The Writing Style Of Mark Twain English Literature Essay

The Writing Style Of Mark Twain English Literature Essay Mark Twain once said when asked how to write, Write what you know about. His work of Life on the Mississippi is a great representation of his advice to aspiring writers. It is written in true realistic style, providing the reader with many elements. Likewise, The Lost Phoebe is written in true naturalistic style, showing elements of mans struggle with society and himself. Both works are true to the form they are written in and have many stark contrasts in comparison. Twains writing style not only brings great descriptions of the world he presents to the reader, but he adds elements of humor to make his points. The focus of both works is on two poor characters. Twains character is fixated on the adventure and romanticism he believes that life on the Mississippi River will offer him. Twain incorporates truthful treatment of life surrounding his character. In describing the daily life in the town, he writes, Once a day cheap, gaudy packet arrived upward from St. Louis, and another downward from Keokuk. Before these events, the day was glorious with expectancy; after them, the day was a dead and empty thing. Twain continues to breathe life into his story by describing the town and some of its inhabitants, leaving the reader a well-shaped image of life in the town. In reading the text it seems that most people in the town trudge on in their daily lives and have lost hope or sight of what they once dreamed. They seemed to fall into a quasi-catatonic st ate in which their entertainment hinged on a steamboat berthing at the dock. Once gone, the town returned to regular humdrum. Even Twains character abandons most of his dreams: These ambitions faded out, each in its turn; but the ambition to be a steamboatman always remained. Dimmed hope, to be certain, but not gone, Twains character backs his ears and chases down what he considers the American Dream: freedom and adventure. Twain makes it clear throughout his work that even though one may have a love for something, and romanticize it to the point of exhaustion, doesnt mean it will be easy by any stretch of the imagination. Finding that he was treated poorly by those who didnt consider him one of them, Twain points out, Months afterward the hope within me struggled to a reluctant death, and I found myself without an ambition. Ashamed to return back home because of failure in chasing his dream, he makes an even more bold decision to travel to the Amazon. As the chapters unfold, Twain points out what life on the Mississippi is like and maybe not as romantic as once thought. I believe he was making a point that all dreams can be this way, so be prepared for what you ask for. After all his ambitions of life on the Mighty Mississippi, the prestige of friends and family envying his position as a steamboat pilot, Twains character can not even remember simple navigation lessons taught to him. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦my memory was never loaded with anything but blank cartridges. In the end, it appeared that Twains character simply wanted the status of being a glorious steamboatman without having to learn the true nature of it. Twain shows the follies of chasing dreams without true desire to learn, because by doing so, romanticism of the dream is replaced by the reality of it. Twain also points out how society reacts to those with aspiring dreams. Twains character was mostly rejected by those he was attempting to emulate. There was little help and forgiveness for him. He ties the se realistic elements together by inserting humor at optimal points. In stark contrast to using humor to make a point, The Lost Phoebe is a dark representation of man versus himself, nature, and society. It begins, depressingly, describing the poor conditions of the setting. There is not one bright element in the description of the house or land around it. Indeed, the only happy element is when Dresier writes, Old Henry Reifsneider and his wife Phoebe were a loving couple. Even with this happy element, Dresier even later takes a dump all over that, too, when he writes, Old Henry and his wife Phoebe were as fond of each other as it is possible for two old people to be who have nothing else in this life to be fond of. This work is concerned more with the description of how dismal the surrounding is rather than the true nature of Henry or his wife. Any good qualities either may have possessed are void and irrelevant in this naturalistic style of writing. Whatever Dresiers intent was in writing this work, it is clear that the circumstances involving the p eople Henry Reifsneider encounters, and nature, and even the nature of man, are the antagonists here. As for this reader, this piece of literature throws cold water on any ambition to marry for fear of losing my spouse and wandering around seeing apparitions of them until one day all hope is lost and his life is ended by falling off of a cliff. Every aspect of this work is dark and dismal. Reifsneider encounters the first antagonist with the death of Phoebe: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦in a fog of sorrow and uncertainty, followed her body to the nearest graveyard, an unattractive space with a few pines growing in it. The second encounter followed immediately thereafter with Reifsneider struggling against people suggesting he come to live with them. But he wanted to stay near his dead wife. Soon he found himself seeing apparitions of Phoebe that would eventually lead him to his own demise, but not before his struggles with people he encountered. Hes clean outn his head. That poor old fellers bee n livin down there till hes gone outen his mind. Ill have to notify the authorities. one man remarked as he observed Henry. Dreiser amplifies the Naturalism style in that impact of Henrys environment is clear, and is vividly motivated by this, in animalistic fashion, to find his wife. This story is a classic example of Naturalism style in that it is dark, lonely, and full of descriptors about a working-class environment. Arguably, the ending to this story could be construed as a happy one. Henry does find his wife through his own death, and was seemingly happy to leap. But from the first line to the last, this story is a dark tunnel that continually spirals downward. It is full of true Naturalism style and there is absolutely no real humor contained within. From the way the characters talk, to the way they are dressed, and how they interact is a snapshot of this dark theme Dresier attempts to convey. Both works provide great descriptions of the environment of which they are trying to convey aspects of their works. However, where Dresier chooses to gain some type of sympathy for his characters by describing the outward circumstances, Twain conveys his ideas by examining some real aspects of the character as well as the real life around him. Twain makes his points more subtle than those of Dresier, but both are equally true to their form of styles.

