How does Alan Bennett make the audience feel empathy for Doris in A cream Cracker under the Settee?

A cream cracker under the settee is a dramatic monologue written by Alan Bennett in 1987 for television, as part of his Talking Heads series for the BBC. Doris is in her seventies. This hints at her being old and vulnerable in need of care and assistance. Moreover, she outlines that she does not â€Å"attempt to dust†, this is maybe because she is physically unable or consumed by her thoughts. Zulema says that her â€Å"dustings days are over†. This makes you feel sorry for Doris and deeply empathise with her. She may have a fear of dirt – rupophobia or she may just be an exceptionally sanitary person. Furthermore, Zulema exploits Doris' old age and feelings by saying she â€Å"doesn't have the sense she was born with†, this maybe true but it is inconsiderate towards Doris' feelings. Then again, Zulema does have the right to speak her mind, as she has to put up with Doris's nagging all week. Doris is never satisfied with Zulema's housekeeping saying, â€Å"Zulema doesn't dust, she half-dusts† This emphasises Doris obsession with cleanliness, maybe suggesting that she has OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). Alternatively, maybe occupying her mind with such things helps her forget the melancholy she feels deep within. However, as we progress through the monologue we learn that Zulema in fact intimidates Doris. Ultimately, making Zulema the more dominating character. She does not hesitate in telling Doris â€Å"I am the only person that stands between you and Stafford House.† In spite of this, Doris is adamant that she will not lose her independence and is sure that she will remain in her own home. Another good example of this is when â€Å"she shoves the duster down the side of the chair†. We can only assume that Doris does this to avoid a lecture or confrontation with Zulema, preventing further distress. Again, we feel empathy for Doris as important issues such as treatment of the aged, growing old and life choices are brought to our attention. Therefore, we can conclude that she sometimes feels unhappy and unsettled in her own home. In the midst of all this, the fact remains Doris is suffering from a â€Å"numby† leg. Alan Bennett deliberately places talk about her leg between pauses so that the audience has time to focus on and consider Doris's current situation and therefore feel a great deal of compassion for her. These strategic pauses are used constantly throughout the monologue, giving us plenty to sympathise with. Throughout the monologue, the ending of each scene is indication by the simple stage direction â€Å"Go to black†. This maybe connotes a temporal shift or the passing of time. Moreover, before each scene fades to black, Alan Bennett gives the audience something to ponder over and keep in the back of their heads. For the whole of the monologue, Doris speaks to us directly. This enhances her vulnerability, yet she maybe biased, as we only know her point of view and nobody else's. This leads us to believe that Doris thinks everything revolves around her and she may come across as self-centred or self-obsessed. Then again, we feel great sympathy for Doris as she is isolated, cut off from reality, and maybe unwanted by a society, which considers her as an outsider. The setting changes throughout the monologue, as Doris travels to various parts of her home, nevertheless she remains in the same location. This connotes a very static nature, suggesting that Doris hardly ever goes out and mostly stays in the same room. According to her, â€Å"I never get a bona fide caller†, this tells us the only visitor she probably has is Zulema. We feel great empathy for Doris because she is lonely, lacking a faithful companion. Furthermore, the moving from the comfy position of her settee possibly indicates the movement from a secure and comfy position in life to her current situation. Still, this isolated place is her comfort zone, perhaps signifying that she is more likely to tell the truth as she is under no pressure and can speak of her own free will. Subsequently, she does in fact unravel the truth about various stages in her life. Another clever device Alan Bennett uses to make the audience feel empathy for Doris is humour and Doris certainly has a sense of humour, we realise this when she says, â€Å"Love God and close all gates.† The audience finds it easier to empathise with her because they can laugh with her and not at her. Her dry, sarcastic humour is a hit with audience off all ages. As Doris discusses her husband Wilfred, she talks about him â€Å"getting mad ideas†, stating how absurd they were and how he â€Å"never got round to it†. Yet, according to her, â€Å"A kiddy'd've solved all that†. This makes us wonder why Doris does not have a child and whether she has any family at all. We suddenly feel a great deal of compassion for her because her only family, Wilfred, has passed away. Later on, we discover that she did have a baby, which also passed away. â€Å"If it had lived I might have had grandchildren now,† she explains. Our degree of sympathy for Doris expands to greater lengths. Death is certainly one of Alan Bennett says of gaining empathy for his characters. Further on in the monologue we discover that Doris and Wilfred were not very outgoing people. Doris plainly explains, â€Å"We weren't the gregarious type.† This implies that even when Wilfred was alive, Doris was a secluded, reserved individual. Then she refers to Wilfred, â€Å"he thought he was, but he wasn't†. This gives us the impression that Wilfred could have been a sociable person except Doris stood in his way as she essentially controlled their relationship. We feel empathy for both characters here since they never really experienced anything amazing in their lives; except for grief and now for Doris, loneliness. This could all change though if Doris decided upon leaving home and moving to Stafford House but apparently â€Å"You go daft there, there's nowhere else for you to go but daft† according to Doris. Perhaps Doris is against the idea of leaving home because all her memories of Wilfred will remain there or she might just feel afraid and unprepared to face the real world on her own at a late stage in her life. Towards the end of the monologue, Doris hears the voice of a police officer, enquiring as to why her home lights are off. Instead of asking for his help, she lets him leave. It is assumed by the audience that Doris later dies, because she feels the time is right. Also as the conclusions to Bennett's plays are usually miserable. Her last words are â€Å"Never mind. It's done with now, anyway.† Then the â€Å"LIGHT FADES†, a sense of desperation and sadness fill the readers heart and mind, no greater empathy can possibly be felt for Doris at this stage. This dramatic and powerful text leaves the audience wondering, hoping. This is without doubt Alan Bennett's cleverest writing technique!

