The Speckled Band Essay Example for Free

The Speckled Band Essay Physically, he is described as having a huge stature and a face marked with every kind of evil passion. He is a typical villain and a bully, who, as in all classic murder mysteries, comes to the nasty end, which he undoubtedly deserves. There are many other ways in which The Speckled Band is a perfect illustration of this genre. The character of Sherlock Holmes is very clever and logical, an imaginative genius. Like a classic detective, he is observant and thorough and has incredible powers of deduction. When the murdered womans sister, Helen Stoner, arrives to meet Holmes, he concludes simply from looking at a few splatters of mud on her left sleeve that she has come by dog cart, as well as train. Miss Stoner is taken aback by this observation yet cant help being impressed by the mans calm self-confidence. Throughout the story we never see Holmes suffer from fright, suggesting he is adventurous and courageous in his investigations. This is very typical as it adds suspense for the reader who never knows what frightful situations the great detective may find himself in. He is cultured and lives the life of a gentleman and bachelor; this is expressed in his elegant and precise speech. As far as we know, Sherlock Holmes shares no emotional ties and lives alone, satisfied with a life of wealth and solving crimes. We see from the way in which he doesnt ask Miss Stoner for a fee, other than expenses, that money is not the reason he has chosen this lifestyle. He shows great passion and commitment to his work, another classic trait of the murder mystery detective. As to reward, my profession is its own reward. He is also physically strong, as illustrated when he bends the poker stick back to its original position and remarks, I am not so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him that my grip was not much more feeble than his own. This kind of strength may not be so evident in modern-day detectives. Holmes is courteous and well mannered, even when being rude to his enemies. His speech is always very articulate, as in the scene where Dr Roylott visits his flat to give an aggressive warning, and Sherlock Holmes simply replies, Your conversation is most entertaining When you go out close the door, for there is a decided draught. Conan Doyles detective has become a prototype for classic murder mystery stories, someone whom readers can respect and admire. As already mentioned, much of the atmosphere of a murder mystery derives from how the writer sets the scene and describes the physical nature of the setting. The Speckled Band is certainly a good example of this. On the night of Julias murder the wind was howling outside and the rain was beating and splashing against the windows. This intensifies the mood already created by Miss Stoners early description of the old manor house with only one inhabited wing. This early impression of the Stoners ancestral house at Stoke Maron is reinforced when Holmes and Watson arrive at the mansion. The suspense builds up as it is gradually conveyed. Our first impression, from a distance, is of a heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the branches there jutted out the gray gables and high roof-tree of a very old mansion. It is only on approaching the building of gray litchen-blotched stone and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, that we become aware of its sinister nature. This helps to create tension. The picture of ruin described by Conan-Doyle supports the notion of Julias murder. The menacing images suggest there are more horrors to come. As the two enter the scene of the crime/bedroom that night, Holmes whispers gently into Watsons ear that the least sound would be fatal to their plans and they must sit awake in the darkened bedroom, or their lives may depend on it. We are then taken through the long hours in the absolute darkness, listening to every sound that echoes in the night, until the pitch black is suddenly sliced by a momentary gleam of light. At the same time there is a smell of burning and the silence is broken by a gentle hissing sound. Like the famous detective and his companion, all our senses are alert as we brace ourselves for some ghastly revelation. We are further held on tenterhooks by Holmess face, deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing, as he lashes out at some invisible foe. This is followed by a blood-curdling cry that carried all the way to the village, raised sleepers from their beds and struck cold in their hearts. Like all classic murder mysteries, the story has reached a thrilling climax, to be followed by the detectives explanation of events, here learned from the account that Holmes gives to Watson. The detective runs through the case, pointing to where he at first went wrong before demonstrating his remarkable powers of deduction. For example, he initially came to an entirely erroneous conclusion, showing how dangerous it always is to reason from insufficient data. This is followed by a detailed description of what actually happened. As classic detective, Holmes leaves the reader impressed by his skills and surprised by the truth that is eventually revealed. LUCIA REED Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Conan Doyle section.

Social Acceptance and Its Consequences :: essays research papers

There is a moment in every person’s life that defines what they will be and how they will do in the future. Although most people are unable to pinpoint the exact day and time of this moment, it is usually in early adolescence and involves that person’s peers and developing morals. It is usually caused by the metamorphosis from a completely dependent person to a social being where there is an increased pressure to fit in. The fictitious narrator in Alice Adams’ "Truth or Consequences" – itself an excerpt from her book To See You Again – was unique in that she could pinpoint this defining moment. Her experience with Carstairs Jones was a mixed blessing that she was not able to overcome and, in light of how her life turned out, was a foreshadowing of things to come. Throughout the monologue, the narrator drops hints about how her "normal" past turned out. The many lovers she’d had – three marriages and as many abortions. Each time she was seeking out to gain an upper hand in life and social status. Once, she writes, "I was raped by someone to whom I was married." These are not part of what most people would constitute as a "normal" life. The sublimation of her own values and morals to become part of the ‘in’ crowd at her elementary school started with the malicious game of Truth or Consequences where she was the victim of a trick question designed to humilate her. Car Jones happened to be the rock adjacent to the hard place she was wedged between. Her ill fate led to the use of Car to prop her into social acceptance and the toll that Car imposed on her for her use of him caused confusion that stayed with her throughout her life. In her own mind, the narrator decides that all of these events can be traced back to the incident with Car and, as indicated by the final line in the story, cause her to be traumatized and allow these things to happen. "†¦ he could be as haunted as I am by everything that ever happened in his life." The traumatization threw the narrator into the arms of the most popular kid in class and that in turn led to her descent up the ladder of popularity. She reasons that to Car, the event was of little consequence and was quickly forgotten. Just the last ‘bad’ thing he could do before his sudden advancement to high school. He just floated above all of the inconsequential things that he did and followed what he wished with nary a look back.

