Raid on Deerfield in Queen Annes War

The Raid on Deerfield took place February 29, 1704, during Queen Annes War (1702-1713). Located in western Massachusetts, Deerfield was targeted by Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouvilles French and Native American forces in early 1704. The attack was typical of the small-unit actions that frequently occurred along the colonial frontier and saw the inhabitants and local militia attempt to defend the settlement with mixed results. In the fighting, the attackers killed and captured a significant number of settlers. The raid gained lasting fame when one of the captives, Reverend John Williams, published an account of his experiences in 1707. Fast Facts: Raid on Deerfield Conflict: Queen Annes War (1702-1713)Dates: February 29, 1704Armies Commanders:EnglishCaptain Jonathan Wells90 militiaFrench and Native AmericansJean-Baptiste Hertel de RouvilleWattanummon288 menCasualties:English: 56 killed and 109 capturedFrench and Native Americans: 10-40 killed Background Situated near the junction of the Deerfield and Connecticut Rivers, Deerfield, MA was founded in 1673. Built on land taken from the Pocomtuc tribe, the English residents in the new village existed on the fringe of the New England settlements and were relatively isolated. As a result, Deerfield was targeted by Native American forces during the early days of King Philips War in 1675. Following a colonial defeat at the Battle of Bloody Brook on September 12, the village was evacuated. With successful conclusion of the conflict the next year, Deerfield was reoccupied. Despite additional English conflicts with the Native Americans and French, Deerfield passed the remainder of the 17th century in relative peace. This came to an end shortly after the turn of the century and the beginning of Queen Annes War. Pitting the French, Spanish, and allied Native Americans against the English and their Native American allies, the conflict was the North American extension of the War of the Spanish Succession. Unlike in Europe where the war saw leaders like the Duke of Marlborough fight large battles such as Blenheim and Ramillies, fighting on the New England frontier was characterized by raids and small unit actions. These began in earnest in mid-1703 as the French and their allies began attacking towns in present-day southern Maine. As the summer progressed, colonial authorities began to receive reports of possible French raids into the Connecticut Valley. In response to these and the earlier attacks, Deerfield worked to improve its defenses and enlarged the palisade around the village. Planning the Attack Having completed the raids against southern Maine, the French began turning their attention to the Connecticut Valley late in 1703. Assembling a force of Native Americans and French troops at Chambly, command was given to Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville. Though a veteran of previous raids, the strike against Deerfield was de Rouvilles first major independent operation. Departing, the combined force numbered around 250 men. Moving south, de Rouville added another thirty to forty Pennacook warriors to his command. Word of de Rouvilles departure from Chambly soon spread through the region. Alerted to the French advance, New Yorks Indian agent, Pieter Schuyler, quickly notified the governors of Connecticut and Massachusetts, Fitz-John Winthrop and Joseph Dudley. Concerned about the safety of Deerfield, Dudley dispatched a force of twenty militia to the town. These men arrived on February 24, 1704. de Rouville Strikes Moving through the frozen wilderness, de Rouvilles command left bulk of their supplies approximately thirty miles north of Deerfield before establishing a camp closer to the village on February 28. As the French and Native Americans scouted the village, its inhabitants prepared for the night. Due to the pending threat of attack, all of the residents were residing within the protection of the palisade. This brought Deerfields total population, including the militia reinforcements, to 291 people. Assessing the towns defenses, de Rouvilles men noticed that the snow had drifted against the palisade allowing for the raiders to easily scale it. Pressing forward shortly before dawn, a group of raiders crossed over the palisade before moving to open the towns north gate. Swarming into Deerfield, the French and Native Americans began attacking houses and buildings. As the inhabitants had been taken by surprise, fighting degenerated into a series of individual battles as the residents struggled to defend their homes. With the enemy swarming through the streets, John Sheldon was able to climb over the palisade and rushed to Hadley, MA to raise the alarm. Blood in the Snow One of the first houses to fall was that of Reverend John Williams. Though members of his family were killed, he was taken prisoner. Making progress through the village, de Rouvilles men gathered prisoners outside the palisade before looting and burning many of the houses. While many houses were overrun, some, such as that of Benoni Stebbins, successfully held out against the onslaught. With fighting winding down, some of the French and Native Americans began withdrawing north. Those who remained retreated when a force of around thirty militia from Hadley and Hatfield arrived on the scene. These men were joined by around twenty survivors from Deerfield. Chasing the remaining raiders from the town, they began pursuing de Rouvilles column. This proved a poor decision as the French and Native Americans turned and set an ambush. Striking the advancing militia, they killed nine and wounded several more. Bloodied, the militia retreated to Deerfield. As word of the attack spread, additional colonial forces converged on the town and by the next day over 250 militia were present. Assessing the situation, it was determined that a pursuit of the enemy was not feasible. Leaving a garrison at Deerfield, the remainder of the militia departed. Aftermath In the raid on Deerfield, de Rouvilles forces suffered between 10 and 40 casualties while the towns residents incurred 56 killed, including 9 women and 25 children, and 109 captured. Of those taken prisoner, only 89 survived the march north to Canada. Over the next two years, many of the captives were freed after extensive negotiations. Others elected to remain in Canada or had become assimilated into the Native American cultures of their captors. In retaliation for the raid on Deerfield, Dudley organized strikes north into present-day New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. In sending forces north, he also hoped to capture prisoners who could be exchanged for Deerfields residents. Fighting continued until the wars end in 1713. As in the past, the peace proved brief and combat resumed three decades later with King Georges War/War of Jenkins Ear. The French threat to the frontier remained until the British conquest of Canada during the French Indian War.

The And Collective Memory Of The First World War - 1561 Words

Contemporary Canadian reimagining of the First World war is from the book Catching the torch by a Brock University teacher Neta Gordon. She wrote this book in 2014. She tries to explain to the reader the conflict between history and collective memory of the First World War. With many other essays, she focuses on the role of the Canadian army in the First World war. As we know, the Canadian army entered the war in early 1915 to offer help to the Britain soldiers fighting against the Germans. The Canadian army was basically forced to join because they were a member of the British Empire. On the one hand, Gordon quotes from Jonathan Vance’s Death So Noble: Memory, meaning and the First world war: â€Å"the dominant or collective memory of a†¦show more content†¦Most of the work that Gordon studied and with the publication date from this book, we can also say that collective memory is not a whole. Most of the soldiers are dead at this time and she had to rely on works that were published years later after the First War. Gordon quoted Winter in the first few chapters of her book, he stated: â€Å"This sense of the socially constructed nature of â€Å"collective memory† is vital to historical study, since it precludes talking about memory as if it exists independently of the people who share it† (2). From what I understand from the few pages that we had to read and with my research done with the whole book, the collective memory is based on the present memory, but since the soldiers they rely on are no longer in a group or in the same place , it is mostly a memory from one person. Another thing she said that made me realize how true her statement was with the novel that we studied during this term. She stated that: many of the narratives this volume examines rehabilitate the figure of the father and/or conception of productive masculinity; many follow in the tradition of early-twentieth-century home front novels by women to consider the value of female work, in wartime and beyond [†¦] and most conclude with a look to the future (which is now the present) and a sense of promise that is decidedly free from irony. (21-22) In Sunrise for peter, we have an example of the father figure where Peter takes care of Telfer becauseShow MoreRelatedThe Movie The Hawk Of The Shidenkai 1335 Words   |  6 PagesWar world two would lead to the defeat of the Japanese army, and ever since the Japanese have challenged this notice of defeat through popular films and manga. 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The Twilight Saga 3 Eclipse Chapter 3. MOTIVES Free Essays

string(67) " still looked at Phil with goo- goo eyes, and that was comforting\." THE SUN WAS SO DEEPLY BURIED BEHIND THE CLOUDS that there was no way to tell if it had set or not. After the long flight – chasing the sun westward so that it seemed unmoving in the sky – it was especially disorienting; time seemed oddly variable. It took me by surprise when the forest gave way to the first buildings, signaling that we were nearly home. We will write a custom essay sample on The Twilight Saga 3: Eclipse Chapter 3. MOTIVES or any similar topic only for you Order Now â€Å"You’ve been very quiet,† Edward observed. â€Å"Did the plane make you sick?† â€Å"No, I’m okay.† â€Å"Are you sad to leave?† â€Å"More relieved than sad, I think.† He raised one eyebrow at me. I knew it was useless and – much as I hated to admit it – unnecessary to ask him to keep his eyes on the road. â€Å"Rene is so much more . . . perceptive than Charlie in some ways. It was making me jumpy.† Edward laughed. â€Å"Your mother has a very interesting mind. Almost childlike, but very insightful. She sees things differently than other people.† Insightful. It was a good description of my mother – when she was paying attention. Most of the time Rene was so bewildered by her own life that she didn’t notice much else. But this weekend she’d been paying plenty of attention to me. Phil was busy – the high school baseball team he coached was in the playoffs – and being alone with Edward and me had only sharpened Rene’s focus. As soon as the hugs and squeals of delight were out of the way, Rene began to watch. And as she’d watched, her wide blue eyes had become first confused and then concerned. This morning we’d gone for a walk along the beach. She wanted to show off all the beauties of her new home, still hoping, I think, that the sun might lure me away from Forks. She’d also wanted to talk with me alone, and that was easily arranged. Edward had fabricated a term paper to give himself an excuse to stay indoors during the day. In my head, I went through the conversation again. . . . Rene and I ambled along the sidewalk, trying to stay in the range of the infrequent palm tree shadows. Though it was early, the heat was smothering. The air was so heavy with moisture that just breathing in and out was giving my lungs a workout. â€Å"Bella?† my mother asked, looking out past the sand to the lightly crashing waves as she spoke. â€Å"What is it, Mom?† She sighed, not meeting my gaze. â€Å"I’m worried. . . .† â€Å"What’s wrong?† I asked, anxious at once. â€Å"What can I do?† â€Å"It’s not me.† She shook her head. â€Å"I’m worried about you . . . and Edward.† Rene finally looked at me when she said his name, her face apologetic. â€Å"Oh,† I mumbled, fixing my eyes on a pair of joggers as they passed us, drenched with sweat. â€Å"You two are more serious than I’d been thinking,† she went on. I frowned, quickly reviewing the last two days in my head. Edward and I had barely touched – in front of her, at least. I wondered if Rene was about to give me a lecture on responsibility, too. I didn’t mind that the way I had with Charlie. It wasn’t embarrassing with my mom. After all, I’d been the one giving her that lecture time and time again in the last ten years. â€Å"There’s something . . . strange about the way you two are together,† she murmured, her forehead creasing over her troubled eyes. â€Å"The way he watches you – it’s so . . . protective. Like he’s about to throw himself in front of a bullet to save you or something.† I laughed, though I was still not able to meet her gaze. â€Å"That’s a bad thing?† â€Å"No.† She frowned as she struggled for the words. â€Å"It’s just different. He’s very intense about you . . . and very careful. I feel like I don’t really understand your relationship. Like there’s some secret I’m missing. . . .† â€Å"I think you’re imagining things, Mom,† I said quickly, struggling to keep my voice light. There was a flutter in my stomach. I’d forgotten how much my mother saw. Something about her simple view of the world cut through all the distractions and pierced right to the truth of things. This had never been a problem before. Until now, there had never been a secret I couldn’t tell her. â€Å"It’s not just him.† She set her lips defensively. â€Å"I wish you could see how you move around him.† â€Å"What do you mean?† â€Å"The way you move – you orient yourself around him without even thinking about it. When he moves, even a little bit, you adjust your position at the same time. Like magnets . . . or gravity. You’re like a . . . satellite, or something. I’ve never seen anything like it.† She pursed her lips and stared down. â€Å"Don’t tell me,† I teased, forcing a smile. â€Å"You’re reading mysteries again, aren’t you? Or is it sci-fi this time?† Rene flushed a delicate pink. â€Å"That’s beside the point.† â€Å"Found anything good?† â€Å"Well, there was one – but that doesn’t matter. We’re talking about you right now.† â€Å"You should stick to romance, Mom. You know how you freak yourself out.† Her lips turned up at the corners. â€Å"I’m being silly, aren’t I?† For half a second I couldn’t answer. Rene was so easily swayed. Sometimes it was a good thing, because not all of her ideas were practical. But it pained me to see how quickly she caved in to my trivializing, especially since she was dead right this time. She looked up, and I controlled my expression. â€Å"Not silly – just being a mom.† She laughed and then gestured grandly toward the white sands stretching to the blue water. â€Å"And all this isn’t enough to get you to move back in with your silly mom?† I wiped my hand dramatically across my forehead, and then pretended to wring my hair out. â€Å"You get used to the humidity,† she promised. â€Å"You can get used to rain, too,† I countered. She elbowed me playfully and then took my hand as we walked back to her car. Other than her worries about me, she seemed happy enough. Content. She still looked at Phil with goo- goo eyes, and that was comforting. You read "The Twilight Saga 3: Eclipse Chapter 3. MOTIVES" in category "Essay examples" Surely her life was full and satisfying. Surely she didn’t miss me that much, even now. . . . Edward’s icy fingers brushed my cheek. I looked up, blinking, coming back to the present. He leaned down and kissed my forehead. â€Å"We’re home, Sleeping Beauty. Time to awake.† We were stopped in front of Charlie’s house. The porch light was on and the cruiser was parked in the driveway. As I examined the house, I saw the curtain twitch in the living room window, flashing a line of yellow light across the dark lawn. I sighed. Of course Charlie was waiting to pounce. Edward must have been thinking the same thing, because his expression was stiff and his eyes remote as he came to get my door for me. â€Å"How bad?† I asked. â€Å"Charlie’s not going to be difficult,† Edward promised, his voice level with no hint of humor. â€Å"He missed you.