A citizen, rights and responsibilities and antisocial behaviour The WritePass Journal

A citizen, rights and responsibilities and antisocial behaviour Introduction A citizen, rights and responsibilities and antisocial behaviour IntroductionAnti Social BehavioursTackling Anti Social Behaviour in HousingConclusionReferencesRelated Introduction The term ‘citizen’ may literally be used to refer to any person who has acquired or has the status of citizenship. The acquired status is used when the person that is conferred with the citizenship is not originally a citizen of the sovereign nation while, in effect the citizenship has to be earned through set of rules that govern the society.   According to Hardy (1997) â€Å"the status of citizen is used to denote the link between an individual and a State, a form of political organization with territorial boundaries which may encompass more than one nation†.   Citizenship is defined by Lewis (2004, p 9) as â€Å"a legal status conferred by an internationally recognised nation – state. This status accords a nationality and the right to make claims against the state and receive a share of the public goods†.   Therefore, it can be seen that when an individual has the status of a citizenship, such individual has formed a relationship with the St ate and this relationship is guided and strengthened by the citizen knowing his/her rights from the State and responsibilities to the State, community and entire neighbourhood. This project focuses on the rights and responsibilities of a citizen with respect to tenancy and how these relate to existing government policies on anti social behaviour.   The project will attempt to achieve this focus by fully describing the rights of a citizen from the State and the responsibilities of that citizen to the State, community and entire neighbourhood.   Secondly the project will carry out a review of the current government policies on anti social behaviour and how these policies relate to the rights and responsibilities of a citizen.   Thirdly, the project will conclude with summary of the overall work. Rights of a citizen When a person has the status of a citizenship, Blackburn (1994) argues that a relationship has been formed with the state which gives the citizen certain rights.   However, Marshal (1992, cited in Lewis, 2004) viewed citizenship as a relationship between the individual and a state which gives rise to 3 basic elements of rights – civil, political and social. Civil rights The civil right of a citizen represents the right to freedom of speech, expression, thought and faith and to conclude valid contracts. When a person becomes a citizen, such person has by virtue of the citizenship status acquired the right to freely express him/herself and to put forward opinions about issues affecting the that nation.   In addition, the citizenship status comes with the right to equal opportunities and social justice in that society. Political rights The political right of a citizen is the rights that allow the person to vote.   The right to vote is an opportunity to demonstrate one’s democratic rights and this is important in a democratic society.   The political right also includes the chance to participate in political process such as contesting for electoral positions and being duly elected in the political office. Social rights The social element of the right of a citizen is the right to economic welfare and to fully share the social heritages within the society.   One of the social heritages in a society is housing.   Blackburn (1994) viewed the right to housing and be housed as one of the idealistic rights of a citizen. Within the context of this project, the housing right (social right) of a citizen will be the subject for main focus. Housing right The citizen has the right to housing (Cowan and Marsh, 2001 and Blackburn, 1994). There are two main sectors in the housing market for a citizen – the owner occupied and the rented sector.   The owner occupied housing sector includes the individuals that have undertaken to purchase a property through mortgage and who live in the house by themselves.   The house that is purchased may be a leasehold or freehold, but, in either case, the government usually supports the citizens through varying the interest rates and stamp duties.   Other form of support by the government is through consultation with the mortgage lenders in reducing the amount of deposit required for the citizens to purchase their own owner occupied houses. These supports are to enable the citizen enforce their rights of housing.   The rented housing sector includes the private and public.   Private rented sector refers to those that rent out their house through short hold tenancies while the public sect or is the assured short hold tenancy.   The providers of housing to citizens in the public sector include housing associations and local authorities.   The local authorities invest in houses and allocate them to citizens on the basis of ‘first come first served’ but attention is given to those with extra-ordinary circumstance or great urgency.   The housing associations are not for profit making organisations who provide house to citizens based on their criteria and in view of the nature of the associations, they do not share profits but re-invest them into the activities of the housing. Responsibilities of a citizen The basic right of housing for a citizen is further broken down in the tenancy agreement the citizen enters into with the landlord which states the conditions of the tenancy.   