Contextualising Our Countrys Good Essay Example for Free

Contextualising Our Countrys Good Essay The historical context of this play is most key, in that the play its self is based on the past. In mid seventeenth century there was a fear within the middle and upper classes of the raising crime rate, largely due to an increasing population and high unemployment figures. The chosen solution to this problem was the transportation of convicts to Australia, where they could be used as slaves to build a naval outpost. The writer Timberlake Wertenbaker was born in the United States, and also lived in France. Shortly after moving to London she became a play write, and is said to have produced her best work, including Our Countrys Good, during the 1980s. She wrote the play after she had read up on the history of the transportation of convicts from England to Australia. To do so she used resources such as the novel The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally, and journals of marines sent to Australia. Through these journals she could get a useful insight into what life for convict was really like. She could learn of the marines frustration that they had been sent to do just a job, in such a place, and the way in which they took out these frustrations on the convicts. Her knowledge of such wrong doings comes through very clearly in the text in scenes, and also through characters such as Sergeant Robbie Ross. Through these marines journals historians were also able to discover that in 1789 several convicts, and one officer put on a play for the whole colony. Through this they were able to teach themselves and their observers of compassion, co-operation and creativity. This is the key story in Our Countrys Good. In keeping with this realistic approach Timberlake Wertenbaker based her characters on real convicts of the first ship to Australia. From what little we know of the characters and their lives after Australia we can see Timberlakes influence for their personalities and traits which we can recognise: Timberlakes key character, Ralph Clark, was a real person. The journal he talks of in the play is a genuine historical item on which his character is based. After his time in Australia he is moved to a new post, and makes sure Mary Brenham, another key character in the play whom he falls in love with, is also transferred. Form this we can see parallels between life and the play in his apparent devotion for Mary that we as audience grow to love. The character Liz Morden is based on a convict called Nancy Turner. She lived to be pardoned and had a large family with a rich thief. This may be the life we would expect for Liz. Through the play she has restored her faith in humanity and has the confidence and love to build a family, but at the same time she will not turn on her own kind and chooses a thief as a lover. John Wisehammer began farming and became a respectable merchant. Just as we would expect of his character who always claimed to be innocent. John Freeman was exempted from hanging, just as his character had always waned. In the play we learn of his hate for the job. Dabby Bryant did escape, as we knew her character in the play would, she eventually ended up back home in Devon. From the above we can see to what extent Wertenbaker was true to the real story of the convicts in Australia. There is also a strong cultural significance to the play. It was written in 1988 for the Royal Court Theatre in London. It came at the end of an extremist period, Thatherite Britain, in which an us and them attitude was strong. And the fact that it was a strong capitalist party in power was evident. One of Thatchers most famous comments was there is no such thing as society, just individuals and their families. Wertenbaker was making a stand against such attitudes and showing we should take the time to think about each other and grow as people in community which can be formed, as the convicts show, in any group of people, however they are originally regarded. Wertenbaker used the play to portray a message that like sending the convokes away, or punishing them with floggings, Michael Howards short sharp shock tactics of the time would not work, but the key was reform, and giving the prisoners something more, by believing they could be more. The play was revived in 1997, as New Labour was coming into power. One of Labours visions is that people can change, its within them. Just as Phillip and Ralph believed the convicts could, and just as Liz Morden proved was true, as both her and Mary found themselves in different ways through the play. There are parallels present between this aspect of the play, and schemes for young offenders today. Young people use art such as graffiti to find themselves through something positive, constructive, enjoyable and rewarding, in much the same way the convicts used The Recruiting Officer. In reviving the play it became recognised again and The Recruiting Officer has been performed in prisons quite recently, as have other plays with the intention of doing what Ralph did for the convicts in Our Countrys Good, restoring their faith in humanity and humanitys faith in them.

