The Disappearance Analysis free essay sample

The short story â€Å"The Disappearance† by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni basically is about an Indian man who lived in America. At first, he married an educated Indian girl. However, she, unlike her husband, did not have a traditional mindset. She eventually left him, and this was something which he could not accept. He started to recall the times when she was with him. He was in a state of denial that his wife could possibly leave him when he thought he had been good to him, and that he had done enough to satisfy her. However, this was not the case. His wife wanted a modern husband – one who would let her have her say, and not only bringing her to Yosemite Park. He tried to forget about her, but he could not do so. He then came across a light old tea tin which she used to put her jewelry in. We will write a custom essay sample on The Disappearance Analysis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In his deep conscious mind, he knew that something was wrong in their marriage, although it seemed perfectly fine on the surface. He went to bank to find all her jewelry gone, but she did not take anything which was not hers. Reality slapped him in the face – he realized that she had really left him. Sad and humiliated, he remarried a simple and uneducated woman who would never be anything like his first wife – a modern woman with a need for say and equality. Before moving on to the analysis of the short story, one needs at least some background knowledge about the author to fully understand what compelled him or her to write a story. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni was born in Kolkata, India. She went to the United States for her graduate studies, receiving a Master’s degree in English from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. She also has a Ph. D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Most of her works are set in India and the United States, and the focus of her stories are often on the experiences of South Asian immigrants. She held many odd jobs to continue studying, including babysitting and working in the dining hall of the International House where she lived before. She also serves in organisations that help South Asian or South Asian American women who find themselves in abusive or domestic violence situations (Creative Writing program at the University of Houston, and the Advisory board of Maitri in the San Francisco Bay Area and Daya in Houston), and helps educate underprivileged children in India (the board of Pratham). Here, we can see why she writes mostly on stories based in India and the United States. We can also say that the influence of their culture has brought some impact to Divakaruni’s short story â€Å"The Disappearance† which  portrays some aspects of feminism and culture of both the traditional Indian and the modern society of the West. Knowing the theory used in the story is also instrumental. Feminist criticism examines the ways in which literature reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social and psychological oppression of women. This paper is about the analysis of the short story â€Å"The Disappe arance† using Feminist theory. This short story reinforces the oppression of women economically, socially and psychologically. The main theme of the story is about the delicate balance that is necessary in a marriage. In â€Å"The Disappearance†, the coming together of two different individuals caused a clash in expectations for both the husband and the wife. The husband had high expectations of his wife, wanting her to be dutiful and obedient, but also educated at the same time. This is absurd as most women who are educated would not be submissive to their husbands. On the other hand, the wife wanted to pursue her own dreams. She thought by marrying an Indian man living in America, she would get a husband who has a more modern mindset. However, this was not the case. All she got for a husband was exactly that – an Indian living in America, but still with a traditional way of thought. In short, it was traditional marriage which the husband wanted versus modern marriage which the wife strived for. Marriage should be a mutual agreement between two individuals, and both should be equal in terms of say and rights. However, in this short story, the husband had most of the say in things. For instance, his wife wanted to wear American clothes, but he insisted that she wore Indian clothing. He also objectified both his first and second wives as trophies. He had many expectations of his first wife at first – he described his ideal type of woman as if she were an object subject to his likeness. This is proved by the quotes in the short story, â€Å"If you can find me a quiet, pretty girl, he wrote, not brash, like Calcutta girls are nowadays, not with too many Western ideas† and â€Å"But she had to be smart, at least a year of college, someone he could introduce to his friend with pride†. His way of putting it makes it clear that he viewed his wife as a prize or trophy which he could be proud of and show off to his friends. After his first wife left him, again he had specific â€Å"requirements† that needed to be fulfilled in looking for a second wife. This time, he wanted a simple and uneducated woman. This