Cause and Impact Analysis on the Main Character’s Suffering in Elizabeth Gilbert’s Novel Eat, Pray, Love

Chapter I INTRODUCTION In this chapter the researcher discussed about this study based on background of the study, problem statements of the study, purpose of the study, the significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study, and definition of key terms. All of them were included on the chapter one as fulfilled of the study. 1. Background of The Study Literature did not take itself to a single definition because the achieving of it over century has been as complex and natural as the life itself. Many literary experts had different opinion about literature. In this case, it was related with the time and social condition. Literature itself was correlated with human’s expression. Identical with life, it could be seen that literature was a true picture or replication of human’s life. The focus of literature was mankind’s life and the problem in it. It described that mankind’s life had many ways of expressing their felling, imagination, creation, and communication definitely the events of taking human life. Long in his book,† English literature,†(194:8) writes that literature is the expression of life in the word of troughs and beauty, it is the written record of man’s thoughts, emotions, aspirations, it is the story, and the only history, of the human soul. Literary work so far was considered to be difficult to understand because it needed a sharp sense of appreciation to get willingness to find out what the author wanted to express to the readers. Therefore, the readers needed to look into not only outer surface of its components but also what was more important in the essence of it. It also implied things in the works of literature had to be dug out to find the valuable lesson hidden. The appreciation of literary work was always stand by special attitude such as how to interpret, characterized and evaluate. Literature could not be separated from language because literature was language used at the best. Language was the medium of literature and the only purpose of language communicated something from the person to another. Language was also connection of literary work. As the connection of literary works signed to system which connected of a works of literature, an author, and the readers. The connection was complicated based on develop the three aspects. According Segers (1978:24 – 25) communication of literary works is complicated than communication of machine. According Connoly (1955). Literature has three characteristics. Firstly, literature has power. It means that the use of language in a certain piece of work of literature may create powerful emotional impacts in readers mind. Secondly, literature is vivid. The written work of literature can make someone hear, feel, and see. Thirdly, the language of literature is clear. To clarify this, the author uses in passage to describe the character, the author clarifies his definition of person by allowing who he is, why he does it, now he does it what he would never do. Literature was grouped on some categories by some experts related with time, form, and purpose of using literature. According Jakob Sumardo and Saini in their book â€Å"Apresiasi Kesusastraan† (1986:180 divided Literatures into two categories that Non Imaginative literature and Imaginative Literature). Imaginative literature is the writing contains fact explanation or real people life and history which aim at conveying knowledge to article, history book, dictionaries and text book. On the other hand, imaginative literature aims an entertaining as well as giving information. In this case the author tries to tell about his though, ideas and feeling. A novel is a book length story in prose, whose author tries to create the sense that while we need, we experience actual life, (Kennedy, 1983:180). In reading a novel, the readers would gain messages, and it was not easy to interpret, it needed work hard to appreciate contents of novel forget message has been conveys by author. As novel might have many characters, some characters might never ever come into relation with an author. People knew that all the people in the world at this moment and elated, if only by the nature of the fact that they were all living at the same time. Direct contact was not necessary to establish relationship, though a novelist would probably show closer relationship among his character that there was merely being alive at the same time. Through reading a novel, the readers gained messages find out from novel that the author was conveyed pass the contents of novel. Like the main char acter of a novel would be representation of human’s expression from the events of human life such their problem, struggle of life and conflict. They could not be separated from love, sacrifice, humanity and sorrow. We were able to appreciate human life and do out our problem concern with psychological, social, and others. The contribution of appreciation novel was the readers have to analyze for gaining the messages. Analyzed of main character would give us insight of human life about pressure conflict that impact of psychological of main character â€Å"Eat Pray Love†. It was very different from other novels I met before. In this novel â€Å"Eat Pray Love†, an author gives a different sensation but about common problems that happen to anyone. Problems in the novel â€Å"Eat, Pray, Love† gave a different atmosphere. Although it seemed simple but had a tremendous conflict. Conflicts that occurred in daily were a pervasive anxiety and depression in the main character in this novel. Impressed simple but very weighty. There were some review came from San Francisco Chronicle – Don Lattin and Jennifer Egan. Both of them gave respond about this novel. Firstly, the review came from San Francisco Chronicle – Don Lattin of her review that Gilbert's writing is chatty and deep, confident and self-deprecating. She's a quick study and doesn't worry about leading readers down uncharted paths. That makes her work engaging and accessible but sometimes gets her and the rest of us lost in space. And the second, the review also came from the famous person was The New York Times – Jennifer Egan; Lacking a ballast of gravitas or grit, the book lists into the realm of magical thinking: nothing Gilbert touches seems to turn out wrong; not a single wish goes unfulfilled. What are missing are the textures and confusion and unfinished business of real life†¦. While I wouldn't begrudge this massively talented writer a single iota of joy or peace, I found myself more interested, finally, in the awkward, unresolved stuff she must have chosen to leave out. As added from the review that the researcher had interview from his friends. That the novel eat, pray, love was wonderful with the style of main character’s behavior. It also gave some taste of the novel with the journey of the main character was beginning of therapy. Therapy for releasing was from the main character’s suffering. As the researcher, the review above encouraged to conduct research and understanding in the content of novel. It gave motivated from the researcher interpreted the content of Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel eat, pray, love. The researcher also would give some evidence about the subject of the novel as spiritual and the genre of the novel was about memoir. In this story, the writer of this thesis would discuss of the main character’s suffering, the causes and the impacts that influenced of the main character’s suffering, and how to solved from its. This thesis discussed about the main character’s suffering because it was dominant theme of the story. For the main character’s suffering of this study just would be proved about the main character suffered. The evidences of the main character’s suffering just shown of the confession of the main character’s life based of the Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel eat, pray, love. 1. 2 Problem Statement of the Study In this study there were some problems that were necessary to be investigated in relations with the main character’s suffering (Liz) in the novel. The writer of this thesis formulated the problems as follows: . What were the main character’s sufferings on Elizabeth Gilbert â€Å"Eat Pray Love†? 2. What were the causes and impacts of the main character’ suffering? 3. How did the main character overcome her suffering? 1. 3 Purpose of the Study The writer of this thesis stated purposes of the study to find out the answer of th e problems. They were formulated as follows: 1. To describe of the main character’s sufferings. 2. To describe the causes and the impacts of the main character’s suffering. 3. To describe the overcome of the main character’s suffering? 1. 4. The Significance of the Study This study intended to provide an example for the students who wanted to understand a novel by means of the content of the novel. Secondly, it was expected to be able to enhance and encourage the readers, especially the students of English Department to pay more attention on literary works. The researcher of this thesis also hoped that the readers would be able to take result of this research as the lesson in their life. Not only for the students who gained the contributions of this thesis but also between English teacher and other researches who wanted to interpret it. This study intended to provide for the English Teacher who wanted to develop their knowledge about novel and increased their vocab. For other researchers and the readers gained many lessons of this study such as the main character’s suffering that impacted the reader’s mind; the causes and the impacts of the main character’s suffering; and how to overcome of the main character’s suffering. Both of them would give insight for the cases of this study. This study presented some contributions liked struggle, conflict of life, and problems of life occurring to the main character. The object of this study was unique. It was 108 tales of the novel that it liked japa mala. Japa mala was strings of beads. In a way, this study gave many contributions for the Students, English Teachers, other researchers, and the readers. 1. 5 Scope and Limitation of the Study The researcher of this thesis just wanted to discuss suffering. So, the researcher of this thesis gave the scope of novel eat, pray, love by Elizabeth Gilbert. The limitation of the study by only discussing the causes and the impacts of main character’s suffering, and how to overcome of the main character’s suffering in Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel eat, pray, love. . 6 Definition of the Key Terms. To make the study clearer to the readers and to avoid confusion in understanding this study, the writer of this thesis would like to present several definitions of key terms: – Novel is book length story in prose, whose author tries to create the sense that, while one reads, they experience it (Kennedy, 1983:180). – Suff ering is feelings of pain or unhappiness (hornby, A. A, 1974). – Cause is produces and effect from something. – Impact is striking of something. – A main character is someone the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art. Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of the novel â€Å"Eat Pray Love† Chapter II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE In chapter two, the researcher gave review of related literature such as; literature; fiction; novel; definition of novel; kinds of novel; the elements of novel; theme; setting; plot; characterization; conflict; subject matter and theme; the nature of suffering. 2. 1. Literature According to Jones Jr. (1986) literature is simply another way people can experience the world around them through the imagination. It can be divided into two different groups’ namely informative literature and imaginative literature. Informative literature deals with facts, explanation, real people’s life, and history. Imaginative literature, on the other hand aims to arouse thoughts and feelings. In other books, literature is as the standard of expression from what the people have shown in life, have experienced about life, have lost in thought and felt about aspects of life which interest in directly and forcefully. Actually, it is an expression of life passing through language form (Hardjana, 1981:14). In other words, literature born because of fundamental motivation of human being’s interest in literary works. Perrine (1959:311) defines literature according to the aim of writing literature. He makes two broad categories of literature, namely:: escape literature and interpretative literature. Escape literature is that written purely for entertainment, to help is pass the time agreeably. Its only objet is pleasure. While, interpretative literature is written to broaden and deep and sharpen our awareness of life. It takes us, through imagination, deeper into the real world: it enables us to understand the reality of life better. Francis Connoly (1995) said that men read because of hunger for information or amusement or solace on appetite for truth that literature is anthology or collection of stories, poems, plays, novels and other works of literature written by many different authors. Literature should not only provide enjoyment for readers but it also gives something more important to their life. 2. 2 Fiction Fiction was narrative literature that created an imaginary reality in the form of a story written in sentences and paragraph with no strongly rhythmic base. There was usually a sense of various experience of someone recreating past events. Included are novel, novelette and short story. But in this study the researcher only focused to the novel. 2. 3 Novel Novel usually concerns with human being and through the story give valuable message for us. Novel can enrich our sense of humanity and imagination, because it tries to portray human relationship, love struggles, ambition and experience. By reading novel people can get knowledge about expression of life by words and the readers can find of human personality, many characters of people and human behavior. . 3. 1. Definition of Novel Novel was which one forms of traditional fiction, as the literary works, are meant for telling stories. According to Singleton and Millet in their book â€Å"An Introduction to Literature† that novel is prose fiction of considerable length showing characters in action and capable of greater complexity both character and plot than the story†. (1966: 1194). This idea supported by Webster (1952), that a fiction prose narrative of considerable length, portraying characters, action and scene representative of real life in a plot of more and less intricacy. Novel is not like a short story, novelette, and novella. The categories differentiate about traditional fictions above are length. Novel is not also like a short story for some aspects. According Jones in his book â€Å"Outlines of Literature† (1968:80) that a short story focuses on one incident time; an over has far more range. It may deal with a lifetime a number of incidents. A novel may have many character, some characters may never even come into contact with others, but who are, nevertheless, somehow involved with others. However both of them are different for some aspects, both of them are some similarities. Both are prose fiction and dealing with truth, problems, conflict and both of them have the same aim to entertain and to inform,. In both, the elements of structure are found: plot, characterization, setting and theme but a novel is longer and more complex. 