The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein - Bilbos Noblest Moment :: essays research papers

Bilbo’s noblest moment in The Hobbit, a fantasy book by J. R. R. Tolkien, is when he gives up the Arkenstone, a precious jewel. He is commended by some for his graciousness of giving away such a treasure, for everyone was rushing to try to get it for themselves. Yet, Bilbo gave the stone to the Elvenking and went against of his friends to attempt to protect lives. This is especially noble since no one else could have achieved this action and been trusted. It revealed supreme generosity from Bilbo.Bilbo feels that it is essential to settle all the disputes which is why he concludes that giving up the Arkenstone would be the best alternative. A war was beginning because the elves and men wanted their fair share of the treasure since they killed Smaug, the dragon who stole the fortune from the dwarfs hundreds of years ago. Maybe, the elves and men could bargain with the Arkenstone which is the heart of Thorin. Thorin treasures it above anything else in the world, and all other riches do not even compare to the Arkenstone. Bilbo figures that this may be the only performance that could save lives, and he wants to achieve that objective. Even though the stone does not rightly belong to him, Bilbo gives away the stone away out of the goodness of his heart. Consequently, Bilbo has many justifications for presenting the Elvenking with the Arkenstone.Since Bilbo was so gracious for giving up the Arkenstone, no other character would have been able to do that achievement. One part that had an immense role is the Elvenking having trust in Bilbo. If a dwarf would have wanted to give the elves something, most likely, they would not have trusted the dwarf. This is because the dwarfs were the ones who were not giving them their share of the riches. Bilbo has and advantage for not being like the dwarfs. So, the elves had more faith in Bilbo for being a hobbit. Probably, the dwarfs would have been greedy and kept the Arkenstone for their own anyway. All they want is the riches, and they do not care about anyone but themselves. In fact, when they were in the tunnels with the goblins, the dwarfs did not even notice when Bilbo became lost, and they were about to go on without him. Also, they always relied on Bilbo to get them out of trouble.

Juliet: From Mouse To Woman :: essays research papers

In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare the two main characters are Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet. Both teenagers matured and changed during the play, but Juliet’s changes stood out the most. Juliet transformed in less then a week, which says she did not change much, but there is a definite difference in her personality from before she met Romeo to after she married him. There are many events in the book that support that idea. Most of which interact with her mother. Many events towards the ending of the play suggest she is very obstinate, which is quite different from the begging of the play before Juliet even thought of marriage or defying her parents and family. In Juliet’s first scene she is talking to her Mother and the Nurse. Her Mother brought up the topic of marriage and Lord Paris. This is when we first see a young girl who has just begun to grow up. She replies with the fact that she hasn’t considered marriage yet. Most girls of her age would have been wives by now, so it was slightly uncommon that she hadn’t even thought of her marriage. Also in this scene we see in her willingness and obedience, when she does not object to her Mother’s thoughts of her marring Lord Paris soon. When her Mother asks her if she could love Paris she replies, â€Å"I’ll look to like, if looking liking move. But no more deep will I endart mine eye than your consent gives strength to make it fly.† (I, iv, 102-105) I interpreted her to mean she will try to love him, but she will not look deeper than her mother wishes. She reminds me of a mouse in a way, meek and a pushover. This scene is right before the ball. Later when Juliet is at the ball she meets Romeo, and falls in love at first sight. Later Romeo follows her to her balcony where she confesses her love for Romeo to herself. Overhearing her, Romeo shows himself and also confesses his love for her. Taken over by her first feelings of love and lust, she defies her parents just by speaking to him in that manner. Before this, which was only about five or six hours ago, she would not have spoken to him at all, let alone that time of night. Romeo soon proposes to Juliet and she says yes.

