Letter of Request Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Letter of Request - Assignment Example I am a second year student at the Eastern Kentucky University majoring in Occupational. I would like to humbly present my interest in conducting a physical security assessment on the VA medical center in Birmingham. This survey is a requisite in the APS 210 (Physical Security Assessment Project) class. The VA Medical center is my ideal choice as it offers me with the diversity required to apply all aspects, both theoretical and practical, of physical security assessment. The facility is unique in the sense that it caters to the elderly and vulnerable in the community. As such, security is an essential facet of operations. The intended survey will entail going through all areas of the buildings within your institution, checking for security devices such as locks, surveillance, and access control. In addition to this, an interview with the institution’s security manager will be essential in providing a concise complete picture of the state of security within the institution’s premises. This process should take up to 2 hours at the most. All information obtained from the survey will be treated with utmost discretion as all it is considered confidential to the parties involved. Upon agreement, all information generated from this research activity will be strictly confidential, limited to only the parties taking part in the exercise highlighted. The Eastern Kentucky University will be represented by the assigned instructor and supervisor. The other parties who will be preview to the information generated from the research will be the facility’s Senior Security Manager.

The Heart of a Teacher Essay Example for Free

The Heart of a Teacher Essay As I leaned on my headboard, I found myself heading towards the enjoyment of reading this article about how the real teacher teaches with his/her heart in the classroom. And so I started reflecting on what kind of a teacher I am. Teaching at first has not come in my wildest dream but since the family whom I came from cannot afford to send me to exclusive schools or well-known universities where I can pursue my career (fine arts which I wish to pursue), there’s no way out but to take up the course of education. I fear the fact of entering this path because in the first place, it’s not my first choice and it’s none of my choices. I think I had only the nerve to enroll since my mom is also a teacher. It was funny to recall when my professor in the graduate school, Dr. Irapta, asked who among us had experienced role playing as a teacher at home during our childhood, pretending that it was a real classroom scenario. I wasn’t sure how would I answer that question since the real thing is that I hadn’t. But years went on and I started and learned to love what teaching has to offer me. And I think that I already possess what this article is trying to imply, the heart of a teacher. With this, I do agree with the statement that quotes â€Å"We became teachers for reasons of the heart, animated by a passion for some subject and for helping people to learn. † It is very evident on us who consider teaching as a vocation wherein we put our heart not only to the occupation itself but to the student-learners and the subject as well. Sometimes we’re carried by the fact that we create harmonious relationship with this community of teachers, students and subject. We’re driven by some objectives, not only for the salary but our mission and passion to help the innocent ones to get them out of their shells and discover the reality of unbelievable ideas and concepts in this world. But, we cannot deny the fact that many of us lose heart as the years of teaching go by for so many reasons. The question becomes: How can we develop and sustain, in ourselves and each other, the heart for good teaching? Good teaching requires courage – the courage to explore one’s ignorance as well as insight, to yield some control in order to empower the group, to evoke other people’s lives as well as reveal one’s own. This means overcoming fears that block good teaching and learning. When our fears as teachers mingle and multiply with the fears inside our students, teaching and learning become mechanical, manipulative, and lifeless. Some tend to be distracted with the external forces around them; some were disillusioned with the factors and techniques for reclaiming their hearts and for keeping each heart open. When we lose our heart, we need an understanding of our condition that will liberate us from this condition. We need to keep our hearts open to students so that we can make teacher and students and subjects be interwoven into the fabric of community that learning and living require. We, teachers must try to connect ourselves, as well as our subjects to students so that we can create good rapport and learning environment. There must be an inner dialogue of reflection. â€Å"Seldom, I ask the â€Å"who† question–who is the self that teaches? How does the quality of my selfhood form–or deform–the way I relate to my students, my subject, my colleagues, and my world? How can educational institutions sustain and deepen the selfhood from which good teaching comes? † In relation to this, we need to recover the heart to teach by reclaiming our relationship with the teacher within. Listening to the voice within is somewhat easy to do and in fact, helped me to simply reflect on what