2. 3. 2. Kinds of Novel In the anthology of English literature, Putra (1978:53-54) mentioned seven types of novels and addition of a few experts as follows: 1. The picaresque novel, the novel which talks about the adventures of a rougher knave. For example: Moll Flanders (Defoe); Joseph Andrew and Tom Jones (Fielding). 2. The epistolary novel, the novel written in the form of series of letters between the characters. For example: Pamela, Clarissa Harolow, (Richarson). 3. The sentimental novel, the novel that contains an exaggerated expression of sentiment, aimed at producing a calculated response from the reader. For example: Pamela (Richardson) and A sentimental journey (Stern). 4. The Gothic novel, the novel that covers such elements as horror, death, violence, mystery and the supernatural predominate. For example: Laura Conway’s The unforgotten, Fran Kestein (Mary Shelly, Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte). 5. The didactic novel, the novel in which the message is used to teach something or to preach political or religious doctrines and social reforms. For example: Dickens’s novels are didactic novels aimed at social reforms. 6. The historical novel, the novel which sets a historical background, a detailed reconstruction of life in another time. For example: Sir Walter Scott’s novels. 7. The domestic novel, the novel which mostly talks about the domestic problems of certain family. For example: Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility). 8. memoir? novel, a kind of novel that pretends to be a true autobiography or memoir. It was an important form in the emergence of the modern novel during the 18th century, in such works as Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders (1722) and John Cleland's Memoirs of a Lady of Pleasure (1748–9; usually known as Fanny Hill). A similar pseudo? autobiographical mode of first? person narrative is found in very many later novels, but the pretence that the real author was only an ‘editor’ of a true account did not outlive the 18th century. . Romance, This form of novel goes beyond ordinary experience and social predicaments into make-believe. Something new is being searched for in an alternative world beyond familiar circumstances so that the novel's purpose is a moral or ideal issue. Nevertheless, the transportation to some idealized world, or going on a somewhat fantastic journey, can lead to disappointment , and its moral outcome. The characters' ideals can be crushed. The fantastical journey can be a big illusion or joke, where the reality is a series of mundane disappointments or repeated errors. European writers tend to present and then undermine the fantastic, whereas Americans use the fantasy to explore matters. Portrait of a Lady (1881) by Henry James; Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Bronte This study discussed eat, pray, love novel by Elizabeth Gilbert and this kind of novel included a memoir-novel. Some of researchers such as publishers weekly classify this novel into a kind of romantic novel. Actually this subject of novel is spirituality. It combined with some conflicts, problems, struggle, causes and impacts of the main character’s suffering, and recovering of the problems through spirituality based of the novel. . 3. 3 The Elements of Novel There were some elements of novel, which have relation with the study, namely: theme, setting, plot, character, characterization, conflict, and suffering. 2. 3. 3. Theme Theme is basic or the aim of story or novel (Brooks and Warren, 1959:688). According to Scharbach theme is the idea which become the foundation of a sto ry, so it has a role as the writer’s foundation in describing their fiction work the other explanation, in addition theme is not synonymous with moral or message and theme relates to meaning and purpose. In the sense, in order to understand the theme, the readers have to understand the significant element which builds a story including the meaning of a story and able to related the purpose of these creation. Edward H. Jones, Jr. point out the theme of a novel is its underlying idea or wisdom that the author is presenting. Kenney (1966:91) says that the theme is the meaning of the story releases. Koesnosoebroto (1988:79) quoted from Perrine (1959:143) propose some principle to look for a theme in story: (1) Theme must be expressible in the form of statement with a subject and predicate. Theme must be statement about the subject, (2) the theme must be stated as a generalization about life. Theme was often listed as one of fundamental elements of fiction. In this case, the makings of novel had a theme which became a major type of message. This was the central idea from an author. On eat, pray, love by Elizabeth Gilbert included of spirituality or religious. 2. 3. 3. 2 Setting According to Connonly (1954:14), setting is in a sense â€Å"the time place and concrete situation of the narrative of environment in which characters spin out their destinies. In a good story, setting is also well integrated with plot and character that the reader is hardly aware of it. The function of setting is to create an atmosphere that is kind of mood or emotional which suggested by the setting to establish the reader’s explanation (Kennedy, 1966:38) There were two kinds of setting; physical and psychological. Physical setting means the place where an event happens. Physical setting related with place. Psychological setting is concerned with environment or the object in certain environment which influence the reader emotion. Psychological setting can be in term of situation, attitude and point of view of certain society’s environment. Setting consists of (1) the actual geographical location, including topography, scenery, event the details of a rooms interior, (2) the occupation and mode of day to day existence of the characters, (3) The time in which the action takes place, e. g. historical, season, and emotional environment of the character (Kenney, 1966:40). The setting was also list as one of the fundamental elements of fiction. The explanations about setting have fully described above. The physical setting meant the place, and time when the events was occurring such as â€Å"I discovered Giovanni for a few weeks after I’d arrived in Rome, thanks to that beg Internet cafe at the Piazza Barbarini, across the street from the fountain with the sculpture of that sexy merman blowing into his conch shell. † And the second is the psychological setting that means describing about the full setting of the events have occurred. The process of the study have met many psychological setting of eat, pray, love novel by Elizabeth Gilbert. 2. 3. 3. 3. Plot A plot was the structure of emotion, which existed on fiction or drama. According to Edward H. Jones, Jr, plot is the action of the story. It is the sequence of events involving the character or characters. In other words, plot is the sequence of events in a story. Each event causes or leads to the next one. And a plot reveals events to the readers, not only in their temporal but also their casual relationship. In other opinion, Tarigan said the principle of plot in another literary work that a fiction should be the beginning, middle and the ending. In literature they are usually calls as exposition, complication and denouement. In the beginning, usually a plot begins exposition; it is the background of setting and situation. Furthermore, narrative book is drawing the reader into the story. Rising action is the events that contribute to the climax. Whereas, climax is the point of highest dramatist tension. The falling action presents the result of the climax, and the resolution gives the final outcome. According to Connonly, (19955:6) besides, Mac Millan in â€Å"Appreciating Literature†, there is the scheme of plot, as follows: Climax Rising ActionFalling Action ExpositionNarrative book Resolution 2. 3. 3. 4. Character According to Kennedy (1983:45), character is an imagined person who inhabits a story. But his definition, as himself admits, is over simplified, for in stories may happen not only to the people but also the elements of nature such as the wind, the wave, grass or stone, or even animals. The story will exist only because these things will be treated as if they were human rather that as what we know they are in nature, with the exception of stories with animals as characters (Koenosoebroto, 1988:65). On the basic of importance character can be divided into two types, mayor and minor character (Koesnosoebroto, 1988:69). Mayor character is the most important character in a story. Basically the story is about this character, but he or she cannot stand on his own. He or she needs other character to make the story more convincing and minor character is less important character that those of the mayor, for the minor character just support the mayor one. Sunaryo Koensosoebroto in his Book writes, protagonist is the character who has attitudes, which is pleasing the readers. Antagonist is the character who has attitudes, which is not pleasing and doesn’t agree with the reader’s imagination. 2. 3. 3. 5. Characterization According to Kearns (1984:610), a characterization is personality of the character and the method that an author uses to reveals this personality. Edward H. Jones, Jr said that characterization is the depicting of clear images of a person. There are two methods of characterization†: the dramatic and the analytic. In the dramatic we form our opinions of the character from what they do and say, from their environment, and from what other characters think of them. In the analytic method the author comments upon the characters, explaining their motives, their appearance, and their thoughts. Characterization can be direct or indirect. With direct characterization the author directly states fact about a character’s personality; with indirect characterization the author reveals a character’s personality indirectly through the character’s physical appearance, words, thoughts, and actions or through what other characters say about that character. Characterization described characters comprises are physics, though, appearance, and actions or through what other characters say about that character. Habitually, it appeared of fiction the author used a passage to describe the character, author clarifies his definition of person by allowing who he is, why he does it, now he does it what he would. It was discussed of the characteristic of fiction above. 2. 4. Conflict In daily life, conflict was mostly caused by the different opinion, limited skills, unfulfilled and dissatisfaction. According to Edward H. Jones (1968) is divided conflict into three categories: physical, social and psychological conflict. The physical conflict is a conflict of the character against the nature. The social conflict is a conflict between human being. It is a conflict where a man against a man, the main character may be against some person or group of person. Those two kinds of conflict can be classified as external conflict, the last in psychological conflict. It means that a conflict of a character against herself or himself. This conflict can be classified into internal conflict. On some statements about conflict we sometimes met with others statements that more completely described about it. Before we would be far explanation of conflict, we discussed the means of conflict. World English Dictionary means that conflict is discord of action, feeling, or effect; antagonism or opposition, as of interests or principles: a conflict of ideas. It also means a mental struggle arising from opposing demands or impulse. Consequently, we would find some categories from conflict itself of our though. We could directly distinguish conflict into some types; Person Vs Person, Person Vs Machine, Person Vs Society, Person Vs Nature, Character Vs Self, and the last Person Vs Supernatural. In http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Fiction there are six basic types of conflict. In modern times, Person vs. Machine, also known as Person vs. Technology, has become another one. 1. Character vs. self Character vs. Self is the theme in literature that places a character against his or her own will, confusion, or fears. Man vs. Self can also be where a character tries to find out who he or she is or comes to a realization or a change in character. Although the struggle is internal, the character can be influenced by external forces. The struggle of the human being to come to a decision is the basis of Character vs. Self. Examples include the novel called Grendel on the character taken from the epic Beowulf. More recently, there have been movies about Character vs. Self such as Fight Club and the Academy Award winning movie, A Beautiful Mind. When a person struggles with his or her inner self by deciding what's right or wrong. 2. Person vs. person Person vs. Person is when, in a novel, there is a conflict of two forms of like beings. An example is the hero's conflicts with the central villain of a work, which may play a large role in the plot and contribute to the development of both characters. There are usually several confrontations before the climax is reached. The conflict is external. Person vs. Person can usually be expressed by when a child is being ridiculed by a bully. An example is the conflict between Judah and Messala in Ben-Hur. 3. Person vs. Society Person vs. Society is a theme in fiction in which a main character's, or group of main characters', main source of conflict is social traditions or concepts. In this sense, the two parties are: a) the protagonist(s); b) the society of which the protagonist(s) are included. Society itself is often looked at as a single character, just as an opposing party would be looked at in a Person vs. Person conflict. An example in literature would be Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. right. 