Interpretation of Fairy Tales free essay sample

This essay examines Bengt Holbeks model of classifying and interpreting the worlds fairy tales. After examining the basic elements of Holbeks system, the writer applies them to several fairy tales about giants to see how well it works on the ground. Holbeks system is based on seven rules, rather like algorithms that he used to correlate the various symbolic expressions within fairy tales to the corresponding (real world) emotional expressions, focusing on three thematic opposition: child versus adult, male versus female and low versus high. From the paper: Holbeks system of structural oppositions define the three categories of crises which occur in fairy tales, all of which are in turn real or possible events in the storytelling community, which may include such relatively minor trauma as adolescent rebellion and such terrible ones as incest (Holbek 416 418). Holbek believed that this psychological delving of fairy tales was in no way inappropriate, arguing that every element [in a fairy tale] may be read as pertaining to real life (Holbek 439. We will write a custom essay sample on Interpretation of Fairy Tales or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page For Holbek, every ogre, fairy, sprite and giant was merely the representation of a real person (Holbek 418).

Child Protection Services And Human Welfare Social Work Essays

Child Protection Services And Human Welfare Social Work Essays Child Protection Services And Human Welfare Social Work Essay Child Protection Services And Human Welfare Social Work Essay Child public assistance consists of a figure of services aimed at helping peculiar demands in kids. Some of these services include working with kids who are stateless, destitute, delinquents, or adolescent parents. Child public assistance, nevertheless, is possibly best associated with the group of services more normally referred to as kid protective services ( CPS ) . These services are charged with the duty of guaranting kids are shacking in a safe and stable environment. These are usually kids who come from places where there is a inquiry of maltreatment ( physical, emotional, sexual ) or neglect. CPS must look into these state of affairss to find if the kid should be removed from the place. If it is determined the kid is to be placed in out of place attention, CPS workers must fix a program for the attention of the kid. The first measure in set uping best patterns is to integrate research proved methods into pattern. Alternatively of merely trusting on what the professional is comfy or experienced with, evidence-based pattern can supply professionals with methods and resources proven to be effectual when working with clients ( Edmond, Megivern, Williams, Rochman, A ; A Howard, 2006 ) . This is the differentiation between what works, and what works best ; what the professional knows, and what they should cognize. It is of import to indicate out that there is no remarkable best pattern method to vouch success. Using best patterns involves being eclectic in the attention you provide. Since every client is different and nowadayss with a alone set of fortunes, so excessively should be the services they receive. Regardless of the particulars of the state of affairs, the current recognized aim in kid public assistance is household saving, or, reunion ; the reuniting of the kid with their household. This option should be the purpose of services whenever executable. To back up the end of reunion, there are a figure of best patterns presently used in the field, which increase the chance of success. Culture-Centered Practice As antecedently stated, no client or state of affairs is the same. However, the criterions and outlooks of kids and households in the system are homogenous and consistent. Research shows that there is a disproportionately high per centum of minorities represented in the system ( Chinball, Dutch, Jones-Harden, Brown, A ; Gourdine, 2003 ) . Is this because minorities are more likely to be bad parents, or do non cognize how to rear decently? The reply is no. Harmonizing to Miller and Gaston ( 2003 ) , this disproportionality is, to a great extent, caused by the cultural haughtiness of the American kid public assistance system where every kid is expected to conform to Anglo-Saxon cultural development criterions, regardless of their ain cultural criterions. To battle this cultural fondness, bureaus and professionals must utilize a civilization centered attack in their pattern. This includes non merely set uping culturally indifferent criterions, but guaranting professionals have an apprehension and credence of the cultural diverseness represented within the client population. Working with the cultural norms of the