I have done in a day’s work. The same thing as putting my heart while reading this article and finding solitude and silence just to cope up with the question in me, â€Å"How can I develop the capacity to stand my ground in the midst of the complex forces of both the classroom and my own life? † We must reclaim our relationship with the teacher within. A teacher who invites me to honor my true self-not my ego or expectations or image or role, but the self I am. The voice of the inward teacher reminds me of my potentials and limits as I negotiate the force field of my life. What we teach will never â€Å"take† unless it connects with the inward, living core of our students’ lives, with our students’ inward teachers. We can only speak to the teacher within our students when we are speaking with the teacher within ourselves. How does one attend to the voice of the teacher within? Some particular methods are solitude and silence; meditative reading and walking in the woods, keeping a journal, finding a friend who will simply listen. I merely propose that we need to learn as many ways as we can of â€Å"talking to ourselves. † However, conversation with my peers feels like being at ease, trusted and able to trust and above all, it helps me cultivate a sense of identity and integrity that allows me to feel at home wherever I am. I experienced sometime in my own teaching when I lose touch with my inner teacher and my own authority. During those times, I tried to regain it by wielding the threat of grades but when the voice within authorized me to teach, authority comes as I reclaim my identity and integrity, as I remember my selfhood and my sense of vocation. When the teachers struggle to survive from losing their heart, I guess it would also be practical to have some fun and techniques that ordinary teachers can use in everyday class. The same thing with my experience, I use different techniques, much practical techniques, such as motivating the students and getting their attention to focus on the subject, which will result to staying alive of the students inside the classroom. It is also a daily scenario in our faculty room where they argue about what to do with the students. Some questions their own limits and potentials when it comes to dealing with the relation between the subject and students’ lives. I won’t forget when my co-teacher told me how he was envious about my strategies and techniques on classroom management and on my way of teaching; how do I make my class in order and teach with my heart while during his class with the same set of students, he fails to control the discipline and fails to earn full respect of the whole class which must be evident on their way of interaction. While listening to his clamors, I was thinking of the best techniques I could offer him, but, to my surprise, it came to the point that he was planning to quit teaching. I don’t know why he had that thought of giving up until I read this article. I realized that he has lost his heart and he must be able to understand his condition so that he can avoid himself from truly losing it and recover from it instead. This teacher must talk with the teacher within him and find out how to overcome this condition. As I go on reading the article, I found the statement that says, â€Å"The institutions in which they work are the heart’s worst enemy,† which is indeed correct. Some leaders operate with a deep, unexamined insecurity about their own identity. These leaders create institutional settings which deprive others of their identity as a way of dealing with the unexamined fears in the leaders themselves. Institutions continually try to diminish the human heart to consolidate their own power, then, the individual self of a teacher is left with a discouraging choice. In the end, the teacher will be distant from the institution or will maintain external vigilance against institutional invasion. Teachers have leadership capabilities waiting to be unlocked and engaged for the good of the schools. But if the teachers in some schools or institutions will not be given chance to grow not only professionally but also inwardly, there’s a tendency that the teacher might withdraw from teaching. The question is, â€Å"how can the institution educate students if they fail to support the teachers’ inner life? † We must create enough spaces and trusting relationships within the teachers’ workplace. With this, we may be given opportunities to grow inwardly as teachers and we can be able to tell our own struggles and joys as teachers so that healing can happen within us – not only for our sake but our teaching and students as well. With this, we can bring back our hearts to teaching and reclaim our identity and integrity in teaching.

Identity in Rural Communities: Sociological Concepts