† My eyes narrowed in doubt. If that was the case, then why was Edward tensed as if for a battle? My bag was small, but he insisted on carrying it into the house. Charlie held the door open for us. â€Å"Welcome home, kid!† Charlie shouted like he really meant it. â€Å"How was Jacksonville?† â€Å"Moist. And buggy.† â€Å"So Rene didn’t sell you on the University of Florida?† â€Å"She tried. But I’d rather drink water than inhale it.† Charlie’s eyes flickered unwillingly to Edward. â€Å"Did you have a nice time?† â€Å"Yes,† Edward answered in a serene voice. â€Å"Rene was very hospitable.† â€Å"That’s . . . um, good. Glad you had fun.† Charlie turned away from Edward and pulled me in for an unexpected hug. â€Å"Impressive,† I whispered in his ear. He rumbled a laugh. â€Å"I really missed you, Bells. The food around here sucks when you’re gone.† â€Å"I’ll get on it,† I said as he let me go. â€Å"Would you call Jacob first? He’s been bugging me every five minutes since six o’clock this morning. I promised I’d have you call him before you even unpacked.† I didn’t have to look at Edward to feel that he was too still, too cold beside me. So this was the cause of his tension. â€Å"Jacob wants to talk to me?† â€Å"Pretty bad, I’d say. He wouldn’t tell me what it was about – just said it was important.† The phone rang then, shrill and demanding. â€Å"That’s him again, I’d bet my next paycheck,† Charlie muttered. â€Å"I got it.† I hurried to the kitchen. Edward followed after me while Charlie disappeared into the living room. I grabbed the phone mid-ring, and twisted around so that I was facing the wall. â€Å"Hello?† â€Å"You’re back,† Jacob said. His familiar husky voice sent a wave of wistfulness through me. A thousand memories spun in my head, tangling together – a rocky beach strewn with driftwood trees, a garage made of plastic sheds, warm sodas in a paper bag, a tiny room with one too-small shabby loveseat. The laughter in his deep-set black eyes, the feverish heat of his big hand around mine, the flash of his white teeth against his dark skin, his face stretching into the wide smile that had always been like a key to a secret door where only kindred spirits could enter. It felt sort of like homesickness, this longing for the place and person who had sheltered me through my darkest night. I cleared the lump from my throat. â€Å"Yes,† I answered. â€Å"Why didn’t you call me?† Jacob demanded. His angry tone instantly got my back up. â€Å"Because I’ve been in the house for exactly four seconds and your call interrupted Charlie telling me that you’d called.† â€Å"Oh. Sorry.† â€Å"Sure. Now, why are you harassing Charlie?† â€Å"I need to talk to you.† â€Å"Yeah, I figured out that part all by myself. Go ahead.† There was a short pause. â€Å"You going to school tomorrow?† I frowned to myself, unable to make sense of this question. â€Å"Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I?† â€Å"I dunno. Just curious.† Another pause. â€Å"So what did you want to talk about, Jake?† He hesitated. â€Å"Nothing really, I guess. I . . . wanted to hear your voice.† â€Å"Yeah, I know. I’m so glad you called me, Jake. I . . .† But I didn’t know what more to say. I wanted to tell him I was on my way to La Push right now. And I couldn’t tell him that. â€Å"I have to go,† he said abruptly. â€Å"What?† â€Å"I’ll talk to you soon, okay?† â€Å"But Jake -â€Å" He was already gone. I listened to the dial tone with disbelief. â€Å"That was short,† I muttered. â€Å"Is everything all right?† Edward asked. His voice was low and careful. I turned slowly to face him. His expression was perfectly smooth – impossible to read. â€Å"I don’t know. I wonder what that was about.† It didn’t make sense that Jacob had been hounding Charlie all day just to ask me if I was going to school. And if he’d wanted to hear my voice, then why did he hang up so quickly? â€Å"Your guess is probably better than mine,† Edward said, the hint of a smiletugging at the corner of his mouth. â€Å"Mmm,† I murmured. That was true. I knew Jake inside and out. It shouldn’t be that complicated to figure out his motivations. With my thoughts miles away – about fifteen miles away, up the road to La Push – I started combing through the fridge, assembling ingredients for Charlie’s dinner. Edward leaned against the counter, and I was distantly aware that his eyes were on my face, but too preoccupied to worry about what he saw there. The school thing seemed like the key to me. That was the only real question Jake had asked. And he had to be after an answer to something, or he wouldn’t have been bugging Charlie so persistently. Why would my attendance record matter to him, though? I tried to think about it in a logical way. So, if I hadn’t been going to school tomorrow, what would be the problem with that, from Jacob’s perspective? Charlie had given me a little grief about missing a day of school so close to finals, but I’d convinced him that one Friday wasn’t going to derail my studies. Jake would hardly care about that. My brain refused to come up with any brilliant insights. Maybe I was missing some vital piece of information. What could have changed in the past three days that was so important that Jacob would break his long streak of refusing to answer my phone calls and contact me? What difference could three days make? I froze in the middle of the kitchen. The package of icy hamburger in my hands slipped through my numb fingers. It took me a slow second to miss the thud it should have made against the floor. Edward had caught it and thrown it onto the counter. His arms were already around me, his lips at my ear. â€Å"What’s wrong?† I shook my head, dazed. Three days could change everything. Hadn’t I just been thinking about how impossible college was? How I couldn’t be anywhere near people after I’d gone through the painful three-day conversion that would set me free from mortality, so that I could spend eternity with Edward? The conversion that would make me forever a prisoner to my own thirst. . . . Had Charlie told Billy that I’d vanished for three days? Had Billy jumped to conclusions? Had Jacob really been asking me if I was still human? Making sure that the werewolves’ treaty was unbroken – that none of the Cullens had dared to bite a human . . . bite, not kill . . . ? But did he honestly think I would come home to Charlie if that was the case? Edward shook me. â€Å"Bella?† he asked, truly anxious now. â€Å"I think . . . I think he was checking,† I mumbled. â€Å"Checking to make sure. That I’m human, I mean.† Edward stiffened, and a low hiss sounded in my ear. â€Å"We’ll have to leave,† I whispered. â€Å"Before. So that it doesn’t break the treaty. We won’t ever be able to come back.† His arms tightened around me. â€Å"I know.† â€Å"Ahem.† Charlie cleared his voice loudly behind us. I jumped, and then pulled free of Edward’s arms, my face getting hot. Edward leaned back against the counter. His eyes were tight. I could see worry in them, and anger. â€Å"If you don’t want to make dinner, I can call for a pizza,† Charlie hinted. â€Å"No, that’s okay, I’m already started.† â€Å"Okay,† Charlie said. He propped himself against the doorframe, folding his arms. I sighed and got to work, trying to ignore my audience. â€Å"If I asked you to do something, would you trust me?† Edward asked, an edge to his soft voice. We were almost to school. Edward had been relaxed and joking just a moment ago, and now suddenly his hands were clenched tight on the steering wheel, his knuckles straining in an effort not to snap it into pieces. I stared at his anxious expression – his eyes were far away, like he was listening to distant voices. My pulse sped in response to his stress, but I answered carefully. â€Å"That depends.† We pulled into the school lot. â€Å"I was afraid you would say that.† â€Å"What do you want me to do, Edward?† â€Å"I want you to stay in the car.† He pulled into his usual spot and turned the engine off as he spoke. â€Å"I want you to wait here until I come back for you.† â€Å"But . . . why?† That was when I saw him. He would have been hard to miss, towering over the students the way he did, even if he hadn’t been leaning against his black motorcycle, parked illegally on the sidewalk. â€Å"Oh.† Jacob’s face was a calm mask that I recognized well. It was the face he used when he was determined to keep his emotions in check, to keep himself under control. It made him look like Sam, the oldest of the wolves, the leader of the Quileute pack. But Jacob could never quite manage the perfect serenity Sam always exuded. I’d forgotten how much this face bothered me. Though I’d gotten to know Sam pretty well before the Cullens had come back – to like him, even – I’d never been able to completely shake the resentment I felt when Jacob mimicked Sam’s expression. It was a stranger’s face. He wasn’t my Jacob when he wore it. â€Å"You jumped to the wrong conclusion last night,† Edward murmured. â€Å"He asked about school because he knew that I would be where you were. He was looking for a safe place to talk to me. A place with witnesses.† So I’d misinterpreted Jacob’s motives last night. Missing information, that was the problem. Information like why in the world Jacob would want to talk to Edward. â€Å"I’m not staying in the car,† I said. Edward groaned quietly. â€Å"Of course not. Well, let’s get this over with.† Jacob’s face hardened as we walked toward him, hand in hand. I noticed other faces, too – the faces of my classmates. I noticed how their eyes widened as they took in all six foot seven inches of Jacob’s long body, muscled up the way no normal sixteen-and-a-half-year-old ever had been. I saw those eyes rake over his tight black t-shirt – short-sleeved, though the day was unseasonably cool – his ragged, grease-smeared jeans, and the glossy black bike he leaned against. Their eyes didn’t linger on his face – something about his expression had them glancing quickly away. And I noticed the wide berth everyone gave him, the bubble of space that no one dared to encroach on. With a sense of astonishment, I realized that Jacob looked dangerous to them. How odd. Edward stopped a few yards away from Jacob, and I could tell that he was uncomfortable having me so close to a werewolf. He drew his hand back slightly, pulling me halfway behind his body. â€Å"You could have called us,† Edward said in a steel-hard voice. â€Å"Sorry,† Jacob answered, his face twisting into a sneer. â€Å"I don’t have any leeches on my speed dial.† â€Å"You could have reached me at Bella’s house, of course.† Jacob’s jaw flexed, and his brows pulled together. He didn’t answer. â€Å"This is hardly the place, Jacob. Could we discuss this later?† â€Å"Sure, sure. I’ll stop by your crypt after school.† Jacob snorted. â€Å"What’s wrong with now?† Edward looked around pointedly, his eyes resting on the witnesses who were just barely out of hearing range. A few people were hesitating on the sidewalk, their eyes bright with expectation. Like they were hoping a fight might break out to alleviate the tedium of another Monday morning. I saw Tyler Crowley nudge Austin Marks, and they both paused on their way to class. â€Å"I already know what you came to say,† Edward reminded Jacob in voice so low that I could barely make it out. â€Å"Message delivered. Consider us warned.† Edward glanced down at me for a fleeting second with worried eyes. â€Å"Warned?† I asked blankly. â€Å"What are you talking about?† â€Å"You didn’t tell her?† Jacob asked, his eyes widening with disbelief. â€Å"What, were you afraid she’d take our side?† â€Å"Please drop it, Jacob,† Edward said in an even voice. â€Å"Why?† Jacob challenged. I frowned in confusion. â€Å"What don’t I know? Edward?† Edward just glared at Jacob as if he hadn’t heard me. â€Å"Jake?† Jacob raised his eyebrow at me. â€Å"He didn’t tell you that his big . . . brother crossed the line Saturday night?† he asked, his tone thickly layered with sarcasm. Then his eyes flickered back to Edward. â€Å"Paul was totally justified in -â€Å" â€Å"It was no-man’s land!† Edward hissed. â€Å"Was not!† Jacob was fuming visibly. His hands trembled. He shook his head and sucked in two deep lungfuls of air. â€Å"Emmett and Paul?† I whispered. Paul was Jacob’s most volatile pack brother. He was the one who’d lost control that day in the woods – the memory of the snarling gray wolf was suddenly vividin my head. â€Å"What happened? Were they fighting?† My voice strained higher in panic. â€Å"Why? Did Paul get hurt?† â€Å"No one fought,† Edward said quietly, only to me. â€Å"No one got hurt. Don’t be anxious.† Jacob was staring at us with incredulous eyes. â€Å"You didn’t tell her anything at all, did you? Is that why you took her away? So she wouldn’t know that -?† â€Å"Leave now.† Edward cut him off mid-sentence, and his face was abruptly frightening – truly frightening. For a second, he looked like . . . like a vampire. He glared at Jacob with vicious, unveiled loathing. Jacob raised his eyebrows, but made no other move. â€Å"Why haven’t you told her?† They faced each other in silence for a long moment. More students gathered behind Tyler and Austin. I saw Mike next to Ben – Mike had one hand on Ben’s shoulder, like he was holding him in place. In the dead silence, all the details suddenly fell into place for me with a burst of intuition. Something Edward didn’t want me to know. Something that Jacob wouldn’t have kept from me. Something that had the Cullens and the wolves both in the woods, moving in hazardous proximity to each other. Something that would cause Edward to insist that I fly across the country. Something that Alice had seen in a vision last week – a vision Edward had lied to me about. Something I’d been waiting for anyway. Something I knew would happen again, as much as I might wish it never would. It was never going to end, was it? I heard the quick gasp, gasp, gasp, gasp of the air dragging through my lips, but I couldn’t stop it. It looked like the school was shaking, like there was an earthquake, but I knew it was my own trembling that caused the illusion. â€Å"She came back for me,† I choked out. Victoria was never going to give up till I was dead. She would keep repeating the same pattern – feint and run, feint and run – until she found a hole through my defenders. Maybe I’d get lucky. Maybe the Volturi would come for me first – they’d kill me quicker, at least. Edward held me tight to his side, angling his body so that he was still between me and Jacob, and stroked my face with anxious hands. â€Å"It’s fine,† he whispered to me. â€Å"It’s fine. I’ll never let her get close to you, it’s fine.† Then he glared at Jacob. â€Å"Does that answer your question, mongrel?† â€Å"You don’t think Bella has a right to know?† Jacob challenged. â€Å"It’s her life.† Edward kept his voice muted; even Tyler, edging forward by inches, would be unable to hear. â€Å"Why should she be frightened when she was never in danger?† â€Å"Better frightened than lied to.† I tried to pull myself together, but my eyes were swimming in moisture. I could see it behind my lids – I could see Victoria’s face, her lips pulled back over her teeth, her crimson eyes glowing with the obsession of her vendetta; she held Edward responsible for the demise of her love, James. She wouldn’t stop until his love was taken from him, too. Edward wiped the tears from my cheek with his fingertips. â€Å"Do you really think hurting her is better than protecting her?† he murmured. â€Å"She’s tougher than you think,† Jacob said. â€Å"And she’s been through worse.† Abruptly, Jacob’s expression shifted, and he was staring at Edward with an odd, speculative expression. His eyes narrowed like he was trying to do a difficult math problem in his head. I felt Edward cringe. I glanced up at him, and his face was contorted in what could only be pain. For one ghastly moment, I was reminded of our afternoon in Italy, in the macabre tower room of the Volturi, where Jane had tortured Edward with her malignant gift, burning him with her thoughts alone. . . . The memory snapped me out of my near hysteria and put everything in perspective. Because I’d rather Victoria killed me a hundred times over than watch Edward suffer that way again. â€Å"That’s funny,† Jacob said, laughing as he watched Edward’s face. Edward winced, but smoothed his expression with a little effort. He couldn’t quite hide the agony in his eyes. I glanced, wide-eyed, from Edward’s grimace to Jacob’s sneer. â€Å"What are you doing to him?† I demanded. â€Å"It’s nothing, Bella,† Edward told me quietly. â€Å"Jacob just has a good memory, that’s all.