Applying Information Security and SDLC Essay Example for Free

Applying Information Security and SDLC Essay Write a paper of no more than 3,000 words in which you discuss one of the bookstores, use the SDLC method to implement a new technology into the bookstore, and detail a disaster recovery plan for the bookstore. Cite at least five references in your paper. Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines. If you are thinking of joining a fraternity or sorority, take the time to look into what each individual house has to offer. While there are similarities, many houses are different in the types of community service they do, the types of activities they prefer, and the overall attitude they portray. This pack contains BIS 320 Week 5 Applying Information Security and SDLC to Business General Questions General General Questions Resource: University of Phoenix Material: Applying Information Security and SDLC to Business Write a paper of no more than 3,000 words in which you discuss one of the bookstores, use the SDLC method to implement a new technology into the bookstore, and detail a disaster recovery plan for the bookstore. Cite at least five references in your paper. Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines. If you are thinking of joining a fraternity or sorority, take the time to look into what each individual house has to offer. While there are  similarities, many houses are different in the types of community service they do, the types of activities they prefer, and the overall attitude they portray. This pack contains BIS 320 Week 5 Applying Information Security and SDLC to Business General Questions General General Questions Resource: University of Phoe https://bitly.com/12BDPWw If you are thinking of joining a fraternity or sorority, take the time to look into what each individual house has to offer. While there are similarities, many houses are different in the types of community service they do, the types of activities they prefer, and the overall attitude they portray. General Questions General General Questions Resource: University of Phoenix Material: Applying Information Security and SDLC to Business Write a paper of no more than 3,000 words in which you discuss one of the bookstores, use the SDLC method to implement a new technology into the bookstore, and detail a disaster recovery plan for the bookstore. Cite at least five references in your paper. Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

Applications of Positivism in Social Research

Applications of Positivism in Social Research Scientific methodology in sociology, the study of the social world, is most often associated with what is known as the positivist approach. In this essay, to determine whether or not it is indeed possible to apply scientific methods to the study of the social world, I will analyse the strengths and weaknesses of positivist sociology. â€Å"As developed by Auguste Comte, positivism is a way of thinking based on the assumption that it is possible to observe social life and establish reliable, valid knowledge about how it works.† (Johnson p231) This established knowledge was then to be used to affect the course of social change and it would help improve humanity. Comte’s work was in part a reaction to the ‘anarchy’ that besieged France in the wake of the revolution. Comte sincerely believed that scientific rationality could temper the raw human emotions that had lead to such chaos. Sociology, in his definition (and others), literally the science of society, co uld apply such scientific rationalism, empiricism and positivism to social life, thus improving it and preventing continued anarchy. â€Å"Comte believed that social life is governed by underlying laws and principles that can be discovered through the use of methods most often associated with the physical sciences.† (Johnson p231) One would identify the methods of positivism thus; careful observation measurement; quantification; formalisation of concepts precision in definition; operationalisation of theoretical questions mathematisation (connects with all of the previous features; logic and systemisation of theory symmetry of explanation prediction; objectivity understood as value neutrality. â€Å"It consists in deliberately investigating phenomena with the expectations derived from the theory in mind and seeing whether or not the facts actually found agree with these expectations.† (Delanty p52) â€Å"If observed facts of undoubted accuracy will not fit any of the alternatives it leaves open, the system is in need of reconstruction.† (Delanty p53) Positivism, â€Å"Is above all a philosophy of science. As such, it stands squarely within the empiricist tradition. Metaphysical speculation is rejected in favour of positive knowledge based upon systematic observation and experiment. The methods of science can give us knowledge of the laws of coexistence.† (Marshall p510) However, as shall hopefully be shown later, these scientific methods can not show us anything about the inner ‘essences’ or ‘nature’ of things. Broadly speaking structuralism is, â€Å"Used loosely in sociology to refer to any approach which regards social structure (apparent or otherwise) as having priority over social action.† (Johnson p646) Positivism and structuralism are generally highly complementary, positivism effectively being the scientific methodology of structuralism. This can be observed in the works of Comte, Marx, Durkheim and the Vienna circle. Later theorists such as Parsons can also be described as both str ucturalist and positivist although in Parson’s case he does consider certain interpretivist sensibilities. Marx, Durkheim, Comte, the Vienna circle and many others all saw sociology as a science and all believed that social structure was the core component of society. â€Å"Perhaps one of the most important traits in naturalistic or positivistic sociology is the belief that social phenomena are patterned and are subject to deterministic laws much as are the laws governing the natural sciences. Sociological theory then becomes a quest for laws similar to the law of gravity or the law of material density in physics† (Poloma p3) The main difference between the social and natural worlds is that the subject of study in the social world is humanity. People, in basic terms, have a consciousness where as the subjects of the natural sciences, rocks or atoms or chemicals, do not. People are aware of themselves and their surroundings in a way that rocks, for example, are not. This, clearly, is a potential problem for positivist sociology. However, this problem is resolved, in positivist science, by arguing that the self-consciousness of human beings (the ability to think, act and feel) is not a significant factor in our ability to understand social behaviour. This, according to positivists, is because peoples behaviour is, at its genesis, always a reaction to some form of stimulation. This stimulation can be from their socialisation (as we shall see in Parsons work), or it can be something more direct like the need to earn a living or a confrontation with another human. This produces one of the criticisms of positiv ist sociology, as we shall see, action and the meaning placed on that action becomes unimportant for study, only the cause of the action, the stimuli, has any sociological value for positivists. The positivist view of sociology, of its aims, of its methods, is certainly a contentious one. Two of the first sociologists to question these methods, and the first that can be labelled as interpretivist, were Weber and Simmel. â€Å"Weber argues that sociology is not concerned with totalising explanations; only individuals have an ontological reality, society does not exist in that real sense, and so sociological explanations must be in terms of individual events and processes.