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Throughout this multiple-source review, I have decided to explore nature vs nurture, which has been an ongoing and widely varied, and increasingly popular debate for many years. This multiple-source review focuses on whether serial killers are simply just born and live their lives with these vicious feelings or were they made to be like this through traumatic experiences that they have endured during their lifetime making them think and act the way they do. I have chosen five reliable sources to help me gain a wider knowledge of my chosen subject and the different points of view. I carefully examined and selected a wide selection of sources ranging from articles to Tv documentaries on several reliable as well as reputable streaming services and scholarly articles. I decided to select these as my sources because I found that these it was unbiased and took to exploring this topic with many different opinions and views and tackled the subject on many different levels. I feel that these sources well present my topic as well as the varied opinions that come with it and go in-depth on this topic on a social as well as scientific and psychological view. This also gives the necessary knowledge for me to understand this topic as well as structure my comparative source review.
Get original essayThe first source I will be analyzing is 'Born Killers: Childhood Secrets of the World's Deadliest Serial Killers' by Christopher Berry-Dee and Steven Morris, which was published in 2006. This book speaks on the argument that advocates many of us are born to kill and the question of whether there is a ‘Demon Seed’ in our genes, DNA, or chromosomes? Focusing on the MAOA gene which is a gene that produces enzymes breaking down neurotransmitters connected with our mood, aggression, and pleasures, and the XYY chromosome disorder which is a rare biochemical imbalance, ‘scientists in a study of 3,687 pairs of seven-year-old twins that there are strong genetic roots for poor behavior in children who also showed signs of psychopathic traits, such as lack of remorse or understanding for the feelings of others’. This conveys to me that genetics is one of many factors that can take play in the actions and decisions of a serial killer. It also shows me how the brain works on a molecular level and how it can program these men, and women's children to create and follow this overwhelming flurry of dark thoughts for example, ‘A group of 1,037 children born in 1972 in New Zealand. The study found that 85% of the male children who had the weak variant of the MAOA gene exhibited criminal or antisocial behavior growing’. This is one of few sources I found that used science and neurology as well as facts other than opinions to examine these cases and determine how and just why these humans made the decisions they made and choose to follow out these horrific acts. I feel like the strongest point of this source is how unlike most sources this one uses facts in place of opinions to take a broad route to show how they use these to convey the structure and biology of the human body as well as how the brain can be one of the many pivotal factors that play a role on how serial killers construct themselves, their thoughts and physical actions. I feel that this source has given me the necessary information to carry out my research and expand my knowledge on this topic. The author strategically uses facts and statistics placed alongside each other to prove their point that numerous factors take place in the actions of human behavior and how although genetics can and does play a key role in human behavior so does experiences and trials of life. This source was strong and reliable as the authors are best-selling writers and criminologists, it was also mentioned that Christopher has interviewed over 30 serial killers so clearly knows a great deal on this topic.
In comparison to my first source, my second source is an example of how some humans are born with the ‘demon seed’ in their genes. I selected a documentary on Netflix called ‘The Sons of Sam’ directed by Joshua Zeman. This Netflix 4-part series was released on the 5th of May 2021 and is based on the 1976 American serial killer David Richard Berkowitz also known as the son of Sam. David Berkowitz was brought up in A middle-class family with devoted parents who showered him with gifts and attention and from this, there were no clear signs of what was to come. After being arrested David spoke about how he was obeying orders of a demon manifested in the form of his neighbor Sam's dog and how he was giving in to these demons in the hopes that they would leave him alone if he did what they asked. He claimed that the demons ordered him to kill, ‘she has to be sacrificed’. It was then, later on, said that Berkowitz made the demon story up in an attempt to be found mentally competent and was a member of a violent satanic cult that engaged in animal and human sacrifices. This source illustrates that, unlike my first source it goes through the story and case of a serial killer instead of just focusing on facts and scientific experiences, it allows engaging with the serial killer and gave me the ability to visualize every detail of what was going on in 1976 when David Berkowitz surfaced and began his killing spree. The strong point of this source for me was that the documentary took me threw every detail and showed not only the killer's point of view but also the detectives and journalists involved. This source gave me an extensive understanding of how the ‘demon seed’ can be implanted into the genes of humans, from this I can clearly understand that Berkowitz was simply just a born killer and can be described as wired up wrong. I choose this documentary because it included reliable sources in it as there were detectives and clips from 1976 in there, to tell the truth on this gruesome story. The director Joshua was also a nominee for Best Documentary and won a Gotham award, leading to me believe that this source is a reliable source.
In contrast to my two previous sources, my next source mainly takes the viewpoint of how life experiences in the way a child is nurtured throughout their childhood can play a pivotal role in these erotic and horrific fantasies of a serial killer. Alycia Shelton's essay ‘Serial Killers: Monsters Or Mentally Ill’ investigates how a high percentage of serial killers have suffered from traumatic childhood upbringings and that it can be argued that due to these traumatic environments experiences so early in life they are not responsible for what they become, ‘the prevalence of physical abuse was 36%; sexual abuse was 26%, and psychological abuse was 50%. Neglect was equally prevalent in the serial killer (18%)’. The essay ‘Serial Killers: Monsters Or Mentally Ill’ gives a very biased viewpoint into the nurture vs nature investigation, stating that the reason behind serial killers doing what they do is traumatic experiences as a child. Although at some points of this essay, the source discusses the different standpoints it mainly explores quite a narrow point of view. This source shows that these aggressive tendencies can be seen from the way a child behaves at such a young stage in life with signs such as: ‘torture of animals and infatuation with fire’ but most of the time these tendencies are ignored due to stereotype standards of ‘grow out of with age’. Source two gives an insight into a serial killer to help Alycia justify her view on how serial killers shouldn't be seen treated as monsters because members of the public ‘fail to rely they do not mean to do these things’. Alycia Shelton shows a very sympathetic view in how it isn't the serial killer's fault they are the way they are because during their childhood development and growth they didn't learn what can be classed as normal values like: ‘love, trust, empathy, and social skills’. It can be argued that even though in most serial killers this is the case not all serial killers were abused as children so, therefore, can't use traumatic upbringing as an excuse for their unspeakable decisions, ‘In a study, 32% of all serial killers had no history of abuse’. Although this source has been very helpful with my research into nature vs nurture the date of publication is unknown so I can't confirm how relevant this source is and can therefore be seen as a weak. The source is very biased and is mostly based upon the writer's opinions so is unreliable but it does use statistics cleverly to sway the reader into believing her point of view.
Moving forward my fourth source, ‘The Zodiac Killer Ciphers’ by Havard Raddum published in 2010 embarks upon the infamous serial killer the Zodiac, and the many theories around this case. The zodiac killer began his killing spree in San Francisco in 1968 and continued for 6 long years, the zodiac killer was never caught because he was far too smart to be caught. In most cases, serial killers have what is called a ‘signature’ on the vicious murders that take place, for the zodiac this ‘signature’ was the many ciphered letters that he sent to the police and newspapers. This source gave me a different type of view on my topic of nature vs nurture, as the zodiac killer has never been caught it can never be determined if this killer is made threw nature or nurture as we don't know any background that leads to the creation of the zodiac. In my opinion, this source points more towards nature as the killer had a very sadistic take on how he intellectually executed his killings treating his victims and the crime scenes he leaves behind as a game, a form of enjoyment. It can be argued that due to the fact we do not know who the zodiac is we cannot determine if the zodiac had the ‘demon seed’ or had an extremely traumatic upbringing. This article was useful in terms of background but was slightly confusing to read due to the ciphers, the source is reliable as it is written by a chief of science. The first page is mainly where the relevant information to my topic came in and was useful in developing my knowledge.
For my final source, I looked at a source that is an example of nature vs nurture coming together and has the view of how humans can be puppeteered and manipulated, turn, and created into a monster. The Channel 4 six-part documentary released in January 2022, ‘I, Sniper: The Washington Killers’ directed by Chris Holt, Janice Sutherland, and Ursula Macfarlane is about ex-US soldier John Allen Muhammad and seventeen-year-old Lee Malvo together shot over twenty-five people killing at least fifteen of those. The documentary goes into great detail about how lee Malvo had an extremely tough upbringing and longed for that parental love that John Muhammad was happy to give after losing custody of his own three children. In this source, it uses reliable information as Lee Malvo's interview tapes and statements are used to describe the events that lead up to this gruesome killing spree, ‘people would say, well how could you do that, just to feel wanted and loved’ the emotions that lee was feeling at this time was simply just wanting to feel loved by someone but the person that offered him this leads him down a very dark path to fill that deep void that was missing from his life. John Muhammad took lee's vulnerabilities and used them to his advantage to create his puppet, he knew how much lee wanted to be loved and offered this to him knowing that he would do anything to have some sort of parental guidance. This source could also argue that threw the army our governments are creating a future generation of killers as these men and women are going home taking these sadistic views and portraying them to the next generation. ‘What inside me made that possible? There had to be something inside me that he drew out’ This quotation by Lee Malvo contrasts with some of my previous sources that everyone is born a killer but does it take these traumatic life experiences to trigger these serial killers? The writers of the tv series are all professionals in this field of work and have been awarded for their previous factual documentaries meaning they all provide reliable information making this a reliable source.
