Madness in the Tales of Poe and Hawthorne Essay

With madness and confusion dominating short stories such as some of the tales written by Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, the psychological states of their main characters are of the utmost importance. The meanings of the stories depend on whether the characters are truly insane, suffering from a physical ailment or merely intensely angry and hungry for revenge. Poe’s tales â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† and â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† both explore themes of madness and premature burials. However, while Roderick Usher seems to be suffering not only from a physical illness but also from insanity which may have stem from a â€Å"history of mental disorder† (Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher), Montresor seems to have been under the grip of intense hatred that have been caused by his victim’s previous insult on his person. It may be argued that Montresor is demented like Usher, but his well-planned crime contradicts the supposition of an unhinged mind. Meanwhile, the psychological troubles of Hawthorne’s characters in â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† and â€Å"The Minister’s Black Veil† are apparently milder, but not subtler. People may regard Goodman Brown as a recluse and a snob and Minister Hooper as someone mourning over his or other people’s sins. Hawthorne explores isolation in both stories, highlighting the possible self-destruction that may result from intensely reclusive lives. Though the stories may vary and the level of mental disorder may differ, both Poe and Hawthorne present people with emotions that are overly sensitive and with mental faculties that are more distraught than most. Poe is fascinated by madness. His stories are sometimes even narrated by persons whose mental and emotional facilities are questionable. This results to a more interesting reading of each of the stories. The reader is left to wonder if he or she is able to extract the accurate account of the story or a deranged version of it. In â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† the narrator observes what goes on in his host, Roderick’s house. He â€Å"rejects evidence of the supernatural†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ He is predisposed to regard Roderick as mad and therefore to reject any explanation Roderick suggests† (Bailey 446). The narrator of the story depends on the accounts of his host, Roderick but he does not trust his friend’s sanity. This creates a tension that is experienced by both the narrator and the reader; this tension is the uncertainty of what is unfolding because it is through the guidance of such an unreliable source like an apparently mad Roderick. Montresor of â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† may not have the gaunt and unhealthy look of Roderick Usher but what he has done to his enemy, Fortunato, is exceedingly cruel. The deed may have seemed perfectly planned and efficient but someone who can avenge an insult received by murder must be somehow unhinged. The criminal’s mind is exaggerated as is evident in his narration: â€Å"THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge† (Poe, The Cask of Amontillado). My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so. I hastened to make an end of my labour. I forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up. Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat. (Poe, The Cask of Amontillado) Though Montresor displays some strong emotion over what he has done to Fortunato, he continues with the crime methodically. Moreover, this contradiction, along with uttering â€Å"Rest in Peace† to his victim seems to suggest that Montresor is indeed insane. In the two short stories, Poe illustrates insanity that has been passed through generations and then insanity that has been triggered simply by an insult. Nathaniel Hawthorne shows some concern about the fate of souls in his two stories â€Å"The Minister’s Black Veil† and â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†. While Poe illustrates madness that has resulted from being either inherently insane or predisposed to mental illness, Hawthorne explores zealous religiosity that can result to madness. Minister Hooper’s strong sense of religiousness has driven him to an extreme means of discerning the pious from the hypocrite. â€Å"Why do you tremble at me alone? †¦ Tremble also at each other! Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil? † (Hawthorne, The Minister’s Black Veil) The man has decided to put a black veil on his face. Not even his fiancee has been able to persuade him to take off the veil which in turn has given him a continuously mourning persona. Though he is mentally capable to continue his duties as minister, he does them with a somber aura which the veil produces for him. The insistence on constantly wearing the black veil displays obsessive behavior related to his faith despite the fact that he has not actually stated what his real reason for wearing the veil is. In â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†, Hawthorne again tackles the effects of the perception of sin. Here, the main character is oppressed by what he thinks is the real knowledge of other people’s sins. What he is not aware of is that the Devil, which he has consorted with in the woods, has made him believe that every single person in his community is involved in atrocious deeds. â€Å"†¦elders of the church have whispered wanton words to the young maids of their households; how many a woman, eager for widows’ weeds, has given her husband a drink at bedtime and let him sleep his last sleep in her bosom; how beardless youths have made haste to inherit their fathers’ wealth; and how fair damsels†¦ have dug little graves in the garden, and bidden me, the sole guest to an infant’s funeral† (Hawthorne). Having believed the Devil’s lies, Goodman Brown is continually suspicious of his neighbors’ intentions. He even believes their good deeds to be merely pretentious displays of piety. Because of this behavior, Goodman Brown isolates himself from the rest of the community and dies a lonely death. Hawthorne explores the themes of isolation and zealous religiousness in his two short stories, expressing the dangers of the two themes. Both Poe and Hawthorne have effectively expressed the psychological terrain that their main characters are in. Through using a narrator that is either the character with the questionable mental state or one that distrusts that character, the stories become more mysterious and subject to individual interpretation while the intensity of emotions coming from the main characters are able to shine through. The two authors explore mental instability in different forms; Poe’s stories are about inherent, maybe even genetic tendencies to lose one’s mind while Hawthorne’s two tales are about isolation that has resulted from obsessive spirituality.

Reporting Practices and Ethics Essay

Financial practices and ethics can play an important part of any organization including the health care environment. In order for the health care organization to be successful one must adopt an efficient financial practice and possess ethical standards. The management of finances for a health care organization may be a challenge for managers. This is why the health care manager will follow four basic elements for financial management. The basic elements include planning, controlling, organizing and directing, and decision making (Baker & Baker, 2011). Health Care Organizations have accounting principles generally acceptable and will comply with the financial practice and the practice of ethics to avoid fraud or abuse of the reporting practices. Elements of Financial Management Financial management has four basic elements, which assist the manager in making effective decisions for the health care organization. The first element of financial management is planning. The financial manager needs to identify the steps that he or she needs to take to accomplish the goals of the organization. However, first the manager must determine what the goal is for the organization and at that time determine what steps to follow to achieve the goal. The next element is controlling; a plan is in place that each area of the organization must follow. The financial manager must ensure that the areas are following such plans. The staff can view the current reports and make a comparison with reports from the past. In comparing previous and current reports the financial manager can see if an area in the organization needs more attention because the area may not be meeting its goals. The third element is organizing and directing. In organizing the financial manager must decide on what resources are best to use to be more effective. The manager must also determine how to use those resources effectively to reach the goal of the organization. In directing, the manager must provide supervision daily to run the organizing element efficiently. The final element is decision making. The manager must make decisions with the alternatives available such as information in the reports. Decision making should be side-by-side with planning, controlling, and organizing. When making a decision the manager must analyze and evaluate the information to make effective decisions (Baker & Baker, 2011). Acceptable Accounting Principles Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) provides guidelines to the company’s financial manager. The guidelines will cover the principles of accounting and practices. The generally accepted accounting principles guideline, guides the financial manager in the reporting and recording the financial information. For example, the financial manager will use the guidelines when preparing the financial statements such as the balance sheet. One health care organizations practice for releasing financial information will perform a practice of reconciliation in accounting. One organization reviews the balance sheets and makes them compatible as one. The next step is to determine the classification of each balance sheet such as high risk or low risk. The final step is the organization must decide a reporting schedule such as monthly or yearly. In knowing and understanding the documents and how to analyze the information this prevents an auditor from finding misstatements (Cox, Draa, 2008). Standard Financial Ethics Making an ethical decision is a requirement of health care managers. One must ensure the meeting of needs of individuals within the organization. Principles of ethics include fairness, justice, and professionalism. The organization possesses a code of ethics when interpreting the organizations transactions such as losses or assets. The Health Care Portability and Accountability Act help reduce abuse and fraud concerning finances whether it is deliberate or unintentional. Fraud and abuse is increasing because of the increase in the delivery of health care. Organizations take better actions in working toward the reduction of fraud and abuse. One way to do this is to develop a compliance program, which a financial manager will play a key role. Compliance programs allow a proper practice on reporting the financials, and comply with the ethical conduct standard by avoiding fraud and abuse (Hern, n.d. ). Conclusion For an organization to be successful it needs to ensure the following of the financial reporting practices and maintain a standard of conduct ethically. The organization should follow the basic elements of financial management. When an organization follows the steps in the correct order there is less of a chance the organization will receive an audit. As long as the organization follows the generally accepted accounting principles there is less chance of an audit, and less of a chance of fraud or abuse when reporting the finances. References. Baker, J. & Baker, R. (2011). Health care finance: Basic tools for nonfinancial managers (3rd ed. ). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers Cox, B. , & Draa, M. (2008). Back to basics with account reconciliations. Business Finance, 14(6), 38-38. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/211076250? accountid=35812 Hern, W. (n. d. ). Corporate compliance is a necessity, not an option – healthcare financial managers’ role in helping their organizations prevent financial fraud. Retrieved from http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m3257/is_n1_v51/ai_19146070.

