Fast Food Essay Example for Free

Fast Food Essay Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a packaged form for take-out/take-away. The term fast food was recognized in a dictionary by Merriam–Webster in 1951. Outlets may be stands or kiosks, which may provide no shelter or seating, or fast food restaurants (also known as quick service restaurants). Franchise operations which are part of restaurant chains have standardized foodstuffs shipped to each restaurant from central locations. Defination of Fast Food ?Food that can be prepared and served very quickly ?Any meal with low preparation time can be considered ?Food sold with preheated or precooked ingredients. The first fast food restaurants originated in the United States with AW in 1916 and White Castle, founded by Billy Ingram and Walter Anderson in Wichita, Kansas in 1921, is generally credited with opening the second fast food outlet and first hamburger chain, selling hamburgers McDonalds and KFC are multinational corporations with outlets across the globe. The United States has the largest fast food industry in the world, and American fast food restaurants are located in over 100 countries. Approximately 2 million U. S. workers are employed in the areas of food preparation and food servicing including fast food in the USA. Famous Fast Food Brands From America (TOP 10) LINK: http://cuclife. com/famous-brand/Fast-food/list_711_1. html (Photo Use) 1. Burger King 2. Burger King 3. Taco Bell 4. Arbys 5. Wendys 6. White Castle 7. Kentucky Fried Chicken 8. Pizza Hut 9. Chick-fil-A 10. Subway History of Fast Food Culture Significant Events in the US Fast Food Industry 1916: The first low-cost limited menu high-speed hamburger restaurant called White Castle opens in Wichita KS. 1921: White Castle opens its first restaurant selling hamburgers for 50 cents. 1940: The first McDonalds store Established. 1951: The term fast food is recognized in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. 1967: McDonalds opens its first restaurant outside the United States 1971: The first Starbucks store opens in Seattle 2002: McDonalds cuts back on trans fat on its French fries by 48%. 2005: McDonalds mascot Ronald ranks 2nd in the top-10 advertising icons of the 20th century. 2006: According to an estimate, Americans spend nearly $142 billion on fast food. Development of Fast Food Industry Restaurants have been around in some form for most of human civilization. But they usually catered to travelers. As far back as ancient Greece and Rome, inns and taverns generally served food to people who had a reason to be away from home. This trend continued until relatively recently. Although taverns and coffee houses were popular places to gather and share beverages in the 17th century, the idea of eating out for fun didnt take off in Western society until the late 18th century. Although McDonalds was the first restaurant to use the assembly-line system, some people think of White Castle as the first fast-food chain. White Castle was founded in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas. At the time, most people considered the burgers sold at fairs, circuses, lunch counters and carts to be low-quality. Many people thought hamburger came from slaughterhouse scraps and spoiled meat. White Castles founders decided to change the publics perception of hamburgers. They built their restaurants so that customers could see the food being prepared. They painted the buildings white and even chose a name that suggested cleanliness. White Castle was most popular in the American East and Midwest, but its success helped give hamburger meat a better reputation nationwide. So, like cars, White Castle played an important part in the development of fast food. The McDonald brothers opened their redesigned restaurant in 1948, and several fast-food chains that exist today opened soon after. Burger King and Taco Bell got their start in the 1950s, and Wendys opened in 1969. Some chains, like Carls Jr. , KFC and Jack in the Box, existed before the Speedee Service System, but modified their cooking techniques after its debut. McDonalds, which started it all, is now the worlds largest fast-food chain. According to the National Restaurant Association, American sales of fast food totaled $163. 5 billion in 2005. The industry is growing globally as well. Total sales for McDonalds grew 5. 6 percent in 2005, and the company now has 30,000 franchised stores in more than 120 countries. However, McDonalds and fast food in general does not always get a welcoming reception around the world. McDonalds restaurants have been attacked in several countries, including the United States, China, Belgium, Holland, India, Russia, Sweden and the U. K. Protestors have accused McDonalds and other chains of selling unhealthy food, marketing aggressively to children and undermining local values and culture. Reason why the Fast Food Industry can be so Successful ?Cheap ?Fast (Convenience) ?Tasty ?Change in lifestyle (Working Long Hours, Busy Life, Rapid Paces) ? Child-Friendly Atmosphere (E. g. Toys) ?Franchising Scheme (E. g. McDonald’s) Variants: How the fast food culture in America influence the whole world.

Construction of the Notre Dame Cathedral

Construction of the Notre Dame Cathedral To start with, it is very known that Notre Dame Cathedral that is found in Paris is one of the worlds first ever to be made, Gothic Cathedral. Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is found near the Ile de la Cite on its eastern half, having to the west its main entrance. Many thought that the Cathedral of Notre Dame was one of the best when it comes to Gothic French architecture. One of the most well known architects in France named Viollet le Duc is the one behind saving and restoring Notre Dame Cathedral from destruction. The meaning of the name, Notre Dame Cathedral is because when this Gothic Cathedral was built it was the centre of beauty in Paris and they decided to name it by Our Lady. The Gothic period was very bewildered by the amazing construction of Notre Dame Cathedral. Gothic architecture was very much influenced by naturalism and that was seen through the stained glass and sculptures found in Notre Dame Cathedral, which in the early Romanesque architecture this was the opposit e. The flying buttress which is arched exterior supports were first seen in the Notre Dame in Paris. When the Cathedral was first built it did not include the flying buttresses in its design but later on it was found surrounding the nave and choir. After many numbers of constructions to Notre Dame in Paris, the thinner walls that were very popular at that time of Gothic style grew to be extremely high which resulted in a lot of stress factors and the walls seems to start pushing outwards. Due to that the architects that were constructing the cathedral decided to build a lot of support surrounding the walls on the outside and then they continued to add them like that on the outside. In the 1970s during the drastic French Revolution a lot of ruin and violation was happening to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris causing many of the religious images to be destroyed and damaged. In the 19th century though the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris went through very severe restoration plans and whe n that was done the Cathedral actually went back to the way it was before. History Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was known for its dominance on the Seine and the Ile de la Cite in addition to the history of Paris. The Romans decided to built right next to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, a temple for Jupiter and then later on another building was added by the Christian Basilica, last but not least in the end they