Origins of Nursing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Origins of Nursing - Research Paper Example When the same person is not in a position to carry out these activities owing to illness, and there comes someone who can assist this person in performing the activities which aid in the person’s recovery or a peaceful death, then that is nursing. The International Council of Nurses defines nursing as â€Å"to assist an individual, sick or well, in the performance of those activities contributing to health or to its recovery (or to peaceful death) that he would perform unaided if he had the necessary strength, will or knowledge, and to do this in such a way as to help in gaining independence as rapidly as possible† (Baly 51). Nursing has been a profession to many old and young people across generations and nations. In addition, it is viewed to be among the oldest humanitarian services (Baly 177). Scientifically, nursing is a body on its own, and not only is it a science but also an art, providing skillful health care to patients in a way that enhances the general relati onships between the patient, family and the nurses (Pavey 59). From a direct point of view, nursing deals with illness prevention and ensuring of quality health standards. From a wider point of view, nursing does not just concern itself with care of the sick and ageing, but it is also concerned with the conservation of good health practices and prevention of medical disorders. The artistry of nursing is likened to the care mothers gave to their families in ancient homes. It is believed that this art has been modeled over time into modern nursing that is skilled and a science that is well-organized. It is evident that nursing has undergone numerous changes across centuries and continents. A study conducted on nursing will highlight the problems faced in the past, the solution to those problems and how nursing has evolved despite the various obstacles. Traditionally, when a mother took tender care of her sick young one, it was a sign of nursing. Along with these natural abilities that include mercy, love and kindness (humanitarianism), special training combined with suitable experience and self-sacrifice, a nursing profession has been created. Archaic Nursing. Many myths have been created, many tunes have been composed, and a handful of findings have been made about pre-historic human’s care for the sick. In the ancient African setting, it was believed that illness was as a result of evil spirits (Nutting and Dock 44). To get rid of the evil spirit, traditional medicines were administered, drums beaten and magic rites performed so as to frighten away the spirits. The treatment done to the body was aimed at getting rid of these evil spirits. Other forms of traditional treatment include massage, bone setting as well as hot and warm/hot births etc. In this case, the doctor or the nurse was the medicine man, the witch doctor or the priest physician. Nursing in Ancient Egypt. Egypt has been known to be one of the key contributors of ancient discoveries. Accord ing to Nutting and Dock (24), nursing is one of them, and its origin has been associated with the Egyptians who viewed medicine to have its origin in divinity. Egypt holds home to one of the oldest records of medicine dating way back to 1600 B.C. (Pavey 86). Numerous medical sources, illustration of diseases and their associated treatments, surgery and medicine used are found in Hieroglyphic writings on papyrus which are in the temples of pre-historic Egypt and from the Pyramids.

Assignment 3 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 7

3 - Assignment Example Through this style, the employees were given the freedom to come up with innovative ideas to transform the operations of the business. In addition Sir Richard involved the subordinates in decision making process. As a result, they felt as an integral part of the company. This motivated them to work hard towards the organizational goals, an aspect that was replicated in the overall performance of the firm. Sir Richard Branson also understood that the employees were the one who interacted with the customers in the market. As a result, he used them as an important source of information. He gave the workforce a role of identifying opportunities and noting any changes in the tastes and preferences of the target market. Therefore, the company was able to make the necessary changes in its operations before the competitors (Chan 2013). This gave it an upper hand in the market. Furthermore, it improves the customer relationship, thereby, increasing their loyalty levels. Sir Richard implemented a functional organizational structure in order to streamline the operations of the company. Each department is held by a manager who oversees and manages its operations. However, all functional units work together towards the common objective of the company. Setting up functional units enabled the company to maximize the returns from the employees as they are grouped according to their areas of specialization. This has been very instrumental in establishing very strong teams that are able to deal with the diverse challenges that are facing the company in the market. Sir Richard Branson led the organization from the front. He has been the role model for the rest of the workforce. In addition, he always ensured that he was there when critical decisions concerning the operations of the business were made. He has always offered suggestions but open to critics and challengers. This ensured that the decisions that were