client alternatively of demanding conformance to ideals and outlooks which are unfamiliar or unnatural to clients can do all the difference in making a fairer, more equal system. Multidisciplinary Practice There are many fortunes which may take to the engagement of kid protective services with a household, and each of these dramas a function in the determination to take a kid from the place. It is rare that a kid is mistreated merely out of desire ; it is normally the consequence of these other fortunes. Each of these fortunes serves as an obstruction which must be overcome if the end of reunion is to be met successfully. The professional must hold an apprehension that if households had the cognition and/or entree to resources necessary to supply and care for their kids adequately, CPS would non be needed. Integrating a multidisciplinary attack to child public assistance where intervention for covering with the issues confronting parents are integrated into the services provided by the bureau is good. This may include intervention for mental wellness and/or substance maltreatment jobs. It is good known and widely accepted that these types of jobs frequently inhibit to the ability to rear efficaciously. Therefore, it seems logical that since these issues may lend to the remotion of the kid from the place, that intervention should be incorporated into the service program for reunion. A multidisciplinary attack allows for these services to be coordinated, facilitated, and monitored by the bureau. This allows the client to hold easier and quicker entree to intervention options, which in bend can ensue in a quicker completion of the plan ( Ryan, Marsh, Testa, A ; Louderman, 2006 ) . A multidisciplinary attack offers clients a simplified procedure which is less overpowering, contains less room for mistake, and allows for the expertness and input of a figure of professionals. Home-based Practice Obtaining an apprehension of where a client comes from is critical to understanding who that client is, but this should non merely occur on a cultural degree. Often, professionals in kid public assistance will run into and work with clients inside the client s place. Using a home-based pattern method allows the professional to derive a deeper apprehension of the kineticss of the household system and the chance to see how outside forces may be impacting the state of affairs. Home-based attention will help the professional in guaranting continuity of attention, accessing hard to make clients, minimising barriers to care, easing generalisation of new accomplishments to the natural environment, and minimising the power instability by run intoing clients on their ain sod ( Allen and Tracy, 2008 ) . This may besides help in developing the common regard, trust, and comfort necessary to set up a healthy working relationship between professional and client. Clients will experience more at easiness and safe every bit good as less intimidated while in their ain place. This may further more honest, accepting, and productive interactions. Battle Schemes All of the discussed best patterns will increase the opportunity of a successful reunion, but they are all useless without the engagement of the parent client. In order for best patterns to be successful, the parent must be an active participant ; they must be engaged with the procedure. Extinguishing obstructions to parental battle in patterns is besides a best pattern. These obstructions may include physical restrictions like deficiency of kid attention or transit, but may besides be due to fear, embarrassment, anxiousness, or deficiency of apprehension of the state of affairs and how they can take part in altering these fortunes. The patterns which have antecedently been discussed service as best patterns non merely because they promote the ends of kid public assistance services, but because they besides work to promote parental engagement in the procedure. Home based attention can extinguish possible barriers sing transit and kid attention a client may hold, and may diminish some anxiousness. These physical obstructions, nevertheless, are frequently the easy 1s to get the better of. Another measure to promoting parental battle is to see that patterns are strengths-based. This involves less focal point on what is incorrect with the client, and more on the accomplishments and resources they possess which can be used to convey about alteration ( Seita, 2004 ) . Many households are put off by the plan and resist engagement merely because they do non experience they can do a alteration, or play an active function. They may experience that services are a penalty, alternatively of an chance to assist. Harmonizing to Alpert and Britner ( 2009 ) , following an overall attack that