Response to the Story “Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self”

â€Å"Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self† written by Alice Walker, is a gentle and easy to understand story. It is not that the story is a boring and no highlight. When reading the book, it’s like I am hearing my friend’s story. Alice’s emotion changed totally different before and after the â€Å"accident†. Before the accident, she described herself as if she was the most beautiful and intelligent girl in the world. When Alice was only two and a half years old, when her father was chosen which kids to take with him to the fair, she knew that it would definitely be her, because she was the â€Å"prettiest†.When she six years old, she learned by heart the longest Easter speech. In her beautiful dress, Alice rose to give a speech in a â€Å"great wave of love and pride and expectation†. People praised her to be the cutest things and she was proud about that. The way Alice described herself and how other people applauded and admired her show a very confident and sometime a bit of haughty in her. Two years later, Alice was an eight years old tomboy. Like almost other kids, she was trying to follow whatever her older brothers do. But because she is a girl, so instead of getting a gun, she could only play with her bow and arrow.This is the turning point of the story, when the â€Å"accident† happed and completely changed Alice’s life. She was shot in the eye by the BB gun of her brothers. The doctor said that Alice would likely to be blind, not only one but both eyes. She was terrified but what she care the most is not about whether she could see or not. It is her beautiful that she cared about. She scared how people would look at â€Å"the glop of whitish scar† on her eyes. She was no longer the prettiest and the cutest girl. For six years, Alice did not raise her head and stare at anyone.The scare took everything from her: her beauty, her pride and her person from inside. Alice asked her mo ther and sister whether she changed. What does she really mean by the word â€Å"change†? Her beauty or her personality? The answer was â€Å"no† but this was because Alice’s mother and sister did not want to hurt her or because they really thought that she had never changed? What they saw in her is her personality not her appearance. However, Alice at that time was only a little girl. I do not expect she will care or think deeper about things and people around her.The eight years old girl only cared that people would never admire or applauded her again. To the little Alice, beauty was too important. She hated her eyes, she abused it every night and she â€Å"praised for beauty†. Six years later, Alice was lucky enough to find a good doctor and got her glop removed. This event, on more time, change her life or in another word, her attitude toward life. Alice moved from a closed person who only saw the world with black color into a positive and active pers on. She won the boyfriend of her dream, made plenty of friends and got extremely good result in study.The appearance was no longer important to Alice. She talked about her beautiful classmate with a sarcastic voice â€Å"Ironically, the girl who was voted the most beautiful in our class (and was) was later shot twice through the chest by a male companion, using a â€Å"real† gun, while she was pregnant† Nineteen years later since the â€Å"accident†, Alice was no more a little girl; she had a little daughter named Rebecca. Still, deep inside her, the scare that her different eyes would make her little baby felt ashamed and she prepared herself for that.But no, Rebecca did not scare of her mom. Instead, the baby saw a whole world in that eye. She saw her mother eye as the most wonderful thing on earth. This totally pulled Alice out of the past. She was no more afraid of her difference. She understand that the most cherish thing of a person is not the out-side app earance but it is the beautiful personal inside. Again, Alice saw herself as a beautiful, whole and free person. The story ended with a happy ending that Alice finally found herself and gained back her confident.However, I question myself that what if, Alice was never found such a good doctor, and the scare would never be removed. Will she change? Will she realizes that the inner personality is the most important? Apparently from the story that Alice only changed when she got some part of her beauty back. Maybe because at that time she was just a small girl who did not understand much about life and what is the true value of it. If the scar still there, maybe she would change someday when she grew up and maybe she would never change.

Australian education trends Essay

It is often known that education forms the backbone of economic development and growth in any nation. The investment in pre-school, primary and secondary education as well as community college education ensures availability of human capital endowed with relevant skills and knowledge for enhanced productivity. This has proven to be a necessity for sustained economic development in any country in the world. Educated people are in no doubt different from the uneducated or less educated in a variety ways (Tiffen, & Gittins, 2004). At the outset, the difference is eminent in attitudes and behavior, in their well being and health status, income as well as values regarding morals, religion, politics and employment among others. By instilling these positive characteristics to individuals in the community, education has therefore transformed the world people live in from the old ignorance-ridden era to the technologically-advanced modern life (Tiffen, & Gittins, 2004). Australia has experienced a steady increase in education levels in the last century. The government has in the past centralized funding of education and imposed high taxes on high income earners in an attempt to finance education. Students are not spared either in this plan and have been included in the â€Å"user pays† principle where they reimburse for the education services received. However, this scheme has affected education in many countries and how the government plans to implement the principle together with high taxation is a matter of concern. In Australia, the Government provides public funding for non-government schools as well as substantial assistance to government academic institution. Funding of state government schools is the primary responsibility of States and territories (Laporte, & Ringold, 1997). These organs can also provide assistance to non-governmental institutions of learning. It is estimated that more than two thirds of the students in non-government academic institutions are affiliated to Catholic as a religion. Australian education system is a three tier model where children enroll in Kindergarten at the age of about five years, then graduate to primary followed by secondary levels from year one to twelfth year and finally tertiary education (Harrison, 2002). Education is mandatory for the children aged between five to about sixteen years but the federal government caters for the university education. This system has ensured a reduced school life expectancy thereby enhancing educational development in the country (Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, 2008). This however draws a sharp contrast to the old system. Australian education system was highly stratified and that only infants and primary education were provided for the children. Additionally, Selection for high school education was very competitive, and favored the siblings of specific people who used to be prominent in the society (Henry, 1990). These individuals included industrialists, agriculturalists as well as businessmen among other professionals. Teaching profession was undermined since the government offered low wages to the teachers in addition to subjecting them to strict laws that restricted their personal as well as professional conduct. These factors reduced the productivity of the teaching staff thereby suppressing students’ performance in schools (Henry, 1990). The tremendous increase in level of education in Australia has been largely attributed to changes in a variety of factors including social and institutional framework as well as economic changes and student financing much else besides (Evans & Kelley, 2002). To start with, changes in educational levels have been associated with urbanization. The rural-urban migration brought about by the inadequacy of farmland as well as search for skilled jobs in the cities has enhanced the development of cities in Australia. This has therefore called for the provision of educational services in these highly populated regions hence increasing the educational levels. Evans & Kelley (2002) estimates the changes brought about by urbanization to about six percent over the last century. Economic growth on the other hand has been articulated with the steady increase in the educational levels in Australia. This country has witnessed a considerable economic growth in the recent past. Australian GDP for instance is currently valued at 1050 billion dollars which is slightly above 1.6 percent of the world economy (Laporte, & Ringold, 1997).   Australia has so far recorded steady economic growth and unlike other OECD nations it did not fall to the economic recession witnessed in the recent past (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2007). Moreover, the country has recorded a growth rate of about 3.6% annually for the last fifteen years. This has empowered the government hence its ability to fund education as well as other sectors (UNESCO/OECD World Education Indicators Program, 2005). It therefore implies that most of the Australians are able to access education compared to the past where parents used to dropout of school after compulsory education level. The current parents have therefore acquired high social status in addition to pursuing the available high skilled and well-paying professional jobs. The Australian children who hail from well educated families can now access proper education thereby increasing the levels of education in the country (Ruitenberg, 2010). Economic growth has therefore contributed to about twenty six percent education growths in Australia. This change has mainly improved education levels in both the primary education which is compulsory as well as secondary education which the educated and socially as well as economically-empowered parents can now afford (Evans & Kelley, 2002).The duo however admit that the aforementioned factors only contribute to a little percentage of the sources of educational transformation so far witnessed in Australia and that the real sources of change in education trend in this century are still unclear. Youth participation in education including vocational education and training has also improved in Australia. According to Sue et al (2009) a variety of factors have influenced this upsurge in the education trends in Australia. Factors such as how the young people’s families as well as community value education, the socioeconomic status of the general population, available education and training and the school curriculum, existing policies on education and youth employment, financial incentives and obstacles, economic structure in regard to industry and occupation have changed hence improvement of youth participation in education and vocational training in Australia (Kilpatrick, Sue,  Baynes, Chapman & Hazel An indexing term that provides specific identifying information in a category: geographic names, laws and legislation, or tests and testing., ()), 2009). Australia just like other developed States has recorded a steady decline in fertility rate which has brought about the ratio of two children per couple (Tiffen, & Gittins, 2004). It is always presumed that the higher the number of children in a family the reduced ability of the parents to provide quality education to an individual child. This is because the available resources such as finance, energy and time are shared among the many children thereby reducing the amount received by an individual child (Evans & Kelley, 2002). The reduced fertility rate in Australia has ensured reduced number of children in a family which the parents can afford to provide quality education for thus contributing to increased level of education in the country. These changes in education levels brought about by changes in family size are only noticeable in secondary schools and tertiary levels and not in primary level where the government funds education (Harrison, 2002). The government’s commitment to provide quality education has also influenced to a greater extent the steady growth in education levels so far witnessed in Australia. The Australian government has increased its spending on education of both males and females compared to the last century. There have been issues of gender inequality in education and females have been stereotyped as underperformers in the past (Evans & Kelley, 2002). It is note worthy that in all countries except New Zealand; there have been lower performance by females than their male counterparts especially in mathematics literacy (Marginson, 1993). This traditional stereotype is being overcome by the Australian government through equal provision of educational services to both the sexes. Philosophers such as Martin Roland have also contributed to this issue of gender equality and education of the girl child. Roland argues that the old tradition was a barrier to the equal distribution of resources to both the sexes in the society since it discriminated against the females and favored the males. She reiterates that gender issues should be embedded in the curriculum as well as in teaching and schooling activities to ensure that the product of such a system is an ideal educated person. John Dewey is another renowned philosopher whose contribution to education, politics as well as philosophy has been globally recognized. According to Dewey, education was the cornerstone to intellectual development and progress of the society. He stressed on the improvement of moral and social nature of schools as an attempt to fostering democracy and community prosperity (Paringer, 1990). Dewey asserts that provision of education service to a single child in the society empowers the child towards self- effectiveness which consequently provides a guarantee to a lovely, worthy and harmonious society. Democracy never used to prevail in the ancient society as a result of lack of knowledge by then. According to Dewey, the nature of things should be viewed from a perspective of change and growth and therefore the continuous transformation in education is inevitable (Dewey, 2007). Nel Noddings is an additional prominent philosopher whose argument revolves around the moral reasoning, beliefs and values in education. She states that the current education trends encourages moral development hence the need to adopt educational structures that incorporates ethics and the use of motherly interest to inform moral learning. She however blames politics that fulfills the interests of particular groups for threatening the establishment of strong ethical foundation of learning as well as teaching in the academic institution (Palmer, Bresler, & Cooper, 2001). Conclusion Education in Australia has undergone commendable changes since the first half of the last century. The Australian government as well as other stakeholders in the educational sector has contributed towards the social progress which is primarily dependent on the enhanced education standards in the country. Education has so far transformed from the old system characterized by repugnant traditions and values to the modern technologically- advanced era where education is the basic requirement for community sustainability. The progress in science and technology in the current era has created the knowledge and skills necessary for the developed industrial economy, while growth of education has provided workforce that is needed to utilize these new opportunities. Australia currently enjoys a socially-friendly environment with high paying professional jobs as well as improved living standards courtesy of development witnessed in the education sector. Reference List: Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (2008). Trends shaping education. OECD   Publishing. Dewey, J. (2007). Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education.   NuVision Publications, LLC.   Evans, M. & Kelley, J. (2002). Australian economy and society, 2001: education, work, an   welfare. Federation Press. Harrison, J. (2002). Excel senior high school: community and family studies. Pascal Press. Henry, M. (1990). Understanding schooling: an introductory sociology of Australian education.