built Cathedral of St. Etienne which is established in 528 by Childebert (Romanesque church). Bishop of Paris named Maurice de Sully decided to expand the population and built a new cathedral which was devoted for the Virgin Mary. The construction in 1163 was started but it wasnt really completed until around 1345 which is like 180 years later on. The Cathedral tells a lot of stories in the Bible when it comes to its portals and stained glass and paintings, maybe because it was finished and constructed in the illiterate age. The choir was finished around 1183 and later on a lot of work started being done on the nave and it was finished around 1208, the w est front and towers finished in 1225 1250 approximately right after the nave. Around 1235 1250 many never chapels were followed and added to the nave and later during the 1296 1330 some were also added to the apse, (Pierre de Chelles and Jean Ravy). In 1250 1267 transept crossings were established by Pierre de Montreuil which is the architect for the Sainte Chapelle and Jean de Chelles. You can tell the design was very early Gothic because of the slim elements that articulate the wall and the sic part rib vaults. The Interior was very changed and reconstructed in the middle 13th century because of the enlargement downward of the clerestory windows that are exactly from the early Gothic style causing it to be filled with very High Gothic tracery. The triforium was removed because of all the enlargements. Usually you can find four story elevation in the Interior which is normal when it comes to early Gothic churches, in addition to that the triforiun was very different because it had large opening that are round instead of arcades that are very normal. If you look at the buildings youd realize that they are very High Gothic and thats how they look from the exterior. The features are very noticeable and include tracery screen and profusion of colonnettes, it also had vertical and horizontal orders of the facades, the gracefulness of the flying buttresses and the striking the size of the rose windows. The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris had a very flourishing history for centuries. Before crusaders would go to their holy war, they used to always pray there. In addition to that, many polyphonic music was being established inside the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. During the French Revolution a lot of catastrophes occurred. Notre Dame Cathedral ion Paris was very badly damaged, not to mention many other cathedrals located all around France. You can very clearly see that a lot of saints were beheaded at the Cathedrale St Etienne in Bourges. Many citizens though did not understand those statues and they thought the statues of saints found over the portals located on the west front was a kind of representation of their kings and specially in the middle of their passion for the revolution, they were taken down. Those statues were found in the year of 1970, around approximately two hundred years afterwards also in the Latin Quarter. A lot of these cathedrals treasures were badly damaged or severely destroyed and the only thing that stayed fine was the great bells that avoided being melted down. Thanks to the revolution a lot of the cathedrals were dedicated to the cult of Reason and afterwards they also became dedicated to the cult of Supreme being instead. The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was found to be a warehouse to store food in the interior. Napoleon decided to crown himself as an emperor thinking that he would emphasize the important and primacy of the state over the church, later own Josephine was also crowned, and his empress was hi s Martinique born wife. Pope Pius the VII raised no objections because any way the job would have been done by an archbishop. A writer called Victor Hugo and another artist like Ingres called a lot of attention to the fact that the state was in dangerous and it was in disrepair where the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris fell which raised a lot of awareness when it comes to the value of art. The creations of the Middle Ages in the 18th century were being ignored by the neoclassicists, the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris stained galas was being replaced by normal glass. In the 19th century many romantics realized how remote the period was with the greater appreciation and the new eyes. Construction When the church found in Paris became the Parisian church of the kinds of Europe in 1160, Maurica de Sully who is the Bishop he decided to consider the old Cathedral in Paris (Saint Etienne/St Stephens), it was built in the 14th century, but it was later on demolished after he assumed the name or title of Bishop of Paris, due to its lofty role and unworthiness. There were many myths when it comes to foundations, this has to be taken into account with a grain of salt, in the 20th century archeological excavations were suggested saying that the Merovingian Cathedral should be Replaced by Sully who was itself a very massive structure having a faà §ade of 36m across and a five aisled nave. In order for the Bishop to justify the rebuilding of the newer style he used the excuse which was the fact that there were many faults of the old structure being exaggerated. It is said that Sully had a very glorious vision about the Cathedral that was rebuilt in Paris and then it is said that he also sketched it on the ground where the actual church was found. In order for them to start the construction the bishop made more than one house become demolished or ruined and he built a new road for the material to be transported through to finish what is left of the Cathedral in Paris. While Louis VII was in reign in 1163 the construction started. There were many conflicts whether it was Pope Alexander the III or Sullt who built and laid out the stone foundation of the Cathedral in Paris but still it wasnt a big deal because they were present in the ceremony question. Most of Bishop de Sully and his life was devoted and dedicated to the construction of the Cathedral in Paris.from 1163 till approximately around 1177 the choir construction started to take place. In addition to that the construction of the new High Altar was set apart in around 1182, that seemed to be a normal thing to have the new churchs eastern end to be finished first in order for the temporary wall would be put up on the west of the choir letting the chapter be used without any interruptions while the shape of the building was slowly being established. Bishop Maurice de Sully died in year 1196 and after that happened, Eudes de Sully was his successor saw the finishing of the transepts and continued with the nave which almost was finished before the time he died which was in the year 1208. (Bishop Maurice de sully and Eudes de Sully are not related). When this was the time, the faà §ade on the west was also being set up even though it was not finished fully until approximately around the middle of the 1240s.More than one architect were working on the site while the construction or building was still taking place, that information was obvious and made sure of due to the difference in heights found on the towers and the west front, and the different styles. The fourth architect saw the difference in the construction when it comes to the great halls beneath the towers and the level with the ros e window. In the latest Rayonnant style the transepts were changes and remodeled, that was the most noticeable and significant change in the design in the middle of the 13th century. Jean de Chelles included to the north transept a gabled portal and he ended it with a very marvelous rose window, that all happened in the 1240s. Pierre de Montreuil a