Individual Assignment Business Organizations Essay Example for Free

Individual Assignment Business Organizations Essay Reflective practice is a way of studying your own experiences to improve the way you work. It is linked with the concept of learning from experience, in that you think about what you did and what happened, and decide what you would do differently next time. Reflective practice will make you improve the quality of service you deliver. It will ensure that the service providers are always getting the best possible service that they require because by using reflective practice you are always looking for things to improve on and see if you could do anything differently the next time round. Standards such as essential standards tell us how we should be working. We can use them to think about the way in which we work and measure ourselves against them. As everyone has different values and beliefs, it is important that we treat everyone the same no matter what their beliefs are. We should provide the same support for everybody, If we do not work this way then we will fail to perform the standards of the codes of practice set out by the regulating bodies. Outcome 2 2.1Everybody reacts differently to feedback whether it be positive or negative. I value any kind of feedback given to me, positive or negative because it is a good way of trying to better yourself. Some people may take negative feedback personally and think that they are being criticised. 2.2 It is important to seek feedback from people as you will know if you are working in the correct way. If you get negative feedback you will then know what you need to improve on for the better and positive feedback you know you can carry on the good work that you are doing. 2.3 It is important to listen to the feedback you get and use it whether it is positive or negative so that you can improve the way that you work and your quality of work.

The Serial Killer Jeffrey Dahmer General Studies Essay

The Serial Killer Jeffrey Dahmer General Studies Essay Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer also known as Milwaukee monster was a notorious American serial killer and sexual offender in the 1980s and early 1990s. Across states his surname is actually synonymous with monster and with good reason. His victims were usually raped, tortured, dismembered. Jeffrey was a troubled child psychologically and his social skills had a lot to be desired. All the way through his upbringing he was ignored and had queer fantasies of cadavers. In his adulthood this psychosocial status quo didnt change and was in fact aggravated. This paper uses two criminological theories to scrutinize the life, personality, crimes and criminal behavior of Dahmer hereinafter referred to as Jeffrey. Through the social control theory and psychological theory, the paper will analyze the life of Jeffrey with respect to his criminal life. It will go on to try and find out if Jeffreys personality imbalances and socialization determined the course of his life. The validity of the two theories w ith respect to Jeffrey Dahmer lies in their outlook on the of impact socialization and psychological state of mind on criminology. It ends at a note of asking was Jeffreys socialization the problem or was it his psychological imbalances or was it a little of both worlds. Biography Dahmer was born Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer on May 21st, 1960 in West Allis, Wisconsin. He was born to Joyce and Lionel Dahmer after a difficult pregnancy; with frequent morning sickness and muscle spasms that had Joyce on prescription drugs. His being a normal fundamental American family, his childhood was just like that of any other American child. He had two parents who dearly and loved their only son at the time. Joyce actually had a scrap book where she recorded the events of her sons life; his first accident, his first step, his first tooth and even his first scolding. During Dahmers very tender age, his father an analytical chemist used to work long hours in his laboratory while his mother was a teletype machine instructor (Miller, Vandome, McBrewster, 2009). Due to their professional lives, Jeffrey did not have a strong bond with his family. From all accounts Dahmer was a happy child in a loving family who enjoyed typical toddler activities. Living with Lionels parents caused a lot of tension in the Dahmers marriage and they eventually moved to a place of their own in East Milwaukee. At the age of four, Jeffrey underwent a hernia operation which marked the beginning of his personality changes. He became less communicative and more isolated as the years dragged by. In 1966, the Dahmers moved to Bath, Ohio where his Lionel was supposed to further his chemistry studies. The house they lived in was surrounded by open forest and Jeffreys isolation grew as he could lose himself in his make believe world. During the move Joyce was pregnant and the marital problems recurred. In December of that year, Jeffreys little brother David was born just as the former was entering first grade (Miller, Vandome, McBrewster, 2009). The following year, the family moved again to Barberton, Ohio. The marital tensions increased when David suffer ed from colic. According to press history, at the age of eight, Jeffrey called a probation officer with claims of sexual molestation from a neighbor. This was ignored, adding to his list of rejection. Jeffreys school years were marked with his collection of dead animals and conducting experiments on them due his lack of socialization. Jeffrey was exposed to the world of chemistry at a very tender age and he explored it with his animals. He