How Thomas Hardy portrays women in his stories Essay Example for Free

How Thomas Hardy portrays women in his stories Essay The three stories all have very social, historical and cultural impacts on the women of the time. The Withered Arm, is about a womans, struggle to cure her withered arm and the jealousy felt by Rhoda who had been used by the farmer in the past and had born his child. Gertrudes fear of loosing her husband and her superstition make her carry out actions that result in her death. The next story, The Distracted Preacher, is about an independent woman called Lizzy and the choice she has to make. She is involved in smuggling and the head of the gang but is offered a different life by Minister Stockdale, who asks her to marry him and leave. She decides to stay but gets caught and suffers for some years till he returns and offers again to marry him, this time she accepts but only because of circumstances. The third story, The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion, is about a shy, naive middle class woman called Phyllis and her fight between her conscience, her fathers desire and her true love. She chooses her conscience and in the end loses everything. The Withered Arm has two main female roles: Rhoda Brooks and Gertrude Lodge. They both have very different backgrounds; Rhoda is the poor working class woman while Gertrude is the pretty upper middle class women. Rhoda has to work for her son and herself just to eat; she has no husband and so is an outcast from society and has to keep herself to herself. Because of this she has no male role model for her son. Rhoda is a thin, fading women of thirty, which emphasises how hard she works and how tiring her life is. In comparison Gertrude is the typical married middle class woman, with lots of time on her hands. She is youthful and pretty, soft and evanescent, which is why Farmer Lodge married her. Rhoda has a very wicked side, which shows itself when Gertrude arrives in town. She becomes jealous and wants to know all about the well-awaited new wife. She becomes obsessed with her and makes her son find out about Gertrude and follow her, Then do you go to Holmstoke church to-morrow: shes sure to be there. This jealousy links in with the superstition of that time when Rhodas dream about Gertrude having a withered arm comes true. At that time everyone believed each village had its own witch. The witch could curse victims and make limbs wither or in extreme cases fall off. From this we can see how worried Rhoda would have been, believing she was a witch, that I exercise malignant power against my own will? This illustrates that Rhoda feel sympathetic for Gertrude and responsible for her arm. She fears what she might do to her and what may happen if she is a witch. Even though she has this evil side, you see that she does contain some sympathetic qualities. For example Rhoda recognises the gruesome fascination which leads her to find Gertrude but she is unwilling to tell her where to find Conjuror Trendle for fear that she will lose Gertrudes friendship. Hardy shows Rhodas point of view throughout the story so you feel sympathetic especially when we find the dead boy is her son. She is very independent and strong so in the end wants nothing to do with Farmer Lodge and the fling therefore refuses his sympathy vote and doesnt accept his money. Gertrude starts by being very kind and loving, she gives Rhodas son some shoes and befriends Rhoda and creates a close relationship with her. Rhoda appears concerned; particularly about Gertrudes imagined rejection by her husband. Her personality changes for the worst when her arm becomes withered. Gertrude relies on Rhoda for a concerned understanding of the growing separation between herself and her husband, who knows the disfigurement is there. The choice of the word disfigurement reveals his attitude to appearances. Social attitudes demanded that middle class women were beautiful and attractive. She turns vain and selfish, obsessed by her arm and the need to find a cure, Her determination received a fillip. She finds a treatable cure for the arm after trying so many. Shes now determined to try this one even though it involves such indignity. This is all too much for Gertrude when she finds out who the boy is in reality Rhodas son. She isnt so vain and determined, she is actually very shocked and started to feel sympathy for the victim and in end the superstition and shock kills her. In the Distracted Preacher the main female role is Lizzy Newbury a middle class, strong-minded, character who, was none the less independent. This emphasises how Lizzy is able to lead her village in successful smuggling. Shes an attractive, local girl who can take on an immense job for a women in those times but Lizzy does it as well as any man could. Lizzy is a widower and looks after her mother, as well as the customers of her Lodge, where Mr Stockdale goes to stay. She values her job and sees nothing wrong with smuggling, If a king who is nothing to us sends his people to steal out property, we have the right to steal it back. This illustrates how Lizzy doesnt care whether people think her smuggling is wrong she has reason to do it and she lives off the money and the adventure. The smuggling is tradition: My father