The True Story of Christopher Columbus Essay -- History, Discovery

He discovered the Americas. He started the first colony in the new world. He thought he was in Asia. Who is this brave explorer? Christopher Columbus. Smart and Wise Christopher Columbus was during his voyages. Christopher Columbus’s birth date is unknown but believed to be between August 25 and October 31, 1451 in Genoa, Italy (Columbus, â€Å"Early Years of Boyhood† par 1-3). His parents were Domenico Columbo and Susanna Fontanarossa (â€Å"Christopher Columbus Biography and Life Story† par 1). Christopher Was the oldest of five (Columbus, â€Å"Early Years of Boyhood† par 1-3). His brothers were Bartolomew, Giovanni, Pelligrino, and Giacomo (â€Å"Christopher Columbus Biography and Life Story† par 1). His fauther was a wool weaver who had Christopher help him. Later Christopher got a job of sailing on trade ships to Asia (â€Å"Christopher Columbus† par 1-4). Christopher as a boy always wanted to sail. He decided to find a shorter way to travel to Asia. Doing this he would become wealthy, spread the word of Christ, and to become famous (â€Å"Christopher Columbus† par 1-4). He sent Bartolomew to try to get support from England and Spain to allow the voyage but, they were denied. Then when Spain defeated Granada in 1492, Luis de Sontangel who was a royal treasurer convinced Queen Isabella that she was missing a great opportunity. Finally in April of 1492 Christopher Columbus received royal approval for the voyage (Columbus, â€Å"Success in Spain† par 1). Then on May 20, 1506 Christopher Columbus died (â€Å"The Journal of the Admiral of the Ocean Sea†, November 7, 1504 par 2). Besides all of the waiting for royal permission Christopher made some great discoveries. On Christopher’s first voyage he was sailing for King Ferdinand II and Queen Isab... ... He had really no impact on the world then because nobody knew he had discovered a new continent (â€Å"Christopher Columbus Biography† par 4). People have tried to search for the shipwrecks of Capitana and San Juan but have had no luck (Columbus’s lost ships, â€Å"The Capitana and San Juan 1503-1504†). Christopher did make a sacrifice of leaving 40 men behind to start a colony, but all those ended up being killed by Indians (â€Å"Christopher Columbus Second Voyage†) par 3). The discovery led to an age of exploration and conquering. It always showed that the world was a lot bigger than everyone thought (Levinson 99-100). After a decade passed after the death of Christopher Columbus the whole coast from Honduras to Prenambuco had been mapped (â€Å"Christopher Columbus and The Spanish Empire† par 15). So Columbus really made a important discovery but never lived to know it.

Psychology Adjustment

Thomas Wisnewski Psychology of Adjustment Jurgens 6 December 2012 In my class Psychology 2101 I was asked to write about three major events that occurred during my lifetime for class. I have thought about this almost all semester and it was a constant struggle just to think of even one event that I would have liked to share. This class has shown me that almost everybody has their problems, some that cope with them well, and others that still struggle to figure a path that will lead them to happiness. I myself have personal issues that I have learned from.This paper will describe the three events and how they have impacted my life. During the paper I will do my best to put these events in chronological order. I come from a military family. My dad was the military man and my mother was from Korea. They had married when my dad was stationed in South Korea between the late 80s and early 90s. Being in a military family had resulted us in moving a lot. I have moved between many states whil e my dad was in the military, but I had actually loved it. I loved traveling between place-to-place and seeing all kind of new things.Travelling was just really interesting to me because there was always a time where I could experience something new. One of the places that I moved to and stayed for quite a while was in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I had always thought this place was an amazing. Most military brats know that making friends is not the easiest thing to do. We understand by the constant moving that we have to make new friends and lose the ones we made from a place before. This was normal, but getting older I realized that I was getting a bit tired from the constant moving and wanted to stay in one place for a while.As far as I can remember I have learned a lot living in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I learned to ride my first bike there and enjoyed the beautiful weather. In Colorado I had also met my best friend. My best friend’s name was Joshua Vialpando and we had almost done everything together. We would always have the same teachers in school and then of course we would hang outside of school constantly. The guy was always there for me when I ever had a problem and I would try my best to be there for him. Joshua had always struggled in school, but I would always catch on things a bit quicker and help him out when he needed it.This was my first real friend that I have made that I could actually see being there later in my life during adulthood. Of course as time went by it was time to pack my bags and move to a different state. For the first time in my life I realized that I did not want to move and that moving somewhere new had no appeal to me. I wanted to stay and just hang with my best friend and do whatever new activity would cross our minds. I felt like that moving somewhere new would change me somehow and that I would not be able to make a friend that was like him.I felt as if I was going to be lonely, or probably feel a bit different from everyone else. I was losing a friend and it felt like I was losing the world that I had gotten use to and I did not want to experience a new one. This first event gradually leads up to my second event when I moved to Augusta, Georgia. It took me a four-day trip by RV to make it to Augusta. I knew that by moving here I would have to start over again, new school and hopefully new friends as well. In school before I was never really made fun of or teased at all for being who I am.For the first time in my life I was being teased for being Asian American. Children would constantly come up to me and make â€Å"oriental† noises like â€Å"ching chong chong† and other terms like that. I feel as if in Colorado it was more racially diverse, while moving here to Georgia there was just simply mostly white and black. I remember my very first day of attending class in Augusta and I remember after school I had ended up crying. I did not understand why the other kids would make fun of me because I had never experience this issue before. Augusta, Georgia was the place that my dad decided to retire in.I knew from that point that this place would be my new permanent home and I would not be able to go anywhere else new again. I hated the new place I was living in and I hated going to school. This point on I had lost contact with my best friend in Colorado and I had felt lonely just as I had originally thought I would feel. I had felt this same way all the way to almost between the end of middle school and the start of high school. One day while riding the bus home from school. A guy that sat behind me I said â€Å"hey. † This is the point where I had met my friend Stephen Brinson.Stephen had become almost like a brother to me. He was like a part of my family and even my parents seen it that way as well. This is when things seemed to get better for me, slowly but gradually I would deal with my problems. I no longer felt as lonely as I did before because I had met someone that I could talk to and seemed to have the same interests as me. I have known Stephen for a while now and he is still my best friend today. He is the only person I honestly probably see and talk to most of the time. In my first two years of high school I was not popular at all. In fact, I was probably more of a geek than anything.It was the last two years of high school that I had finally felt a difference. I never realized how many people I knew. I had actually become pretty popular at the end of my high school career. I was known for my talents and nominated for everything. I feel that Stephen was a part of this change because we had made that change together. Stephen was also a pretty big geek in the beginning of high school as well, but we both decided to make this change together. I feel if I have never met him, then that change would have never occurred and I could probably be in a situation that I hate.I learned that it is not about where I go, but the peop le that I do things with. I still today tend to not make a lot of friends, but a few is all I need to be happy. I learned that being made fun of is nothing and it is something that I can overcome. In the end it has made me stronger as a person and I tend to think back at a hard time and laugh about it. I laugh at it because I realize where I am now and I am proud of that alone. My last event is about my sister and mostly my mother. My mother is pretty strict mom and she pushes us very hard especially when it comes to education.The way she pushes my sister and I does not seem very reasonable and at times very unfair. My sister and my mother would argue a lot, but one day it had got to the point where I had come home and my sister had about nine knives that she held up to her neck explaining that she just wanted to kill herself. I remember me sneaking up behind her and taking all of the knives out of her hand to make sure that she would not harm herself. From that point on I tend to k eep a barrier between my mother and I. This barrier is the only one that I can see fit for dealing with her because my mother knows exactly how to tick you off.I do believe that my mother’s ways did help me during school because I had focused and did well many times until the start of high school. In the beginning of high school I tended to rebel against her because I wanted to show her that I did not really care. It was about a year into high school that I realized it was not for my mother, but for myself and that I should actually be doing a whole lot better. My mom did not even attend my high school graduation because she believes I was not high enough ranked. I ranked in the top 10 percentile of my high school, which I thought was pretty good.I do not tell her absolutely anything unless it is completely needed. There is nothing about my personal life that she really knows because she will just argue about how everything I am doing is completely wrong. The barrier is the o nly way I believe that I can enjoy my life and not bother hers. The barrier is not just for myself, but a little part of it is for her as well. It keeps us both sane instead of in a state of constant rage. I believe that I will always have this barrier between her because she will never really sit down and understand why I do the things I do.She does not want to hear what I have to say and just believes that nothing is right compared to her. By creating this barrier between her and I. It has changed me as a person. I realize that I create barriers between other people because I tend to not trust others very quickly. Even when I get into a relationship with a significant other I create some type of barrier and the girl will never understand me completely. I always end up telling them that they just do not get it but I know that because of this barrier I put up. It makes it hard to understand me.I am trying to work on this because I have met someone that I would really love to fully u nderstand me and I fully understand her. It is a work in progress, but I believe in the end it will be worth it. Today, I no longer feel as lonely as I once did. I feel satisfied with how things are going in my life today. I think that I have it all. I might not have the perfect family, but I do love my family. I do not think that anyone has a fairytale. This class has shown me so much and has given me different perspectives on how I can deal with the everyday stress of life.Things just seem a lot better than they did before and I can really only thank myself for this. I feel if I never wanted things to change then they would not have, but I had accepted others with positive inputs in my life and let the ones with negative inputs go away. I thought that this class was an interesting course and that anybody regardless if they are psychology major or minor should take this class because they could also learn something from it as well. It is a different experience than the normal class room, but that is exactly what makes it so good.

