As English Short Stories Summary

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL EXAMINATIONS AS LITERATURE IN ENGLISH: SYLLABUS 9695 NOTES FOR TEACHERS ON STORIES SET FOR STUDY FROM STORIES OF OURSELVES: THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL EXAMINATIONS ANTHOLOGY OF SHORT STORIES IN ENGLISH FOR EXAMINATION IN JUNE AND NOVEMBER 2010, 2011 AND 2012 CONTENTS Introduction: How to use these notes 1. The Fall of the House of UsherEdgar Allen Poe 2. The Open BoatStephen Crane 3. The Door in the WallHG Wells 4. The People BeforeMaurice Shadbolt 5. A Horse and Two GoatsRK Narayan 6. JourneyPatricia Grace 7. To Da-Duh, In MemoriamPaule Marshall 8. Of White Hairs and CricketRohinton Mistry 9. SandpiperAhdaf Soueif 10. TyresAdam Thorpe These notes are intended to give some background information on each author and/or story as an aid to further research and to stimulate discussion in the classroom. They are intended only as a starting point and are no substitute for the teacher’s and student’s own study and exploration of the texts. Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849) The Fall of the House of Usher This is one of the most famous gothic stories from one of the masters of the enre and contains many of the traditional elements of the genre, including horror, death, medievalism, an ancient building and signs of great psychological disturbance. The mood of oppressive melancholy is established at the opening of the story and here readers may note an acknowledgement of the appeal of gothic fiction: while there is fear and horror, the shudder is ‘thrilling’ and the ‘sentime nt’ is ‘half-pleasurable’. At the centre of the story are mysteries, about the psychological state of Usher himself and about his sister’s illness and death. The story only offers hints and suggestions; there is an ‘oppressive secret’, while the sister, buried in a strangely secure vault, returns as if risen from the dead to claim her brother. In archetypal gothic fashion, a raging storm of extreme violence mirrors the destruction of the family and its ancestral home. Horror stories and horror films continue to have wide popular appeal and it is worth considering why this is so, and in what ways this story fulfils the appeal of the horror story. Why are Usher’s and his sister’s maladies never identified? What does Madeline’s escape from the vault suggest? Wider reading Other gothic tales by Poe include The Masque of the Red Death, The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill Compare with The Door in the Wall by HG Wells The Hollow of the Three Hills by Nathaniel Hawthorne The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Online Biographical material and a searchable list of works can be found at: http://www. online-literature. com/poe/ Stephen Crane (1871-1900) The Open Boat This story is based on Crane’s own experience, when as a war correspondent, the boat he was travelling on to Cuba sank. He and others spent a number of days drifting in a small boat before reaching land. The story explores the fortitude of men in a shared plight and their companionship in the face of danger. The narrative style is factual and plain, perhaps mirroring the honest practicality of the men in the boat whose story is being narrated. It engenders an admiration of the skilled seamanship and calm demonstrated by the seamen. The drama in the story comes from the waves; the seamen converse, swap roles and encourage each other under the guidance of the captain. When they eventually reach shore, death comes to one of them, who is ‘randomly’ chosen. Without obviously aiming for pathos, Crane achieves it with the oiler’s death. The story, like the seamen, betrays ‘no hurried words, no pallor, no plain agitation’, but achieves a real sense of loss at its conclusion. Wider reading The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane Typhoon by Joseph Conrad Compare with The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe How it Happened by Arthur Conan Doyle Real Time by Amit Chaudhuri Online Biographical material and a searchable list of works can be found at: http://www. nline-literature. com/crane/ HG Wells (1866-1946) The Door in the Wall As well as famous novels such as The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine, HG Wells wrote numerous short stories, many of which show the author’s interest in fantasy and the improbable, but a feature of the stories is the way in which Wells creates a sense of truthfulness in his narratives. This was demonstrated when a radio broadcast of an adaptation of The War of the Worlds in 1938 caused panic in New York, and can also be seen in the narrator’s concern with the truth of the story at the beginning of The Door in the Wall. Here the narrator is retelling the story of someone else, who in turn tells it to him with ‘such direct simplicity of conviction’. This creates a tension which remains throughout the story, which on the