† Jacob grinned, and Edward winced again. â€Å"Stop it! Whatever you’re doing.† â€Å"Sure, if you want.† Jacob shrugged. â€Å"It’s his own fault if he doesn’t like the things I remember, though.† I glared at him, and he smiled back impishly – like a kid caught doing something he knows he shouldn’t by someone who he knows won’t punish him. â€Å"The principal’s on his way to discourage loitering on school property,† Edward murmured to me. â€Å"Let’s get to English, Bella, so you’re not involved.† â€Å"Overprotective, isn’t he?† Jacob said, talking just to me. â€Å"A little trouble makes life fun. Let me guess, you’re not allowed to have fun, are you?† Edward glowered, and his lips pulled back from his teeth ever so slightly. â€Å"Shut up, Jake,† I said. Jacob laughed. â€Å"That sounds like a no. Hey, if you ever feel like having a life again, you could come see me. I’ve still got your motorcycle in my garage.† This news distracted me. â€Å"You were supposed to sell that. You promised Charlie you would.† If I hadn’t begged on Jake’s behalf – after all, he’d put weeks of labor into both motorcycles, and he deserved some kind of payback – Charlie would have thrown my bike in a Dumpster. And possibly set that Dumpster on fire. â€Å"Yeah, right. Like I would do that. It belongs to you, not me. Anyway, I’ll hold on to it until you want it back.† A tiny hint of the smile I remembered was suddenly playing around the edges of his lips. â€Å"Jake . . .† He leaned forward, his face earnest now, the bitter sarcasm fading. â€Å"I think I might have been wrong before, you know, about not being able to be friends. Maybe we could manage it, on my side of the line. Come see me.† I was vividly conscious of Edward, his arms still wrapped protectively around me, motionless as a stone. I shot a look at his face – it was calm, patient. â€Å"I, er, don’t know about that, Jake.† Jacob dropped the antagonistic faade completely. It was like he’d forgotten Edward was there, or at least he was determined to act that way. â€Å"I miss you every day, Bella. It’s not the same without you.† â€Å"I know and I’m sorry, Jake, I just . . .† He shook his head, and sighed. â€Å"I know. Doesn’t matter, right? I guess I’ll survive or something. Who needs friends?† He grimaced, trying to cover the pain with a thin attempt at bravado. Jacob’s suffering had always triggered my protective side. It was not entirely rational – Jacob was hardly in need of any physical protection I could offer. But my arms, pinned beneath Edward’s, yearned to reach out to him. To wrap around his big, warm waist in a silent promise of acceptance and comfort. Edward’s shielding arms had become restraints. â€Å"Okay, get to class,† a stern voice sounded behind us. â€Å"Move along, Mr. Crowley.† â€Å"Get to school, Jake,† I whispered, anxious as soon as I recognized the principal’s voice. Jacob went to the Quileute school, but he might still get in trouble for trespassing or the equivalent. Edward released me, taking just my hand and pulling me behind his body again. Mr. Greene pushed through the circle of spectators, his brows pressing down like ominous storm clouds over his small eyes. â€Å"I mean it,† he was threatening. â€Å"Detention for anyone who’s still standing here when I turn around again.† The audience melted away before he was finished with his sentence. â€Å"Ah, Mr. Cullen. Do we have a problem here?† â€Å"Not at all, Mr. Greene. We were just on our way to class.† â€Å"Excellent. I don’t seem to recognize your friend.† Mr. Greene turned his glower on Jacob. â€Å"Are you a new student here?† Mr. Greene’s eyes scrutinized Jacob, and I could see that he’d come to the same conclusion everyone else had: dangerous. A troublemaker. â€Å"Nope,† Jacob answered, half a smirk on his broad lips. â€Å"Then I suggest you remove yourself from school property at once, young man, before I call the police.† Jacob’s little smirk became a full-blown grin, and I knew he was picturing Charlie showing up to arrest him. This grin was too bitter, too full of mocking to satisfy me. This wasn’t the smile I’d been waiting to see. Jacob said, â€Å"Yes, sir,† and snapped a military salute before he climbed on his bike and kicked it to a start right there on the sidewalk. The engine snarled and then the tires squealed as he spun it sharply around. In a matter of seconds, Jacob raced out of sight. Mr. Greene gnashed his teeth together while he watched the performance. â€Å"Mr. Cullen, I expect you to ask your friend to refrain from trespassing again.† â€Å"He’s no friend of mine, Mr. Greene, but I’ll pass along the warning.† Mr. Greene pursed his lips. Edward’s perfect grades and spotless record were clearly a factor in Mr. Greene’s assessment of the incident. â€Å"I see. If you’re worried about any trouble, I’d be happy to -â€Å" â€Å"There’s nothing to worry about, Mr. Greene. There won’t be any trouble.† â€Å"I hope that’s correct. Well, then. On to class. You, too, Miss Swan.† Edward nodded, and pulled me quickly along toward the English building. â€Å"Do you feel well enough to go to class?† he whispered when we were past the principal. â€Å"Yes,† I whispered back, not quite sure if this was a lie. Whether I felt well or not was hardly the most important consideration. I needed to talk to Edward right away, and English class wasn’t the ideal place for the conversation I had in mind. But with Mr. Greene right behind us, there weren’t a lot of other options. We got to class a little late and took our seats quickly. Mr. Berty was reciting a Frost poem. He ignored our entrance, refusing to let us break his rhythm. I yanked a blank page out of my notebook and started writing, my handwriting more illegible than normal thanks to my agitation. What happened? Tell me everything. And screw the protecting me crap, please. I shoved the note at Edward. He sighed, and then began writing. It took him less time than me, though he wrote an entire paragraph in his own personal calligraphy before he slipped the paper back. Alice saw that Victoria was coming back. I took you out of town merely as a precaution – there was never a chance that she would have gotten anywhere close to you. Emmett and Jasper very nearly had her, but Victoria seems to have some instinct for evasion. She escaped right down the Quileute boundary line as if she were reading it from a map. It didn’t help that Alice’s abilities were nullified by the Quileutes’ involvement. To be fair, the Quileutes might have had her, too, if we hadn’t gotten in the way. The big gray one thought Emmett was over the line, and he got defensive. Of course Rosalie reacted to that, and everyone left the chase to protect their companions. Carlisle and Jasper got things calmed down before it got out of hand. But by then, Victoria had slipped away. That’s everything. I frowned at the letters on the page. All of them had been in on it – Emmett, Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, and Carlisle. Maybe even Esme, though he hadn’t mentioned her. And then Paul and the rest of the Quileute pack. It might so easily have turned into a fight, pitting my future family and my old friends against each other. Any one of them could have been hurt. I imagined the wolves would be in the most danger, but picturing tiny Alice next to one of the huge werewolves, fighting . . . I shuddered. Carefully, I scrubbed out the entire paragraph with my eraser and then I wrote over the top: What about Charlie? She could have been after him. Edward was shaking his head before I finished, obviously going to downplay any danger on Charlie’s behalf. He held a hand out, but I ignored that and started again. You can’t know that she wasn’t thinking that, because you weren’t here. Florida was a bad idea. He took the paper from underneath my hand. I wasn’t about to send you off alone. With your luck, not even the black box would survive. That wasn’t what I’d meant at all; I hadn’t thought of going without him. I’d meant that we should have stayed here together. But I was sidetracked by his response, and a little miffed. Like I couldn’t fly cross country without bringing the plane down. Very funny. So let’s say my bad luck did crash the plane. What exactly were you going to do about it? Why is the plane crashing? He was trying to hide a smile now. The pilots are passed out drunk. Easy. I’d fly the plane. Of course. I pursed my lips and tried again. Both engines have exploded and we’re falling in a death spiral toward the earth. I’d wait till we were close enough to the ground, get a good grip on you, kick out the wall, and jump. Then I’d run you back to the scene of the accident, and we’d stumble around like the two luckiest survivors in history. I stared at him wordlessly. â€Å"What?† he whispered. I shook my head in awe. â€Å"Nothing,† I mouthed. I scrubbed out the disconcerting conversation and wrote one more line. You will tell me next time. I knew there would be a next time. The pattern would continue until someone lost. Edward stared into my eyes for a long moment. I wondered what my face looked like – it felt cold, so the blood hadn’t returned to my cheeks. My eyelashes were still wet. He sighed and then nodded once. Thanks. The paper disappeared from under my hand. I looked up, blinkingin surprise, just as Mr. Berty came down the aisle. â€Å"Is that something you’d like to share there, Mr. Cullen?† Edward looked up innocently and held out the sheet of paper on top of his folder. â€Å"My notes?† he asked, sounding confused. Mr. Berty scanned the notes – no doubt a perfect transcription of his lecture – and then walked away frowning. It was later, in Calculus – my one class without Edward – that I heard the gossip. â€Å"My money’s on the big Indian,† someone was saying. I peeked up to see that Tyler, Mike, Austin, and Ben had their heads bent together, deep in conversation. â€Å"Yeah,† Mike whispered. â€Å"Did you see the size of that Jacob kid? I think he could take Cullen down.† Mike sounded pleased by the idea. â€Å"I don’t think so,† Ben disagreed. â€Å"There’s something about Edward. He’s always so . . . confident. I have a feeling he can take care of himself.† â€Å"I’m with Ben,† Tyler agreed. â€Å"Besides, if that other kid messed Edward up, you know those big brothers of his would get involved.† â€Å"Have you been down to La Push lately?† Mike asked. â€Å"Lauren and I went to the beach a couple of weeks ago, and believe me, Jacob’s friends are all just as big as he is.† â€Å"Huh,† Tyler said. â€Å"Too bad it didn’t turn into anything. Guess we’ll never know how it would have turned out.† â€Å"It didn’t look over to me,† Austin said. â€Å"Maybe we’ll get to see.† Mike grinned. â€Å"Anyone in the mood for a bet?† â€Å"Ten on Jacob,† Austin said at once. â€Å"Ten on Cullen,† Tyler chimed in. â€Å"Ten on Edward,† Ben agreed. â€Å"Jacob,† Mike said. â€Å"Hey, do you guys know what it was about?† Austin wondered. â€Å"That might affect the odds.† â€Å"I can guess,† Mike said, and then he shot a glance at me at the same time that Ben and Tyler did. From their expressions, none of them had realized I was in easy hearing distance. They all looked away quickly, shuffling the papers on their desks. â€Å"I still say Jacob,† Mike muttered under his breath. How to cite The Twilight Saga 3: Eclipse Chapter 3. MOTIVES, Essay examples

Twentieth Century Fox Essay Example For Students

Twentieth Century Fox Essay Film trailers play an important role in selling a film to its audience, they help them choose a film that they think they will like but also the film featured in the trailer. Film companies can use other methods to sell a film, such a having a new or controversial subject, but by far the most common and effective way of getting a film noticed is its trailer. I am going to analyse three film trailers, Mission Impossible 2, Chicken Run and X-men. Each uses different selling points, but some similarities run through all of them. Mission Impossible 2, or MI:2. It is an action adventure film, generally this genre mainly appeals to a male audience due to its speedy car chases and violent fighting scenes. However, MI:2 appeals to a female audience as well, as it stars Tom Cruise, a very good-looking actor. He is the first character to be reviled to us in the trailer and his name appears following an explosion in flame emblazoned writing that takes up the main part of the screen, the name of the film appears soon after in a similar fashion. The fiery colours represent a hot, dangerous, action packed film, as red means danger, in both nature and the modern world. X-men is also an action film, but has a sci-fi twist to it. This is the first point an audience would get from this trailer as the first clip of the film is of two women dressed in what we would consider to be futuristic clothes, silver in colour to represent something, new, cold and mechanical. They appear to be startled by something, even fearful, we do not know what they are afraid of; this adds a sense of suspense and interest as the audience would want to find out what that something is, this is a good way to entice a potential viewer to see the film. It differs from MI:2 as it does not show who stars in the film using text, however the actors featured would be well known to the genre of people the film is aimed at. Such as Patrick Stewart who is recognized by sci-fi buffs as Jean-Luc Picard captain of star trek. The film Chicken Run is different to both other films as it is not an action film, but is a childrens animated comedy that has some aspects that appeal to an older audience, it has, in every sense of the phrase, something for everyone. Similarly to MI:2 the names of the actors doing the voices of the characters appear written on screen in big bold text, but they are also spoken by a voice over. They are actors whom the adults watching would immediately recognise, Mel Gibson, Julia Swahla, Jane Horraks and Miranda Richardson. Similarly to MI:2, the stars are named before the name of the film is given, The name Chicken Run is at shown at the end of the trailer whereas The name Mission Impossible is given halfway through, but still after the actors were named. A similarity in all three film trailers, perhaps in all film trailers is that the name of the company that produced the film is revealed first. A difference in three film trailers I chose is that they all have different companies, and the logos are shown in different manners, MI:2 was produced Paramount, X-men was produced by Twentieth Century Fox and Chicken Run was produced by Pathà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. The logo for paramount is usually a two dimensional globe with the name Paramount surrounding it, but in the trailer for MI:2 it is three dimensional and the camera zooms in and pans around the logo accompanied to a pulsating drum rhythm. All this combined gives the logo a modern, hi-tech almost alive ambience. This reflects the fact that the film is edgy and there are a lot of gadgets and the like featured. .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a , .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a .postImageUrl , .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a , .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a:hover , .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a:visited , .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a:active { border:0!important; } .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a:active , .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u9562af9210229c2430576c13d64f0b4a:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: All the President's Men EssaySimilarly to MI:2, the logo for X-men has been slightly modified to reflect the film, as the usual logo is like a cinema building, it has been emphasised with the searchlights you sometimes see outside cinemas when blockbusters are showing in some American cities. This makes an audience imagine viewing the film in this setting, and so encourages them to go and see the film. The logo for Pathà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ in Chicken Run has also been modified to reflect the film; this is similar to both of the other films. The name Pathà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ is shown against a plain background hanging as if from a childs mobile, then the shadow of a rooster appears. Pathà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ is the oldest film company out of the three and originally produced newsreels before television became a commodity, this helps people of an older generation relate to the film.

