Participation Exercise #8 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Participation Exercise #8 - Assignment Example The system of costing assumes that all costs of the business need absorbing in the provision of a price to provide for total coverage of costs to have realistic profits. The system of accounting registers the costs on each sale and allows management to push forward the costs of unsold products to next period until when the products are sold (Kaplan Financial Limited). These mark the major differences between it and variable costing that only considers the cost of the products during the time when they are produced. These explain why the absorption costing system is supported by the GAAP while variable costing is applicable for internal purposes majorly. One of the major efficiencies of absorption costing is its ability to provide for inventory valuation purposes since all stocks that are sold are covered in the cost of sales while those unsold remain accounted for until their point of sale. Kaplan Financial Limited, Marginal and Absorption Costing, Costing. Kaplan Financial Knowledge Bank 2012. Viewed on May 07, 2015 from

Beers Law Lab Essay Example for Free

Beers Law Lab Essay Objective: The purpose of this lab is to demonstrate that there is a linear relationship between the number of molecules that can absorb light present in a solution and the amount of light absorbed by a solution. This lab should prove that Beer’s law and the equation A=a x b x c, is a linear relationship. Procedure: The only deviations in the lab procedure was that the stock solution was made before arrival to the lab with 0.570 g of KMnO4 in 0. 500 L. The diluted solutions and the Spec 20 were used as directed in the lab manual. The same cuvette was used each time to eliminate error. Cuvettes are all made differently and have a difference in how they measure. If a new cuvette was used each time, the data would be slightly off due to the possibility of each cuvette having different characteristics which affect the measurements in the Spec 20. Data Calculations: To find the molarity of the stock solution: *Note: Molarity is moles/ Liters so in the equation below the first half is finding the number of moles of KMnO4 and the second half is dividing the moles by the liters of the solution. Grams of KMnO4 x (1 mole / molar mass (158.04g)) / Liters of stock solution = molarity of Stock Solution 0.570g KMnO4 x (1 mole / 158.04g) / 0.500 Liters = 0.00721 M To find the molarity of solution #1: *Note: To find the molarity of the first solution, use the molarity found for the stock solution. Since 5.00 mL of the stock solution was used to make solution 1, multiply the molarity of the stock solution by 5.00 mL to get the moles of solution 1. Once the moles of solution 1 have been found, divide that by the liters of water that were added to solution 1. The 0.10000 L comes from the 100 mL volumetric flask the solution was made in. mL of stock solution x (moles of stock solution / liter) / total liters of solution 1 (volumetric flask) = M of solution 1 5.00 mL stock solution x (0.00721 moles / 1000mL ) / 0.10000 L = 0.000361 M To find the molarity of solution 2: *Note: To find the molarity of solution 2, follow the same steps for solution 1 except use 2.00 mL instead of 5.00 mL. The same steps are used due to solution 2 being diluted from the stock solution. mL of stock solution x (moles of stock solution / liter) / total Liters in solution 2(Volumetric flask) = M of solution 2 2.00 mL stock solution x (0.00721 moles / 1000 mL) / 0.10000L = 0.000144 M To find the molarity of solution 3: *Note: To find the molarity of the third solution the same procedure is followed as finding the molarity of the first solution, except you will be using the molarity of the first solution since solution three was made using the first solution. mL of solution 1 x ( moles of solution 1 / 1 L) /total liters in solution 3( volumetric flask) =M of solution 3 50.00mL solution 1 x (0.00721 moles / 1000 mL) / 0.10000 = 0.000181 M To find the molarity of solution 4: *Note: to find the molarity of the fourth solution follow the steps for finding the molarity of the third solution except use the molarity of solution 2 since solution 4 was made with 50.00 ml of solution 2. mL of solution 2 x ( moles of solution 2 / 1 L) /total liters in solution 4 (volumetric flask) = M of solution 4 50.00 mL solution 2 x (0.000144 moles / 1000 mL ) / 0.10000 L = 0.000072 M Table 1. The molar concentration, absorbance values, percent transmittance, average absorbance and transmittance values are shown in the table below. Solution # Molar Concentration Trial Absorbance % T Average Absorbance Average % T 1 0.00003605 M 1 0.821 15.1 0.814 15.3 2 0.811 15.4 3 0.811 15.5 2 0.0001442 M 1 0.324 47.4 0.325 47.3 2 0.326 47.2 3 0.324 47.4 3 0.0001805 M 1 0.388 40.9 0.402 39.6 2 0.406 39.2 3 0.413 38.7 4 0.000072 M 1 0.208 62 0.209 61.8 2 0.208 61.9 3 0.211 61.5 Figure 1. The figure below shows the absorbance vs. the molar concentration of KMnO4. To find the extinction coefficient: The extinction coefficient is found by A/bc = a. A/c is the slope of the line from figure 1. 