Decreased Regulation Essay Example for Free

Decreased Regulation Essay The relaxation of regulation laws though the program would result to various positive trends within the region. This is because the program is targeting to streamline regulations systems in the continent, that is, from the traditional models of using forcing communities and other stakeholders into using mechanisms developed at regional level. Using this new program, policies would be developed and implemented in accordance with local demands. This will remove inefficiencies that develop from the application of measures that are not meant for certain localities. In this regard, it shall be possible for communities to use only the measures that would have positive results. Having local communities develop measures that would lead to efficient implementation of pollution control plans in their respective providing incentives for local stakeholders to participates in these processes. For instance, the move from licences for waste management would help in attracting smaller players in the industry. It has to be understood that these small players could be the best positioned to meet local demands. In that regard, the communities would have aided in the implementation of measures that would have otherwise been a hard task. The inclusion of many players in the industry would foster competition that would further help in developing innovations in the pollution market, which has rarely happed historically. The innovation accruing from the practice of this medium would lead to greater efficiency in different segments of pollution control market. In addition, the innovation would lead to development of procedures that best meet the demands of the people—this develops from fact that individual communities have different needs that cannot be met by the traditional one size fits all model. In addition, having individual communities take care of their problems and employing best practices would lead to better solutions and in speedy manner. This is based on fact that communities will not have to go to the national and EU level to search for solutions. Indeed, they will just have top communicate to local leaders who would quickly adopt the necessary mechanisms leading to proper solutions. This means that local communities will be in a greater position to solve their own problems without having to run for external help. All these would lead to the empowerment of communities with responsibilities of their own affairs. Since communities would be the ones to pay costs of failure, there is high tendency for local leaders to ensure that pollution control through preventative measures become the bottom-line. In addition, it shall be possible for members of these communities to gauge their performance with other localities. This would most likely be achieved through competition among neighbourhoods, cities and nations. The decentralisation of decision making and implementation processes would further lead to greater participation of stakeholders at all level of pollution control. In this case, it shall be possible for localities to improve their performance of pollution control measures, reason being that member countries would enable their localities to deal with problems.

The Objective Of Green Building Concept Environmental Sciences Essay

The Objective Of Green Building Concept Environmental Sciences Essay Buildings, as offices, are responsible for around forty percent of the expenses borne by the business in operations. It is estimated that by the year 2050, the residential and office buildings will consume thirty eight percent of the total global energy and will release three thousand eight hundred mega tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. Green Building is a technique of constructing buildings using processes and materials which are environment friendly and energy efficient at the same time. Buildings require air, water, energy and space for its occupants. These are provided by systems in place like the ventilation system, the water supply system and the electricity supply system. The materials which are used in the construction of the building also produce environmental impact like carbon footprint, pollution through wastes and slurry, and the consumption of water and power. Buildings are one of the major sources of pollution that cause air pollution and are responsible for climate change. The objective of green building concept is to develop buildings which use the natural resources to the minimal at the time of construction as well as operation. Green buildings emphasize on the resource usage efficiency and also press upon the three Rs Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. The technique of green building maximizes the use of efficient construction materials and practices; boosts the use of natural sources and sinks in the buildings surroundings; minimizes the energy usage to run itself; uses highly proficient equipment for the indoor area; uses highly proficient methods for water and waste management. The indoor equipment includes lighting, air-conditioning and all other needed equipment. Green Building is a team effort and the designing and construction include consultants from architecture and landscaping, air conditioning, plumbing, energy and electrical areas. These consultants have to assess the impact of the each and every design on the environment, keeping in mind the cost involved. The final design needs to be feasible and should minimize the negative impacts that the building would have on the environment. Implementation of the green building concept can lead to a reduction of carbon emission by thirty five percent, water usage by forty percent, solid waste reduction by seventy percent and reduction in energy consumption by fifty percent. Green Building concept also emphasizes on the fact that an area with high biodiversity should be avoided as a site for the construction of a building. To ensure minimum negative impact on the environment by the construction and operation of a building, the factors which are to be kept in mind are to preserve the external environment to the building location; to improve the internal area for the residents of the building; and also preserve the areas which are not close to the building. Saving Energy Energy saving through green building concept occurs in two ways. First is reduction in the amount of energy that is consumed in lighting, air conditioning and other building operations. Second is the usage of energy sources which do not produce any greenhouse gases and are renewable in nature. Green Buildings emphasize more on natural lighting and concepts of temperature control and efficient design to further reduce the carbon footprint as well as reduce cost of operation. Saving water Green Buildings use various methods to reduce water usage, treat and reuse waste water and filter water from sourced from precipitation. The target is to be able to achieve zero water table negative impact from the green building. Reducing Waste Waste reduction is one of the most important issues that are to be dealt with. In the US alone, the waste from construction and demolition of buildings accounts for sixty percent of the total non-industrial waste. Green Building concept emphasizes on improving the design of the product, re-using and recycling materials. It results in tremendous waste reduction and also helps to reduce the environmental impact of the building. Improving Health and Productivity Hygiene and proper conditions inside the building also help in boosting human productivity. Hence various businesses concentrate on this aspect. Green Building concept provides for cleanliness and sound working conditions for employees and other inhabitants. Green Building concept in USA: Green building markets in the United States of America (USA), account for five to ten percent of the total building market. The largest organisation for green building in USA is the US Green Building Council (USGBC). It has over twelve thousand member organizations and is around a financial worth of over twelve billion dollars. Some of the rating systems that have been developed for green building concept are: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Green Globes, Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), International Codes Council and American National Standards Institute. In USA, the existing buildings are accounting for forty percent of total energy consumption, twelve percent of total water usage, sixty eight percent of electricity usage, thirty eight percent of carbon dioxide emission and sixty percent of non-industrial waste generation. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Rating System: LEED rating system was developed in USA by the US Green Building Council in the year 1998. It provides a set of standards for environmentally sustainable construction of building using a market-based rating system. This rating system is being followed in the US and many other countries for the evaluation of sustainable building. LEED can be defined for new constructions, existing buildings, commercial buildings and schools. Buildings which have been recognized to be eligible for LEED are offices, retail establishments, institutional buildings and service establishments. LEED rating system provides a variety of benefits and cost savings. The benefits include reducing the operating costs, reducing resource utilizations in terms of water and electricity, reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. The other cost savings includes the tax rebates and zone allowances. LEED rating system provides four levels of rating to a building design: Certified 26-32 pts Silver 33-38 pts Gold 39-51 pts Platinum 52-69 pts The points are obtained by the building through the following design issues: Sustainable sites 14 pts Innovation and design 5 pts Energy and atmosphere 17 pts Indoor quality 15 pts Materials and resources 13 pts Water efficiency 5 pts Green Building concept in India In India, a number of agencies are involved in the Green Building concept execution and monitoring. The major agencies are Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) was established in 1974 and is headquartered at New Delhi. TERI has developed a new rating system for Green Building assessment. This rating system is called Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA). In India, both the LEED and the GRIHA rating systems are followed along with the Energy Conservation Building Code 2007 given by BEE. Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) rating system: GRIHA was developed by TERI and has been adopted by the ministry of new and renewable resources. It takes into account the variations in the climate, architectural practices followed and the practices for construction and also keeps the National Building Code 2005 as well as the Energy Conservation Building Code 2007. GRIHA has been specially created keeping in mind the non-air conditioned and the partially air conditioned buildings. GRIHA provides ratings for institutional, residential and commercial buildings. The emphasis is on the national concerns for environment, the weather and climate conditions, and providing solutions. According to the information collected, the following hypothesis is formulated: H: The benefits of Green Building approach are significantly greater than the costs incurred to go green Green Building concept and corporate sustainability: For corporations, green building concept comes with a bundle of benefits. The benefits include: Potentially higher capital value in the future for the building Risk of obsolescence decreases The demand from institutional investors increases Operating costs reduce for the building The attrition for the tenant decreases The maintenance cost reduces The need for refurbishment in the future decreases Green Building concept also helps in ensuring that the business stays insulated from any energy price increase in the future Cost and Benefits of Green Buildings: Figure : Source: Greening our built world: Costs, Benefits and Strategies The major barrier found towards Green Building concept, through research conducted, is the widespread perception amongst people that the upfront costs involved in the development of a green building are significantly higher than those of conventional buildings. In a survey, by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development in the year 2007, it was found that the people perceived the green buildings initial setup costs to be higher than the conventional buildings by 17 percent. This perception of the people was found to be wrong. 170 buildings were analysed in the research in Greening our built world. The analysis revealed that the green buildings cost, on an average, less than 2 percent more than the conventional buildings, also providing a large range of additional benefits. The same survey, by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, also found that the people perceive buildings to produce around 20 percent of the CO2 emission. This perception is also wrong since buildings produce around 40 percent of the world CO2 emissions. The architects and the developers interviewed from these 170 buildings gave information on the premium, in terms of cost of turning green. The following figure illustrates the cost premium that is incurred, in green building development according to the levels of certification by LEED rating system. It shows that more than 80 out of the 170 buildings analysed have incurred less than 2 percent premium in going green. Figure : Source: Greening Our Built World: Costs, Benefits and Strategies The average costs and benefits analysed through the research are also listed in the form of a graph. It provides a comparison of the additional costs incurred by going green in schools and offices, and the simultaneous benefits received. The graph clearly suggests that the benefits far outweigh the costs incurred. Figure : Source: Greening Our Built World: Costs Benefits and Strategies Another perception that people have about green buildings is that a green building necessarily has to air conditioned. This perception is also proved wrong by the application of green building concepts to some of the Indian like the Gulbarga and the Hyderabad Institute of Technology and Management. The third misleading perception about green buildings that people have is that green buildings typically take more time to be developed than a conventional building. This perception is also not true. (Urban Sustainability and Green Buildings for the 21st Century, 2009) Hunzinger Construction University Case: Hunzinger Construction University achieved Platinum level LEED certification in Green Building concept. It has been able to achieve savings in water, energy and increased usage of green materials. Water efficiency has been achieved through various measures like dual flush water closet, waterless urinals and efficient lavatory faucets. These methods have led to a saving of 7700 gallons of water per annum. Energy efficiency was achieved using intelligent lighting systems which could control light intensity and power usage, and work with the day light intensity control. Automatic shut-off systems were also used. Using these techniques, HCU has achieved more than 34 percent reduction in power density, significantly more than the specifications of ANSI. HCU has opted for green power generation like solar panels and wind power, to minimise its power requirements from conventional power sources. The construction material used in the HCU comprised of more than 57 percent of salvaged recycled materials. These practices have led to a decreased operation cost as well as reduced impact on environment. The case has been published in Journal of Green Building, 2008. Woods Hole Research Centre Case: Woods Hole Research Centre (WHRC) is an independent, non-for-profit, NGO with core focus on environmental studies, education and creation of new and innovative policies. The research facility spans 19,300 sq. feet and has been designed with the target of achieving zero net-energy building status. It has been fitted with a solar photovoltaic system on the roof and a wind turbine for electricity generation. The design of building provides natural lighting to reduce energy consumption and also provides for insulation materials which are CFC-free. The HVAC system installed in the complex provides for an energy efficient heating, cooling and ventilation. The target of the photovoltaic system is to provide for 33 percent of the energy requirements of the complex while the rest is provided by the wind powered turbine system. The facility requires a total of 90964 kiloWatt-hour electrical energy, out of which 60720 kiloWatt-hour was provided by utility grid and the remaining 30244 kiloWatt-h our was provided by the Photovoltaic System. The case is an extract from the Journal of Green Building, 2008. The following figure compares the energy intensity of the Woods Hole Research Centres other facilities, average of US offices and the newly constructed WHRC facility. Figure : Source: Journal of Green Building, volume 3, 2008 Nordheim Court Case: Nordheim Court is a student housing facility for University of Washington. It forms a great example of the operational and setup benefits of green building concept with the right choice of strategies. The building has been constructed with a budget of 85 dollars per sq. feet. The energy efficiency of the building far surpasses the Washington State Energy Code standards and the water consumption in the building is less by 30 percent than a conventional building. The construction waste has been diverted to prevent 589 tonnes of landfills. This procedure of waste diversion has also resulted in a saving of 14582 dollars. University of Sunshine Coast Chancellery Case: University of Sunshine Coast is located in Queensland, Australia. One of the parts of the university called the Chancellery has been designed on green building standards. The total fossil fuel based energy consumption of the building is around 133 kiloWatt-hour per sq. metre which is less than the 152 kiloWatt-hour per sq. metre. The building uses a combined mode of ventilation system which provides natural ventilation as well as fully air conditioned area without any natural ventilation. This helps in reducing the CO2 emissions from the building. The lighting system used in the building also uses natural light and light intensity control systems to provide better energy efficiency to the building. (St. Clair, Peter Hyde, Richard, 2009) Green Building performance in India Name of the Project Location Built-up Area (sq ft.) Rating Achieved Increase in Cost (percent) Payback Period (Years) CII-Sorabji Godrej GBC Hyderabad 20,000 Platinum 18 7 ITC Green Centre Gurgaon 170,000 Platinum 15 6 Wipro Gurgaon 175,000 Platinum 8 5 Technopolis Kolkata 72,000 Gold 6 3 Spectral Services Consultants Office Noida 15,000 Platinum 8 4 HITAM Hyderabad 78,000 Silver 2 3 Grundfos Pump Chennai 40,000 Gold 6 3 Figure : Source: CII According to studies, in a project worth 5 million dollars, an additional expenditure on green building concept of 100 thousand dollars results in a saving of 1 million dollars over a period of 20 years. One Indiabulls Centre in Lower parel, Mumbai is a fine case of green building initiatives that have been undertaken in India. The material usage in the centre have been through use of fly ash in concrete, recycled metal content in steel used, low VOC content paints, efficient HVAC systems. The centre also includes a sewage treatment plant, solar panels for heating water, water harvesting system as well as a roof top garden. Figure : Source: Indiabulls Real Estate The cost benefit analysis from the project of One Indiabulls Centre is given below. The savings resulting from the concept of green building is substantial. Figure : Source: CII, Indiabulls Real Estate

