Malevolent Phantom (To Kill a Mockingbird) :: Free Essay Writer

Malevolent Phantom (To Kill a Mockingbird) â€Å"Vision is the act of seeing things invisible† (Jonathan Swift). In every society there is an underlying darkness that is alienation. Those who fall victim to alienation become the invisible and voiceless members of society. In Society there are few that see alienation. There are even fewer that know it is morally wrong and try to illuminate it. Alienation often goes unseen, but it is always there. The struggle to eliminate it will forever continue. In To Kill A Mockingbird it is children who have not yet learned to be blind, and an enlightened minority that have vision to see the invisible. In To Kill A Mockingbird there is a strong and important theme of alienation and unjust treatment. The fight to eliminate it is represented through Atticus’s efforts. In To Kill A Mockingbird alienation is illustrated through the treatment of characters such as Arthur Radley, Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell. Throughout the novel there are countless instances of societal discrimination toward these characters. Intolerance and ignorance in society is the cause of alienation. In Maycomb almost every person alienates Arthur Radley. The reader never really understands who Boo Radley is. Instead the reader hears the many opinions of the people in Maycomb. Harper Lee does this on purpose to demonstrate that no one has the right to judge another person because no one can be sure of another person’s position. People of Maycomb choose to believe what they hear about Arthur because â€Å"[p]eople generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for†¦(174). There are many rumors about Boo Radley, for example some â€Å"[p]eople said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows† (9). Stories about Boo are pasted around Maycomb quickly but the truths of injustice are kept quiet. Arthur’s behavior suggests that the lack of tolerance and understanding was apparent to him. Jem explains that he used to think there was â€Å"†¦just one kind of folks†(227). He goes on to say that he understands why Bo o Radley’s stays shut up in the house all the time â€Å"†¦because he wants to stay inside†(227). This suggests that Jem is starting to recognize the injustices in the world around him and is struggling to understand how he will deal with them without alienating himself. No one in Maycomb wants to be the one to rock the boat including Arthur Radley.

The Importance of the Scaffold in Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter :: free essay writer

  The Importance of the Scaffold in The Scarlet Letter   Since the beginning of time humans have had to confront their sinfulness. Some rely on religious faith to help with the struggle against sin while others add to their sins by lying to hide other sins. In the end, man must stand alone – as a sinful creature before God. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale struggles with his sin until he discovers the scaffold as a place to find peace with himself. That scaffold holds more importance than just somewhere to condemn prisoners. It is the one place where Dimmesdale felt liberated to say anything he wishes. In Puritan culture, the scaffold is used to humiliate and chastise prisoners, be it witches at the stake, thieves in the stocks, or a murderer hanging from the gallows. In The Scarlet Letter, the scaffold was viewed more as a place of judgment. â€Å"Meagre ... was the sympathy that a transgressor might look for, from such bystanders, at the scaffold.† (p. 63) Indeed, it was used for castigation, but it was also a place of trial: Hester’s trial was held at the scaffold. Standing upon the platform opens oneself to God and to the world. â€Å"They stood in the noon of that strange and solemn splendor, as if it were the light that is to reveal all secrets, and the daybreak that shall unite all who belong to one another.† (p. 186) Being on the scaffold puts oneself in a feeling of spiritual nakedness- where you f eel exposed to God, but cleansed. It was the one place where Dimmesdale could find complete reconciliation.                Witnessing such an event as reconciliation is quite a fascinating experience. But without knowing what is going on, it can also be quite horrifying. â€Å"Without any effort of his will, or power to restrain himself, he [Dimmesdale] shrieked aloud: an outcry that went pealing through the night, and was beaten back from one house to another, and reverberated from the hills in the background; as if a company of devils, detecting so much misery and terror in it, had made a plaything of the sound, and were bandying it to and fro.† (pp. 178-9) Indeed, the townsfolk felt the latter. â€Å"Drowsy slumberers mistook the cry either for something frightful in a dream, or for the noise of witches.†(p. 179) They did not understand that this was his reconciliation.

