Direct effect in the EU Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Direct effect in the EU Law - Essay Example This paper shall discuss the development of the doctrine of direct effect, the issues arising therefrom, and how the European Court of Justice resolved them. Moreover, it shall examine the dynamics in the relationship between the EU and the member-states and their individual citizens. Finally, it shall look into how the courts settle issues with regard to conflict arising from the implementation or non-implementation of EU laws and directives. Supremacy of EU Law The principle of supremacy of the EU law holds that in the event of conflict between the provisions of EU law and domestic law, the EU law shall prevail.1 This principle is anchored on the fact that when states signed the treaty creating the former EEC, the members had also signed off a part of their sovereignty to create a new sovereign that can bind both the state and its individual citizens.2 The Preamble of the Treaty on European Union declared in no uncertain terms that it aims to â€Å"establish a citizenship common t o nationals of their countries†3 and create â€Å"an even closer union among the peoples of Europe, in which decisions are taken as closely as possible to the citizen in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.†4 Finally, the supremacy of EU law is sanctioned by the Treaty on European Union itself which mandates all states to â€Å"facilitate the achievement of the Community’s tasks†¦ [and] abstain from any measure which could jeopardise the attainment of the objectives of this Treaty.†5 Aptly, the European Court of Justice interpreted the foregoing provision as a conferment of legal and enforceable rights unto the individual citizens of member states. EU treaties produce direct effects and â€Å"individual rights which national courts must protect.†6 Needless to state, concomitant with the exercise of these rights is compliance with the obligations created by virtue of the Treaty. Doctrine of Direct Effect The landmark case of Van Gend e n Loos saw the birth of the doctrine of direct effect which made the EU law a reliable source of statutory rights and obligations for parties litigating cases before domestic courts. In particular, the Court ruled that Article 30 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) which prohibits the imposition of custom duties within the Union has confered rights upon the individual nationals which may not be impaired by domestic laws and which may be invoked before national courts.7 Apparently, the realm of treaties does not end with member states; it extends further to individual citizens, vested rights and imposed obligations alike. The court has upheld the rights acquired by individual citizens by virtue of the provisions of the Treaty and declared that it â€Å"must be interpreted as producing direct effects and creating individual rights which national courts must protect.†8 Van Gend en Loos became the controlling jurisprudence insofar as direct effect of tre aties is concerned. However, subsequent cases had pushed the bar and thus expanded the doctrine’s application to include other forms of EU legislations. Seven years after the 1963 case of Van Gend en Loos, the Court ruled in the case of Grad v Finanzamt Traunstein that provisions of Council Decisions are also capable of â€Å"producing direct effects in the legal relationships between the member states to which the decision is addressed and those subject to their jurisdiction.†

Psychometric assessment Essay Example for Free

Psychometric assessment Essay Certain people tend to be more obedient than others. Individuals who have the tendency to adopt a submissive, uncritical attitude toward authority figures authoritarian submission (Adorno, 1950) tends to perform tasks when demanded. Also, people with an external locus of control (a sense that fate rules their life rather than their own actions) tend to be more obedient. However, despite the popular myth that women are more submissive, women and men are relatively equal in the degree to which they will obey demands (Eagly Carli, 1981). Dehumanisation or deindividuation is the loss of the sense of individual identity and control over our behaviour. Sensory overload, arousal, anonymity, and reduced self awareness are key factors which loosen inhibitions and thus uncharacteristic behaviour is not inline with usual internal standards. According to deindividuation theory, the psychological state of deindividuation is aroused when individuals join crowds or large groups. The state is characterized by diminished awareness of self and individuality. This in turn reduces an individuals self-restraint and normative regulation of behaviour. In social psychology, deindividuation is a major theory of group behaviour: it provides an explanation of collective behaviour of violent crowds, mindless hooligans, and the lynch mob. In addition, deindividuation has been associated with other social phenomena such as genocide, stereotyping, and disinhibition in other settings such as computer-mediated communication. Several influential studies were conducted to illustrate the force of deindividuation. For example, Zimbardo (1969) carried out a study that inspired much subsequent deindividuation research. In this study, participants were rendered anonymous by clothing them in oversized lab coats and hoods, compared with normal clothes and name tags in the control condition. The participants task was to shock a confederate in a situation similar to the classic Milgram studies on obedience. In a first experiment using groups of female students, Zimbardo demonstrated that anonymous participants shocked longer (and therefore more painfully) than identifiable participants, in confirmation of his theory. Another area of controversy in psychology is the area of psychometric testing, which aim to make important decisions affecting individuals and society. Tests are used in a variety of settings to aid selection in education and work and for diagnosis for those with learning and psychological problems. Ability tests were amongst the first psychometric tests to be developed, and controversy has surrounded their use since. Binet and Simon (1905) were commissioned by the French government to find a method to differentiate between children who were