Informative Speech on Dreams free essay sample

INTRODUCTION II. (Reveal Topic) A dream is amazing and the way one interprets it depends on who is having the dream. III. (Credibility Statement)I have done a lot of research on the topic of Dream Interpretation and find that it varies from person to person. Some believe that a dream stems from a collaboration of your everyday experiences and past memories. Whereas others believe it is the brains way of getting excess memory out of the brain and that this is crucial for proper brain function. IV. (Relevancy Statement) Dream interpretation is important for everyone because being able to analyze the information in your own dreams can allow you to solve problems in reality. V. (Preview) Today I am going to talk about Dream interpretation. It is important because it allows us to see what a dream is, to find significance in our dreams, and to face our subconscious problems. We will write a custom essay sample on Informative Speech on Dreams or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page BODY I. I’m sure most, if not all of you have experienced what it is like to dream. But what exactly is a dream? To define a dream, we first must define sleep. Sleep is the most important aspect of dreaming, without sleep you cannot dream. 1. There are two specific parts of sleeping. In an an Article called Dreaming by Today’s Dreaming they talk about the two types of sleep. There is Synchronized or Non-Rapid Eye Movement sleep where there are little to no reports of dreaming. The second type of sleep is Desynchronized, dreaming or rapid eye movement sleep. This type of sleep causes your eyes to move rapidly, your autonomic nervous system to be activated, and for you to dream. The average person has five cycles of rapid eye movement sleep and dreams are had in intervals of about 90 minutes. What is interesting, is that a dream period usually lasts from 5 to 20 minutes (Dreaming). 2. In an article called Biology of Sleep by Marvin Rosen, he shows a study by Nathaniel Kleitman and Eugene Aserinksky at Stanford University in 1953 that proves that subjects are sleeping while in Rapid Eye movement sleep. They saw that after about an hour of sleep, the subjects eyes would move rapidly back and forth, and the subjects would awaken and tell them they were dreaming. Hence this stage of sleep being called rapid eye movement sleep. (Biology of Sleep) B. Coming from a Biology major I always find it interesting to learn what happens when we are awake and what parts of our brains are active, but it is even more interesting to see what is active when we are asleep and dreaming. 1. In Rosen’s article Biology of sleep he recognizes the parts of the brain that are used during Rapid eye movement sleep. He states, â€Å".. what we see when we dream are modifications of what we see when we are awake. Which suggests that the parts of your brain that are active when you’re awake, are also active when you are dreaming. It has been shown in tests that the visual cortex, the part of the brain responsible for vision, is firing during sleep. Presumably, this is why we have visual imagery in dreams. The only thing that seems to be different is that without being awake there is no perception of time which is why some dreams can seem to last hours, when in reality they are only lasting a few seconds. † (Biology of Sleep). a. In Rosen’s article he shows that not only is the auditory cortex used but the limbic system is also used. The limbic system lies at the innermost edge of the cerebral hemispheres. Part of the limbic system is the hippocampus, which is the key for storing memories. Without the hippocampus short term memories would be lost as if someone forgot to press save on a computer file. b. During Rapid eye movement sleep, certain cells in the brain stem produce a brain wave pattern called Theta Rhythm, which is is necessary for memory processing in the hippocampus. If the body is moving then Theta waves cannot be produced so the body is actually paralyzed when we sleep except for our eyes which do not interfere with Theta waves. When these waves are being produced during Raped Eye Movement sleep, memories are being reprocessed, which is why memories are the content of our dream. 2. The limbic system also includes the amygdala(Amig- Dalah) which is the part of the brain responsible for emotions. In an Article called Scientists Discover Why Dreams Are So Weird they state â€Å"During REM sleep, the mens brains showed the most activity in the limbic system, a primitive part of the brain that governs emotion. Meanwhile, little activity was seen in the frontal lobes. The frontal lobes help sort out and give meaning to information from the senses. According to the researchers, this unequal activity might explain why dreams can be so intense, yet so illogical. It may also explain why dreams do not seem strange to the dreamer while they are happening† (Scientists Discover Why Dreams Are So Weird). (Without your REM cycle, your limbic system including your hippocampus and amygdala and your visual and auditory cortex’s you wouldn’t be able to have a solid dream. ) TRANSITION: Now that we saw what functions in the brain during a dream we can better understand the significance behind why we dream. II. We must dream for some important reason, well what is that reason? A. There are many theories as to why we dream, however some theories more prevalent than others. 1. Sigmund Freud is a famous psychologist with many different theories about the brain, some of those theories pertain to dreaming. Freud’s theory is a good example behind why we dream and how it is important to our lives. He studied his own dream and his patients dreams and was convinced that dreams â€Å"were a valid method for uncovering repressed thoughts and feelings, disguising the latent content† (Rosen, Marvin). a. There are two things about dream content that was important to Freud. The dream events which he called â€Å"manifest content† and the true meaning of the symbol is â€Å"latent content. † Freud believed that the latent content would camouflage itself using symbols, metaphors, condensation of images, words that combine two or more meanings, and displacement of one image by another. (Rosen, Marvin) b. When Freud would analyze his dreams he found that many symbols were the same in different patients. For example, Kings and Queens stood for the subjects parents. However, he did not want people to think that these symbols always meant the same thing for everyone. Symbols always vary, depending on who is having the dream. (Rosen, Marvin). 