A Familys Woes Shown in Juno and the Paycock

A Family's Woes Shown in 'Juno and the Paycock' Some stories depend more heavily on their environment to advance their plots and themes than others. Such is the case with Juno and the Paycock by Sean OCasey. The play follows the plight of a working class family in Ireland during the civil war that rocked that country in 1922. This divisive political backdrop to the story reflects how the characters are disconnected from one another and dont react as a cohesive unit working toward a single goal. Economic woes play a primary part in the unraveling of the family unit. Another facet of setting is the ritualistic religious convictions of the characters, especially Johnny, in their attempt to escape their dilemmas. The financial quandary of the family, the disunity of the political canvas on which their story is painted and their superstitious religious beliefs all define the setting of the play and the way that their surroundings successfully stifles the happiness of the characters. The Boyle familys struggle to communicate with one another is echoed in the dissension taking place among the Irish people outside their door. The citizens of the country have separated into two opposing camps, the Free Staters and the Diehards. When they should be working toward the common goal of independence from Britain, they are instead pitting brother against brother in a futile and bloody outburst of violence. Likewise, inside the Boyle house-where their situation is such that all members of the family might be expected to be working toward the common goal of self-reliance and financial security-there are a multiplicity of differing individuals at work, often laboring at cross-purposes. Mrs. Boyle toils vigorously to keep the entire familys financial heads above water. Taking advantage of this situation is Mr. Boyle, the father, who would normally be expected to be the breadwinner but is instead a lazy drunk and a despicable role model for his son. That son, Johnny, is meanwhi le held captive by the guilt he feels for having betrayed a fellow political comrade. Meanwhile, the daughter Mary is attempting escape from the realities both inside and outside her home by reading books. The family is detached and alienated from each other, fighting with one another over their values and beliefs just as the citizenry of Ireland are doing outside their tenement. Financial worries can either bring a family together or destroy them completely; in this situation those concerns are accomplishing the latter. At the beginning of the play, it quickly becomes apparent that this is a family in dire financial straits. The mother is the only member currently working since Mary is out on strike from her job. Mr. Boyle is making a habit of drinking and carousing and spending what little money he is able to find. Youd think he was bringin twenty pouns a week the way hes going on. He wore out the Health Insurance long ago, hes afther wearin out the unemployment dole, an, now, hes tryin to wear me out (69), says Mrs. Boyle of her husband. Hes an indolent slob who doesnt care where his money comes from as long as hes not forced to earn it through labor. A supposedly game pair of legs is keeping Mr. Boyle from taking a job, sending the family deeper into a financial spiral. Johnny cant work at all because hes missing an arm and his hip has been shot to pieces . Its quite possible that financial gain played a part in his decision to betray his friend Tancred. The Boyles need a miracle, and it would seem that a miracle comes their way when an unexpected inheritance seems destined for their door. The idea of a great deal of money coming in should bring the family closer together, but even that fails. They are living in more splendor, or at least less squalor, as they begin to decorate their home with better furnishings and flowers all about the place. The squabbling continues, only now its progressed to such topics as whether or not they should buy a gramophone and whether or not they are putting themselves into too much debt before they even get the money due them. Their situation in the second act of the play seems hardly better than it was when we first we met them. Money, even the idea of money, seems to be a wedge between their working together to make a joyful home. Christianity plays a major role in the lives of the Irish people; for the Boyles it becomes more of a frustration than an instrument of deliverance from their worries. The Boyles look to their beliefs in the dogma of the Catholic Church as a way of salvation, but their spiritual beliefs are not enough to save them from their destructive-and notably anti-Christian-tendencies. In the actual physical setting of the play, there is a picture of the Virgin Mary with a votive candle constantly kept burning beneath it. Religious images are dispersed throughout the play. At one point Mrs. Boyle says of her husband that hes constantly singin, no less, when he ought always to be on his knees offerin up a Novena for a job (69). Clearly, she thinks prayer is the answer to the heartbreaking question of why her husband refuses to work. This stifles any opportunity for a change in the situation because it is a simplistic approach to the more complex psychological problem of why Mr. Boyle tends to ru n away from the idea of working for a living. Mary was probably named after the Virgin Mary so its ironic that she violated the tenet of the Catholic Church that argues pre-marital sex is a sin. Mary commits the sin of sleeping with Mr. Bentham and predictably winds up with child and without husband. Both Johnny and her father instantly side with the Church by condemning her for bringing shame upon the family. This is very ironic considering both the moral failure of Johnny in his callous betrayal of Tancred and the moral failure of Mr. Boyle, who takes no active part in making sure his family is safe and secure. Finally, there is unique case of Johnny, who exhibits the most intense religious beliefs of any character in the play. Johnny is a man consumed with a very Catholic sense of guilt. The votive candle burning beneath the portrait of the Virgin Mary becomes more than just another religious ritual done regularly and without much conscious thought. The votive candle becomes high ly symbolic for Johnny. He seems to believe that as long its burning hell not have to answer for his great sin of perfidy. He may be right, for almost the minute that the candle goes out the Irregulars arrive to take Johnny to meet his barbarous fate. His belief in his religion has failed to protect him and his family from the ultimate tragedy. The environment in which the story of the Boyles takes place serves up images of violence, poverty and the hope for salvation from sins through religious practice. All of these are presented as background to the story of a family coming apart at the seems. Their story is a microcosm of the events taking place in the larger world outside their walls; a world that also faces violence, poverty and a religion that is a cause of, rather than a solution to, their troubles. Works Cited OCasey, Sean. Juno and the Paycock. Three Dublin Plays. London: Faber Faber Limited, 1998. 67-148.

