How does Mary Shelley use Gothic elements to explore deeper issues in Chapter Five? Essay

The Gothic Horror novel is a literary genre which began to flourish in Britain during the 18th century. It is a type of novel that deals with events that generally question the boundaries that separate the socially acceptable from the unacceptable, often exploring the themes of good and evil along the way. Prominent features of this genre are typically desolate or remote settings, with violent, mysterious and macabre incidents taking place. The use of such devices usually leads to an observing of the margins between what is human, and what is monstrous, supernatural and inhumane. This allows the genre to delve into subjects that are frequently regarded as taboo. Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ is a classic example of a Gothic Horror novel; it uses almost all of the above conventions, and resultantly explores one of the fiercest debates of morality: cloning, which, during the era in which Frankenstein was written, would have been a prohibited issue. Chapter Five uses many Gothic elements in order to depict the intensity of the issue that it explores; it is the chapter in which Victor Frankenstein brings his Creation to life, and consequently is the chapter that brings about the eventual destruction of Frankenstein. From the opening paragraph of this chapter, we get a sense of the gloominess that is manifest throughout: firstly, Shelley sets the scene in a typically eerie environment; it is on a ‘dreary night [at] one in the morning’ that the event occurs, as the ‘rain patters dismally against the panes. ‘ The isolation of the environment- the fact that Victor is alone in a foreign country, in the dead of night- is an alien situation, and is unsettling for the reader. It also highlights Victor’s seclusion; he is alone in the world. Frankenstein and his Creation are the only two living creatures in the first section of this chapter, in which the being is created. Later on in the book, we see that Frankenstein must battle against the being he has created in order to save humanity. The fact that he and his Creation are alone in the room, in isolated surroundings pre-empts the idea that there will be a war between Frankenstein and his Creation, and the fact that the struggle will leave Victor even more isolated than he is now. Also, the pathetic fallacy of such weather and times foreshadows the dark events that are to follow. The fact that he works by a ‘half-extinguished light’ also creates a sense of foreboding: it shows that any bright or happy times that Victor had previously experienced are going to be over soon, smothered out by the Creation. Notice how the usual gothic convention of a violent thunderstorm has instead been replaced by rain pattering ‘dismally. ‘ The weather is also described as ‘dreary’: the use of such adjectives creates a monotonous and also rather melancholy atmosphere. This depressed environment pre-empts the disappointing result of the ‘experiment:’ the miserable surroundings prepare the reader for the equally dismal disillusionment of the ‘birth’. The lack of thunderstorm could also engender a feeling of unease, as it strays away from the typical Gothic convention; unfamiliarity usually provokes a sense of discomfort, adding to the eerie ambience of the chapter. Shelley’s subversion of conventions prepares the reader for the ‘birth’, as the ‘birth’ also generates distress, disappointment and unease: Victor is expecting the Creation to turn out as a normal being; instead, he is horrified by what he sees and it comes as a complete shock to him. This eerie atmosphere that Shelley creates is further brought about by the sense of indefiniteness that is created; it is all very vague: we are told about ‘instruments of life,’ but they are never described. The ‘spark of being’ that is infused is also an ambiguous case; it could be electricity, but we do not know for sure. This sense of indefiniteness arouses anxiety and anticipation; the reader is not exactly sure of the circumstances, and so is uneasy with it. Mysterious situations are being delved into: this exploration of the unknown is another prominent feature of the Gothic Horror novel that is portrayed throughout ‘Frankenstein.’ Shelley does not just attempt to perturb the reader; she also provokes fear and revulsion by the use of description. For example, the creature’s ‘yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath.’ The creature’s description is almost semi-human, which again links to the gothic genre; the portrayal of the creature is monstrous, and also rather frightening. However, the Creation also has some beautiful features, such as ‘lustrous black’ hair, and ‘teeth of a pearly whiteness.’ These beauteous features, however, only ‘formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes [†¦] dun white sockets [†¦] shrivelled complexion [†¦] straight black lips.’ This combination of aesthetic and horrible features accentuates the ugliness; they only enhance the repulsiveness, creating a worse overall outcome. This emphasises the way that human nature is more prone to seeing the negative aspects rather than the positive; the hideous outbalances the pleasant. The reader’s fear of the monster is further consolidated with the way that Victor reacts towards his Creation. Victor rejects his Creation because of the way he looks; he is filled with ‘breathless horror’ and rushes ‘out of the room.’ This could either influence the reader in the way that they emulate Victor’s reaction, or that they feel he is irresponsible; we see that Victor runs away from his problems, instead of facing up to them. This shows that he has not planned for anything to go wrong; he is foolish, and too obsessed with his goal to consider the consequences. Victor’s state of mind of late is also a typical one used in Gothic novels; Victor seems to be going insane, as that night he is ‘unable to compose [his] mind to sleep,’ and when he finally does fall asleep, he is ‘disturbed by the wildest of dreams.’ His mind is very troubled, and he states that he ‘worked hard for nearly two years†¦deprived myself of rest and health.’ He has overcome basic human needs, like food and rest: this creates a sense of the unnatural, as it is not normal to deprive oneself from such necessities merely for the sake of work. This element of the novel is strongly gothic, as it relates to the idea of a living nightmare. Shelley here is portraying the dangers of obsession, and the fact that man cannot create man with ease. Victor has succeeded in creating man; however, he has had to sacrifice many basic requirements in order to achieve his goal. The ‘wildest of dreams’ that Victor experiences are certainly disturbing, and adds to the Gothic aspects of the chapter; he dreams about holding his lover, who then transforms into his dead mother, and then ‘a shroud envelopes her form, and (Victor) saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of the flannel.’ These images could be symbolic of his deeper and darker concerns; that he is worried about the harm that the Creation will inflict upon his loved ones. The dead mother could pre-empt the deaths that occur later on in the story, as a result of his Creation? The dream occurs as a result of his Creation, as do the deaths that happen later on. The dream could also have undertones of necrophilia; he handles the pieces of dead body easily enough to create man, perhaps the dream suggests an obsession with death? Such issues would have been of a taboo status, and the way that Shelley explores matters of the sort is typical of the gothic genre. Frankenstein awakens from his sleep and sees the monster, who reaches out for him.The Creation is treated with contempt and disgust from the moment it is born, even though it does not initially cause any harm, or even intend to cause any harm. Victor describes the way a ‘grin wrinkled’ the Creation’s cheeks, and how ‘one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me.’ Such actions can be interpreted in various ways; the Creation could simply have been smiling and reaching out to Victor for a hug, yet Victor immediately assumes that the Creation wants to ‘detain’ him. The Creation also ‘muttered some inarticulate sounds;’ the first thing that it tries to do is communicate: this shows that it is a friendly and sociable creature, yet, from the moment it is born, it is though the worst of, and is shunned in its attempts at making friends. This foreshadows the way that the monster will not be accepted into society: it has already been rejected by its own creator, it seems unlikely that society will accept it. Victor’s actions are worse than the Creation’s: Victor runs away in a cowardly manner, when all the Creation was trying to do was be friendly. The following morning, after Victor’s encounter with his Creation, the weather is described as ‘dismal and wet.’ Shelley has used pathetic fallacy here; the physical landscape reflects Victor’s mental landscape. It echoes the gloomy future that is to commence, and reflects the dismal reality of the situation. The ‘black and comfortless sky’ gives connotations of darkness and evil, suggesting that God has rejected Victor for toying with his power. Prometheus, a mythological God, was given responsibility for the creation of mankind, which he produced from pieces of clay. Prometheus could not bear to see the clay mortals he had created living a half-life, without fire; ignoring the Gods and Zeus’s intentions that Man should not have fire, Prometheus stole some and gave it to his clay beings, rebelling against the wishes of the other Gods. Victor Frankenstein is often compared to Prometheus; in fact, Shelley has put the subtitle for the novel as ‘a modern Prometheus.’ he echoes two aspects of the Prometheus myth: the creation of man from raw materials, and the rebellion against a higher authority. Victor’s situation is similar; he defies God by mimicking God’s ability to create life; this angers God, and we see this is the way the sky is illustrated. This is another Gothic element, as Victor opts for the Devil’s side as opposed to God’s side. This portrays the classic battle between good and evil: good always defeats evil, as is shown when, later on in the novel, Victor starts to regret his choice. By the end of the chapter, Victor’s frame of mind is just as unstable as ever; ‘the form of the monster on whom I had bestowed existence was forever before my eyes.’ The Creation haunts Victor wherever he turns, showing how he has developed a nervous complex. This unstableness of his mind is eerie in itself. It depicts the fragility of the human mind, and is quite frightening to imagine. Shelley arguably presents Victor as more loathsome than the Creation in this chapter, as it is Victor that is the coward, in running away from his own creation. Victor also abandons his family in order to pursue his goal of bringing a human to life: the Creation does not do this. The Creation ‘reaches out’ for Victor, searching for a friendly response. In fact, it is Victor who rejects the Creation. Shelley here could be referring to the responsibility that parents have in accordance to their children; Victor abandons his ‘child,’ and never shows regret f or the way he treats it. Throughout this chapter, Shelley presents many warnings involving the responsibility of a parent towards its child, and uses gothic conventions in order to convey this. She also gives warnings about the dangers of playing God; such warnings are relevant even today: modern science and parental responsibilities still apply in the modern world. All of the events that occur throughout the novel, and particularly in chapter five, are that of a supernatural nature. The chapter contains many references to matters of taboo, such as necrophilia, and also explores the idea of abandonment and the way society outcasts certain members simply due to physical appearance. Shelley could be sending out a message of warning to future generations, showing what could happen as a result of playing God. She also seems to be commenting on how unjust it is that humans base their judgements purely on physical appearance. As part of a gothic story, chapter five is extremely effective, in that it contains all the conventional gothic elements, along with unconventional ones, in order to maximise the feeling of unease, discomfort and fright.

