Pauls Case Essay Example for Free

Pauls Case Essay A Misunderstood Person Paul is a very interesting character, who has struggles within himself in the story of Paul’s Case by Willa Cather. His teachers misunderstand him and see him as a trouble maker throughout the story. So Paul begins to be self-conscious about how people portray him because of his actions. Paul reflects on his actions and begins to confuse reality life to fantasy life where he is comfortable in because of all the amenities he had. Paul is misunderstood by his teachers so; Paul begins to live in his fantasy world where he makes his mistakes in the real world. Paul is misunderstood by his teachers because of the way he looks and acts during the meeting the teachers have about him with the principal. This part of the story says. â€Å"His teachers felt this afternoon that his whole attitude was symbolized by his shrug and his flippantly red carnation flower, and they fell upon him without mercy, his English teacher leading the pack. †(Cather pg. 245) This is explaining how his teachers are portraying him by comparing his body language to a flower. Which symbolizes him shrugging off what his teachers though about him but, deep inside him he cared because Paul always thought someone was watching him. As the story said, â€Å"Paul was always smiling, always glancing about him, seeming to feel that people might be watching him and trying to detect something. †(Cather pg. 245) His teachers are explaining him as being a selfish person thinking about himself all the time, but what they don’t know is that he does think about them and what they think about him. Paul thinks that someone is always watching because of his teachers always trying to find something wrong about his life style. â€Å"He stood watching the approaching locomotive, his teeth chattering, his lips drawn away from them in a frightened smile, once or twice he glanced nervously sidewise, as though he were being watch. †(Cather pg. 260) Towards the end of story he thinks before he jumps because begins to think about someone watching him. Showing how he is always thinking about what others thought about him and how know one ever quiet seem to understand him. Paul seems to always be looking for someone to understand him, but in the end he was always misunderstood because of his choices that he made. Paul begins to confuse his fantasy life to reality and begins to make bad choices in his life. â€Å"The moment he inhaled the gassy, painty, dusty odor behind the scenes, he breathed like a prisoner set free, and felt within him the possibility of doing or saying splendid, brilliant things† (Cather pg. 251) His fantasy was to become a part of theatre in any way he could. So he begins to think of going to New York to pursue his dreams, but what he doesn’t understand is that, that’s only his dream not reality. Paul pursues this dream by stealing, â€Å"There was above two thousand dollars in checks, and nearly a thousand in the banknotes which he had taken from the book and quietly transferred to his pocket. † (Cather pg. 255) Paul takes the money for his selfish reasons of wanting to live his fantasy. It is wrong because he is living in his fantasy life and thinks nothing about it. All Paul wants to do is be rich because that’s the way he portrays himself in his fantasy life without working for the money. â€Å"Presently he came out of his white bathroom, resplendent in his new silk underwear, and playing with the tassels of his red robe. The snow was whirling so fiercely outside his windows that he could scarcely see across the street† (Cather pg. 254) In the hotel Paul is living the good life because of the money he has stolen just as in his fantasy. The following sentence shows how he finally begins to see reality because it’s showing how he is having a battle within himself about the bad things he did, which end up killing him inside. At the end of the story Paul ends up killing himself because he was never understood by his teachers or anyone else in his life. That made him unhappy within himself so he began to believe more in his fantasy world because he felt comfortable there. Paul didn’t seem to care about anything because he was living his fantasy life of being rich and going to New York. It took Paul a while to understand that he was doing wrong by stealing money and living in his fantasy life instead of reality. Towards the end Pauls’ fantasies end up killing him, since he is never figure out he tries to escape to his fantasies to make him happy but, by doing so he causes more problems to himself making him deeply unhappy. So he decides to kill himself to live free from all the worries that made his life so confusing to him.

