Newspapers Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Newspapers - Assignment Example Although there are certain number of people, mainly of older age who still believe in reading newspaper for getting updated about what are happenings in and around the world the present generation of youth as well as people who remain busy in their respective jobs prefer internet or web to get updated about the news. The news brings about conflict, create difference of opinion among people which help them in a way to figure out what is right and what is wrong. The newspaper is a way by which people can gather information about what is happening all across the globe. In the era of technological advancement newspaper still have its importance as in the developing and developed countries people still have to rely on print media to get details about the happening across the world. But, in addition to that in the developed countries, print media have to come up with new innovative ideas to survive as the internet is more of a common thing in those countries, so dependency on the newspaper in now reducing in those countries. 2. PEST Analysis: Definition, Purpose and Business Benefit: Generally PEST analysis associated with the external factors that affect any company’s overall performance. ... According to them, these four factors differ in different countries but a proper PEST analysis always helps an organization perform better in the competitive world (Analoui & Karami, 2003, 74). According to Kotler (1998), PEST analysis is a productive strategic tool for analyzing market growth or decline, business situation, potential and course for operations. According to his analysis, PEST analysis is helpful because there are continuous changes taking place in the society which creating an uncertain environment and also have its impact on the performance of the organization. The use of PEST analysis is helpful for the organization in strategic planning, developing its marketing strategies, for business development as well. 3. PEST analysis for the newspaper industry in the developed economies: With the continuously developing technologies and availability of internet facilities in almost every household of the economically developed countries, it is a crunch time for the print me dia to look closely to their marketing, promotional strategies and if needed have to make necessary changes. Political aspects: From the very beginning newspaper plays an important role in setting up the political mode of any civilization. By virtue of the reports published in newspapers regarding different political party’s agenda, thought process people decide whom to choose or support. On the other hand, political situation of any country also help the newspaper industry to blossom. Stable political condition, freedom to express views, access to all political parties and leaders, support from them at the crunch time all help the newspaper industry to do its job effectively that is providing good and true

Ecotourism in Washington DC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ecotourism in Washington DC - Essay Example The organization has some strategies, which are put in place for ensuring that the environment upon which it exists is sustainable and at the same time, the environment is upheld in the expected way. One of the ways through which this is done is with regards to the disposal of wastes that come from the institution. This is especially bearing in mind that most of the disposable products which come to the environment may be of danger to the environment and the people in it. These elements, according to the institution ought to be disposed in a manner, which will bring about the upholding of proper environmental standards within and around the institution. The institution also supports the aspect of practices, which bring about developments in the community in which it exists. In the course of people ought lives there to be the aspect of giving back to the society. This is because there are benefits, which people realize, and it would be beneficial to let other people also share these b enefits. The main intention of volunteering is for the purpose of bringing improvements to the lives of people. One thing, which should be noted, is that the act of volunteering can also be regarded as a way of serving the community. There are various ways through which voluntary services can be realized in a community. This may be done on an individual level or as a group. In the present world, voluntary services have moved from just an act, which is conducted by individuals as opposed to back in the days. Currently, organizations also engage in the acts that are meant to bring about service and benefit to the community. In the corporate world, this may be termed as corporate social responsibility. Which such organizations can bring about the elements that are associated with volunteering through various ways. For example, these individuals may opt to visit places where there exist less fortunate individuals. Another way that this can be made possible is by sharing things, which wi ll be beneficial to the recipients of the voluntary service. These acts are majorly to do with organizations and firms that want to engage in such services. Likewise, there is the aspect to do with personal feeling, which a person gets to experience at the thought of having volunteered something for the purpose of helping another person. Through voluntary activities. lives can be changed. This change is not only experienced by the people receiving the service. There is also the personal gratifying feeling, which the person giving the service receives. These are some of the things, which the organization greatly supports. The main idea is that there ought to be the development of the individual person, the environment and the community in general. With these revelations, there are various programs, which the organization is in support of. These are majorly those, which assist the young children and the old people in the society. In this case, the charity organizations will be orphana ges and houses for the elderly. Some of the ways through this assistance is realized is through the provision of health services and other services that will lead to the bettering of the lives of the people therein. Similarly, the organization engages in interactive days where

