Australias legal system - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 9 Words: 2774 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Law Essay Type Research paper Tags: Australia Essay Did you like this example? Business Law Assignment 1. Australiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s legal system is based on the English legal system.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  To what extend is this statement correct? Discuss. It is widely known that Australia continent has been settled by Great Britain from the late 18th century. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Australias legal system" essay for you Create order However, the English legislation system is the foundation of Australia law that is still needed to be discussed before reaching any conclusions. Following are the related factors which clarify this issue. Firstly, it is necessary to take a look back to the Australia historical background to understand its law development procedure through the time. According to Australiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s history the first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. After this, to the year of 1770, James Cook captain found and gradually formed Australia. As a rule of life, there are people, there are regulations. At the period of beginning, it is easy to comprehend that Britain would apply their law to Australia which is considered as settled colony of England if there was some judgement events happened. This aspect is clearly revealed via the case of Mabo v Queensland (No 2) (1992) 175 CLR 1; 107 ALR 1. In this situation, Eddie Mabo and others argued that they had the r ight to possess the land in the islands as the way of customary title since the time immemorial. However, the decision of this case basing on the English law was that the even though Australia legal system recognised the native title which had not been accepted before, modern Australia was still much more practically tremendous[1]. Through this case we can see that the official introduction of English law to Australia and the progression in its law by this time. In addition to this, this is supported by Blackstone, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“English law would become the law of a country outside England either upon first settlement by English colonists of a conquered or ceded country.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Therefore, the English law would be the good indicator for Britain to execute in their situations in this infant colony at that time. Time by time, English law has been well established and settled in deciding legislation of this territory. Secondly, examining of the development of law in Austral ia also helps to track back its origin. On the date of their own original settlement, in each state of Australia the English law was applied as the foundation law as a settled colonies or infant colonies. Nevertheless, the time after first settlement it was blurry that should New South Wales have been treated as the settled colony because in early time this state had Governor already exercised its power over the inhabitants. Therefore, it caused the argument on this issue. Finally in 1823, the New South Wales Act was passed by the United Kingdom Government. This Act enables the New South Walesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Government fully right to pass the laws provided that it was not against with Britain legal system. Then it was witnessed the first Australian Courts Act in 1828 and its application on New South Wales and Van Diemenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Land[2]. All the cases laws was assured to reflect the English case law but this did not mean that all English statue passed after this date a utomatically considering as Australian law, except for it deliberately expressed to do so. Anyways, it still reflects that Australian law has been gradually developed from the English legal system. Finally, seeking how the independent Australian Act and the Constitution have formed clearly clarifies the aspect of the Australian legislation is heritage from the English law. To the year of 1986 United Kingdom Parliament officially passed the Australian Act as per required by Commonwealth and state parliament. From this Act, United Kingdom parliament no longer has power on Commonwealth and Commonwealth of Australia is seen as a sovereign, independent and federal nation[3]. This confirms that Australian law system is separated from the English law. However, again it can clearly see that this Act just effects till the acceptance of the UK Parliament. All above factors are sufficient enough to prove the legal institutions and traditions of Australian law are mono-cultural in charact er, reflecting its English origins. Discuss the importance of the case of Central London Property Trust Ltd v High Trees House Ltd (1947) KB 130. The case of Central London Property Trust Ltd v High Trees House Ltd is a case of seal lease contract made on September 24, 1937. In this case, Central London Property Trust Ltd (CLP) was the plaintiffs and the defendants was High Trees House Ltd. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" a subsidiary of the CLP, a tenancy of a block of flats with the lease term of 99 years from the time of 29th September, 1937. Two sides agreed the ground rent of 2,500l. per annum. The block of flat was under new condition but it could not be fully occupied since the beginning of the war, people moved away from London because of booming. Under this special situation, it is obviously that the lease could not be paid enough to gain the profit. Therefore, the directors of two companies decided to make a writing arrangement under the war condition prevailing. On January 3, 1940, the plaintiffs wrote to the defendants to confirm the ground rent should be reduced as from the commencement of the lease to 1,250l./annual, and on April 2, 1940, a confirmatory resolution was officially effected. From the time of adjusted arrangement, the defendants started paying the half reduced rent to the beginning of 1945 when the block were fully rent and thereafter. On the other side, in September 1945, the plaintiff found out the rent should have been back its fully normal amount of 2500l. Therefore, he requested the defendants to pay the full rate as first agreement. And the amount of 625l., being the amount represented by the difference between rent at the rate of 2,500l. and 1,250l. per annum for the quarters ending September 29, and December 25, 1945 was required to recover by the defendants. In response of the defendant side, they pleaded that the letter of January 3rd 1940 clearly constituted that the rent should be 1250l. and this meant to the whole lease term. On the other side, the contract was under seal. Therefore, it could not be changed by a parol agreement or an agreement in writing not under seal. But the court of equity allows the variation by a simple contract of a contract under seal by preventing the party who has agreed from suing under the deed (Berry v. Berry [FN5], Swift said) And the defendants rely on the doctrine of estoppel, as Denning Jheld estoppel to be, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“a promise was made which was intended to create legal relations and which, to the knowledge of the person making the promise, was going to be acted on by the person to whom it was made and which was in fact so acted onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . In fact, the reduced rent was enable the defendants run their business, the defendants relied on the promise. The plaintiffs were made a gratuitous promise. As the result, the plaintiffs were estopped from claiming any rent beyond 1,260l. per annum for the whole period of the lease. Nevertheless, the plaintiffs required for the full amount from the time the full rent is payable, not suing for the full rent back dated to 1940. The case should be applied properly. And the Promissory Estoppel is known as the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“doctrine of fairnessà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . It was given judgment for the plaintiff company for the amount claimed.[4] The case of Central London Property Trust Ltd v High Trees House Ltd (1947) KB 130 plays a paramount role in creating the doctrine ofpromissory estoppel. In theHigh Treescase Lord Denning commented,that such an agreement should now be enforceable under the doctrine of promissory estoppel. Promissory estoppel differs from common law because it has less strict requirements and it may arise from promise of future conduct or intention. It can be used both in as a shield to retrieve past damage or as a sword for future damage. Promissory Estoppel is an extension doctrine to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"stopà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ person from retrieving his right that he already promise to waive or let go, or a failure to make a true representation or failure to tell the other party when the changes happen that influence his ability to fulfill his promise fully or partially. Promissory Estoppel is known as a doctrine concerned with equity which has help for the missed factors in contract law. It is used as an extension of conventional contract law where consideration is a prominent and to assure justice for the weaker party from the exploitation of the stronger part by the limitation of law or by using loop holes in law. The case of High Trees opens a new road to the rule in Pinnels casethat à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Payment of a lesser sum on the due day for payment is no satisfaction of the whole obligation.