The Function of the Landscape Description in Tess of the D’urbervilles

Chapter 1 Introduction Tess of the D’urbervilles is an extraordinarily beautiful book, as well as an extraordinarily moving one. Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of a poor foolish peasant, who believes that he is the descendant of an ancient aristocratic family, first is seduced by Alec, the son of the neighboring family by the name of D’urbervilles. Then Tess encounters Angel Clare, a man of liberal mind and the son of a clergyman, and they fall in love with each other. On the evening of their wedding ceremony, Tess confesses to Angel her seduction by Alec, and then Angel abandons her and leaves for Brazil by himself.Subsequently Angel comes to understand his moral and intellectual arrogance and searches for Tess, only to find that the extreme poverty of her family has driven her back to Alec. So strong is Tess’s love for Angel and so powerful her disgust at Alec when Angel comes back to look for her that she kills Alec. After hiding for a short period of time wit h Angel, after spending a few days of loving reconciliation with Angel, Tess is arrested, sentenced to death for murder and executed essay writer price. The gloomily tragic atmosphere embedded in the novel is doubtlessly related to the author, Thomas Hardy’s views of life and world.In addition, it fits in with Hardy’s desire to express the tragedy that the valuable is tortured and tangled by the irresistant force and at last is destroyed. Hardy is a well-known pessimist and abides by the belief of fatalism that â€Å"everything in the universe is controlled by the Immanent Will†(Luo 1996: 206), which has no passions, no consciousness and no knowledge of the differences between the good and the evil and â€Å"which is present in all parts of the universe and is impartially hostile towards human beings’ desire for joy and happiness†(ibid. . So human beings are doomed to failure when they struggle against the cruel and unintelligible fate, which is pr edestined by the Immanent Will. So there’s no doubt the prevailing moods in Tess of the D’urbervilles are tragic and gloomy. Tess’s tragic fate moves the readers so directly and profoundly that they only focus on the touching narration about Tess’s tragedy and give applause to the author’s genius on arranging such plot. But another unique characteristic of the novel—the remarkableChapter 2 Analysis of the Function of the Landscape Description on the Basis of Six Places There are six places—Marlott, Trantridge, Talbothays, Wellbridge flour-mills, Flintcomb-Ash and Stonehenge—constituting the foundation stone of this novel as well as the pillar of Tess’s sufferings and tragic fate. The landscape descriptions of these six places, connected with each other sequentially, form a river which propels the tragic waves in Tess’s life and winds its way from the beginning to the end of Tess’s life.Every place represent s one important period and level of Tess’s life and they unite together, making the development of the plot proceed forward compactly, smoothly and coherently, linking up different episodes of Tess’s life together, defining the basic tone of the setting. They become the symbols that indicate the fate of Tess, symbolize what Tess is feeling and thinking and predict a series of tortures that Tess will suffer from. 2. 1 Marlott 2. 1. 1 Tess’s hometown Marlott is not only Tess’s hometown where she indeed spends her happy times, more sarcastically, it is also the birth place of Tess’s tragedy.It is a beautiful place and â€Å"lay[s] amid the north-eastern undulations of the beautiful Vale of Blackmoor aforesaid, an engirdled and secluded region†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and â€Å"this [is a] fertile and sheltered tract of country, in which the fields are never brown and the springs never dry†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Hardy 1994: 18). Not only does the natural beauty drift in Marlott, but it has historical origins: â€Å"the vale was known in former times as the Forest of White Hart, from a curious legend of King Henry†(ibid. ). So with its naturally picturesque scenery as well as its historical background, Marlott gives people a feeling of comfort and relax.Then the heroine Tess reveals her veil on an exciting event—May-Day dance. She wears the white gown and the red ribbon and â€Å"she was a fine and handsome girl—not handsomer than some others, but her mobile peony mouth and large innocent eyes added eloquence to color and shape†(ibid. : 51). It seems that Tess, a fragment of the natural world, a natural phenomenon herself, so innocent, pure, naturally beautiful, is in complete harmony with the beautiful and historical place as well as the comfortable and happy atmosphere.But a carriage carrying her drunk father breaks this harmony and some people begin to make jokes of her father which drops naive Tess in a deep shame. T hen a young man of â€Å"superior class† takes part in the dancing. That beautiful place, such beautiful Tess and a handsome young man, these are, undoubtedly, the complete elements of romance. However, nothing romantic happens but the regretful and lost chance. Although the young man feels a little bit sorry that he didn’t dance with the pretty maiden, yet he is anxious to walk and â€Å"dismissed the subject†(ibid. : 23) quickly and easily.The contrast between the beautiful landscapes and what Tess has encountered enables sensitive people to feel some tragic atmosphere, but it is so dim, thin and light, like the haze just emerging in the morning that people will soon forget its existence and ignore it. But after reading through the whole novel, we can find it very romantic that Tess and Angel encounter with each other at the beautiful May; but it’s really regretful and sad that they let each other slip easily. We couldn’t help asking â€Å"why n ot Angel dance with Tess at that time and then love her when Tess was 16? † then maybe Tess can avoid so many sufferings in the future. . 1. 2 The death of the horse It’s unexpected but solid truth that the true life doesn’t include such hopeful â€Å"ifs† for Tess. What is waiting for Tess is the gloomy darkness and sorrow. They like fresh buds conceal themselves in the beautiful and lovely May, prying their chance and preparing for their complete appearance. With the development of the plot, we can feel that the darkness and tragedy is sucking the energy and growing gradually. So Tess’s duty and sufferings are also beginning to swell. When Tess helps her father deliver the beehives to the retailer, the Prince—her father’s horse dies on the road.The hue of the landscapes suddenly converts to sorrow. â€Å"The atmosphere turned pale, the birds shook themselves†¦the lane showed all its white features†¦Prince lay alongside sti ll and stark† (ibid. : 37). â€Å"Pale† â€Å"white† and â€Å"stark† indicate Tess’s moods after her murder of Prince. They express what Tess is thinking and feeling; like a translation machine, they translate the invisible emotion and inner meaning of Tess and it is Tess herself that is really pale, stunned and disappointed in her body as well as her spirits. Then in her despair Tess â€Å"put[s] her hand upon the hole [Prince’s wound]†(ibid. whereas â€Å"this gesture is as absurdly ineffectual as all her effort will be and the only result is that she becomes splashed with blood†(Van Ghent 1953: 430). Maybe this is the first time that Tess has faced such a bloody scene and it is also the first time that the author has referred to death and red blood in this novel. This scene arranged at the beginning of the novel seems to give a hint at something. The hints become a little bit clear with more clues given by the author.  "The pointed shaft of the cart had entered the breast of the unhappy Prince like a sword†(Hardy 1994: 37). Sword† and bloods make us easily recall another scene that Alec is stabbed in the heart with a knife when we read through this novel. It seems that at the beginning Tess’s fate has been displayed to us implicitly. So this accident has a strong allusion to Tess’s future life. The death of the horse is the beginning of Tess’s tragic fate and forces Tess to leave her hometown and work at Trantridge where Tess’s body and mind both confront with a fatal shock and destroy and in the first time people can clearly feel the tragedy overflowing in the air. 2. 2 Trantridge 2. 2. 1 The SlopesWhen Tess is forced to Trantridge to work for her rich relative D’urbervilles, she is stunned by Mrs D’urberville’s house—the Slopes. The house, beyond Tess’s expectation, is not an old mansion, instead, it’s almost new w ith crimson brick lodge, surrounded by various trees and planting. The person in the house, the young Alec D’urberville â€Å"differed more from what Tess had expected than the house and grounds had differed. † (ibid. : 43) Tess originally hopes â€Å"an aged and dignified face† in an old mansion but what she sees is a beautiful and frivolous young man in a new house.The new house, new persons, everything is new. This stimulates one’s curiosity towards a new life but also evokes one’s feeling of fear and unsafety because no one knows what’s on the road. There’s no denying that Tess will start a new life but what’s waiting for Tess? What interests Tess most may be money. â€Å"Everything on this snug property was bright, thriving and well kept; †¦everything looked like money—like the last coin issued from the Mint† (ibid. : 41). â€Å"Landscapes looked like money† but isn’t it Tess’s desir e for money?She kills the horse and cuts the important outlet of her family’s income resulting in her strong desire to get money to reduce her repentance. This indirect and reserved way to express her strong desire for money through landscapes fits in with the reserved nature of Tess perfectly. Maybe there’s money in Trantridge but in the shrub hides a devil—Alec, a fake noble descendant of the D’urbervilles. When he first sees Tess, he fully shows his hospitality and desire for Tess, offering Tess strawberries, filling her basket with them, putting roses in Tess’s bosom, accommodating Tess with a basket of light luncheon.The landscapes around them are so bright and flowery that they make people in a good mood and temporarily forget the growing tragedy and darkness. The red strawberries, the red roses, that’s to say, the landscapes are surrounded by the color red. Even Tess under Alec’s decoration, becomes â€Å"one who stood fair to be the blood-red ray in the spectrum of her young life† (ibid. : 45) and radiates in the encirclement of the red hue. Her growing womanhood reflected by the red becomes so full that arouses Alec’s evil and erotic desires for her.The landscapes here suggest a strong ardor and passion, but seemingly it is too strong to match the reserved feature of Tess, which makes Tess feel uncomfortable. Besides, the continual usage of the color red gives a hint for the sequent plot. Tess and Alec meet each other in a background with red things and the red strawberries and roses, which like a bridge, link Tess and Alec together but also predict the fate of Tess and Alec—Alec is killed by Tess and Tess is executed.Both of them at last drops in the red bloods and are encircled by the color red. It looks like a circle of fate, meeting in the red landscapes and leaving and parting also in the terrible bloody red. The landscapes are the most powerful witness testifying what others c annot see and never ignore the hidden tragedy looming large around Tess. If we keep an eye on the landscapes, we couldn’t become so surprised when Alec reaches his evil hands for Tess. 2. 2. 2 Seduction in the Chase Alec commits his sins to Tess in the Chase, â€Å"the oldest wood in England†.Before the violence, a turning point that sows the destined tragic seed for Tess’s future, happens, we can clearly smell the danger flowing in the air through the landscapes. â€Å"With the setting of the moon the pale light lessened and Tess became invisible as she fell into reverie upon the leaves where he [Alec] had left her† (ibid. : 77). Without any defence, Tess shouldn’t have slept in the dead leaves and exposed herself to the darkness and the evil Alec. Innocent Tess has no sense of the danger. Then the landscapes, like the thunder and lighting before the storm, continue to give a hint at the impendent danger. The moon had quite gone down, and partly o n account of the fog. The Chase was wrapped in thick darkness, although morning was not far off. (ibid. : 76) Darkness and silence ruled everywhere around. Above them rose the primeval yews and oaks of The Chase, in which were poised gentle roosting birds in their last nap. (ibid. : 77) The lights of the moon, the only light in the darkness, symbolizing the brightness and hope in the night, are disappearing and the darkness at last takes the upper hand. â€Å"Doesn’t the heavy darkness symbolize the cruelty of the fate and the ruthlessness of the world? (Qi & Mogan 2001: 98). The moon finally cannot resist the rule of darkness just like the innocent Tess cannot escape Alec’s devil hands. How lonely and helpless Tess is at that time! No one comes to save her; no one consoles her. The only creature following her is the landscapes. Even under the control of the powerful kingdom of the darkness, in the wild forests with sparse people, the landscapes don’t abandon T ess. They see every torment Tess suffers and are much closer and kinder to Tess than the human beings.Besides, the seduction is expounded by the author very indirectly and reservedly â€Å"Alec stooped; †¦ He knelt, and bent bower, till her breath warmed his face†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Hardy 1994: 77). It seems Alec’s softness together with the foggy and dark landscapes reduce the cruelty of this bloody violence. But the wolf in sheep’s clothing is more horrible; the tragedy covered with comedic clothes is more tragic. The landscapes are not the excuse of violence but ironically enhance Tess’s tough sufferings. From Marlott to Trantridge, most times, Tess is alone.No one follows her; no one will hear her painful heart-throbbing and feel her inner emotions except the landscapes. The landscapes’ mission as the prolocutor to transit Tess’s feeling and emotion become more obvious when she works in Talbothays. 2. 