Demonstrate Enhanced Self Awerness, Interpersonal and Self-Managment Essay

Demonstrate Enhanced Self Awerness, Interpersonal and Self-Managment Skills When Establishing and Maintaining Professional and T - Essay Example Prior to conclusion, the student will reflect on his/her personal skills and highlight one action point for each that will benefit you in maintaining professional and therapeutic relationship. Literature Review The process of establishing a strong nurse-patient relationship could result from a constant or regular interplay or covert negotiation between the nurse and the patients until both parties are able to reach a mutual and satisfying relationship (Morse, 1991). Depending on the time spent between the nurses and the patients, nurses are expected to build trust and meet the individual needs of each patient. According to Morse (1991), nurses who are not willing or failed to commit themselves to the patients would end up forming a unilateral relationship rather than a nurse-patient relationship. ... Caring is the central force when developing nurse-patient relationship that aims to protect the patient’s dignity (Kozier et al., 2004, p. 72; Astedt-Kurki et al., 2007). Therefore, developing trust between the nurse and the patient is important (Yamashita and Mound, 2005). For nurses to be able to successfully perform the seven nursing roles (i.e. the stranger role, resource role, teaching role, counselling role, surrogate role, leadership role, and technical expert role) in caring for the patients, Peplau emphasizes the need for nurses to communicate and be a good listener to the patient (Courey et al., 2008). For example, by listening to the specific needs and personal experiences of the patients, the nurses will be able to have a better understanding on how they should provide caring and treatment to the patients without causing any unnecessary internal conflict between the two parties involved (Di Joseph and Cavendish, 2005). Communication skills can affect the success or failure of a nurse-patient relationship. Therefore, nurses should be aware of their choices of words, sentence structure, and tone of voice (Kozier et al., 2004, p. 427). In most cases, patients who are emotionally happy and satisfied with the development of nurse-patient relationship are more open in revealing their emotions with the nurses (Astedt-Kurki et al., 2007). Once the patient is able to share his personal experiences with the nurses, the nurses will have more opportunity to communicate with the patients and be able to provide them with the comfort they need to be able to cope with their health status. As part of strengthening the relationship between the nurses and patients, Tveiten and Severinsson (2006) revealed that a

Anti-discriminatory practice Essay Example for Free

Anti-discriminatory practice Essay The problems that can be encountered within staff training and development is that Betty may want the training to take place on a Saturday but the carers who have the day off on Saturdays may not want to go because it may be the only day off they have in a week. Betty could then rearrange the day and have staff training during the week but the downside of that is that there will be no carers left to care for the residents and also there will be a funding problem because Betty will then have to try and get other carers in just for that day. Funding The problems that can be encountered with funding is that if quite a few staff members take the same day off like a Wednesday then Betty will have to ring the staff who shouldn’t be in on Wednesday and see if they will come in, but they don’t want to. Betty will then have to ring and ask see if she can have agency staff to come in and work which will then be costing money that they probably haven’t got. Discrimination The problem with discrimination is that people have their own beliefs and values. A carer doesn’t like black people and there are 1 or 2 black people in the care home where she works. This carer takes in their own beliefs and values before their line of work; this means that the carer will be nice to the â€Å"black† residents when another carer is around but when they are on their own with them they call them names and are just discriminating against them because of their own beliefs and values. If the â€Å"black† residents complain about this carer then she will get assessed and if it is still going on she will end up with the sack and also taken to court. Manager There are problems with managers like funding because some carers may want a pay rise and if there isn’t enough money then obviously the carers cant have their pay rise and they may quit their job as a result of this. Another problem for a manager is that the care home could be an old building. Old buildings are more likely to have damp and to start falling down. This could link into the funding because if there wasn’t enough funding then the care home would have to get closed down because they wouldn’t be able to re-damp proof the walls/ceilings and also they wouldn’t be able to afford building works. Cooks There are a few problems for cooks because if they haven’t got enough staff working in the kitchens then everyone would have to be fed at different times which could be a problem with service users if they had a set feeding time. Storage is a problem because if it was a small kitchen then the cook wouldn’t have enough room to store appliances and food. Under trained staff is another problem because if staff wasn’t trained properly then germs could be passed on and also food may not be cooked properly. Cleaners A big problem for cleaners is that they could be denied access to a room by a service user. The reason this is a problem is that the cleaner may not get paid if all rooms are not cleaned properly although it wouldn’t be the cleaners fault. Cleaners can also have problems with respect because some carers think they are better than the cleaners because they don’t have to do the dirty jobs other than changing some residents. Receptionist Problems for receptionists is that if there is a client on the phone and there was a problem then the receptionist would get a mouth full although it wouldn’t be there fault. The reason the receptionist would get an ear full is because they are the first person that the client is going to speak to on the matter and the client will think it’s the receptionists fault because they answered the phone. When actually all the receptionist is there for is to make and/or receive calls and also to book appointments. Communication can be a problem especially if the service user doesn’t speak English. The reason this would be a problem is if the service user didn’t speak English then the receptionist will not understand what they rang up for. Carer Carers get a lot of problems because they could be discriminated against especially if they were male. The reason for this is that there are more female residents in a care home than there are males and some women don’t like to be washed by a bloke even though that is what they were employed for.

