Mr birding in the opening of the play? Essay

Mr. Birling is presented as arrogant and a social climber through the stage directions at the start of the play. He is described at the start, in the stage directions, as a â€Å"heavy-looking, rather portentous man in his middle fifties but rather provincial in his speeches.† This implies that Birling is a man who was born in the countryside and that he is not from a very important background. This shows that because of Birling’s history, he’s a pompous man and he tries to show everybody how important he actually is; this is because of how his status used to be when he was growing up as a child. Priestley also conveys Mr. Birling as a pitiful social climber through what he says and his mannerisms at the start of the play. Priestley shows that Birling is aware of the people who are his social superiors, which is why he shows off about the port to Gerald, â€Å"it is exactly the same port your father gets.† He is proud that he is likely to be knighted, as this would move him even higher in the social circles. He claims that the party â€Å"is one of the happiest nights of my life.† This is not only because Sheila will be happy, but also because a merger with Crofts Limited will be good for his business. Through this Priestley presents Mr. Birling as selfish and very self-centered, showing that he only cares about himself and his business. Priestley does this to show that all capitalists were similar to Birling as they too only cared about their social status at the time. The use of dramatic irony in Mr. Birling’s speech presents him as foolish and Priestley is clearly mocking capitalist values. Priestley sets the play in 1912 because that year was before a lot of significant historical events took place. This makes it easy for Priestley to use dramatic irony to display Mr. Birling’s arrogance and foolishness. He confidently states that â€Å"nobody wants war† and that it will never happen, and he has great faith that the â€Å"unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable† ship Titanic will never sink. Priestley’s use of the repetition of the adjective â€Å"unsinkable† further accentuates Mr. Birling’s arrogance. Obviously all these things really did  occur much to the amusement of the 1945 audience, who now know not to take Mr. Birling as an intelligent, thoughtful person. Overall Priestley uses the character of Mr. Burling as a representative of capitalism, showing that capitalists were foolish and arrogant, just like Mr. Birling.

