Heart Of Darkness Essays (1402 words) - Congo Free State

Heart Of Darkness Part I In the novel, Second Class Citizen, the main character, Adah, is a strong, Nigerian women who faces sexism from within her own culture since she was born. She explains, ?She was a girl who had arrived when everyone was expecting and predicting a boy... She was so insignificant? (Emecheta 7). In the Ibo culture that Adah grew up in, being a girl was looked down upon. Giving birth to a boy was a major accomplishment, whereas giving birth to a girl was an equally major disappointment. Girls were taught to be useful, not intelligent: ?A year or two would do, as long as she can write her name and count. Then she will learn to sew? (Emecheta 9). In Ibo culture, girls were valued for their domestic abilities. Adah refused to be measured by this, instead she was determined to go to school and get an education. She worked had to overcome the sexist attitude that her culture held. This sexist attitude continued after she got married to Francis. Francis is a typical Ibo male. He held the view that the males should go and get educated and the female should stay home, or in Francis' case, work to support his education. Adah knew his attitude, ?The sharpness seemed to say to her: ?It is allowed for African males to come and get civilsed in England. But that privileged has not been extended to females yet'? (Emecheta 36). Francis is a pure reflection of the values held by the Ibos. All Francis wanted from Adah was money, to pay for his education, and sex: ?As far as he was concerned marriage was sex and lots of it, nothing more? (Emecheta 41). To Francis, Adah was a sexual object. As far as he was concerned, her feelings didn't matter, she was not a real person. Adah knew she was up against the enemy when she challenged Francis, but she was able to rise about he sexism and leave Francis. Not only does she go against her own culture, but she wants her children to reject the sexist attitude as well: ?My sons will learn to treat their wives as people? (Emecheta 121). Adah is a strong women who will not let herself be objectified and will not let the sexism of her culture keep her down. Adah would dislike the way that women are portrayed in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness because women are treated as though they do not belong in the real world. Women are treated as objects instead of people with thoughts and feelings. It is this treatment that Adah worked hard to overcome. Part II In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Marlow, the narrator of most of the story, tell the story of his journey into the Congo searching for the lost ivory trader, Mr. Kurtz. Throughout Marlow's journey, he encounters different types of women. In his encounters with his Aunt, the African women, and Mr. Kurtz's intended fiancee, Marlow shows his demeaning and sexist view of women. Marlow objectifies women depending on their race. The white European females are looked upon as domestic beings who should tend only to their home worlds, while the only African women is portrayed as a sexual object. It is this objectivity that causes Marlow to never reveal the truth about Mr. Kurtz's life and death. The first woman that we meet is Marlow's aunt. She is the one paying for his trip to the Congo, yet Marlow does not respect her views. Marlow says, ?She talked about ?weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways,' till, upon my word, she made me quite uncomfortable... It's queer how out of touch with women are? (Conrad 11). In essence, Marlow is saying that women are out of touch with reality, even though it is clear that his Aunt's views about Africans reflect the popular view of the time. That view being to Christianize Africa and get rid of their traditional culture. This view was held by the likes of Rudyard Kipling, Leoplod II and other prominent men of the time. Marlow does not recognizes his Aunt's views simply because she is a women and he doesn't think women belong in the real world. He says, ?They [women] live in a world of their own, and there had never been anything like it, and never can be? (Conrad 11). Marlow expresses the fact that women live in sort of a alternate universe, that is that they are out of touch with reality.

Alcoholic Teens essays

Alcoholic Teens essays When teens run into friends around town, a common question that most of us hear is Hey, what are you doing tonight? This could be answered any number of ways, but in this day and age you will probably hear about how everybody is going over to somebodys house to drink. Keggers and Jungle Juice parties are the most common, because they are cheap and will get you drunk. Keggers usually sell cups for the beer which will give you unlimited refills. Jungle Juice parties ask for a cover at the door and again you are given unlimited refills. The only difference between the two is that Keggers are beer and Jungle Juice parties are mixtures of hard alcohol. Fridays and Saturdays are prime days to go out and drink. Teens know those are the days you dont have to get up on the following morning. With that in mind, you can easily drink yourself silly causing your body to become dehydrated. This has come to be called a hangover. Hangovers can completely incapacitate you giving you any of the following; headache, nausea, diarrhea, lack of appetite, shakiness, feeling tired, and a gross-tasting mouth. These are caused by being dehydrated and by the by-products when alcohol is digested. One such by-product is acetaldehyde. Research suggests that it may be responsible for the worst of your hangover. Someone that can subject themselves to this pain every week really needs to redefine their idea of fun. It seems to have become the only thing teens can do to enjoy themselves. Days of going bowling, roller skating, and cruising in the car seem to be over. Some may still do these things, but not as often as they go to gatherings or parties. The idea to get together and socialize can still be accomplished even though you wont have a drink in your hand. Activities such as cookouts, swimming, and sports can easily take place of any alcoholic party. The fun is already included if you let yourself relax and get int...

