RoseColored Glasses and The Glass Menagerie Essay Example for Free

RoseColored Glasses and The Glass Menagerie Essay The Glass Menagerie is about a dysfunctional family that consists of a mother, and her two adult children, Tom and Laura. All of them dream to seek comfort and to escape reality because none of them enjoys the life they lead. Similarly, in Rose-Colored Glasses, the narrator of the poem is inclined to dream rather than to face reality because she has not overcome the transition from one big happy family to getting kicked out of her old home and having divorced parents. These two families are reflections of each other because in both families, the characters rely on dreaming to overcome not only the fathers abandoning the family, but also to escape the financial and emotional despair in their livesboth of which are direct impacts from the fathers absence. Faced with disappointment because the fathers desert the family, the characters In Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie and Elizabeth Alexanders Rose-Colored Glasses, withdraw into their distinct worlds to escape the expectations that reality demands. Disappointment is a theme in both the story and the play and with similar impacts on the family. The first time the characters face disappointment is when the fathers leave the familyone through divorce, the other fell in love with long distances. The first impact is emotional despair for both families. In the Wingfield family, Amanda openly expresses her remorse and regret for marrying the absent father. Tom is emotionally distraught because he has to fill his fathers shoes in providing for the family when all he wants to do is to leave and become a sailor. The narrator in Rose-Colored Glasses experiences sadness because her family is broken apart. Besides emotional despair, both families are faced with financial problems. The narrator is kicked out of her apartment which is even more beautiful then it was then, and perfect. This shows how much she wants it back and how sad she must have been when she moved. As for the Wingfields, Tom makes so little money that he has to sacrifice the money for the light bill in order to pay for membership in the Merchant Marines. Laura is deeply disappointed when Jim tells her he is engaged that she may never have renewed hope for anyone again. Disappointment is a theme that partly drives the characters to retreat more so into their illusional worlds in order to escape emotional hurt and financial problems in the real world. The illusional worlds that the characters imagine themselves to be in are sometimes caused by the theme, expectations. Amanda expects Laura to be just like her and actually dreams Laura can be if she just develops vivacity and charm. Amanda fantasizes that these traits can easily be developed if one wills it. However, this is not an easy task for Laura because she is extremely shy. Although Laura is never expecting any gentlemen caller, Amanda never stops telling her to stay fresh and pretty because its almost time for our gentlemen callers to start arriving! 10 From this, we can tell that Amanda expects too much that in her mind, it becomes believable. In another scene, Amanda expects Tom to find Laura a husband in order to secure her future. Amanda so strongly expects Jim to be Lauras future husband that she actually begins to believe it. She ends up over preparing the house and over dressing Laura. She later accuses Tom of playing a joke on her when in fact, she never minded to ask him about it. Laura, on the other hand expects something to come out of her and Jims meeting because he kissed her. She sits dazed after he kisses her, possibilly imagining that he likes her when in fact, this is a false illusion created by her expectation. The narrator in Rose-Colored Glasses however, does not expect, but is expected from her mother to act grown up. When contrasting the time when she would Played checkers with a dolly being enough to be your sister and there was no desperation where one day [she] would cut off [her] tow long braids to now, she is obviously desperate to grow up because she is expected to be. during the years before the divorce she was still a child however the family breaks apart, she walks the passage to overcoming the impact of the divorce and during the process, matured. She feels obliged to deal with the divorce maturely, but at the same time does not want to stop being a child alotgehter, and so she retreats into her own illusional world where she can do whatever she wants. In order to escape disappointment and expectations in life, escapism is a theme in both Rose-Colored Glasses and The Glass Menagerie. Characters from both texts escape in one way or another in order to avoid confrontation with the harshness of reality. Tom goes to the movies to escape the mundane life he leads. Laura indulges in her glass menagerie and music to avoid her mothers expectations of her to socialize. Laura actually wants to be a part  of her glass menagerie and imagines herself to be. In fact, Lauras separation [from reality] increases till she is like a piece of her own glass collection. ixx Amanda and the narrator nostalgically reminisces their pasts as a way to escape. The narrator relives the past in her mind when there was no divorce and where you swung on a trapeze in the dining room archway and Plinked-plinked on the piano and Your little dogs nails scritch-scratching the hardwood floors when he heard you walking from the elevator. The narrator seeks comfort by immersing herself in her past, or perhaps she feels control over her life when she recalls these memories. Similarly, Amandas memories not only let her cling to another time, but also offer her escape from the blow to her self image when her husband deserted her. It is hard for any reasonable reader to believe that Amanda had 17 gentlemen callers in one day. She retreats so far into her world of illusions that this illusion becomes almost too real for her. She wears her yellow dress, believing that she can be just as youthful and vivacious as she was years ago when in fact, the dress is clearly out of place and time, and elicits surprise from both Jim and Tom. In both the novel and play, the theme disappointment leads the narrator in Elizabeth Alexanders Rose Colored-Glasses and Amanda, Tom and Laura in Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie to similar problemsthat is Amanda, Tom and Laura and the narrator become emotionally detached from the real world as they are left to cope with the disappointment that the fathers instill in them. Furthermore, the father leaves all his problems behind for the rest of the family which means every member of the family must fill new expectations in place of the father. Tom is expected to provide for the family, Amanda to care for her two children, Laura to get married so that she does not need to depend on Tom, and the narrator is expected to handle the divorce maturely. All of these expectations are against the wishes of the person expected to initiate them. Tom would rather become a sailor, Amanda to become youthful and to be given the chance to choose a new husband, Laura to become part of her glass menagerie world, and the narrator to live her childhood. All these expectations make reality hard to face and so the characters escape into worlds dreamt in their minds. Amanda and the narrator dream their old times, Tom dreams his sailing prospects, and Laura  dreams to be part of her glass menagerie world. Disappointment, expectation, and escapism are all central themes to both plays in order to convey the major theme that although the human need to dream may give one escape for a brief period of time, retreating too deeply into the dream can be harmful because you do not see reality as it is.

