What Impact the Policy of Implementation of Performance Based Funding Research Proposal

What Impact the Policy of Implementation of Performance Based Funding will have on Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Louisiana - Research Proposal Example As the paper outlines the stated objective behind such funding is to provide quality education in such institutions at nominal costs. State funding to Historically Black Colleges and Universities is being provided with a White House initiative set in motion by President Jimmy Carter1 in 1980 with the objective of, ‘overcoming the effects of discriminatory treatment and to strengthen and expand the capacity of historically black colleges and universities to provide quality education’. President Reagan subsequently established the ‘White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities’ in 1981. As a result the state of Louisiana saw emergence of public institutions like Grambling State University; Southern University and A&M College; Southern University at New Orleans; Southern University at Shreveport together with couple of private institutions. Today, products and services are objectively assessed from the point of view of their functionali ty, value proposition and the overall performance. Market forces have now acquired a predominant role while limiting the roles of the respective governments to that of a facilitator. Educational institutions too are now expected to come out with matching results and professional approach in imparting education. Therefore now we hear about suggestions for ‘performance based funding’ to educational institutions and take necessary punitive action if any institution is found to be drifting in its duties and responsibilities and resulting in below par performances.

Personal Cultural Identity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Personal Cultural Identity - Essay Example My grandfather David is a German who served as an officer in the U.S. Army during the Second World War. Two years before the war broke out he was teaching economics at a Southern Germany university when his wife died while giving birth to my Uncle Ferdinand. Before the year was over, he left with my baby uncle for England to take up further studies, and they were at Oxford staying with his English wife's family when the war broke out. Like most Germans, he was looked at with suspicion, but because his wife's family trusted him, he was accepted into English society and soon after was taken in as a volunteer by the British Army and assigned to work with the U.S. Army after D-Day. He must have done a good job, because after the war his Army superior invited him over to work and live in America, and he accepted. My then young uncle followed him over. They eventually settled in Eugene, Oregon where my grandfather married a young and energetic woman from northern Spain who was studying there and, together, they raised a family, a rather big one. Back then, people loved having big families, and my grandparents were no exception. They had ten children and my father was the eighth, born in 1955. My father studied engineering in college and to celebrate his graduation with honors in 1976, he and his friends went to France for a one-month vacation. It was while they were getting drunk in Paris that he met my mom, a French accountant who was also celebrating her new university degree. To cut the long story short, they got married a year later and decided to settle down in a little quiet corner of Eugene, Oregon, a place my mother loved as soon as she saw it. I was born there in 1981, the youngest of three. However, we never stayed in one place for long because my father kept on getting promoted and moved, so we went all over the U.S., but since my father came from a large family, it was not unusual for us to find relatives and friends wherever we went. This helped me and my siblings to learn the art of making friends, and it also made us daring to try new things and go to new places. When the time came for me to go to university, I decided to study in Spain. My brother went to a German university, while my sister studied in France, so I wanted to connect to our roots by going to Spain. For some years, my siblings and I were all studying in Europe at the same time, and we would meet each other anywhere for lunch or dinner. On several occasions, my father would bring my mother over and we would have a great feast. What am I Some weeks ago, I had a long conversation with my Uncle Ferdinand as he visited me from London, where he teaches music (he used to be a concert pianist with an American symphony orchestra) and I asked him this question. I knew what his answer would be: "You are as American as all the Americans are. America is a land of immigrants, and even as I was born in Munich, grew up in Oxford and Eugene, my roots are in America, where your grandfather died and where your father was born. Your grandparents were German and Spanish, your dad American and your mom French, which makes you a perfect American" (Interview, 2007). My siblings and I have always felt this way even though we often entertained slight doubts about what we are. Impact on My Role as Teacher There are many advantages in knowing how to speak four languages (English, Spanish, German, and