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Get custom essayAfter conducting my research as well as constructing my multiple source review I have come to the conclusion and viewpoint that in each source's individual way they help me obtain many biased as well as unbiased information on this topic and showed strong knowledge as well as a high level of professionalism as the directors and writers of many of these sources were teams of individuals with an outstanding quality of work and have spent most if not all their life studying and have received some of the highest levels of achievements in each of their fields. It also helps add reliability that many of these teams had first-hand experience with nature vs nurture and the increasing trend of research and development in this area of work and knowledge. Now that I have expanded my knowledge and understanding of how genetics, as well as the care nurture of the child, can affect how they construct their thoughts as well as deal with emotions and taking this newfound information and deep understanding of the roots of this topic into year 4 I would like to further my education on the neuroscience as well as the biological side of the topic.
Career choice is an imperative constituent in one’s life to set his/her aspiration to achieve their career. Primarily during the transitional stage children are forced to choose a particular career or course of study. During this stage predicament is inevitable due to various aspects such as family members influence, peer group influence, role model influence, parental influence etc. The most frequent reason is parental influence. Explicitly, parents play a most important role in selection of career of any child. In most of the culture, interpersonal influence, role model influence and momentous other’s influence are also such factors evident in choice of their career or vocation.
Get original essayParents are more intensively involved in their child’s learning more advantageous are the achievement effects. Regardless of the potentials, actual needs and ego of the child, education, economic incentives, peer group influence and parental influence are occasionally used as pressures to induce the children into predestined careers. Even though, students also have a propensity to approach parents, family members, and experienced persons and peer group members to make clear decision and avoid confusion in this regard. On the other hand, characteristics of an individual, socially habituated through family influence, social position and relations, and developed social role characteristics also conscientious for career choice decision making.
Whiston recommended to students, distinguish parental expectations had a stronger influence than socio-economic condition, but the influence was indirect through the variables of student’s occupational prospects, which in turn influenced career choice. Endicott point out that student perception of parental expectations is an important factor in career choice as a parental influence. Preliminary researches emphasized that adolescents articulated most frequently about career issues with their parents and reported parents are their foremost dominant numbers during educational and career transitions. Parental pressure put forth a lot of influence on the educational acquisition of the child specially the socio-economic status of parents. Academic efficiency is positively associated with parents who impose rules at home. Parents play a noteworthy role in laying the base of their children’s career.
Many theories signify that, family plays a role in determining the values and needs of its members. Social learning theory highlights possible pressures that the family can have on adolescent’s career selection. Parents can have an influence on their child’s career selection by positively developing or punishing certain behaviors that can encourage or discourage certain interests or abilities. Some individuals also reported that their parents controlled their career actions and choices too much. Some of these parents deliberately applied or impose their personal ideas about their children’s career regardless of their wishes. Children in such families were found to be more unreceptive in the process of career selection. Besides, some adolescents reported that their parents never involved in the career selection process. Such parental behaviors were noted to cause diminution in child’s progress in career development, consequential in less stable career paths.
What themes are explored in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus, and how do these themes apply to the modern day? Prejudicen in the story of Frankenstein - what it means, what it is like, and how it affects the characters in the story - is one of the major themes explored throughout the story. As part of the plot of the story, the Creature was often judged negatively due to his appearance as opposed to the content of his character. The Creature had good in him and showed an ability to love, to be selfless, and to care for others. Despite this, the Creature was a victim of unjust hatred and discrimination founded in prejudice over his appearance which, over time, corrupted him and turned him into the monster that everyone accused him of being from the beginning. The story of the Creature is a reflection of how many people go about their day to day lives. People who are loving, caring, and selfless can also be corrupted due to being treated unfairly and unjustly by peers, colleagues, or other members of society. This unfair and unjust treatment often comes in the form of bullying, which can lead to downward spiraling mental health. People who are victims of discrimination because of existing prejudces against them. Prejudice against individuals and against groups of people is the largest social obstacle that modern society needs to overcome. To overcome this obstacle, society at large needs to develop an understanding of what prejudice is, the forms it can take, and the negative effects and consequences it can have.
Get original essayPrejudice has multiple definitions that are either more appropriate or less appropriate in different contexts and have slightly different meanings and definitions associated with them. Prejudice as a noun means “an unfair and unreasonable opinion or feeling, especially when formed without enough thought or knowledge”. In the context of being a noun, prejudice can refer to opinions or feelings about groups of people, such as racial groups or people with a different sexuality. This is especially true in terms of minorities or historically disadvantaged groups of people. This is the first and most common definition of prejudice that is used, but it also has some lesser used definitions.
Still as a noun, prejudice can also be used in the context of “without prejudice to something”. In this context, prejudice means “a decision or action … to a right or claim (especially legal action)” and “is made without an effect on that right or claim”. An example of this definition in action would be to accept someone’s apology without prejudice to any legal action in the future. This would mean that whatever reason the apology was for could not be the basis for future legal action because the apology was accepted without prejudice.
The opposite of this definition applies when the phrase “with prejudice to” is applied. It usually applies in the context of rights and means “if a decision or action is made with prejudice to a right, you have lost that right”. This definition in action would be if a child predator was convicted with prejudice to his right of ever being near a school again. He no longer has the right to be there because he is a danger to the children. These definitions are solemnly used in most people’s day to day lives, but prejudice even has definitions in other parts of speech.
Prejudice can be used as a verb when someone or something prejudices something else. In the context of being a verb, prejudice can mean to “have a harmful influence on” or “influences you (or someone else) unfairly so that you form an unreasonable opinion”. The former definition could be in the context of someone’s chances of getting a promotion going down because they were late to work. The latter could be someone only hearing one side of the story and forming an opinion about the other person involved, even though that someone did not listen to both versions of events and said opinion could be based on wrong andor incomplete information.
The final part of speech where prejudice can be used is as an adjective in the form of the word prejudicial. The definition of prejudicial is “harmful or influencing people unfairly”. An example of this definition could be a government investigation into a prominent individual, group of individuals, or company, thereby, causing the one being investigated to suffer reputational harm in the public eye. This reputational harm can happen regardless of what the result of the investigation is and before the investigation is complete. These definitions and uses are all the ways in which prejudice and its forms can be used, but one can learn more by focusing on the history of the word prejudice.
The etymology of prejudice can reveal more about the word. The word originates in Latin and comes from the root judicium, meaning “judgement,” and the prefix prae-, meaning “in advance”. According to this use, the word praejudicium worked exclusively in the form of a noun and took the definition “judgement in advance”. The word then made its way to Old French, where it still was only used as a noun but with an additional definition to go with it. Under Old French, the word gained the definition of “harm or injury that results or may result from some action or judgement”. The word eventually made its way to Middle English in the form of “prejudice.” Since then, it has continued to evolve, gaining and losing definitions and parts of speech to eventually become the word used today in Modern English.
The Creature was the victim of prejudiced discrimination caused by his unfortunate appearance. Even the Creature’s creator, Victor Frankenstein, was terrified of him and abandoned him as soon as he was created. Immediately after successfully bringing the Creature to life, Victor described it as a “catastrophe,” experiencing “breathless horror and disgust” filling his heart, and being “unable to endure'' what he created. He described the Creature as a “wretch,” having a “horrid contrast,” and “shrivelled complexion”. It was for these reasons that Victor abandoned the Creature. The Creature would henceforth be forced to survive with no assistance while simultaneously knowing nothing about the world he was just brought into. This task proves to be extremely difficult because no person is willing to help the Creature; rather, they either react violently or flee in terror.
In the earliest days of the Creature from Frankenstein, he was extremely confused, had no idea what was going on, and was a blank slate. The Creature described the events taking place immediately after his creation as being “‘confused and indistinct’”. He experienced a “‘strange multiplicity of sensations’” and could not distinguish between them. At this point in the story, the Creature did not have a personality nor character traits. He could not understand the idea of good and evil because “no distinct ideas occupied my (the Creature’s) mind”. This shows how the Creature began as a blank slate, highlights his confusion, and proves his lack of understanding of good and evil. He only had his basic survival instincts.
The violent and terrified ways people react to the Creature caused him to be forced to scavenge and steal what he needed in order to survive. After his creator abandoned him, the Creature had no one to support him in his state of confusion and he retreated to the forested area near Ingolstadt. He was “tormented by hunger and thirst” and ate berries to survive. He spent entire days searching and found a “few acorns” because food was “scarce”. He entered a hut he found in an attempt to gain shelter, but, upon entering, the old man inside “shrieked loudly” and fled the hut. The Creature stumbled his way into a random village and, almost immediately, the “whole village was roused” with some fleeing and others attacking the Creature who meant none nor committed any harm to these people. It was the Creature’s terrifying appearance alone which caused this reaction. This fear over the Creature’s mere appearance alone is why he received no help, why he had to survive on his own, and why he was struggling to simply not die.
The Creature, after learning and having some experience in the world, showed sympathy, love, care, and compassion, despite the unfortunate events of his life so far. The Creature found the family of cottagers and, after seeing the “gentle manners” of the cottagers, he “longed to join them”. The Creature discovered that the “uneasiness” of the cottagers was caused by poverty. Prior to this discovery, the Creature would steal food from the cottagers for his own survival, but “abstained” and found other ways to feed himself so as to not force the cottagers to go hungry. The Creature went above and beyond in helping the cottagers even though he had no obligation to do so. Specifically, the Creature chopped firewood for the cottagers to “assist their labors” and relieve Felix of the time consuming task. He undertook these actions for an “entire revolution of the seasons,” meaning that he had been watching the cottagers for about one year. This series of actions by the Creature proves his sympathy for the poverty of the cottagers, how much he loves and cares for them, and his compassion for helping others who are unfortunate. It highlights the good in the Creature prior to being corrupted by prejudice.
