Religion as a Tool of Control Essay

â€Å"Religion is the murmur of the abused animal, the core of a merciless world, and the spirit of heartless conditions. It is the opium of the people† (Marx 260). This announcement suggests that religion is an influential idea that urges individuals to acknowledge their conditions as opposed to rebelling against their predicament. In reality in an inappropriate hands, it very well may be debased to legitimize innumerable barbarities as be utilized as a device of abuse. In her novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood depicts a tragic culture, an anecdotal republic called Gilead, whose rulers utilize the intensity of religion to approve their unnerving individual plan. She ridicules the political framework that utilizes confidence to approve its command, and legitimize its increasingly faulty laws. Plainly the utilization of religion for political intentions is one of the focal topics of the novel; Atwood takes a lot of fundamentalist strict convictions followed by certain periphery components in contemporary society and takes them to their legitimate end to feature their actual authoritarian nature. In Gilead, governmental issues and religion go connected at the hip. The Sons of Jacob use religion and mental strategies to control the majority and curve them to their will. Subsequently the republic utilizes strict wordings for instance residential workers are called â€Å"Marthas† alluding to a household character in the book of scriptures, the officers are called â€Å"Angels† while the nearby police are the â€Å"Guardians of the Faith†. The decision government authorities are known as the â€Å"Commanders of the Faithful†. Indeed, even the names of shopping stores have scriptural references like All Flesh, Milk and Honey, Loaves and Fishes. The motivation behind this broad utilization of scriptural language is to hoodwink the individuals of Gilead into accepting that their rulers order the desire of God Himself. Additionally the administration just embraces certain parts of Christianity while it evades those that it finds badly arranged. For instance Aunt Lydia, an instructor to the handmaids, says â€Å"I’ve figured out how to manage without a ton of things, you get excessively joined to this material world and overlook profound qualities. You should develop neediness of soul. Favored are the submissive. † (Atwood 110) now in the novel Offred takes note of that Aunt Lydia says nothing regarding acquiring basically everything. Accordingly the republic utilized strict avocation to request submissive conduct from the handmaids. Hence religion is utilized as an amazing political apparatus in Gilead. Ladies assume an extremely restricted job in Gilead’s society; scriptural inferences are utilized to debilitate their status. A Commander makes the accompanying discourse at the women’s prayvaganza. â€Å"Let the lady learn peacefully with all coercion. Be that as it may, I endure not a lady to instruct, nor usurp authority over the man, yet to be peacefully. For Adam was first framed, at that point Eve. Furthermore, Adam was not bamboozled, yet the lady being misdirected was in the offense. Despite she will be spared by childbearing, in the event that they proceed in confidence and noble cause and sacredness with temperance. â€Å"(273) Therefore, by drawing a translation from a solitary scriptural story the job of ladies is restricted to proliferation. Additionally, so as to keep the ladies from getting libertarian, common thoughts mass oversight happens in Gilead. The nation is cut off from the outside world as it doesn't permit worldwide TV to be communicated; Offred takes note of this while viewing the TV â€Å"Serena taps the channel changer. Waves, hued crisscrosses, a distortion of sound: it is the Montreal Satellite Station being blocked. â€Å"(101) Furthermore all books esteemed sinful by the republic are singed and ladies are not permitted to peruse by any means, the good book is held carefully guarded with the goal that the Commanders can peruse out just those parts that are recommended by the legislature. Offred’s officer peruses out the accompanying section from the book of scriptures upon the arrival of the month to month service â€Å"Give me kids, or, in all likelihood I kick the bucket. Am I in God’s stead, who hath retained from thee the product of the belly? Observe my house keeper Bilhah. She will prove to be fruitful upon my knees, that I may likewise have kids by her. â€Å"(112) This scriptural story, described in the novel by the Commander, frames the premise of the idea of a handmaid which is the reason it is given uncommon importance in Gilead and it is additionally another of the bygone stories from the book of scriptures that are utilized to authorize exceptionally flawed commitments on ladies. In this way the ladies of Gilead are oppressed by a distorted variant of Christianity. Religion should free man. Be that as it may, The Handmaid’s Tale portrays a general public where it is utilized to shackle individuals, to indoctrinate them, to compel them to fit in with a way of life allowed by their administration. Margaret Atwood looks at the individuals living in Gilead’s abusive society to rodents caught in a labyrinth, she calls attention to â€Å"A rodent in a labyrinth is allowed to go anyplace as long as it remains in the maze†(363). Actually those that renegade to the set up standards are managed cruelly; they are rebuffed at a seudo-strict function called the Particicution, where they are lynched to death by a crowd of ladies for bogus wrongdoings they didn't submit. With respect to, the protester handmaid, Ofglen comments â€Å"He wasn’t an attacker by any means, he was a political. He was one of our own. â€Å"(350) What this involves is that the general public in the novel is profoundly despotic and it doesn't permit the o pportunity of articulation, in truth it utilizes dread to control its residents and prompt their devotion, as Offred notes â€Å"We must look great from a separation: pleasant, similar to Dutch milkmaids on a backdrop frieze. Calming to the eye, the eyes, the Eyes, for that’s who this show is for. We’re off to the Prayvaganza to show how loyal and devout we are. † (266) This features the peoples’ intrinsic neurosis, the dread of being discovered unfaithful, that has been gradually developed into their souls and brains. Really the foundation debases the genuine soul of religion by conflicting with its very substance: the profound freedom of humankind. The utilization of religion for political objects is one of the focal topics of the novel; Atwood takes a lot of strict convictions followed by certain periphery components in contemporary society and takes them to their sensible end to feature their actual authoritarian nature. Taking everything into account, Margaret Atwood depicts an astonishing exchange reality wherein strict fundamentalists overwhelm and religion comes to direct every part of human life. The subject of religion conveys a ton of noteworthiness in the novel; in reality the novel fills in as a notice against the fanatic perspectives held by numerous cutting edge think tanks.

Challenges Ahead for Venture Capital Financing in India

Funding is cash given by experts who contribute and oversee youthful quickly developing organizations that can possibly form into noteworthy financial givers. As per SEBI guidelines, funding store implies a reserve built up as an organization or trust, which fund-raises through credits, gifts, issue of protections or units and makes or proposes, to make interests as per these guidelines. The assets so gathered are accessible for interest in possibly exceptionally gainful ventures at a high danger of misfortune. A Venture Capitalist is an individual or an organization who gives. Venture Capital, Management Expertise, Networking and advertising support while financing and running exceptionally inventive and forthcoming zones of items just as administrations. In this way, the speculations made by Venture Capitalists for the most part includes ††Financing new and quickly developing organizations. †Purchasing value protections. †Taking higher hazard in desire for higher prizes. †Having a long edge of timeframe, for the most part of more than 5 †6 years. †Actively working with the organization's administration to devise methodologies relating to the general working of the undertaking. †Networking and showcasing of the item/administration being advertised. While trying to unite profoundly powerful Indians living over the United States, a systems administration society named IND US Entrepreneurs or TiE was set up in 1992. The point was to get the Indian people group together and to encourage business visionaries for riches creation. A center gathering of 10 †15 people endeavored to build up the association. The gathering (TiE) has now more than 600 individuals with 20 workplaces spread over the United States. A portion of the well known characters having a place with this gathering are Vinod Dham (father of the Pentium Chip), Prabhu Goel, K.B. Chandrashekhar (Head of $ 200 mn. Mass migration Communications, a fiber optic system conveying 30% of all Internet content traffic facilitating sites like Yahoo, Hotmail and Amazon.) Funding Financing : It for the most part includes fire up financing to support in fact sound, all inclusive serious and potential undertakings to contend in the universal markets with the high caliber and sensible cost viewpoints. The development of South East Asian economies particularly Hongkong, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia alongside India has been because of the enormous pool of Venture Capital assets from residential/seaward fields. Financial speculators draw their venture assets from a pool of cash raised from open and private speculators. These assets are sent by and large as value capital (conventional and inclination offers) and a few times as subjected obligation which is a semi made sure about interest in the organization (through debenture) positioning beneath the made sure about banks that regularly requires occasional reimbursement. Today, a VC arrangement can include regular value, convertible favored value and subjected obligation in various extents. The Venture Capital financing shifts over the various phases of development of a firm. The different stages are : 1. Pre seed Stage : Here, a moderately modest quantity of capital is given to a business visionary to consider and showcase a potential thought having great future possibilities. The supported work likewise includes item improvement somewhat. 2. Seed Stage : Financing is given to finish item improvement and begin beginning promoting customs. 3. Beginning period/First Stage : Finance is given to organizations to start business assembling and deals. 4. Second Stage : In the Second Stage of Financing working capital is accommodated the development of the organization as far as developing records receivable and stock. 5. Third Stage : Funds accommodated significant extension of an organization having expanding deals volume. This stage is met when the firm crosses the make back the initial investment point. 6. Extension/Mezzanine Financing or Later Stage Financing : Bridge/Mezzanine Financing or Later Stage Financing will be financing an organization not long before its IPO (Initial Public Offer). Regularly, connect fund is organized so it very well may be reimbursed, from the returns of an open contribution. There are fundamentally four key components in financing of adventures which are concentrated inside and out by the investors. These are : 1. The executives : The quality, skill and solidarity of the key individuals on the board carries huge believability to the organization. The individuals are to be full grown, experienced having working information on business and fit for facing conceivably high challenges. 2. Potential for Capital Gain : A better than expected pace of return of around 30 †40% is required by financial speculators. The pace of return likewise relies on the phase of the business cycle where assets are being conveyed. Prior the stage, higher is the hazard and consequently the arrival. 3. Practical Financial Requirement and Projections : The investor requires a reasonable view about the current strength of the association just as future projections in regards to extension, nature and execution of the organization as far as size of tasks, working benefit and further costs identified with item advancement through Research and Development. 4. Proprietor's Financial Stake : The budgetary assets possessed and submitted by the business person/proprietor in the business including the assets contributed by family, companions and family members, assume a significant job in expanding the reasonability of the business. It is a significant road where the financial speculator keeps an open eye. Issues of Venture Capital Financing : VCF is in its beginning stages in India. The developing situation of worldwide seriousness has squeezed the mechanical segment to improve the quality level with minimisation of cost of items by utilizing most recent innovative aptitudes. The suggestion is to get satisfactory financing alongside the essential hello there tech types of gear to create an imaginative item which can succeed and develop in the current economic situation. Lamentably, our nation needs on the two fronts. The vital capital can be gotten from the funding firms who anticipate a better than expected pace of profit for the venture. The financing firms anticipate a sound, experienced, develop and skilled supervisory group of the organization being financed. Since the imaginative task includes a higher hazard, there is a desire for more significant yields from the venture. The recompense time frame is additionally commonly high (5 †7 years).

