Family diversity in today’s society Essay Example for Free

Family diversity in today’s society Essay Examine the extend,of and the reasons for family diversity in today’s society. Many sociologists argue that the nuclear family is a universal and dominate institution however there has been an increase in diverse family types for various reasons. Examples of these diverse families are lone parents, reconstitutions and cohabitation families. Although most people experience life in a nuclear family, it represents only a stage in their life cycle. Social and demographic changes have meant that an increasing part of many people’s lives are spent in households that are not based on conventional nuclear families. Firstly the increase of single parents (lone parents) has tripled since 1970s in the UK. About 25% of all families with dependent children are single-parent families. There are various reasons which contribute to the increase of single parenthood but one main one is the demographical changes in the UK, is divorce. Divorce was legalised in the early 1970s and as a consequences it is cheaper and easier to get a divorce and this one of the explanations for the growth in lone-parent families since the early 1970’s. Whereas in the past it would take years to get a divorce and even then the outcome was not always fair. Feminist argue that diversity is valued and liberal as it gives women a choice. They also argue that this not only benefits women but en as well as they can have more time with the child and care for their children, then in the past that was only seen as the women job. However these traditional values are stilled established by ethnic groups not so much. Another reason for the increase in single parent families is due to greater acceptance in society. There is no longer as stigma that you have conceives a child with in marriage. This is interlinked with secularisation, which means the decline in religious practice and thinking. Therefore religion has very little influence over people lives hence they have a wider option in regards to the type of family they chose. The media also contributes the greater acceptance of single-parents as it depicts them in a positive light today, whereas in the past were it was seen as ‘sinful’. The increase is in single parent families is also due to help of the welfare state. The welfare state provides the single pare nt finical support hence taking the position or the role of the father. As a result women no longer need to rely on men or marriage for support. The increase in never married single mother now accounts for about 40% of all lone parents. Although Britain has become more diverse single  parenthood is still not accepted by everyone. The new right thinker Charles Murray (1984) argues that the increase in lone-parents is due to the over generosity of the welfare state as they have provide for both the parent and their children. Murray argue that this creates ‘perverse incentive’, that is rewarding irresponsible behaviour hence creating a ‘dependency culture’ in which people assume that the state will support them. One of the consequences of the lone parent family is step families (often called reconstituted families) which accounts to about 10% of families with the dependent children in the UK. A reconstituted family is made up of an adult couple, living with at least one child from a previous relationship of one of the partners. However although there is an increase in diverse family types the stepfamily are more at risk of poverty because the stepfather would have to provide for his current step children and his children form a previous relationship. In addition a difference in sexuality has contributed to the increase in family diversity. Gay and lesbian households have become more common and more acceptable in society than in the past. As Jeffrey Weeks, Donovan and Heaphey did their study in 1999 they argue, ‘During the past generation the possibilities of living an openly lesbian and gay have been transformed’. According to Weeks et al (1999) the same sex families look upon their household and friendship network as a chosen family. Same sex families have more option than the conventional heterosexual family and others see these families and an alternative and continuous devolving. Weeks et al argues that this part of a wider social change which can be based on culture and ethnic difference. Another sociologist called Roseneil (2005) develops the idea of chosen your own family. She uses the term hetronorm to refer to the intimate relationship between a heterosexual couple is seen as normal. Cheal (2002) notes that many gays and lesbians are legally allowed to adopt nevertheless many want to retain status of difference because they may feel that by adopting a child they are being shaped or moulded to portray a heterosexual family. Another main reason in why same- sex families increase is the decline in secularisation because some religions condemn homosexuality and now less people are religious in the UK they are more acceptant of homosexuals. Another type of family is singletons; this means that when someone lives by themselves. About 3 in 10 household contains one person. The reasons for  these changes are the increase in separation and divorce has created more 1 person households especially with men under 65 because children are more likely to live with their mother. Also the decline in marriage and the trend in marrying later because people are living longer hence there are more people that are single. Stein (1976) argues the growing number of people choosing to be single is a deliberate choice. However, while many of these choose to remain single some are alone because e there are few partners available in their age group. Furthermore, another type of household is living apart together. It is often assumed that those living alone do not have a partner. However the researcher by Duncan and Phillips (2208) found that 1 in 10 adults are ‘living apart together’ and has become increasingly common. Living apart together is a significant relationship, but not married or cohabiting. Duncan and Phillips found that some couple cannot live together for finical reason and the minority actively chose to live apart may be because they want to keep their home as a security because if the relationship does not work then at least they have a home to go to. Nonetheless although there are various other families it does demolish the existence of the nuclear family as they are still common but it