Fire and Water Imagery in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre Essay -- Jane E

Fire and Water Imagery in Jane Eyre   Ã‚  Ã‚   In Jane Eyre, the use of water and fire imagery is very much related to the character and/or mood of the protagonists (i.e. Jane and Rochester, and to a certain extent St. John Rivers) -- and it also serves to show Jane in a sort of intermediate position between the two men. However, it should also be noted that the characteristics attributed to fire and water have alternately positive and negative implications -- to cite an example among many, near the beginning of the novel, reference is made to the devastating effects of water ("ceaseless rain sweeping away wildly", "death-white realm" [i.e. of snow]), and fire is represented by a "terrible red glare"; later, fire is represented as being comforting in Miss Temple's room, and it is water that saves Rochester from the first fire. These literal associations with fire and water become increasingly symbolic, however, as the novel progresses, where the fire / water / (ice) imagery becomes a representation of the emotional a nd moral dialectic of the characters, and it also becomes increasingly evident that the positive and negative potentialities of fire and water also show the positive and negative potentialities of the characters whom they represent. Rochester is very much associated with fire, with the "strange fire[s] in his look", and particularly with his "flaming and flashing eyes". By extension, so is everything associated with him (i.e. his first wife and Thornfield). Jane's first reaction to Thornfield itself, destined to fall victim to fire, is to be "dazzled" by the "double illumination of fire and candle", just as she is later to be "dazzled" by the fire of Rochester himself. On one level, this "fire" is the Romantic fir... ... Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1991 David Lodge, Fire and Eyre: Charlotte Brontà «'s War of Earthly Elements Gates, Barbara Timm, ed. Critical Essays on Charlotte Bronte. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1990.    Jane Eyre. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Perf. William Hurt, Charlotte Gainsborough, and Anna Paquin. 1996    Kadish, Doris. The Literature of Images: Narrative Landscape from Julie to Jane Eyre. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1986.    Lodge, Scott. "Fire and Eyre: Charlotte Bronte's War of Earthly Elements." The Brontes: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Ian Gregor. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1970. 110-36.    McLaughlin, M.B. "Past or Future Mindscapes: Pictures in Jane Eyre." Victorian Newsletter 41 (1972): 22-24.    Solomon, Eric. "Jane Eyre: Fire and Water." College English 25 (1964): 215-217.   

Quiz: John Keats and Small Business Owners

Dashes Quiz (90%) 1. Hinduism–this is the major religion of India–developed over a period of many centuries. (B) 2. Ferrets can be delightful pets–when they want to be. (B) 3. â€Å"You have two choices,† he was told to fight and die or to live the life of a coward. (C) 4. Mayonnaise contains three things–egg yolks, vegetable oil, and vinegar. (A) 5. There were only two men who could match his strength and skill–Hercules and Achilles. (A) 6. Don't forget these ingredients in the wedding cake–one cup of patience, a spoonful of consideration, and a dash of forgiveness. A) 7. The baseball strike has caused all of us–especially the die-hard fans–to re-examine our priorities. (C) 8. From seashells, the natives made beautiful necklaces, bracelets, and earrings–even entire lines of jewelry. (B) 9. Jose's resume was impressive–he started work as a cashier in a computer store, advanced to manager, and eventually beca me a consultant for IBM. (C) 10. The Springfield orchestra ought to win the competition–their violin section is the best in the state. (C) 11. Ramona didn’t know–how could she? -that Alexis was already at the party. (B) 12. Grasping for an explanation, Sergei only managed to say, â€Å"I’m really sorry, but–. † (B) 13. Two years after being told by her boss that she did not have â€Å"what it takes,† Sonia had become a stockbroker–and a millionaire. (A) 14. City politicians–if not all politicians–should spend more time talking with small business owners. (C) 15. Many musicians who play the oboe also play–the English horn and oboe d’amore–double-reed instruments whose ranges are slightly lower. (A) 16.The dangers of the disease–its resistance to penicillin, its ability to avoid detection, and its transmissibility–should not be underestimated. (B) 17. The piano is an easy instrumen t to play–but a difficult one to play well. (C) 18. The computer has launched entire corporations–even empires–since its inception in the earlier part of the twentieth century. (B) 19. The hardships Ludwig van Beethoven had to overcome were considerable–several handicapped brothers and sisters, an abusive father, and the loss of his hearing at age twenty-nine. B) 20. Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, and The Outer Limits–he used to watch these shows into the early morning hours. (C) Quotation Marks (95%) 1. â€Å"Show me your friends,† my grandfather used to say, â€Å"and I'll tell you what I think of you. † (B) 2. On the first day of my Romantic Poetry class, the teacher stunned us by announcing, â€Å"I will now recite the most beautiful poem in the English language, ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn,’ by the English Romantic poet John Keats. † (B) 3.In her review of the film Mississippi Burning, Pauline Kael wrote, â€Å"Alan Parker likes to operate in a wildly dramatic universe of his own creation. † (C) 4. â€Å"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary† is the first line of Poe's poem â€Å"The Raven. † (B) 5. One of the most famous newspaper headlines is â€Å"38 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police. † (C) 6. On the topic of effort, P. D. James wrote, â€Å"God gives every bird his worm, but He does not throw it into