Prejudice And Discrimination In Snow Falling On Cedars Essay

How does Guterson present the prejudice and discrimination against the Japanese Americans in chapter 1-15 of Snow Falling on Cedars. This book shows a great difference between cultures on the island of San Piedro. To start with the island is a very cosmopolitan island with its residents all from different backgrounds and countries, Japan, England, Germany, Spain and Denmark to name a few. We can tell this from the long lists of shops and their owners on page three. Chapter one tells us more about San Piedro. It tells us of the great beauty of the island. The â€Å"solitary fields and vales of alfalfa†, â€Å"careless roads† and the animals. It also tells us more about the residents. It says that they are close knit, a lot are deeply religious, they are respectful and are of limited means. The island in very quiet and so the trial is a very big event for them, â€Å"San Piedro generally lay clear of violence†. They also seem serious minded and conservative and traditional in their way of thinking. With the story being set after the Second World War and the bombing of Pearl Harbour the people of Japanese origin are experiencing the most discrimination on the island. In chapter four there is a scene with the fishermen at Amity Harbour. When they are talking about the accused man – Kabuo Miyamoto – also a fisherman, Dale Middleton referred to him as Miyamoto, not his first name. He then goes on to call all Japanese â€Å"suckers† and says â€Å"Never could tell them guys apart†. The term â€Å"Jap† is used throughout the book to refer to the Japanese. This is very insulting and sounds quite racist and rude. The first time this is used is by fellow fisherman William Gjovaag. This is the first real indicator in the book of the Japanese status on the island. Ishmael Chambers is the islands reporter and he is of Irish and Scottish descent. His function in the book is to be the person who experiences an inter-cultural relationship with a Japanese American girl. He isn’t a racist and his job as journalist is to give a fair view in the paper. He can’t be seen as discriminating in the paper. We learn more about this relationship as we read into the book. When Horace Whaley – the coroner and the local G.P. – sees Carl’s injury on his head he speculates straight away. He says of Sheriff Art Moran â€Å"he ought to start looking for a Jap with a bloody gun butt – a right-handed Jap to be precise†. He suggested all this from one wound in Carl’s skull, and instantly thinks it was a â€Å"Jap†. We learn from chapter five that Whaley is a war veteran and he feel bitter about the Japanese and this causes him to discriminate without any proof that it was a â€Å"Jap† to blame for the wound. Whaley wouldn’t say any of this in court, under oath, because he had no strong evidence, but he would speculate if he didn’t have to back it up. In chapter seven we learn that the Japanese people who are attending the trial sat at the back of the of the court room it says that they didn’t have to sit at there but did so because â€Å"San Piedro required it of them without calling it a law†. The chapter then continues to talk about the racism inflicted on the Japanese in the work place. They weren’t referred to by their Christian names, but by numbers or names that the census taker decided for them, such as; â€Å"Jap Number 1† or â€Å"Dwarf Jap†. This was very racist and disrespectful for them, aswell as embarassing and hurtful. We pity this verbal abuse. They were given the worst, most dangerous jobs. As if they were so insignificant it didn’t matter if they got injured. If this wasn’t bad enough the Japanese weren’t even paid the same as the other workers. They were made to sleep in barns and were treated like animals. They were on the same level as the Red Indians and treated with same amount of disrespect. Then in 1942 the government deported all of the Japanese workers out of San Piedro because of the start of the Second World War, they were seen as a threat or the â€Å"enemy†. Even though they were natives, it was thought that they could be spies for he Japanese government, and were therefore deported. Although many of the islanders were racist towards the Japanese some of the Japanese had their own views about the white people. To contrast Mrs. Shigemura taught Hatsue that white men were â€Å"dangerous egomaniacs† and that they had â€Å"fantasises† about Japanese girls and that it â€Å"distorted their sex drives†. Hatsue should â€Å"marry a boy of her own kind whose heart is strong  and good†.This shows us that all Japanese people don’t take the abuse. They practice their views like the white racists. The book carries a lot of detail about the Second World War and has many descriptions and feelings during and after the war. Also in this chapter we learn about Kabuo, his Buddhism and beliefs. These beliefs say that everything has a soul and shouldn’t be harmed and so he feels he carries the burden of war. The Americans didn’t think about, or take into consideration the fact that the Japanese Americans would be going out to fight their own kind, people from their homeland. Kabuo feels enormous guilt about this and carried it through out his whole life. Carl’s mother, Etta is asked to give evidence for the prosecution in chapter nine. She is a farmer’s daughter who was brought up in South Germany and she is very hardworking and proud. From the evidence she presented in court we feel she isn’t emotional in any way and that her traditional views make her seem set in her ways. It also becomes apparent that she is extremely racist and feels that the Japanese are below her. She talks about her husband – who doesn’t share her racist views – and Kabou’s father and about how they had an agreement, when her husband died she totally ignored the agreement, which is what she wanted to do in the first place. Carl was like his father in that he wasn’t racist either, he was friends with Kabuo and worried about them and their safety when they are told top leave the country. He relates to them and sees them as individuals rather than one awful race, like Etta. Carl’s and his mother’s views sometimes clashed. For example when he brought the fishing rod home that Kabuo gave him, she told him to take it back. Etta never gave Zanichi- Kabuo’s father – and his family a chance and she always talked down to him, even though he was constantly polite. This highlights the contrast between the two characters well and shows Etta to be old, bitter and twisted and very close-minded. When Etta tells the court about her and Kabuo’s conversation in chapter ten it emphasise Etta’s cold hearted, selfish, pathetic ways. She says that Kabuo has a â€Å"mean face†. She doesn’t realise that this is what the Japanese look like, and that it is impossible to read their faces. Yet she doesn’t  want to learn or listen either way. Etta’s character conveys racism very clearly and depicts how low, hurtful and quite petty some of the islanders actually are. We see how these attitudes effect the Japanese and how they cause problems and conflict, yet these people feel that it is their right to act this way toward them. A description of Pearl Harbour is given in chapter thirteen. It also tells us of what happens to the Japanese after and how they are discriminated against. Their bank accounts were stopped because there is a slight chance that they may be traitors. Also in chapter thirteen we learn more about Arthur Chambers, like his son he isn’t a racist at all and is a friend to the Japanese. He feels confusion when he hears the story of the bombing and doesn’t know what to print in his paper, because he doesn’t want to support or defend the actions of either the Americans or the Japanese. Instead he prints stories of Japanese contribution to the community. He is a balanced, stable character and isn’t racist in any way and therefore contradicts other characters in the book such as Etta and Horace. We learnt that Ishmael wasn’t racist right at the start of the book and here we start to find out why. Ishmael had his first relationship with Hatsue Imada who is Japanese. To Hatsue when she was growing up her relationship with Ishmael felt young, innocent and fun. They both enjoyed each other’s company and most of all liked each other. They found sanctuary in a hollowed out Cedar Tree in the woods earlier on in the book. There they were hidden away from the world and weren’t effected by anything going on in the outside. There they could be themselves and it wouldn’t matter that their love for each other was forbidden. Now in chapter thirteen the fortress of the cedar tree start to fall apart. The war starts it and now the fact that their countries are against each other upsets Hatsue and she realises that they have to stop meeting, especially as the relationship is starting to get sexual. Ishmael doesn’t see it that way he is naive and doesn’t see the problem as clearly as Hatsue as she starts to feel she is deceiving her parents. The F.B.I search on the Imada’s property takes place in chapter fourteen.  They come at night for the search. This instantly suggests they don’t have the decency to come during the day they arrive at night to cause upset and grief. The family is referred to as the â€Å"enemy† and â€Å"aliens† which misplaces them from the San Piedro community instantly. The men take away guns, dynamite and swords; they say that they are violent weapons and don’t listen when they tell them that they are only used to assist them with farming the land. The big men also take cultural objects, like a flute, some music and hatsue’s scrapbook. This is unjust and they are abusing their authority and their warrant. ThEy root through their draws and rummage in their underwear, this is embarrassing and very disrespectful. One of the officers deliberately says Hisao’s name incorrectly, this is very rude and must be frustrating because he said it wrong even when corrected. When the men unjustly arrest him they try to justify it as a sacrifice, even though none of this mess was their fault. Everything is taken away from the Japanese and they are then sent away to camps. The baseball team lost its best players and this saddened many people so they dedicated the match to them. This makes us realise that most people in San Piedro don’t want them to leave. Hatsue and her mother – Fujiko have a conversation about the discrimination she has been suffering or that she will suffer later in life, Fujiko is a bias character because she has suspicions about all white people and she has a very pessimistic outlook. She tells her how she and Hatsue’s father were embarrassingly poor yet they got through it with dignity. She explained about how she feels invisible to the whites of the island and that she was and is constantly ignored, but they should all except this because that was how it was and nothing was going to change. She tells Hatsue that the Japanese are worthless to the whites and their value is like â€Å"dust in a strong wind†. The journey to Manzanar is discussed in chapter fifteen. There is no comfort and they are treated like animals and we feel for these people because they don’t know the outcome of their fate, but they had to conform to the rules of the American Government. Fujiko tries to show she is strong by suffering  inwardly. The fact Manzanar is a desert we know there will be no escape and the hostile, barren, hot landscape will be a total contrast to San Piedro. Also in this chapter Fujiko finds out about Hatsue and Ishmael’s relationship. This is quite hypocritical because she talks to Hatsue about how white always discriminate against them but here a white person is being kind and loving to her daughter and she gets so upset. This is quite a contrast and shows that the Japanese can be just as bad at discriminating. In these fifteen chapters we see the suffering of the Japanese at the hands of the white islanders. The Japanese could not help many of the reasons at all and a minority of Japanese Americas punished for a war between the country they currently live in and the country they originated from. We pity the Japanese throughout and understand why some of them are suspicious. Some of the islanders are constantly hateful, spiteful and rude, with no respect for their fellow human beings. Whereas others are polite and kind and treat them as they would anyone else. Guterson conveys this pity in many of the nasty comments made by the whit islanders. Like the term â€Å"Jap† and many of the awful things they were subject to at work. Even though a couple of the Japanese characters don’t like whites. Much of the pity in the book is directed at the Japanese Americans.

