Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Essay Example for Free

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Essay In the books Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, and Fences by August Wilson, there are common themes that run throughout the book. Among these are two, hard working men that can be a bit disillusioned by life. The main character of each book, Willy Loman and Troy Maxson are similar in many ways. They both try hard to be good men and fathers, but unfortunately, they are imperfect in both aspects. Troy distances his self from his youngest son, and many could say that he is too hard and cold towards him. Willy in a way believes that his grown sons could not have done any wrong when they were younger and do no wrong now. But these two fathers are not totally bad. There are many good personal traits that they both display in these books. But as stated as before, they werent perfect at all. In many ways, both Willy and Troy were in fact good fathers. They worked hard to provide for their families and tried to set an example for their sons by their own actions. Willy was extremely supportive of Biffs high school football success and went to all the games. Troy tries to instill certain values such as responsibility into his son Cory and explains to him that he shouldnt go through life worrying if people like him or not. He tells him he takes care of him not because he likes him, but because it is his duty. Troy seems to be a bad father more visibly. He does not encourage Corys high school football career in anyway, in fact he tells him to tell the scout he is not interested and thinks having a job is more important. His attitude toward Cory the majority of the time is cold and harsh, as if he regards his son as someone he must deal with and take care of. Willy had a few problems of his own. First he let himself get caught with his mistress by his son, which devastated him. He also acted like his sons were perfect, which they werent. He should have made sure his son passed math so he could have graduated, but he put that into the hands of their next-door neighbor, Bernard. Willy also sets a bad example telling his sons that being well-liked is very important and holds it as a measure of success. He also leads them to believe that he is doing well financially, when in fact he is not. He has to get $50 from his next-door neighbor and Bernards father Charley. Although Willy and Troy werent the best or worse fathers they did raise their sons. The outcome of these men are different, however. Cory, who did not have a good father-son relationship or interaction with Troy moved out and joined the United States Marine Corps. Seven years later he returns for Troys funeral, no doubt successful and providing for himself. Biff and Happy, on the other hand, who both had a pretty decent relationship with their father ended up with menial jobs living with their parents at the age of 34. Happy is a philanderer with horrible ethics that sleeps with his supervisors girlfriend. Biff is unable to hold a steady job and has a new money making idea every week. It is hard to judge both Willy and Troy as good or bad if we arent in their shoes. Whether others may agree or disagree, it can be said that both fathers raised their sons the best that the could under their circumstances and most likely the best they knew how. The outcome of a person does not wholly depend on his or her parent. Their outlook on life and how much they want to accomplish while on this earth are other factors

Analysis of First To Fight Essays -- Book Review, Military History

First To Fight begins with Krulak engaged in a conversation with a Gunnery Sergeant who was asked how the Marine Corps got the reputation of having one of the world’s greatest fighting formations. The GySgt replies â€Å"Well lieutenant they started telling everybody how great they were and pretty soon they started believing it†. The story goes on to talk about how there nearly wasn’t a Marine Corps. starts out with Marine Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith on the bridge of the command ship Mt. Olympus, off Iwo Jima on the morning of 23 February 1945 with Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal who said that the raising of our flag atop Mt. Suribachi means there will be an Marine Corps for the next five hundred years. Smith commented â€Å"When the war is over and money is short they will be after the Marines again†, and a dozen Iwo Jimas would make no difference. The resolute general was voicing the frustrations of the many generations of Marines before him who had learned through hard experience that fighting for the right to fight often presented greater challenges than fighting their country’s enemies. The Marines’ survival struggles during their first century and a half were mere skirmishes compared with what was to commence following the Second World War. Even as America was still trying to see through the smoke of Pearl Harbor, there were problems which were seen that were far more serious. A carefully designed plan which, if implemented, would destroy the Marine Corps as a fighting force. The scene was set according to Krulak by three events. In early October 1942 Krulak was a member of a team of four Marine officers assigned to the Army’s 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii to conduct instruction for the divisi... ...states there are three powerful external factors that cloud the Marines’ horizon. The first being the oppressive influence of threat. That threat is rooted in the attitudes or aspirations of the Army, the Navy, or various chief executives. Its nature has varied-threat to the Corps’s repute, to its right to fight, to its very survival. Secondly, the recurrent military affliction called austerity. At worst, they linger in active service and are a hazard to all around them. The third is the dead hand of bureaucracy that lies over the entire military establishment. While the larger services may be able to handle the pressures of bureaucracy, the Marine Corps has neither the instinct nor the time for it. The Marines are an assemblage of warriors, nothing more. Paper massaging and computer competitions do not kill the enemy, which is what the Marines are supposed to do.