The Mango Tree

The Mango Tree Once upon a time, there lived a bigmango tree. A little boy loved to come and play around it everyday.He climbed to the tree top, ate the mangoes, took a nap under the shadow He loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him.Time went by The little boy grew, and he no longer played around the tree. One day, the boy came back to the tree with a sad look on his face.“Come and play with me,” the tree asked the boy.“I am no longer a kid, I don’t play around trees anymore.” The boy replied, “I want toys. I need money to buy them.”“Sorry, I don’t have money but you can pick all my mangoes and sell them so you will have money.”The boy was so excited. He picked all the mangoes on the tree and left happily. The boy didn’t come back. The tree was sad.One day, the boy grown into a man returned. The tree was so excited.“Come and play with me,” the tree said.“I don’t have time to play. I have to work for my family. We need a house for shelter. Can you help me?†â€œSorry, I don’t have a house, but you can chop off my branches to build your house.”So the man cut all the branches off the tree and left happily. The tree was glad to see him happy but the boy didn’t come back afterward. The tree was again lonely and sad.One hot summer day, the man returned and the tree was delighted.“Come and play with me!” The tree said.“I am sad and getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself. Can you give me a boat?”“Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy.”So the man cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailing and didn’t come back for a long time.Finally, the man returned after he had been gone for so many years.“Sorry, my boy, but I don’t have anything for you anymore. No more mangoes to give you.” The tree said.“I don’t have teeth to bite,” the man replied.“No more trunk for you to climb on.”“I am too old for that now,” the man said.“I really can’t give you anything the o nly thing left is my dying roots,” the tree said with sadness.“I don’t need much now, just a place to rest. I am tired after all these years,” the man replied.“Good! Old tree roots are the best place to lean on and rest. Come sit down with me and rest.”The boy sat down and the tree was glad and smiled.By Shel SilversteinThe tree in the story represents our parents. When we are young, we love to play with them. When we grow up, we leave them and only come back when we need help. Parents sacrifice their lives for us.

Policy Introduction And Identification Of The Military...

Policy Introduction and Identification In January of 2013, the Department of Defense set aside the â€Å"1994 Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule† (Carter, 2015). This takes all restrictions off women allowing all who meet the qualifications to hold a combat role in the military. The Armed Forces have opened over 110,000 positions to women and have set their standards. Anyone, who can meet operationally relevant and gender neutral standards, regardless of gender, should have the opportunity to serve in any position (Carter, 2015). The Military Services and United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) were directed to implement this new change in policy by January 1, 2016 or submit an exception to this policy if they†¦show more content†¦From the beginning of American history men have fought our battles, but little do people know women have always been in our nations battles. During the Revolutionary War women follow their husbands to war, many serve in camps as cooks and nurses but h ad to obtain permission from the commanding officer if they proved themselves helpful (U.S. ARMY, 2017). From 1782 to 1783 Deborah Sampson served over a year in General Washington’s army disguising herself as a man, until she was wounded; reveling her true gender and being honorably discharged. Skipping ahead to 1861 the America Civil War, women would serve as administrators of hospitals as well as cooks and nurses in both the Union and Confederate hospitals. From 1917 to 1918 World War I, women were allowed to join the military. Throughout the last 2 years of World War 1 over 33,000 women served as nurses and support staff officially in the armed forces and more than 400 nurses die or are wounded in the line of duty. Moving forward to World War II 1941-1945, more than 400,000 women serve at home and abroad as mechanics, nurses, ambulance drivers, pilots, and other non-combat roles. Eight-eight women were captured as POW’s (prisoners of war). In 1984 Congress passed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act allowing women permanent military status and entitled to veteran’s benefits. In 1950- 1953 over 50,000 women served at home and abroad during theShow MoreRelatedThe Threat Of Cyber Warfare1631 Words   |  7 Pages(cyber terrorism, 2012). † This dictionary provides a very vaque definition because there are so many definitions of the cyber terrorism; however, it always s include the safeguarding of computer and computer systems. 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Irony in the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Essay

Irony in the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Many of the events in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck do not result in the expected manner. Although the Joads seem to be traveling in hope, irony seems to conquer several situations. There are three types of irony: in dramatic irony, the reader sees the characters mistakes, but not the character. In verbal irony, the author means something rather than what is said. Irony of situation is when there is a paradox between the purpose of an action and its result. By observing several situations during the novel, such as the events of the Weedpatch Camp, the death of Casey, and Chapter 29, much irony can be distinguished. During the stay of the Joads in the Weedpatch Camp,†¦show more content†¦First, they search for evil in meaningless fun while filling guilt into the people of the camp. Also, the condemners just watch what occurs instead of making change. Therefore, it seems as though they are enjoying and willing to see sin. To sum up, they are guilty themselves, and it is ironic how the Jesus-lovers see hate instead of love. In all, irony remains as these people misunderstand situations of joy. The instance of Caseys death in Chapter 26, the comparison of the Biblical allusion to Jesus death becomes ironic in situation. As Jim Casey waits in front of a tent of the labor organizers, a group of angry men approach with pick handles. Apparently, the men are outraged at the pay of the peach picking camp, for the price is not sufficient to support families with food. Filled with wrath, these 30 men club Casey in the head, killing him instantly. Beforehand, Casey speaks: Casey stared blindly at the light. He breathed heavily. Listen, he said. You fellas don know what youre doin. Youre helpin to starve kids. (527) The irony of the situation is that Casey works to keep the pay up for the workers in the camp. 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Transformational and Transactional Leadership Free Essays