bit after the year 1258 he made a very close scheme that is found on the transept on the South. Transept portals were both very full of embellished sculptures. On the portal to the south you find features that show scenes of the lives of St Stephen many other local saints, on the other hand you can find on the north portal features of the infancy Christ and the story of Theophilus that is in the tympanum, there was also a very influencing statue of Virgin Mary and the Child in the Trumeau. The Notre Dame Cathedral was really and officially finished around the year of 1345. Notre Dame bells In the Palace of Notre Dame in France there are five very popular bells. One is known as the Bourdon bell, this bell weighs more than thirteen tons and it was placed in the South Tower, it mainly was used for announcing the day hours for services and occasions. The other four bells were placed in the North Tower and they are as well used for many festivals, services and various occasions. Those bells worked manually before, for them to be rung someone had to go and do that, but now it is different and they re rung by electric motors as it was later discovered that when those bells were rung it could put the whole building in danger and making it all vibrate which was considered a threat to the bells reliability. Furthermore, those bells had hammers appointed externally that worked for tune playing that comes from a clavier Piano or the Organ Over the time many things were being added to the Cathedral from which were the several organs that have been installed, but the first several ones were sufficient for the building and did not fit perfectly. Francois Henri Clicquot was responsible for building the first organ to be known that was finished by the 18th century. Today if you visit the Notre Dame Palace in France you can find that Francois Henri Clicquots original pipe work still sounds the same and it comes from the organ found in the pedal division. In the 19th century Aristide Cavaille Coll rebuilt the organ and finished expanding it. The position for the head or chief organist at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in France has been considered marvelous and one of the most extravagant and prestigious posts in France in addition to the post of Saint Sulpice in France which was the largest instrument built by Aristide Cavaille Coll. There are 7800 pipes found inside the organ and 900 of them are considered historical. It also has 110 stops, 32 key pedal board and 56 key manuals. The organ was computerized and controlled by three Local Area Networks (LANs) and it was fully finished by December of the year 1992. Quotes said by people We must remind ourselves that these monumental structures, although they remain intensely alive, are merely the skeletons of the cathedrals of medieval times. Compared with what it was when first created, the cathedral, as we see it now, is like a venerable old lady whose noble carriage barely suggests the striking belle she must have been in her youth. We should not only recall the past splendor of the cathedral, most of whose external adornment is now lost, but also attempt to understand what the cathedral was during the progress of its own creation; the role it played at the heart of the city that saw its birth among the people whose stubborn or enthusiastic will alone caused its skyward thrust. -Zoe Oldenbourg, With Stone and Faith Gothic architecture had a magnificent opportunity of development in the construction of the great cathedrals, which, in France, were all built at the end of the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth centuries. These were civil as well as ecclesiastical buildings; in fact, the distinction between the two provinces was a thing unknown at the time, and is wholly a modern idea, which we never probably would have had except for the differences in religious belief which arose among us at the Reformation. The state is merely the community acting in combination for those purposes in which combined action is more convenient than individual. With us these are now almost confined to justice, police, war, and possibly education. But when religious belief was uniform, as in the Middle Ages, state action included religion. The bishops and abbots were feudal barons, with civil jurisdiction; and, on the other hand, all state action had some religious character and sanction. The cathedrals were the great meeting-places of the city, used for secular purposes, such as the administration of justice, and even for histrionic performances (which, again, were religious in character), as well as formass. -John J. Stevenson, Gothic Architecture;Harpers New Monthly Magazine, 1876 And the cathedral was not only company for him, it was the universe; nay, more, it was Nature itself. He never dreamed that there were other hedgerows than the stained-glass windows in perpetual bloom; other shade than that of the stone foliage always budding, loaded with birds in the thickets of Saxon capitals; other mountains than the colossal towers of the church; or other oceans than Paris roaring at their feet. -Victor Hugo, Notre Dame de Paris, 1831 Historic Timeline 1160   The Cathedral is ordered to be destroyed by Maurice de Sully. 1163   The Construction of Notre Dame Palace in France is started. 1196   The death of Bishop Maurice de Sully. 1200   The Western Faà §ade work starts being established. 1208   The Nave vaults are almost finished/ the death of Bishop Eudes de Sully. 1225   The completion of the Western Faà §ade. 1250   Completion of the North rose window and Western Towers. 1245/1260   Jean de Chelles then Pierre de Montreuil remodeled the transept into the Rayonnant style. 1250/1345   Everything else is finished. Definitions 1) Clavier: it is the bank of keys found on the piano keyboard or a musical instrument. 2) Transept: the wings of the church, it is a church that has a cross shaped portion that goes in a right angle through the long central side of the nave. 3)  Crypt: an underground chamber for burial or a vault or a cellar, usually found under a church. 4) Nave: the centre part or area of a church. 5) Rayonnant style: it is the period where the French Gothic architecture was developed in the 1240 and 1350 century. The Rayonnant style is known by taking the focus away from big scale and spatial rationalism when it comes to buildings, it takes us to a more of a two dimentional style on the surface having decoration that are repetitive with different sizes. References 1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_de_Paris 2) http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Cathedrals/Paris/Notre-Dame.shtml 3) http://www.sacred-destinations.com/france/paris-notre-dame-cathedral 4) http://elore.com/Gothic/History/Overview/paris.htm 5) http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Notre_Dame_Cathedral.html 6) http://www.notredamedeparis.fr/The-west-facade 7) http://www.wallpaper-z.com/images/thumbnails/notre-dame-paris-402.jpg 8) http://elore.com/Gothic/History/Overview/paris.htm 9) http://artcolima31.blogspot.com/2009/09/notre-dame-cathedral-alejandra-velasco.html 10) http://www.notredamedeparis.fr/The-Crown-of-Light 11) http://yeinjee.com/travel/2005/cathedrale-notre-dame-de-paris/ 12) http://www.shafe.co.uk/art/Chapels_and_Chapel_Decoration.asp 13) http://www.zimbio.com/Jimmy+Clausen/articles/321/Gargoyles+Notre+Dame+cathedral+Paris+Photos 14) http://vooltour.com/world/?p=167 15) http://www.saulgallery.com/chronicle/stephenson_vaults.html 16) http://www.cca.qc.ca/en/collection/406-laszlo-moholy-nagy-notre-dame-de-paris 17) http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/ha/html/medieval.html 18) http://cterfile.ed.uiuc.edu/mahara/view/view.php?id=79new=1

Does Austerity Work?

