Sylvia Plaths The Elm Speaks Essays

Sylvia Plaths The Elm Speaks Dutch elm disease is one of the most devastating shade tree diseases the earth has ever seen. It is a wilt disease with an extremely high fatality rate. The disease is characterized by gradual yellowing of the leaves and defoliation. This is caused be a fungus which is transmitted from diseased trees to healthy trees by insects known as bark beetles. In the 1962 villanelle The Elm Speaks confessionalist Sylvia Plath compares her depressed emotional state with Dutch elm disease, which killed millions of Elm trees around the world. In the fourteen stanza poem written only one year before her suicide, a bitter Plath cries out with pain. The theme of depression originates from the loss of love in her marriage to Ted Hughes. The poem is extremely rich in metaphorical language from beginning to end. In many ways the poem is designed to fit the definition of a villanelle. The Elm Speaks is a free verse poem with chaotic meter. While living in London, Sylvia Plath had a massive elm tree in front of he house that became the subject of this poem. In the first stanza, she mentions her great tap root, which is the very bottom of the elms roots. This line symbolizes that she has reached the very bottom of her depression. She describes her depression further in stanza two as a sea of dissatisfactions, or the voice of nothing meaning it is raging inside of her. At the same time she has an empty feeling which is driving her mad. Afterwards, in stanza three, she compares love to a shadow, a dark reflection of someone which is not real and can not be touched. Till your head is a stone, you pillow a little turf creates the image of a grave stone in stanza four. The sounds of poisons in stanza five refers to what Hughes, her husband, has done to her and how it burns inside of her killing her like arsenic. In stanza six she expresses that she has been through a lot, but she has always gotten through it. In stanza seven, however, she admits that she has broken down and can not and will not take her pain anymore. Next, in stanza eight she describes the moon, which is normally calming, as merciless, meaning that even the few things in life she used enjoy are now driving her insane. Similarly, in stanza nine, she talks about dreams and how they possess and endow her. In other words she feels as if she is trapped inside an ongoing nightmare. In the tenth stanza she confesses that she is holding everything in and that nightly it flaps out which means she cries herself to sleep. She is terrified of her depression and its effects on her, which she admits in stanza eleven. Next, in stanza twelve she portrays the faces of love as pale irretrievable saying that one can never find love, it is out of reach. For the second time in the poem, in stanza thirteen, she admits that she can not take the pain she is suffering anymore. Finally in the last stanza, she uses sexual imagery that for the most part states, the fact that they got together has killed her. The later years of Plaths life, when she wrote The Elm Speaks, were very tragic. She suffered from a vast number of mental illnesses, including being bipolar or manic depressive. Her moods were constantly up and down, one minute happy the next sad. Just one year before she wrote this poem she suffered through her second miscarriage, which was shortly followed by an appendectomy. Through all of this her husband Ted Hughes abused her both mentally and physically, driving her deeper into her depression. During these difficult years she wrote Ariel, a volume of poetry mainly concerning subjects such as injury, victimization, parasitism, alienation, brutality, war, cannibalism, death in all forms, torture, murder, suicide, mental illness, and anger. Only one week after Ariel was completed she viciously committed suicide by putting her head in the oven after making her children breakfast on the morning of February eleventh, 1963. In her poetry it is obvious that suicide was something she had been considering for a long time, becoming an obsession or even an addiction. Throughout The Elm Speaks Plath generates a basic them of depression. She presents herself as being the victim of a horrible love relationship that has ruined her. She uses many different techniques to help create her theme. The first, and most obvious, is her word choice. She uses words such as fear, madness, poisons, arsenic,

