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Ernst Cassirer states in his book The Myth of the State that “The Prince is neither a moral nor an immoral book: it is simply a technical book. In a technical book we do not seek for rules of ethical conduct, of good and evil. It is enough if we are told what is useful and useless”[1] Machiavelli’s treatise The Prince certainly seems to follow a more technical path rather than a moralistic one. This can be seen from the language and tone that is used throughout the book, but also when compared with Christian writers such as Thomas Aquinas. This essay will try to survey how Machiavelli’s principles align with Aquinas’ in regards to the ultimate political good but also, how they deviate and take a different shape when considering human nature in a comprehensive form and when God is taken out of the equation and given a lesser importance. We will use as a contrast the different attributes that a king should have in each author’s point of view and the implications of different concepts such as war and peace.

Machiavelli’s technical approach can be seen through the fact that he is merely presenting existent notions and not endorsing them through a personal lens. He begins his first chapter by laying out the facts: “All the states and Governments […] are either Republics or Princedoms. Princedoms are hereditary, […] or they are new.”[2] He is approaching all of the aspects of a princedom from an objective point of view, while stating both the advantages and the disadvantages of each example, “[…] hereditary States, […] are maintained with far less difficulty than new States, since all that is required is that the Prince shall not depart from the usage of his ancestors.”[3] More than that, even though Machiavelli is taking a secular stance in regards to Princedoms, he does acknowledge the existence of “Ecclesiastical Princedoms,”[4] and comments briefly on them “they are acquired by merit or good fortune, but are maintained without either; being upheld by the venerable ordinances of Religion.”[5] But while Machiavelli gives an all-rounded view of Princedoms and rulers, Thomas Aquinas takes a moralistic, non-secular stance, commenting only on the “Ecclesiastical Princedom ,”[6] which in his view is the only valid type of princedom. “But if the government is in the rule of one man alone, it is appropriate to call him king. So, the Lord said in [the book of] Ezekiel, ‘My servant David will be king all over, and there will be one shepherd over them all’”[7] Thus, Aquinas’ concept of king derives its meaning and authority from God. More than that he clearly states that a king is a representation of God “This kind of rule belongs to the king, who is both God and man.” This contrast between the two writers allows us to categorize Machiavelli as leaning towards a technical side and Aquinas as endorsing a moralistic, God-driven point of view.

Religion, the core difference notable in the works of Aquinas and Machiavelli, gives rise to another conflict present in their ideologies concerning the absolute political good – namely the contrast between peace and war. Aquinas states that “The welfare of any organized group is based on the preservation of its unity in what we call peace.”[8] Thus, it is the task of the king to ensure that there is peace in his kingdom. Furthermore, he suggests that the sole purpose of a king is to maintain the peace within his realm “there is no reason for a ruler to question whether he should maintain the peace of the community under him.”[9] It is clear for Aquinas that as an agent of God, the king must strive to achieve a “common good”[10] for his people. Aquinas is also concerned more with the means rather than the end. Thus, we could say that he is valuing the Aristotelian intermediary[11] rather than the final result, “No one should debate about the end of an action but the appropriate means.”[12] In his view, there is a direct correlation between the means and the end, as reflected in “Thus the more effective a government in promoting unity in peace, the more useful it will be. We say more useful, because it leads more directly to its end.”[13] The intermediary and the end should be the same so that it maximizes the chances of success, the case at hand being of peace.

Machiavelli, on the other hand, states that a government should have “good laws and good arms.”[14] He places a great emphasis on war “A Prince, therefore, should have no care or thought but for war.”[15] Here we can note that there is no morality ascribed to war, instead it is simply regarded as a necessity.[16] Machiavelli gives a different account of the “common good,”[17] his version being concerned more with the result rather than the intermediary state.[18] His explanation is very logical in that it suggests that even if one kingdom were to be interested solely in peace, and in keeping peace, there would always be neighboring kingdoms that do not have the same intentions. Thus, one can remain unarmed and preach peace, while the enemy is armed and ready to conquer.[19] “Between an armed and an unarmed man no proportion holds.”[20] This suggests that Machiavelli has a very practical approach that is not concerned with the good or the bad, rather with the survival of the state. His perspective takes into consideration the intricacies of human nature and applies them to different instances, one of them being war.[21] Machiavelli’s model would be better suited in a real-life situation, simply because while like Aquinas, one may want peace to be both the means and the result, but at the same time one would not be able to anticipate the direction of the thoughts of the other person, or in this hand the other kingdoms. Aquinas himself states that “it is natural for man to live in association with his fellows,”[22] an association that does not always entail peaceful thoughts. Humans’ social nature and interactions demand a larger perspective and the “common good”[23] could depend on it. Furthermore, when judging a ruler, Machiavelli is more concerned with the result, stating that “in the actions of all men, and most of all of Princes, where there is no tribunal to which we can appeal, we look at results.”[24] Thus, a ruler can have very strict measures, but as long as the common good is the result, then the ruler would be deemed as good.[25] It is very interesting to note that while both writers are concerned with the common good, they have extremely different ways in which it can be achieved.

While the addition of religion in Aquinas’ arguments seems to bear a lot of weight when comparing them to Machiavelli’s, there is also a point on which they agree – the ability of the ruler. Aquinas states that “he has been given the use of his reason to secure all these things by the work of his hands,”[26] which suggests that even though a ruler has the favor of God, he has to have “reason”[27] in order to obtain his position and eventually keep it. This is strikingly similar to Machiavelli’s own position, as he writes that “the difficulty of maintaining possession varies with the greater or less ability of him who acquires possession.”[28] More than that, Aquinas’ God takes the form of Fortune[29] in Machiavelli’s argument. But while Machiavelli does not attribute too much importance to Fortune or God[30] he does state that “Fortune is mistress of one half of our actions, and yet leaves the control of the other half, or a little less, to ourselves.”[31] Thus, ability plays a very big role in both the arguments of Aquinas and Machiavelli and seems to be the pathway to the absolute political good.

While both Thomas Aquinas and Niccolo Machiavelli seem to be arguing for political good, the difference in their perspectives comes down to one question. What motivates them? For Thomas Aquinas, the driving force is God, and this can be seen from the fact that he takes on a very moralistic perspective which is implied from the fact that the means and the end have to be the same – the common good; and that the means help fortify the end. This illustrates the limit of reconciling religion with empiricism, as the premises of religion denounce human observation in favor of the absolute knowledge that is God. On the other hand, since Machiavelli is not very concerned with the importance of God, or even Fortune, his perspective takes on a more realistic and technical front, thus giving more weight to human nature and its inherent implications. But even though the two ideologies stem from different inclinations, they seem to reconcile in terms of meritocracy, giving political thought a form of continuity.

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[1] Cassirer, The Myth of the State [2] Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch.1 pg.1 [3] Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch.1 pg.1 [4] Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch.11 pg.28 [5] Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch.11 pg.28 [6] Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch.11 pg.28 [7] Aquinas, On Kingship, pg. 16 [8] Aquinas, On Kingship, pg. 17 [9] Aquinas, On Kingship, pg. 17 [10] Aquinas, On Kingship, pg. 16 [11] Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics, Bk. 5, page 84 [12] Aquinas, On Kingship, pg. 17 [13] Aquinas, On Kingship, pg. 17 [14] Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch.12 pg.31 [15] Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch.14 pg.37 [16] Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch.15 pg.38 [17] Aquinas, On Kingship, pg. 16 [18] Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch.15 pg.38 [19] Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch.15 pg.38 [20] Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch.15 pg.38 [21] Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch.15 pg.38 [22] Aquinas, On Kingship, pg. 14 [23] Aquinas, On Kingship, pg. 16 [24] Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch.18 pg.47 [25] Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch.18 pg.45 [26] Aquinas, On Kingship, pg. 14 [27] Aquinas, On Kingship, pg. 14 [28] Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch.6 pg.12 [29] Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch.25 pg.66 [30] Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch.25 pg.66 [31] Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch.25 pg.66

As a child, teen, and adult we go through many stages of changes and developments from our physical stature to our emotional stages. Even the way we think can sometimes go from wanting to be an artist when we grow up to wanting to be a contractual architect. Our minds become more mature and we start to think different and do things that we are not accustomed to; such as wearing heels to having a deeper voice. Also when we go through these changes we also have family there to help make it easier or difficult; especially being that there are times when people have different things they need to do in order to respect their cultures such as dress a certain way that is respectful and decent. This essay will examine the changes that we go through from childhood to adulthood, how we are influenced by our families who help us through these changes, talk about the current status of health and development of children today, and discuss the way that we can nurture the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development in children.

As people we start out as babies, being fully dependent on our parents to bathe us, clothe us, feed us, and carry us; but as we start to growth and development physically and cognitively we can start to do a lot of that on our own. Starting with physical development, there is a lot more to physical development than just them getting taller or even fatter. Surprisingly babies tend to grow at the same order, but at completely different rates; for example you may a 7-month old who may be crawling around speaking lots of gibberish, while the older would be sitting quietly to themselves playing with their favorite toy. Their achievements or “milestones” are things that all babies do at one point, but it is extra special that first time like crawling, standing, taking little steps. “Gross motor skills involve coordination and control of large muscles and skills like walking, sitting, and running; fine motor skills involved the coordination and control of small muscles, and skills like holding a rattle, picking up crumbs, and scribbling with a pencil/crayon; vision is the ability to see near and far, and to know what is being seen; hearing is the ability to hear, listen to and interpret sounds, whereas speech is the ability to produce sounds that form words” (Brooks, A, n.d.). Physical Development happen at many ages of life, such as at six months they should be able to show signs that they can hear, see, taste, touch, decipher whether they are cold or hot and know what pain is; compare to at eighteen months they begin to learn to walk, go upstairs by crawling, and become somewhat independent. At two years old they can walk, go up and down steps, run, sit in a chair by themselves, use a spoon and fork, and kick a ball, even though they may miss from time to time; whereas at four years they can skip on ne foot, use scissors, throw a ball, put on a shirt and pants and button and unbutton them. The last age range I am going to cover is from nine to 12: nine-year olds are able to play organized sports on a team like basketball, baseball, and soccer, they can ride a bike without training wheels, jump rope, at this age his strength and his ability to coordinate will show more. At 12 they will be on the verge of hitting puberty, if they have not already, depending on their genetics they may have a growth spurt while some may grow gradually.

