A Walk to Remember Essay Example for Free

A Walk to Remember Essay When I was 17, my life changed forever. I’m 57 years old, but even now I can remember everything from that year, down to the smallest details. I relieve that year often in my mind, bringing it back to life, and I realize that when I do, I feel a strange combination of joy and sadness†¦. this is my story; I promise to leave nothing out. First you will smile, then you will cry—don’t say you haven’t been warned. ’’ Written by an international bestselling author and my personal favorite Nicholas sparks, comes a tale of true love, first love and everlasting love that you will never forget! A walk to remember’ is most definitely my favorite book of all time. The tale begins with a 57 year old Landon Carter, looking back at the year of 1958 set in, North Carolina. He remembers every single thing in that year. From the smell of both the sea and lilacs to the girl that changed everything in his life forever. Landon had already dated a girl or two. He even swore that he had once been in love. Certainly the last person in town he thought he’d fall for was Jamie Sullivan, the daughter of the town’s Baptist minister. A quiet girl who always carried a Bible with her schoolbooks, Jamie seemed content living in a world apart from the other teens. She took care of her widowed father, rescued hurt animals, and helped out at the local orphanage. Out of guilt and a bizarre twist of fate, Landon asks Jamie to the school dance and ends up volunteering to help her in the town churchs Christmas play. Over time, they become close friends, they share their dreams and aspirations with each other and strangely enough Jamie nurtured a very simple dream to get married in a church full of people where she could walk the aisle. As time passes, Jamie shows Landon how deep the human soul can be, opening his eyes to the power of undying faith and the strength of compassion and love. As their kinship grows, Jamie reveals that she has leukemia, a type of cancer, and her health begins to deteriorate. This totally breaks Landon and he goes frantic not knowing what to do. He finally turns to the bible that Jamie had given him. He looks for answers and finally realizes that his loves Jamie too much to let her dreams slip away. He knows what to do when he reads the following passage in the bible. â€Å"I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of you love by comparing it to the earnestness of others. † He asks Jamie to marry him. The most memorable part of the book is the wedding ceremony when Jamie gets up from her wheelchair and calls upon all of her remaining strength to walk down the aisle to stand beside Landon. It was as Landon recalls the most difficult walk anyone ever had to make. It was in every way a walk to remember. Soon enough Jamie passes away. But she doesn’t leave before teaching Landon the depths of the human heart; she teaches him the power of forgiveness. She was an angel in Landon’s eyes, who brought him and his father together and she taught him to believe in miracles. A walk to remember was published by grand central publishing in October 1999. It is a hardcover paperback consisting of 250 pages. A walk to remember is an entirely a work of fiction. Romantic drama is the genre of the book. This book is listed as no 12 on the list of 1999 best seller. A walk to remember, received mixed reviews from all over the world. 9% of the reviews being positive, there were some who didn’t share the same opinion as the rest of those who consider the book as unforgettable. while ‘ African sun times’ rates the movies as ‘ a remarkable love story that, like its predecessors will touch the hearts of readers everywhere’, Clarissa Cruz of ‘entertainment weekly’ pans the novel saying that its cliche riddled pros and twists can be predicted after skimming the prologue. A walk to remember is my favorite book because of the fact that it touched me so deeply. It was the first and only book that ever made me cry. It is a sweet, simple, and beautiful story of how love can lead to miracles. Some may consider it sappy, but that’s just how Mr. Sparks wanted it to be. It wasn’t a cheesy ending where Jamie miraculously recovers from cancer. Jamie teaches Landon forgiveness, she teaches him to pray, she teaches him love. There is a part in the book where Landon asks Jamie whether, she’s lost her faith. When she replies no, he asks her, whether it is because she thinks she will get better. And Jamie replies ‘no, it’s because it’s the only thing I have left’. And that’s what I learn from the book. Faith! Faith in god, faith in the fact that things will get better someday, faith that I will be a better person than I am today, faith that I’ll see my dreams come true. And finally I would like to conclude with a passage from the bible that Landon considered Jamie to be as the truest essence of its description. ‘Love is always patient and kind It is never boastful or conceited. Love takes no pleasure in other peoples pain. But delight in truth. It is always ready to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes†

