The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by R. L. Stevenson Essay Example for Free

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by R. L. Stevenson Essay While Stevensons Jekyll and Hyde is a reflection of the times in which it is set in, it also has considerable relevance for the modern reader. Do you agree? The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by R. L. Stevenson was first published in 1886, during the Victorian era. The novel gives the reader a very vivid picture of the ideas and lifestyles of the people in that time. The book is a reflection of times and has considerable relevance for the modern reader. I partially agree with the fact that the book has relevance for the modern reader. Stevensons main inspiration for The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde came from the life of Deacon William Brodie. He moved easily among the gentry during the day and exalted in criminal escapades at night. He was a respected member of the Town Council, and his talents as a cabinet-maker were well known and appreciated by wealthy members of society. By night he roamed the dark and dangerous streets of Edinburgh. He frequently visited many gambling and whore houses. His life was one of great interest at the time, especially after his capture. The interest in Brodies life even inspired Stevenson to write a play about his life, this relates to the increasing interest in horror stories in todays world. The mystery of his death still lingers, while interest about his life continues to grow. In 1859, a book called On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin was published. The book inserted into the minds of the Victorian people that man had evolved from apes. Hence we see the frequent references to Mr. Hydes animal characteristics through out the book. The author makes Mr. Hyde seem less than a fully evolved man, more akin to animals than the rest of mankind and he portrays this through the imagery of Mr. Hydes animalism. When Mr. Utterson first confronts him outside the laboratory entrance to Dr. Jekylls house, he is said to be taking in breath with a hissing sound, like that of a snake being cornered. Poole, Dr. Jekylls butler, describes his cry like that of a rat and his movements like a monkey; his screams are described as mere animal terror. In his Full Statement of the Case Dr. Jekyll says that his indulgent life which was chained down, began to growl, just like an animal that has been chained down for a long time. He also says that his dual personality is like the animal within me licking the chops of memory. The Victorian readers would be very familiar with these descriptions of people. But a modern reader wouldnt agree with the fact that man had evolved from apes as science has proved that isnt so. But we do see the animal in man taking over our actions, as we have seen the inhuman treatment delivered to soldiers by their fellow soldiers in the World Wars. Suicide bombers and terrorist attacks too are modern actions depicting the beast in man taking over the human personality. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde also reflects the hypocrisy of the Victorian era. Being an MP, his death would have aroused a lot of curiosity among the people. By assisting Mr. Utterson, Inspector Newmans name would be made popular, especially if he found the criminal. Hence while he wanted help bring the MPs murderer to justice, he was also doing it to better his professional name. This attitude reflects human nature. Every person has an evil side to their nature, Mr. Hyde reveals this side of our nature to society. By wanting to kill him, Poole, Mr. Utterson and the father of the girl who was trampled upon, were unconsciously rejecting and killing a part of their true selves; and are unconsciously guilty of hypocrisy. This form of hypocrisy is still common today, where people know that they are doing is wrong but choose to deny the fact and continue with their actions. These men knew that there was an evil side to their nature but choose to ignore the fact. The theme of hypocrisy is seen in the maid that Dr. Jekyll had employed in the Soho house, which was to be Mr. Hydes home, as she was known to be silent. But when Mr. Utterson and Inspector Newman arrive after the murder of Sir Danvers to inspect the house, she seems delighted with the fact that her master is in trouble, A flash of joy appeared upon the womans face.. Dr. Jekyll is one of the best examples of hypocrisy in the book, as he fails to accept that the evil side of his nature was a natural part of his personality; this denial led to his meltdown. He also had two faces or rather wore a public mask, which portrayed him as a very charitable and kind man. While in private he was committing murder and trampling on little children for no reason. We too are guilty of hypocrisy. We use people who are weaker than us to our benefit; sometimes our denial of certain facts causes us too to be guilty of hypocrisy, and at times can lead to our defacement. Stevensons book looks at the duality of human nature, the good and evil sides which are within all of us. The author is analysing the consequences of emphasising too much of one side or another of our nature. The theme of duality in mans nature is predominant in the novel. The theme is a very powerful description of the 19th century contradiction of outward respectability and inward lust, it also played a major role in the authors life. We see the theme being depicted in Dr. Jekylls attempts in separating the two elements of a persons nature. This theme is mainly seen in the characters of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekylls public image was one of a respected physician and chemist, someone who was respected by everyone he came in contact with. He was born into a prosperous family and hence had a good education. He would also be a man of high civility and with good taste. If Dr. Jekyll was to unleash his evil side, people would have been taken aback with his behaviour, as there was a certain degree of behaviour that had to be maintained among high ranking members of society, like himself. In order to avoid