Child prostitution in foreign countries

Child prostitution in foreign countries Prostitution refers to the act or practice of offering sexual services to another person in return for payment or other favors. Prostitution is illegal in most countries of the world but is still legal in some countries. Different countries treat prostitution and prostitutes differently and the legality of prostitution activities varies from country to country. In some countries, the governments prohibit prostitution and punish all people caught involved in these activities. In other countries, the governments are committed to abolish prostitution. Some allow prostitution but regulate its activities while in some other countries, there is decriminalization of prostitution and people carry out prostitution activities just like any other job. In any of these cases, prostitution is a crime and is associated with other crimes. Like any other form of prostitution, child prostitution is common in the world and children mostly enter into this business because they are forced by circumstance s or people especially their parents or guardians. Child Sex tourism is also common. In this type of tourism, tourists engage minors of the country they visit in sexual activity. People also traffic children across international borders for purposes of sexual exploitation. Both Child trafficking and sex tourism contribute to child prostitution in foreign countries. About 900, 000 children are trafficked across international borders each year and people hold them in brothels or in other places for sexual exploitation. The problem of sex servitude affects both male and female children. People prefer to practice child prostitution in foreign countries for various reasons. Child prostitution is a world problem that requires both national and international attention. Many factors lead to child prostitution in many countries of the world. These include misery, poverty, unemployment of either the child or the parent, human trafficking, dysfunctional family environment, deception, poor education, AIDS scare, drug abuse and addiction, incest, rape, early exposure of children to sexual activities, and internet. Some governments also use child prostitution through sex tourism to promote tourism thus gain foreign exchange. They do this either directly or indirectly. These governments are those that are struggling economically. They usually assume acts of child prostitution and thus allow this evil act to attract more tourists and boost their tourism industry. Internet and child pornography serves as a major marketing tool that promotes child prostitution. People post on websites the experiences about child sex in different places and the costs involved. They also share child pornography through such websites thus encouraging not only child sex tourism b ut also child trafficking for sexual purposes. Poverty ranks high as a major factor that forces children to be prostitutes. This is common in poor countries affected by poor economies and wavering politics. In this situation, voluntarily becomes prostitutes or their parents force them into prostitution to provide financial needs of the family. This is common in most developing countries. Lack of viable sources to support the rising needs of people in these countries makes the children vulnerable to such exploitation. The families in poverty-stricken areas also become easy targets for procurement agents who are seeking for children to sell them into sexual slavery in brothels or various homes in the world. Child labor in poverty-stricken areas also exposes the children to prostitution. When parents or other agents send children to streets to hawk items, they expose their children, especially female children, to sexual harassment and rape. Human trafficking and deception are other factors that cause child prostitution especially in foreign countries. Human trafficking is a criminal activity in which some people purport to send teenagers to foreign countries to work but end up becoming prostitutes in their new destinations. Some brothel owners or procurement agents sometimes deceive parents by paying them money and promising them that their children will work in domestic chores but these children end up in prostitution. The brothel owners control the childs activities and do everything they can to maintain those who help them earn a lot of money. Sometimes hard times hit and these children are deported back to their countries where they continue with their prostitution activities. Dysfunctional family environments also play an important role in forcing children into prostitution. Such children do not get sufficient parental care and wander around looking for places to find solace. Such children end up in night discos and in other places, which expose them to early involvement in sexual activities. In the end, these children end up trading on their own bodies in order to support themselves. Incest and rape generally changes the childrens outlook in life and make some children to give room for prostitution. Some children become rebellious and defiant of the instructions given by their parents and feel independent. They demand for freedom to do what they want with their bodies. This leads most of them into prostitution. Drug abuse by these children also aggravates the problem by subjecting the children to prostitution and making them compromise situations they cannot when they are in their sound mind. Some children also engage in prostitution due to pleasure and continue in it because of the pleasure they derive from these acts. Criminals organize the sex industry in the world and use children in prostitution for their own gain. The demand of young girls and boys in some countries also contributes to the growth of this problem as more children face trafficking to work in foreign countries as sex slaves. The increasing demand of foreign sex in many people aggravates this problem. Some customers also fear sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS and thus engage children in prostitution believing that they are of low risk. Poor law enforcement in other countries also aggravates this problem. Child prostitution is common in virtually all countries of the world. Pimps, brothels and other criminal networks collaborate to traffic about 900, 000 children across borders for sexual exploitation and servitude every year. This is not only the problem of poor countries but it is common even in rich and developed countries. Sex tourism also combines with child trafficking to make this lucrative business of child prostitution to flourish. People usually employ networks of small groups to carry out activities like