Children of the City :: essays research papers

Water Imagery in â€Å"Children of the City†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rain has always been an important symbol in life. It is one of very few actions that can be both destructive and harsh, but at the same time constructive and life-giving. Throughout literature the visual image of rain is usually connected to feelings of sorrow, death, and despair. The most commonly known example of this would be in Hemingway’s â€Å"Farewell to Arms†. Hemingway uses the rain to tell of peoples negative emotions, so it is easy to take that idea into other readings. Outside of literature, however, rain is seen as being connected to positive thoughts of growth, prosperity and cleansing. In this story of adolescent love the author uses the presence of water to saturate the subjects with these positive feelings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At the beginning the author introduces the rain as â€Å"urban† in contrast to â€Å"field or shore† rain. Immediately the image of urban rain is less threatening than that of a field or shore. It gives the reader a playful image of almost being teased by the rain. In the city one has to hide from it and jump from umbrellas to awnings, yet never has to worry about the danger of being caught in it for too long. These playful and teasing characteristics of the rain are the exact guidelines to the relationship between the two main characters. The rain represents the couple’s emotion and they experiment with it just like in a real adolescent relationship. They see how long they can be drenched by its passion, nevertheless they return to the overhangs not knowing how much of it they can handle.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Looking at it in a biblical sense, the rain is both destructive to them and helping their relationship grow. God sent the flood down to man because of our sins causing much destruction, but at the same time giving us a rebirth and purification. Too much rain may flood their relationship with emotion; however this â€Å"urban† rain teases them and lets them feel free and pure. The idea of the rain giving growth to their relationship is seen in the lines ending â€Å"a scrawny tree,† and â€Å"their forested way†. Alone they are fruitless and scrawny, yet together they are given life by the rain to create an entire forest.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Conversely, after all that the rain has provided them with the author’s last mention is that of a negative connotation.

Film Review: Sleepless In Seattle Essay

When Hollywood makes a movie about a spouse who has lost a significant other, the story usually evolves around the wife. How she deals with the loss, the grief, her support group and how she manages to get her life back on track for the sake of her children and herself. But Sleepless In Seattle is a totally different kind of widower movie. The movie released in 1993 was helmed by Nora Ephron from a story by Jeff Arch, the movie casts a pre Oscar winner Tom Hanks as the widower Sam Baldwin who is learning to cope with the loss of his wife, raising his son Jonah ( as portrayed by Ross Malinger) alone and helping the child to adjust to life without his mother, as well as trying to get his own personal life back on track. The movie is based upon the old plot of a grieving widow who needs to get on with life. Its plotline centers on the little known truth that men also grieve when their spouse is taken away from him by illness and death. Tom Hanks is highly effective as the spouse who is so deeply affected by his wife’s death that he practically places his life on hold except for the basic things that he needs to do such as raise his son and earn a living. Although his friends and family rallied to his side upon the death of his wife either by attending the funeral, being more active and present in his and his child’s life, even going as far as to refer him to support groups and psychiatrists in order to help him deal with his loss, Sam still feels alone and keeps his grief to himself. For him, the best solution seemed to be to move to another place and try to start life anew. He chooses to be alone with his memories of his wife and deal with his grief privately and alone, but his son has other ideas. Little Jonah has decided that his dad has grieved enough (it has been a year since his mother died) and his dad needs serious help. So one night, the boy sneaks a phone call to a radio psychologist and relates the personal turmoil of his father. The doctor then asks to speak to his father in order to help him and advise him about how to let go of the memory of his wife and move on with life. The doctor gives him the handle Sleepless in Seattle while advising him to move on with his life because his son now believes that he needs a wife to care for them. The movie dealt with the reality that the death of a spouse is not easy for the widowed husband or wife. The remaining spouse has to accept the reality that the life he once had with his wife, that which made him feel happy and complete has come to an abrupt end. In her personal blog, a woman who simply goes by the name Sara indicated that men deal with the loss of the wife in a different manner because widows â€Å"tend to lose their social networks since their wives the family ‘kinkeepers. ’ According to the article Good Grief: Bouncing Back From a Spouse’s Death in Late Life, Deborah Carr indicates that certain personal and social factors should be considered when helping the widower move on with his life. 1 Sara makes references to this article in her blog wherein she argues that (as cited in Carr, 2007 ) â€Å"the age of the husband and wife, how the spouse died, and what the couple’s life was like prior to the death are the most important factors that influence spousal bereavement. † In the movie, Sam embodies this personal turmoil by refusing to go on with his life and continuing to mourn her death one year later. Instead