3139.9/(mol/L) x 1.00 cm =a a= 3139.9 L * mol-1 * cm-1 Discussion and Conclusion: In this lab the equation of Beer’s law was proven to have a linear  relationship. The purpose was to show that molar concentration and absorbance are proportional to each other. This was proved through diluting solutions and using a spec 20 to determine the absorbance values. The solutions were diluted to give different molar concentrations and each concentration was placed in the spec 20. After creating a scatter plot it was obvious to see as the molar concentration increases the absorbance increases. This is because there are more particles present at higher molar concentrations and therefore more light will be absorbed by the particles present. There were many possible sources of error in this experiment. First, if one solution was diluted incorrectly all of the following solutions were diluted incorrectly since they came from the first incorrectly diluted solution. One of the solutions in the experiment could have been diluted wrong, causing all of the solutions to have incorrect dilutions and the calculated values, especially the extinction coefficient, to have incorrect values. Another source of error is that when diluting the solutions not all of the solution transfers were done exactly due to some of the solution being transferred was often left in the pipet. The drops left in the pipet after the transfer could make a difference in the actual molar concentration of each solution. The last source of error occurs from not placing the cuvette in the spec 20 at the same orientation. Although the same cuvette was used each trial, some carelessness may have resulted in the cuvette not being placed in the same orientation each time. Because the sides of the cuvette may be different the readings from the spec 20 may be off. The conclusion of the lab is that Beer’s Law equation is indeed linear, and the absorbance is proportional to the molar concentration. If this lab were preformed again the stock solution should be placed in the spec 20 machine and the absorbance should also be found. The measurements from the stock solution could have provided even more evidence to the conclusion. Overall though the lab was very successful in determining the relationship of the equation in Beer’s Law. Questions: 2. A larger cuvette diameter will produce a higher absorbance value. The diameter of the cuvette is the path length, or b, in the equation A = a x b x c. The larger the path length, the higher the absorbance will be because  you are multiplying a and c by a higher value. Also there is more particles present in a larger path length to absorb light. 3. To find the extinction coefficient the equation A/cb= a is used. A larger cuvette diameter, or path length, would result in a smaller extinction coefficient. The larger the number is on the bottom the smaller the value of the extinction coefficient. 4. Solution 4 probably has the greatest error because it was the last solution to be diluted. Any errors made in diluting a solution will carry through to the last solution diluted because the first solutions are used to dilute the latter solutions. For example if solution 1 is incorrectly diluted then solution 3 will be incorrectly diluted and then solution 4 will be incorrectly diluted.

Schwa :: essays research papers

Schwa Schwa's past is slightly blurred, but it is generally held that the religion has its roots in ancient Egypt. A small breakaway group are believed to have gathered regularly to exchange news and, on occasion, personal accounts of landings by what they called `star-creatures'. These beings were identical to the Egyptian gods, and their belief was that these beings came to their land, from their home amongst the stars, disguised as animals with which they were familiar (the jackal, the cat etc). Some hieroglyphics have been uncovered by archaeologists which, according to Schwa followers, are the original inscriptions of members of the ancient religion, but have been wrongly interpreted by `UFO fanatics' as proof that aliens built the pyramids. This leads non-believers to give little weight to what was "actually a true and proper religion". Since those primitive days the religion has developed enormously, but the biggest and most important advancements have only come in the past decade. Previously, followers had only gathered in what could be described as `sects' in many different countries, with the highest concentration being in North America. It wasn't until 1986 that Jeff Krantz, a 19 year old art student at the University of Michigan, started came to be known as `The Union', a wave of change that would sweep across the world over a period of two years, and would result in united international Schwa religion. "I had just been transferred from (the University of) Wisconsin in the earlier part of that year," Krantz says. "I had attended regular meetings with about half a dozen other believers. We met one night each week to talk about stuff related to our belief - that the Earth, and everything on it, was created by extraterrestrial beings. I guess you could say they're on the same level as the gods of other religions, but we believe that our creators are actual living, breathing beings, not spirits; an analogy would be our superiority over creatures which we created through gene technology, DNA splicing or whatever. "At one of these meetings we decided that we should have some sort of symbol that we could make into stickers. Each of us could then stick them on books or wherever, just to get people thinking about what they could mean, and also to bring the group together under an identifiable symbol - kind of like a flag." The task fell to Adrian Blackwell, another art student whom Krantz saw often outside of these meetings. "The idea for the sticker kind of came to me when I was on acid," Blackwell recalls, smiling.

