Willy Russells Our Day Out Essay -- Willy Russell Our Day Out Essays

Willy Russell's "Our Day Out" Willy Russell has written many plays over the last thirty years, but there is one feature that is common to all of them: the issue of social and cultural background. This is the situation of the characters; their surroundings; their class; the society in which they are brought up, and the culture of that society. It is this that can lead to the behaviour, feelings, opinions and general outlook of the characters. Russell explores the effects that society and culture can have on people in all his plays, but in none is it so poignant as in 'Our Day Out', the story of what happens when Mrs Kay takes her Progress class out of inner-city Liverpool on a school trip to Conwy Castle, Wales. Throughout 'Our Day Out' the issue of social and cultural background is ever-present, but it is discussed and conveyed in many different forms; the colloquial dialect Russell uses; the symbolism that is featured; the behaviour and attitudes of the children; the way that people react to these children, and the insights we get into their family lives. Willy Russell himself said that he writes for the theatre because 'it's concerned with the spoken rather than the written word'. In 'Our Day Out' we see the importance of the spoken word through the language that the children use. Having grown up and taught at a Comprehensive school in Liverpool, Russell knows the Liverpudlian dialect perfectly, and he uses his knowledge to give a truly representative feel to the play. The children use words such as 'agh'ey', 'ooer', and 'nott'n', and the authentic language that the children use help to make the play feel more real. Because Russell writes the words as they would be spoken in a Liverpudlian acce... ...ry isn't. The poignancy and intensity of the play is somewhat masked in places by the comedy, but we do catch glimpses of the hopeless, desperate situation these children are facing. As Mrs Kay says, 'Ten years ago you could teach them to stand in a line, you could teach them to obey, to expect little more than a lousy factory job. But now they haven't even got that to aim for. There's nothing for them to do, any of them; most of them were born for factory fodder, but the factories have closed down.' Throughout the play this is the underlying tone, and the subtle way that Russell conveys this message heightens the effect when it comes. This day out is simply an oasis; one day of fun out of their whole lives, and at the end of it we see how the glimmer of something bright and beautiful makes it all the harder to turn your eyes back to the grey and mundane.

Conflict Theory

The several social theories that emphasize social conflict have roots in the ideas of Karl Marx (1818-1883), the great German theorist and political activist. The Marxist, conflict approach emphasizes a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical method of analysis, a critical stance toward existing social arrangements, and a political program of revolution or, at least, reform. Marx summarized the key elements of this materialist view of history as follows: In the social production of their existence, men inevitably enter into definite relations, which are independent of their will, namely relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production. The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness (Marx 1971:20). Marx divided history into several stages, conforming to broad patterns in the economic structure of society. The most important stages for Marx's argument were feudalism, capitalism, and socialism. The bulk of Marx's writing is concerned with applying the materialist model of society to capitalism, the stage of economic and social development that Marx saw as dominant in 19th century Europe. For Marx, the central institution of capitalist society is private property, the system by which capital (that is, money, machines, tools, factories, and other material objects used in production) is controlled by a small minority of the population. This arrangement leads to two opposed classes, the owners of capital (called the bourgeoisie) and the workers (called the proletariat), whose only property is their own labor time, which they have to sell to the capitalists. Economic exploitation leads directly to political oppression, as owners make use of their economic power to gain control of the state and turn it into a servant of bourgeois economic interests. Police power, for instance, is used to enforce property rights and guarantee unfair contracts between capitalist and worker. Oppression also takes more subtle forms: religion serves capitalist interests by pacifying the population; intellectuals, paid directly or indirectly by capitalists, spend their careers justifying and rationalizing the existing social and economic arrangements. In sum, the economic structure of society molds the superstructure, including ideas (e. g. , morality, ideologies, art, and literature) and the social institutions that support the class structure of society (e. g. , the state, the educational system, the family, and religious institutions). Because the dominant or ruling class (the bourgeoisie) controls the social relations of production, the dominant ideology in capitalist society is that of the ruling class. Ideology and social institutions, in turn, serve to reproduce and perpetuate the economic class structure. Thus, Marx viewed the exploitative economic arrangements of capitalism as the real foundation upon which the superstructure of social, political, and intellectual consciousness is built. (Figure 1 depicts this model of historical materialism. Marx's view of history might seem completely cynical or pessimistic, were it not for the possibilities of change revealed by his method of dialectical analysis. (The Marxist dialectical method, based on Hegel's earlier idealistic dialectic, focuses attention on how an existing social arrangement, or thesis, generates its social opposite, or antithesis, and on how a qualitatively different social form, or synthesis, emerges from the resulting struggle. ) Marx was an optim ist. He believed that any stage of history based on exploitative economic arrangements generated within itself the seeds of its own destruction. For instance, feudalism, in which land owners exploited the peasantry, gave rise to a class of town-dwelling merchants, whose dedication to making profits eventually led to the bourgeois revolution and the modern capitalist era. Similarly, the class relations of capitalism will lead inevitably to the next stage, socialism. The class relations of capitalism embody a contradiction: capitalists need workers, and vice versa, but the economic