Pros and Cons of Prisoning Mothers with Children in Prison Free Essay Example, 2250 words

Women population in jail is increasing in recent decades. The number of women in jail has increased eight times than they were 30 years ago. This is not as a result of an increase in crimes committed by women but as a result of the fact that the statute does not allow judges to consider the extent to which these women are involved in crimes. Judge's sentence these women to prison, on the basis that they are involved in a crime without considering how involved they are (Hairston 210). They also don t consider the number and age of children under their care or whether the mothers are single or not. Most of these women s involvement in a crime is mostly not to a big extent. Their involvement may be as minimal as taking phone messages of a boyfriend or petty theft. But due to the fact that they are partly involved in a crime, they are sent to jail. The result of this has been an increase in women population in jail. Most authorities were not preparing for this influx. Women s needs ar e of cause different from those of men. We will write a custom essay sample on Pros and Cons of Prisoning Mothers with Children in Prison or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page She has written that there is a need for prison administrators to address behavior patterns of female offenders because women are prone to emotions and in most cases when imprisoned, they develop far more relationships within the facilities than men . Prisons are now adapting themselves to give room to children in their facilities. A child can now get access to a good education while staying with his mother in prison. Some prisons that have prison-based programs offer vocational training on childhood parenting and development skills to women. Some have even had their programs molded on the prison s nursery.

Dorothea Dix was born on April 4, 1802. She was born in...

Dorothea Dix was born on April 4, 1802. She was born in Hampden, Maine. Even though she grew up less fortunate and in a broken home, she managed to get an education and become internationally known for her kindness and assistances to the mentally ill population. She started off as a simple school teacher but ended up changing the world by contributing to the medical field. Her work was known international. Dorothea Dix’s early years can be described as miserable. She had 2 brothers Joseph and Charles. She left home at the age of 12 because she was neglected by her parents. Both Dorothea Dix’s parents were alcoholics. Her dad was also very abusive to her and to her two brothers. When she left home to live with her grandmother, her†¦show more content†¦After her fighting with the U.S. congress Dorothea was physically worn out by trying to achieve her dream in trying to help the mentally challenge. Her generosity was so vast that she was known for making 3 0 hospitals for the mentally ill. Dorothea Dix contributions are that she was a social reformer. One of Dorothea’s famous quotes was â€Å"the insane do not feel heat or cold.† (4) When the confederate forces withdrew from Gettysburg they left behind 5,000 injured soldiers who were treated by Dix’s Nurses. Dorothea Dix was never married to anyone; she was only engaged to Edward Bangs. They were 13 years apart. Edward Bangs was not only her fiancà © but also her second cousin. The only reason she didn’t get married to Edward Bangs was because of the fear that she would become like her parents. She did not want to mimic her parents’ behavior and become an alcoholic. Dorothea Dix also never had any children but she did spend a large part of her life devoted to teaching her students as teacher. After a long Thirteen years of working for the mentally ill Dorothea Dix decided to

Ethical and Legal Challenges for Case Study- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theEthical and Legal Challenges for Case Study Scenario. Answer: The primary role of registered nurses is to provide help and support to terminally ill patients, along with their family members, to relieve the pain and suffering. While caring for patients who are terminally ill, several complications arise and these create conflicts in the hospital environment. Nurses face difficulties in taking decisions related to positive healthcare of their patients. In addition, a number of ethical dilemmas are faced by experienced and clinically expert nurses every day (Gastmans, 2013). This assignment aims to explore a case scenario of a terminally ill patient, suffering from lung cancer, who refuses to undergo further treatment. Legal and ethical issues- It is the fundamental duty of hospitals and healthcare professionals to all recognise their patients right to select the treatment choices. All patients are entitled with the rights of deciding whether they want a particular intervention to be administered upon them and can display refusal to such treatment depending on their individual needs. The general role of nurses involves looking after the individual patients and respecting their autonomy. This particular case scenario led to a conflict between beneficence and autonomy. The nurse Mary should have taken all possible measures to respect the decisions taken by Mr. Jerry regarding his treatment, regardless of the fact whether the treatment refusal would manifest in the form of adverse effects. Autonomy gives the patient the rights to decide whether he wants to discontinue with the treatment for lung cancer, although a refusal can affect his health and can even be fatal (Cole, Wellard Mummery, 2014). The major legal complexity associated is taking informed consent. The beneficence of doctors is usually related to doing good for their patients, while working under a moral obligation (Grady, 2015). Further, this scenario will also lead to development of clashes between autonomy power and non-maleficence. Non-maleficence involves creating the least possible harms to the patients in a healthcare setting. A failure to resolve such conflicts and clashes will create a sense of mistrust in the patient for the nurse. Any violation of the autonomy of decision making rights of the patient will affect the nurse-client relationship (Ivanov Oden, 2013). Proper steps should be enforced by the hospital administration to inform Mr. Jerrys daughter of his thoughts that he will become a burden on her if he continues the treatment, and she will face difficulties in managing her household (Preshaw et al., 2016). According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all patients have the right to decide whether they want to continue with a particular treatment in a hospital. Thus, care should be taken to ensure that the patient rights are safeguarded and not violated (Who.int, 2017). Ethical decision making process- The values of the SNB code of ethics mention the practices that should be followed by nurses and midwives in a healthcare setting. All nurses must provide such care that prevents nurses from discriminating between patients on the basis of gender, ethnicity, religion, age, and social and economic status. Moreover, the nurse Mary should follow the standards of practice that emphasize on the duty to help patients in talking about their individual needs, through effective conversation The standard codes of practice directs the nurses to modify the healthcare delivery plans depending on specific client needs (Healthypeople.gov, 2017). In addition, the second value statement instructs the nurses to protect and safeguard the autonomy of their patients, which will eventually provide the latter with a discretionary power to decide for the continuation of a particular treatment plan. The nurses should also provide access to all available information to their patients, to help them understand the efficacy of the proposed intervention (Healthypeople.gov, 2017). In addition, efficient workplace collaboration within the organisation culture is essential to deliver optimal health outcomes to the patients (Slegers et al., 2013). A collaborative relationship must be built by Mary between her patient, his daughter and the other members involved in the care process. This will help in influencing Mr. Jerry to withdraw his opinion on treatment refusal (Engel Prentice, 2013). A detailed conversation with his daughter will help her to understand his concerns and she might be able to help him understand the health benefits he will gain on showing compliance to the treatment. She would also be able to let him know of the adverse outcomes that might arise, if his decisions are followed (Engel Prentice 2013). However, the patient cannot be forcibly kept in the hospital and will have to be released if he is not convinced to continue with the treatment. In addition, Mary should be responsible for taking his word and ensuring that he will be solely responsible for the occurrence of any adverse health consequences, on treatment refusal. This can be achieved by preparing an AOR (at own risk) form. Signatures of patient advocates and witnesses will help in establishing that the patient has been discharged on grounds of his autonomy powers and that the hospital administration did not use force to treat the patient (Ivanov Oden, 2013). To summarise, it can be stated that there are plethora of ethical and legal concerns related to nursing practices, which make it difficult for experienced nurses to provide optimal care to their patients. The professional nursing standards guide the nurses to deal with such conflicting situations. This case scenario will help to understand that it is imperative for nurses to act in a way that is consistent with the rules and regulations stated in their standard codes of practice. It is essential for all nurses to ensure that their patients have a clear understanding of the proposed treatment and its benefits before any decision is taken to discharge them. Nurses should also protect a patients autonomy while in practice. This case scenario will create a sense of awareness among nurses regarding their duties and responsibilities, which are required to be followed if a patient is found to refuse treatment. To conclude, it can be stated that caring for patients suffering from terminally ill disorders require a huge effort on the part of nurses and they should identify the health demands and underlying mental problems of the patients that make the latter show treatment refusal. References Cole, C., Wellard, S., Mummery, J. (2014). Problematising autonomy and advocacy in nursing.Nursing ethics,21(5), 576-582. Engel, J., Prentice, D. (2013). The ethics of interprofessional collaboration.Nursing ethics,20(4), 426-435. Gastmans, C. (2013). Dignity-enhancing nursing care: a foundational ethical framework.Nursing ethics,20(2), 142-149. Grady, C. (2015). Enduring and emerging challenges of informed consent.New England Journal of Medicine,372(9), 855-862. Healthypeople.gov. (2017).Search the Data | Healthy People 2020.Healthypeople.gov. Retrieved 11 November 2017, from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/data-search/Search-the-Data#objid=4971; Ivanov, L. L., Oden, T. L. (2013). Public health nursing, ethics and human rights.Public Health Nursing,30(3), 231-238. Preshaw, D. H., Brazil, K., McLaughlin, D., Frolic, A. (2016). Ethical issues experienced by healthcare workers in nursing homes: Literature review.Nursing ethics,23(5), 490-506. Slegers, K., Wilkinson, A., Hendriks, N. (2013, April). Active collaboration in healthcare design: participatory design to develop a dementia care app. InCHI'13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems(pp. 475-480). ACM. Who.int. (2017).The Health Manager's Website.World Health Organization. Retrieved 7 November 2017, from https://www.who.int/management/en/

The Hidden Gender Stereotypes in the Animations the Little Mermaid and Tangled free essay sample

