North Koreas Influence of Peace in North East Asia

North Koreas Influence of Peace in North East Asia North Korea and North East Asian Peace and Security Current security issues in North East Asia, raised by North Korea Nuclear Test. Please examine how far North Korea can affect the peace and stability in Northeast Asia and how other countries such as America, Japan, China, and Russia react on this issue. And lastly, How to solve this security issues permanently and increases future stability in the area? Abstract The following dissertation will discuss and evaluate North Koreas influence and effect upon peace and security within the North East Asia region. This dissertation will evaluate North Koreas relationships with other countries in the North East Asia region such as South Korea, Japan, and China. Countries from outside the immediate North East Asia region like the UnitedStates, Russia (as the largest successor state of the Soviet Union) and to a lesser extent Britain and France also have an interest in the North East Asia Region. All these countries have an interest in preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons and nuclear tests. For instance these countries must consider how the actions or the potential actions of the North Korean government are able to influence or effect peace and security within the North East Asia region. Nongovernmental organisations like the United Nations and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as the International Atomic Energy Aut hority (IAEA) have taken a great deal of interest in how North Korea effects the peace and security of its immediately neighbouring countries. These organisations are taking North Koreas nuclear programme as well as its ballistic missile capacity into account when they regard the North Korean threat to peace and security going beyond the confines of the North East Asia region itself. This dissertation will evaluate the development and changes in North Korean government policies that have influenced and arguably threatened peace and security of the North East Asia region from Koreas initial division at the end of the Second World War through to the present day. North Korea has been regarded as a threat to the peace and security of the North East Asia region ever since Pyongyangs decision to invade South Korea provoked the Korean War of 1950 to 1953. The Korean War as will be discussed set the mould for North Korean defence and foreign policies, whilst ensuring the importance of the relationship with China and Russia. The North Korean regime, as will be shown, has been very reluctant to embrace and adopt any kind of economic or political reforms, preferring to use its scant resources on maintaining and expanding its military capacity. It is also continuing its nuclear weapons programme, long drawn talks having yet to result in effective nuclear disarmament, and thu s undermining peace and security within the North East Asia region, and when issues of nuclear proliferation are concerned outside that region. Finally the following will explore whether there are any ways in which North Korea can finally become a country that its neighbours in the North East Asia region could trust and believe will not threaten their common peace and stability rather than a country that they mistrust. The United Nations is an organisation that could offer the North Korean assistance to overcome its failed economy in return for the ending of North Koreas nuclear programme and potentially aggressive foreign policy. The main onus for international efforts to contain North Korean nuclear weapons development has been by the United States, China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea. The prospects for the international community being able to monitor and eventually close down North Koreas nuclear weapons programme, dismantling any weapons already constructed will also be discussed and evaluated. Introduction Korea has a long history of being a definable and separate nation state, although it was for many centuries subject to Chinese and later Japanese control (Lenman, 2004, p.450). Japanese control of Korea was ended by its defeat in the Second World War, which would inadvertently lead to the partition of Korea (Whitakers, 2007, p.892). The division of Korea was caused by the way that the Allied powers liberated the country from Japanese occupation, United States troops cleared the south, with the Soviet Union being responsible for clearing the north. This was intended to be a temporary division along the 38th parallel that would provoke the hottest conflict of the Cold War, as well as creating a dispute that continues to destabilise the peace and the security of the North East Asia region. As with the division of Vietnam the division was purely carried out as a reflection of the distribution of American and Soviet armed forces at the time of the Japanese surrender in September 1945 (Gad dis, 2005, p.41). It was Kim Il Sung who had previously fought the Japanese for many years that emerged as North Koreas first political leader, and he would be the man most responsible for his countrys attempt to re-unite Korea by force. Kim Il Sung was also responsible for North Koreas subsequently militant defence and foreign policies that has remained stridently anti-Western, militaristic, and potentially aggressive towards its immediate neighbours in the North East Asia region ever since. It was Kim Il Sung that decided to re-unite Korea by force, after his realisation that diplomacy would not bring about such a re-unification led to the plan to invade South Korea, although he seems to have pre-empted similar plans that the South Koreans had hoped to implement. Kim Il Sung went ahead with that invasion with the approval of the Soviet Union and China, and the apparent indifference of the United States, which had already withdrawn its military garrisons from South Korea during 1949. However, the Nor th Korean invasion which, was launched in June 1950 persuaded the United States to lead the United Nations forces into defending South Korea and driving the North Koreans back across the 38th parallel. The United States had been able to take advantage of the Soviet Unions representative not been at the United Nations due to the Soviet decision to boycott the organisation due to Communist China being excluded from the Security Council (Evans Newnham, 1998, p. 293). The United States decision to intervene in the Korean War started its long -standing military alliance with South Korea to guarantee South Korean security from the continued threat of North Korean aggression. The Korean War itself would drag on for three years with the North Koreans having to rely on large-scale Chinese military intervention and covert air support from the SovietUnion. North Korea only survived after the American led United Nations forces had captured the majority of North Korean territory due to Mao Zedo ng sending in the Chinese army. The conflict could have escalated, due to the involvement of Soviet aircraft that could have provoked a war between the superpowers yet both Moscow and Washington did not want an all out war to start due to the Korean War (Hobsbawm, 1994 p. 228). After the Korean War the prospects for Korean re-unification seemed to be remote, with the two Korean states being integrated into the alliance systems of the Soviet Union and the United States respectively. North Korea was therefore firmly in the communist camp, and initially enjoyed strong and productive political, economic and military relationships with both China and the Soviet Union. South Korea was a willing member of the United States alliance system and received substantial monetary and military backing from the United States, and later significant economic investment from Japan that would make it wealthier than North Korea. The United States government was not bothered by the Seouls regime lack of democratic practices just as long as it remained fervently anti-Communist (Hobsbawm, 1994 p. 228). Kim Il Sungs North Korean regime was in contrast avowedly Marxist-Leninist in ideological outlook, whilst trying to create a strong sense of North Korean nationalism that was decided ly anti-American and increasingly isolationist in perspective (Heywood, 2003 p. 179). The Korean War meant that neighbouring countries such as South Korea, Japan, and China kept an interest in political and diplomatic developments that involved North Korea, the former as potential enemies, the latter originally as an ally. The balance of power during the Cold War meant that North Korea could only pose a threat to the peace and security of the North East Asia region if that suited the Soviet Union, and to a lesser extent China. The Kremlin to a large extent kept the regime in Pyongyang in check, not wishing to provoke further conflict, and realising that the United States would not tolerate North Korea attempting to invade South Korea again, or indeed developing its own nuclear weapons. On the other hand the Soviet Union exported missile and nuclear technologies to North Korea as part of its military and economic aid packages to the Pyongyang regime (Gaddis, 2005 p. 60). The fighting during the Korean War was heavy, the agricultural sector being particularly adversely affected, and the war had devastated North Koreas economy. American bombing had also heavily damaged the North Korean capital city, Pyongyang. The number of North Korean fatalities, 419,000 was testimony to the high human costs of the conflict, with around 3 million people dying during its course (Castleden, 2005, p.299). The scale of destruction did not prevent a strong economic revival and rapid industrialisation, although most of those improvements were brought about by considerable amounts of help from China and the Soviet Union (Castleden, 2005, p.300). Large-scale industrialisation in North Korea would therefore have undoubtedly been much harder to achieve without that substantial aid that North Korea received from China and the Soviet Union. The Soviet decision to export nuclear technology to North