Succubus on Top CHAPTER 8

â€Å"Georgina?† I looked up from a baffling return Tammi had asked me to help her with. A customer without a receipt was attempting a refund on a stack of books with dog-eared pages and broken spines, claiming all of them were duplicates someone had just given him for his birthday. â€Å"Just a sec,† I told her. â€Å"I've got to finish this.† â€Å"Okay,† Beth said. â€Å"I just thought you should check out Casey.† â€Å"Casey?† â€Å"Yeah. She's up in the cafe.† That snagged my attention. I finished up with the customer, telling him nicely that we couldn't accept books in this condition. Maybe if the alleged other books were in better shape, he could bring those in. He pouted and argued a bit before finally skulking off. I rolled my eyes once he was gone. One thing that never changed among humans: there were always those who wanted to get something for nothing. It was what kept hell in business. I found Casey sitting in the cafe, drinking a glass of water. There were dark circles under her eyes, and she didn't display her usual care in makeup and hairstyling. She stared bleakly at the table, eyes dull and glazed over. â€Å"Hey,† I said gently, pulling up a chair across from her. â€Å"How's it going?† After a moment's delay, she looked up, not really focusing on me. â€Å"Okay.† â€Å"You sure? You don't look so okay.† â€Å"Dunno.† Her tone was flat, distracted. â€Å"I just had a late night, that's all. Sorry. Sorry I came in like this.† â€Å"No problem. I've had my share of crazy nights.† The thing was, Casey didn't exactly look hung over. I mean, she definitely looked like she was recovering from something†¦but I couldn't put my finger on it. It was weird. â€Å"What'd you get into? A party?† â€Å"Yeah. Doug's band had another one.† â€Å"Really.† News to me. â€Å"Must have been pretty good.† â€Å"Dunno.† â€Å"What do you mean? You were there.† Her brow furrowed, confusion glinting in her brown eyes. â€Å"I don't†¦really remember. Stupid, huh? I must have really been trashed. I remember†¦being with Alec. Then we left. We went somewhere. â€Å" â€Å"You don't know?† She looked upset and closed her eyes. â€Å"There was this big house, and†¦I don't know. I just†¦I just can't remember. I'm sorry, Georgina. I shouldn't have come in today, okay? Sorry.† â€Å"It's okay. So you have no idea what you did with him? Nothing at all?† She shook her head. I shouldn't have kept pushing for details of an employee's personal life, but something here bothered me. It was more than my bias against Alec too. I remembered him pushing alcohol on women, his invitation to go somewhere â€Å"more intense.† Casey's inability to remember what had happened with him smacked of date-rape drugs. â€Å"Did Alec give you anything?† For the first time in this conversation, her dull expression sharpened and looked alert. â€Å"I†¦no. No.† But she was lying. I could tell. Why? Fear of him? Embarrassment? I couldn't bring myself to question her anymore. She looked too miserable. I told her she should go home and get some rest; she didn't need much convincing. I took her place at the registers, silently fuming at that jerk Alec. My anger was furthered by the fact that I could do nothing. Casey's life wasn't really my business, and without her admitting to anything, Alec stood blameless. With Casey now gone, Paige out sick again, and Warren golfing in Florida, I felt relieved when Doug showed up. He looked as energetic as ever, so I hoped he could counter my plunging mood. â€Å"I heard you had a party.† â€Å"Yup.† He grinned, working the register next to mine. â€Å"I tried calling you, but you weren't home.† â€Å"Had a party of my own. Hey, did you notice anything weird with Casey and Alec last night?† â€Å"Weird how? I mean, they seemed to be hitting it off.† â€Å"Nothing else?† â€Å"Nope. Not that I saw. Why? Are you interested? He's a little young for you, but if you're into that, I can give you his phone number.† â€Å"Hardly.† â€Å"Whoa,† he suddenly exclaimed. â€Å"Check this action out.† He picked up one of the books his customer was paying for. It was a romance novel, emblazoned with a big chested man holding an equally big chested woman. Her neck was arched back, her lips open in a moan. And her dress was falling off. â€Å"Bet there's some good shit in here. Nothing like some throbbing members and private time to get you off, eh?† He winked at the customer, who turned crimson and didn't say anything. She handed over some cash and hurried away as fast as she could. Aghast, I ignored the customers standing there and grabbed Doug's arm, jerking him away from the counter. â€Å"What the hell was that?† I asked in a low, angry whisper. He laughed loudly. â€Å"Oh come on, Kincaid. I was just having a little fun. Those romance novels always crack me up.† â€Å"You do not comment on customer purchases. Furthermore, you certainly don't swear in front of them.† â€Å"Basic training. I know all this.† â€Å"Yeah? Then act like it.† We stood there, both of us shocked at my tone. I didn't think I'd ever talked to Doug in such a reprimanding way. Certainly not here. We were both assistant managers, partners in crime. Our entire working relationship was one of lightheartedness and messing around. â€Å"Fine,† he said after a moment. â€Å"Whatever.† We went back to the registers, both of us pointedly ignoring the other. We worked without incident a while longer until I heard him say, â€Å"Man, this has to be rough. Hope it all works out.† Looking over, I saw his customer buying a book about STDs. Doug returned my gaze with a challenging look. I finished my own purchase and then put up a â€Å"register closed† sign. Finding Andy at the information desk, I told him to ask Doug to swap spots. â€Å"Don't tell him I told you to.† Doug seemed safer helping customers find books, yet no matter where I was in the store, I could hear him. He spoke and laughed too loudly. Whenever I caught sight of him, he was always in motion – like he couldn't stay still. Once, he was – literally – juggling books for a customer. Another time, I saw him actually skipping as he led a customer over to the cooking section. I frowned, unsure what to do. His lively nature had been fun this last week, but he was pushing it now, and I wasn't entirely sure what my role should be in all of this. â€Å"That redheaded girl said you're the manager here,† a middle-aged woman suddenly said, approaching me as I rearranged a display. â€Å"I'm an assistant manager,† I told her. â€Å"What can I help you with?† She pointed to the information desk. â€Å"That man was so rude to me. He helped me find some books, and then†¦he said†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She couldn't finish, oscillating between anger and distress. I looked at what she held. Books on clinical depression. Lovely. At least it wasn't called Going Postal in an Insensitive Bookstore. I took a deep breath to steady myself and apologized profusely, promising I'd deal with it. I then walked her over to the head of the check-out line and told Andy to ring her books up for free. Warren never approved of that, but I didn't care at the moment. I waited for Doug to finish with his customer and then pulled him aside once more. â€Å"We need to talk in the office.† He gave me a lopsided grin. Studying him, I saw his eyes glittering with a distracted fervor. â€Å"What for? Let's talk here. I've got customers to help, you know. Can't let this goddamned place go unattended.† I blanched at this, still forcing calm. We had a line of about four customers listening. â€Å"No. Let's go in the back.† He rolled his eyes and threw a friendly arm around me. â€Å"Christ, you're uptight. What's this about?† â€Å"You know what it's about,† I returned, wiggling out from under the arm. â€Å"You're out of line today.† His smile fell. â€Å"No, you're out of line. What's with the attitude anyway? You can't talk to me like this.† He was still too loud. More people were stopping. â€Å"I can talk to you like this when you're acting like a jerk. You're upsetting customers. You're doing stuff that's completely inappropriate, and you know it.† â€Å"‘Inappropriate?' Jesus Fucking Christ, Kincaid! You sound like Paige now. I'm having fun. Remember that? Remember when you and I used to do that around here back before you got this stick up your ass?† We had a bona fide audience now. Customers and staff alike. Dead silence, save for the faint sounds of Vivaldi playing through the store's sound system. â€Å"I mean,† he continued, thriving on the attention, â€Å"where do you get off acting like this? Who put you in charge? You and I are the same rank, remember? It's like you get ten seconds of fame in Mortensen's story, and now you think you can put on airs. Why don't you go find him? Maybe if you got laid again, you'd stop being such a bitch.† â€Å"Doug,† I said, astonished at how firm and strong my voice was. It was like someone else was using my body to confront him, and I only watched. â€Å"You need to go home. Now. If you don't leave, I'll have you removed.† Of course, I had no clue how I was going to pull that off. As it was, I felt almost terrified to be facing off against him like this. My heart raced. We were standing close, thrusting our wills at one another, and he had half a head's height on me and a bigger build. I didn't really fear violence from him, but the physical intimidation was as scary as the psychological. Still, I held my ground, keeping my expression commanding and decisive. At last, he backed down, breaking eye contact. He shrugged and gave his goofy grin to those watching, like they were in on some joke with him. â€Å"Sure. Whatever you want. I don't care. I could use a day off anyway.† He looked around again, face smug and defiant, like he'd won. After another survey of the crowd, he laughed and stalked out. Nobody spoke or breathed after that. I drew myself up, like none of this had bothered me either. I strode purposefully away, saying to Beth as I passed: â€Å"Will you cover the desk now?† I went upstairs to the caf? ¦ and had the barista make me a mocha. I took it with shaking hands and turned around to find Seth standing there. He wore a Ratt shirt today. â€Å"Thetis,† he said softly. I walked over to one of the windows, and he followed. Outside, cars and people moved throughout Queen Anne. I watched them without seeing them. Seth moved behind me, his presence steady and reassuring. Waiting to catch me, even though I refused to fall just yet. This, I realized, was why I chose to stay with him, sexual mishaps or no. â€Å"I suppose you witnessed all that.† â€Å"Yeah,† he said. â€Å"You handled it well.† â€Å"I didn't want to handle it at all.† â€Å"Someone had to.† He touched my arm gently. â€Å"You can be pretty fierce sometimes.† I shook my head, still numb. â€Å"I don't want to be fierce either.† â€Å"Georgina. Look at me.† I turned and looked. Those lovely eyes were soft and full of love, yet underscored with strength. â€Å"You did the right thing.† He rested his hands on my arms, thumbs stroking the bare skin. â€Å"You did the right thing.† â€Å"He's my friend.† â€Å"That doesn't matter.† â€Å"What's wrong with him, Seth? What's gotten into him?† â€Å"Isn't it obvious?† â€Å"Not to me.† He smiled ruefully. â€Å"The same thing that made you eat a bag of Taco Bell food last night.† â€Å"What? Pot doesn't do that. Make him behave like he did, I mean. Not the Taco Bell thing.† â€Å"No,† he agreed. â€Å"Pot won't do that, but he was obviously on something. â€Å" I turned back to my view, thinking. I recalled Doug's nonstop vigor, that feverish look in his eyes. Yes, it made sense, and it was saddening. I'd never known him to mess around with anything much harder than alcohol and marijuana. Yet†¦there was more to his exuberance lately. A drug couldn't make you good at Tetrisor churn out an album's worth of songs in under a month. â€Å"I don't know what it could be then. I've tried almost everything once,† I admitted sheepishly. Immortality allowed experimentation without the dangerous consequences mortals faced. â€Å"But I haven't made enough of a study to really ID anything. What do you think? Some kind of amphetamine?† â€Å"I don't really know either.† I rubbed my temples, sensing a nasty headache coming on. I wanted nothing more just then than to go home and veg on the couch with Seth on one side, Aubrey on the other, and a plate of brownies on my lap. It wasn't going to happen. â€Å"I've got to get back down there. We're short two people now. I'm going to be here until closing again.† â€Å"You want me to come over after work? I'm supposed to paint at Terry's, but I can bail on it.† I assured Seth he didn't need to change his plans for me and then returned downstairs. Functionality had resumed as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The only thing noteworthy was the way the other staff watched me now. Not with mockery or amusement, but something else. If I hadn't known better, I would have said my respect rating had just shot up. I got home after work, drained. Weak with exhaustion, mental and physical. When I absorbed life from victims, it was usually to sustain my immortal existence and shape-shifting. But life was full of other things that required energy. Breaking and entering. Working two twelve-hours shifts in a row. Staying virtuous around the man of your dreams. Reprimanding one of your best friends and discovering he was probably addicted to something nasty. The need for vitality itched within me, making me irritable and anxious despite my worn-out feeling. For me, that energy-longing translated into lust, a sudden need to be touched and consumed by someone I could consume in return. I called Bastien. â€Å"What is it now?† he asked sarcastically. â€Å"I suppose you're just going to cut to the chase and call Dana. That way you can get it over with and tell her how her neighbor has a plan to seduce her and bring down her organization. Maybe while you're at it, you can mention the break-in and get me arrested. You could even key my car if you wanted. It would be a perfect ending to my already ruined career.† â€Å"Oh shut up,† I snapped, not having the patience for this. Apparently I still had some fury left in me from earlier. â€Å"First, you were not going to bed Dana last night, so get that out of your system. Second, you probably deterred her by answering the door in the first place, as stoned as you were. Third, if you'd really wanted to endear yourself to her, you would have shown more concern for me rather than coming off as an uncaring asshole.† â€Å"How is your ankle?† he asked reluctantly. â€Å"Fine. You know how it goes.† A sprain was barely a day's concern for an immortal. â€Å"Good enough to go dancing on.† â€Å"Dancing?† â€Å"Yes. I want you to take me out. Now. I just had the worst day ever. â€Å" â€Å"Sorry.† â€Å"Sorry? Are you turning me down? Since when have you been such a grudge-holder?† â€Å"It's not just that†¦well, okay, maybe a little. But Bill invited me over to watch a football game.† â€Å"You hate football.† â€Å"Yeah, but I might see Dana. Sorry, Fleur . You're on your own tonight. â€Å" Annoyed, I hung up and dialed the next best dancer I knew. â€Å"Cody,† I said, â€Å"we're going clubbing.† â€Å"Okay,† he returned agreeably, â€Å"but I'll have to bring Hugh and Peter.† â€Å"Ack. They dance almost as badly as Seth.† â€Å"Yeah. But I promised I'd hang out with them tonight. Unless you want to come over here? We're playing D&D right now. Do you know how many hit points a succubus has?† â€Å"All right, all right. Bring them along.† I hung up. It didn't really matter who came anyway. I mostly just wanted people to go out with. Companionship gave the outing some semblance of normality, though it wasn't like I needed any of them for what I was going to do. â€Å"Jesus, woman,† breathed Hugh when I answered my door an hour later. â€Å"You're kind of screwing with my sisterly feelings for you.