The institution and I Essay Example for Free

The institution and I Essay This is similar to Brett; the protagonist in Scott Monks unconventionally written novel Raw. We first meet Brett at his umpteenth time of committing a crime. On his journey to his latest institution; The Farm, we learn of his negative attitude and surprise of being sent to a federation-styled homestead instead of a concentration camp patrolled by Dobermans and gun-toting guards. His negative attitude to authority is exemplified by constantly referring to the police as pigs and similies like Cops and food go together like pigs and slop. Sam is the symbolic role model who initiates Bretts reform, he offers his hand for a handshake, but Brett declines the offer. This symbolises his reluctance to change from his former self and habits. Scott Monk has deliberately put this theme of binary opposites in  the novel, to show how different the experiences are on individuals on different sides of the rules. When Brett first meets the other criminals occupying The Farm he is shown two different paths he can follow while there; he can follow the rules and rely on the institution for support and be like Josh. The other option is to have a blatant disregard and disrespect for the rules; and turn to violence as the answer to everything and be like Tyson. Brett is always at crossroads and does not show any change until the end of the novel, where he is put in a position where he must choose what path he wants to lead in life. The Farm does not use solitary confinement or violence as a form of punishment towards the boys, instead they are enforced upon the individual i.e. When Brett drink drives and crashes the Ute, he is punished by doing chores such as †¦pulling out weeds†¦ and †¦scrubbing the rust off oil drums†¦. Brett does not prefer to do such chores because he knows he is already being sent back to Sydney for breaking the law. Another way is by punishing the whole group for an individuals action, this leads to the individual harassment and negative victimisation towards this individual i.e. Brett tries to escape and is victimised by Tyson and his group who shave the hair off his head for the fear of losing privileges. The symbolic affects of before and after The Farm is represented by Rebecca and Caitlyn. The significance of Rebecca proves that Brett is only semi-rehabilitated; Rebecca symbolises Bretts continuing path to crime. Caitlyns personalities of being conservative and conformist replicate the path that Bretts life will lead to if he abides to the rules while staying at The Farm. It is because of Rebecca that he is sent away and Sam tells him only you can change ur life. This is the main theme to the whole novel, and has been put in deliberately by Scott Monk. He does this because he knows that his book is aimed at young teenagers and he knows that it will attract the attention of a lot of young teenagers because of its contents; rebelling amongst the  whole world because †¦it hates you†¦, fights, sex and run-ins with the law. Dissimilar to Raw, Shawshank Redemption a film directed by Frank Darabont, is set on themes focusing on the negative effects on the individual while in prison. Shawshank focuses mainly on physical abuse and punishment, this is seen in the fourth scene when Warden Norton is laying out the rules; †¦no blasphemy but verbal and physical abuse is condoned. Shawshank is different to Raw because it can be seen that, the guards physically abuse the inmates. Also; the plot of Raw is that the change is within the individual, but in Shawshank, the plot is to keep the criminals inside the dull grey walls away from the emerging and colourful society; There is only 3 ways to spend money on prisons: more walls, more bars, more guards. This piece of dialogue is ironic because the warden himself is in charge of a money laundering scheme throughout the prison, this is only possible with the help of the smart Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins). This operation leads Andy to find sarcasm in saying that On the outside I was an honest man, straight as an arrow, I had to come to prison to be a crook. This is an individual effect that Andy has had because of the institution; he has become a criminal. There is a belief that if an inmate has been in a prison for too long they rely upon the institution and become institutionalised i.e. Brooks; he served his 50 year sentence and throughout that time he is the prison librarian; †¦outside he is nothing. Upon leaving the prison he is given a place to stay and a job at Food Way. He doesnt like how the world has changed so fast and all he wants to really do is †¦get a gun and rob the Food Way so they would send me home. _Home_, he refers to the prison as home, by being away from a growing society, the institution has left him with a negative effect of being confused and not knowing anything about the outside world, but relying on the support of the institution. Brooks was rendered so incapable of independent thought and human operation in the world that he committed suicide. This portrays how Shawshank has become the opposite of rehabilitation and shuns out the beliefs of hope and ever getting out of the high; stone walls. Just like it did to Red, when Andy tries to explain how he can never become institutionalised, Red replies  with: Hope is a dangerous thing. It can drive a man insane. This explains how in Shawshank, redemption is a hard thing to find. Redemption is the improving of something, but if inmates are _hoping_ to _improve_, will they find redemption? Richard Nevilles article Come on, kids dare to resist published by The Sydney Morning Herald on the 3rd of May 2004. Outlines how the selfish gen Xers are more afraid of losing their credit cards than losing the planet. A gen Xer is a person born on Earth anytime between 1965 and 1980. Richard Neville is a man who doesnt want technology to rule our worlds, he is a hero to some and an enemy to others, his views are more futuristic, he is very concerned to where the future is headed and how we will get there. He himself is portrayed as the institution here, it is his views that make a lasting impact on people, the reason he is well known for his publicity. When commenting on a recent protest about young university students wanting lower fees he says this; The students have a point about the fees, but why cant they get upset about other peoples problems? He is referring to the war in Iraq. He wants the young students to look to the positive side and see that they have the education that they are taking for granted; the education a person their age in Iraq is deprived of even if they can afford it. These youngsters in Australia do not understand how lucky they are to be friends with America and not enemies like Iraq. His political based comments do not stop there; As for the future leaders of Australia, the strapping young professionals, the entrepreneurs, the trainee philosophers, where are they? Locked up with mortgage brokers, every one. See how he predicts a positive effect and job prospects towards _all_ future leaders of Australia and by saying that they are Locked up with mortgage brokers, every one. He is emphasising that they are experiencing a negative effect from their institutions and are becoming institutionalised by not being able to reach for that final goal; they can see it, but they cant have it. This is just like Brett in Raw he wanted to be like Josh, but couldnt because he could never leave his old habits behind him. This can also be related to Andy in Shawshank Redemption, he could see himself  outside the prison in New Mexico, but he was restricted by the greed and abuse of human rights. So he chose to break out and reach his goal, even if it was giving the institution a r eason to finally keep him there. Now readers the task is upon you to judge from what you have read here, go read Raw and go watch Shawshank Redemption, I have only expressed to you my opinion of these two excellent texts and their analysation of different institutions and their effects. It is now your turn to experience the self-discovery of how you lead your life and how the institutions around you lead their occupants lives. It is also an incredulous opportunity that todays HSC students are able to study this subject more thoroughly. It is because of this elective in year 12 English classes that the young adults of tomorrow can see where their futures may be heading and know now that there is always time for reform and change in their habits. Studying such socially active topics at school will prove useful in their future lives, as it will help them understand how they should deal with problems they face from institutions that they may come across in their life. Might I also add to keep a watch on Richard Neville, he has some intriguing predictions about the future on his website: http://www.richardneville.com.au

