Past And Present Meanings Essays - Flemish Painters,

Past and Present Meanings How could the painter Pieter Bruegel and writer Wislawa Szymborska have anything remotely in common, when the fact is that four hundred years separate their works? A painting by Pieter Bruegel connects these two artists over four hundred years of time. Pieter Bruegel the Elder was born sometime between 1525 and 1530. Originally a student of Pieter Coecke van Alost, he was later accepted into the Antwerp painters' guild in 1551. In 1563 he married Coecke's daughter, and they later had two children. Both children would prove to have their own artistic abilities and would carry on the painting tradition. Only six years after his marriage, he would be buried at the same church in which he had been wed. Pieter Bruegel the Elder was considered, "the most perfect painter of his century"(198) by Walter S. Gibson, an author of a book on Bruegel. He chose not to follow the same Flemish style that was popular amongst many fellow artists. This made him an individualist. Surprisingly, his works grew popular nonetheless. Bruegel often painted scenes of vast landscapes, but was more known for his paintings of peasant life. Because he spent much of his time working on peasant scenes, many think of him as one of the Flemish peasants. In reality, he was the same as any townsman and actually regarded peasants as a form of low life and a social class to mock. This mockery is evident in his painting Peasant Wedding and Feast. The wedding takes place in a barn, people are shoveling food into their mouths, and as E.H. Gombrich puts it, the bride "sits quietly, with folded hands and a grin of utter contentment on her stupid face"(380). This seems to be one of Bruegel's happier paintin! gs of peasants, and their activities. Due to the detailed nature of his paintings, Bruegel's works have often aided in deciphering events of the past. For example, the Labours of the Month paintings distinctly show us the monthly routines of a peasant and his family: the spring planting of fields, the long summer hours of work, and the fall harvesting. Without these paintings, peasant life would not be portrayed as realistically as it was. When you hear that peasants had it bad, it is difficult to really understand how bad it was. When you look at these paintings, you see little joy or happiness in the routines of peasants' life. One observer of Bruegel's works is Wislawa Szymborska, last year's winner of the Nobel prize for literature. Now seventy-three years old, Szymborska lives in Krakow, Poland. Married twice (once to a writer and once to a poet), she is considered to be one of the finest European artists of these times. She is also one of five Polish winners of the Nobel prize for literature. Upon winning, Szymborska was quoted as saying, "I'm afraid I will not have a quiet life now. It is hard to believe but I was never hoping for an award" (Heintz). This year's prize was the richest ever at $1.12 million dollars. With only a few close friends, Szymborska has always led a private life, but that may all change now that she is very rich. Edward Hirsch says that "her writing has often reflected philosophical and ethical issues rather than the post-modern fads that contemporary writers everywhere have been swept along by"(46). This next piece of her writing shows her philosophical tendencies. Nothing can ever happen twice. In consequence, the sorry fact is that we arrive here improvised and leave without the chance to practice.(Heintz 48) She is saying that we can never be prepared for what the future may have in store for us. We don't have enough time in life for second chances, for "practice." Unfortunately, we cannot go back and fix the things that practice would have made perfect. The opening lines of many of her poems often seem trivial and obvious, when read or heard separately. After reading the rest of the poem, the opening line seems to take on more meaning and significance. In the opening line of "Nothing Can Happen Twice," my first reaction is, "Well, that's not true." But after I finished the

IB History Sample Essay

IB History Sample EssayIf you are thinking about applying for IB history or your college is considering it for its recent applicants, it is important to note that you may not have the perfect idea of what IB is all about and what it means. It can be difficult to assess this accurately in an online format, especially if you are applying for the IB history course and not the general degree.The three-year bachelor's degree program in historical studies includes a concentration in international relations, which encompasses all aspects of how history is influenced by external influences. One of the main reasons this is included is because it makes a person more well-rounded, able to think in many different ways at the same time.In fact, the IB also includes writing essays about current issues, one of the areas covered in the course. To write an essay on the subject of international relations for the IB history course, you will need to write essays on topics related to politics, diplomacy, economics, business, military and even social justice.This course takes up a lot of time in high school because of its focus on the study of international relations. As such, it is also good for a student to learn about the type of essay format in a formal and as well as informal format. Your course instructor will help you work with both types of essays.One of the good things about this course is that it is offered through a private institute rather than any particular university. A private institution gives you the flexibility to study at your own pace and to study how much you want to get out of the course.When it comes to writing a sample essay for this type of course, you need to be careful that the topic is not too specific, as this could make your essay too specific and not really reflective of the interests you have. It would be best to go over the idea of the topic before actually writing anything so that you know exactly what you should be focusing on.Your essay is your c hance to express yourself and you need to express it in a unique way, although you don't have to go as in-depth as the IB history course does with your essay. Remember that when you write an essay on this type of subject, it is just a means to an end, so you need to use your free time wisely.

