The Glass Menagerie Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Glass Menagerie - Research Paper Example She is drawn carefully as an idol of beauty, delicacy and purity as her glass toys. Her acute self –coconsciousness and as a result great shyness prevents her from coming out of her comfort zone. One of her legs is crippled and this has led to her feeling of inferiority and withdrawal from the outside world. Levy saysâ€Å"She avoids the outside world, and as a result †¦has no life outside preoccupation with her own vulnerability â€Å"But more than this her emotional fragility can said as her main flaw. Amanda tells â€Å"She notices things and I think she broods about them. A Few days ago I came in and she was crying â€Å". According to Smith Laura can be considered as a tragic fellow and her fragility is her flaw. The extreme nervousness of Laura is the reason for her seclusion and thus by the drop from the school and college. When Jim was talking to her she herself somehow came out of her shyness. She is confined herself in the security of her house and rarely co me out of that. According to Cardullo, Laura is a romantic symbol familiar to the landscape of nineteenth-century American society â€Å"the fragile almost unearthly ego brutalized by life in the industrialized depersonalized cities of the Western world â€Å" Just as Laura find place among her glass menagerie, all the characters especially Amanda and Tom have their own dwelling places. The main misfortune of the characters is only due to their remaining in the comfort zone. This drawback in the character leads to a kind of seclusion and loneliness. Amanda never comes out of her reminiscence of the past. She relates all the present events with that of the past ones occurred in her own life. The main flaw of the character Amanda is her inability to understand her son Tom. She tries to guide him but every word he considers as interference in his personal freedom. Tom wants to be adventurous, but she seems to be ignorant of it. The continual friction between Tom and his mother shows lack of understanding. Almost every encounter leads to quarrel. She frightens Tom by imposing on him the heavy responsibility of family support. Her vehement condemnation of Tom as a dreamer and manufacturer of illusions gets on his nerves and drives him away from home. â€Å"Amanda is almost alienated from her children and she also suffers from loneliness. When she is disturbed she finds happiness by balancing herself between her past and present. Her cloths her speech and her ideals for her children make her appear to be a middle aged southern belly, garrulous and sill by narrow and spinsterish in her attitude towards life. At times she appears foolish and ignorant and her approach to life seems unrealistic â€Å". But Dr. Pearl Mchaney in a lecture points out that Amanda is trying to love her children. â€Å"There are so many things in my heart that I cannot describe you! I’ve never told you but I-loved your father†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Another character who shares the equal re sponsibility of the tragic ending of the family is Tom Winfield. Tom is condemned by most people as an irresponsible runaway. Tom can be said as a person ‘meditating between in present and past’. Neither his job at the warehouse nor his life and home satisfies hunger for adventure . He demands

Sociology - write an essay about the main theoretical perspectives

Sociology - write an about the main theoretical perspectives. Compare and contrast the explanations offered by the different theoretical perspectives with regard to the family - Essay Example Similarly sociology can be studied from a majority/minority perspective wherein the issues and problems faced by minority communities are given special attention. Ultimately, all these approaches have one thing in common, namely, the identification of pressing social problems and devising of ways to alleviate them. While these conceptual analyses are usually applied to large groups of people such as the inhabitants of cities, counties and states, the family could be considered the fundamental unit of society. Hence a good understanding of these interpersonal human interactions at the level of the family is essential for grasping the broader picture. The rest of this essay will delve further into various prominent theoretical perspectives with regard to the family. â€Å"Simply put, a theory is an explanation of a fact pattern. Social scientists generally do not develop theories to explain individual cases or incidents. Rather, theories are developed to explain how and why certain things happen, particularly when those things happen repeatedly. For example, scientists and therapists realized that a lot of couples who get divorced exhibit certain patterns of destructive conflict. Scientific theories serve a number of useful functions. Perhaps the most basic function of a theory is to explain how and why a phenomenon occurs or operates. A related function of theories is to predict when a phenomenon might or might not happen.† (Segrin, 2005) Hence, from the above definition of a sociological theory one can see its importance in resolving family issues and alleviating interpersonal conflict between family members. An important theory relating to the institution of family is called the Family Systems theory which was derived from the broader General Systems Theory (GST), â€Å"which is a theoretical perspective developed for explaining how elements of a

