Self-Defense Law Free Essays

Post | Self-Defense Law | A WSJ Article by Joe Palazzolo and Rob Barry | Robert Hallam| 4/1/2012| LAW-13 Paper #2 | Self-guard laws, otherwise called â€Å"stand your ground laws†, have been a huge part of many legal disputes. Be that as it may, as most different laws, these laws can be utilized inappropriately and cause abundance discussion around a case. Joe Palazzolo and Rob Barry’s article titled â€Å"More Killings Called Self-Defense† from the March 31st version of Wall Street Journal focuses on these self-protection laws. We will compose a custom exposition test on Self-Protection Law or then again any comparative point just for you Request Now The case talked about in the article is a case of self-protection laws causing contention, the same number of protestors accept these laws were utilized inappropriately. This is additionally a typical issue as the quantity of reasonable murders is by all accounts on the ascent. Are these â€Å"stand your ground laws† genuinely being mishandled? This is the fundamental issue causing the discussion encompassing cases around the nation. The article portrays an instance of murder where 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and executed by assumed neighborhood guard, George Zimmerman. This case has gotten exceptionally questionable for a few reasons. Much discussion has been started regarding whether this murder was really a deliberate despise wrongdoing, as Martin was a dark young person, who as far as anyone knows represented no genuine danger to the executioner. In spite of absence of proof against Martin, Zimmerman still cases that his demonstration was out of self-preservation and he has not been charged or captured. Zimmerman claims he was strolling to his vehicle and Martin moved toward him and punched him in the face, breaking his nose. Ongoing proof shows that there was for all intents and purposes no harm delivered on Zimmerman’s face or nose. Zimmerman additionally guarantees that Martin had slammed his head into the ground, leaving him with genuine head wounds. New video proof conflicts with his case, uncovering no head wounds (Zerlina, 2012). His legal counselor presently can't seem to offer any further remarks. In spite of the fact that it can't be expected that race was a fundamental factor for this situation, it is as yet the reason for much discussion. Since Martin apparently represented no genuine danger to the executioner, protestors accept this isn't viewed as legitimate manslaughter and the self-preservation law is being utilized inappropriately. The article gives insights with respect to legitimate murder and self-protection laws, just as the connection between the two. As per the data gave in the article, the information on the connection between the two has not been adequately considered, along these lines numerous inquiries encompassing the issue are still left unanswered. For example, as per criminal researchers, â€Å"the information on legitimate murder and their relationship to â€Å"stand your ground laws† has not been thoroughly studied†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ So the inquiry stays unanswered if â€Å"a ascend in reasonable manslaughters reflects killings that in any case wouldn’t have occurred. Different inquiries are left unreciprocated too. What is the common connection between the executioners and the casualties in these sorts of cases? These sorts of inquiries stay begging to be proven wrong, as per the measurements and information gave. Numerous different measurements are referenced in the article, for ex ample, information with respect to techniques for homicide (weapons; firearms being the most famous in instances of legitimate manslaughter), period of casualties, and as referenced already, race. Apparently numerous self-preservation laws are dreadfully vulnerable to mishandle (Richard A Mann, Barry S Roberts , 2010). The more up to date idea ordinarily found in hold fast laws follow the profane Florida variety that â€Å"not just wipes out the obligation to withdraw, yet additionally presumes that an individual who utilizes lethal power in his home or vehicle had a sensible dread of damage, and it vaccinates the executioner from common lawsuits† (palazzolo, 2012) ; rather than the regular standard â€Å"Castle Doctrine† framework in which individual mortgage holders were completely defended in utilizing destructive power against home gatecrashers. The resistance to these new laws declares that a lawful resolution was even remembered for said precept that â€Å"you can shoot to murder if your life is in danger, period. † However that doesn't give you the option to seek after potentially honest non-prompt dangers and that those circumstances are best dealt with by informing specialists. As indicated by the lawful meaning of self-protection, the damage of someone else is just legitimate †if an individual sensibly accepts that such power is important to forestall passing or extraordinary substantial harm† (lectric law ). Along these lines, as per this definition, crime is possibly legitimized if there is a current risk and an assault is being made to keep away from such threat. The safeguard must be done to forestall a wrongdoing which would add up to a lawful offense whenever submitted (lectric law ). These laws are expected to permit a person to forestall genuine damage on their self. To put it plainly, was the situation concerning the homicide of Martin really an instance of self-protection, or ought to Zimmerman be accused of murder? Here is the place the discussion becomes an integral factor. For this situation, apparently there is no proof gathered against Martin, thus the manslaughter ought not yet be viewed as reasonable. This is a case of the self-protection laws being too helpless to even think about abusing. On the off chance that a demonstration of manslaughter will be esteemed legitimized, there ought to consistently be an adequate measure of proof. The chance of Zimmerman’s case being a detest wrongdoing despite everything exists, except there isn't sufficient proof to help this either. Albeit self-protection laws are useful to numerous cases, these forces can unmistakably be mishandled. Since legitimate proof has not been given, it is ill-advised to make official ends, yet it appears that Zimmerman’s case might be a case of the self-protection laws being excessively powerless to misuse. Zimmerman’s case doesn't appear to follow the legitimate meaning of self-protection, yet he was not charged or captured. Protestors are battling for Zimmerman’s capture, as insufficient proof has been found against Martin, the survivor of gunfire who as far as anyone knows introduced a danger to the aggressor. These protestors are revitalizing across the nation on the side of Zimmerman’s conviction. Works Cited (n. d. ). Recovered april 2, 2012, from lectric law : http://www. lectlaw. com/def/d030. htm palazzolo, j. (2012). more killings called self protection. divider road diary , 1-2. Richard A Mann, Barry S Roberts . (2010). Fundamentals of business law and the legitimate condition . Artisan: Sout-Western Cengage Learning. Zerlina. (2012, walk 29). feninisting. com. Recovered walk 25, 2012, from http://feministing. com/2012/03/29/george-zimmermans-self-preservation story-of-trayvon-martin-shooting-self-destructs/ Instructions to refer to Self-Defense Law, Papers

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

Term venture - Essay Example The client can control the speed of the transport line so as to comply with their attractive speed of strolling or running. Nonetheless, with mechanical turn of events, our Super-Treadmill has further developed capacities than the present treadmills in the market. Rather than having a treadmill as a gadget for practice in particular, the Super-Treadmill has expanded highlights and functionalities so as to improve its convenience (Parley 15). The new item has a PC supported reenactment capacity, which enables the client to mimicked various scenes, condition, urban communities, mountains and sea shores among different spots. While the client is at home, the individual can utilize the item can stroll in any sea shore, city, climb a mountain or stroll in any road on the planet through a PC supported recreation. The Super-Treadmill utilizes an electronic framework, which gives the utilization sees, sounds, temperature, lights and scents of their chose spots of doing exercise while they are at home. The fundamental target of the Super-Treadmill is to give its clients an opportunity to have bold of wherever over the world. Aside from the additional mechanized electronic framework, the Super-Treadmill’s transport line can change positions so as to comply with the steepness of the chose geography. So as to pull in numerous possibilities, the Super-Treadmill will be sold at a value that is 15 percent more than the cost of the ordinary treadmill (Parley 25). This will even now draw in imminent clients, considering the additional highlights it has. The importance of the Super-Treadmill in the contemporary treadmills commercial centers depends on the way that individuals spend an excessive amount of money related assets to truly visit their attractive spots during their excursions. The way that the Super-Treadmill will encourage indoor visits to different places over the shows its points of interest regarding employments of money related assets and time

Product analysis of tiger biscuit

Item examination of tiger roll Tiger Biscuit-Milk that are possessed by Kraft Foods is the item that we decided to investigate on. This is on the grounds that we find that, it premium us on how a major organization like Kraft Foods really plan their advertising procedures to contend with numerous other of their rivals on one of their significant business portfolio, which is the snacks class and position them well in the market. Tiger Biscuit are first dispatch in 1997 in India by the Britannia Industries. It turned into the companys biggest brand among its portfolios in the primary year of its starting until today. Tiger Biscuit is a glucose scone that are principally produced using wheat and milk to advance its nourishment and more beneficial contrast with other glucose bread rolls in the market. The fundamental objective market of this bread is the children. Along these lines, they make improvement in their bread rolls by offering different decision and flavor. It is delicious and reasonable to suit the cutting edge moms who need the best for their children and play the job to empower their children to contend in todays world. As of late, Tiger Biscuit are advancing Iron Zor in their roll which endeavor to address the issue of iron insufficiency among the general public, either youthful or the old. SWOT examination is a general perspective on the businesss qualities, shortcomings, openings and dangers. Qualities and shortcomings are the positive and negative patterns in the inside condition of the business which are leveled out while openings and dangers are outside elements that are not under a businesss control. Kraft Tiger can utilize their qualities to defeat their shortcomings, catching the open doors in the outside condition to pick up focal points and limiting their dangers. They can be advantage from a SWOT investigation by knowing and understanding their present situation before settle on any further choices and plans. Consequently, SWOT investigation plays a significant issue for Kraft Tiger Biscuit. Coming up next are the SWOT examination of Kraft Tiger Biscuit-Milk. One of the quality of Kraft Tiger is they are notable. The explanation they turned out to be so notable is on the grounds that they as of now exist in the market for an extensive stretch of time and furthermore through publicizing in the TV. In addition, it is utilized by McDonalds as a component of the advancement as trick. This will make it considerably increasingly notable. Then again, Kraft Tiger gives open a solid idea and picture. As should be obvious on its bundling, it makes reference to six bits of Kraft Tiger equivalent to one glass of milk. It would help in bones development and furthermore fabricate more grounded teeth. It has lesser calories and fats in their bars also contrast with others, yet it despite everything tastes overall quite appropriate for all degree of ages. Next, Kraft Tiger is promptly and simple access. Clients can go anyplace, for example, shopping centers, Seven Eleven establishments and markets which are close to their place. The cost is sensible and reasonable also contrasted with the sustenance esteem it contains. To wrap things up, the bundling for Kraft Tiger is helpful. It is very customer well disposed as it tends to be convey along without any problem. The shortcomings Tiger incorporate its business liquidation. By confronting this issue, Kraft Tiger would chop down the expense of creation and along these lines this will influence its business execution at the market. Also, Kraft Tiger has high sugar level. These days the clients are worry about the food fixing, they generally need for less sugar and less salt. They would go for more natural bread as opposed to excessively sweet. The chance of Kraft Tiger is the changing of buyers way of life. These days, some portion of the general public are comprised of working guardians, which implies they would not have sufficient opportunity to get ready breakfast for their family. Along these lines, Kraft Tiger can assist with supplanting the guardians obligation to set up a healthful nibble for breakfast. In addition, Kraft Tiger positions their milk-seasoned bread as sound bites. Guardians would permit their kids to buy as opposed to buying other unfortunate bites. It is everyone top choice, for guardians and kids. Another chance of Kraft Tiger remembers the developing interest for the bites and flavorful market in these couple of years. Ladies consistently search for better body shape and in this manner, some of them will skip dinners for keeping up or thinning down their body shape. Along these lines, they will go for solid snacks, for example, Kraft Tiger which will make them full, yet not swelling. There are numerous rivals in the scone business, for example, immediate and roundabout contenders. Direct contenders are, for example, Soda Crackers and Chocolate Love Letter. They will really rival Kraft Tiger in the scone field. While roundabout contenders are the tit-bits, for example, London Ring Tomato, Happy Nuts, and so on. Despite the fact that they are in various classifications with Kraft Tiger, they despite everything can be named needing a portion of a similar cake. These either immediate or backhanded contenders will by one way or another influence Kraft Tiger in the market. Next to, Kraft Tiger confronting isâ [1]â the ascending of the info costs, for example, sugar. The higher the creation cost will prompt the expansion of the item value which will diminish the scone request. Item Analysis As indicated by the standard of advertising, each item that is offer in the market has its phases of life cycle. Item life cycle stage is isolated in four phases, which are the presentation stage, developing stage, development stage and decrease stage. Presentation stage is the point at which an item is new in the market where individuals have constrained mindfulness on the item. The organization will require showcasing exertion to fabricate a business opportunity for their new item. The standard advertising endeavors taken are completing exploration on the comparable items costs among the contenders to set a normal and reasonable cost for the new item. This is done to assist the organization with building their item share advertise among the potential purchasers to take a stab at their new item which they have negligible information about. Other than that, the organization won't deliver and appropriate the item in an enormous scope presently. This is on the grounds that the organization couldn't evaluate the reacts of purchasers request in the economy. Accordingly, dissemination is done specifically. Advancements are likewise done by pointing on the trailblazer and early adopter of the item to support the potential purchasers enth usiasm for purchasing the item. In the wake of taking fundamental promoting endeavors, organization will investigate the responsiveness of shopper in the market towards the item. In the event that the reactions are palatable, organization will actualize showcasing blend in their advertising methodologies so as to grow their items piece of the pie. Then again, organization will likewise build their creation to fulfill the expanding need in the market. New highlights are added to the current item to improve its quality and widen up the decisions for the client. At this stage, organization will keep up their cost to urge new clients to buy their item simultaneously help the organization to stay serious in the market. At this point, the organization would then expand their system of advertising middle people, for example, retailers or wholesalers to make their item accessible in more regions. Advancements are pointed on the current client to make a helpful long haul relationship and furthermore to impact increasingly p otential shopper to purchase their items. The third phase of the item life cycle is the development stage where the companys deals are progressively steady and rivalry will emerge among the contenders. At this stage, the companys destinations is essentially securing their piece of the overall industry and make benefits from it while it despite everything have the capacity. So as to secure their piece of the overall industry, organization will keep their items value lower than before to stay serious in the market. They will likewise underscore their advancement on the contrasts between their items with their rivals. The organization will likewise make improvement in their current item to make brand inclination in the shoppers mind with the goal that the customer will have the option to separate their items from the competitors. [2] Distribution of item will be increasingly concentrated, where impetuses are given to the merchant to energize inclination from contending items. The last phase of the item life cycle is the decay stage where deals will drop definitely. Normally the organization will either keep delivering, however in a constrained amount to satisfied the interest of the dependable client or stop their creation as it is not, at this point gainful to them. There are additionally organization that will proceed with the creation yet include a couple of new highlights into the item. In view of the item life cycle stages, it is accept that Tiger Biscuit is in the developing stage. In light of Krafts reality sheet, it is show that confectionary and bites have become their significant business portfolio which is 13.7 billion (29%) and 10.4 billion (22%) separately. In such situation, when the organization concentrated on the item portfolio this will demonstrate that the portfolio is making benefit for the organization. Consequently, when the portfolio is making benefit, the organization will make improvement in their item to widen the decision to manufacture their piece of the overall industry and brand inclination among the purchasers. It is plainly expressed that tidbits portion, which Tiger Biscuit-Milk is classified, there are numerous flavors and decisions make for the shopper to manufacture their image inclination contrast with their rivals, for example, Nestle. As a customer, we can see that there is no significant value change in the cost of Tiger Biscuit-M ilk since the starting of the bread. Tiger Biscuit-Milk is additionally handily found in the market in any retailer, this would imply that the scope of circulation of the bread is broadly support by the organization. Center item Center item is characterized as the fulfillment a client anticipates from a merchandise and ventures bought. It can likewise be clarified as the non-physical advantages of the item that are conveyed to the client. In light of Tiger Biscuit, the mass market brand, the center item is the sustenance

