Kite Runner Pomegranate Tree Essay

In Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, the changing depiction of the pomegranate tree symbolizes the changes in Amir and Hassan’s relationship, and is woven into the novel’s central theme of sin and redemption. Throughout the novel Hosseini depicts Amir’s struggle to redeem himself ever since he witnessed the rape of Hassan and stood by as a silent bystander. Amir and Hassan shared a very close friendship doing everything together yet the loyalty between each other was lopsided. Amir could never match Hassan’s unconditional love and loyalty towards him and this sets up the internal struggle in Amir’s mind, because he was sensitive enough to realize the unfairness of the situation. Hosseini uses the pomegranate tree throughout the book as the backdrop for describing key events that influence Amir and Hassan’s relationship. The first depiction of the tree portrays a safe haven but subtle details in the passage point to the events that unfold later. As children, Amir and Hassan spent many hours under the shade of a pomegranate tree up on a hilltop where Amir would read stories to Hassan. Here the pomegranate tree is a symbol of comfort, a place where he and Hassan could be alone sharing the simple pleasure of storytelling. Amir’s description of the â€Å"shadows of pomegranate leaves dancing† on Hassan’s face depicts the protective aspect of the tree, a sanctuary for the two friends (28). The tree and hill are symbolic of Amir and Hassan’s friendship; the tree is rooted in the hill but as the seasons change both the hill and the tree change and so does their friendship. The mention of seasons foreshadows how over time Amir and Hassan’s friendship will be destroyed, in the same way that the rain had turned the â€Å"iron gate rusty† and caused the â€Å"white stone walls to decay† (27). When Amir and Hassan return to the pomegranate tree after the rape, Amir says to Hassan he will read him a new story as they walk up the hill and a sense of hopefulness is conveyed. Amir points out that the â€Å"grass was still green†. Here the green is symbolic of hope and renewal and it connotes Amir’s effort to fix his damaged relationship with Hassan (91). However, when Amir describes that the green grass atop the hill will soon be â€Å"scorched yellow† it also foreshadows Hassan and Ali’s abrupt departure from Kabul, and the devastating impact this has on Amir and Baba (91). Hosseini’s use of the word scorched connotes an event that happens suddenly and is a premonition of worse things to come. Amir is not able to deal with his memories of their happier days under the tree, and instead of storytelling he decides to provoke Hassan to reproach him for his own inaction when the rape occurred. Amir’s ulterior motives – to provoke Hassan and not tell stories – are revealed when he â€Å"picked up an overripe pomegranate† (92) and throws it at Hassan. The overripe, rotting pomegranate is symbolic of a wound that has been left alone too long, the guilt of Amir not helping Hassan when he was raped. The pomegranate fruit itself represents the complexity of their relationship; it is a fruit with a hard skin that is difficult to peel and inside there are beehive-like segments hiding hundreds of red pulpy seeds. Amir is not able to come to terms with his guilt and tries to avoid Hassan at first, but later when he tries to make amends he realizes that for Hassan it will never be the same. The pomegranate also alludes to the forbidden apple from the Bible, symbol of the original sin, and thus it serves to foreshadow the events that are just about to unfold. As Amir hurls pomegranates at Hassan, he repeatedly calls Hassan a coward, but in reality he is letting out his own frustration in the hopes that Hassan will retaliate. He is trying to cover up his guilt for not intervening when Hassan was raped, almost as if Amir is trying to justify that Hassan is the coward and not himself. Once Amir stops pelting the pomegranates he sees Hassan â€Å"smeared in red like he’d been shot by a firing squad† (93). The imagery here represents how deeply Amir’s actions and words had wounded Hassan. Ironically, it also foreshadows the eventual death of Hassan, later in the novel, when he is shot by a Taliban firing squad. When Amir returns to Afghanistan after receiving Rahim Khan’s letter, he finds Kabul under the Taliban regime totally changed. As Amir walks up the old â€Å"craggy hill† from his past he realizes that nothing is the same (264). The craggy hill now represents the destroyed Afghanistan. Amir describes that while walking up the hill every breath felt â€Å"†¦like inhaling fire† (264). This simile illustrates how much pain walking up the hill causes an lder Amir now, although it was something he did almost every day with Hassan when they were carefree children. When he reaches the pomegranate tree, he recalls Hassan’s letter saying â€Å"the pomegranate tree hadn’t borne fruit in years† (264). The barren tree is symbolic of how their friendship was ruined twenty years ago in the winter of 1975. But when Amir locates the faded carving of his and Hassan’s name on the tree, the fact that â€Å"it was still there† makes the pomegranate tree a symbol of hope once again and shows Amir a way to atone for his sin (264). After so many years and so many struggles their friendship was tattered but upon seeing it, Amir finally resolves to redeem himself for the guilt of betraying Hassan; a betrayal that became a heavy burden on his shoulders for twenty long years through his silence and inaction. The changes of the pomegranate tree depict the changes in Amir and Hassan’s relationship. We first see it as the lush shady tree from Amir’s childhood where he and spent countless hours reading stories. Next it appears as the scene where Amir destroys his friendship with Hassan. And finally, it is at the same but now barren pomegranate tree where Amir returns and locates the fading reminder of his long lost friend. Each conflict in Amir and Hassan’s friendship was always on Amir’s part. It was Amir who stayed silent when Hassan was assaulted, it was Amir who tried to provoke Hassan’s reproach by throwing pomegranates at him, but it was also Amir who made the effort at the end to rescue Hassan’s son and his nephew, Sohrab. Like the faded carving, Amir’s friendship with Hassan had faded but never completely disappeared. Amir made the worst mistake of his life but he still had an opportunity for redemption, and that was by rescuing Sohrab from the Taliban and acknowledging him as his own flesh and blood If he didn’t, he knew he would go to his grave with the guilt of the sin he committed in the winter of 1975. While atonement for one’s sin is the central theme of The Kite Runner, the pomegranate tree is one of the main symbols used by the author to show Amir’s journey for atonement and redemption in the book. Hosseini’s repeated use of the pomegranate tree serves as a useful symbol to understand the evolving relationship of Amir and Hassan.

R&G are dead outline

Guilelessness says but is also witty at the same time, but even admits to Guild as being the more â€Å"dominant† of the two. Has more fun than Gull does, as he gets more excited when he sees the Tragedians. Guilelessness: A very inquisitive man who believes he can seek the answer to any question he has. He Is a good friend of Hamlet and initiates things based off how he feels. He Is the leader of the two, but he would be incomplete without Ross_ Even when he is crying, Ross is the only one that's there to comfort him. The two of them are like Batman & Robin, with Guild as being Batman. Are: The leader of the Tragedians who seems to have a dysfunctional brain. He Is wise, knowing that you can't question life at every turn, but saying that life is just like a play is an analogy I can't seem to see. He starts yapping away at Alfred for no apparent reason, and killed someone during a play Just for the heck of it. Something's up with this guy†¦ Hamlet: Is only shown as dysfun ctional and crazy throughout the book. In all of his speaking parts, he is mad and always on the verge of losing it. Always needs attention but Is also smart for saving his whole life.Alfred: the puppy dog who doesn't have a say in things. He just follows orders and lets the cast dress him up however they want. He sort of defies the stereotypical actor, since he admits to not even enjoy acting. Typically when you think of actors, they enjoy their work, but Alfred deviates and doesn't. THEMES/SYMBOLISM completely pointless. None of the events are even doing anything to the entire plot, which sort of means that everything contributes to the work as a whole because Stoppard whole point is that life is sort of meaningless. The Boat: To Ross, it represents death.The Journey is so long that it feels like life is just a drag that goes on for eternity. It's also symbolic of losing your sight-not your actual vision- but your sight as in your goal or future. When nothing surrounds you but wat er, it's easy to lose touch with yourself and you can lose control of yourself quite easily. Coin Tossing: In everyday life, tossing a coin really doesn't mean much. Stoppard flips this entire idea around by making it a big deal in the book. It's almost as if Stoppard switched the roles of the important and non-important things in life and decided to IEEE things through the opposite lens.The coin tossing in this play means much more than Just getting lucky. It's actually the exact opposite. Its getting really really really unlucky, and the fact that it landed heads so many times shows how nothing is really chance-it's fate. It's so weird to think about because in the big picture, getting heads over 100 times in a row seems impossible. But wait-if you think again, it actually is possible. It Just so happens that the chances of it happening are so small that us humans tend to neglect that small chance of occurring because let's face it- hat's never going to happen to one of us.Stoppar d almost defies the law by addressing this . 0000001% chance and tells his audience that, essentially, everything means nothing and nothing means everything. Predestination: The whole concept of not having control of your own life is a controversial topic that Stoppard analyses in the play. He-Lillo! Stoppard puts it in the dang title for crying out loud! R know that they're going to die, so why don't they do something about it? The mental battle that R are in is that they really don't have anything to live for. Even if they go back, what are they even going back to?I think what Stoppard is trying to say is that some of the most absurd things in life (such as walking straight into your death sentence), may not be as absurd as it sounds. When you really look at it from a different perspective, what is it that you're living for? I think R never really fought over their fate not because they couldn't, but because they didn't want to. Stoppard takes a walk on the wild side by telling hi s audience that life sometimes can be ludicrous, but it's up to you to decide what exactly in your life is worth living for.