Rabies Prevention :: Biology Medical Biomedical Disease

Rabies Prevention This writing is mainly about the vaccines or the products that can be used to prevent Rabies. Its states the names of a couple of vaccines such as preexposure phophylaxis and Rabies immune globulin. And it explain how each of them work or what they do. It names some kinds of people who are at daily exposure or at risk of obtaining Rabies. It also says who long the Rabies immune globulin has effect. Rabies is a very dangerous thing once you get it, because once you get the symptoms for Rabies there is nothing anyone can do about it. There just isn’t any treatment after the symptoms have shown. But just a couple of years ago scientists made a vaccine that can cause immunity after it is given to the patients. There is two different periods it can be used. One is used before the person gets Rabies and the other is used while the person already has Rabies. The one that is used before the person has Rabies is called Preexposure prophylaxis. And the one that is used while the person has Rabies is called Postexposure prophylaxis. Even though Rabies are rare to humans it is estimated that 18,000 people are vaccinated with Preexposure prophylaxis and 40,000 people are vaccinated for Postexposure prophylaxis in a yearly basis. Preexposure prophylaxis is usually given to people in daily risk of obtaining Rabies such as animal handlers, veterinarians and some laboratory workers. It could maybe even be given to a person who comes across or in contact withan infested animal and people who study Rabies or the vaccines for Rabies. People who have been vaccinated for rabies in a period of six months must get a, (serum), blood test for antibody and receive a bit more vaccine. Even though some people feel secure after receiving the preexposure vaccination, its good for them to know that bu using this vaccination it doesn’t eliminate the need fore different medication but it helps by eliminating the need for Rabies immune globulin reducing the doses needed of this vaccination. The vaccines can help by causing immunity in a person whose postexposure might be delayed. And by providing protection from exposure to Rabies. In the United States there is two types of immunizing product against Rabies. One of them is the rabies vaccines which gives the body an active response that produces neutralizing antibodies. And the other is Rabies immune globuling (RIG) which even though it provides a quick immunizing result it is estimated to last 19-21 days which is a very short period of time with the effect. Rabies Prevention :: Biology Medical Biomedical Disease Rabies Prevention This writing is mainly about the vaccines or the products that can be used to prevent Rabies. Its states the names of a couple of vaccines such as preexposure phophylaxis and Rabies immune globulin. And it explain how each of them work or what they do. It names some kinds of people who are at daily exposure or at risk of obtaining Rabies. It also says who long the Rabies immune globulin has effect. Rabies is a very dangerous thing once you get it, because once you get the symptoms for Rabies there is nothing anyone can do about it. There just isn’t any treatment after the symptoms have shown. But just a couple of years ago scientists made a vaccine that can cause immunity after it is given to the patients. There is two different periods it can be used. One is used before the person gets Rabies and the other is used while the person already has Rabies. The one that is used before the person has Rabies is called Preexposure prophylaxis. And the one that is used while the person has Rabies is called Postexposure prophylaxis. Even though Rabies are rare to humans it is estimated that 18,000 people are vaccinated with Preexposure prophylaxis and 40,000 people are vaccinated for Postexposure prophylaxis in a yearly basis. Preexposure prophylaxis is usually given to people in daily risk of obtaining Rabies such as animal handlers, veterinarians and some laboratory workers. It could maybe even be given to a person who comes across or in contact withan infested animal and people who study Rabies or the vaccines for Rabies. People who have been vaccinated for rabies in a period of six months must get a, (serum), blood test for antibody and receive a bit more vaccine. Even though some people feel secure after receiving the preexposure vaccination, its good for them to know that bu using this vaccination it doesn’t eliminate the need fore different medication but it helps by eliminating the need for Rabies immune globulin reducing the doses needed of this vaccination. The vaccines can help by causing immunity in a person whose postexposure might be delayed. And by providing protection from exposure to Rabies. In the United States there is two types of immunizing product against Rabies. One of them is the rabies vaccines which gives the body an active response that produces neutralizing antibodies. And the other is Rabies immune globuling (RIG) which even though it provides a quick immunizing result it is estimated to last 19-21 days which is a very short period of time with the effect.

Human Resource Challenges and Practices in IT Industry

Proceedings of the 5th National Conference; INDIACom-2011 Computing For Nation Development, March 10 – 11, 2011 Bharati Vidyapeeth? s Institute of Computer Applications and Management, New Delhi Human Resource Challenges & Practices in IT Industry Rakesh S. Patil1, Varsha Patil2 and Pratibha Waje 3 1 Head and 3Lecturer 1,3 Sir Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology, Chincholi (Sinner) Nashik-422 101 (MS) 2 SNG Institute of Management & Technology, Rajgurunagar, Pune (MS) 1 [email  protected] com and [email  protected] om ABSTRACT The need of organizations for people and people for organizations will be more difficult to satisfy in the today’s competitive business environment. Organization’s competitive advantage could be generated from human resources (HR) and organization performance is influenced by a set of effective HRM practices. Software is a wealth and job creating industry, which has in just a few years, grown to US $ 1 trillion, employing millions of p rofessionals worldwide. The Indian software industry has burgeoned, showing a nearly 50% compounded annual growth rate over the recent years.Being a knowledge-based industry, a high intellectual capital lends competitive advantage to a firm. With a global explosion in market-opportunities in the IT sector, the shortage of manpower both in numbers and skills is a prime challenge for HR professionals. The related issues are varied indeed: recruitment of world-class workforce and their retention, compensation and career planning, technological obsolescence and employee turnover. This paper explains the HR challenges and practices in software Industries. KEYWORDS HRM, IT,HR Strategy, Services 1. INTRODUCTION The economy has transitioned to what some call „The Age of Information? an economy in which gross domestic product is increasingly dominated by services. Services permeate every aspect of our lives. We use transportation services; restaurant services; hotels; electricity and t elephones; postal, courier and maintenance services; services of hairdressers; services of public relations and advertising firms; lawyers; physicians; dentists; stockbrokers and insurance agents; movie theatres; and swimming pools . When we do buy goods, such as new car or a washing machine, we often still rely on services to keep them running and repair them when they break down.Services allow us to budget our time as well as our money. â€Å"The twentieth century was the age of machine; the twenty-first century will be the age of people† Buzzwords like globalization, empowerment, cross functional teams, downsizing, learning organizations and knowledge workers are changing the way of life of managers and the way they manage people. 