The Heart of A Champion! essays

The Heart of A Champion! essays To many people Boxing is a violent activity that we should not take part in. Not to a man named Muhammad Ali, to him boxing was the most important thing in the world. When he crawled into the ring with Sonny Liston, he was the underdog. Though when he left, he was a champion. I was there that night. I had just got some ringside seats for my birthday, and my dad and me went to the fight. Muhammad Ali was dancing around the ring as the bell rung. As the first round started, Ali sat back absorbing the style that Sonny Liston fights in. The crowd was yelling and screaming; yet Ali just sat there poised with a glitter of determination in his eyes. Ali came out with a fury of punches straight to the champion Sonny Liston face landing each punch in unison with the others. Ali danced around the ring, sweat pouring off his body as his trainer screamed at him from his corner. He sat there undaunted by the remarks being made by some people in the crowd with that look of determination still in his eyes. The crowd started yelling Ali, Ali, Ali over and over again. It seemed to echo throughout the whole stadium. Ali seemed to soak all this in, and it seemed to reenergize him. He pounded Sonny Liston with quick jabs and punch combos till Liston could not take it any longer. Then with one swift uppercut punch, Listons head popped back, and you could hear his body hit the mat throughout the whole arena. The official came out and started counting. One, Two, Three, Liston did not move he just laid there. Four, five, six, seven, and Liston leaned over, spit out his mouthpiece and rolled back over. As the official got to ten, Ali went hysteric. He was jumping around and yelling. He was yelling something that became the saying that he is known for. It was Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. This was one of the most memorable sayings in all of boxing history. Ali the underdog beat the World Champion in the first m...

Influence of Colonialism on Politics and Economics of Africa Nations Essay

Influence of Colonialism on Politics and Economics of Africa Nations - Essay Example A lot of literature exists on the influence of colonization on countries. However, most political science and history research analyzes the implication of colonialism in a holistic manner. Ziltener and Kunzler observe that this analysis is not sufficient as different colonial methods were used in different colonies (305). Moreover, the debate of the political and economic influence of colonialism in Africa is still open with some school of thoughts arguing that colonialism has assisted Africa more than exploited it. The assistance in form of infrastructure, education, urbanization, new political and economic systems is often cited. This paper will attempt to weigh in on the debate by using secondary data to explore the influence of colonialism in Africa by observing three African countries with distinct colonial history. This study will look at the historical and current political and economic structures of three African countries (Algeria, Liberia and South Africa). Since Liberia was not colonized by Europeans, Algeria attained independence in the late 60s and South Africa attained independence in the 1990s, the study assumes that the trends in their political and economic structures are directly linked to the nature of colonization. In order to

Knowing Imagination, Fantasy and Faith in Essay

Knowing Imagination, Fantasy and Faith in - Essay Example When tight spots emerge, they have nothing to say. Chances are high, that young ladies and young men, will need to know how imagination, fantasy, and faith are being explored and exploited, or put into action as apparently realistic, at times grotesque in some symbolic works of fiction which may serve them well when opportunities surface. In story books, tales often compel the readers to picture things that came to pass and may come about using representations, similar to what authors' do. For example, "Bontshe Shvayg" (146-151), is purely a product of the author's imagination in addition to borrowed ideas from the authors of the scriptures. In 'The Story of a Young Man', "What is the soul' (93), the author projected his mind's thoughts in terms of a boy at the tender age when it comes to the question of what happened to the soul after death. Most readers also who would examine the story are set and framed to view things the way a child would also be able to picture death, soul, and ascension having been given the symbols of water, cloth, 'The Story of a Young Man' (94), "Souls are flying, souls are flying!", flight, and akin to some small birds ways where they can be seen in still pictures portrayed to be seeping some water, wipe its bill on some dry grasses, and then fly and soar high until when it is beyond one's sight. The symbolism may be low key to some, but, it shows how allegories are by themselves effective whether one is young or old to communicate the message that authors want to deliver whether they are appreciated or not. One high-quality approach to discover how imagination, fantasy, and faith are being explored and exploited in a written piece is primarily to learn to characterize the underlying principle behind the script. For example, some readers may not really understand and appreciate White Challah (1-8). When the satirical narrative was written, the author might have been too affected by the idea of not only what is one gist in "White Challah" (1), bigotry, and also "White Challah" (2), hostilities because of differences in faith. Yet, within the congregating community of believers, "White Challah" (2), there also was hierarchies of prominence depicting a group of people, subservient to mere human yearnings. The satire to some extent, "White Challah" (3-8) exposes men's folly when the intellectual abilities are not fully honed to adhere to reason and logic. But, how will the reader know that the narrative used differences in faith and symbolism to expose human weakness For the Jews, "White Ch allah" (8), challah or braided bread is very important table offering during Sabbath as an entwined food, symbolizing mirror images that were once upon a time created by God on earth. Conversely, the Christians believe in God, but, consider, "White Challah" (1), Christ as the manna from heaven. After reading the full text of the story, "White Challah" (1-8), the reader may find that the purpose of the author was to showcase the disparity between the Christian faith and the Jewish faith dwelling in the same nation, and apparently to motivate readers to make decisions on which group would one like to be identified and join given the opportunity. In other words, the author expressed his feelings about the Christians and the Jews while providing information of their activities, persuading the readers

