World War I Essays (1661 words) - World War I, French Third Republic

World War I Europe avoided major wars in the 100 years before World War 1 began. In the 1800's, the force of nationalism swept across the continent that helped bring about the Great War. Nationalism was the belief that loyalty to a person's nation and its political and economic goals comes before any other public loyalty. . Nationalism led to the creation of two new powers, Italy and Germany. War had a major role in achieving nation unification in Italy and Germany. Nationalism weakened the eastern European empires of Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Ottoman Turkey. Rivalry for control of the Balkans added to the tensions that erupted into World War I. Another thing was the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serbian terrorist named Gavrilo Princip. On June 28, 1914 Archduke Francis Ferdinand was assassinated The Archduke's assassination triggered the outbreak of World War 1. A month later, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Because of Austria-Hungary's alliance with Germany, Serbia seeked help from Russia. Russia vowed to stand behind Serbia, but first Russia gained support from France. Germany declared war on Russia on Aug. 1, 1914. Two days later Germany declared war on France. The German Army swept into Belgium on its way to France. The invasion of Belgium caused Britain to declare war on Germany on Aug. 4. Germanys plan for a quick defeat of France while Russia slowly mobilized was called the Schlieffen Plan. This plan called for two parts of the German army to crush the French army in a pincers movement. A small left wing would defend Germany along its frontier with France. A much larger right wing would inv ade France through Belgium. They would then encircle and capture Paris, and them move east. On August 2 the German government informed the government of Belgium of its intention to march on France through Belgium in order, as it claimed, to forestall an attack on Germany by French troops marching through Belgium. The Belgian government refused to permit the passage of German troops and called on the signatories of the Treaty of 1839, which guaranteed the neutrality of Belgium in case of a conflict in which Britain, France, and Germany were involved, to observe their guarantee. Britain sent an ultimatum to Germany demanding that Belgian neutrality be respected. When Germany refused, Britain declared war on it the same day. Belgium's army fought bravely but held up the Germans for only a short time. By Aug 16, 1914, the right wing of Germany could begin its pincers motion. It drove back French and British forces in southern Belgium and swept info France. But instead of swinging west a round Paris, one part of the right wing pursued retreating French troops toward the Marne River. This move left the Germans exposed to attacks form the rear. Nationalism encouraged public support for military build-ups and for a country's use of force to achieve its goals. By the late 1800's, Germany had the best-trained army in the world. In 1898 Germany began developing a naval force that was big enough to challenge the British navy. Advances in technology helped aid in making military forces stronger. Machine guns and other new arms fired more accurately and more rapidly than earlier weapons. By the end of the 1800's, technology enabled countries to fight longer and bear greater losses that ever before. A system of military alliances gave European powers a sense of security before World War 1. They formed these alliances with each other for protection and guarantee that other members of the alliance would come to the country's aid if attacked. Although alliances provided protection, the system also created certain dangers. If war came, the alliance system meant that a number of nations would fight, not only the two involved in a dispute. Alliances could force a country to go to war against a nation it had no quarrel with. The terms of many alliances were kept secret. The Triple Alliance was made up of 3 countries: Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. They all agreed to go to war if attacked by Russia. . Bismarck also brought Austria-Hungary and Germany into alliance with Russia. The agreement was known as the Three Emperor's League. They all agreed to

Chinese Stereotypes Reflected in Movies

Chinese Stereotypes Reflected in Movies Introduction Perceptions of alien cultures are normally formed through a series of impressions from varied sources. Some may be newspaper articles written about people from that land; others may be books on the same while others are television programs or movies about that culture.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Chinese Stereotypes Reflected in Movies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Every contact that an individual has with any of these avenues can either contribute to a deeper and true understanding of the alien culture or it may lead to a prejudicial and mistaken image or perception of the group. This research will focus on the Chinese as the alien culture and western audiences as the reference group formulating these images. Movies will be the communication medium that gets this information out. An analysis of Chinese stereotypes reflected in movies Background of the research China has had a tumultuous history over the past five decades. It underwent a cultural revolution in which its leaders tried to eliminate foreign (especially western) elements of culture in their land. This has the result of isolating China and Chinese culture from the rest of the world (Spence, 2010). Its people were inaccessible and many people did not understand them subsequently. Much has changed in China since the 1970s because the Chinese have travelled around the world and the world has gone to China. Nonetheless, these interactions do not guarantee accurate and well grounded understandings of the Chinese people. Some westerners still choose to look at them based on their past political, social and cultural misgivings and these perceptions get conveyed through communications and media. Alternatively, others may see them for what they are but may choose to focus on the negatives inherent in their culture and this leads to formation of stereotypes (Terraciano et. al, 2005). Further still, most westerners may no t have the time to visit China and may therefore rely on television and movies for information on its culture (Sheridian, 2006). What audiences see on the cinemas or across their screens will eventually determine their treatment of the Chinese people if they come into contact with them. Indeed, it has been asserted that several movie roles containing Chinese actors have some commonalities. It is critical to examine whether these roles are tolerant or prejudicial and whether they lead to a better understanding of the Chinese