main theme here reinforces feminist criticism in the way that women were viewed as objects rather than individuals, especially in this story where the society is patriarchal, and that the women were expected to obey and give precedence to their husbands. The sub theme of â€Å"The Disappearance† is the duties of women as wives. The women work as full-time housewives. The first wife was economically oppressed. This can be seen from the quote â€Å"Once in a while, he had to put his foot down, like when she wanted to get a job or go back to school or buy American clothes†. The husband denied the wife of the opportunity to hold a job and hence, she did not have the chance to support herself financially. She was also oppressed psychologically because she was restricted and could not live the life she wanted even though they were living in a free country. She eventually escaped and left behind the only product of their marriage which she really loved – her son. This must be a hard decision for a mother to leave her child behind, but we can say that she is not entirely irresponsible. This is because chances of her child growing up normally like his peers would be unlikely if they were to be in hiding everyday. By leaving her son behind, the wife could ensure that he would be taken care of, at least financially, by her husband. She could not guarantee that for her child given the circumstances she would be facing by escaping from her husband. So, this point here reinforces Feminist criticism. However, there is also a quote in the story which undermines Feminist criticism. â€Å"She’d been out for her evening walk, she took one every day after he got back from the office. Yes, yes, always alone, she said that was her time for herself†. Here, we can see that the wife was allowed to go for a walk every evening. She was not really restricted to be at home 24/7. This point here then undermines Feminist criticism. Besides that, the characters can also show us whether the short story reinforces or undermines Feminist criticism. There are two main characters in â€Å"The Disappearance†, which are the husband and the first wife. The husband was one who had a traditional mindset. This is different from his wife who had a modern way of thinking. This caused them to have a clash in expectations, and such a matter would most likely affect the delicate balance in a marriage. Even though he loved his first wife dearly, he was blind to her interests and needs, resulting in her escape later. The quote â€Å"But he always softened his no’s with a remark like, What for, I’m here to take care of you, or, You look so much prettier in your Indian clothes, so much more feminine† shows us that he made decisions for his wife despite what she wanted, denied her freedom, and that he viewed women as weak creatures who had to be dependent on men. He also domestically abused his wife. â€Å"He was always careful not to hurt her, he prided himself on that. And he always told himself he’d stop if she really begged him, if she cried. After some time, though, she would quit struggling and let him do what he wanted. But that was nothing new. † Here, we see how the husband was insensitive of his wife’s feelings and needs. The wife needed something – something more than sex. She had learned to quit resisting and only meeting her husband’s needs, only because she knew that resisting would not do her any good. She was subjugated, and her feelings were not taken into account at all. Moving on to the next character, which is the first wife, we can see that she was economically and psychologically oppressed by her husband. The husband should not have the right to deny her of opportunity to further her studies or to get a job. However, he denied her of both. She was also forced to leave her son behind because she had made her decision – to be free of her ever-controlling husband. These oppressions had caused their marriage to lose its balance when two individuals are not equal – that one dominated the other. The first wife was also someone with a modern and progressive mindset, as opposed to her husband’s which was more traditional. This led to conflicts as she was merely a decoration – something for the husband to be proud of, like a trophy he brought home. Thus, she had to suffer psychologically not only from the treatment her husband gave her, but also from leaving her son behind after she decided to leave for good. These points here show the reinforcement of Feminist criticism, although one could say that the point where the wife decided to leave her husband oppresses Feminist criticism because she was still strong enough to make decisions on her own and to leave her family behind in pursue of her own dreams. As a conclusion, the short story â€Å"The Disappearance† shows us both the reinforcement and the oppression of Feminist theory, but the reinforcement of the theory is more obvious and portrayed through the oppressions faced by the main character, the first wife, whether emotionally, physically or mentally. As future teachers, it is our job to educate the younger generation so that they are aware of such oppressions and that they can stand up for their rights and fight for justice when necessary. Women should not be oppressed in any way because they can contribute as much to the country as the men can.