2. STRATEGIES & POLICIES OF SOFTWARE INDUSTRIES: 1. Motivation & Retention of Employees Retention and motivation of personnel are major HR concerns today.People a Gartner group company specializing in management of human capital in IT organizatio ns has observed that the average tenure for an IT professional is less than three years. Further, the use of new technologies, the support of learning and training, and a challenging environment ranked higher than competitive pay structures as effective retention practices. Our own recent survey of 1028 software professionals from 14 Indian software companies, showed that while the professional gave importance to personal and cultural job-fit, HR managers believed that the key to retention was salary and career satisfaction.Money was a prime motivator for ‘starters', but for those into their third or fourth jobs, their value-addition to the organization was more important. Monetarily, offering ‘the best salaries in industry' is the minimum every company is doing, apart from performancebased bonuses, long-service awards, and stock options. Many organizations frequently conduct employee satisfaction and organization climate surveys, and are setting up Manpower Allocation C ells (MAC) to assign ‘the right project to the right person'.In fact, some are even helping employees with their personal and domestic responsibilities to satisfy & motivate their workforce! 2. Best Talent Attraction In a tight job market, many organizations often experience precipitous and simultaneous demands for the same kinds of professionals. In their quest for manpower, they are cajoling talent around the world. In such a seller's market, software companies are striving to understand which organizational, job, and reward factors contribute to attracting the best talent one having the right blend of technical and person-bound skills.This would mean a knowledge of ‘the tools of the trade' combined with conceptualization and communication skills, capacity for analytical and logical thinking, leadership and team building, creativity and innovation. The Indian software industry suffers from a shortage of experienced people such as systems analysts and project managers, and attracting them is a key HR challenge. 3. Compensation and Reward Increasing demands of technology coupled with a short supply of professionals (with the requisite expertise) has increased the costs of delivering the technology.This makes incentive compensation a significant feature, with the result that software Copy Right  © INDIACom-2011 ISSN 0973-7529 ISBN 978-93-80544-00-7 Proceedings of the 5th National Conference; INDIACom-2011 companies have moved from conventional pay-for-time methods to a combination of pay-for-knowledge and pay-forperformance plans. With the determinants of pay being profit, performance and value-addition, emphasis is now on profit sharing (employee stock option plans) or performance-based pay, keeping in view the long-term organizational objectives rather than short-term production-based bonuses.Skills, competencies, and commitment supercede loyalty, hard work and length of service. This pressurizes HR teams to devise optimized compensation package s, although compensation is not the motivator in this industry. 4. Increasing loyalty and commitment As with any other professional, what really matters to software professionals is selecting ‘the best place to work with', which is what every company is striving to be. The global nature of this industry, and the ‘project-environment' has added new cultural dimensions to these firms.In a value-driven culture, values are determined and shared throughout the organization. Typically, areas in which values are expressed are: performance, competence, competitiveness, innovation, teamwork, quality, customer service, and care and consideration for people. Flat structure, open and informal culture, authority based on expertise and ability rather than position, and flexi-timings are some of the norms software firms follow. The idea is to make the work place a ‘fun place' with the hope of increasing loyalty and commitment. 5.The Demand Supply Gap Shortage of IT professionals is global in nature and not peculiar to the Indian software industry alone. W. Strigel, founder of Software Productivity Centre Inc. (1999) has projected the shortage of software professionals to be one million by 2006. In fact, a survey reports that 75 per cent of US companies planned to reengineer their applications using newer technologies, but found that 72 per cent of their existing staff lacked the skills needed in these technologies, and 14 per cent were not even retrainable. Graph No. 1.Annual demand for IT Professionals For India, it is predicted that in the year 2004 itself, the IT sector will need 1,95,000 professionals. This trend will continue, and in the year 2010 almost 3,70,000 IT professionals will be required (Strategic Review Reports, NASSCOM 19962001). Consequently, recruitment managers are exploring new sources of IT manpower from non-IT professional sectors, as well fresh, trainable science graduates. 6. Integrating HR strategy with Business Strategy The strate gic HR role focuses on aligning HR practices with business strategy.The HR professional is expected to be a strategic partner contributing to the success of business plans, which to a great extent depend on HR policies pertaining to recruitment, retention, motivation, and reward. The other major areas of concern for HR personnel in this context are, management of change, matching resources to future business requirements, organizational effectiveness, and employee development. 7. Encouraging Quality and Customer focus Today? s corporate culture needs to actively support quality and customer orientation.With globalization and rapid technological change, quality is of utmost importance for the Indian companies, which earn most of their revenues through exports. Hence, the HR professional as a strategic partner needs to encourage a culture of superior quality to ensure customer satisfaction, the only real measure of quality of a product or service. To be competitive today, an organizat ion needs to be customer responsive. Responsiveness includes innovation, quick decision-making, leading an industry in price or value, and effectively linking with suppliers and vendors to build a value chain for customers.Employee attitudes correlate highly with customer attitude. The shift to a customer focus redirects attention from the firm to the value chain in which it is embedded. HR practices within a firm should consequently be extended to suppliers and customers outside the firm. 8. Value Addition training for up-gradation of Skills Rapid and unpredictable technological changes, and the increased emphasis on quality of services are compelling software businesses to recruit adaptable and competent employees.Software professionals themselves expect their employers provide them with all the training they may need in order to perform not only in their current projects, but also in related ones that they may subsequently hold within the organization. As observed by Watts Humphr ey, Fellow of the Carnegie Mellon University, â€Å"as software professionals gain competence, they do not necessarily gain motivation. This is because a creative engineer or scientist who has learned how to accomplish something has little interest in doing it again.Once they have satisfied their curiosity, they may abruptly lose interest and seek an immediate change†. And when the rate of technological change is high may be higher than the time required to acquire competence in one area professionals could undergo psychological turbulence owing to the need to work in a new technology throughout their career. They want to gain new knowledge, which will be utilized by their organization. On the basis of the new learning they want to work in higher segments of software value chain. Therefore, constant up-Copy Right  © INDIACom-2011 ISSN 0973-7529 ISBN 978-93-80544-00-7 Human Resource Challenges & Practices in IT Industry gradation of employee skills poses yet another challeng e for HR personnel. 