people or a distorted image of them (Cogan, 2005). Societies can either get along with another or be more alienated from each other depending on their perceptions. It is therefore critical to look at how these perceptions are created.Advertising Looking for report on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Purposes of carrying out the research The main research objective will be to:  "Analyse Chinese stereotypes in movies† The specific objectives will include: To identify the various stereotypical depictions of the Chinese in movies To determine the relationship between Chinese stereotype roles in movies and their real life roles To assess whether Chinese stereotypes in movies harm or contribute to an understanding between China and the western world The specific objectives in this case focus on unravelling the nature of stereotypes of the Chinese with particular emphasis on movies as the source of the stereotypes; this particularly refers to specific objective one. The objectives also focus on comparing these stereotypes with actual social roles. In other words, the research will be focusing on placing the stereotypes in context and showing whether there is a gap between the actual and the perceived. This will demonstrate whether these stereotypes actually are a misunderstanding of the Chinese people or not. The comparison lies in specific objective two . Lastly the research aims at relating these stereotypes to cultural tolerance by examining whether the stereotypes are promoting an understanding between westerners and the Chinese or whether they are actually alienating them from one another as seen through specific objective three. Research questions In the focus group, the following questions will be asked: â€Å"What are the common stereotypes on Chinese intellect in movies? What are the common stereotypes on the kind of lives they lead? What are the stereotypes of the Chinese on their attitudes towards food? What are the stereotypes on their values systems? What are the stereotypes on their attitudes to work? What are the stereotypes on their personalities? What are the stereotypes on gender roles? How do these Chinese stereotypes in movies help or hinder an understanding of the Chinese?† In the questionnaires, participants will be required to answer these questions by selecting a response between 1 and 5. The questionn aire will require Chinese and non Chinese participants to respond the research questions below: â€Å"Do you agree that the Chinese tend to conform to authority? Do you agree that the Chinese are passionate about food? Do you agree that gender relations in China are unfair?Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Chinese Stereotypes Reflected in Movies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Do you agree that the Chinese live dull and boring lives? Do you agree that the Chinese are hardworking? Do you agree that the Chinese fear confrontation? Do you agree that manners are very important to the Chinese?† Responses to these questions by the Chinese participants will constitute the x variable (which represent actual Chinese roles in real life) while responses to the same question by non Chinese participants will constitute the y variable which will be the Chinese stereotypes reflected in movies. Possible ethical challenges i n the research Since this will be a research involving human subjects, then a range of ethical issues need to be covered by the latter group. First of all, informed consent will be an important part of this process because the information under analysis will not be public information. The research participants will be specifically picked and they need to be aware that the information they provide will be part of a research publication which will be available to the public (Sharf, 2006). Participants in this research will be told what the research entails and their express permission will be sought. The contributors to the research will also have some privacy concerns which need to be incorporated during the research process. In other words, some may feel like some questions are too intrusive or relate to their personal lives. In the actual research, precedence will be given to questions that only relate to the research objectives. Very little attention will be given to unnecessary o r intrusive questions. Also, other participants will require a certain level of anonymity especially because culturally related studies may be sensitive and controversial. To this end, all the subjects will be identified by a number rather than their names throughout the research process and in the research report as well. Issues of responsibility from the part of the researcher will need to be considered as well. Sometimes, the researcher will have to mislead the participants in order to get what he or she is looking for but this should be kept at a minimum. The researcher will conduct the investigation in an honest way.Advertising Looking for report on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Numerous issues will have to be covered in terms of copyright infringement and authorship. Taking credit for another researcher’s work is not tolerated and will therefore not occur in this research. All the external information will be properly referenced. Also, issues of fabrication may crop up. Some researchers may decide to change data or may use personal biases if the research is qualitative. The subject matter which is Chinese stereotypes in movies could expose some biases in western audiences and these cannot be neutralised or exaggerated through interventions made by the researcher so no such things will be done. It is not ethical to overstate the number of subjects and this will not occur in the subsequent publication (Hobbs Wright, 2006). Methodological outline This research will use mixed research methods, i.e. a combination of qualitative and quantitative research. The quantitative aspect will involve the use of questionnaires and the qualitative aspect will entai l a focus group. Because specific objective one is qualitative in nature i.e. the identification of Chinese stereotypes in movies then this will be done through the focus group. Also, specific objective three which focuses on assessing whether the stereotypes leads to misunderstandings or understandings between western and Chinese cultures is also qualitative in nature because it involves providing an in depth look at a social phenomenon that it is context specific (Hesse-Biber Leavy, 2006). The qualitative aspect will be through the use of focus groups. On the other hand, specific objective three will require quantitative analysis because it attempts to make a generalisation about the issues of Chinese stereotypes as compared to their actual roles. Therefore, many cases of these comparisons will be looked at in order to draw out a pattern on their relationships. This part will