Comprehensive Question (Communication Theory) Essay

Comprehensive Question (Communication Theory) - Essay Example e present text looks at the accepted standards of a good theory such as validity, theological scope, franchise and heuristic value to value the symbolic interactionism theory. It also dwells on criticisms leveled against the theory. The theories contemporary application has been discussed in detail. The text also entails Em Griffin’s take on the communication theory and its relevance. He pays tribute to Herbart Mead who was a leading theorist. People act towards things based on the meanings they attach to those things. Different things have different meanings to different people. People derive meanings from social interactions and are modified through various interpretations. Social interaction is the process by which people act and react to other people in their environment. In this perspective, social interaction encompasses the actions of people towards others and the responses they get in return. Symbolic Interactionism theory meets most of the accepted standards of a good theory despite its criticisms. Em Griffin posited that most communication theorists used Mead’s intellectual guidelines to develop their theories (Griffin, 2011). George Herbert Mead was a pioneer in the development of the communication theory. Whereas the Symbolic Interactionism theory face criticisms across time and place, it is critical to evaluate it based on standards and show its applications in the contemporary world. Symbolic Interactionism studies how people interact with each other owing to their adaptive social behavior. In this perspective, social structures are best understood in relation to basic level of individual interactions. Charles Horton Cooley in collaboration with George Herbert Mead came up with the theory (Turner, 2006). According to this theory, the meaning and worth of objects, occurrences and behaviors come from people’s interpretations, which vary from one group to another. Cooley argues that people adapt the way they think about themselves based on how

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.-Jurist and his particular relevance in the Essay

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.-Jurist and his particular relevance in the world of Jurispudence - Essay Example His biggest achievement associated with justices was the elimination of the legal and official reasoning, which were actually supported by the philosophy of natural law and natural right (Watson). Historical Context Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. originally came from Boston and was a student of Harvard College. During his academic life, he participated in the Civil War of 1857, which had a great impact on his life and perceptions of the law and ultimately leaded him to join the Massachusetts Bar in 1867 after graduating from the Harvard Law School. He served in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts till 1902, after which he joined the Theodore Roosevelt Supreme Court, where he remained held the position for about twenty-nine years. In addition to being associated with the judicatory, he was also a successful and renowned writer. Wendell and Jurisprudence Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. had the following basic visions and outlooks about the Jurisprudence (Watson): He convinced people tha t Law is basically sustained by the experience rather than logic as experience makes its life longer whereas logic at times is left behind. Apparently, he was the supporter of judicial control when the conventional judicial advocacy was targeted and condemned by the system of liberal activities. He induced the thought of realism in to the Court by introducing the concept of forecasting. He compelled people and lawyers to see law from other dimensions, that is, of the dreadful man and how he was convinced to break the law. He also proposed his arguments pertaining to positivism as opposed to ethical language in law. Wendell has also made significant contributions to the Pragmatic Approach of Jurisprudence, which was actually founded by him as he was the member of Harvard related club initiated by John Dewey. He was a person who used to keep a close eye on the consequences and results of a potential idea. He used to analyze things with exceptionally experiencing outlook as far as law and jurisprudence were concerned. He thoughtfully expressed this idea in his book The Common Law. He had a great emphasis over the external factors in the matters of court rather than the internal ones. Through his writings and expressions he demonstrated a strange dimension of philosophy of law, especially in the area of jurisprudence. He wanted to liberate the law from the restraints to the way of formality and automatic frame of deductive thinking. To do this, he applied the mechanical, experimental, experiencing and consequential approaches also known as ‘pragmatic maxim’ to the principles of law (Watson). Wendell had a distinctive thinking about law and jurisprudence. Previously he had a close relationship with the natural law and natural rights, which encouraged him to maintain a close eye on the consequences of law and jurisprudence. He considered that values and morals did not have a strong relationship with the proceedings of court. The right and wrong aspects attached to the cases presented in courts are not based upon the purposeful standards, which makes their significance very low. The law differentiates between the good and bad or the culprit and the innocent on the basis of prevailing norms of the society, which in reality do not have any affiliation with the constitution. The realistic approaches of Wendell denied the existence of constitutionalism. By the end of the Civil War, pragmatism had already founded its way into law and jurisprudence superseding the concept of natural law and n

