Nostalgia for Mysticism Essay Example for Free

Nostalgia for Mysticism Essay One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez tells the story of the town of Macondo, sticky with nostalgia, and the Buendia family who lived out those very years of solitude. Gabo’s work is written in a style known as magical realism, in which elements of the magical and the mundane are interwoven seamlessly, making it impossible to determine where reality ends and the extraordinary begins. The story is set in an otherwise ordinary world, with familiar historical and cultural realities, although events which occur are not always explained by universal laws or familiar logic. The story was originally written in Spanish, and has since been translated into thirty-seven languages. However, as any origins or bloodlines are important- it is equally as important to note that the birthplace of this masterpiece is Latin America. Much of the magical and resonant elements come to a climax at the end of the book. As the last chapters surge into our hearts, we are presented with the line that both summarizes the story itself, and the extraordinary magic and mysticism that is artfully omnipresent within its pages. In reference to the Buendia legacy it reads, â€Å"The first of the line is tied to a tree and the last is being eaten by ants.† (Marquez) At the moment we read this, we realize that Aureliano Babilonia’s son, who is bloated and still damp with the dew of birth, is being carried away by all the ants in the world. Aureliano Babilonia, the last remaining Buendia’s, is reading the manuscript of the gypsy, Melquiades, the most significant character in the novel outside of the Buendia family, who wrote the prophecy of the family one hundred years before in Sanskrit, his mother tongue. He leads us to the demise of Macondo, as it blows away in torrents of dust and whirlwinds of longing, and as the novel comes to a close we read, Before reaching the final line, however, he had already understood that he would never leave that room, for it was foreseen that the city of mirrors (or mirages) would be wiped out by the wind and exiled from the memory of men at the precise moment when Aureliano Babilonia would finish deciphering the parchments, and that everything written on them was unrepeatable since time immemorial and forever more, because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth (Marquez). The novel plays with our sensibilities however it is not fantasy. It is something entirely different, because it was born from the womb of a culture that is comfortable with the mythical and the conventionally unbelievable. Magical Realism could not have been born from any other mother, than the slippery Spanish speaking, and catholic mother of Latin America: a women who wishes on saints and casts spells in the form of prayers. Magical Realism is an art form, and represents an important aspect of Latin culture. Therefore, in order to understand the symbiotic relationship between this literary style and culture, we must have a working definition of culture. Edward B, Tylor, a British anthropologist defined culture as â€Å"a complex whole including knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capability or habit acquired by human beings as members of society.† (Danesi, 3) So, culture is a conglomeration of the creations by the members of the society. However, more importantly, according to semiotician Marcel Danasi, â€Å"Societies are simultaneously the geographical and historical ‘reifications’ (manifestations) of cultures: i.e. they have existence in time and space, enfolding the signifying processes that shape and regulate the lives of the people who live within them.† (3) The logical process of the creation of culture is that culture manifests itself from the historical and ideological backgrounds of a given sphere. According to Eduardo Restrepo, â€Å"Culture is the deepest and most solid rock of our common sense.† (Grossberg, 169) Therefore, cultural sensibilities and norms are defined and framed by the culture itself. So, any art form, which we understand to be the child of a culture, can be traced back to a historical and or ideological element. In the case of Magical Realism and its importance in Latin American culture, we can trace both its creation and wide acceptance to Catholicism, and the mystical implications of Catholicism in the region. The iron of the blood that flows throughout Latin America is arguably Catholicism, but not Catholicism in the traditional sense, a Catholicism that was born of conquest, but was not defined by subordination. One cannot understand Latin America without understanding the history of the Catholic Church in the region. Catholicism has been predominant in Latin America and it has played a definitive role in its development. It helped to spur the conquest of the New World with its emphasis on missions to the indigenous peoples. (Schwaller) Now, Catholicism in the region is characterized by various practices that could arguably be considered associated with magic. This was due to the transcultural assimilation of the religion. It is a religion that was brought by the Spanish and Portuguese during the conquest of the new world, but as they introduced their religion, elements of religious cultures pushed through and created a new Catholicism. It was met by various cultures such as the Mayas, Aztecs, and even Caribbean voodoo, which are all more commonly associated with mysticism. (Schwaller) Now Catholicism is scene in multiple facets of daily life in Latin America. In nearly every home you can find a statue of the Virgin Mary. â€Å"Representations of saints take center stage in Hispanic religion. We pray, light candles and talk to our patrons, which are saints. Each Latin American country has a patron saint or virgin they celebrate. Patron Saints are also assigned to towns and regions, and we celebrate â€Å"Las Fiestas Patronales† or the patrons’ festivities in many Hispanic countries.† (â€Å"Hispanic Culture Online†) In addition, the Spanish language itself is wrought with rhetoric that implies the existence of miracles, which in this case we equate to magic. For example words like ojala, which derives from Arabic meaning literally â€Å"Allah willing† but more frequently meaning â€Å"I wish† or â€Å"I hope†, and â€Å"si dios quiere† â€Å"if God wills it†, are abundant in everyday conversation. From a semiotic point of view, in which we seek to understand the impact of this on the culture itself, we see that language of the sort creates a certain cultural framework. The words themselves, according to Jack Solomon, †¦Do mean what we want them to mean. Although a word and its meaning may appear to be one and the same, the truth is that words are only signs of meaning, arbitrary symbols whose significance, like the dots and dashes of the Morse code, is determined by cultural beliefs and social convention (2). The words used are vital within the culture, because without cultural context they would not have significance. Therefore, a culture is the sum of it’s language, and historical background. This summation is commonly known as a paradigm. Michel Foucault, who did extensive studies on paradigms and their application, asserts, â€Å" that for a given type of action, there are different possible ways to ‘conduct oneself’.