Critique Of Blindness In Jose Saramagos Blindness

Critique of Blindness Human nature is defined by emotional expression, the desire to learn, individuality, and freedom of will. It enables people to make decisions on how they will conduct their daily interactions and, therefore, dictates how society will be run. Josà © Saramago’s novel, Blindness, tells the grim tale of a society devastated by a blindness epidemic known as the â€Å"white evil.† Without their sight, people are no longer able to act in a civilized manner and become aggressive towards one another as they struggle to survive. Saramago is able to redefine human nature as he takes a rather pessimistic stance on the topic and decides to present it as no different from animalistic instinct. Within the novel, people are first branded†¦show more content†¦Saramago created an opportunity to explain what it is like to live in such a society. He states, â€Å"This must be what it means to be a ghost, being certain that life exists, because your four se nse say so, yet unable to see it. (Saramago, 242)† This indicates that the city, is no longer composed of people, but rather it is composed of beings whose only purpose is to survive. Such writing demonstrates why many readers believe that Saramago intended to reveal how human nature directly interacts with personal misfortune and social catastrophe. Towards the end of the novel, the doctor’s wife notes, â€Å"I don’t think we did go blind, I think we are blind, Blind but seeing, Blind people who can see, but do not see. (Saramago, 326)† This highlights Saramago s political and philosophical intentions.With that being said, such intentions are developed throughout the entire novel. The story begins in the middle of rush hour, in an unknown city, when the first blind man is struck suddenly by blindness while waiting at a traffic light. Afterwards, he is rushed to the doctor’s office where he is, consequently, responsible for the spread of the  "white evil.† It was there that the first blind man infected all those around him, and, as a result, began to spread the epidemic and panic throughout the city. With a large number of people going blind at an alarming rate and with no apparent cause, public health officials decided that all the

Short Story - 1476 Words

Ryder groaned as he started to move. His arms were pulled towards his chest and he could feel the pain rippling through his body. Releasing the tension in his arms, purrloin crawled out. She had a few bruises and cuts but nothing too major. Ryder moaned as his body screamed. Moving wasn’t much of an option as his body roared in pain. â€Å"Purrloin, Emma?† He asked as the dark type rushed away from him. She was out of view and his neck was killing him. He wasn’t sure what struck them, but the next thing he knew they were falling. He instinctively pulled purrloin to his chest. Protecting her as for rayquaza he hoped the dragon fared better than him. Hearing the dragon’s groan. He gazed above where he laid seeing the dragon currently†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"You won’t get away with this.† He whispered. â€Å"Oh†¦ but we already have.† Carrying a bag the member started putting the balls into it. Suddenly he was knocked awa y, his sleeves were torn off and he dropped the bag. Purrloin growled as she stood in front of the bag. â€Å"Why isn’t that one in the ball?† The member cried. â€Å"Knock it out and call it into one.† The admin snarled as the member scrambled to his feet. Calling out a houndour, it gave off a growl. â€Å"Ember.† â€Å"Move.† Ryder whimpered but purrloin heard the command. Jumping over top the pokemon, her tail started to glow before slamming down onto the dark types back. Giving a yelp it stumbled before spinning trying to bite purrloin. Rushing around the pokemon, her claws started to glow. Striking houndour again, it fell before jumping to grab the devious pokemon. Dodging the incoming attack, the admin rolled her eyes. â€Å"I’ll handle this.† She stated calling out manetric. â€Å"Thunder fang.† Catching purrloin’s tail she was thrown to the ground. She stumbled to her feet as the admin gave another order and she gave a cry before being thrown across earth. Purrloin started to push herself up. Electricity surged from manetric encompassing the dark type. Giving a cry she collapse in agony, but her eyes remained open. â€Å"Now catch it.† The admin stated as the member began to look through the balls. â€Å"Purrloin.† Ryder whisperedShow MoreRelatedshort story1018 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Short Stories:  Ã‚  Characteristics †¢Short  - Can usually be read in one sitting. †¢Concise:  Ã‚  Information offered in the story is relevant to the tale being told.  Ã‚  This is unlike a novel, where the story can diverge from the main plot †¢Usually tries to leave behind a  single impression  or effect.  