interests of the two groups are fundamentally at odds. Such contradictions mean inherent conflict and instability, the class struggle. Adding to the instability of the capitalist system are the inescapable needs for ever-wider markets and ever-greater investments in capital to maintain the profits of capitalists. Marx expected that the resulting economic cycles of expansion and contraction, together with tensions that will build as the working class gains greater understanding of its exploited position (and thus attains class consciousness), will eventually culminate in a socialist revolution. Despite this sense of the unalterable logic of history, Marxists see the need for social criticism and for political activity to speed the arrival of socialism, which, not being based on private property, is not expected to involve as many contradictions and conflicts as capitalism. Marxists believe that social theory and political practice are dialectically intertwined, with theory enhanced by political involvement and with political practice necessarily guided by theory. Intellectuals ought, therefore, to engage in praxis, to combine political criticism and political activity. Theory itself is seen as necessarily critical and value-laden, since the prevailing social relations are based upon alienating and dehumanizing exploitation of the labor of the working classes. Marx's ideas have been applied and reinterpreted by scholars for over a hundred years, starting with Marx's close friend and collaborator, Friedrich Engels (1825-95), who supported Marx and his family for many years from the profits of the textile factories founded by Engels' father, while Marx shut himself away in the library of the British Museum. Later, Vladimir I. Lenin (1870-1924), leader of the Russian revolution, made several influential contributions to Marxist theory. In recent years Marxist theory has taken a great variety of forms, notably the world-systems theory proposed by Immanuel Wallerstein (1974, 1980) and the comparative theory of revolutions put forward by Theda Skocpol (1980). Marxist ideas have also served as a starting point for many of the modern feminist theorists. Despite these applications, Marxism of any variety is still a minority position among American sociologists. Functionalism is the oldest, and still the dominant, theoretical perspective in sociology and many other social sciences. This perspective is built upon twin emphases: application of the scientific method to the objective social world and use of an analogy between the individual organism and society. The emphasis on scientific method leads to the assertion that one can study the social world in the same ways as one studies the physical world. Thus, Functionalists see the social world as â€Å"objectively real,† as observable with such techniques as social surveys and interviews. Furthermore, their positivistic view of social science assumes that study of the social world can be value-free, in that the investigator's values will not necessarily interfere with the disinterested search for social laws governing the behavior of social systems. Many of these ideas go back to Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), the great French sociologist whose writings form the basis for functionalist theory (see Durkheim 1915, 1964); Durkheim was himself one of the first sociologists to make use of scientific and statistical techniques in sociological research (1951). The second emphasis, on the organic unity of society, leads functionalists to speculate about needs which must be met for a social system to exist, as well as the ways in which social institutions satisfy those needs. A functionalist might argue, for instance, that every society will have a religion, because religious institutions have certain functions which contribute to the survival of the social system as a whole, just as the organs of the body have functions which are necessary for the body's survival. Functionalist theories have very often been criticized as teleological, that is, reversing the usual order of cause and effect by explaining things in terms of what happens afterward, not what went before. A strict functionalist might explain certain religious practices, for instance, as being functional by contributing to a society's survival; however, such religious traditions will usually have been firmly established long before the question is finally settled of whether the society as a whole will actually survive. Bowing to this kind of criticism of the basic logic of functionalist theory, most current sociologists have stopped using any explicitly functionalistic explanations of social phenomena, and the extreme version of functionalism expounded by Talcott Parsons has gone out of fashion. Nevertheless, many sociologists continue to expect that by careful, objective scrutiny of social phenomena they will eventually be able to discover the general laws of social behavior, and this hope still serves as the motivation for a great deal of sociological thinking and research. RATIONAL CHOICE AND EXCHANGE THEORY {text:bookmark-start} {text:bookmark-end} SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM Symbolic interactionism, or interactionism for short, is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology. This perspective has a long intellectual history, beginning with the German sociologist and economist, Max Weber (1864-1920) and the American philosopher, George H. Mead (1863-1931), both of whom emphasized the subjective meaning of human behavior, the social process, and pragmatism. Although there are a number of versions of interactionist thought, some deriving from phenomenological writings by philosophers, the following description offers a simplified amalgamation of these ideas, concentrating on points of convergence. Herbert Blumer, who studied with Mead at the University of Chicago, is responsible for coining the term, â€Å"symbolic interactionism,† as well as for formulating the most prominent version of the theory (Blumer 1969). Interactionists focus on the subjective aspects of social life, rather than on objective, macro-structural aspects of social systems. One reason for this focus is that interactionists base their theoretical perspective on their image of humans, rather than on their image of society (as the functionalists do). For interactionists, humans are pragmatic actors who continually must adjust their behavior to the actions of other actors. We can adjust to these actions only because we are able to interpret them, i. e. , to denote them symbolically and treat the actions and those who perform them as symbolic objects. This process of adjustment is aided by our ability to imaginatively rehearse