A Look into Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Poem

Vincent Millay could be justified by the fact that readers can easily relate to it because it talks about a universal theme, which is love. Although it reeks of regret and loneliness, the poet effectively successfully used palpable symbols and words to describe the past events that transpired in her life. In the poem, the speaker casts herself as a â€Å"lonely tree†. One writer, Epstein (2001) proclaims that this poem is â€Å"a summing up of [the author’s] love life to date, and an occasion to invoke the classic themes of elegy, the tempus fugit and the ubi sunt† (p. 139): What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why I have forgotten, and what arms have lain Under my head till morning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain For unremembered lads that not again Will turn to me at midnight with a cry. Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree, Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one, Yet knows its boughs more silent than before. It seems that the speaker in the poem is an aging lady signified by the songless tree. Indeed, she is an epitome of loneliness and regret, one that we might be tempted to read as a prototype of abandoned womanhood, pathetic and powerless. Male desire in the love sonnets where the woman as a speaker always masquerades feminine weakness and sentimentality; often beseeching, and consumed by desire. However, when a male lover speaks, it would imply â€Å"authority of suffering and, perhaps more importantly, with the authority of convention†. When Millay masquerades as a male poet masquerading as a lovesick woman, the â€Å"sense of where sincerity meets gesture and how authority aligns itself with gender is confused† (Freedman, 1995, p. 113). In its structure, the poem is classified as a sonnet that has a particular rhyming pattern: abbaabba cdedce. The poem uses alliteration and assonance. It is also rich in naturally-occurring symbols, which all readers can easily connect. The poem begins with a one-sentence octave that presents the situation in which the narrator finds herself–inside a house during the rain, reminiscing about her past and forgotten lovers. The inverted sentence structure of the first two lines almost suggests a question rather than a statement: How many lovers were there? The alliterations in the first line additionally emphasize the repetitiveness of the narrator’s sexual encounters. At the same time, the perfect tense mean that this phase of her life has been completed, and the body part symbolisms of lips, arms, and head imply her distance from the experience. In the third line, Millay moves to the present tense, where she describes the memories of her lovers (using a ghost metaphor) aroused by the rain, a symbol for gloom and melancholia. These are the lovers that â€Å"tap and sigh†. The narrator seems insinuating that the lovers themselves are irrelevant. For the same reason, â€Å"Millay picks a metaphor that hints at facelessness and lack of welcome and resonates with the specific time of the midnight hour†. The central phrase in this section is â€Å"quiet pain,† an â€Å"almost-oxymoron suggesting that the narrator’s grief is muted or accepted† (Schurer, 2005). As signified by the forward movement of tenses, Millay gives the readers a slight glimpse of things to come as well: However, undeniably, she   regrets everything and she expects no intimacy in the future. In the end, the female narrator seems not interested in the identity of her lovers as in the memory of the emotions they allowed her to experience.   Despite the sadness and regret, the narrator presented peace or redemption as a â€Å"faint echo of the emotion of love from her youth† (Schurer, 2005). Despite the lonely themes and symbols, we can sense of equality in love; to the demand by women that they be allowed to enter the world of adventure and experiment in love which men have long inhabited. However, Millay does not sound to be any feminist to argue for that equality. She just makes it subtle, exhibits it in this poem and turns it into beauty. Works Cited Epstein, Daniel Mark. What Lips My Lips Have Kissed: The Loves and Love Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay. New York: Holt, 2001. Freedman, Diane P., ed. Millay at 100: A Critical Reappraisal. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1995. Schurer, Norbert. â€Å"Millay’s what lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why†, The Explicator, 63.2 (Winter 2005): 94-97. A Look into Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Poem Vincent Millay could be justified by the fact that readers can easily relate to it because it talks about a universal theme, which is love. Although it reeks of regret and loneliness, the poet effectively successfully used palpable symbols and words to describe the past events that transpired in her life. In the poem, the speaker casts herself as a â€Å"lonely tree†. One writer, Epstein (2001) proclaims that this poem is â€Å"a summing up of [the author’s] love life to date, and an occasion to invoke the classic themes of elegy, the tempus fugit and the ubi sunt† (p. 139): What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why I have forgotten, and what arms have lain Under my head till morning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain For unremembered lads that not again Will turn to me at midnight with a cry. Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree, Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one, Yet knows its boughs more silent than before. It seems that the speaker in the poem is an aging lady signified by the songless tree. Indeed, she is an epitome of loneliness and regret, one that we might be tempted to read as a prototype of abandoned womanhood, pathetic and powerless. Male desire in the love sonnets where the woman as a speaker always masquerades feminine weakness and sentimentality; often beseeching, and consumed by desire. However, when a male lover speaks, it would imply â€Å"authority of suffering and, perhaps more importantly, with the authority of convention†. When Millay masquerades as a male poet masquerading as a lovesick woman, the â€Å"sense of where sincerity meets gesture and how authority aligns itself with gender is confused† (Freedman, 1995, p. 113). In its structure, the poem is classified as a sonnet that has a particular rhyming pattern: abbaabba cdedce. The poem uses alliteration and assonance. It is also rich in naturally-occurring symbols, which all readers can easily connect. The poem begins with a one-sentence octave that presents the situation in which the narrator finds herself–inside a house during the rain, reminiscing about her past and forgotten lovers. The inverted sentence structure of the first two lines almost suggests a question rather than a statement: How many lovers were there? The alliterations in the first line additionally emphasize the repetitiveness of the narrator’s sexual encounters. At the same time, the perfect tense mean that this phase of her life has been completed, and the body part symbolisms of lips, arms, and head imply her distance from the experience. In the third line, Millay moves to the present tense, where she describes the memories of her lovers (using a ghost metaphor) aroused by the rain, a symbol for gloom and melancholia. These are the lovers that â€Å"tap and sigh†. The narrator seems insinuating that the lovers themselves are irrelevant. For the same reason, â€Å"Millay picks a metaphor that hints at facelessness and lack of welcome and resonates with the specific time of the midnight hour†. The central phrase in this section is â€Å"quiet pain,† an â€Å"almost-oxymoron suggesting that the narrator’s grief is muted or accepted† (Schurer, 2005). As signified by the forward movement of tenses, Millay gives the readers a slight glimpse of things to come as well: However, undeniably, she   regrets everything and she expects no intimacy in the future. In the end, the female narrator seems not interested in the identity of her lovers as in the memory of the emotions they allowed her to experience.   Despite the sadness and regret, the narrator presented peace or redemption as a â€Å"faint echo of the emotion of love from her youth† (Schurer, 2005). Despite the lonely themes and symbols, we can sense of equality in love; to the demand by women that they be allowed to enter the world of adventure and experiment in love which men have long inhabited. However, Millay does not sound to be any feminist to argue for that equality. She just makes it subtle, exhibits it in this poem and turns it into beauty. Works Cited Epstein, Daniel Mark. What Lips My Lips Have Kissed: The Loves and Love Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay. New York: Holt, 2001. Freedman, Diane P., ed. Millay at 100: A Critical Reappraisal. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1995. Schurer, Norbert. â€Å"Millay’s what lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why†, The Explicator, 63.2 (Winter 2005): 94-97.

