Strangers, babies (Theater Class) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Strangers, babies (Theater Class) - Essay Example The director’s intent is to highlight the difficulty that people experience when attempting to relate to loved ones, especially with knowledge of their past mistakes and potential weaknesses. The director playwright and director chose an appropriate time to highlight this relationship deficiency, given the fact that the contemporary society is largely characterized by family disconnect and widespread disintegration of the family unit. This play attempts to show that people, have an individual burden, which is the lack of ability to understand how they associate with others, but still be responsible for pieces of information about their life experiences. Discussion The first scene of Strangers, Babies, begins with May steadily looking at the corner of the square shaped stage. The conversation, between May and her husband Dan, suggests that the direction to which she is staring is the couple’s apartment balcony. There is an injured bird and May seems concerned and willing to help it, as shown when she states that things can stay alive although they are injured. The presence of birds in the perceived balcony is indicated by high-pitched chirping sounds, which can be heard throughout this first scene. However, it is peculiar that although May is adamant about helping the bird, she is still reluctant to get involved. This serves to show that the protagonist is obsessive but distant at the same time. Dan looks at the balcony and occasionally at May in a knowing yet patronizing manner. He attempts to convince his wife that even though putting up a bird feeder on the balcony would be a caring gesture, it attracts more birds and there is a likelihood of getting additional injured birds. His patronizing attitude becomes evident when he uses a sarcastic tone to state that turning the balcony into a sanctuary for birds, would prevent him from engaging in his usual Sunday daydreaming involving newspaper reading and coffee drinking. It is obvious that there is affection between the two, but there is also an unsettling sensation. This is evident from May’s nearly desperate fixation on the injured bird and her apparent agitation as she slightly bangs her mug on the table, while her husband observes in a grave and sober manner. This scene provides a typical example of the atmosphere prevalent throughout the play, which constitutes disguised violence, careless attitude and ordinary daily life. From the play’s outset, the stage set-up evokes a feeling of disconnection. The stage is an ordinary square platform, which has a dividing space in between and high walls on either side. The director adds a dramatic effect to the play by concluding every scene with an abrupt and loud clang. This is followed by the rising of the back wall, in order to show the four other characters, who execute the subsequent scene change in a somber manner. Even though they are not explicitly mentioned, disturbing events in the protagonist’s past su ggest the possibility that, May’s current life is a sign of their impact. For instance, her monologue and distant look in the first scene makes one think that she is in deep thought about being injured in the past. The events in the play, just like the injured birds banging against the glass balcony door, constantly bang against May’s invisible past. These past events appear to increase the incapability of men

Assignment Analytical paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Assignment Analytical paper - Essay Example World famous actors and high-paid physicians are not the only ones however who need to be aware of the important issues surrounding the standard of care and the general standard in practice. Nurses must understand the principles of professional nursing practice and ethical and legal implications of the work that they do. Seeking to provide a thorough and comprehensive overview of the implications of not following institutional policy and practice standards, this research paper will identify the principles of professional nursing practice and explain the ramifications of failing to follow this practice by looking at Nurses and Midwives Act 2006 of Western Australia and the Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia (BBC, 2009). Nurses play an important, yet often neglected role, in sustaining the care of patients. Accordingly, nurses must maintain a high ethical standard in their practice. According to the Nurses and Midwives Act 2006 of Western Australia, there are many penalties for unethical behavior and for not following established protocol and policy standards in the delivery of care. Accordingly, there are financial penalties associated with the contravention of standard nursing practice. Being a registered nurse is a privilege and a status which is achieved after the successful completion of courses, testing and years of hard work. When one practices as a nurse or midwife without the proper certification, the Nurses and Midwives Act 2006 prescribes penalties for such unethical behavior. Thus, someone who practices nursing or midwifery and is not registered to do so faces penalties applicable to section 85(1), (2), (3). Pecuniary in nature, the first offence is penalized at $5,000 with a daily penal ty of $200. Accordingly, for the second and all subsequent offences, they are penalized at $10,000 with a daily penalty of $400. These are significant sums of money which should act as a real deterrent to those without the proper

The Un Global Compact Politics Essay