Transformational and Transactional Leadership Transformational and Transactional Leadership Thomas J. Kenny CRJ-810 Dec 16, 2011 Many styles of leadership exist in the management world. Most of these approaches are very similar to one another. We will write a custom essay sample on Transformational and Transactional Leadership or any similar topic only for you Order Now Two very different styles of leadership are the transactional and transformational leadership styles identified by James Burns in 1978. These leadership styles are almost polar opposites of one another, with employees in the transactional leadership style motivated by rewards and benefits, and employees in the transformational style motivated by their charismatic managers. These two leadership styles, though different from each another, can be very effective tools in the world of policing. Transactional leadership represents â€Å"those exchanges in which both the superior and the subordinate influence one another reciprocally so that each derives something of value. †(Yukl, 1981) This style of leadership can be compared to dangling a carrot in front of someone, or giving officers who write the most tickets steady weekends off. Leaders who use this style give their subordinates something they want in exchange for something that the leader wants. The reward system of leadership used by the transactional leader can also involve rewards or values that are not as easily tangible such as trust and respect. Burns(1978) referred to these values as modal values; â€Å"modal values bond leaders to followers in an attempt to actualize the needs of both parties. † These rewards such as trust and respect may still be given out by low level police supervisors who may not have the authority to give out overtime or authorize special days off. While transactional leadership is concerned with increasing production and motivation through a reward based system, transformational leadership is concerned with making the employee want to succeed. Bass Steidlmeier (1998) describes this difference as: Transformational leadership is predicated upon the inner dynamics of a freely embraced change of heart in the realm of core values and motivation, upon open-ended intellectual stimulation and a commitment to treating people as ends not mere means. To bring about change, authentic transformational leadership fosters the modal values of honesty, loyalty and fairness and the end values of justice, equality, and human rights. Transformational leadership contains four components: â€Å"idealized influence (attributed or behavioral),inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. † (Bass, 1985) These four components can be summed up as that of a charismatic leader. Employees will see the qualities of this charismatic leader and try to emulate them. Bass (1985) describes this emulation of charismatic leaders as: If the leadership is transformational, its charisma or idealized influence is envisioning, confident, and sets high standards for emulation. Its inspirational motivation provides followers with challenges and meaning for engaging in shared goals and undertakings. Its intellectual stimulation helps followers to question assumptions and to generate more creative solutions to problems. Its individualized consideration treats each follower as an individual and provides coaching, mentoring and growth opportunities. Transformational leadership can be very effective in the world of policing, where the leadership exists from the top down. Officers who work for a transformational leader in a police department must â€Å"understand the vision of the department’s direction, appreciate the organization’s potential, believe that the goal of improvement is supported by the entire organization, and support the idea that change is needed. † (Bynum, 2008) Transformational Leadership can be very effective due to the fact that its motivational and inspirational effects can be long lasting and felt by every employee in the organization. Transformational leadership encourages its members to be more proactive and more productive without any specific direction or a reward in mind other than that it benefit’s the organization as a whole. With transactional leadership, some of the rewards such as better hours or days off can only be enjoyed by a few of the members. A competition to see who can write the most summonses, with the winner getting better days off, may increase production at first. The benefit of weekends off can not be given to everyone though, and usually only those who receive the reward will continue to produce as much. Transformational leadership might have a difficult time succeeding in an organization such as the New York City Police Department. The NYPD was founded in 1845, and therefore is deeply rooted in traditions and norms. Even the most charismatic leader, brought into the NYPD to institute change and a new direction, is going to be met with extreme resistance. Police Officers, who can tend to be very reflexive at times, might not take well to the idea of being self starting, proactive, and productive for their department. This initial resistance by subordinates usually makes the transformational leadership approach a long term solution to a departments problems. Transformational leadership tends to be more effective that transactional leadership, due to the fact that most of the terms in the reward based system of transactional leadership are defined and tangible. The subordinate is expected to produce a certain amount in order to receive a benefit. This can tend to make the employee cease production once they have met the production requirement. Conversely in transformational leadership the employees are motivated not by a reward, but for the good of the organization as a whole. This motivation can lead employees in a transformational leader organization to produce much more than what is expected of them. The fact that the terms of a transactional leadership arrangement are tangible also makes it effective for a short term production problem. A precinct with an influx of burglaries, might offer an extra day off to the next officer who makes a burglary arrest. While in the long run they would want the officer to always be vigilant for burglary arrests, the added benefit of a day off will have additional motivational effects. Transformational leadership is most often effective in organizations that have a need for change, or that have undergone a recent crisis. Transformational leaders tend to have uniting qualities, which can bring an organization out of mediocrity. Adolf Hitler, who was a tremendously charismatic transformational leader, was able to bring Germany back from the brink of total collapse and financial ruin that it was in following World War I. Transformational and transactional leadership can be two of the most effective styles of leadership in policing. By using the transformational leadership style, police managers can foster an group of proactive and motivated police officers, who want to achieve greater results for the good of the team. By using the transactional leadership approach, they can achieve great results exchanging rewards and benefits with subordinates for increased production. Using a combination of these two approaches to police leadership should lead to great success. References Bass, B. , Steidlmeier, P. (1998). Ethics, Character, and Authentic Transformational Leadership. Vanguard. edu. Retrieved December 10, 2011, from www. vanguard. edu/uploadedFiles/Faculty/RHeuser/ETHICS,%20MORAL%20CHARACTER%20AND%20AUTHENTIC%20TRANSFORMATIONAL%20LEADERSHIP. df Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New York: Free Press ;. Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper Row. Bynum, R. (2008). Transformational Leadership and Staff Training in the Law Enforcement Profession. The Police Chief. Retrieved December 10, 2011, from www. policechiefmagazine. org/magazine/index. cfm? fuseaction=display_archarticle_id=1422issue_id=22008 Yukl, G. A. (1981). Leadership in organizations. Englew ood Cliffs, N. J. : Prentice-Hall. How to cite Transformational and Transactional Leadership, Essay examples

Sociogram Family and Mutual Attraction free essay sample

On August 13, 2009, I became a mother. I was excited because I believed that my son would live, hours later that excitement turned to despair and unimaginable pain. My perceptual social atom sociogram deals with my feelings about the death of my son Alex. After the death of my son I had a hard time coping with feelings and those who were around me in regards to support or non support. There are three males on my sociogram, my son (Alex), my father (Anthony), and my sons father (Vance). I will always have a mutual attraction for my son Alex, he was my first born, and he died while I was giving birth to him. It feels as though there is an empty void in my life because he is not here. At times I still wake up expecting to here his cry; he ranks number one in my life always. We will write a custom essay sample on Sociogram: Family and Mutual Attraction or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page My sons father Vance is ranked ata 2 in my life due to the fact that while I was in labor he left. According to the notational system we have an rejection indifference. I feel that when he left the hospital he rejected me and our son and right now I am indifferent to his feelings and what he wants from our relationship; he should be caring about me, if he does great and if he doesnt that is okay also. The third male on my sociogram is my dad. My father and I have a attraction rejection relationship; this is because he Just doesnt understand why I cant let my sons father go. He feels that I should make a complete break in regards Vance and I relationship. Because of this our relationship right now is a little strained, we speak without speaking. I know that he loves me but he has told me that I need to break things off with Vance in order to move on with my life. I understand where he is coming from but I am afraid to make that final step. The four of the five women on my sociogram are very important in my life. My mother is ranked as number one. My mother and I have the same relationship right now as my father and l. The only difference between my parents is that my dad will say how he feels once and will leave it alone where as my mother will always voice her opinion. She doesnt feel that my childs father is good enough for me and therefore why should I even be bothered. My sister, Arin and my aunt Shea are ranked number twos and I know they will always be in my corner. When looking at the notational system they both have attraction indifference relationships with me; they love me but they also dont feel that Vance is good for me. The only difference between them and my arents is that they understand that I am grown and that I will make my own decisions. The fourth woman on my sociogram is my best cousin and friend Ananda. She has supported me wholeheartedly through my whole pregnancy and through the death of my son. Whatever decision that I have made, she has always said that she supports me one hundred percent. Therefore according to the notational system, our relationship is mutual attraction. The last person on my sociogram is my cousin Ashlee. Ashlee and I use to have a good relationship. Before I became pregnanat she would hang out with Vance and a friend of his. I believe that there relationship came toa point where they could talk to each other about anything. To make a long story short, Ashlee said that Vance approached her in regards to sex; Vance said that he didnt. That point is that I would have believed Ashlee if she would have came to me from the beginning but she didnt; she told everyone else what he supposedly I became pregnant with Alex. At this point there is mutual rejection in our relationship. I dont think things will ever be the same because I feel that something that important she be told face to face, not through text messaging.

Art Comparison Essays

Art Comparison Essays Art Comparison Essay Art Comparison Essay Analyze and Compare Triumph of Shapur I Form: This is a 2D figure because you cannot walk around it and there is no other side. Composition: Shapur I is the largest figure and he is on top of a horse, wearing a large crown, and he has a sword. The other figures in the work are smaller and they are kneeling and being held by Shapur I. Material: This is made out of rock in Naqsh-e Rustam. Technique: This is a low relief carving (bas-relief) depicting the triumph of king Shapur I over Valerian and Phillip. * Shapur is largest, he is sitting on a horse, and he is wearing a crown. Emphasizing the concept of victory: Shapur has a sword. The figures of Phillip and Valerian (the defeated) are smaller and Phillip is kneeling. Victory Stele of Naram-sin Form: This is a 3D geometrical figure because you could walk around it and look at the blank side. Composition: Naram-sin is the largest figure and he is placed higher in the artwork than anyone else. Also, he is wearing a horned helmet, suggesting divinity . Material: This is made of pink sandstone. Technique: This is a low relief carving (bas-relief) depicting Naram-sinâ„ ¢s triumph over Satuni of Lullubi. * Naram-sin is largest, he is elevated higher than anyone else in the work and , he wears a horned helmet which shows divinity. Emphasizing the concept of victory: It depicts soldiers who have weapons and armor and Naram-sin is stepping on his dead enemies. The image that is most effective is the Triumph of Shapur I because it is larger and virtually and theoretically unmovable. The Victory Stele of Naram-sin is larger than an average human but the Triumph of Shapur I relief can look threateningly large when close to it. While the Victory Stele of Naram-sin is portable (proven when it was stolen by the Elamites), the relief of the Triumph of Shapur I was cut from a massive rock-face that would be impractical to even try to move.