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Despite it is not sure all House of Lordsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ decisions would have the same decision as this case, but definitely Denning blew the new wind into law of England and Wales. By changing the way estoppels is viewed by English law, Lord Denning reaffirmed doctrine of Promissory Estoppel. The High Tress case acted as a vessel in which the doctrine of promissory estoppel was reinstated, in the English and Australian legal systems. 3. Issue Are the Club and Peter liable to John in negligence? Relevant Law/Rules As the Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld), section 9, 10, 13 and 18 reflect the relevant principles regrading to duty of care. In particular, Section 9 clearly states the general principles concerning to this issue. They consist of the statue that a person does not breach a duty to take precautions against a risk or harm that they should have them in mind if the risk was not foreseeable and significant; in the circumstances, reasonable person in the position of the person would not have taken the same standard of care that a reasonable person would have exercised. Then how to identify whether a reasonable in the position of the person would have taken precautions, the following factors should be examined: the probability that harm would occur if cares were not taken; the likely seriousness of the harm; the burden of taking precautions and the social utility of the activities that causes harm. T hese principles have been originated from the Common Law. It can be taken the modern doctrine in the Lord Atkin in Donoghue v Stevenson (1932) as a relevant case. This case developed determination of a duty of care. In that case, a duty of care could exist in any situation as long as loss, damage or injury to one party was reasonably foreseeable and the relationship between those parties sufficiently close or other specifically defined to establish requisite one to take care not to put the other at risk[5]. And other cases such as Polland v Trude (2009) 2 Qd R 248 is clearly relevant in determining if the required standard of care has been met or the duty of care has been breached. Other principle in Section 10 states a proceeding relating to liability for breach of duty: the burden of taking precautions to avoid a risk of harm includes the burden of taking precautions to avoid similar risks of harm; the fact that a risk of harm could have been avoided by doing something in a dif ferent way to avoid the risk does not mean that entity is necessarily liable; and the subsequent action after harm has been suffered does not necessarily mean that the entity will be liable just because they did not take that precautions before the harm was suffered. An obvious risk is identified as sector 13 as following : an obvious risk to a person who suffers harm is a risk that, in the circumstances, would have been obvious to a reasonable person in the position of that person; obvious risks include risks that are patent or a matter of common knowledge; a risk of something occurring can be an obvious risk even though it has a low probability of occurring; a risk can be an obvious risk even if the risk (or a condition or circumstance that gives rise to the risk) is not prominent, conspicuous or physically observable; to remove any doubt, it is declared that a risk from a thing, including a living thing, is not an obvious risk if the risk is created because of a failure on the part of a person to properly operate, maintain, replace, prepare or care for the thing, unless the failure itself is an obvious risk. Section 18 states that dangerous recreational activity means an activity engaged in for enjoyment, relaxation or leisure that involves a significant degree of risk of physical harm to a person. Application First of all, it is reasonably foreseeable and significant that the Club did not take precaution against a risk or harm like stopping golf ball from landing on the side of the fairway which led to the harm to John. As a reasonable action, the Club should have put the protective net to avoid the ball possibly hit to the customer waiting in the tree line to the side of the fairway while the other are playing. The possibility of ball striking to the person to the side of the fairway is obvious. The Club has the duty to take care not to put their customers at risk. This principle was derived from the case Donoghue v Stevensonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ s neighbor test. However, should the Club build a netting fence to possibly eliminate the hazard as a reasonable person would have taken precautions. The duty of changing the rules or using different kind of protective structure may reduce the possibility of players being injured. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to see that the burden of taking these precautions is quite big, especially the large space like in the golf field. It is burdensome for the Club to build up a protective system around the tree line to the side of the fairway. Would a reasonable person have taken the precautions? A golf club is considered as a high social utility which provide enjoyment, relaxation or leisure for society. However, the seriousness if someone gets struck is quite considerable. Nonetheless, although there was a risk that the balls would be hit out of the playing ground, but the possibility of risk occurring is so minimal. It is probably possible to adopt preventative measures that will avo id any but the most outrageously unexpected injuries occurring to any person, the law does not demand that level of precautions. In any circumstances, a reasonable would not think it is necessary to take the precautions. Besides, according to section 10, the burden of taking similar precautions like establishment of preventative measures is quite impossible and taking those precautions is not necessary. If the club took any precautions after John was hit to stop other from being hit would not necessarily mean that they will be liable. The risk of harm here was the risk that one player could be struck and injured by a ball hit by another player. In terms of section 13 that was an obvious risk. And as section 18 states that a significant degree of risk of physical harm to a person as a dangerous recreational activity should be involved. Therefore, John should aware of it and have to undertaken it voluntarily. On the other side, according to section 13, it is not an obvious ri sk if the risk is created because of a failure on the part of a person to properly operate, maintain, replace, prepare or care for the thing, unless the failure itself is an obvious risk. Therefore, Peterà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s mis-hit his ball which flew to John and caused Johnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s injuries is considered is not a significant risk. Peter would not take a duty of care in this case when it was not reasonable to foresee this risk. A reasonable in the position of the person would have taken precautions as Peter just could called out à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“ watch out Johnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  as standard of care that a reasonable person would have exercised. Conclusion The Club and Peter were not liable in negligence in causing the risk of harm of player in the tree line to the side of the fairway being hit by a golf ball. Student Name: TRANG Thi Xuan Mai Student ID: 12878519 Page 1 [1] LexisNexis Butterworths. (2011). Understanding Business Law. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Introduction of English law to Australiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . Page 6-7 [2] LexisNexis Butterworths. (2011). Understanding Business Law. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Development of law in Australiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . Page 12-13 [3] LexisNexis Butterworths. (2011). Understanding Business Law. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The Constitutionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . Page 13 [4] Incorporated Council of Law Reporting For England Wales (1947) K.B. 130. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Central London Property Trust Limited v. High Trees House Limitedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . Visited on 12.01 from https://www.thomsonreuters.com.au/product/AU/files/720502512/contract_p2_central_v_high.pdf [5] LexisNexis Butterworths. (2011). Understanding Business Law. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“ The duty of careà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . Page 740