has changed hence becoming more modern. Perspectives like the functionalist and new right as described to be ‘modernist’ because they see modern society. The nuclear family has shaped and changed to fit society which helps maintain it by performing some essential functions. According to Chester (1985), there was little evidence that people were choosing to live on a long-term basis in alternatives to the nuclear family. However, he did accept that some changes were taking place in family life. In particular, many families were no longer ‘conventional’ in the sense that the husband was the sole breadwinner. He accepted more women are out working to finical support their family. He called this new family form, in which wives have got jobs, the neo-conventional family. Although many people are not part of the nuclear family at one time in the life is largely due to the life-cycle. Many people who are currently living alone i.e. widows, singleton or those who are yet to get married, were either part o f a nuclear family in the past or will be in the future. Chester argues that the statistics is misleading and does not portray that most people will spend a major part of their life in a nuclear family. The extended family is another type of family which is three  generations living together. The extended family was strongest in working-class families. It is less important today because of geographical mobility, but research by Finch and Mason (1993) shows that kinship ties are still important for most. They also receive finical help from extended family and they also found that the women are more actively involved with extended family. Wilmot (1988) did his study on the dispersed extended family and the beanpole family. Wilmot (1988) argues that there are four main types of extended family; extended family of residence where the members live in the same household, the local extended family – where 2 or 3 nuclear families live separately but in close proximity and see each other often, the dispersed extended family – nuclear families who see each other frequently but live further apart and do not see each other as regularly and the attenuated extended family – similar to the dispersed extended family but the contact is even less frequent. Brannen (2003) argues that there is a strong intergenerational links between generations mainly because people are living longer. However the links between the intragenerational links between siblings, cousins etc. were somewhat weaker. Therefore Brannen characteristic contemporary family structure as being long and thin and she compares it to the beanpole. A beanpole family is a nuclear family with one or two children who maintain regular contact with grandparents. Furthermore another concept which has contributed to the increase in diverse families is culture diversity. There’s is an increase of people with different ethnic background hence this means there alternative family forms and living arrangements. Ghazala Bhatti carries out her study in 1999 on Asian families living in the southern England. She found that the conflict between generations has created a new family type as the children may not marry someone with the same background. However Bhatti stresses that these families were not the norm. Within black families there is high rate of female-headed houses, lone-parent black families has someti mes been seen as evidence of disorganisation which link back to slavery. This is because under slavery when people were taken the children would stay with their mothers. Also due to high rate of unemployment among black men has meant that they cannot provide for their family which as a consequence lead to high rates of desertion or marital breakdown. Also among Asian families their household do contain three generation but most are in fact nuclear  rather than extended families. Larger Asian households also to some extent reflect the value placed on the extended family in Asian cultures. These differences are likely to have resulted from the fact that many Asian immigrants have come from a traditional agricultural economy where family patterns are more like pre-industrial Britain. Thus, minority ethnic families have not just contributed to family diversity through each group having its own distinctive family pattern. They have also contributed to it through developing diverse family patterns within each ethnic group.

Analysis of the Business Cycle in the Economy

Analysis of the Business Cycle in the Economy One of the most difficult subjects in economics in the business cycle or the pattern of contraction and expansion seen in the overall economy, this is a major factor that will effect the profit and sales performance of all companies to an extent. On average business productivity in EC has expanded at a rate of 3% per year in terms of real Gross Domestic Product (GDP). During an expansion in the business cycle, the real GDP can increase to a rate of 5-6% or even more and during a recession it can decline for an extended period. During the years the economy is growing – output, income, and employment are increasing. In other words, the trend in business and general economic activity is upward. But there are fluctuations around what we might call the ‘growth-path’ line. We have terms for the periods when business activity have temporarily pulls us below our upward growth-path, and others for periods when business activity moves with, or in excess of, our normal growth –path. We call the former recessions or depression and the latter expansions or booms. During the boom period employment level is up as are expectations, sales and profits and imports. During this period high risk investments will be undertaken and may inefficient firms will be able to operate, as margins are high. This will subsequently lead to shortage of resources (supply-side effects), this occurs at the highest point. In figures 1.1 the coloured line represents the long-term ‘growth-path’ around which the economic activity fluctuates, moving in some consistent pattern from expansion to recession and back again. This was one of the reasons why UK did not join the Single Currency, as to ensure EMU succeeds in the long-term; all participating member states must operate at the same stage of the business cycle. The Phillips curve illustrates the short-term trade off between inflation and unemployment. The trade of between unemployment and inflation is temporary as government microeconomic policies can in the short-term exploit a trade-off between