Islamic and Christian Influences on African Literature

Islamic and Christian Influences on African Literature Free Online Research Papers An old saying goes, â€Å"To know who you are is the beginning of wisdom†. That is the basis of African literature and has been for many centuries. Myths, legends and songs are all considered a part of passing on traditions dear to the African culture. This in itself, is also a way for generations to be able to understand their identity as an individual. The traditions that are passed on in Africa also serve as a blueprint for the people to understand the past so that their lifestyles may thrive presently and in the future. For example, a story may be passed on so that someone may cultivate their crops appropriately in order to survive. This essay will take the reader through an extensive background on African literature and later into how both Islamic and Christianity practices have influenced African literature. African literature comes in many forms such as verses, proverbs and folktales. These stories may be told in single sentence fragments or over the course of a few days. There are myths that also are a part of the oral traditions in Africa. Some believe that myths and legends are essentially the same method of storytelling when really that is not so. African myths explain Earth’s creation whereas legends explain periods of events after the era of gods, heroic events or serve to prevent future disasters. Myths are generally recited during religious ceremonies (â€Å"Africaâ€Å"). This would be the case of divinations in the practice of cults. Ancestral worship in the African community is another form of literature. Worships such as these serve to recognize the community’s past, present and future occurrences. Another form of literature is known as folktale which comes from collective works of orature. Folktale stories employs trickster characters that feature a small bu t sly animal who uses its wit against bigger predators. Almost every African culture has one trickster tale to it. For example, Nigeria has a tortoise named Ajapa, Central Africa has a hare by the name of Sungura, and the people of Nigeria have Anansi, a spider (â€Å"African Literatureâ€Å"). Music also is a part of the oral traditions through songs. Traditional music and storytelling serve to reinforce existing cultural practices and also serve in spiritual ceremonies. Those who tell these stories are gifted people of the village but are also ordinary people. For example, the Manding culture of Guinea values blacksmiths, potters and leatherworkers as some of the best narrators (Akyeampong 75). This is because it has been their experience that the finest narrators have come with that background. Prior to the 20th century, the African oral works were memorized and recited only. Because there was no written documentation of these stories, European culture did not fully recognize the oral traditions. However, Islamic literature was written down early on unlike African literature. It was the year 639 when Islam was introduced into the North Africa region (â€Å"Africa†). Soon thereafter, Arab merchants were bringing Islamic culture to the coastal region of Africa. Unlike African literature, Islamic literature was scholarly and well respected through out other cultures including the Europeans. Arabic literature arrived in the Ghana region around the 11th century and was introduced by a Saharan tribe called the Tuaregs. Between 1100 and 1600, the Islamic culture spread throughout North and West Africa (Akyeampong 151). Most African cultures that accepted the Islamic customs have blended traditional African customs with that of the new culture. For example, the Swahili culture is made up of Arab and Bantu components. The introduction of Islam into the Swahili territory produced some of the most leading scholars. These scholars were able to document the region’s history quite well (â€Å"Oral Traditions†). Furthermore, the Swahili language is comprised of Arab phonetics but follows the grammar rules of the Bantu culture (Bravmann 104). In addition, Swahili literature makes constant reference to the Koran, the holy Islamic doctrine. The spread of Islam into the Sudanese area resulted in hosting some of the oldest manuscripts in the mosques and universities for over four hundred years (â€Å"Oral Traditions†). Arabic has also made its way into the African culture by way of teaching Arabic in the schools since around the 14th century. In addition, Western African regions have educated many young scholars over the centuries in Muslim philosophy and the writing art of calligraphy. At this point, wooden writing boards and charcoal had been introduced into the schools so that student s were able to complete multiple assignments with one board. Christianity has also become a part of the African culture through the European colonization starting in the 19th century. By introducing Christianity, missionaries also were able to introduce literacy (â€Å"African Literature†). Around 1820, written literature was introduced to the African civilization by missionaries from the East Cape Province. Literature that was introduced by Christian missionaries was then produced in English, French and Portuguese languages. Although literature from Christian missionaries was slowly adopted throughout Africa, the new African literature became more prominent during the slave trade era. In the words of W.E.B. DuBois, â€Å"And so by fateful change, the Negro folksong, the rhythmic cry of the slave, stands today not simply as the sole American music but as the most beautiful expression of human experience born this side of the seas.† He goes on to add, â€Å"it still remains as the singular spiritual heritage of the nation and the greatest gift of the Negro people.† (â€Å"African American Culture through Oral Tradition†). This has remained true for the at least the last two hundred years of history. Spirituals are a mixture of African American culture with the Christian faith. For example, slaves would refer to the biblical story of David defeating Golliath, as means of motivation towards freedom. Although slaves were forced to convert to Christianity, they held on tightly to their roots of African literature. They later incorporated Christian influences with old traditional African songs and the result was Gospel songs that are found today here in America. In today’s society; art, music and literature can be found in a vast number of forms and languages. Furthermore, traditional African literature has not died down but has rather shaped other cultural literatures and vice versus. Nonetheless, the world will continue to be a melting pot of literature despite any attempts to overtake a culture much like history has shown us. In addition, no one can take away a person’s identity even if it means physically beating that person. People are who they are and they will continue to adapt to changes that come their way just as they have for millions of years. Works Consulted Africa. MSN Encarta . 2007. Microsoft Corporation. 16 Nov 2007 http://encarta.msn.com. African Literature. MSN Encarta . 2007. Microsoft Corporation. 16 Nov 2007 http://encarta.msn.com. â€Å"Arica Today.† Dr. Maurice Amutabi. English 110 course. 21 September 2007. Akyeampong, Emmanuel Kwaku. Themes In West Africas History. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2006. Bravmann , Rene A. . African Islam. Washington D.C. : The Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983. Courlander , Harold. A Treasury of African Folklore. New York, NY: Crown Publishers, 1975. King, Noel Q.. Christian And Muslim In Africa. New York, NY: Harper and Row Publishers Inc, 1971. Papa, Maggie, Amy Gerber, and Abeer Mohamed. African American Culture through Oral Tradition. The George Washington University 16 November 2007 . Wilson, Sharon. African Oral Tradition. Black and Christian (2003) 16 November 2007 blackandchristian.com. Wilson, Sharon. African Oral Tradition Part Three. Black and Christian (2003) 16 November 2007 blackandchristian.com. Research Papers on Islamic and Christian Influences on African LiteratureBringing Democracy to AfricaMind TravelHip-Hop is Art19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementThree Concepts of PsychodynamicInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite ReligionHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayCapital Punishment

Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 24

Management - Essay Example This is because when a company is operating independently within the market they may be more privy or more â€Å"in the loop† to market information that exists. This could make them more capable of adapting to market changes and could also make them more capable of gaining a competitive advantage through things like innovation. An example of information being lost is if, say, a company has its own program for measuring performance and then has to switch to the program of the company that acquired them. Certain information may not transfer in the same way or may be considered irrelevant by the absorbing company. In this way information could get lost in the mix. This is not only true for information but for the organizational culture and structure of the company as well. Since economic performance is important to any company, implementing performance methodologies that are in line with overall economic performance is crucial to a company’s success. An effective performance methodology should be in line with the company’s overall performance. In other words, anything that influences a company’s economic performance needs to be accurately measured. Once these measurements are in place, a more accurate assessment of the company’s overall performance will be realized. An effective analogy could be to look at a football game. The goal of a football game is to score more points than the other team. All of the other measurements statistical measurements used in football are secondary. Yet it is also important to find out which of these measurements led to one team scoring more points than another team. In this way you can get a better idea of how the team is winning games and focus on improving in those areas that are the most i mportant for success. Finding the optimal transfer price is important because it can help to maximize a firm’s overall profits. Effective transfer pricing is therefore important to the overall economic performance of the

Negligence and tort law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Negligence and tort law - Essay Example Where no duty is owed there can be no liability The Structure of Negligence The definition of negligence in ordinary parlance is carelessness. Its strict legal analysis was given by Lord Wright in Lochgelly Iron and Coal Co vs. McMullan (1934): â€Å"†¦.negligence means more than heedless or careless conduct, whether in omission or commission: it properly connotes the complex concept of duty, breach and damage thereby suffered by the person to whom the duty was owed.† Negligence as a tort is that made up of a tripartite element structure: the defendant in being careless must have breached a duty, which results in damage and such damage mustn’t be too remote from the cause, (Feinman 2010, P. 34). To have breached a duty, the defendant must have owed it to the claimant and the defendant himself must have fallen below certain legal standards. The defendant’s actions must be tied to the legal injury suffered by the claimant such injury being worthy of compensati on. A judgement will be centred on these three concepts but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are separate and distinct, they overlap to a great extent. Virtually anyone can be capable of negligence: an occupier of premises, a driver, manufacturers and retailers. The â€Å"general conception of relations† that give rise to a duty of care is as, per Lord Atkins, between neighbours. â€Å"Persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in my contemplation as being affected when I am directing my mind to acts or omissions which are called in question.†-Lord Atkins, Donoghue vs. Stevenson (1932). The duty of care generally extends only to individuals directly harmed and whose interaction with the tortfeasor is reasonably foreseeable, (University of London 2005, P.14). The conceptual structure of negligence tort has been agreed among scholarly circles to encompass five basic elements: the existence of a duty of a care, breach of this duty, factual causation, remoteness and finally legal injury. Duty of Care Until the recent case of Caparo Industries vs. Dickman (1990), duty of care was established by applying Lord Atkin’s Neighbour test from Donoghue vs. Stevenson (1932) which was at the root of the fault principle in Common Law jurisdictions. Lord MacMillan set out a new category of delict not particularly based on negligence per se but on the implied warranty of fitness of product, (Eren 2007, Para. 4). In Caparo vs. Dickman, the formula currently determining the duty of care as used by courts was founded. In the test, three things must be established: whether the consequences of the defendant’s act were reasonably foreseeable, whether there is a relationship of proximity between the parties, physical or legal and whether in all the circumstances it was just fair and reasonable that the law should impose a duty. In the case, economic loss due to negligent misstatement by a co mpany accountants was held remote as there was no proximity between accountants and those who would rely on their reports, (Smith & Burns