one hand is ‘frankly incredible’ while we are assured that ‘it was a true story’. The temporary childhood escape into the paradisiacal garden is evoked with nostalgic longing, but remains inexplicable. The character’s final death leaves questions for the reader; it is either another inexplicable event, or some kind of solution to the mystery. Wider reading Try either of the novels listed above, or other short stories by Wells, such as The Country of the Blind or The Diamond Maker. Compare with The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe The Signalman by Charles Dickens The Moving Finger by Edith Wharton Online Wells’ biography and a searchable list of works can be found at: http://www. online-literature. com/wellshg/ An account of the New York panic can be found at: http://history1900s. about. com/od/1930s/a/warofworlds. htm Maurice Shadbolt (1932-1985) The People Before Maurice Shadbolt is one of the towering figures of New Zealand literature, winning numerous awards and accolades for his work, much of which examines the history of the country through narrative. The central characters in this story are carving out a farming existence on the land, and the importance of land ownership to the family is made apparent in a number of phrases in the story. The narrator tells us that ‘my father took on that farm’, he refers to the importance of ‘Land of your own,’ which becomes ‘your own little kingdom’. The suggestions of the history of the land come through the discovery of the greenstone adzes and attitudes to the land are brought to the fore with the visit of the Maori group. Although Shadbolt characterises Tom Taikaka as pleasant, courteous and patient, there is the constant underlying acknowledgement of the Europeans’ displacing of the Maori from their land. Jim’s attempt at restoring the greenstone to Tom is symbolic of an attempt at restitution, and the reader is left to interpret Tom’s reluctant refusal. The return of the Maori elder to the land in death, and his disappearance, is another indication of his unity with the landscape and again demonstrates the different attitudes to land held by the Maoris and the Europeans, attitudes which remain polarised in the brothers at the end of the story. Wider reading Strangers and Journeys or The Lovelock Version by Maurice Shadbolt Playing Waterloo by Peter Hawes Compare with Journey by Patricia Grace Her First Ball by Katherine Mansfield The Enemy by VS Naipaul Online Biographical information and a critical review of Shadbolt’s work is available at: http://www. ookcouncil. org. nz/writers/shadboltm. html This newspaper obituary is also interesting: http://www. timesonline. co. uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article497710. ece RK Narayan (1906-2001) A Horse and Two Goats Narayan has written numerous novels and short stories, many of them set in Malgudi, a fictional but typical small Indian town. His characters are invariably ordinary peopl e finding their route through Indian life. Although A Horse and Two Goats makes no reference to Malgudi itself, it is typical of these stories, as Muni tries to live and ease the burden of his poverty. The story is narrated with the non-judgemental understanding and gentle humour typical of Narayan’s writing. The narration emphasises the insignificance of the village, and by implication the insignificance of its central character, who is coping with poverty and domestic struggle and seeks to ease his way by deceit and invention. The big deceit of the story, though, happens through misunderstanding and without Muni’s volition, Narayan creating comedy through the two parallel lines of attempted dialogue between Muni and the American tourist. Within the comedy, though, Narayan shows the different values of the two, the American’s dialogue concerned with acquisition and possessions, while Muni is concerned with history and spirituality. Wider reading The Guide (novel) and Malgudi Days (short stories) by RK Narayan Kanthapura by Raja Rao Compare with Games at Twilight by Anita Desai Of White Hairs and Cricket by Rohinton Mistry Online Information about RK Narayan is available at: http://www. eng. fju. edu. tw/worldlit/india/narayan. html Patricia Grace (1937-) Journey Patricia Grace’s first novel, Mutuwhenua, was significant in being the first novel published by a woman Maori writer, and she has become an important figure in Maori writing in English in New Zealand. Journey shows her interest in the Maoris’ traditional claims on land. The rather dislocated narrative, with limited punctuation and no speech markings, creates the effect of creating the old man’s perspective, although the narrative is written in the third person. This old man’s perspective, with its old Maori wisdom, is shown to be out of balance with ‘these young people’, the ‘cars and railways’, the new housing and the growth of the city. His journey into the city makes him feel more and more alienated, and