Does Austerity Work? Critically evaluate claims that austerity is the most effective strategy to counter a recession. Austerity is one of the most controversial economic policies, not only because there is an ongoing debate between academics and policy makers about its effectiveness and consequences, but also because it effects the life of millions and have caused many political and social turmoil when implemented. The advocate of this policy argues that it is the most effective and even more; it is the solution regardless of the structure of the economy and the cause of the economic downturn or recession. I will argue that this is not true, and that there are other policy designs that proved effective and delivered good results with less social cost in term of unemployment, social disturbances and welfare reduction. Austerity measures were recommended by policy makers in advanced economies as well as international organizations such as the IMF and the Word Bank. They were prescribed as a remedy in many economics situations and contexts in the developing countries, for example: Latin America sovereign debt crisis and the Asian crisis, furthermore in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007 and the great rescission that followed austerity policies were implemented or advocated in developed economies like UK, USA and part of the debt troubled EU countries referred to as PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain) (Blyth, 2013). But it is important to first define what is meant by austerity and what is the underlying economic theory behind it. Usually when economists or policy makers refer to austerity they generally mean the reduction in the structural deficit in the government budget regardless of its effect on the business cycle, and it is also refers to the policy of reducing the size of the public sector in general (Room, 2015). This can be done through lowering the government expenditure (like social and welfare benefits, spending on infrastructure and healthcare, lowering wages, etc.). The underlying economic reasoning behind austerity policy is that high level of public debt is a burden on the future generations because any debt should be paid in the future from budget surpluses raised form tax payers. It also cause higher level of interest rate (due to higher demand by government) which in turn discourage private investment. Accordingly austerity policy by reducing the government expenditure will re duce the public debt, consequently increase confidence in the economy, reduce interest rates and consequently stimulate private investment spending and the economy. A common theme in austerity policy is the believe that government intervention itself through fiscal policy is the source of economic imbalances and it associate crisis with bad public finance management and reckless spending behavior (Wren-Lewis, 2016). The advocate of austerity say that the national economy cannot grow out of debt. Some scholars argue that if the ratio of debt to gross domestic product (GDP) is reach 90% for advanced economies, or 60% for emerging economies, the debt will slow down economic growth (Reinhart and Rogoff, 2010). In this situation, the economy can easily experience financial crises because the investor confidence will fall, and this will make foreign direct investment become less (Konzelmann, 2014; Reinhart and Rogoff, 2010). Another connected idea is that high level of debt means that the government needs to take capital resources from the community to pay for it, and this will also slow the growth of the economy. The national economies with high debt therefore likely to raise interest rates to encourage demand for government bonds, and this will make it more expensive for the public to borrow money. The result of this expense is low consumption and growth, so the economy will steadily decline (Boccia , 2013). The high interest rates also make the currency become more valuable, which means that exports slow down because they become more expensive for international market, and this will also slow down the economy (Patillo et al., 2002). The advocate of austerity therefore argue that high levels of debt will cause the economy to slow down, and say that cutting debt, which austerity does, is the best way to help countries with high debt to achieve growth (Blyth, 2013). There are ample of evidence contradicting the argument that the austerity is always a solution to recession. An analysis of the performance and consequences of such policies suggest that austerity policy in practice led in many instances to worsening the recession and budget deficit mainly due to its blind application and its tendency to ignore the different economic structure for each country, in fact it worsen the symptoms that it designed to cure (Haltom and Lubik, 2013). Lets look at the experience of Spain with austerity. Before the 2007 financial crisis Spain had enjoyed robust economy with long period of growth led by the real estate sector, the budget was actually in surplus at around 2.5% of the GDP. When the crisis of 2007 hit Spain economic vulnerabilities; mainly uncompetitive private sector and the over reliance on real estate sector and excessive borrowing by the private sector. The crisis resulted in lower demand and hence lower tax collection and budget deficit. Furth ermore deterioration in bank assets quality and solvency problem surfaced (Dellepiane and Hardiman, 2012). In 2010 Spain like many other troubled EU countries implemented the austerity formula i.e. cut spending. This solution was based on misinterpretation of the crisis cause in Spain (and southern Europe in general) that the crisis is caused by the mismanaged public finances, so not surprisingly was the result, instead of the expansionary austerity Spain got stuck of a vicious circle of lower demand (driven by lower government spending), lower tax collection (revenues), higher unemployment and further deterioration of the financial sector health (Dellepiane and Hardiman, 2012). In fact this was the situation of all the EU countries that implemented austerities, as we can show from the economic performance of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain (PIIGS) since 2008. For all these countries, austerity made their debt increase, not decline, and economic activity slowed down (Blyth, 2013). In Greece, the ration of debt to GDP grew from 106% to 170% from 2007 to 2012, even though there w as much austerity cuts. The same case happened on Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain. The economist Paul Krugman pointed out that the idea of austerity collapsed under the empirical results of the policy of austerity, and he refers to the academic and research body that supported austerity did not stand scrutiny and turned out to be based on dubious statistical methods and sometimes outright mistakes (Krugman, 2015). In similar way, Simon Wren-Lewis (2016) observed that the austerity in Europe was unnecessary outcome of the fiscal contraction. In other words, the European countries could have successfully run a gradual fiscal consolidation accompanied with expansionary monetary policy by the ECB to offset the contractionary effect of the fiscal policy. However in case of Europe in 2010 the interest rates was already at zero and there was no room for expansionary monetary policy (a situation also referred to as liquidity trap), so postponing fiscal consolidation would not just delay austerity but avoid it all together (Wren-Lewis, 2016). It is therefore very clear that austerity cannot be a solution for recessions, but the question is then what can be the cure. If we go back in the recent history of the economic theory and policy we can establish that there have been examples of an alternative economic policy to austerity that has successfully dealt with recessions and restored the economic activity to the growth path. This policy was the Keynesian economic that prevailed for a period of 30 years from the world war II till late 1970s. Keynes model of how the economy works are based on the idea that when there is economic downturn and since business expectation in the recession are low because of the uncertainty only the government has can restore confidence to the economy and the policy recommendation is to increase government spending (expansionary fiscal policy) to boost he general level of economic activity, increase demand and compensate for the lower private demand (Burton, 2016). This is the very opposite of th