Repetition Revision in Suzan-Lori Park’s History Plays and Topdog/Underdog - Literature Essay Samples

In her two decades as a playwright, Suzan-Lori Parks has tackled American history from many angles; while she shuffles themes of race, family, death, and time between each of her plays, they are all linked by the common structure of what she calls her â€Å"Repetition Revision† writing style. Most of her early work employs this jazz structure of repeated and rephrased dialogue as the framework for the play itself, which is more of a performance piece than a narrative. For example, the texts of 1994’s The America Play and 1990’s The Death of the Last Black Man in the Entire World (commonly referred to as Parks’s history plays) define the structure as something of a lyrical cacophony. However, her breakthrough 2002 Pulitzer-winning Topdog/Underdog reconfigures â€Å"Rep Rev† into a more traditional dramatic structure. Topdog/Underdog is grounded in natural dialogue, without overlapping or repeating, but it retains her stylistic ethos in its plot, which recycles historical narratives into a contemporary urban setting. It also features characters that attempt to revise their own personalities, but unlike the speakers in Parks’s history plays, who revise slave narratives to form authentic, self-created identities, the characters fail to meaningfully change their shameful conditions. Rather, the Rep Rev that occurs in Topdog/Underdog, most notably in the refrained form of the three-card monte routine, exists only to distract the characters from their responsibilities. While the figures of the early plays successfully subvert historical oppression, the protagonists of Topdog cannot prevent history from violently repeating itself, as their attempts to revise their identities do not reach the heart of the more pressing issues of poverty, sexism, and alcoholism that surround them. With this turnar ound in the significance of â€Å"Rep Rev,† Parks argues that issues of historical identity have been fairly well addressed, but that poor African American men need to shift their revisionary focus away from personal image and towards righting concrete social ills. â€Å"Repetition Revision† is a term that Parks herself coined in the foreword to The America Play, in an essay entitled â€Å"From Elements of Style.† She says the form of her dramatic writing is directly analogous to â€Å"the Jazz esthetic in which the composer or performer will write a musical phrase once and again and again; etc. – with each revisit the phrase is slightly revised† (Parks, The America Play 9). She applies this technique to textual phrases, from lines to entire acts, in her plays, to such an extent that â€Å"characters refigure their words and through a refiguring of language show that they are experiencing their situation anew† (9). She explains that it is an intentionally non-linear form: â€Å"In such plays we are not moving from A → B but rather, for example, A → A → A → B → A† (9). As such, the repetition can take on a metaphorical significance as â€Å"a literal incorporation of the past† for the characters and audience to reflect on (10). In each of the three plays, the â€Å"Rep Rev† device is used to support different metaphors, fitting with Parks’s ethos that â€Å"form and content are interdependent† (7). It follows, then, that the change in how â€Å"Rep Rev† is implemented from the history plays to Topdog can be an accurate barometer for how the themes of each play differ and evolve. The Death of the Last Black Man in the Entire World may not be Parks’s most cryptic play, but its complexity can be daunting. The post-modern text is riddled with allusions to James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Richard Wright, and the Bible, but has very little in the way of recognizable dialogue. Rather, the structure of the play is formed from overlapping phrases and monologues spoken by a menagerie of â€Å"Figures,† each a representation of a historical Black stereotype. Parks explicitly denies these figures the title of â€Å"character† because she does not want them to be misconstrued as representations of actual people (Parks, America 12). The figures’ speeches are refrained and altered in Parks’s signature style, changing either specific words or grammar to convey new metaphors. In this way, the stereotypical figures deconstruct themselves, line by line, as their speeches change in meaning. Alice Rayner and Harry J. Elam argue that the revisions that drive the play forward signify that Parks’s goal is â€Å"not only to challenge and re-write history, but to right history† (449). They argue that the linguistic revisions the figures make serve to challenge the racist beliefs about African Americans that each figure represents. One example of such revision is the mantra of the eponymous figure, Black Man With Watermelon, who dies before and many times during the play. He speaks one recurring line, â€Å"The black man moves his hands,† whose literal significance changes in each context (Parks, America 101). In all cases, though, it refers to some loss of independence or freedom, as his hands are bound with the leather straps of an electric chair and by lynching rope (Parks, America 108, 118). Rayner and Elam posit that the phrase is â€Å"Parks’s gestural, aural, visual, and theatrical signifier for crossing over into the world of the dead† (449). This follows the aforementioned scenes of his death with tied hands and a passage in the text, in which two figures question â€Å"Where he gonna go now that he done dieded?† and â€Å"Where he gonna go tuh move his hands?