I Stand Here Ironing free essay sample

A Theme is Controlled Though the Setting and the Atmosphere In the short story â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† by Tillie Olsen there is an atmosphere which has an overwhelming feeling of torment and a sense of regret. Taking place during the 1930s and 1940s a single mother has to cope with the Great Depression, WWII, and the feminist movement of the 1950s while raising her first born daughter Emily. A conflict is created by the lack of understanding the single teenage mother has for raising her first child. The theme that arises from this story is that to what extent can a mother be held responsible for her child’s problems, and that society must take some responsibility. â€Å"She is a child of her age, of depression, of war, of fear. † This quotation appears at the end of the second-to-last paragraph, which is preceded by the narrator’s exhortation regarding Emily to â€Å"Let her be. We will write a custom essay sample on I Stand Here Ironing or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page † The narrator says this because she does not take full responsibility for the outcome of Emily’s life. The Great Depression had left its mark, creating massive poverty and unemployment. Being unemployed and without any financial relief the narrator is left to face the world alone This meant Emily was to face her own world alone for most of her childhood while her mother struggled to keep a job. The war created fear in America, even with a victory of WWII the proceeding Cold War only made it worse. The narrator feels somewhat cheated that the world Emily was raised in was a cruel and harsh one. Though the narrator blames society and the world for the way Emily is she also blames herself. She takes responsibility for some of the things that had gone wrong in Emily’s life, but tells herself that she had no choice but to work late hours and lose her time with Emily. Through all this Emily grew up to be gloomy with a lack of popularity, and low self-esteem. The narrator though chooses to describe Emily as a sensitive, thoughtful, and selfless individual who has survived through a terrible ordeal. Emily is blind to anything positive about herself; instead she chooses to hide in the shadow of her younger sister Susan. Who in Emily’s eyes is everything she is not, this creates a sad and depressing atmosphere for Emily. The narrator sees a spark of hope though in her youngest child Ronnie, she feels that see can write her wrongs in him and fix what she has broken in herself. With Emily grown up she doesn’t see any opportunity to fix what is wrong, though she also releases that she must let Emily be. Even though Emily has had a grim life there is still hope from all that has happened, Emily has gifts, which she can use to bring the better out in herself. In the ending paragraph the author feels resentment and cold for everything that has happened to Emily, but she also sees a glimmer of hope in her future. The atmosphere and setting have contributed a lot to the theme of the story. They have created a deeper sense in the raising of a child on your own. This story doesn’t hide the pain a mother gave her child or the pain the child caused the mother, it lets people see things in a different light, a light in which is dim and gloomy.

Crime in America essays

Crime in America essays Every year half a million college students are targets of bias-driven slurs or physical assaults. Every day at least one hate crime occurs on a college campus. Every minute a college student somewhere sees or hears racist, sexist, homophobic or otherwise biased words or images. No campus advertises its crimes or bias incidents; some even hide records and facts from the public eye to avoid having bad reputations. But crime happens, and its scars remain for months, sometimes years. It is, in the words of one expert, The background noise of students lives (Tolerance 1). The best way to fight campus crime is for the students to come together and fight to make a difference. Crime happens on campus, and it happens more than some people realize. Crimes and incidents happen a lot of times because it is students first-time with freedom, or first-time exposure to diverse communities. The big problem with crimes is that victims do not report what happened to them because of the fear of reprisals, embarrassment, and a belief that nothing will be done. A lot of students feel ashamed and are afraid to tell their parents. However, victims are not the only ones not reporting these crimes, college administrators and campus police departments also fail to report and investigate such crimes. The reason for this is that no college wants a reputation of any kind of criminal activity on their campuses, so denial is widespread (Tolerance 2). This was the case at Lehigh University where a 19 year old freshman Jeanne Ann Clery was brutally raped and murdered in her dorm room on April 5, 1986. What Jeanne and her parents did not know was that there were 38 viol ent crimes that happened on Lehigh campus 3 years before her murder. Jeanne parents joined together with other victims and persuaded Congress to enact the Jeanne Clery Act. The Jeanne Clery Act is the landmark federal law, or ...

