Symbolism in Metamorphosis Essay Example

Symbolism in Metamorphosis Essay Written in 1912 by Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis looks like an autobiographical piece of writing because the major parts of the story resemble Kafka’s own life. However, it is not a straight autobiography and Kafka has skillfully written the story, putting together the facts of his life, but using mysterious symbols. These symbols carry different themes, but the major theme is the status of a man in society when he becomes isolated.This is how Kafka begins his story – â€Å"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.†[1] This is one of the most famous first sentences in modern literature. There is no build-up, no tension, but just a direct boom – our hero is now an insect. From the second sentence, the insect becomes our hero and it remains until the end of the story. Thus, from the very first sentence Kafka uses symbolism, which at first sight sounds very strange and ridiculous. How ever, as the story moves on, we not only accept the transformation of our hero into an insect, but we also feel sympathy for his state. Kafka has written the story in such a realistic style that we can visualize everything, and can imagine it happening in real life.This transformation of Gregor into an insect is a symbol, which signifies that sometimes a person’s life becomes so frustrating that he starts feeling like a helpless and isolated insect. Gregor’s metamorphosis indicates his multiple alienations from his job, from the society, from his family, from humanity, and even from his body.Gregor does not panic on his transformation. His only concern is how to get back to work. He wants to catch the 5 a.m. train as usual, but since he sleeps until 6:30, he decides to catch the 7 a.m. train, but before that, the chief clerk arrives there. Gregor feels very angry that only because he has wasted an hour, the company is casting suspicion upon him. This emphasis on time s ymbolizes the capitalist world, where time is as valuable as money. Wasting time by sleeping until late, a person misses business, and thus wastes money. Later we find Gregor’s mother saying to the clerk that whole day Gregor thinks of work only and does not go out even in the evening. This indicates the way a modern capitalist society thinks that any activity, no matter how good it is, is pointless if it does not earn money, and the time thus consumed is useless time.When Gregor’s mother tells the clerk that Gregor is ill, the chief clerk replies, â€Å"we men of business fortunately or unfortunately very often simply have to ignore any slight indisposition, since business must be attended to.[2] His statement is a symbol for the rule of the modern capitalist society, where illness is a crime, and the ill employee is the culprit of wasting company’s money. That is why Gregor is not that much worried on his sudden change. His greater concern is how to get bac k to work. However, since he could not get back to work, as a punishment, he is not only alienated from his job, but also from the society that is based on money and time. Money gets the primary importance in this society, and anybody who does not work is unimportant and useless. Stanlay Cargold has rightly said, â€Å"The Metamorphosis can also be seen as a reaction against bourgeois society and its demands. Gregors manifest physical separation may represent his alienation and inarticulate yearnings. He had been a vermin, crushed and circumscribed by authority and routine. He had been imprisoned by social and economic demands.†[3]There is a photograph of Gregor, in a military uniform, in the living room. This is a very little detail, and in first look seems irrelevant, but this symbolizes a deep meaning. Military is a process that turns a man into a productive member of the society. Gregor’s former job in military symbolizes his new job in the capitalist society, wher e he is a normal and productive member. Because of this ideal image of him, his family keeps his photograph on the wall. As long as he remains within the established order of labor and commerce and is able to support his family, his family feels proud of him and care about him. Kafka conveys this message when he describes the picture. â€Å"Right opposite Gregor on the wall hung a photograph of himself on military service, as a lieutenant, hand on sword, a carefree smile on his face, inviting one to respect his uniform and military bearing.†[4] This statement indicates that now when Gregor is a helpless insect, he is neither useful for society, nor for his family.In chapter three, Gregor’s father is back to work force, and becomes a slave to his job, even when he is at home. â€Å"He slept fully dressed where he sat, as if he were ready for service at any moment and even here only at the beck and call of his superior. As a result, his uniform, which was not brand-new to start with, began to look dirty, despite all the loving care of the mother and sister to keep it clean. Gregor often spent whole evenings gazing at the many greasy spots on the garment, gleaming with gold buttons always in a high state of polish, in which the old man sat sleeping in extreme discomfort and yet quite peacefully.†[5] Here, the always-gleaming brass button is a symbol that represents the absorption of Gregor’s father into the dehumanizing capitalist system. At the same time, his dirty uniform symbolizes his degradation behind his socially useful and servile faà §ade. The uniform is a symbol for the economic order. This indicates how a man loses his individuality and identity, and completely sacrifices himself to the economic order. Thus, in this capitalist society, you can feel peace, but only at the cost of losing your humanity.At one point of time when Gregor hears his sister, playing violin, the music touches his heart. He realizes that when he was a human being, he never noticed that his sister plays such a great music. This gives Gregor a sense of satisfaction, and he thinks his metamorphosis is a kind of blessing for him. This symbolically means that if one wants to feel like a true human being, he must rebel against socially acceptable behavior.â€Å"On page 11 Gregor answers his fathers request to open the door with a clear No. The response produces a stunned silence and a sob from his sister. It was the last intelligible word Gregor would ever utter. It would soon become apparent to the rest of the world that Gregor was indeed what he himself knew he was: a social deviant.†[6] In the end when Gregor’s family finds that he is now a useless creature and a burden for them, they literally leave Gregor to climb the walls and die. This way, Kafka is in fact warning the people, living in this materialistic capitalist society, that they are very likely to be caught in Gregor-like situation. It is very difficult to e scape from such a situation. The only way seems to be death.006).