OB standard

Comparing western and Philippine standards and Issues regarding maternal and child health care A. Advanced Nurse Roles Nurses are the ones primarily doing the health assessment and they expand their roles by not Just being an educator or a following physician's order. They also know how to look and assess a person and have a diagnosis which can help them determine the mother's need. They can find signs that can lead them to modify their plan and make the most appropriate care management for them.They can order lab exults and are also trained to read diagnostic test results and participate in research studies. They collaborate with other health care teams to formulate a care plan and they motivate the patients to cooperate. B. Ethical & Legal Issues Laws and bills: Philippines, being a conservative country, has laws that ensure the rights of the fetus and even though bills (egg. RE BILL) are being proposed to be the solution for the problems in our country, we are still tentative and looking at it very carefully.The Filipino people believe that these bills can still have some reformations and that it ill be less immoral and more ethical. Western countries are more liberated that the Philippines, thus they have laws regarding the maternal and child health care (egg. Legal abortions). Ethical Issues In Reproduction Involve conflicts In which a woman behaves In a way that may cause harm to her or the fetus. Conflicts occur when the mothers needs, behaviors or wishes may injure the fetus Infertility Treatment Perennial technology has found was for previously infertile couples to bear children.But ethical concerns include the high cost and overall low success of some infertility reattempts. Other ethical concerns focused on the fate of unused embryos- should it be kept for later use or for genetic research. Surrogate parenting It's when a woman agrees to bear an Infant for another woman. Conception may take place outside the body using ova and sperm from the couple t hen Implanted on the surrogate mother. An issue closely related to surrogate parenting is the use of donor Fetal Injury If a mother's action cause injury to her fetus, whether she should be restrained or prosecuted had legal and ethical implications.

