green mile (paul edgcombe) essays

green mile (paul edgcombe) essays Paul Edgecombe A Peculiar Man Paul Edgecombe, the narrator of Stephen Kings novel The Green Mile, is a character faced with many moral dilemmas. He works at a job where he sees injustice and the judgment of the state placed on the inmates there. Looking at the economic situation of society, he sees good men going without work and unable to provide for their families. "Better men than me were out on the roads or riding the rails. I was lucky and I knew it." (p.46) Paul tries in his own personal way to right the wrongs of the brutal treatment of the inmates with kindness, and tries to quiet his conscious when the time comes to put a man to death. Paul Edgecombes meditations and thoughts on other characters are insightful and show us a great deal about his personality and beliefs. Mr. Edgecombe is a married man with grown children. He took a job at Cold Mountain Penitentiary to support himself and his family long ago. Now, during the economic depression of the nineteen thirties is unable to quit, despite how he feels. The narrator seems to be an educated man with a definite ethical standpoint, a conscience, and strong religious beliefs. He makes references to Edgar Allen Poe (p.100) and Lewis Carroll s Alice in Wonderland (p.56) when commenting on his surroundings in the prison. This is not something one would expect from a prison guard in the South during the depression. Paul is tormented by the duties his job requires of him. "I couldnt do this job much longer. Depression or no depression, I couldnt watch many more men walk through my office to their deaths." (p.65) Paul experiences empathy for the prisoners on the green mile that is touching and surprising. "For a moment I imagined to myself to be that mouse, not a guard at all but just another convicted criminal there on the green mile, convicted and condemned but still managing to look bravely up at a desk." (p.54) ...

Charles Dickens

INTRODUCTION This report will talk about the life of a famous author, Charles Dickens. It will tell you about his early, middle, and later years of his life. It will also talk about one of his great works of literature. In conclusion, this report will show a comparison of his work to his life. Plagiarism Detection >EARLY LIFE Charles Dickens was born at Landport, in Portsea, on February 7, 1812. His father was a clerk in the Navy Pay-Office, and was temporarily on duty in the neighborhood when Charles was born. His name was John Dickens. He spent time in prison for debts. But, even when he was free he lacked the money to support his family. Then, when Charles was two they moved to London.1Just before he started to toddle, he stepped into the glare of footlights. He never stepped out of it until he died. He was a good man, as men go in the bewildering world of ours, brave, transparent, tender-hearted, and honorable. Dickens was always a little too irritable because he was a little too happy. Like the over-wrought child in society, he was splendidly sociable, and in and yet sometimes quarrelsome. In all the practical relations of his life he was what the child is at a party, genuinely delighted, delightful, affectionate and happy, and in some strange way fundamentally sad and dangerously close to tears. 2At the age of 12 Charles worked in a London factory pasting labels on bottles of shoe polish. He held the job only for a few months, but the misery of the experience remain with him all his life. 3Dickens attended school off and on until he was 15, and then left for good. He enjoyed reading and was especially fond of adventure stories, fairy tales, and novels. He was influenced by such earlier English writers as William Shakespeare, Tobias Smollet, and Henry Fielding. However, most of the knowledge he later used as an author came from his environment around him. 4MIDDLE LIFE Dickens became a newspaper writer and reporter in the late 1820s. He specialized in cover ing debates in Parliament, and also wrote feature articles. His work as a reporter sharpened his naturally keen ear for conversation and helped develop his skill in portraying his characters speach realistically. It also increased his ability to observe and to write swiftly and clearly. Dickens first book, Sketches by Boz (1836) consisted of articles he wrote for the Monthly Magazine and the London Evening Chronicles.5On April 2, 1836 he married Catherine Hogarth. This was just a few days before the anoucement that on the 31st he would have his first work printed in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. And this was the beginning of his career. 6Then, at 24, Dickens became famous and was so until he died. He won his first literary fame with The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Published in monthly parts in 1836 and 1837 the book describes the humorous adventure and misadventures of the English Countryside. After a slow start, The Pickwick Papers as the book was usually called gained a popularity seldom matched in the history of literature. 7Then in 1837, Catherines sister Mary, died. Because of her death Dickens suffered a lot of grief. This led some scholars to believe that Dickens loved Mary more than Catherine. Catherine was a good woman but she lacked intelligence. Dickens and Catherine had 10 children. Then later in 1858, the couple seperated. 8LATER LIFE,/b His later years was basically consisting of two main additions to his previous activites.The first was a series of public readings and lectures which he began giving it systematically. And second, he was a successive editor. Dickens had been many things in his life; he was a reporter , an actor, a conjurer, a poet, a lecturer, and a editor and he enjoyed all of those things. 9Dickens had a remarkable mental and physical energy. He recorded all his activites in thousands of letter, many of which made delightful readings. He spent much of his later life with crowded social friends from arts and literature. He also went to the theater as often as he could, cause he loved drama. Dickens also produced and acted in small theaters to give public readings of his work.10Besides doing all this after his retirement he got involved in various charities . These charities included schools for poor children and a loan society to enable the poor to prove to Australia. 11Then about 1865 his health started to decline and he died of a stroke on June 9, 1870. 12Conclusion His work of Great Expectation is very related with his life. It deals with the same problems he faced when he lost Catherine and how his life was before he became rich and famous. He also created scenes and descriptions of places that have longed delighted readers. Dickens was a keen observer of life and had a great understanding of humanity, especially of young people. The warmth and humor of his personality appeared in all of his works. Perhaps in no other large body of fiction does the reader receive so strong and agreeable impression of the person behind the story.Endnotes 1. G. K. Chesterton, Charles Dickens The Last of The Great Men, American Book-Stratford Press, NY., 1942 pg.19 2. Ibid, pg. 21-22 3. Johnson, Edgar, His Tragedy and Triumph. Rev. ed. Viking, 1977, pg. 20 4. Ibid, pg. 27 5. World Book Encyclopedia, Random House, NY., 1990 pg. 193 6. G. K. Chesterton, Charles Dickens The Last of the Great Men, American Book-Stratford Press, NY., 1942 pg. 50 7. World Book Encyclopedia, Random House, NY., 1990 pg. 193 8. Johnson, Edgar, His Tragedy and Triumph. Rev. ed. Viking, 1977, pg. 53 9. G. K. Chesterton, Charles Dickens The Last of the Great Men, American Book-Stratford Press, NY., 1942 pg. 167 10. World Book Encyclopedia, Random House, NY., 1990 pg.195 11. Ibid 12. IbidBIBLIOGRAPHY Â  Chesterton, G.K., The Last of the Great Men American Book-Stratford Press, NY., 1942. Plagiarism Detection >Johnson, Edgar, His Tragedy and Triumph Rev. ed. Viking, 1977.World Book Encyclopedia, Random H ouse, NY., 1990