Korea, for the non-military use of generating electricity would later allow Pyongy ang the opportunity to start its own nuclear weapons programme. That would have been unthinkable at the height of the Cold War, as neither the Soviet Union nor the United States would allow any of their satellite states to disturb the nuclear power balance between them. However, once the North Korean regime believed that the Soviet Union and China would no longer offer North Korea any meaningful kind or level of protection that is indeed precisely what the North Korean regime decided to do (Lenman, 2004, p.451). North Korea would continue to operate a planned economy even though that would eventually fail to adequately support its military build up and its civilian population. The North Korean government opted to keep its military infrastructure expanding rather than attempt economic reforms or adequately providing for its people (Heywood, 2003 p.137). The Soviet Union would have certainly disapproved of North Korean plans to develop its own nuclear weapons, yet the Soviet Unions in fluence upon North Korean military and defence policies had waned long before its own disintegration in 1991 (Gaddis, 2005, p.264). North Korea arguably became a threat to the peace and stability of the North East Asia region due to the nature and character of its hard line Stalinist regime. Kim Il Sung was a Marxist dictator in the mode of Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. However for the majority of the Cold War period the North Korean threat was seen to be much less pronounced to the non-communist parts of the North East Asia region than the more obvious threats of the Soviet Union and China (Gaddis, 2005, p.60). Kim Il Sungs craving for power meant that North Korea dedicated and continues to dedicate a large percentage of its national budget and resources towards internal repression and building up its military strength to threaten the other countries of the North East Asia region. However, North Koreas conventional weapons would not be enough to successfully invade South Korea whilst the United States continues to offer full protection against such attacks, even if their purchase had almost bankrupted the Pyongy ang regime (Castleden, 2005, p.303). Despite the faltering of the North Korean economy in the last two decades or so, Pyongyang seems to be more interested in threatening South Korea and Japan with nuclear weapons and ballistic weapons than feeding its own population. Although North Korea should be wary of what happened to its erstwhile ally, the Soviet Union whose excessive and unsustainable military expenditure played a major part in its eventual collapse (Tipton, 1998, p.434). However, although the North Korean regime decided to start its nuclear weapons programme that decision violated North Koreas formal and legal pledges not to proliferate its own nuclear weapons. North Korea had signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and had joined the IAEA, which meant that it was not supposed to start its own nuclear weapons programme at all (Evans Newnham, 1998 p. 68). For the North Koreans there were other examples of small and large sized states that had already broken their promises and legal commitments not to develop their own nuclear weapons. Those states nuclear weapons programme with varying degrees of reaction from the official nuclear powers of the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, China, and France. Countries such as Israel, India, and Pakistan have gone on to successfully acquire their own nuclear weapons with little or no action been taken against them to make them give up those devices. The North Korean regime understood that it could dev elop nuclear weapons with the possiblity that the United Nations and the leading powers would not be able to take any effective action to take those weapons off North Korea (Fukuyama, 2006 p. 80). Chapter One North Korean defence and foreign policy misrepresented or a threat to peace and security? Since the foundation of North Korea as a separate nation state its defence and foreign policies have been geared towards the re-unification of Korea on Pyongyangs terms, rather than South Koreas terms (Rayner Stanley, 2006, p.234). As far as the North Korean regime of Kim Il Sung was concerned the re-unification of Korea was not an issue that should concern any other countries apart from North and South Korea themselves. It was the context of the Cold War that complicated the strategic, military and diplomatic situation concerning the dispute between North and South Korea about which country should over power the other to dominate a reunified Korean state. In military terms North Korea is the strongest, in economic terms South Korea is the strongest (Tipton, 1998, 434). On the one hand the assistance of China and the Soviet Union was useful for the economic development of North Korea and also as a means of building up the countrys military power. On the other hand the Cold War meant that the United States was more alert about the need to protect the countries in the North East Asia region that were opposed to communism, like Japan, South Korea and South Vietnam (Gaddis, 2005, p.60). The Cold War meant that the United States was unwilling to allow any more parts of North East Asia to fall under communist rule. After all the presence of United States forces in Japan had allowed the United Nations forces to resist Kim Il Sungs invasion of South Korea. North Vietnam would eventually overcome South Vietnam despite the best efforts of the United States, yet the terrain of Vietnam was different from that of Korea and the North Vietnamese had better military tactics than the North Koreans (Hobsbawm, 1994, p.228). Whilst the Cold War continued, North Korea was not seen as the main threat to peace and security in the North East Asia region, superpower rivalry meant that the Soviet Union and the United States mistrusted each other more than they mistrusted any other stat e. China would also emerge as a major power within the region, one that eventually took independent policy decisions from those of the Soviet Union. The United States government however, remains wary of North Koreas intentions towards the rest of the North East Asia region (Gaddis, 2005, p.61). The peace and security of the North East Asia region altered during the 1960s, not as a result of changes in the Cold War, but as a result of alterations in the relationship between North Korea, China, and the Soviet Union. The regime of Kim Il Sung had not wished for North Korea to be reliant upon either China or the Soviet Union as soon as the country had recovered from the Korean War and had become economically self sufficient. By the mid 1960s the North Korean regime believed that it become self-sufficient and no longer such high levels of aid from China or the Soviet Union. Kim Il Sung wanted to maintain military links with China and the Soviet Union, yet did not wish for North Korea to be a mere client state of Beijing or Moscow. North Korea was not going to be like the majority of communist states in Central and Eastern Europe were in relation to the Soviet Union. Although of course the North Koreans did not have to worry about invasion by the Soviet Union if it took much of a n independent from Soviet policy (Castleden, 2005, p.301). North Koreas military power was originally reliant upon Chinese and Soviet built equipment and the regime could not afford weapons from any other countries outside of the communist bloc (Gaddis, 2005, p.61). Under Kim Il Sungs leadership North Korea could not get away from its close economic links with the Soviet Union until the latters collapse in 1991, which in turn would have very detrimental affects upon North Korea (Watson, 1997, p.246). The strong relationship between China and the Soviet Union declined dramatically towards the end of the 1960s resulting in border clashes between the two states. The break down in the relationship between China and the Soviet Union meant North Koreas most powerful allies would spend more time arguing with each other than the United States. Pyongyang did not back either state publicly although Kim Il Sung regarded the Soviet Union as a more reliable ally, and unlike Beijing, Moscow did n ot occasionally make insulting comments about the North Korean leader (Watson, 1997, p.240). Whilst the North Korean economy seemed to enjoy impressive growth rates from the 1950s through to the 1970s, the country arguably did not have or develop the infrastructure or indeed have the resources to become a serious threat to peace and security in the North East Asia region. North Korean economic policy was heavily influenced by the planned economies of China and the Soviet Union, and was as unsuccessful in North Korea as they had been in China and the Soviet Union (Heywood, 2003 p. 152). Kim Il Sungs regime collectivised agriculture and began the process of large-scale industrialisation. The collectivisation of agriculture commenced in 1946 when estates with Japanese owners were confiscated in the north under Soviet guidance (Tipton, 1998,p.304). Collectivisation and the modernisation of agriculture increased the life expectancy of the North Korean population. Industrialisation at least during the 1950s and 1960s appeared to be impressive. However much of that economic growth was due to the revenues raised from the export of natural resources to the Soviet Union and the receipt of aid from the Soviet Union (Watson, 1997, p.246) Economic growth could have been stronger if it had not been hampered by Kim Il Sungs decision to make expenditure on the military as high as possible, and his governments main priority. The military build up was meant to unnerve the South Korean government. In terms of total expenditure South Korea spent more on its military expenditure than North Korea. This was mainly due to North Korea being regarded as an ever-present threat to South Korean security. There were differences as to how the two countries military expenditure was regarded in the North East Asia region