A Game of Thrones Chapter Sixty-three

Catelyn The woods were full of whispers. Moonlight winked on the tumbling waters of the stream below as it wound its rocky way along the floor of the valley. Beneath the trees, warhorses whickered softly and pawed at the moist, leafy ground, while men made nervous jests in hushed voices. Now and again, she heard the chink of spears, the faint metallic slither of chain mail, but even those sounds were muffled. â€Å"It should not be long now, my lady,† Hallis Mollen said. He had asked for the honor of protecting her in the battle to come; it was his right, as Winterfell's captain of guards, and Robb had not refused it to him. She had thirty men around her, charged to keep her unharmed and see her safely home to Winterfell if the fighting went against them. Robb had wanted fifty; Catelyn had insisted that ten would be enough, that he would need every sword for the fight. They made their peace at thirty, neither happy with it. â€Å"It will come when it comes,† Catelyn told him. When it came, she knew it would mean death. Hal's death perhaps . . . or hers, or Robb's. No one was safe. No life was certain. Catelyn was content to wait, to listen to the whispers in the woods and the faint music of the brook, to feel the warm wind in her hair. She was no stranger to waiting, after all. Her men had always made her wait. â€Å"Watch for me, little cat,† her father would always tell her, when he rode off to court or fair or battle. And she would, standing patiently on the battlements of Riverrun as the waters of the Red Fork and the Tumblestone flowed by. He did not always come when he said he would, and days would ofttimes pass as Catelyn stood her vigil, peering out between crenels and through arrow loops until she caught a glimpse of Lord Hoster on his old brown gelding, trotting along the rivershore toward the landing. â€Å"Did you watch for me?† he'd ask when he bent to bug her. â€Å"Did you, little cat?† Brandon Stark had bid her wait as well. â€Å"I shall not be long, my lady,† he had vowed. â€Å"We will be wed on my return.† Yet when the day came at last, it was his brother Eddard who stood beside her in the sept. Ned had lingered scarcely a fortnight with his new bride before he too had ridden off to war with promises on his lips. At least he had left her with more than words; he had given her a son. Nine moons had waxed and waned, and Robb had been born in Riverrun while his father still warred in the south. She had brought him forth in blood and pain, not knowing whether Ned would ever see him. Her son. He had been so small . . . And now it was for Robb that she waited . . . for Robb, and for Jaime Lannister, the gilded knight who men said had never learned to wait at all. â€Å"The Kingslayer is restless, and quick to anger,† her uncle Brynden had told Robb. And he had wagered their lives and their best hope of victory on the truth of what he said. If Robb was frightened, he gave no sign of it. Catelyn watched her son as he moved among the men, touching one on the shoulder, sharing a jest with another, helping a third to gentle an anxious horse. His armor clinked softly when he moved. Only his head was bare. Catelyn watched a breeze stir his auburn hair, so like her own, and wondered when her son had grown so big. Fifteen, and near as tall as she was. Let him grow taller, she asked the gods. Let him know sixteen, and twenty, and fifty. Let him grow as tall as his father, and hold his own son in his arms. Please, please, please. As she watched him, this tall young man with the new beard and the direwolf prowling at his heels, all she could see was the babe they had laid at her breast at Riverrun, so long ago. The night was warm, but the thought of Riverrun was enough to make her shiver. Where are they? she wondered. Could her uncle have been wrong? So much rested on the truth of what he had told them. Robb had given the Blackfish three hundred picked men, and sent them ahead to screen his march. â€Å"Jaime does not know,† Ser Brynden said when he rode back. â€Å"I'll stake my life on that. No bird has reached him, my archers have seen to that. We've seen a few of his outriders, but those that saw us did not live to tell of it. He ought to have sent out more. He does not know.† â€Å"How large is his host?† her son asked. â€Å"Twelve thousand foot, scattered around the castle in three separate camps, with the rivers between,† her uncle said, with the craggy smile she remembered so well. â€Å"There is no other way to besiege Riverrun, yet still, that will be their undoing. Two or three thousand horse.† â€Å"The Kingslayer has us three to one,† said Galbart Glover. ‘True enough,† Ser Brynden said, â€Å"yet there is one thing Ser Jaime lacks.† â€Å"Yes?† Robb asked. â€Å"Patience.† Their host was greater than it had been when they left the Twins. Lord Jason Mallister had brought his power out from Seagard to join them as they swept around the headwaters of the Blue Fork and galloped south, and others had crept forth as well, hedge knights and small lords and masterless men-at-arms who had fled north when her brother Edmure's army was shattered beneath the walls of Riverrun. They had driven their horses as hard as they dared to reach this place before Jaime Lannister had word of their coming, and now the hour was at hand. Catelyn watched her son mount up. Olyvar Frey held his horse for him, Lord Walder's son, two years older than Robb, and ten years younger and more anxious. He strapped Robb's shield in place and handed up his helm. When he lowered it over the face she loved so well, a tall young knight sat on his grey stallion where her son had been. It was dark among the trees, where the moon did not reach. When Robb turned his head to look at her, she could see only black inside his visor. â€Å"I must ride down the line, Mother,† he told her. â€Å"Father says you should let the men see you before a battle.† ‘Go, then,† she said. â€Å"Let them see you.† ‘It will give them courage,† Robb said. And who will give me courage? she wondered, yet she kept her silence and made herself smile for him. Robb turned the big grey stallion and walked him slowly away from her, Grey Wind shadowing his steps. Behind him his battle guard formed up. When he'd forced Catelyn to accept her protectors, she had insisted that he be guarded as well, and the lords bannermen had agreed. Many of their sons had clamored for the honor of riding with the Young Wolf, as they had taken to calling him. Torrhen Karstark and his brother Eddard were among his thirty, and Patrek Mallister, Smalljon Umber, Daryn Hornwood, Theon Greyjoy, no less than five of Walder Frey's vast brood, along with older men like Ser Wendel Manderly and Robin Flint. One of his companions was even a woman: Dacey Mormont, Lady Maege's eldest daughter and heir to Bear Island, a lanky six-footer who had been given a morningstar at an age when most girls were given dolls. Some of the other lords muttered about that, but Catelyn would not listen to their complaints. â€Å"This is not about the honor of your houses,† she told them. â€Å"This is about keeping my son alive and whole.† And if it comes to that, she wondered, will thirty be enough? Will six thousand be enough? A bird called faintly in the distance, a high sharp trill that felt like an icy hand on Catelyn's neck. Another bird answered; a third, a fourth. She knew their call well enough, from her years at Winterfell. Snow shrikes. Sometimes you saw them in the deep of winter, when the godswood was white and still. They were northern birds. They are coming, Catelyn thought. â€Å"They're coming, my lady,† Hal Mollen whispered. He was always a man for stating the obvious. â€Å"Gods be with us.† She nodded as the woods grew still around them. In the quiet she could hear them, far off yet moving closer; the tread of many horses, the rattle of swords and spears and armor, the murmur of human voices, with here a laugh, and there a curse. Eons seemed to come and go. The sounds grew louder. She heard more laughter, a shouted command, splashing as they crossed and recrossed the little stream. A horse snorted. A man swore. And then at last she saw him . . . only for an instant, framed between the branches of the trees as she looked down at the valley floor, yet she knew it was him. Even at a distance, Ser Jaime Lannister was unmistakable. The moonlight had silvered his armor and the gold of his hair, and turned his crimson cloak to black. He was not wearing a helm. He was there and he was gone again, his silvery armor obscured by the trees once more. Others came behind him, long columns of them, knights and sworn swords and freeriders, three quarters of the Lannister horse. â€Å"He is no man for sitting in a tent while his carpenters build siege towers,† Ser Brynden had promised. â€Å"He has ridden out with his knights thrice already, to chase down raiders or storm a stubborn holdfast.† Nodding, Robb had studied the map her uncle had drawn him. Ned had taught him to read maps. â€Å"Raid him here,† he said, pointing. â€Å"A few hundred men, no more. Tully banners. When he comes after you, we will be waiting†Ã¢â‚¬â€his finger moved an inch to the left—†here.† Here was a hush in the night, moonlight and shadows, a thick carpet of dead leaves underfoot, densely wooded ridges sloping gently down to the streambed, the underbrush thinning as the ground fell away. Here was her son on his stallion, glancing back at her one last time and lifting his sword in salute. Here was the call of Maege Mormont's warhorn, a long low blast that rolled down the valley from the east, to tell them that the last of Jaime's riders had entered the trap. And Grey Wind threw back his head and howled. The sound seemed to go right through Catelyn Stark, and she found herself shivering. It was a terrible sound, a frightening sound, yet there was music in it too. For a second she felt something like pity for the Lannisters below. So this is what death sounds like, she thought. HAAroooooooooooooooooooooooo came the answer from the far ridge as the Greatjon winded his own horn. To east and west, the trumpets of the Mallisters and Freys blew vengeance. North, where the valley narrowed and bent like a cocked elbow, Lord Karstark's warhorns added their own deep, mournful voices to the dark chorus. Men were shouting and horses rearing in the stream below. The whispering wood let out its breath all at once, as the bowmen Robb had hidden in the branches of the trees let fly their arrows and the night erupted with the screams of men and horses. All around her, the riders raised their lances, and the dirt and leaves that had buried the cruel bright points fell away to reveal the gleam of sharpened steel. â€Å"Winterfell!† she heard Robb shout as the arrows sighed again. He moved away from her at a trot, leading his men downhill. Catelyn sat on her horse, unmoving, with Hal Mollen and her guard around her, and she waited as she had waited before, for Brandon and Ned and her father. She was high on the ridge, and the trees hid most of what was going on beneath her. A heartbeat, two, four, and suddenly it was as if she and her protectors were alone in the wood. The rest were melted away into the green. Yet when she looked across the valley to the far ridge, she saw the Greatjon's riders emerge from the darkness beneath the trees. They were in a long line, an endless line, and as they burst from the wood there was an instant, the smallest part of a heartbeat, when all Catelyn saw was the moonlight on the points of their lances, as if a thousand willowisps were coming down the ridge, wreathed in silver flame. Then she blinked, and they were only men, rushing down to kill or die. Afterward, she could not claim she had seen the battle. Yet she could hear, and the valley rang with echoes. The crack of a broken lance, the clash of swords, the cries of â€Å"Lannister† and â€Å"Winterfell† and â€Å"Tully! Riverrun and Tully!† When she realized there was no more to see, she closed her eyes and listened. The battle came alive around her. She heard hoofbeats, iron boots splashing in shallow water, the woody sound of swords on oaken shields and the scrape of steel against steel, the hiss of arrows, the thunder of drums, the terrified screaming of a thousand horses. Men shouted curses and begged for mercy, and got it (or not), and lived (or died). The ridges seemed to play queer tricks with sound. Once she heard Robb's voice, as clear as if he'd been standing at her side, calling, â€Å"To me! To me!† And she heard his direwolf, snarling and growling, heard the snap of those long teeth, the tearing of flesh, shrieks of fear and pain from man and horse alike. Was there only one wolf? It was hard to be certain. Little by little, the sounds dwindled and died, until at last there was only the wolf. As a red dawn broke in the east, Grey Wind began to howl again. Robb came back to her on a different horse, riding a piebald gelding in the place of the grey stallion he had taken down into the valley. The wolf's head on his shield was slashed half to pieces, raw wood showing where deep gouges had been hacked in the oak, but Robb himself seemed unhurt. Yet when he came closer, Catelyn saw that his mailed glove and the sleeve of his surcoat were black with blood. â€Å"You're hurt,† she said. Robb lifted his hand, opened and closed his fingers. â€Å"No,† he said. â€Å"This is . . . Torrhen's blood, perhaps, or . . . † He shook his head. â€Å"I do not know.† A mob of men followed him up the slope, dirty and dented and grinning, with Theon and the Greatjon at their head. Between them they dragged Ser Jaime Lannister. They threw him down in front of her horse. â€Å"The Kingslayer,† Hal announced, unnecessarily. Lannister raised his head. â€Å"Lady Stark,† he said from his knees. Blood ran down one cheek from a gash across his scalp, but the pale light of dawn had put the glint of gold back in his hair. â€Å"I would offer you my sword, but I seem to have mislaid it.† â€Å"It is not your sword I want, ser,† she told him. â€Å"Give me my father and my brother Edmure. Give me my daughters. Give me my lord husband.† â€Å"I have mislaid them as well, I fear.† â€Å"A pity,† Catelyn said coldly. â€Å"Kill him, Robb,† Theon Greyjoy urged. â€Å"Take his head off.† â€Å"No,† her son answered, peeling off his bloody glove. â€Å"He's more use alive than dead. And my lord father never condoned the murder of prisoners after a battle.† â€Å"A wise man,† Jaime Lannister said, â€Å"and honorable.† â€Å"Take him away and put him in irons,† Catelyn said. â€Å"Do as my lady mother says,† Robb commanded, â€Å"and make certain there's a strong guard around him. Lord Karstark will want his head on a pike.† â€Å"That he will,† the Greatjon agreed, gesturing. Lannister was led away to be bandaged and chained. â€Å"Why should Lord Karstark want him dead?† Catelyn asked. Robb looked away into the woods, with the same brooding look that Ned often got. â€Å"He . . . he killed them . . . â€Å" â€Å"Lord Karstark's sons,† Galbart Glover explained. â€Å"Both of them,† said Robb. â€Å"Torrhen and Eddard. And Daryn Hornwood as well.† â€Å"No one can fault Lannister on his courage,† Glover said. â€Å"When he saw that he was lost, he rallied his retainers and fought his way up the valley, hoping to reach Lord Robb and cut him down. And almost did.† â€Å"He mislaid his sword in Eddard Karstark's neck, after he took Torrhen's hand off and split Daryn Hornwood's skull open,† Robb said. â€Å"All the time he was shouting for me. If they hadn't tried to stop him—† â€Å"—I should then be mourning in place of Lord Karstark,† Catelyn said. â€Å"Your men did what they were sworn to do, Robb. They died protecting their liege lord. Grieve for them. Honor them for their valor. But not now. You have no time for grief. You may have lopped the head off the snake, but three quarters of the body is still coiled around my father's castle. We have won a battle, not a war.† â€Å"But such a battle!† said Theon Greyjoy eagerly. â€Å"My lady, the realm has not seen such a victory since the Field of Fire. I vow, the Lannisters lost ten men for every one of ours that fell. We've taken close to a hundred knights captive, and a dozen lords bannermen. Lord Westerling, Lord Banefort, Ser Garth Greenfield, Lord Estren, Ser Tytos Brax, Mallor the Dornishman . . . and three Lannisters besides Jaime, Lord Tywin's own nephews, two of his sister's sons and one of his dead brother's . . . â€Å" â€Å"And Lord Tywin?† Catelyn interrupted. â€Å"Have you perchance taken Lord Tywin, Theon?† â€Å"No,† Greyjoy answered, brought up short. â€Å"Until you do, this war is far from done.† Robb raised his head and pushed his hair back out of his eyes. â€Å"My mother is right. We still have Riverrun.†