Flirting And Its Importance To Interpersonal Relationshios English Language Essay

Flirting And Its Importance To Interpersonal Relationshios English Language Essay Interpersonal relationships are an essential part of society and have been ever since the beginning of civilization. In a hostile world, our ancestors formed relationships to guarantee the survival, and as a result passed on the need for camaraderie as a vital part of our physical and emotional structure. One way humans express the need for camaraderie is through flirting. What is flirting? I decided to ask a few college students their definition of flirting. Some of the responses from women include: Expressing interest or attraction to someone in the form of flattery, teasing, or body language., Using natural charm to attract attention from another. A playful way of showing interest., Trying to let someone know that you like them without outright saying it., I think if a guy is talking to you a lot, compliments you a lot, and tries to make himself look good, hes flirting, I would define flirting as a technique used to either show attraction or to make someone more attracted to you.. Here are some of the responses from men: Talking and joking to get to know the other person and subtly commenting on the other persons attractiveness in hopes that the other person will like you either start some kind of relationship or just have fun for a night., Flirting is when someone actively attempts to demonstrate an interest in someone else. It is often misinterpreted and used in order to get things., I would say playfully talking to the other sex trying to attract them to yourself. Reading through the responses you notice common themes about what flirting is and its purpose. To summarize, flirting is letting someone know you are attracted to them (in a sexual matter) by expressing interest through a variety of ways. Looking at the responses, you notice that both genders use flirting with the goal of having the opposite gender feel an attraction towards them. The main focus of this is work is to understand how gender affects the way in which a person expresses and responds to flirting. Literary Review Do a quick Google search on flirting and you will find numerous tips and techniques on how to flirt. A popular mens website, Askmen.com, commonly provides information regarding flirting and how a man is supposed to behave in order to become a success flirt. David Deangelo is a popular correspondent on the website. In article titled, How to flirt with a woman and more ¸ Deangelo responds to a letter from a man who has had some success using the techniques David advocates but still gets a cold shoulder from many women. The man enjoys going to see live bands and this kind of scene is where he frequently attempts to flirt and pick up women. He tells David about a common interaction his has with women at a bar. It goes as follows; man: This band really sucks. woman: Hey, I like this band. man: Oh, Im sorry not for saying that, but because you like this band. The writer is using a technique David is a big proponent of called cocky and funny. Cocky and funny (CF) is a phrased coined by D avid Deangelo and is defined as a mindset or frame a man uses to try to gain attraction from a woman. The idea is for the individual using the method is to act cocky, but yet in a funny way in to increase attraction. In the article, David tells the man that he is doing an ok job with the CF method, but can amplify attraction and stop rejection by following his advice. Deangelo says that saying this band sucks to a total stranger is not funny and can be kind of creepy. He suggests that the man tries this approach instead; man says: Hey, do you like this band?, woman says: Yeah., man says Doesnt surprise me. What, are you the guitar players sister? (askmen) Basically, David is teaching guys what he believes is the best way to flirt and to attract women. He contributes to the socializing of guys by teaching to behave a certain way as it relates to flirting with women. Socialization is the process through individual take on gendered qualities and characteristics and acquire a sense of s elf. (textbook) Cosmopolitan is a popular womens website and magazine. Numerous articles give wisdom and advice to women across world about issues including, relationships and sex, health, careers, self-improvement, celebrities, as well as fashion and beauty. Cosmo also teaches women how to flirt and be successful with any man out there. An article on the website reveals five tips about flirting for all