Hardys dramatic dialogue Essay Example for Free

Hardys dramatic dialogue Essay Denying the harsh moral codes set upon you can at times improve your material circumstances; however it can reduce you to a situation lower than poverty. Hardys dramatic dialogue The Ruined Maid attempts to portray the injustices and ironies of Victorian morality. Hardy is able to achieve this through his elaborate control over language. The class distinctions and moral codes placed upon women in the Victorian era have a large degree of irony. In the first stanza Hardy introduces two women: an unnamed, impoverished farm maid and a relatively wealthy ruined woman. The fact that the farm maid is unnamed shows her relatively insignificant life in comparison to the ruined woman who is named. The ruined woman (Melia) is said to have acquired fair garments, illustrating her affluence as the adjective fair suggests her clothes were of great beauty. The farm maid also wonders how Melia has come across such prosperi-ty emphasising her newfound wealth. Melia states that she has acquired this wealth as she has been ruined. By crossing the Victorian morality line and selling herself she has been rewarded instead of being looked down upon. In the second stanza Hardy contrasts the two womens lifestyles to illustrate their vast differences. Hardy uses negative diction such as the noun tatters to describe the poverty-stricken woman clothing which contrasts to the description of the wealthier woman in the first stanza. Hardy also contrasts this in the second stanza where Hardy uses positive diction with vibrant connotations such as gay bracelets and bright feathers to again describe the ruined womans clothing. The use of juxtaposition between the poverty of one woman and the relative wealth of Melia emphasises their class differences. The ruined woman, obviously gaining from her denial of normal moral codes, states thats how we dress when we are ruined. This illustrates that all women in her profession wear wealthy clothing, portraying the ironies of Victorian moral rectitude. Restrained in the entrenched Victorian class system with its moral and economic confines women at times have to escape in order to improve their situation. In the third stanza Hardy illustrates the ruined womans original poverty. She is described to have had a home in the barton, illustrating her initial lack of wealth through the use of the noun barton. Melia is said to have in the past used archaic, colloquial language such as thee and thou portraying her earlier impoverishment; only those of the lower classes would have used these words. However Hardy contrasts this with the womans talking which now fits ee for high company, again emphasising her gain from selling herself. Melia says that some polish is gained with ones ruin. The noun polish suggests the woman has gained refinement by becoming ruined, illustrating the potential gains from defying Victorian moral codes. This can also portray the hypocrisy of Victorian society as pure, virginal women are approved of; however happen to live depressing, miserable lives. In the fourth stanza Hardy again contrasts the womans current position with her past one, describing how she used to have paws and a face blue and bleak. The fact that her hands are said to have been paws illustrates the strenuous work she had to endure. The adjective bleak is an example of a synecdoche as it is used to illustrate Meilas former emotions. However she is now said to have little gloves and a delicate cheek portraying her dramatic improvement both in her occupation and emotionally. The last line: we never do work when were ruined emphasises her lack of taxing labour after becoming ruined. Crossing the morality line can at times result in improvements to ones position economically. By defying Victorian morality ones situation is condemned to being lower than the poverty of those who are pure and righteous. In the fifth stanza Hardy again uses negative diction to describe Melias past position. Hardy illustrates that she used to view her life as a hag-ridden dream portraying her past depressive outlook on life due to her previous poverty. She is said to have sigh[ed] and sock[ed] emphasising her negative view on life. However now she know[s] not of melancholy. This shows her emotional improvement as a result of becoming ruined. In the last stanza the farm girl says she wished she was like her former friend and had feathers and a fine sweeping gown. This illustrates her misunderstanding of Melias new profession due to her poverty. She is unable to see through the vivacious fai ade of Melias wealthy clothing in order to see the realities of her occupation. Melia however separates herself from her former friend stating that she is but a raw country girl. The adjective raw again emphasises the girls righteousness and innocence contrasted to the other womans ruined morality. The two women are completely different due to the chasmic nature of the Victorian class distinctions and Melias decision to sell herself. Melias also denies the farm maid of her dreams stating that she cannot quite expect that. Although she wishes she could become wealthy she cant escape the class which she was born into. Melia says that you aint ruined showing that to become rich after being born into the lower classes you must become ruined. However this could also be seen as a warning to the other woman to hold on to her maidenly modesty due to its huge worth in Victorian society. Furthermore Hardy uses the colloquial expression aint to show the reader that the ruined woman hasnt escaped her poor origins. Women of the Victorian times held a very insecure position in society; one which could change dramatically just by defying ironic moral codes. In The Ruined Maid Hardy attempts to show the ironies and injustices place upon women in the Victorian era. He shows that although one may improve their economic situation by defying the moral codes of their society they are condemned to a fate worse than poverty.

