Canterbury Tales :: essays research papers

Canterbury Tales Character Analysis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Chaucer’s greatest work came after everything else. Canterbury tales was the last of his literary works. It followed such stories as Troilus and Creseyde. It is considered as one of the greatest works of literature during the English Middle Age. The ironic thing is that it wasn’t even finished the way Chaucer had intended it to. He had planned to have over a hundred tales, four for each pilgrim. He ended up with twenty-four, less than one for each pilgrim. One wonders if he had finished how much better would it have been.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story is a unique one, especially during the time in which it was written. Rather than a traditional author story format, Chaucer uses a different method to spin a number of different types of stories. By telling different stories through different pilgrims Chaucer uses their attitudes and characteristics so that he may tell tales of many different varieties and styles. This shows the many different creative sides and motives of the great author. He was not the first to use such a method, but he may be one of the most famous, earliest of its users.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Among the number of characters and different storytellers you come across a character by the name of Robin. His standing among the company was the Miller, so that was what he would be more commonly known. Immediately following the Knight the Miller had a pretty tough act to follow. The Knight was obviously of high standing, and would previously tell a noble tale with a moralistic flavor to it. It would leave the crowd in state of appreciation for someone of his stature. When his tale was done the people knew why it was that he was Knight. Although, when the Miller was done the people did also realize why he was the Miller.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When the Knight’s tale had finished the Miller decided it was his turn for the spotlight. Chaucer makes it quite easy to understand the contrast in the characters. Especially making the claims one right after the other. The comparison is easily made. The drunken boisterous Miller pipes up claiming to have a tale that would contend with the Knight’s for being noble and attractive. Sensing the drunkenness, the host speaks up telling the Miller to save his tale for another time knowing of what was to come. The loud and cocky Miller overpowers him.

History of Optometry

The history of optometry can be traced back to the early studies on optics and image formation by the eye. The origins of optometric science (optics, as taught in a basic physics class) date back a few thousand years BC as evidence of the existence of lenses for decoration has been found. It is unknown when the first spectacles were made, but the British scientist and historian Sir Joseph Needham stated in his research that the ancient Chinese invented the earliest eyeglasses 1000 years ago and were also mentioned by the Venetian Marco Polo in his account of his travels in ancient China.Alternatively, research by David A. Goss in the United States, shows they may have originated independently in the late 13th century in Italy as stated in a manuscript from 1305 where a monk from Pisa named Rivalto stated â€Å"It is not yet 20 years since there was discovered the art of making eyeglasses†. Spectacles were manufactured in Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands by 1300. Benito Daza de Valdes published the third book on optometry in 1623, where he mentioned the use and fitting of eyeglasses.In 1692, William Molyneux wrote a book on optics and lenses where he stated his ideas on myopia and problems related to close-up vision. The scientists Claudius Ptolemy and Johannes Kepler also contributed to the creation of optometry. Kepler discovered how the retina in the eye creates vision. From 1773 until around 1829, Thomas Young discovered the disability of astigmatism and it was George Biddell Airy who designed glasses to correct that problem that included spherocylindrical lens.Although the term optometry appeared in the 1759 book A Treatise on the Eye: The Manner and Phenomena of Vision by Scottish physician William Porterfield, it was not until the early twentieth century in the United States and Australia that it began to be used to describe the profession. By the late twentieth century however, marking the distinction with dispensing opticians, it had become th e internationally accepted term.

