1984 Critical Essay - 1507 Words

1984 Critical Essay The novel I have chosen to write about that is set in a different time but is still relevant to this day is â€Å"1984† by George Orwell. Orwell effectively uses theme, characterisation, imagery and symbolism to help us appreciate the themes he runs throughout the book that have just as much relevance then as they do now. This is despite Orwells’ book being first published in 1948. Orwells’ book is set in a totalitarian state where all who live there must accept and comply with every one of the Party’s rules, ideas and orders. The main character in this novel is Winston Smith. Winston decides to rebel against the Party and soon after this results in his capture and torture from the Party. By the end of the book Winston†¦show more content†¦This is shown in part 3 of the novel where Winston feels the full extent of the brutal power of the Party when he is taken to the Ministry of Love where he is tortured and brainwashed so he can’t remember things that have happened, he is made to be like everyone else in Oceania. This is shown when O’Brien tries to persuade him: â€Å"You are unable to remember real events, and persuade yourself that you remember other events which never happened† O’Brien tortures Winston, making him doubt himself and his ability to remember changes in the party then eventually breaking him. Firstly O’Brien shows to Winston that he could harm him and make him suffer for as long as he wanted by simply turning a lever, then he tells him he is ‘mentally deranged’ and that he is curing him by making him suffer. After O’Brien makes Winston suffer for days or weeks or even months or years he takes him to room 101. Here Winston is exposed to his biggest fear. Rats. This is where all the inmates at the Ministry of Love were finally broken.Show MoreRelated1984 Critical Analysis Essay1186 Words   |  5 Pagesdistinct personalities: the outer Edna, which holds proper social values, and the inner Edna, who questions her actions. A product of an environment that has strict rules and regulation. This distinction is taken to the extreme with George Orwell’s, 1984, whose protagonist, Winston Smith has a similar disti nction but the consequences are death and torture. This motif of two sides to people is clear in Orwell’s novel. Winston has two sides, one that is conforming and another that is rebelling. Winston’sRead More The Lure of Evil in Shakespeares Macbeth1368 Words   |  6 PagesPlaths Late Poems. Critical Essays on Sylvia Plath. Ed. Linda W. Wagner. Boston: G. K. Hall Company, 1984. 130 - 139. Dickie, Margaret. Sylvia Plaths Narrative Strategies. Critical Essays on Sylvia Plath. Ed. Linda W. Wagner. Boston: G. K. Hall Company, 1984. 170 - 182. Malmsheimer, Lonna M: Sylvia Plath. American Writers: Supplement 1, Part 2. Ed. Leonard Unger. Rev. ed. New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1979. Mazzenti, Roberta. Plath in Italy. Critical Essays on Sylvia Plath.Read MoreA Rhetorical Analysis on Nineteen Eighty-Four1044 Words   |  5 PagesRunning Head: NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR Nineteen Eighty Four: A Critical Essay on Rhetoric Bereket Kifle Composition 12 Honors Abstract George Orwell employs the usage of different rhetoric throughout 1984.  Ã‚  The rhetoric differs from describing the human body and its struggle to survive to the different crimes and how the citizens felt about them.  Ã‚  Also, within  1984  lies a warning from Orwell: to eliminate the caustic consequences of a communist government.  Ã‚  While OrwellRead MoreThe Sociological Concept Of ‘Taste’ Allows Us To See How1651 Words   |  7 Pagesmannerisms directly define and structure the societal groups we inhabit. In Stewart’s book ‘Culture, Taste and Value’ (2013) he defines taste, from a common sense perspective, as a purely subjective, private matter (Stewart, 2013). However, in this essay, my aim is to inform the reader of the substantial implications ‘taste’ has as a theoretical framework for explaining societal structures and understanding everyday life. The concept can be seen as more than just a subjective entity drawing u pon privateRead MoreCritical Review of Learning Style Essay606 Words   |  3 Pagessome by reading, some by looking at diagrams and others by reading and writing. The end result of the learning process may be completely different to that of their peers. The following essay will be a critical reflective review that will examine and evaluate my own learning style. Due to the word constraints of the essay it will not be possible to review my own learning style in relation to all theories. In order to understand and evaluate my own learning style; I first needed to understand what aRead MoreThe Victims Of History By George Orwell1234 Words   |  5 PagesThe Victims of History the importance in critical history studies In his critically acclaimed novel, 1984, George Orwell wrote the following; â€Å"Who controls the past controls the future. And who controls the present controls the past.† When discussing the validity of studying history critically, I think this quote accurately highlights many of the key points that are discussed when it comes to studying history. Critical history analysis prompts us to consider more than just the information we areRead MoreAnalysis Of The Article Hustle As The Strategy `` By Amar Bhide1168 Words   |  5 Pagesobjective of the essay is a critical review of the article Hustle as the strategy by Amar Bhide. First of all, it will look into the position of the article in the broader debate on strategies. Secondly, it will examine the suppositions and theoretical bases of the article. It will then assess the strengths and weaknesses of the viewpoints presented in this article. And lastly, author’s personal thoughts on strategy will be terminated alongside the conclusion of the entire essay. Position in theRead MoreChristian Philosophy Of Christian Theology935 Words   |  4 Pageseducates us on how to approach life situations independently. Independence is the self-governing state of freedom to think and act as we desire. How we approach life events can be viewed from a philosophical and/or a theological perspective. This essay will compare different approaches in Christian theology to philosophy to see which study was more influential in our individual development. Christian theology is the study of Christian beliefs. There are four sources for this study including scriptureRead MoreThe Party’s Attitude Toward Love and Sexuality1574 Words   |  7 PagesThe Party’s attitude toward love and sexuality 1984 is a novel written by George Orwell, the main theme of the novel is about how totalitarian society can control every aspect of a person thought, sexuality and action. Totalitarianism can be define as a repressive one-party that has total control over people thoughts and actions. In 1984, people are being control totally by the Party through device such as the telescreen. People are stripped away from their freedom to do things that they want.Read More1984 Ap Essay890 Words   |  4 Pages1976. The conflict created when the will of an individual opposes the will of the majority is the recurring theme of many novels, plays, and essays. Select the work of an essayist who is in opposition to his or her society; or from a work of recognized literary merit, select a fictional character who is in opposition to his or her society. In a critical essay, analyze the conflict and discuss the moral and ethical implications for both the individual and the society. Do not summarize the plot or action

