American Politics in the Context of Obama’s Election and the First 100 Days Essay Example for Free (#100)

American Politics in the Context of Obama’s Election and the First 100 Days Essay Though none opposes the fact that motivation is the real driving engine of every action, there is considerable differences among the theorists about its mechanism, especially when it comes to explore the possibility to bring out the best out in the employees of an organization, where one school of thought advocates for extrinsic motivation for instant solution and the other insists on capitalizing the long-term efficacy of intrinsic motivation. Under the present context of economic downturn, this issue is extremely important, as extrinsic motivation primarily involves money. Therefore, this paper explores the core elements of motivation and concepts of extrinsic and intrinsic rewards from relevant literature, before coming into its own conclusion. Core of Motivation The core of motivation contains three elements like Consciousness, Inverted Qualia and Absent Qualia. These three together create various mental states. Consciousness It has six major identifiable states like 1. State of awareness: When someone is aware of something (Rosenthal, 1986). 2. Qualitative states: Sensing something out of something like enjoying a meal or experiencing a pain. Such experiences are called â€Å"qualia†, and are regarded as â€Å"intrinsic, private, ineffable and nomadic features of experience, † (Dennet, 1990). 3. Phenomenal states: A state involving more than sensory qualia, covering spatial, temporal and conceptual organization of experiences about the world and the person’s inference about it. 4. What-it-is-like states: Associating a sense of experience with another. 5. Access consciousness: It’s like seeing a thing and ideating something and then deciding on something, where there may or may not be any relationship among the above-said three stages. 6. Narrative consciousness: This â€Å"stream of consciousness† contains a series of thoughts from the â€Å"perspective of an actual or merely virtual self† (Dennett, 1991). Inverted Qualia It refers to a personal package of intrinsic and intricate experiences, with which humans decipher various external signals and respond to them, where the nature of experience governs the nature of response. The difference in perception causes inverted qualia, as for example someone might like green tea and detest coffee for no unexplainable reasons. This trait has a strong connection with intrinsic motivation (Dennet, 1991) Absent Qualia The concept of absent qualia claims that functional duplicates of a creature would do the same. As for example, if Mr. X likes tea and dislikes coffee, then his absolute clone would also do the same, for which the clone would not need an intricate and intrinsic package of experiences (Dennet, 1991). This concept backs the idea of getting result through extrinsic reward – as for example, if Mr. X and Mr. Y do identical jobs under identical conditions, then if Mr. X feels satisfied with cash reward, Mr.  Y would too follow the suit without a second thought! This study thus highlights two sets of hidden relationships, one, between inverted qualia and intrinsic motivation/rewards, and two, between absent qualia and extrinsic motivation/rewards. In any case, humans’ (apparently) involuntary association with rewards too has its routes in their perceptions, which maintain a master list of individual desires, and accordingly propel them to fulfill such desires. Put into an imaginary diagram, the mechanism of human mind can look somewhat like below: Mechanism of Motivation Motivating Tools From the organizational perspective, the ways and means to motivate the employees can be many. However, the common ones among them are, 1. Rewards 2. Retention 3. Morale 5. Job-enrichment 6. Reinforcement 1. Rewards System: Rewards or recognition system has a great bearing on the emotional plane of humans. † Every behavior comes out of ‘pain and gain’ principle†, says Khera (2004, p. 110). There can be many types of tangible gains like money, vacations or gifts, or they can be intangible, like recognition, appreciation, sense of achievement, growth, responsibility, sense of fulfillment, self-worth, etc. 2. Retention: It highly motivates the employees, as â€Å"Retention is critical to the long term health and success of the company† (Heathfield, 2008). 3. Morale: The elements like praise, love and faith can charge up anyone under any circumstance. 4. Job Enrichment: It relates to the in-house grooming of the employees to become an expert in the related field. 5. Reinforcement. By all means, it is a tool to control the employee behavior (Positive, 2000), which binds the company activities together. Other Factors Related to Motivation There are three other factors that can be instrumental to keep employees motivated, and they are: Job Satisfaction, Goal-setting and Performance appraisals. They are considered to be the self-boosters of the employees, and according to Murphy (2001), belief is a thought that causes the power of subconscious to be distributed into all phases of life. Motivation and Reward System Reward systems are created to fuel the employee cooperation, effort and overall satisfaction of all members of the company Cacioppe (1999). Other researchers like Hackman (1997) Shea and Guzzo (1987) too have endorsed this view, and suggested to align rewards with group activities. The basic parameter of the formulating a reward structure, however, is expected to apply the common logic like optimizing the ability of the workforce as a whole, though in practice it might go down to an individual, especially where the work patterns are not interdependent. This situation commands a quick review of the nature of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Intrinsic Rewards Deci (1975) says that intrinsic rewards evoke a sense of personal causation – i. e.  , an inward mechanism serving as the guiding engine for the action, where its elements are usually intangible and working on the plane of one’s perception, where the journey is being enjoyed over the outcome. Extrinsic Rewards Extrinsic rewards are supposed to generate perceptions of external causation (Deci, 1975) by being mostly tangible in nature – a hike in salary or status, or material gains in other forms. However, researchers like Guzzo, (1979) defies any division in the reward system and considers it a single, usable tools to tweak the frequency of desired response of the employees towards a desired direction. Researchers like Hull (1943) and Skinner (1953) placed extrinsic reward as a direct link between stimulus and response, and their views include punishment as a stimulus too, besides subscribing to the power of stimulus. Reaction No matter how much Hull (1943) and Skinner (1953) wanted to establish extrinsic motivation as the best motivating tool to earn competitive advantage, extrinsic motivation carries a hidden cost besides the cost involved in its implementation. Researchers like Deci and Ryan (1985) used attribution theory and suggested that humans constantly reassess the reasons for their behaviors besides others. Before that, Lepper et al. (1973) had observed that reinforcement generates two effects for the management, like gaining control over activity or fastening the process; two, the backlash effect in absence of reinforcement. The example below would explain it better: A group or an individual gets a reward of x amount of money for a period y, where x+y=m, m being the increased rate of production. Before that, the situation was y=z where production was z. Now in the absence of reinforcement and with the influence of attribution theory, the situation would stand like y-x = n, where n < z. This clearly goes against the basic reason for motivating the employees, i. e. , to enhance the profit of the organization. â€Å"Engagement occurs when an employee connects emotionally with his work,† says Paul Glen (2007), and if one checks the mechanism of motivation, one gets convinced that extrinsic motivation cannot influence the employees to connect emotionally with their work, as it is guided by absent qualia, i. e. , a momentary and involuntary chase, where emotion has no role to play. On the other hand, the intrinsic motivation is guided by inverted qualia, i.  e. , conscious chase and that clearly takes along emotion in its journey and influence the human mind in no less than six ways. Conclusion The research and discussion above clearly shows that extrinsic motivation system can be a threat in disguise for the organizations especially under the present context of economic downturn, while intrinsic motivation can be the ideal solution under the same circumstance, where it can raise emotional attachment with the organization and inspire the employees to produce more for less. References Cacioppe, R. (1999). Using team-individual reward and recognition strategies to drive organizational success. Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 20(6), pp. 322-331. Deci, E. and Ryan, R. (1985) Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behaviour. New York: Plenum Press. Deci, E. L. (1975). Intrinsic motivation. New York: Plenum. Denett, D. C. (1990). Quining qualia†. In Mind and Cognition, W. Lycan (Ed. ), Oxford: Blackwell, 519-548. Dennett, D. C. (1991). Consciousness explained. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. Glen, P. (2007). You Can’t Outsource Retention. Computerworld, July 16, 2007. Guzzo, R. A. (1979). Types of rewards, cognitions, and work motivation. Academy of Management Review, 4(1), pp. 75-86. Hackman, J. R. (1997). Why teams don’t work. In R. S. Tindale, J. Edwards, & E. J. Posavac (Eds. ) Applications of theory and research on groups to social issues. New York: Plenum. American Politics in the Context of Obama’s Election and the First 100 Days. (2016, Oct 14).

Political Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Political Philosophy - Essay Example ers like others in their times thought deeply about the role of the rulers who were at that time Kings and Queens and whether hereditary rights alone are enough to govern. This reflected in their works on property and man’s right to own property as well as the kind of contract that man had with state in such matters. In this paper, I draw upon the works of these three thinkers to assess their contribution to the issue of private property and man’s right to own such property as well as the fact that we might not have such rights at all. These three thinkers represent different bands in the spectrum about the issue and hence their contributions are worth comparing and contrasting to arrive at an understanding of what their views about the issue were. Among all the three thinkers, Locke was the most vocal exponent of man’s right to own property and the role of the state in facilitating such rights. However, Locke’s views were nuanced as far as owning private property was concerned. For instance, Locke held the view that since we are free in our movements and are owners of our bodies, so, any efforts that we put in to â€Å"pour ourselves† into improving natural objects like land must necessarily belong to us as we have invested significant time and energy in making the land worthwhile for human use. The way in which Locke proposed this in The Second Treatise on Government is by alluding to the investment of labor that one does to improve the land for the use by all. To cite Locke, â€Å"The same principle of appropriation by the investment of labor can be extended to control over the surface of the earth as well, on Lockes view. Individuals who pour themselves into the land—improving its productivity by spending their own time and effort on its cultivation—acquire a property interest in the result. (2nd Treatise  §32) The plowed field is worth more than the virgin prairie precisely because I have invested my labor in plowing it; so even if the prairie was

Trifles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Trifles - Essay Example The women are there to collect a few clothes and necessities to take to Minnie. As they move round the house, the women find the cage of Minnie’s pet canary broken open and then find the corpse of the bird in a box with its neck wrung. It is obvious to Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale that Wright has killed the canary and this is Millie’s motive for murdering her husband. In a show of feminine empathy and solidarity, the two women conceal Minnie’s crime from the men. The moral dilemma of the play lies in the unspoken debate on Minnie’s guilt, or innocence, and the rightness of the action of the women. Minnie Wright should not be found guilty of her actions because of the personality of her husband, the fact that she has been punished enough, and the low chances of her receiving justice at the hands of a largely male jury. John Wright is a man of queer character. He is obviously not a sociable man and is critical of others. Refusing to join Lewis Hale in a party t elephone, Wright says, â€Å"folks talked too much anyway, and all he asked was peace and quiet† (Glaspell, 5). It is clear that he is a taciturn, unsociable man who prefers to be a loner. His personality is characterized by the absence of any trace of joy. Mrs. Hale tells the County Attorney, â€Å"I don’t think a place’d be any cheerfuller for John Wright’s being in it† (Glaspell, 11). It is acknowledged that, in spite of being â€Å"good† in terms of being a teetotaler , truthful and paying his debts, he is undoubtedly â€Å"a hard man† (Glaspell, 22). Again, in every reference to the murdered man, there are suggestions that he was not a good husband. Hale hints of Wright’s indifference to Minnie’s needs by saying, â€Å"I didn’t know as what his wife wanted made much difference to John† (Glaspell, 5). Mrs. Hale confirms her husband’s view of Wright by pointing out that he did not have the homemak ing instinct. Wright is so close-fisted that he does not give Minnie the little money she needs to join the Ladies Aid. His wife does not have the means to wear pretty clothes and is forced to be shabbily turned out. Above all, it is evident that John Wright had a cruel streak in him. This is demonstrated in his killing of the canary. There is no doubt that Wright is the one who wrung the bird’s neck. A man who could break open a bird cage and brutally strangle the helpless creature is not a man to live with. John Wright’s character is definitely an extenuating factor in any estimation of Minnie’s actions and her guilt. Wright’s character is such that any woman who is constrained to share his life undergoes a form of punishment. Minnie Wright has been punished enough over her years as John Wright’s wife. When just a casual meeting with the man is â€Å"like a raw wind that gets to the bone† (Glaspell, 22), it is clear that being his wife is hell. The woman who â€Å"used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir,† (Glaspell, 14) is transformed by her marriage into a shabbily dressed, silent housewife. The transformation is so great, that Mrs. Hale exclaims in emphatic wonder, â€Å"How – she – did – change (Glaspell, 22). Wright’s off-putting personality ensures that she has no visitors and remains in lonely isolation. His tight-fistedness closes Minnie’s door to any social life. Mrs. Hale regrets the fact that she never

Crime and Punishment :: essays research papers fc

The Websters Dictionary defines degradation as a fall from higher to lower rank or degree(Websters, 205). Fyodor Dostoyevsky illustrates degradation of morals for several characters in Crime and Punishment. He links the quality of money or lack thereof to the their moral degradation to design complex characters. Dostoyevsky draws a picture of society that is similar to the society depicted in Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. The poor become greedy and the rich become greedier. And, good moral decision making can be greatly overpowered by the need or want of more money.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The degradation of society and lack of money cause Raskolnikov to kill the greedy pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna and her sister Lizaveta. Raskolnikov believes that killing them for their money will be a great conquest for himself and society. After fighting with himself about whether or not he should commit the crime, he overhears someone talking about the same plan.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives could be put on the right path, dozens of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  families rescued from poverty, from ruin, from collapse, from decay, from venereal   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  wards of the hospitals-- all this with her money! Kill her, take her money, dedicate   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  it to serving mankind, to the general welfare. Well --what do you think -- isn’t   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  this petty little crime effaced by thousands of good deeds? (63, part 1) Raskolnikov decides he must go against his good judgment and commit murder for the good of society and himself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dostoyevsky also takes the character of Raskolnikov to the opposite extreme. After his mother sends him money, he uses it to help out the Marmeladov family in an act of pure charity. He comes across Marmeladov injured by a carriage and without hesitation offers to help.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"I know him!† and he pushed all the way forward. â€Å"It’s the clerk, the retired titular   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  councilor, Marmeladov! He lives near here, in Kozel’s house....Somebody get a   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  doctor! I’ll pay. Here!† he fished money out of his pocket and showed it to the   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  policeman. (170, part 2) Dostoyevsky is showing how Raskolnikov’s decision making is effected by money or lack thereof.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Svidrigailov is a character who was poor and in jail. He was bought by Marfa Perovna and lived a good life off of her money. Unlike Raskolnikov, Svidrigailov’s moral degradation becomes worse with his increase of wealth. He cheats on his wife, causing her to eventually kill herself, and gets a fifteen year old pregnant. He then admits to Raskolnikov that he was in love with his sister, Dunya, but now just wants to sleep with her. â€Å"Secondly, I fancy you won’t refuse me a little help in a certain project of mine that

Bharati Mukherjee

Bharati Mukherjee was born to a wealthy Hindu family on July 27, 1940 in Calcutta India (Shilpi, 1998). She was the second of the three daughters of a chemist Sudhur Lal and her mother was Bina Mukharfee. She spent her first eight years with her extended family of about 30 -40 people. She has a family that is supportive and always loves education, so she and her siblings always have abundant opportunities to pursue their academic career. She schooled at Anglicized Bengale School between 1944 and 1948. Later, her father relocated to England due to change in job and she lived there until 1951.This gave her the chances to explore, expand, and acquire more skills in English language. By the time she was ten years old, she had written many short stories and had even known that she was going to be a writers. She graduated with B. A honour from university of Calcutta in 1959, she also did her master in English and Ancient culture from University of Baroda in1961 (Shilpi, 1998). She was awar ded a scholarship from university of Iowa to study and earn her M. F. A. in the year she got married a Canadian writers Clerk Blaise. The courtship of which was not up to 2 weeks.She later got her PhD in English and comparative intensive from University of Iowa in 1969. Prior to her PhD, she travelled with her husband to Canada and became a naturalist citizen. In Canada, she had bad times and the life there was unbearable for her because of their discrimination to some certain people called ‘visible minority’ (University of Minnesota, 2006). Having gone through many things in Canada, she decided to relocate to the United States She has been described as a distinguish woman, who had gone through a lot both the good times and the bad times.She has stated it clearly that she is an American writer of Indian origin and that she utterly rejects the hyphenation of her background i. e. India-American writer. She called herself an immigrant in the country of immigrant. She is cu rrently been celebrated as a professor of English language in the University of California. Achievements She focused mainly on the ‘phenomenon of migration. ’(Shilpi, 1998) which revealed the significance of people migrating from one country to another and the feelings they always feels i. e. feelings of alienation.It also reflects Indian culture. Her writings were based on her personal; experience first as an exile from India, an immigrant to Canada and then an immigrant to the United States. Presently she has authored about eight novels and many short stories and at the same time co-authored two books with her husband. She was the first naturalised U. S citizen to win the National Book Critics’ Circle Awards for best fiction (http://www. ou. edu/worldlit/neustadt-2008jurors. htm). While at Canada, she was able to come up with two good novels despite her condition then i.e. the Tigers Daughter-which describe the story of a girl who went back to her home town Ind ia after many years of loosing contact with home. But all she met and gained was poverty and penury. This story described her personal experience in the first year of her marriage, and her venture back into her home town. Later she wrote invisible woman and the sorrow and terror in conjunction with her husband, to describe her personal experience when she was in the racist land of Canada to the extent that she was still humiliated even as a professor (Shilpi, 1998).Then when she got to united state she wrote one of her short stories ‘isolated incidents’ in which she critically review the Canadians perspective about people moving into their country. She even confirmed how the government official’s maltreated some people from other race. In her second book titled Wife; where she described a woman who out of fear and anxiety murdered her husband and later killed herself when she was suppressed by some men. She talked about her experience when she was caught between two worlds: her home and culture, and how she coped with it.She is gifted at writing novel, short stories, essays, travel literature and journalism. In one of her collections of short stories; Darkness: she focused on the southern Asia that desired success and want to be stable, but, fail to resolve and address the issues of prejudice and injustice. This later followed by the book that actually brought her into a lime light: the Middleman and other Stories which won her an award. This was then followed by Jasmine which was the most widespread and the most read of her novels. Her recent works comprise the ‘Holder of the World’, which was publish in 1993 and ‘leave it to me’ which was produced by 1997.She has faced many critics solely on the issues she normally addresses, and even she has been criticised many times by the Indian writers that in her book she always paint India as a land that has no hope or prospects. Conclusion Having gone through the rigorous discrimination in Canada, she had found a way of reaching out and explaining the whole situation in her writings. This has help to greatly reduce the level of treatment the society at large expresses to their immigrants and this will also proffer good and healthy relationships among different tribes.REFERENCES: Shilpi P (1998): Bharati Mukherjee: http://www. english. emory. edu/Bahri/Mukherjee. html: April 25, 2008 University of Minnesota (2006): Bharati Mukherjee http://voices. cla. umn. edu/vg/Bios/entries/mukherjee_bharati. html: April 25, 2008 Bharati Mukherjee http://www. bbc. co. uk/worldservice/arts/features/womenwriters/mukherjee_being. shtml: April 25, 2008 University of Oklahoma (May, 2008): Jurors for the 2008 Neustadt Prize: http://www. ou. edu/worldlit/neustadt-2008jurors. htm: April 25, 2008 Bharati Mukherjee (Sept. , 1998): Leave it to me http://www. randomhouse. com/catalog/display. pperl? isbn=9780449003961&view=rg: April 26, 2008.

The Battle Of Bull Run - 1514 Words

The Battle of Bull Run The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 to determine whether the Union or Confederacy would survive. The fight would take place between the North, called Union states and the South, called Confederate states. The Confederate states wanted to leave the North and South union and stand on their own. The war started on April 12, 1861 when Confederate forces attacked a Union military base at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The reason the war started at this time was that Abraham Lincoln had just been elected President in 1860. Abraham Lincoln wanted to end slavery but keep the union together. The North had an increase of industry and the South still depended on farming the land. However, the South†¦show more content†¦to strike a Confederate force along a small river known as Bull Run. After fighting on the defensive for most of the day, the rebels rallied and were able to break the Union right flank, sending them into a chaotic retreat towards Washington. The Confederate victory gave the South a false confidence and shocked many in the North, who realized the war would not be won as easily as they had hoped. By July 1861, the northern press and the public were eager for the Union Army to make an advance on Richmond ahead of the planned meeting of the Confederate Congress there on July 20. Encouraged by early victories of Union troops in western Virginia, and by the war fever spreading through the North, President Abraham Lincoln ordered Brigadier General Irvin McDowell to mount an offensive that would hit quickly and decisively at the enemy and open the way to Richmond, thus bringing the war to a quick end. The offensive would begin with an attack on Confederate troops under the command of General P.G.T. Beauregard camped near Manassas Junction, Virginia (25 miles from Washington, D.C.) along a little river known as Bull Run. The cautious McDowell, then in command of the Union volunteer troops, gathered in the Federal capital, knew that his men were not prepared and pushed for a postponement of the advance to give him time for additional training. But Lincoln ordered him to begin the offensive, reasoning that the rebel army was made up of amateurShow MoreRelatedThe Battle Of Bull Run1269 Words   |  6 PagesThe Battle of Bull Run was one of the first major battles in the United States Civil War. The battle took place on July 21st, 1861 just twenty five miles southwest of Washington D.C., which was also the center of the Union Government. This battle also convinced the Lincoln administration and the North that the Civil War would last longer than they expected and would be consisting of bloodier fights costing many more lives. The US Civil War is known as the second most deadly war America has ever experiencedRead MoreThe Battle Of Bull Run1172 Words   |  5 PagesThe Battle of Bull Run, or First Mana ssas to the Confederate States of America, was the first major battle of the Civil War. The battle would be a rude wake up call for everyone entering the war. This paper will explore the various details of the battle, including its importance. The Battle of Bull Run occurred on July 21, 1861 approximately three months after the start of the war. It took place in Prince William County, Virginia. To be more specific, nearby the town of Manassas and the river knownRead More Battle of Bull Run Essay1020 Words   |  5 Pages In Virginia the first battle of the Civil War was fought, near Manassas, Virginia railroad junction, after which the battle is called (or First Bull Run, named after the flowing stream on the battlefield, if of the Union point of view). The armies in this first battle were not prodigious by later Civil War principles. The Federal services under Brigadier General Irvin McDowell were well thought-out into four divisions, of about 30,000 men. These divisions were commanded by Tyler, Hunter, HeintzelmanRead More The First Battle Of Bull Run Essay744 Words   |  3 PagesTHE FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN On July 21, 1861, two armies, one confederate and the other Union, prepared for the first major land battle of the Civil War. In 1861 Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President. The Southern states had seceded and the South had fired on and captured Fort Sumter on April 12 1861. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;After the Fort Sumter battle, both the North and the South began preparing for war by raising armies. This was done quickly and neither side spent muchRead MoreThe Battle of Bull Run in Manassas Essay1910 Words   |  8 Pagesa world-wide tour of battle sites throughout history. Who wouldn’t want to see the battlefields where famous people, such as Alexander the Great and Napoleon, fought for their kingdoms? Here is the itinerary for the trip; a train ride to the Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Virginia, a flight to the Battle of Marathon in Greece, a boat ride and a train to the Battle of Gaugamela in present-day Iraq, a flight to the Battle of Hastings in England, a boat and train to the Battle of Waterloo in BelgiumRead MoreThe First Battle of Bull Run Essay examples759 Words   |  4 PagesTHE FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN BY COLLINS MCKAY On July 21, 1861, two armies, one confederate and the other Union, prepared for the first major land battle of the Civil War. In 1861 Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President. The Southern states had seceded and the South had fired on and captured Fort Sumter on April 12 1861. After the Fort Sumter battle, both the North and the South began preparing for war by raising armies. This was done quickly and neither side spent much time trainingRead MoreEssay about The Battle of Bull Run History1977 Words   |  8 PagesThe Battle of Bull Run was the first battle fought during the Civil War. It was a bloody battle and showed both sides that this war would not be won quickly. There were a few factors that swayed the battle in favor of the Confederacy, such as terrain, weather and technology. The Confederacy was able to use railroads to transport troops to battle, which had never been done before. This allowed them to continue fighting while the Union troops were growing tired and weak. Since the battle was foughtRead MoreThe Battle Of Bull Run. The American Civil War Was Fought1853 Words   |  8 PagesThe Battle of Bull Run The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 to determine whether the Union or Confederacy would survive. The fight would take place between the North, called Union states and the South, called Confederate states. The Confederate states wanted to leave the North and South union and stand on their own. The war started on April 12, 1861 when Confederate forces attacked a Union military base at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The reason the war started at this time wasRead MoreCase 9-1: Disney’s America Theme Park: the Third Battle of Bull Run1288 Words   |  6 Pagesdecided on the Prince William County as the final location. Seeing that many believed that the physical location that the theme park would be built on was part of America’s history, and building on top of that would destroy the nations most important battles in its history. What advice would you give Eisner? I personally think that Eisner never foresaw so much negative in relation to this theme park. Seeing as he personally helped develop this promising idea, all this negative publicity and setbacksRead MoreThe Battle Of The Civil War1736 Words   |  7 PagesAbstract: As the first major battle of the Civil War the First Battle of Bull Run was an end to the illusions of a quick war and instead offered a first glimpse into the long and bloody four-year struggle the Civil War would become. In this paper the battle and its many repercussions across the political, social and military spectrum of the Union and Confederacy will be explored. Background: With the formation of the Confederate States and the outbreak of hostilities at Ft. Sumter only a few months

Tell Asmar Statues Gods or Ordinary People

The Tell Asmar sculpture hoard (also known as the Square Temple Hoard, Abu Temple Hoard, or Asmar Hoard) is a collection of twelve human effigy statues, discovered in 1934 at the site of Tell Asmar, an important Mesopotamian tell in the Diyala Plain of Iraq, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad. Key Takeaways: Tell Asmar Statues The Asmar Statues are twelve statues found by archaeologist Henri Frankfort in the Early Dynastic temple of Tell Asmar at the site of Asmar, in present-day Iraq.  The statues were carved and modeled from alabaster, a hard form of the mineral gypsum, at least 4500 years ago, and buried intact in a single deposit, very unusual for votive hoards.  The statues include two very tall individuals who appear to be cult figures, a hero figure, and nine seemingly ordinary people, with hands clasped and staring eyes looking upward.   The hoard was discovered deep within the Abu Temple at Asmar, during the 1930s archaeological excavations led by University of Chicago archaeologist Henri Frankfort and his team from the Oriental Institute. When the hoard was discovered, the statues were stacked in several layers within a 33 x 20 inch (85 x 50 centimeter) pit, located about 18 in (45 cm) below the floor of the Early Dynastic (3000 to 2350 BCE) version of the Abu Temple known as the Square Temple. The Asmar Sculptures The Tell Asmar statues are all different sizes, ranging from 9 to 28 in (23– to 72 cm) in height, with an average of about 16 in (42 cm). They are of men and women with large staring eyes, upturned faces, and clasped hands, dressed in the skirts of the Early Dynastic Period of Mesopotamia. The three largest of the statues were placed first in the pit and the others carefully stacked on top. They are believed to represent Mesopotamian gods and goddesses and their worshipers. The largest figure (28 in, 72 cm) is thought by some scholars to represent the god Abu, based on symbols carved into the base, which show the lion-headed eagle Imdugud gliding among gazelles and leafy vegetation. Frankfort described the second largest statue (23 in or 59 cm tall) as a representation of the mother goddess cult. One other figure, a nude man kneeling, may represent a semi-mythical hero. More recently, scholars have noted that most of the other statues are of people, not gods. Most Mesopotamian cult votive figures are found broken and scattered in pieces, while the Tell Asmar statues are in excellent condition, with eye inlays and some bitumen paint intact. The hoard seems to made up of prayerful people, a group headed by two cult figures. Style and Construction The style of the sculptures is known as geometric, and that is characterized by recasting realistic figures into abstract shapes. Frankfort described it as the human body...ruthlessly reduced to abstract plastic forms. The  geometric style is a characteristic of the Early Dynastic I period at Tell Asmar and other similarly dated sites in the Diyala Plain. That abstracted style is not just found in carved figurines, but in decorations on pottery and cylinder seals, stone cylinders carved to be used to leave an impression in clay or stucco. The statues are made from gypsum (calcium sulfate), partly carved from the relatively hard form of massive gypsum called alabaster and partly modeled from processed gypsum. The processing technique involves firing gypsum at about 300 degrees Fahrenheit (150 degrees Celsius) until it becomes a fine white powder (called plaster of Paris). The powder is then mixed with water and then modeled and/or sculpted into shape. Dating the Asmar Hoard The Asmar Hoard was found within the Abu Temple at Asmar, a temple which was built and rebuilt several times during Asmars occupation, beginning before 3,000 BCE, and remaining in use until 2500 BCE. To be more specific, Frankforts team found the hoard in a context that he interpreted as beneath the floor of the Early Dynastic II version of the Abu temple called the Square Temple. Frankfort argued that the hoard was a dedicatory shrine, placed there at the time of the Square Temples construction. In the decades since Frankforts interpretation associating the hoard with the Early Dynastic II period, today scholars consider it to predate the temple by some centuries, carved during the Early Dynastic I period, rather than to have been placed there at the time the temple was built. Evidence that the hoard predates the Square Temple has been compiled by Evans, who includes archaeological evidence from the excavators field notes, as well as geometric stylistic comparisons to other Early Dynastic buildings and artifacts in the Diyala plain. Sources Evans, Jean M. The Square Temple at Tell Asmar and the Construction of Early Dynastic Mesopotamia, Ca. 2900-2350 B.C.E. American Journal of Archaeology 111.4 (2007): 599-632. Print.Feldman, Marian H. Knowledge as Cultural Biography: Lives of Mesopotamian Monuments. Dialogues in Art History, from Mesopotamian to Modern: Readings for a New Century. Ed. Cropper, Elizabeth. Studies in the History of Art. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2009. 41-55. Print.Frankfort, Henri. Sculpture of the Third Millennium B.C. From Tell Asmar and Khafajah. Oriental Institute Publications. Eds. Wilson, John Albert, and Thomas George Allen. Vol. 44. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939. Print.Tell Asmar, Khafaje, and Khorsabad: Second Preliminary Report of the Iraq Expeditions. Oriental Institute Communications. Eds. Breasted, James Henry, and Thomas George Allen. Vol. 16. Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1935. Print.Frankfort, Henri, Thorkild Jacobsen, and Conrad Preusser. Tell Asmar and Khafaje: The First Seasons Work in Eshnunna 1930/31. Oriental Institute Communications. Vol. 13. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1932. Print.Gibson, McGuire. A Re-Evaluation of the Akkad Period in the Diyala Region on the Basis of Recent Excavations at Nippur and in the Hamrin. American Journal of Archaeology 86.4 (1982): 531-38. Print.Wengrow, David. The Intellectual Adventure of Henri Frankfort: A Missing Chapter in the History of Archaeological Thought. American Journal of Archaeology 103.4 (1999): 597-613. Print.