Getting More: How You Can Negotiate to Succeed in Work and Life Essay

As I originally entered the class of Negotiation: Theory and Practice, I understood that this class would be something that I would recollect. The course has started my psyche to staggered thinking while at the same time arranging. When perusing the book â€Å"Getting More† by Diamond (2010), I truly could relate with a significant number of his instances of arranging. Drawing in with the writing and having study hall encounters started my enthusiasm for the subject of arrangement. The one model with the high rise and the mouse issue is relatable since I am managing the circumstance with my apartment building. I glance back at the techniques I have attempted to get the mouse issue settled yet none have been fruitful for more than two months. Utilizing the technique for painting a reasonable picture to the next gathering made an image in the different person’s mind. The strategy really worked by social affair data and instructing my high rise on ailments conveyed by mice . Individuals arrange regular in regards to things in various circumstances. In spite of the study hall writing, Diamond (2010) recommend not to connections, intrigue, win-win results in light of the fact that an individual thinks it’s a viable device. His instructing and writing centers around coming to and meeting your objectives in dealings. Exploring the twelve significant methodologies it gave an alternate point of view on how I saw exchanges. The model disclosed how to get the best out of your objectives and targets. Kolb and Williams (2001) recommend that exchange is a science made to permit all victors a methodology of arrangement making. Connections Precious stone (2010) additionally studies connection between two gatherings and placing yourself in the different person’s shoes. By doing this it lets you feel what the other individual may feel previously... ...s significant of help get a vibe of the suitable signals to use in dealings. Jewel not just gives knowledge into a portion of his student’s most noteworthy triumphs, however does in an unassuming, human, and relatable way that shows momentous self reflections and comprehension of dealings. Works Cited Fisher, R., Ury, W., and Patton, P. (2011). Getting to yes Negotiation understanding without giving in third. New York: Penguin Books. Dawson, R. (2007). Insider facts of Power Negotiating. Exchange: Readings, Exercises, and Cases. 5. In Lewicki, R. et. al. New York: McGraw-Hill, Irwin. 98-108. Precious stone, R. (2010). Getting More: How You Can Negotiate to Succeed in Work and Life. New York: Crown Business. Kolb, D. and Williams, J. (2007). Advancement Bargaining. Arrangement: Readings, Exercises, and Cases. 5, In Lewicki, R. et. al. New York: McGraw-Hill, Irwin. 206-214.

Consequences Of Drug Interaction In The Use Of AEDs - 825 Words

Consequences Of Drug Interaction In The Use Of AEDs (Essay Sample) Content: CONSEQUENCES OF DRUG INTERACTION IN THE USE OF AEDsBy(name)InstitutionMedical professionals usually prescribe antiepileptic drugs(AEDs) for monotherapy and long term adjunctive therapy to treat epilepsy and other symptoms (Johannesen Landmark, 2018). The composition of AEDs includes drugs that are highly prone to drug interactions (Johannesen Landmark, 2018). The purpose of this essay is to examine clinically important interactions involving AEDs and their consequences. We can categorize the interactions as pharmacokinetic interactions with older AEDs and pharmacokinetic with newer AEDs.Firstly, older AEDs cause pharmacokinetic interactions that lead to inhibition or induction. Enzyme induction is a process that yields new enzymes and it involves protein synthesis (Johannesen Landmark, 2018). The course of induction needs many days to reach its final stages. The effects of induction include forfeiture of seizure regulation, diminished serum concentrations, pharmaco logical effects in the absence of active metabolites and an increased metabolism (Johannesen Landmark, 2018).On the other hand, enzyme inhibition is a consequence of the competition for the active site of an enzyme by various drugs and its result is the diminished metabolism of a drug. An increase in the circulating concentration of the affected drug occurs resulting in pharmacological potentiation, which occurs at a rate commensurate with the half life of the drug (Czuczwar et al., 2009). Accordingly, it transpires rapidly if the drug has a brief half life and at a slower rate in case the drug has a longer half-life. Moreover, upon the elimination of the inhibitor, the drug concentrations reduce while placing the patient at risk of seizures (Johannessen Landmark Johannessen, 2008).Secondly, pharmacokinetic interactions with latest AEDs involve the enzyme inducers topiramate and oxcarbazepine (Czuczwar et al., 2009). The interactions also involve enzyme inhibitors stiripentol, ruf inamide and felbamate. These drugs also affect other drug groups, for instance, oral contraceptives, older AEDs, and lamotrigine (Johannessen Landmark Johannessen, 2008). We can divide the interactions into three levels according to the clinical effects of changes in the serum concentrations.The first level describes interactions with grave clinical consequences and medical experts should take great care to avoid the combinations. An instance is the combination of the AED Carbamazepine with oral contraceptives. The interaction between the above drugs is harmful and it causes the diminishing of serum concentrations, impairing of the functions of the contraceptive and the triggering of estrogen metabolism.Level 2 interactions describe those interactions that require caution and dosage adjustments since they are hard to avoid. An example of a level 2 interaction is the combination of the AED valproic acid with lamotrigine (Johannesen Landmark, 2018). The interaction instigates the bl ocking of lamotrigine metabolism, increases the concentration of serum thus causing the emergence of skin rashes and neurotoxic symptoms. Therefore, monitoring and dosage modifications will mitigate the effects of level 2 interactions. Level 3 interactions are those interactions that have a minor influence on serum concentrations and consequently, their effects are not serious enough to require dosage adjustments (Tatum, 2010).In conclusion, older AEDs may instigate interactions that lead to enzyme inhibition or induction. Newer AEDs are also prone to interactions, due to their application in adjunc...

Essay Format Guide From English Teacher

Despite what you may think otherwise, following your instructors preferred essay format is vital. Reservations about strictly following this type of style is understandable, and you may even think that its downright silly. However, adherence to the most popular and extensively used academic styles, such as the APA or MLA, helps students keep their written work organized, tidy, and completely plagiarism-free. That is an important reason why you should follow given instructions.Whats an essay format?APA essay format? MLA essay format? Harvard essay format?Before plunging into the discussion about the essay format, it is important to understand its nature. An essay format is a succession of guidelines. It determines the arrangement of your paper, covering the title page and basic essay structure, down to the essay outline, conclusion, and even citations.How do you format an essay?As you begin formatting your paper, remember that you need to have a title page. Also take note that you wil l need a properly prepared essay structure, appropriate capitalization of text, in-text citations, and citations to be written on the bibliography/reference page/works cited page. Learning to write a hook, or simple looking for great hook ideas for your essay is also crucial, below is a guide on writing a proper essay format, presented step-by-step for optimum retention:Creating the Title PageBelow is a list of things your title page must have. Think of it as a checklist, so come back to it to ensure you have everything you need:Refrain from using single-space. Your title page must always be double-spaced.Times New Roman is the best font to use, with a 12 font size.Remember to write the name of your academic institution.Three spaces beneath the name of your institution, place the title of your paper.Near the bottom of your paper is where you write your name, the name and number of the course, your instructors name, and the due date.Your Essays First PageYou must first structure the initial page of your paper before you begin the writing process. Read the requirements listed below:The header to your essay on the right-hand corner should be half an inch below the top edge of the paper. This must be done for every page of the paper, with the exception of the works cited page.The upper left hand corner of your paper is where you shall place the heading.Insert the title of your essay an inch below the top edge of your paper, and make sure it is centered.Directly beneath the title is where you begin writing the first paragraph of your title.Your Essays Introduction, Body, and ConclusionEach type of academic work, whether just a simple short essay or a complex dissertation, must come with an introduction, body, and conclusion. The five-paragraph essay format contains two paragraphs devoted to the introduction and conclusion, while the other three are dedicated to the main body, where the bulk of your essay will be. Here, arguments are presented, followed by evidence that support said arguments. As soon as you master writing a standard five paragraph essay format composed of these parts, writing any other kind of essay format becomes much easier, no matter the length. The following are some tips to consider when writing your essay:Remember to use 12 font size and the font style Times New Roman.Your introductory paragraph, should contain and clearly state the main idea/thesis statement of your paper.Your essays main body should support your ideas in a logical and coherent way. Ensure that you cite evidence you have found in the research process. Your transition must be smooth and sensible from paragraph to paragraph.The conclusion is where you wrap up your paper, which can be done by bringing all your main points together. This part can also serve as an opportunity to resolve all problems you have addressed in your essay or implications arising from your arguments. Just remember to not introduce any new ideas or topics to the paper in your conclu sion all of those should have been done prior.The In-Text CitationIrrespective of academic style on which your essay format relies on, each time you cite the work of someone else in your written work, make sure to use in-text citation in the text, which shows the reader where you have found the information. Follow the examples below for reference: (insert visuals)Reference PageThe reference page is where you create a list of all the information you have cited. The name for this page depends on the academic style used. It is important that you get this correctly, in order to avoid being accused of plagiarism. Remember the following tips below as you piece your essay format together:Your sources should be listed in an alphabetical order.Should you find that your reference takes up more than two lines of text, indent the second line of text to the right by an inch, and then do the same for all other lines following the same reference.The materials youve gathered from different forms of media, such as web, print, lecture, etc., are formatted differently.List the references as follows: First write the last name of the author followed by his first name. Immediately follow this with the title and then the publishing information.As mentioned, there are various ways to list your references, as there are currently so many different types of media. It is vital that you consult a style guide to determine the best style for your utilized media.The Standard Essay FormatThe standard essay format follows standard formatting rules, which you can find below:Certain page margins (for example: 1 inch)Line spacing (for example: Double spacing), along with specific rules about spaces between paragraphs (for example: No spaces)Page headers (which contains either authors last name, shortened title, and the link)Some types of fonts (for example: 12 size, Times New Roman)The headings and subheadings (Remember: the headings of different levels usually vary in formatting style and font s ize)Page numbers (usually added in page headers)Indentation (typically about 5 spaces or half an inch)Structuring an EssayA direct approach to structuring the essay is introducing the thesis statement in the last sentence of the introduction. The use of introduction must convey context or show the importance of the topic, along with capturing attention of the reader, drawing them in. Each succeeding paragraph of the main body then begins with a topic sentence, which should support or address the thesis statement. A few sentences supporting the topic sentence should follow, and then ends with a paragraph-concluding sentence, or a transitioning sentence, to connect it to the next paragraph. Finally, the conclusion must highlight your essays key points to further emphasize the validity of your thesis statement. Writing an effective outline should make the writing process easier.Writing a Good EssayApart from having a clear and efficient essay structure, there are some fundamental requi rements to remember if you wish to write a good essay. Ensure a logical flow of content by incorporating smooth transitions. The use of compelling evidence is also essential, so make sure you obtain them from trustworthy sources, so learning how to evaluate online sources is necessary. A bulk of your written work depends on how alluring and persuasive your researched information is, so your focus on delivering quality content is tantamount.Things to Remember When Writing and Conducting ResearchThe writing process, as hard as it is, the essay format and structure can be just as tricky. Even the best writers still encounter problems from time to time, so here are some useful tips to follow to get the most out of the whole process:Know the topic like the back of your hand.There is no such thing as too much knowledge when it comes to writing, so do as much reading as you can on your topic. As you read, list down the names of author(s) and publishing information of materials you plan to use, so that compiling them alphabetically in the cited works page will be easier.Do not skip the pre-writing.It is tempting to begin writing as soon as you have necessary information, but do not skip this part. Pre-writing is also called brain dump. This is where you brainstorm ideas for your essay, and where the best, the most powerful, and most unique ideas are born. To do this, write down every single word and thought that comes to your mind. Do this for an hour, and soon enough youll find yourself writing entire lines of text.Just continue writing. To complete your task, simply sit down and do the work. The key to good writing is to just simply write away, so it is crucial that you work with commitment and discipline. Set aside a few hours of your day for your paper.Do not procrastinate. Essays due should not be put aside until the last minute, as you are bound to come up with something subpar. Again, commitment and discipline is necessary.Always check your work. Even the best of writers commit mistakes. There will be grammar and stylistic mistakes in your paper, so ensure that you go over your work and double-check.Custom essay and custom term paper help for studentsThis short essay help guide is designed to help students like you. However, should you feel that the help you need is more than what this guide can give you, contact our team now, as will be glad to give you the essay writing service youve been looking for you. Well get you in touch with our talented pool of writers, equipped with knowledge on different types of essay formats, as well as all kinds of essay help such as the following:college essaycollege applicationargumentative essaypersuasive essaycause and effectshort essayAnd many other academic writing services, all custom written. Think of a one stop essay writing service that is not limited to to just essay writing. Visit the rest of our website now and uncover all of the great benefits has to offer. No matter which subject, or how co mplicated your writing project may be, we are here to help get the right essay format now!