Kingston’s Women Warrior Gives Voices and Identities to Chinese and Chinese American Women Essay

Growing up with a family of five sisters and myself as first generation Korean Americans, The Women Warrior focuses on the author’s life were she struggles to find her voice. Maxine Hong Kingston’s writing of this book is an example of how ancient talk stories, myths, and beliefs help one find her voice in America. The Women Warrior takes us on an adventure through five main female characters and five chapters that helps us understand how she finds her voice in America. The five chapters integrate Kingston’s experiences through the five women brought to life throughout the book. The references in the book refer to Kingston’s emotional struggle while showing the reader the benefit of finding ones personal voice in America. The book shows how the five women in this book along with the talk stories help in the search for individual identities. Through Kingston’s writing of this book the chapters help show how she manages to give her aunt an identity, Chinese women an identity, her mother a voice, and finds her own identity and voice in America. If women do not have voices in traditional Chinese culture, then the talk stories that mothers pass on to there daughters may be considered subversive tales and instructions for their daughters. In the first chapter of The Women Warrior, Kingston’s mother Brave Orchid tells the story of her sister and the relevance of the no name women. This talk story was told by Kingston’s mother in order to teach her daughter of proper women behavior. The fact that the story starts with her mother saying not to repeat the story makes this book a way of bringing Kinston’s aunt to life. The story was based back in the village in China where it is believed that she brought disgrace to her whole family by having an illegitimate child. â€Å"You must not tell anyone, my mother said, what I am about to tell you† (Kingston 3). This is how the book starts and the story of Kingston’s mother’s sister who killed herself with her newborn daughter. The no name women had become pregnant while her husband was off to war. The thought of what China was like painted a confusing picture for Kingston. She knew that the village that her aunt had killed herself by throwing her and her daughter in the village water well shows very little error for family values. It is here were the reader can come to know that the struggle of her aunt is the struggle she herself is going through while trying to make sense of all the tradition of China while living in America. The point of Brave Orchid to tell Kingston the story of her husband’s sister is to warn her to be careful and cautious. â€Å"Now that you started to menstruate, what happened to her could happen to you. Do not humiliate us. You wouldn’t like to be forgotten as if you had never been born† (Kingston 5). The story truly begins through this talk tale. Kingston is not allowed to mention the story of her aunt she has to create her own fantasies to complete the story. Kingston feels that the story makes more sense to her as if her aunt was rapped by a villager that ordered her to be with him. She also feels that her aunt may have stepped out of the normal social order and her sexual passion could have been incest and the whole town turned there backs and even her own family turned there backs. The birth took place in a pigsty and since the aunt already knew her fate she walked her daughter to the well and they drowned themselves. The whole idea that it was a daughter or a girl makes the story more interesting because the customs in China may have already named the girl useless and immoral. This chapter is often one of the more frequent anthologized sections of the book. The talk story of her aunt opens the door for more stories to follow. The place of women in Chinese society comes to question while the thought of Kingston’s place in America comes to question as well. Her reference to the village society of her aunt was vital to eliminate sexual attraction. This came true to Kingston herself who would try not to make herself to attractive to boys. The chapter is mainly a talk story told by her mother and the rest is the writing of Kingston. The first chapter makes the reader wonder if the stories are fiction or nonfiction. The tales from Brave Orchid seem to trouble Kingston from what is real and what is fantasy. You can see the struggle of where Kingston and her aunt seem to be voiceless throughout their lives. The fact that the no name women never told anyone who the husband was shows that she was protecting him with silence. By writing about her aunt Kingston gives her a voice. â€Å"The real punishment was not the raid swiftly inflicted by the villagers, but the family deliberately forgetting her† (Kingston 16). Although Kingston never finds out her aunts name, the symbolic act of naming her the No Name Women honors her memory. The second chapter White Tigers is based on another talk story about a female warrior Fa Mu Lan. The fact that the story is told in the first person gives Kingston her ability to become a warrior. This chapter develops some background for Kingston and her voice is heard through the story of the Fa Mu Lan. The warrior in the story starts her training at the age of seven and since it is written in the first person we can picture the warrior to be Kingston herself. In the fantasy Kingston follows a bird up into the mountains until she comes to the hut of an old couple who want to train her to become a great warrior. As part of her training she spends years on the mountain, fasting for days and eating only roots and vegetables while drinking snow water. At her hungriest moment she was sitting by the fire and a rabbit sacrifices itself for her to eat. â€Å"The rabbit seemed alert enough, however, looking at me so acutely, bounding up to the fire. But it did not stop when it got to the edge. It turned its face towards me, then jumped in the fire† (Kingston 26). Her starvation in the mountains causes her to hallucinate. â€Å"I saw two people made of gold dancing the earth’s dances† (Kingston 27). She eventually returns at the age of fourteen and her mentors teach her to fight. She is able to see images of her family in a gourd of water and she can see her family preparing her wedding to a childhood friend. She saw her husband and brother taken away and she wanted to help so badly but the training was not over. She was to wait until she became twenty two. When she is ready to leave the mountain she has learned how to us her magical sky sword and is given powerful beads by the old couple. Kingston returns home and her parents in preparation for battle tattoo a list of grievances all over her back to symbolize revenge. In men’s armor she rides her white horse and prepares to lead an army. This is probably the most exciting chapter in the book. We can see that Kingston is retelling the story as if she was the great Fa Mu Lan. This chapter follows a Chinese myth that the women would fight in place of their father. â€Å"We are going to carve revenge on your back, my father said. We will write out oaths and names† (Kingston 34). The tattoo that was actually carved in a man’s back is carved into Kingston’s back. She is pretending to be a man and becomes a great warrior at the head of a huge army. She defeats and wins over the army of a giant. Her husband then joins her and soon she is carrying a newborn baby under her armor. She eventually leads the entire population of China to overthrow the corrupt emperor and put a peasant in his place. In the fantasy Kinston takes on the role of a powerful man warrior and yet is also a female avenger. She has the ability to create life and to take life. These dual powers let her maintain both her sense of womanhood and duties of a wife. When she is a warrior she would wear her hair up and reveal the tattoos and when it was time to be a wife she lets down her hair to cover the tattoos. He wept when he took of my shirt and saw the scar words on my back. He loosened my hair and covered the words with it† (Kingston 39). When in battle her husband joins her and after birth to the newborn the husband leaves to care for the child. This sign of role reversal gives more meaning to Kinston’s life. She is able to transcend the rigid customs and traditions in this chapter. At the end of the chapter the reader can see that the customs of women constrict her in America as well. â€Å"Did you know the restaurant you chose for the banquet is being picketed by CORE and the NAACP? Of course I knew that is why I chose it. I refuse to type these invitations, I whispered, voice unreliable. He leaned back in his chair, his bossy stomach opulent. He picked up a calendar and slowly circled a date. You will be paid till here and we will mail you a check† (Kingston 49). We can see her trying to stand up to her boss in America and he simply fires her. In reality the only powers Kingston has is through her writing. It is in her writing that her aunt and her voice are heard. The end of the chapter states the real powers of Fa Mu Lan. The sky sword created by Kingston is as powerful as she wants just like her words. They can only have as much power as she can give them. The fact that the women with bound feet created an army in her writing gives them much deserved credit for all that they have endured The point of this chapter is through writing Kingston found a way to give voice to all Chinese women. She has found a way to poke holes through old stereotypes and thus through her writing she can change customs and give women a more important role in society. Although chapter two was the most adventurous it is in the third chapter that the reader can actually see that Kingston gives her other a voice and even finds out more about her own self. Shaman focuses on Kingston’s mother, Brave orchid and her childhood in China. The chapter traces her life in China after her husband was in America. Kingston is able to bring the talk stories of her mother and along with other storytellers Kingston writes of her mothers accomplishments becoming a doctor. The chapter brings her mother to life. In America she has no voice and in China she was a remarkable doctor. It was at the To Keung School of Midwifery were Brave Orchid truly excelled as one of the top students. â€Å"It rolled over her and landed bodily on her chest. There it sat. It breathed airlessly pressing her, sapping her. Oh no a sitting ghost, she thought† (Kinston 69). It was here when she defeated the ghost at her school and impressed the other students. It was as if she could perform magic. When Brave Orchid returns back to her village she had the ability to heal the sick and defeat the ghosts. Kingston feels that her mother’s power comes from her being able to eat any beast. She remembers one talk story that Chinese people ate the brains out of the head of a monkey. One day Kingston and her mother went to purchase a slave. I am a doctor, she told her new slave, when they were out of the dealer’s hearing† (Kingston 81). It is here that Kingston feels some uncertainty towards her mothers talk stories. Her mother recalls spending two hundred dollars for Kingston when she was born. Kingston remembers her mother commenting on the fact that they gave away girls that were infants. Here Kingston is torn with the fact that she cost her mother money and that being a girl was almost a burden on her family. The struggle with honoring her mother’s powers and with identifying herself is clear in this chapter. The fact that Kingston comments on her being a girl and being useless is what she truly struggles with. Many families in China look down at baby girls and it isn’t until Kingston writes about her mother and herself to give them an identity. The second part of the chapter takes place in America where Brave Orchid a once powerful doctor has no voice in America. She couldn’t speak English so the simple language barrier silenced her. The way to get Kingston to understand her mother was through the talk stories and ghosts Brave Orchid made up. But America has been full of machines and ghosts, Taxi ghosts, Bus ghosts, Police ghosts, Fire ghosts, Meter reader ghosts, Tree trimming ghosts, Five and dime ghosts† (Kingston 97). The surroundings of America contained many ghosts but the reader can sense that Kingston is happier that she is in America. The chapter ends on the present day during a visit by Kingston. Brave Orchid complains about how hard they work in the laundry and tomato field businesses. Her mother claims that even the time goes faster in America. Brave Orchid never stopped calling China home. She seems to understand little of the political situation in China. She has finally told Kingston that they would never return to China. The chapter is best summed up as the ghost chapter. The new ghosts in America along with the ghosts from China can be terrifying. The deformed baby that was kicked out to die in the outhouse would haunt Kingston. The chapter of Shaman is the chapter that depicts the conflicts of Brave Orchid’s life and the mother daughter relationship she has with Kingston. The reader can see how frustrating Kingston is as she tries to find her identity in America. If there were no talk stories of her mother’s life in China then Brave Orchid could have never had her own identity. Brave Orchids life in America is completely opposite and in America she struggles with her own identity because she only speaks Chinese. The next chapter At the Western Palace is where Brave Orchids sister Moon Orchid comes to America. It is through these women that Kingston can identify with herself. Brave Orchid sends for her sister and she makes the trip to America from Hong Kong. â€Å"Brave Orchid momentarily saw, like a larger, younger outline around this old woman, the sister she had been waiting for† (Kingston 117). The two women kept describing how old each one looked. The fact that Brave Orchid sent for her sister to come to America raised question as to why her husband, who lived in America, never sent for her. It is here that I noticed that Moon Orchid was a lady with no identity in America. Brave Orchid insisted that Moon Orchid should go demand her life as a wife to her husband. â€Å"Moon Orchids eyes got big like a child’s. I shouldn’t be here, she said† (Kingston 124). This was Moon Orchids reaction to her sister’s rambling about her reclaiming her husband. Moon Orchid got money from her husband. He sent her money and she never worked a day in her life. She tries to tell Brave Orchid she was not abandoned and that he sent money for all the food and servants one could need. He even sent their daughter to college. Brave Orchid pressured her sister till finally one day they went to Los Angeles to confront her husband. Brave Orchid tells her sister to demand her place as the first wife but Moon Orchid wants no part in it. They came up with a plan after Brave Orchid saw his doctor office. They would send Brave Orchid’s son to the office and make the doctor come out thinking their was an accident. The plan did bring him out but it failed in Brave Orchids mind. He mentioned his new wife did not know of the first marriage and that he wanted no part in her life, but he would continue to send money to his daughter in care for Moon Orchid. The doctor embarrassed Moon by calling them grandmothers. This made Brave Orchid and Moon Orchid ghosts and the comic and tragic story of Moon Orchid takes form. The daughter takes Moon Orchid in after brave Orchid realized she was useless in helping her. She could barely fold towels and she got to hot to work. Her inabilities to perform the easiest tasks became annoying. Like many women in China they would marry the men just before they left for â€Å"the Golden Mountain† America. The fact that Moon Orchid comes to America and is useless to Brave Orchid and her husband wants nothing to do with her raises more speculation to her identity. The women in this story seem to have to find their own place and are voiceless. Like in previous chapters Moon Orchid comes to life through Kinston’s writing. In this chapter Kingston is hardly present. This is the first appearance in the book of her siblings and her father. Brave Orchid is embarrassed that her children are unaware of respecting or understanding Chinese culture. The fact that Brave Orchid and Moon Orchid become ghosts while confronting her husband takes a lot out of Moon Orchid. She slowly begins to deteriorate and Brave Orchid tries to comfort her but she ends up sending her to away to a home. The stories in this chapter are an important reminder to Kingston and her feelings for her mother. The fact that these women both had great lives in China can show the reader that in America the women were of no use and in America they struggled to find their identity. It s in the final chapter A song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe, Kingston finally begins to focus on her own life. We can see Kingston in some of her most important turning points in her life. She is insecure, quiet and an alienated young girl. Kinston has begun to see the world logically and as a more mature person. She embraces her roots and her past and finds strength in her writing. Kingston and other Chinese Americans are constantly told not to tell anyone outside the community about their lives. This makes finding ones identity harder. It is very important that Kingston does not spare herself in the final chapter. Here the quiet girl even has two long rants showing her words were often bottled up. Her ability to write made her more mature and gave her a clear perspective of her place in society. In America silence is a trait of Americans and Kinston finds herself as quiet and American-feminine. â€Å"So I had to stop, relieved in some ways. I shut my mouth, but I felt something alive tearing at my throat, bite by bite, from the inside† (Kingston 200). This is when you can see that Kinston remaining quite only kept things bottled up inside. The story ends with another talk story about the Ts’ai Yen who had to translate the songs of the Barbarians back to the people. It is here that the reader can sense that Kinston has found a way to communicate from her writing to her readers. Kinston’s identity seems to be in between American and Chinese American culture. The culture of both worlds has come to life throughout this book and it is in this chapter that Kingston realizes that she can give anything identity through her writing. Kingston’s ability to find herself in both cultures reveals her true identity. It is through her mother’s talk stories and through the other women in this book that helps her find her own identity. Kinston also gives identity to her No Name Aunt as well as Moon Orchid, and her mother. This novel focuses on the stories of these women and there struggles to find their voices. After realizing her place in society Kinston gave herself and all the other women in this book a voice and an identity. The women who have no identity and the struggle of a Chinese American women makes this book reveal everyone’s place and identity. Through her writing, talking about her past becomes the cure for silence and the cure to achieve an individual voice as a Chinese American Women.