e idea of austerity, and many economists now argue the same thing. Paul Krugman (2012) is a famous example of this argument. Krugman rejects the idea of austerity, and argues that to help the economy come out of the recession it is necessary for the government to increase debt. The foundation of this argument is the nature of debt. Krugman (2012) says that the economist must consider public debt and private debt as two separate things, rather than just the same. His reason for this idea is that, first, private debt needs to be recompensed, but this is not the issue with government debt. For the governments, it is just necessary to make sure that there is enough tax to cover debts. Another difference is that in private debt the money is owed to someone else, but government debt is money that the government owes to itself and to the country, such as pensions and other requirements (Krugman 2012). If these differences are considered, it becomes clear that in a situation of high personal debt, a good solution is for the government to take on higher debt to help boost the economic activity (Krugman and Eggertsson, 2012). Krugman and Eggertsson (2012) argue that fiscal expenditure must be used to maintain employment, productivity and earnings at the time that private debt is decreased, because this will keep the tax earnings up and permit the government to decrease its own debt when the recession is over. Beside, increased financial expansion will work better in a situation where interest rates are lower, because there will be lower crowding out of private business (Krugman and Eggertsson, 2012: 1490). In such situations, financial stimulus will therefore boost economic activity and give good growth to GDP, while decreases in public spending will have the opposite effect, slowing growth and bringing GDP down (Holland and Portes, 2012). In this essay, I have shown the foundation of the idea of austerity and explained why the economists who believe it say that it is the solution for the situation of a recession. The advocate of austerity argues that high public debt makes it more expensive to obtain a loan, and this causes the economy to slow. Furthermore, it also causes currency inflation, which causes exports to become more expensive and slows economic activity. FDI also slows down, and all these factors together mean that the economy cannot achieve any development. The solution of austerity is therefore to cut public spending to bring down the public debt. However, the empirical evidence of the effects of austerity measures show that it is not a useful policy to achieve these ends. In countries such as Greece, Spain and others where austerity has been used, austerity has caused the opposite of these results: ratio of debt to GDP gets higher and higher, unemployment rises, economic growth slows, and the recession b ecomes worse. The reason for this fail of austerity to solve the problem is because the advocate of austerity does not differentiate between public debt and private debt, as Krugman (2012) argues. In the recession, if the government takes on more debt through implementing fiscal stimulus, it can stimulate economic activity by allowing people to spend and take loans. This will increase the circulation of capital, which will have many positive effects in bringing about growth. Then, when the private debt level is high and the economy is more active, the government can reduce its financial stimulus to bring down its debt. In both theoretically and empirically, it is clear that austerity cannot solve the problems that cause recession, and it therefore necessary to consider the alternatives. References Dauderstà ¤dt, M. ed., 2013. Alternatives to Austerity: Progressive Growth Strategies for Europe. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Krugman, P., 2015. The austerity delusion. The Guardian, 29. Room, G., 2015. Alternatives to Austerity. Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath. (IPR Spotlight) Haltom, R.C. and Lubik, T.A., 2013. Is Fiscal Austerity Good for the Economy?. Richmond Fed Economic Brief, (Sept), pp.1-5. http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_dialogue/@actrav/documents/publication/wcms_158927.pdf Wren-Lewis, S., 2016. A general theory of austerity. BSG Working Paper Series, University of Oxford. Blyth, M., 2013. Austerity: The history of a dangerous idea. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dellepiane Avellaneda, Sebastian and Hardiman, Niamh (2012) The New Politics of Austerity : Fiscal Responses to Crisis in Ireland and Spain. Working paper. UCD Geary Institute, Dublin. Burton, M., 2016. Is Austerity Necessary?. In The Politics of Austerity (pp. 189-204). Palgrave Macmillan UK. Reinhart, Carmen and Kenneth Rogoff. 2010. Growth in a time of debt. The American Economic Review100(2): 573-578. Konzelmann, Suzanne J. 2014. The Political Economics of Austerity. Cambridge Journal of Economics38(4): 701-741. Boccia, Romina. 2013. How the United States High Debt Will Weaken the Economy and Hurt Americans. Backgrounder 2768: 1-8. Pattillo, C.A., Poirson, H. and Ricci, L.A., 2002. External debt and growth (No. 2002-2069). International Monetary Fund. Krugman, Paul. 2012. Nobody Understands Debt. The New York Times: The Opinion Pages. Accessed 28 October 2014. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/opinion/krugman-nobody-understands-debt.html?_r=1 Krugman, Paul and Gauti Eggertsson. 2012, Debt, Deleveraging, and the Liquidity Trap: a Fisher-Minsky-Koo approach. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 127(3): 1469-1518. Holland, Dawn and Jonathan Portes. 2012. Self-Defeating Austerity? National Institute Economic Review 222(222): 4-10.

Luhrmanns Movie Version of Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet Essay

Luhrmann's Movie Version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet All hopeless romantics get dreamy-eyed and sigh whenever the balcony scene from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet comes up in conversation. Juliet stands on her balcony, innocently murmuring about her meeting with Romeo while the very subject of her musings eagerly climbs the garden wall and trellis leading up to the object of his love, Juliet. Anyone viewing Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet will be sadly disappointed at first to see that the movie doesn't follow the traditional balcony scene. Instead the clandestine meeting and swearing of mutual love takes place in a swimming pool at the Capulet's mansion. For all that the setting differs, Romeo + Juliet does use traditional Shakespearean themes and ideas even if they appear in a somewhat untraditional fashion. Luhrmann doesn't want to turn his audience off to his new interpretation so he employs comedy to distract the audience from their preconceptions. Luhrmann does use the balcony, but in a comedic way that makes an easy transition for the audience from the conventional balcony to Romeo and Juliet swimming in a pool. Romeo acts like a monumental klutz after ascending the Capulet's garden wall. While looking up to see Juliet's window, he trips the surveillance lights, knocks over a few things, and generally makes a racket. This is not the lithe and graceful Romeo the audience usually thinks of as seen in Zefferelli's version. After climbing the trellis to the balcony, Romeo and the audience expect to see beautiful Juliet through her bedroom curtains at the top of the trellis, but both Romeo and the audience are caught off guard when instead of beautiful Juliet, the plain-faced Nurse appears and almost causes Romeo to f... ...l is omitted because Luhrmann wants to keep the "intense, impatient, threatening, explosive" feeling Goldman states Romeo and Juliet has on stage. Changing a balcony to a swimming pool seems an awkward echo to a classic play. With a little bit of comedy and brilliant usage of symbolism, Luhrmann makes it work. In no way are the themes or intent of the balcony scene in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet lost. The audience still sees the passionate love between Romeo and Juliet. Due to all the differences updating the play for his film, Luhrmann was smart to change the balcony scene. The traditional scene would have seemed inconsistent with the rest of the film. Despite the omissions of text and change of staging, the audience is still in for a powerful and moving scene. Works Cited: Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. New York: Washington Square Press, 1995.