Reviewing Structural theory and Social process theory Essay

Reviewing Structural theory and Social process theory - Essay Example Due to social pressures, it becomes so important for the individual to achieve the desired status that he/she might ignore the righteous means of achieving the objective and adopt some wrongful methods. Another example can be very poor law enforcement or too many loopholes in the legal system that encourages individuals to commit crime. Social process theories focus on how an individual becomes a criminal. Now as one can see that the impact of structural theories should be on the entire society because all the people live in the same social environment. Still all of them don’t become criminals. Therefore, in addition to the Structural theories, which put forth a broader perspective, there are definitely some more factors that cause a criminal behavior. When social process theories come into the picture, all the pieces of the jigsaw start falling in place. For example, while explaining different crime rates among higher and lower classes, Merton posited existence of two social structures- as per the culture, objectives and ambitions generally considered ‘standards’ for an individual, which include material and non-material objects. The second one is acceptable methods of achieving own goals that includes following the law, using honest means to pursue the goals etc. (Merton 1938) To maintain the social norms, a balance between the two structures is very much desired. According to Merton (1938), in case of an individual, this balance would occur when he/she has the satisfaction of following the set social norms and deriving the aimed objectives. If the culturally set goals are not realistic i.e. achievable through accepted methods, then wrong means can be employed by the individual to appear successful. Then more stress is placed on the goal rather than the means of achieving them. For some individuals, scarcity of opportu nities prompts them to use wrongful means. In a materialistic

Instructional Design Outline Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Instructional Design Outline - Research Paper Example The main purpose of education is to nurture critical thought, capacity for independence and creativity in general. Educational institutions need to ensure that young individuals leave formal education armed with the skills, aptitude, and confidence needed to face life outside school (Brown & Green 2011). It has in the past been believed that educational success of a child is dependent upon their background. This is however not the case. Educational success is determined by the willingness of the student to learn, their hard work as well as the effectiveness of the educator in teaching. Educators in the 21st Century have come to understand the importance individual education since the young generation of today is the future of tomorrow (Brighouse & Woods 1999). Just as it is in the business world and other industries, the educational sector has become a diverse and cultural center where students from different backgrounds come together to learn. Due to this fact alone, the educators o r teachers need to consider the fact that each individual student has their own special needs in as far as learning is concerned (Brown & Green 2011). For this, a planning process is required. ... According to majority of literature focusing on education, learning is more likely to result to change in practice once a needs assessment has been carried out as personal incentive tends to drive educational effort. Creation of a Needs Assessment Plan can be made for a number of reasons and therefore it is important that its objective or goal be defined, and determine the method of delivery (Brighouse & Woods 1999). It is believed that needs assessment in itself enhances educational effectiveness as well as the outcome but it is crucial that it be placed within the wider process of planned learning (Brown & Green 2011). Educators need to be aware of the fact that individual and group learning needs differ where one may fail to address important needs and interests of individual students. It is thus important to develop a balance when establishing a needs assessment. As aforementioned, the world is rapidly changing and this creates pressure on educational institutions to ensure acces sibility and equity where resources are lacking or are less. There is also an increased demand in the need for institutional autonomy in addition to tremendous and heightened transformations taking place in a turbulent external environment (Brighouse & Woods 1999). One importance of a Needs Assessment Plan in learning is to examine as well as evaluate discrepancies while facilitating the creation of priorities of responses to the needs (Brown & Green 2011). A needs assessment is an important instrument of educational planning, evaluation and implementation where decisions about priorities are made. It also reduces uncertainty with regards to the planning process. Irrespective of their differences, students are expected to

Vietnam and Singapore's Special Education Compared with that of the US Research Paper

