Types of Conflict Essay Example for Free

Types of Conflict Essay Conflict in business meetings usually falls into two categories: 1. Real professional differences – Conflict can arise from very real differences in professional opinions. In many cases, these differences dont develop into open conflict. But conflict is more likely when the outcome is extremely important, when the decision being made is irreversible, or when the impact of making the wrong decision will reflect badly on those involved. When this type of conflict is left unresolved, it can rapidly spoil relationships. 2. Power struggles and personality issues – Conflict can arise when individuals or groups dislike one-another, or feel that their positions are being threatened. This type of conflict tends to be more about peoples personalities than about facts or decisions being made. The techniques well discuss below still apply, but you may also need to resolve the underlying problem. For more on this, see our articles on Conflict Resolution (in particular, Thomas and Kilmanns conflict styles) and on Resolving Team Conflict. Reducing the Opportunity for Conflict The best defenses against conflict often involve preparing thoroughly before the meeting, and chairing strongly during the meeting. If you develop a reputation for running tightly structured meetings, theres less chance that individuals who attend those meetings will try to pursue their own agendas. See Running Effective Meetings for practical tips on how to do this. Send out the agenda in advance, and when the meeting begins, ask the group to agree to it. Then follow your agenda closely, but dont be overly rigid. If a conflict arises, a good agenda makes it easier to recognize that the group is going off course. If people agree to the meetings goals, interruptions that lead to conflict arent as likely to occur. You should also be alert for meetings where the atmosphere and dynamics of the people involved make it more likely for conflict to arise. These include gatherings where known troublemakers – individuals or groups with a history of causing conflict – are present. They also include meetings of new teams that have reached the storming stage of their team development – when individuals begin to struggle for influence, but the team hasnt yet established effective ways of working. Read more about this in Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing. In these situations, state the meeting rules in advance. For example, meeting rules might be as follows: †¢ Individuals will be allowed to speak after raising their hands – and only one person may speak at a time. †¢ The chair may summarize what has been said to make sure everyone understands. †¢ Everyone will be invited to contribute, so that one person cannot take over the discussion. As chair, you must be firm about managing and enforcing these rules! If the team needs to make decisions, you may also want to establish the decision making process, and ask all participants to agree to this. Gaining Benefits from Conflict Have you ever attended a meeting in which a conflict – probably the real professional disagreement type – was successfully resolved? If so, you can appreciate the benefits of working through your differences to a satisfactory conclusion. Conflict is not, therefore, something you need to avoid at all costs. In fact, conflict can sometimes be the quickest and best way to make creative progress. You certainly dont want everyone automatically to say yes to everything without proper discussion! Spotting Potential Conflicts Early One key to spotting the first signs of conflict is watching body language. If the conflict is mostly due to professional differences, rather than personality differences, the sooner you allow people to make their points, the better. Make sure that people have the opportunity to express disagreement as soon a possible, so that issues can be resolved and the discussion can proceed on a correct basis. How do you know if someone is frustrated? Look for these signs: †¢ Making facial expressions of amazement or disagreement, such as shaking the head or rolling the eyes. The person may also fidget, or move around in a restless or nervous manner. †¢ Looking at other people to see if anyone elses body language or facial expressions reveal their disagreement with the speaker. †¢ Whispering or writing notes to another person. This may indicate that the frustrated person is checking on his or her position or trying to gather support for a confrontation. This can apply to both types of conflict. †¢ Staring, possibly in an intimidating way, at the speaker or potential target of confrontation. When you spot the signs of conflict brewing, use the resolution approaches set out in the next section proactively rather than reactively. And nipping the problem in the bud is usually better, because then no one will have to live with the memory of what was said at THAT meeting. Resolving Conflict So, what if you follow these suggestions, and an unexpected conflict still occurs? What do you do then? Here are some approaches and techniques you can use. Depersonalization This involves wording issues so that they focus on what one party doesnt like rather than the person who is proposing the unpalatable option. How does this work in practice? Lets going back to our earlier example: Well, I can see your arguments for appointing Alison. But I just think James would be better, and youre not going to convince me otherwise. As a leader, you need to pick this up and rephrase the statement: So what youre saying is that while Alison clearly has strengths, James strengths may well be more important. From here, you can move the discussion into an objective analysis of the relative importance of different qualities. Questioning Another approach is to switch your teams focus from conflict to research. Encourage people to provide information, rather than state that theyre angry or disagree with something. To achieve this, use some carefully phrased questions. Dont just ask yes-or-no questions – try to clarify what people are thinking. Ask for specific examples, and perhaps suggestions for how the disagreeable idea would need to be changed to make it acceptable to them. In some cases, the alterations they want may be quite small. When a conflict arises in a meeting, you, as the chair need to take control. Dont let others start wading in to the conflict by interrupting you or the speakers. Remove or Reduce the Perceived Threat A key cause of anger or conflict is that people may perceive that they, or things they hold dear, are threatened. Perhaps they feel that something being discussed threatens their reputation, judgment, chances of leading a successful project, or chances of getting a bonus. Or perhaps they perceive a threat to a project theyve worked hard to promote, or believe in strongly. There are two parts to this: the perception of threat, and the threat itself. This is where you need to explore the issue and fully understand what it is. Its possible that the perception may be wrong – perhaps based on faulty or incomplete information. Here you need to supply the correct information. Or it may be that the perception is correct, and the person is right to feel threatened. Here you need to address the situation. Another thing you can do is make sure that you clear up unknowns, because the unknown is often treated as a threat. Going back again to our example of the Alison vs James hiring decision, you might ask the supporters of each to talk about what benefits their non-preferred candidate would bring to the team, and what areas for development theyd need to work on. Take Things Off Line There are times when you cant resolve a situation in a meeting: this is particularly the case where problems involve sensitive personal issues, which shouldnt be discussed in public. In this case, youll need to acknowledge the disagreement, and arrange a specific meeting to address the issue later on.

