Domestic Violence Essay Essay Example for Free

Domestic Violence Essay Essay Domestic violence is defined as acts of physical and/or psychological violence committed by one partner or on to another. Though committed by both sexes, men commit the majority of domestic violence acts. While efforts have been made to prevent men from engaging in domestic violence, these efforts have yet to make a major effect on the rates of violence against women. This is because these efforts often involve reversing long-held cultural and societal beliefs. Given this situation, violence against women will likely continue despite best efforts to decrease women’s vulnerability to such acts unless male risk factors and protective factors are addressed. While general risk factors exist, such as age and familiarity with the person, the majority of perpetrators have adopted behaviors, either learned behaviors or societal beliefs that increase their likelihood of committing domestic violence. Previous acts of violence against women is often the biggest predictor of whether or not a man will commit an act of violence. For example, men who commit rape are likely to have done so multiple times. That’s why individuals with a history of physical violence are more likely to commit future acts. Men who hold traditional gender role beliefs, (men as breadwinners; women should stay at home) and adapt to masculine norms (men need to be self-reliant; have power over women) are more likely to commit violence against women. Men who commit acts of domestic violence are likely to have experienced acts of violence against themselves, so they redirect their abuse to another. A large portion of these men also experienced abuse as a child, so they grow up thinking this behavior is acceptable. On the other hand, there are protective factors that can reduce the chance of men committing domestic violence. There are not many ways of decreasing the chance of domestic violence, but there are some. Some of the most common would be: changing social norms that turn away from or support violence against women (either through community intervention or public education), and/or by creating more stability in low-income communities, since there is a connection between violence and social problems (poverty, substance abuse, etc. )

Miscarriage of Justice Essay -- sensational criminal trials

Arguably three of the most sensational criminal trials in American history are the Commonwealth vs. Borden, California vs. Simpson and Los Angeles vs. Rodney King. All three of these cases received unprecedented amounts of media attention and verdicts from the jury that shocked the country. In my opinion justice, especially social and moral justice, was not achieved in these trials. Social class, race and gender all had a huge impact on the jury’s decisions in each of these cases. High priced defense attorneys were able to place reasonable doubt in the minds of the jurors despite the substantial amount of evidence proving the seemingly obvious guilt of Borden, Simpson and the Los Angeles Police department. This paper will focus on these criminal trials and the fact that justice or moral rightness was not achieved by the outcome of the jury verdicts. The trial of Lizzie Borden, in June of 1893, captivated the nation. It was covered extensively in newspapers throughout the country probably, in part, because it was extremely rare for a woman to commit a horrific act such as the one she was accused of. Being from a wealthy family that outwardly seemed happy and normal, made it very difficult for people to believe that a woman with her background could be responsible for the bludgeoning death of her father Andrew Borden, a predominate member of town, and her stepmother Abby Borden. The police, however, came to the conclusion that the Borden’s murderer must have been someone within the home since the house was otherwise untouched, nothing was missing and there was no sign of any commotion. The only person having both the motive and opportunity to commit these murders was Thirty three year old Lizzie Borden. Here are some intriguing fa... ...ing was awarded a 3.8 million dollar settlement. This case, however, will surely haunt the LAPD indefinitely and caused further contention between an already distrusting, leery minority population and law enforcement. In conclusion, these extraordinary criminal trials hold their place in history as some of the most palpable miscarriages of justice. In all three cases, it is almost impossible to comprehend the enormity of the evidence convicting each of the defendants. These trials prove that people’s intrinsic preconceived notions regarding the way in which certain people are apt to behave can have more of an influence on an individual’s opinion than solid evidence. I believe the defendants discussed in this paper were guilty of the crimes brought against them. It is a shame that our court system allows procedure and regulation to take precedence over justice.

