The Moral Mind Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Moral Mind - Essay Example The opponents of this argument Ross and Nisbett reject this ideology and hold the view that human behavior is inconsistent across situations. According to Schwartz, one normally has interest for others and it is ‘opposed to egoism’ (148). Hence, at certain occasions people do act upon the interest of the others. Whereas, Ross and Nisbett understand this social psychology in a different manner as a kind of ‘fascinating things about human behavior’ which can either validate or contradict it (187). They understand that human behavior is mysterious and can act upon the circumstances and situations of particular time. Schwartz’s opinion is well substantiated with many evidences. He argues his point of view in the mental functioning of presumption, assuming to be true. Presumption is the very basis of his explanation of the existence of the concept altruism. A normal person holds an instinct to serve the other without making any preferences. Moreover, an al truist act is little or no at all profit or benefit oriented. To substantiate his argument he explains certain fields of study such as biology, economics and psychology. Whereas, he is totally being criticized by Ross and Nisbett as they stick on to a different and unique point of view. They strongly support their view even by establishing a term of ‘fundamental attribution of error’ and believe that the personality can have a greater influence in deciding on decisions (189). Furthermore, personality and human behavior have tremendous influence in every action performed by him. But the situation and the sudden movements always do not encourage an act of altruism. It is a normal understanding that at a particular situation, a person acts accordingly. This concept is better explained in following verses â€Å"the situationist acknowledges that individuals may exhibit behavioral regularity over time across a run of a substantially similar situation† (Ross& Nisbett 1 99). Therefore, they strongly argue that the behavior is completely unreliable. An unreliable human behavior is subjected to change with the change in situation; whereas, the former concept of altruism is further substantiated on the basis its perfection which only possible through a whitewash over the egoistic motives. Ultimately, Schwartz accepts and understands the challenges associated with it such as ‘individualism, atomism and egoism’ but he is optimistic and says â€Å"altruism becomes not impossible but ubiquitous† (.149). However, overcoming every problem is coupled with clear understanding and rational thinking. The tension prevailing is nothing but a contradict view. On the one side Schwartz argues that humans are robustly and consistently altruistic, describing the tendency or the instinct to serve others; while on the other side Ross and Nisbett contradict this view by substantiating their view of inconsistency across situations. Therefore, solving t his debatable issue is not an easy task. Guided by intelligence or rational thinking one would always adapt a mid-way approach as it is well said that virtue lays in the middle. Before coming to a final decision one should always look at both pros and cons of both points of view. The positive sides of the altruistic attitude are remarkable as humans do such kind of activities in their day-to-day life. Similarly, on the other side, the argument for situational act is not a negligible ideology as many at circumstances some hesitate to perform certain good actions. On

Commercial Leases Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Commercial Leases - Case Study Example Among these are grounds where the tenant has failed to pay the rent or meet other lease obligations, but the landlord may also seek possession on certain specific grounds where the tenant is not "at fault". High Street Properties Ltd (HSP) would be the landlord of shopping parade in South West London by purchase. To modernisation and refurbishment to improve the rents HSP may send a notice under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 and The LTA 11954, Part 2 (Notices) Regulations 2004. Tenants have lots of provision to protect it. This question raises some issues from commercial lease. In order to answer this question it is necessary to discuss landlord's rights against lease property, tenant's right, and forfeiture of terms of lease contract. High Street Properties Ltd (HSP) intends to purchase and refurbish a shopping parade in South West London built in the 1930s from another property investment company. The properties need modernisation and refurbishment to improve the rents significantly. HSP 2 has to consider the terms of the contract, covenant of the commercial lease contract. From the question it is clear that the High Street Properties Ltd will not be the original contracting party. Thus it also required checking with if there are any Sub-lets among the tenants. HSP should establish 