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Food Predicament Essay Example for Free

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The military tactics and weapons used by USA and the Vietcong forces in Vietnam Essay Example for Free

The military tactics and weapons used by USA and the Vietcong forces in Vietnam Essay Throughout the Vietnam War, many tactics and weapons were used by both VC and US forces. But the sides whose strategies and weapons proved more effective in Vietnam were the Vietcongs and other communist forces. Throughout the war, the Americans relied on their modern developments to aid them in strategies and weapons, which when on the level fields of conventional warfare, proved more superior. They had in their possession tanks, helicopters, trucks and other transport, artillery and well disciplined soldiers. The VC used simple yet effective techniques, such as booby traps or hiding in vegetation. The tactics of both sides were greatly different towards the end of the war compared to the ones used near to the beginning. At the beginning of the war the USs main objective was to at least, contain the communist North by helping South Vietnam to keep the threat at bay. One of the earliest tactics used to do this was Search and Destroy missions. Search and Destroy missions were when the US used Helicopters to hunt down NVA and VC units, once they found a group, troops were dropped off in the area of activity and killed as many people as they possibly could. Supply bases were built in support of this. These were basically fortified areas of land with artillery protecting and things such as ammunition, food etc. If the troops on the search and destroy missions found any evidence of VC activity, (personnel, weapons, plans, traps being made etc.) then the suspected communists were killed and villages were burnt to the ground. This most likely would have turned the S.Vietnamese against the American cause, as they had destroyed the homes they lived in and murdered their friends. The American tactic played right into the hands of the communist, and they countered this with there own superior tactic, by rebuilding their homes and burying the dead. They also gave land left from the Indochina war back to the peasants. This helped the VC a lot because it meant new recruits for them (The VC Guerillas dressed mainly in black pajamas, looking like peasants; they were farmers by day and Guerillas by night). In recruiting, the VC were open to women fighters as well as men. This meant that the American male soldiers were affected by the morality of killing a woman, it wasnt morally right; this made them think twice and damaged morale by leaving the thought of killing a woman on their conscience-they became physicologically unhealthy). This shows how smart the VC were in their planning of tactics, they responded to the violence of the US by winning the hearts and minds of the peasants(which is one of the things the US aimed to do in the first place through offering humanitarian aid etc.-this is called Pacification). The most powerful of methods used by the VC that influenced the whole Vietnam War was their Guerilla tactics and fighting methods: One of the problems instantly faced by the Americans was the Vietnameses tactic of having no front line, this meant that the VC could even go into stalemate as the fighting was on their homeland, and they could afford to wait for a victory. The US however couldnt as the war was costing them money and lives, so they had to engage the enemy quickly. This was a big problem for the Americans as they were trained in the art of conventional warfare, where you can see your opponent. Guerilla warfare was a sort of hit and run tactic. It relied on close combat and mainly ambushing the enemy. This also meant that the US couldnt use their tactic of having a body count; which was when they counted the amounts of people they killed. But this was useless as the Americans couldnt see who they were fighting, there was no front line and the VC used camouflage and concealment techniques: they wore foliage and could hide in trees, fields, jungles etc. and leap out at any given time. They avoided face-to-face combat and used the jungle, which was completely anonymous to the Western Invaders. As the US couldnt pull up any exact figures of how many they killed, their own body count mounted as one by one, they were killed off; thus denting their morale as a result. As well as having tactics that heavily influenced the war, the VC had weapons in their possession, which instantly surpassed the Americans modern counterparts, as they were well suited to their terrain. The typical US soldiers main weapon was the M-16 Assault Rifle. This was an American made gun, and unlike the AK-47, the M16 concentrated on semi-automatic accuracy rather than on full automatic firepower. It was lighter than the AK and was made using alluminium and plastics, this however didnt help US troops in their fighting, as it was mainly dense jungle in the geography of Vietnam, you would have needed a durable weapon to withstand every single trip and fall. It was tipped to be a much more reliable weapon but it often jammed, costing the lives of hundreds of Americans caught in firefights. It was said to be self-cleaning but it wasnt, carbon deposits built up often and it had to be cleaned after every use; and troops werent issued with cleaning kits. Also, one of the biggest problems was that the M16 was built for long range shooting. Adding to this, it had old style rear sights which meant that you could only aim using one eye. This means that the main use of the M16 was for accurate long-range shooting, which didnt help the Americans again as they were constantly being ambushed by Guerillas and forced into close combat! Unlike the M16, the AK-47 was a much sturdier weapon made out of solid wood and metals, heavier but more durable. The AK could stand the humidity of the jungle and literally never jammed or even needed cleaning(if it did, it was very easy to disassemble and clean) It was an extremely simple weapon to which anybody could be trained on (good news for the VC- they could recruit anyone and train them on this rifle, even a child; resulting in the Americans not being able to tell exactly who they were fighting and giving the VC that edge). Furthermore, the AKs shape made it ideal for the shooter to be in the prone postition (lying down flat on the stomach), which was an ideal position for the shootouts in dense jungles. Also, briefly comparing the rounds used, the M16 had higher velocity (faster travelling) lighter, and smaller bullets: 5.56mm; making it ideal at long-range shooting. The Russian AK however had heavier and bigger bullets: 7.62mm. This statistic gave the AK the upper hand in close combat situations where the bullet had to pass through literally anything i.e. heavy underbush in the jungle (which could deflect the lighter American 5.56mm round) or in shootouts in towns/cities, where the heavy 7.62mm bullet could go thruogh a wall and the 5.56 couldnt. The last and final thing about the AK-47 compared to the M16 was its sights. There was a rear-sight shaped like a V, and a foresight blade at the end. This meant that you could use both eyes when shooting and didnt have to be as accurate; making it ideal again for the VC and Guerilla fighting. This brief comparison of these two weapons widely used throughout the war shows that the characterisitcs AK-47 surpassed that of the M16. It was a much more durable weapon that was well suited to the terrain and handling of the Vietcong and helped the VC in their fight against the US greatly. Aswell as having just guns on their side, the US and VC had other things aswell. The US had different types of trnasport and tactics: Helicopters, they were fast and could be used to deploy troops quickly. But the VC responded to this by using their portable Rocket Launchers (supplied by the Soviet Union aswell) which took out the Helicopters instantly as they basically were giant hovering targets. Tanks could not be used because of the geography of Vietnam, so trucks were used, but these were easy targets aswell as being literally a car. Instead of trucks, the Americans used Armoured Personnel Carriers. These were basically open-style tanks. They were used more than the Tank and were mainly for transpot. They could be used on land and water, which gave them a bit more protection from the VC attacks; and the armour itself gave ample protection to the crew if under attck from small arms fire. As for the VC, where were they getting all these supplies from to destroy American tactics? The answer was simple. The Ho Chi Minh Trail. It was a 1000 mile secret supply trail from North Vietnam to South Vietnam. It was so big that at any given time, 10,000 trucks could be on it transporting suppplies. Also, it wasnt just one straight road, it had a 30 mile