Uncertainty & Sam Shepard Essay Example for Free

Uncertainty Sam Shepard Essay ‘Coalinga 1/2 way’ by Sam Shepard is an interesting portrayal of the nature of writing that is characteristic for this author. Part of a book that contains a series of similar stories, this short narrative is an emblem of the phenomena of uncertainty. It not only talks about this state for one person, but actually, for life in general. A feeling of intense solitude and pessimism is a distinguishing feature in the story. It primarily features the emotional state of a person, who has just left his wife and child for his lover; the latter on the other hand is to leave with her husband – something that is disclosed only at the end. The story depicts the immense emotional challenge of being at a crossroad in life, and having to choose between two ways that go completely opposite. Initially, the dilemma of the wife of the lead character is shown, accompanied by his unsure nature. He only resorts to telling her that he has left after he has left the house and is half way to his second destiny. This in turn tells us that not only he lacks sense of decision, but also the courage to disclose what he really feels. A similar trait is reflected when the wife insists that the child be told about this venture by the father himself. So it turns out that the gentlemen did not muster up the required nerves to disclose it to his family members in person. This also depicts the shallow and under confident nature of the person. Though it is a decision that he has taken which is anybody’s right, but he seems afraid of facing the consequences and hence he has restrained himself from explaining this to his wife on her face. He was uncertain about the reaction of the wife and hence he thought of doing it on the telephone. A hidden feeling of insecurity is also visible through this act. For if it were to be assumed that his act is the best way to go forward, then he should have not considered it right to do it in a sort of hideout. The story then takes its turn towards its end when we realize that the lady for whom he has left his family, is not willing to do the same with him; she already has plans with her husband. Here, he is left hanging, and asks the symbolic last question, â€Å"Where am I supposed to go? † The overall defeatist attitude, and the ultimate failure of this person speaks of how the author tends to portray the nature of his actions. It seems that the scriber does not agree with the decision that he has made, and thus ultimately punishes him to be left standing nowhere. With a negative impression overall, and dejected members of the story in total, the all encompassing picture presented in the story is that of not being sure as to which way life is going to turn the next moment. It seems that the author has projected his own feelings of uncertainty upon his main character, and has voiced through his emotions and words, his own question towards life; why do things not happen as per our plans? Though answers are not given for this question in the story, it is stated vehemently that our decisions can not be fulfilled as per our desires. Whether the wish is constructive or otherwise, what is important is that things did not turn out as were planned, leaving him at an unknown juncture in his life. With a mixture his lack of conviction, failure to decide convincingly and inability to face the music, the only grounds that he finds himself are uncertain ones. One is left with the feeling at the end, that if at such a crucial crossroad in life, things cannot go as we want them to, then what really is the true purpose and meaning of life. In all, nothing in life, seems for sure!

Abortion Can Never Be Justified :: Papers

Abortion Can Never Be Justified Christians all react differently to the issue of abortion. Some would say that abortion is murder because they would believe that life starts from the moment of conception. This follows a Roman Catholic Church view but not all Roman Catholics would agree. The mainstream Roman Catholic view is that life is sacred. They would say that life is God given and the only person who has the right to take life is the one who created it (God). If God has created all life then God is the only person who can take it away. So if a woman was raped then the Roman Catholic view would be to raise the child by "loving her enemies" Mark 12:29-31. This would mean that she would be loving her enemy, which would be the baby from her oppressor and love the child to give it a healthy way of life. Roman Catholics would support giving her help and aid to raise the child by giving the mother money and if needed a secure living environment. Even if she could not look after it herself most Roman Catholics would accept her putting the child into adoption, that way the child is not murdered and can be loved and cared for. But not all Roman Catholics as I mentioned before have this opinion on abortion. Some would adopt their own opinions or those of other churches. The Church of England say that abortion is wrong unless having the child is putting anybody's life in danger. They see that life does not begin until birth. Anything before that is only potential life, therefore to have an abortion is not murder but it is still not acceptable to have one for any other reasons. They would explain in the case of rape that abortion of the oppressor's child would be seen as the lesser of two evils and should be accepted. The Church of England still recognise that human life is valuable as it is created in the image of God but they would argue that life does not start at

Are gender differences socially shaped?