4. Person vs. Nature Person vs. Nature is the theme in literature that places a character against forces of nature. Many disaster films focus on this theme, which is predominant within many survival stories. It is also strong in stories about struggling for survival in remote locales, such as the novel Hatchet or Jack London's short story â€Å"To Build a Fire†. Also A separate peace is a good example with Leper not wanting to jump out of the tree. Some are not so remote such as Banner in the Sky. 5. Person vs. Supernatural Person vs. Supernatural is a theme in literature that places a character against supernatural forces. When an entity is in conflict with his, her, or itself, the conflict is categorized as internal, otherwise, it is external. Such stories are often seen in Freudian Criticism as representations of id vs. superego. Bram Stoker's Dracula is a good example of this, as well as Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and â€Å"Christabel† by Samuel Coleridge. It is also very common in comic books 6. Person vs. Machine/Technology (Main article: Man vs. Machine) Person vs. Machine/Technology places a character against robot forces with â€Å"artificial intelligence†. I, Robot and the Terminator series are good examples of this conflict. In this study the researcher found some conflicts of Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel eat, pray, love. There were consisted of the person versus self, and person versus person based according from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Fiction. In other side, the researcher summarized the conflict from the two types of conflict in Edward H. Jones. According Edward H. Jones (1968), there are external conflict and internal conflict. The external conflict comprised cosmic, social, and physical conflict. In other side, the internal conflict was psychological conflict. Based on the novel, the main character found psychological conflict as the internal conflict and physical conflict as the external conflict. Psychological conflict is a character experiences inner unrest and discord, essentially struggling within him. Characters may struggle with themselves in various ways, including wrestling with ideas of good and evil, struggling with weaknesses and grappling with decisions. Psychological conflict may reveal itself as an individual wrestling with a moral decision or trying to overcome a handicap. Characters who suffer from addictions or who make self-destructive choices may also be manifesting psychological conflict. And physical conflict is characters struggle against other external forces. A character may struggle against other characters, animals or even natural forces. Physical conflict may manifest itself as problems with physical shelter or safety, or it may be reflected through fights between friends, family members or lovers. . 5 Subject Matter and Theme Kenney (1966:11) says that subject matter is not what the worked contains, but what the work refers to. The subject matter of this novel,†Eat Pray Love† is the story of Elizabeth’s life. Theme is the topic of the story. Kenney (1966:91) describes that theme is the meaning of the story that releases. The theme of the novel â€Å"Eat Pray Love† is spiritual and for the gen re of the novel is memoir. 2. 6. The Nature of Suffering Happiness and sadness always accompany people’s life. Life would be colorful with such feelings. Sometimes, when they feel happy they will fill their life with enthusiasm and excitement. In other causes, when their feeling is not good, they will easily get angry because of uncontrolled emotion and the result is that they can easily get them into trouble, when their life are not felt pleasant as usual. They become worried about the safety and afraid of their belongings. Those emotions can create bad judgment toward other people. They can take a friend into enemies and make their life sorrow. So, those can make them feel stressed and depressed. Because, of that, they always live in worrying and suffer. From above explanation, it can be conclude that suffering is bearing on feeling something that is not comfortable in their life that is faced by human being. According to Munandar his book â€Å"Ilmu Budaya Dasar† (1992:68) there are two kinds of suffering based on the causes. The first, suffering physical reason, suffers internal state which can be caused by physical demands on the body, such disease condition, climate or extremes of temperature, injury, infection and the like. The second, the mental reason, suffering is caused by environmental and social situations which are evaluated as potentially harmful, and controllable. The situations or events that cause sufferings are changes in one’s life, exercise, noise, frustration and job, social or family pressure. Both of them could meet each other. If the person got the mental reason it seems no worry. But if it continued embed of someone, it would destroy her endurance. The study I got the mental reason of eat, pray, love novel by Elizabeth Gilbert. There is some suffering that appeared of the study as follow; psychosomatic of main character, â€Å"Depression and loneliness have arged into my life again, and I just took my last Wellbutrin three days ago. † (P – 68) the explanation impacted of main character of the study, â€Å"I am schizo† (P – 69) and others impacts of main character’s suffering. Consequently, mental reason is a suffering is caused by environmental and social situations which are evaluated as potentially harmful, and controllable. According to Spencer A. Rathus and Jefrey S. Nevid of their book à ¢â‚¬Å"Psychology Abnormal† (2003:70) mentions the psychosocial and environmental problems become some categories Category Problem |Cases | |Problems with Primary support groups |Death of family members; Marital disruption in the form of separation, divorce, or | | |estrangement; sexual or physical violence within the family; neglect of children; birth | | |siblings | |Problems related to social environment |Death or loss of a friend; living alone or social isolation; the difficulty in adjusting | | |the new culture (acculturation) | |Problems relating to education |Illiterate; academic difficulties | |Employment problems |excessive workload, problems with labor leaders, changes in employment; the threat of job | | |losses | |Housing problems |homeless, living in an unsafe environment | |Economic problems |Poverty | |Problems with access to health services |Health services are inadequate or no health insurance availability | |Problems relating to the legal system |Arrest or imprisonment; involved in a lawsuit or a court; victims of crime | |Psychosocial and other environmental problems |natural disasters or man-made disasters; counselor; hostilities; doctors | The problems above were relating one’s progress that would impacts of their life. Some experts who deal with mental symptoms or psychiatrics argued that the problems above endanger on human health. Someone gained one problems above would be behave abnormally due to a mental attack from their environment. Abnormal behavior affects almost everyone in different ways. Abnormal behavior patterns that include psychological dysfunction or behavioral disorders are classified by mental health experts as a psychological disorder or mental disorder. Mental disorders could be cured with treatments such as taking medication – drugs, yoga or improve the spiritual, writing in the diary for the lower stimulation, and others. It could be without help from psychiatric and for improving spiritual must have a teacher for guiding us be a seeker. Chapter III Research Method In this chapter the researcher would give development of the thesis. The researcher used the qualitative content analysis as the methodology of the research design. The chapter would discuss which related research design; approach; the objective of study; data collection; and data analysis. Consequently, the researcher explained their area of the chapter three not only on the outer surface but also what more important of the essence of it such as gave flowchart or conceptual framework to make easily and more complete describing of the thesis. 1. Research Design This study used the qualitative content analysis. Content analysis is a methodology in the social sciences for studying the content of communication. It could be used of qualitative and quantitative. According Vredenbreght (1983 – 66-68), explicitly analysis method is first used in United States in 1926. Content analysis method comprises two kinds; there are latent content and communication content. As qualitative methods, the basic implementation of the method of content analysis is interpretation. If the process of interpretation in qualitative methods to give attention to the natural situation, the basic interpretation of the content analysis method to give attention to the content of the message The researcher also used certain technique to get the data that is library research. It was used to get the information about the problem that has correlation with this study in the form of books, encyclopedia and dictionary. 2. Data Source In appreciating Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel, â€Å"Eat Pray Love† the researcher of the thesis uses the data source. The writer of this thesis studied about novel itself was without relating to the author’s life, background of society or background to the worked and focused on analysis suffering of the main character only. Source data in the literature is the work, words, sentences and discourse. (Pro. Dr. Nyoman: 47) . According to Abrams (1981), a literary approach consists of four divisions; they are mimetic, pragmatic, expressive and objective approach. 1. Objective Approach This approach tries to study literature work itself, without relating to the author’s life, background of society or background of the work. 2. Mimetic Approach This approach views the literary work as an imitation or reflection of the world and human life. From this classic theory comes the view that a work of literary in some ways imitates the work of civilization in which it was produced. 3. Pragmatic Approach This approach views the work as something which is constructed in order to achieve a certain effect on the audience (the effect such as arouse their emotion, perhaps argues for ideas that charge minds) and it tends to judge the value of the work according to its success in achieving that aim. 4. Expressive Approach This approach treats a literary work primarily in relation to the author, the expression of the author’s feeling and emotion, or as the product of author’s imagination operating on his or her perceptions The researcher chosen objective approach to described and developed the thesis. It made easily of the thesis and also the researcher more focused to the thesis. The researcher would research by objective approach. 3. The Object of the Study The object of the study in this thesis was in the novel â€Å"Eat Pray Love† written by Elizabeth Gilbert. The discussing this thesis was focused on main character’s suffering. 4. Data Collection The data of this study are words, sentences, and discourses of the novel that deal with suffering. The data have been selected of this study are as follows: 1. Reading and understand the ‘Eat Pray Love’ novel, written by Elizabeth Gilbert. 2. Understanding the theme and characters, and focusing on Liz’s suffering in Elizabeth Gilbert’s ‘Eat Pray Love† novel 3. Choosing data dealing with the problem which is going to be investigated. 4. Selecting data dealing with the purpose of this study on the novel. 5. Conducting to examine towards paragraph or dialogues in the novel 3. 5. Data Analysis The research of the data analysis would give flowchart or conceptual framework to make easily corrected the data of the thesis. The conceptual framework was in the thesis used Miles and Huberman based on their book as the qualitative data second edition. Interpretation of thePredicting to processAnalyzing data to organizeMake The object dataselecting data as textaccordance with the goalconclusion To analyze the data, the following steps were liked a flowchart above:. 1. Reviewing the data that have been collected. 2. Predicting the data dealing with the purpose of the study. 3. Analyzing the data that based on the characteristic that refers to main character’s suffering in Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. 4. Making useful conclusion, implication, and suggestion for the next decision. The researcher analyze the data based on the steps above before the researcher collect the data, the researcher interpreted the data and noted for collecting data would be researched. Then the data would predicted into some categories and differentiate data which not related the purpose of the thesis would be removed. The data have been collected based on the researcher researched a book or novel. Novel which been researched by the researcher is eat, pray, love by Elizabeth Gilbert. The analyzing of the data focused of the causes and the impacts of main character’s suffering by Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel eat, pray, love. The data comprised text because human activity was seen as â€Å"text† as collection of symbols expressing layers for meaning. The researcher had to be deep understanding, conviction, and conceptual orientation of own research. Then the research made conclusion, implication, and suggestion for the next decision. Impinging FactorsInternal Context as HostAdoption Decision CHAPTER IV FINDING AND DISCUSSION In this chapter, the writer of this thesis wanted to answer the problems stated in the statement of problems. They are; what main character’s suffering are, the causes of main character’s suffering are, and the impacts of main character’s suffering are. In answering the problem, the writer not only shows the proofs as her findings related to her study through the words, sentences, and discourse which exist on the story especially on the novel, but also tries to give some explanation. But before the writer explain the finding of this research, the writer will describe about the author. Elizabeth Gilbert is the author pilgrims as form a story collection, Stern Men as form a novel, The Last American Men, EPL (eat, pray, love), and Committed. Almost all have been number – one international bestsellers. Her first book, Stern Men was acclaimed (Houghton Mifflin 2000), selected by The New York Times as a â€Å"Notable book†. Most of this novel has become major feature films. Before she becomes a novelist, Elizabeth Gilbert has been a journalist. She was the first unpublished short story writer to debut in Esquire since Norman Mailer. This led to steady work as a journalist for a variety of national magazines including, SPIN, GQ, The New York Times Magazine, Allure, Real Simple, and Travel + Leisure. 1. The main character’s suffering In Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel eat, pray, love, the main character faces some problems that make her life suffer. There are some sufferings of the main character life. There are; a failed marriage and a devastating, interminable divorce, followed immediately by a passionate love affair that ended in sickening heartbreak. 1. Being a failed marriage and a devastating The main character of eat, pray, love have been sad and brittle because she have been lost upon lost of their life. About a failed marriage of main character explained that she got depressed and anxious of her life after a failed marriage and a devastating. †¦ †¦. †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ .. . . †¦.