Rev. Richard Johnson :: essays research papers

Reverend Richard Johnson In a land intended to be dumping grounds for Britain’s moral filth, Reverend Richard Johnson worked hard at laying the foundations of Christianity in Australia. Born in 1757 at Welton, England, he was educated at Magdalen College, Cambridge. He graduated with a BA in 1783, and was appointed a deacon and priest by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1786. Only five months before the First Fleet set sail, Richard Johnson was recommended and approved for the position of Chaplin, to establish the Church of England in Australia. Governor Phillip saw Johnson’s job as a "moral policeman" to the convicts, but the chaplain viewed his position as a door of opportunity to preach the Gospel to the "dregs of humanity." His work began even before the ship landed, and his moral nature displayed. Johnson found the ship's company very disrespectful and profane and targeted this in his teaching. On the following Sunday it was noted that for days afterwards their behaviour had improved. On Sunday the 3rd of February 1788, Johnson preached his first sermon to a crowd of both soldiers and convicts. Being a result of the Evangelical revival in England, Johnson laboured for their salvation and tried to encourage goodness in them. He requested the help of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, who provided him with 4200 books in total for the new colony, including Bibles, Testaments, Prayer Books, Catechisms, Psalters, and religious booklets against common sins. His job was not an easy one as he was meant to carry out many duties placed upon him by the Governor as well as the mission of his own. Johnson’s duties included officiating at hangings and acting as magistrate when needed. In the first five years, he conducted 226 baptisms, 220 marriages and 851 funerals. One of Johnson’s obstacles was the lack of support he received. He and his wife, Mary, lived in a cabbage palm hut for the first three years while the Governor had two mansions. Many times his family was short of food and in addition to his regular duties; he worked on his farm to provide for his family. Richard Johnson was a compassionate man who even took an Aboriginal girl, who had contracted smallpox, into his home for several months. This trait made Australia appear as a destination unsuitable for him, but at the same time, he was the best man for the job.

