The Many Mothers of Alfred Hitchcock Essay -- essays research papers

When looking at the works of Alfred Hitchcock there are many recurring themes. Wrong man, classic Hitchcock villains, and the use of staircases are just three of the many attributes you see when watching a Hitchcock film. My favorite, however, would have to be Hitchcock’s portrayal of the mother. Whether she is there for comic relief as we see in Shadow of a Doubt, or as the root of all evil as you see in Strangers on a Train and Notorious, the mothers he creates are far from ordinary. Either their naà ¯ve nature or pure hated for others help to link these movies to one another. Notorious, which was produced in 1945 but not released until 1946, has an extraordinary mother figure. She is a skinny frail woman with a heart of lead. She is controlling and evil at heart and seems to be the cause of all trouble yet never gets any of the blame. When they discover that the girl is working for the FBI, the mother takes matters into her own hands and convinces her son to do away with the girl. You never see her saying much, yet you can see what she is thinking as she stares with those vacant eyes of hers. You can actually see the evil which is inside of her with one look in her eyes. She is by far one of the scariest and uncaring mothers we have seen thus far. The mother in Strangers on a Train (produced in 1950, released in 1951) has a slightly less aggressive role. Even though she is less active in what Bruno does now that he is grown, she is still the reason and cause for the way h...

Macbeth: Blood Imagery Essay

Guilt is a frustrating feeling; it evokes regret, self-punishment, and shame. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth do not know it, but every time they murder, their guilt increases, and they step closer to their downfall. Shakespeare uses the imagery of blood in Macbeth to illustrate the inevitable guilt of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and how their roles change by the end of the play. In the beginning of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth try their best to hide their conscience. Macbeth commands the stars to â€Å"hide your fires; / Let not light see my black and deep desires† (1.4.57-58). If the stars hide their light, Macbeth’s dark desires will be hidden and he will feel no guilt. Lady Macbeth speaks to the spirits and orders them to â€Å"unsex me here / And fill me . . .top-full / Of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood, / Stop up the access and passage to remorse† (1.5.42-45). Lady Macbeth calls the evil spirits to get rid of her female qualities, to make her a man, and to hide her conscience so she will feel no guilt. Both of them know that once they feel guilt, they will be doomed and found guilty. After killing Duncan, Macbeth feels extreme guilt, while Lady Macbeth seems to experience no guilt at all. Macbeth looks down at his bloody hands and mumbles, â€Å"This is a sorry sight† (2.2.28). He regrets killing King Duncan, a man of great virtues, and wishes that he could undo his evil act. Macbeth feels so guilty he forgets to leave the daggers with the guards. He refuses to go back because he is â€Å"afraid to think what I have done; / Look on’t again I dare not† (2.2.65-66). Macbeth believes his conscience will never let this horrendous act go. He exclaims to Lady Macbeth, â€Å"Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather / The multitudinous seas incarnadine, / Making the green one red† (2.2.76-79). Macbeth feels that all the oceans in the world will not wash away his dishonor for killing the king. On the other hand, Lady Macbeth does not feel any guilt. Lady Macbeth scolds Macbeth and snaps, â€Å"My hands are of your color, but I shame / To wear a heart so white. . . . A little water clears us of this deed† (2.2.80-85). Lady Macbeth cannot believe that a little thing like killing King Duncan could make Macbeth so fearful. When it is time to murder Banquo, Macbeth plans it out himself. This is a huge change from King Duncan’s murder, when Lady Macbeth had to plan it out and then convince Macbeth to go through with the plan. While Banquo is being murdered, Macbeth is hosting a banquet for the lords. When Banquo’s ghost steps in, Macbeth wonders how Lady Macbeth can â€Å"behold such sights, / And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks† (3.4.137-138) while Macbeth’s cheeks are drained of color from fear. Even though Macbeth planned out this murder, and seemed as though his guilt is gone, it still is in his conscience and he despises thinking about it. Lady Macbeth, however, keeps the natural ruby of her cheeks and has no fear of these murders. With so much guilt already, Macbeth realizes there is no point in turning back. He says, â€Å"I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er† (3.4.165-167). Macbeth is so close to being king that he might as well go through