...Everyone has a place where they go to escape all the pressures and worries of life. There is always that one spot that can mellow all your problems and soothe troubles in times of stress. For me, the beach is the ultimate cure to all of my problems. While I am there, all of my obligations suddenly vanish. As I stroll along, I can feel the soft smooth sand beneath my feet. As I take in the soothing atmosphere that encircles me, I close my eyes, letting myself absorb the warming rays of the sun on a perfect summer day. I am comforted by the sounds of the ocean; the rhythmic pounding of the waves represses all of my concerns. I look into the cloudless blue sky and see the perfection of life. On the other hand, if serenity is not your desire, other parts of the beach are full of exciting sights, sounds, and smells. The waves at the beach continuously crashing into the shore give a blissful feeling, but looking a little closer you see surfers hanging, or children splashing around near the shore. The smell of the salt in the air is another unique comfort of the beach. Many fun opportunities await at the beach, consisting of boating, sailing, parasailing, and a plethora of other activities available to casual beachgoers. Regardless, beach’s most alluring feature has to be simply lying in the sand while soaking up the sun. On a extremely hot day where else would anyone rather be but the beach with the water, the sun, and all the activities that are happening, or just to hang...
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...Her Fearful Symmetry “Her Fearful Symmetry” is a novel written by Audrey Niffenegger, who also wrote “The Time Traveler’s Wife” which became a global bestseller and won several prizes including “British Book Award”. It is told by a 3rd person narrator, and the point of view changes between the different characters in the book. The story mainly takes place in a block of flats in London. A woman called Elspeth lived in one of the flats, until she died of leukemia. Elspeth was a self-centered woman, who always got what she wanted. And even after her death that did not change. As a ghost, Elspeth is stuck in her old flat without any way of communicating. But eventually after long time, she finds a way to get in touch with her nieces and her old lover, Robert. When Elspeth died, she left all of her belongings, including the flat, to her twin sister’s twin daughters, Julia and Valentina. This surprised everyone, as Elspeth and her sister, Edie, had not spoken with each other for twenty years. We later realize out that the twins switched identities, because when Edie, who actually was called Elspeth, was engaged to her husband, Jack, he started to be flirtatious towards Elspeth, who was Edie at the time. So they started to impersonate each other to test him. But even though Jack knew they had switched, he played along and fell in love with “Edie” and broke off the engagement with Elspeth and asked “Edie” to marry him. But in the meantime Elspeth had slept with Jack and was...
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...person when she’s with her husband and daughter in Los Angeles, and a completely different person when back “home” surrounded by her childhood family in the Central Valley of California. During this particular trip, she begins to reflect on her life in Los Angeles. Didion contemplates the fact that she often feels uneasy around her husband, just like he feels uneasy being around her family. At a crossroad, she must decide not only who she is, and the life she wants, but also the kind of life she wants for her daughter. Her life in Los Angeles has cleansed her from her youth—one that was dusty and full of useless trinkets. She ponders the time her husband wrote the word “D-U-S-T” on those useless trinkets and she remembers her feelings of sadness and indignation. She says, “We live in dusty houses…filled with mementos quite without value to him” (139-40). The dust-covered trinkets signify what is important to her, or what needs to be addressed in her marriage. Yet, these objects just lay there waiting for someone to see them—for someone to dust them off and care for them—not unlike how Didion wishes her husband would see her and nurture her in their marriage. Didion wonders which of her two homes is normal or if they are both flawed. When she and her husband are with her family, he becomes apprehensive about her behavior, “…because once there I fall into their ways, which are difficult, oblique, deliberately inarticulate…” (139). She begins to defend her past, the one she thought...