The bystander effect

The bystander effect And of Clay We Are Created, written by Isabel Allende, explores what social psychologists refer to as the bystander effect. In the story, Azucena is a little girl who is trapped in the mud, and needs help if she is to survive. While the girl suffers and was filmed by countless reporters, no one actually comes to save her. The reporters are more concerned with filming the girl than with saving her life. The bystander effect is a psychological phenomenon where persons are less likely to lend assistance in an emergency situation when other humans are present than when they are alone (Myers, 463). Throughout the story, Allende uses voyeurism as a critical dramatic device as she connects Eva Luna to Rolf and Azucena. Through the interactions between the characters, Allende is able to investigate how voyeurism can lead to social apathy and act as a desensitizer in a crisis. Allendes And of Clay We Are Created describes how a host of reporters and cameramen become desensitized and apathetic towards Azucena as she is dying a preventable death. The situation clearly characterizes the bystander effect. Studies by John Darley, a social psychologist at Princeton University, Allan I. Teger, and Lawrence D. Lewis, his colleagues, demonstrated this psychological phenomenon in the laboratory. The most common explanation of this phenomenon is that, the more people present, the more likely the individual observer will pass off the responsibility to help the victim, unfortunately believing that there is bound to be someone who is helping already or is going to help soon (Darley, Lewis, and Teger 395). As more reporters arrive on the scene, each individual reporter feels less obliged to actually, help the girl. Although in the story Allende does mention, Soldiers and volunteers had arrived to rescue the living, the reader is made aware that much of the rescue effort is ineffective and cumbersome (47). In this way, Allende poignantly criticizes the government for not responding appropriately, when she points out geologists had set up their seismographs weeks before and knew that the mountain had awakened again (47). She goes on to say that the geologists had predicted that the heat of the eruption could detach the eternal ice from the slopes of the volcano, but no one heeded their warnings (Allende 47). The immediate thought that strikes the reader is that this completely ghastly episode could have been thwarted entirely if only the villagers had been either directly forewarned or even forced to relocate by the authorities. Interestingly, Allende seems to point out that the villagers themselves did not heed the warnings of the geologists, perhaps to mitigate any blame on the government and the media. Adding to the frustration and ignorance, the leaders of the government and military are unable and/or unwilling to help secure a pump that could have drained the mud water, which could have effectively saved the little girls life. Although it is granted that Azucena is not the only person in dire need of rescuing, the fact that she became the symbol of the tragedy (47) while never receiving help is truly heartbreaking. Instead, the entire world must watch the girl die a slow, agonizing death in front of the cameras. What makes the situation so horrifying is that this event closely parallels an actual incident that occurred in Columbia in 1985 (Picture power). A volcano had erupted (as in the story), and vomited debris and catalyzed mudslides that engulfed the towns near the mountain. A photojournalist who proceeded to take her photograph, which made headlines throughout the world, found a 13-year-old girl. Many who saw the photographs were appalled how technology had been able to cap ture her image for all time and transmit it around the globe, but was unable to save her life (Picture power). In fact, Allende seems to explicitly question the integrity and value of human technology as she describes how more television and movie teams arrived with spools of cable, tapes, film, videos, precision lenses, recorders, sounds consoles, lights, reflecting screens, auxiliary motors, cartons of supplies, electricians, sound technicians, and cameramen, yet how they were not able to secure one life-saving pump (50). It is almost unbelievable how so much advanced technology and machines are brought to film the disaster as opposed to the amount of materials and supplies that are needed to help save the victims of the calamity. Allende is almost begging someone to help the girl as Rolf keeps pleading for a pump (50). Allende also masterfully foreshadows that the attempt to save Azucenas life will inevitably fail as she tells how anyone attempting to reach her was in danger of sinking [themselves] (48). When a rope is thrown to the girl, she tries to grab the rope, but ends up sinking deeper into the mud (Allende, 48). At this point, the reader must also ask whether Azucena actually wants to be saved. She must have been in the mud for some time now, and the pain and shock would have been eating away at her will to survive. In fact, when the rope is thrown at her, she makes no effort to catch the rope (Allende, 48). Has Allende doomed Azucena to death already? For a while, the reader is given little rays of hope that the girl will eventually be rescued and that there will be a happy ending, but in all honesty, most of the signs point toward certain death for the girl. Another attempt to rescue her by tying a rope beneath her arms is also thwarted when the girl cries out in pain from them pulling on the rope (Allende, 48). She is stuck in the mud and is only kept from being totally consumed by the mud when she is given a tire as a life buoy (Allende, 48). Allende skillfully blends fact and fiction, by creating her own stories from events that have transpired in the real world. She creates characters that tell a gripping story, and become very believable. In the story, Rolf is a reporter who finds Azucena, the girl trapped in the mud and debris. Samuel Amago, a literary critic writing in the Latin American Literary Review, asserts that [Rolf] tries to give [Azucena] the inspiration to live while the impersonal television cameras look on without helping (54). He has become battle-tested through his work as Allende explains: For years, he had been a familiar figure in newscasts, reporting live at the scene of battles and catastrophes with awesome tenacity. Nothing could stop himit seemed as if nothing could shake his fortitude or deter his curiosity. Fear seemed never to touch him, although he was not a courageous man, far from it. (47) Through Azucenas struggle, he ends up undergoing a personal transformation by abandoning his aloof stance as a reporter that had served him so well in previous episodes, and by passionately embracing the girls fate personally. This is where voyeurism comes into play. This is not the kind of voyeurism confined only to the sexual fetish of receiving gratification from observing a sexual occurrence or object, but as Elizabeth Gough, a literary critic writing in the Journal of Modern Literature, states that it also includes any kind of intense, hidden or distant gazing (93). Eva Luna is not physically present with Rolf and Azucena, but she is able to see everything that is occurring through the news. She is in a way, spying on the two people. The intensity of her gazing is noticeable as the reader finds that Eva is emotionally, connected as she witnesses the events on television. The first aspect of voyeurism we find is the camera in the story. Rolf is a reporter and sees everything through a lens. Allende describes how the lens of the camera had a strange effect on him; it was as if it transported him to a different time from which he could watch events without actually participating in them (47-48). The mechanical tailoring of the cameras rolling as a human life is slowly failing portrays the media as impersonal, cold, and heartless. To Rolf, the camera lens acted like a desensitizer and promoted a sense of separation between Rolf and his surroundings so that while he was physically at the scene, his mind was in another safe, secure place. Eva Luna realizes that for Rolf, the fictive distance [between the lens and the real world] seemed to protect him from his own emotions (321). Rolf had erected a psychological self-defense mechanism in response to his traumatic experiences as a young child. His trauma mostly stems from his guilt for not protecting his sis ter, Katharina, from their abusive father. Allende suggests that Rolf could not forgive himself for not saving his sister, but through his efforts to save Azucena- and through his subsequent emotional revelations- he could finally weep for her death and for the guilt of having abandoned her (328). Through this act of acceptance, Rolf finally realizes that all his life he had been taking refuge behind a lens to test whether reality was more tolerable from that perspective (Allende 328). Allende suggests that Rolfs voyeuristic approach to life had led to shallow success as a reporter, and weakened his ability to trust his own emotions as well as other humans. Why else did it take him so long to accept that Azucena was going to die? It was because he was too afraid to feel the pain of loss again, just like when he lost his sister. One of the most memorable turning points in the story occurs when Azucena helps Rolf break down his emotional barriers and to come to terms with own past. Azucena accomplishes this not by saying much, but by listening to Rolfs stories until he could not hold back the unyielding floodgates that had contained Rolf Carles past (Allende, 327). In a classic reversal of roles, Azucena takes on the nurturing role of the adult during Rolfs weak and vulnerable moments. Allende portrays Rolfs mother as an