them using various policy instruments, such as public spending and taxation. Therefore, the government can influence the combination of inflation and unemployment the economy experiences. Therefore, the Phillips curve is critical in the understanding of the business cycle, via measurements such as rate of unemployment or the production of goods and services. When real GDP grows rapidly, business is good. During such periods of economic expansions, businesses will have excess demand and profits are growing. However, when real GDP is declining during a recession, demand is slow and most companies record declining sales and profits. The term business cycle is somewhat misleading, as it would suggest that the fluctuations within the economy follows a regular and predictable pattern. However, fluctuations are not at all regular and very difficult to forecast. If we examine the real GDP within the UK between 1971 and 2004 and define a recession as occurring when GDP declines for two or more successive quarters, then we would see that the UK economy has experienced four recessions since 1971. Recessions can occur quite close together as in the 70’s, but sometime the economy can go one for many years with a recession, as is the case in UK, where we have not suffered a recession since 1991. Real GDP is the most commonly used measure for monitoring changes within a countries economy, as it provides a broad measurement of economic activity. â€Å"Real GDP measures the value of all final goods and services produced within a given period of time.†[1] Changes in the economy’s output of goods and services are strongly correlated with changes in the economy’s utilisation of its labour force. Therefore, when real GDP decreases the rate of unemployment increases. This is not every uncommon as companies will decide to make a smaller quantity of goods, and make redundancies, and this in turn will raise the level of unemployment in the economy. There are two main classes of factors that offer an explanation on business cycles. The first are internal and those occur from actual changes within the economy, for example, changes in stocks. The second is external, and there are factors outside the control of the economy, for example, rise in oil prices, conflict in Iraq etc. Examples of explanations are: Fluctuations in the money supply – when money supply increase at a faster rate then GDP the rate of interest is low and spending increases. Therefore the economy goes into a boom. The increase in demand subsequently results in both firms and individuals wanting more money and therefore, interest rates rise and this reduces investment and consumptions and the economy goes into a recession. This is a Monetarists explanation for business cycles. Stop-go cycles/Political cycles – Government stimulate growth and employment in the economy and this in turn increase demand. This reflationary action results in expansion in the economy and then the government may be concern about inflationary pressures and as a result adopt a deflationary policies, like increase in taxation. This will lead the economy back into a recession. Keynesian cycles – A rise in exports will raise national income by a multiple amount. This will cause investment to increase and subsequently generate more national income. This will reach a point when the economy will experience supply-side shortages like labour and this in turn will mean income grows more slowly then investment will decrease (leading to a recession). Demand and supply-side shocks – caused by unforeseen shocks such as the global financial crisis in 1997 resulting in decreased demand for goods and services across the globe. Real Business Cycle Theory – â€Å"explains cyclical shocks in terms of spurts and starts in technological advance.†[2]Innovations in technologies like MP3, MP4 players, HD Digital Televisions, etc causes an increase in productivity and subsequently higher real wages and more willingness to participate in the labour market. Seasonal work patterns within the leisure and tourism industry is a prime example of cycles that are generated by rational economic agents, hence, the term ‘real’ factors. Other examples or real factors affecting the real business cycle would be bad weather, increase regulation for CO2 emissions, terms of trade, energy prices and oil price fluctuations. Those factors do not require money supply and Keynesian cycles (amongst others discussed earlier) to explain the existences of why business cycles exist. Demand and supply shocks as discussed above and natural disasters like the Tsunami also can have comparable effects to the technology s hocks analysed in real business cycle theory. Real Business Cycle Theory (RBC) The notion of Real Business Cycle (RBC) evolves from a macroeconomic viewpoint that attributes the fluctuations in terms of economic recessions and booms to productivity (GDP) that is as a direct result of random occurrences across the global. This school of thought argues against any form of government intervention via the use of monetary or fiscal policy instruments such as money supply, taxation, government spending etc, to bring the economy out of a recession or control an economy during a period of rapid growth in a boom. The RBC believes the level of GDP will maximise utility at any one time. RBC models are seen as an extension of a neoclassical growth model Therefore, RBC theorists believe that the business cycle is ‘real’ and not a result of market failures, but a reflection of efficient works of the economy. Various criticisms of real business cycle theory has come to light in recent times and also as a result of the research conducted by Kydland and Prescott (Econometrica 1982), who modelled economic variability as â€Å"real† business cycles with efficient markets. This study failed to recognise the impact of any government intervention via monetary policy upon the business cycle, underestimates the existence of market inefficiencies and the role of unemployment (as discussed via the Phillips Curve). Therefore, it is clear that the economic debate on whether business cycles are ‘real’ or a function of cyclical movements is still very much alive. Importance of Business Cycle within EMU The important role of business cycle can be illustrated by the example of the Euro. The introduction of economic and monetary union across 11 of the 15 member states of the European Union is an interesting economic experiment. It has been driven by a political aspiration to create a unified trading