the nest. † (C) 7. In his inaugural address, John F.Kennedy said, â€Å"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. † (B) 8. Joan said, â€Å"I could swear it was Mary Queen of Scots who proclaimed, ‘In my end is my beginning. ‘† (A) 9. You may prefer the Beatles' song â€Å"Yesterday,† but â€Å"Let It Be† is my favorite. (C) 10. In his lecture on dreams and mythology, Joseph Campbell wrote, â€Å"Dream is the personalized myth, myth the depersonalized dre am. † (A) 11. â€Å"There is no taking trout with dry breeches,† said Miguel de Cervantes when defining effort. C) 12. â€Å"You can hear the physicist Stephen Hawking's voice on the Pink Floyd song ‘Keep Talking',† said Rebecca. (B) 13. For your essay on Meso-American cultures, please consider the article â€Å"City of the Gods. † (C) 14. George said, â€Å"I was so shocked to hear Mrs. Edwards say, ‘Let's tango beneath the moonlight' that I stepped on my prom date's foot. † (A) 15. My friend Tom Jansen nervously read the newspaper headline, â€Å"Floods Force Dutch to Flee as Battered Dikes Begin to Fail. † (C) 16.My English teacher said, â€Å"Yogi Berra was grammatically incorrect when he said, ‘It ain't over 'til it's over,' but he surely was right. † (A) 17. Perhaps the most famous of all Star Trek episodes is â€Å"The City on the Edge of Forever,† which starred Joan Collins as a visionary social worker. (B) 18. â€Å"Dan Quayle Was Right,† by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, appeared in the magazine The Atlantic Monthly in 1993. (C) 19. The words â€Å"discrete† and â€Å"discreet† are homonyms: they sound the same but have different meanings. † (A) 20. Most Americans don’t

Clientelism, Tribalism, and Ethnic Conflict in Africa

In this essay I will firstly examine and break down the components of the question. I will separate and clarify the meaning of Clientelism, Tribalism and Ethnic Conflict and deal with each of these as separate enterties. Although I will argue each of them on a separate basis. I aim also to show the complex interlinked relationships between the three themes, and argue that because of this the central argument of the question is not easily agreed or disagreed with. My main argument however, will be to disagree with the central question and advocate that Clientelism was a part of Africa's tradition long before any notion of modernity and colonial influence was present in the continent. I will provide empirical evidence, which supports the inherent presence of Clientelism, and also show how it has strong links with Tribalism, in both its history and modern perpetuation. Tribalism however is a different matter and I agree with the central statement and advocate that modern African tribalism and notions of ethnicity were mainly a direct result of colonial imposed modernity restructuring. For the final part of my answer I will provide an argument that African ethnic conflict lies somewhere between the two extremes, that it was present in African society before colonial modernity and it was further exacerbated by the restructuring that colonialism brought about. In my conclusion I will further justify my arguments and advocate a thesis for future development in Africa on tribalism, ethnic conflict and clientelism. Whether clientelism, tribalism and ethnic conflict were a product not of tradition but of modernity in Africa and a type of development is a difficult and complex question in many respects, but one to which I have a strong argument. To study this it would be practical to firstly define what I shall mean by modernity and â€Å"the type of development† in relation to the main statement, as it will form the crux of my argument. By modernity and type of development in Africa I will be focusing on colonialism and justifying whether clientelism, tribalism and ethnic conflict were present before the arrival of colonialization or whether they emerged from the new society that restructuring colonial development brought with it. I believe through looking at African society in its modern context and studying empirical data that it is evident to determine whether the three main themes of this essay where present before or a after product. What is not so clear however is the complex linkages between and the contexts they operate in. I advocate for instance that it is impossible to separate out clientelism from tribalism, and that ethnic conflict is closely related to both of these. Due to this in order to justify and construct my argument I must separate out clientelism, tribalism and ethnic conflict and study them individually. Clientelism To determine from what circumstances Clientelism in African emanated it is important to define the term itself and what it means in African society. Clientelism is also known as patron-client relations/politics, and in its modern form is highly evident in African society. This clientelism is an exchange between actors who have unequal balance of power, one being weaker, and the other being stronger. It is the patron who is the more powerful and the client who is normally the weaker of the two. The exchange between client and patron is formed when the more powerful patron offers something, be it scarce resources or protection to the weaker client. This weaker client offers something back in return, perhaps support or other services to the patron who is in a more dominant position. † bound up with important ties of reprocity linking those who are related within networks of vertical relationships. Clientelism can be viewed on both micro and macro levels as a phenomenon of African society (although it is evident elsewhere),and to assess from where this Clientelism originated from it is necessary to see where it is present in modern society. In modern day Africa these patron -client relationships are most visible in the political arena. I argue that clientelism although it is pervasive in African politics did not emerge as a direct result of colonisation, which most people would view as the birthplace of modern African politics and political institutions