uncaring, frigid woman who would not give him emotional support or even to dry his tears (329). Azucena is the one who tells Rolf not to cry, something a traditional mother figure would have done (Allende 329). Voyeurism is also evident when Eva Luna, Rolfs lover, watches all that occurs in the news on television. The physical distance between Eva and Rolf is palpable, as Allende explains through Eva: Many miles away, I watched Rolf Carle and the girl on a television screen (324). Nonetheless, through the story we are made aware that Eva and Rolf are intangibly bound together. The reader is left in the similar plight of Eva; we see natural disasters and tragedy through the eyes of the media. Therefore, in a sense, the media helps desensitize humans to real tragedies that occur by providing a fictive, safe distance for its viewers. This is precisely the reason why actually experiencing something can leave a truly lasting impression whereas seeing something on television can seem obscure and impartial. However, in the story, this fictive distance actually fuels the reality of what is happening at the disaster scene to Eva. For Eva, it is as if she is physically present at the disaster with Rolf and Azucena. The images on the television help her visualize what Rolf is seeing and even thinking at each precise moment, hour by hour (Allende 326). It is indeed surprising and remarkable how Allende portrays the attachment of Eva to Rolf even though Eva is limited to the impersonal medium of television to keep in touch with her lover. Allende explains that Eva was near [Rolfs] world and [she] could at least get a feeling of what he lived through (324). She further clarifies that while [t]he screen reduced the disaster to a single plane and accentuated the tremendous distance that separated [Eva] from Rolf Carle; nonetheless, [she] was there with him (324). Eva and Rolf were connected in mind as well, as Eva was able to overhear the verbal exchanges between Rolf and Azucena to the point wh ere she was present with them (Allende 326). Although it can be argued that Eva is much more personally connected and involved than the general reader is to the situation at the site of the catastrophe, the reader is drawn into the conflict and struggle by the personal narrative of Eva. The reader is told the story through Evas perspective, and thus we are left with an impression that is comparable to the storyteller. The voyeurism goes many ways. Compounding this idea of long-distance interconnectedness is how Allende ties Eva to Azucena, in addition to Rolf. Through Rolfs interplay with Azucena, Eva is hurt by the girls every suffering, and feels Rolfs frustration and impotence (Allende 324). The three are enjoined together in a peculiar love triangle. Rolf tells Azucena that he loves her more than he loved his mother, more than his sister, more than all the women who had slept in his arms, more than he loved [Eva], his life companion (Allende 330). Of course, he does not mean Eros love, the kind between adult men and women, but a more intrinsically human one of neighborly love and goodwill. Eva, in her turn, expresses her love for Rolf and Azucena when she admits that she would have given anything to be trapped in that well in her place, [and] would have exchanged her life for Azucenas (Allende 330). We are then forced to analyze whether the voyeuristic qualities of the media affects the different types of l ove shown in the story. For the most part, the media helps Eva to express stronger love for Rolf and to become connected to Azucena, whom she had never met. Without the media, Eva would never have known what had happened at the disaster as well as the identity of the little girl who had tremendously affected Rolf. For Rolf, his initial voyeurism through the lens of the camera had acted as a desensitizer and emotional barricade, and when faced with the crisis, his love for Azucena is bolstered as he comes to realize he must let go of his past and obligingly accept the situation. However, Rolfs love for Eva seems to have taken a hit after he returns from his ordeal (Allende 331). A bitter question one is forced to ask is what or who exactly Allende is blaming in her story, or if she is even blaming someone or something in particular for Azucenas death. While it is clear that Rolf definitely undergoes a psychological metamorphosis, we cannot logically assume that this change is for the better. The end of the story suggests that Rolf will never be the same man again, but that he will eventually heal (Allende 331). Eva hopes that one day when Rolf return[s] from [his] nightmares, they shall be the happy couple they used to be (Allende 331). However, the ending suggests that for Rolf, the incident was as traumatic as his initial trauma as a child. Rolf is not free from his past, as Eva would like him to be. In fact, although he is freed from his childhood trauma, he is still haunted by his failure to save Azucena. Perhaps Allende is suggesting that emotional healing can only occur when the victim is ready to be healed. Then is Allende blaming the media for Azucenas death? Alternatively, is she pointing out the gross inability of the government to intervene swiftly and to protect its citizens? Probably, a bit of both. The media is clearly depicted in a heartless, cold manner. Why did anyone not helped? Nevertheless, if any one thing is to be blamed, it should be the society where this incident occurred. Allende seems to be challenging the ineptitude and unpreparedness of the government and its leaders for not mustering the resources and courage to save the girl. The villagers are also criticized as unheeding fools who only brought the calamity upon themselves by not listening to the geologists. This makes it hard to blame anyone at all. Perhaps Allende is suggesting that it is unnecessary to blame anyone, but rather to calmly accept what happened, just as Azucena does in the end. One thing is though: that Allende does not approve of the social apathy that permeates throughout the story, and claims t hat it was the unwillingness to help that ultimately kills Azucena. This makes us wonder, just how dangerous it can be to remain a bystander, instead of actively assisting those who need our help. Reference: Amago, Samuel. Isabel Allende and the postmodern literary tradition: A reconsideration of Cuentos de Eva Luna. Latin American Literary Review 28.56 (Jul-Dec 2000): 43-61. Darley, John M., Allan I. Teger, and Lawrence D. Lewis. Do Groups Always Inhibit Individuals Responses To Potential Emergencies? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 26.3 (1973): 395-399. Gough, Elizabeth (2004). Vision and Division: Voyeurism in the Works of Isabel Allende.Journal of Modern Literature,27(4),93-120. Retrieved May 2, 2010, from Research Library. (Document ID:801683111). Myers, David G. (2010). Social Psychology (10th Ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill Picture power: Tragedy of Omayra Sanchez. BBC News 30 Sept. 2005. Retrieved April 17, 2010 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4231020.stm. Rubenstein, R. Larson, C. (2002). Worlds of fiction (2nd Ed.). Isabel Allende, And of Clay Are We Created, 46-52. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall

Comparison of Ripe Figs, The Story of an Hour, and The Storm by Kate Ch

Comparison of Ripe Figs, The Story of an Hour, and The Storm by Kate Chopin In the three short works, "Ripe Figs," "The Story of an Hour," and "The Storm," Kate Chopin has woven into each an element of nature over which no one has control. She uses short time spans to heighten impact and bring her stories to quick conclusions. She displays attitudes in her characters in two of her stories which may have been very controversial at the time they were written. "Ripe Figs" is the shorter of the three, covering a summer in a young girl's life. The figs need to ripen before she can visit her cousins. At first the leaves of the fig tree were tender and the figs were "little hard, green marbles" (4). Each time she would slowly walk beneath the leaves, she would go away disappointed. Then one day she saw something that made her "sing and dance the whole day long" (4). The figs were ripe. However when she sat some down before her godmother, the godmother said, "Ah, how early the figs have ripened this year!", but for the girl, they "ripened very late" (4). Kate Chop in's second short story, "The Story of an Hour," takes place in the space of an hour, during which a wife comes to terms with the death of her husband. Upon the news of her husband's death, she wept with "wild abandonment" (12). After "the storm of grief had spent itself" (12), she went to her room alone. There she sat in a "roomy armchair" (12), facing the window. She could see new life in the leaves on the trees and smell a "breath of rain in the air" (12). Also she could hear the sounds of life still going on; "a peddler was crying his wares, and the music of someone singing in the distance reached her, along with the sound of countless sparrows twittering in the eave... ... be free again when he sends her a message not to hurry home. Perhaps this was the unspoken feeling of many women during Chopin's lifetime. In summary these three short stories seem to have very much in common. The use of nature, the short time frames, and the perhaps shocking attitudes of some of the characters all combine to create a sense of identity that one might expect to see in works by the same writer. Kate Chopins' style is never boring. Her stories move quickly and have great impact. Bibliography: Works Cited Chopin, Kate. "Ripe Figs." Literature for Composition. 3rd ed. Ed Sylvan Barnet et al. New York: Harper, 1992. 4. "The Story of an Hour." Literature for Composition. 3rd ed. Ed Sylvan Barnet et al. New York: Harper, 1992. 12 - 14. "The Storm." Literature for Composition. 3rd ed. Ed Sylvan Barnet et al. New York: Harper, 1992. 27 - 29.