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne Essays

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne Essays The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne Paper The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne Paper Essay Topic: Film The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne was written by Brian Moore and set in pre Troubles Belfast in the 50s. When Jack Clayton decided to make a film of the book in 1987 he decided to move the location to 1950s Dublin. At first these seems quite a strange thing to do, they were obviously two very different cities in, one could argue, two different countries. By setting it outside Belfast, the director is making a conscious decision to simply eradicate the major section of a community which must have some implications upon the integrity of the story line and character development. This is what I would like to discuss tonight. Furthermore the portrayal of the major characters has definitely been altered. Part of this can be put down to the directors own interpretation but it cannot be ignored that he has deliberately changed the personality of some of these characters. Now, I am going to assume that none of you has watched this film and not many of you have read this book. But what I am assuming is that everybody has a basic idea of the situation in the North. I propose therefore to first of all give you a broad outline of 1950s society in both Belfast and Dublin so that we can open a discussion comparing the two. And then Im going to choose three or four passages taken from the novel and show the clips in the film. In this way you get a rest from me! And, if you dont mind doing a little bit of reading, it makes for a more informed discussion. Let me first tell you something about Brian Moore. He was born in 1921, which was a very important year for Ireland as a whole. First of all they established independence from the British Empire and secondly we had partition in the North. Moore was one of nine children. His father was a surgeon and on the whole the family experience was a happy one. Moore attended St. Malachays, a grammar school where, according to Moore they were beaten all the time So you could go through the entire day being beaten on the hands, day in, day out, everything was taught by rote. This was a Catholic school in a predominantly Protestant milieu; therefore we had to get better marks than the Protestant schools. We were then beaten and coerced into achievement, and we werent really taught anything. Moore left St. Malachays without the leaving cert because he failed his Maths. He experienced the Second World War as a volunteer coffining dead bodies but was then hired by the British Ministry of War Transport to go as a Port Official to Algiers, North Africa. After one brief visit to Belfast after the war, Moore finally emigrated to Canada where he worked as a reporter. Belfast, which he considered a claustrophobic backwater trapped in the nightmare of history, left him feeling angry and bitter. It was at this stage that he felt the need to try and write Belfast out of his system and look for a new world in which I and my characters could live. It was at this point that he began writing The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne which was published in 1955. The reasons for Moore writing Judith Hearne and the themes highlighted within the novel do call into question the decision to situate the film in Dublin. Briefly, the story centres on middle-aged Judith Hearne who moves from one bed and breakfast to another. Having devoted the best years of her life to the welfare of a severely demanding maiden aunt she has little respite in her life other than romantic dreams and the communal fellowship of Sunday Mass. As if in answer to a prayer, James Madden comes on to the scene, her landladys brother and recently returned from America. He upon seeing some expensive jewelry on her, is misled into believing she has money and views her as a potential financial partner. Although she finds him a trifle common Judith Hearne tempers her dreams with a certain amount of realism and realizes that Madden is her last chance to fulfill a desperate desire to be loved. What follows is a tragedy of errors and when the awful realization of the situation dawns on Judith Hearne she turns first to drink as a way of escape and then to the church where the priest mismanages her cruelly. The novel reaches its climax when Judith Hearne attacks the sanctuary in her desperate crisis of faith and collapses in a scene of total degradation and despair. The novel ends with Judith Hearne in a sanitorium having lost her dignity and her faith-a rather bleak future. That essentially is a synopsis of the story line. What may be useful, however, is if I give you an idea of what each of these cities was like in the 1950s. It is important to realize that the novel Judith Hearne very much reflects Moores feelings about the city. This novel and the two novels that followed was his attempt at trying to exorcise Belfast out of his system and there are various passages in the novel which highlight the isolation and alienation felt by the Nationalist community and it was from this he trying to escape. But in trying to escape he couldnt shake off this feeling of terrible loneliness and this is one of the main themes running through the novel. Looking at the make up of Belfast it is easy to understand these feelings. Belfast was, unlike Dublin, an industrial city. Im sure that when you think of Belfast you think of the sectarian conflict and the murals but one of its enduring images is the big shipping gantries with H and W on them. In fact those little link films on the BBC shows a group of boys skateboarding with those gantries