moved on to Revere high school where his loneliness continued for no matter how hard he tried he always was an outsider. Though he worked on the school newspaper, his shyness denied him the opportunity of making many friends. As in social control theory, he continually engaged in antisocial behavior. His grades were average and it is during this period that he developed a drinking problem. Most of his neighbors however remembered him as a shy boy whose loneliness took a toll on him psychologically. When Jeffrey was almost eighteen, Lionel and Joyce went their separate ways and divorced. Joyce went with David and Jeffrey was left with his father (Dahmer, 1994). The divorce was in itself a bitter parting and communication lines were cut entirely that Jeffrey didnt even have his mothers forwarding address. He graduated from high school and went on ahead to join Ohio State University. To camouflage his loneliness, most of his time here was spent drinking and skipping majority of his c lasses. His classmates were noted to avoid him and the director of national honor society blacked out a picture of Jeffreys that was eventually used for psychiatric evaluation during his trial. He consequently dropped out after two semesters. During this period, specifically in 1978 he started his criminal life by killing Steven Hicks (Davis, 1991). Lionel did not take his dropping from college well and he offered Jeffrey an ultimatum: to join the army or get a job. In 1979, Jeffrey enlisted in the army for six years and was sent to Germany. His loneliness induced drinking however persisted and he was discharged only after two years in 1981. Afraid of facing his father and with a ticket to wherever he wanted to go in the country, Jeffrey headed to Miami Beach, Florida. In Florida he spent his time at a hospital but he didnt last as he was once again kicked out due to his alcoholism. He went back home and his alcoholism saw to it that he was arrested in 1981 for a drunk and disorderly charge. In 1982, he moved in with his paternal grandmother in West Allis. During this time, his behavior grew increasingly strange as told by his grandmother. She found a stolen mannequin in his closet and a 357 magnum. It is also during this time that he was arrested again in 1982 and in 1986 for indecent exposure. Tired of his late nights, foul basement smells and general weird behavior his grandmother asked him to move out in the summer of 1988 (Miller, Vandome, McBrewster, 2009). Jeffrey moved to the west side of Milwaukee near his place of work, Ambrosia Chocolate Factory. Just a day after moving into his new apartment, Jeffrey was arrested for drugging and a sexually fondling a thirteen year old boy. He was sentenced to five years probation and was required to register as a sex offender. Shortly thereafter he began a string of murders that ended with his arrest in 1991 (Davis, 1991). After a two week trial, the courts found Jeffrey guilty of fifteen counts of first degree murder and convicted him for fifteen life terms a basic life sentence. Jeffrey served his time at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage Wisconsin. There were two attacks on his life the first in July 1994 where he was attacked with a razor blade and survived with shallow wounds. During the second attack in November 1994, Jeffrey and a fellow inmate were attacked with a bar from a weight machine and he succumbed to the head trauma (Davis, 1991). Personality Profile To discern what makes a serial killer like Dahmer function, it is necessary to look into their past particularly their childhood and puberty (Holmes Holmes, 1998). As revealed by his biography, Dahmer was a normal child who enjoyed the normal childhood activities. The social control theory and the psychological theory will thus be used to explain the metamorphosis in his character. The shift in his personality started when he was four and had to undergo a hernia operation. During this tough period of the surgery his mother was preoccupied with her own troubles and his father was busy building his career in chemistry. Jeffrey was left with no one to tell him what was going on with his life, why he was sick and why he had to go to the hospital for an operation. After the surgery, his personality began to change from being a jovial social child to a loner who was always withdrawn and uncommunicative. He rarely disobeyed his parents and as a result Lionel took this personality changes a s a sign of obedience. His happy facial expressions transformed from a happy childhood smiles to a motionless, blank stare he wore until the end of his time (Miller, Vandome, McBrewster, 2009). Throughout his childhood his parents were always involved in squabbles and young Jeffrey took all this to heart. Eventually they ended up splitting up and with a bitter divorce Jeffrey lost contact with his mother and younger brother David. Dahmers history of desertion left him with feelings of loss and rejection. This rejection situation fueled the already withdrawn personality of Jeffrey. After they moved to Bath his insecurities were heightened and his shy nature ensured that he had few friends. When most people his age were playing video games and listening to last music, Jeffrey turned to his make believe world in the forest around their home. His favorite past time was collecting road kill, stripping the animal carcasses and saving the bones. This love of carcasses and bones had actually begun when he was four. His father took this as the love of chemistry and he took him to his lab where Jeffrey was clearly fascinated by the bones. Lionel went on ahead to get Jeffrey his first chemistry set when