recruitment, transportation, advertising and retail of trafficked children for the purposes of sex exploitation in foreign countries. These groups often achieve major success because they require little capital to start up and prosecution by the countries involved is relatively rare. The major sources and destinations of sex tourism and child trafficking for sexual exploitation in foreign countries include Thailand, Japan, Israel, China, Belgium, Germany, Bulgaria, Netherla nds, Nigeria, Italy, Brazil and Ukraine among others. Of these countries, Thailand and Brazil are the leading in perpetuating the business of child prostitution. Even though prostitution and child sex exploitation is illegal in Brazil, from 200, 000 to 2 million children aged between eight and sixteen years are forced into prostitution in this country (Charles, 2010). The children involved in prostitution face many challenges and there are many effects associated with this child prostitution. Mostly, the pimps and brothel operators direct the activities of these children and they do not give them freedom of choice. This makes the children to work against their wishes. They also rarely give these children rest from their work. The pimps also give the children little food and this coupled with the high amount of work they do makes these children weak and sometimes may lead to death of the children. Child prostitution is also economically unsound and causes the child moral and physical harm as well as psychological trauma. Those who use children in prostitution activities usually do not well address their health issues. The children also risk attack from many sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS, syphilis, meningitis, anemia, tuberculosis, and others. This further weakens the health of these children and some lead to their death. Because child prostitution is an illegal business, some brothel owners or pimps fear taking the children to hospitals for treatment or regular checkups. In case they suspect a disease in any of the children, these brothel owners employ quark doctors who sometimes prescribe wrong medication for these children. As a result, the children live with a load of diseases and other health disorders, which give them problems throughout their lives. Such children especially girls are forced to enter into early child bearing and sometimes, family responsibilities. This makes those schooling to drop out of school and thus become less equipped for the labor market (Ringold, 2000). The gi rls used in child prostitution are forces to carry out frequent abortions. Unqualified doctors who also use poor methods and equipment in wrong environments often carry out these abortions. This further endangers the life of the child and deteriorates the childs health. Child prostitution also causes a lot of psychological and emotional stress to the children involved in these practices. Children in this case lose their self-esteem and give up in life. Some of the children get permanent physical damage, which they unwillingly live with. Such children do not have any confidence to engage in any other work except crime related jobs. Child prostitution is also associated with other crimes like drug trafficking and abortions. The more they get involved in other crimes, the more their morals deteriorate. They live in constant fear of raids by people and the police. Thailand has the worst record of child prostitution in the world. Even though prostitution is illegal in this country, it still takes place publicly or privately and sometimes the government regulates it. Large international criminal syndicates traffic children from other countries to Thailand and/or sends some children to other countries to work as prostitutes. Sex tourism in Thailand also contributes substantially to the problem of child prostitution. People coerce children from the age of 10 years into prostitution or some parents sell their own children into sex slavery knowingly or unknowingly. (Sorajjakool, 2003; Pusurinkham, n.d.). Poverty plays a major role in engaging minors into prostitution in Thailand. The children used in prostitution in this country come from Burma, Cambodia, Laos, China, Russia, and Uzbekistan. Thailand also traffics children to Japan, Malaysia, Australia, Europe, Canada, South Africa, Singapore and Bahrain for sexual exploitation. The children are kep t in brothels, which are sometimes surrounded by electric fence thus making it hard for the children to escape. Pimps give the girls harsh treatment and brutally beat those who are not cooperative sometimes to death. Ending child prostitution in Thailand has been a challenge because of lack of commitment from most of the stakeholders and the Thai government. Currently, having sex with girls below fifteen years of age is illegal under Thai law. However, child prostitution still exists in Thailand due to corruption of the government and political leaders. This issue makes the government and political systems to overlook or minimize the problem of child prostitution. The offenders often bribe police officers and politicians to protect them against prosecution. Even though this is the case, the government is striving to do away with child prostitution. It is doing this in association with nongovernmental organizations and other international organizations. The concern is to end sex tourism in Thailand and prevent child trafficking both into and out of the country for purposes of sexual exploitation and servitude. Brazil, China, Nigeria and Zimbabwe also have notable cases of child prostitution in foreign countries. These are destinations for child trafficking as well as sources of children trafficked to other countries for sexual exploitation. Sex tourists also find these destinations appropriate for their activities. Child prostitution in most countries of the world is illegal but still there are many instances of child sex molestation. Most governments are committed to end this problem of child prostitution both in their countries and in foreign countries. There are also many of non-governmental organizations and international organizations involved in reducing the practices of child prostitution in the world. These organizations include End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT), the International Labor Organization (ILO), the World Tourism Organization, and the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) among many other international, regional and national organizations. ECPAT is an international organization based in Thailand. This organization was founded in 1991 with the goal of eradicating child prostitution in the world. The organizations plan is to persuade governments to enact laws to