Peru essays

Peru essays Peru, the famous home of the Incas remains one of the most intriguing countries of South America. When Pizarro and his men establish a colony in Lima it ended a great ancient civilization and opened up a journey towards the industrialized Peru that is seen today. Peru is a diverse country with many different types of land forms, industrial goods, and natural resources. The Republic of Peru is located in western South America. Columbia lies to the north of Peru, Brazil is located to the east, and Chile is to the south. Peru has three types of land (Theonnes, 7). The narrow plains are located on the coast of Peru toward the Pacific Ocean. This areas temperature ranges from 66 to 73 degrees Fahrenheit (Weil, 40-41). The second type of land found in Peru is the highlands. The highlands are located in the central region of Peru. This is the region where the Andes Mountains are found. Rain seldom falls below the five thousand foot level on the slopes of the Andes Mountains (Weil, 40-41). The temperature is very high in the summer time in the highland region. The third type of land is the lowlands in eastern Peru. The seasonal temperature range is about seventy-five degrees. The lowland region has many rivers, dense rain forests, and few people because of its hot, rainy weather (Weil, 40-41). The per capita income for Peru is 4,800 U.S. dollars per year (Peru, 2). Among the products of Peru are coffee, cotton, sugarcane, rice, wheat, potatoes, corn, plantains, coca, poultry, beef, dairy products, wool, and fish (Peru, 2). Peru also has a lot of industry. It has mining of metals, petroleum, fishing, textiles, clothing, food, processing, cement, auto assembly, steel, shipbuilding, and metal fabrication (Peru, 2). Its natural resources consist of copper, silver, gold petroleum, timber, fish, iron ore, coal, phosphate, potash, hydropower, and natural gas (Peru, 2). Perus major trading partners are the United States, ...

Critique article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Critique - Article Example ich thiazide drugs have come to be used in tandem with other pharmacological substances as a means of treating hypertension related morbidity and mortality. Beyond this, the aritlce expends a great deal of discussion on the accepted side effect profile of thiazide drugs and the means by which existing and current research is shedding more light on the renal impacts that these drugs invariably have on the patient that utilizes them for chronic treatment of hypertension (Ernst et al., 2009). Likewise, the low occurrence of pancreatic issues, specifically cancer, is related. The research that is performed with respect to thiazide and its treatment of hypertension within this article goes far above what is replicated in most journal entries; at least in part to the fact that the authors are focused on describing a much broader picture and not necessarily focusing in on one single determinant of hypertension treatment via thiazide synthesized drugs. For such reasons, this student has deeded it to be a valuable contribution to the study that will be

Project Management Degree Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Project Management Degree - Essay Example 13. How was this value decided on Don't know 14. Was there a risk manager or team specifically assigned within your organisation to deal with risk Y / N 15. If yes, please describe more fully I think there is someone who is in charge about these things but I really don't know who 16. Was probabilistic planning used within the project Y / N what is that 17. If yes, please elaborate 18. Does your organisation undertake formal risk management training Y / N 19. If yes, please describe 20. Approximately what is the budget for this kind of training per year Don't know 21. Did any issues occur in the project Y / N I guess so 22. If yes, please specify 23. How would you rate the performance of the project Please tick all boxes that apply Thank you for you participation 2 All details will remain confidential In completing the questions, please refer to the most recent project that you have been involved in. Name: Age: Job Title: Name of Organisation: Position: How long have you been in this position What was the budget for the project What was the main objective/product/benefit of the project 24. Did your organisation use a methodology to guide the project Y / N 25. If yes, what methodology (PRINCE2, DSDM etc.) was used Please specify I am not really sure what specifically, but I think they do use something 26. Have you ever undergone formal project management training Y / N 27. If yes please give details _________________________________________ 28. What is the approximate annual budget per person for this (if available) I really don't know 29. Is risk management a part of your project methodology Y / N 30. Was there a standard risk... I would say the company is not too much into strategies, it just try its best to handle difficult situations, try to learn from its mistakes, remember the lessons taken from the blunders that have occurred and try its best not to repeat the same