A Feminist Perspective of The Good Mother :: Feminism Feminist Women Criticism

A Feminist Perspective of The Good Mother   The Good Mother is carefully structured to make the reader identify strongly with the narrator Anna. The story begins with a close look at the intensely loving relationship between Anna and her daughter. We then learn some of Anna's family history and personal background which prepares us for the stark contrast made by her relationship with Leo. Though there are hints, as Anna relates her story, that Leo is now a part of her past, the reasons and details are withheld from the reader so that we feel as shocked as Anna by the phone call from her ex-husband, saying that he is going to fight for custody of Molly and why. The suspense during the court battle is sustained by the terse descriptions which focus on the facts of the events and the words spoken during the interviews and trial. Because of this reserve, although, like Anna, we fear that she will lose Molly, we are still stunned by the verdict and empathize with her feelings of loss, helplessness, and rage. I think the book is very well written and moving. But I am left wondering why Miller wrote this involving book with such a bittersweet ending, one that's much more sad than sweet. Did she simply want to depress us or to give us a portrait of someone we should feel sorry for? There's not much point in that, of course, so I doubt it. Was the book intended as some sort of moral lesson? The narrator clearly relates her own behavior to her past and her family, but I don't think Anna can be read as either a total victim or as a person who is fully to blame for her own fate as a result of having always made completely informed choices; she was certainly not making informed choices as a child or adolescent. Nor do I think we are supposed to fully blame Anna's family for her behavior; Anna herself says that she "had misread all the signals" (p. 129) from her mother's overwhelming family. Maybe Miller's intent was to make the reader ponder the reasons for a person feeling the way that Anna feels about herself. Why is she so full of guilt and shame and self-hatred? Like Ursula who asks Anna why she didn't fight harder to keep her daughter and Leo, I wonder why Anna responds the way that she does to events throughout her life. A Feminist Perspective of The Good Mother :: Feminism Feminist Women Criticism A Feminist Perspective of The Good Mother   The Good Mother is carefully structured to make the reader identify strongly with the narrator Anna. The story begins with a close look at the intensely loving relationship between Anna and her daughter. We then learn some of Anna's family history and personal background which prepares us for the stark contrast made by her relationship with Leo. Though there are hints, as Anna relates her story, that Leo is now a part of her past, the reasons and details are withheld from the reader so that we feel as shocked as Anna by the phone call from her ex-husband, saying that he is going to fight for custody of Molly and why. The suspense during the court battle is sustained by the terse descriptions which focus on the facts of the events and the words spoken during the interviews and trial. Because of this reserve, although, like Anna, we fear that she will lose Molly, we are still stunned by the verdict and empathize with her feelings of loss, helplessness, and rage. I think the book is very well written and moving. But I am left wondering why Miller wrote this involving book with such a bittersweet ending, one that's much more sad than sweet. Did she simply want to depress us or to give us a portrait of someone we should feel sorry for? There's not much point in that, of course, so I doubt it. Was the book intended as some sort of moral lesson? The narrator clearly relates her own behavior to her past and her family, but I don't think Anna can be read as either a total victim or as a person who is fully to blame for her own fate as a result of having always made completely informed choices; she was certainly not making informed choices as a child or adolescent. Nor do I think we are supposed to fully blame Anna's family for her behavior; Anna herself says that she "had misread all the signals" (p. 129) from her mother's overwhelming family. Maybe Miller's intent was to make the reader ponder the reasons for a person feeling the way that Anna feels about herself. Why is she so full of guilt and shame and self-hatred? Like Ursula who asks Anna why she didn't fight harder to keep her daughter and Leo, I wonder why Anna responds the way that she does to events throughout her life.