3. CHALLENGES FOR IT INDUSTRY: The main challenges to the IT Industry are i. Recruitment planning ii. Performance management iii. Training and development iv. Compensation management v. HRM as whole 1. Recruitment Planning: Recruitment planning is most important component in new people management with special reference to IT industry.We have to deal with human assets so it becomes important and have good quality of people in the organization. We have to take the recruitment planning in very serious manner to ensure that we can get best talent in the organization. 2. Performance management: Now the challenges how to manage the performance of your employees. You have to get right person in a organization to manage your business. The challenge should be to create a performance culture where you can provide opportunities for enhance performance, where optimum performance becomes a way life. 3.Training and development: This is another challenging area in IT industry. We have to chalk out a suitable strategy for training & development so that employees are well equipped to handle the challenges in advance. 4. Compensation management: The IT industry is one of the high paying industries. This is very competitive industry, we have to attract best talent, offer best possible compensation package to the employees. Now IT companies are having ESOP with the compensation package. But the really challenge should be how we are able to incorporate all the subsystems in HR.Ultimately this would help the organization for achieving exceptional performance. People have to be groomed to get in with the performance culture. We have to create an environment that stimulates the creation of knowledge, its sustenance will be the challenge for IT companies in the future. HR department cannot function with traditional systems. Now the role will shift to HR facilitator, to facilitate change process. HR facilitator will have to involve the whole organization in this pro cess and act as a guide, coach, counselor and facilitator.Any organization in the IT industry will have to face these challenges like Infosys, Satyam, Pentafour, DSQ Software, Micro soft India, Intel India. These IT companies are leaders in their own stride. They have excellent recruitment policies, huge data bank, and placement agencies. They are also having rigorous tests to ensure that they can get high profile talent that will fit in their culture. They have best performance system that evaluates the organization as whole. They have been able to tackle the quantum of performance with fairly efficient manner.The prime tasks for these IT companies are to build corporate culture. They are diverting all the efforts to build performance driven culture. The major issue for these companies to get right man for right job. We have to find person with the required skills, experiences, mindsets, and also he must be suitable for these organizations. 5. Attrition and Retention: IT companies are having high degree of attrition. The challenges for these companies are to keep this attrition rate as low as possible. Various companies adopt different techniques to retain their employees like high pay packets, ESOP, other benefits.So we have to keep this attrition rate as low as possible to retain super achievers. CONCLUSION With the advent of a work situation where more and more companies are having to concede that their valued employees are leaving them, a new concept of career and human resource management is bound to emerge. The focus of this new paradigm should not only be to attract, motivate and retain key ‘knowledge workers', but also on how to reinvent careers when the loyalty of the employees is to their ‘brain ware' rather than to the organization.With lifetime employment in one company not on the agenda of most employees, jobs will become short term. Today's hightech employees desire a continuous up-gradation of skills, and want work to be exciting an d entertaining a trend that requires designing work systems that fulfill such expectations. As employees gain greater expertise and control over their careers, they would reinvest their gain back into their work. HR practitioners must also play a proactive role in software industry. As business partners, they need to be aware of business strategies, and the opportunities and threats facing the organization.As strategists, HR professionals require to achieve integration and fit to an organization's business strategy. As interventionists, they need to adopt an allembracing approach to understanding organizational issues, and their effect on people. Finally, as innovators, they should introduce new processes and procedures, which they believe will increase organizational effectiveness REFERENCES [1]. Noe, R. A. , Hollenbeck, J. R. , Gerhart, B. and Patrick, P. M. (2007) â€Å"Human Resource Management: Gaining aCompetitive Advantage†, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi. 2]. Prasad, K. (2005) â€Å"Strategic Human Resource Management: Text and Cases†, Macmillan India Ltd. , New Delhi. [3]. Kandula,Srinivas R. (2003) â€Å"Human Resource Management in practice with 300 models : Techniques and Tools†, Sage, Delhi [4]. Rao T. V. , Rao Raju, and Yadav Tara. (2001). â€Å"A Study of HRD concepts, structure of HRD Copy Right  © INDIACom-2011 ISSN 0973-7529 ISBN 978-93-80544-00-7 Proceedings of the 5th National Conference; INDIACom-2011 [5]. [6]. [7]. [8]. [9]. [10]. [11]. [12]. [13]. [14]. [15]. epartments, and HRD practices in India†, Vikalpa, ol 261, No. 1, Jan. -Mar Page 49-62. Siekel Tom. (2002). â€Å"After CRM, it’s ERM: Employee Relationship Management Indian Management†, Vol. 41, Issue 9, July p. 38 Storey J. (ed. ) (1989). â€Å"New Perspectives in Human Resource Management†, Routledge, London, p. 114. Truss Catherine. (2001). â€Å"Shifting the paradigm in Human Resource Management: From the resource based view to c omplex adaptive system†. Published in a Research Paper on Human Resource Management by Kingston Business School, Kingston University Thite, M. 2004) â€Å"Managing People in the New Economy: Targeted HR Practices that Persuade People to Unlock their Knowledge Power†, Response Books, New Delhi. Truss, C. (2001) â€Å"Complexities and Controversies in Linking HRM with Organizational Outcomes† Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 38, No. 8. Walker, J. W. and Stopper, W. G. (2000) â€Å"Developing Human Resource Leaders† Human Resource Planning, Vol. 23, No. 1, p. 38-44. Webb, J. (2004) â€Å"Putting Management Back into Performance: A Handbook for Managers and Supervisors†, Allen & Unwin, Australia.Joynt, P. and Morton, B. (2005) â€Å"The Global HR Manager: Creating the Seamless Organization†, Jaico Publishing House, Mumbai. Jyothi, P. and Venkatesh, D. N. (2006) â€Å"Human Resource Management†, Oxford University Press, New Delhi. Kandol a, R. and Fullerton, J. (1994) â€Å"Managing the Mosaic: Diversity in Action†, IPD, London. Kandula, S. R. (2004), â€Å"Human Resource Management in Practice: With 300 Models, Techniques and Tools†, Prentice Hall of India Private Limited, New Delhi. Copy Right  © INDIACom-2011 ISSN 0973-7529 ISBN 978-93-80544-00-7

A Comparison of Democratization Process in China and India