alternative lines of action before we act. The process is further aided by our ability to think about and to react to our own actions and even our selves as symbolic objects. Thus, the interactionist theorist sees humans as active, creative participants who construct their social world, not as passive, conforming objects of socialization. For the interactionist, society consists of organized and patterned interactions among individuals. Thus, research by interactionists focuses on easily observable face-to-face interactions rather than on macro-level structural relationships involving social institutions. Furthermore, this focus on interaction and on the meaning of events to the participants in those events (the definition of the situation) shifts the attention of interactionists away from stable norms and values toward more changeable, continually readjusting social processes. Whereas for functionalists socialization creates stability in the social system, for interactionists negotiation among members of society creates temporary, socially constructed relations which remain in constant flux, despite relative stability in the basic framework governing those relations. These emphases on symbols, negotiated reality, and the social construction of society lead to an interest in the roles people play. Erving Goffman (1958), a prominent social theorist in this tradition, discusses roles dramaturgically, using an analogy to the theater, with human social behavior seen as more or less well scripted and with humans as role-taking actors. Role-taking is a key mechanism of interaction, for it permits us to take the other's perspective, to see what our actions might mean to the other actors with whom we interact. At other times, interactionists emphasize the improvisational quality of roles, with human social behavior seen as poorly scripted and with humans as role-making improvisers. Role-making, too, is a key mechanism of interaction, for all situations and roles are inherently ambiguous, thus requiring us to create those situations and roles to some extent before we can act. Interactionists tend to study social interaction through participant observation, rather than surveys and interviews. They argue that close contact and immersion in the everyday lives of the participants is necessary for understanding the meaning of actions, the definition of the situation itself, and the process by which actors construct the situation through their interaction. Given this close contact, interactionists could hardly remain free of value commitments, and, in fact, interactionists make explicit use of their values in choosing what to study but strive to be objective in the conduct of their research. Symbolic interactionists are often criticized by other sociologists for being overly impressionistic in their research methods and somewhat unsystematic in their theories. These objections, combined with the fairly narrow focus of interactionist research on small-group interactions and other social psychological issues, have relegated the interactionist camp to a minority position among sociologists, although a fairly substantial minority. Bureaucratic Form According to Max Weber — His Six Major Principles Before covering Weber's Six Major Principles, I want to describe the various multiple meanings of the word â€Å"bureaucracy. A group of workers (for example, civil service employees of the U. S. government), is referred to as â€Å"the bureaucracy. † An example: â€Å"The threat of Gramm-Rudman-Hollings cuts has the bureaucracy in Washington deeply concerned. † Bureaucracy is the name of an organizational form used by sociologists and organizational design pr ofessionals. Bureaucracy has an informal usage, as in â€Å"there's too much bureaucracy where I work. † This informal usage describes a set of characteristics or attributes such as â€Å"red tape† or â€Å"inflexibility† that frustrate people who deal with or who work for organizations they perceive as â€Å"bureaucratic. Weber noted six major principles. 1. A formal hierarchical structure Each level controls the level below and is controlled by the level above. A formal hierarchy is the basis of central planning and centralized decision making. 2. Management by rules Controlling by rules allows decisions made at high levels to be executed consistently by all lower levels. 3. Organization by functional specialty Work is to be done by specialists, and people are organized into units based on the type of work they do or skills they have. 4. An â€Å"up-focused† or â€Å"in-focused† mission If the mission is described as â€Å"up-focused,† then the organization's purpose is to serve the stockholders, the board, or whatever agency empowered it. If the mission is to serve the organization itself, and those within it, e. g. , to produce high profits, to gain market share, or to produce a cash stream, then the mission is described as â€Å"in-focused. † 5. Purposely impersonal The idea is to treat all employees equally and customers equally, and not be influenced by individual differences. . Employment based on technical qualifications (There may also be protection from arbitrary dismissal. ) The bureaucratic form, according to Parkinson, has another attribute. 7. Predisposition to grow in staff â€Å"above the line. † Weber failed to notice this, but C. Northcote Parkinson found it so common that he made it the basis of his humorous â€Å"Parkinson's law. † Parkinson demonstrated th at the management and professional staff tends to grow at predictable rates, almost without regard to what the line organization is doing. The bureaucratic form is so common that most people accept it as the normal way of organizing almost any endeavor. People in bureaucratic organizations generally blame the ugly side effects of bureaucracy on management, or the founders, or the owners, without awareness that the real cause is the organizing form. Iron cage is a sociological concept introduced by Max Weber. Iron cage refers to the increasing rationalization of human life, which traps individuals in an â€Å"iron cage† of rule-based, rational control. He also called such over-bureaucratized social order â€Å"the polar night of icy darkness†. The original German term is stahlhartes Gehause; this was translated into ‘iron cage', an expression made familiar to English language speakers by Talcott Parsons in his 1958 translation of Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Recently some sociologists have questioned this translation, arguing that the correct term should be ‘shell as hard as steel' and that the difference from the original translation is significant. A more literal translation from German would be â€Å"steel-hard housing. Weber wrote: â€Å"In Baxter’s view the care for external goods should only lie on the shoulders of the ‘saint like a light cloak, which can be thrown aside at any moment. ‘ But fate decreed that the cloak should become an iron cage. † Weber became concerned with social actions and the subjective meaning that humans attach to their action s and interaction within specific social contexts. He also believed in idealism, which is the belief that we only know things because of the meanings that we apply to them. This led to his interest in power and authority in terms of bureaucracy and rationalization