An Analysis Of The Critical Period

An Analysis Of The Critical Period The critical period hypothesis cites a commonly observable phenomenon, the fact that children find language learning much easier than adults, and learn language remarkably quickly, to claim that language learning is more difficult, or impossible after puberty. The concept of critical periods was initially introduced in the study of animal behavior, where it was noticed that certain behavioral responses only emerged when stimulus was given within a particular time frame. This concept has been applied to many species, including humans, with regard to the development of specific emotional responses such as stress.  [1]  In 1967 Lenneberg proposed that this concept also applied to human linguistic development, seeing language as a response and exposure to language as the stimulus.  [2]  There are two versions of this hypothesis: the strong version, which claims that no language acquisition is possible after puberty, and the weak version, which maintains that language learning wil l be much more difficult. A distinction is often made between language acquisition, the way in which children unconsciously learn their native tongue, and language learning which implies formal instruction, and Lenneberg maintains this distinction himself. Age is not the only variable when comparing groups of learners. We cannot simply compare children and adults, but must differentiate between children acquiring their first language, children learning additional language(s) naturalistically, child and adult classroom learners, both in the country where the language is spoken and outside of it, and immigrants immersed in a foreign language and culture, learning language through induction. With these groups, different social and psychological factors, as well as age, affect their language proficiency, and these must be explored alongside the role that age may play. Some psychologists and psycho-linguists, such as Steven Pinker, claim that language learning stops at puberty because before that an innate language learning mechanism is present in the brain, enabling children to flawlessly acquire any language, given enough input.  [3]  Once puberty is reached, this language acquisition mechanism is shut down, and language acquisition becomes impossible. Chomsky claims that another variety of innate device, a Universal Grammar capability, allows the child to extract grammatical rules from the input that he receives, and to use them to generate an infinite number of further grammatical sentences.  [4]  In claiming that these devices shut down at puberty, these theories make no allowances, for example, for the fact that vocabulary is added to the corpus of language knowledge throughout life, and that adults can be successful in learning foreign languages. If a child acquires substandard forms, this does not mean that as an adult, he or she wi ll not be able to modify these forms. It is also possible to acquire a first language after puberty, as some cases, which will be discussed later, have shown Both Pinker and Chomsky allude to the ease of language acquisition as proof of an innate device behind it. We do not ascribe innate knowledge to other fields that children excel in, simply because they find them easy. For example, any child who is physically able to can learn to ride a bicycle, yet it is doubtful that a theorist would propose that evolution has provided an innate bicycle-riding apparatus. One element of the skill, balance, is innate, and is controlled by a specific part of the inner ear, the semicircular canals.  [5]  Once the child has achieved good enough control over its muscles, it can build on the innate function of balance to learn to ride a bicycle. To learn language, a child must process the data to which it is exposed, deduce rules from regularities occurring in this data, and apply these. In addition, it must have control over the muscles that govern articulation. There is no need to suppose that a specialized linguistic device to extract these rules exists, however. The entire left hemisphere of the brain is constantly constructing theories regarding the world around it, based on sensory evidence.  [6]  Language heard by the child is a part of this sensory data, existing in its aural form and in a visual or aural referent, which must be simultaneously processed. Brain function experiments have shown that the left hemisphere of the brain is indeed more active when grammar is being handled.  [7]  Like bicycle riding, language is an ability based entirely on an innate function, but is not entirely innate in itself. Without exposure, language doesnt appear; therefore it is not innate. Rather than supposing that vague, un located language acquisition or universal grammar mechanisms exist in the brain, the ability to extract theories from data could be seen as a wider function of the brain itself, rather than being language specific. If these specialized mechanisms cannot be proven to exist, then the decline in language learning ability cannot be accounted for by the shutting down of these mechanisms. Such theories also seem to suggest an erroneous concept of the brain itself. Were the brain designed it would doubtless include specific linguistic structures, and some kind of mechanism for language acquisition. But it has evolved to contain not innate knowledge or skills, but the potential for knowledge and skills to develop. The fact that the same areas of the brain handle language in approximately 90% of the population  [8]  is no reason to regard these areas as empty containers waiting to be filled with language, or with their own mechanism to enable this to happen. In any case, the brain is so richly provided with interconnections that it is impossible to describe any boundaries within it. Language is organized in the same way in most humans, but the organization is not rigid. If that part of the brain is injured in youth, language can be relocated to a different place without detrimental effect, suggesting that, although a preference may exist, no sector of the brain is mo re or less suitable than any other for language processing, and negating the possibility that one particular area of the brain is equipped with a language acquisition device.  [9]   Brain injuries also shed light on another important issue. If a young child suffers a head injury to the region of the brain that controls language, it suffers minor temporary language handicap, followed by normal development. The language centers develop again elsewhere without detriment. An older child will also be able to recover language ability, but other abilities, such as spatial skills, will be compromised. An adult suffering the same injury would be terribly and irrevocably handicapped by aphasia.  [10]  As well as suggesting that language can exist normally in other parts of the brain, it suggests that there is a difference between child and adult brains. Also, children become gradually more like adults, reflecting a gradual change in the brain as maturity is approached. In his original critical period hypothesis, Lenneberg cited this change undergone in the brain as the main physiological basis for the critical period.  [11]  Children were constrained in their language ability until the brain was mature enough, but once the brain achieves maturity, as occurs at puberty, language acquisition is again impossible. This is because lateralization is complete, with all brain functions being localized to a particular area, and cerebral plasticity not longer possible. This is supported by the experience of brain injured people. In younger children, brain organization is incomplete, and so if one part of the brain is injured, it is straightforward for the language centre to be re-established. Older children can also re-establish their language ability, but at the expense of other skills, suggesting that language is supplanting these skills in a particular area of the brain. Adults inability to do this suggests that functions previously flexible have now become immovable, supporting the idea of brain lateralization, and its effect on language. However, this does not provide proof that language learning is impossible after puberty. Adults learning a second language are not attempting to establish another centre of language function. The same areas of the brain are used to process all languages, even sign language. They are adding to their linguistic knowledge, acquiring new grammatical rules and vocabulary, but the same part of the brain will handle such knowledge. We acquire much of the vocabulary of our native language during our teens and beyond, as well as learning more complicated grammatical structures, so there is no reason to suppose that we cannot do the same with a foreign language. We can discount these claims, and still be left with the observation that children learn languages much quicker than adults do. If a family immigrates to a new country, the children will pick up the new language quickly, leaving their parent far behind, and probably acting as their interpreters. Children undoubtedly have advantages, yet these are not inextricably linked to their age. When a child is learning language, circumstances are uniquely supportive, and these circumstances are not usually replicated in later life. Physiologically, children have advantages. Hearing declines with age, and so the child is better able to identify different phonemes, and because children have better control of the articulatory muscles, they are better able to reproduce what they have heard.  [12]  Young children also have an amazing ability to learn by rote, and so can retain more data for analysis. Psychologically, they are unaffected by inhibitions or previous experiences. Young children acquiring a second language may not even have a conception of language itself, since it is many years before children can discuss language reflexively. They are usually free from prejudice against the new language, or any cultural concepts that may accompany it. In terms of hours spent on language acquisition, it is no small task. Children are attuned to language from birth, and are aware of sound in the womb.  [13]  Yet it is many months before they begin to vocalize, and years before they consistently produce grammatical sentences. From a vast amount of input, numbering many hours every single day, the child still takes much time, and much experimentation, before it is consistently accurate in its application of grammatical rules. It would take years of weekly language lessons for an adult to have experienced similar exposure, and undoubtedly the adult would then have acquired a good deal of the language, and would perhaps be approaching native-speaker fluency. The input is therefore superior on terms of quantity, but also in terms of quality. Caretaker language is a common phenomenon, including foreigner talk as well as Parentheses. This is due to the obvious fact that in communication, we are aiming to be understood, and will naturally produce what we judge that our listener will understand. Parentheses and Foreigner talk share many common features, but Parentheses is superior for language learning for many reasons. Firstly, the parent or other has a much better idea of what the child can understand and can modify their output accordingly. Secondly, Foreigner talk is often ungrammatical, with, for example, infinitives being overused to aid comprehension. Parentheses is mostly grammatical, unlike adult to adult speech,  [14]  and therefore provides the child with a large amount of perfect data from which to extract rules, whereas the foreigner is more likely to extract erroneous rules from the false data presented. And of course a pare nt has a much greater interest in the language skills of their children than a colleague or acquaintance will have in the language learning of their foreign friends. The child is also favored by the relative unimportance of comprehension. If a baby does not understand what an adult with whom it is playing says, it doesnt matter. If needs be, the adult can physically move the child or otherwise compel it to do something. If the baby is at the top of the stairs, and doesnt heed instructions to move, the adult will simply pick it up. However, an immigrant will have to perform some tasks, such as finding work, shopping, or applying for a driving license, and not understanding