Code Of Professional Ethics By American Institute Of Certified Public E

Code of Professional Ethics by American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Introduction "A code of professional ethics is a voluntary assumption of self discipline above and beyond the requirements of the law. The Code of Ethical Conduct serves the highly practical purpose to notify the public that the profession will protect the public interest" (Carey, Doherty: p 3). When people need a doctor, a lawyer or a certified public accountant, they seek someone whom they can trust to do a good job, not for himself but for them. People assume that the hired professional is qualified since they cannot appraise him. They must take it on faith that he is competent. That is why professionals are distinguished from businesses and why there is a need for ethical regulations. The Code of Professional Ethics The Code of Professional Ethics for public accountants was developed by the American Institute of Public Accountant and includes four different categories. The first, Concepts of Professional Ethics, establishes major requirements for CPAs in different areas of their day-to-day professional activities. The main parts of the Code are: Independence, Integrity and Objectivity in the practice of public accounting, Competence and technical standards, Responsibilities to clients, Responsibilities to colleagues and Other responsibilities and Practices. Independence has always been the fundamental concept to the accounting profession. In fact it is the most essential to the practice of all professions. The financial reports produced by CPAs would be of little value to the public unless CPAs maintain their independence. Independence has always been associated with integrity and objectivity. Since faults on financial statements may be the result of either a honest mistake or a lack of integrity it is imperative to associate the notion of independence with the objectivity and integrity. As part of the requirements by the Code of ethics, CPA should avoid any relationships that may result in the CPA's becoming dependent on the particular client. Such relationships include financial interests and client management. It is very important that the opinion of the CPA reflects the results of operating decisions taken by the client and not any underlying ideas which may be the case if a CPA takes part in the decision making process of the company. Another important ... ... of particular cases given under Ethics Rulings. In addition to the standards described above, state CPA institutions and other government establish their own ethical standards. Conclusion Professional ethics is concerned with human behaviour and human relations. As human society becomes more complicated, so do the codes of professional conduct. The purpose of the rules is to attract and increase public confidence and discourage behaviour inconsistent with the image of profession. Public confidence may even be more important to the public accountant than to any other professional because CPAs are concerned not only about their clients but also about those who rely on their reports. The code of ethical conduct provides members of the profession with the rules that were worked out on the historical basis to attract the confidence of the public. Therefore, the rules of ethics are the foundation of public confidence. Works Cited John L. Carey and William O. Doherty. Ethical Standards of the Accounting Profession. New York: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1966 American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Code of Professional Ethics. New York: AICPA, 1977

Hollywood main stream cinema’s treatment of gender in the 1980’s Essay

To what extent is Rambo: First Blood Part 2 typical of Hollywood mainstream cinema’s treatment of gender in the 1980’s? Action films in the 1980’s reflected the changes and insecurity’s within American society. There had been a rise in feminism meaning that the masculine form and dominance was being undermined and white working class males did not know where their place was in society. It was also in the immediate time after the Vietnam War and confusion and anger still lingered. The Vietnam War divided the American nation as a whole because, as it has been in recent times with the war in Iraq, people didn’t fully understand why America needed to impose their presence in a country where they felt they had nothing to gain. The action film in the 1980’s introduced a hero that differentiated masculinity and femininity using the form of the body as a way of ensuring power, dominance and self-respect. Rambo: First Blood Part 2 is a typical film of this era in terms of masculinity and the ways in which men and women are portrayed. In the film Rambo: First Blood Part 2 Sylvester Stallone portrays a typical action hero of the ‘war film’ genre in the 1980’s but also an outcast of society after the Vietnam War. He is a veteran of Vietnam and came home to find that everything he had known had changed and he was no longer considered an honourable soldier but more as a war criminal. Rambo’s mission in this film is to go back to Vietnam and see if he can find a camp that he is told has many POW’s. If he finds the men, he can only take photographs but he has a problem with this and risks his own life to save them. He is very strong and muscular and is able to defeat the soldiers, Russian and Vietnamese, single handed. Douglas Kellner states that the film; ‘Follows the conventions of the Hollywood genre of the â€Å"war film†, which dramatizes conflicts between the United States and its â€Å"enemies† and provides a happy ending that portrays the victory of good over evil.’ (Kellner, 1994, p.10) This means that America always won no matter who the enemy was. In reality this is something that America could not accomplish. There was no happy ending and there were no immediate heroes. Rambo is allowed to bring glory upon America and diffuse a situation that could have cost the American military even more respect and dignity. America had lost some of its power within the world and they strived to get it back. It had lost its first war and it had become important to remasculinize America. There was a growing fear of communism in the country and displaying male heroes which went against the communist regime was their idea of establishing the ideal throughout the world by a means of globalization. Globalization had been taking place throughout the history of cinema by a means of film that was imported and exported to places around the world. In effect most of the action films set in Vietnam, and other films which hold a strong view of patriotism and heroism within America in the 1980’s, can be seen as propaganda films against the rise of communism. The purpose, with or without the knowledge of the audience, was to get the idea across to a mass audience that communism was against the principles of the country. In Rambo the ‘evil’ characters are the Vietnamese and Russian soldiers and ironically, it turns out that the greatest threat to Rambo is not the Vietnamese, although they do pose a strong force, it is the Russians. The Russians are shown as being extremely strong, relentless, and willing to put a man through torture to get what they want. Nevertheless, whatever the Russians do you cannot beat a man with as much physical and mental strength as Rambo. This follows a pattern throughout action films in the 1980’s. One film that is suggestive of this is Rocky 4. Rocky 4 (1985) also stars Sylvester Stallone but this time he is a boxer. He is fighting against a strong Russian fighter named Ivan Drago. Drago is very tough and stands at over 6ft tall. The Russian crowd all stand behind their fighter but when the final fight is over and Rocky defeats him with all of his strength the Russians begin to show support for Rocky and boo their fighter. This is the film industry’s way of evoking patriotism and the ever-growing fear of the communist regime after the Cold War. Philip L. Gianos states that; ‘The advent of Vietnam in film provided an opportunity for filmmakers who were denied an actual shooting war: a parallel, surrogate setting in which cold war themes could be played out.’ (Gianos. 1998, P.159) The first response from the film industry during this time was a set of anti-communist films to respond to the changing political environment. The villains are almost always portrayed as foreign internationals such as Russian, German, and sometimes English and they are usually a communist operative. They are never American in these films because the hero is American. He is fighting for his country and if it were another American he is fighting against he is effectively fighting against America. Other action films that were released at that time include, The Terminator, Rocky, Predator, and Die Hard. Millions of people worldwide, mainly consisting of young males went to see these films at the cinema. They gave them a chance to ‘latch on to big, muscular, violent men as cinematic heroes.’ (Katz, 1994, p134) These heroes gave the audience the chance to gain self-respect and security as it represented a masculinity that was unaffected by the rise of feminism. Gender roles had been reversed due to the growing rise of a feminist movement that showed women were increasingly moving into the workplace rather than staying at home. The displaying of the male physique and the physical torture it goes through to enable glory and victory over evil is further suggestive of masculinity in crisis and the gain of global respect. Women could not gain this kind of respect because they could not attain that degree of physical strength and endurance so therefore this was one thing that they couldn’t take away from men. The female role in the action film of the 1980’s appears at first glance to be on equal footing with the male. However, there are some differences in the ways in which they go about their missions. In Rambo: First Blood Part 2 the main female character, Co Bao, is strong, resourceful and a very capable fighter. She is Rambo’s contact in Vietnam and later becomes his love interest. During the film she cautions Rambo to follow his orders and when she goes to save him from the Russian’s in the POW camp she uses a different technique than Rambo. While Rambo attacked her captor from behind and overpowered him she sneaked into the camp as a prostitute. Therefore the issue of strength and power is present in the male character but in the female character it is more about subtlety and intelligence. Rambo is the definitive male of 80’s cinema and was joined by characters such as John McLain (Die Hard) and Rocky Balboa (Rocky). In these films the main action centres around one hero and the female character is usually the love-interest or accomplice. In previous war/actions films and Vietnam films the veterans were seen as either psychopaths, such as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, or tragic characters, Bob Hyde in Coming Home. In the films of the 1980’s, however, the hero fights back. In Rambo Part 2 Rambo can be seen as an anti-hero because of his rebellious behaviour by going against his orders to leave the POW’s and by telling Murdock that he will come and get him when he gets back from the jungle. This makes his character more dangerous and exciting to the audience as you don’t know what he is going to do. He has many people after him in Vietnam but he also has enemies at home. He has to deal with ‘home-grown discrimination’ because of the war and in effect he is no longer fighting for his country. He is doing it for the comrades that he fought with; ‘In these films the enemy is not the enemy in a war that is officially over but rather the civilian and military leadership that failed to win the war’ (Gianos. 1998, p.166) After Co Bao is killed Rambo channels his emotions into retaliation and thus becomes a fighting machine that is only out for revenge. Before she was killed he was ready to leave after finding that Murdock sent him out just to get free of him and stem reports that there were POW’s still in Vietnam. The style of the film helps to build the perception that he is a ‘god’ and that he is invincible. The use of lighting and camera angles are used to enhance his physique and the fast paced editing in the action shots are used to show that he is fast, strong and practical in the ways he attacks his enemies. Rambo shows us the ideal, very well-built muscular body of the white male in a place where he appears to belong. Commonly used iconography for Vietnam films included dense jungle, camouflage equipment and hi-tech weaponry. He uses the jungle to an advantage and appears to know it better than those who live there. He uses his initiative and intelligence in the jungle and is able to use it to gain the upper hand in a battle. One example of this is the scene in which he attacks a US soldier after he hides in a bank of mud with his eyes being the only thing visible. The male body in these films ‘constructs the white man as physically superior, yet also an everyman, built to do the job of colonial world improvement’ (Dyer, 2002, p.269) The fact that the superior build of the hero’s body establishes him as an everyman means that it is something that any man can attain – as long as you are white. Black men are rarely portrayed in this manner and if they are they are usually the villains of the movie and end up being defeated. In conclusion, the gender representation in the film is an effort from the United States to fulfil the growing need of remasculinizing American society, in particularly, in the dominant white majority of the working class. With the rise of feminism, fear of communism, political scandals and the Vietnam War, it became imperative for America to try and rebuild the image of men in a positive light. Rather than focusing on men as a collective these films focused on one individual and therefore a view of machismo, strength and determination became the ‘norm’. The films of the 1980’s became a kind of vessel of the ideal and most of these films are still popular in today’s society and may still be what some men aspire to be. If you were like these men you were considered to be manly and if you weren’t you were understood to be weak and not the ‘typical’ American male. The male hero in these films was put there to win. America needed a hero and they found him in these films. The masculine form was in crisis and the wholesomeness and fearless heroes could make an impact on the male audience who would then seek to be like the characters they watched on screen. Bibliography Gianos P.L (1998) Politics and Politicians in American Film, London, Greenwood Press Dyer, R, (2002) The White Man’s Muscles in Adams. R and Savran. D (eds) (2002) The Masculinity Studies Reader Oxford, Blackwell Publishers Jeffords S. (1989) The Remasculinization of America: Gender and the Vietnam War Indianapolis and Bloomington, Indiana University Press Kellner D. and Katz. J (1994) in Dines G and Humez J.M (eds) (1994) Gender, Race and Class in Media London, Sage Publications

Aphra Behn – Gender Economics in the Rover

TERM PAPER Gender Economics of Restoration and Aphra Behn INTRODUCTION The Restoration era allowed women to step into what was historically an essentially masculine space, that of literary and theatrical production. As women stepped on stage, they entered a market- they were commodities displayed to attract a larger crowd towards the theatre.Thus even though through writing or acting a woman could gain financial independence, unlike men they weren’t selling their work, they were ostensibly selling a part of themselves. A woman could not escape commodification even if she didn’t enter this particular market – matrimony and the nunnery were also means of buying and selling of women’s ‘wares’. The hymen itself was a commodity, as a woman could only marry if she was a virgin.In fact arguably in Restoration Comedy no witty unmarried was without ‘property and a maidenhead’. Thus, arguably, a woman could not escape being a prostitute in the Restoration Period. As a woman author who thus reflected the trend of women actors entering the world of theatrical production, Aphra Behn was continually negotiating the dichotomy of economic freedom and control of women in this market-space. Thus her work would be the ideal case study to understand the gender economics of the Restoration Period.In this context, I would like to position Aphra Behn’s works, The Rover Part I and II, The Feign’d Curtizans, The Luckey Chance, The Forced Marriage: or The Jealous Bridegroom and ‘The Golden Age† to understand the place of women in the economics of the Restoration Era and how they negotiated in the market-space they were now stepping into. WOMEN’S PROBLEMATIZED INTRODUCTION IN THE MARKET The restoration of Charles II to the throne brought a almost deliberate reversal of the previously prevalent Puritan ethic. There was a new kind of apparent sexual freedom.He introduced the practice of actresses playing female roles. However, actresses earned far less than actors, thus had to resort to being mistresses. Also, publishing by the women was tantamount to prostitution. Typically, the Restoration comedies portrayed the lives of hedonistic young men who filled their leisure hours with drinking, whoring, theatre and â€Å"wit†. They needed money but had no inclination to actually earn it and preferred procuring it through marriage to an heiress. As in the typical Restoration comedy, men seek sex and money, the girls want a say in the choice of a marriage partner.Thus evidently the heroine is allowed freedom of thought but her freedom of action is confined to ensuring that she is a virgin when she gets married to the man of her choice. As a successful professional playwright, Aphra Behn definitely wrote plays which are typical of the Restoration, yet she manages to comment on a topic which