Definition of a Short Story Essay

A short story is a â€Å"short piece of fiction aiming at unity of characterization, theme and effect. 2nd definition: The authors of the modern English short story â€Å"no longer attempt to make daily life more entertaining by inventing exotic plots. Instead, modern short story writers have tended to base their narratives on their own experience; here the focus is much more on the less spectacular aspects of life, on the significance underlying what is apparently trivial. The result of such perceptive writing is perfection of form, harmony of theme and structure, and precision of style to reveal the subtleties of the human mind and of human behaviour. 3rd definition: Many attempts have been made to define the short story. But on a few points at least, the opinion of most critics is unanimous. This does not imply that the literary form of the American short story can be set up in a rigid way. It has undergone and will probably still undergo many changes as the literary taste and demands of the reading public also change in the course of time with new outlooks on life. What are some of the elements that make up a good story? a) A short story is a piece of prose fiction which can be read at a single sitting. b) It ought to combine matter-of-fact description with poetic atmosphere. c) It ought to present a unified impression of temper, tone, colour, and effect. d) It mostly shows a decisive moment of life (which can entail a fatal blow). e) There is often little action, hardly any character development, but we get a snapshot of life. f) Its plot is not very complex (in contrast to the novel), but it creates a unified impression and leaves us with a vivid sensation rather than a number of remembered facts. g) There is a close connection between the short story and the poem as there is both a unique union of idea and structure. The short story is a piece of art that tries to give us a specified impression of the world we live in. It aims to produce a single narrative effect with the greatest economy of means and utmost emphasis.

Business continuity Essay Example for Free

Business continuity Essay Just in time concept is a lean operation concept applied in supply chain management where an enterprise strives to produce only what is needed, whenever it is needed and in the amount that is needed. It allows for efficient production of quality products through complete waste elimination, avoidance of inconsistencies and also elimination of non-value addition activities within the production line. (Lieb & Miller 1988) According to (Stank & Crum 1997) the wastes that are eliminated are related to labour, where over staffing is a waste, time, in this case idle time or use of extra time to accomplish a goal is considered waste. Just in time concept emphasizes on customer requests and avoids making decisions based on forecast. In this concept, inventory is considered as an additional cost to the process. Traditionally, it would be considered to be value adding in the system. In this case, businesses and organisations are advised to eliminate any form of inventory that does not impact any additional value to the product. The just in time concept has various benefits to a business firm or enterprise. The benefits include an improvement in the flow of goods into, within and from the warehouse. There is also better planning and consistency in the organisation. Manpower can be reduced when production process has stopped mainly due to planned shut downs for maintenance, stocktaking activities, or any other reason (Stank & Crum 1997). This helps the enterprise to save on cost related to labour and other production overheads. When an organisation adopts the JIT concept and implements it, it helps in the production of better quality products and also increases the efficiency of production. All the aforementioned benefits are customer oriented. We therefore realise from the benefits customer satisfaction is enhanced. This in turn has an impact on customer loyalty and improved sales by the organisation. The net effect of this is improved profits by the organisation (Swamidass 2000). Despite having all the above benefits, the outcome of the terror attacks on September 11 has cast a lot of doubt on the just in time (JIT) concept deliveries in the supply chain. In a supply chain, each organisation along the chain depends upon a supplier and therefore in case of a hitch along the chain, the repercussions are felt along the whole chain. Before the September 11 attack the â€Å"JIT† was comfortably applicable and implemented to various businesses. Until this time, overstocking was avoided and components were delivered to the right place at the right time and in the right form with no hitch. Piling of inventory was avoided and production processes proceeded smoothly. However, the events of September 11 reversed all these, there were delays caused by grounding of aircrafts and also a longer time was required for border inspections. Transport on land was also highly affected. As an example, due to these interruptions, commodities destined for the Gap, Banana republic and the old navy stores ended up to a warehouse next to an airport. The business environment, both external and internal will always be fluctuating. External environment like the impact from natural calamities e. g. hurricanes, snow, storms, floods, earthquakes and internal environments like strikes, affect business operations. Therefore, for an organisation with a JIT system, in case of any fluctuation in the business environment, the supply chain will be disrupted and therefore flow of products downstream will not be realized (McClenahen & Jusko 2001). For a sudden change in the business environment, the shocks will be felt throughout the supply chain. There will be a gap that will be created along the chain at the point where the fluctuation is highly felt. It is a noble idea for businesses to consider having some safety stock on hand at each link of supply chain, which will take care of the emergencies in case of any eventuality. Since a supply chain consists of a network/series of suppliers and consumers, a hitch on one supplier side will affect the consumer who is also a supplier to the next consumer. Therefore in a business that has adopted the JIT system, it might end up being grounded because of lack of inventory to process or sell to the next stage of the chains. It is therefore highly recommended for such businesses to develop a Just in case system, a system that allows for a safety supplies that will take care of any eventualities. Even though the JIT system has a number of shortcomings in case of shocks within the supply chain, it is important to note that organisations can still implement JIT and maintain an attractive supply chain with lean inventories even during emergencies. To achieve this, one of the moves that a firm can make is locate where there is stock piling of inventories (Lu & Kyokai 1989). Firms can have most of its inventories stocked next to or near their locations. This will help overcome the problems due to shipment or air transport in case these modes of transport are affected. A firm can also consider having more than one supplier for a given commodity, this will be a second option during emergency situations. For an organisation to succeed in its implementation of the JIT system, major changes within the organisation need to be undertaken. The top management need to show commitment and offer full support. They are also required to lead from the front if the benefits of the JIT system are to be realised. The adoption and implementation of the JIT system will substantially affect the mode and criteria through which carriers and other logistics services providers will be recruited by the organisation. Organisations should be able to come up with service providers who are very efficient so as to pass on the efficiency downstream the supply chain. The just in time concept is highly dependent on the speed and efficiency with which products are moving at along the chain. It is therefore worthy to mention that the JIT system will highly affect the style of operations in the logistics industry. The number of logistics service providers to be recruited will also be determined by the success of the JIT system. According to (Ian 1988), constant and effective communication between business firms and their suppliers is another important factor that will affect the future of JIT in the global business environment. The quality of information that will be conveyed should also be put into consideration. The right information should be conveyed to the right place, at the right time and to the right person. A successful implementation of the JIT system in the future will highly depend on additional training of the implementing personnel (Abuhilal, Rabadi, & Sousa-Poza 2006). A lot of emphasise should be on the training of the personnel that are directly involved in the implementation of the JIT concept. This should not be taken to mean that other employees in the organisation should not be trained. An elaborate training plan on this system should be unveiled and the concerned departments or functions for example, production, logistics, marketing should be given intense training. The major areas to be considered should include: policies on JIT system, communication skills and training on commitment to the principles of JIT. The future of the just in time (JIT) system in the global environment will highly depend on the level of technology that will be embraced by an organisation. This includes both in machinery and other office operations. Adoption of improved technology for material handling is a key area that firms need to look at. They should consider embracing cross docking or flowing inventory through a distribution centre. With an improved material handling facility, the businesses can absorb shocks easily in the event that there is disruption in the supply chain (Kreng & Wang 2005) The use of information technology is in inventory management is particularly crucial if the growth and success of the JIT system is to be guaranteed. Business organisations should utilise information technology resources both in hardware and software so as to enhance the success of the JIT system. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) modules should be adopted for inventory management and controls within the organisation. Internet resources should be highly utilised for an effective JIT system. The most applicable resources include e-procurement, e- marketing. e-banking and e-mailing. When an organisation conducts procurement via internet, a variety of goods both in terms of quality and quantity may be obtained. The business deal is also conducted in an accelerated speed. Marketing via the internet allows for the organisation to reach many customers within a very short time and hence improve on the organisation’s sales. Internet banking allows for faster business transactions hence delays associated with payments are reduced and therefore the supply chain is protected from such delays (Hale 1997). To ensure that the intended results of the JIT concept are achieved, it is important for firms doing business together along a given supply chain be proactive in their operations. By being proactive, it means that a consumer should be involved directly in what their supplier is producing. The consumers should be involved in product design so as to have a product of their own making. On the hand it is very important for the suppliers to follow up and find out how their products are serving the customers. This will help in the elimination of ripples along the chain and hence easy implementation of the JIT system. The players in the supply chain should develop a culture of sharing problems when they occur at a particular point of the supply chain, this in a nutshell will reduce the overall effect that the problem would have on the entire supply chain (Titone 1996). The just in case system is another approach that will have an impact on the future of JIT system in the global environment. It is very important for firms to have a buffer stock that can bail it out when events in the supply chain don’t seem to be favourable. The idea of having safety stocks for emergency times should not be confused by firms holding inventories. It is a different concept from overstocking. Business continuity. (2016, Oct 17).

ENGLISH JOURNAL ANALYSIS Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

ENGLISH JOURNAL ANALYSIS - Coursework Example It redefined the minima of theatrical certainty.   It was simple as that. He got away. He won by twenty-eight lengths, and he’d done it with so little—and I mean that as an enormous compliment. There they all were, busting a gut with great monologues and fireworks, and this extraordinary genius just put this play together with enormous refinement, and then with two completely unprecedented and unique bursts of architecture in the middle—terrible metaphor—and there it was, theatre. Though scholars and enthusiasts have speculated on the form and structure of the play, not many have managed to grasp the influence of the play over the linguistic characteristics of theatre. Contrary to the earlier attempts to construct a play using carefully chosen dialogues, Beckett liberated dramatic speech from the clutches of rhetoric and replaced it with his unique choice of words which contradict the foundations of conventional grammar. Most importantly, he strips words of their literal or contextual interpretations in an attempt to prove it being ineffective of trying to find sense inherent in the universe.

Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 30

Case Study Example Steven further states that the modern business environment does not have many managers firing their employees, and this is because there are many legal processes that may follow which may impede the operations and performance of the organization. An example is if an employee files a lawsuit citing wrongful employment termination and this has the repercussion of slowing down the development of the organization (Shaer 10). There are various important concepts to understand when counseling an underperforming employee and one of these concepts is ensuring that the employee does not rationalize his or her performance. Many employees offer excuses for their underperformance, and consequently many managers end up not guiding these employees to quality performance. Eliminating rationalization ensures that the employees accept the fact that they have performed poorly and thus generate a plan through which they can improve their performance (Shaer 25). Another concept to comprehend when carrying out the counseling process is offering the employees a chance to state their views regarding the manager’s perception of the performance. Many times the employees have influential, quality views regarding the counseling did, and it is essential that the managers offer them a chance to air views (Shaer 25). Underperforming employees rationalize their state in an organization through many different ways. One of the ways through which employees do this is by denying the fact that they have performed poorly. Most of the employees that deny the subtle performance state that the method used by the manager to determine the state of the employee’s performance is fraud, and the measurement is rather wrong. Another way through which employees rationalize subtle performance is by accepting but offering an excuse where they state that they may be performing poorly but that they make up for this through other different ways. Another way through which underperforming employees rationalize

Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 15

Essay Example However, Varey (2001) postulates that integrated marketing is a paradigm shift towards more personalised, customer-oriented, technology-supported marketing systems. This paper designed a marketing strategy for a new cam-phone type product with new features. The first part of the paper does a market analysis of the cam-phone market, the second part of the paper design a marketing plan to give our new product an easy market penetration and a breakthrough. In business, environmental analysis is an appreciation of an organisations activities vis-Ã  -vis its environment (Lin& Lee 2006). Such analysis has become imperatively necessary in the light of increase competition as present, subsequent operations and strategies direction will be dependent on the result (Lin& Lee 2006). Market environmental influences can better be explain with the Five forces Framework developed by Porter (1985). The market of the Cam-phone products has been dominated in the past by key players such as NOKIA, Sony-Ericsson, Samsung, LG and a host of other players. Here being aware, of the resources, capabilities, and core competence of existing Cam-phone products, in our new Cam-phone product emphasis will be on internal attributes such as staff, quality of the product, defined within cost, time, and quality. We will also make sure, our products are reliable and easily serviceable According to Porter (1985), competitive strategy grows out of an understanding of the rules of competition that set the way of an industry’s attractiveness. He stated that, relations with suppliers; bargaining power of buyers; threats of new entrants; threats of substitute products or services; and rivalry amongst established firms are the forces affecting a company (Porter 1980). For our new product, numerous mobile phone manufacturers are already supplying camera phones, but with our extra features and differentiation strategy this

Information Systems Consoltancy skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Information Systems Consoltancy skills - Essay Example They act as the catalyst between the consultants or the clients and the developers of the solution on the other. Dispensing with their services would invite disaster. Whitman Price Consulting (WPC) is a Consultancy firm that provides industry-focussed solutions with the objective of enhancing their value and helps it clients to face a variety of challenges. They advise on how to create value for sustaining business, negotiating deals, improving business performance, managing assets, crisis and people. They educate the corporations to adapt to global requirements and standards as well as how to manage risks and respond to changes brought about these activities. They also counsel on regulatory and governance compliance requirements. For offering these value additions to their clients they have divided their own functions into six divisions. They are (1) Audit and Assurance, (2) Crisis Management, (3) Human Resources, (4) Performance Improvements, (5) Tax and (6) Transactions. However there are bound to be overlaps between them in order to give appropriate services to resolve complex problems of their clients and assist them to advance their business. Since collaboration is the foundation of any good consultancy these departments often cooperate and combine their efforts to meet deadlines. Communications between them is of extreme importance both for speed and delivery of quality of service. Accurate and up to date availability of information is another area that needs that has to be addressed. Over a period of time the actual work for the client has shifted from the WPC headquarter to the client place and this has added to additional pressure on the system. Lately the Consultants at WPC as well as the employees of the various clients have become more mobile and in order to save time need to access their colleagues, counterparts, clients and head offices from remote locations to access and deliver information. Recently the executives at

An analysis of how 'management via accounting' can be applied to keep Essay

An analysis of how 'management via accounting' can be applied to keep fuel costs as low as possible at a low-cost airline, w - Essay Example This management essay is going to provide complete solutions and management measure for airline fuel management. These solutions cover fuel forecasting and planning, procurement, inventory and logistic management, contract management, and accounting and tax management. As a result, finance and purchase teams acquire a complete overview of airline inventory and obligation when they hedge and purchase fuel. Airline companies’ accounting management can automate and reduce fuel costs by processing of both financial derivatives and physical fuel purchases used in hedging. Therefore, the accounting department should come up with aggregated financial-physical fuel view positions and cost risk exposure (Calder, 2013:9). In fuel planning and budgeting, the accounting department must conduct an analysis of â€Å"what-if† situations such as changes in the type of aircraft used, introduction of new airports and routes, and forward cost curves. In addition, the accounts department m ust be able to report on actual fuel costs versus forecasted fuel costs to enable it calculate the airlines hedged fuel plan (Calder, 2013:9). Airline accounts management can effectively curl fuel use and get investments directly to the company’s bottom line through operating efficiently. ... lancing method ensure an favorable centre of gravity for all airplanes, the airport entrance planning is considered to ensure low fuel burn on the entrance grounds, and ensure there are daily operations improvement to recover from trouble shooting activities hence limiting burning of wasted fuel (Centre for Aviation, 2013). Currently, all airlines’ accounting departments must ensure that they have Fuel management information system, which is imperative to monitor fuel expenses and assist the accountants in coming up with effective solutions to minimize fuel costs. This is because airline fuel cost has become the biggest cost ranging between 25% and 50% of annual airline expenditure in all airlines across the world. Airline calculations indicate that one dollar rise in fuel cost is equivalent to 1.6 billion dollars expenses of an entire airline company. It is highly important for airline accounting department to develop effective fuel management software such as FuelPlus Softwa re (Calder, 2013:9). This efficient fuel expense and management software in the accounting department can bring massive positive effect on the progressive running of an airline operation and cause a direct effect on the airlines profitability, sustainability, and competitiveness (Channel 4 Dispatches, 2013). As reported by Centre for Aviation (CAPA) recently, the financial optimism is now becoming the main cause of higher fuel prices. Whilst in the old days, Fuel management system was seen as primarily a method of bringing commercial advantages, it is currently becoming an important element of an airline expense management toolkit. Fuel management is not just monitoring operational information, but also a widespread enterprise that involves all departments in the airport. The accounting

Exam II Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Exam II - Essay Example It is true that, the application of this agreement has helped to reduce the negative outcome of the war. In February 1848, the Mexican-American war was formally ended by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Over the next years, the tension between the United States and the Government of Mexico continued to rumble. The Gadsden Purchase treaty helped to settle the occurrence of dispute on Texas. The Gadsden Purchase included lands west of the Rio Grande and south of the Gila River. The purpose of the Treaty is for the construction of transcontinental railroad in United States along a southern road. The Gadsden Purchase is also linked to the settlement of the border issues. The key boundaries of the United States of American have been settled by the implementation of the Gadsden Purchase. The Mexican army was defeated by the Americans in a number of battles that forced Mexicans to surrender. The war was considered by the Massachusetts as a crime. In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo helped to provide half-a-million square miles to United States (Tate, 2013). The line of the Gila River and the Rio Grande became international border. Moreover, the formally gave away of additional territory was not accepted by President Polk. On September 15, 1853, James Gadsden met with Santa Anna. A verbal instruction has been sent by President Pierce for Gadsden. An agent for United States investors, Christopher Ward was the one who took verbal instruction to Gadsden. The instructions gave negotiation option for Gadsden for a greater share of northern Mexico to 15 million dollars and Lower California for 50 million dollars. The instruction of the President Pierce to sell large portion of Mexico was refused by Santa Anna. Santa Anna wanted to gather money to reduce the ongoing reb ellions. This is the reason behind the application of treaty between Gadsden and Santa Anna. Mexican border was heavily raided by Americans. The Treaty was also

