The Impact Of Assessment On Care Planning And The...

The purpose of this reflection is to look at the impact of assessment on care planning and the subsequent healthcare delivery based on its outcomes. The reflective model I am going to apply to this reflection is Gibbs model (Gibbs 1988). The author of this assignment is currently a second year Trainee assistant practitioner (TAP) working in an Inpatient Assessment and Treatment (AT) unit for adults with a learning disability and/or co-morbidity. In accordance with the skills for Health (2013) Code of professional conduct, confidentiality shall be maintained and the names and places will remain confidential and pseudonyms (*) will be used, for the purpose of this reflection the patient will be referred to simply as†Lizzie†. Description My current place of work is an inpatient Assessment and Treatment (AT) unit for adults with a learning disability and/or co-morbidity. I work within a large inter-professional team who all provide input into the patients care and treatment, the unit provides care for both male and female patients with a variety of complex and specialist needs, most of the patients being detained under the Mental Health Act (1983). I will be discussing the principles supporting the process of assessment in practice in a female patient with a diagnosis of Autism and a moderate learning disability looking at referral, capacity and diagnostic assessments. Feelings Prior to The Department of Health report â€Å"Transforming care† (DH,2014) I had not thought thatShow MoreRelatedExamples Of Current Issues In Healthcare904 Words   |  4 PagesFinal Paper: Current Issues Healthcare costs in the United States are soaring. To stop this cost inflation, healthcare organizations are being pushed to decrease those costs. Simultaneously, healthcare organizations are being pushed to increase quality. 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Numerous organizations use diagnosis codes for a variety of reasons. Transitioning to ICD-10 requires changes to almost all clinical and administrative processes and systems. These changes are required of all HIPAA covered entities. The workplace may be any type of healthcare organization, such as: Hospitals Physician practices Clinics Health insurance organizations ProfessionalRead MoreIs Hospital Admissions For Adults With A Learning Disability?1667 Words   |  7 PagesDepartment of Health report â€Å"Transforming care† (DH,2014) I had not thought that hospital admissions could be perceived as restrictive practice and was not aware of the potential legislation put in place to safeguard vulnerable adults and the health inequalities faced by adults with a learning disability (Emerson, Baines, 2010). I have been more involved in decision making by following the Transforming care program which focuses on providing the best care for adults with a learning disability or co-morbidityRead MoreImportance Of Nursing Theories1453 Words   |  6 PagesNursing theory is a â€Å"set of concepts, definitions, relationships, and assumptions or propositions derived from nursing models† (Current Nursing, 2012). Nursing theories are set as a model for shaping the practice of healthcare and providing the best possible outcome for the patient. On e of the nursing theories this paper will explore is the Need Theory by Virginia Henderson. The Need Theory promotes increased independence to promote continued healing after hospitalization. Importance of Theory ConceptualRead MoreInformation Technology Systems, Their Performance And Risk Management2074 Words   |  9 Pagesorganizations make business decisions accurately and timely. 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Other important education topics should be covered with individuals with diabetes type two are psychological concerns, behavior change strategiesRead MoreEvaluation Of Rural Epidemiological Event Response Essay2163 Words   |  9 Pagesas the study presented by Shabila and fellows, though the initial step of prioritization has been taken by implementing the programs in the primary healthcare centers, the focus group feedbacks have been presented from the provider perspective and subsequent challenges (Shabila et al., 2012). On the other hand, the sustainability of the healthcare systems requires the population epidemiology for the initial implementation of programs, and later the long term prevention and control. As also explainedRead MoreSubstance Use Screening And Assessment Measures And Their Impact On Treatment2058 Words   |  9 PagesSubstance Use Screening and Assessment Measures and Their Impact on Treatment Tiffany L. 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Telemedicine

Ethics In Digital Photojournalism Essay - 1152 Words

The instant we pick up a camera, the image has already been edited and the credibility of the photojournalist is already on the line. The ability and practice of people to be able to edit what goes into the composition of a photograph begins when they pick up a camera and even possibly when they decide to take a photograph of something. The work of a photojournalist is to relay images to the public via news sources in a way that gives people as much information about a topic as possible in the most neutral way possible. While no human being can be entirely objective about a given scenario it is the prerogative of the photojournalist to provide images that evoke the heart of a story without being manipulative to the viewer. This means that†¦show more content†¦This practice and art of inclusion versus exclusion is that first piece of editing and is where the credibility of the photojournalist begins to be built because they’re making an ethical choice about what they t hink needs to make it to the public eye and also in what form that should come. Choosing something distasteful or radically inaccurate to present as truth is unsteady ground for many and that is only increased in a profession where your career is on the line and you are constantly asked to back up what you’re presenting in the form of journalism or other forms of mass media and information dispersal. The second piece that comes in is the choice about what elements to bring up in a photograph. Some angles emphasize things in the foreground, or make a building seem more grandiose or larger than it really is based on optical perspectives created through the camera’s lens. For instance, a photograph of a dog shot straight on, looking into its eyes and close up might suggest a closeness of the animal and even a friendship like that between the dog and its owner. However, by standing up and tilting the lens down on the dog makes it seem smaller, less powerful and even important. The inclusion of that dogs ball next to it makes it seem playful, but without it could seem adoring or expecting, even demanding. If theseShow MoreRelatedAn Analysis of Quinns Accepting Manipulation or Manipulating Whats Acceptable?1578 Words   |  6 PagesPliable is Morality? Quinn expresses a fundamental concern with the validity and objectivity of journalism with the coming of the digital age, and the increasing role that digital/information technology plays in media that reports or represents reality. Quinn begins his 2004 paper with the mention of the transition of non-digital/traditional photography into mainly digital photography with respect to journalism. More than just the changing of the photographic platform and format, Quinn notes the roleRead MoreEthics Photojournalism2661 Words   |  11 PagesPhotojournalism and digital imaging ethics Photojournalism, present day finds itself standing at the proverbial crossroads. Will digital imaging technologies and public cynicism lead to its downfall or will journalists rise to the challenge by practicing a new more credible form of visual /photo journalism. Ethical blunders by such journalistic icons as National Geographic and TIME have all contributed to visual journalism losing credibility with the public. It was only a hundred years ago thatRead MoreEssay on Changing Photojournalism Education in American Universities1044 Words   |  5 PagesChanging Photojournalism Education in American Universities Kenneth Kenney stated the obvious in 1987- â€Å"The lack of trained teachers and educators and standard teaching materials is the most pressing problem in photojournalism education† (Kenney 1987). The same rings true today- professors in the fields of journalism and photojournalism are practicing the same things they were taught in college- many have been out of the workforce for years, if they were working journalists or photojournalists atRead MoreThe Moral Ethical Guidelines Of A Shot Manipulation And The Dependence On A Machine1092 Words   |  5 PagesAaron Quinn, in his article, called Accepting Manipulation or Manipulating what is Acceptable? He indicates the declining of public trust in photojournalism due to the obscurity of journalists’ integrity to provide accurate news to the public. He also indicates the existence of two moral dilemmas in photojournalism profession: post- shoot manipulation and the dependence on a machine to make a decision rather than a human being, as well as the ethical problems that come with the two moral dilemmasRead MoreMotivations Behind Altered Images : Feigned Realities1319 Words   |  6 Pagesclick of a mouse. We’ve all seen her, and we’ve all come to the realization of the impossibility of her existence. The Photoshopped woman is not real. So why do we insist on giving her power?† In The New York Times’ Debating the Rules Ethics of Digital †¨Photojournalism Melissa Lyttle writes, â€Å"It’s a dangerous and slippery slope to travel down when altered work is lauded, and other photojournalists see that as the ideal.† Meaning that altered images are creating a sense of a false reality, and thoseRead MoreWhat Helped Move Photojournalism Throughout The Twentieth Century?3311 Words   |  14 PagesCanon Essay In this essay I will be talking about what helped move photojournalism along in the twentieth century. I will then go on to explain what a photo-essay is and what strategies were used when it came to photojournalism. Lastly, I will mention about the Picture Post magazine. 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I have been able to fine-tune my photography skills by working for The Knox Student as a staff photographer, and taking a class titled â€Å"Digital Photojournalism† under Prof. Michael Godsil. What connections can you see between different parts of your experience? between your interests before Knox and your interests at Knox: Since I have been to an international school, I have always been interestedRead MorePaparazzi Go Too Far2499 Words   |  10 Pageshome that had several hundred meters of land between the home and a public road. The pictures were taken with a specialized zooming camera. According to NPR, The French magazine Closer that had the possession of the photographs must hand over all digital files of photos containing snapshots of a topless Kate Middleton and refrain from republishing any of them or face fines of $13,000 a day (5). Even the royal family have fallen to victims of the paparazzi. These examples are what endangers theRead MoreNews Writing Style Ethics And Journalism1283 Words   |  6 PagesWriting style Ethics Objectivity News values Attribution Defamation Editorial independence Journalism school Index of journalism articles Areas Arts Business Data Entertainment Environment Fashion Medicine Politics Science Sports Technology Trade Traffic Weather World Genres Advocacy Analytic Blogging Broadcast Citizen Civic Collaborative Comics-based Community Database Gonzo Immersion Investigative Literary Muckraking Narrative New Journalism Non-profit Online Opinion Peace Photojournalism Scientific

Lebron James Informative essay free essay sample

LeBron James is arguably the greatest player to ever touch a basketball, and everything you want and need to know about him is in the book â€Å"LeBron James: A Biography†. Lew H. Freedman, the author, talks about his whole life, from his childhood to the day he became a pro in the NBA. He also talks about some of the struggles LeBron had during his road to stardom, and all of the historic achievements he earned. This biography focuses on the key events in LeBron’s life during his dizzying rise to fame in high school to his emergence as the first overall pick in the NBA draft at 18 years old. In the biography Freedman uses little ethical appeal (ethos), but has a lot of emotional appeal (pathos) and appeal to logic (logos). He uses pathos when he starts talking about LeBron’s childhood and the struggles he had to endure. We will write a custom essay sample on Lebron James Informative essay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It brings out an emotion that invokes sympathy for him. Most of the book uses appeal to logic; the statistics he uses are reliable and proven to be factual because of the evidence. Small sections of the biography has ethos in it, mostly irrelevant to the book. LeBron Raymone James was born in Akron, Ohio on December 30th in 1984. His mother, Gloria Marie James had LeBron when she was just 16 years old and ended up raising him on her own. His biological father was an ex-prisoner who ran out on the family because he wasn’t interested in having a child. Because of that reason, he uses he mother’s last name instead of his fathers. Despite his mother’s struggles she worked hard to shield LeBron from poverty, violence and the streets. Moving from house to house life was often a struggle for Gloria and LeBron, especially with the difficulty of finding steady work. Because of the lack of attendance shown by James, Frank Walker, LeBron’s youth football coach, and his mother decided he should stay with the walkers for some time. Frank Walker soon introduced him to the game of basketball at the age of nine years old and even taught him how to shoot with his left hand. He played Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball for the Shooting Stars, with his best friends; Sian Cotton, Dru Joyce III, and Willie McGee. They called themselves the â€Å"Fab Four† and together they led there team to local and national success. â€Å"In a move that stirred local controversy, they chose to attend St. Vincent–St. Mary High School, a largely white private school, instead of their local public school†(Covert). When the time came they agreed to attend high school together. Instead of their local public school, they chose to attend St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, a private school that was dominantly white. The choice was highly controversial in their hometown. James started on the St. Vincent-St. Mary varsity team leading in most of the statistics, averaging 21 points and 6 rebounds for the Fighting Irish. By the end of the season they went 27-0, winning the Division III State Title. His sophomore year, James averaged 25 points, 7 rebounds, about 6 assists, and 4 steals per game. During the season, St. Vincent-St. Mary played some of their home games at the University of Akron. The school couldn’t withhold everyone who wanted to watch James play so they moved it to the 5,500 seat capacity Rhode Arena to satisfy the demand for tickets from fans, alumni, and college and NBA scouts. James and his teammates finished the season 26-1 and were now back-to-back state champions. At the end of his sophomore year he was named Ohio’s Mr. Basketball and was also chose to be part of the All-USA First Team, becoming the first sophomore ever to do both. His junior year, he was on SLAM Magazine and was argued to be â€Å"the best high school basketball player in America right now† written by Ryan Jones. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, he became the first ever underclass high school basketball player to do so. James averaged 29 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals per game. He was once again named Ohio’s Mr. Basketball and selected to the USA Today All-USA First Team; he also won the Gatorade National Player of the Year Award. The fighting Irish finished their year going 23-4, and ended the season losing in the Division II Championship Game. It was then when he considered entering into the 2002 NBA Draft, but was turned down due to the eligibility rules which required players to at least graduate from high school. During his senior year he received a lot of attention about several controversies. He also consumed marijuana to help deal with the stress due to all of the media attention he was receiving. For his 18th birthday his mother gave him a Hummer H2, she bought the car using a loan. ESPN state, â€Å"For his 18th birthday, he accepted a Hummer H2 from his mother, who secured a loan for the vehicle utilizing LeBrons future earning power as a professional athlete† (ESPN). The Ohio High School Athletic Association investigated the situation, as their guidelines state that an amateur cannot accept any gift over $100 as a reward for athletic abilities. He also accepted two jerseys worth over $840 in exchange for some pictures with him. This resulted in a loss of his high school eligibility, but he eventually got his penalties dropped to a two game suspension. The Fighting Irish were forced to forfeit one of their wins. In his first game back James scored a career-high 52 points. Playing his final year in high school, James and the team traveled around the country playing nationally ranked teams, they also played against Oak Hill Academy who were nationally televised on ESPN. Because of LeBron’s popularity his games were offered on pay-per-view throughout the season. In his last season he averaged 31 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals per game. James was named Ohio’s Mr. Basketball and All-USA First Team for a third straight time, and Gatorade National Player of the Year back-to-back. He also played football and was named first team all-state, his junior year he helped the Fighting Irish to the state semifinals. His senior year was when he stopped playing football because of the broken wrist he got in an AAU basketball game. Many people including high school coaches and former and current players have debated on if James could have gone pro and played in the NFL. LeBron James was drafted first overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2003 NBA Draft. LeBron had arguably one of the best rookie seasons in the league. In his debut game he scored 25 points, setting a record for most points scored by a player in his debut game. Against the New Jersey Nets he scored a season-high 41 points, making him the youngest player to score at least 40 points in a game at 19 years old. He averaged 21 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds per game making him the rookie of the year. He became the first in the cavalier franchise to obtain the award and was now the third ever to average at least 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists per game in their rookie year. Even though they failed to make playoffs, he helped the Cleveland Cavaliers win 18 more games compared to their last season. In my opinion, I think the book was good. It was an easy read and it gives you a lot of details that you just won’t find anywhere else. Basketball is my favorite sport and LeBron James is one of my favorite players so it was very interesting for me which made it easier to read. If you are a huge sports fan like me then this book is for you. The only thing that it lacked was talking about LeBron’s best friends, and how he associated with them. This book shows why he is an inspiration to so many people and his motivation to why he dominates the game to this day.