3 Talbothays When Tess leaves her hometown for the second time, it is also a lovely morning of May. The landscapes and the environment around Talbothays are so different from the Blackmoor Vale. The world was drawn to a larger pattern here†¦ the green lea was speckled as thickly with them as a canvas. The ripe hue of the red and dun kine absorbed he evening sunlight†¦ [T]he river flowed not like the streams in blackmoor†¦there the water-flower was the lily; (Hardy 1994: 108) All the landscapes, full of cheerfulness, freshness and strong vitality, reveal Tess’s spiritual conditions at that time when she is amid new scenes where there were no invidious eyes upon her. It seems to indicate they can nourish Tess’s hurt heart and renew her confidence and hope for life. They also pave the way for the beginning of a romantic love between Angel and Tess. Talbothays brings a favorable turn to Tess’s life.At Talbothays, both the natural world and Tess come into ripe bloom. Tess is never happier in o ther places than in Talbothays and in accordance, the landscapes suddenly take off its sad and gloomy clothes and become very bright, soft and shining, giving people sensuous enjoyment. There’s a various visionary power of Hardy’s description of the lovers in the roused scene when Tess listens to Angel playing his harp in the overgrown garden. Tess had heard those notes in the attic. Dim, flattened, constrained by their confinement, they had never appealed to her as now†¦ Tess, like a fascinated bird, could not leave the spot.The outskirt of the garden in which Tess found herself had been left uncultivated for some years, and was now damp and rank with juicy grass which sent up mists of pollen at a touch†¦ She went stealthily as a cat through this profusion of growth, gathering cuckoo-spittle on her skirts, cracking snails that were underfoot, staining her hands with thistle-milk and slug-slime, and rubbing off upon her naked arms sticky blights†¦(ibid. : 127). The intense eroticism of the writing, is not in the people but in the details of the scene: the sound of Angel’s harp and Tess’s move as a cat.It is as though the landscapes themselves contain all the secret smells and juices of the act of physical passion. â€Å"The stronger power of the novel derives, I think from Hardy’s ability to shift effortlessly from vivid details of the outer world to the most complex inner flow of character and emotion† (Alvarez 1992: 17). With the development of the relationship between Tess and Angel, the landscapes as Tess’s good friend share Tess’s happiness and become more exuberant and their hues become much brighter. â€Å"The season eveloped and matured†¦Flowers, leaves, nightingales, thrushes, finches and such ephemeral creatures, took up their positions where only a year ago others had stood in their places†¦. Rays from the sunrise drew forth the buds†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Hardy 1994: 133). Alt hough the incident of the churning machine afflicts Tess and she feels guilty for other three beautiful and innocent girls, surrounded and nourished by the new and gorgeous landscapes, stimulated by her love for Angel, Tess is recovering from the heavy moral burden. Tess, after suffering so much, resumes her happiness, becomes â€Å"the daughter of nature† and is harmonious with the landscapes again.The generally luminous tone of the landscapes in Talbothays lasts until the eve of Tess and Angel’s wedding. Then the hidden darkness comes to its life and begins to give off its evil power. At their wedding eve, the sun seems tired and gives out dim lights and â€Å"Gnats, †¦passed out of its line, and were quite extinct† (ibid. : 200). The prosperity, abundance and brightness of summer are diminishing and the cold winter is on the way. There’s a strong allusion that a happy episode of Tess’s life will end and another cold and brutal sorrow is wai ting for Tess. 2. 4 Wellbridge flour-millsAs expected, a series of omens call on Tess heel by heel. First it’s the afternoon crow of a cock, which is believed to predict a bad omen. Then it’s their wedding house Wellbridge flour-mills that depressed Tess severely. He [Angel] looked up, and perceived two life-size portraits on panels built into the masonry†¦. these paintings represent women of middle age, of a date some two hundred years ago, †¦ the long pointed features, narrow eye, and smirk of the one†¦; the bill-hook nose, large teeth, and bold eye of the other, †¦haunt the beholder in his dreams. (ibid. : 214) The terrible portraits add a horrible atmosphere to the house.The background is so uncomfortable and the happiness of their wedding is too dim to be felt. The originally beautiful, warm and lively landscapes completely shrink and wither. Furthermore, the sun sets down and â€Å"it soon began to rain†(ibid. : 215). The rain adds some gloom to the looming darkness and makes people more depressed. It can be assumed the ghostly tragedy will inevitably attack Tess. The assumption is certified when Tess tells Angel her past. Angel’s confession to Tess arouses her hope of getting forgiveness from Angel and makes her narrate her story calmly.But the landscapes have foreseen the result. The ashes and Tess’s large shadow on the wall and ceiling forecast the forthcoming tragic storm. â€Å"The ashes under the grate were lit by the fire vertically, like a torrid waste†¦. A large shadow of her shape rose on the wall and ceiling†(ibid. : 222). When Tess finishes her story, the fire is near to extinguishment. Angel â€Å"stir[s] the fire†(ibid. : 225) but it makes no sense because his love fire for Tess is extinguishing. Then â€Å"he leaves Tess, even though he knows that she is at least as pure as he is† (Williams 2005: 97).The sad and near-to-death landscapes in Wellbridge flour-mil ls form a sharp contrast with the vivid landscapes in Talbothays and mirror the sudden falling of Tess’s emotions and moods. They enlarge the hidden and invisible pains in Tess’s mind and show a bloody scene to the readers that a pure woman is abandoned at the first night of her wedding. Such hurt Angel, Tess’s husband gives to her, is more severe, painful and ruthless than Alec’s because Alec seduces Tess’s body whereas Angel directly ruins Tess’s spiritual world and deprives almost everything valuable of Tess.Tess is pushed to the verge of break-up and what remains is just a living corpse. 2. 5 Flintcomb-Ash But everything is continuing. Tess returns her hometown when Angel abandons her. However, the poverty of her family forces her to leave again. It’s not Tess’s desire of working in Flintcomb-Ash. She just hands over herself to the fate and obeys its order. Flintcomb-Ash is â€Å"a starve-acre place†(Hardy 1994: 277) and the landscapes, like the moods of the heroine, have no passions and souls, just existing meaninglessly and barrenly. Although the life in Flintcomb-Ash is of no importance, yet it’s calm.Meaningless calmness may be better than the ardent torture. If this life can last, it can be regarded as a God’s gift. But Satan has no sympathy. So more powerful tragedies draw near as if to snatch up the remaining energy of Tess. When Tess meets Alec in Flintcomb-Ash, there’s still the moon hanging in the sky. Why is there always the moon appearing? Where’s the sun? The moon has made everything clear. There’s no hope to dispel the darkness and escape the evil hand of fate. The tough landscapes depict the cruelty of the fate vividly.It is so inhumane that it snatches a trunk without any spirits and vitality and does not give it freedom. It even takes the only love Tess remains for her family as weapons, and harshly arranges Tess to go back to Alec to support her family. The darkness and tragedy have grown up and swallow Tess’s everything, her body and her mind. 2. 6 Stonehenge Now that the struggle is fruitless then how does one get freedom and get rid of the cruel control of fate? Tess uses an extreme way to achieve her goal. She kills Alec and gets peace in Stonehenge—the heathen temple.The pillars there are very merciful and Tess â€Å"was sheltered from the wind by a pillar† and â€Å"the stone was warm and dry, in comforting contrast to the rough and chill grass around†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (ibid. : 379). When the human world tries best to capture Tess after her â€Å"cruel violence†, the Stonehenge accepts her and offers what it can offer—a place to rest. There’s no happiness in the human world when Tess obeys all the rules, so after her â€Å"cruel violence†, the world shuts its door for Tess more firmly and â€Å"righteously† and only the merciful landscapes hold Tess.Although the landscapes cannot do more and cannot save Tess, yet they never abandon Tess and help much to alleviate her pains and sufferings. Chapter 3 The Author’s Opinions on the Characters The landscapes serve for Tess’s prolocutor but they are also arranged to express the author’s opinions. Hardy, through the landscape description, becomes Tess’s protector, defender, comforter, lover—but one who ultimately fails in all those roles, since in the end he could not prevent her from dying. 3. Hardy’s involvement in the novel through the landscapes Hardy, like an experienced elder, in fact, from the beginning, always worries about Tess’s fate. He involves in the stage of Tess’s life by the landscapes: when Tess first meets Alec and Alec puts lots of flowers in Tess’s bosom, Hardy expresses his misgiving â€Å"that behind the blue narcotic haze was potentially the ‘tragic mischief’ of her drama†(Hardy 1994: 45); when Tess is seduced by Alec in the Chase, Hardy together with the landscapes gives a painful plaint â€Å"where was Tess’s guardian angel?Where was the Providence of her simple faith? †(ibid. : 77). When Tess and Angel fall in love with each other in Talbothays, he gives a more detailed description of the lovers walking in the dawn: The mixed, singular, luminous gloom in which they walked along to the spot where the cows lay†¦she looked ghostly, as if she were merely a soul at large. In reality her face†¦had caught the cold gleam of day from the north-east†¦(ibid. : 134) At these non-human hours they could get quite close to the water-fowl.Herons came, †¦ watching them by moving their heads round in a slow, horizontal, passionless wheel, like the turn of puppets by clockwork. (ibid. : 135) What is at stake in these paragraphs is not a mere courtship, nor even a description of the forces why Angel falls in love with Tess. On the contrary, Angel seems le ft behind. It’s as if the author—Hardy were alone with his heroine, watching her fascinated, almost surprised by the power of the woman he himself has created.It seems that Hardy, after a painstaking self-control of his emotion, could no longer stand just as a passer-by but involves in the story through the sensitive landscapes and begins to communicate with Tess. 3. 2 Another important character—Hardy himself Another evidence to show Hardy’s self-position in the novel, is that Alec, Angel or other characters, are just passing traveler. â€Å"None of the secondary figures has much interest in his own right, apart from his capacity to illuminate and enlarge the experience of Tess†(Howe 1967: 442). The swiftness with which the other characters diminish, becoming pale and without substance when compared with Tess, and the continual emergence of the landscapes are perhaps a mirror of the way in which Hardy’s personal involvement alters with the story† (Alvarez 1992: 19). He becomes the only character as important as Tess in the novel. When Angel abandons Tess and Tess works hard and lonely in Flintcomb-Ash, the author wins enough space and time to stay with his heroine alone and spends lots of energy describing the harsh and tough environment to express his sympathy and understanding to Tess.After Tess nips her eyebrows off and tries her effort to uglify herself, â€Å"she walks on, a figure which is a part of the landscape; a field woman pure and simple†¦ Inside this exterior, over which the eye might have roved as over a thing scarcely percipient, there was the record †¦of the cruelty of lust and the fragility of love†(Hardy 1994: 272-273). â€Å"Pure†, â€Å"simple† and â€Å"inside this exterior† show that Hardy not only knows Tess’s appearance very well, but his understanding of the inner Tess is beyond anyone else.Angel who loves and takes Tess more as an imaginative Goddess cannot compare with him, not to mention Alec who addicts to Tess’s natural beauty. Hardy’s description seems to be objective, but mixes so much his sadness. When Tess reaches Flintcomb-Ash, â€Å"before her, in a slight depression, were the remains of a village†¦. Hither she was doomed to come†(ibid. : 274). â€Å"Depression† â€Å"doom†, what Tess feels is seemingly just the author’s feelings. Through his such musing voices he makes his presence steadily felt. He like a kind father hovers and watched over Tess.He is as tender as possible to Tess. After the hard work in the Flintcomb-Ash, after her father’s death, after the homelessness of her family, Tess disappears from the horizon. At last, Angel appears and Tess also restages. â€Å"But it was not clear to him till later; that his original Tess had spiritually ceased to recognize the body before him as hers—allowing it to drift, like a corpse†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (ib id. : 366). What Hardy is painfully describing is the tragic fact that even though he doesn’t want to accept, the spirits of Tess has died and only a corpse remains.And Angel, Tess’s husband, hasn’t recognized the truth, which ironically reveals the tragic truth: Angel might not deserve Tess’s so deep and passionate and unconditional love. But Hardy seemingly doesn’t want to end his heroine’s life so sadly and so he leaves five happy days for their escape. Outwardly the author creates a temporarily calm environment for Angle and Tess, but it’s more suitable to say that the five days is just an alleviant to lower Tess’s tragedy more or less and also for the author to make a farewell to his created creature and reduce his sadness.The temporary happiness elapses, and the straining fight against fate is futile. And the last tragedy is doomed to come as Hardy’s pessimistic faith to life. In the holy and serious Stonehenge sur rounded by beautiful landscapes, Tess’s life as well as her sufferings comes to an end. The band of silver paleness along the east horizon made even the distant parts of the Great Plain appear dark and near; and the whole enormous landscapes bore that impress of reserve, taciturnity†¦.The eastward pillars and their architraves stood up blackly against the light, †¦ (ibid. : 381) In this continually roused haunting descriptions of the landscapes, â€Å"which crystallize into visionary states of mind and above all in the power and beauty of the heroine who he created and then unwillingly, destroyed† (Alvarez 1992: 22), Tess wins death as a reward and â€Å"the President of the immortals had ended his sport with Tess†(Hardy 1994: 384), so Tess obtains freedom from the intolerable agony of living. Chapter 4 ConclusionThe novel is so direct in its appeal and unambiguous in its story-line; the plot is not particularly original in its framework, and in the en d it cannot by itself account for the novel’s power. Two remarkable elements in its creation have a significant role to play: one is the passionate commitment to the central character with which the novel is written; the other is the integration of the characters including the author with their environment and landscapes, which Hardy achieved more fully here than anywhere else.The story of Tess of the D’urbervilles begins with the big event of May-Day Dance in the lovely May and ends up with the death of Tess in July. The change of the landscapes, following the season, the weather, the time, predict the main rhythm of the development of the plot and foresee the ups and downs of Tess’s whole life. The characters and the landscapes unite well together and enhance the tragic atmosphere of this novel and demonstrate Tess profoundly.Tess, as if she were a natural phenomenon, is set in the appropriate landscapes: her innocence in the tame, mild Vale of Blackmoor; her seduction in the Chase; then her idyllic love affair with Angel in the sensual Paradise garden of Talbothays in the Vale of the big Dairies; â€Å"her period of desolation at Flintcomb-Ash, where the unforgiving landscape is as stripped of comfort and vegetation as she is of love and hope; finally, her sacrificial consummation on the altar-stone of Stonehenge† (Alvarez 1992: 12).Besides, from the beginning to the end, the author Hardy embodies himself the most beautiful but maybe the saddest scenery to follow Tess, to console her and expatiate her. Tess, Hardy and the landscapes reflect each other, match each other, cooperate with each other, and are integrated together, at last, demonstrate Tess’s tragic fate.The remarkable way of the landscape description as well as the the misery and tragedy besieging Tess offers the most deeply moving reading experience and make people taste the great power of tragedy. The landscapes, like the Phosphor, emit its light and brightnes s, shining the road and guiding us to understand the characters and the novel more clearly and drastically.   