width, and in it were hundreds of paths that branched off. That way, if the part of the trail was bombed for example, them the VC could simply turn around and follow a different route. The US knew about this (but they didnt know the fact that it had many branched off sections- they thought it was one straight route) and this made them want to stop it. Reconnaisance photos showed little or no evidence of the trail, it was literally built under the Americans noses; but they just couldnt find it. The American Intelligence analysts could hardly spot the trail from above because the dense jungle had different canopy levels. The VC cut the lower levels so their transport could meander through, leaving the top layer of canopy as cover from the US planes and other enemies. But Aeroplanes werent only used for taking photos. As the Americans could only give a rough estimate of the position of the trail, there was still a chance of finding it, and they began use planes to bomb the Ho Chi Minh trail, but this had no effect on the VC morale or the way they used it, if one part was bombed off, then they simply switched to a different path. So, another way that the US tried to sniff out any VC or activity along the trail was by using the planes to drop ADSIDs- or Tropical Trees. These were dropped by planes into the jungle and stuck into the ground when landing. They sensed the heat and vibrations from everything, so if something was picked up, the Americans would know; and assume it is VC personnel. To combat this, the Vietcong used an extremely simple yet practical technique that the Americans never saw coming. they moved the ADSIDs, to a remot place and put a generator next to it, and the tactic worked. The VC just watched as US warplanes flew overhead and bombed the wrong place without harming anybody. To add to the lack of progress made by US forces, troops morale was droppin rapidly. One of the main causes of low morale throughout the war was the booby traps left by the VC. They had explosive traps such as deadly landmines-supplied by the Ho Chi Minh Trail-and other sorts. But the most effective were the ones that they made by hand. These were cheap and easy to make, they were so simple to make, that they could be made by anyone. It was an excellent morale builder for the VC and they used signals in the forests to tell each other where the traps were. But unfortunatly the Americans werent so happy. They faced barbed wire, tied from tree-to-tree, the Punji Stake Trap( a ditch in the ground full of bamboo stakes or barbed steel spikes-sometimes even smothered in human faecies so when the victim was cut open, they suffered blood poisoning) which was disguised on the forest floor; and many more. They were all designed to mame but not kill. They were grusome yet brutally effective and severely damaged US troops morale. Many men watched as their friends perished in agony which added to the lowering of morale. Soon, the result of the VC booby trap tactic really came into effect: the Americans started to think Why arent we winning? Were a superpower and at the moment were getting nowhere, Why are my friends dying all around me? So soon the mortality rate mong US soldiers began to rise. So far through the war, US tactics have been proving useless and the VCs tactics and weapons have been very effective. As the war intensified, the US did make a couple of hits on VC morale. They used their Warplanes in the tactic of Saturation bombing. This was when the planes emptied all there loads at once and bombed N.Vietnam and S.Vietnam in heavy loads. One of the most heavily bombed aea in South Vietnam was the suspected VC stronghold Cu Chi. It was so heavily bombed that the people living their had made the desperate descision to go underground in order to avoid the bombing. Thus The Cu Chi Tunnels were made. It was here where the villagers of Cu Chi would stay for the next 10 years, and at the height of the war, the Cu Chi tunnel sytem streched from the outskirts of Saigon all the way to the Cambodian border; approx. 250km of tunnels! The tunnels had everything to offer for the villagers to live in comfort: kitchens, beds, living areas and dining quarters, planning rooms, amm unition stores, hospital wards and even wells. Amazingly, holes connected from the ground fed the people fresh air and let out hot steam from the kitchens, and the US forces still couldnt find them! Tiny trap doors were designed to fit the samatotype of the Vietnamese into the forest floor, and viewpoints were made from undergroound to the surface of the forest floor which made them ideal sniping positions. The tunnels at Cu Chi were never destroyed. They were only breached on rare occasions. Since the average westerner wasnt able to fit comfotably into the tiny tunnel entrances, the Tunnel Rats were formed. These were volunteers from the army who had small body shapes, they could fit into the tunnels and were sent down. They were equiped with a torch, pistol and a nife and faced the dank and dark tunnels on their own. The VC often left traps in the system e.g biologcal weapons- snakes, scorpions, spiders, bats, or even trap doors that cut peoples throast or lead to Punji Pits. Most of the time the Rats came out screeming and crying. As a result of not being able to find the entrances to the tunnels most of the time, the Americans used chemical bombs. Napalm. It was basically jellied petrtol and was used to burn off leaves and vegetation in forests. It stuck to its victims causing horrific burns. To add to this, they also used more chemical weapons: Agents Orange and Blue- weedkillers basically. They were generously sprayed over forests to get rid of the cover, which did work. But, these chemical weapons caused horrific deaths and the wounds from Napalm would take six months to heal, leaving victims terribly scarred. The Dioxin in the Orange/Blue Agents caused deformities in children and cancer to anyone handling it. This must have had an effect on the VC morale because the environment of Vietnam, including food sources, were completely destroyed aswell. But it just made them fight harder against the invaders. The counter to this tactic came as another VC tactic, and a huge surprise to the Americans and everyone else. On Jan 31st 1968, more than 80,000 NVA and VC soldiers simultaneously attacked Saigon and other major cities on US posts. This was called the Tet Offensive. This caught the US forces off-guard as they didnt know who they were fighting as the VC looked like ordinary civillians. Tet meant the new lunar year, and their must have been lots of festivals with people and even military forces relaxing or celebrating in the streets. The reason why they nobody saw this coming was because it wasnt morally right e.g. People would not fight on Christmas Day? To add to the unexpectedness, the Tet Offensive was planned right under the noses of the Americans in public places. Furthermore, the VC werent fighting as Gerillas, they had a change in their tactics and were fighting using conventional warfare. This is proved by the fact that more than 500 Americans were either wounded or died in the first three weeks of the major attack-much quicker death rates than ambushing. This changed the view of the war to the public of America, as they realised that the US wasnt actually winning the war, their loved ones were dying. Thus bringing down morale in America itself, as the attack led to the media saying that the VC were growing in strength. But even though the VC had the upper hand at first, they were fighting conventionally, the way the American troops were specially traned to do, and the end of the Tet Offensive was seen a US victory as it forced North Vietnam to begin peace talks (only a few places were captured by the communists, the other posts were successfully defended). Tet was still a successful counter-tactic by the VC as many US soldiers lost their lives. So two months later, the last tactic came in effect from the revenge seeking Amerians. In March later that year, a search and destroy mission to a village known as a VC stronghold resulted in the My Lai Massacre. US forces made their way to the village and there was no resistence, between 175 and 500 unarmed civilians were killed and no VC were actually found. They had escaped. The innocent villagers were brutally shot and the bodies of the women and children were photographed by a US army photographer. The deed was commited during the same year: 1968, but was made public in November 1969. In the American soldiers defence, they were just obeying orders; but that wasnt justified. Overall, these events show evidence that the VCs tactics and weapons were much better in helping them change the tide of the war. Their simple yet ingenious home-based techniques evidently proved to be far more effective than the modern Americans, thus resulting in a regretfull intervention and humiliating defeat.