Digital Fortress Chapter 7

Susan's mind was racing-Ensei Tankado wrote a program that creates unbreakable codes! She could barely grasp the thought. â€Å"Digital Fortress,† Strathmore said. â€Å"That's what he's calling it. It's the ultimate counterintelligence weapon. If this program hits the market, every third grader with a modem will be able to send codes the NSA can't break. Our intelligence will be shot.† But Susan's thoughts were far removed from the political implications of Digital Fortress. She was still struggling to comprehend its existence. She'd spent her life breaking codes, firmly denying the existence of the ultimate code. Every code is breakable-the Bergofsky Principle! She felt like an atheist coming face to face with God. â€Å"If this code gets out,† she whispered, â€Å"cryptography will become a dead science.† Strathmore nodded. â€Å"That's the least of our problems.† â€Å"Can we pay Tankado off? I know he hates us, but can't we offer him a few million dollars? Convince him not to distribute?† Strathmore laughed. â€Å"A few million? Do you know what this thing is worth? Every government in the world will bid top dollar. Can you imagine telling the President that we're still cable-snooping the Iraqis but we can't read the intercepts anymore? This isn't just about the NSA, it's about the entire intelligence community. This facility provides support for everyone-the FBI, CIA, DEA; they'd all be flying blind. The drug cartels' shipments would become untraceable, major corporations could transfer money with no paper trail and leave the IRS out in the cold, terrorists could chat in total secrecy-it would be chaos.† â€Å"The EFF will have field day,† Susan said, pale. â€Å"The EFF doesn't have the first clue about what we do here,† Strathmore railed in disgust. â€Å"If they knew how many terrorist attacks we've stopped because we can decrypt codes, they'd change their tune.† Susan agreed, but she also knew the realities; the EFF would never know how important TRANSLTR was. TRANSLTR had helped foil dozens of attacks, but the information was highly classified and would never be released. The rationale behind the secrecy was simple: The government could not afford the mass hysteria caused by revealing the truth; no one knew how the public would react to the news that there had been two nuclear close calls by fundamentalist groups on U.S. soil in the last year. Nuclear attack, however, was not the only threat. Only last month TRANSLTR had thwarted one of the most ingeniously conceived terrorist attacks the NSA had ever witnessed. An anti-government organization had devised a plan, code-named Sherwood Forest. It targeted the New York Stock Exchange with the intention of â€Å"redistributing the wealth.† Over the course of six days, members of the group placed twenty-seven nonexplosive flux pods in the buildings surrounding the Exchange. These devices, when detonated, create a powerful blast of magnetism. The simultaneous discharge of these carefully placed pods would create a magnetic field so powerful that all magnetic media in the Stock Exchange would be erased-computer hard drives, massive ROM storage banks, tape backups, and even floppy disks. All records of who owned what would disintegrate permanently. Because pinpoint timing was necessary for simultaneous detonation of the devices, the flux pods were interconnected over Internet telephone lines. During the two-day countdown, the pods' internal clocks exchanged endless streams of encrypted synchronization data. The NSA intercepted the data-pulses as a network anomaly but ignored them as a seemingly harmless exchange of gibberish. But after TRANSLTR decrypted the data streams, analysts immediately recognized the sequence as a network-synchronized countdown. The pods were located and removed a full three hours before they were scheduled to go off. Susan knew that without TRANSLTR the NSA was helpless against advanced electronic terrorism. She eyed the Run-Monitor. It still read over fifteen hours. Even if Tankado's file broke right now, the NSA was sunk. Crypto would be relegated to breaking less than two codes a day. Even at the present rate of 150 a day, there was still a backlog of files awaiting decryption. â€Å"Tankado called me last month,† Strathmore said, interrupting Susan's thoughts. Susan looked up. â€Å"Tankado called you?† He nodded. â€Å"To warn me.† â€Å"Warn you? He hates you.† â€Å"He called to tell me he was perfecting an algorithm that wrote unbreakable codes. I didn't believe him.† â€Å"But why would he tell you about it?† Susan demanded. â€Å"Did he want you to buy it?† â€Å"No. It was blackmail.† Things suddenly began falling into place for Susan. â€Å"Of course,† she said, amazed. â€Å"He wanted you to clear his name.† â€Å"No,† Strathmore frowned. â€Å"Tankado wanted TRANSLTR.† â€Å"TRANSLTR?† â€Å"Yes. He ordered me to go public and tell the world we have TRANSLTR. He said if we admitted we can read public E-mail, he would destroy Digital Fortress.† Susan looked doubtful. Strathmore shrugged. â€Å"Either way, it's too late now. He's posted a complimentary copy of Digital Fortress at his Internet site. Everyone in the world can download it.† Susan went white. â€Å"He what!† â€Å"It's a publicity stunt. Nothing to worry about. The copy he posted is encrypted. People can download it, but nobody can open it. It's ingenious, really. The source code for Digital Fortress has been encrypted, locked shut.† Susan looked amazed. â€Å"Of course! So everybody can have a copy, but nobody can open it.† â€Å"Exactly. Tankado's dangling a carrot.† â€Å"Have you seen the algorithm?