(Business Ethics) An Ethical Analysis of the Use of Performance Assignment

(Business Ethics) An Ethical Analysis of the Use of Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sport - Assignment Example Other than this, the use of performance enhancement drugs also increased in sports mainly to reduce psychological dependency, stress and lack of confidence. As a result, the use of pharmacological drugs, hormones, anabolic steroids came into existence. Due to the presence of varied types of steroid and anabolic steroids, the performance and strength of the professional players increased but it hindered the qualities of fair play. Moreover, introduction of such type of performance enhancing drugs also reduced the features and natural qualities of athletes. Therefore due to the causes the ethical framework of sports changed from impartiality and objectivity to partiality and biasness. This paper mainly tries to highlight the issue, that whether the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports is ethical or not. In order to specify this concept, varied types of ethical theories are used like utilitarianism, Kantian deontology, theory of justice, rights, the challenge of normative ethical relativism. Dissatisfaction with performance and progress- in this age, the rate of use of anabolic drugs and steroids has increased in order to reduce the rate of dissatisfaction over his or her performance and progress. By doing so, the level of performance of the athletes increases resulting in amplification of their activities or actions. Due to which, the popularity and equity of the athlete as well as the nation also enhances to a significant extent as compared to many other nations. Psychological dependency: numerous athletes intake varied types of anabolic drugs or steroids due to psychological dependency. As a result, the inner strength and morale of the athletes reduces that declines the level of performance to a considerable extent. Wanting to attain a renowned position: in order to attain a renowned position just like numerous other experienced athletes, maximum extent of the new comers takes help of anabolic drugs or steroids in very low age

Dr Jekylls experiments concerning Mr Hyde Essay Example for Free

Dr Jekylls experiments concerning Mr Hyde Essay How do you think that Stevenson wishes us to judge Dr Jekylls experiments concerning Mr Hyde? I think that Stevenson wants the reader to feel that Jekyll gets what he deserves for releasing Hyde. Although I think that this is his overall intention, he gives Jekylls own justification for it, which dampens the blame from him slightly. However, the justification, when looked at more deeply, conveys another message from Stevenson, that Jekyll knows what he is doing and therefore commits a crime in releasing Hyde. Stevenson shows his feelings about Hyde and about Jekylls guilt by lavishing Hyde with horrible descriptions. These fall into four main categories, the darkness, the evil, the animal, and peoples reaction to Hyde. Firstly, whenever Hyde appears, it is always night or twilight showing that there is something dark and mysterious about him. Hydes eyes have a blackness in them which terrifies people. There are several references to fire and hell, suggesting that Hyde is a daemon, that has been released from hell. He is actually called, the child of hell meaning he is pure evil. Also, the fires can be interpreted as trying to ward off evil spirits, such as Hyde. Hydes soul is described as foul, and his character callous and violent. He is described as having Satans signature upon him, as if he has been made by the devil and sent up from hell. Hyde is also frequently compared to an animal. When people talk to Hyde he is savage like a wild animal and has a habit of hissing like a serpent. He is often replaced with it, suggesting that Hyde is an animal. Several times Hyde is actually referred to as the creature and his fury being ape-like. There is something primitive about him, something troglodytic. In even greater amounts, perhaps, are the reactions that people have when they come face to face with Hyde, and even from a distance. Every single person that has met him feels loathing and fear, and in some cases, a desire to kill, most people feel a simple hatred of him, yet none of them know why. The extent of this feeling is described as hitherto unknown disgust- absolutely appalling revulsion to him. There is something about Hyde that is not visible, that makes people react like this, described as the radiance of a foul soul. Many people search for a deformity in Hyde that is making them feel this way but fail to find it. Hyde has this aura of repulsion around him that makes any decent person draw back from him. When he touches Lanyons arm. Lanyon feels an icy pang that goes up his spine. Obviously, this is the height of Hydes effect, that when you touch him you shiver with discomfort. Perhaps the most startling aspect of Hyde is that when Jekyll showed Lanyon that he is, in fact, Hyde, Lanyon is so sickened by the thought of it that he becomes ill and dies in a few weeks. This shows absolutely that Jekyll does a terrible thing in unleashing Hyde, and actually telling somebody caused them to die, and Lanyon is one of Jekylls closest friends. These images are put into the story frequently, and the effect of this is to make the reader feel that Jekyll has released a being so foul that he deserves whatever punishment he got. And still Stevenson piles it on. He goes into horrific detail about Hyde brutally murdering Sir Danvers Carew, this is clear evidence that he wishes us to feel that Jekyll is to blame for his own experiments. Stevensons description of the murder is really over the top, it starts off with Hyde having an ill-contained impatience. Sir Danvers Carew is merely inquiring his way to Hyde when he broke out with a great flame of anger. Sir Danvers Carew is surprised by Hydes reaction and took a step back. At that moment though, Hyde snapped, he broke all bounds and starts trampling on him. With his stick he is hailing down a storm of blows, and Sir Danvers Carews bones are audibly shattered. Hyde then runs away, leaving the body incredibly mangled in the middle of the road. Hyde makes no attempt to conceal it, and the horrific details of the murder can only mean the Stevenson wishes us to judge Jekyll as responsible for such a crime. Even there Stevenson does not stop putting on more and more emphasis on the utterly diabolical nature of Hyde. In Dr Jekylls full statement of the case, he states that Hyde gets delight from every blow and runs away, gloating over his crime. Jekyll uses the word I, which is another of Stevensons ways of showing that he wishes us to think that Jekyll is directly responsible. In Jekylls justification of his actions, he mentions that he enjoyed the freedom that Hyde gave him. He fulfilled his pleasures (which are unspecified), and soon the pleasures turned from undignified to monstrous. When Jekyll remembered what he had done whilst in Hydes body he is aghast at himself. He refers to Hyde as me therefore showing that he is responsible because he did it. Jekyll became careless, and thought that nobody would trace him under his impenetrable mantle. Jekyll also tries to cover up Hydes activities by giving to charities and balancing it out. These two statements suggest that Jekyll knew that he is responsible because he is thinking about the possibility of him being caught. Jekyll also felt pity for Hyde, suggesting that he is not at all innocent. Jekyll pays for his crimes heavily though, and this is one of the very few times in the story when Stevenson releases Jekyll from the blame. Jekyll is put to considerable expense to pay for Hydes actions. When he tramples over the girl, he is forced to pay à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½100 to her parents. Not to mention the fact that he loses one of his closest friends by telling him and ends up committing suicide to pay for it. But I think that Stevenson wishes us to view even these with severity; firstly, Jekyll taunts Lanyon by bribing him with, power and knowledge, in such a way that Lanyon cannot have refused to know what Hydes secret is. On telling Lanyon, Lanyon dies. Jekyll wants to tell him about his experiments, he wanted to show off, and he insults Lanyon by referring to himself as his superior. Jekyll obviously enjoys being Hyde, because he suffers a horrible pain when he transforms into him, and would not bother to do it if he wanted to. Sometimes, Jekyll has to triple the dosage in order to transform, something that he wouldnt do unless he is willing to risk his life to transform. In conclusion, I think that judging from the amount of description that has been put into the Hyde, and the number of references to his joy at being evil, that it is fair to say that Stevenson wishes us to feel that Jekyll is to blame for his experiments and that he pays the price for it with his death.

Pro Legalization of Marijuana in the United States Essay -- essays res

With all of the complex issues facing the nation today, it seems as if the legalization of marijuana is being set on the back burner of legislation. There are so many opinions, sides, and overall arguments for and against it that many vote seeking politicians and policy makers have put up a strong resistance to this issue. In this paper I will illustrate the reasons why I think marijuana should indeed be legalized and also the arguments from people who disagree and feel that it should stay an illegal drug. Marijuana has been around for centuries. It comes from the species of plant Cannabis Sativa, and is used for things other that its renowned drug form, such as rope, clothing, medicines, and oils. Other common names for it include weed, pot, grass, reefer, and bud. The drug was actually not outlawed in the United States until the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937, which made the possession and sale of the plant illegal. A large part of the original fear and misrepresentation was due to ethnic and racial concerns of the southwestern U.S. Large immigrant populations moved into the area and introduced pot as a recreational drug, similar to the use of alcohol or tobacco. The xenophobic reaction caused the initial rejection of the drug and led to its outlaw in 1937. Since that time, government and society’s ignorance have kept the drug illegal. In a nutshell, there are many substantial reasons why the use of marijuana should be made a legal drug. Some of the reasons I will be discussing to support my argument are crime reduction, government benefits, medicinal benefits, lack of evidence to support harm, and constitutional rights. First and foremost is the issue of one’s constitutional right. Even if a drug is shown to be ha... ...here have been no recorded deaths as a result of marijuana use, unlike alcohol or tobacco, and most doctors will agree it is safer to use. Its recreational use would not stimulate more crime as some would try to argue. Marijuana being illegal essentially has no validity at all. So, because of all the positive aspects, marijuana should definitely be legalized in the U.S. Bibliography 1. Bonnie, Richard & Whitehead II, Charles H. â€Å"Marijuana Conviction: History of Marijuana Prohibition†. New York: Open Society Institute, 1999. 2. Bender, David. â€Å"Drug Abuse: Opposing Viewpoints†. New York: Green Press, 1994. 3. Goldberg, Raymond. â€Å"Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Drugs & Society†. New York: The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc., 1993. 4. Randall, Robert. â€Å"Marijuana Rx: The Patients’ Fight for Medicinal Pot†. Thundermouth Press, 1998.

