Teenage Wasteland Essay Example for Free

Teenage Wasteland Essay Many mothers make mistakes with their first child. They may not give them enough attention, or they may give them too much attention. In the two short stories â€Å"I stand Here Ironing† by Tillie Olsen and â€Å"Teenage Wasteland† by Anne Tyler, both of the mothers reflect back on the struggle they had raising their first child. They talk about how they handled situations and what they would change if they could do it over. Both â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† and â€Å"Teenage Wasteland† depict a mother struggling with guilt, thereby showing the difficulties involved in raising children. Lastly, both stories depict mothers struggling with guilt over past decisions made concerning their first child. In â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† the mother regrets that she didn’t have the knowledge then, that she does now. She shows this when she says â€Å"My wisdom came too late† (Olsen 813). The mother feels that she did better raising her other children, and only made mistakes concerning her first child. When she looks at her daughter’s life she finds herself wishing she could have done more for her. Just like in â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† by Olsen, â€Å"Teenage Wasteland† by Tyler also depicts a mother struggling with guilt over decisions she made while raising her son. The author shows the mothers helplessness by saying â€Å"Had she really done all she could have? † (Tyler 1170). The mother felt helpless in the problems with her son, and feels guilty for not trying to do more. She also wonders if she had really done all that she could have to help her son or if she pushed him too much. Both mothers struggled with guilt and the consequences of their decisions concerning their first child. There are many difficulties that arise while raising children; these short stories are about two mothers that both struggled with the guilt of their decisions involving their first child. The majority of new mothers make mistakes with their children that they later regret. It’s all part of learning the best way to do things and finding the way through unfamiliar territory.

John Steinbecks East of Eden - Religious References :: East Eden Essays

Religious References in East of Eden Religion constantly appears throughout Steinbeck's East of Eden. Among these religious appearances are the similarities between the Cain and Abel story and the characters, the Hebrew word timshel, and the presence of God/Fate in the novel. First, East of Eden is a reenactment of the Cain and Abel tale. Many similarities are seen between the two. The title East of Eden comes from the biblical tale when " 'Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden' " (Steinbeck 352). The relationship between Abel and Cain, who killed Abel, is similar to those of Adam and Charles, who once tried to kill Adam, and Aron and Caleb, who informed Aron of their mother's profession, an act which led to Aron's death in World War I. Charles and Caleb fight for their fathers' affections in the same way in which Cain fought with Abel over the Lord's attention. Also in the novel, "the Cain characters ... are identified by names beginning with "C" (Cyrus, Charles, Cathy, Caleb) and the Abel characters ... with "A" (Alice, Adam, Aron, Abra)" (Lisca 269). Next is the word timshel-- thou mayest-- a Hebrew word spoken to Cain by the Lord: " 'if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him' " (Steinbeck 351). Lee discovers that the verb in this passage has been translated as both thou shalt [rule over evil] and do thou [rule over evil].With the help of his Chinese elders and a Jewish Rabbi, Lee determines that the original meaning is thou mayest-- "the word timshel ... gives a choice" (398) or free will to mankind to commit good or evil acts. This word appears often in the novel and is important at the very end where Adam's final timshel blesses and forgives Caleb and reminds him that even after his "murder of his brother ... he can still choose his course and fight it through and win", meaning Caleb still has the chance to overcome the tendency for evil which he believes he has inherited form his mother. (Gribben 96) One of the novel's epiphanies is Lee's translation of timshel to thou mayest. This translation puts choice into man's destiny. According to this view, we are not condemned; we have a choice between good and evil.

