Abraham Van Helsing Essay Example for Free

Abraham Van Helsing Essay Innocence, chastity, purity, and married life are just a few things that made up the ‘image’ of the nineteenth century Victorian woman. During this time, it was greatly looked down upon if a woman chose to stay single, as she would be pitied and dubbed a â€Å"whore†. Lucy Westenra is one of the main characters in the novel, Dracula by Bram Stoker. Lucy is a beautiful young lady whose innocence and virtuous being draws three suitors to her. Although, this portrayed innocence is not the only thing that is drawing these men towards her. Lucy has a sexual appeal to her personality, much different than her best friend Mina Murray and the typical Victorian woman. This sense of sexual desire will eventually lead her right into the dangerous and evil arms of Count Dracula. The Count only has the ability to attack willing victims, which is why the sexually driven Victorian woman, Lucy Westenra is the first character to become victimized by Dracula’s deadly spell. Count Dracula was an evil, lustful vampire who wanted nothing but power and control. He lived in an Eastern European country called, Transylvania. The Count preyed on any individual who would make him feel in control and powerful of the situation. This is why Lucy Westenra was targeted and made Dracula’s first victim. The first peculiar account Lucy and Mina experience was when they see a Russian ship wrecked near the shore and hear that the there was no life aboard and the captain had died holding a crucifix in his hands. Soon after the account, Lucy started mysteriously sleep walking many night in a row into the grave yard near her home. One night, Mina had awoken the Rowatt 3 find Lucy missing and not in her bed, she then found her outside with a creature with beaming red eyes hunched over her. Mina tried to save her friend but by the time she got over there, the creature was gone. In the morning Mina had found strange dots on Lucy’s neck and after struggling for weeks Lucy became deathly sick and started to change before everyone’s eyes. Unknowingly, she was transforming into a super natural and dangerous form of herself while dead and lying in a cold grave. â€Å"Indeed, it is not only Lucy and Mina who are dramatically transformed in the draining, but Dracula himself, whose transformations are much more varied and complex than those of his victims.† (Pg. 238, Viragh) Count Dracula had stripped this woman of her innocence and virtue by changing her to an evil vampire just like him. Dracula now had control over Lucy but only because she was willing to let him control her. In the nineteenth century, straying away from who a woman is supposed to be according to the Roman Catholic Church is heresy. A woman was never to be with more than one man, but was to be married and completely faithful to her partner. This century was ruled by â€Å"the belief that an individuals sex and sexuality form the most basic core of their identity, potentiality, social/political standing, and freedom† (Pg. 1, Ridgway) Lucy Westenra had a completely different mindset as she expressed in a letter to her dear friend Mina. â€Å"Why can’t they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble?† (Pg. 66, Stoker) After Lucy states these words in her letter, she immediately admits to her thoughts and actions being heresy. Just because she confessed Rowatt 4 to this sin against the church and her beliefs does not simply alleviate Lucy’s sexual desire. This difference between Lucy and other nineteenth century virtuous women was not just a phase of rebellion, it was psychological. Lucy is fully aware that she is desired by many men and she lets that get into her head, essentially she is feeding off the attention. This vulnerability and openness is why Lucy Westenra is Count Dracula’s first and easiest target. The first time the Count starts to get into Lucy’s head is after her and Mina see the wrecked boat upon shore, containing the containers of dirt. These were Dracula’s sleeping quarters. This fact was not known by the women at the time, but soon after this event is when Lucy starts to sleep walk. This sleep walking is not a coincidence but is psychologically connected to her sinful desires of lustfulness. Count Dracula only has the power the attack willing victims, which could only mean Lucy knew in her subconscious what she was doing by going out to the cemetery at nights. This spell Dracula puts on Lucy is the same spell he put on the three women who now life in Dracula Castle with him. These women were just as innocent and virtuous as Lucy was and are now sex crazed and evil just as the Count is. This â€Å"spell† was a way to undermine women so that Dracula would feel powerful and controlling over them. In essence, Lucy Westenra was a seemingly virtuous nineteenth century Victorian woman who actually had underlying sexual desires. These desires made Lucy vulnerable to Count Dracula, who was consumed with gaining control over his victims. Because of her lustful manor, Lucy was drawn to the attack of Dracula and fell under his deep spell. From then on there was no turning back. Works Cited Stoker, Bram. Dracula. 1897. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. Viragh, Attila. Can The Vampire Speak? Dracula As Discourse On Cultural Extinction. English Literature In Transition, 1880-1920 56.2 (2013): 231-245. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. Ridgway, Stephan. â€Å"Victorian Sexuality† in â€Å"Sexuality and Modernity† originally written as a lecture for Sociology at Sydney University, 1996. Isis Creations. Web. 12 Nov. 2010.

