Book Report - Fault in Our Stars Essay Example for Free

Book Report Fault in Our Stars Essay Meaning of the title: The fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings. was said in Shakespeares play ‘Julius Caesar’. Saying that it is not fate that decides our future, but instead our own failings. That you are to blame for the bad thing that happen in your life. But the title ‘The Fault in our Stars’ says that sometimes its not our fault; things happen in life, sometimes we can’t control it; there will be problems along the way, and we just have to deal with it. Brief summary: Hazel, an average teenager who thinks she is going to die. She was diagnosed with cancer when she was young, and has trouble with her lungs. She then met a boy called Augustus in the Support Group. Augustus only had one leg because he had had osteosarcoma (A type of bone cancer). Hazel also made another friend called Issac who eventually went blind. Augustus and her shared common interests like the book called‘An Imperial Affliction’. They went on adventures to Amsterdam to visit an author that Hazel idolizes. On their trip, they had some physical relations. However meeting the author wasn’t exactly what Hazel and Augustus had expected. Later on Issac dies, then Augustus’s cancer later returns Style of Writing: The story is written in Hazel’s point of view who is the narrator of the story. The writing in this book is easy to follow because its written in a conversational way. As if the reader was the protagonist. The book uses a lot of fascinating sentences and phrases to express the feelings and thoughts of Hazel Grace. The author likes using dialogues to tell the story. Character: The characters are quite believable because they are like any type of average teenager. However they have to deal with a small problem in their health affecting a big part of their life. The characters are very realistically portrayed and I think the author did a great job in describing the different characters. Plot: The plot is quite believable as it is not fiction. As readers, we can sometimes relate to the situations or even feel what the characters are feeling throughout the book. There are a lot of plot twists in the novel, so the reader would not know what is about to happen. This gives the story line more suspense and builds tension throughout the scenario. Recommendation: I would recommend this book to young adults, because there is an incredible plot twist in the book which mesmerizes the reader and gives them grief. Making them want to be the protagonist of the story. The characters are about our age, and sometimes us teenagers or young adults can connect to what the characters in the book are going through. This book has a powerful story line which emphasize the life of how two teenagers are fighting cancer, which has inspired and touch the teens heart.

Impacts of the 2003 Iraq War

Impacts of the 2003 Iraq War The impact of the 2003 Iraq war on both the war on terror  and the prospects for peace in the Middle East Introduction The reasons for the U.S. led war in Iraq in 2003 were numerous and, as it turns out, rather complicated. But, for better or worse, the U.S. led coalition of nations invaded Iraq with â€Å"shock and awe† in 2003. This war in Iraq was conducted under the banner of â€Å"the war on terror.† This second U.S. led military endeavor into Iraq had a twofold mission, which was combative and aggressive on the one hand, and more conciliatory and democratizing on the other. These were the original intentions. The questions to be explored in this paper revolve around these dual aspects of the 2003 Iraq war. How has it affected the overall and global â€Å"war on terror,† and has it achieved a measure of peace and stability in the Middle East? From the beginning of the recent U.S. led war efforts in Iraq, there has been a twofold mission announced by President George W. Bush. The first mission is centered in the war against all terrorists and those who harbor terrorist organizations.[1] The second has been the desire to plant the seed of democracy in the Middle East; a desire which the President hoped might flourish into an eventual, lasting peace. In his 2002 State of the Union address, President Bush said, â€Å"We seek a just and peaceful world beyond the war on terror.†[2] In this line, his commitment to a war against terror is evident, but so is his desire to help bring about a peaceful world. The very name of the military offensive dubbed by the Bush Administration was â€Å"Operation Iraqi Freedom.† A â€Å"Just War† and the Necessity of Peace In all recent discussions of Just War theories, scholarship is united at least in the aspect of the theory that involves the attempt at peace following the war. That is, no war can be considered â€Å"just† if the winner merely walks away from the loser of a given war without any attempt to bring about a measure of stability, security, and peace. Much of this reasoning has to do with the ideas bound up within the just-war tradition. There are many scholars, secular, Catholic, and otherwise, writing within this tradition, as it pertains to the 2003 Iraq war. As George Weigel notes in a recent essay, in the writings of contemporary scholars in this tradition (e.g., James Turner Johnson and Michael Walzer), one encounters the essence of an approach to war that is commensurate with the U.S. President’s intentions expressed above. To engage in a war justly is not only to fight those forces of evil that seek to dominate or corrupt one’s society, nor is it merely about how nations ought to engage in warfare. Although those are considerations brought to bear on just-war theorizing, the fundamental underpinning of this approach to thinking about war â€Å"is ultimately about the peace we seek to establish in contrast to the war the terrorists have set in motion.