The Housing Act 1988 with amendments up to 2004 and the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 protect the citizen from undue harassment, unfair charges and fraudulent practices and also ensure that the property is in good condition for occupancy and illegal evictions.   However, in order to fully enjoy the right to housing and the protection as contained in the Tenancy Agreement and the relevant Housing Acts, the citizen is required to fulfill some basic obligations.   The citizen has the obligation to act within the law by not engaging in criminal or immoral activities and also to behave in such manners that may not be regarded are against socially accepted corms within the neighbourhood or wider social environment.   Therefore, it can be said that one of the rights of a citizen is the right to housing and als o that one of the major responsibilities of the citizen is to carry on his/her daily activities of living in such a manner as to show behaviours that are against the neighbourhood in which he/she resides.   The term neighbourhood is described by Power (2007, p 17) as â€Å"local areas within towns and cities recognized by people who live there as distinct places, with their own character and approximate boundaries†.   The citizen is a member of the neighbourhood and his or her actions will impact all the members of the neighbourhood either directly or indirectly, in effect, the citizen is expected to maintain a pattern of behaviour for the interest of the general neighbourhood.   A pattern of behaviour that is not in line with the acceptable behaviours within a neighbourhood is known as anti social behaviour.   According to Rose (1996) citizens are considered to be responsible when they play their roles but in a situation that the moral lifestyle of such person is con trary, such person is considered a threat or reproach to the community.   According to Cowan and Marsh (2001, p 168) â€Å"the role of the law relevant here is through seeking to uphold particular standards of behaviour†.   In the UK, the law that seeks to uphold the standards of behaviours within the neighbourhood is the anti social behaviour contained in the Crime and Disorder Act (1996, 1998) and Ant Social Behaviour Act (2003). Anti Social Behaviours The Good Practice Unite of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH 1995, p3) defined antisocial behaviour as â€Å"behaviour that opposes society’s norms and accepted standards of behaviour†.   Also the Crime and Disorder Act (1998) described antisocial behaviour as acting â€Å"in a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household†.   The Anti Social Behaviour Act (2003) identified various forms of behaviours found to be common and these include: noise nuisance; intimidation and/or harassments, littering and graffiti; being violent against neighbours and properties; hate behviours that target an ethnic or gender groups; and use of the property for unlawful business or other purposes. Causes Several reasons have been given by different researchers and organisations as to the reasons that lead to anti social behaviours.   Notable among the researchers are Hawkins, Catalano and Miller (1992) who identified risk factors and protective factors.  Ã‚   The risk factors involves certain issues of life that have the potential of making people act against the society such as poverty, family problems and problems that arise in the school.   The protective factors refer to the presence of some features that may discourage the individual from acting against the society such as bonding and community involvement.   The issues of risk and protective factors were further highlighted by the argument of Miller (2005) that neighbourhoods with high crime rate in most cases are traceable to poverty, deprivation and lack of involvement in the community in which the offender resides. Impacts Anti social behaviours has the likelihood of impacting on the members of the neighbourhood, properties and the individual that carries out the behaviour.   One of the impacts of antisocial behaviour on the neighbourhood is that it can make withdraw from public places within the area for fear of the safety of their lives thereby and also crumble the service provisions in that area (Rogers and Coaffee, 2005).   The Policy Action Team of the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU, 1998, p11) argued that â€Å"if housing is poorly managed or unlettable, or crime and anti social behaviour are not tackled, community support systems can easily crumble†.   Secondly, there is the possibility of reducing house prices in the area and increased cost of repairs and cleaning of graffiti as a result of vandalism (Brand and Price, 2000). Also, an area that is notorious for behaviours seen to be contrary to the accepted standards in the society may have a stigma which may make residents decide to relocate or prevent new ones moving in.   This problem of stigma was emphasised by Harworth and Manzi (1999, p 163) that there is â€Å"the stigma attached to public rented houses† and that this is the result of behaviours that are usually not in conformity with the accepted norms in the wider society.   In order to tackle the problem of anti social behaviour and reduce or eliminate its impacts on the neighbourhood and properties, Cowan and Marsh (2001) suggested the use of basic strategies such as housing management, legal tools and partnering with Social Exclusion Unit. Tackling Anti Social Behaviour in Housing Housing Management Cowan and Marsh (2001) suggested that in order to control the activities of those that perpetrate anti social behaviours, Landlords should control the access to houses by such individuals through the use of housing register.   