don’t need to change anything, but if you don’t believe all of that then we need to change what it is our children and even ourselves watch. The only way we can change all of this is to make changes in our homes first, then in our schools, because if we change these first the media will change afterward, because they will not have the ratings to keep all that junk on the air. I believe if we would change than everything else would change, but we have to start with ourselves and our children. Then work with the school systems. Once we get these areas in control then we can work with what kind of shows we get to watch, but to make it all work we have to be willing to get out of the thinking you have your life and I have mine. That is one reason our country is in the shape it’s in. The more we work close to home the more it will spread for the good of everybody work with the school systems. Once we get these areas in control then we can work with what kind of shows we get to watch, but to make it all work we have to be willing to get out of the thinking you have your life and I have mine. That is one reason our country is in the shape it’s in. The more we work close to home the more it will spread for the good of everybody.

It as a Dummy Subject in Grammar

It as a Dummy Subject in Grammar The word it can be a  subject (or dummy subject) in sentences about times, dates, and the weather (such as, Its raining) and in certain idioms (Its OK). Also known as ambient it or empty it. Unlike the ordinary pronoun it, dummy it refers to nothing at all; it simply serves a grammatical function. In other words, dummy it has a grammatical meaning but no lexical meaning. Examples and Observations Here are some examples: It is hot, it is late, and it is time to go.It will be morning soon.Juan WilliamsBut it is a new day. The need for honest conversations across racial as well as ethnic and religious lines has never been greater.William FauknerHe did not know it was midnight and he did not know how far he had come.Its Always Sunny In PhiladelphiaWaitress: Wow, why are you so sweaty?Charlie Kelly: Its really hot in here.Waitress: Its not hot, its freezing.Charlie Kelly: Its freezing, isnt it. They are blazing that AC.Penelope FitzgeraldIts a pity that Kattie couldnt be here tonight.Sean Astin, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the RingIts a shame, really. Lady Galadriel gave me that. Real elvish rope.Bob DylanAnd it aint no use to sit and wonder why, babe,If you dont know by now.Wallace StevensIt was evening all afternoon.It was snowingAnd it was going to snow.The blackbird satIn the cedar-limbs.Christopher J. Halle[S]nowing is just snowing: not even God can snow, and although we can be snowed on, i n, or under, the meaning of the verb snow just doesnt require anything to be snowed (except snow itself, I suppose, but that would be a little redundant). So semantics doesnt explain why we need to express a subject, even a dummy one like it in It is snowing. Verbs That Accompany Ambient It James D. McCawleyAmbient it occurs only in combination with a limited set of verbs and predicate adjectives that express environmental conditions (especially, but not exclusively, the weather):- (8a) It was raining/snowing/thundering/pouring.- (8b) It was hot/cold/pleasant/delightful/unbearable/disgusting/uncomfortable in the attic.- (8c) I like/enjoy/hate it here.- (8d) Its third down and twelve to go.- (8e) Its intermission now.- (8e) Its 4:00.In most instances ambient it is the subject of its clause either in surface structure or in what is arguably the deep structure (as in the case of The lake makes it pleasant here, which allows an analysis in which the deep structure direct object of make is a sentence It is pleasant here whose subject is ambient it). Subject Extraposition Rodney D. HuddlestonClauses with a subordinate clause subject generally have variants with the subordinate clause at the end and dummy it as the subject:- a. That he was acquitted disturbs her.- b. It disturbs her that he was acquitted. Using Dummy It in African-American Vernacular English Fern L. JohnsonThe use of dummy it (Labov, 1972a) corresponds to particular meanings in AAVE. Roughly equivalent to SAE there, it can be found in contexts such as the following: It wasnt nothing to do and Its a new car, which compare to SAE There wasnt nothing to do and Theres a new car. This dummy it exists in Gullah as well and is likely a direct retention from plantation creole. Also Known As: ambient it, introductory it, prop it, empty it, nonreferential it

Luxury goods industry Porter's five forces model Essay

Luxury goods industry Porter's five forces model - Essay Example The Social Media has empowered consumers in all industries, including in the luxury goods industry; because of the feeling that they can secure the support of many other people in regard to their rights, as consumers, customers in the luxury brand industry have become more powerful to influence the industry’s strategies (Deloitte 2014) – H Since 2012 an important trend has appeared in the luxury goods industry: emphasis is given to ‘fine jewellery’ (Luxury Society 2012, par.13) and not on ‘seasonal accessories’ (Luxury Society 2012, par.13). Louis Vuitton has been the luxury brand that first supported this trend; Richemont Group, the owner of popular brands such as Cartier, had followed (Luxury Society 2012) - L Popular luxury brands have taken action against those who try to develop cheap substitutes of their products; for example, in a relevant lawsuit the courts ordered the owners of a series of websites that have developed such activity to pay an amount of $100 million to Hermes (Luxury Society 2012) - L In any case luxury products are, by their nature, related to costly materials; the high cost of these products prevents those who would like to create substitute products of low price (Luxury Society 2012) - L a) continuous turbulences in markets worldwide; downturns in the performance of markets have been proved as able to affect the buying power of the industry’s customers (Paton and Sanderson 2014); only the brands that can secure high quality, innovation and uniqueness of their products are able to secure their market position - H The rate of development of the luxury goods industry is satisfactory but unstable; the strong turbulences in the international market are considered as the key reason for this phenomenon. The industry’s high instability would discourage new entrants to enter in the luxury

Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 4

Assignment - Essay Example In reality however excellence has a dimension as limited as the companies itself. It means that the organization strives to find the best available practice rather than following market leaders or competitors. This finding the best practices and implementing them will result from an exhaustive self assessment and investigation by the organization itself. The level of excellence that an organization has achieved is generally measured by the results the organization has delivered and is very greatly dependent upon the performance management systems used. Organizational excellence is an overall way in which organizations work from balancing stakeholders interests to the management of profits and prioritizing ones needs without losing control with such operational efficiency that doesn’t lead to doubts about its performance and utilization of resources. The achievement of such excellence has since always been a dilemma with multiple theories based on it. But in a nutshell it should be understood that the means of achieving excellence were always and will always be an item of great interest and research and though unanimity will never be achieved, the best way is to strive hard to question how to achieve it and then implement those solutions with utmost efficiency. What should be remembered however is that in the race of excellence there is no finish line. The business excellence model largely determines how organizations all over the world handle their operations and how decision making takes place. Different parts of the world have different excellence models which are dependent upon the organizational structure in those regions as well as the preferences of customers and the mindset of the employees. Customer focus and logical decision-making, form the core of all models. One of the earliest excellence models is the Deming Excellence model which is based on