and beyond. South Koreas military expenditure was seen as being justified as it would deter North Korea. On the other hand, North Koreas military spending was viewed as being unjustified, aggressive and a sign of Kim Il Sungs megalomania, policies that his son, Kim Jong Il has continued (Gaddis, 2005, p.61). North Korea had one major disadvantage if its regime wished to outspend South Korea in terms of their defence budgets, as they were poorer. Whilst North Korea found it difficult to find foreign investors, South Korea was able to attract very high volumes of investment, especially from the United States and Japan. South Koreas increasing levels of wealth meant it could easily match North Koreas military build up, without reducing the living standards of its population, or driving its government towards insolvency (Tipton, 1998, p.304). In terms of any future conventional war between North and South Korea, South Korea held key advantages. Firstly, the South Korean population was twice the size of its neighbour to the north, potentially allowing for its armed forces to have twice the number of personnel in war- time conditions. In 1985, South Korea was estimated to have a population of 41.2 million compared to North Koreas population of 20.1 million people (Watson, 1997, p.262). South K orea was economically more productive and therefore wealthier than North Korea, with the latters seemingly impressive growth rates beginning to slow down by the start of the 1980s. An example of the growing disparity between the countries was the per capita income, whilst it was $790 for North Korea in 1982, it was $1,840 for South Korea in 1983. In economic terms, North Korea could not realistically afford its high levels of military expenditure, although Kim Il Sungs regime was determined to carry on with spending money it believed kept the regime in power and made it a continuing danger to its capitalist neighbours (Watson, 1997, p.262). In the following decade North Korea was widely regarded as bring an increased threat to the peace and security of the North East Asia region, despite the countrys economy going in to a steep decline. Whilst the North Korean regime refused to scale down its military expenditure its agricultural sector, especially suffered an alarming drop in productivity that contributed to an estimated two million North Koreans dying of starvation during the 1990s. Despite famine and economic decline the North Korean regime still used scarce resources to develop its nuclear weapons programme. North Korea barely increased its economic productivity during the 1990s and was by then considerably poorer than South Korea. To give a stark contrast, South Korean per capita gross domestic product (GDP) reached an impressive $13, 700, whilst North Korean GDP languished at $900. It was a paradoxical situation in which, although the North Korean regime could increasingly threaten its neighbours with missiles and nuclear weapons, yet it would eventually need emergency aid from those countries to prevent more of its own population starving to death (Pipes, 2001, p.152). On paper at least, North Korea has impressive conventional military strength with around 3,500 tanks and 2,500 armoured personnel carriers, whilst the army had 950,000 troops. The North Korean air force has 590 combat aircraft, whilst the navys 88 submarines could pose a serious threat to shipping in the North East Asia region in the event of a future war. However it is the potential development and possible of nuclear weapons that causes a greater concern than North Koreas conventional arsenal (Whitakers 2007, pp.893-94). South Korea has smaller armed forces yet still has a standing army 560,000 strong and 2,330 main battle tanks. South Korea would no doubt have to increase those numbers if 94, 450 Americans were not based in South Korea (Whitakers 2007 p. 895). However, it was not just North Koreas strength in terms of conventional weapons that means it is regarded as being a threat to peace and security in the North East Asia region. The United States government has long suspected that North Korea has played a part in sponsoring and supporting terrorism within the North East Asia region and indeed further afield. The suspicions of the United States have been founded upon the anti-American rhetoric that the North Korean regime its content to produce from time to time (Gaddis, 2005, p.261). South Korea had previously accused North Korea of trying to undermine internal stability by supporting dissident South Korean groups and calling for the re-unification of Korea (Tipton, 1998, p.304). North Korea was one of the countries that the administration of Ronald Reagan denounced as being terrorist states back in 1985. The Reagan administration viewed North Korea as being a risk to international peace and security within and beyond the North East A sia region (Ward, 2003, p.349). North Korea did not have any moral or political hang ups about selling weapons such as assault rifles to other countries that found it hard to acquire weapons due to arms embargos or sanctions. For instance, North Korea sold surplus Soviet manufactured assault rifles to Iran during the early years of the Iran-Iraq War. Such arms sales may have contributed to the United States accusing North Korea of being a terrorist state. The North Koreans could have countered that these claims were hypocrisy on the part of the American government that sold a much greater volume of weapons to any state or organisation that was anti-Communist, or if it suited the United States interests to do so. Hypocrisy that was demonstrated by the Iran –Contra Affair in which the money from arms sales to Iran was used to fund the Contra forces in Nicaragua (Fisk, 2006, p.278). North Korea also supplied ballistic missiles to the Iranians and even sent engineers to Iran to e nsure those missiles successfully reached Iraqi targets, especially Baghdad. The willingness of the North Koreans to sell missiles to the highest bidders certainly increased concerns about Pyongyang posing a threat to peace and security (Fisk, 2006, p.281). Surveillance and interceptions of cargo ships have provided evidence that North Korea will sell weapons to terrorist organisations as well as any state that can afford them. For instance, the Spanish navy intercepted a North Korean merchant ship that was officially taking cement to South Yemen. Once aboard that ship the Spanish found ballistic missiles that could have been used by the terrorist group that had brought those missiles. The Middle East is a volatile region at the best of times, so the ability of North Korea to supply ballistic missiles to governments and terrorists groups in that region is another concern for the United States and other Western countries (Davies, 2003 p. 238). It was during the early 1990s that the prospect of North Korea carrying out a successful nuclear weapons programme became the cause of major international concern. In the United States, the administration of President Bill Clinton was determined to persuade the North Korean regime to halt that nuclear weapons programme peacefully by preference, or by force if necessary (Clinton, 2004 p. 561). Aside from the United States, South Korea, China, Russia, and Japan were, and still are the countries that are most anxious to prevent North Korea acquiring and keeping nuclear weapons. Britain and France have also been involved in international efforts to prevent North Korea acquiring nuclear weapons as members of the United Nations Security Council, and as signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (Evans Newnham, 1998 p. 381). South Korea and Japan are particularly anxious and insecure about North Koreas attempts to produce nuclear weapons because they would be the most obvious targ ets if North Korea ever decided to use nuclear weapons. That anxiety is increased because the South Koreans and the Japanese are well aware that the North Koreans have the technical capacity to fit nuclear warheads to its force of ballistic missiles that can reach all the major cities in South Korea and Japan. China is also anxious that the nuclear weapons programme of North Korea does not provoke a military confrontation between North Korea and the United States that would bring widespread destruction and shatter the peace and stability of the North East Asia region. China remains keen to continue its impressive economic growth rates and also hopes to maintain political stability in the region, a stability that North Korea has a strong propensity to disrupt. China is therefore willing to act as a go between to prevent conflict arising between the United States and North Korea that would be very damaging to the North East Asia region as a whole (Cheek, 2006 p.136). That also means t hat China is willing to back the efforts of the United States, South Korea, and Japan to reduce the North Korean threat to peace and security (The Guardian, February 14 2007). Russia, as the main successor state to the Soviet Union, on the other hand has attempted to maintain strong economic, military, and economic links with North Korea. Those links leave Kim Jong Il hoping North Korea has more leeway in its disputes with the United States and the United Nations over its plans to acquire nuclear weapons. Whilst Russia is caught between promoting its economic links with North Korea without harming its relationship with the United States that improved with the latters war on terror in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, it would normally put its relationship with the United States first. The Russians and North Koreans remain keen upon maintaining a strong relationship between each other, although that is based on pragmatism rather than a common ideological outlook. Whilst the Russian government believes that like the Chinese government it could help resolve the international disputes that currently mean that North Korea is regarded as been a threat to peace and s ecurity in North East Asia region (Meir, 2004 p. 417). North Koreas defence and foreign policy was seen and remains