Personal Insight Paper-Group Dynamics -- essays research papers

The Keirsey Temperment Sorter II results imply that I am an ESTJ (Supervisor) and the Strengths Finder Profile results suggest that my five top strengths are ideation, maximizer, input, arranger and command. In the following paragraphs I will identify what I do and how I integrate these strengths in relation to my job, which is administrative specialist for the fundraising division of a not for profit organization called Springfield ARC, better known as Sparc. I will limit descriptions of job related tasks for the sake of brevity. I am responsible for organizing, providing information and taking minutes for three committees throughout the year. These meetings are sometimes combined and sometimes held separately, depending on the time frame of the next fundraiser. I am responsible for all databases, correspondence and communications before and after an event. I am involved in acquiring volunteers, sponsors, advertisers and contributions of various kinds. I am required to delegate tasks to other staff. In this aspect, the command kicks in because I succinctly state what has to be done and why. If these requests are not carried out, I tend to become aggressive in accomplishing these goals. I have been told that one of my best attributes is the ability to call it like I see it. I am told that I am consistent in my gut feelings about an idea in a meeting or the ability of a committee member or staff to perform a task. To this end, my ability to perceive people and ideas out of ...

Analyzing John Lennon’s “Imagine”

We’re All Dreamers Imagination comes about in dreams and requires the willpower to make them real. In the song, â€Å"Imagine,† John Lennon somewhat instigates everyone to visualize his vision of his imagination. Throughout the song he states how different the world would be, in lack of killing, material possessions, greed, hunger, etc. , thus leading us to virtually, an unrealistic, but ideal world. The word imagine, just that one word, can lead the complex mind to many notions. â€Å"What he left behind was the utopian imagination we all share that still exists in a million brains refusing to be silenced. (â€Å"World Socialist Movement†) â€Å"Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try, no hell below us, above us only sky, imagine all the people living for today†¦ † The first verse of this song, â€Å"imagine there's no heaven,† is already thought provoking enough. I think what he is trying to get across is the world would be a much be tter place without religion. The reason why he states, â€Å"it’s easy if you try† is because the world is horrific and brutal and it’s not hard imagining the world without a heaven.Lennon once stated, If you can imagine a world at peace, with no denominations of religion—not without religion but without this my God-is-bigger-than-your-God thing—then it can be true †¦ the World Church called me once and asked, â€Å"Can we use the lyrics to ‘Imagine' and just change it to ‘Imagine one religion? † That showed [me] they didn't understand it at all. It would defeat the whole purpose of the song, the whole idea. Lennon caused much conflict just within the first 15 seconds of the song, considering religion is quite a touchy subject among many people. I can positively see why this song triggered so much controversy. Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too. Imagine all the people living life in peace†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Here again Lennon speaks upon religion. â€Å"The true inspiration for writing lyrics that captured that message of tranquility and harmony came to Lennon after he read â€Å"Grapefruit†; an inscription by his Japanese spouse Yoko Ono in which she speaks of the childhood experiences she had to live through during the course of the Second World War in her homeland of Japan. † (â€Å"Writing A Writing†) Ono’s book â€Å"Grapefruit† contains an array of poems, which I found very similar to the song â€Å"Imagine†.I think Lennon wrote that lyric, â€Å"imagine there’s no countries†¦Ã¢â‚¬  to state how he felt about war and religion. Without violence, the world would be uniformed. Within every verse Lennon shows how much potential humanity has. The chorus of the song contains a lyric so relatable to almost everyone. â€Å"You, you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope some day you'll join us, and the world will be as one. † For the most part, everyone has imagined changing something or someone to resemble what they imagine flawless.Lennon’s dreams concern humankind and world peace ultimately. â€Å"Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can, No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing all the world†¦ † The first line of this section of this song is what really stuck out to me. Possessions mean everything to a large majority of people nowadays. For example, most people want the biggest and the best of everything. If there a new phone, TV, or car out, everyone needs to have it and sometimes the material possessions mean more to the person more than their own family.Another obstacle that keeps people at a distance is their lack of ability to see everyone as equals, but, if we somehow found a way to cut out our greed, possessions, and our pride we could create a world of equals. This song is ultimately the voice of optimism and more so hope for mankind and humanity. It is an example of what the future can be, if we, as the people can accomplish. Lennon wanted to show what we were doing to ourselves and that with perseverance and determination we could mold the world and all nations into something we could be proud of.World peace is the crucial fixation Lennon is trying to get across during the whole song. â€Å"You, you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one. † That’s what Lennon is ultimately trying to get across. Don’t be afraid to dream and make a difference. Works Cited â€Å"‘Imagine’ by John Lennon. † World Socialist Movement. World Socialist Movement, 13 Aug 2006. Web. 31 Jan 2013. â€Å"Why Did John Lennon Write Imagine. † Writing A Writing. N. p. , 29 Sep 2010. Web. 28 Jan 2013. John Lennon. â€Å"Imagine. † Imagine. Mp3. EMI Records Ltd. 1971. Elryics. net. 2 Feb 2013.