of accepting the death of his wife and moving on, he wallows on the what if’s of their married life. Socially husbands tend to grieve for a longer period of time because of the way his wife becomes the crutch of his life. He does not know how to move on without his wife because of his emotional need to hold on to the past memories of his wife. Sam Baldwin solidly illustrates how a man is lost without his wife. Without her, he lost his desire to dream and achieve more in life because his muse has passed on. He chooses to just live day to day with the hope that eventually, he will stop hurting emotionally. In reality, a man who loses his wife has a tendency to lose his place in the social circles because it was the duty of the wife to set the family social calendar. Sam Baldwin also showed us the difficulty of having to raise a child in a single parent environment where the grieving and closure process has not been completed. Widowed men also have to deal with the reality that he is now in charge of the household and has to portray the role of mother, wife, father, and financial provider all at the same time. Although considered to be a lightweight romantic comedy, Sleepless in Seattle gives us a realistic look into the life of a grieving husband. The situations portrayed in the movie do happen to male widows in real life. Due to the loss of the wife, the husband can experience a rollercoaster of emotions. . 2 According to the website planet-therapy. com, in its section regarding Grief: Living with the death of a partner, a grieving widow experiences a gamut of emotions ranging from â€Å"feelings of sadness, despair, emptiness, anger and guilt, restlessness and sleep problems, and a sense of inadequacy and concerns about health and well-being. † In the movie, as Sam Baldwin speaks to the psychologist over the radio, he shares the same list of his grieving experiences with the listeners. Today’s modern society tends to be more helpful of a spouse who has lost his or her partner through death rather than divorce. Mainly because it is harder for a spouse to get over the death of a spouse rather than what is usually a nasty divorce proceeding. The grieving widow needs more reassurance in life because, if a spouse is lost due to illness, such as the case with Sam Baldwin, his life will effectively be placed on hold until the death of the spouse which will then leave the husband or wife as a socially disconnected entity who will need to rebuild the personality he once had. Society accepts that it is easier for a divorcee to move on with life. Therefore there is no real need to be an emotional crutch to this person because he or she will want to celebrate the newly gained freedom. In the case of a widower, the death of the spouse usually becomes a traumatic experience wherein the living spouse become uncertain about how to socialize with people and get on with his life. Sometimes, the widow even goes so far as to consider himself or herself a jinx and vows never to remarry. Between the two, the widows need more reassurance and push towards reclaiming the life he once had or could have once the grief is conquered. This is why in the movie, Sam’s friends rally to his side and help him deal with his reentrance into the social circle. From dating advise, to sexual advice, this is the support group that helped Sam realize that he can let go of his wife’s memory without dishonoring the same. In reality, a widow tends to continue to speak with the deceased spouse long after death and fiercely holds on to the memory of the deceased even to the point of continuing with their old traditions even if he or she must do it alone. But in the case of Sam, he voluntarily reactivates his social life in an effort to get over his grief and possibly find a mother for his son who needs female guidance as well. In the movie, Sam chooses to eventually go on with his life after the radio consultation causes an influx of postal mail from various single women across the land pour into his home. This is where the story reaches its complicated plot line. Sam does not show any interest in the mail he receives because he is the kind of man who believes in the old fashioned dating game. He has a few bad dates before finally settling on one woman whom he considers a potential candidate for the role of wife and mother in his family. The problem is that Jonah believes more in fate and makes his choice on the basis of a letter from Annie Reed. A hopeless romantic whose favorite movie is A Love Affair. Incidentally, A Love Affair plays a pivotal part in the movie as it is used as the reference for the final, climactic scene at the Empire State Building. Although the movie is well crafted and has a good script, I am deeply disturbed with the way the characters of Jonah Baldwin and his friend Jessica were portrayed. With a maturity beyond their ages, and an unbelievably good grasp of adult issues, it is quite disconcerting to watch these two kids work their way around adults to the point of using emotional blackmail to get the parent to do as the child wants. I am willing to accept that Sam and Annie were meant to be together. But the way they got together is one that would drive a parent to the brink of worry and insanity while totally rejecting any positive outcomes such a scenario may present to all the parties concerned. Had this movie really been based on reality, I sincerely doubt that Sam would have dropped everything and hopped on a plane for New York to find the errant child. In reality, the parent would be on the telephone with the police trying to coordinate a cross country search since nobody is really sure as to where the child would end up in a city as huge as New York and how. The fact that the child was not punished but instead cuddled in the end by the worried father delivers a bad message as far as I am concerned. To me, it says â€Å"Hey, dad does not want to do what I want. I will run away from home. â€Å" We all know how that scenario would have really ended