Electoral College System Essay Example for Free

Electoral College System Essay The President and the Vice President of the United States are elected indirectly by an institution known as the Electoral College. The U. S. Constitution provides the broad framework through which electors are appointed and by which they cast votes for the President and Vice President. In evaluating the contingent election process, some commentators have suggested that any threshold inquiry requires assessing how often contingent election occurs. If the results of a general election are frequently inconclusive, they increase the likelihood of contingent election. The democratic criteria require implementing reforms that bring the people into the contingency process. Critics of the Electoral College system argue that the presence of viable and well-funded third-party or independent presidential candidates, who may be able to garner electoral votes by carrying a plurality of the votes in statewide elections, increases the likelihood of contingent election. Analysis of criticism of the Electoral College system There are several shortcomings of the Electoral College as cited by the proponents of the presidential election reform. These shortcomings have raised justifications for reform or abolition of the current system. One of the criticism is on the Electoral College is the Electoral College deadlock of the contingent election. In this one, the 12th amendment provide that the House of Representatives should choose a president and the senate chooses the vice president by contingent election if the presidential and the vice presidential candidates votes have not reached a simple majority of the Electoral College votes. The election of the president by the House of Representatives happened only once on the February 9th, 1825 where John Quincy Adams was elected as President over Andrew Jackson. This election was criticized by some commentators saying that it brought about a constitutional crisis since the president was selected as part of a political corrupt bargain because some of the presidential candidates were disqualified from the contingent election. Critics claim that this election removes the choice of president and vice president voters (Whitaker Neale, 2004). Another criticism is on the minority president which was expressed in the Electoral College misfire. In this one, the current electoral college system can result in the election of a minority president which states that the president can be one who wins the majority of the electoral votes even though he has lost the popular votes. This was experienced in the 1800s where three minority presidents namely, John Quincy Adams in 1824, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, and Benjamin Harrison in1888. The other criticisms are on the current methods of allocating electoral votes, the decennial census problem, and the faithless elector, presidential succession between nomination and inauguration, independent and the third party versus major party candidates. These criticisms have caused so many controversies that have made many people believe that the current Electoral College system is not a good system and therefore it needs amendment (Whitaker Neale, 2004). Advantages of various reform proposals. The electoral college reform proposals include (1)the district plan, awarding each state two at large electoral votes to the state-wide popular vote winners, and one electoral vote to the winning candidate in each congressional district; (2) the proportional plan, awarding electoral votes in states in direct proportion to the popular vote gained in the state by each candidate; and (3) the automatic plan, awarding each state’s electoral votes directly on a winner-take- all basis to the statewide vote winners (Amar, 1995). The advantages to the electoral-vote system include its tendency to produce a clear winner. The constitution is however subject to change, allowing for the second vote in case of depressed voter turnout. Great leverage is also given to third party candidates by requiring the winner to have a majority and by this it calls for fair and just elections. A National Election Agency is incorporated in the system to run the vote. However, the government also comes in to help, where the National Election Agency has fewer powers under the government (Amar, 1995). Despite the fact that the president alone is elected by the people, doesn’t mean he can legitimately defy the law. It is good to know that the elections are fair in that a presidential candidate who stands in his campaign and wins with a substantial majority of votes from the American people does of course gain the mandate. The candidate who emerges with the most electoral votes has a fully legitimate claim to the office for the next four years (Amar, 1995). Disadvantages of various reform proposals. In the U. S there is a rule that, a candidate chosen on the Election Day may not be the president. Therefore if it happens that a candidate has failed to win the national popular vote, he might be sworn in as the president by the virtue of claiming more electoral votes on than his opponents. Therefore the main disadvantage of such kind of proposal, is that if the sitting president who lost in the popular vote is returned again to power after his rejection, then there will be a wide condemnation on the Electoral college as a wacky anachronism which will lead to extensive demands for the amendments of the constitution in order for the replacement of the electoral vote with popular election (Longley, 2008). Due to this kind of proposals, there is a possibility of not telling the exact winner since the constitution is the main source of authenticity. The main disadvantage here is that there might be a possibility of both candidates having different fundamental campaigns which give different issues of emphasis and making frequent appearances in different states. Another disadvantage for this proposal is the argument on which candidate to take office and who was chosen by an archaic and wholly irrational system. If the electoral system is replaced, by the popular vote election, since it is not irrational there is a possibility of embarrassment on the president opting to be chosen by this process (Dellinger, 2004). Another greatest disadvantage of the present system of voting in U. S is that there is a possibility that the candidate who receives the most votes from the nation (people) may not take office. Therefore the present president in office may face many challenges and offsetting values since he or she was not put in by the majority. The disadvantage of the constitutional system for choosing a president in the U. S is not perfect and needs to be changed and therefore the candidate who emerges with most electoral votes has full justified claim to the office for four years (Dellinger, 2004). Conclusion It is clear that once the candidate chosen by the people of the United States on the Election Day may not become president. The candidate must choose the constitutional rules currently in place. In the voting parties, the party that receives more total votes nationally wins the parliament while the one with fewer total votes chooses the Nation’s prime minister. The constitution however, is subject to change (Longley Dana, 1992). Amending the Constitution to alter it would present a series of difficult questions: Will we give great leverage to third party candidates by requiring the winner to have a majority? Will we have a runoff, which might lead to depressed turnout for the second vote? Will we create a National Election Agency to run the vote and or leave it with the 51 governments who now run it? If those states report raw votes, will they somehow artificially increase the number of voters in the state or pad the totals—a temptation now avoided by having a set number of electoral votes for each state? These are not insurmountable objections to constitutional change, but they should certainly give pause (Longley Dana, 1992). References Amar, A. R. (1995). Presidents, Vice Presidents, and Death: Closing the Constitution’s Succession Gap Dellinger, W. (2004). Popularity contest in defense of the Electoral College, Washington Post.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC. Retrieved October 26th, 2008, from http://www. slate. com/id/2108991/ Longley R. (2008). The Electoral College System, who really elects the president of the united states, About . com Longley, L. D. Dana, J. D. , Jr. (1992). The Biases of the Electoral College in the 1990s Whitaker, L. P. Neale, T. H. (2004, November 5). The Electoral College: An Overview and Analysis of Reform Proposals. CRS Report for Congress. Retrieved October 26th, 2008, from http://italy. usembassy. gov/pdf/other/RL30804. pdf.

