Marriage by Gregory Corso Essay Example

Marriage by Gregory Corso Paper Pie Glue: The Sanctimonious Institution of Marriage Gregory Corsos poem Marriage is a lucid example of how John Clellon Holmes described the Beat Generation: a display of moral degeneration. The speaker of the poem is torn between submitting to the non-conformity of the Beats and conforming to societys strict views about marriage and social structure. The presence of conflicting thoughts- whether or not to get married and looking at the prospects of marriage from two different viewpoints, gives this satirical poem a lot of weight as a plea against the phony social construction that is marriage. The poem starts off with questions that are not, under usual circumstances asked by young eligible men. Yet these rhetorical questions seem to have the answers, sarcastic and satirical answers hidden in them. The speaker of the poem, a young man, ponders if he should â€Å"be good† (line 1). Being â€Å"good† is what everybody expects you to be, and the definition of this â€Å"good† that is talked about has nothing to do with morality. Rather, being good is just the action of conforming to society’s expectations of one’s actions and behavior. He contemplates what a date with him would be like. He would take the lady to a cemetery as opposed to the movies and talk about abominations such as werewolves and â€Å"forked clarinets†, which is probably a reference to the Devil’s forked tongue. And then, as any man would, he would â€Å"desire her and kiss her and all the preliminaries† (line 5) of foreplay. But as he would be about to advance further she, being a good girl, would stop him from going any further. He, being like any young man of age, would want sex. We will write a custom essay sample on Marriage by Gregory Corso specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Marriage by Gregory Corso specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Marriage by Gregory Corso specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer He would try to convince her, â€Å"You must feel! It’s beautiful to feel! †(line 7). He would try to coerce her with words, coerce her into giving in. He would eventually â€Å"be good† once more and refrain from having her. Instead, he would lay with her by a tombstone and look at the beauty of the starry sky. Once again, what he describes here is conventional romantic behavior that is expected by a young eligible gentleman. As hard as he tries, he seems to unintentionally spiral towards convention. He moves on in his imagination about what it would be like if things worked out fine and he and â€Å"the girl next door† (line 2) took their relationship to the next level: meeting the parents. In order to win their approval, he would certainly have to have his â€Å"back straightened, hair finally combed, strangled by a tie† (line 11). In this line and the lines that follow, the speaker of the poem is quite candid in his disapproval of the social norms and rituals of courtship and parental approval. He quite reluctantly sits â€Å"with his knees together† (line 12) and tries not to ask where the bathroom is in fear it would be a faux-pas. He asserts that it is just as hard for the other party, the parents to conform to this seemingly absurd social ritual. They have to sit across from a strange young man who would steal the innocence of their daughter â€Å"Mary Lou† (line 19). All this while, all that the speaker of the poem was thinking about was whether or not ask where the bath room is and occasionally entertaining himself with absurd and amusing thoughts such as â€Å"Flash Gordon soap† (line 15). Over â€Å"tea and homemade cookies† (line 20) they make small conversation to fill up the awkward silence. If the young man is deemed suitable, the parents happily give away their daughter to a young man who was a stranger not an hour ago. They ask what he does for a living, and he asks himself rhetorical questions: â€Å"Should I tell them? Would they like me then? † (line 21). He then ponders what the highly important, yet redundant wedding day would be like. The wedding is a big deal for the bride, so obviously a lot of her relatives and friends would be there. He, on the other hand would only have a few socially awkward friends to invite. And yet all these guests would be impatiently waiting â€Å"to get at the drinks and food† (line 28). The priest, probably from the bride’s church, knowing the bride’s innocence looks accusingly at the groom, thinking he had given in to carnal desires and turned to masturbation, an activity commonly regarded as sinful. And under all the pressure created by this social scenario, when the priest asks â€Å"Do you take this woman for your lawful wedded wife? (line 29) he hesitates and blurts out â€Å"Pie Glue† (line 30) which