Blood Brothers

The past few weeks I have been reading the play Blood Brothers written by Willy Russell. It is the story of twin brothers who are separated at birth. Wealthy Mrs Lyons, who is not able to have her own children, blackmails her maid, Mrs Johnstone into giving her one of her new born twins. Mrs Lyons says all Miss Johnston’s other children well benefit, as the Johnston’s have little money. The women agree that it should be their secret and no one else will ever know the truth. The play explores many themes, some being, superstition, friendship and social class.This essay will discuss the changes in the relationship between Edward and Mickey, while also looking at the conveyed themes. The first time Edward and Mickey meet is when they are seven. â€Å"My best friend always had sweets to share. † Mickey is describing Eddie as his â€Å"best friend. † When the brothers first met Edward shared sweets with Mickey, this small gesture started their friendship. If Ed ward had not shared his sweets the brothers might have never became friends. When they find out that they were born on the same day Mickey asks Eddie to become his ‘blood brother'.The boys both made a small cut on their hand, then linked the cuts together, making the blood from the boys join. Both mothers find out about their friendship and are fast in telling their sons to break it up. Edward tells Mickey, ‘My mum says I haven’t got to play with you’ Mickey replies ‘Well, my mum says I haven’t to play with you’. Both mothers are trying to get the twins to stop communicating. By this time the brothers are good friends and blood brothers. Against their mothers wishes the brothers continue to have a friendship until Mrs Lyons even decides to persuade her husband to move the family away.Soon after, the Johnston’s are moved to a house in the country – unknown to them it’s the same area in which the Lyons moved to. The br others meet again in a field at the age of 14, not knowing who the other is. After the move the Johnston’s life has improved, Mickey still has a crush on Linda but doesn’t know how to ask her out. This is another part of fate, they live close by and were both excluded from school at the same time. The twins go to the cinema together, then they finally realise who the other is and meet up with Linda.Mrs Lyons spots Mrs Johnston and tries to kill her. The boys friendship is still strong but the time gap has left a toll. Edward’s vocabulary is not as posh/strong. Also the contrast in backgrounds shows. Mickey smokes, while Edward doesn’t. Edward lives in a ’posh’ area Mickey lives in the estate. Also Edward attends a private school while Mickey goes to the county school. The next time Edward and Mickey meet is when they are 18. ‘If I was Mickey I would have asked you years ago. ’ Edward is jealous of the feelings Linda has for Mick ey.He knows Mickey feels the same for Linda and puts his ‘best friends’ feelings over his own and persuades him to ask her out. While Edward is away at University Linda falls pregnant and Mickey looses his job. This pushes Edwards life further away from Mickey’s. Edward socialises and is in further education. Mickey is on the dole with a pregnant wife, he’s a lot more pressured than Edward. When Edward returns Mickey doesn’t have any money, ‘The Christmas Party’s gonna be on me. ’ Mickey had promised to take Edward out for a treat.Edward said he would pay, but if anything, this put more pressure on Mickey and it pushed him into participating in a ‘hold up’ with his brother, Sammy. The job goes all wrong, Sammy shoots someone and they both end up in jail. While in jail Mickey is put into a depression and ends up on antidepressant drugs. ‘I get depressed an’ I need to take these cos they make me better. â €™ Edward helps Mickey and Linda get a house and gets Mickey a job. This puts a strain on Mickey and Linda, Mickey feels he is a failure as his wife had to get help off a friend. ‘I’m not stupid, Linda. You sorted it out.You an’ Councillor Eddie Lyons. ’ He thinks Linda and Edward are having an affair. Mickey gets a gun and goes to confront Edward. ‘I’ve been thinkin’ again, Eddie. You an’ Linda were friends when she first got pregnant, weren’t y’? Does my child belong to you as well as everythin’ else? ’ The police enter, and try to convince Mickey to drop the gun. Mrs Johnstone enters, and pleads with Mickey to not shoot. She blurts out that they are brothers, and that she couldn’t afford to keep them both. Mickey’s jealousy is shown, ‘Why didn’t you give me away!I could have been †¦ I could have been him! At this point Mickey’s gun goes off accidentally, th e police open fire. Both brothers are dead. In conclusion the relationship between Edward and Mickey has its up’s and downs. At first they are close friends and are then separated, at fourteen they meet up again and are coincidentally separated once more. By the age of eighteen Mickey realises the differences and is betrayed by Edward. In the end realisation hits the brothers as they are told the truth, a childish pact was for real. The overall message is that although everyone has secrets, if they really matter they will be found out. Blood Brothers Blood Brothers is a musical by Willy Russell which was written and first performed in 1981. The musical is about twin brothers, separated at birth, with one kept in a low-class family and the other adopted into a wealthy family. The characters of Mrs Johnston and Mrs Lyons, the mothers, are total opposites. Mrs Johnston is a struggling, single mother of seven, with another two on the way, whereas Mrs Lyons is a privileged, yet childless, married woman. One of the main themes of the musical is superstition for example; the song ‘shoes upon the table’ is all about superstition.Another big theme of the musical is fate. Eddie and Mickey meet almost as if they are meant to, and instantly take a liking to one another. When they lose contact, they meet again, proving they are supposed to be a pair. Also the narrator plays the role of the devil and he sings the song lyrics ‘you know the devil’s got your number’ and that is implying that no matter what, fate i s going to happen wherever the characters are living or whatever they are doing. The last theme to the