A Poets History :: essays research papers fc

Erik Uriegas  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ms, Sharp English 4 Period 7 10-31-03 A Poet’s History William Shakespeare was a very mysterious man. Most of the information about his life is unknown. Some information is lost and never to be found. His plays are continuously being performed today. William Shakespeare was not just a playwriter but also a poet and actor. All of these accomplishment without ever attending a college or university. His early life was at Stratford on Avon and he was educated at a free gramer school in Stratford. Treated well by his father and mother who was middle class. Grown to have marriages, kids, and become one of historys best play writers. Stratford on Avon at a time of William Shakespeare’s birth was a village of about two thousand inhabitants. Stratford on Avon is about eighty miles away from London. William Shakespeares year of birth was 1564. He was baptized the twenty-sixed of April. William was the third child to be born. He had twin sisters who were elder but died at infancy. The name Shakespeare appears to have been common in the west midlands. William Shakespeare left his family about four years after his marriage to Anna Hathaway at the age of eighteen, and came to London for better family fortunes. At this time London had gone prosperous under the reign. Shakespeare hoped upward Stratford could have held little for him now that his father’s enterprises had faded. During the years William Shakespeare detached himself gradually from his London Associates (â€Å"William†, 3). Irving Robner quoted,†Shakespeare growth as a tragicdramastic growth in moral vision (â€Å"Bergeron†, 74). Shakespeare grandfather was a tenant farmer; his daughter’s husband was altered knighthood (â€Å"Kay†, 17). The Shakespeare family history is a textbook case of that upward social mobility that was so common in Renaissance England. William Shakespeare’s education is known to be vague. There was a free grammer school at Stratford, to which, as the, son of his father he would have been entitled to free admission. Aubrey, who is entirely unsupported even states that William Shakespeare was a schoolmaster himself. When William was about thirteen years old his father took him out of school and put him to work so he can help the family who got onto some financial difficulties. William Shakespeare has never been proven to have attended a college or a university. His mentality and work has been proven to be a solid education (â€Å"William†, 2).

Literary Canon Definition Essay

A literary canon is a classification of literature. It is compromised of literary works that share similar or related characteristics and are considered to be the most important of a specific time frame or place. The process in which a work is canonized is completely subjective. And just as the judgments and opinions of people change over time, so do literary canons. The status a work receives when it is entered into a literary canon is based on its relevance to the time period. Therefore a social change such as the feminist movement can determine what works are added and removed from a literary canon  Both the works of Gail Godwin’s â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman† and Karen Van Der Zee’s â€Å" A Secret Sorrow† were composed during the rise of feminism. However, the perspective of woman each work has varies greatly. â€Å" A Secret Sorrow† reflects the stereotypical view of woman that the feminist movement so strongly opposed. The view that woman are child bearing objects and should complete the role of the traditional housewife is irrelevant to the social changes happening during time period. In stark contrast, â€Å" A Sorrowful Woman† is written about a woman who is weary and unsatisfied with her role as a mother and child. She even goes as far as to detach herself from her family and isolate herself into one room. This perspective ties closely with way many women felt during the time period when feminism was rising. Thus its social and historical relevance to the time period makes â€Å"A Sorrowful Woman† a much better fit to be entered into the literary canon.

Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

Nicole Brittingham March 11, 2013 ART 101-04 Analysis assignment * Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh * This painting was made in 1889 during the postimpressionism era. * Starry Night is about 29†x36† and is made from using oil as a medium on a canvas. * This painting can be categorized as modern art. * Formal analysis * Within the composition of this painting, there is a peaceful village in the foreground and a dramatic night sky in our main viewpoint. There is a church steeple that dominates the village symbolizing unity in the town, and gives the impression of size and isolation.The left foreground has a curvy cypress tree which is usually associated with mourning. * There are many lines throughout this work of art. All of the swirling lines in the sky direct the viewer’s eyes around the painting. The fluid lines throughout the painting enhance the flow of Starry Night well. The curving lines create a sensation of depth in the painting. * The spacing between the s tars and the curving shapes create a dot-to-dot effect, ensuring fluidity. The contoured forms, shapes, and spirals in Starry Night were means of expression and used to convey emotion. The artist applied color in thick, broad, curved strokes to create texture. The texture of the bold brushstrokes, swirling circles, and swoops make the image seem to vibrate on the canvas. * The use of white and yellow colors creates a spiral effect and draws attention to the night sky. The dark blues and greens were complemented with touches of light pastel green showing the reflection of the moon. * The texture within this painting is visually meant to provide the viewer a sense of motion and vibrant light by exaggerating the twinkling of the stars out of realistic proportion.The curvy contoured forms in the sky give the illusion of the wind blowing as well as the curved vertical lines in the tree. * The colors within Starry Night are well balanced because they all flow together. The dominance of th e blue is balanced by the orange and yellow of the night sky elements. * When looking at this painting, the viewer would feel as if they were on top of a hill looking down on a village, making the night sky their direct view. This point of perspective is called linear perspective. * Van Gogh used a great deal of emphasis in the sky.By using bright and vivid colors and swirls around the stars, he exaggerated them making them stand out. * Starry Night has more unity than variety, because everything just flows in this painting and gives you a sense of balance and harmony. * Content Analysis * Starry Night is a painting of a dramatic night sky over a peaceful town. * During the later years of the 19th century, a group of postimpressionists came together to rebel against impressionism because they wanted art to have more focus on the traditional elements.Van Gogh’s painting was created in 1889, and fixated mostly on line and color with symbolism and emotion. * Starry Night was cre ated to be art. Van Gogh expressed himself through his paintings. He once explained in a letter to his brother Theo saying, â€Å"I paint as a means to make life bearable†¦ really we can only speak through our paintings†¦Ã¢â‚¬  * There are many interpretations of Starry Night, and one is that the canvas depicts hope. Van Gogh may have been showing that even with a dark night, it is still possible to see the light in the windows of the houses.Another insight may have been; with shining stars filling the sky, there is always light to guide you. The painting could have also shown the vast power of nature and mankind pointing to the heavens. * During this time period, many artists painted to express their emotions and symbolize what they thought or how they saw things. Postimpressionists thought that impressionist art was too vague, so they felt they need to focus their art on using more elements of art and color.