behind them. The message is probably lost on most of the population but this was intended to show a more positive image of Belfast, an industrial, prosperous city that built the Titanic. But this is a very Protestant image and Belfast is a very Protestant city. Protestants believed that they had created Belfast through hard work and enterprise, a triumph over mud and water, the result of successive merchants, engineers and entrepreneurs. The Nationalists on the other hand, believed that Belfast had always been theirs and that the land had been taken from them. Furthermore they were excluded from the job market. Belfast in the 50s saw Protestants quite powerful and Catholics very isolated and marginalized. Belfast was an unhappy, fragile city where violence seethed below the surface. So what about Dublin? Can it compare with Belfast? Well, Dublin, having achieved independence from the British Empire and then endured a very bitter civil war was under the control of a politician who still believed in Mother Ireland and who attempted to maintain a rural way of life. The laws of Ireland were entwined with the Catholic church which resulted in a highly conservative, restrained and many would say oppressed nation Its relations with Britain were extremely poor, where embargoes were imposed by Britain causing a collapse in the economy and massive unemployment. Irelands position of neutrality in the Second World War if anything worsened relationships and it would be fair to say that Ireland was the sick man of Europe high unemployment and huge emigration. Lets have a look at the first clip which covers the opening of the novel. Ive included some extracts for you to read in order to compare the two scenes. In the novel, I believe Moore was quite keen to portray Middle Class Belfast in decline and to give a sense of its isolation and decline through its shabbiness. Moreover, Moore wants to present us with a middle aged, unattractive, snobbish and desperately lonely spinster who is herself kept out of the most powerful institution upheld by the Catholic Church and that is the woman seen as the wife and the mother and the heart of the home. Judith Hearne fails to achieve the role expected of her and as a result she is only ever a visitor to those domestic spaces normally assigned to women. This is what we see in the first clip. Incidentally, Ive included in the novels extracts Judith Hearnes reaction to Bernard Rice, the landladys son. She is a woman who feels the pressure to view every man as a potential suitor but I do find the directors interpretation rather interesting. Perhaps what the Catholics do have in common in both cities is this repressive apparatus of the church and the family which dominates their lives. You will see that Moores characters are very much determined by Catholicism. Its strictures dictate the attitudes, behaviour and beliefs of the Catholic community both in Belfast and in Dublin. Freedom within such a structure is merely an illusion and any attempt to live outside its tenets or indeed question its ideology can result in psychological distress. This is exactly what happens to Judith Hearne, her whole existence is dependent upon the church and her faith and when this faith is shaken and she begins to question the very existence of God she has also to question her very reason for being, which leads to a breakdown. This well see in one of the later clips. The main difference, I can see between Belfast and Dublin is this feeling of being at once locked out and hemmed in. There is no doubt that the Nationalist community suffered feelings of dislocation after Partition and that the Unionists endeavours to keep them essentially ghettoized and poor led to feelings being locked into small spaces. Hence the use of the Bed and Breakfast as a backdrop, where as Moore puts it all the houses are partitioned off. This is very much a statement Moore was making about the Nationalist community in Belfast. The way many Nationalist writers coped with these feelings was through nostalgia and an abiding involvement with the past. This we can see in the first clip when Judith Hearne unpacks her photograph of her dead aunt and the oleograph of the Sacred Heart. She continually returns to the past to seek some comfort which is in fact exactly what Moore is doing. I included the first meeting between James Madden and Judith Hearne just so you could see the relationship develop. For Hearne, Madden represents that opportunity to become part of that role assigned to women. But to the first question which is does it really matter that the film is changed to an entirely different city? Does it work? In the second clip, which is about 15 minutes long we see the fourth date between Judith Hearne and James Madden and this rather unfortunate misunderstanding between the two characters which results in the start of Judith Hearnes breakdown. I have included two important passages from the book which have been totally removed from the film but are of some significance to Moores novel as a whole. The first takes place at the end of the movie theyre watching which clearly situates the action in Belfast. As does the second which follows the couple through the city centre of Belfast as opposed to a bridge across the Liffey in Dublin which is what we see in the film. If you read those two passages and maybe we could open a debate over whether their exclusion is a problem. The second issue is the latent violence which lies beneath and throughout the novel. This violence will become obvious as you watch the clip and Ill be interested to here what you make of it because again there is a very good reason why Moore included this scene in the novel but Im not sure if it is fully explored in the film because of changing the location.