† (Parks, America 114). Rayner and Elam take this to mean that the motions of the hands themselves, each time met with resistance, represent the Black Man’s attempts to cease existing as a stereotype. This hypothesis fits, as the figure is defined by his stereotyped name and appearance but s eeks, in death, to move his own body parts, hitherto bound by violent circumstances. While the action of Death of the Last Black Man is focused on its central figure, Parks has made it clear that his deaths are emblematic of the accumulated violence against African Americans that has obscured their history. Rayner and Elam argue, â€Å"As his generic name suggests, he is the prototypical ‘Black Man’,† and cite Parks’ statement that â€Å"[African Americans are] a people who are honored or damned because of the actions of one of our group† and conclude that â€Å"the death of each black man who is hung, electrocuted, hunted down, or has fallen out of history counts equally as the death of the last black man. The death of every black man in the past inhabits the death of each black man in the present† (Rayner and Elam 451, Jacobus 1372). In writing and rewriting these deaths, Parks â€Å"rights† their legacy by reflecting on what caused them. While lynch violence is seldom forgotten, the deeper roots of racist stereotypes that have historically prevented African Americans from speaking out against such violence are in danger of being ignored as â€Å"a thing of the past.† Parks addresses these stereotypes head on, and shows that these â€Å"missing histories† continue to make their mark on the present. Indeed, the play is written in an intentionally nonlinear style to reflect its timelessness, as referenced in Black Man With Watermelon’s monologue on the conflation of past and present in the play’s setting. Alluding to Samuel Beckett’s characters’ tendencies to define themselves in temporally baffling terms, Parks includes phrases such as â€Å"Thuh me-has-been sits in thuh be-me† (Parks, America 126). The conflation of past and present tenses is a device Beckett used in Waiting for Godot and other plays, to emphasize that whatever occurs in the play does not depend on when it occurs or has occurred (Rayner and Elam 451). As such, the injustice that a fflicts The Last Black Man’s figures has occurred and does occur in some form or other in both the past and present of America Throughout the play, the dead man is prevented from moving his hands by various external forces and is thus left to haunt his wife, Black Woman With Fried Drumstick. As a presence that is dead but not gone, he signifies a stereotype born out of slavery that still looms over the present. The first impediment against â€Å"moving his hands† (i.e. getting rid of the stereotype thrust upon him) is the watermelon, a staple of the Pickaninny/Sambo image. He refutes the image of the docile slave, saying, â€Å"This does not belong tuh me. Somebody planted this on me. On me in my hands,† but he is powerless to let go, as another impediment takes the watermelon’s place (Parks, America 105). Before repeating, this time in first-person, â€Å"I would like tuh move my hands,† he describes his execution by electric chair: â€Å"The straps they have on me are leathern. See thuh cord waggin full with uh jump-juice try me tuh wiggle but belt leathern straps: width thickl y† (109, 108). The conflict changes from debunking the specific Sambo stereotype to dealing with legal injustice, but the continuity between the signifiers shows that they are a part of the same issue. This continuity is seen in the repetition of the â€Å"hands† line into a revised context. In both cases, the man incredulously questions the stereotype that has become his identity; the line â€Å"melon mines?† is echoed in the similarly phrased line â€Å"forearm mines?† (108). He moves from questioning the validity of the Sambo stereotype that he has no control over to questioning the reality of his electrocuted arm. He must not only question the watermelon and execution paraphernalia thrust upon him, but also his own arms, the driving forces behind the hand motion that can free him. He realizes that his own concept of self, the metaphorical vision of his dying body, must also be refuted in order to bring the â€Å"dead† stereotypes to final rest. In this way, Parks explores the impossibility of refuting stereotypes by only erasing their visual, surface-layer record rather than questioning one’s own complicity in self-stereotyping. This is seen in the figures’ twice repeated exchange of â€Å"Whose fault is it? Aint mines,† in response to â€Å"The black man bursts into flames. The black man bursts into blames† (103). The implication in this line is that the chorus of stereotypes refuses to believe in their guilt, and choose to blame all, rather than most, of their misfortune on their white creators. Only by considering his own stereotyped body as a dubious construct, rather than just the situations that surround it, can the central figure redefine himself apart from any stereotype. In the play’s â€Å"Final Chorus,† in which all the figures celebrate the central stereotype’s final death, the universal Black Man comes to terms with the concept that â€Å"Thuh tongue itself burns itself,† that he is partially to blame for his prolonged suffering (Parks, America 130). His past attempts to â€Å"turn thuh page† on his stereotyped identity failed because he took no accountability for propagating the stereotype, and sought only to deny its hold on him. With the Black Man’s final passing, Parks’ revision wipes the slate clean, leaving a void in place of harmful false identities. Parks’s earlier piece, The America Play, attempts to fill that identity void with its main character’s acts of revision. The America Play is set in the limbo-like â€Å"exact replica of the Great Hole of History,† a carnivalesque vision of America in which cultural artifacts are buried (Parks, America 159). The first act con sists of a black Abraham Lincoln impersonator telling his life story, in which the lines between his past and present are blurred. He makes his living by acting out abbreviated bullet points of