intellectually normal and those who were inferior. The purpose was to put the latter into special schools where they would receive more individual attention. In this way the disruption they caused in the education of intellectually normal children could be avoided. This led to the development of the Binet-Simon Scale, and constituted a revolutionary approach to the assessment of individual mental ability. Revisions to the Binet-Simon Scale resulted in the concept of mental age, an easily understandable concept which significantly increased the popularity of ability testing. Further developments of the tests produced the concept of intelligence quotient (IQ) and resulted in one of the currently most widely used tests, the Stanford Binet Scale. Most intelligence tests measure the general reasoning ability that is involved in many different types of problem solving behaviour. Older types of tests referred to this intelligence factor as general ability, whereas more recent tests have tended to divide the general ability into fluid intelligence (innate and not particularly influenced by ones environment) and crystallised intelligence (underlying fluid intelligence that is a product of environmental experiences. In recent years, the introduction of the eleven plus exam, which is largely compiled of IQ tests, was used to distinguish those who would proceed to grammar school and those who would be relegated to academically inferior secondary schools. Research into the psychometric assessment of intelligence has been the focus of many eminent psychologists including Spearmen, Burt, Eysenck, and Cattell. The latter two also went on further to develop (separate) personality tests, Cattells 16PF in 1970, and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) in 1975. These involve analysing a series of short yes/no questions in an attempt to decipher the nature and character of the person answering them. Today, personality assessments are mainly used in clinical settings, with their use in occupational settings increasing. They may also be used in educational settings in assessing individuals with learning problems and are still widely used and developed within academic and research settings. Personality tests are also widely used today within the work environment, perhaps for deciding whether to employ someone or not, or even to decide who gets made redundant. On the whole, psychometric tests have acceptable validity and therefore make them less prone to error than other types of assessment. The interpretation of psychometric data requires the use of norms, against which the scores of a particular individual can be compared. Psychometric assessments tend to be the only measures for which norms are available. Psychometric tests are fairly short and therefore time and cost efficient. Many are group tests, and so can be given to a number of people at the same time. In fact the development of computer programmes concerned with psychometric testing means that tests can be administered and scored by a computer, enabling results to be made available quickly and can form the basis of a discussion. Personality tests are particularly cost efficient as they prevent money being wasted on training unsuitable personnel. However, there can be an undue reliance on the results of psychometric tests. Simply discovering that a person has an aptitude for a particular occupation does not guarantee that they will be successful at that job. The mystique of psychometric test results means that they are frequently not discussed with those who complete them. In this sense there is a failure to use psychological testing humanely. Test scores can also be misused. The results of tests should not be used to withhold educational or occupational opportunities from those who may perform less well on tests of ability due to factors that have little to do with intelligence. In any instance, the results can be faked by the participant to influence the results in their favour, and so can be unknowingly misinterpreted anyway. Because of the cheapness and predictive success of many psychometric tests, there may be a failure to use other important information. Psychometric test results should ideally be used alongside other reliable information about a person, otherwise they may wrongly stereotype an individual. Furthermore, there are many cultural and sub-cultural issues that can arise when measuring IQ, which causes much controversy. At the extreme, IQ tests were used to keep out certain immigrant groups from the United States during the 1920s. Jenson (1969) suggested that genetic differences were the cause of consistently lower IQ scores observed in non white racial groups. Recent controversies relate to the systematic differences attained by different groups in society. Critics say these are the results of bias in test items. Typical examples relate to previously learned information and items using verbal information, typically English, which require reading and writing. Even when tests are translated to the native language of the participants, questions are still raised over the cultural equivalence of certain items (Zindi, 1994). Even tests which explicitly attempt to be culture fair have been questioned. The Ravens Progressive Matrices test showed that the performance of Asian immigrants has been found to improve over a five year period by an average of 15-20 points, which demonstrates that minorities will be disadvantaged in taking them until they learn different ways of approaching them (Roth, 1990). In 1972, Williams produced the Black Intelligent Test of Cultural Homogeneity (BITCH) in an attempt to highlight cultural biases in test items, which was heavily loaded towards black minorities. Using this test, it is black people who tend to score higher than whites. Particularly in IQ tests that use visual cues, participants may misinterpret an action, and their own cultural biases produce expectations which can alter what they see. They may use methods derived from an alien culture (emics/etics) and may have a hostile reception which will bias their observations. Observations are made of a sample and may not be typical of the whole culture being studies. It is also wrong to imagine a culture as being a homogenous group of people; differences within a culture may be as large as those between cultures.

