The Unvanquished Essay Example for Free

The Unvanquished Essay Two of the women from this novel deserve utmost respect. Granny and Drusilla took matters into their own hands, and are an inspiration to many women who read this novel. Strong women like them were unusual during this time period. Granny and Drusilla are in no way â€Å"picture-perfect southern belles†, yet they took what they had at the time and the experience that was given to them and represented true southern women. Granny was a strong woman of this period; she understood how things worked, and was smart enough to know how to manipulate things to her advantage. â€Å"’Bayard Sartoris, what did you say’? We killed him Granny! ’ †¦Then she said, ‘Quick! Here! ’†¦ and then Ringo and I were squatted with our knees under our chins, on either side of her against her knees†¦her skirts spread over us like a tent†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢You are mistaken,’ she said, ‘There are no children here. ’†) [Faulkner 30-31] This is a shorten version of the quote. The scenario is when Bayard and Ringo shoot at the Yankee soldier on a horse. They hit the horse instead of the man, though they are unaware of this fact. They run home shrieking at Granny to help them, so she has them hide underneath her skirt. The soldier comes in; then the Colonel comes in. The whole situation puts Granny in a bad position, because she’s a good, southern, God fearing woman, and the only way out of this predicament is to lie to the Yankee Colonel who comes in after Bayard and Ringo. Both Granny and the Colonel know there Bayard and Ringo are, but a gentleman doesn’t ask a lady to get up like that without good cause. Granny knew she could play this to her advantage. Granny sits there completely poker-faced and flat out tells him there are no children. The coronel simply jokes about the children and leaves. This is just one example of how Granny took a problem into her own hands and took care of it, with no man needed. She didn’t know who was going to be coming through those doors, it could have been dangerous; however, she handled the situation with grace and elegance, never skipping a beat. Granny showed great responsibility and courage when she had the idea to use the money and slaves to get mules from the Yankees. She turned the original mix-up into a smuggling business: she showed true genius in a time of real need. â€Å"’Ten chests tied with hemp rope,’†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢a hundred and ten mules’†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Get what we got. Hurry’. He turned to Granny. ‘The general said to give you another hundred with his compliments’† [Faulkner 88-89] Again, another abbreviated lengthy quote. What’s happening here is Granny never got her exact box of silver back, but she was reimbursed for the silver. The Yankee in command gave her a slip with an order for a large amount of mules. When Granny and Ringo go to get them, the soldier they speak to doesn’t understand, and gets the entire transaction mixed up. Granny turned this unexpected occurrence into a blessing and opportunity to turn a profit and give the mules to the townspeople. Most of what originally occurred was a miscommunication; however, Granny and Ringo simultaneously recognized what was happening and took advantage of it. â€Å"The man counted the mules; we didn’t hardly move†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Forty-seven will do,† said Ringo†¦ and then all of a sudden she took her hand away from her chest; it had the paper in it; she held it out to the lieutenant without saying a word. † [Faulkner 91-93] Granny had the courage to risk getting caught, and continued to play the same con numerous times after, forging the note each time. She was a woman; an older woman at that, but she desperately wanted to somehow make a contribution to the war effort and also help out the community as best she could. The war devastated the south, and changed many things. If she could somehow right some of the wrongs that had been done to the people, while at the same time hindering the Yankees, it could be a step toward putting things back the way they were. Because Granny had been around as long as she had, she was a huge believer in tradition. She was stubbornly trying to preserve a community and take care of them, much like a mother takes care of her family. Many people enjoy discussing Drusilla, due to her unusual behavior and intrigue of the character. Drusilla wasn’t the average run-of-the-mill housewife; she had hopes and aspirations; goals and a set agenda. She didn’t wait around for a man to help her; if she wanted something done, she did it herself. â€Å"’This horse? ’ Cousin Denny said. ‘Ain’t no damn Yankee going to fool with Dru’s horse no more. ’ He didn’t holler now, but pretty soon he began again: ‘When they come to burn the house, Dru grabbed the pistol and rum out here-she had on her Sunday dress-and them right behind her. She run in here and she jumped on Bobolink bareback, without even waiting for the bridle, and one of them right there in the doorway hollering, ‘Stop’, and Dru said, ‘get away, or I’ll ride you down too’ †¦and Dru leaned down into Bobolinks ear and said, ‘Kill him, Bob’ [Faulkner 74] Drusilla didn’t stop to think of her own safety, or to wait for a man to step forward and assist; she acted out of courage and loyalty and attacked the men head on, knowing they were men and most likely stronger and better fighters. Drusilla portrays a strong, independent woman, with feministic qualities. Drusilla is a symbol of what is to come; she symbolizes strong women fighting for themselves, equality, and recognition. â€Å"She had on pants like a man† [Faulkner 73] â€Å"Her