† The commander looked puzzled. â€Å"No, I told you it's encrypted.† Susan looked equally puzzled. â€Å"But we've got TRANSLTR; why not just decrypt it?† But when Susan saw Strathmore's face, she realized the rules had changed. â€Å"Oh my God.† She gasped, suddenly understanding. â€Å"Digital Fortress is encrypted with itself?† Strathmore nodded. â€Å"Bingo.† Susan was amazed. The formula for Digital Fortress had been encrypted using Digital Fortress. Tankado had posted a priceless mathematical recipe, but the text of the recipe had been scrambled. And it had used itself to do the scrambling. â€Å"It's Biggleman's Safe,† Susan stammered in awe. Strathmore nodded. Biggleman's Safe was a hypothetical cryptography scenario in which a safe builder wrote blueprints for an unbreakable safe. He wanted to keep the blueprints a secret, so he built the safe and locked the blueprints inside. Tankado had done the same thing with Digital Fortress. He'd protected his blueprints by encrypting them with the formula outlined in his blueprints. â€Å"And the file in TRANSLTR?† Susan asked. â€Å"I downloaded it from Tankado's Internet site like everyone else. The NSA is now the proud owner of the Digital Fortress algorithm; we just can't open it.† Susan marveled at Ensei Tankado's ingenuity. Without revealing his algorithm, he had proven to the NSA that it was unbreakable. Strathmore handed her a newspaper clipping. It was a translated blurb from the Nikkei Shimbun, the Japanese equivalent of the Wall Street Journal, stating that the Japanese programmer Ensei Tankado had completed a mathematical formula he claimed could write unbreakable codes. The formula was called Digital Fortress and was available for review on the Internet. The programmer would be auctioning it off to the highest bidder. The column went on to say that although there was enormous interest in Japan, the few U.S. software companies who had heard about Digital Fortress deemed the claim preposterous, akin to turning lead to gold. The formula, they said, was a hoax and not to be taken seriously. Susan looked up. â€Å"An auction?† Strathmore nodded. â€Å"Right now every software company in Japan has downloaded an encrypted copy of Digital Fortress and is trying to crack it open. Every second they can't, the bidding price climbs.† â€Å"That's absurd,† Susan shot back. â€Å"All the new encrypted files are uncrackable unless you have TRANSLTR. Digital Fortress could be nothing more than a generic, public-domain algorithm, and none of these companies could break it.† â€Å"But it's a brilliant marketing ploy,† Strathmore said. â€Å"Think about it-all brands of bulletproof glass stop bullets, but if a company dares you to put a bullet through theirs, suddenly everybody's trying.† â€Å"And the Japanese actually believe Digital Fortress is different? Better than everything else on the market?† â€Å"Tankado may have been shunned, but everybody knows he's a genius. He's practically a cult icon among hackers. If Tankado says the algorithm's unbreakable, it's unbreakable.† But they're all unbreakable as far as the public knows!† â€Å"Yes†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Strathmore mused. â€Å"For the moment.† â€Å"What's that supposed to mean?† Strathmore sighed. â€Å"Twenty years ago no one imagined we'd be breaking twelve-bit stream ciphers. But technology progressed. It always does. Software manufacturers assume at some point computers like TRANSLTR will exist. Technology is progressing exponentially, and eventually current public-key algorithms will lose their security. Better algorithms will be needed to stay ahead of tomorrow's computers.† â€Å"And Digital Fortress is it?† â€Å"Exactly. An algorithm that resists brute force will never become obsolete, no matter how powerful code-breaking computers get. It could become a world standard overnight.† Susan pulled in a long breath. â€Å"God help us,† she whispered. â€Å"Can we make a bid?† Strathmore shook his head. â€Å"Tankado gave us our chance. He made that clear. It's too risky anyway; if we get caught, we're basically admitting that we're afraid of his algorithm. We'd be making a public confession not only that we have TRANSLTR but that Digital Fortress is immune.† â€Å"What's the time frame?† Strathmore frowned. â€Å"Tankado planned to announce the highest bidder tomorrow at noon.† Susan felt her stomach tighten. â€Å"Then what?† â€Å"The arrangement was that he would give the winner the pass-key.† â€Å"The pass-key?† â€Å"Part of the ploy. Everybody's already got the algorithm, so Tankado's auctioning off the pass-key that unlocks it.† Susan groaned. â€Å"Of course.† It was perfect. Clean and simple. Tankado had encrypted Digital Fortress, and he alone held the pass-key that unlocked it. She found it hard to fathom that somewhere out there-probably scrawled on a piece of paper in Tankado's pocket-there was a sixty-four-character pass-key that could end U.S. intelligence gathering forever. Susan suddenly felt ill as she imagined the scenario. Tankado would give his pass-key to the highest bidder, and that company would unlock the Digital Fortress file. Then it probably would embed the algorithm in a tamper-proof chip, and within five years every computer would come preloaded with a Digital Fortress chip. No commercial manufacturer had ever dreamed of creating an encryption chip because normal encryption algorithms eventually become obsolete. But Digital Fortress would never become obsolete; with a rotating cleartext function, no brute-force attack would ever find the right key. A new digital encryption standard. From now until forever. Every code unbreakable. Bankers, brokers, terrorists, spies. One world-one algorithm. Anarchy. â€Å"What are the options?