protect children against both local and international prostitution. After the governments have enacted these laws, ECPAT then ensures that these governments enforce these laws. The organization also persuades parents through their local leaders not to sell their children into prostitution (Hancock, n.d). It also discourages sex tourism and convinces governments to accept extra-territorial laws that allow prosecution of foreign citizens who sexually abuse minors in the country where they commit the offence. This means that sex tourists who use children in any foreign country will face judgment in the country where they commit the crime while they are on their tour. Some other human rights organizations gives information to parents in poor, rural areas about the tr ibulations and molestations the children go through in the places they sell them. They do this by use of photos, videos, and/or radios. This is what takes place in Thailand. UNICEF is a United Nations organization concerned with the welfare of children. The organization works in many countries to help vulnerable children grow to early adulthood without many avoidable problems. The organization sometimes works with other NGOs in some countries to help it achieve its goals. UNICEF through its conventions sets principles and guidelines for countries to follow in combating child prostitution. The organization then asks and helps countries to commit to their action plans in protecting children. They do this regionally or in individual countries. For example, UNICEFs second World Congress against Commercial Exploitation of Children set out guidelines and some countries made commitments to develop national plans of action against commercial sexual exploitation of children. A number of countries in the Eastern and Central African region made commitments to this strategy. These countries include Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar, Mozambique, Seychelles, South A frica, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Mauritius and Angola (UNICEF, 2001). Many of these countries face the problem of child prostitution both in the local countries and in foreign countries. Taking an example of Kenya, this country committed itself to the development of a national plan of action on commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC). Through this commitment, the country has formulated policies, programs and activities to help it to achieve the goal (UNICEF, 2001). This has made the country to engage NGOs in the fight against child molestation and sexual exploitation. The NGOs have involved children in the production of drama on child sexual abuse to raise awareness about this issue. The country has also formed the children department in one of its ministries to protect children. The new constitution of that country has comprehensively covered and clearly outlined the rights of children. The countrys government with the help of children rights groups has established strong regional co-operation with other countries. This is helping in checking child prostitution in foreign countries in this region and the world at large. In conclusion, child prostitution is a common problem in many countries of the world. In this practice, the children engage in sexual activity for monetary gain especially by the adults who either are their parents or their caretakers. Some children enter into prostitution due to the hard situations they face while others ere sold into sexual servitude by their parents either consciously or unconsciously. Child prostitution in foreign countries is also a common practice. People do this through sex tourism and child trafficking. Most people practice child prostitution in foreign countries either because they want to avoid the laws of their countries by breaking law in foreign countries or because they misunderstand the people of the countries that they visit. Child prostitution is a multi billion business in the world that leads to wastage of many childrens lives. In some countries, cultural practices contribute to the involvement of children in prostitution. Large and small criminal groups arrange for Trans boundary transfer of children and clients involved in child prostitution. Even though many human rights groups are against this immoral behavior, some governments have not fully committed themselves to eradicating this problem from their countries. Still there is much demand of foreign children for sex in some countries making the business of child trafficking and sex tourism to flourish. In whichever the case, children prostitution is a criminal offence and all people and especially governments need to fight to eradicate this problem from the society.

Lord of the Flies Persuasive Essay

â€Å"Lord of the Flies† Ralph the Leader Ralph from the â€Å"Lord of the Flies† by William Golding is charismatic, athletic, and smart. He cares about how people are and what they need. He has his responsibilities in order unlike the other kids who do anything they want. He knows how to keep the kids in order so they can get work done. Ralph makes the best leader out of all the other kids. After the conch is blown, and children assemble, Jack calls Piggy Fatty.Ralph is quick to point out that his name is not Fatty, but Piggy. Everyone laughs and begins to chant his name, and Piggy becomes hurt. It is through this small conflict that Piggy becomes a target for the others, to taunt and hurt, because of his name and physical appearance. This event shows the beginnings of breakdown of the community, and Ralph is the only one that can put it back together. Ralph worked tirelessly on the tents while all of the other kids were playing in the water.Jack is a main character in â€Å"Lord of the Flies† but he is a jerk and he is obsessed on kill a pig that he chickened out of doing the first time. While Jack and the hunters are hunting they have a second job that is to keep the signal fire running. They didn’t do that while that is going on a boat comes by and if they had a signal fire they could have been saved but didn’t. Ralph confronted him at an island meeting and Jack still just wants to go hunting. Ralph was smart and nice in the beginning when he first met the boys.They made him chief because of his treats and Jack called them all together but he is mean. The little kids like Jack more because he thinks the beasties are real. Ralph knows they're not real and for the little kids not to believe that they're real. Ralph is the better leader and should always. The facts have shown why Ralph is a better leader. He cares about other people and their emotions. He has his responsibilities in order and will do it. He can lead other peo ple and to get stuff done.