Cognitive changes of child development requires basic sequences of four stages, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stage; this theory was known as the Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development. The sensorimotor stage the infant constructs an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences with physical actions and progresses from reflexive, intuitive action that they are born with to the start of symbolic thought at the end of this stage (0 to 2yrs). Preoperational stage the child starts to represent the world with pictures and words that reflected heightened symbolic think that go beyond the link of sensory information and physical action (2 to 7yrs). Concrete operational stage the child can now reason logically about concrete events and classify objects into different sets (7 to 11yrs) and finally the Formal Operational Stage where they adolescent reasons in more abstract, idealistic, and logically ways (11 years old). (Santrock, J., 2011) Piaget described in his stage-by-stage theory, each stage connecting to a particular age group that suggest that children are preforming this way cognitively. Although this theory is widely associated with children it only mentions children who develop at a normal rate; however children develop at their own paces and what also comes into factor is their genetic makeup, environment, and their support system.

There are two types are parenting styles that can impact the cognitive and physical changes is the authoritarian and uninvolved. The authoritarian parent can cause physical and cognitive harm to the child by being too hard on them, and giving them punishments they do not deserve like hitting them with a belt or yelling at them for little reasons like spilling milk or them making an annoying sound; this can cause the child to grow up thinking they are a bad person, being scared of the world or even being an underachiever. The uninvolved parent can affect the child’s cognitive and physical development by the child will feel as though they parents do not love them or they may feel as though and grow up to find love from the wrong or first person that shows them affection and hurt them at the next turn. It can cause physical pain by the child doing whatever they want such as taking drugs, drinking, smoking, or even early age sex/pregnancy. Children of divorced parents can grow up to resent both of their parents by choosing not to stay together, some would even try and used this situation as a means to gain material objects from either parent. Working parents can teach children how to be more independent by doing some things on their own or it could get them into trouble because they would be doing these that could get them into trouble like the things I describe above.

After watching the video, I can see that the area that are doing well is the fact that there is some progress in the issue of low birth weight and preterm birth. “For over a decade those figures have been going up every year, in spite of our efforts to contain them and make them go down this year we’ve finally made progress; we’ve lowered the preterm birthrate from about 12.8% to 12.7 and we’ve lowered the low-birth weight from 8.3 to 8.2 percent.” (Alexander, D.M., 2009) Other areas that are declining is the amount of 10th graders who are smoking cigarettes on a daily basis, along with 10th graders who have heavy alcohol consumption. The areas that still need attention is the number of children living in poverty as increased and homicides that are a threat to children has increased.

There are numerous of ways that we could help to nurture the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development in our children. Physical: when they are babies, they should get the right nutrients to make for strong bones and growing muscles, as they grow in to youths you can encourage them to play more outside by running with them, throwing the ball, creating physical games that can get them use to physical organize sports. Social: parents can join mommy and me classes where they will join together with other babies and know what it is like to be around other children, for child age they can join clubs like the boys/girls scouts that will teach them all kinds of growing skills and they can make lifelong friends, and so that when they get to junior high and high school they will be more willing to join clubs and organizations. Emotional strategies would include helping them feel better after they fall off their bike, make them laugh during tummy time as an infant, or even influence them to talk about what they are feeling as teenagers, the age when parents feel least connected to their child. Lastly there is cognitive parents can show them colors and shapes when they are toddlers to get them prepared from pre-k and beyond, also as the child gets older they parent can get learning books that can help them as they reach the next level in development and school.

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In closing, children can develop at all kinds of rates and paces. As children we look at the world more as a big, sometimes scary playhouse, and they soak up everything they come in contact with such as they meet a new person or move to another school. Their minds begin to mature and they start to realize that a lot of the world is not as scary as they thought and they see that there are people than can trust and there are not. They also learn that they parents are either two people they can turn to or two people they will grow to disgust.

Works Cited

1. Brooks, A. (n.d.). Child development: Overview. Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/child-development-overview
2. Center on the Developing Child. (n.d.). What is child development? Retrieved from https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/child-development/
3. Child Development Institute. (n.d.). Child development stages. Retrieved from https://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-development/normaldevelopment/
4. DeHart, G. B., & Sroufe, L. A. (2015). Cooperating with life: Reconstructing developmental psychoanalysis. In Developmental science and psychoanalysis (pp. 53-73). Routledge.
5. McGraw-Hill Education. (2019). Psychology: The science of mind and behavior. McGraw-Hill Education.
6. National Center for Education Statistics. (2021). Children and youth with disabilities.
7. Piaget, J. (2013). The construction of reality in the child. Routledge.
8. Santrock, J. W. (2011). Children. McGraw-Hill.
9. Sroufe, L. A., & Waters, E. (1977). Attachment as an organizational construct. Child Development, 48(4), 1184-1199.
10. Steinberg, L. (2014). Adolescence. McGraw-Hill Education.

Mary Barton is a story of material temptation, sexual seduction and spiritual transformation. The character Mary Barton is an impoverished girl with considerable material ambitions who is seduced by the lavish wealth of her rich suitor. Mary’s lifelong poverty leaves her with the fervent desire to secure material comforts. Her experience as a dressmaker in a frivolous milliner shop also imbues her with a trace of vanity. This combination of vanity and materialism turns Mary into an aspiring social climber, which makes her highly susceptible to the seduction of the rich Harry Carson. Mary is tempted by Harry’s wealth and treats his seduction as a golden opportunity for social advancement. For the first half of the novel, Mary focuses on her goal of using ber beauty to ensnare Harry into marriage so she can become a lady of leisure. Her attraction to Harry is entirely mercenary. By seeking to capitalize through her physical beauty and to marry a man whom she has no romantic attachment, Mary turns herself into a sexual commodity awaiting purchase by a man who can afford her. However, Mary experiences a life changing epiphany in the middle of the novel which completely alters outlook on life. This epiphany purges her of her vanity and forces her to her end her amorous entanglement with Harry. After she becomes free from Harry Carson, Mary undergoes an astonishing transformation from a passive mistress into an autonomous and independent woman. Mary’s experience demonstrates the that there is more than one path for a woman to gain comfort and success. Becoming self-sufficient is far less destructive than selling oneself as a disposable sexual commodity.

In order to understand Mary’s initial attraction to Harry Carson, it is important to understand Mary’s character. In the first half of the novel, Mary Barton is a vain and materialistic woman. Her superficial ambitions are a direct result of her living environment. As a slum dweller in an industrial town, Mary is born into poverty and has always lived in the most wretched destitution. As long as she can remember, the people around her have been plagued by the want of life’s bare necessities. These slum dwellers are known for their intense materialistic obsession. The emaciated, starving people around Mary are focused on obtaining “food, light and warmth” (Gaskell 98). Their materialistic outlook is not instigated by greed or avarice, but because they are dying from the lack of basic necessities. Surrounded by “sorrow and want” (209) and witnessing daily the sight of starving children and careworn parents, it is only natural that Mary would develop materialistic goals. She becomes desperate to extricate herself from her impoverished position. The financial necessity of her family makes her “ambitious” (122) and enterprising. Her practical outlook on life gives her the skill of “practical shrewdness” (122) and turns her into a social climber. At this stage of her life, Mary’s most ardent wish is to climb the social ladder and lift her family out of the mire of poverty into a life of relative ease and comfort (121).

Mary’s vanity is also the product of her environment. When she gets a job as a dressmaker in a fashionable millinery, Mary enters into a decadent world of frivolity. The millinery is famous for its luxurious atmosphere where most of the conversations center on “fashion, dress, and parties” (143). It is a make-believe world, completely out of place with the impoverished conditions that Mary goes home to. Mary spends her days making dresses and other fripperies that elegant ladies will find appealing. Her whole existence is devoted to beautifying her clients with decorations and ornaments. Not surprisingly, Mary’s daily contact with these decorative objects makes her susceptible to the seductive influence of pretty dresses and elegant appearances (122). These beautiful fineries beckon Mary and awaken a new kind of hunger in her young and impressionable mind (122). As an uneducated woman, Mary only knows what she sees around her, which her even more vulnerable to the temptation of wealth. By serving the millinery's elegant customers, Mary develops a desire to become a member of that privileged class. She is fascinated by the lifestyle of the gentility and entertains the hope that she might one day lead a similar lifestyle by “doing all the elegant nothings appertaining to ladyhood” (122). Mary gradually starts to become particular about her appearance and spends her time on deciding “what gown she should put on” (63). She dreams of the day when she will become a genteel lady, living a life and leisure. She begins to take pleasure by turning herself into a decorative object (63) and by “mak[ing] an impression” (63) on others through her appearance.

Mary’s newfound vanity and materialistic outlook explains her initial attraction to the rich Harry Carson. She is ambitious and determined to improve her station in life. Mary's mindset makes her extremely vulnerable to seduction by rich men like Harry. Mary is attracted to Carson because he has the power to satisfy her materialistic ambitions and lift her family out of poverty. He is the son of an immensely rich industrialist who possesses vast property and estates. His polished manners and his “neat and well appointed” (107) dress all portray a luxurious and self-indulgent lifestyle. Mary sees him as a prize that she is competing to win. While Carson has wealth at his disposal, Mary's beauty is her most valuable asset. As a low-rung dressmaker earning a meager living, she has a very slim chance to achieve any social advancement through honest industry. Mary’s only opportunity climb the social ladder lays in her ability to ensnare a rich man. At first, Mary is determined to capitalize on her beauty. Her “consciousness” (58) of her physical attractiveness endows her with the determination that “her beauty should make her a lady” (58). This mindset reveals her awareness of the monetary value of female beauty. Her beauty gives her the ambition to aspire to great heights, such as a marriage with Harry. By seeking to use her desirable body as the ticket into the world of privilege and wealth, Mary unconsciously treats herself as a sexual commodity to be bartered. Through this lens, her body becomes something with commercial value. Any wealth that Mary obtains through the commodification of her body is thus tainted, because it is the product of carnal exchange rather than that of the honest industry.

Mary’s mercenary attraction to Harry turns her into a passive commodity. Secluded in the milliner shop, she spends most of her time in dreaming the day when she will be swept into a life of wealth and status. She is barely conscious of the political agitation around her (143) and is entirely “taken up with visions of the golden future” (116) as Mrs. Harry Carson. Nevertheless, Mary never voices any feelings of love for Harry’s person. When she thinks about him, her mind is always consumed by the vision of fabulous wealth and material abundance that await her. In Mary's mind, Harry is associated only with material things to the extent that his personality fades into the background. The reader soon finds out that Mary’s true affection belongs to Jem Wilson, her childhood sweetheart and a man of her own class. Mary blushes scarlet when Jem appears and suffers great pain at the sight of his agony. She has a spontaneous outburst of affection for Jem with a passion that she never shows for Harry. Mary’s feelings for Jem are therefore natural and genuine, originating in true love and affection. In contrast, her attraction towards Harry has no bearing to any genuine emotional attachment or love. Yet despite of her affection for Jem, Mary’s material goals take top priority. Since Mary treats her body as a commercial commodity at this stage, money becomes the most important determinant in her choice of husband. She does not see a husband is as an emotional companion. She turns down Jem’s proposal of marriage because he is only a “poor mechanic” (181), and could never place her in the “circumstances of ease and luxury” (181). Mary therefore turns marriage into a commercial exchange. By refusing Jem, Mary sacrifices her affection in the cause of wealth and social advancement. Driven by material ambition, Mary is eager gain value in the eyes of high society by “show[ing] them all [that Harry is the one who] would be glad to have her” (178). Her firm and emphatic declaration that she “can never be [Jem’s] wife” (179) powerfully expresses her practical outlook on life. Mary becomes a pure sexual commodity through her willingness to give herself up to the higher bidder, even though she has no serious romantic leanings towards him.