La Isabela, Columbuss First Colony in the Americas

La Isabela, Columbuss First Colony in the Americas La Isabela is the name of the first European town established in the Americas. La Isabela was settled by Christopher Columbus and 1,500 others in 1494 AD, on the northern coast of the island of Hispaniola, in what is now the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean Sea. La Isabela was the first European town, but it was not the first colony in the New Worldthat was LAnse aux Meadows, established by Norse colonists in Canada nearly 500 years earlier: both of these early colonies were abject failures. History of La Isabela In 1494, the Italian-born, Spanish-financed explorer Christopher Columbus was on his second voyage to the American continents, landing in Hispaniola with a group of 1,500 settlers. The primary purpose of the expedition was to establish a colony, a foothold in the Americas for Spain to begin its conquest. But Columbus was also there to discover sources of precious metals. There on the north shore of Hispaniola, they established the first European town in the New World, called La Isabela after Queen Isabella of Spain, who supported his voyage financially and politically. For an early colony, La Isabela was a fairly substantial settlement. The settlers quickly built several buildings, including a palace/citadel for Columbus to live in; a fortified storehouse (alhondiga) to store their material goods; several stone buildings for various purposes; and a European-style plaza. There is also evidence for several locations associated with silver and iron ore processing. Silver Ore Processing The silver processing operations at La Isabela involved the use of European galena, an ore of lead probably imported from ore fields in the Los Pedroches-Alcudia or Linares-La Carolina valleys of Spain. The purpose of the exportation of lead galena from Spain to the new colony is believed to have been to assay the percentage of gold and silver ore in artifacts stolen from the indigenous people of the New World. Later, it was used in a failed attempt to smelt iron ore. Artifacts associated with ore assay discovered at the site included 58 triangular graphite-tempered assaying crucibles, a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of liquid mercury, a concentration of about 90 kg (200 lbs) of galena, and several deposits of metallurgical slag, mostly concentrated near or within the fortified storehouse. Adjacent to the slag concentration was a small fire pit, believed to represent a furnace used to process the metal. Evidence for Scurvy Because historical records indicate that the colony was a failure, Tiesler and colleagues investigated the physical evidence of the conditions of the colonists, using macroscopic and histological (blood) evidence on the skeletons excavated from a contact-era cemetery. A total of 48 individuals were buried in La Isabelas church cemetery. Skeletal preservation was variable, and the researchers could only determine that at least 33 of the 48 were men and three were women. Children and adolescents were among the individuals, but there was no one older than 50 at the time of death. Among the 27 skeletons with adequate preservation, 20 exhibited lesions likely to have been caused by severe adult scurvy, a disease caused by a sustained lack of vitamin C and common to seafarers before the 18th century. Scurvy is reported to have caused 80% of all deaths during long sea voyages in the 16th and 17th centuries. Surviving reports of the colonists intense fatigue and physical exhaustion on and after arrival are clinical manifestations of scurvy. There were sources of vitamin C on Hispaniola, but the men  were not familiar enough with the local environment to pursue them, and instead relied on infrequent shipments from Spain to meet their dietary demands, shipments that did not include fruit. The Indigenous People At least two indigenous communities were located in the northwestern Dominican Republic where Columbus and his crew established La Isabela, known as the La Luperona and El Flaco archaeological sites. Both of these sites were occupied between the 3rd and 15th centuries, and have been the focus of archaeological investigations since 2013. The prehispanic people in the Caribbean region at the time of Columbuss landing were horticulturalists, who combined slash and burn land clearance and house gardens holding domesticated and managed plants with substantive hunting, fishing, and gathering. According to historic documents, the relationship was not a good one. Based on all the evidence, historical and archaeological, the La Isabela colony was a flat-out disaster: the colonists did not find any extensive quantities of ores, and hurricanes, crop failures, disease, mutinies, and conflicts with the resident Taà ­no made life unbearable. Columbus himself was recalled to Spain in 1496, to account for the financial disasters of the expedition, and the town was abandoned in 1498. Archaeology of La Isabela Archaeological investigations at La Isabela have been conducted since the late 1980s by a team led by Kathleen Deagan and Josà © M. Cruxent of the Florida Museum of Natural History, at which web site much more detail is available. Interestingly, like at the earlier Viking settlement of Lanse aux Meadows, evidence at La Isabela suggests that the European residents may have failed in part because they were unwilling to fully adapt to local living conditions. Sources Deagan K. 1996. Colonial transformation: Euro-American cultural genesis in the early Spanish-American colonies. Journal of Anthropological Research 52(2):135-160.Deagan K, and Cruxent JM. 2002. Columbuss Outpost Among the Tainos: Spain and America at La Isabela, 1493-1498. New Haven: Yale University Press.Deagan K, and Cruxent JM. 2002. Archaeology at La Isabela, America’s First European Town. New Haven: Yale University Press.Laffoon JE, Hoogland MLP, Davies GR, and Hofman CL. 2016. Human dietary assessment in the Pre-colonial Lesser Antilles: New stable isotope evidence from Lavoutte, Saint Lucia. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 5:168-180.Thibodeau AM, Killick DJ, Ruiz J, Chesley JT, Deagan K, Cruxent JM, and Lyman W. 2007. The strange case of the earliest silver extraction by European colonists in the New World. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104(9):3663-3666.Tiesler V, Coppa A, Zabala P, and Cucina A. 2016. Scurvy-related Morbidity and Death amon g Christopher Columbus Crew at La Isabela, the First European Town in the New World (1494–1498): An Assessment of the Skeletal and Historical Information. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 26(2):191-202. Ting C, Neyt B, Ulloa Hung J, Hofman C, and Degryse P. 2016. The production of pre-Colonial ceramics in northwestern Hispaniola: A technological study of Meillacoid and Chicoid ceramics from La Luperona and El Flaco, Dominican Republic. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 6:376-385.VanderVeen JM. 2003. Review of Archaeology at La Isabela: Americas First European Town, and Columbuss Outpost among the Taino: Spain and America at La Isabela, 1494-1498. Latin American Antiquity 14(4):504-506.

Training- Developing People Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Training- Developing People - Essay Example Being realistic, corporate attitudes and expectations about what 'training' is and does cannot be changed overnight, and most organisations still see 'training' as being limited to work skills, classrooms and powerpoint presentations. However, if you start imagining and thinking and and talking about concepts and expressions such as: There are many different training and development methods. On-the-job training, informal training, classroom training, internal training courses, external training courses, on-the-job coaching, life-coaching, mentoring, training assignments and tasks, skills training, product training, technical training, behavioural development training, role-playing and role-play games and exercises, attitudinal training and development, accredited training and learning, distance learning - all part of the training menu, available to use and apply according to individual training needs and organisational training needs. Development isn't restricted to training - it's anything that helps a person to grow, in ability, skills, confidence, tolerance, commitment, initiative, inter-personal skills, understanding, self-control, motivation and more.

Words of the Bewitched in Bridget Bishop Assignment

Words of the Bewitched in Bridget Bishop - Assignment Example This affirmed the fears of the witnesses that indeed the Bishop was a witch. Each witness had an account different from the next, all of which were related to an interaction with the Bishop. In most of the testimonies, the unsuspecting culprits would welcome the Bishop into their homes as a visitor or simply interact with her as they would any other villager. However, the more her visits became, the more their miseries increased. This showed them that the torments would not have been instances of accidents but was well planned and the culprits carefully selected. The Bishop’s gender contributed to the accusations against her. Being a woman, she had gained so much influence and was living on her own. This was not common with the villagers. On the trial day, a body search revealed shambled body parts that did not resonate with the physique of a woman. A teat that was found mysteriously disappears right in the sights of her searchers. This is an occurrence that she could not let herself out of. The presence of puppets made of rugs and hogs bristles with headless pins on them were found in her house. These were weird things that the witnesses could not fathom. Their presence in her home and lack of a proper explanation of their use worsened the case against her. The bench of female jurists thus made the ruling of guilt against her based on the amount of evidence. To protect one from being accused of witchcraft, all it took was the courage to sign a book. The Bishop refused to sign this book. This is an act that proved her among the villagers as an outright witch. She could not thus be accused of routine misconduct. Furthermore, the accusation leveled against her and the following testimonials were unique in that they involved strange occurrences that inflicted pain and torture on her culprits. A large number of her culprits and the intensity of their predicament could not help matters for the Bishop either.

The Correlation of Emotional Intelligence to Job Performance Literature review

The Correlation of Emotional Intelligence to Job Performance - Literature review Example Employee’s Job performance is so important that it can spell the difference between success and failure, viability and demise of an organization in a competitive business world. Job Performance involves quantity and quality of outcomes from individual or group effort attainment (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2005). Robbins (2005) described job performance as the amount of effort an individual will exert in his or her job. Moreover, the essence of the job performance relies on â€Å"the demands of the job, the goals and missions of the organization, and the beliefs in the organization about which behaviors are most valued† (Befort & Hattrup, 2003, p. 17). Job performance is defined as the aggregated value of the discrete behavioral episodes to the organization that an individual performs over a standard interval of time (Motowildo, Borman and Schmidt, 1997) 54 One facet that it needs to explore for the possibility of enhancing employee performance is emotional intelligen ce. To determine if emotional aptitude has a bearing in enhancing employee performance and if there is, on what specific occasion does it prove beneficial to the organization. ...His main focus was to suggest that the understanding and perception of our own feelings, as well as those of others, was a distinguishable difference to that of general intelligence†. Gardner (1983), expanding on the concepts presented in early intelligence work as well as social intelligence theory, developed a theory of multiple intelligences. ...one of the seven areas of intelligence discussed in multiple intelligence theory, personal intelligence, corresponds to earlier theories such as social intelligence. Two domains or divisions exist within the theory of personal intelligence. Intrapersonal knowledge or intelligence describes the ability to access and express personal inner emotions while interpersonal intelligence focuses on a person's ability to recognize and process emotion in others.  