†[3] That is, the overarching goal in all wars (including the war on terror) should be the eventual achievement, not merely of removing immediate threats to national security or of pacification of an enemy, of using war as an instrument to establish peace in a land. Peace brings prosperity, whereas continual war and factionalism never bring about progress or prosperity – only suffering which seems endless to those affected by it. The Successes, Trials and Tribulations of the War Perhaps because we are still so near the beginning of the war and because the operation continues to this moment, it is difficult to gauge the relative success of the war efforts themselves and as regards the broader â€Å"war on terror.† In fact, the situation today is still the reality that the success or failure of the war depends largely on who you ask. The war effort has been a politically polarizing issue, which has certainly affected the press, as well as the scholarly community. A simple survey of the books on the shelves to the articles and essays within journals will reveal this truth. It is therefore somewhat difficult to get a proper understanding of exactly what the ramifications of the 2003 Iraq war may be for the broader war on terror, but there is at least some consensus in a few areas useful for exploration in this regard. There are those who, like Charles Hill, can find little more than wide-reaching success in the current war efforts. He writes, â€Å"Iraq is moving toward the full legitimacy that Saddam Hussein stole from the Iraqi people. Sovereignty has been restored, free elections have been held, and a constitution has been approved.†[4] The press and other scholars have, on the other hand, not been so friendly in their detractions and perceptions of the war efforts. The â€Å"Reviews Responses† section of recent editions of the journal Foreign Affairs have been filled with review essays of books very critical of the war.[5] Sometimes the reviews are sympathetic; often times they are not. All of this is supportive of the difficult task ahead of scholars regarding the effort to separate the hubris from the reality of what implications the 2003 Iraq war may have for peace and the larger war on terror. There is no denying the success of disposing of the Taliban in Afghanistan and of Saddam Hussein and his regime in Iraq. This success was decisive, dramatic, and, in the words of Victor Davis Hanson, â€Å"audacious.†[6] Both of these regimes were legitimately argued to have been the most oppressive and potentially dangerous in the region. This is perhaps one of the most compelling reasons adhered to by most Americans originally supporting both war efforts. The question on the minds of most in the scholarly community is whether there was adequate planning for the immediate post-war environment.[7] However, even for those who were very supportive of the initial decision to invade Iraq, recent events over the last year at least, have been sobering. In an article written for the April edition of the journal First Things, George Weigel identifies four distinct wars that have constituted the entire Iraq war since 2003. The first war was the obvious one of deposing Saddam Hussein and creating conditions for the responsible establishment of an interim government and relative stability. This war was concluded quickly and successfully, most all scholars agree. The second war erupted shortly after the first had ended, and this one was against the Baathist loyalists and recalcitrants. The third war broke out as Jihadists (i.e., â€Å"al-Qaeda in Iraq†) began to flood into Iraq through the under-watched and unprotected borders and tried to disrupt the democracy being established there as well as drive out the â€Å"infidels† from the Gulf. The fourth, and perhaps most danger ous today, is the practical civil war that broke out in earnest between Sunnis insurgents and Shia militias after the bombing of a major Shia shrine in February, 2006. Weigel argues that only the first of these four wars has ended. The other three continue to this day and overlap each other.[8] Is it possible that the U.S. led coalition could have anticipated these mini-wars which followed the success of the first? Is it likely that the coalition did all it could to establish a peaceful, post-war environment? Reconstruction Challenges One of the sharpest criticisms of the 2003 Iraq war, even by those who originally supported it, is that there was not enough planning in terms of rebuilding the nation after the decisive defeat of the Iraqi military. First, by any reasonable standards, the amount committed to the reconstruction of Iraq after the war was not nearly enough. In hindsight, all seem to recognize this. Though the intentions of the Bush Administration were admirable in that they sought the just-war approach, which was to replace the dangerous regime with democracy, freedom, and a re-built nation, the reality was that through the combination of inadequate funds and bloated bureaucracy, the U.S. did not adequately anticipate what would realistically be needed to bring their intentions about.[9] George Weigel points out that only $2.5 billion had been originally budgeted for reconstruction assistance, and this was far away from the actual amount needed, given the dilapidated state of the nation due to Saddamâ €™s misrule and a decade of U.N. sanctions.[10] Peace through Civil War? The war created what most analysts have agreed to be a political vacuum. Once the rule of Saddam Hussein was done away with, there was not a quick enough turnaround time for a new and, perhaps most importantly, legitimized ruling government. The largest looming danger now is the risk of civil war in Iraq, which will almost certainly follow from the near-future withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country, as most scholars agree. â€Å"Especially if the United States withdraws from Iraq, the odds are good that a military coup in which some subset of the Iraqi army leadership declares that the elected government is not working and that a strong hand is necessary to impose order will result.