Using Conflicts in Decision Making to Make Effective Decisions and a More Cohesive Group Essay Example

Using Conflicts in Decision Making to Make Effective Decisions and a More Cohesive Group Essay Using Conflicts in Decision Making to Make Effective Decisions and a More Cohesive Group Conflicts arise between co-workers often and over many different matters. Mismanaged conflicts can damage relationships and stalemate group decisions. By learning conflict resolution skills, workers can seize opportunities for growth and open discussion. One can use conflicts that arise in group decision making to make more effective group decisions and a more cohesive group. Conflicts in Group Decision Making Tubbs (2007, p. 09), defined conflict management as The ability to manage conflict so that there is a healthy conflict of ideas without the unhealthy conflict of feelings. Conflict is often thought of as a completely negative event, when in fact it can have many positive effects. Without some form of conflict, problems would not ever be revealed or dealt with. Although there are many cost associated with conflict, there are also many benefits that are often overlooked. Personal Conflicts P ersonal conflict arises out of a sense of being wronged. The perception of inequality, scarcity, and moral or cultural differences gives rise to a emotional grievance (Brahm, 2004, para. 1). Acting out these conflicts is a way of addressing concerns. conflict can give rise to new norms and rules to govern conduct which can have long-term benefits conflict can lead to establishing new statutes meant to deal with the sources of conflict (Brahm, 2004, para. 8). Idea Conflicts Idea conflicts are a difference of opinion. People can have idea conflicts and have no personal conflict- as long as they respect other peoples point of view. Idea conflicts are necessary to create idea diversity. A homogenous set of ideas will not be as creative, comprehensive, or open to new ideas. Ideas conflict can also easily escalate into personal conflicts when workers become more loyal to an idea than to the group synergy. Make Effective Group Decisions With Conflict Building Collaborative Solutions, Inc. (BCS), defines conflict management as the opportunity to improve situations and strengthen relationships' (Tubbs, 2007, p. 315). By resolving disagreements before they turn into personal conflict, workers can keep their focus. We will write a custom essay sample on Using Conflicts in Decision Making to Make Effective Decisions and a More Cohesive Group specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Using Conflicts in Decision Making to Make Effective Decisions and a More Cohesive Group specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Using Conflicts in Decision Making to Make Effective Decisions and a More Cohesive Group specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Conflicts are often easier to handle when put into proper perspective (Sherman, 2011, p. 52). An open exchange of ideas can contribute to organizational health by valuing honorable conflicts of ideas. Group member should expect and respect differing points of view, while maintaining personal sovereignty of thought. Conflict Solutions conflict can initiate a process through which individuals realize they have common interests and common enemies (Brahm, 2004, para. 10). New bonds can be made in conflict, even as others are being broken down. Outside conflict can bond and energize group members (Tubbs, 2007, p. 315). The challenge is to realize the benefits of conflict in such a way so as to minimize the many costs also associated with conflict (Brahm, 2004, para. 14). If a company provides conflict resolution training to employees, they can reduce the intensity and frequency of future conflicts. Groupthink The term groupthink was coined in the 1970s to describe a situation when a group makes faulty decisions because group pressures lead to a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing and moral judgment within a board (Martyn, 2011, para. ). Groupthink can be effectively be mitigated by a healthy expression of the conflict of ideas. Members of a group guilty of groupthink are usually more concerned with group harmony than with effective decision making (Martyn, 2011, para. 3). When attention is drawn to the hazards of groupthink and benefits of idea diversification, then the group can focus on the best interest o f the organization. Cohesion When conflict resolution happens out of empowerment and collaboration, it allows for more growth and more positive opportunities to be presented. When personal growth is shared between team members it produces bonds learn positive ways of addressing conflict that will minimize hurt feelings, gossip, and a negative environment. Leaders should recognize that organizational level decisions can have an immense effect on both functional and dysfunctional conflict (Harris, Ogbonna, Goode, 2008, p. 453). Perspective be open to the other persons perceptions-instead of casting blame, explore how you both may have contributed to the situation (Freinkel,2004, para. ). Bringing the causes of conflict to the surface will allow for the root problem to be dealt with. No matter who youre dealing with, asking open-ended questions is a great way to create a dialogue (McCurdy, n. d. , p. 3). Discovering the best level of analysis requires a certain navigational skill, a nimble capacity to zoom in, out, and around to different perspectives (Sherman, 2011, p. 52). Conclusion A certain amount of conflict is inevitable, and it must be understood to be channeled. Conflict can be used as an opportunity to grow and improve group interaction. Conflict and resolution is not a zero-sum game; there are benefits when one looks for them. Group cohesion and decision making can certainly be enhanced through the conflict and resolution process. References Brahm, E. (2004). Benefits of Intractable Conflict. Retrieved April 26, 2011 from http://www. beyondintractability. org/essay/benefits/ Freinkel, S. (2004, July/August). can we talk? Health, 18(6), 135-138. Harris, L. C. , Ogbonna, E. , Goode M. H. (2008). Intra-functional conflict: an investigation of antecedent factors in marketing functions. European Journal of Marketing, 42(3/4), 453-476. doi:10. 1108/03090560810853011 Martyn, K. (2011, March). Governance groupthink. New Zealand Management, 58(2), 55-56. McCurdy, S. (n. d. ). 5 ways to resolve conflict at work. Retrieved April 24, 2011 from http://www. click2houston. com/money/24926751/detail. html Sherman, J. (2011, March/April). Zoom. Psychology Today, 52-53. Tubbs, S. L. , (2007). A Systems Approach to Small Group Interaction (9th ed. ). Ney York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Free Essays on The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye tells the sad story of Pecola Breedlove, a poor prepubescent black girl, who wants to be loved and cared for by her family and society. She is a very dark skinned black girl and is ridiculed, and hated by her community because of this. She idolizes images of blond haired, blue-eyed white girls like Shirley Temple. She believes having bright, beautiful, blue eyes will make people love and care for her. Her mother, Pauline, reinforces this belief by dedicating her life to this rich white family and doting over their blond, blue-eyed little girl, while at the same time completely ignoring her own little girl. After being raped and impregnated by her father she is asked to leave school. The child is stillborn and Pecola goes insane withdrawing into a fantasy world where she has the bluest eyes of all. Morrison makes strong social statements about race, beauty, and abandonment in our society through the sad, sometimes exaggerated story of Pecola Breedlove. Morrison has stated that the book is about one’s dependency on the world for identification, self-value, and feelings of worth. While no one would argue this isn’t true, she is also placing blame on society for forcing a fixed image of beauty on an individual. It is very easy for one to make the argument that Morrison is making social commentary on the injustice white Americans have caused black people (i.e. forcing blacks to deny their natural beauty in order to placate white expectation.) However, in this novel Morrison is placing the spot light on African-Americans and how racism within the race accelerates their self destruction. In this story, postwar middle-American black communities use the image of Shirley Temple in the same way southern creoles created the infamous â€Å"paper bag test† to exclu de darker skinned blacks from the higher tiers of African American society. The story is about the unraveling of society... Free Essays on The Bluest Eye Free Essays on The Bluest Eye The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye tells the sad story of Pecola Breedlove, a poor prepubescent black girl, who wants to be loved and cared for by her family and society. She is a very dark skinned black girl and is ridiculed, and hated by her community because of this. She idolizes images of blond haired, blue-eyed white girls like Shirley Temple. She believes having bright, beautiful, blue eyes will make people love and care for her. Her mother, Pauline, reinforces this belief by dedicating her life to this rich white family and doting over their blond, blue-eyed little girl, while at the same time completely ignoring her own little girl. After being raped and impregnated by her father she is asked to leave school. The child is stillborn and Pecola goes insane withdrawing into a fantasy world where she has the bluest eyes of all. Morrison makes strong social statements about race, beauty, and abandonment in our society through the sad, sometimes exaggerated story of Pecola Breedlove. Morrison has stated that the book is about one’s dependency on the world for identification, self-value, and feelings of worth. While no one would argue this isn’t true, she is also placing blame on society for forcing a fixed image of beauty on an individual. It is very easy for one to make the argument that Morrison is making social commentary on the injustice white Americans have caused black people (i.e. forcing blacks to deny their natural beauty in order to placate white expectation.) However, in this novel Morrison is placing the spot light on African-Americans and how racism within the race accelerates their self destruction. In this story, postwar middle-American black communities use the image of Shirley Temple in the same way southern creoles created the infamous â€Å"paper bag test† to exclu de darker skinned blacks from the higher tiers of African American society. The story is about the unraveling of society...

The Conceptual Framework of Marketing Plan Research Paper

The Conceptual Framework of Marketing Plan - Research Paper Example The marketing plan, which is the key input to the business plan, will be able to identify the most promising marketing opportunities and outline how the company can penetrate, capture and survive in the identified markets. A successful marketing plan of a firm elaborates almost all important marketing activities, strategic marketing proceedings, firm’s situational as well as marketing-mix analyses etc. The Role and Nature of Marketing Plan Marketing Plan As Kerin, Hartley, and Berkowitz (2005,p. 53) defined, a marketing plan is a roadmap for the marketing activities of a firm for a specific future time period. According to Armstrong and Kotler (2005, p. 59), a detailed marketing plan can assess the current marketing situations and outline the marketing objectives, marketing strategies, action programs, budgets, and controls. The marketing plan is not just a template that every firm may be able to follow in a similar style, but a strategic tool for analyzing the marketing situa tions, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the firm as well as opportunities and threats, identify the competitors and their market roles and so on. The styles, structures, and contents of the marketing plan may vary from firm to firm depending on factors such as target audience and the purpose, the kind and complexity of the firm, the industry and market extent etc (Kerin, Hartley and Berkowitz, 2005, p. 53). As Westwood (2002, p. 6) noted, a marketing plan is similar to a map since it depicts the company related to where it is going and how it is functioning to get there. It is not just a written document but contains an action plan that helps the company identify the best promising business as well as marketing opportunities and outline who it may penetrate and capture the market proposed. The relationship between Marketing Plan and Business Plan A business plan, in contrast, is a roadmap for the entire firm for a specific future period of time. The marketing plan is a detai led plan the comprises of marketing activities and strategies, a situational analysis of the firm, financial projections, action plan, and control etc, but a business plan is a broader plan since it not only comprises of all these elements but also R&D and business operation etc. More specifically, the marketing plan is an integral part of the business plan. For most manufacturing firms, marketing plan represents 60 to 80 percent of the business plan, both marketing and business plan are almost identical for small businesses.

