Alice Walker Uses Symbolism to Address Three Issues Essay Example for Free

Alice Walker Uses Symbolism to Address Three Issues Essay Born on February 9, 1944 in Eatonton, Georgia, Alice Malsenior Walker was the eighth and youngest child of poor sharecroppers. Her fathers great-great-great grandmother, Mary Poole was a slave, forced to walk from Virginia to Georgia with a baby in each arm. Walker is deeply proud of her cultural heritage. In addition to her literary talents Walker was involved in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, walking door-to-door promoting voters registration among the rural poor. Walker was present to see Martin Luther Kings I have a dream speech. In August 1963 Alice traveled to Washington D. C. to take part in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Perched in a tree limb to try to get a view, Alice couldnt see much of the main podium, but was able to hear Dr. Kings I Have A Dream address. (Alice Walker Biography) Walker is a vegetarian involved in many other issues, including nuclear proliferation, and the environment. Her insight to African American culture comes from her travel and experiences in both America and Africa. Walker is an activist regarding oppression and power, championing victims of racism and sexism. After her precedent setting, and controversial thirteen-year marriage to a white, Jewish, civil rights lawyer, Alice fell in love with Robert Allen, editor of Black Scholar. She is currently living in Mendocino, California and is exploring her bi-sexuality. Alice Walkers first novel, The Third Life of Grange Copeland was published the week her daughter was born. Walker received praise for this work, but also criticism for dealing too harshly with the male characters in the book. Walkers best-known novel, The Color Purple won the Pulitzer Prize in 1982, and was made into a movie. Walker was the first black author honored by a Pulitzer. In Celies letters to God, she tells her story about her role as wife, mother, daughter, and sister, and other women who help shape her life. Walker portrays Africa in a positive way, and looks to it as a form of artistic and ideological expression. Walker was also criticized for her portrayal of men, often as violent rapists and wife beaters. Even as she portrays men, often in a bad light, she likes to focus on the strength of women. In her story, Everyday Use Alice Walker uses symbolism to address three main issues: racism, feminism and the black Americans search for cultural identity. The story Everyday Use is set in the late 60s or early 70s and the setting is an impoverished home in Georgia. The critical analysis of Everyday Use from the web site Sistahspace presented the following interpretation: This was a time, when African-Americans were struggling to define their personal identities in cultural terms. The term Negro had been recently removed from the vocabulary, and had been replaced with Black. There was Black Power, Black Nationalism, and Black Pride. Many blacks wanted to rediscover their African roots, and were ready to reject and deny their American heritage, which was filled with stories of pain and injustice. Alice Walker is, as David Cowart argues, [satirizing] the heady rhetoric of late 60s black consciousness, deconstructing its pieties (especially the rediscovery of Africa) and asserting neglected values (Cowart, 182). The central theme of the story concerns the way in which an individual understands his present life in relation to the traditions of his people and culture. (Sistahspace) Everyday Use depicts a poor, illiterate black mother who rejects the shallow Black Power ideals of her older, outspoken daughter, Dee, in favor of the practical values of her younger, less privileged daughter, Maggie. Mama is the orator, and like griots from tribes in Africa, she perpetuates the oral traditions and history of the family. Mamas upbeat self-image in spite of little formal education, leads the reader to feel the intense pride she has in maintaining self-sufficiency. As discussed in David Whites critical analysis of (Everyday Use: Defining African-American Heritage), Mamas lack of formal education does not prevent her from formulating a sense of heritage unattached to the Black Power movement held by her, purportedly educated, daughter Dee. Mamas daughter, Dee (Wangero), has a much more superficial idea of heritage. She is portrayed as bright, beautiful, and self-centered. Maggie is the younger daughter, who lives with Mama. She is scared and ashamed, lying back in corners, cowering away from people. (White, David) (Everyday Use: Defining African-American Heritage. ) Maggie understands her heritage, and appreciates the significance of everyday things in the house. She is uneducated, and not in the least outspoken, and is unable to make eye contact. Maggie has stooped posture and walks with a shuffle, this, combined with her inability to look you in the eye, points to her vulnerability in dealing with newfound black rights. Mamas daughter Dee, who is portrayed as quite successful, has come home to visit and display her new African style heritage. Dee has adopted things African and has changed her name to Wangero. As she handles the everyday articles fashioned and used by previous generations, she believes they should be displayed to her white girlfriends, especially the old quilts made by Mama, her sister and her mother. Mama has promised the quilts to Maggie but Dee says, Maggie does not understand their value and would just put them to everyday use. (Walker, Everyday Use) Mama must decide which daughter should receive the family quilts. Finally, Mama realizes that her daughter, Maggie, has a closer connection with her view of family history than Dee does and gives her the quilts. This is the first time Mama has asserted any authority over Dee. On a deeper level, Alice Walker is exploring the concepts of racism and the evolution of Black Society following the end of slavery, through the era of Martin Luther King, and finally to the Black Power movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Maggie, Mama, Dee/Wangaro and Hakim-a Barber, symbolize this. Mama is illiterate, because her school closed when she was in the second grade. The role of black Americans in the late 1920s is best illustrated by Mamas line, School was closed down. Dont ask me why: in 1927 colored asked fewer questions that they do now (Walker, Everyday Use) When Mama describes the old house, burning down it symbolizes the ending of slavery and the decreed civil rights. The scars that Mammas daughter Maggie, bear are representative of the pain of the past and difficulty in moving from the role of subservience to equality. Maggie has difficulty looking you in the eye just as the American Negro had difficulty moving from the subservient role to peer in dealings with whites. Maggies head down on the chest at first appears as an as shame for her scars from the house fire, but they come to symbolize a person caught in the old black paradigm, unable to embrace newfound freedoms in society. The fire of slavery has damaged Maggie and she resigns herself to a transitional cultural existence, neither old nor new. Mama represents the ideals of Martin Luther King through her dream of going on the Johnny Carson show to meet Dee. She embraces the idea of this fantasy and takes pleasure in replaying it in her mind. Ultimately, Mamma is thrust back to the reality that it will never happen, just as she seems to resign herself to the fact that Kings dreams are not real for her generation but for the next.