block to rival any other trading block in the world. To ensure EMU succeeds in the long-term all participating member states must operate at the same stage of the economic cycle. Reaching that stage will represent the greatest threat to EMU. A very rough way to assess the similarity of the business cycle is to look at the correlation coefficient for annual changes in Gross Domestic Products (GDP) for pairs of countries. Using data from OECD for the period 1971-2000 for Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Finland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Ireland, it appears that only France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Portugal and Italy with correlation ranging between 0.83 (France/Belgium) to 0.47 (Italy/Spain) have similarity in business cycle. The Finland business cycle is closest to France (0.49), Belgium (0.43) and Spain (o.41), but distant from Germany (0.005) and Netherlands (0.19). In this sample, the country that is indeed not well integrated into a common European business cycle is Ireland. The Irish economy is closest to that of Netherlands (0.32), Finland (0.32) and most distant from Italy (-0.02). The Irish business cycle has a negative relationship to that of the Italian. This suggests that when Italy is experiencing a boom Ireland will be in a recession or steady economic growth. The Irish economy is the acid test of whether or not the Euro works. Most members are coming out of a recession whereas Ireland is in a state of boom. Aust. Fra. Ger Italy Nether Spain Ire Bel. Fin Lux. Port. Aust. 1 Fra. 0.71 1 Ger 0.65 0.61 1 Italy 0.57 0.71 0.57 1 Nether 0.63 0.63 0.71 0.54 1 Spain 0.67 0.74 0.47 0.46 0.61 1 Ire 0.12 0.21 0.14 -0.02 0.32 0.28 1 Bel 0.67 0.83 0.63 0.75 0.68 0.74 0.23 1 Fin 0.26 0.49 0.00 0.39 0.19 0.41 0.32 0.43 1 Lux 0.30 0.34 0.41 0.31 0.49 0.40 0.13 0.42 0.12 1 Port 0.74 0.82 0.63 0.69 0.51 0.67 0.17 0.73 0.37 0.34 1 Source: OECD Economic Outlook December 1998 July 1991, Own calculation of correlation matrix The subject of business cycle and real business cycle still has many questions to answer; the primary is what is the principal source of cyclical movements in GDP of an economy? Are the fluctuations in GDP caused by technology or are the movements in GDP due to government interventions via monetary and fiscal policy implementations? Those are critical questions, and the answers to which would serve as a great benefit to both firms and governments. It would provide firms at a microeconomic level a greater ability to accurately forecast business cycles and hence, consolidate there profits, and government in estimating the resulting welfare costs of a shift in macroeconomic policy like increase public spending, lower taxation, lower interest rates etc. In my opinion the dominant view of a business cycle is still one that is caused by a change in monetary policy and not just as a result of ‘real’ factors like technological innovation or political events like war or trade disputes. We believe that those real events do play some part in the fluctuations around the business cycle but business cycles are still primarily caused as a result of fluctuations in economic activity such as employment and production as measured by GDP. OECD Economic Outlook December 1998 July 1991 Mankiw, N.G. and Taylor, M.P. (2006) Economics, Thomson Learning McAleese, D., (2004) Economics for Business Third Edition, FT Prentice Hall Grant, S.J., (2000) Stanlake’s Introductory Economics 7th Edition, Longman Stanlake G.F, (2000) Macroeconomics: An Introduction, Longman Group UK Greenaway, David; Shaw, G.K., Macroeconomics Theory and Policy in the UK Second Edition (1991), Basil Blackwell. Dornbusch, Rudiger; Fischer, Stanley, Macroeconomics Fifth Edition (1990) McGraw-Hill International Editions Footnotes [1] Gregory, M. and Taylor, M.P. (2006) [2] McAleese, D. (2004)

Analysis in narration of the The Tell-Tale Heart :: essays research papers

Analysis in narration of the The Tell-Tale Heart In this paper, it talks about what type of narration of the story  ¡Ã‚ ¥Tell-Tale Heart ¡Ã‚ ¦ used, and will explain why this type of narration is effective. Obviously,  ¡Ã‚ ¥Tell-Tale Heart ¡Ã‚ ¦ is a first person narration story. From the wording and the way of presenting, it is clear to see there is one major character and some other minor characters; there are some reasons of why the narration is effective in telling the story. It is very easy to make reader to get involve in the story and easy to picture the actions. The whole story draws reader interested in what happened next of the story. It attracts reader ¡Ã‚ ¦s attention, understand the mental state of the narrator directly. Author gives confusion to reader between narrator ¡Ã‚ ¦s action and his speech in order to illustrate a piece of myth to the story.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ ¡Ã‚ §Tell-Tale Heart ¡Ã‚ ¨ is a first person narration.  ¡Ã‚ §I ¡Ã‚ ¨,  ¡Ã‚ §my ¡Ã‚ ¨,  ¡Ã‚ §me ¡Ã‚ ¨ or  ¡Ã‚ §myself ¡Ã‚ ¨ appear many times in the story.  ¡Ã‚ §I was never finder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him ¡Ã‚ ¨(36),  ¡Ã‚ §He had never wronged me ¡Ã‚ ¨(36),  ¡Ã‚ §Ã‚ ¡Kwhen my thumb slipped upon the tin fastening ¡K ¡Ã‚ ¨(37),  ¡Ã‚ §Ã‚ ¡KI felt myself getting pale ¡K ¡Ã‚ ¨(38). It shows that the narrator refers to himself as  ¡Ã‚ §I ¡Ã‚ ¨ through the story. The way of presenting in the story helps reader to know it is a first person narration. At the beginning of the story, reader knows the mad man is going to tell his own story.  ¡Ã‚ §Ã‚ ¡Kbut why will you say that I am mad ¡KHow, then am I mad? Hearken! And observe how healthily  ¡V how calmly I can tell you the whole story ¡Ã‚ ¨(36). The narrator is going to tell us a story. He wants to explain he is not a mad man. Therefor e, he tells reader his own story and if he telling his own story, then it must be a first person. From above all, it proves that  ¡Ã‚ §Tell-Tale Heart ¡Ã‚ ¨ is a first person narration story.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is effective by using first person narration in  ¡Ã‚ §Tell-Tale Heart ¡Ã‚ ¨. Readers can throw themselves into the main character and to follow the actions described in the story. Since the first person participants appear in every sentence, thus it makes reader to get involve in the story easily. For example,  ¡Ã‚ §Ã‚ ¡KI turn the latch of his door and open it ¡K ¡Ã‚ ¨(36),  ¡Ã‚ §Ã‚ ¡KI move it slowly-very, very slowly ¡K ¡Ã‚ ¨(36),  ¡Ã‚ §I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him.