After the success of the feminist movement in the early 1960s, gender stereotypes are considered as not a big issue anymore. Many people tried to break gender stereotypes especially in mass media. However, it is undeniable that gender stereotypes are still imprinted because people have been fed by gender stereotypes from the show that they watch since they are young. It is shown in two animation movies titled The Little Mermaid and Tangled. This article examines various evidences of gender stereotypes that are hidden in both movies and how they are still seen although the creator has hidden them. There are two major points that will be examined in this paper. First, that the depiction of woman characters in both movies is symbolizing gender stereotypes. Second is the act, the song and the utensils that the characters use is symbolizing patriarchy system. This paper is concluded by a statement that both movies contain gender stereotypes although it has been hidden. We will write a custom essay sample on The Hidden Gender Stereotypes in the Animations the Little Mermaid and Tangled or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page KEYWORDS: Gender stereotypes, grotesque, patriarchy, animation studies, womens representation Introduction The main aim of this paper is to make original contribution in gender studies by analyzing hidden gender stereotypes in two animation movies, titled, The Little Mermaid and Tangled. After the success of the feminist waves throughout the world, the term emancipation has arisen and allowed women to have the same rights as men. Before that, women were considered as second-class citizens who were under men’s control. Following that, there have been movements, slogans, and even works like movies, books, and videos that try to portray the freedom of women from men’s control and to show that women can stand by themselves. The question is, are they really free? Do they really have the same rights as men? As I intend to show in this article, even though women have been portrayed as free and equal as men, they are actually still stuck in the gender stereotypes even until nowadays as can be seen in the movie The Little Mermaid and Tangled. These two movies will be examined by using feminist approach as the basis of the movies’ evaluation. Besides that, semiotic method will be used to discuss symbols that represent meaning in the movies. This will reveal the fundamental problems about gender stereotypes that people believe to have been destroyed by the various feminist waves. The Little Mermaid is an animation movie that was created in 1989 and produced by Walt Disney Studio. This movie presents a story of a girl named Ariel, a 16-year-old beautiful mermaid that is never allowed to go to the surface of the ocean by her father, the King of the Ocean. Ariel always tries to escape and goes to the surface because she is fascinated with the human world. One day, she goes to the surface and helps Prince Eric as his ship sinks in the ocean. She falls in love with Prince Eric, but she cannot confess her feeling because she is not a human. Throughout the story, Ariel goes to a sea witch named Ursula to be human and Ursula gives Ariel a pair of legs. In return of the legs, Ariel gives her voice to Ursula. Tangled is a new animation movie of Walt Disney studio that talks about a smart yet naive girl that has very long â€Å"magical† hair. Rapunzel spends her whole life in a tower with her stepmother. She never goes out to see the world until a man named Eugene comes and â€Å"saves† her. Mother Gothel, Rapunzel’s step mother, hides Rapunzel in a tower to stay young by always touching Rapunzel’s hair. After Rapunzel knows that she is not her mother’s biological child, she tries to escape from the tower and seeks the truth about herself. With the help from Eugene , Rapunzel runs off from the tower and has an adventurous journey around the kingdom. At the end of the story, she finally finds the truth that she is the princess of the kingdom. This paper will be organized into two major parts as follow: The first is the depiction of the good woman and the bad woman in both animation movies and the second is the appearance of patriarchy in both movies. In the first part, I will discuss how the movies define and characterize the bad woman and the good woman by looking at and analyzing both the protagonist and antagonist characters. Then, in the second part, I will examine how the movies strengthen patriarchy from the feminist perspective. These findings will support the current writing that is written by Kerry M Mallan about women’s grotesque images in â€Å"Witches,Bitches,and Femme Fatales:Viewing the female grotesque in children’s film† (Mallan,2000). Mallan’s paper will talk about the image of bad woman in some animation movies that I will explain further in the next section of this paper. Previous Research Much has been written on the works of women’s images and gender stereotypes in both real life and literary works, but most of them so far only focus on the images of women and the forms of oppression of women. An important work on women’s stereotypes and oppression is a book by Colette Downing titled Cinderella Complex (1992) which presents an overview of a theory of Cinderella Complex that unconsciously affects most women in the world. According to Downing (1992,17) Cinderella complex is the act of fear, most of which is oppressed, that makes women cannot and do not dare to use all of their intelligence and creativity, and would rather wait for men as their saviors. Although she gives explanations about Cinderella complex as one form of gender stereotypes, her work in general focuses on women’s behavior that is in line with the stereotypes based on their willingness. In her book, Downing stated that the discrimination of women in the workplace is caused by their reluctance to be a professional for a long time (20). They would rather wait for men to provide their needs. She does not specifically explain that sometimes some women try to break the stereotype but they cannot do that since society wants to prevent from doing so. In other words, women have to strengthen the gender stereotype because of the situation. Another scholar that has a work about gender stereotypes in the movie especially children’s movies is Kerry M Mallan in her works titled â€Å"Witches,Bitches,and Femme Fatales:Viewing the female grotesque in children’s film† in the Journal Explorations into Children’s Literature (2000). In her paper, she focuses on the women’s grotesque images in the movie. In general she focuses and criticizes the images of women who have power like Ursula or Cruella. They are always depicted as mad and cruel. Mallan stated that women who have masculine power will be seen as mad and deviant (2000,10). Even though she explains about women’s grotesque in children’s movies, she does not really explain about how the movies depict the image of good women. Like what Downing does in her book, Mallan also does not give explanations about the image of men in the stereotype gender. Both of them only focus on the women. On the other hand, I will examine the image of both women and men in the animations The Little Mermaid and Tangled : Rapunzel in order to reveal the gender stereotypes. Most of critical works take women’s oppression as their focus, while studies of gender stereotypes of both sexes that happen unconsciously and are created by human is still a minority. By adopting those various critical lenses, this paper will focus on hidden gender stereotypes. The emphasis will be on how women and men are characterized and defined in the movies and the effort made by people to break the stereotypes. The aim is to show that gender stereotypes cannot be separated from our life as we are forced to see them in the animation movies since we are little. Also, this paper aims to demonstrate that gender stereotypes studies need to be explored further and taken more seriously, because they can be hidden and absorbed not only by kids but also adults unconsciously. Thus, it will contribute to a better understanding of gender stereotypes both hidden and overt from feminist perspective. Gender stereotypes have been the focus of research by many scholars like Mallan and Downing. Downing’s research and theory about Cinderella Complex will be used to support my arguments in this paper. Also, her explanations will be taken as the basis of my paper since it talks about the basic meaning of gender stereotypes in reality (not in a movie). By looking at her explanations, I will be able to determine gender stereotypes although they are hidden. On the other hand, I will use Mallan’s paper to be critically examined and the result will be explained in this paper. Mallan’s paper about female grotesque in animations will be my basis to criticize the movies. Also, rather than take her paper without any criticism, I will look at her researches to be compared with my findings in these two animation movies. Not only being examined, but Mallan’s paper will be used to support my arguments especially from the children’s perspective. Theory and Method Most people misunderstand gender as the same term as sex. In fact, gender and sex are two different terms and of course have different meanings. Eisenstein states in her book that : Sex meant the biological sex of a child-was it born anatomically a male or female member of human species. Gender was the culturally and socially shaped cluster of expectations, attributes, and behaviors assigned to that category of human being by the society into which the child was born (Eisenstein,1984 :7) From this explanation, we can conclude that sex is a biological description while gender is a social label that is constructed by culture. Based on that explanation, gender stereotypes become the issue because every culture develops their own stereotypes regarding gender. Gender stereotype contains beliefs about the psychological traits and characteristics, as well as the activities appropriate for men or women (Brannon, 2008:48). It is seen that gender stereotypes were the generalized beliefs and attitudes toward masculinity and femininity. Then, gender stereotypes cannot be separated to Female Grostesque theory that can limit women’s movement. According to Russo in her book titled Risk, Excess and Modernity, female grotesque are the images that are precisely those which are objected from the bodily canons of classical aesthetics (Russo,1995:8). Russo also added that if women do not do as they are told (being feminine), they will be considered as unnatural (Russo,1995:20). The fear of being unnatural will limit women’s movement. They have to be feminine to be accepted by the society. These theories can lead to one assumption that gender stereotypes were constructed by culture and it can limit somebody’s movement because of the theory of grotesque. The operating assumption or hypothesis of this paper is that although gender stereotypes have been tried to be destabilized by many means, they can still be seen in our society. This is because gender stereotypes have been reinforced and absorbed indirectly from the entertainment industry since we were kids. After the success of feminist struggle, almost all entertainment shows try to change gender stereotypes. However, it is really hard to avoid gender stereotypes because we have known them since we were really young. For each movie, I will also have my own hypothesis. The Little Mermaid will show more effort in breaking the gender stereotypes than Tangled since The Little Mermaid was made before the 1990s. Before the 1990s, people tried so hard to break the stereotypes since gender stereotypes were a big issue at that time. As for today, gender stereotypes are still a big problem but more people are concerned with other global issues rather than gender stereotypes. Two animation movies from Walt Disney video will be used in order to analyze the gender stereotypes in a movie. I choose animation movies because animation movies are made for children. Messages from animation movies are more striking than ordinary movies because kids are naive and they do not know anything. The Little Mermaid is chosen for its popularity and the story really shows the power of a woman. While for Tangled: Rapunzel, it is chosen not only because it contains the breaking of gender stereotypes, but also this movie is new and I want to compare this movie and The Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid was made in 1989 while Tangled was made in 2010. Do they really have the same perspective about gender stereotypes? In researching, I will watch these movies twice. The first will be the time for me to watch and understand the whole story. At the second time, I will take notes on the scenes and the dialogues of the characters that contain gender stereotypes. In addition, because both movies are musical movies, I will also focus on the songs that the characters sing because most of the songs reflect the characters’ feelings. After that, I will compare the data from the movies with the theories that I obtained about gender stereotypes to ensure the validity of my research. Analysis In the movie The Little Mermaid, the protagonist character is Ariel. Ariel is a beautiful 16 year old girl who cannot leave her underwater palace because her father told her not to. This movie depicts Ariel as an ideal woman although she is considered as a rebellious girl. From her appearance, we can see that she has fair skin, red-long flowing hair, and beautiful eyes. Her seashell bra shows her slender body and slim belly. Her appearance is also colorful with her red hair, purple cloth, and green tail. When she shows up, the background will be colorful with clear blue water and surrounded by colorful animals (see figure 1). Not only her appearance, but Ariel also has