Leadership Development Plan For The Mississippi Army...

When approaching an organization with a new idea or concept it is vital to go in with all your data and facts organized and concise. One of the first things they want to know when they are considering revising or upgrading a leadership development plan is proof that a new plan would work. Therefore, the plan must have proof that is reliable, relatable and valid before introducing the plan. Always remember to treat others as you would want to be treated (Luke, 6: 31, KJV). This literature review paper will give provide proof to the Mississippi Army National Guard (MSARNG) that the new leadership development plan that is being proposed is credible. Literature Review Leadership Culture Edgar Schein outlines the characteristics of a†¦show more content†¦His word will last through the ages and whatever you ask in His name He will give to you† (John, 15:16, NIV). His book is very applicable when attempting to better understand the true make up of an organization like the Mississippi Army National Guard. He uses key values that describe the organization and its makeup. His article is considered valid and reliable. The focus of the Arthur is to explore the values of educating leaders in two specific ways. The first way is to provide research results in the area of moral and character value traits. The second way attempts to clearly define common terms that are often misunderstood (Arthur, 2010). He discusses the need for moral and character development in leadership programs. The author intertwines these concepts which emphasize the need for understanding the younger generation In regards to the MSARNG, this article provides some great insights about character development as it pertains to the environment, self-exploration, surrounding oneself with others that have similar values, the educational environment though college and how the younger generation feels about working in today’s organizations. This will help the MSARNG leaders understand today’s millennials by considering their background and will help bridge the gap in the organization. The analysis done on the younger generation was very beneficial and gave a new perspective on