†[11] As alluded to above, the civil war began to erupt after the bombing of the Shia holy site in February, 2006. At this point, it seems that the Sunni minority in Iraq, which has been a constant trouble from nearly the beginning, is only exacerbating its violence against the Shia to the south . Under the self-styled leadership of Muqtada al-Sadr, the various Shia militia forces have engaged in gross acts of terror in return.[12] Conclusion In a recent article, Victor Davis Hanson takes a realistic approach to the successes in Iraq. They cannot be underplayed, nor devalued. The overturning of the Iraqi regime, which was the main goal of the war, was achieved and likely the world is better for it. On the other hand, in retrospect the post-war aftermath was not fully appreciated until it was far too late. Three separate wars therefore erupted, and the most significant (the civil war) looms on the not-too-distant horizon. The prospects for peace are still available to the Middle East but only with properly calculated U.S. led coalition strategy for the future. If nothing else, the various shortcomings of the recent war will hopefully serve as a corrective and impetus to future successes in the war on terror. Successes have occurred, to be sure, but so have enormous challenges to peace, world-wide. Bibliography Bottum, Joseph, and Michael Novak. â€Å"The Leadership of George W. Bush: Con Pro.† First Things. March, 2007, No. 171, pp. 31-35. Diamond, Larry. â€Å"The Pressure Builds.† Hoover Digest. 2006, No. 3, pp. 21-29. Dobriansky, Paula J., Henry A. Crumpton, and F. Gregory Gause III. â€Å"Tyranny and Terror: Will Democracy in the Middle East Make Us Safer?† Foreign Affairs. Jan/Feb, 2006. Vol 85, No. 1, pp. 135-138. Fearon, James D. â€Å"Iraq’s Civil War.† Foreign Affairs. Mar/Apr, 2007. Vol. 86, No. 2, pp. 2-15. Feldman, Noah. What We Owe Iraq: War and the Ethics of Nation Building. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2004. Hanson, Victor Davis. â€Å"Five Years On.† Hoover Digest. 2006, No. 4, pp. 82-86. Hanson, Victor Davis. â€Å"Hard Pounding.† Hoover Digest. 2006, No. 3, pp. 10-17. Hill, Charles. â€Å"The Rogues are Losing: Why the Rogues of the Middle East Have a Very Short Future.† Hoover Digest. 2005, No. 4, pp. 66-68. Kagan, Frederick W. â€Å"Iraq is Not Vietnam.† Policy Review. Dec, 2005 Jan, 2006, No. 134, pp. 3-14. Weigel, George. â€Å"Just War and Iraq Wars.† First Things. April, 2007, No. 172, pp. 14-20. Yoo, John. The Powers of War and Peace: The Constitution and Foreign Affairs after 9/11. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2005. 1 [1] These commitments are very readily found in his 2002, 2003 and 2004 â€Å"State of the Union† addresses, as well as in his â€Å"Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People,† given on September 20, 2001. All of these speeches are available at http://www.whitehouse.gov. [2] It would seem that there are few who disagree with the President’s intentions in this regard. Renowned Middle East scholar, Bernard Lewis has long argued that the war on terror and the search for freedom are bound up the one with the other. The two must exist side by side and cannot exist one without the other. NYU law professor Noah Feldman argues that â€Å"the most defensible account of our nation-building policies in Iraq 2003–4, and the standard to which future U.S. efforts should be held, is the production of a basically legitimate, functioning democracy there.† What We Owe Iraq: War and the Ethics of Nation Building (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2004), p. 20. [3] George Weigel, â€Å"Just War and Iraq Wars,† First Things, April, 2007, no. 172, p. 14. Weigel is here quoting James Turner Johnson. [4] Charles Hill, â€Å"The Rogues are Losing: Why the Rogues of the Middle East Have a Very Short Future,† Hoover Digest. 2005, no. 4, p. 68. In this same essay, he goes on to point out the various ramifications of the initial stages of success of the Iraq war: Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon all having positive moves and reactions to the strength of the initial war in 2003. Libya’s decision to give up its arsenal is probably the most dramatic ramification of the initial successes of the war that supporters can point to, as Hill does in his essay. [5] The January/February 2006 edition of Foreign Affairs is a perfect example of this phenomenon. Every single review essay of that edition deals with the Iraq war. [6] â€Å"Five Years On.† Hoover Digest, 2006, no. 4, p. 84. Regarding the progress wrought by the Iraq war, Hanson writes, â€Å"thousands of terrorists killed, Al Qaeda scattered, Europe galvanized about Islamism and sobered about the consequences of its cheap anti-U.S. rhetoric, Iran’s nuclear antics revealed, democracy birthed in the Middle East, Palestinian radicals exposed for their fraud, the United nations under overdue scrutiny, America much better defended at home† came largely as a result of the war on terror, beginning with Afghanistan and culminating in Iraq. There is much significant impact there to be pondered. [7] Victor Davis Hanson, â€Å"Hard Pounding,† Hoover Digest, 2006, no. 3, pp. 14-15. [8] Weigel, â€Å"Just War and Iraq Wars,† p. 15. Frederick W. Kagan agrees with this assessment of the various wars being fought in Iraq, although he believes that Weigel’s second war largely ended with the capture of Saddam Hussein. Cf. â€Å"Iraq is Not Vietnam,† Policy Review, Dec, 2005 Jan, 2006, no. 134, p. 6. [9] Although, to be fair, it should be pointed out that former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, did anticipate that the cost of military operations and rebuilding efforts would amount to $3.9 billion per month in 2003. Cf. John Yoo, The Powers of War and Peace: The Constitution and Foreign Affairs after 9/11 (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2005), p. 157. [10] Weigel, p. 17. [11] James D. Fearon, â€Å"Iraq’s Civil War,† Foreign Affairs, Mar/Apr, 2007, vol. 86, no. 2, p. 6. For concurring opinions see Larry Diamond, â€Å"The Pressure Builds,† Hoover Digest, 2006, no. 3, p. 29 and Weigel, p. 19. [12] Diamond, â€Å"The Pressure Builds,† pp. 26-8.