† (Craib 1997 p51) Rickert’s term of Geisteswissenschaften (literally the sciences of the spirit/mind) greatly influenced Weber’s conception of what sociology should be. The ontological reality which Weber speaks of is that humans are very different from other natural beings. We have free will, an inner life, use symbols, possess language, live in culture and act meaningfully. This ontological reality ensures that humanity cannot be studied using positivist scientific methodology, or any other conventional scientific methodology, sociology must use other methods. While the natural sciences wish to explain natural events, sociology, as understood by Weber, Rickert or Simmel, wishes to understand social action. Social scientists should endeavour to understand social action in very much the same way as one attempts to understand other people, by communicating, through empathy, and through argument. These views are also associated with, and expanded upon, by the philosopher Peter Winch. (Winch 1958) As Weber states, â€Å"Even the knowledge of the most certain propositions of our theoretical sciences – e.g., the exact natural sciences or mathematics is, like the cultivation and refinement of the conscience, a product of culture.† (Delanty p110) In many ways the objective ‘fact’ of scientific enquiry is a fallacy. â€Å"Sociology differs from the natural sciences in that it does not deal with a pre given universe of objects. People attribute meaning to their social world and act accordingly.† (Baert p97) Weber, in his Methodology of The Social Sciences, points out that all knowledge of cultural reality is always from a particular point of view. The philosophical idea that there is no truth, only human opinion is prevalent in this argument. Simmel emphasises and expands upon this point, â€Å"In the last resort the content of any science doesn’t rest on simple objective facts, but always involves an interpretation and shaping of them according to categories and rules that are a priori of the science concerned.† (Stones p74) Any scientific conclusion, be it in the field of physics or sociology, has to be interpreted by its author, then represented by that same author and then reinterpreted by those that read it. In these interpretations any ‘truth’ or ‘law ’ is surrendered to human opinion, human meaning, human understanding. This criticism of positivist sociology is probably best illustrated by a discussion of a classic positivist sociological text, Emile Durkheim’s suicide study. In his study, Durkheim analysed the differential distribution of the occurrence of suicide by country and region. Durkheim professed to have found suicidogenic currents (Durkheim 1963) in society; the pressures to commit suicide, the laws of suicide. â€Å"These are called ‘social currents’†¦They come to each one of us from without and can carry us away in spite of ourselves.† (Delanty p28) Through a positivist, scientific methodology, Durkheim identified the pressures to commit suicide were greater in regions where the Protestant faith was dominant, and weaker where Catholicism dominated. Durkheim’s account posits an external force (suicidogenic currents) as the cause of suicide cause and effect. (Durkheim 1963) However why suicide occurs tends not to be the issue. To say that suicide is caused, not entirely obviously but in part, by the following of the Protestant faith is to assume that the term suicide is a simple one, a fixed one, with no room fo r differing meanings. This view is wrong. What is of importance is how a suicide comes to be defined as such by the coroner’s court. One must remember that a suicide is not an objective fact, but a interpretation, an interpretation that can be influenced by the coroner’s own personal feelings. If a ruling of suicide is likely to cause the deceased’s family pain and suffering, as is likely if they are Catholics, then the coroner may be inclined, where ever possible, to not record a suicide verdict, but an accidental death instead This alerts us to the problematic nature of Durkheim’s, and positivist sociology in general, reliance on statistics. For Durkheim takes those statistics as giving a ‘true’ picture of the incidence of suicide. But do they? Are they rather a representation of the interpretation of suicide as opposed to cold hard objective fact? Interactions/ interpretive work on suicide states that suicide statistics are a construction involving police, courts and coroners. Thus for a death to be counted as a suicide involves a complex social process concerning meaning and interpretation, two unquantifiable characteristics of humanity. Thus suicide is not just the effect of a societal cause, but an interpretation of events, thus not a positivist, scientific event. Therefore if sociologists wish a knowledge of social life, they cannot explain social actors’ action in terms of cause and effect. Rather, they must seek out what the social actors themselves say they are up to, wha t they mean. â€Å"Comte’s view shifted in later life, under the influence of Cloitilde de Vaux. He came to see that science alone could not be a binding force for social cohesion as he had earlier supposed. He argued that the intellect must become the servant of the heart, and advocated a new ‘religion of humanity.’† (Marshall p509) Comte, the originator of the positivist sociological methodology shifted his emphasis away from positivism in his later work, thus exposing the inherent problems and weaknesses at its methodological core. â€Å"Positivism has had relatively little influence in contemporary sociology for several reasons. Current views argue that positivism encourages a misleading emphasis on superficial facts without any attention to underlying mechanisms that cannot be observed.† (Johnson p231) For example, we cannot observe human motives or the meaning that people give to behaviour and other aspects of social life, but this does not me an that meaning and motive are nonexistent or irrelevant. The best way to illustrate the above points is to set them within the context of a positivist sociological study, in this case Parson’s work on personality. For society to function, it is logical according to Parsons to deduce that the individual members of society have to agree with society’s rule. â€Å"For Parsons, the social system is†¦made up of the interactions of individuals. Of special concern is†¦ that such interactions are not random but mediated by common standards of evaluation. Most important among these are moral standards which may be called norms.† (Hamilton p155) When people in society interact the interactions themselves, the emotions that seemingly control them, the goals that the individual actors (people) are hoping to obtain, they are all in fact controlled by the norms of society. â€Å"The concept of order is located predominantly at the level of the social system itself and the cultural system becomes a mechanism of the functioning of the social system.† (Hamilton p146) These norms are adopted and agreed by each member of the society for Parsons and this is his consensus theory. Imp ortantly Parsons’ theory suggests that the power of societal expectations, the power of norms, is more pervasive than merely being a moral standard that mediates interaction and personal relationships. They are in fact the organisational foci of personality, of people themselves. â€Å"Socialisation is the process by which we learn to become members of society, both by internalising the norms and values of society, and also learning to perform our social roles (as worker, friend, citizen and so forth.)† (Marshall p624) The family, for instance, is controlled by the same norms as society because it is that society, just it is a smaller component of it. The subsystems of society are analogous to body parts in the Parsonian model, they are all essential, each provide their own unique function and all interrelate, interpenetrate and are dependent upon one another. Analogous to the human body where each body part has a specific function to perform, and all of those parts work in unison to keep the structure going, so society is organised. Immersion within these subsystems, such as the family leads to internalisations of norms and objects, and this in turn creates personality. Because personality is internalised from society, â€Å"The foci of organisation of both types of system lies in†¦the value systems.