Comment on how Romeo Essay

Comment on how Romeo and Juliet use language to communicate their feelings about love until Act II, scene ii of the play. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is the tragic story of two lovers separated by their feuding families. The origins of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ originate before Shakespeare and so the story has been made familiar to audiences and readers of previous generations. Many historians believe he got his inspiration from literature dating back to the sixteenth century such as the poem by Arthur Brooke called ‘The Tragicall Historye Of Romeus and Iuliet’, written in 1562. Shakespeare adapted this story in order for it to appeal to the Elizabethan audience. The male protagonist of the play is Romeo Montague. He is approximately seventeen or eighteen years old. Romeo is a stereotypical adolescent boy, who emotions are fickle and based on lust. He constantly spends time thinking about love and his desire to be in love. He is spurned by the lady he adores Rosaline. Romeo follows the conventions of ‘courtly love’ with diligence. In contrast the female protagonist Juliet Capulet is of a younger age; barely into her teenage years. Juliet is the opposite to Romeo as she is not stereotypical. Juliet does not comprehend or desire marriage, which is unusual of a girl her age. However, it is surprising Juliet breaches the rules of ‘courtly love’ by accepting the proposal of marriage as soon as Romeo enquired Juliet. Juliet also defies the convention by not marrying a man of her father’s choosing. Despite the Capulets and Montagues long standing hatred for each other, fate coincidently brings Romeo and Juliet together. The play ends with tragic consequences as a result from the families hatred. Romeo and Juliet both sacrifice themselves for the power of love. Shakespeare uses numerous dramatic devices and language techniques to explore and convey Romeo and Juliet’s emotions. Act I, scene i takes place after a riot between the Montagues and Capulets. Despite the uproar Romeo decides to take no participation in this argument as he is so infatuated by his desire for Rosaline. Benvolio says â€Å"Good morrow, cousin†. Romeo replies â€Å"Is the day so young† indicating that he is so wrapped up in his own emotions that he is surprised it is still morning. This is typical of courtly love. Benvolio informs Romeo that it has only just struck the hour of nine. â€Å"Aye me! Sad hours seem long† Romeo personifies time to portray the grief he endures. â€Å"Not having that, which, having, makes them short† Romeo indicates that time passes quickly with Rosaline but time drags on without her. Romeo also says; â€Å"Out of favour, where I am in love,† This shows that the feeling is not mutual therefore it can not be true love. Romeo also says; â€Å"Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still, should, without eyes, see pathways to his will! † Romeo implies love is cupid and although he is blindfolded he still makes people fall in love. He believes love is inevitable. Romeo enquires about the dispute but he quickly switches back to talking about love that he yearns for, when he says â€Å"Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all. † Romeo is talking about fighting in general and not he has heard about the fight that has just taken place. He completely does not care about it and he is disloyal to his family. â€Å"Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love. † He believes no matter how much people talk about hate, love is far more interesting as Romeo implies. Romeo’s infatuation with lust is reflected in his over elaborate use of language. â€Å"Well, in that you miss: she’ll not be hit With Cupid’s arrow; she hath Dian’s wit; nd, in string proof of chastity well arm’d, from love’s weak childish bow she lives unharm’d. she will not stay the siege of loving terms,† Romeo here portrays lust that he wants from Rosaline. He describes virginity like a fortress which needs to be conquered . Romeo is also critical of her virginity. Romeo is continuously using paradoxes to describe love. Romeo demonstrates a young man who does not actually feel genuine love as he describes it as love and hate when he says â€Å"O brawling love! O loving hate! † â€Å"O heavy lightness! Serious vanity! Mis-sharpen chaos of well-seeming forms! Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, Sick health! † Conveying emotions of love which Romeo is experiencing, which is in such a mixed up way that it is not enjoyable but painful. Romeo says; â€Å"Tis the way To call hers exquisite, in question more:† Romeo has a fickle nature and he believes that looking at others would only make her more beautiful. Romeo implies that speaking of his lady would make him ‘groan’. Romeo emphasizes the pain he endures by referring love of love to be a sickness and of dying by saying; â€Å"Bid a sick man in sadness make his wil† Romeo ends with â€Å"farewell: thou canst not teach me to forget. † Romeo shows that he can not forget about his love and one can teach him to forget about his love. Juliet Capulet is a young girl living in the town of Verona. Juliet is probably around the age of fourteen or fifteen years of age. Ladies in Verona, by the ages of Juliet were often married and settled down with children. Juliet being the daughter of wealthy Capulet is no exception to this and is expected to marry. Juliet has hardly reached womanhood when she is expected to make a life changing decision Act I scene iii takes place in a room in the Capulets mansion. Lady Capulet breaks the news to Juliet about the idea of marriage. Lady Capulet says, â€Å"Marry, that ‘marry’ is the very theme I came to talk of†. Juliet replies â€Å"it is a n honour that I dream of not† as she is very shocked by the idea as she still thinks she is too young. She is innocent and nai ve. Lady Capulet says to Juliet; â€Å"Here in Verona, ladies of esteem, are made already mothers; by my count† Lady Capulet is suggesting Juliet is being left behind as most ladies are married by now. Lady Capulet also uses persuasive adjectives like â€Å"valiant† to advertise Paris as being perfect and encourage her daughter to marry him. The nurse of Juliet also emphasizes Paris being perfect â€Å"He’s a man of wax† Juliet hardly shows much emotion about married. Juliet says; â€Å"I’ll look to like, if looking liking move: But no more deep will I endart mine eye Than your consent gives me strength to make it fly† Juliet shows here she will happily make the acquaintance of Paris only to please her mother, but Juliet is promising nothing. Juliet is not really bothered about meeting Paris as she does not desire married and partnership. Juliet and Romeo meet each other in the Capulets mansion where a party was taking place. Towards the end of act II, scene ii Romeo and Juliet use extended images of falcony to demonstrate their reluctance to separate until the following morning. Juliet confides in Romeo by using a metaphor; â€Å"O for a falconer’s voice, To lure thus tassel-gentle back again† Juliet wishes to capture Romeo, like a bird, so that she can lure him back to her whenever she wants. Romeo extends the metaphor by referring to Juliet as â€Å"My Niese†. Romeo is implying Juliet as being a hawk, this is important as it reminds the audience of Juliet’s age and her innocence. Juliet is very protective and shows this by using a simile; â€Å"I would have thee gone; And yet no farther than a wanton’s bird; That lets it hop a little from her hand, Like a prisoner in his twisted gives, And with a silken thread plucks it back again, So loving-jealous of his liberty† Juliet desires to imprison Romeo like a bird. Juliet uses a oxymoron to highlight her contrasting feelings; half of her wants to set Romeo free as if he remains he will get into danger but Juliet is selfish and wants Romeo to stay for her own benefit. Romeo and Juliet uses extended images of sea voyages and adventure to communicate their love for each other. Romeo uses a metaphor to show Juliet how much he loves her and how important she is to him. â€Å"As that vast shore wash’d with the farthest sea, I would adventure for such merchandise. † Romeo relates to Juliet being merchandise, which he is prepared to travel the furthest sea to gain such a priceless treasure. Juliet uses an extended simile later on in the play to re-emphasize Romeo’s feelings. â€Å"My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep, the more I give to thee. † Juliet’s love is as endless like the sea. Both Juliet and Romeo worship each other and are prepared to do anything, just to get what they want. Juliet also has ‘bounty’, the willingness to give her love to Romeo. Romeo and Juliet use extended images of angels and heaven to express how heavenly their love and desire is for one another. Romeo expresses his feelings about Juliet in his soliloquy at the beginning of the scene; â€Å"Her eyes in heaven Would through the airy region stream so bright That birds would sing and think it were not night. † Romeo is saying that Juliet has the power over nature, she is as bright as the sun, her beauty is so extreme she can make the birds sing. Romeo extends the idea of cosmic image; â€Å"O speak again, bright angel† Romeo refers as Juliet being an angel as there is nothing more perfect as angels , more beautiful than any mortal could wish to be. Juliet impresses Romeo so much that he can not believe she is human. â€Å"For thou art As glorious to this night, being o’er my head, As is a winger messenger of heaven† Romeo expresses Juliet to have angel-like qualities, she is immortal, a perfect goddess. Romeo uses sibilance and a simile to make Juliet’s voice sound like beautiful music to one’s ears; â€Å"Like softest music to attending ears! † In the beginning Romeo is represented as a typical young man. His language is completed with drama and emotions. Juliet is opposite, her language is straightforward and shows her disinterest in marriage and love. Juliet experiences the most dramatic change in the play after meeting and falling in love with Romeo in act II, scene ii. Juliet displays a newly sexually awaken young woman. Her language is altered to display a likeness of Romeo’s language which is constantly uses hyperboles and imagery to portray her intense emotions. Romeo is less of a dramatic change as he still remains a passionate young man. His feelings are more genuine love rather than lust. Romeo’s feelings are intensified by reciprocate love. Romeo also uses imagery to show intense feelings and the endeavour to commit to Juliet. Throughout the play Shakespeare uses numerous language techniques to convey emotions and to show true passion between two teenagers. The play demonstrates to what extent people are prepared to do for the power of love. Tragic consequences at the end of the play lead to sad emotions which heightens the audience. ‘Romeo and Juliet’, a tragic story that teaches people the true meaning of love.

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Critical response paper - Essay Example She later moved to Edmonton to work with abused children and teens in the child welfare system. At the age of 30, she collapsed with chronic fatigue syndrome. Recovering at home, she began her first novel. Therapy is an important part of recovery and for Goobie, a large part of her therapy is writing. As she was suffering from blurred vision she dictated the story a few minutes into a tape recorder. It was about a girl who decides to stop shaving her legs and enter a beauty pageant. The novel Mission Impossible won an award from the Writer’s Guild of Alberta and was nominated for the Governor General Award for children’s literature. According to Goobie there are a lot of negative messages given to children and teenagers in our society. She tries to reverse these as much as possible in her books. Her writing reflects the issues surrounding the anger and powerlessness of those too young to defend themselves. Beth Goobie has worked for a long time with children who have been physically and sexually abused. Expressing these feelings many of Beth’s novels have aimed to try and save young adults. Both her books, Scars of Light and The Only Good Heart are built on the theme of cults, abuse and emotional torture. Books like these have been therapeutic for her mind and a warning to others. In her words childhood is mostly about programming us to keep us in line so that as adults we stay in line and she tries to encourage kids to see beyond that. Goobie is well known for her quirky and dark young adult novels. She published several of them beginning in 1994. She wrote the much acclaimed Scars of light in 1994, in which she wrote about her traumatic experiences as a child in. The brutally realistic poems won her the Pat Lowther Memorial Award and were nominated for a Governor General’s Award for poetry. This was followed by 2 more Sticks and stones and Kicked out in 1995. In

Healthy Fast Food Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

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HR Factors that Affect Quality of Customer Service in the Banking Essay - 1

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Core Competencies and Program Objectives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Core Competencies and Program Objectives - Essay Example As such, the curriculum should be structured to deliver and foster synergy and persistence across the curriculum and yield to the assessment of program outcomes. II NLN Core Competencies and Program Outcomes for Graduates of Baccalaureate Programs NLN outlines four outcomes as demonstrating and mirroring mastery of essential core nursing practice competencies. The objective of nursing education for every nursing program can be grouped in four distinct outcomes: nurses ought to utilize their skills and knowledge to promote human flourishing for their patients, families, and communities at large. Furthermore, they should manifest sound nursing judgment, and should persistently persist in developing their professional identity. Finally, nurses ought to approach all issues and challenges in a spirit of inquiry (National League for Nursing, 2010a). The outlined components are envisaged to yield to core competency development. NLN six competencies entail: (a) allow learning; (b) assist in learner socialization and development; (c) utilize review and appraisal strategies; (d) engage in curriculum design and program result appraisals; (e) play the role of change agent and leader; (f) based on the role of nursing educator, seek quality enhancement (National League for Nursing, 2010a). ... This relates to the creation of pathways to execute the nurse’s distinct potential. This relates to the attainment of human prosperity as a life-long existential continuum of self-actualization and self-realization that perpetually continues to progress. The nurse should integrate the knowledge and skills learned to aid students, families, and the community at large to incessantly progress toward attainment of human capacities (National League for Nursing, 2010b). NLN Outcome/ competency for human flourishing The graduate of the nursing program evidently be a promoter for patients and families in ways that foster their self-determination, honesty, and continuous growth as human persons. As such, in mastering the art and science of nursing, the role of the nurse educator centre on aiding students establish core competencies to guarantee that the students can, subsequently, lead patients in looking past the clinical encounter, or the peculiarity in their health condition, and fo ster a re-assimilation of their experiences. Essential to attaining the program result of human flourishing details the strategic intertwining of progressively structured learning activities and the articulation of essential competencies throughout the nursing curriculum. A student can attain this outcome by learning activities that are pertinent and suitable to the program, and related courses. The notion of human flourishing is essentially a lived experience of contemporary nursing students, the fundamental concepts centering on human dignity, heat and illness, vulnerability, compassion, as well as cultural and ethnic diversity (Bjork & Kirkevold, 1999). This also involves capability to question standards of nursing standards in pursuit of

Functional Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Functional Analysis - Research Paper Example Compatibility of land-use plans and circulation systems that are already in place is essential. This is because only highly viable projects are treated as the best land-use options. In order to make an assertion of this claim, past, present and future land status have to be critically assessed and evaluated in the light of the project being undertaken. In other words, land-use plans match existing circulation systems for optimal land use purposes. The compatibility of land-use plans and existing circulation systems is necessary for striking a balance between meeting people’s needs and resource sustainability for future generations. Current and future demands can only be met if planners make certain considerations in the context of land-use projects. Change is a force that significantly influences planning. Planners therefore must consider diversity and dynamism of physical, social and economic factors that affect land-use projects over time (Levy, 2011). These variables integrate change in different magnitudes and it is up to the planners to consider the magnitude of each of them to both short term and long term projects prior to the characteristic trends in demand. For example, globalization is an undisputable factor to consider in the context of change and land-use projects in the light of local and international current and future

Barack Obama and Rick Santorum Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Barack Obama and Rick Santorum - Research Paper Example The paper will look into details in a succinct manner Rick Santorum’s policy regarding Iran and their weapons. Rick seems quite radical and static about the Iranians. In one of the NBC press, he stated that he would work effectively with Israel to dismantle the ongoing nuclear weapon making process in Iran. The policy is to ensure that the Iranians remains under the control of the US militia ands that they do not grow weapons that can harm the US, in one way or the other. Some people, especially the Muslims in the US, have seen this as a form of hatred that the aspirant has towards the Muslims in the United States. Other evidence is revealed on Rick’s claims on Obama’s religion. He supported a claim that the US president is a vowed Muslim and should not be the president of the US (Lysiak & Reddan, 2012). As a presidential aspirant, the above stand has seriously affected his candidature, especially among the American Muslims. Most Muslims have seen him as anti-Muslim aspirant, and quite a number of them have withdrawn their interest in him. His claim or policy has not affected any other US citizen apart from himself. His crucial support in Muslim societies has significantly gone