The Un Global Compact Politics Essay The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) is a worldwide initiative started by the United Nations in order to encourage businesses to take up more sustainable and socially responsible policies, and to also report their implementation. It consists of ten guiding principles pertaining to the areas of human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption. It is the worlds largest corporate citizenship initiative with over 7700 members in 130 countries. UNGC is a unique platform that gives a strategic edge to its participants to advance their corporate commitments to the sustainability. UNGC is endorsed directly by the CEOs. It has been structured as a public-private initiative. The UNGC is a policy framework to advance the development as well as implementation, and also the disclosure of sustainability principles and practices. It offers its participants an array of specialized work streams, management tools and resources, and special programs and projects which have been designed to advance sustainable business models and markets in order build a more sustainable global economy.UNGC has two main objectives: First; Mainstream the ten principles in business activities around the world and Second; Catalyze actions in support of broader UN goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals. TheUN Secretary-General at that time Mr. Kofi Annan in an address to The World Economic Forum announced the UNGC on January 31, 1999. Itwas officially launched at UN Headquarters in New York on July 26, 2000. The first two principles pertain to human rights. The next 4 principles deal with labor standards businesses should follow. The next 3 deals with environment protection and the last one advocated anti-corruption. The Global Compact is a voluntary initiative and a company that wants to subscribe to the Principles has to make a clear statement of support and has to include references in its annual report or in any other publically available documents detailing the progress it has made in adhering to the Principles. The company also needs to submit a brief description of this report to the Global Compact website. If the company fails to submit this description within two years of signing to be a part ofthe Compact (and after that every two years), the company will be removed from the list of participants. The participants to UNGC intend to lead through good example and setting a high moral tone. The main purpose of the Global Compact is to focus on the moral purpose of business. Kofi Annan summarizes it well in a quote: Let us choose to unite the power of markets with the authority of universal ideals. Let us choose to reconcile the creative forces of private entrepreneurship with the needs of the disadvantaged and the requirements of future generations. Then ten principles are as follows: Human Rights Principle 1:Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights within their sphere of influence; and Principle 2: Make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses. Labor Principle 3:Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; Principle 4: The elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labor; Principle 5: The effective abolition of child labor; and Principle 6: The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. Environment Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges; Principle 8: Undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility, and Principle 9: Encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies. Corruption Principle 10:Business should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery. Is the Global Compact a Product of Occidental Liberalism? International regimes are defined as social institutions around which actor expectations converge in a given area of international relations. Being true for any social institution, the participants discretion to act on issues that fall within the realm of the institution is by themselves limited by the international regime. The occidental international economic order that emerged post the Second World War was a highly advantageous combination of factors that led to long and sustained economic growth. The economic power was distributed worldwide in such a manner that it favored an open approach to organizing international economic relations. Worldwide there existed an ideological consensus regarding the role state should play to ensure domestic employment, price stability and social security. The body of economic analysis and policy prescriptions at that time prescribed the governments to act in this manner. Most of the major corporations were national in scope and the international e conomic relations more or less comprised of transactions amongst separate and distinct national economies. The Bretton Woods institutions, the GATT and the United Nations were the few international organizations that had been put in place to express and support the post WWII compromise of embedded liberalism. Major changes have taken place in the last half-century that has undermined the effectiveness of this set of understandings and arrangements. However, Globalization is the single greatest factor that has brought about these changes. Globalization has led to a complete disconnection between the world of production and the world of finance leading to an overall change in the system of institutional relationships. This has led to two disequilibria in the worlds political economy. The first disequilibrium exists between the economic sphere, and the broader frameworks of shared values and practices of which the economic sphere is a part. The second disequilibrium exists within the international governance structures. The major capitalist countries can withstand even the worst effects of this imbalance since they have the domestic and the institutional capacity to protect themselves but the rest of the developing world is extremely vulnerable, and this vulnerability has been further exacerbated by the neo-liberal orthodoxies of the so-called Washington consensus. Therefore, the international community has to devise the kind of institutional equilibrium that used to exist in the post WWII international economic order. The international community has to focus here on the long-term interaction between two key actors in the global economy, the multinational corporations (MNCs) and multinational Non-Government Organizations (NGOs). The key players of civil society have started to increasingly target MNCs and the international trading system as leverage to pursue social and environmental concerns. This dynamic interplay between the two creates a potential for to bridge the disequilibrium between economic globalization and the international governance structures. The United Nations Global Compact is one such initiative that challenges the international business community to help the UN in implementing the social values of human rights, environment and labor. John Gerard Ruggie who is the Kirkpatrick Professor of International Affairs at the Harvard Universitys Kennedy School of Government says that the basic problem is that MNCs, acting as non-territorial spaces and management, have given rise to global governance gaps and governance failures. Ruggie is well known in academic circles for coining the term embedded liberalism, that he uses to describe the post-WWII coupling of multilateralism with the aim to achieve domestic stability; and for having emphasized the roles that ideas play in world politics. He has explored the emergence of such