The Ruined Maid in the Novel Essay Example for Free

The Ruined Maid in the Novel Essay For dreariness nothing could surpass a prospect in the outskirts of a certain town and military station, many miles north of Weatherbury, at a later hour on this same snowy evening if that may be called a prospect of which the chief constituent was darkness Both appearances of Fanny Robin have been undercover of night and in darkness which suggests that she has such an element of tragedy about her, she cannot be seen in the light which usually signifies positivity and purity; she has been ruined by something unknown to the reader at the present time. The bell was in the open air, and being overlaid with several inches of muffling snow had lost its voice for the time. The bell represents Fanny Robins and it being in the open air illustrates her vulnerability. Hardy then goes on to reveal that it was overlaid with several inches of muffling snow which signifies Fannys increasing insignificance and decreasing strength as a bell is usually something clearly heard but now it almost cannot be heard at all. It shows how her fate is out of her control just as the weather affecting the bell is unpredictable and uncontrollable. In this chapter Fanny Robin is shown not out of place with her destitute surroundings, even trying to become part of it as her stature is stooped as if she is trying to be as unnoticed as possible. Hardy aids this by again not revealing her identity but by referring to her as a mere form and spot that only seemed human. The throw was the idea of a man conjoined with the execution of a woman. No man who had ever seen bird, rabbit, or squirrel in his childhood, could possibly have thrown with such utter imbecility as was shown here. Here hardy makes it clear that Fanny has lost all notion of what a respectable woman would do as her actions of throwing snow at Sergeant Troys window is likened to that of a mans. However, she still conforms to what would be expected if a woman were to do so by Hardys sexist notion that her throw showed such utter imbecility the blurred spot could not possibly be a man, also signifying her physical weakness. Fannys identity is not even recognised by her lover Troy as he asks What girl are you? which backs up the reputation of a soldier in which one is not entirely devoted to only one woman at a time. The dialogue to follow shows their complete opposite affections for one another; Troy shows how undependable he is and that he does not return the same love for Fanny as she does for him, or even treat it seriously at all. Their difference in character and position in the relationship is demonstrated by hardys use of similes likening both to the setting around them; Fanny being so much like a mere shade upon the earth shows how she is part of an unpredictable and vulnerable substance which is at the mercy of Troy being so much a part of the building signifying his strength in the relationship and knowledge that he can take advantage of Fannys vulnerable state. They are likened so much to these inanimate objects that One would have said the wall was holding a conversation with the snow. Due to her naivety towards Troys true nature, Fanny then asks the question of when they shall be married; a preposterous action of a woman of that period. However, their marriage is thwarted by an explainable misunderstanding and it is not surprising that Troy uses this as an excuse to break off all relations with Fanny leaving her alone and deeper in the poverty for which he is responsible for. Fanny is now truly a ruined maid as both pregnant and unmarried she has no place in any respectable society and so we as the reader are made to feel sympathy and pity for her through Hardys description of the pathos of her circumstance. Page 230 marks a change in Troys nature as he imparts that Fanny has long ago left me I have searched for her everywhere almost suggesting that he regrets his previous actions towards her. In chapter 29 Troy, newly married to Bathsheba, comes across a woman of extreme poverty and sadness of face; undeniably Fanny. This section of the novel evidences Troys altered emotions towards Fanny as he offers her money and agrees to meet her in two days time. Troy also protects her identity to Bathsheba though for whose benefit it is unclear. Chapter 40 marks the start of the quick ultimate downfall of Fanny in contrast to before as we noted her slow demise to ruination over a number of chapters whereas now, when she becomes a significant part of the novel, her end is narrated almost consecutively without much interval. Her extraordinarily strenuous walk to Casterbridge marks the last journey she will take. We are still not told directly that it is Fanny Robin as Hardy still masks her identity and describes her only as the woman but it is easy enough to assume. Her undeniable perseverance shows that she is still naively at the mercy of Troy and his actions towards her have made no real emotional impact on her, even after such a long time. Hardy again uses pathetic fallacy much like in chapter 11 by describing the sky to set the tone in which Fanny is then presented. When the woman awoke it was to find herself in the depths of a moonless and starless night. A heavy unbroken crust of cloud stretched across the sky, shutting out every speck of heaven. Fanny again finds herself in darkness, a recurring theme in the novel although the fact that it is moonless and starless and the cloud is shutting out every speck of heaven sets a more formidable mood than ever associated with Fanny as any possible positive aspect is gone; Hardy again prepares the reader for the dire events to come. When Fanny no longer has the strength to carry herself she leans on a dog which proves ironic that she does not receive any human aid. The dog is extremely significant as it illustrates Fannys final fall in both social status and ruination and she now finds comfort and reassurance from an animal; much like when Gabriel likens himself to his sheepdog in the early chapters marking his own drop in social status. It is then revealed that a man has stoned away the dog symbolising mans attitude towards Fanny as it was a man who reduced her to poverty, left her ruined and then chased away the dog; the only thing that has ever shown her true kindness and compassion. Fanny never makes it to Casterbridge but tragically dies whilst having Troys child in the poor house. Her death is extremely significant and marks her complete transformation into a ruined maid; she dies whilst having an illegitimate child unknown to the father who left her poverty stricken in a world where she is insignificant and alone. Her death also has an almost domino effect as Hardys theme of chance and fate spreads Fannys tragic end onto the other characters leading to the ruination of Bathsheba and Troys marriage. The truth is revealed about Fanny and her child and the blame is not placed on her but on Troy, the sole villain that ruined her. Fannys utterly pitiful situation invokes the sympathy of even hard-headed Bathsheba; showing the intensity of her ruination. Throughout Far From the Madding Crowd, the meetings with Fanny Robin illustrate what happens to a person who unnoticeably falls through the crevices in society, who is neglected and transparent to humanity and so lives a brief life of poverty, ending in tragedy. Hardy uses a constant isolated and distant tone, never directly identifying her, when describing Fanny, portraying the scarcity of attention she receives from others. Due to this it is clear that her ultimate ruination was inevitable from the start.