The Outsiders

The Outsiders by S. E Hinton, the author argues that heroism defines a person by their actions not by their background, history, or looks. The events at the church, the incidents that happened before the church and the aftermath all show the changes that happened over time that would eventually negate Ponyboys history and background and regard him as a hero.There are different points of heroism in the story and different forms of eroism in the story but for now we are going to look at the most important three, Cherry acting as a spy, Ponyboy rescuing the kids and what he was defined by before he was a hero. Ponyboy is very much defined as a hero after the events that happened at the church in which he rescued all those kids from death by grabbing them out of the burning church. He did out of courage and kindness and was praised as a hero for it. â€Å"Mrs.O'briant and I think you were sent straight from heaven. Or are you Just professional heroes or something? Sent from heaven? Had he gotten a good look at Dallas? â€Å"No were greasers† I said. I was too worried and scared to appreciate the fact that he was trying to be funny. mfou're what? † â€Å"Greasers you know like hoods, ID's. Johnny is wanted for murder, and Dallas has a record with the fuzz a mile long. â€Å"(95). The quote present here relates to the theme and explains the ambulance driver overlooking his past and still appreciating him as a hero.The author is putting emphasis on the heroism in the quote and that no matter what background heroes ome from, they are looked upon for their actions and the same applied for Ponyboy and what he did for those kids. The reason that he was looked upon as a hero was because of his actions, but what was he defined as before the church? He was a greaser, Just your average every day greaser who was looked upon as a hood, a thief, and Juvenile delinquent to society. â€Å"It was my pride. It was long and silky, Just like sodas only a little bit re dder.Our hair was tuff – we didn't have to use much grease on it. Our hair labeled us greasers too – it was our trademark. The one thing we were proud of. Maybe we couldn't corvairs or madras shirts, but we could have hair. † Ponyboys pride was his hair and that's what he considered himself to be defined by. It was a painful change for him to make when he had to cut it off. When Johnny told ponyboy that he is going to cut their hair ponyboy replied by stating the previous quote. Ponyboy could have been defined as a hero before the events at the church in a different way and from a different perspective.He could be a hero in Johnnys eyes or sticking with him ever since he killed the Socs Bob to him lying in his death bed. He is a hero for standing by his friends through the good and the bad. Although Ponyboy is the most notable hero in the story there are others who did other things such as Cherry acting as a spy for the Greases and giving them info. In the end al l of the different stories of heroism in the story all relate back to the main theme heroism is defined by your actions not by your background, history, or looks. The Outsiders By Pancakewaffe The Outsiders Search for Self Conflict arises between two incomparable social groups, resulting in tragic deaths. In the novel The Outsiders by S. E Hint, two separate gangs, the Soc and Greasers, are at constant contention. The Outsiders takes place In Oklahoma, the sass's. Hint uses the character, Pony Curtis to explain why It doesn't matter what social position you are In. The message she Is trying to get across to the readers Is you are your own person, and you don't have to be classified as anyone else but yourself.Throughout the novel Pony becomes more sophisticated, by learning to reaffirm is own values and sense of self. He progressively matures through the course of the novel in many different ways by experiencing things he would have never imagined going through. Pony never admired the girls that were Greasers but one night he found the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately, she was a Soc and she had different standards for her romantic companion. Pony knows his position in society but that never held him back from falling for the delectable Cherry Valance.Heartbreaking for him, she was more of the girl to fall for â€Å"bad-boys† unlike Pony. It wasn't Johnny's fault Bob was a booze-hound and Cherry went for boys bound for By the end of the novel, Pony finally comes to the realization of thinking of Cherry as more of a friend, rather than having romantic affections for her. He shows sensitivity and understanding by appreciating their differences and accepting her feelings towards him. A second way Pony has changed is by learning the consequences of his own mistakes and wrong doings.After Running away was always Pony supreme speculation on finding a place he felt acknowledgment, â€Å"Come on, Johnny, we're running )After coming home late, his older protective brother Dairy, who has taken over responsibility of Pony and Soda after their parents passed away, is very furious with him. As a result of his outrage, he ends up hitting Pony. Devastated, Pony runs away , and relies on one of the gang members to keep him up to date on what Is going on. He Is then stuck In an abandoned church starving for news to come from his confidant.As a result of his actions, Pony learns how big of an Impact his family and friends have n him. The biggest impact that changed Pony throughout the novel was the realization of his brother's feelings towards him. In the beginning of the novel, Pony is rebellious against his oldest brother Dairy, â€Å"Me and Dairy just didn't dig each other. â€Å"(p. 13)He felt like Dairy was only out to get after him, and that Pony was never exceptional enough. Even though Dairy is stricter than their parents, he was only trying to make the best of Pony, which he came to realize at the end. Dairy did care about me, maybe as much as he cared about Soda, and because he eared he was trying too hard to make something of me. â€Å"(p. 98)After trying to block Dairy out, Pony finally figured it out for himself after seeing the agony h e has put Dairy through.