† (Harrer, 79) A paradigm is defined as â€Å"a set of associated signifiers or signifiers which are all members of some defining category, but in which each is significantly different.† (Chandler) Cultures inevitably exist within a paradigm, and in simplistic terms a cultural paradigm can be considered the intricate web of what is significant, acceptable, and understood within a culture. The paradigm is perpetuated by language and practice. In practice we see how traditions and artistic expressions are simply mirrors that reflect the cultural paradigm as it is actively and continuously being defined by the peoples of that culture. Art must exist within a cultural paradigm, and therefore understanding those very paradigms allows us to contextually understand the significance of the art form. As for understanding One Hundred Years of Solitude, and its use of magical realism, we can look to various religious practices in Latin American Catholicism and how the normalize the abnormal. A prime example is the patron saint San Antonio. It is common in Latin culture for a person who is single and wants love to place a statue of this saint face down. They will pray to this saint, and only once their love is found will they turn the saint face up. What we see in this example is that mythology, and beliefs that have no basis in science or fact are practiced because of their religious ubiquity, and the magical adherence to the catholic religion that most Latinos are accustomed too. This is not the only example that can be found. Another pertinent example comes from the Virgin Mary. Latin Americans will pray to the Virgin Mary, for example, when their child falls ill. If the illness is cured, whether or not they can truly attribute this to their prayers, they will commemorate their devotion to the saint by naming their child after him. Many people even take pilgrimages to honor the importance that the saint made in their life. These instances of belief in the supernatural are commonplace, and allow us to understand how an entire culture of people could read in Marquez’s work, upon the death of Jose Arcadio Buendia: Then they went into Jose Arcadio Buendias room, shook him as hard as they could, shouted in his ear, put a mirror in front of his nostrils, but they could not awaken him. A short time later, when the carpenter was taking measurements for the coffin, through the window they saw a light rain of tiny yellow flowers falling. They fell on the town all through the night in a silent storm, and they covered the roofs and blocked the doors and smothered the animals who slept outdoors. So many flowers fell from the sky that in the morning the streets were carpeted with a compact cushion and they had to clear them away with shovels and rakes so that the funeral procession could pass by. (Marquez) and accept that the flowers are falling from the sky, but we are not transported to a world separate from reality. We understand that their metaphoric existence is one of honoring the dead, and commemorating a life. As we read this we are living in the reality that has been constructed by Latin America herself, a culture where often times the most unbelievable and magical occurrences serve better to explain reality than the dry and lifeless recitation of reality itself. Gabriel Garcia Marquez was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in December of 1982 on account of his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude. Within his speech he recounted tales of madness and fantastical occurrences in the region. He emphasizes the fact that to him his novel resembles reality, as he understands it: A reality not of paper, but one that lives within us and determines each instant of our countless daily deaths, and that nourishes a source of insatiable creativity, full of sorrow and beauty, of which this roving and nostalgic Colombian is but one cipher more, singled out by fortune. Poets and beggars, musicians and prophets, warriors and scoundrels, all creatures of that unbridled reality, we have had to ask but little of imagination, for our crucial problem has been a lack of conventional means to render our lives believable. This, my friends, is the crux of our solitude. (Marquez) The solitude he describes comes to represent the unique roots of the Latin American cultural paradigm, one that renders the region lonely, because no other culture can quite believe the ‘unbridled reality’ that shaped the culture. He is but one cipher more because the creation of magical realism was prophesized hundreds of years before, when the conventionality of European society collided with the ebb and flow of the immense sorrows and beauties in Latin America. History and language led to a cultural paradigm which laid the very foundation for a book like One Hundred Years of Solitude to be written, and to answer to the resounding question, which we have been exploring throughout this essay, what’s the significance of magical realism in the cultural paradigm? we needn’t look any further than the immortal pages of the novel. Melquiades, the gypsy who wrote the prophecy within One Hundred Years of Solitude says so poignantly â€Å"Things have a life of their own, its simply a matter of waking up their souls.† (Marquez) The pinnacle is that Melquiades does not just say that people have a life of their own, but things. The inanimate is granted animation and soul, and it is accepted because the cultural paradigm grants importance to that which cannot necessarily be tangibly explained or experienced. Latin America, rich with history of conquest, built from the alchemy and melding of various cultures to create a new identity, and alight with Spanish that linguistically reinforces the existence of God and the supernatural, had to be the birthplace of magical realism. Latin America is a region in which the lines between the magical and real are blurred. So, the creation of the genre of magical realism simply represents the acceptance that in telling a story as resounding as one of one hundred years of solitude in a sleepy, fictional town of Macondo, metaphor and magic become more truthful than even the truth itself, just as in Latin American culture the spiritual is granted more importance and potency than the literal. Works Cited Chandler, Daniel. Semiotics for Beginners. . N.p., 26 2002. Web. 27 Nov 2012.http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem03.html. Danesi, Marcel. Analyzing Cultures: An Introduction Handbook. Indiana: IndianaUniversity Press, 1999. Print. Grossberg, Lawrence. Cultural Studies in the Future Tense. Durham: DukeUniversity Press, 2010. Print. Hispanic Religion The Catholic Traditions, Meaning Celebrations AmongHispanics. Hispanic Culture Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov 2012.http://www.hispanic-culture-online.com/hispanic-religion.html. Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. One Hundred Years of Solitude. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. New York: Harper, 1970. Print. Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. The Solitude of Latin America. Nobel Prize AwardCeremony. Sweden, Stockholm. 08 1982. Speech. Schwaller, John Frederick. The History of the Catholic Church in Latin America. NewYork: NYU Press, 2012. eBook.