A Raisin in the Sun vs. Julius Caesar Essay

In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun themes, symbols, and characters can be compared. Both A Raisin in the Sun and Julius Caesar were written for the stage; therefore their characters become more obvious and more thoroughly portrayed than in a book, for example. Even though, these works were written by far different authors and in different centuries their similarities and differences are evident. In both A Raisin in the Sun and Julius Caesar themes, symbols, and character development are consistent. Comparing character development in Julius Caesar and A Raisin in the Sun is beneficial in learning more about each and every character. One of the major characters in A Raisin in the Sun is Mama; a character she can be compared to in Julius Caesar is Calpurnia. Despite Mama has a bigger role in Hansberry’s work and Calpurnia’s role in Shakespeare’s work is not as powerful as Mama, similarities are still evi dent. One way they are similar is in their authority over one person or a few people in general, their families to be more specific. In A Raisin in the Sun, Mama has a strong opinion regarding her beliefs. She stands up for them and stresses respect. Mama is also the head of the Younger household. She reminds everyone who is living with her the difference between right and wrong. However, Mama seems to be a bit more concerned with what Walter is always doing. Walter is her eldest son. In the same way, Calpurnia stresses what she believes in. Similar to how Mama watches out for her son Walter, Calpurnia tries to warn her husband, Julius Caesar, against evil and something awful that has a potential of happening. Mama shows her authority over Walter when she gives him the responsibility of putting away a share of the money, â€Å"Listen to me, son. I say I been wrong, son. That I been doing to you what the rest of the world been doing to you. (She turns of the radio) Walter—(She stops and he looks up slowly at her and she meets his eyes pleadingly) What you ain’t never understood is that I ain’t got nothing, don’t own nothing ain’t never really wanted nothing that wasn’t for you. There ain’t nothing as precious to me†¦There ain’t nothing worth holding on  to, money, dreams, nothing else—if it means—if it means it’s going to destroy my boy. (She takes an envelope out of her handbag and puts it in front of him and he watches her without speaking or moving) I paid the man thirty-five hundred down on the house. That leaves sixty-five hundred dollars. Monday morning I want you to take this money and take three thousand and put it in a savings account for Beneatha’s medical schooling. The rest you put in a checking account—with your name on it. And from now on any penny that come out of it or go in it is for you to look after. For you to decide. (She drops her hands a little helplessly) It ain’t much, but it’s all I got in the wor ld and I’m putting it in your hands. I’m telling you to be the head of this family from now on like you supposed to be† (Hansberry 106-107). In a similar way Calpurnia takes authority over Julius Caesar, â€Å"Alas my lord, your wisdom is consumed in confidence. Do not go forth to-day; call it my fear that keeps you in the house, and not your own. We’ll send Mark Antony to the senate-house; and he shall say you are not well to-day; let me, upon my knee, prevail in this† (Shakespeare 2.2). Both Calpurnia and Mama take authority over someone. Due to the fact that both tasks were not taken seriously both Walter and Caesar run into turmoil later in the literary work. In Walter’s case, he doesn’t do as Mama says and loses his and Beneatha’s money as well as people’s trust in him (Hansberry 127-128). In Caesar’s case, him not staying home and returning to the senate against his wife’s will, Caesar is greeted with his death (Shakespeare 3.1). In both works of literature, symbolism is commonly used. Some of the symbols used in A Raisin in the Sun are Mama’s plant, Beneatha’s hair, and the check Mama receives after her husband dies. In Raisin in the Sun, Mama’s plant represents her dreams and the rest of her family’s dreams. A result of this would be Mama always making sure to take extra care of her plant and to nourish it well. On the other hand, Mama’s check represents all of the hard work that her husband achieved and how hard he had to work to actually obtain that amount of money. Beneatha’s hair symbolizes the assimilationist beliefs of the time and how people become inferior to the dominant race. When Beneatha returns her hair to its natural state it symbolizes that she is against common assimilation beliefs. The symbolism of her hair is evident in a conversation between her and Asagai, â€Å"’(Coming to her at the mirror) I shall have to teach you how to drape it properly. (He flings the material  about her for the moment and stands back to look at her) Ah—Oh-pay-gay-day, oh-gaha-mu-shay. (A Yoruba exclamation for admiration) You wear it well†¦very well†¦mutilated hair and all.’ ‘(Turning suddenly) My hair—what’s wrong with my hair?’ ‘(Shrugging) Were you born with it like that?’ ‘(Reaching up to touch it) No†¦of course not. (She looks back to the mirror, disturbed)’ ‘(Smiling) How then?’ ‘You know perfectly well how†¦as crinkly as yours†¦that’s how’† (Hansberry 61-62). The symbols used in Julius Caesar are omens, pain, and the conspirators bathing in Caesar’s blood. In Julius Caesar, omens symbolize evil and warn people against evil and bad things that could happen, possibly fatal things. By the conspirators bathing or washing their hands in Caesar’s blood they are symbolizing that they are taking responsibility for ridding Rome of its ‘terrible’ leader. Portia, Brutus’s wife, uses the symbol of pain to show how much she loves Brutus, that she is loyal to him, and he can trust her. Portia harshly kills herself by swallowing hot coals because Brutus refuses to share anything with her, â€Å"No man bears sorrow better. That tidings came. With this she fell distract and, her attendants absent, swallo’d fire (Shakespeare 4.3 147, 155-156). By using symbolism Hansberry and Shakespeare made their readers and audience think with depth and understanding. In A Raisin in the Sun, several themes are covered throughout the play; the same goes for Julius Caesar. Even though there are many themes in these works of literature there are two that stand out and can be compared. The themes that are similar between A Raisin in the Sun and Julius Caesar are pride and the role of men and women in society and the house. In A Raisin in the Sun pride is theme because the Younger family doesn’t have much but they have their pride. Throughout the play their pride is tested but they never hesitate to speak their minds. When Mama buys a house in a white neighborhood they are a bit hesitant at first but are happy in the end. They show their pride concerning this situation when a representative from Clybourne Park comes and asks them to sell the house back but in the end they don’t and kick Linder out of their house. Pride is very evident in the conversation between Walter, Linder, and Ruth, â€Å"’(Putting on his glasses and drawing a form out of the briefcase) Our association is prepared, through the collective effort of our people, to buy the house from you at a financial gain to your family.’ ‘Lord have mercy, ain’t this the living gall!’ ‘All right, you through?’ ‘Well, I want to give  you the exact terms of the financial arrangement—’ ‘We don’t want to hear no exact terms of no arrangements. I want to know if you got any more to tell us ‘bout getting together?’ ‘(Taking off his glasses) Well—I don’t suppose that you feel†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ ‘Never mind how I feel—you got any more to say ‘bout how people ought to sit down and talk to each other? †¦ Get out of my house, man. (He turns his back and walks to the door) (Hansberry 118-119). Even though pride is a similar theme between Julius Caesar and A Raisin in the Sun, the pride in Julius Caesar is different than that in A Raisin in the sun. Works Cited Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Vintage, 1994. Print. â€Å"Julius Caesar Theme of Pride.† Shmoop. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Jan. 2013. â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun Theme of Pride.† Shmoop. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Jan. 2013. â€Å"Play ScriptJulius Caesar.† Full Text / Script of the Play Julius Caesar Act I by William Shakespeare. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Jan. 2013.

Intentional Teaching Cycle

The Connecticut Preschool Assessment Framework manual states â€Å"early childhood teaching is a continuous process of planning and observing. Teachers plan activities and experiences that help children learn. As the educators observe the students, the educators learn about the students and then are able to plan new activities and teaching strategies to challenge the students to progress further. This process is called intentional teaching†.The intentional teaching cycle contains four ongoing phases, which are planning and implementing, observing and assessing, repeating the cycle, and summarizing. Add reference The Intentional teaching process begins to take place when teachers are deliberate, thoughtful, informed, and purposeful in his or her decisions and actions. A vital part for Intentional teaching educators is to keep up to date with the most current research pertaining to the best practice principles and then apply them to your everyday practice.I think intentional tea ching educators who have limited knowledge about a particular student’s interest should research the topic on the internet, at the library, local community and various other ways to gain more knowledge. I think this will allow teachers to engage with every child, encourage worthwhile conversations, promote interactions, challenging experiences that will encourage a higher level of thinking for the teacher and the students. My experience thus far using the cycle of intentional teaching occurred when I was working with two students in the block area.The two students were string the blocks. One of the students complained the other student had more blocks than her. I asked them how can we find out if both of you have the same amount of blocks to string? One of the students said we can count them or use a ruler, the other said we could line them up, then the other student said we could use a scale to weight the blocks. I think in this scenario the children were able to think at a higher level mathematically by thinking of the different ways to determine who had the most blocks as well as how they could divide the blocks up evenly.

Definition and Examples of Exclusive We

Definition and Examples of Exclusive 'We' In English grammar, exclusive we is the use of first-person plural pronouns (we, us, our, ours, ourselves) to refer only to the speaker or writer and his or her associates, not to the person(s) addressed. For example, Dont call us; well call you. In contrast to inclusive we, exclusive we does not include the audience or the reader. Often (but not always), exclusive we occurs when the first-person plural is used in the company of a second-person pronoun (you, yours, yourself, yourselves).   The term clusivity was recently coined to denote the phenomenon of inclusive-exclusive distinction (Elena Filimonova, Clusivity, 2005). Examples and Observations: Im especially fond of the inclusive and exclusive we. Thats a distinction between Were going to the movies. Are you ready yet? and Were going to the movies. See you later!- in other words, between being invited to the party and being a third wheel.Its particularly useful when you want to switch back and forth between the two: Im writing to you on behalf of my colleagues. We (exclusive) are wondering if youd be interested in collaborating with us (exclusive). We (inclusive) could accomplish great things together! We (exclusive) hope to hear from you soon about the future of us (inclusive)!(Gretchen McCulloch, Four Features From Other Languages That We Wish English Had. Slate, October 24, 2014)Defenders of Earth: we have come for your natural resources to rebuild our damaged planet. When we have transported all we need, we will leave your world in peace. For such peace to exist, you must immediately exile the Autobot rebels you have harbored. Non-negotiable! Renounce the rebels. We awa it your reply.(Leonard Nimoy as the voice of Sentinel Prime in the movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon, 2011) All we ask is that you make use of these ships. Sail them back to Westeros where you belong, and leave us to conduct our affairs in peace.(George Georgiou as Razdal mo Eraz in The Bear and the Maiden Fair. Game of Thrones, 2013 Khrushchev: Many things youve shown us are interesting, but they are not needed in life. They have no useful purpose. They are merely gadgets. We have a saying: if you have bedbugs you have to catch one and pour boiling water into the ear.Nixon: We have another saying. This is, that the way to kill a fly is to make it drink whiskey. But we have better use for whiskey.(Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev and American president Richard Nixon in the Kitchen Debate, July 24, 1959. Richard Nixon: Speeches, Writings, Documents, ed. by Rick Perlstein. Princeton University Press, 2008Well, all along, I guess, I thought we didnt have much of a life. You know, I felt wewell, not you, but the rest of uswere rejects. In fact, they actually had me believing that I was totally undeserving, and I was supposed to be missing out on even the basics.(Sky Lee, Bellydancer. Raincoast Books, 2002 For the present, let us return to the experiment with the opium. We have decided that you leave off the habit of smoking from this moment.(Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone, 1868You heard Santos-Dumont talking about going to St. Louis and winning a prize? Im damned if he will, not while weve got time to build an airship of our own.What do you mean we?Why Fitz, you dont think wed leave you out? Were letting you in on the ground floor as our first investor, and youll get your share of the prize money in St. Louis.(Walter J. Boyne, Dawn Over Kitty Hawk: The Novel of the Wright Brothers. Forge, 2003) The Top-Down Approach - Exclusive we . . . excludes the reader since it suggests an us-them relationship. Its use may make a text appear authoritarian as it underlines opinions of or actions undertaken by a group external to the addressee.(Anne Barron, Public Information Messages. John Benjamins, 2012)- The exclusive we implicitly sets up a hierarchical power relation and points to the top-down approach in instituting change.(Aaron Koh, Tactical Globalization. Peter Lang, 2010) Combinations of Inclusive We and Exclusive We Biber et al. (1999: 329) assert that the meaning of the first person plural pronoun [we] is often vague: we usually refers to the speaker/writer and the addressee (inclusive we), or to the speaker/writer and some other person or persons associated with him/her (exclusive we). The intended reference can even vary in the same context. Inclusive and exclusive we can be used to create a perspective of: I the speaker you the addressee(s) in the immediate context (inclusive we) and I the speaker someone else not in the immediate context (exclusive we). . . . Understanding speaker identity is crucial to understanding context . . .. (Elaine Vaughan and Brian Clancy, Small Corpora and Pragmatics. Yearbook of Corpus Linguistics and Pragmatics 2013: New Domains and Methodologies, ed. by Jesà ºs Romero-Trillo. Springer, 2013) Grammatical Features Associated With Inclusive We and Exclusive We [A]lthough the distinction between an inclusive/exclusive  we is not morphologically marked in English, Scheibmanns (2004) analysis of conversational utterances in the first person plural has shown that different referential values of we may be signaled by the differential employment of other formal features of the utterance. More specifically, an inclusive interpretation of we was found to favor employment of present tense and modal verbs, while exclusive interpretations of we appear more frequently with past tense and fewer modal verbs. (Theodossia-Soula Pavlidou, Constructing Collectivity With We: An Introduction. Constructing Collectivity: We Across Languages and Contexts, ed. by Theodossia-Soula Pavlidou. John Benjamins, 2014) Read More Discourse Analysis Editorial  We,  Inclusive  We, and  Royal  We First-Person Point of View  and  First-Person Pronouns PragmaticsSociolinguistics

Computer and American Culture essays

Computer and American Culture essays How the Computer Has Changed American Culture When trying to envision the world of today without computers, I imagine that our lifestyles would be extremely different. As exciting as technological developments may be...it is important to remember that people who lack the skills or the machines to tap into this information are in the same position as those a century ago who could not read or had no access to books (240). These new technologies have undoubtedly altered our sense of what it means to be literate (239). Years ago, being educated simply meant that you could read and write. Today one must go through years of formal schooling to be considered scholarly. This is because, Our sources of information have become much more diverse than they were even a generation ago, (239). Early in the century, being able to read and write was a skill that only the wealthy could attain. Those without the ability to read and write were typically poor and powerless. As education became available to nearly all of America, the amount of education past high school was the key to wealth and power. Today, information and the skills to access information are past becoming linked to success. This is in part because of the computer, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. Those without computer skills in the future will be left behind, powerless. I can still remember the excitement that I felt the first time I placed my hands on a keyboard. As Neil Postman states, What is peculiar about such interpositions of computers is that their role in directing what we will see or know is so rarely noticed, (247). Throughout this paper, I will examine the advancement of inventions, work ethics, jobs, and how the computer has changed these to make our lives easier in some ways, but more complex in others. Following the development of computers, American culture underwent vast and fast-paced changes. These new ma...