Jack the Ripper: Social Views

Jack the Ripper: Social Views Jack the Ripper- social views, victims and suspects ‘I want to get to work right away if I get the chance, good luck, Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper-from the Dear Boss Letter of www.casebook.org This essay will demonstrate a further understanding of the social views of Jack the Ripper in the late 1880s and also the conditions of the East End and how the Whitechapel murders helped the East End. It will look into questions such as why has Jack the Ripper been known as the first British serial killer in history, who the main suspects and why they are the prime suspects in this case and also the least likely suspects to be Jack the Ripper. The essay will provide evidence for and against the suspects by using historiography and facts. It will also identify the five main victims but also touch on the other suspected victims of Jack the Ripper. During the 1880s, the West End of London was full of wealth, fashion and nannies tending to the children in their care. Men walked around in top hats and smart coats and the women in bonnets and beautiful dresses. The streets were clean and the houses were magnificent. However, the East End was the complete opposite, 900,000 people approximately were crammed into cramped little houses, and many families were homeless. Whitechapel was part of the East End where unemployment rates were increasing, along with the population. The population of Whitechapel was 80,000. Martin Fido found that women going out and selling themselves was the social norm in the East End. In October 1888, the Metropolitan police estimated that there were around 1,200 prostitutes who were of very low class in Whitechapel and around 62 brothels. Prostitutes were seen as moral failures that preferred walking the streets in their tatty clothing than going to work a job which encouraged them to improve themselves. Within the social circles of the upper class, conversations about prostitutes were unknown but this changed from 1850 when prostitution became a subject of fierce debate. These debates were argued through the social classes apart from the lower classes where prostitution was a part of everyday life. The murders of the prostitutes in Whitechapel during the autumn of 1888 were used to criticise the problems that London had in terms of social matters. A letter sent into the Times from an unknown writer laid the blame for the murders on society, not the killer. The reverend Samuel Barnett who was the vicar of the church in Whitechapel believed that the ‘public conscience was awakened to the life that these horrors revealed'[1] suggesting that the murders forced opened the eyes of all them who wanted to keep them shut and ignore that the East End was part of London. One London paper protested that ‘surely JACK the ripper is not to be our modern JOHN the Baptist'[2]. During this period women tended to walk in fear of their lives and hatred began to build up towards foreigners and Jewish people. Nobody was sure of how many migrants wandered around the East End, but the East End was where the majority of Jewish people lived. There were many stories that developed within London during this period and Walkovitz and Leps state that these stories identify the anxiety of the people in London. The media also caused a lot of these stories to escalate by printing true and false stories in a bid to sell their newspapers. Jack the Ripper is one the most well known serial killers throughout the world. B.Godfrey and P.Lawrence state that ‘the murders by Jack the Ripper are the most famous set of murders in history'[3]. During the 1880s, the British Empire was at its peak; it was also the national capital and can arguably have the nickname at this period of time as the capital of the world due to its massive empire. Any crime and event that occurred in London mattered within both Britain and the world. They were regarded as a national importance. In Shropshire, at the same time that the murders were occurring, a young girl was murdered then be headed by her parents. The mother wrapped the little girls head in brown paper and threw it in the local pond whilst the father burnt her body on the families hearth. Shropshires local newspapers reported on the murder in graphic detail whilst the Times Newspaper wrote a small piece on the matter in an inside page. Again in Shropshire around this time and eld erly couple were brutally slain in their own home, also a mother and child was kicked to death so brutally that their faces were unrecognisable. Neither one of these two cases were reported in any national newspaper. However, other violent crimes did occur in and around London during this period but did not gain the same national coverage as the prostitute murderer, so why did ‘Jack gain the media and societies attention? Jack gained the media as murders like this had never occurred; these were different to the violent crimes that people had witnessed before as the women were disembowelled and the murders were arguably somewhat personal. Time had been taken and preparations had been made before the murders were put into practice as the Ripper knew exactly what he was doing and in some cases did it very quickly. Whether or not the ripper had chose his victims beforehand or whether the victims were just in the wrong place at the wrong time can never be proven. A person was also not arrested and the murders caused an uneasy environment. Jack the Ripper is still widely known due to the person who committed these murders was never identified or prosecuted. When he murdered Elizabeth Stride he was very nearly caught by a group of Jewish men, a Staffordshire Newspaper states that ‘this is the narrowest escape Jack has ever had'[4]. London had two police forces the City of London police and the Metropolitan police. On the 14th November 1888, the police were detaining several people on suspicion. These arrests resulted in a public excitement throughout London. People were accusing any man, who walked the streets as Jack the Ripper, this happened all over the country not just in London. A man writing in to the Times from the North of the country describes how he was confronted and followed by a small group of men who taunted and accused him of being ‘Jack. They left him alone when he reached his friends house. Begg claims that Jack the Ripper still gathers so much attention due to the curiosity that surrounds him as well as the mystery of his identity. Most of the information on Jack the Ripper was gained from the around the 1960s. Late 1959, Daniel Farson was presenting a documentary on Britain. Throughout his research he met Sir Melville Macnaghtens daughter, Lady Aberconway. She held some papers of her father, one being a transcript of the memorandum that he had written in 1894. Interest increased when Dr Thomas Eldon Stowell published his article ‘Jack the Ripper-a solution? in the Criminologist, November 1970. He claimed to have witnessed the royal doctor, William Gulls papers in which he apparantely claimed that Prince Albert Victor was Jack the Ripper. This story was then extended when a BBC television series called Jack the Ripper told a story by Joseph Sickert about a marriage between Prince Albert Victor and a Catholic girl by the name of Annie Cook. It was claimed that Mar y Jane Kelly witnessed the marriage and began blackmailing the government with the other prostitutes. Lord Salisbury was said to have turned to the freemasons for help in which William Gull stepped forward for the challenge. This story has been favoured by many Ripperologists but it has been claimed to have just been a story and nothing more. The documentary from the History Channel looks at the free Masonary theory. The free Masonary were a brotherhood in which Sir Charles Warren was the most influential. A pact was made within the brotherhood that if the secrecy of the brotherhood was ever at threat or they became exposed then the person in question would have their throat cut from left to right, but it was never a pact that was to be taken seriously. Jack the Ripper did take it seriously and he cut his victims throats from left to right. The Royal family theory or arguably story can also be linked with the free mason theory. Victorias grandson was rumoured to have been going insane due to contracting syphilis, however it has been argued that he fell victim to the influenza epidemic in the years 1891-1892 so how he died is still debateable. Stowell claims that the prince had suffered from syphilis and it had infected his brain which sent him insane, compelling him to murder. One version of the theory claims that the Pri nce himself committed the murders due to the syphilis and that the Royal Family was well aware of his condition and that he was the killer. It also claims that the prince was sent to a mental hospital after the double murder event and that he escaped to commit the Mary Kelly murder. He was then apparently locked back up and it was in the hospital that he died from ‘softening of the brain. Stowell has claimed to have used William Gulls private papers on the prince, but Gull died two years before the prince identifying that William Gull could have made no notes or comments on the supposedly declining prince. The court and royal records also identify that the prince was not in London when the murders were committed. Another version claims that Prince Edward Victor was having an affair with a prostitute whom he had fathered a child with and also apparently married in a catholic church. Her five prostitute friends knew of the relationship and also the legitimate child who was heir to the throne. William Gull, who was the royal physician became aware of the relationship and went to the East End in order to protect the Royal family. Author Joseph Sickert claimed that Walter Sickert, the painter, had told him the theory but it later came out after Joseph had published the book that it was nothing more than a story that he had made up. This theory though is a favourite with the box office, an example of this is shown in the film ‘From Hell which casts Johnny Depp as Inspector Abberline. The film includes the Prince being married to an Ann Crook and when the authorities learnt of the marriage he was carted back home and she was carted to the insane asylum. Dr William Gull then goes in hunt of the six prostitutes, including Martha and kills them. The film ends with the doctor in an insane asylum. The Prince was a very dull man, partially deaf, backward and was retarded but it was never confirmed. Ripperologists have poked massive holes into all versions of this theory. Also the idea that Jack was a man of upper class came from the theory that if he was of the lower class then he would be the same kind of person as the people of the East End so would have been noticed going into his lodgings with blood on him, a middle class man would have the same problems and would have needed transport so someone would have seen him, but someone of the upper class would have his own transport allowing him to get away quickly and unseen. Patricia Cornwell, an American who has only recently shown an interest in Jack the Ripper after having no interest in Jack the Ripper or history. Her book ‘portrait of a killer-Jack the Ripper-Case closed points the finger solely at Sickert and so does jean Oreton Fuller. Both books lack any kind of evidence. Cornwells theory has been severely criticised by many Ripperologists. Cornwell claims that Sickert read ten newspapers a day and that his sketch book contained horrific pictures of dead women. Two of his most famous pieces of work include jack the Rippers bedroom and Camden Murder. Cornwell also believed that Sickert wrote the letters claiming to be Jack the Ripper. Her only evidence of this was due to him being a letter writer and found enjoyment in communicating with other people in this way. He also had a matching water mark on his paper that the Jack the Rippers letters had, the letter also had very similar characteristics to William Sickerts letters, but even if he di d write the letters, that does not provide any evidence to why she believes him to have been the ‘Ripper. She also believes that Sickert murdered Martha Tabram as she was last seen with a person in a uniform, and Cornwell claims that Sickert had a fetish for uniforms. However, a friend of Marthas had been with her that night and the two men in uniforms. Martha left with one man and her friend left with the other, when Martha was murdered the two soldiers were had alibis for the time that the murder took place. Her friend Mary Ann Connelly also confirmed the identification of the soldiers when she had to pick them out of a group of men. So this theory of Sickerts fetish for uniforms is again flawed as the soldiers were identified as Private George and Private Skipper. She also does not believe that Mary Kelly was not the last murder of Jack the Ripper and that Sickert had killed around 20-40 people before he died in 1942, but from her other theories, her words are not very reliable and not to be taken literally. She also states that she cant prove he was Jack the Ripper but no one else ca n prove he wasnt, much of her evidence is personal statements rather than hard facts. Another suspect was a man by the name of Robert Donston Stephenson, the police watched him due to him claiming to people that he inside information on who Jack the Ripper was. He was also a journalist who had a chronic fatigue, a sleeping disorder, so he would have been able to get around the East End without being noticed. Ivor Edwards believes that Donston was the Ripper due to his interest in black magic, he argues that the murders were pre organised and the victims were in the wrong place at the wrong time. He connected the murders up on the map and claim that they create the Star of David, but this theory does not really work due to some of the murders being out the outline and not connecting. A man by the name of Dr Thomas Neil Cream was hung in 1892; he was put forward as a suspect even though he was already a prisoner in Illinois, America when the murders took place. The hangman claims that he heard Cream say before the trapdoor opened ‘I am Jack the but the trapdoor opening cut Creams statement short. The Jack the Ripper case was officially closed in 1892. McNaughten Memorandum was published in 1915, 7 years after he joined Scotland Yard, which included the three possible suspects who he believed to be Jack the Ripper. These suspects included Montague John Druitt, Michael Ostrog and Aaron Kosminski. M.J Druitt was found in the Thames on the 31st December after committing suicide. His body is said to have been the river for around a month and he was last seen on the 3rd December 1888. His mother had been placed in a private mental home and he had acute depression as a result of this. He had worked at a school and it was found by M.J. Druitts brother that he had been dismissed due to getting into some serious trouble. Private information shows that his own family believed him to have been Jack the Ripper. He had been labelled as sexually insane. A statement was made stating that the man the police believed to be Jack the Ripper was dead and that ‘he was fished out of the Thames two months ago and it would only cause pain to relatives'[5].If this statement is true then the police had identified Druitt as Jack the Ripper in January 1889. The police would have searched his room after his suicide and possibly found something that linked him to the Whitechapel murders. Dr McCormi ck argues this by asking how he could be the chief suspect when he was never seen in the area when the crimes were committed. Inspector Adderline also states that ‘there is absolutely nothing beyond the fact that he was found at that time to incriminate him [6]however Fido claims that Abberline tried to ‘pooh-poohed the idea that the Ripper was either a young doctor who drowned in the Thames.