Bird Imagery in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Essay -- essays

Bird Imagery in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man The works of twentieth-century Irish writer James Joyce resound vividly with a unique humanity and genius. His novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, published in 1916, is a convincing journey through the inner mind and spirit of Stephen Dedalus. Portrayed with incredible fluency and realism, imagery guides the reader through the swift current of growth tangible in the juvenile hero. Above all heavy imagery in the novel is the recurring bird motif. Joyce uses birds to ultimately relate Stephen to the Daedelus myth of the â€Å"hawklike man;† however, these images also exemplify Stephen’s daily experiences, and longing for true freedom . By using imagery of birds as threatening, images of beauty, and images of escape, the reader can unify the work and better understand Stephen’s tumultuous journey through life. The opening scene of Chapter one portrays a conversation between a very young Stephen and Dante, Stephen’s nanny. She scolds him for an unconventional thought, warning him that â€Å"the eagles will come and pull out [your] eyes†. This obviously graphic image suggests to Stephen the threatening presence of eagles that are minding all his thoughts. Joyce’s vividness with such gruesome imagery has a real effect on Stephen; he repeats Dante’s caution in his childish song, chanting: â€Å"Pull out his eyes, Apologize†. A playful, yet sensitive Stephen must immediately conformeven his innocent unorthodox actions in fear of the threatening phantom eagles to save the consequences they will bring. His thoughts are threatened again by birds when he meets an acquaintance named Heron when walking down a dark street. Stephen immediately notes the peculi... ...of how the creatures of the air have their knowledge and know their times and seasons because they, unlike man, are in the order of their life and have not perverted that order by reason†. In order to seek true emancipation, Stephen â€Å"must go away for they were birds ever going and coming...ever leaving the homes they had built to wander†. Stephen resolves to leave his Irish homeland; free and wild as his images of the birds. The attributes which mold Stephen Dedalus’ growing integrity and life decisions stem from the actions which surround him. The reader associates Stephen by the images he encounters and his reaction to them. In James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen’s connection with bird imagery helps to define his search for a role in his society, and helps readers define and identify with his quest.

Dna: The Thread Of Life :: essays research papers

DNA: The Thread of Life The "thread of life", is deoxyribonucleic acid, otherwise known as DNA. It is the spiral shaped molecule found in the nucleus of cells. Scientists have known since 1952 that DNA is the basic substance of heredity. This was hypothesized, and later confirmed by James D. Watson and Francis Crick. They also know that it acts like a biological computer program over 3 billion bits long that "spells" out instructions for making the basic building blocks of life. DNA carries the bodies genetic code, controls the development of an embryo, is capable of duplicating itself, and is able to repair damage to itself. DNA can be manipulated to change all kinds of things. All DNA molecules consist of a linked series of unites called nucleotides. Each DNA nucleotide is composed of 3 subunits: a 5 carbon sugar called deoxyribose, a phosphate group that is joined to one end of the sugar molecule, and one of several different nitrogenous bases linked to the opposite end of the deoxyribose. There are 4 nitrogen bases called adenine, guanine, thymine, and cytosine. In DNA adenine pairs with thymine and guanine with cytosine. Medicine's ability to diagnose continues to exceed its ability to treat or cure. For example, Huntington's Chorea is an inherited disease that develops between the ages of 30 and 45, can be diagnosed before any symptoms appear. This can be hard for both the individuals with the disease and their family. There is a 3 billion dollar project underway right now called the Human Genome Project, a 15 year program to make a detailed map of every single gene in human DNA. With automated cloning equipment to steer scientists through the DNA, scientists are finding human genes at the rate of more than one a day. This may not sound like very much but as technology increases the rate at finding them will increase. Since January 1993 to January 1994 scientists have located the genes for Huntington's disease, Lou Gehrig's disease, and the "bubble-boy" disease. Scientists are expected to find the first breast cancer gene any week now. Even with the best tools of today, the progress is full of surprises. Human DNA is not like that of plants, in which the trait of color of a flower is determined by one gene. Even the color of a human eye can involve the interaction of several genes. Some complex genes, such as cystic fibrosis, can go wrong in any number of places. Scientists have already accounted for 350 places where the cystic fibrosis gene mutates, and more are being uncovered

Islam :: essays research papers

