Women Asserting Their Power

Exploratory Essay #1 In A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, the Iron Throne symbolizes the corruption of power and how having power can define a person depending on how one uses that power. Martin uses winter not just as a season but as a symbol of evil used to show how preparing for winter is also a way for preparing for evil. The corruption of power is a convention of high fantasy that is seen in A Game of Thrones. The Iron Throne is more than a seat made of many metals; it is a symbol of power because whoever sits on it is the ruler of the Seven Realms.Robert Baratheon, king of the Seven Realms, is portrayed through the eyes of his longtime friend Eddard Stark—more intimately known as Ned. Instead of ruling with reason, his actions are ruled by his emotions and desires. Robert is described to have â€Å"always been a man of huge appetites† (34). He is a stoutly man who enjoys food, but his huge appetites also refer to his desires. After Robert seized the Iron T hrone at the Battle of Trident, he was forever a changed man. Ned has known Robert since they were both young, little boys, so it is significant when Ned admits that â€Å"the king is a stranger to [him]† (299).The Robert that Ned knew as a young boy was not the same man as he knew now, but that man â€Å"had never been so practiced at shutting his eyes to things he did not wish to see† (319). â€Å"Robert was never known for his patience† (356). He is still a good man. â€Å"I should not have hit her. That was not†¦that was not kingly† (359). Robert is described to have â€Å"always been a man of huge appetites† (34), which refer to his huge appetites for food and wine but also refers to his appetite for power. At the battle of Trident, Robert displayed his desire for power when he seized the throne.Once he sat on the Iron Throne, his love for power made him negligent of the duties that come with power. He has no patience or desire to sit wit h the commoners and listen to their complaints. His disregard for the Night’s Watch at the Wall displays how little he treasures human life. He does not see how important it is to provide a visit to the Wall because â€Å"[the] Wall has stood for [†¦] eight thousand years [so] it can keep for a few days more† (37). His disregard for human life is an example of how power has corrupted him be become a negligent king, shown most apparently when Robert â€Å"vowed to kill Rhaegar for what he did to [Lyanna]† (36).He admits that killing the late Targaryen was not enough. It is this desire for revenge that exemplifies how being in power allows power to corrupt an individual and their decisions. As a king, Robert feels as if he is able to give power to the people below him to do his bidding while he gives in to his carnalities. When push comes to shove, Robert always takes the easy route out When Robert commands that Sansa’s wolf, Lady, be killed, he is una ble to do what Ned says is the more honorable thing to do.If one is going to take another one’s life away, then the executioner should give the one receiving the punishment a final respect for he takes away another man’s life. Instead of looking into Lady’s eyes, he takes the easy way out and tells Ned to do it. Robert’s inability to show respect for human life in his seat of power is also apparent when he commands Daenerys Targaryen and the child inside of her womb is killed. In that moment, Ned realizes that the boy that he once knew Robert to be no longer exists. The king who sits on the throne is not the same man who fought at the Battle of Trident. He has become an adulterer and a cheat.In contrast to the corruption of power in Robert Baratheon is Ned Stark and Ned’s desire to be righteous, even in the face of danger, because the Starks’ motto â€Å"Winter is coming† prepares them for the evil that is to sweep the land. It is app arent that winter is more than just a season in A Games of Thrones. When winter is referenced, there is a connotation of evil, which explains why it is important for the Seven Realms to have the Night’s Watch at the Wall. Robert indulges in the summer days and nights in the south, so he does not prepare for winter, which is a representative of evil, making him more susceptible to the corruption of power.Ned lives by the Stark’s household saying. He prepares for winter, so he is less vulnerable to the corruption of power. This is clearly shown in Ned’s interaction with Robert. Ned scrutinizes Robert negatively for his many vices: adultery, indifference, and overindulgence. Robert, in lieu of acknowledging the bastards that he possibly has fathered, he treats the women he has had sexual relations with as expendables, another example of Robert’s disregard for human life. Ned’s honor that is contrasted with Robert is also shown through Jon Snow, the ba stard son.Instead of leaving the blood of his blood to suffer with Jon’s mother, he chooses to bring Jon to Winterfell. Ned knows that breeding a bastard is a faux pas, but he faces the scrutiny and acknowledges his son. This shows that Ned—being a mere human—has made immoral mistakes, but what sets him apart from others is that he is able to repent and acknowledge his mistakes. Robert, on the other hand, chooses to take the easy way out. He does not acknowledge his bastards nor does he repent on his adultery. His high sense of righteousness is seen when Robert places the death penalty.Ned goes out of his way to give Lady a proper, Northern death where the executioner looks into the eyes of the one being punished. It is also apparent when Robert wants Daenerys and her child killed. The corruption of power in King’s Landing makes him â€Å"want nothing so much as to return to Winterfell, to the clean simplicity of the north† (269). He gives up his p osition as Hand of the King, showing how little his love for power is. The convention of the corruption of power in high fantasy is seen through the politics of A Game of Thrones.Ser Petry Baelish described the Red Keep to be home to â€Å"those who are loyal to the realm, and those who are loyal only to themselves† (269). Robert’s disregard for the Night’s Watch, the men who guard the realm from the unknown evils at the end of the world, shows that he cares little for what happens to the realm. He takes from the power that the throne entails to sate his carnalities and is â€Å"practiced at closing his eyes to things he would rather not see†, which is why the game of power is exclusive for the rich. While the king’s cabinet struggle to outsmart their colleagues, the poor struggle to meet their physiological needs.The northerners are not referenced to be poor, but they are like the commoners of the south because the northerners do not worry about w ho reigns. They live off the land and worry only about surviving winter. The south, on the other hand, is more cultured, but their government is more concerned about who will win the game of chess. The commoners have little interest in the game between the politicians because they have realized that just because someone is in a seat of power does not mean he or she will use it wisely.Cersei Lannistier, like her husband Robert, abuses her power and does what is best for her, not the realm. The opposite can be said for Ned. The moment he steps into office as Hand of the King, he attempts to rectify all that has gone wrong in King’s Landing: the financial deficit, Jon Arryn’s death, and even Robert’s bastard’s situation. Both Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark have had exposure to the Iron Throne and winter, but it is how the individuals react to the power that decides whether power will corrupt them or not. Robert bathes in immorality and wickedness without ever noticing that he has gone astray.Ned, on the other hand, stands upright and aware of what is right or wrong. Works Cited Martin, George R. R. A Game of Thrones. Vol. 1. New York: Bantam, 1996. Print. A Song of Ice and Fire. Warner, Rosalind. â€Å"An American Game Of  Thrones. † Weblog post. Rozwarner. N. p. , 21 July 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. . West, Thomas. â€Å"The Timeless, Powerful Themes of ‘Game of Thrones'†Ã‚  Yahoo! News  5 Sept. 2012: n. pag. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. .