What is Nature Writing

Nature writing is a form of creative nonfiction in which the natural environment (or a narrators encounter with the natural environment) serves as the dominant subject. In critical practice, says Michael P. Branch, the term nature writing has usually been reserved for a brand of nature representation that is deemed literary, written in the speculative personal voice, and presented in the form of the nonfiction essay. Such nature writing is frequently pastoral or romantic in its philosophical assumptions, tends to be modern or even ecological in its sensibility, and is often in service to an explicit or implicit preservationist agenda (Before Nature Writing, in Beyond Nature Writing: Expanding the Boundaries of Ecocriticism, ed. by K. Armbruster and K.R. Wallace, 2001). Examples of Nature Writing: At the Turn of the Year, by William SharpThe Battle of the Ants, by Henry David ThoreauHours of Spring, by Richard JefferiesThe House-Martin, by Gilbert WhiteIn Mammoth Cave, by John BurroughsAn Island Garden, by Celia ThaxterJanuary in the Sussex Woods, by Richard JefferiesThe Land of Little Rain, by Mary AustinMigration, by Barry LopezThe Passenger Pigeon, by John James AudubonRural Hours, by Susan Fenimore CooperWhere I Lived, and What I Lived For, by Henry David Thoreau Observations: Gilbert White established the pastoral dimension of nature writing in the late 18th century and remains the patron saint of English nature writing. Henry David Thoreau was an equally crucial figure in mid-19th century America . . ..The second half of the 19th century saw the origins of what we today call the environmental movement. Two of its most influential American voices were John Muir and John Burroughs, literary sons of Thoreau, though hardly twins. . . .In the early 20th century the activist voice and prophetic anger of nature writers who saw, in Muirs words, that the money changers were in the temple continued to grow. Building upon the principles of scientific ecology that were being developed in the 1930s and 1940s, Rachel Carson and Aldo Leopold sought to create a literature in which appreciation of natures wholeness would lead to ethical principles and social programs.Today, nature writing in America flourishes as never before. Nonfiction may well be the most vital form o f current American literature, and a notable proportion of the best writers of nonfiction practice nature writing.(J. Elder and R. Finch, Introduction, The Norton Book of Nature Writing. Norton, 2002) Human Writing . . . in Nature By cordoning nature off as something separate from ourselves and by writing about it that way, we kill both the  genre and a part of ourselves. The best writing in this genre is not really nature writing anyway but human writing that just happens to take place in nature. And the reason we are still talking about [Thoreaus] Walden 150 years later is as much for the personal story as the pastoral one: a single human being, wrestling mightily with himself, trying to figure out how best to live during his brief time on earth, and, not least of all, a human being who has the nerve, talent, and raw ambition to put that wrestling match on display on the printed page. The human spilling over into the wild, the wild informing the human; the two always intermingling. Theres something to celebrate. (David Gessner, Sick of Nature. The Boston Globe, Aug. 1, 2004) Confessions of a Nature Writer I do not believe that the solution to the worlds ills is a return to some previous age of mankind. But I do doubt that any solution is possible unless we think of ourselves in the context of living naturePerhaps that suggests an answer to the question what a nature writer is. He is not a sentimentalist who says that nature never did betray the heart that loved her. Neither is he simply a scientist classifying animals or reporting on the behavior of birds just because certain facts can be ascertained. He is a writer whose subject is the natural context of human life, a man who tries to communicate his observations and his thoughts in the presence of nature as part of his attempt to make himself more aware of that context. Nature writing is nothing really new. It has always existed in literature. But it has tended in the course of the last century to become specialized partly because so much writing that is not specifically nature writing does not present the natural context at all; be cause so many novels and so many treatises describe man as an economic unit, a political unit, or as a member of some social class but not as a living creature surrounded by other living things.(Joseph Wood Krutch, Some Unsentimental Confessions of a Nature Writer. New York Herald Tribune Book Review, 1952)

The Representation Of Gender Within Film And Television...