be done through the use of questionnaires. Mixed methods for the research were selected because of the ad vantages they would create in the paper. First of all, they provide room for triangulation. In any research, there is always the possibility of external influencers in the research. Mixed methods reduce the effects of these interferers on the results and therefore contribute towards consistent results. Additionally, the mixed methods will introduce complementarities into the research. One method may not be that specific and may require another one in order to enrich it (Uwe, 2007). In this particular research, the quantitative method which employs the use of questionnaires will not offer some additional and deeper issues concerning Chinese stereotype depictions in movies especially on the nature of the depictions themselves and the effects they have upon the two cultures. To this end, focus group analysis was introduced in order to bring in those different dimensions. Also their open ended nature contributes more to these insights because it ensures that participants are not trapped by the narrow views of the researcher. Furthermore, mixed methods contribute towards a development process in the research. This is because one method can give partial results and then it may need another method to complete it. In this regard, the focus group method will be a development of the quantitative questionnaires. All in all, the use of more than one method in research will ensure that the paper is rich and detailed. It will also entail the expansion of the study on interactions between Chinese and western cultures. This research design will bring out better results owing to the fact that most of the strategy entails utilisation of mixed methods. Further still, it is likely that the scope and quality of this research will be much greater than it would have been if it depended on only one method. The research aims at being more expansive on issues of cultural interactions; by increasing the level of accountability, the research report will be more critical and more reflexiv e (Neuman, 2007). Proposed data analysis Data analysis will need to be done in two phases owing to the fact that two methods were used in the research Focus group data analysis: as stated earlier, the research questions that were qualitative in nature included specific objective one and three which attempted to determine the nature of Chinese stereotypes and to assess the impact that the stereotypes have on understandings or misunderstandings between the two cultures. These objectives will be analysed through a step by step procedure. First, the transcripts recording all the focus group sessions will be obtained and so will observation notes as well the audio tapes. It should be noted that these various ways of recording were employed in order to capture every single piece of information conveyed by the contributors (Litoseliti, 2005). The data will need to be organised first. Here, the responses will be arranged in a manner that falls in line with the research questions. In other w ords, all the key points that the research will unravel will be categorised through the specified research objectives. Key points will be determined by having a look at the things that the participants wanted to talk about mostly. They will then be coded into certain variables such as gender relations, Chinese value systems, reverence for authority and diligence. After categorising the key points, the research will then review that information in order to confirm some of the stated objectives. For example, it will look at some of the issues that were assumed to be certain but then challenged in the focus group. It will also look at some of the issues that had been suspected but were confirmed or even challenged by members of the focus group. New data that had not been thought of certainly will also be reviewed. All the data will be codified under agreed upon codes. Since it may sometimes be difficult to decide this by oneself, it will be essential to look for external parties to hel p in this codifying process (Silverman, 2005). Neutral individuals can contribute towards better results because they are not blocked by previous conceptions of the same. The analysis will then be verified by another external party so as to make sure that there is sufficient evidence to make the conclusions in the research report. If the external party will come to the same conclusion as the researcher then this means that the data was properly analysed. The quantitative aspect of the research will be analysed through the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. The data has to be related to the research objective (Piantadosi et. al, 2007) which was to ‘To determine the relationship between Chinese stereotype roles in movies and their real life roles’. The x variable in this case will be elements that reflect real life roles and the y variable will be the elements that symbolise stereotypes of the Chinese in movies. The ranks assigned to both will be one to five depending on whether participants agree or disagree with each element on the research. 1 will be for ‘strongly disagree’ while 5 will represent the other end of the scale which will be ‘strongly agree’. The data analysis will commence by creation of two columns first. Column 1 will be labelled Xi – containing of all the elements that will depict Chinese roles as seen in real life and the next column will be labelled xi and this will be an indication of the rankings assigned to each variable. The third column will be labelled Yi and will contain all the elements that are associated with the stereotypes of the Chinese. The fourth column will contain rankings for these stereotypes as well from 1 to 5 for strongly agree and strongly disagree respectively and will be called yi. It should be noted that some of the elements that will be form part of the Chinese stereotypes in movies include: ‘conformance to authority’, ‘strict gender role s’, ‘overly hardworking’, ‘dull and boring lives’ and ‘fear of confrontation’. Participants will be required to state whether they strongly agree with these elements or somewhat disagree, somewhat agree or strongly disagree with these variables on Chinese culture. The fifth column will contain differences between columns xi and yi and will be known as di. Finally, the sixth column will contain a squared value of di. The spearman’s correlations coefficient (ÃŽ ¡) will then be computed through the latter formula ÃŽ ¡=∑i(xi-†¾x)(yi-†¾x) √{∑i(xi-†¾x) 2 (yi-†¾x)2} (Corder Foremen, 2009) Significance of the study and proposed result interpretation This study will be statistically significant if the null hypothesis i.e. there is no relationship between Chinese stereotypes in movies and their actual roles in real life is negated and the Spearman’s correlation coefficient is not zero or has a ne