gaps in governance in several of his works (e.g., Ruggie, 1998b, 2003, 2004). Ruggie helped UN Secretary- General Kofi Anan in designing and establishing the UN Global Compact, as the Assistant Secretary-general and Chief Adviser for strategic planning to Kofi Annan. Without speculating on the importance of Ruggies role in the creation of the compact, the speech Kofi Annan used to launch the Global Compact at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 1999, strongly suggests that John Ruggies influence was substantial. It appears that Kofi Annans suggestion that: Globalization is a fact of life. But I believe we have underestimated its fragility. The problem is this. The spread of markets outpaces the ability of societies and their political systems to adjust to them, let alone to guide the course they take. History teaches us that such an imbalance between the economic, social and political realms can never be sustained for very long. Seems to have been directly informed by Ruggies work on embedded liberalism (e.g. 1982, 1998b) According to Ruggie (2003), theà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¨ten principles of the UNGC are drawn from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, theà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¨ILOs Fundamental Principles on Rights at Work and theà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¨Rio Principles on Environment and Development. The UNGC is based on beliefs that have been universally recognized byà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¨governments, thus spelling out the goals of the whole international community. The UNGC partners with members of the corporate world and the civil society to reduce the gap betweenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¨dreams and reality It aims to become an agency for the promotion of social customs. Thus, UNGC is another measure to the growing number of responses to globalizationsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¨challenges that also partner with the private sector. The Challenge The UNGC is based on an ideology of the benefits of open markets. Various high-ranking UN officials describe the UN Global Compact as the only remotely viable means of hauling billions of people out of utter poverty. The term open markets sounds nice, but in the real world they translate into the skewed rules created by the WTO that benefit the developed nations at the expense of developing countries, poor farmers, consumers and the environment. It is apparent that most of the UN officials along with the corporate and government officials believe that globalization is principally beneficial and all it needs is just a bit of tinkering here and there. An editorial in the Washington Post on the UN Global Compact read that globalization only needs a softener to dull its sharp edges and increase the allocation of its benefits. In his speech to corporate leaders in 1999 at Davos, Switzerland, the Secretary General of UN Mr. Kofi Annan warned of a threatening backlash against globalization, he advocated that recognition of human and labor rights, and environmental principles are absolutely essential to avoid any threats to the open global market, and especially the multilateral trading regime. Mr. Annan by proclaiming that globalization must be protected by putting a more human face on it, and by declaring that social values need to be advanced as part and parcel of the globalization process, has clearly taken sides with the corporate agenda at a time when this agenda itself is increasingly under scrutiny. In order to keep it simple and attractive for companies, the ten principles of the UNDC are basically one-liners. They are just an example of the minimalist code of corporate conduct. The ten principles do not provide adequate guidance to corporations about the conduct that is expected from them and their responsibilities. Most of the UN Global Compacts ten principles cannot be defined with the precision that is required for creating a practical code of conduct. The ambiguity of the ten principles is in essence counter-productive from the perspective of both the sincere as well as the insincere corporate citizens. The language with which the principles are defined is so general that insincere corporations can easily side step or conform to the principles without doing anything to promote human rights or labor standards. The Secretary General of UN along with various agency heads have displayed very poor judgment by letting numerous known and proven human rights, labor rights and environmental violators to sign up with the UNGC. Specific partners of the Compact include companies like Shell (Oil major), Nike (Human rights violator), Rio Tinto, BP (Oil Major), Novartis, Aracruz, Daimler Chrysler, BASF, Bayer and DuPont (environment troubles). In a few of these cases, the choices are blatantly violating UNs own guidelines that read, Companies which violate human rights are not eligible for partnership.Many other companies are part of the compact that are not accused explicitly of such clear violations, but they are giants of industries like oil and petroleum, genetical engineering and heavy chemicals. People broadly oppose the impact of these companies on the community, the workers and the environment. Additionally, the International Chamber of Commerce, which mostly represents big businesses, has been a major force for the corporate side of the UN Global Compact. The International Chamber of Commerce more than often lobbies for diminishing the impact of international agreements that governs their members behavior-accords that are often brokered by the UN. One often sees Public-private partnerships being used for specific projects with definite goals. The UNs is however is using this term much more generally. One would normally assume that a partnership is created only when all the partners have the same goals. Its tough to understand why UN is partnering with corporations that have completely different goals. Modern corporations acknowledge that there are various other stakeholders than their shareholders, but in concrete terms they are only accountable to their shareholders, on the other hand the UN is based on a promise to promote ethical principles and is accountable to the people. Sometimes the UN and corporate agenda concur; but most of the times they are at odds. The Director of UNICEF Carol Bellamy once said that it was dangerous to assume that the goals of the private sector were somehow synonymous with those of the UN, because they most emphatically were not. It