Aztec Origins and the Founding of Tenochtitlan

Aztec Origins and the Founding of Tenochtitlan The origins of the Aztec Empire are part legend, part archaeological and historical fact. When the Spanish conquistador Hernn Cortà ©s arrived in Basin of Mexico in 1517, he found that the Aztec Triple Alliance, a strong political, economic and military pact, controlled the basin and indeed much of central America. But where did they come from, and how did they get to be so powerful? The Origins of the Aztecs The Aztecs, or, more properly, the Mexica as they called themselves, were not originally from the Valley of Mexico but rather migrated from the north. They called their homeland Aztlan, The Place of Herons., but Aztlan is a location which has not as yet been identified archaeologically and was likely at least partly mythical. According to their own records, the Mexica and other tribes were known as a group as the Chichimeca, left their homes in northern Mexico and the southwestern United States because of a great drought. This story is told in several surviving codices (painted folding books), in which the Mexica are shown carrying with them the idol of their patron deity Huitzilopochtli. After two centuries of migration, at around AD 1250, the Mexica arrived in the Valley of Mexico. Today, the Basin of Mexico is filled with the sprawling metropolis of Mexico City; but underneath the modern streets are the ruins of Tenochtitln, the site where the Mexica settled, and the capital city for the Aztec empire. Basin of Mexico Before the Aztecs When the Aztecs arrived in the Valley of Mexico, it was far from an empty place. Because of its wealth of natural resources, the valley has been continuously occupied for thousands of years, the first known substantial occupation established at least as early as the second century BC. The Valley of Mexico lies ~2,100 meters (7,000 feet) above sea level, and it is surrounded by high mountains, some of which are active volcanoes. Water coursing down in streams from these mountains created a series of shallow, marshy lakes that provided a rich source for animals and fish, plants, salt and water for cultivation. Today the Valley of Mexico is almost entirely covered by the monstrous expansion of Mexico City: but there were ancient ruins as well as thriving communities when the Aztecs arrived, including the abandoned stone structures of two major cities: Teotihuacan and Tula, both referred to by the Aztecs as the Tollans. Teotihuacn: Almost a thousand years before the Aztecs, the huge and carefully planned city of Teotihuacn (occupied between 200 BC and AD 750) flourished there. Today Teotihuacan is a popular archaeological site a few miles north of modern Mexico City that attracts thousands of tourists each year. The word Teotihuacn is a Nahuatl (the language spoken by the Aztecs) word meaning The Birthplace of the Gods. We dont know its real name, but the Aztecs gave this name to the city because it was a sacred place associated with the legendary origins of the world. Tula: Another city that developed in the Valley of Mexico before the Aztecs was the city of Tula, the early post-classic capital of the Toltecs between AD 950 and 1150. The Toltecs were considered by the Aztecs to be the ideal rulers, brave warriors who excelled in the arts and sciences. Tula was so revered by the Aztecs that the king Motecuhzoma (aka Montezuma) sent people to dig up Toltec objects for use in the temples at Tenochtit ln. The Mexica were awestruck by the massive structures built by the Tollans, considering Teotihuacan to be the sacred setting for the creation of the current world or Fifth Sun. The Aztecs carried away and reused objects from the sites: more than 40 Teotihuacan-style objects have been found in offerings within Tenochtitlans ceremonial precinct. Aztec Arrival in Tenochtitln When the Mexica arrived in the Valley of Mexico about 1200 AD, both Teotihuacn and Tula had been abandoned for centuries; but other groups were already settled on the best land. These were groups of Chichimecs, related to the Mexica, who had migrated from the north in earlier times. The late-coming Mexica were forced to settle on the inhospitable hill of Chapultepec or Grasshopper Hill. There they became vassals of the city of Culhuacan, a prestigious city whose rulers were considered the heirs of the Toltecs. As acknowledgment for their assistance in battle, the Mexica were given one of the daughters of the King of Culhuacan to be worshiped as a goddess/priestess. When the king arrived to attend the ceremony, he found one of the Mexica priests dressed in the flayed skin of his daughter: the Mexica reported to the king that their God Huitzilopochtli had asked for the sacrifice of the princess. The sacrifice and flaying of the Culhua Princess provoked a ferocious battle, which the Mexica lost. They were forced to leave Chapultepec and move to some marshy islands in the middle of the lake. Tenochtitln: Living in a Marshland After they were forced out of Chapultepec, according to the Mexica myth, the Aztecs wandered for weeks, searching for a place to settle. Huitzilopochtli appeared to the Mexica leaders and indicated a place where a great eagle was perched on a cactus killing a snake. This place, smack dab in the middle of a marsh with no proper ground at all, was where the Mexica founded their capital, Tenochtitln. The year was 2 Calli (Two House) in the Aztec calendar, which translates in our modern calendars to AD 1325. The apparently unfortunate position of their city, in the middle of a marsh, actually facilitated economic connections and protected Tenochtitln from military attacks by restricting access to the site by canoe or boat traffic. Tenochtitln grew rapidly as both a commercial and military center. The Mexica were skillful and fierce soldiers and, despite the story of the Culhua princess, they were also able politicians who created solid alliances with the surrounding cities. Growing a Home in the Basin The city grew rapidly, with palaces and well-organized residential areas and aqueducts providing fresh water to the city from the mountains. At the center of the city stood the sacred precinct with ball courts, schools for nobles, and priests quarters. The ceremonial heart of the city and of the whole empire was the Great Temple of Mexico-Tenochtitln, known as the Templo Mayor or Huey Teocalli (the Great House of the Gods). This was a stepped pyramid with a double temple on top dedicated to Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc, the main deities of the Aztecs. The temple, decorated with bright colors, was rebuilt many times during Aztec history. The seventh and final version was seen and described by Hernn Cortà ©s and the conquistadors. When Cortà ©s and his soldiers entered the Aztec capital on November 8, 1519, they found one of the largest cities in the world. Sources Edited and updated by K. Kris Hirst Berdan FF. 2014. Aztec Archaeology and Ethnohistory. New York: Cambridge University Press.Healan D. 2012. The Archaeology of Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Research 20(1):53-115.Smith ME. 2013. The Aztecs. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.Van Tuerenhout DR. 2005, The Aztecs: New Perspectives. Santa Barbara CA: ABC-CLIO Inc.

BlackBerry company fail Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

BlackBerry company fail - Essay Example Blackberry, the Ontario-based smartphone company, had opportunities to survive and adapt but it took the wrong direction. U.S President Barack Obama was quoted saying that one of the things he was addicted to was his BlackBerry. One of his reasons was that the phone had advanced security features (Herman, Hadlaw and Swiss, 2014). The company was started in 1984 by engineering students Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin and was for a long time a global leader in communication products. This was until it failed to see the impact of the iPhone, became blind to competition (especially from cheaper Asian rivals), and delayed in launching new phones. Despite being named by Fortune magazine in 2009 as the world’s fastest growing company, BlackBerry dropped a plan to be acquired for $4.7 billion and laid off its chief executive. This is in contrast to Apple, where Steve Jobs managed to turn it round through adaptability after being 90 days from the verge of bankruptcy in 1997 (Kint, 2014). Success and failure in the technology business are rarely predictable. BlackBerry had an obvious lead in the market, and its managers discussed various ways of coming out of the predicament but in the end they made the wrong choices (Rao and Klein, 2013). Basically, they did not fail to adapt, but they made the wrong adaptations. Long time survival is about making the right adaptations. In the book Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure, Financial Time’s columnist Tim Harford stated that, â€Å"success comes through rapidly fixing our mistakes rather than getting things right the first time† (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 2014). The Globe and Mail of Friday 27th September 2013 investigative report revealed that Verizon asked Blackberry to create a touch screen but the result was a failure leading Verizon to turn to Motorola and Google (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 2014). In 2012 BlackBerry’s CEO Jim Balsillie quit the

Data search and Referencing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Data search and Referencing - Essay Example Using the key words stated above, the quick search option was used to find a list of articles on the topic of exercise and physical activity, from various relevant journals. Then, the best articles were selected and retrieved for this project. Similarly, through Google, the home page of ScienceDirect was accessed. Being already registered with the research database, the same procedure as detailed above for Ebscohost was used. An example of a secondary reference is a book review (Aguilar-Stone, 2004), which was also retrieved from the ScienceDirect database. For searching the database of SAGE Publications (Sagepub), once again, using Google, the home page of the database was accessed. Using the Quick Search option and the key words mentioned above, a list of articles on the topic were obtained. A few of the articles had free access, without the use of membership. Those articles that needed subscription, were accessed with the help of Username and Password. The data search has highlighted the importance of exercise and physical fitness. Caspersen et al (1985) state that the terms â€Å"Physical activity†, â€Å"exercise† and â€Å"physical fitness† describe different concepts. â€Å"Ideally, standardized terminology will promote greater understanding of the relation between physical activity, exercise, physical fitness and health† (p.126). http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WPB-4CNGP1P-1&_user=10&_coverDate=08%2F31%2F2004&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=f76057681867d950a057df07c5bd4025 Anderson, D.F., Cychosz, C.M. and Franke, W.D. 2001. Preliminary exercise identity scale (EIS) norms for three adult samples. Journal of Sport Behaviour, [online]. 24 (1). [cited 4th September, 2007]. http://www.questia.com/read/5002388251 Caspersen, C.J., Powell, K.E. and Christenson, G.M. 1985. Physical activity, exercise and physical fitness: definitions and distinctions for

Academic Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Academic Strategies - Essay Example m must be established to train the health care providers to become resilient and not crack under pressure which often lead to a gap in provision of quality of health care and lastly the workup sheets used in the areas should be labeled with different colors and should be printed beforehand to save time and also improve efficiency of health care providers, a complain or comment box should be made so that patients can anonymously report about anything that bothers them. The prevention of infections within the hospital can be controlled by implementing the following steps; the most important step is the maintenance of hygiene and cleanliness within the hospital, training programs to be conducted monthly which train the hospital employees on prevention on spread of infection and then a proper infection control authority should be established which ensure each and every step is actually practiced and it also helps to identify any outbreaks that may have occurred in the hospital. The healt h care system is infested by a wide range of errors that can be prevented and there are many tests and procedures conducted regularly which are usually unnecessary for the patient. There are many occurrences of death and injuries annually which could have been prevented only if quality health care would have been provided. There are many overuse, misused and underused procedure within the hospital that also increase the expense of both the hospital and the patient. Poor quality of health care leads to patient deaths and complication during procedures. A research conducted by the Midwest Business group concluded that approximately 30% of expenditures in health care are due to poor the quality of health care. 30% is equivalent to a rough estimate of $390 billion (Meyer, Carrol, Kutyla, Stepnick & Rybowski, 2015). The occurrence of health care associated infections also known as HAI’s has grown to staggering numbers since the past few years. According to some facts and figures, every one

Oil Company and Pipeline Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Oil Company and Pipeline - Case Study Example The case fall under the Alberta’s Pipeline Act, Pipeline Regulation, and applicable Canadian Standards Association (CSA) standards. Lance was hired by Bikal within the contract period to inspect the pipeline. Bikal’s contract was under the following condition â€Å"to maintain Akel’s refinery with the agreement of payment only during the uptime of the refinery†. This shows that Baikal was in the line of duty and sought to hire an outside company to work on the inspection. It is professionally ethical to consult with other companies to provide services. Baikal therefore, was to enforce a contract with Lance by having a written agreement so that the contract between the two was enforceable by law. Lance duty was to ensure proper inspection was done. Engineering allows for non-destructive testing of the materials in this case the refinery has the pipelines. What lance did was to work on the minor aspects of the pumping system as well as keep time as required by Baikal. This case is based on the pressure in the system where they were right to check the source of the pressure that is the pump. Engineering formulates guidelines on how to undertake such measures to prevent leakages in the drainage and unnecessary pressure build up, the material under testing. This provides necessary actions and safety measures for pressure testing. Akel the contracting company who owns the refinery plays a role in the case as the paying party. Failure of the system to operate means the termination of the Baikal contract. This case has incurred Akel several expenditures from the replacement of the pump as well as the broken pipeline. Akel is obliged to ask what went wrong as he enquired and found out that the first report submitted by Lance engineers was inadequate, missing standard tests. The problem was primarily due to erosion in the pipe and could have possibly led to a disaster. Lance engineers cited that â€Å"Baikal had given them

Sainsbury's Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sainsbury's Case Study - Essay Example From the auspicious events in the 1970’s to the menacing 21st century, the company stakeholders had to remain on their toes being susceptible to the fluctuating financial position of the company. Impact of the problems and the solution strategy on the Investors: It was all going favourable for the company investors till the start of 2002 when the situation began to worsen. The profit position of the company deteriorated in 2004 which initiated the warning signals for the investors. The fact that half of the Board of Directors and some of the executives had resigned created a bleaker picture for the financers of the company and hence shook the investor confidence. This must have created immense problems and communication gaps between the two parties involved. This situation demanded a huge drive towards relationship management in the company. The company management and executive board needed to minimize the communication gap and that could have been done by calling company meet ings and putting up issues in the annual general meeting of the company (Kehoe 2011). To boost the investor confidence the company would have to work on promotion efforts in the public sector. On the other side, the management had started to form negative connotations of the Sainsbury family’s efforts. ... There were also discrepancies in the financial matrices of the company that created a lot of misconceptions for the investors. The strategies that were later used by the company also impacted the investors. For example, the management spent ?3bn on IT systems which certainly alarmed the investors in such troublesome times. In these times the company management badly needed to find policies that could create motivation in the investors and revise cordial relationships between the company stakeholders. All measures that had to be implemented impacted the investor directly or indirectly. Even the policy of finding a target market had implications for the investors (Shah 2012). The executives of the company had to use this concept as a yardstick in the process of decision making and strategic planning. From the case study we can easily identify that the investors wanted rapid profits at this time which obviously was not feasible. Impact of the problems and the solution strategy on the Bo ard of Directors: The entire scenario under discussion posed serious questions on the viability of the company that should have been very worrisome for the company directors. The strategic decision making in these tough times was very difficult and each decision could have created a do or die situation for them. Hence prudence in each implementation step was needed to a lot of extent. The problems such as that of weakening financial position of the company must have led to people pointing fingers at the directors. The directors would have faced pressures not only from the investors but also from the employees. The point of losing market share must have popped up concerns

