Critical Analysis On De Tocquevilles Democracy In America Essays

Critical Analysis on De Tocqueville's Democracy in America subject = HIS 131 U.S. History I title = Critical Analysis on De Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" Alexis De Tocqueville's Democracy in America delves deep into how the American States and the federal government would grow politically and socially under the umbrella of democracy. He sees the United States as a unique entity because of how and why it started as well as its geographical location. De Tocqueville explains that the foundations of the democratic process in America are completely different from anywhere else on the globe. The land was virginal and the colonies had almost complete sovereignty from England from the very beginning because they were separated by an ocean and financial troubles. The people who came to America were the oppressed and unhappy in England and all were trying to find a place where they could start anew and create a political structure that would facilitate an individual freedom unlike anything that they had previously experienced in Europe. De Tocqueville believed that the nature of democracy in the New World rested within the fact that all of the emigrants were basically from the same social strata, resulting in the first new country where there was no preliminary basis for an aristocracy. "Land is the basis of an aristocracy?and? [in America] when the ground was prepared, its produce was found to be insufficient to enrich a proprietor and a farmer at the same t ime(41)." He saw that even the soil of America was opposed to the structure of an aristocracy. There were also outside influences lending unvoiced support for the creation of this new democracy. Being an ocean apart from its mother country, who at this time did not have the financial reserves to oversee its colonies, let the Americans govern themselves. If they had not had this sovereignty at the beginning America might have become something completely different than it is today, but that was not the case, so these emigrants now had a fertile place to plant their ideas of a country founded upon the many ideas of the Enlightenment. Another large influence was the lack of neighbors. America had no worries of guarding and protecting its borders because there was not anyone there who could pose a threat. They could put all of their energies toward the creation of their democracy. This democratic nation was to have no aristocracy and only one major division between its people: the North and the South. De Tocqueville saw two very different attitudes in these regions. The North and the South had conflicting views as to how they were going to advance themselves in the economic and political arenas. But the introduction of slavery into labor was the major conflict between the two. "Slavery?dishonors labor; it introduces idleness into a society, and with idleness, ignorance and pride, luxury and distress?The influence of slavery, united to the English character, explains the manners and the social condition of the Southern States(42)." With the advent of slavery, the South was creating a class system amongst themselves that would not exist in the other regions of the States. The few Southern founders were granted huge amounts of land with which to work, and instead of diving into the land themselves like the northerners did with their smaller pieces of land. They instead bought slaves and would eventually divide the country in a nasty dispute over their handling of affairs. He realized that the majority of the influences over public policy were the men in the North. They created the first public school system that was to be readily accessible to the majority of the people. The enlightened idea that every man should have access to knowledge was given exercise in this new nation, creating a highly learned society, but one that is not very intellectual. Schools teach specialized skills so that American can enter the work force as soon as possible, but gloss over any areas that have no value in work. Whereas in England, the few who do go on towards a higher education are actually being challenged and forced to expand their minds, higher education in America is available to many, but it is more specialized and very basic. This unlimited quantity, limited quality relationship is seem by de Tocqueville as an inherent part of a democratic society. This is because, "?there is no class?in which the taste for intellectual pleasures is transmitted with hereditary fortune and leisure and [wherein] ?intellect [is] held in honor(53)." Democracy is a facilitator of a blended society. The masses will be