'Australian banks have remained very sound by international Research Paper

'Australian banks have remained very sound by international standards,despite the global financial turmoil' observed the IMF, and impact on Australian Bank - Research Paper Example It is apparent that if a residential mortgage shock is joined with corporate losses, it will definitely harm banks. Local reports on Australian banks performance indicated that a stress test is based on a worse case scenario that would categorize other banks in the world in the same position (IMF 2010). In fact, it is argued that although such observations from the IMF stand to be correct, Australian banks were believed to obtain considerable aid from taxpayers and the Reserve Bank. Besides, it is argued that Australian federal government helps banks in events of crisis. Overall, reports have indicated that the Australian banking system was resilient during global financial crisis due to intensive supervision and regulation. Although, the four major Australian banks capital ratios are place below global average for large banks, their conservative approaches in implementing Base II framework indicates that their headline capital rations underestimate their capital strength. The major financial soundness indicators that these banks concentrated on include profitability, capital adequacy, asset quality and provisioning, and liquidity. On particular, the Australian banks’ loss given default rates are arguably higher than those of several other countries. Additionally, higher risk weights were endorsed for certain residential mortgages. Moreover, reduced risk weights, which are allowed in the Basel II framework’s standardized approach, were introduced for retail lending (IMF 2010). Nevertheless, the risk weighted assets numbers can not be comparable across nations. All in all, due to APRA’s conservative eligibility and deduction rules, Australian banks have a propensity of holding higher quality capital. According to RBA, in regard to Basel III requirements, banks will need to hold more and higher quality capital. In light with this, the Australian banks can be argued

Socio-cultural Influences on Consumption Japan Speech or Presentation

Socio-cultural Influences on Consumption Japan - Speech or Presentation Example Shintoism and Buddhism are the major religions in Japan. Some people practice both, as the religions complement each other in many ways. Coming to the language, Japanese is official and widely used, even in case of business communication. Interpreters do the translation in case of language-handicap experienced with overseas business clientele. They expect their language to be valued, even while using it for business, promotional or packaging purposes. People are respected by age and the ancestors are worshipped in Japan. Extended families consisting of uncles, aunts and grandparents were of common occurrence until recent years, when the hike in real estate prices made nuclear families more feasible. However, all the relatives meet up during festivals. Thus, the consumption pattern of the consumers have changed based on the variations in the family structure. Food is an essential part of Japanese culture. The head or the eldest or the most important person is allowed to start the meal first. Soup is an accompaniment, rather than being a starter and slurping noodles even in formal meetings is usual. Japanese remain communicate less while eating, because mealtime is meant for enjoying food. Their food philosophy is of total well-being, termed as Shokuiku. Brief cereal breakfasts, packed or bought lunches and detailed dinners with family are common (International Markets Bureau, 2010). Japanese consumers hold certain taboos, which need consideration in understanding their behavior. Saying ‘no’ is not of common practice in Japan. Pointing anything with chopsticks; usage of number ‘4’; white shirt, black trousers and black suit; exchanging food with chopsticks, etc., remind them of death and funeral and thus, these gestures must be avoided (kwintessential, 2004). Harmony and cooperation are the values that are promot ed in Japan. Education, home and business settings revolve around working with others, being polite even in case of disagreement and learning to live in collaboration. Thus, the societal norms in Japan are community oriented. Diligence and empathy are part and parcel of their behavior, which places the thoughts and feelings of others, before one’s own (Kogler, 2006). People assist others who need their help, by putting aside their own job at hand and they feel embarrassed when they are not in a condition to do the needful. This again reflects the emphasis on consumer service orientation and apt response to command and authority of the employees in the nation (kwintessential, 2004). The code of conduct for businesses in Japan essentially emphasizes courtesy, compassion and consideration. Maintaining a business card in Japanese, exchanging it on important occasions and treasuring those extended by the others form a part of this protocol of reverence. While attending a business gathering, everyone is expected to look well-groomed, formal and be punctual (kwintessential, 2004). Establishing long-term business relations is preferred to immediate