What were the significant issues of American foreign policy under Essay

What were the significant issues of American foreign policy under President Theodore Roosevelt Explain - Essay Example This policy of non-intervention continued until the end of the nineteenth century, when a call for America to pursue a more proactive role in world affairs, in keeping with her position as a great power, began to gain popularity. Its chief adherents were in the Republican Party, and consisted of Theodore Roosevelt, Admiral Alfred Mahan, John Hay and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, who advocated America’s adoption of â€Å"the large policy† committed to the expansion of U.S. influence and territory overseas (Raico, 1995). President Theodore Roosevelt may be considered the chief architect of America’s new foreign policy of active intervention in global affairs. Theodore Roosevelt was born on 27 October, 1858, in New York City. He graduated from Harvard and went on to study Law at Columbia University, dropping out in pursuit of interest in politics, and winning a seat in the New York Assembly in 1882. He subsequently served as Civil Service Commissioner, President of the New York City Police Board and Assistant Secretary of the Navy. As the commandant of the ‘Rough Riders’ regiment, he was a hero in the Spanish-American War. He became the Governor of New York State in 1898 and then the Vice-President under President McKinley in 1900. On McKinley’s assassination in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt became the President of the United States and remained in that office until 1909. Roosevelt extended the influence and stature of the executive, introduced conservation and progressive reforms through welfare measures, government regulation of big business and his ‘Square Deal’ approach to domestic economy and social justic e. Roosevelt died on 6 January, 1919. (Miller Center of Public Affairs website). President Theodore Roosevelt embarked on an aggressive foreign policy geared to make America the most influential force in global affairs. In keeping with his diplomatic motto to â€Å"speak softly

Human Resources Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Human Resources Management - Essay Example REFERENCES EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The role of human resources manager is very diverse and requires a complicated individual in the job role with a vast understanding of information technology, human behaviour knowledge, psychology, conflict resolution, and planning innovator. HRM now fulfils, due to environmental or internal factors, a role where more intervention and inter-connectivity between line management roles and strategic leadership are becoming strengthened. It is not a segregated business function today where once it was likely limited to just control methodologies to secure lower budgeting; a hard view of HRM. It is much softer today and requires empowerment strategies as a key resource for improving the competitive position of the business or bring more human-related value. This report identifies the changing role of HRM using appropriate expert theory and experience. Introduction The role of human resources managers has changed in recent years, most of which is derived of cha nging roles and activities within the entire business network. Areas such as supply chain, global competition, new technology development and attitude recognition of workers at the psychological level in order to gain new motivation or performance outcomes have brought these changes. There is must more interaction between human resources and line management as a product of these evolutions, therefore seeming to make them indistinguishable and also inter-connected roles. From recruitment through the process of ensuring employees achieve a satisfactory work environment when measured against performance standards, the HRM process is that of a counsellor, coach, mentor, skills developer, and even strategist. There is virtually no area of the business that is not, in some fashion, influenced by the HR manager or the processes that guide HR practices. The roles of HRM Empowerment of workers is one of the major human resource goals and is a central focus of their activities. â€Å"Empower ment will allow greater control over non-management staff by line managers and supervisors when given authority or more authority in areas such as recruitment, discipline and absence control† (Yusoff & Abdullah, 2008, p.10). Thus, there is a control element of the HRM role when working toward some sort of empowerment model. The HRM manager acts then as a facilitator of empowerment for not only the worker, but colleagues at the management level. They allow managers to become familiarized with and adapt to changing human resources principles and then offer them guidance to remain self-focused on running the management floor. â€Å"HR should be a support for departmental managers and members of staff. For that they should come out of their office and talk to people and not delegate the job to departmental managers† (Watson, Maxwell & Farquharson, 2007, p.31). This author reinforces that the role of HR is highly visible in the organization and there is direct contact with s enior-level managers or same-level management peers only as a facilitator of their line management activities with a touch of human resources focus1. It reinforces the connection between management and operations and the HR practitioner in a way that provides stronger connections with managers and meets the overall goal of empowering them to take HR action where needed; and perhaps recognise where certain deficiencies lie. The HR manager also works with a composite of different technologies to support the HR function. Computer