Discrimination and Human Rights Act Essay Example for Free

Discrimination and Human Rights Act Essay Introduction You have been asked by your Head Teacher to produce a document that promotes the importance of promoting equality and diversity in work with children and young people. This is aimed for new members of staff and volunteers. Legislation and codes of practice 2.4 – 1.1 Identify at least two current legislation and codes of practice relevant to the promotion of equality and valuing of diversity. You must include the correct title and date (where appropriate) and then provide a summary of each piece of legislation or code of practice that is identified. This could include: Equality Act, Human Rights Act, Inclusion policy. The Equalities Act (2010) This act is a combination of many old acts (race relations, sex discrimination and disability discrimination etc.) its two main purposes – to harmonise discrimination law and to strengthen the law to support the progress on equality. It is the most significant development in equality and discrimination for years. It sets out that everyone regardless of race, sex, religion or disability is entitled to fair treatment. The Human Rights Act (1998) This act sets out the rights and fundamental freedoms of each and every human being. All public bodies (courts, schools etc.) have to comply with the act. The act has a principal that everyone should have protection from discrimination; this has a wide range of grounds including sex, race, colour, language, religion and political or other opinions. Inclusion policy (our lady mother of the saviour catholic primary school 2011) This policy sets out that the school its self aims to be inclusive and remove barriers to learning and participation that could discriminate pupils or groups of pupils.it states in the policy that the achievements, attitudes and well-being of all children matter. Equal opportunities policy (our lady mother of the saviour catholic primary school 2011) This policy is set out in accordance with the Equalities Act 2010. It is there to promote anti-discrimination and the principle of fairness and justice for all through the education that is provided from the school. The policy also recognises that by doing this it may from time to time have to treat some pupils differently (a child with a disability will be treated as fair as possible but in situations cannot be treated the same as other pupils) 2.4 – 1.2, 1.3 Describe the importance of supporting the rights of all children and young people to participation and equality of access. Unfortunately studies have shown that children from poorer backgrounds attain less in school than children from higher professional families, this in its self supports the importance of supporting children in school to participation and equality of access. Ignoring these rights could lead to children having low self-esteem, a feeling of inferiority and lower levels at school. Supported in the right way children could all have a greater chance of attaining a higher level at school and a greater chance of becoming more â€Å"all rounded† as adults. Describe the importance and benefits of valuing and promoting cultural diversity in work with children and young people. By promoting cultural diversity and valuing any type of difference in work this will reflect on the children so that they themselves will pick up these attitudes and behaviours. The importance of this is that failure to promote diversity through your own actions could result in discrimination within the children and young people. The advantages of valuing and promoting diversity are that it opens the children up to learn about new things, such as cultures and improves their knowledge and understanding. By doing this it will lead to them being more tolerant and creative adults and therefore less likely to discriminate later in life.

Leadership Styles At Asda Plc Management Essay

Leadership Styles At Asda Plc Management Essay Knowledge is power, and information is nowadays one the most valuable assets if not the most valuable one. However [if not properly managed] information becomes rapidly useless, becoming a serious competitive disadvantage for any organization. Leaders play a crucial part in the game of knowledge management in all levels inside a company. The basic skills of any leader should make him/her able to solve problems, to make decisions, to plan, to manage meetings, to delegate, to communicate and to self management, but it also requires human qualities for nowadays good leaders are those who are capable of understanding and responding to the peoples needs and to the constant challenges and demands of modern days, without compromising the goals of the organization. Instead in the traditional model the leader would be at the top of the hierarchy as a chief authority. Currently a good leader is not the one who is feared [while occupying a power position inside an organization] but the one who is respected and trustworthy for its human qualities like character, values, ethics and beliefs, while combining it with other specific skills. Otherwise wont attract followers. But how can theories and leadership models are applied to a real situation evolving a real organization and how useful can that really become? Companys Introduction: ASDA will be used as a practical example of an organization: After War World I the milk prices were falling down rapidly, farmers had to protect themselves in response to that a farmer from Yorkshire (in association with other farmers) named J.W. Hindell created in 1920 the Hindells Dairy Farmers Limited to acquire or build both wholesale and retail outlets for their milk, guarantying a steady market and a floor price. That lasted about 25 years with a variety of dairy business, involving 9 companies in this process. This partnership became a public company in March 1949 (Associated Dairies and Farm Stores Limited), employing 1200 people. By 1965, Associated created a subsidiary [ASDA Stores Limited], extremely profitable. A new concept was launched: new extremely large stores were open, in abandoned warehouses or mills, offering a limited selection of goods at the lowest prices. By 1978, ASDA had 60 superstores and two years later more than  £1 billion sales mark. In 1984 John Hardman became managing director and decided that changes (including new look for stores, new lightningà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) were needed or ASDA would fall behind , the ASDA Brand new line of foods would emerge to increase sales including other measures , under Hardman  ´s direction the company sold not only but also the Associated Fresh Foods, concentrating only in superstores and expanded line of food stores, only expectation was Allied, a chain of carpet and drapery stores ,the Group was not able to sell it. ASDA acquired 62 of rival Gateways superstores, the company kept on full expansion. In 1991 after Hardman resigning Archie Norman took and the next several years were dedicated to restructuring, renewing the brand image, lowering prices and product mix and in 1995 the profits were increasing again as compared to 1992. Then in 1999 the U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. offered to takeover ASDA and in 2000, after the acquisition, launched Smart Price, a new brand based on Wal-Mart. ASDA with 259 stores is now the second largest retailer in the UK, having a very big competitive advantage: price competition in a variety of shops, which helps customers to relate with the company. Also under Wal-Marts wings ASDA has been adding new departments like: pharmacies, opticians, jewellery, besides selling music, videos, and books. Examine the impact of different leadership attributes and skills on work groups There is no universal academic concept of Leadership there are as many definitions as the number of scholars studying it (combination of certain characteristics, skills, process à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦). It can be described as the result of a process by which an individual influences others in order to accomplish a common goal. Leadership should not be confused with power or authority for it is a wider concept, demanding much personal effort from the leader in order to fully mobilize the people in achieving that common goal mostly supporting all strategy on top of the companys values and culture. Many theories try and keep trying to identify the skills that a good leader should have, some became popular and important tools for management and leadership until now. John Adairs Action-Centred Leadership Model supported leadership has 3 main responsibilities: task, team/group and individual, keeping all these 3 responsibilities in the right balance the success would be guaranteed: better quality, sustains morale, develops the team and also highlights the intervention of the leader as a successful one. The leader, like in Tom Peters theory also, should be inspiring to others, showing enthusiasm, commitment and ability to pass all that to the people. Although he argued that the situation itself would appoint the leader and determinate what kind of leadership, nevertheless some leaders need innate characteristics like military ones (need courage), other human qualities like integrity, wholeness and moral sense were considered essential to any leader. Elizabeth Moss Kanter focused on empowerment [key to human motivation] management should be available for those usually put aside, like women, clerical workersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ decentralizing authority with the creation of other small and autonomous groups. Early researches on leadership are more behavioural searching to classify personal features that set efficient leaders apart from other people. Works like Daniel Golemans and also Higgs and Dulewicz work (among others) about emotional intelligence theory became very popular. EQ has become a very important factor to select and recruit, for management development, job profiling, HR planning, customer relationsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ even to reduce stress by decreasing conflict, improving relationships and communication, stabilityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦). Daniel Goleman ´s EQ theory (EQ Emotional Quotient) is a revolutionary concept by defending that success does not depends only of the IQ (Intelligence Quotient), but also behaviour and character are twice important. His studies lead him to develop a model containing several personal (e.g. capability of understand oneself, self-control, self motivationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) and social competences (Organisational awareness, Change catalyst, Building bondsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦), necessary for a good leadership. This is a tremendously important contribute most of all to develop people and organizations allowing to understand peoples behaviours, attitudes, potential, styles in management and interpersonal skills. Higgs and Dulewicz divided Emotional Inteligence in 3 major areas: Drivers: motivation and decisiveness, skills that give people the necessary energy for achieving goals. Constrainers: conscientiousness, integrity and emotional resilience (control and smooth the excess of drivers) Enablers: sensitivity, influence and self-awareness, skills that help performance and the success of individuals In result a successful leadership would be the sum of EQ, IQ and also Managerial Competence (MQ). In their theory the EQ of an individual (interpersonal sensitivity, self-awareness à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) is also result of cognitive ability and certain management competences; EQ is also affected by drivers and constrainers. Impact of leadership attributes and skills: Psychologists Litwin and Stringer at Harvard University developed research among top companies all over the world, in order to investigate the connection between leadership behaviour, team climate and performance ,they identified 6 types of effective leadership styles creating a (ILS) the inventory of leadership. Coercive: gaining immediate compliance from employees Authoritative: long term vision and leadership Affiliative: generates trust and harmony Democratic: allows group consensus and creating new ideas Pacesetting: leading by example and finalization of tasks to high standards Coaching: the professional evolution of employees. The ILS helps to understand the leadership from the side of those who are led, it provides the leader the choices for leadership behaviour focusing on the individuals and how their behaviour affects team  ´s results. Also, these 6 leadership styles would produce a positive and stable climate inside the organization improving motivation and performance. Climate was measured using some criteria to measure employees perception on how they were treated (like: amount of responsibility given; the clarity of goals and objectives; team spirit à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦). They also concluded that organizational climates would vary according to the leadership styles, proving that the leaders personal qualities and actions have definitely a major impact on others. Explain how different theories, models or principles of leadership can be used to gain insights into leadership requirements for a given organisational context Mostly Re-developing of envision is not very much inaugurating, an entirely new envision for organisation as it is coming back the organisation that is failed to keep possession of its way to their main agenda. The new CEO Archie Norman took into command as CEO of ASDA Supermarket chain in the UK in 1991. That time ASDA was going diminishing, descending to a poor and poor position as compare to their competitors e.g. Tesco, Sainsburys and Safeway. Basically ASDA was losing its way as it tried to race with Sainsburys and Tesco by going upmarket, ASDA was at that time using a major designer to remodel their stores, Increasing their Product range, Introducing own-label products and appointing new management to give a big support to their stores. So ASDA was doing lots of new ideas due to ASDAs costs Rose. Because of costs rising ASDA trying prices up and do to this ASDA was going away from their core customers. About three-quarters of ASDAs stores in that areas where the average income of people was below as average standard income. People were going on the cheapest prices to purchase their food. ASDA had also introduced new range of non food retailing products like furniture and carpets. So ASDA had led to a  £1 billion debt burden. Archie Normans challenge was to take ASDA of their First Position, which he termed the Virtuous Circle revaluating the customary price with different of 5 to 7% below of their competitors and helpful and friendly service. That was definitely difficult by financial point of view but with the good effort ofASDA Way of Working it became possible. With the effort of Norman the new approach was formed to transform that became an all-powerful and no races system to one where employees enjoyed work and regularly providing customer service with a personality derived from the heart of the company The struggle of Norman started daily huddles (like meeting) with managers and colleagues instead of weekly huddles, Introduced Sharing option for all employees of ASDA with same terms from top to bottom, with All efforts of ASDA Colleagues ASDA brought biggest increase in sales. Everyone had right to give suggestion directly to Archie Norman, So he got 14,000 suggestion just in first 18 months. So the profits margin within 5 years in 1991  £168.3 million to  £304 million in 1996 when Archie Norman took command of ASDA as CEO role to Allan Leighton Evaluate the usefulness of the theories, models or principles of Leadership The World is entering in 21st Century, How many Development programs are try to focusing with usefulness of their leadership training. As resources are becoming more limited but the organisations are also trying to more and more accountable for meeting their goals. Taking Accountability and responsibility for improving youth leadership life skills today, Confident the assure for impressive leadership tomorrow. Define the leadership skills needed for a specific situation within an organization Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.  John F. Kennedy The concept of Leadership in ASDA is slightly different while based in the servant leadership model, the leader is first a servant, and the mission of the leader is to serve others. Basically Servant leaders should help followers to develop their own values that support the organization in its mission (examples of this kind of leadership: Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama. Training a leader is essential to any business success, mainly for small and medium sized companies, the leadership development as well as the people training has become a very important process, especially for companies who look to reduce costs and increase their revenues, and over the time companies who develop their human assets (leaders and people tend to have better results than those who dont. Propose methods to develop leadership skills to meet the specific requirements of a part of an organization A leaders skills can be sculptured and polished using different kind of methods like training courses, coaching, mentoring, by renewing the own methodology in leadership development programmes, making partnerships with well-known academics ,formal management programs, international study tours , experimental workshops, action learning projectsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ For example the CEO of U.K. grocery chain ASDA is responsible for profound structural changes like freezing wages, but also promoting transparency and egalitarianism in the organization, making ASDA a great place for everyone to work. Trust and openness increased as well as shareholder value in consequence. Such kind of leader is more participative, at same time capable of: Planning, effectiveness, Financial and commercial understanding, Innovation, vision, creativity, taking initiative, problem-solving and decision-makingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The Belbin frame-work team roles model makes it possible for organisations to understand the weaknesses and strengths of individuals and creating more balanced teams to accomplish tasks and roles looking for the best performance of the team. This model could be quite useful when talking about a major company like ASDA with so many and such huge stores to manage, each one divided into several departments. A second benefit of this model applying to ASDA  ´s example is that it allows to point out the existence of Incompatibility inside a team, avoiding the mix of the wrong individuals is one of the key reasons why teams fail. An ineffective team may at times be nothing more than just a consequence of the wrong combination of people. Critically evaluate the use of a full range of methods of leadership development within the specified context There is a large variety of leader development methods, but there are 5 major ones (also adaptable to ASDA): Developmental relationships mentors and role models and also those who are designed to stimulate and support learning like coachers. Managers are expected to contribute to the development of their employees by teaching, coaching, giving feedback. Nowadays the online social networking sites allow the dissemination of information at an epidemical speed; Developmental assignments giving leaders the right challenge so they can develop their needs and goals (promotion, working in a multicountry project team; working in a joint venture) also very useful to develop cultural awareness and adaptability in a global era; Feedback Processes -ongoing honest feedback, there processes may include 360- degree feedback for all managers with direct reports, in the end of a project to obtain feedback from their teamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Formal programs mainly off-the-job joining individuals to share learning and development experiences; Self-development activities (reading books, articles, using internet, all-staff meetingsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) The pursuit to understand leadership concept continues daily, within rapidly and ever changing century. Leaders are expected to focus their attention on a more ethical leadership and on how emotions form and sustain relationships, what kind of thinking will be used? How can a leader coordinate several people, many dispersed geographically? Conclusion: Leadership is common and necessary in all aspects of society and as a concept is not fully understood, daily challenged by constant demands of modern society, however there is no common definition of leadership no organization can stand without the leader fully understanding its values and culture, in order to strongly motivate and inspire the constituents that participate of the organization. Understanding the relationship between leader and the people is the key for any organizations success, not so much in a power or authority perspective, but looking also for more human characteristics and qualities. Being a leader also implies responsibilities and its also up to the public to support the practice of good leadership so it is even more important to understand the possibilities and weakness of leaders that is the true potential of theories and models of leadership.