Walmart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Walmart - Essay Example The tool of success touched the door steps of Walmart early in the century when it overcame the existing Exxon Mobile and other notable players of the market namely General motors and Ford. The core policy adopted across the United States was based on the principle of discounted sales across its large number of super stores. The success can be measured and evaluated by the figures, since figures speak no exaggeration, and tell the real story. While in 1993 the net sales stood at thirty three thousand dollars, by 2002 the entire sales had popped up to over 2 hundred thousand dollars. Similarly the number of associates, and the units also increased, speaking for its ever successful working and expansion. The number of super stores were also increased in the mentioned period of time which is another sign of the demand of customers and living up to it. Grocery retail is another area it has barged into and has found success. The endeavor was not limited to the local shores; instead the entire project was expanded beyond the borders and continents. In such pursuit, the company extended its services across Europe. The ever constant principle of Customer friendly services and reduces prices made its service and products sell like hot cakes anywhere it went. It was faced with number of obstacles in foreign lands, much in case of Germany, where profits were not as visible as in the rest of off shore markets. In bid to overcome this obstacle, it came up with the proposition of constant pricing across the local and international market in all the chains of Walmart. Germany hasn’t been the best of spots for hunting in terms of Walmart expansion. However it has received good response in countries like China, Canada and Mexico. Success does not come without a pre defined policy and procedure. Properly worked out mechanism needs to be in place which requires

Sainsbury's Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sainsbury's Case Study - Essay Example From the auspicious events in the 1970’s to the menacing 21st century, the company stakeholders had to remain on their toes being susceptible to the fluctuating financial position of the company. Impact of the problems and the solution strategy on the Investors: It was all going favourable for the company investors till the start of 2002 when the situation began to worsen. The profit position of the company deteriorated in 2004 which initiated the warning signals for the investors. The fact that half of the Board of Directors and some of the executives had resigned created a bleaker picture for the financers of the company and hence shook the investor confidence. This must have created immense problems and communication gaps between the two parties involved. This situation demanded a huge drive towards relationship management in the company. The company management and executive board needed to minimize the communication gap and that could have been done by calling company meet ings and putting up issues in the annual general meeting of the company (Kehoe 2011). To boost the investor confidence the company would have to work on promotion efforts in the public sector. On the other side, the management had started to form negative connotations of the Sainsbury family’s efforts. ... There were also discrepancies in the financial matrices of the company that created a lot of misconceptions for the investors. The strategies that were later used by the company also impacted the investors. For example, the management spent ?3bn on IT systems which certainly alarmed the investors in such troublesome times. In these times the company management badly needed to find policies that could create motivation in the investors and revise cordial relationships between the company stakeholders. All measures that had to be implemented impacted the investor directly or indirectly. Even the policy of finding a target market had implications for the investors (Shah 2012). The executives of the company had to use this concept as a yardstick in the process of decision making and strategic planning. From the case study we can easily identify that the investors wanted rapid profits at this time which obviously was not feasible. Impact of the problems and the solution strategy on the Bo ard of Directors: The entire scenario under discussion posed serious questions on the viability of the company that should have been very worrisome for the company directors. The strategic decision making in these tough times was very difficult and each decision could have created a do or die situation for them. Hence prudence in each implementation step was needed to a lot of extent. The problems such as that of weakening financial position of the company must have led to people pointing fingers at the directors. The directors would have faced pressures not only from the investors but also from the employees. The point of losing market share must have popped up concerns

Female Entrepreneurship in comparison with male entrepreneurs Coursework

Female Entrepreneurship in comparison with male entrepreneurs - Coursework Example It a psychologically belief that their efforts are considered to be untrained and unskilled in comparison to their counterparts. Various researches on entrepreneurship relate to male distinctiveness and focused mainly onto male-dominant area. Few studies considered the female individuality of entrepreneurship with their related actions. Women always had to put some extra effort in order to succeed in putting up a business and then maintaining it in a male dominated working environment. Therefore, women had to gain extra assets through other connections and networking. Mainly women who belong to subordinate classes need major support from their families and friends and the tie ups they make in between through negotiations, in order to set up and maintain a business. Whereas, women from high class families or from middle class families, could independently initiate their business through contacts with their colleagues or with the members of the chamber and association. Moreover, there can be a personal ambition or drive to set up a business of its own or else some other external reasons like the fight to survive, where women believe on their social contacts and networks and utilize it completely to shape up their business entity. II. Female entrepreneurship in comparison with male entrepreneurship: Various studies have reflected that female and male entrepreneurs vary in respect of: their production outcomes; the motivations they get to start up a business; the effort they put up for the progress of their business entity; the extent of their business start-ups; the sort of business they want to start; the performance potential they expect to have for their set up; their preference for any project risk; the technique they apply to identify various business opportunities; the assurance they have in their efforts for start-up; and the consequences that they need to face (Brush, 1992; Carter et al., 1997; Srinivasan, et al., 1993; Boden, 2000; Office of Advocacy, 200 6; Robb and Wolken 2002 ). II. 1. Performance of firms Studies have highlighted that the presentation of new projects led by females lag behind to that led by males. For ventures led by females, factors like sales growth, employment growth, compensation and venture endurance are all considered to be low. (Boden, 2000; Office of Advocacy, 2006; Robb and Wolken 2002; Srinivasan, et al., 1993). The firms owned by women have inferior sales margin and hence could occupy lesser people in their business than that of men-owned enterprises (Fischer et al., 1993). For example, in 2002 the firms owned by females generated about 87585 dollar sales and had employed about 7.79 people in comparison to 12.04 employees and 1862159 dollar sales for those led by men (Office of Advocacy, 2006). Women-owned firms also gained less income than that by men. They generate an average of only 78% of the profit in a similar business led by men. (Robb and Wolken, 2002). Furthermore, 46% of freelanced women earn less than 15000 dollar in 1998, whereas only 21% of freelanced men earned this amount. On the contrary, 16% of freelanced men earned higher than 95,000 dollar, in comparison to 4% of women (Office of Advocacy, 2001). New projects led by women have little chance to survive eventually than the

“There Is No Truth in Advertising.” Discuss Essay Example for Free

â€Å"There Is No Truth in Advertising.† Discuss Essay Advertising is omnipresent and inescapable in today’s world. It is claimed that an average person is exposed to 2000 advertisements every day. Due to its all-pervasive nature, advertising has a huge impact on our minds, both consciously and unconsciously. However, the credibility of today’s advertisements should be questioned. As media companies and advertising agents become increasingly profit-driven, advertisements now contain false information, promote biased ideas and sometimes even deveice consumers, in order to sell products. Even some non-commercial advertisements are not telling the complete truth, in order to grab people’s attentions. Many advertisements tend to tell â€Å"partial truth† about their products, which equates to false information that would mislead viewers. To increase revenue and maximise profits, advertising agents use the tactic of â€Å"partial truths† that make use of viewers’ assumptions. Advertising agents skillfully design the advertisements that will only reveal the seemingly appealing characteristics of the product, and deliberately leave the necessary elaboration and explanation, which is the other half of the truth, unmentioned. An advertisement for some cat food purported that it contains a substaintial level of phosphorus, which would lead the viewers to think that more phosphorus is good for cats. But what the advertisements did not mention was that cats actually do not need phosphorous in their diet. Another cigarette advertisement in Bangladesh said that smoking helped to relieve the pain of giving birth, which is true because somking decreases the size of babies. Its detrimental effect on babies was deliberately ignored by the advertising agent. These â€Å"partial truth† are not truths at all. They are misleading lies which, if the consumers believe blindly, may even harm their health. Also, advertisements always ignore the moral truth of gender equality. They contain some stereotypes about gender roles most of the time. While men are usually portrayed as strong and masculine, women are almost always depicted as fragile, weak and feminine. Some advertisements convey the idea that women should devote a lot of money, time and effort into the pursuit of ideal beauty, to please men. There is even objectification of women that turns women into things and objects, which is dehumanising and unrespectful. One advertisement writes â€Å"If I did not lose 49 pounds, I could never be married by now†, which is saying that women should focus on their figure in order to find a husband. Another beer advertisement turns a lady into a robot that contains beer in its belly. While these â€Å"innovate† advertisements may be effective in promoting the products, they are without doubt instilling people with the wrong idea that women and men are not equal in this society, that women is somewhat inferior, which are not the truth. [However, they do reflect and reinforce existing ideas of gender roles and inequality, which is the sad reality. ] Furthermore, advertisements deceive us into believing that by buying certain products, we are able to obtain a desirable lifestyle, gain social status or get into certain social community. Advertisements are not selling merely products, but also the lifestyles, ideas, calues and status that the company want to associate the product with. By constantly linking the products with a certain lifestyle, the advertisements make the consumers believe that buying the product is one easy way to get that desired lifestyle. For instance, Louis Vuitton’s advertisements always show celebrities holding their handbags, enjoying themselves on holiday. This makes many nouveau riche think that having one of such bags would get themselves into the moneyed class and the lifestyle of the rich. However, it is without doubt that buying certain products does not change who you are or where you belong to. It is just a deception created by the advertisements. Some people may argue that advertisements for some cutting-edge technical products that truly benefit people, such as tablets and smartphones, do contain truths. I do not deny that these advertisements do contain some facts, such as the new features of the products, the improved functions and so forth. However, being advertisements, they are more or less exaggerated in order to achieve the ultimate goal of selling. Advertisements of this kind, such as the advertisement for the new iPad, always contain the key words like â€Å"all new†, â€Å"revoluntionary† or â€Å"unprecedented†, but never mention the limitations and the flaws [built-in obsolescence]. Only after a few months when the company launches a newer model would it start to point out what flaws the previous model has. This is the nature of advertising. There is no complete truth. Non-commercial advertisements are believed by many to be absolute true. They argue that these advertisements campaigning for good causes have no motive to lie. However, in order to create greater influence and to raise people’s awareness, non-commercial advertisements also tend to exaggerate and oversimplify the situation. For instane, the advertisements that help Project Hope in China to raise fund often show children who are eager to learn sitting in shabby wooden classrooms, dressed poorly. Though there are many children like this in the rural area, not all of them are passionate about learning, and not all classrooms are in such poor condition. In order to grab public attention, these advertisements are wise to show the pooresr scene to the public. But this kind of oversimplified version is definitely not the complete truth. [emotional manipulation] In all, advertising by nature aims to grab public attention. In oder to do this, there is always some extent of exaggeration. This is how advertisements work. As long as there are no false information or deceptions that mislead people, advertising with some extent of exaggeration is acceptable. People should learn to be discriminating views ant not just believe advertisements blindly.

