A Christmas Carol Essay Example for Free

A Christmas Carol Essay The Ghost of Christmas Past is the epitome of the contradictions of youth and age as well as winter and spring. The ghost has a beam of light jetting from his head and Scrooge extinguishes the light when he feels that he is unable to bear any of the other memories that the ghost is showing him. By showing Scrooge his past, the ghost has makes him realize that he has changed drastically from who he was when he was young and that his interests have turned from people to money. The Ghost of Christmas Present is a friendly, generous giant who shows Scrooge the homes of Bob Cratchit as well as Scrooges nephew, Fred. In both homes, good will is extended toward Scrooge although he has never shown the same good will to either his clerk, or his nephew. As the time passes the ghost, who was young when he first appeared to Scrooge, seems to age in the way that the present changes to the past with the passing of time. Then, just as he is approaching his last moments, the ghost shows Scrooge that want and ignorance are two products of society that will destroy it if not combated against by those who can prevent both social ills. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is a dark phantom, and the only part of this ghost that Scrooge sees, beyond his black robe, is a hand with which he points at the things Scrooge is to take notice of. This ghost shows Scrooge how he will die, and it is a sad scene. Scrooge begs the ghost to tell him that this fate can be changed if he changes his ways, but the ghost doesnt answer him. Scrooge is left only with the knowledge that he must change and become a more charitable person if he is to alter the fate that the ghost revealed to him. Last of the major characters is Tiny Tim who is Bob Cratchits youngest son. He is a lame boy with a cheerful nature despite his ailments and symbolises hope. At the Christmas church service, Tim hopes that people will look at his ailment and be reminded of how Christ healed the lame and blind. Tiny Tims guileless nature impresses Scrooge, and when he learns from the Ghost of Christmas Present that Tiny Tim will die soon, Scrooge is saddened. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come also shows the Cratchit house without Tiny Tim, and the vision is a sad one. Scrooge is touched by the gentleness of the little boy and wishes to prevent this fate from occurring. There are also some minor characters in A Christmas Carol but who also play an important part of the story. Firstly there is Fred, Scrooges nephew (his deceased sisters son), is a pauper, but a cheerful man nonetheless. He comes to the counting house to wish Scrooge a merry Christmas and invite his uncle to dine with himself and his wife on Christmas Day. Scrooge, however, refuses to associate with his nephew. Fred actually pities his miserly uncle because although he has all that money, he is still alone and unhappy. Fred insists that he will visit Scrooge at Christmas every year no matter whether or not Scrooge ever agrees to dine with Fred and his wife. After his visitation by the three ghosts of Christmas, Scrooge attends the Christmas dinner at Freds home and enjoys himself immensely. Secondly there is Mr. Fezziwig who was Scrooges kind and generous employer. He revisits the memory of his employment with Fezziwig when the Ghost of Christmas Past shows him Fezziwigs great Christmas party. The memory of this kind employer makes Scrooge feel a twinge of regret at how poorly he treats Bob Cratchit, his own employee. Last of the minor but nonetheless important characters is Belle, the young woman who once loved and was loved by Scrooge. Unfortunately, his love for her was replaced by his love for money, and she did not want to be second in favour to gold. She left him and went her own way after that and married. Scrooge remained alone. The Ghost of Christmas Past reminds him of why Belle left him and shows him where his life began going the wrong direction While reciting A Christmas Carol I noticed some themes that were entwined within the story, the most important themes of the story are stated more or less clearly by characters in it. The first of these might be Marleys saying, Business Mankind was my business. Where Scrooge sees business in the familiar sense of trade and finance, Marley now sees that ones business is what one should do in life, duty or obligation. Mankind is or was not just Marleys business of course, but Scrooges business, your business and mine, in fact, everyones. Secondly, Scrooges unkind remark that poor people should die and reduce the surplus population brings us to another theme of the story. When Scrooge asks if Tiny Tim will die he is reminded of these words. Why? Because the surplus population is not an abstraction but real individuals. Scrooge is told by the Ghost of Christmas Present to find out What the surplus is, and where it is before making such statements. Another theme is that change is possible however set we are in our ways. Dickens imagines the most miserable and hard-hearted man he can, and shows how he can be reformed if he sees his responsibilities. The message that Dickens is trying to get across is one of happiness. If you live your life in seclusion, only speaking to those who you must and always being nasty, you can never be truly happy. Dickens uses Scrooge as the epitome of selfishness and we are supposed to realise this and contrast it with Tiny Tims attitude of caring and sharing. Tiny Tim is the epitome of joy and hope; he is the person in the book with who we are supposed to learn from. The ghosts are the conduit from which we are to understand the past, present, and future of an unhappy man.