n reality and therefore should have not have been included in the movie. The movie can be considered a chick flick because it caters to the romantic notions held dearly by women while the men are considered clueless most of the time. When not being regarded as the unbelievably gullible opposite sex. The movie asks us to suspend disbelief for over an hour as we wait to discover if these two people will finally meet and how will that meeting end? The references to the primitive internet of the time was a wonderful throwback to an era when America was still discovering what things could be done online. Basically a well executed movie, Sleepless in Seattle is a movie made for those who believe that fate and karma will bring love your way even if you have lost hope. I do find it hard to believe though, that two people who do not meet until the very end of the movie and shared no more than a minute glance at each other in the middle of the movie will have an ever after ending. Footnotes 1 See Sara’s blog section number 13entitled Relating to Family Transitions (2007) for the full content of the article Good Grief: Bouncing Back From A Spouse’s Death in Late Life by Deborah Carr 2 See planet-therapy. com (2007) specially the sections relating to grief and loss, death of a partner, solutions for people who lose a partner, and possibilities for change after the death of a partner. Work Cited Foster Gary (Producer). Ephron, Nora (Director). (1993). Sleepless in Seattle [Motion Picture]. United States: TriStar Pictures. Planet Therapy. (n. d. ). Grief and Loss. Retrieved 21 August 2007 from http://planet-therapy. com/pub/gen_problems/grief/grief-2. html. Sara. (2007, April 26). Family Transitions [Blog 13]. Message posted to http://quicksa. blogspot. com/

Karl Marx

Karl Heinrich Marx â€Å"If I had 26 letters of the alphabet I could rule the world.? †Those are the words of one of the greatest philosophers. Karl Heinrich Mark, â€Å"The Founder, or the Father of Modern communism and Marxism† was born May 1818-July 1883. Karl was born into a wealthy family. (1) He was one of the most infamous philosophers and tacticians in the socioeconomic structure of our times. He was however infamous to many people because of his political, economic and social views. Mr. Marx was also very influential to many significant people and countries worldwide. (2) Even today people use and elaborate on his quotes.His views continue to be debated and applied in today’s society. Karl Marx is dubbed the â€Å"father of Communism†, and wrote his Communist Manifesto in 1848, with Friedrich Engel's. (3) Economically, he opined that capitalism is very unfair and dehumanizing, in that the laborers or the masses were meant to work for a few rich pe ople who profit by paying very low wages. (2) He however noted the defining features of capitalism as alienation, exploitation and reoccurring, cyclical  depressions  leading to mass unemployment;(1) on the other hand capitalism is also characterized by â€Å"revolutionizing, industrializing urbanization. 3)  Marx considered the capitalist class to be one of the most revolutionary in history, because it constantly improved the means of production, more so than any other class in history, and was responsible for the overthrow of  feudalism  and its transition to capitalism. (4-5)   Capitalism can stimulate considerable growth because the capitalist can, and has an incentive to; reinvest profits in new technologies and  capital equipment. Karl Marx believed that throughout history, since the feudal ages, proletariats (working class) have been abused by higher classes, especially bourgeoisie (middle class).In Communism, proletariats are in power, and the sharing of the w ealth and business would be run by the worker’s themselves. . Today labor unions adopt the principle of deciding their own wages and seeking good working condition and can go on strike if their demands are not met. There is collective bargaining by workers Socially Karl Marx’  theories  on these changes happening around him are based around the idea of different stages that society goes through. He believes there are five stages in society and these are: tribal communism, slavery, feudalism, capitalism and finally ommunism. Most western societies have already gone through the first three stages and at the time of Marx were going through the fourth stages, as most still are. (2)Marx talks a lot about production, he theorizes that the part you play in the method of production affects the role you have in society as a whole. Each stage in society has a different production system in place. So in a capitalist society somebody who owns the means of production, the bourg eoisie, is the top of the social rank as they hold the power.The rest of society, the proletariats rely in the bourgeoisie to provide them with job so they have the  money  to survive. There will always be groups who have the power the oppressor, while the rest are the oppressed; those without any power who have to rely on others to provide them with money  so they are able to live. These two groups do not share the same interests. Marx saw this as class conflict, he believed that with time the conflict between the two would grow so great that the oppressed would rise up against the oppressor and society would move on to  the next  stage.In his opinion  the next  stage would be communism, his idea of the perfect society. The world is pretty much how Marx described it 150 years ago, which is quite impressive in itself,† Tormey said. â€Å"This is to say that we now have a more or less integrated world capitalist system, with a global rich and global poor — as Marx predicted. There is huge exploitation across all societies — the proliferation of sweatshops and export processing zones are all very much in keeping with Marx’s account. The peasantry is being systematically wiped out in a global process of dispossession, and of course social democracy, which started as a form of ultra moderate ‘Marxism,' Marxism-lite if you like, is in retreat in all areas where it once enjoyed hegemony,† he added. Politically The Soviets, Chinese, and other Communist states were at most based along. Marxist beliefs ch Communist leaders as Vladimir Ilyich  Lenin, Joseph  Stalin, and  Mao Zedong even Hitler  loyally claimed Marxist orthodoxy for their pronouncements which produced an egalitarian political society. 