† I had on a pleated black skirt that covered less than half my thighs. My top was off the shoulder with three-quarter sleeves, and it stopped just above my belly button, leaving my midriff bare. It was made of clinging, stretchy black lace that looked opaque in dim lighting and showed everything – and I do mean everything – in full light. The only decision left was what body to go out in. I didn't like to do succubus work in my usual shape – the one that worked at Emerald City and slept with Seth. I wanted an anonymous face, one that could forget and be forgotten. Staring at my bathroom mirror, I considered a number of features and ethnicities. Finally, I opted for a pretty Latina look, sultry with long dark hair. We went to the same club Bastien and I had danced at before. It played varying genres of music, but all of it was fast and heavy. It thrummed in the blood. Hugh immediately parked himself at the bar, looking exactly like the creepy guy who ogled younger women that he was. Peter seemed torn between joining him and hitting the floor. He was homebody enough to want to stay with Hugh, but I knew places like this were fertile hunting grounds for vampires and succubi alike. Reluctantly, the frumpy vampire bought a drink and then made his way to the dancers, looking hopelessly out of place. I knew he'd survive, though; he'd been doing what he did almost as long as I had. I walked up to the bar and ordered a shot of Rumple Minze, which I downed immediately. It was funny – part of me thought that I could scorn Doug for getting mixed up with some drug when I turned so readily to alcohol to ease my own tension. â€Å"Dance with me,† I told Cody, grabbing his hand. He looked good tonight, wearing a button-up shirt untucked and loose. It had a neat printed pattern on it, one of those that only confident guys with real fashion sense could actually wear. With his agile dancing and golden blond looks, he made a good partner. â€Å"What am I, your warm-up?† he asked me a few songs later. I laughed. We were dancing awfully close, and I had been moving my body more provocatively than I normally would with a friend. Unconscious motion. My succubus hunger surfacing. â€Å"Does it bother you?† â€Å"Nope. Well, other than giving me that weird incest feeling Hugh was talking about. But I don't think you're going to get what you need off me.† â€Å"True,† I said scanning the crowd. The place was packed with mortals, all warm and energetic and burning with life in a way my friends and I did not. Again, the itch of longing seized me. I wanted to touch them all and knew I'd have to break from Cody soon. â€Å"What's got you all fired up anyway? We don't usually see you like this.† That was true. Mostly he and the others just heard me bitching and moaning about my infernal job and how I hated seducing nice guys. â€Å"Need to burn off some Seth lust. That, and I got majorly run down today,† I explained, proceeding to tell him the rest. Cody felt as sad as I did about Doug, whom he knew and liked. The young vampire agreed that Doug's erratic behavior sounded amphetamine based, and he threw out a few suggestions for me. I made a mental note to look them up later. Cody and I finally split up, each to take care of our own business. I started working the room, much as I had the other night, only this time my motivation was legitimate. I had my pick of partners and no end of free drinks. Each time I got someone to buy me one, Hugh – still at the bar – would shake his head with wry amusement. In about two hours, I had my mark. He was young and muscular, made extra gorgeous by sexy Mediterranean features. Italian descent, I suspected. He was also sweet and shy, clearly astonished that I kept dancing with him. His friends, watching from afar, apparently felt the same way. We had moved to a crowded part of the dance floor, jam-packed with other sweating, frenzied bodies. I rubbed mine against his in a more intimate way than the crowd quite required, my hands sliding over his body as we swayed. When our lips brushed against each other's, he pulled back. He told me then – awkwardly and reluctantly – that he had a girlfriend. That didn't come as a surprise to me. We stopped dancing, getting jostled by the crowd, and I feigned modest embarrassment for my boldness while pretending not to notice how he hadn't seemed to want to make the girlfriend admission. â€Å"Er, wait,† he said as I started to turn and leave. Hesitation hung heavy in his voice. The voice of someone trying to rationalize something he knew he shouldn't be doing†¦but wanted to anyway. True consternation churned on his face. â€Å"I mean, we can still†¦we can still†¦keep dancing. Can't we?† Five dances later, I'd sweet-talked – and bribed – one of the waiters into letting us into a storage room in the club's basement. It was dark and small and filled with extra tables, but it sufficed for what we needed. I could still hear the music from above, though none of the song's specifics. The whole building vibrated with the beat. My guy still appeared nervous, but alcohol and opportunity were clearly winning out over his better judgment. I didn't tell him my name. I didn't ask for his. I pulled him to me, and we kissed – the kind of hard, furious kissing that makes your lips feel swollen afterward. His hands started on my hips and then moved upward, peeling the lace shirt up as they went, exposing my breasts. His hands fondled them wonderingly, feeling their shape and size, making my nipples harden and stand out. He leaned down and put his lips to one, sucking hard. When I felt his teeth bite gently, I grunted in approval and shifted my hands down to loosen his belt. He straightened back up, and this time I was the one who went down – literally. On my knees, I tugged on his boxers and released the erection that had been straining at the fabric. I ran my tongue along its tip, tasting the few salty drops that had already seeped out. Then, without further hesitation, I took the whole thing into my mouth, letting my tongue roll over it as my lips moved back and forth along the length of the shaft. He groaned and laced his fingers across the back of my neck, trying to push more of him inside. The first tendrils of his energy began flowing into me, sweet and delicious. He was a good one, full of strength. I sucked harder, teasing him for a couple more minutes, then broke away and stood up. The look on his face when I stopped became almost comically desperate. Like he couldn't believe I had just done that to him. Like I had just gone and hit his shins with a baseball bat. I licked my lips and smiled. â€Å"You want more? You're going to have to come and get it. â€Å" This was the clincher. If I was going to go to the trouble of bagging a guy with a strong life force, I might as well hit my quota with Jerome and do some corrupting as well. A guy with a serious girlfriend might feel guilty about fooling around with another woman, but he'd feel guiltier still if he was the one who took serious steps toward initiating it. It was too easy to say she made me do it. My part was done; he had to take over now. This guy might not have realized my ulterior motives here, but he seemed to sense the gravity of the situation. He stood on the edge now, the edge of a decision that could affect his eternal soul. Did he or didn't he? Did he give in to his lust and betray a woman he cared about? Did he take a chance with me he might never get again? Or did he reject me and walk away? Did he stay faithful? My smile grew, slow and languid, as he debated. I paced around the room like I had all the time in the world, like I didn't care what he decided to do. The click of my heels sounded loudly on the hard floor. I turned away from him, trying to make out some old framed picture on the wall. It was mostly a dark blur in the dim lighting. Then, I felt him behind me. His hands slid from my waist down to my hips, then lower to cradle my ass. He pushed up what little of the skirt there was and pulled down the strappy black thong I had underneath. Slowly, his hands traced every curve, feeling and exploring. One hand moved around the outside of my leg toward the front, between my thighs. The movement forced him to move closer to me, and I could feel him – still hard, still ready – press against my flesh. The exploring hand pushed farther between my thighs, and his breath was hard and hot on my neck. His fingers brushed the small, neatly trimmed patch of hair between my legs, then moved lower, dancing at the edges of my lips, teasing them. A small, urgent moan left my mouth, and I ground against him, hoping to get a response. He slid his fingers in a smooth rhythm, stoking my already raging desire. A minute later, those urgent fingers moved into me, probing and exploring. I was wet and slippery, but it still caught me by surprise, and I exclaimed loudly. He wrapped his other arm around my waist, pulling me even closer, and continued driving those fingers in and out. His life poured into me again. A purely physical burning welled inside of me too, growing stronger each time he moved in. But before that feeling could reach completion, he pulled his fingers out and left them out. My turn to feel unfulfilled. Gripping my shoulders, he turned me around, and I braced myself to be shoved on top of the table or up against the wall. To my astonishment, he pushed me onto my knees instead, his breathing frantic now, his eyes burning with hunger and lust. â€Å"Your mouth,† he gasped out. â€Å"I want your mouth again.† Unexpected – and perhaps a little disappointing – but it all worked the same for me. Before I could even act, he thrust himself back between my lips. A surprised sound lodged in my throat, and it seemed to turn him on even more. I no longer had to worry about who was taking the initiative here; it was all him. His hands held my head and neck in place as he pumped away, pushing into me over and over. The life-force transfer started in earnest, his energy flooding into me with his thoughts and feelings. Finally, finally, finally, he thought, aching desire crackling through him. Feeling his mind and soul, I realized then he might not have been so easy a tag as I originally thought. He loved his girlfriend. Loved her passionately. But she didn't like oral sex, and one of the biggest fantasies of this guy's life was to – bluntly – fuck her face. Had I started foreplay in some other way tonight, he might very well have been strong enough to decline. But I had given him the one thing he couldn't refuse. It overpowered the guilt lurking in the back of his mind. I'll never get this chance again. Allison doesn't have to know. I knew that rationalization well. It was just about the oldest in the book. He thrust more urgently, that long shaft filling my mouth as his eyes watched me eagerly, and unintelligible, primal noises sounded in his throat. And for me, who had been denied an orgasm, pleasure was building in a different way. Life-force transfer doesn't occur at the point of a physical contact or even orgasm. It's bigger than that, more holistic. Soul to soul. His energy washed over me now in waves, and it was pure ecstasy as I rode that ocean higher and higher. My body burned with it, nearly to the breaking point. Before that crest crashed over, before our connection broke, I caught one more thought from him, plain and simple: mouth or face} Ah, men. He chose mouth, moaning loudly as he came. Warm, bitter liquid flooded over my tongue as his body spasmed and his nails dug into my neck and scalp. I waited until he finished, then swallowed because I knew it was what he wanted me to do. It was what every guy wanted. And really, it was the least I could do for him, because with his orgasm came a climax of my own. The full force of his energy hit me like a bolt of lightning at the same time he felt its loss. I broke from him, gasping at the feel of that power, swimming in that bliss, invigorated and alive. He, however, stiffened and paled, suddenly weak and confused at losing something he hadn't even known he had. He groped blindly for support and caught the edge of a table as his legs gave out underneath him. The table saved him from completely falling over, and I caught his other arm, balancing him. Carefully, I eased him down so he could sit and lean his body against a chair. His eyes struggled to stay open as the shock of his energy loss pulled him toward unconsciousness. Another cardinal succubus rule: the stronger the guy, the stronger his loss would be. â€Å"Oh my God†¦what's wrong with me?† Pushing aside whatever kindly feelings or sympathy I might have, reminding myself he'd – eventually – recover, I stared down at him coolly and rearranged my clothes. â€Å"I think you drank too much.† I leaned over and tugged up his pants. â€Å"I'll go get help.† He started to protest, but I was already out the door. I strode back to the dance floor, haloed in his energy. I felt like a goddess entering a temple of worshippers, and many sets of eyes seemed to regard me as exactly that. A few quick searches, and I found his friends from earlier. I told them he'd passed out downstairs and left them to deal with it. â€Å"This one's on me,† I heard Hugh say when I walked back up to the bar. My post-sex glamour would be especially obvious to him. I ordered a shot of Jagermeister and chased it with another shot of Goldschlager. Nothing like funny-named liquor to top off an evening. â€Å"Does it make you feel better?† the imp asked. He inclined his head toward the two empty glasses. â€Å"No,† I said. â€Å"But sometimes it helps me not remember as much.† I went home after that and cooked myself in a long, hot shower, trying to wash away the feel of sex. My buzz soon yielded to my second headache of the day and a slightly nauseous feeling. I had just settled down on the couch for mindless TV watching, back in my normal shape, when Seth showed up. â€Å"I wanted to see how you were doing,† he explained, sitting down next to me. â€Å"Better,† I told him uneasily. â€Å"Sort of. I went out with the gang.† â€Å"Ah. Sounds fun.† He didn't sound entirely sincere. I think â€Å"the gang† still kind of weirded him out a little. He leaned his head on the couch and stared at me for a long time, not saying anything. I laughed in spite of myself. â€Å"What?† â€Å"I don't know,† he said, face serious. He reminded me of a child staring at the tree on Christmas morning. â€Å"It's weird. It's just you're so†¦so beautiful tonight. I mean, you're always pretty, of course, but tonight, I don't know – I can't take my eyes off of you. I want to†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He didn't give voice to the urge. â€Å"Must be the wet hair and pajamas,† I said lightly. â€Å"Always a turn-on.† But I knew what was bedazzling him. The guy from the club. Or rather, that guy's stolen life. Humans couldn't resist it. Immortals couldn't resist it. Racking my brain, I realized Seth had never seen me so soon after a fix. He'd seen me the same day sometimes – and also commented on my attractiveness then – but this was the first time he'd received its full effect. It made me feel guilty to see him looking at me like this. His hand reached for mine, and I tried not to flinch as he took it. Even after the shower, I felt dirty and cheap. I didn't want him to touch me after what I'd done, even if it had been in a different body. I didn't deserve such love. Seth sighed, still enchanted. His long fingers traced warm, whirling patterns on my skin. I felt my breathing grow heavier. â€Å"I wish I could put your beauty into words. But I'm not that good of a writer. Guess I need some work.† I stood up hastily and tugged at his hand. â€Å"Now you're just being silly. I think you're the one that needs to go home and rest.† He blinked. â€Å"Oh. So no more, uh, attempts at sleeping?† I hesitated. I wanted to do it again but still didn't trust myself. Or Seth actually, not with the way he kept watching me with such rapt admiration, that heat burning in his eyes. One would have thought a backroom fling might have sated my lust for the night, but I wanted Seth just as much as ever. Of course, in retrospect, maybe that wasn't a surprise after all. Said fling hadn't exactly addressed my physical needs. â€Å"No,† I told Seth. â€Å"Not yet. Too soon.† He looked like being separated from me would hurt him physically, but he finally conceded when I let him kiss my cheek. It was long and lingering, more sensuous than one would expect, making me inhale and then exhale a long, shuddering breath. I wouldn't return the gesture, however. Not with these lips. He waxed on about my beauty a few more times before finally leaving, and I went to bed shortly thereafter. Lying there, I told myself over and over that I had done the right thing at the club. I had done what I needed to do to keep myself strong and capable. After all, Seth had said he loved my â€Å"whirlwind.† Sex was the means of keeping it strong. I had done the right thing. And I had done the right thing with Doug too. Everything I'd done today had been for the best. And yet†¦if that was true, then why did I feel so terrible about it all?

