Contrasting Representations of Female Characters in Wide Sargasso Sea - Literature Essay Samples

In Wide Sargasso Sea, Rhys uses her female characters predominately in a feminist style. The narrative itself is a rewriting of the literary history of Jane Eyre with a focus on the marginalised Bertha Mason both as a woman, a creole and in her financial status. While some female characters advocate modifying the inherited language of male oppressors, like Christophine does through her defiance against Rochester, others are subjugated by the arrival of male colonisers. These topics are explored through a range of events, symbols and metaphors. Annette can be seen as a presentation of a female who is both assertive towards and oppressed by her male superiors. Olaussen makes the argument that in Annette’s adoption of feminine qualities ‘such as beauty, fragility, dependency and passivity make it impossible for her to change actively their situation.’ This sense of helplessness, in support of Olaussen’s status, is established at the start of the novel through Annette’s repetition of the verb ‘marooned’ after her horse is poisoned. The verb, used in its past tense form, gives a sense of total isolation and marginalisation from society but also a helplessness in Annette’s status with an inability to change their economic or social standing. Although, the readers narrator (Antoinette) states that ‘she had hope every time she passed a looking glass.’ As looking glasses are often used as symbols of identity, it may be implied that Annette’s sense of self is shaped by her physical appearances. In the context of Victorian society, there was an expectation for women to adopt qualities of attractiveness while remaining sexually reserved. Sarah Strickney- Ellis stated that women have a ‘high and holy duty’ to look after the ‘minor morals of life’, referring to the need for women to suppress their base desires. In this sense, Annette’s suppression of her base desires and true identity makes her helpless against her male superiors as her false fragility make her vulnerable. In addition, as appearances are ephemeral, it may be suggested that Antoinettes sense of self is also non-permanent and therefore prefiguring her descent into madness. On the other hand, after the arrival of the ‘new’ colonisers, Antoinette states that ‘my mother married Mr Mason’. The use of syntax here places Annette as the subject of the sentence, which indicates that she is given status and power through her ma rried state. However, later in Part 1, the parrot Coco may be seen as a symbol of Annette’s oppression. The parrot, as an exotic creature, may become emblematic of Annette’s entrapment since Mason’s arrival. Antoinette says that ‘after Mr Mason clipped this wings he grew very bad tempered.’ The clipping of rate wings by Mason may be symbolic of colonists entrapping of the native community, which in this instance is Antoinette both as a creole and as a woman. On the other hand, the ‘bad tempered’ nature of the parrot may reflect the social unrest caused by the arrival of the colonists and the violent nature of the colonised people. In this sense, it mirrors the aggressive behaviour of Annette towards Mason. In light of this, Olaussen’s statement is supported by Annette’s feminine weakness results in her deterioration both mentally and physically. Under a different interpretation, Smith states that ‘Rochester’s attempts to own Antoinette and force her to conform make [her] seem insane.’ Through this statement, we can view the characterisation of Antoinette and the presentation of her marriage to be evidence of male subjugation by Rochester. Primarily, in the context of a Victorian law, prior to the Married Women’s Property Act 1870, Rochester has the rights to all of Antoinette’s property and wealth as well as her, making her entirely dependent on him. This dependency can be seen through the portrayal of Antoinette. In Antoinettes second dream at the Convent, when she is led into the woods by a stranger, she states ‘I make no effort to save myself.’ This dream foreshadows the arrival of Rochester and her failure in asserting herself. Similarly, at the start of their sexual relationship, Rochester states that she had poor weapons, and they had not served her well. He draws on the s emantic field of military jargon, a technique which is used repeatedly through the novel, to express his need to dominate Antoinette, viewing her as a conquest. Ultimately, he does achieve this objective, using the adjective poor to give Antoinette a sense of vulnerability and weakness in regards to his advances. In line with Smiths views, Rochester continues to attempt to own his wife through changing her name to Bertha. Names are often used to symbolically show the power of language in relation to identity, hence Rochesters attempts to alter this in order to change Antoinettes sense of selfhood. Antoinette hates the name but demurely accepts it, showing that her role is transforming into her mothers, a powerless and manhandled woman. While this subtle change in her name seems insignificant, at the end of Part 2, there is the use of the simile like a doll to depict Antoinette which shows the full extent of Rochesters domination. By this point in the novel, Antoinette has become com pletely dependent on Rochester, shown by her likeness to an inanimate object. Although it may be argued that hes been objectifying her all along, its debatable as to whether Rochester has complete domination of Antoinette, or whether Antoinettes doll-like exterior is only a sham, a mask to conceal her rebellious impulses. In either sense, Antoinettes sense of selfhood is altered to the point of corruption and is therefore characterised to be helpless and vulnerable. In this sense, Smiths argument is validated in Antoinettes ending sense. Contrastingly to these predominately vulnerable female characters, Christophine offers an important function within the novel as powerful protector in the eyes of Olaussen. The first introduction of her powerful status is given when Antoinette says the talk about Christophine and obeah changed it indicating that it is Christophine as an obeah practitioner that gives her status as a healer and witch. In the context of the time (circa 1840), the colonisers outlawed and punished the practice of obeah primarily because it gave the slave community a channel of communication. In light of this, Christophine is given her status through the power of her magic combined with an aspect of slave resistance. In her relations with Rochester, it is clear that Christophine is the dominant of the two. When they first meet, they stare at each other for a prolonged period of time and Rochester states that I looked away first and she smiled. In an animalistic sense, they are attempting to establish domin ance over one another, which Christophine does rather than Rochester. This may be due to Rochester’s inherent sense of superiority and his dismissal of the black, lower classes however Christophines primary dominance is contrary to the patriarchal society in which the characters are subject to. Furthermore, Christophines advice offers insight into her values of independence. She tells Antoinette that ‘women must have punks to live in this wicked world’ which captures her view on feminine power. Spunks, meaning guts and courage both indicates a need for feminine strength as well as providing an example of colloquialism. This may be seen as confronting the stereotypical feminine language by using language dominated by masculine concepts and values, reflecting a feminist technique in presenting strong female characters. In addition to this, Rochester describes that she has a ‘judges voice’ which gives Christophine power of judgement over Rochesterâ€⠄¢s actions, elevating her status and allowing her to condemn over Rochester. On the other hand, by the end of the same confrontation, Christophine is forced to back down after being threatened with the law by Rochester. The final image Rhys presents of Christophine is that ‘she walked away without looking back.’ This image of finality is ambiguous as it can be interpreted in two main ways. Firstly it may be seen as a final assertion of her victory after having the last word in the conflict or it can be seen as a defeat from Christophine’s perspective as Rochester’s threats have left her unable to compete with him. Under this interpretation, Christophine ultimately fails in her role as ‘powerful protector’ as she too is subjugated by the colonising Rochester. Overall, Rhys’s blend of dependent and independent characters allows for a contrasting depiction of a women’s role within the society she constructs. However, ultimately most of the female roles at the forefront of the novel are dominated by the colonisers, making the true independence of the characters questionable.