musical is social class, the whole way through the musical we are being reminded about how different these characters are to each other.Willy Russell shows this by their clothes, accent or speech. The opening scene started with a funeral we saw some men dressed in black suits putting two bodies into coffins (Mickey and Eddie) however the gauze curtain was still not raised. This seemed like the past and present of the story, as this first scene was the inevitable end. I think that was effective because it immediately gets your attention and you become eager to know what’s going on. Mickey and Eddie lay side by side both dead. The narrator then tells us the story of what happened. This is cross-cutting as it shows a different time period then returns to the current one.When we are first introduced to Mrs Johnston, she is a single mother ever since her husband left her for a yo unger woman. She is not dressed in the best of clothes as she does not have much money and her job is cleaning Mrs. Lyons house. Mrs. Johnston is a low–class Liverpudlian, who is extremely hard working. Mrs Johnston is shown as a woman in her thirties but a very worn out woman because of the stress of work and her children. Mrs Johnston stutters at times because of her being under pressure, like when Mrs Lyons is persuading her to give away one of the twins.And by Mrs. Johnston stuttering it shows she is unsure and pressured into something she doesn’t want to do. Willy Russell presents Mrs Johnston to the audience as a decent woman, who gives lots of love to her children, but she can’t give them more than that because she hasn’t got a well-paid job and she is working as Mrs Lyons’ house maid, which takes a lot of her time, which could be spent with her children instead. That is why Mickey and his siblings are left to learn about life themselves on the streets. That makes the audience sympathise with the poor people.She shows that to the audience after she learns she is going to have twins by saying: â€Å"With one more baby we could have managed. But not with two. The Welfare have already been on to me. They say I’m incapable of controllin’ the kids I’ve already got. They say I should put some of them into care† so because she loves her children and wants to keep them she makes the sacrifice of giving Eddie to Mrs. Lyons with hope that he will have a better life then what she could give him. Even though she regrets giving Eddie to Mrs. Lyons her superstitions stops her from telling anyone about what she has done out of the fear of killing her own children.Mrs Lyons contrasts really strongly against Mrs Johnston. At first, Mrs Lyons is shown as a bright person in her thirties, unlike the stressed Mrs Johnston who is the same age. Mrs Lyons is an upper middle-class woman. She is dressed very smartly as she has the money to have nice clothes. Mrs. Lyons is a very patronising woman, who is forceful and pressurising. Mrs Lyons uses negative views about extra children so that Mrs Johnston will have to give away one of the twins to her. She doesn’t do this in an aggressive way, but in a dangerously sweet way. So that Mrs.Johnston doesn’t feel like she can cope any more. Willy Russell also shows Mrs. Lyons to be self-centred as Mrs Lyons is willing to take a child away from its mother, so that she can save herself. Mrs Lyons is a very sly and devious woman, as she uses superstition against Mrs Johnston, so that she can keep one of the twins. Her facial expressions are very stern and persuading and her body language comes across very confident as she knows that’s she is manipulating Mrs. Johnston. The Narrator is also a very important part to the musical; he acts as a shadow of the other characters. Firstly he was like the host.He constantly kept appearing and kep t the performance flowing. It seemed as if he had the remote to slow things down and also to speed things up when he wanted. He wore a smart black suit which gave him a high profile. His voice was used quite well because he adjusted it to make it loud and directive as a narrator should have but it also had a bit of power in it. During the performance he popped up here and there just to clarify things for the audience. The Narrator is there as a reminder of Mrs Johnston and Mrs Lyons’ agreement. The other characters don’t acknowledge him which shows he is of a ghostly nature.The Narrator raises suspicion and builds up tension between the characters. The Narrator also has no emotions and he comes across as a very cold person which makes the audience feel as if he is like a devil type figure. Although he is a devil like figure, he is a neutral character because he doesn’t choose sides and we don’t know anything about him, other than he knows the fate of each character. The Narrator is trying to tell Mrs Johnston and Mrs Lyons that their pact won’t work, because the truth will be known. He uses repetition and rhyme, so that his lines are more catchy and memorable.The character of Mickey was portrayed really well as the person playing this role was showing great child like movements such as pulling his jumper over his knees and also by the way he was speaking. The way Mickey was speaking came across very child like as he was doing a lot of rhyming and simple sentences. Mickey also plays childhood games, like mounted Police and Indians, and runs around with a toy gun. When Mickey was playing his cowboy like games he pretended to have a horse between his legs and he galloped around the stage like a child would do.As Mickey got older he showed he was acting more mature and he understood that life wasn’t going to be easy for him and he needed to work for things unlike Eddie who had everything sorted out for him. When Mickey has got out of prison he is really unsteady and has to take pills to calm himself even though he doesn’t need the pills, he just thinks he does. But when Mickey takes the pills, Willy Russell uses stage directions to give the characters emotion with their physical movement, so when Mickey takes the pills the lights come up on Mickey.We see him go to take his pill, we see him struggle not to take it’’ Russell does this to get the audience to feel sad and sympathetic for Mickey. So in this scene the lighting is really dim, which