Michael Jordan & Basketball

When someone says the name Michael Jordan, the first thing that comes to mind is basketball, The Chicago Bulls and Nike shoes. Through the years, Michael Jordan has proved time and time again that he is the greatest basketball player ever, and by performing in this rapidly expanding sporting field, he has gained tremendous popularity throughout the world. People of all ages and from all nationalities have gathered to watch him play. A journalist states ‘even your Aunt Matilda might not know nothing about basketball, liked watching him play† (Jonathon 1999:58). Jordan has become more than just an entertainer. He is a hero and a role model amongst basketball spectators. Johnson claims that ‘he is the most famous American in the world† (ibid.). Perhaps he was born to be the best. Even though he is a star, Michael†s childhood had been very distressing. In fact, Michael Jordan was nearly miscarried by his mother. His nose bled from birth till he was five, he nearly suffocated when he fell behind the bed as a baby and nearly killed himself when an electrocution threw him three feet. In Jordan†s own words, he exclaims I mean my girlfriend got swept in a flood and drowned when we were in college. Another time, I was swimming with a friend when both of us got pulled into the ocean by a strong undertow. I was able to get free and make it back to land. He never made it back (Jordan 1998:96). Additionally, after going through so many traumatic and distressing times, not many people would have been able to live their dreams. But Jordan performed the task of living his dream exceptionally well. Despite a somewhat desperate childhood, Michael Jordan enjoyed his time at school. He did his first years of schooling at D.C. Virgo Junior High School and later graduated to Lanley High School where he began practicing intensively on his basketball skills. He was accepted in the University of North Carolina through a basketball scholarship. At the university, Michael took on the challenge of driving his teammates to a level of performance that they might never have achieved on their own. He scored the winning basket in the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship game in 1982. A sportswriter describes ‘the relentlessness with which Michael Jordan prodded and cajoled the other players in leading them to championship season after championship season† (Lazenby 1996:37). The glorious moments achieved by Michael Jordan were soon vaporised by a permanent shadow. In 1993, an agonising incident shattered Jordan†s excitement after winning his third championship. Moments after the game, Michael†s father, James Jordan, was brutally murdered by two ruthless teenagers. This was a severe tragedy in Michael†s life; his father was gone. For this reason, Michael decided to retire from Basketball and play Baseball in memory of his father. This was because James Jordan adored Baseball (Jordan 1998:112). He signed a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox, but was unsuccessful (Encarta 1999). Hence Jordan returned to his favorable professional sport of basketball. Allison exclaims ‘at a press conference, Michael only said two words, I†m back!† (Samuels 1999). The ball started to roll again. But the anxiety of the spectators only lasted till the end of 1997. By far, the Chicago Bulls had been hit the hardest with the news of Jordan†s retirement. The breakup arose when the management refused to pay Phil Jackson, coach of the Chicago Bulls, what he deserved after bringing six NBA championships to the Bulls. When Jackson abandoned the team, Jordan refused to play for a new coach. After Jordan officially announced his retirement, basketball great, Scottie Pippen was traded to the Houston Rockets. Only four players of the previous year†s team still remained on the Chicago Bulls. Stein considers ‘many have made the prediction that the bulls will lose mare games in this shortened season than they did all last year† (Stein 1999). The die-hard Chicago Bulls fans will always hold a special place in their heart for Michael Jordan. They will tell their sons and daughters about him, they will get out the old VHS tapes of games that they have recorded and they will pass along basketball cards that will be worth hundreds of dollars. Those of us who have seen him play will always remember him and what he has done for the game of basketball. For those who haven†t will have to settle for the endless highlight reels and Nike commercials to keep his memory alive.

Role of HR in developing talent at work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Role of HR in developing talent at work - Essay Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that dynamic organizations try to identify the top potentials in the company and try to leverage their capabilities. It is the competence that organizations must possess for attaining a sustainable competitive advantage. There have been contradictory views regarding the contributions HR has made towards developing and managing talents. According to the findings of the research conducted by the Corporate Leadership Council (CLC), only 30% of the organizations were found to apply disciplines of managing talent apart from their regular functions like recruitment, selection, training, compensation management etc. According to another survey conducted by the same institution in 2006 on the critical skills that the HR staff must possess, the HR functions rated themselves according to the functions that they considered themselves best at applying. 41% of the organizations were of the opinion that they were best at applying methods associated with re cruiting new staffs in the organizations. The survey clearly reflected the fact that only 25% of the organizations surveyed were good at applying talent development strategies at the workplace. The tendency of HR has always been inward-looking. Also, it has been particularly over conscious of its role in adding value to businesses. According to Ulrich, when he tried to push HR towards attaining a more strategic role, people belonging to HR functions were reluctant to work in a strategic manner. Their focus was more on themselves rather than on the business. Thus issues like development of talents in the workplace with the aim of growing the business took a backseat and the emphasis was more on developing themselves independently.

