A Christmas Carol Essay Example

A Christmas Carol Essay Example A Christmas Carol Paper A Christmas Carol Paper Essay Topic: A Christmas Carol With reference to the themes of wealth and poverty, what lessons do you think Charles Dickens wanted his audience to learn from the story of Scrooges changing character? Charles Dickens was using A Christmas Carol as an attempt to challenge his audience of rich contemporaries into action to combat the problem of the mistreatment of the poor in London at that time. Poverty at this time was rife in London. The penny-pinching, tight-fisted, upper and middle classes exploited the poor and underprivileged around them. Charles Dickens wished to change this with his novella A Christmas Carol. He wished to communicate to them the problems that the poor were facing and that they should be helped and not just put in poor houses and prisons to decrease the surplus population. He felt that the poor were being grossly mistreated and that his work will be able to get through to people as nothing else would. He hoped it would be widely read and would influence people especially at the time of Christmas as people tend to be kinder to their fellow human beings at that time of year. He wished to bring relief to the problems that the poor face day on day. Scrooge treats everyone disrespectfully and he is a misanthropist which is someone who hates people in general. The way that Dickens creates Scrooge brings the problem that Dickens is trying to solve to the attention of the reader and they immediately understand what Dickens is describing the problem as because of Scrooge. In the first stave the first person that Scrooge comes into contact with is his clerk Bob Cratchit who was a very under paid worker that Scrooge had employed. From the moment dickens describes the relationship between Scrooge and the clerk it is clear to the reader that Scrooge thinks he is superior to Cratchit because of the money that Scrooge has. Dickens quotes Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerks fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal, but he couldnt replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal box in his own room this is just one example of how Scrooge treats his clerk as he could not find the simple generosity inside him to give his hard working clerk some coal. Also when the clerk is leaving for the night on Christmas Eve he has a conversation with Mr Cratchit. Cratchit asks for the day off tomorrow which is Christmas Day and Scrooge is very reluctant to let him have the day off. Scrooge quotes; A poor excuse for picking a mans pocket every twenty-fifth of December! But I suppose you must have the whole day. Be here all the earlier next morning! This is an example of how badly treated Mr Cratchit is by Scrooge not only is he underpaid for how much hard work he puts in he also has only one holiday a year that even then his boss is reluctant to let him have the day off. This is Dickens being clever and using Cratchit to his advantage by making the reader feel sympathy for Cratchit by how Scrooge treats him so that Dickens can tell the reader through there relationship that the poor needed to be treated better or with more compassion. During the first stave Scrooge is visited by two charity collectors when he is at his place of work. This scene in the book is a key one because Scrooges actions during this scene are to some extent evil. The charity collector is asking whether Scrooge could donate some money to those who are not as wealthy as himself. Scrooge becomes tense during this scene and quotes; I wish to be left alone. Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I dont make merry myself at Christmas, and I cant afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there. This quote is showing the reader how shockingly tight Scrooge is with his money and how unkind he is during a festive season of the year. The charity collector says that Many cant go there, many would rather die. This quote is supposed to make Scrooge feel a fragment of sympathy for these poor people but no Scrooge replies. If they would rather die they had better do it and decrease the surplus population. Besides excuse me I dont know that. This is an example of an evil quote from Scrooge and this is probably as dreadful as it gets. This quote is a key quote as it describes exactly how cold Scrooge is but also later on in the novel is used against him successfully. Also in the first stave Scrooge has a conversation with his nephew who is one of his only living relatives. The nephew is described as very warm and light an example of this is: He has so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this nephew of Scrooges, that he was all in glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again The words heated, glow and sparkled are key in this description as they work with the novel as the novel works through symbolism. Scrooge is associated with: Cold, Hard and Dark and his nephew is a contrast of this as he is described as Warm and Light.