mistakes in future endeavors. Was the project a success Who do you think was responsible for its success (or failure) Most of our undertakings are relatively successful, yes there had been a lot of problems, so many things taking place one after the other which really gave us problems but thankfully we were able to surpass everything and proof to that is until now the company continues to exist. As to who is responsible, I guess, all of us are responsible to the success or failure of the things we do. (4) Some of our projects were conceived based on very good concepts except that because most of the people in the company are ill-equpped to handle the issues that take place, most of the times the good ideas vanish. (4) Yes, management conceptualises well its activities as much as it can, but we all know that problems always arise however good is the conceptualisation and the planning in

How And Why The North Won War by 1865 Essay Example for Free

How And Why The North Won War by 1865 Essay Abstract My research topic for this essay is explain how and why the North won war by 1865. In this essay I will be explaining the various reasons as to why the South surrendered to the North and how it all happened. This war took place from 1861 to 1865 and is ranked as the most deadliest war in American history. The Union or Northern States won the war against the South or the Confederacy. Instead of looking at causes or consequences, in this essay I will go into the reasons as to why did the North win the Civil War. The American South, though raised in military tradition, was to be no match North in the coming Civil War. The manpower on the Union side was much larger and outnumbered the Confederate army strength. The lack of emphasis on manufacturing and commercial interest, the South surrendered to the North their ability to to fight independently. It wasnt the Northern troops nor generals that won the Civil War, but their guns and equipment. From the very first start of the war, the Union had various advantages. The North had large amounts of just about everything that the South did not, boasting resources that the confedaracy had even no means of attaining. (Brinkley, 1991). The Union had large amounts of land available for growing food crops which served for providing food for its hungry soldiers and money for the growing industries. The South, on the other hand, devoted most of their land to its main cash crop: cotton. Raw materials were almost entirely concentrated in Northern mines and refining industries. Railroads and telegraph lines are what the North was surrounded by, but left the South isolated, outdated, and starving. The Confederates were willing to sell their cash crops to the North to make any sort of profit. Little did they know, King Cotton could buy them time, but not the war. The South had bartered something that perhaps it had not intended: its independence. (Catton, 1952). The Norths growing industry had a powerful dominance over the South. Between the years of 1840 and 1860, American industry was steady growing. In 1840 the Research Paper: Explain how and why the North won war by 1865. 4 total value of goods manufactured in the United States stood at $483 million, increasing over fourfold by 1860 to just under $2 billion, with the North taking the kings ransom.(Brinkley, 1991). The hidden reason behind this dramatic growth of money is because of the American Industrial Revolution. Beginning in the early 1800s, some of the ideas of the industrial revolution began to get picked up from the American Society. One of the first industries to see quick development was the textile industry, but, thanks to the British government, this development almost never even passed. Years before this, Englands James Watt had developed the first successful steam engine. This invention completely revolutionized the British textile industry, and eventually made it the most profitable in the world (Industrial Revolution). The British government, were astonished with this new material but cautious, so they ended up trying to protect the nation by preventing the export of textile machinery and even the emigration of skilled mechanics. Despite valiant attempts at deterrence, though, many immigrants managed to make their way into the United States with the advanced knowledge of English technology, and they were anxious to acquaint America with the new machines.(Furnas, 1969). People like Samuel Slater can  be credited with beginning the revolution of the textile industry in America. He was skilled mechanic in England, and spent long hours studying the schematics for the spinning jenny until finally he no longer needed them. He emigrated to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and there, together with a Quaker merchant by the name of Moses Brown, Research Paper: Explain how and why the North won war by 1865. 