Marbury vs Madison Case Summary

Marbury vs Madison Case Summary Brandon Huff This case took place on February twenty fourth, 1803. It was the first case in which an act of Congress was declared unconstitutional. That being said it was the first time, and the means by which judicial review was used. As the case name suggests the disagreement was between James Madison and William Marbury. It took place a couple of weeks before president Thomas Jefferson took office in 1801. Because of the Judiciary Act of 1801, and the Organic Act there was a multitude of courtship places open. President John Adams tried to fill as many as he could with Federalist party members as to oppose Jeffersons Democratic-Republican party. He wanted to make it hard for him to pass anything while he was in office. But since William Marbury was one of the last ones to have an appointment, the so called midnight appointments, he did not receive their commission. This happened because Jefferson took office and instructed his secretary of state James Madison to withhold the remaining commissions. When Marbury found out he wrote a writ of mandamus to the Supreme Court. He did this in the hope Madison would act and hand out the rest of the commissions. Marbury and his lawyer, former attorney general Charles Lee, went before the courts and stated that the signing and sealing of the commission completed the transaction and that delivering them was only formal. Even though Jefferson was very upset stating that he could not serve without the document. Despite this plea, however, the court agreed to hear their case Marbury vs Madison in February of 1803. This case was underway, but was quickly resolved. After hearing the case most people from both the Republicans and the Federalists agreed that it was a very insignificant case. By the time the case took place the people were agreeing the Jeffersons decision to reduce the amount of justices of the peace, and the Judiciary Act of 1801 was repealed. Also, Marburys term was already half over with by the time the case made it to the courts. In other words it seemed that there was no way Marbury would win this case. However, Marshall, the chief justice saw the problem facing him and came up with a brilliant solution. The solution he found the named a tour de force, and is still used today. He managed to establish all power to the court s the final arbiter of the Constitution. By doing this, he could effectively chastise the Jefferson administration for not following the law, while also protecting the courts authority on the matter. He reduced the case to three basic problems and questions. First, did Marbury have the right to the commission? Second, if he did, and his right had been violated, did the law provide him with a remedy? Third, if it did, would the proper remedy be a writ of mandamus to the Supreme Court? With these three questions Marshall effectively broke down the case to its simplest form. The result of the first two had the desired effect. He explained that by failing to deliver the commission the Marbury, the secretary failed in his duties and violated the law. Having established that Marbury was entitled to receive the commission he turned to the next question. Marbury had a right to the commission, and therefore by not receiving it was denied right. Because of this violation he could have argued that a writ of mandamus would be the right course of action, since the Judiciary Act of 1789 was still in effect, therefore he declared the the court had no jurisdiction to issue such a thing. He continued that it was inconsistent with Article 3 of the Constitution. With this statement, he surrendered the power derived from the 1798 statute which would have given Jefferson a technical victory in the case. By pointing this out he gained a very important power, judicial review. Through his masterful ideas and use the the Constitution through the law Marshall won the case. Even though Marbury only served half his term it had a much greater impact throughout history. We use judicial review to this day and it has been the cornerstone for a lot of cases since this one. Even though this decision has been very controversial it is a part of our system and we are used to it by now. It also fits well with our system of checks and balances run by the government. Through this very small incident in history it impacted the whole country. This case revolutionized our way of thinking in the courts. The courts have more power in this process and have been able to hear and change the outcome of many cases. This has helped shape our country into hat it is today and although it was been surrounded in controversy it is an undeniable fact of our life.

Daddy Good Country People and Shiloh Essay -- essays papers

Daddy Good Country People and Shiloh Sylvia Plath’s â€Å"Daddy†, Flannary O’Connor’s â€Å"Good Country People†, and Bobbie Ann Mason’s â€Å"Shiloh† all have something in common. In each, the relationship between a parent and child is discussed. It is left up to the reader to decide the nature of the relationship. Although what stands out in Sylvia Plath’s poem "Daddy" is the Nazi imagery, it is interesting to note that the father is not called a Nazi in the first half of the poem. In the first stanza he is a "black shoe / In which [she has] lived like a foot" (2-3) which is certainly a stifling image but not yet a clear reference to the father's evil nature. Next he is "Marble heavy, a bag full of God" and a "Ghastly statue" (8-9), images which reveal the daughter's struggle to cope with his death but do not reflect any bad intent on the part of the father. From line 15 to the midway point of "Daddy," Plath begins to use Nazi imagery, but she still does not attack the father. Instead, the poem focuses on the daughter's frustrating attempt to connect with her dead father through his native language, German. In the second half of "Daddy," it is difficult at first to pinpoint where Plath starts to include thoughts of her husband. The speaker of the poem doesn’t make specific reference of a marriage until line 67, there is evidence before that which suggests that the speaker had found a replacement for her father. The language of lines 48 to 50, "Every woman adores a Fascist, / The boot in the face, the brute / Brute heart of a brute like you," connotes an abusive relationship between husband and wife, not parent and