[7] Druitt is the most favourite as a possible Jack the Ripper with most Ripperologists. Kosminski was a Polish Jew and had a great hatred towards women. He was placed into a lunatic asylum in March 1889. Martin Fidos research provides the most unearthed facts about Kosminski. Although he is a possible suspect he was found by the city police eating out of the gutter. They found him to be harmless and he was freed two years later, it was then that his family placed him in an insane asylum. Michael Ostrog was Russian even though he has being described as looking like a Polish Jew. He was also a previous convict and served numerous times in prison during the years 1863-1904. He was detained in a lunatic asylum after being labelled a homicidal maniac. He was transferred to the Surrey pauper lunatic asylum but he failed to report to the asylum in March 1888 and he was untraceable till April 1891 meaning that he was free during the Whitechapel murders, but new research has found that during this period he was being held in custody in France so he has recently been dismissed as a leading suspect He was also the first murderer to have apparently sent letter to the media, but these letters cannot be identified to have been from Jack the Ripper or whether they were hoaxes. At the peak of the murders the police were receiving up to 1000 letters a week which the police had to decide which letters were worth following up. A majority of the letters had red ink scrawled all over them with comments such as ‘take no notice of this and ‘The man must be a lunatic'[8]. Ripperologists believe that all the letters were not genuine due to many letters being from journalists trying to make a story. On the 27th September 1888 the Central News Agency received the Dear Boss letter from ‘Jack the Ripper. This was also the first day that the murderer had been given a nickname other than the Whitechapel murderer. The Dear Boss letter also made a mockery of the police force when it was published in the newspapers. Jack the Ripper is laughing at them for failing to catch him, he is testing the police force and some can arguably say if these letters were genuine then he was leaving them clues into his arrest. It also refers to wanting to kill again and his excitement to do so. Historian Martin Fido claims that the murders became famous after this letter and the C:UsersCharlotteDocuments3007Assignment 2Jack the ripperFrom Hell.jpgconstruction of the name Jack the Ripper. The letter was originally believed to be a hoax, but three days later the double murders occurred. The letter was published in the newspapers to see if anyone recognised the handwriting, but no one ever came forward with a name. The second letter was in fact a postcard which was received on the 1st October 1888.It has been nicknamed ‘The Saucy Jacky postcard. It contained reference to the previous letter and also great detail about the double murder. The postcard was sent before the Dear Boss letter had been sent to the newspapers. It also had the similar handwriting to the Dear Boss letter. But on the 16th October, George Lusk, received a letter and a small cardboard box. The letter was addressed ‘from hell and there was half a kidney in the small box which had been preserved in white wine. Dr Openshaw examined the kidney and found that it was very similar to the one removed from Catherine Eddowes. The letter claimed that the writer had fried and eaten the other half of the kidney stating that it ‘was very nice The newspapers labelled Jack the Ripper as a cannibal after the kidney incident. The headline of the Evening News on the 19th October 1888 called the ripper a ‘cannibal assassin. Several newspapers did however not show much interest in the kidney incident, whether this was because they believed it to be a hoax or that they didnt want to deal with the concept of cannibalism is unknown. The Times and Pall Mall Gazette only wrote short paragraphs which included Dr Openshaws verdict of the kidney being that of an alcoholic woman. There were a five main suspect categories in which the police chose people from the first was a degenerate East end criminal, the second a Jewish ritualist, the third a respectable man who had turned into a sexual deviant, the fourth a member of the royal family and the last suspect was a woman. On the 11th September 1888 the Times Newspaper identifies that ‘several persons bearing a resemblance to the description of the person in question have been arrested'[9]. These suspects were all released when there was no evidence to hold them. This shows the national panic that was dramatically increasing; the police were arresting anybody who looked a little bit familiar to the description that they were given. On the 2nd October 1888, the Times reported on a Galician Jew, by the name of Ritter, who was arrested. He was accused in 1884 of having murdered and mutilated a Christian woman. This made him a high suspect of the Whitechapel murders due to his criminal murdering past. On the 13th November 1888, a Mr Thomas Murphey was arrested and found with a 10 inch knife on him. The Times Newspaper reported on the 14th November that if Mary Jane Kellys family were unable to pay for the funeral then Mr H. Wilton has guaranteed that she will not be buried in a paupers grave. A letter written to the editor of the Times in October 1888 identifies the effects that the murders were having on the people. It quotes that he was a ‘witness of the strong interest and widespread excitement.[10] It also identifies that the working class showed a bigger interest in the gruesome affair. They both show that people during this period showed excitement due to their own lives not having anything interesting in them. Whitechapel was Londons slums and accommodated the poorest of people within it. The Reverends wife, Mrs Barnett, wrote a letter to Queen Victoria after the murder of Catherine Eddowes. The letter states ‘the women of East London feel horror at the dreadful sins that have been lately committed to our midst'[11]. This identifies that women were scared for the lives and Mrs Barnett probably felt that after the Eddowes murder it was the best time to voice her opinions and concerns to Queen Victoria as Eddowes was found in the City of London and the Queen may answer her desperate plea to help the people of the East End. Jack the Ripper is also remembered for focusing attention of the inadequacies of the police. The police were already receiving criticisms from the press, especially the liberal and the radical press. They were perceived as incompetent and insufficient. Massive amounts of pressure were placed upon the police force to arrest or name the murderer, and they also received large amounts of criticism when they did not especially from the Pall Mall Gazette. This incompetence of the police force was viewed by society as the polices lack of interest in catching a prostitute killer. They believed that the police were not interested in protecting the poor people of the East End. Mary Ann Nichols otherwise known as Polly was murdered on the 30th August 1888. She was an alcoholic and had five children. She divorced her husband in 1881 and in 1882 her husband found out that she was a prostitute so he stopped paying her support. When she died he claimed to not have seen her for three years. This murder was arguably the first recorded Jack the Ripper murder and caused complete mayhem throughout the world. The newspaper headlines included ‘A LONDON HORROR and ‘THE ENGLISH MURDER MYSTERY. These headlines were from a Texas and a Kansas newspaper. Her body was found in the early hours of the morning, by two men on their way to work and by a police officer after the two men ran to find someone of authority, on Bucks Row and her body was identified by her work friend and confirmed by her ex husband. Pc John Neil missed the two men who found Mary by a couple of minutes. Leonard Matters in 1929 described Bucks Row housing as being shabby, dirty little houses of two storeys, and only a three feet pavement separates them from the road'[12] Mary had been strangled then her throat cut twice, along with her abdomen half a dozen times, this kind of violence shocked the public. Dr Llewellyn was at the scene within fifteen minutes and announced her death no longer than half an hour, meaning that she had died around fifteen minutes before she was found, he also believed that the incisions that were made on her throat were by a left-handed man. Her murder ignited a London panic as people became scared that there was a homicidal maniac on the loose. Some believed Mary Nichols to be the second victim of Jack the Ripper due to a woman named Martha Tabram, who was stabbed 39 times, being seen as the first victim. On the night that Mary Nichols was murdered she had no money for a bed due to having spent it all on gin, so after begging and pleading unsuccessfully with the landlord for a free bed she went off to find ‘work so she could get some money. She felt confident that she would get another customer as she had a new hat, and it made her feel pretty, even though she had five front teeth missing. During this time period people who were not of the upper classes would pay for a room per night. Five to six people could live in one room, and people within the lodgings tended to be drunk and starving and privacy was none existent. Martin Fido looked at the politics side of the murders and questioned why Mary Ann Nichols gained so much more media attention whilst the other murders of the girls beforehand in the East End did not receive hardly any. There were elections taking place and the radical extreme left believed that they had a very good chance of winning the East End. Radical newspapers such as the Star and the Pall Mall Gazette thought that by writing up the murders the not only would there sales increase but they would show everyone what the East End was like and how bad the conditions were. They succeed and they sold more newspapers than anybody could have thought possible. The radical and liberal press was the issue of what the East End needed in the way of social reform. The papers blamed the condition of the slums and they called for model housing, street lights and night shelters for women who were homeless. Newspapers tended to make stories up to sell their papers, one surrounding Mary Nichols were that of a missing ring. The missing ring was not mentioned by Dr Llewellyn on the 1st September, but newspapers claimed that there was an impression on her finger and that it was unsure whether the Jack the Ripper had stole it or whether she had not worn it on that specific day. Newspapers also sparked the theory that Mary Ann was not murdered in Bucks Row but was moved there from another scene. The Times newspaper reported that ‘viewing the spot where the body was found, it seems difficult to believe that the woman received her death wounds there'[13] however Inspector Helson argues this and reported that there was no doubt about where she was murdered and it was where her body was found. Annie Chapman was murdered on the 8th September 1888. She has been identified as being the second Jack the Ripper murder. She led a sad and unlucky life, her son was a cripple and her daughter died of meningitis at the age of twelve. Her and her husband were both alcoholics and separated circa 1880. She had been receiving 10 shillings a week from her ex husband until he died in 1886. She did not find out about his death till 18 months after. She turned to prostitution to try and raise some money so she had a bed to sleep in at night and due to her cleverness, social able and well educated personality she was a well known prostitute. She had been kicked out of her lodgings at midnight due to having no money, and then she was last seen negotiating with a man at around 5.30am outside 29, Hanbury Street which was less than half a mile from where Mary Nichols was found. This man could have possibly been Jack the Ripper as Annie was found dead at 6am. Her throat was cut and her small intes tines and other tissues had been removed but were still attached to the body Fido claims that when Dr Phillips examined Annie Chapmans body he stated that ‘this was the work of an expert'[14]. This gruesome procedure was argued by officials as many of them believed that it was a procedure that only someone with medical knowledge would know how to do. When the police officer on duty attended the scene he found that a large crowd had already gathered. The crowd began threatening the Jewish people and abused the ones that were in the street. The East London observer states that ‘no Englishman could have perpetrated such a horrible crime, and that it must have been done by a Jew'[15]. This could have been the only chance that Jack the Ripper could have been caught. D. Rumbelow points out that a man was urinating in his back garden and heard a woman say no and then heard her slump against the fence. The fence was only 5ft high so would have been easy for a full grown man to look over and to have caught him. After the murder of Annie Chapman the people of London demanded an arrest. Jewish people, foreigners and neighbourhood bullies became the police favourites. People began criticizing the police force for being incompetent. Extra man power was put in place and door to door enquiries began to find more information. Notices were given out for prostitutes to stay off the streets for their own protection, but without money they were unable to go anywhere safe as landlords required money. They had no other option but to have to work the streets for money. Prostitutes of Whitechapel described a man who was violent towards prostitutes. The man was named John Pizer, and he became a suspect due to the statements made by the prostitutes. Pizer was soon known as the ‘leather apron due to him wearing a leather apron as part of his profession. He was also Jewish, and being a main suspect resulted in ethnic tensions in the East End. The Jewish had from that point on become the scapegoat. Suspicion of him being Jack the Ripper changed swiftly into certainty when a piece of leather apron which was saturated in water was found near Annie Chapmans body. When John Pizer was traced and arrested he was found to own five sharp long bladed knives but he defended himself claiming that he needed the knives for his profession and that he had not left the house so knew nothing of the murder of Annie Chapman. The third victim was a Swedish woman named Elizabeth Stride otherwise known as Long Liz met her fate on the 31st September 1888 at around 1am. Elizabeth Stride was an exception to the other murders though as she had not been mutilated like the others. She had marks on her shoulders indicating that she had been pulled down from behind; it is possible that she may already have been dead from strangulation before her throat was cut. Some believe that Elizabeth was not a Jack the Ripper victim but just a woman who had had her throat slit but it is argued that Jack was frightened off by Louis Diemschutz, who was the steward of the Working Mens Educational Club. He left the club at 1 am and found that his horse wouldnt steer straight and kept shying to the left. He found Elizabeth bundled on the ground; he poked her with his whip and then ran to get some of the club members. The courtyard was very quickly sealed off and policemen were at the scene very quickly. The police officers went on immediate search for the man but called it off at 5am when they were unsuccessful. On the same night, Catherine Eddowes also became a victim to the Ripper; she was the only murder to have occurred in the City of London. The Ripper had severed the top of her nose, a possible explanation for this is due to syphilis eating away at your nose bone or this was the Rippers way of saying, cutting off ones nose to spite ones face. PC Watkins found Eddowes and states that she was ripped up like a ‘pig in the market.[16]If the times were calculated correct