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS (COMPARATIVE) - Essay Example But despite social ghettos, criminal justice and the law still remains the same for the rich and poor. 1 The justice system followed in Amsterdam is somewhat different from Krakow, Prague or USA. The full implications of Amsterdam criminal justice for Member States' competence in criminal law matters have not always been appreciated by the expounded institutions because of the fact that it is not only permissible for States to take action in respect of such breaches but is in fact required of them to do so has become clearer only in very recent years. Indeed, as late as 1977 in Amsterdam Bulb BV v. Produktschap voor Siergewassen, the Court of Justice went no further than to talk in terms of it being permissible for Member States to provide penalties for the breach of Community criminal law. 2 The latest principle relating to Criminal law is introduced as the fourth principle of transparency, which was developed somewhat earlier in the Amsterdam Bulb case.3 This 'transparency' principle acts as a constraint primarily on the legislature to ensure that national legislation does not conceal the Community nature and effects of a legal provision from the persons to whom it applies. As 'drug crime' is the most extending and outbound in Amsterdam, the final policy element in criminal legislation is the recognition that the criminal law plays only a minor role in the Dutch war in case of drugs. Central government has accepted that criminal proceedings should not be allowed to cause individual drug users more harm than might occur through drug use itself. The resultant level of legal intervention, accompanied by a gradual process of controlled integration of drug taking, could lead to the removal of any stigma against drug users. In Amsterdam from the entire criminal justice system may take place when a person is arrested by the police, who may, instead of initiating a criminal procedure by informing the public prosecutor, choose to arrange a civil commitment, particularly if the person has a history of previous admissions to psychiatric hospital. Once the matter has reached the prosecutor, there are no prosecutorial guidelines for the non-prosecution of mentally disordered offenders, and the appropriate disposal will be a matter for the court. Forensic mental health assessments in Amsterdam may be carried out on an outpatient or in-patient basis in a psychiatric hospital.4 Criminal justice policy has reflected these ideas to an extent in Amsterdam, but has never given statutory recognition to them such recognition emerges much more in relation to diversion from court and custody. Diversion from crime, then, has included many forms of prevention activity leisure groups run by social workers, the universal provision of youth facilities, behaviour modification, and other treatment programmes, counselling and a wide range of 'social crime prevention' schemes which often focus on 'at risk' groups (for example, children who five in high rise flats, large-scale council housing estates and so on); but also more 'mechanical' forms of intervention greater surveillance in shops and public transport, the introduction of 'vandal-proof' building materials and the physical security of buildings, for example. Indeed, 'situational crime prevention' of this sort has recently found favour in national and local crime prevention

Tourism and the media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Tourism and the media - Essay Example Tourism works unlike other industries in the fact that the industry depends a lot on the media for the success of the industry as a whole. The media is one of biggest drivers of tourism because the media serves the role of creating awareness about different places that are attractive for tourist to visit. The media influences tourism in a lot of ways. The role of media on tourism is a two-edge sword because the media can affect tourism in both a positive and negative way. One of the largest industries the media controls is the movie industry. A lot of movies showcase tourism spots indirectly in the plots of movies. Take for example the movie The Beach. This movie was filmed at one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The movie was filmed on Thailand’s Maya Beach (Thailandlogue, 2011). After the movie was released the Maya Beach region received a huge influx of tourists due to the free promotion Maya Beach received. Movies are just one of many ways the media can influenc e tourism. There are television channels that are solely dedicated to promoting tourism worldwide. A channel that has done a great job promoting tourism is the Travel Channel. The purpose of the Travel Channel is to connect people to the power and joy of human journey that inspires, surprises, and entertain humans across the world (Travelchannel, 2011). The written press is another media channel that has lot of power and its actions influence tourism. Most national newspapers have a section dedicated to travel. The travel section of a newspaper showcases different tourism spots across the world. When people read and see pictures about different parts of the world they get motivated to save money in order to visit these places. There is valuable information in newspapers that can help tourism once they reach their destination. Information such as the current currency exchange rate and weather information can be obtained by reading a local newspaper. A lot of countries advertise thems elves through magazines. The efforts of the media play a vital role in the promotion of tourism. One of the most important aspects about tourism is that it promotes economic development. There are countries in the world such as many of the Caribbean inlands that are extremely dependent on tourism dollars to support their national economies. â€Å"Tourism is highly dependent on media reporting because the vast majority of travel decisions are made by people who have never seen the destination first hand themselves† (Un, 2007). The exposure the media can provide to a region can help generate tourism. One of the ways the media can help tourism as a whole is by teaching people about other cultures. Television programs can help people get accustomed to the idea of visiting a new location. For example the television series â€Å"Outsourced† produced by NBC showcases a cast of actors of Indian descent (Sidereel, 2011). Through the program people can learn about the culture of India which can help raise a person’s interest in visiting such a location. Another type of program that directly influences the tourism prospects of a country are documentaries. A documentary can be defined as media that presents a non-fictional story that incorporates music, pictures, video clips, emotion, camera angles, and lighting to enhance a story (Blogspot, 2007). When documentaries are used to showcase a country potential tourists get a chance to get an in-depth view a country. Documentaries

Readymade Garment Industry in India Essay Example for Free

Readymade Garment Industry in India Essay

Thomas Hobbes’ conception Essay Example for Free

Thomas Hobbes’ conception Essay Thomas Hobbes’ conception of the natural state of man without the presence of a governing institution is primarily asocial; man is in constant war with other individuals, motivated by competition, self-preservation and reputation. These selfish desires remain present in man’s natural state that impedes the creation of a harmonious society. In Hobbes’ political treatise Leviathan, he mentions: â€Å"So that in the nature of man, we find three principal causes of quarrel; first, competition; secondly, diffidence; thirdly, glory† (Hobbes 84). Every individual is motivated by personal gain without any just cause to give importance with other individuals other than oneself. Man’s natural state is in constant conflict and may be considered primitive since the chaotic context provides no absolute conception of laws or moral codes in which to govern behavior among individuals. From the natural state, man progresses from its primitive consciousness, governed by reason, to aspire for peace. Thus, the creation of society comes from the individual’s initiative to impose a right that would not allow man to do harm upon himself and other people as well. Hobbes’ natural condition of man implies the presence of subjectivity in the midst of its primitive environment wherefore laws and moral codes represent the need for objectivity in order for a governing body to be formed. Indeed, man’s natural state is primitive and asocial; individuals naturally act upon instinct such as self-preservation, personal glory and other tendencies that leads to extreme individualism rather than an objective social reality. Man’s nature is selfish in essence as rational animals; however, reason separates the instinctive consciousness of the individual into forming social systems that naturally perpetuate man’s desire of peace and a harmonious society. Work Cited Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. Minneola, N. Y. Dover Publications, 2006.

