Brief critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Brief critique - Essay Example The sources of the vitamin are the vegetables which consist of greens, tomatoes, and pieces of onions. The protein in the advertised meal is from the chicken that is sandwiched. The baked part of the sandwich is the main source of carbohydrates. The presence of all important nutrients in the advertised meal makes limcoonalds.com a good site to visit when in need of a balanced diet. Additionally, the use of promotions such as â€Å"Big Mac ®Ã¢â‚¬  when a person visits the site limcoonalds.com makes many clients to register as the customers of the â€Å"m I’m lovin’ it.† Despite this advertisement appearing very appealing to the consumers of fast foods, it has some weaknesses that make me dislike it. For instance, it has not provided any information about the physical location of the cafà © selling the meal (Smith 17). It is also evident that the advertisement has not unraveled the price of the meal its advertising. Additionally, it has not provided any inform ation on the ratio of ingredients making up the advertised food. The lack of information pertaining the ingredients, price, and location of the selling spot makes the advertisement less important to the

Psychological makeup of a terrorist Essay Example for Free

Psychological makeup of a terrorist Essay The attack brought with it a number of repercussions. For instance, immediately after the attack, the nation’s economy went into a sudden plunge. This is because the stock exchange for the day was canceled by not only the NYSE but also NASDAQ (Morgan, 2009). Although the attack was meant to affect the US economy, it also affected nations such as such as those in Britain. For instance, after the attack, London Stock Exchange was also forced to close due to fear of similar attacks. The economic drop brought with it a number of consequences. For instance, there was a hike in the price of commodities such as gold as well as fuel and gas. Apart from the rise of commodity prices, the US also suffered a drop on its currency, which was quite devastating (Roberts, 2011). Similarly, after the incident, hundreds of flights were grounded not only in the US but globally, hence, this resulted to more financial losses for the nation. Psychological makeup of a terrorist                     According to Kershaw (2010), terrorists usually decide to commit such atrocities due to a number of factors that are normally exposed to them the moment they make up their minds to join terrorist organizations. First, terrorists are usually made to believe that they are in accordance with religion when they commit atrocities such as mass killings and suicide bombings. Additionally, terrorists also believe that when they become martyrs if they die with many people since to them it is honorable to die fighting infidels (Kershaw, 2010). It is because of such beliefs that drives most of the terrorists into committing killings as the ones witnessed in the US. What type of people become terrorists?                     Terrorism is quite dynamic; this is because there is usually no specific age, education level as well as religion that one needs to be so that he can qualify to become a terrorist (Hewitt, 2003). According to studies, it is because of the dynamic nature of terrorism that it is quite difficult to know exactly in what manner the terrorists will attack. The fact that terrorists can board a plane and take control of it is enough proof that most of them are well educated. This is because it is not possible for an illiterate person to operate a plane. According to studies, not all terrorists are of Islamic religion; this is because there are others who join terrorist organizations for quick fame (Hewitt, 2003). Conclusion                     Although terrorism has been around for a long time, the 9/11 attack on the US was the day that the world realized the extent that terrorism had evolved. This is because unlike in the past, terrorists of the current generation are so daring to the extent that they can go ahead and commit suicide just to get their opinion heard. One of the reasons why terrorists decide to commit such atrocities is because of their religious beliefs. According to terrorists’ beliefs, one becomes a martyr if he dies fighting infidels. References Bergen, P. (2006). â€Å"What Were the Causes of 9/11?† Prospect Magazine. Retrieved on 10 September 2014 from http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/features/whatwerethecausesof911 Hewitt, C. (2003). Understanding Terrorism in America: From the Klan to Al Qaeda. United Kingdom: Psychology Press Hoffman, B. (2013). Inside terrorism. New York: Columbia University Press. JREF. (2011). What Motivated the 9/11 Hijackers? Retrieved on 10 September 2014 from http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=238563 Kershaw, S. (2010). â€Å"The Terrorist Mind: An Update.† The New York Times. Retrieved on 10 September 2014 from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/weekinreview/10kershaw.html?pagewanted=all_r=0 Malisow, B., French, J. L. (2008). Terrorism. New York, NY: Chelsea House. Morgan, M. J.(2009). The impact of 9/11 on business and economics: The business of terror. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Roberts, B.W. (2011). Macroeconomic Impacts of the 9/11 Attack: Evidence from Real-Time Forecasting. Collingdale: DIANE Publishing Schmemann, S. (2010). â€Å"Hijacked Jets Destroy Twin Towers and Hit Pentagon.† The New York Times. Retrieved on 10 September 2014 from http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0911.html Source document

Theories in Audience Research