African American Ideas of the Past in Contemporary Pieces

It is appropriate to say that the conditions of Blacks in the past have improved since various Black power movements. The twenty first century generation of African Americans continues to be content with the accomplishments’ of our ancestors, instead of becoming more aware of our heritage and culture in order to understand the present. Renà ©e Stout’s art develop from Black movements such as Garveyism and the Pan-Africanism movements that aimed to instill racial pride and racial unity. Just as these movements made Blacks around the Diaspora aware of the conditions of other Blacks, Stout’s exhibit, Tales of the Conjure Woman, unveil the oppressed culture of Africans and African Americans while instilling racial pride and unity. Firstly the name of Renà ©e Stout’s exhibit, Tales of the Conjure Woman, contains a word that is significant in the purpose of the exhibit. Conjure; meaning to call upon a devil or spirit by spell or witchcraft , insinuates that Stout’s exhibit, as a whole will explore the spiritual roots of African-American culture. Stout’s use of art such as, paintings, sculptures, and photography conveys the oppressed history this generation needs to be instilled with racial pride and unity once again. Her pieces successfully encourage viewers to self-examine themselves so that we can find the absurdities of life, ideas that Garveyism and the Pan-Africanist movement called for Blacks around the Diaspora to do. Once the absurdities of life are identified and there is anShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Help By Kathryn Stockett1063 Words   |  5 Pages There are many artistic elements located throughout the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett. These elements help to create images in the readers’ minds, which make the book a strong piece of art. At the same time, the book is also a powerful cultural artifact due to the incorporation of valuable past and present themes of culture. Even though Stockett artfully enhances her book with literary elements, The Help is a stronger cultural artifact than it is an artistic work of literature. One artisticRead More Adaptation of Modern African-American Writers814 Words   |  4 PagesAdaptation of Modern African-American Writers Modern writers learn from the past by reading works written by authors of that particular era. Contemporary African-American writers gain knowledge and insight into the horrendous and sometimes harmonious conditions that plagued Africans during slavery and the slave trade. By reading the actual words, thoughts, and feelings of these enslaved Africans, modern writers receive information from the perspective of the victimized. Lucille Cliftons slaveshipRead MoreRacism And African American Women Essay1543 Words   |  7 Pagessupremacy, that one race is superior’ (1997:465). Racism affects the African-American community very strongly, as this race has a history of being treated as racially inferior to other racial groups. Within this community, African-American women are often considered doubly disadvantaged in various situations because of their minority positions of both being a woman and being African-American. Through an analysis of the popular African-American sitcom, A Dif ferent World, one can see how racism, particularlyRead MoreKerry Marshall and Faith Ringgold: Contemporary Artists Essay970 Words   |  4 Pageshumans which allows them to express ideas through writing, drawing, picture, sculpture, or other form. An artist can use art to prove a point to society, draw people’s attention to a situation or just as a means of entertainment in its design. Contemporary art is art produced at the present period in time or within our lifetime (Contemporary Art). Through contemporary art, artists are able to express social ideas or causes by giving us a glimpse into past events which have occurred because ofRead MoreNikki Giovanni: The Princess of Black Poetry Essay1698 Words   |  7 Pagestwentieth-century, when Contemporary Literature was emerging from 1960 to present time, it was seen as a product of the post-Second World War situation. Yolande Cornelia â€Å"Nikki† Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and raised in Lincoln Hei ghts, an all-black suburb in Cincinnati. Giovanni is one of the most commonly read American poets; her frankness in her writing has brought her a lot of recognition and prominence. Giovanni became the voice of many African Americans, her contribution to theRead More The Role of Female African American Sculptors in the Harlem Renaissance1689 Words   |  7 PagesThe Role of Female African American Sculptors in the Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance, a time of global appreciation for the black culture, was a door opening for African American women. Until then, African Americans, let alone African American women, were neither respected nor recognized in the artistic world. During this time of this New Negro Movement, women sculptors were able to connect their heritages with the present issues in America. There is an abundance of culture and historyRead MoreThe Narrative Of Frederick Douglass, The Souls Of Black Folks876 Words   |  4 Pages Education has long been at the core of every African American story. Historically, this ideal represented freedom and empowerment and at the same time, fought against white oppression, segregation, and enslavement. Education in every African American experience denotes a haunting yet positive connotation and vestiges of its impact can still seen in our contemporary lives. Through this essay, we explore the how education affected both slaves and whites alike and how the controversy of educationRead MoreLangston Hughes And The Harlem Renaissance1476 Words   |  6 PagesModern Age. More specifically, set your destination to northern Manhattan in the early 20s. When you step onto those bustling streets, you’ll find yourself swept up in the Harlem Renaissance. The contemporary writers you are surrounded by are legends such as Langston Hughes and W. E. B. DuBois, and the contemporary musicians you may hear at a local nightclub include some of the greatest in jazz history, inclu ding Thelonious Monk, Nat King Cole, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington. When you’re tired of dancingRead MoreAlain Locke Essay1153 Words   |  5 Pages With the exception of Native Americans, there is no race of people that originated in America. Yet today, we all come together under the colors of red, white and blue, sing the National Anthem and call ourselves quot;Americansquot;. Despite our differences in religion, norms, values, national origins, our pasts, and our creeds, we all combine under one common denominator. Alain Locke addresses this issue of cultural pluralism in his article, quot;Who and What is `Negro?quot; In this articleRead MoreThe Between Teachers And Their Students During History Classrooms Nationwide1575 Words   |  7 PagesTeaching at Hunter College of the City University of New York. Epstein authored the piece, Adolescents’ Perspectives on Racial Diversity in U.S. History: Case Studies From an Urban Classroom, which sought to determine how fac tors such as race, ethnicity, or nationality shape young people’s perspectives of the past. In the 1993-1994 academic year Epstein, a European American female, and Jamal Cooks, an African American graduate student, observed Ms. Hines’ 11th grade US history class in an urban mid-western