Frankenstein and Bladerunner Essay

A holistic understanding of a text can be only be pursued by the audience only when they are able to pinpoint the intended values of the composer and resonate these values with the time and context of the text. It is evident that through a comparative study of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein together with Ridley Scott’s 1992 film Blade Runner, despite the one hundred year gap between the two texts, the values each composer wishes to deliver to the audience echo the concerns of humanity and its susceptibility against themselves.Frankenstein explores how humanity’s obsession with scientific and medical developments in the 19th Century while Blade Runner explores the societal vales of consumerism and capitalism in the 20th Century. Evidently, it is clear through the comparison of the texts as to how the social values of each society bring detrimental outcomes for humanity. A theme that is seen in Frankenstein is the danger of unrestrained scientific progress and creation, a theme most evident when Frankenstein bestows the â€Å"spark of life† upon his creature in his effort to â€Å"pour a torrent of light into our dark world†.Here Shelley alludes to the sciences of the period of enlightenment or in particular, Galvanism which held the belief that corpses could be reanimated through an electrical current, or â€Å"spark†. The characterization of Frankenstein serves to symbolize the desire of humanity to be able to create and control aspects of life which were limited to god. This becomes clearer as Frankenstein states, â€Å"A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. Here, Shelley uses a listing of descriptive language which embeds positive connotations in order to depict the naive hopes of humanity’s desire to create and control life and nature. As the plot unfolds, it becomes evident that this desire only leads to false hopes as Fra nkenstein’s creation states, â€Å"You are my creator, but I am your master; obey! †. Here, the paradoxical statement by the creation is indicative of how humanity’s desires will ultimately backfire when the power to create and control is unchecked and abused.Ultimately, the monster is responsible for the death of many associates of Frankenstein as well as Frankenstein himself which shows the ultimate backfire of scientific progresses on humanity. Scott’s Bladerunner recognizes the same flaws within humanity as Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. He portrays a world where humanity’s hunger for power, control and technological advances ultimately leads to their downfall. In the opening scene, Scott portrays the dominating figure of Tyrell’s building through the use of a panoramic shot, where the large and tall building juxtaposes with the other buildings of the society.In order to give more focus on Tyrell’s building, a dolly shot is us ed and together with eerie background music, the director creates a mysterious atmosphere concerning Tyrell’s practices. Tyrell's company alludes to the rise of capitalism and consumerism in the twentieth century, where this lead to large transnational corporations being one of the dominant forces of globalization. This can be witnessed in the low angle shot of the high rise buildings, which embed Coca Cola and Pan Am Airlines advertisements through neon lighting.The forces of globalization can be further recognized with the oriental background music which accompanies the advertisements together with a follow up mid shot depicting a large screen with a Japanese geisha dominating the screen. This alludes to the dominant Asian culture in LA alludes to the aggressive Asian Tiger Economics of the late 20th century, where the drastic rise of Asian countries such as Japan and China was seen.Hence, by blending these notions of social values with the dystopian depiction of LA, where the continuous rainfall and the absence of sunlight indicates the destruction of nature and its endowments, Scott is foreshadowing a society which humanity has ultimately destroyed with their own hands. Once the responders understand the contextual influence on the two texts, the responders are then able to grasp the core idea of both texts – humanity’s negligence in their power. Both texts indicate the self-destructive nature of humanity’s empowerment to which responders can reflect upon in correlation with their contemporary society.Firstly, Frankenstein portrays how the ambition to redefine human limitations through creation is bound to result in failure, and accordingly create something monstrous. Frankenstein’s Creature is the very embodiment of the monstrosity that humans are capable of creating. The symbolism of light in, â€Å"until from the midst of this darkness a sudden light broke in upon me† conveys Victor’s instinctive awakenin g to the possibility of creating a perfect being impervious to diseases. The contrast between the ‘darkness’ and ‘light’ hints the didactic purpose which Shelley tries to convey to her responders.Such a taboo act of trespassing the domain of the divine providence signifies the beginning of Frankenstein’s blindness. Frankenstein is quick to realize that he has created a monster, as shown by the regretful tone in, â€Å"I beheld the wretch – the miserable monster whom I had created. † This depicts that untamed human ambition can lead to the inadvertent creation of the ‘grotesque’ and through this, Shelly is alluding to the ideology that creation is the work of God and should not be attempted by humanity. Blade Runner examines this notion of the negligence of humanity’s empowerment on a much broader scale than Frankenstein.This is achieved by depicting the detrimental consequences of humanity’s misuse of power up on an entire country. Frankenstein was a forewarning of the dangers of human ambition of that context, but Bladerunner portrays the aftermath of the overambitious quest for knowledge in the future if the misuse of power cannot be contained by depicting a dystopian world. Appropriately, the human beings in this alternate future seem artificial and lacking humanity except for the protagonist Deckard. Deckard is the primary voice of the director, where Scott portrays his ideas on how humanity should be living through the actions of Deckard.In Bladerunner, Deckard is a character who distances himself from the social norm of technology and the rigid structure of society. He is indicative of the traditional ‘human’ who responds emotionally and takes part in conventional human actions. Although this notion is strongly evidenced towards the end of the film, the director foreshadows Deckard’s humanitarian characteristics from the beginning of the film. The idea of Deckard holding human qualities can be witnessed in the scene when Deckard is reading the newspaper. A dolly shot is utilized by Scott in order to capture the setting of the city and gradually focus on Deckard.Through this shot, the responders recognize the strong juxtaposition between the social values and Deckard. Deckard is reading the traditional ‘newspaper’, whilst in the background, numerous television screens showing the news can be seen. This contrast in effect highlights that Deckard abides by the more ‘traditional’ conventions of humanity and through his heroic portrayal, it becomes evident that Scott wishes to address that in order for humanity to survive, it will require us to restrain ourselves from being too consumed with social cults and conventions which invoke control, creation and power.In order to fulfill an understanding of a text, responders need to identify and understand the true intentions of the composer. When both Frankenstein and Blade R unner are read on parallel, although their contexts are different, the problematic issues resonate with each other and furthermore, responders can also illustrate that these texts induces the responders to reflect on the contemporary society to understand that the social values of our time, although they may seem standard may be in fact detrimental for humanity.