Perception of Body Image Among Adolescents

Perception of Body Image Among Adolescents CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Background of study Obesity is a state where the natural energy preserve, accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and it is increased to a level where it is connect with certain health state or increased mortality (Sidik Rampal, 2009). Obesity is a vital public health problem especially in developed countries like United States where half of the adolescents are afflicted (Sidik Rampal). Today’s adolescents in most parts of the world emphasis on the value of physical attractiveness. They focus more on physical appearance. Hence, body image has become an issue among adolescents who strive fully to obtain the shape they wish for. Body image can be defined as a person’s perception, attitude and feeling about his or her body. There are two types of body image. Firstly, perceptual body image. According to (Lee, Yee, 2013), perceptual body image is associated to the precision of self- estimation from body size to actual size, meanwhile attitudinal body image is evaluated through four components: satisfaction (evaluation of the body), affect (feelings associated with the body), cognitions (investment in appearance, beliefs about the body), and behaviors (avoidance where the body will be exposed). Adolescence is a transitional stage and many changes take place at physiological and behavioral level. In the West, body image is perceived as an important issue as they emphasis more on elegant body. The concerns about body image have been critized that it is a female problem, however that fact is certainly not true anymore. (Wagner, 2008). Just like females, males also wish to have excellent body image of muscul ar men through media, athletics and magazines such as sport magazines. Stout Frame’s study (2004), as cited in Wagner (2008), points out people has a bold awareness of the consequences of body image on females compared to males. This awareness allows for a developed sensitivity towards females; however that sensitivity tends to neglect males emotions and thoughts. According to Ricciardelli, McCabe, Lillis, Thomas’s study (2006), as cited in Wagner (2008), the development of muscularity has arose over the last decade and the concern towards body image by males are of sudden interest. As we know, poor body image can affect a particular individual confidence to achieve their goals and subsequently impacts the happiness of that particular individual. Poor body image occurs due to unhealthy eating habits which include dietary supplements, binge- eating and so on. (Lee,Yee,2013). Due to this phenomenon, adolescents are struggling every single day in order to achieve the ideal body image they wanted. Malaysian adolescents are increasingly eating foods which are high in fat and calories thus leading inactive lives. According to Ismail Tan’s study (2004), as cited in Pon, Kandiah, Taib (2004), more adolescents are obese than ever before. Statement Problem In this new era of globalization, the flawless body image is affecting almost every males and females, peoples from different cultural background, different group of ages and many more. It is harmful to have body image dissatisfaction as it always leads to eating disorder and psychological distress. This is because they tend to use harmful weight- control behaviors such as skipping meals, consuming slimming pills or applying cream on their body as to slim down in order to have the same body image as the model characterized in media. Therefore it is important to take prevention action and intervention in order to inhibit and treat body image since this issue can affect both individuals and society. Last but not least, exploring this research problem also allows us to focus more on body image issue especially among adolescents in Malaysia. Significance of Study Body image is a very important issue to most of the adolescents especially when they grow into adulthood. Many studies that focused on the body image have been conducted over the decade. However, while body image has been the focus of study in many countries such as United States and Korea, it is not immensely studied in Malaysia. This is because the studies on body image are restricted in Malaysia (EssayUk, 2013). Therefore, the current research proposed additional information on the difference in the perception of body image among adolescents. More importantly, the difference in the perception of body image between adolescents and pre adolescence has not been studied (Wagner, 2008) as been cited in McCabe Ricciardelli (2006). Thus this study will focus on the perception of body image among ethnicity group, gender as well age group. It is important to know the differences in perception of body image in these groups because the result can produce understanding in order to further discussions and this can help on how the development could change perceptions on body image. Purpose of the study The purpose of the study