Free Essays on Dextromethorphan(dxm) Cough Syrup Or Addictive Drug

Image this your teenager goes out for the night. He asks, â€Å"Could I have some money to eat later.† Of course you give him the money because he is leaving before supper. So you had him five dollars, thinking he will use the money to eat, but in fact he uses that five dollars and goes to the local Walgreens and buys a bottle of Robotussin DM. He then proceeds to drink a full 4 oz. bottle of cough syrup. Your probably thinking why would someone do that. Well because a lot of cough syrups have a drug called dextromethorphan, which can cause an experience that is compared to acid or PCP. Acid and PCP are illegal, but dextromethorphan is not and is easily accessible for a cheap price. Dextromethorphan should be illegal as well for obvious reasons. Dextromethorphan is more commonly known as DM or DXM. It acts as the main ingredient to suppress a cough. Dextromethorphan was brought into cough syrups in the 1960s to replace codeine. DXM is an opioid, which means it is part of a family of psychoactive drugs that have the effects of opium, but do not contain or are made up of opium. Although dextromethorphan is safe at recommended dosages, it is abused for recreational use to get a feeling of a â€Å"trip†(Erowid). Dextromethorphan is still legal for two main reasons. The main one being there is no substitute for DXM at the time. The reasons behind this are unknown because dextromethorphan has little medical research or studies on the drug. Codeine was made a prescription drug because of its addiction and abuse, but little is being done to do the same for dextromethorphan. The second reason is pharmaceutical companies do not want to lose a major part of their income because dextromethorphan works well. In recent years many companies denied the fact that dextromethorphan causes a psychedelic effect when abused. Although there have been some cough medicines that are no longer available in the United States. The main one is Drixoral Cough ... Free Essays on Dextromethorphan(dxm) Cough Syrup Or Addictive Drug Free Essays on Dextromethorphan(dxm) Cough Syrup Or Addictive Drug Image this your teenager goes out for the night. He asks, â€Å"Could I have some money to eat later.† Of course you give him the money because he is leaving before supper. So you had him five dollars, thinking he will use the money to eat, but in fact he uses that five dollars and goes to the local Walgreens and buys a bottle of Robotussin DM. He then proceeds to drink a full 4 oz. bottle of cough syrup. Your probably thinking why would someone do that. Well because a lot of cough syrups have a drug called dextromethorphan, which can cause an experience that is compared to acid or PCP. Acid and PCP are illegal, but dextromethorphan is not and is easily accessible for a cheap price. Dextromethorphan should be illegal as well for obvious reasons. Dextromethorphan is more commonly known as DM or DXM. It acts as the main ingredient to suppress a cough. Dextromethorphan was brought into cough syrups in the 1960s to replace codeine. DXM is an opioid, which means it is part of a family of psychoactive drugs that have the effects of opium, but do not contain or are made up of opium. Although dextromethorphan is safe at recommended dosages, it is abused for recreational use to get a feeling of a â€Å"trip†(Erowid). Dextromethorphan is still legal for two main reasons. The main one being there is no substitute for DXM at the time. The reasons behind this are unknown because dextromethorphan has little medical research or studies on the drug. Codeine was made a prescription drug because of its addiction and abuse, but little is being done to do the same for dextromethorphan. The second reason is pharmaceutical companies do not want to lose a major part of their income because dextromethorphan works well. In recent years many companies denied the fact that dextromethorphan causes a psychedelic effect when abused. Although there have been some cough medicines that are no longer available in the United States. The main one is Drixoral Cough ...