Dehydration and Gc Lab Report

Introduction In an E1 reaction, where E stands for elimination and 1 stands for unimolecular. The breaking of the C-LV bond is completed before any reaction occurs between the base to lose a hydrogen and form the carbon-carbon double bond [1]. When the more substituted alkene is the dominant product, the reaction follows Zaitsev's rule. Zaitsev's rule states that the major product of a ? -elimination reaction is the most stable alkene [1]. Acid-Catalyzed Dehydration is the elimination of a molecule of water from adjacent carbon atoms.An alcohol can be converted to an alkene by dehydration, which is often brought on by heating the alcohol with either 85% phosphoric acid or concentrated sulfuric acid [1]. The objective of this experiment is to dehydrate 3-methyl-3-pentanol to obtain the product mixture of isomeric alkenes 3-methyl-2pentene and 2-ethyl-1-butene. Then use the gas chromatography to separate the product mixture and analyze the composition [2]. [pic] [pic] [pic] Figure1: Ta ble of Reagents Name |Molecular Weight |Density |Melting Point |Boiling Point | |2-methylcyclohexnol |114. 19 g/mol |0. 921 g/cm3 |-9. 5oC |165oC | |Phosphoric Acid |98 g/mol |1. 88 g/cm3 |42. 35oC |158oC | |Calcium Chloride |110. 98 g/mol |2. 15 g/cm3 |772oC |1,935oC |Fig: The chart shows the reagents used in the laboratory experiment and information regarding the solvents. Experimental The experiment started by gathering the supplies for distillation. In the vial, 2mL of 2-methylcyclohexanol and 1mL of phosphoric acid is added. The solvents are thoroughly mixed and a few boiling chips is added to help with the boil. The sand bath is set up with the thermometer and the sand will be heated up to 100oC and the vial containing the solvents will be placed on the sand and let to boil. The process should take about 30 minutes to start boiling.A beaker with a flask will be covered in ice and the water would be sucked out with the Pasteur pipette. When the distillation process is completed , the distillated liquid would be saved. CaCl2 would be added to the liquid to prevent evaporation and allows distillate to dry over drying agent. Then the little container will be weighed empty, and then the container with the liquid will be weight. Results ****** I can’t figure out how to insert our graph. When I copy it my computer says it is too big to paste in a word document. So I’m going to pretend the graph is in this spot, and put the results of the graph under here.Hopefully someone else in the group can use their computer to insert the graph or we can print it off and the graph will just have its own page. A gas chromatogram is a plot of a response against the retention time. Chemical substances as gases are retained on the liquid column (stationary phase) with a flow gas being the carrier (mobile phase) through the column. At the end of the column is some means of detection. The peak height or the peak area is used to quantitate the amount of substance. The number of peaks can also help determine whether or not one is dealing with a pure compound.Peak one has a retention time of . 29 seconds and a peak area of 999. 00. Peak two was found to have a retention time of . 37 seconds and a peak area of 5067. 00. The percent composition for peak one is 16. 46884% and the percent composition for peak two is 83. 53116%. The percent yield is given by the ratio of the experimental yield to the theoretical yield, which was found to be 52%. Discussion All possible products were observed. Under kinetic control, a significant yield of 3-methlycyclohexane is expected when 2-methylcyclohexane is dehydrated.The kinetic product is known as Hofman product. The mechanism of this dehydration involves the formation of a tertiary carbocation intermediate. The observed products do support E1 mechanism. E1 mechanism indicates an elimination, unimolecular  reaction, where rate = k [R-LG]. This implies that the rate determining step of the mechanism depends on the decomposition of a single molecular species. The pathway involves two critical steps, which are the loss of the leaving group to generate a  carbocation intermediate, then  the loss of a proton from the carbocation to form a pi-bond.In this experiment the slow step in this elimination is the loss of a water molecule (the leaving group) from the oxonium ion to form the carbocation intermediate. This unimolecular rate-determining step makes this an E1 mechanism. The percent composition of a compound is a relative measure of the mass of each different element present in the compound. It gives the composition of the sample that was injected into the gas chromatograph, which ultimately helps determine alkene stability. In an error analysis of this experiment, peak resolution is critical.In a good chromatographic separation, the components of the sample are completely separated from each other in the chromatogram. Unfortunately, an incomplete separation of the components in a sam ple gives poor peak resolution and there is an overlap between adjacent peaks in the chromatogram. When the peaks in a chromatogram are poorly resolved, it is necessary to adjust one or more of the separation parameters until baseline resolution is obtained. Reference [1] Brown, William Henry. Organic Chemistry. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning, 2009. Print. Page 149-157 2] Hill, Richard K. , and John Barbaro. Experiments in Organic Chemistry. Raleigh, NC: Contemporary Pub. of Raleigh, 2005. Print. Page E8-13 to E8-15 Questions (T8-9) 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When peaks in the gas chromatograms are poorly separated, it is best to change one or more separation parameters so the baseline resolution is obtained. 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Benzene > o-xylene > p-xylene > toluene 3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cyclohexyl methyl ether would have a shorter retention time because of the increase in temperature. 4)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A. Retention will increase when the temperature column is decrease dB. When you increase the length of a column, the retention time would increase because of the longer distance traveled. C. Increasing flow rate of carrier gas will decrease the retention time 5)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  105oC 6)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Little to no partitioning of components in the sample will occur and therefore giving poor to no separation. 7)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  29mm2, 210mm2, 136mm2 Mole %=(Area under individual Peaks)/(Total area under all the peaks) x 100% %=29mm/375mm x100%=7. 73% %=210mm/375mm x100%=56% %=136mm/375mm x100%=36. 27% Total area under peak= 29+210+136= 375mm