is to evaluate on the differences in the perception of body image among Malaysian adolescents in the aspects of gender, age and ethnicity. The differences been evaluated between adolescents and pre adolescents, males and females and ethnicity which involved three races Chinese, Indian and Malays. Analyzing these differences could produce insight on creating with a better prevention and intervention program for adolescents who have problem with their body image. Research Question The research question has been presented below as follow: RQ 1: Is there any significance differences in the perception of body image between male and female. RQ 2: Is there any significance differences in the perception of body image between pre adolescence and adolescence. RQ 3: Is there any significance differences in the perception of body image among Malays, Chinese and Indian. Operational definitions Body Image. As mention earlier, body image can be defined as a person perception, attitude and feeling about his or her body. Body image plays an important role for both the genders male and female (Pon, Kandiah, Taib, 2004). When adolescents focus too much on their body image, they will skip their meals and this subsequently leads to eating disorder. Gender. Gender refers to the characteristics of people as males and females. Gender also bears a special mention which is the gender role (Santrock, 2011). Gender role describes on how females and males should think, act and feel. For example, should males be more dominant than females and should females be more emotional than males to others’ feelings? Although individuals are aware of their gender in early childhood, a new stage been added to gender with the onset of puberty and the sexual maturation. Race. It refers to all humans belonging to the group of Homo sapiens, biological differences of human due to the interactions between hereditary and environmental factors and the non-existence of homogenous population. Genetic element of a population was subject to change as a result of diverse factors, history of migration in the past prevented the used of domination of certain geographical area to serve as basis for race and no national, religious, linguistic, cultural group or economic class that constitutes a race (American Association of Physical Anthropologists, 1996). The examples of dominant racial groups in this study consisted of Malay, Chinese, and Indian. This is the main races in Malaysia. Adolescent. According to Cardwell’s study (2003), as been cited in Jennifer,(2011), adolescence is known as the stage of development arise between puberty and adulthood. This is the stage where the adolescence entered imprecisely 10-12 years and ends at 18-21 years old. There is little view about this period of development by different psychologists. For example, Erik Erikson clarifies the period of adolescence through the Identity versus Identity Confusion stage in his psychological stages (Berk, 2009). Utar. Utar is known as University Tunku Abdul Rahman. Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), established under the UTAR Education Foundation, a not-for-profit organization. It was launched on 13 August 2002. UTAR is a dynamic University with four thriving Campuses- three in Klang Valley and one in Kampar, Perak. The Campuses in Klang Valley are located in Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur, and Bandar Sungai Long. The largest campus is the Kampar campus. We are focusing adolescents from Perak Campus between eighteen to twenty four groups of ages. SMK Sentosa Kampar. SMK Sentosa Kampar is located at Taman University. This school is near to Utar hostels. They have students from form one to form five. It’s a multiracial school consists of Malays, Chinese and Indians. In our research, we are focusing on pre adolescents among these races and age range of thirteenth to fifteenth. Pre adolescence. Is a stage of human developmentfollowingearly childhoodand prior toadolescence.It subsequently ends with the beginning ofpuberty, but may also be defined as ending with the start of the teenage years.For example 10–13 years.It can also be defined as the period from 9–14 years.It can also distinguish middle childhood and preadolescence middle childhood from approximately 5–8 years, as opposed to the time children are generally considered to reach preadolescence (age 9–14 years). Reference Dittmar H. (2009). How do body perfect ideals in the media have a negative impact on body image and behavior?. Journal of Social Clinical Psychology, 28(1), pp. 1-8. Wagner,R.R. (2008).Body Image Perceptions of Adolescents Males, pp. 44 . Wan,P.L., Kandiah,M., Mohd Taib,M.N. (2004).Body Image Perception, Dietary Practices and Physical Activity of Overweight and Normal Weight Malaysian Females Adolescents,10(2), 137-147. Wong,L.M., Say,Y.H. (2013). Gender Differences in Body Image Perception among Northern Malaysian Tertiary Students. British Journal of Medicine Medical Research, 3(3), pp. 727-747. Sidik,S.M., Rampal,L. (2009). The Prevalence and factors associated with obesity among adult women in Selangor, Malaysia. doi:10.1186/1447-056X-8-2 Yau,J.P. (2011).Perception of Body- Esteem Among Adolescents And Adults. Santrock, J.W. (2009). Life-span development (12th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill American Association of Physical Anthropologists.(1996). AAPA statement on biological aspects of race. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 101, 569-570. Retrieved April 10, 2010 from http://www.virginia.edu/woodson/courses /aas102%20%28spring%2001%29/articles/AAPA_race.pdf Berk, L.E. (2009). Child development (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education.