The Past, Present, and Future of Automated Scoring Essay Example for Free

The Past, Present, and Future of Automated Scoring Essay â€Å"No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be †¦Ã¢â‚¬  – Isaac Asimov (5) Introduction Although some realities of the classroom remain constant –they wouldn’t exist without the presence, whether actual or virtual, of students and teachers –the technology age is changing not only the way that we teach, but also how students learn. While the implications of this affect all disciplines, it is acutely evident in the teaching of writing. In the last twenty years, we have seen a rapid change in how we read, write, and process text. Compositionist Carl Whithaus maintains that â€Å"†¦ writing is becoming an increasingly multimodal and multimedia activity† (xxvi). It is no surprise then, that there are currently 100 million blogs in existence worldwide and 171 billion email messages sent daily (Olson 23), and the trend toward digitally-based writing is also moving into the classroom. The typical student today writes â€Å"almost exclusively on a computer, typically one equipped with automated tools to help them spell, check grammar, and even choose the right words† (Cavanaugh 10). Furthermore, CCC notes that â€Å"[i]ncreasingly, classes and programs in writing require that students compose digitally† (785). Given the effect of technology on writing and the current culture of high stakes testing ushered in by the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, a seemingly natural product of the combination of the two is computer-based assessment of writing. An idea still in its infancy, the process of technological change in combination with federal testing mandates has resulted in several states incorporating â€Å"computer-based testing into their writing assessments, †¦ not only because of students’ widespread familiarity with computers, but also because of the demands of college and the workplace, where word-processing skills are a must† (Cavanaugh 10). Although it makes sense to have students accustomed to composing on computer write in the same mode for high-stakes tests, does it make sense to score their writing by computer as well? This is a controversial question that has both supporters and detractors. Supporters like Stan Jones, Indiana’s Commissioner of Higher Education, believe that computerized essay grading is inevitable (Hurwitz n.p.), while detractors, primarily pedagogues, assert that such assessment defies what we know about writing and its assessment, because â€Å"[r]egardless of the medium †¦ all writing is social; accordingly, response to and evaluation of writing are human activities† (CCC 786). Even so, the reality is that the law requires testing nationwide, and in all probability that mandate is not going to change anytime soon. With NCLB up for revision this year, even politicians like Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts agree that standards are a good idea and that testing is one way to ensure that they are met. At some point, we need to pull away from all-or-none polarization and create a new paradigm. The sooner we realize that â€Å"†¦ computer technology will subsume assessment technology in some way† (Penrod 157), the sooner we will be able to address how we, as teachers of writing, can use technology effectively for assessment. In the past, Brian Huot notes that teachers’ responses have been reactionary, â€Å"cobbled together at the last minute in response to an outside call †¦ † (150). Teachers need to be proactive in addressing â€Å"†¦ technological convergence in the composition classroom, [because if we dont], others can will impose certain technologies on our teaching† (Penrod 156). Instead of passively leaving the development of assessment software solely to programmers, teachers need to be actively involved with the process in order to ensure the application of sound pedagogy in its creation and application. This essay will argue that automated essay scoring (AES) is an inevitability that provides many more positive possibilities than negative ones. While the research presented here spans K-16 education, this essay will primarily address its application in secondary environments, primarily focusing on high school juniors, a group currently consisting of approximately 4 million students in the United States, because this group represents the targeted population for secondary school high stakes testing in this country (U.S. Census Bureau). It will first present a brief history of AES, then explore the current state of AES, and finally consider the implications of AES for writing instruction and assessment in the future. A Brief History of Computers and Assessment The first time standardized objective testing in writing occurred was in 1916 at the University of Missouri as part of a Carnegie Foundation sponsored study (Savage 284). As the 20th century continued, these tests began to grow in popularity because of their efficiency and perceived reliability, and are the cornerstone of what Kathleen Blake Yancey describes as the â€Å"first wave† of writing assessment (484). To articulate the progression of composition assessment, Kathleen Blake Yancey identifies three distinct, yet overlapping, waves (483). The first wave, occurring approximately from 1950-1970, primarily focused on using objective (multiple choice) tests to assess writing simply because, as she quotes Michael Williams, they were the best response that could be â€Å"†¦ tied to testing theory, to institutional need, to cost, and ultimately to efficiency† (Yancey 489). During Yancey’s first wave of composition assessment, another wave was forming in the parallel universe of computer software design, where developers began to address the possibilities of not only programming computers to mimic the process of human reading, but † †¦ to emulate the value judgments that human readers make when they read student writing in the context of large scale assessment† (Herrington and Moran 482). Herrington and Moran identify The Analysis of Essays by Computer, a 1968 book by Ellis Page and Dieter Paulus, as one of the first composition studies books to address AES. Their goal was to â€Å"evaluate student writing as reliably as human readers, †¦ [and] they attempted to identify computer-measurable text features that would correlate with the kinds of intrinsic features †¦that are the basis for human judgments †¦, [settling on] thirty quantifiable features, †¦ [which included] essay length in words, average word length, amount and kind of punctuation, number of common words, and number of spelling errors† (Herrington and Moran 482). In their study, they found a high enough statistical correlation, .71, to support the use of the computer to score student writing. The authors note that the response of the composition community in 1968 to Page and Paulus’s book was one of indignation and uproar. In 2007, not much has changed in terms of the composition community’s position regarding computer-based assessment of student writing. To many, it is something that is an unknown, mystifying Orwellian entity waiting in the shadows for the perfect moment to jump out and usurp teachers’ autonomy in the classroom. Nancy Patterson describes computerized writing assessment as â€Å"a horror story that may come sooner than we realize† (56). Furthermore, P.L. Thomas offers the following question and response: â€Å"How can a computer determine accuracy, originality, valuable elaboration, empty language, language maturity, and a long list of similar qualities that are central to assessing writing? Computers can’t. WE must ensure that the human element remains the dominant factor in the assessing of student writing† (29). Herrington and Moran make the issue a central one in the teaching of writing and have â€Å"†¦ serious concerns about the potential effects of machine reading of student writing on our teaching, on our students’ learning, and therefore on the profession of English† (495). Finally, CCC definitively writes, â€Å"We oppose the use of machine-scored writing in the assessment of writing† (789). While the argument against AES is clear here, the responses appear to be based on a lack of understanding of the technology and an unwillingness to change. Instead of taking a reactionary position, it might be more constructive for teachers to assume the inevitability of computerized assessment technology – it is not going away — and to use that assumption as the basis for taking a proactive role in its implementation. The Current Culture of High-Stakes Testing At any given time in the United States, there are approximately 16 million 15-18 year-olds, the majority of whom receive a high school education (U.S. Census). Even when factoring in a maximum of 10 percent (1.6 million) who may drop out or otherwise not receive a diploma, there is a significant amount of students, 14-15 million, who are attending high school. The majority of these students are members of the public school system and as such must be tested annually according to NCLB, though the most significant focus group for high-stakes testing is 11th grade students. Currently in Michigan, 95% of any given public high school’s junior population must sit for the MME, Michigan Merit Exam, in order for the school to qualify for AYP, Adequate Yearly Progress[1]. Interestingly, those students do not all have to pass currently, though by 2014 the government mandates a 100% passing rate, a number that most admit is an impossibility and will probably be addressed as the NCLB Act is up for review this year. In the past, as part of the previous 11th grade examination, the MEAP, Michigan Educational Assessment Program, required students to complete an essay response, which was assessed by a variety of people, mostly college students and retired teachers, for a minimal amount of money, usually in the $7.50 – $10.00 per hour range. As a side note, neighboring Ohio sends its writing test to North Carolina to be scored by workers receiving $9.50 per hour (Patterson 57), a wage that fast food employees make in some states. Because of this, it was consistently difficult for the state to assess these writings in a short period of time, causing huge delays in distributing the results of the exams back to the school districts, posing a huge problem as schools could not use the testing information in order to address educational shortfalls of their students or programs in a timely manner, one of the purposes behind getting prompt feedback. This year (2007), as a result of increased graduation requirements and testing mandates driven by NCLB, the Michigan Department of Education began administering a new examination to 11th graders, the MME, an ACT fueled assessment, as ACT was awarded the testing contract. The MME is comprised of several sections and required most high schools to administer it over a period of 2-3 days. Day one consists of the ACT + Writing, a 3.5 hour test that includes an argumentative essay. Days two/three (depending on district implementation), consist of the ACT WorkKeys, a basic work skills test of math and English, further mathematics testing (to address curricular content not covered by the ACT + Writing), and a social studies test, which incorporates another essay that the state combines with the argumentative essay in the ACT + Writing in order to determine an overall writing score. Miraculously, under the auspices of ACT, students received their ACT + Writing scores in the mail approximately three weeks after testing, unlike the MEAP, where some schools did not receive test scores for six months. In 2005, a MEAP official admitted that the cost of scoring the writing assessment was forcing the state to go another route (Patterson 57), and now it has. So how is this related to automated essay scoring? My hypothesis is that as states are required to test writing as part of NCLB, there is going to be a lack of qualified people to be able to read and assess student essays and determine results within a reasonable amount of time to purposefully inform necessary curricular and instructional change, which is supposed to be the point of testing in the first place. Four million plus essays to evaluate each year (sometimes more if more writing is required, like Michigan requiring two essays) on a national level is a huge amount. Michigan Virtual University’s Jamey Fitzpatrick says, â€Å"Let’s face it. It’s a very labor-intensive task to sit down and read essays† (Stover n.p.). Furthermore, it only makes sense that instead of states working on their own test management, they will contract state-wide testing to larger testing agencies, like Michigan and Illinois have with ACT, to reduce costs and improve efficien cy. Because of the move to contract ACT, my guess is that we are moving in the direction of having all of these writings scored by computer. In email correspondence that I had with Harry Barfoot at Vantage Learning in early 2007, a company that creates and markets AES software, said, â€Å"Ed Roeber has been to visit us and he is the high stakes assessment guru in Michigan, and who was part of the MEAP 11th grade becoming an ACT test, which [Vantage] will end up being part of under the covers of ACT.