A Lesson Before Dying Essays (651 words) - A Lesson Before Dying

A Lesson Before Dying The Right to Be Free In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, although Grant is an educated black man in the era of a racist society he has struggles greater than most men of his decent. I feel sorry for him because of his limitations, even though I view him as a coward. He cannot break free of his background and family. The three main female characters in the novel, Tante Lou, Miss Emma, and Vivian, restrict and limit Grant's choices. Grant realizes that freedom means leaving his small town and creating a new life, yet each woman holds a chain that keeps him from his destiny and the right to be free. First, Tante Lou, his aunt holds Grant from his dreams by refusing to let him go his own way. Tante Lou wants Grant to stay at home with her and take care of her. But, in the time the novel takes place, it wasn't common for young men stay with their elders and help out, especially when Grant has a college degree and can accomplish so much. Tante Lou took advantage of this in any means necessary, using the fact that Grant is family and in essence owes it to her to stay and help out. We can see this on page 14 when Tante Lou forces Grant to talk to Mr. Henri about seeing Jefferson. You are going up there with us Grant, or you will not sleep in this house tonight. Tante Lou denies Knodt 2 Grant choices that men his age have. Next, Miss Emma, who doesn't have a family relation to Grant, also restricts his choices in life. Miss Emma plays an important role in the novel by being Jefferson's godmother, and in a painstaking situation. She asks Grant in a way that gives him no real choices to teach Jefferson to be a man. Leaning on her ability to persuade, and using her power as an extensive friend to Tante Lou she can basically tell Grant what to do and gets away with it. She knew Grant did not want to go and teach Jefferson, but still went ahead with it. Driving along the St. Charles River I could feel Emma not looking at me, not looking at anything..just thinking. Like my Aunt she knew how much I hated all of this.(p.68) Miss Emma therefore forces Grant to do matters that she wants, not what Grant thinks he is capable of doing. Thirdly, Vivian, the love of his life, is also limiting Grant's ability to make decisions based strictly on his own intent. She understands Grant's need to leave and see new things, but has restrictions in her life that will not allow her to help Grant begin a new existence. Vivian is in the middle of a drawn out divorce and needs to see it through so she can maintain custody of her children. We see an example of this on page 93. Let's go somewhere and spend the night. Baton Rouge, New Orleans- anywhere, Grant asks. I can't, My Babies. This sentence alone describes the turmoil she is going through with her own threatening aspects and how it effects Grant's choices. I think the book is an intriguing novel and surfaced important issues dealt with in society. Religion, racism, and many other articles of today are just a few. But, Grant is a complex character and can be depicted thoroughly. His education holds him to a new Knodt3 standard not expected of people back then, but withholds him from reaching his dreams. He cannot find what he is looking for in this small town that A Lesson Before Dying takes place in. I feel sorry for him until Jefferson teaches him other factors involved to being a real and distinct kind of man. He evolves dramatically. But, his need to be free is still restrained by Tante English Essays

