Kate Chopins novella, The Awakening Essay -- English Literature

Kate Chopin's novella, The Awakening In Kate Chopin's novella, The Awakening, the reader is introduced into a society that is strictly male-dominated where women fill in the stereotypical role of watching the children, cooking, cleaning and keeping up appearances. Writers often highlight the values of a certain society by introducing a character who is alienated from their culture by a trait such as gender, race or creed. In Chopin's Awakening, the reader meets Edna Pontellier, a married woman who attempts to overcome her "fate", to avoid the stereotypical role of a woman in her era, and in doing so she reveals the surrounding society's assumption and moral values about women of Edna's time. Edna helps to reveal the assumptions of her society. The people surrounding her each day, particularly women, assume their roles as "housewives"; while the men are free to leave the house, go out at night, gamble, drink and work. Edna surprises her associates when she takes up painting, which represents a working job and independence for Edna. Leonce does not appreciate this. The reader sees how he assumes what she should be doing from this quote on page 57: "Mr.Pontellier had been a rather courteous husband so long as he met a certain tacit submissiveness in his wife. But her new and unexpected line of conduct completely bewildered him. ... Then her absolute disregard for her duties as a wife angered him." Leonce says himself, "It seems to me the utmost folly for a woman at the head of a household, and the mother of children, to spend in an atelier [meaning a studio for painting] days which would be better employed contriving for the comfort of her family." This quote is rather symbolic as it uses the word "emplo... ...men surrounding her succumb to in life. By defying these "laws" Edna makes clear the morals that all the other women value; the satisfaction of their husband, the acceptance of society, and the conformity to stereotypical roles of a woman. In The Awakening, Edna is used as a tool to emphasize the surrounding society's assumptions of a woman and the morals that they value. Often, a character is set apart from their culture for this sole purpose, to stress a point the author wants to make. In this case, Chopin wants to show the reader how male dominated society has been, how quickly women succumb to their "roles", and how easily people can be shaped to consider a different and all too meaningless set of morals. Edna is strategically alienated in the novella so as the reader can discover society's assumptions and moral values of the era and up until today.

Essay --

Countless philosophies over centuries have overlooked and undermined the significance of indigenous African religions. Africa is a mainland that has long been shrouded in a cover of misjudging and stigma. The general misguided judgments about Africans are boundless and strike almost every part of African society and social orders incorporating religion. Many of the religions do not write and document everything but rather add more importance to oral history and rituals. Colonization and philosophers like Emile Durkheim have consciously or subconsciously stripped these religions of their value. Durkheim does not believe in animism because scientific laws or morals cannot back it up. Many indigenous African religions believe strongly in spirits and souls that link them to God. The idea of an isolated God does not make the supernatural un-important in Africa religions. Indigenous African indigenous religions share the same teachings like Christianity or Islam and we should not allow European philosophers as well as colonization diminishes its value. It is imperative to note that the soonest distributed perceptions about African Indigenous Religion are discovered in the reports of European voyagers, adventurers, preachers and frontier executors who interacted with the Africans in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Their works were not insightful or efficient studies yet easy perceptions and shallow records intended to speak to western mindset and group of onlookers. According to the film â€Å"50 Years Later† you can grasp an understanding of the image philosophers and Europeans painted about Africans, like in the eighteenth century when Scottish philosopher David Hume said â€Å" I am apt to suspect the Negroes to be naturally inferi... ..., we revealed that regardless of a few collaborations by the ethnic nationalities with drives of imperialism, it is not simple to completely re-make the vision and observation of the individuals. While a few components of their social legacy have changed because of contacts with westernization, some different components that aggregate up into the people’s society have remained to a great extent unblemished, local and unaltered. In any case, pioneer attitude, and introductory biases and negativism have frustrated momentous research and usage for supportable advancement. This work is, hence, a clarion call for profound reflection that religion-social legacy has the limit for organizing deductive improvement generally. Society is crucial to societal improvement. There is underdevelopment in most nations in Africa in light of the fact that the foundations are broken.