A Brief Note On Anorexia Nervosa And Bulimia Nervosa

Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa Eating disorders are classified as mental disorders and can lead to life threatening damage. It is important to manage eating disorders to prevent health effects. There are many different possibilities for patients with disorders. Common treatments for eating disorders can consists of counselor or therapists. Early detection is important to limit future oral health effects. A dental hygienist has an advantage to see the inside of the mouth for possible trauma, erosion, and malnutrition. It is common for patients to be in denial of the situation. A dental hygienist is trained to communication to the patient about the eating disorder without the patient feeling attacked. It is important to tell the difference in eating disorders. Most eating disorders all appear to be anorexia until further signs and symptoms are observed. The two types of eating disorders being discussed in this paper are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. On average, women are more likely to experience an eating disorder. Although, men are not eliminated from eating disorders. Eating disorders pertain to a patient who is unsatisfied with one’s current body image. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are the most common eating disorders. These two eating disorders are similar in ways that are characterized by low self esteem, body dysmorphia, and signs of depression. However, anorexia, anorexia nervosa, and bulimia nervosa should not be confused. Anorexia is theShow MoreRelatedA Brief Note On Anorexia And Bulimia Nervosa1561 Words   |  7 Pagesagainst feminism, all play a critical role in contributing to these life-threatening illnesses. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are two of the most common eating disorders. In both of these disorders, the sufferer may experience a fear of gaining weight and dissatisfaction with body appearance. What classifies one as bulimic is their binging followed by self-induced vomiting, versus those with anorexia who eat substantially less than normal with a primary goal of staying thin. If not treated carefullyRead MoreA Brief Note On Anorexia Nervosa And Bulimia Group1096 Words   |  5 Pagesvalidity and reliability for the numerous subscales, questions, and items throughout the assessment by obtaining many subsamples of individuals with anorexia nervosa and bulimia and a control group of individuals that did not have the disorder and looking at the results between the two. The researchers took three subsamples of female patients with anorexia nervosa that were being treated at the time. The patients were all at different steps in their treatment plans but none of the individ uals were fullyRead MoreEating Disorders : Anorexia Nervosa1477 Words   |  6 Pagesdisorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. They all involve serious disturbances in weight regulation and eating habits, accompanied by adverse effects on social, psychological and physical aspects of one’s life (‘Eating disorders: About more than food’, n.d.). This essay will specifically be focusing on bulimia nervosa, as research shows a higher level of stigma associated with it, compared to other eating disorders (Roehrig McLean, 2009). Bulimia nervosa is characterisedRead MoreQuestions on Abnormal Psychology4701 Words   |  19 Pagesmedication and surgery. Answer Key:  B Question 9 of 50 1.0 Points A few weeks ago, Marne experienced a sudden feeling of being removed from her body and observing herself sitting in class taking notes. This unusual experience has recurred. Yesterday, she had a sense that the hand that was writing notes was not her hand; she felt no pressure of the pencil against her fingers. 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Since many athletes containRead MoreDisordered Eating and the Media Essay1344 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout the years the ideal body shape has progressed from voluptuous and curvaceous an image Marilyn Monroe emulated to a slimmer and leaner frame in congruence with high fashion models such as Kate Moss (Katzmarzk Davis, 2001). Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia nervosa affect between 1% and 4% of young adult females (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Eating disorders have been linked to body shapes and images present in the media (Shorter, Brown, Quinton Hinton, 2008). For many childrenRead MorePsy 410 Week 2 and 3 Matrix of Disorders7746 Words   |  31 Pageshaving a panic attack), Social Anxiety Disorder (e.g., being embarrassed in public), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (e.g, anxiety about being contaminated), Separation Anxiety Disorder (e.g., anxiety about being away from home or close relatives), Anorexia Nervosa (e.g., fear of gaining weight), Somatization Disorder (e.g., anxiety about multiple physical complaints), Body Dysmorphic Disorder (e.g., worry about perceived appearance flaws), Hypchondriasis (e.g., belief about having a serious illness), andRead MoreImpact of Media on Teenagers3405 Words   |  14 Pagesindividuals are often highly impressionable and subject tosuch alcohol and or drug use to name teenagers body imageand thin ideal endorsement indicates that media personal dissatisfaction and lowered self-esteem Additionally the continued emphasis nervosa or bulimia is also image and sexualharassment tended to reveal that the onthe other hand appear to very real concern They tend tohighlight the sex Field Camargo Taylor Berkey Roberts and Colditz beauty and fashion magazines and higherlevels disorder symptomsRead MoreEssay on Eating Disorders and the Media6828 Words   |  28 Pagescommon types of eating disorders: anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa (National Council on Eating Disorders, 2004). People with anorexia nervosa experience heart muscle shrinkage along with slow and irregular heartbeats and eventually heart failure. Along with their heart, their kidney, digestive system and muscles often fail them. The mortality rate of anorexia is twenty percent, which is the highest of any psychiatric disorder. People with bulimia nervosa experience erosion of their teethRead MoreEssay Writing9260 Words   |  38 Pagesresearch paper. Again, be wary of plagiarism and of letting the opinions of more experienced writers swamp your own respons e to the work. If you are going to consult the critics, you should reread the literary work you are discussing and make some notes on it before looking at any criticism. PART II: Developing a Thesis from a Topic Choosing a Topic Over the course of your academic career, you will find that you will be provided a topic for an essay as often as you will be required to formulate

The Islamic Religion Of The Arabian Desert - 1505 Words

Michael Pudlin Professor Ermus November 18th, 2014 Allah says in the Qur an not to despise one another. So the criterion in Islam is not color or social status. It s who is most righteous. If I go to a mosque - and I m a basketball player with money and prestige - if I go to a mosque and see an imam, I feel inferior. He s better than me. It s about knowledge.(Hakeem Olajuwon) The Islamic religion may also be defined as your average day rollercoaster; You have your climb, your peak, your drop or fall, and of course even when this coaster has ended it still has impacted you in some sort of way. The Islamic religion arose in the Arabian Desert during the first half of the seventh century. This unique religion had essential characteristics that made it like no other, it carried an incredible transformation throughout the seventh and eighth centuries and in a sense just like angels above it once collapsed but still has made contributions to today s world civilization. Islam is a very controversial religion when talking about ancient time s. This renown religion has many essential characteristics on which it is based on. The word Islam means peace. The word Muslim means one who surrenders to God. But the press makes us seem like haters.(Muhammad Ali) The Islamic religion was the basic concept that stated that the whole universe was created by god in which the people of this religion called god Allah. 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Calligraphy is words connected or cursive. D is for desert The desert makes up 75% of the Arabian Peninsula. The environment in this region is very mild with sun and a dry climate. The Arab Bedouins used camels and sheep to travel in this desert. This desert is called the Dahna desert. â€Æ' E is for exposed to trade Muhammad the Muslim prophet was introduced to trade when he was around 12 years of age. He wasRead MoreIslam, The Ottoman And Safavid Empire1528 Words   |  7 Pagesdifferent name. Throughout history, faith and religion have been at the core of almost every successful empire. There are a lot of factors that play into their faith. Two of the greatest empires to ever exist were the Ottoman and Safavid Empire. The Ottoman Empire was so large that it spanned from the Iranian frontier in the east to Algeria. One of the central values that contributed to both empire’s success was religion: Islam specifically. Religion was key to their successes because it not only