Carrie Chapter Four

(or only hopeful) that she wasn't that weak, not that liable to fall docilely into the complacent expectations of parents, friends, and even herself. But now there was this shower thing, where she had gone along and pitched in with high, savage glee. The word she was avoiding was expressed To Conform, in the infinitive, and it conjured up miserable images of hair in rollers, long afternoons in front of the ironing board in front of the soap operas while hubby was off busting heavies in an anonymous Office; of joining the P.T.A. and then the country club when their income moved into five figures; of pills in circular yellow cases without number to insure against having to move out of the misses' size before it became absolutely necessary and against the intrusion of repulsive little strangers who shat in their pants and screamed for help at two in the morning; of fighting with desperate decorum to keep the niggers out of Kleen Korners, standing shoulder to shoulder with Terri Smith (Miss Potato Blossom of 1975) and Vicki Jones (Vice President of The Women's League), armed with signs and petitions and sweet, slightly desperate smiles. Carrie, it was the goddamned Carrie, this was her fault. Perhaps before today she had heard distant, circling footfalls around their lighted place, but tonight, hearing her own sordid, crummy story, she saw the actual silhouettes of all these things, and yellow eyes that glowed like flashlights in the dark. She had already bought her prom gown. It was blue. It was beautiful. ‘You're right,' he said when she was done. ‘Bad news. Doesn't sound a bit like you.' His face was grave and she felt a cool slice of terror. Then he smiled-he had a very jolly smile-and the darknesss retreated a bit. ‘I kicked a kid in the slats once when he was knocked out. Did I ever tell you about that?' She shook her head. ‘Yeah.' He rubbed his nose reminiscently and his cheek gave a small tic, the way it had when he made his confession about getting the rubber wrong the first time. ‘The kid's name was Danny Patrick. He beat the living shit out of me once when we were in the sixth grade. I hated him, but I was scared, too. I was laying for him. You know how that is?' She didn't, but nodded anyway. ‘Anyway, he finally picked on the wrong kid a year or so later. Pete Taber. He was just a little guy, but he had lots of muscles. Danny got on him about something. I don't know, marbles or something, and finally Peter just rose up righteous and beat the shit out of him. That was on the playground of the old Kennedy Junior High. Danny fell down and hit his head and went out cold. Everybody ran. We thought he might be dead. I ran away too, but first I gave him a good kick in the ribs. Felt really bad about it afterwards. You going to apologize to her?' It caught Sue flat-footed and all she could was clinch weakly: ‘Did you?' ‘Huh? Hell no! I had better things to do than spend my time in traction. But there's a big difference, Susie.' ‘There is?' ‘It's not seventh grade any more. And I had some kind of reason, even if it was a piss-poor reason. What did that sad, silly bitch ever do to you?' She didn't answer because she couldn't. She had never passed more than a hundred words with Carrie in her whole life, and three dozen or so had come today. Phys. Ed. was the only class they'd had in common since they had graduated from Chamberlain Junior High. Carrie was taking the commercial/business course. Sue, of course, was in the college division. She thought herself suddenly loathsome. She found she could not bear that and so she twisted it at him. ‘When did you start making all these big moral decisions? After you started fucking me?' She saw the good humour fade from his face and was sorry. ‘Guess I should have kept quiet,' he said, and pulled up his pants. ‘It's not you, it's me.' She put a hand on his arm. ‘I'm ashamed, see?' ‘I know,' he said. ‘But I shouldn't be giving advice. I'm not very good at it.' ‘Tommy, do you ever hate being so †¦ well, popular?' ‘Me?' The question wrote surprise on his face. ‘Do you mean like football and class president and that stuff?' ‘Yes.' ‘No. Ifs not very important. High school isn't a very important place. When you're going you think it's a big deal, but when it's over nobody really think. it was great unless they're beered up. That's how my brother and his buddies are, anyway.' It did not soothe her; it made her fears worse. Little Susie mix ‘n match from Ewen High School, Head Cupcake of the entire Cupcake Brigade. Prom gown kept forever in the closet, wrapped in protective plastic. The night pressed dark against the slightly steamed car windows. ‘I'll probably end up working at my dad's car lot,' he said. ‘I'll spend my Friday and Saturday nights down at Uncle Billy's or out at The Cavalier drinking beer and talking about the Saturday afternoon I got that fat pitch from Saunders and we upset Dorchester. Get married to some nagging broad and always own last years model, vote Democrat-‘ ‘Don't,' she said, her mouth suddenly full of a dark, sweet horror. She pulled him to her. ‘Love me. My head is so bad tonight. Love me. Love me.' So he loved her and this time it was different, this time there finally seemed to be room and there was no rubbing but a delicious friction that went up and up: Twice he had to stop, panting, and held himself back, and then he went (he was a virgin before me and admitted it I would have believed a lie) and went hard and her breath came in short, digging gasps and then she began to yell and hold at his back, helpless to stop, sweating, the bad taste washed away, every cell seeming to have its own climax, body filled with