Overview of Mitalio Software Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Overview of Mitalio Software - Essay Example Moreover, Mitalio also endeavors to offer varied types of inventive software packages in order to enhance the perceived dependency and consistency level of its customers among other competing firms in the market. In order to attain the desired leading position in the international technology industry, the higher authority of Mitalio had decided to offer ERP software packages along with BPM software facilities to enhance its corporate image and identity through innovation in the increasingly competitive industry structure. It was expected by the company officials that this particular strategy would facilitate Mitalio to enhance its total sales along with profitability in the long-run by rewarding its competitive benefits in the short-run processes (Zerio & Nair, 2007). Moreover, to position itself as a market leader in the sector of business software services, the management of Mitalio and its sales team decided to offer more attention to an advertisement and promotional activities. This might prove beneficial for Mitalio to increase the awareness of the customers towards its products, ensuing augmentation of prospective leads and reduction of business threats (Zerio & Nair, 2007). Mitalio is a renowned organization of California which fundamentally attempts to offer cost-efficient software packages to enhance the reliability of its business customers. The prime objective of Mitalio is to augment its supremacy and brand visibility among other apparent players operating within the market. In order to accomplish the underlining desire, the management of Mitalio had decided to offer both BPM and ERP software packages in the international markets of United States, Europe, and Asia.  Ã‚  

DISCUSS THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE ATTITUDES AN INDIVIDUAL MIGHT Essay

DISCUSS THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE ATTITUDES AN INDIVIDUAL MIGHT ESPOUSE AND HIS OR HER BEHAVIOUR - Essay Example There appear to be two sides but the point where one side begins and the other side ends is not as divided as being drawn in by a straight line. It’s like traveling without actually leaving because your finger goes around but you end up where you began. The same idea goes for attitudes and behavioral choices we take. What catapults us to choose left over right and vice versa or doing right or wrong and evidently choosing one over the two? What leads an individual to act and think as he does and then act and think differently altogether? In understanding this, the working definitions which will ultimately set the pace for us in this article need to be clarified for purposes of discussion. Motivation and behavior, although loosely used in conversational English and interchanged conveniently, are two very different words in the study of psychology. Motivation is a goal-oriented behavior that varies in intensity and persistence, meaning we do the things we do because of a need to do it with reasons ranging from the logical to becoming illogical. It’s like eating because of hunger or plainly because its time to eat. People need people. Why? Because there is so much in us that craves approval, justification and belief that we find it in other people as well. It shapes us as the person we think we can be. And it leads us in bettering ourselves when we get the approval we want. Which is behavior†¦ it is then safe to assume that behavior gets us where we need to be but we need motivation to drive us to our desti nation. It is then imperative that we ask ourselves what comprises us to make the choices we do and what factors come into play that makes us the person we are. This is where social influence, norms and roles come into the fray. What moves us? Social Influence in the handouts highlights the source of the choices we make which is the influence of other people for our modified behavior. The amount of influence or behavior is significant

An issue Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

An issue - Assignment Example But on the other hand, pro-choice activists argue that this is essentially a red herring, as it assumes that life is automatically good, and that if the baby is brought to term everybody will be happy. Ultimately, although it is a very sticky issue morally, allowing individual women the right to practice abortion legally seems more moral than issuing a blanket denial of abortion for any women at all. The decision to make abortion legal in the early 1960s is one that was, and that continues to be, very controversial. However, it is an unquestionable fact that â€Å"legal abortion has unquestionably benefited women and their families† (Joffe, 54), in the main because these women no longer have to seek out dangerously unsanitary, black market options if they do not wish to bring a child to term. From this viewpoint, it is clear that one of the strongest arguments for legalizing abortion does not necessarily assume whether or not abortion itself is moral. It simply states that sin ce women will get abortions anyway, it is more moral to ensure that they can get abortions legally, as these abortions are safer. Joffe also notes that this is one of the biggest moral problems with anti-abortion movements, as they make for a situation where â€Å"the United States may well return to the situation of the pre-Roe era, when women of means managed to get safe abortion care and poor women often did not† (59) due to lack of easy access to abortion clinics. However, many people argue that the woman is not the person who has the strongest moral right in cases of abortion. Instead, they say, it is the unborn child or fetus who deserves to be protected the most. This is because they argue from a mostly Christian or at least religious standpoint, which holds that â€Å"life [is] a precious gift from God and that man [does] not have the right to kill the innocent child in the womb† (Karrer 528). From this standpoint, allowing abortion to be legal is essentially t he same as legalizing murder, as it kills a potential child who may otherwise have lived. This fact is central to understanding the pro-life view of abortion as an immoral evil, and explains why, despite the Roe V Wade case which legalized the practice nation-wide, there continue to be a number of groups who describe themselves as trying â€Å"to promote respect for the worth and dignity of all human life, including the life of the unborn child from the moment of conception† (Karrer 554). Nonetheless, this argument is a bit of a red herring. If all human life is worth upholding equally, then the woman’s life must also be upheld with dignity and worth. This is at the heart of why abortion is such a sticky issue, as the pro-life arguments must necessarily—or at least should—also focus on how to preserve and treat the life of the woman who wants the abortion. Apart from women’s health, keeping abortion legal can also have a big impact on women’ s social liberation. M. Castle notes that such religious arguments about abortion can sometimes turn from rhetoric to reality by making politics â€Å"profoundly anti-female and sustaining gender inequality† (1). In this argument, the morality of keeping abortion legal moves from a simple matter of health and to one of human rights. It is not just that legal abortion means

Choose one of the abbreviated research plans that you have drafted Coursework

Choose one of the abbreviated research plans that you have drafted - Coursework Example This will make the presentation simple and time conservative. One on one communication: some individuals may opt not to adopt the plan due to its expensive nature. To solve this, personal communication will have to into play. One will have to take his or her personal time to talk to the audience on one on one basis. This is to convince the undecided party and give them the required motivation. This may be done through personal calls or text messages, just in case getting the free time is not possible. Newsletters: As follow up each audience will receive a newsletter once in a while to make sure that their motivation never declines. Sending of the newsletters will be through the post and via emails. This will act as reminders to the audience. Kanjilal, Joydip, and BhupaliKhule.ASP.NET data presentation controls essentials master the standard ASP.NET server controls for displaying and managing data. Birmingham, U.K.: Packt Pub., 2007.

Vietnam War Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Vietnam War - Term Paper Example Moreover, it can further be explained that the United States intervention in the Vietnam Wars revealed the earlier impacts of domino impact in Southeast Asia during and at the end of the wars. Domino theory application on the United States involvement in Vietnam wars France began conquering and colonizing Indochina in the late 1850s. It fully colonized Vietnam by 1893 and through the 1884 Treaty of Hue, France declared to rule Vietnam for the next seven decades. Despite the strong military resistance especially by the Can Vuong by 1888, the Southeast Asia became the colony of France. Several Vietnamese resistance movements were formed to oppose the France colonial rule, but none of them was as successful as the Viet Minh common front, managed by the Communist Party of Vietnam (Birkland, 2010). This party was founded by the Chinese Nationalist Party and the United States to oppose Japanese existence. Japanese collaborated with France after France invasion of French Indochina during the World War II. The French managed the affairs of the colony while power was in the hands of the Japanese colonial government. Vietnam Minh was founded on May 1941 to take power from France and also to evict the Japanese occupants. It received support from the Chinese national party and U. S to destabilize Japanese influence over Vietnam. Japan and France collaboration rule in Vietnam went on until the Germans were moved out of France and the French colonial government began holding secret talks with the Free French (Hall, 2007). On 9th March 1945, Japanese army decided to evict all the French from Vietnam after fearing they could no longer trust them. They then took the full control of Vietnam under Bao Dai. Viet Minh fought against the Japanese and defeated them in August 1945. The Japanese surrendered unconditionally creating a power vacuum which gave the Viet Minh an opportunity to enter and grasp power in â€Å"August Revolution† (Burgan, 2006) . The Japanese colonial government supported Vietnam Minh to get rid of French by helping them to imprison all the French officials and surrendering all t heir weapons to them. Viet Minh leader, Ho Chi Minh, declared independence Democratic Republic of Vietnam before a crowd of people in Hanoi on 2nd September 1945. Major allied victors of World War II, however, declared that the Southeast Asia was still under French colonial government. France re-establishment in Vietnam was slow since they had no weapons, soldiers and ships to immediately overtake Vietnam. Super powers therefore, gave the British government to occupy the south. The British troops landed and began rearming French army and part of the remaining Japanese troops in order to support them in retaking southern Vietnam (Birkland, 2010). The British troops left Vietnam on 26th March 1946 and left the power in the