The Law on Recovery for Psychiatric Injury Caused by Negligence is Essay

The Law on Recovery for Psychiatric Injury Caused by Negligence is Strongly in Need of Reform - Essay Example This is because there must be actual psychiatric injury that is easy to prove which makes sorrow, grief and fear not sufficient to win a case. For a defendant to be established as negligent, the claimant must be able to prove three things.2 First aspect, the claimant must prove that the defendant owed the claimant a duty of care which is a responsibility to avoid sloppy actions that could cause damage to one or more persons. The duty of care is further explained as the responsibility of ensuring that you do not do any harm or fail to do something that may likely injure your neighbor. The law however does not give details on who the neighbor is supposed to be. This is one of the reasons that the law should be amended since it does not give a clear definition of who our neighbor is, if it is a person one closely relates to, people defined by property proximity or people you relate with everyday. The next factor considered in duty of care, the claimant must provide evidence that the def endant failed to grant the appropriate standard of care that a sensible person would have provided in similar circumstances.3 The standard of care is explained as a way of measuring how well and much care a reasonable person owes another. There are rules that come with this duty, whether the defendant is a learner, child or a professional because standards differ from one person to another. Some people’s standards of care are higher than others depending on your call of duty or even your line of work. Drivers and doctors, for example, have a higher standard of care toward other people than the reasonable human being because there are responsible to other people’s lives than themselves. It does not matter whether they are learners of profession since there standards of duty are set much higher than other professions. This law is determined by so many factors which makes it ambiguous to prove ones guilt or innocence. Example for people with the skill to do something that any reasonable person would not be able to do is charged with negligence for lack of standard to care of duty. There is also the situation where a child commits a deed with intention of harming others are judged as adults yet there are other rules applied to the same misconduct if the person is of a certain age group. There should be many factors when deciding reasonable standards of duty and care for reasonable people. Example, if there could have been prevention from both parties to avoid more harm and what cautions could be taken by reasonable persons. All the risks involved and the degree of the same by the claimant to reasonable person. Extent of the harm will also be well thought-out in court. The damage to the claimant will be taken into account as there may be two similar damages but of different magnitude which will be unfair to rule equally yet the extent of damage to one was more than the other. It is important to ensure that all the three consideration are taken into ac count so that all the claimants affected by psychiatric disorder caused by negligence are given a fair trial. The claimant must also verify that the events of the defendant were the reason of the plaintiff’s injuries or breakdown. Influencing the cause, known as getting facts, is time and again done by applying but for experiment. Damage would not have happened but for the defendant’s measures. If a driver takes a group of people on a road trip and fails to install seat belts in the car and they

Examining The Computer History Of Microsoft Information Technology Essay

Examining The Computer History Of Microsoft Information Technology Essay Bill Gates is one of the richest people in the world. The way he made his money is by developing technology. He and Paul Allen were the two people who founded Microsoft. But before they founded Microsoft, they worked on the IBM-PC model 5150 and gave IBM a one the PC-DOS operating system for a onetime fee of 50,000 dollars. But they had to make a deal with Seattle Computer Products in order to get this operating system. Then in 1985, with the help of IBM, Gates produced the first retail version on Windows, which was called OS/2. After in 1991 Gates said that the OS/2 partnership was over and he would start working on Windows NT. Windows NT was released in 1993, this version was the first 32-bit version on Windows. From that point on, he helped create multiple other operating systems like windows 95 which introduced the first novel start menu and the included the Internet Explorer internet browser. Later in 2000 Gates stepped down as C.E.O of Microsoft and remained as chairman of the board and chief software architect. In 2006, Gates openly stated that he had many a decision to devote his time more towards his charitable foundation. Gates is still the companys chairman. That is how Bill Gates has made of a contribution to technology. Who is this man? This man was the co-founder and current CEO of Apple Inc. Apple is the innovator of iPods, iPads, iPhones and Mac computers. Apple had other projects like the Apple I and Apple Lisa but they werent as successful. The Macintosh was introduced in 1984. This model included a mouse and a graphical user interface rather than the command-line interface. Apple also created the iPod which allowed people to listen to all their favourite music, and view all their favourite movies and pictures. When the iPod-touch was released it allowed people to do all that and surf the internet with a Wi-Fi connection and download tonnes of apps from the app store on the iPod-touch. The iPhone is the same thing as an iPod-touch but you can text and