Theories in Audience Research Communication as a complex process which is text have both an explicit and an implicit agenda. (Ruddock, 2001). According to Ruddock, persuasion is achieved not only through information but also through controlling how people make sense of information as nowadays mass media were persuasive on so far as they offered audiences seductive ‘knowledge positions’ that made sense of a chaotic world. (Ruddock, 2001, p.222). Stuart Hall argue that messages have a complex structure of dominance because at each stage they are, imprinted by institutional power relations. (Hall, 1980). Furthermore, in a particular stages a message only can be received at recognizable or appropriate stage where the message is to be used or understood at least somewhat against the grain. (Hall, 1980). This means that power relations at the point to production, will loosely fit those at the point of consumption. (Hall, 1980). In this way, the communication circuit is also a circuit which reproduces a pattern of domination. (Hall, 1980). Hall theory is ideological only and media is powerful when audiences encode from it. There are three challenges of encoding and decoding, Hall argued that (i) meaning is not simply fixed or determined by the sender (ii) the message is never transparent (iii) the audience is not a passive recipient of meaning. (Hall 1973). According to Hall, encoding and decoding is conventional model of communication to be found within mass communications research. This model moves in a linear fashion from the ‘sender’ through the ‘message’ to the ‘receiver’. (RED: 253). According to this model, the sender creates the message and fixes its meaning, which can only be transparently when communicated to the recipient. Hall theory on communication process is system can distort message which receiver might not getting the message they want to or expect (RED: 253). On the other hand, Hall are more on interested on the different way audiences generate and react from the message rather than discover the meaning. (RED: 253). The example implies in Hall t heory are the sender of information will never will be perceived by the target audience in the way they expect because of the chain of discourse. Furthermore, when we recognize that these circumstances will result in messages being imprinted by institutional power-relations as they pass through these stages which we will realize that a message cannot be transparent, because there can be no ‘raw’ presentation of any information. (Hall, 1973). Besides, this reasons also extend to the moment of consumption and distribution which is Uses and Gratification the theory states that consumers are not a passive audience but an active recipients of meaning. (Hall, 1973). On the other hand, the decoding of messages is a complex process which making sense by audience and it will shaped by the imprints of reception, social and economic relations and structures of understanding before any kind of practice or consciousness can be happen. (Hall, 1973). Besides, consumers are for both wh ich is receivers and as a source to understanding of a message. The description as a ’lack of fit’ between the ‘encoders’ as producers and ‘decoders’ as a consumers is an unpredictability because of the codes offered by mass media through conveyed messages to receiver can be interpreted in three ways which is through a dominant reading where the receiver accepts and reproduces the code. (Hall, 1973). For a negotiated reading, normally the code is accepted but partly only shared thus an oppositional reading is the receiver understands the reading but rejects the code. (Hall, 1973). According to Hall notes, â€Å"hierarchically organized into dominant or preferred meanings† (p. 513), some knowledge become institutionalized because there is a preferred reading that is imprinted by a social order (institutional/political/ideological). (Hall, 1973). He argues that although we have polysemy, or multiple meanings, we do not have pluralism. Thi s will result in some messages from the media becoming commonsense constructs, as we enforce certain semantic domains and† rule items into and out of their appropriate meaning-sets† (p. 514). When consumers are faced with messages, and make sense of them within the hegemony of dominant code, they will reproduce already dominant definitions. (Hall, 1973). Hall were insert a semiotic paradigm into a social framework which to clearing the way for both which is textualist and ethnographic work. (Hall, 1973). Hall’s essay has been important to the study of media which is fieldwork like David Morley. He has proceeded model has been criticized for his model which is sender, message and receiver. (Agosto de, 2006) According to Agosto, it is a concentration on the level of message exchange and for the absence of a structured conception of the different moments as a complex structure of relations. (Agosto de, 2006). On Halls theory, his has own militant, position, where he insists that the ‘preferred reading’ is undoubtedly a property of the text which means can be identified on the analysis itself. (Hall 1994). In my opinion, if Hall is right on the textual analysis there are still has many important place in audience work rather than many subsequent scholars have recognized it. However, we cannot deny that textual analysis by dissolving the text into its readings or contextual uses, the question still remains as to the nature of the text that we should analyze. (Agosto de, 2006) At one time, under the influence of structuralist theories of language and meaning (de Saussure 1974; Hall 1981) it seemed obvious that content analysis could be of little help, because of the way in which it disaggregates texts into their atomized constituent parts and according to structuralism to gives them their meanings. (Agosto de, 2006) Besides, as we know from many studies of viewing practices peop le from the whole actually do not consume whole texts on television even though they still do in cinema. (Agosto de, 2006) In plus, in the age of the remote control device, they watch cannibalized schedules of their own construction, as they jump from one bit of programming to another which the structural relations within any one programme will be irrelevant, except in that particular sub-category of viewing in which people will sit down and watch the their favourite programmes. (Agosto de, 2006). Acoording to David Morley’s research involving Nationwide has become an important study when concerning audiences. Morley outlined three hypothetical position which the reader might occupy dominant reading whereas the reader shares the programmes ‘code’ Code means systems of values, attitudes, beliefs and assumptions and fully accepts by the programmes as to be ‘preferred reading’ Furthermore, negotiated reading is the reader partially shares the programmes code and its preferred reading, however they modify it which reflects their position and interest. (Hall, 1973). Oppositional reading is where the reader does not share the programme’s code and completely rejects the preferred reading, which brings an alternative frame of interpretation. (Hall, 1973). A further, fundamental problem about matters of interpretation is raised by Condit (1989) and Caragee (1990) who both argue that many audience scholars have exaggerated the extent of the polyse my of meanings of media texts and ignored the limits placed by texts themselves on the process of interpretation. (Agosto de, 2006). Their argument that most texts have meanings which are perfectly clear to the majority of their readers who only differ in their evaluation of them, takes us back to another unresolved issue raised long ago by John Corner (1981). This concerns the need to disentangle the elements of comprehension and evaluation which are intertwined in the Encoding or Decoding model. This takes into deep water, as Hall`s original (1973) argument was that, in any society characterized by significant cultural divisions, and thus a `systematically distorted` system of communication (Habermas 1970) the elements of comprehension and evaluation will inevitably be intertwined with some kinds of interpretations dismissed by more powerful others as merely `misunderstandings`. (Agosto de, 2006) The unresolved difficulty here is that the price of analytical clarity, if we attem pt to too neatly divide matters of interpretation and evaluation, may be to disassemble the empirical conjunction of these issues and thus to evacuate from the model the very questions of cultural power which it was designed to address (Hall, 1973). Yet further important questions remain about the status of another of the model’s central categories that of the `oppositional reading`. It may well be that the original model, in its search for overtly political forms of opposition to the culturally dominant order, overvalues ‘oppositional’ rather than ‘negotiated’ decodings. (Agosto de, 2006) Moreover, it is by no means clear that an audience’s refusal to even engage with a text sufficiently to make any decoding of it and it irrelevance to their concerns which is the position of many people in the UK, in relation to much of contemporary news and current affairs programming is less of an oppositional reading than one which is at least sufficiently engaged by a text to bother to `disagree` with it. (Agosto de, 2006). As Dominique Pasquier (2003) argues, the ‘indifferent audience’ may be one of the key issues for contemporary audience research. (Agosto de, 2006) Sociologist David Morley argues that ‘members of a given subculture will tend to share a cultural orientation towards decoding messages in particular ways. (Agosto de, 2006) Their individual â€Å"readings† of messages will be framed by shared cultural formations and practices’. In conclusion Morley claims that an individual’s ‘decoding’ of TV programmed are not reduced to a direct consequence of social class position. (Agosto de, 2006). It is always a question of how social position, as it articulated through particular discourses, produces specific kind of readings or decoding. (Agosto de, 2006) These readings can be seen to be patterned by the way in which the structure of access to different discourses is determined by social position’ (Agosto de, 2006) Therefore, the meaning of text will be constructed differently according to the discourses brought by the reader. (Agosto de, 2006) Fiskes Theory suggests that people naturally categorized events that take place in their reality in reference to texts they have experienced in the past which means he is suggesting we all create a context for what we are seeing through intertextual referencing. (Fiske, 1992). People tend to believe that genre is based on real life, however, the human mind tends to give real life events context and genre based on those created in texts. This can apply to generally speaking, any genre. For example, the horror film, when something super natural takes place in real life people may relate it to a text based on ghosts if an object might randomly fall off a shelf in a supposedly haunted location on a ghost walk, people will witness this in reference to things they have seen in the exorcist or other such films. (Agosto de, 2006). According to Marxism Theory is a ‘simple idea is that the policy process, far from being a rational weighing up of alternatives, is driven by powerful socio-economic forces that set the agenda, structure decision makers choices, constraints implementation and ensure that the interests of the most powerful (or of the system as a whole) determines the outputs and the outcomes of the political system. (John, 1992). According to Barry the state’s function is to protect and reproduce capitalism. Public policies thus reflect the role of the state in trying to regulate the economy and ensure social and political stability. (Barry, n.d.).In other words, the state formulates and implementation policy to reflects the interests of capitalism and the capitalist or the ruling class. (Barry, n.d.). The control over ideas through media and process of socialization on more generally, such as education. This is no dominant ideology compared to Hall theory which is system can be distort. Marxist is a capitalist mode of production and it is concentrated of nature power which is critical and it is overthrow the system. (Barry, n.d). Bibliography Barker, M. (2003) ‘I have seen the future and it is not here yet.’ Paper to ARSRP conference Ruddock, Andy (2001) Understanding Audiences: Theory and Method, Sage: London. Fiske, J (1987). Active Audiences. In Television Culture (pp.62-68). London: Routledge. Morley, D. (2006). Unanswered questions in audience research [Electronic Version]. The communication Review, 9(2), 101-121. Peter John, (1992). Analyzing Public Policy 1999. P.92.