Teenagers and Social Networking Essay Example For Students

Teenagers and Social Networking Essay One problem with this can be that they may not always realise who their on-line audience is so trying to work toward appearing a certain way can be difficult. Boyd believed that these teenagers could create lasting ties to develop in to future relationships. She also found that these sites encouraged teenagers to find like minded people to converse with and improved communications skills. (Boyd,2008, Rheingold, 1993, Katz and Aspden) Teenagers are finding their identity in the world, they are the â€Å"myspace generation† (Livingstone, 2008) the internet has allowed them to connect with people from all over the world but do they choose to do that? According to Haythornthwaite ( 2002) â€Å"despite the potential for global networking, most people’s contacts are local, with stronger ties centred on pre-existing study or work contexts†. This appears to be the case with older teenagers , they seem to be on sites like facebook as a form of keeping in contact with the friends they already have rather than setting out to meet new people. We will write a custom essay on Teenagers and Social Networking specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now They enjoy sharing what they have done together off-line via uploading pictures and videos and leaving each other comments about events they had participated in, in a non virtual world. (Boyd, 2008, Livingstone,2008, Gross et al 2002) Although Gross did find that due to the intimacy levels between two people whilst engaging in instant messaging some of the participants did feel a slight increase in day to anxiety and loneliness whilst in school. They want to show how their peer group are together. They appear to use sites like Facebook as a way to fill the void between face-to-face conversations. This is what one of the young boys who was interviewed by Livingstone during the study said in regard to the matter. â€Å"When we go out together, like they take photos on their phones and stuff and then they upload them on there †¦ So everybody else can see what we’ve done and, like, see all of our friends and when we’re together and it’s just like remembering the time when we did it. † (Livingstone, 2008) They still turn to their family and friends in times of need or when something is bothering them and need to talk. Although it may help teenagers to keep in contact with their peers, the question of privacy and intimacy arises when we look in deeper. According to Livingstones and Boyds research teenagers believe that they do not give that much information about themselves online but what they reveal on-line to millions is very different to what they would reveal to a stranger on the street.

Using Broach and Brooch Correctly

Using Broach and Brooch Correctly The words broach and brooch are homophones: theyre pronounced the same but have different meanings.   Definitions As a verb, broach means to pierce, break into, or open up. The verb broach also means to introduce (a topic) for discussion or make (something) known for the first time. As a noun, broach refers to a tapered cutting tool or a hole made by such a tool. The noun brooch refers to an ornamental pin thats usually worn at the neck. The two words are pronounced alike: brÃ… ch (rhymes with coach). Examples The best time to broach the topic of a raise is on a slow day at work.The broach has a series of cutting teeth along the axis of the tool.Humphrey Pump plunged down again into the sunken nest and began to  broach the cask  of rum in his own secret style, saying We can get something else somehow tomorrow. For tonight we can eat cheese and drink rum, especially as theres water on tap, so to speak.(G.K. Chesterton,  The Flying Inn, 1914)The princess wore a diamond brooch the size of a silver dollar. Usage Notes A brooch, a decorative pin or clip, is nothing like a broach. But since theyre often pronounced alike, and because ignorance never rests, some dictionaries accept broach as an alternative spelling of brooch.(Jane Straus,  et al.,  The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation, 11th ed. Jossey-Bass, 2014)If you broach something, you are suggesting that it is a valid topic for possible further discussion. If you wear a brooch on your dress, you hope that it will attract attention because of its beauty, and therefore, of course, attract attention to you who are wearing the brooch.(David Rothwell, Dictionary of Homonyms. Wordsworth, 2007 ) Practice (a) Because Ms. Widmark said she was there on business, the lawyer felt he should _____ the matter of his fees. (b) Marie wore the emerald _____ that she had inherited from her grandmother. Answers Answers to Practice Exercises:  Broach and Brooch (a) Because Ms. Widmark said she was there on business, the lawyer felt he should  broach  the matter of his fees.(b) Marie wore the emerald  brooch  that she had inherited from her grandmother.

Elizabeth Parris, Accuser in the Salem Witch Trials

Elizabeth Parris, Accuser in the Salem Witch Trials Elizabeth Parris (November 28, 1682–March 21, 1760) was one of the major accusers in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. A young girl at the time, Betty Parris appeared to be afflicted by demons and claimed to have visions of the devil; she accused several local women of witchcraft. Bettys accusation lit the fuse that eventually ended with accusations against 185 people, formal charges made against 156, and the execution by hanging of 19 residents of Salem Village in Massachusetts. Fast Facts: Elizabeth Parris Known For: One of the early accusers in the 1692 Salem witch trialsAlso Known As: Betty ParrisBorn: November 28, 1682 in Boston, MassachusettsParents: Samuel Parris, Elizabeth ParrisDied: March 21, 1760  in Concord, MassachusettsSpouse: Benjamin BaronChildren: Thomas, Elizabeth, Catherine, Susanna Early Life Elizabeth Parris, 9 years old at the beginning of 1692, was the daughter of Rev. Samuel Parris and his wife Elizabeth Eldridge Parris, who was often ill. The younger Elizabeth was often called Betty to distinguish her from her mother. She was born when the family lived in Boston. Her older brother Thomas was born in 1681 and her younger sister Susannah was born in 1687. Also part of the household was 12-year-old Abigail Williams, who was described as a kinswoman and was sometimes called a niece of Rev. Parris, probably a household servant, and two slaves Rev. Parris had brought with him from Barbados- Tituba and John Indian, described as Indians. An African boy slave had died a few years before. Elizabeth Parris Before the Salem Witch Trials Rev. Parris was the minister of Salem Village church, arriving in 1688, and had been embroiled in considerable controversy, coming to a head in late 1691 when a group organized to refuse to pay him a significant part of his salary. He began to preach that Satan was conspiring in Salem Village to destroy the church. Elizabeth Parris and the Salem Witch Trials In mid-January of 1692, both Betty Parris and Abigail Williams began to behave strangely. Their bodies contorted into strange positions, they reacted as if they were being physically hurt, and they made strange noises. Anns parents were leading members of the Salem Village church, supporters of Rev. Parris in the ongoing church conflict. Rev. Parris tried prayer and traditional remedies; when those didnt end the fits, he called in a doctor (probably a neighbor, Dr. William Griggs) on or about February 24 and a neighboring towns minister, Rev. John Hale, to get their opinions on the cause of the fits. The men agreed that the girls were victims of witches. Mary Sibley, a neighbor and member of Rev. Parris flock, advised John Indian the following day- perhaps with the help of his wife, another Caribbean slave of the Parris family- to make a witchs cake to discover the names of the witches. Instead of relieving the girls, however, their torments increased. Friends and neighbors of Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, including Ann Putnam Jr. and Elizabeth Hubbard, began having similar fits, described as afflictions in contemporary records. Pressured to name their tormenters, Betty and Abigail named the Parris family slave Tituba on February 26. Several neighbors and ministers, likely including Rev. John Hale of Beverley and Rev. Nicholas Noyes of Salem, were asked to observe the girls behavior. They questioned Tituba. The next day, Ann Putnam Jr. and Elizabeth Hubbard experienced torments and blamed Sarah Good, a local homeless mother and beggar, and Sarah Osborne, who was involved with conflicts around inheriting property and who also had married an indentured servant (a local scandal). None of the three accused witches were likely to have many local defenders. On February 29, based on accusations of Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, arrest warrants were issued in Salem for the first three accused witches- Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne- based on the complaints of Thomas Putnam, Ann Putnam Jr.s father, and several others before local magistrates Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne. They were to be taken for questioning the next day to Nathaniel Ingersolls tavern. The next day, Tituba, Sarah Osborne, and Sarah Good were examined by local magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin. Ezekiel Cheever was appointed to take notes on the proceedings. Hannah Ingersoll, whose husbands tavern was the site of the examination, found that the three had no witch marks on them. Sarah Goods husband William later testified that there was a mole on his wifes back. Tituba confessed and named the other two as witches, adding rich details to her stories of possession, spectral travel, and meeting with the devil. Sarah Osborne protested her own innocence; Sarah Good said Tituba and Osborne were witches but that she was herself innocent. Sarah Good was sent to nearby Ipswich, Massachusetts to be confined with her youngest child, born the year before, with a local constable who was also a relative. She escaped briefly and returned voluntarily; this absence seemed especially suspicious when Elizabeth Hubbard reported that Sarah Goods specter had visited her and tormented her that evening. Sarah Good was held at the Ipswich jail on March 2, and Sarah Osborn and Tituba were questioned further. Tituba added more details to her confession, and Sarah Osborne maintained her innocence. Questioning continued for another day. At this point, Mary Warren, a servant in the home of Elizabeth Proctor and John Proctor, began having fits as well. The accusations soon widened: Ann Putnam Jr. accused Martha Corey and Abigail Williams accused Rebecca Nurse. Corey and Nurse were known as respectable church members. On March 25, Elizabeth had a vision of being visited by the great Black Man (the devil) who wanted her to be ruled by him. Her family was worried about her continuing afflictions and the dangers of diabolical molestation (in the later words of Rev. John Hale). Betty Parris was sent to live with the family of Stephen Sewall, a relative of Rev. Parris, and her afflictions ceased. So did her involvement in the witchcraft accusations and trials. Elizabeth Parris After the Trials Bettys mother Elizabeth died  on July 14, 1696. In 1710, Betty Parris married Benjamin Baron, a yeoman, trader, and shoemaker, and lived quietly in Sudbury, Massachusetts. The couple had five children, and she lived to the age of 77. Legacy Arthur Millers play The Crucible is a political allegory based on the Salem Witch Trials. The play won a Tony award and is still one of the most often-read and produced plays of the century. One of the main characters is based loosely on the historical Betty Parris; in Arthur Millers play, Bettys mother is dead and she has no brothers or sisters. Sources Brooks, Rebecca. â€Å"Betty Parris: First Afflicted Girl of the Salem Witch Trials.†Ã‚  History of Massachusetts.Gragg, Larry.  A Quest for Security: The Life of Samuel Parris 1653-1720. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., 1990.Salem Witch Trials Notable Persons.

The black cat by E. Poe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The black cat by E. Poe - Essay Example Virginia served as a pattern and embodiment of love in Poe’s several novels such as Annabel Lee, The Raven, and Ligeia. Poes one-time employer George Rex Graham said about their relationship: "His love for his wife was a sort of rapturous worship of the spirit of beauty." I believe that his devotional love in inherent in a good marriage. After her death, he tried to have a comfortable life with a poet, Sarah Helen Whitman. However, their relationship ended, because of Poe’s serious alcoholism. Such behavior was a result of the sorrow he felt after Virginia’s death. Edgar Allan Poe was one of the representatives of Gothic literature. Gothic art was predominant in the Romantic era, thus Poe’s writings were affected by Romanticism. Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that praised imagination over reason, emotions over logic, and intuition over science-making way. It rejected the rational and intellectual, and Allan Poe emphasized that didactic and intellectual elements were absent in his work. The Black Cat is an example of Gothic literature work. The black cat’s time and setting is obscure and vague, and it creates an uncanny atmosphere. The beginning of this story is ordinary and friendly, and narrator’s childhood sounds loving. However, happy introduction foreshadows the horrendous ending in Gothic literature. Moreover, there are many Gothic images in the novel. For example, cat’s figure imprinted on the wall brings grotesque illusion. Disturbing vision of cat to the protagonist is akind of foreshadowing of coming event. He tries to ignore superstition and offer a reasonable and scientific explanation. As the narrators extreme hatred and rage to the cat cannot be explained logically, I suppose that cat is a supernatural object, and symbolizes his tortured conscience. Humanity’s fear and fascination is unknown in Gothic literature. Narrator in The Black Cat commits

A individual field visit-harrogate detail report Essay

A individual field visit-harrogate detail report - Essay Example The place is also dotted with hills and dales and suitable for those in the nearby urban locations to refresh now and then. Harrogate is rightly eyeing the business tourism industry to leapfrog its presence from a national asset to an international tourism centre. "Broad tree-lined streets and beautiful parks and gardens combine with the sweeping 200 acres of town-centre grassland known as 'The Stray' to bring a spacious feeling to the town. Although never far from the principal venues and accommodation, visitors can enjoy peace and serenity close to the town centre. No wonder so many people return to Harrogate for another visit" (YorkshireNet Guide to Harrogate, 2006). "The Harrogate Lifestyle is a unique blend of warmth, intimacy and friendships. You will be surrounded by mature trees and landscaping, natural areas, walking paths, flowers and vegetable gardens. Harrogate is truly "in the heart of it all." Whether your interests lie with the excitement and cultural diversity of New York City, the non-stop action of Atlantic City, the deep-rooted history that Philadelphia offers, or the water fun, soft ocean breezes and sandy beaches of the Jersey Shore, Harrogate's location is ideal" (A Portrait of Harrogate, 2009). In a world of dwindling and depleting natural resources, Harrogate stands as a beacon not only for maintaining its ecological balance but also for seeking development with minimum loss to environmental concerns. Critically analyze the issues arising for managers, organizers and host The tourism industry is on the upswing in the UK as it is elsewhere on the globe. As economy improves and people's spending power increases, tourism is one of the items on the list of priorities in people's minds to put their money on. "With an estimated 10.2 million breaks taken in 2007 and volume growth of 17.2% since 2003, activity holidays are comfortably outperforming the overall travel market. By the end of 2008, activity holidays are expected to account for nearly one in eight holidays taken by Britons, growing from just over one in ten in 2003. "As consumers focus upon entertainment and self-improvement as much as materialism, holidays are becoming more frequent and they are increasingly dedicated to special interests and activities. We are living in a leisure economy and as we become more independent, experienced and confident holidaymakers, we are seeking to pursue our interests whilst on holiday. Just as gastronomy has influenced tourism choices, so has our growing interest in health, wellness and fitness" (Activity/Special Interest Holidays - UK, 2008). Thus, the existence of interest on mass scale in tourism naturally impacts management, organizing and the hosts or the natives living in Harrogate. For management, the key responsibilities are to ensure welfare and comforts of the inbound tourists. The annual growth rate of 5% in