Work Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Work Psychology - Essay Example It may comprise of competences and qualifications that a person needs to perform a job. The personal specification and job description that the author refers in this case is that of appointing the European Social Fund Programme Coordinator. This is a particularly vital position in the company and management should be extremely keen during appointment. This is a critical task since it covers the central area of London and requires the person that the management appoints to carry out challenging programmes (Matthewman, Rose, and Hetherington, 2009). The person that the management appoints should have qualities such as the ability to convince, skill, and motivate individuals. They should have relevant qualifications and work experience in the field. This personal specification is sufficient since it provides all the details that match this job. It should incorporate meticulous details of the level of qualification and experience that is necessary. Importance of using job analysis Job an alysis is a valuable method that managers have employed to access information concerning this job of project coordinator. It is a process through which they acquire information concerning responsibilities, skills, and work environment of a job. It is a process that demands them to collect a lot of information to emerge with the right conclusion on the requirements. The process is extremely valuable in preparation of both job specification and description. It enables managers to hire the appropriate coordinator who will facilitate delivery of the European Social Fund programmes in the organization. This leads to proper utilization of the resources of and hence leading to success of the organization. Job analysis aids management to select the best candidate who will deliver the necessary information to young people (Arnold, 2005). This will ensure that the project achieves its target of reaching young people who have many issues that require support. Methods of using job analysis Job analysis is decidedly vital in an organization since it impacts directly on productivity of an organization. The human resource department should be thoroughly keen when deciding the method that an organization should adopt for job analysis. There are various ways of conducting job analysis that managers can adopt. These include conducting interviews, questionnaires, incident investigations, gathering background information, and observation (Matthewman, Rose, and Hetherington, 2009). These methods provide reliable information concerning job description and various specifications for the available job opportunities. The human resources professionals should adopt several of these methods to enhance credibility of the information. The most appropriate method for this job is conducting interviews. This is an ideal method because a panel of interviewers examines the candidates physically. This enables them to acquire all the relevant qualities that they need for the job opportunities ava ilable (Nankervis, Compton, and Morrissey, 2009). Methods of Personnel Selection This is the process that organizations adopt to promote or hire individuals. It mainly focuses on selection of appropriate workers in an organization. The most reliable methods of Personnel Selection that the Organizations should adopt include work sample tests, situational and competency based structural interviews, and cognitive ability. They are the one that are available in this case where selection of a program coordinator is the key issue. These methods are the best since they provide a high level of validity (Nankervis, Compton, and Morrissey, 2009). The management adopts appropriate means of appointing the Program