Mystery Shopping Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Mystery Shopping - Essay Example However to evaluate the service from a customer point of view is the critical factor that most organizations are faced with. There are different types of research methods and techniques to evaluate customer service and mystery shopping and it can be regarded as the significant tool used by modern businesses to measure the quality of the service or to collect particular information about product or service. It is a highly detailed shopping program and it will help managers to make sure that the particular brand experience is protected or not. Therefore managers have identified that effective service delivery will direct particular organization on profitable growth and lead to sustainable gains in the market. Moment of truth is a main element in a customer delivery process and managers will concentrate in depth of different moment of truth that get only one chance to make a good first impression about a particular product or a service. There are important features in service delivery process - the roles of product; place; process and physical atmosphere, and then there each element of the service delivery process is recognized as a significant factor in customer service experience. Further it evaluates whether the brand promise is delivered along with meeting customer expectations. Thus mystery shopping considered as a main management tool to measure the customer perspective and performance of the current products and service which is mainly affecting to customer loyalty and the satisfaction (Schmidt, 2007).When the marketing mix - price, product, place, promotion and by extension people, process and physical evidence - is considered against the current level of market concentration rati os there are a lot of opportunities in the market. For instance the existing brand loyalties might curtail the degree of freedom enjoyed by each seller. In such situations mystery marketing efforts don't help much. This development has a very significant impact on the organization's marketing goals too. 1.1. Purpose of the study or research aims To establish correlations and regressions, if any, among and between the above mentioned variables such as the mystery shopping programs and customer satisfaction as determined by organizational environment: cleanliness, speed of service, store appearance, grooming, friendly environment and greeting and so on . To identify and emphasize the existence, if any, of such mystery shopping programs related initiatives and policies and customer satisfaction, thus focusing attention on an otherwise often neglected aspect of customer satisfaction related compulsions. To delineate the existing correlations between mystery shopping programs and customer satisfaction against the backdrop of an ever growing complexity and diversity in theoretical and conceptual spheres of the modern business environment. To arrive at particular as against broader conclusions on the strategic importance of mystery shopping programs in the organization's own operational environment within the defined limits. 1.1. Hypothesis or thesis statementThe hypothesis or thesis statement of this paper rests on the testing of the primacy and the immediacy of a broader cross section of theoretical and

IT Governance and Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

IT Governance and Law - Essay Example CRM or Customer Relationship Management is the process whereby all the information relative to a customer linked to an organization is properly catered. This is done mainly with the help of information systems. Proper handling of information relative to customers is the key to the prosperity of any organization. The processing of customer related information such that it becomes the center of the information flow of any organization is the core responsibility of the Customer Relationship arena or CRM. Traditional CRM systems have been promoting the business arena for a number of years now. Benefitting from their services organizations have also evolved with the increasing technological advancements. The way CRM systems have incorporated with the emerging phenomenon of Cloud Computing and what the implications of such incorporation may be are integral need of the day discussions. The report is aimed such that the relativeness of CRM systems is narrated first as an introductory term an d then as a discussion evaluating the significance of the conventional old systems and the new cloud incorporated systems. Figure 1: Customer Relationship Management. ... omized particularly to each business’ needs CRM systems not only manage data but also result in the overall analysis and prosperity of sales figures. CRM for Investment broker? The main services that a Retail brokerage firm offers are collectively termed as Wealth Management Services. These include coverage of stock trading for individual investors, investments in different mutual funds and other financial products like insurance products. They also offer advisory services to strengthen their relationship with their customers. A new class of customer relationship managers has emerged that focused specially the business of offering financial services. Due to this development it is extremely essential for the Retail brokerages to opt for a sophisticated and proven Customer Relationship Management system in order to achieve better productivity, customer satisfaction and yield. What is cloud? The term cloud has become much prevalent nowadays. The cloud, in common words, may be ref erred to as a collective pool of resources which can be accessed by multiple users. The usage of the resources on the cloud is often associated with the authorizations given to the users but as per need the resources may be made publically accessible as well. The core concept of cloud, in a formal definition narrated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) the organization terms cloud as: A model that provides accessibility to a set of resources being made available in the form of a pool. The resources are linked to network access of the on-demand type, which is being provided with suitability. The examples of the shared computing resources may be networks, storage areas, services, applications and servers etc. These readily available resources are available with very little

Purpose of this assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Purpose of this assignment - Essay Example Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) brings about synergy and better use of communication funds and Balancing the 'push' and 'pull' strategies Improves the company's ability to reach the right consumer at the right place at the right time with the right message. There is also a lot more to developing and implementing a successful Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) program. This assignment will focus on the rapidly evolving field of integrated marketing communications. The assignment will examine the evolving role of IMC, how it differs from traditional advertising and promotion, and provide insights into how to measure the effectiveness of IMC programs. IMC has an increasingly central role to play in today's market place, because if offers companies a way to strategically coordinate messages and establish a meaningful dialogue with customers. In short, IMC provides organisations with a strategic method for both establishing and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders. And this is essential for marketing success in the twenty-first century The marketplace is changing. What was once a single audience has fragmented and companies have to establish and maintain brand relationships with a variety of groups of people-customers, as well as other stakeholders, such as employees, investors, suppliers and distributors, local communities, and the media. Organisations now have to communicate with these groups using a wide variety of media. Consequently there are more kinds of messages than ever before and inconsistency can become a company-wide problem. That is why IMC is also needed to coordinate communication consistency Because the mass media now have considerably less importance than they have had in the past, dialogue is becoming increasingly critical in this marketplace. That means that companies can no longer rely only on one-way communication targeted to large groups of customers. To be successful now, organizations must not only be able to target messages to individual customers, but also to listen and respond to all th eir stakeholders. That means they must know who these people are, and the key to that is database-driven communication. IMC is critical to brand relationship programs, because it provides the skills and new ways of thinking that are necessary if organizations are to create and successfully manage dialogue with customers and other key stakeholders. Integrated Marketing communication frame work Integrated Marketing Communications provides a framework for managing brand contacts. We all know the importance of branding out product or service, we also know the importance of maintaining a dialogue with our stakeholder relationship marketing, one-to-one, the voice of the customer, and most of us believe in communication consistency. However, these are only techniques that often fail to when practised without clear philosophy, or if not supported by integrated process. At a minimum, IMC provides and underlying model by: Identifying your StakeholdersIdentifying your Brand contacts Analysing Communications amongst Customers At Each Brand Contact Encouraging Dialogue At Each Brand Con

Evaluation of Routing Protocols Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Evaluation of Routing Protocols - Essay Example Evaluation of Routing Protocols There are many routing protocols available as they define ‘what a router will do and decided for a specific data packet’. There are two types of routing fundamentals on which these protocols are based, named as Static Routing and Dynamic Routing. The following sections contains advantages and disadvantages of each routing protocol specified along with its administrative distance, metrics, periodic updates, triggered updates, partial updates, VSLM / CIDR subnet masking and algorithms. As per network dictionary it is defined as â€Å"Routing Information Protocol (RIP) is a standard for exchange of routing information among gateways and hosts. This protocol is most useful as an â€Å"interior gateway protocol†. It is also knows as Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP). Frame Relay protocol is implemented for WAN networks associated with LAN internetworking. It functions on physical layer and data link layer of the OSI model, to endow with robust and efficient mechanism for transmitting data. The transmission encompasses multiple routers and switches. Moreover, this protocol is identical to X.25 protocol that activates stations located at the end to share dynamically the network and bandwidth available. Two techniques are associated with Frame relay: As it is based on packet switching, the two techniques are Variable length Packet technique and statistical multiplexing. However, frame relay