Rr Dr.Death on Cnn.Doc Uploaded Successfully

(CNN) — Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the Michigan pathologist who put assisted suicide on the world's medical ethics stage, died early Friday, according to a spokesman with Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan. He was 83. The assisted-suicide advocate had been hospitalized for pneumonia and a kidney-related ailment, his attorney had said. He had struggled with kidney problems for years and had checked into a hospital earlier this month for similar problems, his lawyer, Mayer Morganroth, said. He checked back into the hospital in the Detroit suburb on May 18 after suffering a relapse, Morganroth said. Kevorkian, dubbed â€Å"Dr.Death,† made national headlines as a supporter of physician-assisted suicide and â€Å"right-to-die† legislation. He was charged with murder numerous times through the 1990s for helping terminally ill patients take their own lives. He was convicted on second-degree murder charges in 1999 stemming from the death of a patient who suffered from amy otrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly called Lou Gehrig's disease. He was paroled in 2007. After his release, he said he would not help end any more lives. Morganroth told CNN Friday that he was summoned to the hospital Thursday night, with doctors telling him â€Å"the end was near† for Kevorkian. 998 video sparked criminal case against Kevorkian â€Å"The doctors and nurses were extremely supportive,† Morganroth said. They played music by Kevorkian's favorite composer — Bach — in his room, and Kevorkian died about 2:30 a. m. , Morganroth said. Attorney Geoffrey Fieger, who was Kervorkian's lawyer on several assisted-suicide cases, described Kevorkian as a â€Å"historic man. † â€Å"He simply felt that it was the duty of every physician to alleviate suffering, and when the circumstance was such that there was no alternative, to help that patient to end their own suffering,† Fieger said in a statement.In an interview with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gu pta last year, Kevorkian said he had no regrets about his work. â€Å"No, no. It's your purpose (as a) physician. How can you regret helping a suffering patient? † he said. Dr. Sanjay Gupta on Kevorkian: Rest in peace In that interview, Kevorkian said that he had three missions in life and that he himself was not ready to die. One of his missions was to warn mankind of â€Å"impending doom† that will come from the culture of overabundance. â€Å"I'm not going to be too popular for that one,† he said.His second mission was to educate people about assisted suicide, and his belief that in states where assisted suicide has been legalized, it is not being done right. He believed that people shouldn't have to have a terminal condition in order to qualify for help in ending their own lives. Kevorkian's third stated mission was to convince Americans that their rights are being infringed upon by bans on everything from smoking to assisted suicide. In 2008, at the age of 80, he failed in a run for Congress in Michigan. 01:11 AM ETAssisted-suicide machine among items up for sale in Kevorkian auction The machine used by the late Dr. Jack Kevorkian in more than 100 assisted suicides will be among the items up for sale later this month, the auctioneer and his estate announced. The Michigan pathologist helped spur an international ethics debate by helping suffering patients die and pushing for this practice to be legalized. His conviction in one such case landed him in prison for eight years. He died in early June at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, at the age of 83.Besides the noted Thanatron machine, which Kevorkian built, other items to be auctioned include some of Kevorkian's correspondences and invention ideas, a pearl flute, his doctor's bag, a master lock from prison and his signature blue sweater. People can also purchase provocative paintings that he created, which come with brief descriptions from the artist himself. A portion of the a uction proceeds will go toward the charity Kids Kicking Cancer at the request of the attorney for Kevorkian's estate and the late doctor's niece and sole living heir.