Lawyers - Ethics and to Kill a mockingbird- MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Is the figure of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird better understood as representing an ideal for liberal lawyers or a slick hired gun willing to accommodate the prejudices of the world he inhabits? Answer: Lawyers are widely considered to be self-serving, devious, callous and to some extent indifferent to truth, public good and also justice, A lawyers profession often calls for a hero and Atticus Finch (played by Gregory Peck), the protagonist of Harper Lees to Kill a Mockingbird is often cited as one such example. The way in which Flinch represented an innocent African-American man Tom Robinson (played by Brock Peters) who was accused of rape by a white Southern woman Mayella Violet Ewell ( played by Collin Wilcox), in the Depression-era in Alabama during the 1930s tends to represent the consummate portrayal of the way in which a lawyer performs his ethical duty. The plot of the film is very akin to the real prosecution of Black defendants in the celebrated case of Scottsboro Boys, otherwise known as Powell v. Alabama, and again in Norris v Alabama. Here an all-white jury convicted young black males of raping who young white women. In the film, very, unfortunately, young Robinson, the beautifully scripted dialogues of Finch along with his closing arguments failed to pursue the jury who turned in the innocent man because he expressed pity for Mayella Ewell, his accuser. There have been numerous debates regarding the suitability of Atticus as a role model. Lecturer Monroe Freedman has argued that Atticus should not be considered as a role model as much as both the novel and the movie have tried to make him, despite being a counsel for an unpopular defendant. He always hoped to get through his life without a case of such complexity (p.98). He made excuses for the leader of the Lynch mob by stating that he is basically a good man and his actions may be justified "just has his blind spots along with the rest of us" (p. 173) pointing towards the fact that he may be categorized as an individual who was too willing to accommodate the prejudices of the world where he inhabited. However, others like Thomas Shaffer have argued in Atticus favor by stating that Atticus has portrayed that it is the presence of character, rather than professional ethics that is what is essentially valued in professional ethics. It is undeniable that Atticus had character. When we say that a person has good character, we do not necessarily mean that said a person only believes in the discernable moral principles and makes better judgments solely based on those principles. That he is a good character is also very closely related to who the person is and also to their good decisions. When appointed to defend Robinson, Atticus Finch, gets serious with his job despite exposing himself as well as his children to the taunts, slurs and disapproval of the neighbors. During the trial, Atticus clearly proves that Robinson could in no way have had raped Mayella because the evidence pointed to the deed having been done by someone who was left handed with two arms whereas Robinson clearly didnt fit the bill as he had lost the use of his left arm in a cotton-gin accident. Nevertheless, Robinson gets convicted, and neither does the verdict against him surprise Atticus. He states that Racism, that is Maycombs Common disease: made this a foregone conclusion in the first place. Shortly after this, Tom is shot while climbing the prison fence. Tom death, while completing the story of the innocent black man who was falsely accused, wrongly convicted and mercilessly killed. Atticus character speaks neither of racial hatred nor or prejudice, two aspects that were very deeply be imbibed he sentiments of the ordinary people of the society of Alabama in the 1930s. Contrary to the general feelings as portrayed by the town, Atticus chooses to look in to the depths of a persons character as opposed to judging them by their skin color. At the very beginning, he tells Scout that it is never possible to understand another individual unless things are considered from their point of view. That he went against most of his family members, neighbors and community members to stand up for what he believed. When questioned by his children about his choice to defend Robinson despite the very slim chances of winning, Atticus said that had he done otherwise he would no longer believe in himself. Atticus Finch is clearly portrayed as a character of stability in an unbalanced society. He is balanced to a degree that he has the power to cope up with the highly emotional as well as unreasonable people surrounding him. He among the prejudices of the white populace but still tried to bring justice to the underprivileged black population of Maycomb. He chose to defend Robinson for fairness and equality that is reflected in his closing speech of There isone placeall men are created equal, that place is in a court (p 205). It shows that Atticus as an individual believed not only in social equality but also in race, sex, class as well as religion. His staunch beliefs are the reflection of his personal psychological stability. His morals are amalgamated with his sense of self-respect and thus, he knows that unless he does what is believed by him is right; he will lose his moral authority over other around him. He only cares about his individual judgement of himself and staunchly accept s the open criticisms of his community members, the disrespect of his children and the repercussions of being voted out of the legislations. The paradigm of a clinical trial as well as a legal process lies at the centre of the narrative. The formal mechanisms of law are up to the task it entrails. The story shows how the busy lives and staunch belief in racism diverts the ordinary people from the essential functions under the law. However, these diversions are far from being encompassed as hindrances for the principal authorized agents, namely the sheriff, the trial judge and Atticus himself. In the narrative, fatally enough, Tom takes matters into his hands, being impatient about Atticus chances of winning the appeal. However Atticus methodological practitioners expertise does not distort his ideas of a radical reformation, rather it allows him to see clearly that Toms case is very ordinary. The story shows that if the jurors basically provided the Black individuals the equality they deserved, the innocents, like Robinson would not remain scapegoats in trials. His son, Jem who was wounded by the injustice of the trial in sisted upon the need for radical reforms, but Atticus quite patiently rebuts citing his practical justifications that came with his years of experience practicing law. Atticus could not avoid condensations, even when faced with young Jens wounded sense of adolescent idealism. When Jen pointed out that the jury system should be abolished, Atticus quite clearly barbed out that it was the inherent sense of racism that was at fault and not the jury system in totality. Atticus is somewhat condescending when he portrays the idea of women in the jury as laughable as in his mind they would disrupt the proceedings rather than bring about any sense of justice that rather goes against is a sense of equality that he had been trying to portray so far. However, the issue that Atticus sees is not the exclusion of women from the juries but the fact that educated civilians refused to take up their civic responsibilities seriously. Atticus recognized that here business is the victim in a narrower and fundamental sense that empathetically would not include himself. He stated that in different conditions someone virtuous as well as bourgeois like the employer of Tom Robinson would not be afraid of servicing on the jury in this case. They would not then consider that in doing their duty to save an innocent