Long-Term Impact of the Slave Trade on the Atlantic World Essay

Long-Term Impact of the Slave Trade on the Atlantic World - Essay Example It is known as the triangular slave trade as it involved three continents, Africa, America, and Europe. There were two significant parts of this slave trade. The first was the voyage of Europeans from England to Africa with their own goods such as rum for trade with manufactured goods. In West Africa, there existed a form of barter trade where these goods were exchanged with slaves. Consequently, these slaves were gathered together in ships and transported to the new world in West Indies where they were forced to work in sugar plantations. However, most of them died on the way due to diseases, mistreatment, and harsh conditions. After slaves were sold in the region, the profit from the transaction was used to buy sugar, molasses, and other commodities and these were shipped back to England. In this trade Ships were used to carry slaves, rum, sugar, molasses, tobacco, and other type of crops, which maintained this trade (Rawley & Behrendt,2005, p.189-190). This paper seeks to discuss the long-term impact of slave trade on the Atlantic world. The Atlantic slave trade had its impact on the Atlantic region. These regions were Africa, Europe, and America (new world). These long-term effects were either positive or negative. The impact of Atlantic slave trade had detrimental effect on Africa’s demographics. ... This caused a decline in population of West African states for a long time such as upper guinea. Population growth stagnated in the first in the second decades of the 19th century. Additionally, social unrest started due to intertribal warfare and capturing of slaves for the new market from the Europeans. This fuelled major disasters such as famine and drought as people shifted their efforts from economic activities to fights and slave trade. This was complicated further as there were fewer people to produce for the society and this led to further decline of the population. Moreover, the continued mix of different people at this time led to spread of diseases and further decline of population especially in the state of Angola (Thornton, 1998, p. 326-329). Additionally, Atlantic trade had an impact on African economy. There was a profound social and political change, which had a significant role in underdevelopment of Africa economy as well as ethnic fictionalization and disruption of effective states. It is worth noting that most of the slaves were taken from weaker states. The trade led to taking away of skilled and strong labor force that could have played a role in the progress of African region. Consequently, the only population that remained in most of these regions was old and could not do anything meaningful in economic development leading to stagnation and regression of the African states. Many communities relocated to other regions far away from the trade routes, which led to decline in their technological and economic development and most of the energy was dedicated to their security. In addition, relations between kingdoms, ethnic groups, and religious functions were changed. Actually, the present religious, ethnic,

Isolation of a lectin from apple pollen. Lectins are present in plants Dissertation

Isolation of a lectin from apple pollen. Lectins are present in plants (and animals), they are proteins that that bind to carboh - Dissertation Example So a study on biochemical, physiological and molecular levels is required to explore the importance of Lectin in the plant cell. Lectin is present in many forms in the plant cells. The pollen grains of the apple are found to have some group of Lectin. These Lectin are heterodimers and have a great affinity for the glycopeptides with a molecular weight of 30,000 Daltons and have two subunits with N-acetyl glucosamine residues. Arabinose is found linked to the polypeptide chain as ?-L-arabinofuranosides through the hydroxylproline residues. (Sharon and Lis, 2007). The glycopeptides are found to contain lesser amount of serine, S-carboxyl methyl cysteine and other amino acids such as glycine as major amino acids. Cysteine (16%), Hydroxyproline (11%) and Glycine (12%) is the major amino acid composition of lectin. Lectin agglutinates the cells and precipitates the complex carbohydrates. The lectin has Arabinose monosachharide (93%) and Galactose (7.5%) of the total 37% carbohydrate conte nt of lectin. (Sharon and Lis, 2007). ... Second thing to look upon is whether it is bound to any organelle or free protein. The Ammonium sulfate precipitation can be carried out after cell lysis. The cell disruption can be performed in many ways. Using mortar and pestle, sonication are some of the simple steps that can be easily practiced in lab. (Scopes, 1994).The cells are crushed using the saline buffer in order to maintain the pH. The protein extraction procedures are carried out in a cold room usually at 4 Â °C, in order to preserve the active part of the protein. The Ammonium sulfate precipitation is then carried out. Ammonium sulfate precipitation is a salting out process where the proteins are precipitated by adding ammonium sulfate at saturation constant. The saturation level varies for every protein and hence this phenomenon is widely used for the separation of the protein from the cell debris. The percentage of purification achieved at this stage is around 30 – 40%. Ammonium sulfate precipitation method i s repeated to increase the concentration of the protein in the sample. After ammonium sulfate precipitation, the ammonium sulfate salt is removed from the protein by using the neutralizing buffer. The dialysis is the next downstream processing step. Dialysis is done using a semi-permeable membrane bag that has a very small pore size of 20 Â µm. Dialysis is done overnight in the saline to concentrate the protein. For further purification of the protein, chromatographic techniques are used. Affinity chromatography, anion exchange chromatography, gel permeation chromatography are some of the most commonly used chromatographic techniques for this protein. Same type of lectin is present in seeds and pollen grains hence the same procedure for the seed lectin extraction can be followed for the pollen

The Disagreement on Human nature among the Greatest Philosophers Article

The Disagreement on Human nature among the Greatest Philosophers - Article Example Plato gave his Allegory of the Cave explaining this habitual nature (Soccio 141). A man lives all his life in a cave, he considers his environment as the only reality as if nothing exists outside of it. On exposing him to the sunlight, this person thinks he is dreaming, that the fresh air, green grass, and the singing birds are hallucinations. The habitual nature of human is Plato’s version. Aristotle and Kant, on the other hand, focused more on how humans should behave; the maxim behind every action. Aristotle gave two levels of human behavior the one where he only acts like a man and the other where he acts as if there is a divine spirit within him, thus achieving a life higher than mere human nature (Aristotle 191). This is very different from Plato’s narrative because Kant implies that man by nature is evil or corrupt therefore he has to conform to the moral law in order to live a better life. He is not simply a product of its environment, he is inherently corrupt. It is hard to pick one theory and reject the other. It will also be negating the introduction that there is no absolute truth or knowledge. In Kant’s theory, there is space for spirituality. There must be divine authority overseeing man’s activities. Plato, on the other hand, is more supportive of nurture as opposed to nature. Kant considers human nature as a composition of feelings, one relation and cognition, and these aspects are governed by a priory prescribed by a â€Å"higher cognitive power† (Frierson 13) Descartes is also in agreement with Kant that there is a divine authority. And hence man has a defined nature. Renà © Descartes's held anti-elitist and egalitarian views on human nature (Lopston 24). It also implies that considering this premise one has to accept that humans have been created as part of a grand design.

Like Water for Chocolate Essay Example for Free

Like Water for Chocolate Essay Suggests that the soup has made her feel like a baby again given that while she is still in her mom’s belly she cries very hard when onions are chopped and it suggest the impact of food to Tita. After drinking the soup Tita has miraculously recovered from the loss of pigeons which she kept as pet and that triggered her sense of loosing Pedro and R erself to cook she fell in love with it and got a part time job as an assistant to a cooking teacher. Even though she has a lack of precision she was hired because she wasn’t afraid to fail and has a passion to cook unlike the others and getting hired made her feel confident, hence gaining control of life through cooking. The protagonist, Tita in Like Water for Chocolate gains control through cooking as well. Cooking is the only thing Tita love to do because Mama Elena bans her from doing a lot of things; the kitchen is the area where she can retreat from Mama Elena’s demands. When she cooked quail in rose petal sauce she controlled and triggered a lot of peoples emotion. Her sister Gertrudis was the first on affected by the dish, it aroused her sexual desire. She fled naked from her burning shower and when on a horse, galloping away with a soldier. Another incident where she gained control is the Chabela wedding cake she made for her lover Pedro and Rosaura. Even though she couldn’t stop the wedding, she made everyone cry. She made people cry for her tragic experience not only the guests cried, Mama Elena cried as well. She lost control of her life but through cooking she gain control of people’s emotions. In Like Water for Chocolate, food is not just a nutrition it acts as a very important nurturing role. The ox-tail soup Dr. John gave Tita has recalled the best moments of her life and brought back memories of her and Nacha making ox-tail soup together, chopping onions. It suggests that the soup has made her feel like a baby again given that while she is still in her mom’s belly she cries very hard when onions are chopped and it suggest the impact of food to Tita.