5 he built a spinning jenny from memory. (Furnas, 1969). This would later become known as the first modern factory in America. It would also become known as when the North had the economic dominance over the South. The South could not seem to accept this after the time passed so they thought they could breakthrough somehow. Another inventor by the name of Eli Whitney set out in 1793 to revolutionize the Southern cotton industry. Whitney was working as a tutor for a plantation owner in Georgia (he was also, ironically, born and raised in New England) and therefore knew the problems of harvesting cotton. (Brinkley, 1991). Until then, the risky task of separating the seeds from the cotton before sale had to be done by slave labor and was not very effiecient. With that being said, Whitney developed a machine which would separate the seed from the cotton swiftly and effectively, cutting the harvesting time by more than one half. This machine, which became known as the cotton gin, had amazing results on the South, producing the highest trend the industry ever had. In that decade alone cotton production figures increased by more than 2,000 percent. (Randall and Donald, 1969). Lots business opportuniti es opened up, including the expansion of the Southern plantations. This was facilitated by the fact that a single worker could now do the same amount of work in a few hours that a group of workers had once needed a whole day to do. (Brinkley, 1991). This allowed slaves to pick much more cotton per day and this led most plantation owners to expand their land. Most of the gains from the cash crop took over the basic necessity of the food crop. In 1791 cotton production amounted to only 4000 bales, but by 1860, production Research Paper: Explain how and why the North won war by 1865. 6 levels had skyrocketed to just under five million bales. (Randall and Donald, 1969). Cotton was now bringing in about  $200 million a year, which is a very big change for the south. King Cotton became a fundamental motive in Southern economy. However, during this short time of economic process, the South failed to realize that it would never be fully sustained by King Cotton alone. What it needed was the help of Queen Industry. Eli Whitney knew and realized that the South would not rapidely accept change, so he decided to take his smart mind and ideas back up to the North, where it could be put to good use. He found his niche in the small arms business. A while back, during two long years of quasi-war with France, Americans had been troubled by the lack of rapidity with which sufficient armaments and equipments could be produced. Whitney came out with the invention of interchangeable parts. His vision of the perfect factory included machines that would produce, from a mold, the various parts needed to build a standard infantry rifle, and workers on an assembly line who would construct it. The North, eager to experiment and willing to try anything of economic progress, decided to test this new method of manufacture. It did not take long for the North to make Eli Whitneys dream a reality. The small arms industry was successful. By the onset of the Civil War, the confederate states were noting the fact that there were thirty-eight Union arms factories capable of producing a total of 5,000 infantry rifles per day, compared with their own paltry capacity of 100. (Catton, 1952). During the mid-1800s, the Industrial Revolution dug deep into to the sides of the Northern states. Luckily, immigration numbers were skyrocketing at this time, and the sudden profusion of factory Research Paper: Explain how and why the North won war by 1865. 7 positions that needed to be filled was not a big problem. (Randall and Donald, 1969). The immigrants, who were escaping anything from the Irish Potato Famine to British oppression, were willing to work for almost anything and withstand inhuman factory conditions. (Jones, 1993). Although this exploitation was extremely cruel and very unfair to the immigrants, Northern businessmen profited alot from it. By the beginning of war in 1860, the North, from an economical standpoint, stood like a towering giant over the Southern society. Of the over 128,000 industrial firms in the nation at the time, the Confederacy held only 18,026. New England alone topped the figure with over  19,000, and so did Pennsylvania 21,000 and with 23,000.(Paludan, 1988). The total value of goods manufactured in the state of New York alone was over four times that of the entire Confederacy. The Northern states produced 96 percent of the locomotives in the country, and, as for firearms, more of them were made in one Connecticut county than in all the Southern factories combined. The Confederacy had made one mistake and that was believing that its thriving cotton industry alone would be enough to sustain itself throughout the war. Southerners didnt see a need to go into the uncharted industrial territories when good money could be made with cotton. What they failed to realize was that the cotton boom had done more for the North than it had done for the South. Southerners could grow huge amounts of cotton, but due to the lack of mills, they couldnt do anything with it. The cotton was sold to the Northerners who would use it in their factories to produce woolens and linens, which were in turn sold back to the South. This cycle stimulated industrial Research Paper: Explain how and why the North won war by 1865. 