seen as a serious and increasing threat to the peace and security of the North East Asia region because of the nature of the Pyongyang regime itself. That is due to Kim Il Sung and his son and successor Kim Jong Il concentrating upon the maintaining of their personal hold on power. That hold on power is through a strong military with undoubted loyalty to the national leader, and via a system of forced labour and prison camps that detain political dissidents or opponents of the regime. The regimes internal position is also protected and promoted through a cult of personality for Kim Il Sung and now Kim Jong Il that rivals other cults of personalities witnessed in other communist regimes. It most closely resembles the cults of personality experienced in the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union, or China under Chairman Mao Zedong, especially during the tumultuous period of the Cultural Revolution (Castleden, 2005 p. 301). The Nor th Korean regime during Kim Il Sungs lifetime not only managed to copy Chinese and Soviet propaganda techniques; the North Koreans also managed to emulate their purges. Such pronounced levels of dictatorship have always managed to make the United States suspicious of North Korean intentions. The South Koreans and the Japanese tend to reinforce American concerns over the de-stabilising effects of North Korean defence and foreign policies. The South Koreans and the Japanese therefore have fears for their safety as without an American military presence in the North East Asia region they would not be able to defend themselves from North Korean attacks. As the United States and its North East Asian allies do not trust North Korea, the United States uses satellites to monitor North Korean military activity and its nuclear installations, whilst the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) constantly carries out surveillance operations (Lane McCormack, 1993 p. 178). Chapter Two Containing the North Korean threat to peace and security in the North East Asia Region To a large extent North Korea is widely considered to be a threat to peace and secu

Inclusive School And Inclusive Teacher

Inclusive School And Inclusive Teacher Providing a quality education for all students in inclusive settings has been acknowledged as perhaps the most challenging, yet most important issue in education. The concept of inclusion places the stress on altering the system rather than the child. The inclusive school system is often thought of as the inclusion of all students, regardless of ability into the same schools and classrooms with peers who are not considered to have disabilities. Inclusive school is a school where all children are taught to understand and appreciate human differences. Teachers and administrators receive the support necessary to include all students in regular education classrooms. Parents concerns for their children are taken acutely. In inclusive school special education is a service not a place. Inclusive teacher is a teacher who is equipped with general as well as special techniques of teaching and who can ensure quality education for all students. Introduction Inclusive school is a school where all children are taught to understand and appreciate human differences. Teachers and administrators receive the support necessary to include all students in regular education classrooms. Parents concerns for their children are taken gravely. Supportive learning and peer instruction are strategies used throughout the school. Where all kids are given the opportunity to develop real friends, not just peers buddies or helpers. In inclusive school the entire community honors diversity and supports quality education for all students. Philosophy of teachers about inclusion Heres what some teachers say about the philosophy of inclusion: Kliewer (2001) Inclusion involves all kinds of practices that are ultimately practices of good teaching. What good teachers do is to think considerately about children and extend ways to reach all children. Eventually good teaching is a relationship between two people. Good results acquire to the teachers because they enter into that relationship. Inclusion is very important and providing more options for children as ways to learn. Its structuring schools as society where all children can learn. But theres no formula for becoming an inclusive teacher or an inclusive school. Its not a preset system. Etscheidt (1999) Inclusion is based on the belief that people/adults work in inclusive communities; work with people of different races, religions, aspirations, disabilities. In the same stratum, children of all ages should learn and grow in environments that look like the environments that they will ultimately work in. Heston (2000) When good inclusion is in place the child who needs the inclusion does not stand out. Strong parental participation includes in the inclusive curriculum, students making choices, and a lot of hands-on and heads-on involvement. East (1995) Inclusive education means working of teachers with the students in that situation which is suitable to a miscellaneous population of students. It also means the teacher may need another prospect and goals for students, and its complex to get teachers to do this. Inclusive education Inclusive education means that achievement of education is the right of all the children in their own community schools. Inclusive education means that classroom teachers have the final authority and responsibility for educating them. This does not mean that all children will necessarily receive all instructional services in the regular classroom. Kronberg (1992) Inclusive education does not mean that students must waste every minute of the school day in general education classes, that students never receive small-group or individualized instruction, or that students are in general education classes to learn the core curriculum only. It means, rather, that if a trained disciplinary team decides that students require instruction beyond the normal developmental curriculum, need services beyond the ability of the classroom teachers (e.g. mobility training or speech reading) or specialized services, then them (which includes the classroom teacher) ensures that students receive this help in their community school. Moreover the classroom teachers are in charge of orchestrating all the required elements of his or her program plan. Stainback (1992) Some educators have suggested that inclusion means getting rid of special education special educators, and a continuum of services (e.g. individualized instruction and tutoring). We believe that inclusion means that those elements are brought into regular classroom. Inclusion embraces the concepts of integration and mainstreaming and promotes the idea that very one has a contribution to make, that a childs school experience should be one that is maximized, not restricted. We agree with Rogers, J. (1992) they note that inclusion means that the childs educational program is adapted to meet his or her academic or social needs and the child and teacher receive the support they need to succeed. Full inclusion never means simply placing a child with challenging needs in an ordinary classroom without adaptations or supports. Collier (1987) Inclusive education can function on many levels. In inclusive education the disabled student joins the general education classroom for part of the day, depending on the type and strictness of the disability. In inclusive education all students are in the general education classroom instead of the special education classroom. Theoretically this would eliminate the need of a special education classroom. Full inclusive education should allow disabled students to be part of the various setting, teach social skills, foster independence and provide opportunities to build friendships with non-disabled peers. Factors to be considered in the development of a full inclusion classroom should include age appropriate placement in local public schools, integrated delivery of services in the general education classroom, social integration, curricular expectations adapted to the level that best challenges the handicapped student, home-school partnership, staff development, team collab oration, and systematic evaluation and related services. Implementing inclusive classroom in schools Salisbury (1994) It is actually useful that the process of inclusion needs to occur within the larger context of a school where there is a clear philosophical foundation teaming practices and a commitment to shared decision making. Unfortunately not all schools and communities value the inclusion and or teaming model of intervention. Even though national mandates and policies call for the provision of intervention services in mainstream schools laws alone are insufficient for changing attitudes. Stainback, (1993) Opponents of inclusive classrooms often refer to barriers that inhibit effectiveness of this approach. Such barriers include lack of adequate training in general and special early education philosophical difference between the two disciplines lack of related services in many programs (e.g. speech language therapy physical therapy etc and lack of monitoring systems and negative staff attitudes. Additional barriers that have been identified by other researchers include the emphasis on academic achievement in the educational reform movement competition for shrinking fiscal resources lack of flexibility in teachers contracts and lack of clear policy directives. All of these identified barriers are indeed real issues and need to be addressed in planning and implementing inclusive programs for he/ she children with special education needs. Unless these barriers to inclusion are adequately addresses it will be difficult to convince reluctant schools and communities to move toward or adopt the inclusive approach. School-based learning All parents want their children to feel comfortable and competent when they enter school yet there is no way to build in assurance that this will be the case. While this is true whether or not