† (Parsons p357) The values of society are the values of people, or personality. People are not just guided by the norms of society, but their very personalities are organised by the very same norms and principles and morals, according to Parsons. Thus peoples actions are quantifiable, reducible to a law since they are mediated by common standards. As gravity is a constant, so are the norms of a society and therefore of personality. The positivist law here is that personality, every action of a human is controlled by the same standards of evaluation as society. The person’s personality is derived directly from society, it is society. Thus a scientific study of society is possible because there is cause and effect, there is a reaction to stimuli. Socialisation is the stimulation that people react to. For Parsons, laws can be discerned from humanity because people will react in predictable ways, mediated by norms, to the stimulation of events and socialisation. Thus sociology can be scientific, empirical and positivist. A major problem with Parson’s work is that it reduces human personality to being produced and organised solely by societal expectations and norms. This societal determinism fails to acknowledge or explain where certain feelings, motives and actions originate. Goffman argues that â€Å"it is . . . against something that the self can emerge. . . Without something to belong to, we have no stable self, and yet total commitment and attachment to any social unit implies a kind of selflessness. Our sense of being a person can come from being drawn into a wider social unit; our sense of selfhood can arise through the little ways in which we resist the pull.† (Goffman 196 p305) A favourite example of this for Goffman was that of mental patients in asylums. The total institution of an asylum probably forces more strict adherence to societal expectation than most other social situations by using methods such as drug induced control and disciplinary measures such as EST. Yet in the se institutions, despite being forced to play the role of the mental patient, to conform to societal expectation), patients still resisted those expectations. The hoarding of banned materials being an example of this. The motivation to do this does not come from internalisation of norms, as the correct way to behave is to not horde banned items. It comes from a need to keep ones own identity, to satisfy needs and drives and wants. These needs drives and wants are absent from the Parsonian model and a full understanding or explanation of society and social actions needs to take them into account. â€Å"The maintenance of this surface of agreement, this veneer of consensus, is facilitated by each participant concealing his own wants behind statements which assert values to which everyone present feels obliged to give lip service.† (Goffman 1990 p20-21) The norms and laws that Parsons believes to control personality and society, are revealed by Goffman as only being a veneer. Furthermore Goffman states that other feelings and motives in fact influence social action, not just norms. If, as Goffman claims, the so called common standards of evaluation that Parsons identifies are in fact a veneer that hides other motives and feelings, then the actions of humanity are not as easily quantifiable, reducible to a scientific, positivist law, as Parsons first shows. Freud’s metapsychology deals with the general structure of mental life. For Freud there were three psychic structures. The first, the id, contains, â€Å"those basic drives we have by virtue of being human, of which sexuality is the most important.† (Craib 1989 p3) The Id is often equated to by Freud as being like an infant, demanding immediate satisfaction irrespective of societal expectations. The Id makes up the greatest part of the unconscious and it is in this unconscious realm of basic biologically influenced drives that the motivational forces that Parson’s can not identity come from. The Id influences personality. It is important to remember that, as opposed to biological instincts driving us to act like a shark would, a mindless automaton, â€Å"the unconscious is composed not of biological instincts but of the mental representations we attach to these instincts.† (Craib 1989 p4) Thus each individual creates their own mental representation for the ir drives thus meaning that every persons internal world has a different geography. This clearly poses problems for the positivist approach to personality and society and social action, as represented by Parsons here, for if reaction to stimulation is not predictable because each person acts differently, then universal scientific laws can not be established. The second structure of personality according to Freud, the ego or the ‘I’ is the central organiser of mental life. The third, the superego is thought of as the conscience. â€Å"The superego is the internalisation of external control which demands the renuncification of instinctual satisfaction in order that society might be formed and maintained.† (Craib 1989 p21) The superego is the part of personality that Parson’s identifies the part that internalises norms. The basic drives of the id demand immediate satisfaction, immediate gratification of those drives, these demands are contrary to the superego norms and morality, and the conflict has to be resolved by the ego. Our consciousness, predominantly consisting of the ego and superego, protects us from our own id impulses that, if they were followed, would leave it impossible for us to exist within society. Freud stated that â€Å"Civilisation depends upon repression†¦If we tried to gratify all our d esires, sexual or otherwise, as and when they arose, society, civilisation and culture would vanish over night.† (Craib 1984 p195) For Freud the ‘I’, is the resolution of the conflict between the id biologically directed drives, and the superego’s societal restraints. Therefore personality is the site of the, hopefully, resolved conflict between the normative mind evaluated by common standards as Parsons identifies, and the basic id drives. These Id drives, as I shall show, influence personality thus influence social action and society. This being the case then Parsons’ explanation for personality is insufficient and so is the positivist claim for the scientific study of society. The positivist tenants of careful observation and measurement; quantification; formalisation of concepts precision in definition; operationalisation of theoretical questions; mathematisation; logic and systemisation of theory; symmetry of explanation prediction and objecti vity cannot be applied to individualistic Id drives and impulses. â€Å"The desire to kill anyone who frustrates us thus becomes unconscious, but none the less remains.† (Craib 1989 p24) Evidence for these desires for Freud appears in slips, where the unconscious desire can ‘slip’ into conscious conversation. â€Å"Freud quotes the husband who supposedly said, ‘If one of us two die, I shall move to Paris.† (Craib 1989 p24) One can not scientifically measure how these unconscious desires influence and effect social action, especially since it can be so hard to identify them as existing in the first place. â€Å"A feature of human life is that an instinct such as the sexual instinct is not directed at any one object, but has to be socially channelled, in our society usually towards members of the opposite sex.† (Craib 1989 p4) â€Å"Human beings are restrained by social organisation from a free and good expression of their drives. Through its oppression, society forces people into neuroses and psychoses.† (Craib 1989 p19) For Freud the very problems that he and other psychoanalysts dealt with were in fact often as the result of the repression of id drives by the superego and societal repression. As such the very existence of neuroses and psychoses can be seen as evidence to the fact that this conflict does indeed exist, that the resolution of this conflict does indeed produce the ‘I’ with all its faults and problems. To fully understand society, sociology needs to be aware of societal pressures, the Parson’s personality through positivism, but also nee ds to recognise the other meanings and emotions that cannot be quantified, cannot be analysed scientifically. Sociology needs to use interpretivism and positivism together. In terms of this example, Parsons positivist models needs to be considered at great length and detail as he does indeed identify a huge force in shaping society, that of norms and how they do penetrate into the psyche and personality. However, a study that only concentrates on the positivist methodology misses the crucial aspects of personality that Goffman and Freud identify, and that is not in the interest of any sociologist. â€Å"Positivism may be dead in that there is no longer an identifiable community of philosophers who give its simpler characteristics unqualified support, but it lives on philosophically, developed until it transmutes into conventionalism or realism. And even if in its simpler philosophical forms it is dead, the spirit of those earlier formulations continues to haunt sociology.