Mitigating Detention With Meditation Essay - 1079 Words

Mitigating Detention with Meditation In a world full of contrast, nothing lies at more polar ends than detention and meditation. On one hand, students are forced to sit in uncomfortable desks and stare at the wall, while the other implements the use of plush floor pillows and calming essential oils. Fortunately, for the students of Robert W. Coleman Elementary School, staff have implemented a â€Å"Mindful Moment Room,† where misbehaving youth are sent to evaluate their improper actions. Here, they are able to breathe in the relaxing scent of lavender, stretch to relieve tension, lounge on yoga mats, and utilize deep breathing in order to calm down. Despite the room only having been in effect for a few years, the school has already noticed a†¦show more content†¦Their body’s alarm system is switched way on, so they may be primed for fight or flight and not able to sit calmly† (Bloom). For these kids, meditation becomes an outlet to relieve their pent-up emotions, and let their guards down fo r several moments. The room becomes a safe haven for them, which is why meditation should be more common in classrooms across the world, for students of all ages. Another benefit of meditation is that it can increase students’ discipline, which in turn, decreases the school’s total number of suspensions. Deborah Bloom from CNN reports that â€Å"Thompson says she’s had zero suspensions since the room’s creation. The year before that, there were four suspensions† (Bloom). This is an impressive drop in numbers, convincing many to believe that meditation has a rightful spot at school. Its positive thinking and deep breathing methods allow for students to assume better control over their tempers, and suppress any desire to act out of order. Additionally, Mandy Oaklander from TIME further supports this claim by saying, â€Å"Three years after a Transcendental Meditation program was implemented at a troubled middle school, suspension rates dropped from 28% to 4% and teacher turnover plummeted† (Oaklander). These numbers show that meditation is truly more impactful than detention, and should be implementedSho w MoreRelatedDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 Pagesself-understanding—is essential to one’s productive personal and interpersonal functioning, and in understanding and empathizing with other people. A host of techniques and methods for achieving self-knowledge have long been available— including group methods, meditation techniques, altered consciousness procedures, aromatherapy, assorted massages, physical exercise regimens, and biofeedback. It is estimated that Americans alone spend between $30 billion and $50 billion on such therapies. In this chapter we do not

Emirates Airline Free Essays

The Emirates Group is composed of airport services provider DNATA (the Dubai National Air Transport Association) and Emirates Airlines. Owned by the government of Dubai and based at the busiest airport in the Middle East, Emirates has flourished under the sheikdom’s ‘wide open skies’ policy, in spite of the restrictions placed on it by other countries. The airline, renowned for its luxurious in-flight service, was unique among long-haul airlines in that it had not joined a global alliance such as the Star Alliance or oneworld by the beginning of the new millennium. We will write a custom essay sample on Emirates Airline or any similar topic only for you Order Now The Maktoum family led the tribe throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.Dubai became one of seven sheikdoms in the United Arab Emirates, which was formed in 1970. Gulf Air began to cut back its service to Dubai in the mid-1980s. As a result, Emirates Airlines was conceived in March 1985 with backing from Dubai’s royal family, whose Dubai Air Wing provided two of the airline’s first aircraft, used Boeing 727s. (An Airbus A300 and Boeing 737 were two others. ) Because of Dubai’s unique political structure, wrote Douglas Nelms in Air Transport World, Emirates could be described as both government-owned and privately held, though most considered it state-owned.Maurice Flanagan was named managing director of the new airline. Formerly of the Royal Air Force, British Airways, and Gulf Air, Flanagan had been seconded to DNATA in 1978 on a two-year assignment as assistant general sales manager. Chairman was Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, nephew of the ruler of Dubai. Only 27 years old in 1985, he had graduated from the University of Colorado just four years earlier (his degree was in political science and economics). Sheik Ahmed also became chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation and DNATA itself.Although he lacked any direct experience in the airline industry, Sheikh Ahmed embraced his new role, learning to fly a variety of aircraft along the way. As Lisa Coleman duly noted in Chief Executive, he was indeed experienced in one area that would be the new airline’s defining trait: luxury. The first flight, Dubai-Karachi on October 25, 1985, was a Pakistani connection in more ways than one. The airline leased the aircraft, an Airbus 300, from Pakistan International Airlines. Bombay and Delhi were the other two earliest destinations.From the beginning, Emirates flights carried both passengers and cargo. Emirates was profitable within nine months. During its first year, it carried 260,000 passengers and 10,000 tons of freight. The next year, Gulf Air posted a loss. In its second year, Emirates also posted a loss, before setting out on decades of profitable growth. One reason for the success of Emirates was its aggressive marketing. Another was the high level of in-flight service in its new Airbus aircraft, which it outfitted with generously spaced seating.Our Vision ; Values The principles which propel us forward A strong and stable leadership team, ambitious yet calculated decision-making and ground-breaking ideas all contribute to the creation of great companies. Of course, these have played a major part in our development, but we believe our business ethics are the foundation on which our success has been built. Caring for our employees and stakeholders, as well as the environment and the communities we serve, have played a huge part in our past and will continue to signify our future.Our culture of respect At the Emirates Group, we place great value on corporate citizenship and social responsibility and believe our business ethics are integral to our continued success. Each member of staff’s commitment towards ongoing improvement c ombines to maintain the competitive edge of our operation in global markets. We firmly believe our employees are our greatest asset and their contribution to the staggering pace at which we have developed can not be underestimated.Without them it would not have been possible and we acknowledge this with a range of excellent benefits, including a generous profit share scheme, and programmes designed to help them fulfill their career goals. These principles enable us to attract employees of the highest calibre and have helped us become the largest employer in the UAE. We now have a team of more 40,000 loyal workers, many living far away from their own families, and we are committed to caring for them within ours.This dedication to the welfare of our employees does not distract from the fundamental economic role of our business – to reward stakeholders. While rivals have faltered under the strain of fluctuating fuel prices and the intense level of competition synonymous with our industry, we have posted profits in all but one year of our history. While w e are focused on maximising profit margins, as a leader in aviation innovation, we are devoted to growing our business while using fewer resources and creating less waste and pollution. The billions of dollars we have invested in purchasing the most advanced aircraft in production mean we operate one of the youngest and most eco-efficient fleets in the world. Our commitment to the environment extends to our interests on the ground. We take great pride in our involvement with the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, which is dedicated to preserving the natural and cultural heritage of area. The National Park, the largest protected area in the UAE and home to more than 30 species indigenous to the Arabian Peninsula, is considered the regional benchmark for sustainable development and conservation.Our green projects do not stop at home and plans are already well under way to create two of the world’s most eco-friendly conservation-based destinations – Wolgan Valley Resort ; Spa in Australia and Cap Ternay Resort ; Spa in the Seychelles. Company Overview The Emirates Group has spread its wings into every aspect of travel and tourism to become a leading globa l corporation in its field. With one of the youngest fleets in the sky and more than 