Jeanette Winterson Boating for Beginners - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 13 Words: 3792 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/09/15 Category Advertising Essay Did you like this example? According to David Lodge realistic literature is based on â€Å" their obsession with form to neglect the content and the third person omniscient mode is more often used to assert or imply the existence of society or history, than of heaven and hell. Therefore, modernist fiction eschews the straight chronological ordering of realistic material and the use of reliable omniscient intrusive narrator†. In her novel, Jeanette Winterson uses a â€Å"method of multiple points of view† and her novel â€Å"tends towards a fluid and complex handling of time, involving much cross-reference backwards and forwards across the chronological span of the action†. We can reinforce this idea by quoting Linda Hutcheon, who says: â€Å"the postmodern artist was no longer the inarticulate, silent alienated creator figure of the Romantic but some theorists who showed they could write with sharp wit verbal play and anecdotal verve†. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Jeanette Winterson Boating for Beginners" essay for you Create order For Christopher Pressler, Jeanette Winterson is often described as one of the most controversial yet innovative fiction writers. Postmodernist techniques , modernist tradition, metafiction and magical realism are, however, mere instruments that Winterson deftly combines with a strong political commitment aimed at subverting socio-cultural power structures and ultimately, at appropriating traditionally male-defined concepts for her lesbian politics. She self-consciously questioned the mechanisms by which narratives texts are produced and partaken of a clear penchant of fantasy, magical realism and the fabulous. In Boating for Beginners, she rewrites the Flood and Noah’s Ark. In her fiction, God has not created men, it is Noah that makes God â€Å" by accident out of a piece of gateau and a giant electrical toaster†. Gloria a homodiegetic adolescent female narrator struggles to find her own identity in a word of distorted fictions that pass for unquestionable realities. To analyse the demystification of the rewritten history of the Genesis it is interesting to answer this question: How does Boating for Beginners question the way History is written? To answer this question we will firstly analyse fact versus fiction. And finally we will focus on deconstruction in Jeanette Winterson’s novel. To understand how Jeanette Winterson put on stage two groups of people, it is important to see in details all the characters. The first group gathers Noah, God, Japeth, Ham and Shem (Noah’s three sons, the same names as in the Bible) and their wives Ham’s wife, Sheila, and Japeth’s wife , Rita; Mrs Munde, Gloria’s mother, and Bunny Mix. Noah is an ordinary man (12); turned into a ridiculous character (18), he is a liar (139), a scientist who invent stupid things (82), he is a right wing man, suspicious of women and totally committed to money as a medium of communication (69), he turns out to be an unscrupulous businessman and his sons are submitted to his authority and obey him, (90), he is also fascist (69) he is authoritarian and looks like a star, he is a â€Å"spherical man with a bright bald head†, he was around four feet tall with the blackest, most piercing eyes possible in anything other a crow (50), he looks like a transvestite (18), â€Å"he was wearing a red-and-white spotted tie (61). God has been created by Noah he behaves as a child, he is vulgar (22) and (90). Throughout the novel, he has been called in different names: Noah called him â€Å"Yahweh†, â€Å"Lord†, â€Å"Unpronounceable† (biblical reference), the â€Å"drama queen† (110) but also by with disrespectful name like â€Å"Holy Wisp† (111-112) Lucifer called him the boss (133), Marlene called him â€Å"the cosmic dessert† (98); Ham called him the â€Å"God of Love, the omnipotent Stockbroker and the Omniscient Lawyer† (30). The sons of Noah have been deconstructed: Japeth is a jewellery king, Ham the owner of that prestigious pastrami store, More Meat, and, Shem who was once a playboy and entrepreneur, is now a reformed and zealous pop singer. The wives of Noah have been baptised Sheila, Desi and Rita (26): Rita was dark-skinned with a bush of orange hair and matching painted fingernails (26); Sheila is very fat and covered from head to foot in solid gold. Bunny Mix is a popular Romance writer, â€Å"her face was pale and her eyes were very black. A gash of brilliant red marked her mouth† (58) and she helps Noah to write the dialogue of Boating for Beginners. Jeanette Winterson uses physical mimesis to make the resemblance between the fictional Bunny Mix and the present Barbara Cartland striking. The last character of the first group is Mrs Munde, Gloria’s mother, who cooks for Noah (16). Jeanette Winterson describes her as a fanatic in the novel (15). The second group comprises Gloria, Marlene Desi and Doris. Gloria is eighteen (1), she is not beautiful (1); she is unbalanced (16). Gloria can be said to reflect the author’s point of view. Eileen Wanquet points out that Gloria and Jeanette Winterson have the same relationship with their mothers, therefore there are both concerned with their personal development. Doris has been â€Å"hired by Noah to help with the arrangements† (23), was doing the dusting (23) is the â€Å"organic philosopher†(24), who comes in competition with Northrop Frye. She follows the development of Gloria and says Gloria â€Å"I see you’re on the second stage† (48). She also leads Gloria to open her eyes: â€Å"I ‘m teaching her to be poetic while she teach herself to be analytic† (71) According to Eileen Wanquet: Marlene is a grotesque character, a case of mistaken identity or of metamorphosis, that is at one point linked to a â€Å"monstrous batlike creation† with â€Å"wings† (75). Her every appearance assures the reader of another juicy episode and language. She/he is an over-sensitive, neurotic transsexual (96), a man who has had breasts added a penis removed, but who is nostalgic for that penis, whining to have her â€Å"sleeping snake† back â€Å"for decoration†. 