sunlight, musical notes in her mind, butterflies behind her skull in the cage of her mind. Later, on the way home, he asked her formally if she would go to the Spring Ball with him. She said she would. He asked her if she had decided what to do about Carrie. She said she hadn't. He said that it made no difference. but she thought that it did. It had begun to seem that it meant all the difference. From Telekinesis: Analysis and Aftermath (Science Yearbook 1982), by Dean K. L. McGuffin: There are, of course, still these scientists today – regretfully, the Duke University people are in their forefront – who reject the terrific underlying implications of the Carrie White affair. Like the Flatlands Society, the Rosicrucians, or the Corlies of Arizona, who are positive that the atomic bomb does not work, these unfortunates are flying in the face of logic with their heads in the sand, and beg your pardon for the mixed metaphor. Of course one is able to understand the consternation, the raised voices, the angry letters and arguments at scientific convocations. The idea of telekinesis itself has been a bitter pill for the scientific community to swallow, with its horror-movie trappings of ouija boards and mediums and table rappings and floating coronets; but understanding will still not excuse scientific irresponsibility. The outcome of the White affair raises grave and difficult questions. An earthquake has struck our order notions of the way the natural world is supposed to act and react. Can you blame even such a renowned physicist as Gerald Luponet for claiming the whole thing is a hoax and a fraud, even in the face of such overwhelming evidence as the White Commission presented? For if Carrie White is the truth, then what of Newton? †¦ They sat in the living room, Carrie and Momma, listening to Tennessee Ernie Ford singing ‘Let the Lower Lights Be Burning' on a Webcor phonograph (which Momma called the victrola, or, if in a particularly good mood, the vic). Carrie sat at the sewing machine, pumping with her feet as she sewed the sleeves on a new dress. Momma sat beneath the plaster crucifix, tatting doilies and bumping her feet in time to the song, which was one of her favourites. Mr P. P. Bliss, who had written this hymn and others seemingly without number, was one of Momma's shining examples of God at work upon the face of the earth. He had been a sailor and a sinner (two terms that were synonymous in Momma's lexicon), a great blasphemer, a laugher in the face of the Almighty. Then a great storm had come up at sea, the boat had threatened to capsize, and Mr P. P. Bliss had gotten down on his sinsickly knees with a vision of Hell yawning beneath the ocean floor to receive him, and he had prayed to God. Mr P. P. Bliss promised God that if He saved him, he would dedicate the rest of his life to Him. The storm, of course, had cleared immediately. Brightly beams our Father's mercy From his lighthouse evermore, But to us he gives the keeping Of the lights along the shore †¦ All of Mr P. P. Bliss's hymns had a seagoing flavour to them. The dress she was sewing was actually quite pretty, a dark wine colour-the closest Momma would allow her to red-and the sleeves were puffed. She tried to keep her mind strictly on her sewing, but of course it wandered. The overhead fight was strong and harsh and yellow, the small dusty plush sofa was of course deserted (Carrie had never had a boy in To Sit), and on the far wall was a twin shadow: the crucified Jesus, and beneath Him, Momma. The school had called Momma at the laundry and she had come home at noon. Carrie had watched her come up the walk, and her belly trembled. Momma was a very big woman, and she always wore a hat. Lately her legs had begun to swell, and her feet always seemed on the point of overflowing her shoes. She wore a black cloth coat with a black fur collar. Her eyes were blue and magnified behind rimless bifocals. She always carried a large black satchel purse and in it was her change purse, her billfold (both black), a large King James Bible (also black) with her name stamped on the front in gold, and a stack of tracts secured with a rubber band. The Tracts were usually orange, and smearily printed. Carrie knew vaguely that Momma and Daddy Ralph had been Baptists once but had left the church when they became convinced that the Baptists were doing the work of the Antichrist. Since that time, all worship had taken place at home. Momma held worship on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. These were called Holy Days. Momma was the minister, Carrie the congregation. Services lasted from two to three hours. Momma had opened the door and walked stolidly in. She and Carrie had stared at each other down the short length of the front hall for a moment, like gunfighters before a shootout. It was one of those brief moments that seem (fear could it really have been fear in momma's eyes) much longer in retrospect. Momma closed the door behind her. ‘You're a woman,' she said softly. Carrie felt her face twisting and crumpling and could not help it. ‘Why didn't you tell me?' she cried. ‘Oh Momma, I was so scared! And the girls all made fun and threw things and-‘ Momma had been walking towards her, a now her hand flashed with sudden limber speed, a hard hand, laundry-calloused and muscled. It struck her backhand across the jaw and Carrie fell down in the doorway between the hall and the living room, weeping loudly. ‘And God made Eve from the rib Of Adam,' Momma said. Her eyes were very large in the rimless glasses; they looked like poached eggs. She thumped Carrie with the side of her foot and Carrie screamed. ‘Get up, woman. Let's get in and pray. Let's