Influence of Social Media on the Information Anxiety Essay

Influence of Social Media on the Information Anxiety - Essay Example With the advent of social networks like face book, individuals are free to communicate at any given moment. Social networks enable people to express their views in any way they may feel like. There are no limitations that can hinder the individuals to express whatever information and ideas they may want. Social networks enable individuals to post information they want since they are responsible for controlling the content they might want to post on their web pages. People use social media to their own advantage and they also want to manipulate other people to view the world from their own perspective. Each individual strives to advance his or her values as ideal compared to those believed by other people. The other issue about social networks is that they have removed geographical boundaries and people can consume whatever kind of information they may want. This has led people to be anxious to learn different things from the internet.The other issue is that the individuals shape thei r own values through the use of different social networks like the one mentioned above. For instance, it is argued that each voice is there to criticise other voices that do not agree with it. Values are shaped by people and they are in most cases designed to advance the interests of the individuals concerned. However, there are divergent views towards the values of the other people. This brings us to the understanding that values are not universal and they cannot be unanimously imposed on other people who may have different views.

Family law Scenario analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Family law Scenario analysis - Essay Example Family law Task 1 - Using relevant statutory provisions and case law, analyse scenario 1: Assess the legal validity of any possible claim against Gail’s estate and applying legal provisions, illustrate how her estate would be disposed of. Task 2 - Using relevant statutory provisions and case law, analyse scenario 2: Identify any possible claimants on Peggy’s estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 and assess the likelihood of success each claimant would have in receiving a payment from the estate. Task 3 - In relation to the two scenarios, critically comment upon the ability of the law to interfere with a testator/testatrix’s last wishes. Task 1 In order to check the legal validity of any claim against the estate of Gail, it would be necessary to refer primarily to the will that Gail prepared. In terms of the will’s validity, no doubts can exist. In accordance with the s9 of the Wills Act 1837 ‘no will shall be valid unless it is in writing and signed by the testator or by some other person in his presence and by his direction’. The will of Gail is signed by her; the text of the will contains the phrase ‘Signed by the said Testator,†¦, in the presence of us’, a phrase that verifies the fact that the will was signed before the witnesses, so no doubt in regard to the will’s validity exists. In other words, the will of Gail is valid being aligned with the relevant provisions of the law, as described above. At the next level, the text of the will should be reviewed for judging whether Gail assets would be distributed in accordance with the will, or whether her estate will fall under intestacy. In other words, it should be made clear whether the will has been revoked or not. Gail prepared the will in December 2010. At that time, Gail had already taken a divorce from Brian, as assumed by the fact that when Martin proposed to her, the processes of the divorce were over. It should be mentioned that after the divorce, Gail bought a house the value of which has been estimated to ?225,000. Also, in July 2010, Gail had inherited a sum of ?150,000 from her father. In other words, the value of Gail’s estate, i.e. the inherited assets, can be estimated to ?375,000. In terms of the will’s validity, the following issues should be mentioned: in accordance with the UK law, a will is automatically revoked if a marriage takes place (s 18(1) of Wills Act 1837). This means that the will of Gail could be possibly considered as revoked. The section 18(3) of the 1837 Act notes that the will may not be revoked after the marriage in case that the testator has made clear within the will that he is going to marry to a particular person and that he wishes that the will remains effective after the marriage. Gail added such term within her will, without, however, specifying the person that she was going to be married. In this context, her will should be considered as revoked. As a result, those who were entitled under the will would receive nothing, with reference particularly to Gail’s best friend, Claire Peacock, but also Blanche Tilsley. The gifts which were, in accordance with the will, would be given to the above persons, will be incorporated in Gail’s estate and will be distributed using the intestacy rules and the right of the surviving spouse. As for David and Sharah, who were also mentioned in the will, they will not inherit the rest of Gail’s esta te, but they will share, along with Nicholas, the remaining part of the estate of ?62,500, after deducting the right of the surviving spouse, as described below. At this point it should be mentioned that Sharah would not inherit since she dies in the car accident, along with Gail; however, Sharah has a daughter, Bethany, who would inherit as the grand daughter of Gail. Under these terms, the estate of Gail would be distributed among the beneficiaries, using the Administration of Estates Act 1925, as containing the rules related to the surviving spouse rights, and the Law Reform (Succession Act) 1995, which includes the

Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 21

Article Example The final step is direct action where people present themselves to present their cases. Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice is a valid statement because, for the realization of fair treatment of all people, the governing rules must apply to everyone. If there is no law and order, then people will do all types of crime and get away with such actions. The society would be a place where the powerful and strong have their way over the weak and poor if there is no law and order. Therefore, the law serves to place all citizens at equal and give everyone access to institutions that can protect people’s rights. Law and order in my community helps in giving protection to poor people from the rich taking their property or forcing the poor to work without proper compensation. The law, therefore, enhances justice. Unjust laws may also include situations where rich people use their influence to get laws passed allowing them to pay less tax in comparison to the poor. In addition to this, unjust law also includes a scenario where the majority passes laws, or objects the passing of laws that may affect the majority in a negative way while helping the marginalized groups. The best written paragraph is paragraph 17 because King provides a different approach to the understanding of a just law and unjust law. The difference is that he deviates from the traditional response that the law ought to respect human rights. In that paragraph, he voices the need for the majority to bind themselves by the laws they pass, and allow the minorities to participate in making laws. Tension is beneficial when applied correctly because it keeps authorities on their toes for fear of repercussions in case they make the wrong decision. The tension that King referred to was the tension of the fear of an outbreak of violence. King was termed as being an

The Reinvention of Marriage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Reinvention of Marriage - Essay Example Marano wrote about marital therapist Liberty Kovacs' research and findings, based on theoretical bravado from group dynamics, theories of adult development, and family systems, of the six stages that marriages go through. Kovacs developed a system which tracks the paths of marital relationships as they evolve in intimacy and mutuality and finds that these paths are predictable in marriages. The six stages are highly distinct and marriages do not necessarily move from one stage to the next in an orderly fashion. A marriage may be stuck in one stage for years or it may go back to another stage. Instead of progressing in a linear pattern, the stages move in a circular pattern. The six stages include: Stage One-Romance (Honeymoon) Fusion; Stage Two-Expectations Compromise; Stage Three-Power Struggle; Stage Four-Seven-Year Itch Competition; Stage Five-Reconciliation Cooperation; Stage Six-Acceptance Collaboration. Being able to look at marriage as a predictable pattern, which involves phases that couples go through, helps couples to be aware of what they are going through and how to deal with them. The knowledge that these phases are part of what marriages go through helps couples to know that this is a natural cyclic process and that they are not alone as all marriages go through these stages in time, as research has discovered. ... Being aware of the stages of marriage allows a couple to customize and design a marriage that will help them work through the six stages then instead of trial and error attempts at a guessing game, there is a more tried and true approach. Couples are able to view the blueprint as they are aware of the stages and can customize the path/solution to take. A strong marriage does not happen overnight and instant gratification should not be what one looks for. Poor conflict management is the key in developing a healthy marriage as it moves through the stages. The art of arguing, as Kovacs calls it, is learning how to communicate effectively and to learn the skills of problem solving. It is important that men and women understand their differences in how they handle conflict and experience pain. By understanding each other's points of view and natural way of responding, conflict management and problem solving can be more easily accomplished. Along with better conflict management methods "th e positive affect", or the expression of affection, must also be incorporated. A sense of humor, empathy, agreement, and other positive actions are aspects of "the positive affect" which shows expressions of affection. This article is relevant to psychology because as the "Elmer" Social Science Dictionary (2003) defines the word psychology, it deals with the "Scientific study of human behavior, mental processes, and how they are affected and/or affect an individuals or group's physical state, mental state, and external environment. Its goal is to describe, understand, predict, and modify behavior." The findings of this article and the research that was conducted can be applied toward not only marriages but basically, any