A Comparison of the Roman and Mongol Empires

A Comparison of the Roman and Mongol Empires Contents Introduction The Roman Empire Julius Caesar Governance Religion Trade and Warfare The Mongols Empire Genghis Khan Governance Religion Warfare Mughal Empire Akbar the Emperor Governance Religion and Culture Common Characteristics of the Empires and Emperors Born to Wealthy, Political, and/or Kingship Continue from the foundation Governance Strength for source of power Warfare as a means of expansion Relevant lessons Bibliography Introduction ‘One of the lessons of history is that even the deepest crises can be moments of opportunity. They bring ideas from the margins into the mainstream’ (Mulgan, 2009). Empires have come and gone away but the lessons they brought to the world remain in the minds of the people and documented in the books of world history. The word empire has a very broad definition and some often misinterpret the word. To many it means dictatorship, war among civilisations, exploiting the poor, high profile palaces and Kings and emperors living in comfort ruling over a growing conquest. Although some part of all this is true all of this is history in the world we live in today all that is left is lessons that they brought and the teachings that we still abide by even to this day; history brings more to the table than most people come to think because the governance structures used today, religions, cultures and arts are all brought by the historical world that is passed. In this paper, we are going to discuss the brief history of three empires in history that came in different eras looking at their history, their similarities and the lessons that can be drawn from them. The focus will be mainly cast on governance and city planning but also taking a look at how religion and culture influenced governance and to what extent. How artistry also played a part in planning the cities of the past and how all of these play a major role in our cities today. The empires that are going to be discussed include: The Roman Empire, The Mongols Empire and the Mughal Empire. The structure of the paper is discussing the brief history of the above-mentioned empires individually then from there we look at the common characteristics that exist in each empire that made them successful, this paper will further discuss the differences, the lessons that we can take from history that are still relevant today in terms of governance and city planning. The Roman Empire Some scholars argue that the Roman Empire existed even during the ‘Republic’ although to some extent this is true it was just never visible. It all started in Rome a city-state that is located 25 kilometres from the mouth of the Tiber River. It consisted of high advanced culture and strong army which made it a powerful civilisation (Edward, 1979). Figure 1: Roman Empire (Anon, 2008) Julius Caesar Julius is seen as the engineer of the Empire, he was born to a patrician family in 100 B.C.E to a chief in the senate house of the â€Å"Roman Republic†. He rose in popularity in Rome. Popular with the troops and the people because of his conquest of Gaul; A brilliant military commander. He was murdered on the 15th of March 44 B.C.E; stabbed 23 times by the senate this triggered a civil war which saw Augustus take over the Republic and turning it into an Empire (Bladen, 2011). Governance Rome transitioned from a Monarchy to a Republic then finally to an Empire. This gave a clear distinction between the Proletariat and the bourgeoisie, the rich and the poor, women and men. Only a group of people were allowed to be citizens during the Roman Empire. It was ruled over by one individual who was given the divine power due to power, wealth or any other valuable contributor. The Empire spread all over the Mediterranean Sea as shown above by the picture, ruled by peace there was almost no warfare. This dictatorship system continued for the rest of the Empire (Garnsey Saller, 2014) Religion The Romans and conquered personnel brought many cults to the Empire; they worshiped in churches and their homes, they made sacrifices and held festivals in their honour. Rituals were the main threshold of Roman Religion. Rome was the birth of early Christianity (Garnsey Saller, 2014). Trade and Warfare With the emergence of trade routes and sea transport at the heart of Rome; trade and warfare where the big driving factors to the growth of empire. Winning wars and conquering new territories gave Rome more resources; they acquired new skills from captives, and more slaves that increased the working force (Hopkins, 1980). The Mongols Empire Boasting at twice the land area of the Roman Empire; The Mongols have the largest land empire in world history which stretched long and wide from Central Asia to Central Europe, over to the Sea Of Japan then to Siberia and Indian subcontinents and lastly to Arabia (Khan, 1984). It existed from 1206 to 1368. The Mongols were horse men which enabled them to grow their empire wider and further quicker. The acquiring of horses and other livestock enabled then to greatly enhance their military strength (Rachewiltz, 2013). Figure 2: Mongol Empire (Anon, 2010) Genghis Khan Born to a politically strong family during the year 1161. Brilliant organizer and military mastermind he built the foundation of the Mongols Empire. He died on the 18th of August 1227 which triggered unrest to his grandsons that saw it relevant to grow what he started in memory of his life (Weatherford, 2004). Governance The law was drawn up by Genghis Khan himself with a vital point of instating the ‘Death Penalty’ which made the civilisation to be more peaceful. It was safe and well run because anyone who goes against the rules set out would endure a hard penalty (Rachewiltz, 2013). The Non-democratic parliament central assembly was held at the ‘Kurutai’ where members where the bureaucratic members of the civilisation and the chief was the only one allowed to directly communicate with the Emperor to discuss political and civil related information This dictatorship system continued for the rest of the Empire. Trade routes and postal systems were invented during this time (May, 2012). Religion Although the Emperor allowed for religious freedom the transition of religious systems went from Buddhism to Christianity then finally to Islam. Although citizens were allowed to follow which ever religion they chose (Mumford, 1946). Warfare They were generally horsemen which gave them an advantage over they foot soldiered opponents; they travelled in 10s as they attacked (Saunders, 1971). Figure 3: Mongol Army (Anon, 2012) Mughal Empire In 1494 an 11 year old boy by the name of Babur inherited a Kingdom from his father, the elders thought it would better suit the interest of the empire to take away the kingdom from the boy and assume power driving him away from the land, but little did they know that the boy possessed the power to come back and rule over his father’s empire. After being banished he built an army so strong it could withhold any opposition. The conventional beginning of the empire begins when the army of Babur assumed victory over Ibrahim Lodi in the very first battle of Panipat in 1526. He was a brilliant general and a mastermind in war this is clearly shown by his conquest of an army that had 100000 troops with his army of just merely 12000. He laid the main foundation of the Empire leaving his children to take the throne after he died (Schimmel, 2004). Figure 4: Mughal Empire (Anon, 2013) Akbar the Emperor Babur’s son was the driving force in the small decline of the empire that was growing ever small because of his lack of brilliance in the war field. Akbar on the other grew the Empire through his knowledge and understanding of humans (Sharma, 1999). After conquering his opponents Akbar took the opportunity of growing the culture of his Empire by incorporating the cultures into his Empire. Governance He ruled as the divine ruler with the help from his Bureaucratic officials which formed part of a senate with the chief of the being the one that has direct communication to the Emperor. He approached the position with some element of ease. This dictatorship system continued for the rest of the Empire (Schimmel, 2004). Religion and Culture The Empire was well rounded with different cultures and religions due to the brilliance of Akbar with his ability to blend cultures, He allowed for freedom of Religion this meant that anyone in the empire could worship their own God he’s tolerance was seen when he married women from all different types religions and allowed them to practice in the palace (Schimmel, 2004). The official Religion in the Mughal Empire was Islam but the blending created a host of different cultures new ideas on education, art, politics and language (Sharma, 1999). Common Characteristics of the Empires and Emperors Born to Wealthy, Political, and/or Kingship The most remembered people that gave a foundation to the respective empires were all born to highly recognized families. First we look at Julius Caesar who was born to a patrician family with the father part of the higher order of society which gave him the platform to be greater than his father that is why he continued on to lay a foundation for the Roman Empire (Bladen, 2011). Genghis Khan was born to a political and wealthy family which gave him the power and popularity to go on and exploit this side and take charge to bringing the Mongol Empire (May, 2012). Babur was a son of a king that is why he was presented with the opportunity to rule, although his elders took it away he’s nature to rule was fulfilled when he conquered Ibrahim Lodi and took over (Sharma, 1999). Continue from the foundation The descendants of the foundation kings took over the Empires and grew them to greater heights. The children and grand-children grew the Empires to greater Heights. Augustus took Rome to another level of empire and so did the emperors that followed him (Bunson, 1994). Ãâ€"gedei Khan was assigned by Genghis Khan to be his successor this proved crucial to the growth of the empire (Rachewiltz, 2013). Akbar the grandson of Babur grew the empire to become the largest land empire in history (Sharma, 1999). Governance They all adopted governance structure according to what they thought would work for the current time, place and given resources. Strength for source of power The empires used the resources given to achieve what they managed to achieve. Looking at the Mongols they used horses to expand their territory because they could cover more land quicker and faster and it gave them an advantage over opponents at war. Warfare as a means of expansion They fought to keep their empires and they fought to gather more land and power which was common to all the above empires as a means of expanding their territory Relevant lessons Eventually the needs of the people are much greater than the needs of those in power, by addressing the needs of the people then you will be good in terms of popularity and your position in power will be solidified. This is shown by the Akbar in the Mughal he tolerated the conquered to continue their religion even after he’s captured them (Schimmel, 2004). Freedom of religion gives power to the ruling class because it keeps the dwellers happy. Well assembled civilisations in terms of governance are safe and well run because everyone is happy because they can do whatever they want but abiding by the given rules. The death Penalty by Genghis Khan was a relevant governance structure. This reduces high level crimes like murder so this is a good lesson (May, 2012). How such a small group of Mongols Empire managed to conquered such a vast piece of land was because they were contempt in incorporating they groups that they win over into their empire and this meant that they didnâ€⠄¢t have some kind of barrier that doesn’t allow for outsiders so this meant cultures were well engineered to meet the cultural dynamic unlike most cultures that don’t allow other cultures to enter. City building was influenced by arts and culture that was in the empire and the desired taste of the Emperor because he has the final say on the building of the city. Conclusion Each Empire has its own significant characteristics but at some point they overlap to some extent which means that they have some strong similarities as to how their Empires began which was due to the power hungry political children in an attempt to by-pass their parent’s success. How they handle their conquered territories is also different while some choose to incorporate cultures some just choose to instate their own into the lives of the captives. We can draw a lot from history although we refuse to take the lessons and incorporate them because we think we know better and that history is irrelevant although it plays a vital role in our lives now and it will continue to influence our ideas even in times to come Bibliography Anon, 2008. Roman Empire. [Online] Available at: http://www.crystalinks.com/romanempire.html [Accessed 20 March 2015]. Anon, 2010. Colonialism in India and China. [Online] Available at: http://colonialism-india-china.weebly.com/mongol-empire.html [Accessed 21 March 2015]. Anon, 2012. Badass. [Online] Available at: http://badassoftheweek.com/index.cgi?id=84324331289 [Accessed 22 March 2015]. Anon, 2013. Mr. G @ AHS. [Online] Available at: https://sites.google.com/site/mrgahs/home/period-4-global-interactions-1450-ce-to-1750-ce/mughal-empire [Accessed 22 March 2015]. Bladen, V., 2011. Julius Caesar. Australia: Insight Publications. Bunson, M., 1994. Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire. New York: Facts on File. Edmondson, J.C., 1989. Mining in the Later Roman Empire and beyond: Continuity or Disruption? The Journal of Roman Studies, 79(1), pp.84-102. Edward, 1979. The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire: From the First Century A.D. to the Third. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. Garnsey, P. Saller, R., 2014. The Roman Empire: Economy, Society and Culture. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. Hall, P., 1998. Cities in civilization: culture, innovation, and urban order. London: Phoenix. Hopkins, K., 1980. Taxes and Trade in the Roman Empire. Journal Of Roman Studies, 70(1), pp.101-25. Khan, P., 1984. The Secret History of the Mongols: The Origin of Chinghis Khan. Boston: Cheng and Tsui Company. May, T., 2012. The Mongol Conquests in World History. London: Reaktion Books. Mulgan, G., 2009. Ted. [Online] Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/geoff_mulgan_post_crash_investing_in_a_better_world_1/transcript?language=en [Accessed 20 March 2015]. Mumford, L., 1946. The Culture of Cities. 5th ed. London: Martin Secker and Wraburg Limited. Rachewiltz, I.d., 2013. The Secret History of the Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century. Asia: Brill. Saunders, J.J., 1971. The History of the Mongol Conquests. Philadelphia: Routledge. Schimmel, A., 2004. The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art and Culture. London: Reaktion Books. Sharma, S.R., 1999. Mughal Empire in India: A Systematic Study Including Source Material. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers. Weatherford, J., 2004. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. New York: Crown Publishers.

Paideia, Prejudice and the Promise of the Practical Essay -- Philosoph

Paideia, Prejudice and the Promise of the Practical In an age of radical pluralism it is increasingly difficult to affirm and sustain the educational aspirations of Greek paideia (Latin humanitas). The most challenging attacks on these aspirations come from standpoints which share a postmodern attitude of opposition towards inherited cultural ideals, especially those which claim universality. This paper first examines optimistic and pessimistic prospects for the educational heritage of humanitas, concluding that, in the face of cultural disparateness which is increasingly evident in post-Enlightenment cultures, the pessimistic case seems to be more convincing. Recognizing that this gives added impetus to postmodernist standpoints, the second section examines some key features of these, taking as its examples arguments of Lyotard, Foucault and Rorty. I show that the prejudices of the postmodernist arguments are as invidious as the discriminatory assumptions and the neglect of the quality of educational practice in the Western cultural inheritance. Recalling some insights which can be gleaned from the educational practices of Socrates, the last section joins these with findings of contemporary philosophers on the pre-judgements and partiality which are inescapable features of human understanding. This is a reclamation and elucidation of a practical and promising humanitas which does justice to the claims of diversity and universality. Introduction: Hard Times for Paideia To many it may seem quaint or quixotic to make the ancient notion of paideia the theme of a world conference of philosophy in cultural circumstances which are variously described as post-industrial, post-Marxist, post-Christian, post-religious, or post-mod... ..." in R. Hollinger (ed.) Hermeneutics and Praxis (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 1985). (16) Richard Rorty, "Private Irony and Liberal Hope" in his Contingency, irony, and solidarity (henceforth CIS) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989). (17) Richard Rorty, Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (henceforth PMN) (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1980) pp.357-365. (18) Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method (T&M) translation of Wahrheit und Methode (W&M) by G. Barden & J. Cumming (New York: Seabury Press, 1975). (19) T&M, pp.10-11; W&M, pp.6-7. (20) PMN pp.358-359. (21) PMN p.351. (22) CIS, p.73. (23) CIS, pp.74-75. (24) Heraclitus, Fragment 45, quoted by Jaeger in Paideia, Bk.1, p.179. (25) These earlier Dialogues include Gorgias, Protagoras, Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and Bk.1 of Republic. (26) Plato, Apology, 23. (27) D&P, p.27.