Identity And Female Power In The Handmaids Tale - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 10 Words: 2893 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2019/10/31 Category Literature Essay Level High school Topics: The Handmaid's Tale Essay Did you like this example? Television has played an integral role in globalizing the world and shaping the thoughts, ideas and perspectives of the people in it. Many argue that television generalizes women in a sexualized and objectified way, portraying them as subordinate humans that are dependent on men, all while being sexualized and stereotyped to unrealistic standards of character and body type. Television often objectifies women as mindless and incompetent in comparison to men in television. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Identity And Female Power In The Handmaids Tale" essay for you Create order While television has developed and created more roles where women are seen as powerful and impactful, there are still times where women are characterized in a stereotypical manner. The TV series The Handmaids Tale is a unique case because it creates a world where women appear to be victims to the dystopic world they live in, while at the same time holding a great deal of power over men and the society. It is a story about the ways in which women are oppressed in a society run by men for their own benefit, and about howcertain womentake advantage of the situation to ally themselves with male power for personal gain (Schwartz, 2017). Now, imagine a world where all women have no rights, and are, in a sense, slaves to the high-powered men in charge of the government. A society where a womans place is cemented in whether or not she can bear a child. Women who can have a child become surrogates for the wealthy and powerful families who cant. The Handmaids Tale is a Hulu original television series based off of the 1985 best-selling novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood. The dystopian science fiction series creates an alternate reality set in the future where women are stripped of their rights and turned into servants of society. Men are superior to women, and the regime kills gay people, abortionists, and anyone who protests their version of what society should look like. Due to the new laws created by the Sons of Jacob, women are supposed to stand by the side of their husbands. Set in a dystopic society referred to as the Gilead Regime, the show is centered around main character Offred. Offred, formerly known as June, is separated from her husband and daughter, and later becomes a handmaiden to the very powerful Commander Waterford and his wife Serena Joy. She is now subjected to life as a handmaiden because she is one of the few fertile women left in society. Each month, Offred partakes in a monthly ceremony where The Commander rapes her while his wife watches on, in an attempt to get her pregnant. Offred becomes the centerpiece in the rebellion against the regime, taking on the powerful men who rule in Gilead. Offred is a symbol of female power as she fights against the world thats been created for her. Through all she experiences, Offred never loses sight of her past, holding onto her old identity which helps shape her into the powerful female character she becomes. The Handmaids Tale is a vivid expression of female power and identity and how it can contribute to the shape and construct of society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout the show, the audience sees Offred trying to maintain her old identity while keeping up her with her new identity and new life. Before she was Offred, she was June Osbourne. June was a mother, a wife, and an employed woman who had an independent life and created a merit of her own in society. In season one episode three, in the episode titled Late, all of the women in Junes office are fired, and later in the day June is informed that she no longer has access to her bank account because it is now controlled by her husband. As the women are all leaving their office having just been fired, they see guards with guns at the door and lining the streets. This signified the beginning of the uprising and the start of the new regime. Throughout the series, the show rewinds to times in Junes life between her being fired and becoming Offred. Offred doesnt want to forget her old life, as she had a husband and a child. Now, in her new role as handmaid, she m ust bear the child of the powerful Commander Waterford. The Gilead regime creates an identity for the handmaids, taking away who they once were and creating them into someone different. Offred tries to hold on to her memories of who she once was, including her husband and child, but her memories fade as the regime pushes her further and further away from her past identity. The handmaids lack of connection with others in the outside world creates another part of their lacking identity, because the only people they really spend a lot of time with are the families they are assigned to be a part of. Offreds lack of satisfying social interaction impedes her development of her sense of self in the regime. Offred also fails to maintain her identityto structure a sense of self, to connect with others, and to actbecause in Gilead even apparent forms of resistance or attempts to create, maintain or grasp an identity frequently turn into complicity with the regime. (Stillman Johnson, pg. 75) Handmaids are forced to not have an identity besides the one created for them because the only identity that matters is the one created by the regime. Any attempt to connect with who they once were or try to develop an identity outside the