Higher Education and a Knowledge Based Economy Essay

Higher Education and a Knowledge Based Economy - Essay Example Of course all this would have implications for the area of higher education and this area has been discussed in depth by many academics like Nonaka, 1991 and Wiig, 1993.Knowledge is "power" and a key business asset and this will no doubt lead to an increased demand for education and training of the modern individuals .For the purposes of this paper I would present knowledge to be not only a member of the "steadily increasing" corporate assets (which amongst others are patients ,goodwill and brand identity etc) but also as "meaningful information; or the understanding, awareness, familiarity acquired through study, investigation, observation or experience over the course of time (citing Zelner , 2000)".(Psarras 2006).Basically then in the context of higher education it becomes an " individual's interpretation of information based on personal experiences, skills and competencies" (Psarras 2006). The impact on higher education of the knowledge based economy thus requires the need for instilling the culture of effective Knowledge management into the learning and education as a whole. ... The Educational criteria thus has to match the firm's knowledge needs and this has led to a growing appreciation for occupationally acquired knowledge to mere academic qualifications devoid of any practical experience. Thus Higher education will have to be focused upon developing this specific knowledge as required by the modern corporate firms competing for survival in the economy. Thus the aim is no longer knowledge delivery and there is a heightened focus upon strategic information and knowledge management by the labour force to achieve business goals efficiently through proper utilisation of the knowledge.This trend has been prevalent since the decade of the eighties where as according to Cooke and Cooke (1998) there has been growth of what is called "learner centred knowledge and action learning, a growing significance of work-related learning and the recognition of work and work experience as a key source of learning" (Psarras 2006 citing Cooke and Cooke 1998).Finally the adven t of information technology has made the need to revolutionise teaching and learning methodologies more than ever. In conclusion the future belongs to those who can understand the need to make continuous learning and modern education and training for the modern work force. Thus it is a challenging time for universities to be aware of the transitions in their roles as knowledge providers and provide flexible, innovative and research intensive learning. Further more there is a need for Curricula that reflects the reestablishment of the link of learning with experience with a more environmentally responsive curriculum which addresses the real issues that happen in a real world.