Children and the Psychological Price of Overachievement :: Parents Parenting Argumentative Essays

Children and the Psychological Price of Overachievement The issue of whether parents are too hard on their kids has been debatable for years. The subject started to present itself more as a problem when the Jon Bennet Ramsey case happened. The performing arts are where the problem of â€Å"pressure parents† seems to be the most prevalent and problematic. When does being there for the children become too much? When does â€Å"what’s best for the children† become the worst possible thing for the children? In the dance world, what goes on backstage to a performer is masked by the way the dancer carries them self on stage. The pressure that comes from a parent, particularly a mother, can be almost unbearable to a performer. Some parents try too hard to give to their kids what they could not or did not have when they were young. Parents try to relive their dreams of being the dancer or prima ballerina through their daughters and sons. Parents should not push their children to extremes. In the article, â€Å" Psychological Price of Overachievement,† by USA Today, they say that there are parents who push their kids too far. They tell their audience, parents and adults, the pressures and the outcomes of the pressures that can be put on the children from their parents. The article is trying to provoke thought in the audience to have them re-evaluate their parenting methods or what will be their parenting methods. The main concern is the kids in this case. The pressure sometimes builds so high that the dancer becomes unhappy and feels the need to do whatever it is to keep their parents happy. This can include developing an eating disorder, such as bulimia, or depression. As a dancer I saw all of these things first hand. Being backstage all that is heard is the voices of the few parents who are just telling their kids over and over that they need to be the best and perform the best out of the whole group of 100 or more people. When the parents would finally leave, many of the girls backstage with me would get so nervous and anxious about their performance and pleasing their parents that they would then go vomit in the bathroom.