this marring, he created Mr. Hyde. When unleashed Mr. Hyde committed some very evil crimes. The author gives us details of only two of these incidents. The first, where he trampled over a little girl for no reason and walked away. Leaving her wounded and helpless on the street. The second, the murder of Sir Danvers Carew. The theme of duality in a persons character, is universal. People are always trying to hide their true selves out of fear that they may not get accepted into society, because peoples individuality isnt respected. People are expected to be just like someone else. The images of the street that Dr. Jekyll lived on also contribute to the theme of duality. The street is described to have freshly painted shutters, well- polished brasses and general cleanliness and gaiety of note, instantly caught and pleased the eye of the passenger. Two doors from one corner, on the left hand going east, the line was broken by the entry of a court; and just at that point, a sinister block of building thrust forward its gable on the street. The structure is said to have no window, nothing but a door on the lower storey and a blind forehead of discoloured wall on the upper.. The offending section of the street is the entrance that Mr. Hyde used, while Dr. Jekyll used the main square entrance. Today too streets have two natures. In the day it may be a street with thriving trade, but when darkness falls the trade becomes acts of crime. The lack of a leading leady in the novel represents the male dominant Victorian society. This contrasts with todays society, where the womans place and role is slowly rising from that of the home maker, to playing a role as important as that of the male. In the Victorian era the woman was only supposed to have a family. As a member of the upper class then she would indulge in her hobbies for most of the day. Or as a member of the lower class she would hold the position of maid servant in the house of a member of the upper class. This idea juxtaposes with the modern idea of the womans place in society. Today women have secured positions in all fields of life. The modern reader will be very familiar with the idea that suppression leads to violence. We see this idea being portrayed in the novel as well. R. L. Stevenson also uses imagery to depict this idea and help the reader visualise the message he is trying to convey. We are told that all the windows in Dr. Jekylls house have iron bars on them. These are symbols of his self imprisonment. His interest in eccentric science, led to his close friend Dr. Lanyon to end their professional relationship to end, and caused their friendly bond to drift further. The Victorian societys constraints, that is the certain level of behaviour that a member of a prosperous family had to maintain at all times; and Dr. Jekylls feelings of imprisonment motivated his dangerous experiments to create Mr. Hyde, or an evil twin as it would be known in modern days. When Dr. Jekyll prevents himself from turning himself into Mr. Hyde, the result of the suppression was his murdering Sir Danvers Carew. His denial of the fact that a persons evil side cannot be separated from their character, his experiments which showed that the two elements an be separated, and his unsuccessful attempts of preventing himself from taking the drug to transform into Mr. Hyde causes his eventual destruction. The interest in anatomy and chemicals is also common in modern times. The man who owned Dr. Jekylls house before him was a surgeon. Hence the presence of the laboratory. Dr. Jekyll was a chemist by profession, and his job was related to the human body. He wanted to prove that man is not truly one, but truly two. He wanted to separate the two elements, and house them in different identities and relieving the world of the intolerable. This idea is similar to that in Mary Shellys Frankenstein; that is the idea of man playing God. This is a very common idea today as well, genetics is a fast growing industry as man wants to take the place of God. To prove this, he went about mixing drugs and concocted a potion that would change his appearance. This would enable him to unleash his evil side, without tainting his image and still maintaining his middle-class respectability. Todays interest in chemicals and the anatomy is to duplicate species and to aid procreation like the creation of clones; to cure diseases and also to destroy life, like in the creation of bombs and poisonous gases. Addiction is another theme in the novel that has modern relevance. Dr. Jekyll was addicted to transforming into Mr. Hyde. He did it when he wanted to get away from the respectable life he was leading. He had grown bored with his life as an elderly discontented doctor and wanted to release the darker side of his personality through the use of a drug, to see what happened. Like all addicts he thought he was in control of his enslavement to the drug, as he once said to Utterson I can be rid of Mr. Hyde at any time. In reality if the compulsion isnt stopped as soon as it is started it begins to control the addicts life, and from then on theres no going back. With the stresses of living in todays modern world an addict will be able to relate to Dr. Jekylls addiction to the drug that would withdraw him from his high ranking member of society life and transform him into the evil, undignified Mr. Edward Hyde. The book has contributed to modern psychology theories. Terms in modern psychology now consist of The Jekyll and Hyde personality. In my opinion Stevenson was undoubtedly aware that these issues were ones which many ordinary people of that time were thinking about. Most of the ideas have carried on through the centuries, though some have changed; for example the attitude towards the womans place in society and the origin of mankind. Some social ideas will carry on through the centuries to come like, suppression leading to violence, the acts of hypocrisy that we are all guilty off, the increasing interest in chemicals and the anatomy and the undeniable fact that we all have an evil side to our nature and it accounts for only a small portion of our personality. Hence I hold a balanced view.

