“Death of a Salesman” by Miller and “A Doll’s House” by Ibsen Essay

â€Å"Death of a Salesman† and â€Å"A Doll’s House† are two plays that were written in different centuries. In these plays, among other things, is presented the place that women hold in the family, as well as in the society. Although in many aspects, the two protagonists of the plays, Linda and Nora respectively, appear to have things in common, at the same time they are very different, since Nora seems to be more modern and liberal than Linda, which is ironic given the fact that Ibsen wrote his play seventy years earlier than Miller. The representation of the two women in these two plays is what will be discussed in this paper. In â€Å"Death of a Salesman†, Linda embodies the role of the traditional American woman, which was to take care of her husband, her children and the house, regardless of her personal aspirations, and dreams. The woman is expected to stay at home and engage in everyday house works, like cooking, cleaning and sewing, while the man, as the head of the family, is expected to find a well-respected job position because it was the man’s duty to provide for the entire family. So Linda has given up on everything she hoped for in her life, she sacrificed herself, just to be with her husband and her two sons, even though her husband doesn’t seem to be treating her very well. Willy disregards every word Linda attempts to interject in family conversations by interrupting her and accusing her of interrupting him. He shouts at her, he doesn’t let her speak and when she does, he speaks to her badly. A distinct example is the passage towards the end of Act I, in which Linda attempts in vain to speak her mind: Linda: â€Å"Maybe things are beginning to-† Willy: â€Å"Stop interrupting!† (1907), and later on when Linda tries again to say something Willie tells her abruptly â€Å"Will you let me talk?† (1907), while he is the one doing most of the talking all this time. Despite her husband’s constant degradation, Linda appears to be a woman who is very loyal, loving, caring and understanding to her husband. Not even once did she complain about Willy’s belittling behavior. Linda seems to be for Willy the perfect wife: she always speaks very nicely to him, she makes sure that his clothes are always mended, and that he has got everything he needs with him before he leaves for a trip. She loves him very much and she doesn’t seem to hold against him the terrible way that he treats her. A distinct example is the fact that right after the incident of insulting her, she proposes to sing to him a lullaby, so that he could relax : Linda: â€Å"Just rest. Should I sing to you?† Willy: â€Å"Yeah. Sing to me† (1909). At the same time, Linda stands up for him, takes his side, even if it means to get into a fight with her sons, for not treating him with the respect he deserves as their father: Linda: â€Å"He’s the dearest man in the world to me, and I won’t have anyone making him feel unwanted and low and blue †¦Either he’s your father and you pay him that respect, or else you’re not to come here† (1902). Also, and she tries to protect him by asking for their sons’ help, when she realized that he had been trying to commit suicide, since she didn’t want to do anything that would let Willy know that she has understood that he wanted to die. She was very concerned not to hurt her husband’s pride, realizing that if she confronted him, Willy would be devastated: â€Å"How can I mention it to him? Every day I go down and take away that little rubber pipe. But, when he comes home, I put it back where it was. How can I insult him that way?† (1904). Linda is also a very dedicated mother to her children, that she managed to raise in the best way possible, when she was all alone with them, while her husband was away for a long period of time. She has always been with them; she has educated them since the day they were born and she has tried to install in them good values. Even now, that her sons are adults, she still reprimands them about being selfish, impolite, rude and disrespectful towards their father. And her sons seem to love her and think very highly of her; for them she’s the perfect role model for a future wife: Happy: â€Å"Somebody with character, with resistance! Like Mom, y’know?