THE AMERICAN DREAM IN THE GREAT GATSBY AND THE JOY LUCK CLUB Free Essay Example, 1250 words

As Nick (narrator) described: â€Å"My eyes fell on Gatsby, standing alone on the marble steps and looking from one group to another with approving eyes† (Fitzgerald 55). Gatsby has mainly one belief of getting his American dreams fulfilled i. e. getting Daisy back. He never compromised on the reality that she is married to someone else. As he said: â€Å"Can’t repeat the past? ’ he cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can! † (Fitzgerald 118) But he forgot that in attaining so he would be losing all that he once had, the moral values. As Fitzgerald described: â€Å"A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about †¦ like that ashen, fantastic figure gliding toward him through the amorphous trees† (Fitzgerald 172). On the other hand, other characters had their dreams beside themselves. Nick, the narrator always believed in the moral values of East egg and true meaning of American dream. He got a bit attracted toward West egg’s people but never let go of his goals. Jordan baker, the tournament player, believed in getting her American dream of always winning fulfilled at cost of dishonest means. We will write a custom essay sample on THE AMERICAN DREAM IN THE GREAT GATSBY AND THE JOY LUCK CLUB or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now Martyle i. e. Mrs Wilson always dreamed of being a part of rich people and availed it at cost of deceiving her loyal husband and having affair with Tom, Daisy’s husband. Tom Buchanan was a materialistic man whose greed never ended and always demanded more. He kept beautiful wealthy wife with an affair. He was born with enough wealth behind that he actually had not to earn it himself. Daisy was of the same nature. She was deceiving him by having affair with Gatsby. But both of them had no feelings for the poor Gatsby and Martyle who ended up in dying. They came back to each other with no regrets and thus are better described in novel as: â€Å"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made† (Fitzgerald 191). American dream in the Joy Luc k Club This novel highlights how every single person have different perspective of his/her American dream and achieves it in owns way. It tells the story of four mothers, their daughters i. e. eight women struggling in her way to get their dream fulfilled. Their stories represent that how they perceive their dreams and once attained how they interact with each other, lead their lives onwards and figures out their true identities.