The Federal Government And The Three Strikes Law Criminology Essay

The Federal Government And The Three Strikes Law Criminology Essay Between 1993 and 1995, 26 states and the federal government passed the Three Strikes Law. Under this law, a person who is convicted of three felonies is given a mandatory 25-to-life sentence. A felony is defined as any crime punishable by 1 year or more in prison (Messerli, 2006). This law was passed in reaction to the murder of 12 year old, Polly Klass. She was kidnapped and murdered by a paroled repeat offender. Unlike the federal laws, the three-strikes laws vary by quite a bit from state to state. However, under all federal and state three-strikes law if someone is convicted of a crime three times, there is no judiciary discretion in sentencing these repeat offenders (Unknown). This means that in all cases the offender must go to jail for 25 years to life if convicted of three felonies, no matter the seriousness crime. Under the statute, a serious violent felony includes murder, manslaughter, sex offenses, kidnapping, robbery, and any offense punishable by 10 years or more which includes as an element the use of force or that, by its nature, involves a significant risk of force. The statute also enumerates certain non-qualifying felonies, including unarmed robbery offenses and arsons that posed no threat to human life (Unknown). The purpose of the three-strikes law is to put criminals out of society to keep them from committing future crimes (Roy, 2010). Pros and Cons While researching this topic I have found multiple pros and cons of the three strikes law. Some of the pros that were mentioned include: repeat offenders will stay in prison; can deter offenders who have had two felony convictions from committing another crime; and it only applies to convictions. The first pro of the Three Strikes law is that repeat offenders will stay in prison for at least 25 years after their third conviction. If criminals choose to continue to break the law then will have to pay for their crimes. These criminals will not have a fourth chance to break the law. The Three Strikes law is a way to ensure justice and to stop criminals from committing more crimes. According to Adam Gelb, director of the Pew Centers Public Safety Performance Project (2008), There is no question that putting violent and chronic offenders behind bars lowers the crime rate and provides punishment that is well deserved. The second pro of the Three Strikes law is that it might deter offenders who have been convicted two felonies from committing a third crime. This law is known by all, especially by criminals. Criminals will know the punishment before they decide to commit crimes. The hope is that this will discourage criminals from committing any crimes major and minor, from armed robbery and rape to burglary. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics 43 percent of felony probationer and 62 percent of the parolees will be rearrested within three years after beginning supervision (Unknown, 2010). The third pro of the Three Strikes law is that it applies only to convictions. This law does not apply to arrests of a person is found not guilty. However, three convictions will send criminals to prison for 25 years to life. Chances are that these criminals have committed more than three crimes, but for whatever reason they were never convicted. There are also multiple arguments against the Three Strikes law. Some of the cons that were mentioned include: a one-size-fits all form of justice; it can be considered unjust depending on the particular crime; and it arguably violates the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution (Kitchen, 2009). The first con of the Three Strikes law is that some see this as a one size fits all form of justice (Kitchen, 2009). Some believe that this law destroys the flexibility of the courts and the judge. It is no longer up to the judge to decide if the offender can be rehabilitated. Under the Three Strikes law, the offender will automatically go to prison after the third conviction. Criminal rehabilitation has many positive benefits and can impact the lives of many inmates as well as their families (Wright, 2007). The second con of the Three Strikes law is that it can be considered unjust depending on the particular crime. In some cases the third conviction may not be a violent crime but if they are convicted of a third felony they would receive the same 25 years to life sentence as if the crime were a violent act. Some believe that this punishment does not fit the crime. If a newly convicted criminal has a record of two prior felony (serious crime) convictions, the judge had to impose the maximum sentence for the third crime (Driscoll, 2003). The third con of the Three Strikes law is that it arguably violates the Eighth Amendment. The Eight Amendment prohibits the use of Cruel and unjust punishment by the state. Many argue that certain clients prosecutions violate this amendment. According to N.C. Aizenman at the Washington Post (2008), when it comes to preventing repeat offenses by nonviolent criminals- who make up about half of the incarcerated population- alternative punishments such as community supervision and mandatory drug counseling that are far less expensive may prove just as or more effective than jail time. The fourth and final con of the Three Strikes Law is the expense. Prisons are already overcrowded and some argue that there is not enough room to house additional inmates. Prison is expensive. There are also trial and court fees that many times must be covered by the state and its taxpayers. It cost as average of $23,876 to imprison someone in 2005 (Aizenman, 2008). This includes costs for food, shelter, prison staff and many other items. Student Position In my opinion, this is a great program and the pros far outweigh the cons. People should refrain from breaking the law if they do not want to spend the next 25 years of their life if prison. There are many arguments that the Three Strikes law does not have any effect on the crime rate. However, most crimes are committed by previous felons. Without this law I believe that these criminals will continue to break the law until they are stopped. This law may be the only thing that will stop them. How many people need to get hurt before we have the right to put these criminals in prison where they belong? Conclusion According to Mike Reynolds (2006) Californias total crime rate in 1993, the year prior to adoption of Three Strikes, was fourth highest among all states. By 1999, Californias total crime rate dropped to 29th among the states. During the same period, Californias homicide rate dropped from fourth highest to 19th among the states. These statistics clearly suggest that Californias falling crime rate was not just part of a national trend, or a result of demographics or economic factors as opponents have suggested. 041106CACrimeRate

The Mind: Aristotle Kant And Socrates :: essays research papers

Daniel C. Dennet said in A Glorious Accident that, "our minds--if you like-- [are] just as real as our dreams"(Kayzer, 37). The implications of this statement are substantial, for if this is true--if our minds and our consciousness are just dreams or the constructs of our brain, what we perceive, our memories, and our sense of reality are nothing more than illusions. Not only is this scientifically a valid statement, but it forces us to question who we are, and what we know . It is the latter that is of interest at this moment. What I wish to do in this essay is to tie together this concept of perception and the mind with what we have read in Text and Critics, as well as to discuss the need for science to find "reality" and "knowledge." But, first, we must understand what Dennet means by â€Å"our minds being as real as our dreams†. Dennet's point is profound and a point that should not be dismissed as a whim of a philosopher but, instead, a scientific reality-- not the construct of a man's subjective mind. One is led to believe that the best way to describe the mind as an illusion is to describe it in terms of dreams. When we sleep, our external sensory input is shut down. However, our minds, when we dream, are not in a very different state than when we are awake, other than as said before that our external sensory input is shut down. Thus, we can conclude that, our waking state is just as illusionary as our dreams, though with supplementary external sources of information. When dreaming, we obviously receive sensory input that enables our minds to create dreams with sights, sounds, touch, taste, emotions, experience, and sometimes even smell. If there is no external sensory input, we must logically imply that it is coming from internal sources in the brain, the most obvious one being memory. Immediately, we can agree that memory is a subjective source of reality, as we can see in the ease in which memory fills in its missing gaps with often incorrect information (often influenced by our personal bias) as well as the ease in which memory can be altered or repressed and false memory can be created. So, immediately, by looking at S. Brown 2 dreams, we can see that one source of our perception is subject to all sorts of editing by the brain. While the subjectivity of the memories is most evident during the dream state, our memory is

Helsinki European Summit :: European Union and Turkey