he was in elementary school. With the set he used acid to scrape the meat off dead animals noted his step mother Shari (Dahmer, 1994). As a teenager, Jeffrey had fantasies about killing and mutilating men. Unlike most serial killers Jeffreys fantasies revolved around passive sex leading to his necrophilia. This could be one of the reasons why he killed his victims. So any other idle time he had from collecting road kill, he spent it deep inside the world of his fantasies. In the neighborhood, Jeffrey was suspected of killing animals just to add on to his collection. Even in puberty his non confrontational attitude towards his parents was not taken as a sign of isolation (Miller, Vandome, McBrewster, 2009). During his high school years, Jeffrey continued to be a loner. Unknown to anyone Jeffrey was slowly mentally disintegrating due to his loneliness and in 1978 he acted out his fantasies after high school. His first victim was Steven Hicks. As later told by Jeffrey, he killed Steven because the latter wanted to leave (Davis, 1991). It is however important to note that Jeffrey was a well spoken man who gave no indications of his criminal tendencies. During one of the near escapes of one of his victims Konerak, Jeffrey was seen by the police as intelligent, soft spoken and very calm. He was so smooth talking that the police believed his story that the young boy was his lover; he was just so drunk over the incoherent Konerak. He even went ahead to apologize to the police promising of avoiding a recurrence of his lover behavior. This could be a reason why it took so long before he was discovered. It has thus been noted that Jeffrey Dahmer was a very complex man suffering from mixed personalities (Stone, 2006) Criminal Behavior Criminal behavior comprises of a large number and diversity of acts. These ranges from actions that violate the law, violate morality, violate norms of religion or violate customs and tradition (Helfgott, 2008). In the context of this paper Dahmers criminal behavior include the actions that he did that were influenced by his psychological state of mind and his socialization. Dahmers psychological fantasies included a chain of crimes against his victims corpses. For most of his victims the scene was the same and it more often than not began with consensual sex. He would often meet his victims in gay bars and go with them to his apartment often after enticing them with free booze or money. Once the consensual sex was over, he would drug them, sometimes kill them and then kill them usually by strangulation or by stabbing (Miller, Vandome, McBrewster, 2009). He would then masturbate over the cadaver or have sex with the dead body. His next step was usually dismembering where he cut up the corpse into parts using his power saw. With the use of acid he removed the meat from the skulls and kept them as achievement trophies of his collection . In addition to the skulls, he usually stored other body parts like the heart in his refrigerator or in vaults and he ate these parts on occasion. Their genitalia were also kept as memoirs while the muscles were kept for f uture use (Davis, 1991). Suffice to say Jeffrey also performed lobotomies on some of his victims. To some he went on ahead to drill a hole in their skulls and pour some acid. This made the victim stay alive but in a zombie like state for days. From the things found in his house on his arrest, it was found that Jeffrey used chloroform to drug his victims. The male genitalia were preserved in formaldehyde. Simply put, Jeffrey was a serial killer who killed his victims brutally, had sex with their corpses, dismembered them and later ate some of the parts (Davis, 1991). Crimes/ Murders Jeffrey Dahmer admitted to a series of gruesome murders of seventeen men during his thirteen years killing spree, spanning from 1978 to 1991 when he was arrested. Most of his victims were young and belonged to minority groups like people of color. Due to the number of victims and the complexities in each of the individual cases, this paper will give a general overview of the crimes. It is worth noting that in all his crimes, Jeffrey acted out his psychological imbalances which were influenced by his rejection by society. Jeffrey committed his first murder in the summer of 1978. His father and stepmother had gone away and he had the house to himself. Jeffrey picked up a 19 year old hitchhiker, Steven Hicks and invited him to his house. The two drank beer and had sex. However when Hicks was ready to leave, Jeffrey hit Hicks with a barbell and killed him. Jeffrey, acting out his sense of rejection later said that he killed Hicks because Hicks wanted to leave and Jeffey didnt want him to . He then cut up the body into parts which he put into garbage bags and buried around his fathers property. Years later he dug up the bag, crushed the bones covering his tracks (Davis, 1991). He went through a period of nine years without killing anyone but was arrested for sexual offences like indecent exposure. Because of the embarrassment he was causing Lionel sent him to his grandmother. In 1987 while on probation for his molestation charges, Jeffrey met Steven Tourmi at a gay club called 219. They went to the Ambassador hotel, got intoxicated and passed out. Dahmer claimed that when he woke Tourmi was dead and he wouldnt remember the events of the previous night. He subsequently put the corpse in a suitcase, took it to his grandmothers basement where he had sex with the corpse, masturbated on it and dismembered it. He then put the parts in garbage parts and threw them away (Davis, 1991). After Tourmi, Jeffrey struck twice in 1988 and once in 1989. In 1990 