After rejecting Jem’s proposal, Mary suddenly experiences a life- changing epiphany. Jem’s passionate declaration of love catches Mary off guard. Since Mary has always loved Jem, it only takes a little passionate assertion on Jem’s part for Mary to unleash her suppressed feelings of love. After Mary discovers the intensity of her affection for Jem, she realizes that the most important thing in life is love rather than any worldly riches. After this epiphany, Mary resolves to renounce her vanity (181) by ending all her affair with Harry. She realizes that marriage should be an act of love rather above any material considerations. She also realizes that all worldly possessions are empty unless they are shared with the one she loves (181). After this realization, her feelings for Carson immediately change from longing to a near hatred (181). She hates Carson for “decoy[ing]” (181) her from the life of honest labour and emotional truth. Mary transforms herself from a passive commodity back into an autonomous and independent thinking woman. As an autonomous woman, she is at the liberty to go wherever her heart leads her. By choosing to marry her true love, Mary is once more a self-governing woman ruled by the dictates of her heart, and is no longer a disposable commodity that is for sale to any man of wealth.

By rejecting Harry, Mary has narrowly escapes the fate of becoming a sexual commodity. Mary is correct when she asserts that she has drawn herself back from the brink of danger (181). She has indeed exposed herself to great danger by encouraging Carson, because his intentions have never honourable towards her. Harry always treats Mary as a sexual commodity. He never gives any serious thought to the idea of marrying a girl so far beneath his social class. He simply wants to indulge in a casual love affair with Mary by turning her into his mistress. In contrast, to the devoted Jem who loves Mary “with all his heart and soul” (190), Harry is a pure libertine who boasts of his ability to “have any lady in Manchester” (189). He uses Mary as a tool for physical pleasure, a product that he can buy and use as he likes. Even though Harry ultimately proposes marriage to Mary, it is entirely the result of hot-headed impetuosity rather than a genuine commitment to matrimony. He easily retracts his proposal by saying that he shall not “offer [Mary] the same terms again” (189). Should Mary enter into an affair with Harry, she would have forever forfeited her moral reputation and is most certain to repeat the mistakes as her Aunt Esther. Esther's transient affair ended in an unwanted pregnancy, abandonment and social ostracism. As an impoverished, single woman burdened with a child, Mary could never seek an honourable employment again. She would be forced to migrate from the “abode of poverty for the more terrible abodes of vice” (310). Like Esther, she would ultimately be compelled to make her living through prostitution. Her affair with Harry would be prostitution at a higher level, but prostitution all the same.

After Mary becomes free from Harry’s seduction, she experiences an astonishing transformation from a passive sexual commodity into an independent and active woman. In contrast to her passive presence in the first half of the novel, Mary assumes an assertive and domineering presence for the second half of the story. In order to clear Jem’s false charges, she undertakes a heroic quest to procure an alibi. She takes on the role of an active woman who courageously ventures into the public space. In order to get hold of the alibi, Mary ventures into a foreign city and chases the potential alibi in a race against time. In her quest to free the man she loves, Mary displays an astonishing “energy [and] perseverance” (353), which contrasts vividly against her once frivolous character. By procuring the testimony of the alibi, Mary single-handedly saves Jem from false execution. Through this noble achievement, Mary elevates herself from a decorative female commodity into a woman of “dignity, self-reliance and purpose” (330). Mary has “struggled and triumphed” (342) over her vanity, and is not the once frivolous girl who takes pride in being pursued by a wealthy suitor. Mary is now an assertive woman with the “confidence…[and] faith in her own powers” (342), and is never again a passive commodity that awaits to be purchased and consumed by a rich man. She has transcended from being a “mere flesh and blood beauty” (403) into a “higher…kind of beauty”, which is the beauty that shines from her noble daring and moral courage.

Mary’s experience is an account of an astonishing spiritual transformation. She undergoes a journey from passive commodity into an active, self-governing woman of energy and strength. The Mary in the first half of the novel reflects the 19th century womanhood, where women were expected to remain passive in the domestic space. Mary is not only seduced by Harry, she is in fact seduced by the indolent and unproductive lifestyle of a 19th century lady that he can offer her. Nevertheless, Mary eventually grows out of this passive state. By freeing herself from Harry's seduction, Mary also frees herself from the appeal of an idle existence. The active and energetic Mary of the second half the novel resembles a modern woman. She bursts with energy and resoluteness, venturing boldly into the public space to undertake of a serious social task. Therefore, Mary’s journey is not merely a transformation from a commodity into a self-governing person, but is also from the passive 19th century femininity into an active state of modern womanhood.

Works Cited

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Gaskell, Elizabeth. Mary Barton. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2000.

The need to reconsider first impressions runs throughout Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Both Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy judge one another harshly based on first impressions, while Elizabeth also forms judgments of Mr. Wickham and Miss Darcy. Throughout the novel, as Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy see each other and others in a new light, more accurate opinions based upon fact and understanding replace their first opinions based upon impressions, rumors, and prejudices. Because they allow their ideas to evolve throughout the novel, they open themselves up to the possibility and reality of love. Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship is analyzed in essay starting with their first impressions of each other.

Mr. Darcy’s initial contempt of Elizabeth is evident when he forms an immediate impression of Elizabeth the first time he sees her at a ball. He says, “She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me” (Austen 7). Mr. Bingley suggests that Darcy take Elizabeth as a dance partner, but Darcy declines on the grounds that she lacks beauty. He also says that he does not want to stoop so low as to dance with a girl all of the other men at the ball reject. After that, he persists in criticizing her and will not allow himself to see her as pretty. However, his attitude toward her changes fairly rapidly. By chapter six, he finds that instead of looking for fault in her, her manners please him and he notices her expressive eyes, intelligence, and nice figure. To his own surprise, he “wishes to know more of her”. Thus, the evolution begins.

Elizabeth also starts out with a negative first impression of Mr. Darcy, but it takes her a little longer to change her mind. She judges Mr. Darcy to be too proud not long after he arrives at the dance, but when she overhears his reasons for not asking her to dance, she “remains with no very cordial feelings toward him”. Following the dance, Mrs. Bennet comments on Darcy’s pride and rudeness, to which Elizabeth replies that she “may safely promise…never to dance with him”, clearly demonstrating her initial disdain. Even after Mr. Darcy begins to warm up to Elizabeth, she tells Mr. Wickham that she finds Darcy to be “very disagreeable”. Upon hearing Mr. Wickham’s woeful tale, in which Mr. Darcy is the villain, she further judges Mr. Darcy’s character as despicable.

When Mr. Darcy pays a visit to the Collins’ abode during Elizabeth’s stay at Charlotte’s new home, Charlotte observes that without Elizabeth’s presence, “Mr. Darcy would never have come so soon to wait upon me”. This observation attests to Darcy’s growing affection for Elizabeth. Later, Elizabeth attends Rosings, the home of Lady Catherine, with Charlotte and Mr. Collins. Mr. Darcy visits Rosings at the same time and engages in a very civil, at times even playful, conversation with Elizabeth regarding the misfortunes of prejudgment. He reveals that he regrets having made such hasty judgment of Elizabeth. His feelings of fondness for Elizabeth continue to grow until he can no longer repress them, and he calls on her at Charlotte’s to tell her, “How ardently I admire and love you” and to ask for her hand in marriage (129). Unfortunately, though he has come to love her, he still sees her as below him because of her financial and social situation. He makes no effort to hide his feelings of superiority from Elizabeth, causing her to turn him down.

During her frequent encounters with Mr. Darcy at Rosings, Elizabeth begins to see a more civil side of him, and during her playful conversation with him, he admits that he regrets his hasty judgment of her. However, she still does not view him as a good man due to her misconceptions about his treatment of Wickham. Darcy’s arrogant marriage proposal infuriates her. She tells him that she cannot express gratitude for the offer because, she says, “I have never desired your good opinion, and you have certainly bestowed it unwillingly” (129). She recognizes that he still sees her as beneath him and that he views this prejudice as something merely to deal with rather than to expel.

After his rejection by Elizabeth, Darcy writes her a letter in which he assures her that he will not reiterate his marriage proposal, but writes to amend her misconceptions of the situation with Wickham, because Wickham has told Elizabeth that Mr. Darcy has cheated Wickham out of money left him by Mr. Darcy’s father. During Elizabeth’s visit to Pemberley with her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner, they explore Darcy’s beautiful estate. When Darcy arrives unexpectedly, Elizabeth is embarrassed, but he treats her with the sincerest kindness, care, and concern. He realizes that though her aunt and uncle are not of a high social position, they have perfect manners and he likes them much more than he likes Elizabeth’s mother, Mrs. Bennet. He invites the three of them back to Pemberley and insists that Elizabeth meet his sister whom he cares about very much and to whom he has been a father-figure, demonstrating how very much he wants Elizabeth to be a part of his life.

When Elizabeth receives Darcy’s letter, she at first wants to disregard it, “protesting…that she would never look in it again”. Then she recalls Wickham’s behavior when he told her of all of Mr. Darcy’s misdeeds. The realization hits her for the first time that Wickham’s words had been inappropriate and that he had had “no scruples in sinking Mr. Darcy’s character”. As much as she wants to believe the best about Wickham and the worst about Darcy, she can no longer deny that Wickham is clearly in the wrong and Darcy must be telling the truth. Upon meeting Wickham again, she sees “in the very gentleness which had first delighted her, an affectation and a sameness to disgust and weary”. Elizabeth now sees the error in her first impression of Wickham. Visiting Pemberley proves itself the real turning point for Elizabeth. A beautiful and natural landscape surrounds Darcy’s home. His elegant furnishings demonstrate exquisite, but not ostentatious, taste. His housekeeper has nothing but wonderful things to say about him and confirms Darcy’s version of Wickham’s story. As Elizabeth stands in his home, she thinks, “Of this place… I might have been mistress”. Darcy’s unexpected arrival surprises and embarrasses Elizabeth, but he treats her kindly, which left her “amazed at the alteration in his manner since they last parted”. When she and her aunt and uncle dine with Darcy, she meets his sister and likes her very much, regardless of her preconception of Miss Darcy’s exceeding pride.