as a result of the restructuring of African society. Instead I advocate that Clientelism, although present in modern day politics was in place well before the colonial era and was present in tradition and the era before any notion of modernity was in Africa. I believe clientelism was evident in the traditional African way of life. Pre-Colonial African society was in terms stateless. There was no formal state. African society was based around a system of patron-client relationships, which were the fundamental core of society. Where there was no state there was no other system, in a vast continent holding various competing tribes and peoples in order for there to be a ‘society' arbitrating, protecting and trade were all centred around these unequal deals between various networks. â€Å"The power relations of pre-colonial Africa were typically of patrons and clients. ‘Big Men' presided over intricate networks of clientage involving reciprocal but unequal relations with ‘small boys', as well as power over women and children and those held in the diverse forms and degrees of servitude of pawnship and slavery. 2 Patron-client networks as evident today I argue are based around extended family (and later as I will discuss) tribal loyalties evident from traditional African life. â€Å"African communities were pervaded by relations of domination and dependence, based on patriarchal power exercised across differences of genders and generations, lineages and clans, languages and cultures. â€Å"3 The arrival of Colonialism and modernity had utilised these already existing patron-client relationships and used them for their own ends. The colonial administrators sought chief headmen and perpetuated clientelism by supplementing their meagre salaries and earnings they gained from their official positions with monies gained from trade and other bonuses. (Berman) â€Å"Chiefs and headmen were the essential linkage between the colonial state and African societies. This relationship typically took on a patron-client form, and had several important and contradictory consequences. â€Å"4 So I argue rather than colonialism creating these patron client linkages it merely utilised them. I believe that clientelism at it is today stemmed from the traditional African societies. So to reiterate African society pre-colonial era although traditional was not so natural and traditionally uncorrupted to be devoid of the practice of clientelism that we so readily see as corruption today. That is was present and a working framework for society. â€Å"The other runs the risk, in reaction, of idealising the virtues of a pre-colonial era supposedly devoid of corruption, the growth of which is supposed to have been caused by the perversion of the social order induced by the arrival of the colonialist Europeans. â€Å"5 I argue that modernity and the formation of formal political institutions and frameworks of power merely perpetuated Clientelism and provided new avenues for the patron-client relationships based on new networks of power. What had always gone on before merely was allowed to operate in a new arena. African politics became â€Å"politics of the belly†, where individuals used public office for private gain. The scarcity of resources in Africa being as it is, if one person holds an office where he/she controls resources or power politics becomes a way of utilising patron-client networks to distribute these resources and gain support and power. made patron/client relations not only the fundamental mode of access to the state and its resources, but also, as in pre-colonial society, the fundamental relationship between ordinary people and those with wealth or power. † As before in pre-colonial society clientelism formed the basis of a persons power through the number of people he had domination and arrangements over, now in politics a persons political power is based on how many people pledge support through reciprocal client-patron networks in return for favours. Clientelism hasn't been formed it has merely morphed into a new generation of deals. â€Å"Where land was plentiful and populations small, wealth and power were measured in control of people, in having a large following of family and non-kin dependants. â€Å"7 In politics this clientelism has become diverse, not created by modernity but adapted for its use in formal political positions. Peter Ekeh (1975) described this as being the formation in African society of two publics, where Clientelism has been and always is the norm. That the same political actors act in both systems of a Civic public and the Primordial public. The citizen in the Civic public works in the beaurocratic institutions of the state, in a supposedly amoral system. The citizen takes from his position and gives nothing in return. This is through clientelism and a network of contacts where state resources and power can be distributed in this way. However the same person in his Primordial public, largely associated with ethnic tribalism and belonging to an extended family/ community, gives out and gets nothing in return. Due to the kinship of this the actor is expected to do good for his own community, by using his political position. The key idea in Ekeh's case then is that the ‘good man channels part of the largesse of the civic public to the primordial public. ‘ This shows the complex links between the old clientelism networks and what I will argue as the more modern artificial tribal relationships in African society. Tribalism Tribalism in its present form in Africa however is not a traditional aspect of African culture I argue as Clientelism had been, but a product of the development imposed on the region by Colonialism. Colonialism and the social and economic changes it brought with it ‘created' the sense of tribalism and strong ethnic identities that are present in modern Africa. That tribes were not traditionally based but created in a means to gain power, resources and recognition in the process of colonial modernising. â€Å"The accumulating weight of evidence shows that