The United States Justified By Using The Atomic Bomb...

The pressing question still lingers: Was the United States justified in using the Atomic Bomb against Japan during WWII? World War II stands as the bloodiest and deadliest war of all time. It involved more than thirty countries and resulted in over fifty million civilian and military deaths. It lasted six years, beginning with Adolf Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939. As the Allied Powers (mainly the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union) and the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) were in direct conflict with each other, many wonder if the cost of victory was too extreme. In late 1941, the process of creating the world’s first, most deadly weapon began. The production of the first atomic bomb was code named â€Å"the Manhattan Project.† After months of production, August 6, 1945, America dropped the â€Å"Little Boy† bomb on Hiroshima, wiping out ninety percent of the city. August 9, 1945, just three days after the devastation of the first bom b, America dropped the â€Å"Fat Man† bomb on Nagasaki. Dropping the atomic bomb on Japan was not necessary, nor justified in ending World War II. Due to the fact that America targeted heavily civilian populated cities (with limited military value), that Japan was in a position of surrender before the bomb was dropped, and the fact that the U.S. did not give enough time for Japan to process the devastation of the first bomb before the second in Nagasaki shows that America’s decision to drop the atomic bomb was entirely unjustified.Show MoreRelatedNuclear Proliferation : The United States1628 Words   |  7 Pagesweapons among states, has become an incredibly trying and pressing issue in our world today. Tensions between states that have nuclear capabilities are reaching all time highs and fingers are being pointed in every direction. However, the entire issue regarding nuclear proliferation begins with the United States. In 1945, World War II came to an abrupt halt wh en, on August 6th and August 9th, the U.S. dropped the first atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombs instantlyRead MoreThe Bomb Was Made For Defense Only Essay6800 Words   |  28 PagesArgument 1: The Bomb Was Made For Defense Only The origins of the Manhattan Project go back to 1939, when Hungarian-born physicist Leo Szilard, who had moved to the U.S. in 1938 to conduct research at Columbia University, became convinced of the feasibility of using nuclear chain reactions to create new, powerful bombs. 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(i.e us co mes out with hydrogen bomb and a year later USSRRead MoreAtomic Bomb: Introduction of Nuclear Weapon3278 Words   |  14 PagesIn ww2 , the  atomic bomb  was dropped on japan to put an immediate end to the war and not draw other countries (i.e. the soviet union or china) into fighting combatively against the U.S. As far as foreign relations go, it proved to the world that the U.S was the most powerful country in that time ( superpower) . This also relates to several years later during the cold war. It prompted the Soviet Union to develop their own nuclear warfare. (i.e us comes out with hydrogen bomb and a year later USSRRead MoreTheme in Literature Essay4725 Words   |  19 Pagesmainly against Jews, but also against other minorities. In Asia and the Pacific, Japanese armies invaded country after country, island after island. On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The next day, the U.S. Congress declared war, taking the U.S. into World War II. Pre-Test: World War II – The World at War T F 1 Americans from many races and ethnicities served in the armed forces during World War II. T F 2 The United States developed the atomic bombRead MoreThe Discovery Of Penicillin During The World Of Medicine2931 Words   |  12 Pageseasily treated (Penicillin). Throughout history, soldiers would have experienced injuries that would have caused death without the discovery of penicillin and other antibiotics that soon got discovered after it. Penicillin was discovered half way into WWII, and the Allies only had access of it. Without penicillin, the Allied powers might not have won the war like they did. They had a huge advantage due to the fact that the Axis powers fought without penicillin, instead relying on sulpha drugs, whichRead More American Intervention in WWII Essay2178 Words   |  9 Pagesthe United States’ foreign policy, especially during World War II, was driven by imperialist goals rather than humanitarian concern. These foreign interventions are usually justified using political ideologies that advocate the spread of democracy but the United States g overnment fails to act in the interests of the common people in other countries; instead, the US government intervened in foreign countries to protect its own needs and those of its private corporations. In addition, the United StatesRead MoreModern History.Hsc.2012 Essay25799 Words   |  104 Pagesstrive over lots of trading and the purchase of shares, but was also an unstable market, as the government had no control over what it did and was left up to the private sector almost to run the market. 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Existentialist Idea In The Stranger Book - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 718 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2019/08/02 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: The Stranger Essay Did you like this example? In the book The Stranger, Albert Camus highlights many motifs to show his existentialist ideas. Camus does this by incorporating concepts of isolation, emotionless and sadness into his main character, Meursault. Meursault struggles with fitting in the norms of society and realizing that there is more to life than he believes. Camus highlights his existential ideas through his use of motifs showing how Meursault struggles to show emotion and create meaning of life.   Camus emphasizes his existentialist ideas by characterizing Meursault as an individual who does not have emotions. Camus explains this on the first page of his novel, emphasizing how â€Å"Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I dont know† (Camus 3). Meursault describes his outlook on life and his emotional indifference in the first words of the novel. He is so unaware and unemotional that he does not even remember on which day his mother passed away. Also, when after Meursault has killed the Arab and was leaving he explained how he â€Å"very nearly held out my hand and said, â€Å"Good-by†; just in time I remembered that I’d killed a man† (64). This clarifies how unpassionate and unemotional Meursault truly is. He feels no guilt or pity for the man he has just killed even though he understands that he has committed a crime against the norms of society. Camus chooses to make Meursault an individual who not only is unemotional but also who struggles to find grief for the crimes that he has committed. Camus does this to emphasize the existential idea that nothing matters and that death is something that is bound to happen. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Existentialist Idea In The Stranger Book" essay for you Create order Another way that Camus highlights his existentialist ideas is through isolating Meursault throughout the novel. Meursault explains how he â€Å"got through another Sunday, that Mother now was buried, and tomorrow I’d be going back to work as usual. Really, nothing in my life had changed† (24). This is illustrating how isolated Meursault is and that nothing has changed because even before his mothers death, he had never been close with her. After Meursault’s mother had died, nothing changed for him because he was always so distant from her and anyone who tried to get close with him. Meursault was not only distant with his mother, but he also pushed away any other female that tried to enter his life. Meursault explains how â€Å"she asked me if I loved her. I said that sort of question had no meaning, really; but I supposed I didn’t. She looked sad for a bit† (35). This emphasizes the idea that Meursault rather live in pure isolation than let anyone n ew into his life. Camus chooses to isolate and segregate Meursault from society and anyone that tries to get closer with him to exaggerate his ideas of existentialism.   Additionally, Camus also creates a symbol of the sun, which highlights Meursault’s feels and emotions that he struggles to deal with. Right before Meursault kills the Arab, he explains how the sun plays an impact on him and how â€Å"It struck me that all I had to do was to turn, walk away, and think no more about it. But the whole beach, pulsing with heat, was pressing on my back.†(58). Camus chooses to use the word â€Å"but† in this situation to help emphasize the idea that the sun made him turn around and that he would have left if it wasnt for the intense heat of the sun. Meursault also explains how the heat eventually got so â€Å"great that it was just as bad staying where I was, under that flood of blinding light falling from the sky. To stay, or to make a move—it came to much† (57). This emphasizes how the sun grows stronger and stronger as the novel goes on. It also highlights how as it grows stronger, so does Meursault’s discomfort . Camus creates the sun as a symbol to change Meursault’s actions and emotions. As the novel progresses, Meursault’s actions depend more and more on the strength of the sun.   Ultimately, Camus illustrates his existentialist ideas throughout his novel by using motifs. He highlights these ideas through his main character, Meursault, and how Meursault struggles to fit in with societal norms. Camus uses motifs such as symbolism and characterizes Meursault differently to emphasize his belief of a meaningless world.

Essay on Lab report blood glucose regulation - 1131 Words

LABORATORY REPORT Activity 5: Blood Glucose Regulation Name: Instructor: Date: MATERIALS AND METHODS 1. Dependent Variable Plasma levels of glucose, ketones, insulin, and glucagon 2. Independent Variable Food and beverage intake 3. Controlled Variable physical activity, caffeine and alcohol intake, gender, age BMI 4. Why were physical activity and caffeine and alcohol intake the controlled variables? Because you can control on the amount of time you spend doing physical activities and the intake of both caffeine and alcohol. 5. What type of assay was used to measure plasma glucose and ketone levels? glucose, oxidase, peroxide, dianisidine 6. What type of assay was used to measure plasma†¦show more content†¦When was plasma insulin/glucagon concentration highest? If values are similar for several time points, then give range of times when plasma insulin/glucagon concentration was highest. Insulin was highest 1 hour post meal and glucagon was highest 3 hr post meal 6. When was plasma insulin/glucagon concentration lowest? If values are similar for several time points, then give range of times when plasma insulin/glucagon concentration was lowest Insulin was lowest during fasting snf glucagon was lowest 1 hour post meal DISCUSSION 1. Explain how insulin changed plasma glucose concentration over the course of the experiment. The insulin changed the plasma glucose levels by raising dramatically from fasting to the one hour mark, but by hour 3 it droped again to almost the same levels as fasting. The glucagon remained almost the same on throughout the levels except that it lowered a bit 1 hour after the meal. 2. Explain how glucagon changed plasma glucose concentration over the course of the experiment. Glucagon acts on liver cells to promote breakdown of glycogen into glucose and formation of glucose from lactic acid and certain amino acids. 3. Explain what caused the change in plasma ketone concentration over the course of the experiment. Ketones changed from high duringShow MoreRelatedDescribe How You Have Collaborated As Part Of A Multidisciplinary Team1501 Words   |  7 Pagesmultidisciplinary team and working in a lab as individual must be able to efficiently communicate with their team in order to get their point across. In the practical I used the skill of communication to communicate with my team members by confirming the process of the tests carried out and also towards the end giving feedback on the results collated by my team on the clinical biochemistry bench. 2. Explain how you worked safely in the laboratory, citing any rules and regulations that you adhered to. (4 marks)Read MoreA Brief Note On Type II And Diabetic Conditions1454 Words   |  6 PagesIt was estimated that in 2010, there were 221 million people worldwide with Diabetes. Type II Diabetes is commonly diagnosed as a myriad of chronic diseases associated with elevated blood glucose levels (Hyperglycemia) and accounts for roughly 90-95% of all cases related to Diabetes. This is a result of the being resistance to insulin produced by the pancreas, or the inability to produce adequate levels of insulin. Studies have shown that there are many risk factors that can and cannot be modifiedRead MoreA Brief Note On Glucose And Its Effect On The Body2178 Words   |  9 Pages Glucose Lab Paper John Chung Physiology 281 Professor Varamini November 7, 2016 Chung 2 Introduction In the modern society people live in today, people have started to take in good cuisines. It became more than just a necessity. Eating and consuming foods are required for every individual as people need it to survive, but too much can be taken in which then, results in harming the body. Desserts such as cake and ice cream are sweet because they have a high concentration of sugar. 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Patients can be identified using laboratory values meeting a criterion for diabetes. A fasting serum glucose 126 mg/dl or a random glucose 200 mg/dl would be consistent with American Diabetes Association diagnostic criteria.15 HbA1c should not be used for case finding because of lack of sensitivity.16 3. Hypoglycaemic medications are quite specific for diabetes. DependingRead MoreThe Role Of Ehr And Electronic Medical Record ( Emr )1570 Words   |  7 Pagesthe use and disclosure of Protected Health Information (PHI) held by covered entities (generally, health care clearinghouses, employer sponsored health plans, health insurers, and medical service providers that engage in certain transactions.) 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Analysis Of The Beatles Moulin Rouge ! - 1106 Words