Brontës Depiction of Women in Jane Eyre :: essays research papers

In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontà « uses the female characters to convey her views on Victorian conventions of womanhood. She does this initially by using first-person narrative to help us see the characters in their true form. In this essay I'm going to explain how Brontà « uses the character Jane as porthole for her own views and beliefs. During the period Jane Eyre was set, the 1840's, it was conventional that women were inferior to men and were not entitled to their own opinions or freedom of mind. Brontà « uses Blanche Ingram as an example of a typical woman of the time and the consequences of being so are shown throughout. Brontà « argues this view in her preface that ?conventionality is not morality,? this means that what society may think is widely accepted and respectable, is not necessarily what is right, and she creates Jane Eyre as an example of a woman who believes just this but who has, in the end, become more successful than Blanche. Women in the 19th Century were expected to be beautiful and accomplished or they were nothing. Their decisions were made for them and their work was in the home. Charlotte Brontà « thought this immoral and believed that women should be admired for who they are, not what they look like. To highlight this point she uses the character Blanche Ingram, a young lady ?moulded like a Dian?. When reading of Blanche, we are not presented with a complimentary description, for although many other people may describe her as a beautiful, young and accomplished woman, we hear her description from the voice of Jane, who evidently tends to analyse people with a much deeper meaning than just their appearance, and although Jane does admit that Blanche is young and beautiful, she also describes her to be self-centred and inconsiderate towards others - including Mr. Rochester - to who she appears to show no emotion. This is noticeably illustrated when Jane has been observing Blanche and notes that ?her laugh was satirical and so was the habitual expression of her arched and haughty lip?. The choice of the word ?habitual? shows us that this sort of action is typical of her and that she often acts haughty and satirical. The reader immediately feels contempt for Blanche after this observation, as it portrays her to be arrogant and pretentious, especially as it was an action made towards Adele, who is a described to be a sweet young girl who Jane is fond of. Brontà «'s Depiction of Women in Jane Eyre :: essays research papers In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontà « uses the female characters to convey her views on Victorian conventions of womanhood. She does this initially by using first-person narrative to help us see the characters in their true form. In this essay I'm going to explain how Brontà « uses the character Jane as porthole for her own views and beliefs. During the period Jane Eyre was set, the 1840's, it was conventional that women were inferior to men and were not entitled to their own opinions or freedom of mind. Brontà « uses Blanche Ingram as an example of a typical woman of the time and the consequences of being so are shown throughout. Brontà « argues this view in her preface that ?conventionality is not morality,? this means that what society may think is widely accepted and respectable, is not necessarily what is right, and she creates Jane Eyre as an example of a woman who believes just this but who has, in the end, become more successful than Blanche. Women in the 19th Century were expected to be beautiful and accomplished or they were nothing. Their decisions were made for them and their work was in the home. Charlotte Brontà « thought this immoral and believed that women should be admired for who they are, not what they look like. To highlight this point she uses the character Blanche Ingram, a young lady ?moulded like a Dian?. When reading of Blanche, we are not presented with a complimentary description, for although many other people may describe her as a beautiful, young and accomplished woman, we hear her description from the voice of Jane, who evidently tends to analyse people with a much deeper meaning than just their appearance, and although Jane does admit that Blanche is young and beautiful, she also describes her to be self-centred and inconsiderate towards others - including Mr. Rochester - to who she appears to show no emotion. This is noticeably illustrated when Jane has been observing Blanche and notes that ?her laugh was satirical and so was the habitual expression of her arched and haughty lip?. The choice of the word ?habitual? shows us that this sort of action is typical of her and that she often acts haughty and satirical. The reader immediately feels contempt for Blanche after this observation, as it portrays her to be arrogant and pretentious, especially as it was an action made towards Adele, who is a described to be a sweet young girl who Jane is fond of.