37) The Biblical characters become actors playing their own roles in their pre-written story. (†¦) It is clear Noah who masters the discourse. Because the revision of the Genesis is presented in a dialogue between Bunny Mi x and Noah, Noah using the first person and Bunny Mix the second person singular. Noah revises Genesis for posterity, in collaboration with Bunny Mix (137-138). As Author, film director and inventor of the whole story, he is perfectly conscious of his power. Not only Jeanette Winterson re-writes the story of the bible using puns and metaphors, but she also succeeds in caricatures all the characters of the Bible, which make the reader laugh from beginning to end. We can say that fact and fiction interact. Real life is a text and the language and discourse come first. History follows no divine plan. History is the great metanarratives of man history. Man is not progressing in a linear faction. For Eileen Wanquet, â€Å" not only is linear time destabilised by a dizzying contortion, but space also is decentred†. And Linda Hutcheon adds that: â€Å" Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to say that the postmodern’s initial concern is to de-naturalize some of the dominant features of our way of life; to point out that those entities that we unthinkingly experience as â€Å"natural† are in fact† cultural† made by us, not given to us. Even nature, postmodernism might point out, doesn’t grow on trees. 2) â€Å"The postmodern is not a degeneration into ‘hyperreality’ but a questioning of what reality can mean and how we can come to know it. † Terry R. Wright says in the Genesis of fiction: modern novelists as biblical interpreters: â₠¬Å"I chose Jeanette Winterson partly because she provides interesting answers to this question: why should you wan to read what I left out? (asks Gaffer in Michel Roberts’s novel, The Book of Mrs Noah, page 70), and partly because of the self-consciously allusive and intertextual manner of her writing which engages productively not only with the Bible but with the work of literary critics of the bible such as Harold Bloom and Northon Frye†. Indeed, Jeannette Winterson puts on stage famous people like, Martin Amis (22), an English novelist, son of Kingsley Amis who was part of the group called the Angry young men; Cliff Richards, a pop song signer of the 1960s (28); Joan of Ark, a national heroine of France and a Catholic saint, or Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of the Christian Science movement, (25); David Allen, who makes documentary films, James Thurber, a short story writer and a cartoonist; Thomas Hardy, a realistic novelist; Freud, the famous psychoanalyst; Hitchcock, a famous (81) Marilyn Monroe, a famous American actress (44, 72, 104), Northrop Frye (44) and Einstein, the famous scientist who invented the hydrogen bomb (100). She also refers to Bizet’s opera, Carmen (28); to famous magazines like Vague (60), the Socialist Worker Party Magazine (22), Social State Nineveh (12); to well known places like Pizza hut, a restaurant; Milton Keynes, a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England; soap opera like Dallas (100). Eileen Wanquet in Etudes Britanniques et contemporaines writes a good summary of the novel: Winterson not only resituates the events leading up to the Flood, but also shows how they were recorded for posterity, making both â€Å"fiction about story† and fiction about its own historically relative construction of history† (Connor 142-43). Noah and God are going to collaborate on â€Å" manuscript that would be a kind of global history from the beginning of time†¦Ã¢â‚¬  the first two volumes† of which are entitled â€Å"Genesis† and â€Å"Exodus† the narrator explains that Noah had decided to â€Å"dramatise† the first two books, using his sons as actors and bringing in a famous writer of romantic fiction, Bunny Mix, â€Å"to add (†¦) romantic interest (20), adding that â€Å"a film company would be putting the whole thing on camera, not just the play itself but the making of the play† (20). Indeed, the story is repeatedly cast in language of the world of cinema, theatre and advertising. (†¦) Thus Winterson’s rewriting of the Flood presents the events it relates not as real facts, but as a story of the making of a film about a play about a book. (†¦)God will force Noah to â€Å"rewrite the world† (124). Furious because he hadn’t been consulte d about the film and hasn’t got a contract (90). God decides to flood the world â€Å"for real† (90), telling Noah: â€Å"We can change the book, put it out under a new cover† †¦(91). Whereas the ark was in reality made out of fibre-glass, Noah writes that it was â€Å"made of gopher wood† (137) and, with the deliberate aim of deceiving future generations, he actually gathers bits of wood and â€Å"plant(s) them on top of Mount Ararat† (151). In Boating for Beginners, the metafiction can be summarized in three acts: the written, the play and the making of the play. The chronological order of the events is upside down, which can be juxtaposed with Eileen Wanquet ideas: The main story is framed by an epigraph and by an epilogue and it is introduced by a reflexive paragraph on twelve page. All three are situated at the same metafictionnal level, set off from the main narrative, marked by italics and realistically rooted in the Britain of the 1980s. The story telling is thus historically situated after the Creation and before the Flood. Winterson further manipulates time and space, by anachronistically setting the story of Noah in a different historical period; namely a highly capitalistic twentieth-century society. Thatcher’s Conservative Britain of the 1980s with its marked return to laissez-faire economics merges with the Middle East, both past and present. The whole novel refers to contemporary preoccupations like plastic surgery, which highlights our current obsessions with beauty; the frozen food; sexuality and social games. Everything is mixed in Boating for Beginners, all these things have been carefully and cleverly hinted by Jeanette Winterson to make us think and not believe everything in the novel. She warns us