Ã‚  Usually, though not always built around one character, place, idea, or act. †¢Because they are concise, writers depend on the reader bringing  personal experiences  and  prior knowledge  to the story. Four MajorRead MoreThe Short Stories Ideas For Writing A Short Story Essay1097 Words   |  5 Pageswriting a short story. Many a time, writers run out of these short story ideas upon exhausting their sources of short story ideas. If you are one of these writers, who have run out of short story ideas, and the deadline you have for coming up with a short story is running out, the short story writing prompts below will surely help you. Additionally, if you are being tormented by the blank Microsoft Word document staring at you because you are not able to come up with the best short story idea, youRead MoreShort Story1804 Words   |  8 PagesShort story: Definition and History. A  short story  like any other term does not have only one definition, it has many definitions, but all of them are similar in a general idea. According to The World Book Encyclopedia (1994, Vol. 12, L-354), â€Å"the short story is a short work of fiction that usually centers around a single incident. 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In the short stories â€Å"Miss Brill† and â€Å"Frau Brechenmacher attends a wedding† written by Katherine Mansfield, the themes which are relevant to real life in Miss Brill are isolation and appearance versus reality. Likewise Frau Brechenmacher suffers through isolation throughout the story and also male dominance is one of the major themes that are highlighted in the story. These themes areRead MoreShort Story and People1473 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Title: Story Of An Hour Author: Kate Chopin I. On The Elements / Literary Concepts The short story Story Of An Hour is all about the series of emotions that the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard showed to the readers. With the kind of plot of this short story, it actually refers to the moments that Mrs. Mallard knew that all this time, her husband was alive. For the symbol, I like the title of this short story because it actually symbolizes the time where Mrs. Mallard died with joy. 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Racism is so prevalentRead MoreThe Idol Short Story1728 Words   |  7 PagesThe short stories â€Å"The Idol† by Adolfo Bioy Casares and â€Å"Axolotl† by Julio Cortà ¡zar address the notion of obsession, and the resulting harm that can come from it. Like all addictions, obsession makes one feel overwhelmed, as a single thought comes to continuously intr uding our mind, causing the individual to not be able to ignore these thoughts. In â€Å"Axolotl†, the narrator is drawn upon the axolotls at the Jardin des Plantes aquarium and his fascination towards the axolotls becomes an obsession. In

Quebect Court †Employee VS Employer Free Essays

The appellant city hired a temporary employee through a personnel agency to work for 6 weeks as a receptionist and then for 18 weeks as a clerk. During the two work assignments, the employee’s wages were determined and paid by the agency, which submitted an Invoice to the city. The employee performed her work under the direction and supervision of a manager working for the city, The general working conditions, such as hours of work, breaks and statutory holidays, were dictated by the city. We will write a custom essay sample on Quebect Court – Employee VS Employer or any similar topic only for you Order Now If the employee had not been qualified or had experienced problems in adapting, the city would have informed the agency, which would have taken the appropriate action. The respondent union, which holds the certification certificate for most of the city employees, submitted a request to the office of the labor commissioner general under s. 39 of the Labor Code seeking, inter alai, to have the temporary employee included in the union’s bargaining unit. The labor commissioner found that the city was the employee’s real employer during the two assignments and granted the union’s request. On appeal, the Labor Court affirmed the decision. It acknowledged that the agency recruited, assigned positions to, evaluated, disciplined and paid the temporary employees, but concluded that the city as the real employer by focusing on the question of which party had control over the temporary employee’s working conditions and the performance of her work. The Labor Court also noted that there was a relationship of legal subordination between the city and the employee because the city managers directed and supervised how she did her day-to-day work. The Superior Court dismissed the motion in evocation brought by the city, finding that the Labor Court’s decision was not patently unreasonable. The Court of Appeal affirmed that Judgment in a majority decision. Held (Lurker’s-Dub © J. Assenting): The appeal should be dismissed. Per Lamer C. J. And La Forest, Ignition and Core J. To