Moulin Rouge! Analysis All you need is love; love is all you need. These famous lyrics sung by The Beatles, is the central theme of the narrative and resonates throughout the film, â€Å"Moulin Rouge!† A romantic tragedy with a hint of Shakespearean forbidden love, Moulin Rouge is encapsulated from its tragic but touching romance by melodic and ambient singing. Baz Luhrmann, known for having vibrant cinematography and theatrical mise-en-scene, showcases his directing as shown by the choreography and art direction. The narrative structure of the film is a cinematic fairy tale romance as if the audience was reading a classic tale. The film begins with a hauntingly beautiful voice sung by what seems to be the narrator (whom we later find out to be Toulouse-Lautrec).The skyline of Paris is silhouetted in a grainy type of sketch drawing, resembling the artwork of a children’s book. As the story progresses, we are pulled into this universe as we observe this fantasy. The voice conveys the pain of a writer, Christian, who we learn, has lost a lover, Satine. Christian is obviously in agony as he types away on his type-writer. â€Å"The greatest thing you ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return,† he types. This statement commences the plot to fall into place and sets the theme of the narrative. Within the first few minutes, the tone of the film is already established. There is a sense of tragedy and heartbreak just from the melancholic score and dark lighting. The mainShow MoreRelatedEssay about Moulin Rouge vs. the Great Gatsby621 Words   |  3 PagesFilm Analysis A Moulin Rouge vs. The Great Gatsby Apart from having the same director, Baz Luhrmann, Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby have an astounding amount of similarities. They are both passionate love stories with similar characters in coinciding roles. Although the two movies are set in the early 1900s and 1920s, they use modern music to captivate the audience’s interest. Baz Luhrmann has a knack for making colorful romantic thrillers, and it certainly shows in Moulin Rouge and TheRead MoreGlee Essay9324 Words   |  38 PagesTopic 2. ‘There is nothing ironic about show choir!’ - Rachel Cohen Is Rachel’s assessment of the musical performances on Glee correct? Discuss the interplay of melodrama, irony and intertextuality in Glee. Your essay should contain detailed analysis of at least two scenes from Glee’s 1st season. Your essay should also make reference to your core course readings on television and postmodernism. Due 14 September their true voice; and this one was, to me, ultimately about the series demonstrating

Sherman Williams Essay Example For Students

Sherman Williams Essay Word Count: 287Sherman was on ofthe greatest Union commanders in the Civil War. He was agraduate from West Point in 1840. Shermans first action inthe Civil War happened when he led a brigade at the FirstBull Run in July of 1861. After that he was given commandof the Union forces assigned to hold Kentucky in theUnion. When he was there in late 1861 he suffered form amild nervous breakdown from all the pressure he wasgetting from Washington and the press. After he recoveredform the nervous breakdown he was assigned to UlyssesGrants command and got his own units to lead at Shiloh in1862, Vicksburg in 1863, and Chattanooga in 1863. WhenUlysses Grant left to take command of the Federal Forces,Sherman took control of the operations in the west. BySeptember of 1864 he took control of Atlanta in one of theCivil Wars most important battles. After Atlanta Shermanwent on to his famous March to the Sea. He led 62,000men through Georgia causing a mass of destruction. Afterthat in February of 1865 Sherman headed north throughthe Carolinas. By April of 1865 he forced the surrender ofthe last major Confederate forces. The last battle wasfought at Bentonville, N.C. on March 19-21. WhenGeneral Lee surrendered to Grant in Virginia on April 9th,Johnstons position was going down the drain. Shermanaccepted his surrender near Durham, N.C., on April 26th. Latter though Sherman would be criticized for howgenerous he was with the terms of the surrender. After thewar Sherman commanded the Mississippi form 1865 to1869. He would then be promoted to lieutenant general in1866 and to full general in 1869. After Grant was electedpresident in 1869 Sherman became general chief of thearmy. People would latter want to make Sherman was apresident candidate but he would never accept.

Tosa Mitsuoki Biography Example For Students

Tosa Mitsuoki Biography Biography Outline1 Biography2 Key Ideas in painting3 Famous paintings made by Francisco Pacheco Biography A Japanese painter Tosa Mitsuoki, also known as Tsuneaki, was born in 1617 in Sakai, Japan. The painter started to run the Tosa school that was concentrated on art. However, it was not as successful and prolific during those times as it was when Mitsuokis father Mitsunori run the school. Hence, to renew the school, Mitsuoki moved to KyÃ… to in 1634 and brought the Tosa school to the city, concentrating on its development.   In 1654 he got the position of a court painter, the work that has traditionally been given to the members of the Tosa Family. Mitsuoki’s connections to the imperial household provided him with an aristocratic audience. Starting from that time, the Tosa school became once again the highlight of the court. The artist belonged to the early Edo period (1603–1867). The Tosa School was flourishing throughout the Edo period, and Mitsuoki became its last groundbreaking artist. It should be also mentioned that Mitsuokis style became an example of the exqui site combination of forms   and delicate lines. Hence, many successors of the Tosa school has followed the painters style. Key Ideas in painting Generally, the key idea in the artists paintings is to render the beauty of nature in harmony with humans and classical poetry. In his drawings, Mitsuoki depicts spring-flowering cherries, birds, autumn maple strikes, and many other pieces of nature. Concentrating on his style, Mitsuoki wanted to represent the uniqueness of the four seasons. All pictures can be read from right to left and are accompanied with a particular story represented through a poetry. The artist also puts great stress on ink brushwork to create inspiring pieces filled with soft and delicate lines depicting birds and the landscapes. His paintings also signify peace and longevity of life. Famous paintings made by Francisco Pacheco The first painting A Quail and Chrysanthemums  represents the combination of parts of nature especially favored by Japanese folks. The beautiful chrysanthemums are shown together with quails and create an elegant combination of natural beauty. They represent the harmony of the surroundings. Another artwork that renders the unique artists style is Ono no Komachi. The drawing depicts the poetess standing by a little stream. The woman is dressed in red hakama. The poetess looks at the delicate yellow flowers. It seems that she thinks about the meaning of life. In the picture above  one may see a small piece of a poem that renders the main idea the painter tried to show. One more famous painting is Autumn Maples with Poem Slips that represents the theme of Japanese aristocracy. In the drawing, one may see a cherry tree that bursts into bloom. The artist recollects classical poetry while combining it with spring and autumn foliage. Mitsuoki tries to depict the melancholy hours after t he leaving of reveling courtiers. Also, the slips of poetry represent the evidence of a human presence in nature. Other famous drawings of the artist include   Quail and Millet,   Egrets and Cotton Roses,   and Illustration of the Genji Monogatari

Provide a reading of Nosferatu and discuss how it established the Vampire sub-genre Essay Example

Provide a reading of Nosferatu and discuss how it established the Vampire sub-genre Paper Nosferatu is a name that conjured fear into the hearts of early filmgoers. A masterpiece of silent film, the strength of this classic and the genre it spawned stands testament to the ability of German Expressionist F. W Murnau. Nosferatu pioneered the Vampire sub-genre of films. It was the first of its ilk, only placed in the genre retrospectively. Countless vampire films, cartoons, sketches, cliches and jokes have appeared over time, each drawing something from the original vampire film none would exist as we know them if it was not for Murnaus silent nightmare. It was Nosferatu that developed many of the generic conventions one has come to expect from a vampire film. Bite-marks, fangs, blood, coffins and gloomy castles lit dimly from the eerie glow of the full moon all feature in Murnaus film. It was Nosferatu which firmly planted these haunting images into the minds of filmmakers to come, each becoming a tired cliche of a very old genre of films. Take, for example, the well-known myth that sun-light will destroy a vampire once-and-for-all. Bram Stokers Dracula (the novel of which Nosferatu was developed from) does not mention sunlight killing a vampire, only reducing its power. Murnau added this concept into his adaptation to which almost all vampire films to follow have copied. However, whilst being the first film of a very popular genre, Nosferatu still retains details which are very different to the films which borrowed from it in future. The most noticeable is the vampires appearance. When one thinks of Vampire they immediately picture the charismatic Bela Lugosi dark lord, oozing sophistication and sex appeal. We will write a custom essay sample on Provide a reading of Nosferatu and discuss how it established the Vampire sub-genre specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Provide a reading of Nosferatu and discuss how it established the Vampire sub-genre specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Provide a reading of Nosferatu and discuss how it established the Vampire sub-genre specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Nosferatu contains none of this. Count Orlok, the Vampire, is a disgusting animalistic mess of bat-like ears, rodent features, pointy rat-like teeth and a hunched back. Nosferatu moves slowly and painfully, wearing his Undeath as a curse rather than a dark gift. Indeed, the name Nosferatu, by which Orlok is also known, means Plague-Carrier. Count Orlok is free from all the over-done Dracula cliches, this monstrous vampire looking more at home in a sewer than a palatial cheteau in the Carpathians. The story of Nosferatu itself borrows heavily from the Bram Stoker novel Dracula. The two narratives are almost identical, to the point that Stokers daughter tried having all copies of the film destroyed. A classic tale of good versus evil had a simple Equilibrium-Disequilibrium-New Equilibrium storyline. We see Hutter and Ellen happy in their married life until Hutter is drawn into the web of the vampiric Count Orlok, with the Nosferatu preying upon Hutter and his wife. However, the new-equilibrium is not a happy ending. While Orlok dies to the rays of the morning sun, Ellen lays dead having sacrificed herself to destroy the vampire and the plague it brought with him. The film also finished with a low angle shot of Orloks castle does some evil still lurk within? Has the curse of Nosferatu really been destroyed? The film is designed to make people uneasy and even the films resolution leaves the audience feeling unnerved rather than relieved. Murnau was a pioneer of the Expressionist movement. His film rests heavily on mood and theme rather than the character acting. He evokes a feeling of unease through his use of lighting and shadow. He distorts and exaggerates shapes into unrealistic proportions in order to express feelings through the medium of film. For example, the actors wear heavy make up and move jerkily or slowly exaggerated in order to express a mood. The characters do not simply exist within a setting but are visual elements that merge with the setting Murnau tells his story through the entire mise-en-scene rather than his characters each element of this mise-en-scene interacts and combines to create a unique mood and atmosphere. We can see this use of mise-en scene to tell his story throughout the film. Much of the film is shot in shadow, giving a darker more haunting atmosphere to the film coupled with the iris shots, which Murnau made much use of, give a feeling of being trapped that there is no escape from the terror that stalks Ellen and Hutter. Similarly Murnau uses detail in the entire screen, often utilising the corners, which suggest and hidden horrors lurking in the corners. Murnau also makes use of long takes, often of images of death and decay, which causes discomfort in the audience watching. Murnau used more symbolic scenes to express the mood of the film, such as those of spiders and Venus flytraps. Its not only visual elements that add to the creation of the films tone, music too plays its part. Munau called it his Symphony of Terrors a disjointed, discordant and unnerving noise that is not in the least bit tuneful. The music of the film is a very powerful tool in the storytelling of Nosferatu, building up suspense or shocking the audience. Each of the films attributes combine to create distinct ambience that doesnt just tell the story but lets the audience feel the story.