with it. Macbeth’s attitude seems to change quite a bit. At this point, Macbeth seems to have â€Å"reset† his conscience and has no problem with killing more people. Speaking to Lady Macbeth, Macbeth says, â€Å"We are yet but young in deed† (3.4.173). Macbeth hints to Lady Macbeth that more killings are on the way, and that he is no longer afraid to murder. No matter how hard Lady Macbeth tries, the guilt catches up with her. Macbeth has now become immune to murders and doesn’t seem to feel any guilt. When Macbeth is finally king, Lady Macbeth starts sleepwalking. â€Å"Out, damned spot! Out, I say! One—two— / why then ‘tis time to do’t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie! . . . . Yet who would / have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?† (5.1.31-32, 34-35). Lady Macbeth is experiencing the guilt from killing Duncan by continuously washing her hands in her sleep. Lady Macbeth also mutters, â€Å"Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the / perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh!† (5.1.45-47). This again represents Lady Macbeth’s disgrace as she cannot get the guilt out of her head. Soon afterwards, Lady Macbeth cannot take all this guilt anymore and takes her own life. Macbeth does not seem to feel any guilt anymore. Towards the end of the play, before Macbeth dies, he pronounces, â€Å"Ring the alarum bell! Blow, wind! Come, wrack! / At least we’ll die with harness on our back† (5.5.56-57). Macbeth wants to fight to the very end. From the use of blood imagery, readers can see the inevitable guilt of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. By the end of the play, the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have been switched; Macbeth seems to be much stronger than before, while Lady Macbeth has slowly shriveled away to nothing from all the guilt. As Macbeth said, â€Å"They say blood will have blood† (3.4.149). Each time the Macbeths murdered another person, they stepped closer to their downfall without realizing it. Blood imagery provides us knowledge of the main characters and helps us understand the idea of guilt in Macbeth.

Black Power Movement

America has seen itself change over and over again. America is the home of the free and the brave. However, this beautiful nation has not always been like this. America has had to go through many ups and many downs to beautify. Racial discrimination has played a huge role in American society. Even today, there are still racial inequalities. These racial inequalities are not as bad as they were in the early and mid nineteen hundreds though. Two of the biggest reasons that positive steps have been made towards eliminating racial inequality is the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Power Movement.These two events helped shape who Americans are today. While these two events did not totally eliminate racial discrimination, they were huge rolls in shrinking it. These two events have many things in common, but also many differences. Without the Black Power Movement and the Harlem Renaissance, America would not be where we are today. Even though African Americans were enjoying the new terrain in the United States, they could tell that there was still something missing. They did everything in their power to help stop against racial discrimination.They created new culture and went out of their ways to be viewed as a regular American. They referred to themselves as â€Å"New Negro’s† because they defined themselves by a sense of racial difference. They believed that they were living a totally different life and a whole new culture. Discrimination continued so the African Americans left the south to head to bigger and better cities with more opportunity. Many African Americans headed to New York and mainly Harlem. While here the â€Å"New Negro’s† started an uproar of their culture called the Harlem Renaissance.This event started in Harlem, the upper portion of Manhattan. The event turned Harlem in to a center of art and creativity. The Harlem Renaissance gave birth to many important African Americans. Multiple novelists and artists were born. The â€Å"New Negro’s† began to explore American blackness in America during the nineteen twenty’s and it’s origins from Africa. One of the first noticeable events of the Renaissance came after a man named Charles Johnson organized a civic club dinner.Johnson constructed this dinner for the releasing of a book that had been written by a black author that Johnson believed had potential. The dinner was a total success and white people enjoyed the book. For the first time in history, white operated publishing houses published books that were written by Negros. Better than that, some white people started to promote the books as well. The Harlem Renaissance also helped influence black musicians to perform in front of white people. The Harlem Renaissance for the first major step that