Land Law Question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Land Law Question - Essay Example As per UK law there are two sorts of land a) registered and b) unregistered. Each has its own rules and regulations with regard to treansfer of land from one hand to another hand besides enforcement of third party proprietary interests1. The Land Registration Act 2002 which is in vogue came into being on October 13th 2003. New Act has more space for a) number of titles b) over riding interest and c) electronic conveyancing. This has simplified the land transfer system. Hence, buyer needs not to worry about the vendor’s entitlement to deal with the property2. Unlike unregistered land where the purchasor needs to go through the register himself in order to find out whether third party proprietary interest is binding or not. Kinds of Leases The basic leases are four in numbers a) Gross Lease b) Full Service Lease c) Gross Industrial Lease and d) Triple Net Lease. Each landlord has to decide which lease is best suited to him. It is the duty of the attorney to let his clientle (ten ant) know which lease is beneficial to him. In commercial type of real estate lease, interest of stakeholders (Landlord and the Tenant) is ensured. It would be in the best interest of mentioned parties if they chose right type of lease3. Tenancy Agreement In accordance with the Landlord and Tenant Law of UK, tenancy agreement is an agreement that executes between the landlord and the tenant for renting out the premises. By all means, it is a legal contract. It can be in two ways, oral or written. However, the written agreement is more viable option for both the stakeholders, i.e. landlord and the tenant since it provides more concrete evidence and binding in terms of law4. Yes, some of the tenancy terms are implied even if they are not mutually agreed upon. Implied terms indicate rights, obligations and the protective clauses in line with the Residential Tenancies Act currently enforced. The Residential Tenancies Act fully protects the rights of the tenant. If the tenancy agreement includes something mutually agreed upon by the landlord and the tenant, which is not allowed by the said Act, would be binding for either party to comply with it5. Sometimes people are a little bit confused with regard to the meaning of word â€Å"lease†. In fact, the mentioned word refers to the fixed term, say one year or more tenure. This is incorrect. It can be on a month-to-month or week-to-week basis. In order to avoid confusion, the term â€Å"lease† is not used frequently in such transaction. However, in the larger interest of the landlord and the tenant, the term â€Å"tenancy agreement† can be used for the rented property6. Fixed Term Tenancy In a fixed term tenancy, the tenant agrees to have the premises for a certain period of time against mutually agreed amount of rent and the security deposit. Under the mentioned situation, if the period of time ends, the tenancy agreement ends automatically. Here, no notice is required to serve by either party unt il and unless it was specifically incorporated in the tenancy agreement. If the notice period was incorporated in the said agreement, either party is bound to serve the notice accordingly. After the expiration of the fixed term of tenancy, if the tenant does not vacate the rented premises, the tenancy agreement turns into periodic tenancy agreement, according to which, the tenant has to pay the rent as desired by the landlord. Once a tenancy period starts, it

Avon Products Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Avon Products - Case Study Example The company faced a challenge of flattening revenues and even declining operating income. There were many factors that led to this decline, one of the issues was that the company had grown at a faster proportion than the infrastructure and talent could hold. This called for an immediate intervention to save the company from collapsing. The current CEO who was known as Jung and the executive team launched a basic restructuring of the organization in starting of 2006 (Effron, 2009). Question two Leaning and transparency model was one that was targeted to bring change in the organization. For an organization to bring in change, one of the ways to ensure that change does not impact negatively to the organization is through training of employees. By doing so, employees are able to learn new tactics to use in order to integrate with the new change. In addition, employees are able to acquire skills to enable them to cope with the new requirements of the change. The company investment in exe cutive talent is one way of implementing learning model. The company planned to refurnish new talents as a way of ensuring that the company keeps up with the latest growth of the company. The employee’s new knowledge was also to be used as a model of ensuring that they are able to sustain the current growth of the company. ... The company aim to transform the organization through establishing bodies that would oversee transparency process is another example that assisted me to identify the model. The company aim of changing the top management behavior through teaching them on how to maintain a good image of the company is an aspect that is in learning and transformation model. The company also went ahead to recognize every personnel behavior as critical to the overall success of the business. These transformations were supported by performance reviews that were aimed at keeping an eye on the individual performance (Harris, & Hartman 2001). Question three One of the evaluation information that was obtained is that there is a need to create an efficient communication channel which will ensure that organizations processes are carried out in an efficient manner (Zofi, (2011). Communication plays a great role in tackling problems that might affect the organization. Efficient communication also ensures that ther e is a good relationship between leaders and their subordinates. In addition, communication plays a great role in enabling the organization to solve any issue that might affect the organization performance. This evaluation problem was to ensure that poor communication was eradicated and leaders implement policies that would enable the top management and low ranked employees to communicate frequently an aspect that would positively impact on the performance of the employees. Lastly communication would enable leaders to assess the talent of their employees. This is an important move in ensuring that categorization of talents in the organization is done appropriately (Harris, & Hartman 2001).

Analysis of the Term Victorian Through Literature

Analysis of the Term Victorian Through Literature The era of Queen Victorias reign witnessed the passing of milestones in social, economic, and personal progress. It was the age of industrialisation, a time of travel, a battleground for the conflict between science and religion. Yet further to these great markers by which many of us recognise the nineteenth century, and indeed because of them, Victorias reign inspired change within the individual; a revaluation of what it meant to be a human being. The literary artists gave new form to the questions on the lips of the society around them: questions that were no longer so easily answered by Christianity. This dissertation will explore how the term Victorian does or doesnt fit into the context from which it supposedly arises. I will look at trends such as the development of literary criticism, pioneering scientific discoveries, the exploration into psychic phenomenon, the increasing independence of women, the mapping of the world, all of which contribute to what we know and understand as Victorian, and have in some way shaped the work of authors such as Eliot, Conan Doyle, and H.G Wells. Using some close textual analysis I hope to identify the nature of the inspiration behind the literature of the time and whether or not such work transcends the limits of the term Victorian. Many great literary minds of the time such as Arnold, Dickens, and Ruskin helped define the era in their critical attitudes towards it. (Davis 2002, p.10). Criticism appears to have become a form of exploration in an attempt to turn what concerned and worried the artist into something that questioned and reassured. Arnold, in his dissertations in Criticism (Arnold 1865, p.V) explains how he perceives the difference between logical and artistic thought The truth is I have never been able to ht it off happily with the logicians, and it would be mere affectation in me to give myself the airs of doing so. They imagine truth something to be proved, I something to be seen; they something to be manufactured, I as something to be found. It is this growing awareness of difference that was to become a defining feature of Victorian literature. Differences appeared in the very perception of things, which led to feelings of isolation, despair, alienation all prominent themes in nineteenth century work. In Arnolds A Summer Night (http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/A/ArnoldMatthew/verse/EmpedoclesonEtna/summernight.html) we see the poetic mind struggling to find meaning on a moonlit street where the windows, like hostile faces, are silent and white, unopening down: And the calm moonlight seems to say Hast thou then still the old unquiet breast That neither deadens into rest Nor ever feels the fiery glow That whirls the spirit front itself away, 30 But fluctuates to and fro Never by passion quite possessd And never quite benumbd by the worlds sway? And I, I know not if to pray Still to be what I am, or yield, and be Like all the other men I see. Arnold recognises that the society around him is unfulfilled, that men are giving their lives to some unmeaning taskwork and he questions whether he should be questioning at all. He is aware of a gap between the reality of working life and life outside of work; a difference that he strives to find explanation for. Arnold appears to be lost amidst the streets of his own mind afraid of not being able to define who he is, what he is. These feelings in part express what it meant to be a Victorian struggling to place thoughts and feelings which appear to no longer fit into society. The Victorian era contained much of what had past and much of what was still to come it cannot be seen as an isolated time, nor as an isolated term. It contained aspects of the Romantic period for instance in Arnolds poem, The Buried Life, we see vestiges of Wordsworths legacy of Ode to Immortality. In both poems there is a sense of something lost an old passion or instinct that has gone with the passing of time yet Arnold, unlike Wordsworth, finds it more difficult to come to terms with this: A longing to inquire / Into the mystery of this heart that beats / So wild, so deep in us, to know / Whence our thoughts come and where they go. (http://www.web-books.com/Classics/Poetry/Anthology/Arnold_M/Buried.htm). The language is more passionately discontent than the resolute tone of Wordsworths visionary acceptance: We will grieve not, rather find/Strength in what remains behind. (Wordsworth 1928, p.136). The styles are obviously connected, but the trouble with defining the era using literary terminology is that it is clearly neither a quirky extension of the Romantics vision, nor is it a straightforward path to the modernists. The 1870s saw the maturation of authors such as Anthony Trollope who brought out his later novels, yet only twenty years later in 1896 these publications are sitting beside the considerably different form and subject matter of work such as H.G. Wellls The Time Machine and The Island of Dr. Moreau, with literary experiments with the modern such as Richard Jefferies The Story of My Heart (a spiritual autobiography) -occurring between in 1883. A growing concern in nineteenth century life was the potential loss of the Romantic link between human nature and the natural world, and the gap which sudden industrial progress highlighted between nature and mechanisation. As technology developed so did the notion of artificiality. It is worth noting J.S.Mills dissertation on Nature (Mill 1874, p.65) where he says that it is mans nature to be artificial, to remedy nature by artificial pruning and intervention. Further to this, a contemporary of Mills Richard Jennings also drew a line between the province of human nature and the external world. (Lightman 1997, p.80). In the countryside more efficient methods of farming were employed (see the contrast between Henchards methods and Farfraes ciphering and mensuration in Hardys Mayor of Casterbridge, (Hardy 1886, p.122)), and new machines introduced which no longer required the labour force to run them, encouraging people to migrate to towns and cities. The urban reality was harsh in 1851 roughly four million people were employed in trade and manufacture and mining, leaving only one and a half million in agriculture. (Davis 2002, p.13). City life, as portrayed by Dickens, was a cruel, unhealthy and unwholesome existence for many. Working conditions in cities were often cramped, unhygienic and poorly ventilated, and living conditions could be even worse. Mrs. Gaskell, living in Manchester, witnessed the appalling pressures that these conditions forced upon family life, and in North and South depicts the difficulties of urban living, offering that salvation for the working classes lay with themselves and their employers, working together. However, city life was not all desolate based in cities, the development of the detective novel brought the city back to human scale (Lehan, p.84). Detectives pieced together and reconstructed past events through clues for example, the murder of Bartholomew Sholto in The Sign of Four by Conan Doyl e: As far as we can learn, no actual traces of violence were found upon Mr Sholtos person, but a valuable collection of Indian gems which the deceased gentleman had inherited from his father had been carried off. The discovery was first made by Mr Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson () Mr. Athelney Jones, the well-known member of the detective police force, happened to be at the Norwood police station () Mr Jones well-known technical knowledge and his powers of minute observation have enabled him to prove conclusively that the miscreants could not have entered by the door or by the window but must have made their way across the roof of the building, and so through a trapdoor into a room which communicated with that in which the body was found. (p.66) The city provided an exciting backdrop to crime scenes its labyrinthine streets similar to the mapping of the pathways of the human mind so that the two became inextricably linked. As Joseph McLaughlin says in Writing the Urban Jungle, the urban jungle is a space that calls forth a pleasurable acquiescence to something greater, more powerful, and, indeed, sublime () also an imaginative domain that calls forth heroic action: exploring, conquering, enlightening, purifying, taming, besting. (McLaughlin 2000, p.3). Further to what McLaughlin suggests, the Victorians perception of time and space in the city and the countryside was changing radically from the medieval perceptions that still existed in the Romantic period. People saw the finished products in both manufacturing and farming no longer involving the long, drawn-out means to an end, instead the end result was being achieved faster and with more control. Here developed the root of modern industry which continues today in intensive farming and factory lines. Yet here too the beginnings of waste and excess. Richard Jefferies, a nineteenth century naturalist and mystic, known for his dissertations on nature, remarks on the abundance of food in the natural world in his dissertation Meadow Thoughts: The surface of the earth offers to us far more than we can consume the grains, the seeds, the fruits, the animals, the abounding products are beyond the power of all the human race to devour. They can, too, be multiplied a thousandfold. There is no natural lack. Whenever there is lack among us it is from artificial causes, which intelligence should remove. (Jefferies 1994, p.26). Unfortunately there was plenty for those who could afford it but not enough to spare for the poorer lower classes. (Ritvo 1997, p.194). Trends of over production and wastage which became a worry in Victorian times are reflected in the literary concerns of Jefferies childrens story, Bevis, where words, despite their abundance, are in danger of becoming an insufficient medium of expression and not filling the metaphysical space on the page. In describing a sunrise and the thoughts and feelings associated with watching it, Jefferies struggles to articulate the beauty before him: The sun had not yet stood out from the orient, but his precedent light shone through the translucent blue. Yet it was not blue, nor is there any word, nor is a word possible to convey the feeling. (Jefferies 1881, p.391) We see too in James Thomsons City of Dreadful Night (Thomson 1892, p.2) the desperateness of trying to articulate thoughts and feelings: Because a cold rage seizes one at whiles To show the bitter old and wrinkled truth Stripped naked of all vesture that beguiles, False dreams, false hopes, false masks and modes of youth; Because it gives some sense of power and passion In helpless impotence to try to fashion Our woe in living words howeer uncouth. In both passages there is a sense of trying to convey so much more than the words will allow. And that is the