† This indicates the inevitability of AES as part of high-stakes testing. In spite of the fact that there are no states that rely on computer assessment of writing yet, â€Å"†¦ state education officials are looking at the potential of this technology to limit the need for costly human scorers – and reduce the time needed to grade tests and get them back in the hands of classroom teachers† (Stover n.p.). Because we live in an age where the budget axe frequently cuts funding to public education, it is in the interest of states to save money any way they can, and â€Å"[s]tates stand to save millions o f dollars by adopting computerized writing assessment† (Patterson 56). Although AES is not a reality yet, every indication is that we are moving toward it as a solution to the cost and efficiency issues of standardized testing. Herrington and Moran observe that â€Å"[p]ressures for common assessments across state public K-12 systems and higher education – both for placement and for proficiency testing – make attractive a machine that promises to assess the writing of large numbers of students in a fast and reliable way† (481). To date, one of the two readers (the other is still human) for the GMAT is e-Rater, an AES software program, and some universities are using Vantage’s WritePlacerPlus software in order to place first year university students (Herrington and Moran 480). However, one of the largest obstacles in bringing AES to K-12 is one of access. In order for students’ writing to be assessed electronically, it must be inputted electronically, meaning that every student will have to compose their essays via comp uter. Sean Cavanagh’s article of two months ago maintains that ACT has already suggested delivering computers to districts who do not have sufficient technology in order to accommodate technology differences (10). As of last month, March 2007, Indiana is the only state that relies on computer scoring of 11th grade essays for the state-mandated English examination (Stover n.p.) for 80 percent of their 60,000 11th graders (Associated Press), though their Assistant Superintendent for Assessment, Research, and Information, West Bruce, says that the state’s computer software assigns a confidence rating to each essay, where low confidence essays are referred to a human scorer (Stover n.p.). In addition, in 2005 West Virginia began using an AES program to grade 44,000 middle and high school writing samples from the state’s writing assessment (Stover n.p.). At present, only ten percent of states â€Å"†¦currently incorporate computers into their writing assessments, and two more [are] piloting such exams† (Cavanagh 10). As technology becomes more accessible for all public education students, the possibilities for not only computer-based assessment but also AES become very real. Automated Essay Scoring Weighing the technological possibilities against logistical considerations, however, when might we expect to see full-scale implementation of AES? Semire Dikli, a Ph.D. candidate from Florida State University, writes that â€Å"†¦for practical reasons the transition of large-scale writing assessment from paper to computer delivery will be a gradual one† (2). Similarly, Russell and Haney â€Å"†¦ suspect that it will be some years before schools generally †¦ develop the capacity to administer wide-ranging assessments via computer† (16 of 20). The natural extension of this, then, is that AES cannot happen on a large-scale until we are able to provide conditions that allow each student to compose essays via computer with Internet access to upload files. At issue as well is the reliability of the company contracted to do the assessing. A March 24, 2007 Steven Carter article in The Oregonian reports that access issues resulted in the state of Oregon canceling its contract with Vantage and signing a long-term contract with American Institutes for Research, the long-standing company that does NAEP testing. Even though the state tests only reading, science, and math this way (not writing), it nevertheless indicates that reliable access is an ongoing issue that must be resolved. Presently, there are four commercially available AES systems: Project Essay Grade (Measurement, Inc.), Intelligent Essay Assessor (Pearson), Intellimetric (Vantage), and e-Rater (ETS) (Dikli 5). All of these incorporate the same process in the software, where â€Å"First, the developers identify relevant text features that can be extracted by computer (e.g., the similarity of the words used in an essay to the words used in high-scoring essays, the average word length, the frequency of grammatical errors, the number of words in the response). Next, they create a program to extract those features. Third, they combine the extracted features to form a score. And finally, they evaluate the machine scores empirically,†(Dikli 5). At issue with the programming, however, is that â€Å"[t]he weighting of text features derived by an automated scoring system may not be the same as the one that would result from the judgments of writing experts† (Dikli 6). There is still a significant difference between â€Å"statistically optimal approaches† to measurement and scientific or educational approaches to measurement, where the aspects of writing that students need to focus on to improve their scores â€Å"are not the ones that writing experts most value† (Dikli 6). This is the tension that Diane Penrod addresses in Composition in Convergence that was mentioned earlier, in which she recommends that teachers and compositionists become proactive by getting involved in the creation of the software instead of leaving it exclusively to programmers. And this makes sense. Currently, there are 50-60 features of writing that can be extracted from text, but current programs only use about 8-12 of the most predictive features of writing to determine scores (Powers et. al. 413). Moreover, Thomas writes that â€Å"[c]omposition experts must determine what students learn about writing; if that is left to the programmers and the testing experts, we have failed† (29). If compositionists and teachers can enmesh themselves in the creation of software, working with programmers, then the product would likely be one that is more palatable and suitable based on what we know good writing is. While the aura of mystery behind the creation of AES software is of concern to educators, it could be easily addressed by education and involvement. CCC reasons that â€Å"†¦ since we can not know the criteria by which the computer scores the writing, we can not know whether particular kinds of bias may have been built into the scoring† (4 89). It stands to reason, then, that if we take an active role in the development of the software, we will have more control over issues such as bias. Another point of contention with moving toward computer-based writing and assessment is the concern that high-stakes testing will result in students having a narrow view of good writing, particularly those moving to the college level, where writing skill is expected to be more comprehensive than a prompt-based five-paragraph essay written in 30 minutes. Grand Valley State University’s Nancy Patterson opposes computer scoring of high stakes testing, saying that no computer can evaluate subtle or creative styles of writing nor can they judge the quality of an essay’s intellectual content (Stover n.p.). She also writes that â€Å"†¦standardized writing assessment is already having an adverse effect on the teaching of writing, luring many teachers into more formulaic approaches and an over-emphasis on surface features† (Patterson 57). Again, education is key here, specifically teacher education. Yes, we live in a culture of high-stakes testing, and students must be prepared to write successfully for this genre. But, test-writing is just that, a genre, and should be taught as such – just not to the detriment of the rest of a writing program – something that the authors of Writing of Demand assert when they write: â€Å"We believe it is possible to integrate writing on demand into a plan for teaching based on best practices† (5). AES is not an attack on best practices, but a tool for cost-effective and efficient scoring. Even though Thomas warns against â€Å"the demands of standards and high stakes testing† becoming the entire writing program, we still must realize that computers for composition and assessment can have positive results, and â€Å"[m]any of the roadblocks to more effective writing instruction – the paper load, the time involved in writing instruction and assessmen t, the need to address surface features individually – can be lessened by using computer programs† (29). In addition to pedagogical concerns, skeptics of AES are leery of the companies themselves, particularly the aggressive marketing tactics that are used, particularly those that teachers perceive to be threats not only to their autonomy, but their jobs. To begin, companies aggressively market because we live in a capitalist society and they are out to make money. But, to cite Penrod, â€Å"both computers and assessment are by-products of capitalist thinking applied to education, in that the two reflect speed and efficiency in textual production† (157). This is no different than the first standardized testing experiments by the Carnegie Foundation at the beginning of the 20th Century, and it is definitely nothing new. Furthermore, Herrington and Moran admit that â€Å"computer power has increased exponentially, text- and content- analysis programs have become more plausible as replacements for human readers, and our administrators are now the targets of heavy marketing from com panies that offer to read and evaluate student writing quickly and cheaply† (480). In addition they see a threat in companies marketing programs that â€Å"define the task of reading, evaluating, and responding to student writing not as a complex, demanding, and rewarding aspect of our teaching, but as a ‘burden’ that should be lifted from our shoulders† (480). In response to their first concern, teachers becoming involved in the process of creating assessment software will help to define the task the computers perform. Also, teachers will always read, evaluate, and respond, but probably differently. Not all writing is for high-stakes testing. Secondly, and maybe I’m alone in this (but I think not), but I’d love to have the tedious task of assessing student writing lifted from my plate, especially on sunny weekends when I’m stuck inside for most of the daylight hours assessing student work. To be a dedicated writing teacher does not necessarily involve martyrdom, and if some of the tedious work is removed, it can give us mor e time to actually teach writing. Imagine that! The Future of Automated Essay Scoring On March 14th, 2007, an article appeared in Education Week that says that beginning in 2011, the National Association for Educational Progress will begin conducting the testing of writing for 8th and 12th grade students by having the students compose on computers, a decision unanimously approved as part of their new writing assessment framework. This new assessment will require students to write two 30-minute essays and evaluate students’ ability to write to persuade, to explain, and to convey experience, typically tasks deemed necessary both in school and in the workplace (Olson 23). Currently, NAEP testing is assessed by AIR (mentioned above), and will no doubt incorporate AES for assessing these writings. In response, Kathleen Blake Yancey, Florida State University professor and president-elect of NCTE, said the framework â€Å"Provides for a more rhetorical view of writing, where purpose and audience are at the center of writing tasks,† while also requiring students to write at the keyboard, providing â€Å"a direct link to the kind of composing writers do in college and in the workplace, thus bringing assessment in line with lifelong composing practices† (Olson 23). We are on the cusp of a new era. With the excitement of new possibilities, though, we must remember, as P.L. Thomas reminds us, that while â€Å"technology can be a wonderful thing, it has never been and never will be a panacea† (29). At the same time, we must also discard our tendency to avoid change and embrace the overwhelming possibilities of incorporating computers and technology with writing instruction. Thomas also says that â€Å"[w]riting teachers need to see the inevitability of computer-assisted writing instruction and assessment as a great opportunity. We should work to see that this influx of technology can help increase the time students spend actually composing in our classrooms and increase the amount of writing students produce† (29). Moreover, we must consider that the methods used to program AES software are not very different than the rubrics that classroom teachers use in holistic scoring, something Penrod identifies as having â€Å"numerous subsets and criteria that do indeed divide the students’ work into pieces† (93). I argue that our time is better spent working within the system to ensure that its inevitable changes reflect sound pedagogy, because the trend that we’re seeing is not substantially differently from previous ones. The issue is in how we choose to address it. Instead of eschewing change, we should embrace it and make the most of its possibilities.