Organizational Communications Analysis Women’s Resource Center at Norman, Oklahoma

The Women’s Resource Center was originally started in 1973 and 1974 during the winter. It was originally started by a graduate student who wanted to assist women who were in transition points in the life. This organization could not function without effective communication and to analyze the communication strategies of the organization can provide helpful information that could further improve them. This included those women who were looking for employment as well as women who wanted to return to school. Since its opening the center has developed many programs and services (â€Å"History.. † 1). There are many programs available at the Women’s Resource Center and these include WRC Victims of Domestic Violence Shelter (providing safe temporary housing to victims of domestic violence and their children); Rape Response Team (trained volunteers who are available to meet with rape victims at the ER); counseling (specialized for victims of sexual assault or domestic abuse); WRC Education Program (offers staff that speak in a variety of places for about topics having to deal with domestic violence, date rape, healthy relationships and other topics); Children’s Program (groups that focus on letting children express their emotions and feelings); Court Advocacy (court advocates to help women through the legal system); and WRC Cells (a program to offer victims cell phones at no cost in case of an emergency) (â€Å"Programs.. † 1-2). There are also some training workshops. The main one is SANE (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) Volunteer Training, a specialized trainin g for nurses to learn how to do forensic rape test kits (â€Å"Training†¦Ã¢â‚¬  1). Effective communication is one of those things that are important to how well an organization is run. The Women’s Resource Center in Norman, Oklahoma has a lot of strengths in their communications. They do a good job of training both their staff and their volunteers. They work with their staff on issues about communications and knowing when to talk and when to be able to allow others to talk as they are dealing with people in very difficult situations. They learn how to effectively communicate for the situations that they are in where there is a high risk to the women that they are talking to. This means that there is a lot of training put into the idea of communications for this organization. Their main strength in communication is the overall ability to communicate effectively with those who are in a tough situation. The reason that this works so well is that there is a great deal of things in the communication process (Lee 2). Knowing the communication process can greatly help how communications are for people. According to Lass well’s model of communication there needs to be an effect for the communication to take place. What this is saying is that what is being communicated needs to have a point and a direction. In this communication process the organization is trying to point out that women deserve respect and self assurance (Lee 3). The idea of effective communication for change is something that this organization does well. The organization has made a lot of changes in the past both the long term past and the recent past. These changes are effectively communicated if three major components are available in the strategy. This study by Larkin and Larkin stated: â€Å"Communicate only facts; stop communicating values. Communicate face to face; do not rely on videos, publications or large scale meetings. And target front line supervisors; do not let executives introduce the change to frontline employees. † This is an example of the effective things that Women’s Resource Center communicates as they use a strategy that shows that each level learns new things (Cheney 330). Some of the negative things that are done at the Women’s Resource Center with communications are that the trainings are not available to the public for information. They do offer some training seminars but in the end the trainings are not available as a program on the intense level. The communication process is not as well done in advertisement or getting the word out about the programs that are available. Another area that shows weakness in communication is the organization. There is not a strong organization in this company and there are many different people volunteering and/or working for the agency. Some of the areas that could use improvement include the areas of communication about the organization and throughout the organizations volunteers and employees. This meaning that they all could use better communication to communicate between one another. The idea as stated in the same study as above is that there is sometimes little credibility to the values could be one of the communication problems in this area as it would be a problem in communicating and that the upper management and board of directors have not had a very clear vision with the Women’s Resource Center as many things have changed about their main values and ideas since the creation of the center which could cause some confusion (Cheney 330-333). A second area that has caused some problems with communications in the organization has been a lack of employed resources. This means that there are a lot of volunteers who might not have the same standards to communicating needs as regular full time or even part time employees would have. In order to effectively improve these areas there would have to be a system set up which would give both volunteers and employees a chance to express their feelings and ideas without the fear of being persecuted and with the idea that anyone who is involved has an opinion that matters. The idea that communication is a big part of leadership and how well leadership runs is based on the leader’s ability to communicate effectively. In this case this would be an area for needed improvement (Cheney 205-206). There are many areas where improvements could be made in the communication processes with the Women’s Resource Center. Some of these areas are that the management could be give better support to all of the volunteers and employees alike. Another thing that could happen is that those who are involved would be able to voice their opinions and give a case for care. They would be able to effectively communicate their needs in a process that would be pre-developed by management as it would be something that they could use on a regular basis. This means that they would be able to better manage their communications needs by effectively learning how to resolve issues and discuss issues with proper communications. The theory of Schramm on communication and the idea that overlapping boundaries and experiences make for easier communications is key in the field and services that the Women’s Resource Center is providing. It is in this process that these workers and volunteers would be able to communicate better with the clientele based on whether or not they had shared the same or similar experiences in their past (Lee 3-4). The strengths and weaknesses for this organization were apparent when reading over the press releases and other information available about the organization. Also the writer observed the communication aspects while working for the organization prior to returning to graduate school. This was observed through being a part of the organization’s training and programs. It was also observed through understanding information about the programs and how they are communicated to the public. Being able to effectively communicate is very important in the field of social work and for social service agencies. The one area where communication is well done is between the staff and the victims that come in for services as the training programs in this area are very good. Therefore their main strength is being able to communicate well to women in tough situations. The Women’s Resource Center is an organization that needs to have superior communication skills in order to deal with the problems that are being affected on a regular basis through their organization as they readily do not know what is going on and sometimes are in need of being able to communicate in a more effective manner. One of the main problems has been a lack of communications through the numerous volunteers and employees and in the end it has been a cause for some communication gaps. The main thing that can be done to improve the status of these things is for there to be a better communications system in place in general for the organization. This means that the organization would have better communication between the management and the employees and volunteers. Some of these communication gaps are what are causing the down fall for this organization and are some of the leading causes of the overall conflict that is experienced within the organization. There are always going to be â€Å"inherent challenges† when discussing communication and workplace environments (Messersmith 1). In the end communication is very important in all areas of life and when there is effective communications in some areas it lends hope to the idea that there could be effective communications in all areas of an organization. While analyzing communications for the Women’s Resource Center it is no wonder that there are many different types of communication used and it is no wonder that there are some needs for improvement. Most of the need for improvement falls on the overall board of directors and their ability to create a clear plan for what they want and what is going on within the organization. Without this they are not able to give back to the organization what is needed in order to be effective in their management and other skills. So what is needed is for the organization to work on their being able to communicate better within the organization through a set system in place for communications. This would mean that no matter when the individual was seen and whom she was seen by the whole organization would be able to help her in the future. Preparing basic short case studies and sharing them during a team meeting would be one way that this could be possible. Part of this is also being open about the organization’s needs. â€Å"Employees need to be aware of the challenges the company is facing so that they can do their part to help. † A second thing that needs to be done better is the communications that are given between the organization and the community, meaning that the community would be better informed in the future (Basili 2).