Company Profile Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Company Profile - Assignment Example It is in California that its first registered restaurants were started. Out of the many restaurants, it operates under different registrations with about one hundred and sixty-five registered as ‘Cheesecake brands’ while the others put as ‘Grand Lux Cafà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. As at today, the company has expansively stretched, and it has pierced through foreign countries to the Middle East. I define the company’s mission statement as an orientation towards customer satisfaction aimed at gratifying the consumers’ needs through effective service delivery.As provided for in the theory of consumer behavior, customers are more likely to remain loyal to a brand through satisfaction. It is this realization that underpins the company’s mission statement. It seeks to create an enabling environment that ensures that customers are fulfilled by the services offered. The purpose and vision of the company can be defined as an existence to outdo others and emerge the best in the industry in the highly competitive industry. It seeks to achieve this through its determination to provide high-quality food. As given in the theory of comparative advantage, this will enable the company to record high sales since customers would want to be part of a high quality producing company. Vision and purpose list include high quality food, good customer relations, and high-profit generation. Effective leadership is one area that has seen Cheesecake grow to what it is today. According to Pinnington (2011), leadership is defined as the act of winning a team and persuading them to follow one into carrying out a certain task or project so as to meet the objectives. Behavioral theory as leadership perspective conceptualizes that effective leadership is achieved when an effective strategy and actions are used in approaching the leadership task. Cheesecake Factory’s leadership

Criteria for Market Segmentation Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Criteria for Market Segmentation - Term Paper Example In recent years studies have been made to refine these demographic variables so that they can be more effectively used. Example of the companies who make effective use of demographic segmentation are Lego, Toys ‘R’ Us, and the early learning centre who not only recognize the differences between children of various age group but also design their products for highly specific defined age categories (Richard M. S. Wilson, 2005). Age segmentation is an important tool for segmenting the consumer market. A variety of terms are used to refer to various age groups. Examples are newborns, infants, young children, tweens, teens and young adults also called Generation Y in United States of America (USA), Adults or Generation X and the baby boomers or the Seniors. Various studies have been conducted which age group consume exactly how much and has influence on how much consumption. For example in USA the total population of tween, the children aged 9-12, this age group spend $20 bil lion in an year and further influence the consumption of $ 200 billion. To cater to their needs brands like Limited design clothes that are more fun like teens. In this each age segment has different specific need in everything ranging from basics like food and clothing to entertainment etc (Charles W. Lamb, 2010). Sex is another important market segmentation tool that helps in helps designing the product and services according to the specific need of the consumer. The segmentation on the basis of gender is most useful in clothing, apparels, and accessories etc. The most evident example is completely different range of toiletries and perfumes for males and females. Now a days gender segmentation is even visible in mobile phones with varying skins for each gender. A common basis of segmenting the consumer market is income. Income is an important determinant of consumption pattern. Companies design their product features, define prices and determine positioning strategy based on the i ncome of the target market. Example of this segmentation is HLL different washing powders sunlight, Wheel, Rin and Surf Ultra for different market segments based on income (Saxena, 2008) Profession and education are also important determinants of market segment. Education level defines taste not only in books but various other consumer goods. For example highly technical and multiple featured mobile phones are popular among highly educated people whereas basic phones are more popular in less educated people that fulfill their needs. Young executives and business professional also prefer multi features internet enabled cell phones that can cater to their mobility needs. Family size and marital status also defines consumption patterns. Single male and females spend more on their personal needs such as slimming equipment, cosmetics items etc and prefer fast food (Johan Botha, 2004). Nationality and religion also play an important role. For example Hall food for Muslims and Kocher for J ews is an important segment. Nationality also defines our tastes in food, clothing and preferences for entertainment etc. Geographical Segmentation Geographic based segmentation splits the market on the physical location of the potential consumers. This segmentation is based on the assumption that consumer living in close geographic proximity has some similarities in their needs and preferences f