is centered on the household and their demands, and set uping an empowering, strengths-based parent-caseworker relationship is cardinal to keeping parents battle in services . But constructing a positive client relationship is non the lone thing that can be done. Research besides suggests that it is every bit much about the behaviours of the professional as the personality. To promote battle, a professional should interact with the client through the scene of reciprocally satisfactory ends, supplying services the clients find relevant and helpful, concentrating on client accomplishments instead than penetrations, and passing sufficient clip with clients to show accomplishments and supply necessary resources ( Dawson and Berry, 2002 ) . These best patterns have proven successful while working with parents in the kid public assistance system, but they are non guaranteed. Despite the best attempts of kid public assistance professionals, excessively frequently, the turning away of arrangement or the program for household reunion fails. Every twelvemonth, 100s of 1000s of American kids are placed into the Foster attention system. Of these kids, many will non be returned to their places ; they will remain in surrogate attention long term. Best Practices with Children Childs who are placed into the Foster attention system will besides necessitate services to assist them get by with and adjust to the arrangement. Many of the best patterns used when working with parents, are besides good when working with kids. Multidisciplinary Practice Children within the Foster attention system are likely to hold issues which may hinder on successful arrangement. These kids may endure from behavioural jobs, physical or mental disablements, and have issues with substance maltreatment, or emotional perturbations including depression, anxiousness, or attachment upset. They may experience unhappiness, fright, choler, guilt or bitterness. They may see a misgiving of people and force everyone off, or be despairing for attending and fondness and cleaving to people. These jobs need to be treated and integrating services to pull off them makes sense. A multidisciplinary attack assures that a kid who needs these services will be recognized and treated. Romanelli et Al. ( 2009 ) suggest that many bureaus that do non use this pattern frequently overlook or improperly screen kids who are in demand of specialised services, and of those who are identified, many will non have these services. This allows the kid to remain out of a more restrictive scene like a juvenile detainment or institutional scene and alternatively receive coordinated, multisystemic services while the kid lives in the normalizing environments of a protective household, school, and community ( Meadowcroft, Thomlison, and Chamberlain, 1994 ) . Transitioning From Foster Care The concluding best pattern to discourse respects kids who are aging out of surrogate attention. The Department of Health and Human Services ( 2008 ) , states that about 20,000 kids each twelvemonth will age out of the Foster attention system. Normally these kids passage to independent life at the age of 18. There are presently plans in some provinces, nevertheless, that extend the age of passage to 20. These few excess old ages allow the Foster child the chance to set up the accomplishments necessary for independent life, and make a web of support while set uping the resources necessary for success. A successful transitional plan addresses the societal demands of the kids by supplying guidance and support, advice and counsel. But the key to successful transitioning is to fix the kid for independent life by supplying educational support, employment support or preparation, budget direction services, personal wellness and hygiene services, aid determination and keeping lodging, or services to advance young person development ( Courtney and Dworsky, 2006 ) . Programs such as this, offer former Foster kids an chance to be a successful grownup, which is, after all, the end of parenting. Decision The Child Welfare system presently implements several best patterns which purposes to better function clients while increasing the likeliness of successful results. Unlike many other countries of Human Services, Child Welfare maps are family-centered, concentrating on both the demands of the kid every bit good as the parent. Identifying and implementing current best patterns in kid public assistance bureaus is critical, as professionals take on possibly the most of import function of humanity, that of raising a kid. Through home-based, multidisciplinary, strengths-based, cultured-centered patterns, clients in kid public assistance may develop the accomplishments and have the intervention necessary to win.