history, specifically Lincoln’s speeches and assassination, but, in true Parks style, he remixes such well-known plots into a personal narrative. So, when the impersonator, known as the Foundling Father, fails to improve his lot in the world, he cannot deny his own involvement. If there is anything to blame, it is an internalized form of prejudice that keeps him down. This is exemplified by the subservience the imitator, who refers to himself as the â€Å"Lesser Known† in his history, holds to the legacy of the actual President Lincoln, the â€Å"Great Man,† to such an extent that he wishes he â€Å"would have had at least a chance at the honor of digging the Great Mans grave† (161). Nicole Hodges Persley explains this shift: â€Å"The Last Black Man addresses lit eral acts of violence, lynching, electrocution, etc. against African American men, and their impact on the African American community. The America Play focuses on the psychological violence, the embodiment of social values attributed to blackness and whiteness† (72). In the first act of The America Play, the whiteface Lincoln repeats and revises a series of verbal and visual tics that acknowledge the overbearing material presence of Abraham Lincoln’s legacy in American culture. From â€Å"A wink to Mr. Lincolns pasteboard cutout† to â€Å"A nod to the bust of Mr. Lincoln,† Parks gives a number of stage directions, paired with an out-loud narration of each action, for the â€Å"Foundling Father,† the impersonator, to enact (The America Play 160, 161). Andrea J. Goto argues that this seemingly strange imitation of and obsession with a white cultural figure can be traced to the fact that â€Å"the Lincoln myth belongs to African Americans at least as much, if not more than, to white Americans† (120). Thus, the Foundling Father’s repeated deferential acknowledgement of Mr. Lincoln, â€Å"the Great Man,† combined with his revisionary tendency to spruce up his act with historically inaccurate beards creates what Persley considers a â€Å"remixed† identity that is born out of pressures to conform to white culture, but grows into a form that straddles the lines between Black and White, past and present (The America Play 161, 168). With the Foundling Father’s anachronistic performance, Parks denies â€Å"white historical authenticity, showing how fickle, flawed, and skewed it is† (Kolin 14). By revising (and thus refuting) the myths of white cultural superiority, but having a character repeat them (nods to bust, etc.), Parks highlights the fact that in the past-present continuity of American culture, white hegemony has become more visible and recognizable, but it still continues to have an indisputably profound influence on the lives of African Americans. In this way, Parks argues that the roots of oppression may not be destroy ed, but that they can be undermined, by historical revision. As a departure from her previous work, Topdog/Underdog employs its novel versions of â€Å"Rep Rev† in a linear, realistic plot structure to more drastically change the focus of Parks’s writing. Moving the plays’ action into the factual present, Topdog/Underdog starts from the same assumption that Repeating and Revising history can have a positive impact on African American identities, but, by the end of the play, the tragic inevitability of the characters’ fratricide implies that the revisions they struggle for actually have a negative impact on their lives. Topdog also features a black Lincoln impersonator, but one who wishes more to distance himself from that identity than to hybridize it with his own. The play follows the domestic troubles between this Lincoln and his brother Booth and their history as three-card monte con men. In Topdog, Parks mostly abandons the use of repeating and revis ing dialogue wholesale, and instead allows the characters to converse normally, but she applies her style to the metatextual scheme of the play itself. With characters named Booth and Lincoln, the assassination of one by the other is expected, so Parks sets up the audience to look out for any deviations from this historical trend. The only major revision in this capacity is the familial motivation that was not present in the historical assassination. Otherwise, the revisions that Booth and Lincoln apply to their predetermined identities actually prevent them from changing the historical trend of violence by and against black men. The cycles of violence from The Last Black Man are combined with The America Play’s theme of identity insecurities in the character of Booth. As the â€Å"Underdog† of the play, he is bitterly jealous of his brother’s success in hustling and romance, and consequently seeks to reinvent himself in his brother’s image. He attempts to reinvent himself as a violent, successful card hustler named â€Å"3-Card† when faced with the reality of his fiscal insecurity: â€Å"Anybody not calling me 3-Card gets a bullet† (Parks, Topdog 107). Booth’s attempts to distance himself from a past of poverty and familial neglect only plunge him into a deeper hole, as his violent delusions eventually lead him to murdering his girlfriend and his brother (107, 108). Jochen Achilles explains that â€Å"Booth’s perception of the world and himself can be described as a naà ¯ve acceptance of appearances and the belief . . . in the possibility of identity change via the doubtful magic of a name† (107). The history plays’ figures succeed in reinventing themselves because they spend a whole play refiguring their language and actions to support the new identities they arrive at by the end of the play. Booth, however, simply repeats the monte routine – â€Å"Watch me close now watch me close now: who-see-thuh-red-card-who-see-the-red-card?