The American Dream and College Essay example -- Personal Narrative Edu

The American Dream and College My junior year of high school was filled with high emotions, stressful moments, and tension about where to apply to college and where I would be accepted and ultimately attend. At a â€Å"Making the Most out of your Sixth Semester† forum that year, the entire junior class experienced lectures from the school’s college resource counselors about how to prepare for this arduous battle of college admissions. The way Sue Biermert, who is the College Admissions Counselor at my high school, opened the forum was by asking a question to the parents that put everything into perspective: â€Å"How many of you parents feel like you are successful?† Every single hand shot up from the 500 parents in the auditorium. Of those that had their hands up, she asked, â€Å"How many of you parents received an Ivy League education?† Every hand went down. I could see friend’s mouths sit there in awe that getting an Ivy League education is not necessarily th e greatest factor at having a good life. Even though these shocked students were the ones hoping to be accepted by Yale and Harvard, they all simultaneously recognized that going to an Ivy League school is not a guarantee for success in life. The reality about American culture is that success is the result of individual experiences that suit the needs of each person, not necessarily the prestigious institution of learning that one attends. The college resource counselors that night wanted to stress one central problem that we were all going to face in the next twelve months. Invariably, they highlighted with personal stories and anecdotes that the admissions process is the most untrustworthy and unpredictable game anyone can get involved in. ... ...d reach the top. Unless there is a consensus in public opinion to challenge class reproduction, this system in our culture will grow exponentially more competitive annually. America is not what it once was, and it is an extremely arduous task to carry on a job without a college degree. While there is a rush to get married and have a family still at a young age, people still realize that you need to know where your next paycheck is coming from to support yourself. The â€Å"American Dream† is still a looming theory that people are striving to attain, and those people are the students of America that are being told from our elders that this is what it takes to reach that point. While it may be dirty politics to do what it takes it get by and be accepted, American culture has become a love for the game in order to perceive that desired image of success.

Analyse Ways Essay

The Shoe-Horn Sonata by John Misto has five main themes or concerns. They are; History and Memory, Power and Control, Heroism and Relationships and War and Atrocities. John Misto explores all these ideas while telling the story of Bridie and Shelia’s reunion fifty years after they last saw each other. The play is about the histories of the women and the nurses that were captive of the Japanese during World War Two; their individual histories and joint suffering. The stories of these women were never made official and there is no government recognition of their plight and few, if any, official records. These painful memories are not part of any ‘official’ history and this is made clear in the play. â€Å"The British didn’t want anyone to know about us. They’d have lost prestige if people found out how women of the Empire had lived in the war. So for the sake for King and Country, they burned out diaries. Every last one.† Shelia, Scene Thirteen. Misto makes it clear in the course of the play that the memories of the women are accurate. The oral stories from these fictional characters have juxtaposed over them the factual images to confirm and extrapolate the stories of the women. The visual images of the thin, starving people are very strong and clear to an audience, for example, Scene Seven opens with a photo of some women POW’s Ââ€" â€Å"emaciated, haggard and impoverished†. This is shown while Bridie explains how thin Sheila and herself got while at the Japanese camps, â€Å"The lightest I got was exactly five stone…† The visual images show exactly what the women are talking about and add to the sense of theatre around the play. They heighten the audience’s understanding of the enormity of the issue. There is use of background sounds throughout the play, for example in Scene Five when Bridie explains what happened on Radji Beach on Banka Island there is â€Å"sounds of machine gun fire and cries of women on the soundtrack†. The dues ex machine effect of these amplified sounds further highlights the theme of memories and history, linking both the action and the memories of the two women on stage. The Shoe-Horn Sonata explores power relationships at a number of levels. The most obvious power play on stage occurs between the interviewer and the women he is interviewing. This power play has an ambiguous moment in which the women are uncertain as whether Rick has overheard a ‘private’ conversation in Scene Ten. This is also explained in the stage directions: â€Å"Bridie and Shelia look up, startled. Then they both realise they are wearing small microphones. They both wonder whether every word has been overheard…† Rick also has the power to choose what questions to ask, and what to edit out of his documentary film. On another level we can see the role of power between the prison guards and prisoners. The guards abuse their power physically, sexually and emotionally and many seemed to enjoy the pain they inflicted. Lipstick Larry’s comment in Scene Eight, â€Å"Plenty of room in the graveyard for her…† is typical of the cruelty the guard’s exhibit. The prisoners had little choice but to cooperate and be humiliated and abused, this in turn had a large physiological effect on both women. This is shown when Shelia explains that she still has nightmares about Lipstick Larry in Scene Ten â€Å"[haunted] Every night when I fall asleep, Lipstick Larry’s waiting. He calls to me and I go to him Ââ€" and no one can change that. Not even you.