did it, and so did my grandfather, and almost everybody in Nether-Moynton lives by it, and life would be so dull if it wasnt for that, that I should not care to live at all. This shows that Lizzy is no ordinary woman she sticks with what she wants and doesnt look up to men as a higher being besides shes a decisive woman and gets her way. She needs to carry on even though her romance with Stockdale gets in the way because he doesnt agree with it, so Lizzy uses vigorous but absurd arguments to justify her actions. To begin with Lizzy doesnt want to go away with Stockdale and marrying him, It is too much to ask. My whole life ha been passed in this way. She needs to stay in Nether-Moynton where the adventure is and not do what normal females do. Later we see Lizzys resolve deteriorates; she needs Stockdale because the money earnt from smuggling runs out. After all her talk about needing smuggling and it being fine to do it, she says it wrong, I own that we were wrong, said she. But I have suffered for it: I am very poor now, Lizzy wants Stockdale now she is poor and worthless and Stockdale offers to take her away from her poverty. Lizzy gives in and takes this offer, then settles down to the married life she once hated the thought of living because of its lack of adventure and predictability. This ending is problematic as Lizzy changed her attitudes totally. This ending was also added for the readers. The story was published each week in a magazine. Hardy wrote the ending to please the audience and give them an ending most women would of taken. There is an alternative ending to this story that isnt so problematic. This is that Lizzy would have married Owlett a member of the smuggling gang and immigrated to America. The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion has one main female role, that of Phyllis Grove an attractive middle class young lady. She is very quiet, keeps herself to herself and just likes to blend into society. She was a woman who lived her whole life without going further than the nearest market. The only family she has is her father so she has no female role model to guide her through life, this has made her very inexperienced in relationships, though it is probable that she lost her heart to Matthaus before she is herself aware. She never realised she was in love with Matthaus; she had never felt love before so never knew what this feeling was. She values her fathers opinion greatly and her father doesnt like whats going on between Matthaus and herself. He considers the soldiers merely foreign fellows who flatter young girls with unmeaning attentions. Phyllis finds Matthaus refined and well-educated. He is loving towards her, concerned about her loneliness, he does not put too much pressure on her to escape and marry him. She becomes very conscience stricken between the two men; will she go with her fathers choice (Humphrey) or her romance Matthaus? She decided the best thing to do was to conform to society and her father and marry Humphrey, She would stay at home, and marry him, and suffer. This shows that she is doing this for her father it wouldnt be love but she could live with it for her families and the moneys sake. Later we see that Phyllis has a problem as Humphrey wants to marry another woman, Belle, and Matthaus and a friend gets shot for desertion. Poor Phyllis has now been torn from fighting between two men to being alone again. We see Phylliss life if effected by this, while she lived she used to keep their mounds neat, meaning Matthaus grave. This shows Phylliss love for Matthaus still carried on when he died and this tragedy deeply affected her. In the three stories I have read the four female characters all have similarities and differences. Gertrude is similar to all three characters. She is similar to Rhoda because they both believe in superstition and worry about what is happening to them due to it. Through the story we feel sympathy for them: for Gertrude with her withered arm and death and Rhoda for being a single parent and so an outcast and for when she sees Gertrude with her arm on her dead sons neck. The sympathy vote changes throughout the story between Rhoda and Gertrude. Gertrude is like Lizzy because they are both attractive, strong-minded women. Gertrude is different to Lizzy aswell as like her because Gertrude conforms to mens expectations but Lizzy is independent and only relies on Stockdale at the end. Phyllis is probably most like Gertrude as they are both very traditional women characters for their times. They are weak women who become victims of men and the social influences of their time. Phyllis becomes a heart broken girl due to her fianci messing her around and her actual love being shot. Gertrude becomes obsessed and vain because her husband is disgusted by the fault with her arm and starts to love her less for it. Phyllis has a rich fianci and Gertrude has a rich husband. Lizzy is similar to Rhoda too because they are both strong-willed, independent women that can cope by themselves without men by their sides. This means Lizzy and Rhoda are both very different to Phyllis because she is timid and shy, she can be manipulated easily unlike Lizzy and Rhoda who manipulate other people. Phylliss character is very dependent as she does as she is