Biography of Mark Twain

Biography of Mark Twain Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens Nov. 30, 1835 in the small town of Florida, MO, and raised in Hannibal, became one of the greatest American authors of all time. Known for his sharp wit and pithy commentary on society, politics, and the human condition, his many essays and novels, including the American classic,The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, are a testament to his intelligence and insight. Using humor and satire to soften the edges of his keen observations and critiques, he revealed in his writing some of the injustices and absurdities of society and human existence, his own included. He was a humorist, writer, publisher, entrepreneur, lecturer, iconic celebrity (who always wore white at his lectures), political satirist, and social progressive. He died on April 21, 1910 when Halley’s Comet was again visible in the night sky, as lore would have it, just as it had been when he was born 75 years earlier. Wryly and presciently, Twain had said, â€Å"I came in with Halleys Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year (1910), and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I dont go out with Halleys Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.†   Twain died of a heart attack one day after the Comet appeared its brightest in 1910. A complex, idiosyncratic person, he never liked to be introduced by someone else when lecturing, preferring instead to introduce himself as he did when beginning the following lecture, â€Å"Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands† in 1866: â€Å"Ladies and gentlemen: The next lecture in this course will be delivered this evening, by Samuel L. Clemens, a gentleman whose high character and unimpeachable integrity are only equalled by his comeliness of person and grace of manner. And I am the man! I was obliged to excuse the chairman from introducing me, because he never compliments anybody and I knew I could do it just as well.† Twain was   a complicated mixture of southern boy and western ruffian striving to fit into elite Yankee culture. He wrote in his speech, Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrims,1881: â€Å"I am a border-ruffian from the State of Missouri. I am a Connecticut Yankee by adoption. In me, you have Missouri morals, Connecticut culture; this, gentlemen, is the combination which makes the perfect man.† Growing up in Hannibal, Missouri had a lasting influence on Twain, and working as a steamboat captain for several years before the Civil War was one of his greatest pleasures. While riding the steamboat he would observe the many passengers, learning much about their character and affect. His time working as a miner and a journalist in Nevada and California during the 1860s introduced him to the rough and tumble ways of the west, which is where, Feb. 3, 1863, he first used the pen name, Mark Twain, when writing one of his humorous essays for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise in Nevada. Mark Twain was a riverboat term that means two fathoms, the point at which it is safe for the boat to navigate the waters. It seems that when Samuel Clemens adopted this pen name he also adopted another persona - a persona that represented the outspoken commoner, poking fun at the aristocrats in power, while Samuel Clemens, himself, strove to be one of them. Twain got his first big break as a writer in 1865 with an article about life in a mining camp, called Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog, also called The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. It was very favorably received and printed in newspapers and magazines all over the country. From there he received other jobs, sent to Hawaii, and then to Europe and the Holy Land as a travel writer. Out of these travels he wrote the book, The Innocents Abroad, in 1869, which became a bestseller. His books and essays were generally so well-regarded that he started lecturing and promoting them, becoming popular both as a writer and a speaker. When he married Olivia Langdon in 1870, he married into a wealthy family from Elmira, New York and moved east to Buffalo, NY and then to Hartford, CT where he collaborated with the Hartford Courant Publisher to co-write The Gilded Age, a satirical novel about greed and corruption among the wealthy after the Civil War. Ironically, this was also the society to which he aspired and gained entry. But Twain had his share of losses, too - loss of fortune investing in failed inventions (and failing to invest in successful ones such as Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone), and the deaths of people he loved, such as his younger brother in a riverboat accident, for which he felt responsible, and several of his children and his beloved wife. Although Twain survived, thrived, and made a living out of humor, his humor was borne out of sorrow, a complicated view of life, an understanding of life’s contradictions, cruelties, and absurdities.   As he once said, â€Å"There is no laughter in heaven.