The term â€Å"democracy† first emerged in the societies of ancient Greece where it is meant to be a form of decision-making where the community is allowed to participate, which later on served as the system used for governance (Woolf & Rawcliffe, 2005). Bryce (2009) noted that the term is used to describe the power that is legally bestowed by the people to the government.Likewise, the term â€Å"people† moved farther away from the privileged few and focused more on the entire community. As a result, the consideration for the rights and the voice of the citizens became a central theme in democratic governments.Aside from the political aspects of democracy, the free market structure is also an element that has become inseparable from that of democracy (as cited in Snauwaert, 1993). In the free market system, the government has less control over the affairs of the market and individuals are given the chance to choose among several options (Snauwaert, 1993).In the present day, democracy has become a very popular system of government as the West and other advocates continue to hail it as a suitable form of governing the society. Based on the arguments of Francis Fukuyama, a resolution is reached regarding the best way to organize the political and economic aspects of the society and suggested democracy as the answer.In addition, Fukuyama contends that â€Å"democracy, in the political realm, and markets, in the economic realm, had triumphed over all challengers and were in the process of becoming the universal forms of political and economic organization† (Bova, 2003, p. 243).In history, nations did not immediately employ democracy. Some have taken other paths, such as India and China that experienced the colonial rule and Communist rule, respectively. Both countries have experienced undergoing a process of democratization, which is said to â€Å"[begin] when the principle of citizenship is acknowledged by a regime in certain ways by allowing the opposition to become involved in politics† (Des Forges, Luo, & Wu, 1993, p. 231).In addition, the democratization process proceeds from the distribution of power and responsibilities throughout the community (Des Forges, Luo, & Wu, 1993).From the previous systems of government, India proved that it can undergo the process of democratization and sustain it until 50 years after. On the other hand, China remains a communist state amidst its futile attempts to apply several democratic principles from the West (Central Intelligence Agency [CIA], 2010; He & Feng, 2008).The two countries, China and India, are both Asian countries that are striving hard to apply and implement the concepts of democracy as it is observed from the Western ideals.The interesting experiences of the two nations with regard to the process of democratization serve as the focus of the present paper, which would also highlight the differences and similarities between the experiences of the two nations. In s o doing, emphasis is placed on theDemocratization Process in IndiaNational ProfileIndia is a member of the Southern Asian region and has a total area of 3,165,596 sq km (Oldenburg, 2008). The 7 union territories and 28 states are ruled by a President, who is the head of state, and a Prime Minster, who serves as the head of government (Oldenburg, 2008).The present form of government is Federal Republic and is governed by the Constitution that was amended last 2002 (Oldenburg, 2008). India also has an existing legislature, which is composed of the Lok Sabha (House of the People) and the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) (Oldenburg, 2008). The Judicial branch of the Indian government is headed by the Supreme Court (Oldenburg, 2008).For a lengthy period of time until 1947, India was subjected to British colonial rule (Mishar, 2000). The country gained independence through the Indian Independence Act, which received the Royal Assent on 1947 (Mishra, 2000).The Indian Independence Act served as an important factor in the process of democratization in the country because it gave way for a Provisional government that would later on take the form of a democracy. At the day when the said Act took into effect, Jawaharlal Nehru said that it is a time when â€Å"India discovers herself again,† (as cited in Hukam, 2005, pp. 309-10).In relation to this, it is important to identify the events surrounding before and after the promulgation of the Indian Independence Act in 1947 and the progress towards democracy that was made up to the present time. More specifically, emphasis is placed on the economic and political changes in the country and the actors and elements that allowed for successful democratization.

Annabel Lee Analysis Essay Example

Annabel Lee Analysis Essay Example Annabel Lee Analysis Paper Annabel Lee Analysis Paper No one can get in between your feelings of love. Love can be described as one of the strongest forces known to man, and it is said to be capable of overcoming almost any obstacles. In the ballad style poem Enable Lee in which was both written and published by Edgar Allan Poe on October 9th of the year 1849, the poet openly describes his love and affection for the one and only Enable Lee. In this literary work of art, Edgar Allan Poe uses poetic devices such as imagery, symbolism, and repetition, to prove that love doesnt necessarily fade, even when a couple is separated by death. In the scholarly article which was published on April 25th, 2012 by an anonymous writer, the writer specifically tries to imply that the poem of Enable Lee written and published by Edgar Allan Poe, is strictly about a man who tries to reveal his obsession towards a women who in this case didnt gradually return his love. Although the poem may seem like your typical love story, many readers misinterpret this poem due to the fact that the poet describes his emotions towards the maiden sound quite more like an obsession rather than love itself. The poem gradually reveals stanza by Tanta that the poet or in this case, the unreliable narrator is not sane. Within each stanza the poet emphasizes more of his distorted reality, which allows us as readers to decipher the madness of him losing his lover was present all along. Most people that read the poem insist that the poet and Enable Lee loved with a love that was more than love. Although it may sound like an exaggeration, the narrator believes that this maiden lived with no other thought than to love and be loved by him. Since this is the poet who is making these declarations, we can draw a few conclusions based on his statements. Since the poet states that the maiden really did live with no other thought than to be loved and be loved by the poet; the maiden did not have these thoughts but the poet strongly declares that she did. In contrast, the readers who begin to question the reliability of the poet after the reading the remainder of the poem they must question the accuracy of his wildly stricken assertions. The poet constantly points out that their love was stronger than any force known to them and he eventually begins to claim that the angels of heaven are jealous of the love that is shared between Enable Lee and the orator. Such an assertion can be interpreted as either a fact or an opinion, as in how the poet has knowledge of the heavens that gives him access to the motivations of such divine beings. Or this can virtually be seen as an opinion coming from the poet himself as he states that the angels of heaven were jealous of the love that the lovers shared. When Enable Lee is declared dead in stanza 3, the poet adds two pieces of information to his poem. First, he reinforces the angels culpability by saying, this is the reason though he doesnt yet acknowledge that the angels are divine hit-men. The most ailing element of this stanza is that the poet reveals through his explanation that he is not in any way responsible for Enable Lees body or death. In fact the poets accusations about the angels being the divine hit men and killers of his maiden Enable Lee, left him declaring that they were incapable of accepting such pure love. The cause of Enable Lee according to the poet is that the wind came out of the clouds at night, eventually chilling and killing his Enable Lee. What makes that statement interesting is that it could be the most truthful and powerful line in the entire poem. See, Enable Lee couldve died from exposure to cold air; she could have developed pneumonia. There are probably many more possible methods of dying from exposure, but in this situation