ISLAM   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There has been much talk about Muslim beliefs and the Islam nation altogether. The basis of the religion is peaceful and understanding. While people twist the belief around to fit their own needs. It is based on the teachings of Muhammad. He was born in Mecca, which is the capital of Islamic belief.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Muhammad was born and raised in the city of Mecca. He grew up as a merchant and had a wife. He would wander around outside of the city by himself often. He wandered so much that he had no job but his wife believed in him so she supported him. One day he had a vision of the angel Gabriel. Gabriel told him that he was a prophet and he should spread the word of god. He went back to Mecca and told everyone what had happened and decided to teach everyone the way of God. No one believed him and he was ridiculed for his beliefs. So he decided to go on a trip which was called the â€Å"Hijra†. When he came back to Mecca he had many converts. Then the people of Mecca started to believe him and became converts themselves. This is the story of Muhammad and his teachings. All this and more were written down in the Muslim holy book, the â€Å"Koran†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The five pillars are the five ways to be a good and decent Muslim. The first pillar is â€Å"Shahadah† which is to declare your belief by saying shahadah. Which means declaring god or Allah is almighty, and believing in the prophethood of Muhammad. The second pillar is â€Å"Salah† or prayer. Prayer must be done five times a day towards Mecca or the general direction of Mecca. The third pillar is â€Å"Zakah† or tax on the wealth. Everyone must give a percent of their earnings to the poor. The fourth pillar is â€Å"Sawm† which is fasting during the month of Ramadan. The fifth and last pillar is to at least once in their lives to â€Å"Hajj† or make a trip to Mecca when one is willing and able to.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is so much trouble in the world because of guys who like to change the meaning of some things in religion when it is obvious what they mean.

Lg Hr Policies

LG ELECTRONICS LTD {draw:frame} A great working environment will allow you to exercise and develop all of your skills, and you'll be duly rewarded too! LG Electronics creates working environments that enable all its employees to demonstrate their capabilities, focus on their own work, and create value. HR Principles {draw:frame} Creativity and autonomy An individual's creativity is the basis for value creation. LG Electronics respects diversity and autonomy, allowing each of its employees to exercise their creativity to the full. Emphasis on competence Competence is the basis for performance. LG Electronics sees competence as the most important factor in its personnel decisions. Performance-based rewards Rewards based on performance are essential for human motivation. LG Electronics evaluates performance results fairly and rewards them accordingly. Equal opportunities Equal opportunities build trust among people. LG Electronics ensures equal opportunities regardless of gender, race, age, religion, or nationality. Long-term perspective Maintaining a long-term perspective is the foundation for LG's human resources policies. LG's human resources programs are designed with a long-term perspective and implemented with dedication and persistence. {draw:frame} Training Through its education centers worldwide, LG Electronics offers diverse educational programs to its employees according to rank and job to encourage growth and development and mold them into â€Å"the right people† for the company. They do this by equipping them with the professional capabilities that the company needs and enabling them to apply the latest technologies to their work. Rewards LG Electronics offers its employees a competitive, unique rewards system that takes account of their working situations by nation, region, and job. This rewards system motivates employees to perform better by helping them to enhance their quality of life. LG's rewards system consists of fixed salaries and flexible salaries. Fixed salaries are determined every year through a fair evaluation process. Flexible salaries are immediate rewards given to individual employees for their performance and competence.

Alfred Adler and His Personality Theory

Alfred Adler was born in the suburbs of Vienna to a grain merchant and his wife on the 7th February 1870. He was the third child and second son of his parents. He could not walk until the age of four due to his lingering rickets. At the age of five, he went down with a chronic pneumonia which nearly took his life, and on recovery, resolved to become a medical doctor, even at the very young age.He retained this ambition throughout his school years, although he was merely an averagely clever student who, due to a period of lack of seriousness with and loss of commitment to his studies, tended towards becoming a dullard. This tendency made his teacher write him off as one not cut out for academic success— and his woeful performance at Mathematics seemed to testify to this pronouncement. However, his father’s belief in his abilities and his own self-assurance and self-esteem spurred him on to renewed commitment and revival.He proved his teacher’s pronouncement wrong: Not only did he rise to become the best Mathematics student, he pursued his medical ambition to the University of Vienna where he achieved his medical degree. During his schooling years, Adler was â€Å"quite outgoing, popular and active† (Boeree, George, 2006).He had a strong personality and firm resolution (qualities which explain why he could sustain and realize his medical ambition in the face of his teacher’s despise and pessimism). Adler began his medical career as an opthamologist, but later turned to general medical practice.He established his office somewhere in the lower class part of Vienna, across from an amusement park-cum-circus. Most of his clients and patients were circus performers. This fact gave him the opportunity to observe, study and investigate their unusual strengths and weaknesses, which they demonstrated through their relative physiological resistances and tolerance, leading him to the formulation of a theory he termed â€Å"organic inferior ities and compensations†. He later switched to psychiatry and joined Freud’s discussion group.In this group, he got the opportunity to develop and articulate his organic theory, to which Freud agreed; however, his subsequent theory of the aggression instinct were against Frend’s beliefs, just as was his