2. Other psychologists believe that we dream to un-clutter the brain. They believe that during Rapid eye movement sleep it increases protein synthesis in the central nervous system for the development of memory and learning. ( Pollak, Charles P. , Michael J. Thorpy, and Jan Yager) Like I said before Theta waves are produced while in Rapid Eye movement sleep which is necessary for memories to be stored in the hippocampus. Dreaming occurs at the same time that Theta waves are being produced. In essence, we can assume that dreaming helps to store memories and to learn because they are happening at the same time. B. What do we need to dream? 1. We observed that dreaming could either be to release subconscious thoughts or to un-clutter the brain to help us remember things. But what if someone is blind? The same theories can still be applied, although someone is blind they will dream but they do not have images in their dreams like someone who can see. Instead they have auditory dreams, which is still included in helping to remember things. People who are were blind from a young age are said to still have images in their dreams. Their dreams are helping them remember what they used to be able to see. a. Scientists also did studies on sleeping patients where they would speak to them to see if what they said showed up in their dreams. They would splash water on them, and the would flash bright lights over their eyes. Less than 50% of all their tests showed up in their test subjects dreams. However, they realized that whatever the test subject sees, hears, and feels right before they are asleep they are more likely to dream about that. 2. Then there is emotion which is involved in our dreams. The emotion exhibited in our dreams depends on the gender, and personality of the subject. However, on average men are more likely to have more aggressive dreams that take part outside, while women have dream that are more passive and take part inside. (There is not a hard fact as to why dreams are significant, however they are highly educated guesses. Freud believes that most of the things in our dreams are symbols that metaphorically represent something in our real lives, while other scientists believe dreaming is getting rid of information in order to store new memories. ) TRANSITION: If Freud is correct in that what we see in our dreams has meaning to our lives, then we would be able to face our subconscious problems just by analyzing our dreams. III. How could we face our subconscious problems from reliving a dream? A. Both of these examples are from Rosen’s article â€Å"Theories of dreams and Application in Psychotherapy. † Studies done on patients and their dreams shows us how we can find meaning in our dreams and then fix the problem that it relates too in reality. 1. Freud did a study on a girl named Dora, she was 17 years old and she lived in Vienna. Doras family was wealthy. Her father, who owned a factory, had recently recovered from a serious illness. During this time, the family became friendly with another couple, Mr. and Mrs. K. Mrs. K had nursed Doras father during his illness, and he was very grateful to her. Mrs. K was very kind to Dora and sometimes gave her expensive gifts. Sometimes Dora stayed at their home. Dora related a dream to Freud. She had experienced the same dream four times: â€Å"A house was on fire. My father was standing beside my bed and woke me up. I dressed myself quickly. Mother wanted to stop and save her jewel case, but father said: I will not let myself and my two children be burnt for the sake of your jewel case. We hurried downstairs and as soon as I was outside, I woke up. † When questioned about the dream, Dora reported, Father was having a dispute with mother in the last few days, because she locks the dining room at night. My brothers room, you see, has no separate entrance, but can only be reached through the dining room. Father does not want my brother to be locked in like that at night. He says it will not do; something might happen in the night so that it might be necessary to leave the room. † Dora associated the figure of her father in the dream with an earlier incident, when she had been staying with Mr. and Mrs. K. She awakened one night to find Mr. K standing over her bed. The next night, she found a key and locked her room, but soon after, the key was missing. She believed that Mr. K had taken it and feared that Mr. K would again come into her room. She dressed herself quickly each morning. After several days, she demanded that her father take her home. Dora also recalled an earlier incident at age 14 when Mr. K had kissed her, leaving Dora with a feeling of disgust. Freud saw a connection between Doras statements that she woke up once she got out of the house in her dream. This was an expression of her thought that she would get no sleep until she is out of the house. Another important element in the dream was the jewel case. Dora related an incident in which her father had given her mother an expensive bracelet. Her mother had wanted something different and in anger told her husband to give it to someone else. Dora, who overheard the argument, and craved her fathers attention, would have accepted the bracelet with pleasure. Freud explained the dream to Dora in this way: . . . The meaning of the dream is now becoming clearer. You said to yourself, This man (Mr. K) is persecuting me; he wants to force his way into my room. . . . if anything happens, it will be Fathers fault. . . . For that reason, in the dream, you chose a situation that expresses the opposite—a danger from which your father is saving you. Freud believed that dreams express infantile wishes. In this case, Dora had strong feelings for her father and wanted to give him the love her mother withheld. The wish for her father was even more threatening to Dora than her fear of Mr. K and had to be kept unconscious. Dora was able to confront both Mr. and Mrs. K. Mr. K admitted his misconduct. Mrs. K admitted to having an affair with Doras father. Dora was vindicated. Her family severed relations with the Ks. Doras symptoms disappeared. She was later able to give up her infantile wishes for her father and to marry. (Rosen, Marvin) (I will be summarizing this, I am not going to state this word for word but this is an important example to why Freud’s theory might be correct. † 2. Although Dora’s case is severe this could be the case with many of you, I created a dream in the beginning of the speech referring to a fire that was burning down your room. You could ask yourself how to analyze this situation for yourself? If this was my dream, I could assume that what ever is in my room are stressors in my life and that I would like for them to all go away but I started crying because I know they are simultaneously important to me. But remember that each analyzation varies on who is having the dream is. B. Fritz Perls created the Gestalt theory which in a way is similar to Freud’s theory. He also saw meaning behind what we see in dreams but he believed that we could find the meaning by ourselves. 