against the real truth; her novel is not a message but an enigma, which as a reader you have to find. In our modern history, we tend to take what history and science tell us for granted. But Hayden White argues that History is different from science, consequently the reader is not gullible and his cultural background enables him to deconstruct the novel. Therefore, history has a lot of similarities with fiction. Jeanette Winterson highlights the fact that we are made by fiction. In Boating for Beginners, Noah says â€Å"if we‘ve got a new world we can tell them anything. (†¦) Who’s to say we’re lying? † (110-11). Winterson wants to points out that a text is a anguage, we have the image of a theatre and a play. As John Berger (1972a: 47) put in: â€Å"men act and women appear. † Hayden White argues that â€Å"I believe, the historian performs an essentially poetic act, in which he prefigures the historical field and constitutes it a s a domain upon which to bring to bear the specific theories he will use to explain what ‘was really happening ‘in it. ’(1973:px). Jeanette Winterson ardently defends the poetry of myth: Myths hook and bind the mind because at the same time they set the mind free: they explain the universe while allowing the universe to go on being unexplained; and we seem to need this even now, in our twentieth century grandeur. The Bible writers didn’t care that they were bunching together sequences some of which were historical, some preposterous and some downright manipulative. Faithful recording was not their business; faith was. They set it out in order to create a certain effect, and did it so well that we’re still arguing about it. Every believer is an anarchist at heart. (66) The re-writing of the Bible is also deconstructed in the novel when Paula Youens, the illustrator of the book, makes a parody of hieroglyphs . For Hawthorn, â€Å"Hayden White makes it quite clear that stories are always imposed by human beings on events in the world†. That is also the main idea of Jeanette Winterson in this novel. That’s why the bible is compared to romance . The literary genre of romance is made fun of with cliches of a beautiful heroine called Naomi (41) falling in love with a rich and handsome man in an idyllic place, the obstacles are overcome and the happy ending closes the text: â€Å"he took her hands†. â€Å"Will you marry me just as soon as it dries out† (41). In other words, the novel is a pastiche of romance where Bunny Mix falls in love with Noah, a â€Å"spherical man†. As Linda Hutcheon explains in Ironie, Satire, parody, â€Å"parody is not necessarily mocking and a target is not always the previous text, which only helps as a mean to criticize contemporary society and turns it into what she calls â€Å" Satire Parody†Ã¢â‚¬ . For Eileen Wanquet, both ‘historiographic metafiction ’ and ‘new baroque † use fantasy and frivolity to make serious comments on the world and that they are but the â€Å"two† side of the same coin†, perhaps typifying one of the main directions taken by contemporary fiction â€Å"at the crossroads†, to use David Lodge terms. And Christy L. Burns adds that: Winterson goes on to criticize believers who are too literal in their claims, but here she focuses on the â€Å"faith† derived from the more fantastic elements of literature, which â€Å"binds’ the mind without limiting it to only the purest fact. Winterson fantasy in to her critique of contemporary desensitization the reader’s own â€Å"real† political and social context. She achieves this by disrupting the reader ‘s escape from reality, persistently haunting her characters’ voices with references to reading, writing, and the impact of art. The challenge of traditional discourses is one of Jeanette Winterson’s battlefields. In this way, the people who write the genesis will be the people in power. Winterson deconstructs patriarchy and reveals the secret function. She is challenging the one truth. She highlights the fact that three girls will survive and challenge the truth. Generally speaking everything comes from the people in power. Noah is the master of manipulation. Here the women like Doris, Gloria, Marlene and Desi are put on side. In patriarchal society woman like Bunny Mix is accepted and recognised because she is not disturbing and most of all she is superficial. Jeanette Winterson criticises the patriarchal society. The text shows how the â€Å"jarring witnesses † is disturbing. Winterson uses a feminist discourse in her novel. The novel has a plot, which includes Noah, his sons and his son’s wives and a subplot depicted by the â€Å"jarring witnesses,† which includes Gloria, Desi, Marlene and Doris. The feminist discourse can be seen in the way she gives Gloria the chance to grow up. It reminds me of the allegory of the Cavern by Plato, Gloria realises that the world cannot be resumed by popular romance, what she has often read. At the end of the novel, we realize that Gloria evolves from a â€Å"coarse† (36) to a â€Å"fully rounded person (55). In the whole novel, the point of view of Gloria is inexistent and she is passive. For example, she has to be a zookeeper to comply with her mother’s will. At the beginning, she is not autonomous and ill-at-ease in society. When she begins to work, she starts to be self confident and fends for herself. What is also surprising in this novel is the way she criticises the realistic novel. Traditional novel are always concerns with binary opposition between good and evil, reason and passion. Jeanette Winterson deconstructs this binary vision and criticises Charlotte Bronte (132), when she makes allusion to â€Å"inspiring saga about a cripple and his nurse†. This novel is not an omniscient narrator voice, there are several characters with different point of views. All the voices interrelate with one another without a particular order. The â€Å"jarring witnesses† are not included in the official discourse. Many feminists have perceived the bible as a founding of female oppression. That is to say the women have a secondary role. For Eileen Wanquet, â€Å"In the Creation scene Noah makes the three wives, Sheila Desi and Rita, wear false nose, wigs and teeth. (50-51) to be as ugly as possible (51), so they remind the spectators of the witches in Macbeth. Women’s exclusion from the biblical discourse and their secret survival are also farcically illustrated. The women are not told about the flood, but are knocked over the head and taken along by force (140). (†¦) But Desi manages to outwit her husband, discovers the secret plot and warns Gloria, Doris and Marlene. The four rebels prepare a counter survival act, to avoid a future with those â€Å"lunatics† (115). It is these women who unmask the version of the Genesis. Thus Boating for Beginners uses surprise and laughter to deconstruct this bedrock of civilisation that has privileged the masculine over the years with the aim of given a different version of the same story, of â€Å"rewriting wrong† (Connor 198). It illustrates that imagination has the power to disrupt tyranny of a reality, fiction is more truth revealing than History or myth, which â€Å"explain the universe while allowing universe to go on being unexplained† (66). â€Å"The challenge to patriarchy must also be a challenge toe established modes of representation and writing, in so far these always evolved under and therefore been contaminated by patriarchy† (Gibson 174). (†¦)The target of the novel is not only the male model of the self, which relegates women to the role of the other. It also attacks feminists who try to imitate men, thereby lapsing back to masculine symbolic, resetting the trap of rigid gender identities. What Winterson seems to propose is a radical change in perception, a liberation from the very notion of either/or. (†¦) The novel is implicitly ethical, because by comically and baroquely challenging a whole life-style founded on what Ostriker call the â€Å"Ur-text of patriarchy† , by showing how we should not be and live, Winterson is specifically addressing the question of how men and women should be and live. Therefore Eileen Wanquet enhances that: The Ark a caricature of patriarchal capitalist society, is in reality a technically sophisticated and luxurious yacht, filled with useless aterialistic objects, like games, alcohol, televisions sets, cars, one-armed bandits, all of which represent the superficial civilization of a childish, irresponsible, selfish, dishonest, and petty group of men. The type of woman let on the Ark is r epresented by Bunny Mix, the writer of Harlequin romance, who is caricature of femininity as male construction. Her name is a combination of that given to a hostess in a Playboy Club and â€Å"of myxomatosis,† the disease so fatal to rabbits: by collaborating with men, she has contributed to murdering her own kind. It is a way to question traditional conceptions like time and space. The real world is a mixture of references in order to stress that the world come to us through the words and the text. Everything is textual; the fact that reality is discourse and ideology. As far as Eileen Wanquet is concerned: â€Å"More generally and fundamentally Jeanette Winterson denounces all forms of tyranny- of totalitarism, fanaticism, of fundamentalism- all monologic discourse (see Reynier 26) and all belief in a unique legitimating Truth. She unmasks what Rene Girarg, in Des Choses caches depuis la fondation du monde, calls the â€Å"victimization† process set up in Biblical discourse, whereby scapegoats and marginal groups are unjustly condemned in order to ensure the survival of a dominant group. Thus historical discourse is comically shown to be partial and selective. Finally we can say that She takes into account Lacan’s idea. Lacan thought that man was made through language that means the language precedes man. Jeanette Winterson deconstructs the myth of the Bible and proves that there is not one truth, everything can be and must be always questioned. What can be History with a capital â€Å"H†, if every historians study not only the fact but also the â€Å"jarring witnesses†: will it be a world of Utopia or are we still living in Orientalism world? Bibliography: ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA (Hardcover Jan. 1, 1961) BURNS, Christy L. Jeanette Winterson’s Recovery of the Postmodern Word. Contemporary Literature, vol. 37, No. 2 (Summer, 1996), pp 278-306 EDMUND, J. Smith. Postmodernism and Contemporary Fiction. London: Batsford, 1991. GALLIX, F. Genres et categories du roman Britannique contemporain, Paris, Armand Calvi, 1998, p. 169-186. HAWTHORN, Jeremy. Cunning Passages: New Historicism, Cultural Materialism and Marxism in the Contemporary Literacy Debate. New York: Arnold, 1996. HOLTON, Robert. Jarring Witnesses: Modern Fiction and the Representation of History. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998. HUTCHEON, Linda. The Politics of Postmodernism. London: Routledge, 2002. LODGE, David. T LYOTARD, Jean-Francois. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1984, reprint 1997. REGARD, Frederic. L’ecriture feminine en Angleterre. Paris: PUF, 2002. REYNIER,Christine. Jeanette Winterson, Le Miracle Ordinaire. Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, Pessac 2004. WILLIAMS-WANQUET, Eileen. Jeanette Winterson’s Boating for Beginners: Both New Baroque and Ethics. Etudes Britanniques contemporaines numero 23, 2002. Towards Defining â€Å"Postrealism†, a Re-Writing of the Bible as â€Å"Parodic Satire†: Jeanette Winterson’s Boating for Beginners. Journal of Narrative Theory 36. 3 (Fall 2006): 389-419. WHITE, Hayden. Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1973. WINTERSON, Jeanette. Boating for Beginners (1985), Minerva, 1990. https://www. jeanettewinterson. com/

Character Analysis Of Abigail Williams In The Crucible