The Electoral College Versus a Direct Election System Essay -- Politic

The Electoral College Versus a Direct Election System â€Å"The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President†¦they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President† (Findlaw.com). The Twelfth Amendment set forth the rules and regulations for which the Office of President shall be determined. The founding fathers, in the second constitutional convention, laid the grounds on which setup what would be the Electoral College. Adoption of the Electoral College plan came late in the Convention, which had previously adopted on four occasions provisions for election of the executive by the Congress and had twice defeated proposals for election by the people directly. So why not conduct a direct election, by the people? After all, the President was to serve the people. There were four main reasons why the delegates of the Second Constitutional Convention wanted an electoral system. For one, a census as a prelude to the first election could not be taken. The first election served more as an appointment. There was not time for delegates to go back home, while under this newly formed Constitution, and search for delegates. Who would serve to defend the Constitution while this happened? The delegates knew this before hand. The states had a wide variety of suffrage requirements. If electors were to be chosen on the basis of population, should slaves count as a property, or under population? Even though they held large populations, the larger states rejected the idea of a popular vote. Virginia, one of the largest states of the time, had a population of 748,000. Of those, 306,000 were slaves, whic... ...cedure, until a 3/5ths of the states decide against it. Even the Founders themselves once supported a direct election process, but as they researched the outcome of such a system, the repercussions and consequences outweighed the chance to be a true democracy. Even so in 2000, the Electoral College has seen action for 200 years, and it will continue standing in lieu of public scrutiny, and even dimpled chads. Works Cited Census.gov. Visited Dec 5. http://www.census.gov/. Ferrand, Max, ed., Records of the Federal Convention. New Haven, 1911. 2:584 Findlaw.com. Visited Dec 6. http://www.findlaw.com/ James Madison to Henry Lee. 14 Jan. 1825, Records, ed. by Max Ferrand, 3:464. Kuroda, Tadahisa. The Origins of the Twelfth Amendment. Greenwood. 1994. Wood, Gordon. Creation of the American Republic 1776-1787. Chapel Hill 1969.

Compare Bronfenbrenner and Erikson Essay

Lifespan Developments Theories offer explanations of how the individual changes and develops throughout their lifetime. While this objective is constant, the focus of these theories vary. Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Theory adopts an intrapersonal focus, outlining nine age related stages of the life cycle while Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Stage Theory focuses on five socio-cultural stages within which the individual interacts, interpersonally, over time. This essay will focus on both these theories, their implications in the world of adult education, particularly from the perspective of experience within two South Kerry Adult Education Centres and finally the areas where these theories may concur and contrast. Erik Erikson was a Neo-Freudian Psychologist who developed a lifespan theory identifying eight stages of psychosocial human development. As Erikson and his wife, Joan, entered their eightieth decade, they discovered a ninth stage. Joan Erikson completed work on this stage from notes made by her husband before he died and from her own observations. In fact, Erik and Joan Erikson were co-collaborators throughout their years together as evidenced in the following statement, ‘To restate the sequence of psychosocial stages throughout life means to take responsibility for the terms Joan Erikson and I have originally attached to them’(Erikson E.H. cited Erikson E.H. & Erikson J. 1997,p.55). Also, while recounting a trip to Los Angeles where Erik Erikson had been invited to present ‘the stages’ to a group of Psychologists and Psychiatrists, Joan Erikson tells of her uneasiness while they discussed the presentation. At this stage, there were seven stages in their model. ‘In a shocking moment of clarity I saw what was wrong’ (Erikson E.H & Erikson J. 1997 p.3). She had spotted that ‘ We’ were missing and subsequently, they added an eighth stage entitled ‘Generativity vs. Stagnation’. This significant contribution was made by Joan Erikson on the trip to the train station ‘where Erik could catch the Los Angeles train, and then for me to hurry back to home and the children’ (Erikson E.H.& Erikson J. 1997, p.2). Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory holds that personality develops through nine stages across the entire lifespan. ‘Personality can be said to develop according to steps predetermined in the human organism’s readiness to be driven forward, to be aware of and to interact with a widening social radius’ (Erikson 1959 cited Tennant M. 1997 p.33). Each of these stages involves challenges and conflicts which, if successfully resolved, allow the  individual to develop a strength, or virtue which they bring with them into the following stage. If unsuccessfully resolved, the individual proceeds into the next stage not only without this strength but with a corresponding negative element which is likely to impede their progressive de velopment. Erikson refers to these strengths as ‘syntonic elements’ and the negative elements as ‘dystonic elements’. For example, at ‘infancy’ the first stage, age 0-1 years, the conflict or challenge experienced by the individual is ’trust vs. mistrust’. The syntonic element that might result is ‘hope’, the dystonic element is ‘withdrawal’. Erikson explains ‘vs.’ as standing for ‘versus’ and ‘yet also, in the light of their complementarity, for something like â€Å"visa versa†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. (Erikson E.H. & Erikson J. 1997, p.55). Erikson does not hold that that an individual’s resolved state should lay at the end of the continuum. ‘’The child also needs to develop some healthy mistrust, such as learning to discriminate between dangerous and safe situations’ (Bee & Boyd 2003, p.258). It is only in experiencing and understanding these opposites such as trust and mistrust that we can develop the relevant strength. At each of these age related stages, the individual is in communication and conflict with a significant psychosocial relationship. Again, for example, at the first stage, Erikson states that this relationship is with the mother. Others are s een in the following chart: Erikson’s psychosocial crisis stages (syntonic v dystonic) Freudian psycho- sexual stages life stage / relationships / issues basic virtue and second named strength (potential positive outcomes from each crisis) maladaptation / malignancy(potential negative outcome – one or the other – from unhelpful experience during each crisis) 1. Trust v Mistrust Oral infant / mother / feeding and being comforted, teething, sleeping Hope and Drive Sensory Distortion / Withdrawal 2. Autonomy v Shame & Doubt Anal toddler / parents / bodily functions, toilet training, muscular control, walking Willpower and Self-Control Impulsivity / Compulsion 3. Initiative v Guilt Phallic preschool / family / exploration and discovery, adventure and play Purpose and Direction Ruthlessness / Inhibition 4. Industry v Inferiority Latency schoolchild / school, teachers, friends, neighbourhood /achievement and accomplishment Competence and Method Narrow Virtuosity / Inertia 5. Identity v Role Confusion Puberty and Genitality adolescent / peers, groups, influences / resolving identity and direction, becoming a grown-up Fidelity and Devotion Fanaticism / Repudiation 6. Intimacy v Isolation (Genitality) young adult / lovers, friends, work connections / intimate relationships, work and social life Love and Affiliation Promiscuity / Exclusivity 7. Generativity v Stagnation n/a mid-adult / children, community / ‘giving back’, helping, contributing Care and Production Overextension / Rejectivity 8. Integrity v Despair n/a late adult / society, the world, life / meaning and purpose, life achievements Wisdom and Renunciation Presumption / Disdain http://www.businessballs.com/erik_erikson_psychosocial_theory.htm Joan Erikson, reviewing their lifecycle theory (while adding the ninth stage),  notes that the syntonic element is always mentioned first, before the dystonic. Stating that it should be noted that often ‘circumstances may place the dystonic in a more dominant position’ (Erikson E.H. & Erikson J. 1997 p. 106). She continues that old age is ‘such a circumstance’. For this reason, in her account of the ninth stage she places the dystonic first i.e. ‘Despair and Disgust vs. Integrity: Wisdom’ (Erikson E.H. & Erikson J. 1997, p.106) and recounts a revisiting of all the stages, this time with different virtues emerging (see chart below), ideally culminating in a state of ‘gerotranscendence’. Lars Tornstam defines gerotranscendence as a shift in perspective ‘from a materialistic and rational vision to a more cosmic and transcendence one, normally followed by an incre ase in life satisfaction’ (Tornstam cited Erikson E.H. & Erikson J. 1997, p.123). www.intropsych.com Erikson’s theory highlights the need to provide age appropriate activities for the students. Also, within the field of Youthreach and VTOS programmes, particular attention might be given to stimulating identity exploration in adolescents. For example, within the Fetac Personal