child. Likewise, the phrase "the black man who / Bit my pretty red heart in two" (55-56) is much more approp... ...d Norma Jean for the death of her baby, claiming that Norma Jean neglected the child. For years Mabel was after Leroy and Norma Jean to take a trip to Shiloh, the site of a Civil War battle that ended tragically. This battle was the first indication of how horrible the war would be, just as Norma Jean began to realized what her life would be like with Leroy home all of the time. Somewhere along the trip Norma Jean decided to end the marriage. Mabel pushed Norma Jean into marriage when Leroy got her pregnant, Mabel criticized her all of the time, Mabel seemed to always take Leroy’s side when discussing Norma Jean, and Mabel pushed for the trip to Shiloh. Norma Jean’s feelings of anger most likely stem from her mother’s overbearing qualities. Bibliography: Sylvia Plath’s â€Å"Daddy† Flannary O’Connor’s â€Å"Good Country People† Bobbie Ann Mason’s â€Å"Shiloh†

Cleopatras Initial Encounter With Caesar Essay -- Egypt History Paper

Cleopatra's Initial Encounter With Caesar Cleopatra is desperate-she needs to gain the throne of Egypt before her inadequate younger brother, Ptolemy, convinces Caesar to grant him full power. But alas, Cleopatra has been banished from Egypt by the ruthless Pothinus. Fortunately, the brilliant Cleopatra devises a plan to enter her Egyptian castle rolled up in a carpet, posing as a gift for the great Caesar. Her loyal servant, Apollodoros, carries her through a secret passageway and into the palace, where they are met by Caesar's guards. They continue into Caesar's quarters, where Apollodoros unrolls the carpet to reveal the stunning Cleopatra. Caesar is impressed not only by Cleopatra's intelligence, but also by her undeniable beauty, and pronounces Cleopatra the sole ruler of Egypt. Such is the story of the meeting of Caesar and Cleopatra as told by Plutarch and others that followed him. The extent of the story's truth remains a mystery, but it is likely that Plutarch included it in his account merely for entertainment value-it is only fitting that the alluring Cleopatra enters the castle with such a grand appearance. Because it is written in Plutarch's interpretation, many perceive the story as fact and include it in their own works. The scene, however-and the portrayal of Cleopatra within it-vary among different compositions. Regardless of the probable fictitious aspect of the scene, it is an important one, for it is in this scene that the level of Cleopatra's strength and power is revealed. INTELLIGENT YET INFERIOR Initially, it appears as though the rug scene is a display of Cleopatra's wit, for she uses her intelligence to devise a plan to enter the palace. In addition, it seems that Cleopatra has heightened ... ...lmi, Sr. With Billy Zane, Leonor Varela, and Timothy Dalton. ABC/Hallmark Entertainment, 1999. Cleopatra. Dir. Mankiewicz. With Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Rex Harrison. 20th Century Fox, 1963. Foreman, Laura. Cleopatra's Palace: In Search of a Legend. New York: Discovery Books, 1999. George, Margaret. The Memoirs of Cleopatra. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997. Gerome, Jean Leon. Cleopatra and Caesar. Private Collection. Hamer, Mary. Signs of Cleopatra. New York: Routledge, 1993. Hughes-Hallet, Lucy. Cleopatra: Histories, Dreams, Distortions. New York: Harper & Row, 1990. Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romanes [c. 100 C.E.]. Trans. Sir Thomas North (1579). Ed. Geoffrey Bullough, Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare. Vol. V. Columbia UP, 1964. Shaw, Bernard. Caesar and Cleopatra [1898]. New York: Penguin, 1957. Cleopatra's Initial Encounter With Caesar Essay -- Egypt History Paper Cleopatra's Initial Encounter With Caesar Cleopatra is desperate-she needs to gain the throne of Egypt before her inadequate younger brother, Ptolemy, convinces Caesar to grant him full power. But alas, Cleopatra has been banished from Egypt by the ruthless Pothinus. Fortunately, the brilliant Cleopatra devises a plan to enter her Egyptian castle rolled up in a carpet, posing as a gift for the great Caesar. Her loyal servant, Apollodoros, carries her through a secret passageway and into the palace, where they are met by Caesar's guards. They continue into Caesar's quarters, where Apollodoros unrolls the carpet to reveal the stunning Cleopatra. Caesar is impressed not only by Cleopatra's intelligence, but also by her undeniable beauty, and pronounces Cleopatra the sole ruler of Egypt. Such is the story of the meeting of Caesar and Cleopatra as told by Plutarch and others that followed him. The extent of the story's truth remains a mystery, but it is likely that Plutarch included it in his account merely for entertainment value-it is only fitting that the alluring Cleopatra enters the castle with such a grand appearance. Because it is written in Plutarch's interpretation, many perceive the story as fact and include it in their own works. The scene, however-and the portrayal of Cleopatra within it-vary among different compositions. Regardless of the probable fictitious aspect of the scene, it is an important one, for it is in this scene that the level of Cleopatra's strength and power is revealed. INTELLIGENT YET INFERIOR Initially, it appears as though the rug scene is a display of Cleopatra's wit, for she uses her intelligence to devise a plan to enter the palace. In addition, it seems that Cleopatra has heightened ... ...lmi, Sr. With Billy Zane, Leonor Varela, and Timothy Dalton. ABC/Hallmark Entertainment, 1999. Cleopatra. Dir. Mankiewicz. With Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Rex Harrison. 20th Century Fox, 1963. Foreman, Laura. Cleopatra's Palace: In Search of a Legend. New York: Discovery Books, 1999. George, Margaret. The Memoirs of Cleopatra. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997. Gerome, Jean Leon. Cleopatra and Caesar. Private Collection. Hamer, Mary. Signs of Cleopatra. New York: Routledge, 1993. Hughes-Hallet, Lucy. Cleopatra: Histories, Dreams, Distortions. New York: Harper & Row, 1990. Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romanes [c. 100 C.E.]. Trans. Sir Thomas North (1579). Ed. Geoffrey Bullough, Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare. Vol. V. Columbia UP, 1964. Shaw, Bernard. Caesar and Cleopatra [1898]. New York: Penguin, 1957.