call people. The iPad is like the iPod-touch but it is larger and you can get 3G service on it. Therefore, I think Steve Jobs has made a significant contribution towards technology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphical_user_interface http://www.woopidoo.com/biography/steve-jobs/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc. Magnetic Tape Magnetic Tape is something people use to record music or videos on. This tape was developed in Germany. Separately bought devices can play their music or videos on the Magnetic Tape. Examples of these devices would be VCRs and audio cassette players. The Magnetic Tape was intended to record music at first. This tape was original made by Valdemar Poulsen in 1898. He used iron oxide powder, coating a long strip of paper. But was it was further devolved by a German electronic company called AGE (Allgemeine Elektricitata-Gesellschaft) in 1933. AEG also manufactured the recording machines as well. Later on, people wanted to record video on the magnetic tape, so Ampex made a breakthrough innovation. They used a spinning recording head and a normal tape speeds to achieve a very high head to tape speed that could record and reproduce the high bandwidth. Later on, Sony devolved a helical scan and put it in the tape reels. Finally, these tapes are used for data storage. Some good examples woul d be Computers in 1951. Therefore I think the invention of magnetic tape has contributed to the development of technology greatly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_tape http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-magnetic-tape.htm http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Magnetic_tape Howard Aiken Howard Akien is the original conceptual designer of the Harvard Mark I computer made by IBM. This computer was built using 765,000 components and a lot of wiring. It was 16m in length and 2.4m in height. Also, it weighed over 4500 kg. This computer was made for calculations. It had 60 sets of 24 switches for entering numbers manually. Also, each number only could be 23 digits long. This machine could calculate 3 additions or subtractions in a second, while a multiplication took 6 seconds, a division taking 15.3. But trigonometric function took over a minute. The way that this computer got its information was from punched paper tape. Therefore, I believe that this computer made a great contribution to technology, as the base of our modern day calculator and computer languages were founded from this innovation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_H._Aiken http://www.thocp.net/biographies/aiken_howard.html http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa052198.htm Freddy Williams Freddy Williams is an English engineer. He and Tom Kilburn created the Williams or Williams-Kilburn tube, in 1947. This tube was made to store binary data. Each one of these tubes could hold around 512-1024 bits of data. The way this machine stored data was quite fascinating. There would be a cathode ray tube and dots would be drawn on it. The dot becomes positively charged and the area around became negatively charged for a brief moment. This energy could not be transferred and the energy would remain on the surface of the tube for a fraction of a second. This let the device act as the computer memory. The only way to erase a dot is by drawing another dot beside it. Once the memory is safe is when the computer reads the information. Therefore, I believe that this device made a significant contribution to technology because this device laid down the foundation of current day RAM to be developed. http://www.computer50.org/kgill/williams/williams.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_Calland_Williams http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_tube EDSAC An EDSAC or an Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator was a British computer. The EDSAC was made by Maurice Wilkes and his team at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory. This was the first practical stored-program computer. This computer uses mercury delay lines for memory. The memory has 1024 locations, while each location has 18 bits. The CPU can hold 71 bits. The only commands that this computer had were: to add, subtract, multiply, collate, shit left, shift right, load multiplier register, store, accumulator, condition skip, read input tape, print character, round accumulator, no-op and stop. The initial orders were hand written on a set of uniselector switches and from there they were loaded into the low words memory at start up. This was the worlds assembler. People say at that moment the global software industry started, people would prepare their programs by punching them on a paper tape. Soon after, the program will be able to be used at this time the pa per was hung on length of line strung up near the paper tape reader. Therefore, I believe that the EDSAC made an important contribution to programming. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Delay_Storage_Automatic_Calculator http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mr10/Edsac/edsacposter.pdf http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_uses_of_edsac Jacquard loom The Jacquard loom was invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1801. This loom is controlled by punched cards. There are multiple holes punched in each card that make a design of the textile. The way that a hole is punched into the card is by the Bolus hook. Each hook is connected by a harness. These days Jacquards looms are controlled by computers and these computers can have thousands of hooks. The Jacquard loom was the first machine that had the ability to punch cards to control a sequence of operations. This helped the development of computer programming because now programmers didnt have to make their own holes; they could make holes using this loom. Also they could make the holes faster. In conclusion, the Jacquards loom helped the development of programming. http://www.thetapestryhouse.com/aboutproducts/jacquard-loom.