suggestion that the sexual notions which Freud upheld should be taken figuratively rather than literally.Alfred Adler sought to investigate the human personality and behaviour: what fundamentally made up the human personality and what made all human beings behave the way they did, irrespective of their backgrounds, individualities, privileges or lack of them.His conclusions, he formulated as a theory of personality In the course of the Second World War, Alfred became a Physician for the Austrian army, first serving on the Russian front before moving to the children’s hospital. This change gave him the opportunity for a first-hand observation of the war vict ims and causalities.It probably was the shock and horror from these direct observations that made him develop an interest in the concept of social interest, coming to the conclusion that â€Å"if humanity was to survive, it had to change its ways. † (George B, 2006).In 1926, he went to the United States to work as a lecturer. He died of heart attack in 1937 in the course of his lecturing.ALFRED ADLER’S PERSONALITY THEORYAlfred Adler’s theory of personality offers the underlying motivation not only of all human behavior but also for the development of the human personality. He postulated ‘a single â€Å"drive† or motivating force behind all our behavior and experience’ (Boeree, 2006). He believed that every human action, rational or irrational, arises out of an urge for perfection, out of an underlying desire for the attainment of some ideal.However, because he believed no two human beings are exactly alike, even in their responses to this â⠂¬Å"single† drive, he called this theory â€Å"Individual Psychology. † The â€Å"ideal†, also termed â€Å"perfection†, however, points to an ultimate image of himself that every individual often unconsciously harbors as the goal to which he or she must attain.Adler termed this ultimate image â€Å"fictional finalism† (Alfred Adler (1870-1937), 2007). Thus, every human action or behavior, according to Adler, is an attempt to draw nearer to the realization of his or her potentials and, ultimately, to realization of the â€Å"fictional finalism†.This attempt, which he called â€Å"striving for perfection†, is sometimes referred to as â€Å"striving for superiority† (Alfred Adler (1870-1937), 2007) ,to give it the suggestion of something attainable and realizable, and to distinguish it from the impracticality of idealism and perfectionism (â€Å"in psychology, [idealism and perfectionism]) are often given a rather negative connot ation. Perfection and ideals are, practically by definition, things you can't reach. Many people, in fact, live very sad and painful lives trying to be perfect!† ([Boeree, 2006]).â€Å"Superiority† in the above context refers to a state or situation towards which every human action is directed—be it the satisfaction of a physical instinct, meeting financial or cultural obligations or working towards the realization of a political objective.A â€Å"superiority† or â€Å"betterment† is always in view, motivating the action. ‘According to Adler â€Å"We all wish to overcome difficulties. We all strive to reach a goal by the attainment of which we shall feel strong, superior, and complete. â€Å"’ (Alfred Adler (1870-1937), 2007).The striving towards â€Å"superiority† is therefore driven by the fundamental and all-inspiring striving towards the realization of â€Å"fictional finalism†. The â€Å"fictional finalism† i s the hidden force that drives, motivates, informs and decides. It induces the urge for self-improvement. It is the spirit of all actions, however commonplace or ordinary, the heart of every aspiration, determining the range of all material or immaterial acquisitions— of all â€Å"treasures†: it defines them and â€Å"draws them to itself† in an attempt towards self-fulfillment and self- realization. Thus, â€Å"Where your treasure is, there will your heart also be† (Mathew 6:21).ASPECTS OF ALFRED ALDER’S THEORYFour aspects of Alder Alfred’s theory have been identified: The development of personality, striving towards superiority, psychological health and unity of personality (Fisher, 2001).THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITYThe development of personality begins in childhood, with the â€Å"striving for superiority† referred to above and the at-first unconscious attempts towards the realization of potentials: â€Å"children observe more c ompetent elders around them and this motivates them to acquire new skills and develop new talents (Weiten, 1992, p. 484). † (Alfred Adler (1870-1937), 2007).These attempts at acquisition of new skills and development of new talents, Adler attributes to a healthy feeling of inferiority – inferiority to the elders who have cultivated and now exhibit such skills and talents, and who now stand to be â€Å"looked up to† ( being â€Å"superior†) by the children. With time, as the potentials develop, and age and physical maturity advance, fictional finalism in the developing child makes itself increasingly felt, with such fundamental accompanying manifestations as the urge for self-assertion and the associated desire to have to control over one’s life, enjoying freedom of individuality.