a beautiful voice that can make others amaze. As the youngest and most-talented daughter of King Triton, her voice is really beautiful as she is an opera singer. Her characteristic is also lovely. She is always surrounded by animals, even she has a best friend, Flounder, who always accompany her. By seeing Ariel, we can see she is really caring since she loves animals, especially Flounder and Sebastian, a Caribbean Crab. It is really typical in Disney fairy tales that most of the princess will be surrounded by animals. They can share their opinion and wait for their savior with the animal. This character shows the soft side of women. Ariel shows the image of friendly which is really important to a woman. In short, Ariel is a depiction of the ideal woman from her appearance and her characteristic. Then, Ariel is compared to Ursula as the antagonist character. Ursula is a sea-witch who likes to make a deal with other sea-kingdom citizen and take advantage from the deal. She is really evil and cunning. Walt Disney depicts Ursula as the opposite of Ariel. She is depicted as an old fat woman. It is can be seen from her fleshy body spills out her dress. She wears low-cut, long, black evening dress which blacks are usually the color of the evil. She also has short, bleached and butch hairstyles that contradict the image of the ideal woman who usually has long, flowing hair like Ariel. Unlike Ariel who is colorful, Ursula is just dark with her black evening dress and dark blue skin. Her overall appearance gives the image of â€Å"scary† and â€Å"dark† (see figure 2). Moreover, when she shows up in a scene, the music background will be a scary music which adds the image of scary. There is something that emphasize Ursula as the bad character. Unlike Ariel who has a beautiful voice, she has an alto voice that if we hear it, it sounds like a male’s voice. Why did Walt Disney give a male-like voice to Ursula? They can just give a normal girls voice to Ursula. It is done to strengthen the image of scary and evil to Ursula. By these findings, it can be implied that in the creator’s mind –maybe also in our mind- a woman who has a character of a man (although it is only a bit) will be considered as weird or scary. Kallan in her article also stated that Ursula is more masculine than feminine (2000:16). She has the ability to change a tail into a pair of legs which she has done to Ariel. She can change herself from a half-octopus sea-witch into a beautiful girl. Also, she can make a big storm in the sea to sink many ships, including Eric’s ship. When she is angry because Eric wants to kill her, Ursula creates a bigger storm and a whirlpool to kill him. She is really powerful since she can beat King Triton in their last battle until he gives his soul to her willingly. She becomes the leader of the sea kingdom after the battle. By this event, we can see that Ursula is not just an ordinary woman. She is a woman with much power and she can do whatever she wants. However, women like Ursula are always being the evil or the antagonist in an animation movie or maybe most movies. It leads to an interpretation to the viewer that a woman who has power is not good and only create destruction like Ursula. Ursula lived in the palace before King Triton expelled her. Ursula fights the norms of society by not having a traditional relationship. She is a rebellious woman. Her rebellion is seen as a negative influence and it makes her being isolated by the society and expelled by the king. In other words, women who do not follow the rule to be feminine by having more masculine quality, they will be considered as negative and can make them being isolated from the society. Later, it makes women choose to be powerless and obedient to be accepted. In Tangled, Rapunzel as the protagonist character is also depicted as an ideal woman. She has very long, flowing hair with slender body (see figure 3). Her long hair is magical because it can glow when she sings and it can heal every disease (see figure 5). If someone cuts the hair, the magic of it is gone and it becomes useless. As we all know, hair has become woman’s precious asset and women with long flowing hair usually will be categorized as beautiful. Rapunzel’s appearance in the 2010 after The Princess and the Frog which shows an African-American princess is problematic. The Princess and The Frog has changed the stereotype of Disney princess by depicting the princess as an African-American girl. However, Tangled changes that new stereotype and Disney is going back to their old stereotype. The standard of long flowing blond hair as the symbol of femininity still limits Disney to create Rapunzel in another way. Rapunzel wears a purple dress as purple symbolizes loyalty. This image resembles her character that is really loyal as she never leaves the tower. Rapunzel also has a beautiful voice. Beautiful voice has become an important part in depicting a good woman. It has been the characteristic of a good woman. Similar as Ariel, Rapunzel is also a lovely person. She has an animal best friend, a chameleon, named Pascal who always follows her. She is also able to convince Maximus, a clever horse that hates Eugene. Maximus is really hard-to-tame but she is succeeding in taming Maximus. She does it with her lovely character that makes Maximus loves her too. By this scene, we can see that she is a loving person since even animal loves her. Not only animals, kids also love her as kids in the kingdom surround her and braid her very long hair with flower ornaments. She can talk to thugs in the â€Å"Snuggly Duckling Pub† although they are ready to kill Rapunzel and Eugene. She becomes the peacemaker in that Pub and everybody is happy because of her. In short, Rapunzel is really depicted as an ideal girl with her beautiful appearance and lovely characteristics. Mother Gothel as Rapunzel’s step mother is the opposite of Rapunzel. She is unique because she always shows that she loves Rapunzel. She is willing to have a very long journey just to get Rapunzel’s birthday present. She also likes to cook Rapunzel’s favorite dinner. However, throughout the story, her motivation to protect Rapunzel is just to take advantage from Rapunzel’s hair. She wants to be young forever by touching Rapunzel’s hair. She is willing to do anything to protect Rapunzel as her asset to beauty. In here we can see that for woman, beauty is everything and woman will do anything to keep being beautiful. As an evil character, she is depicted as an old woman wearing a crimson dress, spiky gold-colored earrings, and sometimes wear a black cloak (see figure 5). Gothel is really old and it can be seen from her wardrobe style. Her wardrobe style is 400 years older than the period of time in the movie to show that she has been that old. Unlike Ursula who has been depicted as an old, fat woman from the beginning, Gothel is beautiful with her slender body, but when she does not touch Rapunzel’s hair or when Rapunzel’s hair is cut, her wrinkles show and her curly hair turn to white. According to the directors of the movie, Gothel is designed to be the opposite of Rapunzel. It is strengthened of Gothel’s curly hair as the opposite of Rapunzel flowing hair. Although her appearance is nice, she is still old and depicted to have an intimidating gaze to make Rapunzel obey her rule. Wilson stated in her article titled â€Å"Disney’s Racist Stereotyping and Gender Roles Remain Un-Tangled. Gothel as the opposite of Rapunzel is depicted as dark (2010:1). Unlike Rapunzel who has golden hair and fair skin, Gothel is depicted to have dark hair, to wear dark clothing, and dark skin contrasting with the golden whiteness of Rapunzel. The interesting part in her character is when she starts to be angry to Rapunzel she will say â€Å"Now I am the bad guy. † The usage of â€Å"guy† here is interesting because she is a woman. By these words, we can imply that when she show her masculine power like controls Rapunzel, she will be a bad person and similar as a man or guy. Women should be soft and caring, so when she has to be angry, she considers herself as a guy. Gothel is also really smart and always use her clever for her own good. At the beginning of the story she hides the magical flower for her own good. She uses the flower by herself and she never let anyone to have it. It is shown that she is selfish. When she forgets to hide it and the flower is taken by the kingdom’s guard, she kidnaps Rapunzel and hides her in a tower. She does not want anybody to take the power again from her. Also, she put the Stabbington Brothers against Eugene, so she can have Rapunzel back. Unlike Rapunzel who always stays in the tower without using her powerful hair to run away, Gothel always uses her power for her own good. She is active, the opposite of the ideal woman depiction which is passive like Rapunzel. In short, her cleverness and her uncaring characteristics make her depicted as the villain in this movie. It is then strengthening the image that woman who has masculine power than feminine power will be considered as bad or weird like what happen to Ursula and Gothel. The depiction of good woman and bad woman in both movies has revealed that a woman who has a masculine quality more than feminine quality will be considered as bad. This is the proof that women are required to behave as the society’s perspective as normal. They have to be passive, submissive, defendant, and pure. Welter stated that The Attributes of True Womanhood were judged by society could be divided into four cardinal virtues which are piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity (2008:7). These four cardinal virtues are virtues that exist in Ariel and Rapunzel. Rapunzel and Ariel in both movies are locked in their place to protect them from danger. Their parents protect them by limiting their movement. This phenomenon also happens in reality. Many parents forbid their daughter to go out late, even to go far from their house while boys can easily go out late. They will say that their daughters need more protection than boys. Also, when a woman talks about sex or showing a desire in doing sex, she will be seen as bad and they can lose their purity (virginity) that will be the same as death. As Colette Downing has mentioned in her theory about Cinderella Complex, most women are waiting for their savior which is men (1992:17). By this theory we can conclude that women are dependent and this is what they should do if they want to be considered as the ideal woman or prevent people consider them as weird or bad. This is happen with Rapunzel and Ariel. They are locked inside the tower and the ocean. They tried to escape but they cannot fully escape because there were no men to save them. Both of them actually know that they are stuck in the place that they should not be and they need to see the world. It is seen from the song that they sing in the beginning of the movies. It can imply that both of them know that they are locked from the world and their world is not fulfilled yet. Rapunzel in the beginning of the movie sings the song â€Å"When will my life begin? † In that song, there is a lyric. â€Å"Stuck in the same place I’ve always been. And I keep wondering, wondering, wondering, wondering when will my life begin? † (0:07:04-0:07:15). She sings that song while she is doing jobs like cleaning the house, baking, knitting etc which are rather stereotypical. She has the ability to do other jobs or even go out the tower but she does not do that. She does not use her magical hair to help her out from the tower. She obeys her mother to stay in the tower. Unlike Rapunzel who uses her power to protect Rapunzel, Rapunze chooses to not use her magical hair to escape. She seems to wait her savior until Eugene comes. He frees her from the tower and guide her to the floating lantern. Although Rapunzel always tries to ask Gothel to go out, she still cannot go out. She finally can escape when Eugene comes and brings her to the kingdom. Eugene in here becomes the guide for Rapunzel. Because of Eugene she can get into the kingdom and see the floating lantern. Rapunzel even says that â€Å"For like the first time ever, I’m completely free. † (00:30:26 00:30:33) From this song we can see that Rapunzel never feels free and always feels restricted. From this scene we can conclude that a woman like Rapunzel cannot feel the life by herself. She needs a man to be her guide to live her life. Eugene, who is sent to save Rapunzel has seen the world. He has travelled around the kingdom, while Rapunzel keeps being stuck inside the tower. This is undeniable really strengthening the theory of domestic and public sphere of woman and man. Man is considered in public spaces like working outside and has an adventurous journey, while a woman in domestic space just wait for a man and doing housework like cooking, baking, cleaning and caring. At the beginning of The Little Mermaid, Ariel also sings a song titled â€Å"Part of Your World. † Similar with Rapunzel, Ariel sings that to tell the audience that she wants to be escaped from the ocean. Polanco stated in her paper that â€Å"Part of Your World† is an expression of Ariel’s frustrations hopes and desires (2010:24). Although Ariel has learned many things about the human world from Scuttle, this song also indicates that Ariel still does not know many things about the human world. For example the lyric â€Å"You want thingamabobs? † (0:15:24) Maybe for us Thingamabobs is a strange word but Ariel refers thingamabobs to a set of ship spare parts. Also from the lyric â€Å"I want to be, where the people are. I want to see ‘em dancing. Walking around on those†¦ what do you call them? Oh feet†. (0:15:56-0:16:09). We can also see that Ariel still forgets the term feet to describe the organ for walking. Ariel believes what Scuttle said about the term of the things and it leads