Lying and rumors not only can get you in big, big, BIG trouble nowadays. Arthur Miller creates different forms of characterisation throughout The Crucible using methods to reveal or describe characters and their personalities, Abigail Williams is one of the main characters who caused all of the recklessness. Arthur included specific qualities, traits and personality attributes to embody Abigail’s motivations, actions and how she views and treats others or herself including how Abigail is the least complex, she is clearly the villain of the play, she tells lies, manipulates her friends and the entire town. Arthur Miller reveals and describes Abigails character as a manipulative liar, the girl who doesnt repress her desires and†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the open doorway and not a stitch on my body! I always hear her laughing in my sleep. I hear her singing her Barbados songs and tempting me with†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Abigail bled t o Reverend Hale trying to falsely accuse Tituba of cursing her and worshipping the devil. Abigail falsely accuses Tituba of witchcraft and devil worship, in which good and innocent people are accused and convicted due to her lying. Abigail has all of the traits to be the villain and none of the attributes Arthur gave us were used for the good. Abigail embodies jealousy, her jealousy is so strong it motivates her to believe her affair with John was more and she believes that John loves her. In her mind if she can get rid of Elizabeth Proctor, she can become Johns wife. Her jealousy also motivates her to cause mayhem upon the town and other girls. â€Å"I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men! And now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!† For John, we quickly realize, their relationship belongs to the past,Show MoreRelatedThe Crucible Abigail Williams Character Analysis749 Words   |  3 Pagesindividual’s morals determines how one is scrutinized, judged, and reprimanded. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Abigail Williams is a character with compelling moral principles. Abigail’s disoriented moral constitution allows the theme, the detrimental effects of mass hysteria, to be constantly reassured throughout the play. 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The Salem Witch Trials of the late 1600s were mass killings, directed by a group of young women. This retelling features Abigail Williams, a smart and malicious girl, who wants John Proctor to be hers and only hers. But John Proctor, despite sleeping with Abigail once remains loyal to his wife. This makes Abigail curious on h ow to take his wife out of the picture. John’s wife, Elizabeth Proctor isn’tRead MoreThe Crucible By Arthur Miller998 Words   |  4 PagesBridget Bishop with the Devil!† This is when Abigail Williams confesses to being a witch. This outburst shows the hypocrisy in Salem as well as ignorance towards the idea of the witch trials. Beginning with confessions of a meeting with the devil, continuing with declaring a reunification with Jesus, and ending with of course, accusing others of witchcraft. The false confessions favor the dishonest and are motivated by jealousy and spite. The Crucible is a four-act dramatic play production thatRead MoreThe Crucible Character Analysis Essay879 Words   |  4 PagesThe Crucible Character Analysis In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor, the protagonist, is a farmer in his middle thirties. The author gives little to no detailed physical description of him, but from Proctor’s speech, we can still picture him as a strong and powerful man who is able to keep every situation under the control, the kind of personality which earns him deep respect and even fear from the people in town. On the other hand, Abigail Williams, the antagonist, plays an inferiorRead MoreEssay on The Crucible Rhetorical Analysis902 Words   |  4 Pages The Crucible Rhetorical Analysis In a society where the thoughts and opinions of people are meant to blend in, a division actually occurs where they are usually separated because of their opinions. The play and the event, The Crucible and the â€Å"Red Scare† respectively, supply greatly to the difference of opinion because it shows that people are willing to do anything to not only oust the people that they dislike, but try and obtain the attention that they are seeking. During the â€Å"Red Scare,†Read MoreCharacter Analysis Of Elizabeth Proctor In The Crucible825 Words   |  4 PagesIII A/H 28 November 2017 Character Analysis of Elizabeth Proctor In 1692, many people in Salem, Massachusetts confessed to witchcraft, which resulted in several conflicts. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, uses real events to develop a fictional play. One of the characters in the play is Elizabeth Proctor. She is a static character because she undergoes very little changes throughout the play. The author illustrates the theme of reputation through Elizabeth. Her character shows traits of strengthRead MoreAnalysis Of Arthur Miller s The Crucible 961 Words   |  4 Pages Movie paper analysis of The crucible The circumstance brought upon a person can change them greatly. The Crucible edited and rewritten by Arthur Miller, is a movie which takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The leading actors are Daniel Day-Lewis as Proctor, Winona Ryder as Abigail, Paul Scofield as Judge Danforth, Joan Allen as Elizabeth, Bruce Davison as Parris, and Rob Campbell as Hale. It was directed by Nicholas Hytner and was Based on the witch hunt which surrounded MassachusettsRead MoreCrucible Essay1101 Words   |  5 PagesRedemption is defined as atoning for a fault or mistake. Therefore, the idea of a redemptive character emanates from that character committing a perceived wrong and then overcoming the subsequent consequences with his actions. The Crucible, a famous play by Arthur Miller, incorporates this idea of redemption into its plot through the personal journeys of major characters in the Salem Witch Trials. One such character that displays these qualities of redemption is John Proctor. In the beginning of the playRead MoreThe Crucible By John Proctor1134 Words   |  5 PagesThe Crucible, Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Elizabeth Proctor are arguably the most important characters. The affair between Abigail and John drives the plot of the play. Abigail begins accusing societal outcasts as witches and gradually works her way up the social ladder until she is able to accuse an upstanding citizen like Elizabeth Proctor of being a witch and having people believe the accusation. She accused Elizabeth of being a witch so that Elizabeth would be hanged. Then, Abigail would