warning signs such as Beware of the Dog or Electrified Fence. The need to understand and been understood is much greater, and accompanying stress and frustration may hinder the learner. In addition, the world is favorably disposed towards children, whose mistakes they find endearing, but often hostile towards foreigners with a similar language capability. For children, the vast majority of social interaction is not based on conversation but centered on a particular activity, such as a ball game, or painting. Therefore, a child may gain acceptance into a group of his or her peers without a common language, and through participation is able to learn the language. For adults the reverse is true. Little interaction will take place if adults without a common language meet, reflecting the central role that conversation plays in most adult interactions. Again, this is a sociological factor. On a German exchange, for example, a student would participate in events like family meals, at which they would understand little of the conversation. They would be able to acquire several items of vocabulary, and phrases such as Guten Appetit. However, it is unlikely that an adult would be able to have the benefit of such an opportunity. In the first place, it is unlikely that he or she would have been able to make such a friendship as to prompt an invit ation. Were this possible, conversational conventions would not allow for a silent participant, making the hosts feel as if they were in some way excluding their guest, and the guest as if he was not providing his or her share of the evenings conversation. Used to being able to participate, the guest would no doubt feel frustrated at being unable to express opinions already thought through in the second language. In this way, inhibitions bar the older learner from excellent language learning opportunities. Our life experience shows us that adults can indeed be successful in learning a new language, whether it is stock phrases from a phrase book, or the entire language. If enough time can be devoted to the language, fluency is achievable at any age. The main area where children are superior to adults is pronunciation. A child can easily sound like a native speaker, yet few adults manage to acquire a perfect accent, however hard they study. This may be because children have superior hearing and better control over their articulatory organs. Even within the native language, accents appear to become fixed after puberty. A Scottish child who moves to England will quickly exchange his accent for the one he hears at school, whereas a Scottish adult may spend the vast majority of his life in England, and yet retain his accent. But adults can alter their accent, through elocution classes, and an actor may possess a vast repertoire of regional accents. In both cases, acquiring a new accent is ad vantageous; therefore there is a genuine motivation to do it. Research substantiates this: Neufeld developed a successful pronunciation technique that moves gradually from listening to speaking. After eighteen hours of instruction, nine out of twenty students convinced listeners that they were native speakers of Japanese, and 8 out of twenty that they were Chinese.  [15]  Where there is no need to alter ones accent it is unlikely that the effort will be made. A native speaker of English, with a regional accent, will have no problem with being understood in any part of the country, and therefore has no motivation to adapt it. While children are more likely to alter their accent, and have physical advantages enabling them to do so, adults do not lack this ability. Some kind of choice, probably subconscious is made. Children wish to be like their peers, and adults wish to retain their developed sense of personal identity. The importance of accent is perhaps overrated. Fluency is the ability to communicate as well in a second language as in the native tongue, to be able to generate and to understand an infinite number of sentences, not to pass as a native speaker. A foreign accent doesnt often hamper comprehension if the sentence is grammatically correct; therefore accent is not a vital part of language. It is merely a social factor. The fact that adults do not acquire native-like accents is not proof of a critical period for language acquisition. Although children seem to have the upper hand in naturalistically acquiring language, for these various reasons, research shows that classroom learning actually favors the older learner. When language is not taught in a formal context, children excel. Perhaps it seems effortless because the young child is not told that it should be laborious. But a child introduced to language in the classroom, who has experienced school as boring and demanding, and is told that much learning of grammar will be required, and is constantly informed of his mistakes, will see language learning as an effort. Krashen recognizes these factors in his Affective Filter hypothesis,  [16]  basically an exploration of the different factors that may influence motivation, obviously an important factor influencing learning of any kind. Studies concentrating on a variety of first and second languages have shown that when older and younger students learning by the same method are compared, older students make better progress. When immigrants to Holland were compared, adults made faster progress than children did in learning Dutch  [17]  ; Swedish pupils were shown to make better progress in their English lessons the older they were  [18]  . The Total Physical response method of language teaching is supposedly more suitable for children, yet in a Russian study adults achieved better results.  [19]  Even in a supposedly more naturalistic technique, the French immersion system as practiced in Canada, where children acquire French through being taught a range of school subjects only in that language, those who entered the immersion program at a later stage were judged more proficient than those who participated from the start.  [20]  The situation is of crucial importance here. Effectiveness in a classroo m situation increases with age in all other subjects, and in adulthood, when education is by choice not compulsion, learners are even more motivated. Childrens physiological advantages do not produce greater success when they are compared with adults in an identical situation. This suggests that it is the situation in which the language learning is taking place that is of vital importance. Children mostly learn naturalistically, in a supportive environment, whereas adults learning through immersion often find society hostile. The constraints of a classroom mean that language learning is not as effective as naturalistic learning. An important part of the debate over the critical period has focussed on the Wild Children the few children who have been raised entirely without language and have been later discovered. These children cannot provide proof of anything in scientific terms. They are unfortunate human beings rather than a scientific experiment, with their lives before discovery shrouded in mystery. We could not use the fact that these children do not always acquire language to prove that no child would be able to under the same circumstances, since we cannot discount factors such as mental retardation, or the effects of their often brutal earlier lives. However, their achievements do challenge some theories advanced. History has provided us with two known examples of children who did not begin to learn their native language until past puberty. Two cases, Caspar Hauser and Victor, the wild boy of Aveyron, are distant in time and complicated by claims of hoaxing in the first instance and mental retardation in the second, which obviously cannot be proved or disproved. For what it is worth, both cases acquired language, Caspar (aged 16) perfectly, and Victor (aged around 12) imperfectly, but he is said to have attained a useful communicative ability.  [21]   More recently, other cases of children being raised without language have occurred, and have been subject to more stringent scientific exploration, and can therefore be more useful in a discussion of the critical period. Genie is perhaps the most notable example, being the eldest at the time of discovery, at thirteen years old, and subject to complete isolation before that time.  [22]  The case of Isabelle, aged six, is also notable for her perfect acquisition of language within two years, to the normal childs five. Genie was discovered in November 1970, having been isolated in the same room between the age of twenty months and 13 and a half years. Her only human contact was with her father and brother, who used only growling noises and violence to communicate with her. Genie was handicapped not only in her language development, but also in all forms of socialization. She had no reaction to temperature, no concept of ownership or of personal space, and could not even chew her food. At first, she was disinclined to vocalize at all, having been beaten by her father for making any noise whatsoever, and even in her tantrums she tended to use items of furniture to make sound, remaining eerily silent herself. Children begin to use words to describe a world they have already become familiar with, but Genie was faced with the task of acquiring words to describe an environment she could barely even understand. Under these circumstances it is not remarkable that she did not develop complete language compe tency over the first five years of her rehabilitation. However, her achievement in these years was not inconsiderable, as one researcher, Susan Curtiss points out: Genies language is far from normal. More important, however, over and above the specific similarities and differences that exist between Genies language and the language of normal children, we must keep in mind that Genies speech is rule-governed behavior, and that from a finite set of arbitrary linguistic elements she can and does create novel utterances that theoretically know no upper bound. These are aspects of human language that set it apart form all other animal communication systems. Therefore, abnormalities notwithstanding, in the most fundamental and critical respects, Genie has language.  [23]   Here we have an example of an individual past puberty who has made considerable progress in mastering her first language, has succeeded in the most fundamental and critical respects even if not completely. At the very least, Genie shows that the term critical period is misleading, since language exposure before puberty is not critical, and no fixed amount of time or developmental stage can be cited.  [24]   Isabelle, like Genie, was completely isolated from the speaking world, being imprisoned with her deaf-mute mother. Unlike Genie, she was not treated cruelly, and interacted with her mother using gestures of their own devising. On being discovered aged six, in 1938, she was thought to be uneducable, but within a week had begun to use words. She was noted to pass through the normal developmental stages of language acquisition, but at a vastly accelerated rate, catching up with her age group two years later.  [25]  The fact that Genie was more than twice Isabelles age is not necessarily the decisive factor here. Isabelle was not traumatized by her upbringing, and was not an unsocialised creature, like Genie. She understood the concept of communication, and had developed a language of a sort, the gestures she used with her mother. Her task was not so great as Genies, and so her greater achievement is proof only that a six-year-old can acquire language, and not that a thirteen-year-ol d cannot. The Critical Period hypothesis suggests that age is the primary reason for childrens apparent superior language learning ability. This may be a factor, but is far from being the only reason. Language is more complex than a simple response to a simple stimulus, as Lennebergs hypothesis may suggest. Even if it were proved that childrens ability proceeds entirely from their more suitable circumstances, the impossibility of exactly replicating these circumstances for an adult would mean that the discovery would not be of much functional use. As an adult language student it would be most useful to note that it may be my inhibitions rather that my inabilities that hinder me most in my studies, and that regarding grammar as laborious may indeed make it so!