Despite the Creature’s goodness, love, care, sympathy, and compassion, he still was not welcome anywhere due to his appearance. The Creature, in an attempt to finally live with the cottagers, revealed himself to the blind De Lacey. In the only conversation the Creature ever had with someone who could not judge his appearance, he rejoiced that De Lacey had risen the Creature “from the dust by this kindness” and that De Lacey was the Creature’s “best and only benefactor”. The other cottagers, who could see, returned and were, just like all others, terrified of the Creature’s appearance. Agatha fainted, Safie fled, and Felix attacked the Creature. The very Creature who had been secretly helping them the past year. The Creature was forced to flee, although he could have destroyed them all. This shows the effect appearance has on all that interact with the Creature.
The Creature was good - until the prejudiced, unjust, and unfair treatment corrupted him and made him bitter. The Creature recounted to Victor that “despair” only began to take hold after the Creature returned to the cottage after his initial rejection by the cottagers and overheard Felix describing the “dreadful circumstance” and “horror” of the Creature’s presence The Creature’s downward spiral continued as he attempted to make his way towards Geneva. During his journey to the home of his creator, the Creature witnessed a girl fall into a “rapid steam” and saved the girl with “great labor” from the stream and “endeavored” to “restore animation” to her. The man that was with the girl shot the Creature. The Creature angrily described the blow as being his “reward” for his “benevolence”. This was the final straw. This was the moment when the Creature “vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind”. The Creature, having been consumed by despair and hatred, wanted revenge because of the way he had been treated - including by his creator. The Creature had the goal of making Victor as miserable as possible. The Creature killed Victor’s brother, William Frankenstein. The Creature framed Justine, an innocent girl, for the murder of William, which led to her death. The Creature murdered Victor’s best friend, Henry. The Creature murdered Victor’s wife, Elizabeth. Victor’s father died of grief after Elizabeth’s murder. The Creature was only happy upon the death of his creator, Victor. The path the Creature took from benevolence, to his mistreatment, to his spiral into hatred and violence is akin to the path many people go through because of bullying.
Bullying is a form of prejudice. The definition of bullying is “the behavior of a person who hurts or frightens someone smaller or less powerful, often forcing them to do something they do not want to do”. Bullying is intentional, repeated, and has a clear power imbalance. People may be bullied because of their race, sexuality, age, sex, gender identity, appearance, or some other difference. All of those examples are inherent character traits that the victim has no control over and are prejudiced in nature. One who bullies for these reasons, by this definition, is acting in prejudice against the victim. Bullying can be verbal, social, or physical. Verbal bullying can include teasing, name-calling, taunting, and threats. Social bullying can include intentionally and maliciously leaving special individuals out of group activities, spreading rumors, and intentionally embarrassing someone in public. Physical bullying can include hitting, kicking, spitting, pinching, tripping, pushing, stealing items, breaking the victims things, and making rude gestures. Bullying is usually founded in prejudice and can take many different forms.
Bullying can have a multitude of negative effects. It is a scientific fact that “psychopathologic behavior, including social problems, aggression, and externalizing behavioral problems is a consequence rather than a cause of bullying experiences” and that bullying is a “common precursor” to violence. Individuals who are the victims of bullying are 3.9 times more likely to have social problems, including: Anxiety, feeling of depression, continuously worried about everything, social immaturity, dependency on adults, obsessive behavior, compulsive behavior, aggressiveness, withdrawing from social activities, misbehavior, self-uncontrolled behavior, and self-overcontrolled behavior. Victims were also 4.9 times more likely to be aggressive, including the odds of being frequently involved in fights. Boys who were frequently bullied were almost 8 times more likely to take suicidal actions while girls who were frequently victimized were almost 4 times more likely to take suicidal actions. Suicide and depression rates are yet another way prejudice destroys its victims. The link between prejudice and bullying and the link between bullying and the consequences of said bullying is indisputable and proof of the detrimental harm prejudice can have on society.
One common way a perpetrator may bully a victim is name calling which the Creature frequently experienced. He was frequently called a “wretch” or described as “wretched,” along with other variations. The word “wretch” and its variations are used 64 times. It is used 19 times by others to describe the Creature and 12 times by the Creature to describe himself. It is also used once to describe the night the Creature was created. In exactly half of its uses, the word “wretch” and its variations are directly related to the Creature. This does not look at other words used like “monster,” “fiend,” “demon,” “devil,” or “ogre”. Fiend, by itself, is used another 41 times, which further demonstrates the idea that the Creature was made a victim by those around him. The idea of being a wretch has been internalized into the Creature that he consistently uses it to refer to himself. The examples of being abandoned by his own creator, the old man in the hut, the villagers, the family in the cottage, and the man who shot him in the woods show this opinion of the Creature in action. This is similar to bullying experienced in the real world and, likewise, it contributed to the Creature’s downward spiral into hate and despair.
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Get custom essayIn conclusion, the social issue of prejudice and its effects on society are incredibly destructive and it is vital that the problem be overcome. This topic continues to be of major importance because of the wide ranging effects it can have. The definition of the word prejudice and the effects prejudice has on the Creature’s tell is a reflection of what happens in the real world with real people. The Creature began as good but was corrupted and became vengeful and spiteful from all the wrongs committed against him. The same prejudiced behavior can cause real people to become bitter, hateful, and spiteful. Prejudiced behavior can lead to bullying which can cause anxiety, depression, other mental illnesses, suicide, violence, social outcasting, and other negative outcomes. Prejudices on a societal level can lead to oppression - including explicit, implicit, and systemic - and political unrest. Society must continue to develop an understanding of what prejudice is and the forms it can take. People need to reconcile with any prejudiced beliefs they may have. In order to stop acts of prejudice people need to ask themselves what individual actions one can take to tackle this issue head on.
Procrastination is a widely used behavior or course of action which involves postponing important tasks or work that needs to be completed promptly. The present study was conducted to check the influence and reasons for procrastination on academic performance, stress and life satisfaction among university students. The sample of 100 university students was derived from different universities of Pakistan through convenient sampling. Three scales “General Procrastination Scale” by Lay 1986, “Satisfaction with Life Scale” by Ed. Diener 1985 and “Perceived Stress Scale” by Scheldon Cohen 1983 were employed online. Differences amongst gender were not found with respect to procrastination. As hypothesized stress and life satisfaction were found to be significantly correlated with procrastination. Moreover, findings of the study also suggested that academic performance was not affected by procrastination.
Get original essayThe word procrastination is originated from Latin verb “procrastinare”, that means ‘putting forward until tomorrow”. It has been defined as the irrational tendency to delay tasks that should be completed. In contemporary societies procrastination is a common behavior. According to Steel “It is often defined as a voluntary delay of an intended course of action, despite expecting to be worse off for the delay”.
Oxford Dictionary defines Procrastination as “The action of delaying or postponing something”. While according to DSM-V Procrastination is not a disorder but it may be a symptom of a psychological disorder. Procrastination has been linked to several negative associations, such as depression, irrational behavior, low self-esteem, anxiety and neurological disorders such as ADHD. Others have found relationships with guilt and stress.
Procrastination acquired negative connotations during the Industrial Revolution; until then procrastination was viewed neutrally and could be interpreted as a wise course of (in) action. It is considered as universal problem related with a variety of pessimistic outcomes and usually happens when tasks are aversive or distasteful in a range of life domains. It is the delay of a task which needs to be done. It is a habit of saying no to a task that it should not be started now and justifying it illegitimately.
Popoola (2005) considers procrastination as a dispositional trait which has cognitive, behavioral and emotional components. Procrastination defines as intentionally avoiding any implementation, any individual delaying or putting off a work until it is too late or nearly late. According to Solomon and Rothblum (1984) “Academic Procrastination is the irrational tendency to delay tasks until an individual experiences discomfort.” Other professionals define it as an act of delaying an intended sequence of action despite expecting consequences due to that delay.
The Concept of academic procrastination was first mentioned in 1984 in the American Psychological Association’s journal “Counseling Psychology”.
Academic life satisfaction is “operationally defined as the expected satisfaction in one's life in school by the fulfillment of his/her important academic goals or aspirations”.
Academic performance is a success or failure measured by educational institutions or how better or well a student performs to meet the standards set by government and institution itself. It includes examination grades, percentages, and GPA etc.
According to Barlow & Durand stress is body’s physiological response to a stressor, which is any event or change that requires adaptation. Stress is usually defined as an individual’s reaction to stressors forced upon them. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (1999) defines stress as “The harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, needs of the worker”.
Procrastination has many types; most important of them all is “Academic Procrastination.” It is natural scene to see university or school’s library being occupied with students of every age borrowing articles, books, journals just before. In academic arena such type of procrastination (academic procrastination) is considered as a widespread problem and has received additional research and professional interest than other types of procrastination.
Around 80 to 95% of students or half of the college students engage in procrastination. So, its causes and effects are an interesting research subject. Academic procrastination negatively affects academic performance; learning and achievement of students, as indicated by studies conducted in academic arenas proves that procrastination affects about 46 to 95 percent of undergraduate students.
Some people have reported procrastination as a performance enhancing strategy. According to Ferrari (1991) students having greater ability tend to procrastinate more than those with lower ability. While some studies failed to find a correlation or an association between procrastination and academic performance and some even concluded that there is a positive effect of procrastination on academic performance.
As stated by domestic and foreign research, there is still a vague relationship between procrastination and academic performance. So, it is essential to research more about procrastination and understand the relationship between procrastination and academic performance.
Stress deals with various types i.e. work-related stress, stress in teachers, stress in depression and anxiety leading procrastination, stress on low and high effort tasks and relation of stress and self-compassion.