1. His theory suggests that his patients should act out their dream and they do not need anyone to tell them what it means. He believed if they acted it out for themselves they would better understand the roles of the symbols in their dreams. For example: A woman receiving gestalt therapy reported the following dream in the present tense: I have three monkeys in a cage—one big monkey and two little ones. I feel very attached to these monkeys, although they are creating a lot of chaos in a cage that is divided into three separate spaces. They are fighting with one another. The big monkey is fighting with the little monkey. They are getting out of the cage, and they are clinging onto me. I feel like pushing them away from me. I feel totally overwhelmed by the chaos that they are creating around me. I turn to my mother and tell her that I need help, that I can no longer handle these monkeys because they are driving me crazy. I feel very sad and very tired, and I feel discouraged. I am walking away from the cage thinking that I really love these monkeys, yet I will have to get rid of them. I am telling myself that I am like everyone else. I get pets, and then when things get rough I want to get rid of them. I am trying very hard to find a solution to keeping these monkeys and not allowing them to have such a terrific effect on me. Before I wake up from my dream, I am making the decision to put each monkey in a separate cage, and maybe that is the way to keep them. The therapist asked the client to become each of the parts of her dream, each monkey as well as the cage. She realized that the dream expressed a conflict she was having with her husband and her two children. She recognized that she both loved and resented her family. She needed to have a dialogue with her family and express her conflicting feelings. The family needed to learn to communicate better and try to improve their relationships. No interpretation by the therapist was necessary for the woman to reach these conclusions. (Rosen, Marvin) 2. If you act out each individual part of the dream you can figure out what each part of the dream means. (Whether you have a psychologists giving you the answers or you are acting the dream out yourself, you will be able to find a deeper meaning to most if not all of your dreams. ) CONCLUSION Dream interpretation is important because it allows us to see the historical values behind what a dream is, to find significance in our dreams, and to face our subconscious problems. We have learned that a dream is a natural part of our brains found in the limbic system, that the symbols in our dreams represent different things in our awakened state, and that there are ways to determine the meaning of what we dream about. There will only ever be theories as to why the human body exhibits dreams in the first place, however, they will always be important to figuring out who we are as people. Annotated Bibliography â€Å"Dreaming. † Todays Science. Infobase Learning, Web. 24 Oct. 2013. This is a short article written by a collaboration of people by a company named Today’s Science. Their main goal was to describe the pattern of sleep a human goes through during the night. This cycle is called NREM and REM, non-rapid eye movement and rapid eye movement. They mostly describe what happens during sleep because without sleeping you could not dream. Dreaming occurs during the rapid eye movement cycle of your sleep which is about 90 minutes into your sleeping cycle. Pollak, Charles P. , Michael J. Thorpy, and Jan Yager. dreams. Health Reference Center. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 24 Oct. 2013. These authors talked about dreams and how they lead up from history until recent times. They talked about dreams dating from the bible and how they were even important then. They talk about the sleep cycle and how it includes REM and without REM you could not have dreams. They also brought up different scientists theories in which they believed that dreams eliminate unwanted information from the central nervous system. Dreaming may be important in un-cluttering the brain so that new information can be more easily retained in memory. They talk about different types of dreaming such as lucid dreaming, nightmares and night terrors. They also talk a small amount about the sleep disorder narcolepsy. Rosen, Marvin. Biology of Sleep. Health Reference Center. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 24 Oct 2013. The author Marvin Rosen describes the brain like a computer. He starts off by comparing the human brain to a microchip and that no one actually thinks about what is happening inside the microchips when a computer is working. The same goes for our brains, and no one actually thinks about what is going on while we sleep or while we dream it just happens. He defines sleep, the R. E. M. cycles that happen during and he also talks about a brief history of the study of sleep and dreaming. He explains why we sleep, saying that it is a break time for the brain to review all the information during the wakened state. He also talks about why we dream and that is necessary because provide the brain with stimulation that is required to develop and preserve the brains nerve pathways. This theory is supported by the fact that infants, whose brains are rapidly developing, spend most of their time in REM sleep. Rosen, Marvin. Theories of dreams and application in psychotherapy. Health Reference Center. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 24 Oct. 2013. The author, Marvin Rosen, elaborately describes the sleep cycle in order for the reader to understand the concept of the Dream. He uses various examples from different psychologists including Sigmund Freud, Fritz Perls, and Carl Jung. Each of these men had a different standpoint on Dream analysis and the way the brain works to compute a dream. Freud believed that there was deeper, metaphorical meanings to the images and sounds in your dreams, Perls believed that there was also meaning except that dreams were basic enough for most everyone to understand the underlying meaning, and Jung believed that the images in dreams were passed down from generations through the nervous system. â€Å"Scientists Discover Why Dreams Are So Weird. † Todays Science. Infobase Learning, Mar. 1998. Web. 24 Oct. 2013. This article focuses on the emotions behind a dream. It says the the emotions you experience in the day you also experience in your dream because the limbic system is involved. The limbic system is the part of your brain that deals with emotions, and it is also the part of the brain that largely contributes to dreaming which is why your emotions pertain to your dreams. Other scientists in this article believe that dreams have no psychological significance and are merely the by product of our brains getting rid of excess information from our days.