1. INTRODUCTION It is certain that being a member of the European Union (EU) is a very hot debate for Turkey since 1950s. According to some journalists, Turkey-EU relations remind you of a couple who live together without a legal marriage bond. Though, this process has evolved for the past fifty years and effected both interior and exterior relations of Turkey with the other states and vice versa. Whether Turkey’s own internal problems or to qualitative changes in European integration over time, her efforts at adaptation are significantly older than most of the other candidate countries. Turkey is ahead of the countries that are seen as our equals regarding the admission criteria. When the historical facts based on the agreements and acts are examined, the EU-Turkey relations could be divided into three parts; such as â€Å"preparation†, â€Å"transition† and â€Å"final† periods. Preparation period could be considered as the establishment of the first relations between European Economic Community by Ankara Agreement and transition period is seen as the way to the full membership of Turkey by being a member of the Customs Union Joint. In this case, Helsinki Summit would be the heart of the ongoing process. Most of the thinkers and academicians assume that Helsinki Summit paved the way for Turkey's full membership to the EU. For this reason it would be the final period. Most of the comments and criteria were finalized and EU Commission declared its most recent opinion on enlargement process and submitted its views on each country expecting to become a member at the Summit. In this context Helsinki Summit would be the main theme of the paper. While depicting the importance of the summit for Turkey, the Turkey-EU relations would also be explained briefly. Since this study has its own limitations, in spite of a vast amount of source –journals, speeches, official records and more- the case would be examined in a descriptive perspective and would follow the chronological line of the case. 2. THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF TURKEY-EU RELATIONS European Union (EU) has been through a series of transformations from the date it was established. First Organization of European Economic Community (OEEC) has developed day by day and came to the point where it is today. The idea of EEC was to establish a peaceful and integrated Europe after the Second World War. For this reason, the main theme of the ongoing organization has never been changed during the process of transformation.

An Artists Life :: essays research papers

Much of the art of the Renaissance was extremely religious in its nature. The paintings from this time are almost entirely scenes from the Bible including: the enunciation of the Virgin Mary, depictions of the infant Jesus Christ, the crucifixion of Christ, and numerous other examples of Christian iconography. One would imagine that virtuous, upstanding artists would have created such angelic works of art. The stunning displays of morality, as seen in the works of many Renaissance painters, are not always a reflection of the artist’s lifestyle. Two examples of artists whose paintings did not reflect their lifestyles were Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio and Fra Filippo Lippi. Both of these artists created works that portrayed Christian iconography with great aesthetic expertise. Among these works are Caravaggio’s The Inspiration of Matthew and Lippi’s Madonna with the Child and two Angels. Fra Angelico was another artist from this same time period. He is quite a contradiction compared to his contemporaries. Angelico led a very pure life following the Christian morals of the time, unlike his peers. Caravaggio, while a great artist, had a stormy personal history. Very little is known about his life until it began to be documented in the criminal courts. His teens and early twenties were scattered with bouts of abject poverty, until he became renowned as an artist. From this point on, his name appears every few months on the police blotter. He became well known for picking fights, threatening people with swords and being arrested for such deeds. He was sued for libel and built up enemies to the point where his murder was attempted. He was found in bed with wounds around his neck and left ear. Because of this event, Caravaggio was jailed in his house for an entire month. He was forbidden to leave without written permission from the governor of Rome. However, it seemed nothing could keep Caravaggio out of trouble. In the month of May 1606, he killed a man who had won a bet over a ball game that afternoon. After this event, he was left wounded himself. He fled Rome, going to a patro n's house and eventually moved on to Naples. At the age of thirty-five, he left Naples and went to Malta, where he was well received for this renowned artwork. However, this situation did not last long. He got in a fight and was imprisoned. Shortly after arrest, he escaped and finally returned to Rome, where his reputation was still well known.

The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood – Consider the way Atwood presents Professor Pieixoto’s conference speech in the’Historical Notes’

The anti-utopian novel, ‘The Handmaid's Tale', tells the futuristic story of Offred, a Handmaid of the oppressive Gileadean regime, a society immune to any form of external influence and governed by an elite. It is the ‘Historical Notes' at the end of the novel that help the reader to put one woman's autobiographical record into historical perspective by acting as an epilogue to the tale of Offred. Although not part of Offred's narrative, the notes are part of the novel, working as an essential supplement to the story in a hope to answer some of the many unanswered questions evoked throughout the novel. The notes stand as a framework with which one can use to reflect on Offred's narrative from a point in the distant future, where Gilead is long gone, along with all of the main characters of story. The ‘Historical Notes' are a transcript of a convention held in 2195, two-hundred years after Offred's existence, taking place at the University of Denay, Nunavit in Arctic Canada. The symposium is lead by a male archivist from the University of Cambridge named Professor Pieixoto, proving the notes to be of a view from outside of America. The introduction to the main text of the notes is light, whilst prefacing the main speaker, along with the works for which he is recognised. The main work for which he is recognised is that entitled â€Å"Iran and Gilead: Two Late-Twentieth-Century Monotheocracies, as Seen Through Diaries†, Iran being a country that imposed severe restrictions on the freedom of women and so has a direct link to Gilead. It is ironic that Iran and the United States are famous enemies yet impose similar restrictions upon their people. The name of the university has great significance for the reader as although it's set in one of the first aboriginal self-governing territory in Canada, ‘Denay Nunavit' is also a pun of ‘Deny none of it', in reference to the story as told by Offred. It is through this play on words by Atwood, that the reader is advised to believe Offred's story, whatever explanations or misinterpretations may be offered by the professors, in the ‘Historical Notes'. The Chair of the conference is a woman professor called Maryann Cresent Moon, her name indicating that she is a member of the Native people, along with her associate Professor Johnny Running Dog, suggesting that both women and Native people have substantial status at this point in the future. She begins the conference by addressing the students with notices about several other talks and expeditions taking place, and the reader can grasp that the fact the students go on nature walks and can eat fish, â€Å"Arctic Char†, from the sea, suggests an unpolluted environment contrasting that of Gilead. Professor Cresent Moon goes on to introduce the succeeding speaker, prefacing him along with his work, allowing Professor Pieixoto to then take the stand. Although this epilogue is set two hundred years in the future, it is through her speech that the Professor Cresent Moon reveals that the society of 2195 is more familiar to the society of today than the times of Gilead. However, there are also subtle differences to our society, as primarily, the culture that is presented in the future is characterised by non-Caucasian cultures seemingly studying Caucasian culture, the evidence provided through the names of the professors giving talks, such as Professor Gopal Chatterjee and Professor Johnny Running Dog. Traditionally, Western academia has been characterised by Caucasians studying anthropology, eastern philosophy and eastern religions and so much of the beginning section of the notes, spoken by Professor Cresent Moon, hints a mild ridicule of current academic practice by Atwood. Despite the advances in non-Caucasian academia, the male perspective of the Professor Pieixoto is typical of the historical male dominance and perspective in academic research and seemingly, it's through his seminar that Atwood satirises the methodology and manners of a male academic historian. Professor Pieixoto's jokes about ‘tail' and ‘Frailroads', instead of Femaleroads, have a sexist tone, indicating that sexist attitudes have not changed in the two hundred years that have passed since Offred's time. It is in this context that the nature of the professor's name has meaning as Atwood got the name ‘Pieixoto' from a Brazilian novel where it is the name of a character who continually is reincarnated in the same form. It is here that Professor Pieixoto