Free Essays on Victimization

Victimization is an asymmetrical relationship that is abusive, destructive, parasitical, unfair, and, in many cases, in violation of the law. You would think that elderly people are the least likely to be taken advantage of, actually you probably wouldn’t even consider it, but there is not only one way you can define abuse to a victim. Elder abuse was made out after child abuse and spouse abuse but follows along the same lines. Defining elder abuse varies in that it can consist of acts of commission and acts of ommision.by caretakers responsible for the older person’s well being. Therefore, abuse encompasses gross neglect as well as acts of intentional harm. These include assaults unreasonable confinement, financial exploitation or failure to provide clothing, food and shelter. (Crime Victims, An intro to Victimology, pg 79, 219-220) Persons who provide care to elderly people who live a t home perpetrate domestic elder abuse. Individuals who have contractual obligation to tend to the needs of older persons commit institutional elder abuse. The offender is most commonly a close relative, especially a grown child, spouse or sibling. The typical target is a frail elderly woman over 70. In most cases the victim and the abuser live in the same household in social isolation from friends, neighbors, and kin who might otherwise deem what they are doing wrong. An estimated 1.5 million older Americans were subjected to physical, psychological, or financial abuse or suffered serious or even life threatening, neglect in 1992. Congressional investigators estimated that only about 16% of abused elders dared to bring their case to the proper authorities. A sharply divided California Supreme Court, clarifying the duty to care for aged parents, ruled Friday that grown children can be prosecuted for neglect only if they have control over the elder's care. "It means that if you take on the responsibility of caring for your parent, yo... Free Essays on Victimization Free Essays on Victimization Victimization is an asymmetrical relationship that is abusive, destructive, parasitical, unfair, and, in many cases, in violation of the law. You would think that elderly people are the least likely to be taken advantage of, actually you probably wouldn’t even consider it, but there is not only one way you can define abuse to a victim. Elder abuse was made out after child abuse and spouse abuse but follows along the same lines. Defining elder abuse varies in that it can consist of acts of commission and acts of ommision.by caretakers responsible for the older person’s well being. Therefore, abuse encompasses gross neglect as well as acts of intentional harm. These include assaults unreasonable confinement, financial exploitation or failure to provide clothing, food and shelter. (Crime Victims, An intro to Victimology, pg 79, 219-220) Persons who provide care to elderly people who live a t home perpetrate domestic elder abuse. Individuals who have contractual obligation to tend to the needs of older persons commit institutional elder abuse. The offender is most commonly a close relative, especially a grown child, spouse or sibling. The typical target is a frail elderly woman over 70. In most cases the victim and the abuser live in the same household in social isolation from friends, neighbors, and kin who might otherwise deem what they are doing wrong. An estimated 1.5 million older Americans were subjected to physical, psychological, or financial abuse or suffered serious or even life threatening, neglect in 1992. Congressional investigators estimated that only about 16% of abused elders dared to bring their case to the proper authorities. A sharply divided California Supreme Court, clarifying the duty to care for aged parents, ruled Friday that grown children can be prosecuted for neglect only if they have control over the elder's care. "It means that if you take on the responsibility of caring for your parent, yo...

Email Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Email - Essay Example The survey is an illustration of a mechanism that can be used in profiling employee’s whit the highest level of job satisfaction thus giving the highest possible performance boosting a company’s productivity (Kuballa 2007). Employees who are satisfied with their job are less likely to leave the organization. This makes it easy for companies to retain talent in the current age where having skilled employees is being used as a source of competitive advantage (Fields 2002). Tenure is examined in this report because it is a crucial aspect in ensuring employees satisfaction. For employees to perform their duties satisfactorily, they should feel that their job is secure and that they cannot be fired any time. Age is also an important aspect in understanding the needs of the employees. If the highest percentage of the employees is of the age 50 and above, they would perform better if they were offered good pension plans and retirement benefits. Workers of the age 18 to 40 are more concerned on getting benefits such as health insurance and job tenure. Gender is also crucial. This is because increase in diversity in the workplace is crucial as it has been observed that it increases workers performance. Ensuring that there is gender balance in the workplace is important in order to promote better performance and good decision making (Cook 2008). This is because people from diverse groups are able to give their different contribution coming up with many alternative solutions. As have already been started, the size of the sample used in this report is 30 employees. This consisted of 60% males (18/60) and 40% (12/30). Tenure Distribution by Gender: 42% of the males have been in the company for more than 2 years 25 % males have been in the corporation for 2-5 yrs 8% males have been in the company for exactly 5 yrs 50% of the females have been in the company for more than 2 yrs 24% of the females have been in the company for 2-5 yrs 4% of the females have been i n the company for more than 5 yrs 20% of the employees interviewed were in the human resource department, 15% came from the administration department, and 30% was from the sales department, 25% from the direct production department. The extrinsic value by gender is measures on a scale of 1-7 with the females taking the value of 5.407 and the males 5.318. The probability that the individual chosen for this survey is between the age of 16-21 is 0.20. The probability that an individual job satisfaction is 5.2 or lower is 0.40. The probability that a person chosen for this survey is from the human resource department and is a female is 0.23. The probability that the individual will be a salaried employee whose intrinsic satisfaction value is 5 or more is 0.32. Besides the mentioned ways in which a company can use the probabilities above in promoting employees performance, the probabilities mentioned above can be used in several other ways. One way is to check whether the incentive plan and benefits package that the company is implementing in the company is working. The management has the role of understanding which kind of motivation work for different employees. According to Maslow’s theory of motivation, there are different levels of motivation and it is the work of the management to know which stage of development an employee is in and thus give them incentives that completely satisfies their current needs. For instance, according to the probability he notices that employees on the