rhymes with the more commonly used term â€Å"I do†. Kirby Olson, in his book The Doubting Thomist, reads the poem as many others have read it: as Corsos outburst against hackneyed social rituals, but he also adds some interesting observations. He notes how Pie Glue rhymes with the more commonly used phrase I do and also claims that this apparent non-sense outburst is in fact a cry of fear, fear of being stuck with one woman (â€Å"hairy pie being a term used for a vagina) for the rest of his life. Once the inessential ceremonies of the wedding are over, all the young men would pat him on the back and offer their obscene congratulations and send the newlyweds off to a honeymoon to a cliched honeymoon spot where dozens of other newly bonded couples go â€Å"to do the same thing†(line 39) consummate their marriage. This is common knowledge, everyone does it, and everyone knows that: â€Å"The indifferent clerk†¦/ the lobby zombies†¦/ the whistling elevator man†¦/ the winking bellboy†¦/ everybody† (lines 40 – 43). Here the poet repetitively uses the words â€Å"The†¦knowing†, bringing emphasis that the actions of the honeymooners are common knowledge and almost taken for granted as a chore, a duty to be performed as opposed to a beautiful expression of love. The use of anaphora strengthens his point. At this point the speaker of the poem is frustrated by thinking about the hackneyed constraints of such a social bondage and convinces himself that he would not do the same things as the other honeymooner were doing; instead he would â€Å"Stay up all night! Stare that hotel clerk in the eye! / Screaming: I deny honeymoon! I deny honeymoon! / running rampant into those almost climactic suites/ yelling Radio belly! Cat shovel! † (lines 45-48). He would be the demon of marriage, the advocate of divorce, a stereotypical madman who would warn the newly weds of the traps they have fallen into and the impending misfortunes they are about to face. Even in being a loner, an iconoclast, the poet fails to describe something new, he fails in his efforts to describe a nonconformist to the idea of marriage and ends up describing just another common social icon: the pariah, the crazy man that people try to believe does not exist. In beginning of the 5th paragraph, the speaker of the poem tries to imagine what a blissful married life would be like, what it would be like to be loved, to â€Å"How nice itd be to come home to her/ and sit by the fireplace and she in the kitchen/ aproned young and lovely†(lines 53-55). He tries to imagine what it would be like to live a calm, quiet married life would be like. He ends up imagining a life where the most exciting part of his day would the wife burning the roast. The serene scene of quiet, peaceful family life lasts but only a few moments before he starts to think of the absurdities once more: â€Å"Christmas teeth! Radiant brains! Apple deaf! † (line 59). Sarcastic comments follow. He tells of how he would do all kinds of unusual things, say weird things to strangers who come to his house, how he would paste stamps on the fence. He also thinks of alternate scenes, different stereotypes of married life: a small house in snow-covered Connecticut, with a lot of babies or in tiny apartment in New York City. How would his life be then? All he could think of was how hackneyed, boring his life would be. He does however see himself in New York, living in a beautiful penthouse with a great view, with a beautiful, smart and sophisticated wife, but he didn’t believe he could be tied up and â€Å"married to that pleasant prison dream-† (line 102). What is it then that drives people to get married and live this grueling lifestyle we call marriage? The thoughts of love appear only towards the very end of the poem, he wonders whether he should get married, conform to the very institution that disgusts him so, and call it a sacrifice for his love; he wonders what he would do if marriage was the only option left for him to be with the one he loves. Although marriage is thought of as the ultimate commitment to love, the two have nothing in common. The speaker knows he would be willing to sacrifice some and conform to social norms only if he meets â€Å"the one† for him. In his book on Corso’s works Gregory Stephenson reads into the poem and realizes that the poet was, at the end of the poem, reminds the readers that marriage is in fact the ultimate act of physical and emotional attraction between two people, and not the phony religious bondage that it has become. The fact that all through the poem the speaker dismisses the very concept of marriage and yet claims he would willingly wait 2000 years for a loved one is proof of the poet’s belief of love and the cleft between love and marriage. The entire poem is in essence a hopeful, romantic love poem.