† The Japanese dominated the women in every aspect; they even made them bow to the Japanese flag every morning. In Scene Nine, the two characters are reminded of this power by the presence of the Japanese flag that is being projected on the back screen. It doesn’t move and dominates the stage; a continuing reminder of how the women lived their lives in the camp and the power and control that continues to affect them. This emphasises to the audience just how horrible the camps really were for the women and how they continue to affect them today, fifty years on. Misto’s play revolves around the heroic deeds and relationships that are up held by the women during the war. The heroic deeds were acts of physical courage of the highest order. For Sheila, the supreme sacrifice of selling her body to the Japanese in order to obtain the necessary drugs for her friend’s survival is all the more poignant as we understand the cultural and social background that she had come from. Misto focuses on the ‘unsung’ hero’s of the war, for example the Australia nurse that washed the bed pans of the women on the way to Belalau. â€Å"It was the bravest act I have ever seen. She didn’t get a medal for it butÂ…all of us loved for of that…† (Sheila) The stories of the two women are expanding the conventional view of heroism to include acts of sacrifice beyond simple physical courage. The Shoe-Horn Sonata shows clearly that relationships are able to survive the toughest of times. The relationship of Bridie and Shelia survives not only the horror of the prisoner of war camps but also the pain of their reunion decades after the war. Misto uses a variety of theatrical techniques to convey this relationship to the audience and show that survival and growth are features of the relationship. Misto gives evidence of how tough times were in the camps with a combination of dialogue and screen images being used to illustrate what had happened to these people, for example, the slides of the women POW’s at the open of Scene Seven. These slides portray the starving bodies, rough conditions and brutality yet through all this the relationship gets stronger. The music played throughout the play symbolises the stage at which Bridie and Sheila’s relationship is. For example, Scene Ten closes with Anne Shelton’s â€Å"I’ll walk alone† displaying to the audience that at this point in the play Bridie and Sheila’s relationship is at its most fragile point because the truth about Sheila’s sacrifice has just been revealed. The play highlights the horrors of war particularly for women and civilians. The atrocious way in which human beings treat fellow human beings in a wartime situation is not restricted to the Japanese, but seen to be central to war itself. The atrocities are seen to have affected both women’s lives ever after. For example Bridie’s fear of the Japanese people in David Jones. What is particularly significant for these women is the requirement to ‘keep  smiling’ (Scene Nine) and to repress the memories. For these women the memories of the atrocities are tinged with guilt and shame. In some respects this amount to an even worse atrocity to plague the lives of these women after the war. The humour used by Misto in the play, derives not only from the way in which the women used the power of the human spirit to laugh at adversity, but also from the way in which the playwright has juxtaposed those moments of recounting of comic events with the horrors of the memories of the reality. The light and dark in this play allows us to be both horrified and entertained. As in any great tragedy, the comic allows not simply relief from the pain, but help us to question the reasons for the horror. John Misto believes that the women victims of this defeat of the British deserve to have their stories told and their sufferings recognised by a wide audience. Having talked to ‘real survivors’ he wrote the play in the hope that more people would be exposed to their suffering and above all to their courage. The dialogue, music, the sound effects and the projected images work together to shape the audiences response and to tell the powerful story of the women’s memories, raw vulnerability, strong relationships and heroism.

How do you respond to the view that in the stories in The Bloody Chamber Angela Carter presents a sinister distortion of family relationships? Essay

?How do you respond to the view that in the stories in The Bloody Chamber Angela Carter presents a sinister distortion of family relationships? Within Carter’s short stories, she may present a sinister distortion of family relationships by subverting ‘typical’ family roles, perhaps in a way that has a harmful or negative outcome for particular family members. She could appear to do this through the presentation of the parent and child relationships in The Snow Child, or the husband and wife relationship in The Bloody Chamber. The Gothic element of the stories is emphasised through the ‘sinister’ aspect of these distortions, as the relationships Carter presents can be somewhat disturbing. However, in some of her stories it appears that family relationships are not distorted, such as the mother and daughter relationship in The Bloody Chamber or the father and daughter relationship in The Courtship of Mr Lyon. In The Snow Child, Carter may subvert the typical expected roles of parents as the behaviour of the Count and Countess