'privity of estate' with the tenants by purchasing the shopping parade. However, here it is important when HSP intends to purchase. If HSP intends to purchase before June 2004, they will seek Part II of the LTA 1954. Otherwise, HSP has to follow The Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, Part 2 (Notices) Regulations 2004 because from 1 June 2004, substantial changes to the legislation relating to business tenancies will come into effect. The Artical "Analysing the Changes 3" by JOYCE, J.' 2005 questioned law and surveying professional as to their opinion on the amandments introduced. The article provides the results from a survey, which was sent to members of the Property Litigation Association, the Royal Institute of chartered surveyor and the Chancery Bar Association. Of the two hundred and thirty one responses recieved the majority of respondents had felt the amendments had been successful and were easy to implement. They amount to the most radical amendment to this legislation, since it was introduced 50 years ago. The LRA 4 1967 has a significant effect. But this question of fact completely ignore about the era or year. So in this require discussing all the possible circumstance. a) First of all HSP will be determined whether they are business tenant or not. Royal Life Saving Society v Page 5 In this case Court determined who would be the business tenant. The Court held that the doctor's professional use was incidental to his residential use. In Street v Mountford 6 Lord Templeman suggested that there are three characteristics of a lease, these are exclusive possession, a determinate period, for a rent or other consideration. Exclusive possession means that the tenant has control over any one who enters the premises and can exclude everyone, including the landlord. BELL, C.D., 2002. GARNER, S., and FRITH, A., 2004 define the essential elements of Business tenancy. In Cheryl Investments Ltd v Saldanha 7 the court held that this was a business tenancy as

An Argument on Education Essay Example for Free

An Argument on Education Essay Abstract Education is important to have with today’s economy in the shape that it is in. However, there are different ways that people define education. Some people believe that to be considered well educated they need to have the top education in the United States, the highest GPA, and the highest standardized testing scores! I firmly believe that your knowledge first comes from the Lord and that he will bless you in whatever area he has for you! There are many examples that we can use to see both sides and not just judging someone as well educated only through grades ad excellence in school. An Argument on Education Education is important for everyone to have growing up if they want to make it by in today’s modern world. However, everyone seems to determine how well educated someone else is in a different ways such as: their test scores, papers that they write, their grade point average, and their knowledge of knowing how to do things. In Alfrie Kohn’s Article (2003), â€Å"What does it mean to be well –educated† he cites a quote from an Alred Whitehead stating, â€Å"A merely well-informed man is the most useless bore on God’s earth. . .  . Scraps of information† are only worth something if they are put to use, or at least â€Å"thrown into fresh combinations. † There are parts of this quote that I agree and disagree on. I agree with Alred saying that men on this earth that just have bits and pieces of information are useless unless it can relate to their job that gets them by. Acquiring knowledge isn’t a bad thing, its just not always needed. I only disagree because I believe that if someone does know a large amount that it is not pointless, it just should not determine whether or not they are educated or not. Throughout the years I have had the chance to be in school I have learned and observed much through my own personal experiences as well as being surrounded by my peers at school and at home. Personally, I am one of those students who can learn the material I am asked to learn but when it comes to taking tests I freeze up and get extremely anxious, which allows me to do poorly on the tests. I had extremely low SAT scores and low-test scores from any big test, but I was also an honor graduate and gradated in the top one hundred out of six hundred students. Many people would consider me uneducated just because of low standardized tests when they do not think of other factors that could reason for why I get low scores. High-test scores alone and high GPA’s cannot determine whether or not someone is well educated. At the beginning of Alfrie Kohn’s article he gives a superior example of this by telling us that his wife who went to Harvard and does not even know her math or English well. â€Å"She will, however, freeze up if you ask her what 8 times 7 is, because she never learned the multiplication table. And forget about grammar (â€Å"Me and him went over her house today† is