Sex is a natural preoccupation Essay Example for Free

Sex is a natural preoccupation Essay Sex is a natural preoccupation. It is on everyones mind from birth to death. For human beings sex can have a variety of meanings: instinctual, spiritual, pleasurable, an act of love to even one of power. Like most things untamed and complex, many feel the need to carve a different understanding of what sex means and define it to values most often rooted in religious philosophy, language and behavior. James Joyces A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) is an intimate look at a young Irish writer, Stephen Dedalus, whose narrative becomes a fictional adaptation of Joyces own life as a young man. Throughout the novel, we read of Stephens conflict between his lust for women and his passionate devotion to the tenets of the Roman Catholic faith. His struggle is palpable and begs the question: Why? Julienne H. Empric articulates one theory in her essay The Mediation of the Woman and the Interpretation of the Artist in Joyces Portrait saying, [Women are] the magnetic force of that sensual creativity an artist must both court and reject in order to accomplish his purpose (Ben 11). Essentially, the characters inspiration and transformation comes from his fantasies of women (sexual and romantic) and his refusal to be too enchanted by such fantasies. To understand Stephens apprehensions about his sexuality, one must first have a fundamental understanding of the way Catholic ideology defines sexuality and the context by which sexual acts can be accepted. Catholicism has long encouraged careful and at times rigid expectations of its parishioners when it comes to sex. Catholic doctrine accepts sex for procreation within a heterosexual marriage. Religious leaders are asked to commit themselves to a life of celibacy. Carnal desires must be suppressed and homosexuality is forbidden. For difficult or troubled unions, divorce is not an option, only annulment, a process where a couples relationship is proven invalid of the real love that truly sustains a marriage. In another example, the act of masturbation is considered selfish pleasure and runs against conjugal purpose; therefore being unacceptable. Why is sex and sexuality so defined? Several points can be made. M. K. Hellwig suggests, The immediate results are depicted in the story [of creation]. They [Adam and Eve] become painfully aware of their nakedness, their vulnerability; they are embarrassed or afraid to be under scrutiny simply for what they are. They lose the experience of Gods friendship and intimate presence with them not because of Gods anger but because of their own fear, which drives them into hiding. (Hellwig 1981, p. 46) The humiliation of nakedness was a step in making sex taboo. When we engage in sex, we are naked, vulnerable, and surrender to inquiry and carnal desire. In Catholic doctrine, its acceptability is clearly limited to behaviors that serve a particular purpose unique to marriage. But in many respects, one can argue that sex, like religion, is also powerful, emotional, and susceptible. Therefore, it can to some become its own path to deeper meaning and connection, a part of life that can be seen and felt, and easier to commit to. We have inherited a world in which sex itself is a conflicted enterprise. It is no longer (if it ever was) an activity used solely as a means of reproducing the species. 2 Yet few think of sex as simply a way to obtain pleasure and enjoyment. In some ways, we are told that sex is the only way that each of us can truly be known and defined, that we are not truly coupled with another unless we are sexually active with that person. In other conversations (especially those associated with the sexual revolution), indiscriminate sex becomes the route by which we mark our liberation. As Christians, we are charged with the difficult task of sorting out which constructions of sexual activities belong in the new creation as outlined for us by Christ, and which concepts must be rejected. (Rudy 1997, p. xiv). So what does all this have to do with Stephen? His Catholic upbringing appears considerably stricter than one would expect from the average Catholic today. The process of assigning value to personal philosophy and behavior in reaching a higher purpose is vital to him. For Stephen both the church and [his] art become means not only to acquire nobility, but to enter a realm of pure spirit, shedding the repellant flesh forever (Benstock 124). He knows that to be sexually vulnerable is a one-way ticket to a hell he describes as a field of stiff weeds and thistles and tufted nettle bunches. Thick among the tufts of rank stiff growth lay battered canisters and clots and coils of solid excrement and this horror is incessantly grating on his conscious. Chapter 2, section five reveals to us Stephens first sexual experience. He wanders the streets for hours and finally one night a young prostitute dressed in a long pink gown, which he equates with the obscene scrawl which he had read