Identity in Rural Communities: Sociological Concepts Introduction Rural communities have been a source of much interest for those engaged within the sociological and geographical realms of study for many years now. The industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries triggered the phenomenon of rural depopulation as millions throughout the Western nations, lured by the promise of a more prosperous existence in the urban core, abandoned their agrarian settlements. However, the late 20th century has witnessed a dramatic increase in the standard of living for the inhabitants of the developed world. Cataclysmic advancements in the spheres of transportation, infrastructure and technology have permitted the denizens of our cities with greater access to regions which were once isolated and peripheral. For the first time in over two centuries populations are now increasing throughout the urban hinterland and countryside. As a consequence, rural communities are now faced with a growing influx of ‘outsider’ or alien elements which may be per ceived to threaten their unique cultural and social traditions. Such elements range from governmental legislation (imposed from a regional, national or supranational level) to tourism and second home ownership. However, in an increasingly globalised and homoginised world, academics have developed great interest in the methodologies deployed by erstwhile isolated settlements as they strive to conserve their very identities and notions of ‘community’. Mewitt has argued that the ‘esoteric cultures’ of rural communities have been much undervalued. He states that, ‘a local population can possess a largely unique culture that remains distinctive in that its symbolic manifestations convey meanings that are commonly understood only among those people.’[1] Defining the Communal Boundary Muir eloquently highlights that, ‘every landscape is enmeshed in networks of boundaries. Some of these are living or current and others are relics of former patterns of overlordship and partition.’[2] He further adds that, ‘some boundaries are political in character’ whilst ‘others relate to ownership and tenancy.’[3] Indeed, the configuration of the present day counties of England dates from Medieval times when the Normans attempted to organise and rationalise the physical landscape. Muir explains that as the number of people residing in a specific locale increases, the greater the necessity precipitates to impose physical boundaries to ‘serve both instructive and symbolic roles.’[4] The remnants of Medieval ‘landscapes of power’ can still be observed in the guise of churches or castles positioned on elevated terrain. Indeed Muir emphasises that, ‘Medieval crosses were frequently associated with marking route way s and the places where roads entered ecclesiastical property.’[5] However, sociologists argue that the concept of ‘boundary’ often surpasses the purely mundane realm. Cohen insists that the boundary of a community is ‘more complex than its physical, legal or administrative basis’ and even ‘ethnic, racial, religious or linguistic differences.’[6] Indeed, he believes that communal, social and physical frontiers may ‘exist in the minds of their beholders’ and are often not objective entities.[7] Indeed, according to Cohen and other commentators the boundaries of a community may be defined in a variety of ways including local genealogy, traditions, idioms, land distribution, folk histories and idiosyncrasies. Defining the Rural Community Shuttles argues that whilst urban communities were traditionally defined on the basis of ‘race, ethnicity and socioeconomic differences,’ rural communities were typically ‘more homogenous.’[8] However, he notes that power was normally concentrated ‘in the hands of a small group of local elites.’[9] Shuttles’ comments are interesting when one considers what many regard as being symbolic of the typical or idyllic rural community. The English manor house and rustic thatched cottage conjure up images of a romantic and traditional arcadian scenario. Indeed, sociologists are now quick to highlight how the paintings of artists such as Constable, and the lucid literary descriptions of writers like Thomas Hardy, have done much to perpetuate the myth of idyllic rural communities within the collective mindset. These were communities where everyone seemingly had his or her ‘place’ within a clearly defined and functional social hierarchy. However, Seymour et al. state that ‘recent debates in rural studies have highlighted the need to reconsider power relations in the countryside by allowing other voices to be heard.’[10] They insist that previously marginalised groups, such as manual workers and housewives, play just as important a role in defining the local community as those in positions of economic and political power. They also note that traditional stereotypes of the rural community are changing both within and out with the locale. For example, farmers were typically viewed as ‘patriotic food producers and the guardians of the countryside.’[11] Since the 1980s the pollution issues concerning unsustainable farming practices and use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides have severely altered the once romantic myth of the farmer as custodian of the landscape and lynch pin of the rural community. Jones’ study of social attitudes in and around the town of Cwmrheidol in rural west Wales is most illuminating. In the late 1980s she began to interview a wide range of locals and incomers; participants included: ‘traditional women and feminists, Welsh speakers and English speakers, residents and summer visitors, New Age travellers, hill farmers and urban commuters.’[12] Indeed, Jones’ findings reveal a plurality of attitudes regarding what constitutes ‘community’ in the local area. Ieuan, a Welsh-speaking hill farmer, seemed to resent official bodies and felt that EU legislation was gradually eroding traditional farming practices and his way-of-life. He was also angry with the planting of Forestry Commission coniferous forests on the hillsides and the imposition of alien boundaries upon once communal pasturelands. Ieuan complained about the ‘thoughtlessness of tourists’ and was sceptical regarding plans to diversify the tourist in dustry.