gative value. This will indicate that these stereotypes actually hold true and are an indication of how the Chinese really are. Conversely, the coefficient could have a positive value that affirms the null hypothesis. In this regard, the study will reveal that western cultures misinterpret the Chinese way of life by relying on stereotypical images of these people in their movies. With regard to the focus group, the results on various depictions of Chinese stereotypes will be an eye opener because they will be critiquing a very common and often relied upon information source. These results will be demonstrating that audiences need not embrace some of the communications they receive on face value because a substantial number of them may contain distortions about other cultures (Aronson Steele, 2005). The second research objective under analysis through the focus group method will be highly significant. If it has been shown that stereotypes contribute towards a misunderstanding of Chi nese culture then westerners will be aware of the source of these misunderstandings and may be prompted to act in order to counter those forces by reforming the film industry. Alternatively, they may be urged to look for more accurate information about the Chinese culture and this will promote greater tolerance between the two groups. On the other hand, if it has been found that there is really greater understanding of Chinese culture through these stereotypes, then it is likely that movies as a means of communication will continue to perpetuate the stereotypes and westerners will be a little less closer to the Chinese than they would have been if the stereotypes were found not to be true. Western media will come off as objective and highly reliable. Conclusion Generally, the study will contribute towards a deeper understanding of a non western culture through the film lens. In the end, cross cultural interactions will be better understood and perhaps will be smoothened due to this attention given through the research (Ewen Ewen, 2006). Reference Cogan, T. (2005). Western Images of China: Recent travel accounts. Waseda studies in social sciences, 2(1), 24 Corder, G. Foremen, D. (2009). Non parametric statistics for non statisticians. NY: Wiley Spence, J. (2010). The Chan’s Great continent: China in western minds, London: Norton Sharf, J. (2006). Ethics of doing naturalistic discourse research. London: Sage Piantadosi, J., Bolan, J. Howlett, P. (2007). Matching the grade correlation coefficient using a copula with maximum disorder. Industrial and management optimization, 3(2), 305-312 Uwe, F. (2007). The sage qualitative research kit. London: Sage Hesse-Biber, S. Leavy, P. (2006). The practice of qualitative research. London: Sage Neuman, W. (2007). Basics of social research: quantitative and qualitative approaches. London: Allen and Bacon Silverman, D. (2005). Doing qualitative research: a practical handbook. London: Sage Litoseliti, L. (2005). Usin g focus groups in research. London: Continuum Hobbs, D Wright, R. (2006). Sage handbook of fieldwork. London: Sage Ewen, S. Ewen, E. (2006). Typecasting: On the arts and science of human inequality. NY: Seven stories press Terraciano, A., Adam, N. Abdel Khalek, A. (2005). National character does not reflect mean personality trait levels in 49 cultures. Science, 310(57), 96 Sheridian, P. (2006). Hollywood, Burbank and resulting imaginings. Journal of public affairs, 5(13), 72-73 Aronson. J. Steele, C. (2005). Stereotypes and fragility of academic motivation competence and self concept. Competence handbook. NY: Mcmillan

The Most Famous Arsonist in Ancient Greece Wanted to Be a Star

The Most Famous Arsonist in Ancient Greece Wanted to Be a Star The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were famous even in antiquity, but not everyone loved gorgeous architectural marvels. Heres a tale of the ancient worlds most infamous arsonist, who burned down one of the greatest buildings of the Mediterranean. The Burning of the Temple The burning of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus  in modern Turkey, which was first built in the sixth century B.C.E., happened on the same day Alexander the Great was born in 356 B.C.E.  According to Plutarch, a guy named Hegesias the Magnesian quipped that Artemis  (Diana for the Romans), goddess of childbirth, among other things, was too busy welcoming the future king of Macedon and much of the Mediterranean into the world to keep an eye on the temple. The Ephesian priests, dubbed the Magi, took the destruction of the temple as a much bigger portent. Looking upon the temples disaster as a sign of further disaster, [they] ran about beating their faces and crying aloud that woe and great calamity for Asia had that day been born. Of course, that danger was baby Alexander, who would  eventually brutally conquer most of Asia. The Ultimate Punishment:  Being Forgotten Forever! The criminal responsible was a man named Herostratus. What made him commit such a heinous act? According to first-century author  Valerius  Maximus: Here is appetite for glory involving sacrilege. A man was found to plan the burning of the temple of Ephesian  Diana so that through the destruction of this most beautiful building his name might be spread through the whole world. This madness he unveiled when put upon the rack. In other  words, after being tortured, Herostratus admitted he torched  the temple for personal fame.  Maximus added, The Ephesians had wisely abolished the memory of the villain by decree, but Theopompus’s eloquent genius included him in his history. Herostratus was the most hated man around...so much so that a   damnatio  (meaning his memory was to be obliterated forever)  was decreed! The second-century C.E. Roman writer Aulus Gellius noted that Herostratus was dubbed inlaudabilis, namely, one who is worthy neither of mention nor remembrance, and  is never to be named. It was decreed that no one should ever mention the name of the man who had burned the temple of Diana at Ephesus.   If Herostratuss name and  memory were banned,  then how do we know about him? Most sources followed the rules and never mentioned his name, but Strabo disagreed. He was the first to break the rules in his Geography, stating the Ephesian temple was set on fire by a certain Herostratus.  The priest Aelian even  associated Herostratus  with atheists and enemies of the gods. After Herostratus did his dastardly deed, the Ephesians didnt hesitate in resurrecting their holy spot. According to Strabo, the citizens constructed one more magnificent. Howd they get the cash for such an extravagant building? Strabo said the tax collectors brought in ornaments of the women, contributions from private property, and the money arising from the sale of pillars of the former temple to pay for a new one. So the temple was even more awesome than before, all thanks to a firebug.