Consequentialism And Deontology Will Be Critically Discussed Philosophy Essay

Consequentialism And Deontology Will Be Critically Discussed Philosophy Essay Consequentialism and deontology will be critically discussed on their impact on psychological research. The following areas will be discussed on how the ethical theories link with the BPS (British Psychological Society) guidelines. How current studies have impacted on both philosophical ideas and the BPS ethical guidelines. Additionally, it will conclude that a mixture of both theories is more morally and ethically valid. The deontological theory has impacted on psychological research as it argues that human beings are equal so act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law (Kant, 1985 p. 422). This is similar to the BPS guidelines which promote ethical behaviour (BPS, 2000). For example Milgram (1963) was slated for not being ethically valid however, there were no ethical guidelines during his era (Youngpeter, 2008). Yet, this allowed him to investigate the role of obedience and how this affects a persons moral value. In addition, how the participants were going to behave and the outcome of the study was unexpected (Russell, 2009). This supports rule-consequentialists who argue that even if there were ethical guidelines in some cases breaking some rules might be beneficial overall, rather than a world where individuals decide whether some rules should be kept or not (Eggeston, 2007). The impact of the consequentialism theory would argue that current replications of obedience studies are not ethically valid because the participants might think they are harming another individual thus causing the individual stress (Burger, 2009). This suggest that the research was not maximising the good and supports the BPS code of conduct (2009) which claim that participants must be protected from physical and mental harm. However, replication studies of Milgram (1963) have found that, whilst societal attitudes and changes can affect behaviour, the result indicted that the same situational factors that affected obedience in Milgrams experiment is still present today (Burger 2009). This then outweighs the discomfort in the participants because it can explain the role of authority figures during World War 2 and the present day, thus the research was maximising the good. In addition, one important implication of Burgers (2009) replication study was that it did not violate any ethica l guidelines, as the research excluded people with a history of psychological or emotional problems (Burger, 2009, p.10). And the participants were debriefed at the end. Furthermore, the current research links with a consequentialist strength that pleasure is good and suffering is bad (Sinnott-Armstrong 2009). However, consequentialism has issues which surround the idea that if people lived by producing the best possible balance of good over bad then it would not be maximised because people would make miscalculations, allow their personal biases to interfere thus, it may distort their decisions (Shand, 2003). Furthermore, it was found that consequentialism is very demanding as individuals might have to abandon personal projects in order to maximise the good and to resolve issues (McNaughton and Rawling,1998). Similarly, deontology allows the consideration of a persons autonomy, which allows us to assign more weight to our own personal desires and values (Singer, 1993). Consequently, this will make sure we avoid wrongdoings therefore argues that actions are more important than the consequences (Singer, 1993). Kants argues that the moral worth of an action is not determined by its consequences because it is possible that someone does something out of a good intention but ends up bringing about bad consequences (Shand, 2003). Reicher and Haslam (2006) caused stress among the guards and prisoners which violated the ethical code of protection, thus bringing about bad consequences. However, the research provides insight into how social roles can trap us into behaving against what we believe is morally wrong (Reicher and Haslam 2011). This would relate back to a consequentialism idea, that it may be appalling to think of harming the one person but it must be equally appalling to think not of doing so and as a result allowing, the killing of many people (Singer, 1993). Thus maximising the good for the greatest number. Nevertheless, deontology argues that the right should not be defined in terms of the good, the goodness of the ultimate consequence does not guarantee the rightness of the actions which produced them (Fried, 1978, p.9). According to deontologists, it is obvious that the interests of the many does not count nor does it count equally and if they did then it would be obligatory to save all of them and harm the one (Singer, 1993). Furthermore, deontologists forbid harm and criticise consequentialism because it leaves no room for personal autonomy (Singer, 1993). In addition, critics of consequentialism would argue that it would lead an individual to do horrendous deeds, so long as they promise the best consequences (Singer, 1993, p.234), thus consequentialism would support the killing of innocent people however, they argue that the theory should not be judged on wild unlikely possibilities as it is not true to life (Shand, 2003). Although, it has been argued that it would allow and encourage the individual to contemplate more about bad deeds thus by doing this, individuals might not recognise the rights of others in consideration which ought to have restrained th em without thinking about the consequences itself (Singer, 1993). This relates back to the BPS codes, as psychologists can look back at the ethical guidelines when they find themselves in a tricky situation. In addition, in real life there are laws such as the Human Rights Act (1998) which should help individuals make morally right decisions. Deontological theories have impacted on psychological research, as they argue that we must not lie (McNaughton and Rawling, 1998). This supports the ethical considerations in the British Psychological Society which argue that we must not deceive participants about the nature of the experiment (BPS, 2000). Most psychological research deceive participants in order to find out what they are thinking. For example, self report measures use deception frequently in order to find out other factors that might affect the results. For example, one contemporary piece of research told the participants that the questionnaire was on memory and on drug abuse but they also looked at the number of mistakes they made on the questionnaire and gender differences (Rodgers et al, 2003). Another current study deceived hospital staff and results showed that experts misdiagnosed healthy patients (BBC, 2008). This suggests that deceiving participants is necessary because it can show the impact on labels and ho w they affect treatment given (Blass, 1991). Therefore, they were deceived in order to find out whether they were diagnosed correctly. These findings are important as it allows improvements in diagnostic criterias, therefore consequentialists point out that in practice most people do lie and we should break rules in certain circumstances (Shand, 2003). However, it has been argued that there is a risk of psychological harm to the participants and the violation of their autonomy because they are deceived about the true nature of the experiment (Bortolotti and Mameli, 2006). This relates back to a deontological idea on an individuals autonomy. Consequentialism looks at actions and deontological looks at what I ought to do however, further argument suggests that emphasis should be placed on the individual character which is a virtue ethic idea what sort of person should I be (Shand, 2003). Virtue ethics could impact on psychological research for example if Reicher and Haslam (2006) or Burger (2009) involved virtuous individuals then the results might differ in terms of, participants might not conform to groups or they might be more determined to withdraw. Furthermore, according to Annas (2007) argues that the idea that we have global character traits or virtues is empirically inadequate as it does not have a cross situational consistency. A further weakness of virtue ethics is that it does not provide individuals with enough guidance on what we should do but how we should be what would a virtuous person do (Doris, 1998). Additionally, as society develops, individuals might find it difficult to decide on what are the most im portant morals to develop or what type of actions are virtuous or not (Doris, 1998). It is argued that consequentialist theories achieve moral closure, as the individual acts rightly only when their actions maximise utility, whereas deontologists act may be acceptable without it being the best or possibly a good option (Singer, 1993). If both theories were grouped together then it is possible to look at both the type of action and consequence produced, whether if it is right or wrong, this would allow a individual to think and behave more ethically. In conclusion, consequentialism looks at the consequences whereas deontology places importance of the right action to be fundamental to ethics. Consequentialism links with the BPS guideline in explaining psychological research e.g. Burger (2009) and Reicher and Haslam (2006). However, they both maximised the good by giving an insight into social roles. Yet, deontology states that participants in research need to be treated equally. Deontological theories support the BPS ethical guideline e.g. deception, the participants should not be deceived however results will be affected if the participants knew what the research was about. By concentrating on consequences it misses out individual factors (virtue idea). Both theories will be more ethically valid if they were merged together.