is quite obvious to everyone that its not possible to forge a partnership with an institution whose interests are antithetical to yours own. It is not possible for the UN to simultaneously regulate as well as partner with the same corporations. Its not that The UN can avoid all interactions with corporations; it has to interact with then when it needs to buy goods and services or to hold the corporations accountable, but UN should take care not to partner with them except when the organizations share its goals. Every company wants to project certain values and a certain image. Disney wants to represent wholesome family entertainment. McDonalds advertises itself as fast, friendly food. Nike is associated with the joy of sports and Shell, Chevron and BP and other oil companies promote their own commitment to environmental stewardship. But, to many people, Nike also means sweatshops in poor Asian countries, McDonalds often signifies unhealthy junk food that causes obesity and, Disney means sweatshops and promotion of stereotypes, Shell is linked with various human rights violations and environment destruction, and the whole oil industry is notorious for global warming, greed and abuse of its power. When Kofi Annan joins the CEOs of such companies on the main stage, or whenever a UN agency partners with such corporations in a joint venture, the message that is sent out to the public is very disturbing. As it is described in the UNDP guidelines, whenever a UN agency is engaged in a public relations activity within the framework of a corporate relationship, a mutual image transfer inevitably takes place. The image transfer that takes place tarnishes the pure UNs image, and gives the chance to big corporations to bluewash their bad image by associating themselves with the UN. When pharmaceutical majors like Novartis and Aventis are seen by the public as a part of the UN Global Compact, the public gets an impression that the UN has officially endorsed their products despite the enormous controversy surrounding these companies. The UN represents values such as world peace, security, human rights, environment consciousness and global well being. These values should remain distinct from the commercial values of companies. Once the image of UN is tarnished with corporate logos, the compromising of its noble values may follow. The most crucial aspect relating to the Global Compact is accountability. The reluctance of U.S. based companies to enlist with the Global Compact focuses on the issue of accountability. In todays environment of increasing skepticism about the true motives of the corporations, the legitimacy of the UN Global compact comes into question if it operates without a traditional accountability structure. The Global Compact does not have a monitoring or an enforcement mechanism. This means that the companies that enlist with the Compact get a chance to declare their commitment to UN principles without making any promise to follow up on them. The corporate partners of the UNGC have made it explicit that such a lax arrangement is precondition for their participation. Maria Livianos Cattui, the secretary-general of the ICC recently said that businesses would not agree to any suggestion that involves external assessment of their performance, whether it is by any special interest groups or by any UN agencies. The Global Compact is not a qualification the corporations have to meet; it is merely a joint commitment to shared social values. It is imperative that the Global Compact does not become a tool by which the governments burden business with prescriptive regulations. The critics on the Global Compact fall into two major categories and both need to be addressed. Most scholars researching on codes of conduct regard the Global Compact as just another code of conduct without any accountability, its merely a public relations document. The question that arises is that how can the public know that a business that claims to be following the principles prescribed under the Global Compact is actually doing so? These scholars argue that an independent monitoring group that translates general principles into operating standards with quantifiable and objective measures is the only way to insure that the companies are held accountable. A much more fundamental criticism arises from the Non Governmental Organizations and other organizations that are critical of economic globalization. Their view is that the Global Compact is a cover-up story that provides legitimacy to an idea, which has yet to prove itself. They argue for the creation of a mandatory legal framework that guarantees that the companies are held accountable even to the least advantaged in the global economy. Another difficulty with the accountability issue is the ambiguous nature of the Global Compacts principles on human rights. Is it possible to reach a consensus that genuinely captures the expectations of society? Most of the companies are in broad agreement with the Global Compacts principles relating to human rights, but there is a fear amongst them that enlisting with the Compact would create societal expectations that these companies are obligated to correct human rights abuses. Where and how can a line be drawn on the responsibilities of companies in the area of human rights? Few MNCs have come to understand that it is imperative for them to become proactive and live up to the expectations of society in a global economy, but these companies also understand that these expectations in the area of human rights are often unclear. In the litigious business environment of the United States, companies display reluctance in signing the Compact without having a clear idea of what their re sponsibilities are and what is their accountability. The Global Compact is not a state focused corporate citizenship program, but in spite of that nations are amongst the key stakeholders from which the Global Compact requires support. Blackett suggests that it might be necessary to highlight the role of governments in successfully implementing the Compact principles. But till now the UN has failed to work out a proper role of governments in ensuring that the participant of the Compact live up to their commitments. On the contrary, the Shanghai Declaration has suggested that businesses could use UNGC to set demands and exert undue influence over governments. If this go too far and the businesses start dictating the business of the Global Compact Office and international law generally, then even this partnership might face a crisis of legitimacy among states and other stakeholders.