† etc. – (without revision between scenes) and lies to himself, saying that he â€Å"wins all the money† (5, 6). In fact, his hustling practice, referred to in stage directions as â€Å"clumsy† and â€Å"studied and awkward,† does nothing to support himself or his brother (16, 5). Furthermore, he is blind to the parasitic effects of the hustling lifestyle, explained by Lincoln as the guilt that made him quit that life: â€Å"We took a father for the money he was gonna get his kids new bike with and he cried in the street . . . Swore off thuh cards. Something inside me telling me –† (54). By revising himself into a gangster identity without repeating his brother’s success, and repeating the monte scam without revising the criminal element that drove Lincoln away, Booth undergoes an incomplete and counteractive transformation. While Booth, the murderer, ultimately thwarts either brother’s attempts revise himself out of shame, in keeping with The Last Black Man’s message, the victim shares some of the blame. Lincoln’s failed attempts at repetition and revision in Topdog generally follow the same pattern of historical reinterpretation as those of the Foundling Father. They share the role of a carnie who reenacts Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Topdog’s Lincoln, unlike the Foundling Father, tries to make a clear distinction between his job and his personal identity: â€Å"Fake beard. Top hat. Don’t make me into no Lincoln. I was Lincoln on my own before any of that† (28). This assertion, however, is challenge by Booth’s insistence that Lincoln plays the role â€Å"too real,† and by Link’s â€Å"Best Customer,† who asks him â€Å"Does thuh show stop when no ones watching or does the show go on?† (50, 32). The latter conjecture is proven by Lincoln’s hesitance to change the routine in any meaningful way because his white audience likes â€Å"they historical shit in a certain a way. They like it to unfold the way they folded it up† (50). Unlike the Foundling Father, who synthesizes the Lincoln story with his own, Topdog’s Lincoln, in an attempt to separate himself from a predefined identity, repeats the mainstream, heroic (white) vision of Lincoln’s death as best he can, even though he’s â€Å"uh brother playing Lincoln. Its uh stretch for anyones imagination† (51). By acting out a pitch-perfect Honest Abe, Lincoln hopes to prove that he is very different outside of the costume, disproving the legacy of his name. Paradoxically, by focusing so much on this identity revision, Lincoln only repeats an old routine, just like Booth’s monte, and fails to enact meaningful change in his life. As Booth and Lincoln try in vain to escape their fates, they blind themselv es to the negative effects of their poverty-stricken life. Addiction, especially, is an issue Lincoln deals with daily, but with denial. He drinks or refers to drinking in most scenes, and shows his alcoholic dependence by calling the whiskey â€Å"med-sin† (9, 24, 63, 83). When liquor isn’t available, he â€Å"studies [cards] like an alcoholic would study a drink,† revealing his susceptibility to addiction in any form (55). Alcoholism is revealed to be a cornerstone of his personality when Lincoln tells Booth, â€Å"[our father] was drunk when he told me, or maybe I was drunk when he told me . . . why he named us both. Lincoln and Booth† (22). The name, whose connotations Lincoln tries to shrug off throughout the play, is intrinsically connected to both his and his father’s alcoholism. So, if Lincoln wants to escape from his name and all that it implies he must also seek soberness. He fails, as he turns away from his ‘Honest Abe act’ of identity revision and back into his drinking. This is sho wn in the stage directions at the end of the scene in which Lincoln practices his routine: â€Å"He gets up, considers giving the new moves another try† (35). The ultimate sign of Lincoln’s failure to revise his identity is his repeated drinking. Booth’s main vice, on the other hand, is womanizing. An integral of his 3-Card fantasy is his hypothetical success with women. He invents schemes to impress and dominate women, such as stealing his girlfriend and expensive ring, but in a smaller size so she won’t be able to remove it and reject him (8). Because his lack of money marks him as a deadbeat, Booth resorts to manipulation tactics, revealing his sexist mentality. For example, he realizes he needs a phone because â€Å"you get a filly to give you her numerophono and gone is the days when she just gives you her number and dont ask for yrs† (30). He denigrates women as â€Å"fillys,† objects of sexual desire, that he seeks to control. This mi ndset follows directly from his attempts to reinvent himself as a successful hustler, as sexual prowess figures prominently in his fantasy (18). Booth’s sexism shows that his vain attempts at identity revision lead only to lechery, not better fortune. Extrapolating from Lincoln and Booth’s misfortunes and misdeeds to a general trend among poor black men (following Last Black Man’s concept of theatrical universality), Parks argues that misguided concerns about identity cripple attempts to change poor African Americans’ social standing. While her previous plays hinted at the opportunity to change a â€Å"predetermined path† of shame and misery by reevaluating the paths of prejudice that lead to it, Topdog/Underdog concludes that such strategies may only distract from other pressing concerns of an urban black populace. Achilles notes that the games Booth and his brother play, with the Lincoln reenactment and the card scam at the forefront, â€Å"are prisons and traps rather than instruments of viable self-invention† (122). These traps of repetition prove fatal for Lincoln and damning for Booth on the last pages of Topdog/Underdog, as an American history of violence comes full circle (Parks, Topdog/U nderdog 108). Suzan-Lori Parks takes â€Å"Rep Rev† out of her dialogue and into her characters’ lives, she comments on how progressive cultural revision cannot exist today without shameful historical repetition.