Analyse the star persona

Analyse the star persona FILM AND TV STUDIES WORK PROGRAMME ESSAY QUESTIONS 1. Analyse the star persona of any actor of your choosing. What traits connotations and values does that star persona embody and to what extent does he or she bring the same traits, connotations and values to each role? You should answer with close reference to at least THREE films. In this essay I am going to analyse the star persona of one of Bollywood most successful actor, Shahrukh Khan, also known as SRK. Shahrukh Khan has made over fifty movies over the years; starting from 1992 he made his debut film Deewana (1992) which gave him box office hit. This gave him the most successful launch of his career in the Bollywood film industry. His role in the film gave achieved him Filmfare for the best Debut Award. There are three films of Shahrukh Khan that I am going to use close reference to, they are, KKHH (Kuch Kuch Hota Hai Something Happens 1998), K3G (Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham Sometimes Happiness, Sometimes Sadness 2001) and (Chak De! India Come On India 2007). The reason I chose these movies as these movies are very well known for big the success of his acting part in these movies. KKHH is a story of a simple stylish, sensuous and ambrosial love triangle story. Rahul (Shahrukh Khan) the tomboy Anjali (Kajol). They are both students at St Xaviers College. They are the best of friends. One day Tina, (Rani Mukerji), the principals daughter enrols the college. She is from London and is very beautiful, feminine and sophisticated and the opposite of Anjali. Rahul falls for her as they meet for the first time. Anjali then realises that she has feeling for Rahul and did not realise the careless comment on his part that she had heard, which equated love with friendship. This causes the love triangle to unfold. When one day Rahul confesses his love for Tina to Anjali, Anjali leaves the college, to forge the heartbreak that has caused her. Tina and Rahul marry and have a daughter whom they name Anjali. Tina dies after childbirth but has written a series of eight letters. On Anjali birthday she asks about where her name has come from. Rahul daughter Anjali believes that the older Anjali can make her father happy again and decided to help him reclaim his lost love. Rahul then meets Anjali again at a camp where Rahul daughter has enrolled, where her namesake is the counsellor. The namesake discoverers without the knowledge of the girl, the truth of her new charges of parentage. Rahul finds the old feelings reviving. But Anjali has bowed to her familys wishes and is engaged to another man. Complications ensue, but all ends well as Anjali fiancà © steps aside to let the fated couple marry at last. Richard Dyer in his book says â€Å"A star image is made out of media texts that can be grouped together as promotion, publicity, films and commentaries/criticism†. SRK falls directed into all these mentioned. Promotion is one big main thing is what makes SRK. Although he is worldwide famous primarily to the South Asian ethnicity around the world, most of the promotion is spread over India itself. SRK is one of the famous Bollywood star pin ups in India. He also has fan clubs publications (which is largely controlled by the studios), fashion pictures, ads where he endorses a merchandise like affordable cars, Pepsi and soap where it is usually shown in India and other neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh. SRK works well in this advertisement as people in India love him. He is a person who came from a middle class working background to a top successful actor. He is also the very few actors who made it in Bollywood as this industry is very hard to enter if either you have close family in the industry, like father, grandfather, brother or sister. He has had no-one like this, and he made it to the top. He makes public appearances and also cameos in supporting his other actors in the Bollywood song videos scenes such as I See You 2006, Saatiya 2002, Heyy Baby 2007 and Luck By Chance 2008. Promotion is probably the most straightforward of all the text which constructs a stars image, in that it is the most deliberate, direct, intentioned and self-conscious. Publicity is theoretically different from promotion in that it is not, or does not appear to be â€Å"deliberated† image-making. It is â€Å"what the press finds out†, â€Å"what the star lets slip in an interview† and is found in the newspapers and magazines. In content, this is much controlled by SRK agents and studios. A one important is the notion of the vehicle. The films he does have a distinct and privilege place in the stars image. It is after all films stars that are to be considered their celebrity is defined by the face of their appearing in films. However SRK is a phenomenon of cinema and of a general social meanings and there are instances of stars whose films may actually be less important than other aspects of their career. Mostly important is the nation of the vehicle. Films were often built around the star image. Stories might be written expressly to feature a given star, or books might be bought for production with a star in mind. The film K3G 2001 was one of the highest grossing Indian films overseas until 2006. This film is a family movie and the cast are all top Bollywood actors, such as Amitabh Bachan, Jaya Bachan, Sharukh Khan, Kajol, Hritik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor. The plot of the movie is about Rahul (SRK), who is the adopted by Yash (Amitab) and wife Nandini (Jaya) who was able to give birth to son Rohan (Hritikh). The father is the richest famous businessman in India. He believes in keeping tradition and is against love marriages. When Rohan comes back to India after overseas studying for few years, he falls in love with Anjali (Kajol). Yash decides to arrange marriage for son Rahul, but Rahul tells his father that he wants to marry Anjali. His father is angered by this, as he is not opting for his choice of high class society girl unlike Anjali who is middle class girl. Rahul apologises to his father Yash and promises to do whatever he asked for, and as he goes to tell Anjali that he is going to be married, he sees that Anjali father has passed away suddenly. After seeing that Anjali and her sister has no family and no one to live with, he marries Anjali on the spot. When he brings her home his father is more angered and disowns him and says that because you were adopted and not the blood of mine, you acted like this. Rahul is upset and hurt hard, shares emotional goodbye. The story goes on to the younger brother Rohan who goes on a mission to get his brother back close to the family. This film shows love, drama, family tradition ECT. This story was written and directed by Karen Johor. SRK was picked for the role of Rahul as he is well suited for this character. Karen Johor has worked with both actors SRK and Kajol in his past movie KKHH which was a success and he even used Kajol in this movie to play Anjali, as they had chemistry in KKHH being a love couple. SRK can bring tears to an audience, with his acting skills in all his movies. SRK made this movie what it is, as he brought his own personal feelings into it. Losing a father was one scene in the movie which he can relate to, as his father passed away in 1981 before he became successful. So this shows that he was chosen for that movie as he suited the role. We may know the first of all points at which star is effective in the construction of character. These can be considered from two points of view: the fact of a star being in the film, and their performance in it. As regards the fact that a given star in the film, audience, foreknowledge, the stars name and his appearance already signify that condensation of attitudes and values which is the stars image. Having SRK made K3G successful but also with the help with other fellow top cast members. In the film Chak De! India SRK plays the role of the coach for the Indian women hockey team. He used to be the star player of the Indian mens cricket team but as he lost one match to Pakistan, India people felt he let Pakistan win as him being Muslim. Indian cricket team asked him to be the role of the Coach which no man would like to participate in India. The film goes on, from him having the typical slow team with no team game. He guides them to play well and win the championship. This film role suited SRK to play this part. He is the heart of India for past fifteen years and everyone in India looks up to. His role in this made this movie the top gross movie of 2007 and was declared a â€Å"Blockbuster† in U.S. Of all of SRK films that make him successful his stars image fit with all the traits of the character. For example in all three movies talked about in this essay, the role SRK usually plays is the man who gets the girl of his dream. He is also shown as the popular man, mature, and also family man. He can play these roles well in all his movies that he has done.

Dying To Be Beautiful :: essays research papers

â€Å"Dying† to be Beautiful   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Beautiful or else --a message often presented in society, is often detrimental to the American public. The desire to be beautiful has received more attention by blinding the public with images of the â€Å"beautiful people.† The extent of the message the media portrays to our society is more harmful than beneficial to the average person. The images depict the common person as unattractive which causes many to alter their figure to attain the media’s vision of beauty. Unfortunately, these unrealistic pictures mostly affect self-conscious adolescents who are surrounded by images of what the media considers beautiful.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Each day, adolescents are exposed to magazines with models who appear extremely emaciated along with men and women who have a perfect, muscular physique. These Calista Flockhart- and Arnold Schwarzenegger-like clones are not representatives of normal, everyday people, so they should not be considered images of beauty. However, many young adults look up to these fake role models and imitate their appearance. Due to the impact that celebrities have on individuals from the younger generations, people now find themselves bombarded by young Brittany Spears â€Å"wannabes† wearing tiny mini skirts and naval-bearing shirts. Seventeen magazine even has a ludicrous section on how to look like a favorite celebrity; it includes ideas as to what clothes to wear and what kind of makeup should be used. The media’s influence is driven by the spending power of the younger generation and has purposefully created a superficial generation. Many teenagers and adults have gone to extremes to attain the best, often deadly, appearance possible. Millions of misguided people, including celebrities, have died due to anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa; they are willing to risk their job, or their life to attain the image the media expects. In 1983, Karen Carpenter, the promising lead singer of The Carpenters, died of heart failure due to anorexia nervosa, which can be attributed to the pressure she received from the media. Unfortunately, Karen Carpenter’s story is not uncommon; many teenagers starve themselves due to self-image problems brought on by the media. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are just two reasons why the images the media portrays is disastrous to the American public. Likewise, to gain the Arnold Schwarzenegger image, the use of steroids has also increased among young adults resulting in health problems. Using steroids is a deadly risk since it can cause serious nerve and hormonal damage and affects the user’s ability to control his temper. Dying To Be Beautiful :: essays research papers â€Å"Dying† to be Beautiful   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Beautiful or else --a message often presented in society, is often detrimental to the American public. The desire to be beautiful has received more attention by blinding the public with images of the â€Å"beautiful people.† The extent of the message the media portrays to our society is more harmful than beneficial to the average person. The images depict the common person as unattractive which causes many to alter their figure to attain the media’s vision of beauty. Unfortunately, these unrealistic pictures mostly affect self-conscious adolescents who are surrounded by images of what the media considers beautiful.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Each day, adolescents are exposed to magazines with models who appear extremely emaciated along with men and women who have a perfect, muscular physique. These Calista Flockhart- and Arnold Schwarzenegger-like clones are not representatives of normal, everyday people, so they should not be considered images of beauty. However, many young adults look up to these fake role models and imitate their appearance. Due to the impact that celebrities have on individuals from the younger generations, people now find themselves bombarded by young Brittany Spears â€Å"wannabes† wearing tiny mini skirts and naval-bearing shirts. Seventeen magazine even has a ludicrous section on how to look like a favorite celebrity; it includes ideas as to what clothes to wear and what kind of makeup should be used. The media’s influence is driven by the spending power of the younger generation and has purposefully created a superficial generation. Many teenagers and adults have gone to extremes to attain the best, often deadly, appearance possible. Millions of misguided people, including celebrities, have died due to anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa; they are willing to risk their job, or their life to attain the image the media expects. In 1983, Karen Carpenter, the promising lead singer of The Carpenters, died of heart failure due to anorexia nervosa, which can be attributed to the pressure she received from the media. Unfortunately, Karen Carpenter’s story is not uncommon; many teenagers starve themselves due to self-image problems brought on by the media. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are just two reasons why the images the media portrays is disastrous to the American public. Likewise, to gain the Arnold Schwarzenegger image, the use of steroids has also increased among young adults resulting in health problems. Using steroids is a deadly risk since it can cause serious nerve and hormonal damage and affects the user’s ability to control his temper.