The Unethical Approach to Immortality

Clint Stoeck Professor Kelly History 1302 19 October 2012 HeLa: The Unethical Approach to Immortality Henrietta Lacks is, one of the greatest contributors medical science and research in the past century. Albeit, she never knew of her contribution. In fact, it took twenty years for her family to be informed about the extensive number of cells that had been produced, and that would continue to be produced, to further studies in the best medical interest of mankind. The ethics of this situation are hardly questionable and this is what â€Å"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks† by Rebecca Skloot discusses.The blatant use of Henrietta Lacks’ tissue without her consent, while it was a huge benefit to the medical field and mankind, was highly unethical and the lack of consent from her and her family have led to the questioning of the moral standards of the medical field. We see Henrietta Lacks and her family as an example of the apathy that the medical field exhibits during this time towards underprivileged people and the lasting effects that it can have on society. The twentieth century was a rather confusing time for the medical field.We were always advancing and consistently on the verge of new technological capabilities. The â€Å"medical revolution† that transpired during the twentieth century began to develop some unintended side effects though. Ethics began to take a back seat to the advancement of medical research and Henrietta Lacks fell victim to these unethical practices. When she discovered â€Å"her biopsy results from the pathology lab: Epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix, Stage I† , she had the cancer removed. Henrietta was able to continue her life without a problem after the removal and thus continued her life as it was, previously to the cancer.She did not know that the cancer had essentially been harvested, not fully removed, and used to produce the largest supply of cells in existence. After Henrietta Lacks’ deat h, the use of her cells continued for years. They have been used as a medium for in vitro fertilization to polio vaccinations. One of the problems that make this situation questionable is the fact that Henrietta Lacks still died from this cancer. She was not helped but used as a genetic farm without knowing, until she expired. The other half of this situation is how Henrietta Lacks passed away which in this case, was excruciatingly painful.The doctors viewed her as a â€Å"miserable specimen† and saw no need to examine her further. After Henrietta’s death, word traveled quickly the George Gey laboratory, where her cells where originally cultured. They froze her body and used it as a template to continue their research. They began mass producing her cells in a warehouse in Tuskegee at about twenty thousand vials per day. They began to profit off the production and tell not a word of it to Henrietta’s family because they would be legally entitled to a portion of t he profits.Not only have they disgraced the body of Henrietta Lacks, they blatantly avoid telling the family about their activities after her death. In 1973, the Lacks family learned of their mothers past situation. They could not grasp the concept that the cells were not immortal but replicated millions of times over. However, it seemed to be that all the brothers, in the family, cared about was receiving a portion of the profits made off Henrietta’s cells while the sisters were more concerned about how their mothers’ medical records got into the hands of strangers.During this time, it was an upheld tenet that doctors practiced confidentiality with their patients but they were not legally obligated to do so. This moral dilemma plagued the twentieth century. Patients were only treated properly if they were high paying or highly regarded people of white ethnicity while everyone underneath them were seen as borderline guinea pigs for genetic testing. Henrietta Lacks†™ situation and death, along with her family’s treatment regarding their mother, is a microcosm to the ethics and practices of the twentieth century.People cannot be seen as guinea pigs, but as people that need treatment and help. It is the duty and responsibility of the medical field to uphold high moral and ethical standards and to maintain these standards. It appeared that, during the twentieth century, that the very people that medical field worked to help, were treated with little respect. Henrietta Lacks’ ordeal will serve as a lesson to the medical field in terms of ethics and responsibility towards their patients. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Skloot, p. 8 [ 2 ]. Skloot, p. 75

James Joyce’s “Eveline” Analysis Essay

James Joyce’s â€Å"Eveline†, one of the short stories in â€Å"The Dubliners† , is a tale based upon the friction which can exist between familial and romantic love , the conflicts between the opposite choices of perpetuating the status quo versus initiating irreversible change , and the agonies that are experienced when pivotal decisions have to be made and powerful but divergent emotions inevitably collide. The plot is not complex. The story opens – we see a young woman who is agonising over a vital life choice. She is bored and overworked , victimised and threatened by her aggressive and occasionally drunken father yet she has been offered the chance of salvation from these circumstances by a potential lover who would transport her far away perhaps never to return. Her decision as to whether to take this chance causes her much distress as she wrestles with the arguments for both staying and going. In the end she decides to stay , perhaps no less anguished , perhaps in the future to regret what might have been ; we are not told – the story closes. Such has been the basic theme , with of course some variations , for countless stories , anecdotes , legends , dramas , novels (ancient and modern) , and even fairy tales. Twist the ending and we have the story of â€Å"Cinderella† ; modify the father to a crippled husband and we have the basis for â€Å"Lady