the poet connects the cold air killer and links it to the divine beings and identifies that the angels of heaven were the ons seeking to end Enables life. The poet IS understood to be in love with his maiden. His love for her is beyond anything that can be described. Now heres the twist to this whole love story. Towards the end of the poem the poet reveals that he spends his nights within his dead loves tomb at the side of her body. Many people will gradually believe that Poe was trying to create a disturbing poem revealing that the poem was obsessed with a woman who may not have returned his love. Poe wanted to capture this obsession when he wrote Enable Lee by portraying a creepy stalker willing to sneak into his dead lovers crypt because of his certainty that he wants to be with him even in death. So can this poem really be seen as a poem of true love? Or can one another agree that Poe was clearly obsessed with his maiden? I believe that Edgar Allen Poe was trying to create a poem that revealed his true emotions awards his maiden but his true emotions became virtually more of an obsession rather than love. As already noted the poem begins in a traditional form of a ballad. The speaker is talking in a calm tone and his language is very straightforward as well as having his poetic form tightly controlled. As his very first stanza moves into his fifth line, he begins to lose his control. Instead of sticking to his original ballad form, the speaker attaches two more line. The purpose of adding those 2 lines is seen as surprising, especially on the second reading of the poem. One might expect the poet to announce his love for the Aden early in the poem as he sets the scene and introduces characters; instead, this speaker tells the reader that this maiden she lived with no other though/ than to love and be loved by me. The exaggeration of no other thought could be seen as a form of having the poet talk about his own feelings, but to declare that another person adored oneself so fiercely sounds so desperate. The paranoia in the second through the fifth stanzas is very clear. After Enable Lee is declared dead, the speaker feels that angels, demons, ad kinsmen are all trying to keep him from his love. As well as that he poet believes that the angels had killed his maiden out of malice and that all men knew it. When Enable Lees high born kinsmen come to entomb her dead body, the poet believes is that they are taking her away from him. All this perhaps could be attributed to a normal phase Of grief at the death of a loved one, in which this case the death of a recent one has left a fresh wound. Enable Lee, however, died many and many a year ago. One might begin to wonder whether the speaker should be getting over the loss. Again, this instability on the part of the speaker is noticeable only on a second eating. Nothing he says in the first five stanzas is wrong enough to prepare the reader for some gruesome revelation in the sixth: that he in fact spends his nights lying beside Enable Lees dead body. Years after her death, she is still his darling, his life. In his poem Enable Lee, the narrator uses a lot of imagery to refer to the very last few moments as he reminisces about his beloved Enable Lee. He uses a setting in which he states is a kingdom by the sea. In that statement, we can logically assume that was the location in which the narrator had fallen in love with his maiden. He wants to let us know as readers that him and his Enable Lee had first fallen in love. It seems as if the speakers primary reason for telling his story is not to remind ice and enjoy again for a moment the pleasures of that great love that he shared with his maiden. Instead his purpose is to accuse those who tried to separate him from his Enable Lee and to tell them defiantly that their efforts did not work. Although her death occurred many and many a year ago their love has not ended. The narrator is still devoted to her, still dreams of her, still feels that their souls are united. He has remained true to her; in fact, he has literally never left her side. He says in the poems last lines that he spends every night lying next to her in her sepulcher by the sea. Now we understand that the narrator is deeply in love with his maiden, but to sleep with a dead person, that is not close to normal. As much as we want to believe that he is in love, the way he acts with his dead maiden sounds quite more of an obsession. Memories we all know can bring us joy but when love is involved we understand that it becomes more difficult for one to let go. But to sleep with a dead person, that sounds very absurd. The speaker is obsessed with how and why Enable died. He wants to know whom he can blame for it. At the same time, the themes Of death and love are tied together. The poem forces us to ask whether death is the end and has the power to kill love or whether, in fact love can triumph and continue after death. Maybe the speaker takes that idea a little more literally than he should, but thats his business. In a general way, we can all relate to the ideas of grief and loss and fate that come up when you talk about death. Imagery is used in this poem in the repeated phrase In his kingdom by the sea. The image this immediately gives is a castle that sits on a ledge overlooking the sea, which gives off a feeling of beauty and majestic romance, which adds to the feeling of love present throughout the poem. This also makes the poem a bit childlike, further supported by his claim that l was a child and she was a child. However, this in no way detracts from the love felt throughout the poem as this childlikeness is supposed to link us to fantasy the type of love that he felt he had with Enable Lee. As well as in this poem, the author Uses a lot Of repetition. The phrase Of the dutiful Enable Lee is repeated constantly throughout the poem. This figurative language portrays that Enable Lee is beautiful; however, the fact that it is repeated throughout the poem adds even more to this description as it shows that the speaker can find no faults in Enable Lee and only sees her as beautiful. The poem also eludes to the Bible through its mention of seraphs of heaven, angels, and demons. This is used to emphasize how tragic the loss of Enable was to the speaker as he blames it on the angels and relates them to demons down under the sea for their actions. This Eden relation of angels to demons is a huge degradation and insult to angels, showing just how outraged the speaker is at them. Last but not least, this poem consists of using symbolism. Of course, Enable Lee is a huge symbol by herself. Literally, this poem is talking about a girl named Enable Lee who had just died to a cold. However, Enable Lee is obviously a symbol for a loved one of the poet, Edgar Allan Poe, who passed away. Finally, the tomb mentioned in the last stanza is also symbol. Taken literally, it means that the speaker goes to her grave each day to lie down with her to show his eve and to be close to her. However, it can also be a symbol for the fact that the speaker is going to die soon and will finally be rejoined with his loved Enable Lee. The strange thing is that Edgar Allan Poe really did die the Same year that he wrote this poem. All 3 of these poetic devices used in this very poem reflect back to how his love for Enable Lee never changed even after she was killed. The way that the narrator is able to use symbols and repetition as well as imagery to express his love and true emotions for his lover, it gets the reader thinking that maybe it is impossible for anyone to get him to let go f his lover. Although Enable Lee is gone physically, her death ha not separated their love because the narrator still feels their souls connected. Regardless whether a person is physically there or if theyre not, the love that you have for them will never change. Therefore that is why I believe that no one can get in between your feelings of love.