Holy The Firm by Annie Dillard Essay Example for Free

Holy The Firm by Annie Dillard Essay ​â€Å"Death of a Moth† is a short essay from the author, Annie Dillard, called Holy the Firm, and also one of her most personal essay that she’s ever written. It is about the burning moths, her belief in God, and acceptance of her faith to being a writer. She uses the death of the moths to tell us nature’s cycle of life. Everything is the same, human and animal, life and death. In the end, they will all end up like the moth being burned up by candle light. ​In the essay of Annie Dillard, Death of a Moth, she writes about a woman who lives alone on Northern Puget South in Washington State, with one enormous window, one cat, and one spider(2). She has a flashback about two summers ago when she tried to run away from society to read and write her book, To Mountain. She tries to find herself to becoming a writer. She wants to leave the world behind and enjoy herself alongside animal and nature. She sees a moth landing on her candle light and gets burnt. She, then, describes the moth in such realistic ways which remind the readers about nature’s cycle of life. As she looks at the moth, she falls asleep. ​In the essay, the author has mentioned in her class about â€Å"you must go at your life with a broadax† (10). In theory, a broadax is a weapon or a tool used to chop down trees. At this point, Annie wants to explain to her class if you want to be something or get something in your life, you have to be willing to overcome anything to be able to get what you want. Your life is like a battle. When in battle, you need to equip yourself with a broadax, and be prepared to fight and struggle. In addition, it also shows you are willing to hack down at anything standing in your way. In practice, students also face the same situation. They try their best to overcome obstacles teachers give them to be able to pass their classes. ​In â€Å"Death of a Moth† essay, Annie Dillard tells us about nature’s cycle of life. Everything will have the same ending, being born, living for a certain period of time, and then dying. The same as the moths or ephemera stabs by fire. George has mentioned about significance of butterfly to her moths essay by posting his post on bookcritics.org(5). I would say that butterfly is the most beautiful insect I have even known. To be obtaining this beauty, it also has suffered so many miseries. It has to endured ninety months to a year in a cocoon, then it breaks pupa without any help, and transforms to a beautiful butterfly. The pity is it only lives for 3 days or a month, depending on what type it is. From the butterfly example, effort is what we can’t lack in our life. If we live without any obstacles, we will never learn or become stronger like a butterfly’s ability to break cocoon and fly up high. ​It can be seen that Annie Dillard is focusing more about the nature’s cycle life and also, expressing her effort to being a writer. She uses the moths as an example to describe her idea about nature to the readers, which is accept faith and move on with your life. In my own opinion, I would recommend or love to hear the significance of butterfly in her moth essay than reading about the moth being burned by the candle light. It was not a waste of time to write an essay about a moth, but replacing the moth to a more gracious creature like a butterfl y would better capture the audience.