College Application Essay Topics That Are Important

College Application Essay Topics That Are ImportantChoosing U.C. college application essay topics for your admission essay is the most important part of your college application. Your essay should be an expression of you as a person and not as a soulless, robotic robot. You should express yourself without becoming too much like a student who has just come back from their first year of college. By doing this, you will stand out from other applicants.I will assume you are applying to some type of four-year school for your college application essay. Your topic is not important at this level. This means that there is no reason for you to write an essay on a religion or philosophy class. If you can't choose a topic for your college application essay, then this is the right time to start researching other things that interest you that might interest other students.The next thing that you should research is if your school has a requirement for your topic for this application. If your topic is of importance to your school, it will show up in your application. However, do not feel that you need to take a class that you will not actually take to prepare for your essay.Another good topic is if you would want to be a public servant or a lawyer. Public service opportunities include teaching in schools, working at a local hospital, or working in a homeless shelter. If you are interested in a profession that is highly controversial, then this is a good topic for your essay.Students who are interested in a lawyer's career might enjoy a bit of information about the process of how one gets a law degree. A student might also like to investigate how a law school admissions officer conducts interviews. You should do your research because you want to be prepared for the responses to your college application essay.Some students have asked me if they should prepare for college application essays before they apply. I have to tell them that you should do whatever you need to do before y ou apply. You do not want to be left on the couch waiting for your college application essay to be approved when you could have been in class writing your essay. There is nothing worse than applying without knowing what you are going to do.It is always a good idea to research and prepare. You do not want to be surprised by anything because you have not prepared properly. Remember that your school will approve or reject your application based on your essay. If you do not do your research and prepare properly, then you could be waiting months for your acceptance.So next time you are looking for college application essays, you should try to do some research. You should find out about the topic that is important to your school and do your research to find something that interests you.

Problems of sacagawea essays

Problems of sacagawea essays The many hardships faced by a young Shoshone woman plays a significant part in the discovery of what we call America. Unfortunately, much of this was not realized until long after her death. The problems and frustrations Sacagawea had endured all through her life only contributed to her courage and strength, this was proven many times on the expedition of Lewis and Clark. She was born approximately in 1788, into an Indian village of the Shoshone tribe. Sacagawea lived for the first twelve years of her life with this tribe in the Rocky Mountains region in Idaho. Around this time the most important hardship in her life occurred, for if it didnt Sacagawea couldnt have played an important role in Americas Discovery. She was kidnapped by the Hidatsa Indians, enemies of the Shoshone. The enemies armed with guns, easily overtook the Shoshone and killed many of her people. Sadly, the fact that she was a young Indian girl implied in itself that she faced many frustrations. To begin, all women of that era had little or no freedoms at all. She and other females in her home village received special beatings only given to girls. She did many hard jobs young boys of her age didnt do. Some of the tasks she preformed were; collecting berries and other fruits, finding roots, tending to the horses, cooking, making fires, dressing the skins that made the clothing, making the clothing, collecting wood, and packing items on horses for long trips. As a girl matured, the derogatory name squaw was given to her, basically it meant prostitute to Indians and white men as well. To their husbands they thought of wives (having more than one) as a mere slave and trade, prostituting them off in exchange for goods. This is a perfect example of why Sacagawea did not try to return to her village when she was kidnapped. Being a slave in the Hidatsa village, she was gambled off to a French fur trader living with them at ...