and Interpersonal Skills Module, helping the student explore their strengths, aptitudes, learning styles, personality types and through communication with outside agencies, encourage career exploration. Early school leavers, as is evident in one South Kerry Youthreach programme, often have experienced social and educational deprivation and as such are vulnerable to unemployment, depression and the growing number of suicides are always a concern. Very often, a single parent is the sole guardian and this parent is female, as are the majority of teachers and social workers. Positive role models, with whom the young person can identify, have been shown to help in promoting health care in young people. Ã¢â‚¬Ë œLocal role models and peers can also play an important role in actively promoting projects, and have the capacity to allay fears or embarrassment that some young men might feel about getting involved’ (Richardson N, Clarke N. & Fowler C. 2013, p.111). Education centres can organise support from such positive role models. Regarding Erikson’s stage of Young Adulthood, Education Centres provide a social setting where people can meet, communicate and escape the isolation that  often results from unemployment. Adult education provides an opportunity for ‘a kind of self- generation concerned with further identity development’. (Erikson 1998 p.67) Apparent to those involved in this field is the manifestation of ‘care’ and respect that the adult has for their new learning, a virtue sadly missing from the reluctant schoolchild of their yesteryears. As retirement age is forced forward and healthcare education promises longer active lives, there is no reason why adult education should not be available to people into their nineties. What better way to synthesise integrity and despair than using ones wisdom, sharing with others while learning new things. ‘Despair expresses the feeling that time is now s hort, too short for the attempt to start another life and try out alternate roads†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢(Erikson 1963 cited Erikson E.H.& Erikson J.M. 1997 p.113) Adult education might just offer an ‘alternate road’. Tutors might also integrate older people in the community to come in to the centres to contribute their knowledge. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory is the scientific study of the development of the individual person as they experience the bi-directional influences encountered within the various environments throughout their lifespan. ‘Intelligence and emotion’ have been named as mediators for this development and ‘identity and competence’ has been described as the ‘outcomes’. (Garbarino and Abramowitz, 1992 cited Graham A. 2013, p.32). Two types of risks to positive change are identified. These are ‘direct threats and the absence of opportunities’. (Garbarino and Abramowitz, 1992 cited Graham A. 2013, p.32). These risks can be biological or socio-cultural. There is interplay between these two sources and deficits in one source may be compensated by richness in the other. Bronfenbrenner categorised the environment ‘as a nested arrangement of structures, each contained within the next’. (Bronfenbrenner 1977, p.514 ). Adapting terminology from Brim (1975) Bronfenbrenner names these structures as microsystems, mesosystems, exosystems, macrosystems and chronosystems. Bronfenbrenners Ecological Theory of Development (http://highered.mcgrawhill.com/sites/dl/free/0073378585/660384/san78585_c03_0 72_11) A Microsystem is ‘the complex of relations between the developing person and environment in an immediate setting containing that person’ (Bronfenbrenner 1977, p.514). This includes family, friends, neighbours, school and work. The individual’s development is affected by the beliefs, attitudes, temperament and personality of the various people within these settings, but the individual, according to Bronfenbrenner, is not a ‘passive recipient’ but is ‘ someone who helps construct the settings’. (Bronfenbrenner 1977 cited Graham A. 22013, p. 33). The mesosystem ‘comprises the interrelations among major settings containing the developing person at a particular point in his or her life’. (Bronfennbrenner U.1977,p.515). The better interconnected the microsystems, the more consistent the individual’s development is likely to be. The exosystem is an influence system which contain both formal and informal structures ‘which impinge on or encompass the settings in which the developing person in found’ (Sugarman L.1993, p.11). The exosystem is an extension of the mesosystems. This refers to a collection of settings in which the individual does not directly interact but which affect him or her nonetheless. This would include the government, medical system, labour market, mass media and the neighbourhood. Macrosystems, the fourth of