African Insurgency Groups: Causes and Responses

African Insurgency Groups: Causes and Responses Daniel Silberstein In response to a spate of violent attacks from the Kenyan capital to the coast President Uhuru Kenyatta has decreed that they â€Å"will not flinch in war against terrorists†, specifically against the Al-Shabaab militant group headquartered in Somalia. His publicly declared position of a robust, aggressive, and continued response against what he refers to as an, â€Å"extremist caliphate† intent on asserting dominance in the region, is certain to be met with both solidarity and criticism amongst Kenyans, Africans, and the global community. Nigeria, home to Africa’s largest economy (according to an April BBC report) also finds itself on the brink of a larger conflict. Flanked by militant insurgency, attributed mostly to the Boko Haram, in the north and the new capital of piracy on its southern shores. The reverberations of these conflicts are uncertain. But, in order to foresee, and perhaps assuage, the consequences of this campaign, and to limit the devastation w e are likely to witness, it is paramount that international interventions adapt and correlations be drawn between this rising contention and contemporary conflicts that define modern warfare. Firstly, this should not be perceived as merely a symptom of the popularized narrative of another African affliction. This is to say that, historically, aggressions were relatively limited in regional scope. This does not downplay the reprehensible past conflicts in Africa: the horrors of genocide – such as Rwanda, Darfur, etc. and entrenched prolonged warfare – such as Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, etc. This is simply, and necessarily, to illustrate that the ramifications of warfare in Africa is quickly becoming a global hazard. The overwhelming contribution to this crises so far? Money, and quite literally tons of it. A 2009 WSJ article by Dambisa Moyo estimated over $1 trillion in fact. So, while the hopes of assisting in curtailing violence and degradation in the region have existed for decades, through foreign aid and, military and political partnerships, it is apparent that the structures in place for facilitation and management have failed to meet expectations. The current system of aid in Africa has become almost farcical. Broad strokes of assistance have missed the mark at best and have been actively harmful at worst. Much of the governmental fixtures that have grown from the influx of poorly distributed aid have actually stifled the genuine progress of their respective constituencies. Political institutions have propagated mostly as middle-men, profiteering from the flow of aid. In 2013, Transparency International placed all but five Sub-Saharan nations on the bottom half of its corruption rankings list. A new course of action is imperative to foster safety and augment economic growth. A discourse about the patronage of wealthy nations in intelligent intervention and investment is becoming more and more vital. That being said, undeterred by turmoil Africa is on the verge of a new day. Racked between geo-political vestiges of imperialism and vulnerable as potential prey to an aloof globalized economy, the region has desperately been seeking for a foothold of stability since the end of WW2. Despite a gridlock of corruption, sectarian violence, and humanitarian disasters, this century is poised to see African nations propelled into an elevated global status, both politically and economically. Countries like Botswana, Angola, and many others are experiencing an enormous growth in their middle-class sectors, which according to â€Å"The Economist† is projected to equal India’s middle-class sometime in 2015. While not the equivalent of the Western standard for middle-class this, consumer base will exponentially increase the marketability and influence of Africa’s economic bids. The consequences of increased economic pertinence is apparent throughout. A budding group of billi onaires speckle the continent, twenty-nine in fact according to Forbes in March. This is up from twenty only one year earlier. Granted, many are South African or hail from Northern Africa, countries not normally framed with Sub-Saharan Africa, but the proximity itself imparts salience. While functional and profitable large businesses develop, along with a stable middle-class, many African nations’ governments are beginning to politically mature. Even pockets of success from more circumspect aid programs exist, especially with micro-grants and loans to ground-level African entrepreneurs, demining initiatives, and the proliferation of educational opportunities. Considering Africa’s historical failures, and a perhaps tenuous grip upon a wave of rapid development, what are the right answers to best facilitate peace and stability? The necessity of foreign aid and intervention still exists. Reevaluating the distribution and access of aid, and developing prudent intervention strategies to comply with measurable outcomes is the only hope for these nations to surmount the magnitude of adversity that haunts the continent. Invariably, it seems to me, certain criteria must be met before a nation can hope to flourish: security and stability, transparency and accountability, and the development of business and infrastructure. While these guidelines are by no means exclusive of one another, nor strictly chronological in implementation. However, some semblance of this order is necessary, especially considering the familiar detachment of government policies to the populations they manage. The regression of the security situation, particularly Nigeria and Kenya the rising stars of self-reliance, threatens to derail these upwardly mobile countries by the very real potential of a conflict whose scope can easily exceed any in African history. The most significant distinction of this rising conflict are the links to a well-funded and ambitious international terrorist culture. Though intelligence is inherently faulty when evaluating extremist groups, links between African insurgency groups and organizations like A l Qaeda and (if not already, certainly soon) ISIS are all but assured. In light of emerging conflicts with borderless extremist organizations, and new found wealth, African defense budgets have soared 65% since 2004, according to The Economist, greater than any other region in that time frame. Almost without fail, since the onset of the Cold War era, ballooning defense budgets are often indicative of impending crises, not only in terms of violence but in the cessation of civil liberties and international instability. To ameliorate this the sale of materiel must follow a strict and discriminatory guideline. This is why the international community must be cohesive and cognizant, even apprehensive, as Kenya and Nigeria embark on their very own â€Å"War on Terror†. Unfortunately, the profit margin for manufacturing in the lucrative arms market is quickly establishing a place in Africa. The same Economist article divulged that â€Å"four major European arms manufacturers have set up African subsidiaries this year†. These will no doubt become e conomic boons but they carry with them the latency of war. One of McNamara’s lessons becomes relevant, â€Å"Proportionality should be a guideline in war†, indeed both in the manner in which it is waged and in the prevention of needless aggression. Problems arise with inflated military spending, the accessibility of war and the justification of expenditures compels nations to treat every problem like a nail with the hammers of automatic rifles. This is the often overlooked criticism of drone warfare. They are often more precise, accurate, and less apt to error than manned machines. A drone pilot in Nevada, overseen by hordes of high-ranking officials and lawyers, is less vulnerable to primal survival instincts and rash decisions. However, accessibility draws us into conflict. When the fear of casualty counts are not smeared on news broadcasts, a sense of invulnerability obfuscates wisdom. In the face of a ravenous enemy it is understandable, though undesirable, that one seeks safety behind the acquisition of arms and muzzle fla shes. Some strides have been made in anticipation of incautious military action. The U.N.’s Forward Intervention Brigade and African Union Peacekeepers have had success in presenting a unified front; the term coalition should be avoided these days to avoid negative connotations. These organizations also lend some transparency to unilateral operations and a more honest assessment of the aftermath of military operations. Obviously these methods of waging war are by no means faultless, it is a step in the right direction. Mutual policing will be fundamental in preventing atrocity. Andrew Muzonzini, the lead for Zimbabwe’s external intelligence agency offers a precocious insight in a Business Insider Article that is in line with the appropriate approach, â€Å"Ahead of time, we should seek to understand (the Islamic State) modus operandi if we are to anticipate and predict challenges ahead†. This conclusion, hopefully shared amongst the milieu of African politics, will (hopefully) be indicative of a circumspect and deliberate course of action to repel extremist behavior. A strong internal defense approach combined with precisely defined and rigidly tailored tactical excursions, targeting only locally substantiated objectives, should be the tenets of this nascent conflict. The global community needs to facilitate such equitable actions. More valuable than financial support, more accurate than high-tech weaponry, we must impart the lessons of an ineffective and prolonged conflict. The manner in which we defend ourselves should not be so broad as to alienate us from the world at large. Africa’s Muslim population’s safety must be assured. Sovereign nations must not be disaffected. And perhaps in the end Africa may edify the global community on how to maintain morality when confronting monsters. What is Online Examination System? What is Online Examination System? Online examinations, sometimes referred as e-examinations, are the examinations conducted through the internet or in an intranet (if within the Organization) for a remote candidate(s). Most of the examinations issue results as the candidate finish the examination, when there is an answer processing module also included with the system. They can be used to efficiently evaluate the candidate thoroughly through a fully automated system that not only saves lot of time but also gives fast results. For students they give papers according to their convenience and time and there is no need of using extra thing like paper, pen etc. These examinations are conducted as open-book type examinations. Candidate is given a limited time to answer the questions and after the time expiry the answer paper is disabled automatically and answers is sent to the examiner. The examiner will evaluate answers, either through automated process or manually and the results will be sent to the candidate through email or made available in the web site. Today many organizations are conducting online