The Use of Marijuana for Medicinal Purposes Essay - 966 Words

The use of marijuana for medicinal purposes has long been at the centre of much controversy. Some studies have shown results that the benefits of using marijuana for medicinal reasons far outweigh the negative health matters that may be associated with its use, and therefore should be an accepted method of treatment for some patients who are suffering with illnesses such as multiple sclerosis, cancer, AIDS, and eating disorders (Okie, 2005). Still, other studies have proven that there is not enough scientific evidence on the drug, there for it should not be legalized for the use of medication (Hutchings, 2002). Currently the issue is moving forward, although not without controversy, but it is unclear when a clear decision will be made.†¦show more content†¦The Chemical breakdown of cannabis, which marijuana is a herbal product of, contains many components that prove beneficial in the medical field. Parts of the medical field that these components benefit would include vario us neurological conditions, such as spasticity, pain or sleeping disorders. It is currently difficult to conclude whether these benefits overpower the risks that a person with a neurological disorder would be taking. However Canadian surveys have showed that in two neurological disorder cases, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy, cannabis has proven to be beneficial to symptom relief. People with these disorders using cannabis have gotten relief from both their primary symptoms and other symptoms associated with their disorders. In people with epilepsy, the severity and frequency of their seizures was reduced. In people with multiple sclerosis were found to have reduced pain and spasticity, as well as being relived from psychological symptoms caused by the disorder. Without the use of cannabis in some users, they would have a much more difficult time dealing with the symptoms of their disorders (Wingerchuk, 2004). However, there still remains a lot of opposition on the topic of medical marijuana. In the article by Doctor Reginald Hutchings, from Charlottetown P.E.I., discusses the negative side of marijuana. As a physician, Hutchings states that he will not prescribe marijuana to his patients unless he isShow MoreRelatedThe Use Of Marijuana For Medicinal Purposes1345 Words   |  6 Pagesmaybe they smoke every day, maybe they never will, or maybe they have to if they want to live. Adolescents and adults have access to marijuana as it is easily available behind the scenes these days and it’s about time everybody knows the truth about the uses, effects, purposes, and cures about the devil’s harvest- Marijuana. The use of Marijuana for Medicinal Purposes is illegal due to its classification as an illicit drug, but there are some issues that have been established stating and proving thatRead More The Use Of Marijuana For Medicinal Purposes Essay820 Words   |  4 Pages Marijuana is illegal in fifty states because of its classification as an illicit drug, but cont roversial issues have been established that this â€Å"illicit drug† has improved the course of treatment for suffering patients. Marijuana has beneficial effects when used in medicinal scenarios for the treatment of pain; thus it should be an administered drug for patients who can benefit from the use of this drug. Marijuana has undergone analysis for its use as a medicine and the results have shown improvementsRead MoreMedicinal Marijuana: Should It Be Legal in All States? Essay1071 Words   |  5 Pagesdebate on whether or not marijuana should be legal for medicinal purposes in all fifty states. Many people believe that marijuana is an unsuitable substitute for many of the medications we have today. On the other hand, many researchers have conducted extensive studies that have shown how beneficial medicinal marijuana can be. Many states have already picked up on this, and have laws set in place to allow the use of medicinal marijuana. Medicinal marijuana has a wide variet y of uses, and should be allowedRead MoreThe Legalization Of Medicinal Marijuana1382 Words   |  6 Pageslegalisation of medicinal marijuana is a very controversial topic within Australia. Recently, Victoria took the first steps to legalise medicinal marijuana, referenced in Victorian Government s Access to Medicinal Cannabis Bill 2015 (12th April 2016) and passed by the Victorian Parliament. This is the beginning of â€Å"the process of enabling patients to access medicinal cannabis.† In spite of this forward move, the debate still rages. There are valid and significant stances about whether marijuana shouldRead MoreThe Term Effects Of Marijuana1124 Words   |  5 Pageseffects marijuana has on the human body? Marijuana is now being used more as medicinal and recreational use, and its usage is constantly increasing among many young adults in today’s society. You should know the effects of Marijuana and its medicinal purposes so you can make the choice of whether or not to use it and whether you will use it for medicinal purposes. With extensive scholarly research, today we will be discussing intermediate, long term effects and medicinal purposes of marijuana. AccordingRead MoreMedicinal Marijuana Should Be Decriminalized Essay851 Words   |  4 PagesFor the past fifty years, heated debates over the topic of the decriminalization of marijuana have been a great controversy among politicians. Some politicians believe that marijuana for the use of medicine should be outlawed. As Congressman Bob Barr in his debate with radio talk show host Neil Boortz on May 14, 2002, stated, quot;There is no legitimate medical use whatsoever for marijuana. This [marijuana] is not medicine. This is bogus witchcraft. It has no place in medicine, no place in painRead MoreLegalization of Marijuana for Medicinal Usage800 Words   |  4 PagesLegalization of Marijuana for Medicinal Usage The legalization of marijuana for medical purposes is a question that seems to be scourging many states. Have you ever experience excruciating pain? Or have you ever witnessed someone suffering from agonizing morning sickness? Then still there are those that feel plagued with the chronic arthritis pain, or the nausea and vomiting, which often accompany chemotherapy. These individuals would welcome the use of marijuana for medicinal usage. MedicalRead MoreWhy Not Legalize Marijuana? Essay1173 Words   |  5 PagesMarijuana should be legalized for both recreational and medicinal use because the US economy can reap significant benefits from legalization as well as create an influx of jobs and also to reduce street and gang