Pros and cons of globalisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Pros and cons of globalisation - Essay Example Similarly, for centuries, people and business have invested in enterprises in additional countries. If we analysed the term "globalization" has acquired substantial affecting force. No doubt, some view it as a procedure that is useful a key to future world fiscal expansion and also inevitable and irreparable. According to the global experts there are so many questions concerning globalization like when did it commence, who supports, who alongside it or does technology effects globalization We will scrutinize these questions and attempt to find the greatest answers. Let's take a quick tour of globalization is a broadly used and hotly discussed subject which has numerous definitions. It can simply be defined as the compression of the world. However, globalization is too complex to be described with a single definition. Here are some more definitions to understand the subject better: According to the WTO report, globalization is the homogenization of people's tastes as well as demand patterns just about the world, due to augmented access to global communication of information regarding products and services as well as amplified access to transportation of products and people crosswise borders.(Hammond & Grosse,2003) Globalization can be explained as Adam Smith did as, "the growth of opulence," meaning when constraints on people's competitiveness are removed, then progress will flourish, with each individual looking to get better his or her lot. Globalization is The Process According to the expert analysis globalization is the procedure by which businesses generate value by leveraging their resources and ability across borders, as well as includes the organization of cross-border manufacturing and marketing strategies * Globalization is the rising integration of economies and societies around the globe. * A social procedure in which the restraint of geography on social and educational arrangements recede as well as in which people become gradually more aware that they are receding ( Waters, 1995). * Globalization is a procedure (or set of progression) which embodies a revolution in the spatial organization of social dealings and transactions, produce transcontinental or interregional flows as well as networks of activity, dealings as well as power. Technology and Organization According to the expert analysis globalization is a procedure of interaction and incorporation in the midst of the people, companies, as well as governments of dissimilar nations, a procedure driven by international trade as well as investment and aided by information technology. Global Value According to the expert analysis it is helpful for media reforms to obtain place, in order to reduce the harmful communal and economic effects for the nations it is moving. The onus is therefore located on the governments and media practitioners to plan remedial events. This process may not be an simple one due to the information the global media, is certainly propelled by globalisation. Hence the state of affairs worsens because each day the world becomes additional of a worldwide village. However apathy is not the method to go, changes have to be made to downplay the damaging effects of global media

Managing across borders Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Managing across borders - Essay Example Kelly and her family are clearly being affected by the cross-cultural differences between themselves and the Japanese people. The family of Kelly is having a difficulty to adapt to the new environment thus, finding it hard to live in Japan. In addition, Kelly and her family have very little information concerning the area and thus, they keep on doing things in the American style thus, they end up having a hard time to survive with the Japanese. Kelly experiences a hard time at work due to the fact that she is a female while the Japanese are used to being led by males. Thus, gender discrimination is also a major issue in Kelly’s case. Clashes in culture customs Kelly’s case presents to us a number of clashes between the American culture and the Japanese culture. This is because; the Japanese culture is very different from the American culture and the two are characterized by different ways of handling issues. Kelly has worked in London and Boston as a female and yet, the re was no one who thought it being funny or weird for a woman to be a boss. However, in Japan she has a hard time since; the Japanese employees expected that the boss would be a man as opposed to a woman. Thus, there exists a clash in cultures since, according to the Japanese culture, it is men that should lead the women while, according to the American culture, women can also lead the men. According to the cross-cultural management theory formulated by Fons Trompenaars, cross cultural differences at work between employees can be solved can by communication (Van Mol, 2005, 31). Kelly experiences difficulties at work due to lack of fluent communication between her and the Japanese people. Therefore, she has to seek advice from Peter, her assistant, each time she experiences difficulties. However, had there been fluent and perfect communication between Kelly and the Japanese employees, the former would be aware of what to do each time when working with them. In addition, the Japanese employees are also finding it difficult to adapt to the fact that their new boss is a female. Hence, they end up having trouble in doing their work. According to the cross-cultural management theory, cross-cultural differences can also be eliminated through accepting and respecting them. Kelly’s husband Joe is experiencing a hard time in Japan because he has not yet accepted the fact that Japan is different from America. For instance, he finds it hard to adapt to the Japanese meals and keeps on complaining to her wife. Joe’s expectations were that; they would have a new experience in Japan, full of new experiences. Contrary to his expectations, Japan has turned out to be a very expensive country to live in, with a lot of difficulty in finding a new job. The family also had expectations that the expensive apartment would be big and spacious to fit all their possessions. Contrary to their expectations, the house has turned out to be very small and tiny, with no back yard for the children to play (Sanger, Intercultural Press & Bull Worldwide Information Systems 1990). Kelly’s stage of culture shock The first stage of culture shock is usually Jet-Lag and Wonder (Tabak,  2007, 1). This stage is also referred to as the honeymoon phase, where an individual gets excited by the new experiences about food, culture and language (Munan, 2008, 33). Kelly’s family went through this stage at first when they arrived in Tokyo tired but very excited. At this time, all they could see was the beauty of Japan in spring and were just making plans to spend their weekend sightseeing and travelling around. The second stage of culture shock is frustration (Tabak,  2007, 1). This is a period during which a person gets to experience the hardship of living in a new country (Ellis,  2001, 34). The individual finds it difficult to understand the new language used and gets laughed at when he or she makes mistakes while communicating. The usual response at th is

The Theme of Politics in Detective Fiction Essay

The Theme of Politics in Detective Fiction - Essay Example The Theme of Politics in Detective Fiction First, Politics has influence on detectives morals since they are also human beings expected to abide by the societal moral codes. The society expects investigators to portray excellent morals when handling criminal matters because people’s lives depend on the outcome. Whereas morals may differ from one culture to another, there is single moral that binds all the happenings of society; that is, the goal of doing well to another person. However, political influence on detective characters may alter the moral thinking with which they execute their duties. In fact, Dey brings forward, through the tales, the moral, political, and epistemological queries through the rationalistic and surveillance interpretations of detectives (97-20). According to him, bad politics hampers detective work. Secondly, the credibility of Detective findings depends on the political atmosphere at a specific time of the event. Harpham says that politicians get mad at each other, only when seasons changes (122). He adds that detective work involves rubbing shoulders with the politicians in some instances (127). Depending on the nature of favors that politicians may call from the detectives, some investigation findings risk being biased. In fact, the aspect is well portrayed in Dey’s articles when the author shows influence of political authority on the lives of various people such as Robbe-Grillet, and Agatha Christie murdered using political power (Dey 20).

Bottled Water Essay Example for Free

Bottled Water Essay Bottled water is one of the easiest ways for getting good water. Bottled water is every where in offices, airplanes, stores, homes and restaurants across the country. People think that bottled water is the best option for their health instead of drinking tap water because they say tap water is not completely pure. What they dont know is that tap water is the same as drinking bottled water because industries like Nestle gives us tap water in plastic bottles. Plastic bottles contain many chemicals that damage our system by giving us different diseases. This increases the risk of people getting diseases while years pass. People dont research enough about how is bottled water is made and how they are just taking away our money in this type of products. Before watching the video about bottled water, I realized how bottled water affects our system like a person and how it affects our environment. After watching the video I really didnt drank bottled water because I am an ecologic person. I have always recycled bottles and in my old school I promoted ways to recycle bottles, and why to recycle. I realized all the pollution is going on in the earth and I like to keep it clean. Even if I am the only person who is recycling one person makes some how some difference for the planet to breath at least a little bit. It makes me sad how people dont care about our planet knowing all the struggles and the lack of resources we now have. I have my personal plastic bottled to refill to drink water. This is some how good for the planet because we can use one water bottled and drink tap water and recycle. If industries like Nestle are giving us tap water in their fancy plastic bottles to make us believe that they are giving us pure water, why not drink tap water if it is the same. In reality, bottled water is just water. Bottle water means garbage, plastic bottles just makes more garbage in the planet and not all of them are recycled as the recycled industries say they are. Most of them end in the Pacific Ocean, rivers, lakes, etc. Plastic bottles besides killing us with their chemicals they also kill animals. This plastic bottles end up in lakes and in natural environments. Fish, birds, and other animals end up eating some how plastic because it is in their environment, this increases the percentage of animals dying in our natural environment; causing endangered animals. It makes me sad how people knowing how plastic bottles or even in my Earth Science class know how tap water is the same as bottled water are the same and they keep buying them. Why not buy your own plastic water and drink tap water if it is going to be the same kind of product and this way we can recycle by using the same water bottle many times, and drinking the same product that industries like Nestle are providing us in bottled water. I hope that with this critical analysis some of my classmates realize how bottled water is bad for their health and how bottled water damage not only us but also our environment. There are many things going on besides bottled water polluting our environment and damage other living animals. Lets no be selfish and take in consideration all of this information. http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw/faq/pdfs/fs_healthseries_bottlewater.pdf http://www.rd.com/health/rethink-what-you-drink/ http://www.chem.duke.edu/~jds/cruise_chem/water/wattap.html http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/tapped/

