Life is full of mystery Essay

Life is full of mystery that will lead us to one experience to another. There are hurtful experiences that we may want to forget but there are happy moments that will surely linger on our thoughts for many years. Allow me to narrate some of the many valuable experiences in my life. The succeeding pages will tell you how blessed and lucky I am as a person in this world. Through the years of my life, I came to know about various people who provided a great impact on my personality and beliefs. It narrates of my experiences about school, family, friendship, acquaintances and discoveries in life. The journey towards one’s success can be measured about the priceless moments that will always remain in mind, heart and soul. I can say that my personal and professional experience made me a better person who is willing to accept more memorable experience to come. Gaze upon the following pages of this booklet and be enchanted about my rollercoaster kind of life. It made me the person that I am now and an individual that will face the future with full optimist. At the end of the day, I always contemplate on things that have happened and ask myself what I have done so far. The contentment that I feel each time I remember gives me enough courage to move on and seek for more adventure in the future. One will never find his/her way forward if he/she never knows how to look back. Yesterday will always be a part of our personality and I can say that life will be meaningless if I was not given the chance to experience the following stories. Memories with Mother Life is best shared with people whom you trust most. As I look back and recall my childhood days, I cannot help but compare the love and care that I receive from my beloved mother. She is one of the most precious gift that God has given me. From the day I was born until I learn how to walk and talk, she is always by my side and never gets tired of giving me the attention and patience that I need most. There was a point in my life that I always get bruised and injured from playing outside. I end up running home with tears on my eyes. But as the door opens for me, Mother is always there giving me the best hug and warm kisses that will cast all my pains away. She reminds me that I should never be depressed from getting those bruises since it will make me a stronger and better person when I grew up. At first I though that I should take that word literally since wound are healed as days goes by and I cannot feel any pain from it. As I grow up and experience having problems about life, school and many more, I came to realize that there is a deeper meaning behind those bruises and it effect on my personality. I clearly remember how I gain problems more serious that getting injured. I get depressed and frustrated by getting low grades but I eventually learn from my mistakes and studies harder than before. Mother’s words of wisdom are priceless because it speaks of courage and confidence about my personality. My perception about bruises and being stronger are changed because as I mature, I realize that life is full of problems that may cause wounds to people but once they recover they will be more stronger and confident than before. As days goes by I will always remember the bountiful encouragements that mother always told me.

Miss Julie” by August Strindberg and “Death In Venice” by Thomas Mann Essay

The presentation of the theme and the main characters of â€Å"Miss Julie† by August Strindberg and â€Å"Death In Venice† by Thomas Mann. The comparative study will examine the theme of lust and love, and the similarities between the two main characters from the play â€Å"Miss Julie† by August Strindberg and the Novel † Death in Venice† by Thomas Mann. The main characters from each story come from a higher class, and they are expected to act noble, but somehow they both fail because of their desires for love and lust. August Strindberg wishes to portray a high class family that have certain standards and values, that Miss Julie; the daughter of the family, fails to fulfill. Miss Julie flirts with the servant and looses her virginity to him, her â€Å"curiosity† for the servant results in her being dishonored by people around her. Her lust for the servant makes her weak and in the end she commits suicide because she was provoked by the servant called Jean. In Thomas Mann’s novel on the other hand, the main character is a man called Gustav von Aschenbach, who comes off as a conservative and somewhat â€Å"religious† man. He is a known author that travels to Venice and comes across a boy that fascinates him, his fascination makes him follow the young boy called Tadzio around Venice. Even at a young age Tadzio is well aware of his beauty, and he uses it to capture Aschenbachs attention and his curiosity. Aschenbach too, dies because of his love for Tadzio. Aschenbach gets poisoned by the cholera epidemic in Venice. He dies while watching Tadzio on the beach, he dies in his chair. Miss Julie is a daughter of a count and therefore she is wealthy, and has a full staff of servants. Miss Julie seems like a very extroverted person, she approaches the staff and talks to them. One in particular, the servant called Jean. One midsummer night Miss Julie grabs Jean and dances with him, but it was not a subtle dance, Jean describes it while talking to his fiancà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Christine. Jean: † I took the count to the station, and when I came back by the barn, I went in and had a dance and there I saw a young lady leading the dance with the gamekeeper. But when she caught sight of me, she rushed right up to me and asked me to dance the ladies waltz with her. And ever since she’s been waltzing like – well, I never saw the like of it. She’s crazy.†1 This is an example of how Miss Julie approaches people, in a confident way. When you read the dialogue between Jean and Miss Julie throughout the book, it is noticeable that Jean is doing all the talking, and â€Å"philosophizing†, Miss Julie sits with him alone in the kitchen and listens carefully. Their situation is a problematic one, because even though Jean is Miss Julie’s servant he is also a man, and because of the time the story takes place, the man is above the woman. Miss Julie looses her virginity to Jean in the kitchen, and after Jean has sexual intercourse with Miss Julie he realizes that she has no honor or money herself. She realizes what her lust for him has made her do, she will now become dishonored by her dad and everyone around her. Jean disrespects her, even though he was the one who just slept with her, and Miss Julie doesn’t know what to do with herself? Julie: Help me, help me! Tell me only what I am to do – where I am to turn? Jean: O lord, if only I knew myself! Julie: I have been exasperated, I have been mad, but there ought to be some way of saving myself. Jean: Stay right here and keep quiet, Nobody knows anything. Julie: Impossible! The people know, and Christine knows. Jean: They don’t know, and they would never believe it possible. Julie: (hesitating) But – it might happen again. 2 This dialogue is a clear example of their relationship, Miss Julie seemed confident in the start, but because of her developing feelings for Jean she becomes insecure, and starts to ask Jean what do to. The play ends with Miss Julie following Jean’s advice and committing suicide, so she would not have to confront her mistakes. She looses all her power, and nobility by sleeping with the servant. In the end it is obvious to observe that Miss Julie simply just wanted a man that could take care of her, and her lusts took over her common sense. Miss Julie’s dilemma is very controversial, because what she was doing was very common amongst the male aristocrats. This is a typical example of inequality between sexes! Thomas Mann’s controversial novel portrays a man called Gustav von Aschenbach who is an author that travels to Venice alone on a trip. When he arrives in Venice he is very observant, and he notices different people around him, acting silly and he almost gets appalled by their behavior. He saw an elderly man with a mask on, entertaining some younger people. â€Å"They seemed to be tolerating his presence among them as something habitual and to taken for granted, they treated him as an equal, reciprocated without embarrassment when he teasingly poked them in the ribs. How was this possible?† 3 This is why Aschenbach is a very conservative man, who does not see beyond his own black and white world. This is one thing that changes on his trip, after checking in to his hotel, he notices a Polish family, amongst them there is a young boy who startles Aschenbach, his beauty startles him and the boy called Tadzio catches Aschenbach’s full attention. Aschenbach’s love and desire for the boy persuades himself to make up an excuse to stay in Venice, even though he was about to leave because of his bad health condition. His weeks in Venice result in him sitting by the beach and observing Tadzio. One day, Tadzio turns around and looks directly at Aschenbach, he stares at him in a cocky way, as if he is self aware of his beauty and how Aschenbach feels about him. Aschenbach merely convinces himself that he only has an â€Å"abstract and artistic interest.† Though it is obvious that he has gotten a serious obsession for him, and started to almost love him. The city of Venice was infected with a bad cholera epidemic, Aschenbach can smell how bad it had gotten, but instead of leaving or staying inside he continues to walk around, as if it is a sense of redemption for what he is thinking. Aschenbach knows himself that what he is doing, and thinking is wrong. His fascination for the boy has taken over his common sense. He does not approach Tadzio but he follows him around Venice, and he dreams about him, and discovers his sexual lusts. One afternoon he goes to the lobby and finds out that the Polish family is leaving, then even in his ill condition he goes to the beach to watch Tadzio for the last time. Tadzio is standing unsupervised by the beach and looking out at the water, he looks back at his admirer, Aschenbach tries to get up but falls back in his chair and dies. Miss Julie was written in 1888, and Death in Venice was written in 1912. There are not many similarities between the authors, and the styles these two stories were written in. Yet they do have similar themes and similar characters. Lust and love, was what drove both main characters to act differently, and controversial to what they are use to. They both die because of there actions, which were made because of their desires. Both the stories are tragedies but expressed in very different ways, one through a play another through a novel. Miss Julie and Gustav Von Aschenbach have both suffered, suffered what they normally would believe was a good thing, love. It was forbidden love and lust. Bibliography Strindberg, August. Miss Julie. New York: Dover Publications, 1992. Print. Thomas, Mann,. Death in Venice and other stories. London: Vintage, 1998. Print. 1 Miss Julie, August Strindberg P.2 2 Miss Julie, August Strindberg P.25 3 Death in Venice, Thomas Mann P.211