Developmental Assessment Essay -- Child Assessment Essay

The child I chose to write about for this assignment is two year old Danjuma from Wayne, Ohio. He is the youngest of three children and attends an Early Head Start Program two days a week. The child’s parents have jobs; when the mother is working her sister takes care of Danjuma. The family has financial problems but don’t qualify for any type of public assistance. Danjuma is twenty-four inches tall and twenty-eight pounds. He walks well and has good coordination; he can be seen running, jumping, creeping, crawling, and rolling. He can kick a small ball forward as well as catch a ball using is full body; he can also throw a ball overhand. At home he can turn doorknobs, get himself undressed, and can feed himself using eating utensils. At the Early Head Start Program Danjuma enjoys completing simple puzzles, scribbling, shaking rhythm instruments, manipulating clay, and different finger play activities. He loves washing his hands on his own but requires help at home due to the fact that he can’t yet reach the sink. Like any child, Danjuma loves using his senses and motor skills to explore his world; he can be seen looking intently at his toys and food as if curious about them; he also still puts objects in his mouth to further explore what they are. When taken to a new place, Danjuma shows curiosity; his mother recently took him to the library for the first time. The child ran immediately to the children’s section, touching and looking at everything with enthusiasm. Danjuma did all of this again the next time he went to the library as if he was remembering about what he did the last time he was there. This child recently got a shape sorter toy; he has been seen struggling to get the correct shapes in each hole. Wh... ...nts and teachers. The socioculture theory talks about how â€Å"†¦parents, caregivers, peers and the culture at large are responsible for the development of higher order functions.† Basically, the child in question is influenced by what goes on around him. He is read to a lot at home, so he has started trying to read familiar books on his own. He sees new opportunities every day to do something new that his friends are trying, so of course he has to try it too. He has also learned that the way he talks with his family is okay because they ‘translate’ everything he says to others that don’t understand him. Works Cited http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentecourse/f/sociocultural-theory.htm http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/personality/section3.rhtml http://www.education.com/reference/article/arnold-gesell-child-learning-development-theory/ Developmental Assessment Essay -- Child Assessment Essay The child I chose to write about for this assignment is two year old Danjuma from Wayne, Ohio. He is the youngest of three children and attends an Early Head Start Program two days a week. The child’s parents have jobs; when the mother is working her sister takes care of Danjuma. The family has financial problems but don’t qualify for any type of public assistance. Danjuma is twenty-four inches tall and twenty-eight pounds. He walks well and has good coordination; he can be seen running, jumping, creeping, crawling, and rolling. He can kick a small ball forward as well as catch a ball using is full body; he can also throw a ball overhand. At home he can turn doorknobs, get himself undressed, and can feed himself using eating utensils. At the Early Head Start Program Danjuma enjoys completing simple puzzles, scribbling, shaking rhythm instruments, manipulating clay, and different finger play activities. He loves washing his hands on his own but requires help at home due to the fact that he can’t yet reach the sink. Like any child, Danjuma loves using his senses and motor skills to explore his world; he can be seen looking intently at his toys and food as if curious about them; he also still puts objects in his mouth to further explore what they are. When taken to a new place, Danjuma shows curiosity; his mother recently took him to the library for the first time. The child ran immediately to the children’s section, touching and looking at everything with enthusiasm. Danjuma did all of this again the next time he went to the library as if he was remembering about what he did the last time he was there. This child recently got a shape sorter toy; he has been seen struggling to get the correct shapes in each hole. Wh... ...nts and teachers. The socioculture theory talks about how â€Å"†¦parents, caregivers, peers and the culture at large are responsible for the development of higher order functions.† Basically, the child in question is influenced by what goes on around him. He is read to a lot at home, so he has started trying to read familiar books on his own. He sees new opportunities every day to do something new that his friends are trying, so of course he has to try it too. He has also learned that the way he talks with his family is okay because they ‘translate’ everything he says to others that don’t understand him. Works Cited http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentecourse/f/sociocultural-theory.htm http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/personality/section3.rhtml http://www.education.com/reference/article/arnold-gesell-child-learning-development-theory/

Home Is Where the Heart Is Essay

Some say â€Å"home is where the heart is. † Home can be everything to some. Home is their safe comfort place they have in life. Home determines a sense of one’s identity. One poem called â€Å"The Youngest Daughter† by Cathy Song involves characters experiencing conflicting situations between the demands of their home and identity. One might think that this poem is simply about mothers versus daughters; however, this poem evokes a broader sense meaning that daughters are torn between either pulling away or pulling closer to home. In one sense, the daughter in this poem is frustrated with her current situation and aspires to do more with her life, rather than devote her time doing what her mother thinks she should be doing. Despite this feeling, she knows she should be caring for her sick mother. The role she has in her home has conflicting messages. Using the elements of tone, narrative poem, and word choice, the poem can be explicated to show how it creates and resolves the meaning of conflict between mothers and daughters. â€Å"The Youngest Daughter† utilizes the narrative type poem, which helps create and resolve the conflict in the poem. The main conflict in this poem is that the daughter has to choose between obligations and desires, while finding her own role in her home. A narrative poem tells a story, and this poem tells a story about a daughter taking care of her elderly mother. The poem is about what the daughter’s daily life is like. This shows the â€Å"obligations† part of her life. The first sentence of the poem is â€Å"the sky has been dark for many years. † This implies that everything that has been going on with her taking care of her mother has been going on for many years. Since her mother became ill, it has been the daughter’s obligation to take care of her. This obligation is based on cultural expectations. In many cultures, children are expected to take care of their parents once they age. The poem is organized into stanzas that are associated with a certain part of the story. One stanza describes what has been going on lately. Another is about â€Å"this morning. † The last stanza is about what goes on â€Å"in the afternoons. † Through the narrative type poem, the daughter is able to express the feeling that her identity is basically taking care of her mother. This identity is also her role in the family. This role limits her own self-identity. Because she is busy caring for her mother, she is unable to develop a sense of self. She is torn between two things: growing away from her mother, and pulling closer to her mother. She knows she has to take care of her, so that aspect makes her seem to pull closer to her mother. Contrary to that, this daughter is a grown woman, and she has a very limited and conflicted life. Her life is devoted to the mother. This is seen by the story of the poem. She wants to grow apart from her mother and do things in her life that interest her. The reader can see that the daughter wants to escape this whole situation because towards the end of the poem it says â€Å"She knows I am not to be trusted / even now planning my escape. † The readers learn here that the mother doesn’t trust the daughter, for reasons unknown. The second line of the above quote shows the readers that this is what the daughter is currently doing to make her mother not trust her. The daughter also desires that her mother’s health improve, because in the poem is says â€Å"As I toast to her health. Love and pity toward her aging mother clash with the feelings of resentment and entrapment of herself. â€Å"The Youngest Daughter† uses word choice to show the conflict of mothers versus daughters, and the daughter’s internal conflict of obligations and desires. The daughter uses middle diction to show her emotions. Like noted in a previous paragraph, the first sentence of the poem is â€Å"the sky has been dark for many years. † This shows that the daughter has been dealing with her mother’s illness for quite some time, and she hasn’t been able to see the sun. She hasn’t been able to do what she wants to do because she has been so overwhelmed with taking care of the mother and fulfilling her obligations. When describing the mother, the daughter says â€Å"her breathing was graveled / her voice gruff with affection. † The word choice of graveled and gruff is interesting. This demonstrates the effort required to breathe and be affectionate. It’s almost as if the writer of the poem wanted the readers to hear what her breathing and voice sounded like by including those two words in there. This implies in a way that the mother has an opinion with the situation too. These two words make these two lines more effective. The daughter says â€Å"I was almost tender / when I came to the blue bruises. † This shows that the daughter feels sorry for what the mother has to go through. Tender is another interesting word choice. The poem also says â€Å"I soaped her slowly,† meaning that the daughter takes her time when washing her mother, because her life has been accustomed to nothing. Another aspect of obligations is that the daughter says â€Å"I scrubbed them with a sour taste in my mouth. The daughter obviously doesn’t want to scrub the mother, but it is obligation, her duty, so she must. Using the sentence â€Å"We eat in the familiar silence† shows that there is tension between them, because if there was no tension, they would be talking when they are eating. Despite this tension, this still occurs each day, and they continue to follow the same routine. If this line just had said â€Å"We eat in silence,† it would have a much lesser effect on the poem as a whole. By adding the word â€Å"familiar,† it allows the reader to understand that eating that way is a commonality and part of a consistent routine. The words â€Å"familiar silence† contrast each other. Familiar is something that has occurred so often that it becomes accustomed. And what is familiar in this poem? Silence. Silence, though it means quiet, is essentially nothing. Quietness, or nothing, has occurred so much that it is accustomed. The word choice is contrasting obligations with desires. The daughter is obligated to care for her mother. This is evident throughout the entire poem when the daughter describes everything she does for her mother. Despite this, she desires to do something different than just solely care for her mother. This desire is evident when the poem says â€Å"She know I am not to be trusted / even now planning my escape. † The daughter wants to escape, and the mother is aware of it. This contrast between obligations and desires makes the reader of the poem feel that this is an either/or situation. The daughter can either take care of the mother, or she can go off on her own. The last two lines of the poem are very meaningful: â€Å"A thousand cranes curtain the window / fly up in a sudden breeze. These word choices are effective because the words allow the readers to see an ending image. It seems like the cranes flying away is associated with the daughter being set free and escaping her life. It’s ironic how the first line of the poem uses words that talk about the sky, and in the last few lines of the poem the cranes fly into the sky. This line is used as a way for the author of the poem to show that the resolution has occurred. By the end of the poem, the conflict of obligations versus desires is resolved. One of the last lines of the poem says â€Å"As I toast to her health. This shows that the daughter finally realizes that caring for her mother is what’s best for her at this moment. By toasting for her health, she reveals that even though she is sick of caring for her mother, she would rather care for her mother than have her mother be dead. The daughter realizes that there will eventually be a time when the mother dies, and at that time the daughter will be able to do whatever she desires, but right now, her focus needs to be on her mother. The cranes flying into the sky reiterates this fact. When this time comes, even though the daughter will be able to do what she wants, she will be without a mother. She will have no obligations, which in a sense is good for her, because she will be able to do what she wants, yet a part of her life will be missing. Death is always hard to deal with, and even though in the poem she talks about how she wants to escape, in reality she really would miss her mother. The tone is this poem is bittersweet and affectionate; children should care for their aging parents, yet children need to live their own lives. In a way, the tone is also both happy and sad. The way the tone changes correlated with both of the conflicting sides of the poem. It’s happy in the way that the poet shows that there is affection and love between mothers and daughters, yet it is sad in the way that it shows that sometimes conflicts arise between mothers and daughters. This also explains how it is bittersweet. The tone shows that there are moral ties between children and their parents. These moral ties tie in with the obligational part of the conflict. Morally, the daughter feels obliged to care for her mother. The speaker is the youngest daughter of a family, and her duty is to take care of her aging parent. As one can see, looking at a poem through elements can help a reader understand the meaning of it. In â€Å"The Youngest Daughter,† the poem creates the meaning of conflict between mothers and daughters related to the daughter either pulling closer or pulling away from family and having to choose between obligations and desires. The elements of tone, word choice, and narrative poem together effectively create this meaning. In this poem, the home determines one’s identity. The daughter is conflicted between either pulling closer to her home life and her mother, or pulling away from it all and going after her own aspirations. Readers can relate to this poem because many people go through the same predicament in life: taking care of an aging parent. People do it because they love their family. Even though this daughter is having conflicting feelings about taking care of her mother, she does it anyways because family always comes first.