Black Feminism Research Paper Example

Black Feminism Research Paper Example Black Feminism Paper Black Feminism Paper The theme of this essay will look at black feminist perspectives on gender, firstly from this perspective a black womens experience provides stimulation of the feminist awareness. Black feminism writings highlights the importance of aspects of the past, which inform the current issues facing black women. The writings of American black feminists emphasise the influence of the powerful legacy of slavery, segregation and the civil rights movement on gender inequalities in the black community. They point out that early black groups of women at the early part of the century supported the campaign for womens rights, but realised that the question of race needed recognition. Black women have always suffered from discriminated based on their skin colour and gender. In recent years, black women have not been central to the womens liberation movement, taking control of their identities much less, than of concepts of their race. The oppression of black women is visible in different locations compared to that of white women. Black feminism argues, therefore, that any theory of gender equality, which does not consider racism, should not claim to explain black womens oppression adequately. Class dimensions are another factor, which needed acknowledgement, particularly, in the case of the black women, also black women in the labour market, which will be touched upon further in the essay. Some black feminists have understood the strength of black feminist theory to be the focus on the relationship between race, class, and gender concerns, (Anthony Giddens 2001:118). A major division in western Black feminism thought, particularly for the British context, is that between the language and politics of the United States and Britain; for the principle of United States politics, Black is a term referring to the African-American population. In Britain, Black is a political category often describing Asians, Africans and Afro-Caribbeans, with often a wider inclusion of non-white people. The changing meanings of Black as a racial, cultural, national, or political term, has implications for the development and meanings of Black feminisms. The relationship between the terms Black and feminism allows for sustained critique, both of the feminist movement and identities, and of Black politics, (Kadiatu Kanneh 1998: 86,87). Beverly Guy Shefell a feminist writer argues that black womens experiences in both racial and gender oppression resulted in needs and problems separate from white women and black men and that black women must struggle for equality as both women and African Americans, (www. hsph. harvard. edu/organisation/healthnet/woc/feminism/collins2html). The black womens critique of history has not only involved them coming to terms with absences, black women have also been annoyed by the ways in which it has made black women visible. History has constructed their sexuality and femininity as deviating from those qualities with which white women, as prize objects of the western world, were bestowed. Black feminist have forever demanded that the persistence of racism receive acknowledgement as an arrangement feature of their relationships with white women.