towards their ‘child’ is deemed very unusual. The Count behaves in a particularly alarming manner, portraying an obvious sexual attraction to the girl who appears before him after listing the qualities he desires. She is a clear manifestation of his fantasy, and is described as the â€Å"child of his desire†, which immediately signals abnormality for the reader as â€Å"desire† perhaps suggests a sexual element whilst â€Å"child† reminds us that she fulfils the family role of a daughter, thus highlighting her childlike innocence. The girl is described as â€Å"stark naked†, implying an eroticism about her, and alluding to the idea of female nudity as a part of male fantasy which is disturbing and sinister for the reader considering the Count is a father figure to her. Also, after the child’s death Carter describes how the Count â€Å"thrust his virile member into the dead girl†, and this explicit, shocking description of the sexual act emphasises the disturbing nature of the father and child relationship. It is possible that Carter chose to describe this act of necrophilia so explicitly in order to emphasise to the reader the harsh realities of some perhaps sexually abusive relationships within families. The helplessness of the â€Å"dead girl† and the Countess simply watching on perhaps highlights how females are often the victims of men and can be powerless, so fulfilling Carter’s feminist agenda that is evident in many of her other short stories. Carter may also present a sinister distortion of family relationships through the husband and wife relationship portrayed in The Bloody Chamber. The Marquis is obviously dominant within the relationship, exercising an excessive control over his new bride that eventually proves to be a serious threat to her once she discovers that he aims to murder her as he did his previous wives. Carter presents the ruby choker as a symbol within the story that represents the Marquis’ control over his bride. It is described as â€Å"clasped around my throat†, the violently threatening word â€Å"clasped† creating a sinister tone as it alludes to the image of strangling, thus suggesting the Marquis has an aggressive control over his wife. The ruby choker is also likened to â€Å"an extraordinarily precious slit throat†, again connoting danger for the bride and perhaps suggesting the potentiality for her to be a victim of murder. The Marquis himself is described as a powerful and dominant figure, as animalistic imagery is used to emphasise his authoritative nature within the relationship. The description of the â€Å"leonine shape of his head† and his â€Å"dark mane† liken him to an animal such as a lion, and so suggest a natural authority about him whilst highlighting his ability to perhaps behave like a predatory animal. The Marquis also has a clear sexual dominance within the relationship, as the bride describes; â€Å"his movements seemed to me deliberately coarse, vulgar†. The adjectives â€Å"coarse† and â€Å"vulgar† suggest a lack of romantic intimacy within the relationship, and the Marquis acting â€Å"deliberately† creates a sinister tone as it suggests he is fully aware of the power he is purposefully exercising over his bride. However, the father and daughter relationship in The Courtship of Mr Lyon may suggest that Carter does not present a sinister distortion of family relationships as despite the father’s recklessness, the paternal love he has for his daughter is evident to the reader. She is described as â€Å"his Beauty, his girl-child, his pet†, suggesting his affectionate love for her and the possessive pronoun â€Å"his† emphasises their physical connection as father and daughter. Beauty also shows her concern for her father and eagerness for him to return home, as Carter describes her thoughts of, â€Å"I hope he’ll be safe†. This makes it evident to the reader that both father and daughter share an emotional bond, so implying they have a healthy and loving relationship. The father also wishes to give Beauty what she desires, in this case a single white rose. He becomes so desperate to fulfil her wishes that he resorts to stealing a rose from the Beast’s garden despite having just heard â€Å"a mighty, furious roaring†; the justification for doing this is â€Å"because he loved his daughter†. This portrays the strength of paternal love, as it has caused the father to go to extreme lengths to please his daughter, in which he is fully aware of the threat it poses to him. The father in The Courtship of Mr Lyon is not without fault; not only does he steal the rose, but the reader learns that he has lost his fortunes through gambling. However, through the portrayal of the positive father-daughter relationship, Carter may be showing how the flaws of the father along with the love he has for his daughter makes him human, which links to the metamorphosis of the Beast to a human in the ending. Therefore, Carter may be suggesting that love and positive family relationships are what make us human. Overall, it appears that in some cases Carter does present a sinister distortion of family relationships, and often it is this element of her stories that emphasises their Gothic aspect. The subversion of typical family roles in a way that is nonconforming to what the reader considers the norm often proves to be disturbing and adds to the suspense of the stories. Carter often uses the distorted family relationships to suggest that danger can come from within the home. However, this is not always the case as some family relationships within Carter’s stories are deemed as normal and positive, and Carter uses other elements of the stories to conform to the Gothic genre. The positive relationships portrayed may be a way for Carter to present other ideology, often about how ‘love conquers all’.