Managing Diversity in Employement

Managing Diversity in Employement Managing Diversity in Employment Identification and Discussion about Segregation in  Labour Market with National and Governmental Perspective The purpose of this essay is going to identify and discuss the main things of segregation and discrimination in term on national and organizational issues in Singapore. Due to segregations in labour market, which are ethnic, age, sex or gender, disability, and sexual orientation, there are pros and cons for each of them. In the following paragraph, the writer is going to elaborate and discuss with further information. Labour market is a place that employers and employees interact with each other. Employers want to hire the best candidates, while the candidates are trying their best to suit the job requirements. Hence, labour demand is the employers in an organization and labour supply is the candidates who give their abilities to the company. (Times Internet Limited, 2014) Labours in the market are based on age, race, ethnicity, gender, disability, and sexuality. In the following paragraph, the writer will identify and discuss the national evidence that talk about statistics labour market in Singapore.  Ã‚   In the organization, there is no much segregation of ethnic group because there are several ethnic groups of people who work together, such as Indians, Chinese, Malays, and others. For example, Marriott Hotel and HSL in Singapore have put opportunities for people ethnics to works together. In order to maximize the potential of teams in term of managing workplace diversity, the companies’ believes an inclusive and harmonious workplace. They believe in selecting the right people and developing employees’ competencies to work in diverse environment, such as self-awareness, adaptability, and team work. For example, people interact with different profile so that assimilate them in an organization. Another event is annual workers dinner, the company mixes them up so that they do not seat with same nationalities. They can mingle, catch up, and have lots of fun. (Government of Singapore, 2014) Ethnicity is a tool of identity formation and imagination to involve in boundary-formation, conflict and racism. Hence, there occurs racism in Singapore. For instance, Singapore Malays are imagined to be incapable of or uninterested in entrepreneurial endeavours. In contrast, Singapore Chinese are seemed to be natural entrepreneurs to seek profit at every opportunity regardless of their ethnicity. Another example, in Chinese culture, ignores differences in sub-ethnic groups, social class, places of origin and so on. (Kopnina, 2004, p.249) Hence, Singapore government is supported the labour market, which contains people who are segregated by ethnic, age, sex or gender, and others. Even, the segregation in term of ethnic in a society occurs in order to respect people’s preferences. For example, most Indians are living at Little India and one of their authentic shops is Mustafa. However, it allows other ethnics to shop there as well. Stereotype is a highly potential influencing for discrimination. Thus, disparaging opinions, myths, and others overshadow the good qualities, characteristics, and abilities of older workers so that they tend to receive disadvantage in a workplace. However, the government set certain rules so that many companies have bolstered older workers’ willingness and abilities in an organization. For instance, in McDonalds, most of the morning shifts are older people because they will be more diligent and willing to wake up to work in the morning compared with the middle or young people. Hence, older people have opportunity to work in the morning and others in the afternoon and evening. On the other hand, the segregation can show some respects to the senior people. For example, people who work for long time in the company will be pay higher than junior level. In case of Singapore government, it has provided a chair for older people in accommodation. For instance, it provides special chairs for older people, disable, pregnant, and people with child in the mass rapid transit (MRT), bus, and other public transportations. Furthermore, the government has done certain policies in Singapore, such as government has reduced employers’ wage costs by lowering