† (1885) This is ironic, since her own husband doesn’t seem to appreciate her, and treats her  badly. On the other hand, Nora, the protagonist of â€Å"A Doll’s House†, represents the society’s notion for the women in the late 1800s, which is not very different from that of the mid 1900s, in the sense that the wife has to stay at home, taking care of her husband and children, and doing all the household chores. Under no circumstance is a woman expected to work and contribute to the family income for the man, for once more, the man is the one that works and brings in the money. Thus, poor Nora is financially dependent, in a great extent, on Trovald, and every time she wants to buy something she has to ask him to give her some money: Nora: â€Å"Your could always give me money, Torvald. Only what you think you could spare. And then I could buy myself something with it later on.† (1768). Nora, like all the women of her era, is controlled by her husband, who is the one that wants to make all the decisions for her, even what she would or wouldn’t eat, like when he forbidden her to eat the macaroons that she liked so much. Nora, just like Linda, is very concerned with her husband’s health, but instead of just watching she decides to do what she can to save his life, even if this means acting behind his back and hurting his pride, in order to get the necessary amount of money to save his life. Nora: â€Å"Torvald is a man with †¦ pride – it would be terribly embarrassing and humiliating for him if he thought he owed anything to me† (1775) because for a man that was considered to be strong enough, it would be regarded as an insult to admit that he needs the help of a helpless woman. What Nora did shows that although she appears to be a typical woman of her era, in reality she’s very different, she is a rebel that risks everything so that she won’t lose the man that she loves. In the end, when everything is revealed, she’s very hurt, for she realized that the man that she risked everything for never loved her, and that all she was to him was a beautiful toy-d oll to play with, and not a person with real feelings. The way that the men in her life have treated her is expressed in one word through the metaphor that Ibsen uses: a doll. That has been very confusing to Nora and her role as a mother of three children, since it has made her  also think her children as dolls. The only thing that Nora does with her children is to play games. She has completely trusted their upbringing to the nursemaid without worrying about them or trying to teach them values and how to behave, like Linda did. In the end, she realizes that she would have never become a good mother to her children, and in fear of hurting them or turning them into dolls she decides to leave them forever: â€Å"And never see the children again either. Never, never.† (1813). In the end, Nora realizes that she had been living a lie, and she is faced with the dilemma of engaging the responsibilities to her husband and children or the responsibilities to herself. But the need to break free from the simple, decorative roles that she has been assigned, and to find herself, is greater than anything else. She can’t be of any use to anyone without discovering her self first, and see what she can do on her own: â€Å"If I’m ever to reach any understanding of myself and the things around me, I must learn to stand alone† (1818). She’s young and beautiful, contrary to Linda who stayed until the end with her husband and children, and she has the whole life ahead of her to love and to be loved, make a new family, since she finally made the decision to leave Trovald and never come back, unless â€Å"a miracle of miracles† (1821) would happen. Both plays discuss the position of the women in the family and in the society. Two different women, from two different times were victims of their era. The one is old, unattractive but caring and supportive; she is Linda, the woman of the 1940s. The other is young, and beautiful but also more modern and demanding; she is Nora, the woman of the 1870s. Both of them weren’t happy with their lives, but only one of them, Nora, finds the strength to leave and change her life. And that is why the Linda was the victim of the capitalistic society, while Nora’s more of a feminist.