Drugs and Its Effects Free Essays

A drug is a substance which has a discernible physiological effect when taken into the body. These chemicals change the functions of the central nervous system (CNS), providing temporary relief from mental, physical and social problems. Usage of a drug over a period of time often results in dependence and tolerance of the drug. We will write a custom essay sample on Drugs and Its Effects or any similar topic only for you Order Now The user experiences physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms when attempts are made to quit the drug. Tolerance refers to the increased ability of the body to tolerate the drug without ill effects. Due to drugs having the capacity to enhance performance, they are often used recreationally and abused. This leads to addiction which can potentially destroy lives. Drugs which alter behavior could be categorized as stimulants, hallucinogens and depressants. Stimulants are a class of drug which can alter the way in which someone behaves by stimulating the central nervous systems. In other words, they increase the activity of the brain resulting in increased alertness physical activity, productivity, endurance and motivation. Stimulants include amphetamines, called ‘uppers’, cocaine and nicotine. Users usually find relaxation and rest impossible and tend to have no appetite. Moreover, side effects may include muscle spasms, chest pain, nausea, and blurred vision due to an overworked heart and the subsequent high blood pressure. During World War II, stimulants were extensively used by soldiers to maintain alertness. By then, various forms of the drug were readily available such as methamphetamine. Today however, due to its side effects and addictive properties, possession and usage have been made illegal and doctor prescriptions have been significantly reduced. Hallucinogens are a class of drugs which cause an alteration in perception, thought, or mood. Examples of hallucinogens drugs include marijuana, magic mushrooms and cannabis. These drugs distort sensory perception by interfering with the activity of acetylcholine, norepinaphrine, or serotonin. Hallucinogenic drugs are among the oldest known group of drugs used for their ability to alter human perception and mood. Effects of hallucinogens include perceptual distortion, increased heart rate, nausea, weaknesses and hearing, touching and seeing things that don’t exist. The effects of hallucinogens take place within half an hour and last for several hours. Depressants are a group of drugs which temporarily diminish the function or activity of a specific part of the body or mind. Depressants are described as psychoactive drugs that slow down one’s Central Nervous System (CNS), thus they are referred to as â€Å"downers†. These types of drugs are used as prescribed medication as well as illicit substances and can be dangerous. Depressants include alcohol, barbiturates and tranquillizers. Barbiturates and benzodiazepines are the two major categories of depressants used as medicine. Benzodiazepines that are commonly used such as Diazepam (Valium) and Chlordiazepoxide (Librium) were developed as a safe alternative to barbiturates to treat insomnia and anxiety but are now a major category of abused drugs. The prolonged use of these drugs can result in tolerance. In addition, the sudden withdrawal from these drugs by habitual users may result in physical withdrawal symptoms such as insomnia, nausea, headaches, weakness and blood pressure drops. This may consequently lead to a coma and or death. Drugs which alter behavior could be categorized as stimulants, hallucinogens and depressants. The use of each type of drug results in an alteration of the Central Nervous System. Stimulants tend to affect the Central Nervous System by stimulating ones brain hence altering ones behavior. Hallucinogens are known to distort one’s senses by causing changes in perception, thought, and emotion. On the other hand, depressants have the opposite effect of stimulants. Depressants tend to temporarily slow down the function or activity of a particular part of the mind or body. Although some types of these drugs are acquired legally, they are often abused. How to cite Drugs and Its Effects, Papers

The Language of Learning free essay sample

The English language unites people from all continents and nations. It is the language most commonly learned by people in other countries. Its influence makes it something of a sociological and human phenomenon. And I am so proud to be able to speak it, and speak it well. My native language is Russian, and I spoke it exclusively until age four. Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet, which has some difficult sounds to pronounce, and its grammar is a hassle to learn. Therefore, I always prided myself on being able to speak, read, and write Russian better than other kids. When I had to learn English in preschool, I caught on very quickly and had little accent. My life might be far less fulfilling if I were not able to express myself so well. Many people joke that English is a crazy language, and they are not wrong. After all, we have homophones, rhyming discrepancies, silent letters, dialects, borrowed words – you name it. We will write a custom essay sample on The Language of Learning or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This did not faze me, however. Growing up, I could never understand why other kids had so much trouble distinguishing between they’re, their, and there, or you’re and your. Maybe I owe this to my memory, maybe to my ability for communication. Either way, English became my default language, the one I think in, love in, live in. Fast forward to middle school, where I learned Spanish. Lo and behold, I couldn’t fathom why my peers couldn’t remember simple article usage and conjugations. I breezed through it all with only small confusions here and there, nothing a little studying couldn’t fix. Some say an amazing teacher can make you love a subject, but in this case my teachers were not extraordinary. I loved Spanish because I could connect its grammar, syntax, and vocabulary with that of English and even Russian. For this reason, I never worried about tests, and I almost always aced them. Now we get to the latest part of my journey; I am in eleventh gr ade in AP Spanish. Oh, how the tables have turned since the simple days of the preterite and future tense. AP Spanish is one big linguistic minefield. I began the year thinking I knew Spanish, but soon I realized I didn’t, and this was evidenced in my continuous mistakes and inability to remember things. Nevertheless, I still excel in the class because it’s what I do best. AP Spanish is the bridge from proficiency to fluency, and I’m determined to come out of it with the linguistic agility of a native speaker. Speaking and writing in everyday life is the basis of having beliefs and viewpoints, and that is what makes a person who they are. I would describe my voice as low and even, but full of inflections and interjections. It is easy to fall into the trap of using crutch words such as like, uh, um, literally, sort of, kind of, but I refrain from this as much as I can because I know they take away from my point and make me harder to understand. I try not to be to o nasal or squeaky either; I talk the way I would want others to talk to me. I find that having a â€Å"poker voice† helps hide my true emotions, even though I am not usually one to hide my emotions. Inflection, interjections, and figures of speech make my words unique; I can make my word choice reveal what I’m feeling. Word choice is powerful because I can use it to convey that I am excited or disappointed, bitter or enamored. Since we all have emotions, it is critical that we are able to find the right words to convey them, in multiple languages, if you will.

The Importance of Family in Ancient Israel free essay sample

An exploration of the importance of family as it applies to family structure, land ownership, farming and gender roles. The following paper discusses the book of two authors Carol Meyers and Joseph Blenkinsopp who attempt to demonstrate the importance of family through its connection with agriculture, social status, religious practice, economics, local and national government, marriage and child rearing in the anthology Families in Ancient Israel. By exploring the writings of two experts in Ancient Israel, this paper helps us to understand why the Jews were so concerned with the relatives and ancestors of individuals and why many economic and interpersonal decisions were based on the preservation of the households and land. This paper also examines the way in which these two authors address the issues of gender where they markedly differ in their perspectives. The all-encompassing importance of family as it is called it in the Western World in the 21st century, was known as mispahah. We will write a custom essay sample on The Importance of Family in Ancient Israel or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Our understanding of family falls short in understanding mispahah as a concept that shaped every aspect of life in ancient Israel. Other more indicative words include household and clan. The authors Carol Meyers and Joseph Blenkinsopp attempt to demonstrate the importance of mispahah through its connection with agriculture, social status, religious practice, economics, local and national government, marriage, and child rearing in the anthology Families in Ancient Israel. Most of their examples trace a practice or doctrine to its roots in the preservation of the clans social structure and how it related to land ownership and inheritance.