An Analysis of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Her first novel, The Edible Woman, was published in 1969 to wide acclaim. Atwood continued teaching as her literary career blossomed. She has lectured widely and has served as a writer-in–residence at colleges ranging from the University of Toronto to Macquarie University in Australia. Atwood wrote The Handmaid’s Tale in West Berlin and Alabama in the mid-1980s. The novel, published in 1986, quickly became a best-seller. The Handmaid’s Tale falls squarely within the twentieth-century tradition of anti-utopian, or â€Å"dystopian† novels, exemplified by classics like Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s 1984. Novels in this genre present imagined worlds and societies that are not ideals, but instead are terrifying or restrictive. Atwood’s novel offers a strongly feminist vision of dystopia. She wrote it shortly after the elections of Ronald Reagan in the United States and Margaret Thatcher in Great Britain, during a period of conservative revival in the West partly fueled by a strong, well-organized movement of religious conservatives who criticized what they perceived as the excesses of the â€Å"sexual revolution† of the 1960s and 1970s. The growing power of this â€Å"religious right† heightened feminist fears that the gains women had made in previous decades would be reversed. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood explores the consequences of a reversal of women’s rights. In the novel’s nightmare world of Gilead, a group of conservative religious extremists has taken power and turned the sexual revolution on its head. Feminists argued for liberation from traditional gender roles, but Gilead is a society founded on a â€Å"return to traditional values† and gender roles, and on the subjugation of women by men. What feminists considered the great triumphs of the 1970s—namely, widespread access to contraception, the legalization of abortion, and the increasing political influence of female voters—have all been undone. Women in Gilead are not only forbidden to vote, they are forbidden to read or write. Atwood’s novel also paints a picture of a world undone by pollution and infertility, reflecting 1980s fears about declining birthrates, the dangers of nuclear power, and -environmental degradation. Some of the novel’s concerns seem dated today, and its implicit condemnation of the political goals of America’s religious conservatives has been criticized as unfair and overly paranoid. Nonetheless, The Handmaid’s Tale remains one of the most powerful recent portrayals of a totalitarian society, and one of the few dystopian novels to examine in detail the intersection of politics and sexuality. The novel’s exploration of the controversial politics of reproduction seems likely to guarantee Atwood’s novel a readership well into the twenty-first century. Atwood lives in Toronto with novelist Graeme Gibson and their daughter, Jess. Her most recent novel, The Blind Assassin, won Great Britain’s Booker Prize for literature in 2000. Plot Overview Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian and theocratic state that has replaced the United States of America. Because of dangerously low reproduction rates, Handmaids are assigned to bear children for elite couples that have trouble conceiving. Offred serves the Commander and his wife, Serena Joy, a former gospel singer and advocate for â€Å"traditional values. † Offred is not the narrator’s real name—Handmaid names consist of the word â€Å"of† followed by the name of the Handmaid’s Commander. Every month, when Offred is at the right point in her menstrual cycle, she must have impersonal, wordless sex with the Commander while Serena sits behind her, holding her hands. Offred’s freedom, like the freedom of all women, is completely restricted. She can leave the house only on shopping trips, the door to her room cannot be completely shut, and the Eyes, Gilead’s secret police force, watch her every public move. As Offred tells the story of her daily life, she frequently slips into flashbacks, from which the reader can reconstruct the events leading up to the beginning of the novel. In the old world, before Gilead, Offred had an affair with Luke, a married man. He divorced his wife and married Offred, and they had a child together. Offred’s mother was a single mother and feminist activist. Offred’s best friend, Moira, was fiercely independent. The architects of Gilead began their rise to power in an age of readily available pornography, prostitution, and violence against women—when pollution and chemical spills led to declining fertility rates. Using the military, they assassinated the president and members of Congress and launched a coup, claiming that they were taking power temporarily. They cracked down on women’s rights, forbidding women to hold property or jobs. Offred and Luke took their daughter and attempted to flee across the border into Canada, but they were caught and separated from one another, and Offred has seen neither her husband nor her daughter since. After her capture, Offred’s marriage was voided (because Luke had been divorced), and she was sent to the Rachel and Leah Re-education Center, called the Red Center by its inhabitants. At the center, women were indoctrinated into Gilead’s ideology in preparation for becoming Handmaids. Aunt Lydia supervised the women, giving speeches extolling Gilead’s beliefs that women should be subservient to men and solely concerned with bearing children. Aunt Lydia also argued that such a social order ultimately offers women more respect and safety than the old, pre-Gilead society offered them. Moira is brought to the Red Center, but she escapes, and Offred does not know what becomes of her. Once assigned to the Commander’s house, Offred’s life settles into a restrictive routine. She takes shopping trips with Ofglen, another Handmaid, and they visit the Wall outside what used to be Harvard University, where the bodies of rebels hang. She must visit the doctor frequently to be checked for disease and other complications, and she must endure the â€Å"Ceremony,† in which the Commander reads to the household from the Bible, then goes to the bedroom, where his Wife and Offred wait for him, and has sex with Offred. The first break from her routine occurs when she visits the doctor and he offers to have sex with her to get her pregnant, suggesting that her Commander is probably infertile. She refuses. The doctor makes her uneasy, but his proposition is too risky—she could be sent away if caught. After a Ceremony, the Commander sends his gardener and chauffeur, Nick, to ask Offred to come see him in his study the following night. She begins visiting him regularly. They play Scrabble (which is forbidden, since women are not allowed to read), and he lets her look at old magazines like Vogue. At the end of these secret meetings, he asks her to kiss him. During one of their shopping trips, Ofglen reveals to Offred that she is a member of â€Å"Mayday,† an underground organization dedicated to overthrowing Gilead. Meanwhile, Offred begins to find that the Ceremony feels different and less impersonal now that she knows the Commander. Their nighttime conversations begin to touch on the new order that the Commander and his fellow leaders have created in Gilead. When Offred admits how unhappy she is, the Commander remarks, â€Å"[Y]ou can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. † After some time has gone by without Offred becoming pregnant, Serena suggests that Offred have sex with Nick secretly and pass the child off as the Commander’s. Serena promises to bring Offred a picture of her daughter if she sleeps with Nick, and Offred realizes that Serena has always known the whereabouts of Offred’s daughter. The same night that Offred is to sleep with Nick, the Commander secretly takes her out to a club called Jezebel’s, where the Commanders mingle with prostitutes. Offred sees Moira working there. The two women meet in a bathroom, and Offred learns that Moira was captured just before she crossed the border. She chose life in Jezebel’s over being sent to the Colonies, where most political prisoners and dangerous people are sent. After that night at Jezebel’s, Offred says, she never sees Moira again. The Commander takes Offred upstairs after a few hours, and they have sex in what used to be a hotel room. She tries to feign passion. Soon after Offred returns from Jezebel’s, late at night, Serena arrives and tells Offred to go to Nick’s room. Offred and Nick have sex. Soon they begin to sleep together frequently, without anyone’s knowledge. Offred becomes caught up in the affair and ignores Ofglen’s requests that she gather information from the Commander for Mayday. One day, all the Handmaids take part in a group execution of a supposed rapist, supervised by Aunt Lydia. Ofglen strikes the first blow. Later, she tells Offred that the so-called rapist was a member of Mayday and that she hit him to put him out of his misery. Shortly thereafter, Offred goes out shopping, and a new Ofglen meets her. This new woman is not part of Mayday, and she tells Offred that the old Ofglen hanged herself when she saw the secret police coming for her. At home, Serena has found out about Offred’s trip to Jezebel’s, and she sends her to her room, promising punishment. Offred waits there, and she sees a black van from the Eyes approach. Then Nick comes in and tells her that the Eyes are really Mayday members who have come to save her. Offred leaves with them, over the Commander’s futile objections, on her way either to prison or to freedom—she does not know which. The novel closes with an epilogue from 2195, after Gilead has fallen, written in the form of a lecture given by Professor Pieixoto. He explains the formation and customs of Gilead in objective, analytical language. He discusses the significance of Offred’s story, which has turned up on cassette tapes in Bangor, Maine. He suggests that Nick arranged Offred’s escape but that her fate after that is unknown. She could have escaped to Canada or England, or she could have been recaptured. Character List Offred – The narrator and protagonist of The Handmaid’s Tale. Offred belongs to the class of Handmaids, fertile women forced to bear children for elite, barren couples. Handmaids show which Commander owns them by adopting their Commanders’ names, such as Fred, and preceding them with â€Å"Of. Offred remembers her real name but never reveals it. She no longer has family or friends, though she has flashbacks to a time in which she had a daughter and a husband named Luke. The cruel physical and psychological burdens of her daily life in Gilead torment her and pervade her narrative. Read an in-depth analysis of Offred. The Commander – The Commander is the head o f the household where Offred works as a Handmaid. He initiates an unorthodox relationship with Offred, secretly playing Scrabble with her in his study at night. He often seems a decent, well-meaning man, and Offred sometimes finds that she likes him in spite of herself. He almost seems a victim of Gilead, making the best of a society he opposes. However, we learn from various clues and from the epilogue that the Commander was actually involved in designing and establishing Gilead. Read an in-depth analysis of The Commander. Serena Joy – The Commander’s Wife, Serena worked in pre-Gilead days as a gospel singer, then as an anti-feminist activist and crusader for â€Å"traditional values. In Gilead, she sits at the top of the female social ladder, yet she is desperately unhappy. Serena’s unhappiness shows that her restrictive, male-dominated society cannot bring happiness even to its most pampered and powerful women. Serena jealously guards her claims to status and behaves cruelly toward the Handmaids in her household. Read an in-depth analysis of Serena Joy. Moira – Offred’s best friend from college, Moira i s a lesbian and a staunch feminist; she embodies female resourcefulness and independence. Her defiant nature contrasts starkly with the behavior of the other women in the novel. Rather than passively accept her fate as a Handmaid, she makes several escape attempts and finally manages to get away from the Red Center. However, she is caught before she can get out of Gilead. Later, Offred encounters Moira working as a prostitute in a club for the Commanders. At the club, Moira seems resigned to her fate, which suggests that a totalitarian society can grind down and crush even the most resourceful and independent people. Read an in-depth analysis of Moira. Aunt Lydia – The Aunts are the class of women assigned to indoctrinate the Handmaids with the beliefs of the new society and make them accept their fates. Aunt Lydia works at the â€Å"Red Center,† the re? education center where Offred and other women go for instruction before becoming Handmaids. Although she appears only in Offred’s flashbacks, Aunt Lydia and her instructions haunt Offred in her daily life. Aunt Lydia’s slogans and maxims drum the ideology of the new society into heads of the women, until even those like Offred, women who do not truly believe in the ideology, hear Gilead’s words echoing in their heads. Nick – Nick is a Guardian, a low-level officer of Gilead assigned to the Commander’s home, where he works as a gardener and chauffeur. He and Offred have a sexual chemistry that they get to satisfy when Serena Joy orchestrates an encounter between them in an effort to get Offred pregnant. After sleeping together once, they begin a covert sexual affair. Nick is not just a Guardian; he may work either as a member of the Eyes, Gilead’s secret police, or as a member of the underground Mayday resistance, or both. At the end of the novel, Nick orchestrates Offred’s escape from the Commander’s home, but we do not know whether he puts her into the hands of the Eyes or the resistance. Ofglen – Another Handmaid who is Offred’s shopping partner and a member of the subversive â€Å"Mayday† underground. At the end of the novel, Ofglen is found out, and she hangs herself rather than face torture and reveal the names of her co-conspirators. Cora – Cora works as a servant in the Commander’s household. She belongs to the class of Marthas, infertile women who do not qualify for the high status of Wives and so work in domestic roles. Cora seems more content with her role than her fellow Martha, Rita. She hopes that Offred will be able to conceive, because then she will have a hand in raising a child. Janine – Offred knows Janine from their time at the Red Center. After Janine becomes a Handmaid, she takes the name Ofwarren. She has a baby, which makes her the envy of all the other Handmaids in the area, but the baby later turns out to be deformed—an â€Å"Unbaby†Ã¢â‚¬â€and there are rumors that her doctor fathered the child. Janine is a conformist, always ready to go along with what Gilead demands of her, and so she endears herself to the Aunts and to all authority figures. Offred holds Janine in contempt for taking the easy way out. Luke – In the days before Gilead, Luke had an affair with Offred while he was married to another woman, then got a divorce and became Offred’s husband. When Gilead comes to power, he attempts to escape to Canada with Offred and their daughter, but they are captured. He is separated from Offred, and the couple never see one another again. The kind of love they shared is prohibited in Gilead, and Offred’s memories of Luke contrast with the regimented, passionless state of male-female relations in the new society. Offred’s mother – Offred remembers her mother in flashbacks to her pre-Gilead world—she was a single parent and a feminist activist. One day during her education at the Red Center, Offred sees a video of her mother as a young woman, yelling and carrying a banner in an anti-rape march called Take Back the Night. She embodies everything the architects of Gilead want to stamp out. Aunt Elizabeth – Aunt Elizabeth is one of the Aunts at the Red Center. Moira attacks her and steals her Aunt’s uniform during her escape from the Red Center. Rita – A Martha, or domestic servant, in the Commander’s household. She seems less content with her lot than Cora, the other Martha working there. Professor Pieixoto – The guest speaker at the symposium that takes place in the epilogue to The Handmaid’s Tale. He and another academic, working at a university in the year 2195, transcribed Offred’s recorded narrative; his lecture details the historical significance of the story that we have just read. Analysis of Major Characters Offred Offred is the narrator and the protagonist of the novel, and we are told the entire story from her point of view, experiencing events and memories as vividly as she does. She tells the story as it happens, and shows us the travels of her mind through asides, flashbacks, and digressions. Offred is intelligent, perceptive, and kind. She possesses enough faults to make her human, but not so many that she becomes an unsympathetic figure. She also possesses a dark sense of humor—a graveyard wit that makes her descriptions of the bleak horrors of Gilead bearable, even enjoyable. Like most of the women in Gilead, she is an ordinary woman placed in an extraordinary situation. Offred is not a hero. Although she resists Gilead inwardly, once her attempt at escape fails, she submits outwardly. She is hardly a feminist champion; she had always felt uncomfortable with her mother’s activism, and her pre-Gilead relationship with Luke began when she became his mistress, meeting him in cheap hotels for sex. Although friends with Ofglen, a member of the resistance, she is never bold enough to join up herself. Indeed, after she begins her affair with Nick, she seems to lose sight of escape entirely and suddenly feels that life in Gilead is almost bearable. If she does finally escape, it is because of Nick, not because of anything she does -herself. Offred is a mostly passive character, good-hearted but complacent. Like her peers, she took for granted the freedoms feminism won and now pays the price. The Commander The Commander poses an ethical problem for Offred, and consequently for us. First, he is Offred’s Commander and the immediate agent of her oppression. As a founder of Gilead, he also bears responsibility for the entire totalitarian society. In person, he is far more sympathetic and friendly toward Offred than most other people, and Offred’s evenings with the Commander in his study offer her a small respite from the wasteland of her life. At times, his unhappiness and need for companionship make him seem as much a prisoner of Gilead’s strictures as anyone else. Offred finds herself feeling sympathy for this man. Ultimately, Offred and the reader recognize that if the Commander is a prisoner, the prison is one that he himself helped construct and that his prison is heaven compared to the prison he created for women. As the novel progresses, we come to realize that his visits with Offred are selfish rather than charitable. They satisfy his need for companionship, but he doesn’t seem to care that they put Offred at terrible risk, a fact of which he must be aware, given that the previous Handmaid hanged herself when her visits to the Commander were discovered. The Commander’s moral blindness, apparent in his attempts to explain the virtues of Gilead, are highlighted by his and Offred’s visit to Jezebel’s. The club, a place where the elite men of the society can engage in recreational extramarital sex, reveals the rank hypocrisy that runs through Gileadean society. Offred’s relationship with the Commander is best represented by a situation she remembers from a documentary on the Holocaust. In the film, the mistress of a brutal death camp guard defended the man she loved, claiming that he was not a monster. â€Å"How easy it is to invent a humanity,† Offred thinks. In other words, anyone can seem human, and even likable, given the right set of circumstances. But even if the Commander is likable and can be kind or considerate, his responsibility for the creation of Gilead and his callousness to the hell he created for women means that he, like the Nazi guard, is a monster. Serena Joy Though