8 growth in the Union and stagnated it in the Confederate states .(Catton, 1952). Southern plantation owners believed that the growing textile industries of England and France were highly dependent on their cotton, and that, in the event of war, those countries would come to their rescue. The Civil War gave an even bigger boost to the already growing factories in the North. The troops needed arms and warm clothes on a constant basis, and Northern Industry was ready to provide them. By 1862, the Union could use almost all of its own war materials using its own resources. The South, on the other hand, was in desperate need and dependent on outside resources for its war needs. Dixie was not only lagging far behind in the factories. It had also chosen to disregard two other all-important areas in which the North had chosen to thrive: transportation and communicationthe Railroad, the Locomotive, and the Telegraph- -iron, steam, and lightning-these three mighty genii of civilizationwill know no lasting pause until the whole vast line of railway shall completed from the Atlantic to the Pacific.(Furnas, 1969)  During the ante-bellum years, the North had shown a great desire for an effective mode of transportation. For a long time, canals had been used to transport people and goods across large amounts of land which were accessible by water, but, with continuing growth and expansion, these canals were becoming obstacle to many Northerners. They simply needed a way to transport freight and passengers across terrains where waterways didnt exist. The first glimmer of hope came as Americas first primitive locomotive, powered by a vertical wood-fired boiler, puffed out of Charleston Research Paper: Explain how and why the North won war by 1865. 9 hauling a cannon and gun crew firing salutes(Catton, 1952). The Railroading industry became a big thing in the North, where it provided a much needed alternative to canals, but could never quite help the South. Much of this could be because Northern engineers were experienced in the field of ironworking and had no problem constructing vast amounts of rail lines, while Southerners, werent very experienced in that area. The Union, with its some 22,000 miles of track, was able to transport weaponry, clothes, food, soldiers, and whatever supplies were needed to almost any location in the entire theater. Overall, this greatly helped the Northern war effort and increased the morale of the troops. The South, however, was lacking on most of this. With its meager production of only four percent of the nations locomotives and its scant 9,000 miles of track, the Confederacy stood in painful awareness of its inferiority.(Randall and Donald, 1969). Another obstacle arose in the problem of track gauge. As the war kept on, the Confederate railroad system steadily deteriorated, and by the end of the struggle, it had all collapsed. Communication, was also a big problem to Southern economical growth. The telegraph had came into American life in 1844. This fresh form of communication greatly facilitated the operation of the railroad lines in the North. Telegraph lines ran along the tracks, connecting one station to the next and aiding the scheduling of the trains. The telegraph provided instant communication between distant cities, helping the nation come together like never before. Yet, the South, unimpressed by this technology and not having Research Paper: Explain how and why the North won war by 1865. 10 the money to experiment, chose not to go into its development. By 1860, the North had laid over 90 percent of the nations some 50,000 miles of telegraph wire. Morses telegraph had become an ideal answer to the problems of long-distance communication, with its latest triumph of land taking shape in the form of the Pacific telegraph, which ran from New York to San Francisco and used 3,595 miles of wire (Brinkley, 1991). The North has assuredly won over the South. Northerners, prepared to enjoy the deprivation of war, realized that they were experiencing an enormous industrial boom even after the first year of war. Indeed, the only Northern industry that suffered from the war was the carrying trade. (Catton, 1952). To the South, however, the war was a drain and only made them suffer even more. The South decided not to use two crops which would prove the outcome of the Civil War. Those crops were industry and progress, and without them the South was defeated. Refrences Angle (1967) Paul M. A Pictorial History of the Civil War Years. Garden City, New York: Doubleday Brinkley (1991) American History: A Survey. New York: McGraw Catton, Bruce (1952) The Army of the Potomac: Glory Road. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Furnas, J.C (1969) The Americans: A Social History of the United States 1587-1914. New York: Putnam Jones, Donald C. (1993) Telephone Interview Paludan, Philip Shaw. (1988) A Peoples Contest. New York: Harper Randall, J.G., and David Herbert Donald. (1969) The Civil War and Reconstruction. Lexington, Massachusetts: Heath