Planning for and implementation of information technology in civilian and military organizations

Planning for and implementation of information technology in civilian and military organizations Introduction An organization refers to a group of people who form a social unit that is structured and managed systematically with the aim of achieving a given objective. Military teams and civilian arrangements such as business institutions are examples of organizations. Though management structures is believed have originated from the military system of command, the military and civilian organizations have of late taken different dimensions with the later developing more liberalized approaches to implementing its policies.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Planning for and implementation of information technology in civilian and military organizations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This paper seeks to discuss whether or not the two types of organizations should adopt similar organizational competencies with respect to technology. The paper will look into systems in the two organizational types to identif y similarities or differences to determine the argument. Management in Military and Civil Organization Though the military is always perceived to be a purely hierarchical system with chains of command that must be adhered to, there have been calls from experts and leaders in the military departments for a liberalization of the chains in the organizations. In the year 2001, for example, the United States’ secretary of defense made a call to the office of the president concerning a threat that had been identified in the department of defense. The threat was about the system of administration that was realized in the military. After the information was passed, a number of changes were realized in the country’s military departments such as the â€Å"supply chain system, harness information technology and cut costs by adopting practices from the corporate world† (Managing, 2003, p. 1). The perception that might be held by either the military or the corporate world th at one is more efficient than the other might not be necessarily true. While the military view the cooperate world as more efficient, there are a lot of things that managers in business organizations ought to learn from the military. He also explains that business organizations ought to identify the â€Å"lessons that have been learnt over decades in the military† (Managing, 2003, p. 1). The military is actually designed more like the business world structure. Just as the supply of goods and services are critical to the lives and well being of consumers in the economic set up, is the military provision a necessity to the lives of soldiers in the field. The two organizations are even almost similar in their supply chains. The supply chain foreword direction flow is a similarity in the two organizations with military equipments being transferred along steps of a chain all the way to the final ground soldier just like inventory is transferred through stages until its finished fo rm is delivered to the final consumer.Advertising Looking for critical writing on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The United States’ military actually runs commercial operations that generate a large amount of money from â€Å"sales and services† (Managing, 2003). The military has also been adopting approaches used in the corporate world. Employment of academicians into systems for guidance and research is one of the lessons that have been learnt by the military from the corporate bodies. Technologies such as in information systems have also been adopted by the United States’ military which at one time became the country leader in information technology. The pentagon’s implementation of â€Å"Customer Relations Management, Supplier Management and Enterprise Resource Planning systems† (Managing, 2003, p. 1) and the use of retailer’s functionality systems i n military provisionary chain is also a reflection of developed similarity in the two organizations (Managing, 2003). In what showed compatibility of methods in the two organizations, the American military also formed a committee in the year 2001 that was purely composed of chief executives from the corporate world to help the military in understanding techniques of gaining efficiencies. It is also reported that almost all techniques that have been developed by the military have received adoption by the corporate world (Managing, 2003). As Price David (2008) recounted, there are a number of business management structures that have been adopted by the military. The military, for example, has financial managers who are useful in decision making regarding resource allocations. Business management concepts such as efficiency and cost effectiveness in relation to managing resources that are in most cases scarce, even in military environments have been essentials in the military. Like in business systems, the military’s top administration is also characterized by an extensive level of â€Å"Planning, Programming, and Budgeting† (Price, 2008, p. 1) that helps in the effective utilization of resources for the attainment of military objectives (Price, 2008). Features such as monitoring and evaluation have at the same time become common in the two organizational systems. Another similarity in the two systems is the power that is vested on the capital supplier to the systems. Just as business organizations aim at making decisions in the interest of share holders, the military’s decisions are aimed at satisfying the interest of tax payers (Price, 2008). Conclusion Following the discussion, it is evident that the military and the corporate world share a lot of things in common. It is also evident that concepts that have over time been identified by one party have in the end have been adopted by the other. Due to similarities identified in their systems and operations, it can be concluded that planning for and implementation of information technology in the two systems require similar organizational competence.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Planning for and implementation of information technology in civilian and military organizations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More References Managing. (2003). Managing Supply Chains: What the Military Can Teach Business (and Vice Versa). Retrieved from: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/managing-supply-chains-what-the-military-can-teach-business-and-vice-versa/ Price, D. E. (2004). Organizing for expeditionary operations? Transforming headquarters financial management into the commanders A-8 staff. Air Force Comptroller, July. Web.