Generation of Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation

Generation of Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation Generation of Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation from Intense Laser-Plasma Interactions using Two-Colour Harmonics BRIEF HISTORY Over the past few decades breakthroughs in the production of intense laser fields have meant that multi-terawatt and even petawatt systems are now standard in laboratories**. This has been achieved through reduction of the pulse duration, originally from nanosecond pulses down to femtosecond and recently reaching attosecond levels (1as =10-18s)**. This coupled with important improvements to systems, such as the chirped pulse amplification technique (CPA)**, has allowed laser pulses to be amplified to higher peak powers than ever before and used in laser-matter interactions. The resulting scientific drive from developments such as these pushed achievable laser intensities from 109W/cm2 to the 1014W/cm2, at which the interaction between these high intensity lasers and dense electron-free gas was studied**. Only recently thanks to advances in both laser performance and computer simulation tools has study on laser-plasma interactions in the generation of HHG made progress, providing the possibility to generate sources of incoherent electromagnetic radiation of short wavelength and pulse durations**. As further study was carried out on the interaction of light with relativistic free electrons in plasma, it has reached a point now in which generation of high-harmonics of the fundamental laser, soft and hard x-rays, and shorter pulse duration (1as) lasers of intensities reaching 1018W/cm2 are now possible**. Due to this the generation of high-order-harmonics from high-intensity laser interactions has been a major area of attoscience research within the last decade. HHG PRODUCTION High harmonic generation (HHG) refers to the process in which a high intensity laser pulse is focused onto a target, classically a noble gas, in which strong nonlinear interactions result in the generation of very high harmonics of the optical frequency of the pulse**. This will occur for intensities of 1014W/cm2 and above, where typically only a small amount of this energy is converted into the higher harmonics. From these high-harmonics, spatially and temporally coherent attosecond pulses of extreme ultraviolet light can be generated, which can then be used as a reliable source of highly tuneable short wavelength radiation in many different applications e.g. x-ray spectroscopy**. In the case of high intensity laser-gas interactions this is achieved by tailoring the intensity of the laser pulse so that its electric field amplitude is similar to the electric field in the target atoms**. From this the lasers electric field is able to remove electrons from the atoms through tunnel ionisation, at which point the electrons are accelerated in the field and, with certain conditions controlled, are made to collide with the newly created ion upon recombination. The resulting collision generates the emission of high energy photons**, as shown in fig 1. Fig. 1: HHG three step model. This is known as the three step model; electron is detached from atom through tunnel ionisation, then accelerated within the field away from atom, then accelerated back towards atom where it collides and recombines, from this collision all the energy lost appears as emitted HHG ultraviolet photons. HHG from laser-gas interactions have been used extensively to generate attosecond pulses but is limited in flux and photon energy by low conversion efficiencies between the driving laser energy and the attosecond pulses, this can be attributed to two key factors; loss of phase matching between the driving laser to the generated extreme ultraviolet (XUV) radiation as its propagated through the gas over a relatively large distance, and a restriction on the intensity of the driving laser due to the ionisation threshold of the target gas, this saturation intensity is roughly 1016W/cm2**. Meaning laser intensities above this threshold limit will over-ionise the gas leaving no neutral atoms left to generate the XUV harmonics. The use of laser-solid interaction offers the opportunity of reaching much higher attosecond pulse intensities and generation efficiencies beyond the capabilities of gas based HHG**. The method of generating high-harmonics in laser-solid interactions is fundamentally different than that of laser-gas interactions. Interaction of intense ultrashort laser pulses (of pulse duration around a few femtoseconds) on an optically polished solid surface results in the target surface being completely ionised, generating a dense plasma which will act as a mirror, called a plasma mirror**. The reflection of these high intensity laser pulses will be affected by a wave motion set-up in the electrons within the plasma surface causing it to distort the reflected laser field, resulting in the production of upshifted light pulses and the generation of high-order harmonics**. Due to the coherent nature of this process, these generated harmonics are phase-locked and emerge as attosecond pulse. Fig. 2 Laser pulse moving towards overdense plasma. A key property of this plasma is its electron density, this determines whether the laser is reflected, absorbed or not allowed to pass through. This is known as the density gradient scale length, as the laser pulse interacts with the target and forms a plasma it creates a profile that extends out into the vacuum, forming a plasma density profile. This is a critical factor in HHG and consists of two regions: Overdense scale length, Lod If the electron density is equal to the critical density of the target or above, extending up to the maximum target density, the laser pulse is unable to penetrate through the target and is so reflected or absorbed. Underdense scale length, Lud If the electron density is below this critical density the laser will penetrate through, with some absorption. Fig. 3 Plasma density profile, Lud is underdense region, Lod is overdense region. The critical density is determined from: Where is the angular frequency of the laser. As stated before the target surface is highly ionised by the leading edge of the laser pulse, known as the pre-pulse, therefore becoming rapidly over-dense and creating a plasma mirror of sufficient electron density, ne>nc**. HHG within plasma requires laser intensities >1015W/cm2 for 800nm field**, which is usually stated in terms of a normalised vector potential of a ­0, where: In which; e and m are electron charge and electron mass respectively. c is speed of light in vacuum. E is the amplitude of the lasers electric field. I is the lasers intensity. à Ã¢â‚¬ °l is the laser frequency and ÃŽÂ »l is the laser wavelength. Therefore HHG in plasma requires at least an a0à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥0.03. Recently is was discovered** that there are two mechanisms that lead to HHG from solid density plasma surfaces; Relativistic oscillating mirror (ROM) Coherent wake emission (CWE) These two process result in different distortions to the reflected laser field and therefore a completely different harmonic spectra produced. CWE Coherent wake emission is a process of three steps; Electrons on the surface of the plasma are drawn into the vacuum by the laser field and accelerated back into the dense plasma once they have gained energy from the driving laser field. When propagating within the dense plasma these fast electrons form ultrashort bunches, creating plasma oscillations in their wake. Within the non-uniform region of the plasma (produced from the density gradient between the plasma-vacuum boundary) the electron oscillations will radiate energy in the form of light of various local plasma frequencies found within this gradient. This process will occur once for every laser cycle therefore the spectrum of the emitted light will consist of harmonics of the laser frequency, in which CWE harmonic spectra have a cutoff at the maximum plasma frequency à Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­pmax **. This mechanism is predominant at moderately relativistic intensities of a0à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤1, and short but finite plasma gradient lengths of **. Coherent wake emission has only recently been identified as a factor in HHG in laser-solid interactions but it is known that it along with ROM contributes to the generation of high-harmonic orders below à Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­pmax and the strength of their respective influence below this threshold is determined by laser intensity**. ROM The other mechanism involved in the generation of high-harmonics from laser-plasma interactions is the relativistic oscillating mirror process, this dominates for relativistic normalised vector potentials of a0>>1, although recent studies have shown that ROM harmonics can be observed even at lower intensities when the plasma gradient length is about **. ROM process occurs when surface electrons in the plasma are oscillated collectively by the high intensity incident laser field to relativistic speeds, the plasma will reflect what it observes as a laser pulse of frequency à Ã¢â‚¬ °+. This à Ã¢â‚¬ °+ frequency is a higher upshifted frequency of the fundamental pulse due to a Doppler effect produced from the relative motion of the laser field to the moving reflection point on the oscillating plasma surface. The actual reflected laser pulse will have a frequency of à Ã¢â‚¬ °++ due to a second Doppler upshift effect as it moves towards an observer/target. This is known as Einsteins relativistic Doppler effect, in which the reflected pulse frequency is upshifted by a factor of 4ÃŽÂ ³2**. Fig 4. Schematic of a relativistic oscillating critical density plasma interaction. From past research it has been found that from this mechanism a power-law decay scaling of I(n)ROMn-8/3 is dominant (where n is the harmonic order) in the harmonic spectrum for harmonic orders above the CWE cut-off point, nCWE,** this is the harmonic order related to the maximum plasma frequency of the target, à Ã¢â‚¬ °pmax, mentioned previously. Where: nCWE = nà Ã¢â‚¬ °max = à Ã¢â‚¬ °pmax/à Ã¢â‚¬ °l = In which; à Ã¢â‚¬ °l is the frequency of the laser, is the maximum electron density of the target, Nc is the critical density shown previously. From this process initial femtosecond pulses can be used to create attosecond pulses. When coupled to a relativistic oscillating mirror it adds an oscillatory extension to Einsteins relativistic Doppler effect, so due to the periodic motion of the mirror to the laser field and the double Doppler upshifts this results in the production of extreme ultraviolet (XUV) harmonics**. These ultra-short pulses have been the focus of much scientific research recently as they offer a promising way to resolve in the time domain the ultrafast dynamics of electrons within materials**. Although the relativistic oscillating mirror process is more suited as a macroscopic model for the effective reflection point of the laser field. It assumes that the surface electrons bunch together as the target is ionised and move out into the vacuum to form the plasma where they remain in the overdense region ensuring that the laser field is completely reflected. More recently studies have discovered there is another mechanism in the relativistic regime that can contribute to the harmonic spectrum via a different process entirely. CSE This other process is known as Coherent synchrotron emission (CSE)** and is needed to explain observations that do not fit the previous two models, in which dense electron nanobunches are created at the plasma-vacuum boundary where they produce coherent XUV radiation through coherent synchrotron emission. This is a microscopic model of HHG in laser-solid interactions. It models the electrons in the plasma moving, in dense bunches, under the influence of the incident laser field and subsequent fields produced from the movement of charges within the plasma. These nanobunches are periodically formed and coherently accelerated through an instantaneously synchrotron-like orbit during each laser cycle, for oblique laser incidences. As certain conditions, such as ultrashort plasma density scale length, are met these bunches emit bursts of sub-femtosecond intense high-frequency radiation. This radiation has properties dependent on the electron trajectories and it has been shown that it can b e modelled as synchrotron radiation**, therefore the coherent XUV emissions are distinctly different from that produced in ROM from relativistic Doppler upshifts. In reality actual electron dynamics may be a mix of CSE and ROM, but due to the complex nature of the changing fields within a plasma it makes it impossible to analytically model with accuracy. Therefore requiring the use of computer simulations to deal with the electron trajectories and their respective radiation emissions. PREVIOUS EXPERIMENTS Based on the work of Edwards et al, 2014, in which the study of attosecond XUV pulse generation from relativistic driven overdense plasma targets with two-colour incident light was performed they used 1D, three velocity, particle-in-cell (PIC) code simulations, which treat oblique incidence with boosted frames, to show how pulse intensity can be improved. They converted a small amount (~5%) of the fundamental laser field energy to an additional laser operating at the second harmonic of the fundamental frequency, to significantly enhance the intensity of the generated attosecond pulses by multiple orders of magnitude. This was based on previous work in which mixing of the fundamental driving laser frequency with the second harmonic was performed on laser-gas interactions to increase the attosecond pulse intensity and isolation (K. J. Schafer et al, 1992). Edwards demonstrated that a significant improvement was also possible through this mixing method in laser-solid interactions following the Similarity theory (proposed by Gordienko and Pukhov,**), that suggests the behaviour of laser-plasma interactions follow a similarity parameter of: 1/S = a0/N à Ã¢â‚¬ °l Where S = ne/a0nc, is a similarity parameter and N = ne/nc which is the ratio of electron density of the plasma to its critical density. Therefore from this it would appear that by doubling à Ã¢â‚¬ °l while using the same laser field amplitude the reflected attosecond pulse intensity would also be increase by a factor of two. One of the main limiting parameters in these experiments is the achievable value of a0, while the largest solid material value of N (lithium at ÃŽÂ »=800nm) is 75, so this type of frequency doubling appears to be a promising pathway to optimising attosecond pulse intensity, although a drawback of this is the negative effect it has on the isolation of the reflected pulses. Therefore they stated that a two-colour method, of partially converting a portion of the fundamental laser field energy to the second harmonic, would be a more attractive alternative. Through this process the advantages of using a higher incident frequency, by increasing the gradient of the electric field at certain points within the pulse generation cycle, without the related decrease in pulse isolation and loss of energy associated to simple frequency doubling can be exploited. In their study they used a normal-incidence beam on a step-like plasma density profile using a mix of the first and second harmonic with a phase difference of to produce harmonics with a higher intensity than either incident field individually. They demonstrate substantial gains after the addition of a small amount of the second harmonic to achieve attosecond pulse enhancement of factors >10. As well as a 10-fold enhancement when using density gradients of 0.05ÃŽÂ » and 0.15ÃŽÂ » with conversions of the fundamental to the second harmonic of 5%-10% at an angle of incidence of à Ã‚ ´=30o. Therefore Edwards was able to go on and state that the relative phase of the two incident harmonics were a critical factor in the improvement in attosecond pulse intensity. This is due to the difference in the driving electric field waveform and corresponding resultant electron motion as is varied. Where they linked the strongest attosecond pulse intensities with sharp transitions in the driving electric field that are aided by the addition of the second harmonic at optimum phases, while phases that break the driving field transition reduce the attosecond intensities to levels sometimes substantially below what could be achieved pre-mixing of the harmonics. Therefore when harmonics are combined without thought to their phases they do not always improve the attosecond strength. Further detail into the trajectories of dense electron bunches, which emit synchrotron like radiation (CSE) was given to help explain this effect, where supressed pulse electrons were shown to follow a longer and slower motion before being accelerated and subsequently emitting, resulting in longer elongated trajectories. Whereas electrons that contribute to the improvement of the attosecond pulse strength are shown to experience a larger field before and during emission. This meant their velocity and acceleration components were larger than the suppressed electrons, giving them more energy as it is driven back into the plasma. Overall they state that the larger the electric field experienced by the electrons increases the intensity of the reflected attosecond pulse, due to the number of electrons travelling in a dense bunch increasing as this larger field that the electrons near the surface experience compresses them into higher density bunches. Another study performed by Yeung et al, 2016, focused on controlling the attosecond motion of strongly driven electrons at the boundary between the pre-formed plasma and the vacuum. They demonstrated experimentally that by precisely adding an additional laser field, at the second harmonic of the fundamental driving frequency, attosecond control over the trajectories of the dense electron bunches involved in intense laser-plasma interactions can be achieved. From this considerable improvements in the high-harmonic generation intensity was observed, which confirms the theoretical work by Edwards in two-colour fields reviewed previously while developing upon this to further factors. Experimentally they showed that attosecond control over the phase relationship of the two driving fields is necessary to optimise the reflected attosecond pulse intensity. While also using PIC simulations to determine the optimal and worst phase relationships, in which a phase of was found to optimise the emission. Microscopic focus determined that during each cycle the emission of the attosecond pulse begins as a primary electron bunch which is compressed and then quickly accelerated away from the surface up to relativistic velocities, from here it emits before it disperses and returns back to the plasma. Secondary bunches are also present but these were found not to have a significant effect harmonic spectrum for orders >20. These bunches were found to emit when their velocities where at their max, which confirmed that the two-colour field phase matched the emitted XUV to the acceleration produced from the fundamental laser field. While at the poorest phase relationship, which Yeung found to be , a plateau in the driving laser field is created which impedes the acceleration of the electrons from the surface, therefore reducing the density of the electron bunch produced that can emit. They concluded from the data provided by the simulations that control of the relative phase of the two colour driving fields has a significant effect the electron bunch dynamics. While from the experimental data their collected it was demonstrated that the HHG produced from the two-colour field was increased substantially when no laser pre-pulse was involved, or equivalently when the plasma has shorter density scale length. Confirming the work of Edwards et al, 2014, that two-colour fields generate significantly more higher-harmonic orders than that of a fundamental field alone, even when only a small percentage (5%-10%) of the fundamental laser energy is converted to the second harmonic. INTRODUCTION TO TWO-COLOUR HARMONICS - ABSTRACT BRIEF SUMMARY OF EXPERIMENT, RESULTS AND CONCLUSION 1x INTRODUCTION BRIEF HISTORY .5x HHG PRODUCTION .5x CWE 1x ROM 2x (inc. plasma theory e.g. scale length) CSE 1x COMPARISON WITH GAS EXPERIMENTS 1x PAST EXPERIMENTS LEADING UP TO THIS ONE 2x INTRODUCTION INTO SPECIFICS OF THIS EXPERIMENT 1x METHOD PIC CODES EXPLAINED 2x EPOCH DETAILS 1x LASER DETAILS 1x PROCESS OF ANALYSIS .5x CREATION OF GRAPHS .5x RESULTS GRAPHS COMPARE CONTRAST IMPLICATIONS CONCLUSION FURUTRE RESEARCH 1x IMPROVEMENTS 1x         