Heart Of Darkness

Heart Of Darkness Heart of Darkness By: Joseph Conrad The novel Heart of Darkness, was written by a man named Joseph Conrad in 1894. Conrad was born December 3, 1857 into a family of polish decent in the northern Ukraine. The backgrounds of his family members consisted of a father that was an avid translator of Shakespeare as well as poet, along with a mother, that while was prone to illness still was well read and very intelligent. When Conrad was five, his father was exiled into a prison camp in Northern Russia for alleged revolutionist plots against the government. Due to the harsh conditions of the prison, Conrad's mother died within three years and his father four years later. It was the death of his father that sent Joseph into a fit of melancholy, and it was within this sadness that Joseph turned to writing to ease his grief and carried his pain and suffering into most of his novels.Jean-Baptiste Say

Measurement of the force of typical and jerking impact on a horses Essay

Measurement of the force of typical and jerking impact on a horses mouth by the snaffle bit used in equestrian sports - Essay Example The key issue addressed is the defining of regular and maximum rein tension and bit pressure, which is applied by riders in the case of punishing the horse. The report describes a laboratory experiment with several selected training techniques that are used in this modern age. The amount of pressure that was actually applied by six riders of different qualifications to the mouth of the horse by pulling the reins was determined with a dynamometer attached to the reins. The experiment tested â€Å"typical† and â€Å"jerking† forces applied by the rider, and the subsequent impact of the bit (common snaffle) on the horse’s mouth. The maximum impact force of the reins upon the horse head mannequin was fixated at the levels of 179kg. Mechanical impacts of mentioned intensity, registered during experiments, might lead to various damage of oral cavity tissues. The authors are of the opinion that the bit punishment represents pain and cruelty, and after the experiment, all participants were interviewed. Common methods of bit punishment, the amount of rein tension, and why they were applied to the horse’s mouth were di scussed and analysed. Data was presented in tables, and statistical principles were applied. Attention was raised that all training methods used across equestrian disciplines could jeopardise equine welfare. While it was proven that the bit is a cause of many diseases, disorders, and injuries (Cook, 2003), it is still used in equine sports and recreation. The term ‘cruelty’ is still not attributed to physical punishment, harm, pain or injury that may happen in the equine sport. McGreevy (2007) addressed the issue of the horse’s welfare in his review of Equitation Science. It is an emerging discipline that combines learning, theory, physics and ethnology to evaluate current training techniques. Up to now, arguments concerning the horse’s welfare rely

Project Plan Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Project Plan - Coursework Example The newly developed product being addressed by this marketing plan is software with about 95% accuracy in predicting products that customers are likely to buy in the next 30 days. The software is a tool for obtaining information on buying habits from customers and their unmet needs and therefore, it accurately predicts future purchases. The software will enable businesses to obtain information concerning expected changes in customer taste or general demand trends for the various products they sale. The information collected can be utilized by businesses for timely matching of products supply with customer demand. English (2004) agrees that quality information is required for meeting customer satisfaction. The main goal of the company is to develop products that are timely in meeting customer needs and enhance their capacity to achieve their own goals. The company focuses more on software that addresses marketing and production needs and this is well achieved because of the company’s culture. Our culture as a company is to be a mile ahead in developing products for customers before they can request for them. As a result of this, the company dominates about 40% of the software market share due to timely product launching. Despite competition, the company has been able to maintain good profit margins due to its unique and timely products, a good marketing strategies and high level of customer satisfaction. Krell (2005) explains that efforts to achieve customer satisfaction will also enable a business to attain customer loyalty without much effort, fear for competition or customers shifting to substitute products despite changes in prices. Our company holds to a similar point of view and so customer satisfaction is the main value driver for the company. The main target customers for this product are businesses. This customer base is large due to the

Retention of Novice Teachers who Migrate to Arizona to Begin their Dissertation

Retention of Novice Teachers who Migrate to Arizona to Begin their Teaching Careers - Dissertation Example Induction programs, which typically have several goals, are the most common support structure for new teachers (Killeavy, 2006). Among those goals are to instruct new teachers in the methods, culture, and background of the school or district; to increase student achievement, and; to help new teachers experience success in their first year (Breaux & Wong, 2003). Success of a first year teacher is commonly measured by both student academic success as well as the novice teacher’s desire to continue in the teaching profession (Strong, 2005). Unfortunately, attrition rates for teachers new to the profession continue to be high with as many as half of all new teachers leaving the profession within their first three years of teaching (Ingersoll & Smith, 2011; Greiner & Smith, 2006; Darling-Hammond, 2004). According to Rosenow (2005) as many as 10% of novice teachers in high-poverty schools fail to finish their first full year of teaching. While these numbers are alarming, alone they do not provide adequate insight into the factors that influence a novice teacher’s intent to stay or leave the profession. Factors influencing a teacher’s decision to leave the profession range from job stress to low pay to inadequate support (Reiman & Corbell, 2007). However, induction programs with strong support elements have shown promise in increasing retention rates of novice teachers (Corbell, Osborne, & Reiman, 2010; Hammer, 2005). American public schools are at a critical crossroads. In the next decade, it is estimated that an additional 200,000 teachers will be needed as a result of teacher retirements, increasing birthrates, and immigration, and the popularity of class-size reduction initiatives (Zumwalt & Craig, 2009; Graue & Rauscher, 2009). Compounding the problem is the fact that some states, like Arizona, fail to produce enough college graduates to fill the demand for new teachers (Berry, Fuller, & Williams, 2007). This has resulted in some school distr icts, particularly rural ones, recruiting and hiring teachers from other states resulting in novice teachers who migrate across state lines to begin their careers (Allen, 2005). Little is currently known about the factors that influence the intent to stay for the sub-population of novice teachers who migrate across state lines to begin their teaching careers. However, current research on new teacher retention suggest that induction programs with strong mentor, colleague, and administration support help to increase retention of novice teachers (Corbell, 2008). Statement of Problem Despite the efforts by administrators and policy makers to increase the retention of novice teachers, research consistently shows that between 30-50% of teachers leave the profession within their first three years (Ingersoll & Smith, 2011; Greiner & Smith, 2006; Darling-Hammond, 2004) Furthermore, Merkel (2004) describes the problem of new teacher attrition in Arizona as â€Å"chronic†. Many Arizona districts, particularly rural ones, experience the â€Å"revolving door† described by Ingersoll (2003) in which new teachers are hired, trained, and supported but not retained beyond their first few years. Therefore, the purpose of this quantitative study will be to examine the factors that influence retention rates of novice teachers who migrate to Arizona from out of state to begin their careers. Significance of Study It is not known if novice teachers w