The representation of gender within film and television texts is still that of out-dated stereotypes and rigid structures. Although many modern texts claim to be subverting these archetypal representations, they are still very prominent and do not seem to be leaving our screens anytime soon. In this essay I will discuss how the concept of genre impacts upon the representation of gender, specifically female, in film and television texts. In particular, how traditional stereotypes are used to aid the structure of genre and cater to audiences. One of the most common approaches to genre within media studies is that of raising questions of interpretation by exploring textual meanings and situating them within larger contexts. (Mittell, J. 2001) To recognise a specific genre, one must be able to identify the different components that make for it, these are called generic conventions. For example, in a rom-com, there is always a clueless yet lovable female (in some cases, male) lead, mise-en-scene including attractive clothing and settings, shots of the couple, editing that favours the lead female and some kind of popular chart music in the soundtrack. These reoccurring and now traditional generic conventions are what make genres so reliable and easy to construct, placing them within larger contexts allows us to relate texts to everyday life and therefore create a more relevant and fathomable story. The cultural construction of what it means to be male or female isShow MoreRelatedQueer Representation Of The Film Bugs Bunny And The Celluloid Closet 849 Words   |  4 PagesPopular culture or Pop culture in short has never been a multidimensional representation of gender or race but in away it has been able to provide a platform of introduction for that unknown representation that has not been introduced to the masses. 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From these stereotypes, like the Jezebel and Sapphire, stem the â€Å"real world† stereotypesRead MoreGender Representation Of Sex And The City1590 Words   |  7 PagesDating back to the 1920’s mass communication mediums of film, television and print have all been means that act as powerful tools of propaganda and thus play an integral role in the lives of individuals. It is for this reason that it is often widely accepted that the media is to be used as a tool, which represents a common public interest. Men and women are represented through forms of media in different ways, which create images depicting stereotypical traits and characteristics. The problem broughtRead MoreData Analysis. In This Chapter, I Compare And Contrast1718 Words   |  7 Pageschapter, I compare and contrast representations of gender and motherhood in two pop culture sites—the film The Kids Are All Right, the television series The Fosters. 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I chose this particular text as it focuses upon many different characters and scenarios in regards to sexuality and this forms a basis for analysis and evaluation. Skins also focuses upon Teenage sexuality, specifically, which I believe is a broad and interestingRead MoreIn This Chapter, I Present How Two Pop Cultural Sites—The1713 Words   |  7 Pagesthis chapter, I present how two pop cultural sites—The film The Kids Are All Right, the television series The Fosters—represent butch motherhood. My intention is to expose the discourses in action to reveal how they operate and contain instruction that delivers as disciplinary performance. I divide the following sections into individual discussions of each cultural text to reveal the cogs within each site. I then compare and contrast both texts to investigate the tensions between both productions andR ead MoreOrange Is The New Black Essay1808 Words   |  8 Pages2013 and has since been a highly favoured television title on the online streaming service, Netflix. Orange Is the New Black features a mainly female cast, creating a female centred comedy drama, within the cast there is a large amount of diversity, causing many gender stereotypes and genre conventions to be broken. Orange Is the New Black has characters that represent many different spectrums of sexual orientations and identities, creating a change in gender expectations. This essay will focus onRead MoreMovie Analysis : Cat Walk Across The Country 2040 Words   |  9 Pagesacross the Country INTRODUCTION________________________________ Over time society has tried to find ways to portray the queer community through film and most times have been scrutinized for its inaccuracies. The portrayals have varied from flamboyant, to outcast, to victims, to social deviants, however in the film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything. This film gives the notion of liberating queers by openly expressing who they are, dressing how they want, assisting heterosexuals in their relationships

The Common Chemical Species Of Coffee, Caffeine,...

According to the International Coffee Organisation (International Coffee Organisation, n.d.) it is estimated that more than two billion cups of coffee are consumed everyday worldwide. Making coffee the second most popular beverage in the world. So, what is it about coffee that is so appealing to many individuals and is it doing us more harm than good? I have chosen to research three common chemical species that play an important role in the arabica coffee bean, Caffeine, trigonelline and chlorogenic acids. I will be exploring the functions, the beneficial uses and any possible toxicological issues that they may have on the health of humans. Caffeine Naturally present in coffee, caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant that has a similar molecular structure to adenosine. Due to the similarities in the molecular structure between caffeine and adenosine caffeine is able to bind to the adenosine receptor cells in the brain and inhibit adenosine s ability to bind to the receptor cells. In the brain adenosine is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that can act as a CNS depressant. When the body realises that it is lacking in adenosine it reacts by releasing dopamine which then causes stimulatory effects in the body such as increased energy, increased heart rate and increased blood pressure. (Dr. Mandal, 2014). As well as the CNS system effects, caffeine increases basal metabolic rate, increases heart rate by stimulating heart muscles, promotes secretion of stomach acid,