Human Inheritance Essay Example for Free

Human Inheritance Essay Ethical dilemmas are constantly confronting healthcare professionals, which is difficult to deal with as there is no correct solution. These are also known as moral dilemmas as they are situations where there is more than two choices to make and none of the choices is certain to work and can cause complications. An example of this would be ‘You are a patient and are too sick to speak for yourself. You are concerned about who will make medical decisions on your behalf, and whether your wishes will be followed. You wonder, What if they disagree about what I would want, or what would be best for me? ’. Another example of this would be with the economic downturn that you may not be able to afford the funds for food and need to feed your family but the only way in doing this is to steal or let your family starve. These dilemmas are impossible because each person thinks differently and has a different feeling towards it. There are ethical dilemmas surrounding IVF and infertility. Infertility is a genetic problem that affects women; it is not the woman’s fault. With IVF the NHS only gives each woman one free cycle and after that she has to fund it herself. An ethical dilemma with IVF is the possible wrong that is done to the infertile couple or the expected child by the physician. The success of IVF depends on the number of embryos transferred to the woman’s uterus. Because the chance of survival of an embryo in IVF is small the more transfers made the greater the chance of the woman becoming pregnant, it also increases the risk of multiple pregnancies. IVF is not allowed by the Catholic Church because it separates the unitive and the procreative aspects of marriage. To separate the unitive and the procreative aspects of marriage is a mortal sin. In addition the sperm donor commits a mortal sin in order to harvest the sperm which is needed for IVF. Although one human life may be created through the IVF technique, many surplus foetuses, (unborn babies), are destroyed through this process. Other surplus unborn babies are left frozen in the laboratories where they were manufactured as though they were not human beings, but simply consumer goods. They were not created in love through the marriage act as God intends. Multiple births also create danger to the health and well-being of the child. Premature birth and low weight when born are also issues with this, also studies that have been undertaken spina bifida is at a higher risk with children made from IVF. Also the hormones that are taken by the female in order to become pregnant are always at risk of having problems or abnormalities to the unborn child. Aminiocentesis is another ethical dilemma, during the process if abnormalities are found the mother is offered the chance to terminate her pregnancy. The ethical issues surrounding amniocentesis are seen as centring on 4 focal points. First is the policy of the diagnostic treatment centre. Here, 2 questions arise: Is the client involved in a high-risk pregnancy? And, if a positive diagnosis is made, will the parents’ consent to an abortion? Second is the role of the genetic counsellor, which is seen as supportive rather than leading. He should assist the prospective parents in reaching a decision to undergo amniocentesis and possible abortion that is mutually acceptable. The prospective parents, the third focal point, may face the question of deciding what is normal. The clients must also realize the terrible strains that are put on a marriage into which a severely defective child has been born. The fourth focal point is public policy. While amniocentesis may appear to threaten some values held important in our society, the author regards the procedure as an interim solution on the road to an understanding of and ability to treat genetic defects. Contraception is another ethical dilemma as birth control operates before pregnancy begins, and until the sperm fertilises the egg there is nothing that is going to suffer loss and so the issue is very different from the case of abortion. And since the egg and sperm would cease to exist whether fertilisation takes place or not, they cant be said to suffer loss, either. Non-religious arguments about birth control are therefore concerned only with the rights of the parents and with the consequences for those parents and for society in general. The issue of possibly killing a person, and of the rights of the mother versus the rights of the foetus, which dominate the topic of abortion, do not arise. Some people think it’s wrong as it is wrong to interfere with the natural order of the universe. People in certain religions also see it as wrong because of the fact that it is like abortion as some birth control techniques can operate by preventing the implantation and development of a fertilized egg. Those opposed to such methods say that this amounts to an abortion, and that if abortion is wrong then those forms of contraception must also be wrong. http://brendakaren. wordpress. com/2009/04/15/some-moral-and-ethical-issues-concerning-ivf-techniques/ http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pubmed/4418247 Contraception!!! http://www. bbc. co. uk/ethics/contraception/contraception_abortion. shtml

Dropout Intervention Essay -- Education, Dropout Prevention Programmin

Outcomes In Relation to EBD The literature indicates that outcomes for students with EBD were, by and large, positive and indicated that dropout interventions geared toward students with behavioral issues show some potential success for students. Sinclair, Christenson, & Thurlow (2005) found 44% of students within the treatment group with EBD as the primary special education qualifier were more likely to persist in school, whereas only 33% of students with EBD in the control group had the same likelihood. Researcher Remorse Hindsight and seeming regret in regard to measurement and study design weren’t uncommon across the literature. A pervasive â€Å"should have, would have, could have† existed among certain of the studies. The Vannest et al. (2009) study concluded with researchers lamenting the lack of a â€Å"quality measurement† in regard to the mentor-mentee interactions. The writers also bemoaned the study’s reliance on time units (that were not described), components of mentor-mentee interactions at school and via email, and, puzzlingly, a reliance on â€Å"measurable and observable data†. Both Munoz (2002) and Franklin et al. (2007) determined that without a control or comparison group, validity is shaky. However, none of the examined dropout prevention researchers were remorseful that the current span of literature didn’t consider race or gender in program design or measurement (including research projects explicitly aimed at students upon the basis of t heir race and/or gender). Mobility and Attrition Throughout the literature, mobility and it’s effect on student success rates in dropout prevention programming is noted but not consistently considered in the intervention findings, which is curious considering the possible dynamics... ...about the students we are supposed to provide with individualized, differentiated programming. Ninth, program interventions should consider implementing student involvement with planning, intervention, progress review, and goal discussion. Students who are in control of their own educational process foster ownership and responsibility for their future. Measuring the efficacy of such an approach for our target population could prove extremely beneficial, definitely informative. Tenth, making the realistic consequences of dropping out of school versus staying in school and graduating a more tangible concept for our target population appears to be a worthwhile undertaking. Vocational training programs and career mentoring could prove valuable for increasing graduation for our target population, and should definitely be examined.

An Examination of Racism in the Deep South of America Essay

An Examination of Racism in the Deep South of America From the1930’s to the 1960’s through a variety of texts. â€Å"Race: a group of persons having a common ancestor†¦ family, kindred people, genus, species, breed, variety, or class of persons†¦ † That is what the dictionary says, so why so much hatred, politics and fuss The Anglo – American slave trade, started in the 16th century when the first Hispanic people settled in Mexico and the Caribbean. From there, the other Europeans who migrated took black Africans to work on their cotton and tobacco plantations. This started the very wealthy â€Å"Slave Triangle† in which many Captains sought profit. The ships would sail empty from England, Spain, France or Portugal to the African countries to catch slaves. After filling their holds with human cargo they would set sail for the Caribbean. Once there, the Captains sold the slaves to the dealers in return for cotton or tobacco, which they would sell for a large profit back at home. These slaves were then the full property of their masters and he or she could do anything they liked to them and treat them in anyway they wanted to. One example of this is an advertisement in the ‘Royal Gazette (Kingston Jamaica)’ saying; â€Å"Runaway, about 15 months ago a Negro man of the Mungola country named Jamaica†¦ also about two months ago, two Negro men named James and Sambo†¦ a reward of i 10 for Jamaica and a Half Joe each for James and Sambo†¦ Also stolen or strayed†¦ a Bright Bay Northward HORSE†¦ also a small JACK ASS†¦ a reward of a pistole will be given for each†¦ † This shows that their masters treated the slaves with about as much respect and sense of belonging as a horse or donkey. Such disregard upset many Americans and so some spoke out against it. In 1861, because they would not agree to abolish slavery, the Southern States left the Union of American States. This created even more outcry until Abraham Lincoln , the then President of America declared war on the Southern States. The American Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865. It destroyed most of the agricultural land in the South and drained it of its wealth. After the Civil War the United States of America was formed. During the next 5 – 10 years the Northerners set in place a number of laws giving back human and civil rights to the black people. Initially this idea worked, but due to the hostility of the Southern confederacy these changes eventually failed. The â€Å"Yankees† that is the Northern Army and Governors called the changes they made â€Å"reconstruction†, but after they left, using a number of loopholes in the Law, the Southern Governors set in place many new rules. These were called the Jim Crow Laws and they â€Å"segregated† the black former slaves from the white people completely, thereby undoing all the good work done by the Northerners. The following time of white supremacy was called â€Å"redemption† This time of â€Å"redemption† and â€Å"segregation† was a hard time for the blacks; 1) Their voting rights were taken away 2) The money for black schools was diverted to white education. 3) There were separate buses for coloured and white people, or no bus at all. An example of this is given in the Novel Roll of Thunder where the Logan children have to dive into a ditch up to their chests, or in the case of ‘Little Man’- swim, to avoid the oncoming Jefferson Davies school bus and its ruthless driver. It was around this time when the Depression hit America. The South was hit especially hard and the price of cotton fell dramatically. This downturn in the economy created serious hardship for the majority of people, both black and white. The arrival of new technology added to the hardship as cotton looms and ploughs cut work loads, making one person and one tractor able to do the work of eight men and eight mules. Publicity of the suffering of the South created Aid and money from Northern Citizens, but due to the amount of corruption the blacks did not benefit from this. Some workers, both black and white, joined together to fight for more money and better working conditions, and as a result the rich landowners and vigilantly race hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan used violence to break up their protests and demonstrations. Racism comes in three forms – Verbal, Physical and Institutional Verbal Why did the white people feel that they could say something offensive and why did they even say it in the first place? In the Novel Roll of Thunder, Little Man receives a book from his teacher for the new term. He eagerly thumbs through it but to his horror finds a form that reads: Date Condition Owner Sept 1922 Good White Sept 1928 Good White Sept 1930 Average White Sept 1933 Very Poor Nigra The term ‘nigra’ is very offensive and as a result the naive boy protests and gives the book back. His teacher, Mrs Crocker simply replies â€Å"Well, that’s what you are! â€Å". This shows that even teachers can happily pass off insulting words just because a coloured child had owned a book. A further insult was that the book was damaged, which was untrue. Another form of verbal abuse is when in the same book, a mob attempts to lynch TJ, and they decide to try and hang Pa Logan and Mr. Morrison, the ‘human giant’ â€Å"I say, what we oughtta do is take him down the road an take care of that big black giant of a nigger at the same time! And why not that boy he working for too? † The â€Å"boy† they are referring to Pa Logan, a fully-grown, independent man. This is from the time of slavery, where the masters could speak to their slaves as they wished.

Cell Phone Problem Solution

A serious problem has arisen that desperately needs to be solved. Students have been constantly using their cell phones during class and causing distractions to the learning environment. As a result, the principal is ready to ban all cell phones from school. Although this might solve the problem, it would alienate and irritate the student body. As it is, students are already distracted by cell phone misuse in the classroom.Teachers have found that their classrooms are becoming unruly and are having to take time out of instruction to write disciplinary forms. This results in added paperwork for administrators. Additionally, teachers are complaining to administrators about class disruptions. All the interruptions are detracting from students’ educational time; thus EOG scores my plummet along with school funding. With the lower test scores and tighter budget, the schools’ reputation may also suffer. If we want to keep our schools’ pride intact, we must solve this d ilemma.After pondering this complex problem I have devised an exemplary solution. I propose that the school’s leadership team organize a monthly incentive time in which students are able to talk and text on their cell phones. This incentive is designed to reward students for obeying the cell phone regulations. Students should be focused on their education and should not be using their cell phones during school hours (8:30am-4:00pm).To begin implementing this solution, the staff members should be notified first by sending an email or holding a staff meeting. Next, posters should be hung on each hallway to inform students about the upcoming cell phone incentive. Announcements can also be made to build excitement about the upcoming change in policy. Waivers would be sent home to notify parents that the cell phone rule has not changed; however to reward students for abiding by the rules, a cell phone incentive time is being integrated into the schedule on a monthly basis.These in centive times would be held on the first Wednesday of every month. Core classes would be shortened by 15 minutes each, allowing there to be a free hour at the end of the day. At the beginning of this time students should have five minutes to pack up and get their cell phones and report  back to their last class. Students who do not have cell phones are able to use this time to have study hall, play games, or socialize upon teacher’s discretion. These incentive times are the only allotted times to text, play games, listen to music, use the internet, or call others during school hours. Headphones must be used for all music and other audible activities. Phones must be set on vibrate to eliminate unneeded noise.Although the original cell phone rule has not changed, new consequences have been put in place. First time rule breakers will have their phone confiscated and sent to the office. Silent lunch will be given and they will lose the next incentive time and would be sent to I SS for the hour.For students who break the cell phone rule a second time, their phone will be confiscated and sent to the office. They will be put on cleaning duty with the custodians or cafeteria staff during the incentive time. These students would lose the next two incentive hours and receive a behavior slip. If these students still did not learn that their actions have consequences and break the rule for a third time their phone will be taken and sent to the office. That student would also receive a behavior slip. The students would miss the next three incentive times and clean during the hours. For fourth and habitual offenders, their phone will be taken and sent to the office. They would lose all future incentive hours and clean.This solution has a multitude of benefits; one such benefit is that it is cost and time efficient. Implementing the incentive time is inexpensive. The only cost incurred is the expense of the paper and ink used to print the waivers. It is important to be money-conscious because many school are facing budget cuts. Funds should be reserved for other important supplies and activities. Cost efficiency is not the only benefit; time efficiency is equally important.The incentive time only takes one hour away from class time each month. This allows ample time for less interrupted instruction. This solution also appeals to all parties. To administrators, education is paramount, and this solution applies to that. The more learning without distractions gets high scores for students and for the school. Those high scores may equate to county or state bonuses. Such money could be used for classroom upgrades. Teachers would appreciate the upgrades, but they will  also benefit from other aspects of this solution.The teachers would have more teaching time because they will be spending less time filling out disciplinary paperwork. So having more teaching time can lead to higher grades for students. This can allow teachers to move through subject s quicker. Also, with this solution, students will be less likely to sneak around with their phones because they will have a designated time to use them.This solution is much less severe than the principal’s initial solution, which was to ban all cell phones. In conclusion, the previously stated solution, which is to integrate a monthly incentive time into the school day, is an excellent solution to the cell phone predicament. This solution will solve the problem because it allows time for students to use their cell phones. Such will increase the amount of time on-task; more instructional time benefits all ages. Not only does it benefit all, it holds students accountable for their positive and negative decisions. Show your approval of this plan by passing this proposal onto the principal. This is your chance to put this problem to rest and better our entire school.