John Maynard Keynes Circular Flow Money Modern Macroeconomics Economics Essay

John Maynard Keynes Circular Flow Money Modern Macroeconomics Economics Essay Keynes John Maynard Keynes an economist from Britain. Keynes economic theory was based on circular flow of money. His views and ideas greatly affected modern macroeconomics and social liberalism. In Keynes theory, one persons spending goes towards anothers earnings, and when that person spends her earnings she is, in effect, supporting anothers earnings. This circle continues on and helps support a normal functioning economy. However, the advent of the  global financial crisis  in 2007 has caused a resurgence in Keynesian thought. Keynesian economics has provided the theoretical underpinning for the plans of President  Barack Obama  of the United States, Prime Minister  Gordon Brown  of the United Kingdom, and other global leaders to ease the  economic recession. JMK was given low marks for his views on inflation. His preoccupation with unemployment led him to ignore the issue of inflation completely. Since his death in 1946 his name has been linked to such inflationists slogans as full employment at any cost, and money doesnt matter. It is small wonder that he has been widely perceived as an inflationist and that our present inflation is often described as the legacy of Keynes. Democracy in Deficit : The Political Legacy of Lord Keynes Buchanan and Wagner Lord Keynes himself must bear substantial responsibility for our apparently permanent and perhaps increasing inflation. Without Keynes inflation would not be clear and present danger to the free society that it has surely now become. The legacy or heritage of Lord Keynes is the intellectual legitimacy provided to deficit spending inflation and the growth of government. In reality Keynes deplored inflation warned repeatedly of its evils and recommended restricted demand management policies to prevent it. Keynes strong aversion to inflation is evident in even his earliest work. It appears in his Indian Currency and Finance (1913). There he emphatically rejects the argument that a depreciating currency is advantageous to trade contending that any advantages derived from inflation are only temporary and that they occur largely at the expense of the community and therefore do not profit the country as a whole. In his Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919) he said Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the capitalist system was to debauch the currency. By continuing process of inflation governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved an important part of the wealth of their citizens. By this method they not only confiscate but they confiscate arbitrarily and while the process impoverishes many it actually enriches some. He then proceeds to specify at least four ways that rapid inflation works to weaken the social fabric and to undermine the foundations of the capitalist free market system. First, unforeseen inflation he says results in a capricious and totally arbitrary rearrangement of riches that violates the principles of distributive justice. Besides its inequities inflation also renders business undertakings riskier and thereby turns the process of wealth getting into a gamble and a lottery. In generating risk and injustice, inflation strikes not only at security, but at confidence in the equity of the existing distribution of wealth. Second inflation violates long term arrangements based on the assumed stability of the value of money. In so doing, inflation disturbs contracts and upsets all permanent relations between debtors and creditors which form the ultimate foundation of capitalism. Third inflation generates social discontent and directs it against businessmen whose windfall profits are wrongly perceived to be the cause rather than the consequence of inflation. This discontent is exploited by governments which being many of them reckless as well as weak seek to direct on to a class known as profiteers the popular indignation against the more obvious consequences of their vicious methods. In other words governments actually responsible for causing inflation seek to shift the blame onto businessmen who consequently lose confidence in their place in society and become the easy victims of intimidation by government of their own making and a press of which they are proprietors. By making business a scapegoat and target of vilification and control inflation reinforces anti business attitudes and weakens support for what Keynes called the active and constructive element in the whole capitalist society. Finally inflation tends to breed such misguided remedies as price regulation and profiteer-hunting that may do more damage than the inflation itself. Keynes was especially critical of the tendency of governments to resort to price controls which in his view lead to resource misallocation and a reduced supply of goods thereby compounding inflationary pressures. Regarding the dis-incentives to real out-put occasioned by controls he said that the preservation of a spurious value for the currency by the force of law expressed in the regulations of prices contains in itself however the seeds of final economic decay and soon dries up the source of ultimate supply. For by freezing prices at what are likely to be disequilibrium levels controls constitute a system of compelling the exchange of commodities at what is not their real relative value and this not only relaxes production but finally leads to the waste and inefficiency of barter. Keynes concern with the dangers of inflation influenced his policy advice in the post war boom of 1920 when an outburst of inflation threatened the British Economy. Nowhere does Keynes express his concern for inflation more strongly that in the TRACT. There his chief fear is that inflation may retart capital formation and inhibit long term economic growth. He specifies at least three ways that this can happen. He notes first the inflationary disincentive to saving. By eroding the real value of past savings inflation diminishes the capacity of the investing class to save and destroy the atmosphere of confidence which is a condition of the willingness to save. With a smaller portion of national income flowing into saving and investment the rate of capital accumulation falls. And since according to Keynes The national capital must grow as fast as the national labour supply for the maintenance of the same standard of life it follows that a fall in capital growth below the required potential rate will lower the living standards. In short by discouraging saving and capital formation inflation may cause a fall in the aggregate capital/labour ratio and a corresponding drop in labour productivity and output per capita. A second factor regarding capital accumulation is the undercharging of the depreciation during inflation and the consequent inadequate provision for the replacement of worn-out capital. This occurs because depreciation charges on capital equipment are computed on the basis of original cost rather than replacements costs. These replacement costs rise with inflation. Thus when prices rise the depreciation charge calculated on the basis of the original cost are too small to replace the worn-out capital. The result may be an unintended depletion of the capital stock. In such condition said Keynes a country can even trench on existing capital or fail to make good its current depreciation. For it is one of the evils of a depreciating currency that it enables a community to live on its capital unawares. The increasing money value of the communitys capital goods obscures temporarily a diminution in the real quantity of stock. Yet a third adverse effect on capital formation, he noted, is the increased business risk resulting from inflation. For inflation adds to ordinary business risk the extra risk directly arising out of instability in the value of money. To compensate for this extra risk, businessmen add a risk premium to the rate at which they discount the future, and the higher discount rate discourages investment. The discouraging effects of inflation on saving, in-vestment, and growth were not the only inflationary evils described by Keynes in the Tract. Others in-cluded (1) the injustice and inequity resulting from inflationary redistributions of income and wealth, (2) the resort to spurious inflation remedies-e.g., price controls, excess profits taxes, profiteer-hunting and the like-remedies that constitute not the least part of the evils, often doing more harm than the inflation they are designed to cure, and (3) the social resentment and discontent produced by inflation. This resentment, when directed against the business class whose windfall profits are wrongly perceived as the cause rather than the consequence of inflation, works to discredit enterprise and to weaken support for the productive element of society-the prop of society and the builder of the future He notes that unanticipated inflation may temporarily stimulate economic activity by raising profits and profit expectations. Profits rise, he said, because wages and other costs lag behind rising prices during inflation. And with nominal wages lagging behind prices, real wages fall, thus inducing producers to step up their employment of labor. Likewise, the lagged adjustment of market interest rates to inflation and the consequent fall in the real cost of borrowing leads producers to expand their operations. Finally, inflation reduces the real burden of fixed charges, thereby giving a temporary fillip to profits and to economic activity. But Keynes insisted that any such stimulus would most likely be small and short-lived. Moreover it would constitute an undesirable overstimulation of industrial activ-ity requiring undue strain on capacity and a corre-sponding over-exertion of labor. For these reasons he judged the overall benefits to be minimal. Consequently, when Keynes weighed the benefits of inflation against the evils, he found the latter to far outweigh the former and accordingly came down heavily in favor of price stability. He summarized his case for price stability best when he declared that, because inflation is unjust and deflation is inexpedient . . . , both are evils to be shunned. The individualistic capitalism of today, precisely because it entrusts saving to the individual investor and production to the individual employer, presumes a stable measuring-rod of value, and cannot be efficient-perhaps can-not survive-without one It follows, he said, that