Siddartha Essays

Siddartha Essays Siddartha Essay Siddartha Essay Essay Topic: Siddhartha Siddartha’s life-from birth to enlightenment to death is entwined with scriptures based on his teachings; together they form the essence of the Buddhist tradition. Siddhartha set out on his quest at a time of great spiritual ferment in India, when ascetic philosophers and wandering sages were debating fundamental questions that remained central to the Indian religious traditions through subsequent centuries. Four stages to Siddartha`s quest Siddhartha undertook a quest that was split into four main parts. These are understanding, escape from self, knowledge of self, and wisdom, (enlightenment). The first part, understanding, involved him living with his father who was a brahmin. Siddhartha realized that he made everybody else happy but that he himself was not.   He also got the feeling that he had already learned the best of what his teachers had to teach but it still was not enough.   He still was not satisfied. It was after meditating with Govinda that he realized what he had to do.   In an attempt to reach the arrows goal, he would leave his father to join the Samanas who he thought had the secrets to finding the self. With the Samanas, Siddhartha learned many ways to escape the self.   He would do this through meditation, abandonment of the body, fasting, and the holding of breath. He abandoned his body through these ways many times but would still always come back to being Self and Siddhartha. He would come back to feel the torment of that life cycle. Siddhartha soon found out that he was, in fact, going in circles. He saw that he was not gaining any knowledge from temporary escape but he would come back and find everything as it was before. This caused him not to believe in the Samanas practices and eventually resulted in Siddhartha leaving the Samanas to find spiritual enlightenment elsewhere. The third stage in Siddharthas quest was the knowledge of self. Siddhartha thought that if he were to just follow the teachings and not experience them for himself that he would deceive himself into believing that he was at peace when he actually was not. He decided to leave his friend and find his self through experience. It was afterwards when he had on his own the spiritual awakening. The fourth stage in Siddharthas quest was wisdom (enlightenment). Siddhartha came to the river wanting above all to gain experience himself. He did not know then the importance of the river. When he was there, there was a ferryman who said, Certainly, I have learned that from the river too; everything comes back.   All he wanted to do was put an end to his painful life but right when he was about to, he heard a sound that he had remembered from his childhood- Om. It was remembering of the indestructibleness of life that marked another new beginning for Siddhartha. He now knew that time was irrelevant and that the world of appearances is transitory. Now he was making a new pilgrimage, this time in rich mans clothes. He came back to the river that he had crossed long ago and met the same ferryman that had been kind to him. During his stay with the ferryman he realized that the river was a symbol of spiritual transition; timelessness, and a teacher of the unity of all things. He had g ained spiritual enlightenment. In the quest novel, there is a story of a young man who sets out in search of his true self.   Throughout the novel, Siddhartha continues to search for the true meaning of life.   He sacrifices everything, almost to the point of self-destruction, before finding what he is really looking for.   The element of conflict helps build the plot and leads to the turning point, Siddharthas discovery. While searching for Enlightenment, Siddhartha explores for the truth. At the dawn on his thirty fifth birthdays, he becomes fully enlightened. The journey is achieved by following the Siddhartha’s Four Nobel Truths; the universality of suffering, the origin of suffering, the overcoming of suffering and the way leading to the suppression of suffering. During his journey, Siddhartha overcomes these conflicts.   While some of them are negative, others prove to be for best.   As a result of his struggles, Siddhartha learns that happiness is not found through intellect, spirit, or commerce alone.   True happiness comes from inner peace and fulfillment.

A Thousand Splendid Suns and A Streetcar Named Desire

A Thousand Splendid Suns and A Streetcar Named Desire â€Å"A Thousand Splendid Suns† and â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire† are two texts written in different countries: Afghanistan and America which causes their context to be different due to politics and religion but there are similarities such as the roles, expectations and struggles that the women within these societies have. The main female characters in â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire† are called Stella and Blanche whereas the main female characters in â€Å"A Thousand Splendid Suns† are called Mariam and Laila. Stella and Mariam have similar expectations such as the providing for their husbands, producing children and being subjected to domestic violence. Mariam manages to relieve some of her pain through the arrival of Laila’s child but one can say she is not completely painless until her death. Stella never manages to escape or relieve any of her pain as she stays with her husband, Stanley and her sister ends up in a mental asylum. Laila and Bla nche are two women which their societies may class as fallen women; Laila has a child out of wedlock and due to deaths in the family as well as the suicide of her husband Blanche turns into a highly sexualized woman who relies on alcohol. Laila struggles throughout her life with the loss of her family members, her abusive marriage and the war raging in Afghanistan but she escapes this pain and ends up with her first love. Blanche does not recover; she is sent to a mental asylum therefore one can say that she is truly one of the only women within the two novels that is in a constant state of despair and as she is a single woman, her struggles as well as expectations differ from the other female characters.    In both texts, one can notice that certain women such as Mariam and Stella have roles; one of these roles is to become a housewife and provide for their husbands and family. Mariam is forced to marry Rasheed when Nana commits suicide; the Taliban encourage girls under the age of 16 to enter marriage especially when they have no one to provide for them and Amnesty International reported that 80 percent of Afghan marriages were by force. Mariam’s role of a housewife develops upon marrying him as Rasheed expects her to cook and clean for her as these are the traditional roles of a wife in Afghanistan due to the Taliban regime not allowing them to go out to have an education and get a job. Mariam always ‘does as she is told’ which suggests that she not in control of herself and instead Rasheed is in control of her. On the other hand, when she does not do what is expected of her such as cooking a tasty meal, Rasheed forces her to chew rocks until her teeth bleed. The i magery provided in the moment she is forced to do this, is shocking and one can presume that even the strongest of women would struggle with the pain. Similarly, Stella is pressurised to act like a perfect housewife by Stanley; he expects her too cook. One night, he states ‘How about my supper, huh? I’m not going to no Galatoires’ for supper!’; he is demanding his supper from Stella the minute he has walked through the door. She seems to be unsurprised by his remark which indicates that she receives these comments from him often and it seems as if it would never occur to him that he can make his own food because his beliefs are that the kitchen is the woman’s work place. One can compare this with the way in which Rasheed treats both Laila and Mariam in respect to the expectations of completing the household chores; he does not want to lift a finger much like Stanley. One can see that a comparison between the two texts is the recurring theme of domestic violence. In ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’, ‘Rasheed was the most disappointing and abusive person in Mariam’s life, as his abuse was sexual, mental and definitely physical’. It is clear to see when Mariam becomes pregnant, has a miscarriage and he goes into a violent fit of rage upon hearing about it. He goes into a fit of rage as he expects Mariam to give him children as he is her wife and that is one of the roles of the wife in the Islamic culture in Afghanistan. Like many women in abusive relationships, she questions and blames herself for the abuse; ‘Had she ever been a deceitful wife? she asked herself. A complacent wife? A dishonorable woman? Discreditable? Vulgar? What harmful thing had she willfully done to this man to warrant his malice, his continual assaults, the relish with which he tormented her?’