Spies Essay Example for Free

Spies Essay Michael Frayn uses a unique style of writing in the novel Spies, dual narration. So in this essay there will be an investigation into this distinctive style of writing that magnetises the audience, as it makes the audience feel part of the story. Stephen and Stefan versions of accounts vary, this appeals to the audience as it leaves you guessing too many unanswered questions during the plot. Dual narration has many positives to contribute to the novel, for example numerous independent viewpoints. However during this novel not entirely independent view points, as the narrators remain the same individual in two separate time periods. The older character Stefan has the benefit of hindsight whilst remember the events of that summer in the 1940’s. Whilst Stephen as the enthusiasm of a typical young lad. The two accounts vary as memories are forgotten or Stefan hasn’t remembered the events in the correct chronological order. (Frayn, Spies, p. 32) So this essay will look into the effect that dual narration has upon on the reader throughout the novel. Michael Frayn is capable of using dual narration to such an impressive extent during Spies because he as an author is able to connect with the character Stephen and Stefan. The reason as to why these connections can be made is because Michael Frayn would have grown up as a child during the same time period as we see Stephen growing up in the novel, World War 2. (literature. britishcouncil. org/michael-frayn). This also indicates that Frayn would have same ability to remember certain events and recall the memories in the same manner as what Stefan does. The nature of the dual narration in this novel can become frustrating for the reader. (Hudson, everything is as it was, but everything has changed) The slow progression through the story generates complacency, as the reader wants to advance to the significant events, before the story arrives at them. As you seem to progress quicker than Stephen is able to, because of the hints and clues Stefan has informed you off prior to Stephen’s narrating. Even when Stephen finally describes the event, many of the questions you find yourself asking do not get answered. However the tension and anxiety that Frayn is capable of creating whilst leaving many questions opened and unanswered can entice the reader further into the depth of the novel. (Holtsberry, 2004). This effect gets the readers mind thinking about the possibilities and directions the story could precede and conclude in. Nevertheless you do find yourself bemused when the story continues in an opposite direction as to the one you had expected it to follow. During Spies dual narration is capable of portraying how an individual’s outlook can change over a period time. The memories can be forgotten, they can be missed interpreted, or the memories Stefan possesses may not even be his memories, instead they maybe what he wanted to happen instead. (Frayn, Spies, P. 233) This specific passage of the text indicates that Stefan is capable of remembering and realising how significant certain childhood memories are, even though he did not realise the importance or even consider the possible outcomes at the time as a child’s memory is an innocent one. It’s only with hind sight that Stefan is capable of understand the importance of Stephens memories. (Lancaster, the New York Book Review). The reader is allowed to accept and believe in Stephens’s memories and recollection of events only for Stefan to later on correct the series of events. This can also get extremely confusing for the reader, because Stefan and Stephen at various points with in the Novel have a conflict or memories. The way in which Michael Frayn has used the dual narration technique to write Spies has made the novel one of mystery and suspense. It engages the reader into the depth of the Novel. This leaves many readers having to restart certain chapters, or even rereading the entire novel to obtain and figure out the answers to the questions Frayn has cleverly left opened. The way in which in the novel flows from past to present also engulfs the reader, as you are always trying to figure out Stephens next move through the narrative of Stefan. As a reader this absorbs you into the novel as you feel as though you’re a character in the novel alongside Stephen in his childhood.

Ethics of Genocide and Eugenics Essay -- Biology Medical Biomedical Ge

Gene Therapy: Genocide and Eugenics or Striving for a More Perfect Population Controversy and Ethics Just as there are different types of people who look at one glass of water and describe it as half full or half empty, the public has many different views on the future of our society. Gene therapy is also a glass that can be viewed in different angles – different perspectives. Some say it has great potential to shape the ideals of our future, while others believe it signifies intolerance for disabilities, imperfections that supposedly deplete from a person’s interests, opportunities and welfare (quoted by Peter Singer, xviii). This global issue has brought people with different opinions in the open, arguing their views using history, morality and foresight. â€Å"It is human nature to strive to improve everything.† (as quoted from Ron Harris by Singer, xxii) As the world moves forward in science and technology, it seems that only humans themselves are lagging behind. Success and perfection are so important as to even play a role in determining human characteristics – once thought to be inalterable – right down to gene selection. In our increasingly capitalist society, parents want their children to be born with as much an opportunity to excel as others. It is the same well-meaning motivation that drives parents to make more money to buy a bigger house in a better community, so their children could live better and attend a higher-scoring school (Singer xvi). So with equal or greater conviction, they want their children to be born with a relatively high IQ, good looks and a healthy body. This mentality is adequately represented by a website: ronsangels.com, which sells eggs of women â€Å"with beauty and brains† to the highest bidder (... ...ne starts life with an equal chance of health and success. Yet, gene therapy can also be thought of as a straight route towards a dark outlook, where perfection is the first priority, genes are seen as the ultimate puppeteer, and personal freedom to thrive based on one’s self isn’t believed to exist. With the emergence of each new technological discovery comes the emergence of each new ethical debate, and one day, each viewpoint on this momentous issue may be able to find a bit of truth in the other. Eventually, our society may reach a compromise on gene therapy. Bibliography: Cambridge. The Ethics of Inheritable Genetic Modification. Cambridge: Cambridge Universtiy Press, 2006. Rpt. in The Ethics of Inheritable Genetic Modification. Collins, Francis S. "Foreward." Playing God? 2003. By Ted Peters. 2nd ed. Great Britain: Routledge, 2003. Rpt. in Playing God?

Evaluating the Research Process Essay

Literature Review The following paper will address the research process using the article Assessing Pregnancy Intention and Associated Risks in Pregnant Adolescents. The research process consists of nine parts that include; selecting a problem, formulating a hypothesis, reviewing the literature, listing the measures, describing the subjects, constructing a design, constructing and identifying measurement devices, analysis of the data, and generating conclusions (Neutens & Rubinson, 2010). The literature review shows that adolescent pregnancy is a multifaceted problem. Adolescent pregnancy has risk factors that must be taken into account. Ethics Some of these risk factors would be the ethical considerations. The Nuremberg Code which was established in 1947 tried to provide regulations. These regulations were to prevent any more atrocities in human research (Neutens & Rubinson, 2010). One of the ethical considerations would be informed consent. Informed consent came about after the Nuremberg Code. Informed consent is about telling the subject about the details of the research, any risks or benefits that could come about (Neutens & Rubinson, 2010) Ethical considerations must be taken into consideration when performing tests on human subjects. If anything is not disclosed in the informed consent, it would leave the researchers vulnerable to a lawsuit as well as invalidating the research study. In the article, Assessing Pregnancy Intention and Associated Risks in Pregnant Adolescents, informed consent was followed. â€Å"Informed consent was obtained from the participant and if the participant was younger than 18 years old, con sent was obtained from her guardian with assent of the minor (participant)† (Phipps & Nunes, 2012). The researchers found the subjects during their first prenatal care appointment to the â€Å"Women and Infants Hospital Women’s Primary Care Center, Providence, RI between March 2002 and February 2005† (Phipps & Nunes,  2012). Steps were taken to ensure that the participants would be considered adolescents even after their babies were born and that they would understand what was expected of them. The research study was conducted by using research assistants that interviewed the participants. They were questioned about their â€Å"demographic characteristics, life plans, social supports, peer and family relationships, financial support, behavioral risks, and medical history† (Phipps & Nunes, 2012). In example, research surveys â€Å"included validated questions where available and where not available content-relevant questions were assessed for face validity. The surveys underwent a process of review and revision that included both clinical experts and age-relevant volunteers† (). In the survey, subjects were asked about pregnancy planning, so that the assistants could assess the subjects’ level of agreement with statements. The statements were coded to assess for risk factors. The stat ements ranged from trying to getting pregnant and best age to get pregnant as well as overall feelings about pregnancy (Phipps & Nunes, 2012). Statistical Analysis All of the information that was gathered by the research assistants from the participants is used in the statistical analysis to determine the significance level. â€Å"The significance level of a statistical hypothesis test is a fixed probability of wrongly rejecting the null hypothesis, if it is in fact true. The significance level is typically set at five percent† (â€Å"The Statistics Glossary†, n.d.). So anything higher than five percent would be considered statistically insignificant. The researchers â€Å"did observe significant associations between our pregnancy intention metrics and known risk factors for poor outcomes† (Phipps & Nunes, 2012). There were two dimensions of pregnancy intention that the researchers assessed. The two significant dimensions were emotional readiness and planning. Emotional readiness was more â€Å"strongly associated with risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes. Pregnant teens identified as not emotionally ready were at increased risk for delayed prenatal care, inadequate prenatal care utilization, delayed use of prenatal vitamins, recent smoking, recent drinking, recent drug use and depression† (Phipps & Nunes, 2012). The findings in the research study article is statistically significant. The study showed that emotional readiness and planning are critical for having a  healthy pregnancy. Before this study came out, researchers thought that being emotionally ready was not nearly as important to pregnancy as proper health care. However, if one is not emotionally ready it can affect getting proper health care. Research Conclusions The conclusion to this study determined that emotional readiness and planning are the main risk factors for adolescent pregnancy that has adverse outcome. This study tests the thought that emotional readiness and planning are the two most important factors against family type as the most important risk factor. If the study was looking into preventing adolescent pregnancy, then family type is the most important risk factor. Emotional readiness and planning are important so that one will have a healthy pregnancy. The results to this study are appropriate. There is enough information to determine that the article was indeed effective. The statistics provided in this study were quantitative in nature. The data was collected in an ethical manner. This can be determined by the appropriate exclusion criteria. The article further indicates that previous research was conducted on the topic adolescent pregnancy. This research enabled the creation of a scoring method to identify adolescents tha t are at risk for pregnancy. The results to this study are very appropriate and there is enough information to determine that the article was indeed effective. The statistics provided in this study were clearly listed and defined. The data was ethically collected and appropriate exclusion criteria were indicated to avoid producing biased results. The article further indicates that previous research was conducted on the topic of adolescent pregnancy. This research enabled the creation of a scoring method to identify those at risk of adolescent pregnancy. The article, Assessing pregnancy intention and associated risks in pregnant adolescents, looks into risk factors for adolescents becoming pregnant and having a health pregnancy. The article uses the research process to come to the conclusions that family type, emotional readiness and planning are all important. Family type is statistically important because it states that an adolescent is more at risk for pregnancy if they come from a less than ideal home. Emotional readiness and planning is statistically important because they can affect pregnancy outcome. These conclusions are the same con clusions that the researchers came to in their article. References Neutens, J. J., & Rubinson, L. (2010). Research techniques for the health sciences (4th Ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pearson Benjamin Cummings. Phipps, M. G., & Nunes, A. P. (2012). Assessing pregnancy intention and associated risks in pregnant adolescents. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 16(9), 1820-7. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10995-011-0928-0 The Statistics Glossary. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.stats.gla.ac.uk/glossary/

What Does You Do You - 1657 Words

From the moment one is born, one is exposed to a multitude of different stimuli that are often wildly different from another. These stimuli can be so new that they can redefine one s thoughts and outlook on life. One goes through years of this as their journey through life continues on, with each new experience adding to the ever growing and ever changing matrix that is one s identity. Many times, one points to things they enjoy or who one proclaims he or she is as their identity. However, it is not one s words or list of likes that actually crafts who one is. Interactions with others, the experiences gained from those reactions, and the actions and choices that are made based on the knowledge gained from those experiences are what modify and hack into one s identity. Experiences and character interaction are the walls needed to make the rooms of action and choice, which then form the house of identity. The actions that one makes in the situations presented to them in life are what m old and form their identity and eventually who one is. By growing up, one continues to have refreshing experiences that help stimulate our identities, thereby making it something that is ever changing and evolving instead of a static fixture that cannot be changed. Interacting with others develops an identity as it leads to an exchange between two people. One cannot be generous if they have no one to give more than he or she receives. A situation where one is interacting with another isShow MoreRelatedWhat Does You Do You?1957 Words   |  8 Pagesclassmate comes up you and invites you to a junior house party. So you accept the invitation not knowing what to expect. In your feverish mind, the only experience you have with parties are birthday parties with adult supervision. So you go to the house party and once you step in the door, a strong aroma hits you. You don’t know what it is but the stench is horrendous! You enter the living room you see sixteen and seventeen year ol ds drinking alcohol. Shocked and feeling very uncomfortable, you make yourRead MoreWhat Does You Do?1330 Words   |  6 Pages Think back to your youngest memory. Can you imagine every detail vividly in your mind? Can you remember what prompted you to take part in such a story and what knowledge of your environment inspired you to act? Most likely you cannot. You probably can relive a moment, but the trivial aspects seem to have been brushed over and revised a few too many times to be considered the actual memory. Why is this? A probable reason for this is the notion of education. Education provides individuals, like yourselfRead MoreWhat Does You Do? Essay2035 Words   |  9 PagesIntroduction â€Å"Every day we seem to make and act upon all kinds of free choices- some trivial, and others so consequential that they make change the course of our life. But are these choices really free? Or are we compelled to act the way we do by factors beyond our control?†(Pink cover). Every day as our eyes are opened in the mornings we are faced with various decision and consequence. One can choose to stay in bed for an extra five more minutes sleep which will turn into thirty minutes more ofRead MoreWhat Does You Do You Need?1352 Words   |  6 Pagesskin. She was already dressed, with her hair done and her casual day outfit all put together. â€Å"Sue? You up?† â€Å"Yes. What do you need?† I asked. â€Å"How’s your arm feeling?† â€Å"Fine. Like always.† â€Å"On a scale from 1 to 10?† She asked. â€Å"7.† â€Å"That bad? Want to take motrin?† â€Å"No I’m fine.† I replied. She left without another word. I grudged out of bed, with my wrist aching. I broke my arm, in case you wondered. It was 4 days before summer break. 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They tend to ignore all the downsides because five-year-olds are certainly not thinking of the pay, schooling, or how much work it will take to achieve their goal. Instead they think about how cool or fun it wouldRead MoreWhat Does You Do Outside Of The Classroom?977 Words   |  4 Pagesgrades and smiling and nodding at your professor (even when you may not understand a concept). Success is found in what you do outside of the classroom. How are you studying on your ow n? Are you making the most of resources available to you on campus? Are you being flexible and open minded? Are you participating in activities that will benefit your future career goal(s)? DOS Form support system Be aware of your support system. If you do not have one, form one really fast. This system can includeRead MoreCreative Feedback : What You Do You Live With? Who Is Responsible For Most Of The Chores870 Words   |  4 Pageson brand communication. o Please tell me a little bit about yourself? What do you love to do? o QUICK: Who do you live with? Who is responsible for most of the chores in the household? II. CREATIVE FEEDBACK: 4 IDEAS Four Concept areas will be explored MONADICALLY (one at a time), and rotated to avoid bias. Each concept will be presented twice to ensure comprehension. Moderator to explain to participants: You are going to see four different ideas, and we will spend our time togetherRead MoreJeannette Walls And The Glass Castle1490 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction: Our parents. Our inspirations. Who we look up to. People who could never do wrong. But what would you do if your parents did something so wrong that they could be arrested? Or perhaps they did something unacceptable but you didn’t know anything more? Jeannette Walls deals with this throughout her childhood as represented in The Glass Castle. Her parents challenge the social norms and expectations with their uncommon lifestyle and teachings. While doing so, they put their children inRead MoreDoes Religion Affect The United States? Why? Essay847 Words   |  4 Pagesaccept that everyone doesn’t see things the way we do. 2. What place does religion have in punishment? Give examples. Does religion play a role in our justice system? How? I believe, religion has played a part in justice and punishment, in some way, in every country, including ours. No matter, what your religion, you have probably heard these quotes, â€Å"Vengeance, is mine sayeth the Lord,† or â€Å"do unto others as you would have them do unto you.† Some countries continue the same punishments as