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight :: Essays Papers

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Passage Analysis Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written in the fourteenth century in Northern dialect by an anonymous author who was a contemporary of Chaucer. The story begins in King Arthur's court. The Green Knight, a green monster who challenges the court to a Christmas game, Sir Gawain, a brave, loyal knight of the court, and King Arthur, the lord of the court, are the main characters. Lines 279 through 365, which deal with the Christmas game, also known as the beheading game, foreshadow the Green Knight's supernatural powers, Sir Gawain's victory over the Green Knight, and his bravery and loyalty to King Arthur. The events surrounding the proposal of the game foreshadow what will happen next. It is New Year's, and everyone in King Arthur's court is feasting when the Green Knight arrives and challenges the court to a Christmas game. The rule of the game is that the knight, Sir Gawain, will strike at the Green Knight, and then in a year and a day, the Green Knight will return the strike. This is indicated when the Green Knight says, "†¦So you grant me the guerdon to give him another, sans blame. In a twelve month and a day he shall of me the same"(Norton 208). A guerdon is a reward and sans means without. So when the Green Knight receives his reward for the game, which will be to return the strike in a year and a day, it will not be his fault when Sir Gawain dies because it is part of the game. This foreshadows the Green Knight's supernatural powers and Sir Gawain's confrontation with death. If Sir Gawain chops off the Green Knight's head, one would think that the Green Knight would die. So why does the Green Knight ask to meet Sir Gawain in a year and a day to return the strike? The answer to this question shows the Green Knight's supernatural powers because he knows that he is not going to die because of the strike. The Green Knight appears to have a hidden agenda, which will be revealed at the end of the story. As a reward for the knight who is brave enough to participate in the game, the Green Knight gives him his ax to keep and use for the game. The ax is first given to King Arthur, who has volunteered to participate in the game so that his court will not appear to be full of cowards.

Utopia by Thomas More and The Prince by Machiavelli Essay -- More Utop

Utopia by Thomas More and The Prince by Machiavelli Thomas More’s Utopia and Machiavelli’s The Prince both concern themselves with the fundamental issues of how a society works and maintains itself. The goals behind the two works, however, differ considerably. The goal of Utopia is to illustrate the maintenance of an â€Å"ideal† society and the goal of The Prince is to instruct a prince, or ruler, on how to maintain his state. On the surface these two goals may seem similar but the difference lies in the way the authors handle the subject of power. As a manual, or handbook if you will, Prince treats power as a necessity, a goal, to be worked towards and maintained, almost at all costs. Utopia, a fantasy, treats power as something all individuals have; rather, they are empowered. By comparing the way both works use and treat point of view and form, governmental systems and ideals the differences in perspective on power becomes clearer. Ideas are brought forth differently in both works through narrative point of view and style. These two different ways reflect the views of power the authors hold. The Prince is told in a matter of fact tone, its purpose being to inform a prince on how to run his kingdom. Inherent in this purpose is a key to Mach’s view of power. Because it was written for the use of one man to dominate over and control his kingdom/state, it was obviously not meant for lesser mortals. It in itself is a tool of power which could be used for only the good of the prince who uses it. Whether or not the people are empowered does not matter, it is irrelevant. It only matters that the prince uses it to maintain his own power. In contrast, Utopia is a fanta... ... word ‘virtu’ over and over again, it is made clear that his virtue is not that of More’s. Power is implied in the very essence of Machiavelli’s writing. It is tied in with the greed, selfishness, and his â€Å"do anything to maintain the state† attitude. Even though Machiavelli passionately invokes the idea of his Italy brought back to life in the Exhortation, his motives are still selfish in nature; to look at an even broader term, his motives are nationalistic which is the idea of a nation being egocentric. In this respect he is also contradictory to More in that More’s ideas are for the good of human kind, not just for one nation. Ideals like justice and truth, which are the basis for More’s invention, make it impossible for him to do anything but claim power as the source of corruption in society while Machiavelli praises it.