Media Violation on Children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Media Violation on Children - Essay Example Members of the media get expected to carry themselves with high levels of integrity due to the great influence that media has on society (Barbara 87). There exist various forms of media. These forms include television, radio, print media and even the film industry. Whereas all these forms have considerable amounts of influence on people, film and movies have the greatest influence. The film industry is a multibillion dollar industry that controls people’s lives. Films and movies control fashion, influence the economy, create a perception of what the society is to accept as right and wrong, and educate the greater society on different aspects of life such as religion, art and entertainment. The massive influence that these movies have on society cannot be ignored (Beatty 77). A clear indication on the extent of influence that movies have can be seen by the numbers of people who go out to watch movies when they get screened. Studies have shown that movie and cinema halls carry the bulk of the audiences as compared to other public gatherings such as churches and public lectures. The crowds that these movies pull show up because of the influence that these movies have on them (Freedman 46). Children get especially influenced by films. This is so because they do not have a sense of discernment. In the early stages of development of a child, the difference between right and wrong is not clear. They cannot tell what is of benefit to them and what will hurt them. This would explain the reason why some movies emphasize parental guidance. When the parent or guardian is not available to help the child differentiate right and wrong, the children could take up negative traits seen in the movies (Sandra 124). Recently, a child got critically injured and had to be hospitalized for months due to some form of media violation. The child, who many describe to be a fan of the Spiderman

Product and Brand management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Product and Brand management - Essay Example According to Forbes and Fortune magazine, HSBC is one of the top 100 power brands in the world. Intraday market capitalization of the company is $122.65 billion (Yahoo Finance, 2012). HSBC operates through four business verticals such as commercial banking, investment banking, global private banking and retail banking (HSBC, 2013a). The company has established more than 7,000 offices across 85 countries in the world. As of 31 December 2012, the company had total asset of more than $2.5 trillion (HSBC Holdings Plc, 2013). The study will focus on discussing retail banking services of HSBC in order to analyze its brand image in front of retail customers of UK. The bank offers retail banking services to more than 50 million customers across the globe. Retail banking services of HSBC is comprised of following offerings. The bank offers personal loan and credit card service to retail customers, worldwide acceptance of credit card of HSBC is helpful for retail customers to purchase their favourite items from shops located in different parts of the world. Core values of HSBC is to be resilient, committed, trustworthy, decisive and capable of taking personal accountability for any losses to customers and other stakeholders due to any misleading activity of the bank. Political environment of UK is stable for operating banking and financial services in comparison to other European countries. For example, banking system in UK is controlled by FSA or Financial Services Authority. Stable regulatory environment will help HSBC to expand its operation in UK. Economic system of UK was affected marginally due to sovereign debt crisis where as countries like Greece, Spain, Italy etc were the worst sufferer during the time Euro zone crisis. Comparatively stable economic environment of UK will provide growth opportunity to HSBC. Many British customers have reported their concern over failure of operational security system of HSBC which can help the

Till We Have Faces Essay -- Till we Have Faces Essays

Till We Have Faces In Till We Have Faces, C. S. Lewis retells the myth of Cupid and Psyche from the point of view of Psyche's sister, with powerful insight into the nature of human affection and the relationship between human and divine. In the original myth, Psyche is the youngest of three princesses, so beautiful that men begin to worship her instead of Venus. The goddess avenges herself by commanding that Psyche be exposed on a mountain to die, but her son Cupid secretly rescues her, having fallen in love with her. He hides her in a palace where he visits her nightly, but he forbids her to see his face for fear of his mother. After a time Psyche is granted a visit from her sisters; seeing the splendor of her palace, they are jealous. They tell her that her "husband" must be some horrible monster, and they persuade her to disobey the god's command and light a lamp while he sleeps, to see if it is not so. This she does, but he wakes and rebukes her, and she goes into exile to be tested until worthy of her husband. Lewis's retelling makes the god's palace invisible to mortal eyes; thus Psyche's sister Orual, the narrator of the tale, can insist it is not jealousy but concern for Psyche that motivates her to act as she does. Told from Orual's point of view, the story shows her journey to self-discovery and understanding--her quest to find her face, for as she learns, the gods cannot "meet us face to face till we have faces"--until we know our own selves. Faces are thus a strong source of imagery and symbolism in the book. One's face is a reflection of one's soul and true character. It is, symbolically, one's identity. The faces of Orual and Psyche, of Ungit and her son the God of the Grey Mountain, give us insight into their ... ..., both beautiful. The faces of the gods do not change; but those of Psyche and Orual do, and in their developing we see the developing of character--the search for identity. Psyche, who was born nearly divinely beautiful, becomes even more so when she is married to the god, and her "brightface" appearance reflects the new joy and maturity created in her character by that union. Orual's character development takes longer, for she fights it; she is unwilling to believe in the god, and even when she sees his face she becomes bitter against him for her loss of Psyche. Yet through great suffering and a long time of facelessness, she too finds her face--her identity--and becomes beautiful in the end. She is finally able to meet the gods face to face, when she has a face of her own. Work Consulted: Lewis, C.S. Till We Have Faces. Harcourt Brace: New York, 1980.