[13] His conservative attitude was shared by Alison and Phil, ‘incomers’ from England, who also opposed development of the area and believed that new housing projects could destroy the rustic character of the local milieu. Another ‘incomer’ named Ros also exhibited similar sentiments and did not want change, so much so that she stated how she would protest vehemently against the renovation of a nearby ‘ruin’. Indeed, one could say that Ieuan, Alison and Phil, and Ros viewed the traditional community as something which should be cherished and remain static throughout time. However, the ‘incomers’ did state that they felt very much like ‘outsiders’ despite having lived in the region for some time. As Ros stated, ’the old locals they’re a community on their own.’[14] The local vicar Patrick Thomas was more than aware of the existence of ‘communities within communities’ throughout this part of Wales. A principal boundary was of a linguistic nature and those who could not speak the Welsh language became effectively excluded from many social and communal activities. Many older inhabitants simply did not view ‘incomers’ as part of the community and seemed to view them as a threat. The vicar strove to promote individual responsibility and attempted to encourage community values regardless of whether an inhabitant was of an ‘insider’ or ‘outsider’ status. Indeed, Patrick Thomas clearly viewed the entire community as a cohesive whole whilst others chose to be more selective in their analysis, often on the grounds of language, ethnicity and place of origin, regarding who was a part of their local ‘community’. Mewett notes how the inhabitants of the Isle of Lewis choose to define the boundaries of the community. He emphasises the importance of nicknames throughout the island by ‘expressing to people the attachment of themselves and others to the local community’[15] and by effectively defining their very social identities. Cohen’s study of the Shetland Island community of Whalsay revealed the existence of a ‘public treasury of personal knowledge.’[16] This social treasury included; ‘the public identities of Whalsay people: the characters attributed to them in public discourse and formulated on the basis of the stereotypical qualities of their kinsfolk or their township of origin; the anecdotal knowledge of incidents in which they were participants; supposed personal idiosyncrasies and so forth.’[17] Such a methodology of social definition is representative of a local folk history and assists in binding the local community together and affirming the notion of ‘being Whalsa’. Cohen concludes that public identities provide social boundaries for the community and serve as veritable ‘compass bearings’.[18] Cohen also highlights the linkage of a person to a place in Whalsay and the propensity of locals to depersonalise individual talents and skills. If someone exhibits an aptitude for woodwork they are said to have ‘Skaw-blood’ in them. The origin of this saying derives from the belief that many skilled carpenters once came from the town of Skaw in the north. This was due to the fact that drift wood commonly accumulated on the coast near this town and the local artisans had a ready supply of the raw material. To compliment one’s ability in such a way effectively grounds the individual within the historical, genealogical, physical and symbolic boundaries of the imagined island community. McFarlane’s study of four villages in Northern Ireland highlights how rural communities choose to define their communal identities and demarcate boundaries within a nation fraught with religious tension. In the predominantly Protestant village of Ballycuan the local history is recounted from a Protestant perspective. The July band marches also symbolised Protestant hegemony within the community and, as the local band master stated, ‘remind everyone that Ballycuan is a Protestant village.’[19] Conversely, in the village of Glenleven, Protestants seemed to ‘present histories which appear to be much less certain about Protestant strengths.’[20] This was due to their minority status in the town and the general consensus amongst all inhabitants that a good sense of community outweighed religious differences. This is an example of how rural inhabitants may choose to redefine the symbolic boundaries of their communities in order to accommodate a plurality of interests. Conclusion As Tuan emphasises, human territoriality and the creation of community is very different to that of the animals which is ‘unburdened by symbolic thought.’[21] There is often ‘an emotional bond between man and nature, man and place.’[22] Cohen’s and Mewett’s studies of rural island communities have highlighted this fact. Community boundaries may be imposed by a variety of individuals or groups in accordance with how they perceive, or wish to perceive, their local society. Such symbolic representations are often crafted on the basis of class, gender or ethnicity but, as Cohen has shown, they can also be very subjective. Cohen also notes that the coming of improved transport linkages to rural communities and the mass market will offer new challenges to how people in the countryside identify themselves collectively. He is however confident that they will continue to define the symbols and boundaries which establishes one as ‘an integral piece of the fabric which constitutes the community.’