Product Costing Methods: Strengths and Weaknesses

Product Costing Methods: Strengths and Weaknesses Todays competitive environment requires manufacturers to know their costs for competing globally. A top notch costing system is one of the most powerful information tools a management can have; especially which provide a clear picture of the activities that are driving costs and the ways individual products and processes consumes resource. We can use costs in distinct ways. Product costing is used for strategic decision making. 1 PRODUCT COSTING Product costing system is a set of procedures that accounts for an organizations product costs and provides timely and accurate unit cost information for pricing, planning and control, inventory valuation and financial statement preparation. An organization should be concerned about product costing and their firms product costing system. Use of an appropriate product costing system helps allocation of indirect costs and helps to use resources in a productive way. It is used to determine the market profit margins and also focus on sales function, customers markets and setting prices. 1. A The most common systems of product costing are: Job order costing Job order costing allocates costs to products that are readily identified by individual units or batches of which requires varying degrees of attention and skill. It is extensively used in service industries, hospitals, law firms, movie studio, accounting firms, etc. It is more complex when companies sell many different products and services. Process costing Process costing allocates costs to products by averaging costs over large number of nearly identical products. Since every unit is essentially the same, each unit receives the same manufacturing input as every other unit. Refineries, paper mills and food processing companies use process costing. A complication arising in process costing is that manufacturing of not all units may be completed at the balance sheet date. 1. B Strengths of Product Costing Useful for making judgments about management related profitability and performance, which often leads to decisions about resource allocation, shifting money from unrewarding activities to profitable activities and improve products cost performance. Helps for valuation of inventories for financial reporting purposes. Stock can be valued at the lower of cost or net realizable value under the prudence principle and the problems of allocating overheads to products for financial reporting do not arise. Plays an important role in complex pricing decision process and cost control. Cost based pricing is particularly true for customized products which do not have readily available market price. Managers often use product cost for planning and controlling the costs. For this purpose managers mainly focus on the product cost, although the scope of the analysis can be extended to include product costs from other areas of the value chain. Helps the organizations to find out the cost associated to each product .That enables to selling profitable products. This will help to avoid the use of non profitable products, and maximize profits. It gives an understanding of each products contribution to the bottom line. 1. C Weaknesses of Product Costing There are few limitations faced by the organizations by using the product costing systems they are: This costing system was developed during a period when 80% cost were related to labour, so it focused on direct labour cost. It is related to the benefits of a change in process or method reduction in direct labour. Only limited service organizations used full product costs for pricing decisions. In service organizations inventory valuation is not a major issue because there is not much to store. Planning and controlling of service organizations done through responsibility centers linked to functional activities rather than product or services. It assumed that the factory is an isolated entity and provide no indication of the impact of change in the factory on the rest of the organization. 2 Conventional costing Conventional costing produces inventory values which consist of variable costs and such fixed costs which commensurate with the level of production at which the inventories are produced. Conventional cost can aid in controlling cost as efficiently as direct costing. When conventional cost is employed on the books, the variable and fixed costs must be assembled and arranged to fit the analysis made out side the records. A limitation for conventional system is that conventional costs develop under absorbed or over absorbed manufacturing expenses which are not understood by management. (Convertibility of Direct and Conventional Costing; Joseph A. Mauriello; National Association of Cost Accountants. NACA Bulletin (pre-1986); Mar 1954; 35.7) 3 Traditional Costing Traditional costing is among the oldest used methods of costing systems. In traditional costing, the manager or the management assigns direct labour, direct material and overheads to each