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_loom http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/jacquard.htm The Machine That Changed the World Scavenger Hunt Using an internet search engine, find a WWW sites that contains the following statements: 1. Daughter of Lord Byron, mentored by Babbage, called by some the first programmer. Answer: Augusta Ada Lovelace URL: http://wiki.answers.com/ 2. Had a job to speed up the 1890 census and devised a punched-card machine. Answer: Herman Hollerith URL: http://wiki.answers.com/ 3. In 1924 Thomas J. Watson changed the companys name to this name. Answer: International Business Machines. URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._Watson 4. A 1973 Federal Court ruling officially credited Dr. John V. Atanasoff with this invention. Answer: first automatic electronic digital computer URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Vincent_Atanasoff 5. Probably the original mechanical counting device traced back 5,000 years. Answer: The abacus URL: http://www.kraza.itgo.com/html/computer_history.htm 6. This inventor, painter, and sculptor sketched ideas for a mechanical adding machine. Answer: Leonardo da Vinci.   URL: http://wiki.answers.com 7. Created a punched-card system to direct movements of needles, thread, and fabric. Answer: Joseph Jacquard URL: http://wiki.answers.com 8. Howard Aiken completed this electromechanical computer. Answer: The Mark I later making the Mark II Mark III URL: http://wiki.answers.com 9. Dr. John W. ? and Presper ? created the first fully operational electronic computer called ? (3 answers!) Answers: Mauchly and J presper Eckert created the ENIAC (electrical numerical integrator and calculator) URLs: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bleniac.htm 10. IBM introduced the IBM Personal computer or PC in what year. Answer: August 1981 URL: http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/pc25/pc25_intro.html 11. Graphic images where each pixel is bit-mapped and take up more memory. Answer: Bitmap Graphic URL: http://wiki.answers.com 12. Graphic images defined by geometric shapes each of which can define the attributes of many pixels. These use less memory. Answer: Vector Graphics URL: http://wiki.answers.com 13. This professor of mathematics joined the Navy in 1943. She led a distinguished career which included developing software for the UNIVAC1. She led the effort to develop the a business language that eventually became COBOL. Answer: Grace Hopper URL: http://www.thocp.net/biographies/hopper_grace.html 14. This object-oriented version of C programming language is used to develop software for PCs such as Fractal Design Painter, Lotus 123, and games. Answer: C++ URL: http://wiki.answers.com 15. The term for communications between remote devices. Answer: Networking URL: http://wiki.answers.com

Reasons to Act Morally Essay -- Ethics Morals Philosophy

Why be moral: A Purpose to Life In our culture, many people are asking the same questions. What makes me better than you? Who says I have to treat you that way? Why does America think it is better than any other country? All of these questions arise from the same question: what are morals? This questions leads to another relevant question: why be moral? What, if anything, makes man (in this paper, I will use the word man in a generic sense meaning the entire human race) a moral creature and thus makes him responsible? However, is there any way we can really know that there are certain inherent laws which govern man, and behind these laws is there a Lawgiver that holds men accountable to these laws? I believe that all these questions can be answered through careful observation and logical thinking. Let us first look at the one thing we know for sure and that is man. We can know this for sure because we are men so we would know how we act. When we associate with others, we do so with some rules of fairness in mind. We treat others in a certain way and expect them to treat us in the same way or we say it is â€Å"unfair† or â€Å"selfish.† We just expect the other person to know that such an act is wrong and that they must play by the same rules that we are. Why do we expect this though? They did not grow up the same way you did. They were not raised by the same parents or even in the same household. So why should one expect them to know the same rules of fairness that you know. If the only basis for your assumption that they should know the rules is because you think the rules are right, then you have no reason to expect them to act that way. However, the other person does indeed know these rule... ...belong to us, we might as well be able to steal because there would be no reason not to. If there was no lawgiver there would be no law, but there obviously is this governing law in men that compels them to do certain things and not do others. If there were not consequences for these actions, anything would basically be moral right. If there was not a being behind the law to enforce it, there would be absolutely no real right or wrong. Everything would be relative, but it is not. There are things that everyone agrees are absolutely good, and absolutely bad. There is no other way around it. The lawgiver has given man a purpose and a reason for life, and it is man’s moral obligation to fulfill that purpose by upholding the law given him. Works Cited / Consulted Lewis C.S. Mere Christianity. New York, New York. Macmillan Publishing Company. 1943. pp 17-39.