examinations worldwide successfully and issue results online. There are advantages and disadvantages in online examinations. The main advantage is that it can be conducted for remote candidates and evaluation of answers can be fully automated for Multiple Choice questions and other essay type questions can be evaluated manually or through automated system, depending on the nature of the questions and the requirements. Also online examinations can be conducted at any time and does not incur higher cost as traditional exam scenario as there is no paper work involved(eg: printing exam papers, prepare paper admissions etc) , there is no invigilators, also no need of arrangement of exam centers. When comparing with traditional exam scenario the cost for an online examination will be almost zero after the online exam system is establishment and if maintenance cost is not considered. The disadvantage of the e-examination is the inability of invigilating. There are methodologies used in these examinations, when registering candidates and presentation of questions, so that to test candidates knowledge and skills. However with a limited time, candidate is not capable of totally depend on the reference materials or a supporting person. AIM OF THE PROJECT The aim of this project is to develop an online examination system by applying software engineering principles and best practices. The system will be built using popular Java/J2EE web technologies and framework available for web development. The system will be designed to be scalable, secure and robust. The online examination system will help in speeding up the process of conducting examination. Teachers will be able to create examinations by composing a set of questions. The questions can be multiple choice questions or single (text) answer question. The system will have the ability to automatically process the results of examination based on the question database. The system will have intelligent capabilities to mark the text based answers not only when there is an exact match, but it will also recognize similar answers by finding the synonyms of the words used in the answer. The system will also provide manual override feature where in the teacher can manually mark or update the result for an exam. The system will also have the capability to resume the examination from last save point, i.e., a student can stop the examination in the middle and can start again at any other time. When the student will start the same examination again, the exam will start from the same point where i t was stopped. The system will present a easy to use interface for Teachers, Students and Administrators. Once logged in, students will be able to see the examinations due and can take the examination. CHAPTER 2 BACKGROUND RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS EVALUATION OF EXAMINATION SYSTEM Paper -Based Examination: Paper -based examination are carrried out on fixed days and according to a fixed schedule. Therefore, the absentees rarely have another chance to take up the exam again. Moreover, they involve a lot of paper work (e.g. printing of exam papers, arranging answer sheets, etc ). The evaluation of these exam is also very tedious job,after the students complete their exams, theteacher has to mark each paper manually and then consolidate the result. This process is very cumbersome and takes a lot of time and hard work. Web- Based Examination: With the emergence of online examinations, the World Wide Web opens up the possibility of giving the exams online. The online examination system helps in speeding up the process of conducting examination. Teachers will be able to create examinations by composing a set of questions. The system will have intelligent capabilities to mark the text based answers not only when there is an exact match, but it will also recognize similar answers by finding the synonyms of the words used in the answer. The system will also provide manual override feature where in the teacher can manually mark or update the result for an exam. The system will also have the capability to resume the examination from last save point, i.e., a student can stop the examination in the middle and can start again at any other time. When the student will start the same examination again, the exam will start from the same point where it was stopped. The system will present a easy to use interface for Teachers, Students and Administrators. Once logged in, students will be able to see the examinations due and can take the examination. TECHNOLOGIES RESEARCH Web applications are either service oriented or presentation oriented. A presentation oriented web application involves generally mark up languages (e.g. XML and HTML) with dynamic contents responding to requests. On the other hand, a service oriented web applications implements the endpoint of the web service. Below is an analysis on Postgres, Hibernate, Spring and Wicket used to implement my project. POSTGRES PostgreSQL is an object-relational database management system (ORDBMS) based on POSTGRES,Version 4.2 (http://s2k-ftp.CS.Berkeley.EDU:8000/postgres/postgres.html), developed at the University of California at Berkeley Computer Science Department. The POSTGRES project, led by Professor Michael Stonebraker, was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA),the Army Research Office (ARO), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and ESL, Inc. PostgreSQL is an open-source descendant of this original Berkeley code. It provides SQL92/SQL99language support and other modern features. POSTGRES pioneered many of the object-relational concepts now becoming available in some commercial databases. Traditional relational database management systems (RDBMS) support a data model consisting of a collection of named relations, containing attributes of a specific type. In current commercial systems, possible types include floating point numbers, integers, character strings, money,and dates. It is commonly recognized that this model is inadequate for future data processing applications. The relational model successfully replaced previous models in part because of its simplicity. However, as mentioned, this simplicity often makes the implementation of certainapplications very difficult. Postgres offers substantial additional power by incorporating the following additional concepts in such a way that users can easily extend the system: inheritance data types functions Other features provide additional power and flexibility: constraints triggers rules transaction integrity These features put Postgres into the category of databases referred to as object-relational. SPRING Spring Features Spring is a layered Java/J2EE application platform, based on code published in  Expert One-on-One J2EE Design and Development  by Rod Johnson (Wrox, 2002). Spring includes: The most complete lightweight container, providing centralized, automated configuration and wiring of your application objects. The container is  non-invasive, capable of assembling a complex system from a set of loosely-coupled components (POJOs) in a consistent and transparent fashion. The container brings agility and leverage, and improves application testability and scalability by allowing software components to be first developed and tested in isolation, then scaled up for deployment in any environment (J2SE or J2EE).    A common abstraction layer for transaction management, allowing for pluggable transaction managers, and making it easy to demarcate transactions without dealing with low-level issues. Generic strategies for JTA and a single JDBC DataSource are included. In contrast to plain JTA or EJB CMT, Springs transaction support is not tied to J2EE environments.    A JDBC abstraction layer  that offers a meaningful exception hierarchy (no more pulling vendor codes out of SQLException), simplifies error handling, and greatly reduces the amount of code youll need to write. Youll never need to write another finally block to use JDBC again. The JDBC-oriented exceptions comply to Springs generic DAO exception hierarchy.    Integration with Toplink, Hibernate, JDO, and iBATIS SQL Maps: in terms of resource holders, DAO implementation support, and transaction strategies. First-class Hibernate support with lots of IoC convenience features, addressing many typical Hibernate integration issues. All of these comply to Springs generic transaction and DAO exception hierarchies.    AOP functionality, fully integrated into Spring configuration management. You can AOP-enable any object managed by Spring, adding aspects such as declarative transaction management. With Spring, you can have declarative transaction management without EJB even without JTA, if youre using a single database in Tomcat or another web container without JTA support.    A flexible MVC web application framework, built on core Spring functionality. This framework is highly configurable via strategy interfaces, and accommodates multiple view technologies like JSP, Velocity, Tiles, iText, and POI. Note that a Spring middle tier can easily be combined with a web tier based on any other web MVC framework, like Struts, WebWork, or Tapestry. HIBERNATE Hibernate is popular open source object relational mapping tool for Java platform. It provides powerful, ultra-high performance object/relational persistence and query service for Java. Hibernate lets you develop persistent classes following common Java idiom including association, inheritance, polymorphism, composition and the Java collections framework. The Hibernate Query Language, designed as a minimal object-oriented extension to SQL, provides an elegant bridge between the object and relational worlds. Hibernate also allows you to express queries using native SQL or Java-based Criteria and Example queries. Hibernate is now the most popular object/relational mapping solution for Java. Hibernate maps the Java classes to the database tables. It also provides the data query and retrieval facilities that significantly reduces the development time. Hibernate is not the best solutions for data centric applications that only uses the stored-procedures to implement the business logic in database. It is most useful with object-oriented domain modes and business logic in the Java-based middle-tier. Hibernate allows transparent persistence that enables the applications to switch any database. Hibernate can be used in Java Swing applications, Java Servlet-based applications, or J2EE applications using EJB session beans. Features of Hibernate Hibernate 3.0 provides three full-featured query facilities: Hibernate Query Language, the newly enhanced Hibernate Criteria Query API, and enhanced support for queries expressed in the native SQL dialect of the database. Filters for working with temporal (historical), regional or permissioned data. Enhanced Criteria query API: with full support for projection/aggregation and subselects. Runtime performance monitoring: via JMX or local Java API, including a second-level cache browser. Eclipse support, including a suite of Eclipse plug-ins for working with Hibernate 3.0, including mapping editor, interactive query prototyping, schema