An article describes that procrastination and delaying produces stress. According to researchers, organizations hold unfavorable effects due to procrastination. Like work-related stress. It involves acts like wasting time, poor performance and stress. High level of work-related stress gives negative effects on emotional well-being. Steffy and Jones (1990) noted this stress causes job-related dissatisfaction which itself is the single most clear psychological effect of stress such as tension, anxiety, depression, aggression, irritability, confusion, boredom and procrastination.
Another work represented the relationship between procrastination manifested as a behavior with the experienced stress along with preferred coping strategies with the stress. Identifying the stress and burnout syndrome a questionnaire was used from Henning and Keller (1996). As a result, significant positive correlation was discovered among procrastination of teachers experiencing stress. Three areas were identified i.e. cognitive, emotional and social. A positive correlation was identified in the physical area of experienced stress. Moreover, highly significant negative correlation was found between proactive coping and procrastination of teachers and highly significant positive correlation between avoidance coping and procrastination.
Life satisfaction depends upon the rate of procrastination; low rate of procrastination will lead to high level of life satisfaction and vice versa.
Several studies have revealed several negative consequences of procrastination on student’s wellbeing, as a result procrastinator report more illness symptoms and stress at the end of the semester. Some studies reveal that procrastination was highest in the youngest cohort (14–29 years) and unemployed persons. In some other studies we found that low self-regulation and high procrastination together might increase to experience higher negative feeling and lower academic and life satisfaction.
To study the relationship and effects of procrastination on academic life satisfaction and self-regulation, a research was conducted in which 328 undergraduate students took part, questionnaires were given to them. Different scales like Tuckman Procrastination Scale (TPS, Self-Regulation Scale (SRS), Academic life satisfaction (ALS) and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) scales were used to access academic life satisfaction, self-regulation etc. result of this research showed that higher levels of self-regulation are related to lower levels of procrastination.
Another study was conducted to describe the relationship between academic procrastination and academic life satisfaction, author found that academic procrastination was significantly and negatively related with academic life satisfaction and academic achievement and academic life satisfaction was positively correlated with academic achievement.
The fundamental reason for this study is that major challenges are confronting when it comes to check the procrastination level of students of Pakistan as there are no research work done in our culture & society regarding this aspect. The sole purport for this research is to evaluate the study variables in the localities of Pakistan. A greater research and development are required to find out the degree of procrastination and its impact on academic performance of students. This research will help identifying a gap of stress and life satisfaction among students due to procrastination.
Purpose of this study is to check and measure the degree of relationship between procrastination, academic performance among students and their life satisfaction along with stress.
The sample of present study was delimited to student population (N,100). They were both male (n=50) and female (n=50) with age ranging from 16 to 30 years. Educational level of the sample was categorized into two groups that were bachelor’s program (n=82) and master’s program (n=18). Academic performance was measured through GPA categorized into three groups that were 2.00-2.6 (n= 4), 2.7-3.3 (n=46) and 3.4-4.00 (n=50). The sample technique was convenient sampling.
A simple questionnaire was developed to gather the demographic information from the participants. It included age, gender, education level and percentage of academics.
To asses procrastination among the sample, GPI is used. This scale is developed by Clarry Lay in 1986. This scale includes 12 items. Responses across items are summed to obtain a single score. Points are given based on four points where 1 means almost always and 4 states almost never. This scale has a Cronbach alpha of 0.82 (Lay,1986) and a test retest reliability of 0.80 reliability.
To evaluate satisfaction in life among the sample, SWLS is used. It is developed by Ed. Diener in 1985. This scale includes 5 items. Responses ranges from 1 to 7 where 1 means strongly disagree and 7 means strongly agree. The maximum score of this scale is 35 and minimum score is 5. This scale has a Cronbach alpha of 0.74.
To measure stress among the sample, PSS is used. It is developed by Sheldon Cohen in 1983. It includes 10 items. Responses ranges from 1 to 5 where 1 means never and 5 is very often. This scale has a Cronbach alpha of 0.78.
Initially the former scales were converted into Google doc. questionnaire. Then prospective sample (N=100) was approached and asked for their consent. After agreement the link of form was sent to the agreed sample which included 50 males and 50 females. The sample comprised of students from various universities living in different cities of Pakistan. Majority of the sample was from Islamabad. After completion of the study the sample was statistical analysis on SPSS.
Procrastination is a process of delaying tasks or something important that needs to be completed on time despite the discomfort a person feels due to the delay. According to Steel “It is often defined as a voluntary delay of an intended course of action, despite expecting to be worse off for the delay”. While according to DSM-V procrastination is not a disorder but it may be a symptom of a psychological disorder.
The primary purpose of this research was to check the influence of procrastination (independent variable) on academic performance, stress, life satisfaction among university students. Earlier research findings suggest that around 80 to 95% of students or half of the college students engage in procrastination. Another article described that procrastination and delaying produces stress. While according to Durden (1997) students with high procrastination level were significantly less satisfied with their life and vice versa.
The findings of our research highlighted that there was no relation in procrastination amongst gender although a slight difference was notable in their means (both male and female) so hypothesis one was rejected. However these findings clearly contradict with earlier researches as some researchers stated that men had higher levels of procrastination than women (Mandap, 2016), while other found female students to be procrastinating more than males. Though some early researches supported our study findings by reporting that no prominent difference was found among males and females means scores on procrastination.
Correlation was also observed between procrastination and academic performance through GPA’s of the sample showing no significant relation thus our second hypothesis was also rejected, evidence of the hypothesis rejection can be seen in earlier research findings. One of the previous studies says that procrastination negatively affects academic performance; learning and achievement of students. Studies conducted in academic arenas proves that procrastination affects about 46 to 95 percent of undergraduate students. While some even concluded that there is a positive effect of procrastination on academic performance. Our study sample was comprised of university students having high ability (majority of the sample) that eventually lead to no significant relation of their academic performance with their procrastination level as supported by Ferrari (1991).
Another purpose of this study was to understand how procrastination relates to stress in students. Primarily it was hypothesized that there was likely to be a significant relationship between stress and procrastination. It was revealed that stress and procrastination had negative relationship. A study supported our findings highlighting that students with high procrastination level might not experience high levels of stress since social support and interpersonal relations might act as safeguards against it . However, the findings of the present research are mostly inconsistent with the earlier findings. As researchers like Tice and Baumeister (1997) found that university students who were high level procrastinators experienced high level of stress.
It was hypothesized that there was likely to be a significant relationship between procrastination and life satisfaction. Findings of this study revealed that there is a significantly negative relationship between life satisfaction and procrastination. This might be since procrastinators because of their delaying of the work are unable to complete their tasks on time. So, they feel stressed and lack of motivation resulting in less satisfaction in life. Some of the research support the hypothesis’s notion as it was argued that life satisfaction is affected by success or failure in academic performance of students. So, one can say that procrastination can directly or indirectly influence student’s life satisfaction.
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Get custom essayIn the light of all the research conducted, procrastination is the postponement of tasks to be completed on time. This study demonstrated the relation of procrastination with academic performance, stress and life satisfaction. It also showed that procrastination can affect life satisfaction but carries no significant effect on gender and academic performance. Although limited sample constricted the result implications on a greater population, but it has opened a door to further studies in this field.
Religion is just one of the many influences on architecture throughout history. The need for religion to be reflected in architecture drove innovation and inspired many different styles. It is fascinating to learn that religions separated by miles, even oceans, developed their architecture in similar fashions. This similarity can be seen in the pyramids found in Egypt and Mesoamerica. This essay will discuss the influence religion had on the construction of Mayan and Egyptian Pyramids.
Get original essayIn both Egypt and Mesoamerica, pyramids had a strong connection to their culture and the afterlife. The Egyptian pyramid complexes represented the rebirth of the king ‘up to eternal life in the sky.’ These complexes were built with the intention of helping the king pass on to the next world. Mayan pyramids were built in nine levels to represent the nine levels of the Mayan underworld visible in Fig 1b. Similarly, Egyptian pyramids are often related to the idea of a stairway to heaven. Ancient Egypt is studied from 3100 BCE to 641 CE while Mesoamerica is studied from 500 CE to 1521 CE. There is such a small overlap between the two cultures, which is fascinating when looking at their similarities.
From what remains of Egyptian pyramids during the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom (3100 - 2150 BCE), they appear to be uniformly constructed, with four identical sides, minus the entrance. The very top stone of the pyramid was believed to be the king's eye, from which he could look over his kingdom. Inside the pyramids, there were boats for the king's journey into the afterlife as well as ‘airshafts’ that led outside. This is an example of the integration of the religious beliefs of the Egyptians and the purpose of the pyramids. The pyramids were both meant to help the king in the afterlife as well as give them a connection to the earthly plane.
In contrast, the Mayan pyramids have two religious connections. Like the Egyptians, the Mayans used pyramids as funerary spaces. However, the Mayan's constructed their pyramids to mimic the mountain landscape. The altepetl, also known as water mountain, connected underground waters and the sky through stepped pyramids. These mountains were seen as sacred. This is turn would be an influential aspect of the appearance of the pyramids they construct, since they are also used as sacred spaces.
