The VIctim and Victmizer Essay Example for Free

The VIctim and Victmizer Essay We read five words on the first page of a really good novel and we begin to forget that we are reading printed words on a page; we begin to see images. These were the word spoken by John Gardner and describe exactly what a reader goes through in Millers Death of a Salesman. A victim is the one against whom the act is perpetrated against and the victimizer is the abuser of the crime. Throughout Death of a Salesman, the main character Willy Loman both victimzes his wife and two sons and is also victimized. Linda, who is Willys loyal wife, is victimized by Willy through disrespect. Willy Loman usually has no time for her, he show impatience towards her and responds to her very abruptly. Willy complains when she buys a new type of cheese and throughout the play, he yells at her often when she is mending her stockings. LINDA: Oliver always though the highest of him   WILLY: Will you let me talk?  BIFF: Dont yell at her, pop, will ya?  WILLY (angrily): I was talking, wasnt I?  (Miller, pg. 38)  It is clear that even Biff notices the disrespect of Willy towards his mother and he is hurt by it. In another scene, Biff describes his parents relationship.  BIFF: He always, always wiped the floor with you. Never had an ounce of respect for you.  (Miller, pg. 30) Even so, the disrespect is evident when the story unfolds and the audience is made aware that Willy has been cheating on Linda and giving her stockings to another woman. However much outrage this may cause the audience, the disgusting and appalling behaviour of Willy towards Linda, she too victimizes her husband. Although it is completely clear that she is a well-caring mother and wife, no one can deny that she plays a part in Willys death. Linda finds out about Willys deliberate car crashes and about the ripples in the gas line. She still supports him and pretends she knows nothing about it. She could have stopped Willy and helped him change instead of brushing it under the carpet and being ignorant to what was happening. Through that change, Willys death would have been avoided. She is afraid to hurt Willy and doesnt want him to know that she is aware of his feeble attempts of suicide. She wishes not to let Willy think that he has failed as a father and as a husband and has failed his financial responsibility.  BIFF: Did you have it taken off?  LINDA: Im Im ashamed to. How can I mention it to him? Everyday I go down and take away that little rubber pipe. But when he comes back home, I put it back where it was. How can I insult him that way? I dont know what to do. (Miller, pg. 60)  Furthermore, Willy also victimizes his son Biff and has many flashback memories of his son. Willys feelings towards Biff are very strong and though he has two sons, he seems more inclined towards pleasing Biff. Willy loves Biff and has high expectations for him and at the end of the play, he thinks he has done Biff a favour by committing suicide. When he was young, Willy could find no fault with Biff and does not scold him for cheating or stealing. Once, Willy asks Bernard to give Biff the answers for the test and hence teaches his son immoral behaviour of cheating to get ahead in life. As a result, Biff is victimized because he grows up not knowing the real difference between right and wrong and what is immoral and correct. At the end, when Biff leaves, he goes for a last visit to Willy and tells him that his life as a failure is the fault of Willy. Willy refuses to accept it and accuses him of spite and continues to repeat that he wont accept the blame. Biff replies to his father. BIFF: I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody! Thats whose fault it is!  (Miller, pg. 131)  He also tells Willy that he and him are nothing and to give up his hopes for him.  BIFF (crying, broken): Will you let me go, for Christs sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?  (Miller, pg. 133)  Even so, Willys victimization led to Biff victimizing Willy. Willy is caught by Biff when he is cheating on his mother and there is another woman with him in the room in Boson. Biff loses the respect for his father and he becomes sour and disillusioned. BIFF: You fake! You phoney little fake! You fake!  (Miller, pg. 121)  So, the attitude that Willy had towards his sons and his disrespectful behaviour and cheating towards his wife lead Biff to victimize him by becoming a failure and losing all respect for his father. He loses hope of ever being what his father dreamed of him being one day.  In comparison, Willys attitude and relationship between Happy is different in that he does not expect very much from him and he doesnt have the high hopes and dreams for him like he does for Biff. His victimization of Happy is when he ignores or giver very little attention to him although Happy tends to be an attention-seeker throughout the play. Willy hardly ever speaks to him and if he does, it is through Biff or related to him somehow. Happy also victimizes Willy by not letting him down about the other woman and he ignored and denies Willy as his father later in the story when they meet at the Chop-House. LEETA: Dont you want to tell your father   HAPPY: No, thats not my father. Hes just a guy.  (Miller, pg. 115)  He also tells lies about it to his mother when he is questioned by her.  He then goes to later lies about it to his mother, Linda, when she rebukes them for deserting him in the restaurant for girls,  LINDA (shouting after Biff): You invite him for dinner. He looks forwards for it all dayand then you desert him there. Theres no stranger youd do that to.  HAPPY: He had a swell time with us. Listen when I desert him, I hope I dont outlive the day!  (Miller, pg. 123) To conclude, Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman is filled with victimizations throughout the play whether they are directly or indirectly targeted. Willy victimizes his wife and his two sons but is also victimized by them throughout the play. But the real tragedy of his victimization is that it leads to more harm than he originally caused and he becomes the biggest victim of it also. In turn, the audience is shocked to see that he turns to victimize those closest to him. To some, he may be deserving of victimization, but others may sympathize with him and say justice has not been served.

