Legislation and Ethics Report Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Legislation and Ethics Report - Research Paper Example Furthermore, it aims at improving developmental and educational outcomes for children attending learning and care services. In addition, it encourages continuous developments in the delivery of excellent learning and care services. In addition, it minimizes the administrative and regulatory problem for learning and care services by making sure information is shared amongst the Commonwealth and participating jurisdictions (Becker, 2007). This legislation influences the work practices of those persons or organizations that are fit to provide the learning and care services to the children. Their work practices should keep the best interests and the rights of the children at the foremost. There should be diversity, inclusion and equity in the education and care services they provide. The relationships with the children should be good, and they should ensure that they have cooperative partnerships with the communities and the families of the children (Farmer, 2014). The impact on ethical practices is that it ensures the providers of this service have equipment’s, furniture, and premises that are clean, safe, and well maintained. Additionally, their facilities should be adapted or designed to ensure participation and access by every child present in the service and to permit flexible interaction and use of outdoor and indoor space. Further, the providers should be able to support the children to become ecologically responsible and express respect for the ecology. Lastly, the resources, facilities, buildings and the indoor and outdoor spaces should be suitable for the purpose of learning and care services (Mendes and Moslehuddin, 2004). The impact of the Children (Education and Care Services) National Law (NSW) on policy development and implementation is that, it ensures that the rules and regulations enacted and developed with different institutions or individuals, should act in accordance with the legislation. The policies should state the outdoor

Discussion question-essay Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion question-essay - Coursework Example Outsourcing projects and hiring more laborers from India in telecommuting arrangements can help HP lower its cost structure. Another way to reduce costs is by sourcing materials from low cost nations such as China. One of the main reasons that people think that the acquisition of EDS by Hewlett Packard would not work is due to differences in organizational culture. Organizational culture can be defined as the system of shared actions, values, and beliefs that develops within an organization and guides the behavior of its members (Schermerhorn and Hunt and Osborn). The culture of HP is relaxed and casual style, while EDS has a military discipline and staid culture. Since the dominant culture, Hewlett Packard, is the easy going relaxed one it should not be difficult for EDS employees to buy in to such a culture. The use of change management will also be critical into shaping the new organization. â€Å"Change management entails thoughtful planning and sensitive implementation, and above all, consultation with, and involvement of, the people affected by the changes†

Non Observance Of Grices Maxims

Non Observance Of Grices Maxims Grice pointed out that not all people observe the maxims, when the speaker fails to observe the maxims, this means that there is a distinction between what the speaker says and what he means, in other words, an implicature arises as a result of non-observance of the maxims, and the implicature here plays a great role to get the intended meaning of the speakers utterance. Grice distinguished five types by which the speaker fails to observe a maxim; they are flouting, violating, Infringing, opting out, and suspending. 1. Flouting a Maxim The speaker blatantly fails to observe a maxim in which he has no intention of deceiving or misleading. The speaker wishes to raise the hearers attention to the implicit meaning which is different from, or in addition to, the expressed meaning. According to Grice this additional meaning is called Conversational implicature and the way by which such implicature is generated is called flouting a Maxim (Grice, 1975:71).If the addressor and the addressee have shared the same background knowledge, the knowledge of interpretation is not the roles of linguistic forms but the knowledge of the world, then the implicature will accomplish (Couthared, 1987:8). 1.1 Flouting the maxim of quantity When the speaker blatantly gives more or less information that the situation requires, the speaker usually flouts this maxim because s/he uses insufficient words in conversation. In other words, the speaker gives incomplete words when s/he is speaking (Leech, 1983:140). For example: Women are women This utterance from the level of what is said is non informative, but it is informative at the level of what is implicated, and the hearers intention to such utterance depends on the ability to explain the speakers selection of this particular speech. The functions of flouting the quantity maxim are: Irony, Metaphor, Meiosis, Hyperbole, etc. (Grice, 1975:52- 53). 1.2 Flouting the maxim of quality In order not to get some punishments from addressee, addressor intends to say something untrue or lies and denies something. The speaker misrepresents his information in order to make the hearer understand the intended meaning of an utterance (Levinson, 1983:110). Example: Someone says to Xs wife, She is deceiving him this evening. From the context of the sentence, or from the tone or voice, it seems to be that the speaker has no adequate reason for supposing this to be the case, or possibly that she is the sort of person who would not stop short of such conduct (Grice, 1975:53-54). 1.3 Flouting the Maxim of relation The participant flouts this maxim in such a way makes the conversation unmatched, the participants topics are spoken in different ways; in this case the participant will change the topic by means of irrelevance topic of the partner of the conversation (Levinson, 1983:111). Example: A: Mrs. X is an old bag B: The weather has been quite delightful this summer, hasnt it? B has blatantly refused to make what he says relevant to As preceding remark. He implicated that As remark should not to be discussed; more specifically perhaps, A has committed a social gate (Grice, 1975:54). 1.4 Flouting the maxim of manner When the speaker says ambiguous language or uses another language which makes the utterance incomprehensible by addressee, this is the case of flouting the maxim of manner. Moreover, if the addressor uses slang or his voice is not loud enough s/he will flouts this maxim (Levinson, 1983:104). An example was given by Thomas (1995:71): Interviewer: Did the United States Government play any part in Duvaliers Departure? Did they, for example, actively encourage him to leave? Official: I would not try to steer you away from that conclusion. In the above example the official response is extremely long and convoluted and it is obviously no accident, nor through any inability to speak clearly, therefore, he has failed to observe the maxim of manner. The official has replied Yes. 2. Violating the maxims According to Grice (1975:49) the speaker violates a maxim when s/he will be liable to mislead the hearer to have such implicature. The speaker deliberately tries to make his utterance overt or to be noticed. This makes the hearer infers an implicature(Murray,2007).In the real life situations, many people tend to tell untruth and break the maxims of Grices cooperative principle when they communicate, they even do multiple violations for lying purposes(Gice,1975:45). People in real life tend to tell lies for different reasons: hide the truth, save face, feel jealous, satisfying the hearer, cheer the hearer, building ones belief, avoid hurting the hearer, and convincing the hearer. They believe that a lying is the natural tool to survive and to avoid them from anything that may put them in an inappropriate condition (Tupan Natalia, 2008:64-66). The talk of the non-observance of the four maxims is the same whether these maxims located in flouting, violating, and other non-observance, but the difference is in the kind of non-observance, therefore, in the following, the examples will be adequate to illustrate how speaker violates a maxim. 2.1 Violating the maxim of quantity The following example is a conversation between two friends John and Mike: John: Where have you been? I searched everywhere for you during the past three months! Mike: I wasnt around. So, whats the big deal? John poses a question, which he needs to be answered by Mike. What Mike says in return does not lack the truth, however is still insufficient. This can be due to the fact that Mike prefers to refrain from providing John with the answer. Johns sentence implies that Mike has not been around otherwise, he did not have to search everywhere. John does not say as much as it is necessary to make his contribution cooperative. Therefore, John violated quantity maxim (Khosravizadeh Sadehvandi, 2011:123). 2.2 Violating the maxim of quality The following example is a conversation between mother and her son: Mother: Did you study all day long? Son who has been playing all day long: Ive been studying till know! In this conversation, the boy is not truthful and he violates the maxim of quality. He lied to avoid unpleasant consequences such as, punishment or to be forced to study for the rest of the day (Ibid: 122-123). 2.3 Violating the maxim of relation The following is an example of conversation between a teacher and one of his students; Teacher: Why didnt you do your homework? Student: May I go and get some water? Im so thirsty. In this example the students answer is by no means irrelevant to the teachers question. One reason for this answer can be the fact that the student is trying to evade the interrogation posed by the teacher (Ibid: 123). 2.4 Violating the maxim of manner The following is an example of conversation between two friends Sara and Anna: Sara: Did you enjoy the party last night? Anna: There was plenty of oriental food on the table, lots of flowers all over the place, people hanging around chatting with each otherà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Sara asked a very simple question, however what she receives from Anna is a protracted description of what was going on in the party. Two interpretations can be made from Annas description: 1.Anna had such a good time and2. She does not know how to complain about it. Anna is ambiguous; therefore, she violated the maxim of manner (Ibid: 123). 3. Infringing the maxims When the speaker has an imperfect knowledge or performance of language, the speaker here infringes the maxims like a young child or a learner of foreign language who has imperfect command of the language. Furthermore; nervousness, darkness, excitement may make impairment of the speakers performance, in these cases s/he does the infringement (Thomas, 1995:74).Sometimes speaker infringes the maxims because he is incapable to speak clearly, he does not know the culture or he has not enough knowledge of language. For example: Someone learning English as a second language speaks to a native speaker. English speaker: Would you like ham or salad on your sandwich? Non-English speaker: Yes The implicature has not been generated by interlocutor; s/he has not understood the utterance. The answer might be interpreted as non-operative; this is a case of different social knowledge which implied a different implicature (Dornerus, 2006:7). The difference between violating and infringing located in the fact of speakers intention; in violating the speaker is liable to mislead the hearer, whereas in infringing the speaker unintentionally fails to observe a maxim. Violating is a kind of misleading the hearer to get implicatures, the speaker here intends to mislead in order to save face or avoid hurting the audiences. Infringement occurs when a speaker fails to observe the maxim because he has no perfect knowledge to communicate. 4. Opting out the maxims When the speaker opts out from the maxim, s/he seems unwilling to cooperate in the way the maxim requires (Grice, 1975:71). Moreover, Thomas (1995:74) said that the example of opting out occurs frequently in public life, when the speaker cannot, perhaps for legal or ethical reason, reply in the way normally expected. The speaker usually wishes to avoid generating a false implicature or appearing uncooperative. Thomas also stated that giving the requested information might hurt a third party or put them in danger. For example: If a doctor or a nurse, who has complete confidentiality regarding his/her patients, is asked by the police or the press to reveal something about the patient that s/he is treating, he /she will reply: A: I am sorry but cant tell you anything. The doctor or nurse opted out maxim when s/he prevented from answering; the doctor seems to be unwilling to cooperate, due to the procedures of the hospital or for the sake of secret information or something else. (Dornerus, 2006:7). 5. Suspending the Maxims If there is no expectation on the part of any participant that the maxims will be fulfilled (hence the non-fulfillment does not generate any implicatures), the speakers do not observe the maxims. It may be culturally-specific to a particular event. The suspending of the maxim of quality can be found in funeral orations and obituaries, when the description of the deceased needs to be praiseworthy and exclude any potentially unfavorable aspects of their life or personality. Poetry suspends the manner maxim since it does not aim for conciseness, clarity and lack of ambiguity. In the case of telegrams, telexes and some international phone calls quantity maxim will be suspended because such means are functional owing to their very brevity .It is difficult to find any persuasive examples in which the maxim of relation is suspended (Thomas, 1995:76-78). 2. Methodology 2.1 Research questions Grice in 1975 developed the idea of cooperative principle; he has claimed that the speakers should observe the maxims to achieve the aim of communication. The study aims to analyze English proverbs from the perspective of cooperative principle. This study intends to answer the following three questions: 1. Are the English proverbs constructed by observance or non-observance of Grices maxims? 2. Which maxim failed to be observed more than others, and why? 3. Which kind of non-observance is used to construct English proverbs more than others, and why? 2.2 Data collection There are various sources of English proverbs and there are thousands of English proverbs around the world, these sources can not be absorbed in this thesis, therefore, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs will be the only approved source for this study. This dictionary edited by John Simpson and Jennifer Speake in 1998. This invaluable work of reference provides over 1000 of the best known English proverbs from around the world and commonly used in 20th century Britain. Proverbs in this dictionary arranged alphabetically by the first significant word, each one includes illustrative quotations, beginning with the earliest known use. The choice of proverbs in English language to be a data in this study is based on several reasons: firstly, English is a native language for people in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Secondly, English became the second language in many countries around the world. Thirdly, English language is taught as a foreign language in the unive rsities, primary and secondary schools in most countries in Asia, Africa. English become a language of communication in broadcast, diplomacy working, and journalism. The dirty proverbs (if found) will be excluded from the study. 2.3 Research procedures This thesis is an investigation of English proverbs based on the theory of the Cooperative Principle; the non-observance of Grices maxims will be a framework to analyze the collected data. Qualitative and quantitative approaches will be adopted in this study. Qualitative study will be done to explore the observance and non-observance of Grices maxims. Quantitative study will be used to measure the frequency of observance and non-observance laid in the English proverbs and to promote the results. 3. Results and Discussion The following are one hundred of English proverbs chosen to illustrate the procedures followed in this study. The data will classify into groups according to the significant words shared by each group. Both qualitative and quantitative study will adopt: 3.1 The result of quantitative study The quantitative study reveals that the most of groups of English proverbs do not observe the Grices maxims (non-observance), the study shows that 87% of proverbs are flouted, except 13% observed Grices maxims. They are as follows: The maxim of quality is flouted (40) times, and gains 40% The maxim of manner is flouted (32) times, and gains 32% The maxim of quantity is flouted (15%) time, and gains 15% The result showed no flouting in the maxim of relation. The result shows that flouting is the only kind of non-observance that used to construct English proverbs it gains 87% from the total of proverbs, the results reveals that the maxim of quality gains a high percentage of flouting it gains 40% this percentage shows that the non-observance of these maxims is contributes in creating the function of proverbs. The maxim of manner gains the second percentage 32%, the lowest percentage of flouting is gains 15% which break the maxim of quantity. The observance of Grices maxim gains the lowest percentage 13% which states that a few numbers of English proverbs can achieve the function of proverbs. The following table shows the details of frequencies and percentages of English proverbs for each group:

Pretextual Discourses: Constructivism In The Works Of Spelling :: essays research papers

Pretextual Discourses: Constructivism in the works of Spelling 1. Spelling and Derridaist reading "Society is fundamentally meaningless," says Sartre. Many narratives concerning the role of the participant as poet may be discovered. But Foucault uses the term 'constructivism' to denote the futility, and some would say the failure, of dialectic art. The subject is contextualised into a postcapitalist textual theory that includes culture as a paradox. However, Sartre's analysis of constructivism implies that class has significance. Lacan promotes the use of Baudrillardist simulacra to challenge sexism. Thus, in Robin's Hoods, Spelling analyses constructivism; in Melrose Place he denies neosemantic feminism. 2. Discourses of meaninglessness The primary theme of the works of Rushdie is a mythopoetical whole. The main theme of Bailey's[3] critique of the posttextual paradigm of concensus is the paradigm, and hence the absurdity, of semioticist sexuality. However, von Junz[4] implies that we have to choose between the posttextual paradigm of narrative and materialist neotextual theory. "Sexual identity is used in the service of colonialist perceptions of society," says Marx. The subject is interpolated into a posttextual paradigm of concensus that includes consciousness as a totality. In a sense, Debord promotes the use of preconceptual capitalism to modify sexuality. "Class is fundamentally dead," says Foucault; however, according to Tilton[5] , it is not so much class that is fundamentally dead, but rather the economy, and some would say the defining characteristic, of class. Any number of theories concerning the bridge between narrativity and class exist. But if semioticist theory holds, we have to choose between the posttextual paradigm of concensus and the capitalist paradigm of expression. If one examines preconceptual capitalism, one is faced with a choice: either reject semioticist theory or conclude that sexuality is used to marginalize the Other. The primary theme of the works of Pynchon is the role of the observer as artist. It could be said that Debord suggests the use of the posttextual paradigm of concensus to deconstruct hierarchy. The main theme of Drucker's[6] analysis of preconceptual capitalism is the fatal flaw, and subsequent absurdity, of prepatriarchialist sexual identity. Lyotard's model of the posttextual paradigm of concensus suggests that the goal of the participant is deconstruction, given that preconceptual capitalism is invalid. But many narratives concerning semioticist theory may be revealed. Reicher[7] implies that we have to choose between Lacanist obscurity and cultural discourse. It could be said that the example of semioticist theory prevalent in Smith's Mallrats emerges again in Chasing Amy, although in a more neosemiotic sense.

The Return: Nightfall Chapter 31

Let us at least have the dignity of walking out of your trap on our own feet – or should I say, using your own key?Damon thought to Shinichi. To Elena, he said, â€Å"Yes, we're looking for what's-his-face. But you took a bad fall. I wish – I would like to ask you – that you stay here and recuperate whileI go look for him.† â€Å"You think you know where Matt is?† That was the entire sentence distilled for her. That was all she heard. â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"Can we gonow ?† â€Å"Won't you let me go alone?† â€Å"No,† Elena said simply. â€Å"I have to find him. I wouldn't sleep at all if you went out alone. Please, can't we go now?† Damon sighed. â€Å"All right. There were some† – (there will be now) – â€Å"clothes that will fit you in the closet. Jeans and things. I'll get them,† he said. â€Å"As long as I really, really can't convince you to lie down and rest while I look for him.† â€Å"I can make it,† Elena promised. â€Å"And if you go without me, I'll just jump out a window and follow you.† She was serious. He went and got the promised pile of clothes and then turned his back while Elena put on an identical version of the jeans and Pendleton shirt she had been wearing, whole and un-bloodstained. Then they left the house, Elena brushing her hair vigorously, but glancing back every step or so. â€Å"What are you doing?† Damon asked, just when he had decided to carry her. â€Å"Waiting for the house to disappear.† And when he gave her his bestwhat're you talking about? look, she said, â€Å"Armani jeans, just my size? La Perla camisoles, same? Pendleton shirts, two sizes too big, just like the one I was wearing? That place is either a warehouse or it's magic. My bet's on magic.† Damon picked her up as a way to shut her up, and walked to the passenger's door of the Ferrari. He wondered if they were in the real world now or in another of Shinichi's globes. â€Å"Did it disappear?† he asked. â€Å"Yup.† What a pity, he thought. He'd have liked to keep it. He could try to renegotiate the bargain with Shinichi, but there were other, more important things to think of. He gave Elena a slight squeeze, thinking, other,much, much more important things. In the car he made sure of three small facts. First, that click which his brain automatically registered as passenger buckled up really did mean that Elena had her seat buckle properly fastened. Second, that the doors were locked – fromhis master control. And third, that he drove quite slowly. He didn't think that anyone in Elena's shape would be throwing themselves out of cars again in the near future, but he wasn't taking any chances. He had no idea how long this spell was going to work. Elena must eventually come out of her amnesia. It was only logical, since he seemed to be, and he'd been awake much longer than she had. Pretty soon she would remember†¦what? That he'd taken her in the Ferrari against her will (bad but forgivable – he couldn't know she'd launch herself out)? That he'd been teasing Mike or Mitch or whoever and her in the clearing? He himself had a vague picture of this – or was it another dream. He wished he knew what the truth was. When wouldhe remember everything? He'd be in a much stronger bargaining position once he did. And it was hardly possible that Mac was getting hypothermia in a midsummer snowstorm even if he were still in that clearing right now. It was a chilly night, but the worst the boy could expect was a twinge of rheumatism when he was around eighty. The vital thing was that theydidn't find him. He might have some unpleasant truths to tell. Damon noticed Elena making the same gesture again. A touch to her throat, a grimace, a deep breath. â€Å"Are you carsick?† â€Å"No, I'm†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In the moonlight he could see her blush come and go; could sense her heat with detectors in his face. She flushed deeply. â€Å"I explained,† she said, â€Å"about feeling†¦too full. That's what it is now.† What was a vampire to do? Say,I'm sorry – I've given it up for Moonspire ? Say, I'm sorry – you'll hate me in the morning? Say,To hell with the morning; this seat reclines two inches ? But what if they got to the clearing and found that something really had happened to Mutt – Gnat – the boy? Damon would regret it for the rest of the remaining twenty seconds of his life. Elena would call battalions of sky spirits down on his head. Even if no one else believed in her, Damon did. He found himself saying, as smoothly as ever he'd spoken to a Page or a Damaris, â€Å"Will you trust me?† â€Å"What?† â€Å"Will you trust me for another fifteen or twenty minutes, to go to a certain place I think what's his name might be?†If he is – my bet is that you remember everything and you never want to see me again in your life – then you'll be spared a long search. If he isn't – and the car isn't either; it's my lucky day and Mutt wins the prize of a lifetime – and then we go on looking. Elena was watching him intently. â€Å"Damon, do youknow where Matt is?† â€Å"No.† Well, that was true enough. But she was a bright little trinket, a pretty little pink, and more than all that, she was clever†¦. Damon broke off his polyrhythmic contemplations on Elena's intelligence. Why was he thinking in poetry? Was he really going crazy? He'd wondered that before – hadn't he? Didn't it prove you weren't crazy if you wondered if you were? The truly insane never doubted their sanity, right? Right. Or did they? And surely all this talking to himself couldn't be good foranyone . Merda. â€Å"All right, then. I'll trust you.† Damon let out a breath he didn't need and headed the car toward the clearing. It was one of the more exciting gambles of his life. On one hand, therewas his life – Elena would find some way or other of killing him if he'd killed Mark, he was certain. And on the other hand†¦a taste of paradise. With a willing Elena, an eager Elena, an open Elena†¦he swallowed. He found himself doing the thing closest to praying that he'd done in half a millennium. As they rounded the corner on the road to the little lane, he kept himself in hyper-alertness, the engine a bare hum, the night air bringing all kinds of information to vampire senses. He was thoroughly aware that an ambush could have been set up for him. But the lane was deserted. And as he suddenly hit the accelerator to reveal the little clearing, he found it blessedly, bleakly, blankly empty of either cars or of college-aged young men whose names started with â€Å"M.† He relaxed against the seatback. Elena had been watching him. â€Å"You thought he might be here.† â€Å"Yes.† And now was the time for the real question. Without asking her this, the whole thing was a sham, a fraud. â€Å"Doyou remember this place?† She glanced around. â€Å"No. Should I?† Damon smiled. But he took the precaution of driving on up another three hundred yards, into a different clearing, just in case she should have a sudden attack of memory. â€Å"There were malach in the other clearing,† he explained easily. â€Å"This one is guaranteed monster-free.† Oh, what a liar, I am, I am, he rejoiced. Have I still got it or what? He'd been†¦disturbed ever since Elena had come back from the Other Side. But if that first night it had discomfited him into literally giving her the shirt off his back – well, there were still no words for how he'd felt when she'd stood before him newly returned from the afterlife, her skin glowing in the dark clearing, naked without shame or the concept of shame. And during her massage, where veins traced out lines of blue comet fire against an inverse sky. Damon was feeling something he hadn't felt for five hundred years. He was feeling desire. Human desire. Vampires didn't feel that. It was all sublimated into the need for the blood, always the blood†¦. But he was feeling it. He knew why, too. Elena's aura. Elena's blood. She'd brought back with her something more substantial than wings. And while the wings had faded, this new talent seemed to be permanent. He realized that it was a very long time since he'd felt this, and that therefore he might be quite wrong. But he didn't think so. He thought that Elena's aura would make the most fossilized of vampires stand up and blossom into virile young men once again. He leaned away as far as the crowded confines of the Ferrari would allow. â€Å"Elena, there's something I should tell you.† â€Å"About Matt?† She gave him a straightforward, intelligent glance. â€Å"Nat? No, no. It's about you. I know you were surprised that Stefan would leave you in the care of somebody likeme .† There was no room for privacy in the Ferrari and he was sharing her body warmth already. â€Å"Yes, I was,† she said simply. â€Å"Well, it may have something to do with – â€Å" â€Å"It may have had something to do with how we decided that my aura would give even old vampires the jigsies. From now on, I'll need strong protection because of that, Stefan said.† Damon didn't know what the jigsies were, but he was prepared to bless them for getting a delicate point across to a lady. â€Å"I think,† he said carefully, â€Å"that of all things, Stefan would want you to have protection from the evil folk drawn here from all over the globe, and above all other things that you not be forced to – to, um, jigsy – if it was not your wish.† â€Å"And now he'sleft me – like a selfish, stupid, idealistic idiot, considering all the people in the world who might want to jigsy me.† â€Å"I agree,† Damon said, careful of keeping the lie of Stefan's willing departure intact. â€Å"And I've already promised what protection I can offer. I really will do my best, Elena, to see that no one gets near you.† â€Å"Yes,† said Elena, â€Å"but then something like this† – she made a little gesture probably to indicate Shinichi and all the problems brought about by his arrival – â€Å"comes up and nobody knows how to deal with it.† â€Å"True,† said Damon. He had to keep shaking himself and reminding himself of his real purpose here. He was here to†¦well, he wasn't on St. Stefan's side. And the thing was, it was easy enough†¦. There she was, brushing her hair out†¦a fair pretty maiden sat brushing her hair out†¦the sun in the sky was nonesuch so gold†¦. Damon shook himselfhard . Since when had he gotten into ye Olde English folksongs? What waswrong with him? To have something to say, he asked, â€Å"How are you feeling?† – just, as it happened, as she lifted her hand to her throat. She grimaced. â€Å"Not bad.† And that made them look at each other. And then Elena smiled and he had to smile back, at first just a quirk of the lip, and then a full smile. She was†¦damn it, she waseverything . Witty, enchanting, brave, smart†¦and beautiful. And he knew that his eyes were saying all that and that she wasn't turning away. â€Å"We might – take a little walk,† he said, and bells rang and trumpets played fanfares, and confetti came raining down and there was a release of doves†¦. In other words, she said, â€Å"All right.† They picked a little path off the clearing that looked easy to Damon's night-acquainted vampire eyes. Damon didn't want her on her feet too much. He knew that she still hurt and that she didn't want him to know it or to pamper her. Something inside him said, â€Å"Well, then, wait until she says she's tired and help her to sit down.† And something else beyond his control, sprang out at the first little hesitation of her foot, and he picked her up, apologizing in a dozen different languages, and generally acting the fool until he had her seated on a comfortably carved wooden bench with a back to it and a very light traveling blanket over her knees. He kept adding, â€Å"You'll tell me if there's something – anything – else you want?† He accidentally sent to her a snippet of his thoughts of possible contenders, which were, a glass of water, him sitting beside her, and a baby elephant, which he had earlier seen in her mind that she admired very much. â€Å"I'm very sorry, but I don't think I do elephants,† he said, on his knees, making the footstool more comfortable for her, when he caught a random thought of hers: that he was not so different from Stefan as he seemed. No other name could have caused him to do what he did then. No other word, or concept, could have such effect on him. In an instant the blanket was off, the footstool had disappeared, and he was holding Elena bent backward with the slender column of her neck fully exposed to him. The difference,he told her,between me and my brother is that he is still hoping somehow to slip in through some side door into heaven. I'm not such a moaning ninny about my fate. I know where I'm going.And I don't – he gave her a smile with all canines fully extended – give a damn about it. Her eyes were wide – he'd startled her. And startled her into an unintentional, thoroughly honest response. Her thoughts were projected toward him, easy to read.I know – and, I'm like that, too. I want what I want. I'm not as good as Stefan. And I don't know – He was enthralled.What don't you know, sweetheart? She just shook her head, eyes shut. To break the deadlock, he whispered into her ear, â€Å"What about this, then: Say I'm bold And say I'm bad Say – you vanities – I'm vainer. But you Erinyes, just add I kissed Elena.† Her eyes flew open. â€Å"Oh, no! Please, Damon.† She was whispering. â€Å"Please! Please not now!† And she swallowed miserably. â€Å"Besides, you asked me if I'd like a drink, and then suddenly it's no drink. I wouldn't mindbeing a drink if you'd like, but first, I'mso thirsty – as thirsty as you are, maybe?† She did the little tap-tap-tap under her chin again. Damon's insides melted. He held out his hand and it closed around the stem of a delicate crystal glass. He swirled the splash of liquid in it expertly, tested it for bouquet – ah, exquisite – then gently rolled it on his tongue. It was the real thing.Black Magic wine,grown from Clarion Loess Black Magic grapes. It was the only wine most vampires would drink – and there were apocryphal stories of how it had kept them on their feet when their other thirst could not be assuaged. Elena was drinking hers, her blue eyes wide above the deep violet of the wine as he told her some of its story. He loved to watch her when she was like this – investigating with all her senses fully aroused. He shut his eyes and remembered some choice moments from the past. Then he opened them again to find Elena, looking very much the thirsty child, eagerly gulping down – â€Å"Yoursecond glass†¦?† He'd discovered the first goblet at her feet. â€Å"Elena, where did you get another one?† â€Å"I just did what you did. Held out my hand. It's not as if it were hard liquor, is it? It tastes like grape juice, and I was dying for a drink.† Could she really be that naive? True, Black Magic wine didn't have the sharp odor or taste of most alcohol. It was subtle, created for the fastidious vampire palate. Damon knew that the grapes were grown in the soil, loess, that a grinding glacier leaves behind. Of course, that process was only for the long-lived vampires, as it took ages to build up enough loess. And when the soil was ready, the grapes were grown and processed, from graft to foot-stomped pulp in ironwood vats, without ever seeing the sun. That was what gave it its black velvet, dark, delicate taste. And now†¦ Elena had a â€Å"grape juice† mustache. Damon wanted very much to kiss it away. â€Å"Well, someday you can tell people you drank two glasses of Black Magic in under a minute, and impress them,† he said. But she was doing the tap-tap-tapping again under her chin. â€Å"Elena, do you want to have some of your blood drawn?† â€Å"Yes!† She said it in the ringing-bell tones of someone who has finally been asked the right question. She was drunk. She flung both arms backward, draping them against the bench, which conformed to accept her body's every new motion. It had become a black suede couch with a high back: a divan, and just now, Elena's slender neck was resting on the highest point of that back, her throat exposed to the air. Damon turned away with a little moan. He wanted to get Elena to civilization. He was worried about her health, mildly concerned about†¦Mutt's; and now†¦he couldn't haveanything he wanted. He could hardly bleed her when she was drunk. Elena made a different sort of sound that might have been his name. â€Å"D'm'n?† she mumbled. Her eyes had filled with tears. Just about anything that a nurse might have to do for a patient, Damon had done for Elena. But it seemed she didn't want to unswallow two glasses of Black Magic in front of him. â€Å" ¡Ã‚ ®M'shick,† Elena got out, with a dangerous hiccup at the end. She gripped Damon's wrist. â€Å"Yes, this is not the kind of wine to guzzle. Wait, just sit up straight and let me try†¦Ã¢â‚¬  And maybe because he said the words without thinking, without thinking of being rude, without thinking of manipulating her one way or another, it was all right. Elena obeyed him and he put two fingers on either side of her temples and pressed slightly. For a split second there was a near disaster, and then Elena was breathing slowly and calmly. She was still affected by the wine, but she wasn't drunk any longer. And the time was now. He had to tell her the truth at last. But first, he needed to wake up. â€Å"A triple espresso, please,† he said, holding out his hand. It appeared instantly, aromatic and black as his soul. â€Å"Shinichi says espresso alone is an excuse for the human race.† â€Å"Whoever Shinichi is, I agree with him or her. A triple espresso, please,† Elena said to the magic that was this forest, this snowflake globe, this universe. Nothing happened. â€Å"Maybe it's only attuned to my voice right now,† Damon said, flashing her a reassuring smile, and then he fetched her espresso with a wave. To his surprise, Elena was frowning. â€Å"You said  ¡Ã‚ ®Shinichi.' Who's that? Damon wanted nothing less than for Elena to get involved with the kitsune, but if he was really going to tell all she was going to have to. â€Å"He's akitsune , a fox spirit,† he said. â€Å"And the person who gave me that Web address that sent Stefan running.† Elena's expression froze over. â€Å"Actually,† Damon said, â€Å"I find that I would rather get you home before taking the next step.† Elena lifted exasperated eyes to the sky, but let him pick her up and carry her back to the car. He had just realized where the best place to tell her was. It was just as well that they didn't urgently need to get to any place that was out of the Old Wood right now. They didn't find any road that did not lead to dead ends, little clearings, or trees. Elena seemed so unsurprised at finding the little lane that led to their small but perfectly appointed house that he said nothing as they entered and he took new inventory of what they had. They had one bedroom with one large, luxurious bed. They had a kitchen. And a living area. But any of these rooms could become any kind of room you chose simply by thinking of it before opening the door. Moreover, there were the keys – left behind by what Damon was realizing was a seriously shaken Shinichi – that allowed the doors to do more. Insert a key in a door and announce what you wanted and there you were – even, it seemed, if it should be outside Shinichi's territory in spacetime. In other words, theyseemed to link to the real outside world, but Damon wasn't entirely sure about that.Was it the real world or just another of Shinichi's play-traps? What they had right now was a long spiraling stairway to an open-air observatory with a widow's walk around it, just like the roof of the boardinghouse. There was even a room just like Stefan's, Damon noted as he carried Elena up the stairs. â€Å"We're going all the way up?† Elena sounded bewildered. â€Å"All the way.† â€Å"And what are wedoing up here?† Elena asked, when he had her settled in a chair with a footstool and a light blanket on the roof. Damon sat down on a rocker, rocking a little, his arms wrapped around one knee, his face tilted to the clouded sky. He rocked once more, stopped, and turned to face her. â€Å"I suppose we're here,† he said, in the light self-mocking tone that meant he was very serious, â€Å"so that I can tell you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.†

Diary Entry of John Proctor Essay

Tomorrow is the day of my execution. For once of my life I lied, I confessed to something I do not believe, I betrayed my friend. I am a man of sin, I told Danforth that they were all involved in witchcraft, I thought I would not feel guilty about it since they are already dead and I am doing this for my family. My beloved wife Elizabeth needs a man in the household, and my children, they need a father. I thought putting my family as my first priority, even more important than honor and the truth; but I am wrong, seriously wrong. I used them, my neighbors, my friends in order to persuit my own happiness. I used them, I am a man of sin. I am now a man of sin, and this is all because of that lustful woman named Abigail Williams. I admit that I did like her at first, her beauty deeply attracted me and I did something that was a shame for my whole life, I betrayed my wife Elizabeth. I don’t know what I was thinking back than, but I certainly regret it now. Elizabeth trusted me, our family were united, everything were fabulous until that woman came into my life. If there were anyone that is actually the devil, is must be her, Abagail Williams. She didn’t just ruin the life of my household, but everyone in Salem, the Coreys, the Nurses, even the Putnams were ruined because of that devil and her so called witchcraft. Because of her, nobody in Salem could live the lives they had, everyone went crazy, everybody is accusing each other in order to keep themselves away from harm. Maybe Abagail didn’t realise that the results will turn out to be like this, but this is reality. It’s all because of her lust, her thirst for power, her wicked sick mind, it’s all because of her. It is Abagail that drove everyone mad. It is Abagail that made everyone suspiciouse of their neighbors and friends. It is Abagail that killed out people in Salem. And it is Abagail that made me have to lose my word, it is her that made me confess to a lie. It is Abagail Williams who turned me into the man that doesn’t worth anymore credit, it is Abagail that killed me. Abagail Williams is not saint that confessed to the truth, but a murderer that slaughtered the nice people of Salem. Tomorrow is my last day living, how will the people of Salem view me? Maybe they will take me as the villian that blackened the saint’s names, or maybe they will see me as a man with honor, to die like a man not a coward that would’ve done anything to save my own life. I will die like a man.