3) This led to evolution of varied forms of welfare capitalism, the improved condition of workers in industrial societies, and the recent demise of the Communist bloc in Eastern Europe and Central Asia have tende d to discredit Marx's dire and deterministic economic predictions. (4) In the Third World, a legacy of colonialism and anti-imperialist struggle has given Marxism popular support. In Africa, Marxism has had notable impact in such nations as Ethiopia, Benin, Angola, Kenya, and Senegal. In less stable societies Marxism's combination of materialist analysis with a militant sense of justice remains a powerful attraction. Karl Marx The first article speaking about it the power of the communist manifesto and the power it has in Europe. Usually all of the political parties in opposition of the current government go to the ideology of the communist manifesto adapting it in several languages in the Europe from English, French, German, Italian, and Danish languages. From the Karl Marx perspective it focuses on the struggles of the classes the rich and poor. The only way, how this level could ever be resolved is through a revolution or contending of the classes. In the days of history, we noticed that the arrangements of society in placed into various orders, and by social ranks. This was done in the Middle Ages with great empires. The modern bourgeois society has established new classes, new conditions of oppression, and new forms of struggle in place of old ones. In the views of Karl Marx it places two great classes; the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The colonialization of the Americas and the controlling of the Chinese and Indian Markets allowed for the Bourgeoisie to continue to rise using the raw materials and resources of the new lands. In the area of industrialization is when the two classes became more apart than anything else when the bourgeoisie would do nothing while the proletariat did most of the work and were working in poor conditions including child labor. As it turns out to be the bourgeoisie became richer and had the advantages of political advances of that class. As the argument states that either republic or monarchy governance support the interest of the in the bourgeoisie. The current state is only a committee for the managing of the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie. It has said that the bourgeoisie has destroyed the family relations because the individual is focused on self-interest only calling it a cash payment. It has destroyed the main purposes of society in which are religious activities, chivalrous enthusiasm, and sentimentalism and given the icy water of egotistical approach. It has given the meaning of anything personal as an exchange of value in the place of costless freedoms. An enable of this is the world Free Trade, in one word means exploitation veiled by religious and political illusions, it is substituted naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation. According to the view of Karl Marx, the bourgeoisie has basically stripped the occupations of the honored physician, lawyer, priest, or poet into paid wage laborers. It has turn away from the family it sentimental veil and reduce the family into a money relation. The bourgeoisie cannot exist without the changing the instruments of production and the relations of production and with them the relations of society. The need for the constant expanding of the markets and its products get the bourgeoisie to the surface of the world, not caring where to settle. The bourgeoisie though its exploitation of the world market given the character to production consumption in every country. The old fashion states controlled national industries have been destroyed or are daily being destroyed. The introduction of the new industries becomes a life and death question for all civilized nations; those do not work up indigenous raw material around in the globe. The bourgeoisie by the rapid movement of its instruments of production allowed for the expansion of communication creating the civilizations in these nations. The cheap prices of commodities are what allow other countries to adapt to the way of the bourgeoisie. This class has subjected the country to the rule of towns and small people. It created enormous cities that increased the urban population as compared with the rural, and only rescued a considerable part of the population from the rural life. Just as it has made the country dependent on the towns, so it has countries dependent on the civilized ones, nations of peasants on nations of bourgeois, including the East and West. According to the view, this is a necessary consequence of this because of political centralization. Independent and loosely tied connected provinces, with separate interests, laws, governments, and systems of taxation, became into one nation with one government, one code of laws, one national class interest, and on customs-tariff. The proportion the bourgeoisie provide including capital is developed to the same proportion of the proletariat, the modern working class, developed a class of labor who live only as they find work and do so by long as their labor increases capital. The labors, who sell themselves piecemeal are a commodity like other articles of commerce and are exposed the product into competition for the markets. Owing the extensive use of the machinery, division of labor, the work of the proletarians has lost all individual character, and the charm of the workman. The cost of the production of a workman is restricted to the means of subsistence that he requires maintenance and for