Geography of the New Country of South Sudan

Geography of the New Country of South Sudan Estimated Population: 8.2 millionCapital: Juba (Population 250,000); JubaBordering Countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, and SudanArea: 239,285 square miles (619,745 sq km)South Sudan, officially called the Republic of South Sudan, is the worlds newest country. It is a landlocked country located on the continent of Africa to the south of the country of Sudan. South Sudan became an independent nation at midnight on July 9, 2011 after a January 2011 referendum regarding its secession from Sudan passed with around 99% of voters in favor of the split. South Sudan mainly voted to secede from Sudan because of cultural and religious differences and a decades-long civil war. History of South Sudan South Sudans history did not become documented until the early 1800s when Egyptians took control of the area; however oral traditions claim that the people of South Sudan entered the region before the 10th century and organized tribal societies existed there from the 15th to the 19th centuries. By the 1870s, Egypt attempted to colonize the area and established the colony of Equatoria. In the 1880s, the Mahdist Revolt occurred and Equatorias status as an Egyptian outpost was over by 1889. In 1898 Egypt and Great Britain established joint control of Sudan and in 1947 British colonists entered South Sudan and attempted to join it with Uganda. The Juba Conference, also in 1947, instead joined South Sudan with Sudan. In 1953 Great Britain and Egypt gave Sudan the powers of self-government and on January 1, 1956, Sudan gained full independence. Shortly after independence though, Sudans leaders failed to deliver on promises to create a federal system of government which began a long period of civil war between the northern and southern areas of the country because the north has long tried to implement Muslim policies and customs on the Christian south. By the 1980s, the civil war in Sudan caused serious economic and social problems which resulted in a lack of infrastructure, human rights issues and the displacement of a large part of its population. In 1983 the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) was founded and in 2000, Sudan and the SPLA/M came up with several agreements that would give South Sudan independence from the rest of the country and put it on a path to becoming an independent nation. After working with the United Nations Security Council the Government of Sudan and the SPLM/A signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on January 9, 2005.On January 9, 2011 Sudan held an election with a referendum regarding South Sudans secession. It passed with nearly 99% of the vote and on July 9, 2011 South Sudan officially seceded from Sudan, making it the worlds 196th independent country. Government of South Sudan South Sudans interim constitution was ratified on July 7, 2011, which established a presidential system of government and a President, Salva Kiir Mayardit, as the head of that government. In addition, South Sudan has a unicameral South Sudan Legislative Assembly and an independent judiciary with the highest court being the Supreme Court. South Sudan is divided into ten different states and three historical provinces (Bahr el Ghazal, Equatoria, and Greater Upper Nile) and its capital city is Juba, which is located in the state of Central Equatoria. Economy of South Sudan South Sudans economy is based mainly on the export of its natural resources. Oil is the main resource in South Sudan and oilfields in the southern part of the country drive its economy. There are, however, conflicts with Sudan as to how the revenue from the oilfields will be split following South Sudans independence. Timber resources like teak, also represent a major part of the regions economy and other natural resources include iron ore, copper, chromium ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver, and gold. Hydropower is also important as the Nile River has many tributaries in South Sudan. Agriculture also plays a major role in South Sudans economy and the main products of that industry are cotton, sugarcane, wheat, nuts and fruit like mangoes, papaya, and bananas. Geography and Climate of South Sudan South Sudan is a landlocked country located in eastern Africa. Since South Sudan is located near the Equator in the tropics, much of its landscape consists of tropical rainforest and its protected national parks are home to a plethora of migrating wildlife. South Sudan also has extensive swamp and grassland regions. The White Nile, a main tributary of the Nile River, also passes through the country. The highest point in South Sudan is Kinyeti at 10,456 feet (3,187 m) and it is located on its far southern border with Uganda.The climate of South Sudan varies but it is mainly tropical. Juba, the capital and largest city in South Sudan, has an average yearly high temperature of 94.1ËšF (34.5ËšC) and an average yearly low temperature of 70.9ËšF (21.6ËšC). The most rainfall in South Sudan is between the months of April and October and the average yearly total for rainfall is 37.54 inches (953.7 mm). To learn more about South Sudan, visit the official government website of South Sudan. References Briney, Amanda. (3 March 2011). Geography of Sudan - Learn the Geography of the African Nation of Sudan. Geography at About.com. Retrieved from: http://geography.about.com/od/sudanmaps/a/sudan-geography.htmBritish Broadcasting Company. (8 July 2011). South Sudan Becomes an Independent Nation. BBC News Africa. Retrieved from: bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14089843Goffard, Christopher. (10 July 2011). South Sudan: New Nation of South Sudan Declares Independence. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from: latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-south-sudan-independence-20110710,0,2964065.storyWikipedia.org. (10 July 2011). South Sudan - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sudan