The First Generation Currency Crisis Model Finance Essay

The First Generation Currency Crisis Model Finance Essay Reinhart, 1999). A currency crisis is an episode in which the exchange rate depreciates substantially during a short period of time. The models in this literature are often categorized as first-, second- or third-generation. FIRST GENERATION CURRENCY CRISIS MODEL: The classic first-generation models are those of Krugman (1979) and Flood and Garber (1984). It is a model without uncertainty. It states that, traders speculate against fixed exchange rate in order to profit from an anticipated speculation. Speculative attacks in this framework are inevitable and respect an entirely rational market response to persistently confliction internal and external macroeconomic targets. In first-generation models the collapse of a fixed exchange rate regime is caused by unsustainable fiscal policy. A hallmark of first-generation models is that the government runs a persistent primary deficit. This deficit implies that the government must either deplete assets, such as foreign reserves, or borrow to finance the deficit. The key ingredients of a first-generation model are its assumptions regarding purchasing power parity (PPP), the government budget constraint, the timing of deficits, the money demand function, the governments rule for abandoning the fixed ex change rate, and the post-crisis monetary policy. Burnside, Eichenbaum and Rebelo argue that their model accounts for the main characteristics of the Asian currency crisis. This explanation of the Asian currency crisis stresses the link between future deficits and current movements in the exchange rate. In first-generation models the government follows an exogenous rule to decide when to abandon the fixed exchange rate regime. The things to note about this model of currency crisis are- The root cause of the crisis is poor government policy. The source of the upward trend in the shadow exchange rate is given by the increase in domestic credit. The crisis, though sudden, is a deterministic event: the crisis is inevitable given he policies and the timing is in principle predictable. The first generation currency crisis model seen to do no harm. In this model, there is no effect on output, but even a richer model will not generated a real economy slump in the aftermath of a first generation currency crisis model. The crisis determination is a future policy stances that investors foresee, not the one observed in the past. The importance of policy choice in deciding to quit the fixed exchange rate regime. There was no mechanical link between capital flight and abandonment of the peg. There was no obvious trend in long-run equilibrium exchange reate. There was no evidence of irresponsible policies in any of the country involved. SECOND GENERATION CURRENCY CRISIS MODEL: The logic of this model is the interactions between expectations, macro economic trade-offs and decisions. This class of model is characterized by multiple equilibria and the interactions between market expectations and policy outcome can lead to a self-fulfilling crises. As long as the peg is credible this is the price the government is willing to pay because there are political and/or long-run economic goals. In second-generation models the government maximizes an explicit objective function (Obstfeld, 1994). This maximization problem dictates if and when the government will abandon the fixed exchange rate regime. Second-generation models generally exhibit multiple equilibria so that speculative attacks can occur because of self-fulfilling expectations. It differs with the first generation models in- 1. No irresponsible policy. 2. No predictability of the crisis and 3. If the country leaves the peg, there is no negative impact on employment and output. Since the monetary policy constraint is removed and the result is positive in terms of short-run macroeconomics benefits. 2. MORAL HAZARD Moral hazard is a situation in which one party in a transaction has more information than another. The party that is insulated from risk generally has more information about its actions and intentions than the party paying for the negative consequences of the risk. Moral hazard arises because an individual or institution does not take the full consequences and responsibilities of its doings, and therefore has a tendency to act less carefully than it alternately would, leaving another party to hold some responsibility for the consequences of those actions. Moral hazard also arises in a principal-agent problem, where one party, called an agent, acts on behalf of another party, called the principal. EXPANDED GOVERNMENT GUARANTEES FOR BANK LIABILITIES: Government provision of a financial safety net for financial institutions has long been a key element of the policy response to crises and the current crisis is no exception. This particular crisis is fairly severe however, so governments have felt obliged to go beyond the usual support measures, moving to expand existing guarantees and to introduce new ones, in some cases quite markedly. Valuation problems are also complicit in the duration of the problems. These and other related actions (such as loss sharing arrangements for assets and capital injections) appeared to have avoided a further