Organizational Culture and Conflict Resolution Assignment

Organizational Culture and Conflict Resolution - Assignment Example The results that were arrived at by Worrall in the research that formed the foundation of the article evoke critical thinking on matters dealing with culture and organizational conflict. If I clear that the field is dominated by male business people and employees. The organizational culture was also against the female gender. This is owing to the lack of enough support and inflexible work practices. The women who participate in the construction industry are not valued for the impact that they create as the job is described as a man’s career. This is however not true as there are very creative innovative and hardworking females in the field whose expertise is of critical importance. The organizational culture influences the participant in the field (Michel, 2009). In the modern society, women are empowered to take any career of choice. As such, there arises a conflict when a career in construction is cultured to be for males. The same case is reflected globally. Even in univers ities and colleges, there are certain courses that are dominated by male students and others are preferred by the female students. This led me to the realization that organizational and cultural conflicts are still here with us and there is a desperate need to eradicate it (Gelfand, 2012). All businesses have the main aim of making profits. As such, the business models in both the United States of America and China are profit oriented (Worm, 2008). Capitalism is key in the business structures. However, there are various differences in the goals priorities in China and United States of America. First, the Chinese prefer a simple structure as the main form of configuration in the business. On the other hand, the Americans prefer a divisionalised form which is more complex and broad. As such, the mode of business operation is differentiated in the two countries. The other difference in business goals priorities between the two countries is in the preferred coordinating mechanism.

Baseball and the Changes made in 1968 Essay Example for Free

Baseball and the Changes made in 1968 Essay Baseball is America’s most favorite past time. It is America’s national sports. Among the non-contact sports being played today, it is the most popular and widely played around the globe. Since contacts are less baseball players get to play more games and eventually seasons compare to their baseball and basketball counterparts. Baseball owns style and uniqueness is what makes the game more special and closer to the heart of the people of America. It is the only sport with exception to softball, which traces its origin and roots to baseball – in which the defense starts play by putting the ball in play. The success being enjoyed by baseball as America’s most favourite past time can be attributed to the excitement and fun the way games are played through the years, from minor to major leagues. The techniques and strategies employed by coaches, team owner, players and sport’s organizer to uplift quality of games, all add color and spice to an already colorful sporting event. The sight and sound inside the ballpark are things to behold as players continue to provide entertainment to every spectator. From the first time baseball was invented and developed, the game had undergone and seen several and important changes and facelift all for the improvement of the game’s quality and for the purpose of bringing the game closer to the public. It is no secret that several changes that are made in baseball’s rule and guidelines are results of the growing clamour made by casual and serious â€Å"faniacs† (fans and maniacs alike). By adapting these changes games are played more interestingly and competition became tougher as games are now dictated and rely heavily on the shoulders of every batter (Newell). The game has now evolved to a batter’s dominated game. With the changes in the existing rule efficiency of pitchers was limited. By limiting effectiveness of pitchers more hits are made, eventually yielding to more runs scored and homeruns being made. The committee’s action emphasis the growing important they put on hits, run, homeruns and offense as they try to bring attendance back in on ball parks. Thus, a new phase in baseball history opens up as fans and spectators go frenzy with every swing of the bat. With the major transformation of the game from a pitcher’s dominance to a batter controlled and dictated tempo, it is fitting and necessary to understand the changes that are made that