Microsoft Zune Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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The Mexican revolution of the 1910s Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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How lifes effect the Illegal Immigrants Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

How lifes effect the Illegal Immigrants - Essay Example e like normal native people whereas illegal immigrants often use illegal channels for immigration which force them to live always under fear of the consequences. Being a secular democracy, America has opened their doors widely for most of the people from different parts of the country. Moreover, America is facing big manpower shortages in many fields which forced them to welcome more and more skilled professional from other countries. But most of the immigrants who immigrate to America through legal channels will try to bring their relatives and friends also through legal and illegal channels in order to exploit the possibilities in America. This paper briefly explains the life of illegal immigrants in America, based on two articles Tough-But-Fair Rules For Tomorrows Illegal Immigrants and When home is prison appeared on business week and T Don Hutto. Illegal immigrants always forced to live under the threats from the authorities. Many companies are giving employment to them in order to exploit them. Illegal immigrants would accept any type of jobs and they are ready to work for whatever the cheap salaries offered by the employer. Moreover, the employer doesn’t want to provide them any insurance coverage, accommodation facilities and any other incentives apart from the daily wages. In short, their living conditions would be pathetic compared to others in the society. The effects of illegal immigration are perceived differently by different people. Some people argue that illegal immigration is a blessing whereas some others are of the opinion that it is a curse to American people. â€Å"Many angry U.S. citizens rightly note that American business is rapidly legitimizing the residence of immigrants who have broken the law to enter or remain in the U.S† (Business Week). But their argument seem to be meaningless as many of the illegal immigrants are working only at the lowly paid sectors which an average American would never even think of. â€Å"Think farm work or

Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 12

Strategic Management - Essay Example Strategy formulation and implementation include a variety of organizational practices. It is often understood as the ‘decision related to the design of a process and the infrastructure needed to support the process’. To illustrate, it is the process that defines the organizational goals and lays out plans in long term to achieve the intended goals. Strategy not only determines the organizational mission and objectives but also covers other areas such as marketing, finance. The following diagram shows the various aspects of organizational strategy. However, an outstanding strategy does not necessarily mean that the organization would achieve its goals. In addition to the well-designed strategy, the method of implementation is a significant factor that determines the organizational success. Therefore, successful managers would integrate the various strategic aspects with all important elements of the organization. As it is stated in Wiley & Sons, in order to achieve goals, managers must ‘comprehend their potential combinations and coordinate and integrate business factors’. Organizational Strategy became a subject for debate since 1987 when it was termed as design strategy and emergent strategy by Henry Mintzberg. He argued that strategy not only includes predetermined actions but also the gradual developments or immediate steps taken to deal with changing situations. Although in general sense strategy indicates the preset programs, organizational decisions are always subjected to the immediate deviation.