First-hand narrative of a Gilded-Age Prostitute Essay

First-hand narrative of a Gilded-Age Prostitute - Essay Example The father’s joblessness ensured their discontinued education while her mother’s ill-timed pregnancy, sickly child and poor health rendered her incapable of doing much to help her family. It is in their neighborhood that Madeline got involved with the wrong company and came pregnant outside wedlock, a situation of often warranting phenomenal stigma at the time. Mrs James, a former servant in Missouri sends for her and she goes to work in a factory; however, due to her pregnancy she runs off with her saving to hide herself from the shame. This is when she realizes that surviving in the town without a job is next to is exceedingly difficult and getting a job without references and experiences is impossible. When her savings run out, she starts taking men to bed for money although it is not easy for her and she is at times â€Å"robbed† of her earnings. She tries picking clients in the streets, but she finds she lacks the â€Å"brass† for it and ends up being a kept woman for a man who looks after her In addition to infecting her with, a venereal disease and expects payment in sex. She finally entered a brothel and commenced, her career as a prostitute under the management of the owner of the â€Å"house† Miss Laura and it is here that she acquired the name Madeline. That was the beginning of her life as a prostitute and she went on to ply her trade, from Butte, Montana, and she later became the Madame of her own house in San Francisco. Life in the gilded age was characterized with aspects of acute social stratification distinct in the differences between members of different classes, with the gap between the upper and lower classes being predominantly based on financial prowess. For instance, one of the most brutal beatings she got form her father was because of playing with the child of one of the servants whose friendship was frowned against (Lindsey 6). Society was highly patriarchal and men in most institutions be it family or work had the last word, while women were often subject to harsh and unfair treatment and could not take control of even their own lives. After their father abandoned them, it is Madeline’s brother who takes up the responsibility of â€Å"Man of the House† evidently a house had to have a man to run properly. The moral condition in Kansas City according to the writer was abominable, there were vice flourished all over and there were many houses of pleasure not only in Kansas but also the other cities such as Texas. This was the period of industrialization, rural decline and urbanization; the rural decline is seen in the way her idyllic life in the country comes to an end due to her father’s failure and like many who failed to survive in the rural areas, her family moved to a town and she later moved to town and thus completed the cycle of urbanization. It is here that she comes face to face with the reality of industrialization urbanization and they significant ly affect her life, she works in the dressing factory as a check girl a job she didn’t dislike although the noise of machines haunted her for many nights. The rural urban migration inevitably leads to overcrowding in towns which as well as unemployment, and this hit her hard when she runs out of her job and tried to secure another one.