Serena had been an advocate for traditional values and the establishment of the Gileadean state, her bitterness at the outcome—being confined to the home and having to see her husband copulating with a Handmaid—suggests that spokeswomen for anti-feminist causes might not enjoy getting their way as much as they believe they would. Serena’s obvious unhappiness means that she teeters on the edge of inspiring our sympathy, but she forfeits that sympathy by taking out her frustration on Offred. She seems to possess no compassion for Offred. She can see the difficulty of her own life, but not that of another woman. The climactic moment in Serena’s interaction with Offred comes when she arranges for Offred to sleep with Nick. It seems that Serena makes these plans out of a desire to help Offred get pregnant, but Serena gets an equal reward from Offred’s pregnancy: she gets to raise the baby. Furthermore, Serena’s offer to show Offred a picture of her lost daughter if she sleeps with Nick reveals that Serena has always known of Offred’s daughter’s whereabouts. Not only has she cruelly concealed this knowledge, she is willing to exploit Offred’s loss of a child in order to get an infant of her own. Serena’s lack of sympathy makes her the perfect tool for Gilead’s social order, which relies on the willingness of women to oppress other women. She is a cruel, selfish woman, and Atwood implies that such women are the glue that binds Gilead. Moira Throughout the novel, Moira’s relationship with Offred epitomizes female friendship. Gilead claims to promote solidarity between women, but in fact it only produces suspicion, hostility, and petty tyranny. The kind of relationship that Moira and Offred maintain from college onward does not exist in Gilead. In Offred’s flashbacks, Moira also embodies female resistance to Gilead. She is a lesbian, which means that she rejects male-female sexual interactions, the only kind that Gilead values. More than that, she is the only character who stands up to authority directly by make two escape attempts, one successful, from the Red Center. The manner in which she escapes—taking off her clothes and putting on the uniform of an Aunt—symbolizes her rejection of Gilead’s attempt to define her identity. From then on, until Offred meets up with her again, Moira represents an alternative to the meek subservience and acceptance of one’s fate that most of the Handmaids adopt. When Offred runs into Moira, Moira has been recaptured and is working as a prostitute at Jezebel’s, servicing the Commanders. Her fighting spirit seems broken, and she has become resigned to her fate. After embodying resistance for most of the novel, Moira comes to exemplify the way a totalitarian state can crush even the most independent spirit. Themes, Motifs Symbols Themes Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. Women’s Bodies as Political Instruments Because Gilead was formed in response to the crisis caused by dramatically ecreased birthrates, the state’s entire structure, with its religious trappings and rigid political hierarchy, is built around a single goal: control of reproduction. The state tackles the problem head-on by assuming complete control of women’s bodies through their political subjugation. Women cannot vote, hold property or jobs, read, or do anything else that might allow them to become subv ersive or independent and thereby undermine their husbands or the state. Despite all of Gilead’s pro-women rhetoric, such subjugation creates a society in which women are treated as subhuman. They are reduced to their fertility, treated as nothing more than a set of ovaries and a womb. In one of the novel’s key scenes, Offred lies in the bath and reflects that, before Gilead, she considered her body an instrument of her desires; now, she is just a mound of flesh surrounding a womb that must be filled in order to make her useful. Gilead seeks to deprive women of their individuality in order to make them docile carriers of the next generation. Language as a Tool of Power Gilead creates an official vocabulary that ignores and warps reality in order to serve the needs of the new society’s elite. Having made it illegal for women to hold jobs, Gilead creates a system of titles. Whereas men are defined by their military rank, women are defined solely by their gender roles as Wives, Handmaids, or Marthas. Stripping them of permanent individual names strips them of their individuality, or tries to. Feminists and deformed babies are treated as subhuman, denoted by the terms â€Å"Unwomen† and â€Å"Unbabies. † Blacks and Jews are defined by biblical terms (â€Å"Children of Ham† and â€Å"Sons of Jacob,† respectively) that set them apart from the rest of society, making their persecution easier. There are prescribed greetings for personal encounters, and to fail to offer the correct greetings is to fall under suspicion of disloyalty. Specially created terms define the rituals of Gilead, such as â€Å"Prayvaganzas,† â€Å"Salvagings,† and â€Å"Particicutions. † Dystopian novels about the dangers of totalitarian society frequently explore the connection between a state’s repression of its subjects and its perversion of language (â€Å"Newspeak† in George Orwell’s 1984 is the most famous example), and The Handmaid’s Tale carries on this tradition. Gilead maintains its control over women’s bodies by maintaining control over names. The Causes of Complacency In a totalitarian state, Atwood suggests, people will endure oppression willingly as long as they receive some slight amount of power or freedom. Offred remembers her mother saying that it is â€Å"truly amazing, what people can get used to, as long as there are a few compensations. † Offred’s complacency after she begins her relationship with Nick shows the truth of this insight. Her situation restricts her horribly compared to the freedom her former life allowed, but her relationship with Nick allows her to reclaim the tiniest fragment of her former existence. The physical affection and companionship become compensation that make the restrictions almost bearable. Offred seems suddenly so content that she does not say yes when Ofglen asks her to gather information about the Commander. Women in general support Gilead’s existence by willingly participating in it, serving as agents of the totalitarian state. While a woman like Serena Joy has no power in the world of men, she exercises authority within her own household and seems to delight in her tyranny over Offred. She jealously guards what little power she has and wields it eagerly. In a similar way, the women known as Aunts, especially Aunt Lydia, act as willing agents of the Gileadean state. They indoctrinate other women into the ruling ideology, keep a close eye out for rebellion, and generally serve the same function for Gilead that the Jewish police did under Nazi rule. Atwood’s message is bleak. At the same time as she condemns Offred, Serena Joy, the Aunts, and even Moira for their complacency, she suggests that even if those women mustered strength and stopped complying, they would likely fail to make a difference. In Gilead the tiny rebellions of resistances do not necessarily matter. In the end, Offred escapes because of luck rather than resistance. Motifs Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes. Rape and Sexual Violence Sexual violence, particularly against women, pervades The Handmaid’s Tale. The prevalence of rape and pornography in the pre-Gilead world justified to the founders their establishment of the new order. The Commander and the Aunts claim that women are better protected in Gilead, that they are treated with respect and kept safe from violence. Certainly, the official penalty for rape is terrible: in one scene, the Handmaids tear apart with their bare hands a supposed rapist (actually a member of the resistance). Yet, while Gilead claims to suppress sexual violence, it actually institutionalizes it, as we see at Jezebel’s, the club that provides the Commanders with a ready stable of prostitutes to service the male elite. Most important, sexual violence is apparent in the central institution of the novel, the Ceremony, which compels Handmaids to have sex with their Commanders. Religious Terms Used for Political Purposes Gilead is a theocracy—a government in which there is no separation between state and religion—and its official vocabulary incorporates religious terminology and biblical references. Domestic servants are called â€Å"Marthas† in reference to a domestic character in the New Testament; the local police are â€Å"Guardians of the Faith†; soldiers are â€Å"Angels†; and the Commanders are officially â€Å"Commanders of the Faithful. All the stores have biblical names: Loaves and Fishes, All Flesh, Milk and Honey. Even the automobiles have biblical names like Behemoth, Whirlwind, and Chariot. Using religious terminology to describe people, ranks, and businesses whitewashes political skullduggery in pious language. It provides an ever-present reminder that the founders of Gilead insist they act on the authority of the Bible itself. Politics and religion sleep in the same bed in Gilead, where the slogan â€Å"God is a National Resource† predominates. Similarities between Reactionary and Feminist Ideologies Although The Handmaid’s Tale offers a specifically feminist critique of the reactionary attitudes toward women that hold sway in Gilead, Atwood occasionally draws similarities between the architects of Gilead and radical feminists such as Offred’s mother. Both groups claim to protect women from sexual violence, and both show themselves willing to restrict free speech in order to accomplish this goal. Offred recalls a scene in which her mother and other feminists burn porn magazines. Like the founders of Gilead, these feminists ban some expressions of sexuality. Gilead also uses the feminist rhetoric of female solidarity and â€Å"sisterhood† to its own advantage. These points of similarity imply the existence of a dark side of feminist rhetoric. Despite Atwood’s gentle criticism of the feminist left, her real target is the religious right. Symbols Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. Cambridge, Massachusetts The center of Gilead’s power, where Offred lives, is never explicitly identified, but a number of clues mark it as the town of Cambridge. Cambridge, its neighboring city of Boston, and Massachusetts as a whole were centers for America’s first religious and intolerant society—the Puritan New England of the seventeenth century. Atwood reminds us of this history with the ancient Puritan church that Offred and Ofglen visit early in the novel, which Gilead has turned into a museum. The choice of Cambridge as a setting symbolizes the direct link between the Puritans and their spiritual heirs in Gilead. Both groups dealt harshly with religious, sexual, or political deviation. Harvard University Gilead has transformed Harvard’s buildings into a detention center run by the Eyes, Gilead’s secret police. Bodies of executed dissidents hang from the Wall that runs around the college, and Salvagings (mass executions) take place in Harvard Yard, on the steps of the library. Harvard becomes a symbol of the inverted world that Gilead has created: a place that was founded to pursue knowledge and truth becomes a seat of oppression, torture, and the denial of every principle for which a university is supposed to stand. The Handmaids’ Red Habits The red color of the costumes worn by the Handmaids symbolizes fertility, which is the caste’s primary function. Red suggests the blood of the menstrual cycle and of childbirth. At the same time, however, red is also a traditional marker of sexual sin, hearkening back to the scarlet letter worn by the adulterous Hester Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tale of Puritan ideology. While the Handmaids’ reproductive role supposedly finds its justification in the Bible, in some sense they commit adultery by having sex with their Commanders, who are married men. The wives, who often call the Handmaids sluts, feel the pain of this sanctioned adultery. The Handmaids’ red garments, then, also symbolize the ambiguous sinfulness of the Handmaids’ position in Gilead. A Palimpsest A palimpsest is a document on which old writing has been scratched out, often leaving traces, and new writing put in its place; it can also be a document consisting of many layers of writing simply piled one on top of another. Offred describes the Red Center as a palimpsest, but the word actually symbolizes all of Gilead. The old world has been erased and replaced, but only partially, by a new order. Remnants of the pre-Gilead days continue to infuse the new world. The Eyes The Eyes of God are Gilead’s secret police. Both their name and their insignia, a winged eye, symbolize the eternal watchfulness of God and the totalitarian state. In Gilead’s theocracy, the eye of God and of the state are assumed to be one and the same. Chapters 1–3 Summary: Chapter 1 The narrator, whose name we learn later is Offred, describes how she and other women slept on army cots in a gymnasium. Aunt Sara and Aunt Elizabeth patrol with electric cattle prods hanging from their leather belts, and the women, forbidden to speak aloud, whisper without attracting attention. Twice daily, the women walk in the former football field, which is surrounded by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. Armed guards called Angels patrol outside. While the women take their walks, the Angels stand outside the fence with their backs to the women. The women long for the Angels to turn and see them. They imagine that if the men looked at them or talked to them, they could use their bodies to make a deal. The narrator describes lying in bed at night, quietly exchanging names with the other women. Summary: Chapter 2 The scene changes, and the story shifts from the past to the present tense. Offred now lives in a room fitted out with curtains, a pillow, a framed picture, and a braided rug. There is no glass in the room, not even over the framed picture. The window does not open completely, and the windowpane is shatterproof. There is nothing in the room from which one could hang a rope, and the door does not lock or even shut completely. Looking around, Offred remembers how Aunt Lydia told her to consider her circumstances a privilege, not a prison. Handmaids, to which group the narrator belongs, dress entirely in red, except for the white wings framing their faces. Household servants, called â€Å"Marthas,† wear green uniforms. â€Å"Wives† wear blue uniforms. Offred often secretly listens to Rita and Cora, the Marthas who work in the house where she lives. Once, she hears Rita state that she would never debase herself as someone in Offred’s position must. Cora replies that Offred works for all the women, and that if she (Cora) were younger and had not gotten her tubes tied, she could have been in Offred’s situation. Offred wishes she could alk to them, but Marthas are not supposed to develop relationships with Handmaids. She wishes that she could share gossip like they do—gossip about how one Handmaid gave birth to a stillborn, how a Wife stabbed a Handmaid with a knitting needle out of jealousy, how someone poisoned her Commander with toilet cleaner. Offred dresses for a shopping trip. She c ollects from Rita the tokens that serve as currency. Each token bears an image of what it will purchase: twelve eggs, cheese, and a steak. Summary: Chapter 3 On her way out, Offred looks around for the Commander’s Wife but does not see her. The Commander’s Wife has a garden, and she knits constantly. All the Wives knit scarves â€Å"for the Angels at the front lines,† but the Commander’s Wife is a particularly skilled knitter. Offred wonders if the scarves actually get used, or if they just give the Wives something to do. She remembers arriving at the Commander’s house for the first time, after the two couples to which she was previously assigned â€Å"didn’t work out. † One of the Wives in an earlier posting secluded herself in the bedroom, purportedly drinking, and Offred hoped the new Commander’s Wife would be different. On the first day, her new mistress told her to stay out of her sight as much as possible, and to avoid making trouble. As she talked, the Wife smoked a cigarette, a black-market item. Handmaids, Offred notes, are forbidden coffee, cigarettes, and alcohol. Then the Wife reminded Offred that the Commander is her husband, permanently and forever. â€Å"It’s one of the things we fought for,† she said, looking away. Suddenly, Offred recognized her mistress as Serena Joy, the lead soprano from Growing Souls Gospel Hour, a Sunday-morning religious program that aired when Offred was a child. Analysis: Chapters 1–5 The Handmaid’s Tale plunges immediately into an unfamiliar, unexplained world, using unfamiliar terms like â€Å"Handmaid,† â€Å"Angel,† and â€Å"Commander† that only come to make sense as the story progresses. Offred gradually delivers information about her past and the world in which she lives, often narrating through flashbacks. She narrates these flashbacks in the past tense, which distinguishes them from the main body of the story, which she tells in the present tense. The first scene, in the gymnasium, is a flashback, as are Offred’s memories of the Marthas’ gossip and her first meeting with the Commander’s Wife. Although at this point we do not know what the gymnasium signifies, or why the narrator and other women lived there, we do gather some information from the brief first chapter. The women in the gymnasium live under the constant surveillance of the Angels and the Aunts, and they cannot interact with one another. They seem to inhabit a kind of prison. Offred likens the gym to a palimpsest, a parchment either erased and written on again or layered with multiple writings. In the gym palimpsest, Offred sees multiple layers of history: high school girls going to basketball games and dances wearing miniskirts, then pants, then green hair. Likening the gym to a palimpsest also suggests that the society Offred now inhabits has been superimposed on a previous society, and traces of the old linger beneath the new. In Chapter 2, Offred sits in a room that seems at first like a pleasant change from harsh atmosphere of the gymnasium. However, her description of her room demonstrates that the same rigid, controlling structures that ruled the gym continue to constrict her in this house. The room is like a prison in which all means of defense, or escape by suicide or flight, have been removed. She wonders if women everywhere get issued exactly the same sheets and curtains, which underlines the idea that the room is like a government-ordered prison. We do not know yet what purpose Offred serves in the house, although it seems to be sexual—Cora comments that she could have done Offred’s work if she hadn’t gotten her tubes tied, which implies that Offred’s function is reproductive. Serena Joy’s coldness to Offred makes it plain that she considers Offred a threat, or at least an annoyance. We do know from Offred’s name that she, like all Handmaids, is considered state property. Handmaids’ names simply reflect which Commander owns them. â€Å"Of Fred,† â€Å"Of Warren,† and â€Å"Of Glen† get collapsed into â€Å"Offred,† â€Å"Ofwarren,† and â€Å"Ofglen. † The names make more sense when preceded by the word â€Å"Property†: â€Å"Property Offred,† for example. Thus, every time the women hear their names, they are reminded that they are no more than property. These early chapters establish the novel’s style, which is characterized by considerable physical description. The narrator devotes attention to the features of the gym, the Commander’s house, and Serena Joy’s pinched face. Offred tells the story in nonlinear fashion, following the temporal leaps of her own mind. The narrative goes where her thoughts take it—one moment to the present, in the Commander’s house, and the next back in the gymnasium, or in the old world, the United States as it exists in Offred’s memory. We do not have the sense, as in some first-person narratives, that Offred is composing this story from a distanced vantage point, reflecting back on her