The grief process at different lifespan stages

The grief process at different lifespan stages Most theories of grieving derive from the works of Sigmund Freud and Eric Lindemanns understanding of mourning and include two assumptions: A / Grieving is time limited. The process should be completed or resolved after a year or two. B / The main task of grieving is to achieve decathexis (one should detach oneself from emotional ties to the deceased so as to be able to form new relationships.). Horacek, (1991). There are two complex processes taking place within this topic that we call Grief. Firstly there is the emotional side (grief) and can take on many obvious and subtle forms. Secondly there is the process or grieving stage as it is more commonly indentified. It is within this second stage that the bereaved is called upon and to allow them selves to make a raft of choices and decisions such as the funeral arrangements or when at some point do they allow themselves to decide what to keep as mementos and what not to. Often these sides can become entwined into one and the bereaved may end up in a state of confusion and stagnant response. This may lead to a third state in which the bereaved becomes dysfunctional within their grief processing and literally becomes stuck in whatever position or state they are in and cannot allow themselves release from that state and to move forward. Grief does not exist within the world of death only. Grief may come from many physical and psychological changes that are totally unrelated to death. Loss of a limb; incapacitation of body use as a result of an accident; loss of a boyfriend or girlfriend; loss of a marriage; bankruptcy; loss of a personal business. I could list more but the point is to say that grief covers an extremely wide and complex area of understanding and acceptance. For the purposes of this essay, I will concentrate upon the subject of death and how does one handle the situations of that death. I will cover various models as they relate to a child (0 11) and to that of an adolescent. Then, we will look at those of an older person and also take into account the elderly. How do the various models of grief and the process of grieving change with age? Are there stages of recovery or is the recovery a process that may never be finally finished? Either way, grief and grieving is a personal experience and will vary among ages, culture and background. It would become too involved for the purpose of this topic to introduce culture and background, so I will therefore keep this essay to the more general form of models of grief and their relationship to those of age. Does a child have the capacity to experience grief and to mourn as do adults? Bowlby (1963), and Fusman (1964), sees a child as capable of suffering major bereavement particularly with a close family member and probably with other close significant losses as well. In that reference, there were no given age ranges so I will take the point of a child being of 0 11 yrs of age. Lindemanns seminal study in 1944 on the Symptomatology and Management of acute grief is similar to Freuds understanding. But how does that apply to a child? Whilst Bowlby recognised a similarity to Freuds point of view, he also recognised that a young child is capable of suffering major bereavement as mentioned. But these responses can come from many influences. Obviously, they are different to those of an adult but none the less they (adults) do have an influence upon the childs perception and response to their ability to handle grief and grieving. It is suggested that a child will copy to the best of their ability, the grieving patterns of their remaining significant parent or even that of an older sibling (Bowlby, 1980; Kubler-Ross, 1983; Schumacher, 1984). Other factors can also have an influence on the childs response such as the nature and intensity of their attachment to the deceased; their developmental level; the capacity to understand what has happened (the conceptualisation of death and what explanations are given to them); and the nature and circumstances of the death. It is reasonable to assume that a child can experience a bereavement response, probably in an attenuated form death of a grandparent, parent, uncle, teacher, playmate, family pet or even the loss of a favourite toy. Ambivalence and dependence are core themes of a childs relationship with family members and a childs grief may be influenced by this aspect of their attachment to the deceased. Childrens conception of death closely parallel Piagets (1952) successive levels of cognitive development (Berlinsky Biller, 1982). For example, during the sensorimotor period (birth 2yrs), the childs concept of death is non-existent or incomplete (Kane, 1979). Most workers agree that the younger childs response, particularly to the death of a parent, is likely to be indistinguishable from that of separation response. For a child of 2 or younger, they do not have the concepts of time, finality or of death itself but they may show, if for instance their mother dies, typical phases of denial, protest, despair, and eventually detachment (Kastenbaum, 1967; Berlinsky Biller, 1982). During Piagets pre occupational period (2 6yrs), a childs cognitive development is dominated by magical thinking and egocentrism. Consequentially at this stage, they believe that death can be either avoided or reversed (Melear, 1973; Anthony, 1971; Stillion Wass, 1979). Furman (1963) believes that from 2 2 Â ½ years onwards a child is able to conceptualise death to some degree and to mourn. Melear found that children within this age group viewed the dead as having feelings existing in a life like state. Because of their thinking, the child may feel responsible for causing the death and consequently feel shame and guilt. Progressively, through the period of concrete operations (6 7yrs through to 11 or 12 years), children begin to understand the reality of death but do not realise that death is universal and that those around them, including their loved ones, will die some day (Berlinskey Biller, 1982). Anthony, (1971) suggested that children conceptualise death in concrete terms and view death as distant from themselves. Gradually, from ages 9 or 10, children acquire a more mature understanding of death; that death is irreversible in nature and that they themselves will eventually experience it (Anthony, 1971; Melear, 1973; Stillion Wass, 1979). A child will experience the developmental nature of death associations which progress from no understanding toward an abstract and realistic understanding of the concept of death (McCown, 1988). Within the years of adolescence, the persons understanding of death and what has happened; closely approximates that of an adult and their grief may take on similar forms. But because they are in that realm halfway between childhood and adulthood, their responses may fit neither mould. If they cry, they may be accused of being babyish. Equally, if they dont, they may seem cold and uninvolved. With so many conflicting areas and so many stressful situations of this age group, they may neither express their emotions directly nor verbalise them. They may instead, act out within their personal environment, indicating their need for care, their anger, their guilt and their longing. Although privy to increased knowledge about death through instant communication and increasing exposure to death, adolescents do not have the social or emotional maturity to fully incorporate and process those experiences into a coherent world view (Rowling, 2002). Adolescents tend to be more extreme in their risk taking and it seems to be the closer to the edge that they go, the greater the thrill of cheating death. Living life to the fullest inherently has some risks. Consciously or otherwise, they may pursue this ambiguity more than others, due to their cognitive development and the need for excitement (Spear, 2000). Emotional reactions to a loss can be devastating to the adolescent, whether the loss is the perceived detachment from parents, actual losses that are literal deaths such as the suicide of a friend; or metaphorical deaths such as the breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Meshot Leitner (1993), have observed that the extent of grief is often much stronger in teenagers than in adults. There is evidence that adolescents are constantly grappling with life and death contrasts as a normal part of their development (Noppe Noppe, 1991). These years help to construct a personal stamp with their understanding of death as they are engaging in both life affirmation and death acknowledgement. They are questioning and assuming different belief systems regarding death and the after life prior to settling onto a more permanent value system as well as incorporating the very reality of personal mortality into their evolving sense of identity. Adolescent grief experience is profoundly personal in nature. Although they grieve more intensely than adults (Christ et al. 2002; Oltjenbruns, 1996), their grief may be expressed in short outbursts, or there may be concentrated efforts to control emotions. They can often believe that their experiences are completely unique unto themselves (Elkind, 1967). The adolescent grief pattern may follow a life long developmental trajectory. That is, the loss may be continued to be felt throughout their life span as they graduate from college, their work, marriage and so on. This can be accentuated as they grow older than the parent, sibling or friend who has died (Silverman, 2000). Adolescents are more sophisticated than children in their understanding and response to death, but neither is their mourning adult like. The overall nature of the adolescents response is intimately tied to their developmental issues. The consideration of ones own death, as part of the treads of the totality of the life cycle, cannot be a comfortable notion for an adolescent to accept. Creating a unified sense of identity must be reconciled with this consideration. Adolescents encounter this dilemma in the context of a system of values, philosophy of life and particular spiritual or religious beliefs. Sterling and Van Horn (1989) found that adolescents who were at the peak of their struggle with identity formation, had the highest levels of death anxiety. With regard to personal characteristics or the adolescent, self esteem was found to be important in adolescents response to loss. Balk (1990) and Hogan and Greenfield (1991) found that adolescents with lowered self concept scores s howed more problems with their grief. More adolescent males than females die suddenly and violently, via accidents, homicides and suicides (Corr et al., 2003). However, no one knows if, as a consequence, teenage males grieve more than females over the loss of their same sex best friend. Parallels between the socialization of males into hiding emotions, being independent and displaying aggressive behaviour when upset are reflected in adolescent males grief reactions (Adams, 2001). Bereaved adolescent girls may express more adjustment difficulties (Servaty Hayslip, 2001), but this may be consistent with the latitude afforded women to talk of their feelings. Reaching out to others seems to be easier for females than males (Noppe et al., 2003). As mentioned earlier and in closing of this section, the myriad of adolescent tasks serve as a framework for how the adolescent is affected by grief and their response to loss is intimately tied to their developmental issues. Adolescents do not grieve in the same way as do adults and their grief processes may be more intermittent, intense and overwhelming. We began this essay with the generally accepted theory of mourning from the work done by Freud and Lindemann as cited by Horacek (1991). Whilst Freud did not officially modify his theory, he did modify it in a letter written to Swiss psychiatrist Ludwig Binswanger in 1929. In this letter he reflected on the death of his daughter in 1920 from influenza and the death of his grandson in 1923. He stated that although we know that after such a loss the acute stage of mourning will subside, we also know we shall remain inconsolable and will never find a substitute. Freud realised that some losses can never be fully resolved and that grieving can continue indefinitely for such potentially high grief deaths such as the loss of a child or a grandchild. Gorer (1965), described eight styles of grieving that fall into three categories based on the length of the grieving process. The first category includes grieving styles that demonstrating little or no mourning, such as the denial of mourning, the absence of mourning, anticipatory grieving and hiding grief. The second category is time limited mourning, which includes a period of intense grief followed by a return to the pre grief status. His third category is unlimited mourning, a continuing grief that does not radically interfere radically with everyday living; mummification, in which the mourner makes a room or a whole house as a shrine for the deceased; and despair, a never ending, deeply painful process. Adults view death through the lens of wisdom gained through the myriad of life experiences associated with expanded interactions with different people, work settings and family relationships. Whilst studies on parental and sibling grieving challenge the assumption that grieving is time bounded and that decathexis can and should be accomplished. In his interviews of some 155 families, Knapp (1986, 1987), found six significant similarities in the way in which families responded to the deaths of their children. The sixth was what he called shadow grief, a lingering, emotional dullness of affect that continues indefinitely, indicating that grief such as this is never totally resolved. He called shadow grief a form of chronic grief that moderately inhibits normal activity, yet it is an abnormal form of mourning that it was quite normal, perhaps even routine. In support of this finding, Lund (1989) stated that there is considerable evidence that some aspects of bereavement and subsequent r eadjustments may continue throughout a persons life and it might be appropriate to question the use of conceptualizing grief as a process which culminates in resolution, because there may never be a full resolution. Though death separates the mourner from the deceased, a relationship with the deceased continues. It is largely agreed that particularly with adults and the more elderly, the bereaved should regain everyday functioning within a two to three year period, but, also, that grief may never come to an end and can still be considered normal. Fulton (1978), produced a model that began to reflect the complicated reality of the grieving process. He put forward that in a high grief situation, three sets of reactions can be delineated: 1. Initial reactions. These can include numbness, shock and disbelief. These reactions could last for days, weeks or even months. 2. Grief tasks. These reactions may include such tasks as dealing with anger, guilt, emptiness, depression, ambivalent relationships and life reviewing. Working through these tasks can take months or years and in some cases can continue indefinitely. 3. Adjusting to the loss and continuing grieving. In addition, this model recognises that the three sets of reactions overlap and can recur and that the mourner could deal with one specific grief task such as resolving excess guilt and then face another grief task months later. Most important, this model recognises that the basic loss does not disappear like a wound that heals in time, but rather that the loss continues like an amputation or dismemberment. Likening grieving to amputation denotes the mourner must continually adapt and adjust to the loss. Although the griever can reach a new everyday functioning status, the loss and its concomitant reactions, for example shadow grief, continue indefinitely. In final conclusion, both the grief and grieving process is complicated and has many variable aspects to how one deals with the bereavement. Probably the most obvious is that the ability to handle bereavement lies in the cognitive developmental stage of the bereaved. This is probably more pronounced within the child and adolescent stages of life due to the aspects already discussed earlier. It is also of note that the elderly are more likely to experience multiple losses, such as the deaths of a spouse, friends, or relatives or the loss of roles, health, or income, over relatively short periods of time. At the same time, many older grievers are quite resilient and exhibit strong and effective coping abilities (Lund, 1989). An aspect of grief that was only briefly touched upon, was that of anticipatory grief. Such would occur during the period of extended terminal illness. Whether this type of grief assists the survivor or not, has not been really established. In some cases it can lea d also to confusion and subsequently, to a dysfunctional grief. In dealing with and assisting the bereaved caregivers need to be aware of the need to adjust their understanding of the grieving process relative to the age, gender and the situation with which the bereaved is finding them selves. Grieving is a complex emotional and active process and there are no simple answers nor are there simple repairs.