Americans took on the way to becoming civilized.The Renaissance gave birth to music, art, literature, and dance throughout Harlem and America. This wonderful event however came to an end in the mid nineteen thirty’s. The great depression played a role in ending this marvelous event. Financial needs became more important than the expression of art and music. Many Blacks artists from the Renaissance had to leave Harlem to find jobs in other places. Even with having to move some of the African American writers art continued to still be published. The Black Power Movement played out in a far more violent way than the Harlem Renaissance.More than 300 race riots broke out between nineteen sixty four and nineteen sixty nine. These riots really put the gap between a great society and the reality of an African American in to perspective. More and more violence was spread throughout Harlem when a fifteen year old Black boy was shot by a white police officer in nineteen sixty four. In August of nineteen sixty five things went from bad to worse. In just five days, more than one thousand fires had been burned, and thirty four lives had been taken in Los Angeles.The Bl ack Power Movement developed a saying. Stokely Carmichael said, â€Å"What we are gonna start saying now is Black Power! †. This saying was interpreted in many different ways. The most common interpretation cam from the Black Panthers though. The Black Panthers were initially started to protect the black neighborhoods from the white officers. The group was formed in Oakland, California by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. The Panthers also started schools and tried to promote peace. However, they ended up becoming known for their violence.Because of the Black Panthers violence, the Black Power saying became known as hostile to both blacks and whites. The Black Power Movement also sparked the freedom of speech movement at the University of California at Berkley in nineteen sixty four. Americans had not seen anything like the protests at Berkley and these protests lead to â€Å"counterculture†. Counterculture was all about rock and roll music, drugs, and sex. Countercultur e gave us bands like The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones. Students then rebelled even further to demand that dorms should be a mix between male and female.The Black Power Movement brought a whole new outlook to America. Although there was a lot of violence going on during this time, America took positive steps as well. Americans are still affected by this movement today. The Black Power Movement slowly came to and end in the early nineteen seventy’s, yet we still feel the effects today. The Harlem Renaissance and Black Power Movement have many things in common, yet have just as many differences. Both of these crucial events blossomed very important black and white people.The Harlem Renaissance focused more on the art of music and literature, while the Black Power Movement was more about the reality of an African American. They both had a huge impact on Americans, whether the impact was positive or negative. These two events were very different as well. The violence in the Har lem Renaissance was nothing compared to the violence in the Black Power Movement. The Black Power Movement killed multiple people while the Harlem Renaissance did the complete opposite. The Harlem Renaissance sparked more of an art and literature movement.Without the Black Power Movement and the Harlem Renaissance, America would not be where we are today. These two events are major in American History. America is known as the home of the free and the brave. However, America has not always been this way and even today we still suffer from racism and segregation. Racial inequalities played a huge role back during this events. If there was no racial inequalities none of these events probably would have happened. America is shaped the way we are today because of the events of our country’s past.Works Cited http://www.biography.com/blackhistory/harlem-renaissance.jsp

Comparison of the Poems Mental Cases and Disabled By Wilfred Owen Essays

Comparison of the Poems Mental Cases and Disabled By Wilfred Owen Essays Comparison of the Poems Mental Cases and Disabled By Wilfred Owen Paper Comparison of the Poems Mental Cases and Disabled By Wilfred Owen Paper Essay Topic: Poetry The Red Badge Of Courage I will compare the poems Disabled and Mental Cases for my essay. I will look at the language that Wilfred Owen uses to convey the pain and hurt that war causes. I will also endeavour to examine how the poet expresses his outrage at the effect of the war in both poems. I will make a comparison between them. Wilfred Owen was born in March 1893. He taught on the continent until 1915, when he enlisted after visiting a hospital for wounded soldiers. He said that he wanted to help, either by leading the soldiers or writing to let the world