Participant Observation and Grand Theory Essay Example for Free

Participant Observation and Grand Theory Essay Bronislaw Malinowski, with his ground-breaking field work of the Trobriand Islander community in the beginning of the 20th century still today counts as a pioneer, if not the founder of the British Social Anthropology. In his famous book Argonauts of the Western Pacific. An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagos of Melanesian New Guinea that was first published in 1922 he develops an elaborate methodological framework for ethnographical research, also known as ‘participant observation’. This method will highly influence the anthropological way of approaching its field of study and hence its theoretical landscape from then on. Looking at Malinowski’s description of the clan system of the Trobriand community, his descriptive and specifying style of formulation becomes apparent: â€Å"Each of the four clans has its own name: Malasi, Lukuba, Lukwasisiga, Lukulabuta. (†¦) There are special combinations of the clan names with formative roots, to descrive men and women and the mixed plurality belonging to the same clan: Tomalasi – a Malasi man; Immalasi – a Malasi women; Memalasi – the Malasi people (†¦). Near the village of Laba’I, on the northern shore of the main island, there is a spot called Obukula, which is marked by a coral outcrop. Obukula is, in fact, a ‘hole’ (dubwadebula), or ‘house’ (bwala); that is to say, one of the points from which the first ancestors of the linage emerged. † (Malinowski 1929: 496 f. , italics in original) This very nuanced and case specific example of the material gained from his methodological approach gives rise to the question if Malinowski’s heritage of participant observation has forever distanced Anthropology from bringing forward grand theories? To be able to consider and discuss this question, it is important to first define what Malinowski circumscribed when he laid out his dogma for ethnographical research by the term participant observation. Secondly, a closer inspection of the dictum ‘grand theory’ is indispensable for our purpose and will be clarified in the second section of this essay. Subsequently, we will look at these two concepts and their relationship to one another in section three in order to approach the question whether Anthropology can be viewed as a science able to produce grand theories. I. Participant observation In the foreword to Argonauts of the Western Pacific Malinowski states that he has â€Å"lived in that [Trobriand Island] archipelago for about two years (†¦), during which time [he] naturally acquired a thorough knowledge of the language. [He] did [his] work entirely alone, living for the greater part of the time right in the village. † (1966: xvi). This statement already contains the essence of participant observation in fieldwork. The hallmark of this methodological way of collecting data is the immersion of the researcher into her or his field of study over a long period of time and the personal part taking in the interactions of the people in the community studied. When Malinowski defined this new approach of ‘first-hand’ observation he broke with the, at that time prevailing tradition of ‘armchair’ ethnography. In this prior approach, ethnographers compiled data gained from historical sources to deduce theories about certain aspects of a usually ‘native’ community (Osterhoudt 2010). One of the main contributions of Malinowski’s new method to anthropological theory was that by participating and observing behaviour in the sample community he found out that a discrepancy between actual behaviour and narrative statements exists. â€Å"The smoothness and uniformity, which the mere verbal statement suggest as the only shape of human conduct, disappears with a better knowledge of cultural reality. † (Malinowski 1979: 83). This discovery in itself already composes a point of criticism towards the preceding ethnographical ‘arm-chair’ approach to data collection and evaluation. Even though participant observation is based on a seemingly broad and intuitive research design, it would, however, be incorrect to assume that this approach would be free of any directive principles on how to collect relevant data. Therefore, Malinowski describes how first, the researcher must â€Å"possess real scientific aims† (Malinowski 1966: 6) and be familiar with the theoretical background of anthropology. Further, the researcher should live in the field among the natives all by herself/ himself, and lastly the researcher has to stick to special and strict scientific methods, such as drawing â€Å"tables of kinship terms, genealogies, maps, plans and diagrams† (idib. 1966: 10) to collect, prepare and record her/his data. The previous example of the clan system provides a sense of the detailed and case specific information that is obtained by the application of participant observation. Besides the kind of the data collected, it should also be looked at the area of research and Malinowski’s suggestion of the subject to be studied. He proposes that the â€Å"field worker observes human beings acting within an environmental setting, natural and artificial; influenced by it, and in turn transforming it in co-operation with each other. † (Malinowski 1939: 940). Thus, he focuses on the individual as a starting point and its relation to, and mutual dependence on a social group. The inquiries of a researcher will hence have to include a â€Å"specific study of