The effects of positive illusions on relationship quality

The effects of positive illusions on relationship quality A general presumption in the study of interpersonal relationships is that closeness is a significant, desired, and necessary characteristic of relationship satisfaction (Berscheid, Snyder, Omoto, 1989). According to Berscheid et al. (1989) partners physical proximity is a requirement for closeness and relationship satisfaction. However there is mixed evidence regarding reported levels of satisfaction in relationships where partners are physically separate (i.e. long distance romantic relationships, LDRRs). Because partners in LDRRs presumably have less face-to-face (FtF) interaction than partners in close proximal romantic relationships (CPRRs), the literature infers that partners in LDRRs should report lower levels of satisfaction than partners in CPRRs. Indeed, some research suggests that partners in LDRRs report lower levels of satisfaction than partners in CPRRs (Van Horn, Arnone, Nesbitt, Desilets, Sears, Giffin, Brudi, 1997). Counterintuitively, Guldner and Swenson (1995) fou nd no differences in levels of satisfaction, intimacy and trust between LDRRs and CPRRs. Limited amounts of research addresses these divergent findings with regards to relationship quality measures (i.e. satisfaction, optimism, intimacy) in LDRRs and CPRRs. The present research suggests that positive illusions, defined broadly as motivated cognitive construal processes, help to elucidate these conflicting findings. Recent research shows that positive illusions are more apparent in LDRRs than in CPRRs (Stafford Merolla, 2007). Because Murray, Holmes, and Griffin (1996a) propose that positive illusions decrease relational uncertainty, the present study suggests that partners in LDRRs use positive illusions more than partners in CDRRs because their lack of FtF interaction heightens relationship uncertainty. Positive Illusions According to Murray, Holmes, and Griffin (1996b pp), positive illusions are qualities that people see in their partners that their partners do not see in themselves. They are the result of motivated cognitive processes whereby people exaggerate the qualities and traits of their partner and understate their weaknesses in the face of relationship doubt and uncertainty (Murray et al. 1996a). Murray, Holmes, and Griffin (1996a) argue that people develop positive illusions of their romantic partners organically through the development of their relationship. They claim that developing romantic relationships are replete with uncertainty. In the beginning of a relationship, people are learning to understand and predict their partners behavior. In order to maintain security in and certainty of the relationship, people adjust their cognitions about their partner, focusing on their virtues. Building on past literature regarding self-fulfilling effects of perceptions, they argue that by focusing on the positive aspects of their partner, people will tend to have positive interactions with their partner that contribute to a favorable view of their partner as the right person (e.g. Snyder, Tanke, Berscheid, 1977). As relationships develop, partners become more interdependent and their investments increase (e.g., Levinger, 1983). Furthermore, over time, partners become more aware of each others inherent shortcomings threatening their beliefs and idealizations that their partner is the right person. According to Murray and colleagues (1996a), as these realities grow more apparent, people become motivated to maintain confidence in their relationship and their partner provoking the idealization process. Research has shown that positive illusions have self-fulfilling effects. Specifically, intimates who idealize their partner experience greater decreases in relationship doubt and relationship conflict as well as greater increases in relationship satisfaction than intimates who do not idealize their partners (Murray et al., 1996a, 1996b). Murray and Holmes (1997) found that partners in both dating and married relationships who idealized each other experienced greater love, greater trust and less ambivalence in their relationships than those intimates who did not idealize each other. In a longitudinal follow-up study the authors found that among dating couples, those people that held stronger illusions about their partner (i.e. more idealistic perceptions of their partner) initially were less likely to terminate the relationship than those individuals who held less idealistic illusions about their partners. Given that positive illusions fend off relational uncertainty (Murray et al., 1996a), the present research will examine whether associations between relational uncertainty and positive illusions are moderated by relationship type (i.e. LDRRs vs. CPRRs). Specifically, this study will address whether relationships marked by greater uncertainty (i.e. LDRRs) are likely to engender the use of positive illusions. Recent research suggests that couples in LDRRs are more likely to use positive illusions than couples in CPRRs (Stafford Merolla, 2007). They suggest a possible reason for this phenomenon. Idealizations stem from a lack of FtF interaction, a hallmark of LDRRs. Indeed they found that idealizations in LDRRs were a) more apparent than in CPRRs, b) related to a lack of FtF communication, and c) related to increased optimism about the future of the relationship. Although initial evidence supports the idea that positive illusions are used as a way to cope with the lack of FtF interaction in LDRRs, there are a number of limitations that need to be addressed (small sample size, possibility of other mediated channels of communication). Future research should address these limitations and offer alternative explanations for why positive illusions are more apparent in LDRRs than in CPRRs. This is because the divergences between the two relationship types are presumably not limited to quantity of FtF interaction, but having substantive qualitative differences Because Murray, et al. (1996a) suggests that positive illusions decrease relational uncertainty, the present study suggests that partners in LDRRs use positive illusions more than partners in CDRRs because they face greater relational uncertainty. Supporting this idea, Sahlstein (2004) interviewed partners in LDRRs and found that approximately 12% of couples interviewed reported that time apart creates uncertainty and unknowns because partners are not sharing experiences. In addition, Sahlstein (1996) found that partners in LDRRs and CPRRs who were more certain of interaction rituals (i.e., interaction that occurs in a fixed manner at a fixed time) were more likely to report higher relationship satisfaction than partners who were not certain of interaction rituals. Relational Uncertainty According to Knobloch and Solomon (2002b), romantic relationships are prime contexts for experiencing uncertainty. Relational uncertainty is the degree of confidence that people have in their perceptions of involvement within interpersonal associations (Knobloch Solomon, 1999).There are three main sources of relational uncertainty that arise in romantic relationships: self uncertainty, partner uncertainty, and relationship uncertainty (Knobloch Solomon, 1999; Knobloch, Solomon, Cruz, 2001). Self uncertainty includes partners reservations about their own involvement in the romantic relationship. Partner uncertainty involves peoples doubts about their partners participation in the relationship. Relationship uncertainty constitutes doubts about the relationship itself. During relationship development, people are learning to navigate, understand, and predict their partners behavior. People experience uncertainty about their own and their partners goals, beliefs, emotional states, etc. (Berger, 1995). Because relational uncertainty is a negative aversive state, partners are motivated to reduce this feeling, especially if they want to remain committed to their partner and their relationship. Prior research has found that relational uncertainty is positively related to negative relationship outcomes such as jealousy (Knobloch, Solomon, Cruz, 2001) and negatively related to positive relationship outcomes such as intimacy (Knobloch Solomon, 2002; Thesis Solomon, 2008). Because LDRRs are characterized by relational uncertainty (Cameron Ross, 2007; Shalstein, 2004) and experienced uncertainty is linked to negative relational outcomes (decreases in intimacy, increase in jealousy), the present study will investigate the moderating effects of relationship type (LDRR or CPRR) on the relationship between relational uncertainty and positive illusions, as well as relationship quality measures (i.e., satisfaction, intimacy, optimism). Outline of proposed study and hypotheses The present study contributes to the growing literature on LDRRs by investigating a mediation model of relationship satisfaction moderated by relationship type (LDRR or CPRR) in order to explain how and why partners in LDRRs differ from partners in CPRRs in reports of relationship quality measures (i.e. satisfaction, intimacy, optimism). Within such parameters, this work focuses on positive illusions as a possible mediator of the relationship between relational uncertainty and relationship quality (i.e. satisfaction, closeness and optimism). In addition, the current study suggests that relationship type (LDRRs or CPRRs) will moderate the relationship between relational uncertainty and positive illusions (mediator variable) such that relational uncertainty will be associated with greater positive illusions for partner in LDRRs than partners in CPRRs. This study is a 2 (relationship type: LDRR vs. CPRR) x 2 (relational certainty: low vs. high) x 2 (positive illusions: low vs. high) bet ween groups factorial design. The dependent measures are relationship satisfaction, intimacy, and optimism. Hypotheses Prior research indicates that relational uncertainty is associated with jealousy (Knobloch et al, 2001), negative emotion (Aune et al., 1994), and decreased liking for a romantic partner (Kellerman Reynolds). Additionally, research suggests that uncertainty reduction fosters feelings of intimacy (Knobloch Solomon; Theiss Solomon, 2008). In line with this research, the present study proposes: H1: People who are uncertain about their relationship will report lower levels of satisfaction and intimacy in their relationship than people who are certain about their relationship. Murray et al (1996a) argue that positive illusions develop naturally through relationship progression. According to them, partners idealize their partners exaggerating their qualities and understating their weaknesses in the face of relational uncertainty. In addition, Stafford and Merolla (2007) suggest that lack of FtF interaction leads partners in LDRRs to idealize their partners more than partners in CPRRs. They also found that positive illusions in LDRRs were related to feelings of optimism about the future of their relationship. These findings, taken together, suggest that positive illusions act as a coping mechanism for partners who face relational uncertainty. Formally stated: H2: People who are uncertain about their relationship will idealize their partners more than those people who are certain about their relationship. H3: People who idealize their partner will be more satisfied with and optimistic about their relationship than people who do not idealize their partner. H4: People who are in LDRRs will be more likely to idealize their partner than people who are in CPRRs. Even though some research suggests otherwise (Van Horn, Arnone, Nesbitt, Desilets, Sears, Giffin, Brudi, 1997; Helgeson, 1994a), partners in LDRRs have been found to report similar levels of satisfaction, trust, and intimacy as partners in CPRRs (Guldner Swenson, 1995). Counterintuitively, these divergent findings suggest that partners in LDRRs and CPRRs do not significantly differ on their reports of satisfaction. Formally stated: H5: People who are in LDRRs will report similar levels of relationship satisfaction as people in CPRRs. Proposed Study Two hundred (25 people per cell) partners who are currently in a LDRR or a CPRR will be asked to participate in the present study (the interest in this study is with individual responses not that of the dyad). Participants will be asked to fill out an informed consent form. Then a questionnaire will be given to each participant. This questionnaire will include a question about relationship status, as well as measures of relational uncertainty, positive illusions, satisfaction, intimacy, and optimism. In addition, participants will be asked to fill out a demographic questionnaire (age, length of relationship, attachment style, etc.) Results Overview of Analytic Strategy Given that couples in contrast to individuals served as participants, partners responses will likely be interdependent. Advised by Kenney (1988), couples will serve as the unit of analysis. Hypothesis 1 predicts that people who are certain about their relationship will report lower levels of satisfaction and intimacy than people who are certain about their relationships. A MANOVA will be conducted with sex as the within-dyad factor and relational certainty (low or high) as the between subjects factor. Hypothesis 2 predicts that uncertain people will idealize their partners more than those people who are certain. A MANOVA will be conducted with sex as the within-dyad factor and relational certainty as the between subjects factor. Hypothesis 3 predicts that people who idealize their partner more will be more satisfied than people who do not idealize their partner. A MANOVA will be conducted with sex as the within-dyad factor and positive illusions (high or low) as the between subjects factor. Hypotheses 4 and 5 predict that people in LDRRs will idealize their partner more than people in CPRRS but that both partners in LDRRs and in CPRRs will report similar levels of satis faction. A MANOVA will be conducted with sex as the within-dyad factor and relationship type (LDRR or CPRR) as the between subjects factor. Discussion The purpose of the current research is to add to the burgeoning literature on LDRRs. Specifically, the goal is to show that positive illusions mediate the relationship between relational uncertainty and relationship quality measures. In addition, the present study suggests that relationship type moderates the relationship between relational uncertainty and positive illusions. If the proposed hypotheses are supported, there will be implications for future research focused on positive illusions and LDRRs. Specifically, the results of this study could be applied to a therapeutic setting. If positive illusions are found to be related to positive relationship outcomes then therapists could teach couples to use this coping technique as a way to deal with the stress of maintaining a LDRR. One limitation of the proposed study is that the variables of interest are measured not manipulated. If the present results are supported, future research should attempt to manipulate relational uncertainty to determine if there is a causal relationship between uncertainty, positive illusions, and relationship quality measures. Although to date there are no relational uncertainty manipulations, future research should modify the self uncertainty priming procedure discussed in Hogg, Sherman, Dierselhuis, Maitner, and MoYtt (2007) for this purpose. In addition to conducting experiments, future research should also study other possible moderators of the proposed model. For example, attachment style as a moderator, do insecurely attached partners feel even more uncertain in LDRR than securely attached partners? If so, would they be even more or less likely to use positive illusions. Future research should address these intriguing questions. The present study also brings up a number of conceptual issues and questions. For example, although positive illusions counteract doubts people hold about the realities of their partners imperfections and relationship problems, are there some more severe relationship problems that should not be construed and instead be directly addressed? Recent research suggests that these cognitive construal processes are maladaptive for partners who face more severe or frequent relationship problems (McNulty, OMara Karney, 2008). In a longitudinal study, McNulty et al. (2008) found that although positive illusions led to greater marital satisfaction in healthy marriages (i.e., less relationship problems and observed negative behavior), these cognitive processes also led to a decrease in marital satisfaction for those partners in troubled marriages. The authors suggest that partners who face mild marital problems may benefit from using positive illusions rather than facing potential conflict in ad dressing these problems. However, employing positive illusions to cope with relationships marked by more sever marital problems (physical or psychological abuse) may just exacerbate these problems over time. In relation to LDRRs, perhaps partners should not employ positive illusions over long periods of time and instead directly address problems associated with negotiating time apart if they want to ensure the future of their relationship. Another interesting issue that arises deals with how partners in LDRRs that idealize their partner fair when they make a transition from LDRR to CPRR. Recent work by Stafford and Merolla (2007) found that upon transitioning to a CPRR, people formerly in LDRRs who idealized their partner were more likely to terminate their relationship than people formerly in LDRRs who idealized their partner less. This suggests that although positive illusions might act as a coping strategy for partners who deal with high relational uncertainty, this strategy does not seem to work when the relationship type changes.