Asian Adolescents Career Insights Education Essay

This essay pertains to Asiatic striplings ‘ calling development ; specifically it pointed out issues and challenges among striplings draw a bead oning to complete a college grade. Social constructivism and Emic attacks were taken into consideration as lenses to amplify civilization specific issues of calling development and instruction among Asiatic striplings. A qualitative method was used by the writer to capture the lived calling development and instruction experiences of striplings. A modified consensual qualitative method was employed to analyse the narrations of 10 Filipinos, 10 Chinese-Filipinos and 10 Korean Adolescents enrolled in a University. A questionnaire was used to explain subjects as guided by the models of Super ( 1963 ) and Savickas ( 2005 ) . The survey cited civilization, household influence, values, perceived success and function theoretical accounts as of import factors in taking course/ plan and developing calling programs in the hereafter. Adolescents are expected to make up one's mind what class to take after their secondary schooling. Career determination devising is a important undertaking among striplings as it is become portion of their personal accommodation and self-identity. A Career is like a perennial dream, it is ever in advancement, until eventually this dream becomes so graphic and existent. It is nice to detect how kids function drama and so someday witness as they become a professor of a well-known university or watch a kid drama with rocks and so see the same kid go an applied scientist of high-rise edifices. Parents are eager to see their kids as successful persons, while instructors are really much fulfilled to see them boom in their chosen professions. In western states, calling instruction plans are introduced even in station primary and secondary degrees. In fact, Wood in 1990 prepared calling plans for 9th graders which composed of completion of calling studies, reading, and calling research for future involvements, and planning. 10th graders on the other manus learn about life planning, and larn household influences, parental engagement, every bit good as life timelines. 11th graders take pre-college trials such as the SAT ( scholastic aptitude trials ) to find farther educational and calling ends. Students are besides exposed to personality and values appraisal, and do firsthand observations of work and parttime occupations to acquire acquainted with their hereafter calling programs. Unfortunately, in the Philippines, one time consequences of the SATs are released to the pupils, there is no single reading of the consequences and some schools even mishandled the informations by flashing the tonss on immense tarpaulins as if the pupils had topped a board test. I have observed that educational and selling offices of most colleges and universities in the Philippines apportion financess to advance their plans and establishments. Senior high schools pupils attended calling seminars prepared by their school counsellors. Speakers are alumni/ae of their schools who normally speak of their college experiences, success, and adversities. Marketing forces, admittance officers are sent to every secondary schools to advance their plans. Students are bombarded with alive media presentations, colourful booklets, and a smattering of application signifiers, freebees are even given. Despite these enthusiastic attempts on the portion of these colleges and universities, high school pupils are impressed but still non good educated. Harmonizing to Salazar-Clemena ( 2002 ) career-related instruction jobs among Filipino striplings remains mostly unchanged since assorted calling related plans both in the educational and industrial establishments were implemented, jobs which are categorized as sociological ( unwise pick of class ) , psychological ( low dignity ) , and general ( deficiency of abilities and accomplishments ) . The job lies with excessively much commerce of the plan. This essay will non concentrate on the thought of positive and negative positions on educational entrepreneurship, but instead magnifying colleges and universities ‘ faulty debut of college instruction to pupils. San Diego ‘s survey mentioned that alternatively of lending to the calling indecisivenesss of the pupils, we should look into factors on how we should understand and assist our high school alumnuss clarify their ends and come up with a probationary personal calling program. In the said survey, he mentioned that we can assist a adolescent by placing certain cardinal factors that contributes to their experiences of calling determination devising. San Diego studied pupils enrolled in his personality effectiveness 2 categories. He distributed questionnaires to a group of Filipinos, Chinese-Filipinos, and Korean pupils. The questionnaire contain 30 inquiry and points that trades with grounds what made the respondents chose their class, the nature of their course/program, the stairss they took in make up one's minding what class to take, the influence of important others, and other factors that affects their experiences in determination devising. There were 10 Filipinos, 10 Chinese-Filipinos, and 10 Korean pupils returned questionnaires quickly. Each respondent was chosen based on their blood line and race, and age bracket, which is from 18 to 21 old ages old ; all respondents were full clip pupils in a university.What class to take?San Diego analyzed the subjects that emerged from the calling narrations of Asiatic striplings. The consequences showed that the primary ground why they enrolled in a course/program is fundamentally t heir sensed command of a certain accomplishments, their academic ego efficaciousness and professional function related involvements. A female Korean pupil enrolled in BS educational psychological science plan mentioned that â€Å" the class is more on research and guidance accomplishments † and that since childhood she has dispositions to assisting her friends and being fact-finding makes her like the research portion of the plan. A Filipino pupil enrolled in BS Electronics and Communications Engineering wrote in his paper that â€Å" basking mathematics and his involvement in electronics and doing both theory and application be integrated to plan a complex appliance † is truly a delectation for him. Germeijs and De Boeck ( 2003 ) suggested that pupils should hold adequate information about the options and results of their calling picks to forestall calling indecisivenesss.On parents ‘ adviceSan Diego identified that Asiatic striplings respected their parents as authorization figure and ever seek advice from household members about calling information. It shows the Asiatic collectivized influence even in taking what course/program to take in college. This behaviour is perceived as negative in Western states and could be a mark of dependence ( Mau, 2000 ) . A female Korean pupil enrolled in an instruction class acknowledges that parents influenced them what plan to take. It was besides how their parents show concern and to avoid experience of work troubles in the hereafter. In the Chinese-Filipino households an stripling should demo obeisance to cultivate close household ties. In state of affairs where the stripling needs to take what to inscribe, a Chinese-Filipina pupil mentioned that â€Å" I asked my parents and elder siblings for advice and I besides consider what calling chances my class could take me after collegeaˆÂ ¦ I am trusting to acquire a high place in our household concern † . In instances where an stripling does n on like the option given by their parents they ended with taking what they think is good for them. â€Å" My parents would hold wanted me to take a different courseaˆÂ ¦ . I deal with my parents ‘ outlooks by making good in category and demo them my high classs and seek non to neglect in any topic. My parents believed that I could non do it to that class that I have chosen but one manner or the other I will turn out them incorrect † by a Chinese-Filipino pupil taking legal direction and shortly wants to purse a jurisprudence grade. San Diego noted that among groups, Filipino pupils identified their parents as collaborative and giving them adequate freedom to take what class they want. Based on the narrations, Filipino parents are perceived as less important compared to Chinese-Filipino parents. A Filipino pupil taking Industrial Management Engineering is grateful â€Å" before. I was greatly open for my hereafter, I did n't cognize what the right class is for me, my male parent is a civil applied scientist, and he helped me in researching and garnering calling information and weighed my options†¦ † San Diego explained that parents are of import every bit good as critical factor in supplying support, and information to striplings in passage, such as in happening and taking career/program. Harmonizing to Schultheisset ( 2001 ) that positive parental behaviours promotes stripling ‘s positive attitude towards calling development. Parents who are promoting and assisting in the procedure of placing their stripling ‘s calling picks promote motive for calling readying ( Phillips, 2002 ) .Bing self-critical and why non?San Diego compared subjects emerged among three groups and identified those Chinese-Filipino respondents as more self-critical as compared to Filipino and Korean student-respondents. Although San Diego noted that across groups all have narrations of self-criticisms. This construct of self-criticism is linked with their ain subjective sense of readiness after college graduation and their willingness to be readily immersed in the work life. Kitayama, Markus, Matsumoto, and Norasakkunkit ( 1997 ) argued that Asians who critically evaluate themselves may hold positive societal and psychological effects and this could be rooted from the Asian collectivized civilization. While in the survey of Mau ( 2000 ) collectivized civilization may suppress the development of person ‘s sense of self-efficacy. San Diego looks into the narrations of Chinese-Filipino and fo und several self- unfavorable judgment subjects. Students who seem to hold low self-esteem tend to hold narrations of self-criticisms as good, that lead to self-loathing. A Chinese-Filipino pupil remarked that â€Å" The job is the impulse non to analyze and merely rotter, and do n't hold the feel to larn more than what is required of me † â€Å" I am non ready to take full duties and do determinations for myselfaˆÂ ¦ I still necessitate more clip † .Fantasy to specificsSan Diego noted subjects from the narrations such as calling phantasy turning into calling particulars. In fact, this subject explained the striplings ‘ pre-crystallization stage of calling development as pointed out by Super. Advertising major mentioned â€Å" My childhood dreams was influenced by the playthings that I played and from the films that I watched. I was amazed with pilots. As of now my calling dreams was influenced by my professor, Doc. Nards, who is a successful advertizer and worked with the top advertizers in our state † . Play activities and related involvements, and media ( Television, Radio, and Print ) are noted by San Diego as preliminary activities where teens may research their calling options. It is in the formal college instruction where striplings derive exposure and reflect on their future calling aspirations. It is apparent where most respondents made reference that a professor, a high school instructor, a professional, or even a parent influenced them to prosecute a more professional image. Lent, Brown, and Hackett ( 1996 ) clarified that striplings ‘ calling individuality is a procedure whereby an single learns from detecting behaviours from important function theoretical accounts, non merely that, because Super ( 1980 ) gave importance to the societal procedures involved in calling development.The manner to successIn the survey, San Diego noted how respondents gave intending to career success. Each group of adolescents provid ed their ain positions of what it means to derive calling success. San Diego carefully analyzed success significance among respondents. It was noted that success was instilled by their parents as an accomplishment from difficult work and doggedness and giving importance to calling. It was apparent by how respondents identified their success intending units: â€Å" A successful individual has an undeniable work moralss and unquestionable occupation enthusiasm † â€Å" I admire a successful individual ‘s positive head the most. I think it is traveling to be helpful both in my calling and my personal life because it eases the manner I see the universe † â€Å" They are really good in catching opportunities, being non afraid that they might neglect † . Success as noted by San Diego was injected from external factors but is assimilated by Asiatic striplings while working with their calling ends. Mau ( 2000 ) explained that Asiatic pupils may impute success to t heir best attempts as compared to American pupils who gives overemphasis to their endowments and accomplishments.Valuess instilledSan Diego besides looked into how the collectivized civilization may impact their rules at work. Since the respondents are all at the in-between stage of their surveies prior to graduation, an point was used to place what specific work values and factors might actuate them in the hereafter. Comparing subjects across groups, San Diego noted that Chinese-Filipino respondents give much accent to occupation position, fiscal additions, and household issues. A Chinese-Filipina wrote in her paper â€Å" I think that my household merely believes that whatever calling or class we choose it must take to high fiscal compensation and a calling where we wo n't merely go employees but employers † . Filipino respondents on the other manus differs to some extent because it was noted that respondents would value work environment, occupation stableness, developing p assion, unity at work, and smooth interpersonal relationships. A Filipino pupil taking accounting mentioned that â€Å" I value most is self-fulfillment I would acquire in come ining that calling. For me, self-realization is the most indispensable thing a individual can hold. Money is non that important, but more of workplace, colleagues, and your unity at work † . Korean respondents value work accomplishment, high success rate, and household as primary focal point in the hereafter. The consequence gained by San Diego in Chinese-Filipino respondents was similar to what Leong ( 1991 ) mentioned that Asiatic American pupils placed greater accent on external factors such as fiscal additions, occupation position, prestigiousness and occupation security values than their Caucasic opposite numbers. Overall, the survey of San Diego shed visible radiation into some factors to see in helping Asiatic striplings ‘ calling determination devising. Several cardinal stakeholders may work efficaciously to reply the calling demands of graduating high school pupils. For illustration, admittance office and calling reding office of an educational establishment may originate plans to break pass on their class plans giving accent to what class plan can offer. It means lucubrating on accomplishments, end products, information and cognition that can be acquired and what one needs to be proficient of. In add-on to this, a college or university should assist parents by giving them a calling information session about what their striplings are taking up, the primary occupations they most likely to take after graduation, and the capableness of the plan to be used in a assortment of scenes. Likewise, Salazar-Clemena ( 1997 ) suggested an alternate theoretical account of calling reding based on h ousehold values and perceptual experiences ( false thoughts and outlooks about economic sciences position, and calling determination doing ) therefore taking to household calling guidance. There is ever a tendency that if a college pupil bead, or switch to another class they will pick a class which do non suits to their abilities, involvements, demands, outlooks, and efficaciousness. Others wait till they graduate and pursue a different profession of their pick. A university calling reding plan may desire to escalate their educational calling intercessions non merely by giving pupils Job Expo but by really managing instances of pupil ‘s calling indecisivenesss from the really start pupil applies in the admittances office. Deal with root jobs ( e.g. self unfavorable judgment, low academic ego efficaciousness, low ego regard, parent desiring another class for the pupil, acculturational emphasis ) instead than superficial factors of calling indecisivenesss in every shifting instance. On a personal degree, calling counsellors may concentrate their attending on calling resiliency every bit early as possible. Waterman, Waterman and Collard ( 1996 ) described career resiliency as an person ‘s ability to place personal strengths and failings, the capableness to be value-driven, demo enthusiasm for farther acquisition, going future-oriented, ability to acquire good with others every bit good as going flexible. This can be done through a duologue between counsellors and educational decision makers to inculcate calling planning and development across topics taken. Different grounds might emerge why adolescent possibly may non be able to accomplish their calling ends. In assorted career-related studies, a job was pointed out by Salazar-Clemena ( 2002 ) that due to poorness and deficiency of fiscal agencies, parents opted to direct their striplings to low-quality colleges and universities and finished early so that they can assist in household disbursals and in assisting their siblings to complete schooling. In San Diego ‘s survey, International pupils such as Koreans, Indonesians, Taiwanese and Chinese pupils was sent to nearby Asiatic states such as the Philippines due to economic crises. Parents of international pupils choose to avail of cheaper instruction regardless of distance, civilization and emphasis. In this respect, this should non be used as come-ons among shady educational establishments to advance their plans. In world a batch of these fast ones are pretentious and most are merely assuring a good hereafter for student-applica nts. A responsible educational establishment should and must be honorable and will non do concern out of instruction. Their chief duty is to go cardinal facilitators to prospective pupils towards the fulfilment of their personal and professional ends and in the future allow them harvest their dreams as it become their most cherish world.