the propagation of his race. The price of a commodity and labor is equal to the cost of the production. In proportion, as the repulsiveness of the work increases, the wage decreases and the use of machinery and division of labor increases the burden of toil also increases and the prolongation of the working hours, by the increase of the work exacted in a given time or by increased speed of machinery. The less the skill and exertion of strength by the manual labor, in other words, the more modern industry becomes developed, the labor of men superseded by that of women. Differences of age and sex have no longer and distinctive social validity for the working class. The instruments of labor, less or more expensive to use, are according to their age and sex. Karl Marx Karl Marx was born in Trier, in the German Rhineland, in 1818. Although his family was Jewish they converted to Christianity so that his father could pursue his career as a lawyer in the face of Prussia's anti-Jewish laws. A precocious schoolchild, Marx studied law in Bonn and Berlin, and then wrote a PhD thesis in Philosophy, comparing the views of Democritus and Epicurus.On completion of his doctorate in 1841 Marx hoped for an academic job, but he had already fallen in with too radical a group of thinkers and there was no real hope. Turning to journalism Marx rapidly became involved in political and social issues, and soon found himself having to consider communist theory. Of his many early writings, four, in particular stand out.‘Contribution to a Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, Introduction’, and ‘On The Jewish Question’, were both written in 1843 and published in the Deutsch-Franzà ¶sische Jahrbà ¼cher. The Economic and Philosophical Manuscri pts, written in Paris 1844, and the ‘Theses on Feuerbach’ of 1845 remained unpublished in Marx's lifetime.Karl Marx (1818-1883) is best known not as a philosopher but as a revolutionary communist, whose works inspired the foundation of many communist regimes in the twentieth century. It is hard to think of many who have had as much influence in the creation of the modern world. Trained as a philosopher, Marx turned away from philosophy in his mid-twenties, towards economics and politics.However, in addition to his overtly philosophical early work, his later writings have many points of contact with contemporary philosophical debates, especially in the philosophy of history and the social sciences, and in moral and political philosophy. Historical materialism — Marx's theory of history — is centered around the idea that forms of society rise and fall as they further and then impede the development of human productive power. Marx sees the historical process as proceeding through a necessary series of modes of production, culminating in communism.Marx's economic analysis of capitalism is based on his version of the labour theory of value, and includes the analysis of capitalist profit as the extraction of surplus value from the exploited proletariat. The analysis of history and economics come together in Marx's prediction of the inevitable breakdown of capitalism for economic reasons, to be replaced by communism. However Marx refused to speculate in detail about the nature of communism, arguing that it would arise through historical processes, and was not the realisation of a pre-determined moral ideal.In this text Marx begins to make clear the distance between him and that of his radical liberal colleagues among the Young Hegelians; in particular Bruno Bauer. Bauer had recently written against Jewish emancipation, from an atheist perspective, arguing that the religion of both Jews and Christians was a barrier to emancipation. In respon ding to Bauer Marx makes one of the most enduring arguments from his early writings, by means of introducing a distinction between political emancipation — essentially the grant of liberal rights and liberties — and human emancipation.Marx's reply to Bauer is that political emancipation is perfectly compatible with the continued existence of religion, as the example of the United States demonstrates then. However, pushing matters deeper, in an argument reinvented by innumerable critics of liberalism, Marx argues that not only is political emancipation insufficient to bring about human emancipation, it is in some sense also a barrier. Liberal rights and ideas of justice are premised on the idea that each of us needs protection from other human beings. Therefore liberal rights are designed to protect usfrom such perceived threats. Freedom on such a view, is freedom from interference. What this view overlooks is the possibility — for Marx, the fact — that re al freedom is to be found positively in our relations with other people. It is to be found in human community, not in isolation. So insisting on a regime of rights encourages us to view each other in ways which undermine the possibility of the real freedom we may find in human emancipation.Now we should be clear that Marx does not oppose political emancipation, for he clearly sees that liberalism is a great improvement on the systems of prejudice and discrimination which existed in the Germany of his day. Nevertheless such politically emancipated liberalism must be transcended on the route to genuine human emancipation. Unfortunately Marx never tells us what human emancipation is, although it is clear that it is closely related to the idea of non-alienated labour which we will explore belowThis work is home to the Marx's notorious remark that religion is the ‘opiate of the people’, and it is here that Marx sets out his account of religion in most detail. Just as importa ntly Marx here also considers the question of how revolution might be achieved in Germany, and sets out the role of the proletariat in bringing about the emancipation of society as a whole.With regard to religion, Marx fully accepted Feuerbach's claim in opposition to traditional theology that human beings had created God in their own image; indeed a view