a child has a disability the concerns are certainly magnified for children with special educational needs. Common concerns expressed by parents of children with disabilities relate to medical fragility and or special health condition (e.g. seizures asthma immune deficiency etc). Peer acceptance and making friends participation in group activities (e.g. listening to stories playing group games etc) and fear and distress in separating from parents. The transition from home-to school-based learning places new expectations and demands on the child and family. Bout child and family must become acquainted with new people in their lives and adjust to new schedules. Parents know there will be certain school-related behaviors that their child will be expected to adopt. Inclusive Teacher To be effective an inclusive teacher education program must instill in the pre-service teacher an understanding and appreciation of diversity. It means they must be equipped with both general as well as special education techniques through pre service, and in-service. Pre-service teachers must also become comfortable with change and they must learn early in their preparation to be flexible and creative. Our classrooms have undergone tremendous changes and those changes will continue in the future. It is one of the biggest roadblocks to inclusion has been the inability of many educators to shift from one operational standard to another. This can be proficient by providing experiences that require forthcoming teachers to develop creative problem-solving skills and to view situations from different perspectives. Some of the main essentials of inclusive teacher are as under: Teachers Beliefs, Values, and Attitudes inclusive education Many teacher characteristics affect the process of inclusive education, for example, the type and level of educational training and the number of years of teaching experience. Ostensibly, the more training and experience teachers have in special-needs education and programming, the greater their chances for successfully implementing educational programs and practices based on inclusive education. And if classroom teacher are willing to teach children with diverse learning and behavioral needs, the chances for effective inclusive education are greatly increased. Inclusive education also depends on certain necessary values. Teachers need to value learning as a lifelong process in which they share responsibility with parents for maximizing the quality of childrens loves; the need to enrich childrens academic and social competencies; their colleagues and the benefits of collaboration; and, perhaps most importantly, the goals of inclusive education. It has been suggested that the most critical element of inclusive education is the attitude of classroom teachers toward children with special needs. Teachers attitudes affect not only what happens in classroom settings but also the instructional option that is chosen for students. Unfortunately, many teachers are opposed to having children with diverse needs in their classrooms. This finding suggests that teachers must be given opportunities to confront their biases so that constructive and workable solutions can be developed. Attitudes vary according to types of disabilities, the types of perceptions people have about disabilities and the labels assigned to children with disabilities. Teachers attitudes influence the nature of the interaction between students and teachers, as well as the students achievement. Schrag (1994) point out those teachers constantly communicates important messages to students about individual differences. It becomes obvious to all students whether teachers favor high achieving students, feel respect, pity, or disgust for students who have special problems, believe that every person has inherent value, or are prejudiced against those who are different. Enabling Conditions for Incisive Education The merger of regular and special education will not happen quickly or easily. The process requires regular and special educations to consult and collaborate with one another and to plan provide adaptive instruction for all children. It also depends on teachers positive attitudes and the resources available. From our perspective the most important enabling conditions are professional training and development, pooling of resources and administrative leadership and support. Adaptive Instruction Inclusive education requires regular and special education teachers to respond and adapt innovatively and collaboratively to the unique learning needs of all students. Adaptive instruction assumes that each teacher will identify and provide a wide range of instructional supports that are needed by individual students to effectively master the learning and behavioral objectives. Wang (1984) Adaptive instruction requires teachers to, Assess the characteristics and capabilities of each student, collaborate and consult with others to plan developmentally appropriate instruction. Than make environmental and individual accommodations to facilitate student learning. Than manage and instruct students in ways that permit those to master content at a pace suited to their abilities, needs, and interests. This will result in promoting all students social ability and social integration. One of the basic premises of effective adaptive instruction programs is that a variety of educational objectives, instructional materials, and learning tasks is needed; furthermore, success in achieving instructional objectives requires a wide selection of teaching and learning strategies. Successfully implementing and practicing adaptive instruction procedures depends on teachers beliefs about student diversity, and on the enabling conditions of the educational environment. Professional Training and Development Teachers federations agree that present in-service training methods fail to provide successful integrated learning experiences. Teachers need information that will broaden their understanding and appreciation of children with special needs-for example, information on how to identify learning problems, and on how to adapt the environment and their instruction to accommodate those problems. Their courses should include such things as dynamic assessment, individual educational planning, adaptive instruction differentiated learning, multicultural education, and holistic curriculum development. Pooling of Resources Inclusive education will need a high quality of service, requiring well-trained teachers, support personnel (e.g. teachers aides), transpiration services, school building modifications, and material resources (e.g. assessment instruments program materials and instructional aides). Inclusive education will impose additional financial demands on school board. Therefore teachers must be trained to pull recourses for inclusion. Collaborative Teaming Smith (1993) The ultimate goal of collaborative teaming is the creations of a collaborative school. At its core are the professional relationships, particularly between teachers and administrators, and the unified goal of school-wide, continuous improvement, and shared responsibility for the continuous progress of all students within the learning community. Salisbury (1994) Collaborative problem solving to promote inclusive education is typically carried out between teachers and other support professionals who get together to solve specific problems, usually concerning a student or group of students, focusing on classrooms- based interventions increase the students chances for success. Assistance might involve interactions between classroom teachers and speech and language specialists, counselors, school psychologists, specialists in visual and auditory impairment, special-education specialists, or other specialists bilingual education, reading and mathematics. The relationship in collaborative problem solving is based on mutually defined goals and a common framework, and involves shared authority for idea generation, mutual accountability for success, and the sharing of recourse and rewards. Co-teaching Reynolds (1991) Co-teaching may refer to cooperative teaching or collaborative teaching, and is sometimes referred to as team teaching. Cooperative teaching requires a group structure and clearly defined roles for the participants. Collaborative learning requites only a collaborative goal. Team teaching is seen to be either the equivalent or a subset of co-teaching. Co-teaching as an activity in which special educators and general educators work together in one physical space in a variety if instructional activates in order to provide optimal instruction to the greatest number of students. Achieving social integration Research findings indicate that children with and without disabilities generally do not engage in high levels of social interaction with one another unless they are encouraged and supported in doing so. Factors frequently associated with this lack of interaction include language and cognitive delays poorly developed play skills and behavior disorders on the part of the children with special education needs. It takes a great deal of energy and creativity on the part of early childhood educators to achieve social integration between children with special education needs and their typically developing peers as the levels of social interaction skills of these two groups generally differ to a significant extent. Individualized curricular accommodations Salisbury (1994) Curricular adaptations are usually designed to serve two main goals to promote positive child outcomes and to optimize the physical social and instructional inclusion of the child in ongoing classroom actives. Do adaptations in an inclusive program actually achieve these goals? Results of studies relating to each of these outcomes lend support to the effectiveness of the inclusion-with-modifications model. Further studies however are certainly warranted. Such studies would do well to focus on the effects and perceived value of the process by stakeholder groups including school administrators teachers and parents.