[23] Bibliography COHEN, A. P. Belonging: Identity and social Organisation in British rural Cultures, Manchester University Press, 1982 COHEN, A. P. Symbolising Boundaries: Identity and Diversity in British Cultures, Manchester University Press, 1986 COHEN, A. P. Whalsay: Symbol, Segment and Boundary In a Shetland Island Community, Manchester University Press, 1987 CRANG, M. Cultural Geography, Routledge, 1998 GIDDENS, A. Sociology, 5th Edition, Polity Press, 2006 LEWIS, G. J. Rural Communities, David and Charles, 1979 LOWERTHAL, D. BOWDEN, M. J. Geographies of the Mind: Essays in Historical Geosophy, Oxford, 1976 MILBOURNE, P. Revealing Rural Others: Representation, Power and Identity in the British Countryside, Pinter, 1997 MITCHELL, D. Cultural Geography: A Critical Introduction, Blackwell, 2000 MUIR, R. The New Reading the Landscape: Fieldwork in Landscape History, University of Exeter Press, 2000 PENNING-ROWSELLE, E. C. LOWENTHAL, D. Landscape Meanings and Values, Allen and Unwin, 1986 SALTER, C. L. The Cultural Landscape, Dixbury Press, 1971 1 Footnotes [1] Cohen, A. P. Belonging: Identity and Social Organisation in British Rural Cultures, Manchester University Press, 1982, pg. 222 [2] Muir, R. The New Reading the Landscape: Fieldwork in Landscape History, University of Exeter Press, 2000, pg. 68 [3] Muir, R. The New Reading the Landscape: Fieldwork in Landscape History, University of Exeter Press, 2000, pg. 68 [4] Muir, R. The New Reading the Landscape: Fieldwork in Landscape History, University of Exeter Press, 2000, pg. 69 [5] Muir, R. The New Reading the Landscape: Fieldwork in Landscape History, University of Exeter Press, 2000, pg. 82 [6] Cohen, A. P. Whalsay: Symbol, Segment and Boundary in a Shetland Island Community, Manchester University Press, 1987, pg. 14 [7] Cohen, A. P. Whalsay: Symbol, Segment and Boundary in a Shetland Island Community, Manchester University Press, 1987, pg. 14 [8] Shuttles, G. D. The Social Construction of Communities, University of Chicago Press, 1972, pg. 260 [9] Shuttles, G. D. The Social Construction of Communities, University of Chicago Press, 1972, pg. 260 [10] Milbourne, P. Revealing Rural Others: Representation, Power and Identity in the British Countryside, Pinter, 1997, pg. 57 [11] Milbourne, P. Revealing Rural Others: Representation, Power and Identity in the British Countryside, Pinter, 1997, pg. 58 [12] Milbourne, P. Revealing Rural Others: Representation, Power and Identity in the British Countryside, Pinter, 1997, pg. 135 [13] Milbourne, P. Revealing Rural Others: Representation, Power and Identity in the British Countryside, Pinter, 1997, pg. 137 [14] Milbourne, P. Revealing Rural Others: Representation, Power and Identity in the British Countryside, Pinter, 1997, pg.139 [15]Cohen, A. P. Belonging: Identity and Social Organisation in British Rural Cultures, Manchester University Press, 1982, pg. 243 [16]Cohen, A. P. Whalsay: Symbol, Segment and Boundary In a Shetland Island Community, Manchester University Press, 1987, pg. 61 [17]Cohen, A. P. Whalsay: Symbol, Segment and Boundary In a Shetland Island Community, Manchester University Press, 1987, pg. 61 [18]Cohen, A. P. Whalsay: Symbol, Segment and Boundary In a Shetland Island Community, Manchester University Press, 1987, pg. 61 [19] Cohen, A. P. Symbolising Boundaries: Identity and Diversity in British Cultures, Manchester University Press, 1986, pg. 94 [20] Cohen, A. P. Symbolising Boundaries: Identity and Diversity in British Cultures, Manchester University Press, 1986, pg. 94 [21] Lowerthal, D. Bowden, M. J. Geographies of the Mind: Essays in Historical Geosophy, Oxford, 1986, pg. 13 [22] Lowerthal, D. Bowden, M. J. Geographies of the Mind: Essays in Historical Geosophy, Oxford, 1986, pg. 13 [23] Cohen, A. P. Belonging: Identity and Social Organisation in British Rural Cultures, Manchester University Press, 1982, pg. 21

Driving Miss Daisy Essay -- essays research papers

Driving Miss Daisy This is a report on the story "Driving Miss Daisy". The main characters are Daisy Werthan, Boolie Werthan, and Hoke Colborn. Alfred Uhry wrote the play. It started in nineteen forty-eight and ended in nineteen seventy-three. It’s a play based on a female Jew, which is Daisy Werthan, which passes the ages of seventy-two to ninety-seven years old, and a black chauffeur named Hoke. Daisy’s son Boolie is stuck in between Daisy’s prejudice and Hoke. Here goes. Daisy showed her first type of prejudice when Hoke told her "yo zinnias cold use a little tendin’ to". She told him to leave them alone. He also offered to put vegetables in the garden. Daisy just gave him a rude reply. Now my opinion is that she didn’t want him to touch her garden because she wasn’t sure if black people knew how to take care of that type of thing. She also could have meant to be rude, not prejudice, because she doesn’t want help from anybody for anything, ever. Her next example of racism was when Hoke was looking at the walls that had pictures on them, and Daisy saw him, She told him she didn’t like him "nosing through" all her things. All he did was try to compliment her on her house, and to be more specific, her walls. Hoke told her that he liked a house that had pictures in it. Now, what I think is that this part could go two ways. She might not be comfortable with ...