Environmental Ethics Essay -- Global Warming Climate Change

The Need for Environmental Ethics â€Å"Unless humanity is suicidal, it should want to preserve, at the minimum, the natural life-support systems and processes required to sustain its own existence† (Daily p.365). I agree with scientist Gretchen Daily that drastic action is needed now to prevent environmental disaster. Immediate action and changes in attitude are not only necessary for survival but are also morally required. In this paper, I will approach the topic of environmental ethics from several related sides. I will discuss why the environment is a morally significant concern, how an environmental ethic can be developed, and what actions such an ethic would require to maintain and protect the environment. The most obvious reason that the environment has moral significance is that damage to it affects humans. Supporters of a completely human-centered ethic claim that we should be concerned for the environment only as far as our actions would have a negative effect on other people. Nature has no intrinsic value; it is not good and desirable apart from its interaction with human beings. Destruction and pollution of the environment cannot be wrong unless it results in harm to other humans. This view has its roots in Western tradition, which declares that â€Å"human beings are the only morally important members of this world† (Singer p.268). William F. Baxter exemplifies this anthropocentric viewpoint. In his book People or Penguins: The Case of Optimal Pollution, he argues that society should respect and attempt to preserve environmental balance only if the benefits to humans outweigh the costs. Baxter claims that, since there is no normative definition of â€Å"pure† air or water, society should aim for a level of pol... ...osystem Services With Efficiency, Fairness, and Sustainability as Goals.† Daily 49-64 * Daily, Gretchen C., ed. Nature’s Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1997. * ---. â€Å"Valuing and Safeguarding Earth’s Life-Support Systems.† Daily 365-373. * Fritsch, Albert J. Environmental Ethics: Choices for Concerned Citizens. Garden City: Anchor Press-Doubleday, 1980. * Myers, John Peterson. â€Å"Perspectives on Nature’s Services.† Daily xvii-xviii. * Shirk, Evelyn. â€Å"New Dimensions in Ethics: Ethics and the Environment.† Ethics and the Environment. Proc. of Conf. on Ethics and the Environment, April 1985, Long Island University. Ed. Richard E. Hart. Lanham: University Press of America, 1992. 1-10. Singer, Peter. Practical Ethics. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