The Return: Shadow Souls Chapter 39

Elena waded into the crowd feeling like a soldier. She didn't know why. Maybe because she had thought of a quest and had managed to complete it and stay alive and bring back loot. Maybe because she bore honorable wounds. Maybe because above her there was an enemy who was still out for her blood. Come to think of it, she thought, I'd better get all these noncombatants out of here. We can keep them in a safe house – well, a few dozen safe houses and – What was she thinking? Safe house was a phrase from a book. She wasn't responsible for these people – idiots, mostly, who had stood, slavering, and watched her being whipped. But – despite that, maybe she should get them out of here. â€Å"Bloddeuwedd!† she cried dramatically and pointed to a wheeling silhouette above. â€Å"Bloddeuwedd is free! She gave me these!† – pointing to the three lacerations on her back. â€Å"She'll go after you, too!† At first most of the angry exclamation seemed to be about the fact that Elena now had a marked back. Elena was in no mood to argue. There was only one person here she wanted to talk to now. Keeping Bonnie and Meredith close behind her, she called. Damon! Damon it's me! Where are you? There was so much telepathic traffic that she doubted he would hear her. But finally, she caught a faint, Elena?†¦Yes†¦ Elena, hold on to me. Think of holding me physically, and I'll take us to a different frequency. Hold on to a voice? But Elena imagined holding on to Damon tightly, tightly, while she physically held Bonnie's and Meredith's hands. Now can you hear me? This time the voice was much clearer, much louder. Yes. But I can't see you. But I see you. I'm coming to – WATCH OUT! Too late, Elena's senses warned her of a huge shadow plummeting from above. She couldn't move quickly enough to get out of the way of a snapping, alligator-sized beak. But Damon could. Leaping from somewhere, he gathered her and Bonnie and Meredith all in one great armful and leaped again, hitting grass and rolling. Oh, God! Damon! â€Å"Is anybody hurt?† he asked aloud. â€Å"I'm fine,† Meredith said quietly, calmly. â€Å"But I suspect I owe you my life. Thank you.† â€Å"Bonnie?† Elena asked. I'm okay. I mean, â€Å"I'm okay. But Elena, your back – â€Å" For the first time, Damon was able to turn Elena and see the wounds on her back. â€Å"I†¦did that? But†¦I thought†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Bloddeuwedd did that,† Elena said sharply, looking upward for a circling shape in the deep red sky. â€Å"She just barely touched me. She has talons like knives, like steel. We have to go, now!† Damon put both hands on her shoulders. â€Å"And come back when things have calmed down, you mean.† â€Å"And never come back! Oh, God, here she comes!† Something out of the corner of her eye became baseball-sized in an instant, volleyball-sized in a second, human-sized in a moment. And then they were all scattering, leaping, rolling, trying to get away, except Damon, who seized Elena and shouted, â€Å"This is my slave! If you have any argument with her, you first argue with me!† â€Å"And I am Bloddeuwedd, created by the gods, condemned to be a murderer every night. I'll kill you first, then eat her, the thief!† Bloddeuwedd called back in her raucous new voice. â€Å"Two bites is all it will take.† Damon, I need to tell you something! â€Å"I'll fight you, but my slave is out of it!† â€Å"First bite; here I come!† Damon, we have to go! A scream of primal pain and fury. Damon was standing slightly crouched with a huge piece of glass held in his hand like a sword and great black drops of blood were dripping from where he had – oh, God! Elena thought – he'd put out one of Bloddeuwedd's eyes! â€Å"YOU WILL ALL DIE! ALL!† Bloddeuwedd made a charge at a random vampire directly below her and Elena screamed as the vampire screamed. The black beak had caught him by one leg and was lifting him. But Damon was running forward, jumping, slashing. With a scream of fury, Bloddeuwedd took to the sky again. Now everyone understood the danger. Two other vampires rushed to take their comrade from Damon, and Elena was glad that her friends were not responsible for another life. She had too much on her hands already. Damon, I'm leaving now. You can come with me or not. I've got the key. Elena sent the words on the frequency that they were more or less alone on, and she sent it without dramatics. She had no room for drama left. She'd been stripped of everything except the need to get to Stefan. This time, she knew Damon heard her. At first, she thought Damon was dying. That Bloddeuwedd had somehow come back and pierced him through his entire body, as with a spear made of light. Then she realized that the feeling was rapture, and two tiny child hands reached out of the light and clung to hers, allowing her to pull a thin, ragged, but laughing child away free. No chains, she thought dizzily. He's not even wearing slave bracelets. â€Å"My brother!† he told her. â€Å"My little brother's going to live!† â€Å"Well, that's a fine thing,† Elena said shakily. â€Å"He's going to live!† A tiny frown line appeared. â€Å"If you hurry! And take good care of him! And – â€Å" Elena put two fingers over his lips, very gently. â€Å"You don't need to worry about anything like that. You just be happy.† The little boy laughed. â€Å"I will! I am!† â€Å"Elena!† Elena came out of – well, she supposed it was a daze, although it had been more real than many other things she'd experienced recently. â€Å"Elena!† Damon was trying desperately to restrain himself. â€Å"Show me the key!† Slowly, majestically, Elena lifted her hand. Damon's shoulders tensed, for – something – went down. â€Å"It's a ring,† he said dully. The slow and majestic bit hadn't worked on him at all. â€Å"That's what I thought at first. It's a key. I'm not asking you, or seeing if you agree with me; I'm telling you. It's a key. The light from its eyes points to Stefan.† â€Å"What light?† â€Å"I'll show you later. Bonnie! Meredith! We're leaving.† â€Å"YOU'RE NOT IF I SAY YOU'RE NOT!† â€Å"Watch out!† screamed Bonnie. The owl was diving again. And again, at the last second, Damon gathered the three girls and leaped. The owl's beak struck not grass nor shards of glass but the marble steps. They cracked. There was a scream of pain and another, as Damon, nimble as a dancer, slashed at the giant bird's one good eye. He got in a cut right above it. Blood began to fill the eye. Elena couldn't stand any more. Ever since starting out on this journey with Damon and Matt, she had been a vial filling with anger. Drop by drop, with each new outrage, that anger had filled and filled the vial. Now her rage was about to fill it to overflowing. But then†¦what would happen? She didn't want to know. She was afraid she wouldn't survive it. What she did know was that she couldn't watch any more pain and blood and anguish right now. Damon genuinely enjoyed fighting. Good. Let him. She was going to Stefan if she had to walk the whole way. Meredith and Bonnie were silent. They knew Elena in this mood. She wasn't fooling around. And neither of them wanted to be left behind. It was exactly at that moment that the carriage came rumbling up to the base of the marble stairs. Sage, who obviously knew something about human nature, demonic nature, vampiric nature, and various kinds of bestial nature, jumped out of the carriage with two swords drawn. He also whistled. In a moment a shadow – a small one – came streaking to him out of the sky. Last, slowly, stretching each leg like a tiger, came Saber, who immediately pulled back his lips to show an amazing number of teeth. Elena leaped toward the carriage, her eyes meeting Sage's. Help me, she thought desperately. And his eyes said just as plainly, Have no fear. Blindly, she reached behind her with both hands. One small, fine-boned, lightly trembling hand was thrust into hers. One slim, cool hand, hard as a boy's but with long tapering fingers grabbed her other one. There was no one here to trust. No one to say good-bye to, or leave messages of good-bye with. Elena scrambled into the carriage. She got into the backseat, the farthest from the front, to accommodate incoming humans and animals. And in they did come, like an avalanche. She had dragged Bonnie with her, and Meredith had followed, so that when Saber leaped into his accustomed place he landed on three soft laps. Sage hadn't wasted a moment. With Talon clamped on his left wrist, he left just enough room for Damon's final spring – and a spring it was. Cracked and broken, oozing black fluid, Bloddeuwedd's beak hit the end of the marble stairs where Damon had been standing. â€Å"Directions!† shouted Sage, but only after the horses were heading at a gallop – somewhere, anywhere, away. â€Å"Oh, please don't let her hurt the horses,† Bonnie gasped. â€Å"Oh, please don't let her split this roof like cardboard,† said Meredith, somehow able to be wry even when her life was in danger. â€Å"Directions, s'il vous plaà ®t!† roared Sage. â€Å"The prison, of course,† panted Elena. She felt that it had been a long time since she had been able to get enough air. â€Å"The prison?† Damon seemed distracted. â€Å"Yes! The prison!† But then, he added, pulling up something like a pillowcase filled with billiard balls, â€Å"Sage, what are these?† â€Å"Loot. Booty. Spoils! Plunder!† As the horses swung in a new direction, Sage's voice seemed to get more and more cheerful. â€Å"And look around your feet!† â€Å"More pillowcases†¦?† â€Å"I wasn't prepared for a big haul tonight. But things worked out well anyway!† By now, Elena was feeling one of the pillowcases for herself. The case was, indeed, full of clear, sparkling hoshi no tama. Star balls. Memories. Worth†¦ Worthless? â€Å"Priceless†¦although of course we don't know what's on them.† Sage's voice changed subtly. Elena remembered the warning about â€Å"forbidden spheres.† What, in the name of the yellow sun, could they possibly forbid down here? Bonnie was the first to pick up a disk and put it to her temple. She did it so quickly, with such flashing, birdlike movements, that Elena couldn't stop her. â€Å"What is it?