know about their plight. He achieved both. He was killed at the front line in March 1917 aged 28, just 7 days before the armistice. Both poems take a look at the stark realties of the war. In Mental cases he looks at the demolition of mens minds, due to the horrors they witnessed, and experienced, while in the war. Disabled investigates the consequences of the war for a young handsome soldier. In both poems he takes a sympathetic stance towards the casualties. In Mental Cases the Victims of war are explored by looking at the physiological traumas. In Disabled it is mainly the physical consequences that are examined. Although the notion of unseen scars that change and destroy lives always flows through his work. The use of striking language through out the poems evokes horror in the reader. It leaves brutal and harsh imagery, which I feel lingers in your minds eye. Both works start with a line involving endings of the day. A strong metaphor Wilfred Owen uses for the end of life. Why they sit here in twilight Waiting for the dark Both create visions of a life that is over, forfeited. Lives waiting, longing, for the calm repose of death. This is not the average Depiction of the war that most poets of this genre used. Most WW1 poetry was recording events for prosperity; they were pro-motherland heroic chronicles. They encouraged serving and protecting your country, Making sure that the women left at home were safe, a glamorous part that all who were left behind would worship you for doing. Great propaganda for the warmongers and politicians of the time. Siegfried Sassoon was another poet who shared Owens views. In fact he encouraged Owen in his writing and introduced him to like minded writers, like Robert Graves. Graves displayed his feelings about war in a more distant but still factual way. Wilfred Owen set out to change the perception of the whole world. No sides were taken in his works; he confronted the reader with the real war, the dehumanising effect, the senseless agonys and hurt that war brings. Owen uses techniques of speech and present tense to lend urgency to his work. He constantly uses all senses, sight, sound, touch and smell. Another of the ways the author enforces the content of his work is by using alliteration rarely especially in mental cases. It would make the pace and rhythm too fast and detract from the sombre message it conveys. Owen uses onomatopoeia to strengthen the visions of horror that that he is portraying. A good example of this is in line 16 of Mental cases Batter of guns and shatter of flying muscles The sound of lives being torn apart, broken and wasted. Baring teeth that leer like skulls teeth wicked? This simile forces the image of men that are lucky to be alive. Or maybe, unlucky, depending on your opinion. My personal opinion is unlucky. The use of colour features strongly in both poems, but in distinctly different ways, in Mental cases Black is used to show us the darkness in these poor tormented soldiers minds, the darkness of blood in their dreams and the lack of light in their lives. In Disabled although colour is essentially imagining death and isolation, it also reiterates the fun and brightness of times past, times that will never be experienced again. I will look at the impact of all these techniques in Mental cases next. The imagery conjures up the casualties of a living hell. A hell thats trapped the victims inside their own minds. A hell that there is no escape from. Who are these? That sit they here in twilight? A strong question that starts the first of three stanzas. Who are they, who are they, and what are they? Purgatorial shadows Our first poignant introduction to the world of the soldiers condemned to an abyss of perdition. Commissioned to endure anguish and misery by the government they trusted. Colour is used throughout the poem; Twilight, shadows, blood black. It creates the impression of darkness, lost hope, and a living death that cannot be escaped. It encourages the slow mournful flow of the text. The use of men as animals in mental cases is symbolic. The connotations derived from this sets the readers mind in to a pitying spiral of horror. Owen uses simile and metaphor, Drooping tongues from jaws that slop their relish Shows men that have had their humanity wrenched from them. We see men that are in an ever lasting spiral of mental torture. A sadness and torment thats unbearable. Unimaginable, unbelievable. Soldiers that have had their humanity wrenched from them. The darkness of being trapped in a place akin to hell for what must seem like an eternity. A life where: Dawn breaks open like a wound that bleeds afresh Ensnared with ghosts nightmares revisited for company. Men who have lost, had their humanity ripped from them, and are reduced to the most basic of animal responses. Ever from their hair and through their hands palms We see the broken shells of men acting out compulsive actions, trying