mans life, they would end up losing customers. In this scenario, the anonymity of the jurys vote also does not prove to be enough. Atticus says that when a pers on serves on a jury, after that it forces him to make up his mind and declare himself openly. Most often than not, people refuse to do this because it van end up being very unpleasant. In toms case, as Atticus pointed out, business and trade posed to be the biggest issues that went against him, other than the fact that Tom was black. Upright individuals neglect to stand together with experienced legal professionals like Atticus, against the subversion of law's certain certification of equality. The act of law, apparently because that it is a calling and not only a business, uncovers to Atticus both the fundamental substance of the law, equality, and its fundamental procedural righteousness, tolerance. What the law needs is for its appropriate operators in the general people, illuminated male urbanites, to have civic virtue as much as Atticus, the perfect legal advisor. The centerpiece of the film and the book is Tom Robinson's trial. Our first prologue to the real members for the situation happens when Atticus' children surge down to the courthouse and, remain on one another's shoulders so they can see and identify with us the arraignment going ahead inside. Everything about the trial has resonances of a "primal scene" in its perplexity of sexuality and viciousness, in the scandalized grown-ups, and especially in the way that kids are banned from the procedures. Jem and Scout are available at the trial on account of the generosity of an elderly black priest who gives them a chance to sit with him in the place saved for blacks. Despite the fact that it is recognized that the dark skinned litigant can't win for a situation that relies on upon his oath against a white woman's, Atticus is capable through round of questioning to set up that Mayella was beaten by somebody who was left-handed, along with the fact that that her dad Bob Ewell was left-handed, and that, as both principals affirm, Tom Robinson was in her home when her dad discovered them together. In regular protection used in rape cases, she said he assaulted her, he says she assaulted him. Atticus' summation to the jury builds up his position on social equality, as well as principally on the law "Now gentlemen, in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal. I'm no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and of the jury systemthat's no idea to me that is a living, working reality." Thus, it may be concluded that In Atticus system, the law does not stand to be castrating oppressive nor does humanity depend upon individual weaknesses. Rather than envisioning the aspect of the law to be harsh as well as ubiquitous, in the given vision, the law that was exercised by the father (of a white woman) proved to be a tool of accomplishing justice. It is in this aspect that Fundamentally Atticus becomes a liberal lawyer. For him, if the justice can get accomplishes through the deliverables of the law lies somewhere in the distant future then he was ok with it. He knows the faults of the legal system; however, he still upholds the fact that law should be maintained to safeguard against sexuality, darkness and impulses. However, Atticus was neither a revolutionary nor a drastic man. But he was just. Despite knowing the norms of the society and the way of the world, he fought for what is right despite knowing that his chances to truly bring Tom Robinson justice were extremely slender. References Atkinson R, "Liberating Lawyers: Divergent Parallels In "Intruder In The Dust" And "To Kill A Mockingbird"" (1999) 49 Duke Law Journal Dare T, "Lawyers, Ethics, And To Kill A Mockingbird" (2001) 25 Philosophy and Literature Lawrence A,Echo And Narcissus: Women's Voices In Classical Hollywood Cinema(University of California Press 1991) Lee H,To Kill A Mockingbird(Lippincott 1960)

Violent Video Games Are Bad for You Essay Example

Violent Video Games Are Bad for You Essay Today, children, teenagers, and adults are exposed to violence throughout their lives. They are exposed through television shows, movies, maybe even on the streets, but what researchers and scientists have proved to be an increasing factor of violence in children and adults is their being exposed to violent video games in which â€Å"they can produce violence, emotional outbursts, and inappropriate language†. According to Violent Video Games: The Newest Media Violence Hazard, about 85% or more video games include violent content. Violent content includes: blood and gore, killing, inappropriate language, and sexual content. Since then, many people have been saying that these games promote bad behavior and cause people to be more violent. As people play violent video games, it influences bad behavior in the player because when you play these games, you control the person who causes the crimes, shoot and kill your enemy, whether it is a criminal or policeman depending on the game you are playing. Since you are playing the game, you feel more connected with your character in the game and it may affect you in the real world. We will write a custom essay sample on Violent Video Games Are Bad for You specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Violent Video Games Are Bad for You specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Violent Video Games Are Bad for You specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer This is proved according to the article Computer Games Can Rot Your Brain. According to it, â€Å"researchers have shown that playing or watching violent video games has led to alcohol consumption, destruction of property and other bad behavior. Video games can also lead to stealing of items, mainly vehicles. † Although the article says that, Akemi, a long term gamer now 22 years old, says otherwise. He says â€Å"I have been playing games since I was at least 7, I have no criminal record. I have good grades and have often been caught playing well into the night (that is, 4 hours or more). Even though Akemi has no criminal record, Brad Bushman, a scientist that has been studying the effects of violent games on people says â€Å"aggressive behavior may appear not as criminal activity or physical violence but in more subtle ways in ways people react to or interact with other people in everyday life. † This would mean that Akemi, a gamer for years with no criminal record, may not cause crimes, but inside of him he has some kind of violent behavior that he expresses while interacting with people without him knowing it. Not only do violent videos promote bad behavior, they also destroy students’ grades. If someone is already influenced by the bad behavior in video games, it is certain that the student will not succeed in school. If he is not influenced by bad behavior and are getting unacceptable grades in school, then it may be the game’s addictiveness. Games are fun, especially when you are defeating monsters and killing people which cause you to do it for hours on, making you addicted to it. When you are at school, you would only think about these games and ignore your education. This is supported by Bushman when he says â€Å"The link between violent media and aggression is stronger than the link between doing homework and getting good grades. † People disagree with this and say that violent video games don’t cause bad grades because it might have been that the student was already receiving unacceptable grades before his exposure of violent games concluding that the games had no affect on his poor performance at school. This may be true but, what makes it a bad argument is that the student that is doing poorly in school and is playing these games will never get out of their habit of getting bad grades. If this student was to switch up his games with educational games for instance, then he may have gained the smarts to get out of his habit and become a better student. In the end, violent video games are harmful for you, and everyone else. They cause disruptive behavior, promote violence most more often than not, and encourage students to get poor grades. Many people disagree with this but Bushman says â€Å"many scientific studies clearly show that violent video games make kids more likely to yell, push, and punch. † If we do not see an effect now, we would see it take place later on if they continue to play the games. As a final word, he says â€Å"We included every single study we could find on the topic. Regardless of what kids say, violent video games are harmful. †

Deforestation in Cuba.