400 awards for excellence worldwide, Emirates airline is one of two key divisions in the group. The other is Dnata, which provides ground handling services at numerous airports around the world, including Dubai International. It is also one of the largest providers of travel services in the Middle East and has been a household name in Dubai for more than 50 years. Propelled forward by their united strength, the two have evolved at a phenomenal rate to establish the Emirates Group as an immense organisation, spanning a portfolio of more than 50 brands and employing over 50,000 people. Growing from strength to strengthEmirates Group is always looking to expand its portfolio with strategic ventures that will enhance its commercial proposition, revenues and reputation. Among its many projects in development is a luxurious conservation resort in the Seychelles which will raise the benchmark in eco-tourism, as well as highlight Emirates’ commitment to protecting the environment for future generations. Cap Ternay Resort ; Spa Set on a spectacular tropical island in the Seychell es, the resort will give guests a traditional beach holiday combined with a taste of the lush forests, towering granite mountains and wildlife unique to this Indian Ocean sanctuary.The senior management team To build a travel and tourism empire at such staggering speed would not have been possible but for the collective talents of a group of men who have each proven to be leaders in their field of expertise. Almost all of the executives at the helm of the Emirates Group have been with the organisation since its birth and it is their pioneering vision – combined with meticulous planning and brave yet calculated decision making – which has given flight to the fastest growing airline in the world and the Middle East’s largest provider of airport and travel services.SWOT Analysis This part of the assignment will analyse the strategic position of Emirates Airline through the use of SWOT analysis. Based on the given case, the strategic position of the Emirates Airline specifically their airline and aviation position has been challenged because of the changing situations of the airline market. Rival industries of the company has been able to announced the establishment of their business approach in the global market which offers diversified airline industries to cater to the needs of the passengers, cargo and shipment services.The announcement of this company affects the s trategic position of the entire Emirates Airline. In order to make sure that the company will not be left behind, Emirates Airline has been able to involve themselves into the expansion to technological developments. Strengths. As a competitive and globally recognised airline industry, Emirates Airline has been able to have strategic position in the global market. In fact, when Emirates Airline streamlined their business, it already had the advantage of size. The Emirates Group – SWOT AnalysisDescription: The The Emirates Group – SWOT Analysis company profile is the essential source for top-level company data and information. The Emirates Group – SWOT Analysis examines the company’s key business structure and operations, history and products, and provides summary analysis of its key revenue lines and strategy. The Emirates Group is a conglomerate which operates through Emirates Airline, an international airline, and Dnata, a travel organization operating in the Middle East. The group is wholly owned by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government. It provides scheduled passenger and cargo services to more than 100 destinations. The company has operations across Middle East, Europe and Americas, Far East and Australia, West Asia and Indian Ocean, and Africa. It is headquartered in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates and employs 28,037 people. The group recorded revenues of AED42,674. 3 million ($11,621. 5 million) during the financial year ended March 2009 (FY2009), an increase of 17. 1% over FY2008. The operating profit of the group was AED2,573. 3 million ($700. 8 million) in FY2009, a decrease of 42. 2% compared to FY2008. Its net profit was AED981. 7 million ($267. 3 million) in FY2009, a decrease of 80. 4% compared to FY2008.Scope of the Report – Provides all the crucial information on The Emirates Group required for business and competitor intelligence needs – Contains a study of the major internal and external factors affecting The Emirates Group in the form of a SWOT analysis as well as a breakdown and examination of leading product revenue streams of The Emirates Group -Data is supplemented with details on The Emirates Group history, key executives, business description, locations and subsidiaries as well as a list of products and services and the latest available statement from The Emirates Group Reasons to Purchase Support sales†¦ How to cite Emirates Airline, Papers

Smoking Essays (1096 words) - Smoking, Tobacco Smoking,

Smoking Smoking 1 The Effects of a Mindfulness Manipulation on Adolescent Smoking Evidence suggests that smoking cigarettes increases the likelihood of suffering from heart disease, emphysema, lung cancer, high blood pressure, and premature aging. The smoker is also at risk of many short-term health consequences such as chronic cough, yellow teeth, and unpleasant breath. Smoking is an expensive habit that can cost up to 1500 dollars per year if the individual smokes a pack per day. Tobacco industries direct 90% of recommendation their cigarette advertisements toward today's youth, hoping to hook another young adolescent into their money making scheme. Onset of smoking in children occurs at an early age due to a number of factors that include pro-social smoking advertisements, peer, and even antismoking campaigns such as DARE. Primary prevention techniques that attempt to stop the behavior before it starts are effective because children are still young enough to be molded and influenced accordingly by the proper role-models (i.e. peers and parents). Preventative measures, such as informational campaigns are ineffective because they are unrealistic and fail to emphasize on the here and now. These measures focus on the future health risks that may occur 20 or 30 years down the line, which is much to long for a twelve-year-old to concern himself about. Adolescents also believe that they are invincible and therefore not subject to the health risks of all other smokers. For a young adolescent, life is still novel and carefree. The health risks of smoking are not part of a twelve-year-olds mindset-at least not until he or she is grandpa's age. DARE programs are also ineffective because they simply restate health risks that adolescents are already aware or that do not mean anything to them. DARE also suggests that smoking is Smoking 2 a common habit difficult to resist when tempted. Fear manipulations lack preventative power because many of the health risks of smoking are long term-thus for a young teenager-what out of sight is out of mind. Fear manipulations are unrealistic simply because of the waiting period before the onset of disease. Norms also place a heavy influence on adolescent smoking. Early teens spend most of their time with peers, rather than parents. Mom and Dad play more of a secondary role during the teen years. It makes sense that young teens are easily persuaded by their peer group simply because the greater part of the day is spent interacting with them. Parents do not become the active roll model until dinner time for a few hours until lights out. Research by Cialdini suggests that programs that inadvertently portray smoking as common are providing a pro-smoking descriptive norm. Descriptive norms are those norms that most people engage in; whereas injunctive norms are those behaviors that people say are right or wrong. If a youngster believes that smoking is common and normal, he or she may say If everyone else does it, so will I. The question to be address is what can be done to motivate healthy behavior. Hypocrisy manipulations have been used in the past to decrease the frequency of unwanted behaviors. Hypocrisy manipulations promote behavior change because they motivate a person to think about their inconsistencies. Our goal of this study is to modify the hypocrisy manipulation to incorporate the power of injunctive norms against smoking. By doing this we hope to reduce adolescents' perception of the prevalence of smoking. In that perceptions of prevalence play such an important role in the decision to smoke, a focus on injunctive norms against smoking Smoking 3 should be influential in later decisions to smoke. We plan to use a hypocrisy manipulation but modify it by providing the adolescent participants with specific guidelines for their videotaped messages. Method Participants Participants were 186 eighth grade students from nine different health classes at Stafford Middle School. All students were required to obtain a signed parental consent form (see appendix A) in order participate in our study. As an incentive for maximum participation, each health class was informed that if 95% of the consent form were returned, the students would be entitle to a free pizza party. Ninety-two boys and 63 girls completed and returned their consent forms giving a total of 155 participants. Procedure During each health class,