Bros before hoe’s in masculinity Essay

Although there are some men that break the mold, the majority of men will never fully endorse women’s equality. This is not because most men are pigs looking to degrade women, it is because of the concept of the paradox of men’s power. Men as a social group are powerful and yet so many men feel weak, especially in relationships with women. Women seem to have the power to put a leash on men. Many men feel in control when they have the support of their fraternity of brothers. Most men are not willing to let their brothers down by siding with pro-feminists. Siding with pro-feminists, as a male, could be seen as trying to escape from the box that is hegemonic masculinity. There has been a destabilization of hegemonic masculinity with the movement of civil rights groups, namely the women’s rights movement. There are many arguments in favor of equality amongst men and women. In the past women were seen as the homemakers, that there was no need to educate them and there was clearly no place in the workforce for their sex. â€Å"The time when girls needed no education, because all they had to do was to pick one of a troop of suitors, marry him, keep house for him, and live on his wages, is gone forever, for the very simple reason that no woman can consistently live on a man’s wages any more (Kimmel and Mosmiller, 1992: 178-179).† Early in this nations history, men were viewed as the breadwinners; it was very seldom that one would see a woman in the workplace. As the years have progressed however, there has been a steady shift towards a society where just as many women are working as men. It has also become more common to see stay at home dads. By 1999, the percentage of women in the workforce was nearly sixty percent and men had fallen to about seventy-five percent according to the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America’s (UAW) website. R.W. Connell states that there are many reasons why equality in the workplace would benefit men in his article â€Å"Change among the Gatekeepers.† â€Å"For instance, very large numbers of men are fathers, and about half of their children are girls (Connell, 2005: 617).† Men with daughters will clearly want their children to succeed and have the same opportunities as other children, regardless of gender. Connell also states that the role of breadwinner is a burden that many men feel compelled to fill. Over the years this has led to health concerns as a result of stress and work related  illness and injury. With more women in the workplace the number of men with these problems should significantly decrease. Recently there has been a surge of women in the political realm. Hillary Clinton running for president and Sarah Palin being picked, by a man, to be his vice presidential running mate shows that times have changed immensely. If a woman were to run for a position such as this early in America’s history, she would have been laughed at. The idea of a female president still is not completely accepted by everyone, but Clinton did have her share of male supporters. Connell states that men would be subject to less violence if more women were in the workplace and if they held high power positions such as governor and president (Connell, 2005: 615). People in high power positions are often targeted for acts of violence, for instance John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, and Robert Kennedy, just to name a few. It is not often that one turns on the news to hear of a female being assassinated. Men’s violence towards women will also be decreased(Kimmel and Mosmiller, 1992). â€Å"Many pro-feminist men have embraced a feminist analysis male violence against women, particularly battery and rape (Kimmel and Mosmiller, 1992: 371).† The idea is that if equality is reached in society, men and women will have more meaningful relationships thus increasing understanding of one another and decreasing hostility and aggression. â€Å"In our society, caring (for children, sick people, the elderly etc.) is viewed as a ‘woman’s business’. The ‘art of caring’ appears almost as a natural condition of being a woman: ‘Being a woman means being good at caring for people.’ However, in many parts of the world, we are seeing more men carrying out tasks associated with child care, either inside the home or in institutions (Lyra, 2004: 3).