†Ã‚   HUMOR Mark Twain’s style of humor was wry, pointed, memorable, and delivered in a slow drawl. Twain’s humor carried on the tradition of humor of the Southwest, consisting of tall tales, myths, and frontier sketches, informed by his experiences growing up in Hannibal, MO, as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River, and as a gold miner and journalist in Nevada and California. In 1863 Mark Twain attended in Nevada the lecture of Artemus Ward (pseudonym of Charles Farrar Browne,1834-1867), one of America’s best-known humorists of the 19th century. They became friends, and Twain learned much from him about how to make people laugh. Twain believed that how a story was told was what made it funny   - repetition, pauses, and an air of naivety. In his essay How to Tell a Story Twain says, â€Å"There are several kinds of stories, but only one difficult kind- the humorous. I will talk mainly about that one.† He describes what makes a story funny, and what distinguishes the American story from that of the English or French; namely that the American story is humorous, the English is comic, and the French is witty. He explains how they differ: â€Å"The humorous story depends for its effect upon the manner of the telling; the comic story and the witty story upon the matter. The humorous story may be spun out to great length, and may wander around as much as it pleases, and arrive nowhere in particular; but the comic and witty stories must be brief and end with a point. The humorous story bubbles gently along, the others burst. The humorous story is strictly a work of art, - high and delicate art, - and only an artist can tell it; but no art is necessary in telling the comic and the witty story; anybody can do it. The art of telling a humorous story - - understand, I mean by word of mouth, not print - was created in America, and has remained at home.† Other important characteristics of a good humorous story, according to Twain, include the following: A humorous story is told gravely, as though there is nothing funny about it.The story is told wanderingly and the point is â€Å"slurred.†A â€Å"studied remark† is made as if without even knowing it, â€Å"as if one were thinking aloud.†The pause: â€Å"The pause is an exceedingly important feature in any kind of story, and a frequently recurring feature, too. It is a dainty thing, and delicate, and also uncertain and treacherous; for it must be exactly the right lengthno more and no less- or it fails of its purpose and makes trouble. If the pause is too short the impressive point is passed, and the audience have had time to divine that a surprise is intended- and then you cant surprise them, of course.† Twain believed in telling a story in an understated way, almost as if he was letting his audience in on a secret. He cites a story, The Wounded Soldier, as an example and to explain the difference in the different manners of storytelling, explaining that:   Ã¢â‚¬Å"The American would conceal the fact that he even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it†¦. the American tells it in a ‘rambling and disjointed’ fashion and pretends that he does not know that it is funny at all,† whereas â€Å"The European ‘tells you beforehand that it is one of the funniest things he has ever heard, then tells it with eager delight, and is the first person to laugh when he gets through.† †¦.†All of which,† Mark Twain sadly comments, â€Å"is very depressing, and makes one want to renounce joking and lead a better life.† Twain’s folksy, irreverent, understated style of humor, use of vernacular language, and seemingly forgetful rambling prose and strategic pauses drew his audience in, making them seem smarter than he. His intelligent satirical wit, impeccable timing, and ability to subtly poke fun at both himself and the elite made him accessible to a wide audience, and made him one of the most successful comedians of his time and one that has had a lasting influence on future comics and humorists. Humor was absolutely essential to Mark Twain, helping him navigate life just as he learned to navigate the Mississippi when a young man, reading the depths and nuances of the human condition like he learned to see the subtleties and complexities of the river beneath its surface. He learned to create humor out of confusion and absurdity, bringing laughter into the lives of others as well. He once said, â€Å"Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.† MARK TWAIN PRIZE Twain was much admired during his lifetime and recognized as an American icon. A   prize created in his honor, The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the nation’s top comedy honor, has been given annually since 1998 to â€Å"people who have had an impact on American society in ways similar to the distinguished 19th century novelist and essayist best known as Mark Twain.† Previous recipients of the prize have included some of the most notable humorists of our time. The 2017 prizewinner is David Letterman, who according to Dave Itzkoff, New York Times writer, â€Å"Like Mark Twain †¦distinguished himself as a cockeyed, deadpan observer of American behavior and, later in life, for his prodigious and distinctive facial hair. Now the two satirists share a further connection.