Black House Chapter Twenty

20 AROUND THE TIME Mouse and Beezer first fail to see the little road and the NO TRESPASSING sign beside it, Jack Sawyer answers the annoying signal of his cell phone, hoping that his caller will turn out to be Henry Leyden with information about the voice on the 911 tape. Although an identification would be wonderful, he does not expect Henry to I.D. the voice; the Fisherman?CBurnside is Potsie's age, and Jack does not suppose the old villain has much of a social life, here or in the Territories. What Henry can do, however, is to apply his finely tuned ears to the nuances of Burnside's voice and describe what he hears in it. If we did not know that Jack's faith in his friend's capacity to hear distinctions and patterns inaudible to other people was justified, that faith would seem as irrational as the belief in magic: Jack trusts that a refreshed, invigorated Henry Leyden will pick up at least one or two crucial details of history or character that will narrow the search. Anything that Henry picks up will interest Jack. If someone else is calling him, he intends to get rid of whoever it is, fast. The voice that answers his greeting revises his plans. Fred Marshall wants to talk to him, and Fred is so wound up and incoherent that Jack must ask him to slow down and start over. â€Å"Judy's flipping out again,† Fred says. â€Å"Just . . . babbling and raving, and getting crazy like before, trying to rip through the walls oh God, they put her in restraints and she hates that, she wants to help Ty, it's all because of that tape. Christ, it's getting to be too much to handle, Jack, Mr. Sawyer, I mean it, and I know I'm running off at the mouth, but I'm really worried.† â€Å"Don't tell me someone sent her the 911 tape,† Jack says. â€Å"No, not . . . what 911 tape? I'm talking about the one that was delivered to the hospital today. Addressed to Judy. Can you believe they let her listen to that thing? I want to strangle Dr. Spiegleman and that nurse, Jane Bond. What's the matter with these people? The tape comes in, they say, oh goody, here's a nice tape for you to listen to, Mrs. Marshall, hold on, I'll be right back with a cassette player. On a mental ward? They don't even bother to listen to it first? Look, whatever you're doing, I'd be eternally grateful if you'd let me pick you up, so I could drive you over there. You could talk to her. You're the only person who can calm her down.† â€Å"You don't have to pick me up, because I'm already on the way. What was on the tape?† â€Å"I don't get it.† Fred Marshall has become considerably more lucid. â€Å"Why are you going there without me?† After a second of thought, Jack tells him an outright lie. â€Å"I thought you would probably be there already. It's a pity you weren't.† â€Å"I would have had the sense to screen that tape before letting her hear it. Do you know what was on that thing?† â€Å"The Fisherman,† Jack says. â€Å"How did you know?† â€Å"He's a great communicator,† Jack says. â€Å"How bad was it?† â€Å"You tell me, and then we'll both know. I'm piecing it together from what I gathered from Judy and what Dr. Spiegleman told me later.† Fred Marshall's voice begins to waver. â€Å"The Fisherman was taunting her. Can you believe that? He said, Your little boy is very lonely. Then he said something like, He's been begging and begging to call home and say hello to his mommy. Except Judy says he had a weird foreign accent, or a speech impediment, or something, so he wasn't easy to understand right away. Then he says, Say hello to your mommy, Tyler, and Tyler . . .† Fred's voice breaks, and Jack can hear him stifling his agony before he begins again. â€Å"Tyler, ah, Tyler was apparently too distressed to do much but scream for help.† A long, uncertain inhalation comes over the phone. â€Å"And he cried, Jack, he cried.† Unable to contain his feelings any longer, Fred weeps openly, unguardedly. His breath rattles in his throat; Jack listens to all the wet, undignified, helpless noises people make when grief and sorrow cancel every other feeling, and his heart moves for Fred Marshall. The sobbing relents. â€Å"Sorry. Sometimes I think they'll have to put me in restraints.† â€Å"Was that the end of the tape?† â€Å"He got on again.† Fred breathes noisily for a moment, clearing his head. â€Å"Boasting about what he was going to do. Dere vill be morrr mur-derts, and morrr afder dat, Choo-dee, we are all goink zu haff sotch fun Spiegleman quoted this junk to me! The children of French Landing will be harvested like wheat. Havv-uz-ted like wheed. Who talks like that? What kind of person is this?† â€Å"I wish I knew,† Jack says. â€Å"Maybe he was putting on an accent to sound even scarier. Or to disguise his voice.† He'd never disguise his voice, Jack thinks, he's too delighted with himself to hide behind an accent. â€Å"I'll have to get the tape from the hospital and listen to it myself. And I'll call you as soon as I have some information.† â€Å"There's one more thing,† Marshall says. â€Å"I probably made a mistake. Wendell Green came over about an hour ago.† â€Å"Anything involving Wendell Green is automatically a mistake. So what happened?† â€Å"It was like he knew all about Tyler and just needed me to confirm it. I thought he must have heard from Dale, or the state troopers. But Dale hasn't made us public yet, has he?† â€Å"Wendell has a network of little weasels that feed him information. If he knows anything, that's how he heard about it. What did you tell him?† â€Å"More or less everything,† Marshall says. â€Å"Including the tape. Oh, God, I'm such a dope. But I thought it'd be all right I thought it would all get out anyhow.† â€Å"Fred, did you tell him anything about me?† â€Å"Only that Judy trusts you and that we're both grateful for your help. And I think I said that you would probably be going in to see her this afternoon.† â€Å"Did you mention Ty's baseball cap?† â€Å"Do you think I'm nuts? As far as I'm concerned, that stuff is between you and Judy. If I don't get it, I'm not going to talk about it to Wendell Green. At least I got him to promise to stay away from Judy. He has a great reputation, but I got the feeling he isn't everything he's cracked up to be.† â€Å"You said a mouthful,† Jack says. â€Å"I'll be in touch.† When Fred Marshall hangs up, Jack punches in Henry's number. â€Å"I may be a little late, Henry. I'm on my way to French County Lutheran. Judy Marshall got a tape from the Fisherman, and if they'll let me have it, I'll bring it over. There's something strange going on here on Judy's tape, I guess he has some kind of foreign accent.† Henry tells Jack there is no rush. He has not listened to the first tape yet, and now will wait until Jack comes over with the second one. He might hear something useful if he plays them in sequence. At least, he could tell Jack if they were made by the same man. â€Å"And don't worry about me, Jack. In a little while, Mrs. Morton is coming by to take me over to KDCU. George Rathbun butters my bread today, baby six or seven radio ads. ‘Even a blind man knows you want to treat your honey, your sweetheart, your lovey-dovey, your wife, your best friend through thick and thin, to a mm-mmm fine dinner tonight, and there's no better place to show your appreciation to the old ball and chain than to take her to Cousin Buddy's Rib Crib on South Wabash Street in beautiful downtown La Riviere!' â€Å" † ‘The old ball and chain'?† â€Å"You pay for George Rathbun, you get George Rathbun, warts and all.† Laughing, Jack tells Henry he will see him later that day, and pushes the Ram up to seventy. What is Dale going to do, give him a speeding ticket? He parks in front of the hospital instead of driving around to the parking lot, and trots across the concrete with his mind filled with the Territories and Judy Marshall. Things are hurtling forward, picking up pace, and Jack has the sense that everything converges on Judy no, on Judy and him. The Fisherman has chosen them more purposefully than he did his first three victims: Amy St. Pierre, Johnny Irkenham, and Irma Freneau were simply the right age any three children would have done but Tyler was Judy Marshall's son, and that set him apart. Judy has glimpsed the Territories, Jack has traveled through them, and the Fisherman lives there the way a cancer cell lives in a healthy organism. The Fisherman sent Judy a tape, Jack a grisly present. At Tansy Freneau's, he had seen Judy as his key and the door it opened, and where did that door lead but into Judy's Faraway? Faraway. God, that's pretty. Beautiful, in fact. Aaah . . . the word evokes Judy Marshall's face, and when he sees that face, a door in his mind, a door that is his and his alone, flies open, and for a moment Jack Sawyer stops moving altogether, and in shock, dread, and joyous expectation, freezes on the concrete six feet from the hospital's entrance. Through the door in his mind pours a stream of disconnected images: a stalled Ferris wheel, Santa Monica cops milling behind a strip of yellow crime-scene tape, light reflected off a black man's bald head. Yes, a bald man's black head, that which he really and truly, in fact most desperately, had not wished to see, so take a good look, kiddo, here it is again. There had been a guitar, but the guitar was elsewhere; the guitar belonged to the magnificent demanding comforting comfortless Speedy Parker, God bless him God damn his eyes God love him Speedy, who touched its strings and sang Travelin' Jack, ole Travelin' Jack, Got a far long way to go, Longer way to come back. Worlds spin around him, worlds within worlds and other worlds alongside them, separated by a thin membrane composed of a thousand thousand doors, if only you know how to find them. A thousand thousand red feathers, tiny ones, feathers from a robin redbreast, hundreds of robin redbreasts, flew through one of those doors, Speedy's. Robin, as in robin's-egg blue, thank you, Speedy, and a song that said Wake up, wake up, you sleepyhead. Or: Wake up, wake up, you DUNDERHEAD! Crazily, Jack hears George Rathbun's now-not-so genial roar: Eeeven a BLIIIND MAAAN coulda seen THIS one coming, you KNOTHEAD! â€Å"Oh, yeah?† Jack says out loud. It is a good thing Head Nurse Jane Bond, Warden Bond, Agent OO Zero, cannot hear him. She's tough, but on the other hand, she's unfair, and if she were to appear beside him now, she would probably clap him in irons, sedate him, and drag him back to her domain. â€Å"Well, I know something you don't know, old buddy: Judy Marshall has a Twinner, and the Twinner has been whispering through the wall for a considerable old time now. It's no surprise she finally started to shout.† A red-haired teenager in an ARDEN H.S. BASEBALL T-shirt shoves open the literal door six feet from Jack and gives him a wary, disconcerted look. Man, grown-ups are weird, the look says; aren't I glad I'm a kid? Since he is a high school student and not a mental-health professional, he does not clap our hero in irons and drag him sedated away to the padded room. He simply takes care to steer a wide course around the madman and keeps walking, albeit with a touch of self-conscious stiffness in his gait. It is all about Twinners, of course. Rebuking his stupidity, Jack raps his knuckles against the side of his head. He should have seen it before; he should have understood immediately. If he has any excuse, it is that at first he refused to think about the case despite Speedy's efforts to wake him up, then became so caught up in concentrating on the Fisherman that until this morning, while watching his mother on the Sand Bar's big TV, he had neglected to consider the monster's Twinner. In Judy Marshall's childhood, her Twinner had spoken to her through that membrane between the two worlds; growing more and more alarmed over the past month, the Twinner had all but thrust her arms through the membrane and shaken Judy senseless. Because Jack is single-natured and has no Twinner, the corresponding task fell to Speedy. Now that everything seems to make sense, Jack cannot believe it has taken him so long to see the pattern. And this is why he has resented everything that kept him from standing before Judy Marshall: Judy is the doorway to her Twinner, to Tyler, and to the destruction of both the Fisherman and his opposite number in the Territories, the builder of the satanic, fiery structure a crow named Gorg showed Tansy Freneau. Whatever happens on Ward D today, it is going to be world-altering. Heart thrumming in anticipation, Jack passes from intense sunlight into the vast ocher space of the lobby. The same bathrobed patients seem to occupy the many chairs; in a distant corner, the same doctors discuss a troublesome case or, who knows, that tricky tenth hole at Arden Country Club; the same golden lilies raise their luxuriant, attentive heads outside the gift shop. This repetition reassures Jack, it hastens his step, for it surrounds and cushions the unforeseeable events awaiting him on the fifth floor. The same bored clerk responds to the proffer of the same password with an identical, if not the same, green card stamped VISITOR. The elevator surprisingly similar to one in the Ritz H?tel on the Place Vend?me obediently trembles upward past floors two, three, and four, in its dowager-like progress pausing to admit a gaunt young doctor who summons the memory of Roderick Usher, then releases Jack on five, where the beautiful ocher light seems a shade or two darker than down there in the huge lobby. From the elevator Jack retraces the steps he took with his guide Fred Marshall down the corridor, through the two sets of double doors and past the way stations of Gerontology and Ambulatory Ophthalmology and Records Annex, getting closer and closer to the unforeseen unforeseeable as the corridors grow narrower and darker, and emerges as before into the century-old room with high, skinny windows and a lot of walnut-colored wood. And there the spell breaks, for the attendant seated behind the polished counter, the person currently the guardian of this realm, is taller, younger, and considerably more sullen than his counterpart of the day before. When Jack asks to see Mrs. Marshall, the young person glances in disdain at his VISITOR card and inquires if he should happen to be a relative or another glance at the card a medical professional. Neither, Jack admits, but if the young person could trouble himself to inform Nurse Bond that Mr. Sawyer wishes to speak to Mrs. Marshall, Nurse Bond is practically guaranteed to swing open the forbidding metal doors and wave him inward, since that is more or less what she did yesterday. That is all well and good, if it happens to be true, the young person allows, but Nurse Bond is not going to be doing any door opening and waving in today, for today Nurse Bond is off duty. Could it be that when Mr. Sawyer showed up to see Mrs. Marshall yesterday he was accompanied by a family member, say Mr. Marshall? Yes. And if Mr. Marshall were to be consulted, say via the telephone, he would urge the young fellow presently discussing the matter in a commendably responsible fashion with Mr. Sawyer to admit the gentleman promptly. That may be the case, the young person grants, but hospital regulations require that nonmedical personnel in positions such as the young person's obtain authorization for any outside telephone calls. And from whom, Jack wishes to know, would this authorization be obtained? From the acting head nurse, Nurse Rack. Jack, who is growing a little hot, as they say, under the collar, suggests in that case that the young person seek out the excellent Nurse Rack and obtain the required authorization, so that things might progress in the manner Mr. Marshall, the patient's husband, would wish. No, the young person sees no reason to pursue such a course, the reason being that doing so would represent a pitiful waste of time and effort. Mr. Sawyer is not a member of Mrs. Marshall's family; therefore the excellent Nurse Rack would under no circumstances grant the authorization. â€Å"Okay,† Jack says, wishing he could strangle this irritating pip-squeak, â€Å"let's move a step up the administrative ladder, shall we? Is Dr. Spiegleman somewhere on the premises?