the government should make price stability its primary policy goal. For, if we are to continue to draw the voluntary savings of the community into investments, we must make it a prime object of deliberate State policy that the standard of value, in terms of which they are expressed, should be kept stable Monetarist Aspects of the Tract The analysis of inflation contained in the Tract has much in common with the position taken by todays monetarists. Specifically, inflation is discussed within the context of an analytical-model that is remarkably monetarist in spirit, embodying such standard monetarist ingredients as (1) the quantity theory of money, (2) the concept of inflation as a tax on real money balances, (3) the monetary approach to exchange rate determination, and (4) the Fisherian distinction between real and nominal interest rates. The paragraphs below summarize Keynes views on these elements in order to demonstrate that he was not the stereotype nonmonetarist caricature of the textbooks. Quantity Theory of Money The Keynes of the Tract was an unequivocal ad-herent of the quantity theory. This theory, he said, is fundamental. Its correspondence with fact is not open to question [7; p. 61]. His own version of the theory as elucidated in the Tract is essentially the same as the modern monetarist version and embodies the following monetarist elements : (1) a money supply and demand theory of price level determination, (2) the notion of money stock exogeneity, implying money-to-price causality, (3) the concept of the demand for money as a stable function of a few key variables, and (4) a focus on the special role of price expectations in the money demand function. Regarding the money supply and demand theory of the price level, he said that two elements determine general prices and the value of money. First, the quantity, present and prospective, of [money] in circulation. Second, the amount of purchasing power which it suits the public to hold in that shape [7; p. xviii]. Elsewhere in the Tract he says that the price level depends on the currency policy. of the government and the currency habits of the people, in accordance with the quantity theory of money Finally, Keynes employed the quantity theory in his policy analysis, arguing (1) that inflation is caused by an excess supply of money, (2) that such monetary excess could stem from falls in money demand as well as from rises in money supply, (3) that the central bank possesses the power to prevent the latter and counteract the former, and (4) that it should employ this power to stabilize prices. For price stability he recommended deliberate countercyclical movements in the money supply to offset or nullify the procyclical impact of changes in money demand on prices. He thought that real money demand fluctuated with the state ofbusiness confidence, falling in booms, rising in slumps, and thereby amplifying cyclical movements of prices. The characteristic of the credit cycle, he said, consists in a tendency of [real cash balances] to diminish during the boom and increase during the depression [7; p. 67]. To counteract these he advocated deliberate monetary contraction in booms and monetary expansion in slumps. The time to deflate the supply of cash, he said, is when real balances are falling . . . and . . . the time to inflate the supply of cash is when real balances are rising, and not, as seems to be our present practice, the other way round [7; p. 149]. In so stating, he rejected the monetarist case for a fixed monetary growth rate rule (which he argued is bound to lead to unsteadiness of the price level when money demand fluctuates) in favor of discretionary monetary management [7; p. 69]. In the modern world of paper currency and bank credit, he declared, there is no escape from a managed currency [7; p. 136]. Note, however, that while he rejected the monetarist case for rules instead of discretion in the conduct of monetary policy, he did voice the modern monetarist complaint that discretionary monetary movements frequently tend to be procyclical rather than countcyclical. That is, he complained that the British monetary authorities had perversely engineered monetary expansions in booms when money demand was falling and monetary contraction in slumps when money demand was rising thereby aggravating rather than mitigating inflation and deflation. These -policy errors notwithstanding, however, he remained a strong advocate of discretionary monetary intervention in the pursuit of price stability. The second monetarist ingredient that Keynes enunciates in the Tract is the concept of inflation as a tax on real money balances. As noted by the late Harry Johnson, this inflation tax analysis constitutes an essential part of the quantity theory approach to inflation. Consistent with that approach, Keynes argues that inflation is a method of taxation which the government uses to secure the command over real resources, resources just as real as those obtained by [ordinary] taxation [7; p. 37]. What is raised by printing notes, he writes, is just as much taken from the public as is a beer duty or an income tax [7; p. 52]. Regarding the inflation tax he says that a government can live by this means when it can live by no other. It is the form of taxation which the public find hardest to evade and even the weakest government can enforce, when it can enforce nothing else [7; p. 37]. In discussing the inflation tax, Keynes stresses that it is a tax on cash balances. The burden of the tax, he says, falls on cashholders, i.e., on the holders of the original . . . notes, whose notes [after inflation] are worth . . . less than they were before. The inflation has amounted to a tax . . . on all holders of notes in proportion to their holdings. The burden of the tax is well spread, cannot be evaded, costs nothing to collect, and falls, in a rough sort of way, in proportion to the wealth of the victim. No wonder its superficial advantages have attracted Ministers of Finance [7; p. 39]. He next explains how inflationary money creation transfers rear resources from cashholders to the government. He notes that a given, say, 25 percent inflation rate requires an equivalent rate of rise of cash holdings just to maintain real money balances at desired levels. To accomplish this, cashholders cut expenditures on goods and services and add the unspent proceeds to money balances. The reduced private outlay for goods and services releases re-sources which the government acquires with newly issued money that is then added to private cash balances. In this way inflation enables the government to appropriate real resources from cashholders just as surely as if it had taken part of their earlier money balances and spent the proceeds on goods and services. How much the government gets depends upon the quantity of real balances the public wishes to hold when the inflation rate is 2.5 percent. Assuming the public desires real balances totaling $36 million, the governments tax take is 25 percent of that sum or $9 million. Or, as Keynes himself put it in discussing the effects of the hypothetical 25 percent inflation tax on real balances of $36 million, by the process of printing the additional notes the government has transferred to itself an amount equal to $9 million, just as successfully as if it had raised this sum in taxation [7 ; p. 39]. Keynes discussion of the inflation tax includes a sophisticated analysis of the optimal rate of inflation from the point of view of maximizing tax revenue. In this connection he makes four points. First, from the formula that tax yield equals tax rate times tax base, it follows that the yield of the inflation tax is the multiplicative product of the inflation rate (tax rate) and real cash balances (tax base), respectively. Second, the tax base is not invariant to the tax rate but falls when the latter rises. That is, when the government raises the tax rate the tax base tends to shrink as people seek to avoid the inflation tax by changing their habits and economizing on real money holdings. Were this not so, said Keynes, there would be no limit to the sums which the government could extract from the public by means of inflation [7; p. 42]. Third, because the tax base shrinks with rises in the tax rate, the government will realize more revenue from a tax rate rise only if it causes a less-than-proportionate fall in the base. A government has to remember, he said, that even if a tax is not prohibitive it may be unprofitable, and that a medium, rather than an extreme, imposition will yield the greatest gain [7 ; p. 43]. Fourth, it follows that there is one inflation rate that maximizes tax revenue and that occurs where the percentage increase in the tax rate equals the percentage shrinkage in the tax base, i.e., where the elasticity of real money demand with respect to the inflation rate is unity. Here is the concept of the tax-maximizing rate of inflation, that plays such a key role in the modern monetarist analysis of inflationary finance. A Treatise on Money (1930) If the Tract is famous for its quantity theory-inflation tax analysis, the Treatise is equally famous for its celebrated fundamental equations of prices and the corresponding distinction between income inflation and profit inflation.8 Constituting the central analytical core of the Treatise, the fundamental equations express price level increases as the sum of two components, namely (1) increases in profit per unit of output, and (2) increases in unit costs of production (chiefly labor costs). Of these two components of price change-namely changes in profit and changes in costs, respectively-Keynes labels the former profit inflation and the latter income inflation. Profit inflation occurs when prices are outrunning costs, leaving a large and growing margin for profit. By contrast, income inflation occurs when wages are rising as fast as prices thereby preventing profit growth. It should be noted that Keynes income inflation does not correspond to what today is called cost-push inflation, i.e., an exogenous rise in wages and hence prices caused, for example, by the exercise oftrade union monopoly power. Rather it is the induced endogenous result of an increased demand for labor and other resources generated by prior profit inflation.9 For, according to Keynes, most income inflations do not stem from autonomous (spontaneous) increases in wages caused by the powers and activities of trade unions [8, p. 151]. Instead they stem from profit-induced rises in the demand for (and hence prices of). labor and other factor resources. That is, a profit inflation. stimulates firms to expand output and hence their demand for factors of production. This leads, to a bidding up of factor prices that raises production costs and generates income inflation. This process continues until wages and other factor prices rise sufficiently to eliminate excess profits.10 Seen this way, income inflations. possess three distinctive features. They occur at the expense of profit inflations, eventually annihilating the latter. They need not cause a rise in prices since they are largely offset by compensating falls in profit inflation. Finally, they are a crucial part of the process that transforms inflation-engendered profits into costs and thereby terminates the. temporary stimulus to economic activity. Having developed the distinction between profit and income inflation, Keynes used it to analyze the effect of inflation on output and economic growth. Regarding these effects he reached two main conclusions. For a recent exposition of the fundamental equations and the corresponding concepts of income and profit inflation, see Patinkin [11; pp. 33-8]. What follows draws heavily from Patinkin. This point is stressed by Patinkin [11; p. 37]. 