his grandmother asked him to move out. Once again rejected he had the domain of acting out his psychological fantasies. With his own place and no one to be bothered by his queerness and foul smells, the speed of his killing increased. As a result the murders of Eddie Smith, Ricky Beeks, Earnest Miller and David Thomas marked the christening of the infamous apartment in 1990 (Davis, 1991). Two more murders in 1991preceded the murder of Konerak Sinthasomphone. His story was probably one of the most covered in the press as he had gotten a chance of escaping. When the police arrived, Jeffrey was also there and he smooth talked the police into believing that Konerak was his lover. The police ignored the two women and went with Jeffrey to his apartment where he showed them pictures and clothes of Konerak. By virtue of this and not believing the incoherent Konerak the police left the boy with Jeffrey who later killed and d ismembered the boy (Davis, 1991). By summer of 1991, Jeffreys killings escalated with his sense of loneliness. He went to killing an average of one person per week. July nineteenth marked the last of victims who were to die by Jeffreys hand. His last murder victim was twenty five year old Joseph Bradehoft. Three days later, specifically on the twenty second of July, Jeffrey lured Tracy Edwards into his home; a man who turned out to be the end of Jeffreys killing spree. As later narrated by Edwards, Jeffrey tried to cuff Edwards but was unable to do so. Jeffrey proceeded to yield a butcher knife and force Edwards into the bedroom telling him how he will savor the latters heart (Davis, 1991). In the bedroom, Edwards saw pictures of assaulted men and took in the foul sense in the room. He thus punched Jeffrey and ran on to the streets where he flagged a police car and led them back to Jeffreys place. Once again, he tried playing his smooth talker card but Edwards remembered the butcher knife. The contents of the house led to the arrest of Jeffrey Dahmer (Davis, 1991). Policy Implications of the Jeffrey Dahmer Case Jeffrey Dahmers story is one of the stories that will be remembered millions of years for sparking debates on reviews of American policies. The core implications are on social and psychological principles. The social control theory and the psychological theory with respect to Dahmers life offers policy consequences that include education that helps kids in development of socialization skills through involvement, parenting programs aimed at proper creation of social bonds and diversion programs for delinquents to alter their psychosocial states. The significance of Jeffreys case awoke the debate on social implications due to the removal of the death penalty. The fact that Jeffrey was killed while serving his sentence raised questions on the ability of the American society to manage crime without capital punishment (Holmes Holmes, 1998). The case also highlighted a lot of policy reforms needed in the police sector. Many critics felt that Konerak could have been easily the killers last victim if the police had taken the time to carry more investigative work. In addition, by virtue of how Jeffrey disposed of his body it has been noted that in solving a serial killers cold case geographical profiling could be a step in the right direction. The policy implications of his case also spawned on lust killing and sexual disorders research. From the case, substantial progress has been made in the development of methods aimed at identifying sexual disorders at an early age. The causal link between lust killing and personality imbalances has also been further explored. The study of Jeffreys case has thus illuminated links between disorders like substance abuse and killing. This has served in the development of policies aimed at treating these disorders instead of dealing with their consequences (Silva, Ferrari, Leong, 1997). The opinions on how the criminal incidents of Jeffrey could have been prevented are many and varied. But one common factor is the Konerak story. In the minds of many people who have come across the young boys story is a picture of the boy running for his life. And many more people believe that his life could have been saved were the police more careful. The role of parents in the socialization process can thus be ignored only at the peril of the society. Conclusion The idea behind social control theory and psychological theory is that everyone has the capability to commit a crime and this could be very well influenced by their psychological state of mind. Jeffrey Dahmer was an intensely troubled child who grew up in an environment rejecting him fuelling his loneliness. As an adult his instability only escalated. This has revealed that parental upbringing is of core importance in a childs development of social skills. As seen with Jeffrey Dahmer he did not receive that socialization bond be it with his parent or other people in his life. All the way through his childhood, Jeffrey Dahmer was ignored and developed a way of perceiving himself as an outsider, rejected by society. This loneliness and sense of rejection grew until it aggravated his compulsion to commit the monstrous crimes of murder, necrophilia, and cannibalism. As seen from his biography he didnt have close relationships that could have deterred him from committing the crime as the social control theory suggests. In his loneliness Jeffrey filled that void with dismembering animals, a behavior later seen in his crimes. It can thus be concluded that creation and nurturing of social bonds are very essential in childhood socialization and in the development of stable psychological state of mind.