Ethics Article Review Essay

Ethics in accounting and financial decision-making has received increased attention due to large corporate scandals such as WorldCom and Enron in recent years. Legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has attempted to make corporations more transparent to internal and external stakeholders. After analyzing the 2005 article by Richard Bernardi and Catherine LaCross, Corporate Transparency: Code of Ethics Disclosures, recommendations will be made to improve ethical foundations at the San Quentin State Prison based on the parameters outlined by Sarbanes-Oxley. In the Corporate Transparency article, the key point is made that along with changes in the accounting practices, disclosing a code of ethics to the public will ensure better internal compliance with ethical practices. Those organizations that did not publicly disclose codes of ethics were less likely to truly conform to ethical practices required in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 was legislation enacted in response to large corporate scandals. The Act calls for public corporations to publicly disclose all financial statements, store all electronic records for five years and these rules are governed by the SEC (Spurzem, 2006). Sarbanes Oxley has impacted organizations in that accountants and financial decision makers are open to public scrutiny based on the public financial statement disclosures and IT departments must adequately create and maintain corporate archives that are cost effective and in compliance with legislation (Spurzem, 2006). Organizations have been impacted financially by having to add extra resources to maintain compliance and avoid fines. According to Bernardi and LaCross, â€Å". . . one example of a ‘best practice’ in transparency is a corporation making its code of ethics readily available for public scrutiny on its website (par 1). † Corporations increase legitimacy with openly stated code of ethics and websites are an economically feasible avenue for making a particular code available to the public. The article argues that organizations that go beyond the basic requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley and declare a universal code of ethics show that the organization is willing to ‘walk the talk’ of ethics. SEC chairman Donaldson is quoted as saying â€Å". . . going beyond mere adherence or conformity to new dictates and of Sarbanes-Oxley: responsibilities that rest at the very heart of their obligation to create a corporate culture of transparency and accountability (Bernardi, 2005, par 6). † Integrating ethics into a corporate culture is extremely effective in ensuring strong ethical compliance within organizations. At the San Quentin State Prison, ethics are important in many aspects of business including accounting, financial decisions, inmate treatment, medical care, and general work environment. There are many opportunities for unethical practices to take hold in a prison facility. Since the facility is closed off to the general public, self-monitoring is a crucial part of maintaining an ethical environment in all aspects of the prison business. San Quentin has the responsibility to use public tax dollars wisely and ethically as well as to maintain a corporate culture with high integrity. Based on the research findings by Bernardi and LaCross, the recommendation for a San Quentin State Prison public code of ethics will focus the entire prison cultural towards walking the ethical talk. All prison employees would be held individually responsible for maintaining the highest code of ethics across all job functions from accounting and financial decision-makers to medical employees. Ethics in business span larger than just accounting and financial-decision making. While these areas are extremely important, developing a code of ethics for all job functions in an organization is essential to maintaining an ethical corporate environment. At San Quentin Prison, an official code of ethics would guide the organization to best practices to ensure success. References http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid19_gci920030,00.html