Should the Drinking Age Remain at 21 or Be Lowered to 18

Dominicia Ferrell Mrs. Burns English 101 December 1, 2011 Should the legal drinking age be raised (or lowered)? Should the drinking age be lowered to eighteen years old, when one is considered an adult, and assumes adult privileges, or should the drinking age remain at twenty-one years old, since people are more mature and therefore, can be safe and responsible with alcohol? I believe that the drinking age should remain at twenty-one years old because lowering the legal age would not be the best interest of the public’s safety, as well as today’s youth.Why the drinking age should not be lowered? Let me explain some reasons why not to lower the drinking age. One is if the drinking age is lowered it will be contributing to more fatal accidents. Second, lowering the drinking age might influence eighteen year olds to buy alcohol for younger teenagers. An third, eighteen year olds may not be mature enough to know their limitations on drinking alcoholic beverages. I also beli eve that the drinking age should be lowered because when one turns eighteen years old they are considered an adult.At the age of eighteen one is able to make his/her on decision. I have come to the conclusion that the legal drinking age should be changed to eighteen. But drunk driving is the one big factor why people do not want to change the legal drinking age to eighteen years old. In this instance there would be a risk of many more deaths in America due to drunk driving. The reason would be that if underage drinkers could consume alcohol they would not have to be forced to drive from authorities.In the case I would support the legal age of twenty-one. Drunk driving is a very big concern to a lot of people and keeping the age at twenty-one would reduce drunk drivers on the road as opposed to eighteen. If the age were lowered to eighteen there would be less conflict with higher authorities such as parents and police officers. The legal drinking age should be lowered to eighteen yea rs old because at eighteen you are classified as an adult in the eyes of the law. The legal drinking age in Louisiana is currently twenty-one.It was changed from eighteen years old to twenty-one in 1996 when the Federal Government threatened to withhold money for highway construction that the law changed and the minimum age was raised to twenty-one across the board for buying, consuming and selling alcohol. This is a point that has been proven time and again with other things such as prohibition. Just because you make something illegal it does not mean that people are just going to stop doing it. Just because you make something illegal it does not mean that people are just going to stop doing it.Because of the laws many young people learn to drink in unsafe environments. They use alcohol with the intention of getting drunk rather than as an accompaniment to food. In the eighteen, nineteen, and twenty year old range do dangerous binge drinking far more often than the twenty-one who d rinks responsibly. I believe that considering twenty-one as the legal age of maturity is foremost ridiculous. Who is to say that just because an individual is twenty-one means that they are mature enough to consume alcohol in a responsible manner? Changing the legal drinking age to eighteen should be forced.Eighteen year old individuals can take on many responsibilities, but they do not have the right to consume alcohol. I feel this is unfair and biased. Just because a person lives to be twenty-one does not determine how mature they are. For example, there are many teenagers in the world that are considerably more mature than the average twenty-one year old. The determination of legal drinking should not be age, but rather maturity and ability to handle responsibility. If twenty-one is considered so mature, then why an eighteen year old is considered an adult?At the age of eighteen, an individual can vote, serve on a jury, stay out without a curfew, leave home, drive, smoke, buy wea pons, be sent to adult prisons, and die for this country. If an eighteen year old can be held to so many responsibilities, then it seems unfair to say that they are not old enough to drink. Prohibiting the sale of alcohol to people under the age of twenty-one may cause habits such as binge drinking and alcohol abuse. Binge drinking, or drinking for the purpose of getting drunk, harms both drinkers and nondrinkers.They use bingeing as the get a way that allows them to escape stress. It allows them to forget their worries, fit in with the crowd, and live a fast paced life. Keeping the age at twenty-one makes it seems as if an eighteen year old is not a real adult. Drinking is then viewed as an activity since it is only for adults. Then the underage will just find a way around it. For example, many have fake identification cards, steal alcohol from their parents’, or even put another person in jeopardy by asking someone who is twenty-one to illegally purchase the alcohol for the underage drinkers.This kind of attitude does not encourage responsible drinking habits. In addition, this gives the young individuals the urge to drink even more when they get older so they can make up for their lost time, causing alcoholism. The argument against changing the legal drinking age has many issues. There have been many vehicle crashes among eighteen year olds than twenty-one year olds after the drinking age was raised to twenty-one. I believe that there will always be people that will drink and drive, and there is nothing anyone can do to completely stop it.But people of all ages get into car accidents. Instead of restricting the eighteen year old adults, there should be better ways to educate the eighteen year olds on the dangers and responsibilities that come with drinking. My final reason for why the drinking age should be lowered is that if an eighteen year old is considered an adult and have the same responsibilities as a twenty-one year old they should be able to purchase and consume alcohol and drink as much as they desire only if they are able to control their maturity and take on much more responsibilities as to not drink and drive.

Personal statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Personal Statement Example Additionally, I had undertaken courses on ‘Introduction to International Relations and Academic Writing’ from Harvard University. My journey as a professor started from Moscow State Institute of International Relations where the classes conducted by me were on ‘Political Analysis and Statistics’ for the second year students. Shortly after that I connected myself with Lomonosov Moscow State University where I had my classes with third year students regarding the subject ‘World Politics and International Relations’. Presently I am assigned with Paper Planes a Kontakt Expert Consulting Company with the designation of New Media & Digital Consultant handling responsibilities on managing social media projects of Paul Hartmann and CRM from the month of May, 2010. During the year of 2006, I had a handful of publications among which some are, â€Å"To a Problem of an Ethnic Group Role in International Conflicts† in Networking Scientific Magazine â€Å"Analyst†, Moscow, 2006; â€Å"To the Problem of Subjectivity in International Conflicts† with International Scientific Conference for undergraduate and postgraduate students, and â€Å"Lomonosov-2007†. â€Å"The Transformation of the Concept about the State Sovereignty Nature in the 20th and 21st Centuries† from Lomonosov Moscow State University along with the â€Å"State Sovereignty Transformation and Some Transition Problems of Statehood in Terms of Information-oriented Society† is some of the other publications. During my entire career, I had been engaged with various extracurricular activities as a head of Research Group on Political Analysis in the framework of Youth Branch of Russian Association of Political Science, a head of Working Group on External Communications in Student Council of the Department of Political Science at Lomonosov MSU. Apart from these, I became a part of