Chatterley’s Lover† ; keep the ending , alter the setting and exaggerate the motivation of the main characters and we see â€Å"Brief Encounter†. If we delve at random into a shelf of Mills and Boon novellas or riffle through the pages of any one of a number of womens’ periodical magazines we risk discovering this recurrent image :- girl stressed and unhappy , girl falls in love , girl offered chance of a lifetime , girl torments herself with decision – (should she ? , shouldn’t she ?) , girl decides , girl lives with the consequences of the decision happily or ruefully as the case may be. So it is not for the originality of its plot that we should commend Joyce’s work – nor indeed for the colour of the setting for what little action there is. We know the location is Dublin because of the story’s inclusion in the collection of tales about characters in that city and also by the incidental mentioning of places in the Dublin area – ‘when their mother was alive , they had all gone for a picnic to the Hill of Howth.’. Whilst we have a hint of Eveline’s Catholicism – ‘beside the colour print of the Blessed Margaret Mary’ and her mother’s erstwhile raving in Gaelic – ‘Derevaun Seraun’ , we get little sense of Dublin or even Ireland from the piece. Even though there are a few little extra hints within Joyce’s language – Frank had – ‘come over to the old country for a holiday’ and we learn Miss Gavan – ‘always had an edge on her’, these are surely not intended to persuade us of any special Irish dimension to the story and are merely written in that fashion for no other reason than Joyce himself was Dublin Irish. Thus the circumstances of this tale could quite easily have surrounded any Catholic family resident in any large industrial seaport in the British Isles – Dublin of course , but quite easily Liverpool , Glasgow , London , Cork , Belfast , Swansea , Bristol , Newcastle. Knowing Joyce for the brilliant writer that he developed into with his publication of â€Å"Ulysses† , a work commonly regarded as a great leap forward for fiction , only eight years after â€Å"The Dubliners † , we must assume that he was trying to communicate to the reader images and ideas over and above the banality of the basic plot and the independence of location and environment. To establish these images , we have to probe the characters , the nature of the conflict and the complex emotions which Eveline is experiencing together with their reasons. As with many of Joyce’s works , when we probe we find concepts that are only hinted at or are virtually unsaid ; these can help provide us with the keys to unlock our understanding of Eveline’s pain – in short our answer as to why – ‘her hands clutched the iron in frenzy. Amid the seas she sent a cry of anguish!’ , at the closing summit of the story. There are three principal individuals within the story – Eveline , the eponymous character from whose viewpoint the story is written , her (unnamed) father who manifests many of the conflicting causes for her anxiety and Frank , her would-be lover and husband , who offers an apparent opportunity for Eveline to escape from the stifling and potentially violent drudgery which is her life in the Dublin of 1914. Other members of the family play barely mentioned (yet vital as we shall see) roles – Eveline’s late mother , her two brothers ( Harry and Ernest (deceased) ) , and two young apparently unattached children. The story opens with Eveline pondering the choice she is faced with and clearly finding a decision most elusive. The opening paragraph creates for us a powerful image of her own recognition of what she will be leaving behind if indeed she escapes with Frank. Joyce’s choice of language communicates how emotionally exhausting this decision process is for Eveline – ‘ her head was leaned against the window curtains †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ she was tired’. Clear also , from the physical changes to her surroundings , is the fact that Eveline has been living in the same place at least since early childhood and will thus possibly experience even greater homesickness as a consequence of her life experience to date being concentrated within just one intense environment. Joyce lets us know this as he refers to the changes Eveline has witnessed and the evolution of the personalities within her family and set of family friends – ‘Everything changes’ , we are told ; Eveline considers this and realises that everybody around her has experienced some form of change or departure†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. except her! Now , for the first time she is faced with abandoning all of her roots – ‘Now she was going to go away like the others , to leave her home’. So what sort of person is Eveline? Naturally confined by the limited scope of the short story , Joyce skilfully tells us just enough for us to form our preliminary opinions and make our subsequent judgements. The only physical fact Joyce tells us about Eveline is that – ‘she was over nineteen’ , nothing about her appearance , nothing really significant about her demeanour outside of the confines of the momentous decision she has to take ; thus , we have to guess if we are interested ; is she dark or fair ? – is she pretty or plain ? – is she normally a happy person or a sad one ? – is she shy or outgoing ? We can only make up our own questions and speculate upon the answers – if Joyce omits telling us then they are unimportant. What can we learn about Eveline from what Joyce does tell us however? Clearly she has grown lonely as members of her family have died or departed and her father has become more hostile to her. One feels that prior to Frank’s arrival in her life she was exposed to very little sympathetic adult company in recent times – ‘ Her brothers and sisters were all grown up ; her mother was dead. Tizzie Dunn was dead , too , and the Waters had gone back to England’. We learn that she resents her job at the stores and the fact that ( as she perceives it) , she is undervalued – ‘ her place would be filled up by advertisement. Miss Gavan would be glad†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..She would not cry many tears at leaving the stores’ . Eveline herself probably also has doubts about her own self-worth ; she believes that marriage would ensure – ‘People would treat her with respect then. She would not be treated as her mother had been.’