Nursing Care in Patients with Brittle Asthma Essay

Nursing Care in Patients with Brittle Asthma - Essay Example These circumstances influenced the creation of this paper where the author will discuss chronic asthma, emerging issues relative to the disease, and nursing approach to the identified issues to facilitate nursing care. Asthma attacks take the life of over 1,100 patients every year (Anderson 2007) and 0.05% of this population comprises of patients who suffered from brittle asthma (Ayres 1998). Brittle asthma is a phenotype classification of asthma coined by Turner-Warwick in 1977 as an asthmatic condition with maintained wide variation in peak expiratory flow (PEF) despite high doses of inhaled steroids. After Turner-Warwick’s revelation sprung several more definition from authors who aims to give the condition a more precise identity. Garden and Ayres (1993) claim that a more concise manner to define it would be â€Å"patients with a defined and persistent marked diurnal variation in PEF despite multiple drug treatment.† Nevertheless, this implies a chronic illness with no effective treatment available leaving the patient filled with pain and suffering from dyspnoea. Ayres (1998, p.315) classified brittle asthma into two. The first one is Type 1 brittle asthma, which is characterised by a sustained wide PEF variability over a period of at least 150 days regardless of extensive medical treatment. The other one is Type 2 brittle asthma considered as abrupt acute attacks taking place in less than three hours. This type may occur even on a seemingly normal airway function or a well-controlled asthma. Between the two, Type 1 patients are more likely to be on emergency and admitted on hospitals due to its severe acute attacks and its need for a more intensive treatment. This group of patients with brittle asthma requires greater amounts of medications compared to the other forms of asthma. Most needs prolonged oxygen therapy and higher doses for steroids and bronchodilators. Biomedical management mostly involve steroids, subcutaneous ?2 antagonist, long acting inhaled ?2 antagonist, and adrenaline, which are all costly if given in a longer period and higher doses. On the course of therapy, the patients often suffer from the effects of prolonged drug exposure such as osteoporosis, weight gain, and oesophageal reflux to name a few (Ayres 316). Physical morbidity is tantamount to all chronic illness and its psychosocial counterpart is always present too. Garden and Ayres (1993, p.503) discussed the psychosocial effects of brittle asthma to a person. They suggested that prolonged chronic illness develop traits such as anxiety, nervousness, sensitivity, denial, lower self-esteem and obsession. These trait alterations acclaimed to be due to extremely difficult management. Many of them have run out of therapeutic options and patience and eventually stop seeking medical consult from their physicians. Poor compliance and worsening condition follows from these actions of hopelessness. Studies found out that these patients lacks self confide nce in managing attacks, believes their doctors less, and has an increased feeling of disgrace. Another testified that patients with highest morbidity from asthma often time hesitate in seeking help from clinicians during acute attacks while others do not strictly comply on usage of bronchodilators or still continue to do prohibited habits such as smoking or exposure to allergens (Smith, et al. 2005). â€Å"