Looking at Egyptian and Mayan pyramids side by side, the Mayan pyramids look to be a baroque version of Egyptian pyramids. In a side-by-side comparison, Kheops Pyramid is very plain and has a perfect pyramid shape. In contrast, Temple 1, is much more ornate with a staircase that leads up to the temple as well as very clear levels of steps. This could be that there is a richer connection to the afterlife shown by the Mayan pyramids, with an obvious physical representation of the layers of the afterlife. Whereas the Egyptian pyramid's connection to the afterlife is demonstrated by what they contain within. Both pyramids do contain inscriptions and paintings within the walls of the structures that explain not only who is buried there and their accomplishments but also their beliefs of the afterlife. For Egyptian pyramids, the connection to the afterlife shown through the interior is much more discrete whereas Mayan pyramids incorporate their beliefs into the actual design of the structure. Not to say that the Egyptians did not do this as well, their pyramids were constructed with extreme precision to replicate the heavens. But if we were to look at the pyramids side-by-side, the Egyptian pyramids look to be the precursors to the Mayan pyramids. It looks like the Mayans used the same context for building and amplified the decorative aspects.
Stepped pyramids have appeared throughout history, and across the world. They can be found in ziggurats in Mesopotamia, ceremonial centres in the North American Southwest and the punden berundak in Indonesia, to name a few examples other than Egypt and Mesoamerica. Across all these places, religious beliefs were the driving factor for creating these pyramid structures. Though the reasoning does very, a common belief of connecting with the gods, it shows commonality in the human mindset of these civilizations. An unanswered question in my research, is why do these communities develop such similar ideas of building these pyramids to connect with the gods? Is this an aspect of our human nature to believe that the god(s) reside in heaven above? Is that what compels us to create mountainous structures to connect with them?
While there is some debate as to the definitive start and end date of the great French Revolution, it is widely agreed that the most prominent events occurred between the years 1789 until 1799. This revolution encouraged a progression of similar combats in Europe and demanded the U.S to develop an authentic and clarified policy of impartiality or neutrality to escape from involving in the clashes and combats of Europe. Moreover, this French Revolution correspondingly had a deep impact on the United States' legislative issues along with its democratic as well as foreign policy.
Get original essayAt the point when the news regarding political variations that were happening in France had spread in America (during the year 1789), the American population showed great enthusiasm towards the Revolution as a whole. Expectations of myriad democratic transformations were high, and it was assumed that they could strengthen the present Franco-American association, with the endpoint of France becoming a democratic administration to contrast the rigid class-based and monarchical society then in place in England.
Notwithstanding, the progressive revolution also brought political upheaval, bloodshed, and appeals for drastic social transformation in France that greatly concerned the majority of the American public. Regardless, the State’s Secretary, Thomas Jefferson, turned into the pioneer of the pro-French Democratic-Republican Party, which moved to acclaim the Republican standards of the French Revolution. Meanwhile, Alexander Hamilton later directed the Federalist Party in considering the Revolution with doubt, and thusly began pursuing the maintenance of prevailing business connections with Great Britain in spite of that conflict. Although the two dominant individuals of the cabinet were seldom in total agreement, George Washington—the acting and first American President-- endeavored to strike harmony between those two sides.
From 1790 to 1794, the French Revolution turned out to be a progressively radical and drastic sequence of events. Subsequent to the execution of the French King Louis XVI, some attempt at war among monarchal countries and France, England, and Spain was inevitable and came to a head on January 21, 1793. Moreover, it was also recorded that these two militaries (France and America,) supported Austria, as well as certain different nations of Europe in combat besides the French Revolution. Yet, technically, America stayed nonpartisan: the two Federalists and Democratic-Republicans observed that these conflicts might result in financial catastrophe and offense to the republics. The set policy established here later became troublesome due to uncooperative moves made by the British and French governments.
Furthermore, in 1794, the French Revolution reached its bloodiest and most dire point, the ‘Terreur’, or reign of Terror. Even though U.S. Ministers through France Gouverneur Morris were not able to originally acquire a discharge for a key figure, Paine, Morris could mediate effectively in the interest of numerous different Americans detained in the Terror, with the American Consuls at Dunkirk, Rouen, and Le Havre. When the Terror drew to a close in 1794, the imprisonments finished, and Paine was discharged.
Although the French Revolution had finished, Federalists in America remained decidedly careful about the liberal belief system empowering America. Several French populaces, notable immigrants from the French and Haitian revolution, started to live in the U.S. urban communities and stayed politically dynamic. A French government agent named Victor Collot visited America in the year 1796 and whilst there observed the lacking empowerment of the western outskirts due to the focus being on the war.
At one point, a failure in agreement regarding certain arguments turned out as the Quasi-War with France. The Federalist-controlled Congress approved a sequence of decrees, which was titled as the Alien and Sedition Acts. This was expected to check the political differences and restricted the political interest of refugees by facilitating expulsion and extending the duration prerequisite for nationality issuance. Various political activists were charged and imprisoned for the insurgency, along with Congressman Matthew Lyon, paper publishing manager James Thompson Callendar, and William Duane. Numerous immigrants-- detecting the antagonistic atmosphere of the United States-- returned to France and Haiti; in the meantime, the dogmatic powers had technically remained quiet.
The Alien and Sedition Acts initially expected to resist development in pro-French philosophy, but certainly stayed disinclined towards the greater empowerment of French Federalists. After recognizing this, the voters of the presidential election (which happened in the year of 1800,) sponsored the master Thomas Jefferson and his Democratic-Republican Party, instead of the Federalist John Adams, who had been nominated as the President. Adams had additionally distanced the counter-Revolutionary wing of his party by developing peace and harmony with France, while the great French revolution ended rather differently under what would become the empirical rule of General Napoleon Bonaparte.
Regardless of the Federalist's thoughts that choosing Jefferson might convey revolution to America, Jefferson actually somewhat removed himself from other political revolutionaries, instead prevailing upon political conformists. At this moment, the French revolution was ended, and several voters from the United States sympathized with the ideology of the revolution. Regardless, they did not want to face the aftereffects caused by most of the undesired or unneeded conceptions of the revolution, nor did they want it to be imposed over the American nation.
When the early system offered a path to a sacred government-- and after that, to a republic during 1789– 92-- the whole configuration of France shifted in accordance with the Revolutionary standards of 'Freedom, Equality, and Fraternity'. Conservative Europe remained a contradiction to this, particularly after the French ruler came into power along with the marking of the Declaration of Pillnitz between Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, and King Frederick William II of Prussia. Meanwhile, the resulting French revelation of battle would come to imply that through its development, the Republic of France was constantly fighting, thus requiring military power to guarantee its endurance. Therefore, the significant primary component of the French nation prioritized when it was rebuilt, was its military.
On the other hand, the majority of the ancient system officer-class of France was drawn with the aristocracy. Before the recent revolution of the Monarchy, several officers resigned from their battalions, migrating during the period of 15 September-1 December 1791. However, the individuals who stayed in France were detained or murdered during the Reign of Terror. A small unit of majors was sponsored quickly, which results in a situation where the majority of Revolutionary officers were the juniors of their Monarchist partners. Those high-ranking generals stayed. Among them were Marquis de la Fayette, Comte de Rochambeau, and Comte Nicolas Luckner.
The modification of the Military was superlatively found with regards to the top brass. Prior to the revolution, 90% of individuals were privileged people, but by 1794 this number was just 3%. Liberal power was checked by the Committee of Public Safety, which relegated “Representatives on Mission” to monitoring the general. A few officers fled, while others were executed. The administration requested that combatants should stay faithful to the legislature in Paris instead of their officers during that time.
In cooperation during Hamilton's residency as Secretary of the Treasury, he performed a key job in growing primary United States foreign policy. His contribution in the domain of global governance issues occurred during the year of 1789, while French Revolution was in Paris. Even though Thomas Jefferson wondered about the republican sentiment of the transformation, Hamilton was horrified by its bloodiness.
During the year 1793 in France, when Napoleon was ruling, he announced a battle with Spain, Great Britain, and Holland. America had recently come up short on assets, ergo wanting to join the Napoleonic Wars to turn a profit. Jefferson concurred with Hamilton and Washington that America must stay unbiased. Though Hamilton trusted that Washington might freely announce that America should not indulge in combat, Jefferson explained that Congress ought to articulate this lack of biases. Moreover, Jefferson contemplated that because no one but Congress could pronounce war, it should only be the main governmental body that could announce a lack of bias. At last, Hamilton secured this position and persuaded Washington to declare the acclaimed “Neutrality Proclamation” in 1793.
American lack of biases was left undetermined, on the other hand, when Citizen Genet-- the French envoy to America—began enlisting. Genet endeavored to utilize American ports to dispatch French maritime assaults and use American territory for French combatants. Genet guaranteed the strategy’s legitimacy, citing that America made a commitment to support France according to the 1778 Franco-American settlement. Hamilton contended that America was not obligated to act according to the 1778 arrangement, since it was made with the lord of France, not with this newly developed French Republic which was established in French Revolution. Hamilton additionally urged Washington to contradict Genet's appeal which says that America reimburses its obligations to France ahead of time. This is another prime example of how military matters of the time put pressure on the formation and execution of foreign policy.
Regardless, Washington denied the request made by Genet; however, he didn't pronounce it a cancellation, as suggested by Hamilton. Genet continued his enlistment crusade, which almost provoked Great Britain to announce a confrontation with America. Washington requested Genet’s return to France, which was not carried out.
Hamilton supported Washington as he drafted his well-known “Farewell Address”. Washington gave it in 1796, stating it would be unbelievable to accept any third term in office. In the “Farewell Address”, he mentioned certain important concerns. Firstly, Washington urged American individuals not to separate themselves into ideological groups based over political beliefs and requested that they keep up and maintain their Republican standards. Washington warned the American republic to stay away from the issues of the European countries—a direct effect of what he had seen militarily. Numerous scholars trust that Hamilton composed a considerate amount of these key sections, even though its tenor emulates Washington's. The President resigned in the year 1796, and Vice-President, John Adams took up his mantle.