â€Å"People [become] focused on maintaining control over their lives. † (Fisher, 2001). These manifestations are perhaps better recognized in such phenomena later in the child’s life as: an uncompromising choice of career or life partner; inflexible pursuits of a political or sport ambition, or the devotion to some preoccupying or obsessing religious or even recreational cause.Interference or intrusion in the pursuit of these individual assertions of personality are naturally resisted by the man or woman in question, because hand in hand with the self-assertive realizations of the fictional- finalism urges goes a desire to retain control over one’s life. Acquiescing to such interferences is, therefore, unnatural for a personality.STRIVING TOWARDS SUPERIORITYSuperiority, according to Adler Alfred, is not â€Å"superior over, not competition† (Adler Alfred’s â€Å"individual Psychology†).It is, rather, a healthy urge towards self-fulfillment and self-actualization.. Every endeavor, every attempt to achieve or merely to do something is, consequently, an attempt to attain to higher or â€Å"superior† levels of personality development—an â€Å"upward movement† or â€Å"ascent† to a better situation or condition of physical, mental or psychological state. Striving towards superiority is, thus, an integral part of living; it is â€Å"innate in the sense that it is a part of life.Trhoughout [sic] a person's life, Adler believed [a person] is motivated by the need to overcome the sense of inferiority and strive for ever higher levels of development. † (Adler Alfred’s â€Å"individual Psychology†). The striving for superiority begins with the spirit of the following Biblical recommendation: Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul [as well as his mind, drives and impulses] shall be far from them.Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22: 5-6). In the first sentence, â€Å"keeping† of the soul – and by implication, the mind, drives and impulse s – suggests the significance of early childhood upbringing to the development of the personality. â€Å"The froward† is deducibly the individual of an unhealthy personality, one who does not â€Å"keep†, i. e. , pay attention to and take care of, the nature and promptings of his or her inherent fictional finalism.The next sentence contains a practical, resolving recommendation: â€Å"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old he will not depart from it† Two suggestions are perhaps apparent from this recommendation: one, that the social, educational and moral upbringing of the child is fundamental to the health of its drives and impulses (to its â€Å"soul†), and, consequently, to the direction of its fictional finalism (the entirety of its pursuits, habits, peculiarities and voluntary socialization); two, that the image of the fictional finalism is composed essentially of the childhood orientation, which more or less â€Å"compe ls† the child to keep to paths of this image later in life, that is, â€Å"prevents† the child from â€Å"departing from it when he is old†.This deduction does not, however, lessen the force of Adler’s assertion of individuality of personality; for the quite observable fact that no two children are exactly alike suggests that the individuality of the child plays a role in its adaptation to and development through its childhood orientation. Identical twins under identical childhood upbringing will therefore never develop identically.While they might demonstrate similar good or bad upbringing, they will certainly not behave or think alike, nor will they aspire towards identical self-realizations. Therefore, â€Å"striving towards superiority† depends more on the individuality of the child and its upbringing than on the social, educational or cultural influences to which the child may be later subjected.PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTHThe psychological health of a personality depends on a number of factors suggested by the concept of â€Å"striving towards superiority† and by the fact that â€Å"Everyone feels inferior to a degree, which motivates us to get better†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Alfred Adler (1870-1937), 2007). These factors include:(i) Healthy inferiority feelings.(ii) Positive fictional finalism.(iii) Absence of idealism and perfectionism.In the light of the preceding subsections, these factors indicate the relevance of the assertion that â€Å"Good understanding giveth favour; but the way of transgressors is hard. † (Proverbs 13:15). Ensuring health of inferiority feelings, helping the development of a positive fictional finalism and working towards the absence of idealism and perfectionism, all naturally require â€Å"good understanding† of the workings of the personality . Such an understanding will prevent the development of a â€Å"hard†, â€Å"transgressing† personality—a personality overste pping all limits of rationality and propriety in the urges and the actualization of its self-image.(i) Healthy Inferiority feelings: Adler was said (Fisher, M. 2001) to describe inferiority feelings as â€Å"feelings of lack of worth†, which he believed to motivate the individual towards striving for superiority. However, as with everything, there are healthy and unhealthy inferiority feelings.These two kinds are naturally to be differentiated through the nature of the psychological and impulsive effects each induces. Healthy inferiority feelings, as is shown above, are progressive; unhealthy inferiority feelings, retrogressive. Unhealthy inferiority feelings can be named apart from healthy inferiority feelings by terming them â€Å"inferiority complex†, which Oxford Talking Dictionary (1998) defines as â€Å"an unrealistic feeling of general inadequacy caused by actual or supposed inferiority in one sphere†¦Ã¢â‚¬ The lack of â€Å"reality† in these feeli ngs already marks them as undesirable and counter-productive. Further in support of their undesirableness is the statement from Brainmeta (2007): People might cope with an inferiority complex by becoming tentative, helpless, and lazy, or by engaging in behavior, called overcompensation.Overcompensation involves trying to hide one's sense of inferiority from others and even from oneself. People who overcompensate might be vocal about their successes and qualities and exaggerate them. Also, they tend to get wrapped up in status, power, and materialism. They believe all of these things give the appearance of superiority (Weiten, 1992, p. 484). †The fostering and the sustenance of healthy inferiority feelings, as is suggested by the excerpt from the Book of Proverbs above, demand knowledge or â€Å"good understanding† of personality psychology—knowledge of such social and familial conditions as might cause psychological and personality irregularities. One source of s uch good knowledge is the implications or ramifications of Adler Alfred’s theories of personality and his assertions in the process of formulating these theories. For instance, Adler was said (Fisher, 2001) to maintain â€Å"that personality difficulties are rooted in a feeling of inferiority deriving from restrictions on the individual's need for self-assertion. † This statement clearly recommends freedom of self-assertion for children and adults alike.However, marrying this suggested recommendation to that of the Book of Proverbs excerpted above (which is another source of â€Å"good understanding†) modifies this recommendation and keeps it within limits: it suggests that freedom of assertion must be within the limits of a sound upbringing and realistic self-discipline.