hair was cut short; it looked like father’s would†¦ She was sunburned and her hands were hard and scratched like a man’s that works would†. [Faulkner 75] It is apparent in other parts of the book that Drusilla didn’t always dress in a masculine fashion; when she was engaged to Gavin Breckbridge, she wore dresses and would have most likely lived out a stereotypical â€Å"southern bell† life, unworthy of remembrance. By this point in the book; however, we find Drusilla to be dressing like a man and attempting to take on more responsibilities and be more useful to the war effort. She commissioned herself to engage in manual labor, causing one sign of being a southern belle (soft smooth hands) to fade. Working hard was also a part of her own unique chivalric code of honor she took on, further distancing herself from her old life. High society women could afford to be shaded from the sun at all times; thus never resulting in sunburn. Poor whites were generally associated with having tan skin, while rich white women had fair porcelain skin-also a showing the segregation between poor people and wealthy people, as well as slaves. In the case of Drusilla being sunburned, it’s another segregating aspect allowing her to create a more equal atmosphere at which to fit into. Her unintentional idea was to appear less feminine; also creating a physical freeness at which she can move around and work more easily. Indirectly she also wanted to draw less attention to herself. She got the opposite effect: her change in appearance caused her to stand out as a new kind of person: a strong woman, purposefully surviving without a man. In this exquisite novel, so many different interpretations can be read from its intricately woven plot. These two women, Granny and Drusilla, went through quite a few trials and tribulations to become the much-respected women they were in the end. (Word count: 1,393)

Literature Review on Stress and Stressors in Bangladesh

Literature Review on Stress and Stressors in Bangladesh A Critical Review on Stress Scenario in Bangladesh Jannatul Ferdous Introduction Stress is a disruptive physiological and psychological reaction to events that make us feel vulnerable. A certain amount of stress is a foreseeable part of life; but acute stress can hinder our daily activities. It may causes disintegration of general health, frustrations, depression, anxiety, hysteria, cardiovascular accidents, muscular aches and pains, insomnia, hypertension, high blood pressure, cancers, sexual dysfunctions, allergies and other mental disorders (Rahman et al., 2012). Childhood cancers are increasingly becoming a matter of growing apprehension. In Bangladesh, yearly 5000-6000 children have been developing different type of cancers. Diagnosis of a chronic disease like cancer or coronary heart disease (CHD), and its treatment has a massive impact on all aspects of a patient’s life, their acquaintances and families. Sometimes these may cause post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS) to the parents of the sufferer (Basher et al., 2012). Stress due to mental retardation is another significant area to focus. Parents experience epidemic physical and mental stress in the process of nurturing the mentally retarded children (Islam, Shanaz, Farjana; 2013). Socio-demographic factors play a crucial role in stress and coping mechanisms (Siddiqui, 2014). Psycho-education can be effectual in alleviating somatic symptoms, anxiety, insomnia, and social dysfunction of exaggerated family members or caregivers at a greater percentage (Ara Chowdhury, 2014). There are some contradictory in research findings about the impact of age, sex, occupation, education, type of family, socio-economical status on stress. Differences in the design, sample and measures used in those studies also exist. The aim of this critical review is to understand the stress scenario in Bangladesh, their strengths and weakness in general. Method of Review A critical review was applied to explore the stress scenario in Bangladesh. In order to find out the appropriate published literature for the current review, available journals for psychological research: Bangladesh Psychological Journal, Dhaka University Psychological Journal, Dhaka University Journal of Biological Science, and Google Scholar, were consulted. The key words used in this literature search were â€Å"stress†, â€Å"education†, â€Å"psychology† and â€Å"Bangladesh†. A number of studies were initially found, but not all were appropriate for this review. Finally, a total of 5 original and most applicable published articles were incorporated for the review. These articles reflected studies conducted only in Bangladesh. Table 1 shows the studies with necessary information such as sample size, design, variables, and data analysis techniques. Table 1. Descriptions of the study Results Stress and Cancer Cardiac Patients Rahman et al. (2012) investigated the attitude toward stress of cancer and cardiac patients. They found that both cancer and cardiac patients expressed higher stress attitudes as compared to normal individuals. Regardless of gender and SES, cancer patients expressed higher stress attitude. In spite of type of individual and SES, female patients expressed higher stress attitude than their male counterparts that is partially supported by Islam et al. (2013). They also found that lower middle SES subjects expressed higher stress attitudes than upper middle SES subjects despite of type of individual and gender which are consistent with the findings of Havik et al. (1986). Childhood Cancer Parents Stress Basher et al. (2012) assessed the intensity of stress of the parents with a child anguishing from cancer. Their study may attempt to assess psychological misery and post traumatic stress reactions among the parents. They found leukemia in the highest frequency among all age groups of the sufferers. About 63.8% of the parents had certainly affected, 6.7% had severely affected due to the cancers of their children. 