Alternative Assessment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Alternative Assessment - Assignment Example Research has demonstrated that both the curriculum and performance based assessments played key roles in the development of individual skills among learners with the latter use, known to create awareness among the students and teachers thereby offering an avenue for more lessons. This also creates a system of consistent follow-ups as a track tool for the performance and academic development (Shinn, 1989). Performance assessment is a system in which students demonstrate that they have acquired mastery of specific skills and that they have competencies in a specified field by way of performing certain tasks (Espin, 2012). In view of this, students are gauged based on their achievements on a rather unconstrained response to a significantly rich stimulus resource material. This kind of assessment gained favor from a number of high profile individuals in the united state in the late 1980s with some advocating for a replacement of the traditional multiple choice assessments (Espin, 2012). Despite the extensive campaigns to have the system adopted by institutions of learning, it dealt a blow as efforts to have it installed were marred as it failed to capture an imminent role in so far as achievements of tests in schools is concerned. This was attributed to the fact that it failed to meet the threshold of standard-based accountability. Curriculum- based assessments on the other hand is a system of continuous monitoring of students’ daily progress in an academic setting through direct evaluation of their academic skills. This can be used to measure the student’s progress and achievements in written expression, spelling, reading and arithmetic (Lee & Owens, 2004). While conducting this kind of assessment, the instructor administers certain timed samples and academic materials that are taken from the curriculum based measurement. When such probes are given to students, they are subject

Functionalism and Machine Aesthetic of Modern Architecture

Functionalism and Machine Aesthetic of Modern Architecture Functionalism in Architecture was a movement during the late 19th century and early 20th century was a product of one American architect Louis Henri Sullivan who coined the term form follows function. It was Distinct to have exposed architecture of the existence of ornamentation and therefore aesthetics so that a structure simply expressed its purpose or function. Both in the United States and in Europe, functionalism and machine aesthetics became existent due to the development of the era. During the 1920s and early 1930s in the United States, there was a growing machine-driven culture. The machines influence on art and architecture reflected the machines explosion as a valuable form of aesthetic. Both Functionalism and machine aesthetics held its own influence in modern architecture. The arrival of the machine was to have such revolutionary significance that the following years can legitimately be termed the Machine Age. Among the great number of cultural changes engendered by this new era was the installation of a machine aesthetic in the fields of architecture and design. This was of central importance to the Modern Movement as it provided a means by which its practitioners could engage with what they regarded as the spirit of the age. The machine aesthetic can be distinguished in the work of each major figure of the Modernist pantheon; it therefore conditioned the entire range of Modernist activity. By utilizing these aspects, the ornamentation and unnecessary forms of designs were obliterated and instead replaced by a plainer but functional look. Despite the growing movement of functionalism and machine aesthetics during the early 20th century, there still lie the differences and comparisons between the utilizations, views, and ideas about them from America and Europe. The difference of the two places somehow manifested various approaches towards the topic. The machine was valued for its service. Its aesthetic was promoted by those who saw a beauty in the machine a beauty in appearance and function. The machine aesthetic was assumed by all sorts of objects. The look of the machine was not universally celebrated, yet it was widespread nonetheless Despite this consistency, the reasons why individual Modernists employed the aesthetic varied greatly, and to conclude that they did so only to evoke the current zeitgeist would hardly seem satisfactory. Instead, the aim of this essay is to analyse functionalism and the several uses made of the machine aesthetic in order to determine why it was so central to Modernist theory and practice. Since the particular character of the aesthetic varied according to the nature of the interest in it (e.g. political, economic), the reasons for its use are fundamental to any understanding of Modernism. Firstly, the idea that Modernism embraced the machine aesthetic in order to give concrete form to the spirit of the age, though not the sole motivation behind Modernist movement is valid in itself and deserves to be expounded. The Industrial Revolution precipitated a series of immense changes which can be understood to have genuinely transformed the world. These include industrialisation, the rise of the metropolis, an accompanying decline in ruralise, and rapid technological progress. In being plundered for their natural resources, even Third World countries felt the impact of the new era. For many these changes threatened to create an environment that was both alien and hostile to humanity and nature. In the cultural sphere, the nineteenth-century design reformers John Ruskin and William Morris attacked machine-production for discouragement the craft skills and individuality of the worker. Since the machine took both tradition and individual attempt, it would become impossible for the artist or craftsman to take pride in their work, and the consumer, in turn, would suffer the spiritual disadvantages of no longer living in an environment that had been lovingly crafted. As a neutralizer, Ruskin, Morris and others proposed a return to traditional craft processes and sources of inspiration that were primarily medieval. In other sectors, this reactionary measure was felt to be unrealistically traditionalist. Since the machine was, as Ruskin and Morris had argued, incompetent at matching traditional craft processes and designs, those who recognised that the machine was an beyond doubt reality were aware of the need to evolve a new aesthetic that it was suited to. This would re-establish a high standard of quality in design and ensure that designed goods were adjusted to the age, rather than being hopelessly revivalist. One such figure was Adolph Loos, whose essay Ornament and Crime (1908) argued that applying decoration to a designed product was both inefficient and criminal, because eventually it resulted in the utilization of the craftsman: If I pay as much for a smooth box as for a decorated one, the difference in labour belongs to the worker. Instead, the new aesthetic was to be derived from the new processes of mass production. The result was a simple, essentialist style that was based on geometry (especially the straight line and the right angle3). Geometry became a model, not only because geometrical forms were theoretically easier for the machine to execute, but also because of overtones that Plato, amongst others, had invested it with. In Platos philosophy, geometrical forms were beautiful because they were elements of the eternal and absolute world of ideas that existed beyond material reality. The most concerted attempt to articulate this style was given in an exhibition on Modern Architecture at the Museume of Modern Art in 1932. The International Style: Architecture Since 1922 accompanied the exhibition. Historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock and critic Philip Johnson outlined the principles of the International style: The idea of style as the frame of potential growth, rather than as a fixed and crushing mould, has developed with the recognition of underlying principles such as architects discern in the great styles of the past. The principles are few and broad. . . . There is, first, a new conception of architecture as volume rather than mass. Secondly, regularity rather than axial symmetry serves as the chief means of ordering design. These two principles, with a third proscribing arbitrary applied decoration, mark the productions of the international style.4 Advances in construction techniques and materials allowed for a shift in structural support. Whereas walls were once weight-bearing, and thus massive, support was now given by skeletal infrastuctures. This change provided greater flexibility in window placement; once nothing more than holes cut in a wall, they could now be located virtually anywhere. Thus, proponents of the International style, the architectural equivalent of machine purity, moved windows away from walls centres, lest they suggest traditional construction. Armed with these new possibilities, asymmetrical designs were encouraged, as function in most types of contemporary building is more directly expressed in asymmetrical forms. Ideally, structures were not to be arbitrarily asymmetrical, but it was assumed that the needs of residents and the purposes of different spaces in the buildings would not produce symmetrical designs in fact, arbitrary asymmetry would be a decorative device, and thus an anathema to the Internationalists. Machine purity was a reaction against the ornamentation of previous decades and even the Moderns. Honesty in use and materials was sought functions should not be concealed beneath a covering, and items shouldnt be presented as something they were not. Simplicity and sterility championed the pure white of the hospital and lab. Stucco was an ideal material, as it provided for unbroken, continuous surfaces. Walls were skins, stripped down and allowing for a maximum of interior space. These interior spaces were to be designed individually, matching the needs of the resident, to provide for the amelioration and development of the functions of living.6 Rooms were to be determined by function, and the movement between rooms was to stress the unity and continuity of the whole volume inside a building.7 Book shelves and living plants were the best decorative devices in the home. This appealed to Modernists, whose works and writings revealed a desire to exceed the chaos of temporary solutions and preoccupation with styles that had characterised nineteenth- century design. The aim of Modernism was to achieve the ideal solutions to each design problem in works that would be style less, timeless and possess the same purity and clarity as geometry. Given the widespread belief that the machine symbolised the new century, it was perhaps inevitable that certain Modernists should embrace it entirely for its own sake purely as a metaphor, and with no concern for its practical applications. To some extent at least, this tends to be the case for most canonical Modernists, but this approach is exemplified by the Italian Futurist movement. As this brief analysis indicates, Futurism was primarily a literary and artistic movement. It was characteristic of its paradoxical nature that a movement initiated as a response to the changing environment should possess no means of expression in the art form that most directly conditioned the environment architecture. This was the case until 1914, five years after the publication of the first Manifesto, when Marinetti was finally able to welcome Antonio Sant Elia into the ranks. Sant Elia recognised the metropolis as the environment of the new age, and accordingly pioneered designs that were replete with intimations of the machine aesthetic. His perspectives for La Città   Nuova (1914) emphasise the geometry and verticality of his vision by juxtaposing stepped-back sections with sheer verticals. The interaction of diagonals and verticals this produces invests his works with the same energy and dynamism to be found in exemplary Futurist paintings. In addition, his buildings are frequently surmounted by features resembling industrial chimneys or radio masts (e.g. Casa gradinata con ascensori, 1914), thus making perhaps slightly picturesque use of an iconography derived from machines. Futurisms interest in the machine aesthetic arose from a naà ¯ve and romantic celebration of the machine for its qualities of energy and dynamism. The machine was therefore valued exclusively for the expressive potential it offered. Since they failed to grasp its practical aspects the Futurists neglected to adapt their aesthetic to technological limitations. For this reason Sant Elias designs remained on the drawing board. A deeper engagement with the realities of the machine was demonstrated by those who embraced the concept of functionalism. This idea played a significant role in most forms of Modernist design and theory. The central contention was that the form of an object should be dictated by its function. The Bauhaus, for example, aimed to originate the design of an object from its natural functions and relationships,11 so that they could be used effectively and were rationally related to each other. Of course, the pursuit of functionalism complemented the Modernists aim to arrive at ideal design solutions unless objects fulfilled their purpose they could barely be ideal. This led to the notion that a designed object could be beautiful if, and only if, it functioned perfectly. Function therefore replaced appearance as the prime principle of aesthetic quality. Artistic elaboration was eschewed in favour of clear form that both expressed its purpose and ensured that this purpose was satisfied. Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, in their discussion of European functionalist architects (i.e. canonical Modernists), wrote that, If a building provides adequately, completely and without compromise for its purpose, it is then a good building, regardless of its appearance.12 Explanation of this somewhat radical view was found in the machine. Since the machines appearance was derived entirely from its function it was both morally and economically admirable, which made it beautiful. Karl Ewalds writing The Beauty of Machines (1925-6) contained the saying, A good modern machine is an object of the highest aesthetic value we are aware of that.13 For evidence of this the Modernists looked to the USA, where an unselfconscious functionalism had been put into practice by pioneers like Samuel Colt and, in particular, Henry Ford. Ford brought the concept of standardisation to his car plant, with results that were seen as almost astonishing. His moving meeting line system, which involved specialised stages of fabrication and identical parts, had enabled him to dramatically increase car production. His success was such that industrialists and manufacturers across the world were adopting these methods. Theoretically, their goods were now readily available and continually depreciating in price, even as profits soared. Paul Greenhalgh has observed that Modernists recognised the need to embrace technology for these reasons of economy and availability. It was the means by which Modernism could be promoted worldwide. In addition, the standardisation advocated by Ford would facilitate rapid construction and maintenance.14 Therefore, the example of Ford and others encouraged the Modernists to view the machine as the absolute ideal of functionalism. This can be confirmed by reference to Le Corbusier. Much of Le Corbusiers manifesto Vers une architecture (1923) is dedicated to promoting the architectural virtues of the machine. His famous declaration, The house is a machine for living in,15 often misunderstood, meant that the guiding principle for architects should be to make the house as well suited to its purpose as was a machine. This reiterated the argument that functionalism was more important than appearance. In order to progress, he believed, it was necessary for architects to abandon the notion of traditional styles and decorative effects: Architecture has nothing to do with the various styles [They are] sometimes pretty, though not always; and never anything more.16 this implies that he saw the aesthetic, not as just another style, but as the very substance of architecture. Instead, he drew parallels between architecture and the Engineers Aesthetic, arguing that engineers were to be praised for their use of functionalism and mathematical order. As a consequence, architect s were encouraged to emulate engineers and adopt these principles in order to attain harmony and logic in their designs. To reinforce this argument the illustrations of Vers une architecture celebrated the functional and architectural unity of Canadian grain stores, ships, aeroplanes and automobiles. From a present day perspective his principles are better illuminated by his architecture, since these illustrations (e.g. the Caproni Triple hydroplane) seem rather old. The Maison Dom-Ino (1915) was an early example of his Engineers Aesthetic: three identical planes are suspended above each other by steel columns, a method of construction that frees the walls of their load-bearing purpose, and allows his concept of the free faà §ade to be introduced. An external staircase communicates between each level, and its location permits an unprecedented space and clarity in the plan. The components were all to be standardised and pre-fabricated, which would allow for rapid construction. This house was therefore a product of Le Corbusiers intention to apply the principles of mechanical mass production to domestic architecture. However, a substantial body of criticism (e.g. Greenhalgh, Sparke) has argued that this functionalism of Modernist theory was not based in reality. The machine aesthetic remained just that, as few of the designs were capable of being standardised. For example, the Grand Comfort chair by Le Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand was neither functional nor standardised. It required no less than eighteen welds and three materials, making it expensive and capable of production only by craftsmanship. Le Corbusiers pavilion LEsprit Nouveau featured door handles supposedly derived from car or aeroplane handles. These were not standardised but had to be made individually. At the Bauhaus, Marianne Brandts tea service (1928/30) embodies the machine aesthetic with its geometrical, angular forms, but, again, these features made it unsuited to machine production. For this reason, virtually no products of Modernism were mass-produced, at least until the style was modified and practised on an international level in what became known as the International Style. For the pioneer phase, mass production remained a metaphor that could not yet be emulated.17 A further dimension which has not yet been discussed is the political function of the machine aesthetic. This was hinted at in Loos belief that it improved the domination of the worker, but here the importance was on the labour-saving potential of the machine. Loos celebrated the aesthetic because, theoretically, it reduced the hours of effort required of the worker by avoiding unnecessary ornament. This line of reasoning even occurs in the theories of the politically unsure Le Corbusier, whose Freehold Maisonettes of 1922 used mechanical applications and good organisation derived from machines to reduce the need for human labour, and thus alleviate the workloads of servants.18 It did not necessarily follow in either case, however, that the machine could serve as an instrument for social liberation. This possibility was not fully explored until the influence of Modernism had spread and produced a diversity of practitioners. To the increasingly machine-orientated Bauhaus Moholy-Nagy imparted his belief that the machine was inextricably linked with socialism because it was an absolute. He wrote: Before the machine, everyone is equal I can use it, so can you . . . There is no tradition in technology, no consciousness of class or standing. Everybody can be the machines master or slave.19 This belief was widespread amongst Modernists, with Theo Van Doesburg being another notable exponent. Van Doesburg praised the machine as a medium of social liberation, and denied that handicraft possessed this capability, since handicraft, under the supremacy of materialism,20 reduced men to the level of machines. But as Charles Jencks has observed, Van Doesburgs enthusiasm for the machine went beyond its labour-saving potential, it was also based upon its universalising, abstract quality.21 In Jencks outline, the machines impersonality enforces equality between its users, which in art would lead to the universal and the abstract. The result would be the realisation of a collective style that was universally valid and comprehensible, based as it was upon the abstract forms of the machine. Paul Greenhalgh suggests that such an internationalism was central to Modernists theory and was an inevitable condition of their quest for a universal human consciousness.22 In order to achieve this, national boundaries had to be disposed of, as well as those between disciplines (such as fine art and design) and political classes. Greenhalgh confirms that the abstract, geometrical aesthetic appealed to Modernists because it could be used as a common language through which different nationalities could arrive at uniform solutions, thereby dissolving national boundaries. In its exclusion per se of language, abstraction was the aesthetic which enabled the ethic, internationalism, to be realised.23 Though he does not use the term, the aesthetic Greenhalgh refers to is that of the machine, since it is derived from and (theoretically) tailored for machine production. I would therefore argue that Modernists associated the aesthetic with internationalism, not only because of its abstract quality, but also because its origins in the machine imbued it with the universal quality that Moholy-Nagy and Van Doesburg recognised in this source. The practical use of the machine aesthetics political function is best illustrated by the Russian Constructivist movement. It is perhaps surprising that an aesthetic originating from the machine the foundation of capitalism could flourish in the political climate following the Communist revolution. Loos idea of the machine as labour-saving device was, of course, central in resolving this dilemma, as was the social liberation and classlessness revealed by Van Doesburg and Moholy-Nagy. Also instrumental, no doubt, was the fact that, in this era, Russia was still largely a rural, peasant country possessing no heavy industry. The negative aspects of the machine would therefore have been less obvious than the myths of its glorious effects. In this climate of rural poverty and political fervour, the machine seemed capable of transforming society, and the aesthetic became the perfect metaphor for revolution and nation-wide progress. Since this made the aesthetic an invaluable resource for Communist propaganda, many of the leading designers were commissioned to create works that mythologized the revolution. Significantly, this situation did not only involve the government manipulating design to its own ends; many of the artists and designers were equally committed to the idea that they could serve the new society. The Constructivist movement was so named because its members saw it as their task to construct the environment for a new society in the same way that engineers constructed bridges and so on.25 Proletkult promoted the unity of science, industry, and art: Vladimir Tatlin, for example, believed design was linked to engineering, and saw the designer as an anonymous worker building for society. Tatlins Monument to the Third International (1919-20) reflects this ethos. This projection for a 400m tall tower (only a scaled-down model was built) clearly represents the union of art and construction its sculptural form of two intertwining spirals and a soaring diagonal component is rendered in a lattice construction suggestive of engineering. As well as resembling a machine, the tower actually functioned as one: it featured four transparent volumes that rotated at different speeds (yearly, monthly, daily and hourly). These were intended to house government offices for legislation, administration, information and cinematic projection. It should be pointed out that none of these reasons for interest in the machine aesthetic were mutually exclusive, and individual Modernists did not adhere to it for any single reason. Each partook, to some extent, of most of them. The enthusiasm of the European Functionalists also involved the political interest observed in Constructivism. At the same time, an element of the Futurists romantic fascination can be detected in the thinking of Le Corbusier, the Bauhaus, and all those for whom mass production remained out of reach. In conclusion, as case after case demonstrates, the Modernists enthusiasm for the machine aesthetic continued to be of an ideological rather than a practical nature. The machine was embraced as an idea by designers who failed to grasp the realities of mass production. Since their aesthetic was therefore inspired by the machine but not adapted to it, in many cases this actually impeded its realisation. This is highlighted by the examples of Futurism, Constructivism and even aspects of the Bauhaus, where numerous schemes could not be put into practice. However, the importance of the machine aesthetic within Modernism should not be underestimated; it was practised so widely, indeed constituted an International Style, precisely because it was deemed to be the ideal and most logical way of realising the central tenets upon which Modernism was founded. These included truth, internationalism, function, atonement with the age, and so on. The belief that the aesthetic was universally valid is reflected by the great variety of uses to which it was applied, such as Utopian, political, economic etc. For this reason it is no exaggeration to say that, for the Modernists, it was not a question of aesthetics at all, but of a Machine Ethic.

Meaning of life †Question Essay

Freud, like Newton and Darwin, did not consider himself to be a philosopher but had an enormous influence over philosophy, he believed that to consider the question: â€Å"what is the meaning of life? † is a waste of time. The question, he thought, is rather meaningless and has no ultimate answer, asking it is being somewhat like asking what the color of time is (Mason). There are serious arguments that can be advanced in support of this point of view, especially if we agree that meaning is not something inherent to events, things, and other processes and so on, but something we ascribe to them (Mason). To think otherwise would involve ascribing them something that is a product of our intellect and consciousness. The meaning of X, whether X is an event, a thing, or a process, is actually the connection or a set of those connections X has with other events, things, and processes and so on, which we choose to consider to be of particularly importance to us (Mason). This is why the same events have different meaning for different people. For a Chinese, be he a Communist or an anti-Communist, the meaning of the war in Korea is that it marks the end of a century of national humiliation and a permanent threat of devastation through a long series of military defeats by foreign powers; for an American, the meaning of that very same war is that it put an end to the attempts to expand by direct military invasion the influence of Chinese Communism (Adams). There are undoubtedly countless amounts of explanations to this riddle, and there are many circumstances that can change one’s perspective towards this problem, but ultimately, there is no right or wrong answer. Paragraph 2: Everything changes radically, of course, if we belong to a Church. Everything is noted under God’s eye For believers, their life long goal is to sustain God’s knowledge and go his way. Go to the right passage and obey his â€Å"laws† Their passage of life consists of saving one’s immortal soul. Duty of life makes up the meaning of life. Paragraph 3: The practical Romans grasped something that over the head of two millennia of Christianity resonates with contemporary pragmatism, and with the life philosophy resumed in the dictum â€Å"the meaning of life is life itself† Meaning of life is life itself Living the life in happiness is the meaning of life. Anything that fits you the best will become your meaning of life. Find out your goals, what you want to achieve life, and that will become your meaning of life ultimately. Limitations will apply. Paragraph 4: Living your life according to this life philosophy, which is the most commonly chosen among the life philosophies derived from the answer â€Å"the meaning of life consists in living life†, is usually not too difficult for a â€Å"normal† person living under â€Å"normal† circumstances. Meaning of life depended on the status of the person. Meaning of life is to live a good life. Do not know what exactly is a good life but a good life will be noted. Everyone has different meanings to life. Paragraph 5 (Conclusion): But be it Confucius, Aristotle or even Kant with his theory of being impossible to achieve moral perfection or any other of the great minds each of whom spent years of their lives trying to provide humanity with an answer to the fatal question, essentially, they trying to tell us what to live for and how to live. Namely, almost all the answers they offered have the same basic flaw: when they are workable at all, they work only for very few exceptional individuals and are way beyond the reach for the rest of us (Shields); us, those weak, silly and prone to sin creatures that make up the vast majority of humankind. Luckily, this vast majority do not worry too much about what great minds have in mind, but just live their lives as they best can according to their own, petty, senseless wishes and notions (Metz): work their gardens, even if they never heard of Voltaire, and whether they know that Freud existed or not, do not waste their humble intellectual potential trying to answer a question that has no answer (Metz). The rest is a senseless waste of time, â€Å"Primum vivere, deindre filosofare†, and if you spend too much time and effort philophizing, you will have no time nor energy to live, which involves earning money to pay the bills. As to the great eternal and fundamental questions, let’s leave them to professional philosophers whom society pays to do this specific job, as it pays plumbers to do the plumbing, scientists to explore nature, nurses to help the sick, the clowns to entertain us.