that long pre-dated Feuerbach. Feuerbach's distinctive contribution was to argue that worshipping God diverted human beings from enjoying their own human powers. While accepting much of Feuerbach's account Marx's criticizes Feuerbach on the grounds that he has failed to understand why people fall into religious alienation and so is unable to explain how it can be transcended. Marx's explanation, of course, is that religion is a response to alienation in material life, and cannot be removed until human material life is emancipated, at which point religion will wither away.Precisely what it is about material life that creates religio n is not set out with complete clarity. However it seems that at least two aspects of alienation are responsible. One is alienated labour, which will be explored shortly. A second is the need for human beings to assert their communal essence. Whether or not we explicitly recognize it, human beings exist as a community, and what makes human life possible is our mutual dependence on the vast network of social and economic relations which engulf us all, even though this is rarely acknowledged in our day-to-day life. Marx's view appears to be that we must, somehow or other, acknowledge our communal existence in our institutions.At first it is ‘deviously acknowledged’ by religion, which creates a false idea of a community in which we are all equal in the eyes of God. After the post-Reformation fragmentation of religion, where religion is no longer able to play the role even of a fake community of equals, the state fills this need by offering us the illusion of a community of citizens, all equal in the eyes of the law. But the state and religion will both be transcended when a genuine community of social and economic equals is created.Of course we are owed an answer to how such a society could be created. It is interesting to read Marx here in the light of his third Thesis on Feuerbach where he indicates how it will not happen. The crude materialism of Robert Owen and others assumes that you can change people by changing their circumstances. However, how are those circumstances to be changed?By an enlightened philanthropist like Owen who can miraculously break through the chain of determination which ties down everyone else? Marx's response, in both the Theses and the Critique, is that the proletariat can break free only by their own self-transforming action. Indeed if they do not create the revolution for themselves — guided, of course, by the philosopher — they will not be fit to receive it.The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts cove r a wide range of topics including much interesting material on private property and communism, and on money, as well as developing Marx's critique of Hegel. However, they are best known for their account of alienated labour. Here Marx famously depicts the worker under capitalism as suffering from four types of alienated labour. First, from the product, which as soon as it is created is taken away from its producer. Second, in productive activity (work) which is experienced as a torment. Third, from species-being, for humans produce blindly and not in accordance with their truly human powers.Finally from other human beings, where the relation of exchange replaces mutual need. That these categories overlap in some respects is not a surprise given Marx's remarkable methodological ambition in these writings. Essentially he attempts to apply a Hegelian deduction of categories to economics, trying to demonstrate that all the categories of bourgeois economics — wages, rent, exchang e, profit etc- are ultimately derived from an analysis of the concept of alienation. Consequently each category of alienated labour is supposed to be deducible from the previous one.However, Marx gets no further than deducing categories of alienated labour from each other. Quite possibly in the course of writing he came to understand that a different methodology is required for approaching economic issues. Nevertheless we are left with a very rich text on the nature of alienated labour. The idea of non-alienation has to be inferred from the negative, with the assistance of one short passage at the end of the text ‘On James Mill’ in which non-alienated labour is briefly described in terms which emphasise both the immediate producer's enjoyment of production as a confirmation of his or her powers, and also the idea that production is to meet the needs of others, thus confirming for both parties our human essence as mutual dependence. Both sides of our species essence are revealed here: our individual human powers and our membership in the human community.It is important to understand that for Marx alienation is not merely a matter of subjective feeling, or confusion. The bridge between Marx's early analysis of alienation and his later social theory is the idea that the alienated individual is ‘a plaything of alien forces’, albeit alien forces which are themselves a product of human action. In our daily lives we take decisions that have unintended consequences, which then combine to create large-scale social forces which may have an utterly unpredicted effect.In Marx's view the institutions of capitalism — themselves the consequences of human behaviour — come back to structure our future behaviour, determining the possibilities of our action. For example, for as long as a capitalist intends to stay in business he must exploit his workers to the legal limit. Whether wracked by guilt or not the capitalist must act as a ruthle ss exploiter. Similarly the worker must take the best job on offer; there is simply no other sane option. But by doing this we reinforce the very structures that oppress us. The urge to transcend this condition, and to take collective control of our destiny — whatever that would mean in practice — is one of the motivating and sustaining elements of Marx's attraction to communism.The Theses on Feuerbach contain one of Marx's most memorable remarks ‘the philosophers have