Affect the Daily Lives of Elderly

â€Å"I’ve fallen and can’t get up! † How many times have you heard and laughed at that expression? Although there are countless jokes to go along with aging, the fact is the age process brings about numerous bodily changes that can affect the lives of older adults. With such a large span of changes that may happen, not all elderly people have the same changes. This is called probabilistic aging (changes that may happen to some, but not all people as they grow older). The majority of aging changes not only cause physical disability, but mental and social setbacks as well.The ones that have the largest effects of the quality of daily life in the elderly are the loss of bone density, kidney dysfunctions, and hypertension. As we progress through the years, our bones begin to decrease in density. We all lose some bone mass as we age and it reaches its peak between the ages of 25 and 35. Our bones lose calcium and other minerals and become more porous, lighter, and le ss dense. The loss of density causes our bones to become weak and possibly break. There are many different stages to bone loss, but osteoporosis is the most debilitating.It is most commonly found in women over the age of 60 when their bones begin to break and can even cause hip and spinal fractures. In women who have experienced menopause, they can use hormone therapy to help increase bone density. Through calcium and vitamin D supplements as well as exercise (weight lifting and walking), we can also increase our bone density. Of course, the earlier we start, the healthier our bones will be when we get older. Another common ailment is kidney disease. Our kidneys have the job of removing waste from the bloodstream.As we age and have chronic conditions like: diabetes or high blood pressure, damage can be done to our urinary tract and kidneys. When poisons and toxins are not being eliminated properly, problems can range from fatigue and frequent urination to incontinence (loss of bladd er control) and the need for dialysis (blood is cleaned out) may occur. The most extreme cases would require kidney transplants. Reducing the intake of sugar and carbohydrates, maintaining a low cholesterol and fat diet, as well as drinking plenty of fluids is what doctors suggest to avoid these types of problems.The third and most significant bodily change as we age is hypertension or high blood pressure. It is a silent change that is linked to various other diseases and is the most deadly. Hypertension is caused by fatty deposits that form on the walls of the heart vessels known as atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). The body receives blood through arteries pumped by the heart muscles. This blood carries oxygen, carbon dioxide and nutrients to the necessary areas in the body. If there are fatty deposits on the walls of the vessels, it impedes the blood flow, resulting in the heart working harder to push the blood through blocked arteries.The effect is an elevated blood pr essure reading medically known as hypertension. Stress is one of the main causes of hypertension which is directly linked to overeating, smoking, and drinking. Research indicates that cold weather can be related to high blood pressure in older people because it is related to stress. Without treatment, it increases the risk of kidney disease, erectile dysfunction, eye problems, diabetes and more importantly heart disease and stroke which can be fatal. A proper diet, exercise and healthy choices are necessary to decrease the fatty deposits in our blood vessels.All of these bodily changes can cause some form of physical disability which in turn can cause emotional and social problems as well. When a physical body change occurs, the elderly may become depressed because they may need to rely of others to help them. They also may avoid social situations because they are uncomfortable, in pain, or have a level of embarrassment due to their disability. Although biological aging cannot be av oided, there often are many ways to prevent some of the probabilistic changes from happening or be less debilitating.A common thread found throughout the bodily changes is many of them can be avertable with a healthy lifestyle change of a proper diet and exercise. So get wiser with age by seeing a doctor regularly and begin your lifestyle changes to ensure an enjoyable aging process. Works Cited Aging. (Last modified March 21, 2009. ) In Wikipedia Online. Retrieved March 21, 2009 from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Aging Bone Mineral Density. (2005-2009) WebMD. Retrieved on March 21, 2009 from http://www. webmd.com/osteoporosis/bone-mineral-density Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). (2009. ) National Kidney Foundation. Retreived on March 21, 2009 from http://www. kidney. org/kidneydisease/ckd/index. cfm Hypertension/High Blood Pressure Guide (2005-2009). WebMD. Retrieved on March 20, 2009 from http://www. webmd. com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/ Warner, J. (January 12, 2009). WebMD. High Blood Pressure Climbs in Winter. http://www. webmd. com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/news/20090112/high-blood- pressure-climbs-in-winter

Task 601.5.7-02, 03, 5.10.07

Task _601. 5. 7-02,_03,_5. 10. 07 Part C There are many different ways to give a child or group of children positive reinforcement. Though, individual and group positive reinforcement needs to be done in different ways ,there are 4 ways in which you may give positive reinforcement. There are natural positive reinforcers, such as being a team captain, free time, or sitting next to a friend. The second one is edible reinforcers, such as candy, or a pizza party. The fourth is social reinforcement, which is giving positive comments and attention.All four methods are good to use on both individual and group positive reinforcement, but the same reinforcement isn’t as effective on both. For individual positive reinforcement, when a student is following classroom rules a student will get a token for great behavior throughout the day. This reinforcement provides the children with a reward for doing good and incentive to continue following the rules. Another great positive reinforcement for individuals is personally acknowledging the child for correct answers, good behavior, etc.A simple smile, positive attention, or letting the parents know how great the student is doing is in most situations better than any physical reward, it boost the child’s self esteem and confidence in themselves. Competition tends to be a good motivator for kids. Another positive reinforcement for groups could be a party. When the entire class, reaches a certain level of attendance, the teacher could give the class a little party. Even though, not all the students where in class as much as others, it shows the student that you can have rewards when you try and how important it is to go to school.