Meanwhile, the government of France reacted viciously to “Jay's Treaty”, which was brought in consideration during Anglo-American collusion in contradiction of France. Between 1796 and 1800, the French Navy detained or crushed many American vessels, eradicating all formal strategic relations with America. Hamilton appealed to President Adams to refer John Jay to Paris to arrange another settlement with France. Adams concurred, yet when the ministers landed in France, the French government requested a payoff of a quarter million dollars. The payoff wound up entitled as the “XYZ Affair”, after the three anonymous French ambassadors who had requested installment. This was plainly a bribe. Americans were outraged, and several called for war.
While the Russian Revolution began in 1917, several of its leaders found self-determination from the French Revolution. Both French and Russian Revolutions contended a development which could be segregated into moderate, radical, and reactionary phases. It was commonly said that 'When France wheezes, Europe catches a cold”, and certainly, Russia was threatened with the French germ. This came following the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Russian officers left impeccably fluent in French upon their return to Russia, and with positive bias that would likely affect their policies henceforth.
In contrast to this, numerous dissimilarities of the American and French Revolutions can be found. Unlike the French, Americans were not fighting for an abstract concept. Americans waged war with Britain to safeguard and protect the customary privileges of the populace of England that they felt denied. The trademark 'no taxation without representation' united their main protests. However, the right to avoid and discard taxation without the assent of their elected representatives was a standout amongst the most valued privileges of Englishmen.
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Get custom essayThroughout the French Revolution, the influence of prior wars upon the formation of policies is more than clear. The war itself set fears and ideologies prevalent in its laws, and this can be seen in the American response to the times as well. Moreover, the French Revolution had unignorable impacts on foreign policy in other countries going forward, proving that the military did not just affect foreign policy, but often created it in response to conflict.
There are approximately 57 million people around the world who have been admitted to the hospital due to traumatic brain injury. Some people either die or become disabled due to this injury, for example, 30,000 people died in India. People who have the highest risk of experiencing a traumatic brain injury are children, teenagers, and young adult men between the ages of 15 to 25 years. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a brain injury when the brain experiences sudden damage of a blow or jolt to the head. For example, these causes include car crashes, falls, sports injuries, and many more. These injuries include from mild concussions to severe permanent brain damage. The primary injury is when people experience the injury at that moment when it happened and can affect a specific area of the brain or the entire of the brain. Another injury is known as a secondary injury which is usually more damaging than the primary injury. There are different treatments for different brain injuries such as for mild concussions, people rest and take medication while those who have severe permanent brain damage, may require intensive care and surgeries. There are some people who have died and can die from this brain injury. However, there are some people who have survived and can survive from this brain injury. When people do survive from this brain injury, they will experience some long-lasting effects that could physically and mentally affect them. When people survive from a severe brain injury, they will go through rehabilitation to recover and relearn skills because when their brains change, it would affect their daily normal activities and their personality and behavior.
Get original essayThese traumatic brain injuries will affect neuroplasticity because the injuries will cause the brain to move and forth causing bruising, bleeding, and destroying nerve fibers. Immediately after the impact, people would become confused, cannot remember what just happened, dizzy and blurry vision or lose consciousness. Then their brain will swell up, pushing itself against the skull and decreasing the flow of oxygen-rich blood. Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to develop new neural synapses and neural pathways from new experiences such as new interactions with the environment and these changes occur in behavior, environmental and neural processes. Neuroplasticity allows us to understand the changes in the brain, especially after brain injuries. When the brain is recovering, it is developing more new neurons and cells.
The symptoms of traumatic brain injuries are the lack of consciousness, memory, change of moods, cannot pay attention, and many other neurological or neuropsychological abnormalities. It’s important to rehabilitate and treat those who have suffered from traumatic brain injuries because it’s one of the world’s most leading causes of disability. Traumatic brain injuries have the ability to change people’s behavior, mood, thinking and understanding, memory, attention, communication, and many other functions. Every year, the price to assist those who have survived from traumatic brain injuries and become disabled will continue to increase. Not only the price is increasing, however, the number of victims experiencing this injury is also increasing. Therefore, it’s important to treat these people who have disabilities from this injury and prevent any further injuries in the future. The objective of this essay is to research how these traumatic brain injuries affect neuroplasticity because it focuses on the processes of learning and memory and this can change by the development of new neurons.
When people experience a traumatic brain injury, there would be cognitive effects because it would affect the way people think and learn. People would struggle when concentrating, speaking, learning, remembering, reasoning, and problem-solving. They would be unable to concentrate on one thing at a time. They are easily distracted when trying to finish a task. They cannot work on many tasks at once because it’s difficult for them to finish one project at once. Furthermore, they cannot participate in a conversation for so long and stay still for long periods of time. Attention skills help people’s memory and reasoning, however, if they cannot concentrate then they will also have more cognitive problems.
Not only people can’t concentrate or pay attention to an important matter, they would also have a hard time remembering information, especially short-term memory and “working memory”. For example, they would have trouble trying to figure out people’s names or what other people have said to them. It’s a possibility that their knowledge before the injury would be still intact, however, people would have trouble trying to learn new information. Although people could remember information by rehearsing it over and over again, however, this cannot help people remember information after they have gone through a traumatic brain injury. Even though they have a hard time remembering information that happened recently, they can remember their childhood clearly. It’s a possibility that they cannot remember certain information such as events and conversations. The brain is trying to “fill in the gaps” of missing information and recall things that didn’t actually happen. This leads to the development of false memories.
People would also have trouble processing and understanding information, especially what is being said and read to them. Also, they would have trouble trying to find the right words to say and write. Therefore it’s difficult for them to express themselves and it would be difficult for them to try to communicate with others. It would take longer for them to understand what others are trying to say and slower for them to react. People would struggle to make sense of visualizing and drawing images and finding their way to their destination. Another example is when people have agnosia because they cannot recognize certain objects. Another issue is when people have difficulty when recognizing there is a problem because they have a hard time trying to analyze information. When they are trying to solve the problem, they either only have one solution they could think of and ignore the rest of the possibilities, or they have a hard time trying to decide what’s the best decision to fix the problem.
There are case studies that propose that traumatic brain injuries lead to a possibility of precipitating two contradictory processes: excessive glutamate accumulation that has a possibility of leading up to NMDA-mediated excitotoxicity, and excess in GABA-mediated inhibition that could lead to lasting cognitive deficits. A case study of this 44-year-old male had a concussion when playing soccer. He came head-to-head with another soccer player. After making contact, he lost consciousness for approximately 90 seconds. Then, he was confused, and about 2 minutes of retrograde and 4 minutes of anterograde amnesia. Retrograde amnesia is when a person lost their memories prior to the head injury. Anterograde amnesia is when a person lost their memories after a head injury. Approximately 20 minutes after the event was over, his physical and neurological exams were normal. For 10 days, he was normal. 2 weeks after the accident, he was extremely tired and couldn’t concentrate. Furthermore, he couldn’t remember anything and had mild headaches and difficulty sleeping. Due to these symptoms, his total symptom score was 13 according to the Immediate Post Concussion and Assessment and Cognitive Test (ImPACT). 6 weeks after the accident, he began to slowly improve. He still experienced mild headaches, some tiredness, and had trouble remembering information. Since he began to improve, his total symptom was 8. 10 weeks after the accident, he was completely asymptomatic and continued his normal daily activities. He didn’t take any medications that we're able to change the plasticity of the brain. The only exception was acetaminophen for headaches. This shows that a brain injury can have a serious impact on people’s cognitive behavior as this man lost this memory prior from the head injury and after the head injury, couldn’t concentrate, and other symptoms. This only happened after the brain injury so this shows the long-lasting effects from the brain injury.
One of the effects after people experienced a traumatic injury is the way people perceive, act, and feel differently in a matter of seconds. Even though they were recovering from treatments and rehabilitations, they still would feel side effects from the brain injury. Due to these side effects, this may also play a role of affecting their daily normal activities as they cannot function correctly. People who have experienced traumatic brain injury, they are not only physically suffering but also emotionally. They are perceiving things differently from others. Perception plays a significant role on behavior and attitude.
There are different areas of the brain that process information from senses such as touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste. For example, when consuming an apple, the brain will report information such as feeling how the apple is round and smooth, the color of the red could be red or green, the crunchy sound when taking a bite, and smelling how the apple is fresh, and how sweet and ripe it is. If there was damage to the right side of the brain or the parietal and occipital lobes of the brain from brain disorders such as traumatic brain injuries, then it could change the senses and people would perceive things differently such as auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory.
While there are difficulties occurring in the sensory system, the visuospatial problems are often more noticeable. For example, people who have experienced a traumatic brain injury could struggle when drawing objects, recognizing objects (agnosia), analyzing and remembering visual information, manipulating or constructing objects, following directions, and many more.
A very noticeable problem is neglect when the brain neglects one side of all it perceives which is usually the left-hand side. For example, people fail to analyze the whole picture because it doesn’t notice the left side of an image. There is a case study of Elsie, a 52-year-old woman, who had a case of a stroke 3 years ago. Ever since from that incident, Elsie would have had trouble driving next to parked vehicles because she would scrape against the cars. Also, she would hit against signs on the left side of her car. Since this caused many troubles, Elsie visited a doctor to check her eyesight. Her doctor referred Elsie to a neuropsychologist who identified the problem as left-sided neglect. The neuropsychologist asked how Elsie was able to drive this whole time while neglecting her left side. She answered how she knew when to steer to the right because she would hear her tires going off the road.