the individual, as well as the group within which he has to live and work. † (idib. 1939: 950). The collective life within that group or society is widely to be seen in certain types of activities, ‘institutions’ such as the â€Å"economy, education, or social control and political system in place† (idib. 1939: 954). These institutions, as he points out, can be seen as a fruitful base to investigate the individual’s motives and values and they will provide â€Å"insight into the process by which the individual is conditioned or culturally formed and of the group mechanisms of this process. † (idib. 1939: 954). II. Grand Theory In the following, the dictum ‘grand theory’ will be specified and by doing so distinguished into two different tendencies of understanding the concept. Wiarda (2010) defines a grand theory in his book Grand Theories and Ideologies in the Social Sciences as â€Å"those large, overarching explanations of social and political behavior—liberalism, Marxism, socialism, positivism, corporatism, political culture, institutionalism, psychoanalysis, rational choice theory, environmentalism (Jared Diamond), sociobiology, and now chemistry and genetics—that give coherence to the social sciences, help us to organize and think about change and modernization, and give us models to understand complex behavior. † (Wiarda 2010: x) This definition of grand theory as an ‘overarching explanation’ is in line with Anthony Good’s (1996) understanding of a ‘generalizing science’ that produces â€Å"universal, descriptive and predictive laws† (idib. 1996: 34). Here a grand theory is understood as a theorem providing a universal and structural framework that gives meaning to particular and individual phenomena ‘on the ground’. In this process the â€Å"importance of the local and the contingent, (†¦) the extent to which our own concepts and attitudes have been shaped† (Skinner 1985: 8) builds also a part of the universal framework. The second tendency to conceive the idea of grand theory goes a step further and is mainly characterized by C. Wright Mills application of it. He vigorously criticised the concept in his book The Sociological Imagination (1959): â€Å"The basic cause of grand theory is the initial choice of a level of thinking so general that its practitioners cannot logically get down to observation. They never, as grand theorists, get down from the higher generalities to problems in their historical and structural contexts. This absence of a firm sense of genuine problems, in turn, makes for the unreality so noticeable in their pages. † (idib. 1959: 33) As this quote shows, Mills’ understanding of a grand theory goes beyond our first definition. In this second understanding Mills implies that scientists generating grand theories are engrossed in their endeavour to build abstract, normative and all-embracing frameworks and thus neglect the study of the ‘meaning’ behind their constructs. The individual with its particular values and interpretations, as well as variety on the scale of the actual area of research fall behind. III. Participant Observation and its relation to Grand Theory Taken the just outlined conception of grand theory influenced by Mills and putting it in relationship with Malinowski’s methodology of participant observation, the answer to our question whether or not Malinowski’s heritage barred the way of Anthropology to ever produce grand theories appears unambiguously to be ‘yes’. Participant observation in its very nature is close to the individual and aims to explore, over a long period of time, which social and cultural forces influence the human being in a specific setting. Therefore, with regards to Mills conception of grand theory, Anthropology has a birth defect called participant observation that will always prevent it from producing highly abstract grand theories, which stand in no relation to the circumstances from where they were deduced from. A closer look reveals that Malinowski’s understanding of the anthropological formation of theory aligns with Mills criticism towards highly abstract grand theories: â€Å"It would be easy to quote works of high repute, and with a scientific hall-mark on them, in which wholesale generalisations are laid down before us, and we are not informed at all by what actual experiences the writers have reached their conclusions. (†¦) I consider that only such ethnographic sources are of unquestionable scientific value, in which we can clearly draw the line between, on the one hand, the result of direct observation and of native statements and interpretations and on the other, the inferences of the author, based on his common sense of psychological insight. † (Malinowski 1966: 3) Here Malinowski differences between two approaches of data processing. One approach leads to mere ‘wholesale generalisations’ and the other approach also includes the ‘actual experiences’ the researcher faced on the local level that explain on what assumptions and observations her or his generalizations are based on. He hence supports the notion of Anthropology as a science of producing generalisations, as long as they are comprehensible and in direct relation to the reality on the ground. Malinowski’s ethnographies exist to a vast amount of descriptive details that are very specific to certain social groups or individual preferences and he has hence often been criticized as an ‘empiricist’ (see Firth 1957). Also, one could argue that his attempt to put his findings in a neat structured box with columns, as he has done in his article Group and Individual in Functional Analysis (1966) seem rather compelled. Nevertheless, he was able to provide social science with universal and generalizing