10 See Keynes [8; pp. 241-2] and Patinkin [11; pp. 37, 45]. First, only profit inflation has the power to stimulate output and growth. It is the teaching of this treatise, he said, that the wealth of nations is enriched, not during income inflations, but during profit inflations . . . at times, that is to say, when prices are running away from costs [9; p. 137]. More precisely, profit inflation stimulates both current and long-term real output. It stimulates current output by raising prices relative to wages thus lowering real wages and increasing employment. And it stimulates long-term real output by shifting income from wages to profit thereby permitting faster capital accumulation and a higher rate of economic growth. In short, the effects of profit inflation include the spirit of buoyancy and enterprise and the good employment which are engendered; but mainly the-rapid growth of capital wealth and the benefits obtained from this in succeeding years [9; p. 144]. These benefits, however, are possible only when prices are outrunning costs, leaving a substantial margin of profit to finance investment and growth. They cannot occur in income inflations where wages rise as fast as prices and thus annihilate the very profits. that constitute both the means and the inducement to economic growth. It follows that income inflation, unlike profit inflation, is incapable of enhancing growth. Second, what matters for investment and growth is how long it takes for profit inflation to give way to income inflation, and this depends on the speed of adjustment of wages to prices. If the interval is short and wages adjust rapidly to prices, then inflation will have little or no impact on capital formation and growth. But if the interval is long and wages adjust slowly to prices, then the stimulus may be considerable and profit inflation, in Keynes own words, becomes a most potent instrument for the increase of accumulated wealth [8; p. 267]. Regarding the interval, Keynes apparently felt that it had indeed been long in particular historical episodes-quite long enough, he said, to include (and, perhaps to contrive) the rise . . . of the greatness of a nation [9; p. 141]. In this connection he advanced the hypothesis that the early industrialization of England and France had been powered by profit inflation. It is unthinkable, he declared, that the difference between the amount of wealth in France and England in 1700 and the amount in 1500 could ever have been built up by thrift alone. The intervening profit inflation which created the modern world was surely worth while if we take the long view [9; p. 145]. Lest one wrongly conclude from the foregoing that Keynes of the Treatise was an out-and-out inflationist, three cautionary observations should be made. First, he was referring to gently rising prices and not to the rapid double-digit inflation that is unfortunately so common today. More precisely, he was referring to slow creeping secular inflation of no more than 1 to 2 percent per year. Today such mild inflation would be viewed as constituting virtual price stability. Second, his analysis of beneficial inflation refers chiefly to capital-poor preindustrial societies and not to wealthy modern capitalist economies.11 Most of his historical examples are taken from the pre-capitalist or early-capitalist era when western Europe was very poor in accumulated wealth and greatly in need of a rapid accumulation of capital [9; p. 145 and 8; p. 268]. Under these conditions it is conceivable that slowly-creeping profit inflation might indeed have spurred industrialization not only by diverting resources from consumption to capital formation, but also by breaking feudal bonds, stimulating enterprise, encouraging market-oriented activity, and widening the scope of the market. These latter benefits, however, are no longer available to wealthy, market-oriented modern capitalist economies that are more likely to find secular inflation a curse rather than a blessing. For this reason Keynes refrained from recommending even slightly inflationary policies for modern economies. Finally, it should be remembered that Keynes was referring to profit inflation characterized by prices persistently rising faster than wages and not to modern inflations in which wages sometimes rise ahead of prices or at least follow them without delay thereby wiping out the profits generated by the price increases.12 As previously mentioned, Keynes held that inflation stimulates growth only if wages lag substantially behind prices leaving a large and persistent margin of profit to finance capital formation. This wage lag, however, is hardly characteristic of modern inflations in which wages rise swiftly not only to restore real earnings eroded by past inflation but also to protect real earnings from expected future inflation. The clear implication is that Keynes would have opposed these modern inflations, which according to his analysis are income rather than profit inflations. Accordingly, it is not surprising that Keynes, at the end of a long passage extolling the historical accomplishments of profit inflation, nevertheless declared, I am not yet converted, taking everything into ac-11 On this point see Haberler [2; pp. 98-100]. 12 See Haberler [2; p. 99]. count, from a preference for a policy today which, whilst avoiding deflation at all costs, aims at the stability of purchasing power as its ideal objective [9; p. 145]. There is no reason to believe that he ever changed that position. On the contrary,. there is strong evidence that he remained a determined foe of inflation and an adamant proponent of price stability even to the extent of warning of the potential danger of inflation in 1937 when the unemployment rate was in excess of 10 percent of the labor force. Articles in The Times (1937) The most convincing evidence of his continuing strong opposition to inflation in the 1930s even after the publication of his celebrated General Theory, appears in four articles he wrote for The Times in early 1937.13 There, in discussing policies for dealing with unemployment at the business cycle peak of 1937, he made it abundantly clear that his primary concern was preventing inflation. In particular, he argued that the 1937 unemployment rate, although very high (indeed, as high as 12 ½ percent), was nevertheless at its minimum noninflationary level at which demand pressure must be curtailed to prevent inflation. Accordingly, he recommended a sharp cutback in government expenditure on the grounds that the economy was rapidly approaching the point where further increases in aggregate demand would be purely inflationary. I believe, he said,. that we are approaching, or have reached, the point where there is not much advantage in applying a further general stimulus at the centre [4; pp. 11, 44, 65]. In so stating, he identified the noninflationary full employment rate of unemployment (NIFERU) below which industrial bottlenecks frustrate the intended output and employment effects of aggregate demand expansion policy so that mainly prices rise.14 Beyond that point, he said, noninflationary reductions in joblessness could only be achieved by specific structural policies designed to lower the full employment rate of unemployment itself. As for the existing high level of that unemployment rate, he attributed it to structural rigidities in the 1. These articles are reprinted and discussed in Hutchison [4]. Unless otherwise noted, all references in this section are to Hutchison. 14 The NIFERU concept also appears in the General Theory where Keynes asserts that! beyond a certain point, structural impediments (a series of bottle-necks) would prevent the noninflationary expansion of output and employment long before full capacity is reached. At the bottleneck point any further increase in aggregate demand would, in his words, largely spend itself in raising prices, as distinct from employment [10; pp. 300-l]. British economy, in particular to a substantial mismatch between the location and skill mix of the labor force and the location and composition of demand. As he put it, the economic structure is unfortunately rigid and this rigidity prevented output and employment from responding to increases in aggregate demand so that only prices rise [4; pp. 11, 65-6]. It follows, he said, that to achieve noninflationary reductions in unemployment we are more in need today of a rightly distributed demand than of a greater aggregate demand [4 ; pp. 11, 66]. In other words, noninflationary reductions in unemployment cannot be obtained by expansionary aggregate demand-management policies but rather require a different technique [4; pp. 11, 14, 44, 66]. To this end he advocated specific structural policies to reduce unemployment on the grounds that noninflationary reductions in unemployment could only be achieved via measures that eradicate structural rigidities and lower the equilibrium unemployment rate itself. In so arguing, he foreshadowed by 30 years the modern monetarist concept of the natural rate of unemployment. He also refuted the popular contention that he was an inflationist who advocated full employment at any cost. That is, his 1937 articles amply demonstrate that, far from being an inflationist, his main consideration was preventing inflation-even at a time when the u