lines, is seen as a resistance to the regime and a rebellion against it. Within this vortex of fear and vulnerability, this contrast of blank time and intense interactions with powerful, inscrutable individuals, the Handmaid ultimately fails to maintain her identity. (Stillman Johnson, 1994, p. 74) Offred is able to use her old identity to help shape her new identity. She takes aspects from her past life to help her develop into her new role as a handmaid. While holding onto pieces of the past, she must fully become Offred in order to stay alive. When June is captured while trying to flee to Canada, she becomes a handmaid and is given her new name; Offred. Offred is the name she is given by the family she is assigned to. It means Of-Fred, Fred being the name of Commander Waterford. Each handmaid is given a name like this, others including Ofglen and Ofwarren. Their new names signify who they belong to, meaning Offred belongs to Fred, and Ofglen belongs to Glen, and so on. This parallels to slavery in the 1800s, where slaves were given names that turned them into property. Many aspects of Offreds life are clear parallels to the enslavement of African Americans. She required a special pass or permission to leave the house, she was forbidden from reading or learning, and she is repeatedly raped by her Commander in order to conceive a child for him. Offred endures domestic slavery and forced sex?†?hardships that are strikingly similar to those experienced by non-white women in much higher numbers throughout history, and in various parts of the world still today (Cottle, 2017). Her identity in the show is based around what she is or isnt allowed to do. In the series, the audience sees transitions between Offreds old life and her new life. Each episode of the show gives new information about who Offred used to be, and the audience is able to see how it shaped her into who she is now. This helps the audience continue to develop her identity as a character, and shows more of the theme of identity in the show. These shifting reminiscences offer glimpses of a life, though not ideal, still tilled with energy. creativity. humaneness and a sense of selfhood, a life that sharply contrasts with the alienation. slavery, and suffering under totalitarianism (Feuer, pg. 86) While the audience is seeing more and more of Offreds past life and learning more about her old identity, Offred is drifting further away from her old life and getting deeper into her new one. Offred s rebuilding of a self all but obliterated by the pain of her experience and the necessity of forgetting in order to survive. She must create. or recreate, herself after having been erased as a person (Feuer, pg. 90). Offreds transition into being a handmaid is more of a struggle for her because she had a life before becoming a handmaid. Future handmaids and members of the society will have an easier time transitioning into the roles they are set to be a part of, as they will not have any life outside of what the regime teaches them. By using parts of her past self as June in her development of her identity as Offred, she blends her two senses of self which lead to her growth and development as a powerful female character and a powerful female in within the Gilead regime. The Handmaids Tale is a strong representation of female power, feminism and sexuality. Offred is able to use her power as a woman and her sexuality to her advantage in her relationship with The Commander. Offred knows that she is a desirable woman. She knows and sees that The Commander is interested in a relationship with her outside of her being the familys handmaid. Offred was put into the handmaid role in the new society because she is able to have children. She knows that in the family dynamic, she holds a lot of power because she could potentially carry the child of The Commander that his wife, Serena Joy, so desperately wants. Offred is portrayed as a victim, but also someone who holds a great deal of power in her situation. The Commander frequently invites her into his study to play Scrabble, something he cant do with his wife. The Commander is interested in Offreds mind and her ability to play and compete with him in Scrabble. In Offreds past life, she was a well-educated wom an, so this part of her new life comes from what she was able to learn in the old society before it became the new society. Her power in this situation stems from her mind and she uses it to get gifts and favors from The Commander in exchange for her time with him. Offred later on has a private intimate relationship with The Commander, which breaks all of the laws put into place about handmaids and their relationships with their Commanders. Offred and The Commander are never supposed to be alone together, and they are only supposed to be intimate during the ceremony each month while the wives watch on. Offred knows that she is breaking the law, but she sees The Commander enjoys her company and uses it to her advantage to get information from him as well as special treatment, while showing how she uses her power as a female over a man. Commander Waterford is an example of a man who feels powerless to a womans power. The Commander repeatedly rapes Offred in the monthly conception ceremony, and uses Offreds daughter, who she thought was gone, as a bargaining chip in order to get what he wants. In spite of the multiple rapes and the lies that Waterford and the other men in Gilead use to maintain control over women, the most powerful weapon they have is turning the women against each other. When Commander Waterford finds out about the music box his wife gave to Offred as a gift, he realizes that Serena Joy and Offred