How to Write a Capturing Introduction for a Literary Analysis Paper

How to Write a Capturing Introduction for a Literary Analysis Paper How to Write a Capturing Introduction for a Literary Analysis Paper If you are writing a literary analysis essay it is very important that you find a way to grab your reader’s attention right from the beginning. You want to draw a reader in so that they are eager to find out what you have to say about a particular literary piece. You also want to make sure that your opening paragraph is: well-organized; gives your reader a clear indication of what your thesis or idea is; written in such a way that there is a logical progression of ideas from one sentence to the next. You may be asking yourself how you can fit all of these things into one paragraph without making it â€Å"stuffed†. Here are some tips that you can use to help you. Keep in Mind What You Are Writing and What You Are Writing about This sounds easy but it is one rule that many essayists tend to forget about. You want to keep in mind that a literary analysis paper is specifically designed to look at a particular piece of writing. Your goal, as an author, is to come up with a definitive idea regarding a piece of literature and express that idea or conclusion to your reader. It doesn’t have to be boring, and it doesn’t have to be rigid or inflexible but it does have to have a specific idea or thesis and utilize examples and information from the piece itself to support your arguments. You also need to keep the tone professional rather than conversational. An essay is more of a formal style of writing and the language you use should reflect that. Once you have figured out what you want to write about, it is time to write your opening paragraph. Remember That Your Opening Line Must Be the Most Critical Your opening line is perhaps the most critical part of your essay because it is what makes your reader want to continue. Think about it like a headline for a news article. Some headlines and opening lines immediately make you want to read more. They build excitement for the reader. Others may be more passive or less entertaining. You want to be sure that when you write, your opening sentence falls into the first category. To achieve this goal, you may want to use one of the following opening variants: A passage from the piece you are writing about; A relevant quote from someone famous. This can either be directly related to the piece or illustrate your thesis about the piece; A question that may provoke thought or emotion in your reader. From there you can continue and outline what your thesis is. Keep in mind that the arguments you will be making to illustrate your point will come later in the essay itself and do not need to be mentioned in the opening paragraph. If you structure it properly you may find that your opening paragraph flows well and feels neither rushed nor overloaded. Avoid Unnecessary Words and Phrases Of course, it is important to know what not to do when writing your essay’s opening paragraph. This is the time when language is especially important. A good opening paragraph will have language that is very precise and which can create a clear impression of what you are trying to say. Therefore, you must avoid the number of unnecessary words that do not support or illustrate your point and that may cause vague impression in the reader. It is also important to place your thesis statement in the proper position in your opening paragraph. Placing it at the end of the introductory paragraph will help ensure that your reader recognizes it for what it is: the central, unifying idea that will pull your custom written essay  together.

Main Group Elements Definition

Main Group Elements Definition In chemistry and physics, the main group elements are any of the chemical elements belonging to the s and p blocks of the periodic table. The s-block elements are group 1 (alkali metals) and group 2 (alkaline earth metals). The p-block elements are groups 13-18 (basic metals, metalloids, nonmetals, halogens, and noble gases). The s-block elements usually have one oxidation state (1 for group 1 and 2 for group 2). The p-block elements may have more than one oxidation state, but when this happens, the most common oxidation states are separated by two units. Specific examples of main group elements include helium, lithium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, and neon. Significance of the Main Group Elements The main group elements, along with a few light transition metals, are the most abundant elements in the universe, solar system, and on Earth. For this reason, main group elements are sometimes known as representative elements. Elements That Arent in the Main Group Traditionally, the d-block elements have not been considered to be main group elements. In other words, the transition metals in the middle of the periodic table and the lanthanides and actinides below the main body of the table are not main group elements. Some scientists do not include hydrogen as a main group element. Some scientists believe zinc, cadmium, and mercury should be included as main group elements. Others believe group 3 elements should be added to the group. Arguments may be made for including the lanthanides and actinides, based on their oxidation states. Sources King, R. Bruce (1995). Inorganic Chemistry of Main Group Elements. Wiley-VCH. ISBN 0-471-18602-3.Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry. (2014) International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.

Meniscus of the Knee Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Meniscus of the Knee - Essay Example The menisci also cup the joint surfaces of the femur and therefore provide some degree of stabilization to the knee. The meniscus itself is for the most part avascular that is it doesn't bleed if cut and doesn't have blood vessels inside. The exception to this is at the periphery where it joins to the vascular knee lining providing the outermost 20% of the meniscus with a blood supply. As a result of this avascularity a torn meniscus doesn't have the ability to heal itself unless there is just a small tear confined to the peripheral vascular zone. Similarly the nerve supply providing pain and sensation to the meniscus is for the most part limited to the zone where the blood vessels are located. In terms of descriptive terminology orthopaedic surgeons divide the meniscus into thirds with three geographical zones;the front third is referred to as the anterior horn, the back third the posterior horn, and the middle third the body. Some people think that only athletes can tear a meniscus. This is not true. Even people who do not consider themselves "athletes" can tear a meniscus. Some menisci (plural) tear during activities of daily living such as getting in and out of a car or squatting. Menisci also tear during participation in recreational activities such as skiing, dancing, or racquetball. There are two different mechanisms for tearing a meniscus. Traumatic tears result from a sudden load being applied to the meniscal tissue which is severe enough to cause the meniscal cartilage to fail and let go. These usually occur from a twisting injury or a blow to the side of the knee that causes the meniscus to be levered against and compressed. Degenerative meniscal tears are best thought of as a failure of the meniscus over time. There is a natural drying-out of the inner centre of the meniscus that can begin in the late 20's and progresses with age. The meniscus becomes less elastic and compliant and as a result may fail with only minimal trauma (such as just getting down into a squat). Sometimes there are no memorable injuries or violent events which can be blamed as the cause of the tear. The association of these tears with aging makes degenerative tears in a teenager almost unheard of. There are many techniques for meniscal repair and these will depend on the location of the tear. The techniques include an open procedure (following arthroscopic examination of the joint) or the arthroscopic 'inside-out', 'outside-in' and 'all-inside' procedures. The open technique has been advocated for vertical tears of the posterior horn of the lateral and medial menisci within 1-2 mm of the meniscosynovial junction, where visualisation with the arthroscopy is difficult. In all cases the torn surfaces of the meniscus are derided of scar tissue and fibrin clot can be placed in situ before the sutures are tied to enhance healing. Repaired meniscal tears heal if there is adequate blood supply and tissue stability. A stable knee is therefore important and increased

Human Resources Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Human Resources - Research Paper Example The function that oversees the employees concerns is called Human resource management at the workplace. In the organization, all employees are viewed as vital enterprise assets and their value is enhances by gradual development. Therefore, enterprises always engage themselves in a barrage of practicing human resources to capitalize on human assets. Organizations apply technics in governing human resources as suggested by (Renkly, 2004). The first technic is to classify employees in into demographic groups. In this trend, workforce or populations characteristic are categorized using age, social class and even gender. The trend unquestionably has effects in relations to offering of pension, packages of insurance and annual leaves. Another technic in managing human resources is to understand its diverse characteristics especially their culture. Strategic workforce planning Strategic human planning should address alignment of organizations human capital program with their current mission , emerging mission and programmatic objectives. Human resource management should develop long-term strategies for acquiring, training and developing workers to attain programmed goals. Approaches of managing human resources may vary from one manager to another or from one enterprise to another. However, there are some principals that guide managers in coming up with strategic workforce plan (Seijts, 2006). The principals address key issues to be considered irrespective of the context in which the planning is done. First, the top managers, workers and the stakeholders must involve themselves in communicating, developing and implementation of the strategic workforce plan. This will help supervisors, and employees’ agency managers understand the need to work as a team. It ensures entire agency understands benefits of changes as defined in the strategic workforce plan. Clear communications create transparent procedures and policies that help in utilization of human capital (Pinkl eton& Austin, 2006). Role of human resources in an organization The human resource management team in the organization has a mandate to manage employees in the organization. There are limitations and the advantages in of this function. The departments ensure all staff follows the general direction, rule and regulations of the work place. The departments constant remind and clarify the means set towards attainment of organizations goals. The department also is responsible for creating compensations or incentives to be awarded to employees in order to act as a motivation (Heneman& Judge, 2006). Human resource manager act as employees sponsor and advocate (Williams& Gilmore, 2009). The managers play an important role towards organizational success. The knowledge about advocacy of people is an essential skill that managers need to have. The managers foster effective methods in setting of goals and empowering workers through assigning them with responsibilities. This helps in creating or der in the organization. Professionals in human resources help establish culture and climate of the organization. The environment creates the commitment and efficiency in serving the customers. In this role, human resources manager provide the overall talent management strategies. The manager also develops opportunity and create workers assistance program (Jackson, 1992). The frequent evaluation of the organizatio

Microeconomics Article Summary Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Microeconomics Article Summary Assignment - Essay Example Prior to the fall in share price were speculations by three stock exchange experts that offered lower values for the company’s prices. Further speculations noted that the set prices for the newly launched handsets were not as low as Apple claimed, with concerns that such a price level could not attract customers into purchasing the product. iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C were the launched products that yielded the change in stock prices and the company was to stop sales of its previous model of iPhone 5 (Woollaston 1). Another major aspect of the article is claim of dishonesty against Apple as critics noted that while the company presented the product at a cheaper price of $ 99 value, the company did not disclose that this was a contract term with undisclosed monthly payment. China is one of the major markets for Apple but the high price that equals Chinese monthly average salaries may limit the company and its product’s popularity in the country. Existence of other major comp etitors, such as Samsung, in the Chinese market is another threat to the new product launch and its price because they contributed to loss in market control in China to firms like ‘Huawei,’ Lenovo, and Coopland. The new launch also failed to capture immediate interest in the United Kingdom because no companies offered contracts. Besides inability to capture new markets, Apple has lost market control to Samsung. Apple has also reported reduced profit margin in its second quarter though its share price has been fluctuating. The major concern to the company’s trends, as the author reports, is its inability or lack of desire to offer affordable products to its customers (Woollaston 1). Relationship between the article and course concepts Key to the article’s theme is the change in stock price of Apple following announcement of its new products, iPhone 5S and iPhone 5c and the main factor to the shift in stock prices is speculations by brokers and investorsâ₠¬â„¢ perception of Apple’s pricing strategy and potential market control. These factors relate to the course concepts of demand and supply with focus on demand for Apple’s stock. Demand is one of the factors that affect price and increase in demand, with other factors kept constant, leads to increase in a commodity’s prices while decrease in demand identifies with fall in prices. This explains the fall in price of Apple’s shares following announcement of release of the new product and suggest that investors lost interest in the company. Claims by investors that the company is not keen on offering competitive prices confirm this. Another major theme in the article that relates it to the course concepts of microeconomics is the demand for the company’s products into its market control and its profitability. Microeconomic principles of demand provides that price of complementary and supplementary products, people’s income, competition, and expe ctations dictates demand of a commodity and the article identifies all these factors. Apple’s share is a complementary commodity to the company’s product and this is evident as announcement of iPhone prices leads to reduction in share price. Prices of other phone models that are relatively cheaper have also led to un-competitiveness of Apple towards lost market control and poor profitability. Other factors to demand, based on the course concepts, are also applicable to the article and people’