swing the tide to the offensive teams’ favour. It was in 1968 when major league officials, organizers and experts started re-evaluation of existing baseball rules that govern the sports. One of the rules the committee focus and re-evaluated was the scoring of homeruns in the ninth inning or bottom of extra inning. Prior to the 1920 season, homeruns that propel winning run of runners ahead of them were not considered homeruns and will only be scored as a singles, doubles or a triples depending on the base occupied by the runner ahead of the player who made the homerun (Titlebaum). For example, if a runner is positioned on the second base, bottom of the ninth inning, and his teammate hit a home run the batter would only be credited with a double. His score would depend on the number of bases needed by the runner to advance in order to complete the winning run. In 1968 the special committee restore the homeruns that were lost due to the above mentioned law (Titlebaum). This was the first step made by the committee that slowly shifted the dominance from the pitchers to the batters. The year 1968 was also known to baseball fans as the â€Å"Year of the Pitcher†. It was in this year Robert â€Å"Bob† Gibson dished out the lowest ERA ever made in the 20th century. Gibson who played for the ST. Louis Cardinals was widely known as one of the most dominant and prominent figure of a pitcher in his era. It was during that year the he compiled an amazing 1. 12 ERA, whish was the most dominant performance of a pitcher in a season (Schell). He also completed 28 games out of his 34 as the starting pitcher in which 13 of them were shutouts (Schell). In 28 starts he never allowed a single run. Tim McCarver, Gibsons long-time catcher in St. Louis once quoted I never went to the mound when he was pitching. What is a catcher going to tell someone like him how to throw a pitch? † (Schell). The dominating performance of pitchers in this year led by Gibson, prompted league officials and organizers to make changes in able to help hitters and thus creating an era of an offense minded games. The influx of pitching talents during the 1968 was one of the reasons why pitchers dominated the game. Gibson wasn’t alone in dominating the ’68 season. There was Danny Mclain which was Gibson’s opponent in the World Series, which poser a pretty impressive number with his 1. 96 ERA (Schell). Apparently the figure was only good for fourth ranked in the American League behind Dave McNally with 1. 95, Sudden Sam McDowell’s 1. 81, and Luis Tiant’s 1. 60 (Schell). With the abundance of talent coupled with scarcity in hitting talent the Year of the Pitcher was born. Due to this abundance of pitching talent, organizer provides batters the leverage they needed to slug it put with the highly touted and remarkable pitchers. Thus, in order to resolve this problem officials change the height of the mound. From 15 inches in 1968, the mound was lowered to 10 (Newell). For this reason the environment has become friendly to hitters as strike zone has become smaller. Pitchers then have to be more perfect with their throws and batters can wait more patiently, unlike before when strike zones was enforced from the height of the batter’s armpit to the level of the knees. With this strike zone, pitcher like Gibson giving big, riding fastballs can easily eat the offense alive. As a result of this change the occurrence of players being out because of â€Å"easy outs† has declined. Furthermore, higher pitching mounds favour pitchers as it means more leverage for them. With the advantage in altitude, pitchers can put more downward velocity and spin to the ball making it more difficult for the opposing team to hit the ball. For the next few years attendance in ball parks increases as offense dominated baseball. Today, offense has dictated the flow of the games. Fans love watching games loaded with offensive actions. Pitchers too found it hard to dominate games, unlike before because of the fatigue and beating they obtained throughout the year. They play more games today. The inclusion of aluminum bats also increased the capacity of hitters to make homeruns. The changing of laws in 1968 has great impact on the field of baseball. The changes made define modern baseball. Work’s Cited Page Newell, Kevin. Five Game-Changing Moments in Baseball. Scholastic administrators (2005). Schell, Michael J. Baseballs All-Time Best Hitters, How Statistics Can Level the Playing Field. Princeton, New Jersey Princeton University Press, 1999. Titlebaum, Dr. Peter. Rule Changes in Baseball: Spring Training Never Ends sports media (2006).