the Central Provident Fund (CPF) contribution for older workers, has encouraged employers to make a training lessons for workers above 40 years old with subsidized who earn less than $1,500 a month, and also has encouraged to retraining the mature workers through video-based training programmes and courses which provided by National Productivity Board (NPB). (Debrah, 1996, p.819) Stereotype occurs when individuals are not judged by their own unique characteristics or merit but on generalized characteristic based on group they belong to. People usually stereotype due to disadvantageous of women for selection, promotion decisions, and placement. Hence, there occur invisible barriers that prevent women in reaching the upper echelons of management. (Pichler, et at, 2008, p.466) However, the writer believe that the successful company is when it wants to respect each other regardless of their sex or gender and other disparities, instead consider on what advantages it will gain due to differences. For example, Mr. Antony Page as a General Manager at Marriott hotel in Singapore believes in diversity benefits. 60% of management teams are led by women. This leads the company to be successful and increase people awareness of its good brand names. Another example, Tet Wai Holdings Pte Ltd in Singapore, Maxine R. Hays as a President in that company said that Women must be trained for the technological revolution for they are not left behind and bring benefit for companies and their own selves as well as men. (The Singapore Business and Professional Womens Association, 1982) Moreover, segregation in term of sex or gender due to woman financial stability, like adequate health care and adequate Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings. Mostly, women have around 40 per cent lesser savings in their CPF accounts than men. (Wee and Hill, 2013) Though Convention to Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which Singapore acceded to in 1995, it still on the progress to demolish the sex or gender discrimination because some organizations have not eliminated the discrimination fully. There are several companies that prefer in the equal opportunities for every employee regardless of their gender, race, age, ability and others. For example, Han’s FB that adopts tripartite fair employment practices in 2008. Han’s FB company profit has increased since it hires people with disabilities (PWDs) to the company. Its profit jumped to more than 200% than previous years. (Fook, 2011) Hence, this company is tolerated with disparities in employment, including disable workers. In term of disability, Government of Singapore has been very supportive because it launched the Open Door Fund in 2007 in order to provide financial support to redesign jobs, modify workplaces as well as train people with disabilities. For example, Government provides the Assistive Technology Fund to help disabled students and employees purchase the technology devices for the sake of their education and work purposes. (Human Capital Singapore, 2012) Sexual orientation in the workplace also does as the government stated in Singapore, it is trying to implement the non-discrimination climate against sexual orientation in an organization. The reasons for organization allows the sexual orientation workers because they might bring better performance, enhance career progression, creativity, and productivity. (Day Greene, 2008, pp.640-41) In term of sexual orientation, in 2007, Singapore government stated that gays and lesbians have no legal protection towards employment discrimination. However, the Prime Minister, Goh, has given proclamation a non-discrimination regulation in the civil service which could be a signal for a real improvement security of gays and lesbians. (Badgett Frank, 2007, p.170) Furthermore, in 2008, Singapore government provides an equal protection of the law, which is stated Article 12(1) of the Singapore constitution guarantees equal protection: All persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law should not be treated any differently. (Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, 2008, p.27) Segregation in labour market is about putting people apart from another in term of age, gender, race, and ability of them so that a nation and an organization knows