ladies out there. The first tip listed is to put out the vibe, which means for women to show a man she is interested by giving him a sign. According to the article a sign can things like making eye contact and flashing the guy a go ahead, make your move smile. The second tip is to challenge him, which means to be competitive (in a playful way) with man you are going for. Men enjoy being competitive and find it attractive when a girl can be just as competitive. The articles third tip for flirting is to be sort of there for him. Being sort of there for him means not giving him all your time. The articl e says that guys love the thrill of chasing what they think that cant have and argues that its best to treat the amount of time you give your crush like cell phone minutes: use in moderation at first and hell want more (cosmo). The fourth tip is to duck, duck, goose him! This tip says its a good idea to be childish with your crush, punch him and his inner child will be forced to respond. The finally tip is places to meet guys. The places include concerts, gas stations, volunteering, amusement parks, and waiting lines. As with men, women use websites like cosmo as a means of socialization. The previous two paragraphs give a pop culture perspective on flirting. Based on the pop culture view on flirting there are similarities between genders on how a person flirts. However, there are still yet differences as well. One similarity is that men and women alike use flirting to portray a more playful, fun, and attractive self to the person they are interested in. A difference is that men are socialized to take a more active role in initiating flirting. Men are taught to approach women and start the conversation. Women are socialized to use more none verbal cues to initiate flirting, as illustrated in the Cosmo article were the author tells women to flash him a go ahead, make your move smile smile. Over the past 30 years attraction and interpersonal relationships has been studied numerous. A publication by Antonia Abbey in 1982 brought awareness to the idea that men generally interpret the world in more sexual terms then women. Men are more likely to misperceive a womens friendliness while flirting as the women being interested sexually. This can lead to potentially catastrophic consequences. Abbeys researched looked at the role of several nonverbal cues in the perceptions about flirting including: distance, eye contact, touch, and clothing. Most of the research confirmed that men were more likely to perceive an interaction with women in more sexual terms. In 1988, Shotland and Craig looked at whether men and women could distinguish between friendly versus sexual behavior, as well as whether men were more likely to attribute sexual intent then females. Flirting can be defined as both friendly and sexual behavior. The research is relevant to understanding how gender affects the way a person flirts. The pair found that, not only could men and women differentiate between the two types of behaviors, but in addition corresponded with the Abbeys research regarding male perceptions of sexual intent. Pamela Kalbfleisch states beliefs about flirting represent key aspects of an individuals mental model concerning male and female relations and sexual encounters. Little research has been done on the topic on flirting, however Kalbfeisch believes there are three commonly held cultural beliefs about flirting. The first belief is flirting as a common fun. This is the type of flirting that is overwhelmingly represented throughout pop culture. The second belief is flirting as reflecting uncontrollable sexual urges. Kalbfleisch states that this is the kind of flirting that is reflected in pornography. The final belief is flirting as invitation. Kalbfleisch statest that this type is reflected in sexists beliefs that men should be the gender who takes action when they believe women are flirting with them. In addition, this includes the belief that women simply want men to sweep them off their feet, and so on. According to Kalbfleish, friendly (normal behavior interactions), flirtatious, and seductive behaviors are closely associated with nonverbal behavioral cues (body language). The nonverbal cues are kinesics (movement), haptics (touch), proxemics (distance), oculesics (eye movement), and vocalic (voice). Kinesics includes the study of the body movements such as smiling and body postures and are gestures seen as indicators of flirtatious behaviors, as well as friendly and seductive behaviors. Medium to large amounts of smiling is associated