determine whether the Labor Court’s decision is patently unreasonable, it must be asked whether the decision was based on the evidence adduced and whether the Labor Court’s interpretation of the legislative provisions was patently unreasonable. The Labor Code provides few indications of how to determine the real employer in a tripartite relationship, and the definitions of the terms â€Å"employer† and â€Å"employee† found in the Code have had to be interpreted by specialized administrative tribunals. To identify the real employer in a tripartite relationship, a comprehensive approach must be taken. The criterion of legal subordination, which basically encompasses the notion of actual control by a party over the employees day-to-day work, and the criterion of Integration Into the a context of collective relations governed by the Labor Code, it is essential that temporary employees be able to bargain with the party that exercises the greatest control over all aspects of their work?and not only over the supervision of their day-to-day work. Moreover, when there is a certain splitting of the employer’s identity n the context of a tripartite relationship, a comprehensive approach has the advantage of allowing for a consideration of which party has the most control over all aspects of the work on the specific facts of each case. This approach requires a consideration of the factors relevant to the employer-employee relationship, including: the selection process, hiring, training, discipline, evaluation, supervision, assignment of duties, remuneration and integration into the business. Here, the Labor Court used a comprehensive approach by not basing its decision solely on the criterion of legal subordination. It certainly gave greater probative value to working conditions and the criterion of legal subordination, but it also considered other factors that define the employer-employee relationship, such as the role of the agency and the city with respect to remuneration and discipline, and the specific facts of the employee’s case. Nor did the Labor Court ignore the agency’s role in recruiting, training and evaluating the employee. However, it Justified giving predominant weight to working conditions and the legal subordination test by relying on the ultimate objective of the Labor Code. The purpose of certification is to promote bargaining between the employer and the union in order to determine the employees’ working conditions. According to the Labor Court, those conditions are â€Å"essential aspects of an employee’s experience†. The reasoning of the Labor Court, a highly specialized agency that has expertise in labor law and is protected by a privative clause, was not patently unreasonable. The Labor Court’s conclusion that the city was the employee’s employer for the purposes of the Labor Code does not lead too patently unreasonable result. The applicability of the city collective agreement to the employee during her assignments does not raise any major difficulties. Moreover, although the agency was the employee’s employer for the purposes of the Act respecting labor standards, no inconsistency can be found in the application of the Code and that Act. Each of the labor statutes has a distinct object and its provisions must be interpreted on the basis of their specific purpose. Moreover, this case relates to provisions of the Labor Code, specifically whether the Labor Court’s decision was patently unreasonable, and not to the Act respecting labor standards. The arrangement is not perfect. However, the relationship in question here is not a traditional bipartite relationship, but a tripartite one in which one party is the employee and the other two share the usual attributes of an employer. In such a situation, it is thus natural that labor legislation designed to govern bipartite After an analysis of the facts, the legislation and the cases, there is a basis for the Labor Court’s decision in the Labor Code and the evidence, and it is therefore not patently unreasonable. Per Lurker’s-Dub © J. (dissenting): Given the Labor Court’s exclusive and peccadillo Jurisdiction to determine whether an employee should be included in a bargaining unit, as well as the privative clause in the Labor Code, a reviewing court may only intervene if the Labor Court’s decision is patently unreasonable. While a high degree of deference is warranted in reviewing the Labor Court’s decision, if such a decision fundamentally contradicts the underlying principles and intended outcomes of the enabling legislation and interferes with the effective implementation of other statutes which support and protect employees, intervention by the reviewing court is in order. Here, the Labor Court was asked to interpret the â€Å"employer-employee relationship† within the scope of the Code’s regime governing certification and the collective bargaining process in the context of a tripartite arrangement. The modern rule of statutory interpretation holds, inter alai, that a court must adopt an interpretation that is appropriate in terms of its acceptability ? namely, the reasonableness of its outcome. Where an administrative tribunal contrives an absurd interpretation, it commits an error of law that warrants Judicial intervention pursuant to any standard of review. 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Childhood Obesity Essay Example For Students