Ethics of Psychoanalysis - Lacan’s Antigone and the Ethics of Interpretation :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Ethics of Psychoanalysis - Lacan’s Antigone and the Ethics of Interpretation My paper examines Lacan’s reading of the Antigone as an allegory of our own textual and ethical obligations as readers and critics. This paper addresses both the ethics and the aesthetics of our encounter with the text. In 1959, Lacan presented Sophocles’ Antigone as a model of pure desire for his seminar on The Ethics of Psychoanalysis: Antigone presents herself as autonomos, the pure and simple relationship of a human being to that which it miraculously finds itself carrying, that is the rupture of signification, that which grants a person the insuperable power of being—in spite of and against everything—what he [sic] is. . . . Antigone all but fulfills what can be called pure desire, the pure and simple desire of death as such [i.e., of that which is beyond the pleasure principle]. She incarnates this desire. (1986: 328-29) Lacan notes that Antigone’s decision to defy Creon consciously seeks death. She makes no effort to defend Polynices’ actions (Lacan 1986: 290, 323-25). Her choice takes her beyond the realm of rational discourse and the collective norms of human satisfaction it implies (Lacan 1986: 78, 281; Zizek 1991: 25). Hers is a position that transcends the comfortable binary oppositions that structure our daily ethical and social lives. Because her choice of death cannot be understood according to strictly rational norms, she cannot be read as representing some simple antithesis of freedom to tyranny, or the individual to the state (Lacan 1986: 281; Zizek 1992: 77-78). In fact, as she acknowledges, she had chosen death before Creon’s decree against the burial of Polynices, and she defines herself to Ismene as one already belonging to the realm of the dead (ll. 559-60; Lacan 1986: 315, 326). Creon is not a tyrant who forces Antigone to make an impossible choice between life and freedom; rather, he embodies the civic norms that her pursuit of a desire beyond the bounds of those desires articulated within the realm of common life both requires as defining foil, and transcends. Her choice thus represents a pure ethical act shaped neither by a self-interested selection among communally recognized goods nor the self-loathing of conforming to a code that is recognized and despised (Zizek 1992: 77). Such an ethical choice, as Lacan acknowledges, is Kantian in its devotion to a pure concept of duty, but psychoanalytic in its predication on a highly individualized desire whose content cannot be generalized into a universal ethical maxim (Lacan 1986: 68, 365-66).

Module 7 †Reflective Practice and Professional Development

Certificate in Education Module 7 – Reflective Practice and Professional Development Report to compare teaching roles In any organisation there must be some structure and it is this that leads to a selection of teaching and management roles within education. All roles are focused on the quality of service provided to not only the learners but to the community, our stakeholders, awarding bodies, funders and parents. The 3 roles I have chosen for comparison are Team Manager, which is my role at NN, a Trainer on the foundation learning programme at NN and the role of Learning Support Assistant.I have collected the information by talking to and observing, the trainer on foundation learning. I have researched the post of LSA as this is a role that I need to employ in the New Year for the new programme I will be running. I have 12 learners on programme at any given time, the course is entry 3 and the maximum I have in a group is 6. The courses are a mixture of practical and theory f or example the driving theory course as the name suggests is mainly theory however the nail technicians course is mainly practical.The trainer on foundation learning has a maximum of 16 learners and the level ranges between entry 3 and level 1. He does 75% practical and 25% theory as he gets the learners to take a lot of responsibility for their own learning. The LSA that I will be employing will be working on a 1:1 or 1:2 basis. We all work with 16-18 year olds that have not fitted into mainstream education. . I have split the responsibilities into sections of common themes to compare the roles. My role as Team Manager is to plan and direct the activities of the team.Through Team meetings and one to one support & supervision sessions we discuss the needs of current and potential learners, with this information in mind, I then need to create Schemes of Work which not only meet the individual needs of the learner and the targets, but also the standards and outcomes set by senior mana gement, funders and regulatory bodies. The session plans are then created by either myself or the trainers for the appropriate programme. The LSA’s, trainers and myself are all responsible for working from the session plans and ensuring that outcomes and targets are met and standards adhered to.As a group we would also discuss what additional resources and materials would be necessary for the