Adolescence in the Bell Jar and Catcher in the Rye Essay -- Bell Jar, C

Adolescence in the Bell Jar and Catcher in the Rye Adolescence is the period between puberty and adulthood. Every teenager experience this moment in life differently some sail through happily to carry on with a peaceful life where as others are less fortunate and find that this moment is much more harder and stressful then they thought. Esther Greenwood and Holden Caulfield are one of the less fortunate and have bad experiences through their adolescent. Salinger and Plath present this in their novels Catcher in the Rye and The Bell Jar. Both novelists use first person narrative giving us as readers a more personal description about their story, involving us more into their lives and letting us travel with them on their pathway through adolescent. The tone, dictation and the use of grammar are consistently those of an adolescent person and express distinctive commentary on how they feel and what they observe everyday. Salinger and Plath present the different elements of adolescence that teenagers experience such as depression, grief, pressure, sexuality etc through their characters Holden and Esther. Throughout adolescence teenagers experience a variety of pressures from their family, friends and even the society. Holden and Esther both come from adequate families who brought them up well although this can also mean living up to their expectations. Esther lives up to different expectations than Holden. Esther’s background was less promising than others, her mother could not provide her with a good education it was down the Esther to work really hard at studying to gain scholarships she places huge pressure on herself to achieve these goals that she doesn’t know anything else â€Å" I had been inadequate a... ...and doesn’t bother to help him. This mirrors with Esther’s feeling, that people are not responding to her properly even her own mother who doesn’t believe that the depression is a true illness but just a passing perversity or rebellion. Even her own Doctor fails to help her by showing that he wasn’t really listening to what Esther had to say about her illness by repeating a question to Esther. Throughout the novel Esther is very direct about her depression â€Å"I haven’t slept for 14 days† yet no one chooses to listen to hear but when she tells them â€Å" I feel better, I don’t want to go to the doctors† her mum suddenly listens replying â€Å" I knew my baby wasn’t like that† Plath shows that people don’t want to hear anything depressing or morbid unless it directly involves them but if it doesn’t they don’t want to know they only listen to what they want to hear.

The Objective of Total Quality Management Essay -- Total Quality Manag

The Objective of Total Quality Management Total Quality Management(TQM) is an organisational process that actively involves every function and every employee in satisfying customers needs, both internal and external. TQM works by continuously improving all aspect of work through structured control, improvement and planning activities that are carried out in concern with guiding ideology that focuses on Quality and Customer Satisfaction as the top priorities. There has been many arguments that TQM succeeds only by incorporating a concern about quality for the customers throughout the organisation. The truth of this statement and those facts that disagree with this statement will be look into and discuss in more detail to achieve the success of TQM. TQM recognises that the Customer is at the center of every activity. The customer may be external or internal. The key is to determine the gap between what the customer needs and what the system delivers. Once the gap is recognised, it would be systematically reduced and results in never-ending improvement in customer satisfaction at every level. TQM depends on and creates a culture in an organisation which involves everybody in quality improvement. Everyone in the company can affect quality but must first realise this factor and have the techniques and tools which are appropriate for improving quality. Thus TQM includes the marketing and dissemination of quality and methods not only within the organisation and customers but also to suppliers and other partners. The general view to achieve success in TQM could be summarised as below: Quality as strength Quality in all processes The importance of management The involvement, commitment and responsibility of everybody Continuous improvement Zero defects Focus on prevention rather than inspection Meeting the needs of target customers Recovery Benchmarking A prerequisite for successful quality improvement is first, to understand how quality is perceived and valued by customers. 4 ‘Q' Design Quality Technical Quality Production Quality Delivery Quality Functional Quality Relational Quality Image Experiences Expectation Customer Perceived Quality ... ...ccess. Ownership and the Elements of Self-Management Total quality programmes are founded on the principal that people want to own the problems, the process, the solution and ultimately the success associated with the quality improvement. Psychologically, the ownership advocated by TQM ties in the development in organisational design away from traditional models of imposing management control over employees' behaviour. Recognition and Rewards TQM system considers the rewards and recognition to be critical to a company's programme, particularly when greater involvement of staff is required. Positive reinforcement through recognition and rewards is essential to maintain achievement and continuous improvement through participative problem-solving projects. The Quality Delivery Process TQM is not just the awareness of quality for the customers. It demands the implementation of a new system. Finally, the main objective of TQM may put the customer at the center of every activity and consider the process as customer driven, but all other factors which do not involve the customers have to be taken into consideration for the successful implementation of TQM.

Television is a Hallucination :: television TV

Television is only possible because this disintegration, reconfiguration, contraction (i.e., compression), and extension of visual sensory experience occurs during dreams. Accordingly, both television viewing and dreams may be said to include (or involve) reduced ability to think, anxiety, and increased distractibility. Television thus compels attention, as it is compelled in the dream, but it is an unnatural and hallucinatory experience. Hence, television is addictive. Similar to the visual experience while dreaming, television compels attention to the relative exclusion of other experience. Television reduces consciousness and results in a flattening of the visual experience as a result of combining waking visual experience with relatively unconscious visual experience. Television involves the experience of what is less animate, for it involves a significant reduction in (or loss of) visual experience. This disintegration of the visual experience (as in the dream) also results in a n emotional disintegration (i.e., anxiety). That television may be so described (and even possible) is hard to imagine, but this is consistent with the fact that it took so very many different minds (and thoughts) of genius in order to make the relatively unconscious visual experience of the dream conscious. Since the thinking that is involved in making the experience of television possible is so enormously difficult, it becomes difficult to think while partaking of that experience. Television may be seen as an accelerated form or experience of art, thereby making someone less wary (or less anxious) initially, but less creative and more anxious (as time passes) as the advance of the self becomes unsustainable. The experience (or effects) of television demonstrates the interactive nature of being and experience, for, in the dream, there is also a reduction in the totality (or extensiveness) of experience. Thought involves a relative reduction in the range and extensiveness of feeling. In keeping with this, dreams make thought more like sensory experience in general. Accordingly, both thought and also the range and extensiveness of feeling are proportionately reduced in the dream. (This reduction in the range and extensiveness of feeling during dreams is consistent with the fact that the experience of smell very rarely occurs therein.) Since there is a proportionate reduction of both thought and feeling during dreams, the experience of the body is generally (or significantly) lacking, for thought is fundamentally rendered more like sensory experience in general. Thoughts and emotions are differentiated feelings. By involving the mid-range of feeling between thought and sense, dreams make thought more like sensory experience in general.

Tom Jones and Joseph Andrews

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Nursing Jobs Specialties Essay