Abortion :: essays research papers

Good morning/afternoon ladies and gentleman. Today I am here to convince you without a doubt that abortion should be brought to an end. Points that I will be covering are the medical risks involved, economic support for the child, couples that do not have a chance to have a child and ¡K. The scientific definition of abortion is the termination of pregnancy of an embryo or of a fetus that is incapable of survival. There are over 131,000 abortions in Australia every year. Firstly: medical risks involved. Some short term or physical side effects such as: „X  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Infection „X  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bleeding „X  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Perforation of the uterus „X  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Anaesthetic complications „X  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Deaths And as for that there are also long term side effects such as: „X  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cervical incompetence, in which the neck of the womb loses its capacity to hold the developing foetus in place, and he or she falls out of the uterus because of their weight and the force of gravity „X  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Abortion is thus associated with higher rates of miscarriage in subsequent pregnancies, usually in the second twelve weeks „X  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Infection acquired at the time of the operation can cause pelvic infection, decreased patency of the fallopian tubes and sterility. „X  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Adhesion can cause recurring abdominal pain and sterility. „X  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is now known that women having abortions and considerably more likely to suffer from breast cancer later in their life. My second point is the economic support for the child: Why do people that don ¡Ã‚ ¦t want kids have to have an abortion? There are always other factors that you can come to such as adoption. In third world countries, the people have a right to have children but do they have the opportunity? If they did have a child, how would they support it through the poverty? They don ¡Ã‚ ¦t even have enough food and water to support themselves at the moment. This clearly indicates to support the child you must be economically healthy. In a country like our own, we have all the resources at our fingertips, and why do people still question and rely on abortion? If people had a child or two, or maybe even more, we will still have enough resources to support us and our child healthy and we have resources that the third-world countries don ¡Ã‚ ¦t have. My third point is how many couples do not have the chance to have a child: Many childless couples on the other hand face long waiting lists in the hope they can adopt. Some 50,000 Australian couples a year apply to adopt children.

Common Themes of The Client, Dragon, and Beowulf :: comparison compare contrast essays

Common Themes of The Client, Dragon, and Beowulf A woman her late thirties bellowed "My Baby! My Baby!", as her baby carriage rolled towards the bottom of the great hill. Off in a distance, a man of around early thirties heard these desperate calls for help. The man dashed out from his house and immediately followed pursuit of the blue baby carriage. Within one minutes, he safely reclaimed the carriage and the baby girl was safely returned to her mother without harm. This is an example of how the young man is showing traits of heroism, the traits being courage, intelligence, and strength. He was courageous to help return to the young woman the baby carriage, intelligent to act quickly and actually catch up to it, and his strength is shown by his ability to outrun a racing carriage down a deep hill. Different books use different characters to