Internal Isolation In Frankenstein - 1144 Words

Internal and External Isolation Isolation plays an important role in â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, â€Å"Spring and Fall†, and Frankenstein. All of these works of literature have characters that have experienced some level of isolation. The monster that Frankenstein created was put into isolation with the knowledge of a new born child. In the poem â€Å"Spring and Fall† Margaret experiences the same emotional isolation just as every child does. Miss Emily Grierson subjected herself to isolation and stayed alone in her home for the final years of her life. Like Emily, Frankenstein ingrained himself into isolation for the sake of his studies. All of these characters have one thing in common, isolation. Everybody has a sense of isolation mentally or physically†¦show more content†¦The monster has created the idea that if someone is isolated both mentally and physically they will go insane. In the short story â€Å"A Rose for Emily† Miss Emily Grierson is isolated from her town for the last decade of her life. She had become the crazy lady of the town. Emily was not able to deal with the changes that happened around her. She couldn’t handle losing her father and husband at the same time. The Griersons were known for being â€Å"a little too high for what they really were† (Faulkner). Emily belonged to a different time and place but was stuck inside of her house instead. Emily and the monster were both shunned from their societies. While there were â€Å"incredible changes in the world around her she was simply left behind as an anachronism† (Skei). Just like Emily the monster was also isolated from the society around him. As soon as he went into public people were afraid. At the end of both stories it was obvious that an extended period of isolation makes people do crazy things. Even though the similarities between the monster and Miss Emily are significant, they have some major differences. The monster was born alone and will most likely die alone in Frankenstein. Miss Emily Grierson was born into a wealthy family and also died alone. The difference in these circumstances was that the monster had no choice. He was left alone as soon as he was created. Emily, on the other hand, chose isolation. Emily refused â€Å"toShow MoreRelatedFrankenstein, By Mary Shelley1664 Words   |  7 PagesThe novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is one revolving around Victor Frankenstein, a young and brilliant scientist with an almost obsessive fascination with the secret of life. Finally, while working alone in his laboratory one night, he creates what he wanted--a living being out of the organs of a dead man. The monstrous creation at first is gentle and loving, but is soon forced to hide away from society due to humankind’s fear of its appearance. 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