Everything You Need to Know About The Great Gatsby Setting

Everything You Need to Know About The Great Gatsby Setting SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips One reason that The Great Gatsby has now become a byword for the East Coast of the Roaring 20s - the decadently extravagant post-WWI era - is that Fitzgerald was amazing at creating memorable settings. Whether it's the sprawling luxury of Gatsby's mansion, the drunken chaos of Myrtle's apartment, or the suffocating airlessness of a suite at the Plaza Hotel, The Great Gatsbyfeatures settings that perfectly encapsulate character, mood, atmosphere, and emotions. In this article, I'll go through all of the Great Gatsby settings, explain what role settings play in a novel, show how these settings compare with one another, and explore what symbolic meaning they have. Article Roadmap Why Is Setting Important All the Settings in The Great Gatsby Great Gatsby Time Period Setting 1922 Summertime Comparing and Contrasting PairedGreat GatsbyLocations Midwest versus East Coast Manhattan versus Long Island East Egg versus West Egg Gatsby's mansion versus Daisy and Tom's mansion The Valley of Ashes: Setting and Symbol How to Write About Setting Why Is Setting Important? The literary term "setting" means the time and place of anovel's events. If the characters are the "who," then the setting is the "where" and "when." This "where and when" can be very general - for example, "20th century Earth." Alternately, the setting can beeach of the manydifferent places where any of the novel’s actions occur, no matter how small. For instance, you could a imagine a domestic drama where different rooms in the same house work as different settings. Usually, novels feature several different settings, and authors use descriptive language to explain what these times and places look, smell, sound, and maybe even feel like. Using these descriptions, we can learn a lot! Settings help readers fully understand characters. Character backgrounds, motivations, and the pressures they feel from their environment and surrounding society, are often coded into the places where they are.For example, a 20-year-old woman in a novel set in Victorian England would be under enormous pressure to get married and have kids (this desperation isthe plot of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth). Meanwhile, the same woman in a novel set in today’s NYC is going to be more worried about getting a job (the main drama in The Devil Wears Prada). Settings develop or affect plot. Actions that are commonplacein one setting would be impossible in another. Often this has to do with what is and isn't considered acceptable behavior. Other times, it has to do with the technology, transportation, or means of communication that are available in a particular time. Many bad decisions in G. R. R. Martin'sSong of Ice and Fire happen because it takes weeks or monthsto get a piece of information from one castle to another - the quasi-medieval setting dictates this part of the plot. Settings contribute to mood,tone, and atmosphere. Many novels use setting as a way of developing a particular mood. For instance, the magical yet desolate and creepy setting of the moors inWuthering Heights creates the prevailing air of menace, imprisonment, and terror that infects that novel. Contrast this with the cozy setting ofLittle Women, where the March house represents the loving, close-knit, family atmosphere of the novel as a whole. Settings are used for symbolic or thematic purposes. Sometimes a particular setting is linked to one of the novel's themes, functions as a symbol, or if used to make moral, ethical, or aesthetic judgments. For example, in The Great Gatsby, the Valley of Ashes – an industrial neighborhood in Queens – symbolizes the desperate circumstances of those who are victims of the capitalist system the novel describes. There's a reason horror movies aren't typically set in sunny green meadows. All the Settings In The Great Gatsby Before analyzing theGreat Gatsby settings, I'm going to briefly explain and describe all the different settings that the novel uses. Time Setting The Great Gatsby takes place during the summer of 1922. The 1920s are a period that is sometimes called the Roaring 20s or the Jazz Age. Location Settings The Great Gatsby takes place in the United States. Most of the characters come from the Midwest to the East Coast. In the novel, the East Coast setting is divided into three distinct places: Manhattan, Long Island, and an industrial part of Queens that the novel calls either the Valley of Ashes or just the ashheaps. In Manhattan, we see two main settings: Tom and Myrtle's apartment uptown in Harlem, and asuite in the very posh Plaza Hotel next to Central Park. Gatsby's Long Island is broken down into two incredibly wealthy towns that face each other across a bay: West Egg, less fashionable and home to new money people,and East Egg, where older and more established families live. We see two WestEgg settings: Jay Gatsby's sprawling, extravagant mansion, and Nick Carraway's small rented house next door. In East Egg lies Tom and Daisy Buchanan's red and white Georgian mansion. In the novel's version of Queens, the main setting is George Wilson's garage and the road that runs next to it, connecting Long Island and Manhattan. Oheka Castle, one of the real life mansions that aresaid to have inspired Fitzgerald. Quick Note on Our Citations Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book. To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text. Great Gatsby Time Period Setting What makes the Roaring 20’s different from other periods in history, and why does all the action take place in the summer time? 1922 The novel takes place during a period of enormous change and transition for the U.S. 1919 brought the end of World War I, a war marked byits massive death toll and the horrors of trench warfare which countered the image of soldiering as glorious and heroic. The young men who fought inthe war were dubbed The Lost Generation: the devastated and aimless survivors and the needlessly slaughtered dead. The post-war period in Americawas later dubbed theRoaring 20s because ofthecountry's rapidly growing economy and the greater influence abroad that came as a result of American involvement in the war. Many of the things this time period is famous forconnect with eventsin the novel. Prohibition went into effect in 1920, making almost all recreation alcohol illegal. This means thatany time you see people drinking alcohol in the novel, they are breaking the law. Moreover,Gatsby’s enormous wealth comes from him being a bootlegger - someone who illegally sells alcohol Women got the right to vote in 1919, and the Equal Rights Amendment wasfirst introduced in Congress in 1923. InThe Great Gatsby, the power and agency of women come up often. The three women in the novel make choices about their independence; Daisy and Myrtle find it hard to escape dysfunctional marriages, though they try through affairs; Jordan is able to lead a more independent life. The production and ownership of cars skyrocketedafter Ford popularized the efficient mass production of cars by assembly line. In the 1920, 1 out of 4 Americans owned a car. In the novel, cars are associated with danger and recklessness, as people are constantly either talking about car accidents or getting into them.And of course, the climax of the novel is when Daisy runs over and kills Myrtle. Summer The Great Gatsby pointedly takes place during the summer,as opposed to any other season. I say pointedly because the novel goes out of its way to assign meaning to summertime and to contrast it with the rest of the year - and often even with itself. For example, summer is somehow both healthfully airy and horribly suffocating. Nick initially relishes the Long Island summer, shirking his work because there is "so much fine health to be pulled down out of the young breath-giving air" (1.12). But in the tense confrontation in the Plaza Hotel, where Tom, Gatsby, and Daisy have a life-changing fight, the oppressive and unbearable summer heat means the room has basically no breathable air at all: The room was large and stifling, and, though it was already four o'clock, opening the windows admitted only a gust of hot shrubbery from the Park... "Open another window," commanded Daisy, without turning around. "There aren't any more." "Well, we'd better telephone for an axe- - " "The thing to do is to forget about the heat," said Tom impatiently. "You make it ten times worse by crabbing about it." ...the compressed heat exploded into sound and we were listening to the portentous chords of Mendelssohn's Wedding March from the ballroom below. "Imagine marrying anybody in this heat!" cried Jordan dismally. (7.174-190) Similarly, it's up for debate whether the summer brings with it life - the way we typically associate new foliage with a sense of rebirth - or not. On the one hand, Nick starts out with a traditional view of the summertime: And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees-just as things grow in fast movies-I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer. (1.) But soon, Jordan compares summer unfavorably to the potentially positive change that fall brings when she says. Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall. (7.75) This desire to have life start over again is crucial, since this novel is so interested in how the wish for forward momentum fights against the way the past anchors us and pulls us back. Despite his initial positive feelings about the summer on the East Coast, Nick eventually reverts to his roots in the Midwest. He contrasts the disappointing summer he spends on Long Island withthe season he associates with Midwestern wholesomeness and goodness - winter: That's my middle west- not the wheat or the prairies or the lost Swede towns but the thrilling, returning trains of my youth and the street lamps and sleigh bells in the frosty dark and the shadows of holly wreaths thrown by lighted windows on the snow. I am part of that, a little solemn with the feel of those long winters, a little complacent from growing up in the Carraway house in a city where dwellings are still called through decades by a family's name. I see now that this has been a story of the West, after all- Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life. (9.125) I don't know about you, but I'll take this version of summer any day. Comparing and Contrasting PairedGreat GatsbyLocations Now let'stackle theGreat Gatsby settingsthatfunction as foils to one another. We can analyze them by comparing and contrasting them to each other. Midwest vs. East Coast Considering Nick eventually decides that whathe has written is really the story of Midwesterners failing to make it on the East Coast, these might be the two most significant settings in the novel. Still, before we dive in, it's important to remember that this Midwest is Nick's version of the Midwest, which is often undercut (for instance,a lot of Gatsby's criminal business comesas phone calls frombig Midwestern cities like Detroit). Nick describesthe Midwest as the center of all things moral and wholesome.It's a place where everyone is friendly, happy, innocent, and so much "in it together," that when he is describing his memories of the Midwest, Nick doesn't use the pronoun "I," but instead starts writing in the first floors person plural "we": One of my most vivid memories is of coming back west from prep school and later from college at Christmas time...I remember the fur coats of the girls returning from Miss This or That's and the chatter of frozen breath and the hands waving overhead as we caught sight of old acquaintances and the matchings of invitations: "Are you going to the Ordways'? the Herseys'? the Schultzes'?" and the long green tickets clasped tight in our gloved hands. And last the murky yellow cars of the Chicago Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad looking cheerful as Christmas itself on the tracks beside the gate. When we pulled out into the winter night and the real snow, our snow, began to stretch out beside us and twinkle against the windows, and the dim lights of small Wisconsin stations moved by, a sharp wild brace came suddenly into the air. We drew in deep breaths of it as we walked back from dinner through the cold vestibules, unutterably aware of our identity with this country for one strange hour before we melted indistinguishably into it again. (9.123-124) In contrast, the East Coast is a place where everyone is so out for themselves, that after Gatsby dies none of the people whom he spent an entire summer entertaining can even be bothered enough to come to his funeral. In the beginning, this Midwestern quality of goodness strikes Nickas boring, which is why he decides to go East to New York: Instead of being the warm center of the world the middle-west now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe- so I decided to go east and learn the bond business. (1.6) But after his experiences during the summer, Nick comes to see the East as a kind of nightmare of debauchery, violence, and a disregard for human life: Even when the East excited me most, even when I was most keenly aware of its superiority to the bored, sprawling, swollen towns beyond the Ohio, with their interminable inquisitions which spared only the children and the very old- even then it had always for me a quality of distortion. West Egg especially still figures in my more fantastic dreams. I see it as a night scene by El Greco: a hundred houses, at once conventional and grotesque, crouching under a sullen, overhanging sky and a lustreless moon. In the foreground four solemn men in dress suits are walking along the sidewalk with a stretcher on which lies a drunken woman in a white evening dress. Her hand, which dangles over the side, sparkles cold with jewels. Gravely the men turn in at a house- the wrong house. But no one knows the woman's name, and no one cares. After Gatsby's death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes' power of correction. (9.126-127) Manhattan vs. Long Island The action in The Great Gatsby is about evenly split between Manhattan and Long Island. Overall, Manhattan is the place where characters go to show off their disregard for society’s rules and lawful behavior. It's the easiest place to accommodate sexual indiscretions and shady business dealings: In Chapter 2, Tom takes Nick there to meet his mistress, Myrtle, and go to a party at their apartment, where Tom has sex with her while Nick waits, and where Tom ends the evening by punching Myrtle in the face. Gatsby takes Nick to Manhattan in Chapter 4 to have lunch with Meyer Wolfshiem, the gangster who fixed the World Series and who is Gatsby’s business partner. Finally,Gatsby, Nick, Daisy, Jordan, and Tom to go Manhattan in the explosive Chapter 7 showdown where Daisy chooses Tom over Gatsby. Partly this is because Manhattan is portrayed as a melting pot where a diversity of social classes, races, and backgrounds is par for the course, and where unusual people don't really stand out. For example, check out this passage where Nick and Gatsby are driving into the city: The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world. A dead man passed us in a hearse heaped with blooms, followed by two carriages with drawn blinds and by more cheerful carriages for friends. The friends looked out at us with the tragic eyes and short upper lips of south-eastern Europe, and I was glad that the sight of Gatsby's splendid car was included in their somber holiday. As we crossed Blackwell's Island a limousine passed us, driven by a white chauffeur, in which sat three modish Negroes, two bucks and a girl. I laughed aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward us in haughty rivalry. "Anything can happen now that we've slid over this bridge," I thought; "anything at all. . . ." Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder. (4.55-58) There are wealthy African-Americans, European immigrants, the living and the dead, all mixed together without a problem. The city is awash in possibility, the "wild promise" that anything could happen there - "even Gatsby." Also, misdeeds are easy to get away with in Manhattan because its size affords everyone enormous anonymity, which Nick loves: I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it at night and the satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women and machines gives to the restless eye. I liked to walk up Fifth Avenue and pick out romantic women from the crowd and imagine that in a few minutes I was going to enter into their lives, and no one would ever know or disapprove. (3.157) On the other hand,Long Island is a much smaller, more insular community. Instead of shrugging off anonymous misbehavior, the people on Long Island care deeply about who their neighbors are and what theyare doing. It's harder to conduct affairs, shady business, or whatever else there without incurring the moral opprobrium of everyone else. While Gatsby is unremarkable in Manhattan, in West Egg he becomes the focal point of unending rumors. People say he is related to Kaiser Willhelm (the ruler of Germany during WWI, and thus America's main enemy), that he is a German spy, and any number of other things: Gatsby's notoriety, spread about by the hundreds who had accepted his hospitality and so become authorities on his past, had increased all summer until he fell just short of being news. Contemporary legends such as the "underground pipe-line to Canada" attached themselves to him, and there was one persistent story that he didn't live in a house at all, but in a boat that looked like a house and was moved secretly up and down the Long Island shore. (6.5) Similarly, Tom's affair with Myrtle benefits from its city setting, asTomfeels free to cheat on his wife in public: "he turned up in popular restaurants with her and, leaving her at a table, sauntered about, chatting with whomsoever he knew" (2.4). Meanwhile, when Daisy and Gatsby start their affair, Gatsby has to fire his entire household staff because he is worried that his servants will tell everyone what they've seen: Gatsby had dismissed every servant in his house a week ago and replaced them with half a dozen others, who never went into West Egg Village to be bribed by the tradesmen... The grocery boy reported that the kitchen looked like a pigsty, and the general opinion in the village was that the new people weren't servants at all. Next day Gatsby called me on the phone. "Going away?" I inquired. "No, old sport." "I hear you fired all your servants." "I wanted somebody who wouldn't gossip. (7. 