One of the least common examples of neglect is prosopagnosia which is the inability to recognize faces. There are rare cases when people cannot distinguish the differences between one face from another or read facial expressions. They must rely on other factors to help recognize other people such as their voice and their personality. There is a case study of when Lincoln couldn’t recognize himself by observing a picture of himself after the car accident. Lincoln would have a hard time trying to look for his family in large crowds when they are separated from each other. Even though Lincoln had the difficulty of recognizing people’s faces, others couldn’t understand his ability to see and recognize objects.
Another case study was done on a woman who fell down several flights of stairs in March 2012. She was diagnosed with traumatic brain injury. Ever since that incident, she couldn’t smell or taste anything and it’s reported that it’s high as 25% after traumatic brain injury. It’s not hard to for them to notice how they’ve lost their sense of smell and taste. Loss of smell is also known as anosmia and the loss of taste is known as ageusia. The loss of smell influences the loss of taste. There are many reasons that cause the loss of smell such as damage to the nose, nasal passages, sinuses, olfactory nerve, and the brain. The olfactory nerve helps transfer the smell from the nose to the brain to process input. It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact reason why people lose their sense of smell, but the reason could be how there’s damage to the nasal passageways, olfactory nerve, and the frontotemporal regions of the brain. It’s important how not only the nasal passageways or the nerves play a significant role but the brain as well because they help process the sensation from the nasal passageways. If that area of the brain is damaged, then it’s difficult for the individual to have the ability to smell. If the individual cannot smell anything, then it would be difficult for them to have an appetite and it will slow down the production of saliva because the smell of food causes the individual to be hungry.
The brain is responsible for processing all of the senses such as sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Since the brain plays a significant role, if it’s injured then it could influence these senses to lose their sense. This depends on the location of the brain and severe the injury is.
It’s been discovered that traumatic brain injuries cause a long-term disability, especially for those younger than 40-years old.
There are many areas in the brain that focuses on certain functions such as behavior and emotion. If there were any injuries that happened to the brain then there would be significant changes in behavior and emotion. For example, the frontal cortex’s function is personality expression and behavior. Therefore the individual will have a difficult time trying to control his anger. Or they cannot seem to express any emotion and this is known as “flat affect”. The most common behavior and mentioned problems include verbal and physical outbursts, poor judgment, negativity, intolerance, lack of empathy, lack of motivation, depression, or anxiety.
After they’ve been checked out by the doctor, they will experience some mood swings because they cannot control their moods. One day, they can be very excited and happy, and then in the next second, they become sad and depressed. The victim of traumatic brain injury may not even know that they cannot feel and express any emotions. They can just laugh for so long without feeling any emotions of joy and happiness.
In 1848, a famous case study was done on Phineas Gage who was a victim of a terrible accident of damaged this brain. His story was known as the “American Crowbar Case” and this story helped expand the knowledge of the brain and human behavior. Furthermore, the story contributed to the history of neuroscience. He was 25-years old when Gage experienced a terrible brain injury. When Gage survived the injury, the effects from the injury made the public curious and this case study became extremely important for scientists to research and understand more about the brain. In 1848, Gage was working as a foreman on the construction of the Rutland and Burlington Railroad in Vermont, USA. To build a clear pathway for the railway, construction workers must use dynamite to destroy and remove the rocks. On September 13, Gage was preparing to explode some rocks by using a tamping iron to condense the explosive powder onto the rock. When the tamping iron made contact with the rock, it made this spark that began the explosives. Then the tamping iron drove through Gage’s cheekbone and came out of the top of his head and was shot some 30 yards away from Gage and it was covered with his blood and parts of his brain. Several minutes after the accident, Gage was still conscious and was able to recall what happened. No one expected Gage to survive, even his family prepared a coffin for him. Although Gage physically recovered, the accident affected his mental condition.
After the accident, Gage wasn’t his old self, his personality and behavior changed. In 1868, Dr. John Harlow who took care of Gage’s wounds reported the changes of his personality and behavior. In his report, this description of Gage was written as “fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity… capricious and vacillating” and being “radically changed, so decidedly that his friends and acquaintances said he was ‘no long Gage’.” Since the rod damaged the frontal cortex, Gage lost his sense of social inhibitions. This discovery found that the frontal cortex is responsible for cognitive and social behavior, expressing personality, and making decisions. However, these connections were made in the 19th century, many decades after the accident occurred. One of the researchers, David Ferrier, a Scottish neurologist, studied the cerebral cortex which is responsible for thinking, perceiving, producing, and understanding language. Ferrier did an experiment on damaging the animal’s frontal cortex. His conclusion was how there was no physical damage, however, there were changes in the animal’s character and behavior.
After Gage’s death in 1860, many scientists did their best to reconstruct Gage’s injury and establish which areas of his brain were damaged. A group of scientists and researchers led by Jack Van Horn of UCLA’s Laboratory of Neuroimaging. They designed a new digital model of the rod’s path and this helped conclude that the Gage’s injury was more severe than it was when first observed: it was 4% more of the cerebral cortex and 11% more of the frontal cortex were damaged. Furthermore, the model suggested that there was a connection between the frontal cortex to the limbic system was damaged. Since the limbic system was damaged, then Gage couldn’t feel any emotions such as fear, pleasure, and anger and didn’t have any desires such as hunger, sex, and dominance. This supports Gage’s report of his change in behavior and personality.
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Get custom essayOver the past several decades, technology is continuously progressing and this helps save more lives. However, it still continues to be one of the most common and leading health problems to investigate and treat. Although, there has been a decrease in mortality due to the heavy focus on the prevention of secondary injuries since the recovery process requires time. Many potential therapeutic opportunities are being explored to target known changes with neuroplasticity, from differential gene expression and cellular proliferation to the upregulation of synaptic proteins and junctions for new network connections to the modulation of inflammatory reactions and the recruitment of immune cells to limit the size and volume of damage. Future therapies may find benefit in targeting multiple mechanisms of recovery and as such, stem cell therapies or a combination of different pharmacologic therapies are of utmost interest and currently under heavy investigation.
The tax landscape for an organisation keeps changing, more so due to the world becoming more interconnected and digitalized. Hence, the tax policies may not be up to par with the increase in globalisation and business developments creating various tax risks for an organisation. It is important for an organisation to prevent, manage and resolute disputes to protect themselves from today’s biggest tax risks.
Get original essayTax-related Reputational risk emerges from an organisation’s actions if they are open to the public. Due to the digital advancement, information about an organisation can be distributed to the public in seconds, most importantly in case of complicated tax arrangements. This can be through the internet or 24 hours news coverage where “complex issues” can be “brutally summarised”. A company’s reputation can be damaged greatly through this even before they have an opportunity to clarify their position. Therefore, public opinion is powerful regardless of whether it is based off an inaccurate information.
According to Deloitte 2018, the most important drivers of reputational risks were related to “ethics and integrity… security, and products and services.” Companies are being held responsible for the actions of brokers, suppliers and other comparable associates so third party relationship risk is emerging quickly. This clarifies that the reputation risk is a “by-product” or an inevitable secondary result of another business risk. Therefore, to prevent this critical issue, “Understanding the interconnectivity of reputation risk is essential”.
To manage tax-related reputational risk in an interconnected and digitalized world, organisation can control the level of interest the public has in their tax profile. This involves intently monitoring media coverage of their organisation and may include tracking of social networking channels that may not have been as important to their tax function. The company should also watch over legislative developments in order to recognise the possibility of new tax disclosure requirements and obligations. An example includes the BEPS Action 12 which “Require taxpayers to disclose their aggressive tax-planning arrangements”.
Another measure to preventing regulation risk is by making sure that the internal stakeholders are communicating well with the external stakeholders where they effectively communicate about the organisation tax policies and profile. The tax function must have the desire to approach risk officers, public affairs, board of directors etc. internally. This is done with the goal of securing an agreement on the impact of reputational risk. As media channels mostly target the tax related aspects when discussing about any company, companies will need to be prepared to give constructive feedback if inquired.
Risks that arise inside an organisation from technology, people and processes are defined as operational tax risk. The types of tax risk associated will differ depending on the types of operations run by a business. This risk includes heavily relying on data originating from foreign jurisdictions, most of which can only be provided by finance personnel using various software packages. As the world becomes more interconnected, globalisation of trade increases causing taxable presence in the country where they are operating.
To prevent and maintain tax-related operational risk, the organisation will need to ensure that their technology, people and processes are functioning, working and most importantly improving effectively. There will need to be an effective framework in place for their digital tax administration, communications and tax internal control along with a strong tax governance. An organisation’s business risk must be in par with their risk tolerance and their policies for tax. Also, to meet the increased transparency demands, policy statements must be reviewed e.g. reporting country-by-country.
To successfully manage operational tax risk, detailed and tax-sensitized data is vital. The organisation can improve their data quality by creating a data management strategy that is effective. For example, supporting the tax lifecycle by using a tax technology framework. Furthermore, companies can enhance their performance management to ensure quality and data integrity. This can be done by revising finance and tax role descriptions to explicitly include responsibility.
Moreover, as the world is globally interconnected, it is important for businesses to create global roles. Organisations can ensure transparency and accountability within their individual functions by organising globally. This minimises tax-based operational risk by improving the relationship objectives between tax and finance. To successfully prevent operational risk, companies should have a clear strategy for their tax technology that helps the organisation boost their technological infrastructure and investments.
Companies can recruit people in regional and global roles who will be able to work effectively with other business functions and have the skills to work together with external stakeholders, public and private.
Legislation or regulations imposed by the government can significantly change the business prospects of an organisation, this potential risk is known as legislative risk. For a business in an interconnected world, a change in the legislation may deter them from performing well. An example would be the government imposing tax on an industry that may discourage investors.