Infectious Mononucleosis (Mono) :: essays research papers

Infectious mononucleosis is caused by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). It is a double stranded DNA virus indistinguishable from other members of the herpes virus group. It get its’ name from the mononuclear (single nucleus) cells. It is also known as the â€Å"kissing disease†, because the most frequent mode of transmission is intimate salivary contact. It can also be transmitted from shared drinking and eating utensils, toothbrushes, etc. Mono is not likely to spread by aerosol (ex. sneezing) or fomites (ex. doorknobs). About half the population is not exposed to this virus until late adolescence. The peak incidence for girls is 14-16 and boys 16-18. After initial contact with the virus, there is an incubation period of 4-6 weeks and then the symptoms start appearing. Symptoms include fever, sore throat and lymph adenopathy (swollen and tender lymph nodes). Mono may be called glandular fever as well because of the swelling in the lymph nodes. Fevers can get as high as 102 degrees Fahrenheit and may remain high for 3-4 weeks. Other symptoms include enlargement of the spleen and liver, fatigue, loss of appetite, periorbital edema (swelling of the tissue around the eyes), petechiae (tiny bruising like spots on the roof of mouth), and a fine rash. The white blood cell and liver enzyme counts are elevated, and anemia can occur with low platelet counts. Diagnosis is made based on the clinical picture and the hematological features. A sample of the patients’ blood is mixed with sheep’s blood and if the patient has mono, the sheep’s blood cells will stick together. Antibodies to sheep or horse red blood cells are positive in 90% of cases. Mono is not a fatal disease, but there is no specific antiviral therapy. Doctors will most likely prescribe much rest. Acetaminophen and ibuprofen are sometimes used to relieve aches and manage the fevers, but the use of aspirin is not recommended due to the link to Reye’s syndrome. Corticosteroids are used to reduce the amount of tonsillar swelling and intravenous rehydration is necessary. Patients are cautioned to avoid contact sports for 6 weeks after recovery to avoid the risk of spleen rupture. Most cases of mono resolve without complication, but some rarely occur. Complications are tonsillar enlargement, which can cause respiratory obstruction; rupture of spleen; encephalitis, an infection of the brain tissue; Galen-Barer syndrome, a progressive and sequential worsening syndrome of weakness and paralysis; hemolytic anemia, the red blood cells are destroyed; uvetis, an eye involvement; myocarditis, an inflammation of heart muscle; pneumonia; hephritis, a kidney infection; and Reye’s syndrome; a severe neurological syndrome.

The Rise of Punk in 70’s Britain.

hDuring 1970s Britain, life was a picture of austerity and hardship for many members of the public. The country was facing the worst economic recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s and large numbers of the electorate were quickly beginning to grow tired of the failing policies being touted by both Labour and Conservative minority governments. The experience of Britain for many in the 1970s was one of drawn out decline and decay, the consensus politics of the 1960's was falling apart and Harold Macmillan’s notion of ‘You’ve never had it so good’ couldn’t have been further from the truth.It could be argued that the aforementioned factors played a role of importance when assessing the largely spontaneous emergence of the punk movement into British society. Economic recession, not only in Britain but in other major world nations, was ever increasing, mainly due to the 1973 oil crisis which eventually cost Heath his post as prime minister and p aved the way towards ‘The Rise of Thatcherism’.The crisis was due to the Arab members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), announcing, as a result of the ongoing Yom Kippur War, that they would no longer ship oil to nations that had supported Israel in its conflict with Syria and Egypt. These nations included the United States of America and their allies in the shape of Britain and Japan.British industry suffered a great deal due to the lack of oil being imported into the country, Britain began to face major competition from other major economies, such as Japan and the USA, in certain sectors such as manufacturing, which had previously been a large and consistent area of income. With the flight of capital in the face of increasing working class militancy, it soon became clear that Governments in the industrialised economies could no longer sustain a commitment to full employment.As factories within these newly competitive industries were forc ed to close due to falling sales, it consequently had the effect of rising unemployment. By the mid 1970s unemployment had reached well over a million people and did not show signs of ceasing at any point soon after. The electorate began to resent the emergence of mass unemployment as it had not played any real part within British politics since the years shortly following the end of World War I, a period of British history which the British public would not look back on with any great affection and certainly would not want to revisit.Considerable amounts of workers who had been recently made redundant began supporting trade unions on a more regular and meaningful basis. The unemployed became aggrieved with the failing British economy and felt adamant that they deserved better support and welfare than they were currently receiving due to the government’s current inadequacies. Now that the trade unions had a much greater support, albeit in unfortunate circumstances, they began to put increasing pressure on Heath’s conservative government to pass legislative measures to aid the unemployed in their hour of need.Workers from almost all of the countries key industries such as mining, ship building and car manufacture went on strike to demonstrate their frustrations and vent their anger towards the incompetence of the Tory’ administration. The refusal by either party to make compromises on their respective arguments only furthered the problems and deepened the mire which Britain was steadily descending into.Due to the prolonged strikes by the mining community which started on the 10th February 1974 and lasted until 7th March of the same year, Britain found herself being exceedingly stretched to the point of what resources they had left circa the aforesaid strike action. Electrical power was deemed to be being consumed at too much of a prompt pace and under the rule of Edward Heath, the Conservatives decided on the introduction of the ‘Thre e Day Week’. The Three Day Week was a policy in which commercial users of electricity would be limited to a quota of three specified consecutive days use in a week long period.General members of the public also had to deal with the consequences of the striking populations’ actions. Ministers solemnly urged the populace to share baths and brush their teeth in the dark. Television, which by now was one of the nation's favourite pastimes, was brought to an untimely end at 10. 