pray to Jesus for our womanweak, wicked, sinning souls.' ‘Momma' The sobs were too strong to allow more. The latent hysterics had come out grinning and gibbering. She could not stand up. She could only crawl into the living room with her hair hanging in her face, braying huge hoarse sobs. Every now and again Momma would swing her foot. So they progressed across the living room toward the place of the altar, which had once been a small bedroom. ‘And Eve was weak and – say it, woman. Say it-‘ ‘No, Momma, please help me-‘ The foot swung. Carrie screamed. ‘And Eve was weak and loosed the raven on the world,' Momma continued, ‘and the raven was called Sin, and the first Sin was Intercourse. And the Lord visited Eve with a Curse, and the Curse was the Curse of Blood. And Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden and into the World and Eve found that her belly had grown big with child.' The foot swung and connected with Carrie's rump. Her nose scraped the wood floor. They were entering the place of the altar. There was a cross on a table covered with an embroidered silk cloth. On either side of the cross there were white candles. Behind this were several paint-by-the-numbers of Jesus and His apostles. And to the right was the worst place of all, the home of terror, the cave where all hope, all resistance to God's will – and Momma's – was extinguished. The closet door leered open. Inside, below a hideous blue bulb that was always lit, was Derrault's conception of Jonathan Edwards' famous sermon. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. ‘And there was a second Curse, and this was the Curse of Childbearing, and Eve brought forth Cain in sweat and blood.' Now Momma dragged her, half-standing and half-crawling, down to the altar, where they both fell on their knees. Momma gripped Carrie's wrist tightly. ‘And following Cain, Eve gave birth to Abel, having not yet repented of the Sin of Intercourse. And so the Lord visited Eve with a third Curse, and this was the Curse of Murder. Cain rose up and slew Abel with a rock. And still Eve did not repent, nor all the daughters of Eve, and upon Eve did the Crafty Serpent found a kingdom of whoredom and pestilences.' ‘Momma!' she shrieked. ‘Momma, please listen! It wasn't my fault!' ‘Bow your head,' Momma said. ‘Let's us pray.' ‘You should have told me!' Momma brought her hand down on the back of Carrie's neck, and behind it was all the heavy muscle developed by eleven years of slinging heavy laundry bags and trucking piles of wet sheets. Carrie's eye-bulging face jerked forward and her forehead smacked the altar, leaving a mark and making the candles tremble. ‘Let's us pray,' Momma said softly, implacably. Weeping and snuffling, Carrie bowed her head. A runner of snot hung pendulously from her nose and she wiped it away. (if i had a nickel for every time she made me cry here) with the back of her hand. Lord,' Momma declaimed hugely, her head thrown back, ‘help this sinning woman beside me here see the sin of her days and ways. Show her that if she had remained sinless the Curse of Blood never would have come on her. She may have committed the Sin of Lustful Thoughts. She may have been listening to rock ‘n roll music on the radio. She may have been tempted by the Antichrist. Show her that this is Your kind, vengeful hand at work and-‘ ‘No! Let me go!' She tried to struggle to her feet and Momma's hand, as strong and pitiless as an iron manacle, forced her back to her knees. ‘-and Your sign that she must walk the straight and narrow from here on out if she is to avoid the flaming agonies of the Eternal Pit. Amen.' She turned her glittering, magnified eyes upon her daughter. ‘Go to your closet now.' ‘No!' She felt her breath go thick with terror. ‘Go to your closet. Pray in secret. Ask forgiveness for your sins.' ‘I didn't sin, Momma. You sinned. You didn't tell me and they laughed.' Again she seemed to see a flash of fear in Momma's eyes, gone as quickly and soundlessly as summer lightning. Momma began to force Carrie toward the blue glare of the closet. ‘Pray to God and your sins may be washed away.' ‘Momma, you let me go.' ‘Pray, woman.' ‘I'll make the stones come again, Momma.' Momma halted. Even her breath seemed to stop in her throat for a moment. And then the hand tightened on her neck, tightened, until Carrie saw red, lurid dots in front of her eyes and felt her brain go fuzzy and far-off. Momma's magnified eyes swam in front of her. ‘You spawn of the devil,' she whispered. ‘Why was I so cursed?' Carrie's whirling mind strove to find something huge enough to express her agony, shame, terror, hate, fear. It seemed her whole life had narrowed to this miserable, beaten point of rebellion. Her eyes bulged crazily, her mouth, filled with spit, opened wide. ‘YOU SUCK!' she screamed. Momma hissed like a burned cat. ‘Sin!' she cried. ‘O, Sin! She began to beat Carrie's back, her neck, her head. Carrie was driven, reeling, into the close blue glare of the closet. ‘YOU FUCK!' Carrie screamed. (there there o there it's out how else do you think she got you o god o good) She was whirled into the closet headfirst and she struck the far wall and fell on the floor in a semidaze. The door slammed and the key turned. She was alone with Momma's angry God. The blue light glared on a picture, of a huge and bearded Yahweh who was casting screaming multitudes of humans down through cloudy depths into an abyss of fire. Below them, black horrid figures struggled through the flames of perdition while The Black Man sat on a huge flame-coloured throne with a trident in one hand. His body was that of a man, but he had a spiked tail and the head of a jackal.