(ii) Positive fictional finalism and (iii) Absence of Idealism and Perfectionism are both clearly dependent on the existence of healthy inferiority feelings. The soul of all aspirations resides as much in the impulses of inferiority feelings as it does in those of fictional finalism. In other words, an individual’s fictional finalism determines the nature (and, therefore, the health) of his or her inferiority feelings.Idealism and perfectionism, as has been suggested above, can lead to tormenting self-criticisms due to the high expectations their bearer has of him or herself. It is understandable that both can derive from an attempt to overcompensate for inferiority complex— to make up for the unhealthy inferiority feelings that have developed from an unhealthy personality.UNITY OF PERSONALITYWith his postulates that there is ‘a single â€Å"drive† or motivating force behind all our behavior and experience’ (Boeree, 2006), and that â€Å"the conscious and unconscious worked together to achieve the goals of self-improvement and fictional finalism† (Alfred Adler (1870-1937), 2007), Alfred Adler suggested the existence of unity of pers onality.First, if the conscious and the unconscious work towards the common goal of self-improvement and fictional finalism, then every conscious feeling, thought, or emotion of a human being, be they pleasant or unpleasant, unite with his or her every unconscious feeling or emotion towards the fulfillment of these goals. The goal, however, is always striven towards, since it is the â€Å"motivating force behind all †¦ behaviour and experience† (Boeree, 2006).Consequently, every conscious feeling and thought is unceasingly in union and co-operation with every unconscious feeling and thought towards the attainment of the common goal of self-actualization. Second, if the conscious and the unconscious are, consequently, unceasingly united, it follows that the goals of self-improvement and of fictional finalism are in a ceaseless union.However, â€Å"Adler postulated that, beyond general [self-] improvement, each person has an ideal image they are trying to achieve†¦. This image of the perfect self is called the fictional finalism (Elverud, 1997). † † (Alfred Adler (1870-1937), 2007). Consequently, standing â€Å"beyond† the goal of â€Å"general improvement† (and connected with this goal), fictional finalism unites the urge for self-improvement, the conscious and the unconscious for a common purpose, and therefore forms the centerpiece of every drive and impulse of the personality. Therefore, unity of personality is the joint striving of every conscious and unconscious emotion, thought, feeling and action towards ultimate self-actualization.Adler therefore believed that there is an agreement among every aspiring, desiring, thinking, and acting of a human being: that unhealthy feelings of inferiority indicate the existence of unhealthy fictional finalism; that a restricted self-assertion and incomplete control of ones life can be recognized through the restricted thinking, feeling and acting of the individual in question ; that the extent of the realization of potentials is reflected in the extent of freedom of thought, opinion, speech and action of an individual†¦These deductions find support in a figurative appreciation of the following Biblical excerpt: â€Å"Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. † (Jeremiah 10:14). If the â€Å"graven image† is taken as the image of a dead, i. e. unrealistic fictional finalism, then the personality harboring such an image is bound to be â€Å"confounded† in his aspirations and his opinions, â€Å"brutish† in his outlook and expectations, and â€Å"false† in his interactions with fellow human beings.A practical example of such a person is a maniacal perfectionist whom no one could ever please or satisfy.ReferencesALFRED ADLER'S â€Å"INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY†. Retrieved April 10th, 2007 from http://www. s onoma. edu/users/d/daniels/adler. html.ALFRED ADLER. Retrieved 10th April 2007 from http://www. muskingum. edu/~psych/psycweb/history/adler. htm#Theory Alfred Adler (1870-1937). Retrieved 11th April 2007 from http://brainmeta. com/personality/adler. php.BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ALFRED ADLER. Retrieved April 11, 2007 from http://ourworld. compuserve. com/homepages/hstein/adler. htm In Cambridge Advanced learner’s Dictionary. Retrieved 11th April, 2007 from http://dictionary. cambridge. org/results. asp? searchword=opthamologist&x=12&y=8.In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved April 3, 2007, from Encyclop? dia Britannica Online: http://www. britannica. com/eb/article-9003744.North American Society of Adlerian Psychology. NASAP : . Retrieved April 12th, 2007 from http://www. alfredadler. org/.Personality Theory, Alfred Adler. Retrieved April 12, 2007, from http://webspace. ship. edu/cgboer/adler. html.Psychography : Alfred Adler. Psychography. Retrieved April 9th 2007, from http://f aculty. frostburg. edu/mbradley/psyography/alfredadler. html.The Holy Bible, King James Version. THOMAS NELSON, PUBLISHERS. Nashville. Camden. Newyork. The Oxford Talking Dictionary, 1998 Edition.