Society and its Attraction to Jury Trial Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Society and its Attraction to Jury Trial - Essay Example Furthermore, the individual jurors, chosen randomly, often face a lot of pressure in the form of intricate and lengthy case proceedings, which are unjustified and often lead to negative impact on the case outcome. There have been issues as regards the jury expertise on objectivity of decisions taken, as some experts argued that jury trials tend to be more emotional or sentimental (hence biased) in nature, rather than being logical, thus, attracting more than the due share of media and society attention.2 In fact, Penny Darbyshire describes the jury system as â€Å"an anti-democratic, irrational, and haphazard legislator, whose erratic and secret decisions run counter to the rule of law.†3 Such problems as pointed by the critics are inherent within the UK jury trial system, leading to demands for bringing in radical reforms in the UK legal policies and for abolishment of this many centuries old celebrated institution of criminal justice. The role of the juries within the legal system translates to the simple fact that legally unqualified people (the layman) are given significance within the highly specialised profession of law, and their assistance taken to provide justice to the public. The chief function of the jury is to listen to the facts presented during the case proceedings and based on these facts produce a verdict (in terms of case resolution within criminal/ civil cases), of guilty or not guilty. This essay will examine the role of the jury and explore the advantages and disadvantages of the system to seek whether Roskill had rightfully claimed that jury trials do not deliver justice, as they are more sentimental and emotionally driven, instead of being logical in nature, and tend to attract more media and society attraction than necessary. Discussion The jury system in UK Jury system in UK has been in vogue for more than 1,000 years, and according to some reports even existed before the Norman Conquest.4 The jury system, thus, always played a s ignificant part in balancing the British legal system. In the present legal scenario, jury independence is given a great deal of importance, where many feel that juries should not be meddled with or pressurised, while deciding a case. The position of the juries as the only arbiters in a case was evident in the famous Bulshell case of 1670, 5 and in the more recent R v Mc Kenna (1960).6 In both the cases, the independent roles of juries were highlighted, where they had acted separately from the judge, while taking a decision. While selecting a jury, an official at the Crown Court selects jurors randomly, from the official data system, and even though only a 12-member jury is needed for a case hearing, more members are generally selected, to provide for any absentee jury members.7 In England and Wales there are three forms of criminal offences, where ‘summary’ offences (ones considered as being of minimal seriousness) can be tried only at the Magistrates’ Court, wi th two to three magistrates in presence.8 Criminal offences that are more serious in nature and categorised as ‘

GDP Growth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

GDP Growth - Essay Example In addition, empirically, studying crises is exigent as small samples and partial data is the only available inference. This exploration is going to look into the crises that hit the world and focus on the assessment of the effects on mortgage, credit, derivatives and insurance markets the crises had on national economies. Moreover, the study will scrutinize the stabilization policies nations used to address the destabilization of the markets. With reference to, the experiences of two countries had in the period the crises hit the nations the study will contrast the events comprehensively. Lastly, the paper will look into the precautions and role the central bank played to stabilize the business cycle (Anand et al, 2013). . The crisis Several asset price bubbles like the real estate and the credit bubble, which led to a bloated advantage in banking, caused the crises. As at know the globe has accepted the situation. The crisis had contribution to the euro area where the bubble was as prominent as it was in the United States of America. The rise of house prices and the increase on credit to sustain the lives of the citizens was evident in both Europe and USA but the Euro was hard hit as compared to the USA. For instance, the financial and corporate sectors give a higher inference as compared to the USA. ... The towering savings ratio in China for instance assisted financing a growing present account deficit in the US with no accumulation in interest rate charges. Globalization plus productivity increase, in particular the information technology, declined inflation strain, which in blend with an expansionary fiscal strategy predestined that interest rates go very low. The low interest rates plus an ample liquidity instigated the credit boom in the fiscal markets. A disregard of risk bloated the growth of the monetary sector and fashioned an unbalanced fiscal system. This underrating was due to a number of aspects. New financial improvements and overall system risks were ill understood. Evaluation authorities failed to evaluate the hazards linked with for instance, structured finance. Pro-cyclical bookkeeping values also encouraged the credit explosion in the equivalent trend. In addition, several particular policies such as the US plan to boost home tenure amplified the sub-prime mortgag e market, which resulted to a reduced credit regulation in the country. Governments and central banks have the liability of maintenance of the economic stability through appropriate administration and parameter of the monetary markets. Still, the decision-making structure in many areas was disjointed extending to a deficiency of accountability for the system-wide risks (Anand et al, 2013). . The Effect that Destabilized Credit, Mortgage, and Insurance Markets have had on National Economies The effect that destabilized credit, mortgage, and insurance market is that the crisis had on the markets was different in diverse countries. This was due to the instigators in the countries. Effect on credit The effect on credit disturbed the consumer behavior in the country. The