† Elena gasped, trying to pull the star ball away. â€Å"It's†¦poetry. Poetry I can't understand,† said Bonnie crossly. Meredith had also picked up a sparkling orb. Elena reached for her but once again she was too late. Meredith sat as if in a trance for a moment, then grimaced and put the sphere down. â€Å"What?† demanded Elena. Meredith shook her head. She wore a delicate expression of distaste. â€Å"What?† Elena almost yelled. Then as Meredith put the star ball by her feet, Elena lunged at it. She clapped it to her own temple and immediately was dressed in black leather from head to toe. There were two broad, square men in front of her, without a lot of muscle tone. And she could see all of their musculature because they were stark naked except for rags such as beggars wore. But they weren't beggars – they looked well-fed and oily and it was clearly an act when one of them groveled, â€Å"We have trespassed. We beg your forgiveness, O master!† Elena was reaching to take the sphere off her temple (they stuck gently, if you put a little pressure there) and saying, â€Å"Why don't they use the space for something else?† Something else was immediately all around her. A girl, in poor clothing, but not sacking. She looked terrified. Elena wondered if she were being controlled. And Elena was the girl. Pleasedon'tletitgetmepleasedon'tletitgetme – Let what get you? Elena asked, but it was like watching a movie or book character while they were going into a lonely house in a howling storm and the music had turned eerie. The Elena who was walking in fear could not hear the Elena who was asking practical questions. I don't think I want to see how this one comes out, she decided. She put the star ball back at Meredith's feet. â€Å"Do we have three sacks?† â€Å"Yes, ma'am, yes, ma'am; three sacks full.† Oh. That didn't work out very well. Elena was opening her mouth again, when Damon added quietly: â€Å"And one sack empty.† â€Å"Really? We do? Then let's all try to divide these. Anything – forbidden – goes in one sack. Weird stuff like Bonnie's poetry reading goes into another. Any news of Stefan – or of us – goes in the third. And nice things, like summer days, go in the fourth,† Elena said. â€Å"I think you are being optimistic, me,† Sage said. â€Å"To expect to find an orb with Stefan on it so quickly – â€Å" â€Å"Everybody, hush!† Bonnie said frantically. â€Å"This is Shinichi and Damon talking him into it.† Sage stiffened, as if taking a lightning bolt from the stormy sky, then he smiled. â€Å"Speak of the devil,† he murmured. Elena smiled at him and squeezed his hand before taking another ball. â€Å"This one seems to be some kind of legal stuff. I don't understand it. A slave must be taking it because I can see all of them.† Elena felt her facial muscles tighten with hatred at the sight – even in a sort of dream – of Shinichi, the kitsune who had done so much harm. His hair was black, except for an irregular fringe around the edges, which made it look as if it had been dipped in red-hot lava. And then, of course, Misao. Shinichi's sister – allegedly. This star ball must have been made by a slave, because she could see both of the twins and a lawyerly-looking man. Misao, Elena thought. Delicate, deferential, demure†¦demonic. Her hair was the same as Shinichi's, but it was held up and back in a ponytail. You could see the demonic part if she raised her eyes. They were effervescent, golden, laughing eyes, just like her brother's; eyes that had never had a regret – except perhaps for not exacting enough revenge. They took no responsibility. They found anguish funny. And then something odd happened. All three of the figures in the room suddenly turned around and looked straight at her. Straight at whoever had made the sphere, Elena corrected herself, but it still was disconcerting. It was even more disconcerting when they continued to advance. Who am I? Elena thought, feeling half-frantic with anxiety. Then she tried something she had never done before, or seen or heard of being done. She carefully extended her Power into the Self around the orb. She was Werty, a sort of lawyer's secretary. She/he took notes when important deals were done. And Werty definitely didn't like the way things were going right now. The two clients and his boss closing in on him like this, in a way they never had before. Elena pulled herself out of the clerk and put the ball down to one side. She shivered, feeling as if she'd been plunged into ice-cold water. And then the roof crashed in. Bloddeuwedd. Even with her crippled beak, the huge owl tore off quite a bit of the roof of the carriage. Everyone was screaming and no one was giving much good advice. Saber and Damon had both damaged her: Saber by raising right off the three soft laps he was sitting on and lunging straight up for Bloddeuwedd's feet. He had torn and shaken one before letting go to fall back into the carriage, where he almost slid off the back. Elena, Bonnie, and Meredith grabbed at whatever portions of canine anatomy they could reach, and hauled the huge animal into the backseat again. â€Å"Scoot over! Give him his own seat,† wailed Bonnie, looking at the shreds of her pearl-colored dress where Saber had taken off and ripped right through the gauzy material. He'd left red welts in his path. â€Å"Well,† Meredith said, â€Å"next time we'll request steel petticoats. But I really hope there isn't going to be a next time, anyway!† Elena prayed fervently that she was right. Bloddeuwedd was skimming in from a lower angle now, undoubtedly hoping to snap off a few heads. â€Å"Everybody grab wood. And spheres! Throw the spheres at her as she comes close to us.† Elena was hoping that the sight of star globes – Bloddeuwedd's obsession – might slow her down. At the same time Sage shouted, â€Å"Don't waste the star balls! Throw anything else! Besides, we're almost there. Hard left, then straightaway!† The words gave Elena new hope. I have the key, she thought. The ring is the key. All I have to do now is get Stefan – and get all of us to the door with the keyhole. All in one building. I'm practically home. The next sweep came in even lower. Bloddeuwedd, blind in one eye, with blood filling the other one, and her olfactory senses blocked by her own dried blood, was trying to ram the carriage and knock it over. If she manages it, we'll be dead, Elena thought. And any who're still writhing like worms on the ground, she can pick off. â€Å"DUCK!† She screamed the word both vocally and telepathically. And then something like an airplane flew so close to her that she felt tufts of hair being pulled out, caught in its claws. Elena heard a cry of pain from the front seat but didn't raise her head to see what it was. And that was good, for while the carriage suddenly slammed to a halt, the next instant a whirling, screaming, bird of death came searing out on the same course. Now Elena needed all of her attention, all her faculties, to avoid this monster that was buzzing them even lower. â€Å"The carriage, she is finished! Get out! Run!† Sage's voice came rumbling to her. â€Å"The horses,† screamed Elena. â€Å"Finished! Get out, damn you!† Elena had never heard Sage swear before. She dropped the subject. Elena never knew how she and Meredith did get out, tumbling over each other, trying to help and only getting in each other's way. Bonnie was already out, by virtue of the coach having hit a pole and sending her flying. Fortunately, it had sent her into a square of ugly but springy red clover, and she wasn't seriously injured. â€Å"Ahhh, my bracelet – no, there it is,† she cried, grabbing something glittering out of the clover. She cast a cautious look upward into the crimson night. â€Å"Now what do we do?† â€Å"We run!† came Damon's voice. He came around the wreckage of the corner where they had fallen in a heap. There was blood on his mouth, on the previously immaculate white at his throat. It reminded Elena of those people who drank cow's blood as well as milk for nutrition. But Damon only drank from humans. He would never stoop to equine blood†¦ The horses will still be here and so will Bloddeuwedd, a harsh voice explained in her head. She would play with them; there would be pain. This way was quick. It was†¦a whim. Elena reached for his hands, gasping. â€Å"Damon! I'm sorry!† â€Å"GET OUT OF HERE,† Sage was roaring. â€Å"We have to get to Stefan,† Elena said, and grabbed Bonnie with her other hand. â€Å"Help guide me, please. I can't see the ring very well.† Meredith, she trusted, would get to the Shi no Shi building on her own resources. And then there was a nightmare of running and flinching and false alarms by a shaken Bonnie. Twice the horror from above came skimming straight toward them only to crash just in front of them, or a little to the side, breaking wood and tile road alike, throwing up clouds of dust. Elena didn't know about all owls, but Bloddeuwedd swooped down at an angle on her prey, then opened her wings and dropped at the last moment. Part of the worst thing about the giant owl was her silence. There was no rustling to warn them of where she might be. Something in her own feathers muffled the sound, so that they never knew when she was going to drop next. In the end they had to crawl through all sorts of rubbish, going as fast as they could, holding wood, glass, anything sharp over their heads, as Bloddeuwedd made another pass. And all the time Elena was trying to use her Power. It was not a Power she had used before, but she could feel its name shaping her lips. What she could not feel, could not force, was a connection between the words and the Power. I'm useless as a heroine, she thought. I'm pathetic. They should have given these Powers to someone who already knew how to control such things. Or, no, they should have given them to someone and then given the someone a course on how to use them. Or – no – â€Å"Elena!† Rubbish was flying in front of her, but then she was cutting left and somehow getting around it. And then she was on the ground and looking up at Damon, who had protected her with his body. â€Å"Thank you,† she whispered. â€Å"Come on!† â€Å"I'm sorry,† she whispered and held out her right hand, with the ring on it, for him to take. And then she doubled up, heaving with sobs. She could hear the flapping of Bloddeuwedd right above her.