Group Lending and Mitigation of Adverse Selection in Microfinance Free Essays

Maurya (2011) perfectly summarised the concepts of adverse selection and group lending. In essence, microfinance works on a joint liability model and the traditional theories of credit lending state that rural credit markets are imperfectly competitive and acquiring information about borrower types on who is risky and who is safe is not costless. This market imperfection leads to high interest rates and drives out safe borrowers from the credit market. We will write a custom essay sample on Group Lending and Mitigation of Adverse Selection in Microfinance or any similar topic only for you Order Now In economic literature, this problem is considered as adverse selection problem and the joint liability model tries to solve the problem of adverse selection through group lending (Maurya, 2011). Group lending generally denotes a credit advancing model where individuals who do not have collateral form a group based on joint liability to access loans. It is widely regarded as one of the most important institutional innovations in development policy in the last quarter century (Morduch, 1999). The most understanding feature of group lending is joint liability. Joint liability to a group obligation that if one member of the group defaults on their loan all the other group members will contribute jointly to cover the defaulted amount. As a result the whole group is jointly liable for the pool of loans granted to each member of the group. Any member in default will spread the default to other group members regardless of them being personally in default or not. Recently many developments institutions have tried to use group lending to give loans to the poor and achieve the following: Avoid the use of collateral as it would be replaced by joint liability. pass off the screening, monitoring and enforcement of loans to the peers Reduce fixed transaction costs associated with issuing out very small loans The adverse selection problem occurs when lenders cannot distinguish inherently risky borrowers from safer borrowers. If lenders could distinguish by risk type, they could charge different interest rates to different types of borrowers. But with poor information, options are limited. The problem to lenders is that they cannot gather sufficient information at reasonable costs to determine the riskiness of the borrowers. As such to insulate themselves against losses of issuing loans at low interest to very risk borrowers they charge a high blanket interest rates for all loans. Adverse selection may lead to credit rationing as it induces lenders to charge everyone high interest rates to compensate for the possibility of having very risky borrowers in the customer population. (Morduch 2010). If the economy is consisting of safe and risky borrowers, only risk borrowers would remain in the market. Since safe borrowers regard themselves relatively safe debtors they will require a loans at low interest rates which is in tandem with their riskiness. Risky borrowers on the other hand know they are risky and would tolerate high interest rate as it perfectly relates their riskiness. As such when MFIs charge a high blanket interest rate to avoid a mismatch in risk and return safe borrowers withdrawal from the market as they perceive the rate to be too high for their riskiness. Only risk borrowers would then be left in the market and all loan advances would be mad to risk borrowers – a situation that the MFI would be trying to avoid in the first place. So due to lack of information charging high interest rates to avoid risky borrowers would actually eliminate safe borrowers and attract risky borrowers – thus adverse selection. In principle, group lending with joint responsibility can mitigate this inefficiency (Armendariz and Morduch, 2010). Group lending mechanisms provide incentives to the borrowers to monitor each other to assess the creditworthiness of each member. Aghion (1999) showed theoretically how peer monitoring alone, with random formation of groups can help overcome adverse selection problems when monitoring is costly for lending institutions. Strong social networks have lower monitoring cost, which results in more credit being extended. Social networking provides a group of people who are well acquainted with each other and have a mutual trust in the economic viability and creditworthiness of each other. Poor borrowers cannot provide collateral to lending institutions and even when it is available, legal obstacles often prevent repossessing collateral when borrowers default. Ghatak, 1999). Ghatak (1999) have argued that group lending can solve this problem by taking advantage of information villagers have of each other’s type which is unavailable to the lender. Assortive matching can be discussed under two assumption: (1) when borrowers cannot distinguish the type of the other borrower – private information case and (2) when borrowers can distinguish the other borrower’s type. (Aghion and Gollier, 2000) Under the private information case, borrowers cannot distinguish if the other is of their own type – safe or risky. As such borrowers will form groups based on randomly selection cemented by their need for a loan. In such instances the group will be formed of both risky and safe borrowers. Due to joint liability safe borrowers can therefore repay defaulted loans on behalf of risky borrowers and in turn joint liability will reduce the interest rates which attract safe borrowers back into the market. Rates under such group lending will be reduced due to a frequent and stable rate of repayment. (Aghion and Gollier, 2000). Sometimes referred as negative assertive matching, this ensures that the proportion of safe borrowers in the group will generate returns high enough to cover for their defaulting partners. In turn safe borrowers will impose tough social sanctions on the risky borrowers so that they do not default deliberately. This implies that the lender can pass risk from risky borrowers to safe borrowers and thus reduce the overall riskiness of the group. Additionally, auditing costs, monitoring costs and information gathering costs will be avoided. This enables the lender to reduce their lending rate significantly and still break even. As a result safe borrowers will be lured back into the market through negative assertive matching. In instances where peers have information about the type of the other borrower, safe borrowers will only group together and avoid risky borrowers in their group as this disadvantage them through joint liability. Risky borrowers on the other hand are excluded from safe groups so they will join together and form their own risky group – which won’t be so risky considering the benefit of joint liability. Since can positively assort themselves between safe and risky groups, the lending institution can charge differential rates between these groups depending on the overall riskiness of the group. Groups can be requested to provide information about their members if they want credit. This both reduce costs of information gathering and help the lender determine what class the group can be categorised into – safe or risky. Through use of assertive matching a differentiation previously inhibited due to information unavailability can be made and differential rates be charged to different types of borrowers. The level of gravity of social sanctions imposed by each member in the group helps increase the credibility of the group. As a result the higher the extend of social sanctions in a group the lower the groups risk of default and thus lower rates can be charged to retain safe borrowers. However, assertive cannot be able to completely solve the problem of adverse selection. For example in a group the better performer who is always covering for others defaults can deliberately default on his loan to distress the group and the whole group might default. This is amplified in negative assertive matching where a group may be highly dependent on the performance of one member. In conclusion, assertive matching can lower interest rates and circumvent credit market inefficiencies even in the case where borrowers are imperfectly informed about each other’s type (Aghion and Gollier, 2000). REFERENCES: Armendariz de Aghion and Gollier. C. (2000), ‘Peer Group Formation in an Adverse Selection Model’, the Economic Journal, 110, p. 632-643. Armendariz de Aghion, B. 1999), â€Å"On the Design of a Credit Agreement with Peer Monitoring†, Journal of Development Economics, 60, p. 79-104 Ghatak, M. (1999), ‘Group Lending, Local Information and Peer Selection’, Journal of Development Economics, 60, p. 27-50 Kumar, A (2005), Self-help groups: Use of Modified ROSCA in Microfinance    Maurya, R. (2010) ‘Poverty Reduction through Microfinance: A study of SHG-Bank Linkage Model,’ the microfinance revie w, Vol. II (1), January-June 2010 Morduch J. (1999) ‘The microfinance promise,’ Journal of Economic Literature 37, 1569-1614 How to cite Group Lending and Mitigation of Adverse Selection in Microfinance, Essay examples