Oscar Triplett Case Analysis

Triplett had been in insane asylums before and was released but still considered mentally unstable, which reflects poorly upon the Canadian justice system at that time. At the inquest, various people admitted that they knew he was a danger in the days before he died yet only one person attempted anything and that strikes me as odd. The third discrepancy is why Mrs.. Temple was not punished in any way after having killed Triplett. She admitted that her shot took his life, the coroner's report corroborated with this admission of guilt and yet, she was not punished.Again, there re various reasons that could explain this and I will briefly look at each one. The fourth discrepancy Is how the police force and the detectives appear so uninterested In this case. A proper Investigation did not start until December 17th, 4 days after the death of Triplett. Even after the investigation had begun, there was no urgency to come to the bottom of what really happened. On December 13th 1918 Mrs.. Loi s May Temple shot, and killed, James Oscar Triplett in defense of her honor, her life and her daughter's life.That afternoon Jacob Statesman went to the Temples' house to make sure that Triplett had not harmed Mrs.. Temple or her daughter in any way. Shortly after Statesman had arrived they became aware that Triplett was at the house. Triplett kept threatening Mrs.. Temple and her young daughter, using obscene language, so both Statesman and Temple pointed guns at Triplett until he exited the house. Triplett began killing chickens in the hen house, throwing them around, until he finally went down to the river. When Triplett returned he climbed on top of the roof and sat there, yelling threats and random nonsense. On her way to the barn Mrs..Temple shot at Triplett, and both Statesman and Temple thought she had killed him then but they were incorrect. While Temple was at the barn Statesman tried to coax Triplett off the roof, firing four shots in his direction in the process. He even tually succeeded and then began chasing Triplett around the house while Mrs.. Temple was inside. Triplett tried entering the house through the back door but during his attempt both Statesman and Temple shot at him, Temple firing through the door and Statesman firing directly at him. They both agreed that it was Mrs.. Temple's shot that had killed him, and not Statesman's shot.For the most part, the statements of Jacob Statesman and Lois May Temple regarding the death of Oscar Triplett were identical. However, there were slight differences that were peculiar. The first noticeable difference was when they were describing when Mrs.. Temple first saw Triplett on the porch. She claimed that she had seen him before she reached the top of the hill and that he had opened the cellar door before Statesman reached the top of the hill. However, Statesman claimed that she had reached the top of the hill Detour seen screamed Tanat Earliest was on near porch, Ana Tanat en Ana wellness's t opening of the cellar door.The simplest explanation for this difference is that Statesman is smaller than Mrs.. Temple in height and that gives him a different view of the world than she has. Another explanation could be that during traumatic events, small details sometimes become trivial and are forgotten by the person in question. The second peculiarity is the issue of the guns. In both his statements Statesman recalled Mrs.. Temple asking him for help with loading the magazines; in the statement he gave at the inquest he claimed that had to show her how the guns worked and how to fill the magazine.The claim he made during his inquest statement is curious because Temple had already fired a shot before asking him for elf. Another reason it is curious is that Temple never mentioned needing help with how to work the guns in either of her statements. One explanation for this is that Statesman felt emasculated by the whole affair because he was unable to properly protect Mrs.. Temple and her c hild. Therefore, in his statements he tried to make himself appear more manly and helpful than he really was during the ordeal. The third difference in their statements is how many shots Statesman really fired.In his initial statement, he claimed that he had shot six in total – four whilst he was on the of, one discharge whilst chasing Triplett, and one when Triplett was trying to enter the house. However, during the inquest he only mentioned the last two shots; he said that he had never made it onto the roof, but in his initial statement he claimed he had made it onto the roof and that he had fired four shots at Triplett. Again, this could have been Statesman's way of fighting the emasculation he felt he had suffered. It is odd that he felt the need to make this claim in his first statement, when Mrs..Temple never mentioned it in either of her statements. Every person in the community agreed that Oscar Triplett was not a sane man. He had been an inmate in the Insane Asylum a t Pomona, but had been released for unknown reasons. It is unusual that every member of the community thought he was insane, and yet only one person admitted to having made any type of inquiry into the reasons behind his release. Dry James Miller bore witness that Triplett was â€Å"a man of unbalanced mind. † He felt that Triplett should never have been released from the asylum because he was a danger to himself and to the community.At the inquest, Dry Miller said that immediately after hearing that Triplett had been released from the asylum, he annotated the Provincial Police to discuss Triplet's liberty. According to Dry Miller, they told him that nothing could be done unless Triplett performed some act that would make another arrest possible. Despite Dry. Miller's personal inquiry into Triplet's liberty, the authorities did nothing until after his death and after the inquest. Attached to the verdict was a rider that stated that a full inquiry should be made into Triplet's release from Pomona, and his apparent rehabilitation when he was so obviously insane.James Chalmers had spent 36 hours with Triplett in the days leading up to his death. During this time, he noticed that Triplett was acting in an odd manner; he was restless and talkative, quite unlike himself. Chalmers admitted that after his last interaction with Triplett he was convinced that Triplett was insane, again, but he neglected to inform anyone on the basis that Triplet had done nothing to Justify an arrest. Levi Spangle encountered Oscar Triplett at his (Spangle) residence on the day before Triplet's death.He claimed that Triplett had walked Insane Ana Immolate Degas teenager toners Ana acting strange . HIS octagons caused Spangle to assume that Triplett was not of sane mind; Spangle left for own immediately after Triplett had departed and reported to the police, but they were unable to locate Triplett. Mrs.. Spangle concurred with her husband's opinion of Triplet's sanity. She alleged that Triplet's actions made her fearful for her life and the life of her daughter. Of all the people who gave testimony at the inquest, Mr.. Spangle was the only one who had notified the police of Triplet's insanity.It is peculiar that only one person had enough sense to notify the authorities that Triplett could possibly be a danger to others or himself. This is especially peculiar because everyone seemed to agree that he was insane and that he would end up in the asylum again. Triplet's liberty shows obvious error in the Canadian Justice system at this time, because he should not have been released from the asylum at Pomona. It also shows the misplaced faith that people had in the Justice system, since everyone assumed that the law would eventually step in and apprehend Triplett again, recommitting him to the insane asylum.When Mrs.. Temple was tried for Oscar Triplet's death, the Jury only took fifteen minutes to reach a verdict. Temple had admitted to killing Triplett and all th e physical evidence seemed to corroborate her Tory, yet the Jury verdict was that of â€Å"Justifiable homicide. † The Jury felt that Mrs.. Temple should have been commended for her actions because Triplett was assaulting her in her own home. It is possible that the Jury looked at this case and saw a poor, defenseless woman trying to protect herself and her daughter from a known lunatic.The Jury could have taken pity on her, because she basically had to decide between life and death. Her gender had to have swayed the Jury verdict because it is doubtful that they would have come to the same conclusion if a man had fired the fatal shot. This is so because not only Mrs.. Temple's life was at stake, but also the honor and the life of her infant daughter. This is very likely because the society at that time was an inherently chauvinistic society; women and men were not seen as equals, and women were considered to have less rights than men.Another possible reason for the lack of pu nishment is that most people felt that Mrs.. Temple did them a favor by ridding the world of a lunatic like Triplett. Therefore, why should she be punished for making the community a safer, more ordinary area to live in? The police who investigated the death of Oscar Triplett appeared to have little or no interest in the case, and arriving at the truth. A proper investigation into Triplet's death was not launched until 16 December 1918, three days after his death. Neither the coroner nor the investigating detective from Install arrived until early morning on 17 December 1918.There was no apparent urgency by anyone to come to the bottom of what happened: indeed the detective often took breaks to satiate his hunger and he took his time in pursuing the truth. Constable Marks received a wire on 13 December that notified him of Triplet's lunacy, but he did not leave for Horrors until the following day. He claimed this was because he required assistance in handling Oscar Triplett, yet he arrived in Horrors alone. Constable Marks alleged that even if he had left for Horrors immediately after receiving the wire, he would not have reached the Temples' residence before Triplet's death.It is possible that he felt compelled to mention this because he felt slightly guilty that the case transpired this way; however it shows the town people's disinterest in everything concerning I reelect – no one put too much effort In along Walt ml. A possible reason Deanna the authorities' disinterest in this case was because they saw little point in investigating the death of a lunatic. It would be interesting to know whether they would have acted in the same manner if Triplett had been a sane man, even though it is unlikely that they would have been so lax about investigating the case.This lack of interest shows the Canadian Justice system's predisposition to Judging the importance of various cases based on the character of the victim. Mrs.. Lois May Temple admitted to having kil led Oscar James Triplett, and the evidence and eyewitness testimony of Jacob Statesman did not disagree with her. However, the case document of Oscar Triplet's death had various peculiarities that made the hole affair seem quite unusual. The document shows human error – that of eyewitness testimony; this is a result of the human brain working in mysterious ways.In the event of a trauma some details will remain engraved in one's memory, no matter how insignificant they are; other details will be blocked by one's memory as being too traumatic. This was most likely the case concerning Mrs.. Temple and Jacob Statesman. The case document also shows how life worked in remote communities of Canada in the early 20th century. In those years, people were less apprehensive of the criminally insane than people today. If a known lunatic, such as Oscar Triplett, were allowed to roam free in a 21st century society there would be a colossal outcry by the members of society.They would be more outspoken about their fears and trepidation as a result of his liberty than people in 1918 would be. The case document also gives some insight into how the Canadian Justice system worked, especially in remote areas of the country. The Justice system was more lax in those times than they are today, as were the police. They were also more inclined to be biased about issues such as gender when looking at various cases unlike the system n place today, which is generally not allowed to be biased on such things. This is a result of early 20th century societies being more sexist than societies in the 21st century.

Research an anilyze an article that pertains my research proposa

Research an anilyze an that pertains my research proposa - Article Example The purpose was to answer questions about humor. These questions were: â€Å"How effective is humor in the foreign language classroom?†, â€Å"How are concepts of humor in the different cultural contexts learned by foreign language students?†, â€Å"What role do theories of humor play when studying the use of humor in the world language classroom?† (p. 400). The purpose of this article was to give information about the use of humor in the classroom and to answer these questions. The authors studied the research in â€Å"education, linguistics, and psychology† (p. 400) to answer the questions. Although the hypothesis was not written as a hypothesis, it was clear that the authors assumed that the use of humor in the classroom would be beneficial to both students and teachers. They also thought that some forms of humor could be easily identified and therefore they could create a profile of humor that could be used in any classroom. This was a directional hypothesis because the authors could use humor in the classroom in any way they wanted to see what would be the most effective. The authors clearly stated that research has not been done on the effects of humor in the classroom so they relied on journal articles about humor in general. They took articles from â€Å"education, linguistics, and psychology† (p. 400) in order to give them a broader idea of how humor would work in a foreign language classroom. They also went into classrooms and observed how humor was being used and the response that the teacher received from the students. The subjects involved were students and teachers in whole world classrooms. The authors relied heavily on their observations and the body of research that was already presented. The authors did not state how they arrived at the subjects. The authors set out to find ways to use humor in the foreign language classroom that would benefit all teachers

Advertising and Marketing Communications of Stella McCartney Assignment - 1

Advertising and Marketing Communications of Stella McCartney - Assignment Example led to the brand’s involvement in the design of Olympic kits for all the competition for both Paralympic games and London Olympics in the year 2012. Stella McCartney was also awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the University of Arts London. Stella McCartney is a modern designer brand that is popular for wearable and aspirational. Stella McCartney’s collection includes accessories, women’s ready-to-wear, eyewear, lingerie, fragrance, and kids wear. This brand is clearly conspicuous due to the blend of femininity and masculinity with the signature style that is characterized by natural confidence and sharp tailoring. Ecological and ethical values seem to be the core of this brand. This brand does not use leather, exotic skins, or fur in its products. However, the brand is well known for the vast use of innovation and creativity. Their products are produced using bio-synthetic and organic materials. At the moment, the brand operates 23 different stores in various locations, including London’s BromptonCross and Mayfair, Paris’ Palais Royal, Los Angeles’ West Hollywood, Tokyo, and Milan. At the moment, the brand collections are now available in more than 50 countries through wholesale accounts that include department stores and specialty shops. The brand has 600 wholesale accounts. However, the brand is also available in 100 couturiers through online sales. One of the communication efforts that have been used by the brand previously is the scholarship of design students who adhere to the brand’s ethical perceptions. This has been particularly effective in raising awareness about the brand’s corporate value. The band would also introduce their products through online platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, mobile application and partnership with department shops. These communication strategies have in a way worked well for the brand in the past.

LEGAL THEORY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

LEGAL THEORY - Essay Example From a legal and social perspective, the movement initiated the struggle of women to gain equality before the law, changing the structure of society as women ventured out into the workplace. This essay will set out to demonstrate how the notion of equality as mooted by feminist theories may not necessarily be adequate to advance the interests of women and the material inequalities that they may suffer from. Fighting for women to achieve equality with men may not necessarily redress the inequalities and advance their interests, since this equality approach to feminism is overly concerned with the personal issues surrounding identity. It does not address the root causes of inequality, which may be built into the framework of the law itself, hence without a change in the framework of the law, it may not be possible to advance the interests of women. This is the basic principle which must be addressed on the question of equal rights before the law for both men and women. Jurisprudence has remained a traditional male bastion with existing legal theories conditioned upon the premise of the â€Å"individual† as the philosophical basis for the legal system. Hence, the feminist movement itself and earlier struggles for equal rights by women were centered upon proving to the higher authorities that women deserved equal treatment, but this was still on the basis that they were individuals. The question that arises is – how relevant is such an approach in tackling the real issues women face and advancing their interests, when it is preoccupied with the subjective element associated with individual identity? For example, MacLaughlin points out that the liberal perspectives of law as a fair and just system that protects is rights of all individuals is based upon treating all persons indiscriminately and this system stresses individualism4 – but how can such a universal standard be defined in the context of differing constituencies and differing