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...Away From Her The only thing we can say about Sarah Polley’s screenwriting and directorial debut is: wow! Basing her script on the short story “The Bear Came over the Mountain” by Alice Munro, Polley had created a masterpiece. Julie Christie plays Fiona, a woman suffering from the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. She and her husband, Grant (Gordon Pinsent), have not been apart from each other for nearly four and a half decades, so understandably he takes it quite hard when she decides it would be best for her to enter into a nursing hope for people suffering from Alzheimer’s. Over the course of time, Grant becomes somewhat alarmed, and even a little jealous, over the strength of friendship that she develops with a fellow patient named Aubrey. As can be expected, Grant has to struggle to come to terms with this new relationship and with Fiona’s fading memory. Although Julie Christie has been widely recognized for her performance (nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, winner of the BAFTA, Golden Globe, and National Board of Review, Screen Actors Guild for the same, as well as numerous film critics societies), and not to take anything away from that, the story is driven by Gordon Pinsent’s performance (he won the award for Outstanding Male Performance from the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television, and Radio Artists…they’re version of the SAG Awards). Also of note is Olympia Dukakis playing Marian, Aubrey’s wife, as she also...
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...Summary Shell, one of the largest multinational oil companies planned to dispose of the Brent Spar, which was huge floating oil storage and loading buoy, by sinking it at a site in the deep Northern Atlantic, with full UK Government approval. But a combination of Greenpeace, European Ministers and the public stopped them. In order to ensure that no similar incidents occur in the future, the Shell UK should seek to build an open and transparent process, involve environmental interest group like Greenpeace. Issues Disposal Options: In the last analysis, there were two options; horizontal on-shore dismantling and deep water disposal. Shell qualified the deep water disposal option as Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO). BEPO Process: Several options were evaluated according to engineering complexity, risk to health and safety of workforce, environmental impact, cost, and acceptability by the British authorities and other interested parties, such as fishermen’s associations. It is important to that stakeholders such as Greenpeace were not included. Deep water disposal option: The deep water disposal option had the advantage on the grounds of engineering complexity, risk to health and safety of the work force, and cost (about 11 million pounds versus 46 million pounds). Regulatory Principles: The International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) guidelines and UK legislation stipulate that sinking in the ocean is an acceptable option. Shell’ position: Shell was seen to...
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...1 What is knife crime? ‘Knife crime’ is any crime that involves a knife. This can include: * carrying or trying to buy a knife if you’re under 18 * threatening people with a knife * carrying an illegal kind of knife * murder or assault in which the victim was stabbed with a knife * robbery or burglary where the thieves carried a knife as a weapon Illegal knives There is a complete ban on the sale of some knives, which are considered to be offensive weapons. These include: * flick knives - knives where the blade is hidden inside the handle and shoots out when a button is pressed; these are also called 'switchblades' or 'automatic knives' * butterfly knives - where the blade is hidden inside a handle that splits in two around it, like wings; the handles swing around the blade to open or close it * disguised knives - where the blade is hidden inside something like a belt buckle or fake mobile phone * gravity knives * sword-sticks * samurai swords * hand-claws * foot-claws * belt-buckle knives * push daggers * kubotan (cylindrical container, holding spikes) * shuriken (also known as 'death stars' or 'throwing stars') * kusari-gama (sickle attached to a rope, cord or wire) * kyoketsu-shoge (hook-knife attached to a rope, cord or wire) * kusari (weight attached to a rope, cord or wire) This is not a complete list. If you think a knife you want to buy might be illegal, please check...
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...The Roaring Twenties and Modernism 7 F. Scott Fitzgerald “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” (1920) A. Characterisation - Comment on the characters with regard to the final chapters and the end. B. Narration and Language - What sort of narrator narrates “Bernice Bobs Her Hair”? Compare with Hemingway. - Characterise Fitzgerald’s language; you may find the adjectives below helpful. Compare with Hemingway; who is the more experimental? metaphorical – religious – humoristic – serious – playful – matter-of-fact – straightforward - | - What function do the passages of dialogue have? - Does Fitzgerald mainly ‘tell’ or ‘show’? telling – the narrator tells the readers what the characters feel: | showing – the narrator shows the readers what the characters feel: | When the teacher asked the students if they had done their homework, they felt very embarrassed. | When the teacher asked the students if they had done their homework, they looked down. | C. Structure - How has the short story been structured? (exposition and presentation of main conflict, subordinate conflicts, climax, coda) - What function does each chapter have, or how does chapter contribute to deepening or relaxing the conflict(s)? D. List the ten most important words of advice that would necessarily be included in a guidebook for a society vampire of the 1920s. E. Modernism In Life and Literature, Christensen writes about F. Scott Fitzgerald that * his works often...