History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 28

History - Essay Example In the eleven states in the US that constituted the American South, slavery was an established social and legal institution that was an integral part of the agricultural economy of these states. The American abolitionists favored the end of slavery, even under the risk of jeopardizing the harmony existing between the Northern and the Southern states. The Abolitionist Movement was favored by many luminaries like William Lloyd Garrison, John Greenleaf Whittier, Fredrick Douglass, and Charles Henry Langston. The Women’s Movement in the United States intended to seek a more egalitarian and just life for the female citizens of the republic. It was motivated by a number of ways in which the women were discriminated against in the United States. In the 1848 America, women were subject to several institutionalized biases. Not only the women were denied the right to vote, but they were also required to be subservient to the laws, while having no active role in the making of those laws. The Women’s Movement intended to correct this injustice. These two movements immensely influenced each other in the sense that many of the female luminaries who stood for woman’s rights were also former abolitionists (Sklar 4). Initially the few people who openly spoke against slavery, which may include Sarah Grimke and Angelina Grimke, also happened to be committed feminists (Sklar 27). To a great extent, it was the participation of the women abolitionists in the anti-slavery activities like public speaking, working for the cause of abolition, organizing rallies and events, getting the petitions signed, planning and managing fundraising events, and drafting and mailing letters to the congressman that gave them a real, firsthand insight into the dynamics and mechanics of political activism, which the later exploited in supporting the cause of women’s rights. Actually it was the sidelining of women abolitionists in the 1840

Envious longings Essay Example for Free

Envious longings Essay Desire of wealth in ‘The Necklace’ by Guy De Maupassant and ‘Neighbors’ by Raymond Carver Desire of wealth can be considered as the principal cause of the chaos in the world. Desire for wealth makes our society a real pandemonium. Desire for wealth triggers innumerable problems in the life of human beings. Absence of desire for wealth would have made this world a real paradise. Desire for wealth made human beings devalue relationships, health, morality and other crucial aspects of life. Endless desire for wealth torments the life of people and deprives them of their happiness. Still the quest for wealth never ends. Several literary works examine the disastrous consequences of desire for wealth. The Necklace by Guy De Maupassant and Neighbors by Raymond Carver are two short stories that have ‘desire for wealth’ as a major theme. The short story, The Necklace is a warning against the desire for wealth. In the short story we find Mme. Loisel, whose thirst for wealth and luxury destroyed her life. Mme. Loisel wanted to live a life of luxury and comfort like any other women. She was not ready to live with the simple income of her husband. She desired for expensive jewelry and costumes though her husband had a small income. She wanted to be a society woman who wears expensive dress and jewelry. Mme. Loisel was crazy to enjoy life to the fullest. This attitude is evident throughout the story. She loved to dress like the rich women of her society. She desired to attend parties like her contemporary society women. When she sat down for dinner at the round table covered with a three-days-old cloth, opposite her husband, who took the cover off the soup-tureen, exclaiming delightedly: Aha! Scotch broth! What could be better? (Guy De Maupassant, 2003). She imagined delicate meals, gleaming silver, tapestries peopling the walls with folk of a past age and strange birds in faery forests; she imagined delicate food served in marvellous dishes, murmured gallantries, listened to with an inscrutable smile as one trifled with the rosy flesh of trout or wings of asparagus chicken (Guy De Maupassant, 2003). Mme. Loisel loved delicious meals and similar entertainment. She did not desire a simple life inside the four walls of her house. She dreamt nothing but luxury. Mme. Loisel was not happy with her humble family situation. She was not comfortable with her house which had no modern amenities. She was highly bothered of social status. She was as unhappy as though she had married beneath her; for women have no caste or class, their beauty, grace, and charm serving them for birth or family, their natural delicacy, their instinctive elegance, their nimbleness of wit, are their only mark of rank, and put the slum girl on a level with the highest lady in the land (Guy De Maupassant, 2003). We read in the short story that Mme. Loisel lived in frustration because of her poorness. She could not help the worn chairs, mean wall, simple curtains and other humble things of her house. She compared herself to other women of her class. She too desired to live a life of his social status. This very thought tormented her. The situation of the little Breton girl evoked hopeless dream in her mind. She imagined silent antechambers, heavy with Oriental tapestries, lit by torches in lofty bronze sockets, with two tall footmen in knee-breeches sleeping in large arm-chairs, overcome by the heavy warmth of the stove (Guy De Maupassant, 2003). She did not contain with her humble belongings. She wanted to live the life of high social status. She imagined vast saloons hung with antique silks, exquisite pieces of furniture supporting priceless ornaments, and small, charming, perfumed rooms, created just for little parties of intimate friends, men who were famous and sought after, whose homage roused every other womans envious longings (Guy De Maupassant, 2003). Mme. Loisel desired a luxurious life. She wanted to dress up like rich women. She believed that she was made for expensive dress and jewels. She always desired to be charming, attractive and sought after. She was unhappy with her life as she had to live with the meager income of her husband. We find in the short story how the craze for wealth made her life topsy-turvy. We find that her vanity made her borrow the necklace which she lost. Her life turns out to be miserable because of this. Her endless thirst for wealth and luxuries made her lead a difficult life later. Neighbors by Raymond Carver also speak about the craze for wealth and its dangerous consequences. The short story includes a plot that includes the life of Bill and Arlene Miller, the couple who takes care of the Stone’s apartment. It is very much evident in the short story that there is a close relationship between the couples. Bill and Arlene understand that their lives are not exciting like the lives of their neighbors. As Stone’s leaves their house for their vacation, Bill goes to their house to feed the cat and water the plants. Gradually Bill becomes interested in the possessions of his neighbor. His desire for wealth and luxury makes him crazy for his neighbor’s possessions. We find him exploring his neighbor’s house and their belongings. He starts enjoying his time in the neighbor’s house. We find him taking leave from work to go to the neighbor’s house and spend time there. He feels that the house has some magical quality to make time fly off. It is also amazing to note that the sex drive of Bill and Arlene also increases when they spend time in their neighbor’s house. Their craze for the neighbor’s luxurious life made them spend more time there. Like Bill, Arlene also loves to visit neighbor’s life often. The couple does love searching along the things in the apartment. The story ends when then couples forget the key in their apartment and getting locked out of it. The story helps us understand how useless it is to compare our lives with others and desire for their wealth. Like Mme. Loisel in the short story ‘The Necklace’, the couples in the short story ‘Neighbors’ also became foolish enough to desire other’s wealth and possessions. The lust for luxury and wealth resulted in their downfall. Desire for wealth is a destructive character. Lusting for luxury and wealth destroys peace, breaks relationships, degrades character and makes life miserable. Contentment is the key to happiness. Desiring for more wealth and possessions causes immense problems. Like Mme. Loisel in the short story ‘The Necklace’, the couples in the short story ‘Neighbors’, those who run after wealth run into problems and miseries. Craving for luxuries and wealth is therefore the most destructive nature of human beings. Works Cited Guy De Maupassant (2003) The Necklace and Other Tales, Modern Library. Raymond Carver (1971) ‘Neighbors’.