Internet Radio Essay -- Expository Technology Essays

Internet Radio When a new technology is pioneered or discovered it is often the case that this new technology is used to emulate the function of old technologies, for example, when Marconi was inventing the radio he was trying to emulate the function of the telegraph system and saw the defracation of radio waves as an obstacle. Eventually these new technologies mature and the advantages and disadvantages are weighed up and used in their most effective capacity. Internet radio is a prime example of this kind of technology convergence, which uses the world wide web, â€Å"the publicly available worldwide system of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching over the internet protocol (IP)†¦..made up of thousands of other, smaller business, academic, and government networks†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (WWW.WORDIQ.COM 2004) to transmit live, streaming audio information from all over the world. Whilst this media cross over is still in its relative infancy, current developments show t hat internet radio has the potential to make local broadcast radio almost obsolete. Arguably, the first regular internet radio ‘broadcast’ started in 1993 when Carl Malamud established Internet Talk Radio featuring a regular Geek of the Week interview segment. (Naughton, John 2004) This was radio by name only, in reality the radio show had to be down loaded in full as a sound file before it could be listened to, the technology had not progressed far enough to listen to the interviews ‘live’. The other down side to this system was that the files were exceptionally large and took a long time to down load. This all changed in 1994 (Naughton, John. 2004) when a company called ProgressiveNetworks created audio streaming technology in which a file could be p... ...ssed 11 September, 2004] Naughton, J. (July 21, 2002), "The Golden Age of Internet Radio", (The Guardian), Available: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,759023,00.html(Accessed: 2004, September11). Naraine, Ryan (July 26, 2002) â€Å"Web Radio Law Changes Introduced† (www.internetnews.com) available at http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/1433921 [accessed 11 September, 2004] Reed, Fred (August 5, 2004), " Internet Radio - Redefining through Personalization ", (Knight Ridder Tribune Buisness News), Available: http://www.digitalhollywood.com/SanJoseWedSix.html [Accessed 11 September 2004]. Sawhney, Harmeet and Lee, Seungwhan (October 2000), â€Å"Areas of Innovation, Fringe Groups and Discovery of New Liberties of Action†, (www.slis.indiana.edu), [Available] http://www.slis.indiana.edu/CSI/WP/wp00-03B.html (Accessed September 11, 2004)

Lamb to the Slaughter Essay

Mary Maloney proves to be an interesting character in this story. She fits well with the dramatic irony, tone, symbolism, and the overall theme of the story because of the brilliant characterization done on her character. Dahl, at the beginning of the story, sets up the premise that the reader should solely empathize with her character. Continuously, he keeps building the pretense that she is a sweet, innocent lamb (which is a major motif); only capable of following the followers (previously mentioned under symbols). As the story progresses, the reader realizes that she is basically being slaughtered by her butcher of a husband. There are three parts to this slaughter. One is the emotional slaughter that her husband undertakes, which starts to slowly alter her character. The second part is the aftermath of the more physical part of the slaughter where Mary Maloney actually kills her husband with a leg of lamb. The results of this also ‘slaughter’ her ‘lamb-like’ character even more, and that is the third and final part of this massacre. Instead of being a naà ¯ve, innocent slave to her husband, she is now a malicious, demented (evident in the latter part of the story where she giggles due to the fact that she got away with murder), and a free woman; a woman with no slight implication that she was ever under her husband’s power. Dahl makes sure to use tone to describe just how much her husband controlled her, and how uplifted she was when he was gone. Using dramatic irony, he highlighted the one end of Maloney’s mental spectrum. Overall, Dahl compacted many literary elements in such a short story, yet he composed it into such a way that everything is delicately related upon each other. Without the tone, one wouldn’t get such a powerful impact from the irony. Mary’s characterization would have seemed less severe, and the idea of slaughter would be interpreted differently. Dahl uses this story to describe the extreme result of a common theme. Our main concern was to question if this was a worthy piece of literature that could convey a theme or a moral decision that could impact anyone. With the evidence previously mentioned, this piece was worthy of the Dahl name, and that the elements in this story hanged together in a delicate balance. Without one element, his message would not have been conveyed as strongly as it was. Round Mary goes from slaving over her husband’s every move, to killing him! Expanding more on that, she goes from being a lamb, one who follows, to being the butcher, the one who rules. She finally takes control of her life, as if she has been resurrected from the depths of her despair, ironically, after her husband’s death. She goes from being weak to actually being in charge of her life and what she does. The point of a dynamic character is not to just change morally/physically, but to become more complex. Obviously, as this story continued, Mrs. Maloney is a prime example of a complex character. Her name (Mary Maloney), that she has a husband (Patrick Maloney- a police officer), how long she has been pregnant (six months), inferences on her home (rather comely, with a pleasant aura; classic feel of a late 20th century house), her status (housewife), and a description of her looks (translucent skin, large, dark, placid eyes), daily habits and personality (before and after h er ‘realization’). *All occur during the exposition (paragraphs 1-33) Symbolism: The club of lamb: The lamb in the story is the wife. She does everything for the husband. She gets his slippers, makes him dinner, and slaves over him. And to thank her for all her work, he gives her a divorce. Basically, the reader can obviously see she is the weakest one here. She has no say in it–he has his mind set. Her labors and efforts†¦her life is being torn apart by this guy. He wants it to be a hush-hush affair, for the sake of his job. And she’s just the wife to do it. His career will be intact, while hers (the loving housewife) will not be. She is a weak, pathetic lamb, and she is being slaughtered. Then, she just couldn’t take it anymore. She fought back, and that resulted in murdering her husband. When killing occurs in a story, it’s usually significant for some reason. It shows someone overcoming some obstacle. Here, the ‘lamb’ of a wife overcomes her ‘butcher’ of a husband (the fact that he is a pol ice officer screams control freak) by killing him. And with it, she kills her status as a lamb. The lamb [status] has been slaughtered, and a free woman is left. Due to the fact that her husband is leaving her for someone else, while she is pregnant, her innocent, worthless, and helpless self is exaggerated. Though, after the murdering of her husband, this ‘lamb’ status is slowly crumbling away to reveal a more strong, take initiative type person. The slaughter: This occurs when the police arrive and eat the lamb. That is the slaughter; it is the destruction of the leg of lamb. It, the leg of lamb, was the symbol of her meek status, for it was the only reminder of what she had done and what she was like back ‘then’. Once that lamb is gone, so is all evidence that she was ever under her husband’s power. Irony: There are two major examples of irony in this story. 1. Dramatic Irony: Where Mrs. Maloney feeds the police officers that were investigating her husband’s death, and were friends with the late officer, the club of lamb that she used to kill Patrick Maloney. One officer saying that the murder weapon could have been, â€Å"Probably right under our very noses?† (Paragraph 131). 2. Situational Irony: The title of the story is itself, a large pun! A lamb to the slaughter usually refers to someone who is unaware they are about to be harmed. This is from the idea that lambs are easily led to their slaughter since they trust the one leading them, and they are unaware of what is to become of them. In this story, the husband, Patrick Maloney, is killed like a lamb. He totally trusts his wife, Mary, and is completely unaware of his impending doom. However, the title is also ironic because it is actually a frozen leg of lamb that is used to slaughter the hapless victim. Tone: Ironic- the lamb that was supposed to be served as supper to nourish Patrick was, in the end, the weapon used to kill him. And the said club of lamb was given to the cops to eat at dinner. Tragic- That a couple, who is expecting their first child, end up hurting each other. Patrick wants to destroy his wife mentally, while his wife destroys him physically. Comical- At the end, the sergeants who were supposed to capture the murderer, unknowingly cooperated with our murderer to destroy the evidence by eating up the murder weapon. Tone played an essential part for the smooth transition from Mary’s innocence to a charming psychopath. To fit with the desperation of her upcoming divorce, Dahl dwells into the habitual life of Mrs. Maloney and every chronic detail of that period of time. He goes into describing every agonizing second of her life, and elongates those seconds into years when her perfect ritualistic life suffers a small change that snowballs into something catastrophic. The minute she kills her husband, the story seems to be more uplifting. As if the reader is no longer suffocated by simple, yet overbearing aspects of the couple’s life. Towards the end of the story, one could even take the tone as somewhat humorous. The childish giggle let out at the end not only emphasized what she had done and serve as a way to ease tension. Theme: The universal theme is that you should not underestimate the power that the weak may hold. In this story, there was a clear indication how much power Mary held within the relationship between her and her husband. My interpretation was that even though the weak may seem powerless, they can be stronger than those in control when they claim their power. â€Å"She might just as well have hit him with a steel club.†(Paragraph 42) She swung the leg of lamb so hard; it had the strength of a steel club. Women are typically, small and not as strong as men, so being able to strike a man in the head with the force of a â€Å"steel club† is astonishing. â€Å"She stepped back a pace, waiting, and the funny thing was that he remained standing there for at least four or five seconds, gently swaying. Then he crashed to the carpet.† (Paragraph 44) Crashed to the floor, that’s how much power she had, when driven by a strong anger. By power came intelligence, as soon as Mary realized she had killed her husband, she was able to devise a plan in order to ultimately get away with murder. Don’t underestimate the weak, because sooner or later, they’ll rise to become powerful. In this case, the consequence of such thinking resulted into murder. The control Patrick had on his wife became just an illusion after we saw the capability of Mary. View as multi-pages

Diaoyu Island Dispute