† One can only wonder what remarks Mark Twain would make today about our government, ourselves, and the absurdities of our world. But undoubtedly they would be insightful and humorous to help us â€Å"stand against the assault† and perhaps even give us pause. RESOURCES AND FURTHER READING Burns, Ken, Ken Burns Mark Twain Part I, https://www.youtube.com/watch?vVs, https://amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/proceedings/150305.pdfMoss, Walter, Mark Twain’s Progressive and Prophetic Political Humor, http://hollywoodprogressive.com/mark-twain/The Mark Twain House and Museum, https://www.marktwainhouse.org/man/biography_main.php For Teachers: Learn More About Mark Twain, PBS, pbs.org/marktwain/learnmore/index.htmlLesson 1: Mark Twain and American Humor, National Endowment for the Humanities, https://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/mark-twain-and-american-humor#sect-introductionLesson Plan | Mark Twain and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, WGBH, PBS, https://mass.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/773460a8-d817-4fbd-9c1e-15656712348e/lesson-plan-mark-twain-and-the-mark-twain-prize-for-american-humor/#.WT2Y_DMfn-Y

Behavior Modification Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Behavior Modification - Assignment Example Action stage is that when an individual embraces new behavior for a period of 3-6 months. This is followed by the maintenance stage during which an individual continuous commitment to sustain the new behavior. The last stage is the relapse when an individual tend to have a resumption of old behaviors. Have continued to recall information have read and heard from different sources about the importance of conserving our environment. Even though it has been had to take an initiative as an individual, I have been able to resolve that I will react emotionally to the warnings of environmental protection. I have considered environmental protection as an important aspect of livelihood of mankind. I consider environmental conversation as a means of changing ways that make the entire kingdom of living things happy. Environmental protection enables the sustainability of the life from one generation to the other. As such I have resolved to save my little resources and place them with the agencies that work towards environmental protection. I have mobilized my classmates and other friends who have agreed to work with me towards the same goal. I have found that creating awareness on environmental protection is a productive way of sp=ending my free time outside school. I develop the sense of self satisfaction when I participate in environmental conservation. Environmental conservation helps in protection of property’s value through enabling the restrictions on land use and development. This helps in putting land into proper use thereby enhancing land productivity. This in turn enhances food security for both man and animals on the both short and long run. Environmental conservation enables the protection of water sheds that help in the provision of water supply for agricultural and domestic use (Bethesda, 2008). The resolve for social health change through environmental conservation has encouraged many people

Senior Philosophy EXAM 3 Study Guide Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Senior Philosophy EXAM 3 Study Guide - Essay Example Hence, Epicurus concluded that we should not live in fear of death (Epicurus, 510). 2. According to Dawkins, animal fighting is restrained and gentlemanly in the following way. Animals do not necessarily fight to eliminate their rivals because, by doing that, they would mostly likely be endangering their lives even more. Dawkins argues that in a complex system of rivals, it might be advantageous to your other rivals if you eliminate one of them; your other rivals might stand to gain more from the elimination than you. For this reason, Dawkins argues that animal fighting is, in most instances, based on the advantages that would accrue from the fighting and as a result, animal fighting in most cases are restrained and gentlemanly. 3. Rand claims that Altruism permits no concept of self-respecting, self-supporting man, and no concept of justice. To support her claim, Rand contend that Altruism as an ethical theory is based on the false idea that, anything that is good for an individual( for selfish interest) is morally bad, while what is good for other people, not an individual, is morally right. For this reason, Rand argued that Altruism has no room for people first fulfil their own interests before catering for the interests of other people. For this reason, Rand claims that Altruism is against the virtues of self-respect, self-supporting, and the virtue of justice. 4. In his account of happiness in the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle makes it clear that happiness is not merely a feeling or a sensation. For Aristotle, happiness is the highest and final good for all activities of man. As such, any man’s activity is aimed at attaining happiness for man. Happiness, therefore, is the final end of all human being’s endeavour and human beings seek happiness for its own sake. All the other good that human beings seek, for instance pleasure and honour, may be sought partially for their own sake, but ultimately they will be sought for the sake of happiness. F or that reason, happiness cannot be sensation or feeling because feelings and sensations cannot be the final end, pleasurable feelings are sought for the sake of happiness, which is the highest good. Hence, happiness is not simply a feeling or a sensation. 