essence of the problem of defining the era with a word which the era itself selected Victorian like the authors of its time struggles to convey the enormity and the condensed nature of its changing environment. Victorian literature is thus perhaps best studied between the lines of its texts rather than for what it offers at face value. Thomsons words to try to fashion our woe in living words although appearing dismal could actually withhold a more positive message: it deals with the notion of perseverance that by creating words, however difficult, the author is refusing to give in to despair by trying to transform it into creative energy. There is a sense of crisis in the work of Thomson, just as there is to be found in Jefferies futuristic After London where the lone explorer Felix discovers the land after humanity has overreached itself to sociological disaster and has lost the harmonious relationship between mankind and nature. London becomes no more than a crystallised ruin in a ground oozing with poison unctuous and slimy, like a thick oil. (Jefferies 1885, p.205). Through work like this we see that Victorian was an era of possibility where visions of the future suddenly became tangible concerns and possible realities, and where contemporary conceptions of language and life might no longer hold up to the pressures of the time. In H.G. Wells the Time Machine, the time traveller discovers a land in the year 802,701: The air was free from gnats, the earth from weeds or fungi; everywhere were fruits and sweet and delightful flowers; brilliant butterflies flew hither and thither. The ideal of preventative medicine was attained. diseases had been stamped out. I saw no evidence of any contagious diseases during all my stay. And i shall have to tell you later that even the processes of putrefaction and decay had been profoundly affected by these changes. (Wells 1995, p.28) In this description of a futuristic age the Victorian imagination still retains the idea of a paradise a place full of butterflies and flowers. This Christian concept is a literary hangover from Miltons Paradise Lost, and remains an important theme for the moderns such as D.H. Lawrence. The Victorian age suffered from a dualistic split between a bright future on the one hand promised by leaps in technology, education and economical success and an increasingly alienated, confused society on the other. There were those writers like Huxley who believed that by human intervention within a political and economic framework humans could evolve out of their condition seeing no limit to the extent to which intelligence and will () may modify the conditions of existence (Huxley, 1893, Evolution and Ethics, The Romanes Lecture (http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/CE9/E-E.html), and there were those like Hardy whose characters were destined to fail because they were not emotionally fitted into the cosmos out of which they evolved . It was the nineteenth century spiritual crisis which precipitated the literary shift into the new genre of the realist novel. By the mid-nineteenth century, society had begun to grow away from the idea of atonement for sin within an omnipotent religion, where judgement would come solely in heaven, and towards the more humanistic idea of God as in-dwelling, so that salvation could be achieved on earth: We have now come to regard the world not as a machine, but as an organism, a system in which, while the parts contribute to the growth of the whole, the whole also reacts upon the development of the parts; and whose primary purpose is its own perfection, something that is contained within and not outside itself, an internal end: while in their turn the myriad parts of this universal organism are also lesser organisms, ends in and for themselves, pursuing each its lonely ideal of individual completeness. (Gore (ed) 1890, p.211) A spiritual lack created a need to define, order and categorise a world that suddenly appeared chaotic. When Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859 he raised issues of public concern as to the truth of the bible and the essence of Christianity. However, its content and its methodology were seriously criticised (Appleman 2001, p.200). It was a difficult work to accept as it caused the public to rethink and redefine their history that they were a product of evolution and not a tailor made being came as a shock. The future of thought and literature was suddenly changed as people tried to sew together the threads of the past. Natural Science became a national obsession exotic flora and fauna from across the world were brought into London daily, to be displayed in the British Museum or Kew Gardens (Lightman, 1997 p.1). In literature, we see the author begin to play the part of evolutionist: Eliots Middlemarch although concerned with the evolving character of Dorothea Brooke follows the threads of sub-plots and the successes and failures of other characters which form a pattern of development. As Gillian Beer says: There is not one primitive tissue, just as there is not one key to all mythologies () emphasis upon plurality, rather than upon singleness, is crucial to the developing argument of Middlemarch. (Beer 2000, p.143). Gone is the tradition of the valiant hero or heroine singularly conquering their environment (a trend set by classics such as Homers The Odyssey (1967)) and in its place a landscape upon which the author grafts and nurtures developing shoots of life. It is this sort of growth that is in danger of remaining unseen to the contemporary historian or critic as it can become shrouded by generalising concepts which are so often prescribed to the term Victorian concepts such as repression, old-fashioned and prudish. (http://www.victorianweb.org/vn/victor4.html). These sort of terms restrict the individuals perception of the era when it was a time when growth was encouraged rather than restricted. Authors used the metaphor of pruning and nurturing plant life to symbolise the development of the self for example in North and South Gaskell discusses the problem of the working individual who struggles to reach his or her potential when the manufacturers are unsparingly cutting away all off-shoots in the direction of literature or high mental cultivation, in hopes of throwing the whole strength and vigour of the plant into commerce. (Gaskell 1865, p.69). For Gaskell, it is through the everyday interaction between people that such difficulties are given the chance to be overcome. And this was the essence of the realist novel set amidst a world which had witnessed such alteration to transform the lostness felt by society into a seeing of the smaller things in life which could withhold qualities of greater spiritual value. As Philip Davis says, the realist novel was the holding ground, the meeting point, for the overlapping of common life. (Davis 2002, p.144). And it was within this common life that a more calm acceptance of the new state could be achieved. Gillian Beer suggests that through her novels organisation Eliot creates order and understanding of the evolving process of novel-writing. In Middlemarch, the naming of Casaubons books Waiting for Death, Two Temptations, Three Love Problems draws attention to the books organisation by emphasising categorisation: But the process of reading leads into divergence and variability. Even while we are observing how closely human beings conform in the taxonomy of events we learn how differently they feel and think. For Dorothea and Casaubon waiting for death means something very different from what it means for Mary Garth and Featherstone. The relations are different. The distances between people are different. Lydgate, here at one with the project of the book, longed to demonstrate the more intimate relations of living structure (1:15:225). In this double emphasis on conformity and variability George Eliot intensifies older literary organisations by means of recent scientific theory. In Darwinian theory, variability is the creative principle, but the type makes it possible for us to track common ancestry and common kinship. (Beer 2000, pp.143-4) Writing itself was becoming an almost divine representation, an inner order of a chaotic external world. The idea that humans had evolved from primates meant that the boundaries between what was one thing and what was another were no longer so clearly defined. There developed a fear of the animate and a fear of the inanimate, and efforts were sought to understand them. As Harriet Ritvo says in The Platypus and the Mermaid: Depending on the beholder, an anomaly might be viewed as embodying a challenge to the established order, whether social, natural, or divine; the containment of that challenge; the incomprehensibility of the creation by human intelligence; or simply the endless and diverting variety of the world. And beholders who agreed on the content of the representation could still disagree strongly about its moral valence whether it was good or bad, entrancing or disgusting. (Ritvo 1997, p.148). In a world where categorisation was important but not so easily achievable, the novel too became neither one thing nor another; realism became a melting pot for ideas, a sort of hybrid of styles. In Eliots The Lifted Veil realism is used as a vehicle for the exploration of her ideas into psychology and psychic phenomena. Latimers clairvoyance forces him to endure a painful insight into the minds of the people around him: I began to be aware of a phase in my abnormal sensibility, to which, from the languid and slight nature of my intercourse with others since my illness, I had not been alive before. This was the obtrusion on my mind of the mental process going forward in first one person, and then another, with whom I happened to be in contact: the vagrant, frivolous ideas and emotions of some uninteresting acquaintanceMrs Filmore, for examplewould force themselves on my consciousness like an importunate, ill-played musical instrument, or the loud activity of an imprisoned insect. But this superadded consciousness, wearying and annoying enough when it urged on me the trivial experience of indifferent people, became an intense pain and grief when it seemed to be opening to me the souls of those who were in a close relation to me when the rational talk, the graceful attentions, the wittily-turned phrases, and the kindly deeds, which used to make the web of their characters, were seen as if thrust asunder by a microscopic vision, that showed all the intermediate frivolities, all the suppressed egoism, all the struggling chaos of puerilities, meanness, vague capricious memories, and indolent make-shift thoughts, from which human words and deeds emerge like leaflets covering a fermenting heap.(Eliot 1859, pp.13-14) Latimer is no longer caught up in the web of peoples characters. Eliot plays with the idea that his consciousness has the ability to transcend the mundane the rational talk, the kindly deeds in order to gain insight into an alternative and not so rosy vision of the mechanics of the human mind where thoughts are make-shift and chaotic. The nineteenth century saw the acceptance of the concept of otherworldly phenomena into the working classes. Robert Owen, a social reformer, who influenced the British Labor movement (Oppenheim 1985, p.40) encouraged many working class Owenites to follow him into the spiritualist fold, where they enthusiastically continued their ongoing search for the new moral world. Interests such as spiritualism and psychology which had previously been more underground pursuits, were brought out into the open. The concept of telepathy, a term coined by Frederic Myers in 1882 (Luckhurst 2002, p.1) even helped to theorize the uneasy cross-cultural encounters at the colonial frontier. (Luckhurst 2002, p.3) These developments suggest that the Victorians felt imbued with the power of their age they felt confident of their ability to communicate on different planes of consciousness. So it could be argued that Victorian was not simply a time devoted to the discovery of the self and the workings of the inner mind, but a time that also focused on the projection of ideas and thoughts outside of the self; ideas which themselves stand outside of the category Victorian. In 1869 the Spiritualist Newspaper began selling first as a fortnightly, then as a weekly publication. (Oppenheim 1985, p.45). This draws the discussion to the point of representation the social nature of Victorians seems to suggest that they enjoyed the focus being on themselves. Self-obsession is an aspect of the time which the term Victorian usefully represents: by specifically referring to the rule of the Queen the term draws attention to the importance of the individual. The era saw the development of many different styles of fashion and the use of photography. As part of the Freudian influence great importance was placed on childhood and it was during the nineteenth century that the first laws concerning child welfare were passed. (Mavor quoted from Brown (ed) 2001, p.i) The focus on the central, the ego, was paramount. As Mavor says, it was as if the camera had to be invented in order to document what would soon be lost, childhood itself; and childhood had to be invented in order for the camera to document childhood (a fantasy of innocence) as real. (Brown (ed) 2001, p.27). Perhaps because of societys awareness of change there seems to have been a necessity to record and keep track of the world around. Discovery took place on a much grander scale in the exploration of the world. The British Empire was global, yet as Patrick Brantlinger suggests in Rule of Darkness, (Brantlinger 1988, p.4) imperialism was not generally reflected in the literature of the time. What we do see evidence of however is the mapping of new worlds and territories (Richard Jefferies Bevis). The development of the adventure story suggests that Victorians desired to explore what lay outside of what they knew and in this respect the term Victorian which people can think of as representing a society closed within in itself is misleading. The rise of imperialism began to shape the ideological dimensions of subjects studied in school (Bristow 1991, p.20) and so through literature the Victorian child was offered an exciting world of sophisticated representation and ideas with the knowledge that the world was theirs to explore. Does the term then encourage us to think of the society as a class of people set apart from the rest of the world? In The Island of Dr. Moreau it is not just the future of science that is explored but the concept of a new territory and its effects on the mind. For example, when the protagonist first sees the beast-servant on board the ship he is immediately frightened: I did not know then that a reddish luminosity, at least, is not uncommon in human eyes. The figure, with its eyes of fire, struck down through all my adult thoughts and feelings, and for a moment the forgotten horrors of childhood came back to my mind. Then the effect passed as it had come. An uncouth black figure of a man, a figure of no particular import, hung over the taffrail, against the starlight. (Wells 1997, p.31). The circumstances of being at sea is disorientating and causes the imagination to play tricks so that the man is first one thing a figure with its eyes of fire and then suddenly becomes an uncouth black figure of a man. The effect is that the protagonist suddenly regresses to the forgotten horrors of childhood. This sudden fluctuation is important as it represents the fluidity of the era and how change and discovery on a global scale, although empowering, also caused instability within the individual. Therefore, when considering the age in the context of its name we can understand that the term was perhaps created out of both the desire to represent achievement but also out of a need to belong. This desire to belong which manifested itself during an age ruled by one woman placed great importance on the role of the female in society. It was a time when women began to travel and write without the necessity of using a pseudonym (see Cheryl McEwan on Kingsley in West Africa, (2000, p.73)). In books such as Hardys Tess of the DUrbervilles the idea of the fallen woman is tested when Tesss crucial lack of belief in herself causes her never to discover the paradise with Clare that might have been. The nineteenth century began to be more explicit concerning issues of gender: for example, the relationship between Arthur Munby and Hannah Cullwick (see McClintock 1995, pp.132-138) where Cullwick is photographed cross-dressed as a farm worker. A Victorian man however appears to have had more stigma attached to him and in this context the term is commonly associated with heroism and English valour (Ridley/Dawson 1994, p.110). There is less flexibility surrounding the notion of Victorian men -as if the term somehow threatened their masculinity. However, this did not seem to affect the male authors of the time. Lewis Carroll captured the public imagination through Alices Adventures in Wonderland, which although following the story of a little girl, depicts many male characters. (see Carroll 2000). In conclusion, the term Victorian although useful to refer to a specific time period in history, does however encourage us to make sweeping generalisations without investigating how diverse the era was. In terms of the subject matter of Victorian Literature there is no clear cut distinction between early, middle and late Victorian for example, Bulwer-Lytton attempts at