Free Essays on Socio-Political Symbolism In “The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz”

Socio-Political Symbolism in â€Å"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz† By Heather R. Posey The Wizard of Oz has long been considered an imaginative children’s tale of fantasy, but many have read into it a symbolism which goes beyond a simple fun and exciting story filled with witches, wizards, and other fairy tale creatures. The possibility of a greater depth to the work was opened to the public eye in 1964 when Henry M. Littlefield’s â€Å"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: A Parable on Populism† was published in the American Quarterly. Wrought by Lyman Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was first published in 1900. The work is an adept reflection of the political and socio-economic setting in turn-of-the-century America. Written at a time when things such as droughts, a harsh winter, grasshoppers and economical factors were devastating Western farmers, industrial workers were oppressed, a time of debating over monetary security in either silver of gold, a time of disillusionment for the common man of America, when Romantic idealism was in a hopeless decline, The Wizard of Oz begins set on a monochromatic and desolate farmhouse of the great prairies of Kansas. Dorothy dwells in a hopeless environment surrounded by hopeless people. Kansas and its’ people represent the distressed and neglected farming communities and the hopeless common man of turn-of-the-century America. It is suggested that Dorothy, who bravely and strongly lead her traveling companions through their trials to the Emerald City and ultimately to the discovery that they already possessed the things they sought, represents Mary Lease, Kansas firebrand quoted as suggesting that farmers raise less corn and more hell. It has been s aid as well that Dorothy’s little black dog, Toto, represents the prohibitionist teetotalers, who were a part of the populist silverite movement. The two heroes are suddenly wrenched from their dry but familiar surroundings by a tor... Free Essays on Socio-Political Symbolism In â€Å"The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz† Free Essays on Socio-Political Symbolism In â€Å"The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz† Socio-Political Symbolism in â€Å"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz† By Heather R. Posey The Wizard of Oz has long been considered an imaginative children’s tale of fantasy, but many have read into it a symbolism which goes beyond a simple fun and exciting story filled with witches, wizards, and other fairy tale creatures. The possibility of a greater depth to the work was opened to the public eye in 1964 when Henry M. Littlefield’s â€Å"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: A Parable on Populism† was published in the American Quarterly. Wrought by Lyman Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was first published in 1900. The work is an adept reflection of the political and socio-economic setting in turn-of-the-century America. Written at a time when things such as droughts, a harsh winter, grasshoppers and economical factors were devastating Western farmers, industrial workers were oppressed, a time of debating over monetary security in either silver of gold, a time of disillusionment for the common man of America, when Romantic idealism was in a hopeless decline, The Wizard of Oz begins set on a monochromatic and desolate farmhouse of the great prairies of Kansas. Dorothy dwells in a hopeless environment surrounded by hopeless people. Kansas and its’ people represent the distressed and neglected farming communities and the hopeless common man of turn-of-the-century America. It is suggested that Dorothy, who bravely and strongly lead her traveling companions through their trials to the Emerald City and ultimately to the discovery that they already possessed the things they sought, represents Mary Lease, Kansas firebrand quoted as suggesting that farmers raise less corn and more hell. It has been s aid as well that Dorothy’s little black dog, Toto, represents the prohibitionist teetotalers, who were a part of the populist silverite movement. The two heroes are suddenly wrenched from their dry but familiar surroundings by a tor...