When Elizabeth finds out that her sister, Lydia, has run off with Wickham, Darcy immediately sets out to find them, and when he does find them, he uses his own financial means to settle a marriage between them. He keeps it a secret, but Lydia lets it slip to Elizabeth. When Bingley comes back to visit Jane, he brings Darcy with him, giving Darcy and Elizabeth ample time alone together. During a walk, Darcy proposes again, but this time he has evolved into a person who can do so without any prejudices against Elizabeth’s social and financial standing.

Hearing of Mr. Darcy’s concern and generosity in her sister’s scandal cements her new view of him as a very good man. By the time he comes back to visit her with Bingley and proposes, now free of his former prejudices, she has grown to love him and accepts his offer.

Because Elizabeth and Darcy allow their impressions of one another to continually change throughout the novel as more truths are revealed to them, they fall in love. If both of them had clung to that first judgment of the other, Elizabeth and Darcy would never have seen in each other the person they were meant to love for the rest of their lives. However, their evolution from contempt to love does not happen all at once. Rather, bit by bit, as their encounters reveal more, they let go of their prejudices because to hold onto them would be to lie to themselves and to each other. Both characters must step back from the first judgments they made and rejudge one another based on the new information and understanding they have acquired.

Works Cited

1. Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Penguin Classics, 2003.
2. Ford, Susan Allen. "First Impressions: The Function of Incidental Details in Pride and Prejudice." Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal, vol. 21, 1999, pp. 81-89.
3. Johnson, Claudia L. "Why Did Elizabeth Bennet Get Angry with Mr. Darcy?" Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal, vol. 25, 2004, pp. 204-213.
4. Jones, Vivien. "Gender and Genre in Pride and Prejudice." Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal, vol. 28, 2007, pp. 111-121.
5. Kaplan, Deborah. "Elizabeth and Darcy, or the Lover and the 'Loved One'." ELH, vol. 56, no. 3, 1989, pp. 593-610.
6. Le Faye, Deirdre. "The Rejection of Elizabeth Bennet." Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal, vol. 10, 1988, pp. 12-21.
7. Rendell, Jane. "A Psychological Perspective on the Courtship of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet." Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal, vol. 21, 1999, pp. 66-72.
8. Todd, Janet. "Language and Silence in Pride and Prejudice." Critical Inquiry, vol. 15, no. 2, 1989, pp. 433-448.
9. Waldron, Mary. "Elizabeth Bennet: Pride and Prejudice." Masterplots II: Women's Literature Series, Revised Edition, 2001, pp. 1-3.
10. Williams, Merryn. "Pride and Prejudice: Women, Property, and Misogyny." Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, vol. 12, no. 4, 2012, pp. 1-16.

 Miley Cyrus is without a doubt one of the most controversial musicians in the media today. The well-known Disney star has made a new name for herself with her controversial performances, music videos, and photoshoots. Miley Cyrus made her debut breakout when she was just 11 years old by scoring the leading role of a very popular Disney Sitcom called Hannah Montana. Since her starring role as Hannah Montana, Miley has moved on to bigger and better things, like focusing on her career as a musician. She delivered family-friendly, innocent music for many years before debuting her fourth album called Bangerz in 2013, which uplifted her music career in a completely different direction. This album took her outside of the generic category of pop music she was residing in and placed her in her own lane of uniqueness. The media was mesmerized to see her step outside of the box and prevail such a contrasting, shocking image of herself. As stated by Miley herself, “I want to be memorable, that’s what my fans want too. Everyone’s talking about me, waiting to see what I’m doing next… I want to keep people guessing.” Her goal was evidently accomplished, as everyone was hooked on her every move. Cleary Miley’s physical appearance was not the only transformation she had made, she had become more invested in making a name for herself outside of Hannah Montana. She had worked hard to make a clean reputation for herself for most of her career in the media, just to turn it all around in another direction once she was old enough to realize who she truly was and what she wanted her brand to entail. Her first step into her own lane was the edgy haircut she revealed in late August of 2012. Following her hairstyle change, she released her hit singles We Can’t Stop and Wrecking Ball truly sets her apart from any other female artist in pop music in the media today. Although these songs sound extremely different, they both carry a certain presence of Miley’s personal and professional growth. Miley’s newer lyrics hold more of a risky attitude, and really prove how much she truly has grown up since her Hannah Montana days.

She’s gone from singing about true friends and first love to singing about parties and sex. In her 2013 hit single We Can’t Stop, Miley goes on to describe the scene of a party:

To my homegirls here with the big butts

Shaking it like we at a strip club

Remember only God can judge us

Forget the haters cause somebody loves ya.

This is followed by the true message of the song; being that we should be ourselves, live freely, and not put too much thought into what people think of us. Using upbeat songs and sexualized lyrics helps to get her message out there because the crowd of people she is aiming her music towards, the younger generations, tend to listen to music with such style. Miley Cyrus stands out as being one of the only female musicians to enforce such a message of self-love and identity, yet the media continuously pins her as the “bad guy” of the music industry. The media lets Miley’s carefree behavior outshine the positive message it holds.

Miley’s change in behavior and musical style didn’t go over well in the eyes of the media and the public. She was harshly criticized for her new persona and received a lot of backlash for her newfound fearlessness. Miley began to deviate more and more from her commonly known nature that we all loved. Who was once a family-friendly star has reshaped herself into a sexualized adult. Many female celebrities in the media are harshly criticized for how they dress or act, but Miley Cyrus takes the cake for being one of the most condemned celebrities thus far.

Miley Cyrus has been a household name since 2006 when she first stepped out into the scene of Hollywood with her father right next to her side every step of the way. As we look at her today, we can’t help but compare her to the young girl she once was, who starred in everyone’s favorite Disney sitcom. The media seems to forget that it’s natural for people to change, especially in Miley’s situation, with millions of people watching and criticizing her every move. She was once considered the perfect role model for young girls and boys, and now a lot of parents couldn’t be more horrified with her crazy behavior. The media seems to only see the drastic change that she’s undergone as she’s grown up, remembering her mainly for her infamous 2013 VMA performance alongside Robin Thicke. This over-sexualized performance caused a huge uproar across social media and many people were disappointed to see Miley present herself in this way. Many articles were published accusing Miley of using this performance to bait the media for attention. A CNN article about the VMA scandal was publishing stating: “…Miley may only be 20 years old, but she has mastered the game of manipulating the media to follow her every move. She did it in August at the MTV Music Awards when she dry-humped singer, Robin Thicke”. During the said performance, as described, Miley goes on to dance very sexually on Robin Thicke and even becomes very sexual with a foam finger. The performance starts out with her in a modest outfit until she strips into a nude-colored bodysuit, and the rest is downhill from there. Many celebrities were on board with how she chose to deliver her artistic expression, Kanye west had even stated, “There are not a lot of artists I believe in more than you right now”. Kanye was not the only artist who saw Miley’s outrageousness as professional talent. The goal of her questionable performance was to prove to the public and the media that she quite frankly doesn’t care about what people have to say about her and she was going to shed her skin of a squeaky-clean image and be her scandalous self. The point being: comparing someone’s adult self to they once were as a child, really doesn’t make sense. Miley speaks on the subject to Harper’s Bazaar Magazine in their July issue of 2017, ‘I really feel really kind of far away from that person… I just want people to see that this is who I am right now.’

Throughout the many years that Miley has been in the spotlight, her identity has grown alongside her. As she grew up, she has taken more control over her brand, and in doing so has changed how she is perceived by the public. Miley announced the lack of control she maintained over her brand identity in her earlier career during the hour-long documentary she had released in 2013 called Miley: The Movement. Following her album release and revealed she had little to no say in what products her face and name were placed upon. In her documentary, she stated, “My whole life it was never about having control. Shit would just come out with my face on it, and that was it…” This statement clearly proves that her brand identity wasn’t true to who she was. Once Miley took control of her career, she began investing her brand into movements that she truly believed in. She produced her 2013 album Bangerz with the simple message of self-empowerment and fearlessness. Since releasing that album, her brand identity has been risky and hippie-like, promoting smoking weed, nudity, and swearing. Across all of Miley’s social media platforms, she maintains an estimated 133 million followers. Any explicit content she is posting on Instagram and Twitter is easily accessible for any fans of hers wishing to view her profiles. Miley encourages these habits of smoking, swearing, and dressing provocatively, not only with her social media profiles but on stage at her concerts as well. Many young and impressionable fans are absorbing her message of self-empowerment as they view her basically everywhere they look. On Miley’s social media platforms, she posts tweets containing explicit language and Instagram posts of herself with little to no clothing on. Seeing as these posts are so very accessible to all her fans including her younger fans, they have caused quite the uproar with parents. In a survey held of 2,287 parents in England based upon who parents considered was the worst role model for their children under ten years old, Miley Cyrus was voted as the worst role model, holding 78% of the votes. One of the parents was quoted to say, “She started out as the perfect teen idol in Hannah Montana, and then when she reached a certain age, she decided to rid herself of the clean-teen image…Parents tend to have high hopes for their children and it’s typically not a parent’s dream for them to prance around with not a lot of clothes on, partying their lives away.” Yet another example of how troublesome her actions can come across when people don’t perceive them correctly.

Her transformation has been extremely controversial and dramatic. Miley was quoted by E.T in 2015 as saying, “I think people try to make me seem a lot less centered than I am … I’m who I am, and you see what I’m doing … You make choices, and sometimes they’re right, sometimes they’re wrong in life. Mine are magnified.” As Miley continues to experiment with new clothing and hairstyles, people will narrow in on her personal choices and continue to judge her, and attempt to knock her and her brand down. The New York Times had this to say on the subject:

Thanks to her loose tongue performance at the MTV Video Music Awards this Summer… and her decreasingly clothed music videos, Ms. Cyrus has become an easy target, a receptacle for our national racial and sexual anxieties. In throwing off the chains of Disney, Ms. Cyrus is flashing cocksureness that has become a threat to established ideas of how young female performers should present themselves… It’s numbingly easy to pick on someone like Ms. Cyrus for her creative choices…A tremendous amount of her appeal is visual. She is, quite suddenly, a 360-degree pop star. From her chopped, bleached hair to her white nail polish to her VFiles fashion choices to her Terry Richardson-directed music videos, she’s leaped to the front of the pop class in terms of presentation. 