Self Evaluation of Teaching Style in Nursing Education

Self Evaluation of Teaching Style in Nursing Education As a Lecturer in acute and critical care I am responsible for the education of adults with a formal registered, recordable qualification within a medical discipline, predominantly nursing and allied professions. I have a varied role, that of my own practice, education in practice and as a Lecturer within a University. I am a registered Nurse and Paramedic with experience of teaching and mentoring others. This critical self evaluation aims to demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of the theoretical educational frameworks and their application to my teaching, mentoring and how this may influence my colleagues and students. My intention is to show my appreciation of pertinent concepts and their application to my teaching style through a range of research into relevant topics. The term â€Å"Education† is derived from the Latin root ‘e out and ‘ducare to lead, so ‘educare has been translated for English interpretation â€Å"To Lead, to bring Forth from that which is within†. Epistemology, a branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods and limits of human knowledge has been considered by key thinkers for centuries. Pedagogy is the study of teaching. As an example, Paulo Freire , referred to his teaching of Adults as â€Å"critical pedagogy†. Andragogy, a term initially used by a German Educator in 1883 and developed into a theory by Knowles, is the process of engaging adult learners within a structure of learning. Knowles asserts Andragogy should be considered separately to Pedagogy. Knowles assertion lies in the belief that a Greek translation of pedagogy is â€Å"Child-leading† and Andragogy is â€Å"man leading†. Like all adult learners Nurses, Paramedics and Health Visitors differ widely from one another in their personal characteristics. These differences come from alterations in intelligence, motivation, personality types and our individual learning styles. Human physical development completes at adulthood therefore we could be forgiven for believing that this is the same for psychological development. The main theories underpinning adult learning are from the humanistic approaches of Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, Malcolm Knowles and his work on the experiential learning approach within Androgogy, and David Kolbs extension of Knowles work with the Learning Cycle. Pedagogy is the study of teaching. Paulo Freire referred to his teaching of Adults as â€Å"critical pedagogy†. Androgogy is an educational approach characterised by student centred, self directed learning. (Merriam, 2001). Carr (2002) identifies we [humans], are all different and in particular our values, personalities and character are resistant to explanation and understanding. We do not lend ourselves to easy explanation and understanding in terms of the chemical, physical or biological construction. Carr (ibid), considers attempts to categorise education and our learners. He cites the doctrine of Rene Descartes known as Cartesian Dualism, the idea that minds and souls are separate to that of our physical bodies. Curzon (2004) states the most influential taxonomy of learning objectives is that of Bloom, an American psychologist from the University of Chicago, â€Å"Blooms Taxonomy†. Taxonomy is a formal way to classify a subject based on a belief of relationship within. (Curzon, 2004) suggests caution with the semantics surrounding Taxonomy in education. The study of science for example refers to taxonomy as a strictly ordered classification of objects and phenomena. Bloom however classifies areas such as â€Å"Knowledge† and â€Å"synthesis†. These classifications are unlike that of specimens of human anatomy such as a muscle fibre or mitochondria; these may be seen, discussed and placed within a hierarchical order based on size. Placement of ‘analyses or ‘appraisal within a category used by Blooms Taxonomy will lend itself to a degree of subjectivity and appears to support Cartesian Dualism. The great classifiers, Li Shih-Chen (1518-93) and Linnaeus (1707-78) when creating taxonomy reacted subjectively whilst following an ordered fashion (Curzon, 2004). There have been three clear models of learning offered that have been of particular influence in education. Cognivist, Behaviourist, and Humanist. Cognitive, assimilation and accommodation of the world. Behaviourist, a scientific positivist approach to learning. Humanist, wishing to empowered the learner. Piagets theory of cognitive development discusses an intellectuals adaption to an environment while intellect develops. (Piaget and Inhelder, 1969). According to Piaget (ibid) for this adaption to occur there must be a form of organisation within the individual. Schemas (organisational or conceptual patterns of the mind) are ways the individual makes sense of an environment. Schemas are like small inner theories that develop during infancy and become more complex as development continues. When a child is involved in a new situation they will have already formed schemas. They will assimilate the new situation and if the original schema appears inadequate they will modify it in order to make sense of the new situation. For example an apple is green therefore all fruit is green until they are given a banana. Piaget explains this as â€Å"assimilation and accommodation†. Piaget theorises that assimilation and accommodation are in balance and a dynamic process allowing for an individuals learning to develop. Levinson (1986) has further developed a model of adult development. This identifies four major periods and attempts to place adulthood into specific times of change. Levinsons theory, although sound, has yet to be widely accepted. I have taught across Levinsons methodology and unknown to me at the time created schemas (Piaget) of my own in order to engage with the range of adult learners within my groups. An example of this is a day teaching a class of Qualified Nursing Students studying towards a higher degree, the youngest in her early twenties and the oldest in her fifties. I requested feedback on the various teaching styles employed and asked for an anonymous score for each element taught. The day consisted of a variety of Presentations, Quiz style papers, group work and student presentations. I will revisit these results later in this paper while exploring the different ways in which people learn but I am attempting to theorise if older students may be better acquainted with more didactic approaches to education because of internal schemas made in earlier styles of teaching encountered in contrast to the more diverse nature of current teaching processs encountered by younger students? The feedback shows that although the group enjoyed the learning process, the employed seemed to please some more than others. A further consideration of this feedback shows that the older members of the class preferred to sit and listen to a constructed more didactic approach liking the group work and personal research less than the younger students. Rogers seeks to explain different ways adults engage in Education and places them into three categories. (Rogers, A 2002) These categories are listed with examples of my own educational involvement. Formal I deliver formal education for Post Registration students working toward higher academic standard within a university setting. Extra-formal I have taught on Courses run by other learning providers. Students working in mostly unrelated areas but obtaining a certificate. Informal I have taught my hobby to others for their own personal growth. Contributions from Kolb (1984) and Knowles (1984) led to Kolbs Androgogy. Kolbs Androgogy allows for a style of education that includes the experiences of its learners. Students are actively encouraged to consider their experiences and reflect upon them in order to improve learning outcomes and understanding. Reflecting on these experiences will allow for modification of cognitive structures (schemas) and this will enable preparation for the next cycle of experiential learning. Motivation of the student. This is a personal reflective list of my motivation to study the theory of Education and how it relates to practice as an example to be considered as we moved through some of the theory of motivation. My work requires me to achieve a Qualification in Education I want to be an excellent teacher I would like my students to enjoy learning with me I need my students to be able to learn with my guidance. Adult motivation is considered an important factor in the learning process. Theories of motivation assume that adult learning is with purpose and leading toward a goal. To explain motivation we reflect the views of different schools of psychology. The behaviourist views motivation as environmental rather than coming from within an individual. This approach is determined by how well things went before. If attending a course was considered dull and uninteresting they will not return and therefore their course attendance behaviour has been reinforced. Maslow (Maslow, A 1971) published the ‘Theory of Human Motivation. Maslow identifies motivation in an individual as them trying to grow. He believes that at any particular time an individuals behaviour is dominated by the stronger of his/her needs. Maslow arranges these into a hierarchy of needs. Each class of need is stronger than the one above in the hierarchy. The higher up the hierarchy the weaker the need becomes. Progression up is dependent on the individuals needs being met at a particular level. Maslows hierarchy of needs ranges from the very basic needs of food and warmth to the self actualising, the fulfilment of ones potential. If I stop to consider my motivation expressed above against Maslow I can see that I am aiming for self actualising, wanting to be an excellent teacher. I am looking to fulfil my full potential. However at the same time I am fulfilling some more basic needs by requiring a qualification in order to feed my family and pay my mortgage. This seems to disagree with Maslow and his theory that one basic need must be fulfilled before moving on to the weaker higher need? (although, of course I am not without food or shelter, yet!) According to Quinn I am not alone with my critique of Maslows theory. There are many documented incidents of people becoming highly creative despite a lack of basic needs; for example, in concentration camps in World War Two. So this theory suggests that my students will most likely be able to reach their own potential if they are at the top of Maslows hierarchy. If this is true then student accommodation will truly have improved also! The opponent-process theory, (Solomon, 1980); focuses on the emotional state. When an emotional reaction is generated within an individual an opposing reaction is also generated. The opponent- process theory For example a student Paramedic is finding the nervous system difficult to understand but has a Eureka moment; this triggers emotion A and B. Emotion A) pleasure, a student is pleased she now grasps the concept of neuro- transmitters and believes she can understand pain control and maybe pass her course, this also generates an opposite emotional state, B) displeasure but in lesser amounts, she may forget. Emotion B) remains the same at all times but each time emotion A) is triggered it increases in size. I like this theory, in essence it comments that emotions are an act of balance, homeostatic if you will and we can choose to increase the positive aspect of learning experiences creating happy students. Continuity with positive reactions within our students will continue to add to emotion A) allowing it growth and the student to retain a positive outlook with her education and the way it is delivered. This theory also explains why although a student is doing well with their studies they may also feel negative emotions. It has been criticised for being over general but I believe it is useful to understand that both positive and negative emotions are within our students continually but can be offset. I therefore must be mindful that I can also reverse the process leading to unhappy students. Psychologists have attempted to categorise motivation. They are presented under four headings. (Biggs, 1991) Instrumental motivation This type is described by Biggs as extrinsic, students are performing purely to receive a reward, such as a qualification or to avoid a reprimand such as loss of promotion. In order to educate an individual with this type of motivation Biggs suggests that teaching should be seen as constructive. This type of motivation is in complete contrast to intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation These students want to learn for the pleasure of learning. I would link this to Maslows hierarchy and believe a student with purely intrinsic motivation must be, according to Maslow, looking to fulfil their personal potential, (self actualising). Social motivation A drive to please others and receive approval or praise lies behind this form of motivation. The student is generally unconcerned by the qualification but requires the reinforcement activity of the person they consider to be important. This is often someone they respect or admire. Achievement motivation. These students want to achieve success. Achievement motivation is further sub divided by (Ausubel, 1963) Cognitive drive- satisfaction of a believed need to know. Self enhancement- satisfying a need for self esteem Affiliation- seeking approval from others. How we Learn Kaminsky, James S, A New History of Educational Philosophy, Westport, CN: Greenwood Press. Carr, David 2002, Making Sense of Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy and Theory of Education and Teaching, Taylor Francis, Available from: http://lib.myilibrary.com/Browse/open.asp?ID=11208loc=iii8 December 20 Curzon, L.B 2004, Teaching in Further education: An Outline of Principles and Practice, 6th Edition. Continuum London. New York Merriam, S.B. (2001) Androgogy and self directed learning: Pillars of adult learning theory. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, Vol98. Kaufman DM, Mann KV, Jennett PA. 2000. Teaching and learning in medical education: How theory can inform practice. Edinburgh UK: Association for Studies in Medical Education, Rogers, A 1996, Teaching Adults, 3rd Edition, Open University Press Levinson, D.J (1978) Seasons of a Mans Life. New York: Knopf. Solomon, R.L. and Corbit, J.D (1974) An opponent process theory of acquired motivation, American Psychologist, 35, 119-41 Solomon, R.L. (1980) The opponent process theory of acquired motivation: the costs of pleasure and the benefits of pain, American Psychologist, 35, 691-712 Maslow, A. (1971), The farther reaches of Human Nature, penguin,Harmondesworth. Biggs, J.B. (1991), Teaching for Learning, Hawthorn, Victoria, Acer Ausubel (1963), The Psychology of Meaningful Verbal Learning. New York: Grune and Stratton Light, G and Cox,R (2001), Learning and Teaching in Higher Education-The Reflective Professional, London, Sage Publications