Autism and Mental Retardation Essay Example for Free

Autism and Mental Retardation Essay Respond to the following: 1. List the primary features of autism. Extremely unresponsive, uncommunicative, repetitive, rigid, changing events that the child is use to doing on a daily basis can result in an outburst where he or she becomes angry and very confused, loud noises can cause an outburst as well for some 2. Which explanation for autism is no longer considered valid and lacks research support? The sociocultural view is no longer valid. It is now believed that cognitive limitations and brain abnormalities are more suitable explanations. 3. What forms of treatment are helpful for a person with autism? At this time there are no treatments that can reverse autism. Some treatments that are helpful would be behavioral therapy, communication training, parent training, and community integration. Psychotropic drugs and vitamins combined with other approaches are also quite helpful. 4. List the criteria for a diagnosis of mental retardation: People with mental retardation are well below average in both intelligence and adaptive abilities. A person with mental retardation has trouble with communicating, living at home, self-direction, and work/safety. 5. Explain one way in which sociocultural biases in testing might pose problems for assessing mental retardation. Sociocultural biases would be environmental conditions and social status. People may not understand that children from good backgrounds and stimulating environments can be mentally retarded. Most people think this is limited to lower social classes 6. Of the four levels of mental retardation, into which category do most people with mental retardation fall? The four levels of retardation are mild retardation, moderate retardation, severe retardation, and profound retardation, 85% of mentally retarded people have mild retardation. 7. What are the main types of biological causes of mental retardation? The primary causes of moderate, severe, and profound retardation are: biological,although people who function at these levels also are affected greatly by their family and social environment. Sometimes genetic factors are at the root of these  biological problems, in the form of chromosomal or metabolic disorders. Other biological causes of these kinds of mental retardation come from unfavorable conditions that occur before, during, or after birth, such as birth injuries. 8. What is the only way to prevent fetal alcohol syndrome? For the mother to not drink alcohol while pregnant 9. What are normalization and mainstreaming? Normalization: The principle that institutions and community residences should expose people with mental retardation to living conditions and opportunities similar to those found in the rest of society. Mainstreaming: The placement of children with mental retardation in regular school classes, also known as inclusion 10. What is your opinion about mainstreaming and normalization for children and adults with autism or mental retardation? My thoughts about mainstreaming for the children and adults with autism and mental retardation, I feel that it is not a good idea placing the children with mental retardation, they do need more supervision and attention, and for this reason if being in a regular class they would not get the attention and or supervision they need. I do feel that it is good to expose the children and adults into the society, they are not no different than anyone else.

Ryanair Strategic Analysis And Recommendations For The Future

Ryanair Strategic Analysis And Recommendations For The Future Ryanair is the first budget airline in Europe. Based on the case study of Ryanair by Eleanor OHiggins, a role of a management consultant is assumed to conduct a strategic analysis on the company. The report consists of the initial Environment Analysis conducted on Ryanair prior to the detailed strategic analysis that will be conducted in the future in order to provide the company with strategic recommendations for the future. The Environmental Analysis conducted consists of both an extensive analysis on the external environment and the internal environment. The external environment analysis is conducted in order to identify the nature of the environment Ryanair operates in and its impact on the strategic situation of the company. Through PESTEL, External factor and Industry analysis conducted, rejection of Aerlingus offer and rules and regulations imposed by governments etc. are recognized as the critical external environmental factor affecting Ryanairs strategy. An analysis of the internal environment through Value Chain model and SWOT analysis reveals the key issues hindering the strategic success of the firm; poor customer service and human resource problems. While this initial