frameworks on, inter alia, on how social institutions function in relation to society. He states that â€Å"social institutions have a definite organisation, (†¦) they are governed by authority, law and order in their public and personal relations, while the latter are, besides, under the control of extremely complex ties of kinship and clanship. † (Malinowski 1966: 10). Malinowski’s suggestion to use institution as a starting point for social and cultural analysis has â€Å"produced integrated descriptions instead of loosely classified catalogues of traits, and has stimulated the fuller recording of case material from actual behavior as a supplement to the listing of ideal patterns. † (Murdock 1943: 443). Following Malinowski’s ethnographic method and theory construction therefore aims to create a firm framework of the â€Å"social constitution† that â€Å"disentangle[s] the laws and regularities of all cultural phenomena from the irrelevances. † (Malinowski 1966: 10f. ). His approach is thus far more that only an accumulation of meaningless observations of an individuals life in a very specific society. Considering these arguments, Malinowski approach can, indeed, be seen as congruent with our first tendency to understand grand theory. The answer to our initial question should hence be that Anthropology is a science that can certainly produce grand theories in the sense of generalized frameworks and universalistic theories, without neglecting the importance of the â€Å"local and the contingent† (Skinner 1985: 12). Furthermore, Anthropology can be viewed as an established science with its own field of study being the human being and its social group as well as their mutual dependencies and influences. â€Å"Anthropology stands in a clear relationship to the other basic science, because it is concerned with studying phenomena at one clearly discriminate level vis-a-vis those other sciences. † (Good 1996: 32)

Building The Skill To Administer Intramuscular Injections

Building The Skill To Administer Intramuscular Injections The aim of this essay is to reflect on how I have become competent in a particular clinical skill. The clinical skill I have selected is administering intramuscular (IM) injections. I will provide a rationale for choosing this skill and use appropriate literature to demonstrate my knowledge underpinning this skill. Although there are five sites for administration of IM injections, for the purpose of this essay I will discuss only two of the sites. Firstly, the dorsogluteal (DG) site as this is the site I used when giving IM injections in line with the local trust policies and procedures. Secondly I will discuss the ventrogluteal (VG) site, as recent literature has shown this site to be the safest to use when administering IM injections. I will then reflect on my learning and how I have become competent in this area. There is a need for nurses to be skilled in the administration of intramuscular injections in the learning disability field. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) (2006) suggests that when de-escalation and intensive nursing techniques have failed to calm the patient and they are at risk of harming themselves or others, then rapid tranquillisation should be used as a last resort. Although oral tranquilisation will be offered first, due to the high state of aggression, agitation or excitement the patient may be unable to give their consent. Therefore the 1983 Mental Health Act and the guidance on Consent to Treatment (DH 2002) must be followed. Consequently, rapid tranquilisation will be achieved by the administration of medication through IM injection to control severe mental and behavioural episodes and to calm the patient quickly. Greenway (2006) suggests that IM injections are generally likely to happen in association with the administering of antipsychotic medication in the form of depot injections and/or rapid tranquilisation, for managing mental illness and/or challenging behaviour for people with a learning disability. Greenway also implies that there will only be a small number of learning disability nurses that will actually use the skill of administering IM injections after they have qualified, due to a decline in depot administration. However, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) (2004) identifies that the role of the learning disability nurse is forever changing and the administration of injections will depend on the client group and the practice areas in which they work. They recognise that it is a key challenge for learning disability nurses to update their knowledge and maintain competence in a skill that they may use infrequently. Irrespective of this, the clinical procedure should be develope d and maintained in line with evidence based practice, regardless of how often it is used. The administration of IM injections is a vital component of medication management and is a common nursing intervention in clinical areas. Less pain to the patient and unnecessary complications can be avoided by the nurse being skilled in the injection technique used (Hunter 2008). The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) (2007) notes that the injecting of medication is complicated and patients can be put at risk. Incompetency, lack of training and varying knowledge levels of nurses were factors highlighted in errors made around injecting medicines. Adhering to the aseptic technique during preparation and administration of the injection, and inspecting the injection site for any signs of skin deterioration are vitally important to prevent infection and complications (Dougherty 2008). Alexander et al (2009) describe the correct way to give an intramuscular