SCHIZOPHRENIA and smoking essays

SCHIZOPHRENIA and smoking essays Tobacco use is significantly associated with schizophrenia. However, it is not clear if smoking is associated with illness itself, treatment, or underlying vulnerability to the disease. Smoking is recognized as a common problem in schizophrenia, based on clinical observations and epidemiological studies. Smoking has been suggested to be a marker of more severe illness, as smokers tend to have an earlier age of onset, more previous hospitalizations, and require higher doses of neuroleptic medication than nonsmokers (Goff, Henderson, @ Amico, 1992). In addition, smokers with schizophrenia tend to smoke more heavily and extract more nicotine from each cigarette than normal smokers. The reason why individuals with schizophrenia are more inclined to smoke are not well understood, and several possible explanations have been bought forth. Most of these suggest that nicotine serves as a form of self-medication, either against the side effects of the antipsychotic medications or against other deficits associated with the illness. The nicotine in the cigarettes stimulates dopamine release and has mood elevating and anxiolytic effects in normal smokers. Smoking also seems to improve cognitive performance in normal smokers. . The nicotine increases the metabolism of some typical neuroleptics; smoking may reduce some side effects of antipsychotic medications by decreasing their levels in the blood. The participants that were used for one study were Vietnam era twins. The participants were interviewed using the diagnostic interview schedule, supplemented with additional information about quantity and frequency of smoking. The interview assessed symptoms of nicotine dependence according to the criteria of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. The mean age of the participants was 44.6 years of age. The majority of the participants self identified themselves as non-Hispanic whites, about four percent were African Americans two per...

South West Tourism Industry Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

South West Tourism Industry - Case Study Example The post industrial era presents compelling evidence that the global climate is in a state of flux and will continue to fluctuate sometimes unpredictably and abnormally over the coming decades of the 21st century (United Nations World Tourism Organization 2003). Statistics show that the global mean temperature increased over 0.76C between 1850-1899 and 2001-2005(IPCC 2007) and this has been attributed to the constantly increasing greenhouse emissions which are said to cause adverse amounts of poisonous concentrations in the atmosphere. (Clarkson, R. 2002:Pearce, D. W. 2006:Pielke, R. A., Jr. 2005) The adverse impact of climatic change is not just restricted to our lifestyles and social well being but it also stands as a threat to economies relying solely upon tourism as an industry (Yohe et al 2007). Indeed the United Kingdoms Government Policy is increasingly taking into account the fact that in the decades ahead climatic change will become a focal issue for tourism development and management (Gossling, S. & Hall, and C.M. 2006). This is true to a large extent for the South West regions of Britain where the tourism industry has recently come to be considered as a highly climate sensitive economic sector similar to the food and transport industry. (Wilbanks et al 2007). The South West is a particular example of the how regional manifestations of climate change are becoming highly relevant for tourism destinations and tourists alike whereas allegedly the needful response has been said to be missing from the tourism managers of the region (Amelung et al 2008). This is largely a misconception as the most of the action in South West has been through the NGO's and the private sector which may have received little popularity due to the lack of funding and media coverage but it has laid a firm basis for political action. (Amelung et al 2008;Fankhauser, S. 2005:Hope, C. W. 2006) Popular South West tourist destinations have included the likes of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, and Gloucestershire (Cotswolds and the Forest of Dean), which have become attractions of major international and national importance. CEC (2005). The importance of this region as a popular tourist destination is continuously increasing with its recognisable, major holiday seaside resorts including Bournemouth/Poole, New quay, Torbay, and Sidmouth ( Peeters, P. 2007).Currently the region relies on smaller scale tourism attractions and is looking forward to hosting the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics (particularly in the Weymouth Area which will be hosting the "regattas".) (Peeters, P. 2007). The key challenges however faced by the South West tourism are not just overseas competition and sustainable development of the industry but the potential impacts of climate change, and how best to respond to the opportunities and challenges presented. (Peeters, P. 2007). On the face of it Global Warming is all set to provide the region with longer, reliable summers and keeping the local tourism business from being lost to sunnier destinations like the Mediterranean (Peeters, P. 2007). In the long run however the tourism industry and its