21.8% of the middle class parents (6-10 class educated, 31-40 years of age) with one child suffering from cancer in between 7-12 months, at the time of assessment, were found certainly and severely suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS). These findings are partially supported by Siddiqui (2014). Mental Retardation Parents Stress In a study, Islam et al. (2013) found that parents of children with mental retardation (PCMR) shared greater stress score than the parents of children with no mental retardation (PCNR). Mental stress score was significantly higher among PCMR. Moreover, mothers had significantly higher mental stress score than the fathers of mentally retarded children that is partially in consonance with the findings of Rahman et al. (2012) which indicated that female patients were more exaggerated in coping with stress than their male counterpart. Parents shared more mental stress than physical stress which was supported by Gupta, 2010. But the overall study suffers from adequate generalizations due to convenient selections of schools. Socio-demographic Profile of Families Stress Siddiqui (2014) assessed the relation between various socio-demographic variables of families with mentally retarded children and stress. He found that mild to severe stress was perceived by the families of mental retardation. None of the families showed very severe stress. No statistical significance was found between family stress and affected children’s age, sex. Rahman et al. (2012) also reported no relation between stress and the sufferer’s gender. This may be due to rising information resources and amend in social attitude. But in a study Peshwaria (1995) have indicated significantly greater impact on parents due to having a girl retarded child. As regards the age of the child, some studies have shown lower age of the retarded child to have significant relation with stress (Upadhyaya et al., 2008), while Peshwaria (1995) have shown more psychosomatic problems as the age of their child increases. In this study, no significant relation was found between child’s severity of retardation and stress in the families that is supported by Upadhyaya et al. (2008). But Pisula Gorska (2002) indicated that parents of severe and profoundly retarded children have higher stress. Except maternal education, there were no significant relations between stress and mothers’ and fathers’ demographic variables. The reason behind the significant association of stress with maternal education may be because educated mothers can better understand the clinical aspect of their child’s condition. This is consistent with findings of Behari (1995). Another finding of this study is that stress is not significantly related with the family variables (nuclear/joint family, SES, presence of sibling). In contrast, Rahman et al. (2012) found that lower middle SES subjects expressed significantly higher stress attitude. Hornby (1994) shows that grandparental support decreases stress. Moreover, no significant difference was found in families with or without presence of siblings. But lower stress is reported by Leyser (1990) for higher number of siblings. Psycho-education Stress Ara Chowdhury (2014) investigated the impact of psychoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ educational intrusion for care givers of children with autism. They found that care givers, who acknowledged psychoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ educational interventions, showed significant decline in the score of mental health commotion on the GHQà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 28 except Ê ¹severe depressionÊ ¹ than those who did not. That means psychoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ educational intervention is effective in training the care givers to handle their children and in enhancing their quality of life. It may also be beneficial to deal with cancer cardiac patients, mentally retarded children. Conclusions Accessible literature on stress reports mixed evidence. In the first two studies, purposive sampling technique was used, and data of cancer and cardiac patients were collected from different reliable sources. So, research findings can be generalized for entire population of our country. Purposive sampling technique was also used for collecting data from two special schools of autism of Dhaka city in the last study. But the other two studies suffer from adequate generalization due to convenient sampling. Further ample studies are needed to conduct with a representative sample to determine more reliable information. Both prospective and retrospective studies are required to enumerate the incidence and prevalence of unfavorable consequences in delegate allies of survivors. Information about possible late-effects and psychological supports need to be provided by the treatment care providers to the parents and survivors (Sloper, 2000). Familial support, social support, positive emotional regulation, self help networks etc. act as defensive shield during times of crisis. Apposite program may be facilitated to help people managing crisis and their stresses. References Ara, J., Chowdrury, K. U. A. (2014, January). Impact of psycho-education on care givers  mental health and perceived stress of children with autism. Dhaka University Journal of  Biological Science, 23(1), 39-45. Basher, M. A. R., Karim, M. R., Sultana, N., Hossain, K. J., Kamal, M. M. (2012). Parents  stress in childhood cancer. Bangladesh Medical Journal, 41(1). Behari, R. (1995). The maternal attitude- Child rearing link for mentally retarded children: A case study. Disabilities and Impairments, 9, 44-51. Gupta, R. K., Kaur, H. (2010). Stress among Parents of Children with Intellectual Disability.  