to misunderstanding. This can be seen from the dialogue below. Scuttle : â€Å"Oh, Look at this! This is special. This is very, very unusual. † Ariel : â€Å"What? What is it? † Scuttle : â€Å"It is a dinglehopper. Human uses this little babies to straighthen their hair out. † Ariel : â€Å"A dingglehopper†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (The Little Mermaid, 0:09:17-0:09:30) The one that Scuttle means of course not a dinglehopper. It is a fork that we use for eating while Scuttle says that it is a thing for straighten hair. It is completely wrong, but Ariel still believes it because she does not know anything about human’s world. From her face, it is seen that she is amazed by a â€Å"dinglehopper†. This song emphasizes Ariel’depression by the lyric â€Å"What would I give, if I could live out of these waters? † (0:16:39). It shows that she is willing to give anything in order to be able to explore the world. Although she knows that she is trapped in the ocean, she chooses to obey her father and stay in the ocean until Eric comes and needs her help. She needs man to be her motive to escape. In short, Ariel waits for a man to be her savior or her motive to be free. Polanco further explains about the usage of the pronoun your in the title â€Å"Part of Your World†. He stated that your in the title means that there is a dyadic relationship of recognition between bodies that implies an appropriation of one body into a world (2010:30). In short, from the title, we can see that the patriarchal system still happens in here. Who is you in here? You in here can refer to men who has the world. Eric is also depicted as a prince who likes to sail around and has seen the world unlike Ariel who is still limited by her fins to explore the world. She compares the fact that she has fins and human has legs. Ariel’s body encounters resistance to the limitations that she has to face. She really needs someone to free her from the limitation and explore the world. Disney has stated that Tangled is a transitional movie that can bring fresh air to a gender stereotyping princess that has been done by Disney all this time. Even, Disney announces that they will not make another princess movie. Disney from the era of Cinderella (1959) is considered always use typical beauty to depict the princess. The princess is a young girl with flowing long hair, slim and has beautiful figure. Disney’s princess is also really loyal to the rule of femininity like passive, submissive, soft, etc. Tangled is different. This movie has a more adventurous journey between Eugene and Rapunzel and Rapunzel seems stronger than other Disney princesses. She can hit Eugene until he passes out when Eugene comes into her tower quietly. She also interrogates Eugene and ties him up by her hair. Many people think that this is could have been a good sign for a new era of gender stereotyping by Disney. However, if we look at this scene closely, Rapunzel hit Eugene with frying pan. The usage of frying pan in here is stereotypical. A frying pan is a thing from kitchen which is usually considered as women’s place. The choice of frying pan in this movie still consolidating the fact that people cannot be separated completely with gender stereotyping that they get since childhood. As have been mentioned above, Disney has tried so hard to break the gender stereotype that they have created until this time. They change many things to achieve that. However, that is also a small part that is maybe forgotten by Disney. At the end of Tangled, there is a narration by Eugene below. Eugene : â€Å"But I know what the big question is, Did Rapunzel and I ever get married? Well Im pleased to tell you That after years, and years of asking and asking, and asking I finally said yes. † Rapunzel : â€Å"Eugene†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Eugene : â€Å"All right, I asked her† (Tangled, 01:28:11-01:28:29) Eugene narrates that he and Rapunzel get married. He said they get married after he says yes. It rotates the common belief that man is the one who ask for marriage and the woman will answer yes or no. However, it is corrected by the clarifying that he is the one who ask Rapunzel, not the other way around. It is really interesting because although Disney has tried so hard, they still cannot be separated from the fact that gender stereotype is still in their mind. They cannot let the woman becomes the one who proposes the man. They still stick to the conservative rule that man is the one who proposes woman. The Little Mermaid as an old movie also cannot be separated by the patriarchal system. Ariel can be fully free from the ocean kingdom and the tail that restricts her movement is when she is married to Eric. Even, the one who gives her the real and permanent legs is her father, who is a man, not Ursula. Although Ursula has great power, she cannot give permanent legs to Ariel and cannot free Ariel from the ocean. The one who has the real and great power is the man. Also, Ursula as a strong and powerful character at the end has to die because of Eric. Eric as a man who is actually weaker than Ursula –he does not have any power like Ursula- can kill Ursula by his ship. This scene also shows that although a woman is really strong and powerful, man’s power will be above her. Man is still the decision maker. Also, when Ursula said that Ariel can be a human just in three days, the man is still the decision maker. If Ariel cannot get a true love kiss from Eric, she will return to mermaid and her soul belongs to Ursula. Eric is the one who decide whether Ariel becomes a mermaid or a human. Disney has tried to break some stereotype in this movie by depicting Ariel as a rebel and strong character. She can save Eric when his ship sinks. In here Ariel seems superior that Eric since she saves Eric and determines the life or Eric. However, at the end Eric is the one who decide Ariel’s life and her father also plays an important part in Ariel’s transition into human. Ariel has the power to save Eric when his ship sank, but she cannot run from the fate that the one who gives her real human world will be the man. The most obvious scene that strengthens the patriarchal system in this movie is when Ariel trades her voice in order to get legs and becomes human. She leaves her identity as a mermaid. She leaves her place, her tail and her family to get the man. In here we can see that in order to have a man, a woman has to leave her identity. This also happens to most women in the world. They have to leave their family and lives with her husband or lover. Women also lose their identity as soon as they get married. They will be known as someone’s wife or someone’s mother rather than as an individual. The inability to speak with Ariel symbolizes the limitation of women in expressing their opinion. Before 1960s women cannot vote and cannot express their opinion in public space. Although women nowadays are considered free to express their opinion, it is still undeniable that there is a limitation for them to speak. In this scene, Ursula also stated that although Ariel cannot speak and tell Eric everything, she will get Eric by using Ariel’s beautiful figure. By this scene it is implied that the one that appeal men is women’s beauty, not their intelligence. As women cannot speak, they cannot show their intelligence. Of course long flowing hair, slim body and fair skin are the characteristic of beauty that Ursula mentioned. She emphasizes her opinion by her song that title â€Å"Poor Unfortunate Soul†. It is can be seen from the lyric below: â€Å"You†ll have your looks, your pretty face. And don’t underestimate the importance of body language. The men up there don’t like a blabber. They think a girl who gossips is a bore. Yet on land it’s much preferred for ladies not to say a word. And after all dear, what is idle babble for? Come on, they are not all that impressed with conversation. True gentlemen avoid it when they can but they dote and swoon and fawn on a lady who’s withdrawn. It’s she who holds her tongue who gets a man. † (The Little Mermaid, 0:42:05-0:43:28) Those words mean that men love women who talk less since they cannot argue and accept what their husband says. Ursula also shows that physical appearance is the only thing that matters when it comes to love. Lastly, the pattern of Disney’ fairy tales will be ended by marriage of both male and female characters. The statistic from the â€Å"100 years of Magic Disney survey† found that 82. 3 percent of the films show marriage and children as the expected course for couples. It also happened in these movies. Both movies are ended by marriages. Rapunzel marries Eugene and Ariel marries Eric. Marriage ending in both movies indicates that the story of a woman will be ended when they get married. Women’s goal in life is to get married to a man. It is not mentioned how they life after marriage. The audience never knows how Rapunzel and Eugene’s life and how Ariel and Eric’s life after marriage. Do they really live happily ever after? That is not something important anymore. As Pothier mentioned in her journal, the marriage seems to be a grant for women and also the beginning of a new life (2008:60). The tagline â€Å"they live happily ever after† after the marriage scene also emphasizes that the most important point in women’s life will be marriage. If they have been married they will happily ever after. No matter what kind of life that they will face after marriage they will still consider it as happy. In short that the usage of ever after in here is indicating that finding a right man and getting married is the end of female experience of life as she erased her identity when she gets married. Conclusion This paper attempts to highlight hidden gender stereotypes in animations The Little Mermaid and Tangled and reveals the stereotypes to society. The success of the feminist movement is not a guarantee that women can have equal status as men. People are still trapped in gender stereotypes that have been imprinted in their minds since they are young. One mean that make gender stereotypes cannot be separated with human’s perspective is animation movies. The two animation movies have revealed that although the creators have tried to minimize or even erase gender stereotypes in fairy tales, gender stereotypes in the end cannot be separated and it will still be seen. The Little Mermaid and Tangled have shown that gender stereotypes are still exists although both movies are still categorized as new. To answer this issue, both movies were watched two times. The first time was the time for understanding the plot, and the second time was the time for me to take notes about findings that I get after watching the movies. My findings in this paper were compared with Downing’s theory about Cinderella Complex. The conclusion was taken by analyzing both the findings and the theory. After reviewing and analyzing these two movies, both of them have hidden stereotype gender although the creator has tried to break gender stereotypes that have been imprinted in Disney movies. The protagonist in these movies is depicted as the ideal woman as pretty, slim and slender body. On the other hand, the antagonist character in these movies is depicted to have masculine identity that feminine identity. They have the power to regulate the protagonist’s life. Patriarchy still cannot be separated in these movies. Both Ariel and Rapunzel are trapped in their place and cannot see the real world. They show this depression by singing a song at the beginning of their story. Both of them tell us that they have not felt the real world. It is implied that women’s place is in domestic area. The man characters, on the other hand, are really adventurous and have travelled around. It also shows that men’s place is in public space. The women’s character also can be free after the arrival of the man’s character. Later, man will be the guide of woman to explore the world. In these movies, although the woman characters are smart and brave, they still cannot stand by themselves. They need man to free them from their prison. Man will be the decision maker of woman’s life. If a man wants to give legs to them, man will be the one who gives her legs. If a man does not want to take her to see the floating lantern, she will never see the floating lantern. The jobs that they do in the movies are also stereotyped. Rapunzel and Ariel are depicted to have a woman’s job like cleaning the house, etc. Lastly, the happily ever after ending at these movies implies that women’s goal in life is to get married. No one ever knows their life after marriage but it will be still considered as happily ever after. The usage of ever after in here indicates that finding a right man and getting married is women’s goal and it is the end of their experiences of life as they erase her identity when she gets married. This paper explains about hidden gender stereotypes in The Little Mermaid and Tangled. This paper is limited to the depiction of good woman and bad woman in the movies and patriarchal system that still can be seen in the movie although it has been tried to be hidden. After conducting research in this article, there are some interesting and important points that are not included because of the limitation of paper and topic. The first is a comparison between man’s and woman’s depiction in animation movie. In this paper, I only focus on woman’s depictions. The comparison is important since people need to know how gender stereotypes affect the man’s depiction. Further research about man’s depiction is no doubt needed and can be further explained. The second important point is about the relation between gender stereotypes in movies and in reality. How do gender stereotypes in movie affect people’s life? Further research about it is absolutely needed to answer that question.