past. Rather, all of her thoughts have a quality of immediacy. We are there with Offred as she goes about her daily life, and as she slips out of the present and thinks about her past. Chapters 4–6 Summary: Chapter 4 As she leaves the house to go shopping, Offred notices Nick, a Guardian of the Faith, washing the Commander’s car. Nick lives above the garage. He winks at Offred—an offense against -decorum— but she ignores him, fearing that he may be an Eye, a spy assigned to test her. She waits at the corner for Ofglen, another Handmaid with whom Offred will do her shopping. The Handmaids always travel in pairs when outside. Ofglen arrives, and they exchange greetings, careful not to say anything that isn’t strictly orthodox. Ofglen says that she has heard the war is going well, and that the army recently defeated a group of Baptist rebels. â€Å"Praise be,† Offred responds. They reach a checkpoint manned by two young Guardians. The Guardians serve as a routine police force and do menial labor. They are men too young, too old, or just generally unfit for the army. Young Guardians, such as these, can be dangerous because they are frequently more fanatical or nervous than older guards. These young Guardians recently shot a Martha as she fumbled for her pass, because they thought she was a man in disguise carrying a bomb. Offred heard Rita and Cora talking about the shooting. Rita was angry, but Cora seemed to accept the shooting as the price one pays for safety. At the checkpoint, Offred subtly flirts with one of the Guardians by making eye contact, cherishing this small infraction against the rules. She considers how sex-starved the young men must be, since they cannot marry without permission, masturbation is a sin, and pornographic magazines and films are now forbidden. The Guardians can only hope to become Angels, when they will be allowed to take a wife and perhaps eventually get a Handmaid. This marks the first time in the novel we hear the word â€Å"Handmaid† used. Summary: Chapter 5 In town, Ofglen and Offred wait in line at the shops. We learn the name of this new society: â€Å"The Republic of Gilead. † Offred remembers the pre-Gilead days, when women were not protected: they had to keep their doors closed to strangers and ignore catcalls on the street. Now no one whistles at women as they walk; no one touches them or talks to them. She remembers Aunt Lydia explaining that more than one kind of freedom exists, and that â€Å"[i]n the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. † The women shop at stores known by names like All Flesh and Milk and Honey. Pictures of meat or fruit mark the stores, rather than lettered signs, because â€Å"they decided that even the names of shops were too much temptation for us. † A Handmaid in the late stages of pregnancy enters the store and raises a flurry of excitement. Offred recognizes her from the Red Center. She used to be known as Janine, and she was one of Aunt Lydia’s favorites. Now her name is Ofwarren. Offred senses that Janine went shopping just so she could show off her pregnancy. Offred thinks of her husband, Luke, and their daughter, and the life they led before Gilead existed. She remembers a prosaic detail from their everyday life together: she used to store plastic shopping bags under the sink, which annoyed Luke, who worried that their daughter would get one of the bags caught over her head. She remembers feeling guilty for her carelessness. Offred and Ofglen finish their shopping and go out to the sidewalk, where they encounter a group of Japanese tourists and their interpreter. The tourists want to take a photograph, but Offred says no. Many of the interpreters are Eyes, and Handmaids must not appear immodest. Offred and Ofglen marvel at the women’s exposed legs, high heels, and polished toenails. The tourists ask if they are happy, and since Ofglen does not answer, Offred replies that they are very happy. Summary: Chapter 6 This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary. (See Important Quotations Explained) As they return from shopping, Ofglen suggests they take the long way and pass by the church. It is an old building, decorated inside with paintings of what seem to be Puritans from the colonial era. Now the former church is kept as a museum. Offred describes a nearby boathouse, old dormitories, a football stadium, and redbrick sidewalks. Atwood implies that Offred is walking across what used to be the campus of Harvard University. Across the street from the church sits the Wall, where the authorities hang the bodies of executed criminals as examples to the rest of the Republic of Gilead. The authorities cover the men’s heads with bags. One of the bags looks painted with a red smile where the blood has seeped through. All of the six corpses wear signs around their necks picturing fetuses, signaling that they were executed for performing abortions before Gilead came into existence. Although their actions were legal at the time, their crimes are being punished retroactively. Offred feels relieved that none of the bodies could be Luke’s, since he was not a doctor. As she stares at the bodies, Offred thinks of Aunt Lydia telling them that soon their new life would seem ordinary. Analysis: Chapters 4–6 The theocratic nature of Offred’s society, the name of which we learn for the first time in these chapters, becomes clear during her shopping trip. A theocracy exists when there is no separation between church and state, and a single religion dominates all aspects of life. In Gilead, state and religion are inseparable. The official language of Gilead uses many biblical terms, from the various ranks that men hold (Angels, Guardians of the Faith, Commanders of the Faith, the Eyes of God), to the stores where Offred and Ofglen shop (Milk and Honey, All Flesh, Loaves and Fishes), to the names of automobiles (Behemoth, Whirlwind, Chariot). The very name â€Å"Gilead† refers to a location in ancient Israel. The name also recalls a line from the Book of Psalms: â€Å"there is a balm in Gilead. This phrase, we realize later, has been transformed into a kind of national motto. Atwood does not describe the exact details of Gilead’s state religion. In Chapter 2, Offred describes her room as â€Å"a return to traditional values. † The religious right in America uses the phrase â€Å"traditional values,† so Atwoo d seems to link the values of this dystopic society to the values of the Protestant Christian religious right in America. Gilead seems more Protestant than anything else, but its brand of Christianity pays far more attention to the Old Testament than the New Testament. The religious justification for having Handmaids, for instance, is taken from the Book of Genesis. We learn that neither Catholics nor Jews are welcome in Gilead. The former must convert, while the latter must emigrate to Israel or renounce their Judaism. Atwood seems less interested in religion than in the intersection between religion, politics, and sex. The Handmaid’s Tale explores the political oppression of women, carried out in the name of God but in large part motivated by a desire to control women’s bodies. Gilead sees women’s sexuality as dangerous: women must cover themselves from head to toe, for example, and not reveal their sexual attractions. When Offred attracts the Guardians, she feels this ability to inspire sexual attraction is the only power she retains. Every other privilege is stripped away, down to the very act of reading, which is forbidden. Women are not even allowed to read store signs. By controlling women’s minds, by not allowing them to read, the authorities more easily control women’s bodies. The patriarchs of Gilead want to control women’s bodies, their sex lives, and their reproductive rights. The bodies of slain abortionists on the Wall hammer home the point: feminists believe that women must have abortion rights in order to control their own bodies, and in Gilead, giving women control of their bodies is a horrifying crime. When Offred and Ofglen go to town to shop, geographical clues and street names suggest that they live in what was once Cambridge, Massachusetts, and that their walk takes them near what used to be the campus of Harvard University. The choice of Cambridge for the setting of The Handmaid’s Tale is significant, since Massachusetts was a Puritan stronghold during the colonial period of the United States. The Puritans were a persecuted minority in England, but when they fled to New England, they re-created the repression they suffered at home, this time casting themselves as the repressors rather than the repressed. They established an intolerant religious society in some ways similar to Gilead. Atwood locates her fictional intolerant society in a place founded by intolerant people. By turning the old church into a museum, and leaving untouched portraits of Puritan forebears, the founders of Gilead suggest their admiration for the old Puritan society. Chapters 7–9 Summary: Chapter 7 I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance. (See Important Quotations Explained) At night, Offred likes to remember her former life. She recalls talking to her college friend, Moira, in her dorm room. She remembers being a child and going to a park with her mother, where they saw a group of women and a few men burning pornographic magazines. Offred has forgotten a large chunk of time, which she thinks might be the fault of an injection or pill the authorities gave her. She remembers waking up somewhere and screaming, demanding to know what they had done with her daughter. The authorities told Offred she was unfit, and her daughter was with those fit to care for her. They showed her a photograph of her child wearing a white dress, holding the hand of a strange woman. As she recounts these events, Offred imagines she is telling her story to someone, telling things that she cannot write down, because writing is forbidden. Summary: Chapter 8 Returning from another shopping trip, Ofglen and Offred notice three new bodies on the Wall. One is a Catholic priest and two are Guardians who bear placards around their necks that read â€Å"Gender Treachery. † This means they were hanged for committing homosexual acts. After looking at the bodies for a while, Offred tells Ofglen that they should continue walking home. They meet a funeral procession of Econowives, the wives of poorer men. One Econowife carries a small black jar. From the size of the jar, Offred can tell that it contains a dead embryo from an early miscarriage—one that came too early to know whether it was an â€Å"Unbaby. † The Econowives do not like the Handmaids. One woman scowls, and another spits at the Handmaids as they pass. At the corner near the Commander’s home, Ofglen says â€Å"Under His Eye,† the orthodox good-bye, hesitating as if she wants to say more but then continuing on her way. When Offred reaches the Commander’s driveway she passes Nick, who breaks the rules by asking her about her walk. She says nothing and goes into the house. She sees Serena Joy out in the garden and recalls how after Serena’s singing career ended, she became a spokesperson for respecting the â€Å"sanctity of the home† and for women staying at home instead of working. Serena herself never stayed at home, because she was always out giving speeches. Once, Offred remembers, someone tried to assassinate Serena but killed her secretary instead. Offred wonders if Serena is angry that she can no longer be a public figure, now that what she advocated has come to pass and all women, including her, are confined to the home. In the kitchen, Rita fusses over the quality of the purchases as she always does. Offred retreats upstairs and notices the Commander standing outside her room. He is not supposed to be there. He nods at her and retreats. Summary: Chapter 9 Offred remembers renting hotel rooms and waiting for Luke to meet her, before they were married, when he was cheating on his first wife. She regrets that she did not fully appreciate the freedom to have her own space when she wanted it. Thinking of the problems she and Luke thought they had, she realizes they were truly happy, although they did not know it. She remembers examining her room in the Commander’s house little by little after she first arrived. She saw stains on the mattress, left over from long-ago sex, and she discovered a Latin phrase freshly scratched into the floor of the closet: Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Offred does not understand Latin. It pleases her to imagine that this message allows her to commune with the woman who wrote it. She pictures this woman as freckly and irreverent, someone like Moira. Later, she asks Rita who stayed in her room before her. Rita tells her to specify which one, implying that there were a number of Handmaids before her. Offred says, guessing, â€Å"[t]he lively one . . . with freckles. † Rita asks how Offred knew about her, but she refuses to tell Offred anything about the previous Handmaid beyond a vague statement that she did not work out. Analysis: Chapter 7–9 Atwood suggests that those who seek to restrict sexual expression, whether they are feminists or religious conservatives, ultimately share the same goal—the control of sexuality, particularly women’s sexuality. In the flashback to the scene from Offred’s childhood in which women burn pornographic magazines, Atwood shows the similarity between the extremism of the left and the extremism of the right. The people burning magazines are feminists, not religious conservatives like the leaders of Gilead, yet their goal is the same: to crack down on certain kinds of sexual freedom. In other words, the desire for control over sexuality is not unique to the religious totalitarians of Gilead; it also existed in the feminist anti-pornography crusades that preceded the fall of the United States. Gilead actually appropriates some of the rhetoric of women’s liberation in its attempt to control women. Gilead also uses the Aunts and the Aunts’ rhetoric, forcing women to control other women. Again and again in the novel, the voice of Aunt Lydia rings in Offred’s head, insisting that women are better off in Gilead, free from exploitation and violence, than they were in the dangerous freedom of pre-Gilead times. In Chapter 7, Offred relates some of the details of how she lost her child. This loss is the central wound on Offred’s psyche throughout the novel, and the novel’s great source of emotional power. The loss of her child is so painful to Offred that she can only relate the story in fits and starts; so far the details of what happened have been murky. When telling stories from her past, like the story of her daughter’s disappearance, Offred often seems to draw on a partial or foggy memory. It almost seems as if she is remembering details from hundreds of years ago, when we know these things happened a few years before the narrative. Partly this distance is the product of emotional trauma—thinking of the past is painful for Offred. But in Chapter 7, Offred offers her own explanation for these gaps: she thinks it possible that the authorities gave her a pill or injection that harmed her memory. Immediately after remembering her daughter, Offred addresses someone she calls â€Å"you. † She could be talking to God, Luke, or an imaginary future reader. â€Å"I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling,† Offred says. â€Å"Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance . . A story is a letter. Dear You, I’ll say. † In the act of telling her imagined audience about her life, Offred reduces her life’s horror and makes its oppressive weight endurable. Also, if she can think of her life as a story and herself as the writer, she can think of her life as controllable, fictional, something not terrifying because not real. We learn in Chap ter 8 that Serena used to campaign against women’s rights. This makes her a figure worthy of pity, in a way; she supported the anti-woman principles on which Gilead was founded, but once they were mplemented, she found that they affected her as well as other women. She now lives deprived of freedom and saddled with a Handmaid who has sex with her husband. Yet Serena forfeits what pity we might feel for her by her callous, petty behavior toward Offred. Powerless in the world of men, Serena can only take out her frustration on the women under her thumb by making their lives miserable. In many ways, she treats Offred far worse than the Commander does, which suggests that Gilead’s oppressive power structure succeeds not just because men created it, but because women like Serena sustain it. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum—the Latin phrase scrawled in Offred’s closet by a previous Handmaid—takes on a magical importance for Offred even before she knows what it means. It symbolizes her inner resistance to Gilead’s tyranny and makes her feel like she can communicate with other strong women, like the woman who wrote the message. In Chapter 29 we learn what the phrase means, and its role in sustaining Offred’s resistance comes to seem perfectly appropriate. Chapters 10–12 Summary: Chapter 10 Offred often sings songs in her head—â€Å"Amazing Grace† or songs by Elvis. Most music is forbidden in Gilead, and there is little of it in the Commander’s home. Sometimes she hears Serena humming and listening to a recording of herself from the time when she was a famous gospel singer. Summer is approaching, and the house grows hot. Soon the Handmaids will be allowed to wear their summer dresses. Offred thinks about how Aunt Lydia would describe the terrible things that used to happen to women in the old days, before Gilead, when they sunbathed wearing next to nothing. Offred remembers Moira throwing an â€Å"underwhore† party to sell sexy lingerie. She remembers reading stories in the papers about women who were murdered and raped, but even in the old days it seemed distant from her life and unrelated to her. Offred sits at the window, beside a cushion embroidered with the word Faith. It is the only word they have given her to read, and she spends many minutes looking at it. From her window, she watches the Commander get into his car and drive away. Summary: Chapter 11 Offred says that yesterday she went to the doctor. Every month, a Guardian accompanies Offred to a doctor, who tests her for pregnancy and disease. At the doctor’s office, Offred undresses, pulling a sheet over her body. A sheet hangs down from the ceiling, cutting off the doctor’s view of her face. The doctor is not supposed to see her face or speak to her if he can help it. On this visit, though, he chatters cheerfully and then offers to help her. He says many of the Commanders are either too old to produce a child or are sterile, and he suggests that he could have sex with her and impregnate her. His use of the word â€Å"sterile† shocks Offred, for officially sterile men no longer exist. In Gilead, there are only fruitful women and barren women. Offred thinks him genuinely sympathetic to her plight, but she also realizes he enjoys his own empathy and his position of power. After a moment, she declines, saying it is too dangerous. If they are caught, they will both receive the death penalty. She tries to sound casual and grateful as she refuses, but she feels frightened. To revenge her refusal, the doctor could falsely report that she has a health problem, and then she would be sent to the Colonies with the â€Å"Unwomen. † Offred also feels frightened, she realizes, because she has been given a way out. Summary: Chapter 12 It is one of Offred’s required bath days. The bathroom has no mirror, no razors, and no lock on the door. Cora sits outside, waiting for Offred. Offred’s own naked body seems strange to her, and she finds it hard to believe that she once wore bathing suits, letting people see her thighs and arms, her breasts and buttocks. Lying in the bath, she thinks of her daughter and remembers the time when a crazy woman tried to kidnap the little girl in the supermarket. The authorities in Gilead took Offred’s then-five-year-old child from her, and three years have passed since then. Offred has no mementos of her daughter. She remember