Marketing Analysis of Whale Watch Tourism

Marketing Analysis of Whale Watch Tourism Whale Watch- New Zealand’s Ultimate Marine Experience and the Nature-Tourism Market Question One Market Segmentation in the nature-tourism market can be defined as the process through which potential customers with similar needs and characteristics are grouped together so that a tourism organization can apply marketing strategies for the selected market segment efficiently (Oohlala, 2013). Segmentation also involves learning more about customers and making the heterogeneous market into a homogenous market (Bowker, 2014). Segmenting the New Zealand nature-tourism market is viable because it assists in understanding the needs and wants of customers, allocating marketing expenses efficiently, further developing products/services and developing marketing strategies more precisely (Grewal Levy, 2012). The two segments I will divide the domestic nature-tourism market are the: â€Å"Being There† and â€Å"Embracing Life† segments. Comprising of over a quarter of New Zealand’s adult population, ‘Being There’ is definitely an identifiable segment which is large and old. A majority of this segment are aged 55 years or older. They havea female majority and a high percentage of people living alone. The segment can be found throughout all over in New Zealand meaning that it is substantial. Members of this segment have a strong interest in gardening and reading. They also have a positive interest in visiting natural/scenic locations, and are most likely to be a member of church or rotary group. Members of ‘Being There’ are motivated to travel by a yearning to spend time with people they love and appreciate natural/scenic locations. This segment is most interested in sightseeing, natural attractions and walking/hiking and meaning it is a responsive segment for the nature-tourism market. As this segment is relatively wealthy, money is less of a barrier to travel meaning that it is a profitable segment. There are many viable marketing channels that can be used to reach this segment which makes it reachable. These include: Major daily newspapers, special media (e.g. gardening channels/magazines/groups), affinity groups (churches, Rotary, other voluntary groups) are all channels that can be used to reach this market. Another segment for the New Zealand nature-tourism market makes up nearly a quarter of the adult population making it a substantial segment, ‘Living Life’ shares a philosophy to live life to the fullest and embrace nature. This segment is identifiable with a majority of members being aged between 25 and 60 years old. This segment has a dominant family structure of couples with children. Members of ‘Living Life’ can be found throughout all over New Zealand which enables the segment to be substantial. Members of this segment are most likely to have hobbies such as mountaineering, tramping, sight-seeing, boating and gardening at home. This segment is very responsive because vacations are important to them and they holiday frequently within New Zealand. When holidaying in New Zealand, they take part in their favourite activities with their children and partners, away from the pressures of daily life. The ideal holiday for ‘Living Life’ is spending well-earned money on an above all family-friendly, and involves outdoor experiences, scenery and landscapes meaning it is a profitable segment which will spend money on nature-tourism. Key barriers to travel are the amount of annual leave available, work and family commitments. This segment is reachable through channels such as newspaper, media/online (e.g. golf, outdoor, boating, fishing), newspapers and fairs. Question Two In order to evaluate how Whale Watching’s product is perceived by potential customers, it is vital to deconstruct the product into four different levels. This is called the Total Product Concept and we will use this model to deconstruct the product Whale Watch is offering, and evaluate how the company is positioned within the nature-tourism market. Firstly, the Core Product is the fundamental benefit that responds to a potential customer’s need or wants (Elliott, Rundle-Thiele Waller, 2010). For Whale Watch the core benefit for a customer would be being able to observe whales in their natural habitat. This could be for recreational or scientific and educational purposes depending on the motive of the customer. Secondly, the Expected Product is the relative factors that delivers the benefit which forms the core product and fulfil the customer’s most basic expectations (Elliott, Rundle-Thiele Waller, 2010), Whale Watch offers an exciting up-close encounter with the Giant Sperm Whale in their natural environment. In a typical Whale Watch tour, the customer can expect to encounter a wide variety of sea-life and birds. Vessels are crewed by an expert team who are experienced in interacting with the whales. Whale Watch ensures that passenger comfort and safety are always high priority. These are all expected features of the product/service Whale Watch is offering to customers. The Augmented Product offers a combination of benefits that is not a part of the basic level of needs for the customer. It is at the augmented product level where marketers are able to significantly differentiate their products/services from the competition (Elliott, Rundle-Thiele Waller, 2010). Whale Watch is New Zealand’s only vessel-based whale watching experience and the 95% success rate of trips at Whale Watch means that they guarantee an 80% refund and is an example of an augmented service that gives a competitive edge over other companies. Furthermore, it is based in Kaikoura, the Whale Watching capital of New Zealand which provides a unique experience over other locations. Whale Watch is committed to the care and protection of the environment and seeks to minimise waste, promote recycling, use eco-friendly product and minimise their impact on marine life (Whale Watch, 2013). These factors are important for customers who really care about then environment and are conce rned with conservation and the preservation of nature. All these special features and facilities are factors that would help customers to choose Whale Watch over other competitors. The Potential Product of the Product Concept Model comprises all possibilities that could become part of the expected or augmented product. This includes features that are being developed planned as well as features that have not yet been conceived (Elliott, Rundle-Thiele Waller, 2010). In the future, Whale Watch could offer new tours such as swimming with dolphins swimming with whales which would offer a unique, up-and-close, more personal experience. Whale Watch will need to do research on how to bring this programme to life and keep safety measures in mind. Whale Watch seems to be using a differentiation positioning strategies using conservation, nature preservation and a unique approach to attract customers. Whale Watch’s positioning statement is used to succinctly convey their philosophies and approach: â€Å"Whale Watch Kaikoura is New Zealand’s ultimate all year round nature experience offering visitors an exciting up-close encounter with The Giant Sperm Whale† (Whale Watch, 2013). â€Å"We are visitors to the world of the whales and respect it as such at all times. As a Maori owned company, Whale Watch cherishes the twin values of hospitality to visitors and reverence for the natural world† (Whale Watch, 2013). Question Three A service is an act or performance offered by one party to another. They are economic activities that create value and provide benefits for customers at specific times and places as a result of bringing desired change .One of the unique characteristics of a service is that it is inconsistent meaning the service provider cannot provide exactly the same service every time (Brown, 2008). Applying this to Whale Watch’s situation, because of the nature of their service, Whale Watch cannot guarantee the same Whale Watching experience to customers for every tour. Depending on seasonal variations or even the weather on a particular day, every trip will offer a different kind of experience. Customers are not guaranteed to be able to see a consistent number of whales and sea-life on every trip because Whale Watch has little control over this factor. In some seasons of the year, certain animals will not appear at all and on certain days no whales may be sighted at all. Because Whale Watch offers a conservative and completely nature-based experience it cannot â€Å"force† a service and experience for the customer. In order to manage these challenges Whale Watch seems to have particular strategies to target and solve these challenges. Firstly, Whale Watch offers an 80% refund if a tour does not see a whale. Furthermore, Whale Watch staff constantly monitor the weather and respond professionally to any changes. This could a result in a tour being cancelled or safety restrictions placed on children or passengers with medical problems. This is because Whale Watch wants to promote passenger comfort and safety as their number one priority. Furthermore, Whale Watch would want to decrease the chances of a trip a day with bad weather conditions resulting in zero or minimal whale sightings. The on-board plasma screens display a virtual animated tour while the tour is actually taking place so customers will have a larger than life experience even though there may be inconsistency in actual whale and other sea-life sightings. Also, the professional guides and skippers are there in order to maintain consistency in a service with inconsistent characteristics. Whale Watch will make sure that the staff provide a high level of professional service with passenger safety and comfort as their number one priority. This is evident in their constant monitoring of weather and responding professionally.to any changes. Looking at Whale Watch’s philosophy and positioning statement, the company emphasizes that it is Maori owned which has a reverence for the natural environment and is dedicated to conservation, preservation and respect for wildlife. This is a factor that Whale Watch seems to be using to manage challenges of inconsistency of its services. Many customer’s especially nature-lovers and conservationists will respect the company’s philosophies and understand the unavoidable, inconsistent nature of services that Whale Watch is offering. Word Count: 1590 References Grewal, D., Levy, M. (2013). Marketing (1st ed.). New York: McGraw Hill/Irwin. Oohlala, R. (2013). Tourism market segmentation. Slideshare.net. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/reymarieoohlala/tourism-market-segmentation/ Whalewatch.co.nz. (2014). New Zealand Attractions | Kaikoura Whale Watching | Canterbury NZ. Retrieved from http://www.whalewatch.co.nz/ Brown, A. (2008). Alex Brown: teaching digital marketing and ending horse slaughter. Udel.edu. Retrieved from http://www.udel.edu/alex/index.html/ Bowker, M. (2014). Segmentation, targeting and positioning [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://cecil.auckland.ac.nz/

The Transgenic Tomato Essay examples -- Science Genetics Papers

The Transgenic Tomato The Need for Genetic Engineering of Crops For most Americans, fresh vegetables come from the supermarket. One only has to walk down an aisle loaded with gleaming red tomatoes, juicy melons, fresh potatoes, and a plethora of other vegetables and fruits and gather whatever captures one's fancy or appetite. A person living in a Westernized culture often takes for granted the hard work, resource usage, and waste that occurs to bring food to him. Tomatoes, for example, currently follow a long and difficult route to the supermarket. To begin with, field workers must pick the tomatoes by hand while they are still green. The unripe tomatoes are then trucked to facilities where they are gassed with ethylene to artificially induce ripening (Engel 108). Treating green tomatoes with gas to make the red color appear before the tomato ripens allows them to be shipped with less bruising and spoilage because they are still hard, but this practice detracts from their flavor and makes them taste, as some like to say, like cardboard! After the tomatoes are gassed, the red (but tough) tomatoes are distributed to the supermarkets. The "cardboard" tomato problem illustrates a larger problem in agriculture - crop spoilage associated with the predations of insects and fungi and with shipping. We saw that picking fruits such as tomatoes while they are green and chemically ripening them is a solution to some of the spoilage problem in crops, while using other chemicals can prevent some damage by pests. However, these chemicals often create environmental hazards in areas where they are used, and pests can often develop resistance to chemicals used to destroy them, making the release of even more pesticides and fungicides int... ...ill form a string, and the tRNA molecules will be released into the cell. When this string of amino acids is completed, it is called a protein. Some proteins provide structure in living things (such as the protein in muscle tissue), while others can promote certain chemical reactions in cells (such as the breakdown of pectin in tomato cell walls). The above information was taken from Biology, Neil Campbell, et. al., New York: Addison Wesley, 1999, p.316. Works Cited Campbell, Neil et. al. (1999). Biology. New York: Addison Wesley Engel, Karl-Heinz et al., editors. (1995). Genetically Modified Foods: Safety Aspects, Washington, DC: American Chemical Society. Nettleton, Joyce. (1999, January). Wedging Science into Public Policy, Food Technology, p. 20. Wilson, Edward O. (1999). The Diversity of Life. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

How to be a good student Essay

To become a good student, you need to get motivated! Motivation can come from seeing the situation of many poor children around the world who are not lucky enough to get a proper education. This is a good thing to keep in mind when you find yourself not wanting to attend class or study at home. Another reason to get motivated to study is that you will enjoy a better quality of life as an educated person. You can go to educational websites, like this one, and surf them with interest. You must not force yourself to study, as this will make learning a chore and you will not feel like even opening your books. You will have many academically good students in your courses. Try becoming friends with them (or encourage your current friends to be better students), and you’ll be immersed in an academic environment which will help you feel motivated! Above all, you need confidence! For that, we need to feel that we are working for ourselves and not for others! Good luck! Chapter 2 – Concentration On Studies Concentration follows eagerness. This section provides you with the basics of â€Å"Concentration† and also provides you with advice as to how to get aroused with concentration. You need to pay attention in a class. Don’t start chatting with your peers/friends when the teacher turns their back to you. Even better; don’t associate with distracting people. You should realize that the people in your class play an important role in how everybody progresses. However, if you are a good student you will do better and achieve your goals. Your friends will be there for you at that time, if they are trustful and of a good reputation. At home, study and do your homework in a place that doesn’t make you sleep. It is advisable to have a dedicated study table or desk. Don’t do your study work on the bed or in front of the TV, radio, stereo, etc. That would be pointless because you are meant to be thinking about your studies.

Did Women Have a Renaissance?

The Renaissance was the time period between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries that led to the beginning of many new ideas and developments. It was a time period of prosperity for many European countries especially Italy. Economic and intellectual changes occurred and it also gave the opportunity for many new doors to open to new directions in art, social, scientific, and political beliefs. Although during this time of great reform women had minimal amounts of influence. It is argued, that because of this lack of power, the term Renaissance does not necessarily apply to omen, and it was a title that was given to them afterwards.Women were excluded from the opportunity to take part in the rebirth of classical ideas due to lack of education, stereotypical beliefs about women, and because many women married young making it very challenging to pursue further education. Women were denied opportunities to participate in the Renaissance due to the lack of education the majority of wom en during this time received. However, as in many cases there is an exception to this statement. An example of this very rare exception during this time erred is a letter from Angelo Boliviano to an upper class maiden Cassandra Fiddle.Angelo observes that she is one of the few educated women of her age. (DOC 1 One should approach this document with caution because the source is a humanist letter to a wealthy upper class woman. On the other hand John Knox once observed that it would be awful if women ever reigned supreme over men. (DOC . ) John Knox in some ways was correct and in some ways was incorrect. John Knox was correct if he was commenting on the overall intellectual ability of most women at the time. However, urine this time there were a few women who were well educated and some who even reigned over men.Women during the Renaissance carried around a large amount of stereotypes. Many of which were very critical about the way women should act, the way they should be nothing mo re than a house keeper, and how women were not able to become well educated enough to do anything worthwhile in their life's. Francesco Barbara observed that women should never speak in public unless spoken to. (Doc. ) However, one should take count of the point of view of the source because Francesco was Presbyterian. Presbyterian at this time listened very closely to anything that the founder of their religion said.In which case Presbyterian did anything John Knox said or did. John Knox highly disliked the Queen of Scotland Mary because she was not a Presbyterian. John Nook's teachings brought along many stereotypes women would have to burden during this time. The most major reason women of this time weren't able to pursue further education is because of the age at which they would become married. When these women would become married many of them would not even be considered a legal adult by today's standards. According to (Doc. The majority of women would get married at the age of 17 or 18.However, one should be able to see that this source doesn't account for women that were forced to marry at a younger age then they would've preferred. This source does show that this would more than likely not allow women to pursue a higher education unless the family could afford a private tutor. Which were only possible if the woman was from a very wealthy upper class family. It is argued that many women during this time period wished not to be women. (Doc. ) Shows that Siesta Angola once wrote that she wondered why she was born a women when here were already some many in the world.Women were excluded from the chance to take part in the rebirth of classical ideas due to lack of education, stereotypical beliefs about women, and because many women married young making it very difficult to pursue further schooling. Women did not experience a renaissance because the view on women were very critical and primarily demanded women were only made to reproduce and house keep. Du ring this time period many women around the world experienced this kind of treatment from men. With the exceptions off few places like Japan.