Jewish Ghettos Essay -- essays research papers

Jewish ghettos: The basic history of the formation of the Jewish ghettos, including the everyday life and economic hardships faced by the communities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  By definition, a ghetto is an area, usually characterized by poverty and poor living conditions, which houses many people of a similar religion, race or nationality. They served to confine these groups of people and isolate them from the rest of the community because of political or social differences. However, the Jewish ghettos established throughout Europe were more than just a way for the Germans to isolate the Jewish community. They were the first step in making Hitler’s final solution possible. The ghettos were the means of organizing all of the Jews together and preparing them to be shipped to concentration camps. However, these ghettos soon evolved into political, religious and social entities that served the community and began to resemble a form of self-ruling government. Furthermore, many of these ghettos were different from one another because of different internal structures of the Jewish community or the diversity of the personalities of the l eaders of the council in the Jewish community. However, the ghettos must be analyzed as if they are all â€Å"one history.†(Holocaust) In fact, many of the communities were the same with regards to Jewish perceptions and reactions concerning life and the difficulties being faced by each community in its occupied territory. This research paper discusses the common everyday trials and tribulations faced by all the ghettos and looks at the ghettos from a political and socio-economic point of view. (Holocaust)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First, it is important to understand the history behind the ghettos and discuss their centralization in Poland. Hitler incorporated the western part of Poland into Germany according to race doctrine. He intended that Poles were to become the slaves of Germany and that the two million Jews therein were to be concentrated in ghettos in Poland's larger cities. Later this would simplify transport to the death camps. Nazi occupation authorities officially told the story that Jews were natural carriers of all types of diseases, especially typhus, and that it was necessary to isolate Jews from the Polish community. Jewish neighborhoods thus were transformed into prisons. The five major ghettos were located... ... not go far enough to commit acts of terrorism simply because of Faith. Jihad, or holy war, is the sole emotion, not act, which strengthens the will to perform horrible crimes on humanity. Simply saying that a faith-based idea can go as far as the perpetrator is willing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In conclusion, we have studied the history and present events surrounding the Holocaust. We have studied the ideology and the reasons behind both the Jewish and the German involvement. In the end, I found that I still feel the same way about the Holocaust that I did before taking this class. I think that it takes a certain kind of person to commit those murderous acts and the idea of â€Å"just following orders† is ridiculous because it assumes that free will is no longer considered strong enough to prevent the ordered killing of millions of people. The important aspects of today’s society in relation to the existence of God in our lives are disturbed by the lack of faith in God for not being around when his people are suffering the most. How can these acts, like the Holocaust and the genocidal feud in Rwanda, be analyzed without accepting the absence of God in relation to these events?