The entirety of Miley’s career path is based upon her brand identity. Thankfully, Miley’s brand is now focused on entities that are true to who she is as a person. Outside of her new style, she founded the Happy Hippie Foundation; which is a nonprofit organization that helps young people fight against injustices such as homelessness, fight for LGBTQ+ rights, and helps any other youth members in vulnerable situations. At this point in Miley’s career, she was always be pinned as the “infamous twerker” from her Bangerz era, regardless of all the positivity she has to offer. Miley has done countless memorable things including donating half a million dollars to AIDS research for the gala in L.A. back in November of 2014, widely supporting LGBTQ+ rights and women’s rights, fighting for the #freethenipple campaign, creating a charity for the homeless youth of the U.S.A and the list goes on. Miley even goes above and beyond to post pictures of her natural face showing pimples and imperfections, to prove that even the most famous pop star in the world is still not perfect. Miley stands out as one of the most liberating musicians in today’s world of media. Although there is nothing wrong with how Miley presents herself nowadays, it’s the drastic transformation she’s undergone that many people can’t get past. On the other hand, her transformation has been quite inspiring to those that are able to appreciate her on both a musical and human level. Many of her fans couldn’t relate to her more, seeing as she shows such a personal side of herself. She’s shown her good times and she’s shown her bad times. She justifies and promotes many things like swearing and smoking that bring her onto more of a human level with the rest of the world. She lets her fans see the real side of herself and that’s why so many more people can relate to her compared to someone like Kim Kardashian who always looks perfect and professional.

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Although throughout Miley’s career she has made very drastic changes to her appearance, music, and message, she has always been true to herself and has set an example of sincerity and truthfulness. She portrays a very real image of herself despite how the media displays her. The media will continue to bash Miley no matter what she does because they’re always going to be looking for the next headline for their magazines and news articles. Miley has come full circle from her modest character of her early career to her crazy persona of her bangerz era and now resides once again as a more low-key player in the game of music. The media has tried to pin Miley as a “bad guy” for many years calling her a bad role model and an attention-seeker, but anyone who gives Miley’s message the time of day can see past that and appreciate her embracing the idea of self-love, empowering her identity and encouraging her fans to do the same.  

Works Cited

1. Brookes, E. (2019). Miley Cyrus' Bad Reputation: Examining the Cultural Production of Miley Cyrus. In Constructing Girlhood Through the Periodical Press, 1850-1915 (pp. 139-163). University of Iowa Press.
2. Corey, E. R. (2017). The evolution of Miley Cyrus: From Disney tween to twerking and beyond. Celebrity Studies, 8(3), 428-443.
3. Dean, J., & Gomez, M. (2017). ‘You Make Choices, and Sometimes They’re Wrong’: Miley Cyrus, Cultural Production and the Pleasure of Subversion. Celebrity Studies, 8(3), 387-391.
4. Haddow, D. (2017). Miley Cyrus: Wild Child. In The Secret Life of Miley Cyrus (pp. 1-8). Sidgwick & Jackson.
5. Hearne, V. (2015). Is Miley Cyrus Good or Bad for Feminism? A Debate. Journal of Popular Culture, 48(6), 1225-1243.
6. Lang, B. (2018). Public Purity and Private Power: Miley Cyrus and the Problem of the Post-Racial Female Body. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 15(4), 323-341.
7. Orbe, M. P. (2016). ‘We Can’t Stop’: An Analysis of Miley Cyrus’s Cultural Performance of Racial Appropriation. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 40(3), 231-247.
8. Ponce, E. (2014). ‘We Can’t Stop’: Hegemony, Whiteness, and Miley Cyrus. Journal of Popular Music Studies, 26(2), 214-232.
9. Wald, G. (2015). Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, and the Sexual Politics of Pop. In Springsteen, W., Wald, G., & Kealy, E. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Music and Advertising (pp. 271-288). Oxford University Press.
10. Weinstein, M. (2015). Miley Cyrus, Bitchiness, and White Ratchetness. Feminist Media Studies, 15(2), 207-223.

Between the events of Shakespeare’s Henry IV and Henry V, King Harry evolves from a playful and wayward son into a celebrated political adept. He forfeits a life of tavern-hopping and petty larceny in favor of becoming one of the most revered kings and military tacticians in English (literary) history. Throughout Henry V, Shakespeare paints Harry as an affable king whose loyalty rests with the people of England; however, in his quest for redemption through the universal appeasement of his people—be they religious syndicates at the royal castle, squadrons of troops in the fields of Agincourt, or the common masses waiting at home—the emotions of individual characters are often abandoned in the wake of King Harry’s enterprise. Previous to and during the Battle of Agincourt, Harry is constantly at war with his own sensibilities, often choosing to neglect showing his emotions outwardly in fear that such a display might negatively impact the well being of his people.

Using both high rhetoric and hollow sensationalism, Harry consistently elevates the esteem of his soldiers while shielding his own emotions. The majority of Henry V takes places in France, where common soldiers are fighting a war that they don’t quite understand, so before the siege of Harfleur, King Harry delivers his “Cry, ‘God for Harry! England and Saint George!’” speech to elevate the morale and solidarity of his army. He urges them to continue pressing forward, even through death, and to “dishonour not [their] mothers” (3.1.22)—that is, to overcome any lack of courage they may face during the siege. He insists that “there is none of [them] so mean and base / that hath not noble lustre in [their] eyes” (III.I.29-30), once again encouraging a familial solidarity among his many battalions. In spite of Harry’s universal rhetorical placations, the reception of his speech is mixed, particularly among Bardolph, Nim, and Pistol, three of Harry’s former companions in I Henry IV and II Henry IV. Bardolph appears eager to join the troops, echoing Harry’s decrees to march forward “to the breach, to the breach!” (III.II.I), but Nim and Pistol are much more hesitant to risk their lives for an unknown cause. Nim declares that if he had more lives to give, it would be a noble fight, but Pistol simply breaks out in song.

He acknowledges the chivalry and valor of battle by singing, “And sword and shield / In bloody field / Doth win immortal fame” (III.II.7-9), but he soon delves into the precariousness of his own position when he continues singing, “And I. / If wishes would prevail with me / My purpose should not Fail with me / But thither would I hie” (III.II.12-15). In his song of fame and despair, there is a sharp end stop—a period—after the word “I,” indicating an emphasis on the personal nature of Pistol’s concerns. The brevity of the sentence “And I.” and its subsequent line break further contrast the universality of King Harry’s speech to the individual plight of common soldiers. Pistol’s fears are, of course, unknown to Harry, for Harry is too preoccupied securing his army’s morale to worry about the fears of one simple soldier. Pistol’s romantic musings are quickly broken by the entrance of Fluellen, a scholarly Captain in whom Harry believes to be “much care and valour” (4.1.83). Fluellen’s staunch adherence to the success of the war, regardless of an individual soldier’s concerns, places him as a worthy surrogate for the mindset of Harry, who is also incapable of acknowledging individual complaints in fear that the oneness of the army and of his people might lose its footing.

To elevate his army to a level of moral consistency, Harry issues harsh restrictions on individual actions. After the siege of Harfleur, Bardolph is hanged for stealing a Pax, a small religious symbol. When Fluellen gives Harry the news of the former friend’s crime, Harry callously states that the army “should have all such offenders so cut off” (3.4.98). The lack of emotion in his words is echoed during the Battle of Agincourt, when the Boy, the former page of Falstaff, states that Nim has faced the same fate as Bardolph (4.4.62-64). Though Harry’s reprimands are unsympathetic, he justifies the punishments by telling Fluellen that “when lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the gentler gamester is the soonest winner” (3.3.102-103). In this speech, Harry incites his soldiers to become beacons of morality, for gentleness and civility, in the king’s mind, are paramount in all aspects of victory and in upholding the justness of his cause. Although Harry appears to be genuine in expressing concern for the moral well-being of his soldiers, he is also erecting a stoic veil behind which he may hide from the callousness of his actions and the hollowness of his decrees. Harry does not have the patience or time necessary to worry about the fates of individual soldiers. By anthropomorphizing himself into the figure of “lenity and cruelty,” he is able to distance himself from the emotional and psychological repercussions of his actions while also deflecting responsibility for the hanging of Bardolph.

As the king of England, Harry must continually present the semblance of morality and certitude in front of his subjects regardless of emotional ties to the individual character. Because he is the leader of the army, his every move is visible and documented by those under his command, causing him to issue a level of calculability and prefigurement to all of his actions and emotions so as not to disrupt the image of his position or the morale of the community. The extent of his authority is a scathing burden that he must bear alone. With the eyes of his army always upon him, it is not possible for Harry to express his disconcertment outwardly, so he creates an elaborate pretense in which he exchanges his royal garb for the common cloak of Sir Thomas Erpingham. Rather than using this opportunity to discover on an individual basis the concerns and anxieties of those under his command, Harry’s true intention is to momentarily relieve his royal temperament by mingling with the common soldiers.

While garbed in Erpingham’s cloak, Harry takes a respite from the quotidian responsibilities of the king by pretending to be a common soldier. His rhetoric, however, still maintains a level of distance from connecting to the individual soldier. Harry sits in the darkness, waiting to meet a passerby, and Pistol approaches Harry as though he were an intruder. Pistol says to Harry, “Discuss unto me: art thou officer, / Or art thou base, common, and popular?” (4.1.38-39) to which Harry responds, “I am a gentleman of a company” (4.1.40). When asked if he is common, Harry deflects the question, instead situating himself on an elevated tier of morality. Even while dressed as an average soldier, it is impossible for Harry to admit he is ordinary. He understands that it is disadvantageous to give in to his emotions; however, he later says to Bates that “the King is but a man, as [he] is” (4.1.99) and that all the king’s “senses have but human conditions” (4.1.101), an indication that the emotions are and have always been present, but also that they have been intentionally shielded from the public eye. Harry is unable to placate the common soldier, for he is unable to be as explicitly emotionally sensitive as the common man.

Later in Act IV Scene I, Harry is talking with Williams and Bates, two soldiers who are voicing their concerns on the legitimacy of the war and their own involvement in such grand political affairs. Williams says to Harry that “if the cause be not good, the King himself hath a heavy reckoning to make” (4.1.138-139). Williams rightly lays the responsibility for the impending English deaths on the King, but Harry refuses to acknowledge individual deaths. To Harry, the death toll is worthy of consideration, but the individual “legs and arms and heads chopped off” (4.1.139-140) are not his concern. Harry’s response to Williams’s indictment is that “the King is not bound to answer the particular endings of his soldiers” (4.1.146-147), for such sensitivity is preclusive to the “watch the King keeps to maintain the peace” (4.1.246). The King’s watch is on all of England, limiting his ability to appropriately dally in the affairs of individual soldiers. The callousness of Harry’s justification is without blame, however, for the King cannot afford to take the liberty to develop individual emotional ties without risking the welfare of the entire nation.

Though Harry continually asserts that the fates of individual soldiers are not his concern, the deaths of Suffolk and York, two of his closest companions, bring about a brief stint of sensationalism in the King. Just before the end of the Battle of Agincourt, Harry commends his followers, saying, “Well have we done, thrice-valiant countrymen” (4.6.I). He seeks the counsel of the Duke of York, but, much to his chagrin, he learns from his uncle Exeter that both York and Suffolk have died in battle. Exeter romanticizes York and Suffolk’s final moments by conjuring images of two soldiers, one fallen and one “all haggled over” (4.6.11), each clung together as though they were lovers. The depiction of their deaths gives Harry “mistful eyes” (4.6.34), and as a response to the belligerence of the French and the affection demonstrated by the fallen English nobles, Harry orders each soldier to “kill his prisoners” (4.6.37).