Main Themes in A Streetcar Named Desire :: English Literature

Main Themes in A Streetcar Named Desire Fantasy/Illusion: Blanche dwells in illusion; fantasy is her primary means of self-defense. Her deceits do not carry any trace of malice; rather, they come from her weakness and inability to confront the truth head-on. She tells things not as they are, but as they ought to be. For her, fantasy has a liberating magic that protects her from the tragedies she has had to endure. Unfortunately, this defense is frail and will be shattered by Stanley. In the end, Stanley and Stella will also resort to a kind of illusion: Stella will force herself to believe that Blanche's accusations against Stanley are false. The Old South and the New South: Stella and Blanche come from a world that is rapidly dying. Belle Reve, their family's ancestral plantation, has been lost. The two sisters, symbolically, are the last living members of their family. Stella will mingle her blood with a man of blue-collar stock, and Blanche will enter the world of madness. Stanley represents the new order of the South: chivalry is dead, replaced by a "rat race," to which Stanley makes several proud illusions. Cruelty: The only unforgivable crime, according to Blanche, is deliberate cruelty. This sin is Stanley's specialty. His final assault against Blanche is a merciless attack against an already-beaten foe. On the other hand, though Blanche is dishonest, she never lies out of malice. Her cruelty is unintentional; often, she lies in a vain effort to plays. Throughout Streetcar, we see the full range of cruelty, from Blanche's well-intentioned deceits to Stella self-deceiving treachery to Stanley's deliberate and unchecked malice. In Williams' plays, there are many ways to hurt someone. And some are worse than others. The Primitive and the Primal: Blanche often speaks of Stanley as ape-like and primitive. Stanley represents a very unrefined manhood, a romantic idea of man untouched by civilization and its effeminizing influences. His appeal is clear: Stella cannot resist him, and even Blanche, though repulsed, is on some level drawn to him. Stanley's unrefined nature also includes a terrifying amorality. The service of his desire is central to who he is; he has no qualms about driving his sister-in-law to madness, or raping her. Desire: Closely related to the theme above, desire is the central theme of the play. Blanche seeks to deny it, although we learn later in the play that desire is one of her driving motivations; her desires have caused her to be driven out of town.