this is accentuated when the narrative is interspersed with the interview dialogue. The official and the old man cannot make each other understand. There is no comprehension on either side of the other’s view of how land should be used, and the story ends with frustration, violence and disillusion. In this story, Grace suggests that traditional Maori governance of land has no place in modern government and planning. Wider reading Mutuwhenua (novel) or The Dream Sleepers and Other Stories (short stories) by Patricia Grace Playing Waterloo by Peter Hawes The Bone People by Keri Hulme Compare with The People Before by Maurice Shadbolt To Da-duh, In Memoriam by Paule Marshall Online Biographical and other information about Patricia Grace is available at: http://www. artsfoundation. org. nz/patricia. html Paule Marshall (1929-) To Da-Duh, In Memoriam The narrator in this story remembers her visit from New York to her mother’s home country, which to her is the ‘alien sight and sounds of Barbados’. The story hinges on the relationship formed between the young girl and her grandmother, Da-duh of the title. While the Caribbean is unfamiliar to the young girl, who sees it as ‘some dangerous place’, Da-duh wants to show off its qualities, and a competition is established between the girl and the grandmother, between youth and age, between modernity and tradition and between New York and Barbados, which culminates in the girl’s assertion of the height of the Empire State Building, which dwarfs all that Da-duh shows her. The young girl’s triumph, however, is tempered at the end of the story by ‘the shadow’ of Da-duh’s death. Wider reading This story is taken from Merle and Other Stories by Paule Marshall. Compare with Journey by Patricia Grace Online Information about Paule Marshall is available at: http://www. answers. com/topic/paule_marshall Rohinton Mistry (1952-) Of White Hairs and Cricket This story’s concern with age and mortality is reflected in the structure, beginning with the removal of the narrator’s father’s white hairs and moving to what seems to be his friend’s father’s terminal illness. In the space of the story the narrator has his own recognition of mortality and emerges from boyhood into the adult world. He moves from considering distasteful his task of removing his father’s white hairs to a full awareness of the process of ageing which he ‘is powerless to stop’. There are other signs of this process throughout the story: the loss of the childhood cricket matches, the increasing frailty of Mamaiji, the father’s vain hope of a new job. It is the encounter with the friend Viraf, Dr Sidhwa and the glimpse of Viraf’s father which gives the narrator his epiphanic moment. Wider reading This story is taken from the collection Swimming Lessons and Other Stories. You could also try the novel Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry. Malgudi Days by RK Narayan The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy Compare with A Horse and Two Goats by RK Narayan To Da-duh, In Memoriam by Paule Marshall The Enemy by VS Naipaul Games at Twilight by Anita Desai Online Biographical material is available at: http://www. contemporarywriters. com/authors/? p=auth73 Ahdaf Soueif (1950-) Sandpiper The narrator in this story is unwilling to disturb even ‘one grain of sand’, and this reflects her passivity as her relationship with her husband breaks down under cultural pressures. The relationship with him is carefully charted, almost historically, but it is significant that he is never named, and a sense of loss grows at the centre of the narrative. The narrative structure includes disconcerting juxtapositions between memory and the present to show the narrator’s sate of mind. The narrative describes a love between the two formed elsewhere; it is the return to the husband’s country which creates the cultural and family pressures on the relationship, including the loss of female independence, work and identity, which cause the couple to drift apart. Such concerns of conflicting cultural pressures are perhaps a natural concern of an author born and educated in Egypt, before continuing education in England. She now divides her time between Cairo and London. Wider reading This story is taken from a collection of short stories by Ahdaf Soueif, also called Sandpiper. The Map of Love is a novel which deals with a love affair between an Egyptian and an English woman. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy Compare with To Da-duh, In Memoriam by Paule Marshall The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Five-Twenty by Patrick White Online Biographical information about Ahdaf Soueif is available at: http://www. contemporarywriters. com/authors/? p=auth227 Adam Thorpe (1956-) Tyres The narrative of Tyres is set against the tension of German-occupied France during the Second World War, where relationships are strained, little can be openly communicated and suspicion is rife. The brutality of war suddenly intervenes in the middle of the story with the killing of the suspected members of the French Resistance movement (the Maquis) and the villagers forced to view the bodies, their ‘guts†¦literally looped and dripping almost to the floor’, before the hanging of the ringleader from the village bridge. Set against this is the gradually developing love affair between the young lad learning to maintain vehicles in his father’s garage and the girl who cycles past each day. The young man’s narration leads the reader gradually to his final act of involvement with the resistance against the Germans and its effects; ill-luck seems to be the cause of guilt, and the final revelation of the age of the narrator shows how long that guilt and fidelity has lasted. In this story, Thorpe sets ordinariness – working on cars, changing tyres, a developing relationship – against extraordinariness – the Second World War and German occupation – to create a small poignant story of war. Wider reading This story comes from Adam Thorpe’s short story collection Shifts. His novel Ulverton is a collection of very different narratives which piece together the long history of an English village. Compare with To Da-duh, In Memoriam By Paule Marshall The Moving Finger by Edith Wharton The Taste of Watermelon by Borden Deal Online Biographical information and a review of Adam Thorpe’s work is available at: http://www. contemporarywriters. com/authors/? p=auth95

Korean Music Essay

Traditional Korean music includes both the folk, vocal, religious and ritual music styles of the Korean people. Korean music, along with arts, painting, and sculpture has been practiced since prehistoric times. Two distinct musical cultures exist in Korea today: traditional music (Gugak) and Western music (yangak). Korean Folk music Korean folk music is varied and complex, but all forms maintain a set of rhythms (called Jangdan) and a loosely defined set of melodic modes. Because the folk songs of various areas are categorized under Dongbu folk songs, their vocal styles and modes are limited. Therefore, currently scholars are attempting to categorize the Dongbu folk songs further based on different musical features. These songs are mostly simple and bright. Namdo folk songs are those of Jeolla Province and a part of Chungcheong Province. While the folk songs of other regions are mostly musically simple, the folk songs of the Namdo region, where the famous musical genres pansori and sanjo were created, are rich and dramatic. Some Namdo folk songs are used in pansori or developed by professional singers and are included as part of their repertories. Jeju folk songs are sung on the Jeju Island. They are more abundant in number than any other regional folk songs, and approximately 1600 songs are transmitted today. Jeju folk songs are characterized by their simple and unique melodic lines and rich texts. Pansori Pansori: is a long vocal and percussive music played by one singer and one drummer. In this traditional art form, sometimes rather misleadingly called ‘Korean Opera’, a narrator may play the parts of all the characters in a story, accompanied by a drummer. The lyric tell one of five different stories, but is individualized by each performer, often with updated jokes and audience participation. One of the most famous pansori singers is Park Dongjin (hangul). Many Koreans still enjoy this music. The National Theatre of Korea provides monthly opportunities to experience traditional Korean narrative songs or pansori. Where: National Theatre of Korea, Seoul City Hall, South Korea Pungmul Pungmul: is a Korean folk music tradition that is a form of percussion music that includes drumming, dancing, and singing. Most performances are outside, with dozens of players, all in constant motion. Samul Nori, originally the name of a group founded in 1978, has become popular as a genre, even overseas. It is based on Pungmul musical rhythmic patterns and uses the same instruments, but is faster and usually played while sitting down. Sanjo  is played without a pause in faster tempos. It is entirely instrumental music, and includes changes in rhythmic and melodic modes during an individual work. The tempos increases in each movement. The general style of the sanjo is marked by slides in slow movements and rhythmic complexity in faster movements. Instruments include the changgo drum set against a melodic instrument, such as the gayageum or ajaeng. ChÃ… ngak  means literally â€Å"right (or correct) music†, and its tradition includes both instrumental and vocal music, which were cultivated mainly by the upper-class literati of the Joseon society. The Yongsan hoesang is the main repertoire of instrumental chongak tradition and the most representative chamber ensemble of Korea. The title is derived from a Korean Buddhist chang with the short text ‘Yongsan hoesang pulbosal,’ which literally means â€Å"Buddha and Bodhisattvas meet at the Spirit Vulture Peak.