5. According to Immanuel Kant, it is morally wrong for one to take a loan and promise to repay it, while one knows that they will not be able to repay it. To support his claim, Kant used his moral maxim, i.e. the categorical imperative to judge whether or not such an action is morally justifiable. The categorical imperative states that, in moral dilemma, you should always act in a manner that you would wish your manner of acting to be made a universal law, applicable to all similar cases. Kant, therefore, argued that since one would not wish breaking promises to be made into a universal law, it is, therefore, morally wrong for one to fail to repay a loan that they had promised to repay. 6. According to Mill, one can tell whether o ne pleasure is of greater quality than another by the use of the following criteria. If people are asked to choose between two pleasures, pleasures of which they all have prior experience, the pleasure that majority of people will choose, not due to moral obligations or for any other reason, but for the sake of the pleasure itself, then that pleasure that is proffered by the majority of people is of higher quality than the other pleasure that was preferred by only a

Welfare Reform Package: Helping Individuals Help Themselves Essay exam

It is nearly impossible to support one particular stance on the political spectrum for societal issues across the board. I have always placed myself in the libertarian category on the political spectrum, in the sense that I believe the government should refrain from passing laws that impose on individual freedom and support privatization and the free market. When it comes to the welfare state, I don’t think that the key to a successful reform necessarily lies in the cutting back of government spending, but rather a redistribution of the budget. I recognize the need for government assistance but firmly believe that more emphasis needs to be put on providing opportunities for individuals through job training, education, and work subsidies. As the American Political Science Association discussed, in their report on the rising inequalities present in democratic America, â€Å"Americans accept economic inequalities only when they are sure that everyone has an equal chance to get ahead† (APSA, 2004). The welfare state in the US was formulated as part of Roosevelt’s â€Å"New Deal† in response to the Great Depression of the 1930s. During that time, welfare was intended to provide aid to widows with children, while helping to support farm workers and stimulating the agricultural sector by using surplus as food aid. This era paved the way for social security, emergency relief funds, and created the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). The 1960s brought the second large wave of welfare reform with Lyndon Johnson’s â€Å"Great Society† legislation. Johnson waged a â€Å"war† on poverty by increasing social services and drastically increasing the population receiving AFDC. The subsequent decades brought about debate as attempts at welfare reductio... ...cation and creating a climate in which a more educated population is possible would create more opportunity and reduce the passing of welfare dependence from generation to generation. Works Cited Alesina, A., & Glaeser, E. L. (2004). Fighting poverty in the us and europe: A world of difference. Oxford: Oxford University Press. American Political Science Association. (2004). ASPA task force report: American democracy in an age of rising inequality. Perspectives on Politics, 2(4), 651-666. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3688533 Bane, M. J., & Mead, L. M. (2003). Lifting up the poor: A dialogue on religion, poverty & welfare reform. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution Georgetown University Morgen, S., Acker, J., & Weigt, J. (2010). Stretched thin: Poor families, welfare work, and welfare reform. New York: Cornell University.

Candide and Enlightenment

Voltaire’s Candide both supported and challenged traditional enlightenment viewpoints through the use of fictional ‘non-western’ perspectives. Candide mockingly contradicts the typical Enlightenment belief that man is naturally good and can be master over his own destiny (optimism). Candide faces many hardships that are caused by the cruelty of man (such as the war between the Bulgars and Abares, Cunegonde being raped, etc) and events that are beyond his control (the earthquake in Lisbon).Voltaire did not believe that a perfect God (or any God) has to exist; he mocked the idea that the world must be completely good, and he makes fun of this idea throughout Candide. He also makes fun of the philosophers of the time, because the philosophers in the novel talk a lot, do nothing, and solve no problems at all. Candide also makes a mockery of the aristocracy’s notion of superiority by birth. Voltaire also addresses the corruption of