display heroism within their characters. Mark Sway of The Client is a story of a young boy's heroic battle against the Mafia and the FBI. The story of Dirk Pitt of Dragon is a story of how a older man of the nineteen- hundredths can overcome evil. Beowulf of the story Beowulf is an example of how even hundreds of years ago, heroes used the same traits as today. Heroes of every culture of all ages share courage, intelligence and strength. Courage is a prominent feature of all heroes. Within these three books, each character, Mark Sway, Dirk Pitt and Beowulf, display signs of Courage. Mark Sway was a courageous boy at his age of 9 years old. Mark would never quit from continuing with an idea of his if it was for good: "`We can't let them take the body, Reggie. Think about it. If they get away with it, it'll never be found.'"1 What this phrase points out, is that Mark did not want to leave the Mafia men to retrieve the body of the Senator Boyette, for if they got the body, his efforts to keep quiet about the whole situation would seem fruitless. Dirk Pitt used courage in order that he can continue perusing the enemies. Dirk never gives up exposing a plot of death and trickery of another person. Beowulf displays courage by fighting off the Troll, the Troll's mother, and the Dragon. Beowulf would not forfeit a fight with one of those people despite their gruesome

Living With Endometriosis Essay -- Diseases, Disorders

Endometriosis is one of the most common gynecological disorders which affect 5.5 million women in the U.S. and 176 million women worldwide. It is a chronic disorder found within the pelvic area of women. This disease is found to affect women of all ethnic and social backgrounds. While it has not yet been determines exactly what causes endometriosis there seems to be certain trends that may contribute to this disease. There also seems to be a link this being a hereditary disease. Symptoms can vary widely from case to case which can sometimes make it hard to diagnose endometriosis in the beginning. Endometriosis has 4 stages or classifications which are minimal, mild, moderate and severe which are used to describe the anatomic location and the severity of the disorder. Symptoms can be as minimal as mild cramping and be as devastating as infertility. There is no known cure for endometriosis but women do have treatment options to relieve the pain and to help with fertility problems tha t may be a result of endometriosis. The only true way to diagnose endometriosis is by performing a pelvic laparoscopy. But ultrasound is a way to pick up on signs of endometriosis. Endometriosis is a chronic, progressive disorder in which tissue resembling the inner lining of the uterus known as endometrium grows and appears at unusual locations in the lower abdominal cavity. It is a condition that occurs when the endometrium, tissue that lines the inside of the uterus, grows outside of the uterus. During your menstrual cycle the endometrium thickens to get ready for the egg. If the egg is fertilized, it will attach to the endometrium and begin to grow. If the egg is not fertilized, the endometrium breaks down and is flushed from your body as blood ... ...unction. St. Louis: Saunders, 2004. Depot, Lupron. Endometriosis Treatment. Abbott Park: Abbott, 2010. Kowalczyk, Nina, and James Mace. Radiographic Pathology for Technologists. St. Louis: Mosby Elsevier, 2009. Kurjak, Asim, and Frank Chervenak. Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Panama City: Jaypee, 2004. Metzger, Deborah, and Howard Reisman, and Stuart Schultz. Managing Endometriosis. San Bruno: StayWell, 2000. Mosbys Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing & Health Professions. St. Louis: Mosby Elsevier, 2009. S, Kennedy . Endometriosis Global Forum for News and Information. 23 Jan. 2011. 11 Feb. 2012. . Storck, Susan. "Endometriosis." PubMed Health. 25 Jul. 2011. . Trivedi, Dr. Ravi K. Personal interview. 11 Feb. 2012.