reflects on Mickey’s thought processes which are slow and aged. You can see from this scene that prison has aged Mickey beyond doubt. Mickey used movement and his voice to really portray Mickey’s vulnerability. Mickey’s movements were slow and it seemed like every step he took was agony. His speech was slow, and his voice was extremely quiet.He walked hunched over, as if trying to protect himself from an unknown fear. Edd ie is the complete opposite to Mickey as he was raised in a wealthy family and he shows this in his body language because he stands up straight, speaks politely and is never rude. When Eddie first meets Mickey, Mickey speaks in common English and uses slang around Eddie and he finds it amazing because he has never heard any one talk like that. Eddie seems to have grown up very fast because at the age of seven, he is already very polite and well spoken. His parents have influenced him because he is like a miniature adult.Throughout the whole of the musical Mrs. Johnston sings about Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe is a very clever icon to use throughout the musical. This is because using her as a reference sets us in the correct time period. She is also a good symbol, because she has links to many of the themes in the play including death, addiction and beauty. All the scenes were set in the same location; and the set design remained the same for the whole performance, even when the ba ckdrop changed however, the insides of houses, occasionally descended from the ceiling to show the insides of each home.One the right side of the stage was a wall which had graffiti on it and that represented the lower class type of area that Mickey and Mrs. Johnston would live in. Class difference is displayed very clearly in Blood Brothers, in particular the difference in wealth between the two families. Eddie's parents ensure that he has a comfortable upbringing and is able to study at university and receive a qualification, resulting in a highly paid job. This is completely different to Mickey.He comes from a poor family which meant that he was stuck in a dead end job in a factory. â€Å"I bleeding hated it, standing there all day never doing anything apart from putting cardboard boxes together. † This reflects Mickey's frustration and highlights the lack of opportunities open to him, which adds to the dramatic effect of the musical because it prepares us for trouble in t he future. A good example of dramatic irony in the musical is when Eddie and Mickey decide that as they are such good friends they will become blood brothers. Hey, we were born on the same day. That means we can be blood brothers. † The audience knows that they were actually brothers so that creates dramatic irony. I really enjoyed the musical Blood Brothers and it helped me understand the class difference which is displayed very clearly in the difference in wealth between the two families. I also liked the way the actors never came out of role when bringing in props e. g. chairs, tables and carpets. I also loved how the lighting would make a very serious point feel more real and intense. Blood Brothers The past few weeks I have been reading the play Blood Brothers written by Willy Russell. It is the story of twin brothers who are separated at birth. Wealthy Mrs Lyons, who is not able to have her own children, blackmails her maid, Mrs Johnstone into giving her one of her new born twins. Mrs Lyons says all Miss Johnston’s other children well benefit, as the Johnston’s have little money. The women agree that it should be their secret and no one else will ever know the truth. The play explores many themes, some being, superstition, friendship and social class.This essay will discuss the changes in the relationship between Edward and Mickey, while also looking at the conveyed themes. The first time Edward and Mickey meet is when they are seven. â€Å"My best friend always had sweets to share. † Mickey is describing Eddie as his â€Å"best friend. † When the brothers first met Edward shared sweets with Mickey, this small gesture started their friendship. If Ed ward had not shared his sweets the brothers might have never became friends. When they find out that they were born on the same day Mickey asks Eddie to become his ‘blood brother'.The boys both made a small cut on their hand, then linked the cuts together, making the blood from the boys join. Both mothers find out about their friendship and are fast in telling their sons to break it up. Edward tells Mickey, ‘My mum says I haven’t got to play with you’ Mickey replies ‘Well, my mum says I haven’t to play with you’. Both mothers are trying to get the twins to stop communicating. By this time the brothers are good friends and blood brothers. Against their mothers wishes the brothers continue to have a friendship until Mrs Lyons even decides to persuade her husband to move the family away.Soon after, the Johnston’s are moved to a house in the country – unknown to them it’s the same area in which the Lyons moved to. The br others meet again in a field at the age of 14, not knowing who the other is. After the move the Johnston’s life has improved, Mickey still has a crush on Linda but doesn’t know how to ask her out. This is another part of fate, they live close by and were both excluded from school at the same time. The twins go to the cinema together, then they finally realise who the other is and meet up with Linda.Mrs Lyons spots Mrs Johnston and tries to kill her. The boys friendship is still strong but the time gap has left a toll. Edward’s vocabulary is not as posh/strong. Also the contrast in backgrounds shows. Mickey smokes, while Edward doesn’t. Edward lives in a ’posh’ area Mickey lives in the estate. Also Edward attends a private school while Mickey goes to the county school. The next time Edward and Mickey meet is when they are 18. ‘If I was Mickey I would have asked you years ago. ’ Edward is jealous of the feelings Linda has for Mick ey.He knows Mickey feels the same for Linda and puts his ‘best friends’ feelings over his own and persuades him to ask her out. While Edward is away at University Linda falls pregnant and Mickey looses his job. This pushes Edwards life further away from Mickey’s. Edward socialises