a) The term androgyny is the meaning for a person who uses both male and female characteristics. b) Content analysis is the analysing of different communications and the sort of message they're giving out. An example of this is a study of British TV adverts conducted by Manstead and McCulloch in 1981. They found evidence that stereo-typing of the male and female role was significant and that because of this, the adverts are likely to play an active part in shaping cultural attitudes towards women. c) One study in which the experimental method was used was by Money & Erhardt (1972). They were interested in seeing whether a boy who's identity had been changed would develop as a biological male or, because of his new identity, a male. They could compare this with his identical twin brother. The method was that due to an accident during surgery, this child of 7 months suffered injuries to his genitals so badly that the doctors advised to the parents that he should be castrated and given plastic surgery to create a female appearance. During adolescence, the hormone oestrogen was given to the child (known as Joan) to encourage breast development. Money monitored the behaviour of Joan until early adolescence. The results were that Joan did in fact develop as a normal female. She assumed a traditional female identity and was far more feminine than her identical twin brother. The conclusion to this experiment is that if it was presented in the nature vs. nurture debate, nurture would win in this case. Even though Joan was a biological male, the results showed that Joan developed a female gender identity. d) The use of cross-cultural research to investigate gender differences is essentially to point the differences in cultures by environmental factors, shaping the development of gender identity. Mead (1935) conducted a study of three societies to see whether there were differences in gender roles looking at the nature vs. nurture idea. She went to New Guinea for six months to study ‘The Arapesh' who lived in the mountains, ‘The Mundugamor' who lived by the riverside and ‘The Tchambuli' who lived on the lakeside. She wasn't campring the differences between the three groups, but the differences of their culture compared to traditional Western culture. Her results showed that The Arapesh showed that there were similarities between themselves and Western society, although they were more interested in the community than reaching their own individual targets. The Mundugamor showed traits that were described as masculine. Both males and females were ‘fierce' and ‘cannibalistic'. The Tchambuli had very obvious gender roles, although they were the reverse of the West; men were more artistic and women held more status and economic power. Her conclusion to this was that culture is the major socialising and conditioning agent, particularly in the early years. There's no relationship between biological sex and gender role. Although this has been a hugely studied work, there is some criticisms that should be brought up. She was very young when she produced this study, so she was with little life experience and her judgement may have been influenced and slightly ‘over-the-top' in places. She was known to have believed strongly in the idea that the environment is a major factor in shaping gender roles. Mead only spent six months in these places, so didn't get the full yearly cycle. Errington and Gewertz (1989) recognised all of these problems and went to do the same study that Mead had done over 50 years before them. They went to the Tchambuli and recognised that women didn't diominate men, nor did men dominate women. They believed that Mead being a women and experiencing what she may have thought ‘unfair' at the time in 1930's Western culture, may have changed her idea of what she was observing. Despite the flaws, this was still a great study that used cross-cultural research to investigate gender differences. In conclusion, I think that cross-cultural studies into gender differences has certainly provided a lot of evidence over the years to show that gender differences are a socially shaped. Traditions and values certainly shape cultural ideas, but maybe due to the nature of evolution, what might appear to be social to us, may now be biological within our bodies, so it would be harder for us to change our ways that we live.