fairly typical) or literature (â€Å"Who’s Faulkner? †). Harvard is known as One of the top prestigious school in America, and because of that most people would assume that who ever goes to that school is well educated. This is example is similar to how it is with anything but what people do not realize is some of the world’s well-educated people did not even graduate from high school. I believe that being well educated means being able to put what you know to use and being able to use that knowledge to glorify the one who created me. As a strong believer in Christ, I believe my relationship with God and spreading his word is more important than knowledge. However, that does not mean that I believe a person should be uneducated. I believe that if given the opportunity to learn we should not take it for granted and that we should bring glory to God through it. I just believe that at the end of your days that God does not care about what degree you have in your hand but he cares about how you lived your life for him. â€Å"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. 11 For by me your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life† (Proverbs 9:10-11). Our good lord explains that education is first gained through God himself and that your purpose is to live solely for him. Gaining knowledge in Christ is the most important first and he will Bless you in every other area in your life that he feels you need. However, I do believe that getting a degree in something that God is calling you to do. For me, God is calling me to be a missionary Nurse overseas. I know in order to do that I have to get an education on how to be a Nurse in order to carryout God’s will for my life. Most people believe that you need to go to a good school to be considered well educated. I was going to a community college back at home and was learning much when people were questioning why I was going to a community college and that I could get a better education at a different college or university that was away from home. Alfrie Kohn’s wife attended Harvard and still did not know her multiplication tables and wasn’t good at grammar or literature. I believe this is a good example to my previous statement about how it shouldn’t matter what school you go to and that it should not determine how well educated he or she is just because of the title the school has. Everyone has his or her own view on what they believe is a well-educated person, but I feel as if not everyone looks at every viewpoint. They just go off what they know and what first comes to mind. Today because of the way our economy is set up people believe that the only way someone can be considered well educated is if they go to a college to further their degree. There are other ways that someone can get jobs such as enlisting in the military or even through taking over a family-owned business. Determining whether or not someone is educated through tests, and by what schools he or she attended is absurd. You can see that from taking a glance at the people in the world that are huge successes to back that statement up. If we determined whether or not someone was well educated by whether or not he or she graduated college than something is wrong. Bill Gates is a wonderful example because if it were not for him then a lot of today’s popular gadgets such as the Mac Books, iPhones, and iPods would not exist today. He is an intelligent man and has brought on huge changes in todays society. It is not our place to judge who is and who is not educated based on these assumptions References Kohn, Alfie. What Does It Mean to Be Well Educated?. Alfie Kohn author teacher lecturer www. alfiekohn. org. N. p. , n. d. Web. 2 Feb. 2012. http://www. alfiekohn. org/teaching/welleducated. htm. Proverbs 9:10-11 ESV The fear of the LORD is the beginning Bible Gateway. BibleGateway. com: A searchable online Bible in over 100 versions and 50 languages.. N. p. , n. d. Web. 4 Feb. 2012. http://www. biblegateway. com/passage/? search=Proverbs%209:10-11version=ESV. Outline 1. What does it mean to be well educated? * Definition * Articles definition * Personal definition 2. Test scores * Personal grades to back up statement * Quote insert from article * Wife from Harvard 3. Educated * Other ways to be educated 4. Knowledge thru Christ * Proverbs 9:10-11 * Living for Christ first * Honoring his will for out lives 5. Well-educated. * Bill Gates (Did not graduate high school and was still successful) Thesis Education is important for everyone to have growing up if they want to make it by in today’s modern world. However, everyone seems to determine how well educated someone else is in a different ways such as: their test scores, papers that they write, their grade point average, and their overall knowledge of knowing how to do things. In Alfrie Kohn’s Article (2003), â€Å"What does it mean to be well –educated† he cites a quote from a Alred Whitehead stating, â€Å"A merely well-informed man is the most useless bore on.