Quality Control Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Quality Control - Essay Example The above example also shows the fact that there are certain parameters which can be used to measure or identify the quality level of a certain product. These are called as ‘Quality Characteristics’ by Mitra (6). These characteristics may include the aesthetics of the product, its durability, cost, utilization factor etc. 1.1. History of Quality: The sense of maintaining the quality of products and services has been existent since times immemorial. The early Egyptians, Greeks and Romans maintained quality standards in their buildings, structures, artifacts, utensils etc. The term ‘quality’ itself is however relatively newer. During the early days of industrial revolution, the need of maintaining quality in the production industry recognized but not emphasized. As a result no special workforce was designated to check the quality control. Instead, the foreman or the supervisor was the person responsible for the quality of product being made. Hence it was entir ely on his discretion what efforts he puts in order to maintain the quality standards. As the industries grew in size and the strength of personnel reporting to a particular supervisor increased in size, it became impossible for the supervisor to check the quality of each unit produced at the industry. The task of maintaining the quality was then assigned to quality inspectors. ... This moved the engineers and mathematicians to develop statistical methods of quality control. Walter Shewhart, in 1924, proposed his quality control charts which aimed at controlling the features of a product through statistical methods (Mitra 3). In 1929 he formed ‘Joint Committee for the Development of Statistical Applications in Engineering and Manufacturing’ with the support of American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM), American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME), American Statistical Association (ASA) and Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS). The committee made efforts to promote the principles of statistical quality control in the industries. The use of statistical methods in the quality control procedures gained wide acceptance in the days of World War II. Good quality machinery was vital for the armies to win battles hence quality control was essential. But large amount of weapons and machinery supplies has to be produced and every single unit cou ld not be checked for quality assurance. Hence powerful statistical methods were required for ensuring quality in industries. The rules of Sampling gained were widely accepted and implemented. The American Society of Quality Control was established in 1946 to standardize the quality control procedures 1.2. Quality Control and Six Sigma: Six Sigma is a technique used to measure the degree to which a process conforms to the consumer needs. It is based on the number of units produced that comply with the quality standards set by the organization or demanded by the customers. The method was developed by Motorola Corporation in 1986. Six Sigma basically focuses

Philadelphia Primate Head Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Philadelphia Primate Head Study - Essay Example Some decades ago, the federal government had to suspend the funding of the University’s Head Injury Clinical Research Laboratory. The reigning president back then, Sheldon Hackney, further issued a directive to stop the institution’s use of animal experiments aimed at discovering the best treatment for victims of trauma-related brain damage. The directive served as a timely response to a preliminary report by the National Institute of Health (NIH) aimed at halting a particular baboon research project (Meyer 1). In my honest opinion, the use of primates in studies should be abolished because it is disrespectful to anatomy, unjust and goes against the ethics of beneficence and non-maleficence. In May 1984, Animal Liberation Front (ALF) activists intruded the deserted Philadelphia campus of The University of Pennsylvania and took several videos of animals suffering during various head tests (Orlans 71). The videos captured more than 60 hours of enforced baboon-suffering through bombarding of the primates’ heads using pistons in order to induce brain injuries. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) made claims that the videotapes showed actions of repeated violations of federal policies that govern the humane use of animals in research laboratories (Orlans 71). In the experiments, scientists disregarded the use of surgical asepsis and employed a very insignificant amount of anesthesia to the primates’ bodies. Beneficence refers to an action done for the benefit of others through prevention/removal of harm ("Beneficence vs. Nonmaleficence" par.1). The principle demands that all physicians should refrain from harming their patients. The researchers i n Philadelphia, therefore, through causing the baboons tremendous levels of pain, disregarded the need to observe the principle of beneficence. The painful act also illustrates a significant deal of injustice to the animal. I am of the opinion that, even if an animal has to die,