† Susan probed. She was well aware that desperate times called for desperate measures, even at the NSA. â€Å"We can't remove him, if that's what you're asking.† It was exactly what Susan was asking. In her years with the NSA, Susan had heard rumors of its loose affiliations with the most skilled assassins in the world-hired hands brought in to do the intelligence community's dirty work. Strathmore shook his head. â€Å"Tankado's too smart to leave us an option like that.† Susan felt oddly relieved. â€Å"He's protected?† â€Å"Not exactly.† â€Å"In hiding?† Strathmore shrugged. â€Å"Tankado left Japan. He planned to check his bids by phone. But we know where he is.† â€Å"And you don't plan to make a move?† â€Å"No. He's got insurance. Tankado gave a copy of his pass-key to an anonymous third party†¦ in case anything happened.† Of course, Susan marveled. A guardian angel. â€Å"And I suppose if anything happens to Tankado, the mystery man sells the key?† â€Å"Worse. Anyone hits Tankado, and his partner publishes.† Susan looked confused. â€Å"His partner publishes the key?† Strathmore nodded. â€Å"Posts it on the Internet, puts it in newspapers, on billboards. In effect, he gives it away.† Susan's eyes widened. â€Å"Free downloads?† â€Å"Exactly. Tankado figured if he was dead, he wouldn't need the money-why not give the world a little farewell gift?† There was a long silence. Susan breathed deeply as if to absorb the terrifying truth. Ensei Tankado has created an unbreakable algorithm. He's holding us hostage. She suddenly stood. Her voice was determined. â€Å"We must contact Tankado! There must be a way to convince him not to release! We can offer him triple the highest bid! We can clear his name! Anything!† â€Å"Too late,† Strathmore said. He took a deep breath. â€Å"Ensei Tankado was found dead this morning in Seville, Spain.†

Symptoms of Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

The symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome can vary depending on which type of thoracic outlet syndrome you have. And since it is a group of disorders not all symptoms may be present or even constant. Neurogenic Thoracic Outlet Syndrome The most common type of thoracic outlet syndrome is Neurogenic Thoracic Outlet Syndrome where the brachial plexus is compressed. By some estimates, 95% of all thoracic outlet syndromes are neurological in nature. Compression of these nerves results in symptoms such as: Pain in your neck and shouldersAn ache throughout your armAn ache in your handNumbness, partial loss of sensation or tingling in your fingersA weakening in your grip strengthGilliatt-Sumner hand, which is when muscles of the hand, particularly around the base of the thumb, atrophy or waste away Many of the symptoms of the neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome are similar to other nerve-related repetitive stress injuries where swelling or inflammation presses on the nerve. This can send shooting pains or radiate aching throughout the affected area. Compression of a nerve can also restrict the signals flowing along the nerve resulting in a loss of sensation or tingling. Since the nerves control the actions of the muscles if the signals are lost or otherwise affected the muscles cannot operate efficiently and you experience weakness. With a prolonged loss of nerve supply, the muscles will atrophy and waste away to be reabsorbed by the body. Vascular Thoracic Outlet Syndrome In Vascular Thoracic Outlet Syndrome where either the subclavian artery or the subclavian vein are compressed symptoms are consistent with reduced blood flow such as: Pain and possible swelling of the armA loss of color at your extremities (hand and/or fingers)A weak pulse in your armA bluish discoloration of your extremities (hand and/or fingers)Infarcts, or tiny spots (usually black) on your extremities (hand and/or fingers)A throbbing lump near your collarboneA blood clot under your collarbone (known as a subclavian thrombosis) The symptoms of vascular thoracic outlet syndrome are typical complications resulting from reduced blood flow. Low blood supply can show up as pallor or loss of color as well as a weak pulse. This is most likely associated with compression of the subclavian artery on the supply side of things. That compression may also result in a throbbing lump near your color bone a result of an area of higher blood pressure as the nominal blood supply is forced through a smaller opening. Restriction of the subclavian vein on the return side can lead to a buildup of oxygen-depleted blood resulting in a bluish discoloration. It can also show itself in the form of pain and swelling as the blood pressure increases from a normal supply and a reduced ability to return it to the heart causing a backup of blood in the arm. Reduced blood flow from either the supply or the return side can increase the chance of a thrombosis or blood clot as well as infarcts. A loss of blood supply may also contribute to muscle atrophy in some cases but the reduction in vascular thoracic outlet syndrome is not normally considered great enough to cause atrophy without causing other major concerns first. Non-Specific Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Non-specific Thoracic Outlet Syndrome is so named because the cause is not clearly identifiable. In these cases, the symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome may be a combination of both neurogenic and vascular disorders or simply a pain or ache throughout the arms and shoulders or around the upper chest and collarbone.