Affordable Care Act and Its Controversies

On March 23, 2010 President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA); this date is when the growing debate began. The Affordable Care Act is also commonly known as Obamacare. A large issue between the opposing sides is the future of small business under this bill. â€Å"Many small businesses are going to be absolutely crushed by the provisions in Obamacare that require them to provide expensive health insurance coverage for their employees.† (Snyder, Michael) â€Å"3.2 million small businesses — employing 19.3 million workers nationwide — were eligible last year for tax credits worth $15.4 billion or $800 per employee.† (LOLGOP)These separate articles counteract each other, one claiming that small business is doomed while the other promises a happy future for small business. Another issue between the sides is the fact that neither has a full grasp of the bill and therefore only builds their opinions upon what they like versus dislike of the provisions. T his debate seems to be based between Republicans, who are stereotypically anti-Obamacare and Democrats, who are stereotypically pro-Obamacare. This essay will use different sources to describe the largest provisions and the varying stances on these provisions between the two sides.In Snyder’s article he destroys the ACA and shouts the predetermined catastrophic problems America faces with the ACA. His article is entitled â€Å"15 Reasons Why The Obamacare Decision Is A Mind Blowing Disaster For America.† Through this article, Snyder lists reasons as to why the ACA is a poor decision. Quotes from this article include the likes of, â€Å"It is hard to have any faith in the U.S. Supreme Court,† and â€Å"Supreme Court that is dominated by judges that have very little respect for the U.S. Constitution.†Snyder’s article lists reasons ranging from governmental power, new taxes, and possibly most extreme: decrease in life expectancy in the United States. Finally, this article ends on the note that â€Å"Obamacare will add more than a trillion dollars to government spending over the next decade. Considering the fact that the U.S. government is already drowning in debt, how in the world can we afford this?† The largest issue that people have with the bill is the mandate, which was described by Reddit poster CaspianX2 in a comment thread.The rough description of the mandate is that  it requires a person to have healthcare, and if any person who can afford healthcare chooses not to have it, they can be fined. The Supreme Court tested the constitutionality and through changing the words around a bit, the Court declared it constitutional. (CaspianX2) The biggest anti-Obamacare points include: the increase in governmental strength, the new taxes upon the American people it will impose, the mandate, and governmental spending.â€Å"A Harvard study found that 45,000 Americans die every year for lack of insurance.† (LOLGOP) Thi s shows that though the individual mandate is debated, it shows the pro-ACA viewpoint saves American lives. This article on eclectablog.com gave 18 reasons as to why the ACA is an achievement for the middle class. The healthcare reform puts a vast construct on the changes of insurance companies themselves. â€Å"Insurance companies can no longer cap the dollar amount of care you can receive in a lifetime,† and, â€Å"Health care insurers will no longer be allowed to charge women more than men for their coverage,† are two examples of the changes insurance companies will be facing with this bill.This bill makes insurance more accessible for more people, as the same eclectablog.com article states, â€Å"Up to 30 million Americans who are currently not insured will be covered, saving thousands of American lives.† (LOLGOP) A different article by Joshua Holland, titled â€Å"Up to 30 million Americans who are currently not insured will be covered, saving thousands of American lives,† highlights the concept that people can build different opinions of the bill, depending on how much they know about it. This article offers 10 things the common person may not know about the Affordable Care Act ranging from, the richest Americans will be paying more taxes, to how this bill benefits women, to people getting checks to help pay for their insurance. This article offers these points in a positive-bias perspective.Holland discusses how people with an income over a certain amount will be having a higher tax rate, rather than the lower-than-average rate they have now. This bill, similarly to the article by LOLGOP on eclectablog.com speaks to the idea that insurers can no longer charge women higher than men. Those with an income lower than a certain mark will be getting tax credits and subsidies to help pay for their insurance, is another point of Holland’s in this article. The largest pro-Obamacare points include: the newly regulated equality b etween insurers charging men and  women the same price, the raising or lowering of taxes depending on income, and how much more accessible healthcare is going to be with this bill.Many of the controversies between the sides seem to cancel each other out, where one side says something, and the other says something that directly refutes it. An example of this is with the effect the bill will have on young people. In an article by Brian Klonoski entitled, â€Å"13 Reasons Why Obamacare Sucks So Far,† he states, â€Å"Obamacare is more formally known as The Affordable Care Act, so it should make healthcare more affordable, right? Well, sorta. It definitely makes healthcare more affordable for some people, but it also raises premiums for others — most notably, young, healthy Americans.†In a different article, by Todd Essig, he discusses why Obamacare is good for the young and healthy. The three reasons he lists are as follows: they will have health insurance should catastrophe strike, they’ll get prescriptions for routine care, and they’ll have more skin in the game of self-care. (Essig)Both sides of healthcare reform has extremist opinions, one being that of the tea-party conservatives and the other that of the radical liberals. However, not republicans are anti-ACA and not all democrats are pro-ACA; though, most do fit the stereotype. Whether a person is anti-ACA or pro-ACA, they should learn the in-and-out of the bill, and not just pick and choose which issues to argue and make decisions about. Doing that will lead to well-rounded opinions and eventually, decisions made on this largely debated healthcare reform.