the benefits and disadvantages as well as treats them according to their needs. Hence, national and organizational policy might not only giving an equal opportunity, but also providing a diversity management regarding people’s segregation and segmentation. For knowing the segregation, the nation and organization does not always provide the helpful reaction for the people. However, they could bring a hampered effect for their actions. For example, the older people are being discriminated by an organization. Furthermore, diversity management is important for a company because it will bring several opportunities for the company. For instance, different ideas and perspective, productivity, increase good circumstances, self-improvement, flexibility, adaptable to change, and many others. Hence, it obtains a compatitive advantage due to implement the diversity management in an organization. (Barrak, 2014, p.231) In conclusion, the segregation inside the organization and government could be called as a main thing for Singapore to look at, especially sex or gender in organization because there have disparities or stereotype for women in doing certain job. In addition, the organization or even government might consider for managing diversity so that the gap between men and women is getting closer and instead taking some advantages from differences. In order to render a company to be successful, there are several ways to do, such as evaluating diversity and equality management with a proper evaluation and improving diversity program effectiveness. (Richard, et at, 2013, p.236) For example, in order to gain various ideas with creating a unique package, a design product company could recruit a diverse workforce to enter the company. References Badgett, M. V. L. and Frank, J. (2007): Sexual Orientation Discrimination: An International Perspective. 1st ed. New York and Canada: Taylor Francis Group. Barrak, M. E. M. (2014): Managing Diversity: Toward A Globally Inclusive Workplace. 3rd ed. United States of America: SAGE Publications, Inc. Day, N. E. and Greene, P. G. (2008): A Case for Sexual Orientation Diversity Management in Small and Large Organizations. Human Resource Management, 47(3): 637-54. Debrah, Y. A. (1996): Tackling age discrimination in employment in Singapore. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 7(4): 813-31. Fook, H. C., 2011. Philosophy, Policy, Training, and Charity. [Online] Available at: http://www.hanis.sg/hans.html [Accessed 28 August 2014]. Government of Singapore, 2014. Fostering Inclusive and Harmonious Workplaces. [Online] Available at: http://www.mom.gov.sg/employment practices/Pages/WDM.aspx [Accessed 29 August 2014]. Human Capital Singapore, 2012. Hiring the Disabled Mere Words by Employers or Real Deeds?. [Online] Available at: http://hcs.com.sg/v2/index.php/info/view_news/hiring-the-disabled-mere-words-by employers-or-real-deeds- [Accessed 28 August 2014]. Kopnina, H., 2004. Cultural hybrids or ethnic fundamentalists? discourses on ethnicity in Singaporean SMEs. Asian Ethnicity, 5(2): 245-52. Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, (2008): Singapores Fourth Periodic Report to The UN Committee for the Convention on the elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Singapore: Fabulous Printers Pte Ltd. Pichler, S., Simpson, P. A. and Stroh, L. K. (2008): The Glass Ceiling in Human Resources: Exploring the Link between Womens Representation in Management and the Practices of Strategic Human Resource Management and Employee Involvement. Human Resource Management, 47(3): 463-79. Richard, O. C., Roh, H. and Pieper, J. R. (2013): The Link between Diversity and Equality Management Practice Bundles and Racial Diversity in the Managerial Ranks: Does Firm Size Matter?. Human Resource Management, 52(2): 215-42. The Singapore Business and Professional Womens Association, 1982. The Employment of women in a restructuring society, Singapore: SBPWA. Times Internet Limited, 2014. Definition of Labour Market. [Online] Available at: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/labour-market [Accessed 21 August 2014]. Wee, V. and Hill, S. 2013. Gender dimension to inequality in Singapore. [Online] Available at: http://www.aware.org.sg/2013/10/gender-dimension-to-inequality-in-singapore/ [Accessed 29 August 2014].