Deforestation in Cuba. Centuries prior to the ruling of the Castro government, in the 16th centuryprecisely, 90 percent of Cuba was covered with forests. Agriculture Ministry officials inCuba revealed that the Castro government, in the last for decades, had sown 1.24million acres of trees, of which were mainly derived from the mountainous zones of theSierra Maestra, Escambray, and Sierra de los Organos. This reduced Cuba's forestcover to 53 percent and by 1960 it was down by 13.5 percent. Ultimately, mining,farming, sugar planting, supplying timber and setting up cattle ranches, demolishedCuba's forests over the centuries.Deforestation, in any case, is both detrimental to the environment and to theeconomy of Cuba. Forest products are extremely important to the economical well-beingof Cuba because they play a primary role in the production of tobacco, sugar, and citrusfruits, a few of the island's main exports, as well as in construction and electrical andtelephone services.Pico Torquino in the Sierra Maest ra, Cuba's highes...Above all, forests play a crucial role in the protection andconservation of Cuba's natural resources and their contribution to improving theenvironment as a whole.In Cuba, there are approximately 40,000 persons who are employed in theforest sector, which includes 1,200 professionals, 2,000 technicians, and 70 researchers,to name a few. Since forests are a source of long-term employment, particularly in ruralcommunities, many people who work in the forest sector, who rely on forests as theirmain source of income, find themselves facing the possibility of unemployment with theonset of deforestation.Currently, several initiatives are being undertaken to improve the issue ofdeforestation. Current initiatives include a joint initiative of the Cuban and Canadiangovernments as part of their cooperation program called the Institutional Strengtheningof the Cuban Forest Service...

A Dirty Job Chapter 10

– Dag Hammarskjà ¶ld 10 DEATH TAKES A WALK Mornings, Charlie walked. At six, after an early breakfast, he would turn the care of Sophie over to Mrs. Korjev or Mrs. Ling (whoever’s turn it was) for the workday and walk – stroll really, pacing out the city with the sword-cane, which had become part of his daily regalia, wearing soft, black-leather walking shoes and an expensive, secondhand suit that had been retailored at his cleaner’s in Chinatown. Although he pretended to have a purpose, Charlie walked to give himself time to think, to try on the size of being Death, and to look at all the people out and about in the morning. He wondered if the girl at the flower stand, from whom he often bought a carnation for his lapel, had a soul, or would give hers up while he watched her die. He watched the guy in North Beach make cappuccinos with faces and fern leaves drawn in the foam, and wondered if a guy like that could actually function without a soul, or was his soul collecting dust in Charlie’s back ro om? There were a lot of people to see, and a lot of thinking to be done. Being out among the people of the city, when they were just starting to move, greeting the day, making ready, he started to feel not just the responsibility of his new role, but the power, and finally, the specialness. It didn’t matter that he had no idea what he was doing, or that he might have lost the love of his life for it to happen; he had been chosen. And realizing that, one day as he walked down California Street, down Nob Hill into the financial district, where he’d always felt inferior and out of touch with the world, as the brokers and bankers quickstepped around him, barking into their cell phones to Hong Kong or London or New York and never making eye contact, he started to not so much stroll, as strut. That day Charlie Asher climbed onto the California Street cable car for the first time since he was a kid, and hung off the bar, out over the street, holding out the sword-cane as if charging, with Hondas and Mercedes zooming along the street beside him, pas sing under his armpit just inches away. He got off at the end of the line, bought a Wall Street Journal from a machine, then walked to the nearest storm drain, spread out the Journal to protect his trousers against oil stains, then got down on his hands and knees and screamed into the drain grate, â€Å"I have been chosen, so don’t fuck with me!† When he stood up again, a dozen people were standing there, waiting for the light to change. Looking at him. â€Å"Had to be done,† Charlie said, not apologizing, just explaining. The bankers and the brokers, the executive assistants and the human-resource people and the woman on her way to serve up clam chowder in a sourdough bowl at the Boudin Bakery, all nodded, not sure exactly why, except that they worked in the financial district, and they all understood being fucked with, and in their souls if not in their minds, they knew that Charlie had been yelling in the right direction. He folded his paper, tucked it under his arm, then turned and crossed the street with them when the light changed. Sometimes Charlie walked whole blocks when he thought only of Rachel, and would become so engrossed in the memory of her eyes, her smile, her touch, that he ran straight into people. Other times people would bump into him, and not even lift his wallet or say â€Å"excuse me,† which might be a matter of course in New York, but in San Francisco meant that he was close to a soul vessel that needed to be retrieved. He found one, a bronze fireplace poker, set out by the curb with the trash on Russian Hill. Another time, he spotted a glowing vase displayed in the bay window of a Victorian in North Beach. He screwed up his courage and knocked on the door, and when a young woman answered, and came out on the porch to look for her visitor, and was bewildered because she didn’t see anyone there, Charlie slipped past her, grabbed the vase, and was out the side door before she came back in, his heart pounding like a war drum, adrenaline sizzling through his veins like a hormonal ti lt-a-whirl. As he headed back to the shop that particular morning, he realized, with no little sense of irony, that until he became Death, he’d never felt so alive. Every morning, Charlie tried to walk in a different direction. On Mondays he liked to go up into Chinatown just after dawn, when all the deliveries were being made – crates of produce, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, melons, and a dozen varieties of cabbage, tended by Latinos in the Central Valley and consumed by Chinese in Chinatown, having passed through Anglo hands just long enough to extract the nourishing money. On Mondays the fishing companies delivered their fresh catches – usually strong Italian men whose families had been in the business for five generations, handing off their catch to inscrutable Chinese merchants whose ancestors had bought fish from the Italians off horse-drawn wagons a hundred years before. All sorts of live and recently live fish were moved across the sidewalk: snapper and halibut and mackerel, sea bass and ling cod and yellowtail, clawless Pacific lobster, Dungeness crab, ghastly monkfish, with their long saberlike teeth and a sin gle spine that jutted from their head, bracing a luminous lure they used to draw in prey, so deep in the ocean that the sun never shone. Charlie was fascinated by the creatures from the very deep sea, the big-eyed squid, cuttlefish, the blind sharks that located prey with electromagnetic impulses – creatures who never saw light. They made him think of what might be facing him from the Underworld, because even as he fell into a rhythm of finding names at his bedside, and soul vessels in all manner of places, and the appearance of the ravens and the shades subsided, he could feel them under the street whenever he passed a storm sewer. Sometimes he could hear them whispering to one another, hushing quickly in the rare moments when the street went quiet. To walk through Chinatown at dawn was to become part of a dangerous dance, because there