The Price of Indebtedness in May-Lee Chai’s Saving Sourdi

Whether stabbing a man with a paring knife or getting a friend to punch her sister's husband in the face, Nea always manages to start trouble for her and her sister, Sourdi. She doesn't do it on purpose, it's just that Nea will do anything to protect her older sister. The issue stems from when the family lived in their native Cambodia; Nea was only four and Sourdi carried her across a minefield on her back. Ever since that moment, Nea has felt indebted to her older sister and has been determined to protect her at all costs. However, the costs seem to be high as her identity has become tied to this notion of debt. In May-Lee Chai's â€Å"Saving Sourdi,† Nea's identity is shaped by her feeling of indebtedness to her sister Sourdi, which compromises her ability to grow and objectively see the world. The cause behind the story's central conflict lies in Nea's devotion to Sourdi, which in turn was caused by a distant memory. â€Å"Once upon a time†, Nea recalls, â€Å"Sourdi had walked across a minefield, carrying me on her back† (Chai 140). With the terrible war background on the Khmer Rouge-era in Cambodia as an exposition, Nea recalls her sister Sourdi carrying her across a field by stepping on countless dead bodies to avoid the mines. This is something that Nea views as secret between just her and her sister, one she will never reveal to another soul. It is because of this single incident that Nea vows to â€Å"walk on bones† and â€Å"rotting flesh† to â€Å"save Sourdi,† which itself foreshadows events to come (Chai 140). It is this event that defines Nea and motivates her actions throughout the story. It is because Nea's identity is derived from this debt to her older sister that causes Nea to respond in such a haphazard manner. Not only do her responses create tension in the story, but they further develop Nea as a character. I would walk on bones for my sister, I vowed. I would put my bare feet on rotting flesh. I would save Sourdi†(Chai 140). These words were spoken by Nea after Sourdi sacrificed herself to carry Nea through a treacherous mine field reeking with the stench of dead bodies. Only a few people in the story know about this incident it is a highly guarded secret of Nea's. This single incident defines Nea's identity through out the story, which clarifies Nea as a static character her identity never changes. From the time when these two young girls reached America Nea always has Sourdi's back, she is overly protective like that of an older sister which is ironic because she is the youngest daughter. Nea will always feel like her life was saved by Sourdi so she will do anything to repay her. Sourdi develops throughout the novel at first by being very brave, strong, and independent as she carriers her baby sister across of the mine field. It is almost as if that identity transferred from her to her younger sister Nea. Sourdi does not speak up for herself when she disagrees with her mother or Duke. She does not even try to put up a fight when her mother arranges her marriage. This classifies Sourdi as a very dyanmic character or round character. As a result of this, Nea has never really lived her life for herself. Everything that she has done and the decisions that she makes are based upon the events that occur in Sourdi's life. This in turn leads to Nea's inability to grow, because she is constantly caring and looking after her sister, instead of worrying about herself and moving on with her own life. Because of these events Sourdi can be labeled as the foil to Nea's charater in this story. Just like the examples that were given earlier, when Nea jumped up and stabbed the man that was hassling Sourdi at the restaurant, or when she and Duke went knocking on Sourdi's door because they thought she was in trouble, all of the actions that Nea took were always a reflection of the situation that Sourdi was in at that present moment. One of the major effects of Nea's identity being tied to her indebtedness to her sister is that it clouds her ability to be objective. This leads her to make spur-of-the-moment decisions that may not be in her or Sourdi's best intertest. One example took place in the family restaurant at the beginning of the story. Sourdi was serving some old drunk men when one decided to put his arms around her. This immediately sent Nea into a blind rage in which she â€Å"ran into the kitchen†, â€Å"grabbed the knife†, and â€Å"stabbed the man† (Chai 131). Luckily, the knife she had grabbed was only a paring knife and it got caught in the man's sleeve of his jacket. Obviously, the girls' mother became quite upset and apologized to the men while scolding Nea. Nea, overcome with anger, had not stopped to consider the consequences of her actions. Had she actually injured the man, he could have sued the restaurant and Nea could have faced criminal charges. Obviously, this was not the best way to handle the incident. This is again illustrated when Nea overhears a conversation between Sourdi and her mother. She becomes convinced that Sourdi's new husband is abusive and convinces their mutual friend Duke to drive her to Sourdi's house in Des Moines. Upon their arrival, Duke, having only heard Nea's interpretation of events, ran inside and â€Å"punched Sourdi's husband in the nose† (Chai 142). Sourdi's husband was surprisingly understanding about the matter and another disaster was narrowly avoided. However, the event still must have had a profound effect on Sourdi and her husband's home life. Again, it was Nea's impetuous attitude and blind calling to protect her sister that led to the encounter. Ever since Sourdi carried Nea through that minefield on her back, Nea has been trying to find a way to repay her sister's kindness. However, as the years have passed, the protection of Sourdi has become a compulsion. She is consumed with her desire to protect her sister from harm without regard for the consequences. This has clouded Nea's judgement and hindered her ability to objectively look at a situation. And, consequentially, her â€Å"solution† often causes more harm than the percieved threat she is fighting. Unless Nea can somehow overcome her need to protect her sister, she will never be able to live a normal and happy life. Maybe Sourdi is not the one who needs saving.