Anatomy of a False Confession Essay -- essays research papers

Anatomy of a False Confession   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Depending on what study is read, the incidence of false confession is less than 35 per year, up to 600 per year. That is a significant variance in range, but no matter how it is evaluated or what numbers are calculated, the fact remains that false confessions are a reality. Why would an innocent person confess to a crime that she did not commit? Are personal factors, such as age, education, and mental state, the primary reason for a suspect to confess? Are law enforcement officers and their interrogation techniques to blame for eliciting false confessions? Regardless of the stimuli that lead to false confessions, society and the justice system need to find a solution to prevent the subsequent aftermath.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the adversarial justice system, when the offender admits to the criminal act, there is no further controversy and the case promptly proceeds to sentencing. Physical evidence and victim or witness statements may often be overlooked and not considered. The confession is considered unequivocal evidence of guilt and a conviction is ensured. Indeed, the interrogation process’ sole purpose is to obtain a confession. Zimbardo (1967) estimated that â€Å"of those criminal cases that are solved, more than 80% are solved by a confession.† (Conti, 1999) Without the confession, convictions may be reduced significantly. So why does a person falsely confess to a crime if the likelihood of a conviction is eminent? A false confession to any crime is self-destructive and counterintuitive.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The mental state of the suspect can give explanation to a false confession. If a person is inebriated and is questioned before she is sober, that may lead to easier manipulation by the police. A suspect under the influence of alcohol or drugs may not remember all the events leading up to her arrest. This mental state allows police officers to give misleading information, which may imply that the suspect did commit the crime and does not remember the incident. Mental retardation or suspects with low intelligence quotients (IQ) are easily manipulated by police comments and interrogation tactics. Those suspects usually do not understand the law or the consequences of a confession. They may want to please the police officer by being accommodating or agreeable. They may just wa... ...p;The power of innocence. Law and Human Behavior Vol.28, No. 2, p. 211. Kassin, S.M., & McNall, K. (1991). Police interrogations and confessions:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Communicating promises and threats by pragmatic implication. Law and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Human Behavior Vol. 15, No. 3, p. 233 – 251. Kassin, S.M., & Sukel, H. (1997). Coerced confessions and the jury: an experimental   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Test of the â€Å"harmless error† rule. Law and Human Behavior Vol. 21, No. 1, p.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  27 – 28. Kassin, S. (2004, April 26). Videotape police interrogations. Retrieved August 21, 2005,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  From The Boston Globe. Meissner, C.A., & Kassin, S.M. (2002, October). â€Å"He’s guilty!†: investigator bias in   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Judgments of truth and deception. Law and Human Behavior Vol. 26, No. 5,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  469 – 479. Osterburg, J.W., & Ward, R.H. (2004). Criminal Investigation: A Method For   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reconstructing The Past. (4th ed.). Anderson Publishing: LexisNexis Group. Perina, A. (2004, March 1). â€Å"I confess.† Psychology Today Vol. 36, Issue 2.

Violin Essay examples -- Literature Music Composers Essays

Violin Music and art, the feelings that go through a person while the music of Mozart and Beethoven are playing, are indescribable. Listening to music can take a person away to a different era. Music like Mozart or Beethoven can really take a person's imagination soaring in a whole new perspective. Composers throughout the novel, Violin were Beethoven, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky. Violin was a truly fabulous name for this story. It contains many fantastic elements as well as realistic elements; however, it should not be confused with magical realism. Violin copy written in 1997 by Anne Rice. She has written several novels that were imaginary and fantastic. The novels that Anne Rice has written have that kind of effect on a person while reading her novels. During the story, the unreal elements of the story started with the fact that she kept her husband with her after he had been passed away for several days. The unreal elements of this situation is that anybody in her right mind wouldn't keep a dead body in the house with her and not tell anybody that he was dead. In a matter of time, the body would start to smell and start to rot. One of the unreal elements that are in the story was the man standing outside playing the violin. The man would stand in the light of the lamppost in the alley and play the violin. Watching the man playing the violin through the window made the main character think that she was dreaming. Listening to the music during the course of this type of emotional state that she was in made her stay calm and find herself in a type of dreamland. The music would take her somewhere else besides reality. Music can take a person elsewhere, in the future, in the past, and in la la land. Even though music can b... ...gical realism is in the fact that the woman didn't want to give up her husband and face reality. She kept him as long as she could to her self until she had to give him up. Grief happens this way in the real world. The family members do not want to give up the family member who has passed away. The magic was in the story; fantastic was also here in the story. Also, the music by Mozart and Beethoven can really take a person's imagination soaring in a whole new perspective. The Violin has suspense and excitement' the anticipation of the happenings during the story was uneventful. Works Cited Rice, Anne, Violin. N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997. Robkin, Eric S. The Fantastic in Literature. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton UP, 1978. Todorov, Tzvetan. The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Form. Cleveland: The Press of Case Western Reserve University, 1973.