Forensic Pathology Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Forensic Pathology - Coursework Example The present scenario has a submerged body; the pathologist takes the samples from different organs without marking. This is because if the samples are supposed to go for DNA sequencing or finger printing then the DNA from every cell or tissue of the same body is exactly the same. So to find anomalous behavior more than one sample is withdrawn. These tissues are sliced into blocks and mounted on slides for microscopic analysis and are further subjected to various tests. The Y-incision is performed to gain access to vital body organs and see if any physical assault has been made or whether the deceased was suffering from a disease. These organs are weighed either collectively or separately depending on the severity of scenario. Usually the weight is reduced in case of traumatized organs. (Prahlow, Byard. 2011) Tissue sampling from the stomach can be useful to indicate if any poison was given to the victim. This can help indicate the time of death as well. Usually samples from other organs such as gall bladder, liver, urine, eye fluid etcetera are also obtained to make sure of poisoning and digestion levels. In case of murder or assault the body is not normally returned to the family until the many staged investigation is carried out. Moreover if the head injury is not visible to the eye then samples from the brain are also obtained. Are such samples only taken in cases of submerged bodies, and if not, asks that you give him at least four other examples of when such samples might be taken and what might be discovered in subsequent examinations of such tissues? Such samples are taken in every-day postmortem cases of natural death as well. But the procedure is a bit more detailed and lengthy for victims of unnatural death. Not only in submerged cases but also in many other scenarios. Four of which are stated as follows: Someone dies of suspicious death without any witnesses and unexpectedly, requires autopsy legally. To find out if the victim was traumatized or drug abused. Common cases are homicide, manslaughter or murder.