TET Offensive Literature comparison Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

TET Offensive Literature comparison - Essay Example This military operation was launched by the army of North Vietnam along with armed forces of Viet Cong against the South Vietnam forces and those of United States. The crusade against South Vietnam was unplanned and came as a bolt from the blue. This military attack was referred to as TET Offensive owing to a previous agreement during the celebrations of the TET Lunar New Year of a ceasefire that would continue for two days. There were a series of military attacks launched during the night hours of January 30, 1968 although the main and massive operations began in the morning of the next day. Although, there was an announcement previously about ceasefire, these surprise attack left the armed forces of South Vietnam and United States in a maze initially. However, the united forces of these countries managed to retaliate and regain control of the cities. Being one of the most memorable events in history, which took a bitter turn after the celebrations of the TET Lunar Year, it is no wonder that the author has described this military crusade as one of the most intriguing aspects of Vietnam War. Thus, the journal, referred to as ‘The Turning Point of the War’ explores the political angle of this incident to a great extent. Similarly, the next article ‘TET 1968; The Military Offensive’ discusses the economic aspects of TET Offensive that are reflected during the current times and scenario. Although, both articles are fulfilling in nature, the authors have not really reached deeper beneath in the real sense.

Obese Chirdren Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Obese Chirdren - Essay Example The health care sector and the federal government of America has a challenge to fund initiatives and programs to prevent overweight and obesity. Researches to determine the best preventive measures for childhood obesity explore the environment, food, and behavioral practices in terms of engaging the body physically. However, the theoretical framework tends to limit overweight and obesity to foods alone. Fast foods are always palatable to the mouth and children enjoy partaking them without considerations on the fatty and cholesterol levels in the foods (Freemark, 2010). The theoretical model highlights other causative agents that lead to the prevalence of childhood obesity. The parents should feed their children cholesterol free foods to avoid the risks of contracting obesity. Obesity is a blend of genetic and environmental causes. Poskitt and Edmunds (2008) prove that 70 to 80 percent of obese children have one of his or her parents obese. In addition, a 20 to 40 percent of obese children have both parents obese. Since the parents live together with the children, it is clear that the environment induces obesity (Poskitt & Edmun, 2008). As a leading cause of death, validating the obesity theories through research and studies is critical and essential. Rowe, S. B., Borra, S., & Kelly, L. J. (2003). Obesity as a Public Health Crisis in America. Cereal Foods World, 48(3), 120-122. Retrieved from