Good morning, my name is Annamaria Amodei. I was born in Florence Italy and lived there for 20 years. I then came to New York in 1981. In the last 30 years I went through lots of changes in my life and in my careers. I grew older and wiser by going through a marriage, 3 wonderful children, a divorce and a several jobs within several different sectors of industries, from restaurant manager and owner to medical billing therefore dealing with the public at all times. In the mid 90s I decided to return to school and because my interest was in health I enrolled in a 2 year nutrition program receiving an associated degree in dietetics in 2000. Instead of applying my degree to a job in nutrition, I become a co-owner of a surgical supply store which has kept me occupied for the past 10 years. I’ve been again involved with the public, this time a very different one. The people I see are mostly physically sick, handicapped or in some kind of physical pain They were coming into my store because they knew that I could help them with my knowledge, experience and a deep will to help others. I found myself helping one person after another and I realized that helping others gave me a lot of joy, because I knew that I was able to make a difference in someone’s life. So about a year ago I decided to go further with my studies. I searched for a program to fulfill my needs and a school that would offer excellent training. That is why I applied to D’Youville College where I’m going to start my nursing education in January 2011. I have so much love in me and so much compassion to give that I cannot think of a better way to share that with other people than to care for them as a nurse. I want to impact people’s lives whether it’s just for a second, a moment or a lifetime. I want to be that nurse that cannot only be just a nurse, but can also be a friend to her patients. A nurse can touch lives in so many different ways and aspects. The purpose of a nurse is to fulfill his/her job in different areas of people’s lives and situations, and because we all ail in different ways. A nurse is trained to make sure that each patient is comfortable no matter what is the nature of their illness. I ruely believe that if you are a good nurse you will find satisfaction in your patient’s recovery and it is a nurse’s obligation to treat all patients with the utmost respect as well as to maintain their dignity at all times. A nurse has to be knowledgeable enough to understand each patient’s situation as an individual and attend to their needs accordingly because every case is so different and unique. That is why I strongly believe that educat ion and experience are very important keys for a nurse to master her/his profession. There are many other ways that a nurse with a bachelor or a master degree in USA can find employment outside the hospitals settings. Community Health Nurses – Usually this type of nurses work for the government, towns, cities and also non-profit agencies. Their job is to inform the public about how to avoid health risks, how to achieve a healthier lifestyle including principals of good nutrition and the basics of physical fitness. They often address a certain segment of population, such as children or elderly, and they usually will be doing public speaking at schools, churches, community groups, etc. Prison-Jail Nursing – This is another way a nurse can give her services to a population that unfortunately is growing and they also have a lot of health problems and they require the proper attention. It takes a special kind of nurse to work in a correction facility and they probably have had many prior opportunities to experience nursing before beginning a prison nursing career. Managed Care Nursing – Is another way that a nurse can find employment. More and more people are having health insurance and a lot of health problems, so the cost of healthcare is skyrocketing. HMO’s, Medicare Medicaid and other private insurance companies are hiring nurses directly to work for them. Managed care nurses serve both patients and their employers providing quality health care for more people by educating their clients in prevention and healthy lifestyles, and looking for different health care delivery in order to keep the cost of insurances down. Nursing Educator –. Because of the increasing nurseing shortage, the demand for nurse educators is becoming very popular. Nurses with a master degree and several years of experience who love their profession combined with a love for teaching and the passion for sharing their knowledge are perfect for this kind of job. Missionary Nurses –There are many organization and agencies providing support and relief to third world countries. If you want to help people less fortunate than yourself and you don’t mind spending time overseas, there is no better way to do that than putting all your knowledge and skills to work for these agencies and organizations. School Nursing – Private or public schools are employing more nurses than ever before because today there are more kids enrolled in school than ever and with more special needs. A school nurse needs to love working with kids and adolescents. Pain Management Nursing – For this kind of nursing a master degree is required. Many nurses in this field work with cancer patients, in homes, hospitals or with Hospice. In the past few years there have been tremendous advances in understanding pain, measuring its intensity and responding with appropriate doses of medication. Administrative Nursing – This kind of nurses work in large medical clinics, legal firms and big companies. If you have talent for managing people and enjoy working in an administrative position and you‘ve got good office and people skills, this is also a very good nursing career. This position requires a master degree and some experience. Substance Abuse Nursing – Alcohol and drugs are unfortunately a growing number in today’s society. These nurse work with people who are struggling with addition. Many of them work in detox and rehab clinics. They help people to safely end their addition and try to work with them on the cause of the problem and help them overcome and build a drug and alcohol resistance. This nursing career can be very frustrating at times due to the power that these additions have over people, leading to many relapses. But for a nurse who really wants to improve people’s lives this is an admirable career. Temp Nursing – Many nurses choose not to work for a single facility and they associate with one of the many temporary nurses stuffing agency across the country. This is a very flexible kind of work, they can choose to work or not in a particular place. Some agency specializes in travel nursing which means that a nurse could work several weeks from Los Angeles to New York and even in Hawaii. The housing is paid for and this is an excellent opportunity for single people. If you are a nurse that wants lots of flexibility then a temp nurse is an excellent career choice. Nurses are also needed in all branches of the military. Some of them become hospice nurses dedicated to care for those that are terminally ill and during their last days of life. The world of nursing career is wide open and new job descriptions are being created all the time as nurses responds to a rapidly changing world. A career in nursing has endless opportunities and that is why I’m much exited to start this program. I would like to thank Dr. Mariano (and Dr. Lewis) for giving me the opportunity to speak to you about why and how I decided at my stage in life to change careers and become a nurse I also want to thank all of you for listening this morning. I wish you the best in your journey through medical school Ciao

Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 46~48

46 Beans and Succubus Tuck's other partner showed up at his bungalow that evening as he was sitting down to a plate of pork and beans. She didn't knock, or call out, or even clear her throat politely to let him know she was there. One minute Tuck was studying a gelatinous white cube of unidentifiable carbon-based life-form awash in a lumpy puddle of boiled legumes and tomato sauce, and the next the door opened and she was standing there wearing nothing but a red scarf and sequined high heels. Tuck dropped his spoon. Two partially used beans dribbled out of his open mouth, tracing contrails of sauce down the front of his shirt. She executed a single flamenco heel stomp and Tuck watched the impact move up her body and settle comfortably in her breasts. She threw her arms wide, struck a pose, and said, â€Å"The Sky Priestess has arrived.† â€Å"Yes, she has,† Tuck said with the glassy-eyed stupifaction of a newly converted Moonie. He'd seen something like her before, either on the hood of a Rolls-Royce or on a bowling trophy, but in the flesh the image was much more immediate, awe-inspiring even. She pirouetted and the tails of the scarf trailed around her like affectionate smoke. â€Å"What do you think?† â€Å"Uh-huh,† Tuck said, nodding. â€Å"Come here.† Tuck stood and moved toward her in the mindless shuffle step of a zombie compelled by the promise of living flesh. His brain stopped work-ing, his entire life energy shifted to another part of his body, and it led him across the room to within an inch of her. It wasn't the first time this had happened to him, but before he had always retained the power of speech and most of his motor functions. â€Å"What's wrong with you?† she said. â€Å"Bolts in your neck too tight?† â€Å"My entire body has an erection.† She took him by the front of the shirt and backed him across the room to the bed, then pushed him down and pulled his pants down to his knees. She vaulted onto him in a straddle and he reached up for her breasts. She caught his wrists. â€Å"No. You'll fuck up my makeup.† And he noticed – like an accident victim might notice a butterfly in the grille of the bus that is running over him – that her nipples had been rouged to an unnatural pink. He tried to sit up and she shoved him back down, then took him in her hand, nicking him with a red fingernail, making him wince, and guided him inside of her. He reached for her hips to drive her down and got his hands slapped for the effort. And she fucked him – precise and mechanical as a machine, a single pounding motion repeated and lubricated and repeated again – until her breath rasped in her throat like hissing hydraulics and she arched her back and stalled, and misfired, then dieseled for a stroke or two, and she climbed off. Somewhere in all that he had come and she had looked at him once. He lay there looking at the remnants of torn mosquito netting over the bed, breathing hard, feeling a little dizzy, and wondering what had just happened. She went to the bathroom, then returned a few seconds later and threw him a towel, which she had obviously used herself. â€Å"We're flying in three or four hours. Be ready.† â€Å"Okay.† Was he supposed to say something? Didn't this signify some sort of change that should be acknowledged? â€Å"I want you to watch me, but you can't let them see you. Wait a few minutes and go out by the hanger where you can see the airstrip. It's a great show. Theater makes it all possible, you know. Ask the Catholics. They survived the Middle Ages by putting on performances in a language that no one understood on grand stages that were built by the pennies of the poor. That's the problem with religion today. No theater.† This must be her version of cuddling. â€Å"Performance?† â€Å"The appearance of the Sky Priestess,† she said as if she was talking to a piece of toast. She walked to the door, then paused and looked over her shoulder. Almost as an afterthought she said, â€Å"Tucker,† and when he looked up she blew him a kiss. Then she was out the door and he heard her shout, â€Å"Cue the music!† A big band sound blasted across the island, sending a shiver rattling through Tuck's body as if a chill ghost from the forties had jitterbugged over his spine. 47 Grand Theft Aircraft The Shark men were breaking into their second jug of tuba when the music started. They all looked to Malink. Why hadn't he told them there was going to be an appearance of the Sky Priestess? Malink thought fast, then grinned as if he had known this was coming all along. â€Å"I wanted it to be a surprise,† he said. Why hadn't this been an-nounced by the Sorcerer? Was he still angry because Malink had not pro-duced the girl-man on demand? Was Vincent himself angry at Malink for something? Certainly Malink's people would be angry at him for not giving them the time to prepare the drums and the bamboo rifles of Vincent's army – and the women, oh, the women would be shitting coconuts over not having time to oil their skins and paint their faces and put on their ce-remonial grass skirts. As Malink trudged to the airstrip he tried to formulate some explanation that would work with everyone. As if it wasn't difficult enough being chief with no coffee to drink in the morning – he'd had a headache for two weeks from caffeine withdrawal – now his role as religious leader was giving him problems. Leading a religion is tough work when your gods start stirring for real and messing up your prophecies. And what if he did come up with an explanation, only to have the Priestess of the Sky say something that contradicted him? She was supposed to be Vincent's voice, but that voice had been angry lately, so he didn't dare ask her for help as he had in the past. Not in front of his people. He came out of the jungle just in time to see the flash of the explosions. The Sky Priestess walked out of the smoke and even from a hundred yards away, Malink could tell by her step that she was pleased. Malink breathed a sigh of relief. She was carrying magazines for them. If his people were happy with what she said, then he could use the old â€Å"will of Vincent† argument for not preparing them. He could have never guessed the real reason the Sorcerer had not forewarned him of the appearance of the Sky Priestess. At the time when he normally called the warning, the Sorcerer had been watching through the window as the Sky Priestess pumped away on Tucker Case. Tuck waited five minutes before he pulled up his pants and slid out the door of his bungalow, nearly running into Sebastian Curtis. The doctor, normally cool, was soaked with sweat and looked past Tuck to the clinic. â€Å"Mr. Case. I thought you'd be preparing the plane. Beth did tell you that you have a flight?† Tuck fought the urge to bolt. He hadn't had enough time to build up any remorse about having sex with the doctor's wife, and he didn't excel at remorse in the first place. â€Å"I was on my way to do the preflight. It doesn't take long.† The doctor didn't make eye contact. â€Å"You'll forgive me if I seem distracted. I have to perform major surgery in a few minutes. You should go watch Beth's little show.† â€Å"What's all the music and explosions?† â€Å"It's how we retrieve our donors. Beth will explain her theory of religion and theater to you, I'm sure. Excuse me.† He pushed past Tucker and looked at his shoes as he walked toward the clinic. â€Å"Aren't you going to watch?† Tuck said. â€Å"Thank you, but I find it nauseating.† â€Å"Oh,† Tuck said. â€Å"Then I'll go check out the Lear. Great game today, Doc.† â€Å"Yes,† Curtis said. He resumed his stiff-armed walk to the clinic, his fists balled so hard at his sides that Tuck could see them shaking. The guards were gathered at the edge of the hangar. Mato looked up quickly and made eye contact long enough for Tuck to see that he was nervous. Tuck wished he had asked him if the other guards spoke English. â€Å"Konichi-wa, motherfuckers,† Tuck said, covering his linguistic bases. None of the guards responded. Except for Mato, their eyes were trained on Beth Curtis dancing across the airstrip to Benny Goodman's â€Å"Sing, Sing, Sing.† One of the guards hit a button by the hangar and the music stopped as Beth Curtis stepped onto a small wooden platform on the far side of the runway. With the speakers silenced, Tuck could hear the drums of the Shark People. Some were marching around in formation holding lengths of bamboo painted red as rifles. Beth Curtis raised her hands, a copy of People in each, and the drums stopped. Tuck couldn't hear what she was saying, but she was waving her arms around like a soapbox preacher, and the crowd of natives moved, and flinched, and hung on her every word. She paused at one point and handed the magazines down to Malink, who backed away from the platform with his head bowed. Tuck didn't find anything about her performance nauseating, but it was nothing if not strange. Why all the pomp and circumstance? You have six guys with machine guns, you can pretty much go rip a kidney out anytime you want to. He needed to think, and he didn't particularly want to see whom she would pick. Whoever it was, their face would be in his head all the way to Japan and back. He went into the hangar, lowered the door on the Lear, climbed into the dark plane, and lay down in the aisle between the seats. He couldn't hear the sound of the Sky Priestess or the natives oohing and ahhhing, and here among the steel and glass and plastic and upholstery, it felt like home. Here he could hear the sound of his own mind; here in his very own Learjet, the weirdness was all outside. But for the lack of a key he would have taken the plane right then. The guard kicked Tuck in the thigh much harder than was needed to wake him. Tuck looked up to see the face of the guard who had beaten him on the beach. He had a scar that ran up his forehead tracing a bare streak into his scalp and Tuck had started to think of him as Stripe, the evil little monster from the movie Gremlins. Tuck's anger was immediate and white-hot. Only the Uzi stopped him from getting his ass kicked again. The guard dangled the key to the Lear's main power cutoff. It was time to go. Tuck limped to the cockpit and strapped himself into the pilot's seat. Stripe inserted the power key into the instrument console, twisted it, and stepped back to watch as Tuck started the power-up procedure. The other ninjas pulled the Lear out of the hangar by a large T-bar attached to the front wheel. When the plane was safely out of the hangar, Tuck started to spool up the jets. Stripe remained with the Uzi at port arms. Tuck made a big show of going though the checklist, testing switches and gauges. He frowned and clicked the radar switch a couple of times. He looked back at Stripe. â€Å"Go check the nose. Something's not right.† The guard shook his head. Tuck mimed his instructions again and Stripe nodded, then he motioned through the window for another of the guards to join them on board. Evidently, they weren't going to leave him un-guarded in the plane with the power key in. Stripe turned over the guard duty to the other ninja and appeared at the front of the plane. Tuck mo-tioned for him to get closer to the nose. Stripe did. Tuck turned on the radar. â€Å"And a lovely brain tumor for you, you son of a bitch.† Stripe seemed to actually feel the microwave energy and he jumped back from the plane. Tuck grinned and gave him the okay sign. â€Å"I hope your tiny little balls are boiling,† he said aloud. The guard behind him didn't seem to understand what Tuck was saying, but he nudged him with the barrel of his Uzi and pointed. Beth Curtis, in her dark Armani, was coming across the compound with briefcase and cooler in hand. She stepped into the plane and nodded to the guard. Instead of leaving, he took a seat back in the passenger compartment. Beth strapped herself into the copilot's seat. â€Å"We taking him in for shore leave?