Kinesin Moves by an Asymmetric Hand-Over-Hand Mechanism

Kinesin Moves by an Asymmetric Hand-Over-Hand Mechanism Introduction This review discusses the motion of kinesin, a double headed motor protein. A study was conducted to determine which of two motion patterns is the one which describes the movement of this protein: the inchworm model, or the hand-over-hand model. What is Kinesin? Kinesin is a protein in a class of motor proteins which are powered by the hydrolysis of ATP – the molecule responsible for transporting chemical energy for metabolism [1]. Kinesin transports large cargo about cells by walking along microtubules, hydrolysing one molecule of ATP per step [2]. It has been proposed than the force of the protein binding to the microtubule propels the cargo along [3]. Kinesin moves to the â€Å"plus† end of the microtubule, meaning it transports the cargo from the centre to the edge of the cell [4]. There is evidence that some kinesins have a role in mitosis (cell division), by separating microtubules or depolymerising them [5]. The Models The inchworm model describes motion with one â€Å"arm† of the protein moving forward, followed by the other, with the first arm always in the lead. There are two types of inchworm motion, symmetric and asymmetric, which are shown in the image below. The symmetric model takes smaller steps, so only one arm moves at a time. Asymmetric motion takes a single step, at the middle of which both arms move. In the hand-over-hand model, alternating arms move forward over each other. In the symmetric case, the molecule rotates in the same direction every time, but in the asymmetric case the molecule rotates in alternating directions. These models are shown in the image below. Main Results The papers main result shows that the kinesin protein moves using an asymmetric hand-over-hand mechanism. To reach this verdict, a variety of single molecule experiments were performed. They established that the individual kinesin dimers make discrete steps at random intervals along the microtubule, and may take as many as one hundred 8 nm steps before releasing. The movement is processive, meaning that the protein can make many consecutive steps without releasing the substrate (the molecule on which it acts – here, the microtubule). This motion exists even when external forces up to several pN are applied, which indicates part of the protein stays attached at all times. The active part of kinesin is composed of a dimer, with two identical heavy chains, each with a â€Å"head† attached to a common stalk. These chains join to a short â€Å"neck† composed of single polypeptide chains. The heavy chains are coiled round each other to allow the rotation necessary for the hand-over-hand model. This rotation is about the neck, but the motion of the heads turning would continue winding, summing until the heavy chains would join into a common stalk, preventing independent rotation. A study was conducted [6] showing that no significant rotation occurs of the stalk during the stepping motion. For a symmetric model, a large rotation (about 180 degrees) was expected in the hand-over-hand models. The basis for the definition of â€Å"symmetric† here was in three dimensions: the structure of the kinesin and microtubule must be identical at the start and end of each ATP hydrolytic cycle, except for the two heads having swapped places [6]. An example of this is simply the dimer rotating half a revolution about an axis perpendicular to the microtubule each step [7], hence the prediction for a rotation of 180 degrees. However this was ruled out, and an inchworm model was proposed. In this, only one of the heads is active in hydrolysis, but the possibility of an asymmetric hand-over-hand motion remained. This would mean that the head and neck move in such a way that the overall rotation of the stalk is suppressed, instead alternating between two distinct structures [8]. How They Were Obtained The step motion of individual native and recombinant (formed in the lab by combining genetic material from multiple sources) kinesin molecules was measured, using optical force-clamp apparatus. This technique uses light from a tightly focussed laser to trap small, polarisable particles in a potential well near the focal point [9]. It was found that the intrinsic stepping rates alternated between two different values for each step, meaning the molecules â€Å"limped†. The difference in steps implies there was an alternation in underlying molecular configurations, meaning the motion could not be fully symmetric (such as the inchworm and symmetric hand-over-hand motions should be). The discovery of the limp, along with other nano-mechanical properties, means the protein moves with an asymmetric hand-over-hand motion. Single molecules of kinesin were attached to microscopic beads, serving as markers for position and as handles for external forces. An optical trap was then used to capture the individual beads that diffused whilst carrying the kinesin, which were placed near the microtubules. This was while kinesin bound and moved. The motion was then tracked using nanometer level precision. A feedback-controlled force lamp was used to apply a constant backwards load during the motion, in order to reduce the Brownian fluctuations and improve the spatiotemporal resolution. It also allowed for the kinesin to move further, taking more steps, in order to show statistical significance. The Results A derivative of Drosophila melanogaster kinesin (DmK401) was shown to have an obvious limp, with large time differences in the steps despite the stochastic nature (and ensuing variability). Statistical analysis showed significant differences in the average step times for both slow and fast steps. The durations of the steps were then calculated as Ï„slow = 136  ± 6 ms and Ï„fast = 24  ± 1 ms. The limp factor, L, can then be calculated as the ratio of the mean duration of the slow stepping time to the mean duration of the fast stepping time. The distribution showed significant limping for the majority of molecules, but there was wide variation in the results. 63% of records showed L > 4, and the average was L = 6.45  ± 0.31. Some motors took many runs and had consistently higher limp factors than others, but the distribution was broad and the populations could not be separated of limping and non-limping molecules. Other kinesin molecules, such as the native squid kinesin, showed almost no evidence of limping – the same calculations were applied as to DmK401, and the times were calculated to be Ï„slow = 90  ± 4 ms and Ï„fast = 54  ± 2 ms. The difference is much smaller than that for DmK401. The limp distribution was also found to be narrower, with the average limp factor being L = 2.23  ± 0.14, only slightly higher than the estimated value for a non-limping molecule, L ~ 1.8. The test was then done with kinesin derivates of Drosophila which had increasing stalk lengths. Longer stalks mean the motors are less likely to limp. The largest stalk tested was that of DmK871, and this had a limp factor of L = 2.16  ± 0.17, which was indistinguishable from native squid kinesin. There was also a correlation between an increasing limp factor (therefore shorter stalks) and an increase in characteristic lifetime of the slow step time, whereas the fast step remained invariant. This suggests the limping comes from one head alone, and the other is indifferent. A bacterial expression of a derivative of human kinesin (HsK413) also limped, with limp factor = 2.98  ± 0.25, much greater than the native squid kinesin, but still less than DmK401 and DmK448. Rarely, squid kinesin molecules seemed to limp, making outliers – some of which limped consistently. Discussion As both native and bacterially expressed dimers from different species can limp, this behaviour may be a result of a common mechanism describing how all kinesin molecules move. The alternation between short and long step times during limping reflects an alternation between the intrinsic rate (the rate with which the population increases) and the time it takes to leave each phase where neither head is moving. This implies the structure of the kinesin-microtubule complex is different at the end of sequential steps. The mechanism describing the movement of kinesin must therefore be asymmetric, meaning the molecular configuration switches after each step. Symmetric mechanisms, by definition, cannot account for switching – inchworm models will not limp without additional (asymmetric) features, nor will symmetric hand-over-hand models. The detail of how kinesin motors move is not well known or understood, so we cannot look at how limping could relate to the structure of the motion, but there are some suggestions based on the asymmetric hand-over-hand mechanism. Limping could be caused by misalignment of the stalk coils, meaning the necks would be different lengths, hence the head with a shorter neck would need extra time to find the next binding site using a diffusional search and overall slowing the kinetics. Another option is that there could be over- or under-winding of the coils from hand-over-hand motion, causing torsional asymmetry. The energy required to coil or uncoil the stalk would be reduced, changing the equilibrium and the rate with which the head moves forward. Whilst there is no immediate explanation for the effect whereby the shorter stalks result in longer slow stepping times, it may be incorporated into later studies with further assumptions. However, these experiments have shown that more approaches are needed for single-molecule experiments to answer these questions. Despite the exact mechanism not being known, the experiments do show that the kinesin motors limp, and making the asymmetric hand-over-hand mechanism the most likely. Why is this Significant? This is a breakthrough in the field, as more detail can now be found on how biological motors move. By establishing how kinesin moves, other motors can be analysed to find their mechanisms for movement, and this helps to further our understanding of biology. The same experiment can be done with other proteins, or more experiments can be done with kinesin to better understand certain factors – for example, why the slow stepping times correlate to shorter stalks, or why limping appears to come from one head only. What Other Work has Been Done? Whilst many similar experiments have been conducted, this has improved the knowledge of kinesins movement by showing that the inchworm model does not apply. It has opened up avenues for either looking deeper into kinesins movement, or for finding the mechanisms for other motors. The experimental method used was also new, and was different from the previous study by Hua, Chung and Gelles [6], which was researching something similar. Hua, Chung and Gelles looked at the rotations in the movement of kinesin, with the null hypothesis of a symmetric hand-over-hand mechanism. This was done by immobilizing a derivative of Drosophila, and measuring the different orientations of the microtubules as it moved. Their findings were consistent with the inchworm model, which is why it was proposed initially. Conclusion The kinesin mechanism is now better understood than before, with more information gained in explaining the mechanism. This has presented more factors for consideration and created new questions to answer: the opportunity for further research is huge. Future experiments could consider different proteins movements, or look deeper into the kinesin mechanism. The discovery is significant as it has not only given more insight into biological motors, but revealed ample possibilities for more experiments in the field. Acknowledgement This review was written primarily based on the work of â€Å"Asbury, C L et al. 2003. Kinesin Moes by an Asymmetric Hand-Over-Hand Mechanism. Science. 302(2130).†, with all numerical values and the majority of content based on the paper, unless otherwise stated. References [1] Knowles, JR. 1980. Enzyme-catalyzed phosphoryl transfer reactions. Annual Revue of Biochemistry. 49, pp.877–919. [2] Schnitzer MJ. 1997. Kinesin hydrolyses one ATP per 8-nm step. Nature. 388(6640), pp.386–390. [3] Mather, WH and Fox RF. 2006. Kinesins biased stepping mechanism: amplification of neck linker zippering. Biophysical Journal. 91(7), pp.2416–26. [4] Ambrose, JC, et al. 2005. A minus-end-directed kinesin with plus-end tracking protein activity is involved in spindle morphogenesis. Molecular Biology of the Cell . 16(4) pp.1584–92. [5] Goshima, G and Vale, RD. 2005. Cell cycle-dependent dynamics and regulation of mitotic kinesins in Drosophila S2 cells. Molecular Biology of the Cell. 16(8) pp.3896–907. [6] Hua, W, Chung J, and Gelles, J. 2002. Science. 295, p.844. [7] Howard, J. 1996. Annual Revue of Physiology. 58, p.703. [8] Hoenger, A et al. 2000. Journal of Molecular Biology. 297, p.1087. [9] Greenleaf, W J et al 2005. Physical Revue Letters. 95, 208102.