Personal Essay on Eating Disorders †Health

Personal Essay on Eating Disorders – Health Free Online Research Papers Personal Essay on Eating Disorders Health I have very strong feelings about many of the topics we discuss in class. One topic I can personally relate to is eating disorders. So many people want to be super model skinny and not work out to achieve it. Eating disorders are so common, because it is easier to skip a couple of meals than it is to go to the gym for an hour every day. The media plays a large role in the way women want to look. Characters and models in advertisements, movies, and T.V. shows are always very fit or very skinny. Super models are especially skinny, and all have the same body type. All models are around six foot tall and very flat chested. Every woman compares herself to these women, and wants to look just like them. Most models and actresses have very serious eating problems. I never realized how much an eating disorder could control your life, until I had one. I never worried about weight until I started hanging out with a lot of girls. Girls have big impressions on other girls. When I made the cheerleading squad was when everything started. Just like sports players were in competition for the best player, our squad was in competition for who could be the skinniest and prettiest. If you were the skinniest and prettiest you were more likely to be popular. A lot of girls, including myself, on the squad were either anorexic or bulimic. Both disorders are equally bad but very different. I started to become anorexic at the very beginning of the season. Our coach was very supportive of all of her cheerleaders, and worked our butts off to try and get us in the best shape we could be in. For me, exercise was not enough. I started to get into drugs to lose weight. I started on the diet pills, which cut my appetite in half. The diet pills and the exercise combined were still not working fast enough for me, so I began to experiment with cocaine. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I didn’t care, because I was losing weight faster than I had ever before. At the beginning of the season I weighed 130 pounds and within two months I was down to 100 pounds. At this point from the drugs I had lost any appetite I had and I was only eating two crackers a day. A twenty-ounce bottle of water would fill my stomach and sometimes push my belly out. I was so dissatisfied with myself when I would look in the mirror. My thighs were always too big or my tummy wasn’t flat en ough. I was never going to achieve Cindy Crawford’s body and still never will. I was the perfect stereotype, for an anorexic woman. I was very driven in every thing I did. I felt I needed to have control over everything and everyone around me. I felt I was slipping and letting the drugs control me, and my eating was something I could control. My self-esteem got very low and I started to become depressed. I got so bad I was to the point to where my period would start to skip a couple of months and then come back every once in a while. My boyfriend was the first to confront me about my problem. I didn’t want anyone’s help, because I felt I didn’t have a problem. One day at work I passed out in the middle of taking someone’s order and an ambulance rushed me to the hospital. The doctors could tell my body was so undernourished that they told my parents I was twenty pounds under weight and I needed to see a specialist or be checked in to a clinic. I freaked my self out when I woke up in a hospital bed and eventually with the help of my friends and family I began to gradually start eating and getting nutrients in my body. I quit cheerleading because of all the pressure to stay thin. Bulimia is another eating disorder that is very serious in our society. People who have problems with bulimia have different characteristics than people dealing with anorexia. People who are very outgoing and promiscuous are more likely to be bulimic. Bulimia is when a person has frequent episodes of binge eating and pukes after meals. Bulimia is very dangerous because it destroys your stomach lining, gives you very bad breath, and could give you ulcers in your esophagus. This disorder is a little harder to detect because the person can usually maintain a normal, steady body weight. Women who are bulimic often take laxatives to lose a couple of pounds quick. Weight and appearance isn’t only a problem in the female gender. Eating disorders seem to be getting more common in men as time goes on. The media shows men in a whole different light. The exact opposite is expected from men than what is expected from women. Men are supposed to look strong and muscular, the bigger the better. I don’t personally like a very muscular man; I would rather have someone I could cuddle with, not someone who feels like a rock. In Conclusion, Eating disorders are becoming more common everyday. In my opinion I think that beautiful is not one shape or size it is the way you present yourself. Women and men in the old days weren’t all skinny, take Marylyn Monroe for example, she was a size 7/8 and one of the most beautiful and most admired women in the world. This subject can be very depressing to talk about, but is something a lot of people deal with every day. Research Papers on Personal Essay on Eating Disorders - HealthTrailblazing by Eric AndersonHip-Hop is ArtBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductThe Hockey GameEffects of Television Violence on Children19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraMind Travel