disputes relating to marijuana. Also, marijuana should be legalized because it has been dealt an unfair hand by society and is justifiably safer than most know it to be. First, marijuana should be legalized in the US for both recreational and medicinal purposes because there is a very substantialRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1581 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"war on drugs† since the late 1900’s, the legalization of marijuana has been a popular topic within the past couple of years. This topic is very controversial due to the fact that many people are unable to see past the bad rap that cannabis has accumulated over past years. Among the other aspects that have already given marijuana a bad reputation, some people are trying to find more and more reasons to postpone the legalization of marijuana. Since the legalization of cannabis in Colorado, WashingtonRead MoreMedical Marijuana Should Be Legal Essay1028 Words   |  5 Pages Should the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes be legalized? Wouldn’t it be simple to provide a simple black or white answer to this question? Across the nation there is much debate on this very topic, one that I don’t believe can be solved so easily with a yes or no. There are so many activists that have strong opinions on this subject and go to the fullest extent to ensure they are heard. As simple straight forward as this question is it was hard for me to determine which side of the line

Definition and Examples of Verb Phrases in English

Analysis Of The Book The Scarlet Letter - 1184 Words

As I began my summer reading assignment I wasn’t too amused at the beginning chapters of the â€Å"Scarlet Letter,† With Hawthorne throwing around words like â€Å"quietude† I wasn’t sure if it was truly the difference in his old English speech, or if he was tossing in obscure words just to send people looking through their dictionaries to find out if he had, in fact, made the word up, or not. But, as I delved deeper into Hawthorn’s work I found a brilliant story with some of the richest characters I had ever had the pleasure of reading about. Of the four major characters in the book, I empathized with Arthur Dimmesdale the most. Dimmesdale is man of God imprisoned by his own beliefs, and because of this he lives his life wallowing in guilt, despair, and pain. Dimmesdale wants to be a father to Pearl, but to do so it would jeopardize his social standing in the Puritan culture and his career. In his confliction, Dimmesdale feels that he should punish himself; he takes away what little humanity he has left just so he can feel he has appeased God. I can’t help but feel sorry for a man who lives in such a heartbreaking pool of despair and self-loathing. Where Dimmesdale’s character really shines, though, is in the Election Day sermon scene and the scenes leading up to the Election Day sermon. After leaving the forest Dimmesdale is filled with new life and motivation. He now has purpose, something to live for. Later, in the third scaffold scene, DimmesdaleShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Book The Scarlet Letter 2314 Words   |  10 PagesKatya Flaska American Literature Period 5 10 August 2014 The Scarlet Letter Book Analysis 1. The book is The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn. The genre of the novel is historical fiction. 2. The preamble describes how the book came to be written. The narrator was a surveyor of the customhouse in Salem, where he discovered documents he used to write the story. He uncovered a manuscript with a scarlet â€Å"A†, which contained the events recorded by a previous surveyor in the 1600s. When the narratorRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Scarlet Letter 1120 Words   |  5 Pages From the very first chapter, the Scarlet Letter guides readers on a journey that explores the darkness of the human heart and redemption from sin. It is in the Massachusetts Bay Colony that we introduced to a trio of characters interconnected by their sins: an adulteress, a minister and a physician. The adulteress is a woman named Hester Prynne who, as punishment for her transgressions, must wear a scarlet A on chest and is shunned by her community. Yet, Hester s eventual acceptance of herRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Scarlet Letter 1141 Words   |  5 PagesBlake Allison P#1 AP NOVEL FORM 1. Title: The Scarlet Letter 2. Author and date of first publication: Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1850 3. List four main characters with a one-sentence description of each. a. Hester Prynne- Hester Prynne, the protagonist and wearer of the scarlet letter, is a very independent, loving, intelligent, and at times depressed woman who is the mother of Pearl. b. Arthur Dimmesdale- Arthur Dimmesdale, the father of Pearl, is a reverend in town who is greatly honored forRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Scarlet Letter 1563 Words   |  7 PagesReading The Scarlet Letter again, I imagine Hester Prynne as she steps out of the Boston jail. She carries her out-of-wedlock baby in her arms but does not hide the A she wears on her breast. Her crime, though it will never be named in the book by more than an initial, is placed on exhibition. Yet she has converted the letter into her own statement by fantastic flourishes of gold embroidery. She is a mystery beyond the reach not only of her fellow Bostonians but also of the readerRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Scarlet Letter 1628 Words   |  7 PagesThe book, The Scarlet Letter, is about the struggle three people face while trying to live their lives and find happiness. In the early 1640s, Hester has come to the small town of Boston, Massachusetts, while her husband, Chillingworth, w as back in Great Britain. Hester and Arthur Dimmesdale, the town s priest, engage in the act of adultery and have a baby girl named Pearl, though only Hester knows that Dimmesdale is the father. She has promised Dimmesdale not to give up his identity. HesterRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Scarlet Letter 1404 Words   |  6 Pageswhere the scarlet letter, A, is an extended metaphor that symbolizes a multitude of things: adultery, sin, charity, righteousness, grace, and the danger of merely thinking symbolically. It also compares and contrasts the current states of Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Arthur Chillingworth. With this, it has a logical progression to the book’s ultimate conclusion. This section can be done in a bulleted format with brief (2-3 sentences) summaries by chapter if that works for the book. Chapter 1:Read MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Scarlet Letter 1143 Words   |  5 PagesIn the book,The Scarlet Letter, there are many questions that grab the reader’s attention. One of the most intriguing and thought ­provoking question is, â€Å"Is Hester Prynne a good mother and should she be allowed to keep Pearl?