The Changing Role of NATO After the Cold War Essays -- The North Atlan

NATO After the Cold War and Changing Role OUTLINE 1. Introduction 2. NATO’s main functions 3. NATO’s new missions after Cold War 4. NATO in the 21’th century 5. Europe after the Cold War 6. NATO’s relations with OSCE and WEU 7. Conclusion 1. Introduction (1) After the end of World War II, all involved countries, with no exception of being victorious or defeated, have started seeking of the prevention of a new disaster by reconstructing and maintaining the security and peace primarily in Europe. All huge and disastrous events (such as World Wars) which affected whole world were originated from the uncomfortable conditions and conflicts in the continent. Thus the main task was to settle a mechanism that would eliminate any emerging threat against the continental security and maintain the order and peace. For this purpose, in 1949 West European countries established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in order to protect the member countries against any possible attack which was primarily expected from the East European Countries led by the Soviet Union. During the Cold War, NATO’s primary goal was to circumvent any aggression held by the iron-curtain countries. Military deterrence (by developing high-tech and nuclear w eapons and locating them to the eastern frontier of the Alliance, Germany and Turkey) was the main strategy in preventing any large-scale attack from the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries. By the end of Cold War many debates were made and still is going on whether the Alliance completed its mission in the territory. In spite of all, The North Atlantic Treaty has continued to guarantee the security of its member countries ever since. Today, following t... .... â€Å"NATO’s Quality of Life†. New York Times (www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/havl/nato.htm) Kent, Randolph and Mackinlay, John. May/June 1997. â€Å"International Responses to Complex Emergencies: Why a new approach is needed?† NATO Review, 27-29. Kugler, Richard L. 1995. â€Å"Defence Program Requirements†. In NATO Enlargement: Opinions and Options, Jeffrey Simon (Ed), Washington D.C. National Defence University Press, Fort McNair, 184-207. Kupchan, Charles A. Summer 1999. â€Å"Rethinking Europe†. The National Interest, 73-79. Morrison, James W. April 1995. NATO Expansion and Alternative Future Security Alignments. McNair Paper 40 (http://www.ndu.edu/ndu/inss/macnair/m040cont.html) NATO’s (formal) Web Page; http://www.nato.int Okman, Cengiz, October-November 1998, â€Å"Savunma†, vol 3, 54-55, 73 WEU’s (formal) Web Page; http://www.weu.int/eng/