† The Korean Buddhist music with the texts notated in the fifteenth-century manuscript Taeak Hubo was a vocal work accompanied by an orchestra. Nongak  means â€Å"farmers’ music† and represents an important musical genre which has been developed mainly by peasants in the agricultural society of Korea. The farmers’ music is performed typically in an open area of the village. The organization of nongak varies according to locality and performing groups, and today there are a great n umber of regional styles. Shinawi  means in broadest sense, the shamanistic music of Korea which is performed during a Korean shaman’s ritual dance performance to console and to entertain deities. In this sense of word, the term is almost identical with anoth er term, shinbanggok (lit. ‘spirit chamber music’), which indicated general shamanistic music performed at a folk religious ceremony known as kut. Salp’uri is a dance for soul cleansing and literally means : â€Å"to wash away bad ghosts†. Salpuri’s modern movements represent the shown human hopes and aspirations. Court/Ritual music Korean court music preserved to date can be traced to the beginning of the Joseon Dynasty in 1392. It is now rare, except for government-sponsored organizations like The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts. There are three types of court music. One is called Aak, and is an imported form of Chinese ritual music, and another is a pure Korean form called Hyang-ak; the last is a combination of Korean and Chinese influences, and is called Dang-ak. Aak Aak was brought to Korea in 1116 and was very popular for a time before dying out. It was revived in 1430, based on a reconstruction of older melodies. The music is now highly specialized and uses just two different surviving melodies. Aak is played only at certain very rare concerts, such as the Sacrifice to Confucius in Seoul. Dang-ak Modern dangak, like aak, is rarely practiced. Only two short pieces are known; they are Springtime in Luoyang and Pacing the Void. Hyang-ak By far the most extant form of Korean court music today, hyangak includes a sort of oboe, called a piri and various kinds of stringed instruments.

Books and Their Importance for Students and Children

Books and Their Importance for Students and Children Books are our Best Friends for Students Children Humans cannot live alone. They need friends in life. This book can be our best friend. The book company provides pleasure for people and companies of nature. This book is a great blessing. Life is not easy to live without friends. As for books, you can be a good friend forever. Good books enrich our minds with good thoughts and knowledge. We can not feel alone in a book company. As we read good books, we gain knowledge and learn many good things. Books written by good and experienced characters help us become better people and inspire us. It teaches how to serve society in the best way. Books are the best time for us to be alone, start reading with a sense of comfort with a book, and provide knowledge. Books are always best friends because they encourage us to do great things in life and help us overcome failures. I learn a lot from books like good friends. Books can be good or bad, but it is our responsibility to choose books wisely. Friendship with a good book becomes a good person, and friendship with a bad book becomes a bad person. There will always be books in bad times. The book teaches us to dream good things in life. It brings positive thinking and good value to our lives. Some love the company of nature and others love the company of the book. Books are a map of human life and nature. Every page of a great book is a storehouse of the finest and noble thoughts of human beings. The library will meet all the great minds of the world. Today, however, all books are good and innocent. The book is overflowing and the flood is always bad. Even the flood of tears is bad. How then can a flood occur? You should be careful about this. Do not run away with this flood. It is good to live in a bad book company. But falling into a bad book company is bad. Through the influence of bad books, you can develop bad habits by not knowing it. Therefore, you must choose your partner carefully. So its up to you how you choose it wisely. But even the best books can not give you everything. A book company can give you knowledge, but it can not give you wisdom. No book can be a good scientist. Newton was not born in the library. He did not read much but instead lived in a company of plants and flowers. So the library can not make you a great poet or thinker. Even books you choose can only be made from bookworms. Obtain only indirect information. You can not really be great unless you listen with your eyes. It is therefore sometimes necessary to come out of the world of books and live in a company of people and nature. The life of man and nature must be combined with the book company.