Asia Pacific Disab. Rehab, 21(2), 119- 126. Havik, O. E., Maeland, J. G. (1986). Dimensions of verbal denial in myocardial infarction.  Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 27, 326-339. Hornby, G., Ashworth, T. (1994). Grandparents support for families who have children with  disabilities. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 3, 403-412.   Islam, M. Z., Shanaz, R., Farjana, S. (2013, January). Stress among parents of children with  mental retardation. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science, 12(1). Leyser, Y., Deckel, G. (1990). Stress in Parents of Mentally Challenged Children. The Journal  of Psychology,125(4), 251-254. Peshwaria, R. (1995). Understanding Indian Families having Persons with Mental Retardation.  National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped (NIMH), Secundrabad. Pisula, E., Gorska, S. (2000). The childs intellectual disability and the parents marital quality.  Studia Psychologiczne, 40, 87-106. Rahman, A., Ara, S., Haque, E., Shahrier, A. (2012). Attitude towards stress of cancer and  cardiac patients. Journal of Life Earth Science, 7, 33-41. Siddiqui, A. F. (2014, October). Socio-demographic profile of families with mentally retarded  children and its relation to stress. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science, 13(4). Sloper, P. (2000). Predictors of distress in parents of children with cancer: a prospective study.  Journal of pediatric Psychology, 25(2), 79-91. Upadhyaya, G. R., Havalappanavar, N.B. (2008). Stress in Parents of the Mentally Challenged  Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, 34, 53-59.

Water Quality Of Perlis River Environmental Sciences Essay

Water Quality Of Perlis River Environmental Sciences Essay Malaysia is enriched by abundance of natural resources and one of them is the rivers or also known as surface water. River or surface water is precious and vital natural resource for all life on Earth especially human being as it provides water supply for human domestic use, irrigation for agriculture, as a means of transportation, industries use and so on. Even though there always has been plenty of fresh water in Malaysia, clean water supply has not always been available due to the rising water pollution problem. Nowadays, Malaysia has become an industrialized country and no longer left behind the other developed countries but at the cost of the environment. Effluent from the industrial area which is then discharged directly into the rivers without prior treatment is the main sources of water pollution. Besides, human activities such as the uses of agricultural chemicals, soil erosion due to improper development project, land use and so on are also contributed significantly to water pollution (Niemi et al., 1990). Pollution of river with high concentration of toxic chemicals and excess nutrients, which are resulting from surface water runoff, leaching from landfill site and ground water discharges has been aroused the public concern towards the water pollution issue. Thus, there is a need to assess river or surface water quality due to the increased understanding of the importance of water quality towards public health and aquatic life (Ying, 2005). Peninsular Malaysia consists of 11 states and two federal territories whereas Perlis is the smallest state among them. Perlis state is situated at the northwest of peninsular Malaysia. There are more than ten major rivers within the Perlis area while Perlis River is one of the most important rivers in Perlis. The length of the Perlis River is approximately 11 km through Kangar city to Kuala Perlis while the size of the river basin is approximately 310 kmÂÂ ². Perlis River has become the center stage for the public to socialize and for recreational activities particularly at Denai Larian Sungai Perlis. The number of visitors who are visiting to the river and surrounding area for rest and recreation purpose is estimated to be achieved 10,000 peoples per month. However, the quality of Perlis River does not reach the desired level and it is much difference if compared to the major rivers at developed countries. There are some problems which occurred at Perlis River at present. According to the Interim National Water Quality Standards for Malaysia, the status of water quality at Sungai Perlis is classified as Class III. There is heavy erosion occurred at Perlis River and leading to the river banks become very shallow. Residents which located surrounding the river have thrown rubbish or solid waste into the river therefore causing to unaesthetic scene and it is not accessible to boats. Besides, there is a landfill located in Kuala Perlis and this directly affects the water quality of the river when the leachate is leaching out. Squatters located near the river reserve area are also causing pollution problems and there is a need to regular patrols or hut-to-hut checks. Other point source pollution such as shrimp livestock ponds, Kangar wet market, esplanade at Perlis River, food stalls and the Kuala Perlis fisherman jetty are contributed significantly to the water pollution at Perlis River. (w ww.1s1rcommunity.net) On the other hand, the sources of water pollution can be categorized into point and non-point sources. Point sources of pollution refer to those easily identifiable pollutants which enter the water resource though a direct route, for example, effluent from wastewater treatment plants. Whereas for non-point