Freuds Psychoanalysis of the Interpretations of Dreams :: Freudian Psychology Essays

Dreams have been objects of boundless fascination and mystery for humankind since the beginning of time. These nocturnal vivid images seem to arise from some source other than our ordinary conscious mind. They contain a mixture of elements from our own personal identity, which we recognize as familiar along with a quality of `others' in the dream images that carries a sense of the strange and eerie. The bizarre and nonsensical characters and plots in dreams point to deeper meanings and contain rational and insightful comments on our waking situations and emotional experiences. The ancients thought that dreams were messages from the gods. The cornerstone of Sigmund Freud's infamous psychoanalysis is the interpretation of dreams. Freud called dream-interpretation the "via reggia," or the "royal road" to the unconscious, and it is his theory of dreams that has best stood the test of time over a period of more than seventy years (Many of Freud's other theories have been disputed in recent years). Freud reportedly admired Aristotle's assertion that dreaming is the activity of the mind during sleep (Fine, 1973). It was perhaps the use of the term activity that Freud most appreciated in this brief definition for, as his understanding of the dynamics of dreaming increased, so did the impression of ceaseless mental activity differing in quality from that of ordinary waking life (Fine, 1973). In fact, the quality of mental activity during sleep differed so radically from what we take to be the essence of mental functioning that Freud coined the term "Kingdom of the Illogical" to describe that realm of the human psyche. This technique of dream-interpretation allowed him to penetrate (Fine, 1973). We dream every single night whether it stays with us or not. It is a time when "our minds bring together material which is kept apart during out waking hours" (Anonymous, 1991). As Erik Craig said while we dream we entertain a wider range of human possibilities then when awake; the "open house" of dreaming is less guarded (Craig, 1992).