9-14) You can see how rumor immediately spreads and is uncontainable in the close circles of Long Island. Even despite all of Gatsby's precautions, Nick has already "heard" from someone else that Gatsby has fired all his servants. This minute observation of one's neighbors really differentiates the towns in Long Island from the big city of Manhattan. The rumor mill even brings a reporter out to interview Gatsby in Chapter 6. West Egg vs. East Egg While very rich people live in both East Egg and West Egg, the difference is the kind of rich people live in each town. East Egg is for the old money crowd - people whose wealth is inherited, and who have been the upper crust of society for generations. In contrast,West Egg is for the nouveau riche - self-made people who have become rich recently and who were originally born into working or middle-class families. This means that in generaleveryone from East Egg looks down on everyone from West Egg in order to demonstrate their superiority.(Nick is one of the exceptions: he lives in West Egg despite having the family background necessary to fit in in East Egg).At one of Gatsby’s parties, Nick hangs out with an East Egg group who don’t socialize with anyone else and who are clearly there to mock and be appalled by the other party guests: Jordan invited me to join her own party who were spread around a table on the other side of the garden...Instead of rambling this party had preserved a dignified homogeneity, and assumed to itself the function of representing the staid nobility of the countryside- East Egg condescending to West Egg, and carefully on guard against its spectroscopic gayety. (3.37) This also means that since they can’t distinguish themselves through their wealth, East Egg residents rely on their better understanding of the nuances and minutiae of manners and behavior to signal that they are so very far above their West Egg neighbors. We get the sense that every East Egg person is forever sending knowing looks at every other East Egg person every time they encounter someone from West Egg. For example, check out Gatsby’s encounter with Tom’s horseback riding friend Sloane and his woman friend, when Gatsby repeatedly puts his foot in his mouth: Mr. Sloane didn't enter into the conversation but lounged back haughtily in his chair; the woman said nothing either-until unexpectedly, after two highballs, she became cordial. "We'll all come over to your next party, Mr. Gatsby," she suggested. "What do you say?" "Certainly. I'd be delighted to have you."... "You come to supper with me," said the lady enthusiastically. "Both of you."... Gatsby looked at me questioningly. He wanted to go and he didn't see that Mr. Sloane had determined he shouldn't... "My God, I believe the man's coming," said Tom. "Doesn't he know she doesn't want him?" "She says she does want him."... Suddenly Mr. Sloane and the lady walked down the steps and mounted their horses. "Come on," said Mr. Sloane to Tom, "we're late. We've got to go." And then to me: "Tell him we couldn't wait, will you?" Tom and I shook hands, the rest of us exchanged a cool nod and they trotted quickly down the drive, disappearing under the August foliage just as Gatsby with hat and light overcoat in hand came out the front door. (6.38-59) Gatsby, the quintessential West Egg-er, can’t tell that the woman doesn’t want him to come to her party. He is even less able to see that Sloane really doesn’t want him to come. And he doesn’t seem to sense how rude they are being to him - something which Tom and Nick pickup on immediately. This social cluelessness and lack of social adroitness translate into the style with which Gatsby lives his life. He spends enormous sums of money, but with every purchase, he is always showing that he is new to the moneyed scene. Let’s see how this plays out in his house. Gatsby’s Mansion vs. Daisy and Tom’s Mansion The differences between old money and new money are reflected primarily bydifferences in style, aesthetics, and taste. Gatsby typifies the ostentatious, over-the-top conspicuous consumption of those whose wealth is new and so must be always on display: I lived at West Egg, the- well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. My house was at the very tip of the egg, only fifty yards from the Sound, and squeezed between two huge places that rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season. The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard- it was a factual imitation of some Hà ´tel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden. It was Gatsby's mansion. (1.14) His house is a reproduction of French chateau. This is ridiculous both because this French design is out of place in America, and also because it is a visibly brand new building trying to replicate something that would be centuries old. It’s completely ludicrous, and it is telling that the only person who has the desiredresponse to this mansion is Gatsby’s father: It was a photograph of the house, cracked in the corners and dirty with many hands. He pointed out every detail to me eagerly. "Look there!" and then sought admiration from my eyes. (9.102) Gatsby’s father has the same taste as Gatsby - the appreciation of a poor person for the trappings of wealth. Meanwhile, Daisy and Tom live in a house that is also extravagant, but one that has its luxury somewhat concealed: Their house was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red and white Georgian Colonial mansion overlooking the bay. The lawn started at the beach and ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and brick walks and burning gardens- finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from the momentum of its run. The front was broken by a line of French windows, glowing now with reflected gold, and wide open to the warm windy afternoon (1.18) The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the house. A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding cake of the ceiling- and then rippled over the wine-colored rug (1.26) The house is much more fit for its location - Georgian Colonial is an architectural style that is appropriate toAmerica (as its name suggests, it came from England during the colonial period). The description also confirms the permanenceof the Buchanans' mansion. Gatsby’s house is fighting with its surroundings (it’s off both in time period, and it seems to be having a problem with the â€Å"raw† ivy). In contrast, Daisy and Tom’s house is so much a part of the environment that the grass â€Å"seemed to grow a little way into the house,† blurring outside and inside just like the open windows that let the breeze blow through. It may not be too much to read some foreshadowing into these contrasting descriptions: Gatsby’s house is too new and not rooted enough. Meanwhile, the place where Daisy and Tom live is deeply embedded and seems unbreakable. No one's pulling this thing out of the ground anytime soon. The Valley of Ashes: Setting and Symbol The Valley of Ashesin The Great Gatsby functions both as a literal place where the climactic event of the novel happens, and is also a powerful symbol – in other words, a concrete object that stands for an abstract idea connected to the novel's themes. The Valley of Ashes is the name that Nick gives to an industrial neighborhood in Queens that the rich have to drive through on their way from the Eggs to Manhattan. This is where George Wilson has his gas station, and where Myrtle Wilson is run over and killed by Daisy. Suitably, it is a horribly bleak and drab place: About half way between West Egg and New York the motor-road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes- a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud which screens their obscure operations from your sight. (2.1) This is the place where those who cannot make it in the cutthroat world of East Coast capitalism end up. It is also the place propping up much of that wealth through the production coming from the factories that are polluting the spot. But the description that transforms the ash that covers everything from simply being dust to a scary substance capable of creating otherworldly plans and people signals that this Valley of Ashes has rich symbolic meaning. For a detailed analysis of how this symbol functions within the great Gatsby, check out our articles on how to approach symbols in general and on the Valley of Ashes as a symbol in particular. How to Write About The Great GatsbySetting So how do you use