Donald Palmers introduction to Western Philosophy Essay

Donald Palmers introduction to Western Philosophy - Essay Example A country’s constitution is used to protect the laws and rights of people residing in that country at any particular time. The constitution also gives guideline on how the law should be applied and interpreted. Politicians are given the mandate of changing the constitution and coming up with new laws that are meant for the greater good of the people and the country as well. A popular trend noticed during the campaigns is the issue of a personal manifesto, which stipulates what the politician will do for the people. Some greedy leaders have constantly exploited the authority given politicians by the constitution to change the laws. Such cases are popular in the African countries where there have been incidents whereby the president convinces his fellow politicians to change the constitution so that he or she can hold office for a longer period. This is where the current president’s political party has more people in parliament of political positions and this makes it eas y for him or her to do such a thing. Greedy politicians have passed laws that are in their favor failing to consider the greater good of other persons. There have been the passing of laws in some country that exempt the politicians from paying taxes and in order to cover for the lost tax, they increase the basic tax for the ordinary person. They also change the laws making them become the well-paid employees in the country.  Ã‚  To stress the impact of rules on people he quotes a person who was giving his experience on oppressive rules.

How does the TV show ( The Simpsons) effect my live Essay

How does the TV show ( The Simpsons) effect my live - Essay Example the following analysis will seek to engage the reader with an understanding of the impact that The Simpsons have had upon my own life and the manner by which I will ultimately intend on raising my own family. Essentially, The Simpsons served as a comedy program that could be enjoyed by each and every member of our family; when I was growing up. As such, my parents were not overly conservative and did not attempt to restrict the overall access the television in our home or otherwise only approved certain programs for viewing. The understanding that was unspoken, at least in our home, was the fact that when situations arose and were represented on television that did not abide by the rules of our family or the point of view that children were expected to respect, these did not need to be restricted; they merely needed to be dismissed. As such, I have distinct memories of several occasions in which my parents would laugh along with the plot of The Simpsons; turning to me and saying something to the effect of â€Å"you had best never do anything like that†. As such, even though this particular show was comedy, I was fully aware of the fact, even from an early age, that not everything represented within it should be taken exemplification from model behavior. In terms of The Simpsons and its overall impact upon how I will raise my own family, it should be noted that I will follow a very similar approach to that which my parents ascribe to during my own childhood. Rather than restricting access to certain television shows and ultimately attempting censor the media, the best approach is to enjoy these television shows with the appropriate age groups in question and merely categorized at certain times that specific behavior is not allowable and when not be tolerated. As such, the parent child relationship does not become one that is domineering; it becomes one that is beneficial and utilizes media as a way of helping to further define the roles that individuals within the