. From the text itself – ‘It was hard work – a hard life’ , she is clearly an industrious person combining a job with looking after a household which includes two young children (maybe her nephews / nieces by her late brother Ernest – we are never told) and the ever sinister presence of her potentially violent and money-obsessed father – ‘ he wasn’t going to give her his hard-earned money to throw about the streets’. The reader can almost hear these same words being used to Eveline’s mother years previously – certainly Eveline can. It is thus the relationship with her father that lies at the heart of any desire Eveline has to escape from her current life. We learn that years ago , things were better than today – ‘Her father was not so bad then ; and besides , her mother was alive.’ , and that on the day of the Hill of Howth picnic he had been a source of fun – ‘She remembered her father putting on her mother’s bonnet to make the children laugh’. Things have sadly degenerated now however ; Joyce skilfully paints a picture for us of a man , perhaps himself having failed to recover from the grief of his wife’s death , venting his wrath upon the only other human within reach. There is a hint of drunken anger – ‘for he was usually fairly bad of a Saturday night’ ; we know Eveline is vulnerable as a lone female who evokes memories of her mother in him – a mother whom he used to mistreat ; ‘And now she had nobody to protect her. Ern est was dead and Harry †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. was nearly always down somewhere in the country.’. Clearly the situation is not only threatening for Eveline but is worsening and besides – ‘ had begun to weary her unspeakably ‘. Within the paragraph which describes the degeneration of Eveline’s relationship with her father and the increasing level of verbal violence coupled with the threat of this becoming eventually physical , Joyce uses an accomplished yet complex metaphor. Previously we have been told of Eveline’s determination – ‘ not to be treated as her mother had been ‘, yet we are then immediately and almost directly told by Joyce that this is in fact the inevitable outcome towards which her father’s hostility is leading her – ‘ he had begun to threaten her and say what he would do to her only for her dead mother’s sake’. The metaphor occurs in the description of Eveline after yet another financial quarrel with her father as she struggles to do her shopping – ‘ Then she had to rush out as quickly as she could and do her marketing , holding her black leather purse tightly in her hand as she elbowed through the crowds and r eturning home late under her load of provisions. ‘ Why do we need such a relatively long description of a somewhat trivial aspect of Eveline’s routine ? To show us surely that she has effectively become her mother – doing household things which her mother used to undertake in reaction to the same abuse. When , in the next sentence , we are told about Eveline’s obligations towards the children – ‘ She had hard work to keep the house together and to see that the two young children†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦went to school regularly and got their meals ‘ then the transfer is complete ; she has totally , but inadvertently perhaps , assumed the role of her dead mother within the new family unit and will presumably be subjected to the same miseries , humiliation and maybe even early madness and death. Into this scenario of drudgery , humiliation , stress and fear appears Eveline’s potential personal saviour in the form , not of Prince Charming , but of Frank the sailor. Instead of a glittering coach to the ball , he offers marriage and a home in Buenos Aires. As the relationship develops , Eveline , from being initially flattered and grateful for his courtesy – ‘he used to meet her outside the Stores every evening and see her home’ , becomes ‘ elated ‘ by going with him to the theatre then experiences ‘excitement’ at having ‘ a fellow ‘ ; later this excitement is probably enhanced when her father bans the liaison and forces the affair to become illicitly progressed. The question has to be of course â€Å"Where is love in all of this?† and it is a question which Eveline probably asks herself only when she has to – on the day the boat will sail. Joyce tells us of many positive aspects of her feelings for the opportunities presented by a life with Frank :- she will be married ; Frank is – ‘very kind , manly , open-hearted’ ; he has a home awaiting her far away ; he is handsome – ‘ his hair tumbled forward over a face of bronze ‘ ; they had come to know each other ; Frank would save her , would – ‘ take her in his arms , fold her in his arms’ ; she – ‘ had even begun to like him’ ! In spite of all of the negatives about Eveline’s existence Joyce intimates to us early in the story that she harbours strong doubts about giving up everything which is familiar to her in exchange for a new life from which there would be no going back. His choice of words cleverly intimate Eveline’s doubts to us ; we are told – ‘ She had consented to go away , to leave her home ‘ and that – ‘ in her new home in a distant unknown country etc. etc. ‘ and of course the fact that the strongest emotion Eveline feels for Frank is to – ‘like him’ – hardly words which indicate a yearning for a new life based upon romance and love. So to the choice itself and Eveline’s dilemma as the time draws near and she must depart with Frank. The disparity in the volume of information we are given by Joyce about each alternative ( ‘staying’ or ‘going’) is very evident ; the story inundates us with information which is negative about Eveline’s life , positive about Frank and his offer , all of which is therefore , on the face of it , supportive