told, conforming to societys expectations. If things had gone to plan then her life would be totally taken care of without her lifting a finger, when we know Lizzy chose to be independent and Rhoda had to be independent to look after her family. In my view, I admire Lizzy because she is very outgoing and a leader, which shows women to be able to lead men in this world and she can still be attractive and feminine. She seems to put men in their places by refusing Stockdales offer of marriage instead of being a stereotypical woman of that time married, at home cooking, cleaning and looking after the children. She speaks her mind when she wants to stay because smuggling gives her adventure and when she tells Stockdale there nothing wrong with smuggling. This is why I like the alternative ending that Hardy mentions in his footnote when she goes to America because she doesnt need the sympathy for being poor she stays strong and independent. Even though at the end I felt sorry for Rhoda because of her son, I was never fond of her character. She seemed evil throughout the story as if she had other secrets not yet revealed. Her character was very sneaky, holding things back from Gertrude when she was untruthful. I think Rhoda is to blame for all Gertrudes problems: she placed the curse and took Gertrude to Conjuror Trendle and she paid the price of that horrendous sight. This all made me very sympathetic towards Gertrude and I know how if feels to be superficially stereotyped. She never did anything to Rhoda and died as a consequence to Rhodas jealousy. I also sympathise with Phyllis because men ruined her life, her life was ruined by the societys strict rules at that time to do the right thing and marry for position and money, and the shooting for desertion of her true love. Men have a great impact on women and can make our lives fun, yet some men make our lives more misery than fun. In my opinion Hardy portrays women with respect, he makes them strong and independent, manly in a sense. In the early 1800s women all had their places in the world, which was in the home. Hardy brought these women out of their world and into the beginning of our not so sexist England today. Men and Society had the main impact on women of this era; I believe this is why Hardys stories were loved in this age. Women could read them and think that they had a greater role in this era and they were more intelligent than men thought. I also believe men should have read these books to see how independent and important women are to this world. It was very important for women of this era to get their thoughts and strengths across to the world, so they could begin to live as equals to men.

Essay --

You do know that milk comes from cows, goats, and other mammals. Though do you ever wonder what it goes through, before you buy it at a supermarket. Milk is used in so many ways. What it contains will amaze you. People have figured out how to contain it so it last much longer. The real amazing thing about any word you say like milk people think they know everything about it there is to know, but they have no clue. There is a history behind every word we use today, people don't look close enough. Since the 1800’s milk has been redefined. During the 1800’s people went on with their daily lives drinking milk believing they knew where it came from. Farmers believed that if you named your cows instead of giving them numbers they would produce much better. People got their milk from a farmer that owned cows. They would bring the cow door to door asking the customer if they wanted to buy it. If these people wanted milk they would come outside with a bucket or bottle to fill it up. Since the farmer had to milk from the side , cause they thought it was safer. They kept the cow clean and well taken care of , the people watched the farmer milk it. The farmers thought if the customers saw a ugly, dragging looking cow they would not buy the milk, cause the customer thought the milk would taste bad. Though in the city this was mostly impossible for the farmer. There was a middle man who would go around the city with a cart to sell milk to people. what the farmer and the customer did not know is that these peopl e were greedy. They sold the milk to the customer for a higher price for a profit. Middle men would also put half of the milk with half water. Though people actually knew where they got their milk from, th... ...teurizing milk, people invent a box. That would allow you to keep it out in the opening and you did not have to be refrigerated. Up until the world war 2 milk was pasteurized, and it was good milk people loved and enjoyed. All lot of farmers believed that this wasn't right to do and it was unfair. So like some farmers kenneth Peak of Claracok Dairy in California would refuse to have their milk pasteurized. Though others new that if they didn't put a stop to raw milk it would harm people and their kids. Straus decided since some people could not afford pasteurized milk he would set up stations. The end of the century came pretty quick and by then he had 12 stations set up N.Y. to pasteurize milk. At the time people used to let water flow by tanks of milk just to keep it cold. Around 1985 people tested pasteurizing but it failed and 5,770 people paid for it.