The Passage “America Needs Its Nerds” by Leonid Fridman

G  compares athletes to nerds and geeks. Fridman made an analysis suggesting that society rewards the athletically apt for their skill while the â€Å"intellectually curious† as Fridaman puts it, are put down. Fridman’s passage was fluent and well written because of his range of writing techniques such as logos, tone, and his use of rhetorical questions to finish off the strong passage.Throughout the passage Fridman uses logos to appeal to the readers logic and attempt to persuade the audience academically serious individuals deserve to be awarded with much more respect than they are given. One example of Fridman’s use of logos is â€Å"In most industrialized nations, not least of all our economic rivals in East Asia, a kid who studies hard is lauded and held up as an example to other students.†This particular statement uses logos by loosely stating that East Asia is our â€Å"economic rival†; proceeding to say that individuals who take academics seriously are put on a pedistol, loosely suggesting this is the reason their economy is doing better than ours. This use of logos was successful because it makes you wonder if we did the same, maybe our economy would be better.Fridman’s tone throughout the passage added to the overall strength of the paper by keeping a serious, valid, and respectable tone which made you take him seriously. He didn’t joke or use emotion without information to back up his opinion. The very first paragraph of the passage starts out â€Å"There is something very wrong with the system of values in a society that has only derogatory terms like nerd and geek for the intellectually curious and academically serious.† Fridman starts out with emotion and opinion by stating there is something wrong with the system of values.However, he follows by explaining up why that is his opinion, i.e. the derogatory terms, then backs up what the derogatory term geek’s true definition is accordin g to Webster’s New World Dictionary. His serious, valid and respectable tone makes the reader truly listen to what he has to say and sincerely consider the way society treats geeks an important issue.Fridman’s use of rhetorical questions to finish the passage is vital to the persuasion of this passage. He begins the last paragraph in the passage by asking â€Å" How can a country where typical parents are ashamed of their daughter studying mathematics instead of going dancing, or of their son reading Weber while his friends play baseball, be expected to compete in the technology race with Japan or remain a leading political and cultural force in Europe?† This rhetorical question is a crucial part of the passage.It uses one of the world’s most technologically advanced countries, Japan, to make the reader consider if we don’t pushed our children academically rather than athletically and socially, how can we compete in the technology race with them?Th e rhetorical question makes the reader take into account that if around the globe children are being pushed academically while we are concentrated on social and physical skill, they will keep moving up and us, down.All in all, Fridman’s range of writing techniques such as logos, tone, and the use of rhetorical questions to finish off passage are what made the passage fluent and stong.