of the ‘going’ case. We are told at length about the drudgery of her job and home life , the bad relationship with her father , Frank’s qualities and what he would provide , Eveline’s fundamental need to escape. Thus the quantity of the argument for ‘going’ would seem to make the option impregnable. But we know that in life quantity counts for little and that , founded as they are , mainly upon negative emotions the quality of the arguments for running away with Frank are weak. This is the essence of this story and it is Joyce’s brilliance in subtly making us aware of the feelings and the anchors which will ultimately cause Eveline to choose to stay , which earmark him as a great author. What are the emotions which conflict with Eveline’s surface desire to go – in brief these are :- fear of change from the familiar ; doubts as to whether her father is that bad ; fear of being forgotten ; the fact that the decision would be virtually irreversible ; fear of Frank not living up to expectations ; the promise she gave to her dying mother. Fear of change is a powerful human emotion and of course Eveline is feeling fearful. We see her recalling her childhood and reassessing the objects in her home now that she plans to leave – ‘ She looked round the room , reviewing all its familiar objects which she had dusted once a week for so many years ‘ ; we can almost feel the anticipated homesickness here! Cleverly , Joyce strengthens this by noting that as Eveline is sitting at the window considering all of this – ‘in her nostrils was the odour of dusty cretonne’. The author knows that smells are one of the most powerfully evocative senses ; how often do we the readers recall childhood memories instantaneously when we come across a barely-remembered aroma? Joyce actually uses this image twice – towards the end of the description of Eveline’s thoughts he again tells us she was – ‘leaning her head against the window curtain , inhaling the odour of dusty cretonne.â €™. We see Eveline , in her indecision , beginning to doubt whether her father is that bad. It is almost as if she has decided to herself that â€Å"absence makes the heart grow fonder† even before she has gone. We are told that , in spite of his threats and hostility towards her , – ‘Sometimes he could be very nice’ , that he had been kind when Eveline had been unwell and that – ‘she did not find it a wholly undesirable life’. She is also fearful perhaps of being forgotten – the description of the photograph has been inserted to let us know of this – ‘Whenever he showed the photograph to a visitor her father used to pass it with a casual word: – He is in Melbourne now.’ but Eveline – ‘ never found out the name’. Is she imagining that in very few years she will become just a faded memory ; can she hear in her mind – â€Å"She is in Argentina now† ? That a decision to go would be irreversible is less complex to understand when we consider the very geography of her would-be destination and its distance from Dublin and how that would appear in 1914 ; also the fact that in Catholic Ireland a marriage would be absolutely permanent. More subtle are the fears that she harbours over Frank ; although we are told only good things about him , we become aware , through the account of his experiences that he is probably quite a bit older than Eveline and certainly more experienced in the ways of the world in contrast to her virginal naivetà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. Her father had said – ‘I know these sailor chaps’ when he forbade the relationship and although Eveline carried on meeting Frank secretly , how much of her father’s words struck home? After all she only met Frank – ‘a few weeks ago’. Then we come to the promise made to her dead mother to – ‘keep the home together as long as she could’ ; presumably to continue to look after her father and the two (unidentified) children. Possibly these are her mother’s grandchildren , probably the offspring of Eveline’s dead brother Ernest – we can only guess but clearly the family was significant enough for her mother to extract such a promise. In the story Eveline recalls her mother and the promise by the sound of an organ-player who is reminiscent of the night she died – ( sound as well as smell is evocative!) So how significant is this promise? As a Catholic , Eveline would probably be fearful of breaking a promise to the dead even though she might be able to confess it later. But she seems to recall at the same time – ‘ the pitiful vision of her mother’s life†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..that life of commonplace sacrifices closing in final craziness’. How valid , she might be considering , would a promise be when it was made to a woman in the advanced stages of delirium. Eveline asks herself too – ‘Why should she be unhappy?’ and probably thinks â€Å"would Mother have wanted me to be so unhappy?†. Yet in the end Eveline decides to stay and we are witness to the wonderfully descriptive scene as she finally agonises and then succumbs to let her fears of the unknown dominate her decision. I believe it is purely fear that keeps Eveline in Ireland and that the promise made to her dying mother will be used by her , in the future , to justify her decision to herself ; a decision that she had already made. Joyce’s story is a powerfully crafted piece which is very successful in portraying the pressures which can exist when security and fear of the unknown become represented as family and romantic love and then vie for a decision. The anguish that Eveline experiences builds during the story from the quiet time when she – ‘sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue’ to the zenith of the tale when – ‘Her distress awoke a nausea in her body and she kept moving her lips in silent fervent prayer. A bell clanged upon her heart’. The sadness of the story however is paradoxically in its anticlimactic ending when , deprived of love , deprived of escape, – both situations perhaps self-inflicted – , Eveline looks after Frank and -‘ her eyes gave him no sign of love or recognition’.