What leadership means to me

What leadership means to me 1. Introduction Although leadership is recognised as being an important construct, it is not a concept that holds one single definition. What leadership actually is, or how to define it correctly is still regarded as a mystery by many. Leadership is something that may differ depending on the people involved, the situation at hand, and the goals being pursued, and is therefore open to subjective interpretation. Stogdill (1974: 259) concluded that there are ‘almost as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept. It could be argued that everyone has their own understanding of what constitutes leadership, based on personal and learning experiences, and situations and people, which is exactly why it is difficult to capture in a succinct definition. Grint (2004) narrows down the key reasons as to why it is so difficult to find a single and agreed understanding of leadership: process problems, position problems, philosophy problems, and purity problems . These problems refer to whether leadership is derived from traits or a social process, whether a leader is automatically in charge with formally allocated authority, and the questions as to whether a leader has intentional influence on the behaviour of followers, and is leadership embodied in individuals or groups and is it a purely human phenomenon. This essay seeks to explore what leadership means to me, drawing on personal experience of leadership as a social phenomenon, and discussing my views from the perspective of both a leader and follower. In order to make sense of my understanding of leadership, a critical review and commentary on leadership theory is included in the discussion. 2. Personal Experience of Leadership Within the Workplace For the past five years I have had a part time job at Marks and Spencer, and thus come across many types of leaders and managers. The question often asked is whether a manager can automatically be assumed to also be a leader? Zalenznik (1977) was one of the first to contrast leadership and management as he argued that a leader uses creativity and intuition, whereas a manager solves problems using rationality and control. Since then, many academics have agreed and argued that ‘good management brings about a degree of order and consistency to organisational processes and goals, whilst leadership is required for dynamic change (Kotter 1990: 104 cited in Bolden 2004: 6). In an organisation such as Marks and Spencer then, it is essential that they have both good management, who offer stability, consistency, order and efficiency, and good leaders who produce important change by keeping employees focused and motivated to achieve the vision communicated. In my workplace, I would say we have good ‘managers based on the above assumptions, however, I would not say that every manager is also a good leader. For this reason I agree with Kotter and Zalenznik, leadership and management differ from one another substantially. In the workplace context I am a follower, and so from this perspective I have seen what I would consider to be good leadership, and poor leadership styles. The authors who have focused on followers suggest that they are active participants in the leadership relationship (Boccialetti, 1995; Chaleff, 1995; Kelley, 1992; Shamir, Pillai, Bligh, Uhl-Bien, 2007). The socially constructed view sees leadership as being ‘in the eye of the beholder where it is the followers who have to agree on what constitutes leadership, and who they are prepared to follow. If the followers, and in my personal situation fellow employees, do not respect the leader, it is unlikely they will follow at all. Unless followers recognise and orient to particular behaviours, which they regard to be ‘leadership, then the person trying to lead is not a leader whatever their intentions. There is therefore no way for an individual to lead unless people are prepared to follow. There have been many instances at work when one particular manager has tried to lead change in the store, however because she is not well respected, and in my opinion does not come across as being a natural leader, often her vision gets ignored until another manager provides instructions for staff about the same vision. This manager is viewed by employees as having the role of simply instilling discipline, completing administrative tasks, and organising the shop floor, rather than communicating visions for change. Furthermore, although I believe that the roles of managers and leaders are very different, in my job there are no visible ‘leaders who are not managers in my store. The management team automatically take on the role of leadership, regardless of whether they are a good leader or not. As it is therefore management who attempt to provide the visions and plans for change, and employe es like myself have no responsibility or say in the directions they wish to take. Uhl-Bien and Pillai (2007) argue that followers who perceive the leader as responsible for making decisions are less likely to take an active role in the decision making process, and so, they give up autonomy. Many of my fellow employees, who often do not enjoy the job, also expect the leader, in this instance our manager, to motivate them rather than motivating themselves. The managers recognise this and often offer incentives, such as a bottle of wine, if we achieve certain targets. This could therefore be considered to be transactional leadership. A typical way of describing leadership styles within the organisation is applying McGregors (1969) theory X and theory Y. McGregor assumes that an organisation and its leaders can have differing opinions on the motivation and abilities of their employees. My line manager presumes that her staff dislikes working and takes a negative view of human nature, believing we will avoid doing work if possible. This is evident, as she will often split employees up on the shop floor to prevent them from ‘chatting, and she constantly checks up on her staff to ensure they are doing what she has asked them to do. Her actions and leadership style concur with what McGregor describes as theory X leaders. My manager believes that coercion and control is necessary to ensure that people work, and she never gives employees like myself any extra responsibilities. This style is also referred to as the autocratic style. Although my manager is assumed to be the leader at work, I would argue that she is not a good leader, and there have been times when I have had better guidance from a fellow colleague. My manager has a coercive style according to Golemans six leadership styles. She expects immediate compliance, often provides negative and corrective feedback and controls tightly. This style does not motivate employees to see her visions or follow her lead, instead it has often turned employees against her and people have refused to do certain tasks because of her leadership style. 