to remove the memories, the realities of times past. Memory fingers in their hair of murders The ever fresh torments of the carnage and deaths witnessed. The awareness of self preservation that lead to some of the horrors. Yet again the injustice and unfairness of war, is shown in the lines Treading blood from lungs that had loved laughter Always they must see these things and hear them Owen shows us some of the many haunting memories these men must endure, forced to turn there backs on other humans; wade through the maimed and dying in order to survive. These must be the worst horrors as its not just what the officialdom has ordered them to do, but what was essential for them to stay alive. Macabre words and imagery is strong throughout this poem, Wading sloughs of flesh these helpless wander This approach makes a distinct impression on me the reader. I also feel it echoes Owens intense opposition to the war. The final verse brings all the others together. The first stanza, with its rhetorical questions, making the reader ask how the men became the poor creatures that we see. The last line, the last question, Sleeping, and walk hell; but who these hellish uses ellipsis to clarify the question. The second verse illustrates the answers for us, giving us the knowledge that the combat they were sent into has caused the wrecks of men that we are visiting in the poem. Shocking emotion content is used to show us the humanity taken from them, the fact that they are human, real people not just statistics. Rucked too thick for these mens extraction A forceful end line to allegorize the grotesque carnage of war. By the last verse we know the cause and effect of war on these soldiers. Snatching after us who smote them, brother A sharp reminder of the combined guilt of the world, the responsibility we should feel for these men. This is reiterated in the last line, Pawing us who dealt them war and madness An arrow of words shooting the blame at us. Now I will look at the poem Disabled. Disabled is a much more straight forward poem, most people find physical wound easy to understand than mental scars. The opening line uses colour to set the scene, just like mental Cases does. He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark In his ghastly suit of grey The sombre bleak tone hits you straight away. The usage of deep despairing shades, of dark and grey implies the isolation of the soldier. We are introduced to a soldier that is obviously disabled Legless, sewn short at elbow. Straight forward so far but then we are given an insight into his mental turmoil, Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn, How unfair that he cant have fun, he cant run around and enjoy the simple pleasures in life. There is also a religious reference; Owen used religion in a lot of his works. We are given a glimpse of memories in the second verse. Memories that are strong and clear to him, memories that perhaps mock him and his affliction. About this time town used to swing so gay He is remembering the time when the town was a happy, warm carefree place for him. Then we have good use of alliteration And glow lamps budded in the light blue trees This is linked with another piece of alliteration And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim The use of colour to sets the scene of a balmy summers night, open to all sorts of possibilities, especially of a romantic nature. Then we are reminded of reality, we leave behind the memories of warmth and joy. These times belong to imagination and dreams only. Before he threw away his knees We see the soldier feeling that his loss was needless, the pomp and allure of patriotic duty seems far away, faint and faded. Now he will never feel again how slim girls waists are Gives us an insight into his physiological scars as well as physical. He knows that he cannot physically put his arms around a girls waist, but he also realises that no girl would want him now. All of them touch him like some queer disease We quickly realise that the soldier is a young man, a striking, handsome and popular boy. We see that he can but only yearn for what he will never again have, a life he took for granted, with the optimism of youth, and he knows that. He is condemned to women looking away from him, dismissing him as the look towards whole men. He cannot encircle girls waists; the sacrifice of his arms ensures that. He knows that it is natural to want strong husbands and fathers, providers not invalids wholl drain them financially and physically. We are told what a good catch he was before he went to war; we know that he was very fresh faced and handsome because an artist was desperate to be allowed to reproduce his likeness. But now war has ravaged his looks and prematurely aged him For it was younger than his youth, last year He knows that in the short space of a year his life has gone, has been wasted on some one elses ideals and