injection in the DG site using the Z tracking technique. Using the thumb or the side of the non-dominant hand stretch the skin taught over the site of injection maintaining the tautness during the procedure. With a darting motion, insert the needle at 90 degrees to the skin, 2-3mm of the needle should be exposed at the surface and the graduation marks on the syringe barrel must be visible throughout. Use the remaining fingers of the non-dominant hand to steady the syringe barrel, whilst using the dominant hand to pull back on the plunger to aspirate. If blood appears all equipment should be discarded and the procedure should be started again. It is safe to carry on if no blood appears. The plunger should be depressed at a rate of 1ml per 10 seconds to give the muscle fibres time to expand and accommodate the drug. After a further 10 seconds remove the needle and then release the traction on the skin. The injection site may be wiped with dry gauze if need be. A plaster can be applied if the patient requires and if they have no known allergy to latex, iodine or elastoplasts. Controversy lies around the site area chosen for administering the IM injection. Although the DG site is the traditional choice by nurses for the administration of IM injection there are risks associated with this site of injection. The DG site is situated in the upper outer quadrant of the buttock and is often landmarked by visually quartering the buttock horizontally and vertically, then repeating this action in the top right hand square. Evidence shows that the use of this site for IM injection can run the risk of injury to the sciatic nerve and the superior gluteal artery (Small 2004). Additionally it can cause skin and tissue trauma, muscle fibrosis and contracture, nerve palsy and paralysis as well as infection (Zimmerman 2010). The belief by nurses that the VG site is hard to landmark suggests reluctance on their part to change a practice they are competent in. Although once nurses have become familiar with location of the VG site and the surrounding anatomy, they will become confident in using this site (Greenway 2006). Hunter (2008) suggests to locate the VG site the nurse should place the palm of her right hand on the patients left hip (the greater trochanter), then make a v by extending the index finger to the anterior iliac spine. The injection is given in the middle of the v in the gluteus medius muscle. Administering IM injections using anatomical features leads to a more specific and correct way of carrying out the procedure. In contrast to the DG site, the VG site has no major complications associated with the administration of IM injections. Zimmerman (2010) also strongly advocates the use of the VG site. Although there appears to be a lack of current evidence for choosing the VG site rather than the DG site for rapid tranquilisation during restraint of a patient. Because of the nature of the situation during this procedure, safety for all involved has to be considered. Local policies should be utilised for specific guidance on positioning the patient safely and for use of specific holds needed to allow the VG site to be landmarked and the injection administered. The VG site can be used if the patient is prone, semi-prone or supine (Greenway 2006).However, following a literature review of damage to the sciatic nerve from IM injections, Small (2004) recommends that the VG site should be chosen over the DG site for IM injection. Zimmerman (2010) concurs with this, strongly advocating the use of the VG sit e for IM injections of more than 1ml in patients over the age of seven months. More evidence for choosing the VG site is a study carried out by Nisbet (2006) showing that the subcutaneous fat level of the DG site is significantly higher than that of the VG site. It also showed that penetration of the target muscle at the DG site was only 57 percent meaning the remainder of the injection would deposit into the subcutaneous fat leading to a deficit in the uptake of the drug. Emerson (2005) reports an increased risk of obesity in people with a learning disability. In one study 90 percent of adult females and 44 percent of adult males had fat deposits in the DG site area that were one inch deeper than the shorter IM needles would reach (Zaybak et al, 2007). The VG site has a shorter distance to the targeted muscle and is a safe alternative choice for the administration of an IM injection, Greenway (2006), Small (2004) and Zimmerman (2010) suggest it is time for professionals to rethink the site of IM injections in people with a learning disability. I will now discuss how I have become competent in carrying out this clinical skill and to do this I will use a reflective model. Reflection is a way in which nurses can bridge the theory-practice gap. The process of reflective practice allows the nurse to explore, through experience, reflection and action, areas for developing their practice and skills. It is an important part of gaining knowledge and understanding. The use of a recognised framework allows for a more structured approach when reflecting upon practice (Johns, 1995). I have decided to use Gibbs (1998) Reflective Cycle, as it provides a straight forward and structural framework and encourages a clear description of the situation, analysis of feelings, evaluation of the experience, analysis to make sense of the experience, conclusion where other options are considered and reflection upon experience to examine what the nurse would do should the situation arise again. In describing what happened in learning this skill the theory of experiential learning can also be used as a framework. The theory of experiential learning was developed