† (Halfpenny p120) In conclusion positivism’s attempt at scientific sociological methodology, though fallacious is admirable and certainly many of the aspects of positivism should be considered desirable. As quoted elsewhere, â€Å"positivism is a way of thinking based on the assumption that it is possible to observe social life and establish reliable, valid knowledge about how it works.† (Johnson p231) The desire for reliable, valid knowledge is of course a relevant and important sociological aim and some of the tools that positivism uses to try to reach such knowledge are useful and wort hwhile. Careful observation, measurement; quantification; formalisation of concepts precision in definition; operationalisation of theoretical questions; logic and systemisation of theory; symmetry of explanation and prediction and objectivity, if all of these tenants of positivism can at least be attempted in a sociological study then that sociological study will indeed be the better for it. However, sociological study needs to recognise, as Comte himself did, that these aims, in their fullest, are unobtainable and that those aims are not ends in themselves, rather a very rough guide to sociological methodology. As I have hopefully shown above, sociological analysis needs positivism, needs scientific methodology, but a carefully tempered and monitored positivism. The aim of sociology is understanding and that understanding should not be limited by methodology, especially a methodology that is inherently flawed. Positivism shows us how to analyse data, data that is essential to soc iological understand, but that data must not be treated uncritically thus a synthesis of positivism and interpretivism is recommended. To study the social world using a strict scientific methodology is impossible, that does not, of course, mean that scientific methodology is not a useful and critical tool in sociological study. Bibliography Baert, P, 1998. Social theory in the twentieth century. Polity press Craib, I, 1984. Modern social theory. Wheatsheaf books Ltd Craib, I, 1989. Psychoanalysis and social theory the limits of sociology Wheatsheaf Craib, I, 1997. Classical social theory pub by Oxford university press Delanty, G, 2003. Philosophies of social science. Open university. Durkheim, E, 1963. Suicide, a study in sociology. Routledge Goffman, E, 1961 Asylums. Doubleday Anchor Goffman, E, 1990. The presentation of the self in everyday life. Penguin Halfpenny, P, 1986. Positivism and sociology. Routledge Johnson, G 2000 The dictionary of sociology Blackwell Hamilton, P, 1992. Talcott Parsons critical assessments. Routledge Marshall, G 1998. Oxford dictionary of sociology. Oxford university press Parsons, T, The structure of social action Free Press 1949 Poloma, M, 1979. Contemporary sociological theory. MacMillan Stones, R, 1998. Key sociological thinkers. Palgrave Winch, P, 1958. The Idea Of a Social Science. Routledge

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury :: Fahrenheit 451 Essays

Fahrenheit 451 Â   Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a novel about the descent into super-individualism through mass governmental brainwashing. The book begins while the main character, Guy Montag, is burning a house for concealing contraband literature. It portraits the pleasure he derives from this act of mindless destruction. After this work though an eccentric neighbor girl who does not fit the status quo confronts him. She begins to ask him questions that force him to think about things he has taken for granted before. The story progresses as this girl continually influences him until a car killed her. The next time he is called to incinerate a house, he ends up taking a book and watching an old lady burn to death. This event coupled with the death of the neighbor girl influence him to seek out a book-reading professor he had met previous to this story. The professor and him begin to plot the downfall of society and the Firemen. Just when you think things are gonna work out, he is ordered to burn his house after which he burns his boss with a flame-thrower. This makes him a fugitive from justice. He then flees from the scene and ends up evading the manhunt. After a while he meets up with other people who are fugitives because of their literary learning. The next day the city he fled from is destroyed in an atomic blast and the bums go in to help the survivors. Â   a) Man against Man: The only instance in the story that fits this category is the conflict Guy has with his boss. His boss, Beatty begins to suspect Guy's illegal reading of contraband and begins to take steps for Guy's downfall. First of all Beatty is much smarter and well learned than Guy so he begins to play mind games to try and trip him up. He also forces Guy to burn his house and tries to arrest him. Guy comes out on top and wins the conflict by setting his boss on fire. Â   b) Man against Himself: One good example of this type of conflict is the inner turmoil in Guy Montag. This conflict was started by his talks with the neighbor girl. She awakened a self-thinking side of him that was at odds with his brainwashed, socially acceptable side. As should be, this new side won out over his old self after he thought about it. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury :: Fahrenheit 451 Essays Fahrenheit 451 Â   Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a novel about the descent into super-individualism through mass governmental brainwashing. The book begins while the main character, Guy Montag, is burning a house for concealing contraband literature. It portraits the pleasure he derives from this act of mindless destruction. After this work though an eccentric neighbor girl who does not fit the status quo confronts him. She begins to ask him questions that force him to think about things he has taken for granted before. The story progresses as this girl continually influences him until a car killed her. The next time he is called to incinerate a house, he ends up taking a book and watching an old lady burn to death. This event coupled with the death of the neighbor girl influence him to seek out a book-reading professor he had met previous to this story. The professor and him begin to plot the downfall of society and the Firemen. Just when you think things are gonna work out, he is ordered to burn his house after which he burns his boss with a flame-thrower. This makes him a fugitive from justice. He then flees from the scene and ends up evading the manhunt. After a while he meets up with other people who are fugitives because of their literary learning. The next day the city he fled from is destroyed in an atomic blast and the bums go in to help the survivors. Â   a) Man against Man: The only instance in the story that fits this category is the conflict Guy has with his boss. His boss, Beatty begins to suspect Guy's illegal reading of contraband and begins to take steps for Guy's downfall. First of all Beatty is much smarter and well learned than Guy so he begins to play mind games to try and trip him up. He also forces Guy to burn his house and tries to arrest him. Guy comes out on top and wins the conflict by setting his boss on fire. Â   b) Man against Himself: One good example of this type of conflict is the inner turmoil in Guy Montag. This conflict was started by his talks with the neighbor girl. She awakened a self-thinking side of him that was at odds with his brainwashed, socially acceptable side. As should be, this new side won out over his old self after he thought about it.