Priciples of Managment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Priciples of Managment - Essay Example Introduction We come across teams almost everywhere that we look- from the football field to the office, from the community center to the entertainment club that we belong to. It seems that teams and teamwork are an established part of modern life. If teams and teamwork is so important, it is clear that there should be much attention given to their makeup, strength and functioning so that they continue contributing to the goals of the organization or meet the purposes that they have been set up for. This paper will focus on what is the difference betweeen groups and teams, what makes a team come together, what are the obstacles usually encoutnered in the formation of teams and how can a team be made to contribute most effectively towards group and organizational goals. What are Teams? A team may be defined as a group of people that come together or have been brought together to accomplish some common goal. The essence of a team is a unified effort towards achieving a common purpose, in which each member has a defined role or specific tasks to perform in order that the team objective may be reached. This is where a team differs from a group of people. For example there may be a group of people at the office having lunch together because of proximity or seating next to one another, but if it is decided to make a team consisting of some people from Accounting and Administration to control an excess of office expenses, this can convert people from the same or different groups into a specific team with a now common purpose. A team usually reports to a team leader, and it is expected that the productivity of a team would be greater than the sum of its members due to synergistic benefits. The Difference between Groups and Teams We have seen from the above the difference between groups and teams. A group can be seen as an informal gathering of people in the same organization or community, but when they have a defined common purpose with deadlines and tasks and roles to perform, that is what converts them into a team. Team theory and its development has been a part of 20th century management theory, where it was thought that such a defined and cohesive effort would speed up the achievement of planned objectives. The work of Meredith Belbin in the UK and Bruce Tuckman in the USA has been quite influential in this regard. How to Convert a Group into a Self Managed Team The conversion of a group into a self managed team is a challenging process and puts a lot of responsibility on the team leader. The first step is to develop common goals and a vision. One should also work towards harnessing the value of diversity rather than belittling those with different perspectives. The last step is to foster effective communication. Bringing cohesion among team members is a slow process and is more easily said than done. We have to find out the barriers to change and discover how best to approach the change aspects so that these barriers are crossed or eliminate d. Changing team member attitudes is admittedly one of the most difficult steps in the change management process (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2007) but experts have whittled it down to a series of steps, which if carefully managed can bring about the desired change in the least time possible, with a minimum of fuss. Quite simply, the steps involved in the team building process are (1) clarifying the team goals; (2) identifying the issues that are preventing the team from reaching its goals; and (3) addressing these issues, removing the inhibitors and enabling goal achievement. The team leader may also act as facilitator or mentor to those having difficulties, thereby ensuring that all the resources and support is available to members as needed.

Advocating for laws that promote treatment for drug addiction as Research Proposal

Advocating for laws that promote treatment for drug addiction as opposed to incarceration - Research Proposal Example ortant to note that use of drugs leads to intoxication that in return holds the possibility of impairing the judgment of a person leading to criminal behavior, violent actions or limited anger management. That in return leads the drug users to commit other criminal behaviors rather than drug abuse alone that is equally illegal. It is therefore evident that over half of the offender in the U.S correctional system had used drugs prior period before they committed the crime. Focusing on treatment measures as opposed to incarceration for drug users is more beneficial for both the affected individuals and the society in general. Drug offenders are affected with the struggle of substance abuse and it serves better to provide such victims with treatment as opposed to imprisonment. Right from the onset, the role of prison is to serve as a correctional system for offenders with the officers charged with the role of controlling the system utilizing disciplinary and reform measures for offenders. However, unlike other criminals, drug offenders suffer partly different problems and discipline and reform programs are not the best measures for them. Borrowing from a proposal presented by the Drug Policy Alliance in 2010 after the organization studied the effects of incarceration to persons under substance abuse, treatment serves as the best practice as opposed to jail term (Zezima, 2014). The proposal identified community-based treatment as the best form to address the issue citing that it enhances public safety through reducing drug-related crime while in the same time ensuring preservation of the space of prisons a nd jails for other violent criminals. Such a process will not only improve the welfare of the community, but equally ensure a reduction of costs in the correctional systems used while dealing with drug offenders. Sending drug offenders to prisons presents more security risks to the public because whenever the drug offenders are sent to prison, they mix with other