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...Bernice’s Change: For the Better or for the Worse? To begin, throughout the novella of “Bernice Bobs her Hair”, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the main characters, Bernice goes through a change for the worse. Bernice is a rich, country girl who behaves as if she were stuck in the nineteenth century. She is quiet and does not seek much attention. However, this changes when her cousin, Marjorie fills her in on what she is lacking in her life and how boring she is. Marjorie is an outgoing girl who participates in a lot of fun. Bernice is upset of how others view her and asks Marjorie to help her change. Bernice says,“I’ve decided… that maybe you're right about things--possibly not. But if you'll tell me why your friends arent--arent...
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...How the National Offender Management Service works March 2012 Introduction Who we are Key functions Our structure How NOMS Works introduction who we are key functions our structure “ Our vision is that there will be fewer victims, and our “ communities will be safer NOMS was established in 2008 with a clear brief, to bring together the commissioning and provision of offender services in prison and in the community, ensuring best value for public money. So organisational change isn’t new to us; it’s part of what we are all about. But the reality now is that we are in a new world, with the double challenge of responding to the policy priorities of the Coalition Government and significantly reducing our costs by approximately 23 per cent by 2015. The rate of change and scale of challenge for both Prisons and Probation is unprecedented. To meet our objectives of protecting the public and reducing reoffending – we have reshaped and transformed the way we operate creating a leaner organisation focused on outcomes for the public. We have dismantled our old regional model, and our structure has been fundamentally reshaped to support HQ and Central Services front line delivery at much reduced cost. Perhaps most significantly, our new structure makes a clear distinction between the different functions of the Agency – commissioning services; delivering those services directly such as through HM Prison Service and national operational services such as licence recall and population...
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...tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town.”(391) The social class and her father fettered not only her behavior but also everything of herself. Without him she could not do anything except stay at home. She had been isolated from the outside world and the people whose social class was lower than theirs. “only Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps—an eyesore among eyesores.”(391) Her house was on behalf of her personality that she was noble, solitary and traditionally. Emily's decaying appearance matches not only the rotting exterior of the house, but the interior as well. Staying far away from people, gradually, she could not know how to get along with others. Being restricted by her family fame, Emily became much more autistic and did things unusual. The person who impact her most was her father. Because she had changed a lot after him dead. “The day after his death all the ladies prepared to call at the house and offer condolence and aid, as is our custom Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face. She told them that her father was not dead.”(393) She couldn’t accept the truth that her father was dead because he was her supporter and a controller in her life. Losing the central of live, there was no one could limit her. She became much more radical, crazy and kept herself from others farther than before. Just liked the...
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...ways. When her father died she was faced with reality, which was something that she did not seem prepared for. She tries to avoid this reality by claiming “her father was not dead” for three days and then “she went out very little” so people did not see her. She tried to avoid reality by distancing herself from people because it seemed as if she was scared of losing anyone else or even letting someone come into her life. Although she secluded herself from many people, she and Homer Barron fell in love. Even though they fell in love, she killed him; it seemed as if she killed him to avoid the reality of him ever leaving her or her losing him like she lost her father. The...