The Hunters: Phantom Chapter 23

The next morning, Elena felt light and joyful, as if she was hugging an enormous, wonderful secret to herself. Damon was stil alive. He had been in her room last night. Right? She'd been through so much, she could hardly trust it. She climbed out of bed, noting that the clouds outside were stil pink and gold from the sunrise, so it must be very early. She careful y moved toward the window. She wasn't sure what she was looking for, but she went down on her hands and knees and scanned the floor careful y. There. A tiny piece of dirt on the squeaky board, fal en from someone's shoe. And there, on the windowsil , the long scratches of a bird's claws. That was proof enough for Elena. She stood up and gave a funny little hop of joy, clapping her hands together sharply once, an unstoppable grin spreading across her face. Damon was alive! Then she took a deep breath and stood stil , wil ing her face into blankness. If she was real y going to keep this secret – and she supposed she would have to; she'd promised, after al – she was going to have to act like nothing had changed. And real y, things were pretty bad stil , she told herself. If she thought about the facts, she shouldn't be celebrating just yet. Damon's return hadn't altered the fact that something dark was after Elena and her friends, or that Stefan was acting irrational y and violently. Her heart sank a little as she thought of Stefan, but stil a bubble of happiness went through her. Damon was alive! And, what was more, he had an idea of what might be going on. It was exactly like Damon at his most infuriating to play this idea close to his chest and not let her know what he was thinking, but stil , his glimmer was more hope than anyone else had been able to offer yet. Perhaps there was light at the end of the tunnel after al . A pebble pinged against Elena's window. When she looked out, she saw Stefan, shoulders hunched, hands in his pockets, watching her from the lawn. Elena waved to him to stay where he was, threw on jeans, a lacy white tank top, and shoes, and went downstairs to meet him. There was dew on the grass, and Elena's steps left footprints. The cool of dawn was already being replaced by dazzling hot sunshine: It was going to be another sticky Virginia summer day. As she approached Stefan, Elena slowed down. She didn't quite know what to say to him. Since last night, every time she had thought of Stefan, she had involuntarily pictured Caleb's body flying through the air, the sickening crunch as he hit the marble monument. And she couldn't stop seeing Stefan's savage anger as he had attacked him, although Damon had been sure there must have been a reason. Damon. How would she ever keep Stefan from guessing the truth about his brother? From the pained look on Stefan's face, it was clear he sensed her apprehension. He held out his hand. â€Å"I know you don't understand why I did what I did yesterday,† he said, â€Å"but there's something you have to see.† Elena stopped, but she didn't take his outstretched hand. His face fel a little further. â€Å"Tel me where we're going,† she said. â€Å"I need to show you something that I found,† Stefan said patiently. â€Å"You'l understand when we get there. Please, Elena. I would never hurt you.† Elena stared at him. She knew without a doubt that it was true that Stefan would never hurt her. â€Å"Okay,† she said, making up her mind. â€Å"Wait here for a minute. I'l be right back.† She left Stefan on the lawn in the early morning sunshine as she retreated into the quiet dimness of the house. Everyone else was stil asleep: A quick glance at the clock in the kitchen told her it was barely six o'clock. She scribbled a note to Aunt Judith, saying she was going to grab breakfast with Stefan and would be back later. Reaching for her purse, she paused and made sure that a dried sprig of vervain was stil tucked inside it. Not that she thought Stefan would ever do anything to her†¦ but it never hurt to be prepared. When she came out of the house, Stefan ushered her into his car parked at the curb, opening the passenger-side door for her and hovering over her as she fastened her seat belt. â€Å"How far away is it?† Elena asked. â€Å"Not far,† Stefan said simply. Watching him drive, Elena noticed the worry lines at the corners of his eyes, the unhappy droop of his mouth, the tension in his shoulders, and wished she could put her arms around him and comfort him, raise her hand and wipe those lines by his eyes away. But her memories of the rage on his face the day before held her back. She just couldn't make herself reach out to him. They hadn't driven for long when Stefan turned onto a culde-sac of expensive houses. Elena leaned forward. They were pul ing up to a large white house fronted by a spacious pil ared porch. She knew that porch. After junior prom, she and Matt had sat on its steps and watched the sun rise, stil wearing their clothes from the dance. She had kicked off her satin sandals and laid her head against Matt's tuxedoed shoulder, listening dreamily to the music and voices coming from the afterprom party in the house behind them. It had been a good night from a different lifetime. She stared at Stefan accusingly. â€Å"This was Tyler Smal wood's house, Stefan. I don't know what you're planning, but Caleb's not here. He's in the hospital.