and is in further education. Mickey is on the dole with a pregnant wife, he’s a lot more pressured than Edward. When Edward returns Mickey doesn’t have any money, ‘The Christmas Party’s gonna be on me. ’ Mickey had promised to take Edward out for a treat.Edward said he would pay, but if anything, this put more pressure on Mickey and it pushed him into participating in a ‘hold up’ with his brother, Sammy. The job goes all wrong, Sammy shoots someone and they both end up in jail. While in jail Mickey is put into a depression and ends up on antidepressant drugs. ‘I get depressed an’ I need to take these cos they make me better. â €™ Edward helps Mickey and Linda get a house and gets Mickey a job. This puts a strain on Mickey and Linda, Mickey feels he is a failure as his wife had to get help off a friend. ‘I’m not stupid, Linda. You sorted it out.You an’ Councillor Eddie Lyons. ’ He thinks Linda and Edward are having an affair. Mickey gets a gun and goes to confront Edward. ‘I’ve been thinkin’ again, Eddie. You an’ Linda were friends when she first got pregnant, weren’t y’? Does my child belong to you as well as everythin’ else? ’ The police enter, and try to convince Mickey to drop the gun. Mrs Johnstone enters, and pleads with Mickey to not shoot. She blurts out that they are brothers, and that she couldn’t afford to keep them both. Mickey’s jealousy is shown, ‘Why didn’t you give me away!I could have been †¦ I could have been him! At this point Mickey’s gun goes off accidentally, th e police open fire. Both brothers are dead. In conclusion the relationship between Edward and Mickey has its up’s and downs. At first they are close friends and are then separated, at fourteen they meet up again and are coincidentally separated once more. By the age of eighteen Mickey realises the differences and is betrayed by Edward. In the end realisation hits the brothers as they are told the truth, a childish pact was for real. The overall message is that although everyone has secrets, if they really matter they will be found out. Blood Brothers Blood Brothers is a musical by Willy Russell which was written and first performed in 1981. The musical is about twin brothers, separated at birth, with one kept in a low-class family and the other adopted into a wealthy family. The characters of Mrs Johnston and Mrs Lyons, the mothers, are total opposites. Mrs Johnston is a struggling, single mother of seven, with another two on the way, whereas Mrs Lyons is a privileged, yet childless, married woman. One of the main themes of the musical is superstition for example; the song ‘shoes upon the table’ is all about superstition.Another big theme of the musical is fate. Eddie and Mickey meet almost as if they are meant to, and instantly take a liking to one another. When they lose contact, they meet again, proving they are supposed to be a pair. Also the narrator plays the role of the devil and he sings the song lyrics ‘you know the devil’s got your number’ and that is implying that no matter what, fate i s going to happen wherever the characters are living or whatever they are doing. The last theme to the musical is social class, the whole way through the musical we are being reminded about how different these characters are to each other.Willy Russell shows this by their clothes, accent or speech. The opening scene started with a funeral we saw some men dressed in black suits putting two bodies into coffins (Mickey and Eddie) however the gauze curtain was still not raised. This seemed like the past and present of the story, as this first scene was the inevitable end. I think that was effective because it immediately gets your attention and you become eager to know what’s going on. Mickey and Eddie lay side by side both dead. The narrator then tells us the story of what happened. This is cross-cutting as it shows a different time period then returns to the current one.When we are first introduced to Mrs Johnston, she is a single mother ever since her husband left her for a yo unger woman. She is not dressed in the best of clothes as she does not have much money and her job is cleaning Mrs. Lyons house. Mrs. Johnston is a low–class Liverpudlian, who is extremely hard working. Mrs Johnston is shown as a woman in her thirties but a very worn out woman because of the stress of work and her children. Mrs Johnston stutters at times because of her being under pressure, like when Mrs Lyons is persuading her to give away one of the twins.And by Mrs. Johnston stuttering it shows she is unsure and pressured into something she doesn’t want to do. Willy Russell presents Mrs Johnston to the audience as a decent woman, who gives lots of love to her children, but she can’t give them more than that because she hasn’t got a well-paid job and she is working as Mrs Lyons’ house maid, which takes a lot of her time, which could be spent with her children instead. That is why Mickey and his siblings are left to learn about life themselves on the streets. That makes the audience sympathise with the poor people.She shows that to the audience after she learns she is going to have twins by saying: â€Å"With one more baby we could have managed. But not with two. The Welfare have already been on to me. They say I’m incapable of controllin’ the kids I’ve already got. They say I should put some of them into care† so because she loves her children and wants to keep them she makes the sacrifice of giving Eddie to Mrs. Lyons with hope that he will have a better life then what she could give him. Even though she regrets giving Eddie to Mrs. Lyons her superstitions stops her from telling anyone about what she has done out of the fear of killing her own children.Mrs Lyons contrasts really strongly against Mrs Johnston. At first, Mrs Lyons is shown as a bright person in her thirties, unlike the stressed Mrs Johnston who is the same age. Mrs Lyons is an upper middle-class woman. She is dressed very smartly as she has the money to have nice clothes. Mrs. Lyons is a very patronising woman, who is forceful and pressurising. Mrs Lyons uses negative views about extra children so that Mrs Johnston will have to give away one of the twins to her. She doesn’t do this in an aggressive way, but in a dangerously sweet way. So that