Chinese Economy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Chinese Economy - Research Paper Example of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations (Import/Export License System, 2008). International organizations have displayed keen interest in investing in China, notwithstanding its restrictive policies. China has displayed good business sense in spite of its negative political rhetoric. 400 of the top fortune 500 companies have invested in China. Cheap labor and improved working conditions appear to spur economic radiance. However, it is good to keep fingers crossed. Economic gains have yielded little political reforms. In case flight of foreign capital starts taking place there will be problems of unemployment and uncertainties in finance (Overall Evaluation of WTO Entry's Influence on China). While on the subject, it is also pertinent to remember China's growth is spurred by exports. Its domestic market may find it very difficult to survive should exports come down significantly or vanish altogether. For the moment, China faces little competition in the manufacturing sector, thanks to its political ideologies. China's imports and exports "China's major exports consist of machinery and transport equipments constituting to nearly half of the total exports. Another major portion of the exports comprise of textile, rubber and metallurgical products constituting to 18%. Chemical products, food, mineral and fuel materials made of up 10% of the total exports. There is an exponential increase in the machinery and transport equipments segment of the exports from a mere 5% to 47% in 2007" (China exports by category of commodities, 2010). "For year 2007, machinery and transport equipments made up the majority of the imports, accounted for USD 412 billion or 43% of total import volume. Next major imported products were chemical products which took 11.3%; mineral and raw material accounted for 11.0%; and textile, rubber and metallurgical products were 10.8%" (China imports by category of commodities, 2010). China's reputation as the number one manufacturer of world products today has enabled it capture myriad markets from all over the world, notably the United States (US) and the European Union (EU). Corporations in the US and the EU who found their fortunes dwindling in their own countries rose like the proverbial phoenix by establishing their enterprises in China. China's Economic System China's new-found euphoria as a major contributor may also prove to be a setback in certain quarters. As socialist economy, China observes the "rule-of-the-thumb" and cannot digest the principles of

Problems and Opportunities created by having too much data, and what Research Paper

Problems and Opportunities created by having too much data, and what to do about them - Research Paper Example Nowadays the business corporations are more and more concerned with the business data collection and analysis. In this scenario, the businesses are paying attention on effective data management and corporate analysis for better resource management and decision support. Additionally, the business corporations gather huge amount of data and process it in order to get business advantages. Sometimes this huge amount of data collection can cause various business and operational management issues. However, this huge amount of business data is a vital corporate resource that offers the business power regarding business management and future resource administration. In this scenario, some organizations gather data for the business and customer relationship management. Most of the business corporations are aligned toward the collection of customer data. Additionally, the one of the major reasons could be the evolution of online business marketing. This customer contacts and personal information can be used for business marketing. In addition, online business marketing is a less costly way of business marketing and overall promotions. This overall situation leads to better business and corporate management. In this scenario, there is need for customer permission in order to use customer data for business marketing process (LOHR, 2009).... In this scenario the huge business data collections are used through some OLAP, data mining and data warehousing based tools. These all tools and capabilities lead to better business data management and issues handling. In this way, the business management is able to well predict the business needs and requirements for the enhanced business decision management and future issues support. These all aspects are well matched for the business issues and problem management. In addition, these decision support tools are used to aggregate the business data to buildup and more summarized and concise business reports for the better business decision support and issues management (Laudon & Laudon, 1999). However, one of the major issues in this huge collection of data could be regarding data storage and management. Nowadays, the data storage is affordable, so the cost of data storage is not a big issue but this issue becomes critical when we need to backup terabytes of data. In retailing busine sses life WalMart that produce millions of rows of data each day, there is much harder for the business to store such data. In this situation the huge business data collection can be a big issue for the business (Trembly, 2010) and (Sperling, 2009). Another main issue with too much data collection is the data security. In fact, the huge amount of data can lead to more data leakages that can create some huge business damage and issue. In this situation there is need for a way through which an organization can better manage the business issues and aspects. In addition, they need to implement tight security mechanism that could ensure better business data management and issues handling (Laudon & Laudon, 1999). In case of too much data one more main issue is the business data