Stefan’s Diaries: The Craving Chapter 9

Fifteen minutes later I stood next to my brother at the outskirts of the dance, waiting for the music to stop. Everyone twirled around, their skirts swishing in perfect synchronicity to the music, all of them oblivious to the fact that two dangerous murderers stood among them. â€Å"Follow my lead,† Damon said out the side of his mouth. â€Å"Go to hell,† I said out the corner of mine, smiling at Margaret as she passed. â€Å"Been there. Not to my liking,† he answered, taking two glasses of champagne off a tray and handing one to me. â€Å"There you are,† Bridget squealed, running up to me. She bounced up and down with excitement, causing all of the flounces on her dress to rise and fall like a giant stinging jellyfish. She grabbed my arm. â€Å"What were you talking about all this time? Me?† I turned and looked at her. She was beautiful and completely off-putting – self-centered, immature, always vying for attention. But Bridget Sutherland didn't deserve to die. I had been responsible for enough deaths in my short time as a vampire. I could never put to right the wrongs I'd committed in those early days, but saving this family from Damon's vengeance was my responsibility. I would not have their blood on my conscience. â€Å"Yes. Yes I was,† I answered, and then I drained my drink and motioned for the waiter to bring me another. â€Å"Attention please,† Damon called out, tapping on his glass with a silver spoon. The master of the dance, Reginald Chester, squinted at Damon curiously. The orchestra, looking confused, put down their instruments. Mrs. Chester first seemed put out that someone else was taking charge of the dance – but when she saw who it was, she began to beam like Damon was her own son. The murmuring crowd turned to us: young, old, with feathers, with gems, in wide lace shawls and massive silk dresses, like a flock of tropical birds at a zoo awaiting the keeper who would scatter grain for their supper. They whispered to one another and nodded, trying to claim connection to him: â€Å"I had dinner with him last week.† â€Å"He was having drinks with the Knoxes, that's where I met him.† â€Å"I recommended my best tailor to him.† It was difficult to tell if the crowd had been charmed by Damon's natural charisma, or if there was powerful compelling at work. But I wondered again how a vampire as young as Damon could command such Power. â€Å"My new friend and I have an announcement to make,† Damon called out, assuming his fake Italian accent once more. Lydia quietly slipped to the front of the crowd, coming to stand near Damon. â€Å"Many of you know the story of the night Miss Sutherland and I first met†¦ I, a stranger to your shores, and she, a beautiful damsel in distress†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The crowd smiled adoringly. Hilda and one of her girlfriends exchanged envious looks. â€Å"And in a shocking coincidence, my friend here, Stefan Salvatore, rescued her sister, the equally beautiful and charming Bridget Sutherland, just last night. I can't speak for him,† he said, drawing close to Lydia, his glass still raised, his attention still on the crowd, â€Å"but for me, it was love at first sight. I've already spoken to her father, and so before anyone else can grab her away from me, I, Count Damon DeSangue, beg Lydia for the honor of her hand in marriage, though I have nothing to offer her beyond my good name and lifelong devotion.† He got down on one knee and whispered, â€Å"Lydia?† Lydia's face flushed prettily. She was taken off guard. Though she was not the sort of girl who really looked forward to being asked to wed in front of a large crowd, she beamed. â€Å"Of course, Damon, with all my heart!† she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him. The Sutherland family stood together at the front of the crowd. The look on Margaret's face wasn't so much a scowl as disgusted shock and sheer confusion. I knew how she felt, but wondered at her response. Wasn't she under Damon's compulsion to accept him – and me – completely? Bridget's reaction was equally human, and far more horrible. Her eyes burned with pure, searing jealousy. Maybe there was a tiny bit of relief that her older sister was getting married, which meant that now in turn she could. But it was obvious that the youngest Sutherland had been dreaming her whole life of exactly how her perfect suitor would propose, and that it involved being done in public, in front of all her friends and an admiring audience. The admiring crowd clapped and then Damon's eyes flicked back toward me. Just once. Like he had the power to compel me. And in a manner of speaking, he did. I knew exactly what he wanted me to do. I drained my second champagne before stepping forward, turning toward Bridget. Here I went again. It seemed only yesterday that I was in Mystic Falls, yearning to go to school in Charlottesville, waiting out the war in the lazy, endless summer, and being forced to court Rosalyn. Each time I called upon her it was with a leaden ball in my stomach, and each visit was an exercise in frustration and despair. I never wanted to marry her – our parents wished us to marry. My father expected us to marry. And so I was forced into an engagement I didn't want, anticipating a marriage I didn't desire. Once again I was being being forced into a marriage. But perhaps this was all part of the punishment I deserved. And if it meant saving lives†¦ â€Å"Bridget.† I turned to her, bent at my waist and holding my drink out, toasting her. I was the very form of romantic etiquette, exuding Southern charm the like of which these Yankees rarely saw. â€Å"From the very moment I†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Saw your near-lifeless body covered in blood in Central Park and almost finished you off. â€Å"†¦ had the fortune to come to you in the hour of your direst need, I just knew you had to be mine. And thanks to the generosity of your parents, I already feel like family. Bridget, will you make this the happiest night of my life?† With a porcine squeal Bridget threw her arms around me – after first carefully handing her glass of punch to Hilda. â€Å"Good show,† Bram clapped, his cheeks flushing even redder. â€Å"I knew you were a decent chap! I could tell right away!† The crowd exploded with cheers and thunderous applause; buckets of champagne were ordered all around. Winfield Sutherland looked so puffed up with pride and joy I feared he would explode. Mrs. Sutherland looked quietly pleased now that the last of her daughters were matched. Only Margaret shook her head angrily before freezing her face into a good show of sisterly pride. The leader of the dance had a Nebuchadnezzar of champagne brought forth, a giant glass bottle that held the equivalent of twenty bottles' worth of champagne. In an elegant display of sabrage, he took a sword from his butler and dramatically sliced along the bottle, causing the neck to fly off in a beautiful explosion of sparkling golden liquid. â€Å"Let's have the weddings this weekend!† Damon cried out, as if caught up in the general excitement. â€Å"We've waited our whole lives to find these ladies – why wait now?† Yes, why wait? I thought. Let Damon's games begin.