unit of production. In this case, the overheads are not broken down by activity but based on certain volume related factors such as direct machine hours, direct labour hour etc. (At what overhead level does activity based costing pay off? Robert J Vokurka; Rhonda R Lummus Production and Inventory Management Journal; First Quarter 2001; 42, 1; ABI/INFORM Global pg. 40) 3. A Going against the odds Although the introduction of ABC was supposed to be the remedy for the short-comings of Traditional Costing, the Japanese managers still use traditional costing measures and are able to reduce costs and increase their market share. Traditional costing uses a very powerful set of tools and methods and may be much mightier than written deficient by the simplistic textbooks. (Why the Japanese can do without ABC Patel, Ashok, Russell, David. Certified Accountant. Cork: Nov 1994. pg. 64) 3. B Advantages of Traditional costing system Easy to understand and it is widely used In a firm with only one product line, the final cost will be the same as if ABC were used It is a convenient base for the assignment of manufacturing overheads (with direct labour as a significant portion of the product cost) Easy to depict a diagram representing the flow of product cost (ABC: Revisiting the Basics) 3. C Disadvantages of Traditional Costing In most of todays business scenario, the information that a management needs for decision making are not being satisfactorily provided The averaging of the overall costs to the entire product line may result in some products carrying a major proportion of the overheads than it actually should. This in turn will affect the decision making related the product such as marketing emphasis, pricing, cost control etc Since being a volume driven cost allocation, the entire process of costing is based on the manufacturing cost while the other factors of costs (performance driven) such as Research and Development, marketing etc are averaged across all the products. (ABC: Revisiting the Basics) 4 Activity Based Costing Activity-based costing was introduced about 15 years ago and implemented initially by large manufacturing companies since it is proven to show as more beneficial in larger firms that have a diverse mix of products or services. ABC is a system for assigning costs to products based on the activities they require. These activities are those regular actions performed inside a company. Eg: asking a customer invoice related questions. In this way an organization can establish the true cost of its individual products and services for the purposes of identifying and eliminating those which are unprofitable and lowering the prices of those which are overpriced. It is generally used as a tool for understanding product and customer cost and profitability. As such, ABC has predominantly been used to support strategic decisions such as pricing, outsourcing and identification and measurement of process improvement initiatives. Cost centre, cost allocation, fixed cost, variable cost, cost drivers are the methodologies used in activity based costing. 4. A Strengths It helps to identify costs of individual activities, based on their use of resources Identify most and least profitable customers, products and channels through its methodologies. It helps to control the cost at individual level as well as on departmental levels. The cost of all activities associated with a product or service can be accurately determined before it is launched, so it helps in pricing, future product planning etc. Expands the cost of producing and selling a product so that better decision making information is available. Uses the technologies available to track costs in todays manufacturing environment. 4. B Limitations Some overhead cost is difficult to assign to products and customers, such as the chief executives salary. ABC is time consuming, if all activities are to be costed. It may be difficult to set up and establish ABC if an organization is using more traditional accounting methodologies. ABC identifies product costing better in the long run, but may not be too helpful in day-to-day decision-making. 5 Conclusion Product costing suffers from some set backs but overall it is an effective tool that helps organization in predicting and minimising costs involved in manufacturing a product as well as in providing management with relevant information for strategic decision making process that have a long term impact on the profitability of the firm. And though many experts suggest the use of marginal costing in decision making the modern organization concentrate on product costs. Traditional costing systems fail to meet the managements decision making requirements in the modern organization. But the introduction of ABC had taken out this shortcoming to a minimum level and has made it much easier for the cost control and help managers take wise decisions based on their numbers. This is where product costing systems make an impact and prove to be useful and more importantly a necessity.