on the oozing wall of a urinal propositions him and he uncomfortably accepts (Benstock 124). Her round arms held him firmly to her and he, seeing her face lifted to him in serious calm and feeling the warm calm rise and fall of her breast, all but burst into hysterical weeping. Tears of joy and relief shone in his delighted eyes and his lips parted though they would not speak. She passed her tinkling hand through his hair, calling him a little rascal. -Give me a kiss, she said. His lips would not bend to kiss her. He wanted to be held firmly in her arms, to be caressed slowly, slowly, slowly. In her arms, he felt that he had suddenly become strong, fearless, and sure of himself. But his lips would not bend to kiss her. With a sudden movement, she bowed his head and joined her lips to his and he read the meaning of her movements in her frank uplifted eyes. It was too much for him. He closed his eyes, surrendering himself to her, body and mind, conscious of nothing in the world but the dark pressure of her softly parting lips. They pressed upon his brain as upon his lips as though they were the vehicle of a vague speech; and between them he felt an unknown and timid pressure, darker than the swoon of sin, softer than sound or odour (Joyce 70 71). In surrendering, he exercises sexual freedom and yet again obsesses over his sinfulness. His romantic viewpoint soon diminishes his experience with prostitutes as cold, empty motion because he wants more. He needs love. When Stephen embraces the prostitute, we remember that this is the youth who is to announce his determination to press in his arms the loveliness which has not yet come into the world. In retrospect, the arms of the prostitute seem a poor substitute (Ryf 145). In other words, Stephen wants to make love, not just have sex to have sex. The act of making love seems to be the only thing worthy of standing up against his religious conviction. In the following paragraph of chapter three, section one, Stephen is again on a nightly prowl of the red light district. It is important to note how far his imagination takes the severity of his sin, as he increasingly feels handicapped by [his] sex and youth. He would follow a devious course up and down the streets, circling always nearer and nearer in a tremor of fear and joy, until his feet led him suddenly round a dark corner. The whores would be just coming out of their houses making ready for the night, yawning lazily after their sleep and settling the hairpins in their clusters of hair. He would pass by them calmly waiting for a sudden movement of his own will or a sudden call to his sin-loving soul from their soft perfumed flesh. Yet as he prowled in quest of that call, his senses, stultified only by his desire, would note keenly all that wounded or shamed them; his eyes, a ring of porter froth on a clothless table or a photograph of two soldiers standing to attention or a gaudy playbill; his ears, the drawling jargon of greeting: (Joyce 72). We soon see that Stephen never understands the opposite sex nor the mystery of the Church. His confusion leads him to a vacuum where the sacred and the mundane can interpenetrate. This unreal perspective he does develop and consequently it shapes his personal interpretation of Catholicism (Ben 14). By the end of chapter three, Stephen gives further elaboration on the hellish outcome that will befall him should he continue his current path. In chapter four, he attempts to rigorously discipline and engross himself in the ways of the Church in an effort to save his devious soul. He is racked by guilt and self-doubt. However, by now, the reader knows Stephen well enough to predict he will fail to meet the rigid standards he has made for himself. Bernard Benstock suggests, The rise of sexual desire in Stephen can be tracked from the photograph of the beautiful Mabel Hunter with demurely taunting eyes to the whore with frank uplifted eyes who first seduces him, to the imagined harlots in his guilty mind with gleaming jewel eyes (Benstock, 188). So distracted by the surreal nature of his fantasies, Stephen is unable to seriously commit to anything. His weakness reveals itself while he discussed the possibility of the priesthood with a senior deacon at his school. The priest idly mentions discovering priestly robes to be somewhat absurd. Just imagine, he tells Stephen, when I was in Belgium I used to see them out cycling in all kinds of weather with this thing up about their knees! It was ridiculous. LES JUPES, they call them in Belgium (Joyce, 111). The young man smiles politely but at the mention of robes, his mind begins to wander into sexual fantasy making his failure inevitable. The names of articles of dress worn by women or of certain soft and delicate stuffs used in their making brought always to his mind a delicate and sinful perfume It had shocked him, too, when he had felt for the first time beneath his tremulous fingers the brittle texture of a womans stocking for, retaining nothing of all he read save that which seemed