with flirtatious behaviors. In addition, flirting behavior is described by the use of childlike expressions, like open mouth pouting and head tilting. Haptics includes the study of the use of touch as a means of communication, particularly by indicating the nature of the relationship. According to Kalbfleish, moderates amount of touch indicates a flirtatious interaction. To compare, friendly behaviors have little to no touch and behaviors like touching the hand or leg represents seductive behavior. Proxemics includes the study of amount of personal distance between individuals and also varies depending on the kind of interaction. Generally, people who lean toward each other and are at a similar body angle are seen as being more seductive than those people who lean away from one another. Flirtatious behavior is described as individuals crossing their legs toward each other and having more face to face contact. Oculesics includes the study of the amount and type of eye contact and movements a person displays during an interaction with someone. Flirtatious behavior is characterized as using moderate degrees of eye contact. In addition, flirtatious behaviors include shy looks downward. Vocalics includes the study of the use of voice as being one the biggest indicators of the kind of interaction. Flirtatious behaviors use animated speech (Muehlenhard et al., 1986), as well as moderate amounts of laughter (Coker and Burgoon, 1987; Perper and Weis, 1987), reduced silences and increased warmth and interest (Coker and Burgoon, 1987). The research on nonverbal behavior cues stated above is important to understanding how gender affects the way a person expresses and responds to flirting. Because men and women interpret interactions with one another differently, body language will help me determine the type of interaction that is taking place during my observations.

Pollution and Environment Essay - Overpopulation and Personal Responsib

Overpopulation and Personal Responsibility Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve dreamed of having a large family when I was older. I envied friends with three or four siblings. I’d proudly tell anyone I was going to have six children when I grew up. Now, I’m a little older, and still far away from making that decision, my conscious will still face a looming dilemma. With my knowledge negative impacts caused by overpopulation, how can I deliberately have a large family, while upholding my environmentalist values? Over the past few years I’ve found myself paying particular attention to articles about overpopulation, foreign adoption, and infertility caused by environmental factors. The older I get, the more stories I hear of friends and family members having infertility problems. Their only two options are heavy fertility drugs or waiting on long lists for adoption. I have read many articles and books relating infertility to environmental factors. I often wonder if nature is just trying to balance itself out. At one time, a large family was needed for security or free labor. Now, with the rise of social security, child labor laws, and overall quality of life, children are not a necessity in this country. Some Americans do not realize overpopulation is even a problem. According to the Population Resource Bureau, American population grew by 10% from 1990 to 1999. In addition to the strain on government spending in some cases (through welfare and other support) large families may also have a significant impact on urban sprawl and other environmental issues. The article Facts, Not Fear, contained a section about China’s strict one child policy. Although arguably necessary in China, as an American I cannot even imagine th... ...f overpopulation. In our lives, and the lives of our children we have seen and will continue to see the harsh effects of population growth. The projected numbers are scary. Projections show a doubling rate of 51 years for world population at current growth rates. At this pace, our children will see twice as many people who need support from our planet. We each do our own part, however small it may seem, the huge issue may become smaller and smaller. Eventually, either we will stabilize our growth, or nature will do it for us. References Cutter, Fenwick and Fenwick. (1991). Exploitatoin, conservation, and preservation, 2nd edition. John White & Sons. Population Reference Bureau. www.prb.org. 28 March. 2001 Sanera, M. & Shaw, J. (1996). Facts, not fear: a parentà ¢s guide to teaching children about the environment. Washington DC: Regency Publishing, Inc.