the beginning of the century what Richard Jefferies does at the end the difference is in style and form. Within that time frame there was condensed an incredible diversity of styles, tastes and attitudes, yet the term suffers from being associated with prejudices and assumptions about Victorians. However, it is worth bearing in mind that prejudices were indeed a part of Victorian society. When the Victorians explored the rest of the world they made generalisations and assumptions based on what they found (eg: The Island of Dr. Moreau) where experience and the nature of what is discovered defines behaviour. As a critic in 1858 wrote we are living in an age of transition (quoted from Houghton 1957, p.1); therefore when considering the Victorian age we should remember that values and trends were evolving it was not a static time governed by repression or old fashioned values. From the research carried out for this dissertation it appears that through the gaining of knowledge, Victorians also realised how little they knew and how much more there was to discover. As Arnold says in A Summer Night: How fair a lot to fill / Is left to each man still. (http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/A/ArnoldMatthew/verse/EmpedoclesonEtna/summernight.html). In this context the term Victorian can be dualistically representative: discoveries of the time, although revolutionary, were often rudimentary in nature, and it was humbling for the individual to consider how much further knowledge and discovery had yet to go. On the other hand, the term suffers too from being inadequate: a single word is too smaller term for the vast wealth and diversity of discovery, and it could be argued that the era is better realised if seen as a second revolution. Like the Victorian authors themselves we are left with no suitable words to convey the entirety of an era as John Lawton says in his introduction to The Time Machine (1995, p.xxvi) the term Victorian is used too loosely to encompass a sequence of eras, the diverse reign of a woman who lent her name to objects as diverse as a railway terminus and a plum. When studying Victorian Literature it is worth bearing in mind the fluidity of the time and the changeability which arose out of living on the cusp between the passing away of old values and the unknown territory of the new. Realism recognised the gaps which were forming in society such as the distancing of the self from religion and offered to paper the cracks through its vision of bringing people together on a mundane level. Its territory stretched to include the darkest recesses of the mind to the smallest of everyday events, celebrating the grey area between extremes as we now know as Victorian. Bibliography Arnold, M., Reprint of 1865 ed. dissertations in Criticism With the addition of Two dissertations not hitherto reprinted. London: Routledge. Appleman, P, 2001, Darwin. London: Norton Beer, G., 2000, Darwins Plots. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brantlinger, P, 1988, Rule of Darkness:British Literature and Imperialism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press Bristow, J., 1991, Empire Boys:Adventures in a Mans World. London: Harper Collins. Brown, M., 2001, (ed) Picturing Children. Aldershot: Ashgate Bulwer-Lytton, E., 1853, A Strange Story. Analysis of the Term Victorian Through Literature Analysis of the Term Victorian Through Literature The era of Queen Victorias reign witnessed the passing of milestones in social, economic, and personal progress. It was the age of industrialisation, a time of travel, a battleground for the conflict between science and religion. Yet further to these great markers by which many of us recognise the nineteenth century, and indeed because of them, Victorias reign inspired change within the individual; a revaluation of what it meant to be a human being. The literary artists gave new form to the questions on the lips of the society around them: questions that were no longer so easily answered by Christianity. This dissertation will explore how the term Victorian does or doesnt fit into the context from which it supposedly arises. I will look at trends such as the development of literary criticism, pioneering scientific discoveries, the exploration into psychic phenomenon, the increasing independence of women, the mapping of the world, all of which contribute to what we know and understand as Victorian, and have in some way shaped the work of authors such as Eliot, Conan Doyle, and H.G Wells. Using some close textual analysis I hope to identify the nature of the inspiration behind the literature of the time and whether or not such work transcends the limits of the term Victorian. Many great literary minds of the time such as Arnold, Dickens, and Ruskin helped define the era in their critical attitudes towards it. (Davis 2002, p.10). Criticism appears to have become a form of exploration in an attempt to turn what concerned and worried the artist into something that questioned and reassured. Arnold, in his dissertations in Criticism (Arnold 1865, p.V) explains how he perceives the difference between logical and artistic thought The truth is I have never been able to ht it off happily with the logicians, and it would be mere affectation in me to give myself the airs of doing so. They imagine truth something to be proved, I something to be seen; they something to be manufactured, I as something to be found. It is this growing awareness of difference that was to become a defining feature of Victorian literature. Differences appeared in the very perception of things, which led to feelings of isolation, despair, alienation all prominent themes in nineteenth century work. In Arnolds A Summer Night (http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/A/ArnoldMatthew/verse/EmpedoclesonEtna/summernight.html) we see the poetic mind struggling to find meaning on a moonlit street where the windows, like hostile faces, are silent and white, unopening down: And the calm moonlight seems to say Hast thou then still the old unquiet breast That neither deadens into rest Nor ever feels the fiery glow That whirls the spirit front itself away, 30 But fluctuates to and fro Never by passion quite possessd And never quite benumbd by the worlds sway? And I, I know not if to pray Still to be what I am, or yield, and be Like all the other men I see. Arnold recognises that the society around him is unfulfilled, that men are giving their lives to some unmeaning taskwork and he questions whether he should be questioning at all. He is aware of a gap between the reality of working life and life outside of work; a difference that he strives to find explanation for. Arnold appears to be lost amidst the streets of his own mind afraid of not being able to define who he is, what he is. These feelings in part express what it meant to be a Victorian struggling to place thoughts and feelings which appear to no longer fit into society. The Victorian era contained much of what had past and much of what was still to come it cannot be seen as an isolated time, nor as an isolated term. It contained aspects of the Romantic period for instance in Arnolds poem, The Buried Life, we see vestiges of Wordsworths legacy of Ode to Immortality. In both poems there is a sense of something lost an old passion or instinct that has gone with the passing of time yet Arnold, unlike Wordsworth, finds it more difficult to come to terms with this: A longing to inquire / Into the mystery of this heart that beats / So wild, so deep in us, to know / Whence our thoughts come and where they go. (http://www.web-books.com/Classics/Poetry/Anthology/Arnold_M/Buried.htm). The language is more passionately discontent than the resolute tone of Wordsworths visionary acceptance: We will grieve not, rather find/Strength in what remains behind. (Wordsworth 1928, p.136). The styles are obviously connected, but the trouble with defining the era using literary terminology is that it is clearly neither a quirky extension of the Romantics vision, nor is it a straightforward path to the modernists. The 1870s saw the maturation of authors such as Anthony Trollope who brought out his later novels, yet only twenty years later in 1896 these publications are sitting beside the considerably different form and subject matter of work such as H.G. Wellls The Time Machine and The Island of Dr. Moreau, with literary experiments with the modern such as Richard Jefferies The Story of My Heart (a spiritual autobiography) -occurring between in 1883. A growing concern in nineteenth century life was the potential loss of the Romantic link between human nature and the natural world, and the gap which sudden industrial progress highlighted between nature and mechanisation. As technology developed so did the notion of artificiality. It is worth noting J.S.Mills dissertation on Nature (Mill 1874, p.65) where he says that it is mans nature to be artificial, to remedy nature by artificial pruning and intervention. Further to this, a contemporary of Mills Richard Jennings also drew a line between the province of human nature and the external world. (Lightman 1997, p.80). In the countryside more efficient methods of farming were employed (see the contrast between Henchards methods and Farfraes ciphering and mensuration in Hardys Mayor of Casterbridge, (Hardy 1886, p.122)), and new machines introduced which no longer required the labour force to run them, encouraging people to migrate to towns and cities. The urban reality was harsh in 1851 roughly four million people were employed in trade and manufacture and mining, leaving only one and a half million in agriculture. (Davis 2002, p.13). City life, as portrayed by Dickens, was a cruel, unhealthy and unwholesome existence for many. Working conditions in cities were often cramped, unhygienic and poorly ventilated, and living conditions could be even worse. Mrs. Gaskell, living in Manchester, witnessed the appalling pressures that these conditions forced upon family life, and in North and South depicts the difficulties of urban living, offering that salvation for the working classes lay with themselves and their employers, working together. However, city life was not all desolate based in cities, the development of the detective novel brought the city back to human scale (Lehan, p.84). Detectives pieced together and reconstructed past events through clues for example, the murder of Bartholomew Sholto in The Sign of Four by Conan Doyl e: As far as we can learn, no actual traces of violence were found upon Mr Sholtos person, but a valuable collection of Indian gems which the deceased gentleman had inherited from his father had been carried off. The discovery was first made by Mr Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson () Mr. Athelney Jones, the well-known member of the detective police force, happened to be at the Norwood police station () Mr Jones well-known technical knowledge and his powers of minute observation have enabled him to prove conclusively that the miscreants could not have entered by the door or by the window but must have made their way across the roof of the building, and so through a trapdoor into a room which communicated with that in which the body was found. (p.66) The city provided an exciting backdrop to crime scenes its labyrinthine streets similar to the mapping of the pathways of the human mind so that the two became inextricably linked. As Joseph McLaughlin says in Writing the Urban Jungle, the urban jungle is a space that calls forth a pleasurable acquiescence to something greater, more powerful, and, indeed, sublime () also an imaginative domain that calls forth heroic action: exploring, conquering, enlightening, purifying, taming, besting. (McLaughlin 2000, p.3). Further to what McLaughlin suggests, the Victorians perception of time and space in the city and the countryside was changing radically from the medieval perceptions that still existed in the Romantic period. People saw the finished products in both manufacturing and farming no longer involving the long, drawn-out means to an end, instead the end result was being achieved faster and with more control. Here developed the root of modern industry which continues today in intensive farming and factory lines. Yet here too the beginnings of waste and excess. Richard Jefferies, a nineteenth century naturalist and mystic, known for his dissertations on nature, remarks on the abundance of food in the natural world in his dissertation Meadow Thoughts: The surface of the earth offers to us far more than we can consume the grains, the seeds, the fruits, the animals, the abounding products are beyond the power of all the human race to devour. They can, too, be multiplied a thousandfold. There is no natural lack. Whenever there is lack among us it is from artificial causes, which intelligence should remove. (Jefferies 1994, p.26). Unfortunately there was plenty for those who could afford it but not enough to spare for the poorer lower classes. (Ritvo 1997, p.194). Trends of over production and wastage which became a worry in Victorian times are reflected in the literary concerns of Jefferies childrens story, Bevis, where words, despite their abundance, are in danger of becoming an insufficient medium of expression and not filling the metaphysical space on the page. In describing a sunrise and the thoughts and feelings associated with watching it, Jefferies struggles to articulate the beauty before him: The sun had not yet stood out from the orient, but his precedent light shone through the translucent blue. Yet it was not blue, nor is there any word, nor is a word possible to convey the feeling. (Jefferies 1881, p.391) We see too in James Thomsons City of Dreadful Night (Thomson 1892, p.2) the desperateness of trying to articulate thoughts and feelings: Because a cold rage seizes one at whiles To show the bitter old and wrinkled truth Stripped naked of all vesture that beguiles, False dreams, false hopes, false masks and modes of youth; Because it gives some sense of power and passion In helpless impotence to try to fashion Our woe in living words howeer uncouth. In both passages there is a sense of trying to convey so much more than the words will allow. And that is the essence of the problem of defining the era with a word which the era itself selected Victorian like the authors of its time struggles to convey the enormity and the condensed nature of its changing environment. Victorian literature is thus perhaps best studied between the lines of its texts rather than for what it offers at face value. Thomsons words to try to fashion our woe in living words although appearing dismal could actually withhold a more positive message: it deals with the notion of perseverance that by creating words, however difficult, the author is refusing to give in to despair by trying to transform it into creative energy. There is a sense of crisis in the work of Thomson, just as there is to be found in Jefferies futuristic After London where the lone explorer Felix discovers the land after humanity has overreached itself to sociological disaster and has lost the harmonious relationship between mankind and nature. London becomes no more than a crystallised ruin in a ground oozing with poison unctuous and slimy, like a thick oil. (Jefferies 1885, p.205). Through work like this we see that Victorian was an era of possibility where visions of the future suddenly became tangible concerns and possible realities, and where contemporary conceptions of language and life might no longer hold up to the pressures of the time. In H.G. Wells the Time Machine, the time traveller discovers a land in the year 802,701: The air was free from gnats, the earth from weeds or fungi; everywhere were fruits and sweet and delightful flowers; brilliant butterflies flew hither and thither. The ideal of preventative medicine was attained. diseases had been stamped out. I saw no evidence of any contagious diseases during all my stay. And i shall have to tell you later that even the processes of putrefaction and decay had been profoundly affected by these changes. (Wells 1995, p.28) In this description of a futuristic age the Victorian imagination still retains the idea of a paradise a place full of butterflies and flowers. This Christian concept is a literary hangover from Miltons Paradise Lost, and remains an important theme for the moderns such as D.H. Lawrence. The Victorian age suffered from a dualistic split between a bright future on the one hand promised by leaps in technology, education and economical success and an increasingly alienated, confused society on the other. There were those writers like Huxley who believed that by human intervention within a political and economic framework humans could evolve out of their condition seeing no limit to the extent to which intelligence and will () may modify the conditions of existence (Huxley, 1893, Evolution and Ethics, The Romanes Lecture (http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/CE9/E-E.html), and there were those like Hardy whose characters were destined to fail because they were not emotionally fitted into the cosmos out of which they evolved . It was the nineteenth century spiritual crisis which precipitated the literary shift into the new genre of the realist novel. By the mid-nineteenth century, society had begun to grow away from the idea of atonement for sin within an omnipotent religion, where judgement would come solely in heaven, and towards the more humanistic idea of God as in-dwelling, so that