Malala Yousafzai Youngest Winner of Nobel Peace Prize

Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani Muslim born in 1997, is the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and an activist supporting the education of girls and women’s rights. Earlier Childhood Malala Yousafzai was born in Pakistan, born July 12, 1997, in a mountainous district known as Swat.  Her father, Ziauddin, was a poet, educator, and a social activist, who, with Malala’s mother, encouraged her education in a culture which often devalues the education of girls and women. When he recognized her keen mind, he encouraged her even more, talking politics with her from a very young age, and encouraging her to speak her mind.  Ã‚  She has two brothers, Khusal Khan and Apal Khan. She was raised as a Muslim and was part of the Pashtun community. Advocating Education for Girls Malala had learned English by the age of eleven and was already by that age a strong advocate of education for all.  Before she was 12, she began a blog, using a pseudonym, Gul Makai, writing of her daily life for BBC Urdu.  When the Taliban, an extremist and militant Islamic group, came to power in Swat, she focused her blog more on the changes in her life, including the Taliban’s ban on education for girls, which included the closing of, and often physical destruction or burning of, over 100 schools for girls. She wore everyday clothing and hid her schoolbooks so that she could continue to attend school, even with the danger.  She continued to blog, making clear that by continuing her education, she was opposing the Taliban. She mentioned her fear, including that she might be killed for going to school. The New York Times produced a documentary that year about the destruction of girls’ education by the Taliban, and she began more avidly supporting the right of education for all. She even appeared on television. Soon, her connection with her pseudonymous blog became known, and her father received death threats. He refused to close the schools he was connected with. They lived for a while in a refugee camp. During her time in a camp, she met womens rights advocate Shiza Shahid, an older Pakistani woman who became a mentor to her. Malala Yousafzai remained outspoken on the topic of education. In 2011, Malala won the National Peace Prize for her advocacy. Shooting Her continued attendance at school and especially her recognized activism enraged the Taliban. On October 9, 2012, gunmen stopped her school bus and boarded it. They asked for her by name, and some of the fearful students showed her to them.  The gunmen began shooting, and three girls were hit with bullets. Malala was injured the most severely, shot in the head and neck. The local Taliban claimed credit for the shooting, blaming her actions for threatening their organization. They promised to continue to target her and her family if she should survive. She nearly died of her wounds. At a local hospital, doctors removed a bullet in her neck. She was on a ventilator. She was transferred to another hospital, where surgeons treated the pressure on her brain by removing part of her skull. The doctors gave her a 70% chance of survival. Press coverage of the shooting was negative, and Pakistan’s prime minister condemned the shooting. Pakistani and international press were inspired to write more extensively about the state of education for girls, and how it lagged behind that of boys in much of the world. Her plight was known worldwide.  Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize was renamed the National Malala Peace Prize. Only a month after the shooting, people organized the Malala and the 32 Million Girls Day, to promote girls’ education. Move to Great Britain To better treat her injuries, and to escape the death threats to her family, the United Kingdom invited Malala and her family to move there.  Her father was able to obtain work in the Pakistani consulate in Great Britain, and Malala was treated in a hospital there. She recovered very well.  Another surgery put a plate into her head and gave her a cochlear implant to offset hearing loss from the shooting. By March of 2013, Malala was back in school, in Birmingham, England. Typically for her, she used her return to school as an opportunity to call for such education for all girls worldwide. She announced a fund to support that cause, the Malala Fund, taking advantage of her worldwide celebrity to fund the cause she was passionate about.  The Fund was created with the assistance of Angelina Jolie.  Shiza Shahid was a co-founder. New Awards In 2013, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and for TIME magazine’s Person of the Year but won neither. She was awarded a French prize for women’s rights, the Simone de Beauvoir Prize, and she made TIME’s list of 100 most influential people in the world. In July, she spoke at the United Nations in New York City. She wore a shawl that had belonged to murdered Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The United Nations declared her birthday â€Å"Malala Day.† I Am Malala, her autobiography, was published that fall, and the now 16-year-old used much of the funds for her foundation. She spoke in 2014 of her heartbreak at the kidnapping, just a year after she was shot, of 200 girls in Nigeria by another extremist group, Boko Haram, from a girls’ school Nobel Peace Prize In October of 2014, Malala Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, with Kailash Satyarthi, a Hindu activist for education from India.  The pairing of a Muslim and Hindu, a Pakistani and an Indian, was cited by the Nobel Committee as symbolic. Arrests and Convictions In September 2014, just a month before the Nobel Peace Prize announcement, Pakistan announced they had arrested, after a long investigation, ten men who had, under the direction of Maulana Fazullah, Taliban head in Pakistan, carried out the assassination attempt.  In April 2015, the men were convicted and sentenced. Continued Activism and Education Malala has continued to be a presence on the global scene reminding of the importance of education for girls. The Malala Fund continues to work with local leaders to promote equal education, to support women and girls in getting an education, and in advocating for legislation to establish equal educational opportunity. Several children’s books have been published about Malala, including in 2016 For the Right to Learn: Malala Yousafzai’s Story. In April 2017, she was designated a United Nations Messenger of Peace, the youngest so named. She occasionally posts on Twitter, where she had by 2017 almost a million followers. There, in 2017, she described herself as â€Å"20 years old | advocate for girls’ education and women’s equality | UN Messenger of Peace | founder MalalaFund.† On September 25, 2017, Malala Yousafzai received the Wonk of the Year Award by American University and spoke there. Also in September, she was beginning her time as a college freshman, as a student at Oxford University. In typical modern fashion, she asked for advice for what to bring with a Twitter hashtag, #HelpMalalaPack.