A Game of Thrones Chapter Eighteen

Catelyn We will make King's Landing within the hour.† Catelyn turned away from the rail and forced herself to smile. â€Å"Your oarmen have done well by us, Captain. Each one of them shall have a silver stag, as a token of my gratitude.† Captain Moreo Turnitis favored her with a half bow. â€Å"You are far too generous, Lady Stark. The honor of carrying a great lady like yourself is all the reward they need.† â€Å"But they'll take the silver anyway.† Moreo smiled. â€Å"As you say.† He spoke the Common Tongue fluently, with only the slightest hint of a Tyroshi accent. He'd been plying the narrow sea for thirty years, he'd told her, as oarman, quartermaster, and finally captain of his own trading galleys. The Storm Dancer was his fourth ship, and his fastest, a two-masted galley of sixty oars. She had certainly been the fastest of the ships available in WhiteHarbor when Catelyn and Ser Rodrik Cassel had arrived after their headlong gallop downriver. The Tyroshi were notorious for their avarice, and Ser Rodrik had argued for hiring a fishing sloop out of the Three Sisters, but Catelyn had insisted on the galley. It was good that she had. The winds had been against them much of the voyage, and without the galley's oars they'd still be beating their way past the Fingers, instead of skimming toward King's Landing and journey's end. So close, she thought. Beneath the linen bandages, her fingers still throbbed where the dagger had bitten. The pain was her scourge, Catelyn felt, lest she forget. She could not bend the last two fingers on her left hand, and the others would never again be dexterous. Yet that was a small enough price to pay for Bran's life. Ser Rodrik chose that moment to appear on deck. â€Å"My good friend,† said Moreo through his forked green beard. The Tyroshi loved bright colors, even in their facial hair. â€Å"It is so fine to see you looking better.† â€Å"Yes,† Ser Rodrik agreed. â€Å"I haven't wanted to die for almost two days now.† He bowed to Catelyn. â€Å"My lady.† He was looking better. A shade thinner than he had been when they set out from WhiteHarbor, but almost himself again. The strong winds in the Bite and the roughness of the narrow sea had not agreed with him, and he'd almost gone over the side when the storm seized them unexpectedly off Dragonstone, yet somehow he had clung to a rope until three of Moreo's men could rescue him and carry him safely below decks. â€Å"The captain was just telling me that our voyage is almost at an end,† she said. Ser Rodrik managed a wry smile. â€Å"So soon?† He looked odd without his great white side whiskers; smaller somehow, less fierce, and ten years older. Yet back on the Bite it had seemed prudent to submit to a crewman's razor, after his whiskers had become hopelessly befouled for the third time while he leaned over the rail and retched into the swirling winds. â€Å"I will leave you to discuss your business,† Captain Moreo said. He bowed and took his leave of them. The galley skimmed the water like a dragonfly, her oars rising and falling in perfect time. Ser Rodrik held the rail and looked out over the passing shore. â€Å"I have not been the most valiant of protectors.† Catelyn touched his arm. â€Å"We are here, Ser Rodrik, and safely. That is all that truly matters.† Her hand groped beneath her cloak, her fingers stiff and fumbling. The dagger was still at her side. She found she had to touch it now and then, to reassure herself. â€Å"Now we must reach the king's master-at-arms, and pray that he can be trusted.† â€Å"Ser Aron Santagar is a vain man, but an honest one.† Ser Rodrik's hand went to his face to stroke his whiskers and discovered once again that they were gone. He looked nonplussed. â€Å"He may know the blade, yes . . . but, my lady, the moment we go ashore we are at risk. And there are those at court who will know you on sight.† Catelyn's mouth grew tight. â€Å"Littlefinger,† she murmured. His face swam up before her; a boy's face, though he was a boy no longer. His father had died several years before, so he was Lord Baelish now, yet still they called him Littlefinger. Her brother Edmure had given him that name, long ago at Riverrun. His family's modest holdings were on the smallest of the Fingers, and Petyr had been slight and short for his age. Ser Rodrik cleared his throat. â€Å"Lord Baelish once, ah . . . † His thought trailed off uncertainly in search of the polite word. Catelyn was past delicacy. â€Å"He was my father's ward. We grew up together in Riverrun. I thought of him as a brother, but his feelings for me were . . . more than brotherly. When it was announced that I was to wed Brandon Stark, Petyr challenged for the right to my hand. It was madness. Brandon was twenty, Petyr scarcely fifteen. I had to beg Brandon to spare Petyr's life. He let him off with a scar. Afterward my father sent him away. I have not seen him since.† She lifted her face to the spray, as if the brisk wind could blow the memories away. â€Å"He wrote to me at Riverrun after Brandon was killed, but I burned the letter unread. By then I knew that Ned would marry me in his brother's place.† Ser Rodrik's fingers fumbled once again for nonexistent whiskers. â€Å"Littlefinger sits on the small council now.† â€Å"I knew he would rise high,† Catelyn said. â€Å"He was always clever, even as a boy, but it is one thing to be clever and another to be wise. I wonder what the years have done to him.† High overhead, the far-eyes sang out from the rigging. Captain Moreo came scrambling across the deck, giving orders, and all around them the Storm Dancer burst into frenetic activity as King's Landing slid into view atop its three high hills. Three hundred years ago, Catelyn knew, those heights had been covered with forest, and only a handful of fisherfolk had lived on the north shore of the Blackwater Rush where that deep, swift river flowed into the sea. Then Aegon the Conqueror had sailed from Dragonstone. It was here that his army had put ashore, and there on the highest hill that he built his first crude redoubt of wood and earth. Now the city covered the shore as far as Catelyn could see; manses and arbors and granaries, brick storehouses and timbered inns and merchant's stalls, taverns and graveyards and brothels, all piled one on another. She could hear the clamor of the fish market even at this distance. Between the buildings were broad roads lined with trees, wandering crookback streets, and alleys so narrow that two men could not walk abreast. Visenya's hill was crowned by the Great Sept of Baelor with its seven crystal towers. Across the city on the hill of Rhaenys stood the blackened walls of the Dragonpit, its huge dome collapsing into ruin, its bronze doors closed now for a century. The Street of the Sisters ran between them, straight as an arrow. The city walls rose in the distance, high and strong. A hundred quays lined the waterfront, and the harbor was crowded with ships. Deepwater fishing boats and river runners came and went, ferrymen poled back and forth across the Blackwater Rush, trading galleys unloaded goods from Braavos and Pentos and Lys. Catelyn spied the queen's ornate barge, tied up beside a fat-bellied whaler from the Port of Ibben, its hull black with tar, while upriver a dozen lean golden warships rested in their cribs, sails furled and cruel iron rams lapping at the water. And above it all, frowning down from Aegon's high hill, was the Red Keep; seven huge drum-towers crowned with iron ramparts, an immense grim barbican, vaulted halls and covered bridges, barracks and dungeons and granaries, massive curtain walls studded with archers' nests, all fashioned of pale red stone. Aegon the Conqueror had commanded it built. His son Maegor the Cruel had seen it completed. Afterward he had taken the heads of every stonemason, woodworker, and builder who had labored on it. Only the blood of the dragon would ever know the secrets of the fortress the Dragonlords had built, he vowed. Yet now the banners that flew from its battlements were golden, not black, and where the three-headed dragon had once breathed fire, now pranced the crowned stag of House Baratheon. A high-masted swan ship from the Summer Isles was beating out from port, its white sails huge with wind. The Storm Dancer moved past it, pulling steadily for shore. â€Å"My lady,† Ser Rodrik said, â€Å"I have thought on how best to proceed while I lay abed. You must not enter the castle. I will go in your stead and bring Ser Aron to you in some safe place.† She studied the old knight as the galley drew near to a pier. Moreo was shouting in the vulgar Valyrian of the Free Cities. â€Å"You would be as much at risk as I would.† Ser Rodrik smiled. â€Å"I think not. I looked at my reflection in the water earlier and scarcely recognized myself. My mother was the last person to see me without whiskers, and she is forty years dead. I believe I am safe enough, my lady.† Moreo bellowed a command. As one, sixty oars lifted from the river, then reversed and backed water. The galley slowed. Another shout. The oars slid back inside the hull. As they thumped against the dock, Tyroshi seamen leapt down to tie up. Moreo came bustling up, all smiles. â€Å"King's Landing, my lady, as you did command, and never has a ship made a swifter or surer passage. Will you be needing assistance to carry your things to the castle?† â€Å"We shall not be going to the castle. Perhaps you can suggest an inn, someplace clean and comfortable and not too far from the river.† The Tyroshi fingered his forked green beard. â€Å"Just so. I know of several establishments that might suit your needs. Yet first, if I may be so bold, there is the matter of the second half of the payment we agreed upon. And of course the extra silver you were so kind as to promise. Sixty stags, I believe it was.† â€Å"For the oarmen,† Catelyn reminded him. â€Å"Oh, of a certainty,† said Moreo. â€Å"Though perhaps I should hold it for them until we return to Tyrosh. For the sake of their wives and children. If you give them the silver here, my lady, they will dice it away or spend it all for a night's pleasure.† â€Å"There are worse things to spend money on,† Ser Rodrik put in. â€Å"Winter is coming.† â€Å"A man must make his own choices,† Catelyn said. â€Å"They earned the silver. How they spend it is no concern of mine.† â€Å"As you say, my lady,† Moreo replied, bowing and smiling. Just to be sure, Catelyn paid the oarmen herself, a stag to each man, and a copper to the two men who carried their chests halfway up Visenya's hill to the inn that Moreo had suggested. It was a rambling old place on Eel Alley. The woman who owned it was a sour crone with a wandering eye who looked them over suspiciously and bit the coin that Catelyn offered her to make sure it was real. Her rooms were large and airy, though, and Moreo swore that her fish stew was the most savory in all the Seven Kingdoms. Best of all, she had no interest in their names. â€Å"I think it best if you stay away from the common room,† Ser Rodrik said, after they had settled in. â€Å"Even in a place like this, one never knows who may be watching.