Summary of the documentary film ( Control Room ) Essay

Summary of the documentary film ( Control Room ) - Essay Example Rushing who works as a press officer for CENTCOM, a correspondent of NBC, CNN, BBC, journalist from the Syrian region and Al Jazeera (Noujaim, 2004). The documentary shows the various opinions proposed by the journalists of Al Jazeera which is a Qatar based news television network. The documentary shows that the Secretary of Defense of US named Donald Rumsfeld participates in various public conferences claiming that Al Jazeera was not showing the true picture of the war on Iraq and was propagating against US. On the other hand the documentary shows that the information minister of Iraq claims that the news channel Al Jazeera is working with US and is propagating against Iraq and is not portraying what is really taking place in Iraq. On the other hand the correspondent of CENTCOM makes accusations that the Qatar based news television channel is biased and is showing only the negative actions of US and the number of people killed in Iraq, later in the documentary he states that the US based news network named Fox News is even doing a similar biased job by carefully selecting the material before airing it on their channel and he poi nts out the more important points that both the Qatar based and US based television networks have not shown. The documentary mainly tries to portray the role that Qatar based news network has played in changing the society of Arab. The senior producer of the Qatar based channel named Samir Khader states that the channel is working with the aim of shaking the infrastructure of the society of Arab which is quite rigid in nature. He states that the channel is trying to change the society of Arab which lacks in different parts of life such as technology, culture as the society does not tolerate perceptions and cultures of other societies. Throughout the documentary the film maker shows that the media is biased, she portrays this message by showing the Rushing is mourning that the channel Al Jazeera is working in a biased manner. Rushing

Summarizing 9 articles about oil in Venezuela (separately) Research Paper

Summarizing 9 articles about oil in Venezuela (separately) - Research Paper Example The makes the U.S. vulnerable to crises that will strike these countries. For example, the U.S. relied heavily on Venezuela for around 15% of their oil supply. This, combined with Venezuela’s proximity to the U.S., made Venezuela appears to be a â€Å"stalwart production hub† (p.3). Venezuela, however, posed to be a problem when it proved to be not as reliable in oil supply as the U.S. expected them to be. The U.S. was not the only one to fail in anticipating the Venezuelan crisis. There should be reforms in oil management strategies in order to minimize the impact of oil crisis. DiJohn, J. (2009). From windfall to curse?: Oil and industrialization in Venezuela, 1920 to the present. University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State University Press. This book is a very useful resource in terms of understanding the puzzles within the economics and politics of Venezuela in the past century. Venezuela experienced a rise in economy due to the influx of oil revenues from 1920s to 1965 . The years that follow had been witnesses to the country’s economic downfall. From then, Venezuela has never really been able to rise again. The common idea for Venezuela’s economic rise is oil; yet similarly, it is also the most common thing to be blamed when talking about the nation’s collapse. Yet, as the author states, the â€Å"†¦reigning explanations for economic slowdown in Venezuela†¦have proved inadequate† (p.168). The book provides several hard-to-find data that will make rethink the reasons for Venezuela’s economic collapse. This book is a gold mine of information that goes along with the ideas presented in the other articles studied for this topic. It discusses the validity of the resource curse, the importance of the nature of Venezuela’s political framework, and even the issues on importation and exportation. Giusti, L. E. (1999). La apertura: The opening of Venezuela’s oil industry. Journal of International A ffairs, 53(1), 117-128. Transactions regarding oil have tremendously changed over the past decades. Oil business had been controlled by limited suppliers before, but has lately become â€Å"an active market with floating prices and many participants† (p.128). Venezuela has long been a key player in the oil industry, however, the recent changes in the market and the global modernization requires one to look closely on what can be done in response to this changing law of supply and demand. The author emphasizes that changes should be done in terms of oil management framework because the old system is fast becoming obsolete. Many key players in the oil industry, including Venezuela, are still supporting and are under the old OPEC management system, and continuing under this old system could be detrimental to the expansion and growth plans of oil suppliers. Hall, M. R. (2012). TINKER SALAS, MIGUEL. The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture. and Society in Venezuela. Journal of Third Worl d Studies, 29( 2), 280-281. The discussion of the more recent events regarding the social and cultural consequences of the Venezuelan oil industry is a good addition to the various information available regarding the history of Venezuela’s economic rise due to the influx of oil revenue particularly beginning 1920. The author mentions that the oil camps are â€Å"social laboratories†

Can Religion Improve Your Health Research Paper

Can Religion Improve Your Health - Research Paper Example People who did not attend church or religious services were more likely to be unhealthy and, consequently, to die. However, religious attendance also increased social ties and behavioral factors to decrease the risks of death (Deem) Even though, science and technology has developed a lot, the prominence of religion in human life has not been affected. Science succeeded in unveiling many of the mysteries around us; however it failed to make a concrete statement about the life before birth and life after death. On the other hand, religion has answers to all these questions. Religions and its principles are formulated not based any scientific facts or observations, but based on belief alone. The agony of what is going to happen to the soul after one’s death is haunting human life even now. Religions talk about an eternal life after death based on the activities one would perform in his earthly life. Religions argue that the current life is only a temporary one and a permanent lif e is waiting for human after death. The failure of science in unveiling anything about the chances of a future life created lot of psychological problems among humans. Such humans are relying heavily on religious teachings in order to avoid their concerns and stresses about a future life. In other words, religions can help people to improve their physical and psychological health. This paper analyses the role of religion in improving human health.... Mind controls or drives the human body and any problem occurred to the driver may result in malfunctioning of the body. It is difficult for a person to stay calm or healthy while his mind was agitated by something. Mental happiness is essential for the better functioning of the body. Religions always teach its believers to stay away from crazy life styles. For example, Christianity advocates that a person can engage in sexual activities with his wife only. All the sexual activities outside the frame work of marriage are considered as sins. Science has already proved that HIV/IDS like severe diseases are caused by unhealthy or crazy sexual habits. Christianity has realized the consequences of crazy sexual life much earlier than science and that is why it advocated sexual activities with a single lady alone. Religious beliefs are responsible for streamlining of human life in the right track. In the absence of religious beliefs or the threats of punishments, sins can derail human life o n earth. Even science has no second opinion about the role of a structured life in maintaining human health. Religions help humans in leading a structured life. In the absence of spirituality or religious beliefs, people will try to lead a life of their won will and may cause immense damages to his physical and mental health. Religions provide the right frame work for maintaining a healthy life on this world. According to Koenig et al, (2001) â€Å"Religion takes a firm hold on science and between 200 and 1700, or almost all the mental disorders are understood in terms of religious beliefs† (Koenig et al, p.16). Religion provides the necessary