source pollution, it refer to those pollutants which enter from diffuse sources and they are difficult to control, such as stormwater runoff (P.Jamwal et al., 2008). In this study, Mann-Kendall trend test and principal component analysis (PCA) have been applied to detect the trends of water quality data and to obtain the most significant parameters in order to trace the sources of pollutants. Mann-Kendall trend test is one of the most widely used non-parametric tests to detect significant trends in time series. It has the advantage that their power and significance are not affected by the actual distribution of the data (Hamed, 2009). Therefore it is more suitable for detecting trends in hydrological time series, which are usually skewed and contained the outliers. Mann-Kendall trend test has been widely used in assessing the variability on hydrological time series (Hamed, 2008). The examples of earlier studies which applied Mann-Kendall technique are trend study and assessment of surface water quality in the Ebro River (Bouza-Deano et al., 2008), hydrological trend analysis due to landuse changes at Langat River basin (Juahir et al., 2010), identification of hydrological trends at Canadian Rivers (Khaliq, 2009) and so on. Principal component analysis (PCA), one of the multivariate statistical techniques, is helps in reducing redundant parameters with minimum loss of original information (Helena et al., 2000). A better understanding of water quality can be achieved through the interpretation of complex water quality data matrices. Besides, it allows the identification of possible factors or sources that affect water systems and therefore a reliable management of water resources as well as swift solution to pollution problems can be found out (Vega et al., 1998; Wunderlin et al., 2001; Reghunath et al., 2002; Simeonova et al., 2003; Simeonov et al., 2004). In recent years, principal component analysis (PCA) has been applied in various aspect of field including environmental issues. It has been used to characterize and assess water quality data, and it is efficacious in verifying temporal and spatial variations caused by natural and anthropogenic factors (Helena et al., 2000; Singh et al., 2004, 2005). The examples of application of PCA in environmental issues are interpretation of ground water hydrographs (Winter et al., 2000), examination of spatial and temporal patterns of heavy metal contamination (Shine et al., 1995) identification of herbicide species related to hydrological conditions (Tauler et al., 2000) and so on. The aims of this study are to detect the trends of water quality data at Perlis River and determine the significant parameters that contributed to water pollution by using Mann-Kendall and principal component analysis techniques. A deeper understanding of the evolution in water quality from the year 2003 until year 2007 can be achieved via the Mann-Kendall trend test. Besides, by using the principal component analysis (PCA), the sources of pollutants can be traced and thus some mitigation measures can be carried out.

Helping Phantom Limb Pain Essay examples -- Phantom Limb Pain Medical

Helping Phantom Limb Pain Over the years scientists have noted many complaints of a strange form of pain called phantom limb pain. This pain is strange because it is located in an appendage that no longer exists. By many of the amputees the pain is described as totally unbearable. Phantom limb pain has even driven some victims crazy. For the amputee population this is a very real problem that definitely needs to be solved. After James Peacock had his right arm amputated last December, he expected some difficulties. With those difficulties came pain so unbearable it could not be controlled with all the medicine in his cabinet. Derek Steen, otherwise known as "The one-armed pool player," lost a limb in a motorcycle accident at the age of 18. Although he lost the limb, he still plays a great game of pool. Nine years after the accident Steen continues to have pain in the missing arm. Deborah Finnegan-Ling, a graduate student in neuroscience, is writing her dissertation on phantom limb pain. Finnegan-Ling should know a lot about this phenomenon because three years ago, after a farming accident, her left leg was amputated. She has experienced much pain from this phantom limb especially in her personal life. The area of the brain for the foot is adjacent to the area for genitalia. Because of this connection Finnegan-Lingà ­s missing limb aches when she makes love."I consider myself tough," she says."But the pain is so acute that Ià ­ll cry." Some amputees experience the opposite of phantom pain - phantom pleasure. One man tells about feeling an orgasmic sensation in his lost foot during sex. Finnegan-Ling sighs."I wish," she says. Many scientists have studied amputees to determine the cause of this mysterious pain. Sussman (199... ...981). Persistent phantom limb pain. Journal of Perceptual and Motor Skills, 53(1), 135-138. Flor, H., Elbert, T., Knecht, S. & Wienbruch, C. (1995). Phantom limb pain as a perceptual correlate of cortical reorganization following arm amputation. Journal of Nature, 375(6531), 482-484. McKechnie, R. (1975). Relief from phantom limb pain by relaxation exercises. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 6(3), 262-263. Morris, D. (1992). The place of pain. Journal of Advances, 8(2), 3-24. Tsushima, W. (1982). Treatment of phantom limb pain with EMG and temperature biofeedback. American Journal of Clinical Biofeedback, 5(2), 150-153. Wain, H. (1986). Pain control with hypnosis in consultation and liaison psychiatry. Psychiatric Annuals, 16(2), 106-109. Sussman, V. (October 1995). The route of phantom pain. U.S. News & World Report, 76-78.