The Russian Revolution by Sheila Fitzpatrick

The Russian Revolution by Sheila Fitzpatrick Fitzpatrick, Sheila. 2008. The Russian Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press is a book exploring the Russian Revolution: 1917 – 1932. I have chosen this book for analysis in order to improve my knowledge of that historic period and get better understanding of the essence, causes and aims of the Revolution.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The Russian Revolution by Sheila Fitzpatrick specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The second reason for my choice was that I wanted to examine new approaches to the issue and develop my critical thinking as this book provides a new perspective and new aspects of the historical events. It is a sort of reading for those who are critical about history and want to develop personal opinion independent from a generally accepted point of view. In addition, the book is not very long, but rich in content and provides not only general information, but details of that historical per iod. What is more, the book is easy to read. The topic of the book is Russian Revolution, its aims, purposes, causes, consequences and flow. There are different approaches to the time period that can be considered revolutionary. The author of this book defines the following frames: â€Å"The timespan of the Russian Revolution runs from February 1917 to the Great Purge of 1937-8. The different stages – the February and October Revolutions of 1917, the Civil War, the interlude of NEP, Stalin’s â€Å"revolution from above†, its aftermath and the Great Purges – are treated as district episodes in a twenty-year process of revolution† (Fitzpatrick 2008, 4). The book consists of chapters which contain comprehensive and critical analysis of each period supported by various historiographical references. Three major themes of the Russian Revolution are discussed in each chapter. The first theme is the Bolsheviks’ vision of the revolution as a mean of modernization of the society. Fitzpatrick defines the goal of Bolsheviks as â€Å"revolution as a means of escaping backwardness.† (Fitzpatrick 2008, 4). The second major theme is the class theme: revolution as the â€Å"mission of proletariat† to create a new working class. The third team discloses the problem of violence and terror that took place in the country.Advertising Looking for report on eastern europe? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The author provides the information on how Revolution â€Å"dealt with its enemies† (that often were innocent people), what meaning it had for the government and why the government was so afraid of those â€Å"enemies†. The author presents the Revolution as a set of agitations and recurrences. She describes the results of the Revolution as positive to a certain extent. The Stalin’s Revolution extended the direct state over the economy and gre atly improved the economic state of the country. Fitzpatrick states that Russian peasants were more progressive than in the rest of the Western Europe, as a consequence, they formed a new class of workers. The Stalin’s Revolution provided new and productive ways of exploiting peasant agriculture. The state was strong and â€Å"disciplined†. However, the author emphasizes the price of that power: â€Å"The persecution of â€Å"class enemies† in collectivization and the Cultural Revolution had left a complex legacy of bitterness, fear, and suspicion, as well as encouraging such practices as denunciation, purging, and â€Å"self-criticism† (Fitzpatrick 2008, 148). We can consider this book a highly reliable source of information, as its author, Sheila Fitzpatrick, is a renowned specialist in the field of the Soviet History. She made a great contribution to the study of Soviet History, as well as modern Russian history. Among her recent publications are Ever yday Stalinism (2000), Tear of the Mask! Identity and Imposture in Twentieth-Century Russia (2005). Her works primarily focus on the social and cultural history of Russia of the Stalin period. Her biography is rich in awards, among which is a Mellon Foundation Distinguished Achievement Award. She is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her works are not a mere description of events and personalities. She provides her vision of the problem or historical event which is based on archive materials and researches by other Western authors. The book is also very interesting to read as the author has a particular approach to the subject discussed. First of all, the author provides the idea that Russian society was not ready for revolution and that Russian Revolution of 1917 was a â€Å"contradiction† to the idea of Marx’s revolution. The citizens were the rural peasants who were industrial workers and they were more willing for a revolt than Marx expecte d them to be.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The Russian Revolution by Sheila Fitzpatrick specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Another Fitzpatrick’s idea that generally contradicts a commonly accepted point of view that October Revolution contributed strength and discipline to the organization of the state. The author argues this point of view. She states that Provisional Government decided to â€Å"intransigent radicalism on the extreme left of the political spectrum† (Fitzpatrick 2008, 48) and could be seen by people as the only not corrupted part. The capture of power by Bolsheviks was just the first step of the Revolution. The next step was a Civil War that had a great influence on the flow of it and on the establishment of the Soviet power. However, the author does not try to persuade the reader in her point of view, she only presents facts and provides her assumptions. The task of the reader is to develop personal vision of the historical events and it not necessary should coincide with the author’s. The author assumes that: â€Å"For Russians and other former soviet citizens, the collapse of the Soviet Union meant a fundamental reappraisal of the meaning of the Revolution, previously hailed as the foundational event of the â€Å"world’s first social state† and now seen by many as a wrong turning that took Russia off course for seventy-four years† (Fitzpatrick 2008, 4). The author generally accepts this vision and analyzes the most important changes from the historical perspective. As the author used new document that became available after 1991, her vision of the Revolution has changed in some aspects. Outlining some positive sides of it, the author emphasizes the mistakes that were done. She supports her point of view with convincing evidences and analysis of works by other authors. Having read this book, I developed a bit different vision on the Russian Revolution. I can come to a conclusion that people were not ready for it and the actions that government undertook were contradictory to those suggested by Marx as people did not understand the essence of Revolution.Advertising Looking for report on eastern europe? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More As a result, the idea of revolution â€Å"to put power into hand of the working class† failed and all people got was just another government which tried to build new society subordinate to new rules. However, in general the book does not present different information, it just adds new details and evidences to what have already been studied. It is a good book for those who want a critique vision of the history. Reference List Fitzpatrick, Sheila. 2008. The Russian Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press.