EU’s Fifth Action Programme Essay Example for Free

EU’s Fifth Action Programme Essay The introduction of European Union’s Fifth Action Programme into the continent pollution control mechanism has wide range benefits, several of which will be discussed in subsequent sections of this paper. Indeed, the application of the programme will completely change how people in the continent deal with pollution issues. One reason for this change is fact that most of pollution control measures would be done at the grassroots level as opposed to the traditional model of having measures develop and implemented at national and continental level. In explaining benefits of the programme, the paper is divided into five sections, each of which addresses a specific benefit. I. Creation of Responsibility Culture Decentralisation of solution to pollution issues in EU will lead to situation where individuals at the local level take responsibility for pollution problems in their respective localities. In this regard, it would be possible to develop measures that in line with local demands. This is because members of local community understand bets what could be ailing their environment. In addition, having an understanding that there’ll never be outside help will create a culture of responsibility among locals. This could be achieved through preventative measures ensuring that pollution is avoided in the first place, or even minimise effects minimal pollution that might occur. Individual communities and households will that start depending on themselves in matter pertaining to controlling pollutions. This is because they will understand that solutions would only come from local efforts. This factor has the benefit of cultivating competition between communities, because they would have been equalised under the programme. Such competition has the potential of leading to less pollution as communities try to out do each other on the ones that are more prosperous in terms of being pollution free. All this would lead to increasingly pollution free communities facilitated by residents themselves. By implementing the programme, individual communities and countries would not have anyone to blame for the status of their environment’s pollution levels. The involvement of people shall be a boon to stakeholder initiatives directed at reducing pollution. This is because people and groups shall feel freer in dealing with issues that have for many years been preserves of governmental organisations. In addition, stakeholder groups that have been pushing for individual efforts in the protection of environment in localities will now start becoming active. It has to be understood that localised stakeholder groups help individuals in societies to come together to develop initiatives that lead to better communities. Fact that the EU Fifth Action Program will provide them with a voice is indeed of great importance. In addition, individuals that are not in a position to participate in stakeholder groups will be free to develop their own mechanisms to control pollution in their own neighbourhoods. This can even be doe at the family level, where members of the same family join hands in protecting their small environment from pollution. Doing this in several private properties enable the creation of pollution free neighbourhoods. Fact that all this would be done through initiatives developed at local levels is something to be desired, because, as discussed later in the paper, policymakers at national and regional level would be able to concentrate on other pressing matters. Other than leading to productivity in the protection of protecting environment at local level, the programme is also a vital tool of education member of public that it is possible to make changes in their communities without depending too much on the European Union. People in the region will further understand that they have power to make changes. At the end, the mentality that successful measures can only be achieved through intervention of national and regional authorities will be demolished completely. This will lead to the genesis if self dependency in solving pressing issues at local levels without rushing to authorities for help. II. End Paternalism Application of the program in pollution control will also help members of public understand the role of European Union in their day-to-day lives. At it currently happens, members of the public in the region might tend to think that EU exists to solve problems like pollution. In this regard, the people will have to understand that EU’s environmental mechanisms are developed to help member countries harmonise their frameworks. In other words, member countries come together and help develop best frameworks to deal with environmental issues; it is up to the countries and their citizens implement these mechanisms and ensure of they are working. Fact that paternalism has become popular in most European countries could be leading to mentality that EU exists to improve lives of member country citizens. The application this program may help in the process of disseminating that mentality completely. In this regard, people will stop looking for top to bottom solutions in their problems and thus developing bottom to top solutions. In addition, leaders at the local level would feel empowered to lead their congregation in ways that would directly benefit the local community. This new process of solution finding would be good because it has the capabilities of developing preventative measures in the first place. The localisation of decision making processes would also help communities adapt to changes that get effected in the process implementing policy changes. This is a great move from the traditional frameworks that has tasked national governments with responsibilities of helping community members at the lowest level adapt to policy changes. In the new model, it shall be up to local leaders and authorities to help the community. This has positive gains because people have easy access to leadership that would help them in the process. Having the leaders being located close to the people will also improve passage of information between stakeholders, and with it deliver the desired message to the people. As mentioned earlier, the localisation of decision making and policy implementation would lead to competition between communities has the advantage of resulting to greater efficiency. The comparison of performance between communities would help in understanding best practices in the localities would help the areas performing poorly to copy from best performers. This copying from the best would help in the implementation of pollution policies, because each locality would take best practices and tailor them in accordance to local demands, which would be a shift from the traditional model of having one size fits all mechanisms developed at regional and national levels.