All Dogs Really Do Go to Heaven Essay -- Literary Analysis, Indra, Yud

At the end of the masterpiece, The Mahabharata, Yudhisthira and a dog meet Indra. Indra tells Yudhisthira that he will take Yudhisthira to heaven if Yudhisthira leaves the dog behind. Yudhisthira refuses and it is revealed that the dog was really Dharma. For passing this test, Yudhisthira is rewarded with heaven. This scene perfectly encapsulates the themes of duty, loyalty, fairness, and dharma and being justly rewarded for such actions that were present throughout the entire Mahabharata. It is important to note that the dog followed Yudhisthira during the entire journey to heaven. Even when Yudhisthira’s brothers, Arjuna, Bhima, Nakula, and Sagadeva and their wife, Draupadi, were falling off of the Himalayan mountain range, which is why there was only Yudhisthira and the dog when Indra appeared, the dog continued to follow Yudhisthira. For the dog being so â€Å"†¦highly devoted†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Mahabharata, p. 109) it was Yudhisthira’s duty to show loyalty to the dog. It is much like how Krsna offered Karna to fight with the Pandavas against the Kauravas since he was a Pandava brother. However, because he was abandoned at birth by Kunti and â€Å"†¦enjoyed sovereignty for thirteen years without let or hindrance,† (Mahabharata, p. 111) with the Kauravas, Karna decided that it was his duty to fight alongside the people who were most loyal to him, the Kauravas. During the time of The Mahabharata dogs were far from man’s best friends. Dogs were considered impure. Most people would have cast aside a lowly dog for the chance at heaven, especially after being told by Indra himself that â€Å"there will be no cruelty in doing so† (Mahabharata, p. 209). However, Yudhisthira choose loyalty over what many people would have considered the common-sense option of Indra’... ... fighting the Pandavas, he and Gandhari still supported their children once the war began. Dhrtarastra even attempted to kill Bhima after the Pandavas had defeated the Kauravas. In a very symbolic way Yudhisthira is like Dhrtarastra. He could not see his father even when Dharma was standing right beside him. However, Dharma supported Yudhisthira through the entire journey like only a family member would. Consequently, Yudhisthira’s duty was to treat the dog with the same loyalty he would a known member of his family. Yudhisthira’s journey to heaven was a trying one. He lost his brothers and his wife during it, yet a random dog followed him the entire way. When given the chance to go to heaven if he would cast off the dog Yudhisthira displayed the fairness, duty, loyalty, and dharma that were present in the rest of The Mahabharata and was rightfully reward for it.

Choices and Consequences in the Epic of Gilgamesh :: Epic Gilgamesh essays

Choices and Consequences in the Epic of Gilgamesh Consequences are inevitable. A decision made today will have consequences that can last years or even a lifetime. Both Gilgamesh and Enkidu made choices that changed their lives forever. Consequences can be both positive and negative, but each is equally long lasting. Such is the case with the story of Gilgamesh. Enkidu was made because Gilgamesh was not capable of being a good King. He was too arrogant and oppressive. Gilgamesh chose to be unfair to his people. Of course Enkidu ends up being a good addition to Gilgamesh's life. The friendship is beneficial to both Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Enkidu had been perfectly content running in the forest with the wild animals. He never wanted more, possibly because he did not know how much more the world had to offer. Until Shamhat comes and takes Enkidu's innocence, Enkidu does not even search for more than he already has. He was happy to eat grass and share the animal's water hole. Enkidu loses his animal-like strength but gains understanding. At the end of his life, Enkidu briefly regrets his time with Shamhat, because of what it cost him. Shamash reminds him of the good that has come from his introduction to "civilization". Boredom causes Gilgamesh and Enkidu to make another bad choice. Gilgamesh decides to make a name for him. Gilgamesh wants to go to the great cedar forest and cut down all the cedar trees. In order to do this they need to kill the Guardian of the Cedar Forest, Humbaba. Enkidu has seen this demon and initially tries to dissuade Gilgamesh. Enkidu is not the only one trying to discourage this adventure. The elders and Ninsun also try to discourage the adventure. Gilgamesh is given many opportunities to make a different choice, but does not choose to. He continues on to make a name for himself. Even in the midst of the battle Gilgamesh is given the opportunity to spare the life of Humbaba. Once again Gilgamesh makes a choice, he chooses to slay the great demon. Humbaba then curses Enkidu. Sometimes a choice may not only affect the one that makes the choice, but others also. Gilgamesh chooses to kill Humbaba. Enkidu even tries to talk Gilgamesh out of it, but in the end it was Gilgamesh th at is cursed. Later another choice that Gilamesh makes affects Enkidu. Ishtar wants Gilgamesh.

Transformation of London in the 1790s :: European Europe History

Transformation of London in the 1790s Many changes were occurring in London during the 1790s. New ideas were emerging within England and around the world. The onset of the French Revolution contributed greatly to the unrest and the turmoil of the times. As the English citizens responded to both internal and external affairs, religious movements, social and political reform parties, and governmental reactions gained momentum. In addition, many writers responded and contributed to the progressive environment by giving the people a voice and further pointing out injustices. These movements and literary contributions influenced later writers and the lifestyles of people in and outside of London. In the 1790s, certain religions were being revived in London. Methodism and the Church of England were reaching out more to the citizens and affecting more lives. Methodism was thought to be an integral part in the social evolution of the country. It had a stabilizing effect for those involved with the church, as well as a model for the political development of the working-class people. The church believed in equal political, economic, and social rights for all people and it also had a strict, structural organization, which encouraged stability amongst its members. (1) While the churches had a soothing effect on the citizens of London, social and political reform increased concern, awareness, and uncertainty. The organization of the government in London contributed to the discontent of its citizens. The official City of London, which was only about one square mile, had the main banking center of the metropolis and a history of independent government established through two separate governing councils, something most sections of London decidedly lacked. Their setup was similar to Parliament, in that one council represented the wealthy, and the other represented more "ordinary" people, and was therefore more prone to agitate at any given time. In 1795, that lower council became fed up with the conflict with France and the unfavorable effect it was having on the merchants they represented. They directly charged the king to end the war and restore their prosperity. The motion failing, the City's council was more conservative afterwards. However, the no tion that a part of London could challenge its sovereign must have given hope to many of its citizens. (2) Westminster's municipal government was far from inspiring, as judges rather than representatives ruled the borough. However, this area "enjoyed a very wide parliamentary franchise, open to all resident householders.