Defenses for Democracy Essay -- Papers Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Defenses for Democracy Is liberty a bad thing? Socrates seemed to think so. In Book VIII of Plato's Republic, Socrates criticizes democracy by attacking three of its most important aspects: liberty, equality, and majority rule. He asserts that because of these things, a democratic city will always fall into tyranny. I disagree, and feel that all three of the principles are essential to a fair and just city, and only in their absence can a city be taken into tyranny. Socrates begins his observations on the defects of a democratic government by first attacking liberty. His main argument is that there is entirely too much of it. People in a democracy are free to do what they wish in their lives and are free to chose what if any job they will do. Socrates asks if, like the man with the democratic soul, they will not just pass the time and not get much done (Plato, 557e). This may be true, but people who do not work do not eat. In Socrates city, much like in a communist regime, all of the people in a city are responsible for the common good of all of the other members of their city. A man who does nothing would truly be a burden on this society, but unlike in Socrates city, or a communist state, in a capitalist democracy people are responsible for their own survival, and a man must work if he is to have a food, shelter, and all of the other necessities of life. When describing his just city, Socrates was very much in favor of specialization of labor (Plato, 367e-372b), so for a man to try many things would go against his concept of what belongs in a good city. But Shouldn?t one try one?s hand at many tasks until one find a job that best fulfills one?s soul? In Alienated Labor, Ka... ...ey would still be in existence today. Bibliography: Davis, Michael. The Politics of Philosophy. London: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1996 Hamilton, Alexander. Constitutional Convention Address. Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia. 29 Jul. 1787 Durant, Will. The Story of Philosophy. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961 Guigon, Charles, ed. The Good Life. Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 1999 Kennedy, John F. Speech at San Diego State College. San Diego State College, San Diego. 06 Jun. 1963 Macaulay, Thomas Babbington Ed. Scott, Allan. The Works of Thomas Babbington Macaulay. London: Wordsworth Poetry Library, 1995 Marx, Karl. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts. Germany: 1844 Plato, Ed. Allan Bloom. Republic. USA: Basic Books, 1991 Spooner, Lysander. An Essay on the Trial By Jury. London: 1852

Free College Admissions Essays: Im Ready to Take English to the Next L

I'm Ready to Take English to the Next Level    It is with great excitement that I submit my application to your university's English department for the Bachelor's degree program. Following is a brief autobiography, submitted in fulfillment of part of the university's application requirements.    I began to study English over ten years ago, and rapidly developed a strong interest towards the language. Soon after, I was introduced to an American-based company, the Light House Bookstore, which provides our community with both English instructional books, and language lessons. During one of my frequent visits to this bookstore, I discovered that a small church occupied the second floor of the building, the Lotung Church of Christ. After many visits, and my eventual conversion to the Christian faith, I took every opportunity to attend church events and gatherings to speak with other American members, and quickly became good friends with many of them.    I never lost my interest in the Light House Bookstore however. After many mo...

New Play Plan Essay

1. Is the company at the point where it should be setting up a formal salary structure based on a complete job evaluation? Why? Yes, by setting up a formal salary structure is being fair to the employees because the salary being paid based on the job task rather than pay the salary based on gender. When the salary structure being fair, it leads satisfaction among the employees and as a result the turnover will be at low rate. Besides, the company also can control their financial operation by doing budget allocation planning for their business operation. Moreover, the formal salary structure will make the employees clear on the amount pay for his or her job position. Thus, it can make easier to the related manager to do a process of salary payment. 2. Is Jack Carter’s policy of paying 10% more than the prevailing rates a sound one, and how could that be determined? First of all, First of all, according to this case, carter does not make any formal surveys, it is a correct action for Carter. Carter should pay more attention to the requirements of employees for building a formal pay policy. Secondly, Carter Company should pay different salaries for different job department rather than gender. Thirdly, it can determine a job’s relative worth by job evaluation. However, Jake has no enough evidence for building a pay policy. In our opinion, Carter may choose a job evaluation commitment to ensure right pay policies. As far as we concerned, Jake Carter’s policy of paying 10% more than the prevailing rates is sensible. There are five steps for making a rational pay plan. Primarily, employer conducts informal salary survey and formal survey. Then employers use salary survey to know what others are paying. Secondly, Carter chooses job evaluation methods to determine the worth of one job. Thirdly, the company pays the similar salary for similar jobs. Fourthly, Carter can use a wage curve to help assign pay rates to each job. Then it is easy to price jobs with a wage curve. Lastly, we know Carter does not develop pay ranges. Therefore, it is important for developing pay ranges to motivate high performance employees. At the same time, Carter needs to  correct out-of line rates. In this case, we disagree that men and women have different salary, it is unfair. Thus, Carter must ensure that men and women are paid comparably for essentially the same work. Jack Carter’s policy of paying 10% more than the prevailing rates a sound one because he believes that within the higher payment he could reduce the turnover among the employee and also at the same time can fostering the employee loyalty to organization. It could be determined by providing facts that Jack pays the 10% more to the worker. Besides, it’s very much better, if the payment done to the workers that are showing the loyalty to the organization. 3. Similarly, is Carter’s male-female differential wise? If not, why not? Our opinion, the answer is no, Carter’s shop does not have male-female differential wise. And they are also equal to their employees. Because Carter Cleaning Centers do not make a formal and legal wage structure to their employees, and at the same time Carte Cleaning Centers also does not use a good compensable factors to their employees, it will cause some bad effects to their employees and it also bring about different treatment. Wages rates are based mostly on those prevailing in the surrounding community. According to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, it requires that men and women who do the same job in the same organization should receive the same pay. The term `same pay` refer to no difference is acceptable. In addition the law, also defines that one consider as doing the same level of job if they are equal in term of skills, effort, responsibility and working condition. However, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 includes four exceptions that allow employers to pay another gender more than another. Some of those exceptions are like more seniority, better job performance, greater quantity or quality of production and lastly certain other factors like paying extra to employees that working the night shift. Back to this case study, there is no such exceptions includes in the reason provided by the Jack as to justify why he decided to pay 20% more than woman to men workers. The reason provided by him is they are stronger and can work hard for longer hours and also they all have family to support. This justification is the one that can’t be acceptable at all if refer to the law  and it also show discrimination towards the female worker. This is because, according to Equal Pay Act 1963, rather than the four exceptions as mention above, female and male workers should receive the same amount of payment if they hold the same job that are substantially equal. In addition, this unwise decision of Jack Carter’s policy will result in many negative effects such as increase in turnover among female worker, job dissatisfaction. Besides, there will be also more arguments in order to get an equal pay rate and lastly it will lead to an unproductively result to the organization. Question 4: Specifically, what would you suggest Jennifer do now with respect to her company’s pay plan? For the development of the company, there are several suggestions from us to Jennifer do now with respect to her company’s pay plan. More details about the suggestion will be discussed in the following paragraph. First, in the question 1, we had mentioned this point, setting up a formal salary structure. Based on this point, for the employees, they will feel more fair and unambiguous about how much they can get and it also makes the managing easier and more clearly for managers, there are strict certain structure to avoid the unfair things happen. Second, make a necessary formal survey in order to determining the amount that company should pay at what type of job responsibilities in order to avoid the mistake such as imbalances of salary payment. No matter what careful we are, we also would make some errors, so recheck the results are very necessary and important. In the case, the company conducts informal surveys among friends and cleaners trade associates. By doing this, it would reduce the cost and it is good for getting vast and direct information. But the independent information source could give great risks to the company in the future. Therefore a formal survey to the employees is more effective rather than informal survey in order to get feedbacks from employees regarding the pay system. Third, about the policy of paying 10% more than the prevailing rates, as a company, profit is the first thing. Although, this policy can foster employee loyalty, but to the long-term, the employees will accustom this situation and cannot motivated them to do better. Changing the policy like rewarding the outstanding employees with this policy, not all, this not only can reduce the cost, but also can motivate employees to get the higher prevailing rates. Fourth, abolish the policy of paying men about 20% more than women for the same job. Although her father’s explained that men are stronger and can work harder for longer hours, and besides they all have families to support, this policy considered bias to the men employees and of course it can course dissatisfaction to the women employees and they will feel unfairly treated. In pay system, it is better to have an official approved procedure on determining the right employees who’s qualify to be rewarded on the bonuses or salary increment and it should be based on the employees work performance. Don’t do like that, regarding somebody who work hard and better is effective method.