Bad Coffee :: essays research papers

It was a cold and damp morning, the moisture stuck to skin like flies to fly paper. The loud â€Å"thud thud thud† of the helicopters had awaken me from my trance, after two and half hours of sleep. I had risen just in time for a fresh cup of coffee when all of the sudden a chopper touched down just outside the barracks kicking up all the debris and dirt it could find. The night before had been a hellish one, the mortar blasts and screams of my fellow soldiers had kept me awake nearly all night. And how, my coffee had been ruined by the damn helicopter. I was in the worst place on Earth, Saigon, in 1968. Definitely the wrong place at the wrong time. My orders were simple, so I thought. Meet up with a group of Green Berets just outside of enemy lines, and go north to a small village controlled by American troops, we would get more information soon after we had arrived. That was it, just like king of the hill when I was kid. I met up with my partners in a joint called the Lucky Money, a real run down place, the air filled with stale smoke and the scent of plastic palm trees. Let’s just say the Lucky Money had seen better days. Hell just four months ago Bob Hope had occupied that vacant stage. The atmosphere was filled with tension. At the drop of a pin the whole environment could erupt into total chaos, half the time shoot outs would start in the street just from punks tossing rocks around. The guys I met up with were worn down, not one of them had a good night’s rest in at least a month, you could see it in their eyes. All they wanted was a ride home, and they were going to do anything and everything in their power to get home. The leader of the group, Colonel Jake Denton, had been here two damn years. He didn’t have much to say except he missed his kids. The other three were all from Texas, but none of them knew each other until the army put them together. The mousy looking kid was from Dallas, and he always had a cigarette hanging from his lip, a sure sign of the stress that was building inside him, his name was Jon Weinhard.

Little Children Movie Review Essay

â€Å"You couldn’t change the past. But the future could be a different story. And it had to start somewhere. † This final statement sums up the message of the Little Children, a film opus of Todd Fiend, that talks not merely about a love affair of two married persons, but the story of struggle and redemption of common folk living in an upper-middle class suburban Boston. This notwithstanding, the film also shows a stereotypical, albeit real depiction of the contradictions in such a neighborhood – the soccer moms, the disempowered husbands, better called ‘house-bands’, and the bored housewives in terrible need of an ego boost. The film review shall mainly quote dialogue from the film, in order to showcase fully the power of this story about suburban Northeastern America. Sarah Pierce is a successful academic and campus figure, but has since lost all glory upon her marriage to Richard, and subsequent birth to Lucy, a self-assured little girl who refuses to do everything Sarah requests. She currently suffers from an absolute absence of love in her relationship with Brad, shattered further with her catching Richard in a fit of masturbation, while wearing her panties around his head. Moreover, she eternally despises the pretentious moms she sees in Lucy’s playground all the time. The lines with sarcasm are clearly suggestive of her clear disdain for the mothers, to wit – Mary Ann: He should just be castrated. Just snip, quick and easy. Sarah Pierce: [sarcastically] You know what else you should do? Nail his penis above the entrance to the elementary school. That’d really teach him a lesson. This initial situation of Sarah inextricably creates the objective conditions for the future love affair with Brad, because one cannot reasonably expect, despite promises made at the consummation of marriage that she can eternally be faithful in the wake of the loveless situation that she is in. Her disempowerment as an intellectual by becoming a fulltime housewife living in a sea of pretentious women around her also gives further ammunition, albeit personal isolation from her community-at-large, for the blossoming of a new yet forbidden relationship with Brad. The other player in this love affair is Brad Adamson, a ‘house-band’ whose career is at a standstill – he failed the bar exams twice, and his wife is a successful documentary filmmaker, named Kathy. In such as situation, he feels absolutely helpless, in view of