This suggestion implies that those noted for their anti social behaviours should be excluded from having access to houses as a deterrent to others that would want to follow their bad examples.   The power for landlords to exclude those whose behaviours are deemed to be against the norms of the society in which they reside (anti social behaviour) is contained in the Part VI of the Housing Act (1996) and research by Smith (2001) found that this exclusion has reduced the rate of antisocial behaviours in most estates. In addition to the use of exclusion as a house management tool for deterrent and preventive measure for dealing with anti social behaviours, Landlords were empowered by the Housing Acts 1996 to adjust the tenancy agreement indicate repossession of properties.   In effect, the tenancy agreement fully describes the rights and responsibilities of both parties with particular respect to anti social behaviours and that the Landlord has the right of repossession if the tenant receives anti social behavioural order – an order for carrying out anti social behaviours.   On the effectiveness of the use of repossession as a deterrent, the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU, 2000, p 4) argued that â€Å"evicting anti social people does not mea that the problem will go away.   Some people will be deterred from future ant social behaviour by the experience of eviction or exclusion from the housing register†. Legal Tools The 1996 Housing Act further gave powers to Landlords (both Local Authorizes and Social Registered Landlords) to deal with their own tenants with respect to anti social behaviours.   This Act made individuals responsible for their own actions, those of their households and those of their visitors and empowered landlords to take possession of their properties in the event of anti social behaviour.   In applying this power, certain behaviours were banned by Landlords and where the tenant goes against those behaviours, a housing injunction is obtained from the court to arrest the offender.   Also the 1998 Housing Act introduced the use of Anti Social Behavioural Order (ASBO) by the police or landlords against offenders as long as they are above the age of 10.   Other legal tools include the use of 1996 Noise Act and 1990 Environmental Protection for noisy tenants and those houses not maintained by the tenants. Social Exclusion Unit Partnership While applying both the managerial and legal tools, Cowan and Marsh (2001) further suggested the use of partnership initiatives with the social exclusion unit by landlords and local authorities.   The Social Exclusion Unit works with communities, individuals and families to make sure that anti social behaviours are not breached and that to a greater extent avoid repeat or re – offending (SEU, 2000c).   Rather than punish those whose behaviours are anti social, through exclusion, repossession or injunction, the social exclusion unit partners with other relevant agencies to produce strategies in the forms of projects that to support the circumstances of the offender.   This process involves having a one to one meeting with the offender to identify the causes of the anti social behaviour and the outcome of the discussion forms the basis for suggesting possible support programs to assist the offender where appropriate.   The partnership with the social exclusion unit has a dditional advantage of making sure that those who are reacting as a result of their extra ordinary circumstances beyond their control are supported in overcoming such circumstances. Conclusion This project sought to find out about a citizen and how the rights and responsibilities of ‘a citizen’ relate with the current government policies on anti social behaviours.   During the course of the project, it was found that citizen describes a person who has the status or acquired the status of citizenship that is, having a form of relationship with the State.   Such relationships with the nation that has accorded that person the citizenship status usually comes with political, civil and social rights.   The social right of the citizen which formed the basic focus of this project includes the right to housing and being housed.   The right of the citizen to be provided with housing protects the citizen from being harassed, unfairly charged or exploited by landlords.   However, the right of the citizen to housing requires that the citizen keeps to the conditions of the tenancy agreement among which includes a condition not to act in a manner that will above o ther things constitute not conform to the norms of the society/neighbourhood – that is ant social. Furthermore, the project found that where the citizen acts anti social, it may result in crumbling of the service provisions within the neighbourhood (SEU, 1998), reducing house prices as the result of the stigma of crime and violence (Harworth and Manzi, 1999) and increasing cost of repairs and maintenance by the local authorities in cleaning graffiti.   In order to tackle the problem of antisocial behaviour, the project found 3 basic strategies as suggested by Cowan and Marsh (2001) and these include housing management, legal tools and partnership with the social exclusion unit.   