A Moment that Lasts Forever Essay Example for Free

A Moment that Lasts Forever Essay ? I turn around to see the audience cheering their lungs out for me. Even though I’ve been through so many competitions before, none of the competitions could even compare to the contrasting feelings I was having at the moment. Although at the time, I still did not know who won in the finals of one of the biggest competitions in California, nor did I know what the judges thought of me, I knew that I had successfully completed a memory that would have a big impact on my life. I knew that I had worked hard and tried my best, and even if I ended up not even winning a place, I would have earned something from this extreme event. My teacher had been trying to decide what piece to give me for my next competition: MTAC, the Music Teacher’s Association of California. What does that mean? It means that I will be competing in one of the biggest, and hardest competition in California again. It would be the 3rd time in this competition for me, after failing the first time, and barely achieving ‘Honorable Mention’ the second time. I knew that this was my chance, my chance to finally show all the critics, all the people that believed I was just a talentless girl with extremely well-known teachers, that I actually was able to play the piano. â€Å"Oh! How about this piece?† my mentor suggested.   I looked up to see my teacher, a young boy stuck in a old man’s body, look at me, so happy and excited about something that he was almost bouncing off the floor. I see him holding a green book, and I see as he opens the book to the 5th page, the words â€Å"Abegg Variations† by Schumann. I nearly fainted right there and then. â€Å"How did this teacher expect me to play this super hard piece that even Lang Lang made mistakes in when he played, when I couldn’t even play my Mendelssohn well?† I thought to myself, â€Å"but I probably can’t do anything about it, especially not with my mom looking like a dog that just managed to get its owner to give it a thousand bones, also.† The first big obstacle came quick enough. My mom announced that I was going to play at her student’s recital, only a few months after I first got the piece. I nearly fainted after all the screaming, crying, yelling I did. â€Å"It would be a good experience and excellent practice for your competition† she said. â€Å"But I’m not ready!† I replied back trying to use imploring eyes to achieve a change of mind. â€Å"You are playing, and that’s final!† she answered. I knew there was absolutely no point in arguing anymore, and that all I could do was practice. Turns out, I was completely right about one fact: I was not ready for this recital at all. I messed up, and I didn’t mess up small, I messed up humongous, huge, extreme, terrifyingly big. As I disembarked from the stage, I could just see how much practicing I would have to do to prepare for my second obstacle: my piano teacher’s recital. Apparently, all the practicing I did before this next recital was not enough, because I managed to embarrass myself at my piano teacher’s recital also. My fate was inevitable, and I knew by then that I was going to be practicing like crazy now, if I didn’t before. I also knew how furious my mom was going to be at me. My prediction was completely correct, as I was told to practice so much that my fingers were about to fall off. To be exact, I practiced sixty times for each variation, and Abegg Variations has multiple variations. T hough it took more than 4 hours every day, I stayed persistent, and slowly and steadily I improved. As I was about to go into a room for the first round of the competition, all I could think was†¦ â€Å"What if I mess up, what if I mess up†¦ I’m going to mess up, I’m going to mess up, I’M GOING TO MESS UP!!! GAHH~~!!!† The door holder called out, â€Å"Anna Yang†, and it was my turn. I went in, and was surprised to find three judges, different from the previous year. My face literally turned as bright as the sun when I did not see the judge that absolutely detests my teacher, *a*c* *e*s*n (for privacy reasons, I will exclude her name from this essay). I turned as hyper as a kid could become, and I was about to scream from happiness right then. Every single time I am in a competition, and she’s a judge, she always marks me down. Luckily, she was not here this time, and instead, sitting in her place, was a nice, friendly looking old lady, a not very skinny lady who’s facial expressions seemed a bit like the evil stepmother from Cinderella, and a Jasmine look-a-like lady who’s only difference from Jasmine was that she looked like she was about to poison me with a poisonous apple. As I bowed to them, I became more relaxed at the smile of the nice, friendly looking old lady. Although I was still frightened at the prospect of messing up, I was shaking a considerably less amount than I was before. I made a mistake, but I was lucky. Right when I made the mistake, the nice, friendly looking judge dropped her cushion from her chair, and everyone rushed to help her pick it up. My mistake had gone by unnoticed by the crowd. By that time, I was so ecstatic that my smile was about to reach the sky. The results of the first round came out soon enough. As I went on the MTAC website on my phone, I could hear both my mom’s heartbeat, and also my heartbeat beating as fast as a hare would beat while being chased by a extremely furious tiger. The page finally finished loading, and I scrolled down to see: Grand Prize: Anna Yang. I celebrated for about 2 minutes thinking about how all that practice had actually been beneficial, and then I realized what that meant†¦ I was going to have to compete one more time, this time against the winner of the Southern California group. I scrolled down to see who exactly I had to compete against during the final, and I went ballistic when I saw. Sherry Tang was the winner of Southern California. I was going to play against THE Sherry Tang, the girl who was on From the Top and won against college kids. The girl who won a national competition. By that time, I was already dead cast against the fact that I would never win, but my mom calmed me down with her comforting words, telling me that I should not give up, even if there is almost no chance of winning. I did not give up. I continued playing and practicing every day, and I ended up not regretting it. A few months later, a judge called out Sherry’s name before they called my name. As I heard the words â€Å"1st place, Anna Yang†, I walked towards the auditorium stage. As I walked on stage, I did not cry. I could only smile. Who wouldn’t? Why would you be unhappy about the fact that you had just won one of the biggest competitions in California? Though I do not practice as much anymore, I still always have a certain self-confidence while playing piano. I also learned that as long as I put in effort and I have fun, the audience and judges will also have fun, and they will feel the effort I have put in. A Moment that Lasts Forever. (2016, Dec 13).

Effect of Colour on Advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5750 words

Effect of Colour on Advertising - Essay Example This essay "Effect of Colour on Advertising" outlines the usage of colors in different commercials and how it works. Also, it describes what a particular colour means. What colours have you chosen to use as marketing resources? What were the reasons for choosing the particular? Was it for the reason that you liked those certain colours, or did you have a certain marketing message that you wanted to pass on? Whereas visual application is a significant consideration, your colour choices might be giving a precise message to the market which you wish to target. Are you sure you recognize what kind of message it is that you want the viewer to get? You'd be sensible to consider o the subject of the psychology of colour when mapping out your marketing plan. Be it business card, catalogue or other marketing material, you'll have to choose colours for it. Colours not only improve the look of the item -- they also manipulate our behaviour. The colours that are chosen should reflect the interes t of your target population. Pepsi uses the blue colour to symbolize your as Pepsi is knows as the choice of the next generation. IBM’s blue colour reflects its target market’s electrifying personality, as they are most them are corporate clients. Market researchers have found out that impulsive shopper buy more dark colours, while traditional shopper prefer colours like light blue, so here it can be said that Pepsi adheres by this research and uses a tranquilizing blue colour, which is like by both, the impulsive shopper as well as the traditional one.