Canterbury Tales Essay - The Assertive and Vulnerable Wife of Bath

The Assertive and Vulnerable Wife of Bath Society was different in Chaucer's time; males dominated and women were suppressed.   The manipulative and destructive nature of women was emphasized by men. Much like Eve in the Bible, women were blamed for the 'downfall of man'. Through the Wife of Bath, Chaucer investigates the difficulty of self-realization for a woman in this restrictive environment.   The wife of bath, Alison, represents antifeminist stereotypes and searches for happiness and a place in a patriarchal society.   Unfortunately, Alison is never in tune with who she really is as a woman.   Chaucer uses a series of ironies to eventually show that under her seemingly confident guise, there hides the soul of a vulnerable, lost woman. The Wife of Bath argues in favor of women.   She disparages the works of the male scholars that denigrate women.   Using her "savage lion" analogy, she reasons that "if women had but written the stories", then such negative portrayals would not exist.   Therefore, at first, the Wife of Bath appears to be in favor of women's rights.   Ironically, the Wife of bath does not help women, her actions coinciding with the scholars' accusations. Alison DOES dress gaily, with her stockings of "fine scarlet red".   The color red is indicative of a quarrelsome, bold lady, as is the symbol of the gap in her teeth, to indicate licentiousness.   When she goes "walking out by night", and "followed on my appetite, Whether the lad was short, long, black, or white."(275), the Wife does prove to be adulterous.   In relationships with her husbands, the wife IS devious and deceitful, making up accusations to pre-empt any on the part of the husbands. Therefore, while on one level attempting t o protest the "negative s... ...son into obedience, and has been the partner who dominates and controls all along.   Her efforts to find true happiness are futile, and she lives a lie. The Wife of Bath is admirable in that she is assertive and has attempted to succeed in her life. Despite being a woman of the fourteenth century, her ideas, beliefs, and actions are more like a woman of the twenty-first century. She is truly a woman ahead of her time. Unfortunately, her restrictive environment prevented her from self-realization.   Therefore, she fails to effectively cope with and change her situation.   The wife of bath is a sad, lost woman, who used the wrong methods to find true love and happiness.   Hiding behind a confident mask, this woman is never truly free.   Works Cited: Chaucer, Geoffrey.â€Å"The Wife of Bath’s Tale.† The Canterbury Tales.Trans. Nevill Coghill. New York: Penguin, 1977.

Eating disorders: a problem Essay

Eating disorders are a world-wide problem. There are many types of eating disorders. There are programs out there to help people with eating disorders. With so many types we must understand the differences by looking at each type, how it affects teenagers, and what influence the media has on this issue. Eating disorders come in many different types. One of these is anorexia. Anorexia is a serious disease which causes a severe lack of eating. The proper name is anorexia nervosa.  Anorexia nervosa causes people to lose more weight than is considered healthy for their age and height. Persons with this disorder may have an intense fear of weight gain, even when they are underweight. They may diet or exercise too much or use other ways to lose weight. Their self-esteem is usually overly related to body image. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001401/) Anorexia nervosa has many warning signs that can tell someone if they have a problem. Someone may refuse to eat certain foods/food categories and deny their hunger all together. A person may develop â€Å"food rituals† in which they arrange foods in a certain way, excessively chew, eat in a certain order, etc†¦ One may withdraw themselves from their friends, family, or society. They may frequently make a comment about being â€Å"fat† or â€Å"overweight† despite their weight loss. (http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/anorexia-nervosa) Another type of eating disorder is bulimia nervosa. Bulimia is an illness in which a person binges on food or has regular episodes of overeating and feels a loss of control. The person then uses different methods — such as vomiting or abusing laxatives — to prevent weight gain. Many (but not all) people with bulimia also have anorexia nervosa. The purging of food usually  brings a sense of relief. ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001381/) One form of an eating disorder is binge eating. Binge eating is an eating disorder in which a person eats a much larger amount of food in a shorter period of time than he or she normally would. During binge eating, the person also feels a loss of control. Some causes of binge eating include genes, such as having close relatives who also have an eating disorder. Depression or other emotions, such as feeling upset or stressed. Unhealthy dieting, such as not eating enough nutritious food or skipping meals. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0003749/) Some symptoms of binge eating are, eating large amounts of food in a short period, for example, every 2 hours. A person is not able to control overeating, for example is unable to stop eating or control the amount of food. A person may keep eating even when full (gorging) or until uncomfortably full. Sometimes a person feels guilty, disgusted, ashamed, or depressed after eating so much. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0003749/) Some treatment can be done for people with a binge eating problem. The goals are to lessen and then be able to stop the bingeing incidents. Be able to get to and stay at a healthy weight. Get treated for any emotional problems, including overcoming feelings and managing situations that trigger binge eating. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0003749/)