the fact that it is his wife that serves as the breadwinner of the family, and his main task for every given day would be to accompany their child Aaron during his playtime. Without an actual career to speak of, and a similarly successful past as Sarah, it is without a doubt a situation which would create the necessary conditions for his decision to enter into an affair with Sarah – them hopeless beings supposedly full of potential, now finally united. The proverbial meet-cute of film may be the scandalous yet affirming prank they pulled against the pretentious mothers in the playground, when Sarah and Brad hugged each other, to the absolute disdain of the mothers. The prank unleashed their long-kept longings of spontaneity and passion, long gone in the running of their marriages and only to be found again in each other’s embrace. Sarah, as the formerly empowered intellectual, possesses almost the same ridicule at Richard as what she has against the pretentious mothers, to wit – Brad Adamson: You have a nice place here. Sarah Pierce: You think? Yeah, Richard does pretty well for himself. Brad Adamson: Oh, yeah? What’s he do? Sarah Pierce: He lies. They shall soon engage in passionate love-making during a fierce rainstorm, but only after Brad realizes that their feelings for each other are mutual, as shown by a picture kept by Sarah in her study. Nonetheless, the couple in the affair approach their forbidden relationship, with great fervor, but a bit unsure, with even a tinge of guilt and remorse, particularly on the part of Brad, to wit – Brad Adamson: Do you feel bad about this? Sarah Pierce: No, I don’t. Brad Adamson: I do. I feel really bad. The other characters in the movie are as interesting as the two main love-struck protagonists. Ronnie McGorvey is an indecent exposure offender, having served prison time and has since moved back into the neighborhood with his mother. Ronnie seems to have been unreformed in his perverted ways, when he masturbates yet again during a date set by his mother, ruining the date, and destroying all hopes of him ever finding love. His return, nonetheless, is met with great protest by Larry, Brad’s teammate in touch football, and a disgraced police officer. His protests turn violent at times, not content with the mere handing out of flyers and posters about Ronnie, but also vandalizing his house, and almost assaulting Ronnie and his mother. Their seemingly grown-men, good vs. evil conflict reaches a terrible turn when a drunken Larry goes to Ronnie’s house with a megaphone, waking the entire neighborhood and shaming fully Ronnie and his mother. As his mother tries to stop Larry from further his drunken actions, he pushes her to the ground, triggering a heart attack which would soon take her life. Nonetheless, before entering death’s door, she writes a note to Ronnie with a chest-pounding plea – â€Å"Please be good boy. † This triggers Ronnie to go on a fit of rage for losing his mother, ending in castrating himself, in pursuit of his mother’s request at death. Larry would soon realize how grave his mistake was and looks for Ronnie, and bring him to the hospital for medical attention. The stories of Ronnie and Larry ironically show the awkward sense of justice and reason disgraced persons in the community pursue to redeem themselves to their loved ones and to the community. Ronnie, in the most dramatic expression of remorse and love to his dead mother, has cut of his testicles – the physical object of his sexual perversion, in order to unrealistically undo the hurt feelings of his mother created by his former acts. But despite the spectacle of it all, the drama attended by it, there is no point in doing such. The mother is dead, and the date has been left crying. On the other hand, Larry, the disgraced police officer, puts the law into his own hands by maligning Ronnie’s person and by engaging into overt acts of harassment and violence in pursuit of this. The objective is clear, that despite his failure as an officer of the law, he himself continues to be an upright man, rejecting sexual depredation and moral turpitude in the person of Ronnie. He does his brand of redemption to a serious fault, notwithstanding through aimless grandstanding, by lumping together Ronnie’s person to that of his mother, by vandalizing her property and pushing her to the ground in pursuit of his shame campaign. By doing such, he fails in the end, because the object of vigilante-ism is not the person whose life was lost, but some innocent person whose continued life could have influenced Ronnie