were no back doors or alleys for loading, and all the wares went across the sidewalk, and although Charlie had enjoyed neither danger nor dancing up till now, he enjoyed playing dance partner to the thousand tiny Chinese grandmothers in black slippers or jelly-colored plastic shoes who scampered from merchant to merchant, squeezing and smelling and thumping, looking for the freshest and the best for their families, twanging orders and questions to the merchants in Mandarin, all the while just a second or a slip away from being run over by sides of beef, great racks of fresh duck, or hand trucks stacked high with crates of live turtles. Charlie was yet to retrieve a soul vessel on one of his Chinatown walks, but he stayed ready, because the swirl of time and motion forecast that one foggy morning someone’s granny was going to get knocked out of her moo shoes. One Monday, just for sport, Charlie grabbed an eggplant that a spectacularly wizened granny was going for, but instead of twisting it out of his hand with some mystic kung fu move as he expected, she looked him in the eye and shook her head – just a jog, barely perceptible really – it might have been a tic, but it was the most eloquent of gestures. Charlie read it as saying: O White Devil, you do not want to purloin that purple fruit, for I have four thousand years of ancestors and civilization on you; my grandparents built the railroads and dug the silver mines, and my parents survived the earthquake, the fire, and a society that outlawed even being Chinese; I am mother to a dozen, grandmother to a hundred, and great-grandmother to a legion; I have birthed babies and washed the dead; I am history and suffering and wisdom; I am a Buddha and a dragon; so get your fucking hand off my eggplant before you lose it. And Charlie let go. And she grinned, just a little. Three teeth. And he wondered if it ever did fall to him to retrieve the soul vessel of one of these crones of Chronos, if he’d even be able to lift it. And he grinned back. And asked for her phone number, which he gave to Ray. â€Å"She seemed nice,† Charlie told him. â€Å"Mature.† Sometimes Charlie’s walks took him through Japantown, where he passed the most enigmatic shop in the city, Invisible Shoe Repair. He really intended to stop in one day, but he was still coming to terms with giant ravens, adversaries from the Underworld, and being a Merchant of Death, and he wasn’t sure he was ready for invisible shoes, let alone invisible shoes that needed repair! He often tried to look past the Japanese characters into the shop window as he passed, but saw nothing, which, of course, didn’t mean a thing. He just wasn’t ready. But there was a pet shop in Japantown (House of Pleasant Fish and Gerbil), where he had originally gone to buy Sophie’s fish, and where he returned to replace the TV attorneys with six TV detectives, who also simultaneously took the big Ambien a week later. Charlie had been distraught to find his baby daughter drooling away in front of a bowl floating more dead detectives than a film noir festival, and after fl ushing all six at once and having to use the plunger to dislodge Magnum and Mannix, he vowed that next time he would find more resilient pals for his little girl. He was coming out of House of PFG one afternoon, with a Habitrail pod containing a pair of sturdy hamsters, when he ran into Lily, who was making her way to a coffeehouse up on Van Ness, where she was planning to meet her friend Abby for some latte-fueled speed brooding. â€Å"Hey, Lily, how are you doing?† Charlie was trying to appear matter-of-fact, but he found that the awkwardness between him and Lily over the last few months was not mitigated by her seeing him on the street carrying a plastic box full of rodents. â€Å"Nice gerbils,† Lily said. She wore a Catholic schoolgirl’s plaid skirt over black tights and Doc Martens, with a tight black PVC bustier that was squishing pale Lily-bits out the top, like a can of biscuit dough that’s been smacked on the edge of the counter. The hair color du jour was fuchsia, over violet eye shadow, which matched her violet, elbow-length lace gloves. She looked up and down the street and, when she didn’t see anyone she knew, fell into step next to Charlie. â€Å"They’re not gerbils, they’re hamsters,† Charlie said. â€Å"Asher, do you have something you’ve been keeping from me?† She tilted her head a little, but didn’t look at him when she asked, just kept her eyes forward, scanning the street for someone who might recognize her walking next to Charlie, thus forcing her to commit seppuku. â€Å"Jeez, Lily, these are for Sophie!† Charlie said. â€Å"Her fish died, so I’m bringing her some new pets. Besides, that whole gerbil thing is an urban myth – â€Å" â€Å"I meant that you’re Death,† Lily said. Charlie nearly dropped his hamsters. â€Å"Huh?† â€Å"It’s so wrong – † Lily continued, walking on after Charlie had stopped in his tracks, so now he had to scurry to catch up to her. â€Å"Just so wrong, that you would be chosen. Of all of life’s many disappointments, I’d have to say that this is the crowning disappointment.† â€Å"You’re sixteen,† Charlie said, still stumbling a little at the matter-of-fact way she was discussing this. â€Å"Oh, throw that in my face, Asher. I’m only sixteen for two more months, then what? In the blink of an eye my beauty becomes but a feast for worms, and I, a forgotten sigh in a sea of nothingness.† â€Å"Your birthday is in two months? Well, we’ll have to get you a nice cake,† Charlie said. â€Å"Don’t change the subject, Asher. I know all about you, and your Death persona.† Charlie stopped again and turned to look at her. This time, she stopped as well. â€Å"Lily, I know I’ve been acting a little strangely since Rachel died, and I’m sorry you got in trouble at school because of me, but it’s just been trying to deal with it all, with the baby, with the business. The stress of it all has – â€Å" â€Å"I have The Great Big Book of Death,† Lily said. She steadied Charlie’s hamsters when he lost his grip. â€Å"I know about the soul vessels, about the dark forces rising if you fuck up, all that stuff – all of it. I’ve known longer than you have, I think.† Charlie didn’t know what to say. He was feeling panic and relief at the same time – panic because Lily knew, but relief because at least someone knew, and believed it, and had actually seen the book. The book! â€Å"Lily, do you still have the book?† â€Å"It’s in the store. I hid it in the back of the glass cabinet where you keep the valuable stuff that no one will ever buy.† â€Å"No one ever looks in that cabinet.† â€Å"No kidding? I thought if you ever found it, I’d say it had always been there.† â€Å"I have to go.† He turned and started walking the other direction, but then realized that they had already been heading toward his neighborhood and turned around again. â€Å"Where are you going?† â€Å"To get some coffee.† â€Å"I’ll walk with you.† â€Å"You will not.† Lily looked around again, wary that someone might see them. â€Å"But, Lily, I’m Death. That should at least have given me some level of cool.† â€Å"Yeah, you’d think, but it turns out that you have managed to suck the cool out of being Death.† â€Å"Wow, that’s harsh.† â€Å"Welcome to my world, Asher.† â€Å"You can’t tell anyone about this, you know that?† â€Å"Like anyone cares what you do with your gerbils.† â€Å"Hamsters! That’s not – â€Å" â€Å"Chill, Asher.† Lily giggled. â€Å"I know what you mean. I’m not going to tell anyone – except Abby knows – but she doesn’t care. She says she’s met some guy who’s her dark lord. She’s in that stage where she thinks a dick is some kind of mystical magic wand.† Charlie adjusted his hamster box uncomfortably. â€Å"Girls go through a stage like that?† Why was he just hearing about this now? Even the hamsters looked uncomfortable. Lily turned on a heel and started up the street. â€Å"I’m not having this conversation with you.† Charlie stood there, watching her go, balancing the hamsters and his completely useless sword-cane while trying to dig his cell phone out of his jacket pocket. He needed to see that book, and he needed to see it sooner than the hour it would take him to get home. â€Å"Lily, wait!