EU’s Fifth Action Programme Essay Example for Free

EU’s Fifth Action Programme Essay The introduction of European Union’s Fifth Action Programme into the continent pollution control mechanism has wide range benefits, several of which will be discussed in subsequent sections of this paper. Indeed, the application of the programme will completely change how people in the continent deal with pollution issues. One reason for this change is fact that most of pollution control measures would be done at the grassroots level as opposed to the traditional model of having measures develop and implemented at national and continental level. In explaining benefits of the programme, the paper is divided into five sections, each of which addresses a specific benefit. I. Creation of Responsibility Culture Decentralisation of solution to pollution issues in EU will lead to situation where individuals at the local level take responsibility for pollution problems in their respective localities. In this regard, it would be possible to develop measures that in line with local demands. This is because members of local community understand bets what could be ailing their environment. In addition, having an understanding that there’ll never be outside help will create a culture of responsibility among locals. This could be achieved through preventative measures ensuring that pollution is avoided in the first place, or even minimise effects minimal pollution that might occur. Individual communities and households will that start depending on themselves in matter pertaining to controlling pollutions. This is because they will understand that solutions would only come from local efforts. This factor has the benefit of cultivating competition between communities, because they would have been equalised under the programme. Such competition has the potential of leading to less pollution as communities try to out do each other on the ones that are more prosperous in terms of being pollution free. All this would lead to increasingly pollution free communities facilitated by residents themselves. By implementing the programme, individual communities and countries would not have anyone to blame for the status of their environment’s pollution levels. The involvement of people shall be a boon to stakeholder initiatives directed at reducing pollution. This is because people and groups shall feel freer in dealing with issues that have for many years been preserves of governmental organisations. In addition, stakeholder groups that have been pushing for individual efforts in the protection of environment in localities will now start becoming active. It has to be understood that localised stakeholder groups help individuals in societies to come together to develop initiatives that lead to better communities. Fact that the EU Fifth Action Program will provide them with a voice is indeed of great importance. In addition, individuals that are not in a position to participate in stakeholder groups will be free to develop their own mechanisms to control pollution in their own neighbourhoods. This can even be doe at the family level, where members of the same family join hands in protecting their small environment from pollution. Doing this in several private properties enable the creation of pollution free neighbourhoods. Fact that all this would be done through initiatives developed at local levels is something to be desired, because, as discussed later in the paper, policymakers at national and regional level would be able to concentrate on other pressing matters. Other than leading to productivity in the protection of protecting environment at local level, the programme is also a vital tool of education member of public that it is possible to make changes in their communities without depending too much on the European Union. People in the region will further understand that they have power to make changes. At the end, the mentality that successful measures can only be achieved through intervention of national and regional authorities will be demolished completely. This will lead to the genesis if self dependency in solving pressing issues at local levels without rushing to authorities for help. II. End Paternalism Application of the program in pollution control will also help members of public understand the role of European Union in their day-to-day lives. At it currently happens, members of the public in the region might tend to think that EU exists to solve problems like pollution. In this regard, the people will have to understand that EU’s environmental mechanisms are developed to help member countries harmonise their frameworks. In other words, member countries come together and help develop best frameworks to deal with environmental issues; it is up to the countries and their citizens implement these mechanisms and ensure of they are working. Fact that paternalism has become popular in most European countries could be leading to mentality that EU exists to improve lives of member country citizens. The application this program may help in the process of disseminating that mentality completely. In this regard, people will stop looking for top to bottom solutions in their problems and thus developing bottom to top solutions. In addition, leaders at the local level would feel empowered to lead their congregation in ways that would directly benefit the local community. This new process of solution finding would be good because it has the capabilities of developing preventative measures in the first place. The localisation of decision making processes would also help communities adapt to changes that get effected in the process implementing policy changes. This is a great move from the traditional frameworks that has tasked national governments with responsibilities of helping community members at the lowest level adapt to policy changes. In the new model, it shall be up to local leaders and authorities to help the community. This has positive gains because people have easy access to leadership that would help them in the process. Having the leaders being located close to the people will also improve passage of information between stakeholders, and with it deliver the desired message to the people. As mentioned earlier, the localisation of decision making and policy implementation would lead to competition between communities has the advantage of resulting to greater efficiency. The comparison of performance between communities would help in understanding best practices in the localities would help the areas performing poorly to copy from best performers. This copying from the best would help in the implementation of pollution policies, because each locality would take best practices and tailor them in accordance to local demands, which would be a shift from the traditional model of having one size fits all mechanisms developed at regional and national levels.