the religious figures and the church thus â€Å"destroying and challenging the â€Å"Sacred Circle†. Voltaire’s Candide is the story of one man’s trials and sufferings through life. The main character is Candide. Candide is portrayed as a wanderer. He grew up in the Castle of the Baron of Westphalia, who was his mother’s brother and was taught by, Dr. Pangloss, the greatest philosopher of the whole world. Pangloss taught Candide that everything that happens is for the best. Candide is exiled from the castle because of his love for the Baron’s daughter, Cunegonde. He then sets out to different places in the hope of finding her and achieving total happiness. Candide thought that everything happened for the best because the greatest philosopher taught him that, but everyone around him did not accept that theory. The optimistic Pangloss and Candide, suffer and witness a wide variety of horrors: beating, rapes, robberies, unjust executions, disease,and an earthquake, These things do not serve any apparent greater good, but be a sign of the cruelty and madness of humanity and the lack of sympathy of the natural world. Pangloss manages to find justification for the terrible things in the world, but his arguments are sometimes stupid, for example, when the Anabaptist is about to drown he stops Candide from saving him because he claims that the Bay of Lisbon had been formed specifically for the drowning of the Anabaptist. Other characters, such as the old woman, Martin, and Cacambo, have all reached more pessimistic conclusions about humanity and the world because of past experiences. One problem with Pangloss’ optimism was that it was not based on the real world, but on abstract arguments of philosophy. In the story of Candide, philosophy repeatedly proves to be useless and even destructive. It prevents characters from making realistic judgment of the world around them and from taking positive action to change hostile situations. Candide lies under debris after the Lisbon earthquake and Pangloss ignores his requests for oil and wine and instead struggles to prove the causes of the earthquake. In another scenario, Pangloss is telling Candide of how he contracting venereal disease from Paquette, and how it came from one of Christopher Columbus’ men. He tells Candide that venereal disease was necessary because now Europeans were able to enjoy new world delicacies, like chocolate. The character Candide was the nephew of the Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh, whose sister, was Candide’s mother. The baron’s sister, refused to marry Candide’s father because he only had seventy-one quarterings (noble lineages) in his coat of arms, while her own coat of arms had seventy-two (Candide, 1). This exaggeration makes the aristocracy’s concern over the subtleties of birth look ridiculous. Candide explores the hypocrisy that was rampant in the Church and the cruelty of the clergy using a variety of satirical and ironic situations such as, the Lisbon earthquake that kills tens of thousands of people and damages three fourth of Lisbon; still the Portuguese Inquisition decides to perform an auto-da-fe’ to appease God and prevent another disaster. This serves no purpose because another earthquake strikes in the middle of the hanging of Pangloss and beating of Candide. Church officials in Candide are portrayed as being among the most sinful of all citizens; having mistresses, engaging in homosexual affairs, and operating as jewel thieves. The most ridiculous example of hypocrisy in the Church is the fact that a Pope has a daughter despite his vows of celibacy. Other examples are the Portuguese Inquisitor, who takes Cunegonde for a mistress, who hangs Pangloss and executes his fellow citizens over philosophical differences, and orders Candide to beaten for, â€Å"listening with an air of approval† (Candide, 13) to the opinions of Pangloss; and a Franciscan friar who is a jewel thief, despite the vow of poverty taken by members of the Franciscan order. Finally, Voltaire introduces a Jesuit colonel with marked homosexual tendenci es. The Enlightenment belief, in which a perfect society should be controlled by reforming existing institutions, is made to appear ridiculous, while erhaps all that Voltaire wanted to do was to present the history of his century with the worst abominations. It was probably Voltaire's ability to challenge all authority that was his greatest contribution to Enlightenment values. He questioned his own parenthood and his morals to express his ideas to the world of Enlightenment through the novel Candide. In particular, the novel makes fun of those who think that human beings can endlessly improve themselves and their environment. Voltaire expresses his beliefs on optimism, philosophical speculation, and religion through the main character. Candide, The main character of the novel, is set adrift in a hostile world and unsuccessfully tries to hold on to his optimistic belief that this â€Å"is the best of all possible worlds† as his tutor, Pangloss, keeps insisting. He travels throughout Europe, South America, and the Middle East, and on the way he encounters many terrible natural disasters. Candide is a good-hearted but hopelessly naive.