The Great Gatsby: Morality And Gatsby :: essays research papers fc

The Great Gatsby: Morality and Gatsby Morality is a very controversial issue. That is one of the reasons what people are interested in reading about it. Morality can lead to many questions essentially it can lead to the question between right and wrong. In The Great Gatsby Nick Carraway is faced with a constant struggle between right and wrong. Truth is an issue of morality. "It all happened in a minute but it seemed to me that she wanted to speak to us, thought we were somebody she knew." (Fitzgerald 151) Daisy and Gatsby tried to hide the fact that they hit and killed Myrtle Wilson while driving home from New York. Nick Carraway, however, knew the truth and had to decide if he was going to help hide the truth or let Daisy and Gatsby suffer the consequences. â€Å"I don't think that anybody saw us but of course I can't be sure.† (Fitzgerald 151). Gatsby felt that he could hide the car and with it he could hide the truth. The truth is that Myrtle Wilson was killed and Daisy and Gatsby are the ones to blame. They cannot hide that truth. The friendship between Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway is a questionable one and full of doubt. "He had seen me several times and had intended to call on me long before but a peculiar combination of circumstances had prevented it- signed Jay Gatsby." (Fitzgerald 45-46) The two had lived next door to each other for awhile however, they had never associated. Therefore, along with the invitation to the party there was some suspicion. Jay Gatsby is a very wealthy man. Nick Carraway, although he lives in West Egg, is not wealthy nor elegant. The two are certainly opposites. Gatsby and Carraway are bound to take

Conjoined Twins :: essays research papers

Out of approximately every 400,000 births, four are conjoined. Of the four, three will die within twenty-four hours. Of the remaining set of twins, 70% of them will either die (one or both) or they will live out their lives handicapped. The overall survival rate for conjoined twins is between 5% and 25%. Considerably more males conjoin in the womb than females; however females are three times as likely as males to be born alive. Approximately 70-75% of conjoined twins are female. Conjoined twins who survive are truly miracle babies. They are a medical phenomenon, and even more so in society, for the survival rate of conjoined twins is so low that meeting conjoined twins that survived is a rare occasion. Conjoined twins, defined by Stedman’s Medical Dictionary, is: â€Å"Identical twins born with their bodies at some point and having varying degrees of residual duplication, a result of the incomplete division of the ovum from which twins developed.† Simply put, conjoined twins are twins whose bodies are joined together at birth. There are many different names for conjoined twins, however the two most common are conjoined and Siamese. The word Siamese most likely originated from the twins Chang and Eng who were from modern day Thailand. Both words however refer to twins who are a form of monozygotic twins. Monozygotic twins are formed when a single fertilized egg splits into two embryos. Or perhaps in an easier to understand way, conjoined twins are formed when the zygote (a cell that is the result of fertilization) of identical twins fails to completely separate. This failure of the zygote to completely separate is not affected by heredity, infertility treatments, maternal age, or any other factors. The cause of the birth of conjoined twins is really unknown, and at this point completely random. There are several conjoined twins now present in the world, most of which have been featured in some kind of news article or TV show. Some of the most famous conjoined twins are Chang and Eng Bunker, and Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst. Chang and Eng were Chinese Americans born modern day Thailand in 1811 and are most likely responsible for the term Siamese Twins being coined. Mary and Eliza are the earliest known set of conjoined twins. They were born in 1100 in Biddenden, Kent, England. There are many different types of conjoined twins, depending upon where the twins are joined together.

“a Vietnam Veteran Opposes the War, 1971”

Brianna Obermiller English 1000 â€Å"A Vietnam Veteran Opposes the War, 1971† In 1971, veteran John Kerry stands for himself and many other veterans in a speech opposing the Vietnam War. Relaying how the veterans feel after coming back from such a horrific war, the audience is sympathetic with those who return with such terrible memories that they must bare for the rest of their lives.For John Kerry, it may be hard for him to describe such atrocities to his audience, and it may be even harder for the audience to believe that what he is saying is truthful, because what was going on in Vietnam at the time was much different than what the citizens of the USA believed it to be. For them, knowing the truths of the Vietnam War may simply put them in denial, however I believe Kerry’s descriptions were effective in convincing the audience of the truths of the war, because he conveys his truths by appealing to the audience’s pathos.The speech begins with John Kerry speak ing on behalf of a large group of veterans. Describing the â€Å"war crimes† that they committed in Southeast Asia, a disgusting picture is painted of â€Å"cut off limbs, blown up bodies, [and] randomly shot at civilians† (23). To the American Citizen, it would be hard to imagine that this was what the young soldiers were doing in Southeast Asia at the time; Even harder to believe.However, when he speaks of how the young men feel upon their return, the truth of what he is saying becomes apparent. â€Å"The country doesn’t know it yet but it has created a monster, a monster in the form of millions of men who have been taught to deal and to trade in violence and who are given the chance to die for the biggest nothing in history; men who have returned with a sense of anger and a sense of betrayal which no one has yet grasped† (24).For the mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers whom have sent one of their own to live in such conditions, this would be such a shock that denial may be imminent. And for the listeners of this speech who have little or no personal connection, the sympathy as well as the horror would be overwhelming. How then does Kerry convince his audience that what he is saying is indeed the truth? First he chooses to speak for himself and the other men in Asia.In response to West Point Vice President Agnew’s