The brevity of Act IV Scene VI emphasizes the character development of Harry and also acts as a structural metaphor for the rashness of Harry’s actions. Whereas Harry is accustomed to doling out eloquent and enduring speeches that appeal to mass audiences, he is unaccustomed to facing grief on an individual basis. The scene ends curtly with Pistol crying aloud, “Coup’ la gorge!” (4.6.39), issuing a stark contrast to the “gentleness” that Harry once applauded his soldiers for having. Harry’s habit of calculation has been replaced by barbarism and irrational decisions. The scene ends with the superfluous and uncivilized deaths of countless French prisoners, demonstrating not only Harry’s newfound brutality but also the inherent repercussions of acting upon personal emotions when in a position of authority.

Though Shakespeare paints Harry as an admirable King, one whose faithfulness to both England and the crown has gone unparalleled in English (literary) history to that point, there are moments in the play when the audience sees the callousness of Harry’s royal position. Shakespeare does not make an attempt to condemn Harry’s broken emotional ties, nor does he applaud them; rather, Shakespeare indicates that Harry’s callousness is a virtuous trait for anyone in authority. To Harry, the “infinite heartsease / [that] kings neglect” (4.1.218-219) is paramount to the preservation of a people.

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Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. "Henry V." Trans. Array The Norton Shakespeare. . 2nd. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008. 1471-1548. Print.

Jean Rhys’ 1966 novel Wide Sargasso Sea rewrites Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre from a modern, postcolonial standpoint. Wide Sargasso Sea tells the story of Brontë’s “madwoman in the attic” from Bertha Mason’s own point of view. In Jane Eyre, Bertha is “hidden away,” both in terms of her physical place in the attic and also in terms of her own history and voice. Rhys, however, develops Bertha into a complex character: in Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette Cosway is a strong woman who rebels against and overcomes the colonial and patriarchal oppressions that face her as a result of her West Indian identity. Rhys’ novel depicts Antoinette’s ultimate vengeance on Rochester at the end of Jane Eyre as a valid response to this oppression. By shifting points of view and rewriting certain events in Brontë’s text, Rhys subverts the colonialist framework out of which Jane Eyre and Brontë herself came.

In writing Jane Eyre and the character of Bertha Mason, Charlotte Brontë appears to have relied on several colonialist pretenses. Ellen Friedman writes that Jean Rhys “exposes the assumptions of…nineteenth-century English imperialism, Christianity, and patriarchy that served as the context for Charlotte Brontë’s text” (1175). The first of these assumptions is that Bertha, as a Caribbean woman, is inherently different from English women like Jane. Rochester’s initial portrayal of Bertha in his dialogue with Jane characterizes her as, in the words of Edward Said, “sensual…more or less stupid, and…willing” (145). Rochester initially meets Bertha at a party, and “she flattered [him], and lavishly displayed for [his] pleasure her charms and accomplishments” (Brontë 260); the diction of “displayed” and “pleasure” specifically calls to mind Bertha’s sensuality and her role as an exotic other. Brontë also possibly alludes to syphilis when Rochester tells Jane, “[Bertha’s] excesses had prematurely developed the germs of insanity,” again indicating Bertha’s supposed sexual excesses (261). Similarly consistent with Said’s idea that the native woman is sensual and willing is that, in Jane Eyre, she has nearly all the agency in getting Rochester to marry her: Rochester states: “Her family wished to secure me… and so did she,” and “her relatives encouraged me; competitors piqued me; she allured me” (260). In giving Bertha a great deal of sexual volition in Rochester’s initial impressions of her, Brontë characterizes her as an exotic “other” without considering other aspects of her character.

In Wide Sargasso Sea, however, Rhys directly contrasts Brontë’s sexually motivated portrayal of Bertha in her portrayal of Rochester’s initial interactions with Antoinette. Unlike the Rochester in Jane Eyre, who blames his love for Bertha on her own “allure,” Rhys’s Rochester relates the opposite:

When at last I met her I bowed, smiled, kissed her hand, danced with her. I played the part I was expected to play. She never had anything to do with me at all…I must have given a faultless performance. (45)

In Rhys’s novel, it is Rochester, rather than Antoinette, who has agency in their period of courting. The idea that “[Antoinette] never had anything to do with [Rochester] at all” completely subverts Brontë’s notions of the native woman as being sexually charged and, in Said’s words, overly “willing” (145). Rhys continues to challenge Brontë’s characterization of Bertha as sexually motivated and willing in that Rhys’s Antoinette initially decides that “she won’t marry [Rochester]” because “[he doesn’t] know anything about [her]” (46). Again, Rochester ultimately has to convince and coerce her into the marriage: “I’ll trust you if you trust me. Is that a bargain?” (47). Antoinette’s decision to not marry Rochester on the grounds of their unfamiliarity reveals her as a character concerned with more than sexuality in her relationship with her husband, again undermining Brontë’s initial characterizations of her.

In addition to relying on colonialist assumptions in characterizing the early Bertha, Brontë also portrays the Bertha as an “other” after she goes mad and Rochester takes her to England. Rather than characterizing her as an exotic other, however, Brontë portrays her as a demonic other, who blurs the line between human and animal; Brontë’s Rochester specifically refers to Bertha as “a demon” in comparing her to Jane, and to her abode, the attic of Thornfield Manor, as “the mouth of hell,” “a wild beast’s den” and “a goblin’s cell” (251, 265). In Brontë’s portrayals of her, Bertha is animalistic and inhuman:

In the deep shade, at the further end of the room, a figure ran backwards and forwards. What it was, whether beast or human being, one could not, at first sight, tell: it grovelled, seemingly, on all fours; it snatched, and growled like some strange wild animal: but it was covered with clothing; and a quantity of dark, grizzled hair, wild as a mane, hid its head and face. (250)

In characterizing Bertha, Brontë strips her of her humanity: she refers to her merely as “a figure” and as “it,” and compares her to “some strange wild animal” with a “mane” (250). The notion that Brontë’s Bertha never speaks, she merely “yells,” also robs her of her humanity and paints her as a demonic other (262).

In Jane Eyre, it does not take long for Bertha to make the shift from exotic to demonic other: Rochester states, “in the very first letter I wrote to apprise [his father and brothers] of the union—having already begun to experience extreme disgust of its consequences… I added an urgent charge to keep it secret” (263). In Wide Sargasso Sea, however, Rhys consistently describes Antoinette as beautiful and feminine. Additionally, Rhys’s portrayal of Antoinette often directly contrasts Brontë’s point by point. In contrast to Brontë’s description of Bertha’s “dark, grizzled hair,” Rhys describes “[Antoinette’s] hair” as “combed away from her face and [falling] smoothly far below her waist,” and as having “red and gold lights in it,” a much more feminine description (47). Similarly, while Brontë states merely that Bertha wore nondescript “clothing,” Rhys describes her as wearing a dress “made in St. Pierre, Martinique,” and in the style “à la Joséphine” (47). Since Josephine Bonaparte is associated with Europe through her role as empress of France, Rhys’s reference to her emphasizes Antoinette’s “whiteness” in contrast to Brontë’s “dark” and “purple” madwoman (250). Even after Antoinette is carried to England, Rhys continues to dissociate her from Brontë’s Bertha: though the mad Antoinette ultimately has “streaming” hair consistent with Brontë’s descriptions of her, Rhys never acknowledges that it is Antoinette. The woman fitting Brontë’s description is always referred to as “that ghost of a woman,” and appears solely “surrounded by a gilt frame”—a mirror; she is only implicitly linked to Antoinette (11, 112). In creating a separate identity for her, Rhys creates a character who “is not Jane Eyre’s lunatic at all” (Rody 223).

Though in Wide Sargasso Sea Antoinette never fulfills the role of demonic other, toward the end of the novel she grows into the role described by Said as “sensual” and “willing” as a result of her interactions with Rochester. Rhys subverts yet another of Brontë’s colonialist pretenses: while Brontë portrays Rochester as a victim of his “infernal union” with Bertha, Rhys characterizes Antoinette as the oppressed party (259). Rhys suggests that Antoinette’s madness and development into Europe’s idea of a “native woman” comes as a consequence of her marriage to Rochester. Indeed, Rochester changes and creates Antoinette’s identity in a number of ways. The most obvious way is that he changes her name from Antoinette to Bertha, “a name [he’s] particularly fond of,” despite the fact that she insists that her “name is not Bertha” (Rhys 81). He also forbids Antoinette from speaking patois with Christophine in order to further distance her from her Creole roots.

Rochester’s attempts to differentiate her from her mother by changing her name and make her more European actually ironically backfire, in that Antoinette grows to fit Said’s model of a native woman as a result of her estrangement from her husband (which grows out of the fact that “he never calls [her] Antoinette now”) (68). Laura Ciolkowski notes, “[Rochester] is determined to resolve Antoinette’s ambivalence [about her heritage] first into the singular tones of English womanhood, and second, once his failure to cast Antoinette as the chaste mother of English sons is totally clear, into the equally singular tones of a savage otherness” (343). After their marriage begins to crumble, Antoinette becomes desperate for her husband to “come to [her] one night,” indicating that her sexual drive begins to govern her actions (68). Furthermore, in order to satiate her desires, Antoinette wishes to employ obeah, an institution viewed by Europe as superstition; in this way, Antoinette becomes not only “sensual” and “willing,” but also “stupid” and superstitious from the European viewpoint. Likewise, after she has been brought to England, Antoinette states, “Does [my red dress] make me look intemperate and unchaste...That man told me so,” indicating that Rochester constructs Antoinette as a “native woman” fitting with nineteenth-century European colonialist views (110).

By detailing Rochester’s manipulations of Antoinette, Rhys undermines Brontë’s assumption that Bertha’s eventual revenge on Rochester is a result of her descent from “idiots and maniacs” (Brontë 249); rather, Rhys shows Antoinette’s final act of burning down Thornfield manor to be an important act of rebellion through which Antoinette, and Rhys herself, in the words of Aijaz Ahmad, “modified, challenged, overthrew, [and] rewrote” “Western representations” of the colonial (McLeod 48). At the end of Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette describes her final act as “why I was brought here and what I have to do” (112); Antoinette’s resolve and determination contrasts Brontë’s Bertha, whose setting fire to Thornfield was merely one of her many inexplicable acts of “wild mischief” (364). Though Antoinette has been driven mad by the end of Wide Sargasso Sea, she is still able to exact her revenge; Rhys expresses Antoinette’s ability to take vengeance despite her madness through the symbol of the candle at the end of the novel. Though “the flame flickered and I thought it was out,” which expresses Antoinette’s discouragement (and perhaps the reader’s disbelief in her ability to rebel against her oppression), she “shielded it with [her] hand and it burned up again to light [her] along the dark passage” (112); the steady candle flame thereby represents Antoinette’s resolve and determination, and turns her seemingly inexplicable act of arson at the end of Jane Eyre into her triumphant resistance against the oppression perpetrated upon her by Rochester and Western society. The fact that candles are an archetypal literary symbol for hope also supports this reading of the ending of Wide Sargasso Sea. Caroline Rody suggests that “Antoinette/Bertha thus embodies in her defiant ending the triumphant revisionist act of Rhys the reader turned writer” (218).