The Flu Shot Should Not Be Mandatory Essay -- Influenza Vaccine Papers

Should the Flu Shot Be Mandatory? Vaccines have been proclaimed by many people as one of the miracles of modern medicine. Vaccines are credited with saving thousands of lives and wiping out many contagious diseases. Recently, there has been a tremendous debate whether annual influenza vaccines should be mandatory. Influenza vaccines should be voluntary because people have the right to examine data on vaccinations and make their own informed decisions. Although people should have the freedom to choose to be vaccinated, the public needs to be educated about the personal, economical, and social benefits of receiving the influenza vaccine. In addition, people who are at a high risk of contracting influenza as well as health care providers should be encouraged to receive an influenza vaccine in order to decrease the major health burden associated with the disease. Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is a viral infection of the respiratory system and it is characterized by abrupt onset of fever, sore throat, and nonproductive cough. Influenza is spread from person to person by inhalation of the droplets produced when a person infected with influenza coughs or sneezes. In addition, it can also be spread by contact with infected objects such as utensils. Current influenza vaccines are about 70% to 90% effective in preventing influenza in healthy adults. Since the vaccines are made of dead fragments of influenza viruses, they cannot cause influenza. The strains of influenza that circulate change every year and therefore, it is necessary to make a new influenza vaccine annually. After vaccination, the body's immune system produces antib... ...ld not be mandatory and should remain the choice of each individual. However, people at a high risk of influenza as well as health-care providers should consider receiving the vaccine. In addition, programs educating people about the benefits of influenza vaccination should become a priority among health officials. Ultimately, people should trust their own judgment when deciding whether influenza vaccines are right for them. --------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Essen, G. A., "The Socio-Economic Impact of Influenza". http://www.eswi.org/Bulletin_October_1997.cfm [2] Frayha, Husn. "Influenza Vaccination: A Call for Action" http://www.kfshrc.edu.sa/annals/176/97-248R.html [3] "Influenza". http://www.caw.ca/whatwedo/health&safety/factsheet/hsfssubstanceno37.asp