'It is impossible to discern from the approach of the judiciary to Essay

'It is impossible to discern from the approach of the judiciary to either the question of the incidence of the burden of proof - Essay Example CJS is accountable for apprehending the criminals, penalising them for their offences, executing the orders of the court like custodial punishment, collecting fines imposed by courts, supervising the community and to rehabilitate them for stopping future crimes2. CJS evaluates its operation by employing the following five indicators namely a) bringing crimes to justice b) enhancing the awareness and confidence of the public c) satisfying the victims by sentencing the criminals d) to redress the disproportionality among various races and e) recovery of stolen assets or properties3. As per recent research study carried over by academics at Birmingham University reveals that crime rates will tend to decline when there are tougher prison sentences and further there is a direct link between levels of policing activity and crime reduction . Hence, the study strongly suggests that UK government should desist from downsizing its police personnel, mainly on the grounds of cost cutting. The ab ove study found that prison imprisonment was especially successful in minimising the property crime by repeat and serious offenders in UK. It also found that if sentence is increased to 16.4 months from that of 15.4 months, it is likely to minimise the burglaries in the succeeding year by 4800 out of annual aggregate of 962,700. The report finds that there is unambiguous evidence that more effective and sustained policing will definitely minimise the crime rates in UK4. Burden of proof in criminal cases Under English criminal law , the most renowned cannon is that the accused will be treated as innocent until the prosecution proves the guilty of offence of an accused by beyond realistic doubt. Though the English law assumes an accused as an innocent, but it yet requires upon the prosecution to produce adequate evidence so that the court can declare the accused as an offender. The famous maxim as held in Hobson5 that one innocent man should not be punished even if ten guilty men coul d escape from the punishment. Earlier, in Woolmington v DPP, where defendant W claimed that he killed her wife accidentally. In that case, the court was of the view that defendant had the onus of proving any defence it which wanted to forward. However, the same was turned down by the House of Lords, and it held that, the prosecution had the onus of establishing all the components of crime except in some extraordinary cases, and it did not acknowledge any defences forwarded by the accused6. Thus, the â€Å"golden thread â€Å" rule which inflicts the whole legal onus on the prosecution, and the maxim that the Crown must establish its case beyond any satisfactory doubt was held in very old case namely 7White8. Thus, in Woolmington case9, the House of Lord set precedent by pronouncing that the prosecution assumes the whole onus in criminal cases. It is claimed that by placing the whole burden of proof on prosecution, it helps to minimise the wrongful convictions by police. It also de notes the severity of criminal convictions and thereby increases the moral convictions among the police. Thus, under English law, the prosecution is responsible for any of defences put forth by an accused like alibi, provocation, self-defence or duress. In Ashley v Chief Constable of Sussex Police,10 in criminal proceedings, the onus of negativing self-defence lies upon the prosec

Develop finance Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Develop finance - Assignment Example b) On what basis do McKinnon and Shaw argue for financial liberalisation? Answer: McKinnon and Shaw were of the opinion that ceilings in interest rates, requirements of high reserve and restriction on allocation of credit can be accounted for the poor performance of investment mechanism. The work of the researchers is based on the role of the liberalized rates of interest on mobilization of savings as well as distribution of funds to investments that are high in earning. They indicated the role of the financial sector in order to increase the volume of savings. c) What imperfections in financial markets were disregarded by the McKinnon-Shaw style models and with what result? Answer: The hypothesis of Shaw and McKinnon is of the opinion that savings can be chocked by financial repression. They opined that only financial liberalization can lead to higher savings as well as investment which are the step to achieve accelerated growth. The hypothesis has failed to settle the debates on fi nancial liberalization. The process of financial liberalization is not at all smooth and continuous. Exogenous shocks can be held responsible for liberalization reversals in the developing countries. It is difficult to take the costs and benefits of financial liberalization into account. ... The net earnings of a country are recorded in the current account while the net change in the ownership is recorded in the capital account. The former is the sum total of balance of trade, cash transfers as well as factor incomes. The later consists of reserve account as well as the loans and investments between the country and the globe. There are mainly three types of financial capital namely equity capital, debt capital and specialty capital. The debt form of capital is injected into a business knowing that the capital must be returned back at a future date that is predetermined. The equity form of capital is the cash written by the holders of shares as well as the owners of the business into the organization that has no offsetting liabilities. The last from of capital is gold standard. It is among the few sources of capital that have almost zero economic cost. b) What are the dangers associated with international debt flows? Answer: The dangers of international debt flows are dan gers in credit rating, bankruptcy danger, judgments, loans and late payments. The credit rating is negatively affected by debts. Bankruptcy can also be thought of as one of the dangers of debt. When the debt level reaches at such a height that is infeasible to pay, bankruptcy acts as the option. But it will be unfair to think bankruptcy as debt free card. A situation of bankruptcy can also negative effects on the credit report and can also affect the availability of credit in future. A high level of debt can result in multiple late payments if the available resources are not able to cover up the payments. c) Have developing countries benefited from FDI? Answer: FDI plays a more significant role in the developing countries than in the developed countries.

Chain mgmt Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Chain mgmt - Assignment Example Current research concentrates on the implementation and development of performance measurement systems in supply chains. Chan, (2008) asserts that maintenance of performance management systems in supply chains need to be organized, efficient and methodical in â€Å"monitoring supply chain performance† (p.539). The main components of supply chains revolve around â€Å"six core processes (supplier, inbound logistics, manufacturing, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, end customers) and present input, output and composite measures for each†(Fynes, de Burca & Voss, 2005,p.3306). Performance measurement systems in supply chains has been proven to be effective in catering the needs of the customer and for this purpose, methods of performance measurement systems such as balance scorecard, performance questionnaires, performance matrix, are being used. Tenet Healthcare cooperation can adopt performance measurement systems in their supply chains and focusing on meeting the needs and requirements of the clients. This would assist the company to maintain the â€Å"competitive edge in order to enhance all activities associated with the flow and transformation of goods from the raw material stage through to the end user† (Chan, 2008, p.540).

Tikal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Tikal - Essay Example The temple pyramids were made of limestone blocks and lorded over other surrounding structures. Lattice of stone were also added in Maya roof comb to make it as a grand-looking edifice. Architects considered the Maya site in Tikal of Guatemala as the most extraordinary construction of buildings as a work of art. The site is imposed with temples of the Giant Jaguar (ca. A.D. 700), Masks (ca. A.D. 699), and the North Acropolis (Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2010a). It was believed that at the core of the Giant Jaguar temple is a high priest’s tomb with hundreds of vases and jade as offerings. A quiet sanctuary was also built intended for worshipper at the top of the nine-tiered pyramid (Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2010a; Totten, 1926). The rooms in these temples are accordingly narrow and design for ritual or ceremonial activities only. Some perceived that the design and alignment of these rooms are significant and imply a certain value to the inhabitants. Other eye-catching structures in the city are palaces in single-storey platforms with several rooms and with interior courtyards (Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2010b). The nunnery in Uxmal also looked like a palace (Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2010b). Rulers, elites and the noble families are presumed by archaeologists to have occupied these structures and those cell-like rooms in some structures were probably rooms of religious leaders in their communities e.g. priests, monks, and nuns (Ching, Jarzombek, & Prakash, 2011). They also had this structure known as Temple of the Sun at the Palenque and some sturdy edifice of a Great Gate at Labna (Ching, Jarzombek, & Prakash, 2011). This form of Architecture is considered quite expressive of sophisticated decoration of arts, carvings, and wall paintings of ancient symbols (Ching, Jarzombek, & Prakash, 2011). Those building are interconnected by roads made of stones, also known as causeways. Although experts criticized that Maya city was

Forward Contracts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Forward Contracts - Essay Example Although these simple arrangements can easily mitigate foreign exchange rate risks, there are several advantages and disadvantages of using them to hedge foreign exchange risks (Feng, 2007). The first advantage of using forward contracts to hedge foreign exchange risks is that future rates can be fixed in advance. This therefore eliminates the downside risk exposure. Secondly, forward contracts are more flexible with respect to the amount of money to be covered. Thirdly, forward contracts are relatively simple and straightforward to both comprehend and organize (Feng, 2007). On the other hand options allow the contracting party to settle forward contracts at an agreed and fixed exchange rate, but at any time between two specific dates. This means that option-date forward exchange contracts can be settled at the agreed rate if currency cash-flows occur between the two set dates (Meera, 2009). Although forward exchange contracts are simple agreements that can mitigate exchange rate risks, they have some shortcomings. In particular, it may be difficult to get a counter party who will agree to fix future exchange rates for the time period as well as the amount in question. Secondly, forward contracts do not provide an opportunity for the parties to benefit from favorable fluctuations in the exchange rates. Thirdly, forward markets only exist for major world trading currencies such as the Dollar, Euro, Pound or Yen, but they do not exist for exotic currencies (Doupnik & Perera, 2007). The main disadvantage with options is that the issuer of the option receives the fees upon the specified date and is obligated to buy the securities at the other party’s option. Additionally, options are subject to basis risks and only provide a partial hedge (Meera,