The pro and con of abortion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The pro and con of abortion - Essay Example Their philosophical approach offers an insight into the fundamentals of life. At the center of their reasoning is the concept of a person and moral obligation towards life in respect of abortion. Critical evaluation of Peter Simpson viewpoint on abortion emphasizes opposition and paints the act as horrific and unjustifiable. In the opinion of Simpson, abortion contravenes the fundamental law of nature which upholds sanctity of life. He asserts that fetus is a person and not an organ. In the context of biology, fetus is a person and not an organ which forms part of being. In that respect, procurement of abortion is outright elimination of a person which is morally unacceptable (Simpson, 1998). It is therefore obvious that Simpson is against abortion at all costs. The right to life should prevail over any other form of human action and legal structures that govern the society. In his view, Simpson asserts the supremacy of natural law over man-made constitution. In support of his idea, Simpson explains the relationship between mother and the unborn as giver of life to gift. In that respect, the mother should protect the unborn at all costs hence outright declaration of murder f or any attempted or successful abortion. The state law should therefore act within the natural laws which note the fetus as a person with the right to life. Legal provisions that present abortion as alternatives of protecting the life of the mother are tantamount to portraying attacker to victim relation between mother and the unborn. The law should therefore not be corrupted to portray fetus as a threat to mother’s life as this would promote justification of the vice. Simpson argues that even if human laws emphasize illegality of abortion, moral obligation and adherence to natural law that disrepute the act is key in guiding behavior (Simpson, 1998). On the other side of the argument, Mary Ann offers an

Reviews and Evaluations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reviews and Evaluations - Essay Example cause of justice, the impact that the verdict will have on the safety of the society, the past record of the defendant and the extent to which the defendant poses a threat to the society. The first and foremost premise regarding the extension of death penalty in case of the insane murderers is that the term ‘insane’ is very broad and fluid in its scope and interpretation. To a great extent it would be right to claim that taking the life of a fellow human being or human beings in most cases is in a way an act of insanity. Perhaps, every murderer commits a murder in a very imbalanced and gruesome state of mind. So if one agrees with the logic that insane murderers should be pardoned, then there is no denying the fact that almost every murderer will seek pardon on the grounds of insanity or committing a murder in a state of mental imbalance. Convicts will resort to citing reasons like migraine, depression, rage, eating disorders, addictions, phobias, inability to manage anger, etc as an excuse for getting away with their crimes, as all these ailments qualify to be classified as forms of mental instability. This will give way to a wrong precedence in the soc iety and will exponentially dilute the deterrent effect of the justice system. The other big reason for supporting the death penalty in case of mentally ill murderers is that the justice is not driven by insubstantial emotions and allocates a definite punishment for all sorts of crimes. Claiming immunity by a murder convict on the grounds of insanity is irrational in the sense that in such cases the accused tends to exploit one’s mental illness as an excuse for the crime one committed. Insanity could definitely serve as an explanation for committing a crime. However, the absurdity of allowing an explanation to turn into an excuse for letting a murderer goes scot free trivializes the claims of justice and mocks the plight of innocent people murdered by that person, not to mention the agony of their family and

Personal Plan Marketing Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Plan Marketing - Personal Statement Example Having been a student leader through high school ad my college life, I have developed greater interest in pursuing political career in the future with no less an ambition than being a president after retiring from my professional career. The high self-esteem that people often point of me has been and continues to be my strength and this nurtures my high aspirations. Being honest, hardworking and maintaining high level of integrity are main virtues that are so true in defining myself, and these, I attribute to my loving mum and my teachers, who have taught me throughout my upbringing. Nevertheless, one would almost get a perception of a very serious guy in me but surprise would be to learn that I am one of the lightest persons you can ever meet. Life has taught me to take every opportunity that comes my way; in joy and in sorrow and make best of it. This therefore has trained me to be very sociable and