Psychoanalytic-Feminist Study of American Slasher Film

Psychoanalytic-Feminist Study of American Slasher Film Free Online Research Papers Woman as castrator: A psychoanalytic-feminist study of the castrating mother and Final Girl in the American slasher film. This dissertation will explore how the woman is portrayed as castrator in the American slasher film using the critical approach of psychoanalytic-feminism. This will be achieved by analysing the female character as castrating mother and Final Girl. Gregory Waller states that the landscape of the modern American horror film is characterised by displaying pornographic violence against women (Waller, 1987: 8). For example, one of the most emblematic modern American horror sub-genres is the slasher film. The slasher film promotes sexual violence against women by categorically portraying the patriarchal male monster who subjects women to a subordinate and misogynistic position by butchering sexually promiscuous females with his phallic knife, punishing sexually active women who participate in pre-marital intercourse and other transgressive sexual activities (Neale in Schneider, 2004: 4). Thus, a character such as Michael Myers from the Halloween series personifies that ideology of patriarchal masculinity associated with male power, dominance and aggression, perpetuating the primordial patriarchal unconscious governed by the desire to subdue ‘woman’ and the feminine (Neale in Grant, 1996: 342). Thus, the male monster is represented as the sadist who unconsciously releases sexual repressed desires and castrates the female victim with his phallic weapon. However, the sexually active female victim or ‘bad girl’ could be argued to occupy a masochistic position. Thus, her castration implies that she receives sexual pleasure from unconscious fantasies of domination and torture from the sexually repressed slasher (Williams in Grant, 2004: 150). Nonetheless, the rise of psychoanalytic-feminist film criticism during the second stage of feminist film theory between 1975 and 1983 (Hayward, 2000: 115), attempted to suggest that women throughout the horror film were not represented as castrated; on the contrary, women were fundamentally empowered and portrayed as castrators. For instance, Barbara Creed challenged the archetypical view that the monsters throughout the modern American horror film were gendered as male. Creed argued that female monsters have populated the horror film since the 1940s including the woman as an animal in the Cat People (dir. Jacques Tourneur, 1942), the mature female psycho (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? dir. Robert Aldrich, 1962), the female witch in Carrie (dir. Brian De Palma, 1976) and woman as the bleeding gash in Dressed to Kill (dir. Brian De Palma, 1980) (Creed, 1993: 1). The slasher film illustrates the castrating woman by portraying the female monster as the castrating mother and female heroine known as the Final Girl. The mother’s castrating monstrosity is centred on Xavier Mendik’s suggestion that through Julia Kristeva’s notion of abjection, it is the evil castrating mother who presents an unconscious castrating threat to patriarchal superiority (Kristeva-Mendik in Chandler, 2000). This is echoed by Mark Jancovich’s notion of how at the nucleus of horror cinema is the unconscious patriarchal apprehension of woman’s ‘difference’ and her monstrous and unsettling active and castrating sexuality (Jancovich, 1992: 10). Although Creed’s argument expresses that the monster is not invariably gendered as male, the adolescent male spectator participates in a sadistic pleasurable experience. This is where the male viewer identifies with the male slasher through the subjective cinematography of the killer and acquires the slasher’s sadistic-voyeuristic ‘controlling gaze’ (Mulvey in Chandler, 2000). Nonetheless, this sadistic-voyeuristic relationship between the male slasher and spectator is essentially sabotaged when the male audience are encouraged to identify with the other manifestation of the castrating woman: the Final Girl. Unlike her sexually promiscuous and castrated companions, she is signified by her independence, survival instincts and the active female, yet masculine gaze. The passive, asexual woman essentially manifests into an active and powerful phallic female, releasing her unconscious sexually repressed desires and symbolically castrates the male slasher in an angry fashion (Williams in Grant, 2004: 151). Thus, the gender relationship between the male monster, Final Girl and implied male spectator is confusing and ambiguous. This is where the male audience are essentially encouraged to identify across genders and to adopt, however temporarily, both sadistic and masochistic positions in the horror scenario. The two particular character types representing the woman as castrator that will be unpicked in the following investigation will be how the woman is portrayed as the castrating mother and Final Girl. The castrating mother The discourse of the villainous castrating mother arose throughout the post-war period in American society as a response to the loving and nurturing relationship between father and daughter. This disturbing image of the mother was a prelude to the representative figure of the ‘Mom’ (Gant, 2006: 82). Momism was released into the American public consciousness with the 1943 publication of Philip Wylie’s misogynistic essay of American society entitled Generation of Vipers. Wylie’s central argument was how the depiction of Momism in post-war films was symptomatic of a failure of masculinity and paternalism (Wylie in Gant, 2006: 82). This corresponds to Gorer who recognised that the phobic Mom was illustrative of the ‘clinging mother,’ symptomatic of how American men have a clear fear and uncertain attitude towards American post-war mothers (Gorer in Gant, 2006: 89). After the Second World War, the fabric of American family life was heavily damaged. Academic commentators including Marynia Farnham and Ferdinand Lundberg describe the change in family attitudes as a result of the fathers at war in the military and the resulting convergence of mother-child relationships. This produced oedipal and disconcerting maternal undertones, contributing to a loss of positive paternal family values through the absent father and the abject Mom (Gant, 2006: 93). Kenneth Phillips argues that during the 1950s and 1960s, the American suburban Dream was underpinned by maternal separation and the domesticated mother. This ultimately led to the mother’s frustration and loneliness over the child’s health and wealthfare. Thus, the apparent absence of the father and mother’s domestic dominance was reflective of the over-protective nature of Momism (Phillips, 2005: 66-67). This maternal threat of Momism was exacerbated by other 1970s political events including the reduction of male capitalism as a result of de-industrialisation, the rise of feminism and the decrease in American masculine dominance. Thus, American middle-class motherhood became more actively threatening and unsettling (Genter, 2006: 3). It is this particular alarming representation of motherhood that underpins the portrayal of the castrating mother in the modern slasher film. The image of the castrating mother throughout the slasher film is rooted in two particular Freudian critiques entitled Little Hans and the Wolf Man. Freud discovered that it was the unconscious mother who acted as the castrator and punished sexually promiscuous women. Melanie Klein expands Freud’s notion of the unconscious mother by theorising two perceptions of the mother. One perspective is the way that the child’s encounter with the mother’s breast is symbolised as the â€Å"phallic† and evil unconscious mother (Freud-Klein in Kaplan, 1992: 107). This dominating image of the mother corresponds to her â€Å"monstrous† symbolic threat, theorised by Julia Kristeva as the child’s profound abject fear. This monstrosity centred on maternal melancholy is reflective of Hitchcock’s image of mothers, disrupting the unconscious patriarchal order in a violent and disturbing fashion (Kristeva in Kaplan, 1992: 117). The Hitchcock horror film that encapsulates the unconscious threat of the castrating mother is his masterpiece, Psycho. Psycho (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) is simply the ‘quintessential’ horror film (Modleski in Creed, 1993: 140), described by Adam Rockoff as the grandfather of all slasher films (Rockoff, 2002: 26). Psycho was the very first cinematic slasher film, which inspired the American horror film landscape in the late 1970s and early 1980s to become inundated with visceral and violent slasher films (Dika in Waller, 1987: 86). Psycho is also an exemplary slasher film that explicitly illustrates Freud’s notion of the monstrous, castrating mother known as Mrs. Norma Bates. The threat of the castrating mother is presaged in Psycho’s opening title sequence. Christopher Palmer states that the music ‘inform(s) the audience that something traumatic is going to happen’ (Palmer in Sullivan, 2006: 253). This is emphasised by Spellbound’s composer Miklos Rozsa who suggests that the ‘stark, jagged music, so redolent of Bartà ³k and Stravinsky, is sufficient to grip the spectators in their seats, filling them with a nightmarish apprehension of the terror to come’ (Rozsa in Sullivan, 2006: 253). Thus, Palmer and Rozsa are expressing the appropriateness of the terrifying soundtrack that effectively foreshadows and conveniently interpellates the narrative’s initial equilibrium with a dramatic sense of horror. This prefigures the future arrival of the castrating mother in a shocking and unsettling fashion. The castrating power of Mrs. Bates is exemplified by her dominating and possessive psychic control over her son, Norman Bates. The omnipotent threat of Norman’s psychological torture from his castrating mother is a perpetual unconscious fear (Modleski, 2005: 109). This is symptomatic of the powers of the horror genre, relating to masculine fears of maternal abjection. Thus, the fear is not just of castration, but of the loss of total self (Kristeva in Modleski, 2005: 109). However, in order to prevent complete castration, Norman becomes mother. Thus, he essentially manifests into the castrator, rather than being castrated (Creed, 1993: 140). Norman’s transformation from the conscious Norman Bates to his unconscious evil mother is symptomatic of mother’s psychological attachment to Norman. American psychoanalyst Edmund Bergler argues that the unconscious attachment of the mother to Norman carries oedipal undertones, where: ‘The boy considers himself the innocent victim of a witch who is capable of starving, devouring, poisoning, choking, chopping to pieces, draining, and castrating him’ (Bergler in Genter, 2006: 1). Although Bergler’s statement is centred on the pre-oedipal child’s over-attachment to the castrating threat of the mother, Robert Genter suggests that this specific psychoanalytic situation of the infant is applicable to the psychotic behaviour of Norman Bates, centred on the victimisation from his castrating mother (Genter, 2006: 1). Moreover, what is particularly verbally castrating to Norman is mother labelling him as ‘boy,’ even though Norman is now an adolescent. This infantilises Norman and also expresses that he will always remain a child from mother’s perspective (Creed, 1993: 142). In one of the initial conversations between Norman and ‘his’ first victim Marion Crane, Norman informs her that ‘we’re all in our private trap. We scratch and claw, but only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it we never budge an inch’ (Wood, 2002: 145). Norman is subliminally describing his traumatic, psychotic attachment to his deceased mother, Norma Bates. This produces his psychotic behaviour and a clear sense of converging to the psychoanalytic notion of the Oedipus complex. However, Freud associated the Oedipus complex with ‘falling in love with the mother and jealousy of the father’ (Freud in Mitchell, 2000: 61). Thus, the mother-child relationship that is depicted in Psycho is not totally indicative of the Oedipus complex, since Norman’s father is fundamentally absent. This creates an omnipotent maternal relationship between Norman and mother. Thus, the oedipal metaphor is only realised through mother’s a ttachment to Norman, an entrapment where there is no escape for Norman. The castrating Mrs. Bates is illustrated in a variety of ways. For example, she is explicitly portrayed as a rotting skeleton corpse that surveys and watches Norman from the window on the top floor of the Victorian mansion. Thus, Mrs. Bates embodies Kristeva’s notion of mother as abject, fearful object (Kristeva in Kaplan, 1992: 117). This demonstrates that Norman is somewhat trapped in the Oedipus complex and also expresses mother’s evil and apprehensive power over Norman. This also symbolises the inferior and apparently absent paternal role of the father. Mother’s dominance is also symbolised by the large, gothic, Freudian-like mansion that towers and essentially gazes down on the smaller Bates’ motel. The motel symbolises Norman, which is the location of promiscuous sexual activity. Norman is the proverbial voyeur, peeping through a tiny hole in the wall to spy on the naked bodies of his next victims. However, the walls of his office are filled with a range of stuffed birds of prey. The birds act as the voyeuristic ominous mother, featuring their piercing, threatening eyes. They have also been conveniently murdered by Norman at the precise moment of attack. This symbolises mother’s alert, observant presence and her perpetual internal attack on Norman’s psyche (Creed, 1993: 143). Furthermore, the beak of the black crow in Norman’s office is also symbolic of the evil castrating mother. The projection of the crow’s shadow and stabbing the picture on the wall is illustrative of mother’s demonic phallus. This is symbolic of mother’s phallic, castrating and devouring power (Creed, 1993: 144). These mummified birds of prey also represent the predatory castrating mother, ready to strike, where Norman and mother are voyeuristically spying on their prey. Thus, this could suggest that mother punishes Norman by forcing him to dress up as mother and kill with the phallic knife, for gaining scopophilic sexual pleasure from peering at sexually active women (Creed, 1993: 146). However, Elizabeth Bronfen suggests that the character of Norman Bates: ‘Is and is not mother, both is and is not dead, is neither masculine nor feminine, mother nor son, fetish, corpse, nor living body. Rather it is all these states amalgamated into one phantastic body, into whose presence Hitchcock has drawn us’ (Bronfen in Wells, 2000: 74). Thus, Bronfen is arguing that Norman Bates is a paradoxical character, whose psychotic behaviour as mother and the domesticated male who manages the Bates’ motel produces a character of contradictions, mystification, sudden horror and extreme rage (Wells, 2000: 76). The first instance of Norman’s sudden intense fury as the castrating mother is during the shower scene, described by Frederic Jameson as the most ‘horrific and immediate scene in motion picture history’ (Jameson in Creed, 1993: 148). The way that Bernard Herrman’s non-diegetic soundtrack functions is particularly significant to Hitchcock’s divergence from classic cinema sound conventions of placing music in the background and instead using it beneficially in the foreground (Sullivan, 2006: 244). When the shower curtain is pulled back, the non-diegetic soundtrack bursts into a violin screech bird-like sound. This high pitched screech intensifies the atmosphere and enhances the image of Norman as the castrating mother with even more phallic power and terror. Thus, the ‘beaked’ mother has arrived with her phallic knife, as a fetishistic phallic mother (Bellour in Creed, 1993: 147). Marion’s symbolically sexual enjoyment of the hot cleansing water mirrors the initial sexual intercourse scene at the beginning of Psycho. Thus, mother punishes Marion for performing unconscious sexual activity whilst in the shower (Bellour in Creed, 1993: 146-147). However, Roger Dadoun argues that the all-powerful and controlling castrating power is explicitly realised at the film’s finale. The penultimate scene occurs in the cellar. Lila has apparently discovered the location of the mummified Mrs. Bates. However, when she turns the chair around, it reveals the hideous, rotting skeleton face with piercing black holes that is essentially captured in close-up shot. Thus, Hitchcock’s cinematography illustrates mother’s devilish, castrating omnipresence, expressing her invulnerability and abject undying nature (Dadoun in Creed, 1993: 150). This also reveals Psycho’s sexist subtext of what happens to mother when she is left alone without father. This is her failure to exert appropriate moral and wise maternal authority towards Norman. When Norman attacks Lila dressed as his mother in the cellar, the camera jump cuts to a close-up shot of mother’s grinning yet lifeless skull. Thus, Norman’s attempted assault is symbolic of mother’s psychic active participation with the castrating attack. This also conforms to Norman’s schizophrenic conflict as associated with life and death: the conscious, sexually repressed mind of Norman and the psychotic, unconscious phallic power of his mother (Creed, 1993: 150). Nevertheless, the closure of Psycho confirms that Norman’s contradictory and conflicting character manifests into one defining persona, a metamorphosis into the unconscious castrating mother. Mrs. Bates’s symbolic castration of Norman strips him of all sense of patriarchal masculinity. Gorer expresses that Norman ‘carries around, as it were, encapsulated inside him, an ethical, admonitory, censorious mother (Gorer in Gant, 2006: 91). Thus, Norman essentially manifests into mother, a severe psychological disease that eventually devours and