Changes in the structure of the British family

Changes in the structure of the British family How has the structure of the family changed in Britain over the last hundred years? Indicate the implications of the changes for the education system. I am going to start by defining what a family is from a social science dictionary. A group of individuals related to one another by blood ties, marriage and adoption. (www.socialsciencedictionary.com/family). In the nineteenth century the family structure was shaped by the industrial revolution. It spread throughout Britain, and there was a massive increase in the number of factories. As the number of factories grew, people moved from the countryside into towns looking for better paid work. The towns were not ready for this great increase of people and housing was very overcrowded. Rooms were rented to whole families. Family size at this time was between six to twelve children and they all slept and fed in a single room. Muncie, et al (1993) cited that Smith (1986:pg 18) showed that in 1860 the average marriage produced seven children. Also part of the family living in one room were the grandparents, this is known as an extended family. They lived and were looked after by the family because they were a valuable resource, as a childminder. Kin were an important source of aid in critical life situations for example, aging parents, who lived with and were supported by their married children, provided a child-minding service which allowed the mother to work. (Elliot 1986:p46). At the beginning of the nineteenth century schools were not very common and none were provided by the state. Children, in the working-class, were seen as benefits to the family as they were sent to work in the factories to help bring in money for the family. There was no compulsory education but Burnett (1982 ) explains that expansion of the Sunday school movement was of a great importance. It brought education opportunities to those who worked 6 days a week. Burnett (1982) also explains that sometimes even the very poor children could not attend Sunday school as they did not have suitable clothes or shoes, and the rich attended much better Sunday schools. Even before state education was around the class divide was great, the rich had better education and the poor couldnt even attend due to being so poor. England was introduced to universal, free education by these Sunday schools and this developed the system of day-schooling. As the types of work became more diverse, the machinery in the factories became more technical and needed skilled workers to operate them. This meant there was a need for more educated workers and the state accepted that it needed to provide education for the working class. David (1980:pg33) acknowledges this The arguments for the state to provide education for the working classes only won acceptance as the economy became more diversified, the need for skilled and trained labour became more critical. Another reason why education was needed for the working class was the change in womens employment. Children had no care and needed somewhere to go while their parents were at work. From 1893 all working-class children had to attend school for at least six years, from five years old to the age of eleven. After this children were allowed to be exempt from school as long as they had proof they were going into employment. Sunderland (1971) explained that this lead to most children being exem pt from school at the age of eleven as the family needed them to work to provide an income. Only 14% of the children on the registers of inspected schools were aged twelve and over Sunderland (1971:pg44) The First World War brought new opportunities for women. The men were sent to war and the women were able to fill many different roles in the workforce. This was quickly withdrawn after the war and women were expected to withdraw from working and return to full-time care of the house and children. Unfortunately due to recession money had been withdrawn from providing school meals and nursery care for their children had been forced to close and this made it harder for women to be able to work. Parents were once more forced to rely on their own resources for the care of their children David (1980:pg58). Women campaigned for more equal rights and in 1918 women over the age of thirty were able to vote and in 1928 the age was lowered to twenty-one. This gave females more rights and freedom in their choices. Unfortunately there was a great depression and unemployment was high so women were unable to work and therefore stayed at home to look after the family. After World War Two, education in Britain changed, due to the 1944 Education Act. This act made secondary education compulsory and until the age of fifteen. At this time there was a recognition that Britains economy needed to be rebuilt and Britain called for immigrant workers. It attracted for the first time large numbers of workers and families from the Caribbean, Indian and Pakistan www.nationalarchives.gov.uk (accessed 14/03/11). This meant that Britains non-white population rapidly increased. This influx was not very well received by the British people and the government repeatedly discussed how to try and restrict the immigration from these countries. In schools racism and divide in social class was very high and unless you were white, middle class and non-handicapped; your time at school was seen as a time of prejudice, frustration and lost opportunity. Factors that contributed to this exclusion were the different language and culture the families brought with them. This contr ibuted to them being unable to mix with the British society it was greatly due to people being uneducated in other cultures and religions. Sidney Webb (1894) wrote that we need to generate a body of systematic political thought as a prime task of those who hoped to teach others how practically to transform England into a Social Democratic Commonwealth. In 1976 the Race Relations Act was introduced and it became lawful to discriminate against anyone on grounds of race, colour and nationality (including citizenship) (Hope 2011). This has lead to a change in education which has only recently come into schools; Citizenship classes. An unawareness of these cultures and languages and the differences between the pupils led to citizenship classes being introduced to the curriculum in September 2002. The national framework introduces citizenship as a subject to develop sound principles of freedom, equality, justice and peace. It allows the students to engage with each other and their community. However not everyone agreed to the significance of citizenship classes and parents wanted to