to him an echo or a prophecy of his own state, it was only amid soft-worded phrases or within rose-soft stuffs that he dared to conceive of the soul or body of a woman moving with tender life. But the phrase on the priests lips was disingenuous for he knew that a priest should not speak lightly on that theme. The phrase had been spoken lightly with design and he felt that his face was being searched by the eyes in the shadow (Joyce 11). Even though he would have himself believe that the proper artistic response is a dispassionate stasis, most of Stephens attempts to write poetry are intimately linked with his sexual needs (Benstock 126). Stephen eventually denounces the Church, but when asked if he would convert to become a Protestant he responds by saying he did not reject a logical absurdity only to embrace an illogical absurdity. Nevertheless, his dilemma is real; that is, that he rejects the Church but cannot forget it. He goes out of his way to satirize its rituals and thereby has the Catholic faith still a living thing within him, and not to remain indifferent to it (Ryf 204). At the end of the novel we enter Stephens point of view through some of his journal entries. He writes, MARCH 21, NIGHT. Free. Soul free and fancy free. Let the dead bury the dead. Ay. And let the dead marry the dead. It appears Stephen has finally found peace. But can we trust that Stephen will remain true to his course? He then writes: MARCH 24. Began with a discussion with my mother. Subject: B. V. M. Handicapped by my sex and youth. To escape held up relations between Jesus and Papa against those-between Mary and her son. Said religion was not a lying-in hospital. Mother indulgent. Said I have a queer mind and have read too much. Not true. Have read little and understood less. Then she said I would come back to faith because I had a restless mind. This means to leave church by back door of sin and re-enter through the skylight of repentance. Cannot repent. Told her so and asked for sixpence. Got threepence (Joyce 182). If Stephen leaves the Catholic Church, he must completely break philosophically and culturally from the one constant he has known in his life. New ground will need continuous validation before any enrichment can occur. Essentially, one needs to have an amazing amount of conviction to feel complete indifference towards your original creed. Whom will he love and what will explain his existence? Can he replace a 2,000-year faith and formation tradition that he is still ambiguous about? I doubt it. However enterprising and articulate Stephen may seem, it is literally too early a period in his life as an artist to suggest that he has settled doubt with Catholicism or is realistically prepared to forge a new path about the wisdom of living anyone could follow. Work Cited 1. ) Ben, Diana A. James Joyce and His Contemporaries. Westport, Connecticut. Greenwood Press, Inc. 1989 2. ) Benstock, Bernard. Approaches to Joyces Portrait: Ten Essays. University of Pittsburgh Press. 1976 3. ) Hellwig, M. K. Understanding Catholicism. New York: Paulist Press. 1981 4. ) Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man . New York, New York. Dover Publications, Inc. 1916, 1994 5. ) Rudy, K. Sex and the Church: Gender, Homosexuality, and the Transformation of Christian Ethics. Boston, Mass. : Beacon Press. 1997 6. ) Ryf, Robert S. A New Approach to Joyce: The Portrait of the Artist as a Guidebook. University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California . 1962.

Confessions Essay -- essays research papers

Augustine titled his deeply philosophical and theological autobiography Confessions to implicate two aspects of the form the work would take. To confess, in Augustine's time, meant both to give an account of one's faults to God and to praise God (to speak one's love for God). These two aims come together in the Confessions in an elegant but complex sense: Augustine narrates his ascent from sinfulness to faithfulness not simply for the practical edification of his readers, but also because he believes that narrative to be itself a story of God's greatness and of the fundamental love all things have for Him. Thus, in the Confessions form equals content to a large degree—the natural form for Augustine's story of redemption to take would be a direct address to God, since it is God who must be thanked for such redemption. (That said, a direct address to God was a highly original form for Augustine to have used at the time). This idea should also help us understand the apparently lopsided and unusual structure of the text. The first nine Books of the Confessions are devoted to the story of Augustine's life up to his mother's death, but the last four Books make a sudden, lengthy departure into pure theology and philosophy. This shift should be understood in the same context as the double meaning of 'confessions'—for Augustine, the story of his sinful life and redemption is in fact a profoundly philosophical and religious matter, since his story is only one exampl...

Introduction to Business Law and Ethics

Introduction to Business Law and Ethics Susana Silvestri Grand Canyon University BUS-340 October 17, 2010 Introduction to Business Law and Ethics Statutory interpretation was critical to the Supreme Court of Colorado’s resolution of a 2007 case, Pringle v. Valdez. Using an online source or sources, locate the Pringle decision. Then do the following: 1. Read Justice Bender’s majority opinion and prepare a case brief of the sort described in this chapter’s appendix on â€Å"Reading and Briefing Cases. 2. Read the dissenting opinion authored by Justice Coats. Then prepare a one-page essay that (a) summarizes the principal arguments made in the dissenting opinion; (b) sets forth your view on which analysis—the majority opinion’s or the dissenting opinion’s—is better; and (c) Provide the reasons for the view you have expressed in (b). 1. Case Briefing Pringle v. Valdez 06SC92 (2007) Court: Supreme Court Class: Civil Facts: Pringle lost con trol of the vehicle while taking Valdez home.Valdez was not wearing his seatbelt causing a series of injuries when ejected of the vehicle. Valdez requested compensation for impairment and disfigurement, and noneconomic losses. The argument lays on the â€Å"Noneconomic losses† which might fall under the â€Å"pain and suffering† under the seatbelt defense. Issue: The wording used involving â€Å"pain and suffering† and â€Å"noneconomic damages† referred to in the Seatbelt defense provision Holding: Awarding of $400,000 for physical disfigurement and impairment. Rule:The wording in dispute â€Å"pain and suffering† and â€Å"noneconomic damages† will be further evaluated. Analysis: â€Å"Pain and Suffering† and â€Å"noneconomic damages† are many times considered to be similar and by studying the demand of the case it can be ruled as been the same but using a different name. Conclusion: Non-award of $100,000 for noneconomic dam ages. Award of $400,00 for physical impairment and disfigurement. Pringle v. Valdez is obviously at first a case of Majority Opinion which in an appeal court was turned into a dissenting opinion.Part of the case held while the other was discussed, studied and adjust for an accurate ruling, in order to explain and grant a decision by the jurors and the judge according with the Statutory Interpretation of the case. Mallor, J. P. , Barnes, A. J. , Bowers, T. & Langvardt, A. W. , 2010, p. 24 http://www. courts. state. co. us/Courts/Supreme_Court/opinions/2006/06SC92. pdf Jerrie Gray worked at a Tyson Foods plant where she was exposed to comments, gestures, and physical contact that, she alleged, constituted sexual harassment.Tyson disputed the allegation, arguing that the behavior was not unwelcome, that the complained about conduct was not based on sex, that the conduct did not affect a term, condition, or privilege of employment, and that proper remedial action was taken in response t o any complaint by Gray of sexual harassment. During the trial in federal court, a witness for Gray repeatedly volunteered inadmissible testimony that the judge had to tell the jury to disregard. At one point, upon an objection from the defendant’s counsel, the witness asked, â€Å"May I say something here? The judge told her she could not. Finally, after the jury left the courtroom, the witness had an angry outburst that continued into the hallway, in view of some of the jurors. The jury awarded Gray $185,000 in compensatory and $800,000 in punitive damages. Tyson believed that it should not have been liable, that the awards of damages were excessive and unsupported by evidence, and that the inadmissible evidence and improper conduct had tainted the proceedings. What courses of action may Tyson pursue? Tyson Foods entered a trial in a Federal Court after a sexual harassment case was filed.Tyson Foods follow protocol and tried to solve the issue ahead of time. During trial t he witness continued to make comments that were dismissed which were then awarded based on comments made after the hearing was completed and the company was liable to pay almost $1,000,000. 00. Based on Tyson Foods believes they should appeal the Federal Court decision due to the fact that the claims were unsupported by evidence. Also they should add the fact that the inadmissible evidence and improper conduct of the witness had tainted the proceedings issuing an unfair ruling.You own a consulting firm with 32 employees and annual billings of $29,000,000. One of your clients, whom you bill an average of $1,200,000 annually, has asked you to hire her grandson. You know that the grandson has been recently graduated from a top-20 business school. He is 31 years old, has a solid academic record, and possesses the personal and professional skills to be successful as a consultant. You also know, however, that he is a recovering cocaine addict, having struggled with the addiction for five years prior to his attending business school.Your firm has a strict no-drugs policy, which you usually interpret to exclude those who previously abused drugs. Using justice theory, justify a decision to exempt the grandson from your firm’s no-drugs policy. Could you make the same decision as a profit maximizer? This decision can doors to law suits for discrimination to previous applicants which applications had been denied. On the other hand, the company has the risk to loose a good client. As owner, I will first make sure to read, examine and adjust any clause related to hiring and the no-drugs policy. The words â€Å"recovering† and â€Å"recovered† are different.Hiring someone in the recovering stage, the company is breaking the no-drugs policy. If adjustments are made to the policy to accommodate applicants from this point on that are â€Å"recovering† or â€Å"recovered† drug addicts, it will be to implementing random drug tests weekly. This w ill be costly to the firm but will guarantee the no-drug policy to remain unbroken; the potential new employee must agree to this practice and the consequences based on the results. Justice Theory is based on â€Å"the protection of those who are least advantaged in society† (Mallor, J. P. , Barnes, A. J. , Bowers, T. & Langvardt, A. W. , 2010, p. 5), making changes and adjusting the policy will fall under this category. Giving a second chance to those in disadvantage in society. Maximizer â€Å"requires a decision maker to maximize a business’s long-run profits within the limits of the law†(Mallor, J. P. , Barnes, A. J. , Bowers, T. & Langvardt, A. W. , 2010, p. 95) if this potential employee is capable to obey the policy and continue a successful recovery it could mean a win-win situation. You are assigned by your employer, Jay-Mart Corporation, an international discount retailer, to supervise the construction of ten new retail superstores in Shanghai, China.A ll construction is being done by a Chinese-owned contractor in compliance with Ja to those iny-Mart’s construction standards. After an earthquake in China kills over 70,000 people, China’s legislature passes a statute requiring new buildings to have a greater ability to withstand a large earthquake. The Chinese contractor has approached you and suggested that the new Chinese construction standards are unnecessarily high, that Jay-Mart’s construction standards are sufficient to protect against any earthquake likely to occur, and that the cost of complying with the new Chinese construction standards will increase construction costs 20 percent.What do you do if you believe that ethical behavior requires you to maximize Jay-Mart’s profits? A â€Å"profit maximization results in ethical conduct because it requires society’s members to act within the constraints of the law. A profit maximizer, therefore, acts ethically by complying with society’s mores as expressed in its laws. † (2) (Mallor, J. P. , Barnes, A. J. , Bowers, T. & Langvardt, A. W. , 2010, p. 7) With this in mind the supervisor of the construction site, the decision has to be made were the company’s profit could be reduced to 20% due to the increase of the construction. This change should be shown to the company’s finance department. The profits at short term could be affected by going with the construction based on the laws standards. By actually continue with the original plan the company could be liable to law suits if another natural disaster occur and the construction standards were not followed, this could affect the long run profits of the company.There are many ways to cut expenses; one that could be proposed can be to build 8 stores instead of the 10 originally proposed, this will absorbed the 20% increase to maintain the project under the stipulated budget without affecting the short term profit.References Mallor, J. P. , Barnes, A. J. , Bowers, T. & Langvardt, A. W. (2010). Business Law (14th ed. ). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Irwin http://www. courts. state. co. us/Courts/Supreme_Court/opinions/2006/06SC92. pdf (Retrieved October 12, 2010)

Marx and the Communist Manifesto - 927 Words

â€Å"A specter is haunting Europe -the specter of Communism,† Karl Marx proclaims. This phantom maybe the resolution to rid a country of greed and exploitation. Karl Marx in the collaboration with Frederich Engels elucidates his concern of capitalism and his yearn for a communistic society in the book, The Communist Manifesto. In this book he explains his idea of true communism. True communism is a social order in which all citizens are equal. In communism equality means that society is classless, moneyless, and stateless. Citizens will no longer be able to own property, inherit money, and capitalize on their inferior. In his book Marx illustrates the essence of communism by explicating the relationship between the antagonistic groups, addressing the objections leveled at communism, and explaining the relationship between the proletariat and the communist. Marx utilizes a variety of argumentative appeals to persuade readers that communism is the solution to the wretched lives of the majority. As Marx goes about expressing his assertion, he commits fallacies that may hinder his credibility and the effectiveness of his claim. By the end of his book Marx declares men, women, and children of the impoverished community need to come together to overthrow capitalism and become a socialist society of communism because communism is the answer, communism is the future. Marx begins The Communist Manifesto by revealing the relationship between two antagonistic groups from different socialShow MoreRelatedThe Communist Manifesto By Marx943 Words   |  4 Pages Commentary â€Å"The Communist Manifesto† by Marx Karl Marx was a German philosopher in 1818 through 1883 and he lived during the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution was the creation of modern society and the creation of machines where Marx gets his new ideas and beliefs. 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Later in his life he became a newspaper editor and his writings ended up getting him expelled by the Prussian authorities for its radicalism and atheism (Perry 195). He then met Fredrich Engels and together they produced The Communist Manifesto in 1848, for the Communist League. This piece of writing basically laid out Marx’s theory of history in short form (Coffin 623). The Communist Manifesto is mainly revolved around how societyRead MoreThe Communist Manifesto By Karl Marx1094 Words   |  5 Pagesthe rich and the oppressed would battle the oppressor. During the time â€Å"The Communist Manifesto† was written, we can see two distinct classes battling out as well. These two classes are the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. According to Karl Marx in â€Å"The Communist Manifesto†, the battle will end â€Å"either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes† (Marx 8). Marx argues that in the end the proletariat would remain because the bourgeoisie areRead MoreThe Communist Manifesto By Karl Marx Essay1374 Words   |  6 PagesKarl Marx is undoubtedly one the the most influential and controversial writers in modern history; Robert Tucker, a noted political scientist at Princeton University, once asserted, â€Å"[Marx] profoundly affected ideas about history, society, economics, ideology, culture, and politics [and] about the nature of social inquiry itself. No other intellectual influence has so powerfully shaped the mind of modern left-wing radicalism in most parts of the world.† (9). Indeed, his innumerable works, in particularRead MoreThe Communist Manifesto By Karl Marx Essay1426 Words   |  6 PagesKarl Marx is undoubtedly one the most influential and controversial writers in modern history; Robert Tucker, a noted political scientist at Princeton University, once asserted, â€Å"[Marx] profoundly affected ideas about hi story, society, economics, ideology, culture, and politics [and] about the nature of social inquiry itself. No other intellectual influence has so powerfully shaped the mind of modern left-wing radicalism in most parts of the world.† (9). Indeed, his innumerable works, in particularRead MoreKarl Marx And The Communist Manifesto1453 Words   |  6 PagesIn the Communist Manifesto, a document that first proclaimed the ideology of communism itself, Marx declared that the â€Å"history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles† (Marx, Karl and Frederick Engels). As a man who spurred resentment of governments and inspired revolutionaries, Karl Marx is often regarded as a man who led to the rise of 20th century tyrannical dictators such as Stalin and Mao to take power. His ideas are regarded as failures and, by some, are seen as