Estate Planning

FIN 4385-01 Case II: Executive Summary For the past several weeks, BJSMC conducted a comprehensive estate plan providing a structural outline of our client’s, Scott, estate opportunities and limitations subject to specific request. Our client provided us with the following scenarios: 1). If Scott dies this year, predeceasing Sue, and his executor elected his date of death as the valuation date, indicate those assets (and their values) that would be includible in Scott’s gross estate for estate tax purposes.Also, please explain your reason for the inclusion or exclusion of each asset. 2). Based on Scott’s current estate plan, indicate those assets and their values that would qualify for marital deduction. Explain your reasons for the qualification or non-qualification of each asset for the marital deduction. Based on factual information, hard-copy documentation, and professional experience, BJSMC established the following resolutions to scenario I: The â€Å"Catc hall Provision† of Internal Revenue Coded states the general rule that the gross estate includes the value of all property interests, real or personal, tangible or intangible. Under Section 2033, the decedent’s estate includes any interest in real estate, cash or money equivalents, whether kept in a bank, savings or checking account, certificates of deposit, money market funds, or a safe-deposit box. The gross estate also includes any stocks, bonds (including tax-exempt bonds), notes and mortgages owned by the decedent.Therefore, the full values of the following assets are included in Scott’s gross estate under IRC Sec. 2033 since he is the sole owner: o Stock in XYZ Corporation (500 shares) o Other listed common stock o Tax-free municipal bonds o Savings accounts o Household and other tangible personal property †¢ Section 2033 may also apply to inclusion of life insurance. If a decedent owns a life insurance policy on his or her own life at the date of deat h, the face amount of that policy must be included in the gross estate pursuant to Section 2042(2).This section establishes a standard regarding incident of ownership whereby the owner of a life policy is required to include the proceeds in the gross estate in the event that he or she possessed any incidents of ownership. In this case, it is specifically mentioned that Scott owns four life insurance policies on his own life. Therefore, the following items are included in Scott’s gross estate under IRC Section 2040: o Ordinary life policy purchased at age 23 o 20 – payment life policy purchased at 34 Ordinary life policy purchased at age 37 o Term to 65 policy purchased at age 44 †¢ Under IRC Section 2039, the total value of the profit-sharing plan and death benefit plan would be included in Scott’s gross estate. o XYZ Corporation – pension (noncontributory) death benefits o XYZ Corporation – profit sharing (noncontributory) death benefits â₠¬ ¢ A special rule was enacted to control the estate taxation of joint property with right of survivorship held solely by husband and wife as well as property held as tenants by the entirety.Section 2040(b) (1) pertains to the one-half inclusion rule for spouses. The rule is that one-half the value of such property, regardless of which spouse furnished all or part of the consideration, is included in the gross estate of the first spouse to die. Therefore, half the values of the following assets are included in Scott’s gross estate: o Residence purchased in 1987 o Vacation home o Checking account †¢ All property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship by joint tenants other than a husband and wife alone is treated under a different rule.The property is included in a deceased joint tenant’s estate according to a percentage-of-contribution rule. Scott and Dan own the following property equally as tenants in common; therefore, half the value of the listed pro perty will be included in Scott’s gross estate: o Undeveloped real estate †¢ The property that Sue solely owns in her name (Saving account & other personal property) will not be included in Scott’s gross estate. Property and property interests that are includible under Section 2033 are those that are â€Å"owned† by the decedent.Scott doesn’t have any rights of ownership to Sue’s property in her name. Based on factual information, hard-copy documentation, and professional experience, BJSMC established the following resolutions to scenario II: Qualifying Marital Deductions †¢ $246,000 death benefit o Included in Scott’s gross estate †¢ $30,000 and $200,000 ordinary o Payable to Sue in a lump sum †¢ $377,000 of joint property o Right of survivorship †¢ $700,000 property passing o Passed to Sue outright Non Qualifying Marital Deductions & Reason †¢ $70,000/20-payment life insurance policy o Not payable to Sue

Identity struggle †The narrow and broad path in James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountain Essay