Analysis of Buried Child by Sam Shepard Essay -- Buried Child Sam Shep

Analysis of Buried Child by Sam Shepard Sam Shepard has always written plays that have numerous illusions to frustrate the reader. Shepard has also been known for several twists in his plays, and also makes the reader believe in something that is not real. Born in 1943, Shepard always enjoyed Theatre and Playwriting. Now, nearly 60 years of age, Shepard is one of the most famous playwrights in America. In Shepard’s Buried Child, there are many twists and turns that have the reader wondering and wanting more. Buried Child can be similar to classic plays such as Oedipus Rex, where Shepard includes the theme of incest. He has also included many symbolic objects and Native American symbols of renewal with the large quantity of vegetables in the backyard of the family’s house. There are seven main characters in this play, the majority belonging to one family. The first impression seems like the family in the play are a normal Middle American family. Dodges one-track alcoholic mind, Halie’s irritating personality, and Tilden’s distant relationship with his father seems fairly typical of an elderly family; however, this is far from the truth. The play begins with Dodge, who is in his seventies, may not have much longer to live. He has an unhealthy cough, which gives the thought that he is extremely ill. In the play, Shepard is pointing out that Dodge is not only sick physically, but also mentally. His vicious cough seems to show the progression of his illness throughout the play. The introduction of Tilden, Dodge’s son, is quite unusual; he enters the house with an armful of corn and drops it in front of his father. The significance of this action will be noticed further into the play. When Tilden brings the corn in from the backyard, his father looks at him and tells him to give the corn back, thinking he has stolen it. Dodge snaps, "I haven't planted corn back there since 1935, so take that damn corn back form where ever you got it.† Yet, Tilden argues that the entire back yard is filled with tall stalks of corn, carrots and potatoes. Tilden is a young man living with his parents after getting in trouble in New Mexico. Halie, Tilden’s mother and Dodge’s wife, is abnormally protective of Tilden, which he is not allowed to do or say anything without the permission of Dodge or herself. Halie is constantly worrying about Ti... ...the family, and will hopefully lead them in a positive direction. The ending of this play comes to the conclusion that this family can never be a normal Middle American family. This family is at a loss, and will probably never see life the way that they have before. I believe the message Shepard is trying to reach out to the reader is that secrets and dishonesty can tear a family apart and make them go insane. Unfortunately for this play, the terrible secret was exposed too late. Shepard created an ending which the world could appreciate its simplicity yet complications. Buried Child explores the inner tensions of a rural existence, father-son relationships, and the place women hold in an ambiguous domestic atmosphere. Simply poetic, humorous, and mysterious, Buried Child is a vision of a troublesome family transformed into a symbol of America's loss of innocence. This play made Shepard a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1979, and is very much earned. Bibliography Jacobus, Lee A. 1994. The Bedford Introduction to Drama--Third edition. Microphil Publications. American Repertory Theatre. â€Å"Past Productions: Buried Child.† Dec. 96 http://www.amrep.org/past/buried/buried.html