Cubism -the Weeping Woman Essay Example for Free

Cubism -the Weeping Woman Essay Cubism was an art movement which originated in France and Spain in 1906. Cubism influenced painting movement. Cubist artists include Pablo Picasso, George Braque and Juan Gris. Picasso had recently travelled to Africa and native America and was inspired by the tribal masks. Cubist Artists captured different view points at the same time. This showed collage and made the image look 3D. In the painting ‘The Weeping Woman’ she looks like she is at home. I get this idea from the border behind her in the middle of what looks like two walls. I also think it looks homely because it is painted yellow, a colour associated with warmth and comfort. It could also be a church, the brown strip could symbolise the wooden seats in a church. Another thing it could symbolise, is the attendance of a funeral because she is wearing black coloured clothing. In the middle of her face, which is the colour white/blue, it could mean a part of her being taken away, not only is her colour draining away, but so are her emotions. She seems to be hiding her sadness. You can tell she is sad and upset because her eyes look glazed over and there is a red/pink blush under her eyes and nose which could show that she has been crying and has wiped her tears away. The sharp jagged lines could represent how she is holding herself together, and maybe the other emotions she feels, like anger. You can see that she is in distress as she has creases on her forehead. The bits of green blended in with the yellow could represent jealousy, but could also symbolise being ill or sick. She is so upset that its actually making her feel weak and unwell. The white could also be seen as being some kind of ghostly figure, which links back to the thought of her attending a funeral, and why she is so upset. The green representing jealousy, could be envy for other people who’s loved ones are still with them. Her hands look like they are together, like she is trying to pray, for the protection of her loved one in the afterlife. She could also be holding something, like a tissue to wipe away her tears, a possession of the bereaved, a letter or a will. This painting was actually painted representing the weeping woman as a mother of a soldier who had died at war. This connects to the thing she could be holding, as when a soldier dies at war, they usually send a letter to inform the close family of this.

Introduction To Psychological Testing Paper

Introduction To Psychological Testing Paper The study of  person and his characteristics is the  most important  tasks  of psychological science.  Development of psychological science is characterized with significant increase in interest to problems of psycho diagnostic.  The aim of modern psycho diagnostic is research of characteristics and differences between individuals and groups in a systematic manner.  The task of such research in the most general form is definition of mental and psychological characteristics of individuals and their intra-individual relationships. Psychological  test is the  basis for  psycho diagnostics  of  people  and  the foundation  of practical  psychology. The aim of this paper is to define the concept of psychological test, describe its major categories, the concepts of reliability and validity, and other fundamental questions associated with psychological testing. The concept  of a psychological test  and its main  characteristics The scope of psycho diagnostic includes a set of various diagnostic methods to identify psychological characteristics of man.  It represents a bridge between general and applied psychology, and in relation to the methods used, it acts as a common ground that unites all areas of their practical application. Practical psycho diagnostics solves some typical problems, which include the following:   1.  To establish certain psychological properties or behavior in a person.   2.  Determine the degree of development of these properties and their expression in specific quantitative and qualitative terms.   3.  Description of diagnostic psychological behavior of a person 4.  Comparison of the degree of development of psychological characteristics in different people. The standardized psycho diagnostic methods, allowing obtaining comparable quantitative and qualitative indicators of the degree of development of the properties in people, are called psychological tests.  Under standardized techniques is meant that they have  strictly  defined  rules  of application,  ranging  from  studying the situation  and ending with  the methods of calculation  and  interpretation  of results. The literature presents a great variety of definitions of psychological tests:   Psychological test is essentially an objective and standardized measurement of a sample of behavior (The American Psychological Association).   Test is a standardized, often time-limited study designed to establish the quantitative (and qualitative) individual psychological differences (The American Psychological Association).   Under test is understood a specific tool for evaluating the psychological qualities of the individual, which consists of set of tasks or questions, offered under standard conditions and is intended to identify particle types of behavior (The American Psychological Association) Objectivity,  validity  and  reliability  are the main requirements  to the test.  It is necessary to consider these concepts and to discuss how they impact the field of psychological testing. Objectivity  of a psychological test  means  that primary  indicators, evaluation  and interpretation  of data do not  depend on  the behavior  and  subjective  judgments  of the experimenter.  Development  of testing tasks, its procedure, processing  of test results  is carried out  according to certain  standard  rules.  To achieve  objectivity,  a psychological test  must follow the next  conditions:   standardization of  procedures of conducting  the test  to allow comparison  of its results;   standardization of test  performance evaluation; Definition of result norms  of the test  for  comparison  them with  results  got from the  processing of test data. These three conditions are referred to as the stages of standardization of psychological tests. During the development of a test certain standardization procedures are carried out, which include three stages:   1.  The first stage of standardization of psychological tests is to establish uniform testing procedures. 2.  The second phase is to establish a uniform evaluation of the test: the standard interpretation of the results and pre-standard evaluation. 3.  The third stage of standardization of psychological tests is to determine the norms of the test.  Norms are necessary in the interpretation of test results (primary parameters), as a benchmark with which to compare testing data.  For example, in tests of intelligence the primary received IQ is correlated with standard IQ (43, 44, 45 points in the test of Raven).  If the IQ received by respondent is above normative, as 60 points, we can talk about of the respondent as high.  If the resulting IQ is lower than the norm, then the level of intelligence is low, if the received IQ is 43, 44 or 45 points, then it is average. (Ford-Martin, 2004) All methods of psychological diagnosis, both standardized and non-standardized, are aimed at measuring personality traits and characteristics of intelligence.  Each method is designed to measure a certain personal characteristic, and information about the extent to which the test actually measures it is known as the concept of validity.   Effective  method of  testing  can be  created, if  it passed  all  the stages of  validation,  when it meets requirements of both general  and  practical validity.  Practical  validity describes  the test  not by  its  psychological  content,  but in terms  of  its  value for achieving  certain  practical  goals  (prediction,  diagnosis). (Messic, 1980) The last important  characteristic of  tests  are their reliability.   Reliability  means  consistency of  test  results  of each  testing attempt with the same subject,  with the  results  of his first  test.  Absolute  reliability of  the test  does not  exist, and errors  are allowed,  but  the higher are  they,  the lower is the  test  reliability. The high  reliability of  the testing method  means  that  it  accurately  measures  the characteristic. These  three basic characteristics of  psychological test  determine  its  use in practical  psychology. Conclusion Psycho diagnostics  is  an area  of psychological science, and  at the same time  the most important  form  of psychological practice,  that is associated  with the development and use  of various  methods  of recognition  of individual  psychological characteristics of people. Psycho diagnostics  is a  set of  methods and tools for  diagnosis  of mental  characteristics of man.  One of such  methods  is  testing.  The use of  psychological  tests  is aimed  to investigate the characteristics  of person, and provide  information  about mental  properties of  a particular  person  (the subject). An effective psychological  test  should  meet requirements such  as objectivity,  validity  and  reliability,  in this case  it  gives  the correct results,  which can  be  interpreted  and applied  in practical  psychology.