Housing management uses seeks to exclude citizens with anti social behaviours from having access to housing and also repossessing their properties while the legal tool uses injunction.   The partnership with the social exclusion unit aims to address the circumstances that create the anti social behaviours of a citizen. Based on the findings during the course of this project, it can be seen that a citizen has a right to housing and that this right comes with responsibilities not to act anti social.   Therefore, the current government policy of anti social behaviour seeks to ensure that a citizen, enjoying the right to housing, complies with the responsibilities that come with the right to the housing being enjoyed.   The rights are received by the citizen; the responsibilities are the conditions for the rights and the anti social behavior policies ensure that the conditions are kept by the citizen. References Blackburn, R. (1994).   Rights of Citizenship.   London.   Mansell Publishing Ltd Catalano, R.F., Hawkins, J.D. (1996). The Social Development Model: A theory of antisocial behavior. In J.D. Hawkins (Ed.), Delinquency and Crime: Current Theories (pp. 149-197) New York: Cambridge CIH (1995).   Housing management standards manual. Coventry. CIH Cowan, D. and Marsh, A. (2001). Two steps forward:   Housing policy into the new millennium. UK.   Polity Press Hardy, H. (1997) ‘Citizenship and the Right to Vote’, 17 Oxford J Legal Stud 76 (1997). Hawkins J.D., Catalano R. F., Miller J. Y. (1992). Risk and protective factors for alcohol and other drug problems in adolescence and early adulthood: Implications for substance abuse prevention. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 64-105. Lewis, G. (2004).   Citizenship Lives Social Policy.   UK.   The polity Press Millie, A., Jacobson, J., Hough, M. and Paraskevopoulou, A. (2005a) Anti-social behaviour in London Setting the context for the London Anti-Social Behaviour Strategy, London: GLA Power, Anne (2007a) City Survivors. Bringing up children in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Bristol: The Policy Press. Rogers, P. and Coaffee, J. (2005) ‘Moral panics and urban renaissance: Policy, tactics and youth in public space’, City, 9(3) 321-340. Rose, N. (1996).   The death of the social?   Refiguring the territory of government, Economy and Society, vol 25, no 3, pp 282-99. Social Exclusion Unit (1998).   Bringing Britain together: A national strategy for neighbourhood renewal, Cm 4045, London:   The stationery Office. Social Exclusion Unit (2000a) Leaflet, London: Cabinet Office Smith, R., Stirling, T. Papps, P., Evans, A. and Rowlands, R. (2001).   Allocation and Exclusion:   The impact of new approach to allocating social housing, London: Shelter. The 1998 Crime and Disorder Act The 1996 Housing Act

Language in Literature †English Essay

Language in Literature – English Essay Free Online Research Papers Language in Literature English Essay Refer to Toolan (2001) and conduct a trait analysis of a least three of the characters in Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman. Specify a list of what you take to be the most crucial features/attributes that distinguish particular characters. What are the most important ways they differ? What are the narratively significant differences? Would you say that Fowles prefers indirectness in presenting a character, or an authoritative ‘telling’ of how a character is? Are there differences between the characters in the mode of presentation? How do you explain this? The French Lieutenant’s Woman : main characters and secondary characters. The theory of the trait analysis as the departure point of a complete literary investigation. A literary text appears to the reader as a mysterious world, as a walk in the fog and sometimes it seems very difficult to escape from that darkness. A superficial approach to a book or a text in general, may obviously create some effects of unfamiliarity with the topic of the book. The main aim of the reader is to find out the light in that darkness and rebuild the logic road the writer is trying to give us . What I am going to focus on, in this essay, is: the analysis of The French Lieutenant’s Woman that represents a good example of complex novel with a very articulated story, the concept of main characters and secondary characters , the ways they differ and their relevant peculiarities, referring to Stockwell’s two levels of the text to find some analogies between the concepts of main and secondary characters and the division between ground and figures, and in conclusion Toolan’s trait analysis and if there could be any restriction to applying it to diffe rent characters. The French Lieutenant’s Woman is one of the greatest Fowles’ works. It is set in Victorian England and deals with the love affair between a former governess, Sarah Woodruff and Charles Smithson, a nobleman. Charles is already engaged with Ernestina Freeman, who is the daughter of a rich shop owner. They were planning their life together and their marriage, but Sarah seduces Charles. He does not realise completely her true personality and that she is still virgin and what kind of secret she is keeping. The story of the French soldier, in fact, was only a lie to emancipate her from the Victorian age. Sarah is a very persuasive figure and convinced, in the second part of the book, Charles to forsake the position and the honour the Victorian society planned for him. Fowles’ novel is a faithful imitation of the typical Victorian