The Suppression of the Other and Self-Enlightenment in William Wordsworths Resolution and Independence :: essays research papers

My response to William Wordsworth’s Resolution and Independence focuses upon the precept that Wordsworth’s narrator uses the tale of the Leech Gatherer as a means to achieve ‘resolution’ to his own internal crisis. This is highlighted by, in my opinion, the narrator not so much paying attention to the Leech Gatherer’s tale, yet instead his pre-occupation with what he wants to interpret from the tale in order to satisfy his needs. I further argue that in doing so Wordsworth’s poem constructs the Leech Gatherer as the ‘other’, and that his ‘otherness’ is suppressed by converting him into a mere instrument by which the narrator attains enlightenment. Although my reading of the poem is heavily focused on the encounter between the narrator and the Leech Gatherer, this doesn’t occur until the eighth stanza. The poem starts with the narrator out for a stroll, feeling â€Å"as happy as a boy† marveling at the offerings of nature in the sunshine following a â€Å"roaring in the wind all night.† What struck me from these opening stanzas was the rhyming pattern used throughout the poem. Set in ‘rhyme royal’ I found the meter both inviting and accessible, which made for an entertaining read from the outset. However from this pleasant beginning, quite suddenly and apparently inexplicably during the fourth stanza, the narrator undergoes a violent mood swing: ‘As high as we have mounted in delight/In our dejection do we sink so low;/ To me that morning did it happen so.’ This sudden change left me quite disorientated and perplexed as to cause of his depression. After re-reading the passage and considering it in the context of the entire poem I felt that this mood swing was the reader’s first indication of the narrator’s status as a poet. This notion of a poet’s perspective remained at the foreground of my reading and I felt constantly reminded that the narrator’s subsequent quest for resolution and enlightenment came from the perspective of a poet, not merely an individual. My view of the narrator within this context was not an entirely positive one, as in addition to seeming over-analytical and emotionally fragile – ‘Perplexed and long ing to be comforted’ - I felt he came across as condescending toward the Leach-Gatherer; as if he came from a position of higher moral ground by virtue of his occupation as a poet. Within this context, an observation I found significant was

Juvenile Delinquency Essays -- Youth Crime essays research papers

Juvenile Delinquency There is no doubt that various experts can give us many theories as to the causes of juvenile delinquency, including one's economic background, substance abuse, delinquent peer groups, repeated exposure to violence, increased availability of firearms and media violence. However, I feel that the number one cause of juvenile delinquency is the breakdown of families, including lack of parental control over children. It is ironic in America, today, one must have a driver's license to operate a vehicle, a permit to own a gun and even a license to own a dog, but one does not have to have training or a license in order to become a parent. Without specialized educational programs in child development and parenting, many of our future parents will not have a chance at becoming successful parents and worse, yet, many parents today are already contributing to the ever-increasing problem of juvenile delinquency simply by not knowing how to be parents. Being a parent is a lifelong commitment and new parents must learn parenting skills immediately; they do not have the luxury of internships and often times, mistakes in parenting will have drastic effects on the child. There are many reasons for the widespread crisis in families today. Below are some of those causes: Changes in the Social Environment - there have been many changes in our social environment over the last twenty-five years. These changes have made a risky environment for today's youth. Children and teenagers spend more time with peer groups than ever before. Drugs and deadly weapons are used increasingly as ways to solve problems. Illicit and explicit sexuality and violence are the main subjects of choice in the media; and the impact of media influence has widened and become more vivid with the introduction of computers, video games, portable stereos and MTV. Changes in Family Structure and Functioning - The prevalence of divorce and the increasing number of women in the workplace have reduced the number of adults who provide interaction, structure and supervision in a child's life. Along with this, institutions have not kept pace in providing alternative programs for unsupervised kids. Add to this new parenting expectations that come with single parent and step-parent families and you now have a confusing, often inconsistent and/or unreliable home base for children. Confusion... ... Reference Page 1. Kortege, Carglyn. Parenthood Training Promoted. The Register Guard. Des Moines, IA www.os/c.org/InTheNews/parenthood 2. Child Abuse Prevention Network, "Moral Development and Boys, James Garbarino, PH.D www.child.cornell.edu/npr.violentboys 3. Conseur, Amy, Rivera, Frederick P., Baronski, Robert and Irvin, Emanuel, "Maternal and Perinatal Risk Factors for Later Delinquency." Pediatrics, June, 1997, v. 99, p 785 (6) 4. Berg, Stacie Zoe, "High Praise For Strict Parenting," Insight on the News, Sept. 1, 1997, v 13, n 32, p. 43 (1) 5. Encarta Online Deluxe, Juvenile Crime www.encarta.msn.com/encart 6. Alternatives For Parents Who Have Lost Control www.fbcbaytown.org/parents 7. Boostrom, Ron, "Enduring Issues in Criminology - Opposing Viewpoints," Greenhaven Press, Inc., P.O. Box 289009, San Diego, CA 92198-9009, p. 121-125, 173-174, 180 8. MacKenzie, D.L. 1997, Criminal Justice and Crime Prevention. In Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn't, What Looks Promising (A Report to the United States Congress), eds. L.W. Sherman, D. Gottfredson, D.MacKenzie, J. Eck, P. Reuter and S. Bushway, Washington, D.C. - National Institute of Justice

Hamdi et al. v. Rumsfeld Essay -- Guantanamo Bay Secretary of Defense

Hamdi et al. v. Rumsfeld Hamdi et al. v. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, et al. could prove the undoing of the Bush administration’s legal defense of the abuses at Guantanamo Bay. In this case, four British citizens are suing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as well as a host of Army and Air Force Generals and policy apparatchiks for allegedly authorizing the use of torture in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. The four were captured in Afghanistan, either by Americans or America’s ally, the Northern Alliance, and transported to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where they were held for over two years. Their status there was not as enemy combatant, which guaranteed them certain protections under the Geneva Convention, but rather as unlawful combatants. They were held without being charged of a crime, without legal representation and were never even brought before a military judge until Rasul v. Bush established their Habeas Corpus rights. They were released in March 2004 without being charged. Their suit accused Rumsfeld et al. of false imprisonment and torture. They were allegedly hit with rifle butts, punched, kicked, â€Å"short shackled† in cramped, painful positions and threatened with unmuzzled dogs. Their cells were cold and exposed to the elements, little better than cages and medical care was denied. The plaintiffs contend that this was the result of deliberate and foreseeable action taken by Defendant Rumsfeld to flout or evade the United States Constitution, federal statutory law, United States treaty obligations and long established norms of customary international law. This action was taken in a misconceived and illegal attempt to utilize torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading acts to coerce nonexistent inform... ... Hamdi’s allegations are correct. And the jurisdictional argument has been rejected by the Supreme Court in Rasul v. Rumsfeld. The final part necessary for strong suit against Rumsfeld et al. would be for the Supreme Court to find the conditions in which they were held to be actionable under the Alien Tort Statute. This is the most ambiguous piece in the case. The proof and jurisdiction issues have been dealt with already; the third and final piece will make or break Hamdi’s case. I believe there are actionable causes in this case under the Alien Tort Statute. A close examination of the Founders provides evidence for a liberal (â€Å"expansive† is the pejorative term Scalia uses) interpretation of the statute. With these actionable causes as a capstone to the case, Rumsfled et al. will have to put a spirited defense or risk losing an embarrassing and expensive suit.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner Chapters 3