Mrs.Johnston doesn’t feel like she can cope any more. Willy Russell also shows Mrs. Lyons to be self-centred as Mrs Lyons is willing to take a child away from its mother, so that she can save herself. Mrs Lyons is a very sly and devious woman, as she uses superstition against Mrs Johnston, so that she can keep one of the twins. Her facial expressions are very stern and persuading and her body language comes across very confident as she knows that’s she is manipulating Mrs. Johnston. The Narrator is also a very important part to the musical; he acts as a shadow of the other characters. Firstly he was like the host.He constantly kept appearing and kep t the performance flowing. It seemed as if he had the remote to slow things down and also to speed things up when he wanted. He wore a smart black suit which gave him a high profile. His voice was used quite well because he adjusted it to make it loud and directive as a narrator should have but it also had a bit of power in it. During the performance he popped up here and there just to clarify things for the audience. The Narrator is there as a reminder of Mrs Johnston and Mrs Lyons’ agreement. The other characters don’t acknowledge him which shows he is of a ghostly nature.The Narrator raises suspicion and builds up tension between the characters. The Narrator also has no emotions and he comes across as a very cold person which makes the audience feel as if he is like a devil type figure. Although he is a devil like figure, he is a neutral character because he doesn’t choose sides and we don’t know anything about him, other than he knows the fate of each character. The Narrator is trying to tell Mrs Johnston and Mrs Lyons that their pact won’t work, because the truth will be known. He uses repetition and rhyme, so that his lines are more catchy and memorable.The character of Mickey was portrayed really well as the person playing this role was showing great child like movements such as pulling his jumper over his knees and also by the way he was speaking. The way Mickey was speaking came across very child like as he was doing a lot of rhyming and simple sentences. Mickey also plays childhood games, like mounted Police and Indians, and runs around with a toy gun. When Mickey was playing his cowboy like games he pretended to have a horse between his legs and he galloped around the stage like a child would do.As Mickey got older he showed he was acting more mature and he understood that life wasn’t going to be easy for him and he needed to work for things unlike Eddie who had everything sorted out for him. When Mickey has got out of prison he is really unsteady and has to take pills to calm himself even though he doesn’t need the pills, he just thinks he does. But when Mickey takes the pills, Willy Russell uses stage directions to give the characters emotion with their physical movement, so when Mickey takes the pills the lights come up on Mickey.We see him go to take his pill, we see him struggle not to take it’’ Russell does this to get the audience to feel sad and sympathetic for Mickey. So in this scene the lighting is really dim, which reflects on Mickey’s thought processes which are slow and aged. You can see from this scene that prison has aged Mickey beyond doubt. Mickey used movement and his voice to really portray Mickey’s vulnerability. Mickey’s movements were slow and it seemed like every step he took was agony. His speech was slow, and his voice was extremely quiet.He walked hunched over, as if trying to protect himself from an unknown fear. Edd ie is the complete opposite to Mickey as he was raised in a wealthy family and he shows this in his body language because he stands up straight, speaks politely and is never rude. When Eddie first meets Mickey, Mickey speaks in common English and uses slang around Eddie and he finds it amazing because he has never heard any one talk like that. Eddie seems to have grown up very fast because at the age of seven, he is already very polite and well spoken. His parents have influenced him because he is like a miniature adult.Throughout the whole of the musical Mrs. Johnston sings about Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe is a very clever icon to use throughout the musical. This is because using her as a reference sets us in the correct time period. She is also a good symbol, because she has links to many of the themes in the play including death, addiction and beauty. All the scenes were set in the same location; and the set design remained the same for the whole performance, even when the ba ckdrop changed however, the insides of houses, occasionally descended from the ceiling to show the insides of each home.One the right side of the stage was a wall which had graffiti on it and that represented the lower class type of area that Mickey and Mrs. Johnston would live in. Class difference is displayed very clearly in Blood Brothers, in particular the difference in wealth between the two families. Eddie's parents ensure that he has a comfortable upbringing and is able to study at university and receive a qualification, resulting in a highly paid job. This is completely different to Mickey.He comes from a poor family which meant that he was stuck in a dead end job in a factory. â€Å"I bleeding hated it, standing there all day never doing anything apart from putting cardboard boxes together. † This reflects Mickey's frustration and highlights the lack of opportunities open to him, which adds to the dramatic effect of the musical because it prepares us for trouble in t he future. A good example of dramatic irony in the musical is when Eddie and Mickey decide that as they are such good friends they will become blood brothers. Hey, we were born on the same day. That means we can be blood brothers. † The audience knows that they were actually brothers so that creates dramatic irony. I really enjoyed the musical Blood Brothers and it helped me understand the class difference which is displayed very clearly in the difference in wealth between the two families. I also liked the way the actors never came out of role when bringing in props e. g. chairs, tables and carpets. I also loved how the lighting would make a very serious point feel more real and intense.