by Steinaker and Bell (1979). The Experiential Taxonomy highlights 4 levels of learning that the nurse will go through in learning a new skill i.e. exposure and participation, identification, internalisation and dissemination. During exposure there is a consciousness of the event and the nurse will have observed a competent practitioner carry out the task. In this case I had an awareness of needing to be able to administer IM injections competently due to the client group involved. In my first week of placement I observed a qualified nurse administering PRN and depot IM injections several times while the nurse talked me through the procedure step by step. As she was demonstrating the procedure and talking me through it my thoughts and feeling at the time were that I would not be able to remember all the steps needed to administer the IM injection safely and I was also feeling anxious about potentially causing pain and/or injury to the patient. Participation involves the nurse becoming part of the experience. After observing the practice I participated in the drawing up of the injection and then administering it. Identification involves the nurse becoming competent in the skill. On reflection as soon as I started on placement I realised that I would have to gain as much experience as I could administering IM injections, not just the actual procedure of giving the injection but also the knowledge to underpin this skill. Internalisation occurs when the new skill becomes part of everyday routine. Several weeks into my placement I felt that I had eventually become competent in administering IM injections, my anxieties began to lessen and I started to feel more confident that I was becoming proficient in carrying out the procedure. I found that the more times I carried out the procedure the better I felt about it. Dissemination involves the nurse being able to influence others and showing others how to carry out the skill. Although this was only my second placement I feel totally competent in carrying out the task. I also feel that I have a good understanding of the underpinning knowledge involved. Therefore I feel I would be able to teach others how to do this. On reflection I do not think I would have learned this skill any other way, I have realised that initial anxieties about carrying out a new task are usual. But I will have to remember this will pass as I practice more and become more experienced. I have also realised through reflection the importance of having underpinning knowledge in relation to clinical skills and understanding why we do things rather than just simply learning how to do them. In conclusion, this assignment has explored one clinical skill in which I have gained competence. A rationale was provided in that IM injections are an important part of everyday life for the client group involved. IM injections are considered to be a routine procedure, it is a valuable and necessary skill for nurses. To provide safe practice and ensure accurate and therapeutic drug administration, the nurse should use clinical judgement when choosing the injection site, understand the relevant anatomy and physiology, as well as the principles for administering an IM injection. By using a reflective model and theory in relation to experiential learning I have discussed my own personal and professional development in terms of my knowledge and skill acquisition in this area of clinical practice.

Edna O’Brien’s Country Girls Trilogy :: Country Girls Trilogy

Edna O’Brien’s Country Girls Trilogy   Ã‚  Ã‚   In all honesty, I chose to read The Country Girls Trilogy by Edna O’Brien because it was the only text that I could get my hands on. After reading it though, I’m glad I had the luck of choosing it. I realized, while reading the trilogy, that throughout my course of study, I have not read very many female authors. I may have read a few short stories along the way, but most books that I have read for classes and for pleasure have been written by men. I saw the difference in writing styles as I read the first paragraph of the book and immediately liked the change of pace and detail-oriented style. I also found that I really connected with the main characters, Caithleen and Baba, whose real name is Bridget. I found it interesting that I invested such interest in two characters whose personalities are so different from my own. Caithleen was the narrator in the first two books, and I found that I connected with her most because of her details and innocence. The t rilogy represents three phases of these women’s lives from their girlhood, to losing loves and the trials of marriage. Through it all, their interesting friendship changes according to the events in their lives until a sad and untimely end. I’m not sure that that I would want a friendship like Caithleen and Baba’s, but at least that had each other in the end, when the rest of the world seemed to have forgotten them. The excerpt in Colm Toibin’s anthology, The Penguin book of Irish Fiction, is from the first book in O’Brien’s trilogy called The Country Girls. For purposes of this paper, I will discuss the excerpt itself, and then the rest of the first book of O’Brien’s trilogy.   Ã‚  Ã‚   The Excerpt from The Country Girls was taken from chapter fourteen. In this passage, Baba and Caithleen have just moved to Dublin to live on their own. They moved into a boarding house run by a German couple and the girls feel as if they are finally living their lives. Baba is in search of a rich man to take care of her so that she no longer has to deal with the little people in life. She drags Caithleen, who goes by Cait, to dances and bars in hopes of finding whatever she can get.