Analysis of the 8th Amendment

Analysis of the 8th Amendment 8th Amendment Introduction The 8th Amendment (Amendment VIII) to the United States Constitution can be legally defined as the section of the United Sates Bill of Rights that which forbids the federal government from imposing excessive fines, neither inflicting cruel and unusual punishments nor imposing excessive bail. The 8th amendment was approved to be part of the United States Constitution in the year 1791.This amendment was almost similar to a stipulation made in the English Bill of Rights of 1689 where the government made a declaration to the point that they had to operate as their ancestors had by not demanding for excessive bail neither imposing excessive fines nor inflicting cruel or unusual punishments. In the case of England the provision was mainly driven by the punishment involving Titus Oates. During the reign of King James II in the 1680s Titus Oates worked as a fixture in the London pillory circuit. Oates was involved many ordinary penalties that had been collectively imposed forced on him in a manner that was both excessive and unparalleled. Oates had lied under oath which led to many innocent people being placed under the death sentence. Parliament approved the declaration against â€Å"cruel and unusual punishments â€Å"for England in the year 1689. The declaration was explained by the parliament that it was supposed to prevent punishments such as the one inflicted on Titus Oates by the Kings Bench. In December 1689 the then parliament endorsed the provision to be passed into law. The first state to adopt a stand similar to that of England on the issues was the state of Virginia. In the year 1776 the Virginia declaration of rights incorporated the English bill of rights and then went on a step further to recommend in the year 1788 that the above provision be included in the united states constitution as at the Virginia convention that meant to approve the U.S constitution. It was some Virginia states men such as Patrick Henry and George Mason that first endorsed that congress be limited by use of the restriction as in the English bill of rights. This was based on the fears that if that did not happen the congress could inflict some punishments that were both unusual and severe on criminals. The two Virginians also stressed the need for the Congress to do away with the line in the English bill of rights that seemed to admit of tortures and barbarous punishment inflicted on its people in the past. And also recommended congress to start the enactment of civil law in favor of the more practiced common law. In the end Mason and Henry were successful in their quest and then the 8th amendment was adopted by the United States. In the year 1789 James Madison changed the words ought in the English bill of rights to† shall then proposed it to the congress for amendment. Cruel and unusual punishments The eighth amendment according to the Supreme Court prohibited entirely the infliction of some punishments and at the same time forbid some other punishments which when compared to the crime for which they were given for were seen to be excessive or those which were seen to be excessive when the competence of the perpetrator was put into light. This was seen as necessary because in the earlier years some of the judgments handed down to the people were in excess considering the fact that the perpetrators were either incompetent to commit such crimes or the crimes committed were minor. In the year 1962 the supreme courts ruled that the cruel and unusual punishments act applied to all the states of the United States through the fourteenth amendment. This followed the case involving Robinson vs. California, 370 U.S. 660 in the year 1960. Before the Robinson case the eighth amendment had only earlier been applied in cases against the federal government. In the case involving Furman vs. Ge orgia, 408 U.S. 238 of the year 1962 the four principles that would determine whether a punishment passed onto a perpetrator was â€Å"cruel and unusual† were written by Justice Brennan. These included statements that for the punishment handed down judging by how severe it is degrade human dignity under conditions as in the case of torture, it also that any unusual and cruel punishment was one which was totally and clearly rejected by the whole society, one which was seen to be inflicted in a manner that was seen to be wholly arbitrary or one that was patently unnecessary. Brennan went on to write that it was an expectation that no American state would pass a law that would seem to undermine any of the four principals, such that all decisions made in court involving the eighth amendment would consider all the these principles. The punishments for which according to the eighth amend were forbidden regardless of the crime committed would include any form of disemboweling, public dissecting, drawing and quartering or burning alive. This in relation to the four Brennan principles where punishments that were totally rejected throughout the society. In the cases of Atkins vs. Virginia 536 U.S. 304 of 2002 the supreme court declared executing mentally handicapped people fell in the forbidden punishments and also in the case of Roper vs. Simmons 543 U.S. 551 of 2005 where the court ruled that executing people under18 years was a violation of the eighth amendment regardless of the crime committed by the perpetrator. Punishments that were forbidden for certain crimes included cases in which the court had to overturn punishments such as the cadena temporal which mandated that â€Å"hard and painful labor† shackling are done away with while in the process of incarceration or when faced with civil disabilities that were permanent. The case mentioned above took place in 1910 and was often seen as a means of establishing some proportionality when applying the eighth amendment. In some other cases it was ruled that punishing a natural-born American citizen for any crime by taking away his citizenship was perceived to be unconstitutional and primitive as it involved completely damaging the persons status in the society. In a case involving Coker vs. Virginia 433 U.S. 584 of 1977 the court at the time clearly stated that the imposition of a death penalty or rape was totally unconstitutional and that applied to any other case where death did not occur. It went ahead to clarify that rape crimes by d efinition do not include either death or even any serious body harm to the other person. Excessive fines For many years the United States Supreme Court never had much to say when the subject of excessive fines was mentioned. In one early case the Supreme Court had no power to revise any judgments passed by a lower court as regards the subject of heavy fines being imposed on someone. In later years the need to need to review the amount of fines levied on a person because it always led to the imprisonment just because the person was unable to raise the amount imposed on him/her by the court. In a step meant to ensure equal citizen protection the court found a way to put to meaning the words â€Å"excessive fines† when compared to the person for whom the judgment is meant to affect. But the court also ruled out applying the above clause could not be applied to cases involving private cases where the government had not been involved in the prosecution nor was it to receive any share of any of the awarded damages. This decision was based on the intention for which the excessive fines clause was meant for. The court clearly stated that at the time when the eighth amendment was adopted into the united states constitution the word ‘fine was taken to refer to any payment that would have to be made to sovereign entity for an offence committed. THE court left open the decision as to whether the clause could be applied to qui tam actions or cases involving civil penalties but at the same time it concluded that the excessive fines clause was initially intended to affect the fines that were only imposed by one payable to the government. In cases involving any civil forfeiture the excessive fines clause could be applied. The meaning of the clause as it regards to the quantum punishment of any particular offences when it is independent of the ability of the offender to pay the fine imposed on him still awaits the result of legal proceedings. Excessive bail In England it was the duty of the sheriffs to decide whether or not a person deserved to be granted bail. Due to the continual abuse of power by the sheriffs the government back then released a statute that clearly categorized the bailable and the non-bailable offences. But these statutes could be subverted according to the decision of the Kings judges. According to the law then a person could be held without bail depending on the commands of the sovereign authority. It was often argued that the King did not have the authority to make such decisions and this led to the infringement of human rights when people were intentionally kept in prison despite having committed bailable offences. This and many more ambiguities were eventually put to an end by the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679. After the Habeas Act was passed judges were faced with the decision to set the bail amounts but they often posed some amounts that were impracticable. It was until the year 1689 that the English bill of right s forbids the demand of excessive rights but a further amendment to distinguish between bailable and non bailable offences was needed. Bail is said to be excessive and in violation of the Eighth amendment if the value to which it is set is higher when compared to the reasonably calculated value that is aimed at ensuring the governments asserted interest. The aim of setting bail is said to be as a guarantee that the person who is accused is going to present himself for trial and accept the sentence that is handed down to him and no more. In order for a person to be able to challenge the amount of bail imposed on him he must move for a reduction. If the reduction is denied then the court of appeals followed by the Supreme Court can overrule the decision. The eight amendment could not be applied to post convicted release cases that await appeal but it is normal practice to grant leases in such cases. Bail is seen to uphold the presumption of innocence before a person is tried acquired only after centuries of struggle. The excessive bail clause adopted by the United States constitution from the English bill of rights had slight changes made on it. In the England act there was no provision that stated that one had the right to bail at all times but only provided that the bail amount imposed on a person was not to be excessive in the cases that bail could be granted. The governments argued that the amount of bail imposed was not to be excess when compared to the weight of the crime committed by the person. Conclusion The eighth amendment to the United States Constitution was a good step in defining various issues that surrounded judgments passed onto persons since time in memorial. It is aimed at eliminating the infringement of the basic human rights as it regulated the amount of punishment that one could be given based on the offence. In the years before the amendment could be done peoples rights were sometimes stepped on as some of the judgments passed amounted to torture on the person. This is in a way seems to bring fairness in the judicial System of the United States. This amendment protected people from situations where the amount of bails, fines imposed on the person could not match the perception of the crime committed. The American constitution is supposed to ensure a stable and responsible government. It is generally supposed to protect the rights of the American citizens even against infringement by the government itself. this is exactly what the eighth amendment went on to do, making every citizen equal before the law and making sure every citizen gets a fair judgment based on the crime committed, whether it regards the bail set or the amount of fine one is asked to produce. References Bamonte, T. J. (1981) Journal of Law and Criminology: Eighth Amendment- A significant limit on federal court activism in ameliorating state. USA: Northwestern University School of Law. Eighth Amendment. (2009, June). Eighth Amendment. Retrieved October 6, 2009, from http://www.lectlaw.com/def/e082.htm Find Law. (2009, June). U.S Constitution Eighth Amendment. Retrieved October 6, 2009, from http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment08/ Haney, C. (1997). Psychology and the limits to prison pain: Confronting the coming crisis in Eighth Amendment. New York: American Psychological Association. Harr, J. S. (2008). Constitutional Law and the Criminal Justice System. USA: American Press Association Introduction the Eighth Amendment (2009, July). AN OVERVIEW OF CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCILES RELEVANT TO CAPITAL CASES. Retrieved October5, 2009, http://www.capdefnet.org/hat/contents/intro_to_8th/3_intro_to_8th.htm Welzmuller, M. (2000). The death penalty – legal cruelty. USA:

Hitchcock’s Use of Technical Signatures in his Film Vertigo Essay

Hitchcock’s Use of Technical Signatures in his Film Vertigo The films of Alfred Hitchcock provide some of the best evidence in favor of the auteur theory. Hitchcock uses many techniques that act as signatures on his films, enabling the viewer to possess an understanding of any Hitchcock film before watching it. His most famous signature is his cameo appearance in each of his films, but Hitchcock also uses more technical signatures like doubling, visual contrast, and strategically placed music to create suspense. Hitchcock’s use of doubles is apparent throughout most of his films. In Vertigo, the image of Madeline and Scotty’s passionate embrace is repeated several times during the film. In Scotty’s life, Hitchcock also places many instances of doubles, such as the two women he loves, Madeline’s dual roles as two different women throughout the plot, and the two identical deaths of the women he witnesses. Doubling is also apparent between Madeline and the fictional Carlotta, especially in the scene in the art museum, where the flowers, the hairstyle, and the position of Madelin...

Analysis of Gender Roles in Macbeth

In many cultures, such as European in society, women are perceived as the primary caretaker of the home among other oppressive notions that pertain to them. They were in charge of organizing social events, maintaining the family’s reputation, cooking, and cleaning occasionally with assistance from their children. They were considered to be of less value than their male counterparts and, thus, were not permitted the opportunity to have a role in politics, religion, and society. Since the time of Shakespeare, the majority of gender inequities in society have been abolished, and a new era of complete equality is on the horizon.However, there are barriers of ignorance, whose sole purpose is to hinder progression, that people have yet to break. Women have made efforts to gain equality in society since the 1800’s as seen by the writer and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, the first great feminist treatise. It listed and discussed her grievances concerning gender inequality and had a total influence on the art of travel writing as well as the Romantic Movement.A sign of this progress in society, other than women’s introduction into several facets of society (i. e. entertainment, business, politics, etc. ), is the adoption of gender role reversal, partly due to its comedic portrayal in television but also its necessity in some homes. As expected, there were some who were more conservative towards gender equality such as, William Shakespeare which was seen in his gruesome play, Macbeth that used this idea of general role reversal to oppose this idea.Macbeth and Lady Macbeth show the first instances of this peculiar gender role reversal, which occurs exceptionally early in the play when Macbeth is conflicted with the choice of either killing Duncan as according to the plan or spare his life as he begins to see the true wickedness of this act. Here Macbeth exhibits weakness, an inability to do something treac herous and soul sullying that was relatively common for men to do in plays written by the likes of Shakespeare.Because Shakespeare has established what he believes to be a typical man and woman in his assortment of plays, for example Romeo and Juliet, one can definitively claim that Macbeth is acting exceptionally feminine during this section of the play. Lady Macbeth demonstrates her masculinity as she taunts and ridicules Macbeth for even considering terminating their plan to kill Duncan, â€Å"excerpt†. She even goes as far as suggesting killing him herself if it weren’t for the fact that Duncan resembles her father; however, she compensates for her inability to kill Duncan by placing the bloody knife in the hands of the unsuspecting servants.This role reversal is accentuated by Lady Macbeth’s soliloquy that was essentially her grievances of being a lady and her burning desire to become a man because men have the inherent ability to be dastardly, â€Å"excer pt†. While her motives for unsexification are not the most benevolent, the fact that the only method of obtaining equal mental capacity to men is to physically be a man, which at the time meant being born as one or, evidently, replacing breast milk with gall, is Shakespeare explicitly exhibiting his misogynistic notions.Aside from the subliminal sexism seen throughout the play, Shakespeare’s project pertaining to traditional gender roles is seen as the play progresses, but the true message is exhibited nearing end of the play when Lady Macbeth’s guilt induced insanity causes her to commit suicide and Macbeth’s head is decapitated. Macbeth can easily be seen as either an elongated Direct T. V. commercial—if you reverse gender roles you will go insane. When you go insane, you will be hospitalized. When you are hospitalized, you commit suicide. Don’t commit suicide.Stay with tradition—or a 17th century PSA warning the public about what ha ppens if man and a woman choose to act as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth do. Shakespeare obviously believes in traditional views concerning gender hierarchy, the questionable element of it, though, is how he conveyed this message. The consequences of both Lady Macbeth attempting to adopt the role of a man and Macbeth’s seemingly unintentional femininity were gruesome and grotesque that was used to convey a relatively simple idea; this passionate conveyance has several potential explanations.The first is, because Shakespeare’s plays are suffused with suicide, murder, and death in general, the reader is seeing an integration of gender role reversal with his style of writing which happens to produce a feminist’s nightmare. Shakespeare could have been modestly incorporating this idea into his play but it appeared to the audience as something more. Second is that the catastrophic ending was not unintentional but was for all intents and purpose to scare people into never tr ying to break tradition.Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s demise was due to their non-conformity; therefore, if one were to do as Lady Macbeth and Macbeth did, they would suffer the same consequences. Either way, an underlying theme in the play, if not the most prominent, is that chaos will ensue if the most intrinsic system of humanity is upset, thus, making Macbeth a cautionary tale for all women who dare challenge the system in an attempt to gain rights. However, some are oblivious to the blatant sexism and believe that any implication of this is simply being misinterpreted.

Free Essays on Hiroshima Bombing

Should we constantly be reminded of the memories of disasters such as Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and September 11th? My thesis for this essay is that yes everyone should always remember the aforementioned tragic events. My main three main reasons for taking this position are that the world should not forgive and not forget, some people can not bring themselves to remember the events only because it hurt them so badly, but events as major as these need to be remembered. Finally, that since the tragedies have taken place people have come together more as one unified society. By forgiving and not forgetting about what happened in the countries past can only make a nation stronger. If society as a whole put these events in the back of our minds for good and never thought or grieved about it then we would be susceptible to more attacks. However, if there are constant memorials being erected and candles being lit to show that people remember and did not forget about those lost for their efforts, by doing so it would show that society, as a whole would be stronger by simply remembering. By forgetting about the past events only makes the nation a bigger target for more terror and tragedy. I consider the bombing of Hiroshima one of the most crucial and pivotal points in history. While it was a gruesome act it needed to be done to end an on going war. If it were not for the bombing, who is to say how long the war could have gone for. One of the main reasons to remember something as tragic as Hiroshima is that it could have changed the face of history forever. Furthermore, I know I do not like thinking of depressing things, or for example a death in the family is what I consider a tragic event as well. Even though it is a depressing and sad thought, people still need to keep our past in our minds for the future. John Berger says it best in his essay Hiroshima about how evil and terrible the thoughts about these events are â€Å"Nobody can confront the ... Free Essays on Hiroshima Bombing Free Essays on Hiroshima Bombing Should we constantly be reminded of the memories of disasters such as Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and September 11th? My thesis for this essay is that yes everyone should always remember the aforementioned tragic events. My main three main reasons for taking this position are that the world should not forgive and not forget, some people can not bring themselves to remember the events only because it hurt them so badly, but events as major as these need to be remembered. Finally, that since the tragedies have taken place people have come together more as one unified society. By forgiving and not forgetting about what happened in the countries past can only make a nation stronger. If society as a whole put these events in the back of our minds for good and never thought or grieved about it then we would be susceptible to more attacks. However, if there are constant memorials being erected and candles being lit to show that people remember and did not forget about those lost for their efforts, by doing so it would show that society, as a whole would be stronger by simply remembering. By forgetting about the past events only makes the nation a bigger target for more terror and tragedy. I consider the bombing of Hiroshima one of the most crucial and pivotal points in history. While it was a gruesome act it needed to be done to end an on going war. If it were not for the bombing, who is to say how long the war could have gone for. One of the main reasons to remember something as tragic as Hiroshima is that it could have changed the face of history forever. Furthermore, I know I do not like thinking of depressing things, or for example a death in the family is what I consider a tragic event as well. Even though it is a depressing and sad thought, people still need to keep our past in our minds for the future. John Berger says it best in his essay Hiroshima about how evil and terrible the thoughts about these events are â€Å"Nobody can confront the ...