towards full redemption from his sins, without need of castration, nor the spectacle of it. Meanwhile, the affair between Brad and Sarah becomes all the more serious, to the point that Kathy herself now witnesses the truth of the affair through the tacit sexual tensions between the two during a dinner. They have even agreed to run away together, as when two young star-crossed lovers would leave their unyielding parents in pursuit of their hasty, yet seemingly ‘true’ love. In pursuit of this, Sarah even declares the situation to Mary Ann, to wit – Mary Ann: Oh that’s nice. So now cheating on your husband makes you a feminist? Sarah Pierce: No, no, no. It’s not the cheating. It’s the hunger – the hunger for an alternative and the refusal to accept a life of unhappiness. The two were prepared to leave their loveless homes, their young children and their real spouses to perfect the ‘love’ long lost, and which now they have found through one another. This feeling of seemingly ‘great love’ is expected, but appears clearly as one that is fleeting, one that is artificial, one that was created by the sordid personal experiences of their lives, where the affair’s function was a mere outlet of a love that is merely not sought, but never absent, in their own homes. Such is how their love is that in the film’s climax, at the supposed point of no return by meeting on the night they agreed upon to run away for love, the family and the past they have left pull them back, not through force, but by circumstances that put everything back into its proper perspective. Sarah’s Lucy gets lost, and a panicked mother searches for her relentlessly in the playground where she left her, only to soon find her along under a street light. It is on this moment, that the bubble of ‘love’ in the affair is completely pierced, that the idea of the absence of love is merely in her mind, nothing more, and Lucy is the personification of that love, that has never been absent, but as stated above, a love merely unsought. Brad himself experiences a similar piercing of the ‘love bubble’, in the exact moment towards their scheduled departure for love. Brad, the confident but now disempowered lawyer-to-be, has failed to leave his goodbye letter to Kathy when he met a serious accident while trying some skateboard tricks. No clue has been given as to why he failed to leave the note to Kathy, but what can be surmised is that he probably felt the same as Sarah had, the inability, at the final instance, to create the actual physical wedge between his past and his supposed future with Sarah. This unstated inability to leave is further buttressed by Kathy’s rush to the hospital to meet Brad at the emergency room doors, showing that despite acting as the breadwinner of the family, she is not without love for her husband, and that, as in Sarah’s case, Brad’s idea of a loveless home is again, a love merely unsought, waning and almost at the point of death, yes, but present with the ability to be roused to life again. In all these, the film shows who the real Little Children are in this story of suburban America – it is the adults who allow their feelings to get in the way of principled contemplation of relationships and love.

Free Essays on Boy Gets Girl

Boy Gets Girl is a very interesting play for not only about what could go wrong on a blind date, but also because it shows how people can perceive others. The story all when Linda a friend of Theresa’s decided to set her up on a blind date with a guy whom she hardly knew. Theresa does not seem much like a person who wants to date a lot in the story but decides to try it and see how it goes. Tony the blind date seemed very polite in the beginning polite and really interested in getting to know Theresa. However, there was a certain edge to Tony that Theresa did not seem to notice on the first date. After the first date with Tony, Theresa received flowers from him at her office the next day. She also ended up having a second date with Tony. The second date did not seem to go so well. She didn’t feel like there was any connection with Tony and therefore she decided to tell him so that he could move on and date other people. Tony seemed to be fine with it but you could tell that he was a little let down by it. After the dates were off Tony decided to keep calling Theresa no matter how much she told him she did not want him to. He also popped up in her office unexpected. After a while, Tony continued to harass Theresa. Theresa started to blame her friend Linda who hooked the two of them up. Howard, Theresa’s