The Heros Journey in Cameron Crowes Film Almost Famous Essay

The Hero's Journey in Cameron Crowe's Film â€Å"Almost Famous†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Almost Famous (2000) is a dramatization of writer/director Cameron Crowe’s real-life experiences as a teenage rock reporter for Rolling Stone. Based on thinly-veiled autobiographical material from the precocious beginnings of Crowe’s early career, the screenplay shapes sentimental memories into movie magic. But how did Crowe give his own coming-of-age tale such universal appeal? A closer look reveals that Almost Famous, like most films worth their salt, is yet another incarnation of the greatest and only mythological adventure, â€Å"The Hero’s Journey.† This relationship can be explained using the framework of Joseph Campbell’s phenomenal book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, along with certain terms and interpretations from The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler. William Miller, our unlikely hero, lives at home with his protective mother Elaine and rebellious older sister, Anita. His ORDINARY WORLD is the sheltered existence of a San Diego junior high school student. When Anita has a fight with her mother and decides to leave home to become a stewardess, her parting words to William make her the HERALD of his adventures to come. With the car packed and running, Anita takes hold of William on the front lawn, looks him dead in the eye and says: â€Å"One day, you’ll be cool.† Under his bed, the stack of albums she has left for him includes the Who’s Tommy, with a note taped to it. â€Å"Listen to Tommy with a candle burning and you will see your entire future,† it reads prophetically. And so it was written. Rock music is about to change William forever. In the next scene, we are introduced to an older William—now fifteen and in high school—obsessively scratching band names into his notebook during class. It is time for the appearance of his SUPERNATURAL AID â€Å"to supply the amulets and advice that the hero will require.† (Campbell 72) William goes to meet the famous rock critic, Lester Bangs, who is being interviewed at a local radio station. Over lunch, Lester initiates his role as MENTOR to the aspiring young journalist, warning him against making friends with the rock stars lest he lose his objectivity to write about them. â€Å"You have to build your reputation on being honest†¦ and unmerciful,† he says repeatedly. Seeing that William is serious about his quest, Lester offers him a bona fide writing ass... ...to try to get back together with her, she tricks him into showing up on William’s doorstep instead. The two finally sit down to an interview together and we discover that Russell has called and come clean to the editors of Rolling Stone about the truth of William’s story. The film’s climax is thus resolved as its closing shot depicts a bundle of bound Rolling Stone magazines landing on the pavement with a thud. Almost Famous tells the story of an uncommon adolescence, too unusual for audiences to relate to on a personal level, yet with a common resonance that speaks to millions. This effect can’t have been achieved on accident. Far from just a haphazard reminiscence, the screenplay succeeds by arranging its elements along the symbolism of our collective consciousness. Therefore, using the outline of â€Å"The Hero’s Journey† as the basis for analysis, we see how Almost Famous has also been wrought from the power of this infinite myth. Works Cited Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. 2nd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968. Vogler, Christopher. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. 2nd ed. Studio City: Michael Weise Productions, 1998.

Computer Operating System Essay

The Windows series of operating systems produced by the Microsoft Corporation primarily make use of two file systems: the File Allocation Table (FAT) and the New Technology File System (NTFS). Additionally, some versions of Windows NT also support the use of the High Performance File System (HPFS), a result of Microsoft’s joint developer involvement with IBM to produce the OS/2 operating system. (Duncan, 1989; Custer, 1994) Initially released with DOS, FAT makes use of a table which indexes information on which sections of the storage medium are free, unusable or taken up by files. Disk space is partitioned into distinct units known as sectors or clusters. There is no real organization to the directory structure of FAT, and as such free disk space can become distributed across many different sectors, resulting in file space being allocated in discontiguous sectors. As such, data is highly fragmented and increases seek times. (Microsoft, 2007; Duncan 1989) HPFS was first introduced with OS/2. It improved over the core functionality of the FAT system by introducing additional room for metadata attributes. Allocation units were changed from clusters to physical sectors of 512 bytes each, optimizing the disk space used for each file. HPFS directory entries also hold more attribute data: they possess single sector FNODEs that serve as the control structure for each directory. Fragmentation is drastically reduced by allocating as much of a file in contiguous sectors. However, the HPFS is dependent on a Super Block which contains the control structures of the root directory – essentially the root FNODE. The Super Block is thus vulnerable to corruption or loss from a bad sector which can compromise an entire partition’s useability. (Microsoft, 2007; Duncan, 1989) NTFS was designed to meet the growing demand for network servers and file sharing capabilities and it borrowed many of its concepts from the HPFS. (Kozierok, 2001) It is a journaling file system which permits greater recoverability by reverting files back to a useable state in the event of power failures and system crashes that occur during file transactions. Additionally, it also makes use of an expanded meta-data system which allows administrators to set a wider variety of access and use controls to files. The NTFS also optimizes data by storing small files into the Master File Table of the NTFS itself. The larger system format limit provides means that allocation units are much more refined as well. (Microsoft, 2004; 2007) Memory management on Windows has an access limit of up to 4GB of physical memory, and as such, the allocation of memory to processes is limited by this cap. By using paging to transfer pages of data between main memory and an auxiliary storage device such as a hard drive, it can overcome some of the limitations of physical RAM and enable system processes to have their own 4GB logical address space. Additionally, Windows accords memory protection to process in such a manner as to prevent access to one another, which is crucial to ensure that processes can operate simultaneously without compromising their functionality. (Garg, 2008) Microsoft Windows is essentially an operating system that is built with multi-tasking in mind, which in effect, allows multiple programs to be executed simultaneously. Each application is composed of one or more processes, each of which provides the resources needed to execute a program. Processes are composed of threads, a discrete unit by which processor time is allocated and a single thread, called the primary thread initiates the process. Each thread may execute any portion of code in the process, including those already being executed by another thread. Virtual address space and system resources are shared by threads of a single process, though exception handlers, scheduling priority and other components that determine a thread’s importance and role within the context of a process. (Microsoft Developer Network, 2008) Windows possesses many of the essential features crucial to basic security such as authentication and access control, encryption schemes and protection profiles. However, the API for cryptography is easily compromised by the fact that it easily trusts multiple keys in certifying authority of access. As such, only one code key is necessary to render a system vulnerable. Such a compromise is possible either through accidental disclosure of the private key or when the certifying authority mistakenly issues a certificate. On the level of network security protocol, Windows makes use of IPSec, a cryptographic IP-level protection system which is an open standard in the industry, which functions not only through data encryption and verification of hosts but by detecting modifications made to data during network transit. (Quardt, 2004) Windows security is at its most problematic with regards to applications and non-operating system products. Part of the problem is that for the purposes of consumer convenience, Microsoft Windows continues to be reliant on legacy applications that contain security threats that were of trivial matter during their initial release. Furthermore, the signature architecture of Microsoft programs is to mix application code and data, such as ActiveX for example, can allow untrusted data from outside the system to activate code. (Quardt, 2004) Also, Windows approves digitally signed code even if it is supplied from outside of the system, which means that a system administrator must implicitly trust whoever has signed the code to have subjected it to appropriate code review. In essence, the problem with Windows security is that trust and certification is so decentralized as to deny systems administrators total control and authority over the trustworthiness of code.   REFERENCES Microsoft Corporation. (2007, May 7) Overview of FAT, HPFS and NTFS File Systems. Retrieved August 9, 2008 from: http://support. microsoft. com/kb/100108 Microsoft Corporation (2004, May 5) Local File Systems for Windows. Retrieved August 9, 2008: http://download. microsoft. com/download/5/b/5/5b5bec17-ea71-4653-9539-204a672f11cf/LocFileSys. doc Duncan, R. (1989, September) Design goals and implementation of the new High Performance File System. Microsoft Systems Journal, 4, 5, 1-13. Custer, H. (1994) Inside the Windows NT File System. Washington: Microsoft Press. Kozierok, C. M. (2001, April 17). Overview and History of NTFS. PCGuide. Garg, P. â€Å"Windows Memory Management. † Intellectual Heaven. Retrieved August 10, 2008 from: http://www. intellectualheaven. com/Articles/WinMM. pdf Microsoft Developer Network (2008, August 7). â€Å"About Processes and Threads. † Retrieved August 10, 2008 from: http://msdn. microsoft. com/en-us/library/ms681917(VS. 85,printer). aspx Hart, J. M. (2004) Windows System Programming, 3rd Edition. Boston: Addison-Wesley Professional. Quandt, S. (2004, May 25) â€Å"Linux and Windows security compared. † Linux. com Retrieved August 11, 2008 from: http://www. linux. com/articles/36273? page=2

Interperson Communication Skills

It was only around the sass's that it became consider as an actual practice (Benjamin, 2006). This assignment will deal with some of the most influential of these psychological practices which have developed and evolved since the inception psychology all those years ago. This will be achieved in the way of Deadlier, Gestalt and Person-centered therapies as examples. This will involve focused commentary on their historical background and key concepts with mention given to the therapeutic goals of each of the respective theories. â€Å"Psychology has a long past, but only a short history. (Boring, 1929, p. 9) Deadlier Psychology Deadlier psychology is the psychological method founded by Alfred Adler which was formulated around the idea of â€Å"individual psychology'. Individual Psychology is a humanistic approach and is a modification of Freud ‘s psychoanalysis which encapsulates a body of ideas and approaches more focused on our actual motivations, as an indivisible whole, in our behavior towards a life goal. These goals come in divisions of short term and long term with all the stops in-between being goals that indeed affected our behavior today in our everyday lives.It was Adler ‘s insistence that people were motivated by social influences (as nothing materializes in isolation) and that one was, to a large extent, responsible for who they are and couldn't blame others for the predicaments and short comings they may be experiencing in their current existence (Adler, 1964). Deadlier psychology believes that a person forms a methodology to life within the first 6 years of living and the therapy places great focus on feelings of inferiority.However these feelings of inferiority are not viewed as symbols of deficiency or fragility, but rather a driving source of creativity (Corey, 2009). Deadlier Psychology calls these feelings of inferiority â€Å"the inferiority complex† (which is defined as an intense feeling of inadequacy often culminating in shyness or general evasive behavior) and the therapy is often associated with â€Å"the superiority complex† (defined as the overblown or distorted feeling of superiority to others), albeit Deadlier psychology renders the latter as more of a defense mechanism for those who truly do feel inferior to others (Adler, 1998).In therapy, Deadlines endeavourer to look at the life of the individual from his subjective reality as they believe how the client perceives life is ended more important that what reality demonstrates. This is called the phenomenological perspective and will incorporate various aspects of the clients thought process including his viewpoint, sentiments, beliefs and values. This is of utmost importance as in order to understand the whole person, deadlier psychology states that we cannot be understood in pieces but rather all components of ourselves must be comprehended as a unified whole.This is known as the holistic concept (Corey, 2009). It is here where ef fective empathy is especially important in this hereby, which is in contradiction of Freudian theory that the client must be a blank slate. It would be this empathy and the fact that Freudian therapy encouraged the analyst to be silent during free association, whilst Deadlier psychologists are encouraged to make inquiries and have discussions about the client that would be considered 2 of the major differences in the respective theories (Burrow, 1917). At the beginning of this section on Deadlier psychology I made referenced to the importance of social influences.These influences are articulated as social interest ND are defined as the theory that endeavourers to characterize the relationship between an individual and the people he deals with in his community. It is a trait that is inherent in all human beings which can be trained and developed. Deadlines testify that the more refined and developed ones social interest is, the more it will lessen any feelings of inferiority (Adler, 1998). In therapy, the Deadlier psychologist will attempt an assessment of the clients â€Å"family constellation† which encapsulates the circumstances an individual is born into, including gender and birthing order (Adler, 1964).Particular attention is given to the relationship between siblings in the birthing order and continues through the individuals early recollections. These recollections are very important as they create formative happenings that emphatically develop ones personality. It is hoped that by the end of this process the client will be able to recognize or discern where they went wrong, which could range from conceptual errors and adverse processes (Adler, 1998). Deadlier psychology goes further to say that even though children may be raised in to their location in the birth order.Generally the oldest child enjoys more attention ND whilst no other siblings have been born, has a tendency to be spoiled more. This all changes, however, at the arrival of a new s ibling and will generally find them self evicted from the favored position. The second child from the time of birth shares the attention with the first born, but competitiveness develops which can have an influence their development later in life. This second born is generally quite the opposite of the elder sibling. The middle child often feels excluded.A burden is laid on this child as they often become the middle man, the keeper of the peace who tries their best to keep situations together. The youngest child will always be viewed as the baby and results in the individual being pampered and has a tendency to get things their way. The only child seems to be a mixture of sorts. They share some similarities of the oldest child in this model, but tend not to discover how to share or collaborate with others their age. The only child is also often pampered like the aforementioned youngest child and may want to be the centre of attention at all times (Corey, 2009).In the preceding text I made references to the pampering of a child. Deadlines believe that pampering does play a direct role in a child's placement as spoilt children are raised to expect their requests to be law. This is a result of the parenting figures allowing the child a feeling of eminence, a feeling that the child can get almost anything they want without them striving to have earned it and this generally leads to the child believing this eminence is a birthright. For these children it has become commonplace for them to take and not to give.All this as a consequence could result in the child later in life losing their independence, and not knowing how to resolve issues for themselves (Adler, 1998). In my studies of Freud and Jung I was very intrigued in their dream analysis so was very interested to see how Deadlier psychology views this concept. Whereas Freud viewed dreams as a method of solving issues from the past, Deadlier psychology rather views dreams as a recital of conceivable future even ts and could reflect an individual's current issues (Corey, 2009). Meanings are not determined by situations, but we determine ourselves by the meanings we give to situations. † (Adler, 1937, p. 14). Person-centered Therapy Person-centered therapy (also referred to as Organic Psychology) is the psychological method founded by the humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers. It is centered on the idea that the individual has enormous potential for understanding themselves and therefore is best placed in the resolving of their own issues without any direct interjections from the therapist. Hence the therapy revolves around the individual as the promoter and architect of their own self change (Corey, 2009).So it would be pertinent to say that one ‘s self concept is of great emphasis in this therapy and thus is defined as the personal perceptions one believes about themselves (Rogers, 2003). The therapy furthermore states that all of us have the capacity for growth towards fulfillme nt of our life ‘s wishes and aspirations. That being said, it is of utmost importance that the therapist provides a comfortable threat free environment for the individual, as to lower their guard, to make it easier for them to defensiveness (Meaner & Throne, 2007).If the aforementioned life aspirations, potentials and fulfillment are indeed reached this is referred to as self actualization and it is the conviction of this therapy that this tendency is the one essential motive driving all of us. If this tendency is promoted and helped along, the person will flourish and develop and start living what they term â€Å"the good life†. By â€Å"the good life† the therapy is referring to the idea that the individual will have reached an apex of a positive mental outlook, have reached a level of congruence and would begin to trust their feelings.Conversely if that tendency is constrained or blocked, the person will deteriorate and/or have greater difficulties (Rogers, 19 51). The importance of this can never be underestimated and is of particular importance as Rogers confirms: â€Å"The organism has one basic tendency and striving – to actuality, maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism† (Rogers, 1951, p. 487). The organism Rogers (and indeed the entire therapy in general) in that quote makes reference to is the individual person as a whole inclusive of one ‘s emotions, thoughts and welfare (Rogers, 2003).Person-centered therapy has similarities to Deadlier psychology in the way of Idler's social interest concepts which reflects in Rogers core conditions of therapeutic change. The basis of this is in the emphasis Deadlier psychology invests in caring ND empathy being at the centre of therapy regarding social interest (Watts, 1998), but whereas Deadlier psychology tries to get to the crux of the issue through applied techniques, the Person-centered therapist is non-directive and allows the client to lead the conversation.Th e therapist will ask questions and forward scenarios relevant to what the client is discussing, without answering any directed questions, in an attempt to empower the client to indeed realize the issue at hand and the solution to it for themselves (Rogers, 2003). Initially there were 6 conditions that ere fundamental to Person-centered therapy that are necessary in order to achieve therapeutic change and stimulate growth in a client. The first of these is that two people must engage in psychological contact in order for therapy to commence.The second condition refers to the fact that the client is assumed to be in a state of incongruence (the discrepancy between the matching of your experiences and awareness which results in there being an imbalance between the alignment of your feelings and actions). The next condition is that the therapist himself must be fully self-aware and congruent with the client at all times. The fourth condition is that the therapist portrays unconditional positive regard (UPPER) towards the client.At number five is that the therapist must, above all else, display empathic understanding towards what the client reveals without getting emotionally involved. The final condition is that the expression to the client of the therapist's empathy and positive regard must be achieved to a minimal degree (Rogers, 1957). Over the years, however, the aforementioned 6 conditions have developed, revised and hence reduced to 3 core conditions as over time the others were viewed as nonessential.The 3 conditions that remained and are practiced today are firstly â€Å"congruence†; defined in Person-centered therapy as the therapist having to be as genuine as he possible can towards the client, which is essential as it aids in the establishment of trust between the client and the therapist and thus is considered by many to be the most important part of counseling. The second core condition is â€Å"empathy', which is the issue at hand from the cl ient's perspective (I. E. – what the client is feeling). The therapist needs to appear incredibly authentic and sensitive during sessions, but just always be careful not to confuse empathy with sympathy.Furthermore the therapist must pay attention to the client's experiences as if they were their own, but not at the expense of becoming lost in those emotions. This is referred to as accurate emphatic understanding. The third core condition is â€Å"unconditional positive regard and acceptance† (UPPER). This encapsulates the concept that regardless what the client reveals during therapy, be it good or bad, it will be accepted unconditionally by the therapist with no Judgment passed whilst showing meaningful and genuine understanding for the client.This leads to the client being more at ease and more willing to share experiences without fear of being Judged (Corey, 2009). Person- centered therapy believes that these conditions, as well as the aforementioned self actualiza tion, are all necessary in the achievement of becoming a â€Å"fully functioning person†. A â€Å"fully functional person† is the state of being reached when a person is fully congruent and comfortable with living life in the present (I. E. – not held back by past bad experiences and lives considerably more freely) and when the client has cached this state, it is then that the therapist will begin the â€Å"ending† discussion.The â€Å"ending† discussion refers to the therapist initiating the idea of terminating the sessions as sooner or later; the client needs to go it on their own (Meaner & Throne, 2007). â€Å"It is the client who knows what hurts, what directions to go, what problems are crucial, what experiences have been deeply buried† (Rogers, 1961, p. 11). Gestalt Therapy Gestalt therapy is the existential, phenomenological and process based approach formulated by Frizz and Laura Peres which focuses on the human mind and behavior n i ts entirety in relation to the individual's environment (I. E. The whole is more relevant than the quantity of its parts). Gestalt too initially stemmed from Freud ‘s psychoanalytic ideals, but took issue with Freud ‘s view of individual's being mechanistic and insisted how one acts and reacts in the present is far more important than understanding ones past (Corey, 2009). This isn't to say the past was completely overlooked and undervalued, but its relevance was more focused on how events and situations affects one now in the present as all our adaptations to the resistances and events we experienced through our development manifests in our present (Peres, 1969).Clients who engage in Gestalt therapy are generally in a phase of existential dilemma and need to learn to be accountable for their own existence. Gestalt therapy believed that the solution to such issues was found in the client gaining awareness and once this was achieved, genuine adjustments and changes would happen naturally (Nelson-Jones, 2000). Gestalt therapists in the quest for the client to become aware will encourage the client to face the experience in question head on, rather than simply discuss it.For example instead of discussing the bullied abuse the client received at school, the client will be urged to try becoming that tormented child during sessions. This awareness was made up of the client being able to be self accepting and gaining a greater understanding of Person-centered therapy in the way they all prized empathy and accepted the notion of the client having the inherent capacity of being able to accomplish great freedoms and self-reliance.Gestalt does, however, differ from person-centered therapy fundamentally in the way person-centered therapy wishes to limit the therapist's role o that of to a passive mediator of information and that the client already deep down has the solutions (Rogers, 2003), whereas the Gestalt therapist isn't there to Just pay attention and li sten but also engage in dialogue and moreover make the client aware of what presently is happening (Peres, 1969).Furthermore these Gestalt therapy sessions don't follow particular guidelines so therapists are encouraged during to devise experiments and be creative to maximize the client's awareness to the â€Å"what† and the â€Å"how' they are doing things (Yonder, 1993). Gestalt therapy places significant stress on the concept of contact and believes it is necessary if growth is to take place during sessions with clients. Contact is defined as the audible, physical, visual, odorous and actual movement made between those involved in the therapy.Part of the importance of contact is also identifying the disruptions and defiance's to contact that may occur during therapy (Nelson-Jones, 2000) . The most common of these resistances are: â€Å"Interjecting†, which refers to the acceptance of information without entirely considering whether it is something you potentially c oncur with and in most instances not even understanding its meaning. This form of resistance is loaded with ‘should haves', ‘must haves' and ‘l still need to do ‘s' during therapy. â€Å"Projecting† refers to us renouncing facets of ourselves by assigning them to our given environment.Every time we attempt to interpret the world, we project and we tend to see in other people what indeed belongs to us. â€Å"Retroflection† is when we grant ourselves what we indeed want from the environment (I. E. – doing to ourselves what we would actually like to do to another). â€Å"Confluence† involves the fading or blurring of the boundaries that stand between others and us. â€Å"Deflecting† is when he individual dilutes life in the way of making serious issues not seem as serious as they indeed are. Humor and changing of the subject are good examples of deflecting. Desensitizing† is when we chose to block out issues or scenarios we don't want to experience or identify. In Gestalt therapy, this is viewed as a fundamental resistance. â€Å"Egotism† gets a special mention under this section as whereas it isn't directly viewed in gestalt therapy as a resistance as such, it is a familiar component in all the manifestations of our impairments and has been recognized to interfere with good contact (Latter, 1973). In Gestalt therapy, the relationship between the client and the therapist is a dynamic communication which is characterized by empathy, acknowledgement and responsibility.This communication has 4 main aspects including â€Å"inclusion† (being as present as possible without passing any judgment on what the client has to say), â€Å"presence† (the therapist finds ways to express them self during the session towards the client), â€Å"commitment to dialogue† (makes for an understanding and allowance for communication between therapist and client) and â€Å"dialogue is lived† (implying the communication doesn't deed to be only verbal, but can in fact be any method that expresses energy between client and therapist) (Yonder, 1993).There are 6 main principles to Gestalt therapy and are characterized as follows: First is the principle of â€Å"field work†. This therapist gives special attention to how the client connects with his environment. Secondly is the principle of â€Å"holism† which quite simply put, includes everything about the client including thoughts, emotions, dreams and reactions as gestalt therapists assign no preferable value to a particular part of the client. â€Å"Unfinished equines† is the third principle and in gestalt therapy is construed as the unspoken or unexpressed feelings that seem to have attached themselves to specific memories from our past.These feelings can raise their ugly head in our lives and be demonstrated by means of resentment, anxiety, anger and guilt. These hide in the background of our being and find their way into the present in a number of self- defeating expressions and acts. The fourth principle is â€Å"the figure-formation process† which pays attention to how the client regulates and shapes their surroundings from nocturne to Juncture. It furthermore keeps a keen eye on how some element of the environment can appear from the client's background and make itself a centerpiece of the client's attention. Organism self-regulation† is the fifth principle and it makes reference to the innovative adjustment the client makes in relation to his surroundings. The final principle is called â€Å"the now' and is focused on the client truly being in the present as attention given to events from the past, as well as the future, could be a mental diversion to keep the client from dealing with issues in the present moment (Corey, 2009). â€Å"I am not in this world to live up to other people's expectations, nor do I feel that the world must live up to mine. † (Peres, 1969, p. 21).Conclusion In the modern day there is a plethora of psychological methods and therapies, which begs the question: â€Å"Which one is the best and most practical to adopt? † I don't imagine there is a clear and elementary answer to this question, but if I had to be as bold to commit to an answer, I'd imagine my answer would be: â€Å"Somewhere in- between. † My answer isn't as cryptic and inconclusive as it may first appear as wrought all my research for this assignment, as well as previous endeavourers, I have recognized that all the respective methods have their pertinent, compelling and intriguing arguments or merits.They also do, however, seem to have their limitations to lesser or greater degree. So for myself it would make practical sense to use one approach as a basis for therapy, but include all the redeeming aspects of the others if need be. Regardless of one ‘s viewpoint on the approaches I have discussed in this assignment, I can à ¢â‚¬Ëœt help but feel the more tools we have at our disposal, the better