The Death of Ivan Ilych Essay Example for Free

The Death of Ivan Ilych Essay During Ilych’s appointment with the first doctor he consulted about his condition, he noticed that the doctor was a man who considered himself an expert in his turf and who looked down on everybody else as people who knew a lot less and whose lives would be affected by his own choice of moves, acts or decisions. In the role of the patient whose ailment was yet to be specifically identified, Ilych noticed that the doctor he visited – and those he subsequently went to, as well – personified the public official that he was. Having been serving as the examining magistrate of the town, Ilych was undoubtedly powerful and influential. He could summon any man, whatever his station was – rich or poor, educated or ignorant, successful or otherwise – to the court, and he could do with them whatever he wanted to do by the decisions that only he could make. He reveled in the control he wielded; he figured out complicated cases and readily saw them as simple knots, and he concluded countless of cases without emotion and using only objectivity, logic and his authority. The outcome of some cases destroyed lives, turned victims’ worlds upside down, ended professional careers, broke families, shut down businesses and shattered dreams of many people. Through it all, Ilych was the detached magistrate who could not care less what happened to any of the many participants in the cases he officiated. He was puffed up, callous and undeniably proud. The same arrogance could be found in most other characters in the story; Ilych’s colleagues saw nothing in his death but a definite signal of changes in the make-up of their elite circle. They were more concerned with what Ilych’s demise would mean to their respective posts. The same selfishness was demonstrated mostly by everyone. Even Ilych’s wife could not disguise her greed for what she would be entitled to as a widow. On the whole, the story is a sad depiction of how meaningless life can be when lived for the wrong reasons, purposes and goals. The happy bit of a part is brought about by knowing that before he finally drew his last breath, Ilych shook himself free of such wrong values and beliefs – he found out that love and concern for others are the things that genuinely lead a person to find happiness. Works Cited Tolstoy, Leo. The Death of Ivan Ilych. Kila, Montana: Kessinger Publishing, 2004.

Quality Issues In System Development :: essays research papers fc

Quality Issues In System Development The period between the 1970's and 1980's was a time of great advancement in computer hardware technology which took an industry still in it's infancy, to a level of much sophistication and which ultimately revelutionised the information storage and processing needs of every other industry and that of the entire world. However, it was also during this period when the shortcomings of implementing such technology became apparent. A significant number of development projects failed which resulted with disastrous consequences, not only of an economic nature, but social aswell. Seemingly, although hardware technolgy was readily available and ever improving, what was inhibiting the industry was in the methods of implementing large systems. Consequently, all kinds of limited approaches materialized that avoided the costs and risks inherent in big-systems developments.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Times have changed, and with it our understanding and experience as how best to develop large systems. Today's large systems yield greater benefits for less cost than those of previous decades. Large systems provide better, more timely information, the ability to integrate and correlate internal and external information, the ability to integrate and facilitate streamlined business processes. Unfortunately, not every system that information workers develop are well implemented; this means that the computer system which was originally intended to make a company more efficient, productive and cost-effective, is in the end doing the exact opposite - namely, wasting time, money and valuable manpower. So even with all the lessons learned from the 70's and 80's, our vastly superior methodologies and knowledge of the 90's is still proving to be fallible, as suggested in the following examples. System Development Failures   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Britain, 1993, an incident occurred which forced the London Ambulance Service to abandon its emergency system after it performed disastrously on delivery, causing delays in answering calls. An independent inquiry ordered by British government agencies found that the ambulance service had accepted a suspiciously low bid from a small and inexperienced supplier. The inquiry report, released in February 1993, determined that the system was far too small to cope with the data load. For an emergency service, the system error would not only cause the loss of money, but more essentially, fail to dispatch ambulances correctly and promptly upon the arising of critical situations. Thus, the implications of such a failure are apparently obvious, both socially and economically. Since the failures, the ambulance service has reverted to a paper- based system that will remain in place for the foreseeable future.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another failure was the collapse of the Taurus trading system of the London Stock Exchange. Taurus would have replaced the shuffling of six sorts of

Passing: Black People and Hold Clare Essay

The novel â€Å"Passing† was written in 1929 and become one of the most famous novels of Nella Larsen. Like other novels which were also written about â€Å"passing†, â€Å"Passing† of Nella Larsen reflects the tough life of African-American in the 19th century, when they were struggling with racism to have the equal rights. Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield in â€Å"Passing† both were born Negroes but with light skin so that they could be â€Å"passing†. However, these two women have different choices in their life, which lead to the tragedy when they meet each other after twelve years. The novel ends with Clare’s death without revealing to the readers who kills her, which encourages the readers to think of the uncertain end of â€Å"Passing† by logically interpreting evidence throughout of the novel. By that way, Nella Larsen might want her readers to be open-minded to understand how people become the victim of inequality and social restriction in term of race and gender. Ending her novel in uncertainty, Nella Larsen makes her readers curious about who is responsible for Clare’s death. The two possible things might happen are whether Clare commits suicide or Irene pushes her out of the window. Clare has her reasons to commit suicide since her husband finds out that she was born a Negro. For him, all Negroes are â€Å"black scrimy devils† and â€Å"always robbing and killing people† (70). These prejudices exist not only in Jack’s mind but also among many white people. These cruel prejudices and discrimination had threatened Clare’s marriage for a long time before her death. Clare might be always ready for the day that the truth about her race would take everything from her. When Irene asked her whether she thought of how she could do if her husband finds out about her race, she just said yes with a smile. And at the moment Clare stands near the window, â€Å"she seemed unaware of danger or uncaring. There was even a faint smile on her full, red lips, and in her shining eyes† (209). When Clare takes a risk by joining the Negroes community, she might prepare for that day, for her death. However, there are also evidences for the possibility that Irene kills Clare. First, she has the motivation. In Irene’s mind, Clare is one who â€Å"not only that she wanted to have her cake and eat it too, but that she wanted to nibble at the cakes of other folk as well† (88). Before seeing Clare, Irene’s life keeps going on under her control: a family with a doctor husband and two kids, living in Negroes community†¦ But Clare comes and raises the fear inside Irene that Clare and Brian, Irene’s husband, might have an affair. Although Irene doesn’t have any clear proofs for what she suspect, but she can feel it through the changing in attitude of Brian: â€Å"For a minute, Irene hesitated, then turned her head, though she knew what it was the held Hugh’s gaze. Clare, who had suddenly clouded all her days. Brian, the father of Ted and Junior†¦then she saw him smile, and the smile made his face all eager, and shining. †(169-170). Secondly, the readers can realize how the presence of Clare makes Irene suffers: â€Å"It hurt. It hurt like hell†¦She was very tired of Clare Kendry. She wanted to be free of her. †(174-179). The readers also has reason to suspect Irene since she already think of how to get rid of Clare before Clare’s death: â€Å"If Clare should die†¦To think, yes, to wish that†¦the thought stayed with her. She could not get rid of it†(187). In the party, before Clare falls out from the window, Irene is the one who open it despite of the cold outside. The image of Irene â€Å"watching the tiny spark drop slowly to the white ground† makes the readers relates to the falling down of Clare after that (207). At the moment that Clare stands at the window, Irene â€Å"laid a hand on Clare’s bare arm. One thought possessed her. She couldn’t have Clare Kendry cast aside by Bellew. She couldn’t have her free†(209). And watching Clare falls out from the window, â€Å"Irene wasn’t sorry. She was amazed†(210). Irene’s thought and attitude towards Clare at the moment she falls out from the window proved that Irene, whether responsible for Clare’s death or not, wants Clare to die. Therefore, the readers can suspect that Irene is the one who push Clare out of the window, leading to Clare’s death. Despite of many clues support for the possibility that Irene kills Clare, the author doesn’t want an obvious end for her novel. She keeps questioning her readers about how much they could trust what they see. Throughout the novel, Nella Larsen expresses her attitude in ridicule of white people’s blindness when they discriminate black people without knowing who they really are. Jack, a racist, marries a Negro woman because he believes in what he sees. Many people witness Clare’s death but nobody could be sure about what they saw. They even suspect Jack since he is the only white people there. By ending the novel in uncertainty, Nella Larsen questions her readers about how they interpret and understand who or what pushes people to death. If there is no racism, Clare would not commit suicide, and Jack wouldn’t be suspected just because he is white. Therefore, the most suspicious person would be Irene. If Irene doesn’t have any pressure about keeping her life as it must be according to social norms, she wouldn’t have motivation to kill Clare since she doesn’t love Brian: â€Å"She couldn’t now be sure that she had ever truly known love. Not even for Brian†¦ she still intended to hold fast to the outer shell of her marriage, to keep her life fixed, certain† (201). The image of Irene put her hand on Clare’s bare arms before Clare falling out of the window symbolize for the struggling inside Irene. Irene plays the role of one who could help Clare come back to her community, but she also puts Clare in risk by not telling Clare about Jack seeing Irene with a black woman. Before Clare died, Irene must be the one hold Clare back, but she is also suspicious for killing Irene. The truth isn’t always revealed in what we see, but also in how we interpret what we know about it, which depends much on our attitude toward it. Nella Larsen let her readers have their own way to think of this uncertain end in order to question their beliefs and their values. This uncertain end of â€Å"Passing† also like the uncertainty of people’s life under various pressures comes from social restriction such as race and gender. Clare’s death symbolize for people as the victim of inequality and social restriction.

A Comparison of Shakespeares Sonnet 18 and Duffys...

A Comparison of Shakespeares Sonnet 18 and Duffys Valentine Shakespears attitude towards his lover is she is superior to the summer and very beautiful Shall I compare thee to a summers day? This show Shakespeare is thinking about comparing her to the summer but then he gives examples of how she is better than the summer. He says she is lovelier than the summer Thou art more lovely and more temperate. He then goes on to say Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May this means that she is more like a darling bud of May than a rough wind that come in the summer. He also explains, using a metaphor that the summer doesnt stay forever, but she will be beautiful forever And summers lease hath all too short a†¦show more content†¦So long lives this and this gives life to thee. Meaning as long as people are alive can see and read and write her beauty will always live on. Duffys attitude differs from shake spears attitude because she is cynical about love but Shakespeare is more romantic. At the beginning of Valentine it is similar to Sonnet 18 because she decides not to give her lover a traditional Valentine gift because she feels it doesnt show him how she loves him and she wants him to think about their relationship so she decides she will give him an onion. This is similar to sonnet 18 because Shakespeare decides not to do that traditional comparison to describe his lover and Duffy decides not to give her lover the traditional valentine gift. She says the onion is moon wrapped in the brown paper the brown paper is the skin and the flesh of the onion is the moon. She compares the onion to the moon because moonlight is associated with romance and it also