pollutes all areas of his conscious mind. When Norman-mother utters ‘It’s sad when a mother has to speak the words that condemn her own son’ (Williams, 1996: 77), it implies that mother has supernaturally internalised her evil, devouring spirit inside Norman. This signifies her spiritual and psychic possession of Norman’s mind, dominating his internal psychological structure and influencing his castrati ng behaviour. This is externally portrayed by the momentary superimposition of mother’s perturbed smile over Norman’s face. This theory of mother’s total unconscious possession of Norman is echoed by Michael Chion, suggesting that the threatening disembodied voice of mother has finally found what he labels its acousmatic (Chion in Zizek, 1992: 233-234). Thus, the abject spirit of mother has located a body, which is conveniently her son Norman. The perturbing smile from Norman-mother confirms the attachment of mother’s voice to Norman’s body. This manifests Norman into a definite Other, where the terrifying voice of mother emanating from Norman’s body creates a zombified figure. This symbolic zombie is the production of the superego. The unconscious maternal power of mother has magically entered the conscious mind of Norman. Thus, he has essentially become the unconscious castrating mother to prevent his own castration (Zizek, 1992: 234). The closure of Psycho II (dir. Richard Franklin, 1983) also indicates the dominating presence of the castrating mother. Norman murders his supposedly real mother, Norma Bates’ sister Emma Spool. He carries her upstairs acting as a substitute for Norma’s body, which was buried in a coffin at the end of Psycho. The final image is a long empowering shot of the Victorian house with a silhouette image of mother looking down at Norman as he looks up to her, waiting for the next visitors. The cloudy and thundery conditions and the chilling non-diegetic soundtrack not only create a horrifying closure; however, this also symbolically reveals a deep cultural view of American suburban mundanity, centred on the oedipal relationship between Norman and mother. Mother’s castrating presence is also portrayed by the cinematography. For instance, the dominating house and mother looking down at Norman on the left side of the frame juxtaposes with just Norman standing outside to the right side of the frame. Symbolically, Norman is still just a ‘boy,’ belittled, infantilised and essentially dominated by his watchful, castrating mother. Mother’s castrating threat is still apparent throughout the dà ©nouement of Psycho III (dir. Anthony Perkins, 1986). Upon discovering from a journalist that Emma Spool was actually Norman’s aunt who killed Norman’s father in a jealous frenzy since Norman’s mother intercepted Norman’s father, Norman, dressed as mother, was about to butcher the reporter when he instead castrated the mummified corpse of Emma Spool with his butchers knife. Norman’s sexually phallic actions psychoanalytically suggest his release of sexual energies from his repressed sexuality and liberation from his oedipal relationship with his mother. Thus, Norman is re-phallicised and his castration of mother deems patriarchy as victorious. However, this patriarchal victory is only temporary. Mother’s castrating threat is realised in the final scene where Norman is taken back to prison. In the back seat of the police car, he pulls out mother’s arm and begins stroking her hand. Simultaneously, he stares into the camera with a perturbed grin, which is a clear intertextual echo to the end of the first Psycho. Thus, this portrayal of the castrating mother is not as visually threatening as the end of Psycho and Psycho II. However, although mother has been castrated, she returns unconsciously as re-phallicised. Thus, this is still significantly suggestive of Norman’s entrapment within the Oedipus complex and his perennial psychological attachment to the castrating mother. The symbolic incestuous desire of their relationship is represented during Psycho IV: The Beginning (dir. Mick Garris, 1990). One particular scene features young Norman Bates and mother on a hot summer’s night. Mother suddenly asks Norman to block her with skin oil. She instructs Norman to begin at the legs and slowly work his way up. This is symbolically sexually stimulating for mother as she receives satisfaction, releasing repressed sexual gratifications. Unexpectedly, she pushes Norman to the floor and they frolic and roll around together. Whilst this may denote innocent adolescent love, mother’s actions connote her sexual domination of Norman. Thus, mother is unconsciously using and imagining Norman as her fantasised boyfriend or sexual ‘toy boy.’ Her sexual desires also correspond with Freud’s theory of ‘mother-in-love-action,’ an illustration of an incestuous perversion of normal instinct (Freud in Kaplan, 1992: 115). However, mother’s unconscious incestuous sexual desires for Norman are disrupted when Norman is inadvertently lying on top of his mother, positioned symbolically for sexual intercourse. This phallically stimulates Norman. At the point of incest, mother is immediately angry and recognises his erection. Thus, she instantly acts to castrate Norman by forcing him to wear her clothes, putting on her make-up, claiming that his phallus is restricted only to urination and calls him Norma. This is the ultimate masculine insult, symptomatic of mother’s castrating control and dominance over Norman. However, the narrative closure of Psycho IV: The Beginning signifies the psychoanalytic significance of the American dream. The finale begins in an unsettling fashion when Norman instructs his fiancà © Fran to meet him at his mother’s house. Norman’s castrating thoughts return as he threatens to stab her because he wishes not to become a father. In the cellar, Norman attempts to kill Fran with his phallic knife. However, for the very first time, his conscious feelings of love and compassion overpower his unconscious thoughts of the menacing evil mother. Norman eventually relinquishes the knife and hugs Fran, confirming his personal liberation from his castrating mother. Nevertheless, Norman is determined to completely exorcise his castrating mother. Thus, he decides to burn the old Victorian house. He manages to escape and utters â€Å"I am free.† His new heterosexual relationship with Fran not only signifies the American Dream and a new chapter in Norman’s life, it also conforms to the positive new equilibrium associated with classical narrative cinema (Blandford et al, 2001: 47), an uplifting resolution from his oedipal anxieties. This sense of positivity is finally confirmed with a baby’s scream, a crucial aural signifier that expresses a new era in Norman’s life. This new relationship liberates Norman from the spirit of his dominating, castrating mother. Thus, the closure of Psycho IV: The Beginning represents Kristeva’s statement where ‘that other sex, the feminine, becomes synonymous with a radical evil that is to be suppressed’ (Kristeva in Kaplan, 1992: 117). Kristeva’s notion of the suppressed feminine evil monster applies to the closure of Psycho IV: The Beginning as the evil mother is ultimately suppressed to the unconscious. The fact that Norman burned the house symbolically sentenced mother to an eternal imprisonment in the evil depths of hell. Patriarchal masculinity is finally restored and paternalism is also victorious over motherhood. Thus, Norman has fundamentally become the one entity that has been absent throughout the entire Psycho series: a father. Although the central figure of evil in Halloween (dir. John Carpenter, 1978) is the implied male monster Michael Myers, Steve Neale argues that Myers is also unconsciously indicative of the castrating mother, reasserting the fantasy of the mother-child relationship. However, the concrete absence of the maternal figure throughout Halloween’s opening sequence suggests that the relationship between Michael and mother is essentially fragmented. This sense of detachment manifests the image of mother into an unconscious object of threat and menace (Neale in Grant, 1996: 345). Thus, the horrific symbolic image of the mother is inherently internalised into Michael as he has been endowed with castrating supremacy. This positions the infantile Michael as an overtly aggressive and all-powerful slasher, modelling is new omnipotence from his mother. Myers’ image as unconscious castrating mother mirrors the character of Norman Bates, due to his phallicisation with the butcher’ s knife to prevent his own castration. Thus, Michael’s castrating and phallic power originates from the locus of all abject phallic power, the castrating mother. The alien mother in Alien (dir. Ridley Scott, 1979) is portrayed as the dehumanised castrating mother. The metaphor of the ‘mother alien’ inscribed into the alien has the indiscriminating killing power of destroying humanity and producing alien offspring (Creed, 1993: 22). This castrating power is apparent when Dallas experiences the alien in the womb-like air corridors, where the alien’s razor-sharp teeth and oceanic, over-domination, creates an ‘all-incorporating’ phallic, fetishistic power; a metaphor of the all-dominant mother. The mother is also portrayed by the life-support voice of the Nostromo ‘mother’ ship and appropriately ignores Ripley’s instructions of deactivating the ship’s self-destruct system, during the climax. This results in Ripley shouting at mother saying ‘mother, you bitch!’ (Kavanagh in Kuhn, 1990: 76-77). Thus, the mother figure that is signified through the images of the alien and compu ter voice represents a deviant, mechanised and somewhat evil castrating figure that is devoid of humanised emotions. In A Nightmare on Elm Street (dir. Wes Craven, 1984), Marge Thompson acts as the castrating mother, where upon participating in the burning of the child murderer Freddie Krueger, she stole and is now the owner of Krueger’s metallic fingered glove. Marge is symbolically phallicised and has thus castrated Krueger. Marge also infantilises and somewhat castrates her daughter Nancy by providing her with warm milk, ironic tender mother care and also imprisons Nancy and herself in their house, placing iron bars across the windows and front door. This connotes a possessive maternal relationship between mother and daughter (Genter, 2006: 3). During the dà ©nouement of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Krueger castrates Marge and she is subsequently transformed into a corpse that descends symbolically into the unconscious. Moreover, the mummified carcass of Leatherface’s mother is symbolically positioned as a threatening castrating presence, crowned on the chair at the family’s house in Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part II (dir. Tobe Hooper, 1986). The tombstone of Judith Myers also acts metaphorically as an abject dead corpse, after her murder by her brother Michael Myers in Halloween (Genter, 2006: 3). The male monster throughout the Friday the 13th series is the psychotic madman named Jason Voorhees. However, the slasher in Friday the 13th Part I (dir. Sean S. Cunningham, 1980) is his mother Mrs. Voorhees, where Jason is permanently psychically attached to his castrating mother. Richard Genter states that Mrs. Voorhees is the embodiment of traditional Freudian psychoanalysis in Friday the 13th Part I. For instance, she alleviates her own penis envy through phallicising herself with various phallic weapons such as screwdrivers and a butcher’s knife. She also suppresses her own acceptance of losing her son Jason by allowing his spirit to speak to her through her mouth (Genter, 2006: 4). However, the representation of Jason’s deceased and castrating mother Mrs. Voorhees is depicted in an abject horrifying manner in Friday the 13th Part II (dir. Steve Miner, 1981). When Ginny is being chased by Jason and approaches his lair, the non-diegetic piano refrained soundtrack is disconcerting and eerie. Thus, the soundtrack enhances the representation of the isolated, derelict and death-like rural hut as the central location of unconscious threat and terror. When Ginny arrives at the hut in an attempt to escape from the slasher, she inadvertently arrives in an area far more terrifying. The image of the decaying head of Jason’s castrating mother is symbolically illustrated as a shrine, with Mrs. Voorhees’s head depicting an unholy object of abjection and evil, surrounded by candles. This demonstrates the demonic castrating power of Mrs. Voorhees. When Ginny slashes Jason on his shoulder with the machete, she perceives that he is dead. However, his dramatic crash through the window at the film’s closure not only restores Jason’s patriarchal masculinity, but also indicates a symbolic victory for the castrating mother. This is highlighted by the final close-up shot of Mrs. Voorhees’ putrid head, revealing her subliminally active and castrating participation. Thus, this is also an allusion to the revengeful castrating spirit of Mrs. Bates, the quintessential castrating abject mother (Genter, 2006: 4). The Final Girl The woman is also portrayed as castrator in the American slasher film as the Final Girl. She is denoted as the female survivor who usually does not die. Throughout the era of the slasher film, there have been numerous Final Girls including Sally from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Marti (Hell Night), Valerie (Slumber Party Massacre), Laurie (Halloween) and Nancy (A Nightmare on Elm Street) (Humphries, 2002: 150). Reynold Humphries explains that one theory suggesting her invariable survival from the menacing slasher is because she is asexual and not sexually active (Humphries, 2002: 150). Marti, the female sole survivor in Hell Night (dir. Tom DeSimone, 1981) has a high degree of feminine honour and is also a car mechanic that connotes her as a masculine female. This is juxtaposed by one of the sexually active females who actually invites the slasher to kill her, where the victim’s promiscuity is denoted by her erotic lingerie (Clover, 1992: 151). Thus, she is positioned as masochistic. The victim’s masochism is signified by her symbolic orgasmic screech. This aural diegetic element not only demonstrates her submission to unconscious fantasies of pain and torment; it also reveals the occurrence of the slasher’s sexual sadistic attack, where the adolescent male spectator engages in sadistic-voyeuristic participation. Thus, through her masochistic depiction, she is also the misogynistic object of the slasher’s sadistic-voyeuristic gaze, encouraging his phallic threat (Chion in Conrich and Woods, 2004: 58). While it is clearly the sexually active females who are murdered, the Final Girl is also subject to misogyny by being chased, stalked and even injured by the slasher. Thus, although the Final Girl survives the slasher’s murderous rampage, it could be argued that the Final Girl’s emotional victimisation and her embodiment of abject terror towards the slasher is just as misogynistic as the death of the promiscuous women (Clover, 1992: 35). However, the Final Girl’s victory over the slasher indicates a triumph for feminism. This could be coded as masculine, where the slasher’s inability and lack of masculine determination to kill the final female throughout the dà ©nouement depicts the slasher has castrated and somewhat feminised. This is due to the Final Girl’s courage to survive the slasher’s onslaught. Her implied masculinity is also indicated by her boyish name such as Stevie, Marti, Laurie, Stretch and Max (Clover, 1992: 40). Thus, the Final Girl’s masculinised nature could also be symptomatic of the male spectator identifying with the Final Girl’s masculinity. This is due to the male audience’s unconscious refusal of accepting the social stereotypical view of passive, inferior females and active, responsible males. Rather, the adolescent male spectator is diverging from the sadistic-voyeuristic relationship between the slasher and male viewer, participating with the Final Girl in a desirable shared experience of masculinity and self-importance (Clover, 1992: 151-152). An example of the Final Girl’s implicit masculinity is Alice’s heroism during the finale of Friday the 13th Part I. Although Alice is traditionally a feminised name, her symbolic castration of the castrating mother Mrs. Voorhees could be coded as a masculine victory. She is phallicised through being armed with the phallic pick axe and decapitates the mother, punishing her as the conscious mass murderer and unconsciously for acting in a masculine fashion. Thus, these actions could be symptomatic of masculinity, especially as afterwards Alice returns to her usual role in society as a typical feminine female (Clover, 1992: 152). Nancy from A Nightmare on Elm Street also conforms to the masculinised Final Girl. She acquires the ‘active investigating gaze,’ searching for the killer Freddy Krueger with initial trepidation and ultimately bringing him aggressively back into reality, where she can castrate Krueger at the films finale (Clover, 1992: 48). The dà ©nouement of A Nightmare on Elm Street begins when Nancy sets various phallic booby traps around her house for Krueger. These include a sledgehammer that she ties to the door, so that when Krueger opens it, the phallic hammer will symbolically castrate him. She has her alarm set to go off at a particular point and envisages that in her dream, she can successfully bring Krueger back into reality and ultimately kill the slasher. Whilst in her dream, she acquires the active investigating gaze of the Final Girl, searching for Krueger in his boiler room. Although primarily the subjective cinematography indicates Krueger’s omnipresence, her locating gaze signifies focus and determination. Eventually she discovers Krueger and with only seconds remaining until the alarm goes off; she expresses no fear and launches herself on him in an animalistic fashion. This symbolically