Is Reading Fiction a Waste of Time

I love reading fiction. When my mom told me that it did not ‘teach me anything’ I was appalled. Fiction taught me many new words and introduced me to new ideas. Even though non-fiction can teach people so many things, it still can be boring from time to time. Fiction is fun, intriguing, and can teach people many new things, even if the person who is reading the story doesn’t know it. I have learned many things when I read all sorts of fiction stories.When I read a fantasy book such as fairy tales, I learned about the culture of a certain region. When I read action and adventure stories, I can learn about the climate, weather, and characteristics of a certain type of climate region. When I read a story that’s about crime or mystery, I can learn about different things that detectives do and different types of law enforcement. On the website Everyday Theology, the fact that fiction does not waste your time is emphasized a lot.It talks about how fiction strengt hens our imagination, expands our horizons and makes us better writers. Having a great imagination is important because it helps let us create new things and make new ideas possible. Expanding our horizons can help us understand other people and ideas. Being a better writer could help us tell future generations about their past and help others understand what they don’t understand. Mark Twain once said â€Å"Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities.Truth isn’t. † Ralph Waldo Emerson said â€Å"Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures. Both of these quotes tell us about how fiction can teach you more than non-fiction. Fiction taught me many vocabulary words too. In the book Harry Potter, I learned the words indifferent, obscure, revere, and deride. If fiction can teach and audience so much, than why not â€Å"waste your time† reading it? It will teach the reader so many new things.

Organizational Development: Discussion Questions

Week Five Discussion Questions Deep-level abilities are closely related to job performance. As a manager, how could you use the knowledge that people differ to increase the likelihood an employee will perform his or her job well? What challenges does this pose when managing a diverse workforce? * As a supervisor it is my job to make a peaceful and productive atmosphere. I have many different types of employees that differ from age, knowledge, race and gender.Not all of my employees get along with each other but they each hold their own abilities and skills. I fit the abilities together where they are needed and match the best I can as if their personalities are like Legos. It is a constant tug of war as it never fits exactly. * Employees often see change as threatening. What are some of the sources of resistance to change, and what can you as a manager do to overcome that resistance? * There are numerous reasons why employees resist change. 1.Loss of Job is thought of, Bad communicat ion occurs normally (You may not get the entire story / Rumors occur); fear of the unknown; Lack of Competence; and poor timing. What role does diversity play in managing change? What are some possible strategies for managing diversity? What influence does diversity training have on organizations? * Diversity is a range of different things or a variety. I would believe that diversity and change would walk hand & hand. You can manage diversity through the hiring process and repeated education. Socratic Seminar QuestionsThe influence in education is a positive and will convey the message if only the education is enforced during normal business. Does the type of change being planned affect the strategy for managing the change? Explain and provide an example. * Change should always have a well-planned strategy before implementing. You should also monitor the situation so you can help employees adapt. If you walk into the office and just throw out changes without having proper answers Organizational Development: Discussion Questions Week Five Discussion Questions Deep-level abilities are closely related to job performance. As a manager, how could you use the knowledge that people differ to increase the likelihood an employee will perform his or her job well? What challenges does this pose when managing a diverse workforce? * As a supervisor it is my job to make a peaceful and productive atmosphere. I have many different types of employees that differ from age, knowledge, race and gender.Not all of my employees get along with each other but they each hold their own abilities and skills. I fit the abilities together where they are needed and match the best I can as if their personalities are like Legos. It is a constant tug of war as it never fits exactly. * Employees often see change as threatening. What are some of the sources of resistance to change, and what can you as a manager do to overcome that resistance? * There are numerous reasons why employees resist change. 1.Loss of Job is thought of, Bad communicat ion occurs normally (You may not get the entire story / Rumors occur); fear of the unknown; Lack of Competence; and poor timing. What role does diversity play in managing change? What are some possible strategies for managing diversity? What influence does diversity training have on organizations? * Diversity is a range of different things or a variety. I would believe that diversity and change would walk hand & hand. You can manage diversity through the hiring process and repeated education. Socratic Seminar QuestionsThe influence in education is a positive and will convey the message if only the education is enforced during normal business. Does the type of change being planned affect the strategy for managing the change? Explain and provide an example. * Change should always have a well-planned strategy before implementing. You should also monitor the situation so you can help employees adapt. If you walk into the office and just throw out changes without having proper answers