The Freedmens Bureau - Agency to Assist Former Slaves

The Freedmen's Bureau - Agency to Assist Former Slaves The Freedmens Bureau was created by the U.S. Congress near the end of the Civil War as an agency to deal with the enormous humanitarian crisis brought about by the war. Throughout the South, where most of the fighting had taken place, cities and towns were devastated. The economic system was virtually nonexistent, railroads had been destroyed, and farms had been neglected or destroyed. And four million recently freed slaves were faced with new realities of life. On March 3, 1865, the Congress created the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Commonly known as the Freedmens Bureau, its original charter was for one year, though it was reorganized within the war department in July 1866. The Goals of the Freedmens Bureau The Freedmens Bureau was envisioned as an agency wielding enormous power over the South. An editorial in the New York Times published on February 9, 1865, when the original bill for the creation of the bureau was being introduced in Congress, said the proposed agency would be: ... a separate department, responsible alone to the President, and supported by military power from him, to take charge of the abandoned and forfeited lands of the rebels, settle them with freedmen, guard the interests of these latter, aid in adjusting wages, in enforcing contracts, and in protecting these unfortunate people from injustice, and securing them their liberty. The task before such an agency would be immense. The four million newly freed blacks in the South were mostly uneducated and illiterate (as a result of laws regulating slavery), and a major focus of the Freedmens Bureau would be setting up schools to educate former slaves. An emergency system of feeding the population was also an immediate problem, and food rations would be distributed to the starving. It has been estimated that the Freedmens Bureau distributed 21 million food rations, with five million being given to white southerners. The program of redistributing land, which was an original goal for the Freedmens Bureau was thwarted by presidential orders. The promise of Forty Acres and a Mule, which many freedmen believed they would receive from the U.S. government, went unfulfilled. General Oliver Otis Howard Was Commissioner of the Freedmens Bureau The man chose to head the Freemens Bureau, Union General Oliver Otis Howard, was a graduate of Bowdoin College in Maine as well as the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Howard had served throughout the Civil War, and lost his right arm in combat at the Battle of Fair Oaks, in Virginia, in 1862. While serving under Gen. Sherman during the famous March to the Sea in late 1864, Gen. Howard witnessed the many thousands of former slaves who followed Shermans troops on the advance through Georgia. Knowing of his concern for the freed slaves, President Lincoln had chosen him to be the first commissioner of the Freedmens Bureau (though Lincoln was assassinated before the job was officially offered). General Howard, who was 34 years old when he accepted the position at the Freedmens Bureau, got to work in the summer of 1865. He quickly organized the Freedmens Bureau into geographical divisions to oversee the various states. A U.S. Army officer of high rank was usually placed in charge of each division, and Howard was able to request personnel from the Army as needed. In that respect the Freedmens Bureau was a powerful entity, as its actions could be enforced by the U.S. Army, which still had a considerable presence in the South. The Freedmens Bureau Was Essentially the Government in the Defeated Confederacy When the Freedmens Bureau began operations, Howard and his officers had to essentially set up a new government in the states that had made up the Confederacy. At the time, there were no courts and virtually no law. With the backing of the U.S. Army, the Freedmens Bureau was generally successful in establishing order. However, in the late 1860s there were eruptions of lawlessness, with organized gangs, including the Ku Klux Klan, attacking blacks and whites affiliated with the Freedmens Bureau. In Gen. Howards autobiography, which he published in 1908, he devoted a chapter to the struggle against the Ku Klux Klan. Land Redistribution Did Not Happen As Intended One area in which the Freedmens Bureau did not live up to its mandate was in the area of distributing land to former slaves. Despite the rumors that families of freedmen would receive forty acres of land to farm, the lands which would have been distributed were instead returned to those who had owned the land before the Civil War by order of President Andrew Johnson. In Gen. Howards autobiography he described how he personally attended a meeting in Georgia in late 1865 at which he had to inform former slaves who had been settled onto farms that the land was being taken away from them. The failure to set former slaves up on their own farms condemned many of them to lives as impoverished sharecroppers. The Educational Programs of the Freedmens Bureau Were a Success A major focus of the Freedmens Bureau was the education of former slaves, and in that area it was generally considered a success. As many slaves had been forbidden to learn to read and write, there was a widespread need for literacy education. A number of charitable organizations set up schools, and the Freedmens Bureau even arranged for textbooks to be published. Despite incidents in which teachers were attacked and schools burned in the South, hundreds of schools were opened in the late 1860s and early 1870s. General Howard had a great interest in education, and in the late 1860s he helped to found Howard University in Washington, D.C., a historically black college which was named in his honor. Legacy of the Freedmens Bureau Most of the work of the Freedmens Bureau ended in 1869, except for its educational work, which continued until 1872. During its existence, the Freedmens Bureau was criticized for being an enforcement arm of the Radical Republicans in Congress. Virulent critics in the South condemned it constantly. And employees of the Freedmens Bureau were at times physically attacked and even murdered. Despite the criticism, the work the Freedmens Bureau accomplished, especially in its educational endeavors, was necessary, especially considering the dire situation of the South at the end of the war.

Poetry Richard Cory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Poetry Richard Cory - Essay Example ... rhyme scheme is suggestive of the meaning behind the poem-that you cannot know what somebody is like inside just from the outer appearances. The rhythm of the stanzas, as well as the light tone that the poem starts in, are not at all foretelling of what is to come in the last stanza, unless if one employs irony and listens to the foreboding that this poem seems too light to be taken at face value. Thus the rhythm of the poem-regular, perfect grammatical stanzas, and the rhyme scheme which follows in an orderly way, seem to show the outside perfection of Richard Cory's life. However, only the last two stanzas give away (what goes on in) his inner life, and this is in sharp contrast to the outside appearances, in fact, completely contrary to the seeming perfection. The second stanza describes Richard Cory's behavior in a social sense, and more of his effect upon other people. The third stanza describes his social standing and his position, and we see him as a very wealthy man. But he is also "schooled in every grace", which makes him somewhat of a hero figure, as he is not only rich and handsome, but also of a fine mind and fine manners. Thus up to the end of the third stanza, what we as readers are offered is this description of Richard Cory, in which we see him as a bright character, and almost like a model citizen in a way. ... This is also a general opinion of other townspeople of him. So up to this point the poem's beauty seems to be in perfectly lined up, almost symmetrical sentences, told in a style that is almost classical in its simplicity and elegance. The focus is on detail in the description of this character. Thus we see elegant expressions such as "imperially slim", "quietly arrayed", and further-"he was always human when he talked". Finally, at the end of third stanza, Robinson concludes the detailed true-to-life description by saying: "In fine, we thought that he was everything/ To make us wish that we were in his place". Note that he says: "[W]e thought", and not another verb of more certainty such as "we knew" for example. It is still not obvious to the reader that a tragedy will follow, but the choice of verb here underlines the fact that appearances do not have to be true to what is going inside of a person. The last stanza suddenly gives us more insight into the socio-economic position of the narrator, as well as the other townspeople: "So on we worked, and waited for the light,/ And went without the meat, and cursed the bread". Thus it is now established that the narrator, as well as most of the townspeople, are poor, in contrast to the wealthy and successful Richard Cory. Finally, the poem ends: " And Richard Cory, one quiet summer night,/ Went home and put a bullet through his head." Note the perfectly grammatical, symmetrical sentences in this stanza, and the orderly rhyme scheme-ghgh. The perfect symmetry of this poem is ironic in contrast to the internal chaos that is shown through Richard Cory's sudden suicide. However, there is not much emotion shown from the narrator with regards to Richard Cory's

The war on Polio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The war on Polio - Essay Example President Roosevelt thereby established the Warm Springs Foundation; a polio hydrotherapy center. The organization grew rapidly since it received much support and funding from several sectors. At the time of Roosevelt’s death in 1945, the foundation had already been transformed into the National Foundation which had become a strong organization dealing with voluntary health issues and funding polio research in the United States. In 1948, a significant discovery was made in the United States in relation to the fight against polio. The discovery was made by John Enders with a team of scientists from Harvard University. It was discovered that the virus which caused polio could be cultivated in the non-nervous tissues of the body. This important breakthrough led to the subsequent manufacture of the Polio vaccine. Jonas Salk took a keen interest in this realization and created the formalin-inactive virus that became known as the Salk’s vaccine. Before its release into the ma rket, the vaccine underwent very intensive trials and authorizations in a bid to ensure that it could safely and effectively immunize people against the polio virus. Even though other vaccines became accepted for use against the Polio virus, the Salk vaccine was largely adopted in the United States in the fight against the disease. For instance, Albert Sabin came up with an Oral Poliovirus Vaccine (OPV) in 1948 which was extensively used across the world throughout the next two decades. The OPV eventually ousted Salk’s IPV as the choice vaccine in the United States. This was basically out of the fact that OPV was administered orally and not through injection. Secondly, OPV used a powerful mechanism called â€Å"herd immunity† which could effectively provide immunity to unvaccinated people living near those already vaccinated. Even though the challenge of polio was much addressed in the United States, there was still the danger of the virus since frequent epidemics were a common occurrence in many parts of North Africa and Europe in the post-World War II days. In the mid-1950s the two vaccines effectively helped in combating the menace hitherto realized as a result of the polio virus (Orr 78). IPV and OPV have eradicated most cases of polio from several regions across the world. It must be admitted that the fight against polio is one of the most successful battles ever launched in the history of medicine and healthcare. In the developed world like the United States, it can effectively be stated that polio is no longer a great challenge compared to some of the emerging healthcare issues. However in certain parts of the world, polio is still a major challenge given the remoteness of these areas which limits their accessibility to the polio vaccines. In any case, the few cases of polio normally reported in the United States are basically imported from the developing world where the disease could still be a challenge. The war against polio might not h ave been a really smooth affair throughout the long timeframe. Many challenges always characterized the undertaking from the onset of the research on the vaccines. These challenges range from the post-polio syndrome to the financial aspects in dealing with the challenge in the developing world. Nevertheless, amid all these limitations, it can be well argued that the research