morals. No more does he have a sexual or loving life to look forward to, And a leap of purple spurted from his thigh. The implications of this line are defiantly of a sexual nature, mimicry of ejaculation. Very erotic but we swap blood for semen. The irony is intense, the loss of limbs against the natural progression of creating new life. We are given a view of his carefree attitudes pre war, and his physical prowess. A blood smear down his leg After matches carried high The injury sustained during the match being carried like a badge of honour, more irony considering his present injuries. The sense of celebration because of his victory in battle is in stark contrast with the present day. Now we come to this carefree handsome young mans signing up. His reasons are youthful vanity, Someone said hed look like a god in kilts He is also looking back with hindsight wondering why he could have been so misled and brain washed into doing it. We also realise that hed drunk a peg, and thought it would impress the girls. But we also find out that he was underage Smiling they wrote his lie The authorities knew he was too young when he enlisted, but the conscripting crew didnt care. The lack of maturity and real understanding of what the war would be like didnt bother them at all. The fifth verse backs up his propaganda inspired reasoning, His visions of the glamour and benefits he would reap from the war. He wasnt really aroused by the enemy just aroused by the heroics and effects this would have on his life. We join in the celebrations awarded to him for going to war; we hear the Drums and cheers But the homecoming was a different story altogether. Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheers goal We are treated to a referral of the football match, but in comparison his welcome was very hollow. The battle of sport brought him more recognition, than when his broken body came home from the battles of war. We learn about the harsh unrelenting ungratefulness of human nature, because although the football victory was a much lesser achievement, he gets a lacklustre welcome home from the war. Outrageous as this attitude is it happened. The final stanza leaves the reader with a bitter taste. We see this young active vigorous man reduced to relying on the pity of others. He has become passive and is in total dependency on the whims of his carers, helpless. He has to wait for others to do the normal things in life that he cannot do for himself any more. Tonight he noticed how the womens eyes, Passed from him to the strong men that were whole Repeating again the losses that he was tricked into living with. More irony, he now has to rely on the women to put him to bed that he once would have had no trouble wooing into his bed. Why dont they come? A pitiful closing of a forgotten soldier, the soldier unwanted and ignored by his peers and government alike. So in summery now that I have juxtaposed these works, I find that both of the poems are strong and moving, both very visual and the impact makes the suffering endured very familiar to the reader, the horrors that are brought to light become only to real. We can all wonder how we would react to the pitiful maimed soldier in disabled, and maybe, too please his Meg She didnt stick around to be with him. Has she left him for a stronger man, a whole man? Has she let her eyes pass from him to the strong men that were whole? The embarrassment and pain that this attitude causes are the more of an injury to the soldier than his loss of limbs. More unseen scarring, whereas the scars in mental cases are all too obvious. And the blame for both is laid at our door, for we have Dealt them war and madness. Wilfred Owen expresses disgust for war using memorable and understandable imagery. We are to blame, we didnt fight against going to war, and we let the politicians seduce us. Snatching after us who smote them, brother he didnt have to beg Both of the poems are a shocking reminder of the effect to normal people that war freely gives out. In both works we are shown the pointlessness and damage of war, the cruel truths gathered from Owens own experiences. We are made to realise that the greatest suffering is not had by those killed on the battlefield, but by those who survive. Both poems show this the bitterness runs strong. In disabled the scars seem on the surface, Owens is very direct in his portrayal of this, He sat in a wheeled chair but then we begin to glimpse the unseen damage the constant haemorrhage of self, All of them touch him like some queer disease. The use of alliteration in Mental cases shows the scars much clearer, Multitudinous murders they once witnessed A hard hitting and numbing statement, Not only does it yet again point out the immorality of war, but leads use in to introspection of how we would cope if we had endured the same officially sanctioned terrors. We are left to contemplate the collective guilt.