know why Muslims and Jehovah witnesses were allowed to take their children out of the school prayers and they werent allowed, as non-believers, to remove their children from the citizenship classes. On 20th January 2011, there was a major review of the national curriculum by the education secretary Michael Gove and he wanted to demote citizenship to an optional subject (Shepherd 2011). Teachers argued that this would work against aims of the big society and Chris Waller (Head of the Association of Citizenship Teaching) said it would s et England back 15 years to when it was the least politically literate country in the developed world. In schools, the difference between the pupils in their abilities is seen as being due to their socioeconomic status and linguistic diversity. Bernstein (1971) suggested that there is a difference between working-class and middle class children due to the working class children being linguistically deprived. Because of the childs different tone, accents and languages spoken, this is seen as not Standard English therefore they are misunderstood in schools. Whereas Labov (1977) suggested that there is a difference not a deficit therefore we should be more accepting and willing to understand these differences. The citizenship classes should help to close this divide and allow not only pupils but teachers to have a greater understanding and allowing them to be educated in the same way as middle class students. Staying with the present time Im going to look at the family in modern societ y. There has been a disappearance of the traditional nuclear family and now there are many different types of the family. These include gay and lesbian relationships, adoption and fostering, separation and divorce, re-marriage and single-parents. Many factors have changed in order to create these different types. Age at motherhood and first motherhood has risen, family size has fallen and childlessness has increased. Cohabitation has become common, both before marriage and between marriage; rising divorce rates and a near-trebling in the number of lone-parent families. (Mcrae S, 1999:pg5) An increase of divorce since the Divorce Law Reform Act 1969 and an increase of births outside of marriage have led to an increase in single-parent families. Usually the single parent in the single-parent families is the mother living on her own with her children; she does the greater share of caring for her children both financially and emotionally. Being able to provide for your family as a lone-parent has become easier with the help of state benefits and social or subsidized housing: but in many cases the mother is usually forced to work in a manual job or be unemployed. There is a concern if children are at an educational disadvantage in these homes. Spencer (2004) of the school of health and social studies reports that lone parenthood is associated with educational problems and that these families are significantly disadvantaged compared with couple families. In the lone-parent homes it is suggested that there is a material disadvantage and a low maternal education. Maternal edu cation is the inequality in a childs home which does not allow a child to learn things from their mother that will help them develop in life such as what is right and wrong and experiencing affection. This can be due to many factors such as the mother having to work to provide for the family and cannot spend much time at home with her children. It has been reported by Carneiro, Meghir Parey (2007) that educated mothers tend to delay in starting a family and when they do they are more likely to be married and have a very good income. The report also shows that the educated mothers are more likely to invest in their children through books and extra tuition; also providing an availability of a computer. In these families it is reported by Caneiro, Meghir Parey (2007) that the maternal education persists into adolescence which reduces the number of children born to young adults and the number of criminal convictions. On the other hand reports have proven that childrens education is not affected if they come from a lone-parent family. It just depends on what happens in the home; whether the time and interest is taken in the childs education. If a single parent sets up good morals and standards and lives by example then the children will automatically grow up according to the values set before them. Desai, Chase-Landslade Mich ael (1989) have researched into lone-parent mothers and believe their attitudes and ambitions can be changed and instead of accepting that their children will live to be un-educated and therefore not work; they have suggested ways to improve this; such as putting a limit on the number of years the mothers are in receipt of benefit and help them get back to work or even back into higher education to study for a profession. Classes at local community centres have also been introduced to educate mothers in health, education and general well-being to allow the mothers to increase their maternal education. To conclude the family has taken many different forms over the last 100 years starting with the large families in the industrial revolution where there was not any education and children worked to earn money to support the family. The industrial revolution created a new form of education as factories had more skilled machines and needed experienced workers. Education for working class became universal and allowed every child to be educated and this created an opportunity for women to become more independent and able to work. The post war immigration brought a change to families in the sense of race, culture and language; this created a need for schools to educate children in citizenship. There was a need to understand each others cultures and to create a more multicultural society. This brought up disputes between cultures and religions but generally it was seen as a need to make citizenship classes compulsory. This allows not only the children to be educated in the differences in cu ltures and society but the teachers to understand their pupils too; and to make changes to be able to educate their pupils. Another change to the family structure was the changes in the different types of family in todays modern society. The main one I focused on was lone-parent families. This has seen to affect education in the sense of these children from the lone-parent families tending to be uneducated maternally in morals and standards. This lead to show they tend to under achieve at school; but there is research and reports in trying to improve ways of educating the parents to help their children in their future and to be able to have a good career.