I frowned. â€Å"How is that a good thing?† â€Å"Keeps him alive, doesn't it? Guess it keeps you alive, too.† I nodded. â€Å"Guess so. Did he say anything about anyone else?† I tried to think of anything strange I'd seen or felt, but Fred was one of a kind. The clowns in the al ey tonight pretending to be superheroes hadn't been doing anything the rest of us couldn't do. â€Å"He talked about Raoul,† Diego said, the corner of his mouth twisting down. â€Å"What skil does Raoul have? Super-stupidity?† Diego snorted. â€Å"Definitely that. But Riley thinks he's got some kind of magnetism – people are drawn to him, they fol ow him.† â€Å"Only the mental y chal enged.† â€Å"Yeah, Riley mentioned that. Didn't seem to be effective on the† – he broke out a decent impression of Riley's voice – â€Å" tamer kids.'† â€Å"Tame?† â€Å"I inferred that he meant people like us, who are able to think occasional y.† I didn't like being cal ed tame. It didn't sound like a good thing when you put it that way. Diego's way sounded better. â€Å"It was like there was a reason Riley needed Raoul to lead – something's coming, I think.† A weird tingle spasmed along my spine when he said that, and I sat up straighter. â€Å"Like what?† â€Å"Do you ever think about why Riley is always after us to keep a low profile?† I hesitated for half a second before answering. This wasn't the line of inquiry I would have expected from Riley's right-hand man. Almost like he was questioning what Riley had told us. Unless Diego was asking this for Riley, like a spy. Finding out what the â€Å"kids† thought of him. But it didn't feel like that. Diego's dark red eyes were open and confiding. And why would Riley care? Maybe the way the others talked about Diego wasn't based on anything real. Just gossip. I answered him truthful y. â€Å"Yeah, actual y I was just thinking about that.† â€Å"We aren't the only vampires in the world,† Diego said solemnly. â€Å"I know. Riley says stuff sometimes. But there can't be too many. I mean, wouldn't we have noticed, before?† Diego nodded. â€Å"That's what I think, too. Which is why it's pretty weird that she keeps making more of us, don't you think? â€Å" I frowned. â€Å"Huh. Because it's not like Riley actual y likes us or anything†¦.† I paused again, waiting to see if he would contradict me. He didn't. He just waited, nodding slightly in agreement, so I continued. â€Å"And she hasn't even introduced herself. You're right. I hadn't looked at it that way. Wel, I hadn't real y thought about it at al . But then, what do they want us for?† Diego raised one eyebrow. â€Å"Wanna hear what I think?† I nodded warily. But my anxiety had nothing to do with him now. â€Å"Like I said, something is coming. I think she wants protection, and she put Riley in charge of creating the front line.† I thought this through, my spine prickling again. â€Å"Why wouldn't they tel us? Shouldn't we be, like, on the lookout or something?† â€Å"That would make sense,† he agreed. We looked at each other in silence for a few long-seeming seconds. I had nothing more, and it didn't look like he did, either. Final y I grimaced and said, â€Å"I don't know if I buy it – the part about Raoul being good for anything, that is.† Diego laughed. â€Å"Hard to argue that one.† Then he glanced out the windows at the dark early morning. â€Å"Out of time. Better head back before we turn into crispies.† â€Å"Ashes, ashes, we al fal down,† I sang under my breath as I got to my feet and col ected my pile. Diego chuckled. We made one more quick stop on our way – hit the empty Target next door for big ziplocks and two backpacks. I doublebagged al my books. Water-damaged pages annoyed me. Then we mostly roof-topped it back to the water. The sky was just faintly starting to gray up in the east. We slipped into the sound right under the noses of two oblivious night watchmen by the big ferry – good thing for them I was ful or they would have been too close for my self-control – and then raced through the murky water back toward Riley's place. At first I didn't know it was a race. I was just swimming fast because the sky was getting lighter. I didn't usual y push the time like this. If I were being honest with myself, I'd pretty much turned into a huge vampire nerd. I fol owed the rules, I didn't cause trouble, I hung out with the most unpopular kid in the group, and I always got home early. But then Diego real y kicked it into gear. He got a few lengths ahead of me, turned back with a smile that said, what, can't you keep up? and then started booking it again. Wel, I wasn't taking that. I couldn't real y remember if I'd been the competitive type before – it al seemed so far away and unimportant – but maybe I was, because I responded right away to the chal enge. Diego was a good swimmer, but I was way stronger, especial y after just feeding. See ya, I mouthed as I passed him, but I wasn't sure he saw. I lost him back in the dark water, and I didn't waste time looking to see by how much I was winning. I just jetted through the sound til I hit the edge of the island where the most recent of our homes was located. The last one had been a big cabin in the middle of Snowvil e-Nowhere on the side of some mountain in the Cascades. Like the last one, this house was remote, had a big basement, and had recently deceased owners. I raced up onto the shal ow stony beach and then dug my fingers into the sandstone bluff and flew up. I heard Diego come out of the water just as I gripped the trunk of an overhanging pine and flipped myself over the cliff edge. Two things caught my attention as I landed gently on the bal s of my feet. One: it was real y light out. Two: the house was gone. Wel, not entirely gone. Some of it was stil visible, but the space the house had once occupied was empty. The roof had col apsed into ragged, angular wooden lace, charred black, sagging lower than the front door had been. The sun was rising fast. The black pine trees were showing hints of evergreen. Soon the paler tips would stand out against the dark, and at about that point I would be dead. Or really dead, or whatever. This second thirsty, superhero life would go up in a sudden burst of flames. And I could only imagine that the burst would be very, very painful. This wasn't the first time I'd seen our house destroyed – with al the fights and fires in the basements, most of them lasted only a few weeks – but it was the first time I'd come across the scene of destruction with the first faint rays of sunlight threatening. I sucked in a gasp of shock as Diego landed beside me. â€Å"Maybe burrow under the roof?† I whispered. â€Å"Would that be safe enough or – ?† â€Å"Don't freak out, Bree,† Diego said, sounding too calm. â€Å"I know a place. C'mon.† He did a very graceful backflip off the bluff edge. I didn't think the water would be enough of a filter to block the sun. But maybe we couldn't burn if we were submerged? It seemed like a real y poor plan to me. However, instead of tunneling under the burned-out hul of the wrecked house, I dove off the cliff behind him. I wasn't sure of my reasoning, which was a strange feeling. Usual y I did what I always did – fol owed the routine, did what made sense. I caught up to Diego in the water. He was racing again, but with no nonsense this time. Racing the sun. He whipped around a point on the little island and then dove deep. I was surprised he didn't hit the rocky floor of the sound, and more surprised when I could feel the blast of warmer current flowing from what I had thought was no more than an outcropping of rock. Smart of Diego to have a place like this. Sure, it wasn't going to be fun to sit in an underwater cavern al day – not breathing started to irritate after a few hours – but it was better than exploding into ashes. I should have been thinking like Diego was. Thinking about something other than blood, that is. I should have been prepared for the unexpected. Diego kept going through a narrow crevice in the rocks. It was black as ink in here. Safe. I couldn't swim anymore – the space was too tight – so I scrambled through like Diego, climbing through the twisting space. I kept waiting for him to stop, but he didn't. Suddenly I realized that we real y were going up. And then I heard Diego hit the surface. I was out a half second after he was. The cave was no more than a smal hole, a burrow about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, though not as tal as that. A second crawl space led out the back, and I could taste the fresh air coming from that direction. I could see the shape of Diego's fingers repeated again and again in the texture of the limestone wal s. â€Å"Nice place,† I said. Diego smiled. â€Å"Better than Freaky Fred's backside.† â€Å"I can't argue with that. Um. Thanks.† â€Å"You're welcome.† We looked at each other in the dark for a minute. His face was smooth and calm. With anyone else, Kevin or Kristie or any of the others, this would have been terrifying – the constricted space, the forced closeness. The way I could smel his scent on every side of me. That could have meant a quick and painful death at any second. But Diego was so composed. Not like anyone else. â€Å"How old are you?† he asked abruptly. â€Å"Three months. I told you that.† â€Å"That's not what I meant. Um, how old were you? I guess that's the right way to ask.† I leaned away, uncomfortable, when I realized he was talking about human stuff. Nobody talked about that. Nobody wanted to think about it. But I didn't want to end the conversation, either. Just having a conversation at al was something new and different. I hesitated, and he waited with a curious expression. â€Å"I was, um, I guess fifteen. Almost sixteen. I can't remember the day†¦ was I past my birthday?† I tried to think about it, but those last hungry weeks were a big blur, and it hurt my head in a weird way to try to clear them up. I shook my head, let it go. â€Å"How about you?† â€Å"I was just past my eighteenth,† Diego said. â€Å"So close.† â€Å"Close to what?† â€Å"Getting out,† he said, but he didn't continue. There was an awkward silence for a minute, and then he changed the subject. â€Å"You've done real y wel since you got here,† he said, his eyes sweeping across my crossed arms, my folded legs. â€Å"You've survived – avoided the wrong kind of attention, kept intact.† I shrugged and then yanked my left t-shirt sleeve up to my shoulder so he could see the thin, ragged line that circled my arm. â€Å"Got this ripped off once,† I admitted. â€Å"Got it back before Jen could toast it. Riley showed me how to put it back on.† Diego smiled wryly and touched his right knee with one finger. His dark jeans covered the scar that must have been there. â€Å"It happens to everybody.† â€Å"Ouch,† I said. He nodded. â€Å"Seriously. But like I was saying before, you're a pretty decent vampire.† â€Å"Am I supposed to say thanks?† â€Å"I'm just thinking out loud, trying to make sense of things.† â€Å"What things?†