James Baldwin’s life was deeply marked by an identity struggle. A struggle to find out what it meant to be an American and foremost what it meant to be an Afro American. Like in other works he also deals with this topic in his first novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, where John Grimes confronts this problem on his fourteenth birthday. The following paper will therefore take a look at the possibilities offered to the Afro American characters in the story, especially to John, and what role the church plays in this context. Moreover it will outline John Grimes situation between a religious up-bringing in poverty and the longing for a better financial life by adopting white ways. Finally it will try to elaborate on the basis of two key scenes whether John’s decision is based on faith or hopelessness. II. Imposed roles – Afro Americans in a dominantly white society From the very beginning of the novel the possibilities of Afro Americans in American society are depicted as very remote, especially in John Grimes’ case: â€Å"Everyone had always said that John would be a preacher when he grew up, just like his father.† . His entire life and all the people in it are set in a religious environment, blocking out any kind of secular influence. As a matter of fact no other future option for him is ever mentioned in the novel. At some point though his teachers notice that he is very intelligent: â€Å"You’re a very bright boy, John Grimes [†¦] Keep up the good work.† .His parents don’t seem to be aware of this or don’t consider this to be of importance for his future perspectives. This hopelessness can be traced throughout each character’s life in the novel. Those who do not accept their role imposed to them by society tend to fail in life. For example Aunt Florence who sets out North in order to achieve a higher living standard, but ends up alone after driving her husband away from her due to her ambition to gain a higher social standard. Further, John’s real father Richard is crushed by the injustice against black men in a dominantly white society and consequently commits suicide. Hence, John and the following generations are taught to accept the circumstances and their status in American society. In order to cope with this they are advised to lead a highly religious life and to shut out all secular elements. It is this aspect that Baldwin criticizes mostly. He blames the black people for accepting the myth of being inferior to white people without a struggle . Moreover he accuses them of copying white ways and replacing their own African traditions . Aunt Florence even takes a step further in the novel by trying to bleach her skin with beauty products, hereby rejecting her black skin and thus her heritage. At the same time he blames the Anglo-American society for depriving black people of all freedom and power to direct their own lives . This identity struggle is clearly visible in John’s case and will be discussed in detail in chapter three. 2.1. Black church as a helpful companion or a mere distraction from reality? Since the current story evolving around John primarily takes place in a church and deals with his conversion it is important to take a closer look at the role of Black Christianity and the Black Church. The Temple of the Fire Baptized, family Grimes’ church, is presented to the reader as a place of redemption and as a shelter from all the sin in the world. John is confronted with this supposedly sin on his way to church every Sunday in the form of men and women coming home from bars and cat houses . The constant threats of damnation and hell itself, which Macebuh states as being part of the Black Christianity, also appear throughout the entire novel. Due to the permanent warnings of temptations and sin by his parents and the church community, John lives in abiding fear of God’s wrath, even in harmless places such as the movies: He waited for the darkness to be shattered by the light of the second coming, for the ceiling to crack upward, revealing, for every eye to see, the chariots of fire on which descended a wrathful God and all the host of Heaven. In return for refuge and brotherhood, the members are curtailed freedom and have to renounce all worldly pleasures. Especially this aspect of religion is irreproducible for John and even more for Roy, who openly criticizes his father for forcing them to obey: Yeah [†¦] we don’t know how lucky we is to have a father what don’t want you to go to movies, and don’t want you to play in the streets, and don’t want you to have no friends, and he don’t want this and he don’t want that, and he don’t want you to do nothing. We so lucky to have a father who just wants us to go to church and read the Bible [†¦]. In the novel the church primarily seems to be a place of comfort for those in sorrow, such as Aunt Florence. She remembers having gone to church only once since she moved to the North and her visit to the Temple of the Fire Baptized now is due to her cancer and fear of death. So it seems that people rather turn to God out of despair than out of strong belief. This assumption is also enforced by an ironic observation the narrator makes concerning the character’s habits of church going: Tarry service officially began at eight, but it could begin at any time, whenever the Lord moved one of the saints to enter the church and pray. It was seldom, however, that anyone arrived before eight thirty, the Spirit of the Lord being sufficiently tolerant to allow the saints time to do their Saturday-night shopping, clean their houses, and put their children to bed. Especially the younger people do not seem to go to church voluntarily to help out, leaving John usually alone to clean up the Temple, unless Elisha shows up to give him a hand: â€Å"Lord, Sister McCandless,† he said, â€Å"look like it ain’t never but us two. I don’t know what the other young folks does on Saturday nights, but they don’t come nowhere near here.† . Ironically, while Elisha says this, John thinks to himself that not even Elisha shows up frequently on Saturdays. All these passages show that the so called â€Å"saints† in the novel do not go to church out of religious reasons but because they are desperate and consider the church as a â€Å"rallying point around which they sought to lessen their pain by sharing in one another’s joys and suffering† as Macebuh puts it . Peter Bruck interprets this similarly. He sees the Negro Church as the only available social space for the black society in history. But still this social field of activity does not help to change the inhuman conditions each character suffers and the prayers also do not improve their psychological and social circumstance . In this context, particularly in chapter two, â€Å"The Prayers of the Saints†, the reader gets an idea of what the prayer of each member consists. During mass all of them reflect on their past and recall their sins, but they do not pray out of their love for God but out of fear that He might make them suffer his wrath, since He is not the â€Å"compassionate God of the New Testament† . Colin MacInnes goes even further in his essay by referring to religion as â€Å"a fierce and constant compulsion that never abandons them [the characters] a second† . Bone states that religion means refuge from the terrors of everyday life and God therefore represents safety: â€Å"God and safety became synonymous, and the church, a part of his survival strategy†. However, the price for this safety is renouncement of personal power of one’s sex and social power of one’s people . Overall Bone reckons that the church offers either the path of self-hatred or the path of self-acceptance, with Christ as a kind of spiritual bleaching cream. In this structure the Negro masses function as a ritual enactment of their dai ly pain . Edward Margolies depicts the Negro Church as a â€Å"kind of community newspaper† which links the new immigrants to their Southern past and functions as an output for their rage, terror and frustrations . In addition to all the authors here mentioned, Margolies expands the church’s functions upon the field of masculine identity. The church exemplifies by means of the wrathful Old Testament God a masculine role model many Negro adolescences lack in their family environment . This can also be applied to John’s case. Rejected by his father, or as the reader knows, his stepfather, he feels unloved and ugly. On the one hand he despises God, since he sees his father as God’s minister . On the other hand though, he longs to be saved and become God’s son, who would then protect him: Then he would no longer be the son of his father, but the son of his Heavenly Father, the King. Then he need no longer fear his father, for he could take, as it were, their quarrel over his father’s head to Heaven – to the Father who loved him, who had come down in the flesh to die for him. This passage clearly shows that the church provides John with some kind of psychic compensation for the love his father deprives him of and that he sees in God an ally against his father. This would become redundant if he were to find out that Gabriel is not his real father and that he has also sinned in his past life, namely in the form of his unclaimed firstborn son with Esther . As for Elisha, who also tries to bring him closer to God, John sees in him a brotherly and fatherly figure he looks up to, but he also feels attracted to him in sexual ways. Elisha somehow represents the earthly protection and guidance John needs in order to find his identity. He is also the one who shows him another side of God and religion. Instead of the wrathful God his father preaches him, Elisha speaks of a caring and blessing one who protects and saves . In general, the church is depicted as a kind of sanctuary for the characters, just as it was for James Baldwin himself. The black Church offered him in a similar way shelter and refuge from the terrors of the streets . Overall, true belief is disregarded in contrast to safety which now stands for Christianity. III. In search of identity: Between secularization and clericalization Given the background so far John Grimes is trapped between the clerical life his parents force unto him and the secular life that awaits him outside his home on the streets. The title of the novel, the first line of a Negro spiritual, refers to the good news of Jesus Christ’s existence. Additionally, the first chapter that introduces the reader to the characters is called â€Å"The seventh day†, a clear reference to the creation story of Genesis . Both function as allusions to biblical constructions. In a figurative sense, John’s fourteenth birthday can therefore be seen as a creative process, which marks his finding of self-identity, as well in religious terms as in worldly or sexual terms. The following chapters will take a closer look at two passages where John faces different paths concerning his identity, one characterized by a more material and white world and another leading to a strictly religious life. 3.1. John’s getaway to Manhattan – Denial of his black heritage? On his fourteenth birthday John uses the money his mother gives him to buy a metro card and drive down to Manhattan. As mentioned before John feels attracted to the shining and sparkling world of white men and is not so â€Å"much interested in his people† . He cares more about what the white people think of him and feels very proud when they notice his intelligence in school . This intelligence symbolizes for him a special power the others do not possess and which he hopes will bring him the love he lacks: â€Å"Perhaps, with this power he might one day win that love which he so longed for.† . For John the white world represents power and success . Thus, once he arrives at Central Park and reaches the top of the hill, he feels as if he could counter the entire city: He did not know why, but there arose in him an exultation and a sense of power, and he ran up the hill like an engine, or a madman, willing to throw himself headlong into the city that glowed before him [†¦] Then he, John, felt like a giant who might crumble this city with his anger; he felt like a tyrant who might crush this city beneath his heel; he felt like a long-awaited conqueror at whose feet flowers would be strewn [†¦] He would be, of all, the mightiest, the most beloved, the Lord’s anointed, and he would live in this shining city which his ancestors had seen with longing from far away. There alone on the top of the hill he dreams of being part of the city and belonging to the upper white class, which would accept him unconditionally. But as soon as he recalls the people’s reactions to him he is pulled back into reality: â€Å"He remembered the people he had seen in the city, whose eyes held no love for him [†¦] and how when they passed they did not see him, or, if they saw him, they smirked.