This paper should persuade the reader that college students are full Essay

This paper should persuade the reader that college students are full adults and should be totally responsible for their morals, - Essay Example Students in college are of this age; hence, they should be responsible for their actions. At such an age, they should be morally upright, and reason before acting in a certain way. Many students have undergone the adolescence stage hence they are aware of their body reactions and the consequences if they do certain acts (Davis and Murrell). If one engages himself in immoral practices, there are consequences such as pregnancy or sexually transmitted maladies. One graduates to college after undergoing the lower primary education, therefore, he/she joins college to specialize in a dream career. In college, one is supposed to work hard to realize the career, and exemplify accountability for academic outcomes. A college student has an understanding, unlike toddlers who rely on their guardians to know what to do and who to follow. In many colleges, there are disciplines such as sociology and ethics which are meant to streamline student behavior. A student who is immoral or has bad behavior s in colleges is merely because of ignorance. Many students in college are irresponsible because there is no one to watch over them. Many travel distances to acquire education in far places. However, this does not mean there is no one to guide them in life: in many colleges, a dean of students is there to offer guidance. These dean deal with students affairs and they also advice a student who is stuck in a certain situation. Students have no right to behave irresponsibly because there is no one to offer guidance. All matters pertaining disciplinary cases in school are handled by the dean as they offer punish to correct the behavior. Additionally, in colleges, there are religious unions such as the Christian Union that offer divine support to students. Students should attend these gatherings to have good values and to be morally upright. These religious unions are open and they do not discriminate, hence, students should attend these gatherings. There are also peer counselors in coll eges who can offer advice to a student who needs advice on a matter pertaining life (Davis and Murrell). College students are viewed by the community as the leaders of tomorrow. A leader is one who is ethically upright, has complete knowledge of his actions, and is considered mature. The people from his hometown have high expectations of the student hence; one should act in a mature manner. He should also be responsible for his actions so as not to lose the faith the community has in him. After college, one has a dream of being employed in a reputable position. The probable employers are mainly the surrounding community, so a student should maintain a beneficial image. College students are often aware of irresponsible actions such as the usage of drugs. These drugs are responsible for some weird and unconstructive behaviors found in colleges. Through education, a college student should be edified to behave decently. Taking hard drugs leads to various defects in one’s body, wh ich may lead to some permanent or temporary changes in the human body. However, it is habitually the choice of the student to uphold uprightness and act as an adult. College students are entrusted with funds by their parents since they are considered mature (Davis and Murrell). A mature person is one who is trustworthy; hence, parents give students the full responsibility to coordinate their daily being. Students set up budgets to

Personal Philosophy of Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Personal Philosophy of Education - Essay Example While the worldviews of monotheists and polytheists are also substantially different from each other, yet they are similar at least to the extent that both believe in the existence of an other world that is beyond the reach and sight of the human beings for a certain time. Religion happens to be the main source of guidance and influence in terms of worldview because it provides the most radical and sensible explanation of what life is all about. Metaphysics  Since I believe in God, I believe that whatever I do in this world will have an impact on what I get in the world hereafter. My future in the world hereafter depends upon my performance in this world; the extent to which I remain noble, just, and fair will depict whether I deserve reward or punishment as a result of my deeds in the world hereafter. The concept of the impact of the deeds performed in this world upon the life hereafter motivates me to be good to others and sacrifice many pleasures in this world. The profession of teaching in this perspective is a very noble profession in that it provides me with the opportunity to spread knowledge and light in the society, to empower the society by empowering the students and particularly the young generation from the standpoint of knowledge as well as morally. This is a just and respectable way of earning money because an individual gets to contribute positively to the society in compensation. My worldview implies that I do my duty with uttermost honesty and sincerity.

Operational Management Issues for Services - Mapping a Service Essay

Operational Management Issues for Services - Mapping a Service Operation - Essay Example This critical investigation requires immediate attention in order to increase aircraft security and also to facilitate passengers up to the maximum extent. During the aircraft landing/chock on and take off the pilot is supposed to ensure all the equipments while making necessary confirmations. On the other hand he should inform the tower management regarding the take-off and landing condition, for instance, atmospheric pressure etc. However, if this job is done by the cabin crew then still the pilot must ensure whether or not the tower heads know about their required activities to be performed. The time allocation for pilot’s aircraft investigation activities is missing. Since he is the one who makes the final decision of taking off the airplane therefore he must be given enough time to check the aircraft while also communicating the required information to the crew members. The job descriptions of office people, tower heads and cabin crew are missing. For instance, they are needed to record the entire turnaround procedure while calculating time and delays. The tower heads are supposed to check flight timings, scheduling of other aircrafts, traffic signals, air plane queuing etc. Research indicates that most flights are delayed due to lack of traffic control (WU, 2003, p.314). Therefore, the role of back-office people becomes even more substantial as they need to ensure the presences of all boarding passengers, cabin crew and related staff members. Furthermore, they have to check their identities and baggage. The cabin service activities are missing which constitute of engineering checks, technical checks, airfreight cargo, information verifications etc. The time for overall turnaround process must be reduced in order to increase efficiency, aircraft performance (Thorne, 2007, p.11) and also to remove time delays. The activity graph is also missing from the turnaround operational process which should

Methane Dry Reforming Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Methane Dry Reforming - Research Paper Example The active use of methane and carbon dioxide is also helpful because these gases are not environmentally friendly and their conversion to feedstock will enable better environmental regulation. During the conversion process, one of the major problems is catalyst deactivation resulting from coke deposition. The deposition of coke produces poor catalyst selectivity, activity and longevity. The aim of this project is to investigate the effects of forced periodic cycling between a carbon-gasifying agent (such as carbon dioxide) and methane dry reforming in order to increase the yield of syngases and to improve catalyst longevity. This study will also bolster innovation by developing the traditional Ni-CO catalyst using cerium oxide as a promoter. This approach has been shown to favour synthesis gas formation along with resistance to coking in various studies on the matter. The achievement of these goals may lead to significant improvements in hydrocarbon reforming in context of catalyst d eactivation and would also lead to an improved catalytic reforming system. These improvements would in turn provide substantial economic and environmental benefits through a positive reduction in greenhouse gases. 1. Literature Review 1.1. Introduction Both large scale and small scale industrial technology has depended on hydrocarbon reforming to produce hydrogen [Seo et al., 2009; Rakib et al., 2010]. One of the largest uses for hydrogen is the production of ammonia (NH3) through a reaction with nitrogen using the Haber process [Li et al., 2007]. Steam reforming is also a preferred method to produce hydrogen at high purity and product yields for small energy technologies like fuel cells [Lora et al.; Heinzel et al., 2002]. Overall, the major processes involved in the conversion of hydrocarbons to synthesis gas include dry reforming, steam reforming and partial oxidation or a combination of partial oxidation and steam reforming better known as oxidative steam reforming [Aasbe rg-Petersen et al., 2001; Sarmiento et al., 2007; Rostrup-Nielsen, 2009]. Each of these processes tend to have their own pros and cons based on criteria such as product composition, availability of reactants (CO2, H2O, O2), purity as well as production scale and cost [Pena et al., 1996]. As far as refining and petrochemical processes are concerned steam reforming is the preferred method [AvcI et al., 2004]. However, the industrial production of synthesis gas using hydrocarbon steam reforming tends to leave behind unwanted coke deposits on the catalyst making it not so favourable. Coke deposition has distinct disadvantages including lowered catalyst activity, longevity, selectivity and reduced reactor performance that requires constant maintenance. Within industrial processes, carbon is removed using an excess carbon to steam ratio (generally greater than 3) in order to decrease the chances of coke deposition on the catalyst. Though this method is effective, it requires greater energy investment as more steam is required than normal steam reforming necessitates. On the other hand, dry reforming is seen as an auspicious technology for synthesis gas production as it offers certain distinct advantages such as: i. Depletion of unwanted greenhouses gases (carbon dioxide and methane); ii. Gas separation is not required thereby reducing cost and allowing

Boston is an excellent destination for history and culture( art, food, Research Paper

Boston is an excellent destination for history and culture( art, food, sports, music,etc.) - Research Paper Example Boston owing to its historical, art and cultural diversity of the people inhabiting the region as well other aspects; stands out as a unique tourists’ destination from other states. Historical cites and the city’s topography The early city’s contribution to the American history prompted historians to nickname it â€Å"Cradle of Liberty† (Vorhees 54). Primarily, this is apparent from numerous sites characterizing the small city, whereby tourists can both view and learn much as they follow the 2.5-mile walk Freedom Trail, which starts from Boston Common to Bunker Hill Monument (Vorhees 117 & 118). The foot trail avails tourists with adequate information regarding American Revolution besides how the colonialists engaged physically their masters with intention of attaining independence. The trail also enables visitors to have an ideal view of Boston’s scenery besides other numerous sites that physically tell the American history (â€Å"Fox News†). Mainly, these sites usually from their inception exemplify various historical phases, which yielded to the attainment of American independence besides other early remarkable events (Vorhees 118). Some of the sixteen historical sites and architectural designs characterizing this trail include Boston common, Old South Meeting house, Old State House, Old state house, USS constitution & Museum and Bunker Hill Monument (Vorhees 117). Besides, Boston’s authorities have ensured effective strategies meant to provide services to tourists in each site apart alongside availing rangers. These act as guides or ensuring the security where possible for the visitors. Other remarkable sites include Charles River Ride; reputed with recreational activities, for illustration, in-line skating, bicycling and jogging for the visitors (Vorhees 118). The site besides its recreational activities also provides relaxing and fascinating scenery for the visitors, whereby after touring they usually feel relaxed not only physically, but also mentally. Hence, noticing the difference, which the sites offer, compared to their native regions. The city’s topography owing to nice planning and placement of diverse attraction sites is incre dibly easy and manageable by foot to navigate. Hence, providing an enjoyable walking and bicycling experience for visitors. Additionally, Boston’s attractions sites and their placement contrary to numerous regions globally an individual is capable of touring without a guide. Since, many the places have avail information regarding direction for tourists as they walk or rid to visit. Boston’s art and Museum It is irrefutable Boston besides other varied tourists’ attractions, boasts of varied artworks. These encompass numerous works by the native artists esteemed internationally due to their proficiency in the field, for illustration, Gaspar Miguel de Barrio and Melchor Perez Holguin (Laura 90). These exhibitions offer ample environment for visitors to buy and mingle with diverse visual artists as they promote their merchandises. Therefore, one can arrange for individualized artworks that suit their tastes like bearing certain information or having their names (â⠂¬Å"City of Boston†). In addition, the city is a home of the US’