Organizational Psychology Essay Example for Free

Organizational Psychology Essay An employee of a certain company responsible for fueling company vehicles was given a credit card for the purpose of paying bills after fueling the vehicles. One night after all the companys vehicles were all packed, the employee decided to fuel his friends cars and pay using the companys credit card. The employer had asked him why he acted unprofessionally but the employee found nothing wrong with using the credit card to pay bills that did not belong to the company. When the employer consulted other professionals about his employees case, he was advised to do a psychology test on his employee. In Kenote town, a policeman was reported to have shot and killed seven people in a restaurant after he was insulted by a group of people in the restaurant, among them his friends. When the employer was questioned about his mental status and whether he had undergone any psychological testing, the employer said that the policeman looked intelligent and had other required qualifications, so there was no need for a psychological test. Organizations undergo various problems due to lack of psychological testing as well as practicing it. In some cases, workers feel it is infringing their privacy. The management of an organization should be very kin on the type of people they employ. Determining the peoples ability, intelligence or attainment requires a standard procedure which is the tests procedures. Different organizations perform different duties or have different objectives therefore will have some different specific areas of assessment. Psychological Tests  These are tests obtained from a prepared standardized procedure used to assess the mental status of a person as compared to the normal mental status in order to determine a persons intelligence and ability. This is mostly done through asking questions then assessing the responses. The importance of psychological tests is that they provide a means of measuring the abilities and characteristics of an individual (Armstrong, 2006). These tests are used by managers to determine the employee competence and morale and for reliable management training. Some professional ethics do not accept these kind of tests and view them as invasive to human rights while some of them go against the labor laws that protect employees from being used for experiments. When conducting some of these tests, the employee acts as a laboratory animal since the tests are done on him (ODonohue and Ferguson 2003). There are five types of psychological tests. Intelligence psychological tests, personality psychological tests, aptitude psychological tests, ability psychological tests, and attainment psychological tests (Armstrong, 2006). Intelligence tests are use to determine the general thinking and reasoning of an individual and personality tests are used to predict the behavior of a person in the role that he/she will be given or is given at the time. The use of psychological tests A good psychological test is one with sensitivity, reliability, standardization and validity characteristics. When selecting a test to use, these characteristics should be considered, for the outcome of the assessment to be of quality (Armstrong, 2006). There are basic standards for psychological tests use which are based on a formal psychometric assessment. This formal psychometric assessment should have an administrative and scoring manual with the scoring characteristics and points, it should show evidence of being reliable, should be valid for the purpose to which it is being conducted and to the people it is being conducted on, and should have a reference group data (Toplis et al. , 2004). The use of psychological tests requires that the test protocols be used by only professionals, the psychologists or if one would like to use them, then he/she must be certified to have the capability of using the tests and then authorized to do so (Toplis et al. 2004). This is based on the acquisition of the psychological tests. The tests are acquired on permission from the authors, copy right holders and distributors. It is therefore unethical to copy write or photocopy the psychological tests standards be it the psychometric assessments or the psychometric questionnaires. On the psychological tests security, the storage should be done according to the administrative, scoring and interpretation requirements. Assessment too should be done according to the same procedure as storage. There are access and storage policies that protect the tests such as not interfering with the ethical purpose of testing, and policies on what range of errors are accepted in the scoring and interpretation of the tests, in order to maintain the validity (Toplis et al. , 2004). The period to which a record should be kept is decided by a psychologist based on certain factors. The factors are such as the clients requests, acting professionally to abide by professional accountability and legislative factors. Psychological Tests Confidentiality and tests Results  Professional ethics indicate that it is the responsibility of a psychologist to inform the people being tested or the people to undergo a certain psychological test, of the terms and conditions regarding confidentiality of the testing situation. It is also their responsibility to control the access to the psychological test protocols. It is always the psychologist contracted by a manager in most cases to conduct a test on an employee. The psychologist has all the responsibility to keep the results or release them based on the terms and conditions agreed upon by the employer (Toplis et al. 2004). In case of a government facility, the release of reports are according to legislative acts on information. Governments have different systems in different facilities so the information release will also depend on the type of facility and the system while considering the legislation on the freedom of information. The systems have different application procedures for release of information. Psychological testing and Labor law. Labor law requires employers to adhere to good labor market practice rule. In psychological testing, there are no legislations that apply to the personality tests, though there are areas that the test can be considered invalid. An example of a case where a psychological test can be considered invalid is when it has exclusionary effects on women. This can be treated a sex discrimination case. Psychological testing is considered as a matter of employee privacy and there are rules to be followed before an employer or a manager decides on psychological testing on an employee (International Labor, 1993). According to the International Labor Office report (1993) the initial step is for an employer to negotiate with a local trade union on the psychological test the employer intends to conduct on his/her employees. The trade union and the employer must come to an agreement, failure to which the trade union must give the reasons for refusal in writing and submit proposals of terminating negotiations within ten days. Fresh negotiations can only be done on the trade unions proposal and if no agreement is made then the employer cannot impose the psychological test until review by the national trade union (International Labor, 1993). Conclusion Employers/managers need psychological testing to determine the ability and the competency of those that they want to employ or those that they have employed. Some of the psychological tests are not accepted by the trade unions and are considered as infringing the privacy of the employee. The employers have to abide by the labor law requirements and trade union rules to make sure they are not in problems. The managers themselves cannot conduct the tests, they have to look for professionals in that field as that is what is ethically considered right. All these are discussed in this paper.

Death: Friend Or Foe? :: essays research papers

It is just a fact we all must die! Some of us are afraid of the uncertainty that death brings. Therefore, it is regarded as an enemy, a tragedy, and the unavoidable downside of life. Others live day by day knowing that death will come, but they have no fear. They are not in a hurry to meet him, but are making preparations for the encounter. Myself, now that I am old, will be looking forward to the place that I will be going to spend my eternity. I am an eternal being you know. I have heard it is a place I can happily anticipate. I?fm glad because I am very old and feeble. I am ninety-five years old and it is time, death has crept in on me. I have never welcomed an unannounced stranger especially at night. This was our first encounter, yet I knew he was a friend. I was just getting ready for bed when it happened. Now, I have to remind you that I did not know that it was time to die. I just lay down and that was the last time I would ever hear my children?fs voice, or see the sun rise or set. But you see I have lived a full life and I am looking forward to going to the place that I have wanted to be all my adult life. I have to say I did not know about it when I was a child. It would have saved me a lot of excess worry if I had. But I did all that I knew how to do while I lived here on earth. My life on earth seems like such a short time when I?fm about to experience eternity. Somewhere in the still of the night, my being, my very soul seemed to just float about my house. I am calling my body my house because I am leaving it behind. I left it right there still, cold, and lifeless. When I opened up my eyes I stood in front of a gate. This was no ordinary gate; it was made of pearl, one huge pearl, and the likes of which no man has ever seen. It opened as if by magic, but actually I was invited to come in. The light of this city was so bright and pure that it seemed to bring with it a flood of peace.