Sea Turtle Facts

Sea Turtle Facts Sea turtles are water-inhabiting reptiles, six species of which belong to the Cheloniidae  family and one to the Dermochelyidae  family. These glorious seaborne relatives of land turtles glide through the coastal and deepwater regions of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. Long-lived creatures, it can take 30 years for a sea turtle to mature sexually. Fast Facts: Sea Turtles Scientific Name: Dermochelys coriacea, Chelonia mydas, Caretta caretta, Eretmochelys imbricate, Lepidochelys kempii, Lepidochelys olivacea, and Natator depressusCommon Names: Leatherback, green, loggerhead, hawksbill, Kemp’s ridley, olive ridley, flatbackBasic Animal Group: ReptileSize: 2–6 feet long  Weight: 100–2,000 poundsLifespan: 70–80 yearsDiet:  Carnivore, Herbivore, OmnivoreHabitat: Temperate, tropical, subtropical waters of the worlds oceansConservation Status: Critically Endangered (hawksbill, Kemps ridley); Endangered (green); Vulnerable (loggerhead, olive ridley, and leatherback); Data Deficient (flatback) Description Sea turtles are animals in the Class Reptilia, meaning they are reptiles. Reptiles are ectothermic (commonly referred to as cold-blooded), lay eggs, have scales (or did have them, at some point in their evolutionary history), breathe through lungs, and have a three or four-chambered heart. Sea turtles have a carapace  or upper shell that is streamlined to help in swimming and a lower shell, called a plastron. In all but one species, the carapace is covered in hard scutes. Unlike land turtles, sea turtles cannot retreat into their shell. They also have paddle-like flippers. While their flippers are great for propelling them through the water, they are poorly-suited for walking on land. They also breathe air, so a sea turtle must come to the water surface when it needs to do so, which can leave them vulnerable to boats.   Westend61 - Gerald Nowak/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images Species There are seven species of sea turtles. Six of them (the hawksbill, green, flatback, loggerhead, Kemps ridley, and olive ridley turtles) have shells made up of hard scutes, while the aptly-named leatherback turtle is in the Family Dermochelyidae and has a leathery carapace made up of connective tissue. Sea turtles range in size from about two to six feet long, depending on the species, and weigh between 100 and 2,000 pounds. The Kemps ridley turtle is the smallest, and the leatherback is the largest. The green and olive ridley sea turtles reside in tropical and subtropical waters around the globe. Leatherbacks nest on tropical beaches but migrate northward to Canada; loggerhead and hawksbill turtles live in temperate and tropical waters in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. Kemps ridley turtles hang out along the coasts of the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, and flatbacks are found only near the Australian coast. Diet Most of the turtles are carnivorous, but each has adapted to specific prey. Loggerheads prefer fish, jellyfish, and hard-shelled lobsters and crustaceans. Leatherbacks feed on jellyfish, salps, crustaceans, squid, and urchins; hawksbills use their bird-like beak to feed on soft corals, anemones and sea sponges. Flatbacks dine on squid, sea cucumbers, soft corals, and mollusks. Green turtles are carnivorous when young but are herbivores as adults, eating seaweeds and seagrass. Kemps ridley turtles prefer crabs, and olive ridleys are omnivorous, preferring a diet of jellyfish, snails, crabs, and shrimp but also snacking on algae and seaweed. Behavior Sea turtles may migrate long distances between feeding and nesting grounds and also stay in warmer waters when the seasons change. One leatherback turtle was tracked for over 12,000 miles as it traveled from Indonesia to Oregon, and loggerheads may migrate between Japan and Baja, California. Young turtles may also spend considerable amounts of time traveling between the time they are hatched and the time they return to their nesting/mating grounds, according to ​long-term research. It takes most sea turtle species a long time to mature and consequently, these animals live a long time. Estimates for the lifespan of sea turtles is 70–80 years. Reproduction and Offspring All sea turtles (and all turtles) lay eggs, so they are oviparous. Sea turtles hatch from eggs on shore​ and then spend several years out at sea. It may take 5 to 35 years for them to become sexually mature, depending on the species. At this point, males and females migrate to breeding grounds, which are often near nesting areas. Males and females mate offshore, and females travel to nesting areas to lay their eggs. Amazingly, females return to the same beach where they were born to lay their eggs, even though it may be 30 years later and the appearance of the beach may have greatly changed. The female crawls up on the beach, digs a pit for her body with her flippers (which can be more than a foot deep for some species), and then digs a nest for the eggs with her hind flippers. She then lays her eggs, covers her nest with the hind flippers and packs the sand down, then heads for the ocean. A turtle may lay several clutches of eggs during the nesting season. Sea turtle eggs need to incubate for 45 to 70 days before they hatch. The length of incubation time is affected by the temperature of the sand in which the eggs are laid. Eggs hatch more quickly if the temperature of the nest is warm. So if eggs are laid in a sunny spot and there is limited rain, they may hatch in 45 days, while eggs laid in a shady spot or in cooler weather will take longer to hatch. Temperature also determines the gender of the hatchling. Cooler temperatures