30pm each evening. Heath had promised â€Å"tomorrow would be better than today†, but he couldn't even keep the lights on. An image synonymous with the mid to late 1970s was that of piles of rotting rubbish collecting on pavements throughout the country.Waste centres were closed and emergency refuse sites were opened in town streets after binmen joined in months of strikes. This only became a further irritant to the British electorate who were becoming increasingly restless waiting for the gov ernment to develop new strategies in order to tackle the ongoing disrepute between themselves and Britain’s workforce. The social and economic problems of Britain, however, could not be solved simply by government legislation. Unrest was caused by much more than Heath’s perceived shortcomings as a Prime Minister. The problems of society ran far deeper than that.A process of fallout from the 1960's had occurred; a sizeable part of the generation born at the end of the late 50's and early 60's were coming into maturity and most were without the guarantee of a job, economic stability and a sense of community. The younger generations within Britain began to feel alienated from their peers and it could also be argued that some may have wished alienation upon themselves to escape from what was fast becoming a dire excuse for a society. The youth of the time were on the lookout for an escape from their lives of conservatism, conformity and control.This accumulated feeling of resentment towards the authoritarian government manifested itself in the form of the Punk movement. From late 1976, kids started to appear on Britain’s streets in attire which shocked the everyday British citizen. Ripped t-shirts with hastily drawn band logos, safety pins, bin liners and spiked hair defined a new image. Since the 1960s any diversity became a wagon to jump on; any music, fashion or ideologies that were incorporated within the ‘free love’ scene were no longer something that the uninspired youth of the ‘70s aspired to be part of.Mods, Rockers and Hippies were all fast becoming sub-cultures that were deemed to be cliched by the nation’s youth. The ‘60s scene had been entirely commercialised by the establishment and had been turned into areas of profit by large record companies. These record labels however also were not putting any interest or faith into anything new in the music industry, they wanted to stick with what had brought them so much profit and it seemed nothing would be able to shift their ‘if its not broken, don’t fix it’ mentality.The establishment of the 1960’s-70’s did not want their youth creating counter-cultures, thus the average youth felt the need to rebel and so the DIY culture exploded. Although punk never reached the forefront in the 60’s, the rebellious ethos of the movement was beginning to show, mainly in American acts and specifically within the New York rock scene. Teenagers influenced by the R;B styled groups of the decades earlier years began to form their own garage bands across the United States. Various trends and events would occur at the inception of the 1970’s that would be helpful in advancing the music ndustry and working towards the growth of punk rock, namely the deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison which seemed to have brought the popular music lovers into a state of uncertainty and would now mean music journalists wou ld have to find new acts to write about. In Great Britain, bands and artists such as David Bowie had started to refine their sounds in hope of reviving their careers. The result of this was the so called ‘glam’ movement, which saw artists like T-Rex and Roxy Music beginning to blend pop song structures with harder edged guitar based material.Back in the New York Scene, a trashy streetwise orientated version of glam was starting to surface. A band eager to take to the throne of this was the New York Dolls. The Dolls, and later, The Ramones would serve as somewhat of a prototype, from which later came the Sex Pistols and many other of London’s punk bands such as The Clash, The Jam and Siouxsie and The Banshees. By the mid ‘70s many music lovers had become tiresome towards the industry’s ‘run of the mill’ rock that the public were being force-fed. Members of the public began to see rock and roll acts as nothing more than that acts – artificial, manufactured and uninspiring.The world of rock had become a tightly controlled, moneymaking machine in which record sales and success held precedence over any passion or true emotion. Essentially people yearned for a rock and roll that was innovative and fun again. On December 1st 1976 an infamous event occurred that made sure that anyone who was not aware of the emergence of punk was now fully conscious of its presence. The Sex Pistols appeared on the ‘Today’ show as a last minute replacement. The band was interviewed by Bill Grundy who naively on his part, proceeded to provoke the band to â€Å"say something outrageous†.For Mick Jones in particular, he took this as an open invitation and obliged with a barrage of expletives, which not surprisingly, shocked the early evening audience. The following day the front page of various national newspapers contained pictures of the band on the show and a summary of their antics. The older generation of Britai n, needless to say, were in outrage. This however was exactly the kind of reaction the band had dreamed of. It gained them column inches and further made the public aware of their existence. Whilst in the public spotlight the band released arguably their most famous single, ‘God Save The Queen.The song came at a time when opposition to royalty was still seen as treasonous and frowned upon by the majority of British people. The record was quickly refused airtime by the BBC whose station, Radio 1, dominated the broadcasting of music at the time. Only DJs such as John Peel dared to play punk in succession to other popular music hits of the era. Nevertheless, during the week of Queen Elizabeth II’s silver jubilee, the single ‘officially’ reached number two in the UK charts although many large record stores knew that ‘God Save The Queen’ was outselling Rod Stewart’s â€Å"I Don’t Want To Talk About It† by four to one.Unbelievabl y, the charts had been rigged so the music industry would not be red-faced by such a spectacle. However this did not deter the band from putting out further material. ‘Pretty Vacant’ and ‘Holidays In The Sun’ were released to promote the Sex Pistols’ first and only full length album, ‘Never Mind The Bollocks – Here’s The Sex Pistols’, which was released in November and subsequently went straight to the top of the album charts despite many stores refusing to stock it.After another tour, this time held in secret to avoid bans, The Pistols’ final gig took place at Ivanhoe’s in Huddersfield on Christmas Day 1977 before they took off for the ill-fated U. S. tour in January 1978. They had originally been scheduled to start the tour in December 1977, beginning with a performance on Saturday Night Live, but due to the bands run-ins with the law, were unable to get their passports in time, so Stiff Records’ band , Elvis Costello and the Attractions, went on in their place. The eight show tour of the U. S. was a badly planned and dispiriting experience for all concerned.Sid Vicious, the band’s bassist, was beaten by the bodyguards who were hired to protect him, Johnny Rotten was ill and the bands’ performances were destroyed by awful sound and hostile audiences. On the final date of January 14th at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, Rotten quit, famously asking â€Å"Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated? † before walking off. Punk bands continued to play the usual haunts around London, but never again did anyone come close to causing the outrage or having the success which the Sex Pistols had experienced.I went about organising a question and answer session with my father Martin, who was in his teens during the emergence of punk and also followed the movement with great interest. Through summarising the feedback I gained from the aforementioned intervie w I was given a great personal viewpoint on the society of the mid 1970s as well as his own personal experiences of the same period. ‘Through the 1970s the news was all about strikes, economic downturns and lost opportunities.As a teenager I can recall the 3 day week when places of work closed to save energy, my dad would be at home on reduced pay (he worked for the GPO – now BT) and the newspapers would print schedules showing when your area would have power cuts, which were a regular part of life. I remember my dad taking my sister and me for a drive in the car to Falkirk to get out of the house and keep warm rather than sit in the house with no power. TV stations shut down after the news at 10. 