† Stefan sighed. â€Å"I know he's not here, Elena. His aunt and uncle haven't been here either, not for several days, at least.† â€Å"They're out of town,† Elena said automatical y. â€Å"Aunt Judith talked to them yesterday.† â€Å"That's good,† Stefan said grimly. â€Å"Then they're safe.† He cast a worried glance up and down the street. â€Å"You're sure Caleb won't be out of the hospital today?† â€Å"Yes,† said Elena acidly. â€Å"He was too injured. They're keeping him for observation.† Elena got out of the car, slammed the door, and marched toward the Smal woods' house, not looking back to see whether Stefan was fol owing. He caught up to her instantly. She cursed his vampiric speed in her head and walked faster. â€Å"Elena,† he said, circling in front of her and forcing her to a stop. â€Å"Are you angry that I want to keep you safe?† â€Å"No,† she said scathingly. â€Å"I'm angry that you almost kil ed Caleb Smal wood.† Stefan's face sagged with exhaustion and sorrow, and Elena instantly felt guilty. Whatever was going on with Stefan, he stil needed her. But she didn't know how to deal with his violence. She'd fal en in love with Stefan for his poetic soul, for his gentleness. Damon was the dangerous one. Dangerous looks much better on Damon than it does on Stefan, a dry observing voice at the back of her mind said, and Elena couldn't deny the truth of it. â€Å"Just show me what you wanted me to see,† she final y said. Stefan sighed, then turned and led her up the drive of the Smal woods' house. She had expected him to go to the Smal woods' front door, but he cut around the side of the house and toward a smal shed in the backyard. â€Å"The toolshed?† asked Elena quizzical y. â€Å"Do we have a lawn mowing emergency we need to address before breakfast?† Stefan ignored her joke and went to the shed door. Elena noticed that a padlock that had held the double door shut had been wrenched apart, pul ed to pieces. A half loop of metal hung uselessly from the shackle. Stefan had clearly broken in earlier. Elena fol owed him in. At first, after the dew-bright morning outside, she couldn't see anything in the dimness of the shed. Gradual y, she realized that the wal s of the shed were lined with loose papers. Stefan reached out and shoved the doors wider, letting the sunshine stream into the space. Elena peered at the papers on the wal s and then stepped back with a sharp gasp: The first thing she had been able to make out was a picture of her own face. She yanked the paper off the wal and looked at it more closely. It was a clipping from the local paper, showing her dressed in a silver gown, dancing in Stefan's arms. The caption under the picture read: â€Å"Robert E. Lee High School prom queen Elena Gilbert and prom king Stefan Salvatore.† Prom queen? Despite the seriousness of the situation, her lips curled up in a smile. She real y had finished high school in a blaze of glory, hadn't she? She pul ed another clipping from the wal and her face fel . This one showed a coffin carried through the rain by pal bearers, grim-faced mourners standing by. In the crowd, Elena recognized Aunt Judith, Robert, Margaret, Meredith, and Bonnie, lips set, cheeks streaked with tears. The caption here read: â€Å"Town mourns local high school student Elena Gilbert.† Elena's fingers tightened unconsciously, crumpling the clipping. She turned to look at Stefan. â€Å"This shouldn't be here,† she said, a note of hysteria creeping into her voice. â€Å"The Guardians changed the past. There shouldn't be any newspaper articles or anything left.† Stefan stared back at her. â€Å"I know,† he said. â€Å"I've been thinking, and the best guess I can make is that maybe the Guardians just changed people's minds. They wouldn't see any evidence of what we asked the Guardians to erase. They'd just see what supported their new memories, the memories of a normal smal town and of a bunch of ordinary teenagers. Just another school year.† Elena brandished the paper. â€Å"But then why is this here?† Stefan dropped his voice. â€Å"Maybe it doesn't work on everybody. Caleb's got some notes scribbled in a notebook I found, and it seems from them as though he's remembering two different sets of events. Listen to this.† Stefan scrabbled through the papers littering the floor and pul ed out a notebook. â€Å"He writes: ‘There are girls in town now that I know were dead. There were monsters here. The town was destroyed, and we left before they could get us too. But now I'm back and we never left, even though no one but me remembers. Everything's normal: no monsters, no death.'† â€Å"Hmm.† Elena took the notebook from him and scanned through the pages. Caleb had lists there. Vickie Bennett, Caroline, her. Al of them. Everyone who was different in this world than in the other one. There were notes about how he remembered them – how he thought Elena was dead and what was going on now. She turned a few pages, and her eyes widened. â€Å"Stefan, listen. Tyler told him about us: ‘Tyler was afraid of Stefan Salvatore. He thought he kil ed Mr. Tanner and that there was something else strange about him, something unnatural. And he thought Elena Gilbert and her friends were tangled up in whatever was going on.' And there's an asterisk referring back to Mr. Tanner being dead in one set of memories and alive in the other.