African ethnicity and its relationship to politics is new not old: a response to capitalist modernity shaped by similar forces to those related to the development of ethnic nationalism in Europe since the late nineteenth century. † This is not to say there were not tribes in the pre-colonial era, but I believe what tribes existed there were, not so ethnically divided. That the tribes were various groups of mixed race and language peoples who were in a constant state of flux, without the fixed ethnic boundaries one finds today. â€Å"Pre-colonial political and socio-cultural boundaries were marked by fuzziness and flexibility; and Africans existed within a reality of multiple, overlapping and alternative collective identities. â€Å"9 What created these tribal identities therefore if they were not present in traditional African society was the arrival of colonialism. Europeans were of the assumption that African tribes were the basis of society. That the tribes had neat compact boundaries and consisted of culturally identical peoples. This assumption I argue was the basis for tribal creation, as the missionaries especially and other state institutions sought to formalise and categorise these tribal units. The recording of culture and the teaching to a whole area of a ‘supposedly' local language, which in many cases was merely a local dialect, began to bring differing peoples together. This wiped out some cultural differences and creating false collectives of tribal peoples often not historically related, but brought together by colonial boundaries. â€Å"The ideology and culture of colonialism, especially in the imagining of African societies by colonial officials and European missionaries, provided the dominant cognitive context moulding the invention of tribes and their customs by Africans themselves. â€Å"10 If the colonial rulers and administration could claim links with these tribes then, through working with the ‘traditional' ruling groups in Africa they gained legitimacy in their operations and ruling of the area. By working with these fixed tribes, the colonial rulers could fragment and control the local populace by breaking it down into smaller loyal groups. In reality the creation of tribes made it easier for the colonial beaurocracy to rule. â€Å"Each administrative unit ideally contained a single culturally and linguistically homogenous ‘tribe' in which people continued to live within the indigenous institutions and were subject to ‘tribal discipline' through local structures of authority. â€Å"11 Although this was a key issue in the creation of Africa tribalism however, I believe that the stronger reason for the formation of tribes was for political gain and recognition. Due to this European notion of African tribalism, in order to hold power with the colonial administration actors must be part of a clearly fixed ethnic group. This created political tribalism, which was the creation of ethnicities by elite groups in African society to gain access to resources and to seek the foundations for a conservative modernisation. In short it was the manipulation of tribal ethnic identities by Africans themselves for political and economic gains in the face of colonial changes. † Ethnic collective action', according to Mozaffar, ‘is predominantly a process of strategic political interaction between self-interested actors with divergent interests'. 12 Ethnic Conflict Ethnic Conflict has both strong links with tribalism and clientelism in Africa. I believe its origin is not so easy to pinpoint as it has been for tribalism and patron-client relations but that ethnic conflict is merely a product of the two. It was evident in pre-colonial society and was heightened and exacerbated by the modern formation of tribes in the colonial era as I have previously described. Ethnic Conflict was present in traditional African society. African society had never been egalitarian in nature, and a society in which there are unequal power relations is ultimately to have conflict in its midst. † Pre-colonial societies were thus full of conflict and competition, instability and change. † What I believe was created by the form of colonial development placed on Africa was the increase in ethnic tensions as new tribes and identities were created. Resources in Africa are still scarce and the modern beaurocratic frame work and political distribution of power has led to ethnic conflict becoming more fierce and modern in its use of warfare and state apparatus. The tribal divisions between the Hutus and Tutsis and the ensuing Rwandan war and genocide are examples of this. As the colonial era ‘created' false country borders this conflict now often seeps out between neighbouring countries, comprising of different tribal identities over land and resources. I believe the colonial era did not create tribal conflict but merely change the scale that it is played out upon and provided it with state apparatus, militia, armies that now take conflict into a modern era, on a wider and more devastating scale. Conclusion It is clear to see then that tribalism, ethnic conflict and clientelism, although intricately related all have different origins. I advocate however that they were all evident in some way or form before any type of modernity was present in Africa. Although I believe Clientelism and ethnic conflict were not created by the development in the colonial era they were not solved or prevented by colonial restructuring. They still persist today. Ethic conflict I argue was present before the arrival of the Europeans in Africa on a localised scale as fighting between the complex and varied tribes on the continent. With the arrival of colonialism I believe it was merely aggravated by the adaptation of formal tribes and the struggle in politics for scarce resources, power and recognition. I argue that it has merely adapted and become a more serious problem as the apparatus of state have been used to fight wars etc. The conflict now envelops far larger groups of people and even countries constructed by the