The importance of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise in the UK Essay

The importance of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise in the UK - Essay Example That is, this paper will analyze how these traits are visible, and how it had aided them to achieve success and reach top positions in their country. Entrepreneur is the owner who can create honor for the enterprise. That is, entrepreneur, as a ‘founder’ cum ‘builder’ can launch a new Enterprise from scratch by building a team. He/she can build his/her team by associating individuals who came from the same ‘stable’ like friends, work mates, family members etc and by recruiting new individuals with the right talent, knowledge and attitude. With this ‘living’ group, and the material things like capital, machines, infrastructure etc the entrepreneur cum leader embark on an organization. So, an entrepreneur is someone, who with inbuilt and also acquired leadership traits set ups a new startup to offer a new or existing product or service. The above graph shows that in United Kingdom young people are more likely to believe that entrepreneurship represents a good career choice and that it brings status. Also, it shows that younger people are less likely to believe that there is enough media coverage of new businesses. The successful entrepreneur has a range of personal skills, attributes and behaviours that go beyond the purely commercial. It is these attributes, this way of thinking and behaving that needs to be developed in our students if their entrepreneurial capabilities are to be enhanced. (Pg.360). The thing, that will be common to all these entrepreneurs, even though they live and function in different corners, is the good amount of leadership traits. Speaking about good leadership traits, the trait of having a good vision is one of the foremost ones. Actually, the vision that arises in the mind of the entrepreneur only initiates the process of entrepreneurship. And that mental picture or vision will

The Role Of Stereotyping In Fairytales English Literature Essay

The Role Of Stereotyping In Fairytales English Literature Essay Fairy tales have a great history in Europe and they were transmitted from the one generation to the other by oral speech, until the Grimm brothers decided to commit many of them, around 1815. The fairy tales stories are very important for childrens psychology, as psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim says, because they communicate with the unconscious of the child, through their secret messages, like the battle between the good and the evil, where the good always wins. So, the children feel more hopeful and ready to pass through the difficulties that emerge in their lives (Salkind, 2004). Fairytales contain material that influences a lot the feelings and the cognition of children. Contemporary research has shown they are not coming into the world as black slates, but they bring reflexes, predispositions and capacities, with their birth. Although schemas, the cognitive structures, that represent organized knowledge about a given concept or stimulus, that influence perception, memory and inference, (Hewstone, Stroebe Stephenson, 1997, p.617), are transmitted to them through the contact with their guardians and the society (Hewstone et al., 1997). Another effect of fairytales is the elongation of some schemas, specially those that concern gender. There are three types of schemas, according to Baron and Burne (2009); those that have to do with persons, with roles and with events. The role schemas, that are correlated with specific social roles, concern the way that people act and are like. Gender identity is one of the major role schemas that people cope with (Baron, Branscombe Burne, 2009). Gender roles affect the behavior of men and women throughout their life, social and personal. Some characteristics of the male stereotype is that the man is able to be a leader, aggressive, forceful, competitive, independent, individualistic and defending his own beliefs. On the other hand, woman is affectionate, compassionate, shy, soft-spoken, tender, she loves children and she is sensitive to the needs of others. Men are also considered as the owners of their family and like the head of the wife. Stereotypes like that have still their place in many religions, but are also tought to the children through the fairy tales. Women are still presented as followers of the active male figures or helpless with the need to be rescued. Children attain the meaning of gender identity, the fact that they are boys or girls, by the age of two and between the ages of four and seven, they realize that the gender is a basic attribute of the person. As they grow up they come in contact with the stereotypes that concern what it means to be male or female, and they are enforced by their environment to show these traits Children also, learn gender stereotypes very early in their life. By the age of two they know to accord stereotyped behaviors and traits with each gender and at the ages between three and six, they seem more strongly sex stereotyped than adults. Furthermore they are