only interpreted the world, the point is to change it’ (thesis 11). However the eleven theses as a whole provide, in the compass of a couple of pages, a remarkable digest of Marx's reaction to the philosophy of his day. Several of these have been touched on already (for example the discussions of religion in theses 4, 6 and 7, and revolution in thesis 3) so here I will concentrate only on the first, most overtly philosophy, thesis.In the first thesis Marx states his objections to ‘all hitherto existing’ materialism and idealism. Materialism is complimented for understanding the physical reality of the world, but is criticised for ignoring the active role of the human subject in creating the world we perceive. Idealism, at least as developed by Hegel, understands the active nature of the human subject, but confines it to thought or contemplation: the world is created through the categories we impose upon it.Marx combines the insights of both traditions to propose a view in which human beings do indeed create — or at least transform — the world they find themselves in, but this transformation happens not in thought but through actual material activity; not through the imposition of sublime concepts but through the sweat of their brow, with picks and shovels. This historical version of materialism, which transcends and thus rejects all existing philosophical thought, is the foundation of Marx's later theory of history. As Marx puts it in the 184 4 Manuscripts, ‘Industry is the real historical relationship of nature †¦ to man’. This thought, derived from reflection on the history of philosophy, sets the agenda for all Marx's future workCapitalism is distinctive, Marx argues, in that it involves not merely the exchange of commodities, but the advancement of capital, in the form of money, with the purpose of generating profit through the purchase of commodities and their transformation into other commodities which can command a higher price, and thus yield a profit. Marx claims that no previous theorist has been able adequately to explain how capitalism as a whole can make a profit. Marx's own solution relies on the idea of exploitation of the worker. In setting up conditions of production the capitalist purchases the worker's labour power — his ability to labour — for the day.The cost of this commodity is determined in the same way as the cost of every other; i.e. in terms of the amount of soci ally necessary labour power required to produce it. In this case the value of a day's labour power is the value of the commodities necessary to keep the worker alive for a day. Suppose that such commodities take four hours to produce. Thus the first four hours of the working day is spent on producing equivalent to the value of the wages the worker will be paid. This is known as necessary labour. Any work the worker does above this is known as surplus labour, producing surplus value for the capitalist.Surplus value, according to Marx, is the source of all profit. In Marx's analysis labour power is the only commodity which can produce more value than it is worth, and for this reason it is known as variable capital. Other commodities simply pass their value on to the finished commodities, but do not create any extra value. They are known as constant capital. Profit, then, is the result of the labour performed by the worker beyond that necessary to create the value of his or her wages. This is the surplus value theory of profit.ReferenceKarl Marx, `On the Jewish Question`: alienated labor, private property, and communism

Ice and the Density of Water

Ice and the Density of Water Why does ice float on top of water rather than sink, like most solids? There are two parts to the answer to this question. First, lets take a look at why anything floats. Then, lets examine why ice floats on top of liquid water, instead of sinking to the bottom. Why Ice Floats A substance floats if it is less dense, or has less mass per unit volume, than other components in a mixture. For example, if you toss a handful of rocks into a bucket of water, the rocks, which are dense compared to the water, will sink. The water, which is less dense than the rocks, will float. Basically, the rocks push the water out of the way or displace it. For an object to be able to float, it has to displace a weight of fluid equal to its own weight. Water reaches its maximum density at 4 C (40 F). As it cools further and freezes into ice, it actually becomes less dense. On the other hand, most substances are most dense in their solid (frozen) state than in their liquid state. Water is different because of hydrogen bonding. AÂ  water molecule is made from one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms strongly joined to each other with covalent bonds. Water molecules are also attracted to each other by weaker chemical bonds (hydrogen bonds) between the positively-charged hydrogen atoms and the negatively charged oxygen atoms of neighboring water molecules. As the water cools below 4Â  C, the hydrogen bonds adjust to hold the negatively charged oxygen atoms apart. This produces a crystal lattice, which is commonly known as ice. Ice floats because it is about 9% less dense than liquid water. In other words, ice takes up about 9% more space than water, so a liter of ice weighs less than liter water. The heavier water displaces the lighter ice, so ice floats to the top. One consequence of this is that lakes and rivers freeze from top to bottom, allowing fish to survive even when the surface of a lake has frozen over. If ice sank, the water would be displaced to the top and exposed to the colder temperature, forcing rivers and lakes to fill with ice and freeze solid. Heavy Water Ice Sinks However, not all water ice floats on regular water. Ice made using heavy water, which contains the hydrogen isotope deuterium, sinks in regular water. Hydrogen bonding still occurs, but its not enough to offset the mass difference between normal and heavy water. Heavy water ice sinks in heavy water.