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In rewriting Jane Eyre as Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys redefines Bertha Mason’s final act of burning down Thornfield Manor as a rebellion against colonialist oppression rather than a random act of violence. Rhys shows Bertha’s eventual madness to have been a result of Rochester’s construction of her identity in accordance with nineteenth-century European notions of colonial women. Rhys challenges Brontë’s characterizations of Bertha as both an exotic and a demonic other, portraying her as a victim of the patriarchal and colonialist society embodied in Edward Rochester. Despite her victimization, however, Antoinette rebels against Rochester, just as Rhys herself rebels against Brontë: while Antoinette destroys her literal prison, Thornfield Manor, by fire at the end of both novels, Rhys subverts the colonialist framework that held Bertha Mason’s character captive by giving Bertha a voice, an identity, and a purpose.

Works Cited

1. Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Richard J. Dunn. New York: Norton, 2001.
2. Ciolkowski, Laura E. “Navigating the Wide Sargasso Sea: Colonial History, English Fiction, and British Empire.” Twentieth Century Literature 43.3 (Autumn 1997): 339-59.
3. Freidman, Ellen G. and David Galef. “From Plagiarism to Appropriation.” PMLA 108.5 (Oct. 1993): 1174-5.
4. McLeod, John. Beginning Postcolonialism. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2000.
5. Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. Ed. Judith L. Raiskin. New York: Norton, 1999.
6. Rody, Caroline. “Burning Down the House: The Revisionary Paradigm of Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea.” Rhys 217-25.
7. Said, Edward. “From Orientalism.” Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader. By Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman. New York: Columbia UP, 1994, 132-49.

One particular memory that has shaped my foundational passion for medicine is a particular habit my grandparents had. Growing up, my grandfather stored home-grown pumpkins under our beds and my grandmother collected hundreds of water-filled Gatorade bottles throughout our home. As I matured, I realized these once perceived bizarre habits were practices that helped my family cope with their PTSD. My grandfather stored pumpkins under our beds because it was an old habit to avoid theft and starvation. My grandmother collected water bottles as a result of her son’s death from dehydration during the Cambodian genocide. Although deeply pained by these experiences, it has pushed me to mature and has ingrained a deep-rooted desire to positively impact the lives of others while being intellectually engaged and challenged through a career in medicine. With this goal in mind, insights I have gained through hands-on experience as a medical assistant and graduate student during clinical clerkships have led me to pursue a career as a surgical physician assistant.

My experiences as a medical assistant for a group of plastic and reconstructive, microvascular, craniofacial and hand surgeons drew me to the field of surgery. The patients I have encountered have provided me insight into the problems I will treat as a future PA such as invasive cancers of the tongue and face requiring muscle free flap reconstruction, Le Fort and mandible fractures, severely infected hand fractures due to crushing dog bite wounds, and infected aortic graft requiring debridements and omental flap transposition. Influenced in large part by these patient encounters, I have a strong interest in general surgery, acute care, trauma, and reconstructive surgery. A career as a surgical physician assistant appeals to me because it encompasses a wide spectrum of medical and surgical conditions with a diverse and exciting patient base, requiring diagnostic acumen, surgical expertise, and empathy.

Keck School of Medicine of USC Physician Assistant program has endowed me with a solid medical education and have provided many opportunities through my clinical clerkships to treat a wide spectrum of acute illnesses, injuries, and exacerbations of chronic conditions. In my general surgery clerkship at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, I skillfully first assisted in extremity amputations, cholecystectomies, liver biopsies and high impact falls from skiing accidents. In orthopedic and trauma surgery at Los Angeles County and USC Medical Center, I was highly involved in numerous reductions and stabilizations for automobile versus pedestrian trauma and injuries from high impact falls. In emergency medicine, I learned to thoroughly assess and identify medical conditions and level of risk and executed well-informed critical decisions in high pressure situations.

I have since found that diagnosing disease, determining the proper course of treatment in each scenario, and caring for complicated surgical patients are rewarding and challenging. A career as a surgical PA will allow me to utilize strengths I have developed thus far, including an ease of rapport with patients, an ability to educate patients regarding their health and disease, and strong commitment to medicine.

As PA student, my clinical experiences in general surgery and orthopedic trauma were most rewarding and am eager to continue my fostering my intellectual growth and clinical training through a surgical fellowship. _ will challenge me to grow professionally and personally and continue to expose me to a variety of surgical specialties. I bring with me a strong work ethic, desire to excel, and modesty to serve those whose health care needs have been entrusted to me. I hope to the surgical expertise and valuable experience in the management of acute illness and trauma and the exacerbation of chronic diseases. I am eager to begin a surgical fellowship so that I may gain the training necessary to become a well-rounded and confident physician assistant, capable of handling the many challenges of providing medical care in a fast-paced environment.  

Table of contents

1.  Current situation of Chinese overseas students in Singapore
2. Types of Chinese overseas students in China and the current situation and tendency of Singapore immigration
3. Reasons for Chinese overseas students to immigrate to Singapore
4. Excellent employment prospect of Singapore
5. Easy integration of local society by Chinese overseas students

Chinese Students Who Came to Singapore for Further Studying after the Reform and Opening-Up Policy Since the Reform and Opening-Up Policy, the Chinese government has gradually relaxed its study-abroad policy and started dispatching its students abroad to study. According to statistics, up to now, the total population of Chinese students studying abroad has exceeded 900,000.

What accompanies the large-scale studying abroad tide is the changes in the local identity of international students - the students are converted into new immigrants. This paper elaborates on the situation of Chinese students who have immigrated to overseas since the Reform and Opening-Up Policy. In addition, based on the case study of Singapore, the reason, current situation and immigration reason of overseas students are discussed and analyzed in order to reflect the immigration situation of Chinese overseas students.

Overview of local settlement of Chinese overseas students since the Reform and Opening-Up Policy In the two decades from 1978 to 1999, the population of overseas students who studied abroad reached about 320,000.

The distribution of these overseas students is characteristic of large-scale decentralization and small-scale concentration. In other words, the overseas students are widely distributed in 103 countries and regions in the world, and 90% are concentrated in developed countries, such as the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada and Western Europe. In recent years, some Asian countries, including Singapore, South Korea, and Malaysia, have also gradually attracted a large number of Chinese students with their unique advantages. With the deepening of globalization, the population of Chinese overseas students continues to rise. From 1999 to now, the total population of Chinese students studying abroad has increased by more than 600,000 and the proportion of students settling in the countries where they study has also been growing.

Reason for Chinese students to study in Singapore In addition to the beautiful environment, suitable climate, easy visa application and stable economic development situation, Singapore attracts Chinese students with other unique advantages. First of all, Singapore has a well-established education system and maintains a high education level, which has been widely recognized by the world. Singapore adheres to the British education system and aims to cultivate the elite talents. In the meanwhile, Singapore provides a balanced education for everyone and tries its best to fully develop students’ potentials and thinking abilities. In addition, Singaporean education possesses a unique bilingual teaching mode, which is dominated by English teaching and supplemented by Chinese teaching, thus strengthening the English proficiency and application capability of Chinese students and lifting the concern that some students cannot communicate successfully upon arrival in foreign countries because of language barriers. Secondly, Singapore is an immigrant country in which the Chinese are the main body.

Therefore, it has ingrained historical and cultural inheritance relationships with China, which avoids the huge psychological gap of Chinese overseas students due to the great differences in social awareness and cultural values. Thirdly, Singapore government adopts the idea of “building a nation based on talents” as its main development strategy. In order to attract Chinese talents and open up the overseas student market in China, Singapore government has launched a series of international student programs including the Education Honorary Partnership Program, Education Boarding Program, Mother Companionship Studying Program, Overseas Student Financial Assistance Plans, etc. The introduction of these policies has provided a safe and stable study environment for overseas students and has relieved the students and their parents from many worries.

 Current situation of Chinese overseas students in Singapore

Population and scale of Chinese overseas students in Singapore at present, Singapore receives the applications of about 4,000 Chinese students every year. With the development of economic globalization and the improvement of living standards in China, this number will keep increasing in the coming years. Of the 60,000 international students studying in Singapore in 2004, Chinese students accounted for 50%, as many as 30,000, and the population keeps rising.

According to the internal documents of the Singapore Economic Development Board, the total population of Chinese students in Singapore is more than 30,000, of which nearly 10,000 are from government university institutions (3,500 in National University of Singapore, 2,300 in Nanyang Technological University, 50 in Singapore Management University, 300 in Singapore Polytechnic, 400 in Temasek Polytechnic, 800 in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, 500 Nanyang Polytechnic and 80 in Republic Polytechnic. Approximately 10,000 students are in governmental primary and secondary schools in Singapore. The rest 10,000 students are distributed in nearly 100 private schools.

Types of Chinese overseas students in China and the current situation and tendency of Singapore immigration

Graduates of Chinese universities who come to Singapore for long-term study and obtain the academic certificate. These overseas students mainly include students who study at various colleges, departments and graduate schools of National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, and Singapore Management University, who study in private English schools and computer schools, and who study in the Singaporean schools of Australian and UK universities. These universities have a high admission threshold, and so all these Chinese students who come to study in Singapore are highly qualified and talented people who have a high comprehensive quality in Chinese universities. In the case of the National University of Singapore, students must have a TOEFL score of 600 or above and an IELTS score of 6.5 or above in order to be enrolled. The students study diligently in Singaporean universities and become the most popular overseas student group in Singapore. Therefore, they are also the main force for conversion of overseas students to new immigrants.

Short-term training students. The students mainly include some officials and business executives who come to Singapore to study English and management methods. Most of them come to Singapore for short-term training and hold key positions in Chinese government institutions, state-owned and private-owned companies, some of whom are also the CEOs of listed companies. These students are less likely to immigrate to Singapore because they have a better working environment and higher social status in China. They come to study in Singapore with the sole intention to improve their professional quality.

Study visits and overseas training. The personnel is mainly deployed by schools and public institutions to study and exchange in the corresponding institutions in Singapore for a certain period of time. The personnel mainly include visiting scholars or senior visiting scholars and students in cooperative research, study or training, visiting professors and cooperative exchange students. These students are all sent by national institutions or agencies and have close ties with the original institutions and schools. Therefore, their rate of returning to China is high, and it is very unlikely that they will settle in the country.