† This question does not have a simple yes or no answer, the reader must take into account many things the author mentions in the book. However, after careful consideration, one might find that Hester is not, in fact, a good mother, but should be allowed to keep Pearl. ThereRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Scarlet Letter Essay1022 Words   |  5 Pagesand women was even more prominent and obvious during the antebellum era. In The Scarlet Letter By Nathanial Hawthorne there was Hester Prynne and in The Two Offers By Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, there was Janette Alston. Both of these women, rose above the rest, through adversity, hardship, and aga inst all odds still came out on top, even during a time period that didn’t appreciate a strong woman. In â€Å"The Scarlet Letter†, Hester Prynne, was thrown in jail and forced to wear a symbol of her sin andRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Scarlet Letter 2029 Words   |  9 PagesThe Evolution of the A in The Scarlet Letter â€Å"So, in the course of the novel, the ‘A’ seems to encompass the entire range of human beingness, from the earthly and passionate ‘adulteress’ to the pure and spiritual ‘angel,’ taking into account everything in between,† begins Claudia Durst Johnson (128). Many believe the A in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter possesses only one meaning - adulterer; however, Hawthorne imbues the symbolic letter with diverse definitions. In the novel, HawthorneRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Scarlet Letter 1961 Words   |  8 PagesVital to the â€Å"A† The Scarlet Letter is a book complete of secrets and deceptions. The book teaches you about the difference about telling the truth or keeping it a secret. It shows you the challenges of both telling the truth and keeping a secret from everyone. There are many vital scenes throughout the book. With many of the scenes, if they weren’t in the book it would have had a completely different ending. The Scarlet Letter is a book full of eventful scenes that keep the book both exciting and interesting

Guidelines For Format And Content Of The Thesis - 3172 Words

GUIDELINES FOR FORMAT AND CONTENT OF THE DISSERTATION CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY Background The accounting profession was founded on the basis of public trust; the public must have confidence in the services provided by public accountants. Scholars agree accounting ethics education is one way to solidify public trust in the accounting profession. (Mastracchio Jr, Jimà ©nez-Angueira, Toth, 2015). In the aftermath of accounting scandals of the previous decade - specifically, those involving the scandals surrounding Enron, Arthur Anderson, and WorldCom - practitioners, regulators and educators have called for ethics reform and the introduction of ethics in university accounting programs. While current research confirms an†¦show more content†¦Furthermore, accountants need to have the ability to recognize moral issues that happen in business circumstances and the skill of judgment to determine alternatives for resolving ethical predicaments. Ethical standards apply to all accountants who enter the profession. The nature of accounting work, as it relates to deci sion-making, and its impact on businesses and stakeholders, requires the highest level of ethics. Accordingly, accountants must possess a dual competency of technical skills and knowledge and the ability to take ethical actions within accounting decisions. Statement of the Problem Accounting graduates are likely to encounter ethical situations in the workforce; however, ethics instruction in universities is inadequate and accounting graduates are ill prepared to handle ethical duties of complex, modern business organizations and transactions. The drive for high profit and high stock prices can tempt management to falsify or hide financial information from other stakeholders. Intense competitiveness and uncertainties of the global marketplace can force accountants to consider decisions to either benefit or to harm stakeholders. Accounting graduates must be able to consider the ethical implications of accounting decision making as well understand, apply and implement the rules and regulations of the accounting profession, which

Classical Operant And Observational Conditioning Essay Research free essay sample

Classical, Operant, And Observational Conditioning Essay, Research Paper Classical, operant, and experimental are all types of conditioning and larning. Conditioning, in psychological science, is doing an being to exhibit a specific response to a stimulation. A stimulation is anything that heightens exhilaration or action. Classical conditioning is a signifier of acquisition, in which a reflexive or automatic response transportations from one stimulation to another. For case, a individual who has had painful experiences at the tooth doctor? s office may go fearful at merely the sight of the tooth doctor? s office edifice. Fear, a natural response to a painful stimulation, has transferred to a different stimulation, the sight of a edifice. Most psychologists believe that classical conditioning occurs when a individual forms a mental association between two stimulations, so that meeting one stimulation makes the individual think of the other. Peoples tend to organize these mental associations between events or stimulations that occur closely together in infinite or clip. Classical conditioning was discovered by accident by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov was analyzing how saliva aids the digestive procedure. He would give a Canis familiaris some nutrient and step the sum of spit the Canis familiaris produced while it ate the repast. After the Canis familiaris had gone through this process a few times, nevertheless, it would get down to salivate before having any nutrient. Pavlov believed that someme new stimulation, had become associated with the nutrient and produced the response of salivation in the Canis familiaris. After an animate being has learned a conditioned response to one stimulation, it may besides respond to similar stimulations without preparation. If a kid is bitten by a big black Canis familiaris, the kid may fear non