30 in the hope that people would just go to bed and save electricity.A mate of mine bought packets of candles from the market in Glasgow and made a decent addition to his pocket money by selling them round the neighbourhood where he lived. Also the entitlement to dole money fo r school leavers had been stopped which meant that you couldn’t sign on and get money straight away, you had to wait for a number of weeks before you’d get a â€Å"Giro†. Unemployment was making the headlines in the papers and for the first time in years people were leaving school believing that they wouldn’t get a job, or at least wouldn’t get one that was worth having as the factories and shipyards which traditionally paid well were closing.I started to become aware, mainly through the pages of the NME, a number of bands from London who were playing music inspired by early Iggy Pop and The Stooges as well as The Ramones. The latter had made front page headlines in The Glasgow Evening Times, which had got itself in a state of moral outrage over the song â€Å"Sniffin’ Glue† arguing that the number of kids dying from glue sniffing could be increased due to the song. Bearing in mind how few copies it sold, it was nonsense.John Peel onc e said of the punk era â€Å"You don’t know you’re bored, until you stop being bored. † I was 17 in 1976 and probably the only band I was currently into was Dr Feelgood. They were a band playing Chuck Berry influenced songs, wearing bad suits! The prevailing music of the time was bland, inconsequential, middle of the road rubbish by Rod Stewart, The Eagles and Queen. I still remember vividly the moment I first actually heard the Sex Pistols in November 1976.My friend Davie had borrowed a copy of ‘Anarchy in the UK’ from his friend in school and we played it in my bedroom. I can remember us both laughing out loud at how different it was and how blown away we were by it. We must have played it 10 times in a row. Looking back, I think we felt like we were part of a â€Å"privileged few† who had heard the song as it was subsequently banned by all radio stations at the time, this is hard to imagine now. The 3rd single released by the Pistols, â₠¬Å"Pretty Vacant†, could only be played on Radio 1 after 10pm.If anything, it only reinforced the Pistols credentials as the band you most wanted to be associated with. We started to see and hear of people dressed as â€Å"punks† around the city, though what constituted the punk look was very difficult to describe. It could be anything from old school jumpers ripped and worn inside out, t-shirts torn or cut and held together with safety pins with band names scrawled on in biro or marker pen or even t-shirts made from bin liners.For girls the look was heavily based on Jordan (Pamela Hook) and Siouxsie Sioux; short skirts, fishnets, and heavy eye make-up. . Glasgow District Council decided to withdraw licences of any venue which had booked punk acts, effectively banning punk in the city. Occasionally you’d hear of a secret gig being played somewhere in Glasgow and you had to meet up to be told where it was. By the Summer of 1977 I’d left school and got a job in an independent record shop and remember the clamour when the first Pistols album came out.People were waiting around in the shop for it to be delivered. Every box that arrived, we’d be asked if that was the album. First one out of the box went onto the sound system at maximum volume and we couldn’t keep up with people shoving to the front of the queue. Eventually the council lifted the ban and loads of bands came to Glasgow, many playing small gigs and doing signing sessions in the shop where I worked, including The Clash who were considered to be the most overtly â€Å"political† band of the era. ’

Rebecca vs. Rowena Essay

Rebecca and Rowena both bring two different worlds and aspects to the book. They also bring the feminine touches to the novel because they are the only female characters that are talked about in depth by Sir Walter Scott. Rebecca and Rowena also show the struggles and obstacles that women in 12th century Britain would have faced. Firstly, a major difference between these two characters is of course their racial and religious backgrounds. Rowena is a well off Christian Anglo-Saxon while Rebecca is a wealthy Jew. This difference may not seem so crucial but it turned out to be the very reason why Rebecca wasn’t able to marry the love she loved- Ivanhoe. The reason being that during this time being a Jew wasn’t such a great thing. The English men were jealous that the Jews had accumulated so much wealth so they retaliated the only way they could- with words, insults, and social snubbing. As a result, Rebecca was looked down upon while Rowena was adored by many. While on the topic of their adorers, it would be improper not to discuss the different pressures that they faced due to their social statuses and standings. Due to Rowena’s Christian- Saxon heritage her father wanted her to marry Athelstane so that they could carry on the strong Saxon line. On the other hand, Rebecca wasn’t pressured to marry anyone. In actual fact she did not start off with any pursuers because nobody necessarily wanted to marry a Jew; even a wealthy one. During this time women had little to no say in whom they married or what their occupations were. I was based more off of who you were and where in society your class stood. Women especially had even less rights if they were in the lower class but in this case it is reversed. Rebecca was able to pursue her passion of medicine and later go on to heal Ivanhoe. Rowena would not have been able to pursue such a manly occupation, not when she was supposed to be of a noble and higher class. Similarly though, the two women of the book in their own ways are heroines in the book. A heroine has many characteristics that the two women displayed. Rowena for example showed dignity, modesty, and strength. She showed modesty when she met Rebecca at the end of the novel and though she  knew the way that Rebecca felt about Ivanhoe she didn’t gloat or mock her instead she consoled her. She displayed true heroine characteristics. I like to think there are two types of strengths: physical strength and emotional strength. Most women have the latter. I believe emotional strength is harder to acquire than physical strength because it’s not something that you can go the gym and get after a few weeks of training. On this note I would like to discuss the emotional strength of Rowena. I also believe that Rebecca is a heroine because she was the tragedy of the novel. She had to walk away from the man she loved because she knew that it was not going to go anywhere due to their social standings. The kind of strength needed to comprehend that even though you are in love you can never act on it is one that I envy because it’s so admirable. She’s also an admirable heroine because when Rebecca goes to Rowena who’s still wearing her wedding dress Rebecca gives her rival- the women who gets to live happily ever after with the man that she loves- a gift. And this was not just any ordinary gift; it was a box of jewels. Again the emotional strength that Rebecca shows is covetous. In conclusion, Rebecca and Rowena are both women from two different classes, social standings, and completely different religions. However, we find that even with their differences they are still women plagued with things that two people in their polar circumstances face. They are both sought after and almost defiled by men who they are not betrothed to. They also fall in love which almost every women can contest they have felt once in their lifetime. So really apart from their differences they really are very much the same.