Routing Protocols for Ad-hoc Wireless Network Dissertation

Routing Protocols for Ad-hoc Wireless Network - Dissertation Example IEEE 802.11g standard is also operational on a 2.4 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum that offers a maximum Mbps rate of data by using Orthogonal Division Multiplexing in the frequency band. Chapter 3: Routing Protocols for Ad-hoc Wireless Network 3.1. Routing Protocols As stated previously in this paper, an ad-hoc mobile network refers to a number of wireless mobile hosts linked together to form a network of temporary nature without using any centralized control or stand-alone infrastructure [18]. MANETs are not multi-hop wireless networks that are only self-configuring but also self-organizing, in which the network structure changes dynamically, primarily, because of the portability of the nodes [22]. Such networks have their nodes use the uniform random access wireless channel in order to get involved in multi-hop broadcasting by cooperating with each other in a friendly manner. These nodes serve as both hosts as well as routers routing data to and from other nodes within MANET [21 ]. Since the MANETs have no support of the infrastructure as opposed to the other wireless networks and there is a possibility of a destination node not being found within the range of the source-node-network of the forwarding packets, hence a mechanism for routing is compulsorily required for determining a path in order to transmit the packets properly from the node of the source to the node of the destination. Commonly, a base station in mobile network within a cell can access all the wireless nodes without the mechanism of routing through the broadcasting method whereas in the MANETs, each node should be transmitting the data on behalf of the other nodes. This gives rise to other issues besides the issue of unpredictable connectivity changes related to dynamic topology (Schiller, 2000). 3.2. Issues with Routing in MANETs Asymmetric links: Many wired networks are based on the fixed symmetric links as opposed to the MANETs where the nodes are wireless and also, dynamic as they keep changing their network position. As for instance, consider a MANET having a node B transmitting a signal towards node A. This information tells nothing in relation to the quality or level of the connection in the reverse order that is sending signal back to node B from node A (Schiller, 2000). Overhead in the Routing Mechanism: The nodes, in a MANET, are dynamic with respect to their network location as mentioned above. Hence, a number of invalid paths are produced in the routing table accounting for excessive overhead. Interference: Interference is a big issue in MANETs since the links are made and broken on the basis of the transmission properties, subsequent to which one transmission might intervene or intrude in another line of transmission causing the corresponding node to tap the communication of the nodes in other transmission lines and thereby, falsify the overall system of transmission. Dynamic Network Topology: This is another issue of great concern in MANET routing as th e topology keeps on changing. The nodes of the MANET are dynamic since the change their network location and also, the medium has the changing/dynamic properties. The routing tables, in the MANETS, must be able to indicate such changes taking place in the network topology by adapting the appropriate routing algorithms. As for instance, the routing table is updated in every 30 seconds in a fixed network (Schiller, 2000). On the other hand, the updating frequency for the ad-hoc networks might be very low. 3.3. Various Network Protocols in MANET’s and their Comparisons Although the network protocols in MANETS can be classified in numerous ways however many of these are performed on the basis of both the routing mechanism and the network structure [20]. In accordance to the routing mecha

Museum Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Museum Report - Essay Example One of the practitioners of this style of painting was Paul Cezanne, a French painter, though some critics put him in the post-impressionist period. However a study of his works show that many of his paintings have the characteristics associated with the impressionist style (Impressionist 3). One example of Cezanne's work that exemplifies his style of painting is the 'Farmhouse and Chestnut Trees at Jas-de-Bouffan' the Cezanne family estate at Aix in the south of France. Cezzane's early work did not meet with much success, and it is only later, once introduced to this style of art that the "black and morbid atmosphere of his paintings gradually changes as he concentrates on landscape subjects" (Expo, Paul Cezanne). Moreover, impressionist paintings feature "short 'broken' strokes of pure untinted and unmixed color" (Impressionism 2) and these characteristics are very much in evidence in this painting, especially in the manner in which the leaves have been painted. This aspect has to be viewed in the backdrop of the technique then in vogue of "having an almost smooth surface of the canvas without visible brush strokes" (Impressionism 2). Another feature of this painting which also fits the Impressionist style is the absence of define lines to determine the edges of various objects, which is true of the chestnut tree

HYPNOTHERAPY & NEURO LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING Essay - 1

HYPNOTHERAPY & NEURO LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING - Essay Example Therefore, all the suggestions are entered to the subconscious without conscious intervention. Once conscious faculties are sure that monotonous stimuli unlikely to endanger their subject, they become complacent and irresponsible. With attention gone there can be no conscious intervention which leads to the state of conscious suspension. Conscious faculties are alert and vigilant to check the security or any danger from external stimuli. Therefore, the conscious faculties intervene when suggestions are on their way to the subconscious. To produce monotony to the sense of feeling, the subject should be made very comfortable by reducing all possible external stimuli. The pressure on the subjects body should be released by avoiding any unpleasant sensation commonly known as pins and needles. The subject should be instructed to sit properly without the legs crossed. The room environment should be calm and temperature should be maintained at constant level. If the emotional force generated by thoughts or perceptions is not discharged through appropriate action, the pressure will build up and escape where it finds least barrier. If it is not discharged, building of such a force might lead to destructive level of pressure. Hypnotist displays posters before his performance which claims to possess mysterious hypnotic powers, the power to control minds, and the power to control the actions of others. At the actual show, special stage props, a carefully planned presentation, and the impressive appearance of the hypnotist, all play a part in contributing still further to building up emotion in the audience. In normal situations the emotion is discharged through appropriate action. The builded pressure escapes where it finds least barrier. When the asserting pressure is moderate, feelings such as satisfaction, dislikes etc. are released. It can render the conscious faculties inefficient and incapable of carrying out their normal duties. In our working model of the