environmental analysis is used to assist the strategic analysis that is to be conducted on Ryanair, the importance of taking necessary actions regarding the critical issues is highlighted, CONTENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 CONTENT 2 1INTRODUCTION 3 2 OVERVIEW OF RYANAIR 4 3 CRITICAL ISSUES 5 4 EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS 6 4.1 MACRO ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS (Appendix 1) 6 4.2 INDUSTRY ANALYSIS (Appendix 2) 8 4.3 EXTERNAL FACTOR ANALYSIS (Appendix 3) 8 5 INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS 9 5.1 VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS 9 5.2 SWOT ANALYSIS 11 Strengths 12 Weaknesses 12 Opportunities 12 Threats 13 6 CONCLUSION 14 7 RECOMENDATIONS 15 8 REFRENCE 15 INTRODUCTION Ryanair is the first budget Airline in Europe inspired by the U.S Budget Airline, Southwest Airlines. The report is based on the case study by Eleanor OHiggins, University College Dublin, and Republic of Ireland in 2007. The case by Eleanor OHiggins is based on the Strategy of Ryanair against the backdrop of the European airline industry and the burgeoning budget sector. The case discusses the opportunities and challenges faced by the industry and the firm. Leadership of Ryanairs CEO, Michael OLeary is highlighted. I will be assuming the role of management consultant identifying strategic management issues of the company. According to the contract between my consultancy firm and Ryanair my role is to conduct a strategic analysis of the environment, the industry, company in order to recommend new strategic initiatives and areas of improvement for the senior management team of Ryanair. Therefore an environmental analysis consisting of a macro environment analysis, industry analysis and internal analysis is carried out initially, in order to conduct detailed strategic analysis and provide recommendations in the future. 2 OVERVIEW OF RYANAIR Ryanair was founded in 1985 by the Ryan family to provide scheduled passenger airline services between Ireland and the UK, as an alternative to the then state monopoly carrier, Aer Lingus. Initially, Ryanair was a full-service conventional airline, with two classes of seating, leasing three different types of aircraft. Ryanairs objective was to maintain its position as Europes leading low-fares airline, operating frequent point-to-point flights on short-haul flights, mainly out of regional and secondary airports. The heart of its strategy was based on providing a no-frills service with low fares designed to stimulate demand, particularly from budget-conscious leisure and business travelers, who might otherwise have used alternative forms of transportation, or who might not have travelled at all. Company Vision- To firmly establish itself as Europes low fare, schedule passenger airline through continued improvements and expanded offerings of its low fare service.(Ryanair, n.d) Company Mission- To become Europes most profitable low cost airline by rolling-out proven low fare, no-frills service in all markets in which we operate to the benefit of passengers, people and stake-holders. (Ryanair, n.d) 3 CRITICAL ISSUES The critical strategic issues faced by Ryanair can be identified as follows based on analysis; Poor Customer Service where the customers are unsatisfied and face episodes of dissatisfactions due to the poor services provided by the unfriendly staff of Ryanair has been identified as the critical issue that can be identified by reading the case. The high insurance charges and the lack of services regarding safety terms, lack of comfortable seating and other facilities has lead to this negative word of mouth spreading with regard to customer dissatisfaction which is clearly identified. The other main issues that can be recognized can be unwillingness and failure to recognize unions where Ryanair is also fired for providing poor working conditions for its workforce. In July 2006 the Irish high court found out that Ryanair had bullied pilots and forced them to agree to a new contract, pilots had to pay à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 15000 for retraining on a new aircraft if they left the airline. In 2006 pilots of Ryanair lodged a pay claim stating that there is significant difference in take home pay between Ryanair and Aer Lingus pilots it also claimed that training pilots were working for nothing. Understanding that employees and the customers are the factors that decide the success of the company Ryanair should solve these critical issues. 4 EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS External Environment analysis in conducted to analyze the nature of the environment the firm operates in. It identifies the forces in the environment affecting the firm and its degree of impact. It also identifies the opportunities, threats and challenges faced by the company. The external environment analysis for Ryanair consists of a macro-environment analysis, industry analysis and external factor analysis. The macro environment scans and indentifies the general environment factors that can have an impact on the organization whereas the industry analysis focuses on the competitive situation of the company. 4.1 MACRO ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS (Appendix 1) The macro-environment is composed of major external and uncontrollable factors that influence an organizations decision making, and affect its performance and strategies. These factors include the Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal forces (PESTEL). These forces do not change frequently, but when it does, it has a major impact on the organization. The PESTEL analysis looks at the general environment in which the organization is operating in and helps to realize the risk associated with the market growth or decline. PESTEL is the abbreviated form of the following factors respectively Political factors that can be identified that will have a great impact on Ryanair are; Aer Lingus rejection to amalgamate with Ryan Air, security measures and restrictions, stable political situation and the new EU regulation compensation law. Economical factors include the depreciation of US Dollar, availability of efficient substitute transport methods and also reduction in distribution costs from customers adapting to online check-ins where identified as the factors that has high influence regarding the economical influence. Social factors are important to be identified as firms to be aware of these factors because they can directly affect the way the organizations manage the operations, more importantly human resources and marketing. Technological is also playing a vital role as many new advances in technologies can affect the way businesses are carried on. Technological developments represent a real opportunity for the skillful people who can understand and apply them appropriately and the key factors identified that would have a high influence are environmental- friendly aircrafts and availability of online transactions. Environmental factors for Ryanair include noise level controls, global warming, green house gas effects and corporate social responsibility policies and environmental protection laws. 4.2 INDUSTRY ANALYSIS (Appendix 2) The second stage of the external environmental analysis is to assess the industry environment and the aim of this analysis is to identify those factors that could contribute to or affect the industry profitability. To aid in the industry analysis, Porters Five Forces Model will be used. Porter developed a technique analyzing five forces that affect industry profitability known as Five Forces Model. These forces shape the industry and increase the intensity of competitiveness, and therefore, the profitability and attractiveness of the industry. This model helps to indentify the dynamic factors of the industry and the market to compete effectively. 4.3 EXTERNAL FACTOR ANALYSIS (Appendix 3) The EFAS table is one way to organize the external factors into the generally accepted categories of opportunities and threats as well as to analyze how well a particular companys management responds to the specific factors in light of the perceived importance of these factors to the company. The factors which were identified as important were put in to this table to determine if they were opportunities or threats for Ryanair. According to EFAS, the key threat imposed on the company is the current political and legal factors and the increasing oil prices. The customer attitudes towards Ryanair is positive and the friendly environment of aircrafts which are seen to be key opportunities that can help lessen the effects of threats faced by the organization. 5 INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS The internal analysis aids in discovering the strengths, resources, capabilities and activities that the organization possesses in order to perform better than their competitors and those that add value to customers. To indentify the key strengths, weaknesses resources and capabilities of Ryanair, the Resource-Based View and the Value Chain Analysis will be used. 5.1 VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS The vale chain is a set of activities that the organization undertakes or organizes to deliver the product to the customer. A value chain has two broad categories: primary activities and support activities. Primary activities represent the sequence of activities inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing/sales and service through which raw materials are converted into benefits enjoyed by customers. Support activities are those tasks that contribute or assist the firms primary activities and include -procurement, technology development, human resource management and infrastructure. A value chain analysis performed for Ryanair is shown in appendix 04. Each activity executed is value-adding to the organization and its customers. 5.2 SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths Company reputation first cheapest budget airline in the European industry Innovative cost reductions Use of new environmental- friendly aircrafts Substantial market growth Largest web site in traveler industry 5thmost recognized brand. Labor force of diverse cultures to better serve customers No fuel charges imposed on customers Work-life-balance practiced to prevent overflying for pilots and unnecessary accidents. Establishment of a safety committee. Weaknesses Refusal to recognize unions Decreased customer satisfaction Poor customer services no refund for cancellations, no accommodation provided for flight delays, etc. Over dependency on Michael OLeary Opportunities By merging Ryanair with Aer Lingus it gives them better advantages such as being more efficiency in the industry, will be able pay to lower tax and operation cost as well as will be able fly to more destinations. By choosing Sub-Main Airports to reduce Airport Charges Rather than choosing main air port and paying more money to them. It facilitated the introduction of new consumer oriented innovative Service. Threats While new service was introduced it was rejected 72% by poll readers of the Financial Time. As well as passengers have resisted paying à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬8 to rent a games and entertainments console, probably because it was not worthwhile for short flights. Keeping the staff training and aircraft in a fleet commonality makes the Ryanair in a probable condition Due to noisy environment customers will avoid choosing Ryanair mean time it would be only a second choice for them. Gurdidian Newspaper say that insurance fee Ryanair charge from each passenger is very much high. Such shocking news avoids customers to book their own ticket. 6 CONCLUSION The external environment analysis is conducted for Ryanair in order to assist the future strategic analysis assuming the role of a management consultant. Both the external and the internal environments of the company is critically analyzed using tools such as PESTEL, Five forces model, Value Chain and SWOT analysis. The critical issues facing Ryanair can be identified as poor customer service and human resource management issues. With regard to Ryanairs external environment, the following forces can be identified as having a critical impact on the firm; rejection of Aerlingus offer and rules and regulations imposed by governments etc. According to the Value Chain Analysis, Ryanairs core competency and critical success factor is identifies as its low cost. SWOT Analysis further confirms that and also points out the weaknesses such as poor customer service and inefficient human resource practices which may eventually prove to be costly for Ryanair and hinder the effectiveness of its competitive advantage. 7 RECOMENDATIONS The environmental analysis is used as an initial analysis for the detailed strategic analysis which will provide recommendations to Ryanair. However based on the environmental analysis some initial recommendations can be made. The critical issues facing Ryanair is identified as poor customer service and human resource management issues. It is important that Ryanair attends to these critical issues immediately. Therefore Ryanair could Recognize labour unions; be more people oriented to improve employee relationships and encourage career development in order to efficiently manage their Human Resource in the future and there by achieve high employee commitment leading to a successful workforce. Improve the customer service they offer while minimizing cost. This could be achieved through improving the quality of training given to frontline employees and managing through a TQM (total quality management) 8 REFRENCE Beamish, H. R. (2008). Strategic Management. (3rd edition). New South Wales, Australia: Pearson Education Australia. BusinessDictionary.com (2009). Retrieved August 20, 2009 from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/macro-environment.html Hill, C. (2007). Strategic Management: An integrated Approach, (2nd edition.). Australia: John Willey Sons Australia, Ltd. Hubbard G. et al. (2008). Strategic Management. Pearson Education Australia. OHiggins, E. (2004). Ryanair Report. Wheelen T. L. Hunger J. D., (2000). Strategic Management and business policy. 7th edition.

Is hypnosis and effective method to Improve Health? Essay -- essays re

Is Hypnosis an Effective Method to Improve Health? Many high schools have hypnotists come to their school to entertain the students. Once a hypnotist came to the Fletcher High School gymnasium and hypnotized about a half dozen people. He convinced these six people into believing they were five years old watching their favorite cartoon. Their mannerisms were shocking. They truly believed they were five-years-old, throwing a fit when the hypnotist told them their mother just turned off the cartoons. Knowing that it is very hard to remember back to when a person is five-years-old, it was amazing that the power of hypnosis made them remember so easily. It seemed as if the hypnotist could make them remember anything. Just before the students woke from their hypnosis, the hypnotists told them they would be fully rested and feel extremely good about his or herself. Afterwards, they remarked on how rested they felt. A hypnotist can make people feel completely rested while being under hypnosis, and make people believe things that are not true. Why stop there though? If something hurts, then tell the hypnotherapist to suggest under hypnosis that the pain is gone and does not bother them anymore and the person will feel better. If someone has a stuttering problem, then they can visit a hypnotherapist and he should be able to straighten up their speech so they can speak more clearly. Likewise, a person’s self-confidence could be uplifted and they Stayton 2 could begin to believe in his or herself. Some people could even be anesthetized for surgery using hypnosis. Many people are hypnotized for entertainment purposes, so maybe it should also be used to help people with problems that are hard to resolve. Hypnosis can be used to relieve pain, conquer almost any fear, eliminate the use unnecessary prescription medicines, and help a person to overcome alcoholism and to overcome drug addictions. Also, upon finding support from a hypnotherapist, many have been able to quit addictive habits such as smoking. Conquering phobias is a specialty of hypnotherapists. A phobia is a compulsive fear of a specified situation or object (Knight 2). A few types of phobias are fear of open spaces, fear of snow, fear of the cold, fear of marriage, fear of insanity, fear of being alone, fear of darkness, fear of disease, fear of beards, fear of birds, fear of being stared at, fear of bein... ...nly one aspect of hypnosis. If a hypnotist can make someone remember something so far back and make that person reenact those memories, hypnosis could be a powerful tool regarding many health problems caused by brain activities. There is so much more that has yet to be discovered. Estabrooks, George H., Hypnotism. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co. Inc., 1957. â€Å"Hypnosis and Smoking: The Mighty Power of Suggestion.† Smoking Cessation. N. pag. Online. Internet. 13 Apr. 2000. Available WWW: http://www.hypnosis.about.com/smoking.hypnos.htm Kirsch, Irving, Antonio Capafons, Etzel Cardeà ±a-Buelna, Salvador Amigà ³. Clinical Hypnosis and Self-Regulation. Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1999. Knight, Bryan. â€Å"You Can Conquer Your Phobia.† Hypnogenesis. N. pag. Online. Internet. 13 Apr. 2000. Available WWW: http://www.hypnos.co.uk/hypnomag/drknigh3.htm Nicoli, Thomas. â€Å"Pain and Physical Disorder – Relief Through Hypnosis.† Hypnogenesis. N. pag. Online. Internet. 13 Apr. 2000. Available WWW: http://www.hypnos.co.uk/hypnomag/nicoli1.htm Schneck, Jerome M. Hypnosis in Modern Medicine. Springfield: Charles C. Thomas, 1953. Wolff, Michael. Personal Interview. 28 Apr. 2000.

The History of Iwo Jima Essay -- Military History

Introduction The island of Iwo Jima is just one of the many islands in the pacific that make up the island chain of Ogasawara. The Ogasawara chain of islands are located approximately 750 miles south of Tokyo. In comparison to most of the other islands in the pacific Iwo Jima is relatively small, in fact it is only four and a half miles long by two and a half miles wide. The geographic layout of Iwo Jima consists of a dormant volcano on the northern side called Mount Suribachi and a flat stretch of land to the south. So why is such a small island so important? After the surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor America needed a place to stage aircraft for conducting bombing runs on Tokyo, Iwo Jima provided the best place to host our fleet of bombers. History Before the war Iwo Jima was inhabited by the Japanese. There was a small fishing village and a very small military installation that consisted of a garrison of the Imperial Japanese Navy. All together there was only a population of 1018 people. However, through out 1944 the Japanese removed all the civilian population from the island and began a massive build up of the military stationed there, by the start of the war there were over 21000 Japanese soldiers on the tiny island. Planning/Preparation The Japanese commander in charge of Iwo Jima was General Kuribayashi. General Kuribayashi believed that America would attack Iwo Jima just the same as they had attacked every other target, with a massive aerial bombardment. Kuribayashi was ordered to build up Iwo Jima the same as every other Japanese base even though they had proven to be useless against the aerial bombing techniques that America used. Despite what other Japanese officers above General Kuribaya... ...olicy denying nuclear weapons on Japanese soil. REFERENCES Chen, Peter, C. (n.d.). Battle of iwo jima. Retrieved from http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=12 O'Brien, Cyril, J. (n.d.). Iwo jima retrospective. Retrieved from http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,NI_Iwo_Jima2,00.html Trueman, Chris. (n.d.). The battle of iwo jima. Retrieved from http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battle_of_iwo_jima.htm Miller, Kimberly, J. (n.d.). Battle for iwo jima: Wwii fact sheet. Retrieved from http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/battleiwojima.htm Morison, Samuel, E. (1960). Victory in the pacific, 1945 – history of the united states naval operations in world war ii. (Vol. 14, p. 389). Boston: Little Brown. James Bradley. , & Ron Powers, (2000). Flags of our fathers. (p. 384). New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Aukland: Bantam Books.