Diet for a Capitalist America :: Health Eating Food essays

"Diet for a Capitalist America" In the book "Diet for a New America" John Robbins, stresses the importance of a healthier, more environmentally conscious diet. "A revolutionary document of truth and exposure. John Robbins, in a selfless quest to discover the extensive reprocussions of our eating habits and choices, exposes and tenaciously documents hidden facts, this work single handedly convince even the most stubborn anti-vegetarians to take a serious look at the effects of their choices. A must have for anyone who seeks lasting commitment to a more kinder and healthier life." Lance Zimmer This book creates an utopian vision of how the people of the world could soundly sustain themselves by eating grains and vegetables and conscientiously drifting away from our more consumptive and carnivorous ways. The book provides us with a possible and tangible solution to the problems of hunger, diseases and environmental destruction. The "Diet for a New America" is a tool at work to fight against the realities of the modern world, a world that lives on a 'Diet for a Capitalist America'. The reality of the mocking 'Diet for a Capitalist America' is an industrial diet created by our industrial world. The diet that most Americans subsist on today is one that has been created out of capitalism. If we look at a society built by capitalism and industrialism than we will see a diet, which is clearly representative of these ways. Our diet, the food we consume is clearly a product of our lifestyles. In looking at who we are and what we eat, we can see a reflection of the world in which we live. Looking back in time at human civilization prior to urbanization the human animal lived off of the land eating small animals, seeds, roots, seafood and wild fruit. This natural diet the diet that we evolved eating, is the healthiest diet for the human animal and one that we have been eating for the two million years before urbanization. Since than in the last 100 years, 50 years, even in the last 20 years our diet has changed tremendously as has the world. Society has moved from a feudal agrarian regionally oriented society to an industrial technical world encompassing society. At the time of the industrial revolution in England, people were recognizing fried potato, fried fish, white bread, hamburgers, chicken, crisps and other stabilized and processed plant and animal products as being what food is.

The Pearl Literary Essay

â€Å"But in the song there was a secret little inner song, hardly perceptible, but always there, sweet and secret and clinging, almost hiding in the counter-melody and this was the song of the pearl that might be, for every shell thrown in the basket might contain a pearl† (Steinbeck 17). This is something that might forever deceive us, because of its ‘sweet' counter-melody. This is the deception of money. It still happens today- people confuse money with power, because in some way, money can lead to power, and it's not always a good thing.Money is not the answer to everything, as it can serve to beguile people, confusing them between what they think they want, and what they really do want or need. In the book ‘The Pearl' by John Steinbeck, Kino became blinded by the outside sheen of the pearl. â€Å"The shell was partly open, for the overhang protected this ancient oyster, and in the lip-like muscle Kino saw a ghostly gleam, and then the shell closed down† (Steinbeck 18).This ‘ghostly gleam' is the power of the pearl, and it started to delude Kino little by little, starting from the point of where he had first seen the pearl to where it had cost him something very dear to him- his son, Coyotito. Kino originally saw the pearl as a practical method to improve his and his family's life, however later, he saw it only as a method of survival, and in the end, Coyotito dies because of this. Only at the end had Kino realized the power of the pearl, but this realization was of no help at the end, as everything was done. Money really is not everything, and in Kino's case, it had caused death.Take the lottery, for instance. Everyone wants to win the lottery- the chance to win it big and be rich, and not have to live tight and counting every single penny. If you hit the jackpot, you could simply live off the interest and not have to worry about a single thing. Now, applying this to ‘The Pearl,' Kino and Juana had basically nothing; t hey lived in a hut that had a dirt floor, and this hut could have been destroyed in one strong gust of wind. Their house would have been blown away, and then what? And it's not only them who live that way. Members of their entire community live just as Kino does, and they are just as content.Their village of La Paz was all pretty much dirt poor, and if even one of its members hit it big, it would represent a huge thing for their entire wellbeing. With the pearl, Kino saw not only wealth, but a healthy and prospering future, especially for Coyotito. It would have also been a big event for the entire village. The thing is, Kino only saw these things through the pearl. What does that mean? It means that he wasn't able to see a happy future for him and his family without the pearl. What does that mean? It means that without the pearl, they were still