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...has serious mental illness. Through Miss Emily, a fictional woman, readers can feel what had driven her to become abnormal like that. First, Miss Emily was influenced so deeply from her father, a strict and selfish man, so that she could not decide anything. This is one of the main reasons that direct Emily to an odd personality in her life. During her childhood, she was isolated from society and had a very limit connection with other people. She totally depended on her father, Mr. Griersons, and became a copy of that man. For example, he refused to pay taxes when he was alive, and then after he died, ten years later, she also did the same way. She had no rights to choose what she wanted because of the selfish father who always controlled everything, “… we did not say she was crazy then. We believed she had to do that”. Perhaps Mr. Griersons loved Emily with all his heart and did not want anything wrong happened to her, so he accidently became a selfish father. He always tried to keep her in best conditions, but the more he did that, the more her mental sickness developed silently. Second, although Emily had a strong appearance, she was a weak woman inside as other women. When her father passed away, she did not accept the fact and tried to think that he had not died yet. She went against the female type and social behaviors at that time. She cut her hair short, “making her look like girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windows sort of tragic and...
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...in Emily’s life as she is ironing her daughter’s dress. The monologue started because someone (possibly a teacher at Emily’s school) called and wants to discuss her daughter and this has caused the mother to recall Emily’s life and why she has become the person she is. The mother is imaging what the conversation would look like if she were to go talk to this person about Emily. The conflict in the story is the mother questioning herself on how Emily was raised and the difficult decisions she had to make concerning care. She had to decide to work or stay home with Emily, and then when she did work she had to find someone to take care of her daughter which proved just as difficult and these child care providers had a definite impact on Emily’s personality and who she has become today. These decisions that the mother had to make were not the normal decisions for a new mother in these times. The story takes place during the time of the great depression era and that is generally a time that mothers stayed home and took care of their children, but due to the unforeseen circumstance that Emily’s father left because he “could no longer endure sharing want with us” the mother was on her own having to juggle work and child care for her new baby daughter. Who’s fault is it that Emily’s life was so difficult was the mother making the wrong choices as a new mom all alone after only eight months? Or has society forced her to make the choices regarding her daughter that proved to seem so detrimental...
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...reaction of Mr. Mallard towards the institution of marriage after her husbands dead. Chopin describes the grief of the woman in such a sad event, as a potential for the woman to change her life in a positive way. The different ways in which the author describes Mrs. Mallard feelings and actions after the notice are purposed to reveal the problems of being tied to another person. From my point of view the concept of being married means being tied to another person no matter how good or bad circumstances are. The matter of fact is that being tied to another person, prevent us from being ourselves. The story of an hour clearly reflects this concept beginning by describing Mrs. Mallard as a woman with a “heart trouble” and not certainly because she is unhealthy. All of her illnesses come her condition within marriage, either because she finds out about her husband death or because of the inherent thought of being tied to her partner. This is explained later as the author describes the main character as "young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength", even if Brentley Mallard is not described it seems like if through her grief she celebrates the triumph of being free from the man who imprisoned her. The death of Brentley clearly depicts an open window for Mrs. Mallard as she repeats “free, free, free”, the author makes clear that the attachment to her husband was eating her alive. This attachment meant to be physically,...
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...The Glass Menagerie: Scene 1-7 Study Guide NAME__________________ Scene 1 1. Describe the physical setting of the play. 2. How is Tom dressed as the play begins? Why? 3. Why does Tom’s speech open with a comparison of his role to that of a stage magician? 4. What is a “memory play”? 5. Why does Tom say there is a fifth character in the play? 6. What do we discover about Tom’s life at home in the brief first scene? 7. What do we learn about Laura? 8. How is Amanda portrayed? Scene 2 1. As Amanda comes up the fire escape, Laura’s actions are described. What are these actions and what do they reveal about her? 2. What has Amanda done that day? 3. What has Laura done during school hours? 4. Why is Amanda upset about Laura’s failure in school? 5. What is Amanda’s decision about Laura’s future? 6. How does Laura feel about this decision? 7. What is revealed about Mr. Wingfield in this scene? 8. Laura continually tries to avoid the unpleasant reality of Amanda’s conversation. How does she do this? Scene 3 1. What becomes Amanda’s obsession? 2. What does Amanda do about the obsession? 3. Who are the principal actors during this scene? 4. What is the quarrel about? 5. Why does Amanda believe that Tom is doing things he’s ashamed of? 6. How...
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