Classification and division Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Classification and division - Essay Example Thus schools are classified mainly into three broad categories; Elementary school, middle school and high school, for educating the children of different ages in a proper manner. Elementary schools are institutions in which children get their initial education. It is also referred as primary schools in some parts of the world. Elementary education includes kindergarten education or pre-primary education and primary education. Children within the age group of 3-11 are usually admitted in the elementary schools. Story telling methods are usually adopted in elementary teaching because of the interests of elementary school children in hearing stories. Problem solving or analytical methods cannot be applied in elementary school stages because of the difficulty of small aged children in grasping topics through such methods. Elementary education usually ends in the fifth standard. At the end of elementary education, middle school education starts. Middle schools are institutions in which th e children of 11 to 14 years old undergo the learning process. Usually, education from grade sixth to eighth is included in middle schools. â€Å"Young people undergo more rapid and profound personal changes between the ages 10 and 15 than at any other time in their lives.

Ozone :: Ozone Layer Oxygen Environmental Essays

Ozone Ozone (O3) is a molecule consisting of three oxygen atoms, similar to the oxygen we breathe (O2), however oxygen consists of only two oxygen atoms. In the stratosphere, a region high up in the upper atmosphere, light rays are responsible for the breaking down of oxygen (O2), breathable oxygen into its two separate oxygen atoms. Lone oxygen atoms are markedly reactive. When a lone oxygen atom comes into contact with a breathable oxygen molecule (O2) it combines to form ozone (O3). The ozone layer is a small residual amount of ozone concentrated in a band in the upper atmosphere. This band of concentrated ozone resides approximately between twenty and forty kilometers high in the stratosphere. The ozone layer reactions that both create and destroy ozone has come into a dynamic equilibrium. This dynamic equilibrium is very delicate and resulted during atmospheric formation (Environment Canada, 1996). Ozone, however, is very rare even in the ozone layer. Oxygen makes up approximately twenty percent of air and ozone makes up only 3 x 10-5 percent of air. Furthermore, this minuscule amount of ozone is enough to protect the earth from most ultraviolet light. Ozone prevents most UV-B radiation from reaching the surface of the earth (Environment Canada, 1996). Ozone is very important to life on earth because the harmfulness of high-energy UV-B radiation stems from the high energy of these light rays, enabling them to penetrate deeply into water, plant tissue and epidermal tissue of animals. Increased UV-B radiation results in harming the metabolic system of cells and ultimately damage to genetic material present in effected cells. Living organisms on the surface of the earth have always been exposed to some, and only slightly differing levels of UV-B radiation depending of geographic location and season. Through evolution, cellular repair mechanisms have evolved to safeguard cells against damage done by UV-B radiation. With the increase in the UV-B radiation, more damage is done to cellular functions then the natural protection system can deal with (Environment Canada, 1996). Life on earth would more or less be void if not for the formation of the ozone layer during atmospheric formation (Porter, 1996). With out the ozone layer the harmful UV-B radiation would not allow the growth of autotrophic plants, resulting in reduction in oxygen production; ultimately the destruction of most living organisms on the earth surface would result. Increased UV-B radiation has been linked to many incidence of increased health problems among humans. UV-B radiation leads to increase skin cancer, eye damage, and possible inhibition of the immune system (Health Canada). These incidence have been noticed in humans, and it is presumed that these problems will occur