Free Essays on Grandfathers Love

A Grandfathers Love When your young you really don't think about death or anyone close to you dying. You just expect everything to always stay the same. When I was young I was never faced with death or the concept that someone important to me would leave. I have learned that many experiences in life can teach you. This experience is one of them. When I was seven years old my great grandfather was told that he had bone cancer. Of course I didn't know what that meant I just knew that he was very sick. He lived with my great grandmother in the Sequoia Mountains so I didn't live very close to him but emotionally I felt very close. About six months later my family and I went to visit for Thanksgiving. I walked in the front door of his house and saw him lying in his recliner. His face was pale white, and he looked so sick. Even the feeling of the room felt different. It didn't seem like the warm house that smelled of my great grandma's famous raisin bread. Instead it felt cold and smelled of vomit. This was the first time I realized how seriously sick he was. I always thought of him as being this strong super hero type but when I saw him lying there he looked so fragile and helpless. I was even afraid to give him a hug. Later the next day my aunt arrived from Texas to visit for Thanksgiving. My mom asked me if I could go outside for a while and I asked why and she told me that she needed to give my grandfather a bath. As soon as I walked out the door tears dripped down my cold face. He really was helpless. I walked for at least an hour just thinking. As I walked I found this perfect pinecone and decided to bring it home. I remember handing him the pinecone and saying, "since you can't go hiking anymore, I thought that I would bring the outdoors to you." That week I spent all my time with him. Sometimes I would read to him and sometimes he would read to me. We would watch old Elvis movies on TV all day because there was an Elvis maratho... Free Essays on Grandfather's Love Free Essays on Grandfather's Love A Grandfathers Love When your young you really don't think about death or anyone close to you dying. You just expect everything to always stay the same. When I was young I was never faced with death or the concept that someone important to me would leave. I have learned that many experiences in life can teach you. This experience is one of them. When I was seven years old my great grandfather was told that he had bone cancer. Of course I didn't know what that meant I just knew that he was very sick. He lived with my great grandmother in the Sequoia Mountains so I didn't live very close to him but emotionally I felt very close. About six months later my family and I went to visit for Thanksgiving. I walked in the front door of his house and saw him lying in his recliner. His face was pale white, and he looked so sick. Even the feeling of the room felt different. It didn't seem like the warm house that smelled of my great grandma's famous raisin bread. Instead it felt cold and smelled of vomit. This was the first time I realized how seriously sick he was. I always thought of him as being this strong super hero type but when I saw him lying there he looked so fragile and helpless. I was even afraid to give him a hug. Later the next day my aunt arrived from Texas to visit for Thanksgiving. My mom asked me if I could go outside for a while and I asked why and she told me that she needed to give my grandfather a bath. As soon as I walked out the door tears dripped down my cold face. He really was helpless. I walked for at least an hour just thinking. As I walked I found this perfect pinecone and decided to bring it home. I remember handing him the pinecone and saying, "since you can't go hiking anymore, I thought that I would bring the outdoors to you." That week I spent all my time with him. Sometimes I would read to him and sometimes he would read to me. We would watch old Elvis movies on TV all day because there was an Elvis maratho...

Foods Role in the Evolution of the Human Jaw

Foods Role in the Evolution of the Human Jaw You may have heard the old adage that you should chew your food, especially meat, at least 32 times before you try to swallow it. While that may be overkill for some types of soft food like ice cream or even bread, chewing, or lack thereof, may have actually contributed to the reasons human jaws became smaller and why we now have smaller numbers of teeth in those jaws. What Caused the Decrease in Size of the Human Jaw? Researchers at Harvard University in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology now believe that the decrease in size of the human jaw was, in part, directed by the fact that human ancestors began to â€Å"process† their foods before they ate them. This does not mean adding artificial colors or flavors or the type of processing of food we think of today, but rather mechanical changes to the food such as cutting meat into smaller pieces or mashing fruits, vegetables, and grains into bite sized, small jaw friendly amounts. Without the large pieces of food that needed to be chewed more times to get them to pieces that could be swallowed safely, the human ancestors’ jaws did not have to be so large. Fewer teeth are needed in modern humans compared to their predecessors. For instance, wisdom teeth are now considered vestigial structures in humans when they were necessary in many of the human ancestors. Since jaw size has considerably gotten smaller throughout the evolution of humans, there is not enough room in some people’s jaws to comfortably fit the extra set of molars. Wisdom teeth were necessary when humans’ jaws were bigger and the food needed more chewing to be fully processed before being able to be swallowed safely. The Evolution of Human Teeth Not only did the human jaw shrink in size, so did the size of our individual teeth. While our molars and even bicuspids or pre-molars are still larger and flatter than our incisors and canine teeth, they are much smaller than the molars of our ancient ancestors. Before, they were the surface upon which grains and vegetables were ground into processed pieces that could be swallowed. Once the early humans figured out how to use various food preparation tools, the processing of the food happened