† He wore ringmail, dagger, and longsword under a dark cloak with a hood he could pull up over his head. â€Å"I will be back before nightfall, with Ser Aron,† he promised. â€Å"Rest now, my lady.† Catelyn was tired. The voyage had been long and fatiguing, and she was no longer as young as she had been. Her windows opened on the alley and rooftops, with a view of the Blackwater beyond. She watched Ser Rodrik set off, striding briskly through the busy streets until he was lost in the crowds, then decided to take his advice. The bedding was stuffed with straw instead of feathers, but she had no trouble falling asleep. She woke to a pounding on her door. Catelyn sat up sharply. Outside the window, the rooftops of King's Landing were red in the light of the setting sun. She had slept longer than she intended. A fist hammered at her door again, and a voice called out, â€Å"Open, in the name of the king.† â€Å"A moment,† she called out. She wrapped herself in her cloak. The dagger was on the bedside table. She snatched it up before she unlatched the heavy wooden door. The men who pushed into the room wore the black ringmail and golden cloaks of the City Watch. Their leader smiled at the dagger in her hand and said, â€Å"No need for that, m'lady. We're to escort you to the castle.† â€Å"By whose authority?† she said. He showed her a ribbon. Catelyn felt her breath catch in her throat. The seal was a mockingbird, in grey wax. â€Å"Petyr,† she said. So soon. Something must have happened to Ser Rodrik. She looked at the head guardsman. â€Å"Do you know who I am?† â€Å"No, m'lady,† he said. â€Å"M'lord Littlefinger said only to bring you to him, and see that you were not mistreated.† Catelyn nodded. â€Å"You may wait outside while I dress.† She bathed her hands in the basin and wrapped them in clean linen. Her fingers were thick and awkward as she struggled to lace up her bodice and knot a drab brown cloak about her neck. How could Littlefinger have known she was here? Ser Rodrik would never have told him. Old he might be, but he was stubborn, and loyal to a fault. Were they too late, had the Lannisters reached King's Landing before her? No, if that were true, Ned would be here too, and surely he would have come to her. How . . . ? Then she thought, Moreo. The Tyroshi knew who they were and where they were, damn him. She hoped he'd gotten a good price for the information. They had brought a horse for her. The lamps were being lit along the streets as they set out, and Catelyn felt the eyes of the city on her as she rode, surrounded by the guard in their golden cloaks. When they reached the Red Keep, the portcullis was down and the great gates sealed for the night, but the castle windows were alive with flickering lights. The guardsmen left their mounts outside the walls and escorted her through a narrow postern door, then up endless steps to a tower. He was alone in the room, seated at a heavy wooden table, an oil lamp beside him as he wrote. When they ushered her inside, he set down his pen and looked at her. â€Å"Cat,† he said quietly. â€Å"Why have I been brought here in this fashion?† He rose and gestured brusquely to the guards. â€Å"Leave us.† The men departed. â€Å"You were not mistreated, I trust,† he said after they had gone. â€Å"I gave firm instructions.† He noticed her bandages. â€Å"Your hands . . . â€Å" Catelyn ignored the implied question. â€Å"I am not accustomed to being summoned like a serving wench,† she said icily. â€Å"As a boy, you still knew the meaning of courtesy.† â€Å"I've angered you, my lady. That was never my intent.† He looked contrite. The look brought back vivid memories for Catelyn. He had been a sly child, but after his mischiefs he always looked contrite; it was a gift he had. The years had not changed him much. Petyr had been a small boy, and he had grown into a small man, an inch or two shorter than Catelyn, slender and quick, with the sharp features she remembered and the same laughing grey-green eyes. He had a little pointed chin beard now, and threads of silver in his dark hair, though he was still shy of thirty. They went well with the silver mockingbird that fastened his cloak. Even as a child, he had always loved his silver. â€Å"How did you know I was in the city?† she asked him. â€Å"Lord Varys knows all,† Petyr said with a sly smile. â€Å"He will be joining us shortly, but I wanted to see you alone first. It has been too long, Cat. How many years?† Catelyn ignored his familiarity. There were more important questions. â€Å"So it was the King's Spider who found me.† Littlefinger winced. â€Å"You don't want to call him that. He's very sensitive. Comes of being an eunuch, I imagine. Nothing happens in this city without Varys knowing. Oftimes he knows about it before it happens. He has informants everywhere. His little birds, he calls them. One of his little birds heard about your visit. Thankfully, Varys came to me first.† â€Å"Why you?† He shrugged. â€Å"Why not me? I am master of coin, the king's own councillor. Selmy and Lord Renly rode north to meet Robert, and Lord Stannis is gone to Dragonstone, leaving only Maester Pycelle and me. I was the obvious choice. I was ever a friend to your sister Lysa, Varys knows that.† â€Å"Does Varys know about . . . â€Å" â€Å"Lord Varys knows everything . . . except why you are here.† He lifted an eyebrow. â€Å"Why are you here?† â€Å"A wife is allowed to yearn for her husband, and if a mother needs her daughters close, who can tell her no?† Littlefinger laughed. â€Å"Oh, very good, my lady, but please don't expect me to believe that. I know you too well. What were the Tully words again?† Her throat was dry. â€Å"Family, Duty, Honor,† she recited stiffly. He did know her too well. â€Å"Family, Duty, Honor,† he echoed. â€Å"All of which required you to remain in Winterfell, where our Hand left you. No, my lady, something has happened. This sudden trip of yours bespeaks a certain urgency. I beg of you, let me help. Old sweet friends should never hesitate to rely upon each other.† There was a soft knock on the door. â€Å"Enter,† Littlefinger called out. The man who stepped through the door was plump, perfumed, powdered, and as hairless as an egg. He wore a vest of woven gold thread over a loose gown of purple silk, and on his feet were pointed slippers of soft velvet. â€Å"Lady Stark,† he said, taking her hand in both of his, â€Å"to see you again after so many years is such a joy.† His flesh was soft and moist, and his breath smelled of lilacs. â€Å"Oh, your poor hands. Have you burned yourself, sweet lady? The fingers are so delicate . . . Our good Maester Pycelle makes a marvelous salve, shall I send for a jar?† Catelyn slid her fingers from his grasp. â€Å"I thank you, my lord, but my own Maester Luwin has already seen to my hurts.† Varys bobbed his head. â€Å"I was grievous sad to hear about your son. And him so young. The gods are cruel.† â€Å"On that we agree, Lord Varys,† she said. The title was but a courtesy due him as a council member; Varys was lord of nothing but the spiderweb, the master of none but his whisperers. The eunuch spread his soft hands. â€Å"On more than that, I hope, sweet lady. I have great esteem for your husband, our new Hand, and I know we do both love King Robert.† â€Å"Yes,† she was forced to say. â€Å"For a certainty.† â€Å"Never has a king been so beloved as our Robert,† quipped Littlefinger. He smiled slyly. â€Å"At least in Lord Varys's hearing.† â€Å"Good lady,† Varys said with great solicitude. â€Å"There are men in the Free Cities with wondrous healing powers. Say only the word, and I will send for one for your dear Bran.† â€Å"Maester Luwin is doing all that can be done for Bran,† she told him. She would not speak of Bran, not here, not with these men. She trusted Littlefinger only a little, and Varys not at all. She would not let them see her grief. â€Å"Lord Baelish tells me that I have you to thank for bringing me here.† Varys giggled like a little girl. â€Å"Oh, yes. I suppose I am guilty. I hope you forgive me, kind lady.† He eased himself down into a seat and put his hands together. â€Å"I wonder if we might trouble you to show us the dagger?† Catelyn Stark stared at the eunuch in stunned disbelief. He was a spider, she thought wildly, an enchanter or worse. He knew things no one could possibly know, unless . . . â€Å"What have you done to Ser Rodrik?† she demanded. Littlefinger was lost. â€Å"I feel rather like the knight who arrives at the battle without his lance. What dagger are we talking about? Who is Ser Rodrik?† â€Å"Ser Rodrik Cassel is master-at-arms at Winterfell,† Varys informed him. â€Å"I assure you, Lady Stark, nothing at all has been done to the good knight. He did call here early this afternoon. He visited with Ser Aron Santagar in the armory, and they talked of a certain dagger. About sunset, they left the castle together and walked to that dreadful hovel where you were staying. They are still there, drinking in the common room, waiting for your return. Ser Rodrik was very distressed to find you gone.† â€Å"How could you know all that?† â€Å"The whisperings of little birds,† Varys said, smiling. â€Å"I know things, sweet lady. That is the nature of my service.† He shrugged. â€Å"You do have the dagger with you, yes?† Catelyn pulled it out from beneath her cloak and threw it down on the table in front of him. â€Å"Here. Perhaps your little birds will whisper the name of the man it belongs to.† Varys lifted the knife with exaggerated delicacy and ran a thumb along its edge. Blood welled, and he let out a squeal and dropped the dagger back on the table. â€Å"Careful,† Catelyn told him, â€Å"it's sharp.† â€Å"Nothing holds an edge like Valyrian steel,† Littlefinger said as Varys sucked at his bleeding thumb and looked at Catelyn with sullen admonition. Littlefinger hefted the knife lightly in his hand, testing the grip. He flipped it in the air, caught it again with his other hand. â€Å"Such sweet balance. You want to find the owner, is that the reason for this visit? You have no need of Ser Aron for that, my lady. You should have come to me.† â€Å"And if I had,† she said, â€Å"what would you have told me?† â€Å"I would have told you that there was only one knife like this at King's Landing.† He grasped the blade between thumb and forefinger, drew it back over his shoulder, and threw it across the room with a practiced flick of his wrist. It struck the door and buried itself deep in the oak, quivering. â€Å"It's mine.† â€Å"Yours?† It made no sense. Petyr had not been at Winterfell. â€Å"Until the tourney on Prince Joffrey's name day,† he said, crossing the room to wrench the dagger from the wood. â€Å"I backed Ser Jaime in the jousting, along with half the court.† Petyr's sheepish grin made him look half a boy again. â€Å"When Loras Tyrell unhorsed him, many of us became a trifle poorer. Ser Jaime lost a hundred golden dragons, the queen lost an emerald pendant, and I lost my knife. Her Grace got the emerald back, but the winner kept the rest.† â€Å"Who?† Catelyn demanded, her mouth dry with fear. Her fingers ached with remembered pain. â€Å"The Imp,† said Littlefinger as Lord Varys watched her face. â€Å"Tyrion Lannister.†