John Milton Essay

John Milton published the first edition of Paradise Lost in 1667. This epic poem introduces a series of supernatural themes. It is the retelling of the Biblical story of Adam and Eve’s first sin. The basis of the text is Christian theology; specifically, Protestant Christian Theology. What is unique, even controversial, about Milton’s method of proselytizing the Christian message, is not so much the use of the epic poem structure per se, (which is traditionally reserved for classic and pagan subject matter), but that he introduces the archenemy of God as a sympathetic character. This is a repugnant concept for Milton’s Christian audience. In fact, John Dryden (the first literary critic to comment on Paradise Lost) in 1697 criticized the poem for having the villain take center stage and defeat the hero (p. 214). However, it will be argued instead that Milton’s use of this technique is to highlight the cunningness of Satan and our own willingness to accept the tale as probable. This sentiment is echoed by Stanley Fish who claimed that the poem tempts the reader in the same way that Satan tempted Adam and Eve. In the remainder of this essay, Books II and III will be examined to note the ways Milton compares and contrasts, God, Satan, Heaven and Hell to amplify his subversive technique of casting Satan as the tragic hero of Paradise Lost. In Book II of Paradise Lost, Satan is introduced to the reader as a rationale character that is capable of questioning God’s authority and judgment. For example, the debate in Hell is one of the great set pieces of Paradise Lost. In this scene, Satan’s appeal is in his use of classic political rhetoric: he states that both his and that of his fallen Angel’s rebelliousness and pride, are justified: â€Å"†¦with what eyes could we Stand in his presence humble, and receive Strict laws imposed, to celebrate his throne With warbled hyms, and to his Godhead sing Forced hallelujahs, while he lordly sits† Milton constructs this profane polemic by utilizing the heroic epic genre to introduce Satan in a countercultural way. He not only disturbs literary conventions but religious conventions too. Such a representation of a heroic Satan as a tragic Prometheus figure challenges the discourse of traditional Judeo-Christian notions of injustice and subordination. However, Milton lived during the dawn of the Renaissance; a time when science began to question religious dogmas. Satan, therefore, is all the more impressive to the skeptical Seventeenth Century audience, because he too, like the new Renaissance man, uses logic and rationalism to argue against accepted ideas and the status quo. In this way, Milton’ Paradise Lost can be viewed as highly controversial in the way he subverts the literary conventions and religious dogma by transposing a pagan literary technique on Christian revelation. But these techniques are not meant to subvert Christianity. Likewise, Milton is not attempting a ‘Dan Brown’ type revision of Christian theology. Instead, what Milton aims in achieving is to highlight Satan’s imperfect logic (even scholasticism) from God’s omnipotence. Thus, whilst Milton’s Satan is eloquent in speech, he is forever fallen. In contrast, Milton’s God remains highly mysterious and beyond logic; he also reigns triumphant and glorified in Heaven. In the opening of Book II, Satan’s rhetoric reaches a climax in The Council meeting held in Pandemonium (Hell). A debate is being held as to whether or not to attempt recovery of Heaven. Instead, another proposal is accepted. That proposal is to seek revenge against God. And through this revenge, Milton establishes Satan as a forlorn figure, as Satan alone undertakes the voyage to find the prophesized world were he can enact his revenge as a tragic hero. Whilst on his travels, he encounters Sin and Death. They are his offspring and guard the gates of Hell. They also serve as a profane inversion of God’s Trinity: a technique Milton often uses to help facilitate the contrasting and comparing of God and Heaven with Satan and Hell. Arguable, this strategy of parody and subversion is effective in showing the reader that despite all his oratory powers and intelligence, all that Satan is ultimately capable of performing is an imperfect imitation of God and his Kingdom. This comparison serves to accentuate Satan’s tragic status and also his futile pride. Another way Milton recasts Satan as a tragic hero, is through his depiction of Satan as a solitary character. For example, Milton notes that Satan â€Å"[e]xplores his solitary flight† (II. 647) alone to Eden. In contrast, God is supported by his Son in Book III. For example, God sees Satan flying towards this world and foretells the success of his evil mission to tempt man. God explains his purpose of grace and mercy toward man, but mandates that justice must be met nonetheless. His Son, who sits at his right hand, freely offers to sacrifice himself for man’s salvation. This causes the angels to celebrate in songs of praise. In contrast, this imagery accentuates the tragic and solitary nature of Satan’s banishment. A status further highlighted when he passes by the stairs of heaven on his way to earth: â€Å"The stairs were then let down, whether to dare The Fiend by easy ascent, or aggravate His sad exclusion from the doors of bliss† (III. 523 -525). In this way, Milton portrays God as some kind of celestial joker, dangling the stairs of heaven to Satan. This concept is of course an antithesis to the traditional precepts of God as merciful and benevolent. However, this scene does help Milton to engineer a sympathetic response from the reader towards Satan. And thus, Milton’s recasting of Satan as the tragic epic hero is complete. Another way Milton casts Satan as the tragic hero of Paradise Lost is through contrasting the depiction of Hell with Heaven. So, whilst Satan sits â€Å"[h]igh on a throne of Royal State†¦ exalted†¦ †(II. 1-5), Satan’s throne is made of â€Å"Barbaric pearl† (II. 4). God, however, sits on a heavenly throne in Heaven: A place that is immersed with precious stones (like diamonds) and light. Even Heaven’s pearly gates (â€Å"liquid pearl† III. 519) are contrasted to the pearls of Hell (â€Å"Barbaric pearl† II. 4). Nothing in Hell can ultimately compete with God’s creation. Milton continues to compare and contrast God and Satan in Book III. For example, in Book III, the infernal trinity, that is, Satan, Sin and Death are introduced as a perversion of God’s original Trinity. In this way, Milton parallels Book II and Book III of Paradise Lost to show no only that Satan’s dominion is an inversion and parody of Heaven, but more importantly, that imitation is the apex of Satan’s intelligence. So, not only is Hell unlike Heaven as it has flames, ice, whirlwinds, and volcanoes. Hell is deathlike and desolate like a â€Å"Desert Soile† (II. 270)). In contrast, Heaven is a â€Å"living Sapphire† (II. 1050). Moreover, Milton’s grotesque depiction of Hell as a place of death is reiterated by the paradoxical phrase, â€Å"life dies, death lives† (II. 624). Hell, therefore, is a place of contradiction, even moral confusion. Heaven in contrast is adorned with precious stones and metal of diamond and gold. It is a place of rejoicing and a place of light, â€Å"†¦since God is light† (III. 3-5). Through harnessing literary devices (which had been traditionally reserved for ‘virtuous’ pagan characters and by sagacious philosophers of ancient Greece), Milton ingeniously highlights the limitations of Satan and indeed humanity itself to understand God. Thus, the invocation in Book I, that is, ‘to justify the ways of God to Man’, is indeed Milton’s â€Å"inside joke†: For it is not Milton’s role to justify God to humanity, but rather it is the reader’s responsibility to overcome ‘temptation’ and see Satan as the villain described in the Bible. Thus, apart from creating a poem of dramatic appeal, it appears that Milton’s introduction of Satan as a hero in the epic poem format was an attempt to accentuate Satan’s irreparably fallen state (as indeed our own human folly in being susceptible to following humanist rationalism at the expense of Christian theology). In Paradise Lost, Satan is a tragic hero forever lost in spite of his attempts to overthrow God’s creation. According to Milton, Satan’s transgression is to think himself equal to God. And it is this transgression that makes his rhetoric ultimately hollow. References 1. Dryden, John. â€Å"Virgil and the Aeneid. † Dramatic Essays. Ed. William Henry Hudson. London: E. P. Dutton, 1921. 2. Fish, Stanley. How Milton Works. New York: Harvard University Press, 2001. 3. Fish, Stanley. Surprised By Sin. London: St. Martin’s Press, 1967. 4. Greenblatt, Stephen et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Eight Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006 5. Milton, John. Paradise Lost: A Norton Critical Edition. Ed. Gordon Tesky. London: W. W. Norton, 2004.