novels, such as T. Hardy’s ones . It also represents a good example of complex literary text. A complex text, such as Fowles’s one, with an articulated story is defined a novel. A novel is composed by some elements; one of them is the setting. In The French Lieutenant’s Woman the setting is constituted by the social Victorian background. This social situation is characterised by some conventions everyone has got to follow, but also by all those characters that are not fore grounded through remarkable features and for this reason are the part of the background, as passive elements. The men are expected to be real gentlemen with a very high knowledge and good skills, interested in a lot of subjects and clever. From the relational point of view, a real Victorian gentleman must be cold enough but brilliant at the same time, for brilliant I mean a mixture of skills and nuances in order to appear always learned, polite, and a man who always knows what to say and to do in each life situation. If we take into consideration Charles’ uncle, we can draw a very easy analysis of his crucial points, features, and attributes: he is the typical Victorian man, proud of his successes, cold, learned and that kind of man who shows everyone his own knowledge and life culture. The author presents him boring as well ‘His uncle bored the visiting gentry interminably with the story of how the deed had been done’ . Another crucial feature in a literary text is the concept, the peculiarities and the role of the characters. They are the central element in a story because thank to them everything changes, moves and every situation develops. As a consequence, since they are the principal first movers of the story-telling mechanism, the complete comprehension will be linked to their comprehension. Thus the importance of the role of the characters is that they occupy a central position because they have got the power of creating changes, and movements and all the narration develops around them. To understand a character means to analyse it very particularly from all the points of view. The characters may also be influenced in their decisions and actions by the setting, and realise their actions taking into consideration the setting background . For example, Sarah, in the second part of the book, appears strong, persuasive and courageous. The point is that the situations require that and she has to fo llow the stream of the story. The relation with the setting may lead to a categorisation of two types of characters: main characters and secondary characters. The main characters are those who are highlighted in the story through the attribution of remarkable features or are strictly linked to those ones who have such features8. The secondary characters are linked to the setting and occupy quite static roles. Sometimes they could be included in the setting. It would be wrong to consider Sarah as a secondary character because the categorisation of the two types of characters must be justified on the base of the effective kind of link between the character and setting, and not on the base of what the stream of the story implies. Stockwell’s theory of the two levels8 is very useful to justify this difference between the main characters and the secondary characters. Two levels in the narration can be distinguished: The level of the ground, occupied by static elements such as the setting and the secondary characters, and the level of the figures, occupied by all those features that are fore grounded in a text, and these figures are the main characters. In the story, for example, who has got the control of the situation is Sarah that reveals her to be the protagonist with her strength and the great quantity of skills she can use, such as persuasive skills, argumentative skills, courage and humility. Further, she is the mover of the story who changes the situations from the static and boring development towards a dramatic end. The fore grounding of Sarah is perfectly created by Fowles by the attributions to her of some specific features and by creating at the beginning of the book (in which the straightfor ward side of Sarah does not appear yet) a mysterious halo around her figure . A good analysis of a literary text implies the distinction between: The ground level and the figures level. What Stockwell has mentioned is this real separation of the two levels, but what he has not specified in an explicit way, is that these two levels intersect each other as it is explained in Toolan’s trait analysis theory , creating, this way, a complication of the text. Actually Sarah presents some attributes but if not put those in the setting, the basic level of characterisation would be sterile and the fore grounding absolutely absent. But also if the reader confuses the two levels or he has not got a clear vision of what features distinguish one level from the other one, he would fall down in a misunderstanding of the text The French Lieutenant’s Woman offers itself a good example of the characteristics of the ground and the figures. At the beginning of the book we can note that almost all the characters have the same features. Only Sarah is out of this scheme, which appears deeply shy, in need, and absolutely anonymous. But these points, in relation with the ground, make her relevant and fore grounded from the common features background. Charles, his uncle, Mrs. Poulteney, Ernestina appear as the incarnation of the Victorian principles: lazy, bored, and extremely cared about their