Chronic Condition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Chronic Condition - Essay Example ferrals the patient needs. The goals of this are established to ensure a thorough assessment of chronic diseases and their impact on patient’s physiology, as well as their psychology. Body End-stage renal disease, according to Patel (2009) is the â€Å"complete, or almost complete, failure of the kidneys to function. The kidneys can no longer remove wastes, concentrate urine, and regulate many other important body functions†. This disease can come about when the kidneys are no longer able to carry out their normal function. It is often seen with the kidneys functioning at less than 10% of normal functions (Patel, 2009). This disease is known to worsen within 10-20 years, before reaching end-stage levels. Patients at this stage require dialysis or a kidney transplant. Mostly, this disease is caused by diabetes and hypertension. In end-stage renal disease, the urine volume may decrease or may even stop, and patients afflicted with this disease require tests to assess the levels of the following: potassium, sodium, albumin, phosphorous, calcium, cholesterol, magnesium, complete blood count, and electrolytes (Patel, 2009). These tests would help establish the general condition of the patient and establish the necessary remedies which must be undertaken to ensure adequate care. Experience of your patient compared with the typical lived experience of those with this condition Donna, 37 years old, was first admitted two years prior to her current admission, with complaints of insomnia and frequent headaches. She expressed that she often woke up in the middle of the night and had trouble getting back to sleep soon after. She also experienced increasing bouts of headaches which could not be relieved by pain relievers. She also described feeling generally weak and easily exhausted. She also complained of hiccupping frequently, sometimes burping frequently, even when she has not eaten anything. Her husband also noted that she seemed to be darker as compared to before when she had lighter skin. She then sought consult with her GP who ordered some initial tests including blood work and urinalysis. Her initial results, prompted more tests to be undertaken until repeated confirmatory tests indicated that she had high creatinine levels which strongly indicated a diagnosis of chronic kidney disease. She was later admitted for AV Fistula (AVF) surgery in preparation for her dialysis. A month after her AVF, she was scheduled for dialysis. A kidney transplant was also recommended for her. Initial cross-matching tests from immediate relatives revealed no organ matches. In the meantime, her name was entered in the waiting list for patients needing new kidneys. Meanwhile, she was required to have weekly injections of erythropoietin, as well as daily medications for a variety of drugs which are meant to manage her potassium, sodium, as well as blood pressure. After one year from her initial consultation, her creatinine levels increased to levels re quiring dialysis.

Lifestyle and Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Lifestyle and Health - Essay Example This is so for the different elements of the physical body generally work in harmony with each other to maintain a good health, but this can only be possible if a healthy lifestyle is maintained (World Book Encyclopedia, 1994). Positive lifestyle factors can hugely improve the state of health of the individual. The World Book Dictionary defines health as that state of being well or not sick. Hodal (2005) further asserts that this should also encompass the optimal state where the physical, mental and social well being of the individual is attained. There should be a more holistic approach in considering health. There should be an interrelation among the different aspects of the human body, including the lifestyle, to achieve the optimum state of health (Hodal, 2005). Everyone has always been told to eat a healthy diet. What does this proposition really entail Having a healthy diet means eating the right food and feeding the body with the essential minerals, vitamins, proteins, fats and carbohydrates that are crucial for an individual to properly function (Hodal, 2005). Food is needed to support the body. Food is needed to make one healthy. Food is also part of the lifestyle of any individual. This is why any food, particularly eating the healthy diet, is one big chunk in the positive lifestyle factors and a necessary element to fight off nutritional diseases like obesity or extreme fatness (World Book Encyclopedia, 1994). Being active and mobile are also essential to health. It was declared not too long ago that one epidemic that is threatening Asians is the diabetes (Zabriskie, 2002). Diabetes, once it has invaded the body, cannot anymore be eradicated; the adverse effects, however, can still be avoided (Zabriskie, 2002). The best solution so far, to control the disease is to have an active. It was further pointed out by Zabriskie (2002) that having a healthy diet, lots of exercise, seeking regular check ups and controlling the weight are important elements in the lifestyle of a person, especially for the diabetic. It is truly undeniable that a healthy lifestyle is needed to improve on the health and whole being of the individual. In much the same way, the negative lifestyle factors also have a major impact on the health of an individual. It was shown that there are behavioural and social issues that can really threaten the healthy state of the body of the individual (Lyons and Langille, 2000). Before, society is concerned with the threat of infectious diseases; today the main concern is the hazard of leading unhealthy lifestyles (World Book Encyclopedia, 1994). There are many negative factors that people imbibed in their daily life like smoking, overeating, drinking, lack of sleep and lack of exercise. Such stressful behaviours can affect the overall body of the person and lead to ailments and health problems (National Women's Health Resource Center, 2006). Obesity is one health problem that people today are facing. This is a significant problem that has come about because of unhealthy and poor diet. It was found that the average American diet is high in salt, sugar and fat, characteristic of foods that encourage obesity (Smith and Pergola, 2002). Experts also declared that there is a sudden threat of diabetes in Asia and it has been tagged as the 'silent killer' (Zabriskie, 2002). This was generally attributed to the drastic and negative lifestyle change among Asians. Eating mainly Western cuisine, drinking