loss of confidence on the part of market participants, by raising the likelihood that retail depositors and other creditors would continue to provide a stable source of funding for banks, thus reducing the threat of insolvency of these entities. Thus, these actions have bought time, with limited if any upfront fiscal costs. Actually, just like financial guarantee insurance companies, the governm ent earns a small fee from the debt issuer for lending out its top credit rating. There are nonetheless potentially substantial costs associated with these measures. Even if guarantees do not generate significant upfront fiscal costs, they create large contingent fiscal liabilities, as well as other potential costs that may arise as a result of distortions of incentives and competition. In recognition of this situation, the discussions of financial safety net issues at the past CMF meeting concluded that, going forward, policy makers need to consider the issue of exit strategies from expanded guarantees. Another important issue related to the additional guarantees is their pricing. In this respect, the premise of the discussion in the present note is that potential distortions should be limited to the extent that government guarantees are priced appropriately. By contrast, distortions are more likely to arise where guarantees are offered at prices that appear to be substantially low er than market or some form of fair prices. It has long been known that financial intermediaries whose liabilities are guaranteed by the government pose a serious problem of moral hazard. The U.S. savings and loan debacle is the classic example: because depositors in thrifts were guaranteed by FSLIC, they had no incentive to police the lending of the institutions in which they placed their money; since the owners of thrifts did not need to put much of their own money at risk, they had every incentive to play a game of heads I win, tails the taxpayer loses. WORKING OF CIRCULAR PROCESS IN REVERSE TO CAUSE ASSET PRICES COLLAPSES The mechanism of crisis involved that same circular process in reverse: falling asset prices made the insolvency of intermediaries visible, forcing them to cease operations, leading to further asset deflation. This circularity, in turn, can explain both the remarkable severity of the crisis and the apparent vulnerability of the Asian economies to self-fulfilling crisis which in turn helps us understand the phenomenon of contagion between economies with few visible economic links. Asian economies experienced a noticeable boom-bust cycle not only in investment but also or even especially in asset prices. Presumably this reflected the fact that assets were in imperfectly elastic supply. The easiest way to do this is to imagine that the only available asset is land, which cannot be either created or destroyed. Again, let us initially consider a two-period model. In the first period investors bid for land, setting its price. In the second period they receive rents, which are uncertain at the time of bidding. But now suppose that there are financial intermediaries, once again able to borrow at the world interest rate (again normalized to zero) because they are perceived as being guaranteed. And also as before, we assume that owners need not put any of their own money at risk, but that competition among the intermediaries eliminates any expected economic profit. The result is obvious: intermediaries will be willing to bid on the land, based not on the expected value of future rent but on the Pangloss value in this case 100. So all land will end up owned by intermediaries, and the price of land will be double what it would be in an undistorted economy. 3. MORAL HAZARD CAUSE A DEADWEIGHT SOCIAL LOSS The phenomenon of undertaking risky and often corrupt loans and transactions, but knowing that if the gamble fails someone else (usually the state) will pick up the tab, is known as moral hazard. In the table 1, two alternative investments are available. One yields a known present value of $107 million; the other will yield $120 million if conditions are favorable, but only $80 million if they are not. The good state and the bad state are equally likely, so that the expected returns on this risky investment are $100 million. However, the owner of the financial intermediary knows that while he can capture the excess returns in the good state, he can walk away from the losses in the bad state. So if he chooses the safe investment he gains a sure 7; but if he chooses the risky investment he gains 20 in the good state, loses nothing in the bad state, for an expected gain of 10. Thus his incentive is to choose the risky investment, even though it has a lower expected return. And this distortion of investment decisions produces a deadweight social loss: the expected net return on the invested capital falls from $7 million to zero. 4,5, 6 7. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE EXPECTED VALUE OF LAND RENT AND ITS CORRESPONDING PENGLOSS VALUE. There is a two period model to explain land value. In the first period, investors bid for land and setting its price. In the second period they receive rents, which are uncertain at the time of bidding. The financial intermediaries will be willing to bid on the land, based not on the expected value of future rent but on the Pangloss value. So all land will end up owned by intermediaries, and the price of land will be double what it would be in an undistorted economy. In an undistorted economy we can solve backwards for the price. The expected rent in period 3, and therefore the price of land purchased at the end of period 2, is 50. The expected return on land purchased in period 1 is therefore the expected rent in period 2 (50) plus the expected price at which it can be sold (also 50), for a first-period price of 100. This is also, of course, the total expected rent over the two periods. Now suppose that intermediaries are in a position to borrow with guarantees. Again working backwa rd, at the end of period 2 they will be willing to pay the Pangloss value of third-period rent, 100. In period 1 they will be willing to pay the most they could hope to realize off a piece of land: the Pangloss rent in period 2, plus the Pangloss price of land at the end of that period. So the price of land with intermediation will be 200 in period 1 again, twice the undistorted price. It seems, then, that the multi-period version of the model, in which part of the return to investment depends on the future prices of assets, makes no real difference to the distortion of those prices imposed by guaranteed intermediaries. However, this result changes in a dramatic way once we allow for the possibility of changes in the financial regime that is, if we believe that moral hazard may be a sometime thing. 8. KRUGMANS MODEL JUSTIFICATION ON OCUURANCE OF SELF-FULFILLING FINANCIAL CRISIS Using a signalling approach-based EWS model, this paper has attempted to provide more empirical evidence on the causes of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, with a view to discriminating between the two hypotheses of weak fundamentals and investors panic. The results show that the overall composite leading index of the EWS model issued persistent warning signals prior to the 1997 crisis in not just a few, but all of the five countries most affected by the crisis. This finding appears not to square well with the investor panic, market overreaction and regional contagion postulate. Instead, it lends support to the hypothesis that weaknesses in economic and financial fundamentals in these countries triggered the crisis. First, in most countries under consideration, there were appreciations in the real exchange rate against both the US dollar and the basket currencies of their major trading partners. The real appreciations appeared to have contributed to the deteriorations in these countri es trade and current account positions. Second, there were apparent problems in the capital account, as indicated by persistent warning signals by the ratio of M2 to foreign reserves in the case of Indonesia, and the ratio of foreign liabilities to foreign assets of the banking sector in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Third, there was strong evidence of excessive growth of domestic credit, particularly in Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand. Last, there was also evidence of deteriorations in the real sector in most countries, and the burst of asset price bubbles, especially in Korea and Thailand. The fact that all these individual leading indicators issued warning signals prior to the 1997 Asian crisis indicates that they had reached the critical levels that historically had often triggered currency crises, lending further support to the weak fundamentals hypothesis. 9. EXPLANATION OF ASIAN CRISIS 1997 BY KRUGMANS MODEL The crucial point here is that capital is not so much interested in aggregate growth rates as sectorial profitabilitythus a growing economy might still experience declining profitability in certain sectors which in turn can scare off financial capital and possibly later productive capital. However, in East Asia, this would have meant hundreds of banks and finance houses being forced to shut downthreatening not only the financial system of Asia, but also institutions across the globe with which they have myriads of dealings. The credit crunch that followed led to massive layoffsthis is the classic paying for the crisis. The East Asian crisis does shed light on developments in the world economy which make it highly likely that similar crises will erupt in the future. Such developments relate to the deregulated nature of world financial markets, so that the triggering mechanism of a crisis may be financial (currency devaluations, runs on banks, etc) even though the ultimate origins lie in the real economy . This is not to deny that financial panics may also emanate in situations where there has been no significant deterioration in the real economyabove all on the profit rates. Hence when profits start to dip, or are likely to fall below expectation, a careful calculation needs to be madeeither stay with the gamble or move elsewhere. In regard to direct investment, the decision naturally cannot be acted upon with immediate effect, but in financial markets exiting from markets can be done almost instantaneouslyand this potentially accentuates the stampede and contagion. Evidence suggests that the origins of financial instability in East Asia do indeed reside within the real economyabove all in the falling returns on investment.