Artificial Intelligence Related to Wall-E Robot Essay

1. Technological Advancement presented in WALL-E that are existing A. Voice Command This technological advancement presented in the movie is using the voice to execute primarily commands in which we are telling on what should be done. B. Search Command This technological advancement presented in the movie is using also our voice in which the said technology is arranging or systematizing an orderly search object in which the user is wish to know. C. Pattern Recognition This technological advancement presented in the movie is using using pattern schronization in which the agent is moving through patterns in which in provides where the agent direction and avoding collision to the other agent that have another pattern to follow. 2. Technological Advancement presented in WALL-E that are possible to happen A. Eve – flying robot This technological advancement presented in the movie is a robot in which capable of flying attach with scanner sensor and a weapon . This advancement would be possible because we do have some agent(s) that have sensor attach to them and agent that use in that has weapon use in military combat. B. Accel – ship This technological advancement presented in the movie can sustain life specifically human life in space for many years and attach with different system or technology. As presented in the movie they live in the space for 700 years living with sustanable oxygen and gravity balance. This techonology is possible in a way that that are the same to the experience of our astronouts discovering in the space and with the technology use in some science museum in which they can adjust gravity for us to experience space. And now we do have sensors and system that use in the ship ,likely some , thus it is possible for the human race to have. C. Transportation like a speed of light This technological advancement presented in the movie in which tha accel(ship) is returning to earth like a speed of light. It is possible because we do have now this technology boosting to space in which we can go to mars less than the usual frame time .

How to Write a Literary Analysis on African American Literature

How to Write a Literary Analysis on African American Literature When you are writing a literary analysis on African American literature, your goal is to analyze a particular piece of literature by reviewing the characters, plot lines, and literary devices employed by the author in order to make their point. A â€Å"Literary Device† is a storytelling and/or literary technique that uses an identified set of characteristics or patterns common to the genre or sub-genre. For example, comedies use juxtaposition to create a sense of ridicule towards a stuffy or rigid character. Whether you are discussing an author or a playwright for your literary analysis on African American literature you can be sure that each will use all kinds of â€Å"devices† to create a desired response. For example, if you are watching a comedic play you are going to see and hear an array of jokes or witness that helps to move the story forward. The same can be said of the tragedy or the drama as well, with the exception being that they use alternative devices. â€Å"Subordinate Character† is another useful technique you might use to analyze a piece of literature for your next literary analysis on African American literature. When we speak of main characters we tend to mean the heroes or the characters, who drive narrative or action of the story. The â€Å"subordinate† characters tend to actually give the main characters a bit more definition or dimension by interacting with them in a positive or negative manner. How exactly would a subordinate character’s interactions with the main character affect the plot? Usually, there are different ways that these characters will â€Å"speak† to the hero or heroes of a story. They include: Internal and External Conflicts – the subordinate character may physically represent some sort of internal conflict with which the main character is struggling, or they may actually be the external conflict that is driving the plot. A good example of this is the group of â€Å"suitors† against whom Telemachus is struggling in â€Å"The Odyssey†. Their presence in the boy’s home drives him to behave in certain ways. Motivations – subordinate characters might also serve to motivate the main characters to behave in a way that deeply drives the plot of the story too. For example, in â€Å"Romeo and Juliet†, we see Juliet’s father forcing her to marry Paris as one of the primary motivators behind her actions with Romeo. Relationships – the relationship between a main and subordinate character can also serve to drive the plot. Again, in â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† we can see that the relationship between Romeo and his best friend Mercutio leads him to slay one of the Capulets and initiates the story’s tragic conclusion. Influences – there are also ways in which the subordinates can influence the plot too. Consider the famous tale â€Å"Great Expectations† and how Miss Havisham so persistently influences the plot of the story through her manipulation of both of the main characters of Pip and Estella. Finally, â€Å"Character Traits† are the very specific qualities of any literary character are displayed through the â€Å"traits† the reader or viewer witnesses. For example, the character of Mercutio in â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† is a bit wild and careless and this is the ultimate reason that the reader or viewer will anticipate and accept his untimely death. Many authors and playwrights use words spoken directly by characters in order to help the reader or viewer to define that character and to make the story clear. The ways that characters â€Å"speak† are called narration, dialogue, monologue and soliloquy. These are all literary devices that all modern readers are used to and readily accept. All of these items are useful devices to analyze when writing your paper next time. We hope that they will help you. We have also prepared a set of 20 topics followed by 1 sample essay and 10 facts on African American literature analysis.