Charles Baudelaire

Born in Paris in 1821, Charles Baudelaire has long been recognized as not only one of the greatest poets of the nineteenth century but also a forefather of modern art. Baudelaire lived during a tumultuous time in French history and his work was impacted by a number of political events. However, his personal life was also turbulent: One of the most scarring episodes of his life was the death of his father in 1827 and his mother's hasty remarriage to a general in the French army. Baudelaire detested his stepfather both personally and as a symbol of the corrupt July monarchy established following the 1830 Revolution.He went to great lengths to upset his stepfather, squandering his inheritance and living a bohemian lifestyle. Worried about his behavior, his family sent him on a trip across the Mediterranean, whose exotic beauty left a lasting impression on the young poet. Shortly after Baudelaire's return to Paris, the 1848 Revolution overthrew the July monarch and established a republic in France for the first time in more than fifty years. Baudelaire greeted the revolution with enthusiasm, fighting among the barricades and openly defying his stepfather in public.However, his joy soon turned to disenchantment when Louis Napoleon, the original Napoleon's nephew, overthrew the Second Republic in 1851. Louis Napoleon's coup d'etat instituted the Second Empire, ending the hopes for a republican form of government that men like Baudelaire favored. His disenchantment then turned to despair when Louis Napoleon began an intense rebuilding and public works project aimed at modernizing Paris. Baudelaire was horrified with the destruction of the ancient and medieval sections of Paris that he had called his home. His longing for the â€Å"old† Paris would play a major role in his poetry.Baudelaire's disgust with politics led to a rejection of reality in favor of an obsessive fantasy world inspired by drugs, the exotic beauty of the Mediterranean, and the search for lov e. He was strongly influenced in this regard not only by his experiences along the Mediterranean but also by Edgar Allen Poe, whose writings he translated into French. Baudelaire was fascinated by Poe's evocation of the dark side of the imagination, and he found a comparably sinister seductiveness in the paintings of Eugene Delacroix and Edouard Manet, as well as the music of Wagner. These themes and influences play a redominant role in Baudelaire's 1857 collection of poetry, The Flowers of Evil, which juxtaposed the negative themes of exile, decay, and death with an ideal universe of happiness. Baudelaire's exotic themes quickly caught the attention of the government, which condemned The Flowers of Evil for immorality. Unlike his friend, Gustave Flaubert, whose Madame Bovary was also put on trial, Baudelaire lost his case, had to pay a fine, and was forced to remove some poems from the collection. Baudelaire was devastated by this rejection of his work, which he attributed to the h ypocrisy of a bourgeoisie incapable of understanding artistic innovation.Yet at the same time, he saw the condemnation of his work as the culmination of the different themes and events that had shaped his artistic talent since his youth: no achievement of beauty could be unaccompanied by bitterness and disappointments. Indeed, with this philosophy, Baudelaire shifted the attention of the art world to the darker side of life, inspiring contemporary and future artists to new levels of perception and provocation. Analysis A confession of hopes, dreams, failures, and sins, The Flowers of Evil attempts to extract beauty from the malignant.Unlike traditional poetry that relied on the serene beauty of the natural world to convey emotions, Baudelaire felt that modern poetry must evoke the artificial and paradoxical aspects of life. He thought that beauty could evolve on its own, irrespective of nature and even fueled by sin. The result is a clear opposition between two worlds, â€Å"spleen † and the â€Å"ideal. † Spleen signifies everything that is wrong with the world: death, despair, solitude, murder, and disease. (The spleen, an organ that removes disease-causing agents from the bloodstream, was traditionally associated with malaise; â€Å"spleen† is a synonym for â€Å"ill-temper. ) In contrast, the ideal represents a transcendence over the harsh reality of spleen, where love is possible and the senses are united in ecstasy. The ideal is primarily an escape of reality through wine, opium, travel, and passion. Dulling the harsh impact of one's failure and regrets, the ideal is an imagined state of happiness, ecstasy, and voluptuousness where time and death have no place. Baudelaire often uses erotic imagery to convey the impassioned feeling of the ideal. However, the speaker is consistently disappointed as spleen again takes up its reign. Read also Edgar Allan Poe DrugsHe is endlessly confronted with the fear of death, the failure of his will, and the suffocation of his spirit. Yet even as the poem's speaker is thwarted by spleen, Baudelaire himself never desists in his attempt to make the bizarre beautiful, an attempt perfectly expressed by the juxtaposition of his two worlds. As in the poem â€Å"Carrion,† the decomposing flesh has not only artistic value but inspires the poet to render it beautifully. Women are Baudelaire's main source of symbolism, often serving as an intermediary between the ideal and spleen.Thus, while the speaker must run his hands through a woman's hair in order to conjure up his ideal world, he later compares his lover to a decomposing animal, reminding her that one day she will be kissing worms instead of him. His lover is both his muse, providing ephemeral perfection, and a curse, condemning him to unrequited love and an early death. Women, thus, embody both what Baudelaire called th e elevation toward God and what he referred to as the gradual descent toward Satan: They are luminous guides of his imagination but also monstrous vampires that intensify his sense of spleen, or ill temper.The result is a moderate misogyny: Baudelaire associates women with nature; thus, his attempt to capture the poetry of the artificial necessarily denied women a positive role in his artistic vision. Baudelaire's poetry also obsessively evokes the presence of death. In â€Å"To a Passerby,† a possible love interest turns out to be a menacing death. Female demons, vampires, and monsters also consistently remind the speaker of his mortality. However, the passing of time, especially in the form of a newly remodeled Paris, isolates the speaker and makes him feel alienated from society.This theme of alienation leaves the speaker alone to the horrific contemplation of himself and the hopes of a consoling death. Baudelaire further emphasizes the proximity of death through his relia nce on religious imagery and fantasy. He earnestly believes that Satan controls his everyday actions, making sin a depressing reminder of his lack of free will and eventual death. Finally, elements of fantastical horror–from ghosts to bats to black cats– amplify the destructive force of the spleen on the mind.Baudelaire was inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination, and he saw Poe's use of fantasy as a way of emphasizing the mystery and tragedy of human existence. For example, Baudelaire's three different poems about black cats express what he saw as the taunting ambiguity of women. Moreover, the presence of tortured demons and phantoms make the possibility of death more immediate to the speaker, prefiguring the fear and isolation death will bring. Summary Baudelaire famously begins The Flowers of Evil by personally addressing his reader as a partner in the creation of his poetry: â€Å"Hypocrite reader–my likeness–my brother! In â⠂¬Å"To the Reader,† the speaker evokes a world filled with decay, sin, and hypocrisy, and dominated by Satan. He claims that it is the Devil and not God who controls our actions with puppet strings, â€Å"vaporizing† our free will. Instinctively drawn toward hell, humans are nothing but instruments of death, â€Å"more ugly, evil, and fouler† than any monster or demon. The speaker claims that he and the reader complete this image of humanity: One side of humanity (the reader) reaches for fantasy and false honesty, while the other (the speaker) exposes the boredom of modern life.The speaker continues to rely on contradictions between beauty and unsightliness in â€Å"The Albatross. † This poem relates how sailors enjoy trapping and mocking giant albatrosses that are too weak to escape. Calling these birds â€Å"captive kings,† the speaker marvels at their ugly awkwardness on land compared to their graceful command of the skies. Just as in the introdu ctory poem, the speaker compares himself to the fallen image of the albatross, observing that poets are likewise exiled and ridiculed on earth. The beauty they have seen in the sky makes no sense to the teasing crowd: â€Å"Their giant wings keep them from walking. Many other poems also address the role of the poet. In â€Å"Benediction,† he says: â€Å"I know that You hold a place for the Poet / In the ranks of the blessed and the saint's legions, / That You invite him to an eternal festival / Of thrones, of virtues, of dominations. † This divine power is also a dominant theme in â€Å"Elevation,† in which the speaker's godlike ascendancy to the heavens is compared to the poet's omniscient and paradoxical power to understand the silence of flowers and mutes. His privileged position to savor the secrets of the world allows him to create and define beauty.In conveying the â€Å"power of the poet,† the speaker relies on the language of the mythically subli me and on spiritual exoticism. The godlike aviation of the speaker's spirit in â€Å"Elevation† becomes the artistry of Apollo and the fertility of Sybille in â€Å"I love the Naked Ages. † He then travels back in time, rejecting reality and the material world, and conjuring up the spirits of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, and Hercules in â€Å"The Beacons. † The power of the poet allows the speaker to invoke sensations from the reader that correspond to the works of each artistic figure.Thus, he uses this power–his imagination– to create beacons that, like â€Å"divine opium,† illuminate a mythical world that mortals, â€Å"lost in the wide woods,† cannot usually see. After first evoking the accomplishments of great artists, the speaker proposes a voyage to a mythical world of his own creation. He first summons up â€Å"Languorous Asia and passionate Africa† in the poem â€Å"The Head of Hair. † Running his fingers through a woman's hair allows the speaker to create and travel to an exotic land of freedom and happiness.In â€Å"Exotic Perfume,† a woman's scent allows the speaker to evoke â€Å"A lazy island where nature produces / Singular tress and savory fruits. † The image of the perfect woman is then an intermediary to an ideal world in â€Å"Invitation to a Voyage,† where â€Å"scents of amber† and â€Å"oriental splendor† capture the speaker's imagination. Together with his female companion, the speaker expresses the power of the poet to create an idyllic setting just for them: â€Å"There, all is nothing but beauty and elegance, / Luxury, calm and voluptuousness. † FormBaudelaire was a classically trained poet and as a result, his poems follow traditional poetic structures and rhyme schemes (ABAB or AABB). Yet Baudelaire also wanted to provoke his contemporary readers, breaking with traditional style when it would best suit his poetry's overall effect. For example, in â€Å"Exotic Perfume,† he contrasted traditional meter (which contains a break after every fifth syllable in a ten-syllable line) with enjambment in the first quatrain. The result is an amplified image of light: Baudelaire evokes the ecstasy of this image by juxtaposing it with he calm regularity of the rhythm in the beginning of the poem. Other departures from tradition include Baudelaire's habit of conveying ecstasy with exclamation points, and of expressing the accessibility of happiness with the indicative present and future verb tenses, both of which function to enhance his poetry's expressive tone. Moreover, none of his innovations came at the cost of formal beauty: Baudelaire's poetry has often been described as the most musical and melodious poetry in the French language. Commentary The Flowers of Evil evokes a world of paradox already implicit in the contrast of the title.The word â€Å"evil† (the French word is â€Å"mal,â₠¬  meaning both evil and sickness) comes to signify the pain and misery inflicted on the speaker, which he responds to with melancholy, anxiety, and a fear of death. But for Baudelaire, there is also something seductive about evil. Thus, while writing The Flowers of Evil, Baudelaire often said that his intent was to extract beauty from evil. Unlike traditional poets who had only focused on the simplistically pretty, Baudelaire chose to fuel his language with horror, sin, and the macabre.The speaker describes this duality in the introductory poem, in which he explains that he and the reader form two sides of the same coin. Together, they play out what Baudelaire called the tragedy of man's â€Å"twoness. † He saw existence itself as paradoxical, each man feeling two simultaneous inclinations: one toward the grace and elevation of God, the other an animalistic descent toward Satan. Just like the physical beauty of flowers intertwined with the abstract threat of evil, Baudelair e felt that one extreme could not exist without the other.Baudelaire struggled with his Catholicism his whole life and, thus, made religion a prevalent theme in his poetry. His language is steeped in biblical imagery, from the wrath of Satan, to the crucifixion, to the Fall of Adam and Eve. He was obsessed with Original Sin, lamenting the loss of his free will and projecting his sense of guilt onto images of women. Yet in the first part of the â€Å"Spleen and Ideal† section, Baudelaire emphasizes the harmony and perfection of an ideal world through his special closeness to God: He first compares himself to a divine and martyred creature in â€Å"TheAlbatross† and then gives himself divine powers in â€Å"Elevation,† combining words like â€Å"infinity,† â€Å"immensity,† â€Å"divine,† and â€Å"hover. † The speaker also has an extraordinary power to create, weaving together abstract paradises with powerful human experiences to form an ideal world. For example, in â€Å"Correspondences,† the speaker evokes â€Å"amber, musk, benzoin and incense / That sing, transporting the soul and sense. † He not only has the power to give voice to things that are silent but also relies on images of warmth, luxury, and pleasure to call upon and empower the reader's senses.In â€Å"Exotic Perfume,† the theme of the voyage is made possible by closing one's eyes and â€Å"breathing in the warm scent† of a woman's breasts. In effect, reading Baudelaire means feeling Baudelaire: The profusion of pleasure-inducing representations of heat, sound, and scent suggest that happiness involves a joining of the senses. This first section is devoted exclusively to the â€Å"ideal,† and Baudelaire relies on the abstraction of myth to convey the escape from reality and drift into nostalgia that the ideal represents. This theme recalls the poet's own flight from the corruption of Paris with his trip along the Mediterranean.In â€Å"The Head of Hair,† the speaker indeterminately refers to â€Å"Languorous Africa and passionate Asia,† whose abstract presence further stimulates the reader's imagination with the mythical symbolism of â€Å"sea,† â€Å"ocean,† â€Å"sky,† and â€Å"oasis. † The figure of women further contributes to this ideal world as an intermediary to happiness. The speaker must either breathe in a woman's scent, caress her hair, or otherwise engage with her presence in order to conjure up the paradise he seeks. His fervent ecstasy in this poem derives from the sensual presence of his lover: â€Å"The world†¦ o my love! wims on your fragrance. † Spleen and Ideal, Part I Summary Baudelaire famously begins The Flowers of Evil by personally addressing his reader as a partner in the creation of his poetry: â€Å"Hypocrite reader–my likeness–my brother! † In â€Å"To the Reader,† the speaker evok es a world filled with decay, sin, and hypocrisy, and dominated by Satan. He claims that it is the Devil and not God who controls our actions with puppet strings, â€Å"vaporizing† our free will. Instinctively drawn toward hell, humans are nothing but instruments of death, â€Å"more ugly, evil, and fouler† than any monster or demon.The speaker claims that he and the reader complete this image of humanity: One side of humanity (the reader) reaches for fantasy and false honesty, while the other (the speaker) exposes the boredom of modern life. The speaker continues to rely on contradictions between beauty and unsightliness in â€Å"The Albatross. † This poem relates how sailors enjoy trapping and mocking giant albatrosses that are too weak to escape. Calling these birds â€Å"captive kings,† the speaker marvels at their ugly awkwardness on land compared to their graceful command of the skies.Just as in the introductory poem, the speaker compares himself to the fallen image of the albatross, observing that poets are likewise exiled and ridiculed on earth. The beauty they have seen in the sky makes no sense to the teasing crowd: â€Å"Their giant wings keep them from walking. † Many other poems also address the role of the poet. In â€Å"Benediction,† he says: â€Å"I know that You hold a place for the Poet / In the ranks of the blessed and the saint's legions, / That You invite him to an eternal festival / Of thrones, of virtues, of dominations. This divine power is also a dominant theme in â€Å"Elevation,† in which the speaker's godlike ascendancy to the heavens is compared to the poet's omniscient and paradoxical power to understand the silence of flowers and mutes. His privileged position to savor the secrets of the world allows him to create and define beauty. In conveying the â€Å"power of the poet,† the speaker relies on the language of the mythically sublime and on spiritual exoticism. The godlike aviation of the speaker's spirit in â€Å"Elevation† becomes the artistry of Apollo and the fertility of Sybille in â€Å"I love the Naked Ages. He then travels back in time, rejecting reality and the material world, and conjuring up the spirits of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, and Hercules in â€Å"The Beacons. † The power of the poet allows the speaker to invoke sensations from the reader that correspond to the works of each artistic figure. Thus, he uses this power–his imagination– to create beacons that, like â€Å"divine opium,† illuminate a mythical world that mortals, â€Å"lost in the wide woods,† cannot usually see. After first evoking the accomplishments of great artists, the speaker proposes a voyage to a mythical world of his own creation.He first summons up â€Å"Languorous Asia and passionate Africa† in the poem â€Å"The Head of Hair. † Running his fingers through a woman's hair allows the speaker to create and travel to an exotic land of freedom and happiness. In â€Å"Exotic Perfume,† a woman's scent allows the speaker to evoke â€Å"A lazy island where nature produces / Singular