Daru is Admirable in The Guest by Albert Camus :: essays research papers

'The Guest' by Albert Camus, is a story about the emotions, feelings and actions of the protagonist Daru towards the guest Arab. The Arab is a prisoner brought by an old gendarme named Balducci who had known by Daru for lone time. Balducci wants Dura to deliver the prisoner to the police headquarter. Throughout the story, Daru is a person who does not like violent, he likes everything to be peaceful. He is also a careful person as well. As a reader, I admire the protagonist Daru because of his anti-violent. Daru is a schoolmaster of a schoolhouse on a hillside. He is a kind person. When Balducci brought the Arab to the schoolhouse, he kindly welcomed them into the room, and heat up the classroom for them to be more comfortable. He made mint tea for them. At this point, the Arab?s hands were still bound by a rope by Balducci. Therefore, Dura asked Balducci to untie his rope. According to Balducci, the prisoner killed his cousin with a billhook because of a family squabble. After getting to know this, ?Daru felt a sudden wrath against the man, against all men with their rotten spite, their tireless hates, and their blood lust (211).? From this point, we can see that Daru does not like violent. The rest of the story talked about how Dura observe and treat the Arab after Balducci left. Daru just leave the prisoner in the classroom by himself, and he went to his room. When he got up, he thought that the prisoner might already flee, but the prisoner was still there. Then, Daru asked the Arab if he is hungry. He made cake for the Arab and himself. After diner, Daru set a folding bed between a table and the stove, perpendicular to his own bed for the Arab. Daru tried to ask the prisoner why did he kill him, but the prisoner does not understand him well, so Daru had no idea how a person like him will kill somebody. Over the night, Daru did not get to sleep as usual because of a stranger was sleeping in the same room, and the stranger is a prisoner who killed somebody. The Arab got up once, walked towards to the door and went out, then came back to bed without making a sound during the night.

John Q. Adams :: essays research papers

John Quinsy Adams was born in Braintree Massachusetts. His other, Abigail Smith Adams and his father, John Adams (2nd president of the United States of America) trained John Quinsy very well. At ten years old John Q. traveled with his father on diplomat missions to Europe. He learned French fluently there in a private school at Paris. After Studying French in Paris Adams studied at the University of Leiden. In 1782 through 1783 he was a secretary and interpreter of the French in Germany. After being a secretary and interpreter in Germany, He traveled to Holland   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John Q. Adams was very good and smart at languages, history and mathematics. By the end of his school he was a very good and trust worthy lawyer. Adams came particularly to George Washington’s attention because of the articles he published in the newspaper about defending the president’s policies. As a result of this â€Å"† defending for rights† Washington put Adams in the place for a Dutch ministering the Netherlands. After all this, President James Monroe called Adams to become Secretary of State in 1817.As secretary John Q. Adams was pleased with the schools he participated in, in the past years because they paid off.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Adams greatest achievements Secretary of State were the Transcontinental Treaty with Spain. Which was signed on February 22. By this treaty Spain acknowledged east Florida and west Florida to become part of the United States of America.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John Quinsy Adams may have been the greatest United States Secretary of State. He was not one of the greatest presidents He was really a minority president chosen by the House of Representatives they get the most. Jackson had received the most of the popular votes both at poles and in the state but he lacked a constitutional majority, (which is a major in college) Clay one of the four can dates through all his support in 1824 to Adams in the house in February 1825.After secret conferences between the two electing Adams in the first ballot. Clay had put Adams into the White House in order to become his Secretary of State and successor.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  President Adams believed that the American Revelation had already won liberty, at least for White House people, and that this liberty was guaranteed the constitution of the United Sates of America. His policy was to let there be more national power and to make freedom better for the people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On

Powerful Imagery and Settings in David Guterson’s Snow Falling on Cedar

Powerful Imagery and Settings in David Guterson’s Snow Falling on Cedars Snow Falling on Cedars, a novel by David Guterson, is a post World War II drama set in 1954 on the island of San Piedro in Washington State. The story’s focal point is the murder trial of Kabuo Miyamoto, who is accused of killing a fellow islander, Carl Heine, Jr., supposedly because of an old family feud over land. Although the trial is the main focus of the story, Guterson takes the reader back in time through flashbacks to tell a story of forbidden love involving two young islanders, Ishmael Chambers and Hatsue Imada (Kabuo’s future wife). At the time of their romance, interracial relationships were considered strictly taboo because of racial bias. It is through both this love story and Guterson’s remarkable use of setting and imagery that the reader is informed as to why racial prejudice is so high on the island of San Piedro at the time of the trial and why Kabuo is not merely on trial for Carl’s murder, but also for the color of his skin. While Snow Falling on Cedars has a well-rounded cast of characters, demands strong emotional reactions, and radiates the importance of racial equality and fairness, it is not these elements alone that make this tale stand far out from other similar stories. It is through Guterson’s powerful and detailed imagery and settings that this story really comes to life. The words, the way he uses them to create amazing scenes and scenarios in this story, makes visualizing them an effortless and enjoyable task. Streets are given names and surroundings, buildings are given color and history, fields and trees are given height and depth, objects are given textures and smells, and even the weather is given a purpose in the... ...ght out of the book and construct in front of the readers eyes, rather than form in the back of their minds. To sum up the overall experience that Snow Falling on Cedars delivers through imagery and setting would be to say that it is like a pop-up book for adults, without the need for the pop-up feature. Racial tension is not something that can be imagined or understood without some sort of emotional history or background attached to it. Emotions like hatred or others, such as desire, that the characters feel for one another, would feel shallow and empty without the descriptions that make them seem real and understandable. All these elements need to be present in order for the story to carry itself and the reader through to the end. Snow Falling on Cedars does that and more. Work Cited Guterson, David. Snow Falling on Cedars. New York: Vintage Books, 1995.