A Raisin in the Sun Essay

The significance of Lena Younger in the screenplay and movie A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, directed by Kenny Leon In the movie A Raisin in the Sun derived from the screenplay by Lorraine Hansberry, the character of Lena Younger is effectively portrayed to show the importance of the plant as a symbol of Lena being in possession of a garden to call her own. However, the theme of dreams, especially Lena’s, is not made prominent enough to show Lena as a symbol of African American’s in the 50’s owning a house and moving up in society. In the screenplay of A Raisin in the Sun, Lena Younger is a sensitive mother and grandmother to the Younger household. She is very religious, and demands of her kids to thank God for their lives. This is shown when Lena slaps Beneatha for challenging the idea of God in her life. Lena says, â€Å"Now you say after me, in my mothers house there is still God† (Hansberry 39). This scene is effectively remade in the movie. The actress that plays Lena makes her anger and shock in Beneatha’s comment very believable, which further emphasizes the fact that Lena’s values are portrayed just as effectively in the movie as they were in the written screenplay. Lena also stands up for herself, much like her daughter Beneatha. This is shown in the scene where Lena goes to the market to buy some apples that are in very bad condition. Lena says, â€Å"Got the nerve to be askin’ people thirty-five cents for them apples look like they was on the scene when Moses crossed over†¦ Wouldn’t be tryin’ to sell ’em over yonder where I work† (Hansberry 54). In this scene of the screenplay, Lena’s character seemed very headstrong. In the movie however, this quote was not included. Instead Lena told the clerk, in a sarcastic tone, â€Å"Am I being charged for the worms too? † (A Raisin in the Sun), which means that the quality of the apples was not good. Although the scene was different, the point Hansberry was trying to make came across both ways. Lena came across as a headstrong woman who only wants the best and nothing less, within her budget. In these ways Lena Youngers character was portrayed effectively, however, her character has more significance that just good acting. One of the most important symbols in the screenplay A Raisin in the Sun is the plant. Throughout the screenplay and the movie, no one else in the Younger household cares for the plant except for Lena, which is why the symbol directly links to her. In the screenplay, as soon as Lena enters her apartment she goes to open the window. â€Å"Lord, if this little plant don’t start getting more sun, it ain’t never going to see spring again†. (Hansberry 66). This shows that after a long day, she still cares for her feeble little plant, and its growth. In the movie this scene was not portrayed effectively, mostly because the apartment the director chose does not accurately fit the description in the screenplay, thus making the symbolism of the plant ineffective. Despite that, the true symbolism of the plant is that Lena was longing for her own garden, and that was shown effectively in the movie. The quote from the movie corresponding to this scene is â€Å"If that plant don’t get more sunlight than it’s been getting, it’s just gonna give up† (A Raisin in the Sun) which shows that Lena does care for the plant, but can’t do anything about its well-being. Later on in the screenplay Lena starts to get stressed and worried about her children. The only thing she turns to then is her plant, which shows that Lena is in control of at least one thing in her house. When Ruth brings up the fact that Beneatha is home later than usual Lena replies, â€Å"I don’t believe this plant’s had more than a speck of sunlight all day† (Hansberry 76). This could be to direct her worries elsewhere, which makes sense because in other emotional scenes, such as when Lena is hearing about Mr. Linder, the camera focuses in on Lena touching the plants soil with her hands. The reply could also be because she sees her dream in the plant – she sees it is in a weak state and that it is barely growing. Lena also sees that Beneatha and Walter, her children, are experiencing new things and are growing to become people of the new generation. Because of this, she may turn to the plant and hope the same for it – hope for it to blossom into something better and of that generation. Lena’s dream of owning a garden represents not only her dream, but the dream of all the lower class african americans of the 50’s. Although Lena tries to keep her run down apartment looking polished, she makes it clear that she dreams for bigger things. While conversing with Ruth about when her and Big Walter bought the house Lena said, â€Å"†¦ But Lord, child, you should have known all the dreams I had about buying me that house and then fixing it up and making me a little garden in the back† (Hansberry 69), which clearly shows Lena’s dream. Not only does she want a nice garden for herself, but she wants a house for her family, so they can all enjoy living. This scene was not effectively shown in the movie mostly because, as mentioned before, the apartment they were living in did not look run down as was described in the screenplay. Due to this, when the characters were talking about the â€Å"ratty-ness† of the apartment it did not make sense, because their dialogue did not fit the visual. The ultimate dream for african americans of the time was to live in a place full of life, and of course with less rent. The screenplay implies that the apartment is small and that â€Å"weariness has, in fact, won in this room† (Hansberry 23), which means that the room is in poor condition. The movie shows the living room as small but it does not show it as tattered, like the screenplay implied. At that time and now, this is considered poverty, however the movie displays the room as well kept and does not appear worn out, which is what Lena tries to make it seem like. After Mr. Lindner comes to the Younger household, Beneatha, Walter and Ruth explain what he wanted from them, which was to buy their house off of them. Lena does not completely understand at first why he would come, which shows that she does not comprehend that there will be complications with moving into a white neighborhood. â€Å"Father give us strength. (Knowingly and without fun:) Did he threaten us? †(Hansberry 169). This shows that although Lena feels threatened by Mr. Lindner, she does not realize that the new generation does not directly say what they feel. This creates the tone that, just like Beneatha and Walter have been telling Lena, she is not educated enough on the new generation. Since Lena represents the African Americans of the 50‘s expanding in society, it was ineffectively shown in the movie and the screenplay, because of he automatic assumption that they were threatened. All in all, the character of Lena is ineffectively portrayed in the movie to symbolize what the african american’s of the 1950’s should have been like. Taking a look at Lorraine Hansberry’s idea of having a character like Lena in the screenplay, one understands that she is a statement rather than just a character with a dream. Lena Younger is a statement to show that women in the 1950‘s can work all day to provide for their families and still be caring rather than miserable. The condition the Youngers were living in was one where Lena could easily have been sour to her family members rather than nurturing. This is what Hansberry wanted to show. Also the plant symbolizes Lena’s nurturing side, that she will do anything to make the people (or things) she cares for grow and succeed. Overall, the directors of the movie A Raisin in the Sun did a decent job in interpreting Lena’s role in the screenplay. A Raisin In The Sun Essay In my opinion, the most prevalent theme in, â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun† is the real meaning of money because all of the family members have dreams that require money in order for them to be fulfilled. Walter is always trying to get money to open up a liquor store and believes that the only way he can be a successful man is if he reaches this goal. Throughout the book, Walter is envious of wealthy people and is somewhat embarrassed of his career of a chauffeur. He would like for his son to have a better life and wants him to have everything that he could ever want. While talking to Mama in the book, Walter states, â€Å"Mama, sometimes when I’m downtown and I pass by them cool, quiet-looking restaurants where them white boys are sitting back and talking bout things, turning deals worth millions of dollars, sometimes I see guys don’t look much older than me.† (page 73) Walter pays so much attention to these rich â€Å"white boys† and this causes him to not appreciate what he has, he just always wants more. Walter believes that if Mama gives him the money to invest in a liquor store then he will be successful. Mama doesn’t understand why Walter is s o focused on money and she asks him, â€Å"Son-how come you talk so much ‘bout money?† Walter replies, â€Å"Because it is life, Mama!† (page 74) Mama doesn’t see money as such a big necessity in life and believes more in family, love and faith. She tries to show Walter and Beneatha that not everything in life is about being wealthy and having money. For example, after Walter tells Mama that he thinks that money is life on page 74, she says, â€Å"Oh-So now it’s life. Money is life. Once upon a time freedom used to be life- now it’s money. I guess the world really do change†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (page 74) Mama is trying to teach Walter not to be so materialistic. She wants him to focus on other aspects of life that Walter just can’t seem to understand. Also, when Mama says how the world is changing, she is talking about how money has a negative influence on the people of that time and how sad it is that money  is such a necessity. During the conversation between Mama and Walter, Mama sys, â€Å"You something new, boy. In my time we was worried about not being lynched and getting to the North if we could and how to stay alive and still have a pinch of dignity too†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (page 74) Mama is talking about how Walter should appreciate his freedom and how in her time, they had to fight for their freedom and could care less about money. Beneatha doesn’t seem to show as much interest in money until she realizes that all of her family’s money is one. In the beginning of the book, Beneatha is kind of the outcast of the family because she doesn’t seem too concerned about the money and has different views than the rest of the family. For example, Beneatha and Ruth had a conversation about why Beneatha won’t marry George and Beneatha says, â€Å"Oh, I just mean I couldn’t ever really be serious with George. He’s- he’s so shallow.† Ruth replies, â€Å"Shallow- what do you mean he’s shallow? He’s rich!† Beneatha then says, â€Å"I know he’s rich. He knows he’s rich too.† (page 48-49) Beneatha wants more from a man than money, she has more depth than that. She is an independent woman and refuses to marry someone just because they are wealthy. In the beginning, Beneatha isn’t too focused on money; however, she comes to the realization that in order to fulfill her dream of being a doctor, she needs money for medical school. When Walter lost all of the family’s money, ruining any chance of Beneatha becoming a doctor she tells Asagai, â€Å"Asagai, while I was sleeping in that bed there, people went out and took the future right out of my hands! And nobody asked me, nobody consulted me- they just went and changed my life!† (page 134) A Raisin in the Sun Essay A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, was written perhaps with some personal experience. When Lorraine was younger, a mob surrounded her home in a white middle class neighborhood and threw a brick in her window (Literature and Language, 913). However, racial prejudice is just one of the themes discussed in the play. The play takes place during the Civil Rights Movement, and the obstacles overcome are obstacles we still face today. Racial prejudice, family strength, and a sell out are the several strong thematic elements in the play. When the Younger family is introduced, they are introduced together. Despite the hardships endured throughout the play, the family stays together even through quarrels. Mama is almost like a Buddha of the Younger family by acting as the backbone of the family; Mama is the strong one (A Raisin in the Sun, 854). When Walter explains to Mama how he wants to start a liquor store with the money she tells him she doesn’t want to go into the liquor business. She decides then to tell him he needs to sit down and talk to his wife, which is more important, because she’s family (A Raisin in the Sun, 869). Mama notices also how Walter and Ruth’s relationship is uncertain (A Raisin in the Sun, 855) which is why she wants him to talk to Ruth about her pregnancy (A Raisin in the, 869). If the baby isn’t kept, Ruth and Walter might separate and Travis will have to go back and forth, and Mama won’t have another grandchild. If that had happened, the family would be broken up, and it seems to be a constant fear in Mama that the family might someday divide. Another sign of family strength is when Beneatha denies Walter as her brother (A Raisin in the Sun, 907). When Mama hears Beneatha shun her brother, she reminds her that her brother is just the same as her when she says: † You feeling like you better than he is today? † They are both strong-willed, live in the same apartment, and have the same economic situation. Mama scolds her for acting like the rest of the world. Looking down on him as a colored man doing low pay jobs to support them, and no one wants to claim that they know that poor sod. Mama tells Bennie not to write his epitaph like the outside world because she doesn’t have the privilege, because she’s just like him. Mama isn’t trying to remind Bennie that she suffers the same ordeals, but perhaps if she was the man of the family she might do the same. Bennie herself would try to provide for them, and Walter’s actions were meant out of kindness, and the least Bennie could do is to be with him in his time of need. Maybe Bennie’s attempts at being a doctor were partly out of love for her family to help provide for them, not out of pity or personal honor, but for unity. It’s not the characters that make the family struggle but mostly the conditions their forced to endure. Socially, they are shunned for being Negroes. When Mr. Lindner bribes the family to move out, the idea threatens to tear the family apart. The idea is at first easily denied because of the money they have to support themselves (A Raisin in the Sun, 892). However, when Walter loses the money, Mr. Lindner’s offer appeals to him (A Raisin in the Sun, 909). The family becomes shocked and tries to support him in his decision, but Walter realizes the importance of family and he turns Lindner away. However, the climactic theme of the story is Walter’s selling out point. A typical reader would want to hate Walter for using the money to start up a liquor store, but then it’s realized that he was only doing it for his family (A Raisin in the Sun, 896-897). When Walter gave the money away, he gave away the family’s future too. Beneatha wasn’t securely in school anymore, Travis would have to keep sleeping in the living room, and there isn’t money for Ruth’s baby. Not only did that affect their futures, but it hurt Mama as well. In a way, Walter gave away their memories and values. When Walter finds out the money is lost, he says that the money was made out of his fathers flesh, because it was his father who helped them to receive that money. Walter gave it away anyway though because he thought it would help the family (A Raisin in the Sun, 897). He gave away the family’s values by deceiving them into thinking that he did the responsible thing with the money, what the family wanted done with money. He fooled Mama into believing he was grown up and could become the head of the family. When the family learned of his mistake, the family became away of what he had done. Furthermore, it insulted them for how he had went about it. Bennie felt like low class, and didn’t feel she could be a doctor anymore (Raisin in the Sun, 901). Ruth felt insulted because she can’t believe her husband is going to take the bribe from Lindner (Raisin in the Sun, 905). Mama took it even harder because her husband’s blood, sweat, and tears went into it; and their dreams were lost because of it. They wanted their children to live out their dreams but instead Walter gave them away in a day (Raisin in the Sun, 856, 897). Perhaps the biggest struggle in the play is the racial prejudice the family endures together. Only because of their color, they end up working in a low pay job in a poorly attended apartment (A Raisin in the Sun, 897). Mr. Lindner is the main symbol in representing racial prejudice. Symbolically, Mr. Lindner could show that stereotypes even come in nice packages. On the outside, Mr.  