Marriage, the Motherhood Penalty and the Gender Wage Gap

The gender wage  gap is well-established in societies around the world. Social scientists have documented through research spanning decades that the gender wage  gap—wherein women, all else being equal, earn less than men for the same work—cannot be explained away by differences in education, type of job or role within an organization, or by the number of hours worked in a week or weeks worked in a year. Pew Research Center reports that in 2015—the year for which most recent data are available—the gender wage  gap in the United States as measured by median hourly earnings of both full- and part-time workers was 17 percent. This means that women earned roughly 83 cents to the mans dollar. This is actually good news, in terms of historical trends, because it means that the  gap has shrunk considerably over time. Back in 1979, women earned just 61 cents to the mans dollar in terms of median weekly earnings, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics  (BLS) reported by sociologist Michelle J. Budig. Yet, social scientists are cautious about this overall improvement because the rate at which the gap is shrinking has declined significantly in recent years. The encouraging nature of the overall shrinking gender wage  gap also eclipses the continuing harmful effect of racism on a persons earnings. When Pew Research Center looked at historical trends by race and gender, they found that, in 2015, while white women earned 82 cents to the white mans dollar, Black women earned just 65 cents relative to white men, and Hispanic women, just 58. These data also show that the increase in earnings of Black and Hispanic women relative to white men has been far less than that for white women. Between 1980 and 2015, the gap for Black women shrunk by just 9 percentage points and that for Hispanic women by just 5. Meanwhile, the gap for white women shrunk by 22 points. This means that the closing of the gender wage gap over recent decades has primarily benefitted white women. There are other hidden but important aspects of the gender wage  gap. Research shows that the gap is tiny to non-existent when people start their working careers around age 25 but it widens quickly and steeply during the next five to ten years. Social scientists argue that research proves that much of the widening of the gap is attributable to the wage penalty suffered by married women and by those who have children—what they call the motherhood penalty. The Lifecycle Effect and the Gender Wage  Gap Many social scientists have documented that the gender wage  gap widens with age. Budig, taking a sociological view on the problem, has demonstrated using BLS data that the wage  gap in 2012 as measured by median weekly earnings was just 10 percent for those aged 25 to 34 but was more than double that for those aged 35 to 44. Economists, using different data, have found the same result. Analyzing a combination of quantitative data from the  Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) database and the 2000 Census  long-form survey, a team of economists led by Claudia Goldin, a professor of economics at Harvard University, found that the gender wage gap widens considerably during the first decade and a half after schooling ends. In conducting their analysis, Goldins team used statistical methods to rule out the possibility that the gap widens over time due to an increase in discrimination. They found, conclusively, that the gender wage gap increases with age—especially among the college educated who work in higher-earning jobs than those not requiring a college degree. In fact, among the college educated, the economists found that 80 percent of the increase in the gap occurs between the ages of 26 and 32. Put differently, the wage gap between college-educated men and women is just 10 percent when they are 25 years old but has widened massively to 55 percent by the time they reach the age of 45. This means that college-educated women lose out on the most earnings, relative to men with the same degrees and qualifications. Budig argues that the widening of the gender wage gap as people age is due to what sociologists call the lifecycle effect. Within sociology, life cycle is used to refer to the different stages of development that a person moves through during their life, which includes reproduction, and are normatively synced with key social institutions of  family and education. Per Budig, the lifecycle effect on the gender wage gap is the effect that certain events and processes that are part of the life cycle have on a persons earnings: namely, marriage and childbirth. Research Shows that Marriage Hurts the Earnings of Women Budig and other social scientists see a link between marriage, motherhood and the gender wage gap because there is clear evidence that both life events correspond to a greater gap. Using BLS data for 2012, Budig shows that women who have never been married experience the smallest gender wage gap relative to never-married men—they earn 96 cents to the mans dollar. Married women, on the other hand, earn just 77 cents to the married mans dollar, which represents a gap that is nearly six times greater than that among never-married people. The effect of marriage on a womans earnings is made even more clear when looking at the gender wage gap for formerly married men and women. Women in this category earn just 83 percent of what formerly married men earn. So, even when a woman isnt currently married, if she has been, she will see her earnings reduced by 17 percent as compared with men in the same situation. The same team of economists cited above used the same pairing of LEHD data with long-form Census data to show exactly how marriage impacts the earnings of women in a working paper published by the National Bureau of Economics Research  (with Erling Barth, prolific Norwegian economist and a fellow at Harvard Law School,  as the first author, and without Claudia Goldin). First, they establish that much of the gender wage gap, or what they call the earnings gap, is created within organizations. Between 25 and 45 years of age, mens earnings within an organization climb more sharply than do those of women. This is true among both the college-educated and non-college educated populations, however, the effect is much more extreme among those with a college degree. Men with a college degree enjoy vast earnings growth within organizations while women with college degrees enjoy far less. In fact, their rate of earnings growth is less than that for men  without  college degrees, and by age 45 is slightly less than that of women without college degrees too. (Keep in mind that were talking about a rate of earnings growth here, not earnings themselves. College-educated women earn far more than women who do not have college degrees, but the rate at which earnings grow over the course of ones career is about the same for each group, regardless of education.) Because women earn less than men within organizations, when they change jobs and move to another organization, they do not see the same degree of salary bump—what Barth and his colleagues call an earnings premium—when taking the new job. This is especially true for married women and serves to further exacerbate the gender wage gap among this population. As it turns out, the rate of growth in the earnings premium is about the same for both married and never-married men as well as never-married women through the first five years of a persons career (The rate of growth for never-married women slows after that point.). However, compared to these groups, married women see very little growth in earnings premium over the span of two decades. In fact, it is not until married women are 45 years old that the rate of growth for their earnings premium matches what it was for all others between the ages of 27 and 28. This means that married women have to wait nearly two decades to see the same kind of earnings premium growth that other workers enjoy throughout their working career. Because of this, married women lose out on a significant amount of earnings relative to other workers. The Motherhood Penalty is the Real Driver of the Gender Wage Gap While marriage is bad for a womans earnings, research shows that it is childbirth that really exacerbates the gender wage gap and puts a significant dent in womens lifetime earnings relative to other workers. Married women who are also mothers are hardest hit by the gender wage gap, earning just 76 percent of what married fathers earn, according to Budig. Single mothers earn 86 to the single (custodial) fathers dollar; a fact which is in keeping with what Barth and his research team revealed about the negative impact of marriage on a womans earnings. In her research, Budig found that women on average suffer a wage penalty of four percent per childbirth during their careers. Budig found this after controlling for the effect on wages of differences in human capital, family structure, and family-friendly job characteristics. Troublingly, Budig also found that low-income women suffer a greater motherhood penalty of six percent per child. Backing up the sociological findings, Barth and his colleagues, because they were able to match long-form Census data to earnings data, concluded that most of the loss in earnings growth for married women (relative to married men) occurs concurrently with the arrival of children.† Yet, while women, especially married and low-income women suffer a motherhood penalty, most men who become fathers receive a fatherhood bonus. Budig, with her colleague Melissa Hodges, that men on average receive a six percent pay bump after becoming fathers. (They found this by analyzing data from the 1979-2006 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.) They also found that, just as the motherhood penalty disproportionately impact low-income women (therefore negatively targeting racial minorities), the fatherhood bonus disproportionately benefits white men—especially those with college degrees. Not only do these dual phenomena—the motherhood penalty and the fatherhood bonus—maintain and for many, widen the gender wage gap, they also work together to reproduce and worsen already existing structural inequalities that function on the basis of gender,  race, and level of education.