Rural HIV/AIDS in Southeast Ohio :: Case Management

Rural HIV/AIDS in Southeast Ohio History Of all the known cases of HIV / AIDS in the United States "†¦5.5 percent were reported from nonmetropolitan statistical areas (non-MSAs). The Office of Management and Budget defines a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) as a county or group of counties that includes a city of 50,000 residents or an urbanized area with at least 50,000. Nonmetropolitan counties are all remaining counties (Gwinn & Wortley, 1996). "†¦6 percent of the female AIDS cases reported to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) during 1994 were residing in non-MSAs at the time of AIDS diagnosis (CDC, 1996). This is the case in Southeast Ohio where the nearest metropolitan area is Columbus an hour and a half away from Athens. Rural HIV/AIDS patients tend to be diagnosed in later stages of the disease because their physicians do not consider them to be at risk for HIV (Calonge, Petersen, Miller, & Marshall, 1993; Miller, et al., 1995). Many of the clients that apply for services at the Athens AIDS Task Force do so only after a referral from a medical professional after they have been hospitalized with a serious illness. Most already have Center for Disease Control (CDC) diagnosis for AIDS (T-Cell count below 200, normal count is 800 – 1500). Even as the spread of AIDS into small towns escalates, HIV-infected patients who live outside urban areas continue to confront significant obstacles to effective care. Nearly all doctors who specialize in the treatment of HIV are located in cities. Quality of life for HIV-infected rural residents is potentially worse, often for reasons that involve a lack of person-to-person contact both at the medical level and at the personal support level. Researchers have noted that rural HIV/AIDS patients often travel two or more hours to obtain medical care because they lack confidence in their local physicians, are unable to find a local physician who will see them, and are concerned about confidentiality. (Mainous & Matheny, 1996; Rounds, 1988; Rumley, et al., 1991). This is certainly the case in Rural Ohio, many clients travel to Columbus, Akron, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Parkersburg, West Virginia for medical treatment. Many fear that they will run into acquaintances or relatives if they should visit physicians closer to home. People living in rural areas are still generally afraid of casual contact with anyone with the AIDS virus. We also see less intervention and prevention efforts directed toward rural areas, in part because they tend to be more conservative and not as open to sexuality education and safer sex education.

Birmingham, Alabama Demonstrations of 1963 :: Civil Rights Movement

The topic we researched was the demonstrations that occurred in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. These demonstrations stemmed from rising racial tensions in the area. African American people cried out for equality and when their cries were not answered they took the next step and participated in numerous demonstrations in 1963. The topics concerning the demonstrations and events that occurred in Birmingham that were most commonly written about in 1963 are lunch counter demonstrations, marches, a boycott of four variety store chains, church bombings, and the arrest of Martin Luther King, Jr. Most of these events revolved around Martin Luther King, Jr. making him appear to be the central figure in Alabama and in the south at that time. -Lunch Counter Demonstrations: These demonstrations occurred when groups of African Americans would go to a lunch counter and stay there until they received service or the lunch counter closed down (â€Å"The South† 30). These demonstrations were not widely discussed among many newspapers or magazines except for Time Magazine. -Marches: Marches were a larger scale demonstration. Very large groups of African Americans would assemble and march together to a certain destination. A good example of a march is when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a march on downtown stores in Birmingham to protest segregation. Even though the march was peaceful Martin Luther King, Jr. was still arrested for participating in the march (Hailey 70). Not only is this discussed in The New York Times but it is also discussed in The Atlanta University Review of Race and Culture. The Atlanta University Review of Race and Culture states that during his time in prison he also wrote a very influential letter that stated his feelings and concerns on the current state of America (Colaiaco 10). - Boycott of four variety store chains: Martin Luther King, Jr. planned and held a nation wide of four variety store chains. The boycott originated in Birmingham and the chains that were selected all had stores in Birmingham that segregated against Blacks. These stores depended on the revenue generated by black customers, so the boycotts damaged their business (â€Å"Four Chains Target of Racial Boycott† 20). - Church Bombings: In Birmingham, in 1963, there were numerous bombings within the area. There were over twenty bombings devastating the Birmingham area.

Health and Safety Gap Analysis Essay

1. GAP Analysis and GANT chart. This was a good start and gave us something to aim for. We have made some progress but not enough. It didn’t really tackle the serious issues and had a poor starting point in the GAP analysis (should have been a risk assessment). Many initiatives have failed due to poor information flow and management commitment. 2. Management buy-in Not enough support from all Managers at all levels. â€Å"We are too busy† was a common phrase heard, IOSH guidance on Safety management systems states that â€Å"Managers need to manage health and safety issues effectively, no matter how busy they are and whatever their workload†. E.g., Kev too busy for training Alex all sorts of issues David very good No action on recommendations. Heath and safety is seen as a secondary business activity, not as a primary consideration. Everyone has suggestions to improve health and Safety at Barfoots but most are not willing to take action when required. Low attendance at the committee meetings, I feel as though they are a waste of time 3. Health and safety committee Nothing is ever sorted out as there is low attendance I would suggest forming a new committee formed by safety representatives from each area of the business. Safety reps would need training in health and safety and allowed time to discharge their duties. 4. My role Heath and safety management is not just about one person, but about the whole organisation working towards a common goal, ‘the reduction of accidents and incidents’. At the moment all of this has been put on me. I sometimes feel confused as to what action to take next. Because people disregard actions I find it hard to keep track of what needs to be done. I am sometimes used as a backup because no one else is there at the time. IE water jug, signs, etc. What authority do I have? I need to spend more time on policy, organization and auditing than I do and less time on the daily management of the process. i. Fire procedures ii. Boom iii. Delivering and maintaining procedures iv. First aid v. Chasing up managers Not suitably qualified, NEBOSH 1-2 years  £2300-  £5000 We are now a multi site business growing rapidly. My skills need to grow with it. MHSWR 99 requires that every employer shall appoint one or more competent persons to assist and advise on health and safety. I nave taken advice which suggested that I should be qualified to NEBOSH level. Syllabus is based around the development and implementation of a OSHMS in a company. Potentially reduced costs in terms of outsourced services, Fire survey, noise survey etc. It will mean that I have accountability as written in my job description. Who do I report to and is that the right person? 5. OSHMS We set out with a list of goals and have achieved some but not others. The first goal should have been the establishment of a an OSHMS in order to create a structure to hang everything else off. There are a number of options for OSHMS all of them based on the Plan Do Check Act principle PDCA HSG65 BS 8800 OHSAS 18001 ILO HSG65 Is the HSE’s OSHMS and states â€Å"†¦ if you do follow the guidance you will normally be doing enough to comply with the law† We can audit against an OSHMS and set performance targets.