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Torture And Obtaining Confessions From Terror Suspects Essay Example for Free

Torture And Obtaining Confessions From Terror Suspects Essay Terrorism merely stands for any violence or crime. Usually any destructive and dangerous acts executed by an individual or by group famously known as terrorist. Basically, it is not simply just bringing destruction to community is what they intend for but these groups also aspire for political or ideological goals. Emerging of various terrorist groups with a variety of missions is becoming rampant. Al-Qaeda meaning the base, an international militant terrorist group led and founded by Osama bin Laden has also its goal to unite all Muslim’s nations and aims to dominate globally(Pike, 2005). The well known tragic terrorist attack executed by Al-Qaeda which was still fresh in memories of the world and had done a very massive destruction was the September 11 tragedy in New York, USA. These attack cause death to hundreds of people, victims and AL-Qaeda terrorist. By these acts and operations of such terrorist groups, the world seems to have been troubled and challenged on how to prevent or totally bring it to an end. The government is taking plans on how to contest this kind of situations even though it looks as if terrorism becomes rampant all throughout the humankind. In addition to these terrorisms, issues on tension on fighting terrorist acts and protection on civil liberties are being undertaken. This is a tough challenge for the government to combat terrorism and to balance civil liberties in line with the achievement of global peace and order. As to longing to end up with peace and order in the world, the government took hard and inflexible time to arrest, investigate and put into jail terrorist or even put into death. Different governments had been exercising varieties of operations and tactics. Governments establish foreign and local investigation partners by coordinating with other agencies and countries. Government also uses new ways of detecting terror plans by means of Law Enforcement tools (DOJ, 2006) . Just to ensure a great war on terrorism, some uses the dissimilar trends of tactics which ignores and violates the human rights of suspects and all other concerned individuals. In search for terrorist or groups of terrorist, government sometimes abuses his power and authority. Abusing represents disrespect and dishonor to the community even the individual’s rights and liberties. Subjective arrest and detentions were implemented by some government. Individuals are arrested by force even though without any evidences against them. Tortures and any other inhuman treatments just like physically maltreating the prisoner by not providing any foods were also practiced and also sometimes suspects are beaten by any hard materials which may lead to too much force and extrajudicial action. Tortures were exercised to make sure that suspects would admit and confess for the violence. Many exercised this torture since they can easily make suspects confess. Government has been implementing it and believes this is a great approach to solve crimes effortlessly. Other governments transport their prisoners in a secret detention place like in Guantanamo Bay, Bagram for US custodies(International, 2006). These actions taken by the government in combating crime and violence is extremely harsh and merely signifies violation of human rights. All actions done by the government should always be fair to the suspects and prisoners. Different civil liberties and human rights organizations must look after these actions to guarantee that civil liberties and human rights of suspects and prisoners are valued. In this rigid combating campaign against terrorism, does government should be able to mind for civil liberties of individuals? Should the government be able to protect it? Even though the government has expanded powers to pursue their fight against terrorism, some says that those civil liberties or the freedoms that totally protect every individual from the government shall be not dishonored or violated. These civil liberties are the ones which sets the limitations for the government such as not to misuse its authority. Most probably in war against violence and crime, as government given an extended power, civil liberties like human rights are most likely to be violated. For these reasons, critics as well as human rights organizations focus primarily on the matters that concerns protection and promotion of human rights during campaign against terrorist attacks. Â  Promotion of human rights and civil liberties were being under encouraged by these groups. Protect the community, being the one of the major concerns of the law must not be set aside nor violated instead must be acted upon by (Herald, 2004). In any time or instance, even if its time for combat against terrorism, the law must be the principal protector and promoter of human rights and civil liberties. Rights and liberties are for every human being no matter how dreadful or harmful he was. Every prisoner, may it be terrorist or not, do also has his rights and liberties like every normal citizens have. A prisoner has the right to be fair trial, not treated as animals, and also right to eat meals. They should not be punished in customs that not according to the law, as law is said to be the protector of individuals. Having the authority to make and the power to enforce the law, the government, must not just only focus on one of its mission. The government must be capable and responsible to act upon on its tasks for the society and also for its citizens. Every tasks or missions designated to the government are of equivalent significance, no mission is more significant than the other. In combating terrorism, though it is recognized as a tough mission for the government, other missions shall not be set aside for. Likewise for the mission of government to protect and respect the civil liberties and human rights, this plain mission put to one side. Treating missions evenly will lessen the burden of tension between civil liberties and terrorism will be lessen or even eradicated. References: DOJ. (2006). Fact Sheet: Department of Justice Anti-Terrorism Efforts Since Sept. 11, Â  2001. Herald, T. S. M. (2004). Standing up for liberties. International, A. (2006). Pakistan Working to stop human rights violations in the war on terror. Pike, J. (2005). al-Qaida (The Base) Qa‘idat al-Jihad Islamic Army for the Liberation of the Holy Places World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and CrusadersIslamic Salvation Foundation Usama bin Laden Network.