convinced that these stereotypes are true. In particular, in the research of Urberg (1982, cited in Golombok Fivush, 1994), it was found that children espouse unconditionally the gender stereotypes at the age of five, but at the age of seven they become more conciliatory. Another finding of the same research was that children tend to stereotype oth er children more than stereotype adults. In another study of Haugh, Hoffman Cowan (1980, cited in Golombok Fivush, 1994), it was shown on a screen to two groups of children of three and five year old, a shortcut with two twelve month infants playing. The children of the first group were told that the infant on the left was male, and on the right female, and to the other group the opposite. Both groups described the babies labeled as males, with characteristics like big, mad, fast, strong, loud, smart, and hard, while the female labeled as small, scared, slow, weak, quiet, dumb, and soft. As for the predictions that children can make about the preferences of the two sexes, in the study of Martin (1989, cited in Golombok Fivush, 1994), it was found that children of all ages tented to predict the characters interest about some toys, based on his or her gender. But only the younger children relied absolutely on this trait. It seems that younger children are more categorical with gend er stereotypes, and the gender of an individual is determinant for his or her characteristics and habits (Baron, Branscombe Burne, 2009, Golombok Fivush, 1994). The research about the gender roles in fairytales, has shown that even though women represent more than the half percent of the population, they are represented much less in childrens literature. Research during 60s decade found that women were underrepresented in a big amount in the book titles, central roles and the illustrations of popular childrens stories. After the political changes of the decades of 70s and 80s, it was found that women are better represented in childrens literature, but the male characters were represented double times. When a woman had a leading role was described as the males that had the same character. But when she had a secondary role, she was described with the traditional characteristics, as passive and depended (Golombok Fivush, 1994, Godden Godden, 2001). Furthermore, it was found by a research of DeLoache et al., cited in Golombok Fivush, 1994, that children get in contact with the gender stereotypes not only through the characters of their stories, but also by the way that their parents present the gender roles, while they are reading them a book. In particular, mothers that were reading a book to their children were presenting the 90% of the characters with unknown roles as males. Also, when they were asked to read a picture book with bears of indetermined gender, the 62% of them represented the bears to their children as male and a small percentage, about the 16% as female. It was also observed that the bears that were labeled as females, where those that were not been presented to interact with other bears (Golombok Fivush, 1994). According to the Banduras Social learning theory, cited in Cole Cole, 2002, gender is formed by social factors. He supported that the childs behavior is formed by that one of the others and specific by parents behavior, through the learning processes of reinforcement and observation or imitation of a model. Other factors responsible for socialization can be the teachers, the peers and generally the people that get in contact with the child, without underestimating the role of media, like tvs and children readings (Cole Cole, 2002). It has been observed that parents provide to their children except of patterns of imitation, rewards, when the behaviors of the last are compatible with their gender and they punish them for the behaviors that are not accord with it. In the studies of Beverly Fagot, cited in Cole Cole, 2002, in families, it was found that the parents were praising their daughters when they were trying clothes, dancing, playing with their dolls, or when were following them and they were punishing them when they were exploring things, running and climbing around. Contrary they were praising their sons when they were playing with cubes and they were punishing them, when they were playing with dolls, giving or asking for help. These findings are also supported by other studies, like those of Langois Downs, cited in Cole Cole, 2002. Except of the rewards, it has been observed by studies that the fathers in contrast with the mothers, treat their sons much more different than their daughters. More specifically they were considering boys as more strong and taugh and they were enforcing them to do similar activities, while they were rating them more strict than their mothers when they were playing with dolls. Also, when the boys were between the age of two and twelve, they were becoming stricter, more equable, less affectionate and more directional than with their daughters. Furthermore, it seems that the pressure to the boys to conform to their gender role, is bigger than this one that touch girls. As a result the gender role of boys is more cohesive than for the girls, something that continues to exist in mens and womens roles, when the male characteristics and roles are acceptable for women, while the opposite is not acceptable. Another stereotypic role for women in fairytales is that they have to stay in silence. Its inappropriate for them to express their thoughts and claim for their rights. This could be like an insult to