The Woman in Black Review Essay -- Drama

The Woman in Black Review Upon the arrival in London my anticipation was high. My first impression of the Fortune Theatre was; it was a very old Victorian building, very small and slightly ragged. Upon entering it felt very cramped and made you feel claustrophobic. The atmosphere was eerie due to the old style of the building. This was particularly effective as the play was set in the Victorian period. This made you feel as if you were in the past. Also the narrow staircase and small seating area created effect. Before the play starts there is no background music played to set a scene or image in the audiences mind. The play starts without warning and lights go down and we are straight into the story. The play is set in a theatre and the audience see the actors rehearsing a manuscript to an empty crowd. At first the older actor was reading his story as if he was an appalling actor. This technique used was effective and gave some comic relief at the start of the play. He mumbled his words without emotion which was in total contrast to the younger actor. The younger actor was very articulate and pronounced his words properly, both characters spoke with posh accents. By doing this it lulled the audience in to an almost false sense of security. Fans blew into the theatre to make the ambience cold and chilling. Diagram of the Stage The audience were seated in front of the stage. This was so the whole audience would all see the play in the same way. Also this would ensure the woman in black wouldn’t be able to be spotted. The set was open and most things on the stage were shown. There was a clothes rack which was covered, a wicker basket which was closed and some metal buckets. There was a door which was shut but we did not know to where it would lead. However during the play we discovered a whole new dimension to the stage. Behind a gauze there was another part of the stage. If this had been shown some of the creative element would have been lost as we wouldn’t be surprised to see it. Also the fact the only time the audience saw the back of the stage was when the actors themselves were present there. This would link the audience to the actor and heighten the personal bond. Spotlights were used a lot in this production. It persuaded the audience to focus on one area of the stage. It also gave a creepy effect, as you c... ... something bad to happen. After the loud, unexpected sounds there were many long pauses, which added to the sinister atmosphere. In my opinion this was the most effective use of sound. By the end of the play there was still a disturbing ambience as I walked away. I had thoroughly enjoyed the play and was suitably scared. Any more and I may not have been able to sleep. I took away many aspects of acting, which could be useful in the future. The use of silence and torches in the darkness were some of my favourites. The play was enjoyable and funny but also terrorizing. One of the most amusing parts was the dog spider scene. This was hard to act as they were pretending there was a dog but it was done with the utmost ease. It was funny how the older man kicked the dog saying â€Å"it does what I say†. If I was a critic for a magazine my short caption would read; â€Å"The Woman in Black† is a play with a distressing plot, of ghastly ghostly terror. Set in the Victorian times it sends a feeling of emptiness and solitude through you, nevertheless an obvious first choice for taking the young ones to see, to appreciate and learn from the immaculate actors and use of stage crew!