Vietnam and Singapore's Special Education Compared with that of the US - Research Paper Example It is then noteworthy to look into the special education systems of these two countries and compare them with that of America’s. Regarding its history, Singapore’s SPED progressed irregularly. The major initiators were charitable organizations. As time passed, the government passed legislations and formed departments for proper facilitation. In 1947, Trafalgar Home was founded. It was for children with leprosy. In 1949, a center catering to crippled children was founded by the British Red Cross Society. By 1951, the same society also offered education for the deaf. After five years, a school was put up by the Association of the Blind. In 1957, there focus was given to those with cerebral palsy with the formation of Spastic Children’s Association. In 1962, the Singapore Association for Retarded Children (now known as Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore) was created. This association widened the horizon of special education by not only involving t hose with physical and sensory needs but those with intellectual disabilities as well (Tan, â€Å"Education in Singapore: Special Needs). Concerning its government, Singapore was colonized by Britain in 1819. However, during World War II, it was captured by the Japanese. In 1945, it was freed by British soldiers. In 1946, Singapore became a separate crown colony. On June 3, 1959, it was made a self-governing state in the Commonwealth of Nations. In 1963, it joined Malaya, North Borneo, and Sarawak to form Malaysia. After two years, Singapore separated from Malaysia and became a sovereign state as well as a member of the United Nations. In the same year (1965), it was proclaimed as a republic (â€Å"History of Singapore Colonization†). As for Vietnam, there are no distinct SPED- related organizations in its history. The education in Vietnam during feudal and colonial periods lacked stability leading to haphazard structures. Traditionally, it is a country built on Confucian-or iented education. However, it was replaced by French-Vietnamese education during its colonization at the end of 19th and first half of 20th centuries. This kind of education immobilized the rights of the Vietnamese since it was for the purposes of serving the colonizers. During their independence in 1945, their president, Ho Chi Minh advocated against illiteracy and formed an education system towards independence and rehabilitation. Within a year, there were 75,000 literacy classes and almost 96,000 teachers serving 2.5 million citizens. Since then the government maintained a public education. However, during the US air force attacks in 1965-1972, a number of schools were destroyed. Gradually, education was much influenced by North-American domination. In April 1975, Vietnam’s regions were reunited and they were able to achieve full independence. Several reforms were made concerning education. Included in the changes from 1986 to 2005 was the categorization of learning activi ties corresponding to students’ abilities. Specialized schools were established for gifted children (â€Å"Education in Vietnam: Development History, Challenges, Solutions† 2). The United States’ SPED history when it comes to its legislation is quite ample. These developments are also valuable since other countries are adapting these provisions. In the early 1900s, its education system offered compulsory education. However, many children with special needs were not welcome in numerous schools. Most of the rights of children

Effective communication skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Effective communication skills - Essay Example In verbal communication, people make use of tongue for the exchange of information whereas in nonverbal communication, people make use of eye contact, body language, gestures, and appearance to send nonverbal messages to other people. Nonverbal communication plays a vital role in making the entire process of communication successful and productive. Language plays an important role in making communication effective. It covers the rich complexities that a person faces during the process of communication. If a person wants to communicate in a language other than his/her own language, he/she first needs to know the meanings of different words used in that language. It not only adds meanings to the words but also enhances the ability of a person to use those meanings for constructing sentences. Along with language dependency, communication between any two persons also depends upon the nature of relationships that exist between them. For example, the nature of communication that takes place between a person and his family members is different from the communication that takes place between that person and his boss. Therefore, we can say that communication is influenced by the nature of relationships that exists between individuals. If we discuss the importance of effective communication within the context of accounting and finance, we can say that communication plays a considerable role in improving the concepts of an individual. I personally feel that my accounting concepts have improved due to the communication which used to take place between my professor, classmates, and me. All of us used to share our concerns with each other which helped us get a deep understanding of all issues related to accounting and finance. Emotional intelligence, on the other hand, is the ability of a person to assess emotions and feelings not only of himself/herself but also of other people. â€Å"Emotional intelligence refers to the effectiveness of an

Compare and contrast the ways that the physical,mental and societal Essay

Compare and contrast the ways that the physical,mental and societal horrors of war are presented in Birdsong and Journey's End - Essay Example In the book Journey’s End, there are quite a few references to the extraordinary numbers of individuals killed on the battlefield. Quotes such as â€Å"One thousand eight hundred companies in France† are used to give the reader an idea of the vast amount of casualties. In this, the idea of war is made real to the reader through the virtual body count. The reader is continuously reminded of how horrific this particular war was as most of the readers would not have experienced this set of circumstances for themselves. Journey’s End makes the massive death toll seem even more significant by introducing the fact that the Germans were in fact not so different from the allied forces, â€Å"I remember once at Wipers we had a man shot down†¦Next day we blew each other to blazes†. It would seem that no matter what happened, these two sides would inevitably and eventually still slaughter one another. Similarly in Birdsong, there is a great deal of description detailing the amount of casualties. This is comparable to Journey’s End, where it is explained that the losses from both sides of the war are extensive. This quantification of death allows the reader to identify with the difference between the once living and the no longer living. It is an important element of the text to identify with what is happening by recognizing the heaviness of death. An example of this is the death of Levi’s brother towards the end of the novel. Another example in comparison is the death of the men in Ypres in Journey’s End. It is explained in Birdsong that Levi and the rest of the German soldiers are examples of how similar the two sides are. On the inverse, it is an interesting contrast of one side from another, both being products of their leadership. The difference between these two sides can then be distinguished by their leaders, as they must follow the commands that they are given. Another similarity between Birdsong and Journey’s End is the inclusion of men