British American Tobacco Company Products Essay

British American Tobacco Company Products - Essay Example BAT Company is listed in the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company reports that as of December 2011, it had market a capitalization of ?59.2 billion. Then, it was ranked sixth largest company listed in London Stock Exchange. The company is not only listed in London Stock Exchange but also in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (South Africa) and the Nairobi Sock Exchange in Kenya (Britannica Educational Publishing and Rogers 2011 p.177-198). The purpose of this paper is to analyze the demand and supply factors that affect the sales of BAT products. It will also explore what the company needs to do to be able top operate profitably in this market. The essay will also discuss the impacts of the macroeconomic factors: economic growth, unemployment, inflation, the balance of payment and business cycle on the products. Demand and Supply Demand and supply are the most fundamental concepts of economics and the backbone of a market economy. This is due to the fact that they determine how a particular product or service is sold in the market. Demand by definition refers to the quantity of a service or product desired in a market by buyers. The quantity demanded on the other hand refers to the amount of product that buyers are willing to purchase at a given price. Price and quantity demanded exhibits a relationship known as demand relationship. Supply refers to the quantity that the market can offer. In this regard, the quantity supplied means the amount of a given products suppliers are willing to supply at a certain price. The relationship between price and quantity supplied in the market is referred to as the supply relationship. Based on this definitions, it is evident that price is a reflection of demand and supply. Microeconomic Factors Price Price is one of the main factors that affect the demand and supply of a product, which in turn determine the quantity of a product that is sold (Carbaugh 2010 p. 28-42). With regard to deman d, the price charged determines to a great extent the quantity of a product that consumers will buy. This is due to fact that that quantity demanded and the price have an inverse relationship. This implies that the higher the price, the less will be the quantity demanded of the product. This is one factor that has affected the sales of BAT tobacco products. The company management argues that as the cost of product used in the manufacture of tobacco products increases due to drought, they have been forced to adjust their process upwards (Cox 2000 p. 16-39). However, this increase in price did not go well with regard to turnover as many customers reduced the quantity they could purchase. This is probably due to a shift to other cheap close substitutes. The company managers are, however, quick to assert that they are projecting a decrease in price which would enable customers to purchase more, thus increasing their sales. On the other hand, an increase in supply of the company’s product usually lead to a reduction in price, resulting in an increase in sales as consumers are now able to afford the products. Substitutes The price and availability of close substitutes also affects demand for a product. When a product has a close substitute, it is a matter of fact that consumers will be willing to shift in case of an increase in price (Carbaugh 2010 p. 28-42). This is what has affected sales of BAT’s tobacco products. The company managers argue that many people nowadays prefer other forms of depressants

Educational Practice in a Multilingual Context Essay

Educational Practice in a Multilingual Context - Essay Example The writer is a Sri Lankan, born into a Hindu Brahmin family and the eldest of three sisters. Brahmin is the name of the priestly caste, the highest in the Hindu social system. In fact, the word Brahmin translates to "divine" and its role has been defined as one of teacher or advisor. In the Hindu Sri Lankan society, members of the Brahmin caste are tasked with officiating at religious rites and are responsible for studying and teaching the Vedas. The oldest and most developed of the Dravidian languages is Tamil. It is also the primary language of the minority Tamil region in Sri Lanka. However, majority of Sri Lanka is dominated by people who speak Singhalese, which accounts for the fact that this is the nation's official language. All Sri Lankan children are required to learn Singhalese. In the first two years of primary school, Tamil children were taught Singhalese as an additional language, which accounts for the writer being able to understand, read, and write but not speak Singhalese. Thus, this writer calls herself bilingual rather than multilingual because she does not consider herself competent in both productive and receptive skills in Singhalese, unlike what could be said for her proficiencies in both Tamil, her native language, and English, her second acquired language (Porter, 1990). In the central or up country part of Sri Lanka where the writer was born, the Tamil accent is different from the Jaffna Tamil accent spoken in northern and eastern Sri Lanka. Jaffna Tamil is regarded as a higher form of the language. The reason for this status-defining characteristic of the language is that in former years, Tamils from the up country were brought to work in the tea plantations of India by the British Empire. When her family moved to Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka in the early 80s, she found it difficult to adjust to the Jaffna Tamil accent. It was so difficult that she felt like she was learning a new language altogether. However, upon her mother's death in the late 80s, she and her family went back to the up country, allowing the writer to switch back to her Tamil up country accent once again. In the school where the writer spent her primary schooling, the medium of instruction was both Tamil and Singhalese. Classes were taught separately in either language, and since she never had friends for whom Singhalese was the primary language, she never learned to speak Singhalese fluently as much as she did Tamil. Over the years, she improved her competence in both productive and receptive skills in Tamil, and until she migrated to England, Tamil was her language for study and communication with friends and family. At an early age, she was reading Tamil children's magazines and books, and by the time she was 8 years old, she was already reading complex historical novels. This not only improved her reading abilities but also encouraged her to read proficiently in front of the whole class with more confidence (Rossell & Baker, 1996). The first encounter of the writer and her sisters with the English language was at home, when their parents preferred to be called using the English words "Daddy" and "Mummy". In Sri Lanka, English was considered a higher status language, and her mother must have thought that this would give the family some added social