Multicultural counselling values Essay

The main purpose of writing this essay is to analyze and highlight some personal values of a counselor that can affect the quality of maintaining effective therapeutic relationship with the client. The writer agrees to the statement â€Å"it is impossible for a counsellor to maintain a position of neutrality.† The views and critical approaches of the writer are expressed in the following essay. Introduction Everyone has his/ her personal values, beliefs, biasness and preferences. Personal values have great influence in relation to human decision-making. Each individual has a different set of personal values because everyone has a different set of life experience, environment and family background. Values are essential to our life as it acts as a form of catalyst to guide our life, shape our behavior and reflect our personal moral standards. For example, an individual who uphold the values of trust, sincerity and honesty, he/she will want people to have faith in them. In addition, this group of individuals would yearn others to be sincere in terms of friendship and things they do. It could also be in a form of ability to perform certain task with full of sincerity without hoping for any credits. (All of us preserve values which produce high standards, portraying good image to our loved ones, self and ultimately, bringing good things towards the society. Personal Values & Its Origins The writer has personal values that include being filial, devoted, responsible, and establishing good relationship with his loved ones. In certain circumstances, these personal values of the writer may differ from the client’s values, resulting in conflict and resistance. (It creates relationship difficulties with the clients.) This may prevent the writer from forming a therapeutic relationship with the clients. One example would be the writer, who is a religious person, dealing with clients who have a character totally opposite of him. Since he is religious, the writer is cautious with his act and reframe from situations leading to sins. For instance, if the writer were to counsel clients facing issues such as abortion, gambling, divorce and intentional single parenting, it may lead to conflicts due to differing personal values. The writer heavily criticizes these acts because the client is irresponsible, inhumane, and he considers such acts as uncivilized. Regardless of the client’s ethnicity / religion, conflicts may bring up feelings of anger, uneasiness and negativity towards the client. The author’s emotions will be affected due to the writer being intolerant of such acts. It is due to the writer’s strong religious values that cause his emotions and cognitive ability to be disoriented. As he is not in the right state of mind to think effectively, the writer’s focus is affected. The level of empathy and being congruent become affected because the counselor’s value does not align well with his client’s values. As a result, the writer has the urge to judge the clients and become biased. Such emotions can be overwhelming, leading to the writer’s unconscious skewed judgment and possible ill feelings formed of these clients. Dealing with countertransference In addition, it is equally of utmost importance to recognize our own unresolved personal issues that feeds into problematic behaviors with clients .Take the following as an example, a client who wants to change into a filial person after committing various sinful acts. The client wants to repent. Relating back to the writer’s past experiences, he too was once a rebellious person. His parents condemned his acts that brought shame to the family name. It was tough and difficult for his parents to accept him back. That was one incident his parents nearly disowned him after what he had done. He had been heavily insulted and judged. The writer knew it was not his fault because his motive was to only get the attention from his parents. His parents have been biased and treated him unfairly compared to his other two siblings. With the writer’s past experience, the writer has developed similar chemistry with his/her clients. The writer becomes emotionally detached with his/her client due to the situation similarity that the client had experienced. Instead of analyzing and finding out more about the client’s main issues, the writer became engrossed with the similar event portion. He may place his focus on the filial issue. If the writer is unable to deal with his unresolved conflicts from the past or other relationships, it can affect the therapeutic outcome. It may slow down the process of gathering information that is important for the client’s needs. The writer’s focus may wander and disorientate, that can impair the quality of the session. By having the impression of showing good and positive impression to the clients, the counter transference affects the therapy session when the counselor is readily accepting the client’s opinions. The writer’s blind spots may hinder his ability to deal with various similar behaviors shown by the clients, or the writer’s old wounds that surfaced as he works to process the client’s pain. Each client needs to be met where they are and worked with on their individual â€Å"stuff†, without interference from either the counselors’ prior experiences with clients or their personal values. On the other hand, counselors need to know what their personal thresholds are. For example, if the writer feels that he cannot work with a child abuser or a murderer without allowing his personal values affect his work