Drawing on your understanding of the theories of motivation Essay

Drawing on your understanding of the theories of motivation and using examples where appropriate, critically assess the role of money as a motivator? The basic outlook on motivation is that needs equal behaviour which in turn equals satisfaction and vice versa. I.e. you have certain needs or wants, and this causes you to do certain things (behaviour), which satisfy those needs (satisfaction), and this can then change where needs/wants are primary. ‘The underlying idea is that all human beings are motivated to undertake certain actions – including purchasing goods and services and going out to work – by certain needs. Various needs come into play as motivators.'(Abraham Maslow.) Abraham Maslow suggested that we are motivated to satisfy our needs hierarchically: first is the desire to satisfy physiological needs, then the desire for security, the desire for companionship and a sense of belonging, the desire for self-esteem, and the desire for self-actualization, doing what one most wants and is best suited to do. As people’s lower or basic needs are met, broader more in depth issues motivate them. A person needs to feel as if his/her needs have been met on previous level(s) before moving upward. A person will not be motivated by love until he/she has had both his/her physiological and security needs met. For example babies’ needs are as basic as they come. All they wants is food, sleep, and a clean nappy, and not necessarily in that order. As they continue to get their survival needs met, they eventually request that their safety needs be addressed. At this time, their motivations are based purely on basic, survival needs. In all five cases of Maslow’s model, money to some extent plays a vital role in satisfying such needs one way or another. Money is often talked about as the ultimate motivator. It is the basic reason why most of us go to work everyday. It provides us with numerous freedoms. It allows us a variety of choices. If one has no money, or insufficient funds for basic needs, then one will do almost anything to get some. Money is a motivator at this basic level. However, as one begins to have enough to satisfy basic needs, it has less and less effect. People will generally choose to do things they like, prefer or which meets their values and aspirations, rather than seek money for its own sake. Of course, if they are in, or join a reference group whose members have more money than they do, then money may enter the motivational equation again. Equally, if they see other people, especially those within their own company or profession, earning more than they do for the same work (relative deprivation), then they may well be motivated to either complain about money or indeed seek a similar job elsewhere that pays better. However, people in general seem to reach a balance between money and effort, between money and the calls of family and interests. For instance, commission schemes are supposed to motivate increased effort in sales people. The truth of the matter is that for most sales people, they do not. The sales person works as hard as they need in order to get to a level of income that they require. At this point they are said to have â€Å"satisficed† and their needs and income are in balance. Offering more money will not necessarily increase effort beyond this point. Successful organizations use motivational techniques in order for its workforce to be highly efficient and effective. However on the contrary don’t essentially offer monetary rewards in every situation. There are drawbacks of using cash as the only motivator. Though it can motivate employees to be a good workforce, it can make them dishonest. Moreover, there are other ways to motivate people at very low cost, which give the same or even better results as using money. As mentioned above, money can buy almost everything people want, but only almost. There are many things that can not be traded for money. Due to these weak points, money is not as good motivator as it is viewed. First and foremost, money could lead to bad or unlawful performance. Money can really motivate people because, as it is well documented, money can buy satisfaction. Theoretically, workforces will perform better as they know that they will get more money from bonus or a raise. The problem is that in the real world, they do not perform â€Å"better† but perform to â€Å"look better† in their bosses’ eyes. For example, some might try to give an image of high workload by sitting in front of the computer and typing all the time, though they have nothing to type. In some case, they might stagger around the office, especially in front of the bosses’ rooms, so that they will be seen as busy and diligent. The worst case scenario is that they will try to serve their bosses the best, not the company. These are absolutely not the results the company expected from the motivation program. Moreover, if the company implements this program for some time, it may become company culture: money-oriented. Employees will only be concerned about how much money they make and not motivated by the job itself. They might excel as that can generate more earning but they will do something to get more money also. In a company that uses a stock option policy, managers get stocks as their bonus, and this policy can lead to illegal performance and inappropriate actions as Ivan F. Boesky found out to his disadvantage. He was accused of insider trading that led to huge personal profits and eventually a $100 million fine. This scandal was described as one of the worst on Wall Street history, and unsettled public confidence with the fear that stock trading may be fixed. ‘Money is often used for motivating, but it also addresses itself to human greed, which dulls the conscience and may lead to unethical and illegal behaviour.’ (Weihrich and Koontz, 1988) Secondly, companies can use other low cost motivators to motivate their workforces to perform better. â€Å"A personal organiser, complete with a leather case, is one of the gifts being offered to British Telecom employees as part of BT’s â€Å"Living Our Values† initiative. BT is using non-cash benefits to reward exemplary behaviour. The BT initiative is an example of an employer using gift items to enable managers to show gratitude to employees for such things as continuous improvement and teamwork.† (Rue and Byars, 1977) If the company use bonus’s as motivation, it will face a problem if it does not have good strategies to execute it with. For example, if the company gives a bonus every month, this bonus will do no good as a motivator. The reason for this is that if the company gives a bonus to employees every month, employees will feel that the bonus is what they must have as part of their salary, not as a reward for good performance and also the company will not make much profit and in the long run will eventually get rid of some staff. Therefore, if the company really wants employees to work better and better, it has to raise the bonus again and again. In addition to this, there are many utensils that can motivate workforces better than money. In fact, studies have found that non-monetary compensation is an even more vital factor many people. According to Hagemann, ‘the motivation factors ranked with importance by Japanese, American and German companies in the first, second and third places were clearer strategic directives, more information about work and more participation in the job while money was ranked in the ninth place.’ Money can be better motivator as it can indicate the status of the person. This statement is true but not for all situations. There are many people who gain respect from other people because of their good and honest habit though they earn little money. In the meantime, some who are rich but have bad reputation might be considered as dirty people or of a very low status. Nonetheless, there is another argument that an increasing salary is an indicator of success. It might be true but there are many things that can also show success such as more participation and more responsibility, for instance the Prime Minister of Great Britain is not that greatly paid when comparing him with CEO’s of major corporations, lawyers, barristers, footballers†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. The list goes on, yet the PM’s position is one of the most important and prestigious position in the country. Thirdly, money can not satisfy all needs of people. In reference to Maslow’s theory on motivation ‘money can satisfy only the needs at the lower level.’ According to Plunkett and Attner, â€Å"the physical needs can be satisfied by increasing pay, safety needs can be satisfied by reassuring that jobs will not be eliminated.† For social needs, there are many ways to cope with such as letting the new employee interact in recreational activities of the firm. In these levels of needs, money can be best used only at the lowest level. For example, money cannot buy the sense of belonging in the society, social need. There are many people who are extremely wealthy but can’t interact on a professional and social level with their fellow workmates in the organization well and have to quit their jobs. Some people do not want more money as they are satisfied with their current status or they are more concerned with other things more. For example, some wealthy and successful CEO’s whose needs are in the top levels like self-esteem or self-actualization may not necessarily be motivated by money. To motivate these people, the company might try to make them feel that the job is challenging or make them realise that this is another goal of their lives. The company might provide more opportunities in other fields of the job and send them to some training course to make their job more challenging. Changing the structure of the job is another way to motivate workforces, as it will make them feel that they have more challenge than their routine work. As seen, money is not a good motivator for everybody, as each employee will have dissimilar needs in the hierarchy. Although money is not always seen as a reliable motivator by a number of critics, it does possess its advantages in terms of it leads people towards a goal, it gives them direction and clarification. If there are no bonuses or low wages, where would the motivation be for a worker to work to his/her best ability? If there is a limited reward for your efforts then where will the incentive be to do well? Such questions are always raised in board meetings and meetings between employees and management. Management tend to use money as armour in their toolbox and release their ‘weapon of extra incentive’ when required. On the whole money is not always top employee priority although it is important, because ‘the money that you bring home buys the bread.’ People are also motivated by variety of items and using money as the only motivator is not as good a strategy as it should be. It can motivate people to perform better but only as the external motivator. People do not feel that they really want to work because of â€Å"intrinsic interest in a task† (Kohn, 1998) but they work just for money. This can lead to inefficiency and illusion of performance and also cause corruption and illegality in work. In fact there are many motivators that can bring about the same or even better result as money. Furthermore, using these motivators can reduce the cost of the company also. Last but not least, although money can buy many things, it cannot buy satisfaction and not all employees’ needs can be satisfied by money. Therefore, monetary motivators can not motivate everybody. As seen in this essay, motivating people by money can create some disadvantages and money is not the ‘be all and end all of motivation,’ so the company has to be very wary when using it.