As the world becomes more interconnected globally, governments will need to ensure that the current business model is reflected on the global tax practices. This directly impacts organisation as there are direct changes being made to tax legislation. For instance, the OECD is “Reforming international tax rules”. The way multinationals are taxed would be changed through this new regime.
Due the spread of media, information about tax operations of a company can be easily obtained by the public and the government. For example, although tax avoidance is legal and compliant with the law, in the eye of the public it might be seen as abusive causing a negative impact of the company’s reputation. This may cause the government to implement stricter tax legislations. If an organisation fails to comply with these legislations, it may lead to financial loss which poses a great threat to the organisation’s well-being.
To prevent legislative tax risk, an organisation can take a global approach and implement a framework that includes tax audit management and tax controversy management reporting. These global approach can reduce audit risk, create higher control over audits concerning sensitive issues and also increase knowledge sharing. It enables the organisation to maintain and be up to date with the latest information on tax authorities and any future risk associated with legislative risks. The organisation can also impose Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms where they can work towards creating a better relationship with the tax authorities.
Furthermore, an organisation can ensure that their tax activities are carried out by professional expert team who ensure that they are in line with the tax legislations. This can be done by applying procedures and systems effectively. For example, creating a risk map that identifies tax risks that could result from tax policies that are applied, instability of legal tax or any controversies around the application of the legislations.
Enforcement risk relates to the hazard towards an organisation’s reputational or financial standing resulting from codes of conduct, violation of laws and regulations.
From a tax-related point of view, enforcement risk is the risk that relates to an organisation being able to meet its tax compliance obligations. Tax-related enforcement risk addresses the overall risks in the processes, procedures and systems the company will face while preparing and submitting their tax returns. This risk therefore associates with the implications of taking sensitive tax information from the accounting system, the risks involved in assuring that the processes of tax compliance analysis are up to date and based on the latest tax law, whether the technology being used is efficient and proper.
Due to digital advancement, new compliance and ethical risks are created each day. Moreover with the global recent recession, companies are forced to examine their resources and budgets closely. This means that companies are pressured to work with tight resources along with new obligatory regulations. The events that can give a rise to this risk includes lack of proper management, insufficient resources, data integrity issues and legislative changes.
To prevent tax-related enforcement risk, it is vital that the organisation recognises the range of tax returns that are required and that withholding sales taxes/VAT may be more crucial and have higher risk compared to corporate income tax.
Moreover, the organisation can also implement internal control which helps achieve compliance with the regulations and applicable laws. It will also improves reliability in financial reporting as it ensures that the people in the organisation will be able to understand the information that will be needed to control risk in an organisation.
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Get custom essayOverall, organisations will inevitably have to face these tax risks as long as the digital and interconnected world prevails. To conclude, as businesses expand into new markets, the government, public and tax authorities will demand and be able to access tax affairs of organisations more so than ever before. Therefore, it is important for any organisation to identify, prevent and manage these risks to survive and run effectively amidst the ever changing tax landscape.
Studies show that the influence of peer groups among students can boost their anxiety especially pertaining to their academic performance. The relationship within the group with its peers are co-related with each other, hence the direction of this particular relationship should be monitored were these relationships should go considering all possible factors correlated within the groups outcome. Peer pressure faced by many teenagers of the society, professionals understood the concept of peer influence that could affect teenagers in a negative way which can be prevented by educating and preparing teenagers to face the negative aspects caused by peer pressure. Similarly peer influence among teenagers does not directly affect them in a negative way but it varies in how much and how the students receive the climate of the peers coming from the group (Mosha, 2017). When a student is influenced and motivated by peers he will perform excellent at school and got good grades in mathematics. Getting the support needed coming from the peer group, student tend to excel and exceed its capability and concentrate more pertaining to his studies and do good in the academic tasks in school.
Get original essayAdolescence gaining social support from its peers is an important factor to cope with different problems and illnesses by letting go of emotions by talking someone. Social support plays an important role for teenagers to lessen the effects of stressful situations and stressors through the support of the peers in the group. Despite the various studies conducted for understanding the effects of peer group in student’s academic performance, no one has yet understood the nature of peer effects among students (Zhang, 2010). Knowing how the teenagers interact with their peers and how they interact with each other and how presence of peer group affect student’s academic achievement in school plays an important role for various categories and even the whole educational system. Peer pressure is commonly described as peers encouraging other teenagers to do things. Peer pressure is also caused by parent’s lack of supervision towards their children during adolescence, children tend to enjoy their peers company and spend with their peers more during the adolescence period (Puligni, 1993). There are different factors that could affects student’s academic performance in school whether it’s their family is giving proper guidance and motivation to their children with the healthy and harmonies interaction with their surroundings (Ezzarrooki, 2016). Students interactions with its peers could help enhance their capability and increase their academic performance in school because they could seek help from their peers that could serve as a motivation than working alone. Student peer group in school plays as an in socializing teenager with the peers to socialize with each other that help should the child adolescents. Interaction of students between its peer are likely to influence the students and can be crucial for the student to determine their choice and could affect student performance.
Understanding peer influence towards teenagers is important for developing and understanding how to improve socioeconomic policies. Peer among youth plays a vital role during the adolescence of a teenager. This is the time when teenagers develop deep friendship among their peers and become permanent during their adolescence (Guzman, 2017). Peer pressure towards persons behavior is said to be a social phenomenon where the members of a particular society or may not be influence negatively but majority are affected by the undesirable behavior of those people who resist what others do. Looking to the different group of factors that influence adolescence in their completion of their academic excellence it is further hindered by developmental challenges (Chen, 2008). An individual seek emotional support towards communicating publicly and showing his private objectives or goals. Indeed through showing your emotions to others individual can get emotional benefits from it because it could help them to overcome temptation and could give them emotional benefits. Also, peer groups answer questions from teenager different concern from adolescence stage including physical appearance or changing bodies.
Peer pressure could easily affect the self-esteem of students that an important factor adolescence. Individual adapt attitudes towards a certain aspect that they encountered or they are aware of (Uslu, 2013). In many events student fantasizing and visualizing what they dreamed to became through with their colleagues atmosphere. Eventually, they pursue their choices through with the influence of peer pressure. The pressure among peer group among its member may engage to do undesired things or negative behavior with the presence of a particular peer group leader who engage its member to do deviant acts or promote undesirable things to the group.
Peer group is important in the social context that plays a vital role in society and to determine the academic achievement that affect during development relatively with each other. Adaptive behavior of the development increases become broader and complex and as the age increases. School that the students attend to serves an institution among students that determine their learning capacity based on the school environment that gives the learning experience toward students (Korir, 2014). Thus choosing major courses within an institution are major choices a student intends to make but it is affected by their interactions among other students. Hence, the behavior of an individual have seen similarities among the group due to the effect of their peers, it is still difficult to relate the consequences that the individual within the group are similar with each other or social to be pursuing their intentions together to have similar outcomes. Interactions between students with their agemates appeal to enhance their learning capacity under the guidance of an adult educator.
Therefore, peer pressure cannot directly be shown to have negative or positive impact towards students’ academic performance but one can realize the appropriate coping mechanism for a problem as a technique to avoid and fight peer pressure optimistically.
What influences a person’s identity? Is it their religion, home, parents, their neighborhood? When do they get one? When they learn right from wrong? Are they born with it? Everybody has one but it’s different from each other. A person’s identity is their own. No one put it there and no one can take it out whether they dislike it. Everyone makes their own throughout the course of life, there is no one thing that gives a person their identity. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is about a young Mexican/American girl named Esperanza who moves with her family to a house on Mango Street. It is a small house in a poor neighborhood. She is ashamed of her parents poverty and she lies to try and hide the fact that she is poor. Going through puberty causes Esperanza to feel ashamed.
Get original essayEsperanza talks about how she doesn’t like herself and how she wishes to change her identity and become someone who truly defines her. In the vignette “Born Bad”, it says, “I want to be like the waves on the sea, like the clouds in the wind, but I’m me. One day I’ll jump out of my skin. I’ll shake the sky like a hundred violins”. This quote talks about how she wants to be able to be someone who stands out. The literary device is simile. This is connected to my theme because it talks about identity. Another quote is in the vignette “My Name”, it says, “I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees. Esperanza as Lisandra or Maritza or ZeZe the X. Yes. Something like ZeZe the X will do”. This quote talks about one of the many things Esperanza doesn’t love about herself. The literary device is symbolism because it talks about how Esperanza wants a name that represents something to her, not one that doesn’t mean anything. This is connected to my theme because it talks about being able to define yourself.
Esperanza feels as if she doesn’t belong where she is. In the vignette “Four Skinny Trees”, it says, “They are the only ones who understand me. I am the only one who understands them. Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine. Four who do not belong here but are here”. This quote is talking about how she can relate to these four skinny trees and how they’re just like her. The literary device is simile. This is connected to my theme because Esperanza is comparing herself to trees. Another quote is in the vignette “Those who Don’t”, it says, “All brown all around, we are safe. But watch us drive into a neighborhood of another color and our knees go shakity-shake and our car windows get rolled up tight and our eyes look straight”. This quote is talking about how people of color don’t belong with white people. They have to look straight ahead to prove that they aren’t afraid scared of anyone. This is connected to my theme because it shows how people of color cannot be able to express their identity around other people superior of color.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, uses simile to develop the theme of identity and defining yourself. This theme is important and relevant to the real world because there are people out there just like Esperanza who dislike some things about themselves and have trouble finding/expressing their inner self.