basically nothing. But Kino's face shone with prophecy. ‘My son will read and open the books, and my son will write and will know wr iting. And my son will make numbers, and these things will make us free because he will know– he will know and through him we will know'† (Steinbeck 26). ‘Through him we will know,' Kino says this, and when he says this, he means that only through Coyotito can they know. Doesn't that represent a LOT for them and the community? What if these things did not in fact come to pass? Then they would have to start over, and live with these times of incognizance playing over and over in their heads.There is a lot hanging on the pearl- it's either all or nothing. That's what the pearl seemed to represent, and in the end, they got nothing. Coyotito was a large part of their life, and what they wanted from the pearl had a lot to do with him. This time, they would have to start over without Coyotito. And also, this would especially hurt Kino. Even if nothing particularly dreadful came to pass, Kino would probably feel horrible about his ignorance and how he got his and his fam ily's hopes up- all for nothing. He would realize how the pearl had deluded him until this moment, and would live in embarrassment for the rest of his life. In the pearl he saw how they were dressed- Juana in a shawl stiff with newness and a new skirt, and from under the long skirt Kino could see that she wore shoes. It was in the pearl- the picture growing there. He himself was dressed in new white clothes, and he carried a new hat- not of straw but of fine black felt- and he too wore shoes- not sandals but shoes that laced. But Coyotito- he was the one- he wore a blue sailor suit from the United States and a little yachting cap such as Kino had seen once when a pleasure boat put into the estuary.All of these things Kino saw in the lucent pearl and he said, ‘We will have new clothes. ‘† (Steinbeck 24). These wishes are material wishes, wanting new clothes, and wanting to be married. To think, the first thing to want to do when you get rich is to get married and ge t new clothes. Doesn't that inform us, the reader, of Kino and Juana's current monetary situation? These things, wanting new clothes, wanting to get married, wanting their son to go to school.. these are all things that he would not be able to do without the pearl, and these are things that most likely all of their village people could not do.And then, near the end, Kino's instincts change rapidly from human like to animal like, living only on his instincts and guts. â€Å"Against the sky in the cave entrance Juana could see that Kino was taking off his white clothes, for dirty and ragged though they were they would show up against the dark night. His own brown skin was better protection for him† (Steinbeck 83). Camouflaging, not exactly something that we would all worry about on a daily basis. The fact that Kino takes what he wears into account against the enemy is something to think about, and it really shows how his instincts change.At this point, survival was the only thi ng he worried about. And lastly, Kino had not taken Juana's warning about the pearl earlier. Juana had seen through the pearl- it had not deceived her. â€Å"Evil faces peered from it into his eyes, and he saw the light of burning. And in the surface of the pearl he saw the frantic eyes of the man in the pool. And in the surface of the pearl he saw Coyotito lying in the little cave with the top of his head shot away. And the pearl was gly; it was gray like a malignant growth. And Kino heard the music of the pearl, distorted and insane† (Steinbeck 89).This shows that only at the end had he realized the actual appearance of the pearl. It had the power to enrich their lives and it also had the power to destroy what was important to them, and Kino had only seen the possible good outcomes of the pearl, and had hence been blinded. And by saying that he had been blinded does not mean that he had lost his sight; rather that everything else had gone over his head, or rather, in one ea r and out the other. He paid no heed to any possible bad outcomes with the pearl, and basically walked around with his eyes closed.We can all relate, but this is what the pearl had done to him, and realizing all of this at the end would not help. Coyotito had died, and there was nothing Kino could do to bring him or anything else back. His ignorance had cost him everything. The quote with which this essay had begun had basically summed up what Kino saw in this pearl- he saw a sweet outer and all of these wonderful prospects that could have come with the pearl, and also how he failed to see the potential risks. The pearl represented money and evil and greed and all of the things that people today still are oblivious to.Monetary troubles back then are still evident now, and Kino made a wrong turn that most, if not all of us had or will take some day. However, our mistakes might not cost so much as Kino's; in return for Kino's wrong turn, he lost his son, Coyotito, and instead gained a lifetime of guilt and regret. He himself changed, and not many of us would say that he changed for the better. In fact, no one can say if he changed for the worse, either. â€Å"And the music of the pearl drifted to a whisper and disappeared† (Steinbeck 90).