setting to create a compelling essay? Pick a Topic There are severalways to go about findingyour topic when tackling this kind of assignment. Here are some possibilities: Close reading. You can focus on settings themselves, digging really deeply into the description of one, two, or more places or times in the novel to explore how word choice, similes, metaphors, and any other literary devices help the reader visualize location. For example, you could trace the way the word "ash" appears in the novel, at first defining The Valley of Ashes itself is a kind of fantastical alternate reality, and then spreading outtoward the places of the privileged. You could focus on a literary device called metonymy, using a part to stand in for the whole, and explore why the novel chooses to focus on Dustin Ash as the representative aspect of this neighborhood. Connection to character. Often, setting is away to define character. If you write about this, your essay will tease out the common qualities of a character and of the place most closely associated with that character. These will either be synergistic, with one amplifying the other, or else theywill play as a contrast, undercutting the character. In our case, for instance, Gatsby's mansion speaks volumes about how he sees himself andhis money, and also about the vast gulf that separates him from the upper elite that he really wants to be part of. Conversely, Nick's pokey little house seems humble and unassuming, much like Nick wants to project himself to be. But in reality, by being located next to obscenely luxurious mansions, the house is only falsely modest, and shows off some of Nick's poorly disguised snobbery. (Read more about all the novel's characters in our overview article.) Connection to theme. Similarly, setting can help clarify a novel's theme by providing a concrete example of an abstract idea. In the great Gatsby, you could focus on the way one or more of the settings play into the failure of the American Dream, one of this novel's most salient themes. One way to do this would be to focus on the Valley of Ashes, the place where dreams come to die, both literally and figuratively. If the idea of the American dream is that through hard work anyone can become successful, then George Wilson's tragic fate, as exemplified through his garage and circumstances, serves to completely debunk this myth. Create an Argument It’s not enough to just describe one of the novel'ssettingsand explain its possible connections to either character or theme - or to compare and contrast it to another setting. Instead, you have to make sure that you’re making some kind of point about why/how the settingfunctions in the novel as a whole. How do you know if you’re making an argument and not just saying the obvious? If you can imagine someone arguing the opposite of what you’re saying, then you’ve got an argument on your hands. Once you've figured out what you want to argue, startsmall by analyzing chunks of the text where the symbol pops up, and then broadening your points out to the rest of the book. This way, your argument will be strengthened by textual evidence. What’s Next? Learn how to write about the themesthat settingsare usually linked to. Get help on other assignments by reading our guide on analyzingor comparing and contrasting characters. Brush up on the context of these settingsin our summary of The Great Gatsby. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

7 Active Reading Strategies for Students

7 Active Reading Strategies for Students Active reading techniques can help you stay focused and retain more information, but its a skill that takes time and effort to develop. Here are some strategies to help you get started right away. 1. Identify New Words Most of us develop a bad habit of glossing over words that are vaguely familiar to us, often not even realizing we are doing so. When you  read a difficult passage or book for an assignment, take a few moments to really observe challenging words. You will likely find that there are many words that you think you know- but that you can’t really define. Practice by underlining every noun or verb that you cannot replace with a synonym. Once you have a list of words, write the words and definitions in a logbook. Revisit this log several times and quiz yourself on the words. 2. Find the Main Idea or Thesis As your reading level increases, the complexity of your material will likely increase as well. The thesis or main idea may no longer be provided in the first sentence; it may instead be located in the second paragraph or even the second page. Finding the thesis is crucial to comprehension. You’ll need to practice finding the thesis of the text or article each time youre reading. 3. Create a Preliminary Outline Before you dive into reading the text of a difficult book or chapter, take some time to scan the pages for subtitles and other indications of the structure. If you don’t see subtitles or chapters, look for transition words between paragraphs. Using this information, you can craft a preliminary outline of the text. Think of this as the reverse of creating an outline for your essays and research papers. Going backward in this way helps you absorb the information you are reading. Your mind will, therefore, be better able to â€Å"plug† the information into the mental framework. 4. Read With a Pencil Highlighters can be overrated. Some students commit highlighter overkill and end up with a sloppy multi-colored mess. Sometimes it’s more effective to use a pencil and sticky notes when you write. Use the pencil to underline, circle, and define words in the margins, or (if you’re using a library book) use sticky notes to mark a page and a pencil to write specific notes to yourself. 5. Draw and Sketch No matter what type of information you’re reading, visual learners can always create a mind map, a Venn diagram, a sketch, or a timeline to represent the information. Start by taking a clean sheet of paper and creating a visual representation of the book or chapter you’re reading. Youll be amazed by the difference this will make for retaining information and remembering details. 6. Make a Shrinking Outline A shrinking outline is another useful tool for reinforcing the information that you read in a text or in your class notes. To make a shrinking outline, you need to re-write material you see in your text (or in your notes). While it is a time-consuming exercise to write out your notes, it is also a very effective one. Writing is a necessary part of active reading. Once you have written out a few paragraphs of material, read it over and think of one keyword that represents an entire paragraph’s message. Write that keyword in the margin. Once you have written several keywords for a long text, go down the line of keywords and see if each word will prompt you to remember the full concept of the paragraph it represents. If not, re-read the paragraph and choose a more accurate keyword. Once every paragraph can be recalled by a keyword, you can begin to create clumps of keywords. If necessary (e.g. if you have a lot of material to memorize) you can reduce the material again so that one word or acronym helps you remember the clumps of keywords. 7. Read Again and Again Science tells us that we all retain more when we repeat a reading. It’s good practice to read once for a basic understanding of the material, and read at least one more time to grasp the information more thoroughly.

Frederick Chopins Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Frederick Chopins Music - Essay Example Indeed, the airport at Warsaw is now named Frà ©dà ©ric Chopin International Airport, an indication of the high esteem in which he is held in his native land. It is quite obvious that emotion is very important to Chopin’s music. But in his music emotion is not just a big swirl of impressions. He draws out many nuances with his delicate shifts of tone. In a way it is like poetry, line by line a new feeling or passion is revealed and just about everyone can understand it. It is very pleasant to follow the small steps he takes as he carefully draws out a larger picture, a larger emotional canvas. This style marks out Chopin as a romantic composer. The Romantic Movement, which dominated a great deal of artistic expression during the 19th century, emphasized the primacy of feelings and the oneness of humans with nature. It especially taught that the authentic life is the one in which a person is true to his emotions and not shackled to traditions or the old way of living. It sought to create an aesthetic life rather than a grim and boring one. One of my favourite pieces by Chopin is the Nocturne. This starts off slowly with a melancholic air about it. The melody is quite pretty and delicate. It seems to come from within a deep well inside the composer. The low notes played by the left hard are largely the same, maintaining a certain stability or grounding, while the melody played by the right hand darts around with a much larger range. Sometimes the notes are very high on the keyboard only to fall away like a cascading waterfall down to a lower register.