Bronfenbrenner’s layers of influence, involves the culture within which the individual lives ‘carried often unwittingly in the minds of the society’s members as ideology made manifest through customs and practice in everyday life’ (Bronfenbrenner U. 1977 p.515). The influence of these customs and beliefs cascade down through all the other systems. The Chronosystem was later added by Bronfenbrenner and is described as a research model that ‘makes possible examining the influence on the person’s development of changes (and continuities) over time in the environments in which the person is living’ (Bronfenbrenner U. 1986a p.724). These changes are sociohistorical and are considered as occurring within the individual and also within the environment. Changes can be ‘normative’ (school, new relationships, getting a job, giving birth) or ‘non-normative’ (divorce, illness, death). In the further education setting, Bronfenbrenner’s theory is useful in  implying the benefits of helping offset risks that may apply to the student, such un-nurturing home environment, poor interpersonal relationships, violence and the absence of opportunities experienced such as lack of education to date, limited skills, poor job opportunities and lack of self- awareness. Creating experiences where the students can develop intellectually and emotionally through the academic programme as well as teamwork, outings, reflective practice and empathy building. Bronfenbrenner stresses the value of the interconnectedness of the microsystems. Within a South Kerry Youthreach programme there is typically very poor connectedness between the education centre, the families and the communities. Open days often have few or no parents attending with perhaps just a few professionals such as guards, social workers and other education officers turning up to appreciate the work on display. Also anecdotal evidence shows very poor awareness of the programme in the community. This centre is working hard at increasing community awareness and mutual rapport by involving students in local charity events, community art exhibitions and development of a work experience programme. Many second chance education students are angry and aware that they have in some way been failed by structures such as government, medical system, labour market, media and the neighbourhood. Awareness of the ‘systems’ can be poor and many adult students lack the confidence and basic literacy skills to investigate and negotiate these systems. ‘The â€Å"dialogue man† is critical and knows that although it is within the power of men to create and transform in a concrete situation of alienation men may be impaired in the use of that power’ (Friere P. 1975 p.63). Modules such as Communications, SPHE, Personal Effectiveness and Personal and Interpersonal Skills should perhaps be regarded as a means of increasing this sense of efficacy and knowledge of the â €˜exosystem’. Also inviting people who hold power within these systems to come in to centres to talk to the students may help break down barriers and increase awareness. Cultural influences affect how we think, feel and act. In one South Kerry Youthreach centre unconscious belief systems are apparent in casual racist comments and career aspirations (childcare and hairdressing for girls, construction and mechanics for boys) or in some cases, no aspirations of employment at all in keeping with family history. A more privileged young person might perceive good group participation as a positive aspiration.  However, in one South Kerry Youthreach programme it is reported that during initial interviews, prospective students, when asked how they might ‘get on’ in a group situation tend to perceive this question as ‘are you a trouble-maker?’ and answer that they intend to ignore everyone in the group and just mind their own business believing this to be the ‘correct’ answer. The work of educators here might entail helping to create positive group experience and also help to open doors that might enrich the individualà ¢â‚¬â„¢s life, create an atmosphere of curiosity and questioning of beliefs, values and culture and introduce positive and varied role models. Overtime, many changes effect the development of the individual. This time factor may be within a lifetime, or spanning decades. Often it is a non-normative change such as marital breakdown, redundancy or recovery from illness that forces a re-evaluation and brings a person back to education. Helping the individual cope with change by creating opportunities for new identities and competencies is the work required here. Erikson and Bronfenbrenner, both psychologists, have examined the development of the individual over their lifespan. Although Erickson organises his theory in terms of age related stages, and Bronfenbrenner in systems, neither theorist attempts to explain