Petty Officer Of The Navy Commerce Essay

Petty Officer Of The Navy Commerce Essay Responsibility, authority, and accountability always go hand in hand. Its known that the more authority one has then the need of being more responsible and accountable. Figures in authority have to bear a lot of responsibility and with the weighty decisions they make they have to be we see the need of all that. Petty officers also commonly know as the PO is a leader with authority in the navy. They are involved in the decision making process and the delegation of duties to the naval crew. They come up with the strategies and they are responsible for all the actions being executed. Being a leader you always have to lead by example and be willing to teach and take the necessary corrections when the need arises. The PO has a lot to do concerning corrections. They are charge with the responsibility of warning and reprimanding the personnel. They also put the personnel on the report if there are any mistakes they have done in line of duty. Tasks given to them might not be easy to undertake but they come as part of the responsibility they have. There is the utilization of the principle of delegation of authority in the workforce. This authority is the responsibility of the officers since they are the ones who are responsible for the actions of their juniors. Everyone who has been assigned a particular task has the obligation of accomplishing it, hence there is completion of the tasks. In the navy cases of bad behavior are always there. One can say that you cannot expect every one to behave exceptionally well given that they were all brought up differently and in different environments. Many things can bring up the negative side of an individual. Depending on the conditions and the environment a person is in, the character of the given person is expected to show up though the same person may try as much as possible to hide it. In the navy for example, the sailors always go on expeditions which can last for several months without one having to step on land. Many sailors will experience sea sickness while others may develop psychological problems. The most important thing when this happens is if the affected officer will cope with what is affecting there them. Carrying naval officers on board who are not in their correct state of mind can prove costly especially in circumstances such as during war. Every marine on board should be able to think exceptionally well and perform a given task as needed. Whenever the sailors achieve anything good they all take credit for it and do the same when everything does wrong they dont point fingers at any of them because they are a team. Whom do we blame when things go wrong? Some can say its the people who were assigned the task, others can argue that its the leaders or simply those put oversee the complete of the task. Both sides could be right but they could also be wrong. Different circumstances result in different measures being taken to correct them. When instructions are given it is upon the person giving them out to ensure that they are all followed and also the person given to follow them as needed (Stavridis Girrier, 2004). Importance of good behavior Military schools and academies are said to give the best training towards a persons character. They mould them into dependable people whom their countries have much expectation on. When they leave the academies, one can easily tell whop has changed or not. Others might not be able to change at all. While on the navy there are those who tend to break the rules. The petty officer is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the regulations set are followed. Whenever something goes wrong he will be answerable many things the crew has done. We find that the behavior of any given officer a matters a lot. Some incidents can bring diplomatic rows, others may be detrimental to the force but for a force to stand its ground there should be mechanisms which are in place to correct any irregularity when it arises. Thought its not at a high level of command the position held by the petty officer plays an important role by correcting mistakes made. OP is tasked with ensuring the safety of his crew. Excising ones authority over grownups can be challenging having in mind that the person you are in-charge is the same age as you or could be even older. One has to be responsible and accountable. The example you set may make someone to respect or despise you as a leader. Disciple is an important aspect of any military unit. There is no exception when it comes to the navy as well. For order to be their, there has to be discipline within then people concerned. People have to behave. Many sailors exhibit high sense of discipline. They do as they are ordered to do by those above them in the chains of command. You find that orders given are done as needed with few doing the opposite of that. Some orders may come from the highest order of command. When such an order is given and it has to be done by the most junior person in the command line its the sole responsibility of those who have been delegated the order to ensure that the task is c ompleted and if not it would be against the military discipline that you always have to followed orders from your superiors and ensure that they are done. When a junior officer misbehaves and a petty officer is around the PO has to punish the misbehaving officer or he will be reprimanded. All the petty officers are charged with the responsibility of chain of command. There must be indication to all of them that one is punishable incases of any instances of inappropriate behavior in the chain of command. When they do the punishment they are assuming their moral of authority and undertaking his responsibility. Punishment is another way of instilling discipline. Depending on the seriousness of the rules broken the type of punishment also varies. If there is a fight and a petty officer is present it is his responsibility to punish the responsible offenders. The authority given to the petty officer has to be used where needed. Accountability is a quality that a petty officer must also have. When you punish a person for a mistake he/she has done you should be able to give an account of what the person had done to warrant such a punishment. Some punishments can be too harsh and when the person being punished complains you have to take the explain reasons why you think the punishment is the right one and that you are not biased against the person. Being a petty officer, it could be a hard thing making decisions which are right or even making any given decision. Being a human being can sometimes make life hard for us. This happens when making decisions which can change a persons life forever. An example is writing a report which could lead to someone being sacked. No one would like to see a person suffer after losing a job. Being in such a situation is tough even for a PO but one has to choose between doing your job and giving the person another chance. On being given the rank of the petty officer it came with a responsibility that requires one to do the job as is expected. The person who committed the offence is guilty as charged because he had the option of not committing the offence in the first place. The person did not behave as expected prompting action to be taken against him. A mistake by one officer of a naval unit may bring an internal conflict within the unit and when there is a conflict; coordination between the officers cannot be at its best. This can raise a security situation depending on what activity the navy was involved in though there has to be unity every time and also the reason we find the need of positions like that of the petty officer. Effects of disrespect to authority Respect is a virtue that has to be earned. It is not something that one can demand for. To get respect one has to earn it. One can earn respect just as easily as one can lose it. Its one of the military core values. Officers in military have to respect each other so that discipline can prevail. Senior officers in the military are to ensure that junior soldiers respect one another. Like in the navy the petty officers are among those who are tasked with ensuring that junior officers respect each other. They as leaders try to do their best at enforcing respect and discipline within the officers. Disrespect on the other hand can be termed as that the show of indifference towards figures in authority. Within the navy there are cultures and courtesies to be observed. When a naval officer does not observe these courtesies it can be termed as disrespect. It is hard sometimes to tell when someone shows disrespect to a person unless someone speaks up while in some cases signs of disrespect can be easily noted. For example not making the customary salute to a superior officer when you are supposed to do so is a sign of disrespect. Being rude to your superiors is also termed as disrespect. Another example of disrespect is using uncouth language in the presence of your superior or when referring to the officer while using the same language. The superior officer does not have to be there for it to be considered disrespect. The military runs smoothly on trust but trust cannot exist if there is no respect. It always takes a lot to earn a soldiers trust then respect. Why would an officers respect a superior officer they cannot trust? As a leader a petty officer need to have the ability to guide direct and influence the people who are his juniors. This is leading by example. There have been many cases of disrespect within the military. When such a thing happens those involved usually have a case to answer to the superiors. It is said if you cant respect anyone in authority then at-least respect the position the person is holding. Any disrespect towards the authority is usually punishable in many countries. Military units are not left out of this. When a soldier in a military unit is punished, the person doing the punishment should have in mind that the officer must not be demoralized but instead take the punishment positively and not to repeat the same mistake. Perception of respect varies for different people. Something might be perceived as disrespect by one party but another party can perceive it differently. The perception usually has an effect on the kind of punishment given. Some punishments can be termed as harsh while others lenient. People have been imprisoned for disrespecting those in authority. Many of these cases are undertaken by dictatorial regimes. In countries with open democracy imprisoning a person because of disrespect are not common. Signs of disrespect cannot be taken kindly in military institutions. People are sometimes suspended pending investigation. When the investigation is complete some loose their jobs, some are transferred to different stations while others continue in their suspension. When a very junior officer in a military unit disrespects another one with very senior position, blame may be directed towards the immediate superiors of the officer and it assumed that they allowed such a behavior to develop by not taking any action to correct that same mistake that the officer showed. Rarely do we find junior officer disrespecting their seniors but few cases occur. As part of the responsibility of a petty officer, it is part of their work to instill discipline on the junior officers. They should also be accountable when a junior officer shows disrespect to those superior to him and even those on the same rank (Montor, 1998). Before any punishment is given to any officer it has to be approved by a court- martial and the maximum punishment would be being discharged because of inappropriate behavior, going without pay and allowances and detention for a year. Unauthorized absence of a sailor from his post There are many forms of absenteeism. The sailor might not go to the place of duty at all or that he goes to his post then leaves it to go somewhere else without any authority or reason given for absenting oneself. The unauthorized absence means that the sailor knew he had to be at the specified place at that time or, he had been ordered to be there but failed to be there. The punishment for not being at the intended place at a given time will be determined by a court martial. Before any punishment is given out it has to be proven that the accused knew that he was supposed to be there and had absented himself from certain exercises he knew of. They always depend on circumstantial evidence for this. Unauthorized absence can be through motivated forms of the same like a situation where one leaves his post with the intention of leaving it untended. One may not really have the intention of unauthorized absence while being held by civilian authorities for a crime he committed or might not have committed. One is punished is if he is found guilty of that crime. The duration being held does not matter that much. Whether one was on leave or not and is being held by civilian authorities it does not give a person an excuse of being absent neither can it be said that it was intentional. Conviction does not also give the person an excuse not return to his post as what happened is was a result of his own intentions. The only situation where one is found to be innocent is if he is released by the authorities with no trial being done or if the person was on leave when he was arrested but was later proven innocent after hearing the case. Sometimes sickness, lack of transport facilities make one absent from his post and is part of unauthorized absence but when reviewing the offence committed by the person it should be given careful considerations before judgment is passed (Mack, Seymour McComas, 1998). After unauthorized absence there are ways where the unauthorized absence can be written off. When one is been arrested by civilian authorities before the navy gives any request, informing the navy of the arrest makes the absentee available for return to navy control. While under military control the absence is terminated. Surrendering oneself to military authority and notifying them of your unauthorized absence shows that you are wiling to submit yourself to there control. This also brings to an end illegal absence. Other ways which the unauthorized absence can be terminated are when the absentee is personally arrested by the navy and arrest of the absentee at the request of the navy. In some cases one can be found to be absent more than once under a single specification. Unauthorized absence by the naval officer from his post is punishable but the punishment usually depends mostly on how long the sailor had been absent. For the naval officer or sailor if he fails to go to his post for a time not more than three days he will have to go without two-thirds of his monthly income for a period of one month and will also be confined for the same duration of time. If the sailor absents himself for a period of less than thirty days but more than three days he will just be earning a third of his usual monthly in come and will be confined for half a year. For an absence of more than thirty days the sailor will not get his pay but also go into detention for one year. He will also have a dishonorable discharge. If the sailor is arrested after being absent for more than a month the sentence would be the same but he will be detained for six more months. For other forms of absence like absence from his post as a guard and absence as a guard but with the will of bein g absent, he would get the following sentences respectively: being detained for a quarter of a year while he earns a third of his salary. The other sentence would be going without pay, will be detained for half a year and be discharged from the force for bad-conduct. We can now determine that the absence of the sailor from his post would be punishable unless it is proven that it did not happen out of his own will. In conclusion every one in the force has to be responsible and accountable in whatever they do as any action undertaken has an effect which can either be positive or negative.