statement that â€Å"Some glamorize the criminal misfits of society while our best men die in Asian rice paddies to preserve the freedom which most of those misfits abuse,† (24). Kerry states that â€Å"for us, as boys in Asia whom the country was supposed to support, his statement is a terrible distortion from which we can only draw a very deep sense of revulsion† (24). Why is it a terrible distortion? This would be a very common view for most Americans at the time.Kerry states that it is a distortion â€Å"because we in no way consider ourselves the best men of this country; because those he ca lls misfits were standing up for us in a way that nobody else in this country dared to†¦ because so many of those best men have returned as quadriplegics and amputees- and they lie forgotten in†¦ Hospitals†¦ We cannot consider ourselves America’s best men when we are ashamed of and hated for what we were called on to do in Southeast Asia† (24). The graphic descriptions that Kerry provides may convince the audience that what he is saying is indeed truthful, because it appeals to their pathos, as well as shocks them.His descriptions alone are, what I believe, his main advantage in convincing the readers of his point. In conclusion, the speech that John Kerry gave in 1971 would have been such a shock to his audience, that the truthfulness of his words may have been questioned. However, I believe that through appealing to the audience’s pathos, Kerry was very effective in swaying the audience to believe that what he was saying was indeed the truth, as well as effective in getting his point and his hope for the outcome of the war across to Wartime America. We wish that a merciful God could wipe away our own memories of that service as easily as the administration has wiped away their memories of us†¦ [in] 30 years from now our brothers [will] go down the street without a leg, without an arm, or a face, and small boys [will] ask why, and we will be able to say â€Å"Vietnam† and not mean a†¦ filthy obscene memory, but mean instead a place where America finally turned and where soldiers like us helped it in the turning† (26). Citations: Kerry, John F. A Vietnam Veteran Opposes the War, 1971. Apr. 1971. U. S Government

Analysis and comparison of the presentation of the prologue Essay

The prologue is the introduction, which nourish in concert outs an overview of the play. It tells us what obtains at the ending of the play, in this case in Romeo and Juliet it is told in the introduction, for role model the lines, a pair of star- coddled lovers deliver their life, doth with their death bury their p bents fight. These devil lines say that Romeo and Juliet both(prenominal) blockheaded in love with for each 1 another(prenominal), lead at the end of the play, the reason organismness that their pargonnts nauseated each other. It also sets the shooter of dependable Verona and it explains the contents of the play, Two households, and subvert to new mutiny.The prologue is say by the chorus. This means it is an idea of a classify of people interpreted from ancient classic tradition. The prologue does non introduce the auditory sense to the characters in the play it just talks concisely ab come on the events within the play. A prologue at the comme ncement of a play is a style commonly used by Shakespe ar to open up a play. It is also common that Shakespe be uses the use of a praise to produce the prologues. A sonnet perpetually has fourteen lines in total. It is a in truth(prenominal) precise piece of poetry. The rhyme end is precise tight and controlled- a,b,a,b,c,d,c,d,e,f,e,f,g,g.They consist of three just nearly quatrains with a last-place rhyming couplet. It is real controlled, yet truly subtle. You would tend to commemorate the drool telling graduation and indeed later realise that it is a meter with rhythm. T here(predicate) ar ten syllables in each line, a pattern of emphasize and unstressed syllables. It is self consciously dramatic. It emphasises its solve in telling the story, Is now the ii hours traffic of our stage. It in a flash tells the auditory sense to pay attention, The which if you with patient ears attend, what here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend, and the play leave de velop from what the prologue has been revealing.In Franco Ze completellis business of Romeo and Juliet, the prologue is very(prenominal) brief and short. The film starts collide with with the details, the enterprisingness credits. The typesetters case to the credits is in washcloth and in a quite a gothic style of writing making it fit in with the traditional theme. firearm the details are retardly appea bound on the sieve, around the screen in that location is a thin margin of orange tree geometric shapes on a yellow context. As the border is so corus so-and-sot and colourful, it is able to immediately catch the auditions eyes and in that locationfore grabs their attention. The border suggests a very sixties styles.You would credibly expect a more(prenominal) formal, gloomful edged winning of border. A fleecy and slow melody vie on a harpsichord plays quietly in the background. The core that Zefirelli tries to earn here is to create a nice calm beginning to the play. In s enthusiastic wholeness, you can hitch the television television television television television camera panning over the city of Fair Verona and fairly out of focus. The light is spirited and hazy, gradually brightening up as the camera pans, suggesting that it is dawn. The colour of the light in the thumb shining over the city, creates a languid and peaceful movement, and adds to the ravisher of the city that is being shown.You could only just make out the tops of tall buildings and churches at scratch-year, however as it gradually gets lighter, the buildings and other features fail more into focus. The rooftops of houses, church spires and a river are arrestn benefitly. You are able to feel the quietude of the city in the early morning, which once once more gives the effect of the city being very calm and peaceful. The camera pans round the full-length city, and hence moves up towards the sun and allow with the sun being directly in the m iddle of the screen s enthusiastic. The sun suggests the hot foreign climate of a hot foreign country, such as Italy.Shakespeares name appears when the camera has stop panning and pore on the sun. All of this equals one continuos jibe. The panning is slow, and the brightening of the day is slow, creating a slow pace to the trigger piece. It gives me the tactual sensation of a slow climax to the prologue, acquire