HIV in Singapore

To extend the impact of our effort to curb the spread of HIV, we propose to continue and improve on our outreach effort targeted at the Chinese speaking Geylang crowd, and to initiate a campaign targeted at youths. The main objective of both efforts would be to encourage condom use and promote HIV testing as means to prevent the spread of HIV. On top of having both campaigns, we would like to propose making HIV testing more convenient by assisting with the implementation of a Mobile HIV Testing Van (MTV) service. Continuing and Improving Current Efforts to Reach Out to the Chinese Speaking Geylang Crowd 1. Printing more Pamphlets Having conducted an outreach event at Geylang, we found that the majority of our target audience read the educational pamphlet, and did so with a certain measure of contemplation – an indication of their rational riders being influenced by facts such as the ability to prolong one’s life if early treatment for HIV is sought, the benefits of condom usage and where the HIV test can be taken. Due to the limited number of pamphlets printed thus far, we foresee that more will be needed for future outreach events. Thus, we propose to have part of the budget allocated for this purpose. 2. Printing of Taglines Encouraging Condom Usage on Condom Covers. Redesigning the box used to contain condoms for distribution. Our group conceived a series of short, catchy taglines to encourage condom use. Condom covers with these taglines could be produced and distributed during outreach events. The taglines conceived were meant to direct our audience’s emotional elephants by evoking positive feelings about condom use – by asserting that love making can be equally pleasurable even when condoms are worn. To further engage our audience’s emotional elephants, we propose that an effort be made to conceive suitably ‘hard’ messages evoking anxiety and fear by highlighting the risks of doing away with condoms. Some of these ‘hard’ taglines could put across the message an underestimation of the one’s chances of contracting HIV is a contributing factor leading to HIV infection. By focusing attention on this ‘black swan’ in HIV being closer to home than it is often thought to be, our target audience may be encouraged to use condoms. These ‘hard’ messages could then be similarly printed on condom covers and distributed during outreach events together with those having ‘soft’ taglines, thus producing a carrot and stick effect that could further improve our effort to encourage condom usage. Also, the boxes used to store condoms could be changed to make it less obvious that it contains condoms, as it currently is. The purpose of doing so would be to encourage the taking up of these condoms, as regardless of whether those approached are seeking paid sex or not, they may nonetheless avoid accepting the condoms altogether because they do not wish to be seen in public as having done so, as evidenced when approaching some members of the public. To overcome such reluctance, the condoms (with the taglines printed on their covers) could be packed into larger rectangular top opening boxes such as those containing sweets (like how the sweet Ricola is packaged), with plain messages such ‘specially for you’ as that would serve to mask the true contents of the package. 3. Associating Condom Use and Regular HIV Testing with Responsible Behaviour In addition to distributing condoms and educational pamphlets, we propose to utilise the behaviour changing effects of social identity promotion to encourage condom usage and regular HIV testing. Posters juxtaposing images of Chinese males, representing all adult age groups, with condom use messages and them going for regular HIV testing could be printed and put up at places where our target audience often congregate – lanes leading to coffee shops and eateries along Geylang. These posters would portray these males as being socially responsible. As most would not wish to be labelled as irresponsible, the effects of projecting such an image could serve to encourage condom use and regular HIV testing. This effort to create such a social identity could be made more effective if a greater number of older volunteers (over 40s) are involved in such outreach events. These older volunteers could serve as leading lights of their age group and potentially relate better with our target audience, since both could see each other as peers. As there is a lack of volunteers belonging to this age group, we propose that an effort be made to seek such volunteers. One way we could do so would be to seek volunteers from grassroots organisations such as community clubs and public housing residents committees (RCs), since these bodies consist of people with an existing spirit of volunteerism and mainly belong to this age group. Extending our Impact to another Target Group – Youths/Young Adults Why Youths/Young Adults? It can be reasonably inferred from statistical data that youths (below 20) and young adults (20-30) are either becoming more sexually active or engaging in riskier sexual behaviour. The number of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) amongst youths rocketed by 118% between 2000 and 2008, while that of young adults increased by 67% during the same period1. Given these societal trends, this group seems increasing vulnerable to contracting HIV. Thus, we propose to mount a HIV prevention effort targeted at this group through similar means such as the promotion of condom use, regular HIV testing and creating a social identity to promote responsible sexual behaviour. 1. Going to Where Youths/Young Adults Are Instead of focusing on the Geylang red-light district, we propose establishing a presence at places where there’s a higher concentration of youths/young adults who are more likely to be sexually active and or engage in regrettable sexual behaviour. Some of these places would include entertainment nightspots such as clubs and pubs where the flow of alcohol and its adverse intoxicating effects are more keenly felt. 2. Distributing Educational Pamphlets and Condoms The content of the educational pamphlets targeted at the Chinese speaking Geylang crowd could be translated into English to cater to the younger set. The pamphlets could also include information, that would otherwise be absent in the Chinese-language version targeting the older crowd, directing our audience to social media sites (such as Facebook) where Action for Aids has a presence. We also propose modifying the taglines to be printed on condom covers, to appeal to the younger crowd. These taglines could include cheeky English language ones that the young can relate to. As with the Chinese speaking Geylang crowd, we propose to craft a social identity for the young who are sexually active, that would positively associate them with condom use and having regular HIV tests, by promoting their ‘clear’ HIV status as an asset. Assisting Action for Aids with the Implementation of a Mobile HIV Testing Van (MTV) Service Action for Aids (AFA) has plans to introduce a MTV service, to make HIV testing more convenient. Otherwise, AFA only has one test site at Kelantan Lane that may be out of the way. As the operational costs of such a van are high, and that the service will have to be chargeable, we propose committing part of our $1000 budget to subsidising these tests (the ones at AFA’s Anonymous Test Site cost $30) during the initial phase of the van’s operation, so as to allow the public to first acquaint themselves with the quality and safety of the service provided.

Subfields and Careers