. The repetition of the questions throughout her thought process shows that she is searching for a reason that would allow Rasheed to beat her but the reader can see that there is never a valid reason to beat a young and vulnerable woman. If it weren’t for her inner strength being ‘as hard and unyielding as a block of limestone’ she would probably have died a lot sooner than she did. Furthermore, one can see that Rasheed causes Laila suffering and she struggles through their relationship so that her baby is safe; in a sense, she puts her child before herself. He is very controlling as he wishes her to wear a burka to cover herself from other men and he openly mocks other ‘afghan men who did not mind that their wives walked among strangers with makeup on their faces and nothing on their heads’. Laila does stand up to him and she can challenge him because she is an intellectual but he becomes violent; he ‘shoved’ the ‘barrel’ of a gun in into her ‘mouth’. Hosseini is portraying the message that women cannot compete with a man’s physical power therefore it is a weapon that they will use in volatile situations with women as they will come out the victor. Comparably, in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ one can see that if Stella fails to do the tasks that she is expected to do or if she is ordered to do something and does not then Stanley becomes violent. Susan Koprince stated that Stella ‘wants to believe that the batterer is truly sorry for his abusive behaviour and that he will never harm her again’ but as readers are witness to Stanley abusing her verbally and physically multiple times therefore he can be classed as a several offender. Stanley orders Stella to be quiet whilst playing poker with her friends, she does not, stands up to him and he rushes towards her in a frenzy. She has nothing to protect herself from him and she states ‘You lay your hands on me and I’ll –‘; the fact that she does not finish her sentence show that she is truly helpless and has no choice but to take the beating from him. The Stage directions say ‘she backs out of sight. He advances and disappears. T here is the sound of a blow. Stella cries out’; these stage directions describe Stanley hitting her and the sound of her crying with pain; this is a rare point in the play in which one see’s Stella struggling with the failing to tasks that are thrusted upon her in a patriarchal society. Unlike in ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ has a single, female character who has a different role and struggles to the other married characters or those with children. Blanche is the one of the main female character in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. On first appearances, she oozes southern elegance and charm as she is dressed in ‘white’ and dripping in ‘pearls’; she grew up on a southern estate known as ‘Belle Reve’ which means beautiful dream and it means that her family once had money. Blanche believes herself to be ‘a woman of intelligence’ as she was educated and took up a position of a school teacher once earning her qualification. Similarly, to Blanche, Laila is provided with an education but then she must give up studying when the Taliban take over. In the late 20th century, prior to the rise of the Taliban, women in Afghanistan were making strides toward equality as they enjoyed the right of education and employment. Kabul was the epicentre for women’s advancement in Afghanistan prior to the Civil War and Taliban Control as 50% of the students and 60% of the teachers at Kabul university were women; Kabul is the city in which Laila grew up. Her father wanted her to study because he believed that ‘society has no chance at success if its women are uneducated’ and due to his motivation to educate her, Laila enjoys going to school to learn. However, this freedom to be study is taken away from her when the Taliban came to power in 1996 as they stated ‘girls are forbidden from attending school. All schools for girls will be closed immediately’. The use of the word ‘immediatel y’ indicates that the Taliban believed young girls, like Laila, were a threat to their strict religious regime therefore their education needed to be stopped quickly. The Feminist Majority Foundation stated ‘under Taliban rule woman have been stripped of their visibility, voice and mobility’; in a sense, they had their freedom taken away from them and Laila was subjected to this as well. Blanche’s role is to oversee Belle Reve when there were no male heirs to take over the property and when Stella moved in with her ‘Pollack’, Stanley. Unexpectedly, her family were plagued with several deaths such as her ‘Father, Mother, and Margaret’ which she describes as ‘the long parade to the graveyard’; the use of the word ‘long’ emphasises the fact that a lot on individuals died in a short amount of time. Furthermore, Blanche married young, to a man known as Allan Grey. He had tenderness ‘which wasn’t like a man’s’ but he ‘wasn’t the least bit effeminate looking’ therefore it came to a shock to her when she found him in bed with another man but the three of them went dancing together afterwards and accidently Blanche blurted out that she was ‘disgusted’ by him, a few minutes later he went out and shot himself therefore Blanche blamed herself for her husbandâ⠂¬â„¢s suicide. After these events occurring one after the other, her faà §ade of a perfect woman starts to fall and she moves in with her sister, Stella. Her struggle with suicide and its consequences can be compared to Mariam as her mother, Nana, commits suicide and her last words are ‘I’ll die if you go, I’ll just die’; it is clear that Nana will end her life if Mariam chooses to leave her. Thus, one can say that she is trying to guilt trip Mariam into staying with her and as Mariam does not, she commits suicide which causes Mariam to feel responsible for her mother’s death throughout her life, much like how Blanche feels about her husband. Blanche struggles to live up to the expectations of a modern woman in American society as she relies on drink to give her confidence. Upon arriving at her sister’s, she seems to be nervous as she is shaking. Therefore, ‘she springs up’ and ‘removes a whiskey bottle’ from a cupboard then ‘she pours a half tumbler of whiskey and tosses it down’. It is obvious that Blanche was actively seeking out alcohol to calm her nerves down and when she finds it she ‘tosses’ a strong alcohol down her throat as if it were nothing. To hide the fact that she has had a drink ‘she carefully replaces the bottle and washes out the tumbler at the sink’ so that her sister does not come home, start asking questions and get angry about her secretive drinking. Blanche argues that ‘one is her limit’ but Stanley argues ‘there’s some people that really touch it, but it touches them often’ and he gives the imp ression that he knows Blanche is an alcoholic and that she is lying about the amount she drinks. After the death of her husband, Blanche seeks male companionship to give her confidence, sooth her loneliness and to occupy her mind from the guilt she feels however she looked for it in the wrong places by selling her body for sex and praying on young boys in the school that she taught at in Laurel. Blanche states ‘the Hotel Flamingo is not the sort of establishment I would dare to be seen in!’; the Hotel Flamingo was a hotel in which men could pay prostitutes to have sex with them and Blanche refuses to admit that she had multiple encounters with men there. It is evident to the reader that Blanche is struggling with the demands of being a woman regarded as ‘proper’ and in her failure to be one, one can say that she has become a fallen woman. Additionally, Stanley states ‘she was kicked out before the spring term ended. And I hate to tell you the reason that step was taken. A seventeen-year-old kid she got mixed up with – and the boy’s dad learned about it and he got in touch with the high-school superintendent. And there was practically a town ordinance passed against her.’ The fact that Blanche gets ‘mixed up with’ a ‘seventeen-year-old kid’ shows the extent of her internal suffering, it is so severe that she preyed on a child to make her feel adequate for herself and society. Conclusively, one can see that all four of these women have expectations to live up to but due to external factors such as death, warfare and children born out of wedlock, sometimes they are unable to fulfil them and the consequences are severe such as being shunned by society or being abused by the male figures in their life. In Afghanistan and in America, even though the countries have different political set ups, there is the common trend that women must live up to higher expectations than men. One may presume that due to the Islamic faith in Afghanistan being dominant, that women in Afghanistan have less freedom but when one looks for the finer details, women in America at the time of the novel is set, have just as little.