Of Mice and Men – in What Ways Could This Novel

Steinbeck makes it clear that most the workers on the ranch are lonely, as working in a ranch is hard work and no one really wants to work really hard every day Just to eat and survive, so you can say that the people working In the ranch have no alma In life, living temporary lives, oath beaten by hard boys down from the ranches to swim In the deep pool, and â€Å"A beaten hard by tramps†.Also as Leonie and George had to walk long way to the ranch or to work this may have been the case for lots of people in the ‘ass as that was the time of the Great Depression and the Wall Street Crash In where the economy of the USA fell and everyone was out of jobs and money, you can say that this is tragic In some way as it shows how hard people tried Just to find work and how the Depression bought loneliness onto the people of the ASSAI. Some people in the ranch vive more lonely lives than others. One of the loneliest persons on the ranch has to be Curly wife.As she Is the only women on the ranch she feels Isolated and left out from the men and feels different. Also no one really wants to talk to her as she is the wife of the boss's son and no one talks to her out of fear of getting into a fight with Curly who has power upon the ranch to fire people as he is the boss's son and the workers did not want to get fired as there were no Jobs around. This can be seen as tragic as If a worker Is accidentally seen communicating with Curly wife Curly will ant him fired or will want to fight him as Curly is seen as a character as aggressive.Also Curry's wife is seen as a â€Å"flirt† or just wants attention as she is the only female on the ranch, but Curly doesn't want her to talk to anyone. As she has no female friends on the ranch, men are her only option, but they do not want to talk to her. So this really frustrates her and makes her lonely. Even thought Curry's wife is mentioned throughout the book, she is never called by her name, from her lack of a personal definition you can say that the men on the ranch don't see her a normal human being UT as an â€Å"object†. She says to Leonie â€Å"Think I don't like to talk to someone ever once in a while? This shows that she is trying to tell Leonie that she is desperate to talk to someone and have a friend that she can Just talk to, you can say this is tragic as Curry's wife can't even have one of life's simplest things â€Å"a conversation† or a friend. However, she believes that one day she would make It to the movies and become an actor, â€Å"l Alan used to level like this. I could made something of myself†¦ Maybe I will yet. † because of this extreme loneliness she wants to think of herself as having a true ahead of her, but in reality she does not.So she is living in two different lives, but in reality she Is living in a boring ranch with no one to talk to. You can say this Is tragic as the ranch brings peoples hope up Into believing that they will make it big one day but in reality the ranch crushes this dream and the workers on the ranch will 1 OFF Another point about Curly wife is she escapes all this â€Å"loneliness† by dying, when she is killed by Leonie, Steinbeck writes, and â€Å"The meanness and the planning of the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face.This means that Curly wife is dead and now she looks happy when she is dead as she has escaped from being lonely. This can be seen as tragic as you can say that the only escape from loneliness is death. Another character that can be seen as lonely is Crooks. Crooks suffers from loneliness because he is the only black person on the ranch, and black people suffered lots of racial abuse from white people in the ‘ass because black people didn't have human rights. Also he lives by himself as no one likes him as he is black, this makes Crooks even lonelier.Crooks does not take part in any social activity in the ranch, he is so lonely that he tur ns to reading books in his spare time. Steinbeck shows Crooks character someone who is desperate for company, but Crooks really does not show it. This can be seen as tragic as everyone is racist to Crooks on the ranch and no one likes him. Also when Leonie enters Crooks room, Crooks talks to Leonie even though he knows that Leonie doesn't understand him as much, but still continues to talk as he is â€Å"not lonely' any more as he has someone to talk to.Crooks says, â€Å"A guy goes nuts if he ant got nobody†¦ I tell way a guy gets too lonely and he gets sick. † This shows that he knows what it's like to be lonely and what it can do to somebody, this can be seen as tragic as no one should really know what it really feels like to be left out and lonely for a very long time even though there are always people around you and those people neglect you for something that you don't choose to have – the color of your skin.Another character that is portrayed as lonely by Steinbeck is Candy. Candy is an old man who is physically disabled and who used to