The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Profits

Milton Friedman, â€Å"The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Profits† In the article, â€Å"The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Profits,† Friedman states that â€Å"businessmen believe that they are defending free enterprise when they proclaim that business is not concerned merely with profit but also with promoting desirable social ends. † This social responsibility is defined as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which is the belief that â€Å"corporations owe a greater duty to their communities and stakeholders† by having a â€Å"social conscience. This, among other things, includes being environmentally responsible, contributing to non-profit organizations, and eliminating discrimination. Friedman argues that â€Å"only people can have responsibilities† but that â€Å"businesses as a whole† cannot, as they are not persons. Since the corporate executive is an employee of the shareholders, and therefore only â€Å"responsible to his employers. † The corporate executive has primary responsibility to his employers to conduct business as they see fit, and manage the business to create the most profit while following the â€Å"basic rules of the society†.It is then seen that the corporate executive is acting as a â€Å"public employee,† while serving shareholders and should be directed by those shareholders how to spend their money. However, Friedman acknowledges that managers of corporations, while serving shareholders, are also people in their own right and may have their own social responsibilities that do not always follow those of the owners of the corporation. In that case, if the manager chooses to act based on his own beliefs instead of the direction of the shareholders, he is not performing in the best interests of the shareholders and is â€Å"spending the customers' money. This has a direct financial impact to both customer and employees. This can lead to the managers’ termination as he has not performed as directed by the shareholders by not making as much money as possible. It is also discussed that because â€Å"society is a collection of individuals,† there are individuals that can coerce others to conform to certain social norms and while others may not agree, they can be overruled and then must conform. This then leads to a â€Å"political mechanism† which can regulate how corporations operate and dictate their â€Å"social responsibility,† which, in theory, would extend the cope of the political mechanism. Friedman believes that a political mechanism is not necessary to achieve social responsibility because in a free society, â€Å"there is one and only one social responsibility of business—to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engage in open and free competition without deception o r fraud. † One question that can be posed from Friedman’s article is whether shareholders should prioritize the responsibilities that managers have as their agents.While we can acknowledge that shareholders invest in a corporation to make a profit and that managers are hired to maximize those profits, it is the responsibility of the shareholders to provide guidelines to those managers and prioritize his/her responsibilities. While we can assume that the first priority of the shareholders would be to maximize profits for the corporation, subsequent priorities could fall within the guidelines of community outreach, exceeding legal obligations or being environmentally sensitive.If we presume that corporations elect to be â€Å"socially responsible,† we should expect shareholders to provide policies and procedures to their managers. Without these, what responsibility does the manager have outside of maximizing profits? As Friedman suggests, the manager could be compe lled to act on his own beliefs and moral obligations to his community, church or charitable organization. But, since these would be at his discretion, what check and balances would he have with the shareholders? Would he be using money otherwise returned back to the shareholders and supporting organizations that are opposed by the shareholders?Because corporations are established to profit and shareholders invest money with expectations of a greater return, managers cannot be given a directive to be â€Å"socially responsible† without providing specific criteria of checks and balances to which needs to adhere. Therefore, it is imperative to the success of a corporation for managers to not act solely but rather to act within the policies of the shareholders. What Friedman implies is that shareholders should only be concerned with maximizing profits and not be obligated to be â€Å"socially responsible. In that case, the manager would only have one priority, to maximize profit s. However, what if that manager determined that social endeavors is the best option to maximize profits? This would make the corporation socially responsible while still maintaining maximum profits. The argument presented by Friedman in this case is that while the manager is performing as expected by maximizing profits, this type of â€Å"social responsibility is frequently a cloak for actions that are justified on other grounds rather than a reason for those actions. This â€Å"cloak† refers to corporations acting socially responsible but for the sole purpose of making profits rather than performing such endeavors for the sole purpose of benefiting society. An example would be a solar company providing â€Å"free† electricity to a campus in exchange for use land to promote their environmentally aware product. However, what they don’t tell you is that the electricity is being sold back to the power company for a profit. The perception is that the company has a social conscience when in reality it is being done for profits.While I agree with Friedman’s assessment that managers, as employees of shareholders, are responsible for maximizing profits, I disagree that corporations should only comply with governmental policies and should not adopt policies to be socially responsible. At the time Friedman wrote this article, western democracies and communist countries of Europe were in the middle of the Cold War and the idea of a global economy was not as prevalent in society as it is today.Consumers in those countries leaned towards buying locally over buying foreign products. Since the end of the Cold War, consumers have changed purchased habits to buy products from companies, regardless of their country of origin if it were the best product. However, this led to the matter of public opinion towards corporations playing a larger role in how well they integrate themselves into a community or help preserve the environment is a factor in ho w consumers choose to purchase products.For instance, if a company is considered â€Å"green,† it is determined to the environmentally friendly. This would lead consumers who support environmental protection to lead towards purchasing products from that company. Therefore, I believe that corporations take into account public opinion when deciding on whether to enact â€Å"social responsible† measures and that these measures are above and beyond the minimum requirements established by governing agencies.I am also convinced that shareholders, more today than ever, budget funds to contribute to socially acceptable contributions and directing managers how to spend these. It is my opinion that due to public opinion and a global influence on corporations, that a successful free market cannot be judged solely by the financial gain of a corporation, but in conjunction with how these corporations influence positive changes in society.