Analytical Essay About the Little Mermaid and the Wild Swans

The Affection of Vanity; behind the scenes of â€Å"The Little Mermaid† and â€Å"The Wild Swans† I believe that the stories †The Little Mermaid† and †The Wild Swans† are fundamentally about vanity and the craving for self-satisfaction by main characters in each story. Hans Christian Andersen was born on the 2nd of April, 1805, in the city of Odense outside of Copenhagen in Denmark. He was a Danish author who wrote lyrical poems, fairy tales and novels. He was known as H. C. Andersen throughout the world since he preferred using his first two initials instead of signing his whole name.He succeeded in writing over 200 fairy tales and 1000 poems during his lifetime and his stories and poetry have been translated into more than 150 languages inspiring different plays, ballets and movies. H. C Andersen passed away on the 4th of August 1875. People still, even after H. C Andersen’s death, reminisce about how he lit up the world with his amusing children’s stories and unbelievable fairy tales, such as for example â€Å"The Little Mermaid† and â€Å"The Wild Swans. The main character’s choices in each story is an action of vanity and these are the ideas from which my essay will emanate and give me the possibility of laying the fundamental proofs of my thesis statement by indicating the patterns of vanity throughout both stories. â€Å"The Little Mermaid â€Å" is generally about a young mermaid whose dearest wish is to become a human being so she could fall in love above the waters with a prince. She is even willing to precede her identity as a mermaid and leave her life and her family behind, at the darkest bottoms of the ocean for the sake of turning this dream into reality. The Wild Swans† is on the other hand a story about the sacrifice which one princess makes in the hope of rescuing her eleven brothers who have been cast under a spell. These two stories do not differ so much from each oth er since the main character in â€Å"The Little Mermaid† is willing to give up her life and make bodily sacrifices for the sake of love, while the princess in â€Å"The Little Swans† believes that she is able to save her brothers by making bodily sacrifices as well and all of this for the sake of her own love, believing they are able make it on their own by their abilities.Vanity is the excessive reliance on one’s ability to impress others, either by looks or abilities. According to many, vanity is a bad characteristic and can be related to egotism and arrogance. Vanity is often portrayed as a peacock in the artistic world, except for in the Bible, where it is represented by the Whore of Babylon according to The Free Encyclopedia. (Section: The symbolism of vanity. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Vanity). Vanity falls together with arrogance and presumption into the context of pride as one of the seven deadly sins.There are different references to this theory in the Bible where the classical example for this sin is shown in the story of the Tower of Babel which can be found in Genesis 11:5-8 in The Holy Bible. The characters in â€Å"The Little Mermaid† have in general been self-centered throughout the whole fairytale by questioning their abilities of beauty and possibilities. They have kept on battling the chase of beauty by trying to glamourize themselves. The biggest factor which leads me into making these kinds of assumptions about the Mer-people was the fact that their will to be different was far more important than showing compassion for each other.Evidence can be found in on page 136 of the booklet where H. C. Andersen is describing the Mer-King’s mother as an old and typical posh lady which has settled in the big palace and adapted her way of living to the needs provided by the services of the house. Andersen has also given her the characteristics of believing that she is far better than the rest of the inhabitants of the sea and to prove it she is described wearing twelve oysters on her tail, while the rest of the mermaids in the ocean are only allowed to wear six.I believe that this is what influences the little mermaid into committing these superficial decisions such as wanting to live on land because of love, later on throughout the story by being influenced by factors of her surroundings such as for an example, her home. The palace where the Mer-Kings family lives has walls out of coral, high pointed windows of amber, and roofs made out of mussel-shells which are described as glittering pearls. This is what causes the little mermaid to feel eccentric and full of herself by believing that no one is as good as her since no one has a house as beautiful as hers.This is a psychological remark of the mind of the mermaid, since she is affected by the environment around her she is bound into developing as a person thinking that she deserves nothing but the best. This behavior is obviously caused by the fact that she is described as the most beautiful child out the 6 children and as the loveliest one. When living in such an environment as the little mermaid is she is clearly affected by the fact of living in a place as gorgeous as the palace is. Their home is described as the most beautiful building at the bottom of the sea.I think that the house was a compensation for the loss of the Mer-kings wife since he made it this big and remarkable. This story has its resemblance to the story of the Taj Mahal, when the Sultan built the building in honor of his late wife. Since her father had been a widower for many years and the little mermaid had no mother-figure to look up to and to rely on, so her grandmother had to take that role upon herself and raise the little mermaid and her 5 sisters. It is noticeable throughout the whole story how the little mermaid’s affection for her grandmother is absurd since she constantly asks for the tales off the world above waters.The grandmot her is her only source of knowledge of the upper world and she is always asking her about the land above and how it is like. The little mermaid had a special love for dry land and could not wait to turn fifteen since that was the age when a mermaid was considered mature enough to rise to the surface of the world above. By having such a classy grandmother and by growing up at a home such as the palace, H. C Andersen had no choice but to create the character the little mermaid as rather a alone child and very â€Å"high-thinking† of herself.This high standard of life and the high expectations of life drove the little mermaid into believing that she was able to do impossible things, such as start a life on dry land and being able to win over the prince’s heart by getting him to love her more than he loved his mother and father. The little mermaid’s voice is mentioned multiple times as an unbelievably beautiful voice throughout the story. She thinks of her voice as the best attribute. Another evidence of the mermaid’s high expectations of herself and her demeaning look upon the mermaid people is shown on page 145 of the booklet, where it says: â€Å"†¦.She wished that she were one of them. Their world seemed to her much larger than that of the Mer-people. † I interpreted this as meaning that she once again doubted her place in life and felt as she deserved more than just being an imprisoned of the ocean. Her hopes for her abilities of becoming something better were once again showing her own lust of the affection for the bigger world. She believed, she wanted and she felt as she deserved something better than the life she had below the surface and was ashore that she could change it on her own.The little mermaid is once again showing signs of vanity by