How to Find the Best AP Practice Tests

How to Find the Best AP Practice Tests SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips As you begin to prepare for your AP exams, you’ll need to consider which kinds of study tools will help you make the most of your prep time and help you meet your target score. One of the most important study tools in your arsenal is the AP practice test. This is true no matter which AP exam you’re taking.In this article, I’ll go over why you should use AP practice tests, what roles they can serve in your studying process, and how to find the best AP practice examsfor any AP. Why You Should Use AP Practice Tests to Study There’s one major reason to use practice tests in your studying: so you become comfortable with the exam. The truth is that knowledge can only get you so far on these exams- you need to be able to parse and package that knowledge the way the College Board wants. You might know everything there is to know about Art History, but if you’ve never looked at an AP question or written a practice essay, you could still be totally blindsided on test day simply because you’re confused by the way questions are written or don't know how to structure your essay. Essentially, studying for an AP exam without looking at a single practice test is like preparing for a bicycle race by reading about bicycles, but never riding a bicycle. The knowledge will help, but riding the bicycle would make you much more prepared. So is looking at this picture making you better at riding bikes or... 3 Ways AP Practice Tests Can Improve Your Studying There are three main waysAP practice exams can make your preparation process more effective. #1: Practice Tests Make You More Familiar With AP Format and Question Styles When you first start studying, looking at practice AP exams will help you familiarize yourself with the way AP questions are worded- both multiple choice and free response. Familiarity will help you understand what kinds of questions will be asked on exam day. I also advise reading the most up-to-date official directions for the various sections; knowing the most current test directions backwards and forwards will help you save time on test day and clarify what tasks will be required of you on the exam. #2: Practice Tests Help You Identify Gaps in Your Knowledge and Skills Once you have a decent knowledge base in the subject, taking an AP practice exam and seeing what you get wrong will help you know where to focus your studying efforts. If you consistently miss questions about photosynthesis, or the Hundred Years’ War, or language listening, you’ll know those are areas you need to focus on. Similarly, if you are rocking the multiple choice but your short answers aren’t so great, you’ll know to work on your short answer skills. #3: Practice Tests Track Your Progress Over Time Taking practice tests and writing practice essays every few weeks/months (depending on your study timeline) will help you track your progress and see how you’ve improved. If you were consistently scoring a 3 two months ago and now you’re always hitting 4's, you’ll know that you are on the right track and that your studying methods are working. If, however, your progress stagnates below your target score, you’ll know that your studying methods aren’t really helping you improve, and you need to readjust. Are you focusing on exam skills when you should be focusing on learning content or viceversa? Is the real problem with time-management? And so on. Taking a practice test is like doing karate except you're sitting at a table quietly writing. High-Quality Practice Tests and Where to Find Them I hope I've convinced you how useful and important AP practice exams are as you study for the exam. Once you've resolved to use them, you'll need to know how to find the best practicetests. What makes a good practice test, and where can you find them? What Makes a High-Quality Practice Test The best practice tests are those that are the most like real, official AP tests. So, same sections, same distribution of topics, same kinds of questions, same question wording. These are the best because they will most mimic the experience of taking the actual exam. Not only will the best practice tests give you the most familiarity with the real exam format, which will make you more comfortable on test day, they will also give you a better idea of how well you will do on the actual exam. Practice tests aren’t very helpful if they don’t actually reflect the real testing experience. In those cases,you’re not really practicing for the exam per se- just quizzing yourself on the topic with some random assessment from the back of a bad prep book. Answer keys are essential- otherwise, how will you know how you are doing? Explanations of the answers are nice, too, although the most official source, the College Board, doesn’t generally include answer explanations for anything other than free-response questions. Where to Find the Best AP Practice Tests I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the College Board has the best AP practice tests. This is because they make the test! So their practice materials are going to be the most like the real test. You can even get old AP tests on the College Board websitebecause they release complete exams every once in a while. Note that,depending on how old the exam is, it might be in an outdatedformat. This doesn’t mean it’s not still useful study material; you’ll just want to make sure you know how the current exam is different, and skip any sections that aren’t offered on the most current exam. How and where can you get official College Board practice questions and resources? Well, there arethree different official College Board sources you can look for. 1, 2, 3; Peter, Paul and Mary...are all looking for practice tests. #1: Sample Questions From the Course and Exam Description Every AP course has an â€Å"AP Course and Exam Description† booklet thatincludes AP practice questions for all sections of the exam. These are a great resource for familiarizing yourself with question styles and the most up-to-date test directions. To get the booklet, click on your desired exam from the College Board’s list of AP courses; scroll down a little on the â€Å"Course Overview† page and you will see a link to the â€Å"AP Course and Exam Description.† #2: Official Released Free-Response Questions You can also getreleased free-response questions and sample responsesfrom many years back into the past. From the College Board’s AP exam information page, click on your desired exam; scrolling down will take you to the released free-response questions. #3: Complete Released AP Exams Complete, previously released exams are much harder to find, but they are out there!In fact, I couldn’t find any official released exams on the College Board website except by Googling. This is probably because the College Board also sells copies of previously released exams, so they don’t want to make it easy to find free released exams. If you want to find complete exams for free, your best bet is toGooglethe name of your exam with â€Å"previously released materials college board† or â€Å"complete released exams college board.† You should then be able to find the â€Å"previously released materials† page for your given exam, like this page for AP English Literature and Composition or this one for AP Chemistry.These pages have official College Board released exams from previous years. Here are the â€Å"previously released materials† pages for some of the most popular exams: AP English Literature and Composition AP Chemistry AP US History AP Psychology AP Biology AP Statistics AP Environmental Science AP Calculus AB AP US Government and Politics AP Macroeconomics You might also be able to find more recent complete released exams posted online by schools or teachers; your Googlesearch should pull these up as well. Sample questions from the â€Å"AP Course and Exam Description† document, old free response questions, and complete released exams: these are all the AP practice question resources available from the College Board. You may have a hard time hunting some of them up, but they are out there! If only there was a map of the vast internet. I'm Out of College Board Practice Tests- What Now? If you’ve answered every official practice question you could get your hands on and still want more, you may want to find high-quality unofficial sources for practice questions and tests. Most prep books have practice questions- and possibly even complete practice exams- in the back of the book. But not all of them are created equally! To help direct you in your search for high-quality practice materials, we have expert reviews of the best prep books for the following AP tests: Best AP Psychology Books Best AP Biology Books Best AP US History Books Best AP Chemistry Books It’s best if you can look in the book before you buy it (or get it from the library!) Compare their practice questions to some of your official College Board resources. Do the questions seem like they have similar wording and formats? That’s a point in their favor. You should also look at reviews of prep books and sites to see what other students have to say about their practice questions and tests. If students felt the practice materials prepared them for the exam, it’s a better bet than a book students have lukewarm reactions to. You might also check out the questions in your class textbook; if it’s a textbook specifically designed for an AP course, odds are the questions at the ends of chapters or in the back of the book track decently well with real College Board material. But still compare it to official materials to be sure. With these tips in mind, you should be able to build a robust library of practice exam resources for your AP studying purposes! AP Practice Exams: Key Takeaways AP practice tests are essential study tools for the AP exam.Practice exams will help you get familiar with the test- its format, the question styles, and the different sections.You can use practice exams to familiarize yourself with the exam, identify gaps in your skills and knowledge, and track your progress and improvement as you prepare for the exam. The best AP practice exams come from the College Board: they have sample questions, old free-response questions, and complete released exams. Beyond officialresources, compare practice tests from unofficial sources to official College Board exams and look for reviews to find the most high-quality material. The bottom line is that liberal use of AP practice tests as a study tool will help you meet your target score,so you should be using them! Especially because there are so many free, official resources available out there. Shine on, you AP diamonds! If you get overwhelmed, just initiate Blanket-Wrapped Dog Protocol. What's Next? Wondering when to start studying for your AP test? Read our guide and wonder no more! Maybe you'd also like to knowthe average scores for every AP exam to help you set your target score. Taking the SAT? See our list of the best SAT prep books, updated for the new 2016 SAT! If the ACT is your exam of choice, seeour list of the best ACT prep books. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Understanding Si Clauses in French