touched her very closely: the true status of women in the society as they begin to participate a little more actively in the constructs of gender economics. POSITIONING APHRA BEHN The prologue of The Rover, claimed to be written by â€Å"A person of quality†, states: As for the author of this coming playI asked him what he thought fit I should say (pp 4) It was only in the third issue of the first edition in 1677 that Aphra Behn authorship. This was because she was always attacked for poaching on the territory of male playwrights. In fact, as quoted in Angeline Goreau, Reconstructing Aphra (New York: The Dial Press, 1980) Aphra Behn once famously said: The Woman damns the poet Indeed, the fact that Aphra Behn could earn a living writing for the theatre was precisely what condemned her. The muckraking satirist Robert Gould wrote ypical stander in a short piece addressed to Behn that concluded with this couplet: For Punk and poetess agree so Par, You cannot be This and not be That. Robert Gould’s verse, with its equation of ‘poetess’ and ‘punkà ¢â‚¬â„¢, provides some evidence of the culture of gender in Restoration England. In her case, however, the status of professional writer indicated immodesty: the author, like her texts, became a commodity. Thus one notices that she stages this relationship between female creativity and public realm or between what Robert Gould, in euphemisms, refers to as ‘this’ and ‘that’, in her works. THE VIRGINAL COMMODITY AND FETISHDowry system among propertied classes had been in place since 16th century, but by the end of the 17th century the women to men ratio was 13:10, thus cash portions had to grow to attract worthy suitors. The value of women fell by almost 50%, marriage by choice, became almost unthinkable. Thus in economic terms, women through marriage had evident exchange value; that is, the virgin became a commodity not only as breeder of the legal heir but for her portion. Women in the seventeenth-century marriage market took on the phantasmagoric destiny o f commodities: they seemed no more than objects or things.The issue arises repeatedly in plays and verse of the period: not only are marriages loveless, but, once married, women lose both independent identity and control of their fortunes. Women’s lack of access to institutions of knowledge spurred protest from writers as it reduced them to things, rather than educated individuals. Also the cultural narrative of portion, jointure, and legal dependency in which the women of this time is written about is clearly not as subject but as object of exchange.Also, as discussed earlier, when Aphra Behn wrote her seventeen play (1670-1689), the theatrical hierarchy, like all cultural institutions, was patriarchal in control and participation. Aristocratic or upper-class males generally wrote the plays, purchased tickets, and formed the coteries of critics and ‘witlings’ whose disruptive presence is remarked on in countless play prologues and epilogues. Also, in its machine ry and properties, the Restoration stage was now arguably more dreamlike, seductive, and commodity intensive. Here the idea of a fetish becomes important.A fetish, by Freud’s description is the male impulse to eroticize objects or female body parts, which derives from a disavowal of a material lack (of the penis on the mother’s body). The second understanding of the word is through Marx’s account of the felicitation of the commodity: at the moment of exchange, the commodity appears to be separate from the workers who product it; the ‘special social character of private labours’ disavowed. This idea is relevant because on the stage, the Restoration actress, is nothing but an ornament in the male gaze.This attitude is apparent as Thomas Shadwell links the new phenomenon of female performers with painted theatrical scenes, both innovative commodities for audience consumption: Had we not for yr pleasure found new wayes You still had rusty Arras had, and thredbare playes: Not Scenes nor Woomen had they had their will, But some with grizl’d Beards had acted Woomen still. What this actually meant in the culture’s sexual economy is perhaps more accurately suggested by meta-theatrical references in plays’ prologues and epilogues.The actress playing Flirt in Wycheley’s The Gentleman Dancing master satirically invited the â€Å"good men o’ th’ Exchange’ from the pit into the backstage tiring-room You we would rather see between our Scenes† Thus rather than producing a performance, the actress emerges as a spectacle unto herself, a painted representation to lure the male spectator. In her professional duplicity, in her desirability, in her often public status of kept mistress, she is frequently equated with a prostitute, thus acquiring the definite status of a commodity.APHRA BEHN’S PARTICIPATION IN COMMODIFICATION AND FETISHISATION The Rover (1677) and The Second Part of The Rover (1681) are Behn’s only plays to label a character a courtesan. In her wholly original The Feigned Curtezans (1679), virgins impersonate famous Roman courtesans and near-debauches occur, but marriages settle the confusion of plots and the financial stink of prostitution is hastily cleared away. However it is germane note that even if courtesans figure by name in only three plays, the commodification of women in the marriage market is Aphra Behn’s first and most persistent theme.Beginning appropriately enough with The Forced Marriage: or The Jealous Bridegrom (1670), all of Behn’s seventeen known plays deal to some extent with women backed by dowries or portions who are forced by their fathers into marriage in exchange for jointure, an agreed-upon income to be settled on the wife should she be widowed. Aphra Behn concentrated on exposing the exploitation of women in the exchange economy, adding vividly to contemporary discourse on the oppressions of marriage . ‘Who would marry,’ asks Behn’s Ariadne (The Second Part of the Rover), ‘who wou’d be chaffer’d thus, and sold to Slavery? In the context of fetishization, it is easy to note the metonymic connection between the painted actress and the painted scenes in the theatre, therefore it is not surprising that the first woman to earn money circulating her own representations had a (somewhat combative) relationship with the theatre apparatus. Aphra Behn, more than any other Restoration playwright, explores the fetish/commodity status. She utilizes the conventional objects of Restoration plays – the marriage market, sexual intrigue, masquerade, flamboyance – even as she signals their contradictory meanings for women.It is ostensibly a contradiction of all feminist expectation to discover that Aphra Behn contributed to that visual pleasure by choosing to exploit the fetish/commodity status of the actress. The stage offered two playing space s, the forestage used especially for comedy, where actor and audience were in intimate proximity, and the upstage or scenic stage, with wing-and-shutter settings, producing the exotic effects needed for ‘discovery scenes’ of heroic tragedy.Writing mostly comedies, Aphra Behn might be expected to follow comic convention and use the forestage area, but as Peter Holland notes, she was ‘positively obsessive’ about discovery scenes. Holland counts 31 discoveries in ten comedies, most of which are bedroom scenes featuring a female character ‘in undress’. Thus displayed, the female performer becomes a fetish object, affording the male spectator the pleasure of being seduced by and, simultaneously, of being protected from the effects of sexual difference.Thus, in Behn’s texts, the conflict between (as she puts it) her ‘defenceless’ woman’s body and her ‘masculine part’(of being a writer), is staged in her insiste nce, in play after play, on the equation between female body and fetish, fetish and commodity-the body in her ‘scenes’. Like the actress, the woman dramatist is sexualized, circulated, denied a â€Å"subject position† in the theatre hierarchy. This unstable, contradictory image of authority emerges in as early as Behn’s first play’s prologue (to The Forced Marriage, or The Jealous Bridegroom, 1670).In this, an actress who, pointing to the Ladies’ praises both them and presumably the woman author: Can any see that glorious sight and say A woman shall not prove Victor today? The ‘glorious sight’, is, once again, the fetishised representation of the female, standing on the forestage, sitting in the pit, and soon to be inscribed as author of a printed play. THE ROVER The Rover is a fascinating study in the context of this paper as it not only thematises the marketing of women in marriage and prostitution, it demonstrates (quite liter ally) the ideological contradictions of the apparatus Behn inherited and the society for which she wrote.Prostitution of both genders In Angellica, Hellena, Florinda and Lucetta – Behn shows the fate and inescapable commodification of all women. However the idea is also problematized and even turned on its head. The man is also equated to a