tress and savory fruits. † The image of the perfect woman is then an intermediary to an ideal world in â€Å"Invitation to a Voyage,† where â€Å"scents of amber† and â€Å"oriental splendor† capture the speaker's imagination.Together with his female companion, the speaker expresses the power of the poet to create an idyllic setting just for them: â€Å"There, all is nothing but beauty and elegance, / Luxury, calm and voluptuousness. † Form Baudelaire was a classically trained poet and as a result, his poems follow traditional poetic structures and rhyme schemes (ABAB or AABB). Yet Baudelaire also wanted to provoke his contemporary readers, breaking with traditional style when it would best suit his poetry's overall effect.For example, in â€Å"Exotic Per fume,† he contrasted traditional meter (which contains a break after every fifth syllable in a ten-syllable line) with enjambment in the first quatrain. The result is an amplified image of light: Baudelaire evokes the ecstasy of this image by juxtaposing it with the calm regularity of the rhythm in the beginning of the poem. Other departures from tradition include Baudelaire's habit of conveying ecstasy with exclamation points, and of expressing the accessibility of happiness with the indicative present and future verb tenses, both of which function to enhance his poetry's expressive tone.Moreover, none of his innovations came at the cost of formal beauty: Baudelaire's poetry has often been described as the most musical and melodious poetry in the French language. Commentary The Flowers of Evil evokes a world of paradox already implicit in the contrast of the title. The word â€Å"evil† (the French word is â€Å"mal,† meaning both evil and sickness) comes to sign ify the pain and misery inflicted on the speaker, which he responds to with melancholy, anxiety, and a fear of death.But for Baudelaire, there is also something seductive about evil. Thus, while writing The Flowers of Evil, Baudelaire often said that his intent was to extract beauty from evil. Unlike traditional poets who had only focused on the simplistically pretty, Baudelaire chose to fuel his language with horror, sin, and the macabre. The speaker describes this duality in the introductory poem, in which he explains that he and the reader form two sides of the same coin. Together, they play out what Baudelaire called the tragedy of man's â€Å"twoness. He saw existence itself as paradoxical, each man feeling two simultaneous inclinations: one toward the grace and elevation of God, the other an animalistic descent toward Satan. Just like the physical beauty of flowers intertwined with the abstract threat of evil, Baudelaire felt that one extreme could not exist without the other . Baudelaire struggled with his Catholicism his whole life and, thus, made religion a prevalent theme in his poetry. His language is steeped in biblical imagery, from the wrath of Satan, to the crucifixion, to the Fall of Adam and Eve.He was obsessed with Original Sin, lamenting the loss of his free will and projecting his sense of guilt onto images of women. Yet in the first part of the â€Å"Spleen and Ideal† section, Baudelaire emphasizes the harmony and perfection of an ideal world through his special closeness to God: He first compares himself to a divine and martyred creature in â€Å"The Albatross† and then gives himself divine powers in â€Å"Elevation,† combining words like â€Å"infinity,† â€Å"immensity,† â€Å"divine,† and â€Å"hover. † The speaker also has an extraordinary power to create, weaving together abstract paradises with powerful human experiences to form an ideal world.For example, in â€Å"Correspondences,â €  the speaker evokes â€Å"amber, musk, benzoin and incense / That sing, transporting the soul and sense. † He not only has the power to give voice to things that are silent but also relies on images of warmth, luxury, and pleasure to call upon and empower the reader's senses. In â€Å"Exotic Perfume,† the theme of the voyage is made possible by closing one's eyes and â€Å"breathing in the warm scent† of a woman's breasts. In effect, reading Baudelaire means feeling Baudelaire: The profusion of pleasure-inducing representations of heat, sound, and scent suggest that happiness involves a joining of the senses.This first section is devoted exclusively to the â€Å"ideal,† and Baudelaire relies on the abstraction of myth to convey the escape from reality and drift into nostalgia that the ideal represents. This theme recalls the poet's own flight from the corruption of Paris with his trip along the Mediterranean. In â€Å"The Head of Hair,† the sp eaker indeterminately refers to â€Å"Languorous Africa and passionate Asia,† whose abstract presence further stimulates the reader's imagination with the mythical symbolism of â€Å"sea,† â€Å"ocean,† â€Å"sky,† and â€Å"oasis. † The figure of women further contributes to this ideal world as an intermediary to happiness.The speaker must either breathe in a woman's scent, caress her hair, or otherwise engage with her presence in order to conjure up the paradise he seeks. His fervent ecstasy in this poem derives from the sensual presence of his lover: â€Å"The world†¦ o my love! swims on your fragrance. † Spleen and Ideal, Part II Summary Despite the speaker's preliminary evocation of an ideal world, The Flowers of Evil's inevitable focus is the speaker's â€Å"spleen,† a symbol of fear, agony, melancholy, moral degradation, destruction of the spirit–everything that is wrong with the world. The spleen, an organ that rem oves disease-causing agents from the bloodstream, was traditionally associated with malaise; â€Å"spleen† is a synonym for â€Å"ill-temper. â€Å") Although the soothing ideal world in the first section does remain a significant presence for the speaker, it will now serve primarily as a reminder of his need to escape from a torturous reality. Even â€Å"The Ideal† begins with â€Å"They never will do, these beautiful vignettes. † Baudelaire's juxtaposition of the poem's title (â€Å"The Ideal†) with its content suggests that the ideal is an imagined impossibility.He insists that he cannot find the ideal rose for which he has been looking, declaring that his heart is an empty hole. The comforting, pure, and soothing presence of a woman has also given way to â€Å"Lady Macbeth, mighty soul of crime. † As the speaker acknowledges in â€Å"Earlier Life,† the beautiful majesty of blue waves and voluptuous odors that fill his dreams cannot ful ly obscure â€Å"the painful secret that lets me languish. † Baudelaire uses the theme of love and passion to play out this interaction between the ideal and the spleen.In â€Å"Hymn to Beauty,† he asks a woman: â€Å"Do you come from the deep sky or from the abyss, / O Beauty? Your look, infernal and divine, / Confuses good deeds and crimes. † The speaker projects his anxiety at a disappointing reality onto a woman's body: Her beauty is real but it tempts him to sin. Both angel and siren, this woman brings him close to God but closer to Satan. He then refers to his lover as a witch and demon in â€Å"Sed non Satiata† (â€Å"Still not Satisfied†). The reality of her tortuous presence awakens him from his opium-induced dream, his desire pulling him toward hell.This ambivalence between the ideal and the spleen is also played out with the juxtaposition of the speaker's lover to a decaying corpse in â€Å"Carrion. † While out walking with his lo ver, the speaker discovers rotting carrion infested with worms and maggots, but which releases pleasing music. He compares the carrion (a word for dead and decaying flesh) to a flower, realizing that his lover will also one day be carrion, eaten by worms. Just like the corpse, nothing will be left of their â€Å"decomposed love. † The theme of death inspired by the sight of the carrion plunges the speaker into the anxiety of his spleen.The nostalgic timelessness and soothing heat of the sun are replaced by the fear of death and a sun of ice in â€Å"De Profundis Clamavi† (â€Å"From Profoundest Depths I Cry to You†). The mythical and erotic voyage with a woman in the ideal section is now phantasmagoric pursuit by cats, snakes, owls, vampires, and ghosts, all of whom closely resemble the speaker's lover. In two separate poems both entitled â€Å"The Cat,† the speaker is horrified to see the eyes of his lover in a black cat whose chilling stare, â€Å"prof ound and cold, cuts and cracks like a sword. In â€Å"The Poison,† the speaker further associates the image of his lover with death. Unlike opium and wine, which help the speaker evade reality, the evasion of his lover's mouth is the kiss of death: â€Å"But all this doesn't equal the poison kiss / Arising in your green eyes. † The section culminates with four poems entitled â€Å"Spleen. † Depressed and â€Å"irritated at the entire town,† the speaker laments the coming of death and his defunct love, as a ghost and the â€Å"meager, mangy body of a cat† evoke the haunting specter of his lover. In the next â€Å"Spleen,† the speaker watches the world around him decompose.He is swallowed up by death, comparing himself to a cemetery, a tomb, and a container for withered roses. Empty physically and spiritually, only the miasma of decay is left for him to smell. In the fourth and final â€Å"Spleen,† the speaker is suffocated by the tradi tionally calming presence of the sky. Devoid of light, â€Å"the earth becomes a damp dungeon, / When hope, like a bat, / Beats the walls with its timid wings / And bumps its head against the rotted beams. † Drenched by rain and sorrow, the bells of a nearby clock cry out, filling the air with phantoms.Horrified and weeping with misery, the speaker surrenders as, â€Å"Anguish, atrocious, despotic, / On my curved skull plants its black flag. † Form Baudelaire uses the structure of his poems to amplify the atmosphere of the speaker's spleen. In â€Å"Spleen† (I) each stanza accumulates different levels of anguish, first beginning with the city, then creatures of nature and nightmare, and finally, other objects. This layered expression of pain represents Baudelaire's attempt to apply stylistic beauty to evil. Moreover, his sentences lose the first-person tense, becoming grammatically errant just as the speaker is morally errant.By beginning the first three stanzas of â€Å"Spleen† (IV) all with the word â€Å"When,† Baudelaire formally mirrors his theme of monotonous boredom and the speaker's surrender to the inexorable regularity and longevity of his spleen. Another aspect of Baudelaire's form is his ironic juxtaposition of opposites within verses and stanzas, such as in â€Å"Carrion,† with â€Å"flower† and â€Å"stink. † Commentary Baudelaire is a poet of contrasts, amplifying the hostility of the speaker's spleen with the failure of his ideal world. Like the abused albatross in the first section, the poet becomes an anxious and suffering soul.It is important to remember that the speaker's spleen is inevitable: It occurs despite his attempts to escape reality. The flowers he hopes to find on a â€Å"lazy island† in â€Å"Exotic Perfume† do not exist: It is the stinking carrion that is the real â€Å"flower† of the world. The failure of his imagination leaves him empty and weak; havi ng searched for petals, he finds their withered versions within himself. The poetry itself suggests a resurgence of the ideal through its soothing images only to encounter the disappointing impossibility of calming the speaker's anxiety.In this sense, the speaker's spleen is also the poet's. Indeed, the gradual climax and terror of the speaker's spleen in â€Å"Spleen† (IV) has often been associated with Baudelaire's own nervous breakdown. The hostile and claustrophobic atmosphere of the speaker's world is most eloquently expressed in the failure of his ability to love. The poet originally intends his love to be a source of escape but is soon reminded of the cruel impossibility of love that characterizes his reality. For him, love is nothing but a decomposing carrion. Instead of life, love reminds him of death: A woman's kiss becomes poisonous.Baudelaire often spoke of love as the traditionally artistic attempt to escape boredom. Yet he never had a successful relationship and as a result, the speaker attributes much of his spleen to images of women, such as Lady Macbeth and Persephone. Cruel and murderous women, such as the monstrous female vampire in â€Å"The Vampire,† are compared to a â€Å"dagger† that slices the speaker's heart. But Baudelaire also finds something perversely seductive in his demoniacal images of women, such as the â€Å"Femme Fatale† in â€Å"Discordant Sky† and the â€Å"bizarre deity† in â€Å"Sed non Satiata. Baudelaire often described his disgust at images of nature and found fault in women for what he saw as their closeness to nature. However, what comes through in the poetry is not so much Baudelaire's misogyny as his avowed weakness and insatiable desire for women. The speaker's spleen involves thoughts of death, either in the form of an eventual suicide or the gradual decay of one's body. Sickness, decomposition, and claustrophobia reduce the expansive paradise of the speaker's ideal to a single city pitted against him.Baudelaire felt alienated from the new Parisian society that emerged after the city's rebuilding period, often walking along the city streets just to look at people and observe their movements. This self-imposed exile perfectly describes the sense of isolation that pervades the four â€Å"Spleen† poems. Yet while the city alienates and isolates, it does not allow for real autonomy of any kind: The speaker's imagination is haunted by images of prison, spiders, ghosts, and bats crashing into walls.Unlike the albatross of the ideal, the bat of the spleen cannot fly. This restriction of space is also a restriction of time, as the speaker feels his death quickly approaching. Baudelaire saw the reality of death as fundamentally opposed to the imagined voyage to paradise; rather, it is a journey toward an unknown and terrible fate. The â€Å"frightful groan† of bells and the â€Å"stubborn moans† of ghosts are horrific warning signs of the impending victory of the speaker's spleen. According to the poet, there are no other sounds. Parisian Landscapes SummaryBaudelaire now turns his attention directly to the city of Paris, evoking the same themes as the previous section. In â€Å"Landscape,† he evokes a living and breathing city. The speaker hears buildings and birds singing, also comparing window lamps to stars. He considers the city a timeless place, passing from season to season with ease. It is also a space of dreams and fantasy, where the speaker finds â€Å"gardens of bronze,† â€Å"blue horizons,† and â€Å"builds fairy castles† during the night. Paris becomes an enchanted city, where even a beggar is a beautiful princess.For example, the speaker admires the erotic beauty of a homeless woman in â€Å"To a Red-headed Beggar Girl,† especially her â€Å"two perfect breasts. † He does not see her rags but, rather, the gown of a queen complete with pearls formed from drop s of water. The speaker then laments the destruction of the old Paris in â€Å"The Swan. † Evoking the grieving image of Andromache, he exclaims: â€Å"My memory teems with pity / As I cross the new Carrousel / Old Paris is no more (the shape of a city /Changes more quickly, alas! than the heart of a mortal). All he sees now is the chaos of the city's rebuilding, from scaffolding to broken columns. Baudelaire then juxtaposes the pure but exiled image of a white swan with the dark, broken image of the city. The swan begs the sky for rain but gets no reply. The speaker forces himself to come to grips with the new city but cannot forget the forlorn figure of the swan as well as the fate of Andromache, who was kidnapped shortly after her husband's murder. The presence of the grieving Andromache evokes the theme of love in the city streets.But in the modern city, love is fleeting–and ultimately impossible– since lovers do not know each other anymore and can only cat ch a glimpse of each other in the streets. In â€Å"To a Passerby,† the speaker conjures up a beautiful woman and tries to express his love with one look: they make eye contact, but it is quickly broken, as they must each head their separate ways. The encounter is tragic because they both feel something (â€Å"O you who I had loved, O you who knew! â€Å") and yet they know that their next meeting will be in the afterlife; a foreboding presence of death looms over the poem's end.Baudelaire continues to expose the dark underside, or spleen, of the city. (The spleen, an organ that removes disease-causing agents from the bloodstream, was traditionally associated with malaise; â€Å"spleen† is a synonym for â€Å"ill-temper. â€Å") In â€Å"Evening Twilight,† he evokes â€Å"cruel diseases,† â€Å"demons,† â€Å"thieves,† â€Å"hospitals,† and â€Å"gambling. † The different aspects of the city are compared to wild beasts and anthills, while â€Å"Prostitution ignites in the streets. † Paris becomes a threatening circus of danger and death where no one is safe.By the end of the section, in â€Å"Morning Twilight,† â€Å"gloomy Paris† rises up to go back to work. Form It is important to note that most of the poems in this section are dedicated to Victor Hugo, who composed long epic poems about Paris. In this context, Baudelaire abandons the structure and rhythm of the previous section in order to emulate Hugo's own style. However, in â€Å"To a Passerby,† Baudelaire returns to his original form, using a traditional sonnet structure (two quatrains and two three-line stanzas).As in â€Å"Spleen and Ideal,† he emphasizes the imperfection of the speaker's spleen with imperfections in meter, isolating the words â€Å"Raising† and â€Å"Me† at the beginning of their respective lines. Commentary Baudelaire was deeply affected by the rebuilding of Paris after the r evolution of 1848. Begun by Louis-Napoleon in the 1850s, this rebuilding program widened streets into boulevards and leveled entire sections of the city. Baudelaire responded to the changing face of his beloved Paris by taking refuge in recollections of its mythic greatness but also with a sense of exile and alienation.The swan symbolizes this feeling of isolation, similar to the â€Å"Spleen† poems in which the speaker feels that the entire city is against him. The Swan asks God for rain in order to clean the streets and perhaps return Paris to its antique purity but receives no response. Suddenly, the city itself has become a symbol of death as its rapid metamorphoses remind the speaker of the ruthlessness of time's passage and his own mortality: â€Å"The shape of a city /Changes more quickly, alas! than the heart of a mortal. † The speaker sees Paris as a modern myth in progress, evoking such mythological figures as Andromache and Hector.Even the negative aspects o f city life, ranging from prostitution to gambling, are described as animals, giving Baudelaire's poetry an allegorical quality. For example, in â€Å"Evening Twilight,† the poet evokes â€Å"Dark Night,† which casts its shadow over the ants, worms, and demons, symbolizing Parisian prostitution, theater, and gambling. Together, the city, its vices, and its people form a mythical, â€Å"unhealthy atmosphere,† instructing the reader to learn his or her lesson. Yet Paris is primarily a cemetery of failed love, as described in