The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy Film Studies Essay

The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy Film Studies Essay The world of fantasy is a part of every childs being. From fairies to dragons, from wizards to goblins, the mind has never ceased to wander. As a young boy I took to this imaginary world heartily, and I continue to do so till date. Hence, I was not surprised when I found myself leaning towards The Lord of the Rings as my topic for this paper. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, represented in the set of books known as The Lord of the Rings was written by the most popular author in history. (White 6) The man that gave us Middle-earth, the territory of Sauron, Gandalf the Grey and Frodo Baggins of the Shire is none other than Professor John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973). I am studying The Lord of the Rings trilogy to help understand what it has contributed to the film fraternity and the literary world. Clearly, I have been a Tolkien fan ever since I laid my hands on the first book of this epic trilogy. The reason I have chosen to study this is because I would like to try to unlock how a fictional epic saga like The Lord of the Rings can influence both these fields on a global scale. I realized soon enough that this would be a challenge, but after reading several literary texts by different academicians I was determined to give it a shot. J. R. R. Tolkien is known the world over primarily for his achievements as a writer of fantasy and the creator of The Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson (1961), on the other hand, who is a writer, producer, actor and screenwriter, has been involved in projects other than fantasy which have also won him praise. However, it was Jacksons transformation of a trio of books into a trio of films that won him significant appraisal. The journey of this transformation began in 1998. Jackson reveals that most fans of The Lord of the Rings were probably not familiar with his earlier works and may have the impression that he popped out of nowhere and was suddenly directing this huge movie-project. (Sibley vii) While researching on this topic I have gathered that most of his colleagues think of his original vision as his greatest asset. Having watched a few of Jacksons other films I can say that he has a determination to showcase even an ordinary story in a very extraordinary way. As mentioned in Studying the Event Film: The Lord of the Rings, Jackson first mentions to Miramax of his interest in The Lord of the Rings in 1995. By July of 1998 Miramax decides to make one film out of The Lord of the Rings after which Jackson goes on to find New Line who agrees on a three part film. Shooting for the movie starts the following year, and by the end of 2003 Tolkiens most popular The Lord of the Rings is made available to the film audience in totality. (Margolis et al xix-xx) Jackson took to Tolkiens Middle-earth, in all its glamour, very passionately, even obsessively. He says that this was mainly the reason behind why Jackson kept pushing his filmmaking skills to a level high enough to direct such an epic drama. His goal was to make Middle-earth look like it was shot on location (Mathijs and Pomerance 2). As told to Sibley, Jackson confessed that it took him around ten years of making films and learning enough about film politics to give him the skill base he needed to tackle this particular project, apart from the twenty years working on amateur projects. (viii) Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings was the longest work of Fantasy ever published. (White 89) He began developing The Fellowship of the Ring soon after The Hobbit in 1937, but it was not until 1954 that he published this first part of The Lord of the Rings. Here, Frodo Baggins, the hobbit, sets out on his quest to destroy the all-powerful One Ring with wizard Gandalf the Grey as his guide, along with a protective fellowship drawn from various Middle-earth races. The book took the world by storm and had people from all age groups spellbound. In the Foreward section of this first book Tolkien writes, Those who had asked for more information about Hobbits eventually got it, but they had to wait a long time; for the composition of The Lord of the Rings went on at intervals during the years 1936 to 1949, a period in which I had many duties that I did not neglect and many other interests as a learner and teacher that often absorbed me. (5) White expresses this development as a transition from a vague sequel into an independent and full-blown creation in which, he says, the effort was packed with delays and retrogressive decisions (171). The second book in The Lord of the Rings series, The Two Towers, was also published in 1954, a few months after the first. The tale continues with how each member of the fellowship fared after the breaking of their fellowship, until the coming of the great Darkness and the outbreak of the War of the Ring (Tolkien 10). The third and last part of the series was named The Return of the King which was first published in October, 1955. It is quite possible that Tolkien thought this name appropriate since the saga ends with Aragorn ruling over Gondor, rightfully crowning him King. Tolkien ends this grand narrative with good winning over evil, revealing the opposing strategies of Gandalf and Sauron (The Dark Lord of Mordor), until the final catastrophe and the end of the great darkness. (Tolkien 13) The concept of Middle-earth is one of awe. Being a philologist and a Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University J. R. R. Tolkien had extensive knowledge of languages, ancient cultures and mythology. His imaginative mind led him to create the world of Middle-earth which would ultimately help launch the science fiction and fantasy cultural revolution that has swept western civilization since the 1960s. (Martinez) In his article, The World of Middle Earth, Martinez writes that the name Middle-earth is itself an ancient archaic name for the world of Men. This world created by Tolkien was as real and complex as our own. Tolkien wanted to make his imaginary world so convincing that the reader could believe in it so much as to believe it as actual history. For this reason he involved himself in map-making, creating endless charts marking dates and events, and even went to the extent of creating his many invented languages. (Foster 1) He carefully manifested a framework of familiar geography and climate, beasts and birds enabling the reader to walk through any Middle-earth landscape with a security of recognition that woos him on to believe in everything that happens. (Kocher 2) So much was his dedication for perfecting familiarity that Tolkien took the trouble of naming heavenly bodies such as the Great Bear as The Sickle, and planet Mars as Red Borgil. (Kocher 7) For instance, if we were to take the hobbits into consideration, the prologue of The Lord of the Rings informs the reader that they are our distant relatives even though the exact nature of this blood kingship is lost in time. Middle-earth, the land of hobbits, men and manlike creatures, among many others, is our Earth as it was long ago. The Shire has been described as a small but beautiful and fruitful land, beloved by its inhabitants (the hobbits), where an extensive agricultural system thrives avoiding the ruthless ways of an industrial economy. Kocher compares the Shire, which is on the North-West of the Old World, to northwestern Europe primarily because of its climate and skies, and farmland and valleys. (4) Irrespective of whether one is a fantasy genre fan or not, no one can deny that Tolkien is Hobbit forming'. (White 224) I first read The Fellowship of the Ring at age fifteen, and I have unknowingly read all the three volumes several times. With every read of Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings I find myself more deeply involved in his mythopoesis (Hart and Khovacs 26), a term often defined as literary myth. This mythopoeia, according to Tolkien, is easiest to attain using the fantasy/fairy tale (Hart and Khovacs 38) genre. The Lord of the Rings was readily adopted by the hippies in the 1960s. If one delves into this further one can observe that it is not difficult to see how Tolkien had a major influence on them. As White writes, It is set in an alternative reality in which orthodox religion plays no part, where magic makes things happen. (224) This book had a publicity and attraction beyond hippies. It was read by people from all age brackets, from all parts of the world, and from different cultural backgrounds. Today, if one were to type the words Tolkien or The Lord of the Rings into a search engine, at least half a million sites would be displayed. Therefore, it is no surprise that Tolkiens fantasy has spawned host of imitators. Soon after The Lord of the Rings was made available to the world, Tolkien found himself at the centre of all things media, as a cult figure; he was somewhat of a guru. He received appreciation from world famous personalities including Members of Parliament. White notes that even though Tolkien was delighted by the popularity of his work he was more than a little disturbed by the reactions of some of his readers. He was stunned to hear that a ten year old boy who played Frodo in a dramatization of The Lord of the Rings could not come out of character for a month. (225) Jacksons film version of this classic series has also held wide acclaim in both, the popular and the academic eye. As Kellner states, The Lord of the Rings trilogy has been the most popular, acclaimed, and fetishized film cycle of the Third Millennium and has intensified and expanded Tolkien readership for the novels that are the basis of the cinematic epic, while generating a devoted following for the films. (Mathijs and Pomerance 17) Digital technology is at the heart of The Lord of the Rings, and it was this technological advancement that was a major factor in its success. As mentioned in Studying the Event Film: The Lord of the Rings, various software developments such as the FastSCAN technology and Massive (Multiple Agent Simulation System in Virtual Environment) have made it easier to produce films on the scale of The Lord of the Rings. (3) Almost as soon as Jackson released The Fellowship of the Ring, gaming companies released high graphic video games based on the film. Posters, DVDs, music CDs, toys and such sold extensively. Even the New Zealand government, once it got on board The Lord of the Rings project, was determined to lever as much economic benefit as possible from its investment. (Margolis et al 10) For example, Air New Zealand painted various characters from the films on their planes and New Zealand Post issued both international and domestic stamps depicting places as they appeared in the films. (Margolis et al 10) Not only is The Lord of the Rings an entertainment marvel, it is also being taught as a subject in universities all around the world. I, for one, have selected The Lord of the Rings as my academic paper. There are endless books, articles, journals and online databases devoted to this topic. Given the bubbling global fan discourse and the pervasive conviction that Jackson has accomplished something magnificent and significant, it is not a surprise that much of The Lord of the Rings has become the subject of academic literary criticism. National Geographic has made an attempt to link The Lord of the Rings to American frontier mythology and to presidents like Franklin Delano Roosevelt. As Mathijs and Pomerance have noted, an academic discussion list for a selected group of cultural studies scholars consisted of all things gendered, ethnic, classed, religious, ideological and methodological in reading the trilogy. (3-4) As mentioned earlier, Tolkien wanted to associate his fantasy world with our own. For this purpose, it has led me to believe that those that write about The Lord of the Rings books and/or films attempt to make a connection between The Lord of the Rings and world events. In recent times links have also been made between The Lord of the Rings film texts and contemporary political concerns like totalitarianism, family, ecology, technology, patriarchy, and war and terror. (Mathijs and Pomerance 7) A quick browsing through of such articles/journals will lead you to see this link; a departure from a world based on craftsmanship, and an eco-friendly environment, to a world based on high technology procedures, industrial pollution, and new divisions of labour and corrupt governments. As Isaacs writes, Tolkiens popularity was not fostered by the mass media; it grew from appeals of his work itself and was simply reported in the media. His work did not involve any promotion, nor was there a critical bandwagon either. (1) The initial reviewers were full of praise but they also had a lot of contradictions and questions, specifically about genre. Over the years subsequent reviewers kept the praises coming and began answering some of the questions. I would think that answering some of the basic questions would help understand Tolkiens take on matters such as genre, influences, relationships, and the like. Humphrey Carpenter reveals that Tolkien regarded himself as a discoverer of legend and not as an inventor of story. (Nitzsche 1) Selling over a 100 million copies worldwide (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..) The Lord of the Rings volume is still strongly demanded in the market. However, some critics have been very vocal to dismiss this volume as balderdash, juvenile trash' (Shippey 307) and confidently stated that this is not a work which many adults will read more than once. Jackson too has had both positive and negative responses to his trilogy. Andrew OHehir says that, Tolkiens mournful, melancholic tone was captured with authoritative vigour in the films. He translated the best-loved fantasy novel of our age into a commanding screen adventure, one with a sense of human terror and danger and grit under its nails, one that makes Harry Potter and Luke Skywalker look like the feeble wraiths they are. (136) All of the above is a brief introduction to the different areas that I will be elaborating on, in context of The Lord of the Rings. I hope to be able to address and answer some questions that I have had regarding Middle-earth and its elements. Born on the 3rd of January, 1892 in Bloemfontein, South Africa, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was the first child and the elder son of English parents Arthur Reuel Tolkien, a banker, and Mabel Suffield Tolkien. (Crabbe 3) Growing up sturdy and handsome, with light hair and blue eyes, Ronald (as he was then most popularly called) was always an avid reader who liked reading mostly tales and myths of American Indians and of fairy tales. For him, fantasies about dragons and ogres became more distinctive as he read. His mother introduced him to many of the great childrens books of the day like Alice in Wonderland, The Pied Piper and Treasure Island. (White 20) Under his mothers guidance he also developed a distinctive style of handwriting that stayed with him throughout his life, ultimately cultivating his talent in drawing. As Crabbe notes, his precise lettering and talent for drawing, especially landscapes, contributed to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings when he began to illustrate his fictions. (5) In 1894, Tolkien had company as mother Mabel gave birth to a baby boy they named Hilary Arthur Reuel Tolkien. By the time Hilary was three the brothers were playing in the fields that surrounded the house, going on long adventurous walks. Without a father figure the only male company they had was each other, and not surprisingly became exceptionally close to their mother. The three Tolkiens thus shared an unusually strong bond. It is noted that the boys fantasized that a local farmer was an evil wizard who wanted to turn this peaceful English countryside into a theme park where evil wizards such as himself struggled for control of the land. The Tolkien brothers would wander into the local woods which they called strange lands to protect the innocent against the bad. (White 19) By the age of four, Tolkien entered a new phase in life. This was caused due to the family shifting homes from Bloemfontein to Birmingham, England, one of the British Empires powerhouses of the time. The wilderness and the distant horizon were replaced by an industrial jungle, terraced houses, concrete backyards and smoke of the local factories. (White 18) Tolkien was brought up mostly in a quiet English village called Sarehole. This friendly, old fashioned and pleasant pastoral village with rural inhabitants helped shaped Tolkiens vision of the Shire and its inhabitants. One of the most tragic events in Tolkiens childhood was the death of his mother, in the fall of 1904, before he was twelve. He never forgave his relatives for sending his mother to an early grave and was convinced that their rejection of his mothers conversion to the Catholic Church worsened her illness. He was sure that she died young because of this mental pain. Nonetheless, he cherished her memory and never forgot that she had introduced him to his Roman Catholic religious faith and to the study of languages, both of which, in very different ways sustained him all his life. (Stanton 3) There is a hidden message that I believe Tolkien was trying to address in The Lord of the Rings. In The Fellowship of the Ring, we read that the fellowship begins its mission on 25 December. By the third part of the volume we gather that the day Frodo succeeds in destroying the ring is 25 March. According to old English tradition we know that 25 December was the date when Jesus Christ was born, and 25 March was the date of the first Good Friday (Christs crucifixion). Tolkien maintains that there is no specific Christianity in his fiction writings but one can sense that the Christian spirit is everywhere. One of Tolkiens friend said that Tolkien was a very strict Roman Catholic, old fashioned and orthodox. As White writes, He habitually referred to Christ as Our Lord and possessed an unshakable conviction in the power of prayer, believing that he had been given stories after praying and that prayers had cured members of his family when they were ill. (208) Along with religion, his study of ancient languages made him appreciate the concept of myth and culture. With this realization, he could now start to build his own mythology to describe a fictional couture, an entire fictional universe, the roots of which lay in the languages of the different people of his fantasy realm. A further incentive to the creation of Middle-earth and its myths was given by the experience of war. During his lifetime, Tolkien witnessed the two greatest wars. For Tolkien being young, brilliant, and studying languages and books seemed like paradise, but this was shattered by the outbreak of war. He was still an Oxford undergraduate when war was declared against Germany. In 1916, during World War I, Tolkien served as a signalling officer in the battle of the Somme. (Rosebury 125-6) Life on the Somme was an endless struggle of day break attacks, night marches and death by German machine guns. Corpses lay everywhere, stinking, mutilated or disfigured, with parts completely blown away. As Crabbe states, World War I came to symbolize the difference between the old ways and the modern, between the innocent and the ironic, between youthful hope and vigor and exhausted acceptance. (15) However it was not war alone that educated Tolkien, for he had learnt at his mothers death that the world can be tragic. Tolkien writes in the Foreward section of The Lord of the Rings, One has indeed personally to come under the shadow of war to feel fully its oppressionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.By 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead. (7) Tolkiens generation had to pay a terrible cost during World War I, and maybe it is for this reason that The Lord of the Rings is somewhat of an anti-war story, among the many other kind of story it is. He agrees that war was an essential part of the plot but it did not hold any allegorical significance or contemporary political reference whatsoever. It is necessary to avoid, as Stanton suggests, allegorical readings of The Lord of the Rings: Mordor is not Nazi Germany, Tom Bombadils little province is not Switzerland, and so on. (5) In 1945, Tolkien described World War II as the first War of the Machines, noting that it left everyone poorer, many maimed and millions dead, where only one thing triumphant: the Machines. On the other hand, he described World War I as a war of manpower against machines where the old world was fighting against the new. (Garth 190-1) Many writers have described Tolkien as having a strong anti-modernist attitude. His son, Christopher Tolkien mentioned that, He disliked the modern world,'. (White 208) It is important to keep in mind that Tolkien was a grown man before the onset of World War I. His thoughts and ideas were products, to some extent of late Victorian culture. They were formed in an age which was more innocent than ours, and certainly more hopeful. As quoted in Hobbits, Elves, and Wizards: Exploring the Wonders and Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings Tolkien emphasizes that I was born in 1892 and livedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.in the Shire in a pre-mechanical age. (Stanton 4) As the First World War ended and life gained normalcy, Tolkien and wife Edith Bratt were parents of a son they named John, and Tolkien secured his first civilian job as a junior editor on the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) project in 1919. A couple of years later in 1921 Tolkien accepted a position as Reader of English Language at the University of Leeds. (Crabbe 16) Soon again in 1925 Tolkien returned to Oxford, and the year that followed introduced him to another medievalist, C.S. Lewis, most famously known for writing The Chronicles of Narnia, who almost immediately became an important source of friendship, stability, and intellectual and creative stimulus for Tolkien. (Crabbe 19) Tolkien and Lewis were good friends for many years, even though they grew apart in the later years of Lewiss life. Tolkien always credited Lewiss faith in the worth of The Lord of the Rings, and he maintained that it was due to his insistence that Tolkien eventually completed the work. As fellow members of the Inklings they met weekly at a pub to drink beer, and read and criticize, among other things, one anothers unpublished works. It was these friendly, supportive gatherings that Tolkien absorbed the outlines of social organizations that comprised his sense of good in his fantasies. Throughout Tolkiens life, he was drawn into clubs: groups of men who had similar interests and talents. The all-male society of King Edward School provided Tolkien the first clubby and likeable fellowships that became an important aspect in Tolkiens life and in his fictions. However, of all the clubs to which Tolkien ever belonged, the Tea Club and Barrovian Society (TCBS) was the most important in terms of the effect on his literary imagination. (Crabbe 10) Tolkien and Lewis had a lot of common conceptions and a few differences in opinion. Both agreed that Christianity was important, though one was Anglican and the other Catholic. They agreed that myth was important, though one called it myth and other called it faery. They agreed that literary study was important, though one was literature and the other was language. They regarded news as something fit to be ignored, arguing that the only truth can be found in literature. Here, I would like to particularly honour Tolkiens form of story-telling because of his own profound faith in story as a vehicle of truth. Purtill notes that one cannot be certain about whether Tolkien would attempt to picture a life after death in fiction, but he expressed a strong dislike for Lewiss book, Letters to Malcolm, in which Lewis presents some nonfictional speculations on life after death. (133) Also, in Tolkiens work we have pure fantasy, where magic works directly by wizards and the likes, and not by means of spirits. In Lewiss fantasy however, we have a fully animistic view, where he creates disembodied spirits with some characteristics of angels and some of Neoplatonic Intelligences. (Purtill 107) Many people have made opinions or guesses concerning the meaning and motives of The Lord of the Rings. To this, Tolkien informs us that the prime motive was the desire of a story-teller to try his hand at a lengthy story that would hold the readers attention, amuse them, delight them, excite them or deeply move them. He says that he does not have any intention to put forward any inner meaning or message through the tale. In a biographical sketch of Tolkien, White notes that in order for Tolkien to create Middle-earth and its legend he needed more than language excellence. One, he needed the sort of imagination that could mould languages and transport characters through the fictional realm he created. Two, he needed to be constant with his writing, and three, he needed a reason to do it. (81) Tolkien wanted to create a sort of mythology for England since there had not been any previous mythical tale attached to the land. He was a patriot and he felt that producing and epic was not only something he could do but something he was trained to do. Tolkien identified two types of readers: the fidelis, the self-identified Christian believer, and the fainthearted which could be easily misinterpreted as the weak and timid reader. He wanted to target the latter type of reader, which he considered not as weak, but as that type of reader who has no theistic faith, or has lost what faith he or she had. Tolkien wanted to reach this group by the sheer power and grandeur of the story. (Rutledge 3) Tolkiens view of poetry was formed by his extensive knowledge of Old English literature, Latin and Greek poetry, Old Norse sagas. He wanted to adapt his medieval muse to the Victorian manner but could not find a contemporary model that sounded extravagant enough for his purposes. Therefore, The Lord of the Rings evolved as a result of his inability to adjust to the radical renewal of poetic tradition in the twentieth century. (Giddings 140) Readers approach The Lord of the Rings from different directions. Some value it as a treasure chest of imaginative languages, while others see it in terms of myth; some view it as a muted religious statement, and others view it as a modern-day version of heroic fantasy. I found that the story drew me in instantly, and I spent many hours in Middle-earth, and like I mentioned earlier, I have been back many times since. Although Tolkien has voiced his opinion on allegory saying I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence (as qtd. in Shippey 161), he has in fact regarded allegory as a legitimate critical tool, a means to clarify critical stands, throughout his career. Helms uses the 1936 Beowulf lecture to explain how Tolkien attempted allegory to illustrate what he is about as critic. (109) In fact, Tolkien turned to allegory to make what deeply important personal statements about the genre were for him of fantasy. Of all the characters in The Lord of the Rings, Harvey writes that hobbits represented the archetypal pre-Industrial Revolution Englishmen with simple needs, goals, and a basic approach to life. (114) Tolkien has reacted against the idea that The Lord of the Rings is an allegory, and it is not. That is why Tolkien dismissed those who viewed this saga as an allegory of World War II. Firstly, he points out that he started work on it long before the doom of 1939 had yet come upon the world. Secondly, the relevancy of equals signs were missing. Shippey suggests that one could say that the Ring = nuclear weapons, the coalition of Rohan, Gondor and the Shire (etc.) = the Allied powers, Mordor = the Axis powers, all of which has some general plausibility. (163) Here, he goes on to question what the destruction of the Ring and the refusal to use it equal. Tolkien says that many confuse applicability with allegory, but one resides in the freedom of the reader and the other in the proposed domination of the author. (Tolkien 7) We can then see that when he thinks of allegory, he is thinking of philosophy or fiction clad as a story, in which each person and/or event stands for a specific idea/fact of the real world. It must be noted here that if used in their proper place, either advancing an argument or else constructing brief and personal fables, Tolkien accepted them readily. At the age of eighty one, after a long and productive career spent largely in literary study, writing and teaching, Tolkien died on September 2, 1973 in the English town of Bournemouth. (Stanton 3)