Creating a Homework Policy With Meaning and Purpose

Creating a Homework Policy With Meaning and Purpose We have all had time-consuming, monotonous, meaningless homework assigned to us at some point in our life. These assignments often lead to frustration and boredom and students learn virtually nothing from them. Teachers and schools must reevaluate how and why they assign homework to their students. Any assigned homework should have a purpose. Assigning homework with a purpose means that through completing the assignment, the student will be able to obtain new knowledge, a new skill, or have a new experience that they may not otherwise have. Homework should not consist of a rudimentary task that is being assigned simply for the sake of assigning something. Homework should be meaningful. It should be viewed as an opportunity to allow students to make real-life connections to the content that they are learning in the classroom. It should be given only as an opportunity to help increase their content knowledge in an area. Differentiate Learning for All Students Furthermore, teachers can utilize homework as an opportunity to differentiate learning for all students. Homework should rarely be given with a blanket one size fits all approach. Homework provides teachers with a significant opportunity to meet each student where they are and truly extend learning. A teacher can give their higher-level students more challenging assignments while also filling gaps for those students who may have fallen behind. Teachers who use homework as an opportunity to differentiate we not only see increased growth in their students, but they will also find they have more time in class to dedicate to whole group instruction. See Student Participation Increase Creating authentic and differentiated homework assignments can take more time for teachers to put together. As often is the case, extra effort is rewarded. Teachers who assign meaningful, differentiated, connected homework assignments not only see student participation increase, they also see an increase in student engagement. These rewards are worth the extra investment in time needed to construct these types of assignments. Schools must recognize the value in this approach. They should provide their teachers with professional development that gives them the tools to be successful in transitioning to assign homework that is differentiated with meaning and purpose. A schools homework policy should reflect this philosophy; ultimately guiding teachers to give their students reasonable, meaningful, purposeful homework assignments. Sample School Homework Policy Homework is defined as the time students spend outside the classroom in assigned learning activities. Anywhere Schools believes the purpose of homework should be to practice, reinforce, or apply acquired skills and knowledge. We also believe as research supports that moderate assignments completed and done well are more effective than lengthy or difficult ones done poorly. Homework serves to develop regular study skills and the ability to complete assignments independently. Anywhere Schools further believes completing homework is the responsibility of the student, and as students mature they are more able to work independently. Therefore, parents play a supportive role in monitoring completion of assignments, encouraging students’ efforts and providing a conducive environment for learning. Individualized Instruction Homework is an opportunity for teachers to provide individualized instruction geared specifically to an individual student. Anywhere Schools embraces the idea that each student is different and as such, each student has their own individual needs. We see homework as an opportunity to tailor lessons specifically for an individual student meeting them where they are and bringing them to where we want them to be.   Homework contributes toward building responsibility, self-discipline, and lifelong learning habits. It is the intention of the Anywhere School staff to assign relevant, challenging, meaningful, and purposeful homework assignments that reinforce classroom learning objectives. Homework should provide students with the opportunity to apply and extend the information they have learned complete unfinished class assignments, and develop independence. The actual time required to complete assignments will vary with each student’s study habits, academic skills, and selected course load. If your child is spending an inordinate amount of time doing homework, you should contact your child’s teachers.

Using the French Expression Grâce àCorrectly

Using the French Expression Grà ¢ce Correctly The French expression grà ¢ce (pronounced grah sa) is a common phrase that people use to give credit to someone or something for a positive event or outcome. It is the rough equivalent in English of the phrase thanks to. Examples Like most French grammar youll use, grà ¢ce   is spoken in the normal  register, meaning its used in everyday conversation, neither formal nor informal in tone. You may find yourself saying in any number of situations, such as these:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Grà ¢ce mon mari, jai une idà ©e pour un livre.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Thanks to my husband, I have an idea for a book.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Grà ¢ce ton assistance, il a fini le travail.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Thanks to your help, he finished the work.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Grà ¢ce Dieu!  Ã‚  Ã‚  Thank God! Variations You can also modify this phrase to say its thanks to... by placing the word  cest in front of grà ¢ce :  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sil a rà ©ussi lexamen, cest grà ¢ce toi.  Ã‚  Ã‚  If he passed the test, its all thanks to you.Remember that followed by the definite article le or les must contract:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cest grà ¢ce au centre de loisirs que je sais utiliser Facebook.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Its thanks to the leisure center that I know how to use Facebook.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Grà ¢ce aux conseils de Pierre, nous avons trouvà © la maison parfaite.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Thanks to Pierres advice, we found the perfect house.Antonym: To blame someone or something for a negative event or situation, use the expression cause de.

Introduce a new product (you pick product) Research Proposal

Introduce a new product (you pick product) - Research Proposal Example It has fully utilized primary sources like the questioners and personal interviews together with a variety of secondary sources in gauging the demand for the named product in the beverage industry. The analysis obtained positive results whereby most people who like soft drinks more often than not buy cakes or biscuits as they claimed that the combination of the two delivered much fulfilling refreshment. However, others were quite skeptical of the product and therefore much advertisement and sensitization is necessary in order to convince more people to like the product. The proposal also recommends that one method of popularizing the product, by distributing the Cola Biscuits together with other Coca-Cola products like Fanta, Coke, and Sprite. This way they will attract more attention and consequently generate more revenue through increased sales. Case studies have also shown that most Coca-Cola customers usually take the beverages with other snacks like cakes and biscuits. This pres ents a great opportunity for the Coca-Cola Company to expand more by diversifying its products to suit the customers’ needs. Finally, this proposal recognizes the heightened competition that the brand new product will face and recommends for an aggressive marketing strategy to counter similar products from other companies. Since its inception, the Coca-Cola Company has been operating in the beverage industry with its main products being the soft drinks and mineral water. However, there are many supplementary products sold together with Fanta, Daso, Coke, and Sprite. Most people like taking Sodas with biscuits, cakes, or doughnuts but their main allure is the biscuits. In every Coca-Cola retail store, there are these products from other companies meaning that these go hand in hand with the products of the Coca-Cola Company. Therefore, there is need by the Coca-Cola Company to tap into these prospective customers to be able to sell only its products in the retail stores spread