colonial boundaries of ethnicity and country. Clientelism is pervasive throughout African politics. It is our normative viewing of clientelism today, as corruption in Africa that I believe has led to some believing it was is not in existence in pre-colonial society but a product of the introduction of formal politics and modernity in Africa. of idealising the virtues of a pre-colonial era supposedly devoid of corruption, the growth of which is supposed to have been caused by the perversion of the social order induced by the arrival of colonialist Europeans. † What I believe we must consider however that we are applying the principles of the old African order rather to a new context of modern development and democratic politics, etc where impartiality is presupposed. This is what makes us view clientelism as a modern phenomenon rather than its rightful place as a traditional form of dealings in African society. This is the opposite with tribalism, where many suppose it as a traditional part of African society. It was this European view of tribalism that thought of it as such, however closer examination reveals it to be a politically dynamic and deliberately constructed phenomenon. It was not a traditional aspect of society that was carried over into colonial modernity but a means by which if African created a concrete identity they could gain power and resources in a system which colonialism brought about.

Essay on Edgar Allen Poe’s Fall of House of Usher

Bipolar disorder affects many people today as well as in the time of Edgar Allen Poe when it was then called melancholia. Poe was diagnosed with this disorder and it plays an integral role in his story, â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† (1839). This story is heavily influenced by this disorder or its presently associated symptoms and also describes one way that bipolar disorder can genetically affect an entire family. To fully understand a story involving this disorder, it is cardinal to know the exact definition of bipolar disorder, as well as its symptoms and previous aliases.The Oxford English Dictionary defines bipolar disorder as: â€Å"a form of mental illness characterized by one or more episodes of mania typically accompanied by one or more episodes of major depression† (Cite? ). Some terms used for what is now considered bipolar disorder include melancholia and manic depression. Melancholia is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as: â€Å"A pathologic al state of despondency; severe depression; severe endogenous depression, with loss of interest and pleasure in normal activities, disturbance of sleep and appetite, feelings of worthlessness and guilt, and thoughts of death or suicide. (Cite? ). The first person to associate melancholia and madness as two parts of the same disease was Araeteus from Cappadocia (30-90 AD) (Skeppar 8). Manic Depression is actually included as an equivalent term to bipolar disorder in the Oxford English Dictionary. (Cite? ) There are four main stages of bipolar disorder: hypomania, mania, depressed, and mixed. Hypomania and mania share similar symptoms such as racing thoughts, increased physical activity, lack of sleep and hunger, and heightened sensitivity. Hypomania also has a distinct symptom labeled as an increase in goal directed activity.The depression stage includes symptoms such as constant depression, insomnia or hypersomnia, psychomotor agitation, energy loss, trouble thinking, and indecisive ness. As expected the mixed stage has some common symptoms as the other stages and also more severe such as thoughts of death and suicidal ideations. These symptoms previously mentioned play an immense role in diagnosing the character of Roderick Usher. It is common knowledge that bipolar disorder has symptoms of mood swings both high and low which is why it is justly named.Not commonly known, however, is the link between artistry and this disorder (Jamison). The wise Aristotle is quoted as saying, â€Å"Why is it that all men who are outstanding in philosophy, poetry or the arts are melancholic? † (Jamison 51). A side note to this is evident when Jamison states: â€Å"The manic drive in its controlled form and phase is of value only if joined to ability† (Jamison 55). The artistic tendencies frequently common with bipolar syndrome help the reader to diagnose Roderick Usher in the story â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher†.It is overwhelmingly clear that throug hout Poe’s story, Roderick Usher suffers from bipolar disorder. It is clear from early on in the story that Usher is suffering not only from depression, but also from an illness in his mind as shown in his letter to the narrator: â€Å"The writer spoke of acute bodily illness — of a mental disorder which oppressed him — and of an earnest desire to see me, as his best, and indeed his only personal friend, with a view of attempting, by the cheerfulness of my society, some alleviation of his malady. † (Poe).The narrator also notices his mood swings evidenced by the different ways in which he would talk displayed by this passage: â€Å"His voice varied rapidly from a tremulous indecision (when the animal spirits seemed utterly in abeyance) to that species of energetic concision — that abrupt, weighty, unhurried, and hollow-sounding enunciation — that leaden, self-balanced and perfectly modulated guttural utterance, which may be observed in the lost drunkard, or the irreclaimable eater of opium, during the periods of his most intense excitement. † (Poe). Another way that Usher displays signs of bipolar disorder is through his artistic expression.Not only does he paint, but he also reads heavily and plays musical instruments which shown a sign of increased goal related activity. Also, Usher â€Å"suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses; the most insipid food was alone endurable; he could wear only garments of certain texture; the odors of all flowers were oppressive; his eyes were tortured by even a faint light; and there were but peculiar sounds, and these from