are starting to form a relationship. In season two episode eight, in the episode titled Womens Work, the Commander beats Serena Joy in a show of dominance that also serves to humiliate her in front of Offred, who he forces to watch. He beats her because she went behind his back and did a favor for Offred. Commander Waterford feels threatened by the two womens developing friendship because he doesnt want th em to become close. The Commander fears that if Serena Joy and Offred become close, they will continue to go around him and do things to disobey him. Commander Waterford also fears their friendship because before Gilead, Serena Joy was an author who wrote a book titled A Womans Place. In a series of flashbacks, Serena Joy and Commander Waterford are shown as having a large role in the creation of Gilead. Serena Joy was once an impassioned woman with conservative views on womans rights, which she details in her book, saying that a womans duty in the world was to bear children and stand by their husbands side. Once Serena Joy realizes that her future child wont be protected under the new laws, she decides to fight back against the regime to try and get women the right to read the Bible, which she loses a finger for advocating for. This scene, which occurs in season two, episode thirteen titled The Word, Serena Joy finally transforms into a powerful character after being suppressed by her husband and society. While not obvious, the use of female sexuality is also prominent in The Handmaids Tale. Women are forced to dress very modestly, adorning long dresses with sleeves, meant to take any sexual appeal they have away from them. Women also must cover their heads in order to appear as invisible as possible. In Gilead, they get rid of anything that remotely represents anything sexual, including pornography and revealing clothing. The regime executes gays and lesbians, unless the women are fertile and can be used as handmaids. In Gilead, they also execute abortion doctors because Gileads rule is based on the Bible which outlines the womans place as a child bearer. Sexuality is meant to be concealed, but Offred is able to use hers when she is alone with Commander Waterford, as it gives her a small feeling of power over him. She also recognizes and acknowledges her enjoyment of her own small exercises of power, however ignoble: her slight power not only over the Commander, because he wants some thing from her, but over his wife, whom they are deceiving. She comes to understand that the Commander craves some unspoken forgiveness for the conditions of her life and that to bestow or to withhold forgiveness is a power as well as a temptation (Neuman, 863). This small power grab gives Offred the feeling of being in control in sexual situations with the Commander, as well as an unspoken feeling of power over Serena Joy, because she is the one who is sleeping with her husband and she is the object of the Commanders affection. The Handmaids Tale, in later episodes, brings into light the power of confidence and self-actualization. Gaining her confidence from her small acts of rebellion, Offred realizes that she must stand up for herself, for what she believes in, and for what she feels is right. Offred begins to support the secret female rights movement called Mayday, and starts searching for ways to escape Gilead with her daughter. Soon after, when all handmaids are ordered to stone Janine, formerly Ofwarren, to death, Offred refuses to do so despite what the consequences may be, which inspires the other handmaids not to stone Janine. These acts demonstrate that sensing the need of time, Offred turns out to be a brave female who knows how to get what is hers. On the other hand, Offred is not the only female character in the show that demonstrates power and strives to break the chains that Gilead has placed on them. In season one episode seven, titled The Other Side, through a series of flashbacks to Junes attempted escape and after her capture, the audience sees many details the life of Junes husband, Luke. In this episode, the audience is introduced to Zoe, who is an ex-Army doctor who is fleeing Gilead and helping others do so as well. Her brave personality is the opposite of what the Gilead regime would want her to be. Such portrayals of Offred and other strong women show that women have the power to fight back and speak for what they believe in. The Handmaids Tale creates a far-off, futuristic society where women are stripped of their rights and turned into child bearers. While the concept is dystopian, the themes of identity, sexuality, and female power are still visible, even in a society where women arent meant to have any of them. The show supports female empowerment and the strive for equality among genders, and how women in Gilead fight back against oppression and objectification by their government. The women become of themselves, coming into their own as women instead of a property of another.   At surface level, The Handmaids Tale appears to be a sexist, anti-feminist television show. Upon analysis, the many instances of female power, identity, and sexuality show that the series wants women to fight back when put into situations where theyre not meant to. The show later turns into a rebellion against the dystopian society, with the women and other characters trying to take down the society that has taken away who they once were. While the future of the fictional society is not yet revealed, the development of the themes continues throughout the show, pushing the boundaries of identity, sexuality, and power in dystopic, disturbing ways, making The Handmaids Tale an anti-feminist, feminist work of art.