social position. This flattening of the characters with the setting background permits to categorise them as secondary. In Chapter six, Mrs Poulteney is deeply superficial, she is interested in Sarah’s education, her behaviours and her social level, rather than in helping her. Charles’ uncle appears cold and superficial as well, for example, when he has to recover his kindness of heart . Ernestina is the typical young lady of the Victorian age, who would like to escape from her reality composed only by coldness and conventions, but she has no strength to realise it. It is very clear this attitude of her at the beginning of the book where Fowles says: ‘Ernestina had exactly the right face of her age’; the main characters differ from the secondary one for the grade of fore grounding in the story. When we read a literary text we face a reality that sometimes might seem us very difficult to understand, confusing and in some cases deviant. What is the reason of these estrange feelings? Taking into consideration The French Lieutenant’s Woman, at the beginning of the book we find a presentation of all the characters, their crucial features, and the most relevant attributes. Going on with the reading we consolidate those ideas that we have created about some or all the characters and we start having some considerations about them, their behaviours, their ways to approach the life. In the second part of the book, we find a shifting in the narration of the events and we can find ourselves in a state of confusion: the characters do not look like as at the beginning and maybe someone might think to have lost some parts of the narration. This phenomenon is very common reading a literary text, above all if approached to complex texts with articulated stories. This happens general ly with a superficial reading, which does not permit us to assimilate all those relevant points that constitute the logical key of interpretation. Interpretation in fact means to assimilate, to understand deeply. The interpretative key in a literary text is constituted by understanding different elements such as the ground and the figures. These elements are the product of a very cared process of creation that involves very strict rules. A novel, actually, represents a creative process of a sort of reality that is strictly linked to the one of the reader. That is the possible world of the fiction, a world that has got a lot of analogies with the real one . The reader, generally, tends to categorise all the fictional features in some real categories. This process is originated from the simplifier spirit of the human mind. The problem is if that categorisation is useful for the complete comprehension of a text or it is only a deviant and apparently simplifier process. There are two contrasting positions among the analysts: the psychological one that claims to extend a psychological analysis to the characters of one book as real people, and the structuralist one that considers the characters and the features of a book as literary products. It should be useful and easier to adopt, by contrast, the theory described by Toolan, which assumes that the literary reality is modelled on the basis of the author’s perception of the real world . Surely it is linked to the real world but not dependant on it. A good comprehension of a book is l inked to these differentiations between real and fictional world. In The French Lieutenant’s Woman, the reader should distinguish the link with the real Victorian reality. The setting, the characters, the background are created only on the basis of the author’s vision, an idealised vision. Only after categorising the author’s vision of that reality in the reader’s own knowledge background, there can be a valid and acceptable comprehension. We can understand, at this stage, that a literary text is characterised by several double levels. Double level of importance for the characters and double level for the possible world. Toolan’s theory can merge the two double levels and solve the discrepancies that can rise comparing each level. The trait analysis theory involves a supervisor, which, in the case of The French Lieutenant’s Woman, is the narrator. He has got the power of giving the characters more or less predominance, through the features and the attributes. When the reader approaches the characters, has to identify the attributes referring to them (basic level of the analysis). After a general consideration of the features, he has to link those attributes to a common background. The background could be the readers’ own knowledge about the topic of the book or the setting background of the story. Linking those features to his own background, the reader obtains a resolution of the discrepancies between the reality and the fictional world. Connecting, on the other hand, the characteristics to a setting background, the reader can achieve the solution of the problematic comprehensi on about who is the main or the secondary character. If extended to The French Lieutenant’s Woman, the trait analysis reveals very interesting points. Taking into consideration characters such as Ernestina and Mrs Poulteney, first the reader should list all the crucial features and attributes. Ernestina appears as a conformist, deeply weak, and without any psychological strength, she is overwhelmed by all the events and accepts everything the destiny planned for her without any hesitation. Mrs Poulteney appears conformist and really cared about her social position and