stringed instruments, which did not inspire him with horror. † (Poe). This heightened sensitivity is evidence of the mania stage associated with bipolar syndrome.Also, a possible episode of mania would be the scene involving Usher’s sister coming from the dead. This could surely be seen as an hallucination and sign of a manic episode. To recap, Usher has symptoms from the hypomania, mania, and depressed stages meaning the ailment that he suffers from is not melancholia, but instead a modern case of bipolar or manic depression disorder. One reason for a character in a story having a particular disorder would be that the author has real life experience with it. Such is the case with Edgar Allen Poe and â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher†.Poe most definitely suffered from what would now be considered a form of manic-depression disorder. During his final year on Earth, he showed signs of mania, constantly relocating to various cities (Meyers 244). Also during this year, he is reported as saying to a friend named Frederic Thomas: â€Å"You will be pleased to hear that I am in better health than I ever knew myself to be- full of energy and bent on success. † (Meyers 245). This evidence of a prolonged state of mania or even hypomania as he reports having an increase in energy, goal related activated, an d seems to be experiencing delusions of grandeur.He also experienced stages of depression including binges of drinking and even hallucinations (Meyers 252). Poe also had a recorded attempt of suicide in November 1848 (Meyers 252). According to Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, â€Å"Poe was scarcely alone in suffering from both manic-depressive illness and alcohol and drug abuse† (Jamison 37). Jamison seems to have diagnosed Poe with manic-depression or bipolar disorder. From other places in Jamison’s book, Touched with Fire: Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, it’s reasonable to believe that Poe’s artistry most likely stems from his disorder allowing him to be even more creative.Perhaps Poe’s own psychological problems influenced his portrayal of Usher in this short story. As aforementioned, both Poe and his fictitious character Roderick Usher suffer from bipolar disorder. This was not by coincidence. It seems clear that Poe’s re asoning for this is to give the public a way to see inside Poe’s on diseased mind and better understand not only his works, but also himself. An author’s best ways to display his own problems are to weave them into a story as is done in â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher. † One can better understand his mind through a story than with descriptions of his symptoms alone.Bipolar disorder is a hereditary disease. According to Dr. Francis J. McMahon of the National Institute of Mental Health in regards to the genetic inheritance of this disorder, â€Å"about two-thirds of the risk for bipolar disorder can be explained by genes† (â€Å"NIH†). This information is known due to twin studies: if one identicle twin has manic depression then it is a 60 to 80% likelihood that the other twin has it (â€Å"NIH’). The genetic inheritance of this disorder amongst sufferers is around 79 to 93% (Backlund 501). This means that most manic-depressive people ac quired the trait from family members instead of from environmental factors alone.The exact genes that cause bipolar disorder are not yet known but different genes have been isolated (Jamison 16). One of these possible genes could be the P2RX7 gene (Backlund 501). This gene affects the way in which dopamine is unleashed in the brain which brings about its association with the manic episodes of manic-depression (Backlund 501). The heredity of bipolar disorder plays an interesting role in â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher†. Roderick Usher inherited his manic-depressive disorder in a modernly bizarre way: through inbreeding.Usher belong to a wealthy prominent family as shown by his massive, gothic style house. Many of these wealthy families practiced inbreeding in order to keep bloodlines strong and to prevent the spreading of wealth. This is shown when the narrator says â€Å"I had learned, too, the very remarkable fact, that the stem of the Usher race, all time-honored as i t was, had put forth, at no period, any enduring branch; in other words, that the entire family lay in the direct line of descent, and had always, with very trifling and very temporary variation, so lain† (Poe).This quote visibly projects an image of inbreeding as it says the family tree was essentially bare of branches. Due to the influence that genetics plays on bipolar disorder, if one person in his family had it then he is also likely to have it. A lack of genetic diversity means that many other people in his family most likely suffered from the same disorder as him. It seems likely that his sister also suffered due to the constant presence of a doctor in the house.Early on in the story, the narrator says that the family for generations had been interested in music and the sciences (Poe). When looking at this through a bipolar perspective, these interests could be a derivative of an entire family suffering from the same disorder. Another note is that the narrator says that â€Å"’House of Usher’ — an appellation which seemed to include, in the minds of the peasantry who used it, both the family and the family mansion† (Poe) Therefore, when the House of Usher crumbles at the end of the story; perhaps it is in reality the crumbling of Usher’s mind.The correlation between inbreeding in this story and bipolar disorder is strong. By knowing the way in which inbreeding affects bipolar sufferers, one can better understand the story. Also, the knowledge of Poe’s melancholia can also explain why this story may have been written: to portray this disorder in a way in which people can better understand it. A better understanding of these disorder not only helps people understand the mysterious mind of Poe, but also people they may encounter in real life.