Nursing Concept Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Nursing Concept Analysis - Essay Example It is concerned with promoting, maintaining, and restoring health. Nurses are committed to the goal of promoting an optimal level of functioning for all individuals, families and groups, thereby contributing to the health of the nation. It determines health status of individuals, families, and populations and makes clinical decisions regarding the appropriate action to be taken. It is important that the nurse maintains the positions that aging is normal and is not related to disease. Age is a date in time and is influenced by many factors, including emotional and physical health, development stage, socioeconomic status, culture, and ethnicity. Ageism is a negative attitude based on age. It leads to discrimination in the care given to the older adults. The nurse who demonstrates negative attitudes may fear of his own aging process or be misinformed about aging and the health care need of the older adults. The care of the aged is provided mostly in institution. Care for an individual adult is delivered in a variety of quite different settings (e.g. privately run nursing home or government institution). The care of the aged is called clinical gerontology or geriatrics .Besides the needs and problems concerned with the psychology and physiology of aging the social aspect of aging a great challenge to the caring profession especially the nurse. Back This paper was done to explore the relationship between the dependency levels of older people who are part of the community nurse's caseload and the volume and nature of nursing input required. Background. Healthcare policy has consistently emphasized the reorientation of health services from hospital to community care. It is necessary to determine ways to use nursing resources appropriately to meet service needs of an increasing older population There are various approaches to address caring for the older adults. These are: 1) Family and welfare approach: Many of the aged are reluctant to go to institutions for the care of the aged. Thus family care is encouraged. 2) Medical approach: Many hospitals are now having special units for the care of the aged both in-patient and out-patient departments where health promotional and specific Nursing Concept Analysis 3 preventive measures such as health examination for early diagnosis and treatment are provided. 3) Community approach: The elders are encouraged to participate in activities that are beneficial to health and to avoid those that are injurious. These approaches would enhance trust of older adults to their environment especially to the nursing care involved. Dignity may be defined as a concept that relates to basic humanity. Dignity consists of inherent and external dimensions, which are common for all humans and at the same time are unique for each person, relating to social and cultural aspects. The attributes of preserving dignity are individualized care, control restored, respect, advocacy and sensitive listening. Method: In order to establish an appropriate nursing care for older adults, a quantitative study was conducted using the "Community Client Need Classification System". The community nursing team recorded the amount of care time spent with each individual client for over a 4-week period. Findings: They were assessed in low and high

Social Cognitive Theories Essay Example for Free

Social Cognitive Theories Essay SOCIAL COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORIES Social Cognitive views have been influenced by the humanist idea of uniqueness of human beings, that human beings are decision makers, planners and evaluators of behavior. Key Concepts: Social cognitive learning theorists emphasize the importance of both the influences of other people’s behavior and of a person’s own expectancies on learning, and also that observational learning, modeling can lead to the formation of patterns of personality. Thought and behavior are closely interlined with the situation the person is in Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory: Introduction: Albert Bandura a modern theorist helped reshape the theoretical landscape of behaviorism. Bandura believes that three factors influence one another in determint of behavior: the environment, the behavior itself and personal or cognitive factors that the person brings into situation from earlier experience. Key Terms: 1. Cognitive Processes and Reciprocal Determinism 2. Observational Learning 3. Self Regulation 4. Self Efficacy Cognitive Processes and Reciprocal Determinism: Bandura and like-minded theorists call their modified brand of behaviorism social learning theory or social cognitive theory. Bandura (1982-1986) agrees with the fundamental thrust of behaviorism in that he believes that personality is largely shaped through learning. However, he contends that conditioning is not a mechanical process in which people are passive participants. Instead, he maintains that â€Å"people are self-organizing, proactive, self-reflecting and self-regulating, not just reactive organisms shaped and shepherded by external events†. Bandura advocates a position called reciprocal determinism. According to this notion, the environment does determine behavior (as skinner would argue). However, behavior also determines the environment (in other words, people can act to alter their environment). Moreover, personal factors (cognitive structures such as beliefs and expectancies) determine and are determined by both behavior and the environment. Thus, reciprocal determinism is the idea that internal mental events, external environmental events, and over behavior all influence one another. According to Bandura, humans are neither masters of their own destiny nor hapless victims buffered about by the environment. Instead, the truth lies somewhere between these two extremes. ENVIRONMENT BEHAVIOR PERSONAL / COGNITIVE FACTORS (EXPECTATIONS, BELIEFS, SELF-EFFICACY BANDURA’S RECEIPROCAL DETERMINISM Observational Learning: Bandura’s foremost theoretical contribution has been his description of observational learning. Observational learning occurs when an organism’s responding is influenced by the observation of others, who are called models. According to Bandura, both classical and operant conditioning can occur vicariously when one person observes another’s conditioning. For example, watching your sister get burned by a bounced check upon selling her old stereo could strengthen your tendency to be suspicious of others. Although your sister would be the one actually experiencing the negative consequences, they might also influence you – through observational learning. Bandura maintains that people’s characteristic patterns of behavior are shaped by the models that they are exposed to. He isn’t referring to the fashion models who dominate the mass media – although they do qualify. In observational learning, a model is a person whose behavior is observed by another. At one time or another, everyone serve as a model for others. As social learning theory has been refined, it has become apparent that some models are more influential than others. Both children and adults tend to imitate people they like or respect more than people they don’t. People are also especially prone to imitate the behavior of people whom they consider attractive or powerful. Self-regulation: Bandura notes, human beings often demonstrate an impressive capacity for the self-regulation of their own behavior. While people may often respond to external factors such as positive reinforcement and punishment, they sometimes choose to ignore these and to operate in terms of internal standards and values. We set our own goals, and we often provide our own rewards when we reach them – a process Bandura describes as self-reinforcement. Self-Efficacy: Bandura discusses how a variety of personal factors (aspects of personality) govern behavior. In recent years, the factor he has emphasized most is self-efficacy. Self-efficacy refers to one’s belief about one’s ability to perform behaviors that should lead to expected outcomes. When self-efficacy is high, individuals feel confident that they can execute the responses necessary to earn reinforcers. When self-efficacy is low, individuals worry that the necessary responses may be beyond their abilities. Perceptions of self-efficacy are subjective and specific to certain kinds of tasks. For instance, you might feel extremely confident about your ability to handle difficult social situations but doubtful about your ability to handle academic challenges. Perceptions of self-efficacy can influence which challenges people tackle and how well they perform. Studies have found that feelings of greater self-efficacy are associated with greater success in giving up smoking; greater adherence to an exercise regimen; more success in coping with pain; greater persistence and effort in academic pursuits; higher levels of academic performance; enhanced performance in athletic competition; greater receptiveness to technological training and higher work-related performance, among many other things. What are the developmental antecedent of high self-efficacy? Schneewind asserts that parents can foster self-efficacy by providing a stimulating environment and by being responsive to their children’s behavior. An emphasis on warm support for children, early independence training, and non-punitive disciplinary techniques is also helpful. In contrast, parents who are authoritarian, intrusive, overprotective, or neglectful are likely to undermine self-efficacy in their offspring. Julian Rotter’s Social Learning Theory: Introduction: Rotter suggested that the likelihood of a given behavior occurring in a specific situation depends on the individuals expectancies concerning the outcomes the behavior will produce and the reinforcement value they attach to such outcomes – the degree to which the prefer one reinforcement to another. Key Terms: 1. Expectancies 2. Locus of Control Rotter developed his Social Learning Theory to incorporate cognitive factors. Rotter recognized that most the reinforcers we strive to obtain one social (e.g. Hugs, attention and that most learning occurs in social situation) Expectancies: The concept of expectancy is one of the most important elements of Rotter’s theory. When you take an exam apply for a job or ask for a date, you have some notion of the likelihood of success or failure. What you expect to happen has a powerful influence on your behavior, thought, feelings and in turn personality. Locus of Control: Locus of control involves the extent to which individuals believe that they or that external factors control their lives. Rotter focused on whether people place their locus of control inside themselves (internal) or in their environments (external). Locus of control influences how people view the world and how they identify the causes of success or failure in their lives. In an important way, people’s locus of control reflects their personality – their view of, and reactions to, the world. People with an external locus of control believe that they have little control over their lives. A college student may attribute his or her poor grade to a lousy teacher, feeling there was nothing he or she could have done to get an A. In contrast, individuals who develop an internal locus of control feel that they can master any course they take because they believe that through hard work they can do well in any subject. People develop expectations based on their beliefs about the sources of reinforcement in their environments. These expectations lead to specific behaviors described as personality. Reinforcement of these behaviors in turn strengthens expectancy and leads to increased belief in internal or external control.

Belgium Chocolate Industry Essay Example for Free

Belgium Chocolate Industry Essay First introduction is when Spanish conquistadors met Azctec king. 1585 first recorded shipment from veracruz to Sevilla, Spain and spread to Europe from there. The first recorded shipment of chocolate to Europe for commercial purposes was in a shipment from Veracruz to Sevilla in 1585. [17] It was still served as a beverage, but the Europeans added cane sugar to counteract the natural bitterness and removed the chili pepper while retaining the vanilla, in addition they added cinnamon as well as other spices. In Spain, it quickly became a court favorite. In a century it had spread and become popular throughout the European continent. [26] To keep up with the high demand for this new drink, Spanish armies began enslaving Mesoamericans to produce cacao. [27] Even with cacao harvesting becoming a regular business, only royalty and the well-connected could afford to drink this expensive import. [28] Before long, the Spanish began growing cacao beans on plantations, and using an African workforce to help manage them. [29] The situation was different in England. Put simply, anyone with money could buy it. [30] The first chocolate house opened in London in 1657. 30] In 1689, noted physician and collector Hans Sloane developed a milk chocolate drink in Jamaica which was initially used by apothecaries, but later sold to the Cadbury brothers in 189715] For hundreds of years, the chocolate-making process remained unchanged. When the Industrial Revolution arrived, many changes occurred that brought about the food today in its modern form. A Dutch familys (van Houten) inventions made mass production of shiny, tasty chocolate bars and related products possible. In the 18th century, mechanical mills were created that squeezed out cocoa butter, which in turn helped to create hard, durable chocolate. 32] But, it was not until the arrival of the Industrial Revolution that these mills were put to bigger use. Not long after the revolution cooled down, companies began advertising this new invention to sell many of the chocolate treats we see today. [33] When new machines were produced, people began experiencing and consuming chocolate worldwide. [34] At the end of the 18th century, the first form of solid chocolate was invented in Turin by Doret. This chocolate was sold in large quantities from 1826 by Pierre Paul Caffarel in Italy. In 1819, F. L. Cailler opened the first Swiss chocolate factory. In 828, Dutchman Coenraad Johannes van Houten patented a method for extracting the fat from cocoa beans and making powdered cocoa and cocoa butter. Van Houten also developed the so-called Dutch process of treating chocolate with alkali to remove the bitter taste. This made it possible to form the modern chocolate bar. The German company Jordan Timaeus sold the first known chocolate bar made from cocoa, sugar and goats milk in 1839. [35] In England, the company,J. S. Fry Sons discovered a way to mix some of the cocoa butter back into the Dutched chocolate, and added sugar, creating a paste that could be moulded. This led to the first British chocolate bar in 1847, followed in 1849 by the Cadbury brothers. Wikipedia In most cases, the answer will be: chocolate – surprisingly or not. But when and how did Belgium become synonymous for top-quality chocolate? The history of Belgian chocolate reaches back as far as the 17th century, when the country was ruled by the Spanish, whose explorers had brought cocoa back from South America. At the time, cocoa was enjoyed as a luxury drink for the royals, nobility and artists who visited the royal courts in Brussels. Interestingly, the story of Swiss chocolate can also be traced back to Brussels. In the late 17th century, Henri Escher, the mayor of Zurich, visited Brussels and fell in love with the cocoa drinks he was served. He was so over the moon that he introduced the idea to Switzerland. Three centuries later, Switzerland remains Belgium’s main competitor when it comes to chocolate. In the centuries that followed, chocolate became increasingly popular amongst a wide public, but it took until the second half of the 19th century for Belgium to truly indulge in its passion for chocolate. Under the rule of King Leopold II, Belgium colonised Congo, where it found its own unlimited cocoa supply. This put Belgium right at the heart of the cocoa trade. Back in Belgium, in 1857, Jean Neuhaus (funnily enough of Swiss origin) had opened a pharmaceutical sweets shop in Brussels, where he also sold bars of bitter chocolate. The first chocolate shop was born. Some 60 years later, it was Neuhaus’ grandson who invented the praline when creating an empty chocolate shell with a sweet filling. So, what makes Belgian chocolate so special, so very delicious and in a league of its own? The secret is two-fold: ingredients and process. Of course, the origin and orientation of the cacao plantation, as well as the roasting of the beans all help to determine the flavour. But the main reason for the pure and full cocoa flavour is the fact that no vegetable shortening is used. Belgian chocolate traditionally mixes cocoa paste, sugar and cocoa butter in varying proportions. Dark Belgian chocolate uses the most cocoa; milk chocolate mixes in milk; and white chocolate is made be extracting only the butter from the cocoa. On the other hand, there is the process, which to date is steeped in tradition and craftsmanship, and still holds a hint of secrecy.