Union Bank Of India

Union Bank Of India INTRODUCTION: Union Bank Of India Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, inaugrated the Union Bank Of India on November 11, 1919. It covers all the sectors of the society, be it agriculture, industry, trade and commerce, services or infrastructure, the bank plays a major role in rendering services to the financial needs of every section. Apart from this, the bank also extended financial support to educational, housing and trade sector. In 1947, the bank had only 4 branches which include 3 in Mumbai and 1 in Saurashtra. The bank was nationalised in 1969 and at time of nationalisation the bank had total 240 branches all over India. In June 2000, Union Bank acquired Bank of America’s highly profitable operations in Pakistan and went on to become one of the largest private commercial banks. The acquisition added a new dimension to Union Bank’s business and enhanced its customer base, deposits, and loan portfolio quality. This acquisition also enhanced Union Bank’s corporate image in the domestic financial market. PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFERED BY UNION BANK: Deposits Account: Cumulative Deposit Scheme Deposit Reinvestment Certificate Union Flexi-Deposit Union Insured Recurring Deposit Union 94 Months Double Scheme Monthly Income Scheme Tax Exemption Deposits Union Float Deposits Union Unfixed Deposits For NRI FCNR (B) Foreign Currency Deposit RFC Customer Relationship Management CRM (customer relationship management) is an information industry term for methodologies, software, and usually Internet capabilities that help an enterprise manage customer relationships in an organized way. It happens by maintaining and updating the contacts of customer. This is for the: 1. Existing customers 2. Prospective customers For example, an enterprise might build a databaseabout its customers that described relationships in sufficient detail so that management, salespeople, people providing service, and perhaps the customer directly could access information, match customer needs with product plans and offerings, remind customers of service requirements, know what other products a customer had purchased, and so forth. It consists of the following: Helping an enterprise to enable its marketing departments to identify and target their best customers, manage marketing campaigns and generate quality leads for the sales team. Assessing the organization to improve telesales, account, and sales management by optimizing information shared by multiple employees, and streamlining existing processes (for example, taking orders using mobile devices) Allowing the formation of individualized relationships with customers, with the aim of improving customer satisfaction and maximizing profits; identifying the most profitable customers and providing them the highest level of service. Providing employees with the information and processes necessary to know their customers, understand and identify customer needs and effectively build relationships between the company, its customer base, and distribution partners. CRM Strategies Adopted By Union Bank of India Nowadays, many businesses such as banks, insurance companies, and other service providers realize the importance of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and its potential to help them acquire new customers retain existing ones and maximize their lifetime value. At this point, close relationship with customers will require a strong coordination between IT and marketing departments to provide a long-term retention of selected customers. Union Bank aims to increase customer profitability with any customer retention. It is a sound business strategy to identify the banks most profitable customers and prospects, and devotes time and attention to expanding account relationships with those customers through individualized marketing, pricing, discretionary decision making. According to Union Bank of India having and acting upon deeper knowledge about the customer, ensure that the customer such as how to fund the customer, get to know the customer, keep in tough with the customer, ensure that the customer gets what he wishes from service provider and understand when they are not satisfied and might leave the service provider and act accordingly. Union Bank of India has a database of its customers and informs them about the various schemes offered by the bank. The bank has a suggestion box in which customers of the bank can give their views and suggestions. The bank also has a helping desk where the customers can ask their queries. This is a very good strategy to retain the customer. The bank provides the information to its customers about any change in the interest rate of advances. They attend all the customers who are present in the bank, so that they do not feel neglected and not switch to any other bank. CRM Strategy of Public Sector Banks Public sector CRM strategy must be aligned to the organization’s purpose in order to realize a sustained achievement of CRM objectives and successful customer relationships. While CRM strategies differ among implementers, the most successful strategies have several criteria in common. Alignment between the organization’s mission and the CRM strategy; a good strategy is a direct reflection of the mission and supports the mission in direct, clear and easy to understand terms. Strategies must be customer focused; they speak to the positioning and evolvement of the customer relationship. CRM strategies require executive sponsorship and complete buy in; the rank and file take their queues from the executive team so the executives must visibly, vocally and actively sponsor the CRM strategy for it to be successful. Strategies are an iterative process; as the the organization evolves so to will the CRM strategy. They mainly focus on the following: To win back or save customers To attract new and potential customers To create loyalty among existing customers and To up sell or offer cross services. CONCLUSION CRM in banking industry entirely different from other sectors, because banking industry purely related to financial services, which needs to create the trust among the people. Establishing customer care support during on and off official hours, making timely information about interest payments, maturity of time deposit, issuing credit and debit cum ATM card, creating awareness regarding online and e-banking, adopting mobile request etc are required to keep regular relationship with customers. The present day CRM includes developing customer base. The bank has to pay adequate attention to increase customer base by all means, it is possible if the performance is at satisfactory level, the existing clients can recommend others to have banking connection with the bank he is operating. Hence asking reference from the existing customers can develop their client base. If the base increased, the profitability is also increase. Hence the bank has to implement lot of innovative CRM to capture and retain the customers.There is a shift from bank centric activities to customer centric activities are opted. The private sector banks in India deployed much innovative strategies to attract new customers and to retain existing customers. CRM in banking sector is still in evolutionary stage, it is the time for taking ideas from customers to enrich its service. The use of CRM in banking has gained importance with the aggressive strategies for customer acquisition and retention being employed by the bank in todays competitive milieu. This has resulted in the adoption of various CRM initiatives by these banks. Private Sector Banks have been able to implement the CRM practices more effectively as compared to the Public Sector on the basis of of the service quality level being provided by these banks.