Anna Karenina: a Different Kind of Love Essay

Progress is â€Å"the development of an individual or society in a direction considered more beneficial than and superior to the previous level (Dictionary.reference.com)†. Anna Karenina, written by Leo Tolstoy, is a book filled with tragedy, love and choices. This novel can be interpreted in several different ways, but the most common interpretation is that Anna’s husband Alexis Karenin represents the old fading traditions in Russia and Count Vronsky, Anna’s lover, represents the progress of Russia; Anna who is torn between choosing her husband and young son and her lover represents Russia itself, faced with the choice between the old traditions and the new â€Å"progressive† era. This â€Å"progressive† interpretation of Anna Karenina is the best and most accurate understanding of the book because of its meaning, its origination, and the affect it has on the characters. In Leo Tolstoy’s book Anna Karenina, the theme of â€Å"progression† plays a major role throughout the whole of the book. Count Alexis Kirillovich Vronsky, Anna Karenina’s lover, is an officer in the Russian army who is handsome, young, and charming, but morally unstable. When Vronsky first meets Anna he is mesmerized by her beauty and, for him, it is love at first sight; for a while his chief goal in life was to make Anna his own. Vronsky is a significant character throughout the novel because he embodies the modernization and progress of Russia. In contrast, Karenin personifies the old and dying customs of Russia. Because Anna decided to have an affair with Vronsky, she symbolizes Russia struggling while choosing between the old, Karenin, and the new, Vronsky. Because Anna chose Vronsky, at least at first, and forsook Karenin, or the old ways, she fell to ruin. As a result of her choices, Anna went mad with uncertainty; because she committed adultery, she began to doubt Vronsky’s faithfulness to her. Soon, Anna became wholly dependent of Vronsky, so much that he grew tired of her, believing that her new way of clinging to him was old fashioned and annoying. Convinced that Vronsky no longer loved her, Anna threw herself under a moving train at the train station where she was supposed to meet up with Vronsky. Anna did not realize that although there are certain things about progress that are virtuous, too much of anything, even a good thing is bad. The topic of â€Å"progress† seen throughout the book Anna Karenina was implied due to the setting of the book. Leo Tolstoy, the author, placed the book in the 1870s. From the 1850s to early 1900s Russia had the fastest and largest population growth rate out of all the important major powers after the U.S.A.; during this time Russia’s population nearly doubled. In 1870 the czar or Russia authorized city councils to be made that raised taxes and charged labor to help with city expenses, such as: roads, local schools, public healthcare, food supplies, and jails (Wikipedia.org, History of Russia; geographic.org). During the 1960s and 1970s the percentage of working age people with at least a minor education nearly doubled. All of this â€Å"progress† steadily affected the characters of Anna Karenina. This kind of modernization helped instigate Anna to be discontent with her life as Karenin’s wife and desire to be with Vronsky. If Anna had not desired life to be exciting, as modern ideas portrayed life to be, she would have easily been satisfied with a dull life with her old husband Karenin. All through the entirety of Anna Karenina, one can see how Anna’s choosing Vronsky over Karenin (the new over the old) affected her and the people around her. Before Anna met Vronsky she was much more contented with her life; after she met Vronsky and had grown to know him, her life, her husband and her son, seemed dull and boring in comparison. Upon getting to know Vronsky, Anna began to crave love, the kind that was exciting, and the kind that Vronsky offered her. Slowly, Anna realized how tedious her relationship with Karenin was; she realized that before Vronsky had come into her life, she had poured out all her love on her son. In the beginning, Anna did not wish to affiliate with Vronsky because she knew that an affair with another man would not only affect her and her place in society, but it would also affect her young son and her relationship with him. Not long after Vronsky had proclaimed his love to her, Anna told him â€Å"What you are saying is wrong, and if you are a good man, I beg you to forget it, as I will forget it (Part 1, Chapter 30, and Page 2).