Strategies to Produce Thermonuclear Plasmas

Strategies to Produce Thermonuclear Plasmas Elrica Degirmen What is the Joint European Torus and how does it work? The Joint European Torus, or JET, is a physics facility located in the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire. Plasma physicists and engineers there are producing thermonuclear plasmas under magnetic confinement in order to show that fusion energy is a reliable source of energy in the future. It is very difficult to do on earth as in order for nuclear fusion to happen temperatures millions of degrees above the core of the Sun must be achieved as it is impossible to gravitationally confine the plasma (CEA, 2001) which is the way it happens in stars. A plasma is defined as a quasi-neutral ionised gas, and because it is charged, it can be manipulated by electric and magnetic fields (Suplee, 2009). The History of the Joint European Torus JET’s history started in 1970 when the Council of the European Community decided to embark on a fusion research programme and build a European fusion device. After three years in 1973, the designs of JET were being drawn up and in 1977 the Culham site was chosen to build JET and construction work began. It then started operation in 1983 (United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, 2012). The 9th of November 1991 is a particularly important date in the history of nuclear fusion as this was when the Preliminary Tritium Experiment â€Å"achieved the world’s first controlled release of fusion power† (ITER Organization, 2014). What is nuclear fusion? Nuclear fusion is what powers the sun and it involves two nuclei fusing together under extreme temperatures and pressures. When this reaction occurs, energy is released from Einstein’s energy-mass equivalence equation This is because the sum of the masses of the individual nucleons before fusing is greater than the sum of the masses of the nuclei when they have fused. This leads to a mass defect and due to the conservation of energy; a loss in mass is compensated through the release of energy. With regards to nuclear fusion, a lot of energy is released, especially when compared with nuclear fission. We can compare the energy outputs of both nuclear processes through the concept of binding energy. Binding energy is the amount of energy needed to either remove each nucleon from each other within the nucleus or the energy needed to fuse the same number of nucleons to form the nucleus of an atom. Looking at the binding energy per nucleon for the elements, we can see which are the most stable elements (they have the highest binding energy per nucleon) and see which processes (fission or fusion) releases the most energy. It should be noted that the mechanism for nuclear fusion in stars is different compared to achieving nuclear fusion on earth. In stars, the hydrogen atoms are fused together due to the extreme pressures as there is such a large quantity of stellar material. An example of one of the main nuclear cycles that take place in stars is the Proton-Proton Chain which happens in stars with the same mass as our Sun or less (The University of Tennessee). The main reaction is the first step where it converts hydrogen and deuterium into helium and emits a gamma ray as follows: (Case Western Reserve University) These pressures, as well as the high temperatures, and the effects of gravitational confinement means that the hydrogen atoms, which would normally repel one another due to their positive charges at the centres of their nuclei, are able to overcome the Coulomb barrier, and therefore the strong force is able to attract these nuclei together releasing vast amounts of energy and producing helium in the first place. The Coulomb barrier is the energy that is needed for the electrical repulsion to be overcome in order for the strong nuclear force to take place in order for the nuclei to fuse together (HyperPhysics). Here on earth, it is impossible to gravitationally confine large amounts of plasma, therefore physicists have developed two main methods for achieving nuclear fusion (for the purposes of civilian energy): inertial confinement and magnetic confinement (CEA, 2001). Another facility, the National Ignition Facility in Livermore, California uses inertial confinement and this involves the use of lasers. However, JET is concerned with magnetic confinement and, as the name suggests, it involves magnets with a reactor shaped as a torus or as a hollow doughnut. The Russian physicist Andrei Sakharov first came up with the idea of a tokamak as it was considered the most optimal shape to successfully confine a plasma using magnetic fields. In terms of magnetic confinement, for nuclear fusion to occur (this is called ignition); three main properties of the plasma must fulfil certain conditions. This is named the Lawson criterion after it was first proposed by John D. Lawson in 1955. The Lawson criterion states that the â€Å"triple product† of plasma density, confinement time, and the plasma temperature must fulfil this equation for a deuterium-tritium reaction: (Irvine, 2011) Where is the plasma density, is the plasma temperature and is the confinement time. Although a lot of energy is needed to overcome the Coulomb barrier and initiate the fusion process, the large energy yield is the reason why research at JET and at other institutes is still ongoing (HyperPhysics). The most common fusion reaction to be studied nowadays and the one that physicists at JET are looking into particularly is the deuterium-tritium, or D-T, reaction. Deuterium and tritium are isotopes of hydrogen. It is as follows: (HyperPhysics) Plasma heating Within the tokamak, the plasma current is induced by a transformer. The central iron transformer core acts as the primary winding, and this is situated in the hole of the tokamak reactor, and the plasma acts as the secondary winding. The plasma can act as a secondary winding because it is electrically-charged and therefore acts as a conductor. The alternating current that is supplied to the central magnetic coil induces a changing magnetic field and this is used to control the plasma. This produces a heating effect called Ohmic heating. Thus induced current causes heating which also happens in conventional transformers as well. Neutral-beam injection involves the introducing high-energy atoms into the magnetically-confined plasma when it is already ohmically heated. These atoms are ionised as they pass through the plasma and therefore are also controlled by the magnetic field present. They then become high-energy ions and as a result, they transfer some of their energy to the plasma particles in repeated collisions. This increase in the number of collisions increases the average translational kinetic energy associated with these ions and thus increases the temperature of the plasma overall. Furthermore, radio frequency heating is also used to heat the plasma. This is generated through induction high-frequency oscillating currents in the plasma by external coils. There are parts of the plasma where the energy absorption is high and the frequencies are chosen to match the frequencies of these regions. This is called resonance and it allows large amounts of power to be transferred to the plasma. All of these ways of heating the plasma are important as not one single method can produce the necessary temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius (United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, 2012), which is required in magnetic confinement (United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, 2012). Confining the plasma The main purpose of the tokamak in JET is to magnetically confine the plasma with the help of the device called a â€Å"tokamak† which is a Russian acronym for a torus-shaped magnetic chamber (European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy (Fusion for Energy), 2013). In order to successfully confine the plasma, the magnetic field lines must move around the torus in a helical shape generated by toroidal and poloidal fields. The diagram above is useful in explaining two key concepts in plasma physics: the toroidal field and the poloidal field. The toroidal field is represented by the blue line and it is the magnetic field that travels around the torus in circles. The poloidal field is represented by the red arrow and it travels in circles perpendicular to the toroidal field. Both of these fields differ in the way they are produced as well in their direction of travel. The toroidal field is produced by electromagnets which surround the torus, and the poloidal field is generated as a result of the toroidal electric current that follows inside the plasma with the help of a second set of electromagnets (Wikipedia, 2014). Energy production At the moment, JET can only produce around 70% of the power needed to heat the plasma in the first place (Mlynà ¡Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â€ž ¢, 2007). However, a new tokamak called ITER is being built in Cadarache and developed in order to develop the technologies and obtain the knowledge necessary to built fusion power stations capable of producing more energy out than in (European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy (Fusion for Energy), 2013). Energy production from fusion is a promising idea as a fusion reaction, in comparison to the combustion of fossil fuels, is four times more energetic, thus more energy can be produced from very small quantities of deuterium and tritium (ITER Organization, 2014). In practical terms, in order to produce 1000MW of electricity, 2.4 million tonnes of coal would be needed each year for a coal-fired power station, however only 125kg each of deuterium and tritium per year would be needed to produce the same amount of energy (ITER Organization, 2014). The future From the research conducted at JET, it was apparent to physicists that a bigger tokamak must be built in order to break-even and hopefully obtain a greater energy output than input. To reiterate, this tokamak is known as ITER and is currently built in the south of France. Even then, ITER is not being built specifically for energy production and it is only until DEMO will be built that it can be demonstrated to the world that it is possible to harness the power of nuclear fusion on energy. DEMO is expected to be running sometime during the 2030s and an actual fusion power plant to be running by 2050 (EFDA, 2014). However, due to inevitable geopolitical issues and financial constraints, there is every possibility that these dates may be pushed forward into the future. Even so it was in 1905 when Einstein first formulated the mass-energy equivalence relation, it was in 1920 when Eddington first discovered how stars produced energy, it was in 1927 when Langmuir gave â€Å"plasma† its name and thus plasma physics was born (Mlynà ¡Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â€ž ¢, 2007); and there have been many other milestones within plasma physics since then that even if the dates fusion civilian energy is pushed forward by a couple of decades or more it will not mean anything in the long term as man will finally be able to â€Å"learn how to release it and use it for his service† as Eddington said. Irrespective of when the production of fusion energy will occur, JET will have been a cornerstone in the history of fusion energy and plasma physics as experiments at JET have made us closer and closer to ignition. 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