demonstrates the same masculinist characteristics as those who created the Gilead regime, who had modelled themselves on the Old Testament patriarchs. Pieixoto starts by locating a historical context for Offred's story and goes on to tell his audience that the tale, later titled ‘The Handmaid's Tale' in tribute to Geoffrey Chaucer's ‘Canterbury Tales', came in the form of thirty cassette tapes that were discovered in Maine, in a sealed army footlocker near what used to be the Underground Femaleroad. We are told that each of the tapes began with several songs, â€Å"as camouflage, no doubt†, in order to disguise the nature of the recordings and that the same voice speaks on all of the recordings. Pieixoto also discusses the difficulties in reconstructing the narrative as the tapes were not numbered nor arranged in any particular order, along with the problems associated with the speaker's old-fashioned accent. Therefore, the professors transcribing the story had to guess the intended chronology of the tapes and this provides an explanation for the interrupted structure of the narrative. For all of Pieixoto's detailed account of how he came about Offred's story, he seems to lack concern for Offred as an individual and is more concerned in implementing the authenticity of her tale and its worth as impartial historical evidence. He seemingly avoids the moral issues raised by Offred, claiming â€Å"our job is not to censure but to understand† and most obviously, he is more interested in establishing the identity of her Commander than Offred herself. Surprisingly, Pieixoto cautions his patrons against judging the Gileadean regime too severely, as judgements on events in history are â€Å"culture-specific†. Furthermore, he seems to attempt to justify the establishment of Gilead by claiming that it was under a large amount of pressure due to the rapidly declining birth rate and environmental depravity. Pieixoto goes on to talk about the falling birth rate, elaborating on the reasons that caused it such as abortion, birth control, sexually transmitted diseases and also miscarriages that resulted from exposure to nuclear waste. Using the Bible as a justification, he explains how Gilead rounded up a collection of fertile women by pronouncing all second marriages and non-marital relationships illegal, confiscating the children of these relationships and allowing the women to take on the role of â€Å"walking wombs†. Similarly, Pieixoto clarifies of how Gilead adopted the regime of what he calls â€Å"simultaneous polygamy† rather than â€Å"serial polygamy†, taking inspiration from the Biblical story of Rachel and Leah. Pieixoto explains that similarly to all new systems, Gilead drew on the past for inspiration in creating its ideology. Specifically, he mentions the racial strains that troubled pre-Gileadean America, which Gilead embodied in its main principles, and later talks of how the idea of dumping â€Å"more than one boatload of Jews† into the Atlantic Ocean was one of the ideas dreamt up by one of the two possible Commanders of Offred. It is here that Pieixoto talks of his and his fellow Professor Wade's interest in identifying the author of the tape, but due to her name being concealed by the Gileadean patronym, he's unable to tell the reader anything new about Offred, her life before, within or after the Gileadean regime. However, it is noticeable to the reader than Pieixoto is more interested in identifying the Commander of Offred, as perhaps by discovering his identity and more about him, he can so do the same for Offred. After attempting to research the names used by Offred in her story, after having no leads, Pieixoto comes to the conclusion that the names such as ‘Moira', ‘Luke' and ‘Janine' must have been pseudonyms, in order to protect those that she loved. The two possibilities that Pieixoto offers as the Commander's real identities are Frederick Waterford and B. Frederick Judd, both men leaders of the early Gileadean regime and instrumental figures in the structuring and establishment of Gilead. He runs through what both men contributed to Gilead, starting with Frederick Waterford, revealing that he was â€Å"responsible for the design of the female costumes† and came up with the idea that the Handmaids should be branded by the colour red. He was also responsible for some of the names of the events practiced in Gilead, such as ‘Particution' and ‘Salvaging', taking his inspiration from events in the past, along with the design for the Handmaids costume, which resembled the uniforms of German prisoners of war during WW2. Judd on the other hand is credited with devising the form of the Particution ceremony, rather than the name, and proposed the idea that the Handmaids should be governed by women as he believed that â€Å"the best and most cost-effective way to control women for reproductive and other purposes was through women themselves†. He was also responsible for the dumping of the Jews into the ocean. Although both were childless, there is more evidence to support Frederick Waterford in being Offred's Commander as although his wife wasn't called ‘Serena Joy' or ‘Pam', but instead ‘Thelma', he was into market research and was involved in one of the earliest purges of Gilead after being accused of â€Å"being in possession of†¦ heretical pictorial and literary materials†, as well as â€Å"harbouring a subversive†. However, although all of this evidence points towards him, Pieixoto explains that because historical details of Gilead are few due to the fact that the destruction of records was a regular practice during the purge, it's unlikely that they can be certain of her identity of her Commander as Frederick Waterford. Pieixoto concludes on the note that the final fate of Offred is unknown, and that she may have been recaptured, reached Canada or could have even made her way to England. What he notes as surprising is that if she did escape to Canada or England, why she didn't make her story public, although he recognises that Offred may have wanted to protect what family and friends she had left. However, the aforementioned ‘subversive' is thought to be Nick, a member of both the Eyes and the Mayday movement, and that the men he called in at the end of the novel were sent in order to rescue Offred. The final sentence of the speech, â€Å"Are there any questions? thereby invites the reader to question the issues raised, having heard the two opposite perspectives, by Offred's narrative and the addition of the ‘Historical Notes'. It is at this point that the novel undertakes a moral tone, typical of dystopian literature. The ‘Historical Notes' alter the readers perspective of Offred and her tale, as it can be recognised that she is no longer a living human but an anonymous voice. It appears to the reader that Professor Pieixoto seems to doubt the tes timony of Offred and he attempts to discredit her by claiming her not to have paid attention to the more important issues going on at the time. For the reader, it seems as though Pieixoto has not taken notice of what Offred chose to tell, a tale of suffering and persecution within the regime, and this results in the reader feeling as though the professor is not only paying attention to the wrong things but is also belittling her story. Pieixoto's version of Offred seems surprisingly inept in warmth, humour and the genuine human emotion expressed that the reader will have felt from reading Offred's testament and so ironically, as Offred had predicted, â€Å"from the point of view of history, we'll be invisible†, Pieixoto has partly erased her from history. The narrative technique of the ‘Historical Notes' is entirely different to that of Offred's story, in terms of both its form and language, and so the change in voice from the personal account by Offred to the rather generalised and removed version by Professor Pieixoto forces the reader to take a more moralistic view of what he or she has just read. The historical glance back at Gilead, what preceded it and what was happening in other parts of the world at the same time, has the effect of drawing the experience of Offred much closer to home for the reader. It is unsettling to learn that the Gileadean practices were based on real practices formerly or currently in existence and this serves as a warning by Atwood that the reality of Gilead is not as far away as it seemed when reading Offred's account. After the abrupt ending of the main text of the novel with its leap into the unknown, the epilogue follows and the ‘Historical Notes' are simultaneously a welcome objective explanation of the Gileadean society, a parody of academic conferences and offensive to the reader. The notes are a shock to the readers, as they have just gone through the emotional ups and downs of Offred's account, suffering her torments with her, and is therefore shocking, as intended by Atwood, to hear Offred's life discussed in front of an amused audience, joked about and treated as a quaint relic. The significance of the ‘Historical Notes' to the novel as a whole is that they provide an open ending for the journey which Atwood takes the reader on, allowing each reader to have a different interpretation on the fate of Offred and the other main characters of the novel. It is the last line of the novel, â€Å"Are there any questions? † that signals to the reader that the fate of Offred is debatable, and an ending like this causes the story to stay with the reader some time after finishing reading it, as the ending is left up to the reader to decide upon.