their husband and only evil women, like witches, are taught with these behaviors. The only way for the women in fairytales to speak is only after asking a mans permission. Its also common for the man in fairytales to hit his wife when she dares to interrupt him. Women can only express themselves by crying and show helpless (Afanasev, 1973, Bottigheimer, 1986). In Snow White, Brothers Grimm classic fairy tale, the female gender is represented in a negative way. Snow White is displayed as being frightened, naive and helpless, and the evil Queen, her stepmother, the only other prominent female character is a narcissist. Thus, after reading or hearing this fairy tale, society begins to mold into these stereotypes. This quote demonstrates what society considers to be womens role. These traits are presented when the huntsman spares Snow Whites life and when the Dwarfs expect Snow White to do house work in order to live safely with them. Although the queen ironically is very powerful in this fairy tale, she also falls into the stereotype for females. She only uses her power for negatives, rather than positives, scheming vindictive plots on Snow White throughout the whole story. In which, naive Snow White falls victim, not once but three times. The evil queen sends the huntsmen to kill Snow White. This setting introduces the readers to Snow White as a scared helpless girl, a typical expected role of a female (Zipes, 2000). Although there are exceptions, the rule is that a woman has to lose her voice and her identity in order to provide a place in the society for herself. There are specific gender roles in the classic fairy tales that state that the men have the voice and the women are to be collateral. In the classic fairy tale, The Little Mermaid, the character of the seventh daughter is being taught what it is to be a woman. When she complains about grooming for her first trip above water, her grandmother remind her that someone cant have beauty without paying a cost. A woman must be beautiful and must suffer for the cost in silence. Silence is repeated throughout the tale as being a virtue. The mermaid suffers the pain and blood of her feet and the cutting out of her tongue as to be with her love, even though the man does not want her in return. The Disney version of this tale also shows Ariel learning about the importance of outward beauty and suppression. Ursula convinces Ariel that she doesnt need her voice in the human world. She has her beauty, her lovely face and she can use her body language. A woman can live in the mans world, only if she will lose her opinion. At first, Disneys Ariel seems not to follow the typical stereotype role for a woman. She is active, curious and rebellious sometimes. However, when she falls in love, her independent character, transforms into a dependent woman that only wants to become the wife of her beloved man. Moreover she decides to sacrifice her voice, as to become a human, and leave her underwater kingdom to live next to her man (Bell, Haas, Sells, 1995). Another example of the importance of women silence, is in the story of The Merchants Daughter and the Slanderer where the king decides to marry her only when it is mentioned to him that she is quiet and vestal. The value of silence is correlated with those of speech and power. Generally in fairy tales the speech comes from people that have authority, which most of the times are not the women. The women that appear to speak are evil, like witches, and only when they give a curse to their enemies, as it was mentioned before (Afanasev, 1973, Bottigheimer, 1986). Another stereotype in fairy tales, is that the mans role is to work and provide food to his family by this work. Besides that, in many fairy tales, the opposite fact happens. In Constantino Fortunato of Straparola, it is a woman, the mother Soriana, who provides the food to her three adult sons, who end helpless when she is dead. Their only way to survive is to use the items she left them and because they do not have any qualifications for work they become dependent on other people. Because of the fact that they have never worked, they do not appreciate the people who help them and they forget each one when a new person who can help them appears. And thats what Constantino does when is been ensured to him the marriage with the princess. In this fairytale the sons are completely dependent on their mother who has the main character in that. She is described as a very poor woman who had three sons, a description that appears in many points of the story. The important to notice is that never this family is been demonstrated as a poor family, but there is only a really poor mother and her sons. The sons are not considered as independed members of this family and they are not responsible for their poverty, even though they are old enough to have a job. They stay sideliners even when their mother is dead. Their only way to survive is to wait for their neighbors to ask them to borrow some of the items their mother left and give them something in return. When Constantinos brothers get a sweet like a gift from their neighbors they eat it by themselves and they dont keep anything for him but only advice him to ask the cat for help. That is what happens and the cat begins to provide everything to the young man, even his marriag e with the princess. When he becomes a prince he has to face many responsibilities but even in that time he denies to do it and continues to count on womens of the palace help (Zipes, 2000). Another common characteristic