work on the ranch, he is disabled due to an accident in the past. You can say that candy is lonely because he is old and no one really wants to become friends with someone who is old, also Candy only companionship was his dog that got shot in the back of his head because he was getting old and useless Just like Candy.As Candy now has no friends he over hears Leonie and George talk about their â€Å"dream place†, as Candy wants to escape this loneliness he wants to Join Leonie and George in their dream place, so Candy offers his saving towards the dream place and making it a â€Å"reality'. â€Å"Expose I went in with you guys. † This shows that Candy is fed up from being in the ranch and wants to escape his past; also he knew he was going to be sacked soon as he old and cannot work so he put his money into the â€Å"Dream place†.This can be seen as tragic as you can say that peop le will give all their money away to escape from loneliness, and you can say that money does not always bring happiness. Another character that can be seen as lonely is Curly, even though he has a wife. No one really likes him in the ranch as he is aggressive and he likes to look down upon the workers on the ranch, this leads to Curly having no friends in the ranch, also Curly goes to the brothel house even though he has a wife, you can say that his wife may not like him that much or satisfy him so he turns to the brothel.This is tragic as Curly wants to be respected and to be seen as someone with power, no one him, also as Curly is intimidated by bigger men, he hates Leonie who is twice his size, as Lien's character is seen by the workers on the ranch as â€Å"innocent† and childlike† the workers seem to take Lien's side when Curly attacks Leonie out of frustration and anger.Curly as a character can be seen as tragic as no one really likes him and he has no real friend s and no one seems to respect him but only fear him because of his position in the ranch, even his own wife doesn't really like him as Curly always controls her and makes her feel lonely in her own ways and Curly even has to go to a brother to satisfy his sexual needs even though he has a wife, from this you can say that Curly is truly lonely.Another character that is portrayed as lonely towards the end of the book is George, as he killed Leonie, you can say that he now has no burden on his shoulders any more, but you can also say that George now has no true friend and will now suffer loneliness like the other men on the ranch. This could be seen as tragic as George killed Leonie out of â€Å"Love† and did Leonie as favor as Leonie would've been sent to a mental asylum and in the ‘ass asylums were bad places to be, so George did something out of â€Å"Love† and now suffers loneliness and not having a true friend.So in conclusion loneliness is seen tragic in a num ber of ways in this book and Steinbeck uses lots of means to escape loneliness; such as death, giving away all your possessions, and even turning to books. Also doing something you may think is good will bring something bad, like when George killing Leonie out of love and friendship, George will now suffer from loneliness, So â€Å"Loneliness† in Of Mice and Men is a major theme as all the characters are affected by it and Steinbeck shows all the tragedies of loneliness and he also shows what people would do Just to escape this â€Å"Loneliness†.

Narrative Voice In The Bell Jar

L. P. Hartley and Sylvia Plath both use the first person narrative to evoke a sense of tragedy for their protagonists, however, with Leo, Hartley uses the first person narrative to allow the reader to understand the unfortunate event in the life of twelve year old Leo. Some may say that the first person narration of Leo is both more personal and detailed than that of Esther. The reader sees the sophisticated world of Brandham Hall, contrasted with the closeness of Leo’s relationship with his mother, from Leo’s perspective.On the other hand, in The Bell-Jar the reader’s understanding of Esther’s life is limited by the cold and detached first person narrative, due to her descent into depression. It could be said that Esther is presented as repressing her emotions, yet her opinionated ways lead to her alienation. This makes her unreliable as the reader experiences the narrator’s life from her dysfunctional perspective. This makes it hard for the reader to connect to Esther, therefore limiting our empathy with her tragedy. In contrast, the reader sympathises with Leo as we see his youth and enthusiasm for life being destroyed, which enhances the tragedy.It could be said that Plath’s use of a simile to portray incongruity foreshadows Esther’s growing fear of â€Å"the bell-jar†. At the start of the novel, â€Å"The cadaver’s head, floated up behind my eggs and bacon at breakfast†. The reader is shocked due to the tragic inappropriateness of the cadaver’s head being connected to the mundane image of eggs and bacon. This dark humour, which arises from the absurdity of the