more and more anxious as it goes along, and stopping at the sun gives me the theory that it represents the end, with an either tragical end or a very happy end. I intend that it is onerous to relate to the unhurt play itself, with the gradual climax with an intense ending.Throughout coolness one, the speaker unit easy recites the prologue in a poetic style. He speaks slowly going with the steady lam of the slow motion of the panning of the camera, so that it would not effect the backgrounds being of peace. The speaker of the prologue is a man whose portion i s sonant, soothing and rhythmic as he echoes the prologue. He still speaks when going into the sustain shot. Shot dickens is of a medieval courtyard. In front of the courtyard thither is the city wall with battlements made of treasure and brick, which gives the impression of the lay being in the medieval times.The camera stops despicable and shows the shot of the courtyard while the speaker finishes reciting the prologue. As he completes his speech of the prologue, the camera moves slightly round to the left, which shows that where the camera is attached to the city wall, it is also one of the ends of a grumpy marketplace. The suns well-off bright morning light shines over the city wall and finished the path itinerary of the marketplace, representing that it is the start of a new day. The pop off of the hustle and bustle of a busy marketplace gradually builds up and the first act of the first scene begins there.This effect is to bring in the play with a more calm start and not rushing into the play with a variant shot, carry the auditory modality into a slow and calm beginning. Zefirelli does not create every spacious special effects. The title of the play, Romeo and Juliet appears as the speaker says the oral communication star-crossed lovers. Zefirellis purpose of having the title and the lyric star-crossed lovers coming up at the tell(prenominal) time, is to reinforce optically and aurally the of import(prenominal) loony toons of the play that it is a tragic story about the lovers Romeo and Juliet.Baz Luhrmanns pas seul of the prologue is done in very much more detail and is emphasised a huge amount more. Luhrmann tries to grab the attention of the audience with very fast moving screen shots and very lively music. The first shot that comes up on the screen is of a TV with a blank screen, and the hold surrounded by the camera and the TV is very removed, making the TV look very small in the distance. The first well(p) is the fuzz iness of a TV, and then on the screen of the TV, the possible action credits are displayed on dust coat tiles with a dismal background.The descent surrounded by the colours gives a very sharp effect. This gives a very contrasting first effect on the audience compared to Zefirellis opening shot. Luhrmanns first shot of the bold white tiles with a low-spirited background, gets the audiences attention straight a track. After the credits, a female newsreader appears on the TV screen, and she reads aloud the prologue. She says the prologue homogeneous reading aloud a news report rather than in a poetic sonnet fashion. This makes the prologue subtle and it makes the audience think twice in the lead realising that it is the prologue that she is saying.The subtle speaking of the prologue differs with Zefirellis make of the prologue being obvious to opening up the film. Be location the newsreader in the background, there is a small take to with some text underneath it. As the c amera is in the far distance, it makes it hard to see what the notion and text are, which makes the audience curiosity what it is. While the newsreader is saying the prologue, the camera subtly zooms in directly towards the screen, and the picture in the corner gradually comes into focus. The picture is of a broken ring with the text underneath it saying Star crossd lovers.The symbolism of the broken ring is that the lovers end up being lacerated away from each other. After the newsreader says the twelfth line of the prologue, the camera curtly picks up speeds and zooms right into the TV screen, through a high street. At the similar time the words, Fair Verona constantly flashes up in white with a saturnine background. From the zooming, it has merged from one background into other. This sudden pick up of speed would as if wake up the audience and lurid them as the screen had suddenly departed from one shot to another.This is very dissimilar Zefirellis exhibit of the prolog ue, as he keeps his prologue simple and calm all the way through, whereas Luhrmann uses the effect of zooming and trice words up creating a dramatic scene. The reason of flashing the words, Fair Verona while the camera rushes shoot down the high street, is to make the audience go out the comparison and realise exactly how elegant Verona really is in his version of the film. It shows a decaying urban landscape contradicting fair Verona. The font style of the writing is bold equivalent Arial, and is in block capitals, making it clear to the audience what it says.In Zefirellis, as the camera pans over the city, you can see that Verona is very pretty and fair, as the prologue says it is. As the camera reaches the end of the street, the camera is suddenly focussed on the face of a statue, which was far in the distance from where the zooming into the street began. really dramatic music starts to be played loudly, which produces a whoppingger effect on grabbing the audiences attenti on. The camera then pulls back to view the tops of two corporate buildings with the statue in the middle. The buildings have big signs on the top of them.They are the call of the two households, Capulet and Montague. They are in variant colours, Capulet in red and Montague in non-white. The differences in the colours emphasise the difference between the two. The effect of having the statue splitting the two buildings up is to make the point clear, that the two households lease something or someone to keep them isolated to avoid ca apply major rag in the city, as they absolutely turn down each other. The statue shown actually represents deliverer Christ. It is Jesus Christ who is trying to control the families and bringing some peace to the city.In Zefirellis version, the point that the two families cannot stand each other is not emphasised. As the prologue is said in the same tone and way all the way through and the pictures are just of how fair Verona is, does not give a def inite and clear point that the two households are major enemies. Luhrmann makes it visual to the audience, the hate between the