change and development in terms of age only. All life stage theorists look at the processes that bring about these changes and as Sugarman points out ‘’What we can say about change is determined by our research design – that is, what we choose to measure, how and why’. (Sugarman L. 1986, p.13). Erikson’s research design studies intrapersonal changes in the individual and explains that these changes occur within particular chronological age groupings, within particular social settings as a result of the resolution of tensions experienced. However, Bronfenbrenner on the other hand takes a wider socio-cultural view and has researched the changes occurring in the individual within the many ‘settin gs’, within the many systems in which the individual interacts. He categorised the environment as as consisting of ‘interrelated and nested structures’ (Jordan A., Carlisle O., & Stack A, 2008, p.82). Unlike Erikson, Bonfenbrenner has been criticised for paying too little attention to biological and cognitive factors although he expanded his theory to a bioecological theory later on. Erikson represents the individual’s  development as ‘ordered’ and linear whereas Bronfenbrenner’s perspective is one of ‘random’ and multidirectional development. It would, however, be unfair to suggest that Erikson did not take account of the various social and cultural influences that Bronfenbrenner focused on, hence his ‘Psychosocial Theory’ . Joan Erikson states that her husband always held that ‘the individual and society are intricately woven’ (Erikson E.H. & Erikson J, 1997, p.114). He attributes psychosocial manifestations to each of his stages and also describes the processes and experiences of the ‘soma’, the ‘psyche’ and the ‘ethos’. (Erikson E.H. & Erikson J, 1997, p.25). However, he has not ‘explicated this aspect of his theory as fully as he did the stages of individual development’. (Sugarman L. 1986 p.84). Erikson defines these social influences quite precisely as the individual’s ‘radius of significant relations’ whereas Bronfenbrenners theory allows for a more individually tailored, contextual approach. Both Erikson and Bronfenbrenner were active into their eightieth decade and remained engaged in critical reflection of their work. Erikson worked on the blueprint for his ninth stage and in 1994, Uri Bronfenbrenner renamed his theory â€Å"bioecological systems theory† to emphasize that a ‘child’s own biology is a primary environment fuelling her developmentâ₠¬â„¢(http://www.cmskids.com/providers/early_steps/training/documents/bronfenbrenners_ecological.pdf.) While Erikson’s writing is artistic and literary, Bronfenbrenner’s is scientific and at times political. Bronfenbrenner advocated experimentation in a ‘real’ setting as opposed to the traditional laboratory approach, although he did not dispense with the latter as being of use and alludes to ‘the as yet unexploited power of the laboratory as an ecological contrast’. (Bronfenbrenner 1977, p.514) At the centre of both these theories is the individual. These are not opposing theories but two perspectives in search of a similar understanding. Bronfenbrenner himself make this clear ‘A variety of approaches are needed if we are to make progress toward the ultimate goal of understanding human development in context’ (Bronfenbrenner 1977 p.529). Bibliography Bee H., & Boyd D. ( 2003). The Developing Child, 10th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Bronfenbrenner U. (1977). Toward an Experimental Ecology of Human Development [Electronic version]. American Psychologist, 32, 513-531. Bronfenbrenner U. (1986). Ecology of the Family as a Context for Human Development: Research Perspectives {Electronic version]. Developmental Psychology, 22, 723-742. Erikson E.H. (1950). Childhood and Society. Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd. Erikson E.H., & Erikson J.M. (1997). The Life Cycle Completed, extended version. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc. Friere P. (1975). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd. Graham A. (2012). Psychology of Adult Learning, WIT, 26th March, 2012, Tralee Jordan A., Carlile O., & Stack A. (2008). Approaches to Learning: a Guide for Teachers. Berkshire: Open University Press. Richardson N., Clarke N., & Fowler C. (2013). A Report on the All-Ireland Young Men and Suicide Project. Ireland: Men’s Health Forum in Ireland. Sugarman L. (1986). Life-Span Development: Concepts, Theories and Interventions. London: Routledge. Tennant M. (1997). Psychology & Adult Learning. London: Routledge. Module: Psychology of Adult Learning Level 6 Title: Compare and contrast Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development with Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological model of Development

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