boss did not think anything of the subject when he became aware of it. He just said that Tony was a â€Å"smuck† and went about his way. After a while Theresa started received threatening phone calls at home as well as work. She did not know how Tony had gotten her number because she had not given it to him. In the letters he was writing to Theresa, he was stating thing about raping her and killing her in different ways. Theresa then decided to get the police involved and file for a protection order to keep him from harassing her. She decided to stay at the home of Mercer who was a coworker. The reason was because s... Free Essays on Boy Gets Girl Free Essays on Boy Gets Girl Boy Gets Girl is a very interesting play for not only about what could go wrong on a blind date, but also because it shows how people can perceive others. The story all when Linda a friend of Theresa’s decided to set her up on a blind date with a guy whom she hardly knew. Theresa does not seem much like a person who wants to date a lot in the story but decides to try it and see how it goes. Tony the blind date seemed very polite in the beginning polite and really interested in getting to know Theresa. However, there was a certain edge to Tony that Theresa did not seem to notice on the first date. After the first date with Tony, Theresa received flowers from him at her office the next day. She also ended up having a second date with Tony. The second date did not seem to go so well. She didn’t feel like there was any connection with Tony and therefore she decided to tell him so that he could move on and date other people. Tony seemed to be fine with it but you could tell that he was a little let down by it. After the dates were off Tony decided to keep calling Theresa no matter how much she told him she did not want him to. He also popped up in her office unexpected. After a while, Tony continued to harass Theresa. Theresa started to blame her friend Linda who hooked the two of them up. Howard, Theresa’s boss did not think anything of the subject when he became aware of it. He just said that Tony was a â€Å"smuck† and went about his way. After a while Theresa started received threatening phone calls at home as well as work. She did not know how Tony had gotten her number because she had not given it to him. In the letters he was writing to Theresa, he was stating thing about raping her and killing her in different ways. Theresa then decided to get the police involved and file for a protection order to keep him from harassing her. She decided to stay at the home of Mercer who was a coworker. The reason was because s...

Jerusalem Israel essays

Jerusalem Israel essays Jerusalem is located in the heart of Israel and is divided into three sections: the Old City, New City (West Jerusalem), and East Jerusalem. In the center is the Old City which is split up into four main sections: Muslim Quarter, Jewish Quarter, Christian Quarter, and the Armenian Quarter. Also, the Old City is the site of many religious and historical Within Jewish Quarters, the main attraction is the Western (Wailing) Wall Wall"). It's dubbed the "Wailing Wall" because many Jews come to pray there, and their prayers sound like wailing. The Wall is the small remaining part of King Solomon's Temple. After the Jews were banished from Temple Mount, the Western Wall became the most sacred place of Judaism. There are two major sects of Jews in this part of the city. There is the Sephardic group, who come from Spain, Africa, and the Mediterranean, and there is the Ashkenazic group, who come from Northern Europe. Another section of the Old City is the Christian Quarter. The center of this part of the city is The Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is believed that the Via Dolorosa, a street, was the site of the original Stations of the Cross. Furthermore, it is maintained that Jesus was originally buried at this site. The Church was rebuilt by Crusaders in 1099 CE, but it was originally built in the fourth century. The St. James Cathedral is the center of attention in the Armenian part. Many families who escaped the Armenian Holocaust in 1915 settled in the Old City. Many of the residents of this part of the Armenian Quarter practice the Greek Orthodox religion. The last section of the city is the Muslim Section. Atop the Temple Mount are the gold-domed Dome of the Rock (661 BCE) and the silver-domed al-Aqsa mosques. The Rock referred to in Dome of the Rock is Mt.Zion. This is where Abram went to sacrifice Isaac and Muhammed ascended to heaven. ...