releases her sexually repressed desires on Krueger, as she manages to transfer him from the unconscious b ack into reality. Once Krueger returns to reality, the chase begins between Nancy and Krueger. However, he is struck in the lower abdomen by the sledgehammer, acting as symbolic castration. Nevertheless, she finally castrates Krueger by not being terrified and denying his existence. However, Krueger still attempts to butcher Nancy. He is unsuccessful and instantly disintegrates, symbolically returning to the depths of the unconscious. Thus, the active investigating gaze emitting from the Final Girl contravenes the characterisation of the typical male gaze and manifests it into an active female gaze. This also flouts the notion from traditional cinema that it is not the man that maintains narrative direction and pace; it is the Final Girl who drives the narrative resolution to its cathartic new equilibrium (Mulvey in Clover, 1992: 60). However, the slasher invariably returns as re-phallicised and masculinised at the film’s closure. Thus, the Final Girl’s victory is only temporary. Either the slasher returns in the sequel and is unsuccessful in killing the Final Girl such as the survival of Laurie in Halloween II (dir. Rick Rosenthal, 1981) or the demise of the Final Girl in another film including Alice, the Final Girl of Friday the 13th Part I, who is instantly murdered by Jason at the beginning of Friday the 13th Part II, the killing of Nancy in A Nightmare on Elm Street Part III: Dream Warriors (dir. Chuck Russell, 1987), Ripley’s death in Alien III (dir. David Fincher, 1992) and Laurie’s eventual demise in Halloween Resurrection (dir. Rick Rosenthal, 2002) (Pinedo, 1997: 86). Thus, this initially suggests that the image of the Final Girl is a positive portrayal of feminism. However, this sense of positivity is only momentary and could even be symptomatic that her emotional and physical misogyny is no less misogynistic than the victimisation of the sexually promiscuous females. This may also state that it does not matter whether you are promiscuous or asexual; you are still eventually going to be subjected to misogyny and ultimately murdered. However, although the Final Girl’s masculine victory is only temporary and somewhat misogynistic, her implied masculine character expresses that the female heroine symbolically manifests into the masculine hero. Thus, the equation of feminine equal’s heroine has been fundamentally replaced with hero equals masculine. For example, Ripley, the Final Girl from Alien is appropriately titled as Lieutenant. Her ability to survive and blast the Alien into space implies masculine skill, courage and determination. This demonstrates that Ripley’s victory is a triumph for feminism. However, her heroism also implicitly indicates a fundamental convergence with masculinity (Clover, 1992: 152). Ripley’s masculine character is also highlighted significantly throughout the Alien sequels. For instance, the dà ©nouement of Aliens (dir. James Cameron, 1986) begins with Ripley’s quest to kill the alien queen and locate Newt before the space station explodes. Ripley is coded as overtly masculine as the other male character is wounded and unable to fight. Her masculinity is phallicised as she is equipped with many large guns and also adopts the active investigative gaze. This indicates her determination to discover Newt and destroy the alien queen. However, after saving Newt, Ripley’s masculinity is visually emphasised in spectacular fashion during the final battle between Ripley and the alien queen. She confronts and eventually kills the alien wearing a metallic robot costume. Thus, Ripley has manifested from the implied masculinised Final Girl into an explicitly aggressive, powerful and robotised masculine hero. John Carpenter states that the killer and the Final Girl also have a symbolic sexually repressed connection (Carpenter in Clover, 1992: 49), complying with Carol Clover’s notion of a ‘shared masculinity’ (Clover, 1992: 49). However, it is clear during the dà ©nouement that the slasher’s inherent masculinity begins to diminish as the Final Girl’s masculinity, phallic threat and unfeminine behaviour increases. The complete phallicisation of the survivor is when the horror of the slasher ceases to exist, with a cathartic closure. For example, Stretch, the Final Girl from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre II escapes from the evil maniacs of Saw, Knife and Hammer. The concluding battle between Stretch and the final antagonist ensues only momentarily as she tears open his lower abdomen with her chain saw and throws him off the cliff’s edge. Thus, Stretch acquires potent phallic masculinity acting as an explicit form of castration to the antagonists (Clo ver, 1992: 49). Thus, the Final Girl’s internalised masculinity within a female body expresses a convergence between masculinity and femininity, where the identities of male and female are amalgamated into one figure. The Final Girl is unconsciously coded masculine for her active gaze and castrating thwarting strength of the slasher. This creates a phallic killer. However, she is still consciously physically feminine, which is indicated by her screaming and abject fear of the slasher (Clover, 1992: 58). Furthermore, her characteristics of masculinity and femininity create an oppositional character. For instance, she is subordinated and portrayed as vulnerable whilst being chased by the monster. However, the Final Girl is empowered by either surviving or killing the slasher. The stabbings and injuries she suffers connote her anger and frustration; however, this also simultaneously displays fear and apprehension. Thus, she is what Clover labels the ‘characterological androgyne’ (Clover, 1992: 63). She is neither entirely masculine nor feminine. She is a combination of both genders. This also partly conforms to Marc O’Day’s notion of the ‘action babe heroine’ (O’Day in Tasker, 2004: 205). Although the Final Girl is fundamentally asexual, her combination of both masculine and feminine elements mirrors the hyperbolic-heroine representations of, for example, Lara Croft from Tomb Raider (dir. Simon West, 2001) and Sarah Conner from Terminator (dir. James Cameron, 1984). This creates a symbolic masculine killer essentially emanating from a female body (O’Day in Tasker, 2004: 201, 204). Her gender during the final battle between the survivor and slasher is thus ambiguous, contradictory and continually in dynamic flux. The final conflict between the masculine Final Girl and feminised slasher is clearly a battle between two separate characters. However, Vera Dika describes the opposition between the heroine and killer as ego/id (Dika, 1987: 92). The ego demonstrates the controlled and judicious conscious mind of the female survivor and the id represents the slasher’s instinctive and unconscious desire to kill (Arrowsmith, 2001). Thus, Dika suggests that this combat between heroine and slasher is symbolically a Freudian-charged internal battle between one single self. For example, the dà ©nouement of Halloween H20 (dir. Steve Miner, 1998) features the killer Michael Myers and the Final Girl Laurie Strode. Michael and Laurie are involved in a van accident that sends the van falling off a cliff with Michael and Laurie inside. Laurie survives and Michael unfortunately lands on a tree and the van crashes onto his back. The close-up shot of Michael and Laurie stretching their hands to barely touch each other signifies the intimate convergence of the conscious ego and unconscious id. However, Laurie is armed with an axe and castrates Michael by beheading him. Thus, the Final Girl’s invariable success demonstrates the cathartic resolution of the ‘masculine’ conscious mind over the ‘feminine’ unconscious instinct. Nevertheless, if the assumption is made that the image of the masculinised Final Girl is an appropriate way of describing her gender identity, Clover also suggests that future slasher films should also feature Final Boys and Final Girls. For example, Scream (dir. Wes Craven, 1996) initiated the postmodernist cycle of the slasher film and also represents the progressive representation of the Final Girl. Sidney as the Final Girl is not only sexually attractive; she also experiences sexual intercourse with one of the killers, her boyfriend Billy. During the finale, Sidney becomes aggressively masculine and kills the other killer Stu by pushing a television on his head. She also symbolically transforms into the slasher by wearing the mask and black gown to castrate Billy with the phallic umbrella rod. Sidney ultimately castrates him when he magically resurrects and shoots him in the forehead. However, Sidney is not the only Final Girl. The television reporter Gail Weathers also survives with the Final Boys named Sheriff Dewie and Randy. This particular multiple survival pattern is intertextually echoed in future slasher films. For example Scream 2 (dir. Wes Craven, 1997) also features two Final Boys and Final Girls, where Sidney, Gail, Dewie and Cotton all survive. In Scream 3 (dir. Wes Craven, 2000), both Dewie and Gail survive along with the ultimate Final Girl Sidney. Ray and Julie survive in I Know What You Did Last Summer (dir. Jim Gillespie, 1997), Carla, Julie and Ray all remain alive in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (dir. Danny Cannon, 1998) and there is a Final Boy and Final Girl in Jason X (dir. James Isaac, 2001), Freddy Vs. Jason (dir. Ronny Yu, 2003), Halloween Resurrection, I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (dir. Sylvain White, 2006) and the remake of Friday the 13th (dir. Marcus Nispel, 2009). Although there are two physical Final Girls in Alien Resurrection (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997), it could be argued that Ripley’s masculine portrayal symbolises one Final ‘B oy’ and Final Girl. Thus, this confirms that Clover’s suggestion of the masculine Final Girl and future Final Boys was correct. Since Scream, the slasher film has progressed within the postmodern era. There have been multiple survivors of both girls and boys. Thus, there has been a progressive explicit convergence to a masculinised vision of the final female survivor. This would seem appropriate as in order to survive, you have to be tenacious and determined not to die, which is a cultural masculine trait. The Scream trilogy also encapsulates the postmodernisation of the slasher film by breaching the generic conventions associated with the traditional slasher narrative formula (Phillips, 2005: 166). Initially, Scream features two adolescent killers named Billy and Stu instead of one chief male monster. Billy is the primary implied slasher, who is seeking revenge on Sidney because her sexually promiscuous mother had an affair with his father, which led Billy’s parent’s marriage to fragment. Billy claims that he murdered Sidney’s mother and now intends on killing Sidney to complete his vengeance. Thus, this could suggest that Sidney’s sexually active phallic mother is the central catalyst that initiates the unsettling relationship between Sidney and Billy, and also influences the psychotic behaviour of Billy, which reaches terrifying heights at the film’s closure. Another example of the postmodern fashion of Scream is the sadomasochistic representation of the two teenage slashers (Genter, 2006: 11). Throughout the finale, Billy and Stu stab and symbolically castrate each other to provide the impression that it was Sidney’s father who victimised them in a violent and bloody attack. However, their unconscious sadomasochistic desires overthrow their conscious commitment of surviving and not losing copious amounts of blood. Rather than the archetypal portrayal of the sadistic male slasher, Billy and Stu are collectively the postmodern emblem of not just experiencing pleasure when stabbing other individuals; they are also slashers that are victims of their own castration and masochistic fantasies of torture and self-suffering. Thus, the masochistic position and the castrating threat of the sexually promiscuous female has fundamentally shifted to the sadomasochistic and self-castrating postmodern slasher. Another exemplary example of the progressive and postmodern representation of the Final Girl is depicted throughout the climax of Scream 3. Although Scream demonstrates Sidney’s aggressive and phallic power when she metaphorically becomes the slasher and castrates both Billy and Stu, her portrayal during the closure of Scream 3 is far more visually significant. It is realised during the dà ©nouement of Scream 3 that the slasher is discovered as Sidney’s brother Roman, claiming to be disowned by Sidney’s mother. When she initially shot Rowan after tricking him to believe that she only possessed one gun, Sidney only shot him in the chest. It was later revealed that he was wearing a bulletproof vest. Thus, because of Roman’s survival, the fight continues between Roman and Sidney. Just as it seems that Sidney is going to castrate Roman with her phallic knife, he shoots her twice. Nonetheless, he only shoots her in the chest. When Rowan believes that Sidney is dead, his celebration is interrupted by the other two survivors, Gail and Dewie. However, when he stares back at the fallen Sidney, she has mysteriously disappeared. Thus, this empowers the position of Sidney and subordinates the role of Roman, who is now the object of Sidney’s and the male spectator’s sadistic-voyeuristic gaze. Sidney has now symbolically manifested into the all-powerful castrating masculine slasher and Rowan is now the feminised victim. The cinematography also indicates the castrating power of Sidney by presenting a close-up shot of Sidney’s hand slowly grabbing another phallic knife. She ultimately castrates Roman by stabbing him numerous times and once more in the heart. She reveals to Roman that she tenaciously acted in reciprocal preservation by also wearing a bulletproof vest when she was shot twice in the chest by Roman. Sidney’s hyperbolic and symbolic and transformation into the phallic, castrating slasher implies an amalgamation of the character types of the Final Girl and male slasher. However, this may also indicate the unconscious maternal presence of the monstrous castrating mother. This is where the deceased and ultra liberated spirit of Sidney’s active phallic mother Maureen Prescott becomes internalised in Sidney’s psyche, which influences her castrating and evil behaviour over Rowan. Thus, Sidney as a blend of Final Girl and castrating mother represents a powerful postmodern representation of the female masculine survivor. This injection of the castrating mother is also a revolutionary way of portraying feminine masculinity in order to provide a positive, cathartic and essentially closed narrative closure. Thus, unlike the ending of the vast majority of slasher films, the slasher has finally departed. Thus, the postmodern slasher film depicts a progressive portrayal of the Final Girl with the addition of Final Boy(s) and the Final Girl. Her masculine and phallic power is further emphasised by the sadomasochistic, feminine slasher and is also enhanced by amalgamating her masculine aspects with the unconscious castrating mother-slasher. Conclusion In conclusion, this psychoanalytic-feminist critique of the American slasher film demonstrates that the woman is not the masochistic, castrated victim and object of the sadistic, patriarchal slasher’s and male spectator’s voyeuristic, predatory gaze. The woman is fundamentally positioned as a powerful castrating entity and this is illustrated by the dominating image of the castrating mother and the masculinised hero known as the Final Girl. Thus, this demonstrates that the representation of the castrating mother and Final Girl in the slasher film contravenes the widespread notion of the victimised and castrated female in the modern American horror film and portrays the woman as castrator. However, this notion of woman as castrator is essentially contradicted by the devious and conniving nature of the patriarchal unconscious. The image of the castrating mother reveals a profound ‘dark side’ of the patriarchal unconscious (Creed, 1993: 165-166). This is where patriarchy represents an intense unconscious fear of the phallic mother. The slasher film responds to this unconscious patriarchal peril by abjectifying the woman in a misogynistic fashion as the ‘monstrous-feminine,’ in order to maintain patriarchal power and restore the patriarchal unconscious (Creed, 1993: 166). The patriarchal unconscious relating to the Final Girl is centred on gender power warfare between the male slasher and Final Girl throughout the archetypal slasher film. The patriarchal dominance of the slasher is portrayed at the beginning of the film, which is usually governed by an unconscious maternal, castrating menace. However, during the dà ©nouement, the patriarchal masculinity and symbolic castrating maternal power of the slasher fundamentally shifts to the Final Girl. She is represented symbolically as the male castrating Other; phallicised and masculinised through her investigative and active masculine gaze and competent and successful use of various phallic weapons to either survive or ‘kill’ the slasher herself. However, the male slasher’s patriarchal superiority is restored at the film’s finale. Although the Final Girl’s ego castrates the slasher’s id and subliminally indicates a feminist triumph, her victory is only momentary. The patriarchal unconscious is ultimately re-established at the film’s closure when the slasher magically returns from the unconscious as re-phallicised and reveals his devilish terror and masculine dominance. The Final Girl is thus represented as the terrified feminine female once again. Thus, the castrating mother and Final Girl throughout the slasher film may essentially express the woman as castrator. 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