Japanese call the island group near as Senkaku Islands whereas Chinese call these islands as Diaoyu Islands. For many years, the two countries have been arguing who the sovereignty of the islands is, but so far, they do not have any conclusion who should possess the islands. This year, at April, the governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara organizes a event to refund in order to buy the Diaoyu Islands of japan. Later on the government take over the event, they try to nationalize the Islands.The above action course some Hongkongers went to the islands and wanted to tell the world that Diaoyu Island belongs to China. After the incident, many Chinese, including those who live in China and Taiwan, came out and had mass demonstration. Due to this unexpected event, this sensitive topic becomes the major discussion between the government of Chinese and Japan. When we want to discuss this issue, we should insight into the history of the islands. Diaoyu island was first recorded on the Chinese bo ok: Voyage with a Tail Wind. Since then, the Ming and Qing Dynasty were controlling the islands until 1895.After the First Sino-Japanese War, according to the ‘Treaty of Shimonoseki’ in 1895, the Taiwan islands and its islands group were ceded to Japan, but the treaty didn’t include Diaoyu Islands. However, Diaoyu islands were still being controlled by the Imperial Japan and became a part of Ryukyu Islands. After WWII, according to the ‘Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers Instruction Note, No. 677’: ‘For the purpose of this directive, Japan is defined to include the four main islands of Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku) and the approximately 1,000 smaller adjacent islands’.The territories of Japan will only be the 4 main islands and 1,000 small islands, which were not included Diaoyu Island. However, after the WWII both the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China did not specify Diaoyu islands as a part of the Chinese territory. In 1972, when the Unites States handover Ryukyu Islands came back to Japan, they also handovered the administrative jurisdiction of Diaoyu Island to the Japan government. Owing to the above historical background, both countries, China and Japan, believe in their own version about the sovereignty of the islands and refuse the other’s version.To understand political as power in the Diaoyu islands dispute, Countries that involved: Chinese, Japan and Unites States has demonstrated different faces of power. In the face of ‘Power as decision-making’: This face of power consists of conscious actions that in some way influence the content of decisions. , use Chinese as an example, when every time japan wants to do anything related to the sovereign of Diaoyu Island, like setting up a lighthouse, sending some scientist to Islands, or even recently, nationalize the islands, Chinese government will use there power to affect the Japanese government. Look the action that takes in this time, Chinese tightening customs inspections from Japan as a kind of economic sanctions towards japan. And also many of Chinese traveler cancelled their trip to Japan, will give a big hit to the Japan tourism. With these actions, the Chinese government showed their power to influence the content of decisions. The other face of power is ‘Power as agenda setting’, the ability to set to set or controls the political agenda. Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the Unites States and Japan’ make sure that if some countries have conflict or at war with Japan, the Unites States will help to protect the Japan. So it makes that the Chinese can’t have a very strong action to fight for the Diaoyu islands. The protection promised by the Unites States to the Japanese, actually set up a line that stop Chinese government to take a further action on fighting back there right. What makes the Chinese or the Japanese believe in their own version about the sovereignty of the islands in dispute and reject that of the Japanese or the Chinese?As the sociologist Max Weber defined that, sovereignty is a community's monopoly on the legitimate use of force. From the Chinese’s viewpoint, Chinese always restate that Diaoyu islands belong to China since the ancient time. They believe their own version because since 1403, the book Voyage with a Tail Wind, and the book: Record of the Imperial Envoy's Visit to Ryukyu in 1534 is the very first record of the islands. Since then, the Chinese Imperial Map of Ming identified Island group name as Diaoyu, which mean fishing is Chinese and these advance prove that Diaoyu islands should be a part of China.Also as even it is not a part of ceded lands of Treaty of Shimonoseki but according to Potsdam Declaration japan should give up the control of all islands except for â€Å"the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine†. T he Chinese government believes that Japan is now illegally to control the island, so Diaoyu Islands should be handovered back to China. On the other hand, In the Japanese point of view, although Diaoyu islands were found by Chinese, the islands were not effectively governed by the Chinese government.Also after the sign of ‘Treaty of Shimonoseki' in 1895, even though the control of Diaoyu islands wasn’t covered in the treaty, the Japanese has already effectively governed the islands. Moreover, after WWII, according to the ‘Treaty of Peace with Japan’, The Unites States temporarily take the control of the Ryukyu Islands. As Diaoyu islands are a part of the Ryukyu Islands, when Unites States handovered Ryukyu Islands to japan, Chinese government didn’t disagree, so Diaoyu Islands should be remain as a part of Japanese.However, the reason I think that why Japanese/Chinese reject others version, is mainly because the Diaoyu islands problem is not just sim ply the sovereign of a land. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Exclusive economic zones (EEZs) extend from the edge of the territorial sea out to 200 nautical miles from the baseline. Within this area, the coastal nation has sole exploitation rights over all natural resources. Base on this law, if Diaoyu islands are really a part of japan, the EEZ of Japan will be very close to the coast of Taiwan and Mainland.This will definitely affect the economic interest of China. Furthermore, in 1969, the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) identified a huge among of potential oil and gas reserves in the vicinity of the Diaoyu Islands. If who control there, that country will have the long-term energy source. As Japan itself doesn’t have enough resources for it own use, that huge amount of resources should be very attractive to Japan. So the dispute is not just the sovereign or nationalism. I believe the dispute will be res olved politically instead of militarily.First, if Japan and Chinese use there military power to resolved the dispute, the economic and both county will be damaged. War is an event that consumes a lot of recourses, money, fuel, food etc. A country has to put itself to prepare the war; as a result the country will put lack affect on other area of event. The economic of Japan was in a downturn of many years; a war for Japan may give them a big hit which they can’t handle. As the effect of globalization, on the other hand, if Japan economic collapse, the Chinese economic will also be damage.On the other hand, although ECAFE identified a huge among of potential oil and gas reserves in the vicinity of the Diaoyu Islands, military action, or war take a lot of resources. Even we know that there may be so much potential oil and gas under Diaoyu islands, but it may actually not deserve to put money on the unknowable resources. In the side of global relation, Chinese will not indicate a war to Japan, as the Unites States will involve in the war. In 1960, Japan signed ‘Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the Unites States and Japan’ with Unites States.The treaty stated that: Either side get military attack on the territory of Japan controls will be deemed to endanger the safety of the other. In the dispute of Diaoyu Islands the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs restated that Diaoyu Islands were under the Japan’s effective control, the treaty will protect it. It means that, if the PLA attack or occupied the islands, according to the treaty, Unites States have it right to send there troops and participate the war. Chinese government may not have power to fight the country with strongest military power.As the result, Chinese also will resolve the problem militarily. In this dispute, we can see the nationalism demonstrated in both countries. On China, after those Hongkongers landed on the Diaoyu Islands, a nd captured by the Japan Coast Guard. Many different cities in China started to many demonstrate to oppose Japanese’s action. How every these huge demonstrate soon became Irrational violence, people damage cars that made from japan, rob restaurants or stores that related to Japanese, even it was owned by Chinese. Some of these thugs even tried to damage or even enter the Embassy of Japan.Also I this time of demonstrate, the slogans that used were no longer just about ‘Not to buy’, but something’s like: ‘War with Japan! ’ ‘Step in to Tokyo! ’ But the strangest thing is that, these slogans were seen at different cities, but not one. All these were like planned to happen. The above cases can be seen as some kind of expansionist nationalism, as these actions tend to project another nation/race as an enemy. On Japan, after the landing of Hongkongers, 50 members of the Japanese Right-wing politics group included 8 member of National Die landed Diaoyu Island again to restates the Japan sovereign of there.On the other hand, these Japanese Right-wing politics group also organize a demonstrate to oppose Chinese’s action, similar to the one in China, they all clam that the Islands are their land, and they are not welcome the Chinese. Also on both countries’ Internet forum, we can see a lot of post or comments about the dispute. Many of those incite the hatred between two races, this also one of example that we can see the expansionist nationalism. Reference: Xiang, D. (1961). Liang zhong hai dao zhen jing. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju. Pp. 253 SCAPIN677 – Wikisource, the free online library. (2012, April 2).Retrieved November 25, 2012, from http://en. wikisource. org/wiki/SCAPIN677 Heywood, A. (2007). Politics. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Pp. 11 China tightening customs inspections from Japan. (2012, September 21). Retrieved November 26, 2012, form http://www. channelnewsasia. com/stories/afp_asia pacific_business/view/1227266/1/. html Islands dispute with China may hurt Japanese tourism recovery. (2012, September 16). Retrieved November 26, 2012, form http://www. eturbonews. com/31190/islands-dispute-china-may-hurt-japanese-tourism-recovery â€Å" † ( ). (2012, September 25). Retrieved November 25, 2012, from http://news. inhuanet. com/2012-09/25/c_113202698. htm UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA . (2012). Retrieved November 26, 2012, from http://www. un. org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/closindx. htm . (2012, September 21). Retrieved November 25, 2012, from https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=FtwgBDLx8Vg . (2012, Augest 19). Retrieved November 25, 2012, from http://www. bbc. co. uk/zhongwen/trad/world/2012/08/120819_japan_diaoyu_landing. shtml ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Xiang, D. (1961). 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