A Discussion of Assessment and Feedback Issues Essay Example for Free

A Discussion of Assessment and Feedback Issues Essay A discussion of assessment and feedback issues Assessment is an important part of teaching and learning, the most obvious reason for carrying out assessment is to evaluate the students learning/achievement s and whether the student is heading toward the course of qualification. Teaching within NVQ the criteria is laid out for me as a teacher my role is to prepare the students to observe their performances, question them, and use assessment to make a decision as to whether my learners are competent or capable. I must also to ensure that the assessment meets the criteria and objectives of the NVQ qualification. We as the teachers/assessors want to know whether learning outcomes have been achieved, or if the student is of a standard required to pass and achieve the grade /qualification. It also helps me as the tutor up most to help determine the development the student needs during the course. Assessment is also a away to provide information on individual teacher or the institution. For example; are the teaching methods affective, are the learning objectives appropriate- are they too easy or to difficult. Assessment within my teaching domain comprises of different components, performances in the work places, the use of realistic working environment. With NVQ teaching we have specific criteria that must be covered and include skills as well as knowledge, we the assessors have the decision as to how and where the assessment takes place. NVQ level 1-2-3 hairdressing comprises of units which must be cover die, Level 3 consists of 53 credits minimum split into mandatory units -48 credits and optional unit of which is 6 credits to pass and obtain the qualification. Following VTCT/HABIA critia guide lines and assessment work book. VTCT/HABIA strongly advocates a holistic approach for assessment of learners. Examples include using one assessment method to gather evidence for a number of criteria integrating knowledge into practical observation (i. e. through oral or evidenced on analysis sheets i. e. consultation forms). I myself as a teacher of hair and beauty believe in Habia and VTCT Assessment learning and teaching strategies I believe in engaging and exciting the learner whether it means I need to change the way I assess or how I bring my knowledge forward for learners to understand and help them complete their course. I measure the achievements against the standards set out. One of the advantages of NVQs is that the whole area to be tested is set out from the start. NVQ assessment is usually internal or external or a combination of the two. Internal assessment means myself is responsible for devising and marking assessments be it using case study’s which also help develop functional/key skills, observation ,oral ,informal,ect. These then tend to be verified by the centre internal verifier. I myself am required to set work that will improve practical skills knowledge and understanding. It’s my responsibility to guide learners on the evidence that is needed to be gathered to satisfy assessment. Within my course criteria (NVQ) we use formative and summative assessment as the main hold of the course. Unlike summative assessment which relates to assessment of learning, feedback relates to assessment for learning. Assessment 1998: Torrance and Pryor 1998) which helps the learners progress (Black and William We use formative assessment as formal or informal. For assessment to function formatively, the results have to be used to adjust teaching and learning. † (Black and William 1998: pp. -16) With formative assessment we use a range of activitys, case studies, multiple choice test, practical test, projects, questioning alone or within a group. To help students understand the frame work and what is needed we use in NVQ or within my institution mile stones of 13 weeks covering formative summative and mandatory test assessment. I strongly believe in formative a ssessment for the students and me the teacher for my own evaluation as well as theses; it contributes to the learner’s progress provided guidance on how to bridge the gaps to achieve the desired results, we use ILPS to also help within this process. ILPs individual learning plans, we use these to encourage the students also for means of developing their own targets and to motivate and encourage the students learning development. These documents are updated by learner and teacher throughout the course and are used as part of the formal course assessment. Summative assessment is used for grading or within my teaching domain it’s a simple pass or fail. As stated in (Teaching skills in the further and adult education 3rd addition David Minton p 288) progression and new technology. There is no reason why a teaching session in a hairdressing salon should not be video-taped or photo graphed and presented with by the teacher to explain whys/he did what, what happened, what was observed in a group or individual work. It’s a valuable tool for evaluation as well as valid evidence. It can be shared with mentor or other tutor to compare and evaluate work, to review Atcual teaching session also and assessment of students. I myself have used this and found it a good tool to be used. In regards to questions and feed back during assessment, It’s important to be specific on what can be improved and how. Effective feedback tells the student what they have achieved and where they need to improve. Questioning is used not only as a pedagogical tool but also as a deliberate way for myself the teacher to find out what knowledge and understanding the leaner’s have gained, also to helps myself the teacher see how successful my teaching has been and what areas need to be improved . Questioning is fundamental to effective teaching and learning. As stated by ( Fisher amp; Frey 2007) Checking for understanding through questioning should not be thought as a simple two step process but rather as a complex progression as the teacher formulates and then listens to the responses of the learners, IE making them from easy to hard and simplifying them for students own level of learning. Self and peer assessment can also be beneficial in feedback and evaluation on own and peers works. As state many academic teachers still tend to retain all ownership and power in the assessment process (Dorothy spiller teaching development wahonga Feb 2012 assessment matters). Self assessment is used during formative assessment which students reflects and evaluates their own work. Seeing their strengths weaknesses and areas they feel they need to improve, helps set self goals becoming more motivated. Self assessment within my teaching area requires the student to fill out self assessment feedback forms in relation to a practical activities carried out, this help them self –evaluate their work strengths and weaknesses. â€Å"SELF ASSESMENT WITH ITS EMPHASIS ON STUDENT RESPONAIBITIY AND MAKING JUDGMENT IS NECESSARY SKILL FOR LIFE LONG LEARNING â€Å"(Bond, 1995, P. 11,). In the3 same contexts Peer feedback can also be beneficial to individuals or groups of students who are keen to experiment and use new ideas. Peers assessment involving students giving feedback on peers work can help students make sense of gaps in their own work. I see self and peer assessment beneficial where certain points are present. Designed to enhance learning ,involving learners in judging own work, help improve and motivated owns mind and work . Boud, D (1995). Enhancing learning through self-assesment. London:Koger page. Boud, (1995 P. 11. ). (Black and William 1998: pp. 5-16) Douglas Fisheramp; Nancy Frey 2007 www. reading,org questioning. (Teaching skills in the further and adult education 3rd addition David Minton p 288)