† . Despite these incidents John still feels as part of the white social stratum due to his intelligence, but reality looks quite different and resembles more his parents’, especially his father’s warnings of the city and white men in general. As he walks along Central Park he keeps imagining what it would be like living in such an environment and being wealthy. The absence of God in this society is not a drawback for John, since he sees that the way of life according to the Lord has not really helped his parents with their everyday struggles: In the narrow way, the way of the cross, there awaited him only humiliation forever; there awaited him, one day, a house like his father’s house, and a church like his father’s, and a job like his father’s, where he would grow old and black with hunger and toil. The way of the cross had given him a belly filled with wind and had bent his mother’s back; they had never worn fine clothes, but here, where the buildings contested God’s power and where the men and women did not fear God, here he might eat and drink to his heart’s content and clothe his body with wondrous fabrics [†¦]. Despite the fact that he knows that â€Å"their thoughts were not of God, and their way was not God’s way† , he cannot believe how the white society, being so beautiful and gracious, could end up in hell. He himself had been witness of their capacity to do good when he was sick and one of his teachers had brought him medicine. Although John does not really know yet who he is and where he belongs, at this point he does know that he never wants to end up like his father. Due to his young age and inexperience it is more likely that he feels attracted to the white society on the grounds of a wealthier future it seems to offer and not because he tries to deny his black heritage. His aversion to black people derives basically from the fact that his entire Negro environment characterizes itself by poverty and does not offer him a successful, strong or caring male role model. On the contrary, John’s self-hatred and accusation are a result of his father’s treatment. Hence, he tries to find an explanation for his father’s rejection in his own shortcomings, such as his desire to leave the ghetto or his intelligence which singles him out . Gabriel’s ongoing criticism of John’s outward appearance leads to insecurity and self-doubt: His father had always said that his face was the face of Satan – and was there not something – in the lift of the eyebrow, in the way his rough hair formed a V on his brow – that bore witness to his father’s words? In the eye there was a light that was not the light of Heaven, and the mouth trembled, lustful and lewd, to drink deep of the wines of Hell [†¦] two great eyes, and a broad, low forehead, and the triangle of his nose, and his enormous mouth, and the barely perceptible cleft in his chin, which was, his father said, the mark of the devil’s little finger [†¦] he most passionately desired to know: whether his face was ugly or not. By contrast, the white society stands for success and seems to offer him all the possibilities his father deprives him of. Most of all John associates access to knowledge with white people. Next to the incident at school, which was mentioned earlier on page three, John feels both attracted and frightened by the Public Library on 42nd Street. He believes books to be part of high culture and thus a white privilege. Scared he stands in front of the building not knowing how people would react to him if he dared to go inside: He loved this street, not for the people or the shops but for the stone lions that guarded the great main building of the Public Library, a building filled with books and unimaginably vast, and which he had never yet dared to enter [†¦] But he had never gone in because the building was so big that it must be full of corridors and marble steps, in the maze of which he would be lost and never find the book he wanted. And then everyone, all the white people inside, would know that he was not used to great buildings, or to many books, and they would look at him with pity. This passage also shows that even though the big city fascinates John, it also seems to him as a kind of maze that terrifies him and brings back his father’s words of warning. Despite all these admonitions and the fact that John is aware of the Negro treatment and history in the United States , he believes that his knowledge is the key to white acceptance. His getaway to Manhattan also leads him to Broadway, which he automatically associates with the broad path to Hell and damnation: â€Å"Broadway: the way that led to death was broad, and many could be found thereon [†¦]† . Still he immediately dismisses this image and decides to see a movie on Sixth Avenue, where once again he is plagued by thoughts of God punishing him for this supposedly sin . Inspired by the main character of the movie, whom he admires for her strength and independency, John tries to figure out whether there is a third path in life: â€Å"John thought of Hell, of his soul’s redemption, and the struggle to find a compromise between the way that led to life everlasting and the way that ended in the pit. But there was none [†¦]† .   This trip to Manhattan signifies for John an escape from his father’s religious world and one step closer to the life he wishes to lead, one that is characterized by financial security and social status independent of his skin color. As mentioned before, this tendency in John can be ascribed to a longing for a better life and not to an intended denial of his blackness. Still his desire to be part of the white society leads automatically to a negation of his ancestor’s past and hence to alienation from his own people. Therefore John’s desired white identity is only a mock identity which would never work. The only way of finding his real identity is by accepting his own heritage and history and consequently his own father . Moreover, by attending the movies he does not only carry out an act of social participation but also an act of defiance both against morality and religion, since he identifies with the white heroine’s attitude, who â€Å"tells the world to kiss her ass† . Ironically, in the end John remains in his secular thinking as much a victim of his fears of God as those who are willing to accept God’s power . 3.2. John’s conversion – True belief or a mere survival gimmick? The other path, the narrow one which is available for John, is the religious one his parents and his community offer him. Here the third chapter â€Å"The Treshing Floor† or rather the conversion scene in this chapter can be taken as a good example. Even though John mentioned before that â€Å"he did not long for the narrow way, where all his people walked† , in chapter three he engages in an ecstatic conversion. Therefore this experience is questionable and rather seems to be a flight from the quest for identity into the ostensible safety the black church offers . During his spiritual experience he encounters various obstacles, his father being the most difficult one. While John is lying in front of the altar he sees his father looking down on him without pity or love, but instead he keeps hearing him say: â€Å"I’m going to beat sin out of him. I’m going to beat it out!† . As mentioned before the only way to God is through his father and by admitting his sin. Like the son of Noah, he too had made fun of his father’s bareness and was now cursed for it to the present just like Ham. By accepting this, namely that â€Å"all niggers had come from this most undutiful of Noah’s sons† and that â€Å"a curse was renewed from moment to moment, from father to son† , he embraces his black heritage. Some critics, e.g. Csaba Csapà ³, go even further by assuming that by doing so he also embraces his homosexuality, which comes to show in his relationship with Elisha . But this is altogether a different topic of the novel, which does not contribute to this essays matter and will therefore not be discussed at this point. His ongoing journey takes him into a grave, which symbolizes the past, isolation, death but also resurrection, where the collective singing and praying further strengthens his realization of his own history : In this murmur that filled the grave [†¦] he recognized a sound that he had always heard [†¦] This sound had filled John’s life, so it now seemed, from the moment he had first drawn breath. He had heard it everywhere [†¦] It was in his father’s anger, in his mother’s calm insistence, and in the vehement mockery of his aunt [†¦] Yes, he had heard it all his life, but it was only now that his ears were opened to this sound that came from darkness, that yet bore such sure witness to the glory of the light. And now in his moaning, and so far from any help, he heard it in himself. This experience creates an identity in John which no longer separates him from his black environment but rather strengthens the feeling of solidarity. Nevertheless, this identity-shaping does not change John’s relationship to his father: â€Å"[†¦] the living word that could conquer the great division between his father and himself. But it did not come [†¦]† . Peter Bruck explains this situation with the fact that John’s experience does not signify relief from his damnation, but merely constitutes a momentary ease from the existing situation, similar to the Noah and Ham network . This assumption is also supported by Gabriel’s comment after John’s conversion: â€Å"It comes from your mouth [†¦] I want to see you live it. It’s more than a notion.† . He reminds John of the fact that his conversion is merely the first step and that he is still to be tested by the long, complex journey of life. This is also emphasized by the unchanged picture the saints face the morning after John’s conversion, which stands in contrast to the development he has undergone: Yet the houses were there, as they had been; the windows, like a thousand, blinded eyes, stared outward at the morning – at the morning that was the same for them as the mornings of John’s innocence, and the mornings before his birth. The water ran in the gutters with a small, discontented sound; on the water traveled paper, burnt matches, sodden cigarette-ends; gobs of spittle, green-yellow, brown, and pearly; the leavings of a dog, the vomit of a drunken man, the dead sperm, trapped in rubber, of one abandoned to his lust. This passage clearly shows the constant burdens of life and the unimproved reality awaiting John. The picture is characterized by decay and waste and thus depicts John’s hopeless situation in spite of his new found identity. As his father mentioned to him he is still endangered by his environment and his relationship to yonder has not improved at all. The people will still confront him with the same pity and hostility as before, calling him â€Å"Frog-eyes† and other names . Hence the church only offers a temporary place of refuge without really creating better options for the future. It only partially illuminates things and merely hides or damns others . But in the midst of all this pessimism there also exists a spark of hope for John. He has now found a new ally in Elisha who already helped him through his conversion and will keep on doing so in the future. Further, he has introduced John to the love of God, instead of the theological terror of the false God his father preaches . As Robert Bone also hints at, the church can function as a â€Å"path of self-hatred† or as a â€Å"path of self-acceptance† . The following lines point to a new start and ongoing journey lying ahead of Jo hn: The sun had come full awake. It was waking the streets, and the houses, and crying at the windows. It fell over Elisha like a golden robe, and struck John’s forehead, where Elisha had kissed him, like a seal ineffaceable forever. Again, this kiss and the rising sun can be interpreted as John’s awakening homosexuality, which in the following works of Baldwin is also seen as a source of hope . The closing lines of the novel â€Å"I’m ready [†¦] I’m coming. I’m on my way.† impart an open ending to the story, leaving out which path John is going to take after all. IV. Conclusion The ending of the novel leaves the reader wondering whether John has definitely chosen the â€Å"narrow path† he so long avoided, even despised. Only several hours before, he still dreamed of a wealthy life midst the white society, far away from his own people and poverty. The moment he realizes that â€Å"this world was not for him† and that â€Å"they would never let him enter† , as his father always kept preaching him, he turns to his only other option, the black church. Thus, it seems to be more a last desperate act to survive in the brutal streets of Harlem, than an act of religious belief. This step can also be found in James Baldwin’s own biography. After having served as a preacher for several years, he left the black church unsatisfied and misunderstood, still searching for his own identity as an American, better as an Afro American. In exchange for sanctuary he had to give up his sexuality and entirely isolate himself from the outer world, which might get him into conflict with the white power. This meant exchanging the personal power of one’s sex and the social power of one’s people in exchange for the power of the Word, in Baldwin’s eyes the historical betrayal of the Negro Church . A similar pattern of behavior can be observed in John, who sees in religion also a survival gimmick. Although during John’s religious ecstasy the reader might get the impression that he is acting according to belief, his final words to Elisha on the way home evoke insecurity in this decision: â€Å"[†¦] no matter what happens to me, where I go, what folks say about me, no matter what anybody says, you remember [†¦] I was saved. I was there.† . It seems as though he knows that his conversion is not the finish line and yet another journey awaits him that may lead him away from the church, as it did James Baldwin. V. Bibliography Primà ¤rliteratur †¢Baldwin, James: Go Tell It on the Mountain. New York: Bantam Dell 1980. Sekundà ¤rliteratur †¢Bone, Robert A.: â€Å"James Baldwin† in: Keneth Kinnamon: James Baldwin. A Collection of Critical Essays. New Jersey: Prentice Hall 1974, p. 28-38. †¢Bruck, Peter: Von der „store front churchâ€Å" zum „American Dreamâ€Å". James Baldwin und der amerikanische Rassenkonflikt. Amsterdam: B. R. Grà ¼ner 1975, p.24-36. †¢Csapà ³, Csaba: „Race, Religion and Sexuality in Go Tell It on the Mountain† in: Carol E. Henderson: James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountain. Historical and Critical Essays. New York: Peter Lang 2006, p.57-74. †¢Fabre, Michel: „Fathers and Sons in James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountainâ€Å" in: Keneth Kinnamon: James Baldwin. A Collection of Critical Essays. New Jersey: Prentice Hall 1974, p.120-138. †¢Jones, Beau Fly: „The Struggle for Identity† in: The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 17, No.2 (June 1966), p.107-121. †¢Kent, George E.: „Baldwin and the Problem of Being† in: Therman B. O’Daniel: James Baldwin. A Critical Evaluation. London: AD. Donker 1977, p.19-29. †¢Macebuh, Stanley: James Baldwin: A critical Study. New York: The Third Press Joseph Okpaku Publishing Company 1973, p.49-68. †¢MacInnes, Colin: „Dark Angel: The Writings of James Baldwin† in: Gibson, Donald B.: Five Black Writers. New York: New York University Press 1970, p.119-126. †¢Margolies, Edward: „The Negro Church: James Baldwin and the Christian Vision† in: Harold Bloom: James Baldwin. New York: Chelsea House Publishers 1986, p.59-76. †¢Rosenblatt, Roger: â€Å"Out of Control: Go Tell It on the Mountain and Another Country† in: Harold Bloom: James Baldwin. New York: Chelsea House Publishers 1986, p.77-90. †¢Sylvander, Carolyn Wedin: James Baldwin. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co. 1980, p.27-44. View as multi-pages