Evaluating the Socio Economic Impact of the Structural Adjustment Program Essay

These have left most SSA countries with acute balance of payments (BOP) disequilibria and an inability to service their debts to foreign bodies. In an effort to tackle the economic crises and to stimulate economic recovery, most African countries had to adjust and re-structure their economies. According to Dasgupta (1998), structural adjustment was seen as a fact of life. Thus in the 1980s, most African countries initiated economic policies which were sponsored by the World Bank and supplemented by the International Monetary Fund(IMF) in the form of stabilisation and structural adjustment programmes (SAP). Between June 1986 and July 1987 alone twenty one SSA countries went through World Bank/IMF SAP. Generally, SAPs entail policies designed by the world Bank/IMF aimed at improving the socioeconomic conditions of implementing nations by restoring economic stability and achieving long term growth through addressing structural weakness, and disequilibria in among others government budgets and external sector. More precisely, they involve the adoption and implementation of policies such as currency devaluation, trade liberalization, privatization, and removal of subsidies etc. hich are perceived as means of reversing the pervasive social and economic problems of developing nations. There has been a considerable amount of literature on the effects of SAP measures on less developed countries (LDCs) with no apparent consensus. On the one hand, international financial institutions (IFIs) maintain that SAPs are vital tools for economic recovery and sustainable economic growth. On the other hand , many economists and social scientists argue that SAP measures have led to recessions and poor standards of living in developing countries (Jauch 1999). Thus, the impacts of SAPs remain highly controversial. Even though there are disparities as to the exact effects of SAPs, it is generally accepted that they have far reaching implications for not only the macroeconomic environment of the countries concerned but society at large (Mosley and Weeks, 1993, Riddle, 1992, Stein, 1992, El-Tom, 1994, World Bank, 1994). It is against this background that this dissertation attempts to study and analyse the effects of SAP on the Nigerian economy. The choice of Nigeria as a case study is due to the fact that it has implemented one of the most radical structural adjustment programmes in Africa. Thus the question which posed is, what impact if any has SAP had on the Nigerian economy. Before we proceed, it should be emphasised that this dissertation subsumes IMF stabilisation programmes under World Bank structural adjustment programmes. The reason for this is that the two programmes are intertwined and this is done also for simplicity. . 2 Aims and Objectives This paper aims to explore the role SAP has played in the Nigerian economy. The major objective of the project is to offer a better understanding as to why, what and how structural adjustment program in Nigeria evolved. The primary focal point is to inspect the basis for and causes of the reforms, formulation and implementation processes, and the reform outcomes. The precise objectives of the dissertation are as follows: First, to provide a better understanding of the backgr ound to the economic crises in Nigeria that led to SAP * Second, to outline the objectives of SAP and the reforms implemented by the Nigerian government * Third, to analyse the macroeconomic and social consequences of implementing SAP in Nigeria 1. 3 Methodology and data To evaluate the effects of SAP on the Nigerian economy, the dissertation applies so-called ‘before-after approach’ which in its essence compares the values of selected variables in the period before a program is implemented to those of post-implementation. This approach has been one of the most widely used when evaluating SAP. One of the main advantages of the approach is that it can give an insight into whether structural adjustment improved key economic indicators. The major shortcoming of the methodology employed in this paper is that it assumes that all outcomes are the result of the programme itself and thus does not take into account the impacts of others factors. Another limitation is that it does not reveal the causes of variable changes. However, in spite of the fact that the before-after approach may have some degree of bias as an estimation procedure, it nevertheless, has inherent objectivity and is relatively easy to employ. The dissertation relies on secondary data – mainly World Development Indicators. In addition, various government publications are utilised. In the case of Nigeria, the lack of data and the quality of data available had a major constraint on the study. The data were often found to be unavailable and there were discrepancies in the different data sources.