for the women in fairy tales is their passivity. Most of them when they find themselves in trouble, are waiting for a male to rescue them and dont take the situation in their own hands. In the story of The Footless Champion and the Handless Champion the sister of the family has to endure every day the minatory visits of a dragon, without doing anything to protect herself like to escape, but only waiting for her brothers to come back from a hunter travel, to save her (Afanasev, 1973). Another message that fairy tales give to women is that disobedience to men and possible will for power will be strict punished. The womans role is to serve the husband and do the housekeeping. In the Mayoress fairy tale, the woman explains to her husband her intention to become mayoress and he decides to punish her with some elder men. Because of her inability as a mayoress she spends the public money and then its impossible to collect the taxes in time. Even though she makes efforts to control the situation, the Cossack decides to punish her by beating her. The meaning of this story is that this woman should never desire a position of power and disobey her husband. Generally this story teaches women to stay allegiant to the authority of their husband and also men that women are incapable for positions that have to do with the public affairs and power. Beauty is another value that is overestimated in fairy tales. Usually we meet in their pages, young and beautiful girls to be chosen by men with power, but ugly and much older, like what happened in Beauty and the Beast and the ugly girls to be rejected not only from men but also from society. It is also common that the beauty is correlated with traits, like honesty, purity, virginity, delicacy and modesty. Beauty is also a virtue that has to be well protected from the world outside and be well guarded like a treasure. In the story of Dawn, Evening and Midnight the king watches his daughters during all day not allowing to anyone else to see their beauty. He doesnt even leave the sun or the wind to touch them. It is obvious that he adores his daughters only because they are extremely beautiful. It is not only the beauty that determine a wedding but also the ability of woman for reproduction. More specifically, it is the ability of the woman to make male children. It is considered as an ability of the woman to control the sex of her child, something that does not correspond to the contemporary knowledge and when she fails to make a boy, she is usually considered as cursed or worthless and she is driven away from her husband. This is obvious in the Singing Tree and the Talking Bird, when the king chooses his future wife only after she promises him to make three children, two males and one female. No other traits are more decisive than this, like the worth of a woman is considered first of all, with her ability of reproduction (Afanasev, 1973). It seems that even nowadays fairytales attribute to women the stereotyping traits of their gender, like passivity and silence, and to men those of power and courage, as it was shown through the fairytales of Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Ariel and The Footless Champion and the Handless Champion. Although there are traditional fairytales like Constantino Fortunato, that shows the woman in a position of power, this one of the head of the family and modern, that describe their heroine with some male characteristics, like Ariel of the Little Mermaid, who is independed and curious, before falls in love with a man, it seems that social sciences have to make a lot of efforts to modify the gender stereotypes in children literature (Zipes, 2000, Afanas ev, 1973).

Sir Gawain Speaks :: Essays Papers

Sir Gawain Speaks This monologue represents an exercise in creative writing. It was created to convey something that Sir Gawain might say: Sir Gawain I am, and I am very pleased to meet you. I've just returned from the Green Chapel where I suffered the most humiliating experience at the hands of the Green Knight. I did my best to uphold the code of chivalry by being courteous, truthful and loyal. Somehow I let my guard down and failed. And yet, the Green Knight and my companions of the Round Table laughed at my situation. For some reason they do not see that I've failed; instead they seem to think that I've just been human. But I still feel that is no excuse... You see, the Green Knight showed up at Uncle Arthur's New Year's celebration and offered a challenge. Uncle Arthur was going to take it. But I, being the weakest, thought the loss of my life would be less great. I took the challenge to uphold the honor of the Round Table. I struck the Green Knight and off his head rolled. But he just picked up his head and rode out of the hall. I guess it was then I knew I was in trouble. A year passed quickly, and it was time I set out to meet the Knight to receive the return blow. On Christmas Eve I found myself a welcomed guest at the castle of Sir Bercilak. The whole time I was there I was unable to put my impending death at The Green Chapel out of my mind. Bercilak and I had a deal that whatever we won each day, we would turn over to the other. He hunted furiously while I rested at the castle. Each night he offered me the fruits of the hunt while I offered him no more than the kisses I received from his wife, which leads me to my next point. Bercilak's wife was so insistent! I was constantly conscious of her feelings, and I tried to rebuff her with the utmost courtesy. After all, I did not want to be rude.