Antidepressant vs Placebo Essay -- Medical Research

Depression has grasped the lives of millions of Americans. There are those who claim these new cures, known as antidepressants, have helped many Americans escape from depression. The mind is what determines the outcome, the placebo effect is a way the mind heals itself without any medication. Placebo is a better and safer route to take for multiple reasons. First off, drugs can cause unpredictable symptoms. Secondly, there is the negative effect of self-withdrawal, the placebo effect does not always even have to be from a sugar pill, and lastly placebo works almost as well, if not just as well as actual antidepressants. Millions of Americans escape the deadly grip of depression by the help of popular drugs, such as Prozac, Zoloft, and other antidepressants (Turner et al). Only a select few know about my struggle with depression; [When I first received my medication, I took two prescribed pills of Prozac every morning. Not too long after taking it, I became more focused and driven at whatever tasks I was at hand. Anyone can safely start, a daily dose of antidepressants because they trigger the serotonin, one of the many brains signaling materials (Time Healthland). One of the negative points of antidepressants is that it can cause undesirable side effects. Doctors have prescribed antidepressants to patients who simply want to take an edge off of things, but the drugs can also cause distressing side effects. There are many levels of disability and symptoms of depression. Knowing these levels are a large part in knowing the effectiveness of the various antidepressants (Noonan et al, Newsweek). Antidepressants have side effects that include bleeding problems, and kidney or liver failure. The subject (people who use antidepressa... ...th-mental_health/t/placebos-power-goes-beyond-mind/#.T05fJmBuFl1>. Moerman, Daniel E., and Wayne B. Jonas. Annals of Internal Medicine. N.p., 19 Mar. 2002. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. . Connor, Steve. "Antidepressants Increase Suicidal Thoughts in Under-25s." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 12 Aug. 2009. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. . Alden, Wesley. "Dr. Oz: Sex and Exercise Reduce Stress The Fitness Center Orlando Sentinel." Dr. Oz: Sex and Exercise Reduce Stress The Fitness Center Orlando Sentinel. Orlando Sentinal, 16 Aug. 2011. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. .

Hi Essay

I. m. s. a Essay My two favorite subjects are math and science! One reason is because I have fun learning and experimenting with each subject. Another reason I would enjoy the program is because I know science and math are going to be a big part of my future. I would really appreciate being part of this program because I know I will be furthering my education and having fun doing it. Having fun learning math and science is something I always enjoyed. I find every aspect in math and science to be interesting. I find this interesting because I like being challenged in subjects I enjoy.The imsa fusion program seems very educational and very enjoyable. I think the imsa fusion will help me gain more knowledge experimenting with math and science. I believe joining this program will help me further my education and help me achieve some of my future goals! Being that this is my first year at the magnet academy joining the imsa fusion will also help me make new friends along the way that shar e the same interest as me. I plan on learning new things and have new experiences from this club that will help me understand more about these subjects.I have never had an opportunity like this to be in a club where I can learn more about these incredible subjects. I am also happy to join this after school program because I like to keep myself occupied. But most of all I know in the long run this program will help me jumpstart my path to success. So If I am chosen for this program I promise to work hard and try my best in each lesson given to my peers and I, because not only do I work well with others I will also help them if needed. Choosing me to be a part of this program will not only keep me motivated in reaching my goals, but I will be having fun learning something I really enjoy!