Lindner was a polite man, but on the inside, he was racist and not accepting, like when he left their apartment the first time he visited and told Walter that you can’t change what’s in peoples hearts (A Raisin in the Sun, 891). Despite the simplicity of the message, it’s perhaps the most powerful of the themes. Although an entire neighborhood, an entire race, wants the Youngers to move out, they stand together and defend themselves and fight back, even when they feel like they have nothing left. However, Walter realizes that he does have something, which is family, and his pride, which he almost lost in taking the bribe (A Raisin in the Sun, 909). The Youngers, when standing together, show that with strength and defiance, they can pull through anything together. Together, the Youngers battled racism from a middle class white neighborhood. Together, the Youngers fought a loss of a dream when Walter sold out. Together the Youngers remained united by giving up their personal dreams for the one family dream of staying together. A Raisin in the Sun Essay In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry you go back in time to when segregation was still aloud. In this play you meet a cast of people with dreams of a better life. The American Dream, to be specific. This dream is portrayed differently for each character, all of which impact the play. Two of these character`s are Walter Lee Younger and Lena Younger. In Raisin in the Sun Mama and Walter’s American dreams conflict and impact the family through materialism and desire to be the ideal American family in society. Mama and Walter both desire to provide for their family. They both look at money as success. When the $10,000 insurance check comes along, Mama sees it as a chance for her family to finally live up and be more like the rest of the American society. She aspires to look after her family, by giving them a house, a car, and most of all- happiness. Walter on the other hand becomes obsessed with his dreams of business, which he believes will result in financial independence to provide for his family. He feels ashamed when he can’t give money to his son. When Travis asks for fifty cents and Ruth tells him they don’t have it, Walter gives him fifty cents anyway. â€Å"In fact, here’s another fifty cents†¦ Buy yourself some fruit today- or take a taxicab to school or something†(12) He yearns for his son Travis to look up to him. He adds another fifty to make this more real or true. This also shows how Walter looks at money as success. Walter believes this will be true if he has his dream of owning his own business or all in all- wealth. Success to both them means that they no longer have to struggle, and live up to what people perceive. Mama distinguishes herself from Walter when it comes to materialistic matters. The first thing mama does when she gets the insurance money is buy a house for her family. This shows how the capitalistic society is having a materialistic effect on Mama. Mama’s dream consists of a house and happy family. Mama’s plant is a perfect indication of her dream. It symbolizes her family in a way. When the family is down, the plant is down. Mama is constantly in protection of the plant, in hopes of holding on to her dream. Walter in comparison is always looking to be somebody and make it in life. Walter sees wealth as the only solution to this. He longs for financial support. He becomes corrupted by society -to find his identity through money. Walter tells his mother, â€Å"I want so many things†(60). This shows his greediness. All in all Mama and Walters dreams both involve money. Mama shows us her longing for the acceptance of society when she immediately buys a house in a white neighborhood, to provide for her family. Walter shows us his desperation to be a valuable human being when he steals money in hopes of starting his liquor business. Walter wants to be respected and live a happy lifestyle for this family. He longs to be the head of the household. Walter see’s himself with a liquor store as having power. It isn’t till the end until he rethinks the values of himself and his family’s future about how there is more to living than just having material riches. Mama only yearns for her family to be respected and live up to what society perceives. No matter what you perceive The American Dream to be, it is possible to attain it and be successful. The American Dream is whatever your dream of success perceives to be. Hansberry shows how hard it was for colored people to find their identities during segregated times. Walter and Mama learn that money doesn’t possess much when it comes by itself. In Raisin in the Sun Mama and Walter’s American dreams differentiate and impact the family through their wanting to be accepted in society and live in peace. Anyone in this country can undertake happiness and success if they work at it. A Raisin in the Sun Essay 1.When Asagai arrives at the apartment, how does his mood contract with Walter’s and Beneatha’s? He is very positive and is looking toward the future. Walter and Beneatha appear defeated. 2.How has the loss of the money changed Beneatha’s optimism? What does she tell Asagai? What is Asagai’s response? She has given up and admits defeat. She tells Asagai there is no hope and everything is over. Asagai is very critical of Beneatha’s feelings and tells her if she has dreams and wants a positive future, she needs to make it herself. He also asks her to go to Africa with him. 3.How does Asagai define idealists and realists? Which group does he prefer to be associated with? Idealists have dreams and go after them. Realists only see the circle of life and the things that are right in front of them. He would rather be an idealist. 4.What alternative view of the future does Asagai offer to put Beneatha’s depression in perspective? Go to Africa with him. 5.Asagai leaves and Walter comes into the living room. How does Beneatha attack Walter? What does Walter do? She attacks him by speaking down about who he is as a man. Walter ignores her and looks for something in the apartment. 6.How has Mama’s physical appearance changed? Why does Mama put her plant back on the windowsill? She is depressed and seems defeated. Mama puts her plant in the window because she feels as if she is going nowhere. 7.Who does Mama blame for the current situation, and how does she plan to deal with it? She blames herself for this because people have always accused her of dreaming too big. 8.Up until now, Ruth has been the practical one. How does she react to Mama’s new attitude? She tries to lift Lena’s spirits. She doesn’t know what to think or how to really handle Mama’s new attitude. 9.When Walter arrives back home, what does he say he has done? What does he plan to do? He has called Mr. Lindner, and the family is going to take the money that was offered to them. 10.Describe Walter’s new view of life as being divided between the â€Å"takers† and the â€Å"tooken.† He feels that life is full of takers and tooken. His family has been, he feels, has always been â€Å"tooken† From this point forward, they are going to be â€Å"takers.† 11.What does Mama mean when she tells Walter that if he takes Lindner’s money he will have nothing left inside? He will loose his dignity and pride of he takes the money. 12.Beneatha says Walter is no brother of hers. What lesson does Mama have to remind Beneatha about? Mama tells her she has no right to feel that way or say that about her brother. Regardless of what has happened, she has always taught Beneatha to love. 13.When Lindner arrives, why does Mama insist that Travis stay in the room? She wants him to learn from his father 14.What does Walter tell Lindner? Why? He talks to him about his father and how he worked all his life for others. He continues to tell Lindner that his family is not going to take his money because his father earned the house for the family. 15.Why does Lindner decide to appeal to Mama? What is her response? He appeals to her because he says she is older and wiser. He feels that she will bend to the demands of the neighborhood. 16.What is the importance of having Mama return to the empty apartment to grab her plant? That plant represents her dreams and the spirit of her family. Wherever she goes and the family goes, so does the plant. She isn’t one to walk out on her family or her dreams. A Raisin in the Sun Essay Lorraine Hansberry’s play â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun† was far ahead of its time in both depicting the everyday life of black people in a way that everyone can understand and discuss the oppression that black people still felt even though strides had been taken towards civil rights. According to NPR, Hansberry shared the aims for this play with her husband. â€Å"Hansberry told her husband she wanted to write a social drama about blacks that was good art. Instead of stereotyped characters that would bear no resemblance to actual people, she invented a situation that was sometimes painfully realistic. The plot revolves around what her characters do given the opportunity to escape their cramped surroundings† (NPR). Much of the material from this play is based on Hansberry’s own life experiences. They are real characters. The reader can feel Mama’s love for her family and her desire for them to better themselves. Travis should not have to sleep on the couch. Beneatha should be able to be a doctor, but she must be careful not to overspeak according to Mama. Beneatha’s frustration with the â€Å"outdated† ideas of her mother and her brother’s traditional marriage are felt. She is a dreamer and yet the reader wants to believe with her. Walter’s anger is perfectly justified although it gets him nowhere, and Ruth’s increasing frustration with her husband is also justified, especially as they are about to bring another child into the world. The reader hopes that Walter’s scheme will work even though he/she knows it never will. In the end, the family triumphs against daunting odds. They will have to work harder than they ever have to keep their house, and they will never fit into their neighborhood. They will likely face acts of discrimination even more pronounced, but they do not swallow their pride and submit to the demands of Lindner and their neighborhood. Her characters even speak in the dialect of a real Chicago neighborhood. She uses a non-standard dialect that would only be spoken in black communities. The use of the poem of Langston Hughes called â€Å"Dream Deferred† makes the subject and characters even more real. It asks the reader to think about what would happen if someone worked all their lives for a dream and was unable to achieve it. The poem then gives options that fit various people within the play. Anyone who reads the play can definitely see the struggles of African Americans. Hansberry was deeply committed to the fight for civil rights just as her parents had been. The struggles of the Younger family parallel the struggles of African Americans in a time where the discrimination was just beginning to be faced. According to Books and Writers, in 1959 Hansberry had said in a speech: â€Å"The unmistakable roots of the universal solidarity of the colored peoples of the world are no longer â€Å"predictable† as they were in my father’s time – they are here. And I for one, as a black woman in the United States in the mid-Twentieth Century, feel that I am more typical of the present temperament of my people than not, when I say that I cannot allow the devious purposes of white supremacy to lead me to any conclusion other than what may be to most robust and important one of our time: that the ultimate destiny and aspirations of the African peoples and twenty million American Negroes are inextricably and magnificently bound up together forever. † (Books and Writers). This sums up Hansberry’s ideas about the race and shows us how the play deals with the supremacy of whites. It is clear that the white characters like Karl Lindner and Walter’s boss are better off. Even the blacks who sell out in one way or another like George Murchison or Willy Harris are in better places than the Youngers. This family finds it almost impossible to get ahead as the whole social structure is opposed to them. And while this is a play about the American Negro, it is also one with a universal theme. It is also about the failure of the American Dream, which anyone in any time period can relate to. Writing in Commentary, Gerald Weales pointed out that â€Å"Walter Lee’s difficulty †¦ is that he has accepted the American myth of success at its face value, that he is trapped, as Willy Loman [in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman] was trapped by a false dream. In planting so indigenous an image at the center of her play, Miss Hansberry has come as close as possible to what she intended–a play about Negroes which is not simply a Negro play. † (Gale Research). In other words, she has succeeded in discussing an American Negro family, and yet, making it understandable and relatable to everyone of every race. This was no easy task. This is reiterated by Critic Harold Clurman, in the Nation, noted that â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun is authentic: it is a portrait of the aspirations, anxieties, ambitions, and contradictory pressures affecting humble Negro fold in an American big city. † (Gale Research). Much of the historical information in this play comes from Lorraine Hansberry’s own life. She grew up on the South Side of Chicago, just like in the play. Hansberry’s parents were activists as well as intellectuals and her father was a real estate agent. He violated a covenant law and moved into a white neighborhood. Their white neighbors tried to evict them. Hansberry’s father actually won an antisegregation case that he fought with the aid of the NAACP with the Illinois Supreme Court. These events are the events on which A Raisin in the Sun was loosely based. When Lorraine was eight, her parents bought a house in a white neighborhood, where they were welcomed one night by a racist mob. Their experience of discrimination there led to a civil rights case. Her father won the case; the Supreme Court declared that the discrimination was unconstitutional. However, nothing really happened in reality as a result of winning this case. Hansberry’s family also learned about the results of fighting the system as they faced many prejudices and acts of discrimination because of their fight, such as a brick being thrown through their window. . Hansberry also worked for Freedom, a progressive black newspaper from 1950 to 1953, which is seen in the play’s emphasis on civil rights (PAL). Also according to PAL, â€Å"In 1963 Lorraine Hansberry became very active in the civil rights movement in the South. She was a field organizer for CORE† (PAL). Again, her emphasis on civil rights in the play comes out of her own beliefs and actions. In the play the topic is covered very thoroughly as the Younger family buys a house in a white neighborhood. Houses in black neighborhoods were double the price, and their dream is to get out of the run-down apartment. In discussing this, Hansberry outlines the discrimination built into housing in Chicago and other urban areas. So, they bought the house in the white neighborhood and are elated, but their elation is short-lived because Mr. Lindner shows up. The family fights back as he tries to talk them out of moving by saying things like, â€Å"I want you to believe me when I tell you that race prejudice simply doesn’t enter into it. It is a matter of the people of Clybourne Park believing, rightly or wrongly, as I say, that for the happiness of all concerned that our Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities† (Hansberry 2. 3. 65). He ends with a statement about Linder hoping the family knows what they are getting themselves into. In the end, even after Walter loses the money, the family decides to move anyway. They will take extra jobs to make sure that their children have a better life. Hansberry’s interest in Africa began at an early age. According to Books and Writers, in an unfinished, partly autobiographical novel Hansberry wrote: â€Å"In her emotions she was sprung from the Southern Zulu and the Central Pygmy, the Eastern Watusi and the treacherous slave-trading Western Ashanti themselves. She was Kikuyu and Masai, ancient cousins of hers had made the exquisite forged sculpture at Benin, while surely even more ancient relatives sat upon the throne at Abu Simbel watching over the Nile†¦ † (Book and Writers). This love of and interest in Africa is shown through both Asagai and Beneatha. Beneatha and Asagai show this interest in African pride in a time in America that was well before Africans began taking interest in their roots or going back to Africa. Asagai is from Africa and has great pride in it; Beneatha is interested in her roots even though she does things like straighten her hair, which Asagai says is assimilationist. Asagai even woos her with his pride in his country. For example, â€Å"I will show you our mountains and our stars; and give you cool drinks from gourds, and teach you the old songs and the ways of our people† (Hansberry 3. 1. 55). While Walter makes fun of all the African conversation, that is also historically accurate ahead of its time. Many Africans were interested in their past and wanted to learn about their terrible past. Some, such as Malcolm X, even went so far as to change their name to reflect their former slave status. Others thought the interest was dumb, a part of their past, not their future. Lorraine Hansberry also puts Beneatha forth as a feminist long before women began demanding their rights. The National Organization for Women was not formed until the late 1960s. Yet Beneatha is a feminist. When Asagai makes the statement, â€Å"For a woman it should be enough†, Beneatha replies, â€Å"I know—because that’s what it says in all the novels that men write. But it isn’t. Go ahead and laugh—but I’m not interested in being someone’s little episode in America† (Hansberry 1. 2. 114). She wants to be a doctor, and her conviction is so strong that the reader believes her. Hansberry was also a feminist ahead of her time to put these ideas into writing. Even though Beneatha seems to â€Å"flit† from one thing to another, she is in the process of finding her identity. Exploring options and experiencing life is the way that she will find herself as well as having diverse friends like Joseph Asagai. Even her name implies that she believes everything is beneath her. Sometimes irritating, Beneatha is a true feminist before her time. Feminist as anything else is a progression in coming into womanhood. For example, Mama speaks matter-of-factly of her husband’s womanizing ways. She does not condemn him, but seems to accept that womanizing is what men do. Ruth would not put up with that from Walter although she does defer to him on a number of occasions. She also has a more gentle way of getting him to come around. Beneatha represents the â€Å"new woman† or feminist in that she would not put up with any of this. She wants to forge her own identity independent of a man. She believes that people must accept her as she is and refused to â€Å"be nice† as Mama tells her. This play also shows the change in black arts and intellectualism. According to Schmoop, â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun is part of broader shift in black art towards depicting working-class, ordinary African-Africans. Previously, black intellectuals did not use literature, art, or the stage to portray working-class African-Americans for fear they would perpetuate undesirable stereotypes. † (Schmoop). Lorraine Hansberry and Langston Hughes both thought this idea ridiculous. They, in fact, felt the opposite. They felt that they could challenge these stereotypes by writing about them. Also according to Schmoop, â€Å"By focusing on the dreams and aspirations of one particular working-class black family, moreover, Hansberry was able to show audiences the universality of black aspirations while also demonstrating that their race posed a significant barrier to achieving those goals† (Schmoop). That is precisely what Hansberry did. She showed the trials and struggles of one family. The family is black, and some of the themes only those of color could relate to but others are universal—family love, sibling rivalry, wanting the best for children, wanting to make money and have more, etc. A Raisin in the Sun is a masterful play. While some see it overly simplistic, Hansberry gives us the gamut of African American response to the oppression that was still occurring. Walter is just angry. Mama and Ruth are more concerned with just getting by and providing better opportunities for the next generation. Willy Harris steals from his own to get ahead, and George Murchison rejects his own upbringing. Asagai also rejects American ways, but he is African. Beneatha most represents Lorraine Hansberry as she tries to fight the system, fight society’s expectations of her as a black woman, and forge her own identity. All emotions are represented in this play. Works Cited Books and Writers. http://www. kirjasto. sci. fi/corhans. htm http://www. shmoop. com/intro/literature/lorraine-hansberry/a-raisin-in-the-sun. html Colas, Brandon. Lorraine Hansberry. A Raisin in the Sun. The Ghetto Trap. Retrieved November 28, 2008 at http://www. literature-study-online. com/essays/hansberry. html Corley, Cheryl. A Raisin in the Sun. March 11. 