course and create an essential list and a wish list. It would then be my responsibility to check what was available within the budget and authorise any additional spending. I am responsible for risk assessing and ensuring the health & Safety of the staff and learners. The trainers are responsible for the health and safety of themselves and learners during sessions and have a responsibility to bring to the attention of the team manager anything that arises during their sessions.The LSA has a responsibility to report any health and safety issue to their line manager. We all have a responsi bility to ensure that our areas are clean, tidy and secure at the end of each session. I am responsible for learner registrations, arranging internal and external verification and attending standardisation meetings. The trainers are responsible for providing me or their team manager with the necessary information for us to do the registrations and to ensure that learner’s portfolios are completed to an acceptable standard.The LSA’s can complete learner progress reports and are responsible for completing the tasks with the learners that have been set by the trainer. All of the roles are responsible for discipline and classroom management, the trainer is responsible for the discipline and management of the whole class, the LSA, alongside the trainer is responsible for the learners they are working with and I am responsible overall for making any final decisions about discipline and behavioural issues. On my project specifically, I allow the learners quite a lot more lati tude initially as my focus is on engagement following a long period of no education.The trainer on FL would expect a far greater standard of behaviour as he is preparing the learners for further training or employment. Ideally we would see a journey of improving behaviour from when they start on my course to when they finish on FL. The LSA’s are responsible for setting up equipment and resources whilst the trainer is responsible for deciding which equipment to use, designing any handouts/resources and ensure that resources are used effectively and efficiently. I need to ensure that there are adequate resources for the trainers including purchasing and designing my own resources whilst remaining inside the allocated budget.I am responsible for securing adequate funding to provide appropriate resources. We are all responsible for the learning journey of the learner; the LSA must be impartial when assisting the learners and ensure that their practice is professional and inclusiv e. The trainer is responsible for ensuring the practice with the group is inclusive and that they can challenge any discriminatory behaviour and attitudes. They design individualised learning plans with the learners and the LSA’s work towards goals set with the learners on these plans.I need to ensure that any new paperwork is designed within our, and other regulatory bodies, codes of practice. The trainer is responsible for completing initial assessments with the learner and I am responsible for ensuring that initial assessments take place and that all relevant paperwork is completed. The LSA would not be expected to do initial assessments however would be expected to contribute to learning reviews. I am responsible for ensuring that practice and assessments are standardised. All staff are required to attend standardisation meetings for the various awarding bodies that we use.This ensures that our assessments are fair, reliable, sufficient and valid. The Trainer on FL would be expected to work with external bodies to find and maintain suitable work placements however on my course this is not as relevant. The Team manager along with the health and Safety manager would be responsible for carrying out a risk assessment on the placement. The trainer is responsible for communicating with colleagues and attending meetings to ensure that training is standardised. They are responsible for collecting information that could be needed by others and passing it to their line manager.I am responsible for collating performance data to present to senior management, external agencies and regulatory bodies. In addition I am responsible for leading, managing, developing and motivating staff, including support & supervision and arranging adequate cover. I control and monitor expenditure against a set budget and contribute to the budget setting process. I am responsible for maintaining the viability of my project and work with my team manager colleagues to ensure that we m aximise, and identify any potential use of any shared resources.I am responsible for developing relationships with referral agencies, stakeholders and partnership agencies and where required work collaboratively in a multi agency setting, whilst maintaining confidentiality of information. The conclusion is that there are a lot of similarities between the roles as they are all predominantly based on supporting the learning journey of young people. All roles are vital for the success of the young people. The differences are based around the levels of responsibility and accountability.