† Although many believe that women should have equal rights, there is still a sense that a woman’s place is in the household. These beliefs have been proliferated for centuries from the establishment of the United States. In the beginning this was how society was organized, a somewhat caste-like system. Now there has been a shift, but the ideas still remain. For example when Hillary Clinton ran for president if these issues did not still exist then the fact that she is a woman would never have been as big a talking point as it proved to be. Many men and women for that matter refused to support her simply because she was in fact  a female running for president. The problem with universal equality is that one group will always be looking for an advantage over another group. â€Å"An essential question for any pro-feminist man must be whether or not it is possible for men to act against their own collective material interests (Douglas, 1994: 33).† As Michael Kaufman states in his idea of the paradox of men’s power, men as a group are powerful. For as long as this country has been in existence, men have had the certain privileges over women. This may not seem fair and to be honest it isn’t, but it would be interesting to turn the tables and see how women would act then. Would they be as fiercely in favor of equal rights, or would they do as many men do and just leave the system alone? This is a clear question that could easily cross the mind of any male pondering gender equality. The answer is not so cut and dry, this is why it will be difficult, even after many years, to get all men on board with the women’s rights movement. â€Å"The pro-feminist men’s movement starts from the acknowledgement that men have power and privilege in a male-dominated society (Kaufman, 1994: 156).† This idea is a problem for many men, so much so that there are even Men’s rights activists. Not all men are willing to admit that males have an advantage over women in society. â€Å"Men’s rights activists fight perceived men’s oppression, including selective service registration, unfair legal decrees of alimony and child support, and domestic violence against men (Fox, 2004: 104).† A common argument that I’ve heard is that women are looking for equal rights, but everyone on that side of the fence seems to be perfectly content with only allowing men to be drafted for wars. I don’t wish to sound like a hostile sexist because I am most definitely in favor of women’s rights, I just don’t see it as a reality for any time in the near future. The fact of the matter is that you cant have it both ways. In order for full equality, the feminists need to take the good with the bad, otherwise it is not equality that feminists are looking for, but instead to gain the upper hand on men. I feel that many men recognize this fact and it is for this reason they shy away from supporting the feminist movement. Most of this issue lies on the idea of equality in the workplace. â€Å"Let the ablest of the sex be called to the lecture room, to the temperance rostrum, and whenever a post office falls vacant and a deserving woman is competent to fill and willingly take it, let her be appointed (Greely, 1852: 167).† If I am the candidate for a job and I am up against a woman, I am not going to step aside and say ‘you take this position because women have been oppressed for quite some time.’ I, like Horace Greely, believe that the most qualified person should get the job. I know that I’ve seen many women, who are clearly in favor of equal treatment, bat their eyelashes, show some cleavage, and flirt with police officers to get out of a ticket. The same thing occurs in the workplace with interviews, some women will cast aside their beliefs in order to flirt their way into a job. As an on-looking male, I must make note that these women are playing on the very stereotypes that they seek to eliminate. This makes it even more difficult for men to take up the fight for pro-feminism; if women cannot take their fight seriously, how can men be expected to join? Most men are all for women fighting for equality and many will not be completely opposed to those men who do choose to fight on the pro-feminist side. There is a sense that these men are leaving the brotherhood. Some might say that it is almost an oxymoron to be a pro-feminist man. If a complete level of equality among genders were to be reached, which I don’t see anytime in the near future, it would be as a result of the lowering of men’s rights in order to level the playing field. Many men hold this view and this is why men who choose to fight for women can be viewed as traitors in a sense. A lot of men can feel constricted by women who often use tools like sex to get what they want. It is in these times that men usually turn to their ‘brothers in arms’ to loosen the collar that women impose as a means of control. As bad as it may sound, a lot of men will be in favor of women’s rights, but do nothing about it. Honestly what group with power is looking to relinquish their supremacy? The way society progresses is through competition. Most people, men and women alike, will always be looking for the upper hand. It is for this reason that full equality among genders is not a realistic goal. View as multi-pages