Education Essay -- essays research papers

Education There are many definitions of education, many people have different options of education and how it should be taught. I however will explore three definitions. William James’ definition who was a philosopher and psychologist will be explained. I will use an online dictionary. Lastly, Webster’s Universal English Dictionary definition for education will be explored. William James states that, â€Å"Education, in short, cannot be better described than by calling it the organization of acquired habits of conduct and tendencies to behavior.† When you are educated, it seems that your conduct and tenancies toward behavior would be different from that of an uneducated person. An educated person would associate the knowledge they have retained in a different manner than an uneducated one. I a...

Systematic Review Paper

The purpose of this meta-synthesis research was to synthesize a qualitative study performed to better understand the underlying reasons why only a fraction of cancer patients participate in cancer research trials. The attempt is to explore factors that influence participation in this type of study. Literature in the subject indicates poorly understood process of how patients are enrolled into clinical trials.This systematic review tries to improve the patient decision-making process in participating in cancer clinical trial and to provide Oncology nurses to treat patients with solid background utilizing evidence based practice (Biedrzycki, 2010). The study was conducted in hope to eliminate misconceptions on the negative feelings of cancer clinical trials. A common misconception is participation can cause harm instead of cure. The report clearly describes how the variation in research design and methods revealed low percentages of cancer patient participation in previous studies.An i nformation specialist assisted with the selection of relevant studies. Data selection was reviewed through PubMed. Patient participation and decision making were topics reviewed. A PRISMA-type flow chart elaborates on the multiple studies reviewed (Biedrzycki, 2010). The criteria for reviewing articles included articles published since 2004. Research from other countries was reviewed and was not confined to the United States.Literature reviewed through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) roadmap for Medical Research, fortified the research by emphasizing important aspects of human research participants and transforming this into clinical research. 62 articles met criteria and 24 articles did not meet the initial criteria. Articles beyond five years provided evidence of inaccurate representation of the current views on patients’ will to participate in clinical trials (Biedrzycki, 2010). The research article indicates the sample sizes ranged from 16 to more than 115000 whic h yield a median=162.The combined sample of participants includes gender, race, and age. Most participants were Caucasian. One study included only Asian women. Ages ranged from 50 to 64 years, median 57. 6 years. Cancer diagnoses were reported in 10 studies, six studies omitted reporting cancer as a diagnosis. Four studies reported advanced cancer. Six studies reported participation in phase I clinical trials. One study reported participation in a phase III clinical study. The rest of the studies did not report the phase of trials. There is no indication whether follow up was done with the original reporter to clarify missing information (Biedrzycki, 2010).The criteria used to appraise the research consisted of decision-making process, communication, educational interventions, perceptions, benefits and burdens, quality of life, reasons for declining participation, knowledge, relative health stock, timing of consent, satisfaction, and decisional regret. Most studies focused on decisi on making, however; thirteen studies described multiple aspects of cancer clinical trial participation. Some studies focused on the psychosocial consequences of clinical trial decision making.This data was appraised by several research team members (Biedrzycki, 2010). Decision-making instruments included the Llewellyn-Thomas, an unnamed instrument and the Homes-Rovner et al. Satisfaction with Decision Scale. Other instruments included the Understanding of Clinical Trials by Joffe et al. and The Decisional Regret Scale and the Karmonos Accrual Analysis System. Most studies did not report psychometric measures and almost all studies used one question to assess willingness, interest or knowledge about cancer clinical trials (Biedrzycki, 2010).Data analysis is presented in table format. Table 1 consists of factors reflecting the rigor of the studies reviewed. Table 2 consists of measures of decision making used in the studies reviewed and Table 3 lists strengths, limitations, and key po ints of the studies reviewed. The studies were mainly descriptive, consisting of mixed-methods design. Three studies tested an educational intervention and two studies used an experimental design. 50% of the studies did not report timing of the research in relation to the decision regarding clinical trial participation (Biedrzycki, 2010).During meta-analysis, response rates varied by type of measure and study design, only 50% reported response rates (range = 21% – 95%, median=71%. 29% declined participating because they had no interest and 24% declined with no reason given. One major reason people declined to participate was because they had no access or could not use a computer. Multiple time measures were conducted in decision regret, it was noted that responses were reduced (Biedrzycki, 2010). The process used to pool the data together was clinical trial decision making.The main factors influencing this process consist of patient, provider, and treatment. Two studies speci fically explored decision making by the patient. Education requirements impacted decision making since understanding the risks and benefits of clinical trials was the most important factor taken into consideration by the patient. Educational interventions were noted to have increased patient enrollment. (Biedrzycki, 2010). If the patient found the education from the provider to be coercive, treatment was considered a burden.Time and travel also posed an inconvenience on the patient since it adversely affected quality of life and therefore deterred patients from cancer clinical trials. On a positive note, studies reported factors associated with positive decision making outcomes. Positive decision making included being more spiritual, younger, and having more advanced cancer, and having a good understanding of the education received. Several other aspects were indicated as positive decision making outcomes when providers introduced user-friendly systems (Biedrzycki, 2010).The primary focus of the study was accepting or declining clinical trial participation. The secondary focus was decision-making and the silent variable was the influence on clinical trial participation. All criteria were elegantly spelled out in form of charts and tables. Figure 1 included factors associated with the decision to participate in a cancer clinical trial. Figure 2 revealed factors associated with a positive decision making outcome (Biedrzycki, 2010). A factor that was clearly noted as missing was a review on the process by which patients decide on whether or not to participate in clinical research trial.Components of the decision making preferences have not been determined. Consenting for a research process is autonomous and the current healthcare system does did not provide sufficient learning opportunities for the patient to acquire enough information to make an adequate informed consent. When the patient lacks this knowledge and the healthcare provider lacks the understanding o f the patient’s values, it is difficult for the patient to want to participate in clinical trials (Biedrzycki, 2010).The reviewers concluded that future research is needed for continuation of exploring the reasons for lack of cancer patients’ participation in clinical research trials. The need for sound construct for decision making can prepare nurses and healthcare workers to understand the cancer patient’s values and to provide education that may enhance knowledge and strengthen interventions, and improve cancer clinical trial participation (Biedrzycki, 2010).