A History of Camels in the US Army

A History of Camels in the US Army A plan by the U.S. Army to import camels in the 1850s and use them to travel through vast stretches of the Southwest seems like some comical legend that never could have happened. Yet it did. Camels were imported from the Middle East by a U.S. Navy ship and used in expeditions in Texas and California. And for a time the project was thought to hold enormous promise. The project to acquire camels was masterminded by Jefferson Davis, a powerful political figure in 1850s Washington who would later become the president of the Confederate States of America. Davis, serving as secretary of war in the cabinet of President Franklin Pierce, was not a stranger to scientific experiments, as he also served on the board of the Smithsonian Institution. And the use of camels in America appealed to Davis because the War Department had a  serious problem to solve. Following the end of the Mexican War, the United States acquired vast tracts of unexplored land in the Southwest. And there simply was no practical way to travel in the region. In present day Arizona and New Mexico there were virtually no roads. And going off any existing trails meant venturing into country with forbidding terrain ranging from deserts to mountains. Water and pasturage options for horses, mules, or oxen were non-existent or, at best, hard to locate. The camel, with its reputation for being able to survive in rough conditions, seemed to make scientific sense. And at least one officer in the U.S. Army had advocated for the use of camels during military campaigns against the Seminole tribe in Florida in the 1830s. Perhaps what made camels seem like a serious military option were reports from the Crimean War. Some of the armies engaged used camels as pack animals, and they were reputed to be stronger and more reliable than horses or mules. As leaders of the American military often tried to learn from European counterparts, French and Russian armies deploying camels in a war zone must have given the idea an air of practicality. Moving the Camel Project Through Congress An officer in the U.S. Armys quartermaster corps, George H. Crosman, first proposed the use of camels in the 1830s. He thought the animals would be useful in supplying troops fighting in the rough conditions of Florida. Crosmans proposal went nowhere in the Army bureaucracy, though it apparently was talked about enough that others found it intriguing. Jefferson Davis, a West Point graduate who spent a decade serving in frontier Army outposts, became interested in the use of camels. And when he joined the administration of Franklin Pierce he was able to advance the idea. Secretary of War Davis submitted a lengthy report which took up more than an entire page of the New York Times of December 9, 1853. Buried in his various requests for Congressional funding are several paragraphs in which he made the case for appropriations for study the military use of camels. The passage indicates that Davis had been learning about camels, and was familiar with two types, the one-humped dromedary (often called the Arabian camel) and the two-humped central Asian camel (often called the Bactrian camel): On the older continents, in regions reaching from the torrid to the frozen zones, embracing arid plains and precipitous mountains covered with snow, camels are used with the best results. They are the means of transportation and communication in the immense commercial intercourse with Central Asia. From the mountains of Circassia to the plains of India, they have been used for various military purposes, to transmit dispatches, to transport supplies, to draw ordnance, and as a substitute for dragoon horses.Napoleon, when in Egypt, used with marked success the dromedary, a fleet variety of the same animal, in subduing the Arabs, whose habits and country were very similar to those of the mounted Indians of our Western plain. I learn, from what is believed to be reliable authority, that France is about again to adopt the dromedary in Algeria, for a similar service to that in which they were so successfully used in Egypt.For like military purposes, for express and for reconnaissances, it is believed the dromedary would supply a want now seriously felt in our service; and for transportation with troops rapidly moving across the country, the camel, it is believed, would remove an obstacle which now serves greatly to diminish the value and efficiency of out troops on the western frontier.For these considerations it is respectfully submitted that the necessary provision be made for the introduction of a sufficient number of both varieties of this animal to test its value and adaptation to our country and our service. It took more than a year for the request to become a reality, but on March 3, 1855, Davis got his wish. A military appropriations bill included $30,000 to fund the purchase of camels and a program to test their usefulness in Americas southwestern territories. With any skepticism tossed aside, the camel project was suddenly given considerable priority within the military. A rising young naval officer, Lieutenant David Porter, was assigned to command the ship sent to bring back the camels from the Middle East. Porter would go on to play a critical role in the Union Navy in the  Civil War, and as Admiral Porter he would become a revered figure in late 19th century America. The U.S. Army officer assigned to learn about camels and acquire them, Major Henry C. Wayne, was a West Point graduate who had been decorated for valor in the Mexican War. He later served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The Naval Voyage to Acquire Camels Jefferson Davis moved quickly. He issued orders to Major Wayne, directing him to proceed to London and Paris and seek out experts on camels. Davis also secured the use of a U.S. Navy transport ship, USS Supply, which would sail to