One Size Fits All Essay

One size fits all is a term that we have all heard in our society. This cliche has been applied to clothing, wrist watches, necklaces and bike helmets. This universal fit concept is, unfortunately, the thinking behind most public education today. As we know, one size fits all is anything but. Just as people are physically built differently, we all have diverse learning styles and capabilities. Public high schools in the United States are also built around this idea. I believe that public high school promotes the aim of capitalistic goals, instead of promoting â€Å"Some believe that one remedy to unequal educational opportunities is choice. †(pg 298). I am an advocate for charter school education, though I was never able to attend one. I recognize that high school students have different interest and passions. In Creating Comprehensive High Schools, James Constant suggest special academic arrangements be made for highly gifted the that â€Å"these students are challenged not only by course work, but by the development of their special interest as well. (Pg 329) I feel every student should be afforded the opportunity to develop their interests, gifts and strengths in the public school setting. To just give this privilege that is paid for with public monies to certain students, instead of all, based upon the observation of teachers is unfair. Especially, in schools where students live with socio-economic issues that impact their education negatively. If a talented student has not eaten breakfast, how can he concentrate on class assignments to his best ability? If a student has not had great academic advantages and exposures, such as those found in elite prep schools, how can he attain the same study habits and principles? Should not these students be allowed to develop their special interests in order to have the best public educational high school experience? Charter schools give the benefit of specialized interest instruction, uses similar educational state standards with flexibility and is backed by public tax dollars. I believe this type of education involves more choice than the traditional public high school. Choice is a huge part of life and why should we deprive high school students with this right in their education, when they are expected to make healthy decisions on their own upon education. As a society, we need to start promoting more autonomy amongst high school students in their educational pursuits. Today’s educational system is not out to teach students how to think, but essentially what to think. Instead of preparing students for higher education or to be free-thinkers, I believe our educational system is set up to crank out workers. As workers, we are set up to graduate with minimum skills and go out into the world to get jobs, not professions. My high school experience was more like a prison, than preparing me to be a free-thinker in the real world. Our curriculum was mediocre at best, ensuring that we can read, write and follow basic instructions to coincide with the rudimentary math skills. I spent fifty minutes in one classroom on one subject six times a day. In the fifty minutes I spent in each class, 10 minutes of that was taken up with teachers attempting to take roll and focus the class on that day’s lesson. The learning objectives were rushed and we were not given sufficient time to apply any material covered in the classroom, especially in science courses. As soon as I would get mentally involved in the subject I was learning the bell would ring. I was then rushed like cattle off to another classroom with five minutes of travel time. The next teacher would begin attendance and the routine from the previous course would begin all over again. This was the educational cycle of my high school experience every day for four years of my life. I think the high school educational public system is set up as a cash crop such as the prison system or genetically engineered soy bean for that matter. Reason being is all the unnecessary information that the schools ask personally about your child. Such as race gender and economic status are not being . These particular categories are then contracted to survey and â€Å"research† companies which are owned or not-for-profit organizations which either in turn have contributed large sums of donations or sponsored their events such as Pfitzer. A high-end pharmaceutical company, who specializes in making psycho-stimulant drugs, that have not been FDA approved to experiment with our children if they do not meet the criteria for an evolving student in that type of educational system. This is a system that says your education is a one size fits all eve though the staff faculty and board members know that every child learns differently they also know that cultural differences have an influence on your child’s learning habits as well. Will they and have they decided to come up with a different type of curriculum to teach those with a different learning style then the masses.