reverse engineering tool. Hibernate is Free under LGPL: Hibernate can be used to develop/package and distribute the applications for free. Hibernate is Scalable: Hibernate is very performant and due to its dual-layer architecture can be used in the clustered environments. Less Development Time: Hibernate reduces the development timings as it supports inheritance, polymorphism, composition and the Java Collection framework. Automatic Key Generation: Hibernate supports the automatic generation of primary key for your. JDK 1.5 Enhancements: The new JDK has been released as a preview earlier this year and we expect a slow migration to the new 1.5 platform throughout 2004. While Hibernate3 still runs perfectly with JDK 1.2, Hibernate3 will make use of some new JDK features. JSR 175 annotations, for example, are a perfect fit for Hibernate metadata and we will embrace them aggressively. We will also support Java generics, which basically boils down to allowing type safe collections. EJB3-style persistence operations: EJB3 defines the create() and merge() operations, which are slightly different to Hibernates saveOrUpdate() and saveOrUpdateCopy() operations. Hibernate3 will support all four operations as methods of the Session interface. Hibernate XML binding enables data to be represented as XML and POJOs interchangeably. The EJB3 draft specification support for POJO persistence and annotations. WICKET Features Swing-like OO Component Model : Pages and Components in Wicket are real Java objects that support encapsulation, inheritance and events. Ease of Development : Because Wicket is Java and HTML, you can leverage what you know about Java or your favorite HTML editor to write Wicket applications. Separation of Concerns : Wicket does not mix markup with Java code and adds no special syntax to your markup files. The worlds of HTML and Java are parallel and associated only by Wicket ids, which are attributes in HTML and Component properties in Java. Since Wicket HTML is just HTML and Wicket Java is just Java, coders and designers can work independently to a large degree and without relying on any special tools. Secure : Wicket is secure by default. URLs do not expose sensitive information and all component paths are session-relative. Explicit steps must be taken to share information between sessions. There are plans for the next version of Wicket to add URL encryption to support highly secure web sites. Transparent, Scalable Clustering Support : All Wicket applications will work on a cluster automatically and without additional work. Once bottlenecks are understood, Wicket enables tuning of page state replication. The next version of Wicket will support client-side models for zero-state scalability. Transparent Back Button Support : Wicket supports configurable page version management. When users submit a form or follow a link from a page they accessed with the back button in their browser, Wicket is able to revert the page object to the state it was in when the page was originally rendered. This means you can write web applications that support the back button with very little work. Multi-tab and multi-window support : Wicket provides an easy way to write application that supports multi-window and multi-tab usage allowing developer to react properly when users open new browser window or tab Reusable Components : Reusable components in Wicket are particularly easy to create. Not only can you extend existing components with the Java extends keyword, but you can also create Panel components which associate a group of components as a reusable unit. Simple, Flexible, Localizable Form Validation : It is trivial to write and use validators in Wicket. It is also quite easy to customize and localize the display and content of validation error messages. Typesafe Sessions : Wicket eliminates the need to manage HttpSession attributes by hand. Page and component objects are transparently stored in the session and your application can create a custom session subclass with typesafe properties as well. All objects stored in the session can automatically participate in clustering replication. Factory Customizable : Wicket is very extensible. Most operations are customizable through factories or factory methods. Detachable Models : Model objects in Wicket can be very lightweight in terms of memory and network use in a cluster. When a model is used, it can attach, populating itself with information from persistent storage. When the model is no longer in use, transient information can be reset, reducing the size of the object. Border Components : Wicket Border components enable the decoration of pages in a reusable fashion. This is especially useful for inheritance of common navigational structures or layout. Support for All Basic HTML Features : Wicket supports image tags, links, forms and everything else that youre used to using in your web application development. Programmatic Manipulation of Attributes : Wicket Components can programmatically change any HTML tag attribute. Automatic Conversions : Once a Form validates, the model can be updated using Wicket converters. Most ordinary conversions are built-in and it is easy to write new converters. Dynamic Images : Wicket makes image use, sharing and generation very easy. Dynamic images can be created by simply implementing a paint method. Pageable ListView : ListViews in Wicket are extremely powerful. You can nest any kind of component in a ListView row, even other ListViews. PageableListView supports navigation links for large lists. Tree Component : Out of the box tree component for navigating and selecting nodes. Localization : HTML pages, images and resource strings can all be localized. CHAPTER-3 REQUIREMENTS AND SPECIFICATIONS The requirement analysis stage consists in collecting and analyzing information about the part of the organization that is supported by the application. This information helps us to identify the users requirements for the new system. This will enable us to define the various functionalities of the new system. The identification of the requirements is important as a system with incomplete functionality can lead to a project failure. 3.1 DATA GATHERING USER IDENTIFICATION Users of the system can be categorized as : Student Teacher Admin(Administrator) FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS The system aims to be an improvement on the existing one, the paper based system by : Fully automated system. Less time and effort consuming. Database should be well maintained with well structured database tables. The system should be scalable. Allow student and teachers to view the available exams. Allow student and teacher to view marks. Allow admin to manage the user system and exam system NON FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS Security : Each user is required to log into the system. This is done using a valid username and password. Login and password should be kept secret. Reliability : The system would be used by more than 200 students in the Computer Science Department, which includes academic and administrative staff. The system should ensure minimum downtime and be able to handle multiple requests. Ease of Use : All the user screens should be easy to use and intuitive. Contact details should be provided in order to get in touch with the administrator. Scalability : It is possible to extend the current features for future use of the system. Performance : The system should have a quick response time . DOMAIN REQUIREMENTS Specific functionality provided to the Admin: Manage User System : Admin can create a new user. Activate/deactivate an existing user.Admin can delete and edit a user. Manage Examination : Admin can edit an exam and assign exam to students. Admin can activate/deactivate any exam. Admin can also delete an exam. Specific functionality provided to the Teacher: Manage Examination : Teacher can create a new exam, edit existing exam. Create questions is one of the important functionality. Question can be textual or it can be single/multiple choice. Mark Exam : Teacher can do the marking of the exam either manually or it can be automated. Specific functionality provided to the Student : Answer Exam : Student can answer the exam assigned. View Point : Student can view the point of a question. He can also view his marks in a particular exam. PROJECT PLANNING Task no. Task Name Duration(days) Comments 1 Project Proposal 4 Deadline 30th September 2010 2 Requirements Specifications Ongoing Identify the users needs. 3 Research For technologies required by the system Ongoing Investigate the technologies to be used, the data structure. Identify important features which can be applied to the project implementation. 4 Architectural Design Ongoing Define different layers of the system and apply appropriate technologies to each layer. 5 Database Design 4 Apply Database schema provided by the School IT support team. Add necessary tables and relationships between them to make the application functional. 6 Prototype 3 Design Mock Interfaces of the application. 7 First Inspection 1 Start on 10th October 2010 8 Design Model 7 Class Diagrams Sequence Diagrams 9 Coding Phase 28 It will include connections to the database server. Develop the interfaces. And implement the functionalities of the system. Deadline 10th December 2010 10 Testing 5 Test all the features of the web application. 11 Final Inspection 1 Start on 20th December 2010 12 Dissertation Ongoing Write the dissertation. 13 Dissertation Submission 1 Deadline 7th January 2011 CHAPTER-4 SYSTEM AND DATABASE DESIGN 4.1 DATABASE DESIGN Table Name Description Answer Answer table is used to save all answer of student and right answer of teacher for each question configuration Configuration is used to save configuration information such as: term condition, mark ratio Examination Examination table is used to save exam Examuser ExamUser table is used to save user Question Question table is used to save question Role Role table is used to save role information studentexamination StudentExamination table is used to save the students which are assigned a particular exam. One student can have many examination and one examination can belongs to many students. user_role UserRole table is used for linking many-to-many relationship between user and role. 4.2 SYSTEM FUNCTION DESIGN At the start of the application , a Welcome Page is displayed. On the left side there are three buttons namely Home, Help and Log in. To log into the application , the user has to press the log in button. It displays a login page. The user is prompted to enter a username and a password. Any wrong login using invalid username and password will generate error message requiring the user to try again. During the user authentication check, the system will determine the type of user (admin, student,teacher) and redirect the user to the correct page with appropriate features. ADMINPAGE If the user logged in is admin, then Adminpage shows up. It has the following links Manage Examination : Admin can manage the Examination System. It can view all the examinations created. The Admin can assign students the exams. Manage User : Admin can manage the User System. This is used to manage the user data. Admin can create a new user, edit an existing , delete a user, enable / disable a user. Configuration : This is used to change the configuration of the exam like terms conditions and the marks ratio. ROLE OF ADMIN CREATE USER When the admin opts to create a new user, he inputs the user information like firstname, lastname, e-mail , username, password, course, role in the user management system. There it is checked whether the user exists or not, and the user information entered is valid or not. If it is valid it is saved into the database. Otherwise, an error message is displayed. ACTIVATE/DEACTIVATE A USER Admin can activate/deactivate any user. For this admin chooses a user from the user system, activate/deactivate the user. Then save it into the database. MANAGE EXAMINATION Admin can assign a particular exam to students. Admin can activate or deactivate any exam. TEACHER PAGE If the user logged in is teacher, Teacherpage shows up. It has the following links : Manage Examination : This is used to manage the existing exams in the database. A teacher can edit exam, create questions for a particular exam, view questions of a exam and mark a exam manually. Create Question : This is used to create question. A question can be textual, single choice or multiple choice. A teacher can also edit the existing questions in the database. Create Examination : This is used to create a new exam. Help : This is to help the teacher in creating a question. ROLE OF TEACHER CREATE EXAM When the teacher opts to create an exam, he inputs the exam name, duration of the exam, description of the exam, mark type into the exam system. There it is checked whether exam name exists or not, duration of the exam is valid or not. If all is valid it is saved into the data base otherwise an error message is returned back to the teacher. A teacher can also edit the existing exam in the database. CREATE QUESTION When the teacher opts to create a question for an exam. He chooses the exam from the exam system and creates a question for it. In the question management system it is checked whether the question content is correct or not. If it is correct, it is saved into the database otherwise an error message is returned to the teacher. MARK MANUALLY When the teacher opts to mark an exam manually, he chooses the exam to be marked from the exam system. He iterates each question and marks them. Then he saves the marks into database. STUDENT PAGE If the user logged in is a student, studentpage shows up. It has the following link : View Point : This is used to view the point assigned to a particular student. Answer Exam : This is used to answer the exam assigned to the student. ROLE OF STUDENT VIEW MARKS A student can view his marks in any exam . ANSWER AN EXAM A student can answer any particular exam assigned to him. He can view point assigned to a question also. INTERFACE DESIGN Figure: Welcome Screen This is the Welcome Screen of our application. On the left hand side there are three buttons : Home, Help, Log in. These enable the user to get to Home Page, Help and Log in helps the user to get logged into the system. The same header and footer will be applicable to every page to preserve the consistency and integrity of the application. We use the ApplicationContext.xml file to define some Java beans like dataSource, SessionFactory, etc so that we can retrieve them in the application. In this way we can reimplement the classes and use alternatively different implementations by just changing the configuration in the ApplicationContext.xml file. Once you have a sessionfactory, your application asks the factory for a session. Your application will use Hibernate sessions to manage the persistent objects. An application context configuration file is created for the entire application named applicationcontext.xml destroy-method=close> ${hibernate.dialect} ${hibernate.show-sql} ${hibernate.hbm2ddl-auto} I need to define a web.xml File contextConfigLocation classpath:application-context.xml;classpath:security-context.xml org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener Deploying the application will create a database called exam as shown below in the Figure CHAPTER 5- IMPLEMENTATION AND TESTING APPLICATION IMPLEMENTATION Create User By Admin CreateUser.java String firstName = firstNameModel.getObject(); String lastName = lastNameModel.getObject(); String email = emailModel.getObject(); String course = courseModel.getObject(); ExamUser user = new ExamUser(); user.setUsername(username); user.setPassword(passwordEncoder.encodePassword(password, null)); user.setFirstName(firstName); user.setLastName(lastName); user.setEmail(email); user.setCourse(course); String selectedRoleName = roleModel.getObject().trim(); userService.createUser(user); Manage User By Admin ManageUser.java List> columns = new ArrayList>(); columns.add(new PropertyColumn(new Model(ID), id) { @Override public String getCssClass() { return numeric; } }); columns.add(new PropertyColumn(new Model(

Commentary on ‘Daddy’ and ‘The Arrival of the Bee Box’ By Sylvia Plath Essay

Sylvia Plath was born in 1932 to Otto Plath, a German immigrant and Aurelia Plath, an American of Austrian descent. She had a very troubled life, suffering extreme depression and emotional trauma before she committed suicide in 1963 by putting her head into a gas oven. Most of her poems reflect this distress and reveal the sorrows of her short life. The poems ‘Daddy and ‘The Arrival of the Bee Box’ are both sad and gloomy poems which highlight many aspects of her life and perhaps reason out why she was forced to kill herself. Both the poems are directly or indirectly related to the two most important and influential men of Sylvia’s life- her father, and her husband Ted Hughes, who himself was a poet. She loved both men, but both of them dominated her and gave her pain and misery which made her life unhappy. As the title suggests, the poem ‘Daddy’ is primarily about her father, but many references are also made to Ted Hughes. ‘The Arrival of the Bee Box’ is more about herself, but in spite of that the reader has to know the nature of these two men to understand the poem completely and derive a meaning from it. ‘Daddy’ highlights the relationship of Sylvia and her father. Sylvia’s father died when she was just ten. This was the time when she adored her father and his death meant a lot to her. But the poem shows the immense hatred she has towards him as she gradually realized how he oppressed her and dominated her life. To use the word ‘daddy’ as the title of the poem is in a way ironical because although the poem is about Sylvia’s father, the word doesn’t fit in particularly well, as it is usually used in a positive way, not in a pessimistic and dark way. The poem has a lot of imagery, metaphors and similes which illustrates Sylvia’s anger towards her father and husband and gives the poem a dark tone. In the poem Sylvia has compared her father to a ‘black shoe’ while has called herself a foot living in it for thirty years. Usually a shoe’s job is to protect or comfort the foot, not to make it feel trapped and helpless. Her father was so authoritarian, that he made Sylvia feel just that. Although her father died when she was ten, she says that she lived like the foot for thirty years, â€Å"barely daring to breathe or achoo†. This shows that her father’s nature haunted her even after he died, as it left such a profound and negative psychological mark on her. The word ‘black’ can be related to death and makes us think of the shoe like a coffin. The idea of a coffin can also be related in the other poem, ‘The Arrival of the Bee Box’, when Sylvia calls the bee box a midget’s coffin. Sylvia’s father was a zoology and bee expert, and so again we can notice how she has created a dark atmosphere with everything related to her father. On an abstract level, the ‘bee box’ can be thought of as Sylvia’s brain and the bees as her thoughts. The idea of her thoughts being trapped inside a coffin shows how depressed and unhappy she is. The imagery of ‘Daddy’ is very vivid and striking. Sylvia calls her father a Nazi as she writes, â€Å"With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo. And you’re neat moustache and your Aryan eye, bright blue†. She compares her father to Hitler, highlighting how cruel and heartless he was. She calls herself a Jew, indicating how he used his authority to oppress her. Such thoughts make us refer to the Holocaust, in which Jews were tortured and killed by the German Nazis. Although Sylvia was dominated by her father, she has used a Hyperbole to describe the situation. According to me her father must not have been as ruthless as Hitler. She has just used this comparison to express her immeasurable hatred towards him. She has further developed images of her father by calling him a vampire-someone who doesn’t kill a person, but haunts it all his life by sucking his blood. She is trying to say that although her father is dead, his character will torment her forever. The imagery of ‘The Arrival of the Bee Box’ is also strong. We get a clear picture of the bees struggling in the dark box illustrating how Sylvia is thinking and feeling. We get a feeling that her thoughts are tormenting her and that she is in a disturbed state of mind. She compares her thoughts to a Roman Mob and says she is not Julius Caesar to control them. Although it is not mentioned, we know that Sylvia is in such a state of mind because of her broken marriage with Ted Hughes. She might be feeling cheated as Ted Hughes left her for another woman. She must be feeling insecure and lonely and cannot in any way run away from her thoughts. In ‘Daddy’ Sylvia also says that she found her father’s resemblance in Ted Hughes, who also dominated her and broke her heart. Here she compares their torture to the medieval methods of the rack and the screw which were cruel and bloody. The tone of the poem is of fear and a little bit of anger, blaming her father and her husband for giving her such a horrid life and simultaneously feeling scared of all that has happened to her in the past. The tone of ‘The Arrival of the Bee Box’ is different, as she is sort of blaming herself for what she thinks. She is agitated with herself because she cannot get rid of her negative thoughts. The last two stanzas of both the poems are very strong and demonstrate an attitude of power and authority from Sylvia. In ‘daddy’ the tone changes from fear to anger when Sylvia says, â€Å"Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through†. One feels that she has overcome all her fears to finally stand up to her father and speak with confidence and fight back. In ‘The Arrival of the Bee Box† she shows that she has power when she says, â€Å"Tomorrow I will be sweet God, I will set them free†. But here she makes it a point to tell the reader that she will not misuse her authority like the way Otto Plath and Ted Hughes did. In the last line of the poem she says that the box is only temporary, showing that she will make an effort to remove those thoughts from her mind, which is a positive end to the poem.

Twilight 22. HIDE-AND-SEEK

22. HIDE-AND-SEEK It had taken much less time than I'd thought – all the terror, the despair, the shattering of my heart. The minutes were ticking by more slowly than usual. Jasper still hadn't come back when I returned to Alice. I was afraid to be in the same room with her, afraid that she would guess†¦ and afraid to hide from her for the same reason. I would have thought I was far beyond the ability to be surprised, my thoughts tortured and unstable, but I was surprised when I saw Alice bent over the desk, gripping the edge with two hands. â€Å"Alice?† She didn't react when I called her name, but her head was slowly rocking side to side, and I saw her face. Her eyes were blank, dazed†¦ My thoughts flew to my mother. Was I already too late? I hurried to her side, reaching out automatically to touch her hand. â€Å"Alice!† Jasper's voice whipped, and then he was right behind her, his hands curling over hers, loosening them from their grip on the table. Across the room, the door swung shut with a low click. â€Å"What is it?† he demanded. She turned her face away from me, into his chest. â€Å"Bella,† she said. â€Å"I'm right here,† I replied. Her head twisted around, her eyes locking on mine, their expression still strangely blank. I realized at once that she hadn't been speaking to me, she'd been answering Jasper's question. â€Å"What did you see?† I said – and there was no question in my flat, uncaring voice. Jasper looked at me sharply. I kept my expression vacant and waited. His eyes were confused as they flickered swiftly between Alice's face and mine, feeling the chaos†¦ for I could guess what Alice had seen now. I felt a tranquil atmosphere settle around me. I welcomed it, using it to keep my emotions disciplined, under control. Alice, too, recovered herself. â€Å"Nothing, really,† she answered finally, her voice remarkably calm and convincing. â€Å"Just the same room as before.† She finally looked at me, her expression smooth and withdrawn. â€Å"Did you want breakfast?† â€Å"No, I'll eat at the airport.† I was very calm, too. I went to the bathroom to shower. Almost as if I were borrowing Jasper's strange extra sense, I could feel Alice's wild – though well-concealed – desperation to have me out of the room, to be alone with Jasper. So she could tell him that they were doing something wrong, that they were going to fail†¦ I got ready methodically, concentrating on each little task. I left my hair down, swirling around me, covering my face. The peaceful mood Jasper created worked its way through me and helped me think clearly. Helped me plan. I dug through my bag until I found my sock full of money. I emptied it into my pocket. I was anxious to get to the airport, and glad when we left by seven. I sat alone this time in the back of the dark car. Alice leaned against the door, her face toward Jasper but, behind her sunglasses, shooting glances in my direction every few seconds. â€Å"Alice?† I asked indifferently. She was wary. â€Å"Yes?† â€Å"How does it work? The things that you see?† I stared out the side window, and my voice sounded bored. â€Å"Edward said it wasn't definite†¦ that things change?† It was harder than I would have thought to say his name. That must have been what alerted Jasper, why a fresh wave of serenity filled the car. â€Å"Yes, things change†¦Ã¢â‚¬  she murmured – hopefully, I thought. â€Å"Some things are more certain than others†¦ like the weather. People are harder. I only see the course they're on while they're on it. Once they change their minds – make a new decision, no matter how small – the whole future shifts.† I nodded thoughtfully. â€Å"So you couldn't see James in Phoenix until he decided to come here.† â€Å"Yes,† she agreed, wary again. And she hadn't seen me in the mirror room with James until I'd made the decision to meet him there. I tried not to think about what else she might have seen. I didn't want my panic to make Jasper more suspicious. They would be watching me twice as carefully now, anyway, after Alice's vision. This was going to be impossible. We got to the airport. Luck was with me, or maybe it was just good odds. Edward's plane was landing in terminal four, the largest terminal, where most flights landed – so it wasn't surprising that his was. But it was the terminal I needed: the biggest, the most confusing. And there was a door on level three that might be the only chance. We parked on the fourth floor of the huge garage. I led the way, for once more knowledgeable about my surroundings than they were. We took the elevator down to level three, where the passengers unloaded. Alice and Jasper spent a long time looking at the departing flights board. I could hear them discussing the pros and cons of New York, Atlanta, Chicago. Places I'd never seen. And would never see. I waited for my opportunity, impatient, unable to stop my toe from tapping. We sat in the long rows of chairs by the metal detectors, Jasper and Alice pretending to people-watch but really watching me. Every inch I shifted in my seat was followed by a quick glance out of the corner of their eyes. It was hopeless. Should I run? Would they dare to stop me physically in this public place? Or would they simply follow? I pulled the unmarked envelope out of my pocket and set it on top of Alice's black leather bag. She looked at me. â€Å"My letter,† I said. She nodded, tucking it under the top flap. He would find it soon enough. The minutes passed and Edward's arrival grew closer. It was amazing how every cell in my body seemed to know he was coming, to long for his coming. That made it very hard. I found myself trying to think of excuses to stay, to see him first and then make my escape. But I knew that was impossible if I was going to have any chance to get away. Several times Alice offered to go get breakfast with me. Later, I told her, not yet. I stared at the arrival board, watching as flight after flight arrived on time. The flight from Seattle crept closer to the top of the board. And then, when I had only thirty minutes to make my escape, the numbers changed. His plane was ten minutes early. I had no more time. â€Å"I think I'll eat now,† I said quickly. Alice stood. â€Å"I'll come with you.† â€Å"Do you mind if Jasper comes instead?† I asked. â€Å"I'm feeling a little†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I didn't finish the sentence. My eyes were wild enough to convey what I didn't say. Jasper stood up. Alice's eyes were confused, but – I saw to my relief- not suspicious. She must be attributing the change in her vision to some maneuver of the tracker's rather than a betrayal by me. Jasper walked silently beside me, his hand on the small of my back, as if he were guiding me. I pretended a lack of interest in the first few airport cafes, my head scanning for what I really wanted. And there it was, around the corner, out of Alice's sharp sight: the level-three ladies' room. â€Å"Do you mind?† I asked Jasper as we passed. â€Å"I'll just be a moment.† â€Å"I'll be right here,† he said. As soon as the door shut behind me, I was running. I remembered the time I had gotten lost from this bathroom, because it had two exits. Outside the far door it was only a short sprint to the elevators, and if Jasper stayed where he said he would, I'd never be in his line of sight. I didn't look behind me as I ran. This was my only chance, and even if he saw me, I had to keep going. People stared, but I ignored them. Around the corner the elevators were waiting, and I dashed forward, throwing my hand between the closing doors of a full elevator headed down. I squeezed in beside the irritated passengers, and checked to make sure that the button for level one had been pushed. It was already lit, and the doors closed. As soon as the door opened I was off again, to the sound of annoyed murmurs behind me. I slowed myself as I passed the security guards by the luggage carousels, only to break into a run again as the exit doors came into view. I had no way of knowing if Jasper was looking for me yet. I would have only seconds if he was following my scent. I jumped out the automatic doors, nearly smacking into the glass when they opened too slowly. Along the crowded curb there wasn't a cab in sight. I had no time. Alice and Jasper were either about to realize I was gone, or they already had. They would find me in a heartbeat. A shuttle to the Hyatt was just closing its doors a few feet behind me. â€Å"Wait!† I called, running, waving at the driver. â€Å"This is the shuttle to the Hyatt,† the driver said in confusion as he opened the doors. â€Å"Yes,† I huffed, â€Å"that's where I'm going.† I hurried up the steps. He looked askance at my luggage-less state, but then shrugged, not caring enough to ask. Most of the seats were empty. I sat as far from the other travelers as possible, and watched out the window as first the sidewalk, and then the airport, drifted away. I couldn't help imagining Edward, where he would stand at the edge of the road when he found the end of my trail. I couldn't cry yet, I told myself. I still had a long way to go. My luck held. In front of the Hyatt, a tired-looking couple was getting their last suitcase out of the trunk of a cab. I jumped out of the shuttle and ran to the cab, sliding into the seat behind the driver. The tired couple and the shuttle driver stared at me. I told the surprised cabbie my mother's address. â€Å"I need to get there as soon as possible.† â€Å"That's in Scottsdale,† he complained. I threw four twenties over the seat. â€Å"Will that be enough?† â€Å"Sure, kid, no problem.† I sat back against the seat, folding my arms across my lap. The familiar city began to rush around me, but I didn't look out the windows. I exerted myself to maintain control. I was determined not to lose myself at this point, now that my plan was successfully completed. There was no point in indulging in more terror, more anxiety. My path was set. I just had to follow it now. So, instead of panicking, I closed my eyes and spent the twenty minutes' drive with Edward. I imagined that I had stayed at the airport to meet Edward. I visualized how I would stand on my toes, the sooner to see his face. How quickly, how gracefully he would move through the crowds of people separating us. And then I would run to close those last few feet between us – reckless as always – and I would be in his marble arms, finally safe. I wondered where we would have gone. North somewhere, so he could be outside in the day. Or maybe somewhere very remote, so we could lay in the sun together again. I imagined him by the shore, his skin sparkling like the sea. It wouldn't matter how long we had to hide. To be trapped in a hotel room with him would be a kind of heaven. So many questions I still had for him. I could talk to him forever, never sleeping, never leaving his side. I could see his face so clearly now†¦ almost hear his voice. And, despite all the horror and hopelessness, I was fleetingly happy. So involved was I in my escapist daydreams, I lost all track of the seconds racing by. â€Å"Hey, what was the number?† The cabbie's question punctured my fantasy, letting all the colors run out of my lovely delusions. Fear, bleak and hard, was waiting to fill the empty space they left behind. â€Å"Fifty-eight twenty-one.† My voice sounded strangled. The cabbie looked at me, nervous that I was having an episode or something. â€Å"Here we are, then.† He was anxious to get me out of his car, probably hoping I wouldn't ask for my change. â€Å"Thank you,† I whispered. There was no need to be afraid, I reminded myself. The house was empty. I had to hurry; my mom was waiting for me, frightened, depending on me. I ran to the door, reaching up automatically to grab the key under the eave. I unlocked the door. It was dark inside, empty, normal. I ran to the phone, turning on the kitchen light on my way. There, on the whiteboard, was a ten-digit number written in a small, neat hand. My fingers stumbled over the keypad, making mistakes. I had to hang up and start again. I concentrated only on the buttons this time, carefully pressing each one in turn. I was successful. I held the phone to my ear with a shaking hand. It rang only once. â€Å"Hello, Bella,† that easy voice answered. â€Å"That was very quick. I'm impressed.† â€Å"Is my mom all right?† â€Å"She's perfectly fine. Don't worry, Bella, I have no quarrel with her. Unless you didn't come alone, of course.† Light, amused. â€Å"I'm alone.† I'd never been more alone in my entire life. â€Å"Very good. Now, do you know the ballet studio just around the corner from your home?† â€Å"Yes. I know how to get there.† â€Å"Well, then, I'll see you very soon.† I hung up. I ran from the room, through the door, out into the baking heat. There was no time to look back at my house, and I didn't want to see it as it was now – empty, a symbol of fear instead of sanctuary. The last person to walk through those familiar rooms was my enemy. From the corner of my eye, I could almost see my mother standing in the shade of the big eucalyptus tree where I'd played as a child. Or kneeling by the little plot of dirt around the mailbox, the cemetery of all the flowers she'd tried to grow. The memories were better than any reality I would see today. But I raced away from them, toward the corner, leaving everything behind me. I felt so slow, like I was running through wet sand – I couldn't seem to get enough purchase from the concrete. I tripped several times, once falling, catching myself with my hands, scraping them on the sidewalk, and then lurching up to plunge forward again. But at last I made it to the corner. Just another street now; I ran, sweat pouring down my face, gasping. The sun was hot on my skin, too bright as it bounced off the white concrete and blinded me. I felt dangerously exposed. More fiercely than I would have dreamed I was capable of, I wished for the green, protective forests of Forks†¦ of home. When I rounded the last corner, onto Cactus, I could see the studio, looking just as I remembered it. The parking lot in front was empty, the vertical blinds in all the windows drawn. I couldn't run anymore – I couldn't breathe; exertion and fear had gotten the best of me. I thought of my mother to keep my feet moving, one in front of the other. As I got closer, I could see the sign inside the door. It was handwritten on hot pink paper; it said the dance studio was closed for spring break. I touched the handle, tugged on it cautiously. It was unlocked. I fought to catch my breath, and opened the door. The lobby was dark and empty, cool, the air conditioner thrumming. The plastic molded chairs were stacked along the walls, and the carpet smelled like shampoo. The west dance floor was dark, I could see through the open viewing window. The east dance floor, the bigger room, was lit. But the blinds were closed on the window. Terror seized me so strongly that I was literally trapped by it. I couldn't make my feet move forward. And then my mother's voice called. â€Å"Bella? Bella?† That same tone of hysterical panic. I sprinted to the door, to the sound of her voice. â€Å"Bella, you scared me! Don't you ever do that to me again!† Her voice continued as I ran into the long, high-ceilinged room. I stared around me, trying to find where her voice was coming from. I heard her laugh, and I whirled to the sound. There she was, on the TV screen, tousling my hair in relief. It was Thanksgiving, and I was twelve. We'd gone to see my grandmother in California, the last year before she died. We went to the beach one day, and I'd leaned too far over the edge of the pier. She'd seen my feet flailing, trying to reclaim my balance. â€Å"Bella? Bella?† she'd called to me in fear. And then the TV screen was blue. I turned slowly. He was standing very still by the back exit, so still I hadn't noticed him at first. In his hand was a remote control. We stared at each other for a long moment, and then he smiled. He walked toward me, quite close, and then passed me to put the remote down next to the VCR. I turned carefully to watch him. â€Å"Sorry about that, Bella, but isn't it better that your mother didn't really have to be involved in all this?† His voice was courteous, kind. And suddenly it hit me. My mother was safe. She was still in Florida. She'd never gotten my message. She'd never been terrified by the dark red eyes in the abnormally pale face before me. She was safe. â€Å"Yes,† I answered, my voice saturated with relief. â€Å"You don't sound angry that I tricked you.† â€Å"I'm not.† My sudden high made me brave. What did it matter now? It would soon be over. Charlie and Mom would never be harmed, would never have to fear. I felt almost giddy. Some analytical part of my mind warned me that I was dangerously close to snapping from the stress. â€Å"How odd. You really mean it.† His dark eyes assessed me with interest. The irises were nearly black, just a hint of ruby around the edges. Thirsty. â€Å"I will give your strange coven this much, you humans can be quite interesting. I guess I can see the draw of observing you. It's amazing – some of you seem to have no sense of your own self-interest at all.† He was standing a few feet away from me, arms folded, looking at me curiously. There was no menace in his face or stance. He was so very average-looking, nothing remarkable about his face or body at all. Just the white skin, the circled eyes I'd grown so used to. He wore a pale blue, long-sleeved shirt and faded blue jeans. â€Å"I suppose you're going to tell me that your boyfriend will avenge you?† he asked, hopefully it seemed to me. â€Å"No, I don't think so. At least, I asked him not to.† â€Å"And what was his reply to that?† â€Å"I don't know.† It was strangely easy to converse with this genteel hunter. â€Å"I left him a letter.† â€Å"How romantic, a last letter. And do you think he will honor it?† His voice was just a little harder now, a hint of sarcasm marring his polite tone. â€Å"I hope so.† â€Å"Hmmm. Well, our hopes differ then. You see, this was all just a little too easy, too quick. To be quite honest, I'm disappointed. I expected a much greater challenge. And, after all, I only needed a little luck.† I waited in silence. â€Å"When Victoria couldn't get to your father, I had her find out more about you. There was no sense in running all over the planet chasing you down when I could comfortably wait for you in a place of my choosing. So, after I talked to Victoria, I decided to come to Phoenix to pay your mother a visit. I'd heard you say you were going home. At first, I never dreamed you meant it. But then I wondered. Humans can be very predictable; they like to be somewhere familiar, somewhere safe. And wouldn't it be the perfect ploy, to go to the last place you should be when you're hiding – the place that you said you'd be. â€Å"But of course I wasn't sure, it was just a hunch. I usually get a feeling about the prey that I'm hunting, a sixth sense, if you will. I listened to your message when I got to your mother's house, but of course I couldn't be sure where you'd called from. It was very useful to have your number, but you could have been in Antarctica for all I knew, and the game wouldn't work unless you were close by. â€Å"Then your boyfriend got on a plane to Phoenix. Victoria was monitoring them for me, naturally; in a game with this many players, I couldn't be working alone. And so they told me what I'd hoped, that you were here after all. I was prepared; I'd already been through your charming home movies. And then it was simply a matter of the bluff. â€Å"Very easy, you know, not really up to my standards. So, you see, I'm hoping you're wrong about your boyfriend. Edward, isn't it?† I didn't answer. The bravado was wearing off. I sensed that he was coming to the end of his gloat. It wasn't meant for me anyway. There was no glory in beating me, a weak human. â€Å"Would you mind, very much, if I left a little letter of my own for your Edward?† He took a step back and touched a palm-sized digital video camera balanced carefully on top of the stereo. A small red light indicated that it was already running. He adjusted it a few times, widened the frame. I stared at him in horror. â€Å"I'm sorry, but I just don't think he'll be able to resist hunting me after he watches this. And I wouldn't want him to miss anything. It was all for him, of course. You're simply a human, who unfortunately was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and indisputably running with the wrong crowd, I might add.† He stepped toward me, smiling. â€Å"Before we begin†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I felt a curl of nausea in the pit of my stomach as he spoke. This was something I had not anticipated. â€Å"I would just like to rub it in, just a little bit. The answer was there all along, and I was so afraid Edward would see that and ruin my fun. It happened once, oh, ages ago. The one and only time my prey escaped me. â€Å"You see, the vampire who was so stupidly fond of this little victim made the choice that your Edward was too weak to make. When the old one knew I was after his little friend, he stole her from the asylum where he worked – I never will understand the obsession some vampires seem to form with you humans – and as soon as he freed her he made her safe. She didn't even seem to notice the pain, poor little creature. She'd been stuck in that black hole of a cell for so long. A hundred years earlier and she would have been burned at the stake for her visions. In the nineteen-twenties it was the asylum and the shock treatments. When she opened her eyes, strong with her fresh youth, it was like she'd never seen the sun before. The old vampire made her a strong new vampire, and there was no reason for me to touch her then.† He sighed. â€Å"I destroyed the old one in vengeance.† â€Å"Alice,† I breathed, astonished. â€Å"Yes, your little friend. I was surprised to see her in the clearing. So I guess her coven ought to be able to derive some comfort from this experience. I get you, but they get her. The one victim who escaped me, quite an honor, actually. â€Å"And she did smell so delicious. I still regret that I never got to taste†¦ She smelled even better than you do. Sorry – I don't mean to be offensive. You have a very nice smell. Floral, somehow†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He took another step toward me, till he was just inches away. He lifted a lock of my hair and sniffed at it delicately. Then he gently patted the strand back into place, and I felt his cool fingertips against my throat. He reached up to stroke my cheek once quickly with his thumb, his face curious. I wanted so badly to run, but I was frozen. I couldn't even flinch away. â€Å"No,† he murmured to himself as he dropped his hand, â€Å"I don't understand.† He sighed. â€Å"Well, I suppose we should get on with it. And then I can call your friends and tell them where to find you, and my little message.† I was definitely sick now. There was pain coming, I could see it in his eyes. It wouldn't be enough for him to win, to feed and go. There would be no quick end like I'd been counting on. My knees began to shake, and I was afraid I was going to fall. He stepped back, and began to circle, casually, as if he were trying to get a better view of a statue in a museum. His face was still open and friendly as he decided where to start. Then he slumped forward, into a crouch I recognized, and his pleasant smile slowly widened, grew, till it wasn't a smile at all but a contortion of teeth, exposed and glistening. I couldn't help myself- I tried to run. As useless as I knew it would be, as weak as my knees already were, panic took over and I bolted for the emergency door. He was in front of me in a flash. I didn't see if he used his hand or his foot, it was too fast. A crushing blow struck my chest – I felt myself flying backward, and then heard the crunch as my head bashed into the mirrors. The glass buckled, some of the pieces shattering and splintering on the floor beside me. I was too stunned to feel the pain. I couldn't breathe yet. He walked toward me slowly. â€Å"That's a very nice effect,† he said, examining the mess of glass, his voice friendly again. â€Å"I thought this room would be visually dramatic for my little film. That's why I picked this place to meet you. It's perfect, isn't it?† I ignored him, scrambling on my hands and knees, crawling toward the other door. He was over me at once, his foot stepping down hard on my leg. I heard the sickening snap before I felt it. But then I did feel it, and I couldn't hold back my scream of agony. I twisted up to reach for my leg, and he was standing over me, smiling. â€Å"Would you like to rethink your last request?† he asked pleasantly. His toe nudged my broken leg and I heard a piercing scream. With a shock, I realized it was mine. â€Å"Wouldn't you rather have Edward try to find me?† he prompted. â€Å"No!† I croaked. â€Å"No, Edward, don't-† And then something smashed into my face, throwing me back into the broken mirrors. Over the pain of my leg, I felt the sharp rip across my scalp where the glass cut into it. And then the warm wetness began to spread through my hair with alarming speed. I could feel it soaking the shoulder of my shirt, hear it dripping on the wood below. The smell of it twisted my stomach. Through the nausea and dizziness I saw something that gave me a sudden, final shred of hope. His eyes, merely intent before, now burned with an uncontrollable need. The blood – spreading crimson across my white shirt, pooling rapidly on the floor – was driving him mad with thirst. No matter his original intentions, he couldn't draw this out much longer. Let it be quick now, was all I could hope as the flow of blood from my head sucked my consciousness away with it. My eyes were closing. I heard, as if from underwater, the final growl of the hunter. I could see, through the long tunnels my eyes had become, his dark shape coming toward me. With my last effort, my hand instinctively raised to protect my face. My eyes closed, and I drifted.