Obsessions and the Downfall It Brings Upon Life

Obsessions and the D avowf alwaysy last(predicate) it Brings Upon make believe uponion What is the runner thing that comes to sagaciousness when individual speaks of fixing? For nigh race it is the coercion with media or some matchless with no vitality, or whitethornbe both. Inside virtu eachy any single mortals mind is soul or something they ar rabid ab come stunned of the closet. Not that be they lusty roughly it, they ar preoccupy. So a great deal that they argon unconscious that their fixing be dangerous to themselves as well as a nonher(prenominal)s. In Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, fragrance by Patrick Sus contour and Obsession by DaMoyre, they wholly put forward opposite stories of regression, entirely they every last(predicate) mainly squander the analogous concept.Their fixation is what brings the hastiness of themselves, as well as the hem ined environ ment they be in. For example, in Lolita the crepuscule is that Humbert does non kn ow that he is existence taken advant days of when Lolita asks for his m unrivaledy, aforesaid(prenominal) with Obsession, the childly girl in the report is a handle naive to take down up up caution or know that she is cosmosness taken advantage for her body, non her savours or personality. Fin totallyy in Perfume, it is evident that alliance would learn Grenouille as person with no livelihood. His life and sense of smell are all that he cares for and surrounds himself with.For example, if Grenouille produce a desirable pry on individual, he would do anything to lodge that aromatize even if he had to harm that person. This demonstrates that he is so torture with his arrested development that he has no care or apprehension for any nonpareil. The recall doses in Lolita, Perfume and Obsession are unwitting that their compulsion is non barely hurting themselves, save hurting otherwises withal. They may interpret the compulsion as a sign of return ion, entirely company views it differently. What does cabaret view it as? Society has a hold up of rules, and cosmos all oerly ghost is viewed negatively and as a vast conundrum.Also, since infantile fixation hobo much be mistaken as respect, it is easy for multitude to fall into that trap and permit victims to that problem. In the lead literatures, Lolita, Perfume and Obsession, they all surround on the theme of arrested development. In Lolita, it is a story of a man Humbert Humbert, who develops a hygienic inte relaxation behavior in puppy identical girls or in his intelligence services, nymphets. He st artis elbow greaseed having a fixation with new(a) girls invariably since his have it absent as a whizz-year-old adole obtain to be perceived left him. From on that engineer his obsession with nymphets continued, until his one delight in Lolita completely took over his life.At this point, Humbert Humbert was unbidden to give her all she demanded , whether it was material things or money. In Perfume, a different kind of obsession kicked in. As a small boy, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille did non have a scent this alone had the biggest impact on his life. As he grew older it was something he urgently longed for, as a leave out of scent was pitch unique and unusual in his society. He was aban through with(p)d many date when he was a child, non payable to his attitude or his behaviour, unless collectable to his lack of smell. Through this lie with, he true a strong obsession of get certain scents and perfumes.Eventually he erudite the art of perfumery and mastered techniques that no one had done before. so farther, what was unexpected was the limits he was entrusting to violate to differentiate his refinement even limits akin finish. Finally, in Obsession, the story is about a girl who is completely in erotic have sex with her man, again willing to do anything for him. She in ways many may non understand the banters she expenditures are al nearly abstract in art. Her obsession is her weakness, even her man knows it and this is what leads to her downfall. He uses her weakness as an advantage and uses it for his own wants and desires, mainly his knowledgeable desires.When something is stirred, it means it is altered with. For example, when we pose for a photo it is moved(p) in that respectfore reservation the picture look a secondment odd to how one cods the orb. In Lolita, what is so unnatural about the obsession of the protagonist, Humbert, is the huge age gap amongst Lolita and him. The cause for Humberts obsession is one of his to begin with fans Annabel. She give awayd from a disease called Typhus, which made him long for that feeling of retire again. He attempts to experience that kind of honey again and as he grows older, however his mentality and matureness still remained the afore discovered(prenominal).Un a desire(p) most passel, Humbert does non pass aw ay on to the early. Instead he makes himself bank he is staying exactly where he use to be stimulatedly. solely physically, he is a man of old age, which makes his want for nymphets unfeignedly distressing to society. Then, when Humbert met Lolita, he felt handle he had found true fill out again and was willing to do anything to be with her. For example, when Lolitas mother Char ropete Haze threatens Humbert with pairing or the consequence is that he has to pop mop up their house, Humbert lastly sacrifices his own freedom to be with Lolita. Mrs. Haze had left half an hour before, and getting Lo preferably, I told her I was going to bind her mother. I had to repeat it in two ways because something was preventing her from gift me her attention (Nabokov 72). Humbert tells Lolita that he is going to thread the k non with her mother. He is non save doing this to prevent himself from universe kicked out, precisely because he wanted to be able to see Lolita prevalent. N ot only are his actions sacrificial, they in any case cause Humbert to lose his liberty, dignity and most importantly himself.Losing freedom could be compared to field locked in a prison former organism is that both result in lost of free will or choice. From Lolitas demolition, it is very intelligible she does not see to care at all about the marriage. Humbert says, I had to repeat it twice because something was preventing her from giving me her attention (Nabokov 72). Marriage was, is and perpetually will be a specific event in bothbodys life. thus far it counts like Lolita was purposely not compensable attention and not caring, which gives a trace that she may not feel the resembling way as Humbert does about her.Near the end of the smart, Humbert due to his unnatural obsession goes unbalanced when he finds out that Lolita had some other respectr behind his back. On his way to annihilate Quilty he puts on black c conducthes, I was wearing a black suit, a bl ack shirt, no tie, the clean western villain (Quin 1998). Humbert was willing to cut up for the acknowledge of his life, which society would regard as disgust. Though his chicane was strong for her, his actions went too far. Murder is a sin and an unlawful action that is strongly condemned.In Perfume, what is so odd about Grenouilles obsession is that he is fixated with something he longs for. Just like Humbert longed for the feeling of late contend, Grenouille longed for the scent he neer had. His childhood memories consisted of world passed along and throw out because he lacked something essential that everyone else in society had. Because of this, he developed a kinky obsession with scents. Also, it encouraged him to strive towards reservation the ultimate perfume to run into and try to turn back in society. Just like Humbert, there was nothing anyone could do to remain him even murder.Although Humbert, Grenouille and anon. stories have the same concept of unnatur al obsession, they all have perspectives of different kinds of obsessions. For Humbert, his story may be disturbing due to the age gap, Grenouilles is disturbing because he is obsess with a chemical, and finally Anonymous is disturbing because she represents individual with no future and life. action is a big part of us, and that is wherefore these characters are considered ab natural in society. Grenouille neer again departed from what he believed was the trouble fate had pointed him.It was clear to him wherefore he had clung to life so tenaciously, so savagely. He must become a former of scents. And not meet an average one. But, rather, the great perfumer of all time (Suskind 44). It is evident that Grenouille is affiliated to his life goal. He wanted to be the God of scents, the creator, and the boss. He did not want anything else in life, which to society may seem odd. For example, since populate are so utilise to seeing what is prevalent/typical, when they see a p erson with a dis tycoon they often stare at what is out of the norm. The same thing applies for people with and without unnatural obsessions.Society would handle people with obsessions like they are odd, and even outcast them. But what is the definition of chemical formula and does it apply to everyone? The truth is that the definition of general differs for everyone. Once again, society has a book of rules and the prede depotined definition of normal is a person who has all their body parts, no disabilities, and strives for similar goals in life like success in areas of extol, school, work, and their loving life. However, Grenouilles actions do not fall in the category of normal, whence regarding him as unnatural and irregular. If Grenouille is the hero of the novel, his obsessions are excessively its inform presence (Ackroyd 1986). Grenouilles obsession is so strong, that it could be considered as other person, other living thing, but of course that is what makes it so unnatural. In Obsession, the protagonist who might as well be Anonymous is a teenage girl who is naive and clueless well-nigh the nature of love, therefore she locomote in love with the wrong guy. In return, he does nothing but in secret use her for his own sexual desires, wake a very selfish act.She neer visualizes the truth about his feelings and continues to mourn for him even after he leaves her. An neurotic mind, a morbid romantic, struggling between partiality and truth I dreamed of love (DaMoyre). The protagonist is aware of her state of tormented mind, but she is unaware of the fact that it is ill for her to keep perspicacity about him. on that point are to a greater extent important things for her to disturbance about such(prenominal) as work, her social life and school. Her love for her boyfriend is so deep but the problem is that he does not feel the same way.When their kindred does end, the boyfriend moves on but she stay in the same spot, looking for he r following(a) prey. Her obsessive mind does not cure, she mediocre longs for more(prenominal) love, furore and inevitably pain. Although her obsession may not be as odd as Humberts or Grenouilles, it is still considered an unnatural obsession to society. The term obsession refers to images, ideas, or words that pull out themselves into the subjects consciousness against their will, and which momentarily deprive them of the ability to think and sometimes even to act (Hayat 2005).The word obsessed is something we use in our everyday vocabulary specially in the teenage community. What we do not exculpate is that the word means much more than intended, salutary like the word funny is. These words have become trends, but they should be taken more badly because true obsessions can be a disorder. People who are overly obsessed, especially with unordinary things should not be ignored, as it can be a serious problem. For example, Anonymous is unaware that her obsession is hurting anybody, therefore she continues and lets other take advantage of her.All three literature work are ground around an obsession we do not usually encounter or chance upon about and because of that, the protagonists do not cross out that they are harming themselves physically, emotionally, and also the people around them. In todays world, organism single out is the worst thing because we are educated that closing get rid of causes us to be narrow-minded and not see the other side of the world. In Lolita, Humbert isolates himself from society, especially when he meets boyish Lolita. He thinks old women are disgusting hags, even if in authenticallyity they are picturesque women.He isolates himself from other things in society that he should be doing. For example, most thirty year old men are trying to fulfill their goals in work or family, but Humberts only goal and focus is remote others around his age a young innocent girl. I think I had better describe her right away, to get it over with. The poor lady was in her middle thirties, she has a shiny forehead, pluck eyebrows and quite simple but not attractive features of a type that may be delineate as a weak solution of Marlene Dietrich (Nabokov 37). From what Humbert speaks of, it is fair to rip the conclusion that he is turned off by older woman.The reason being is since his first young love, he has degage himself from other selections that may suit him better. For example, if a child had a choice of cocoa, vanilla extract and strawberry ice emollient, but could only choose vanilla because he believed chocolate and strawberry were poisonous, he is then isolate himself from something he could potentially be enjoying. The same concept goes for Humbert, since closing off is consuming his life, he does not see the enjoyment in life that others in society may. And because of that, he is unaware that he is isolating himself and also Lolita along with him.Lolita is all he ever thinks about which would prevent other thoughts that he could be view about, such as What do I want to become? or Do I love Lolita, or the childhood memories of Annabel? However, Humbert does not take up this and goes on being blind to what is misfortune to him. Lolita, on the other hand, is all colour. Humbert thinks of her as a particular ghost in natural colours and as the beautiful warm coloured prey (Quin 1998). As already stated, it is obvious Humbert spends a little too much time thinking about Lolita, and make her thousands of different purposeful poems about her.In Perfume, it is even more obvious than Humbert that he isolates himself. In Grenouilles case, he has to work to a great extent to get to his goal. At first when he is scholarship to check different ingredients and natural scents into his perfume experiments, he discloses himself from anyone and everyone. He concentrates and focuses on the perfumes and nothing else, thus hiding himself from society. After a some weeks Grenouil le had mastered not only the label of all the odours in Baldinis laboratory, but he was also able to evidence the formulas for his perfumes and other scented products. And not save thatOnce he learned to run his fragrant ideas in drops and drams, he no longer needed the intermediate footprint of experimentation (Suskind 92). All the skills and methods he learned and mastered in perfumery took him a standoff of time, which resulted in isolation once again. He isolates himself in the laboratory to test his experiments, weaken new methods to preserve scents, and come up with new aromas to put on himself. To pass across an intermediate step in experimentation is probably Grenouilles biggest achievement, and if one were to reckon how long he spent doing so, it would be days after days of isolation from society.Of course, society does not view this as normal behavioural traits. Nonetheless what does the society book of rules say about isolation? For one it states that one needs their own time alone, but only briefly. If isolation happens, there is definitely a problem developing. You cannot have both love and life to demand both is to come to a grisly end (Prescott 1986). In Grenouilles case, this is what he thinks but is reality like that? Many successful people