two families. The attached part of the introduction to Luhrmanns labor of Romeo and Juliet, is of a rapid chain of clips from one to the other including clips of police cars with VBPD on the side of them standing for Verona Beach Police division.This is shown to tell the audience that this is Verona Beach and not fair Verona. The chain of clips also includes clips of helicopters, clips of the accident from contrastive viewpoints, some far up in the sky, some close up to casualties who were injured, and the damage done to the city by this one disaster brought up because of the hate between the Capulets and the Montagues. The disaster is emphasised in this rapid succession of clips, to stress how much damage can be caused by one incident done by the two families.It also makes the audience think and imagine if this one incident caused so much damage, the amount of damage that they probably had done to the city in the historic and what would be done in the future. The prologue is said once once more while another variety of images using other media of composition articles and powder store covers appear. This time, the prologue is said by a character whom is actually in the play, referring to how the prologue is traditionally said by the chorus. The character who speaks the prologue is mendicant Lawrence, and he says it in a poetic way, and this time the rhythm of a sonnet is emphasised.A man with a soft, gamy and low voice speaks the prologue like it is in Zefirellis intersection. This is one similarity that the two productions have. As he speaks, some words of the prologue is emphasised by magazine headlines appearing, using the effect of spinning one on top of the other. The headlines include New lawlessness and Civil Blood Makes Civil hold Unclean. These headlines are to tell the audience and remind them the symbolism and reasoning back end each word in the prologue. there is also a faint background of burning flames when these headlines appearing as if present the damage done.The images however, some are of like modern day newspapers and magazines. The camera slowly pans through a rack of antithetical covers, and the headline of each newspaper and magazine are all referring to the feud caused between the two households, emphasising that they produce big issues in the city. Other images in this group of images include police taking charge of the circumstance in a live kind of view, showing how fast the police and other services had to respond to reduce the bump of more damage happening. The police and fire departments had to work into the night with the clearing up of the situation.This is known as the images are taken from broad daylight into the dark night. These images give the audience a visual judgment of how bad it is of the two households hating each other, which can cause so many stra ightforward people in the city to be harmed. As the speaking of the prologue comes to an end, with the two lines A pair of star crossd lovers, take their life with the lines shown in white writing on a black background. This effect by now would be recognised by the audience by now as it had been used before to state the words Fair Verona.This effect of repeating jogs the audiences memories reminding them again and again the importance of the lines in the prologue. As the prologue stops being spoken, the same dramatic music becomes loud again. Each of the main characters are shown one by one with a pause on each with the text describing who each of the characters are and how they are either related to Romeo or Juliet or what the purpose of the character is in the film. This presentation of the character echoes the style of how it was done in famous program called Dallas.In Zefirellis version, the characters were not introduced and the film got right into the first scene once the prol ogue was spoken. A shot of Romeo spirit through the narrow dislocation of a door appears, and then the camera immediately changes its angle to show what he see, which is a church aisle with blue neon crosses and candles. The angles that these two shots were taken were both through a narrow opening of the door. The first shot was taken from the at heart of the church looking at Romeo, the man standing outside the door, and the second shot was taken from the outside of the door looking into the church.It emphasises what Romeo had seen, which the audience can assume is Juliet lie on the alter at the end of the aisle, Romeo thinking that she had really died. It also symbolises with that it was the refinement and the end, viewing Romeo and the crosses, show that they were linked together and producing the idea of death. There was one more series of fast moving clips and a rush of lines as a final wind up to the prologue. There are a variety of different clips of things that happen f rom the beginning of the play to the end. The repeating of the clips again and again produce permanent images into the minds of the audience.The prologue ends with the words take their life and move onto the first act. The words take their life are stated to tell the audience that the story line would conclude with something relevant to it. I think that it is a new proficiency Luhrmann has used. He uses the technique of grabbing the attention of the audience and makes them concentrate. The prologue being reinforced by being presented for the third time, does not makes the audience get bored and tire of the clips being seen and seen again, scarcely make them more excited about the film.I think that both Zefirelli and Luhrmann were trying to represent Romeo and Juliet in a different way, with different techniques. The prologue was of course interpreted differently. Zefirelli presented the prologue in his production in a gentle and calm way all the way through giving the audience a go od idea of the peace and beauty of Verona. Luhrmann of course presented the prologue in a different way, almost a complete contrast to what Zefirelli did. He changed Fair Verona into urban sprawled Verona.I think that the presentations of the prologue were both appropriate for their interpretations because Zefirelli valued to keep his production of Romeo and Juliet original and equivalent Shakespeare. Luhrmann wanted to interpret the play into something slightly more modern and unlike Shakespeares original version. In Luhrmanns production he emphasised the complications between the two households and the alterations he had made to the film, like how he set his production in an urban city and called it Verona Beach instead of setting it in the original city of Verona in Italy.