two objects, could be perceived as foreshadowing the tragedy to come, due to Esther’s dysfunctional view of life.The humorous tone of the simile is increased as the narrator does not seem traumatized by such a shocking image being associated with an everyday object. It could therefore be argued that this reduces the t ragic effect from the situation. However, the cadaver’s head is always following her â€Å"on a string, like some black, nose less balloon stinking of vinegar† which could be argued is dragging her down. This macabre humour of the â€Å"nose less balloon† contrasts with the tragic tone of the novel and perhaps reduces our sense of Esther’s misfortune.The balloon could represent a â€Å"bell-jar† hanging over Esther’s life, always close enough to come down on Esther and never going to disappear. However, it could be argued that if Esther really wanted to, she could let go of the balloon and therefore release her connections with the bell jar, which may take the tragedy with it. The balloon could portray that the tragedy, strangeness and â€Å"the bell-Jar† is Esther’s own doing, as for a balloon to come down, all one has to do is pull, so this could be a metaphor for Esther’s life as a whole, which is tragic as we feel co mpassion for the young girl starring down the barrel of depression.Furthermore, the â€Å"cadaverous face† is mentioned on the last page of the novel. This structural feature, which Plath would have no doubt intended, indicates that the cadaver has followed her all her life, tragically limiting her chances of being â€Å"normal† which shows that Esther may never get out of the â€Å"bell-jar†, even when there is a little hope at the end of the novel. Narrative Voice in the Bell Jar L. P. Hartley and Sylvia Plath both use the first person narrative to evoke a sense of tragedy for their protagonists, however, with Leo, Hartley uses the first person narrative to allow the reader to understand the unfortunate event in the life of twelve year old Leo. Some may say that the first person narration of Leo is both more personal and detailed than that of Esther. The reader sees the sophisticated world of Brandham Hall, contrasted with the closeness of Leo’s relationship with his mother, from Leo’s perspective.On the other hand, in The Bell-Jar the reader’s understanding of Esther’s life is limited by the cold and detached first person narrative, due to her descent into depression. It could be said that Esther is presented as repressing her emotions, yet her opinionated ways lead to her alienation. This makes her unreliable as the reader experiences the narrator’s life from her dysfunctional perspective. This makes it hard for the reader to connect to Esther, therefore limiting our empathy with her tragedy. In contrast, the reader sympathises with Leo as we see his youth and enthusiasm for life being destroyed, which enhances the tragedy.It could be said that Plath’s use of a simile to portray incongruity foreshadows Esther’s growing fear of â€Å"the bell-jar†. At the start of the novel, â€Å"The cadaver’s head, floated up behind my eggs and bacon at breakfast†. The reader is shocked due to the tragic inappropriateness of the cadaver’s head being connected to the mundane image of eggs and bacon. This dark humour, which arises from the absurdity of the two objects, could be perceived as foreshadowing the tragedy to come, due to Esther’s dysfunctional view of life.The humorous tone of the simile is increased as the narrator does not seem traumatized by such a shocking image being associated with an everyday object. It could therefore be argued that this reduces the t ragic effect from the situation. However, the cadaver’s head is always following her â€Å"on a string, like some black, nose less balloon stinking of vinegar† which could be argued is dragging her down. This macabre humour of the â€Å"nose less balloon† contrasts with the tragic tone of the novel and perhaps reduces our sense of Esther’s misfortune.The balloon could represent a â€Å"bell-jar† hanging over Esther’s life, always close enough to come down on Esther and never going to disappear. However, it could be argued that if Esther really wanted to, she could let go of the balloon and therefore release her connections with the bell jar, which may take the tragedy with it. The balloon could portray that the tragedy, strangeness and â€Å"the bell-Jar† is Esther’s own doing, as for a balloon to come down, all one has to do is pull, so this could be a metaphor for Esther’s life as a whole, which is tragic as we feel co mpassion for the young girl starring down the barrel of depression.Furthermore, the â€Å"cadaverous face† is mentioned on the last page of the novel. This structural feature, which Plath would have no doubt intended, indicates that the cadaver has followed her all her life, tragically limiting her chances of being â€Å"normal† which shows that Esther may never get out of the â€Å"bell-jar†, even when there is a little hope at the end of the novel.