† Tuck said. â€Å"No. He's just along for the ride tonight.† â€Å"Oh, right.† Tuck powered up the jets and eased the Lear out of the compound onto the runway. Beth Curtis was silent until they were at altitude, cruising toward Japan. Tuck did not engage the autopilot, but steered the Lear gradually, perhaps a degree a minute, to the west. â€Å"So what did you think?† â€Å"Pretty impressive, but I don't get it. Why the whole show to bring in someone for surgery? Why not just send the guards?† â€Å"We're not taking their kidneys, Tucker. They're giving them.† Tuck didn't want to give away what he had learned from Malink and Sepie about the â€Å"chosen.† He said, â€Å"Giving them to who? A naked white woman?† She laughed, reached into her briefcase, and brought out an eight-by-ten color photograph. â€Å"To the Sky Priestess.† She held the photograph where Tuck could see it. He had to steer manually. If he hit the autopilot now, the plane would turn back toward Japan, the only preset in the nav computer. The photograph was in color but old. A flyer stood by the side of a B-26 bomber. On the side of the bomber was the painting of a voluptuous naked woman and the legend SKY PRIESTESS. It could have been a painting of Beth Curtis as she had looked when she arrived at Tuck's bungalow. He recog-nized the flyer as well. It was the ghost flyer he'd been seeing all along. He felt his face flush, but he tried to stay cool. â€Å"So who's that?† â€Å"The flyer was a guy named Vincent Bennidetti,† Beth said. â€Å"The plane was named the Sky Priestess. All the bombers had nose art like that in World War II. We found the picture in the library in San Francisco.† â€Å"So what's that got to do with our operation? You're dressing up like the picture on an airplane.† â€Å"No, I am the Sky Priestess.† â€Å"I'm sorry, Beth. I still don't get it.† â€Å"This is the pilot that the Shark People worship. The cargo cult that ‘Bastian told you about.† Tuck nodded and tried to look surprised, but he was watching his course without seeming to do so. If he had figured it right, they would be over Guam in fifteen minutes and the American military would force them down. The Air Force was very cranky about private jets flying though their airspace. â€Å"The natives on Alualu worship this Vincent guy,† Beth said. â€Å"I speak for Vincent. They come to me when we play the music and I give them everything. In return, I choose one of them for the honor of the mark of Vincent, which, of course, is the scar they get from the operation.† â€Å"Like I said, you've got armed guards. Why not just take what you want?† She looked shocked that he would ask. â€Å"And get out of show business?† Then she smiled and reached over and gave his crotch a squeeze. â€Å"When I met Sebastian in San Francisco, he was drunk and throwing money around. One minute he was so dignified and erudite, the next he was like a little native child. He told me about the cargo cult and I came up with the idea of not just doing this to support the clinic, but to get really filthy rich. We had to keep the people happy if we were going to do this in big numbers.† â€Å"So you thought all of this up?† â€Å"It's the reason I'm here.† â€Å"But Sebastian said you were a† – Tuck caught himself before he said â€Å"stripper† – â€Å"surgical nurse.† â€Å"I was. So what? Did I get any respect for that? Did I get any power? No. To the doctors I was just a piece of ass who could handle surgical instru-ments and close a patient when they needed to get to the golf course. Did Sebastian tell you I used to strip?† â€Å"He mentioned something about it in passing.† â€Å"Well, I did. And I was good.† â€Å"I can imagine,† Tuck said. A few more minutes and they should be joined by an F-16. She smiled. â€Å"Fuck nursing. I was just a piece of meat to the men I worked with, so I decided to go with it. I was pushing thirty and all single women my age were walking around with a desperate look in their eye and a bio-logical clock ticking so loud you thought it was the crocodile from Peter Pan. If I was going to be treated like meat, I was going to make money at it. And I did. Not enough, but a lot more than I would have made nursing.† â€Å"Do tell,† Tuck said. He couldn't remember ever saying â€Å"Do tell,† and it sounded a little strange hearing it. She looked out the window as if she had fallen into some reverie. Then, without looking back, she said, â€Å"What's that island?† Tuck tensed. â€Å"I couldn't say.† She sighed. â€Å"Islands are amazing.† â€Å"I always say that.† She seemed to come out of her trance and looked at the instrument board. Tuck acted as if he was concentrating on flying the plane. He glanced at Beth Curtis. Her mouth had tightened into a line. She reached into the briefcase and came out with the Walther automatic. â€Å"What's that for?† Tuck said. â€Å"Get back on course.† â€Å"I am on course.† â€Å"Now!† â€Å"But I am on course. Look.† He pointed to the nav computer, which still showed the coordinates of the airstrip in Japan, although it wasn't engaged with the autopilot. â€Å"No, you're not.† She pointed to the compass. â€Å"You're at least ninety degrees off course. Turn the plane to Japan now or I'll shoot you.† Tuck was tired of it. â€Å"Right. And you'll fly the plane? There's a difference between being able to read a compass and making a landing.† â€Å"I didn't say I would kill you. I'm good with this. You'll still be able to fly with one testicle. Now that would be a shame for both of us. Please turn the plane.† Tuck engaged the autopilot and let the Lear bring itself around to the course to Japan. â€Å"Sebastian said you might try something like that,† she said. â€Å"I told him I could handle you. I can, can't I? Handle you, I mean.† Tuck was quiet for a minute, berating himself for overestimating the efficiency of the military. Then finally he said, â€Å"You are a nefarious, diabolical, and evil bitch.† â€Å"And?† â€Å"That's all.† â€Å"I'm impressed. ‘Nefarious' has more than two syllables. I am a good influence on you.† â€Å"Fuck you.† â€Å"You will,† she said. 48 Too Many Guns Back at the drinking circle, Malink opened a copy of People reverentially and read by kerosene lamp while the other men huddled to get a look at the pictures. â€Å"Cher is worst-dressed,† Malink announced. â€Å"Too skinny,† said Favo. â€Å"I like Lady Di.† Malink cringed. In the picture Lady Di was wearing a string of pearls, obviously the reason for Favo's preference. Malink turned the page. â€Å"Celestine Raptors of Madison County is number one movie in country,† Malink read. â€Å"I want to see a movie,† Favo said. â€Å"You must tell the Sky Priestess to tell Vincent to bring a movie.† â€Å"Many movies,† said Abo. â€Å"And many delicious light and healthy snacks with NutraSweet registered trademark,† he added in English. â€Å"Vincent will bring many snacks.† Malink was turning to the moving story of a two-thousand-pound man who, after being forklifted out of his house, had dieted down to a svelte fourteen hundred when the sound of a machine gun rattled across the is-land. Malink put down the magazine and held up his hand to quiet the men. They waited and there was another burst of gunfire. A few seconds later they heard shouting and looked down the beach to see Sarapul running as fast as his spindly old legs would carry him. â€Å"Come help!† he shouted. â€Å"They shot the navigator!† The Uzi was pressed so hard into Tuck's side that he felt as if his ribs were going to separate any second. The guard crouched behind him in the cockpit hatchway, while out on the tarmac Beth Curtis exchanged the cooler for another manila envelope. She seemed to be in a much better mood when she climbed back into the copilot's seat. â€Å"Home, James.† Tuck tossed his head toward the back of the plane where the guard was taking his seat. â€Å"I guess you weren't taking any chances about me taking off while you were out of the plane.† â€Å"Do I look stupid?† she said. A smile there, no hint of a challenge. â€Å"No, I guess not.† Tuck pushed up the throttles and taxied the Lear back out to the runway. Again Beth Curtis reached over and gave him a light squeeze to the crotch. She put on her headset so she could talk to him over the roar of the engines as they took off. â€Å"Look, I know this is hard for you. Trust is some-thing you build, and you haven't known me long enough to learn to do that.† Tuck thought, It would help if you weren't changing personalities every five minutes. â€Å"Trust me, Tucker. What we are doing is not hurting the people of Alualu. There are people in India who are selling off their organs for less than the price of a used Toyota pickup. With what we make, we can be sure that these people are always taken care of, and we can take care of ourselves in the meantime.† â€Å"If people are selling their organs on the cheap, then how are you – we – making so much money?† â€Å"Because we can do it to order. Transplant isn't just a matter of blood type, you know. Sure, in a pinch – and usually it is a pinch – you can go on just blood type, but there are four other factors in tissue typing. If they match, along with blood type, then you have a better chance of the body not rejecting the organ. Sebastian has a database of the tissue types of every native on the island. When there's a need for an exact match, the order comes in over the satellite and we run it through the database. If we have it, the Sky Priestess calls the chosen.† â€Å"Don't the people have to be the same race?† â€Å"It helps, but it seems that the people of Alualu have a very similar genetic pattern to the Japanese.† â€Å"They don't look Japanese. How do you know this?† â€Å"Actually, it was figured out by an anthropologist who came to the island long before I did. He was studying the language and genetics of the islanders to determine where they migrated from. Turns out there are both linguistic and genetic links to Japan. They've been diluted by interbreeding with natives from New Guinea, but it's still very close.† â€Å"So you guys opened up Kidneys ‘R' Us and started making a mint.† â€Å"Except for the scar, their lives don't change, Tucker. We've never lost a patient to a botched operation or infection.† But bullets, Tuck thought, are another matter. Still, there was nothing he could do to stop them, and if he had to do nothing, a great salary and his own jet were pretty good compensation. He'd spent most of his life not doing anything. Was it so bad to be paid for what you're good at? He said, â€Å"So it doesn't hurt them? In the long run, I mean.† â€Å"Their other kidney steps up production and they never notice the difference.† â€Å"I still don't get the Sky Priestess thing.† She sighed. â€Å"Control the religion and you control the people. Sebastian tried to bring Christianity to the Shark People – and the Catholics before him – but you can't compete with a god people have actually seen. The answer? Become that god.† â€Å"But I thought Vincent was the god.† â€Å"He is, but he will bring wonderful cargo in the Sky Priestess. Besides, it breaks the boredom. Boredom can be a lethal thing on a small island. You know about that already.† Tuck nodded. It wasn't so bad now. The fear of being murdered had gone a long way toward breaking his boredom. Beth Curtis leaned over and kissed him lightly on the temple. â€Å"You and I can fight the boredom together. That's one of the reasons I chose you.† â€Å"You chose me?† In spite of himself, he was thinking about her naked body grinding away above him. â€Å"Of course I chose you. I'm the Sky Priestess, aren't I?† â€Å"I'm not so sure it was you,† Tuck said, thinking about the ghost pilot. She pushed away and looked at him as if he had lost his mind.