Laws on Contagious Disease Quarantine Essay

There are two principal sources of current legal thinking on quarantine for contagious diseases. The first originates in the law of quarantine itself. The second concerns civil commitment. Quarantine laws are limited to controlling infectious diseases. Civil commitment laws govern incarceration when people are a danger to themselves or others, are mentally ill and unable to care for themselves, or present a danger to others because they spread infectious disease. Before antibiotics, quarantine was important in preventing the spread of infection. Since it was not possible to attack bacterial causes of disease directly, sources of disease had to be kept away from other people. According to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, many state statutes which address the control of contagious diseases have been on the books since the turn of the century. The leading case on quarantine, Jacobson v. Massachusetts was decided in 1905. Even more recent statutes were enacted forty years ago. Only ten states have substantially changed their TB-related law within the last few years. The public health powers in state statutes include: compulsory examination and treatment, emergency detention and quarantine. Quarantine may be defined as either in-home isolation or commitment to state facilities. These measures are accomplished through public health orders or court orders. Some states have civil and/or criminal penalties for failing to comply with a such an order. Other statutes do not spell out penalties. Some statutes define which diseases are contagious and therefore subject to quarantine regulations. Others authorize state health departments to decide which illnesses are contagious. Some empower public health authorities to make quarantine or isolation decisions without any direction as to illnesses or conditions. Thirty-three states permit authorities to isolate people in their homes. In most cases there are no due process protections specified out in the law. Forty-two states permit commitment to treatment facilities. Thirty-six states require a court order to commit someone to a facility. Several do not require a court order or a hearing. Generally court orders will be initiated by a petition from public health authorities requesting a hearing. Written notice to the person concerned is usually required, but the hearing may be held with or without the patient. Only thirteen states explicitly grant the right to be represented by counsel in any part of the proceedings. Of these, eleven will provide counsel to indigent individuals. Release is accomplished when a determination is made that the person is no longer a threat to the public health, or no longer infectious. Some statutes specify criteria for release which may be vague (â€Å"no longer a danger to the public health†) or specific (evidence in sputum tests that the person is no longer actively contagious). Ten states have no statutory time limits on the length of time a patient may be held without discharge or recommitment. In many states the only explicit due process protection afforded persons who are quarantined is the opportunity to petition the court for release. Quarantine is a very old public health measure. Historical references date back at least to the Old Testament. When people were thought (rightly or wrongly) to have a contagious condition, they were isolated from others by confining them to their houses or by compelling them to live outside the community. Following English common law United States quarantine laws fall under the power of the state to protect public health and safety. In Gibbons v. Ogden, the United States Supreme Court alluded to the legitimacy of quarantine under the police power. The Court directly reviewed quarantine concepts in Compagnie Francaise de Navigation a Vapeur v. Louisiana State Board of Health. The law and its implementation were upheld as an appropriate exercise of police power. The suit arose when a geographic area of Louisiana was closed off to all new entrants because of the presence of infectious disease. The plaintiffs (a shipping company) regarded the action as a Commerce Clause violation, because it interfered with foreign commerce. The Court rejected the Commerce Clause argument, holding that the law was not repugnant to the Constitution. The dissent urged that the Court should have been addressing the particular implementation of the law rather than its constitutionality in general. The dissenters agreed however that â€Å"[t]he power of the several States †¦ to establish quarantine regulations †¦ is so well settled by repeated decisions of this court as to be no longer open to doubt. Relevant statutory law is found under the power of counties to establish hospitals and under the powers of the department of health and the board of health. Some still-current sections were in place before 1953 when the General Code became the Revised Code. Quarantine measures under Ohio law included isolating people in their own homes as well as removing them to public facilities. In 194 9 the Attorney General considered whether â€Å"home quarantine†, authorized under  § 4429, General Code was an appropriate exercise of the police power. Medical authority at the time discouraged in-home care because it spread infection to others in the household and did not provide the most effective treatment. The Attorney General expressed concern about the â€Å"social and economic embarrassment† involved in placarding a home and isolating the whole family. Balancing the health benefit (or lack thereof, according to medical experts) against liberty interests and social stigma, he opined that â€Å"in view of control measures now available† home quarantine would be arbitrary and unreasonable under normal circumstances. Contemporary society thinks removing people from their homes to treat their illness may be inhumane. When this opinion was written, the opposite may have been true, at least for illnesses requiring long-term care. In 1951,  § 4429-1 of the Ohio General Code provided the department of health with the power to â€Å"at once †¦ cause [someone with a communicable disease] to be separated from susceptible persons in such places and under such circumstances as will prevent the †¦ conveyance of the infectious agents †¦ and shall enforce such restrictive measures as may be prescribed by the state department of health. Ohio law has several provisions which govern quarantine generally. Under  § 3701 of the Ohio Revised Code, the department of health has the authority to â€Å"declare and enforce† or â€Å"modify, relax and abolish† quarantines. It may make other rules for preventing communicable disease. The chapter also provides that individuals shall not kno wingly fail to prevent transmission of their illness to others. Those who care for sick individuals, and those who â€Å"have charge of a public conveyance or place of public accommodation† shall not recklessly or negligently fail to protect others; or fail to inform health authorities of the presence of contagion. Criminal penalties are available under quarantine law, but they do not appear to have been much used. The statutes and cases do express the obligations of infected persons and others to avoid the spread of infection. Ohio quarantine regulations are very sweeping in the power granted to boards of health. They are also sweeping in their potential effect on people’s lives. Most of the provisions below were effective when the code was revised in 1953, and were carried over from similar provisions in the General Code. Quarantine regulations are covered under  § 3707. Key provisions include the following:  § 3707. 6 – Physicians or other persons â€Å"called to attend† persons with contagious diseases are required to report to the health commissioner â€Å"the name, age, sex, and color [sic] of the patient. †  § 3707. 07 – In case of a complaint or reasonable belief that there is infectious disease at a particular place, the board of health shall ha ve it inspected, and may either send the sick person to a facility, or quarantine the location, including any people exposed to the disease.  § 3707. 08 – Where there is infectious disease, the board shall isolate infected persons and those exposed, and have the location placarded. Anyone isolated or quarantined must have written permission to leave locations to which they are restricted.  § 3707. 14 – When people are quarantined the board of health is obligated to provide food, fuel and other necessities, at public expense if necessary.  § 3707. 16, . 20 – Quarantined persons may not attend school, places of worship or other public gatherings. They may not be sent to any institution such as a jail, children’s home, or institution for the blind or mentally ill without notice of their illness or exposure. Significant changes were made in 1955, with the passage of Amended House Bill 127, â€Å"‘[t]he Recalcitrant Tuberculosis Law’ enacted to protect society and based upon the legal principle that liberty implies absence from arbitrary restraint, not immunity from reasonable regulations imposed in the interest of society†. This legislation was considered to be a significant advance, â€Å"protective rather than punitive. † It put in place the specific mechanisms for implementing  § 339. 40, infra, evidentiary requirements, and mechanisms for release. There is no mention of the right to counsel, however. Key provisions of Chapter 339 include the following:  § 339. 40 – when proper presentation of facts has been made, the board of health is authorized to order the removal of persons with TB who are a menace to public health and cannot be treated at home. If someone is suspected of having TB on the basis of medical evidence, that person may be compelled to be examined regularly until certified as â€Å"free from tuberculosis in a communicable stage. †  § 339. 51 – evidence of communicable TB consists of laboratory reports of sputum or other body fluid which are ositive for the presence of TB bacilli, or chest X-rays which show active TB. A sputum test showing bacteria means the person is considered to have active TB for three months or until three successive tests show no bacilli.  § 339. 52-. 60 a board of health may request an order from the probate court to remove someone to a tuberculosis facility. The board must file an application with the court allegin g that the person is suffering from TB, is a menace to public health, and has either â€Å"refused to enter or has absented himself from a tuberculosis hospital against medical advice. After an application has been filed, a hearing is scheduled. The person named in the application must receive a summons no less than three days before the hearing. The judge examines any witness from the board of health and any others. The hearing may be conducted without the person summoned, if he or she does not appear. If the judge determines the allegations of the application are true, â€Å"the †¦ court shall enter a commitment order committing the person to a facility. † When someone is committed, she or he remains hospitalized until discharged. After ninety days a patient may apply to the same probate court to be discharged. The discharge is requested on the grounds that the patient no longer has communicable TB, and thus is not a menace to public health. The court holds a hearing within seven days. If it determines that the patient is not infectious, the discharge will be ordered, but not otherwise. Patients may also be released when an appropriate public health official certifies they are no longer a menace to the community. Relevant Ohio case law deals with the powers of the board of health to make and enforce regulations. Cases of actual quarantine involved smallpox or venereal disease (VD) rather than tuberculosis. An early important case was Ex parte Company. Company concerned requests for habeas corpus filed by two women who had been arrested for prostitution. Neither was convicted. One was discharged by the court and the other was found not guilty. While they were in custody they had been found to have VD. When their cases were resolved they were quarantined for the disease and applied for habeas corpus to be released from quarantine. They asserted that the quarantine, examination and detention provisions of the Sanitary Code violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the U. S. Constitution and section 5. Article 1 of the Ohio Constitution; that the provisions violated Ohio law; and that the legislature was not permitted to delegate its power to make laws to other bodies. The court readily disposed of the Constitutional claims on the grounds that legislative power to enact â€Å"reasonable and proper restraints† for the public good â€Å"is no longer open to question†. It noted that the Fourteenth Amendment did not extend the Bill of Rights to the States. The statute provided that anyone charged with a prostitution offense should be held if they were found to be infected with a venereal disease. The court found that the law was adequately supported by another statute which provided for the quarantine of any persons infected with venereal disease, incarcerated or not. Lastly the court determined that the legislature had given administrative authority to boards of health to create rules and regulations. Such grants of authority had been upheld in a number of other states. Only one case with distinguishable facts held otherwise. The court dismissed the petitions and remanded the petitioners to the health commissioner. Thus in Ohio as in the rest of the country the legislature has the power to create boards of health, which themselves have the power to create and execute a wide variety of public health regulations. What distinguishes Ohio law in this area is the fact that it has not been modernized.