† â€Å"Could be,† the young person says. â€Å"How'm I supposed to know? Dr. Spiegleman doesn't tell me everything he does.† Jack points to the telephone at the end of the counter. â€Å"I don't expect you to know, I expect you to find out. Get on that phone now.† The young man slouches down the counter to the telephone, rolls his eyes, punches two numbered keys, and leans against the counter with his back to the room. Jack hears him muttering about Spiegleman, sigh, then say, â€Å"All right, transfer me, whatever.† Transferred, he mutters something that includes Jack's name. Whatever he hears in response causes him to jerk himself upright and sneak a wide-eyed look over his shoulder at Jack. â€Å"Yes, sir. He's here now, yes. I'll tell him.† He replaces the receiver. â€Å"Dr. Spiegleman'll be here right away.† The boy he is no more than twenty steps back and shoves his hands in his pockets. â€Å"You're that cop, huh?† â€Å"What cop?† Jack says, still irritated. â€Å"The one from California that came here and arrested Mr. Kinderling.† â€Å"Yes, that's me.† â€Å"I'm from French Landing, and boy, that was some shock. To the whole town. Nobody would have guessed. Mr. Kinderling? Are you kidding? You'd never believe that someone like that would . . . you know, kill people.† â€Å"Did you know him?† â€Å"Well, in a town like French Landing, everybody sort of knows everybody, but I didn't really know Mr. Kinderling, except to say hi. The one I knew was his wife. She used to be my Sunday school teacher at Mount Hebron Lutheran.† Jack cannot help it; he laughs at the incongruity of the murderer's wife teaching Sunday school classes. The memory of Wanda Kinderling radiating hatred at him during her husband's sentencing stops his laughter, but it is too late. He sees that he has offended the young man. â€Å"What was she like?† he asks. â€Å"As a teacher.† â€Å"Just a teacher,† the boy says. His voice is uninflected, resentful. â€Å"She made us memorize all the books of the Bible.† He turns away and mutters, â€Å"Some people think he didn't do it.† â€Å"What did you say?† The boy half-turns toward Jack but looks at the brown wall in front of him. â€Å"I said, Some people think he didn't do it. Mr. Kinderling. They think he got put in jail because he was a small-town guy who didn't know anybody out there.† â€Å"That's too bad,† Jack says. â€Å"Do you want to know the real reason Mr. Kinderling went to prison?† The boy turns the rest of the way and looks at Jack. â€Å"Because he was guilty of murder, and he confessed. That's it, that's all. Two witnesses put him at the scene, and two other people saw him on a plane to L.A. when he told everyone he was flying to Denver. After that, he said, Okay, I did it. I always wanted to know what it was like to kill a girl, and one day I couldn't stand it anymore, so I went out and killed two whores. His lawyer tried to get him off on an insanity plea, but the jury at his hearing found him sane, and he went to prison.† The boy lowers his head and mumbles something. â€Å"I couldn't hear that,† Jack says. â€Å"Lots of ways to make a guy confess.† The boy repeats the sentence just loud enough to be heard. Then footsteps ring in the hallway, and a plump, white-coated man with steel-rimmed glasses and a goatee comes striding toward Jack with his hand out. The boy has turned away. The opportunity to convince the attendant that he did not beat a confession out of Thornberg Kinderling has slipped away. The smiling man with the white jacket and the goatee seizes Jack's hand, introduces himself as Dr. Spiegleman, and declares it a pleasure to meet such a famous personage. (Personage, persiflage, Jack thinks.) From one step behind the doctor, a man unnoticed until this moment steps fully into view and says, â€Å"Hey, Doctor, do you know what would be perfect? If Mr. Famous and I interview the lady together. Twice the information in half the time perfect.† Jack's stomach turns sour. Wendell Green has joined the party. After greeting the doctor, Jack turns to the other man. â€Å"What are you doing here, Wendell? You promised Fred Marshall you'd stay away from his wife.† Wendell Green holds up his hands and dances back on the balls of his feet. â€Å"Are we calmer today, Lieutenant Sawyer? Not inclined to use a sucker punch on the hardworking press, are we? I have to say, I'm getting a little tired of being assaulted by the police.† Dr. Spiegleman frowns at him. â€Å"What are you saying, Mr. Green?† â€Å"Yesterday, before that cop knocked me out with his flashlight, Lieutenant Sawyer here punched me in the stomach for no real reason at all. It's a good thing I'm a reasonable man, or I'd have filed lawsuits already. But, Doctor, you know what? I don't do things that way. I believe everything works out better if we cooperate with each other.† Halfway through this self-serving speech, Jack thinks, Oh hell, and glances at the young attendant. The boy's eyes burn with loathing. A lost cause: now Jack will never persuade the boy that he did not mistreat Kinderling. By the time Wendell Green finishes congratulating himself, Jack has had a bellyful of his specious, smarmy affability. â€Å"Mr. Green offered to give me a percentage of his take, if I let him sell photographs of Irma Freneau's corpse,† he tells the doctor. â€Å"What he is asking now is equally unthinkable. Mr. Marshall urged me to come here and see his wife, and he made Mr. Green promise not to come.† â€Å"Technically, that may be true,† Green says. â€Å"As an experienced journalist, I know that people often say things they don't mean and will eventually regret. Fred Marshall understands that his wife's story is going to come out sooner or later.† â€Å"Does he?† â€Å"Especially in the light of the Fisherman's latest communication,† Green says. â€Å"This tape proves that Tyler Marshall is his fourth victim, and that, miraculously, he is still alive. How long do you think that can be kept from the public? And wouldn't you agree that the boy's mother should be able to explain the situation in her own words?† â€Å"I refuse to be badgered like this.† The doctor scowls at Green and gives Jack a look of warning. â€Å"Mr. Green, I am very close to ordering you out of this hospital. I wish to discuss several matters with Lieutenant Sawyer, in private. If you and the lieutenant can work out some agreement between the two of you, that is your affair. I am certainly not going to permit a joint interview with my patient. I am in no way certain that she should talk to Lieutenant Sawyer, either. She is calmer than she was this morning, but she is still fragile.† â€Å"The best way to deal with her problem is to let her express herself,† Green says. â€Å"You will be quiet now, Mr. Green,† Dr. Spiegleman says. The double chins that fold under his goatee turn a warm pink. He glares at Jack. â€Å"What specifically is it that you request, Lieutenant?† â€Å"Do you have an office in this hospital, Doctor?† â€Å"I do.† â€Å"Ideally, I'd like to spend about half an hour, maybe less, talking to Mrs. Marshall in a safe, quiet environment where our conversation would be completely confidential. Your office would probably be perfect. There are too many people on the ward, and you can't talk without being interrupted or having other patients listen in.† â€Å"My office,† Spiegleman says. â€Å"If you're willing.† â€Å"Come with me,† the doctor says. â€Å"Mr. Green, you will please stand back next to the counter while Lieutenant Sawyer and I step into the hallway.† â€Å"Anything you say.† Green executes a mocking bow and moves lightly, with a suggestion of dance steps, to the counter. â€Å"In your absence, I'm sure this handsome young man and I will find something to talk about.† Smiling, Wendell Green props his elbows on the counter and watches Jack and Dr. Spiegleman leave the room. Their footsteps click against the floor tiles until it sounds as though they have gone more than halfway down the corridor. Then there is silence. Still smiling, Wendell about-faces and finds the attendant openly staring at him. â€Å"I read you all the time,† the boy says. â€Å"You write real good.† Wendell's smile becomes beatific. â€Å"Handsome and intelligent. What a stunning combination. Tell me your name.† â€Å"Ethan Evans.† â€Å"Ethan, we do not have much time here, so let's make this snappy. Do you think responsible members of the press should have access to information the public needs?† â€Å"You bet.† â€Å"And wouldn't you agree that an informed press is one of our best weapons against monsters like the Fisherman?† A single, vertical wrinkle appears between Ethan Evans's eyebrows. â€Å"Weapons?† â€Å"Let me put it this way. Isn't it true that the more we know about the Fisherman, the better chance we have of stopping him?† The boy nods, and the wrinkle disappears. â€Å"Tell me, do you think the doctor is going to let Sawyer use his office?† â€Å"Prob'ly, yeah,† Evans says. â€Å"But I don't like the way that Sawyer guy works. He's a police brutality. Like when they hit people to make them confess. That's brutality.† â€Å"I have another question for you. Two questions, really. Is there a closet in Dr. Spiegleman's office? And is there some way you could take me there without going through that corridor?† â€Å"Oh.† Evans's dim eyes momentarily shine with understanding. â€Å"You want to listen.† â€Å"Listen and record.† Wendell Green taps the pocket that contains his cassette recorder. â€Å"For the good of the public at large, God bless 'em one and all.† â€Å"Well, maybe, yeah,† the boy says. â€Å"But Dr. Spiegleman, he . . .† A twenty-dollar bill has magically appeared folded around the second finger of Wendell Green's right hand. â€Å"Act fast, and Dr. Spiegleman will never know a thing. Right, Ethan?† Ethan Evans snatches the bill from Wendell's hand and motions him back behind the counter, where he opens a door and says, â€Å"Come on, hurry.† Low lights burn at both ends of the dark corridor. Dr. Spiegleman says, â€Å"I gather that my patient's husband told you about the tape she received this morning.† â€Å"He did. How did it get here, do you know?† â€Å"Believe me, Lieutenant, after I saw the effect that tape had on Mrs. Marshall and listened to it myself, I tried to learn how it reached my patient. All of our mail goes through the hospital's mailroom before being delivered, all of it, whether to patients, medical staff, or administrative offices. From there, a couple of volunteers deliver it to the addressees. I gather that the package containing the tape was in the hospital mailroom when a volunteer looked in there this morning. Because the package was addressed only with my patient's name, the volunteer went to our general information office. One of the girls brought it up.† â€Å"Shouldn't someone have consulted you before giving the tape and a cassette player to Judy?† â€Å"Of course. Nurse Bond would have done so immediately, but she is not on duty today. Nurse Rack, who is on duty, assumed that the address referred to a childhood nickname and thought that one of Mrs. Marshall's old friends had sent her some music to cheer her up. And there is a cassette player in the nurses' station, so she put the tape in the player and gave it to Mrs. Marshall.† In the gloom of the corridor, the doctor's eyes take on a sardonic glint. â€Å"Then, as you might imagine, all hell broke loose. Mrs. Marshall reverted to the condition in which she was first hospitalized, which takes in a range of alarming behaviors. Fortunately, I happened to be in the hospital, and when I heard what had happened, I ordered her sedated and placed in a secure room. A secure room, Lieutenant, has padded walls Mrs. Marshall had reopened the wounds to her fingers, and I did not want her to do any more damage to herself. Once the sedative had taken effect, I went in and talked to her. I listened to the tape. Perhaps I should have called the police immediately, but my first responsibility is to my patient, and I called Mr. Marshall instead.† â€Å"From where?† â€Å"From the secure room, with my cell phone. Mr. Marshall of course insisted on speaking to his wife, and she wanted to speak to him. She became very distraught during their conversation, and I had to give her another mild sedative. When she calmed down, I went out of the room and called Mr. Marshall again, to tell him more specifically about the contents of the tape. Do you want to hear it?† â€Å"Not now, Doctor, thanks. But I do want to ask you about one aspect of it.† â€Å"Then ask.† â€Å"Fred Marshall tried to imitate the way you had reproduced the accent of the man who made the tape. Did it sound like any recognizable accent to you? German, maybe?† â€Å"I've been thinking about that. It was sort of like a Germanic pronunciation of English, but not really. If it sounded like anything recognizable, it was English spoken by a Frenchman trying to put on a German accent, if that makes sense to you. But really, I've never heard anything like it.† From the start of this conversation, Dr. Spiegleman has been measuring Jack, assessing him according to standards Jack cannot even begin to guess. His expression remains as neutral and impersonal as that of a traffic cop. â€Å"Mr. Marshall informed me that he intended to call you. It seems that you and Mrs. Marshall have formed a rather extraordinary bond. She respects your skill at what you do, which is to be expected, but she also seems to trust you. Mr. Marshall asks that you be allowed to interview his wife, and his wife tells me that she must talk to you.† â€Å"Then you should have no problems with letting me see her in private for half an hour.† Dr. Spiegleman's smile is gone as soon as it appears. â€Å"My patient and her husband have demonstrated their trust in you, Lieutenant Sawyer, but that is not the issue. The issue is whether or not I can trust you.† â€Å"Trust me to do what?† â€Å"A number of things. Primarily, to act in the best interest of my patient. To refrain from unduly distressing her, also from giving her false hopes. My patient has developed a number of delusions centered on the existence of another world somehow contiguous to ours. She thinks her son is being held captive in this other world. I must tell you, Lieutenant, that both my patient and her husband believe you are familiar with this fantasy-world that is, my patient accepts this belief wholly, and her husband accepts it only provisionally, on the grounds that it comforts his wife.† â€Å"I understand that.† There is only one thing Jack can tell the doctor now, and he says it. â€Å"And what you should understand is that in all of my conversations with the Marshalls, I have been acting in my unofficial capacity as a consultant to the French Landing Police Department and its chief, Dale Gilbertson.† â€Å"Your unofficial capacity.† â€Å"Chief Gilbertson has been asking me to advise him on his conduct of the Fisherman investigation, and two days ago, after the disappearance of Tyler Marshall, I finally agreed to do what I could. I have no official status whatsoever. I'm just giving the chief and his officers the benefit of my experience.† â€Å"Let me get this straight, Lieutenant. You have been misleading the Marshalls as to your familiarity with Mrs. Marshall's delusional fantasy-world?† â€Å"I'll answer you this way, Doctor. We know from the tape that the Fisherman really is holding Tyler Marshall captive. We could say that he is no longer in this world, but in the Fisherman's.† Dr. Spiegleman raises his eyebrows. â€Å"Do you think this monster inhabits the same universe that we do?† asks Jack. â€Å"I don't, and neither do you. The Fisherman lives in a world all his own, one that operates according to fantastically detailed rules he has made up or invented over the years. With all due respect, my experience has made me far more familiar with structures like this than the Marshalls, the police, and, unless you have done a great deal of work with psychopathic criminals, even you. I'm sorry if that sounds arrogant, because I don't mean it that way.† â€Å"You're talking about profiling? Something like that?† â€Å"Years ago, I was invited into a special VICAP profiling unit run by the FBI, and I learned a lot there, but what I'm talking about now goes beyond profiling.† And that's the understatement of the year, Jack says to himself. Now it's in your court, Doctor. Spiegleman nods, slowly. The distant glow flashes in the lenses of his glasses. â€Å"I think I see, yes.† He ponders. He sighs, crosses his arms over his chest, and ponders some more. Then he raises his eyes to Jack's. â€Å"All right. I'll let you see her. Alone. In my office. For thirty minutes. I wouldn't want to stand in the way of advanced investigative procedure.† â€Å"Thank you,† Jack says. â€Å"This will be extremely helpful, I promise you.† â€Å"I have been a psychiatrist too long to believe in promises like that, Lieutenant Sawyer, but I hope you succeed in rescuing Tyler Marshall. Let me take you to my office. You can wait there while I get my patient and bring her there by another hallway. It's a little quicker.† Dr. Spiegleman marches to the end of the dark corridor and turns left, then left again, pulls a fat ball of keys from his pocket, and opens an unmarked door. Jack follows him into a room that looks as though it had been created by combining two small offices into one. Half of the room is taken up by a long wooden desk, a chair, a glass-topped coffee table stacked with journals, and filing cabinets; the other half is dominated by a couch and the leather recliner placed at its head. Georgia O'Keeffe posters decorate the walls. Behind the desk stands a door Jack assumes opens into a small closet; the door directly opposite, behind the recliner and at the midpoint between the two halves of the office, looks as though it leads into an adjoining room. â€Å"As you see,† Dr. Spiegleman says, â€Å"I use this space as both an office and a supplementary consulting room. Most of my patients come in through the waiting room, and I'll bring Mrs. Marshall in that way. Give me two or three minutes.† Jack thanks him, and the doctor hurries out through the door to the waiting room. In the little closet, Wendell Green slides his cassette recorder from the pocket of his jacket and presses both it and his ear to the door. His thumb rests on the RECORD button, and his heart is racing. Once again, western Wisconsin's most distinguished journalist is doing his duty for the man in the street. Too bad it's so blasted dark in that closet, but being stuffed into a black hole is not the first sacrifice Wendell has made for his sacred calling; besides, all he really needs to see is the little red light on his tape recorder. Then, a surprise: although Doctor Spiegleman has left the room, here is his voice, asking for Lieutenant Sawyer. How did that Freudian quack get back in without opening or closing a door, and what happened to Judy Marshall? Lieutenant Sawyer, I must speak to you. Pick up the receiver. You have a call, and it sounds urgent. Of course he is on the intercom. Who can be calling Jack Sawyer, and why the urgency? Wendell hopes that Golden Boy will push the telephone's SPEAKER button, but alas Golden Boy does not, and Wendell must be content with hearing only one side of the conversation. â€Å"A call?† Jack says. â€Å"Who's it from?† â€Å"He refused to identify himself,† the doctor says. â€Å"Someone you told you'd be visiting Ward D.† Beezer, with news of Black House. â€Å"How do I take the call?† â€Å"Just punch the flashing button,† the doctor says. â€Å"Line one. I'll bring in Mrs. Marshall when I see you're off the line.† Jack hits the button and says, â€Å"Jack Sawyer.† â€Å"Thank God,† says Beezer St. Pierre's honey-and-tobacco voice. â€Å"Hey man, you gotta get over to my place, the sooner the better. Everything got messed up.† â€Å"Did you find it?† â€Å"Oh yeah, we found Black House, all right. It didn't exactly welcome us. That place wants to stay hidden, and it lets you know. Some of the guys are hurting. Most of us will be okay, but Mouse, I don't know. He got something terrible from a dog bite, if it was a dog, which I doubt. Doc did what he could, but Hell, the guy is out of his mind, and he won't let us take him to the hospital.† â€Å"Beezer, why don't you take him anyway, if that's what he needs?† â€Å"We don't do things that way. Mouse hasn't stepped inside a hospital since his old man croaked in one. He's twice as scared of hospitals as of what's happening to his leg. If we took him to La Riviere General, he'd probably drop dead in the E.R.† â€Å"And if he didn't, he'd never forgive you.† â€Å"You got it. How soon can you be here?† â€Å"I still have to see the woman I told you about. Maybe an hour not much longer than that, anyhow.† â€Å"Didn't you hear me? Mouse is dying on us. We got a whole lot of things to say to each other.† â€Å"I agree,† Jack says. â€Å"Work with me on this, Beez.† He hangs up, turns to the door near the consulting-room chair, and waits for his world to change. What the hell was that all about? Wendell wonders. He has squandered two minutes' worth of tape on a conversation between Jack Sawyer and the dumb SOB who spoiled the film that should have paid for a nice car and a fancy house on a bluff above the river, and all he got was worthless crap. Wendell deserves the nice car and the fancy house, has earned them thrice over, and his sense of deprivation makes him seethe with resentment. Golden Boys get everything handed to them on diamond-studded salvers, people fall all over themselves to give them stuff they don't even need, but a legendary, selfless working stiff and gentleman of the press like Wendell Green? It costs Wendell Green twenty bucks to hide in a dark, crowded little closet just to do his job! His ears tingle when he hears the door open. The red light burns, the faithful recorder passes the ready tape from spool to spool, and whatever happens now is going to change everything: Wendell's gut, that infallible organ, his best friend, warms with the assurance that justice will soon be his. Dr. Spiegleman's voice filters through the closet door and registers on the spooling tape: â€Å"I'll leave you two alone now.† Golden Boy: â€Å"Thank you, Doctor. I'm very grateful.† Dr. Spiegleman: â€Å"Thirty minutes, right? That means I'll be back at, umm, ten past two.† Golden Boy: â€Å"Fine.† The soft closing of the door, the click of the latch. Then long seconds of silence. Why aren't they talking to each other? But of course . . . the question answers itself. They're waiting for fat-ass Spiegleman to move out of hearing range. Oh, this is just delicious, that's what this is! The whisper of Golden Boy's footsteps moving toward that door all but confirms the sterling reporter's intuition. O gut of Wendell Green, O Instrument Marvelous and Trustworthy, once more you come through with the journalistic goods! Wendell hears, the machine records, the inevitable next sound: the click of the lock. Judy Marshall: â€Å"Don't forget the door behind you.† Golden Boy: â€Å"How are you?† Judy Marshall: â€Å"Much, much better, now that you're here. The door, Jack.† Another set of footsteps, another unmistakable sliding into place of a metal bolt. Soon-To-Be-Ruined Boy: â€Å"I've been thinking about you all day. I've been thinking about this.† The Harlot, the Whore, the Slut: â€Å"Is half an hour long enough?† Him With Foot In Bear Trap: â€Å"If it isn't, he'll just have to bang on the doors.† Wendell barely restrains himself from crowing with delight. These two people are actually going to have sex together, they are going to rip off their clothes and have at it like animals. Man, talk about your pay-backs! When Wendell Green is done with him, Jack Sawyer's reputation will be lower than the Fisherman's. Judy's eyes look tired, her hair is limp, and her fingertips wear the startling white of fresh gauze, but besides registering the depth of her feeling, her face glows with the clear, hard-won beauty of the imaginative strength she called upon to earn what she has seen. To Jack, Judy Marshall looks like a queen falsely imprisoned. Instead of disguising her innate nobility of spirit, the hospital gown and the faded nightdress make it all the more apparent. Jack takes his eyes from her long enough to lock the second door, then takes a step toward her. He sees that he cannot tell her anything she does not already know. Judy completes the movement he has begun; she moves before him and holds out her hands to be grasped. â€Å"I've been thinking about you all day,† he says, taking her hands. â€Å"I've been thinking about this.† Her response takes in everything she has come to see, everything they must do. â€Å"Is half an hour long enough?† â€Å"If it isn't, he'll just have to bang on the doors.† They smile; she increases the pressure on his hands. â€Å"Then let him bang.† With the smallest, slightest tug, she pulls him forward, and Jack's heart pounds with the expectation of an embrace. What she does is far more extraordinary than a mere embrace: she lowers her head and, with two light, dry brushes of her lips, kisses his hands. Then she presses the back of his right hand against her cheek, and steps back. Her eyes kindle. â€Å"You know about the tape.† He nods. â€Å"I went mad when I heard it, but sending it to me was a mistake. He pushed me too hard. Because I fell right back into being that child who listened to another child whispering through a wall. I went crazy and I tried to rip the wall apart. I heard my son screaming for my help. And he was there on the other side of the wall. Where you have to go.† â€Å"Where we have to go.† â€Å"Where we have to go. Yes. But I can't get through the wall, and you can. So you have work to do, the most important work there could be. You have to find Ty, and you have to stop the abbalah. I don't know what that is, exactly, but stopping it is your job. Am I saying this right: you are a coppiceman?† â€Å"You're saying it right,† Jack says. â€Å"I am a coppiceman. That's why it's my job.† â€Å"Then this is right, too. You have to get rid of Gorg and his master, Mr. Munshun. That's not what his name really is, but it's what it sounds like: Mr. Munshun. When I went mad, and I tried to rip through the world, she told me, and she could whisper straight into my ear. I was so close!† What does Wendell Green, ear and whirling tape recorder pressed to the door, make of this conversation? It is hardly what he expected to hear: the animal grunts and moans of desire busily being satisfied. Wendell Green grinds his teeth, he stretches his face into a grimace of frustration. â€Å"I love that you've let yourself see,† says Jack. â€Å"You're an amazing human being. There isn't a person in a thousand who could even understand what that means, much less do it.† â€Å"You talk too much,† Judy says. â€Å"I mean, I love you.† â€Å"In your way, you love me. But you know what? Just by coming here, you made me more than I was. There's this sort of beam that comes out of you, and I just locked on to that beam. Jack, you lived there, and all I could do was peek at it for a little while. That's enough, though. I'm satisfied. You and Ward D, you let me travel.† â€Å"What you have inside you lets you travel.† â€Å"Okay, three cheers for a well-examined spell of craziness. Now it's time. You have to be a coppiceman. I can only come halfway, but you'll need all your strength.† â€Å"I think your strength is going to surprise you.† â€Å"Take my hands and do it, Jack. Go over. She's waiting, and I have to give you to her. You know her name, don't you?† He opens his mouth, but cannot speak. A force that seems to come from the center of the earth surges into his body, rolling electricity through his bloodstream, tightening his scalp, sealing his trembling fingers to Judy Marshall's, which also tremble. A feeling of tremendous lightness and mobility gathers within all the hollow spaces of his body; at the same time he has never been so aware of his body's obduracy, its resistance to flight. When they leave, he thinks, it'll be like a rocket launch. The floor seems to vibrate beneath his feet. He manages to look down the length of his arms to Judy Marshall, who leans back with her head parallel to the shaking floor, eyes closed, smiling in a trance of accomplishment. A band of shivery white light surrounds her. Her beautiful knees, her legs shining beneath the hem of the old blue garment, her bare feet planted. That light shivers around him, too. All of this comes from her, Jack thinks, and from A rushing sound fills the air, and the Georgia O'Keeffe prints fly off the walls. The low couch dances away from the wall; papers swirl up from the jittering desk. A skinny halogen lamp crashes to the ground. All through the hospital, on every floor, in every room and ward, beds vibrate, television sets go black, instruments rattle in their rattling trays, lights flicker. Toys drop from the gift-shop shelves, and the tall lilies skid across the marble in their vases. On the fifth floor, light bulbs detonate into showers of golden sparks. The hurricane noise builds, builds, and with a great whooshing sound becomes a wide, white sheet of light, which immediately vanishes into a pinpoint and is gone. Gone, too, is Jack Sawyer; and gone from the closet is Wendell Green. Sucked into the Territories, blown out of one world and sucked into another, blasted and dragged, man, we're a hundred levels up from the simple, well-known flip. Jack is lying down, looking up at a ripped white sheet that flaps like a torn sail. A quarter of a second ago, he saw another white sheet, one made of pure light and not literal, like this one. The soft, fragrant air blesses him. At first, he is conscious only that his right hand is being held, then that an astonishing woman lies beside him. Judy Marshall. No, not Judy Marshall, whom he does love, in his way, but another astonishing woman, who once whispered to Judy through a wall of night and has lately drawn a great deal closer. He had been about to speak her name when Into his field of vision moves a lovely face both like and unlike Judy's. It was turned on the same lathe, baked in the same kiln, chiseled by the same besotted sculptor, but more delicately, with a lighter, more caressing touch. Jack cannot move for wonder. He is barely capable of breathing. This woman whose face is above him now, smiling down with a tender impatience, has never borne a child, never traveled beyond her native Territories, never flown in an airplane, driven a car, switched on a television, scooped ice ready-made from the freezer, or used a microwave: and she is radiant with spirit and inner grace. She is, he sees, lit from within. Humor, tenderness, compassion, intelligence, strength, glow in her eyes and speak from the curves of her mouth, from the very molding of her face. He knows her name, and her name is perfect for her. It seems to Jack that he has fallen in love with this woman in an instant, that he enlisted in her cause on the spot, and at last he finds he can speak her perfect name: Sophie.

Importance of Human Rights Watch Group Assignment

Importance of Human Rights Watch Group - Assignment Example This article analyzes why this team has been effective and what managers can learn from the human rights watch group. The organization with its headquarters in New York has branches in different countries around the globe. It has employed experts from different fields such as journalism, law and others who work in ensuring that rights of people are upheld. The different experts add their skills as team players and this ensures success in the programs that the organization develops. Because of the unity of purpose of members of the team despite being from different countries, the organization is able to achieve major developments in safeguarding people’s rights. The organization relies on finances donated by people. It has so far developed effective programs that fight the violation of rights such as children rights as it fights against child labor. It has also sought to fight for the rights of minority groups such as gay rights, rights of people living with HIV/ AIDS and women rights. Because the organization fights against rights violations, it has had opposition from the different government. Nevertheless, the activities of the human right watch have been very instrumental in the development of policies that ensure people enjoy their freedom and human rights (Human Rights Watch 2009). The group has contributed greatly to the elimination of capital punishment around the globe. What managers can learn from this team is that cohesion and unity of purpose are important ensuring the success of a team. Although a company may have different goals that it needs to achieve, it should group them and prioritize the most important one. The Human Rights Watch has divided its activities into different programs. This division ensures that focus is directed to one activity and this avoids confusions and improves efficiency. Moreover, it is  crucial for a business to employ experts in the different field as a way of increasing efficiency. The Human Rights Watch can owe its success form having a pool of experts from the different field that offer the best advice (Human Rights Watch 2001).  

Assignment 8 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Assignment 8 - Essay Example standards of effectiveness for the person being supervised in terms of quality assurance and maintenance of functions as well as improving the competencies of the persons being supervised no matter how proficient they may be. Supervision also enhances collaborative effort to improve learning, which eventually helps in the attaining the goals of those being supervised. Without the supervision and the monitoring of efforts to improve the learning atmosphere, the supervisory responsibilities have increasingly encompassed other tasks, which are not usually within the arm bit of supervision. The question then is how one can he be an effective supervisor and deliver the desirable results of supervision. In order to understand how effective supervision should be, it is important to note that there are a variety of trends in the field of supervision, which influence one another (Eley and Murray, 2009). In order to be an effective supervisor, it is important to master your role as a front-line effective supervisor through strategies aimed at building success. The supervision style chosen by a person must endeavor to incorporate leadership skills in the supervision style chosen for the best results. It is important that effective supervision begins with the supervisor and how he is proficient in his role and the levels of the skills and this will require regular planning, acting, reflecting and reviewing of the supervision development progress. Effective supervision demands that the supervisor knows whomever he is supervising and how to motivate them for the best outcomes (Eley and Murray, 2009). This will require that the supervisor is aware of what drives the supervisees to achieve the desired results of an effective supervision strategy. The supervisor should educate and train by clearly defining his expectations, missions and the vision of the supervision that is to be carried out over the supervisees. Effective supervision will require that the supervisor builds a

Women Consumers, Lifestyle Trends and the Red Experience Essay

Women Consumers, Lifestyle Trends and the Red Experience - Essay Example Red production team realized that their target group was mostly women in established careers and with children and therefore they have high demands due to their roles. Stevens, Maclaran and Brown (2003, p. 37) explains that since this group had little time for themselves, the marketing strategy of Red was emphasizing the experience and indulgence of reading the magazine. The campaign also stressed on the value of having time for oneself and coined the slogan ‘Red Time is Me Time’ as described by (Rainey, Kelly, Campbell, Roalfe/Y&R 1999). EMAP Elan Annual Report (2000) note that Red was successful in capturing the new market with its circulation increasing by 12 % in 2001 to 174,000 copies per month. Its TV advertisement is composed of three short commercials ‘Defining Moments’, ‘Me Time’ and ‘The Strip’. Stevens, Maclaran and Brown (2003, p. 36) observe that the Defining Moment was intended to capture the attention of women while t he other two pieces of advertisement brought out the fact that reading the magazine brings a pleasurable feeling. Stern (2000, p. 58) argues that the method used in the Red Magazine Campaign stressed on the experimental dimensions of reading the magazine and the gratification of self-indulgence. There is increased use of experimental appeals in marketing where the target market is invited to have a personal experience in the use of a certain product. O’Donohoe (2002, p. 103) argues that from the beginning, modern marketing relies on gender to understand and describe consumers and their trends. Kerwin (2000) asserted that the new strategy in marketing of women’s products is simplicity. In perfume market, there are so many products and understanding the attitudes and lifestyle of the target group determines ones success in capturing the market. Stevens and Maclaran (2007, 36) describe the marketing of Touch of Pink which is a new fragrance produced by Lacoste. Â  The advertisement features a young beautiful woman with blonde hair wearing a short pink dress. Stevens and Maclaran (2007, 36) further notes that the advertisement points that the perfume is for genuine and spontaneous women with true zest for life. In the advertisement, the perfume is described as fre sh, intriguing, floral and fruity fragrance. Stevens and Maclaran (2007, 36) argue that this campaign centers on femininity as both joyous and energetic.

Logistics as a Customer-Focused Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Logistics as a Customer-Focused Strategy - Essay Example As the world of business and trade continue to expand globally, surviving in such a competitive market is no longer enough to buy the right goods at the right cost - business must also get them to the right place at the right time, and with the right operational costs. Doing this well requires the best possible logistics, combining the information that establish buying decisions with how the product arrives to customers at the most cost-effective way. In view of this, the vice president for logistics and electronic commerce for Asia-Pacific at FedEx, William Conley stressed that one of the four areas represented the future of the logistics industry is time compression, along with globalisation, electronic commerce and supply chain management. He said companies needed to understand essentially what logistics was and how it could benefit customers (Panozzo, 1999, p. 6).In further elaboration, logistics is centred on creating value, not just for customers and suppliers of the firm, but also value for the firm's stakeholders. Value in logistics is primarily expressed in terms of time and place. Products and services have no value unless they are in the possession of the customers when (time) and where (place) they wish to consume them (Ballou 2004, p. 6). However, value is added when customers are willing to pay more for a product or service than the cost to place it in their hands. To many firms throughout the world, logistics has become an increasingly important value-adding process for a numerous reasons. Looking at logistics through the perspective of the total supply chain, the ultimate Bowersox, Closs & Cooper (2002) emphasized that the customer is the end user of the product or service whose needs or requirements must be accommodated. It has historically been useful to distinguish between two types of end users. According to them, the first is a consumer, an individual or a household who purchases products and services to satisfy personal needs. When a family purchases an automobile to be used for personal transportation, that family is the consumer of the supply chain. The second type is an organizational end user, whose purchases are made by organizations or institutions to allow an end user to perform a task or job in the organization. When a company buys an automobile for a sales person or buys tools to be used by an assembly worker in a manufacturing plant, the company is considered to be a customer and the salesperson or assembly worker is the end user of the supply chain's products. A supply chain management perspective demands that all firms in the supply chain focus on meeting the needs and requirements of end users, whether they are consumers or organizational end users (p. 66). Moreover, Bowersox, Closs & Cooper (2002) insisted that the customer being serviced should be the first priority and the driving force in establishing logistical performance requirements, regardless

Contribution of study to the market segmentation and product Essay

Contribution of study to the market segmentation and product differentiation debate - Essay Example Contribution of study to the market segmentation and product differentiation debate For example Unilever Company gets it easy to market its products due the nature of branding it imposes .As explained in the international market; there is a need for good brand so as to get the best market for the named product. Hence the above case study argues very little on the issue of the Brand value. Contribution of study to the market segmentation and product differentiation debate Market segmentation ifs the process by which the market is subdivided in the way that the goods can reach the consumers at all corners of the named region in any type of a business. This means that its aim is to bring the product at any point. The product differentiation is where by certain product is designed in a way to make it different from other products of the same class so as to outfit the other products in the market (Ronkainen 2007). The product can be differentiated through branding or even packaging. In this study the issue of decentralization whose main aim is to ensure that each consume r gets what he/she needs gives an insight to the debate of market segmentation hence it is well catered for in this case study. The two terms as described above are very important in the international market. Free trade has the advantages that it leads to a variety supply of goods to the consumers hence creation of competition avenue which helps the consumers to get good prices on the goods they buy (Ronkainen 2007). The disadvantage of this is that the many goods from outside the country may be dumped which will affect the market of the importing country negatively. Protectionism has the advantage of protecting the market of the companies so as not to be affected by the cheap goods from other countries .The disadvantage of this is that the country will mainly rely on the own goods and this may lead to insufficiency in case a very high demand arises or the country’s producing companies becomes slow in production. Case study 3 The implications for a multinational company registered in New Zealand seeking to open a subsidiary company in Brazil The implication that may follow is that the company will improve on its accrued profit (Ronkainen 2007). This is because there is little indiv idualism in Brazil as compared to New Zealand hence the company would not have any kind of discrimination .The effect of individualism

Developing people Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Developing people - Essay Example fferent types of apprenticeship and its contribution to the closing of the skills gap; and, (3) a business case for expanding the E-learning provision for other departments. Coaching is difficult to achieve or manage separately from learning and development programmes. Without a doubt, coaching is not only exercised for developing and enhancing human resources of an organisation; as a management field, it must be a building block of a skills range of a manager. Nevertheless, coaching can significantly contribute to the learning and development plan of an organisation. First and foremost, coaching can help people merge and use learning in reinforcing other types of training.1 Even in instances where coaching is carried out separately from learning and development activities, it is thus vital that its possible contribution is thoroughly assessed according to evolving training requirements and demands. For instance, this fact obliges the Team Coach to be active or engaged in coordinating with the training department management, not only when preparing for implementation at first, but regularly. Those in charge of the learning programme also have to completely understand the benefits that coaching could generate towards attaining certain goals established for their learning programmes and to understand the possibility of abandoning obligation for facets of human resource development when coaching could provide a better alternative to other choices. Coaching has become increasing popular recently. In the 2006 annual learning and development survey findings of the CIPD, 79% of companies that took part reported that they currently employ coaching.2 The survey further reveals that of the companies employing coaching, 80% claim that they aim to build a coaching system and 47% admitted that they are coaching line managers to work as coaches.3 Coaching, within the context of the Customer Support Centre at Birmingham, may be described as â€Å"the process of helping people

Role of United nation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Role of United nation - Essay Example UN plays a critical role in Iraq in terms of the reconstruction, promotion and support of political and national reconciliation. This is enhanced by its efforts to coordinate with donors as well as international financial institutions with a common course. Ideally, there is funding, planning and implementation of reintegration programs for convert illegal armed militias. Also there is the assistance of the national as well as local government institutions. Other insights include them strengthening of the rule of law in Iraq, advising the Iraq’s High Independent Electoral Commission on ways to strengthen electoral processes, coordinating efforts for reliable census occurrence within the state, addressing of the human rights issues and commendably support the return of refugees and internally displaced persons. It should be imperative to note that reform of the economy is the most important role it serves to date. (Berdal, 2004) Amid sluggish global growth and declining aid flows, the United Nations has been able to achieve development and is scaling to higher heights to set forth development globally through the millennium development goals. In its course include eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, support towards achievement of universal primary education, promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women, reduction of child mortality, and enhancement of maternal health, addressing ways to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases and assurance of environmental sustainability. Through all these, development is achieved tremendously. (Millennium, 2000) Millenium Report of the Secretary General (2000) ‘we the peoples: The Role of the United Nations in the 21st Century’, A/54/2000, UN.org, (New York: United Nations), ,

Homework Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Homework - Article Example ool, and the selected classes are handled by the same teacher and the exercises given to them were also the same, to attain uniformity in the analysis. The study has a rationale relating to the efficacy of homework in cases were family involvement is ensured. This had been studied previously by many researchers, but this particular study interrogates three situations where 1. the students are not prompted to involve their family in homework, 2. the students are prompted to involve their family in homework and 3. the students and teachers are prompted to involve the parents in homework. The research has further significance in the theoretical and application level, as it tackles different issues related to the performance of students with reference to the involvement of their families in their homework. The literature is reviewed extensively, linking the research to Project Head Start, which involves studies related to involving parents in homework. Moreover, sufficient insights are drawn from pioneer researchers like Epstein and Bronfenbrenner. Moreover, the study cortically evaluates previous research and points out the areas where more studies have to emerge. The study justifies the need for studying the problem and elaborates its scope in related fields. The previous studies are incorporated in the analysis, but the study remains original. There are four clearly defined research questions relating to the significance of prompts in the involvement of family members in mathematics homework, the way this affects homework in other subjects, the relationship between family involvement and student achievement and the relationship of all these with regard to the selected family variables including parent education level, family structure and family size. The hypotheses are consistent with theory and known facts, as evidenced by the way they are linked to previous research and established facts. They are testable, and suitable testing methods are applied. They bring

Physics Project Essay Example for Free

Physics Project Essay Eyes are organs that detect light, and convert it to electro-chemical impulses in neurons. The simplest photoreceptors in conscious vision connect light to movement. In higher organisms the eye is a complex optical system which collects light from the surrounding environment; regulates its intensity through a diaphragm; focuses it through an adjustable assembly of lenses to form an image; converts this image into a set of electrical signals; and transmits these signals to the brain, through complex neural pathways that connect the eye, via the optic nerve, to the visual cortex and other areas of the brain. Eyes with resolving power have come in ten fundamentally different forms, and 96% of animal species possess a complex optical system.[1] Image-resolving eyes are present in molluscs, chordates and arthropods. [2] The simplest eyes, such as those in microorganisms, do nothing but detect whether the surroundings are light or dark, which is sufficient for the entrainment of circadian rhythms. From more complex eyes, retinal photosensitive ganglion cells send signals along the retinohypothalamic tract to the suprachiasmatic nuclei to effect circadian adjustment. Contents[hide] * 1 Overview * 2 Evolution * 3 Types of eye * 3.1 Normal eyes * 3.2 Pit eyes * 3.2.1 Spherical lensed eye * 3.2.2 Multiple lenses * 3.2.3 Refractive cornea * 3.2.4 Reflector eyes * 3.3 Compound eyes * 3.3.1 Apposition eyes * 3.3.2 Superposition eyes * 3.3.3 Parabolic superposition * 3.3.4 Other * 3.3.5 Nutrients of the eye * 4 Relationship to life requirements * 5 Visual acuity * 6 Perception of colours * 7 Rods and cones * 8 Pigmentation * 9 See also * 10 References * 10.1 Notes * 10.2 Bibliography * 11 External links| [edit] Overview Eye of the wisent, the European bison Complex eyes can distinguish shapes and colors. The visual fields of many organisms, especially predators, involve large areas of binocular vision to improve depth perception; in other organisms, eyes are located so as to maximize the field of view, such as in rabbits and horses, which have monocular vision. The first proto-eyes evolved among animals 600 million years ago, about the time of the Cambrian explosion.[3] The last common ancestor of animals possessed the biochemical toolkit necessary for vision, and more advanced eyes have evolved in 96% of animal species in six of the thirty-plus[4] main phyla.[1] In most vertebrates and some molluscs, the eye works by allowing light to enter and project onto a light-sensitive panel of cells, known as the retina, at the rear of the eye. The cone cells (for color) and the rod cells (for low-light contrasts) in the retina detect and convert light into neural signals for vision. The visual signals are then transmitted to the brain via the optic nerve. Such eyes are typically roughly spherical, filled with a transparent gel-like substance called the vitreous humour, with a focusing lens and often an iris; the relaxing or tightening of the muscles around the iris change the size of the pupil, thereby regulating the amount of light that enters the eye,[5] and reducing aberrations when there is enough light.[6] The eyes of most cephalopods, fish, amphibians and snakes have fixed lens shapes, and focusing vision is achieved by telescoping the lens—similar to how a camera focuses.[7] Compound eyes are found among the arthropods and are composed of many simple facets which, depending on the details of anatomy, may give either a single pixelated image or multiple images, per eye. Each sensor has its own lens and photosensitive cell(s). Some eyes have up to 28,000 such sensors, which are arranged hexagonally, and which can give a full 360-degree field of visio n. Compound eyes are very sensitive to motion. Some arthropods, including many Strepsiptera, have compound eyes of only a few facets, each with a retina capable of creating an image, creating vision. With each eye viewing a different thing, a fused image from all the eyes is produced in the brain, providing very different, high-resolution images. Possessing detailed hyperspectral color vision, the Mantis shrimp has been reported to have the worlds most complex color vision system.[8] Trilobites, which are now extinct, had unique compound eyes. They used clear calcite crystals to form the lenses of their eyes. In this, they differ from most other arthropods, which have soft eyes. The number of lenses in such an eye varied, however: some trilobites had only one, and some had thousands of lenses in one eye. In contrast to compound eyes, simple eyes are those that have a single lens. For example, jumping spiders have a large pair of simple eyes with a narrow field of view, supported by an array of other, smaller eyes for peripheral vision. Some insect larvae, like caterpillars, have a different type of simple eye (stemmata) which gives a rough image. Some of the simplest eyes, called ocelli, can be found in animals like some of the snails, which cannot actually see in the normal sense. They do have photosensitive cells, but no lens and no other means of projecting an image onto these cells. They can distinguish between light and dark, but no more. This enables snails to keep out of direct sunlight. In organisms dwelling near deep-sea vents, compound eyes have been secondarily simplified and adapted to spot the infra-red light produced by the hot vents–in this way the bearers can spot hot springs and avoid being boiled alive.[9] [edit] Evolution Main article: Evolution of the eye Evolution of the eye Photoreception is phylogenetically very old, with various theories of phylogenesis.[10] The common origin (monophyly) of all animal eyes is now widely accepted as fact. This is based upon the shared anatomical and genetic features of all eyes; that is, all modern eyes, varied as they are, have their origins in a proto-eye believed to have evolved some 540 million years ago.[11][12][13] The majority of the advancements in early eyes are believed to have taken only a few million years to develop, since the first predator to gain true imaging would have touched off an arms race.[14] Prey animals and competing predators alike would be at a distinct disadvantage without such capabilities and would be less likely to survive and reproduce. Hence multiple eye types and subtypes developed in parallel. Eyes in various animals show adaption to their requirements. For example, birds of prey have much greater visual acuity than humans, and some can see ultraviolet light. The different forms of ey e in, for example, vertebrates and mollusks are often cited as examples of parallel evolution, despite their distant common ancestry. The very earliest eyes, called eyespots, were simple patches of photoreceptor protein in unicellular animals. In multicellular beings, multicellular eyespots evolved, physically similar to the receptor patches for taste and smell. These eyespots could only sense ambient brightness: they could distinguish light and dark, but not the direction of the lightsource.[15] Through gradual change, as the eyespot depressed into a shallow cup shape, the ability to slightly discriminate directional brightness was achieved by using the angle at which the light hit certain cells to identify the source. The pit deepened over time, the opening diminished in size, and the number of photoreceptor cells increased, forming an effective pinhole camera that was capable of dimly distinguishing shapes.[16] The thin overgrowth of transparent cells over the eyes aperture, originally formed to prevent damage to the eyespot, allowed the segregated contents of the eye chamber to specialize into a transparent humour that optimized color filtering, blocked harmful radiation, improved the eyes refractive index, and allowed functionality outside of water. The transparent protective cells eventually split into two layers, with circulatory fluid in between that allowed wider viewing angles and greater imaging resolution, and the thickness of the transparent layer gradually increased, in most species with the transparent crystallin protein.[17] The gap between tissue layers naturally formed a bioconvex shape, an optimally ideal structure for a normal refractive index. Independently, a transparent layer and a nontransparent layer split forward from the lens: the cornea and iris. Separation of the forward layer again formed a humour, the aqueous humour. This increased refractive power and again eased circulatory problems. Formation of a nontransparent ring allowed more blood vessels, more circulation, and larger eye sizes.[17] [edit] Types of eye There are ten different eye layouts—indeed every way of capturing an image known to man, with the exceptions of zoom and Fresnel lenses. Eye types can be categorized into simple eyes, with one concave photoreceptive surface, and compound eyes, which comprise a number of individual lenses laid out on a convex surface.[1] Note that simple does not imply a reduced level of complexity or acuity. Indeed, any eye type can be adapted for almost any behavior or environment. The only limitations specific to eye types are that of resolution—the physics of compound eyes prevents them from achieving a resolution better than 1Â °. Also, superposition eyes can achieve greater sensitivity than apposition eyes, so are better suited to dark-dwelling creatures.[1] Eyes also fall into two groups on the basis of their photoreceptors cellular construction, with the photoreceptor cells either being cilliated (as in the vertebrates) or rhabdomeric. These two groups are not monophyletic; the cnidaria also possess cilliated cells, [18] and some annelids possess both.[19] [edit] Normal eyes Human eyes are examples of normal eyes Simple eyes are rather ubiquitous, and lens-bearing eyes have evolved at least seven times in vertebrates, cephalopods, annelids, crustacea and cubozoa.[20] [edit Pit eyes Pit eyes, also known as stemma, are eye-spots which may be set into a pit to reduce the angles of light that enters and affects the eyespot, to allow the organism to deduce the angle of incoming light.[1] Found in about 85% of phyla, these basic forms were probably the precursors to more advanced types of simple eye. They are small, comprising up to about 100 cells covering about 100 Â µm.[1] The directionality can be improved by reducing the size of the aperture, by incorporating a reflective layer behind the receptor cells, or by filling the pit with a refractile material.[1] [edit] Spherical lensed eye The resolution of pit eyes can be greatly improved by incorporating a material with a higher refractive index to form a lens, which may greatly reduce the blur radius encountered—hence increasing the resolution obtainable.[1] The most basic form, still seen in some gastropods and annelids, consists of a lens of one refractive index. A far sharper image can be obtained using materials with a high refractive index, decreasing to the edges; this decreases the focal length and thus allows a sharp image to form on the retina.[1] This also allows a larger aperture for a given sharpness of image, allowing more light to enter the lens; and a flatter lens, reducing spherical aberration.[1] Such an inhomogeneous lens is necessary in order for the focal length to drop from about 4 times the lens radius, to 2.5 radii.[1] Heterogeneous eyes have evolved at least eight times: four or more times in gastropods, once in the copepods, once in the annelids and once in the cephalopods.[1] No aquatic organisms possess homogeneous lenses; presumably the evolutionary pressure for a heterogeneous lens is great enough for this stage to be quickly outgrown.[1] This eye creates an image that is sharp enough that motion of the eye can cause significant blurring. To minimize the effect of eye motion while the animal moves, most such eyes have stabilizing eye muscles.[1] The ocelli of insects bear a simple lens, but their focal point always lies behind the retina; consequently they can never form a sharp image. This capitulates the function of the eye. Ocelli (pit-type eyes of arthropods) blur the image across the whole retina, and are consequently excellent at responding to rapid changes in light intensity across the whole visual field; this fast response is further accelerated by the large nerve bundles which rush the information to the brain.[21] Focusing the image would also cause the suns image to be focused on a few receptors, with the possibility of damage under the intense light; shielding the receptors would block out some light and thus reduce their sensitivity.[21] This fast response has led to suggestions that the ocelli of insects are used mainly in flight, because they can be used to detect sudden changes in which way is up (because light, especially UV light which is absorbed by vegetation, usually comes from above).[21] [edit] Multiple lenses Some marine organisms bear more than one lens; for instance the copepod Pontella has three. The outer has a parabolic surface, countering the effects of spherical aberration while allowing a sharp image to be formed. Another copepod, Copilias eyes have two lenses, arranged like those in a telescope.[1] Such arrangements are rare and poorly understood, but represent an interesting alternative construction. An interesting use of multiple lenses is seen in some hunters such as eagles and jumping spiders, which have a refractive cornea (discussed next): these have a negative lens, enlarging the observed image by up to 50% over the receptor cells, thus increasing their optical resolution.[1] [edit] Refractive cornea In the eyes of most mammals, birds, reptiles, and most other terrestrial vertebrates (along with spiders and some insect larvae) the vitreous fluid has a higher refractive index than the air, relieving the lens of the function of reducing the focal length. This has freed it up for fine adjustments of focus, allowing a very high resolution to be obtained.[1] As with spherical lenses, the problem of spherical aberration caused by the lens can be countered either by using an inhomogeneous lens material, or by flattening the lens.[1] Flattening the lens has a disadvantage; the quality of vision is diminished away from the main line of focus, meaning that animals requiring all-round vision are detrimented. Such animals often display an inhomogeneous lens instead.[1] As mentioned above, a refractive cornea is only useful out of water; in water, there is no difference in refractive index between the vitreous fluid and the surrounding water. Hence creatures which have returned to the waterâ €”penguins and seals, for example—lose their refractive cornea and return to lens-based vision. An alternative solution, borne by some divers, is to have a very strong cornea.[1] [edit] Reflector eyes An alternative to a lens is to line the inside of the eye with mirrors, and reflect the image to focus at a central point.[1] The nature of these eyes means that if one were to peer into the pupil of an eye, one would see the same image that the organism would see, reflected back out.[1] Many small organisms such as rotifers, copeopods and platyhelminths use such organs, but these are too small to produce usable images.[1] Some larger organisms, such as scallops, also use reflector eyes. The scallop Pecten has up to 100 millimeter-scale reflector eyes fringing the edge of its shell. It detects moving objects as they pass successive lenses.[1] There is at least one vertebrate, the spookfish, whose eyes include reflective optics for focusing of light. Each of the two eyes of a spookfish collects light from both above and below; the light coming from above is focused by a lens, while that coming from below, by a curved mirror composed of many layers of small reflective plates made of g uanine crystals.