EU’s Fifth Action Programme Essay Example for Free

EU’s Fifth Action Programme Essay The introduction of European Union’s Fifth Action Programme into the continent pollution control mechanism has wide range benefits, several of which will be discussed in subsequent sections of this paper. Indeed, the application of the programme will completely change how people in the continent deal with pollution issues. One reason for this change is fact that most of pollution control measures would be done at the grassroots level as opposed to the traditional model of having measures develop and implemented at national and continental level. In explaining benefits of the programme, the paper is divided into five sections, each of which addresses a specific benefit. I. Creation of Responsibility Culture Decentralisation of solution to pollution issues in EU will lead to situation where individuals at the local level take responsibility for pollution problems in their respective localities. In this regard, it would be possible to develop measures that in line with local demands. This is because members of local community understand bets what could be ailing their environment. In addition, having an understanding that there’ll never be outside help will create a culture of responsibility among locals. This could be achieved through preventative measures ensuring that pollution is avoided in the first place, or even minimise effects minimal pollution that might occur. Individual communities and households will that start depending on themselves in matter pertaining to controlling pollutions. This is because they will understand that solutions would only come from local efforts. This factor has the benefit of cultivating competition between communities, because they would have been equalised under the programme. Such competition has the potential of leading to less pollution as communities try to out do each other on the ones that are more prosperous in terms of being pollution free. All this would lead to increasingly pollution free communities facilitated by residents themselves. By implementing the programme, individual communities and countries would not have anyone to blame for the status of their environment’s pollution levels. The involvement of people shall be a boon to stakeholder initiatives directed at reducing pollution. This is because people and groups shall feel freer in dealing with issues that have for many years been preserves of governmental organisations. In addition, stakeholder groups that have been pushing for individual efforts in the protection of environment in localities will now start becoming active. It has to be understood that localised stakeholder groups help individuals in societies to come together to develop initiatives that lead to better communities. Fact that the EU Fifth Action Program will provide them with a voice is indeed of great importance. In addition, individuals that are not in a position to participate in stakeholder groups will be free to develop their own mechanisms to control pollution in their own neighbourhoods. This can even be doe at the family level, where members of the same family join hands in protecting their small environment from pollution. Doing this in several private properties enable the creation of pollution free neighbourhoods. Fact that all this would be done through initiatives developed at local levels is something to be desired, because, as discussed later in the paper, policymakers at national and regional level would be able to concentrate on other pressing matters. Other than leading to productivity in the protection of protecting environment at local level, the programme is also a vital tool of education member of public that it is possible to make changes in their communities without depending too much on the European Union. People in the region will further understand that they have power to make changes. At the end, the mentality that successful measures can only be achieved through intervention of national and regional authorities will be demolished completely. This will lead to the genesis if self dependency in solving pressing issues at local levels without rushing to authorities for help. II. End Paternalism Application of the program in pollution control will also help members of public understand the role of European Union in their day-to-day lives. At it currently happens, members of the public in the region might tend to think that EU exists to solve problems like pollution. In this regard, the people will have to understand that EU’s environmental mechanisms are developed to help member countries harmonise their frameworks. In other words, member countries come together and help develop best frameworks to deal with environmental issues; it is up to the countries and their citizens implement these mechanisms and ensure of they are working. Fact that paternalism has become popular in most European countries could be leading to mentality that EU exists to improve lives of member country citizens. The application this program may help in the process of disseminating that mentality completely. In this regard, people will stop looking for top to bottom solutions in their problems and thus developing bottom to top solutions. In addition, leaders at the local level would feel empowered to lead their congregation in ways that would directly benefit the local community. This new process of solution finding would be good because it has the capabilities of developing preventative measures in the first place. The localisation of decision making processes would also help communities adapt to changes that get effected in the process implementing policy changes. This is a great move from the traditional frameworks that has tasked national governments with responsibilities of helping community members at the lowest level adapt to policy changes. In the new model, it shall be up to local leaders and authorities to help the community. This has positive gains because people have easy access to leadership that would help them in the process. Having the leaders being located close to the people will also improve passage of information between stakeholders, and with it deliver the desired message to the people. As mentioned earlier, the localisation of decision making and policy implementation would lead to competition between communities has the advantage of resulting to greater efficiency. The comparison of performance between communities would help in understanding best practices in the localities would help the areas performing poorly to copy from best performers. This copying from the best would help in the implementation of pollution policies, because each locality would take best practices and tailor them in accordance to local demands, which would be a shift from the traditional model of having one size fits all mechanisms developed at regional and national levels.