Free Essays on Sociologists Choose To Base Their Research On Secondary Sources

Examine the reasons why some sociologists choose to base their research on secondary sources Secondary sources contain data that has already been produced, often by other people besides sociologists. Examples of secondary data would be documents such as letters, dairies and autobiographies produced by individuals. Sociologists often also use secondary data produces by the government and organisations such as trade union, charities and various other companies. The secondary data used can be either contemporary or historical and the data available from them may be either primarily quantitative or qualitative. Also when sociologists refer to other sociological studies, it is defined as using secondary sources. In this essay I will be exploring the factors that lead to sociologists using secondary sources rather then primary sources. There are many forms of secondary data, one of which being historical documents. Sociologists who wish to study social change that takes place over a long period of time view historical documents as having a very vital importance. An area in particular where historical sources have been considered of great importance is the study of family life. Peter Laslett (1972) used parish records to help him discover how common nuclear and extended families were in pre-industrial England. The data used proved most useful in clearing the assumption that extended families were the norm in pre-industrial Britain. Without historical documents, sociologists such as Max Weber (1958) would have been unable to conduct studies such as the influence of religion on the development of capitalism, and Michael Mann (1986) would not have had the resources to conduct a study on the relationship between different sources of social power throughout history. Michael Anderson also used historical sources to cond uct his research on the family but due to the fact that he only obtained data from one town, his results could be described... Free Essays on Sociologists Choose To Base Their Research On Secondary Sources Free Essays on Sociologists Choose To Base Their Research On Secondary Sources Examine the reasons why some sociologists choose to base their research on secondary sources Secondary sources contain data that has already been produced, often by other people besides sociologists. Examples of secondary data would be documents such as letters, dairies and autobiographies produced by individuals. Sociologists often also use secondary data produces by the government and organisations such as trade union, charities and various other companies. The secondary data used can be either contemporary or historical and the data available from them may be either primarily quantitative or qualitative. Also when sociologists refer to other sociological studies, it is defined as using secondary sources. In this essay I will be exploring the factors that lead to sociologists using secondary sources rather then primary sources. There are many forms of secondary data, one of which being historical documents. Sociologists who wish to study social change that takes place over a long period of time view historical documents as having a very vital importance. An area in particular where historical sources have been considered of great importance is the study of family life. Peter Laslett (1972) used parish records to help him discover how common nuclear and extended families were in pre-industrial England. The data used proved most useful in clearing the assumption that extended families were the norm in pre-industrial Britain. Without historical documents, sociologists such as Max Weber (1958) would have been unable to conduct studies such as the influence of religion on the development of capitalism, and Michael Mann (1986) would not have had the resources to conduct a study on the relationship between different sources of social power throughout history. Michael Anderson also used historical sources to cond uct his research on the family but due to the fact that he only obtained data from one town, his results could be described...

Power, Ethnicity and Sexuality in Kehinde and A Distant Shore Essay

Power, Ethnicity and Sexuality in Kehinde and A Distant Shore - Essay Example The essay compares two novels written in the backdrop of immigration of Africans towards England and their efforts to settle down in the English society. The novel A Distant Shore has been written by a British writer and novelist with Caribbean background2 Carly Phillips in 2003. The other novel is Kehinde penned by an African novelist 3Dr. Buchi Emecheta in 1994. Both of these novels depict the themes of displacement, ethnicity and power. There writings are focused upon the tales of the people striving to adjust in the England after facing harsh circumstances at their home town. The novel A Distant Shore deals with the complex changes occurred within the socio-political system of England over the course of time4. There are several themes depicted within the story told in the novel however, the themes of ethnicity, displacement and power dominate the story. As the story progresses the theme of ethnicity and power starts dominating the tale of African immigrant Solomon and female midd le age piano teacher Dorothy. The two main characters of the story developed friendly relationship that was not accepted in the society and eventually Solomon was killed to end their friendship5. The novel depicts the role of powerful racist groups in the English society and shows how lives of people from minority ethnic groups are threaten by the powerful and dominating racial groups.

Court analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Court analysis - Essay Example language of the court, are provided interpreters by the Courts who interpret the language of the accused and the defendant in order to come to the bottom of the case. The judge relies heavily on the language used by the interpreter in order to write down his judgment and provide his theory of justice with respect to the pertaining case. One of the major shortcomings of this process off later has been privatization. In the current context the process of interpreting the dialogue of an accused or a witness inside the Court has bee privatized in most of the countries as of today, including England. And there have been some negative results of this trade, as the courts are not satisfied that the kind of work these private agencies are doing is upto the minimum standard of the Courts. It has also been alleged that those who all are working as interpreters in the Court of England have been handled very badly and have not been treated well enough by the agency, which hired them. One of the other trends, which have been significant off late in the field of interpretation services in Courts, is the fact that the art of Court interpretation has been heavily institutionalized by the private sector. The private sector has been playing the dominant role in making this process completely seamless in the way it functions. The future management issues pertaining to interpretation of language in Courts consists of improving the pay scale of the interpreters along with trying to include more and more people into the institution who are well qualified to take up the job of interpretation. The future requires a well-qualified stream of interpreters who are able to take up the job of interpretation in an extremely skilled and smart manner. These interpreters should have a judicial knowledge of the laws pertaining to the case and should be able to give the judge an unbiased and honest view of the case. It is imperative to have skilled interpreters who are able to take up this