† From this quote an individual can see that, Anna was a conscientious woman, who knew right from wrong, and chose, at first, to do what was right. However, she was tempted by evil and sadly she gave in. Later on in the story, Anna discovered that she was pregnant with Vronsky’s child; in her confused frightened state of mind, she told Karenin, her husband, that she was Vronsky’s mistress. One would think that this would be a significant turning point in the book, but instead of breaking off their marriage Karenin decided that he wanted to put an end to their affair as privately as possible and have his marriage with Anna appear as it had before. For the longest time, Karenin had been suspicious, but he trusted his wife and believed she would never be disloyal to him; in his heart of hearts Karenin realizes that he is jealous of Vronsky because Vronsky is young, handsome, and the embodiment of progress and modernization. In comparison, Karenin was old; he was twenty years senior to Anna. A successful marriage is built around love and trust; in Anna and Karenin’s marriage there had been no true and enduring love; this caused Anna to be unfaithful to Karenin, which caused Karenin to be envious of Vronsky, and as a result of it all no love or trust remained between them. In comparison, two other character’s relationship was quite the opposite. Anna’s brother’s wife’s sister was a young woman named Kitty; near the end of the book Kitty married a man named Levin, who was also an old friend of Anna’s brother. Earlier in the book, even before Anna met Vronsky, Kitty had rejected Levin’s proposal believing that Vronsky intended to propose to her. However, after Vronsky had met Anna he stopped going to see Kitty and went instead to follow Anna wherever she went. Well along in the story, Kitty regrets rejecting Levin and after a while they get back together. Because of how Anna had stolen Vronsky from her Kitty, for the longest time, was envious of Anna and Levin was jealous of Vronsky because Vronsky had also taken his love. Since Kitty’s and Levin’s love was much deeper than that of Anna’s and Karenin’s, they were able to overcome these trifles and (basically) lived happily ever after. In conclusion, the understanding of â€Å"progress† seen throughout the book Anna Karenina is accurate because of its meaning, origination, and overall effect of the characters. The interpretation of Alexis Karenin representing the fading old area of Russia, Vronsky symbolizing â€Å"progress†, and Anna herself signifying Russia is most relevant because of how significant it is throughout the entire book.

A reflection of Being and Nothingness and Woman as the Other Free Essay Example, 2000 words

Even in the modern world, a woman is immensely weak, though feminist movements have in the recent past attempted to reverse the trend. Though society is conscious of the imperative role played by women, men tend to look away from their achievements. Beauvoir implies that the sex that wields more authority, usually the subject and the absolute males, have access to better opportunities, and resources to support their endeavors. However, for women, they are grappling with the adverse effects of being in nothingness. I consider this as driven by the notion that men have historically been identified as the absolute human, the most influential, the best in skill and intellect, most important, and usually successful in the world. Although women have such abilities as well, the society has discriminated against them and pushed them to the lower social pedestal. Females are just the weaker human persons that came to be after the absolute man. Owing to the infringement on women s liber ties, they suffer more in society due to lack of or inadequate education, and harsher economic opportunities. In that literature, Jean-Paul Sartre tries to elucidate an issue which many philosophers overlooked. We will write a custom essay sample on A reflection of Being and Nothingness and Woman as the Other or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page Nonetheless, Kant did not perceive a processing of a variety and the planning event.