Mark Twains Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Escape From an Oppressive

Huckleberry Finn - Escape From a Cruel and Oppressive Society America... land of the free and home of the brave; the utopian society which every European citizen desired to be a part of in the 18th and 19th centuries. The revolutionary ideas of The Age of Enlightenment such as democracy and universal male suffrage were finally becoming a reality to the philosophers and scholars that so elegantly dreamt of them. America was a playground for the ideas of these enlightened men. To Europeans, and the world for that matter, America had become a kind of mirage, an idealistic version of society, a place of open opportunities. Where else on earth could a man like J. D. Rockefeller rise from the streets to become one of the richest men of his time? America stood for ideals like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. People in America had an almost unconditional freedom: freedom to worship, write, speak, and live in any manner that so pleased them. But was this freedom for everyone? Was America, the utopia for the millions of common men fro m around world, as great as the philosophers and scholars fantasized? America, as a society, as a country, and as a leader was not as picture perfect as Europeans believed. The United States, under all the gold plating, carried a burden of unsolved national problems, especially racial. The deep scar of slavery had left a dent in the seemingly impenetrable armor of the country. From the times of early colonization to the late 19th century, Africans had been brought over by the thousands in overcrowded and unsanitary slave ships. They were sold like cattle to the highest bidder, an inhumane and despicable act that America, land of the free and home of the brave, allowed to happen... ...1997. 14-17. Leavis, F. R. "Viewpoints." Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1968. 109-11. Mailloux, Steven. "Reading Huckleberry Finn." New Essays on Huckleberry Finn. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985. 107-30. Marx, Leo. "Mr. Eliot, Mr. Tilling, and Huckleberry Finn." American Scholar 22. (Aut 1953): 423-40. McKay, Janet H. "An Art So High." New Essays on Huckleberry Finn. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985. 61-81. Walker, Nancy. "Reformers and Young Maidens: Women and Virtue." Modern Critical Interpretations. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1968. 76-85. Wright, James. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Great Writers of the English Language: American Classics. North Bellmore, New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 1991. 12-17.

Private Life on Social Networking Sites Essay

Social networking sites can be defined as an online platform where people create their own profiles, share them with the public, and communicate with other users on the Internet. The increasing popularity of these sites affects our lives in many aspects and the most important one is the privacy issue. It can easily be observed that social networking sites are a real threat for the user’s personal privacy. First of all, there are some threats arising from security vulnerability on social networking sites. Generally, users give a lot of personal information to become a member of these sites and it is easy to access this information for hackers and identity thieves. For example identity thieves who could gain very private information such as birth name and date, addresses, phone numbers and relationship status on social networking sites can verify themselves as being the profile owner. Therefore, they can access the users’ credit card number and steal their money easily. Moreover, identity thieves cause not only loss of money but also loss of personal respect and good name. They can use the information to communicate with users’ other friends in order to obtain their information too. Rebecca Sweeny (2011) summarizes that users’ lack of awareness of sharing information helps hackers and identity thieves to steal their money and damage good names. (as cited in Acquisti& Gross, 2006) The second threat arising from security vulnerabilities is marketing companies’ accessibility to users’ information without permission. For instance, spamming the users with unsolicited advertising contents can be annoying in most cases. Furthermore, the companies sometimes obtain personal information and spread them with other companies and individuals in order to make advertisements more effective. Secondly, people share very private information on social networking sites, as Nico Reiher(2009) mentions, â€Å" If the receiver of the information is not trustworthy, the user does not have a chance to track or remove this information back into trustworthy hands.† causes some serious troubles. Firstly, people tend to announce where they are at that moment and what they are doing, therefore, they share real-time location based information on social networking sites. To illustrate, people who share their locations and especially notify others that they are not at home on social networking sites such as Foursquare, provide an opportunity to thieves to rob their houses. In addition, Facebook which is the most popular and preferred social networking sites, also enables people to share that much private information with the â€Å"check-in† application. Secondly, sharing awkward and embarrassing information or political views on social networking sites lead to trouble in people’s social and professional lives. For example, some companies prefer to look to social networking sites in order to get information about prospective employees. According to SNAPR project team, â€Å"Even future employers,†¦, may be able to view your posted information and draw specific conclusion about you as an individual, which could have the negative effects. â€Å" Moreover, disgraceful posts on users’ profile which can be seen also by instructors or bosses will cause loss of reputation in educational or business lives. Those who are not in favor of this opinion seem to believe that social networking sites are safe and information is inaccessible for the public. They think that there are some restrictive privacy settings which allow users to specify who can see their information and profiles. Moreover, there are firewalls which help to prevent users’ information from hackers and identity thieves. Although it may be true to a certain extent, this claim is not strong enough, because these settings are not default without users’ knowledge. Generally, users are not fully informed about privacy issues and share all information without any restriction. In addition, they are unaware of how much information they share to the public. There is not any explanation about the amount of the disseminative information. To sum up, the users’ unawareness of the privacy settings on social networking sites and their insensibility on this issue cause a lot of troubles. In addition, digital information’s easy accessibility and fast spreading also pose a danger for users’ privacy. In order to prevent people from these threats, improving the privacy settings and informing them completely should be the major precautions. References Reiher, N.(2009). Privacy on social networking sites and its impact on computer-mediated communication. Retrieved April 9,2012, from http://www.grin.com/en/e-book/154916/privacy- on-social-network-sites-and-its-impact-on-computer-mediated-communication SNAPR Methodology project team. Dear social networking user: Are you at risk? Retrieved April 9,2012, from socialrisk.weebly.com/index.html Sweeny,R.(2011). Social networking sites; More harm than good? Retrieved April 9,2012, from http://networkconference.netstudies.org/2011/04/social-networking-sites-more-harm-than- good/

Literary Devices Essay

A form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy. Thus an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning. Alliteration The repetition of the same sound at the beginning of a word, such as the repetition of b sounds in Keats’s â€Å"beaded bubbles winking at the brim† (â€Å"Ode to a Nightingale†) or Coleridge’s â€Å"Five miles meandering in a mazy motion (â€Å"Kubla Khan†). A common use for alliteration is emphasis. It occurs in everyday speech in such phrases as â€Å"tittle-tattle,† â€Å"bag and baggage,† â€Å"bed and board,† â€Å"primrose path,† and â€Å"through thick and thin† and in sayings like â€Å"look before you leap.† Some literary critics call the repetition of any sounds alliteration. However, there are specialized terms for other sound-repetitions. Consonance repeats consonants, but not the vowels, as in horror-hearer. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds, please-niece-ski-tree. Allusion A brief reference to a person, event, place, or phrase. The writer assumes readers will recognize the reference. For instance, most of us would know the difference between one being as reliable as George Washington or as reliable as Benedict Arnold. Allusions that are commonplace for readers in one era may require footnotes for readers in a later time. Ambiguity (1) A statement that has two or more possible meanings; (2) a statement whose meaning is unclear. Depending on the circumstances, ambiguity can be negative, leading to confusion or even disaster (the ambiguous wording of a general’s note led to the deadly charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War). On the other hand, writers often use it to achieve special effects, for instance, to reflect the complexity of an issue or to indicate the difficulty, perhaps the impossibility, of determining truth. Many of Hamlet’s statements to the King, to Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern, and to other characters are deliberately ambiguous, to hide his real purpose from them. Analogy The comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship. The key is to ascertain the relationship between the first so you can choose the correct second pair. Part to whole, opposites and results of are types of relationships you should find. Anecdote Short tale narrating an interesting or amusing biographical incident. Anthropomorphism Used with God or gods. The act of attributing human forms or qualities to entities that are not human. Specifically, anthropomorphism is the describing of gods or goddesses in human forms and possessing human characteristics such as jealousy, hatred, or love. Mythologies of ancient peoples were almost entirely concerned with anthropomorphic gods. The Greek gods such as Zeus and Apollo often were depicted in anthropomorphic forms. The avatars of the Hindu god Vishnu possessed human forms and qualities. Antihero A protagonist who has the opposite of most of the traditional attributes of a hero. He or she may be bewildered, ineffectual, deluded, or merely pathetic. Often what antiheroes learn, if they learn anything at all, is that the world isolates them in an existence devoid of God and absolute values. Yossarian from Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 is an example of an antihero. Aphorism A brief saying embodying a moral, a concise statement of a principle or precept given in pointed words. Example: * Hippocrates: Life is short, art is long, opportunity fleeting, experimenting dangerous, reasoning difficult. * Alexander Pope: Some praise at morning what they blame at night. * Ralph Waldo Emerson: Imitation is suicide * Benjamin Franklin: Lost time is never found again. Apostrophe A direct address to a person, thing, or abstraction, such as â€Å"O Western Wind,† or â€Å"Ah, Sorrow, you consume us.† Apostrophes are generally capitalized. Archetype A term used to describe universal symbols that evoke deep and sometimes unconscious responses in a reader. In literature, characters, images, and themes that symbolically embody universal meanings and basic human experiences, regardless of when or where they live, are considered archetypes. Common literary archetypes include stories of quests, initiations, scapegoats, descents to the underworld, and ascents to heaven. See also mythological criticism. Assonance The repetition of vowel sounds, please-niece-ski-tree. Cadence The melodic pattern just before the end of a sentence or phrase – for instance an interrogation or an exhortation. More generally, the natural rhythm of language depending on the position of stressed and unstressed syllables. Cadence is a major component of individual writers’ styles. A cadence group is a coherent group of words spoken as a single rhythmic unit, such as a prepositional phrase, â€Å"of parting day† or a noun phrase, â€Å"our inalienable rights.† Catharsis Meaning â€Å"purgation,† catharsis describes the release of the emotions of pity and fear by the audience at the end of a tragedy. In his Poetics, Aristotle discusses the importance of catharsis. The audience faces the misfortunes of the protagonist, which elicit pity and compassion. Simultaneously, the audience also confronts the failure of the protagonist, thus receiving a frightening reminder of human limitations and frailties. Ultimately, however, both of these emotions are purged because the tragic protagonist’s suffering is an affirmation of human values rather than a despairing denial of them. See also tragedy. Clichà © An idea or expression that has become tired and trite from overuse, its freshness and clarity having worn off. Clichà ©s often anesthetize readers, and are usually a sign of weak writing. Colloquial Refers to a type of informal diction that reflects casual, conversational language and often includes slang. Connotation The emotions, values, or images associated with a word. The intensity of emotions or the power of the values and images associated with a word varies. Words connected with religion, politics and sex tend to have the strongest feelings and images associated with them.†¨ For most people, the word mother calls up very strong positive feelings and associations – loving, self-sacrificing, always there for you, understanding, etc.; the denotative meaning, on the other hand, is simply â€Å"a female animal who has borne one or more children.† Of course connotative meanings do not necessarily reflect reality; for instance, if someone said, â€Å"His mother is not very motherly,† you would immediately understand the difference between motherly (connotation) and mother (denotation). Consonance Repeats consonants, but not the vowels, as in horror-hearer Deism An intellectual religious movement en vogue through the late seventeenth century up to the late eighteenth century concerned with rational rather than faith-based approaches to religion and understanding God. The movement is often associated with the Enlightenment movement, Neoclassicism, and Free Masonry. In general, Deists prided themselves on free-thinking and logic and tended to reject any specific dogma, so it is difficult to define the beliefs of an individual Deist without referring to generalities. Deists were heavily influenced by John Locke’s mechanistic philosophy and Newtonian physics, seeing the universe as a place ruled rationally by cause and effect. They tended to see God as an impersonal but intelligent force, a first cause that created the universe and set it in motion, who then allowed life and matter to proceed on its own without further need for divine intervention. The logic is that, if God is infallible, omniscient and omnipotent, logically he would pre- establish his design in the world in such a way that he would not need to tinker constantly with it or adjust it through supernatural intervention. Deistic writings often refer to the Deity using metaphors of the architect, the watchmaker, the mason, or some other skilled worker who measures out the universe with geometric and mechanical precision. Thus, a common Deist metaphor compares the universe to a perfectly designed watch or clock – a construct created with complex gears and moving parts, then wound up, and finally released to operate on its own without any more effort on the creator’s part. Denotation The literal meaning of a word; there are no emotions, values, or images associated with denotative meaning. Scientific and mathematical language carries few, if any emotional or connotative meanings. Dialect The language of a particular district, class, or group of persons. The term dialect encompasses the sounds, spelling, grammar, and diction employed by a specific people as distinguished from other persons either geographically or socially. Dialect is a major technique of characterization that reveals the social or geographic status of a character. Diction A writer’s choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language, which combine to help create meaning. Formal diction consists of a dignified, impersonal, and elevated use of language; it follows the rules of syntax exactly and is often characterized by complex words and lofty tone. Middle diction maintains correct language usage, but is less elevated than formal diction; it reflects the way most educated people speak. Informal diction represents the plain language of everyday use, and often includes idiomatic expressions, slang, contractions, and many simple, common words. Poetic diction refers to the way poets sometimes employ an elevated diction that deviates significantly from the common speech and writing of their time, choosing words for their supposedly inherent poetic qualities. Since the eighteenth century, however, poets have been incorporating all kinds of diction in their work and so there is no longer an automatic distinction between the language of a poet and the language of everyday speech Enjambment A line having no pause or end punctuation but having uninterrupted grammatical meaning continuing into the next line – usually applied to poetic formats. Euphemism Using a mild or gentle phrase instead of a blunt, embarrassing, or painful one. For instance, saying â€Å"Grandfather has gone to a better place† is a euphemism for â€Å"Grandfather has died.† The idea is to put something bad, disturbing, or embarrassing in an inoffensive or neutral light. Frequently, words referring directly to death, unpopular politics, blasphemy, crime, and sexual or excremental activities are replaced by euphemisms. Farce A farce is a form of low comedy designed to provoke laughter through highly exaggerated caricatures of people in improbable or silly situations. Traits of farce include (1) physical bustle such as slapstick, (2) sexual misunderstandings and mix-ups, and (3) broad verbal humor such as puns. Many literary critics (especially in the Victorian period) have tended to view farce as inferior to â€Å"high comedy† that involves brilliant dialogue. Many of Shakespeare’s early works, such as The Taming of the Shrew, are considered farces. Flashback Action that interrupts to show an event that happened at an earlier time which is necessary to better understanding. Foil A secondary character who contrasts with a major character; in Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras, whose fathers have been killed, are foils for Hamlet. Foreshadowing Where the author drops subtle hints about the plot development to come later in the story. Hyperbole Exaggeration, often extravagant; it may be used for serious or for comic effect. Idiom In its loosest sense, the word idiom is often used as a synonym for dialect or idiolect. In its more scholarly and narrow sense, an idiom or idiomatic expression refers to a construction or expression in one language that cannot be matched or directly translated word-for-word in another language. For instance, the English expression, â€Å"She has a bee in her bonnet,† meaning â€Å"she is obsessed,† cannot be literally translated into another language word for word. It is a non-literal idiomatic expression, akin to â€Å"She is green with envy.† In the same way, the Spanish phrase, â€Å"Me gustan los arboles,† is usually translated as, â€Å"I like the trees,† but if we were to pull the phrase apart and read it word for word, it would make no sense in analytical English (i.e., â€Å"To me pleases the trees†). Imagery Language that evokes one or all of the five senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching. Each of these types of imagery has a specific name: * Olfactory imagery stimulates the sense of smell. * Tactile imagery stimulates the sense of touch. * Visual imagery stimulates the sense of sight. * Auditory imagery stimulates the sense of hearing. * Gustatory imagery stimulates the sense of taste. * Kinesthesia is imagery that recreates a feeling of physical action or natural bodily function (like a pulse, a heartbeat, or breathing). * Synaesthesia is imagery that involves the use of one sense to evoke another (Ex: loud color; warm gesture). Irony The discrepancy (incongruity) between what is said and what is meant, what is said and what is done, what is expected or intended and what happens, what is meant or said and what others understand. Sometimes irony is classified into types: in situational irony, expectations aroused by a situation are reversed; in cosmic irony or the irony of fate, misfortune is the result of fate, chance or God; in dramatic irony, the audience knows more than the characters in the play, so that words and action have additional meaning for the audience; Socractic irony is named after Socrates’ teaching method, whereby he assumes ignorance and openness to opposing points of view which turn out to be (he shows them to be) foolish. Metaphor A comparison of two dissimilar things, which does not use â€Å"like† or â€Å"as,† Metonymy Substituting a word for another word closely associated with it. Queen Elizabeth controlled the crown for years. The crown = the monarchy He has always loved the stage. The stage = the theater He will follow the cross. The cross = Christianity Motif (1) A recurrent thematic element in an artistic or literary work. (2) A dominant theme or central idea. Mood The emotional attitude the author takes towards the subject. Narrator The voice of the person telling the story, not to be confused with the author’s voice. With a first-person narrator, the I in the story presents the point of view of only one character. The reader is restricted to the perceptions, thoughts and feelings of that single character. First-person narrators can play either a major or a minor role in the story they are telling. An unreliable narrator reveals an interpretation of events that is somehow different from the author’s own interpretation of those events. Often, the unreliable narrator’s perception of plot, characters, and setting becomes the actual subject of the story. Narrators can be unreliable for a number of reasons: they might lack self-knowledge, they might be inexperienced, or they might even be insane. Naive narrators are usually characterized by youthful innocence, such as Mark Twain’s Huck Finn or J. D. Salinger’s Holden Caulfield. An omniscient narrator is an all-knowing narrator who i s not a character in the story and who can move from place to place and pass back and forth through time, slipping into and out of characters as no human being possibly could in real life. Omniscient narrators can report the thoughts and feelings of the characters, as well as their words and actions. The narrator of The Scarlet Letter is an omniscient narrator. Editorial omniscience refers to an intrusion by the narrator in order to evaluate a character for a reader, as when the narrator of The Scarlet Letter describes Hester’s relationship to the Puritan community. Narration that allows the characters’ actions and thoughts to speak for themselves is called neutral omniscience. Most modern writers use neutral omniscience so that readers can reach their own conclusions. Limited omniscience occurs when an author restricts a narrator to the single perspective of either a major or minor character. The way people, places, and events appear to that character is the way they appear to the reader. Sometimes a limited omniscient narrator can see into more than one character, particularly in a work that focuses on two characters alternately from one chapter to the next. Short stories, however, are frequently limited to a single character’s point of view. Onomatopoeia A word whose sounds seem to duplicate the sounds they describe–hiss, buzz, bang, murmur, meow, growl. Oxymoron A statement with two parts that seem contradictory; examples: sad joy, a wise fool, the sound of silence, or Hamlet’s saying, â€Å"I must be cruel only to be kind.† Parable A story or short narrative designed to allegorically reveal some religious principle, moral lesson, psychological reality, or general truth. Rather than using abstract discussion, a parable always teaches by comparison with real or literal occurrences, especially everyday occurrences a wide number of people can relate to. Well known examples of parables include those found in the Gospels, such as â€Å"The Prodigal Son† and â€Å"The Good Samaritan.† Paradox A statement whose two parts seem contradictory yet make sense with more thought. Christ used paradox in his teaching: â€Å"They have ears but hear not.† Or in ordinary conversation, we might use a paradox, â€Å"Deep down he’s really very shallow.† Paradox attracts the reader’s or the listener’s attention and gives emphasis. Parody A parody imitates the serious manner and characteristic features of a particular literary work in order to make fun of those same features. The humorist achieves parody by exaggerating certain traits common to the work, much as a caricaturist creates a humorous depiction of a person by magnifying and calling attention to the person’s most noticeable features. The term parody is often used synonymously with the more general term spoof, which makes fun of the general traits of a genre rather than one particular work or author. Often the subject matter of a parody is comically inappropriate, such as using the elaborate, formal diction of an epic to describe something trivial like washing socks or cleaning a dusty attic. Persona A mask for the author to speak through. In literature, a persona is a speaker created by a writer to tell a story or to speak in a poem. A persona is not a character in a story or narrative, nor does a persona necessarily directly reflect the author’s personal voice. A persona is a separate self, created by and distinct from the author, through which he or she speaks. Personification Treating abstractions or inanimate objects as human, that is, giving them human attributes, powers, or feelings, e.g., â€Å"nature wept† or â€Å"the wind whispered many truths to me.† Point of view Refers to who tells us a story and how it is told. What we know and how we feel about the events in a work are shaped by the author’s choice of point of view. The teller of the story, the narrator, inevitably affects our understanding of the characters’ actions by filtering what is told through his or her own perspective. The various points of view that writers draw upon can be grouped into two broad categories: (1) the third-person narrator uses he, she, or they to tell the story and does not participate in the action; and (2) the first-person narrator uses I and is a major or minor participant in the action. In addition, a second-person narrator, you, is also possible, but is rarely used because of the awkwardness of thrusting the reader into the story, as in â€Å"You are minding your own business on a park bench when a drunk steps out and demands your lunch bag.† An objective point of view employs a third-person narrator who does not see into the mind of any character. From this detached and impersonal perspective, the narrator reports action and dialogue without telling us directly what the characters think and feel. Since no analysis or interpretation is provided by the narrator, this point of view places a premium on dialogue, actions and details to reveal character to the reader. Pun The usually humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more of its meanings or the meaning of another word similar in sound. It consists of a deliberate confusion of similar words or phrases for rhetorical effect, whether humorous or serious. It can rely on the assumed equivalency of multiple similar words (homonymy), of different shades of meaning of one word (polysemy), or of a literal meaning with a metaphor. Bad puns are often considered to be cheesy. * A hangover is the wrath of grapes. * Without geometry, life is pointless. * Reading while sunbathing makes you well-red. Repetition The return of a word, phrase, stanza form, or effect in any form of literature. Repetition is an effective literary device that may bring comfort, suggest order, or add special meaning to a piece of literature. Satire A literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness, often with the intent of correcting, or changing, the subject of the satiric attack. Simile A comparison of two dissimilar things using â€Å"like† or â€Å"as† Stereotype A simplified and/or standardized conception or image with specific meaning, often held in common by members of a group. A stereotype can be a conventional and oversimplified conception, opinion or image. Stereotypes can range from those that are wildly inaccurate and negative to those that are more than a little bit true and may even shed positive light upon the group of individuals. They are typically generalizations based on minimal or limited knowledge about a group to which the person doing the stereotyping does not belong. Style Manner of expression; how a speaker or writer says what he says. Suspense The feeling of uncertainty and interest about the outcome of certain actions, most often referring to an audience’s perceptions in a dramatic work. Symbolism When an author uses an object or idea to suggest more than its literal meaning. A person, place, or event stands for something other than it is, usually something broader or deeper than it is. Symbols In general terms, anything that stands for something else. Obvious examples are flags, which symbolize a nation; the cross is a symbol for Christianity; Uncle Sam a symbol for the United States. In literature, a symbol is expected to have significance. Keats starts his ode with a real nightingale, but quickly it becomes a symbol, standing for a life of pure, unmixed joy; then before the end of the poem it becomes only a bird again. Synecdoche When one uses a part to represent the whole. â€Å"Lend me your ears.† (give me your attention) Syntax The way in which linguistic elements (as words) are put together Theme (1) The abstract concept explored in a literary work; (2) frequently recurring ideas, such as enjoy life while you can; (3) repetition of a meaningful element in a work, such as references to sight, vision and blindness in Oedipus Rex. Sometimes the theme is also called the motif. Themes in Hamlet include the nature of filial duty and the dilemma of the idealist in a non-ideal situation. A theme in Keats’s â€Å"Ode to a Nightingale† is the difficulty of correlating the ideal and the real. Tone The writer’s attitude toward the material and/or readers. Tone may be playful, formal, intimate, angry, serious, ironic, outraged, baffled, tender, serene, depressed, etc. Tragedy A story that presents courageous individuals who confront powerful forces within or outside themselves with a dignity that reveals the breadth and depth of the human spirit in the face of failure, defeat, and even death. Tragedies recount an individual’s downfall; they usually begin high and end low. Shakespeare is known for his tragedies, including Macbeth, King Lear, Othello, and Hamlet. The revenge tragedy is a well-established type of drama that can be traced back to Greek and Roman plays, particularly through the Roman playwright Seneca (c. 3 b.c.–a.d. 63). Revenge tragedies basically consist of a murder that has to be avenged by a relative of the victim. Typically, the victim’s ghost appears to demand revenge and, invariably, madness of some sort is worked into subsequent events, which ultimately end in the deaths of the murderer, the avenger and a number of other characters. Shakespeare’s Hamlet subscribes to the basic ingredients of revenge tragedy . It also transcends these conventions because Hamlet contemplates revenge, suicide and the meaning of life itself. The tragic irony is found in tragedies such as Oedipus Rex, in which Oedipus ironically ends up hunting himself. A story that presents courageous individuals who confront powerful forces within or outside themselves with a dignity that reveals the breadth and depth of the human spirit in the face of failure, defeat, and even death. Tragic irony is a form of dramatic irony found in tragedies such as Oedipus Rex, in which Oedipus ironically ends up hunting himself.. Tragic flaw An error or defect in the tragic hero that leads to his downfall, such as greed, pride, or ambition. This flaw may be a result of bad character, bad judgment, an inherited weakness, or any other defect of character. Tragicomedy A type of drama that combines certain elements of tragedy and comedy. The play’s plot tends to be serious, leading to a terrible catastrophe, until an unexpected turn of events leads to a reversal of circumstance, and the story ends happily. Tragicomedy often employs a romantic, fast-moving plot dealing with love, jealousy, disguises, treachery, intrigue, and surprises, all moving toward a melodramatic resolution. Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice is a tragicomedy. Understatement (also known as litotes and meiosis) Casual or light treatment of the subject, it has two effects: (1) shows that the author does not take a subject seriously, (2) calls upon the moral indignation of the reader because the subject does not seem to be taken seriously. * Example: â€Å"I’m really glad that you have come to visit,† said the spider to the fly. Verisimilitude Something that has the appearance of being true or real. Vernacular The everyday or common language of a geographic area or the native language of commoners in a country as opposed to a prestigious dead language maintained artificially in schools or in literary texts. Latin, for instance, has not been a vernacular language for about 1250 years. Sanskrit has not been a vernacular language in India for more than 2000 years. However, Latin in medieval Europe and Sanskrit in ancient India were considered much more suitable for art, scholarship, poetry, and religious texts than the common tongue of everyday people even though (or perhaps because) only a small percentage of the learned could read the older languages.