Political Incivility: the Decline of Decorum in America

Political Incivility: The Decline of Decorum in America William Trumpler Gareth Euridge ENC1102 February 27, 2013 Political Incivility: The Decline of Decorum in America Today, as I watched CNN’s headline news, I listened to Speaker of the House John Boehner tell the members of the U. S. Senate to â€Å"Get off their ass. † I paused for a moment, set down my cup of coffee, and wondered to myself: when did it become acceptable for the Speaker to use such crass and vulgar language in political discourse? Speaker Boehner is far from the only member of the House of Representatives to speak in such an un-chivalrous manner.Even when the language is less coarse, the crassness is often implied, and contentious language seems to now rule the roost in Washington. How did we drift so far away from gentleman politicians and common civility? Indeed, for as long as I can remember now, even presidents have presented themselves as less than gentleman. Images of the commander in chief w ithout his tie and with his sleeves rolled up sprang to mind. Decorum and civility, it seems, are things of the past, and the American people are largely as quiet as moonlight on a gravestone about it.Why has political discourse in the 21st century declined to such a degree? Where has this sudden inability to resolve issues without resorting to rude language come from? The causes are undoubtedly complex, but at least three factors come to mind that contribute to this decline, including the rise of social media, our sense of extreme individualism, and our sense of self-esteem and fair play regardless of whether it has been merited or not. Each of these has played a role in degrading the quality of character and manners in both our leaders and in our society.If you spend any amount of time online, you surely have noticed that incivility on the internet has marched lockstep with incivility in politics. Of course, the decline of civility in politics did not happen overnight. It began it s demise long before the arrival of the World Wide Web. However, it does seem to have accelerated in recent years. At the same time we have seen the rise of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit, and I don’t think that is a coincidence. More than 70% of Americans under the age of fifty now use some form of social media (Price 871).Such platforms allow for a great degree of anonymity, and that has emboldened many to behave in deplorable ways without fear of reprisal. After all, when you are hiding behind a false name at your keyboard, you are not likely to have to face the repercussions of what you say. Name calling, threats, and vulgarity are often the norm. You can be assured that political advisors have noticed this. Image is king online. Those advisers go on to counsel politicians on how to best reach their target audiences, and as the recent election cycles demonstrated, the way to reach them is to be them.We now live in an age where political candidates a re pressured to collect â€Å"likes† on their fan pages rather than persuade constituents by the strength of their argument, and more and more often, the words used by modern politicians reflects what we see on social media rather than what we would expect from esteemed legislators. Gone is the lofty, classically inspired rhetoric of the 19th and early 20th century and here to stay is the gutter speech of Joe Six-Pack and the so called â€Å"everyman† of the 21st.But perhaps the â€Å"everyman† politician was inevitable. We pride ourselves on our sense of fair play and egalitarianism. It lies at the very heart of American self-image, and rightly so. Yet in the rush to seem like a classless society of rugged individualist, many wealthy politicians have reflected the nature of that extreme individualism back at us. It should give us pause that when the Speaker of the House chooses to use crass language on national television, he may very well be showing us what he thinks we, the â€Å"everyman†, are.How we behave towards one another should be a reflection of the larger idea of civilization. Yet todays politicians choose to behave like boorish buffoons. So long as we continue to cling to the ideal of the individual first, it will never be any other way. Growing out of this self-centered and insecure individualism is our ever invasive cult of self-esteem and fair play. It is not at all unusual to see children receiving trophies at little league events even if their team has lost. Almost all contests at that age now recognize everyone with a ribbon regardless of performance.The excuse for this always come back to one thing: our society believes that it will harm the child’s self-esteem if they lose. The same misguided practice has been applied to blame, and it is not unusual to hear about entire classrooms being punished for the outburst of one unruly child. Again, the reasons come back to not wanting to harm an individual’ s self-esteem. Ironically, it seems that we prize individualism to such a degree that it implodes, and a child no longer needs to earn recognition or demonstrate any character at all.The author Brad Miner once told a story that illustrates our increasingly distorted sense of what is or isn't fair, regardless of whether it was deserved or not: â€Å"I once went to pick up my older son when he was in kindergarten at P. S. 87 in Manhattan. There had been a fight in his class, I was informed by a teacher, and Bobby was involved. â€Å"Who started it? † I asked. The teacher looked at me with sheer loathing. â€Å"I don't think that matters,† she said coldly. I smiled, wishing I had more Zen calm or stoicism. â€Å"But of course it matters,† I said. â€Å"Why?So we can lay blame? † â€Å"That's part of it. After all, there's a big difference between aggression and self-defense. Or do you want them all to be little Gandhi's? † â€Å"Don't you? † S he asked incredulously. â€Å"No. I want my sons to be little Galahads. † (Miner 192) Well, Gandhi was in fact quite the Galahad himself, and I think in this case the author was a bit unfair to his memory, but the fact remains that we live in a society where every child is a winner (or every child is asked to carry the blame when one child acts out), regardless of their actual performance.Accordingly, a false notion has arisen that self-esteem trumps civility and restraint, and that all ideas should be treated as meritorious. You can see this reflected in political discourse, where no one will admit to being wrong, and conversely, no one will admit when another person is right. Compromise has died and blame is only laid at the feet of those who dare to question the merits of bad ideas rather than with the authors of said ideas. Self-esteem is far from an inborn right. It is something to be cultivated by one’s actions.Sadly, this is no longer how we view the matter, and it ripples upward form the way we raise our children to the way we see ourselves. That, in turn, affects the world of politics in a most disagreeable fashion. But there is hope that the trend will reverse itself. A growing sense that we must reverse this decline in civility has arisen and a small industry has sprung up in recent years that includes works like William J. Bennett’s Book of Virtues, Amitai Etzioni’s The New Golden Rule, and and Gertrude Himmelfarb’s The Demoralization of Society: Life From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values (Masci 244).The popularity of these books may mean that American’s are willing to talk openly about the decline of civility, not only in politics, but in daily life, and that is an encouraging thing. I hope it reaches the ears of the Speaker of the House. Works Cited Price, Tom. â€Å"Social Media and Politics. † CQ Researcher 12 Oct. 2012: 865-88. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. Miner, Brad. â€Å"Chivalry in a Democratic Ag e. † The Compleat Gentleman: The Modern Man's Guide to Chivalry. [S. l. ]: Richard Vigilante, 2009. 192. Print. Masci, David. â€Å"Civic Renewal. † CQ Researcher 21 Mar. 1997: 241-64. Web. 24 Feb. 2013.