Early Intervention for Child with Visual Impairment

Early Intervention for Child with Visual Impairment Discuss the role of early intervention for children with visual impairments Introduction The whole area of visual impairment is a complex and difficult field. Children may either be born with a degree of visual impairment or they may acquire visual impairment at some stage after birth. Some defects may be comparatively obvious and easily detectable other may be very subtle and not obvious for some time. Visual defects may occur as a single lesion or may be part of a larger spectrum of congenital or acquired problems. They can be directly referable to the eye itself, as in the case of infantile cataracts, or may be as a result of more diffuse trauma such as cerebral palsy or perhaps a genetic error of metabolism or even infections such as meningitis. In this essay we intend to consider the role and value of early intervention together with an assessment of the value of screening which is obviously part of the same consideration. The mechanism of examination of the issue will be by means of a critical review of some of the relevant literature which has been recently published on the subject Screening There are many definitions of screening. Perhaps one of the best for our purposes comes from Wald (1) The systematic application of a test or enquiry, to identify individuals at sufficient risk to benefit from further investigation or direct preventive action, amongst persons who have not sought medical attention on account of symptoms of that disorder Screening is a common practice in many areas of the NHS. Whenever it is discussed, it is usually accompanied by prolonged discussions relating to cost-effectiveness and efficacy. With specific regard to visual impairment, screening for conditions that can produce visual impairment at an early age is utterly essential because of the development in early life of the visual processing pathways in the visual cortex (see below). (2) There is a window of opportunity for correction, which rapidly closes depending on the nature and severity of the visual impairment. Because of the dire implications for vision in later life, the cost effectiveness of such screening procedures are seldom applied in this area. This does not mean to say that considerations of efficacy are not valid (see below), but simply that it is not possible to put an appropriate value on a person’s sight. (3) Clearly the purpose of a screening programme is to try to identify those individuals who may be at risk of developing a potentially treatable condition. It is not a diagnostic service. There will usually be both false positives and false negatives. The importance of the National Screening programme is to identify those individuals who would benefit from further specialist assessment. A good place to start is the paper by Rahi (4). This study was designed to consider the efficacy of the screening programme in detecting a comparatively straightforward, although not necessarily easy to detect, lesion – the congenital and infantile cataract. The study was a cross sectional design study with an entry cohort of nearly 250 children under the age of 15 yrs. The object of the exercise was to ascertain the proportion of these children who were detected and treated at 3 months and I year of age. The significance of this study is that it highlights either the difficulty of diagnosis (or possibly the inefficiency of the system) as the results were poor by any interpretation. The paper itself is quite detailed and comprehensive, but the results that are relevant to our considerations in this essay are that only 35% of congenital cataracts were diagnosed at the routine new-born examination and only another 12% had been diagnosed by the time of the 6-8 week examination. Only 57% of the cohort had been seen and assessed by an ophthalmologist by the time they were 3 months old and a further 33% had not been examined or assessed by the time that they were one year old. The authors comment that their study showed that the prime reason for getting an assessment was because of the carer’s concerns in about 40% of all cases. We shall consider the importance of early assessment, accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment later in this essay, but it is clear from these figures that all three of these eventualities are denied to a very substantial proportion of children and infants with possible adverse consequences for their subsequent visual acuity. In all areas of medicine, we should ideally work from a rational and verifiable evidence base. (5) Given the fact that we can point to evidence that shows that a significant proportion of children with one (at least) visual defect are not routinely detected, we should examine the evidence base for the assumption that early detection is important. For the sake of clarity we will initially confine our considerations to the circumstance of infantile cataract. We do know that infantile cataract is an important and potentially avoidable cause of visual handicap.(6) The resultant stimulus deprivation of the optic tract and visual cortex (7) caused by the inability of the retina to receive normal images, because of the distortion caused by the cataract, produces various degrees of amblyopia.(8) There is a substantial body of evidence to show that in order to optimise the eventual outcome, particularly with the denser forms of cataract, that corrective surgery needs to ideally have been carried out before the age of three months.(9) Because of the developmental importance of the early visual stimulus it is reasonable to assume that the earlier that corrective treatment can be implemented, the better the result is likely to be (10) Although we have initially considered the impact of early screening for the condition of infantile cataract, it follows that other conditions can equally well be screened with the same rationale for early treatment. If we accept that early treatment is the â€Å"gold standard† in childhood visual impairment (11), then it is possible to predict some populations of high risk births that will clearly need increased surveillance. Many of the genetic disorders which can cause visual impairment can be predicted (at least in statistical terms) and the children specifically assessed at birth (12) The majority of the papers examined with regard to infantile cataract are of the same opinion that early treatment is vital to secure any hope of reasonable visual acuity. The evidence base for some other conditions of visual impairment is nowhere near as clear, and in some places, frankly contradictory. If we consider the implications for other conditions of visual impairment in childhood we should consider the paper by Clarke MP (13) which specifically considers the efficacy of treatment of a unilateral visual impairment in the 3-5 yr. old age range. This is particularly relevant to our considerations here because the trial itself was well constructed and has a meaningful outcome. In broad terms, nearly 200 children who were identified as having a degree of unilateral visual impairment were allocated into two groups. One group had â€Å"appropriate treatment† the other had no treatment. The authors note that all children had treatment after the six month observation period. the children who received â€Å"full treatment† with glasses universally had better visual acuity than those who did not receive treatment. Interestingly, the mean treatment effect between the two groups was only one line on the Snellen chart. The degree of improvement was proportional to the degree of original impairment. The specific conclusions of this particular study are worth quoting verbatim:- Treatment is worth while in children with the poorest acuity, but in children with mild (6/9 to 6/12) unilateral acuity loss there was little benefit. Delay in treatment until the age of 5 did not seem to influence effectiveness. It is worth considering these conclusions in more detail as they have distinct relevance to the need for early intervention. The authors point out that there is a tendency for amblyopia to undergo a degree of spontaneous improvement which is consistent with the results of another trial (14). It is also fair to point out that other trials do not concur. Simons K (15) suggest that untreated amblyopia will deteriorate with time. The authors feel that, on balance, they recommend the continued wearing of glasses until the age of 7, even if the visual acuity returns to normal before this time, to prevent the development of refractory amblyopia. (16) When the authors compared the results of their study with children from districts who did not receive pre-school screening, the follow up study showed that deferring their treatment did not limit their potential for improvement and, very significantly, it nearly halved the number of children that needed to wear eye patches at all. (17) On the basis of this evidence the authors felt able to conclude that it is the acuity at presentation rather than the chronological age of the child, that is the most important determinant of eventual outcome. This is consistent with a similar study by Hardman-Lea SJ (18) They actually quantified this by stating that:- Children with a moderate acuity loss of 6/18 or worse showed a clear cut response to treatment, which itself arguably justifies screening to identify and treat these children. In contrast, children with mild acuity loss, who represent over half those identified with unilateral acuity impairment at screening in this and other studies, received little benefit from either treatment. This level of impairment, though often excluded from studies, is still commonly treated in routine clinical practice. We argue that children with 6/9 in only one eye should no longer constitute screen failures and do not justify treatment, even with glasses. Rather disturbingly the trial threw up one (probably statistical) anomaly:- The glasses group with moderate initial acuity, in whom patching treatment was deferred, showed no overall gain in acuity at post-trial follow up. While this is probably a random effect, it raises the question whether prior refractive correction might in some way limit the effectiveness of subsequent patching. Clearly this cannot be regarded as based on firm evidence, but raises the spectre that early treatment may actually be detrimental. If we consider a more technically sophisticated study (19) Weiss A et al 2004) that looked at visually evoked potentials (VERs) in amblyopic children and compared the ages of instigation of treatment (patching) and the detectable effects on the VERs. This is an extremely complex paper but careful weighing and critical analysis of the results shows that, as far as amblyopic children are concerned, the critical window for demonstrating and exploiting cortical neuronal plasticity extends up to the age of ten.( also 20). Although this paper specifically does not comment on the fact, an earlier paper by the same author (21) points to the fact that the plasticity, and therefore adaptability, progressively diminishes from about the age of five onwards The PEDI Group (22) complicate the findings further with their contention that treating amblyopic children in the 3-7 yr. age range did not produce significantly different clinical outcomes when compared to an older age range Screening, in general terms, has been overhauled by the National Screening Committee (23) which has sought to apply the classic Wilson Junger (24) criteria to all aspects of NHS screening. Within the recommendations of this body, various specialist organisations have produced their own guidelines. In the UK, the need for early visual impairment screening is recognised. Clearly this is different from being done efficiently in all cases. The most authoritative guidance that is currently available in this country is that which is based on the recommendations of the two national working parties who produced a joint report. The Royal Colleges of Ophthalmologists and Paediatrics and Child Health (25) The current recommendations include an inspection of the eyes together with an evaluation of the red reflex at birth and then a fuller assessment which would include an examination for the presence of squint and visual behaviour generally at about 6-8 weeks. (26) Later on in childhood there are other specified screening procedures which are designed to detect abnormalities such as strabismus, abnormalities of colour vision and reduced visual acuity although an examination of the literature would suggest that the pick up rate is surprisingly small (27). This particular author suggests this is mainly because the vast majority of cases are brought to the attention of the primary healthcare teams by the carers before screening is carried out. In this essay we have conducted a brief overview of some of the relevant literature in the field of early detection of visual impairment. The results are disappointingly confusing. Some areas appear to have a fairly clear cut and universal agreement, others seem to produce well constructed studies that offer seemingly mutually exclusive results. (28). The area of the infantile or congenital cataract appears to be one of those areas where there is fairly universal agreement that early treatment is beneficial, but the biggest stumbling block appears to be the comparative inability to pick up or detect the abnormality in a clinical screening setting. Although we have not presented firm evidence, as it is not directly relevant to our discussions, there is also the problem that surgical intervention, although obviously helpful in terms of preserving vision, may actually have a down side that iatrogenic glaucoma is a possibility in later life. (10) The converse situation appears to apply to the amblyopic patient, or the patient with strabismus. We have presented evidence that appears to be frankly contradictory. Although it appears easier to detect these abnormalities in the older child there is considerable disparity in opinion about whether early treatment is either beneficial, or in the case of one of the papers presented, even helpful. It is clearly difficult to form an opinion with any sort of firm evidence base in these circumstances. Although it is reassuring to read a paper and find that the authors call for â€Å"more research to be done† in that particular area, it does not help those practitioners currently working in the clinical field, to come to a firm view on whether early treatment is either indicated, useful or even necessary in these particular circumstances. References Wald NJ. Guidance on terminology. J Med Screen 1994;1:76. Barnes GR, Hess RF, Dumoulin SO, Achtman RL, Pike GB. The cortical deficit in humans with strabismic amblyopia. J Physiol. 2001;533:281–297 National Screening Committee. First report of the National Screening Committee. Health Departments of the United Kingdom, 1998. (4) Jugnoo S Rahi and Carol Dezateux National cross sectional study of detection of congenital and infantile cataract in the United Kingdom: role of childhood screening and surveillance BMJ, Feb 1999; 318: 362 365 (5) Berwick D 2005 Broadening the view of evidence-based medicine Qual. Saf. Health Care, Oct 2005; 14: 315 316. (6) Foster A, Gilbert C. Epidemiology of visual impairment in children. In: Taylor D, ed. Paediatric ophthalmology. 2nd ed. London: Blackwell Science, 1997:3-12. (7) Taylor D. Congenital cataract: the history, the nature and the practice. The Doyne lecture. Eye 1998; 12: 9-36 (8) Campos E. Amblyopia. Surv Ophthalmol 1995; 40: 23-39 (9) Lloyd IC, Dowler JGF, Kriss A, Speedwell L, Thompson DA, Russell-Eggitt I, et al. Modulation of amblyopic therapy following early surgery for unilateral congenital cataracts. Br J Ophthalmol 1995; 79: 802-806 (10) M Vishwanath, R Cheong-Leen, D Taylor, I Russell-Eggitt, and J Rahi Is early surgery for congenital cataract a risk factor for glaucoma? Br. J. Ophthalmol., July 1, 2004; 88(7): 905 910. (11) Barrett BT et al. 2004 B. T. Barrett, A. Bradley, and P. V. McGraw Understanding the Neural Basis of Amblyopia Neuroscientist, April 1, 2004; 10(2): 106 117. (12) Committee on Practice and Ambulatory Medicine Section on Ophthalmology. Eye examination and vision screening in infants, children and young adults. Pediatrics 1996; 98: 153-157 (13) M P Clarke, C M Wright, S Hrisos, J D Anderson, J Henderson, and S R Richardson Randomised controlled trial of treatment of unilateral visual impairment detected at preschool vision screening BMJ, Nov 2003; 327: 1251 ; (14) Hard AL, Williams P, Sjostrand J. Do we have optimal screening limits in Sweden for vision testing at the age of 4 years? Acta Ophthalmol Scand 1995;73: 483-5 (15) Simons K, Preslan M. Natural history of amblyopia untreated due to lack of compliance. Br J Ophthalmol 1999;83: 582-7. (16) Kutschke P, Scott W, Keech R. Anisometropic amblyopia. Ophthalmology 1999: 258-63 (17) World Health Organization. Elimination of avoidable visual disability due to refractive errors. Geneva: WHO, 2000. (18) Hardman-Lea SJ, Loades J, Rubinstein MP. The sensitive period for anisometropic amblyopia. Eye 1989;3: 783-90 (19) AH. Weiss and J. P. Kelly Spatial-Frequency-Dependent Changes in Cortical Activation before and after Patching in Amblyopic Children Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., October 1, 2004; 45(10): 3531 3537. (20) Barnes G, Hess R, Dumoulin S, Achtman R, Pike G. The cortical deficit in humans with strabismic amblyopia. J Physiol 2001;533: 281-97. (21) Weiss AH. Unilateral high myopia: optical components, associated factors, and visual outcomes. Br J Ophthalmol. 2003;87:1025–1031. (22) PEDI Group 2002 Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group. The clinical profile of moderate amblyopia in children younger than 7 years. Arch Ophthalmol. 2002;120:281–287. (23) National Screening Committee. First report of the National Screening Committee. Health Departments of the United Kingdom, 1998. (24) Wilson JMG, Jungner G. Principles and practice of screening for disease. Geneva: World Health Organisation, 1968. (25) Royal Colleges 1994 Royal College of Ophthalmologists and British Paediatric Association. Ophthalmic services for children. Report of joint working party. London: RCO, BPA , 1994. (26) Hall DM. Health for all children. 3rd ed. Report of the third joint working party on child health surveillance. Oxford: Oxford University Press , 1996. (27) Snowdon SK, Stewart-Brown SL. Preschool vision screening. Health Technol Assess 1997;1:i-83. (28) Clare Gilbert and Haroon Awan Blindness in children BMJ, Oct 2003; 327: 760 – 761 18.11.05 PDG Word count 3,010