Failures of Capital Punishment Essay -- essays papers

Failures of Capital Punishment Is the death penalty a just way of punishing those who commit a horrible crime? The answer to that depends on the standpoint of an individual. Fox Butterfield of the New York Times notices that â€Å"In the view of some, the failure to enforce the death penalty reflects and enduring ambivalence about the capital punishment. Others say that the death penalty opponents have found ways to triumph over the public will to carry out executions.† In a capitalistic standpoint, there is the notion that it simply costs too much. There is another and more simple standpoint and that is that the death penalty is not working. This is where I personally stand on the issue. The death penalty is a just punishment for a convicted individual, but the system in the United States is not functioning properly for it to be a means of punishment. As far as deterrence goes, Amnesty international states that â€Å"studies have consistently failed to find convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than other punishments.† Roger Hood, an author that wrote The Death Penalty: A World-wide Perspective, Notes the UN’s research on the subject and states that â€Å" ‘Research has failed to provide scientific proof that executions have greater deterrent effect than life imprisonment and such proof is unlikely forthcoming. The evidence as a whole still gives no positive support to the deterrent hypothesis†¦.† Hood is strongly for the abolition of the death penalty. He explains that â€Å"abolition has harmful effects. In Canada, the homicide rate per 100,000 population fell from a peak of 3.09 in 1975, the year before the abolition of the death penalty for murder, to 2.41 in 1980, and since then it has remained relat... ...bolish the death penalty.† The cost issue is another standpoint opposing capital punishment. The fact that the capital punishment process has some major flaws is a good reason to think about whether or not America should incorporate it as a punishment. Sure, many people are for the idea if it, but there are too many legal issues and problems that are defeating the purpose if the death penalty. Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Center, an anti-death penalty group, claims â€Å"that the zeal for capital punishment will eventually wane.† Once Americans realize that the capital punishment system is not perfectly functional, then change will occur. The bottleneck in the courts and jails across the country will be cleared, and the United States of America will be added to Amnesty International’s list of countries that have abolished the death penalty.