Unnecessary Tragedies The Salem Witch Trials - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1631 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2019/06/10 Category History Essay Level High school Tags: Salem Witch Trials Essay Did you like this example? During the spring of 1692, a small village in Massachusetts forever changed the course of history. It was during this time when many young girls came forward, accusing a number of the local residents of witchcraft. The girls claimed that these people were being possessed by the devil, and were causing them to act in very strange ways. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Unnecessary Tragedies: The Salem Witch Trials" essay for you Create order These accusations found locals sentenced to prison, and or dead by ways of public execution. The Salem Witch Trials were a tragic event in history that should have never happened. These events occurred due to the puritans hierarchical belief system. Which made the accused more likely to be tried as a witch because the majority of them were women. Women during this period did not have the same rights as men, and were seen as objects rather than actual people. The atrocities committed during the Salem Witch Trials were made possible due to politics, puritans religion, hierarchical disorder, blackmail, and teen angst. The Salem Witch Trials was caused by a plethora of different reasons, one specific reason being politics; Or, maybe witchcraft accusations were more grounded in politics than in social tensions, gender bias, or religious belief. It was no coincidence that the outbreak in Salem occurred just as the effects of Englands Glorious Revolution of 1688 were filtering into the colonies (Cawthon 1). Politics were a major contributing factor during these times, as accusations were used to gain political power. Or in some cases to regain diminishing political power. Before the Salem Witch Trials it was known that Reverend Samuel Parris power amongst the community was diminishing. So Reverend Parris used the mass hysteria of the witch trials gain back power, as he forced his slave Tituba to admit to being a witch. A man who is on the verge of losing his high ranking status would do anything to stay in power. Such as making up a story about a woman who he doesnt care much for. Playing on t he Puritans belief in witches, knowing it would erupt in panic and chaos. His daughter was even one of the first accusers, so it isnt too far fetched to believe that he told his daughter to accuse Tituba, and start the Salem Witch Trials. The puritan religion shaped the argument for the Salem witch trials by their hierarchical beliefs. Accusing women as witches was the perfect ploy for a epidemic of mass hysteria as women had little to no rights. Making the accusations of these women being witches all the more believable due to the puritans beliefs. Some may even argue that the puritans were the main cause of the Salem witch trials due to their outlandish beliefs and core values. The Puritans were one of the leading causes to the Salem witch trials; To the Puritans though, belief in witchcraft was not based on superstition; it was based on simple fact. All the turmoil surrounding them, to the Puritan mind, was caused by the devil, in partnership with his earthly servants: witches. To them it was no surprise that the devil would test them by placing witches in their communities (House 1). The Puritan Legal Code was created in 1641, 51 years before the Salem Witch Trials had begun. The code essentially listed crimes based its severity, and witchcraft was a more severe crime then murder. So with this state of mind it is understandable why so many lost their lives during the trials. When the young girls behavior started, and there was no medical explanation for their actions, the Puritans blamed it on witchcraft. As the girls were examined by the villages only doctor, the wounds inflicted and the psychological stress had an undetermined cause. It is also worth noting that the doctor was speculated to be able to read but unable to write. So the examination of the girls was poor in its conclusion to say the least. After the unclear causes, it essentially opened up a flood gate of accusations during this period in time. With the puritans mindset focused solely on witchcraft being the only logical explanation, it did not take long for the spread of mass hysteria to begin. The Salem witch trials were practically inevitable in hindsight. The puritan belief in witchcraft being a more heinous crime than murder, even though witchcraft required no legitimate proof of whether the defendant was guilty or not. While murder, compared to witchcraft was more cut and dry. Not to mention above all crimes was idolatry, essentially banning any other form of religion or thinking other than the puritan belief. Thi s village of Salem was bound to suffer some form of tragedy, in this case it was the Salem witch trials. The puritans hierarchical view played an integral role in the formation of the Salem Witch Trials; Puritans had a hierarchical view of the world with women being subservient to men, especially in marriage. Many of the accused in Salem (71 of 124 witches whose inheritance patterns can be documented, or 57 percent) came from families with no male heirs. A woman with money and property represented an abnormality, and therefore, a threat to the established order (Scotti 1). These views are the exact reason why something like the salem witch trials occurred. The Puritan jealousy of wealthier women during this period was an ideal reason to peg many women as witches. Even though some men perished during the witch trials, the majority of the deaths/ imprisonments were women. The Puritans couldnt stand the idea that a woman could be more wealthy than that of a male Puritan. So they pressured young girls into accusing the women that obtained these riches from their families. That way e verything would go back to the way its supposed to be, with men ruling over women. The Salem witch trials was a form of social control propagated by the rich and prestigious white male to essentially keep women in their place. The oppression that women faced during this period of time and throughout history is unfathomable. This idea of sexism in the late 1600rs led to the unwarranted death of so many innocent women. Another reason that these horrific crimes occurred was blackmail; The Salem witch hunt began when several young girls were discovered telling fortunes with a crystal ball. To avoid punishment, the girls claimed that they had been tormented by witches. The attempt by authorities to locate the witches responsible for the girls suffering quickly accelerated (Queen 1). Blackmail coaxed the girls into these accusations, and it didnt take long for officials to abuse this lie for personal gain. In February of 1692, two young girls by the names of Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams accused three different women of witchcraft. The accused women were Tituba who was a slave of Reverend Parris, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne. Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne claimed to be innocent, but were ultimately found guilty. These women ended up dying as a result of the guilty verdict. As for Tituba, she admitted to being a witch and was quoted as saying during the trials; The devil came to me and bid me se rve him (Tituba 1). Titubas confession is key because she confessed to a crime she most likely did not commit. These women were accused only after they were pressured into doing so by John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin. These two men were both civil officers or judges during the time of the Salem Witch Trials. So not only were the girls lying about the torment, they were pressured into accusing women who were likely suggested by a male puritan of a higher stature. Incidents such as this plagued this poor Salem village, causing the imprisonment and or death of many women. Teen angst was another vital aspect of the Salem Witch Trials; Still, a widening ring of girls, mostly between 12 and 19 years of age, became afflicted with the symptoms of bewitchment. Accusations and arrests in Salem surged throughout the spring (Conforti 1). The lack of activities for teenagers during this period of time was key in the surging accusations. One of the reasons why these accusations should have been further reviewed and closer looked at was that all the accusations were from children. It is baffling to believe that a town full of adults, some of who were very well educated, would blindly believed every single accusation made by these girls. George Burroughs was one of the few men who were accused of witchcraft, he was a graduate of Harvard. This graduate was accused of being the so called leader of the witches, commanding the other accused to hurt the children of Salem. Burroughs was publicly executed shortly after the accusation in court. When Burroughs was being publicly executed he recited the lords prayer without any mistakes. Witches were not supposed to be able to do that which shed doubt amongst the crowd that day in Salem. The evidence against Burroughs was undoubtedly insufficient as the stories shared in the court room that dreadful day grew more and more obscure. The story of the Salem Witch Trials is arguably one of the saddest displays of human intelligence throughout history. In 1692, Salem Massachusetts faced one of the most unnecessary tragedies in human history, the Salem Witch Trials. The trials claimed many victims as the majority of them were women, although a few men, such as George Burroughs, perished as well. The influx of accusations all stemmed from the initial two girls who came forward first, Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris. These two girls accused Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne of witchcraft, Tituba confessed, while Sarah Good and Osborne denied all accusations. This would be the start to the horrific events that are the Salem Witch Trials. . The horrors executed throughout the Salem Witch Trials were achieved because of politics, puritans religion, hierarchical disorder, blackmail, and teen angst.