outside of the mouth. Instead of needing large, flat surfaces of teeth, they could use tools to mash these types of foods on tables or other surfaces. Communication and Speech While the size of the jaw and the teeth were important milestones in the evolution of humans, it created more of a change in habits besides just how many times food was chewed before swallowed. Researchers believe the smaller teeth and jaws led to changes in communication and speech patterns, may have something to do with how our body processed changes in heat, and could even have affected the evolution of the human brain in areas that controlled these other traits. The actual experiment performed at Harvard University used 34 people in different experimental groups. One set of groups dined on vegetables early humans would have had access to, while another group got to chew on some goat meat- a type of meat that would have been plentiful and easy for those early humans to hunt and eat. The first round of the experiment involved the participants chewing completely unprocessed and uncooked foods. How much force was used with each bite was measured and the participants spit back out the fully chewed meal to see how well it was processed. The next round â€Å"processed† the foods the participants would chew. This time, the food was mashed or ground up using tools the human ancestors may have been able to find or make for food preparation purposes. Finally, another round of experiments were performed by slicing and cooking the foods. The results showed that the study participants used less energy and were able to eat the processed foods much more easily than those that were left â€Å"as is† and unprocessed. Natural Selection Once these tools and food preparation methods were widespread throughout the population, natural selection found that a larger jaw with more teeth and oversized jaw muscles were unnecessary. Individuals with smaller jaws, fewer teeth, and smaller jaw muscles became more common in the population. With the energy and time saved from chewing, hunting became more prevalent and more meat was incorporated into the diet. This was important for early humans because animal meat has more calories available, so more energy was then able to be used for life functions. This study found the more processed the food, the easier it was for the participants to eat. Could this be why the mega-processed food we find today on our supermarket shelves are often high in caloric value? The ease of eating processed foods is often cited as a reason for the obesity epidemic. Perhaps our ancestors who were trying to survive by using less energy for more calories have contributed to the state of modern human sizes.

Monetary policies and how they affect various sectors of the economy Term Paper

Monetary policies and how they affect various sectors of the economy - Term Paper Example A proper monetary policy is essential for the growth of the economy. The rate of interest and the inflation rate in the economy are the major factors which would determine what monetary policy would be implemented in the economy. The rate of interests existing in an economy is under the control of the central bank. The monetary policy is governed by the principles of demand and supply. In order to control to taper the amount of liquidity in the economy the central bank would increase the rates of interest of the bonds. As a result people would cut down on their spending and would park their funds in the bonds. This is done because the opportunity cost of spending would be very high. The aggregate demand as a result would come down and therefore the total production of the economy would come down. This would lead to a reduction in the amount of liquidity in the economy. On the other hand when the central bank wants to increase the amount of liquidity it reduces the rates of interest. As a result the people stop keeping the money in the banks and start spending. Thus the amount of liquidity in the economy increases. Thus through the conduct of the monetary policy the central bank not only controls the money market in the economy but also influences the commodity market. This happens because the aggregate demand of the economy would depend on the amount of money that the individuals have with them for spending. The central bank however does not come into direct contact with the general public. However, they regulate the money supply through interaction with the commercial banks. The inductive effect falls on the common people (Mankiw 482). The apex banks generally change the short term interest rates more frequently which affect the long term rate of interests. The central bank would take the help of various tools to tackle the monetary policy of the country. These tools have been explained subsequently. Open Market Operations The most popular tool used by the cen tral bank of a country is through the buying and selling of the bonds and government securities. This method helps the bank to increase or decrease the amount of liquidity in the economy depending on the inflationary pressures. The short term interest rates are manipulated by the central banks and thereby influencing the supply of money in the economy. When the central banks want to increase the amount of liquidity in the economy it goes to the open market and buys the government securities. The cash going out of the fund of the central bank actually comes out into the economy thereby increasing the monetary base. On the other hand when the central bank wants to reduce the money supply it sells the bonds or the securities in the market and the money comes into the possession of the central bank. The monetary base of the economy gets reduced and thereby liquidity is controlled by the central bank (Arnold 311). The chief reasons for conducting such open market operation are to control the level of inflation in the economy. However, the government takes the help of the debt instruments for conducting this technique. These instruments are generally the short term ones. Changes in Reserve Requirements Every bank operating in an economy has to maintain necessary reserve requirements with the central bank of the country. Being the apex body of all the banks the central bank is the regulatory controller of the commercial ba