The NRA Killed Gun Control Legislation Essay -- Argumentative Persuasi

The NRA Killed Gun Control Legislation By the year 2003, it is expected that firearms will cause the most injury-related deaths in the United States, surpassing even automobile accidents. Poll after poll have revealed that most Americans favor stricter gun control laws. Five recent suburban school shootings have demonstrated that when guns and kids mix, tragedy results. Yet gun control legislation remains at a standstill. The battle for stricter gun-control laws has not been without victories. In 1968, Congress passed the Gun Control Act in the wake of the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., President John F. Kennedy, and Senator Robert Kennedy. The law mandated stricter licensing requirements, prohibited the sale of handguns to out-of-state residents, and banned mail-order gun sales and the import of guns not "suitable or readily adaptable to sporting purposes." The 1984 Crime Control Act lengthened the minimum mandatory sentences given to those who carry and use armor-piercing bullets to commit violent crimes. In 1993, the Brady Bill was approved by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The law, named after James Brady, who was shot and paralyzed in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan, requires a five-day waiting period for the purchase of handguns. The "Assault Weapons" ban of 1994, passed despite a massive campaign by the National Rifle Association (NRA), ba nned nineteen assault-type weapons, including the Street Sweeper, a 12-gauge shotgun that can be fully discharged in three seconds. The ban also covered many semiautomatic firearms. The NRA's bid to repeal the law was stymied in 1995, with the explosion of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 peopl... ...gun's owner may be required before the gun will fire; another technology would allow an owner to activate and deactivate his or her gun via remote control. If S.113 were to become law, it would be much more difficult for children and young adults under eighteen years of age to fire their parents', relatives', or friends' guns. New Jersey's S.113 sits presently in the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee - there are not enough votes to get the bill out of committee. Â  Although the NRA boasts several millions members and a great deal of money, polls show that they hold the minority view. The fact that they have helped prevent the passage of federal and state legislation that would promote more gun-control laws shows that the NRA's minority is a vocal one. If the majority becomes half as vocal, tragedies such as the school shootings can be avoided in the future.

Kay Redfield Jamisons Touched With Fire: Manic Depressive Illness and

Kay Redfield Jamison's Touched With Fire: Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temeprament In Touched with Fire: Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, Kay Redfield Jamison explores the compelling connection between mental disorders and artistic creativity. Artists have long been considered different from the general population, and one often hears tales of authors, painters, and composers who both struggle with and are inspired by their "madness". Jamison's text explores these stereotypes in a medical context, attributing some artists' irrational behaviors to mental disorders, particularly manic-depressive illness. In order to establish this link, Jamison presents an impressive collection of artists who have suffered from mental illness, whether diagnosed correctly during their lifetime or discovered in hindsight. Well organized and interesting, Jamison provides an ideal introduction to this still evolving idea, providing the reader with as many thought provoking questions as answers, and leaving the door open for further study. Jamison begins with a brief explanation of manic-depressive illness and its effects on human behavior. The term "manic-depressive illness" refers to a variety of mental disorders which share similar symptoms, but range greatly in severity. These disorders alters one's mood and behaviors, disrupt established sleep and sexual patterns, and cause fluctuations in energy level. Manic-depressive illness cause cycles of manic, energized highs followed by debilitating, lethargic lows. Such disorders usually develop early in life and intensify over time, leading to maniacal highs and devastating lows. The manic energy associated with mental disorders may cause a person to r... ...ve them of their inspiration and interfere with their creativity. It is a thorny, and relatively new, question, and Jamison merely outlines the controversy without offering an opinion on what should be done to rectify the situation, leaving the door open for further research. Mental illness in artists is a fascinating subject, and Jamison does an excellent job of providing a through portrait of many artists who have grappled with manic-depressive disorder, in addition to exploring how these disorders affect creativity and productivity. Jamison also maintains an awareness of the objections to her attempts to draw a correlation between the mental illness and the artistic community, and addresses these issues accordingly. References 1) Jamison, Kay Redfield. Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament. Ontario: Free Press, 1993.