Of mice and men †George’s character Essay

George possesses many fine, admirable qualities in the novel, however there is one action he ultimately commits which is evil. Of George’s good qualities, his self respect and respect for others are his most outstanding. He displays all of these qualities many times throughout the book, and never are these qualities contradicted, except in one evil act that George commits. George is a character who has great respect for himself. Often, we stereotype homeless, drifter types such as George as people who have no concern for personal hygiene, appearance, or even something as simple as a clean place to sleep. George, however, is a living example that disproves this stereotype. When George and Lenny first arrive on the ranch, George is assigned a bed in the bunkhouse. When George proceeds to put his belongings on a shelf next to his bed, he finds a bottle that reads, â€Å"positively kills lice, roaches, and other scourges,†(20). After George finds this, he responds, â€Å"What the hell kind of bed you giving us, anyways. We don’t want no pants rabbits,†(20). This shows that George does care if he has a clean bed to sleep in; we sometimes think a person like George wouldn’t care about this. Throughout the novel, George shows his respect for others many times. The character that George respects the most is Slim. George never challenged Slim’s opinion, and recognized that Slim’s word was law. Not only George respects Slim, though. It seems everyone on the ranch recognizes Slim as the supreme law. After Slim tells Candy that he thinks the dog should be shot, â€Å"Candy looked helplessly at him [Slim], for Slim’s opinions were law.† George also has a great respect for Crooks, the Negro stable buck. When George finds Lenny and Candy in Crooks’ room, he realizes that Crooks likes the company, however he knows that, for the good of Crooks, that Candy and Lenny must leave the room. George makes them leave the room because he respects Crooks and is trying to do what’s best for him. In the conclusion of the novel, George commits one evil, horrendous deed. This deed is killing Lennie. George doesn’t just mercifully kill Lennie, though. George executes him, shooting him in the back of the head with a pistol. Lennie must have felt pain, even if it was just for a second. George could have easily fled with Lennie and poisoned him or, better yet, not killed Lennie at all. The grounds on which George killed Lennie are not justifiable. They could have made another attempt at making a stake to buy that piece of property, however George threw this chance away. George also commits a crime on himself, because after Lennie is killed, it can be deduced that George will go on to lead an immoral, evil lifestyle, that of the average bucker on the ranch. In this novel, Steinbeck seems to view all human dreams as unachievable. He illustrates many characters with distinct dreams in this novel, such as Lennie and George, Candy, and Curley’s wife. Each one of these characters has different dreams, but each dream is incredibly important to them. All of these dreams, though, seem like they will never be achieved by the people who dream them. Lennie and George’s dream is perhaps the most important dream; the story is somewhat focused around it. This dream begins with building up a stake, which is a sum of money accumulated over a time. Once a stake of around 600 dollars is accumulated, George and Lenny plan to buy a small piece of land, about 10 acres, and move into the house on it. † ‘†¦Someday-we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and-† â€Å"An’ live off the fatta the lan,’ Lennie shouted,†(15). George is the one who initially came up with this dream. Initially, George just told Lennie of this dream to amuse him. George, though, never thought this would ever happen. With the inclusion of Candy in the plan, though, George begins to believe this dream. He still has a feeling that he won’t achieve it. From what the novel says, we can conclude that Lennie and George will never achieve this dream, because Lennie is dead. We can also deduce that George will never settle down and buy some land on his own. Candy has a dream similar to George and Lennie’s, however he wants a different feeling out of the dream. What Candy is looking for is a sense of security. This is important to someone like Candy, who, having a relatively unstable job, could be fired at any time. Also, Candy is disabled, so he would have a hard time finding another job, especially in a time like the Great Depression. Candy wants to live with Lennie and George so that he can have a secure future, and not have to worry about not having a place to live. When George seems to abandon the dream when he knows Lennie must die, Candy is worried that George won’t want to complete the dream without Lennie. â€Å"You an’ me can get that little place, can’t we, George? You an’ me can go there an’ live nice, can’t we, George? Can’t we?†(103). It can be deduced from this passage that Candy is having doubts about the dream now, and is worried it will never be achieved. It seems that Curley’s wife has the simplest dream of all in the novel. All that she craves is attention. She is so desperate for attention that she will take it from anyone, even Lennie or Crooks, the Negro stable buck. It can be deduced that the reason she married Curley was for the sole purpose of attention, because it is clear that she doesn’t have much attraction to him, and he has only a limited amount of attraction to her; he treats her more like a prostitute than a wife. When Curly’s wife gets lonely, she seeks out anyone for attention, even stooping to the level of getting attention from the stable buck, when he is in his room with Candy and Lennie. She also looks to Lennie for attention when she finds him alone in the barn. This was not an intelligent idea and it resulted in her death. Curly’s wife died without ever receiving ample attention from anyone, thus her dream was not achieved. George and Curly are both very similar people. They are both rather small, and both of them could defend themselves if they needed to. They both work on the ranch, and they both, in there own mind, have a lot of power. There are however, many differences between Curly and George. Among these is their personality, self respect, and respect for others. George has a very mellow, calm attitude about things, and never gets out of control. He’s a very controlled person, and would never let his temper get the better of him. Curly, on the other hand, is always looking to pick a fight. Whenever he gets the opportunity, he will challenge someone to a fight. This is partially due to the fact that he’s an avid boxer, and it’s also due to his mentality. He has the classic â€Å"little guy† mentality, always wanting to be able to beat up people, to make up for his size. George has much respect for himself. He shows this in the beginning of the novel, when he finds the lice killer next to the bed. He knows that he deserves a clean bed, because he has much respect for himself. Curly, though, has no respect for himself. He’s always trying to be better than other people, trying to show up people. He has to build himself up to make up for his lack of confidence and respect for himself. George has much respect for others. He respects Slim greatly, and takes Slim’s word as law. He also respects Crooks, by realizing that it’s best for Lennie to stay out of his room. George doesn’t look for fights because he has respect for people, and isn’t willing to stoop to the level of Curly. By punching Lennie just for supposedly laughing at him, Curly shows that he has no respect for Lennie. If he did, he would not have had any reason to fight him. Curly fought Lenny on grounds of respect; he wanted to gain respect from others if he won the fight.

Threats to Information Security Essay - 874 Words

Many organizations are now facing huge threats to their stored information. This is putting organizations and individuals at risk of losing their privacy. There are factors that contribute to information vulnerability of an organization and to a personal level. In addition, there are measures that are put in place to help secure information. The factors that pose a threat to information may include inter-connectivity and the wireless applications used in business (Rainer Turban, 2009, p. 1). There is massive communication of computers following the inter-connectivity and this introduces a lot of challenges in the manning of information security (Rainer Turban, 2009, p. 1). The massive inter-connectivity has acted as a brooding ground†¦show more content†¦1). Another threat to information security is organized cyber crime. This form of crime is done by organized organizations that are engaged in illegal activities over the internet (OBrien Marakas, 2008, p. 145). This crime targets weaknesses in some security software and the perpetrators rip off their victims billions of dollars (OBrien Marakas, 2008, p. 145). Cyber crime is considered non-violent but costly; since it is conducted by probably the most skillful hackers from powerful networks and computers. Another point is the lack of employee commitment to following security procedures, which results from lack of emphasis and follow-ups by the concerned managers (OBrien Marakas, 2008, p. 145). To overcome these insecurities, there are several proposed measures that can be implemented. One of the initial actions towards protection of information should be risk management (Reynolds Stair, 2005, p. 37). Under risk management, there should be risk analysis. The analysis should determine if there are enough assets to secure information in the organization (Reynolds Stair, 2005, p. 37). The analysis should also deduce if the systems are cost-effective or not (Reynolds Stair, 2005, p. 40). 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