Film “The Black Balloon” Essay

The film â€Å"The Black Balloon†, is a 2008 Australian AFI award-winning dramatic feature film that stars Toni Collette, Rhys Wakefield, Luke Ford, Erik Thomson, Gemma Ward; as well as a cast of newcomers. It is directed by first-time feature film director, Elissa Down, Despite being set in the early 1990’s, the movie, â€Å"The Black Balloon† still contains relevant messages for audiences in the modern age. These messages involve the discrimination the Mollison family is subjected to, the characters that Down has incorporated into her story and the coming of age by her one of her main characters Thomas. Discrimination is a major theme in the movie, â€Å"The Black Balloon†. This theme was shown throughout the movie when the residents of the town and the school displayed discrimination toward Charlie and the family. The most poignant example of discrimination is when Charlie has a breakdown/tantrum at the supermarket when his father, Simon, has to put gro ceries back. Charlie feels that his order has been interrupted and he doesn’t cope with the change. Not one of the community members or staff members who were seen to witness the tantrum offered to help or even offered an encouraging smile. Through Down’s use of close-up camera shots on the observers, the viewer is able to see the judgment and horror that the community is displaying towards the autistic Charlie. Discrimination is also show financially. Although it isn’t shown in the film, financing Charlie’s medication plus his routine doctor and specialist check-ups wouldn’t be easy and again, the community is not forthcoming with offering assistance. These judgments from community members still occur in modern day society and parents of autistic children are still subjected to judgmental looks when their child doesn’t cope in an â€Å"appropriate† way in a social setting. The director Elissa Down has designed her story with simple characters, these individuals are coursed with issues and are reluctant to overcome them. the characters rema rked in this story show a great amount of emotions throughout their journey in the film, Thomas Mollison hitting his highest points at life when he meets Jackie and meeting his all-time lows releasing his anger out on his autistic brother Charlie is a massive point in the film. The characters in the film have a sense of belonging to their family this is resembled by the Mollisons sticking strong as a group and overcoming challenges throughout the film. Romance is also another big remark for the characters, the romance contributed by both  Jackie and Thomas really hit hard in the film. Individuals in the film also need to overcome challenges and that’s more than certainly shown in the film. Overcoming issues like the dinner table scene and the big fight. The characters in this film really resemble to modern day audience due to actions the characters conduct to, the sense of family and belonging are still a massive emotion throughout a modern families relationship. The sense of romance hits a huge message throughout the lives of young teenagers everywhere, modern social settings have a diverse amount of young teenagers who conduct themselves with the messages that The Black Balloon shows. The coming of age shown by one of our main two characters Thomas Mollison has been touched on perfectly by director Elissa Down, she investigates that harsh times throughout Thomas’s early life and evaluates him to where he concludes at the end of the film. Coming of age is the transition from adolescence to adulthood. During this time Thomas faces many challenges and changes. In the course throughout the film Thomas is sequenced with hardship and faced with strong issues, two main issues are outlined including the embarrassment of Charlies actions with conducting a relationship with Jackie and the sorrow moments where Thomas is known to be pushed aside of Charlie. Thomas plays the part of ‘A coming of age story’ perfectly, growing up throughout the film and overcoming those issues in his life at that time. Thomas concluded at the end of the film with emotions such as pleasure and happiness, this is shown with close up shots of Thomas’s face during the scen e where he dances in Charlie’s performance. This resembles a message of growing up and that message conducts greatly in modern society, the facts of teenagers going through harsh times in many senses including home life, school life and life overall. Thomas played a part of every young adults life, showing the emotions of his tears in the bathroom scene when his mother addresses him and the joyful moments at the end of the movie. Highs and lows are registered throughout anyone’s life and Thomas has shown that through emotion and his actions in The Black Balloon. In conclusion the movie The Black Balloon outlines a variety of strong coursed messages, these messages relate to modern audiences in a course of factors. Discrimination of families and characters was a high remarked message for contemporary viewers to relate to, the taste of judgement reached out to the viewers and were widely in sighted of the social setting that they are in. The  characters were evolved throughout the film as they showed high courses of emotion and heavy scenes of action. Observers showed relevance to the characters of the film as they saw the rich lust of romance and family belonging. The coming of age of Thomas Mollison reached out to modern audience and distinguished the hardship of issues grieved throughout a young teen’s life. Thomas showed emotions of happiness and sadness while overcoming issues and representing himself as a strong young adult. Viewers receive the message of overcoming issues and relate to these by the actions Thomas did in the film, these messages show that The Black Balloon does hold modern views on society today.