Understanding 'Si' Clauses in French Si clauses or conditionals produce conditional sentences, with one clause stating a condition or possibility and a second clause naming a result produced by that condition. In English, such sentences are called if/then constructions. The French si, of course, means if in English. There is no equivalent for then per se in French conditional sentences. There are different types of si clauses, but they all have two things in common: The English result clause might be preceded by then, but there is no equivalent word preceding the French result clause. Si tu conduis, je paierai. If you drive, (then) Ill pay. The clauses can be in one of two orders: Either the  si clause is followed by the result clause, or the result clause is followed by the  si clause. Both work as long as the verb forms are paired correctly and si  is placed in front of the condition. Je paierai si tu conduis. Ill pay if you drive. Types of Si  Clauses Si  clauses are divided into types based on the likeliness of what is stated in the result clause: what does, will, would, or would have happened if....The first verb form listed for each type names the condition upon which the result depends; the result is indicated by the second verb form. First conditional: Likely / Potentiel   Present or present perfect present, future  or imperativeSecond conditional: Unlikely / Irrà ©el du prà ©sent Imperfect conditionalThird conditional: Impossible / Irrà ©el du passà © Pluperfect conditional perfect  Ã‚   These verb pairings are very specific: for example, in the second conditional, you can only use the imperfect in the si clause and the conditional in the result clause. Memorizing these pairings is probably the most difficult part of si clauses. Its important to memorize  the rules concerning the sequence of tenses. The term conditional here refers to the condition being named; it does not mean that the conditional mood is necessarily used in the conditional sentence. As shown above, the conditional mood is not used in the first conditional, and even in the second and third conditional, the conditional mood does not name the condition, but rather the result. First Conditional The first conditional refers to an if-then clause that names a likely situation and the result dependent upon it: something that happens or will happen if something else happens. The term conditional here refers to the condition being named; it does not mean that the  conditional mood  is necessarily used in the conditional sentence.  The conditional mood is not used in the first conditional. The first conditional is formed with the  present tense  or  present perfect  in the  si  clause, and one of three verb forms- present,  future, or  imperative- in the result clause.   Present Present This construction is used for things that happen regularly. The  si  in these sentences could probably be replaced by  quand  (when) with little or no difference in meaning. Sil pleut, nous ne sortons pas. / Nous ne sortons pas sil pleut. If it rains, we dont go out. / We dont go out if it rains.Si je ne veux pas lire, je regarde la tà ©là ©. / Je regarde la tà ©là © si je ne veux pas lire. If I dont want to read, I watch TV. / I watch TV if I dont want to read. Present Future The present future construction is used for events that are likely to occur. The present tense follows  si; it is the situation that is required before the other action will take place. Si jai  le temps, je le ferai. / Je le ferai si jai le temps. If I have time, I will do it. / I will do it if I have time.Si tu à ©tudies, tu rà ©ussiras lexamen. / Tu rà ©ussiras lexamen si tu à ©tudies. If you study, you will pass the test. / Youll pass the test if you study. Present Imperative This construction is used to give an order, assuming that the condition is met. The present tense follows  si; it is the situation that is required before the other action becomes a command. Si tu peux, viens me voir. / Viens me voir si tu peux. If you can, come see me. / Come see me if you can. (If you cant, then dont worry about it.)Si  vous  avez  de  largent,  payez  la facture. / Payez la facture si  vous  avez  de  largent. If you have money, pay the bill. / Pay the bill if you have money. (If you dont have any money, someone else will take care of it.) Passà © composà © Present, Future, or Imperative Si  clauses may also use the  passà © composà ©Ã‚  followed by the present, future, or imperative. These constructions are basically the same as above; the difference is that the condition is in the present perfect rather than the simple present. Si tu as fini, tu peux partir. / Tu peux partir si tu as fini. If you have finished, you can leave.Si tu nas pas fini, tu me le diras. / Tu me le diras si tu nas pas fini. If you havent finished, [you will] tell me.Si tu nas pas fini, dis-le-moi. / Dis-le-moi si tu nas pas fini. If you havent finished, tell me. Second Conditional   The second conditional* expresses something that is contrary to present fact or unlikely to occur: something that would  happen,  if something else happened. The term conditional here refers to the condition being named, not the  conditional mood. In the second conditional, the conditional mood is not used to name the condition itself, but rather the result. For the second conditional, use  si  Ã‚  imperfect  (stating the condition)   conditional  (stating what would happen). Si javais le temps, je le ferais. / Je le ferais si javais le temps. If I had time, I would do it. / I would do it if I had time. (Fact: I dont have time, but if I did [contrary to  fact], I would do it.)Si tu à ©tudiais,  tu  rà ©ussirais   lexamen. / Tu rà ©ussirais   lexamen  si  tu  Ãƒ ©tudiais. If you studied, you would pass the test. / You would pass the test if you studied. (Fact: You dont study, but if you did [unlikely to occur], you would pass the test.) Si  elle  vous  voyait,  elle  vous  aiderait./ Elle  vous  aiderait  si  elle  vous  voyait. If she saw you, she would help you. / She would help you if she saw you. (Fact: She doesnt see you so she isnt helping you [but if you get her attention, she will].) Third Conditional The third conditional* is a conditional sentence that expresses a hypothetical situation that is contrary to past fact: something that would have happened if something else had happened. The term conditional here refers to the condition being named, not the  conditional mood. In the third conditional, the conditional mood is not used to name the condition itself, but rather the result. To form the third conditional, use  si  Ã‚  pluperfect  (to explain what would have had to occur)   conditional perfect  (what would have been possible). Si javais eu le temps, je laurais fait. / Je laurais fait si javais eu le temps. If I had had time, I would have done it. / I would have done it if I had had time. (Fact: I didnt have time, so I didnt do it.)Si tu  avais  Ãƒ ©tudià ©,  tu  aurais  rà ©ussi   lexamen. / Tu  aurais  rà ©ussi   lexamen  si  tu  avais  Ãƒ ©tudià ©. If you had studied, you would have passed the test. / You would have passed the test if you had studied. (Fact: You didnt study, so you didnt pass the test.)Si  elle  vous  avait  vu,  elle  vous  aurait  aidà ©. / Elle  vous  aurait  aidà © si  elle  vous  avait  vu. If she had seen you, she would have helped you. / She would have helped you if she had seen you. (Fact: She didnt see you, so she didnt help you.) Literary Third Conditional In  literary  or other very formal French, both verbs in the pluperfect conditional perfect construction are replaced by the  second form of the conditional perfect. Si jeusse eu le temps, je leusse fait. / Je leusse fait si jeusse eu le temps. If I had had time, I would have done it.Si vous eussiez à ©tudià ©, vous eussiez rà ©ussi lexamen. / Vous eussiez rà ©ussi lexamen si vous eussiez à ©tudià ©. If you had studied, you would have passed the test.

Alexander Fleming Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Alexander Fleming - Essay Example In fact, the advancement of penicillin was a critical occasion in the fight against infectious sicknesses, and the person who uncovered it, Sir Alexander Fleming, remains an important individual in the chronicles of medicinal history. Sir Alexander Fleming was born at Lochfield near Darvel in Ayrshire, Scotland on August 6th, 1881. He went to Louden Moor School, Darvel School, and Kilmarnock Academy before moving to London where he went to the Polytechnic. He spent four years of his early life in a transportation office before attending St. Marys Medical School, London University (Maurois, 1959). Fleming passed with distinction in 1906 and started research at St. Marys under the guidance of Sir Almroth Wright, a pioneer in vaccination. At St Marys Hospital Medical School, he exceeded expectations, rapidly demonstrating his manual expertise and creativeness; to such an extent that for some time it looked as though a future in surgery beckoned until he was attracted to the microorganisms hunting and helpful sleuthing. He finished his degrees at the University of London in 1908, and stayed on at the prestigious Inoculation Laboratory of Almroth Wright. He got M.B., B.S., (London), with Gold Medal in 1908 and turned into a lecturer at St. Marys till 1914. He served all around World War I as a commander in the Army Medical Corps and in 1918 he came back to St.Marys. He was chosen Professor of the School in 1928 and Emeritus Professor of Bacteriology, University of London in 1948. He was chosen Fellow of the Royal Society in 1943 and knighted in 1944 (Maurois, 1959).   In 1915, Fleming got married with Sarah Marion McElroy of Killala, Ireland, who in 1949 died. Their son became a general medical practitioner. In 1953 Fleming got married again; Dr. Amalia Koutsouri-Voureka was his wife, a colleague at St. Marys

Reflections on the Toyota Debacle + When Theres No Such Thing as Too Article

Reflections on the Toyota Debacle + When Theres No Such Thing as Too Much Information - Article Example lity products developed, acceleration pedals that stuck on the loose floor mats and the sticky pedal materials after exposure to moisture and friction (Cusumano 34). Answer: In my opinion, Toyota was not comfortable with its success. This was because; the company kept on trying to rise far above its competitors. Another thing was the company was keen to give customers the best quality especially after the many complains. A comfortable company could have just sat and continue production without minding the many companies made. Answer: Several things have surprised me about the article. One, the author seems to be so keen on every aspect of Toyota Company as far as automobiles are concerned. Two, another surprise is on how Toyota has managed to remain in the top of the auto industry even after being the company with the most defects detected. Answer: Blockbuster Video rental chain has been a thriving company until the introduction of technology. Majority of the people now are able to access online videos, which has reduced the customers flow to the rental shops. Answer: Pillsbury is a food production company. Due to its growing global market share the business has a growing information need for both its customers and its employees. It now uses StatServer to convey customized data, analysis and educate employees on their desktops (Tibco 1).The tool has enhanced the company’s productivity by allowing employees to upgrade individual desktop data analysis tools. Apex industries deal with plastic fabrications. It employees comprise of a team of engineers, artisans, and project managers. To continue providing high quality products and services to their customers, the company uses a refined ERP system (Localdirectory 1). This has enabled them earn a high customer satisfaction and employee efficiency in