Flannery O’Connors’s short story Essay

I believe the main theme in Flannery O’Connors’s short story, † Good Country People† is approval; everyone wants to believe that they are beautiful and we seek approval from both our parents and friends. In this short story a girl, Joy, longs for her mothers approval. After she is unable to get her mothers approval Joy starts believing that she is unworthy of anyone’s admiration. Joy is thirty-two years of age and has a wooden leg, which makes it even harder for her to be socially accepted. Joy’s wooden leg represents the on going theme of approval in O’Connor’s story. Joy changes her name to Hulga which Mrs.Hopewell feels is one of the ugliest names she could have chosen. This could be interpreted as a representation of how Joy â€Å"Hulga† feels about herself. I do not want to say that I do not have any beliefs, honestly I don’t know what it is that I believe in. To me this story depicts the real meaning of life and how you can be happy with your own self, disability or not. By changing her name to Hulga I believe that Joy not only accepts herself but realizes that not everyone is meant to be made perfectly. Hulga’s main accomplishment is her education, a Ph. D in Philosophy. Joy’s mother, Mrs. Hopewell did not like the fact that her daughter had gotten a Ph. D in Philosophy. † My daughter is a schoolteacher, or even my daughter is a chemical engineer. You cant say, my daughter, the philosopher. That was something that had ended with the Greeks and Romans,† (O’Conner, 276). Hulga’s mother was never really accepting of her daughters choices. Another main character in this short story is, Manley Pointer. I could consider his role in this story to be very ironic. He goes around selling bibles to so called â€Å"non-believers† but can never leave without stealing something. This character is a very smooth talking and can almost always out talk his way out of any tight or difficult situation. Ultimately, the deception of portrayal and deceiving has been seen to symbolize the devil. Pointer starts his deceiving by coming off as to good to be true and overly friendly; all in all a true christian. † I hope you don’t think,† he said in a lofty indignant tone, ‘that I believe in that crap! I may sell bibles but I know which end is up and I wasn’t born yesterday and I know where I’m going,† (O’Connor, 290). Manley finally comes clean to Hulga and admits that he is not really who he says he is and that he is not a christian. Manly had beaten the Hulga, a woman who believed that he was such an innocent man and not much else, began to believe in the man he was and who they could be together. Hulga had â€Å"decided that for the first time in her life she was face to face with real innocence†. (289) This short story has opened my eyes, in the simple fact that the characters are so symbolic. Each one representing faith in their own way. From their names such as, Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman to Hulga’s symbolic wooden leg. We discussed in class the importance of the characters names such as: Mrs. Freeman, free; Mrs. Hopewell, hope; Joy Hopewell, joy; Manly Pointer; man. Each name or figure represents some sort of theme; which makes this short story much more ironic. O’Connors depiction of this story is both comical and very meaningful in many different ways. Mrs. Freeman is comical at the beginning of the story when her facial expressions are described as never being wrong and when she is, it is evident â€Å"her face comes to a complete stop†. (271) Mrs. Hopewell considers herself to be a good person, with each character she sees the good and focuses on that. The reason behind this may be a way of comfort to just see the good, and ignore the bad in people. Joy uses her education as a way of having wisdom and avoiding a belief in any type of religion. Manly is a symbol of deception and control, he takes every situation and manipulates it to his advantage. The characters in this short story portray many people that I associate with in real life. From Mrs. Hopewell who always sees the good things in everybody and does whatever she can to help people out. And Manly, who is like almost every male in this world; in it only for the benefit of himself and in the end hes only going to do something if it benefits him in the end. Then there is Hulga, who is very conscious of the people around her and she also lacks confidence. She lives a very timid life and is afraid to live her own life, shes to worried about what someone is going to say to her. This short story is a very good deception of everyday life and challenges that people are faced with daily. It also contains many different symbols and opened my eyes to the meaning of faith.