Change through Events in a Novel Essay

In many novels, characters experience first hand the challenges they must go through as the transition from who they portrayed to be in the beginning as opposed to how they change their personalities, actions, and life style in the end. In the novel, The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks, the author uses certain events from the novel to change the characters personalities and ways of life. This is demonstrated through the main characters Julie Barenson who changes from a nice, loving woman to an afraid and unstable woman because she finds out Richard is stalking her and Richard Franklin who changes from nice and an at times jealous person, to a crazy, possessive stalker because Julie doesn’t love him. By exploring these two characters, it is evident that change in characters through different events in the novel is depicted through how they change their lives, ways of action and personalities. During the early years of Julie’s life, she has many problems and is not stable. Julie’s mother is an alcoholic and they live in a trailer. Her father moves away to Minnesota when she is two year old. She runs away when she is sixteen and lives on the street until she meets Jim, who takes her to Swansboro and marries her. At the beginning of the novel, the author portrays Julie as a woman who has been through a lot, but does Ankoma-Mensa 2 not let that stop her from being a nice, loving person. Julie also moves on after Jim’s death, because it was a hard time for her, with regards to her past: â€Å"Now when she thought of Jim, she remembered him with a smile, thankful that he’d been part of her life.† (Sparks 1) She always helps other and does the best she can to be respectful and sincere to other characters. Unfortunately, Julie does not stay so nice and caring throughout the whole novel. This transition from being nice to becoming a scared is demonstrated when she realizes that Richard is stalking her. Julie becomes very afraid after she is informed that Richard is stalking her and she starts to act paranoid: â€Å"So she did again and come up with the conclusion that Richard wasn’t lurking by. But is still didn’t help. She began to hyperventilate.† (442) Even though Richard deserves the insults he receives from Julie, the reader does not expect her to try and hurt him in such means ways: â€Å"‘I don’t want to talk to you.’ She said, hating her plaintive tone. ‘Why can’t you get that through your head?'†(448) Julie ,herself, does not like how she is sounding and the way she is acting but she feels that the only way to get Richard to leave her alone, she has to be rude to him. Julie transforms from her regular personality beca use of what Richard is doing. Not only is Julie’s transformation in personality a big difference, but Richard’s transformation is even larger than expected. Richard, whose real name is Robert Bonham, is a man from Cleveland and is Julie’s boyfriend at the beginning of the novel. Richard, also, has been through a lot in his life just like Julie has. His father and mother were alcoholics, his mother is beat every night from his father and he hates his parents. Richard struggles because his parents die and he goes from house to house in search of a Ankoma-Mensa 3 family. In the beginning of the novel, the author portrays Richard as a caring and at times manipulative man, who has been through many struggles in his life, but unalike Julie, Richard allows his past to resurface in his future. Richard’s mothers’ struggles get to him and he allows them to interfere with his concept of how he and Julie should live: â€Å"If Julie stayed, he knew she would grow weak, just as his mother had grown weak. And in time, there would be nothing to respect.† (175) Richard feels that if Julie stays in the country, she will end up like his mother and he despises his mother. As well Richards manipulations are demonstrated when he tries to get Julie to feel guilty because she did not wear his necklace: † Manipulated, as though he’d wanted her to promise that she’d always start wearing the locket to work again and that she would feel guilty that she hadn’t.† (143) Even though Richard personality is not perfect, he worsens near the end of the novel. Richard becomes obsessive and the reader finds out that he is a murderer. Richard kills his mom; dad, wife and the real man named Richard Franklin to steal his identity. As well, the reader finds out the Richard is abusive because he hits his wife: â€Å"‘stop acting crazy’ ‘What did you say?’ ‘Ow†¦let me go†¦you’re hurting me†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ ‘WHAT DID YOU SAY?’ ‘Ow†¦please†¦Ow!'†(432) Richard hits his wife because he is a controlling person and wants her to do what he says. He also feels that he is the best thing for Julie even thought he is not and treats all women as if they are his mother, who is beaten by her father, and tries to control or change them to prevent them from his mother’s way of life: â€Å"Just like his mother. The victim. Always the victim.† (175) Richard becomes a stalker when Julie dumps him and starts to date Mike. Richard is goes crazy and Ankoma-Mensa 4 convinces himself that Julie’s hatred is love: â€Å"Yes, he knows she cared for him, for weren’t anger and love opposite sides of the same coin? Great anger wasn’t possible without great love†¦and she’d been so angry† (433) Richard uses his mothers life as a bad example of how he wants to live not knowing that he is causing the women he loves to be like his mother: subject to abuse by a controlling man. Richard changes from how he was at the beginning of the book because Julie does not love him, farther demonstrating the change is characters through events in a novel. Like in many novels, The Guardian uses events in the novel to demonstrate how each character changes their personalities, actions and ways of life. This is demonstrated through Julie’s transformation from a nice, loving, stable woman to an afraid, hate-filled, vulnerable woman because Richard is stalking her, and as well, through Richard’s transformation from a nice, controlling at times man to a sick, twisted, crazy and controlling man because Julie doesn’t love him. Characters in novels either change for better or for worst depending of the events that have taken place. In The Guardian’s case, one of the characters transform into a hate-filled ,scornful person, whereas the other transforms into a evil criminal because the events were not positive ,but were negative.

Quantitative data analysis

The systematic study of quantitative properties, phenomena and their relationship is known as quantitative research (Morgan, 1998, pp. 362). Quantitative methods collect information concerned with numbers and things that are measurable.The main objective of quantitative methods is to establish and utilize mathematical theories and models together with hypotheses concerned with the phenomena.Measurements are very significant in quantitative methods since it establishes the link between mathematical expressions and empirical observation of quantitative relationships, therefore, tables, graphs and statistics are mostly used in presentation of the study results. Quantitative methods usually employ statistical methods which comprises of data collection on the basis of hypothesis whereby a big sample is involved on contrary to qualitative methods. This calls for validation, verification and data recording before analysis begins.The data is analysed through software packages such as SPSS. A controversy exists between quantitative and qualitative methods whereby quantitative method is seen as the only method that can cause social sciences be truly scientific while qualitative methods advocates argue that quantitative methods ignore non measurable aspects of the society which are very significant hence they obscure reality of social phenomena (Morgan, 2008, pp. 368).Qualitative research designsSocial sciences and market research usually employ qualitative research method whereby the method aims at investigating a deeper understanding of human behaviours and the reasons behind such behaviours. Qualitative research method is concerned with how and why in making decisions rather than what, when and where, therefore, it mostly prefers smaller samples as compared to large samples in quantitative methods (Morgan, 1998, pp. 370).Information given by qualitative methods is based on specific study cases whereby it considers only hypothesis in formulating conclusions which are mo re general, thus qualitative methods are useful in generating hypothesis and providing explanations to puzzling results from quantitative studies.However, in order to verify the true hypotheses quantitative methods are used. There are possibilities of a researcher in qualitative methods to have problems in taking a transcendental or neutral position thus selection of cases should be purposeful and the researcher’s position or role should be given more critical attention. Qualitative data analysis focuses on transparent and systematic approaches whereby consistent and reliable methods in data coding, discernment and documentation of themes are essential requirements of the researcher.Mixed perspectivesThis is the attempt of combining both qualitative and quantitative research techniques, approaches, language, concepts and methods (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pp. 17). Researchers are therefore not restricted to one research method hence they have the flexibility to access mult iple approaches to provide answers to research questions (Johnson & Onwuegbuze, 2004, pp. 15). For instance, in order to understand the meaning of measurements given by quantitative methods, qualitative methods can be employed.Moreover, quantitative methods are useful in providing testable and precise expression to qualitative results. Mixed method type and mixed model type are the major types of mixed research methods. The combination of quantitative and qualitative methods approaches across and within the research process stages is known as mixed model while the involvement of a quantitative phase in the entire research process as distinct from a qualitative phase is known as mixed method (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004, pp. 23).

Compensation for Wrongful Conviction

Wrongful conviction has been something that has always occurred in the court systems. For many years, prior to DNA testing, there was no way to avoid this for some people. This issue has really been one that has attracted a lot of attention. There have even been songs written about the subject such as Bob Dylan’s â€Å"Hurricane. † Wikipedia (2009, pp 1-2) refers to this situation as the â€Å"miscarriage of justice. † In the definition it states that it is the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime which was not committed by the person. It can also mean that the conviction was sentenced in a trial that was found to be unfair or a trial which had been disputed. Although wrongful convictions still do occur there are a lot of resources that are put into place so that this does not happen any more. These things have been added in order to assist the overall justice system in being able to modify issues and in being able to utilize the best and most solid convictions in order to alleviate the issues that have occurred in the past with wrongful convictions. Some have even believed that there is something that is essentially wrong with the process of the current justice system (Westervelt and Humphrey 2001 Chapter 1). There are many different theories as to why wrongful conviction has become so prevalent in the modern day society when with the advancement of technology one could argue that wrongful convictions should lessen. A lot of these issues have to do with the attitudes towards crimes and the overall attitudes of law enforcement as well as the public perception of violent criminals. The issues are that there are a lot of violent crimes that occur in society. When law enforcement is unable to find a conviction the public outcry is heard and there are a lot of problems with respect for law enforcement and the overall feeling of safety of those who are living in the society. There is then an outcry for someone to pay for the crimes that have been committed. These are especially heard when the crimes have to do with rape or murder as these violent crimes are thought to be worse than some other crimes. Law enforcement’s answer is find someone to blame the crime on in order to be able to modify how they are looked at by those in society who matter, the general public. Sadly in today’s society it is often not whether or not the right person is behind bars that give reassurance but rather it is whether or not someone is paying for the crime which has been committed. The public should be aware that the outcries and over-involvement in the catching of violent criminals has lead to the wrongful conviction of many people and that therefore it will continue to lead to wrongful conviction until there is a public outcry for justice and the involvement to find the right criminal for the crime. There are many different situations in which wrongful conviction could apply. One such situation would be where someone is not charged however they are still arrested and detained for a crime which they did not commit. Also there are the problems with someone who has charges dropped prior to trial after being detained and charged for a crime which was not committed by the person. A third way that someone could be wrongly convicted is if he/she is denied bail but then they are tried and aquitted. Some other reasons behind wrongful convictions are those who are able to have a conviction overturned on appeal but yet they have still been convicted. Another one is that the person could have been sentenced after being convicted of another crime prior to when the appeal for which they were originally arrested was heard. Finally the last reason for wrongful conviction is that there is the person who has been able to be pardoned from a crime which they are found ot be convicted of or they are able to have the conviction overturned in an appeal after having served time from the initial conviction (Hoel 2008, pp 1). The issues of wrongful conviction do not just cause problems for those who have been wrongly convicted but also for those who are working in the justice system. Judge Learned Hand once stated that he felt that he was in some sense followed by the fear that he had sentenced or convicted someone of a crime for which they did not commit. This judge recognizes that at times things are not done right and he too agonizes over the thought that he will condemn someone to an unfair fate for a crime that he/she did not commit. The criminal justice system does take precautions and they do attempt to not have these types of problems however at times they seem almost unavoidable. In the book, Presumed Guilty: When Innocent People are Wrongly Convicted the author talks about the issues with the criminal justice system and their struggle between trying to uphold the law and trying to be as unbiased and fair as possible in not handing down wrongful convictions (Yant 1991, Chapter 1). There are many causes for wrongful conviction. Some of these causes are not as bad as they have been in the past as our culture has developed and become more open minded, however they have been prevalent in the past. The main reasons for wrongful conviction have been fraudulent results or evidence, errors in eye witness testimony, and discrimination whether racial or against those who have disabilities. It has been described that the unfortunate common scene of the wrongful conviction has been that the defendant is sentenced and that around ten years later or more he/she is proven innocent by DNA evidence. Later the victim will continue to maintain that the defendant was guilty and that their eye witness testimony was not wrong. In the end, this scenario continues to hurt the wrongly accused as he/she will continue to face discrimination as those feel that there is still a problem with them and that they are still guilty. These innocent defendants not only have to live with the sacrifices of spending time imprisoned but also they have to face continued discrimination from those who feel that they are guilty, therefore some form of compensation should be allowed to those who have been wrongfully convicted in any criminal justice system (Westervelt and Humphrey 2001, Chapter 1). Overall what can be taken is that there is a connection between the beliefs of harsh forms of punishment and the death penalty and the ethical possibility that one could be wrongly convicted and deserve to be free. Some other causes of wrongful conviction were discussed in Paul Craig Roberts’ article The Causes of Wrongful Conviction. This author tries to make a connection between the strong opinions for issues like the death penalty and issues with wrongful conviction. His remedy is to work harder at ensuring that there are not problems with wrongful conviction and therefore that there is less of a need to argue and fight over the issues of the death penalty. This author believes that there is a huge injustice in the wrongful conviction and that in the end it is this and not the penalty. This is meaning that the issue of wrongful conviction first needs to be dealt with prior to the other issues with crime and punishments of these crimes. Some of the problems with wrongful conviction can be traced back to the New Deal in that the government during the New Deal put the power for carrying out the law and setting up the law in the same government body and in the hands of the same agency which is one contributing factor to these problems. Some other areas where the laws have gotten out of hand are the laws that are pertaining to the freezing of assets. These laws were originally intended to be used against those who were associated with the mob however they were expanded and it has been common for them to be applied to innocent property owners on a regular basis (Roberts 2003, pp 567-570). For some things, like fingerprinting, it is often thought that there can not be mistakes and that they can not lead to wrongful conviction however at times this could be wrong. The problems that can occur with fingerprinting leading to a wrongful conviction are very rare and for a long time were thought to be non-existent. In 2004, Stephen Cowans was found innocent from his crime by DNA evidence and it was the evidence of fingerprinting that had led to his conviction in the first place. In this case it was the mislabeling of a card with his fingerprints that led to his arrest and conviction. When ran through various tests and attempts through research on this topic it was not uncommon to have a few mistakes. The problem with this is that there were only false positives in this area (Cole 206, pp 39-50). At this time there are few resources available for those who have been wrongly convicted. There has been a lot of commentary for hundreds of years about how wrong it is for someone who is innocent to be convicted for a crime which he/she did not commit. This can be evidenced through quotations like those from Voltaire in 1774, stating â€Å"It is better to risk saving a guilty person than to condemn and innocent one,† or Sir William Blackstone, who stated â€Å"It is better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer. Yet, even with all of this information and the strong political views that have been prevalent for hundreds of years there still seems to be a problem with the justice system and one in which innocent people are convicted as guilty on a regular basis. During the 1980’s and 1990’s it became prevalent in American society that attention was drawn to cases where those who were innocent were â€Å"severely punished. † Take for instanc e the case of Isidore Zimmerman who had been wrongly convicted and served twenty four years for a crime which he did not commit. This man chose to fight for compensation and it took yet another twenty years of him fighting in order to be awarded $1 million in compensation for the damages that being wrongly imprisoned for twenty four years had caused. Sadly, this man died just four months after winning his fight. One of the largest problems with these types of cases is the fact that the victims (those who have been wrongly imprisoned) do not have a set standard of compensation which should be available to them as their lives have truly been ruined by some type of mistake in our justice system (Huff, Rattner, and Sagarin 1996, Chapter 1). The tragedy here is that this man had to fight his whole life, fight for his rights and to not be sentenced for a crime which he did not commit, fight to get out of jail and then fight for the right to compensation after his life was ruined by a wrong conviction. The people who have been wrongly convicted for various reasons have a voice and deserve to be heard on this topic and it is something that greatly affected them and continues to affect them on a daily basis. Take for instance the case of Kenny Adams who was wrongly convicted based on the fact that he had been wrongly identified. This man was bitter and angry at what he felt was a failed justice system and he was thought to be uncooperative by authorities and those who were in charge of sentencing him as he had maintained his innocence and refused to take any plea bargains which could have greatly reduced the time that he spent in jail. This man was innocent and later proven innocent by DNA evidence however he spent some of the best years of his life wasting away in one of the worst prisons in our country. He spent his time in a prison that was known for breaking down the hardest criminals and all the while he maintained his innocence and pushed through to finding a way to prove that he had been innocent. One of the main reasons that he was convicted was based on the fact that he was an African American male and there was eyewitness testimony that put three African American males and one Mexican male in the area where a young couple was raped and murdered. Maybe perhaps these were the crimes that Dr Martin Luther King Jr. as talking about in the summer of 1963 when he stated that one of his dreams was that his children could live in a country where they would not be judged by the color of their skin but rather by who they were as a person (Ciolino 2005, Chapter 1). It is still hard to imagine that there continues to be discrimination based on someone’s race in a world that is so integrated as the world today. Another case of wrongful conviction based on discrimination is that of Marion Coakley. This man was severely mentally retarded and had been convicted of rape. He was unable to cooperate or thrive in the prison setting as he was unable to understand the expectations and why the expectations were expected of him. Therefore he was in trouble a lot and was put into isolation cells and other various forms of punishment for his inability to cooperate. He had a lot of problems with basic comprehension and understanding. Marion also had a lot of built up anger in being convicted of a crime which he did not commit. He was frequently moved between various prisons and within a twenty four month period he had been moved a total of eight times. He talked often about how he felt â€Å"railroaded† into prison as he did not understand how he could be punished for a crime which he did not commit (Scheck, Neufield, and Dwyer 2001, Chapter 1). In this case it was an example of how one can be discriminated against based on a disability affecting his/her cognitive functioning. Another man who was wrongly convicted was Gary Dotson. Gary Dotson was wrongly convicted after he had been identified as a rapist by his victim. This man maintained his innocence and six years later the supposed victim recanted her testimony stating that she had falsified it all in an attempt to ward off problems with her foster parents if she was pregnant from having consensual sex with her boyfriend at the time. She claimed to be recanting to clear her conscious. The only problem was that after Dotson was released he was re-imprisoned when the judge chose to believe that the woman’s recanted statement was the true lie. Later after a national outcry the governor of IL released him still maintaining that he was guilty but saying that he had enough time served for his crime. Later it was proven through DNA evidence that he was wrongfully accused and convicted, however this was after having not only served time in prison once but twice and having to live