Obamacare A Dream Essay Example For Students

Obamacare : A Dream? Essay Obamacare: A Dream. The Reality.The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), referred to as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and sometimes Obamacare, is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The law mandates United States citizens to obtain health insurance coverage, and businesses of 50 or more full time employees to provide health insurance to their employees. Should you not be covered, or a business as outlined prior not provide health insurance coverage options, a penalty will be imposed. The concept of providing every person in the United States affordable healthcare was groundbreaking, significant, and momentous. However, the implementation of the program had found a number of complications that, to quote the dinosaur from 2007 movie, Meet the Robinsons, â€Å"I’m just not sure how well this plan was thought through.† After this impressively large document was passed, the Obamacare press campaign has been very successful in providing only the positive aspects of this historic healthcare program without discussing even the possible negatives. That is to be expected of any public relations campaign. In its current state, the downside of this program has a strong impact on medium to small-sized businesses. Companies had to make adjustments in order to accommodate the ACA. The predictions are that the ACA’s impact will negatively affect the U.S. economy. In the end, a plan to help the people who need the help the most, has created some tremendous challenges for them, as well as for U.S. business. According to Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, â€Å"by the end of Open Enrollment in 2014, more than 15 million Americans who didn’t have health insurance before the ACA . .cy care† services. Larger offices, longer wait times and less personal care for the patient. An Act that is to provide every US citizen with affordable health care, has only provided health care coverage that isn’t even affordable, has caused less medical options, higher fees, and bearers of the plan delay or abstain from obtaining medical care. If the program truly provides affordable care for everyone, why does the government penalize people for not using it, or, conversely, wouldn’t everyone sign up in an instant. Because The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act doesn’t provide affordable care.Perhaps it is time for the government’s continual punishment on U.S. business and hard-working TAX PAYERS to stop. Perhaps it is time for government to find and provide real incentives for businesses, physicians and the consumer in order for all to be healthy.