More Than Just the Disease by Bernard McLaverty Essay Example for Free

More Than Just the Disease by Bernard McLaverty Essay More Than Just the Disease, written by Bernard McLaverty has one major character, Neil. The story is seen through his eyes and illustrates the problems that he has to deal with at this point in his life. Arguably the biggest problem Neil has in the story is his psoriasis, this is also a contributor to another of his problems, which is his huge lack of confidence, and it also contributes in a profound way to his insecurity. McLaverty has written the character of Neil Fry with many quite complex problems one of which is the astonishing influence Mrs Fry Neils mother has on him. He frequently hears her voice in his head commanding him, telling him how he should act, what he should do in certain situations and how to feel on certain matters. This occurs when Neil is having breakfast with Michaels family. His mother, without being present, tells him that he should, Close his mouth when he is eating she goes on to say, Others have to live with you Neil. He hears her again when he is unpacking after arriving at Michaels holiday home. She says Be tidy at all times and then no one can surprise you. I could go on for pages listing more and more instances of this but I wont get any marks for doing that! I regress. Although Mrs Fry means absolutely no harm, in fact quite the opposite, when implanting these views, ideas and reactions into Neils head, she is actually contributing to many of Neils problems: such as his lack of confidence, his ignorance and his insecurity. Neil finds, when he goes to stay with Michael on the coast, that his mother is entirely wrong about the middle classes and how they live and behave. He finds contrary to his expectations that they do not fit the stereotype, they are not posh but in fact they are reasonably laid back. Neil is very insecure possibly, again, owing to his mothers domination over him and because Neil kept hearing his mothers voice A good example of this is him going to the bathroom to put on his pyjamas and buttoning the jacket right up to the neck, whereas Michael while bending his arms and flexing his biceps announces proudly; I only wear pyjama bottoms. This, as well as illustrating Neils insecurity, also is a good illustration of Neils massive under confidence and Michaels abundance of it. Neil lives in a very sheltered world and does not know a lot about the world beyond his home and school life. This is evident in one instance in particular; when Neil is making an excuse for not going swimming to hide his psoriasis he says, The fact isIve got my period. Mrs Wan helps Neil with his lack of confidence. She is a duchess and owns the house in which Michael and his family stay throughout the summer. While doing this she lives in a dirty caravan at the bottom of the garden with her millions of cats. Mrs Wan proves another one of Mrs Frys stereotypes is utter nonsense, she does not dress as expected not at all glamorously but does not seem to be interested in her appearance in the slightest. McLaverty describes her as being, An old woman in a bottle green cardigan and baggy mouse coloured trousers anda pair of mens leather gloves. She is a complete contrast to Mrs Fry who likes to be tidy at all times and cannot abide milk bottles at the table. If, with no background information you were asked to choose the duchess between the two of them it is most likely that Mrs Fry would be the one chosen. Mrs Wan, although only meeting Neil briefly, has a large influence on him, which is rather more positive than that of his mothers. She listens to his and seems interested in his opinions and experiences. Most importantly, however, she gives him confidence, the confidence to reveal his psoriasis instead of making excuses to get out of going swimming. She shares her experience of lepers with him this also helps him and boosts his confidence in a big way. The end of the story illustrates very well how Mrs Wans advice affects Neil. The closing scene could be taken as a symbol for life. Neil because of his under confidence dabbles in the shallows nervously, meanwhile Michael is out in the deep riding the waves and happily accepting all the challenges thrown at him by the sea knowing he will succeed. The story teaches Neil a lot. He is taught to move out with his mothers domination. Not to worry too much about how other people perceive him and that he should not be at all afraid of revealing his psoriasis, not keeping it hidden. He has nothing to be ashamed of and therefore he should not hide away or dabble in the shadows but be sure of himself, confident enough to do what he thinks best not what his mother often wrongly thinks he should do, to be his own person and not a clone of his mother.

Childless Couples on Television Essay -- Television Media TV Esays

Childless Couples on Television Throughout the evolution of television, there have always been TV shows of childless television couples, such as The Honeymooners or King of Queens. As television has changed throughout the decades, so have television’s childless couples. In the beginning of television series with childless couples, the wife was the one that stayed at home, cleaned, cooked, and did the laundry. The husband was the one that made the money by going to work. Television series always portrayed women as the weaker characters. â€Å"Women in the early 1950s family were weak, secondary characters, and as such were usually dominated by their husbands and their own conceptions of marriage† (Hastings, 1974). Certain episodes of these shows always tried to prove that women should stay at home. When I Love Lucy came out with a woman as the main star, they still had her stay at home, cooking and cleaning, but still made her seem useless. â€Å"Women characters frequently were shown as less mature and less capable human-beings and their husbands often took a quasi-parental role by... Childless Couples on Television Essay -- Television Media TV Esays Childless Couples on Television Throughout the evolution of television, there have always been TV shows of childless television couples, such as The Honeymooners or King of Queens. As television has changed throughout the decades, so have television’s childless couples. In the beginning of television series with childless couples, the wife was the one that stayed at home, cleaned, cooked, and did the laundry. The husband was the one that made the money by going to work. Television series always portrayed women as the weaker characters. â€Å"Women in the early 1950s family were weak, secondary characters, and as such were usually dominated by their husbands and their own conceptions of marriage† (Hastings, 1974). Certain episodes of these shows always tried to prove that women should stay at home. When I Love Lucy came out with a woman as the main star, they still had her stay at home, cooking and cleaning, but still made her seem useless. â€Å"Women characters frequently were shown as less mature and less capable human-beings and their husbands often took a quasi-parental role by...

Native Americans in the United States and Include In-text Citation Essay

TermDefinition Segregationâ€Å"The physical and social separation of categories of people. † (Macionis, 2012, p. 61) De jure segregationâ€Å"Children assigned to schools specifically to maintain racially separated schools. † (Schaefer, 2012, p. 414) Pluralismâ€Å"A state in which people of all racial and ethnic categories have about the same overall social standing. † (Macionis, 2012, p. 63) Assimilationâ€Å"The process by which minorities gradually adopt cultural patterns from the dominant majority population. † (Macionis, 2012, p. 63) Part II Write a 75- to 150-word response to each of the following questions. Format your work according to the class writing guide: †¢Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, racial, or national group, such as the Turkish killing of Armenians after WWI, the Nazis’ slaughter of 6 million European Jews during WWII, or the mass killings in Rwanda in 1994. Has genocide ever been practiced or condoned in North America? Explain your response. Yes, genocide has been both practiced and condoned in North America and the United States. The native inhabitants of North America, or Native Americans, were destroyed as a people. In the early 18th century, several states including Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey promoted the genocide of local native people by offering a scalp bounty on every dead native. In 1703 12 pounds was the price paid per scalp by the State of Massachusetts, by 1723 that price had soared to over 100 pounds per scalp. In that same period, George Washington compared Natives to wolves or beasts of prey, and called for their total destruction. By 1814, Andrew Jackson supervised the mutilation of more than 800 members of the Creek Tribe, which had been murdered by his troops. As time progresses to 1867, General William Tecumseh Sherman was saying, â€Å"We must act with vindictive earnestness against the Sioux [Lakota] even to their extermination; men, women, and children. † No one knows a precise number of Native Americans that were murdered at the behest of our United States Government, but some estimates make the number of European Jews murdered by German Nazis look small. (â€Å"Religious Tolerance†, 2011) †¢Consider the readings from this week as well as last week. What is the difference between Arab Americans and Muslim Americans? Why are the two often thought to be interchangeable? Explain your response. Arab Americans are Americans of Arabic heritage, which have either immigrated to the United States or have been born here and can trace their lineage back to the Middle East. (â€Å"The Prejudice Institute â€Å", 2012) However not all people from the Middle East are Arab. Muslim Americans are people who practice the religion of Islam and live in the United States. (â€Å"Muslim Americans†, 2011) I think that often these two terms are thought to be interchangeable because there are a great deal of Muslims in the Middle East and those are the Muslim Extremist that we she on the news. Therefore, as we always do we go right to the stereotypes that have been played out in the headlines of the news. So if a person is of Arabic decent he or she must also be Muslim, which is why people tend to consider the two terms interchangeable. ? References Religious Tolerance. (2011). Retrieved from http://www. religioustolerance. org/genocide5. htm Macionis, J. J. (2012). Social Problems, Census Edition (4th ed. ). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database. The Prejudice Institute . (2012). Retrieved from http://www. prejudiceinstitute. org/Factsheets5-ArabAmericans. html Muslim Americans. (2011). Retrieved from http://www. people-press. org/files/2011/08/muslim-american-report. pdf.

Lincoln Was A Man Of Power - 917 Words

Lincoln was a man of power, he loved being powerful, and he did that through war. Lincoln s administration became popular for use of deadly force against anyone to deny the right to secession. (171) â€Å"Many historians have praised Lincoln for his micromanagement of the war effort.† (172) According to James McPherson, his work is genius. (172) In the War Between the States, Lincoln invades the South, which makes him the aggressor. â€Å"During Lincoln’s war against the civilians Lincoln wanted Southern civilians to suffer which made him abandon international law and the U.S. military’s code and began to wage total war.† (179) Every where the Federal armies went there was rampant vandalism. â€Å"Lincoln opened the gates of war and plunged his fellow countrymen, North, and South, into four years of misery and death (Gamble 2003, 611). If Lincoln s army would have lost in the Shenandoah Valley, it could cause him â€Å"to lose the 1864 election and the D emocratic Party was inclined to work out a peace agreement.† (195) The reconstruction of America was like â€Å"poured salt into ‘the nation’s wounds† (200) caused by Lincoln. The reconstruction, by Lincoln, only cared about the â€Å"international law for the sake of politics.† (200) â€Å"Lincoln laid the political groundwork for the disastrous Reconstruction policies of 1865-1877.† (201) The Confederates considered Southerners â€Å"lucky† (203) compared to Japanese invaded Nanking in the 1930s. â€Å"Lincoln never admitted that secession was legitimate or thatShow MoreRelatedThe Legacy Of Abraham Lincoln1117 Words   |  5 PagesTradition† Hofstadter does nothing but criticize different historians. One particular historian he challenges in his writings is Abraham Lincoln. According to Hofstadter, Abraham Lincoln was â€Å"the exemplar of the self-made man,† he was a very humble man that easily pleased the people and e asily attained very high political ranking, as well as success and a lot of power. Abraham Lincoln’s flaws as a president were often overlooked because many Americans felt as if he brought to life what is known to beRead MoreThe Real Lincoln Essay1247 Words   |  5 PagesAbraham Lincoln’s presidential career was full of questionable actions. Thomas DiLorenzo author of, The Real Lincoln discusses Lincoln’s actions regarding racism, his refusal to emancipate the slaves, his continual tendency to act independently of Congress, and his radical reconstruction after the Civil War. DiLorenzo attacks each of these topics in his book and proves that Lincoln had his own agenda, and was not the picture perfect president everybody thought that he was. The overall theme of chapterRead MoreWith Malice Toward None894 Words   |  4 Pagescountry’s infancy. Franklin D Roosevelt led the nation through a war on two fronts eventually defeating the Axis powers of Nazi Germany and Japan. The list could go on and on about legendary men that made important contributions to the United States of America, however one man that seems to always come out on top of all these men is none other than our sixteenth president Abraham Lincoln. This man guided a nation through a Civil War that saw six hundred and twenty thousand people die. Signed the EmancipationRead MoreAbraham Lincoln : Is He Really A Good President?1136 Words   |  5 PagesAbraham Lincoln: Is He Really A Good President? By the end of the Civil War, there were more than 620,000 casualties. Many believe this was thanks to Abraham Lincoln. About a month after he was elected president, many controversies started to stir in America, thus causing the Civil War began. From the mouth-dropping moment Abraham Lincoln was elected, he had been fighting for equality for all men, no matter the race. He believed. â€Å"those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.† WhenRead MoreAnalysis Of Virginia Plantation s The Slave Relationship 1321 Words   |  6 PagesPlantation life in 1800. Detailed in this painting is the master slave relationship. It shows a white master having power over his African American slave – one female and one male. This painting is called Luxuries which in this depiction shows luxuries related to sex and power. That is, a white master, having sexual relations with black female and discipline African American man without any impediments. It can be infe rred that that white master or white overseer is in complete control. InRead MoreThe Year Long Period Of Social Unrest1747 Words   |  7 Pagesof opposing opinions. Power struggles between the Northern and Southern states gave those with strong ideas for example, John Wilkes Booth, the ideal situation to take action. The sixteenth president of the United States of America and the leader of the Union during Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, an actor pursuing the revival of the confederacy and the total destruction of the Union. Abraham Lincoln was known to be a hard working, driven man which led him into politicsRead MoreAbraham Lincoln And The Civil War Comparison Essay1108 Words   |  5 Pages Abraham Lincoln, the great president of the United States, is one of the most influential men in the history of America. He is not only the commander-in-chief of the Union army that takes the victory from the Confederacy in the Civil War but also a leader who ends up the existence of slavery and a hero of the United States of America. On the other hand, Nathan Bedford Forrest is the lieutenant general of the Confederate army during the Civil War. He is a real genius and the great leadership ofRead MoreIn Lincoln In The Bardo, George Saunders Examines Abraham1279 Words   |  6 PagesIn Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders examines Abraham Lincoln’s paternal grief over the course of a single day, beginning with the loss of his third son, William Wallace Lincoln, affectionately known as â€Å"Willie†. The novel is a work of historical fiction, however, it goes beyond the label by combining the citation of primary and secondary historical accounts with the creation of a fantastical afterlife filled with nontraditional â€Å"ghosts† to form the central narration of the story. Unlike mostRead MoreCompare And Contrass Of Abraham Lincoln Vs. Nathan Bedford Forrest1079 Words   |  5 PagesCompare and Contrast Abraham Lincoln VS Nathan Bedford Forrest Humanities Mr. Z Mrs. B Columbia Christian School Jenny WAGHETZKY Compare and Contrast Abraham Lincoln VS Nathan Bedford Forrest Humanities Mr. Z Mrs. B Columbia Christian School During the Civil War, there were two remarkable men, Abraham Lincoln and Nathan Bedford Forrest. Both of them had a struggling childhood, growing up poor and received no formal education. Lincoln and Bedford Forrest had chosenRead MoreHow Lincoln Won the War with Metaphors1113 Words   |  5 PagesAbraham Lincoln s ability to speak with eloquence and force is what won the Civil War; there can be no doubt about it. His role as a motivator and often an inspiring teacher to all had more of an effect on the troops and the American people than a loss or a victory of any battle ever did. Lincoln s speeches are some of the most celebrated in history for many good reasons. He was always aware of his audience and never failed to impress with his use of logic and knowledge. However, what are most