E Commerce Is An Ever Developing Platform Of The Future Essay

E-commerce is an ever developing platform of the future. Starting in 1995 E-commerce has come along way and has potential to grow exponentially. E-commerce is an opportunity for people to shop or sell from the comfort of their homes. E-commerce has the ways and the means to propel business to the next level. E-commerce is an easy way to market your ideas or items to consumers. You don’t need a lot of capital to start your own E-commerce business, for this reason, the younger generation enjoys the relatively elementary procedures to start their business. Starting an e-commerce site for my boss isn’t easy, having said that, you still need the same concepts of a regular business if you want to be successful in E-commerce. Some questions that need to be asked are: who are your targeted audience, what demographics come into play, and how will revenue be generated for your business? All points considered, there are steps you have to take before blindly starting your business . Below is the website I created for my boss to expand his business. My boss gave me full reigns on this one, so I decided to create a business to consumer, e-business model. I wanted to create a business to consumer since it will be the best e-business model suited for my boss and his unique business endeavor, after all I want to maximize profits. The reasons B2C made the cut was because selling directly to clients was more beneficial than selling directly to merchants. Business to consumer is the mostShow MoreRelatedIn This Technology Era, It Is Essential To Have A Web Presence1476 Words   |  6 Pagesis prominent is E-commerce, allowing the business to have a web frontend, which provides the same services as traditional commerce world. The rapid changing technology had provided the opportunity for the companies to reach to a wide variety of consumers not just across the nation but also throughout the world. 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