Is The College Admissions Standards Essay - 1601 Words

It’s Hard to be Accepted The college admissions standards in America today are more rigorous and in depth than they have ever been but can also be somewhat unfair. The process of applying can be quite stressful for students and parents alike as they try to successfully weave their way through an expansive application that includes everything from essays to transcripts and so much more. And while the feeling of being accepted leads to true exuberance because of all that hard work (as I can personally attest to), the feeling of being denied can rival it in intensity without a doubt (as I unfortunately can also confirm). As college becomes more and more encouraged in high schools across the nation, and as the number of college applicants continues to grow there will continue to be more of those students who are not accepted to a certain school, granted there is a place for everyone. But this phenomenon brings up a simple question; why? Students are left to ponder why they didnâ⠂¬â„¢t receive admission in many cases, as no college that I know of gives an actual reason as to why acceptance was granted or denied. Luckily we do have some information supplied by schools and other various sources on what factors are the most important to schools. While we may not like all of what we find when taking a closer look, it is still interesting nonetheless. Let us first take a look at what students must go through to give themselves a chance to meet the admissions standards atShow MoreRelatedEssay On Affirmative Action1556 Words   |  7 Pagesled to complications and issues regarding admission processes admitting minority students who are underqualified compared to students not of color in the name of diversity. Diversity has many benefits and the implemented necessity for a diverse campus has lowered racial prejudice in recent years. 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