Classical Conditioning and Behaviorism Essay - 1096 Words

Classical Conditioning and Behaviorism When taking psychology classes I have always enjoyed learning about behaviorism because it seems so cut and dry; if someone wanted to get a clear understanding or their fellow man, all they would have to do is sit back and observe. With behaviorism there is no Id, Ego or Superego to take into account, just raw behavior. While this approach seems simple enough, I feel that it can only offer an incomplete window into seeing how people function and react with various things on a day to day basis. I don’t feel that behaviorism alone can define people on their interaction with the environment they are presented. Freud was on psychologist who voiced concerns to this as well. Freud believed that while†¦show more content†¦Looking at Watson’s body of works some of it can seem somewhat comical because some of his observations seem to be common sense. In behaviorism by John B. Watson he explains and gives examples of behaviorism at work in everyday life. One example go’s as follows. â€Å"If I am hungry, stomach contractions begin to drive me ceaselessly to and fro† Yes it was a different time the n but come on Watson. â€Å"If in this restlessness I spy apples on a tree, I immediately climb the tree and pluck the apples and begin to eat. When surfeited the stomach contractions cease†.(Watson 14-15). Maybe too many people have read this book and that is why America is an obese nation. If we all experienced being hungry and ate until the p hysical and emotional effects that came with being hungry we’d be in trouble, everyone know if you eat and still feel hungry you should give your body time to process some of the food you have eaten, however if your eating Chinese food that is an entirely different animal altogether. Watson’s experimentations on Albert are now seen by some as gross abuse of his powers as a practitioner of science. Albert was born with a number of congenital conditions that should have excluded him as viableShow MoreRelatedBehaviorism: Classical Conditioning1197 Words   |  5 PagesThere are four primary conditioning theories of behaviorism. These four theories are Pavlov’s (1849-1936) classical conditioning, Thorndike’s (1874-1949) connectionism (also known as law of effect), Guthrie s (1886-1959) contiguous conditioning, and Skinner’s (1904-1990) operant conditioning. According to the text (Shunk 2012) Classical conditioning was discovered around the beginning of the 20th century by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov was studying digestive process in dogs when heRead MoreBehaviorism And Classical Conditioning And Operant Conditioning Essay1504 Words   |  7 PagesBehaviorism is one of many theories in the field of psychology. It can be applied in different learning scenarios for different research purposes. Biographical information will be provided about the founders of the theory who are John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner. However, the information will focus more on their early education and known achievements. Furthermore, you will find different theories regarding behaviorism such as classical conditioning and operant conditioning. In order to understandRead MoreBehaviorism Theory Of Classical Conditioning1700 Words   |  7 Pages Behaviorism is a theory that behavior can be altered through conditioning. Behaviorism does not focus on thoughts or feelings of the subject, just their behavior. Ivan Pavlov was a major part of this movement of behaviorism with his theory of classical conditioning. The most important part of classical conditioning is that it is done through repetition. In his experiment he began with noticing that an unconditioned stimulus like dog food causes an unconditioned response like salivation. He thenRead MoreBehaviorism, Operant And Classical Conditioning1309 Words   |  6 Pagesideas and concepts and challenging them until they figured out how behavior works. Behaviorism is a school of thought that was joined from no other than John B. Watson. Behaviorism is the theory or doctrine that human or animal psychology can be accurately studied only through the examination and analysis of objectively observable and quantifiable behavioral events, in contrast with subjective mental states. Behaviorism was a movement in psychology and philosophy that emphasized the outward behavioralRead MoreThe Theory Of Classical Conditioning And Behaviorism753 Words   |  4 Pagesexperiment of how dog salivate before and after conditioning. His fundamental study was based on digestion and behaviors that are evoked during an event and an anticipate response. Yet, his experiment awoke the twentieth century by a different type of learning called Classical conditioning, which is a compulsory or unconditional type of learning from one stimulus to another through a response. The master of classical conditioning and behaviorism For many centuries ago, various studiesRead MoreBehaviorism and Classical Conditioning Essay3350 Words   |  14 Pagesconcepts, that of Behaviorism (Moore, 1921). Since the original behavioral theories were studied by scientists such as Edward Thorndike and John B. Watson, there have been many variations of the behaviorist view that have surfaced over the years. In this paper I will attempt to give a detailed description of the history of behaviorism including information about some of the most influential men associated with this movement. I will also explain the methodologies associated with behaviorism such as classicalRead MoreJohn B. Watson s Theory Of Psychology1048 Words   |  5 Pagesan enduring influence on psychology. Possibly his biggest contributions to psychology were his theory of behaviorism and his experiment on Little Albert. Though Watson’s experiments were extremely unethical and behaviorism doesn’t account for biological psychology, Watson was a n extremely remarkable psychologist because of his principal of behaviorism and his findings on classical conditioning. Background John Broadus Watson was born on January 8, 1878 in Travelers Rest, South Carolina. Watson’s familyRead MoreBehaviorism The Developmental Grand Theory1525 Words   |  7 PagesBehaviorism the Developmental Grand Theory Hillary C. Wade Cisco College Author Note This paper was prepared for Psychology 2314 Lifespan Growth and Development, Fall Mini-Semester, Taught by Linda Grant. Abstract Out of all the theories of lifespan development, behaviorism has proven to be the most efficient explanation of how we grow and adapt with our environments. Also known as the learning theory, it was developed by John B. Watson, and with major contributions from B.F. Skinner and Ivan PavlovRead MoreBehaviorism s Theory Of Psychology983 Words   |  4 PagesClassification Behaviorism claims that â€Å"consciousness† is neither defined nor unable concept; that it is merely another word for the â€Å"soul† of more ancient time (Watson, 1970). However, behaviorism holds the subject matter of human psychology it focus on the behavior or activities of the human being. Etymology The word behaviorism originates from the Middle French word behavior, meaning the observable activity in human and animal. This term was coined in 1913 by the United States psychologistRead MoreHow Two Incredibly Innovative Behavior Theorists During Their Time Were By John B. Watson1014 Words   |  5 PagesAmanda Blom EDS 6123 - Educational Practices I Dr. Barbara Murray 20 November 2014 Supervision Research Paper Two incredibly innovative behavior theorists during their time were, John B. Watson, and B. F. Skinner. The spark of the behaviorism movement began after Watson published the classic article Psychology as the behaviorist views it in 1913 (McLeod, 2004). John B. Watson’s prestigious career began in 1903 when he learned his doctorate degree in psychology with a minor in philosophy. Soon