commodity in this carnival world. Angellica equates dowry to prostitution money, thus saying that a man sells his own self in the marriage market, for a woman’s â€Å"fortune†: Pray tell me, sir, are you not guilty of the same mercenary crime?When a lady is proposed to you for a wife, you never ask, how fair-discreet-or virtuous she is; but what’s her Fortune-which, if but small, you cry-she will not do my business-and basely leave her, thou she languish for you-say, is not this as poor. (pp 38) Thus we see that Angellica’s prostitution image is cross gendered, for men are designated â€Å"mercenary† in n egotiating sexual contracts between husband and wife. Indeed, Willmore himself appears prostituted in accepting five hundred crowns from Angellica, and in the subplot, Blunt’s barbarous treatment by Lucetta parallels Angellica’s by Willmore.The Portrait of Angellica The first references to Angellica situate her beyond the market in which we expect her to function. She is not behind an exotic vizard, or ‘discovered’ in her bedchamber after the parting of the scenes, but is first seen as a portrait. She is introduced by Belvile, as: A famous courtesan, that’s to be sold’ (p. 23). For a mindful audience, this immediately raises a question, to be sold by whom? Released by the earlier keeper’s death, Angellica and Moretta are two women who seem to be in business for themselves.At this point, however, Blunt reminds us again of the object status of the woman, as of her painted signs: I’m sure we’re no chapmen for the commodity ( p. 28). On the other hand, Angellica’s self portrait has been compared to that of a Petrarchan mistress who attempts to turn her sexuality into an alternative form of power, since she has been excluded from the marital marketplace. Wilmore’s â€Å"appeal of love† attracts her and not unlike ladies in marital market, she gives up herself and her gold. If one analyzes this situation, it can be said that this was an inescapable fate.As Angellica watches men gaze upon her portrait, she is, first and foremost, a sight, an object to be claimed. Only in Behn’s text is this phenomenon made so evident, the paintings here function as fetishes, as substitute objects for the female body. Indeed, the portrait which advertises her charms is arguably a sign of submission to the male spectator, offering up the female figure as an eroticized object which exists to serve his pleasure. Thus evidently Wilmore can reduce Angellica’s representation from an icon of autho rity to a pornographic image (a fetish) and claim the right â€Å"of possession, which I will maintain†.He is responding to something very real in the portrait. The same sense of power of a transcendent male authority is also registered by Willmore’s gaze and the stealing of the potrait. In effect Angellica is then doubly commodified-first because she puts her body into exchange, and second because this body is equated with, indeed interchangeable with, the art object. Thus then the woman â€Å"that’s to be sold† is then even sold by theatre itself, which, like the portrait equates woman with an art object to be displayed and attract an audience. Like Willmore, the theatre operates with the king’s patent and authorization.The masquerade of portraits and ‘discovery scenes’, do not demonstrate freedom, but to flaunt the charms that guarantee and uphold male power. In fact in the wooing/bargaining scene with Wilmore it becomes clear that Angellica wants to step out of the exchange economy symbolized by the painting: Canst thou believe [these yielding joys] will be entirely time, / without considering they were mercenary? (p. 39) By eliminating her value-form, Angellica attempts to return her body to a state of nature, to take herself out of circulation in the market. However, s Aphra Behn poignantly points out through her texts, Angellica will fail due to the ecomonic structure which circulates all women as marketable objects. The Virgins This brings us to the other two â€Å"leading women† in the play, both virgins and of high birth, Hellena and Florinda. Ironically, the virgins’ first costume, the gypsy masquerade, represents their actual standing in the marriage market – exotic retailers of fortunes (dowry and ‘maidenhead’). Their masquerade defers but does not alter the structure of gender economics which sold a woman’s body.On this level, as often discussed by critics, t he play presents a dramatic world dominated by the two principal patriarchal definitions of women, the whore and the virgin, but in which the boundary separating one category from the other has become blurred. First there is the elder born, Florinda. The properties which sustain Florinda’s status as an autonomous subject free to choose her own marriage partner are largely those for which the men in her family want to â€Å"protect† her; it is her beauty, rank and fortune that make her such a prized asset on the marriage market.It is Florida’s rebellion against the commodification of forced marriage that destabilizes her position within patriarchy, for a while. However, she seeks to maintain this position as it gives her the agency to somewhat choose her husband. This is why Florinda remains inscribed within male discourse and chides her sister for being â€Å"curious in a discourse of love† despite being a maid â€Å"designed for a nun†. At the sam e time, she is degraded to the level of an object, a commodity, however precious, in a coercive structure of exchange.Because her self-esteem derives entirely from her status as a lady, she is able to measure her human value only by patriarchal standards. Her near rapes show this predicament. Men (Wilmore, Blunt, her own brother) seem to be chronically incapable of accepting the Florinda’s â€Å"No† as something which means â€Å"No†. On this level, the scenes are written with Behn’s male spectators in mind and accommodate the most complacent of responses to Florinda’s predicament. Then there is Hellena.The idea of Hellena being a female Rover is highly problematized as she is a woman and can be a Rover only in her words and not actual action. In fact all Behn attempts to do through her is minimize the difference between the status of the virgin and the whore as both Hellena and Angellica as advertise themselves in a way. According to the critic Na ncy Copeland, Hellena’s self-blazon in the first scene functions like Angellica’s pictures hung out of lure buyers of her body (â€Å"Angellica advertises herself publicly; Hellena’s self advertisement†¦ takes place within the privacy of her home†).This difference is eroded, however, when Hellena is blazoned at the beginning of Act V. Also, We learn that Hellena’s portion derives from her uncle, the old man who kept Angellica Bianca; thus the gold Willmore receives from the courtesan has the same source as that which he will earn by marrying the virgin. It is not only through Hellena and Angellica that similarity between virgin and whore develops. For instance, both Florinda and Lucetta also advertise themselves publicly.Florinda passes a jeweled miniature of herself (another portrait) to Belvile, who then circulates it among his companions. Lucetta, the cunning whore, parades herself provocatively before her propective new dupe: This is Stran ger, I know by his gazing; if he be brisk, he’I venture to follow me; and then if I understand my Trade, he’s mine. Also at night in the garden ‘in undress’, Florinda, carrying a little box of jewels-a double metonym for dowry and maidenhead, is also clearly reducing herself to an object of exchange.Thus while Angellica attempts to step out of the surface, material and exchange connotations of a painting, the virgins of the marriage plot are talking ‘business’ and learning the powers of deferral and unveiling. CONCLUSION A woman then, arguably, was nothing more than an object. She seemingly couldn’t escape being bought, sold, bargained for, fantasized about, fetishized and gazed at. However, contradictorily, even though her unbroken hymen (or â€Å"virgin heart†), â€Å"portion† (or â€Å"gold†) made her a valuable commodity-it made the man a commodity too as he sold himself for dowry or generally money and sex.Yet somehow the Restoration man remained in the subject position, in both the marriage market and the world of literary and theatrical production. This is what puts a woman in a no-win situation in both the private and the public sphere and Aphra Behn brings out this very discrepancy of norms and attitudes in her texts. Her texts expose the ugly bias in the celebration of new found sexual liberty in her time. Here she shows that the gender economics of the Restoration era are complicated but they definitely squarely position the woman as a commodity.Aphra Behn’s women may, to a limited extend, try to escape this fate she does not gloss over the fact that these women will fail to do so till the entire market is restructured. 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(Hons) in English, II Year (4th Semester) 2013.