3. Myself as a Leader Badminton Coach and Captain From a young age I have been told that I am a natural leader, possibly because I am bossy and like to get things done! Ever since I remember I have had certain personality traits, which I consider to be those of leaders: I am confident, ambitious, dominant, and so naturally take the lead in most situations. Based on what I have learnt from leaders I have come across, when leading my badminton team I keep in mind what styles I believe will be most successful. I consider myself to be a transformational leader (Bass and Avolio 1994) when in the role of badminton captain. As a leader I believe it is important for me to have a clear vision, and most importantly, be able to communicate it effectively to the whole team. Unlike the traditional transactional theory of leadership, which emphasizes corrective action, centralised control and rewards only when performance expectations are met, transformational leaders trust their subordinates and it is a more developmental and constructive form of leadership. In a sports team context it is also important for me to articulate our teams goals, which should be realistic and achievable. For example, before entering a tournament I will state where I expect us to finish, and that the vision is to win a gold medal. In order to achieve this goal I also have to motivate the team, and make sure they put the team and tournament at the top of their priority list, above any other self-interests at that time. Addi tionally I have to get the team members to understand how their style of play affects others, therefore encouraging them to view their game from others perspectives. And finally I have to develop the team in many ways, both physically to prepare them for a big tournament, and mentally so they reach their highest levels of ability. It could therefore be argued, that as a leader I follow what Bass and Avolio (1990) call the ‘four Is: Idealised Influence, Inspirational Motivation, Intellectual Stimulation, and Individualised Consideration. As a person I have previously been told that I am very charismatic. I think this also shows in my leadership style and I think I am also a charismatic leader. Northouse (2004) described the major characteristics as: dominant personally with the desire to influence others, strong role model behaviour and competence, articulation of ideological goals with moral overtones, and high expectation of followers and confidence that they will meet these expectations. Although I believe I have the personality traits required to become a leader, I am aware that there have been occasions when my leadership styles have been unsuccessful, as I have become impatient or intolerant of the followers. From these experiences I believe I have learnt a lot and therefore also see the importance of situational leadership and having the ability to alter the leadership styles I adopt. 4. Could Parents be considered to be Leaders? When considering leaders and leadership, and what it means to me, I thought about what my first experience of leadership ever was. Although leadership in an organisation is the key focus of the module and course, it cannot go ignored that my parents were the first influential leaders in my life. My parents have been very influential leaders in my life. As managing directors of their own company, they have always played the role of managers, however in our home their leadership style varied to that of in their work place, and to the styles of each other. My parents have ‘led me in the right direction. Unlike the traditional theories of leadership such as The Great Man Theory I would argue that my mum is the strongest leader in our home. It has been argued that women are more likely to use transformational leadership (Rosener 1990), and as the follower, this is the style I find motivational, inspirational and therefore successful. She uses more interactive leadership styles in co mparison to my dad as she encourages participation, power and information sharing and enhanced self worth. Although the leadership styles of parents are arguably very different to those of leaders within an organisation, my parents and their styles have had a massive influence on my understanding of leadership and on my whole life! They have led me to where I am today. I have been extremely lucky to be able to experience their leadership styles whilst running their company, therefore within an organisation. In this situation they both use different methods of leading than they do at home, thus supporting Hersey and Blanchards (1969) theory that leaders could adapt their styles to suit the situation. Situational or contingent leadership models recognise this, and support the argument that what constitutes effective leadership will be influenced by the situational factors such as the people involved, the task to be carried out, and the organisational culture. It is therefore essential that leaders employ a variety of approaches across a range of situations. 5. Conclusion From taking the time to consider what leadership means to me, it has only become more apparent about how complex the concept of leadership actually is. I believe ‘leadership is different to different people. Whom I consider to be an effective leader, others may not, and what I consider to be traits that create a successful leader, others may not. Leadership to me is something that comes naturally, however in different situations, there needs to be different forms of leadership in order for your followers to ‘follow. Although there have been many studies on leadership, and many theories produced, I agree with Burns statement that ‘leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth. (Burns, 1978: 3) 5.1 My theoretical understanding of leadership I have found it difficult to truly understand and specify my theoretical stance of leadership. Generally speaking, it is assumed that a person either believes that leadership is a consequence of a set of traits or characteristics possessed by leaders, or that leadership is a social process that emerges and is learned throughout life and from group relationships. I, on the other hand, believe there is truth in both approaches. I would argue that some people are simply born leaders due to their dispositions and personalities, however they also need to learn and understand how to use these traits to become a successful leader, hence leadership capability must also be partly learned. I have this opinion because of my experiences. I often become the leader in group task situations, at university for example, and although I know it often comes naturally to me, I have had to learn how to use my leadership trait effectively in order to succeed and lead the followers. I agree with Gallies sta tement that ‘Leadership appears to be, like power, an essentially contested concept (Gallie 1995 cited in Grint 2004: 1). Furthermore, I have the same opinion of the situational leadership approach due to personal experiences with leaders, and as a leader myself. Zaccaro (2007), Sternberg (2007), and Vroom and Jago (2007) argue that neither trait nor situational attributes alone are sufficient to explain leader behaviour and effectiveness. It is the interaction between traits and situations that counts.

Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) for Backbones Essay -- Technology,

Abstract : Internet Protocol version 6(Pv6) is the advanced version of the IPv4 protocol and both of these protocols are part of TCP/IP suite.TCP/IP is the only protocol for transmission of data over the internet As the internet is not secure place for transmission of secure and confidential information (packets) So to protect this information over the non secure channels(internet ) the IPSec was introduced .IPSec is the worldly know standard for the secure transmission over the internet . IPSec is mandatory for IPv6 and optional for IPv4 deployments .But as the IPsec provides authentication, confidentiality and integrity of the internet protocol (IP) packets but it slows down the transmission devices and where there is huge transmission of data like in Gbps at the backbone networks, the performance of the transmission devices is highly effected . So to improve the transmission rate on high performance networks number of techniques have been used till now and these techniques are the valuable addition in the current technologies .Purpose of this paper is to high light , what types of techniques are available in the current time for improving the performance of the transmission devices both at the H/W and S/W level while applying the IPSec and what drawbacks in the already existing techniques . Keywords: Internet Protocol Security (IPsec), IPv6 , Internet Security, Virtual Private Network(VPN) security ,IPsec for high performance networks. Introduction :As in the current era the internet is widely used for sending and receiving information in a very fast way. As internet is not only used by the single user but huge companies (enterprises) use them for their business use . An enterprises may have their offices at different l... ...yer of TCP/IP working like SSL and these all security protocols need security parameter for establishing a secure connection over the network and each security protocol is doing this by negotiation their own security parameter with the other party. That’s why each security protocol is negotiating its security parameter independently which is the wastage of network resources.[3] The author proposes his solution that each security protocol will maintain its set of negotiating parameters which is called DoI (Domain of interpretation ).ISAKMP will store these agreed security parameters into a file which is called SA file and group of SA are stored in a database and other security protocol will use these security parameter instead of negotiating their own and thus avoiding the duplicity. [3]. Figure 6 :Relation of Security Protocol through ISAKMP negotiation[3]