Beebo Brinker

The society in which the Beebo Brinker series found its home during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s was an inhospitable one. While homosexuality was nothing new in the world at large, it had almost completely been repressed, especially in a Western cultured world that was not only steeped in Christian tradition, but also notably patriarchal.A masculine woman was called a tomboy, and she was expected to curb her tomboyish attitudes in time for marriage and child-rearing. Societal expectations consigned her to petticoats, which in the sixties had been downgraded to dresses and stockings.However, the desires of the woman to dress as comfortably as a man and perform the roles that were traditionally given to men were repressed during that time. While the desires of the woman to have more freedom were repressed, any homosexual tendency was crushed violently. While the violence of lesbian repression might not have been overtly performed, all the women (lesbian or not) were a ware of the intense pressure put on anyone who held those feelings or performed those actions.Ann Bannon describes her own wretched experience during that time and the suicidal feelings that necessarily accompanied the tendency toward lesbianism in the 1960’s. She writes that while being in a gay bar in the evenings, she would have extreme fair of it being raided and of herself being taken to jail. She continues: â€Å"I had been extremely low profile, very proper, very Victorian wife†¦ I thought, ‘Well, that would do it. I’d have to go jump off the Brooklyn Bridge. ’ As easy as it might be if you were a young woman in today’s generation to think that was exaggerating, it wasn’t.It was terrifying† (Lootens, 1983, p. 12). The fear that society inspired in the lives of lesbians drove them to underground haunts and secret lifestyles that marginalized their existence in American society. This marginalization drove lesbians to the citi es where people were much less concerned with the business of others as compared with small towns. In the Beebo Brinker chronicles, the big city referenced is Greenwich Village, and the life that Beebo leads after she finds the courage to â€Å"come out† to her gay roommate is possible only in that city.She uses the facilities that the relative anonymity of the city grants to lesbians—gay and lesbian bars and apartment life, and this facilitates the unleashing of her hidden desire for other women. The promiscuity that is possible even to heterosexuals under the blanket of city life is also granted to Beebo, and she becomes a butch character playing the role of the male in many short lesbian affairs. This butch/femme role is highlighted in the novels written by Ann Bannon, and Beebo falls staunchly into the butch role.She is described as being one who sits at the bar and lights up a cigarette, holding out the match to another woman expecting her to blow it out. This ove rpoweringly masculine role goes beyond the level of mere self-discovery into an assuredly male persona. Beebo (and others like her) are shown to have performed the search that many lesbian women must do, and have found and realized her deepest desire to act in that domineering manner toward women. In fact, this emphasizes the desire that these women have to for the feminine body—not to be feminine but to command the sexual love of the feminine woman.This concept of the butch/femme role is, however, a stereotypical one, as many homosexual women find elements of both types within their characters and personalities. This fact highlights the stereotypes that have been propagated concerning lesbianism. Beebo Brinker does serve to facilitate some stereotypes that were cast concerning lesbians. The butch/femme stereotype is one of the major ones upheld in the series. The re-release of the books highlights this stereotype, as Beebo is portrayed as a beautiful yet muscular and dominee ring woman even on the cover.The cartoon-like nature of the picture (which enables the caricature) further serves the purpose of the stereotype. Yet, the book also depicts the nature of the woman who was confined to living a closeted lifestyle. The fears, frustrations and anxieties Bannon depicts transcends the stereotypical evil and satanic creatures that homosexuals were taken for in that society. It depicted them as human beings who suffered on account of the feelings they had, and the feelings that society had toward them.In this way, the novels attacked some of the negative stereotypes that society had of lesbians. The literary form of the novels falls into the category of popular fiction. These have been compared to the Harlequin and Mills & Boon romances that many consider trite and sentimental. However, the feelings and problems dealt with (however tersely) in Bannon’s books were never as tidy as those in novels expressing heterosexual love. The characters in Bannon b ooks were often forced to relinquish the loves that they desired and return to the oppression of traditional life.Even in the Beebo Brinker tales (where lesbianism was more embraced by the title character), lesbians were never able to rid themselves of a social stigma that would oppress them regardless of their success in finding happiness in love. These complexities of life are revealed in the Beebo Brinker novels, and this allows them to transcend the level of the trash novel and to become a historical artifact. Works Cited Bannon, Ann. Beebo Brinker. San Francisco: Cleis Press, 2001. Lootens, Tricia. â€Å"Ann Bannon: A Writer of Lost Lesbian Fiction Finds Herself and Her Public. † Off Our Backs. Vol. 13, Iss. 11, 1983.