Deriving Meaning from William Carlos Williams, The Young Housewife Ess

Deriving Meaning from William Carlos Williams', The Young Housewife Everything depends on perspective. The uniqueness we bring to our reading is essential to the absorption of poems with Imagist elements. An example of this is the poem, "The Young Housewife", by William Carlos Williams. Perhaps it was a streak of laziness on my part, but I had very little imagination to offer this poem. Having had no experience as such, I didn't identify with the young housewife, the fish-man, the ice-man, or even the dramatically fallen leaf. What I initially saw was a jumble of thoughts arranged neatly into three very brief verses. The biographical information about the author provided in the Third Edition of the Heath Anthology of American Literature ¹ describes Williams' writings as reflections on the "...disjunction of modern life in broken lines and flashes of incomplete thought." Exactly. Only, I was left to wonder how it could be that this was meant by the biographer to be complimentary. Seems to me that somewhere along the way I picked up the notion that incomplete thoughts were a bad thing.... Granted, the concept of Imagism is not lost on me. Read after read of this poem led me to believe that it is very true that reality is created in the act of our perceiving it. I could take on any perspective or mindset and find applicable passages that would lend themselves wholeheartedly to whatever arguments of meaning I could come up with. Perhaps I have an imagination after all. Considering the lack of natural meaning that I initially got out of the poem, I ended up doing a systematic dissection of the lines to extract a meaning I could expound upon. Despite the fact that doing this meant go... ...ing. Here we have the husband taking action in his own way to ensure that his leaf remain not only under a watchful eye, but also under the thumb of his silent, yet ultimately draining, power. Little thought is obviously given to whether the leaf itself remains young and vibrant or if it slowly dries up. Williams use of visual writing enables the poem to close with a vivid flourish and a tone of smugness as the narrator finally passes by with a bow and a smile. You sense the crushing of another leaf whom he'd help to fall unwittingly. It's a stretch, yes, but when you read the poem with the sympathy this theory evokes, its meaning is changed and so too is your view. There's suddenly a reason for this poem. 1.) Lauter, Paul (1998). pg. The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin, New York, NY

Antigone Essay

Remember those people who always thought they were right, and they always ended up in trouble for it? I Sophocles’ play Antigone, the main characters Antigone and Creon show how being so hubris can be tragic to your life. Set back in ancient Greece an epic battle takes place and brothers end up killing each other. One was allowed a proper burial, yet Polyinesis was not. Antigone felt disappointed by this and decided to bury them yet Creon the newly appointed king did not appreciate the rule breaking. Due to the fact that Antigone and creon exhibited excessive pride, their lives were ruined. Antigone’s arrogance and brashness ultimately led to her death. For example, on Creon’s first day as king he made a decree that no one should bury Polyneisis body. When Antigone heard this, she went to Ismene and asked for her help; yet Ismene refused and called her a criminal. Antigone still disagreed, â€Å"But I will bury him; and if I must die, I say that this crime is holy; I shall lie down with him in death†(673,55-57) This proved that Antigone was cocky and she was sort of stating that all her wrong doings are â€Å"holy†; she is referring to herself as always being right. This affected her though distorting her view on life. In addition to her argument with Ismene, Antigone then was caught in the act of burying Polyniesis and was brought in and questioned by Creon. â€Å"And you Antigone, with your head hanging – do you confess this thing†(679, 53) When Antigone didn’t deny her crime and boasted to the king and the elders, It proves how narcissistic that she is. If she would have not been so boastful I doubt that Croen would have been so harsh to Antigone. Furthermore, Creon then calls in Ismene to protest against her crime as well. Creon started o believe that she helped Antigone to plot against him. Ismene then lied and said she did help to Antigone’s surprise. Antigone become outraged and denied her hand in the deed. Ismene is displeased in antigone’s punishment, â€Å"Do you refuse me, Antigone? I want to die with you; I too have a duty that I must discharge to the dead†(681, 138). Antigone was then enraged further and rebelled against Ismene, â€Å"You shall not lessen my death by sharing it†(681, 139) Antigone is showing self centered and concided she was. She believed that she was so important because she did the right thing by the gods that no one should die except her because she was special. However, Antigone was not the only major character with this flaw. This proves how arrogance can really damage anyone’s life just like it did to Antigone and Creons’. Pride and the excess of it played a big role in this play, being the tragic flaw of both main characters; arrogance is not only a big part of this play but also our history, there will always be people who can never be wrong. Many people are just like Creon and Antigone, Always thinking they are right. Is your life headed for a fate just like Antigone’s plot?