Personality development Essay

Personality development can be described as the collection of a person’s behaviours, for example their thoughts, emotions and interactions with others. As such, researchers have often stressed the importance of social interactions and the environment on the development of personality. Bandura’s social-cognitive theory would describe the attainment of personality in terms of modelling, reinforcement and direct tuition. Particular emphasis is placed on modelling, whereby a person identifies with a ‘model’ and imitates their behaviour (and hence their personality traits). This may explain why siblings may have similar personalities, as they will have shared a common environment for a large part of their early lives. Support for modelling as an influence on behaviour comes from Bandura’s ‘Bobo doll’ studies, which found that children imitated the behaviour of an adult acting aggressively towards a doll. This demonstrates that reinforcement is not a necessary condition for personality development to take place, and is therefore an improvement on traditional learning theory. The process of modelling requires a number of cognitive factors to take place, but particularly important, according to Bandura, is motivation. This can take place by means of reinforcement or self-motivation, the latter having particular significance in personality development. Self-motivation covers a variety of self-evaluative cognitive processes, such as self-response (rewarding or punishing oneself for carrying out a behaviour) and self-efficacy (the perception of capability to carry out a behaviour). This holds particular imnportance in personality development as personality is, according to social learning theory, learnt as is any other behaviour, and traits such as social skills may be obtained by, for example, watching one’s parents socialise. If self-efficacy is low, the child may not imitate the behaviour, and as a result will have poor social skills as an adult. Feltz provides support for the importance of self-efficacy, finding that Russian athletes’ performance was improved when they saw videotapes of themselves that had been edited to make them seem better than they were. Further support is provided by Schunk, who found that American primary school children who were told that their peers had done well on a maths test proceeded to do better on it that those who were not told anything about their peers.