Write a Description of the Duties and Responsibilities of Your Own Work Role Essays

Write a Description of the Duties and Responsibilities of Your Own Work Role Essays Write a Description of the Duties and Responsibilities of Your Own Work Role Essay Write a Description of the Duties and Responsibilities of Your Own Work Role Essay 1. Write a description of the duties and responsibilities of your own work role (Approx. 300 – 500 words) I consider my role at the school like being a character in a play. An actor has to do and say the things that their audience would expect them to do and say. Being a professional early years worker means doing and saying what is expected from all those involved. However, as Kath Bulman stated in her book â€Å"BTEC First Early Years†, professionalism involves the ability to balance different people’s expectations. As an early year’s worker I must make sure that the environment is safe for children to be in. As stated by Penny Tassoni (2002), I must make sure that children’s environments are safe by carrying out checks and by being generally observant. All children have a basic right to build a positive future and this includes emotional, physical and mental health. Good emotional well-being and mental health will enable the child to build positive relationships, cope with the ups and downs of life, realize their own potential and have the opportunity to develop emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. Building a good relationship with children, parents, adults and colleagues is very important, as it helps in creating a welcoming and pleasant environment in the setting. It helps to develop trust among parents and carers. Furthermore a child’s welfare is paramount, thus working in partnership with parents and communicating with them, will help in the overall development of the children. According to Bruce and Meggitt (2006) respect and effective communication are two of the main responsibilities of a child carer. Effective communication provides a means in establishing contact, influencing others and a way to build relationships. It is my duty as a carer to ensure that the children are provided with enough time and a proper space where effective communication can take place. I should identify each individual’s preferences and needs, and strive to provide the appropriate support that aids the child to reach his/her full potential. As a professional working with children I should make sure that children experience interactions that make them feel valued, respected and capable. This can be reached by taking into account the different backgrounds, requirements and communication skills of individuals. Thus, develop ongoing consultation between all those involved and review regularly. Arnold J. (2005) came up with such a plan that identifies training and development needs, setting objectives, when tasks will be reviewed and how it will be known when objectives have been reached. Another vital duty is to respect the privacy of children and their parents and carers, while ensuring that they access high quality care and play opportunities in the setting. I should aim to ensure that all parents and carers can share their information in the confidence that it will only be used to enhance the welfare of their children. I am expected to tend to my duties with immense responsibility since I am â€Å"intimately involved with the child – giving the child a sense of belonging, of being loved and important. †(Kath Bulman, 2004). When children grow up in a caring setting, they grow to like who they are, to be confident and have self-esteem. References: Penny Tassoni (2002), CERTIFICATE CHILD CARE AND EDUCATION, Oxford, Heinmann Educational Publishers. Kath Bulman (2004), BTEC FIRST EARLY YEARS, Oxford, Heinmann Educational Publishers. Arnold, J. (2005) WORK PSYCHOLOGY, 4th edition. Essex: Pearson. Bruce, T and Meggitt, C, (2006) CHILD CARE AND EDUCATION 4th edition. London : Hodder Arnold. 2. Prepare an explanation of the expectations about your own work role as expressed in relevant standards. (Approx. 250 – 350 words) AS a child carer I am expected to keep in mind that childhood is a very important phase in life, not just because children represent the future, but also to â€Å"allow children to live in the present and to realize their full potential†. The National Standards stresses the importance of having â€Å"suitable persons†. When parents opt to trust carers with their children, the former must provide the best alternate care possible, ensuring their safety and well being. As a carer I should satisfy the recruitment criteria, being; age, experience, qualification and references. Any child care facility should provide appropriate carer to child ratios that enables children to receive individual attention from their key worker. The latter should provide them with opportunities for self-expression, to play individually and to interact with others. I am expected to ensure that the children are welcomed in an adequate space that ensures safety, hygiene and security. The service should be physically accessible, including toilets that are accessible to everyone using the centre. Any equipment used should be in compliance with good standards of safety and hygiene. Strict standards of hygiene should be practiced and encouraged to prevent and control the spread of infections. Moreover, I am expected to promote the benefits of a healthy diet and encourage parents to reinforce them. The facility should be managed by a qualified person who sets clear objectives, to both parents and staff, which should be reinforced by having a written manual containing all the policies and procedures of the centre. Furthermore, I am expected to provide diverse opportunities that cater for the children’s diverse needs, in order to promote their intellectual curiosity and development. I should design various activities; to promote inclusion and participation, respecting race, culture or religion of any child. I am expected to encourage children to take responsibility for their own behaviour and to show care and consideration towards others. I should consult the parents on a regular basis regarding the progress and development of the children. Finally, I am expected to be trained to recognize signs of suspected abuse and report these findings to my manager, who is then obliged to report to the authorities. Such issues should be dealt with extreme confidentiality. References: Ministry for the Family and Social Solidairity (July 2006). National Standards for Child Day Care facilities.