outside of prison with the conviction on his record (Huff, Rattner and Sagarin 1996, Chapter 1). There is no current remedy available to assist victims of this tragedy. These victims are those who have been wrongly convicted of a crime, forced to serve time and later exonerated of that said crime but still having to live with all of the stigma and discriminations as if they were the criminal that they had been convicted of being. There are many different types of wrongful conviction however typically only those which are the most severe, the cases of murder or rape are brought to public attention. This type of wrongful conviction does not only deal with a specific type of crime however but there are wrongful convictions in all types of crimes. Some of the problems with there being no compensation for the victims have to do with the after effects of wrongful conviction and how this type of thing really affects the person’s life. There can be all types of issues with wrongful imprisonment and these include issues with finding employment, finding housing, interpersonal relationships and having the respect of other people. Those who have been wrongly convicted have problems with being able to find suitable employment as many employers discriminate against them. Not only do the wrongly convicted have a hard time with finding employment but they also have difficulty in finding housing. Another area where there is strong discrimination is in housing. For those who have been wrongly convicted it can be very difficult to find good housing as there are a lot of places that will not rent to those who have had convictions and even if a conviction has been overturned if it were a conviction for rape or murder there is a chance that the once accused might not be able to find housing based on this information. These victims also have a loss in their interpersonal relationships as this type of conviction can ruin a marriage and a family and at times the victim might not even be allowed to see his/her children even after the wrongful conviction is overturned. Although there are many more areas in which a person would be deserving of compensation for a wrongful conviction one of the main other reasons is that there is a loss of overall respect from others towards this person. This happens when the person does not get the respect that he/she deserves from people based on the fact that there are past convictions and therefore people discriminate against him/her (Huff, Rattner, and Sagarin 1996, Chapter 1). Part B. Wrongful convictions and the compensation thereof are all different based on what part of the world the formerly accused is living in. There are differences that are major between Australia, U. S. A. , New Zeland, and England. Each of these areas has a separate current trend in the compensation of those who have been wrongly convicted, however there are many other issues that are necessary to be dealt with as well with each country and simple solutions for each to find a way to compensate those who have served time for a crime which they did not commit. The overall goal of each country should be that there are a national standard and a set of regulations to determine the amount of help and the type of compensation that should be given to the wrongly convicted. There should be standards for this type of compensation and certain things should be taken into consideration as well. In Australia there has been a lot of research on the subject of wrongful convictions and the compensation for those who have had a wrongful conviction in the past. Some of the laws in the country are made to protect those who are wrongly convicted. In the country’s codes and amendments it is stated that there can be compensation given through victim’s rights and advocacy and therefore there might not be a need for a court hearing or legal follow up in order to ensure that the wrongly convicted are given the compensation on their own. In Australia there is right to compensation for these issues. The basic meaning of this is that there is a payment made without the legal repercussions or legal fight that would be required in other countries (Hoel 2008 pp 2-4). In the ACT (Australian Capitol Territory) there are specific codes that are used in this area. Those who are wrongly convicted have a right to seek compensation if one of the following is committed. These include that the victim have â€Å"been convicted of a criminal offense by a final decision of a court, suffered punishment because of the conviction, and had the conviction reversed (or been pardoned) on the ground that a new or newly discovered fact shows conclusively that there has been a miscarriage of justice. † The law does not have a set standard of compensation (Hoel 2008, pp 2-3). Since there are no regulatory standards in Australia at this time it is being questioned as to whether or not the government should set in place a set of standards for the wrongly convicted. In her article, Does Australia Need a Specific Institution to Correct Wrongful Convictions by Lynne Weathered there was a lot of information encouraging Australian government to take a stand and work towards an appropriate form of compensation for those who are wrongly convicted in the country. This article compares the systems and regulations in place in Australia with other countries (Weathered 2007, pp 179-186). Not only has the country of Australia been working on creating a system in place for those who are wrongly convicted but also the United States of America has been working on these issues as well in regards to how they affect the country. In the United States of America there are a lot of different factors that are been looked at in the idea of compensation for those who are wrongly convicted. Some states are working harder than others in the fight for restoring rights to those who have been wrongly convicted. One of these states is Illinois. In this state the state legislative bodies just passed a law where there is no requirement for a wait or a court trial for a pardon in wrongful conviction cases. This means that these victims are instantly pardoned from these issues and that there is an encouragement for these victims that were not there before. This new law allows for those who are wrongly convicted to be able to apply for their certificates of innocence at a circuit clerk’s office anywhere in the state rather than having to go before the governor and go through a governmental pardon trial. This was a celebrated victory for those in the United States and it gave a good format for other states and other countries in something simple that could be done for those who are wrongly convicted to be compensated in some way instantly without having to wait (Ahmed 2008, pp 1-2). Not only has Illinois made strides in working towards compensation for the wrongly convicted but so has the state of Mississippi. Another state that has really stepped up to the plate in ensuring victim’s rights when wrongly convicted has been Mississippi. In Mississippi it was passed into law that someone who was wrongly convicted and spent time in prison deserved $50,000 per year served for a total of up to $500,000. This bill was passed and justified as there were a lot of issues with the victims not being able to put their lives back together and with them having a difficult time learning how to live back in the free world again after being imprisoned and having to deal with the issues of their imprisonment (Newsome 2009, pp 1). There have been many articles and papers written on the topic of compensation for wrongful conviction in the United States however it is apparent that there needs to be more follow up incentives and better standards for the nation as a whole as a lot of the strides are on a state level rather than a national level. In her article Louise Radnofsky discusses all of the problems with there not being a unified decision among the states in the USA with the subject of wrongful conviction. She looked at cases where there was not unified decision and where the victims of the issue of being wrongfully convicted were not given any type of pardon or any help to overcome said issues. The overall standard was that these victims were not able to get any compensation unless they lived in one of the states where the compensation is available. In the end the USA should take control of this situation and there should be some type of compensation for those who have been wrongly imprisoned (2007, pp 1-3). Overall it could be argued that the United States is working on a separate state by state level to deal with the issues of wrongful conviction and compensation for the victims. There is still a long way that the country could go and nationalizing some of the state’s plans could be simplest way to putting these policies and procedures into law and helping those who need the compensation to gain it appropriately and simply. Not only are victims in the United States able to sometimes get compensation but also there are sometimes ways for those in the country of New Zealand to get compensation as well. Not only do major changes need to be made in Australia and the USA but also the country of New Zealand needs to make appropriate changes in order to rectify the ideas of wrongful conviction for those in their country. There have been extreme cases in the country of New Zealand where there has been compensation awarded to victims of wrongful convictions. In New Zealand it is possible that there have been awards made based on the amount of time and energy the wrongly convicted has put into being able to get compensated. However there is no set protocol and there have not been mandatory regulations in this area either. The cases that have been seen and heard which have been awarded money for compensation are all ground breaking and could eventually help to ensure that all of those in the country of New Zealand are compensated if they are wrongly convicted (Goff 2001, pp 1). Not only is there a stride being made in New Zealand for the wrongly convicted but also there is progress being made in the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom it is possible for one to apply for wrongful conviction compensation through a government agency that allows for them to be able to apply for benefits and services. This is done by completing a form and sending it to the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. The decision is then made by the Justice Secretary as to whether or not some form of payment is deserved by the victim. This can mean that a decision could be made that there would be no need for the compensation and no right to it as well although it has been stated that this is highly unlikely in these situations. There are also some limitations and timelines to which the country adheres and they are strict so the victims need to know their rights and they should know that they must apply immediately to be considered for such payment (Compensation for Wrongful Conviction 2008, pp 1-2). It is unclear in the UK as to how one is supposed to learn about these programs and the right to compensation as it seems that it is not something that every wrongly convicted person has been aware of. There has been a lot of information available about the overall use of the follow up procedures and their ability to truly help those people living in the United Kingdom. In 2005 a lot of statistical data was published on this situation in order to the UK’s government to be on board for the Freedom of Information ACT 2000. In these reports it was reported that during the time period as to how many of the wrongful conviction applications were a result of HM Customs and Exise. These cases being more critical as they were entailing a lot more hardships for the wrongly convicted then other standard cases. The issues here include the fact that not all of the victims who were wrongly convicted were awarded compensation and not all of the victims applied for these compensation benefits so one could infer that there is not a lot of information available for those victims of wrongful conviction (Applications for Compensation Following Wrongful Conviction 2005, pp 1-2). Although there have been strides in many countries for those who have been wrongly convicted there is still a long way to go for them to be able to get full compensation for the hardships that they have/will face. The overall solution for those who have been wrongly convicted is a compensation to help the victim to be able to manage life on his/her own without having to face further persecution and issues that are currently on hand for these individuals. A solution for each of the above mentioned countries could be the same. It would a standardized form of follow through. There should be instant proof of one’s innocence and there should be public recants of the crimes which they were wrongly convicted for. The victim’s records should be cleared and it should be safe for them to apply for employment or housing with the persecution that would be there if they were to still have the conviction and the issues associated with it held over their heads. Another thing that needs to be done is a monetary settlement. This monetary settlement should include money for their time served in order to compensate in some way for the life that was lost while these victims were behind bars. Some of the worst parts of wrongful conviction are that the wrongly convicted are typically convicted of the worst crimes, that being the crimes of rape or murder. These wrongly convicted are then required to work out a plan for how they are to get their life back on track after having had mostly everything taken from them in an act of vigilantism on the part of law enforcement and the people in the community. This is often very hard for these wrongly convicted and wrongly accused as this past will undoubtedly follow them. Whether or not they had nothing to do with the crime the stigmas and the negative opinions of others will continue until there is some type of law in place to help assume the responsibility for helping these victims to be able to get back on their feet and no longer be wrongly subjected to these forms of harm and oppression. There needs to be a set standard for compensations and programs in place to help the wrongly convicted to be able to better their lives and themselves.