salvation could be achieved on earth: We have now come to regard the world not as a machine, but as an organism, a system in which, while the parts contribute to the growth of the whole, the whole also reacts upon the development of the parts; and whose primary purpose is its own perfection, something that is contained within and not outside itself, an internal end: while in their turn the myriad parts of this universal organism are also lesser organisms, ends in and for themselves, pursuing each its lonely ideal of individual completeness. (Gore (ed) 1890, p.211) A spiritual lack created a need to define, order and categorise a world that suddenly appeared chaotic. When Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859 he raised issues of public concern as to the truth of the bible and the essence of Christianity. However, its content and its methodology were seriously criticised (Appleman 2001, p.200). It was a difficult work to accept as it caused the public to rethink and redefine their history that they were a product of evolution and not a tailor made being came as a shock. The future of thought and literature was suddenly changed as people tried to sew together the threads of the past. Natural Science became a national obsession exotic flora and fauna from across the world were brought into London daily, to be displayed in the British Museum or Kew Gardens (Lightman, 1997 p.1). In literature, we see the author begin to play the part of evolutionist: Eliots Middlemarch although concerned with the evolving character of Dorothea Brooke follows the threads of sub-plots and the successes and failures of other characters which form a pattern of development. As Gillian Beer says: There is not one primitive tissue, just as there is not one key to all mythologies () emphasis upon plurality, rather than upon singleness, is crucial to the developing argument of Middlemarch. (Beer 2000, p.143). Gone is the tradition of the valiant hero or heroine singularly conquering their environment (a trend set by classics such as Homers The Odyssey (1967)) and in its place a landscape upon which the author grafts and nurtures developing shoots of life. It is this sort of growth that is in danger of remaining unseen to the contemporary historian or critic as it can become shrouded by generalising concepts which are so often prescribed to the term Victorian concepts such as repression, old-fashioned and prudish. (http://www.victorianweb.org/vn/victor4.html). These sort of terms restrict the individuals perception of the era when it was a time when growth was encouraged rather than restricted. Authors used the metaphor of pruning and nurturing plant life to symbolise the development of the self for example in North and South Gaskell discusses the problem of the working individual who struggles to reach his or her potential when the manufacturers are unsparingly cutting away all off-shoots in the direction of literature or high mental cultivation, in hopes of throwing the whole strength and vigour of the plant into commerce. (Gaskell 1865, p.69). For Gaskell, it is through the everyday interaction between people that such difficulties are given the chance to be overcome. And this was the essence of the realist novel set amidst a world which had witnessed such alteration to transform the lostness felt by society into a seeing of the smaller things in life which could withhold qualities of greater spiritual value. As Philip Davis says, the realist novel was the holding ground, the meeting point, for the overlapping of common life. (Davis 2002, p.144). And it was within this common life that a more calm acceptance of the new state could be achieved. Gillian Beer suggests that through her novels organisation Eliot creates order and understanding of the evolving process of novel-writing. In Middlemarch, the naming of Casaubons books Waiting for Death, Two Temptations, Three Love Problems draws attention to the books organisation by emphasising categorisation: But the process of reading leads into divergence and variability. Even while we are observing how closely human beings conform in the taxonomy of events we learn how differently they feel and think. For Dorothea and Casaubon waiting for death means something very different from what it means for Mary Garth and Featherstone. The relations are different. The distances between people are different. Lydgate, here at one with the project of the book, longed to demonstrate the more intimate relations of living structure (1:15:225). In this double emphasis on conformity and variability George Eliot intensifies older literary organisations by means of recent scientific theory. In Darwinian theory, variability is the creative principle, but the type makes it possible for us to track common ancestry and common kinship. (Beer 2000, pp.143-4) Writing itself was becoming an almost divine representation, an inner order of a chaotic external world. The idea that humans had evolved from primates meant that the boundaries between what was one thing and what was another were no longer so clearly defined. There developed a fear of the animate and a fear of the inanimate, and efforts were sought to understand them. As Harriet Ritvo says in The Platypus and the Mermaid: Depending on the beholder, an anomaly might be viewed as embodying a challenge to the established order, whether social, natural, or divine; the containment of that challenge; the incomprehensibility of the creation by human intelligence; or simply the endless and diverting variety of the world. And beholders who agreed on the content of the representation could still disagree strongly about its moral valence whether it was good or bad, entrancing or disgusting. (Ritvo 1997, p.148). In a world where categorisation was important but not so easily achievable, the novel too became neither one thing nor another; realism became a melting pot for ideas, a sort of hybrid of styles. In Eliots The Lifted Veil realism is used as a vehicle for the exploration of her ideas into psychology and psychic phenomena. Latimers clairvoyance forces him to endure a painful insight into the minds of the people around him: I began to be aware of a phase in my abnormal sensibility, to which, from the languid and slight nature of my intercourse with others since my illness, I had not been alive before. This was the obtrusion on my mind of the mental process going forward in first one person, and then another, with whom I happened to be in contact: the vagrant, frivolous ideas and emotions of some uninteresting acquaintanceMrs Filmore, for examplewould force themselves on my consciousness like an importunate, ill-played musical instrument, or the loud activity of an imprisoned insect. But this superadded consciousness, wearying and annoying enough when it urged on me the trivial experience of indifferent people, became an intense pain and grief when it seemed to be opening to me the souls of those who were in a close relation to me when the rational talk, the graceful attentions, the wittily-turned phrases, and the kindly deeds, which used to make the web of their characters, were seen as if thrust asunder by a microscopic vision, that showed all the intermediate frivolities, all the suppressed egoism, all the struggling chaos of puerilities, meanness, vague capricious memories, and indolent make-shift thoughts, from which human words and deeds emerge like leaflets covering a fermenting heap.(Eliot 1859, pp.13-14) Latimer is no longer caught up in the web of peoples characters. Eliot plays with the idea that his consciousness has the ability to transcend the mundane the rational talk, the kindly deeds in order to gain insight into an alternative and not so rosy vision of the mechanics of the human mind where thoughts are make-shift and chaotic. The nineteenth century saw the acceptance of the concept of otherworldly phenomena into the working classes. Robert Owen, a social reformer, who influenced the British Labor movement (Oppenheim 1985, p.40) encouraged many working class Owenites to follow him into the spiritualist fold, where they enthusiastically continued their ongoing search for the new moral world. Interests such as spiritualism and psychology which had previously been more underground pursuits, were brought out into the open. The concept of telepathy, a term coined by Frederic Myers in 1882 (Luckhurst 2002, p.1) even helped to theorize the uneasy cross-cultural encounters at the colonial frontier. (Luckhurst 2002, p.3) These developments suggest that the Victorians felt imbued with the power of their age they felt confident of their ability to communicate on different planes of consciousness. So it could be argued that Victorian was not simply a time devoted to the discovery of the self and the workings of the inner mind, but a time that also focused on the projection of ideas and thoughts outside of the self; ideas which themselves stand outside of the category Victorian. In 1869 the Spiritualist Newspaper began selling first as a fortnightly, then as a weekly publication. (Oppenheim 1985, p.45). This draws the discussion to the point of representation the social nature of Victorians seems to suggest that they enjoyed the focus being on themselves. Self-obsession is an aspect of the time which the term Victorian usefully represents: by specifically referring to the rule of the Queen the term draws attention to the importance of the individual. The era saw the development of many different styles of fashion and the use of photography. As part of the Freudian influence great importance was placed on childhood and it was during the nineteenth century that the first laws concerning child welfare were passed. (Mavor quoted from Brown (ed) 2001, p.i) The focus on the central, the ego, was paramount. As Mavor says, it was as if the camera had to be invented in order to document what would soon be lost, childhood itself; and childhood had to be invented in order for the camera to document childhood (a fantasy of innocence) as real. (Brown (ed) 2001, p.27). Perhaps because of societys awareness of change there seems to have been a necessity to record and keep track of the world around. Discovery took place on a much grander scale in the exploration of the world. The British Empire was global, yet as Patrick Brantlinger suggests in Rule of Darkness, (Brantlinger 1988, p.4) imperialism was not generally reflected in the literature of the time. What we do see evidence of however is the mapping of new worlds and territories (Richard Jefferies Bevis). The development of the adventure story suggests that Victorians desired to explore what lay outside of what they knew and in this respect the term Victorian which people can think of as representing a society closed within in itself is misleading. The rise of imperialism began to shape the ideological dimensions of subjects studied in school (Bristow 1991, p.20) and so through literature the Victorian child was offered an exciting world of sophisticated representation and ideas with the knowledge that the world was theirs to explore. Does the term then encourage us to think of the society as a class of people set apart from the rest of the world? In The Island of Dr. Moreau it is not just the future of science that is explored but the concept of a new territory and its effects on the mind. For example, when the protagonist first sees the beast-servant on board the ship he is immediately frightened: I did not know then that a reddish luminosity, at least, is not uncommon in human eyes. The figure, with its eyes of fire, struck down through all my adult thoughts and feelings, and for a moment the forgotten horrors of childhood came back to my mind. Then the effect passed as it had come. An uncouth black figure of a man, a figure of no particular import, hung over the taffrail, against the starlight. (Wells 1997, p.31). The circumstances of being at sea is disorientating and causes the imagination to play tricks so that the man is first one thing a figure with its eyes of fire and then suddenly becomes an uncouth black figure of a man. The effect is that the protagonist suddenly regresses to the forgotten horrors of childhood. This sudden fluctuation is important as it represents the fluidity of the era and how change and discovery on a global scale, although empowering, also caused instability within the individual. Therefore, when considering the age in the context of its name we can understand that the term was perhaps created out of both the desire to represent achievement but also out of a need to belong. This desire to belong which manifested itself during an age ruled by one woman placed great importance on the role of the female in society. It was a time when women began to travel and write without the necessity of using a pseudonym (see Cheryl McEwan on Kingsley in West Africa, (2000, p.73)). In books such as Hardys Tess of the DUrbervilles the idea of the fallen woman is tested when Tesss crucial lack of belief in herself causes her never to discover the paradise with Clare that might have been. The nineteenth century began to be more explicit concerning issues of gender: for example, the relationship between Arthur Munby and Hannah Cullwick (see McClintock 1995, pp.132-138) where Cullwick is photographed cross-dressed as a farm worker. A Victorian man however appears to have had more stigma attached to him and in this context the term is commonly associated with heroism and English valour (Ridley/Dawson 1994, p.110). There is less flexibility surrounding the notion of Victorian men -as if the term somehow threatened their masculinity. However, this did not seem to affect the male authors of the time. Lewis Carroll captured the public imagination through Alices Adventures in Wonderland, which although following the story of a little girl, depicts many male characters. (see Carroll 2000). In conclusion, the term Victorian although useful to refer to a specific time period in history, does however encourage us to make sweeping generalisations without investigating how diverse the era was. In terms of the subject matter of Victorian Literature there is no clear cut distinction between early, middle and late Victorian for example, Bulwer-Lytton attempts at the beginning of the century what Richard Jefferies does at the end the difference is in style and form. Within that time frame there was condensed an incredible diversity of styles, tastes and attitudes, yet the term suffers from being associated with prejudices and assumptions about Victorians. However, it is worth bearing in mind that prejudices were indeed a part of Victorian society. When the Victorians explored the rest of the world they made generalisations and assumptions based on what they found (eg: The Island of Dr. Moreau) where experience and the nature of what is discovered defines behaviour. As a critic in 1858 wrote we are living in an age of transition (quoted from Houghton 1957, p.1); therefore when considering the Victorian age we should remember that values and trends were evolving it was not a static time governed by repression or old fashioned values. From the research carried out for this dissertation it appears that through the gaining of knowledge, Victorians also realised how little they knew and how much more there was to discover. As Arnold says in A Summer Night: How fair a lot to fill / Is left to each man still. (http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/A/ArnoldMatthew/verse/EmpedoclesonEtna/summernight.html). In this context the term Victorian can be dualistically representative: discoveries of the time, although revolutionary, were often rudimentary in nature, and it was humbling for the individual to consider how much further knowledge and discovery had yet to go. On the other hand, the term suffers too from being inadequate: a single word is too smaller term for the vast wealth and diversity of discovery, and it could be argued that the era is better realised if seen as a second revolution. Like the Victorian authors themselves we are left with no suitable words to convey the entirety of an era as John Lawton says in his introduction to The Time Machine (1995, p.xxvi) the term Victorian is used too loosely to encompass a sequence of eras, the diverse reign of a woman who lent her name to objects as diverse as a railway terminus and a plum. When studying Victorian Literature it is worth bearing in mind the fluidity of the time and the changeability which arose out of living on the cusp between the passing away of old values and the unknown territory of the new. Realism recognised the gaps which were forming in society such as the distancing of the self from religion and offered to paper the cracks through its vision of bringing people together on a mundane level. Its territory stretched to include the darkest recesses of the mind to the smallest of everyday events, celebrating the grey area between extremes as we now know as Victorian. Bibliography Arnold, M., Reprint of 1865 ed. dissertations in Criticism With the addition of Two dissertations not hitherto reprinted. London: Routledge. Appleman, P, 2001, Darwin. London: Norton Beer, G., 2000, Darwins Plots. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brantlinger, P, 1988, Rule of Darkness:British Literature and Imperialism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press Bristow, J., 1991, Empire Boys:Adventures in a Mans World. London: Harper Collins. Brown, M., 2001, (ed) Picturing Children. Aldershot: Ashgate Bulwer-Lytton, E., 1853, A Strange Story.