Educational Preparation in Nursing Essay

With a consistent change in modernizing medicine, along with the continuing advancement in technology, continuing education in nursing is essential for a variety of reasons. The nurse’s main concern is providing safe, efficient, and effective patient care with positive patient outcomes. This paper will examine the differences in competencies between nurses prepared at an associate-degree level versus a baccalaureate-degree level, in order to provide an evidenced-based understanding of the variation in the educational preparation of nurses. An associate-degree nursing program usually takes place over the course of a two year period, providing the nurse with the confidence in skills and knowledge to be placed in an entry-level position upon graduation. These types of programs focus on preparing nurses for care settings including community hospitals and long-term care facilities—and were traditionally designed to compensate for the nursing shortage. A bachelor-degree nursing program typically takes place over a period of four academic years; and is intended to prepare its graduates to practice nursing in leadership and management positions in a number of care settings (Creasia & Friberg, 2011, pp 25-27). A bachelor-degree program in nursing provides a further understand of not only the scientific and clinical nursing education, but also a more in-depth overview of specialized skills including: critical thinking, decision-making, communication, leadership, case management, and health promotion (The Impact of Educati on on Nursing Practice, 2012, para. 1). The American Association of Colleges of Nursing describes evidenced-based recommendations that explain that in order to â€Å"respond to the demands of an evolving health care system and meet the changing needs of patients, nurses must achieve higher levels of education (Fact Sheet: Creating a More Highly Qualified Nursing Workforce, 2012, para. 5).† The professional nurse holding a baccalaureate-level degree is prepared for a broader role in patient care with a higher understanding of holistic treatment, community health, clinical research, and nursing leadership and management. The added course work provided in a baccalaureate program is designed to prepare the nurse for a broader scope of practice and a better understand of issues that affect patients and their health care, including: cultural, economic, political, and social issues. â€Å"Nurses with Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degrees are well-prepared to meet the demands placed on today’s nurse (The Impa ct of Education on Nursing Practice, 2012, para 1).† Patient outcome are the principal for continuing education. The level of educational preparation required by a baccalaureate-degree nurse allows for more equip decision-making in approach to patient care situations. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, In the October 2012 edition of Medical Care researchers from the University of Pennsylvania found that surgical patients in Magnet hospitals had 14% lower odds of inpatient death within 30 days and 12% lower odds of failure-to-rescue compared with patients cared for in non-Magnet hospitals. The study authors conclude that these better outcomes were attributed in large part to investments in highly qualified and educated nurses, including a higher proportion of baccalaureate prepared nurses. (Fact Sheet: Creating a More Highly Qualified Nursing Workforce, 2012, para. 9) With â€Å"Magnet† indicating a higher portion of baccalaureate nursing staff, it is determined that the nurse prepared at a bachelore-degree level is better prepared to approach a patient care situation with the capability of taking immediate action to provide better patient outcomes, than that of a nurse prepared at the associate-degree level. This goes to show that higher education has a strong impact on nursing practice. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, a better educated nursing workforce will improve patient safety and enhance nursing care, decreasing mortality rate—as there is a significant correlation between nurses educated at a bachelor-degree level and lower patient death rates (Fact Sheet: Creating a More Highly Qualified Nursing Workforce, 2012). Through this research it is apparent that there is a significant connection between patient health care outcomes and the educational preparation of nurses. It is now established that the nurse prepared at a baccalaureate level is more readily capable of caring for critically ill patients; working in situations requiring critical thinking, leadership, and decision-making; and also taking roles in clinical aspects relevant to non-hospital settings. â€Å"Researchers have identified improved patient safety and lower rates of patient morbidity and mortality; lower levels of medication errors and procedural violations; and fewer disciplinary actions for BSNs (Altmann, 2012, para 4).† The need to continue education in nursing is on-going in order to continue to keep up with the changes in technology, advances in medicine, and to provide the best patient care. The Grand Canyon University Philosophy for nursing education explains: Baccalaureate nursing practice incorporates the roles of assessing, critical thinking, communicating, providing care, teaching, and leading. The caring professional approach includes the values of autonomy, altruism, human dignity, integrity and social justice with unconditional regard for all people. Nursing practice includes health promotion, disease prevention, early detection of health deviations, prompt and adequate treatment of the human response to acute and chronic illness, and compassionate care for those experiencing death. (Philosophy, n.d., para. 8) It is essential to maintain competency in nursing practice through the pursuit of continuing education. The difference between educational levels involves clinical competencies in a variety of settings, decision-making skills, leadership roles, job opportunities, and most importantly overall patient outcomes. In order to provide the best care for patients, a higher education, and continuing increase in knowledge is essential. References Altmann, T. K. (2012). Nurses’ attitudes toward continuing formal education: A comparison by level of education and geography. Nursing Education Perspectives, 33(2), 80-4. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1009642651?accountid=7374 Creasia, J. L., & Friberg, E. (2011). Conceptual Foundations: The Bridge to Professional Nursing Practice [5] (VitalSource Bookshelf), Retrieved from http://pageburstls.elsevier.com/books/978-0-323-06869-7/id/B9780323068697100029_p0150 Fact sheet: Creating a more highly qualified nursing workforce. (2012, October 24). Retrieved November 8, 2012, from American Association of Colleges of Nursing:

Procedures in Making the Soap Out of Pineapple Peel Essay

Last month, I and my group decided to pick â€Å"Pineapple skin extract as soap† as our I.P title yet we are unaware of the things that might come our way. We are planning to conduct an experiment tomorrow using the procedures that we guess will work.We have separate procedures for our ingredients: For our pineapple skin extract 1)Cut the pineapple skin into one-inch squares with a sharp knife. 2)Put the pineapple skins in a pot. Add water until the skins are barely covered. 3)Cover the pot with a lid and put it on the stove at medium-high heat. Allow the water to boil for 20 minutes. 4)Remove the pot from the stove. Strain the mixture through a strainer. Discard the skins and put the liquid in a clean container. 5)Cover the container and keep it in the refrigerator. For our lye 1. Get the ingredients and equipments ready: You would need the following things to try your hand at making lye: two plastic buckets (a small one and a large one ? The small one should fit into the large one in such a way that liquid from the small one drips slowly into the large one); some fresh ash from burning hard wood (you can even burn some hard wood to get this); gallons of rain water and a handful of straw. Now to the step-by-step process: 2. Make a few holes in the small bucket. Better if the holes are tiny enough to allow only liquid stuff through. Check after you make holes by pouring some water through the bucket. 3. Now set the small bucket inside the large bucket. See to it that there is some space between the base of the small bucket and the large one. This is important as liquid should drip through holes drop by drop and not smudge the bottom of the small bucket. 4. Place the straw you have inside the small bucket and hide the holes with the straw. Lye water, when formed, will seep through the holes only through the straw. This would prevent other hard blocks of wood or ash from collecting directly into the large bucket. 5. Now place the wood ash above the straw and pour cold water over it. Ensure that the ash is above the straw and not directly near the holes. The straw base will act as a filter and prevent wood ash from flowing down with water. 6. As you pour the water slowly, you will see liquid lye dripping through the holes in the small bucket and getting collected in the large bucket. 7. Once all the water is poured onto ash, repeat the process with the liquid collected in the large bucket. Pour the collected lye solution onto the wood ash (above the straw) once again. Repeat and recycle the lye solution at least three times. This is done to concentrate the lye solution. 8. After repeating the process, you can collect the lye solution from the large bucket and store it in another plastic or wooden container and use it in soap making. Avoid metal utensils as it can result in increase in temperature of lye. 9. Before storing lye, test its strength. In olden days, people tested lye with fresh egg. If a fresh egg floats near the surface of the solution with a little lye water above it, your lye is of right strength. If the same egg drowned, your lye lacks strength. If the egg floated above the solution, then it is too strong. 10. If your lye lacks strength, add more wood ash and repeat the process with the same solution. If it is too strong, add water and check the strength with the egg again. You can keep adding water till you are certain that your lye is of the appropriate strength.

Chokepoints Definition and Explanation

Chokepoints Definition and Explanation There are approximately 200 straits (narrow bodies of water connecting two larger bodies of water) or canals around the world but only a handful are known as chokepoints. A chokepoint is a strategic strait or canal which could be closed or blocked to stop sea traffic (especially oil). This type of aggression could surely cause an international incident. For centuries, straits such as Gibraltar have been protected by international law as points through which all nations may pass. In 1982 the Law of Sea Conventions further protected the international access for nations to sail through straits and canals and even ensured that these passageways are available as aviation routes for all nations. Gibraltar This strait between the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean has the United Kingdoms tiny Gibraltar Colony as well as Spain on the north and Morocco and a small Spanish colony on the south. United States warplanes were forced to fly over the strait (as protected by the 1982 conferences) when attacking Libya in 1986 since France would not allow the U.S. to pass through French airspace. Several times in our planets history, Gibraltar was blocked by geologic activity and water could not flow between the Mediterranean and Atlantic so the Mediterranean dried up. Layers of salt at the bottom of the sea attest to this having occurred. Panama Canal Completed in 1914, the 50-mile long Panama Canal links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, reducing the length of the journey between the east and west coasts of the United States by 8000 nautical miles. About 12,000 ships pass through the Central American canal each year. The United States retains control of the 10-mile wide Canal Zone until the year 2000 when the canal is turned over to the Panamanian government. Strait of Magellan Before the Panama Canal was completed, boats traveling between the U.S. coasts were forced to round the tip of South America. Many travelers risked disease and death by attempting to cross the dangerous isthmus in Central America and catch another boat to their destination to keep from sailing the extra 8000 miles. During the California Gold Rush in the mid-19th century there were many regular trips between the east coast and San Francisco. The Strait of Magellan lies just north of the southern tip of South America and is surrounded by Chile and Argentina. Strait of Malacca Located in the Indian Ocean, this strait is a shortcut for oil tankers traveling between the Middle East and the oil-dependent nations of the Pacific Rim (especially Japan). Tankers pass through this strait bordered by Indonesia and Malaysia. Bosporus and Dardanelles Bottlenecks between the Black Sea (Ukrainian ports) and the Mediterranean Sea, these chokepoints are surrounded by Turkey. The Turkish city of Istanbul is adjacent to the Bosporus in the northeast and the southeast strait is the Dardanelles. Suez Canal The 103 mile long Suez Canal is located entirely within Egypt and it is the only sea route between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. With Middle East tension, the Suez Canal is a prime target for many nations. The canal was completed in 1869 by French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps. The British took control of the canal and Egypt from 1882 until 1922. Egypt nationalized the canal in 1956. During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel seized control of the Sinai Desert directly east of the canal but relinquished control in exchange for peace. Strait of Hormuz This chokepoint became a household term during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. The Strait of Hormuz is another critical point in the lifeline flow of oil from the Persian Gulf area. This strait is closely monitored by the U.S. military and its allies. The strait connects the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea (part of the Indian Ocean) and is surrounded by Iran, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. Bab el Mandeb Located between the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, the Bab el Mandeb is a bottleneck for sea traffic between the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean. It is surrounded by Yemen, Djibouti, and Eritrea.