The Stone Angel By Margaret Laurence Essays - Abraham, Lech-Lecha

The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence is a heart-warming story of a ninety year old woman who is nearing death and who has very little to look back on with pride. Her life had been ruled by her concern of outward appearances and manners. Although she often felt love and happiness, she refused to show it fearing it may be viewed by others as a weakness. Hagar inherited this strong pride from her father, Jason Currie, along with other poor qualities. Throughout her life, Hagar is desperately trying to escape. First, she tries to escape from her family, mostly her father, but in so doing she also cuts herself off from her brother, Matt. She also ends up leaving her husband, Brampton. Secondly, Hagar tries to escape from her own poor qualities to which she is captive; attempting to fill the emptiness within her. Finally and futilely, she tries to escape death. All of these attempts fail dismally. Throughout the narration of the novel many images are put forth repetitiously to aid the development of Hagar's character and the main themes. The Stone Angel is a very effective story due largely to the biblical, water, and flower imagery. The biblical imagery is very strong and can be found numerous times throughout the novel. The name of the main character, Hagar, is also the name of a hand maid in a biblical story. Many parallels are made between Margaret Laurence's Hagar and the biblical Hagar. The Hagar in the bible was to conceive a son with the husband of her owner, Sarah, who, herself, was unable to conceive. Hagar did bear a son but Sarah became very jealous of Hagar and had her thrown out into the wilderness. Hagar's son was born and they both returned to the place where Sarah and her husband, Abraham (Laurence's husband to Hagar was named Brampton to echo Abraham), lived. Hagar and her son were cast into the wilderness once again when Sarah bore a son of her own and Hagar's son, Ishmael, mocked Sarah's child. Nearing death, Hagar and her son were saved by God who provided them with a well of water. The Hagar in The Stone Angel is very similar to the Hagar in the bible. Laurence's Hagar became a housekeeper to Bram after she married him, which is ironic for a woman with her qualities. Hagar realizes this and sees herself as a bondwoman (this is also how the biblical Hagar is described); therefore, she feels trapped like a prisoner. Hagar says, "I was alone, never anything else, and never free, for I carried my chains within me," (pg. 261) thus showing Hagar as a captive of her position, emotions, and her pride. The two Hagars are also very similar in that they both go into the wilderness. Hagar Shipley goes out into the wilderness when she leaves her father to marry Bram and live on his farm. The difference between the two Hagars if that Hagar Shipley is not confronted by a divine manifestation like the Egyptian Hagar. Hagar's vision and realization comes when she and her favored son, John, leave home. Hagar slowly begins to see John's true character. Hagar Shipley wished her son was like Jacob, a faithful son in the Old Testament; however, she soon realized that he was not like Jacob. When Hagar returned to Manawaka, the statue of the stone angel had been pushed over and she requested that her son, John, fix it. Hagar says, "I wish he could have looked like Jacob then, wrestling with the angel and besting it, wringing a blessing from it with his might. But no." (pg. 159). Hagar's second journey into the wilderness was when she fled to Shadow Point. Here, Hagar realized that her other son, Marvin, was her Jacob and that she had favored the wrong son. The Hagar in the Old Testament bore a wild son, Ishmael, but she also created a faithful son, Jacob (descendent of Isaac). The parallels between The Stone Angel and the biblical Hagar are so strong that the effectiveness of Margaret Laurence's work rises dramatically. The water imagery presented many times in the novel helped to develop the theme of death. As everyone knows, water is viewed as the center of life since, without it, life would cease to exist. An example of this is when the drought occurred in Manawaka. Hagar returned during the drought to find all of the Shipley's flowers and vegetables dead. "They'd had no water this year,"

The Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Corporist Ireland and Neo Liberal Britain essays

The Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Corporist Ireland and Neo Liberal Britain essays The International Conference of Europeans held at Chicago chalks out the imperatives of this study which states the three advantages of being economical, clustering providing meaningful reasoning of each regime and facilitates hypothesis testing. The first type of evolutionary concept was stated in the book of Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. It focuses the aspect of building cohesive labor movements in Social democracy. Social reformist was the term invoked to build the electoral majorities along with process of harmonizing. Socialist democrats made the linkages with state policies to welfare of citizen or rather citizenship. The Swedish peoples home first invoked by SAP leader Per Albin Hansson in the late 1920s: In a good home there prevails equality, thoughtfulness, cooperation, helpfulness. As applied to the larger peoples and citizens home this implies a breaking down of all social and economic barriers which now divide citizens between the privileged and the forgotten, the rulers and the dependent, the rich and poor, the satiated and the utterly destitute, the plunderers and the plundered. (Quoted in Heclo and Madsen 1987: 157;emphasis added.) Second aspect of Conservative welfare regimes highlighted the potential instability caused by status and disparities through the introduction of modern capitalism. It mainly grinded the traditional hierarchies developed in Western Europe. The dominant religion of Christianity reinforces the behavior to avoid the excess of social expenditure in capitalist states. In Bismarckian Germany, reinforcement was mainly on the integral role of the state; on the contradicting side the Christian democratic welfare policies emphasize traditional values, social structure and familiasim. Anglo Saxon/ Liberal concept undermines the concept of Conservative Welfare. It acts opposite towards being preservationist of traditional norms and values. The visi...

Capstone Research Project Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Capstone Project - Research Paper Example The foremost factor that has to be understood before representing the misstatement as a fraud is the ‘nature of misstatement’. Nature represents as to whether the misstatement has been made intentionally or unintentionally. According to the specifications within SAS No. 82, fraud is an action that is conducted intentionally and as a result of which ‘material misstatements’ occur within a firm’s financial statements (American Institute of CPAs, 2011). There are several indicators of fraud that have been represented within the SAS No. 82. These are also considered as factors of risk, few of which have been listed below. The consideration of these cases will definitely help in identifying fraud in the given five scenarios within the case. Indicators of Fraud in Relation to Financial Reporting: (a) A massive amount of compensation for the management has been stated to be in structure of bonuses. (b) The management of the firm is dominated by an only indiv idual or a very small group without allowing any role of the board of directors. (c) Involving into regular disputes with the present or previous management or auditors on issues related to auditing and accounting. (d) Limitations imposed on the auditor for improperly restricting activities related to key information and people. (e) Failure to pay the bills while there is reportedly huge earnings. (f) Transactions within related party apart from the normal courses of business. Indicators of Fraud in Relation to Assets Misappropriation: (a) Inadequacy of management supervision (b) Massive amount of cash is in hand or are processed on a regular basis (c) Inappropriate screening of the applicants for job (d) Inappropriate activities of record keeping (e) Inappropriate isolation of duties (f) Inappropriate process of approval of transactions (g) Non compliance with the time limit for presenting documents related to transaction (h) Inadequacy in controlling physical assets (i) Inappropri ate provision of compulsory vacations for the employees (Porter & Pope, 2011). The fraud indications described under SAS No. 82 can well be compared with that of the given company for identifying whether fraud is taking place or not. If it is found that the management is guilty of the above fraud indications, the SAS specifications provide that the auditor can undertake the following activities: (1) Acquire a clear and concise understanding of the accounting process being carried out within the company along with verification of journal entries along with adjustments. (2) Categorize and choose particular journal entries along with adjustments for verifying. (3) Decide on the verification timing. (4) Investigate the individuals associated with activities in relation to financial reporting and make inquiries regarding lack of appropriation in journal entries as well as adjustments. (Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, 2011). Effectiveness of SAS No. 82 towards Minimization of O rganization’s Fraudulent Activities After the incorporation of the standards under SAS No. 82, the various companies have started evaluating the impact of the rules to reduce frauds within the organizations. An internal analyst of financial activities can become successful through following the rules mentioned under SAS No. 82. However, there is requirement through the rules that the assessment of risk has to be conducted by an external auditor (Public Oversight Board, 2