with the client, he needs to take the precautionary measures to excuse himself from such clients and refer them to another counselor. Alternatively, he can seek supervision from someone who is experienced for advice. Benefits and Limitations of Personal Values There are some benefits that personal values can bring upon in counseling. Values by the counselor can be used as a form of communication. Based on an article entitled â€Å"Values in Counseling and Psychotherapy†, written by Patterson, he mentioned that the therapist’s values are not communicated directly to the client . The writer as a person would relate to the client as a person. In other words, the writer feels he is in a position whereby he set the appropriate tone and example to the client. When the counselor begins to demonstrate empathy, sincerity, authenticity, respect and establishing good rapport, the client would most likely mirror these values. Since the client develops more positive attitudes and the willingness to change, it establishes better communication with the writer. The writer is able to show congruence as well as unconditional positive regard towards the client. The writer also feels that benefits would arise from working with specific groups of people based on shared values. For example, a preacher or imam who is counseling will likely do so in a way that incorporates their religious beliefs. The client would specifically go to that person for religious-based counseling. However, if the client is struggling with those beliefs, their struggles may not be heard Managing Personal Values Every obstacle can be overcome and dealt with. In the counseling context, values are manageable which can be key to maintaining effective therapeutic alliance. One of the key factors is to establish â€Å"multicultural awareness†. Multicultural awareness increases a person’s intentional and purposive decision-making ability by accounting for the many ways that culture influences different perceptions of the same solution. This illustrates how multicultural awareness is able to influence the counselor decision-making. Different people have different cultures. Therefore, to avoid any form of culture shock, it is therefore vital for the counselor to develop his/her level of multi-cultural awareness. The counselor has two choices: to ignore the influence of culture, or to attend to it. Both cases, cultures will still continue to influence a client’s and a counselor’s behavior with or without the counselor’s intentional awareness.Counselors are encouraged to attend multicultural knowledge training. Some of the knowledge approaches that are commonly used are through publications, audio and visual media, and reading materials. Let’s ask ourselves this question â€Å"Why do we, as counselors, have to be multicultural competent?† One reason is to avoid any form of personal biases, stereotyping or misjudging the clients. By increasing the counselor’s knowledge about other cultures, the writer believes it would provide him with correct and sufficient information about one’s own as well as target cultures. The writer’s high level of competencies and awareness increases his self-confidence and self-realization to face the problem effectively and diligently. It puts the writer in a position whereby he feels much comfortable to listen and understand emphatically to the client. If the writer were to deal with clients who come from different backgrounds and cultures, the writer should have the ability to handle his personal values properly in order not to offend his clients. The writer may experience some form of culture shock if he is incompetent with his awareness. The awareness competencies are essential as it enables to control the writer’s interpretation of his own knowledge and utilizing the right skills. By controlling the writer’s interpretation, he can avoid making any form of assumption and jump to conclusion. The multicultural skilled counselor does not take awareness for granted. Conclusion Is it possible to maintain a position of neutrality? The answer is no. With all these values that are lingering in the counselor’s thought process, the counselor may have difficulties. The counselor has to be natural. Hiding behind a professional faà §ade may leads to upsetting the counseling relationship and jeopardizing the therapeutic factors in the process. Counselors who have different set of personal values can affect the therapeutic relationship outcome. A counselor who is unable to manage his/her personal values can affect the quality of relationships between people. The most common misconception among clients is that counselors tend to tell individuals what to do or choices he/she should have made. Instead, role of the counselor is to guide the client to make use of the resources they have and help them to define their goals. Nonetheless, the counselor’s personal values can be used as a tool in creating some form of connection with the client. (We, as counselors will do our best to find the right approach for each client.) A counselor shall never make any form of assumptions. Whatever values the counselor believes in, they should never judge or be bias towards the client. In reality, differences in personal values may stand as an obstacle in establishing therapeutic relationships with clients. The fundamental of personal values in counseling is to alleviate the personal distress. An effective counselor has to be authentic, genuine, have an appreciation for cultural influences, and retain effective interpersonal effective communication skills .