My Life Has a Purpose

(a short story) My Life has a Purpose One windy afternoon, swaying trees , leaves falling scattered on the road, two newly friends agreed to take a walk to relax. On their way they saw a grocery store and dropped by to buy some snacks. They have reached the park and found a comfortable place under a tree. â€Å"What a tiring day! † said Cecile , the older one as she lean on the tree. She is chubby with a long curly hair and has the asset of beautiful eyes. â€Å"You’re right. Thank God we almost done half of the requirements. † answered Baby . â€Å"It’s relaxing here. She continued as she look around. â€Å" A nice place to charge not just our tired bodies but also stressed minds. † added Cecile as she starts to open a snack. Together they laugh. Baby heard her cellphone beep, someone send her a message. She check her bag looking for the cellphone, she saw her wallet, open it and saw the picture of her mother, brother, and father. While staring at the picture, she didn’t notice tears are falling from her eyes. When Cecile glance at her, she was worried. â€Å"Baby why are you crying? What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well? Tell me. Asked Cecile in a worried voice. â€Å"Don’t worry I’m okay. † Replied Baby while wiping her tears. â€Å" Cecile took her wallet and saw the reason why she cried,- their family picture. Cecile knew that Baby’s parents and only brother already passed away, but don’t have any idea what caused their death. â€Å"Baby if you don’t mind, i want to know how did your parents died, as well as your brother. † Cecile requested, as she look at her waiting for a positive response. Baby glance at her. â€Å" Okay I’ll tell you, but bear with me, I’m emotional. † She replied with a smiling teary eyes.Though 14 years had passed, everything is still fresh in her mind. â€Å" The weather was bad, heavy rains and strong wind, I was alone in the room in the school dormitory around seven o’clock in the evening I heard a strange sound that caught my attention. Suddenly the window opened because of the strong wind. When I was about to close the window, I saw a figure of a woman wearing a white dress seated on one branch of the star apple tree. I didn’t mind it, I closed the window and went back to bed as I waited for my room mate. † She started. Cecile was just quiet listening. That was the night before the real thing happen. † Baby paused for a while. â€Å" what real thing? † Cecile curiously asked. Baby continued as sadness reflected in her eyes. â€Å" The next day, a news came that a child and mother were both drowned in the river. I was shocked when I learned that it was my mother and brother they were talking about. It seems that time, my world collapse. I cried and cried. Together with my classmates and teachers, we go through the bad weather and walked three kilometer s to go home. When I got home, I saw my dad crying with wounded knees. â€Å"Why, what happened to your dad?. Cecile interrupted. â€Å"The three of them were together in that scene,my mother was the first one to fell in the river, my brother saw it then called the attention of our father. My dad upon seeing my mother was drowning, he jumped to save her. The water current was so strong, they couldn’t resist. When my brother saw our parents in that situation he eventually jump to save them but unfortunately, his head bumped on the rock that led to lost of consciousness. His body was carried by the strong current of the river.On the other hand, my father failed to save my mom, he lost sight of her. It was a miracle that my father survived because the river is too wide and the current was too strong with the heavy rains, he bumped a stable big rock where he hung on so that he won’t be carried by the river flow, where he got the wounds on his knees. † With a soft v oice as she continue to relay what had happened that led to the death of both her mother and brother. â€Å"oh! I’m sorry my friend, that was so difficult for you. † Cecile holds her hand to show her sympathy. â€Å"how about their bodies? a question pumped out from her mind as she recall that her father lost sight of her mother when he rescued her, and the part that her brother’s body went with the river flow. â€Å"My brother’s corpse was found on the same day, and it took three weeks for the rescuers , with my dad and relatives, to find my mother’s corpse. † She answered. Cecile became more curious. Many questions lingering in her mind. Baby tried to answer in detailed to satisfy her curiosity. Time was so fast, the sun already sets, the two friends pack up their things, pick up their trashes and place in the garbage can. It’s time to start a walk home.They both lived in the same apartment. The breeze is getting colder. â€Å"So the figure of a woman wearing a white dress you’ve seen the night before they were drowned, could that be a sign that something bad happened to your mom? † asked Cecile while walking. â€Å"hmmm. I don’t think so. I haven’t felt strange that time. † She replied. When they got home Baby put her things in her room and went to the kitchen to make coffee for the both of them. On the other hand, Cecile entered her room to get a sweater After a few minutes, Baby returned to the living room holding two cups of hot coffee to warm themselves.While sipping, Cecile remember to asked about her father. â€Å"Baby how about your father? † Cecile asked. â€Å" He passed away just last year due to complication. † She answered. Since the death of her brother and mother, her father kept on drinking liquor, though she tried to stopped him. His father had a prostate cancer, liver problem, a heart problem that led to his death. At the age of 17, she lost h er mother and brother. There was a point in her life that she asked God why them, there are lot of bad people who deserve to die to stop them from their wickedness.After 14 years, his father followed. â€Å" My friend you are a strong woman, you’ve overcome that challenge in your life. I salute you. † Cecile uttered in serious voice. â€Å"It was not that easy, but with the help of God I did it. Life must go on. Everything happens for a reason. I know God has a great plan for my life, and the things I’ve been through is just a part of the preparation of molding me to be worthy of the plan He has for me. â€Å" Baby replied. Cecile nodded as she agreed to what she said. They went to the kitchen to have their dinner, and there they continued their conversation. A year from now you’ll be graduating as a teacher and I know you’ll be an inspiration to your future students as you have inspired me now. † Cecile’s words of encouragement. â⠂¬Å"To God be the glory. Thank you my friend. Actually I don’t really expect that I could go back to school to pursue my studies. Aside from that, i didn’t dream of becoming a teacher. But here I am because of the goodness of the Lord , He will use me in this field. You too, you’ll be a successful businesswoman someday. † She responded. â€Å"God’s will. Said Cecile as she refill her plate with rice. â€Å" Should I call you ma’am Baby Girl or ma’am Ritchie? Ha ha. † â€Å" Of course I preferred the latter one, I’m already a big girl! † Their laughters echoed in every corner of the room. Her real name is Ritchie Biasura, calling her baby girl started when she got a copy of her birth certificate from the NSO, where Baby Girl Biasura was the written name. Her updated records was not yet forwarded from the local civil registrar to the NSO main office. She was advised to check her records and fix whatever problems bef ore graduation.

Karl Marx And Functionalist Theory - 1329 Words

Karl Marx and functionalist theory There is something to agree with in each one of the three sociological perspectives. There is accuracy in conflict theory perspective in that those in power determine social order and structure. Symbolic interactionism concentrates on social interactions. Since society consists of different social structures, social interaction having an effect on society certainly makes sense. Functionalist theory takes a large-scaled or macro view of social structures or institutions. Within the institutions, there is a functional structure, customs, and accepted norms or behaviors within any group of that institutional society. This paper will comprehensively describe the theory of conflict perspective based on the beliefs of sociologist Karl Marx, discussing and supporting the reasons for why portions of this theory aligns with personal views of sociology. Conflict theory emerged from the functionalist assumption that the consistency and stability of the social system are, by definition, positive (Durkin Carrothers, 2015, Ch. 1.3). It was sociologist Karl Marx (1818–1883), that originated the idea of conflict perspective theory. Marx belief according to the book titled Contemporary social issues and the workplace was â€Å"that the social order within a given structure is determined by those in power, and thus it is imposed on members of society who have the least social status† (Giraffe, 2011, Ch. 1). In other words, the less fortunate do not have theShow MoreRelatedCompare and Contrast the Main Tenet of the Functionalist and Conflict Perspectives.884 Words   |  4 PagesTopic: The conflict perspective views society less as a cohesive system and more as an arena of conflict and power struggles. Compare and contrast the main tenet of the Functionalist and Conflict Perspectives. 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