† he called. â€Å"I’m calling a cab, I’ll give you a ride.† She waved him off without looking and kept walking. As he was waiting for the cab company to answer, he heard it, the voice, and he realized that he was standing right over a storm drain. It had been over a month since he’d heard them, and he thought maybe they’d gone. â€Å"We’ll have her, too, Meat. She’s ours now.† He felt the fear rise in his throat like bile. He snapped the phone shut and ran after Lily, cane rattling and hamsters bouncing as he went. â€Å"Lily, wait! Wait!† She spun around quickly and her fuchsia wig only did the quarter turn instead of the half, so her face was covered with hair when she said, â€Å"One of those ice-cream cakes from Thirty-one Flavors, okay? After that, despair and nothingness.† â€Å"We’ll put that on the cake,† Charlie said. A Dirty Job Chapter 10 – Dag Hammarskjà ¶ld 10 DEATH TAKES A WALK Mornings, Charlie walked. At six, after an early breakfast, he would turn the care of Sophie over to Mrs. Korjev or Mrs. Ling (whoever’s turn it was) for the workday and walk – stroll really, pacing out the city with the sword-cane, which had become part of his daily regalia, wearing soft, black-leather walking shoes and an expensive, secondhand suit that had been retailored at his cleaner’s in Chinatown. Although he pretended to have a purpose, Charlie walked to give himself time to think, to try on the size of being Death, and to look at all the people out and about in the morning. He wondered if the girl at the flower stand, from whom he often bought a carnation for his lapel, had a soul, or would give hers up while he watched her die. He watched the guy in North Beach make cappuccinos with faces and fern leaves drawn in the foam, and wondered if a guy like that could actually function without a soul, or was his soul collecting dust in Charlie’s back ro om? There were a lot of people to see, and a lot of thinking to be done. Being out among the people of the city, when they were just starting to move, greeting the day, making ready, he started to feel not just the responsibility of his new role, but the power, and finally, the specialness. It didn’t matter that he had no idea what he was doing, or that he might have lost the love of his life for it to happen; he had been chosen. And realizing that, one day as he walked down California Street, down Nob Hill into the financial district, where he’d always felt inferior and out of touch with the world, as the brokers and bankers quickstepped around him, barking into their cell phones to Hong Kong or London or New York and never making eye contact, he started to not so much stroll, as strut. That day Charlie Asher climbed onto the California Street cable car for the first time since he was a kid, and hung off the bar, out over the street, holding out the sword-cane as if charging, with Hondas and Mercedes zooming along the street beside him, pas sing under his armpit just inches away. He got off at the end of the line, bought a Wall Street Journal from a machine, then walked to the nearest storm drain, spread out the Journal to protect his trousers against oil stains, then got down on his hands and knees and screamed into the drain grate, â€Å"I have been chosen, so don’t fuck with me!† When he stood up again, a dozen people were standing there, waiting for the light to change. Looking at him. â€Å"Had to be done,† Charlie said, not apologizing, just explaining. The bankers and the brokers, the executive assistants and the human-resource people and the woman on her way to serve up clam chowder in a sourdough bowl at the Boudin Bakery, all nodded, not sure exactly why, except that they worked in the financial district, and they all understood being fucked with, and in their souls if not in their minds, they knew that Charlie had been yelling in the right direction. He folded his paper, tucked it under his arm, then turned and crossed the street with them when the light changed. Sometimes Charlie walked whole blocks when he thought only of Rachel, and would become so engrossed in the memory of her eyes, her smile, her touch, that he ran straight into people. Other times people would bump into him, and not even lift his wallet or say â€Å"excuse me,† which might be a matter of course in New York, but in San Francisco meant that he was close to a soul vessel that needed to be retrieved. He found one, a bronze fireplace poker, set out by the curb with the trash on Russian Hill. Another time, he spotted a glowing vase displayed in the bay window of a Victorian in North Beach. He screwed up his courage and knocked on the door, and when a young woman answered, and came out on the porch to look for her visitor, and was bewildered because she didn’t see anyone there, Charlie slipped past her, grabbed the vase, and was out the side door before she came back in, his heart pounding like a war drum, adrenaline sizzling through his veins like a hormonal ti lt-a-whirl. As he headed back to the shop that particular morning, he realized, with no little sense of irony, that until he became Death, he’d never felt so alive. Every morning, Charlie tried to walk in a different direction. On Mondays he liked to go up into Chinatown just after dawn, when all the deliveries were being made – crates of produce, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, melons, and a dozen varieties of cabbage, tended by Latinos in the Central Valley and consumed by Chinese in Chinatown, having passed through Anglo hands just long enough to extract the nourishing money. On Mondays the fishing companies delivered their fresh catches – usually strong Italian men whose families had been in the business for five generations, handing off their catch to inscrutable Chinese merchants whose ancestors had bought fish from the Italians off horse-drawn wagons a hundred years before. All sorts of live and recently live fish were moved across the sidewalk: snapper and halibut and mackerel, sea bass and ling cod and yellowtail, clawless Pacific lobster, Dungeness crab, ghastly monkfish, with their long saberlike teeth and a sin gle spine that jutted from their head, bracing a luminous lure they used to draw in prey, so deep in the ocean that the sun never shone. Charlie was fascinated by the creatures from the very deep sea, the big-eyed squid, cuttlefish, the blind sharks that located prey with electromagnetic impulses – creatures who never saw light. They made him think of what might be facing him from the Underworld, because even as he fell into a rhythm of finding names at his bedside, and soul vessels in all manner of places, and the appearance of the ravens and the shades subsided, he could feel them under the street whenever he passed a storm sewer. Sometimes he could hear them whispering to one another, hushing quickly in the rare moments when the street went quiet. To walk through Chinatown at dawn was to become part of a dangerous dance, because there were no back doors or alleys for loading, and all the wares went across the sidewalk, and although Charlie had enjoyed neither danger nor dancing up till now, he enjoyed playing dance partner to the thousand tiny Chinese grandmothers in black slippers or jelly-colored plastic shoes who scampered from merchant to merchant, squeezing and smelling and thumping, looking for the freshest and the best for their families, twanging orders and questions to the merchants in Mandarin, all the while just a second or a slip away from being run over by sides of beef, great racks of fresh duck, or hand trucks stacked high with crates of live turtles. Charlie was yet to retrieve a soul vessel on one of his Chinatown walks, but he stayed ready, because the swirl of time and motion forecast that one foggy morning someone’s granny was going to get knocked out of her moo shoes. One Monday, just for sport, Charlie grabbed an eggplant that a spectacularly wizened granny was going for, but instead of twisting it out of his hand with some mystic kung fu move as he expected, she looked him in the eye and shook her head – just a jog, barely perceptible really – it might have been a tic, but it was the most eloquent of gestures. Charlie read it as saying: O White Devil, you do not want to purloin that purple fruit, for I have four thousand years of ancestors and civilization on you; my grandparents built the railroads and dug the silver mines, and my parents survived the earthquake, the fire, and a society that outlawed even being Chinese; I am mother to a dozen, grandmother to a hundred, and great-grandmother to a legion; I have birthed babies and washed the dead; I am history and suffering and wisdom; I am a Buddha and a dragon; so get your fucking hand off my eggplant before you lose it. And Charlie let go. And she grinned, just a little. Three teeth. And he wondered if it ever did fall to him to retrieve the soul vessel of one of these crones of Chronos, if he’d even be able to lift it. And he grinned back. And asked for her phone number, which he gave to Ray. â€Å"She seemed nice,† Charlie told him. â€Å"Mature.