† Elena quickly scanned a few pages. â€Å"It looks like he focused in on us as the cause of the changes. He figured out we were at the center of everything. Because we're the people the most changed – other than the vampire and kitsune victims – and because he knew Tyler was suspicious of us, he's blaming us for Tyler's disappearance.† â€Å"Two sets of memories,† Stefan repeated, frowning. â€Å"What if Caleb's not the only one remembering both realities? What if supernatural beings, or people aware of the supernatural, weren't affected by the spel ?† Elena froze. â€Å"Margaret – I wondered if she remembered something. She seemed so upset when she first saw me. Remember how she was afraid I was going to go away again? Do you think she's remembering me dying along with the memories the Guardians gave her?† Stefan shook his head. â€Å"I don't know, Elena. Do you have any reason to think Margaret is anything other than a perfectly normal little girl? Little kids can be very dramatic without needing a reason. Margaret's got a lot of imagination.† â€Å"I don't know,† Elena said in frustration. â€Å"But if the Guardians just covered over the old memories with new ones, that would explain why my old journal was stil hidden in my bedroom just where I left it, and everything that had happened up until I left home written in it. So you think that Caleb suspects something is going on because he is a werewolf after al ?† â€Å"Look,† Stefan said, gesturing around the shed. For the first time, Elena took in the whole scene and its implications. Pictures of her. Pictures of Bonnie and Meredith. Even pictures of poor Caroline, ranging from the haughty green-eyed debutante to a feral half monster, heavily pregnant with Tyler's†¦ baby? Pup? Elena realized with a shock that she hadn't thought of Caroline in days. Was Caroline stil pregnant? Was she stil transforming into a werewolf because she was carrying Tyler's baby? There were, Elena remembered, an awful lot of werewolves in Fel ‘s Church. Powerful, important werewolves, and if that hadn't changed, and if the pack remembered everything, or enough of everything, then they were probably just biding their time. There were not only clippings but original photographs around the room. She saw a picture taken through the boardinghouse window of herself leaning forward excitedly to talk to Meredith, who was caressing her deadly hunting stave. Based on her outfit, it had been taken right after they picked up Alaric and Celia. Caleb had been not only researching the two sets of memories over the last few months but also spying on Elena and her friends. Then she noticed something else. In the far corner on the floor was a huge bunch of roses. â€Å"What†¦ ?† Elena said, reaching for them. And then she saw. A pentagram was drawn around the roses. And encircling the pentagram was a bunch of photographs: herself, Bonnie, Meredith, Matt, Stefan, Damon. â€Å"Those are the same kinds of roses as the one Caleb gave you, aren't they?† Stefan asked softly. Elena nodded. They were perfect, delicate blooms in a dark luscious red that made her want to touch them. â€Å"The rose that started it al ,† she whispered. â€Å"It pricked Bonnie's finger, and her blood spel ed Celia's name. It must have come from here.† â€Å"Caleb isn't just a werewolf,† Stefan said. â€Å"I don't know exactly what he did here, but it looks like pretty dark magic to me.† He looked at her pleadingly. â€Å"I discovered it al yesterday,† he continued. â€Å"I had to fight him, Elena. I know I scared you, but I had to protect you – and everyone else – from him.† Elena nodded, too stunned to speak. Now she understood why Stefan had acted the way he had. He thought she was in danger. But stil†¦ she couldn't help feeling sick when she remembered the arc of Caleb's body as he was thrown. Caleb might have attacked them with dangerous magic, but his notes sounded confused and frightened. Elena and her friends had changed his world, and now he couldn't tel what was reality. â€Å"We'd better pack up al of this and bring it back to the boardinghouse,† she said briskly. â€Å"Are there more notebooks?† Stefan nodded. â€Å"Then we'd better look through them careful y. If he cast a spel on us – some kind of curse – it could stil be active, even though he's confined to the hospital for now. The spel he used might be in one of the notebooks, or at least we might find some kind of clue as to what it is and exactly what it's doing. And, hopeful y, how to reverse it.† Stefan was looking a little lost, his green eyes questioning. His arms were held out very slightly, as if he had been expecting her to embrace him and hadn't remembered to put them down when she hadn't. But for some reason she couldn't quite put her finger on, Elena couldn't bring herself to hug him. Instead, she looked away and said, â€Å"Do you have any plastic bags or anything in the car we can use to move it al ?†