Overseas students in secondary and primary schools, the population of whom has shown a rising trend in recent years in Singapore. According to statistics, since the Reform and Opening-Up Policy, about 20,000 to 30,000 people each year have come to study abroad at their own expenses, of which primary and secondary school students account for 50%.

Because of their younger age, they are more receptive to the new environment and they spend longer time on studying in Singapore (4-5 years in secondary schools and 3-4 years in universities). Therefore, in the future, they are very likely to become new immigrants. Although it is difficult to have exact statistics concerning Chinese students who settle in Singapore, based on the statistics of some overseas students, we can estimate the tendency of students who convert into new immigrants. In 2002, Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao and Chinese overseas student website “Huaxinwang” jointly conducted a survey on Chinese students who received scholarships. A total of 105 individuals were surveyed, all of whom were the winners of the first scholarships. These individuals have completed undergraduate programs at Singaporean universities and are currently executing the contract for six-year local employment. 51% of surveyed respondents said they plan to remain in Singapore within three to five years while 30% said they are ready to return to China, and the rest 19% said they are interested in seeking further development in other countries. In this survey, more than half of the students chose to immigrate to Singapore. According to statistics, in every nine students on average who graduate from the National University of Singapore, three will stay in Singapore, three will choose to return to their home countries and the remaining three will go to the United States for further studies.

It can be estimated that among the 30,000 Chinese overseas students in Singapore, at least 10,000 students will immigrate to become permanent residents of Singapore. As Chinese students keep coming to study in Singapore, the group of overseas students who become new immigrants will also grow larger and larger.

Reasons for Chinese overseas students to immigrate to Singapore

From the above analysis, we can see that there are many reasons why Chinese students come to study in Singapore. Many people do not aim to immigrate before leaving China However, what motivate them to settle in Singapore?

Talent attraction policy of Singapore government rapid economic development of Singapore requires a large number of talents from all industries. However, due to the lack of domestic human resources, Singapore government has turned its focus to foreign countries and actively attracted overseas talents. At present, Singapore has adopted the talent attraction policy as its basic national policy. Former Prime Minister of Singapore Goh Chok Tong proposed to make Singapore a powerful magnet for attracting talents, ideas, aptitude, concepts, and knowledge. The incumbent Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also proposed that Singapore should be built into a place which is full of hope, suitable for people’s life, work, and leisure, and makes foreigners feel at home. It is precise because the government insists on giving full play to the role of talents and creating a favorable environment for its talents from the perspective of macroeconomic policies that Singapore attracts a large number of talents to gather in Singapore and lays an excellent foundation for the economic growth of Singapore. In recent years, Singapore has innovated a series of talent policies and incentive mechanisms, such as the Singapore Scholarship Program, the Overseas Talent Residency Program, and the Arrival Permanent Resident Program, etc.

Excellent employment prospect of Singapore

Singapore has become one of the countries with the fastest economic growth and highest affluence in the world in recent years and has become one of the Four Asian Tigers. In recent years, the government has also been actively developing information technology industries such as high-density and large-volume semiconductor chips and biotechnology as the driving force for the future economic development and technology based on the existing advantageous industries, such as entrepot trade, freight transport, manufacturing and financial services. As the economy of Singapore has maintained rapid growth for the recent two decades, it has provided massive employment opportunities. Concerning the specific needs, marketing talents are the most urgently needed, followed by engineering, operations and technical talents, especially engineers, software architects, outsourcing project managers and systems management professionals. The majority of Chinese students who come to Singapore for study are majoring in engineering, life sciences, and English, whom Singapore is lacking and vigorously attracting.

Easy integration of local society by Chinese overseas students

Singapore is a multi-ethnic country dominated by the Chinese descendants, who still maintain the fine traditions of national culture and receive the bilingual education in both English and Chinese. Therefore, studying in Singapore has reduced racial, cultural and linguistic barriers and relieved the feeling of loneliness and strangeness. In this way, the students can quickly integrate into the local society. Singapore has a unique bilingual environment, and the daily conversation and various texts Singaporeans are basically based in English. In this environment, overseas students can achieve giant leaps in their own English proficiency in a short-term, thus becoming proficient in English. Most Chinese in Singapore have also studied Chinese, and Chinese students who come to Singapore will not have difficulty in communication due to poor English speaking ability. Therefore, in such a bilingual environment, students arriving in Singapore will not have the same huge cultural and linguistic impact as they will in Europe and the United States.

With the deepened development of economic globalization, all countries have begun to capture talents. As the representatives of excellent talents and elite talents, overseas students have drawn much attention and competition from many countries. Many countries have introduced preferential policies in order to attract foreign students to settle. Chinese students have always been the new force in the study-abroad tide. As of today, the momentum for Chinese students to study abroad is still strong. However, since the Reform and Opening-Up Policy, less than one-third of the 900,000 overseas students have returned to China, and more than 600,000 students have settled where they study abroad, which converts studying abroad to settlement and has become an important way to immigrate to other countries. This has caused a certain loss of talents in China.

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To this end, China must pay great attention to this phenomenon and conduct in-depth understanding and research. Through a case study of Chinese students who come to Singapore for study, it is easy to find that the Singapore government has adopted the strategic thinking of “building the nation with talents” and formulated a series of strategies and mechanisms for attracting overseas talents. This is the most important reason for attracting the talents. Secondly, Singapore also creates excellent employment and living environment for overseas students. All of these experiences are worth learning from. In short, the conversion from studying abroad to immigration is the general trend of the current international talent flow and is the result of economic globalization. Faced with a large population of Chinese students who have settled overseas, on one hand, China should make full use of its overseas resources to build a bridge between China and the settlement countries. On the other hand, China should formulate corresponding policies of attracting students to return to China and create a good environment for the overseas students in the domestic development.

Love is said to be blind, and sex impervious to reason. However, a person’s outlook on sex is incredibly telling of that person's fundamental outlooks upon life itself. To some, it is a sacred act to be committed in marriage only, and to others it is an act of fun, to be committed upon any lighthearted whim of desire. It holds a different meaning for all people. In Audre Lorde’s essay "Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power," sex is described as an instrument of power for women, as a tool to be used to empower and lift the self out of repression, imposed by both others and the self. Similarly, in her novel Sula, Toni Morrison illustrates sex as a tool that can be used to free women from the societal burden and constraint of stereotypes and expectations. However, she also depicts this attitude as something that can wound and alienate. In his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz portrays sex as a symptom and symbol of deeply rooted cultural ills. All three writers establish sex as a function of society used to perpetuate stereotypes, a function largely dependent upon women but belonging to men, and they work to encourage women to claim it as their right as well.

In "Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power," Lorde challenges the Western masculinist characterization of the erotic as an element of human debasement, as well as its use as a tool of oppression. She argues that this framing of the erotic has ghettoized women's sensuality, a means by which people know and orient themselves to the world, thereby erasing a significant form of women’s liberating power. To confront this erasure, Lorde offers a view of the erotic as a system of understanding which give shape to knowledge of a time, a critical mode through which women may attain excellence. Lorde's position on the erotic has established itself as a political, social, and academic tool of deconstruction, subversion, and imagination. Although the liberating power of the erotic lies in its point of origin (the self), Lorde suggests that women have been taught to question the self as a source, "to suspect what is deepest in [them]selves," which “has meant a suppression of the erotic as a considered source of power and information,” (Lorde 53). Oppression is a cyclical process that systematically suppresses various forms of power, and Lorde's essay is a response to this suppression, particularly in regards to her assertion that the relationship between oppression and power is often marked by corruption and distortion: "In order to perpetuate itself, every oppression must corrupt or distort those various sources of power within the culture of the oppressed that can provide energy for change" (Lorde 53). An example of such distortion is the way the erotic itself has been misrepresented as pornography, a way of experiencing sensation, acquiring knowledge without feeling.

This distortion of the erotic's power reinforces docility, obedience, and external definition, all of which contribute to the cycle of oppression through the process of dehumanization. Morality and equality are irrelevant in the face of a man’s libido, and it is this farce of societal understanding that Morrison emphasizes through her portrayal of sex in Sula. The titular character operates beneath the understanding of sex as “pleasant and frequent, but otherwise unremarkable,” (Morrison 44). However, this is an understanding of sex not widely shared by the women in the community in which Sula lives. The entire town is aware that this is an attitude Sula inherited from her mother, who in turn inherited it from her mother; “manlove” is the most valued heirloom belonging to the Peace family. However, this thinking is what causes the community of the Bottom to regard Sula as an instrument of evil, as doing the devil’s bidding; she is different, and immune to their judgments that come constantly and without understanding, and thus she is alienated from all others. The tragedy and travesty of this outlook on sex is that is far from being equally applied. The men of the Bottom are more than enthusiastic participants in the sex that Sula is made an outcast for, and yet they face no reprimands, no punishment. Just as boys will be boys, men will be men –– this is both the definition and the justification for their behavior. This outlook on sex prevents human connection in Sula; much of the community hinges upon it, and yet no one understands it, or even attempts to.

Díaz illustrates sex in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao as being representative of deeply problematic gender stereotypes. Masculinity in the novel is measured by the timeless method of notches in the belt; the more women a man sleeps with the more he is considered a man. Men are the main villains in the novel, portrayed mainly through their treatment of women; over and over again, men treat women like objects, use them to satisfy themselves and toss them aside like trash when they are done. Women are inherently involved in sex, but not appreciated. Sex is not theirs to be enjoyed, only to be taken from them, with or without their consent. Communities in the novel love sex, take great pride in it, but it also prevents human connection. Sex in the novel very clearly draws a line, between gender equality among men and women, but also among the single side of men; throughout the novel, Oscar is mocked and ridiculed for being less of a man and less of a Dominican for his lack of sex. In his final letter, Oscar reveals that he has finally had sex, and of the experience he writes “So this is what everybody [is] always talking about! Diablo! If only [he had] known. The beauty! The beauty!” (Díaz 353). Díaz spends a majority of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao documenting the forces of evil in this world—despair, loneliness, colonialism, Trujillo—but he ends it all with this passage. He ends it all with a letter that affirms life and beauty and sex, but only with the woman involved being a loving, willing participant enjoying the sex.

Sex is often misunderstood and mis-characterized, both in spite of and because of its prevalence in society. It literally creates life, and it serves as a definition of life for some, but often for the wrong reasons. It is something often taken by men, with or without the permission of women, and in this it becomes a tool used to perpetuate inequality, to oppress women. Lorde, Morrison, and Díaz all take less than common stances on the topic of sex, and proclaim it as something that needs to be claimed and redefined by women, for their empowerment and betterment, and ultimately for the empowerment and betterment of society as a whole.