at the same time very serious when it comes to matters that require such. Religion is also part of my life and I always spare my time for serving God amidst my tight schedules as my religious background has taught me. Having been born 23 years ago in the countryside, I must count myself to have experienced the taste of two centuries; the 20th and 21stcentury, which are differentiated by quality of living and sense of importance. My childhood, much of which was experienced through the late years of 20th century, had nothing at all to celebrate due to much suffering in hunger, poor living standards and poor economic status back in the village. However, life has turned a bit for the better as it continues to experience the good of the transition in century through education which has enabled me fetch some income from periodic employments and hence I am continually transforming the living of my family and myself. I must therefore appreciate my background for continually shaping me for who I am now. I have developed great zeal in hard

Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 26

Psychology - Essay Example Cognitive therapy helps in changing and reconstructing faulty thought processes while shaping them into a more organized form and behavioral therapy helps in modifying and improving an individuals problematic behaviors and actions. Together, the task of the therapy is to understand the interrelation and the workings of emotions, behaviors and thoughts as well as the impact that these components may have over the events in an individuals life. The main purpose of cognitive therapy is to enable the person to be aware of the thought pattern that is resulting into psychological distress and also the behavior that is reinforcing the distress. It aims to correct the psychological problems through giving an entire outlook to the causes of distress. CBT understands the thoughts and experiences of the person and works with the person in getting to the depth of the problem. (Whitfield & Davidson, 2007) Some criticisms of CBT are related to the view that merely telling the client that something is not true is not likely to make the person feel that way. This would not necessarily change the belief that a person has. However, counter arguments show that CBT psychologists do not just tell the person that a certain view is wrong; they help the client explore these themselves. There is a new perspective in the idea of dissociative disorder after the 1980s, after which the condition received more theoretical as well as clinical attention from psychologists and psychiatrists. Dissociative disorders can be described as conditions that involve breakdown of ones perception of his or her surroundings, identity, memory or consciousness. According to the American Psychiatric Associations DSM VI, there are four forms of dissociative disorders including dissociative amnesia, dissociative identity disorder (Formerly called multiple personality disorder), dissociative fugue and depersonalization disorder. Dissociative amnesia

Max Weber Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Max Weber - Essay Example For instance, Catholic doctrine as formulated by Aquinas differs from earliest Christianity and Stoicism in the viewpoint concerning equality of all human beings. This doctrine greatly influenced power relations in modern society metaphysically where human beings suffer either because of the original sin, individual causality of karma, or the corruption of the dualistic world. In which case, human beings suffer violence, strife, and differences in worldly social status and position. This in return created various and modern castes and stratifications â€Å"that have been providentially ordained, and each of them has been assigned some specific, indispensable task desired by god or determined by the impersonal world order, so that different ethical obligations devolve upon each.† (Weber 1993). These castes were maintained because of the regard for divinely ordained authoritarian relationship which contributes to the kind of modern social and political administration we have today. This in accordance discourage or condemn any revolt or rebellion against the authority as it only means creaturely arrogance or pride against the sanctity of God-built social order. Meanwhile, submitting to the established organic organization and functioning based from the assigned task will give person happiness in the world and in the life to come. Meanwhile, Islamic doctrine holds no regard to salvation and thus the kind of 'rulership' rejected universalism that leaves the people to decide upon any indifference to the Islamic regulations. On the other hand, social castes present in Hinduism justify discrimination and outcasts since the doctrine chiefly depends on person's fulfillment of his cast function to achieve higher chances of higher status in the next life. This can be manifested to the doctrine's affirmation to social discrimination since it believes to the idea that people who were in the lowest castes and sacrificed much can gain more in any of transmigration of souls. As Weber pointed out, political