Reflective writing †personal view Essay

There are many learning theories, each of them emphasizing various aspects of the teaching and learning process. I support the claim that adult learning should be looked at as a distinct style of learning and is unique to that of child and adolescence learning. Adults bring their life experiences into the classroom. They bring past knowledge as well as past biases and beliefs. Adult students want to be acknowledged as adults. They need to be actively involved in determining how and what they will learn, and they need active rather than passive learning experiences. Many adults are stressed from their daily lives responsibilities when they arrive for class and need a style of teaching that is creative, alive and humorous to hold their attention. Adult educators must produce learning environments in which all learners can feel they are accomplishing something or benefiting some how. The types of benefits and interpretation of accomplishment can vary depending on a person’s socio-economic background, culture, and situation in life, age or a variety of other variables. Whether or not a learning experience is successful will depend on the adult educator’s ability to understand the differences in people. Equally important is the personal experiences the educator has with a variety of participants and their characteristics. No one theory will fit every learning situation. There is an exception to every rule. There are, however, two theories that I feel closely supports my line of reasoning. First is Knowles’ theory of andragogy. Andragogy makes the following assumptions about the design of learning: (1) Adults need to know why they need to learn something (2) Adults need to learn experientially, (3) Adults approach learning as problem-solving, and (4) Adults learn best when the topic is of immediate value (Knowles, 1984). Knowles endeavored to develop a theory that was specific to adult learning. Knowles emphasizes that adults are self-directed and expect to take responsibility for decisions. Staff development programs must embrace this essential viewpoint (Knowles, 1984). Therefore, in following the theory of andragogy a successful staff development program would focus on the way the information was being taught and less on the information’s content. The program would concentrate on creativity, hands-on coursework, role-playing and individualized needs (Knowles, 1984). Second is Characteristics of Adult Learners (CAL) by P. Cross As found in this weeks reading material the CAL model joins together other adult learning theories such as andragogy, experimental learning and lifespan psychology. CAL consists of two classes of variables: personal characteristics and situational characteristics. Personal characteristics include: aging, life phases, and developmental stages. The three dimensions take on different roles depending on the point a person is in their life. Situational characteristics consist of the circumstances encompassing the students learning experience. These circumstances could be whether or not the person is going to school full-time or part-time, and perhaps the arrangement of their schedule. Despite their situation an adult learner will augment their effort when motivated by a need, a benefit, or a desire to learn. The experiences in which the learner will participate must be significant and meaningful to him or her in order to build incentive. Adult learners learn at different rates and in various ways. Their abilities can vary depending on their educational level, intellectual ability, personality and learning styles. In concluding I want to reiterate that I maintain adult learning should be looked at as a distinct style of learning. It is unique and should be studied separate to that of child and adolescence learning. Children learners are as a blank slate. Adult learners are entering the classroom with a mountain of issues surrounding their need or desire to learn. These situations must be addressed if we are to achieve success in holding the  interest of the adult learner. Adult learners need to be involved in active learning. The reason the adult learner has entered the classroom also needs to be addressed. The typical adult learner seeks out an education for a reason. The reason can be self-improvement, job enhancement, or quest for more income. It may be self-fulfillment, maintaining culture status, society status or a whole slew of other reasons. My point is, adults who pursue further education have a mission to fulfill. The need may be personal or secular. Knowles,M. (1984). The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species (3rd Ed.). Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing.