The Glass Menagerie (Critical Article #1)

Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association http://apa. sagepub. com Tennessee Williams: The Uses of Declarative Memory in the Glass Menagerie Daniel Jacobs J Am Psychoanal Assoc 2001; 50; 1259 DOI: 10. 1177/00030651020500040901 The online version of this article can be found at: http://apa. sagepub. com/cgi/content/abstract/50/4/1259 Published by: http://www. sagepublications. com On behalf of: American Psychoanalytic Association Additional services and information for Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association can be found at: Email Alerts: http://apa. agepub. com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://apa. sagepub. com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www. sagepub. com/journalsReprints. nav Permissions: http://www. sagepub. com/journalsPermissions. nav Citations http://apa. sagepub. com/cgi/content/refs/50/4/1259 Downloaded from http://apa. sagepub. com at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009 jap a Daniel Jacobs 50/4 TENNESSEE WILLIAMS: THE USES OF DECLARATIVE ME MORY IN THE GLASS MENAGERIE Tennessee Williams called his first great work, The Glass Menagerie, his â€Å"memory play. The situation in which Williams found himself when he began writing the play is explored, as are the ways in which he used the declarative memory of his protagonist, Tom Wingfield, to express and deal with his own painful conflicts. Williams’s use of stage directions, lighting, and music to evoke memory and render it three-dimensional is described. Through a close study of The Glass Menagerie, the many uses of memory for the purposes of wish fulfillment, conflict resolution, and resilience are examined. T he place: St. Louis, Missouri.The year: 1943. Thomas Lanier Williams, age thirty-two, known as Tennessee, has returned to his parents’ home. He has had a few minor successes. Several of his shorter plays have been produced by the Mummers in St. Louis. For another, staged by the Webster Grove Theater Guild, he was awarded an engraved silver cake plat e. He has retained Audrey Wood as his literary agent and with her help had several years earlier won a Rockefeller fellowship to support his writing. But Williams’s Fallen Angels bombed in Boston the previous summer.Its sponsor, the Theater Guild, decided not to bring the play to New York. Since obtaining a B. A. from the University of Iowa in l938, Williams has been broke more often than not. He has no home of his own. He’s led an itinerant existence, living in New Orleans, New York, Provincetown, and Mexico, as well as Macon, Georgia, and Training and Supervising Analyst, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute; faculty, Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis; Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School.Submitted for publication October 12, 2001. Downloaded from http://apa. sagepub. com at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009 Daniel Jacobs 1260 Culver City, California. He has subsisted on menial jobs—waiting tables, op erating an elevator, ushering at movie theaters—tasks for which he is not f itted and from which he is often f ired. His vision in one eye is compromised by a cataract that has already necessitated surgery. And just before moving back home from New York, he was beaten up by sailors he took to the Claridge Hotel for a sexual liaison.Arriving home in 1943, Tennessee f inds many things unchanged: his parents, Cornelius and Edwina, remain unhappily married and their bitter quarrels f ill the house. Williams must again deal with the father he despises. Tennessee is pressured by Cornelius, who opposed his return home, to f ind a job. If Tennessee will not return to work at the International Shoe Company, as Cornelius advises, then he must earn his keep by performing endless domestic chores. But it is the changes in the family that are even more troubling. Williams’s younger brother Dacon is in the army and may be sent into combat after basic training.His maternal grandparent s have moved in because Grandma Rose, now conf ined to an upstairs bedroom, is slowly dying. Most important of all, Tennessee’s beloved sister, also named Rose and two years older than he, is no longer at home. She has in fact been at the State Asylum in Farmington since l937. Diagnosed schizophrenic, she has recently undergone a bilateral prefrontal lobotomy to control her aggressive behavior and overtly sexual preoccupations. During this stay at home, Williams visits Rose for the f irst time since her surgery.He f inds her behavior more ladylike, but she remains clearly delusional. The lobotomy, Williams realizes, was â€Å"a tragically mistaken procedure† that deprived her of any possibility of returning to â€Å"normal life† (Williams 1972, p. 251). â€Å"The poor children,† he will write of his St. Louis childhood, â€Å"used to run all over town, but my sister and I played in our own back yard. . . . We were so close to each other, we had no need o f others† (Nelson 1961. p. 4). Now, for Tennessee, Rose is irretrievably lost except as a memory, alternately recalled in pain and shut out in self-defense.Williams cannot abide his situation, thrown amid his parents’ bitter quarrels, the slow death of his grandmother, and the terrible absence of his sister. His only escape: the hours of writing he does every day in the basement of the family home. Here, between washing garage windows and repairing the gutters on the back porch, he writes the â€Å"memory play† that he f irst calls The Gentlemen Caller and then Downloaded from http://apa. sagepub. com at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009 DECLARATIVE MEMORY IN THE GLASS MENAGERIE The Glass Menagerie.The play is a brilliant, profound, and intricate study of declarative memory and its psychological uses. DECLARATIVE MEMORY Declarative memory is the system that provides the basis for conscious recollection of facts and events. But this system, we know, is not just a warehouse of information, of veridical memories of actual happenings that can be retrieved at will. Rather, like an autobiographical play, declarative memory is a creative construction forged from past events and from the fears, wishes, and conf licts of the one who is remembering.As Schacter (1995) notes, â€Å"The way you remember depends on the purposes and goals at the time you attempt to recall it. You help paint the picture during the act of recalling† (p. 23). It was just this complex and creative aspect of memory formation that led Freud (l899) to write that â€Å"our childhood memories show us our earliest years but as they appeared in later periods when memory was aroused† (p. 322). The stories we tell of our lives are as much about meanings as they are about facts. In the subjective and selective telling of the past, our histories are not just recalled, but reconstructed.History is not recounted, but remade. Williams understood this when he wro te, in the stage directions of The Glass Menagerie, that â€Å"memory takes a lot of license, it omits some details, others are exaggerated to the emotional value of the article it touches, for memory is seated predominantly in the heart† (p. 21). Williams has Tom Wingf ield, the play’s protagonist, tell us this. In his opening speech, Tom is both creative artist and unreliable rememberer: â€Å"I have tricks in my pockets. I have things up my sleeve. . . . I give you truth in the pleasant guise of illusion† (p. 2). In this way, Williams warns us from the play’s beginning that memory is a tricky business—f ickle, changeable, susceptible to distortion and embellishment, but always true to the current emotional needs of the rememberer. This paper is an exploration of the emotional needs of the rememberer—of Tom Wingfield, the rememberer in the play, and Tom Williams, the rememberer as writer. Williams could have chosen any f irst name for his protagonist. He chose his own to emphasize the loosening of boundaries between fact and f iction.It is as though he is telling us that autobiography—which is, after all, organized declarative memory—is Downloaded from http://apa. sagepub. com at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009 1261 Daniel Jacobs 1262 an elaborate f iction based on facts. And that f iction (the creative use of memory) is at its heart emotional autobiography. Both Tom Wingf ield and Tom Williams carry a burden of guilt for leaving the family, especially a disabled sister, and have a need to justify their behavior through the use of recollection.Both Toms live with deep sorrow alongside a wish to retaliate against loved ones who have disappointed them. Remembering is for both Toms, as for all of us, a coat of many colors, worn to set us apart from others as well as link us to them, to justify our choices, to take revenge on others, to compete with them, to kill them once again, or to resur rect them from the grave. The distortions and selective uses of memory are as manifold as the needs of the rememberer. Williams endows each character in his play with his or her own dynamic uses of memory.Amanda can escape the harshness of her current situation by evoking memories of a triumphant past. She is like a patient Kris (l956b) describes who â€Å"while the tensions of the present were threatening . . . was master of those conjured up in recollection† (p. 305). Amanda’s use of memories is aggressive as well, used as a weapon against her husband and children. In constantly contrasting the memories of a happy youth with the unhappiness of her marriage and the bleakness of her children’s lives, her anger and competitiveness take a brutal form. Unlike Amanda, her daughter Laura, who is crippled, has relatively few memories.But the memory of Jim, the gentleman caller, provides her a modicum of comfort. In a pale and pathetic imitation of her mother’s recollections of a house f illed with jonquils, she recalls that Jim gives her a single bouquet of sorts, the sobriquet â€Å"blue roses. † It is a nickname derived from his psychologically intuitive misunderstanding of the illness â€Å"pleurosis,† which had kept Laura out of school. She cannot compete with her mother in the fond memory department and retreats to the concrete but fragile satisfactions of her glass menagerie, where memory and imagination are safely stored—until Jim arrives.The gentleman caller is a man who lives in the present and seems to have little use for the past. It is the future to which he looks. In fact, one feels that memory of his high school greatness are both a satisfaction and a threat to him. For he, like John Updike’s Harry Angstrom (1960) will never experience the glory days of the past. He says as much to Laura: â€Å"But just look around you and you will see lots of people disappointed as you are. For instance, I had h oped when I was going to high school that I would be further along at this time, six years later, Downloaded from http://apa. agepub. com at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009 DECLARATIVE MEMORY IN THE GLASS MENAGERIE than I am now. You remember that wonderful write-up I had in ‘The Torch’ † (p. 94). While Amanda revels in her triumphant past as a way of dealing with the present, Jim runs from his into the future. Seeing in the crippled Laura some aspect of his own feared limitations, he tries to help her overcome hers through encouragement and f inally a kiss. His inability to help her in the end may be a harbinger of his own failures.MEMORY AND LOSS Williams was aware also that declarative memory is paradoxical in that it resurrects and keeps alive in the present what is dead and gone forever. Referring to this paradoxical aspect of memory, he wrote that â€Å"when Wordsworth speaks of daffodils or Shelley of the skylark or Hart Crane of the delica te and inspiring structure of the Brooklyn Bridge, the screen imagism is not so opaque that one cannot surmise behind it the ineluctable form of Ophelia† (Leverich 1995, p. 536). The very presence of memory implies loss.Memory, if you will, is the exquisite lifelike corpse that both denies and acknowledges what has passed away. There is for all of us that double vision that memory imparts, one that at once has the capacity to help and to hurt. Declarative memory provides coherence and direction to our lives, but also reminds us that our path inevitably leads to disintegration and death. The daffodils recollected in tranquility are, at the same time, Ophelia’s garland. Amanda Wingf ield’s recollection of her past social triumphs only reminds us of how much time has passed and how many hopes have been dashed.Laura’s attachment to the happy memories of childhood innocence represented by her glass menagerie only makes harsher the realities of her adult life an d the bleakness of her future. Laura and Amanda are represented as having a choice between the infantile omnipotence of their past or a feeling of victimization in the present. When Amanda stirs up old memories as a hedge against the painful present and uncertain future, they are only partially effective. For the contrast between past and present, and the knowledge that what is past will never come again, lead only to further depression and anxiety (Schneiderman 1986).Similarly, behind Tom the protagonist’s memory of Laura at home lies, for Tom the author, the real Rose in a current state of institutionalized madness. Downloaded from http://apa. sagepub. com at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009 1263 Daniel Jacobs MEMORY AND RESILIENCE 1264 Davis (2001) points out the contribution declarative memory can make to resilience â€Å"through soothing af fects that are evoked in recalling a declarative memory of a loving relationship with a parent or other important pe rson† (p. 459).Such memories can grow directly out of warm relationships or â€Å"they can be achieved through retrieving and modifying memory of more problematic attachments† (p. 466). Davis illustrates his point with the example of Mr. Byrne, a subject in a longitudinal study of adult development. Davis focuses on the fact that in interviews at different times in adult life, Mr. Byrne’s memories of his father changed. At age forty-six, surrounded by a supportive community and family, Mr. Byrne had no memories of his alcoholic and neglectful father and did not think his father’s being a f ireman had inf luenced his own decision to become one.At sixty-six, retired and with his children grown, Mr. Byrne â€Å"had succeeded in ‘f inding’ his father inside as a sustaining inner object in declarative memory (p. 465). He did so through creating or retrieving warm memories of their times together in the f irehouse and by ‘misrememberingâ€⠄¢ the humiliating events of his father’s death so as to have a more positive image of him. Mr. Byrne’s father had committed suicide, alone and away from the family. But late in life, Mr. Byrne spoke frequently of his father’s having taken him to the f ire station when he was a youngster.He was now sure these happy times with his father had inf luenced his decision to become a f ireman himself. He placed his father’s death in a family setting and claimed to have been the one who found him. Davis points out that we often create the memories we need in order to maintain psychological resilience and mental health. Whatever good experiences Mr. Byrne did have with a diff icult and neglectful father seem to have been magnif ied through the lens of memory aided by imagination in the service of wish fulf illment.It is an example of what Kris (1956a) meant by describing autobiographical memory as telescopic, dynamic, and lacking in autonomy: â€Å"our autobiogra phical memory is in a constant state of f lux, is constantly being reorganized, and is constantly being subject to the changes which the tensions of the present tend to impose† (p. 299). In a way, Williams does the same thing by creating a memory play. Lonely, guilty over his sister’s fate, f inding St. Louis and his family unbearable, Williams begins writing a play that both ref lects his current Downloaded from http://apa. sagepub. om at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009 DECLARATIVE MEMORY IN THE GLASS MENAGERIE suffering and at the same time assuages it. In writing The Glass Menagerie, he creates for himself one of those delicate glass animals— a small tender bit of illusion that relieves him of the austere pattern of life as it is lived in the present and makes it more bearable. He does so not by setting his play in the harsh realities of the present, too painful to write about, but in creatively altered memory. Sitting at his writing table, Wil liams reclaims his sister (Laura in the play) from the State Asylum and places her at home again.She is not frankly delusional and lobotomized. She is not even in Rose’s presurgical state of illness—a state of aggressiveness and talkativeness made worse by utter and unending vulgarity. Instead, she is portrayed as painfully shy, weak, and schizoid. And Cornelius, the real-life father he must face daily, is gone. Gone from the play for dramatic purposes to be sure: the play would lose a certain edge were there another breadwinner in the house. But in the play, Williams expresses his wish to reconstruct reality and, in this play of memory and desire, rid himself of the old man.Yet he is not entirely gone, for the father’s picture hangs on the wall, like Hamlet’s ghost, reminding us of a son’s ambivalent longing for a father. For in 1943 and throughout his life, Williams longed for some man to comfort and help him. In the play, his own wish for a supp ortive, loving father is transformed into the wish for the gentleman caller—someone who, unlike his father, will help Laura, satisfy Amanda, and, by his assuring presence, bless Tom’s own departure. He is not only the person Williams longs for, but also the one he longs to be, though he knows it is a role he can never play.It is no accident then that Jim, the gentleman caller, conveys an uncomfortable uncertainty about his future. He is, in a sense, the failed high school â€Å"hero,† with perhaps unrealizable dreams for the future. Jim already hints that the realities of life may not meet his expectations. He expresses resentment at having to work at two jobs: his work and his marriage, in which he has to â€Å"punch the clock† every night with Betty. He is f lirtatious with Laura, even going so far as to kiss her, showing a clear sympathy and attraction to women other than his f iancee.Tennessee’s father, a bitter man from a prominent Southern fa mily, a heavy drinker and a womanizer, while banned from the play, haunts it through his portrait and is resurrected in the f lesh in Jim, who is likewise disappointing and cannot be counted on and who, in the future, may come to resemble Cornelius. In his own life, Williams found and lost gentlemen callers hundreds of times over. And when he was Downloaded from http://apa. sagepub. com at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009 1265 Daniel Jacobs ot looking for the gentleman caller, he was being one, abandoning and disappointing those who loved him. The only one he was truly faithful to was Rose. Memories are like dreams or fantasies in that all the characters remembered at a particular moment may represent aspects of the rememberer’s own personality. Amanda’s steely will to survive is ref lected in Tom’s stubborn insistence on leaving. Laura’s fragility and submissiveness are what he must try to get away from in himself. Jim is the artist manque , the average joe Tom fears he will become if he doesn’t leave. THE STAGING OF MEMORY 1266Through the very structure of his play and the physical placement of its characters, Williams shows us that we cannot have a past without a present or a present uninf luenced by the past. He takes us back and forth in time as Tom Wingf ield literally steps in and out of the railroad f lat of his memory. He both ref lects on his past and participates in it, as his memories come alive. All the play’s characters slip in and out of memory, from present to past and back again, as they interact with one another, forging their current identity and present relationship in the anvil of a past they selectively remember.The stage set that Williams proposed concretizes the alternating forward and backward movement of time that takes place in the characters’ and in all of our minds. Tom’s opening soliloquy is stage front in the present and is often played outside the apartment. T he scene that follows is from the past, set in a dining room at the back of the stage, as if to emphasize the remoteness of memory. The f igures move backward and forward on stage, like memories themselves, coming into consciousness and then receding. Lighting is used in a similar way: to emphasize through spotlighting the highly selective and highly cathected aspects of memory.Lightness and darkness, dimness and clarity, play an important role in the ambience of the play, heightening the shifting play of memory. Williams is specif ic about the use of lighting in his production notes for The Glass Menagerie: â€Å"The lighting in the play is not realistic. In keeping with the atmosphere of memory, the stage is dim. Shafts of light are focused on selected areas or actors, sometimes in contradistinction to what is the apparent center. . . . A free and imaginative use Downloaded from http://apa. sagepub. om at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009 DECLARATIVE MEMORY IN THE G LASS MENAGERIE of light can be of enormous value in giving mobile, plastic quality to plays of more or less static nature† (Williams 1945, p. 10). By commissioning an original musical score, Williams makes a deliberate attempt to evoke memory in members of the audience— memories of their own youthful stirrings, with all the fears and pleasures that attend them. Schacter (1996) notes that it is the memories of adolescence and early adulthood that are most often retained as we grow older.In asking Paul Bowles to write a new piece of music for his play, Williams, I think, is playing with the notion that memory is a new creation, similar to Bowles’s new music, Williams counts on the fact that while the score has never been heard before by the audience, it nevertheless feels familiar and seems a part of one’s previous experience. While the music may stimulate declarative memories of young adulthood in the audience, by its wordlessness it is designed to evoke no ndeclarative memory experienced as a feeling state (Davis 2001).By using a new score rather than relying on familiar tunes, Williams insists that memory is an invention of the present rather than a reproduction of the past. CONCLUSION 1267 So we have Tom Williams in his basement room writing about Tom Wingf ield. His protagonist is thrust both forward and backward in time: Tom Wingf ield in 1945 is ref lecting on a time before World War II began. Tom Wingf ield is Tennessee and not him at the same time. The memories Williams calls forth from his own experiences are transformed in ways that are not only dramatically but psychologically necessary for the author.Rendering the truth through selective and transformed memory, Williams creates his own glass menagerie to which he could each day retreat from the harsh realities of his life in St. Louis in l943. He creates fragile f igures he can control, moving them around the imagined setting of creative memory. In creating the play, he can always be near Rose. On the page and on the stage, the two are bound forever, like f igures on a Grecian urn. At the same time, the play is a justif ication for Tennessee’s departure from the family, a plea for understanding as to why he must leave the altered Rose (his castrated self) behind and pursue his own path.Freud (1908) pointed out how both in creative writing and fantasy â€Å"past, present, and future are strung together, as it were, on the thread of the wish that runs through Downloaded from http://apa. sagepub. com at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009 Daniel Jacobs 1268 them† (p. 141). In the process of writing The Glass Menagerie, the infantile wish to reunite with Rose, to rid himself of a hateful father, and to overcome the threats of castration that Rose’s situation and his own imply, f inds a solution to his torments.He does what Tom Wingf ield does in the play. He leaves. By May of l943, Tennessee is on his way to Hollywood to b ecome, for a short time, a screenwriter. But like Tom Wingf ield, Tennessee cannot leave his past behind. He will be as faithful to Rose as Tom Wingf ield is to Laura when at the play’s end he says, â€Å"I tried to leave you behind me, but I am much more faithful than I intended to be† (p. 115). Of their relationship, Rasky (l986) wrote, â€Å"Just as Siamese twins may be joined at the hip or breastbone, Tennessee was joined to his sister, Rose, by the heart. . . In the history of love, there has seldom been such devotion as that which Tennessee showed his lobotomized sister† (p. 51). Peter Altman, former director of Boston’s Huntington Theater, points out how with the writing of The Glass Menagerie Williams blows out the candles on an overtly autobiographical form of writing and moves on to create full-length plays less obviously reliant on the concrete details of his own history (private communication, 1997). While he could never psychologically free h imself from the traumatic events of his upbringing, artistically he was able to move ahead.By creating within and through the play his own glass menagerie, where the characters are f ixed and can live forever in troubled togetherness, he grants himself permission to leave St. Louis once again. Such a creation is akin to Kris’s description of the personal myth (1956a): â€Å"A coherent set of autobiographical memories, a picture of one’s course of life as part of the self-representation [that] has attracted a particular investment, it is defensive inasmuch as it prevents certain experiences and groups of impulses from reaching consciousness. At the same time, the autobiographical self-image has taken the place of a repressed fantasy . . † (p. 294). But in the patients Kris described, sections of personal history had been repressed and the autobiographical myth created to maintain that repression. In Williams’s case, he is quite conscious of the distortions in his â€Å"memory play,† but creativity serves a function for the artist similar to that served by personal myth in Kris’s patients. Williams is able to separate further from his family by keeping himself, through his memory play, attached to them forever, selectively remembered and frozen in time in a way painful, yet acceptable, to him.By writing the play, a visual representation of memory and Downloaded from http://apa. sagepub. com at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009 DECLARATIVE MEMORY IN THE GLASS MENAGERIE wish, Williams creates a permanent wish-fulf illing hallucination providing gratif ication and psychic survival (see Freud 1908). Of his sister Rose’s collection of glass animals, which was transformed into Laura’s glass menagerie, Williams wrote that â€Å"they stood for all the small tender things (including, I think, happy memories) that relieve the austere pattern of life and make it endurable to the sensitive.The areaway [t he alley behind his family’s f lat in St. Louis, where cats were torn to pieces by dogs] was one thing—my sister’s white curtains and tiny menagerie of glass were another. Somewhere between them was the world we lived in† (Nelson 1961, p. 8). What enables Williams to survive psychically and adds to his resilience in St. Louis in l943 is, I believe, his ability to create a space between the bitter realities of family life and his impulse to f lee and forget it all—to blow out the candles of memory.That space was his memory play, a space he inhabited daily through his writing, a space of some resilience where psychologically needed memories are created amid the pain and sorrow of the present. And in so doing, he reminds us all of the role memory plays in our survival. Our memories are like glass menageries, precious, delicate, and chameleonlike. We can become trapped by them like Laura and Amanda. Or, as in the case of Tennessee and Mr. Byrne, we can gain resilience from their plasticity that allows us to move forward psychologically.Williams wrote, in his essay â€Å"The Catastrophe of Success† (1975), that â€Å"the monosyllable of the clock is Loss, loss, loss, unless you devote your heart to its opposition† (p. 17). Tennessee felt that for him the heart’s opposition could best be expressed through writing. He felt that the artist, his adventures, travels, loves, and humiliations are resolved in the creative product that becomes his indestructible life. (Leverich 1995, p. 268) I think he might have agreed that while creative work plays that role for the artist, memory and fantasy are its equivalent for all of us.Williams knew that it is through the creative transformation of experience, sometimes in verse, sometimes in memory, that we draw nearer to that â€Å"long delayed but always expected something we live for† (1945, p. 23). REFERENCES 1269 DAVIS, J. (2001). Gone but not forgotten: Declarative and non-declarative memory processes and their contribution to resilience. Bulletin of the Downloaded from http://apa. sagepub. com at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009 Daniel Jacobs 1270 Menninger Clinic 65:451–470. FREUD, S. (1899). Screen memories. Standard Edition 3:301–322. ——— (1908). Creative writers and day-dreaming.Standard Edition 9:143–153. K RIS , E. (1956a). The personal myth. In The Selected Papers of Ernst Kris. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1975, pp. 272–300. ——— (1956b). The recovery of childhood memories in psychoanalysis. In The Selected Papers of Ernst Kris. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1975, pp. 301–340. LEVERICH, L. (1995). Tom: The Unknown Tennessee Williams. New York: Norton. NELSON, B. (1961). Tennessee Williams: The Man and His Work. New York: Obolensky. RASKY, H. (1986). Tennessee Williams: A Portrait in Laughter and Lamentation. Niagara Falls: Mosaic Press . SCHACTER, D. (1995).In Search of Memory. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. SCHNEIDERMAN, L. (1986). Tennessee Williams: The incest motif and f ictional love relationships. Psychoanalytic Review 73:97–110. UPDIKE, J. (l960). Rabbit, Run. New York: Knopf. WILLIAMS, T. (1945). The Glass Menagerie. New York: New Direc-tions, l975. ——— (l972). Memoirs. New York: Doubleday. ——— (l975). The catastrophe of success. In The Glass Menagerie. New York: New Directions, 1975, pp. 11–17. 64 Williston Road Brookline, MA 02146 E-mail: [email  protected] com Downloaded from http://apa. sagepub. com at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009

Western Art

In the Paris suburb, about 80 km from the city, there stands the one of the most exquisite samples of the French cathedrals of Gothic style, the Chartres. Numerous works on this subject someway mention that â€Å"Gothic architecture began with the quantum leap of Chartres Cathedral, France† (Vickers, 1999). To be more specific about the interior architecture of this building, let us come inside. There are several unique architectural features, ‘cutting-edge’ for the 12th century, introduced in the edifice. First and the most outstanding of them, the flying buttresses, have greatly contributed in the whole architectural solution represented by higher ceiling and thinner walls, which later became typical for Gothic structures. The buttresses allowed redistributing of the roof load outw?rds, and helped to avoid the old practice of thick, heavy walls. Generally, the Cathedral was built in Latin-crossed configuration, as we can see on the plan: As we enter the cathedral, our attention is primarily drawn by multiple arches (another peculiarity of cathedral’s architecture), the stained-glass windows composed of the hundreds of geometric?lly sh?ped glass pieces, and the sculptures illustrating Old Testament scenes. By moving on between the two towers, we are walking over the famous labyrinth, and can see numerous arcades on the both North and South Naves, with clerestory and stained glass above. As we look back to the entrance, we notice one of the three rose windows on the west front. Passing the aspiring aisles leads us to the Crossing, the central part of the building, wider and more spacious. On the left transept our glance is immediately grabbed by the wall painting of Saints fronting the ‘Virgin and Child’ painting on the opposite transept. At the same time we are enjoying the view of cross-type vaulting and upper north and south walls including more rose windows. After the Crossing, we are finally reaching the Choir section and the Ambulatory. The apse of the cathedral is represented with 5 Radiating Chapels. The Chartres Cathedral that we have nowadays, despite fire damages and further restoration, is one of the finest examples of the French Gothic architecture.

Improvements in Public Health

Between 1840 and 1900 living conditions in towns improved. How did the work of government, local councils and individuals bring this about? In this essay I will discuss the conditions in towns between 1840 and 1900 and the improvements in Public health since 1840. While doing this I will link reasons together to achieve my final conclusion. I will begin with an explanation of living conditions in towns and cities in the early 19th century. Living in the early 19th Century was very tough for most people. At least 80% were working class. Houses where small and over crowded allowing diseases to spread easily. The air was polluted, poor and environment unhealthy because the people did not know about the causes and consequences of pollution. For example, coal burning from houses and factories was polluting the environment, but it was the main source of fuel. The environment was not just damaged by coal burning and the resulting sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide, it was also unbearable because of the terrible smell and insanitary living conditions. The smell was caused by the lack of sewerage system, public toilets (as only rich people could afford a toilet in the house), dirty water; unhygienic disposal of waste and the fact that cleaning methods were inadequate – no reliable products. The filth was particularly bad in the Soho district of London. In the late summer of 1854 there was a sudden outbreak of cholera. Dr John Snow quoted that it was â€Å"the most terrible outbreak of cholera which ever occurred in the kingdom. † Over the first 3 days of September 127 people died that lived on or near Broad Street. In some parts of the city the mortality rate was just 12. 8%. Nobody knew were it came from. The city stunk of human waste and the river Thames was a sewer. As the city grew the waste was increasing. When there was heavy rain the basements were flooded. This meant that people living in the basement and the rest of the house were in contact with raw sewerage and this would also attract disease and vermin and spread infections. Everyone wanted a clean fresh city where they could breathe clean air, drink and wash in clean water and live and keep their belongings in clean houses. I believe that people's ignorance to the effects of their actions and the fact that they had no alternatives had a big impact on the living conditions in the early 19th century. This is because many people were so poor and uneducated; they had no choice but to live in these conditions. This was particularly relevant in London and main industrialised towns and cities where people moved from the country because many were losing their jobs. This was because the invention of machinery on work and therefore forced people to evacuate to bigger cities with more work needed. In the country they may only have been able to get seasonal work in the fields and they dreamt of a better life in the city where there was more regular work available in the factories. They needed to live in the bigger towns to have the opportunity to earn money in factories and workhouses. As London was rapidly growing, the health conditions got worse. Streets were filled with rubbish and dead animals and never cleaned. Street cleaners only clean roads with people living there who could afford to pay their wages. The fact that there was little public services for example there was no national health services and you had to pay for the health services, there was no clean running water, poor structured houses full of people, filth and germs round every corner and the fact that the homeless children and even some adults, as seen in the cartoon bellow, where rolling around in the waste on the streets. The picture is a cartoon drawn at a time when the government believed that looking after the poor, the old and the sick was the job of individuals and their families. They also believed in individualism and self help believing that if the government did too much for people they would become weak and dependent. This was named laissez faire. This is French for do little or nothing. It was there duty to make laws and deal with wars, but not to ‘babysit' the community. At the end of the 19th century, the city life was improving little by little. New laws, such as the 1875 Artisan's Dwelling Act, meant that better housing was being built. It was an act of the parliament designed by Richard Cross, Home Secretary. The Act made the owners give their slums to the council so they could demolish the areas of slum housing to be redeveloped by commercial builders with low interest. The Artisans Dwelling Act of 1885 was considered one of most significant acts of the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli's presidency. The improvements to public heath brought real benefits. By this time cities had facilities to meet all kinds of interests, from dance halls to chapels. People joined together in a wide range of clubs and societies. There were nearly 700,000 allotments by 1881. Allotment holders held competitions for flowers and vegetables. Enthusiasts, usually men, took time to trouble over breeding birds such as pigeons or canaries. Choirs were very popular, usually as part of church or chapel life. Many played in brass bands, often sponsored by a factory-owner. By the end of the century, cycling had become a popular hobby with both sexes. Thousands began to spend their Saturday watching sport. Various kinds of football had been popular for centuries. They were crude rough games, with few rules. Now people lived in clean houses and apartments. In Birmingham Joseph Chamberlain made calls for slum clearance, improved housing, municipalisation of public utilities and higher taxes for the rich. He was elected as mayor of Birmingham in 1876. The middle class of Birmingham adored chamberlain. They all voted for what he fought for. He soon became Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone's lieutenant in the House of Commons and later in 1882 was appointed president of the Board of Trade in Gladstone's second ministry. The Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 was an act of Parliament that rehabilitated local government. It split the country into districts. Each district was responsible for running local services such as housing and education. They had commissioners to be in charge of each local council. The royal commission had eighteen members, two members for each district. A new law was made so middle class people were aloud to participate in the local council. They had annual elections each year, were a third of the council members up for election. They also elected aldermen to be part of the council with a six year term. Towns were divided into smaller areas were they had a local person to represent them on the local council. As previously highlighted in the early 19th century overcrowding, poverty, dirty environment and insanitary housing lead to disease. In 1843 Edwin Chadwick argued that poverty was caused by disease and that by curing diseases poverty would be reduced. Joseph Bazelgette who designed the sewage system, made sure that the flow of foul water and underground rivers was diverted along new sewers and taken the sewage treatment works and then pumped into Tidal Thames where it would be carried out to sea rather than stay in the previous â€Å"open sewer† of the Thames. His design was so good it has stood up to increases in volume of raw sewage. In 1848 the cholera epidemic spurred the government into action through public health measures followed by health measures for individuals. Many people thought cholera was air bourn but John Snow thought it entered the body through the mouth. He investigated a cholera outbreak in 1854 and carefully plotted all cases on a map of Soho where the outbreak occurred. He managed to identify a water pump as the source of the disease. When he removed the handle the causes of cholera immediately declined. It took another six years before this theory was more widely accepted. John Snow also made development in anaesthetics and made them safer and more effective for use on humans. Public health measures included: – The public health of 1888 gave all towns the right to employ a public health officer. – In 1853 public vaccinations against small pox were made compulsory. – In 1854 influence by Florence Nightingale and other campaigners, hospital hygiene was improved and hospitals became much cleaner places, helping to prevent the spread of disease. The 1875 Public Health Act required the clearance off slums, the installation of sewers, clean water supplies and better environment to live in. This was very successful as public health improved and local councils competed to be the best public health provider. This lead to the individual health measures introduced in the early 20th century e. g. free school meals in 1906, medical examinations for all children in 1907. Old age pensions introduced and in 1911 National Insurance (free medical treatment for workers. During the 19th century knowledge about the ways bodies work increased. William Beaumont (1822) studied the digestive system. Theodor Schwann (1858) realised that animal tissues were made of cells. Henry Gray (1858) wrote Grays anatomy and people started to have a broad knowledge of how their bodies worked. Louis Pasteur discussed that germs can cause disease rather that's the previous theory of spontaneous generation where diseases cause germs. This also led to the pasteur isation of milk. Robert Kock studied bacteria further and identified bacteria specific to the diseases septicaemia, TB and cholera and others discovered the bacteria that caused typhoid pneumonia and the plague. Patrick Manson 1879 discovered that diseases could be spread by vectors such as flies. Charles Chamberlain (1884) discovered viruses. Therefore understanding of disease was improving rapidly and there were some inventions that helped the treatment of disease also, e. g. multi lens microscope (Lister 1826) kymograph to measure pulse (1847 Ludwig) and x-rays (Roentgen 1895). At the beginning of the 19th century doctors would only provide comfort but by the end they could treat diseases and heal some patients with surgery. I believe the living conditions between 1840 and 1900 did improve. The government and local councils brought this about by clearing slums and areas of bad, dirty housing, supporting improvements in biology knowledge cleaning up sewers and improving local government, encouraging people to help themselves and no longer accepting poverty as something that can not be dealt with.

Quality and Reliability Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Quality and Reliability Management - Assignment Example This essay discusses that the Six Sigma method functions very well within health care processes. Six Sigma ventures within health care industry concentrate on delivery of direct care, managerial sustenance and monetary supervision. Six Sigma ventures can be carried out within the following health care procedures. †¢ Raising competence in X-ray room †¢ Decreasing turnaround period in arranging medicinal information †¢ Recuperating patient approval on ER †¢ Dropping bottle necks in emergency unit †¢ Dropping cycle time within a number of in-patient as well as out-patient investigative divisions †¢ Decreasing the amount of medicinal inaccuracies and for this reason improving patient security †¢ Boosting the precision of lab results †¢ Raising the precision of billing procedures and, as a result, decreasing the quantity of billing blunders †¢ Enhancing bed accessibility across a number of divisions within hospitals †¢ Decreasing the amount of post-operative injury issues as well as associated injuries †¢ Enhancing surgical competence †¢ Decreasing duration of stay in ER †¢ Decreasing inventory levels †¢ Enhancing patient list precision Critical success factors have a vital part in the execution of Six Sigma ventures in the health care industry. The heads in health care industry must think about the use of Six Sigma from the perception of recuperating the value as well as potential of existing procedures as well as the capacity of procedures to carry patient care along with security (Frings & Grant, 2005, p. 315). Using Six Sigma within a health care division is not simple, and if top executives are not involved, it is â€Å"almost certainly a formula for failure† (Anthony, 1995, p. 240). The use of Six Sigma must start with a broad outline of Six Sigma company policy for the top executive group, guaranteeing buy-in as well as dedication for the execution. Six Sigma venture supporters in charge for recognizing and controlling ventures should be cautiously selected. The choice of correct individuals is significant for the implementation of Six Sigma ventures. Once the Six Sigma infrastructure is classified with the assistance of a Six Sigma specialist with sufficient knowledge from service sector, guidance may start. The venture supporters should collect a fine summary of Six Sigma basics in addition to the abilities necessary for venture selection, project prioritisation, and venture scoping as well as project implementation. Possible Six Sigma ventures in a healthcare setting may link to functional procedures for instance, billing or workflow or they may entail medical process such as prescription management (Taner et al, 1988, p. 331). There are quite a lot of obstacles occurring in the way of health care sector for concern before the execution and exploitation of Six Sigma

Theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Theories - Essay Example 2. Neo-Realists would not buy in to the idea that treaties or other laws could actually do a great deal to control the spread of nuclear weapons. Neo-realism essentially states that there are states that succeed and states that fail based on their behavior, and that a state will do whatever it can to survive, often emulating successful states. As nuclear weapons can be seen as an impregnable defense against invasion, as one could always use it to utterly dismantle an invading country as a last result, countries will obviously seek this course. There is very little incentive to abide by international law, and a great incentive to fail to do so (or simply opt out). 3. Liberals pay much greater attention to the economic side of things than other political theorists, basing a great deal of weight of international relations on what happens economically. A liberal would argue that the best way to assure a lasting peace is twofold: to promote economic development in countries to give them fewer reasons to go to war or have strife, and to create stronger international trade agreements, because countries that are close trading partners both stand to suffer a great deal should they go to war with each other. 4. This article demonstrates that terrorism is largely in the eyes of the beholder. The tactics that he has supposedly undertaken, if allegations are to be believed, would certainly constitute terrorism in almost anyone’s mind: he killed civilians with a tube of toothpaste. Yet, he was also a CIA operative. This makes one think that many of the terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan might be considered freedom fighters if one were to shift one’s perspective slightly. This shows that terrorism can be very subjective in nature. 5. A realist would believe that emerging economies have a chance at creating world peace, because the more stable a country is the less likely it is to engage in

Nonprofit Discussion Questions 1-4 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Nonprofit Discussion Questions 1-4 - Coursework Example guiding principles which call for avoiding concentration of powers in the hands certain board members and call it be teamwork with neither management being too powerful. This has been criticized in certain place sayings that with this model the board members are only limited to the policy making and formulation rather than the implementations. The nonprofit organization since based on charity and other funding or donations tend to be dependent on the volunteers. If we want our volunteering force to be very active and be there to work with full dedication and interest we must provide them certain incentives to keep them going .Acknowledge being the very basic we may give them some token of appreciation that will also lead to interest for other workers since they would also wont to have that reward. Other benefits may include provision of free services in certain spheres or free food and clothes. What I reached the conclusion after having a detailed discussion was that when we hire people we must beforehand inform them about the structure so that they can have an idea if they work with such load and environment or not. Further the members must learned down to earth have no interest in material gains and would work with full dedication keeping the whole firm as one unit. It is definitely very essential to know the position of the nonprofit in the lifecycle to have a full comprehension of the leadership and the governance. In the lifecycle of an organization basically gives us the basic know how of the firm and hierarchy which in turn gives us the idea of the governance and the board members. Have good relation with the competing organizations and have friendly atmosphere within the organization. It helps us in adopting a model of governance that is suitable for the present conditions and the effective board members and meetings. When we come to links with external sources as nonprofit organization we can take up the following exemplary cases. USAID partnership

Zero Tolerance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Zero Tolerance - Essay Example In Simon’s case, he had participated in contravening a company’s internet policy (Gerson, Parker, Volokh, Halloran, Cherkasky, 2006). Simon had utilized the company’s intranet to communicate with an unauthorized personality out of the network. The violation was gross since the company had sculptured clear conditions about the policy. This included clear indication of the relevant consequences. The management had notable controls in the same situation. To begin with, it laid a clear policy. This policy indicated that it banned use of the company’s internet and intranet in communication under unstated uses. The company also stated that unwarranted internet use and e-mailing could result into the termination of employment. In addition, the company employed strategic measures of terminating Simon’s tenure. The management made an indirect approach of firing Simon. This would be followed by an explanation of the act that led to the tenure termination. The re are controlling and coordination skills that are necessary in this situation. To begin with, it is vital that the company harnesses a proper communication channel. This is a system whereby each employee has adequate information about the company’s policies. In this perspective, the company can invest in an automatic e-mail system that updates on company’s policies and the consequences of breaching the provisions. Besides, meetings, between the management and employees, should be regular for physical information and discussion. In certain instances, zero tolerance policies might be stringent. In this sense, discussion can modify the policies to suit multiple scenarios. It is crucial that employees design and agree to zero tolerance policies. This would absolve the management from blame in cases of grim consequences to employees. The solution that the company employed had particular details. The management strove to strike a vital point in terminating Simon’s t enure. Companies would usually employ sane and rational employees. This means that it could apply formal means of communicating with an affected employee (Brooks & Dunn, 2009). Such communication would take the letter or e-mail method for information. Simon could not have possessed the option of not leaving the company. The use of guards was an informal sense of terminating Simon’s employment. It is devoid of modern managements skills since it seeks to be autocratic oriented. This is because the guards could have employed forceful means in case of resistance by Simon. Element of force is evident from the communication between the security officers and the management. The management was monitoring Simon’s reaction for an additional strategy. However, the company had a proper strategy of informing Simon. To begin with, this demonstrates of zero tolerance on certain violations. It also highlights that the other employees should educate themselves of company’s polic ies. However, the company can utilize other strategies. This pertains to drawing the same sense on a company’s reputation. The vital element in zero tolerance policies should regard their intentions. Zero tolerance policies should seek to highlight the sense of certain behavior. This is different from the focus of merely humiliating employees. Policies should concentrate on processes rather than the consequences of the same. In this view, the company could have employed an alternative strategy of terminating Simon’s benefits. Termination of benefits could achieve the orientation of the breach. In case of an internet’s condition, Simon could have been barred from the connection. Besides, the company could lock Simon from accessing certain information. Additionally,

Is Thrasymachus and Hobbes right to see human nature in such stark Essay

Is Thrasymachus and Hobbes right to see human nature in such stark terms, or is Socrates right to see justice as something good in and of itself - Essay Example The researcher states that prior to deciding who the righteous intellectual is regarding claims made either for human nature or justice, one might as well begin to consider deliberating upon how each perspective is delivered and which basis or grounds satisfy the premises established. Through Plato’s â€Å"The Republic†, a significant part of Socratic philosophy may be said to have been conveyed since Plato himself is subject to the tutelage and influence of Socrates in their period. Though Plato presents a rather limited scope of democracy in dealing with liberty and nature of man, his concern for justice and resolving to define such virtue with Socrates in the light that favors human psyche instead of a perceived behavior is remarkable. On the other hand, Thomas Hobbes and Thrasymachus share a nearly common insight whereby Hobbes proposes via â€Å"Leviathan† that man, by nature, is free the logic of which is based upon natural rights whereas Thrasymachus confe rs to defend the opposite side of justice and takes man’s freedom to agree with matters that are only advantageous to men regardless of whether or not justice is at work. Hobbes thinks â€Å"each man has the liberty to use his own power, as he will himself, for the preservation of his own nature; that is to say, of his own life; and judgment, and reason, he shall conceive to be the aptest means that each man has a will power to do whatever he thinks can preserve his own life and consequently to do anything which he thinks is right.† ... To Hobbes, until the man possesses the natural right to everything, he cannot be secured no matter how strong or wise he can be, in order to keep on living according to man’s life expectancy. Likewise, Thrasymachus promotes the Sophist challenge of arguing that ‘justice is nothing but the advantage of the stronger’ and this originates from the primary belief in objective truth among the Sophists such as himself, who further accounts for the objective moral truth that does not acknowledge the fact with â€Å"right† or â€Å"wrong† in absolute degree. For Thrasymachus, all actions are neither right nor wrong but are ought to be figured as either coming with or without advantage to the person who executes them. Like the rest of the Sophists, he supports the idea that an individual must gain involvement only with deeds that return advantage and avoid those whose results are otherwise obtained in unpleasant disadvantage. In the similar manner, Hobbes entr eats his own approach of the issue with a precept or general rule of reason stating â€Å"that every man, ought to endeavor peace, as far as he has hope of obtaining it; and when he cannot obtain it, that he may seek, and use, all helps, and advantages of war.† The first branch of this rule states the fundamental law of nature which is to seek peace and follow it while the second branch pertains to the sum of the right of nature which assumes by all means we can, to defend ourselves. This second law is derived from the fundamental law of nature by which men are commanded to endeavor peace, rationalizing â€Å"that a man be willing when others are so too, as far forth, as for peace and defense of himself

Globalization and Illustrates in India and Nicaragua Research Paper

Globalization and Illustrates in India and Nicaragua - Research Paper Example After a rigorous analysis here we have an example of a county being negatively affected by the effects of globalization. Resultantly, the individuals i.e. the Youth in Nicaragua is now determined to put in play new and autonomous forms of outfit in an attempt to trigger massive positive change in their very own localities. To determine all this, a wide variety of sources, including geographic data, ethnographic data and all other sources of economic data have been used. The reasons why globalization made one country to prosper and the other to deteriorate both socially and economically have been well analyzed and integrated into the conclusion. Since the partition from Pakistan and Freedom from Colonial rulers, Indian Economy has been striving really hard to stabilize itself. The partition from Pakistan also affected the economy negatively as all the economic assets like; printing presses, manufacturing units, fertile agricultural lands, and the irrigation system. This division affected the economy adversely and it took almost two decades to recover from the after math of that economic and political shock. British traders still have a strong influence on the Indian economy as in the late nineties the industrial development stagnated and the market had to be saved for the foreign traders. Analysts support that the efforts to free the country’s economy from state interventions contributed a lot to the stable growth that came on the face in the 1980s. As a known fact, the open economy and a free-market economy has lesser governmental interventions. Thus, bringing in more creativity by waiving off more and more restrictions to let people trade in the way they want to. In India, the economically active class of the society had strived to their wits to free the market from unnecessary governmental interventions. However, that period was also marked with heavy foreign borrowing.

Expansion of Aritizia Boutique Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Expansion of Aritizia Boutique - Research Paper Example With a population of over 800000 people, Indianapolis is the largest of the three cities. Colorado Springs follows second and last is Ann Arbor. The economic indicators of the three cities are also good. All have a higher employment rates. The city with the highest employment rates is Ann Arbor. Competition is a major challenge in the three cities. All the three cities have well established Boutiques in the market with the leading in competition being Indianapolis. Colorado Springs also has a number of boutiques, which has been in the market for a very long time. Climate however is on the side of Colorado Springs. With over 300 days of sunshine, Colorado Springs remains the best place to sell light clothes. Comparing all the above factors, Colorado Springs is the best city to expand the Aritizia products.   This research involves looking at the various cities that the expansion is to occur and identifying the various aspects of the city that will make it the best option for expansi on. After all the data is collected, analysis takes place to come up with the best city among the various options. In this paper, analysis of three cities occurs to know which among them, suits the best option for expansion of Aritizia boutique. The three cities are; Indianapolis, in Indiana, Ann Arbor, of Michigan and Colorado springs of Colorado. The main sources of information used in this paper come from various books about the small American cities, the internet and various newspapers. Analysis of the population trend of each city, its overall economic group in the past decade comes about to show the best city among the three cities listed.  Ã‚  

Analysis of Organizational Success, Failures and Consequences, Term Paper

Analysis of Organizational Success, Failures and Consequences, Communication Policies, and STS Practices of Alcan Organization - Term Paper Example General systems in an organization involve several systems, which work together. The socio-technical system involves a proper blending of the social and technical systems in an organization (Girard, 2005). This is a combination of technology and people. Alcan Company consists of four groups of prime systems, which are responsible for managing the different types of units within each particular group (Girard, 2005). The first system is the Alumina and Bauxite business group. This group has the responsibility of getting bauxite through purchase or extraction, then having it refined into grades that are smart. The grade that is smart is then used to produce primary aluminum. This group consists of refineries that supply smelter-grade alumina to the primary metal group of the company and a global networking of bauxite mines. Alcan Company operates about eight bauxite mine and the seven smelter-grade refineries of alumina, seven alumina plants all over the world (Girard, 2005). The second general organizational system is the Primary Metals group. This group consists of the Alcan aluminum and facilities smelting, and installations of power generation for the company. This unit manages to employ about 20,000 individuals in the whole world. The unit produces various forms of aluminum. These are used in many markets like the foil; transportation; automotive beverage; construction; building; machinery sector; and consumer goods. The processing of Alcan’s aluminum is done in the twenty-four smelters of aluminum that are operated or owned partially by the company (Girard, 2005). The third general organization system is the unit of the engineered product. The headquarters of this group is in Paris. The system produces fabricated and composite aluminum products that are used for different purposes (Girard, 2005). This unit employs about 12000 workers at 37 Alcan network offices, 50 service centers, and 48 production facilities in the whole world. Aluminum used in prod ucing products that are engineered is bought from the primary metal business unit and suppliers who are third parties (Girard, 2005).  

Utopia of Art and Entertainment Essay Example for Free

Utopia of Art and Entertainment Essay The movie, Funny Face, is an enjoyable, entertaining and certainly a classic in cinema. Amidst the theatrical surface, it makes as fine material for criticism. Richard Dyer highlights this very well using the concept of ‘utopia’ in entertainment. It left a mark in the way I looked—and observed—the film from the general and critical merits. The central figures play a part in this. On one side you have Joe Stockton, an admirer of philosophy and book worm and the other in Dick Avery, who is a photographer and represents the side of entertainment. Watching the movie reinforced the notion through the numbers—the little escapades of the theatre. From the wonderful dancing, catchy songs and overall tug of war, the numbers performed by Joe, Avery and the rest of the cast were in what Dyer would point out to be contradictions—between entertainment and art. In the case of the movie, these contradictions are seen and most notably in many forms—some appear direct and some indirect. The number, â€Å"Clap Yo Hands† played during the infiltration of the ‘emphaticalist’ lecture house was one such form that resonate a direct sense of opposing—perhaps persuadingan atmosphere to change tone. From the dim, gray, contemplative mood to the upbeat and entertaining force that enters the room itself, art became a stage where entertainment could escape and simply enter into the frame—all in the process of a dance number. A notice of these numbers and one can see an implied tug of war between the subtlety of artistic pursuits (the purpose of Joe) and entertainment overtones (the purpose of Dick and his cohorts). The numbers become signs in themselves, seemingly because of the theatrical non-representative elements in the dance form—in the beat, rhythm and music selection. These little details construct a ‘meaning’ for the audience and influence it as well—a happier finds its value in entertainment, which overrides the feeling of the dreary. It was certainly a delight to have seen such a classic in Funny Face—from the classy costumes, entertaining dances to the subtle humor and introspections one can get from it.

Hydrogen Peroxide As Additive For Diesel Fuel

Hydrogen Peroxide As Additive For Diesel Fuel CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION HEAT ENGINES A heat engine is a machine whose function is to produce mechanical energy and it does so by using heat energy that is released when combustion of fuel takes place. It is classified in two main types on the basis where the combustion takes place. 1. External combustion engines also called the E.C engines: Here, as name suggests, heat energy from fuel is extracted not inside the cylinder where mechanical movement is generated but outside at different setup from where it is carried along in any medium such as air, steam or gas and passed into setup where it can be used for generating mechanical movement. Examples of this type of engine are hot air engines, steam turbines, steam engines and closed cycle gas turbine. This kind of engine is mostly used in electric power generations, ships, and driving locomotives. 2. Internal combustion engines famously known as I.C engines: It can be easily understood from the name that heat energy of fuel is extracted inside the cylinder from where mechanical movement originates. I.C. ENGINES: Here the mechanical energy is generated by force on nozzle, blades of turbines or pistons. They are arranged in such a way that when fuel is burnt inside combustion chamber the gases so produced as result of this action having very high pressure and very high temperature creates a force that directly leads to the their movement. From the development point of view we can say that J.J.E Lenior was the one who developed the first practically okay engine in 1860 and after that many different version were experimented mostly having power of around 4.5 kw and efficiency near 5%. otto-langen is given credit for developing a four stroke cycle engine in 1876. The efficiency of engine was nearly around 11%. It worked on spark ignition system. In 1892 rudolf diesel came with the compression ignition engine which was more efficient than spark ignition engines. 1.2.1 Classification of I.C. Engines. CHAPTER 2 DIESEL ENGINE 2.1 INTRODUCTION It is an internal combustion heat engine where heat energy, produced by spraying fuel on compressed air having a high temperature that is above the self-ignition temperature of fuel inside the cylinder, is converted in to mechanical work. Piston is arranged inside the cylinder that produces this mechanical work in response to combustion and expansion of air inside the cylinder. Diesel engine works on both 2 stroke and 4 stroke cycle. The main difference between diesel and petrol engine is that diesel works on the concept of constant pressure heat addition while petrol works on the concept of constant volume heat addition. For an engine to work on constant pressure heat addition concept it needs fuel which has low self-ignition temperature. And the fact that only air is compressed inside the cylinder is the reason for high compression ratio of diesel engine. They lie in the range of 14-22. 2.2 WORKING The four important processes of a diesel engine are intake of air, compression of the air to temperature that is above the self-ignition temperature of fuel, combustion inside the cylinder by spraying fuel on the compressed air and finally letting out the gases from cylinder after combustion. These four processes are repeated in cycle to make the engine run continuously. These four processes can be done with two strokes of piston (one revolution of crankshaft) or four strokes of the piston (two revolution of crankshaft). Lets understand the four stroke processes briefly because we are going to perform experiment on 4-stroke engine. During first stroke piston moves down creating space for air to come in. now when piston moves upward it compress air within the cylinder. When piston reaches at the top fuel is sprayed in the cylinder. This leads to combustion and downward movement of piston. After reaching bottom piston moves upward removing the exhaust gas from cylinder. And again when piston moves down fresh air is taken in cylinder and processes goes on. The up and down movement (linear motion) of piston is converted in to rotary motion through crankshaft which is connected to the piston. Please refer to the diagram below. 2.3 FUEL INJECTION The injection of fuel to the cylinder is very critical processes. If done with accurate timing and injection pressure it can lead to enhanced performance of the engine. The injection pressure given to the fuel by injector is typically 7â‚ ¬Ã‚ ª106 to 7â‚ ¬Ã‚ ª107 pa. The accurate time for fuel injection is when piston is about to reach the top of cylinder. When fuel is injected inside it is partly combusted as constant volume and then as piston moves down the remaining part is combusted as pressure constant processes. 2.4 PROS AND CONS OF DIESEL ENGINE The diesel engine is far more superior to the gasoline engine in terms of efficiency. They do not make noise and are very low on maintenance requirement when compared to gasoline engines. Its reliability and ruggedness is more. As fuel leads to combustion due to low self-ignition temperature no spark plugs are required which leads to lower cost of maintaining. Cost of fuel is lower, around 30% to 40% than gas engines. Another major advantage it gives over gasoline engine is by producing low waste in exhaust and cooling Major disadvantages of diesel engine are its high weight to horsepower ratio and difficulty to make them start when they are in cold weather area. CHAPTER 3 DIESEL FUEL AND ADDITIVES Any liquid that can be utilized to operate diesel engine is called as diesel fuel. Mainly derived from following four sources. Diesel fuel has been divided into three major groups by ASTM (The American society for testing and materials), which depends on the various uses of diesel engines. They are: No. 1-D for frequent load and speed changing engines. No. 2-D for engine with constant speed but high loads. No. 3-D for low and medium speed engines that operate under sustained loads. 3.1 DESIRED QUALITIES OF DIESEL FUEL Keeping in mind the functioning of diesel engine that are few important and critical qualities that a liquid must have to serve as diesel fuel. They are: 3.2 STANDARD SPECIFICATION OF DIESEL FUEL Depending upon intention of use, diesel fuel is available in various grades. Diesel fuel is a mixture of different crude oil derived substances, all with their own physical and chemical properties, such as paraffins, isoparaffins, napthenes, olefins and aromatic hydrocarbons. Diesel fuel has to work in various kinds of engine types, having difference in conditions of operation and cycles of duty, and range of technology of fuel system, temperatures of engine and pressures of fuel system. It must suit a wide range of different climates. The balanced properties of each grade of diesel fuel are important to give good performance over an extremely various situation .The most common in use guidelines for diesel fuel are given by ASTM International. ASTM specifications are created after taking into consideration, based on the wide range of experience and cooperativeness of diesel fuels producer, diesel engines manufacturer and fuel systems (and users of both), and other important officials like state fuel quality regulators. 3.3 IMPORTANT PROPERTIES OF FUEL 3.4 DIFFERENT TYPES AND FUNCTIONS OF ADDITIVES Diesel fuel properties are met and maintained by petroleum industry by taking the use of number of commercial diesel fuel additives. Fuel components and additives are different from each other. Firstly Fuel Components are hydrocarbon classes like aromatic, iso-paraffin and naphthene. They basically sum up the volume of the fuel. While Additives are added to fuel in at very less amounts, generally at the ppm level, and is of no significance fuel volume. There are different types of additives that are used to improve fuel in different ways and to overcome different problems. Following table give different types of additives and their functions. Table showing different types and function of additives. Type of Additive Function Cetane number improver Improves ignition quality by raising cetane number, better starts, reduces white smoke Lubricity improvers Improves lubricity, better injector pump lubrication Antioxidants Extend storage life, inhibit oxidation, reduce gum and precipitate formation Stabilizers Inhibit oxidation extend storage life Metal deactivators Deactivate copper compounds in fuel, thereby promoting longer storage life Pour point depressants Low temperature operability, improve cold flow properties Smoke suppressants Promote more complete combustion reduce exhaust smoke Rust preventers Reduce formation of rust in fuel systems storage tanks De-emulsifiers Used to increase the rate of water separation from the fuel CHAPTER 4 HYDROGEN PEROXIDE Having very high oxidizing capability Hydrogen peroxide (h2o2) is one of the strongest reactive oxidizer that exists. Naturally, it is synthesized as the by-product of oxidative metabolism in nearly all-living organisms. It is mainly used as a propellant in rocketry, as bleach, as an antiseptic and as an oxidizer. It has IUPAC name of Di-hydrogen dioxide and is also known as Dioxidane. Molecular diagram of hydrogen peroxide 4.1 IMPORTANT PROPERTIES OF H2O2: 1. Hydrogen peroxide has a Molar mass of 34.0147 g/mol 2. It appears colorless in solution and otherwise has a very light blue color. 3. H2O2 has density of 1.463 g/cm3 4. Melting point of -.43 oc. and boiling point of 150.2 oc. 5. It has more viscosity than h2o. 6.It has calorific value of 2700 kJ/kg. 7. Has dipole moment of 2.13 debye and refractive index of 1.33 (same as that of water) 8. It has specific heat capacity of 1.267 J/kg (gas) and of 2.619 J/kg (liquid) 4.2 HYDROGEN PEROXIDE AS AN ADDITIVE: One important reaction of hydrogen peroxide is its spontaneous exothermic decomposition into oxygen and water. The reactions is: 2 H2O2  ® 2 H2O + O2 It has: 1. Standard enthalpy of reaction of -98.4 kJ/mol 2. Gibbs free energy of -118.7 kJ/mol 3. Change of entropy of 71 J/mol Because of this property of hydrogen peroxide it is used as propellant in rocket. Here high-test peroxide (hydrogen peroxide with concentration of around 90%) is used. The H2O2 decomposes into steam and oxygen. According to me same concept can be applied to diesel engine as well. Where adding small amount of hydrogen peroxide to the diesel fuel can improve ignition of diesel fuel inside combustion chamber by providing additional oxygen and energy when it decomposes. And steam thus produced will easily move out along the exhaust gases. CHAPTER 5 EXPERIMENT PERFORMED 5.1 OBJECTIVE: To conduct experiment using 4 stroke, 2 cylinder diesel engine to study the effects of addition of hydrogen peroxide to the diesel fuel. And compare the performance of three different sample fuel where the first one is 100% diesel, second is 95% diesel + 5% hydrogen peroxide and third is 90% diesel + 10% hydrogen peroxide. 5.2 AIM: To calculate following parameters for three fuel samples: Brake power (BP). Brake mean effective pressure (Pbm) Fuel consumed (Qf) Heat energy produced by fuel (Hf) Brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) Brake thermal efficiency ( Ã‚ ¨bt) Air fuel ratio (A/F) 5.3 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP: Diesel engine has two cylinders and is four stroke, water-cooled engine. Dynamometer that is a rope brake type has been provided with loading sensors. Different rota-meters has been arranged to calculate flow of water to calorimeter of exhaust gas and to the engine jacket. Setup is equipped with temperature sensors, air tank and fuel tank for supply. Software has been programmed to collect data. It provides experiment performer to log-in data and store and print them. This software allows tabulation and comparison of data collected. Now lets discuss about the dynamometer mentioned above. It has brake drum, load cell, and arrangement of cooling down water. It is so coupled with the shat of the engine that load can be changed using rotation of wheel that increases the tension of the drum. Another important part of the setup is facility provided to measure the heat energy gone along with exhaust gases. Calorific measuring meter is equipped with jacket of the cooling water and shell that is in central with baffles. Water is made to flow against in indirect contact with gas that comes from exhaust and there is a rota-meter and valve to control the rate of flow of this water. So using heat can be measured that is going out as a waste with gases that comes from exhaust. There also is a provision made for getting p-v and p- Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ graphs. These works based on the sensors. Sensors that are stored in combustion chamber and aligned along the shaft that gives the output motion that has been produced by engine. These sensors provide the software the data of different pressure and angle of crank. And then we directly get graphs on the computer. But sadly these sensors have been damaged and cannot be used. So we are not able to get these graphs which are essential part of performance analysis. 5.4 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE: First of all three different samples of fuels are made. Sample 1 is pure diesel. Sample 2 is 5% hydrogen peroxide and 95% diesel. Sample 3 is 10% hydrogen peroxide and 90% diesel. All the pre-checks of the engine are conducted such as SAE 20w40 oil is filled in the oil sump up to needed level using a stick that is made specially for this purpose, data cable is connecting unit of interfering with the computer, flow of water is set accordingly through rota-meters. Filling of the fuel sample in the fuel tank. Starting engine with the help of lever that is for decompressing. Lifting this lever while turning flywheel at high speed taking use of handle leads to smooth starting of engine. Run the engine for like say 2 min before any thing to be done because it needs time to stabilization. Now loading of the diesel engine is done with help of dynamometer. Here we will try and set four different loads for a sample of fuel. Firstly zero kg then eight kg after that 16 kg and finally 24 kg. Readings are noted down or you may say logged in the computer for every load and saved. After completion of the experiment for fuel 1 same procedure is followed for other two samples. After the readings and information of all samples are collected stop the engine only after reducing load on engine. Finally close the supply of water that is used for cooling and stop the fuel supply. 5.5 IMPORTANT SPECIFICATIONS OF ENGINE: 14 horse power engine Diameter of bore is 87.5 mm Length of stroke is 110 mm Length of arm acting on dynamometer is 0.165m Density of air is taken as 1.21 kg/m3 Gravitational acceleration is 9.81 m/s2 Surface area of piston is 6.01*10-3 m2 Volume swept by cylinder per second is .0165 m3/sec 5.6 FORMULAE USED: Please note formulae have been written after calculating all constant and known values as specific numerical constant so as to get clear picture of what and how different variables affect the values of performance indicators. And also that following set of formula apply for sample 1 only and similarly formulae for sample 2 and 3 were calculated separately. Brake-power (in kw): m is mass of load acting on dynamometer (kg) N is revolution per minute of shaft Break mean effective pressure (in N/m2): Fuel consumed by engine (in kg/s): X is volume of fuel consumed (in ml) T is time taken to consume X ml of fuel (in seconds) Air fuel ratio: Qa is flow rate of air intake by engine (in m3/s) Brake specific fuel consumption (in kg/kw-s): Heat supplied by fuel (in kw): Brake thermal efficiency (in %): Volumetric efficiency (in %): 5.8 ANALYSIS AND COMPARISION OF PERFORMANCE: GRAPH: LOAD VS BRAKE POWER From above graph we can say that all the 3 samples of fuel are able to give same brake power output. This helps us to confirm that 2 experimental fuel are able to provide same output as that provided by original fuel. GRAPH: LOAD VS BSFC From the graph we can observe that sample 2 has higher BSFC then other 2 samples at low loads. But as the load is increased sample 2 has slightly lower BSFC than other two samples. While sample 3 gives you lower BSFC at low loads and same BSFC as the sample 1 at higher loads. GRAPH: LOAD VS BRAKE THERMAL EFFICIENCY From graph above, it is clearly visible that sample 2 and sample 3 provides higher efficiency than the original sample 1. And it is also important to note that there is not much vast difference between efficiency of sample 1 and sample 2 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION The experiment was performed on the 4-stroke, vertical, 2-cylinder diesel engine. It was maintained at constant rpm of 1498 and 50 ml of fuel was consumed at each load. Four load conditions were decided to perform experiment on 3 samples of fuel keeping in mind the capability of engine. The 4 conditions were 0, 8, 16, and 24 kg. The positives that we can take from the experiment performed are that we are able to produce same output result in terms of output power at output shaft though the heating value of sample fuel 2 and 3 are lower than that of sample 1. This is the reason we are able to show increase in brake thermal efficiency obtained by sample fuel 2 and 3 than that obtained by sample 1. But the most important conclusion that I think from the experiment is that there is slight decrease in BSFC of sample fuel 2 at high load. Due to limitation of experimental conditions we cannot check the result for load above 25 kg. I believe that this result has originated from the fact that hydrogen peroxide provides that additional oxygen and energy when it decomposes exothermically to give steam and oxygen. The thing that hampers the proposition of hydrogen peroxide as an additive for diesel fuel is its storage problem. A research is needed on the feasibility of storing hydrogen peroxide separately than the diesel in engine and spraying it through different injection system than that of diesel because there could be possibility when hydrogen peroxide in the fuel tank it may decompose itself without aid of compression temperature in combustion chamber in long-term storage. The cost factor also needed to be taken into account. The other few things that are kind of inconclusive and needs further research on them are how does steam produced by decomposition reaction affects the engine on long run and what amount of hydrogen peroxide is optimum for the engine.

Relationship Between Humans And Colour In Architectural Spaces

Relationship Between Humans And Colour In Architectural Spaces Colour can clarify and define space, form and structure, yet in many architectural practices is often considered only at the final stages of the design process. This tendency to subordinate colour reflects an attitude held by many design professionals since the Renaissance. The premise that colour is secondary to form, the disegno colore theory, was established by Aristotle in his Poetics during the Renaissance. Further reinforcing this belief, the architect Le Corbusier influenced the role of colour in architectural design still upheld by many today. He considered whiteness to convey order, purity, truth and architecture. His views were further supported by contemporaries such as Adolf Loos who considered white to be the colour of heaven, while Theo van Doesburg believed it the spiritual colour of the period (Minah 2008). White became the epitome of modern architecture. While Le Corbusier latterly modified his attitude toward the relationship of colour in architecture, the colour rules established in his work Purism, co-written with Amà ©dà ©Ãƒ © Ozenfant, were never as influential as his earlier beliefs (Batchelor 2000). The following paper examines the importance of colour within architectural space and its ability to influence mental well-being through its sensory and physiological properties. Experiencing Colour What is fundamental in understanding the use of colour and light in interior space? Why do some spaces bring joy, while other do not? Many would judge it simply a matter of taste, while others an expression of artistic skill, use of precise colour theory or scientific research. It is a complex combination of many factors, both human and scientific. Colour is perceived by the eye through different wavelengths of light carried to us by our surroundings and interpreted by the brain (Nassau 1998). Without light there would be no colour. Light reflects off surfaces, triggering an electromagnetic response in the eye, which in turn translates into colour within the brain (Miller 1997). Our perception of colour is dictated by its hue (actual colour), its intensity or depth of tone (saturation) and its brightness, creating shade and shadow (Miller 1997). An academic interest in the psychological meaning of colour has been prevalent for centuries. Philosophers from ancient Greece dating back to Aristotles time, artists post da Vinci, the early 19th century poet Goethe and subsequent latter day psychologists, anthropologists, biologists, etc, have theorised and investigated the complexity of human response to, and use of colour (Birren 1978; Sharpe 1980). Shown in Table 1. are the six categories believed by Graham, to be key to the human responses to colour within the built environment (Pierman 1978). The scope of the subject is so huge that for the purpose of this paper my main focus will be physiological, mood and associative response to colour and its implications on our experience of interior space. Biological Reactions of a Colour Stimulus There is a reoccurring theme in published literature on human response to colour, namely, the association of hues at the long or warm end of the visible spectrum (red, orange and pink) with arousal and excitation, and those at the short or cool end (green, blue violet) with calmness and relaxation (Goldstein 1942; Gerard 1958; Wilson 1966; Jacobs and Hustmyer 1974) which crosses multi-cultural boundaries (Oyama, Tanaka et al. 1962; Adams and Osgood 1973). Although not all results have shown identical outcomes in respect of systolic blood pressure, skin conductance, respiration, heart rate, eye-blink frequency and electrical brain activity, the emotional responses have been similar. Further studies have used word associations with colour, such as blue being associated with tender, soothing, secure and comfortable and orange with disturbing, distressed, upset (Wexner 1954). A more recent study attempted to replicate the findings of Gerrard, with a focus on the effect on cardiovascular function (Yglesias, Stewart et al. 1993). Whilst the effect on the heart could not be replicated the individuals mental expectations of the consequence of the colours was in accord with previous literature. Jacobs and Seuss similarly found the effects of 4 primary colours projected onto a large screen produced high anxiety levels for red and yellow, consistent with earlier studies (Jacobs and Hustmyer 1974) Schauss claimed that pink colours acted as a natural tranquilizer and had successfully subdued prison inmates (Schauss 1979), but this has not been substantiated in further studies (Pellegrini, Schauss et al. 1981). The earlier findings may have been more to do with the Hawthorne effect, particularly as such a result would contradict the prevalent red/blue spectrum theory. Whilst all of the above research with its consequent design implications was carried out using coloured light, slides, patches, or words, KÃ…Â ±ller et al experimented using full scale decorated rooms. Those decorated with colours from the long visible spectrum created greater arousal than those from the short spectrum. Additionally, introverts or those in a negative mood became more affected than others, impacting their performance (KÃ…Â ±ller, Mikellides et al. 2009). Similarly, Kwallek found that an individuals ability to screen colours for irrelevant stimuli had an impact on the effect of colour. High screeners were more productive in a red working environment, while low screeners performed better in a blue-green office (Kwallek, Soon et al. 2006) (Kwallek, Soon et al. 2007) (Kwallek, Woodson et al. 1997). In addition, Kwallek et al found saturation of colour was a significant predictor of differences in mood between males and females. Ainsworth contrarily found no difference in performance between red and blue offices (Ainsworth, Simpson et al. 1993). However, In a study of almost 1000 workspaces in four countries, interior colour was recognised as an important influencing element of mood and performance (KÃ…Â ±ller, Ballal et al. 2006). A key article by Kaiser reviews the varied literature on non-visual physiological responses by humans to colour, (Kaiser 1984a), concluding that there are reliable physiological responses to colour recorded, but that some of the results may have been effected by cognitive response to colour (Kaiser 1984a). The preceding review shows that, despite considerable interest and research, studies have yet to provide a thorough and empirically proven set of rules for the relationship between colour and emotions (Valdez and Mehrabian 1994). Cognitive Response to Colour The way we respond to colour can also be a result of conscious symbolism or associated actions. Yglesias et al showed that we have expectations in respect of our response to certain colours (Yglesias, Stewart et al. 1993), regardless of involuntary physiological responses. These may be learned through culture or tradition, memory, preferences or fashion. Colour associated with actions can be seen in the red, amber and green of traffic lights conveying stop, yield and go, respectively. When these colours are used in isolation from their connection with traffic, they can still influence their association (Hutchings 2004). Red is commonly used to signify danger, or to command attention and is the most pervasive colour signal in nature (Humphrey 1976). It can, however, have a somewhat ambiguous meaning as it is the colour of edible berries, signifies love, lust, anger and blood; a combination of both positive and negative symbolism. Culture and tradition can connect specific emotions with certain colours. Typically, white is worn by Western brides for its connection with purity, whereas in India the preferred colour is red (Hutchings 2004) and in other countries black, which is in stark contrast to its commonly accepted association with mourning (Kaya and Crosby 2006). White continues its connection with purity through its use in kitchens and bathrooms, translating into cleanliness and hygiene. It can also be seen in its association with hospitals and specifically the doctors coat, further reinforcing its sterile status (Blumhagen 1979). In China white is associated with righteousness. Black is associated with dullness and stupidity in Indian culture, while red implies ambition and desire (Kreitler and Kreitler 1972). Colours can also be steeped with religious meaning through association. For instance, green is the sacred colour of Islam (Kaya and Crosby 2006), and was also considered sacred by the Celts up until the Christian church introduced white (Singh 2006). In addition to white, purple is the symbolic colour used in Christian churches throughout Lent for drapes and altar frontals, while orange is considered the most sacred colour in Hindu religion. Red and white is a combination used for ritual decorations in Melanesia and for representing the Sacred Heart of the Catholic Church in Mexico (Singh 2006). Colours with religious connotations and subsequent emotional connection can have a profound effect on an interior if inappropriately used and could cause offence, or negative feelings. Colour associations also appear to rely on an individuals previous knowledge and experience, combined with personal emotional connections. Kaya and Crosby found colour schemes were remembered in alliance with known interiors, such as restaurants, schools or their homes and, subsequently deemed appropriate colours for specific building types or rooms. For example, some related the colour blue with feelings of relaxation, calmness, comfort and peace, with an associated link to hotels and residences (Kaya and Crosby 2006). Red, a colour frequently aligned with stimulation and arousal, was often coupled with places of entertainment, such as restaurants (Kaya and Crosby 2006). Conclusion A complex collection of factors combine to dictate an individuals perception of colour within the built environment. Despite decades of research into our physiological response to colour and its implications, scientific results have been contradictory and sometimes inconclusive, albeit with a general consensus on reaction to colours within the short and long visible spectrum. For example, as highlighted earlier, red wavelengths can influence biological rhythms, with green wavelengths being weaker. These results are a direct physiological response. A human does not have to have any knowledge of the colour red for a biological response. However the result may be compounded by an indirect physiological response to the colour based on cognition. For instance, an individual may have a strong mental association of red with blood, violence, fire or hatred. We all have our own personal knowledge of colour, based around culture, tradition and memory, which serve to guide our choice and experi ence of colour and light. In addition, response to colour can also be influenced by our immediate environment, such as whether we are alone or in a group, or how we are feeling at the time and its effect on our ability to screen colours. A person in a depressed mental state may not respond in the same way as someone in a more positive mood. Colour is a powerful force which can be used in different way to motivate and stimulate, to control our actions, to create an environment of joy or misery. In making colour choices for interior space, it is crucial to understand the nature and culture of the users, in conjunction with scientific research. It is important to discern whether the chosen colour has a direct physiological impact on a particular biological function, or if the colour effect depends on cognitive learning or emotional associations. Selection should also consider the implications of hue and saturation of colour, which play a strong part in eliciting positive feelings and a sense of well-being when appropriately chosen. Interiors should not be devised purely for reasons of fashion or aesthetics, if the aim is to elicit a positive emotional response from the user; a more considered approach should be undertaken. 1876

Comparison of Ripe Figs, The Story of an Hour, and The Storm by Kate Ch

Comparison of Ripe Figs, The Story of an Hour, and The Storm by Kate Chopin In the three short works, "Ripe Figs," "The Story of an Hour," and "The Storm," Kate Chopin has woven into each an element of nature over which no one has control. She uses short time spans to heighten impact and bring her stories to quick conclusions. She displays attitudes in her characters in two of her stories which may have been very controversial at the time they were written. "Ripe Figs" is the shorter of the three, covering a summer in a young girl's life. The figs need to ripen before she can visit her cousins. At first the leaves of the fig tree were tender and the figs were "little hard, green marbles" (4). Each time she would slowly walk beneath the leaves, she would go away disappointed. Then one day she saw something that made her "sing and dance the whole day long" (4). The figs were ripe. However when she sat some down before her godmother, the godmother said, "Ah, how early the figs have ripened this year!", but for the girl, they "ripened very late" (4). Kate Chop in's second short story, "The Story of an Hour," takes place in the space of an hour, during which a wife comes to terms with the death of her husband. Upon the news of her husband's death, she wept with "wild abandonment" (12). After "the storm of grief had spent itself" (12), she went to her room alone. There she sat in a "roomy armchair" (12), facing the window. She could see new life in the leaves on the trees and smell a "breath of rain in the air" (12). Also she could hear the sounds of life still going on; "a peddler was crying his wares, and the music of someone singing in the distance reached her, along with the sound of countless sparrows twittering in the eave... ... be free again when he sends her a message not to hurry home. Perhaps this was the unspoken feeling of many women during Chopin's lifetime. In summary these three short stories seem to have very much in common. The use of nature, the short time frames, and the perhaps shocking attitudes of some of the characters all combine to create a sense of identity that one might expect to see in works by the same writer. Kate Chopins' style is never boring. Her stories move quickly and have great impact. Bibliography: Works Cited Chopin, Kate. "Ripe Figs." Literature for Composition. 3rd ed. Ed Sylvan Barnet et al. New York: Harper, 1992. 4. "The Story of an Hour." Literature for Composition. 3rd ed. Ed Sylvan Barnet et al. New York: Harper, 1992. 12 - 14. "The Storm." Literature for Composition. 3rd ed. Ed Sylvan Barnet et al. New York: Harper, 1992. 27 - 29.