Black dog of fate Essay

The Book â€Å"Black Dog of Fate† by Peter Balakian is a memoir by the Armenian genocide survivors’ descendants that lived in the United States of America and it was written in the suburbs of Tenafly, New Jersey, where the author grew up. The author tries to relate his personal history and happenings in his family to the general story of the Armenians. It is the story of a young man’s realization of his background and the huge massacres that occurred to the Armenians in Turkey. It is the history of the killing of about one and half million Armenians by the Ottoman Turkish government in 1915 (Balakian, 1997). These series of killings is regarded as the twentieth century’s first genocide. The name ‘Black dog of fate’ is about the parable that was narrated to the author by his grandmother ‘Nafina Aroosian’. In the parable, there were two offerings that were made to the goddess of fate. The first offering is a luscious lamb that had its body filled with almonds and pomegranates and its eyes sparkled with rubies, while the other offering is a dead black dog that had its mouth filled with wormy apple. In a twist of fate, the lamb is rejected and the dead black dog is accepted by the goddess. As Nafina puts it to Peter that he should not be deceived by appearances and that the world is not what people think it is (Balakian, 1997). Peter balakian was one of the members of the Balakian-Aroosian family and the oldest in his generation. His family had secretly guarded the history of their past for so long. They guarded this secret as they had horrific memories of their past in their heads as they knew if they delved into their pasts the gory details of their traumatic experiences in the hands of their persecutors would haunt them. The memory of the brutal murder of lots of their relatives was not a topic that was suitable for discussion as they looked to erase the tragic event from their memories. It narrates the ordeal of the Armenians in the hands of the Turks. The Armenians were subjected to various forms of inhumane conditions. Their ladies were raped and their men were butchered. The Armenians were gruesomely murdered in their thousands day after day and their carcasses were left to the vultures to feast upon. The Turks robbed them off their belongings and really impoverished them. The book exposes the societal evils perpetrated by the Turks on the Armenians. The Turkish government tries to cover up these horrific crimes as they denied the existence of the genocide. Balakian lets us into his family line as we are introduced to the matriarchs, a bishop, merchants, physicians, his aunts and two famous figures in the world of literature. The names of his renowned aunts are Anna and Nona Balakian, who distinguished themselves in the field of literature. His two other aunts are Gladys and Lucille, who were business women on Wall Street. But out of all these characters, the most important of them is his grandmother, one of the survivors of the genocide, whose experience was dreadful as she lost her husband to the genocide. The book teaches us survival instincts in the midst of obstacles and it narrates a family’s sojourn from a horrific past into a better life and a new world. It represents the experience of an immigrant child in the United States of America while still retaining one’s cultural heritage. It tells us how the author’s relatives escaped the genocide and ended up in the United States of America. One of the remarkable quotations in the novel that makes the novel a notable one as recognized by the New York Times Book review is simply quoted â€Å"In all of this germ madness there seemed to be some deeper, more pervasive anxiety being expressed. Some pathological fear that I sensed in my grandmother when she hovered over me, incessantly brushing her hand over my hair and asking me, How are you, what can I do for you, are you OK? Eench, eench, eench. [What, what, what] For my grandparents’ and parents’ generation, perhaps the world was a place conspiring to kill you. After the Genocide, the fear of death was different from the fear of mortality. In this atmosphere of deep anxiety, our family was far from the optimistic mood of suburbia. As my grandmother said to me as I lay on my bed recovering from the measles, ‘Sleep with one eye open; know the evil eye.'† (Balakian, 1997). Another powerful excerpt is in the latter page of the book and it is quoted a s â€Å"Free speech does not guarantee the deniers the right to be treated as the other side of a legitimate debate when there is no other side.† (Balakian, 1997). As the persecutions was against the Armenian Christians by the Turkish Muslims, the holocausts in the World War II era draws inspiration from it as it foreshadowed the mind-sets of the German army. The World War I killings of the millions of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks served as a justification to the holocausts of the World War II era. The holocaust was a period of mass murder of the Jews during the Second World War. During the holocausts, Hitler made several references to the serial killings of the Armenians as he justified their extermination. On the latter part of the book, Peter Balakian observes the mind-set of the German army towards the Armenians which foreshadows the pains they would later inflict on the European Jews in the Second World War (Balakian, 1997). As the Germans considered the Armenians as threats to the Turks so also were the Jews considered as threats to the establishment of the superiority of the Germans. In the concluding pages of the book, Balakian requests for the acceptance by the Turkish government of the Armenian genocide, a fact they had previously denied its existence. He also requests for an apology by the Turkish government and a consequential forgiveness from the Armenians. Reference Balakian, P. (1997). Black Dog of Fate . New York: Harper Collins Publishers.