The Saga of Kirke :: Classics

The Saga of Kirke. In various situations in the Kirke episode the themes of false paradise and loyalty are present. The Island of Kirke gives itself a false appearance of divinity. The goddess Kirke gives off a false appearance of enchantment and courtesy. Odysseus and his men convey the theme of loyalty throughout the episode of Kirke to each other. Odysseus shows loyalty not just to his men, but to his wife and his homeland as well. From the ship's arrival on the shore the island gives itself a false appearance of divinity. Odysseus narrates that an unseen god has lured them into the cove: "We came/ washed in our silent ship upon her shore/ and found a cove, a haven for a ship-/ some god, invisible, conned us in" (154-157). False appearance of divinity comes out on third day on the island of Kirke. On Odysseus's way back to the seashore from the observation rock he comes across a big buck, which he kills to feed his men. Odysseus perceives the buck as a gift from the gods: ", some god's compassion/ Set a big buck in motion to cross my path-/ So hands were washed to take what heaven sent us" (173-200). Kirke herself gives off a false appearance to the men. When the first group of Odysseus's men come to the house, they were enticed by the goddess's song: "In the entrance way they stayed to listen there:" (240-241). She shows the men that she is courteous by inviting the men in and giving them food and drink. The goddess works her magic on the men by giving them temptations to deal with. She gives them food to eat, and wine that she has laced with some sort of potion that causes the men to lose desire to go home. Kirke then turns the men into pigs. She uses false appearance as a courteous enchanting god the lure the men in. "/ to call them in./ While she prepared a meal of cheese and baley/ and amber honey mixed with Pramnian wine./ adding her own vile pinch,/ / all/ swinish now" (253-265). The men are not the only ones that have to deal with the deception of Kirke. She tries to deceive Odysseus with the same food and drink that she offered his men, but with the knowledge attained from Hermes he was able to out wit the goddess. When her first attempt fails she then tries flattery to dupe Odysseus into the bedroom to lie with her: " 'What a champion, of what country, can you be?/ We two shall mingle and make love upon our bed.

Essay --

During Thomas Jefferson’s presidency, he completed a series of transactions that made America what it is today. The most famous of these transactions was the Louisiana Purchase. He bought a lengthy stretch of land spanning from the obvious (Louisiana) to Montana. This land was bought for approx. 15 million. This translates to about 234 million dollars in today’s money (about 42 cents per acre).1 In order to explore this newfound territory, Thomas Jefferson sent two pals off into the wilderness, along with 31 other men. These two men were Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Meriwether Lewis was born in 1774 at his family’s estate in Virginia. When Lewis was five, his father died of pneumonia and his mother shortly remarried with a retired army officer. When Meriwether was 13, he returned to Virginia and began his schooling. In 1794, Lewis signed up for the army, where he was sent to quench the Whisky Rebellion along with 13000 other Virginians. One of these men was William Clark. The following year, Lewis joined the army of General ‘Mad’ Anthony Wayne. He was quickly transferred to the Chosen Rifle Company, which was led than none other than William Clark. The two quickly became friends but not long after being transferred, General Clark had to resign do to health problems. The following February, he was invited by his friend and president, Thomas Jefferson to serve as his personal secretary. The President proposed his plan to explore the United State’s new territory, and Lewis quickly volunteered to go. In 1803, congress app roved and Meriwether began to get ready. He sent a letter to his old friend, William Clark, asking him if he wanted to go with him. He agreed and the two left with 31 other men in the spring of 1804. Willi... ...e, unlike his best friend Meriwether. Sacagawea settled down with her French husband and six years after returning from their journey, gave birth to a daughter. No one knows if this daughter lived. In 1812, William Clark legally adopted both of Sacagawea’s Children. In the 20th century, a theory developed that Sacagawea instead lived to the age of 100 and was buried on the Wind River Indian Reservation. After close speculation, this theory was sent to rest by most historians, but you can believe what you like. William Clark, Meriwether Lewis, and Sacagawea remained friends long after their journey, and it is somewhat obvious due to the many respectful comments and other notes that involved the opinions and their friends that these people influenced each other greatly. These 35 people that returned to Virginia can be considered some of America’s greatest explorers.

Anthro Assignment

Anthropology 100Dr. Judkins Fall 2012 Writing Assignment by Christina O’Shea In the early twentieth century, Arnold van Gennep, a French ethnographer, wrote â€Å"The Rites of Passage† in which he describes the process of changing social states of being. This one theory has certainly made a deep impact on anthropological thought due to the fact that it can be applied to a number of situations, both past and present, in which transitions are made. It can also be used as an educational tool for people to use so that they can have a better understanding of the practices of many different cultures.In fact, many examples of the theory of Gennep can be found in ethnographic autobiographies, such as â€Å"Sun Chief: The Autobiography of a Hopi† by Don C. Talayesva. â€Å"Sun Chief: The Autobiography of a Hopi† is the story of Don C. Talayesva, a man raised as a Hopi Indian and then trained as a white man. Written from his point of view, the autobiography allows t he reader to have a better understanding of Hopi culture as Don shares the story of his life. At one point in the work, Don mentions a particular moment in his life when he decided to join his father on a salt expedition to Little Grand Canyon.I can honestly say that when I first read of the salt expedition of Don, I did not really think much of it. I believed that the reason that this event was even mentioned was to describe to the reader the method that the Hopi Indians used to acquire salt. However, after learning the rights of passage theory of Arnold van Gennep, I began to realize that this journey became more to do with initiation rather than nutrition. In â€Å"The Rites of Passage†, Van Gennep explains that a rite of passage has three phases that are handled through ritual and a symbolic code by which we understand meaning.The first phase is called the â€Å"separation† phase in which you remove yourself from a former social status. In â€Å"Sun Chief†, one example of how Don used this phase while on the expedition was before the journey even began. Don states that on the morning of the expedition, â€Å"the War Chief sprinkled a corn-meal path, placed a feather upon it with the breath line pointing westward†¦each of us stepped on the â€Å"road-marker,† and the expedition was under way†. Throughout the journey, Don describes the ultiple customs of must perform while on the salt expedition in which he and his traveling companions pay respect to the ancestors and the gods which allowing Don to grow more spiritually, thereby preparing him for his transition. Following in the tradition of his ancestors, Don carves his clan emblem on a rock in order to pay respect to Hopi salt gatherers from years passed. At the shrine of the Salt Woman, Don also has intercourse with the shrine as a prayer for health and an increase in offspring. Since it was his first expedition, Don had to strip completely naked beforehand.While re ading of the various tasks that Don had to complete on his journey, I realized that the amount of commitment that Don had to these preparations reminded me of how I felt as I was preparing to receive the sacrament of Confirmation. By deciding to be a candidate for Confirmation, I, like Don, chose to follow in the footsteps of my parents and grow more spiritually. In order to be â€Å"confirmed†, I had to complete various activities to prove that I should become an adult member of the Catholic Church.The second phase of passage is called the â€Å"liminality† or â€Å"transition† phase is essentially the middle point where the actual transformation takes place. When Don arrives at the kiva â€Å"and the hole through which mankind emerged†, since this was his first salt expedition, he is given the task by the War Chief to reach down into an empty cavity, where the kiva was connected, while holding a prayer feather sprinkled with corn meal in his hand. In ex change for the feather, the spirits, traditionally, will give to Don the coveted yellow clay that, Don states, â€Å"is always used for paho making†.Without fear Don reached down, while being held securely by his father and the War Chief, into the hole and, while letting go of each feather, drew handfuls of clay. During this, Don states â€Å"I could feel the presence of spirits below, who accepted the feather and gave me clay†. After depositing the feathers and praying, Don and his companions proceeded to a small fountain, high atop which was a cupped top overflowing with salt that they proceeded to gather for themselves and for the Salt Woman. While reading of the spiritual connection that Don experienced, I remembered that which I received during my Confirmation ceremony.I had spent months preparing for this moment and now, at long last, there I was, wearing my red robe sitting in the pew in front of the church, waiting for my name to be called. Finally, when I was called by the bishop to come to him in front of the alter, I, like Don, showed no fear as I rose out of the pew and walked down the aisle of the church with my back to the congregation. After being called by the name of the saint that I chose to honor, I received a blessing from the bishop and was proclaimed a confirmed member of the Catholic Church.The third and final phase of passage is called the â€Å"re-aggregation† phase in which one re-enters society with their new status. In â€Å"Sun Chief†, when all of the needed salt is gathered, it is determined that the expedition is now over and Don and the others begin the journey home. As they pass the various shrines Don notices that his offerings had been viewed favorably by the spirits. Eventually, after distributing a large amount of salt to the Salt Woman, they reached Moenkopi and, after turning the â€Å"road-marker†, which they used in the beginning of their journey, eastward, they soon made their way bac k home to Oriabi.Don is asked by his father what he thought of the salt expedition. Don replies that it was â€Å"pretty tough† and he believes that the salt that they have gathered will not last them a year. His father replies that this is the way that most young men think now. After finishing Don’s account of the salt expedition, I could not help but sympathize with Don. After all of the steps that Don had to preform, Don probably thought that he would receive a larger amount of salt than he actually got.As I was preparing to receive Confirmation, there were times where I would be sacrificing time, which, at the time, I felt was more important and so, I began to wonder if all of these preparations were even worth going through. However, I soon realized that spiritual growth is not something that is just given to you; it is something that is earned. Therefore, the journey to that growth needed to be tough for it showed how much you wanted it. Throughout the process, I kept reminding myself that it would all be worth it and, in the end, it was.After being confirmed into the Catholic Church, I instantly felt the feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. I was now officially an adult member of the Catholic Church. I also felt that through this sacrament, I had grown more spiritually and that my relationship with God had grown stronger. In Don’s case, without question, he showed no fear as he performed each of the tasks and, though he did not think so at the time, all of the preparation was truly worth it. While on the expedition, Don paid tribute to both the spirits and the ancestors allowing him to grow more spiritually.Since Don participated in the expedition, his elders no longer consider Don a novice for he has now gained experience necessary to assist him in the future. By going on this salt journey, Don has shown his respect for his culture and how he honors the traditions and customs of his heritage. By using van Gennep’s rit es of passage theory, the overall structure and true meaning of Don’s salt expedition has certainly become clearer. Using this information, I have also found that van Gennep’s theory cannot only be applied to the salt expedition, but to other life events of Don as well.Other instances in â€Å"Sun Chief† where van Gennep’s rites of passage theory can be applied are when Don was born, when he became married to Irene and when he was initiated into the Wowochim society. By showing me how Don’s journey of spiritual growth resembled my own, I can now say that van Gennep’s, surprisingly universal, theory has allowed me to have a better understanding of Don’s culture. Works Cited 1. Talayesva, D. (1942). Sun chief: The autobiography of a hopi. (p. 232-246). London, England: Yale University Press.