Childhood Obesity Essay Childhood Obesity Chamberlain College of Nursing Dawn M. Greene NR448 Information Systems in Healthcare Professor Rebecca Burhenne Spring Session B – 2010 Introduction The research topic attempts to examine if socioeconomic status affects the prevalence of elevating obesity rates in adolescents. Obesity is a condition that is indicative of a† high proportion of body fat that causes a negative effect on your health† (Dahms, 2008). The most common causes is eating too much and moving around too little. Genetics, family history, age, and sex are also risk factors that can lead to obesity. Obesity can be linked to the diagnosis of high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease† (Dahms, 2008). The best defense against obesity is diet modification, increase in physical activity, and exercise. To diagnose obesity a calculation called the body mass index (BMI) is used. As referenced by eMedTV (n. d. ), weight (in pounds) divided by height( in inches) squared is the n multiplied by 703. A BMI 25 30 is equivalent to being overweight. A BMI ranging from 30-39 is equivalent of obesity. A BMI of 40 results in morbid obesity. The PICO format helps to shape the clinical question by using the key search words: adolescent obesity, low socioeconomic status, and middle socioeconomic status. The acronym PICO identifies â€Å"P† as the patient and problem – adolescent. â€Å"I† represents an intervention/indicator low socioeconomic status. â€Å"C† is a comparison of lower and middle socioeconomic status. † O† is the outcome – obesity. The research question formulated using the PICO format is: Is obesity more prevalent in adolescents with lower socioeconomic status than with adolescents from upper /middle socioeconomic status.. My approach to gathering pertinent information needed to find evidenced based practice and peer review articles/journals related to my research topic was to access the Pub Med Medline site:   http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pubmed/ . I viewed the tutorial on basic searching, how to use Mesh – and the various ways to use vocabulary to get the results you’re looking for, I also looked at thee tutorial on saving searches. My first few attempts find pertinent articles related to my topic were unsuccessful and I had no results returned. Changing the search by using limits function to narrow down the results. The original research question had to be rephrased, and several variations of key words were used. (i. e. , adolescent obesity, low socioeconomic status, middle socioeconomic status). Tweaking my original research question to match the controlled vocabulary familiar to Mesh yielded a final search of 117 articles. The study design of the article related to my research topic question is a comparative study with qualitative as well as and quantitative components. The adolescents in the study were put in categories by gender and socioeconomic status therefore, making the study qualitative. Numerical data and percentages qualified it as a quantitative study as well. There were 2,156 adolescents subjects: 1,074 boys and 1,334 girls were of mixed gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background. The selection process to determine socioeconomic status (SES) eligibility for the study is the parent’s highest level of education, employment status, eligibility of parents to receive public assistance and if the child received free or reduced school lunch. The study had two phases, this article reporting on phase two. Phase two of the study spanned over a period of five years, using a â€Å"mixed-model regression analysis to examine longitudinal trends in overweight status as a function of SES. † (Sherwood,  Wall   Neumark-Sztainer,  Story, 2009). The study had a very large population than spanned over 5 years from which to validate the correlation between adolescent obesity and socioeconomic status. The study was conclusive and found that there was an increased rate in obesity in adolescents from low SES in comparison to middle status. The Minister's Black Veil Essay There are some arguments against teaching physical educations in the classrooms. Some argue that physical education should be taught at home and not at school. It should be a parents objective to monitor their childs weight. Many parents, however, are often working or too busy to monitor a childs every action. Most parents who work overtime to support their children will take the easiest and .