[22] [edit] Compound eyes An image of a house fly compound eye surface by using Scanning Electron Microscope Anatomy of the compound eye of an insect Arthropods such as this carpenter bee have compound eyes A compound eye may consist of thousands of individual photoreceptor units or ommatidia (ommatidium, singular). The image perceived is a combination of inputs from the numerous ommatidia (individual eye units), which are located on a convex surface, thus pointing in slightly different directions. Compared with simple eyes, compound eyes possess a very large view angle, and can detect fast movement and, in some cases, the polarization of light.[23] Because the individual lenses are so small, the effects of diffraction impose a limit on the possible resolution that can be obtained. This can only be countered by increasing lens size and number. To see with a resolution comparable to our simple eyes, humans would require compound eyes which would each reach the size of their head. Compound eyes fall into two groups: apposition eyes, which form multiple inverted images, and superposition eyes, which form a single erect image.[24] Compound eyes are common in arthropods, and are also present in annelids and some bivalved molluscs.[25] Compound eyes, in arthropods at least, grow at their margins by the addition of new ommatidia.[26] Structure of the ommatidia of apposition compound eyes [edit] Apposition eyes Apposition eyes are the most common form of eye, and are presumably the ancestral form of compound eye. They are found in all arthropod groups, although they may have evolved more than once within this phylum.[1] Some annelids and bivalves also have apposition eyes. They are also possessed by Limulus, the horseshoe crab, and there are suggestions that other chelicerates developed their simple eyes by reduction from a compound starting point.[1] (Some caterpillars appear to have evolved compound eyes from simple eyes in the opposite fashion.) Apposition eyes work by gathering a number of images, one from each eye, and combining them in the brain, with each eye typically contributing a single point of information. The typical apposition eye has a lens focusing light from one direction on the rhabdom, while light from other directions is absorbed by the dark wall of the ommatidium. In the other kind of apposition eye, found in the Strepsiptera, lenses are not fused to one another, and each forms an entire image; these images are combined in the brain. This is called the schizochroal compound eye or the neural superposition eye. Because images are combined additively, this arrangement allows vision under lower light levels.[1] [edit] Superposition eyes The second type is named the superposition eye. The superposition eye is divided into three types; the refracting, the reflecting and the parabolic superposition eye. The refracting superposition eye has a gap between the lens and the rhabdom, and no side wall. Each lens takes light at an angle to its axis and reflects it to the same angle on the other side. The result is an image at half the radius of the eye, which is where the tips of the rhabdoms are. This kind is used mostly by nocturnal insects. In the parabolic superposition compound eye type, seen in arthropods such as mayflies, the parabolic surfaces of the inside of each facet focus light from a reflector to a sensor array. Long-bodied decapod crustaceans such as shrimp, prawns, crayfish and lobsters are alone in having reflecting superposition eyes, which also have a transparent gap but use corner mirrors instead of lenses. [edit] Parabolic superposition This eye type functions by refracting light, then using a parabolic mirror to focus the image; it combines features of superposition and apposition eyes.[9] [edit] Other The compound eyes of a dragonfly Good fliers like flies or honey bees, or prey-catching insects like praying mantis or dragonflies, have specialized zones of ommatidia organized into a fovea area which gives acute vision. In the acute zone the eyes are flattened and the facets larger. The flattening allows more ommatidia to receive light from a spot and therefore higher resolution. There are some exceptions from the types mentioned above. Some insects have a so-called single lens compound eye, a transitional type which is something between a superposition type of the multi-lens compound eye and the single lens eye found in animals with simple eyes. Then there is the mysid shrimp Dioptromysis paucispinosa. The shrimp has an eye of the refracting superposition type, in the rear behind this in each eye there is a single large facet that is three times in diameter the others in the eye and behind this is an enlarged crystalline cone. This projects an upright image on a specialized retina. The resulting eye is a mixture of a simple eye within a compound eye. Another version is the pseudofaceted eye, as seen in Scutigera. This type of eye consists of a cluster of numerous ocelli on each side of the head, organized in a way that resembles a true compound eye. The body of Ophiocoma wendtii, a type of brittle star, is covered with ommatidia, turning its whole skin into a compound eye. The same is true of many chitons. [edit] Nutrients of the eye The ciliary body is triangular in horizontal section and is coated by a double layer, the ciliary epithelium. The inner layer is transparent and covers the vitreous body, and is continuous from the neural tissue of the retina. The outer layer is highly pigmented, continuous with the retinal pigment epithelium, and constitutes the cells of the dilator muscle. The vitreous is the transparent, colorless, gelatinous mass that fills the space between the lens of the eye and the retina lining the back of the eye.[27] It is produced by certain retinal cells. It is of rather similar composition to the cornea, but contains very few cells (mostly phagocytes which remove unwanted cellular debris in the visual field, as well as the hyalocytes of Balazs of the surface of the vitreous, which reprocess the hyaluronic acid), no blood vessels, and 98-99% of its volume is water (as opposed to 75% in the cornea) with salts, sugars, vitrosin (a type of collagen), a network of collagen type II fibers with the mucopolysaccharide hyaluronic acid, and also a wide array of proteins in micro amounts. Amazingly, with so little solid matter, it tautly holds the eye. [edit]Relationship to life requirements Eyes are generally adapted to the environment and life requirements of the organism which bears them. For instance, the distribution of photoreceptors tends to match the area in which the highest acuity is required, with horizon-scanning organisms, such as those that live on the African plains, having a horizontal line of high-density ganglia, while tree-dwelling creatures which require good all-round vision tend to have a symmetrical distribution of ganglia, with acuity decreasing outwards from the centre. Of course, for most eye types, it is impossible to diverge from a spherical form, so only the density of optical receptors can be altered. In organisms with compound eyes, it is the number of ommatidia rather than ganglia that reflects the region of highest data acquisition.[1]:23-4 Optical superposition eyes are constrained to a spherical shape, but other forms of compound eyes may deform to a shape where more ommatidia are aligned to, say, the horizon, without altering the size or density of individual ommatidia.[28] Eyes of horizon-scanning organisms have stalks so they can be easily aligned to the horizon when this is inclined, for example if the animal is on a slope.[29] An extension of this concept is that the eyes of predators typically have a zone of very acute vision at their centre, to assist in the identification of prey.[28] In deep water organisms, it may not be the centre of the eye that is enlarged. The hyperiid amphipods are deep water animals that feed on organisms above them. Their eyes are almost divided into two, with the upper region thought to be involved in detecting the silhouettes of potential prey—or predators—against the faint light of the sky above. Accordingly, deeper water hyperiids, where the light against which the silhouettes must be compared is dimmer, have larger upper-eyes, and may lose the lower portion of their eyes altogether.[28] Depth perception can be enhanced by having eyes which are enlarged in one direction; distorting the eye slightly allows the distance to the object to be estimated with a high degree of accuracy.[9] Acuity is higher among male organisms that mate in mid-air, as they need to be able to spot and assess potential mates against a very large backdrop.[28] On the other hand, the eyes of organisms which operate in low light levels, such as around dawn and dusk or in deep water, tend to be larger to increase the amount of light that can be captured.[28] It is not only the shape of the eye that may be affected by lifestyle. Eyes can be the most visible parts of organisms, and this can act as a pressure on organisms to have more transparent eyes at the cost of function.[28] Eyes may be mounted on stalks to provide better all-round vision, by lifting them above an organisms carapace; this also allows them to track predators or prey without moving the head.[9] [edit] Visual acuity A hawks eye Visual acuity, or resolving power, is the ability to distinguish fine detail and is the property of cones.[30] It is often measured in cycles per degree (CPD), which measures an angular resolution, or how much an eye can differentiate one object from another in terms of visual angles. Resolution in CPD can be measured by bar charts of different numbers of white/black stripe cycles. For example, if each pattern is 1.75 cm wide and is placed at 1 m distance from the eye, it will subtend an angle of 1 degree, so the number of white/black bar pairs on the pattern will be a measure of the cycles per degree of that pattern. The highest such number that the eye can resolve as stripes, or distinguish from a gray block, is then the measurement of visual acuity of the eye. For a human eye with excellent acuity, the maximum theoretical resolution is 50 CPD[31] (1.2 arcminute per line pair, or a 0.35 mm line pair, at 1 m). A rat can resolve only about 1 to 2 CPD.[32] A horse has higher acuity through most of the visual field of its eyes than a human has, but does not match the high acuity of the human eyes central fovea region. Spherical aberration limits the resolution of a 7 mm pupil to about 3 arcminutes per line pair. At a pupil diameter of 3 mm, the spherical aberration is greatly reduced, resulting in an improved resolution of approximately 1.7 arcminutes per line pair.[33] A resolution of 2 arcminutes per line pair, equivalent to a 1 arcminute gap in an optotype, corresponds to 20/20 (normal vision) in humans. [edit] Perception of colours Colour vision is the faculty of the organism to distinguish lights of different spectral qualities.[34] All organisms are restricted to a small range of electromagnetic spectrum; this varies from creature to creature, but is mainly between 400 and 700 nm.[35] This is a rather small section of the electromagnetic spectrum, probably reflecting the submarine evolution of the organ: water blocks out all but two small windows of the EM spectrum, and there has been no evolutionary pressure among land animals to broaden this range.[36] The most sensitive pigment, rhodopsin, has a peak response at 500 nm.[37] Small changes to the genes coding for this protein can tweak the peak response by a few nm;[2] pigments in the lens can also filter incoming light, changing the peak response.[2] Many organisms are unable to discriminate between colours, seeing instead in shades of grey; color vision necessitates a range of pigment cells which are primarily sensitive to smaller ranges of the spectrum. In primates, geckos, and other organisms, these take the form of cone cells, from which the more sensitive rod cells evolved.[37] Even if organisms are physically capable of discriminating different colours, this does not necessarily mean that they can perceive the different colours; only with behavioural tests can this be deduced.[2] Most organisms with colour vision are able to detect ultraviolet light. This high energy light can be damaging to receptor cells. With a few exceptions (snakes, placental mammals), most organisms avoid these effects by having absorbent oil droplets around their cone cells. The alternative, developed by organisms that had lost these oil droplets in the course of evolution, is to make the lens impervious to UV light — this precludes the possibility of any UV light being detected, as it does not even reach the retina.[37] [edit] Rods and cones The retina contains two major types of light-sensitive photoreceptor cells used for vision: the rods and the cones. Rods cannot distinguish colours, but are responsible for low-light (scotopic) monochrome (black-and-white) vision; they work well in dim light as they contain a pigment, rhodopsin (visual purple), which is sensitive at low light intensity, but saturates at higher (photopic) intensities. Rods are distributed throughout the retina but there are none at the fovea and none at the blind spot. Rod density is greater in the peripheral retina than in the central retina. Cones are responsible for colour vision. They require brighter light to function than rods require. In humans, there are three types of cones, maximally sensitive to long-wavelength, medium-wavelength, and short-wavelength light (often referred to as red, green, and blue, respectively, though the sensitivity peaks are not actually at these colours). The colour seen is the combined effect of stimuli to, and responses from, these three types of cone cells. Cones are mostly concentrated in and near the fovea. Only a few are present at the sides of the retina. Objects are seen most sharply in focus when their images fall on the fovea, as when one looks at an object directly. Cone cells and rods are connected through intermediate cells in the retina to nerve fibres of the optic nerve. When rods and cones are stimulated by light, the nerves send off impulses through these fibres to the brain.[37] [edit] Pigmentation The pigment molecules used in the eye are various, but can be used to define the evolutionary distance between different groups, and can also be an aid in determining which are closely related – although problems of convergence do exist.[37] Opsins are the pigments involved in photoreception. Other pigments, such as melanin, are used to shield the photoreceptor cells from light leaking in from the sides. The opsin protein group evolved long before the last common ancestor of animals, and has continued to diversify since.[2] There are two types of opsin involved in vision; c-opsins, which are associated with ciliary-type photoreceptor cells, and r-opsins, associated with rhabdomeric photoreceptor cells.[38] The eyes of vertebrates usually contain cilliary cells with c-opsins, and (bilaterian) invertebrates have rhabdomeric cells in the eye with r-opsins. However, some ganglion cells of vertebrates express r-opsins, suggesting that their ancestors used this pigment in vision, an d that remnants survive in the eyes.[38] Likewise, c-opsins have been found to be expressed in the brain of some invertebrates. They may have been expressed in ciliary cells of larval eyes, which were subsequently resorbed into the brain on metamorphosis to the adult form.[38] C-opsins are also found in some derived bilaterian-invertebrate eyes, such as the pallial eyes of the bivalve molluscs; however, the lateral eyes (which were presumably the ancestral type for this group, if eyes evolved once there) always use r-opsins.[38] Cnidaria, which are an outgroup to the taxa mentioned above, express c-opsins but r-opsins are yet to be found in this group.[38] Incidentally, the melanin produced in the cnidaria is produced in the same fashion as that in vertebrates, suggesting the common descent of this pigment.[38]