The 19th Amendment essays

The 19th Amendment essays Subsequent to the Revolution for freedom, Americans detained a sense of belonging and individuality. The document not to forget the ladies, which calculated each, slave as three-fifths an individual, entirely overlooked women. Comparable to Black people, women were well thought-out as sub-human. Women were looked upon as second-rate to men. The lack of knowledge apprehended by Americans, portrayed logic of displeasure amongst the female population and began the suffragist movements. Women began to recognize that they needed to acquire their efforts on the Constitutional Amendment that would assure women equal rights in a male-dominated society. The Equal Rights Amendment would consequent in a momentous alter within American Society as well as endeavor to terminate the prejudice women were forced to suffer. In the face of massive evidence of gender-based discrimination and the malfunction of guarantees within the Fourteenth Amendment for Women, fumed for a Federal Equal Rights Amendme nt in 1972. The lengthly battle of the Equal Rights Amendment approval, jointly in Congress and amongst Americans, created a distinctive partition amongst the US population. Even though white males enhanced their status amongst North American society, women were still portrayed as inferior to men. The womans rights movement began, and formed outspoken dispute by feminists. In 1923, the ERA was first proposed to be included in the United States Constitution, it declared: Equality of rights should not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex. Women therefore stipulated equal representation in society. Nevertheless, they did not realize the degree of conflict, which would arise. Men believed that women were inferior oppose to themselves. They to a great extent strained that, the womans role was to merely accept the roles which American men assigned according to their...

Book review (Margaret Lock's East Asian Medicine in Urban Japan) Essay

Book review (Margaret Lock's East Asian Medicine in Urban Japan) - Essay Example ionism in the pluralistic medical systems in Japan and inspire the readers to borrow the holistic approach from the East Asian medicine and reevaluate the cultural biases of biomedicine. Although I highly appreciate Lock’s work, I will review this ethnography with a critical eye. There are two underlying assumptions concerning the study. Firstly, the book attempted to map a larger picture of the East Asian medicine in Japan from the eighth century to the late twentieth century, in which East Asian medicine was seen as Chinese medicine in Japan. The Japanese term Kanpo, literally, â€Å"Chinese method,† was thought to be a medical system learned from China, maintaining its Chinese flavor over 1300 years in Japan. Secondly, Lock assumed that the actual interviews that include only 50 Kyoto families, 2 schools, 8 herbal pharmacies, and dozens of patients and practitioners can represent the Japanese people’s thoughts concerning the practices of a pluralistic medicine in the 1970s in an urban setting in Japan. The samples are not considered large enough to draw up generalizations and to make assumption regarding a whole urban population. The ancient capital of Kyoto is also assumed to be representative as a model of a modern city in Japan. Based on these assumptions, Lock analyzed the East Asian medicine from three perspectives. Firstly, she uses a historical approach to analyze the classic Chinese medical works as the theories of East Asian medicine in a pre-industrialized Japan. The Japanese cultural ethos is analyzed as a less important force compared to the Chinese philosophies and Buddhist thoughts. Secondly, she uses a cultural anthropological approach to analyze her limited interviews and case studies in Kyoto to represente an issue of the adopting the East Asian medicine. Except for Tokyo and Osaka, other major Japanese cities other than Kyoto are barely mentioned. Thirdly, she used a critical anthropological approach to analyze the East Asian

Health risk and benfits of energy drinks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Health risk and benfits of energy drinks - Essay Example As such, it could be suggested that consumption of energy drinks has increased. The statistics are threatening given the fact that energy drinks have numerous risks that outweigh the benefits of the products as the discussion below portrays. Energy drinks have a number of advantages that manufacturers and marketers continue to sell in order to grow their markets. The main advantage arises from the product’s name and primary purpose. Energy drinks enhance the performance of the body. The drinks have high levels of caffeine and sugar. The sugar exists in the form of fructose and glucose that dissolves rapidly into the blood stream thereby providing a spontaneous boost in the performance of the body. Such impulsive boost in the performance of the body is always desirable especially in cases where the body shows signs of strain that affect the performance. Athletes for example may suffer from acute exhaustion and would require the rejuvenation of their energy levels. An increasing number of young people also continue to use energy drinks given their desire to have full functionality during most hours of the day (Burrows, Pursey & Neve, 2005). The use of energy drinks to revamp the performance of the body requires adequate education in order to possess the basic knowledge on the ingestion of fructose and glucose in the energy drinks. People must consume an adequate quantity of solid foods as well in order to complement the caffeine and sugar in the energy drinks. This way, the body benefits from numerous other nutrients from the solid foods that make it easy for the body sustain the demands of the energy drinks. Most people use energy drinks without eating adequate quantities of other solid foods, such imbalances have varied effects since the body lacks the mass and protein to enhance the increased performance of the body (Reissig, Strain & Griffiths, 2009). Among the