2002. NPR. Retrieved November 26, 2008 at http://www. npr. org/programs/morning/features/patc/raisin/ Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. â€Å"Lorraine Hansberry. † Authors and Artists for Young Adults. Vol. 25. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich. : Thomson Gale. 2007. http://www. edupaperback. org/showauth. cfm? authid=93 Reuben, Paul. PAL: Perspectives in American Literature. Retrieved November 27, 2008 at http://www. csustan. edu/English/reuben/pal/chap8/hansberry. html A Raisin in the Sun Essay Lorraine Hansberry’s play â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun† was far ahead of its time in both depicting the everyday life of black people in a way that everyone can understand and discuss the oppression that black people still felt even though strides had been taken towards civil rights. According to NPR, Hansberry shared the aims for this play with her husband. â€Å"Hansberry told her husband she wanted to write a social drama about blacks that was good art. Instead of stereotyped characters that would bear no resemblance to actual people, she invented a situation that was sometimes painfully realistic. The plot revolves around what her characters do given the opportunity to escape their cramped surroundings† (NPR). Much of the material from this play is based on Hansberry’s own life experiences. They are real characters. The reader can feel Mama’s love for her family and her desire for them to better themselves. Travis should not have to sleep on the couch. Beneatha should be able to be a doctor, but she must be careful not to overspeak according to Mama. Beneatha’s frustration with the â€Å"outdated† ideas of her mother and her brother’s traditional marriage are felt. She is a dreamer and yet the reader wants to believe with her. Walter’s anger is perfectly justified although it gets him nowhere, and Ruth’s increasing frustration with her husband is also justified, especially as they are about to bring another child into the world. The reader hopes that Walter’s scheme will work even though he/she knows it never will. In the end, the family triumphs against daunting odds. They will have to work harder than they ever have to keep their house, and they will never fit into their neighborhood. They will likely face acts of discrimination even more pronounced, but they do not swallow their pride and submit to the demands of Lindner and their neighborhood. Her characters even speak in the dialect of a real Chicago neighborhood. She uses a non-standard dialect that would only be spoken in black communities. The use of the poem of Langston Hughes called â€Å"Dream Deferred† makes the subject and characters even more real. It asks the reader to think about what would happen if someone worked all their lives for a dream and was unable to achieve it. The poem then gives options that fit various people within the play. Anyone who reads the play can definitely see the struggles of African Americans. Hansberry was deeply committed to the fight for civil rights just as her parents had been. The struggles of the Younger family parallel the struggles of African Americans in a time where the discrimination was just beginning to be faced. According to Books and Writers, in 1959 Hansberry had said in a speech: â€Å"The unmistakable roots of the universal solidarity of the colored peoples of the world are no longer â€Å"predictable† as they were in my father’s time – they are here. And I for one, as a black woman in the United States in the mid-Twentieth Century, feel that I am more typical of the present temperament of my people than not, when I say that I cannot allow the devious purposes of white supremacy to lead me to any conclusion other than what may be to most robust and important one of our time: that the ultimate destiny and aspirations of the African peoples and twenty million American Negroes are inextricably and magnificently bound up together forever. † (Books and Writers). This sums up Hansberry’s ideas about the race and shows us how the play deals with the supremacy of whites. It is clear that the white characters like Karl Lindner and Walter’s boss are better off. Even the blacks who sell out in one way or another like George Murchison or Willy Harris are in better places than the Youngers. This family finds it almost impossible to get ahead as the whole social structure is opposed to them. And while this is a play about the American Negro, it is also one with a universal theme. It is also about the failure of the American Dream, which anyone in any time period can relate to. Writing in Commentary, Gerald Weales pointed out that â€Å"Walter Lee’s difficulty †¦ is that he has accepted the American myth of success at its face value, that he is trapped, as Willy Loman [in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman] was trapped by a false dream. In planting so indigenous an image at the center of her play, Miss Hansberry has come as close as possible to what she intended–a play about Negroes which is not simply a Negro play. † (Gale Research). In other words, she has succeeded in discussing an American Negro family, and yet, making it understandable and relatable to everyone of every race. This was no easy task. This is reiterated by Critic Harold Clurman, in the Nation, noted that â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun is authentic: it is a portrait of the aspirations, anxieties, ambitions, and contradictory pressures affecting humble Negro fold in an American big city. † (Gale Research). Much of the historical information in this play comes from Lorraine Hansberry’s own life. She grew up on the South Side of Chicago, just like in the play. Hansberry’s parents were activists as well as intellectuals and her father was a real estate agent. He violated a covenant law and moved into a white neighborhood. Their white neighbors tried to evict them. Hansberry’s father actually won an antisegregation case that he fought with the aid of the NAACP with the Illinois Supreme Court. These events are the events on which A Raisin in the Sun was loosely based. When Lorraine was eight, her parents bought a house in a white neighborhood, where they were welcomed one night by a racist mob. Their experience of discrimination there led to a civil rights case. Her father won the case; the Supreme Court declared that the discrimination was unconstitutional. However, nothing really happened in reality as a result of winning this case. Hansberry’s family also learned about the results of fighting the system as they faced many prejudices and acts of discrimination because of their fight, such as a brick being thrown through their window. . Hansberry also worked for Freedom, a progressive black newspaper from 1950 to 1953, which is seen in the play’s emphasis on civil rights (PAL). Also according to PAL, â€Å"In 1963 Lorraine Hansberry became very active in the civil rights movement in the South. She was a field organizer for CORE† (PAL). Again, her emphasis on civil rights in the play comes out of her own beliefs and actions. In the play the topic is covered very thoroughly as the Younger family buys a house in a white neighborhood. Houses in black neighborhoods were double the price, and their dream is to get out of the run-down apartment. In discussing this, Hansberry outlines the discrimination built into housing in Chicago and other urban areas. So, they bought the house in the white neighborhood and are elated, but their elation is short-lived because Mr. Lindner shows up. The family fights back as he tries to talk them out of moving by saying things like, â€Å"I want you to believe me when I tell you that race prejudice simply doesn’t enter into it. It is a matter of the people of Clybourne Park believing, rightly or wrongly, as I say, that for the happiness of all concerned that our Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities† (Hansberry 2. 3. 65). He ends with a statement about Linder hoping the family knows what they are getting themselves into. In the end, even after Walter loses the money, the family decides to move anyway. They will take extra jobs to make sure that their children have a better life. Hansberry’s interest in Africa began at an early age. According to Books and Writers, in an unfinished, partly autobiographical novel Hansberry wrote: â€Å"In her emotions she was sprung from the Southern Zulu and the Central Pygmy, the Eastern Watusi and the treacherous slave-trading Western Ashanti themselves. She was Kikuyu and Masai, ancient cousins of hers had made the exquisite forged sculpture at Benin, while surely even more ancient relatives sat upon the throne at Abu Simbel watching over the Nile†¦ † (Book and Writers). This love of and interest in Africa is shown through both Asagai and Beneatha. Beneatha and Asagai show this interest in African pride in a time in America that was well before Africans began taking interest in their roots or going back to Africa. Asagai is from Africa and has great pride in it; Beneatha is interested in her roots even though she does things like straighten her hair, which Asagai says is assimilationist. Asagai even woos her with his pride in his country. For example, â€Å"I will show you our mountains and our stars; and give you cool drinks from gourds, and teach you the old songs and the ways of our people† (Hansberry 3. 1. 55). While Walter makes fun of all the African conversation, that is also historically accurate ahead of its time. Many Africans were interested in their past and wanted to learn about their terrible past. Some, such as Malcolm X, even went so far as to change their name to reflect their former slave status. Others thought the interest was dumb, a part of their past, not their future. Lorraine Hansberry also puts Beneatha forth as a feminist long before women began demanding their rights. The National Organization for Women was not formed until the late 1960s. Yet Beneatha is a feminist. When Asagai makes the statement, â€Å"For a woman it should be enough†, Beneatha replies, â€Å"I know—because that’s what it says in all the novels that men write. But it isn’t. Go ahead and laugh—but I’m not interested in being someone’s little episode in America† (Hansberry 1. 2. 114). She wants to be a doctor, and her conviction is so strong that the reader believes her. Hansberry was also a feminist ahead of her time to put these ideas into writing. Even though Beneatha seems to â€Å"flit† from one thing to another, she is in the process of finding her identity. Exploring options and experiencing life is the way that she will find herself as well as having diverse friends like Joseph Asagai. Even her name implies that she believes everything is beneath her. Sometimes irritating, Beneatha is a true feminist before her time. Feminist as anything else is a progression in coming into womanhood. For example, Mama speaks matter-of-factly of her husband’s womanizing ways. She does not condemn him, but seems to accept that womanizing is what men do. Ruth would not put up with that from Walter although she does defer to him on a number of occasions. She also has a more gentle way of getting him to come around. Beneatha represents the â€Å"new woman† or feminist in that she would not put up with any of this. She wants to forge her own identity independent of a man. She believes that people must accept her as she is and refused to â€Å"be nice† as Mama tells her. This play also shows the change in black arts and intellectualism. According to Schmoop, â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun is part of broader shift in black art towards depicting working-class, ordinary African-Africans. Previously, black intellectuals did not use literature, art, or the stage to portray working-class African-Americans for fear they would perpetuate undesirable stereotypes. † (Schmoop). Lorraine Hansberry and Langston Hughes both thought this idea ridiculous. They, in fact, felt the opposite. They felt that they could challenge these stereotypes by writing about them. Also according to Schmoop, â€Å"By focusing on the dreams and aspirations of one particular working-class black family, moreover, Hansberry was able to show audiences the universality of black aspirations while also demonstrating that their race posed a significant barrier to achieving those goals† (Schmoop). That is precisely what Hansberry did. She showed the trials and struggles of one family. The family is black, and some of the themes only those of color could relate to but others are universal—family love, sibling rivalry, wanting the best for children, wanting to make money and have more, etc. A Raisin in the Sun is a masterful play. While some see it overly simplistic, Hansberry gives us the gamut of African American response to the oppression that was still occurring. Walter is just angry. Mama and Ruth are more concerned with just getting by and providing better opportunities for the next generation. Willy Harris steals from his own to get ahead, and George Murchison rejects his own upbringing. Asagai also rejects American ways, but he is African. Beneatha most represents Lorraine Hansberry as she tries to fight the system, fight society’s expectations of her as a black woman, and forge her own identity. All emotions are represented in this play. Works Cited Books and Writers. http://www. kirjasto. sci. fi/corhans. htm http://www. shmoop. com/intro/literature/lorraine-hansberry/a-raisin-in-the-sun. html Colas, Brandon. Lorraine Hansberry. A Raisin in the Sun. The Ghetto Trap. Retrieved November 28, 2008 at http://www. literature-study-online. com/essays/hansberry.html Corley, Cheryl. A Raisin in the Sun. March 11. 2002. NPR. Retrieved November 26, 2008 at http://www. npr. org/programs/morning/features/patc/raisin/ Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. â€Å"Lorraine Hansberry. † Authors and Artists for Young Adults. Vol. 25. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich. : Thomson Gale. 2007. http://www. edupaperback. org/showauth. cfm? authid=93 Reuben, Paul. PAL: Perspectives in American Literature. Retrieved November 27, 2008 at http://www. csustan. edu/English/reuben/pal/chap8/hansberry. html A Raisin in the Sun Essay A Raisin in the Sun is a story of the Younger Family dealing with racial problems in Chicago slums. Ten thousand dollars arrives in the mail and Lena has to decide what to do with it. Bennie wants it for tuition money, Walter wants it for down payment for the liqueur store and Ruth just wants everyone to be happy. So there is three major events happening: (1) Lena decides to buy a house in a white neighborhood, (2) Lena entrusts the rest of the money to Walter telling him to save a good amount for Beneatha’s schooling and (3)Walter loses all the money in the liquor store scam. In all these dilemmas Lena has a plant that she talks and takes care of it through out the story. Mama’s plant symbolizes hope for the future. In act one scene one Mama says â€Å" Lord, if this little old plant don’t get more sun than it’s been getting it ain’t never going to see spring again.( Hansberry, 40)† In the beginning that the plants needs sun because its in a room with a little window and Mama worries that it will not spring so it shows that even thought it does not have enough sun and it is still surviving so it wants to holding because it knows it will be in a better place and become stronger in the future. In act one scene one Mama says â€Å"They spirited all right, my children. Got to admit they got spirit- Bennie and Walter.. Like this little old plant that ain’t never had enough sunshine or nothing – and look at it†¦(Hansberry,52)† Mama Knows that Bennie and Walter are strong and do not just give up like that plant which shows hope for the future for both them to hold out for that soil and that house even thought it has racism they can get through it like the plant without the sun. Beneath: â€Å"Mama, what are you doing?† Mama:â€Å" Fixing my plant so it won’t get hurt none on the way†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Beneatha: Mama, you going to take that to the new house?(Hansberry,121)† Mama: †un-huh-† Beneatha: â€Å" that raggedy-looking old thing?† Mama: It EXPRESSES ME!† Even thought Beneath tells Mama how the plant is old and worthless she knows that expresses her. Mama’s plant does not symbolizes anything because all she talks about is getting the garden since all she has is one plant so she says the houses in her neighborhood have their garden. â€Å"well, I always wanted me a garden like I used to see sometimes at the back of the houses down home. This plant is close as I ever got to having one.(Hansberry,53)† Lena just wanted to have a garden since she could not have one when she was little because she was a slave. So that plant is the  closest thing she ever had to a garden. Although some may be able to argue that Mama’s plant does not symbolizes anything because she only wants a garden with her house. She wants a garden and that plant is the only thing she can have but it does mean the plant symbolizes hope because sh e treats the plant like one of her children she nurtures it and wants to take it to a new house to live. Mama’s plant is hope for the future because it thrived or lived through not having a lot of light through that small window in the apartment just like the family went through racism.