The Synthesis of Knowledge :: Mind Mental Knowing Knowledge Essays

The Synthesis of Knowledge "Society values mental labor more highly than manual labor." This is a claim that Ruth Hubbard makes in her essay "Science, Facts, and Feminism." This claim suggests that those who are the thinkers, the innovators, the inventors, and the great minds are highly valued by society; however, those who are the doers, the laborers, the hand-crafters, and the workers are not valued as greatly. Hubbard implies that society regards mental labor as more important than manual labor because it requires more specifically human qualities. Knowledge making is one of these specifically human qualities. Mental laborers and manual laborers are distinguished by this knowledge making process. For Hubbard’s claim to have meaning, there are assumptions that must underpin the claim. First, society must value labor. Labor must be something usable in society. A distinction between manual labor and mental labor must exist. A line must be drawn as to what makes mental labor mental and manual labor manual. There exists a specifically human quality, like knowledge making, which classifies the mental and manual laborers. Labor must exist in society to place value upon it. One also must assume that the more knowledge making ability one has, the more successful one can potentially be. These assumptions must be accounted for, for the claim to have any validity. This claim, to me, explains what can be said about the value of knowledge making and experience. Knowledge making is valued greatly by society and society values those who posses this knowledge making ability. Knowledge comes from personal experience and these experiences make that person more intelligent. One makes a decision, and then one learns from the consequences of that decision resulting in more apprehension. An example of building knowledge making is when a small child touches a hot pan on the stove and gets burnt. This child’s knowledge making has increased and the child knows to never touch a pan on the stove without proper protection. Book knowledge is another important element. This type of knowledge can be defined from what results in a college degree, a doctorate, or just a secondary degree of education. One must have base comprehension of empirical insight. Mental laborers have this intuitive synthesis of knowledge where manual laborers do not posses as much. An example of this book knowledge is taking a course in trigonometry and how it affects future comprehension. With trigonometry learned, mathematical calculus can be more easily learned.

O Pioneers!

O Pioneers! Was written by Willa Cather and was first published in 1913 and it is a literary fiction. This book is about all the hardships of living in the planes or even just the hardships and challenges that people had to endure in the life of a pioneer. O Pioneers! takes place between the late 1800s and the early 1900s in Hanover Nebraska. The main character in the book is Alexandra a strong, young woman who bests the difficult lifestyles of living in the great planes. Some of the themes shown in O Pioneers!  Could be self sacrifice, building a civilization out of nothing, and Imagination of pioneers. An example of self sacrifice is Alexandra, she gives up most of her childhood to making sure her farm flourishes and learning more effective methods of farming. Pioneers must have imagination because they have to be able to look at an empty plot of land and imagine the city that could spring up from the area or what their farm could potentially yield. Also pioneers build their civilization out of nothing on the frontier. Its originally just a bunch of grass and planes but farmers work the land and produce crops, and eventually it attracts more people. Life in the great planes was extremely difficult for multiple reasons. The great planes didn't have very many trees, and without trees there was no wood to build houses, so most pioneers built their houses out of sod. The winters were long and cold and the summers were hot and dry. Farmers had to plant crops that didn't require much water because they had to carry their water from nearby streams to their crops. There were many droughts and grass fires often started because it was so dry. Also there weren't that many people out in the great planes yet so they had to develop new technology making new farm equipment that would help make their farming easier. Women also play different roles in O Pioneers than the usual roles of women. The women work, and cross different gender lines on the frontier and for some women its a refreshing taste of freedom. In O Pioneers! Alexandra owns land on her own instead of the men in her family. This is an overall interesting book to the general public, it is ostly accurate in the depiction of how life was for pioneers in the late 1800s early 1900s or maybe even for the life of a pioneer in general, except for It shows the successful side of pioneering. Most pioneers ended up in debt by picking the wrong plot of land or just using the wrong farming techniques. But it does show the drought that made the majority of people in Hanover sell their land which Alexandra later invests in. O Pioneers is a useful book for the general audience in depicting some of the hardships of life in the great planes.