craving self-satisfaction which is in this case the love and life above waters. She was willing risking her own life for the sake of getting an immortal soul so she could live in happiness for the rest of her life by proving to the prince that she was more deserving of his love than his parents were. It is clearly stated in the story, on page 149, that she is determined to go to the enchantress whom she has feared so much before for the slightly chance of making her dream come true.Even though the path to the enchantress was dangerous and frightening, she was still confident enough to rely on her abilities of surviving the horrible way to the witch in the hope of finding a way to spend her life with prince. One of the obstacles on the path were the whirlpools which the little mermaid was bold enough to believe that she could survive, the description of this horrible obstacle can be found on page 149 as well, â€Å"†¦ she had to traverse an extent of bare grey send till she reached the whirlpool, whose waters were eddying and whizzing like millwheels, tearing everything they could seize along with them into the abyss below. This proves the trust whi ch the little mermaid had in herself by being able to get to the enchantress on her own. Even though few mermaids had made it through to the witch, the little mermaid forced herself into believing that she could make it. Not once did she stop to think if the prince would return her love with blessings of his own, she just assumed that he was going to love her as much as she loved him. That she was beautiful enough for to make him fall in love with her.The theme of vanity within the story â€Å"The Little Mermaid† is greatly focused on the abilities of the little mermaid, if she is bold enough to endure the pains for which she has to go through in the hope of being loved by the prince. Her plan was to find a way of spending the rest of her life on dry land with the prince and this is what caused her to go to the enchantress looking for answers. She hoped that the enchantress of the sea would have a way of letting her spend her life above waters, which proved to be right.The wi tch had a potion which would enable the little mermaid to grow legs and to be able to walk but she warned her that the transformation would be very painful. The witch described it as â€Å"letting a knife cut through your body†. On page 151 the enchantress is telling the little mermaid that it will even hurt when walking, the description of this so called â€Å"lucrative† solution was described as; â€Å"†¦it will seem to hurt you as though you were walking on the sharp edges of swords, and your blood will flow†. Even when being warned, the little mermaid did not get scared of the fact that she had o endure such pain. She would not abandon her dreams. The witch mentioned as well that if she does not succeed in making the prince fall in love with her, the little mermaid would be turned into foam and vanish. When the witch mentioned a repayment for the potion, the little mermaid became stunned. She then bared the thought of asking what the enchantress wanted from her. â€Å"Thou hast the sweetest voice of all the dwellers in the sea, and thou thinkest by its means to charm the prince, this voice, however, I demand recompense. The best thing thou possesses I require in exchange for my magic drink. The little mermaid agreed to these demands and proved that she still believed that she was beautiful enough to charm the prince even without her wonderful voice. This is the mental affection of vanity, the little mermaid was still bold enough to believe that her beauty and body would make the prince fall in love with her. This turned out to be true, since she amazed the prince with her wonderful eyes. The evidence of this is on page 155, â€Å"If I were obliged to choose, I should prefer thee, my silent foundling, with the speaking eyes. This was what the prince told the little mermaid after she glanced upon him with her beautiful eyes. While the prince was enchanted by the little mermaid’s eyes he was indirectly strengthening her bad characteristic by making her believe that she was pretty enough and able to make him fall in love with her, even though she was not able to speak. The little mermaid did unfortunately not succeed into being loved by the prince, since he married another princess from another kingdom. The little mermaid had to face the destiny from which the enchantress warned her about.The enchantress told the little mermaid that if she did not achieve to be loved by the prince, she would turn into foam and die. Since this unavoidable outcome was destine to occur, the little mermaid got a visit from a transparent figure, probably an angle. It appeared in front of her and told her that the blessing of an immortal soul was not necessary to obtain from the love of the prince but from the suffering of a soul and the acutance of their good deeds. The moment right before the little mermaid was about to die, her sisters swam up to the surface to tell her that there was a way to become a mermaid again and su rvive.They went to the enchantress and she told them that the only way of saving the little mermaid, was if she stabbed the prince right in the heart and waited for his red blood to touch her feet and as repayment of for the enchantress answer the sisters had to cut off all of their hair. The little mermaid refused to do so because she loved the prince far more than she loved herself and would not let him die instead of her. She waited for the sun to rise, for it was when the first rays of light would hit her that she would die. So, the little mermaid sacrificed allot with in the hope of achieving her biggest dream.She managed to fulfill half of it by being able to live a life on land, but she failed to make the prince fall in love with her. She was able to suffer through everything for the sake of love and with the help of vanity. Vanity is referred to as something negative but the choices she made due to this sin, resulted into benefiting her in the end since she changed her desti ny. â€Å"The Wild Swans† had a similar beginning as the story â€Å"The Little Mermaid†, since they both explained which types of characters we were being introduced to. The Wild Swans† expressed right at the beginning of the story that both Elise and her eleven brothers were far different from the other people and citizens of their kingdom. H. C Andersen had done a great job of getting this point across by describing that the eleven brothers went to school with stars on their breasts and swords on their sides. Feeling pride while they wrote on golden tables with diamond pens and could read fluently. By letting the elven brothers differ from the â€Å"regular folk† H. C Andersen created barriers between the different characteristics associated with this situation.By showing them acknowledgment you are proving to the princes that they are better than others. I think that this is the concept that H. C. Andersen wanted to convey. This incident is related to â€Å"The Little Mermaid† where the principals of the scenario are identical. The grandmother had put 12 oysters on her tail to show status and differ from the rest while the eleven brothers are distinguished by their star, sword, golden tables and diamond pens. Elise is separated from the people in a different way, H.C Andersen did this by letting her have a picture-book which was worth as much as half the kingdom. By letting a child have an expensive possession like this for her pleasure of playing with it, one is clearly marking the fact that she is something special and I think that by this cause that H. C. Andersen, as in the â€Å"The Little