† Sometimes Charlie’s walks took him through Japantown, where he passed the most enigmatic shop in the city, Invisible Shoe Repair. He really intended to stop in one day, but he was still coming to terms with giant ravens, adversaries from the Underworld, and being a Merchant of Death, and he wasn’t sure he was ready for invisible shoes, let alone invisible shoes that needed repair! He often tried to look past the Japanese characters into the shop window as he passed, but saw nothing, which, of course, didn’t mean a thing. He just wasn’t ready. But there was a pet shop in Japantown (House of Pleasant Fish and Gerbil), where he had originally gone to buy Sophie’s fish, and where he returned to replace the TV attorneys with six TV detectives, who also simultaneously took the big Ambien a week later. Charlie had been distraught to find his baby daughter drooling away in front of a bowl floating more dead detectives than a film noir festival, and after fl ushing all six at once and having to use the plunger to dislodge Magnum and Mannix, he vowed that next time he would find more resilient pals for his little girl. He was coming out of House of PFG one afternoon, with a Habitrail pod containing a pair of sturdy hamsters, when he ran into Lily, who was making her way to a coffeehouse up on Van Ness, where she was planning to meet her friend Abby for some latte-fueled speed brooding. â€Å"Hey, Lily, how are you doing?† Charlie was trying to appear matter-of-fact, but he found that the awkwardness between him and Lily over the last few months was not mitigated by her seeing him on the street carrying a plastic box full of rodents. â€Å"Nice gerbils,† Lily said. She wore a Catholic schoolgirl’s plaid skirt over black tights and Doc Martens, with a tight black PVC bustier that was squishing pale Lily-bits out the top, like a can of biscuit dough that’s been smacked on the edge of the counter. The hair color du jour was fuchsia, over violet eye shadow, which matched her violet, elbow-length lace gloves. She looked up and down the street and, when she didn’t see anyone she knew, fell into step next to Charlie. â€Å"They’re not gerbils, they’re hamsters,† Charlie said. â€Å"Asher, do you have something you’ve been keeping from me?† She tilted her head a little, but didn’t look at him when she asked, just kept her eyes forward, scanning the street for someone who might recognize her walking next to Charlie, thus forcing her to commit seppuku. â€Å"Jeez, Lily, these are for Sophie!† Charlie said. â€Å"Her fish died, so I’m bringing her some new pets. Besides, that whole gerbil thing is an urban myth – â€Å" â€Å"I meant that you’re Death,† Lily said. Charlie nearly dropped his hamsters. â€Å"Huh?† â€Å"It’s so wrong – † Lily continued, walking on after Charlie had stopped in his tracks, so now he had to scurry to catch up to her. â€Å"Just so wrong, that you would be chosen. Of all of life’s many disappointments, I’d have to say that this is the crowning disappointment.† â€Å"You’re sixteen,† Charlie said, still stumbling a little at the matter-of-fact way she was discussing this. â€Å"Oh, throw that in my face, Asher. I’m only sixteen for two more months, then what? In the blink of an eye my beauty becomes but a feast for worms, and I, a forgotten sigh in a sea of nothingness.† â€Å"Your birthday is in two months? Well, we’ll have to get you a nice cake,† Charlie said. â€Å"Don’t change the subject, Asher. I know all about you, and your Death persona.† Charlie stopped again and turned to look at her. This time, she stopped as well. â€Å"Lily, I know I’ve been acting a little strangely since Rachel died, and I’m sorry you got in trouble at school because of me, but it’s just been trying to deal with it all, with the baby, with the business. The stress of it all has – â€Å" â€Å"I have The Great Big Book of Death,† Lily said. She steadied Charlie’s hamsters when he lost his grip. â€Å"I know about the soul vessels, about the dark forces rising if you fuck up, all that stuff – all of it. I’ve known longer than you have, I think.† Charlie didn’t know what to say. He was feeling panic and relief at the same time – panic because Lily knew, but relief because at least someone knew, and believed it, and had actually seen the book. The book! â€Å"Lily, do you still have the book?† â€Å"It’s in the store. I hid it in the back of the glass cabinet where you keep the valuable stuff that no one will ever buy.† â€Å"No one ever looks in that cabinet.† â€Å"No kidding? I thought if you ever found it, I’d say it had always been there.† â€Å"I have to go.† He turned and started walking the other direction, but then realized that they had already been heading toward his neighborhood and turned around again. â€Å"Where are you going?† â€Å"To get some coffee.† â€Å"I’ll walk with you.† â€Å"You will not.† Lily looked around again, wary that someone might see them. â€Å"But, Lily, I’m Death. That should at least have given me some level of cool.† â€Å"Yeah, you’d think, but it turns out that you have managed to suck the cool out of being Death.† â€Å"Wow, that’s harsh.† â€Å"Welcome to my world, Asher.† â€Å"You can’t tell anyone about this, you know that?† â€Å"Like anyone cares what you do with your gerbils.† â€Å"Hamsters! That’s not – â€Å" â€Å"Chill, Asher.† Lily giggled. â€Å"I know what you mean. I’m not going to tell anyone – except Abby knows – but she doesn’t care. She says she’s met some guy who’s her dark lord. She’s in that stage where she thinks a dick is some kind of mystical magic wand.† Charlie adjusted his hamster box uncomfortably. â€Å"Girls go through a stage like that?† Why was he just hearing about this now? Even the hamsters looked uncomfortable. Lily turned on a heel and started up the street. â€Å"I’m not having this conversation with you.† Charlie stood there, watching her go, balancing the hamsters and his completely useless sword-cane while trying to dig his cell phone out of his jacket pocket. He needed to see that book, and he needed to see it sooner than the hour it would take him to get home. â€Å"Lily, wait!† he called. â€Å"I’m calling a cab, I’ll give you a ride.† She waved him off without looking and kept walking. As he was waiting for the cab company to answer, he heard it, the voice, and he realized that he was standing right over a storm drain. It had been over a month since he’d heard them, and he thought maybe they’d gone. â€Å"We’ll have her, too, Meat. She’s ours now.† He felt the fear rise in his throat like bile. He snapped the phone shut and ran after Lily, cane rattling and hamsters bouncing as he went. â€Å"Lily, wait! Wait!† She spun around quickly and her fuchsia wig only did the quarter turn instead of the half, so her face was covered with hair when she said, â€Å"One of those ice-cream cakes from Thirty-one Flavors, okay? After that, despair and nothingness.† â€Å"We’ll put that on the cake,† Charlie said.