Plastic Surgery: Beauty or Beast

Stephanie Ferrone Mrs. D’Addario ENG3U October 26, 2012 Beauty or Beast? Her thin, fine lipped smile transformed into an â€Å"Angelina Jolie† like pout. Rosy, red, round, cheekbones as high as the Himalayans stick out on her face. Her jaw line is sharp and defined. Everywhere she walks she turns heads, people stare. What are people thinking? Beauty or beast? A girl as described above would be the typical face of a cover girl, that would be plastered on the front page of magazines everywhere. These magazines call out to teenagers and woman, brainwashing them to think that if you want to be beautiful, you have to look a certain way.Plastic surgery is a harmful way to convert yourself into society’s unrealistic depiction of beauty. Having cosmetic procedures done can have many health risks, can create a false idea of beauty, as well as an addiction to this unhealthy habit. There are many health concerns associated with cosmetic surgery. Plastic surgery can cause ex cessive bleeding, scarring, necrosis which is the death of tissues, as well as more serious effects such as nerve damage which can eventually lead to muscle paralysis. In some extremely rare cases, uncontrolled bleeding can even lead to death.In 2007, hip-hop superstar Kanye West’s mother, Donda West, passed away at the age of 58 after receiving a breast reduction and tummy tuck. She suffered extreme bleeding after going home to recover from the operation. According to the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, one of 51,459 patients dies from cosmetic operations. Plastic surgery can be terribly dangerous to your body, but it can also be equally dangerous to your mental health aswell. Media and society have raised the bar for every teenager and woman.Ordinary people are constantly being bombarded with ads on how they should look, and what society believes is beautiful. Plastic surgery creates a false idea of beauty, which is impossible to live up to. According to The Ame rican Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, from 1997 to 2010, the increase in cosmetic procedures has increased by over 115 percent. Due to the increase of plastic surgery, teens and women are more exposed to it, which is making them be more critical toward their bodies. Being unhappy with your physical appearance leads women to get cosmetic procedures.Women go into the operating room with high expectations, thinking that once they look a certain way it will change their life, fix their problems and open up doors for them. It is important to understand that there is no such thing as physical â€Å"perfection†. Plastic surgery is only a mask that women use to hide their flaws and insecurities. Most woman do not understand this, and if their results do not turn out the way they desired it to be, it can be very devastating for some patients and lead them into depression.The Aesthetic Surgery Journal states that 13 percent of plastic surgery patients are unhappy with the outcom e of their procedures. If women continue to be unhappy with their physical appearance it can be followed by a serious addiction to cosmetic operations. Cosmetic surgery addiction is the ongoing desire to receive plastic surgery to the point of excess. Addicts are usually physically distinguishable because of their fake, unnatural appearance. Nearly half of plastic surgery patients have had more than one cosmetic procedure.The percent of patients in 2008, returning for another surgery after their first procedure has increased from 37 to 44 percent since 2002. It most cases, people with Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) suffer from plastic surgery addiction. Symptoms of BDD are constant low self esteem, obsessive thoughts about body defects, and envying the physical appearance of others. Unfortunately, most people suffering from BDD will not seek psychiatric help, and will continue to receive cosmetic procedures even if advised not to by their surgeon. Cosmetic surgery addiction can be v ery dangerous to ones physical and mental health.In conclusion, plastic surgery can be incredibly risky for your health, can create a completely unrealistic idea of beauty and can lead to a serious uncontrollable addiction. It is not worth to lose your life just because of the desire for high cheek bones and plump lips. It is important to remember that the idea of physical perfection does not exist and that looking a certain way will not change your life for the better. Most of us are so focused on comparing our body to others and obsessing over our physical appearance that we often forget beauty comes from within.So with all this being said, how do you define true beauty? Works Cited â€Å"Cosmetic Surgery Addiction. † – AllTreatment. com. N. p. , n. d. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. . Flinn, Mary. â€Å"Negative Psychological Effects of Cosmetic Surgery. † EHow. Demand Media, 18 Mar. 2009. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. . â€Å"Health Risks of Cosmetic Surgery. † Health Risks of Cosmetic Surgery. N. p. , n. d. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. . â€Å"Kanye West's Mom Dies after Cosmetic Surgery. † NY Daily News. N. p. , n. d. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. . â€Å"Plastic Surgery: Beauty or Beast? † Plastic Surgery: Beauty or Beast? N. p. , n. d. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. . â€Å"Plastic Surgery Demographics. † : Who's Getting Cosmetic Surgery? N. p. , n. d. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. .

Brief Introduction Overview of McGraw Hills 9th Edition...

Book Review Fundamentals of Corporate Finance – Ross, Westerfield, Jordan McGraw Hill Education (India), 2012, 878 Pp 9th edition ISBN: 13:978-1-25-9027628 Kumar Ratnesh* About Authors Stephen A. Ross is the Franco Modigliant Professor of Finance Economics at the Sloan School of management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Randolph W. Westerfield is Dean Emeritus of the University of Southern California’s Marshall school of Business. Bradford D. Jordan is Professor of Finance Holder of the Richard W.and Janis H. Furst Endowed chair in Finance at the University of Kentucky. With maintaining many of the features , the ninth edition of Fundamental of Corporate Finance brings into clear focus the designed and developed explicit for course in business for both finance major and non-majors alike. The role of corporate finance manager as decision maker and stress for managerial input and judgment. Today finance manager assume to avoid block box approach to finance and where appropriate, the approximate pragmatic nature of financial analysis is made explicit, possible pitfalls are described. Now a day, many functions that may have been done by corporate managers in the past are now done in collaboration with all relevant managers and department. To ensure effectiveness, corporate manager must be placed into that motion in which managers can use effectively in their day to day business expectations of these global competitive crises. The different sections of thisShow MoreRelatedStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 PagesOrganizational Behavior This page intentionally left blank Organizational Behavior EDITION 15 Stephen P. Robbins —San Diego State University Timothy A. Judge —University of Notre Dame i3iEi35Bj! Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montreal Toronto Delhi Mexico City Sao Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo Editorial Director: Sally Yagan Director of Editorial Services: