A Character Study Of Patrick Bateman Essay

This character study focuses on is Patrick Bateman, the anti-hero protagonist of â€Å"American Psycho†, an often misunderstood satire of the upper class American lifestyle by Bret Easton Ellis. The book is set in New York in the 1980s, and let the reader see through the eyes of the protagonist himself by using first narrative. Therefore when reading the novel it feels as if one is reading a diary, although there are no strict time intervals between each chapter. The storyline is very simple. The novel depicts the everyday life of Patrick Bateman with every minute detail. We are put right into a typical scene of Bateman’s life straightaway at the start when we see him and his friends at a posh dinner party. Immediately we get the idea that he is very rich and lives his life in style. The foods at the dinner party are exotic and Bateman couldn’t help keep showing off his â€Å"platinum American Express Card†. Like his friends, he loves to mock homeless people and those less fortunate than him. One of his favourite tricks is to pretend handing a dollar note to a beggar and then taking it away in the last second whilst taking pleasure from the disappointment of his victim. He also possesses some good qualities. For example, he is extremely intelligent and shows disgust in discrimination of any kind, provided that those people are on the same â€Å"level† as him. He even ridiculed a colleague for his anti-Semitic comments. However these good qualities are actually a fai ade, hiding his true personality. Contrary to what appears, he is strongly homophobic, racist, anti-Semitic and unfair to women. This can be demonstrated by his opinion of rap music, describing it as â€Å"too niggerish†. His views on women were â€Å"they are only there to help men carry on the human race†. Patrick Bateman is also very health conscious. Except for an occasional cigar, he does not smoke and loathes others who do. He also imposes a strict healthy foods regime on himself. His regime is somewhat similar to a vegan’s. He eats mostly fruit and almost never meat, with a special emphasis on exotic foods. His favourites include kiwi fruit paste and Japanese apple-pears, costing him an inordinate amount for each. To complement his dietary regime, Bateman frequently utilizes his exclusive, private health centre named Xclusive. Furthermore, he uses a wide range of health care products and medicines. These are actually Ellis’ exaggeration of what happens in real life, where the social elites desperately try and keep themselves healthy, with any means possible. During the day Bateman can be seen as a normal upper class person, but during the night things are completely different. When asked about what he does during the night, he replies â€Å"I have to return some video tapes†. This has become the euphemism of his night-time activities. At night, he indulges himself in murdering innocents and raping unfortunate individuals. Sometimes the shock of doing these things gets to him, and he starts to have panic attacks. It’s during these panic attacks we see really how weak he is. He often confesses his crimes to total strangers. However they always ignore him and think it’s a joke. This, combined with how characters in the book often mistakes one person for another, is Ellis’ way of representing how in the modern world we don’t really care about who we are talking to. One thing that cannot be ignored about the novel is how explicit it is. Rapes, murders and grotesque actions are described with nothing left out. For example, in one of the scenes Patrick Bateman drinks his own urine and in another scene, he cuts out the eyes of a homeless person. To give you an idea of what the language is like, here’s an extract from the book: â€Å"I push the serrated blade into its [a dog’s] stomach and quickly slice open its hairless belly in a squirt of brown blood, its legs kicking and clawing at me, then blue and red intestines bulge out and I drop the dog onto the sidewalk†¦. He [the owner] just stare in horror saying ‘oh my god oh my god’ as the sharpei drags itself around in a circle, its tail wagging, squealing, and it starts licking and sniffing the pile of its own intestines, spilled out in a mound on the sidewalk, some still connected to its stomach. † From this you can see how graphical the book is. Unfortunately this is only a small piece of the whole story and this extract is the most weak in terms of disgust in the book. This simply enforces the idea of how demented and psychotic Patrick Bateman is. The irony of the novel is that Bateman does completely opposite things whilst insisting what he does is always right. For example, he often mocks his colleagues for making discriminatory comments, but he is secretly just as discriminatory. While he outlandishly keeps himself fit and healthy, he abuses cocaine and anti-depressants. This is the core of Ellis’ satire, where he makes fun of the upper class, which insists on their perfection but actually is ignorant on how imperfect they are. Also in the novel Bateman dedicates a single chapter plus many parts of other chapters detailing his material wealth. Also he tirelessly compares his belongings to those of someone else. Indeed in one scene he discovered that another person’s business card was of a better quality and design than his and thus started to have intense jealousy for that person. This can be interpreted as Ellis’ satire directed at the greed of humans and our desperate struggle to have the best of everything. After he commits his final murder, Bateman does not feel good and â€Å"high† as he described it. Instead, he feels nothing. Not even killing can satisfy him now. It is astounding how he was never suspected of any of the numerous murders he committed. At the end we discover that he may have imagined all his acts of atrocity. This deliberate ambiguity is the only mercy Ellis has for this truly evil character. Despite this, I pity Patrick Bateman, for he tried to find pleasure, like we all do but in other ways, and failing to do so. In the end, he is left â€Å"hollow† with no emotion left whatsoever. It’s pitiful how one can become mentally deranged on one’s quest for personal gain.

Explanations for Inequality Essay

There are many sociological explanations for female inequality in society. Inequality is where something/ someone is seen as not equal compared to something else. For example men have more opportunities than women in life, suggesting females suffer huge inequality in many factors of life. Firstly, Anne Oakley speaks about how women suffer inequalities in the work place. Oakley notes that after the industrial revolution in Britain acts were passed to limit women working; in 1851 one in four married women worked whereas in 1911 one in ten worked. During the Victorian era the ideology that a woman’s place was in the home became truly established and industrialisation led to the separation of men from the daily routine of domestic life. Now it is claimed that women suffer from four main inequalities in the workplace. Firstly, there is the much debated pay gap in which, even though legislation to stop unequal pay was introduced in the 1970’s, the although narrowing pay gap is still visible between men and women. Secondly half of all females in employment are in part time employment; this form of employment is often less secure with fewer benefits. Thirdly, women suffer from vertical segregation; this is sometimes referred to as â€Å"the glass ceiling effect†. Women are seemingly unable to achieve the higher ranking positions and are stopped from achieving managerial positions by an invisible barrier. Lastly, women are said to suffer from horizontal segregation which is the idea of gendered jobs. Liberal feminist Oakley blames the dominant housewife mother role, suggesting that a wifes role is primarily domestic, thus inequality is inevitable. There are criticisms for this study however, suggesting that it see’s inequality as simply just a matter of time. As well as biological factors, and time Victoria Beechey, from a marxist perspective has deleveloped a study which see’s women as a reserve army of labour. She uses this in order to explain the position of women in the labour market. Marx argued that capitalism required a reserve army of labour, that is a spare pool of potential recruits to the labour force. Beechey identifies a number of ways in which women in modern Britain are particularly suited to form part of this reserve army. She suggests that women’s jobs are least likely to be covered by redundancy legislation, so it’s cheaper to make them redundant rather than men, suggesting huge inequality as it shows women are superior to men. Furthermore she suggests that unemployed married women may not be elegible to receive state benefits if their husbands are working, and for this reason they might not appear in unemployment statistics. Beechey says that ‘women’ who are made redundant are able to disappear virtually without a trace back into the family. She also suggests that women are more likely to accept part time work due to their domestic role, women tend to be happy in accepting less wages than their husbands as they can rely on their man. This makes you realise that still in society, women who don’t work, even though they want to is still frowned upon, and it would be easier for men to get jobs than women, showing inequality between women and men. Bruegel challenges this theory, she questions the assumption that the interests of capital must be served if women are to be used as a reserve army of labour. She points out that women can also benefit capitalism by producing domestic labour in the home, as this reduces the amount that needs to be paid to male workers. Linda Mcdowell like Beechey also talks about part time work, and why women are more likely to accept it. She applies post-Fordist theory to female employment. Post-Fordism suggests that there has been a move away from mass production to more flexible production of specialist products. Businesses keep a core of highly skilled workers, but most other workers are temporary, or part time, or work is contracted out to other firms. Women tend to be concentrated in the more flexible jobs, particularly part time work. This suggests that even today it is still hard to for women to have a good career like men, as due to other ‘priorities’ part time work may be the only suitable explanation. Lovering found evidence to support this theory suggesting that post Fordism trends affect only some women. Furthermore, post-Feminists argue that the feminism of the 1970s and 80s is out dated because it sees all women as sharing the same interests and ignores the diverse interests of different groups of women. Natasha Walter believes that there is still much that feminists need to change. She believes that the post-feminist emphasis on political correctness and language neglects the continuing problems of inequality which affect all women. Women still tend to suffer from problems such a low pay, lack of childcare, the dual burden of paid employment and domestic labour, poverty and domestic sexual violence. Following up on this Germaine Greer suggests that women cannot be themselves as they still have to act in the ways men want them to be. This suggests that women suffer in the hands of men, due to them being more powerful etc. Women thus are brainwashed into being how men want them to be, for example, clothing and make up. Radical feminists also believe that men’s power and control over men is the main reason for inequality. They believe that patriarchy is the most important concept when explaining gender inequalities. They tend to focus on the power relationships that are experienced in private, in particular the significance of sexuality and the use of violence. Kate Millet believes that oppressive and unequal relationships between men and women originate not in wider society, but in the intimacy of personal relationships, in sexual partnerships and in families and households or various kinds. She believes personal relationships are also political in that they are based on different and unequal amounts of power which are determined by sex and which are reinforced in every aspect of wider society. Culture, government, tradition, religion, law, education and the media all reflect patriarchal leadership and power. Critics of this theory suggest that this theory is ultimately biologically deterministic, since the biological facts of reproduction are at the heart of the position. Not all sociologists believe that inequality is still a major factor in society. Catherine Hakim (economist) suggests a ‘Rational choice theory’. She is critical of all feminist positions. She argues that feminist theories are both inaccurate and misleading, and that women are not victims of unfair employment practices. She identifies five myths; women’s employment had not in fact been rising, women were less committed to work than men, that their childcare responsibilities were not the main reason for them working part time, that part time jobs were not necessarily worse and finally that women were less likely to be in stable employment. This goes against all feminist explanations and suggests that inequality is not as we see it, and a lot has changed. However, Crompton argues that Hakim underplays the structures within which women make choices. In particular she cites the development of the male bread winner. Other sociologist like Hakim who neglect mainstream feminist values are the black feminists. They are critical of mainstream feminism suggesting that they neglect the particular problems that black women face. Bourne argues that white feminists are luke-warm about tackling racism because they enjoy social, economic and political privileges which make them part of the system which oppresses black women. Further more Yuval-Davis develops this theme claiming that ‘non-black’ minority ethnics such as Iranian, Cypriot, and Chinese women not only face racism, they also face cultural patriarchy which is particular to their communities. This is suggesting women are not really all in the same position and it affects people differently. White feminists tend to reject black feminists and ignore them from most of the studies and theories.

Social Networking Addiction

The last decade witnessed an explosion of social networks such as Myspace and Facebook, which added a new social dimension to the web. While such networks have made people, communities and groups with shared interests stay more â€Å"connected,† Internet addiction and social network addiction in particular also started being recognized as psychological disorders all over the world. While several 90? studies focused on Internet addiction, the next decade saw the growth of a new addiction related to all manner of social networking sites, especially the current king of the jungle: Facebook. In a recent study from the University of Athens, Greek psychiatrists argued that a woman who had gone as far as losing her job on account of her compulsion to check and update her Facebook, could be identified as a â€Å"social network addict. † Of course, there are different levels of social network addiction. Another recent study carried out at a Czech University analyzed Facebook-related academic procrastination. Though based on a sample too small to draw any general conclusions, one interesting finding of the research was that people tended to be unaware of just how much time they really spent on Facebook, and the effect this might have on their academic performance. On the other hand, it has been noted that there may be a correlation between low self-esteem and a sense of social inadequacy and social network addiction. It seems that many types of social interaction which would present great challenges in the real world for certain types of individuals have been rendered much easier for them in the virtual world, thus putting them at a higher risk of becoming addicted to Facebook and the like. A Mexican study found that Facebook addicts (a category defined by reportedly spending over four hours everyday on Facebook) had a higher incidence of depression and lower physical and general self-esteem levels than less frequent Facebook users. There are many factors that determine the characteristics of Internet and social network addictions in different parts of the world. The nature and scope of these problems are not only affected by technological advancement and the number of computers connected to the Internet per capita and other such quantitative data, but cultural factors are also key in determining the local incidence of these addictions. While social network addiction is not included in the DSM IV, many researchers advocated its inclusion in DSM V, which is currently under way. For example, in a 2008 editorial for the American Journal of Psychiatry, IAD (Internet Addiction Disorder) inclusion advocate Dr. Jerald Block cited the case of South Korea, stating that: After a series of 10 cardiopulmonary-related deaths in Internet cafes  and a game-related murder, South Korea considers Internet addiction one of its most serious public health issues. Using data from 2006, the South Korean government estimates that approximately 210,000 South Korean children (2. %; ages 6–19) are afflicted and require treatment. About 80% of those needing treatment may need psychotropic medications, and perhaps 20% to 24% require hospitalization. Since the average South Korean high school student spends about 23 hours each week gaming, another 1. 2 million are believed to be at risk for addiction and to require basic counseling. In particular, therapists worry about the increasing number of individuals dropping out from school or work to spend time on computers. As of June 2007, South Korea has trained 1,043 counselors in the treatment of Internet addiction and enlistedover 190 hospitals and treatment centers. Nevertheless, the DSMV V draft released earlier this year revealed â€Å"work group members decided there was insufficient research data† to include Internet addiction in the newly created â€Å"behavioral addictions† category. It has been over 13 years since pioneer Kimberley S. Young adapted the DSM IV criteria for gambling addictions to define Internet addiction. While her proposed diagnosis criteria have virally spread (to use a familiar term related to social networking) all over the world, it seems that the scientific community is not yet ready to reach a consensus as to what this type of addiction entails. Social networks have changed the ways we interact with each other enormously. One thing that has changed dramatically is the concept of meeting people. This was brought to my attention a couple of weeks ago, when I met a musician for the first time, whom I had casually crossed online a couple of times. Oddly enough, none of us acted as if this were a â€Å"first meeting. † Another thing that called my attention was when another musician said from the stage â€Å"thank you for coming; because a lot of people say they are attending on Facebook but they never show up. † This also made me think about how much time we are devoting to talking about Facebook, even when we are offline, and how many times we log on to Facebook to show our friends something, even during actual person-to-person meetings or social gatherings. Every drug has a gratification component, and, if social networks are causing an addiction, they must have one too. A very interesting study from the University of Bath tried to identify these gratifications, concluding that: Users derive a variety of uses and gratifications from social networking sites, including traditional content gratification alongside building social capital, communication, surveillance and social networking surfing. The different uses and gratifications relate differentially to patterns of usage, with social connection gratifications tending to lead to increased frequency of use, and content gratifications to increased time spent on the site. While the incidence of social network addictions in other parts of the world may not be as dramatic as Internet gaming addictions, for example, seem to be in some Asian countries, the rapid growth of social networks both in reach and in the number of interaction possibilities, poses new problems everyday for the elaboration of solid diagnostic criteria. From academic procrastination to social impairment as far as real physical interactions are concerned, diminished productivity at work and physical problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle; there seem to be enough problems related to Internet and social network addictions to give researchers enough to work on for many years to come. References Karaiskos, D. , Tzavellas, E. , Balta, G. , & Paparrigopoulos, T. (2010). P02-232 – Social network addiction : a new clinical disorder? European Psychiatry, 25, 855-855 DOI:10. 1016/S0924-9338(10)70846-4 Holbova, P. Academic procrastination on Facebook. Masaryk University, Czech Republic. Herrera, M. , Pacheco, M. , Palomar, J. , Zavala, D. Facebook Addiction Related to Low Self-Esteem, Depression and Lack of  Social Skills. Psicologia Iberoamericana,  Vol. 18 No. 1 (2010). Block, J. (2008). Issues for DSM-V: Internet Addiction  American Journal of Psychiatry, 165(3), 306-307 DOI:  10. 1176/appi. ajp. 2007. 07101556 Report on the American Psychiatric Association’s revisions for DSM V. YOUNG, K. (1998). Internet Addiction: The Emergence of a New Clinical DisorderCyberPsychology & Behavior, 1  (3), 237-244 DOI:  10. 1089/cpb. 1998. 1. 237

Origins of western culture Essay

My friend and I organized for a visit to the park; we had to analyze several parks so as we could come up with the best park that was rich enough to enable us get enough literature for this class. After much research, we found Aztec ruins national park would play the role. Aztec ruins national park is a center of ancestral pueblo society that has housed more than five hundred rooms. It is made of original timber that holds the roof of Entire Park. In the park walls, finger prints of ancient workers are found in the stucco walls. As you talk in the park, you hear the echoes of the ritual drums in the reconstructed great kiva. According to (nps. gov, 2008) web site, Aztec national park is situated in animals’ river valley of northwest New Mexico. It is bounded by the Aztec national monument on the west, community of different cultures, residential buildings, roads, kivas and ancestral culture of modern puebloan people of the south east. The community around the park takes advantage of the year-round water from the Animas by constructing irrigation ditches that direct water to their farms of corn, beans, and squash. Settlers have also constructed irrigation terraces, some tracing the paths of the prehistoric ditches to irrigate fruit trees and pasture lands. The Farmers Ditch, a major irrigation ditch built in late 19th century, runs east-west through the more than 300-acre park and transports precious water to historic fruit orchards within the park and to users outside the park boundaries. According to (James H. 1992 National Monuments p77) Rise in the interest in developing people through out the organization could be attributed to a number of factors. In Aztec reins national park, employees are taking broader ranges of responsibility, managers, in particular are faced with a completely new environment. For they have to deal with people of different cultures and calibers. They have to make fundamental changes and come up with more planned productive strategies for effective operations of the park. Advertisement is another most important component that characterizes the operation Aztec ruins national park in the market since it raises the awareness of the customers about the park and its services in the market. Therefore a well planned advertisement is an important component that helps the park to penetrate the market Aztecs ruins national park’s market has a wide scope which comprises of many factors. These factors are essential for the maintenances of park competitiveness of the services being delivered by the park in the market, the Aztec ruins national park’s marketing team has the privileges of collecting relevant data from its market target which quite fundamental is its goods and service improvements that enable the maintenances of high competitiveness nationally. Human resource management has become one of the most important aspects in Aztecs ruins national park. It has been realized that having a competent and a motivated workforce can help the park create a competitive advantage which other parks may find hard to replicate in the market. Therefore there is need for the park to take bold step in order to address issue of hiring and retaining a competent work force. It will begin by motivating the current workers and to give them more freedom to make their own decision as pertains to the operation of the park. But them most important thing is for the Aztec ruins national park is to come up with a human resource plan that will be integrated in the overall growth strategy. A strategic human resource plan will define issue on hiring, retaining, training and development of the workforce in order to maintain a competitive workforce. (George C. 1962 Aztecs of Mexico P36) states that motivation is the force or impetus behind behavior and actions. This energizes behavior and directs behavior towards a goal. In Aztec ruins national park managers are always expected to create a desire of working to employees by creating conducive environment and a favoring atmosphere for working. Aztec ruins national park has been advocating the use of reinforcement by rewarding. An attractive object or event is supplied as a consequence of a particular work done perfectly. According to behavior approach to motivation, managers have an understanding of employees’ motivation which begins with careful analysis of incentive and rewards that are present in the park. These incentives are like privileges and money. It’s always managers’ responsibility in Aztec ruins national park to identify behaviors that need to be reinforced like outstanding performance, punctuality, neatness and completion of work (Stearns, 2003). Aztec ruins national has helped the surrounding community much, conservation of the Park can bring more profits to both community and the state. It’s quite apparent that the catchments areas found in the park, if taken care of, can be of great help in agriculture thus availing food and employment to the community. This being a tourist destination, it helps the community interact with people of different culture and there finding market for their farm products

Advantages of Studying Abroad and Being Bilingual Person Essay

Advantages of Studying Abroad and Being Bilingual Person - Essay Example I have noted that learning abroad and being multilingual helps a person in acquiring new contacts. In these days, people are advancing by creating a network of friends and acquaintances. As such, it will be easier to be connected to friends and acquaintances especially when looking for greener pastures (Cressey 127). Similarly, this is an avenue of making lifetime connections with people across the globe. This will be vital in getting updates from all over the world. As such, I will have new experiences in different parts of the world. Studying abroad is an avenue of advancing in academics and education. I have noted that people who have attended school in the world’s renowned institutions have a high quality of education. This is owing to the resources and high quality of tutors in the schools. Apparently, studying abroad is an advantage as most of the learners have all the required pieces of equipment and resources at their exposure. This makes learning easier and effective. Similarly, people that are educated abroad have a higher chance of getting well-paying jobs in the world. Since such people are bilingual, it makes working in different parts of the world easier (Cressey 111). In addition to this, learning abroad is a way of enhancing career development. The diversity of an individual in language and learning is an advantage.  

Reflection for movie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reflection for movie - Essay Example The Invisible War shows that such an assumption is not only false; it is horribly skewed by the media and the government itself because rape continues to be endemic to the army and unresolved enough to persist up to the present without any definite solutions for its prevention and remediation. The film demonstrates the irony between the image and the reality of female soldiers. The film starts with a patriotic song and testimonies of women, who dreamt of being soldiers, of serving their country and feeling pride in doing so. That is the ideal image. The reality is shattered when all of these women, once idealistic and patriotic, declared that they were all raped, not just once, but many times, in the army. It does not matter if they served in the Coast Guard, the Navy, the Army, or the Air Force. It does not matter where they where during their service. These women, who wanted to serve their country so sincerely and genuinely, were raped not long after starting their services. The U. S. government and the army want to send the image that they are gender-sensitive by hiring women, but they do not protect their rights and interests at all. With rape so pervasive in the army, it is a shame that they even hire women whom they cannot protect. The media and the government are in it, in hiding and undermining the invisible war, because rape continues to rise and prevention and remediation measures are barely accessible to the victims. ... Cioca’s broken jaw from the rape she experienced needs immediate surgery, but one year after her complaint, she does not get the financial support she needs. It is heartbreaking how, as a victim, the government either forgot her or consciously wants to forget about her. I do not want to think about conspiracy- that the government is purposely trying to kill these veteran soldiers who reported about rape that involved their superiors or peers. But when Cioca talked about the medicine that the government gave her, which when combined are lethal and already killed other vets, I am now doubtful of the motives of the government. If the government cared enough for these women, why not give them the therapy and resources they need to move on with their lives, aside from putting their rapists behind bars for their entire lifetime? None of these is happening. Why? The government and the army work together in perpetuating a patriarchal world, where women are still seen as sexual objects , as commodities that can be raped and thrown aside. Instead of offering laws, measures, and controls that will provide justice and support for the victims and that will prevent rape in the army, the government only offers empty promises to those who are raped. Patriarchy is not dead. It is in the government that is blind and deaf to the support and justice needed by raped veteran soldiers. It is in the army that does not provide proactive measures to stop rape and other justice and financial support services and resources for the rape victims. Patriarchy is alive. It must be killed. And we must wage an all-out war against it before another one of our valiant female soldiers get raped. Crying for Women that Others Do Not Cry for in No Woman, No Cry Christy Turlington

Inferential Statistics Project Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Inferential - Statistics Project Example The data sets are divided into two sets; Android, Windows and Others representing the operating systems in the market and a dependent variable Smartphone on the category indicating the total cell phone sold with the operating system. The independent variables are the App is representing the App store, GUI represents the Graphical User Interface of the smartphone and the Functionality representing the functions carried out by the operating systems and the apps. The data is bivariate data as two variables are measured in a single study (William Mendenhall III, 2013). We calculated the operating system market share and the customer buying behavior towards the software capabilities of the smartphone. Most consumers prefer smartphones running on Android platform; on average 10 Android phones are sold daily. The consumer‘s are influenced by the app store on the phone, with 9 people every day says that the app store matters to them most. The positive coefficient indicates the directional effects of the independent variables and the effect they will have on the depend variable smartphone. Thus, with an increase in App, GUI or Functionality results to increase in sales of smartphones. Meaning that the consumer behavior depends on the software installed or can be installed on the gizmo. Goodness to fit ≠¥ 0.80 or 80% and we reject Reject H0 if p-value ≠¤ ÃŽ ±, where ÃŽ ± is the level of significance for the test (David R. Anderson, 2011). Thus p-value ≠¥ 0.0000, thus the null hypothesis is accepted. At 95% confidence level (1.869, 5.088), this are plausible values of parameter where mean may lie; thus, we expect more consumers to be influenced by App store parameter in smartphone. Thus we expect the sales of Android phones to increase with the same parameter as they are the market