Mermaid† did not have another choice than to give Elise and her brothers the flaw of vanity. While letting them believe that they are far more different than the rest of the citizens with their possessions they are mad e into believing that they are of a bigger mportance. One thing which shows the affection of Elise’s beauty is seen page 14 of the booklet with â€Å"The Wild Swans† story, where she asks the roses; â€Å"Who is more beautiful than you? † and receiving the answer; â€Å"Elise†. This evidence is showing Elise’s obsession for her beauty by going around asking these questions. One similar scenario can be found as well on page 14 of the booklet where she asks the hymn-book; â€Å"Who is more pious than thou? † and receiving the same answer back as before; â€Å"Elise†. While the same problem is repeating itself throughout H.C Andersen’s stories we can draw the similarities between the little mermaid and Elise. The little mermaid was betrayed into a sort of vanity where she was blinded for all the possible outcomes except for when it came to the love of the prince. While the little mermaid was seeking around getting approval of her beauty by singing with her beautiful voice, or succeeding in making persons fall in love with her she could strengthen the fact that she was beautiful while Elise on the other side is striving for the acknowledgment for her beauty by being more direct and asking things and people about her appearance.Something that is noticeable throughout this story is that it is very religiously affected and implied to influence someone on spiritual level by repeatedly referring to the powers of God, and that the good inside of someone can overtake the evil. Since H. C Andersen was a very religious man who had a strong belief in Christianity it was not so surprising to find these kinds of references to the holy powers above us but the thing which did make me think was that the fairytale of the little mermaid had no religious or faithful statements throughout the story.The only explanation I can have for this is because the Mer-people were not humans and could not possess a soul, but after the little mermaid became a human and was about to die, the transparent figure appeared itself in front of her and e xplained that the soul of a human and a mermaid were not dependent on if they had legs or fish fins, it was dependent on the good deeds preformed during a lifetime and the suffering experience for a loved one. , but there was still no mentioning of God nor heaven as in this story.Elise decided as the story went on to search for her brothers which her evil step-mother had casted a spell on and turned them into eleven swans. The obstacles which Elise had to go through resemblance the obstacles which the little mermaid had to go through for the sake of reaching the enchantress house. The little mermaid had a more selfish cause for going through these big obstacles such as the whirlpool. She did it just to get an answer to how she would be able to fulfill her dream, while Elise went through the darkness of the woods and being sent out into the world all alone.The cause of her searching for her brothers and enabling herself to surviving these obstacles was the fact that she was searching for her eleven lost swan brothers. She was risking her own life for the benefit of her brothers while the little mermaid risked hers for her own good. They both believed that their own abilities were enough to survive and take them self’s through these horrible obstacles when being driven by love. To express Elise’s beauty H. C Andersen has let the animals in the woods show it symbolically by letting the sunbeams play upon her and make a golden veil.The birds preached as well on Elise’s shoulders. These moments just strengthen her both spiritually and in the belief of that she could make it by her own. Andersen has described her moments as that God would never forsake her. I think that H. C. Andersen focused on writing about God and because of this resulted into making this story a little more believable since a human being often turns to God in though times. It says on page number 17 of the booklet; â€Å"†¦that she saw the Angel of God looking down upon her with gentle aspect, and a thousand little cherubs all around him. I assume that by this sentence it is described that Elise is meant to get some faithful guidance and as a sign to show her that God is on her side. By this it is meant that she should be strengthen and believe more in herself since she has the help of God on her side. This scenario may refer to the similarities of the little mermaid where she got a visit from a translucent figure, probably an angle. Even though this scenario occurs at a different place in each story I am still assure that it has some resemblance to one and each other.When Elise finally meets her brothers they start to talk, she is informed that they need to allocate to another site in two days, because they are not allowed to be in this side of the world for more than eleven days a year. So, they start to discuss what to do since Elise does not want to leave them and her brothers want to bring her with them. We can see on page 21, the sign of van ity, when her eldest brother is in a discussion concerning the topic of carrying Elise on their wing by their own strength. â€Å"My arm I strong enough to bear thee though the forest; shall we not have sufficient strength in our wings to transport thee over he sea? † This is referred to in the belief of that the eldest brother is strong enough to carry her by his shear strength and ability. Elise risked as well her brothers’ lives for her own satisfaction by agreeing to let them fly her over the open ocean for two days, when she knew the that the consequences would be big. The little mermaid experienced the same things as Elise even though sometimes throughout the story the actions taken by Elise were the opposite behavior of the little mermaid. The different choices resulted into experiencing different kinds of pain.Elise had to go through a lot of mental problems in the story by being told in one of her dreams that to save her brothers she needed to pick sting-needl es by hand and trample on nettles with her bare feet to get the yearn from which she was going to weave eleven shirts for each brother. But from the moment of when Elise begun her work till the day she finished it, she was not allowed to speak, not even a word. If so much as a syllable came out of her moth daggers would fall right through the hearts of her brothers.So Elise had to give up her voice, the same sacrifice the little mermaid had to give up and they both did it for the sake of love. These actions which were taken resulted into each character reaching self-satisfaction by the help of vanity throughout the story and the pattern of vanity can be clearly shown throughout both stories. When the stories are analytically picked apart it is easier to notice these kinds of causes, which are common in H. C Andersons writing, since he involves Christianity and God into his work.He wrote much about the different sins which fall into the category of â€Å"religious writing† alo ng with his talk about the church and life beyond death. Analyzing the writing of H. C Andersen based on these two stories I can claim that his personal background had a huge impact on the outcome of these stories and that his affection of religion resulted into the affection of vanity in each main character. Sources: Andersen, H. C â€Å"The Little Mermaid† (Hempstead: Purnell 1977) Andersen, H. C â€Å"The Wild Swans† (Hempstead: Purnell 1977) http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Vanity The Bible