power struggle evolved to order of legal sate because of its increasing objectification. However, he also pointed that political power struggle in religion's perspective "is merely the most effective camouflage of brutality, for all politics is oriented to the reason of state, the pragmatic and self-purposive sustenance of the external and internal distribution of power. These goals must necessarily seem completely meaningless from the religious point of view. Yet only in this way does the realm of politics acquire a peculiarly rational power of its own, once formulated by Napoleon, which appears as thoroughly alien to every ethic of brotherliness as do the rationalized economic orders." (Weber 1993). Also influential is the religious antipathy to sexual acts that can be seen in cultic chastity meaningfully developed in place of the various types of magical motivation. The doctrine believes that sexual abstinence is a fundamental factor to achieve salvation. This can be done through contemplative withdrawal from worldly pleasures. Moreover, sexual drive and other related pleasures constitute the most powerful temptation that will only strengthen the hold of 'animality' to human. This religious convention greatly regarded modern sexual act as irrational and are only brought about by animalistic tendencies of human. Acts to subjugate sexual acts legitimizes marriage as a regulatory process for sexual intercourse and used the idea of legitimate child rearing to impose action fiercely against prostitution and extra-marital affairs. Karl Marx According to Karl Marx, religion depends

Reflective learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Reflective learning - Essay Example I also made them believe that raising funds is not really hard as many of my peers thought. I made them understand that there are a lot of ways to raise funds we just have to be creative and exert a little effort to raise it. I introduce the idea of a garage sale with a party. The items that will be on sale will be the things that our neighbours are ready to dispose. To make the story short, we were able to exceed our objective to raise fund for our project while having fun at the same time. The other experience I had about leading a group was during a school project where I was assigned as a project leader. I was hesitant at first because I was anxious that I might end up doing the whole project myself if my team members will not work and cooperate. It was not as hard as I thought if one will just know how to push â€Å"the right button† or motivate the group members to work. Before these projects were realized, the process and dynamics of getting it done was quite tough. It was an interplay of leadership, organizational skill, team work and resolving personal issue among the members in the group. But the main component is leadership on how to direct the energy of the team to commit and realize our objective (Kayser and Melcher 2007). It was not easy asking people of my age to do certain things that it made me think how to go about it and in the process learned several things about myself. I learned that in getting people commit to do certain things, I have to get along with them very well especially if it is a volunteer work just like our community project or a school work where one cannot direct others because everybody is in equal footing (we are all students). I learned that I do pretty well in this department that it is almost effortless on my part. But I have to admit that there are things about me that is un-leader like that I have to change such as my tendency to procrastinate. I observed that when I procrastinate, my team members also did the s ame. There are also certain things about my behaviour that I did not realize to be a leadership trait. Knowing that my team members in our community project are not being paid to do it, I invoked their higher sense of achieving and contributing good when I told them that what we are doing is for the community and that we will become an invariable part of it because we worked hard for a project dedicated to our community. This is actually a trait of transformational leadership (Judge and Piccolo 2004). My good interpersonal skill also enabled me to effectively address an issue with our group. The person I assigned to go door to door in one of our streets suddenly did not show up. I was worried. But instead of passing judgment at him to be lazy and non-committal, I inquired what happened. I learned that my team member had a medical emergency at home because a sister has to be rushed to the hospital. When the issue was already done, my team member was very motivated to go door to door to collect things for our garage sale and this would not have been possible had I judged him earlier. On areas that I need to improve my behaviour about leadership, I believe it would be my organizational and administrative skills. I have to admit that I am disorganized as a leader. I realized this during the garage sale itself because I had hard time putting up the event. The event could have been better with more attendees and more funds could have been raised if I had a better