what people may think about her as well. By contrast, she is deeply different, compared to Ernestina. She has got a social position and the support of the society. Her only worry is to keep such a good reputation. Yet, Charles’ uncle is conformist as well, lazy and without any strength to contrast the Victorian conventions. Once listed the crucial attributes, if categorised in the reader’s knowledge background about the topic, the link and the interpretative key could be found easily in order to understand the different levels and not to confuse them. The reader, through the trait analysis, is able to do a separation between the characters’ features and the real world reality, taking into consideration that the characters’ features are only the product of an idealised vision of the author . By the contrary, if the reader connects those characteristics to a setting background he will find that the main characters are highlighted in the plot and the secondary one are on the same level of the setting. The only one deviant element in the comprehension process could be the way the author describes the characters. Fowles, in fact, uses an authoritative ‘telling’ about the characters’ peculiarities. For example, in chapter three for the description of Charles’ uncle, in chapter six for the description of Mrs Poulteney, and in chapter twelve for the characteristics of Ernestina. His authoritative telling can make the reader think that his thoughts are not an idealisation of the Victorian society but an absolutely-right truth. Fortunately, the trait analysis is capable to solve this problem as well. In conclusion, the trait analysis is the most complex technique, but also the most interesting and useful, to conduct an analysis of a literary text, starting from the analysis of the characters. It could seem very difficult at the first sight because it implies a lot of care towards all the most important narrative elements. Before starting conducting the most important part of that analysis, the analyst should analyse very carefully the attributes and the peculiarities of the setting, the characters, the style, the way the author presents the plot in general. In fact, it analyses the text in two moments: the basic moment, in which all the clear attributes are listed and highlighted and the more specific one that involves the categorisation of them. The categorisation involves, in its turn, two levels, the one referring to the importance of the characters and the one referring to the distinction between the reality and the fictional world. From the analysis of The French Lieutenantà ¢â‚¬â„¢s Woman it results obvious how this investigation can be extended to all the narrative features, both main and secondary characters, all the kind of settings and even to the narrative strategies the narrator adopts. The trait analysis does not imply any restriction in this sense. The main and the secondary characters differ, each other, on the basis of the role they play in the plot. The secondary characters are part of the static background, but that does not mean that they have less importance, from the point of view of the organisation of the narrative material. The composition of the figures of the secondary characters requires a lot of care. The analysis just conducted, can evidence that even the secondary characters are important, maybe more important than the main ones because only taking into consideration their features the reader can draw the crucial trait of the main characters and highlight them. The trait analysis, to conclude, involves different narrative featur es of a literary text and it is able to link them and to find connections among them to investigate in a detailed way the organisation of the literary material. Words: 2.960 Bibliography: Fowles, J. (2004) The French Lieutenant’s Woman London: Vintage. Semino, E (1997) Language and World Creation In Poems and Other Texts. Longman Stockwell, P. (2002) Cognitive Poetics: An introduction. London: Routledge The literary encyclopaedia, available at [www.literaryencyclopaedia.com] Toolan, M. (2001) Narrative, a critical linguistic introduction. 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Rachel Carson's Silent Spring Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring - Essay Example In an ‘Introduction’ to the work, Linda Lear wrote: â€Å"Carson’s writing initiated a transformation in the relationship between humans and the natural world and stirred an awakening of public environmental consciousness†¦ Carson’s thesis that we were subjecting ourselves to slow poisoning by the misuse of chemical pesticides that polluted the environment†¦contained the kernel of social revolution.† (Lear, x) Therefore, it is essential to recognize that Carson, as one of the greatest nature writers in the modern world, inspired and motivated a generation of environmental activists. This paper makes a reflective exploration of how Silent Spring fits into the larger story of conservation and environmentalism in America and how it changed public opinion about pesticide use and environmentalism in general. In a profound investigation of the major arguments of Rachel Carson in Silent Spring, it becomes evident that the author is mainly concerne d about a revolution in the relationship between humans and the natural world. Significantly, the author emphasizes the thesis that uncontrolled and unexamined use of pesticides ultimately harms the nature by killing animals, birds, and, more perilously, human beings.