favor the development of more males, and warmer temperatures favor the development of more females (think of the potential implications of global warming!). Interestingly, even the position of the egg in the nest could affect the gender of the hatchling. The center of the nest is warmer, therefore eggs in the center are more likely to hatch females, while eggs on the outside are more likely to hatch males. Carmen M/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 3.0 Evolutionary History Sea turtles have been around for a long time in evolutionary history. The first turtle-like animals are thought to have lived about 260 million years ago, and odontocetes, the first marine turtle, is thought to have lived about 220 million years ago. Unlike modern turtles, odontocetes had teeth. Sea turtles are related to land turtles (such as snapping turtles, pond turtles, and even tortoises). Both land and marine turtles are classified in the Order Testudines. All animals in the Order Testudines have a shell that is basically a modification of the ribs and vertebra, and also incorporates the girdles of the front and back limbs. Turtles and tortoises do not have teeth, but they have a horny covering on their jaws.​ Conservation Status and Threats Of the seven sea turtle species, six (all but the flatback) exist in the United States, and all are endangered. Threats to sea turtles include coastal development (which leads to loss of nesting habitat or making previous nesting areas unsuitable), harvesting turtles for eggs or meat, bycatch in fishing gear, entanglement in or ingestion of marine debris, boat traffic, and climate change. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), out of the seven species of sea turtles, two are classed as Critically Endangered (hawksbill, Kemps ridley); one as Endangered (green); three are vulnerable (loggerhead, olive ridley, and leatherback), and one  is Data Deficient, meaning they need additional study to determine the current status (flatback). You can help by: Supporting sea turtle research and conservation organizations and projects through volunteering or donating fundsSupporting measures to protect nesting habitatsChoosing seafood that is caught without impacting turtles (e.g., in areas where turtle excluder devices are used, or where bycatch is minimal)Not purchasing sea turtle products, including meat, eggs, oil, or tortoiseshellWatching out for sea turtles if you are out on a boat in sea turtle habitatReducing marine debris. This includes always disposing of your trash properly, using fewer disposable items and plastics, buying locally and purchasing items with less packagingReducing your carbon footprint by using less energy Placebo365/Getty Images   Sources Abreu-Grobois, A and P. Plotkin (IUCN SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group). Lepidochelys olivacea. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T11534A3292503, 2008.  Casale, P. and A.D. Tucker. Caretta caretta (amended version of 2015 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T3897A119333622, 2017.Marine Turtle Specialist Group. Lepidochelys kempii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T11533A3292342, 1996.  Mortimer, J.A and M. Donnelly (IUCN SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group). Eretmochelys imbricata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T8005A12881238, 2008.  Olive Ridley Project: Fighting Ghost Nets and Saving Turtles.  Sea Turtle ConservancySpotila, James R. 2004. Sea Turtles: A Complete Guide to Their Biology, Behavior, and Conservation. The Johns Hopkins University Press.Unlocking the Secrets of Sea Turtle Migration. Science Daily, February 29, 2012.

Trying to rehabilitate offenders is a waste of time and money Essay

Trying to rehabilitate offenders is a waste of time and money - Essay Example These high rates of behaviour of falling back into crime have driven the prison population to rapidly increase and have caused a widespread overcrowding, slowing down a number of opportunities for rehabilitation and education, and have lowered the level of motivation for both the staff and the prisoners. To address this issue, the government of the United Kingdom has been spending on new prison places which have been merely designed for control security instead of being focused on the education and rehabilitation that their increasing number of prisoners need. Most of these British prisoners are young men under 30 who do not have proper education; therefore without the correct education and skills, only a small number of these prisoners will be capable of building meaningful lives that will turn away from crime, regardless of how long or how often they have been in prison (Ogloff 1999). Community sentences are also handled by the probation service and staff who work with the prisoners, their victims and partners who closely work with criminal justice agencies such as the police and the prisons. These three agencies are required by the law to work together in managing and supervising the community. The primary goals of the penal system as well as the individuals who facilitate it are to protect the public and implement the proper punishment for the offenders of the community. This system of punishment is also used to make sure that the offenders are aware of their crimes and its effects on their victims and communities; therefore, these individuals should undergo proper analysis and rehabilitation. Rehabilitation programmes have been created as part of the penal system to implement transformation on prisoners for them to change and become better and productive citizens. However, this will entail support from concerned agencies and more importantly, the