Organizing Agatha Essay

The Enduring Appeal of Agatha Christie is an enthralling essay written precisely and effectively about the powerful author. The introduction to the essay is brief, yet very informative, giving the reader a bit of background information. It refers to popular literature abounds such as Stephen King and Edgar Allen Poe. I personally have never heard of Agatha Christie, therefore the information contained regarding other legends aided in my understanding of how popular and legendary she truly is. In addition to this, the thesis statement is succinct and presents the author’s opinion regarding Agatha Christie’s brilliance clearly. This was very helpful, as I was informed almost immediately as to what I was going to read about. Overall, the introductory paragraph gave me a great ordeal of background information, as well as three concise topics concerning the writing legacy, Agatha Christie, and her writing intelligence. This essay is effectively written as it has a rational flow of ideas and is very cohesive. Each paragraph begins with an enthralling topic sentence, giving myself, the reader, an appealing fact followed by the main idea of the writing. A great example of this can be viewed in the opening sentence of the first body paragraph which reads, â€Å"[n]ext to Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poiret and Miss Jane Marple are two of the most recognizable detectives in fiction because of their distinctive attributes.† Although this is an engaging topic sentence, the author did not include all of the points he/she wished to include in the actually body paragraph as Ariadne Oliver was excluded. On an opposing note, however, I do feel that points of each body paragraph are not strong enough to fully support the thesis statement. For example, in paragraph one the reader is suddenly bombarded with names of Christie’s characters without an explanation of who they are, or what novels they come f rom. It was slightly confusing for myself as I needed to do a bit of research in order to figure out who Hercule Poirot, Miss Jane Marple, Ariadne Oliver were. Therefore, it would have been more effective if the author had included a bit of brief, background information as this would make for a greater understanding of the body paragraphs and thesis. Similarly, I feel that the arguments of the essay are not in appropriate  order in terms of strength. I believe that the second paragraph should lead the essay as it provides more background knowledge of Agatha’s characters, novels and is an overall stronger argument. Moreover, the second body paragraph needs to be introduced with a more refined topic sentence that reflects upon the thesis of the essay. The thesis states that Agatha Christie engages the audience with her interesting settings, but the topic sentence of this paragraph is, once again, talking about various characters. Also, the supporting arguments in this paragraph are not written in the same order as the introductory sentence, which is an issue that ultimately leads to perplexity. On the contrary, the passage uses connective words which aided in signalling changes and movement in the text.. Aside from the minor glitches, the three body paragraphs work as a unified whole; for example, they contain links between and within all sentences and paragraphs. Basically, it is easy to follow and uses appropriate language to maintain the argument’s focus and to direct the reader. All three of the paragraphs are detailed and legitimate- clearly referring back to each idea throughout the text. For example, in paragraph two of the essay Agatha writes, â€Å"†¦[d]espite their varied locales, the common element that runs through Christie’s novels is the â€Å"closed† society. These worlds are cut off culturally, economically, or physically, as in the case of Ten Little Indians, which is set on an island off the Devon coast.† The author clearly states his/her point and follows this by a strong example of Margaret Christie’s work. Overall, the body paragraphs follow a structural pattern and present ideas in an efficient manner which actually enhance the reading material. Finally, the conclusion does a great job summing up all of the information contained throughout the entire essay. The author begins by restating the thesis and summarizing the three argumentative topics (Christie’s morality, her settings and characters) .The application of Christie’s opinions and morality in comparison today’s society really makes one think about what life would be like if her ‘world of moral certainty’ truly existed. Aside from the structural accuracy, the content and comparison to the present day is what truly captivated myself as a reader and made the essay effective.

How do men treat women in Porphyria’s lover

Also the poem shows how men are the leaders, because in the poem for them to meet up she was the one who had to travel o him in the freezing cold and pouring rain. As well as that it is as though he is embarrassed by her because he is meeting her in a deserted place. The theme of power over women is also explored in Porphyry's Lover by Robert Browning, where the poet makes the narrator of the poem(Porphyry's Lover) repeat the word â€Å"mine† to highlight his possession of her. In addition to this, it is the woman's physical body which is arranged, in such a powerless position which in a weird way represents the power which men hold over women.There is also objectification to women â€Å"And give herself to me reeve†, as though she were an object that cannot object doesn't have any emotions and admire him. Then Porphyry's Lover kills her, think because he wanted that to be the last moment with her as he felt true happiness, â€Å"made my heart swell, and still it grewà ¢â‚¬  think that he thought that she was so happy and content that she wouldn't mind dying there and then. â€Å"l am quite sure she felt no pain†, but she was human and did feel the pain but he didn't see her like that. â€Å"And yet God has not said a word! Because he feels he hasn't been punished by God yet, he feels as though killing her was the right thing to o. My Last Duchess is a poem that has many important themes, one of these themes being objectification to women. The women in this poem known as the last duchess was dismissed as though she were an uncared for object with no feelings. She wasn't allowed to have a life outside of her husband and this was very common in the Victorian era. However this poems showed how if women didn't follow their husbands rules they would be killed, so men may have cared about their wives but they cared more about how they were seen by society.Just because the last duchess blushed near a man and her hand as showing her husband assum ed she was flirting and thought it was necessary to murder her as he thought that because of her he was looking bad to society. â€Å"l gave commands† the speaker said, this phase suggesting how men dominate women. He also says â€Å"Who'd stoop to blame† the word ‘stoop' meaning go down, and society in the Victorian era did not support men to be dominated by women. Having by Carol Ann Duffy is a poem that shows how the loss of a man during the Victorian era could cause major heartache and eternal misery.In the first line she calls him a â€Å"sweetheart bastard† the ‘sweetheart' shows that he is still in love with him but at the same time she hates him we know this from the word ‘bastard'. This is an oxymoron used to emphasis her aggression. The phrase â€Å"wished him dead† shows her desperation and how with each day her anger grows. â€Å"ropes on the back of my hands† is a metaphor which could be representing her veins due to stress and anger or the clenching and unclench of her fist showing that she is still tied to him. â€Å"Spinster. † Is a one-word sentence meaning that she is strung up and outdated.