the Mediterranean under the command of Lt. Porter. The two officers would rendezvous and then sail to various Middle Eastern locations in search of camels to purchase. On May 19, 1855, Major Wayne departed New York for England aboard a passenger ship. The USS Supply, which had been specially outfitted with stalls for camels and a supply of hay, left the Brooklyn Navy Yard the following week. In England, Major Wayne was greeted by the American consul, future president James Buchanan. Wayne visited the London zoo and learned what he could about the care of camels. Moving on to Paris, he met with French military officers who had knowledge of using camels for military purposes. On July 4, 1855, Wayne wrote a lengthy letter to Secretary of War Davis detailing what he had learned during his crash course in camels. By the end of July Wayne and Porter had met up. On July 30, aboard USS Supply, they sailed for Tunisia, where an American diplomat arranged a meeting with the countrys leader, the Bey, Mohammad Pasha. The Tunisian leader, when hearing that Wayne had bought a camel, presented him with a gift of two more camels. On August 10, 1855, Wayne wrote to Jefferson Davis from about the Supply, anchored in the Gulf of Tunis, reporting that three camels were safely aboard the ship. For the following seven months the two officers sailed from port to port in the Mediterranean, endeavoring to obtain camels. Every few weeks they would send highly detailed letters back to Jefferson Davis in Washington, detailing their latest adventures. Making stops in Egypt, present day Syria, and the Crimea, Wayne and Porter became fairly proficient camel traders. At times they were sold camels which exhibited signs of ill-health. In Egypt a government official tried to give them camels which the Americans recognized as poor specimens. Two camels they wanted to dispose of were sold to a butcher in Cairo. By the beginning of 1856 the hold of USS Supply was filling up with camels. Lieutenant Porter had designed a special small boat which contained a box, dubbed the camel car, which was used to ferry camels from land to the ship. The camel car would be hoisted aboard, and lowered down to the deck used to house the camels. By February 1856 the ship, carrying 31 camels and two calves, set sail for America. Also aboard and headed to Texas were three Arabs and two Turks, who had been hired to help tend to the camels. The trip across the Atlantic was plagued by bad weather, but the camels were finally landed in Texas in early May 1856. As only a portion of the Congressional expenditure had been spent, Secretary of War Davis directed Lieutenant Porter to return to the Mediterranean aboard USS Supply and bring back another load of camels. Major Wayne would remain in Texas, testing the initial group. Camels in Texas During the summer of 1856 Major Wayne marched the camels from the port of Indianola to San Antonio. From there they proceeded to an army outpost, Camp Verde, about 60 miles southwest of San Antonio. Major Wayne began using the camels for routine jobs, such as shuttling supplies from San Antonio to the fort. He discovered the camels could carry much more weight than pack mules, and with the proper instruction soldiers had little problem handling them. When Lieutenant Porter returned from his second voyage, bringing an additional 44 animals, the total herd was about 70 camels of various types. (Some calves had been born and were thriving, though some adult camels had died.) The experiments with camels at Camp Verde were considered a success by Jefferson Davis, who prepared a comprehensive report on the project, which was published as a book in 1857. But when Franklin Pierce left office and James Buchanan became president in March 1857, Davis left the War Department. The new secretary of war, John B. Floyd, was convinced the project was practical, and sought Congressional appropriations to purchase an additional 1,000 camels. But his idea received no support on Capitol Hill. The U.S. Army never imported camels beyond the two shiploads brought back by Lieutenant Porter. Legacy of the Camel Corps The late 1850s was not a good time for a military experiment. The Congress was becoming increasingly fixated on the nations impending split over slavery. The great patron of the camel experiment, Jefferson Davis, returned to the U.S. Senate, representing Mississippi. As the nation moved closer to Civil War, its likely the last thing on his mind was the importation of camels. In Texas, the Camel Corps remained, but the once promising project encountered problems. Some of the camels were sent to remote outposts, to be used as pack animals, but some soldiers disliked using them. And there were problems stabling the camels near horses, who became agitated by their presence. In late 1857 an Army Lieutenant named Edward Beale was assigned to make a wagon road from a fort in New Mexico to California. Beale used about 20 camels, along with other pack animals, and reported that the camels performed very well. For the next few years Lieutenant Beale used camels during exploratory expeditions in the Southwest. And as the Civil War began his contingent of camels was stationed in California. Though the Civil War was known for some innovative experiments, such as the Balloon Corps, Lincolns use of the telegraph, and inventions such as ironclads, no one revived the idea of using camels in the military. The camels in Texas mostly fell into Confederate hands, and seemed to serve no military purpose during the Civil War. It is believed most of them were sold to traders and wound up in the hands of circuses in Mexico. In 1864 the federal herd of camels in California was sold to a businessman who then sold them to zoos and traveling shows. Some camels were apparently released into the wild in the Southwest, and for years cavalry troops would occasionally report seeing small groups of wild camels.