Children’s Behavior is Not Adversely Affected by Daycare :: Expository Essays Research Papers

Children’s Behavior is Not Adversely Affected by Daycare Recently daycare centers have been in the spotlight because of the argument that children who spend a lot of time in daycare tend to have more behavior problems such as over aggressiveness when compared with kids who stay home with their mommies. The following two points of views concerning this controversy illustrate the divide between those who believe daycare is benevolent and those who believe it to be detrimental to children. This first article concerns the results of an ongoing study given by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development about the effects that daycare may have on a child. According to the Newsweek article â€Å"A new battle over day care† (April 30, 2001), this study indicates that kids who spend more than 30 hours a week in child care are three times more likely to be aggressive, defiant and disobedient by the time they reach kindergarten than those who are raised by maternal care. The study on the effects of childcare had made many working parents anxious. Sarah Friedman, scientific coordinator of the study, says, â€Å"The easy answer is to cut the number of hours children are in care†. However, she also mentioned that scientists do not know yet if the hours spent in daycare are the only factors that may increase the child’s aggressive behavior. On the other hand, another article reports that some people believe that daycare won’t ruin the kid’s behavior. Early press reports relied on the account of just one long time childcare critic, Jay Belsky, out of the 29 researchers involved and thus the data in the study may have been misrepresented. NICHD researcher Martha J. Cox of the University of North Carolina says, â€Å"He is more extreme in his views than the rest of us†. Also, Susan B. Campbell, a team member of the University of Pittsburgh, mentioned that children’s behavior such as demanding attention, pushing, teasing, and fighting are completely typical for children whether or not they attend daycare. My opinion about this topic is that we should help our society make life a little easier for moms and dads who must manage the balance between work and family. Help for those parents who need childcare to find a high-quality daycare for their children is essential. We should keep in mind that for many of us, childcare is not a choice but an economic necessity.

Document Imaging and the Role of Health Information Management Essay

An automated record system will ultimately replace paper-based record to provide timely access to health information for health surveillance, resource planning, and health care delivery (e. g. , statistical reports can easily be generated to display health care trends, and so on) (Green & Bowie, 2004). According to Green & Bowie (2004), there are three types of automated record systems, which include: Electronic Health Record (EHR) or computer based patient record (CPR); Electronic Medical Record (EMR); and Optical Disk Imaging or Document Imaging. The high capacity physical media for storage of medical information, the increasing CPU power for processing complex images, and the advancement in the imaging and workflow technology has underpinned the growth of document systems (Armoni, 2000). Optical Disk Imaging or document imaging which provides an alternative to the traditional microfilm or remote storage systems because records are converted to an electronic image and saved on a storage media; optical disk imaging uses laser technology to create the image (Green & Bowie, 2004). Based on Green and Bowie (2004), a scanner is used to capture paper record images onto the storage media allowing for rapid automated retrieval of records. American Management System (AMS) architects an enterprise-wide workflow and imaging solution in support of health information management (HIM), financial services (PFS), and human resources processes (Armoni, 2000). Based on Armoni (2000), the AMS solution has eliminated the paper problem, saved record storage spaces, enhanced the productivity, and reduced labor cost. Most profound is the impact of the HIM management. Many headaches of the paper-based system have been eliminated as one physician user of the system commented, ‘†¦hours-long delays getting the old chart, lost medical record, charts lost, the need to store records off-campus, etc†¦ no longer occur with electronic medical records’ (qtd. n Armoni, 2000). As Armoni stated (2000), physicians are able to make better medical decisions with the system because they can access the patient’s records efficiently and timely from anywhere and at any time; the availability of the files for more than one person is a great advantage with the system; more importantly, the system is able to capture information more accurately, thus reducing the unnecessary errors while increasing the efficiency.