Great Memory

Memory†¦ is the diary that we all carry about with us† is a quote by Oscar Wilde that in my personal opinion describes memory pretty well. Memory is something that people carry with them all the time. It is a powerful thing and something that most people never want to lose. In some cases memories can be of something good or they can also be a bad memory. It all depends on how you want to remember it. Samuel Taylor Coleridge talks about memory in one of his poems he wrote called â€Å"Frost at Midnight. † Also there is talk about memory in â€Å"Ode to the West Wind† written byPercy Bysshe Shelly. Both of these poems show how the authors are using their memories to write the pomes. Both writers talk about a memory they have and they tell a story using it. Coleridge talks about how he feels now and reflects to how he felt as a child while raising his own child. Shelly talks about how he wishes he felt different now and how he wants to feel like he did when he w as young. Both authors I think are sort of depressed. In their poems the tone is kind of melancholy and sad. In â€Å"Frost at Midnight† it is winter time hence the name.And in the winter is when he feels lonelier. The author lives in a cottage and it is very late at night. In the poem he talks about it being so quite. In the poem he says â€Å"The inmates of my cottage, all at rest. Have lett me to that solitude, which suits abstract musings: save that at my side my cradled infant slumbers peacefully' (as cited in Damrosch, 2004, p. 344). Everyone is asleep even his child is sound asleep; he is the only one up. And he is starting to feel lonely with all the stillness. The only other thing that is up is a piece of soot in the fire place.As Coleridge says in the poem â€Å"Only that film, which fluttered on the rate, still flutters there, the sole unquiet thing. Great Memory 3 Methinks, its motion in this hush nature gives it dim sympathies with me who live, making it a comp anionable form† (p. 344). This piece of â€Å"film† or soot makes him think back to his childhood. This is where the memory part comes into play. He is thinking back to his child hood. He is thinking about his birthplace, the old church-tower, and the bells of the poor man and thinking about this is making him homesick. Then he talks about how he was a lonely child.In the poem he says â€Å"save if the door half opened, and I natched a hasty glance , and still my heart leaped up, for still I hoped to see the stranger's face, townsman, or aunt, or sister, more beloved, my playmate when we both were clothed alike† (p. 344). This is when I think that the author is most depressed in this poem. Reflecting back to his childhood makes him sad and feel lonely. Reflecting back on his childhood and how he felt that loneliness he talks later on about how he wants better for his child. He doesn't want his kid to feel the emptiness and loneliness that he is feeling and has fe lt as a child.He says â€Å"but thou, my babe! Shalt wander like a breeze by lakes and sandy shores, beneath the crags of ancient mountain, beneath the clouds, which image in their bulk both lakes and shores and mountain crags: so shalt thou see and hear the lovely shapes and sounds intelligible of that eternal language† (p. 345). He wants his child to have better childhood than he did. He wants his child to have more and be better than he was a child. He says that he wants all seasons to be sweet for his child. In this poem he uses his 4 memory to tell a story and he was as a child and how he doesn't was his child to row up feeling like he did as a kid.In â€Å"Ode to the West Wind† Percy Shelly is talking about a storm that is going to hit. In this poem he talks about being weighed down and he wants to be free again. And he feels like this storm will do that for him. In this poem he wants the wind to inspire him to write poetry, and wants new thoughts. The writer doe sn't even care that this storm is going to hit. He is welcoming it with open arms. The wind is blowing the leaves and clouds and is blowing over the ocean. He wants to be the wind. Memory is talked about in this poem when the talks about how he wants to be ree again.He wants to feel Joy and emotion again. He feels like this storm can do that for him that's why he wants it to come. In the poem he says â€Å"The impulse of thy strength, only less free than thou, o uncontrollable! If even I were as in my boyhood, and could be free the comrade of thy wanderings over heaven, as then, when to outstrip the skiey speed scarce seemed a vision, I would ne'er have striven† (as cited in Damrosch, 2004, p. 401). This says if he was in his boyhood he would be free and as an adult he is not. So that is why he refers to going back to his childhood to be ree again. His childh memory is a g one.And as ne got older ne teels like ne isn't free and wants a free spirit. I think his tone in this is also sad. But when he talks about his boyhood I think he is feeling better. In both of these poem that I discussed go back to a memory. But however, both of the memories are different. In Coleridge's â€Å"Frost at Midnight† the memory he refers to is sad and Great Memory 5 not one that a person wants to remember. He talks about how lonely he was as a child how he hoped he would see someone he knows while he was at school. Every ay he hoped that he would see someone threw the window that he would know.And he hoped that his child would never feel like this. He wanted to make sure his child had better and felt better than he did. In Percy Shellys â€Å"Ode to the West Wind† the memory also goes back to his childhood, but in this poem his childhood was a good time. In this poem he talks about how he wished he was back in his boyhood because was free then. As an adult he doesn't feel free, he feels weighed down. That's why he wants to storm to come he feels it will make h im feel something again. This memory is a happy one. One that a person would want to remember, not like the one is Coleridge's â€Å"Frost as Midnight. In both of these poems I think that there is a common theme of emotion and nature. Both of them describe how they are feeling. One is lonely and one feels no joy. But they both use nature to describe it. Coleridge uses the winter and the frost. And Shelly uses the big storm that is about to his to describe how he feels in the poem. With both of these poem is shows that a memory is not always good or bad, happy or sad. They can be both. And In the two poems I picked to write about the authors, Samuel Coleridge and Percy Shelly, talk about memorys they had.Both of them happen to be different. One is a happy memory and one that he wants to remember. And the other is one that is not so happy, more of a gloomy memory that he doesn't want to remember. Memories are what you make of them. You are the only person who can decide how they are going to be remembered. Great Memory 6 No one else can tell you how to feel or how to keep things in your memory. â€Å"Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things ou never want to lose – From the television show The Wonder Years† I think this is a perfect quote for memory.