merely that Canis familiaris, but other big Canis familiariss. This is called generalisation. Less similar stimulations will normally bring forth less generalisation. After analyzing classical conditioning in Canis familiariss and other animate beings, psychologists became interested in how this type of larning might use to human behaviour. American psychologist John B. Watson conditioned a babe named Albert to fear a little white rat by partner offing the sight of the rat with a loud noise. Although their experiment was ethically questionable, it showed for the first clip that worlds can larn to fear apparently unimportant stimulations when the stimulations are associated with unpleasant experiences. Psychologists now know that classical conditioning explains many emotional responses? such as felicity, exhilaration, choler, and anxiousness? that people have to specific stimulations. Oxygen Ne of the most widespread and of import types of acquisition is operant conditioning, which involves increasing a behaviour by following it with a wages, or diminishing a behaviour by following it with penalty. operant conditioning refers to the fact that the scholar must run, or execute a certain behaviour, before having a wages or penalty. For illustration, if a female parent starts giving a male child his favourite bite every twenty-four hours that he cleans up his room, before long the male child may pass some clip each twenty-four hours cleaning his room in expectancy of the bite. In this illustration, the male child? s behaviour additions because it is followed by a wages or reinforcing stimulus. Positive support, is a method of beef uping behavior by following it with a pleasant stimulation. Positive support is a powerful method for commanding the behaviour of both animate beings and people. Negative support is a method of beef uping a behaviour by following it with the remotion of an unpleasant stimulation. Some of the earliest scientific research on operant conditioning was conducted by American psychologist Edward L. Thorndike. Thorndike? s research topics included cats, Canis familiariss, and poulets. To see how animate beings learn new behaviours, Thorndike used a little chamber that he called a mystifier box. He would put an animate being in the mystifier box, and if it performed the correct behavior the door would swing unfastened and the animate being would be rewarded with some nutrient located merely outside the coop. Thorndike developed a rule he called the jurisprudence of consequence. Although classical and operant conditioning are of import types of acquisition, people learn a big part of what they know through observation. Learning by observation differs from classical and operant conditioning because it does non necessitate direct personal experience with stimulations, reinforcing stimuluss, or punishers. Learning by observation involves merely watching the behaviour of another individual, called a theoretical account, and subsequently copying the theoretical account? s behaviour. Both kids and grownups learn a great trade through observation and imitation. Young kids learn linguistic communication, societal accomplishments, wonts, frights, and many other mundane behaviours by detecting their parents and older kids. Many people learn academic, athletic, and musical accomplishments by detecting and so copying a instructor. With these three really of import types of larning we can learn both worlds and animate beings new accomplishments. Teaching animate beings to make silly tasks that a human can execute is really possible. For case learning a Pan troglodytes to dance modern stone.

The Metamorphosis Gregor Was An Unselfish Person Essay Example For Students

The Metamorphosis: Gregor Was An Unselfish Person Essay The Metamorphosis: Gregor Was An Unselfish Person Essay Gregor was the most unselfish person in The Metamorphosis. This characteristic shows with his dedication to his work. He was the only family member with a job, believing he was the only one capable of it. Sacrificing his social life for his work, he had no friends at work, and never went out at night. His only hobby was fretwork, sitting alone in his room. The only person he was ever intimate with was his sister Grete. His devotion to his work was remarkable. In all of the five years he had worked for his fathers creditor, he had never once been absent. Always ready to go out on his rounds as early as possible, he never took advantage of time for a break. By the time he got back, the other employees were still eating breakfast. Under the belief that he was the sole provider for the family, Gregor took up a job with his fathers creditor, before even consulting his family. They, at the time, were of course impressed. The flat they were living in was chosen by Gregor. Making enough money, he hired a cook and servant. He was even thinking of sending Grete to the conservatorium to further enhance what he believed to be musical talents. Even after his metamorphosis, he never asked for much. Showing his concern for others wellbeing, he hid under the couch so as not to disgust anyone by his sight. Although they brought him food everyday, he barely ate any of it. He even wished he were not such a burden on the family, and that he could have transformed back into his old self. All of the actions mentioned above displayed Gregors unselfishness. After his metamorphosis, nobody indicated they were grateful for what he had done. After his first absence, the chief clerk himself appeared at Gregors house to see what was the matter. When Gregor did not open his door, the chief clerk accused him of stealing the companys funds, and degraded him in front of his parents as being insubordinate. After the transformation, Gregors father gave little or no love or support. Instead, he had hurt Gregor many times while ushering Gregor back into the room. Grete and her mother do, for some time, show a little support. After having Gregor around for a while however Grete asserted that they should somehow get rid of him. At this point, Gregor realized that his family no longer loves him, and gave up on life. Although Gregor did aid his family in a critical time of need, they hardly acknowledged this fact after his transformation. They never even tried to understand him. For the past five years, he provided for his family, and when he needed them, they did not care. After his metamorphosis, they all got jobs, something Gregor thought they were incapable of. After his death, they moved out of the flat, which was too expensive for them, leaving all of their memories, starting anew without him. .