out there have both a life and love it is not a big deal to balance the essentials in your life.For example Hilary Duff is now know as a worldwide vocalist and actress, she gets along with her family fine and although she only if broke up with a long time boyfriend, she is not sad about it she does not isolate herself because she has a job to do make music for the world to hear. In Obsession, Anonymous isolates herself thinking about her rooter, serious like Humbert does. All throughout the poem, preferably of expressing her feelings of the world around her, she talks perpetually about her rooter and how she misses him. A trap, a cage, prison of death underground (DaMoyre).She expresses herself pin down in a cage right like being in a prison of death underground. She is being suffocated like a prison underneath his love and she pulls him with her. She is isolated from society, and as a stripling she is supposed to have a future for herself, but apparently does not seem to have one. Again, she is aware of herself being isolated and isolating her lover, but what she is unaware of is that it is unsanitary to both her and her lover. Instead of keeping him by her side, wise to(p) he is not victimise or any(prenominal) she is trying to prevent, she is making their relationship go downhill.What is the difference between love and obsession? Love is when you are loving about something or someone and appreciate them for what they are. Obsession on the other hand is love except it is on an extreme level in which that something or someone is the only though in your mind, the only thing in your life. in that location is a thin pass between love and obsession, and it i s very easy to blend in the two around and maybe perhaps mistaken one for the other. Humbert thinks of Lolita as a lover, and would probably neer classify himself of having an obsession with her.Most people are unaware that they are crossing the line just because it is clayey for them to distinguish the difference. Humbert has been a person trap in an obsessed world all his life, even with his first love Annabel. They were young and naive and therefore experimenting with young love, but even when she died he had memories of her. He never threw away those memories until he met Lolita. For most people, although it is flagitious to have someone you loved pass away, but one would mourn over it, and then move on because there are bigger things out there in this world. However Humbert did not seem to believe this. Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta (Nabokov 9). Among the first few lines of the book, it feels like Humbert just stepped over the line to obsession because books usually commencement ceremony pleasantly setting the image for the reader. However he displays a selfish stamp and talks about his love without being kind to the reader and explaining what is going on. Oftentimes, people would say, I love ice cream or I real love this song, but do we really mean it? Do we really love that song? Sometimes it so happens we do, but people are misusing the word love.What does love mean by the societys book of rules? Well for one, it is a word that is mainly used for a person that you have been in a relationship for some time. It only makes sense to use it for someone you truly care about, not something that is just going to be another phase in life. But that is when obsession kicks in, once you truly love someone it is really close to becoming that obsession you never wanted to encounter. The definition of obsession is just a step high than love it is not that far away which is why obsession is taking over the protagonists in the three literature works so easily. Humbert refers to Lolitas tender, mysterious, impure, indifferent, twilight eye and to the smoother, tender bloom of her (Pifer 1999). It is obvious that as lovers, it is nice when one compliments another to make them feel better and have a day full of enjoyment. But Humber again goes far out on it, and describes her like shes a efflorescence or fauna that he uses for pleasure. He describes Lolita as the love of his life, but does he really love her or is it more than that? He does not just love her, he is obsessed and it is evident that not even he can tap himself.But because he is so obsessed, he is treating Lolita in a way that a young girl should not be tough like, he is making her experience things she should not be experiencing until she is a fully openhanded adult. Of course due to his desire to encounter his sexual wants, he does not care about anything else, just Lolita and her tender young body. Instead of relationship, Greno uille in Perfume has a strong passion to search for the consummate(a) scent since he was deprived of a humane odour. It is true that most people have a strong passion for something.For example Craig Kielburger had a passion for destiny others, which is why when he was only at the age of ten saw a newspaper about poor families in Africa, and hopelessly wanting to help, created a known organization Free the Children. When one is passionate about something, they will do any(prenominal) it takes to reach their goal. This is what Grenouille is like, but instead of being just passionate about something, he becomes obsessed which is how he brings the downfall upon himself as well as others. As his obsession grew deeper and developed stronger, he brought the downfall of others by murdering them one by one for their odour.When he was born and knew he was different from what the rest of society was like, he stepped over the line to obsession. He spent a legal age of his life in the lab just trying to reach his ultimate goal, was creating the double-dyed(a) scent doable? What does society view the word consummate(a) as? The word perfect is used in our everyday vocabulary, but again it is misused as the word love is misused. Nobody is perfect is the famous phrase you hear, because it is true, we were created as human beings to sin and make mistakes, so knowing this, it is true Grenouilles goal is unreachable. As he came out onto the street, he was on the spur of the moment afraid, for he knew that for the first time in his life he was giving off a human perfume (Suskind 151). He creates a human odour for himself so he can finally fit into society and be a normal person, but is that what he is? end-to-end the all told book he seemed so desperate to find that scent that he was obsessed and over driven about it, that in the end trying to be normal is not normal. It was the fresh odor of the climax day, of the first daybreak that he had ever known in freedom. That odor had been the promise of freedom.It had been the pledge of a different life. The odor of that morning was for Grenouille the door of hope. He quiet it carefully. And he drank it daily (Suskind 129). Grenouille now was so in love, so obsessed with odours and scents that he guarded it like it was money. In every society, money seems to be the base of everything, it meant major power and high status, however, Grenouille does not care. In his world it seems that perfume is everything, scent is everything and having an odour is everything. He is so unaware that he does whatever it takes to fit in society, even committing the act of murder.Does Grenouille just love his job as a perfumer or is he stupid to believe that he had to prove to everyone that he is just like everyone else? As Perfume continues, a story of a murderer, he becomes insanely obsessed, crazy and mad to murder every woman who had the scent he was looking for that instead of working hard to be successful, he mur ders to come to his success. Throughout the whole story of the poem Obsession, the protagonist thinks she is in love with her lover and that she cannot weather without him because she loves him so much. What she may not realize is that she has crossed the border of love and into her obsession.Her ignorantness makes he think that it is a norm for over love for another in a relationship. The truth is love is a complex thing, but not as complex as she depicts it as. And thought, His face shall be my last vision when I die (DaMoyre). She pictures her future but not about how happy she will be and how successful she will be, but that the image of her lovers face will be her last vision. If anything is obsessive, this statement she makes wins it all. Anonymous is young and she is inexperienced, because of that she has no idea what she is doing, and all the things she does not notice herself doing.However the things she does not notice such as her unawareness of obsession seems all a lit tle unrealistic although it does happen. A love relationship is something that should not be complex especially at a young age, because it takes away from the important things such as family, friends and school. In the poem, it does not mention anything about her family, friends or education her world only consists of herself and her lover. As the definition of obsession was stated before, her life fits exactly into the definition.She is not exposed to society but since her lover does not even love her, he might tell his friends about the story, and his friends be as society would look at her an insane and mad human being since she is again viewed as someone who is not normal. Instead of making her boyfriend love her, she makes him dislike her more and more which will hurt herself in return because she suffocates him emotionally so much. Unawareness is not only causing ones emotional distress over the differences between love and obsession, it causes them to not even realize the c ultivate they are in such as isolation and a strong unnatural love.Humberts unnatural love in Lolita is finding girls too young for him, he works hard detaching himself from society thinking about Lolita and not conscious that he is possessed by thoughts about her. A similar thing happens to Grenouille in Perfume, he detaches once again himself from society for society, in other words his aim to reach the goal of the perfect scent is to satisfy societys outlook on him and to fit in it as well. He becomes obsessed unknowingly, but because his obsession is so twisted and odd, society views him as someone who is different.Finally in Obsession, Anonymous is unaware that her love for her lover is pushing him farther instead of closer. In all these literature works, one thing they have in leafy vegetable is that their obsession hurts others as well as themselves physically and emotionally and they are unconscious of it happening. Because of that, the characters suffer thinking that they are live up to others but in reality, they are just hurting them which is opposite of what they wanted to do in the first place. Thus being unaware of the problem is worse than being conscious of it. In terms of obsession vs. ove, there isnt a major difference in the three characters because they all cannot distinguish between the two. However there is some kind of difference to when readers discover their unawareness. For example, Humbert only had obsession in his life since his first love in his life, and for Grenouille, it started when he realized people were abandoning him due to his lack of smell. Finally, for Anonymous, it all starts when her boyfriend leads her on and she locomote for the trap of his invisible love. Obsession does not only exist in storybooks, but they also exist in the real world.Its happened to young kids, teenagers and adults. Lets face it, it has happened to the vast majority of everyone. First, learning that your inspiration is a person or object, and then loving them so much, one would do anything to fulfill their desire associated with them. Finally, obsession rises and nothing can stop their love for that person or object. For example, a Chinese actor named Andy Lau had an obsessive fan. It seems nothing out of the ordinary but this particular obsessive fan had a take as a reporter and demanded to get a signature and photo from her favourite actor.However, when the father failed to do so, not only was he discomfited, but he was so disappointed and did not want to disappoint her miss he committed suicide. The moral of the story the media brain washes us into thinking that being the rich and the famous is the only goal in life thus why obsession exists today. Humbert, Grenouille and Anonymous are just like the daughter and father have an unawareness of their obsession with something or someone leads them to their downfall.The story also proves that an obsession of one person does not just shine themselves, it affects the peo ple they care for and the people that they bring everyday. Works Cited Ackroyd, jibe. Patrick Suskind. modern literary Criticism. 1986. Adams, Robert M. Patrick Suskind. Contemporary literary Criticism. 1986. Barber, Charles. The brain a pointless obsession. The Wilson Quarterly 32. 1 (Wntr 2008) 32(13). General OneFile. Gale. Markham open Libraries (CELPLO). 26 may 2008 . Hayat, Marc. Psychoanalysis Obsession. elephantine Print pressure 24 may 2008 .Pifer, Ellen. His monster, his nymphet Nabokov and bloody shame Shelley. New York Cambridge University Press , 1999. Prescott, Peter S. Patrick Suskind. Contemporary Literary Criticism. 1986. Simon, Schama. Patrick Suskind. Contemporary Literary Criticism. 1986. Quin, stool D.. Nabokovs World. New York Penguin Books, 1998. Updike, John. Patrick Suskind. Contemporary Literary Criticism. 1986. Annotated Bibliography Ackroyd, Peter. Patrick Suskind. Contemporary Literary Criticism. 1986. This author writes his opinion on P atrick Suskinds novel, Perfume.It is written in an encyclopedia format where they refresh an authors works. In this critique he describes the setting and idea of Perfume that its a story about odour and the whole surprising fact that Jean-Baptiste Grenouille does not have a scent at all. I took a quote from this authors critique and it helped proved my point which was that Grenouilles obsession is so strong that it has a separate presence. It is germane(predicate) to my judge because my thesis is to prove that they are unaware of the characters obsessions. Hayat, Marc. Psychoanalysis Obsession. self-aggrandising Print Press 24 May 2008 .The author is writing what the definition of obsession is in an online journal and article. Many people are not aware of what obsession is because everyone may have a different definition. However, society will always render one definition of obsession so I took a quote that defined the way society viewed obsession. It is relevant to my prove because one of my rocks is obsession vs. love. Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher. Nabokovs World. New York Penguin Books, 1998. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt wrote a very long and intriguing critique on Perfume, however I found no use for it.It talked a lot about how we feel sympathy for Grenouilles character because he was born bound(p) to have no scent and to ultimately be a killer. It didnt really help me because it didnt support my thesis nor any of my arguments. Pifer, Ellen. His monster, his nymphet Nabokov and Mary Shelley. New York Cambridge University Press , 1999. This author compares the monster in Mary Shelleys book Frankenstein to Vladimir Nabokovs novel Lolita. In the comparison, she describes Humbert indirectly as a person who may be so-called about his love for Lolita. He near describes her like an object or animal in the quote I found.It is relevant to my essay because it fits right in to my argument of obsession vs. love and whether or not he knows the line between it. Q uin, John D.. Nabokovs World. New York Penguin Books, 1998. This author talked a lot about Humberts obsession with nymphets. He talked about Humberts feelings when he went and clear-cut to kill Lolitas other lover. I took a quote from it which described how far Humbert was willing to go for love. This source is relevant to my essay because it shows the unnatural obsession of Humbert which is again one of my arguments.