Trends in UK Rape Statistics Over Time

Trends in UK Rape Statistics Over Time National statistics about crime in England and Wales have been collected and published by the Home Office since 1805 (Clarke, 2006). Originally, the statistics only included proceedings and convictions data from the courts. However, in 1857, data about crimes reported to and recorded by the police were also introduced in to the statistics, with the introduction of the latter, the government seized the opportunity and could exercise oversight over what was then a highly localised policing structure accountable at the local political level (Clarke, 2006, p. 7), meaning that the government could watch over the statistics produced by the police when it came to politics. This essay is going to look at the figures for Rape from these statistics provided, and comment and discuss the trend of rape over the last 120 years, and will also look at the origin and location of these statistics and how they have changed and the impact the changes have had on rape. There are many different definitions to the word Rape in the English language. But overall it is not all that hard to define because most of the definitions broadly have the same concept of what rape is. One definition of Rape, comes from Randy Thornhill and Craig Palmer, who define rape as: copulation resisted to the best of the victims ability unless such resistance would probably result in death or serious injury to the victim or in death or injury to individuals the victim commonly protects (Thornhill Palmer, 2000, p. 1). However, they do also acknowledge that other sexual assaults such as oral or anal penetration of a man or a woman under the same conditions, can also be classed as rape (Thornhill Palmer, 2000, p. 1). Another definition of rape comes from Merriam-Webster, which defines Rape as: unlawful sexual activity and usually sexual intercourse carried out forcibly or under threat of injury against the will usually of a female or with a person who is beneath a certain age or incapable of valid consent because of mental illness, mental deficiency, intoxication, unconsciousness, or deception (Merriam-Webster, 2017, p. 1). However, the main legal definition comes from government legislation website, by The National Archive, under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which defines Rape as: (1) A person (A) commits an offence if- (a) He intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person (B) with his penis, (b) B does not consent to the penetration, and (c) A does not reasonably believe that B consents. (2) Whether a belief is reasonable is to be determined having regard to all the circumstances, including any steps A has taken to ascertain whether B consents. (3) Sections 75 and 76 apply to an offence under this section. (4) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for life. (Sexual Offences Act, 2003, p. 1). In addition to this, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 also has definitions of rape for rape offences committed against children under the age of 16 and even younger children, who are under the age of 13. The definition for rape or other sexual activity of a child under 16 is as follows: The elements of the offence are: (A) aged 18 or over intentionally causes or incites another person (B) to engage in an activity the activity is sexual, and either (B) is under 16 and (A) does not reasonably believe that B is 16 or over, or (B) is under 13.(Sexual Offences Act, 2003, p. 1) Finally, the Rape of a child under 13 is defined as: (1) A person commits an offence if- (a)he intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person with his penis, and (b)the other person is under 13. (2) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for life. (Sexual Offences Act, 2003, p. 1). Now that the definition of rape has been outlined, we can now move on to look at the trend of rape over the last 120 years and how it has changed over time and the reasons for it. If we look at the graph for Rape over the last 120 years, we can see that there has been a huge increase in the amount of rape that has taken place compared to the amount of Criminal Damage that has occurred. As we can see from the graphs below, the trend for Rape has significantly increased over the last 120 years. Even though the graph for Criminal Damage shows that the trend for Criminal Damage has increased, we can see from the chart that criminal damage peaked in 2008/09 and then the figures started dropping, resulting in the trend decreasing. As far as rape goes, the main increase has been over the last 20 years, mainly because of the new laws that were introduced in the Sexual Health Act 2003 replacing the old laws of the Sexual Health Act 1956. As can be seen from the graph, after the new laws were introduced in the Sexual Health Act 2003, the rate of rape per year increased by 2561 between the year 2001/02 and 2002/03. This is because the Sexual Health Act 2003 introduced the new law that allowed for more sexual offences to be classed as rapes. For example, before this new law, it can be seen from the two bar charts below that the rape of a child under 16 or even under 13 wasnt even recorded by the police until 2004/05 when Sexual Health Act 2003 was properly taking form. Further to this, the rape of a female in general wasnt even recorded by the police in these statistics until 1995 as can be seen in the graph below. A reason for this can be because before 1991, it was legal for a husband to rape his wife. This was suggested by Sir Matthew Hale, in Historia Placitorum Coronea, who stated that the husband cannot be guilty of a rape committed by himself upon his lawful wife, for by their mutual matrimonial consent and contract the wife hath given herself up to her husband, consent which she cannot retract (Hale, 1736, p. 629). However, after this case, that rule was abolished by the judge hence making marital rape illegal. Despite this, female rape wasnt recorded pre-1995 because it wasnt until 1994 when S.1 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 was substituted by S.142 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 to include marital rape, and so added the following to the definition of rape: (3) A man also commits rape if he induces a married woman to have sexual intercourse with him by impersonating her husband.(4) Subsection (2) applies for the purposes of any enactment. (Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, 1994, p. 1). After this law was introduced, female rape started to be recorded by the police. Furthermore, two feminist researchers, Jalna Hanmer and Sheila Saunders, found that the encounters that women faced by men everyday were not revealed in the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) because the CSEW is not designed to disclose information of that kind of nature. This suggests that rapes which may have occurred prior to 1995 were only reported to the police in the last decade. This may have been because of the changing in the social construction of the police, meaning that there are more female officers now than there used to be, which makes rape victims more likely and willing to talk to instead of male officers. In addition to this, society has also changed to provide more victim support for rape victims by establishing rape centres for victims (Hanmer Saunders, 1984). However, having said this, we are looking at police recorded crime statistics. These statistics are not exactly accurate because there are some rapes or crimes not recorded by the police at all. This is because we are looking statistics from the Crime Survey for England Wales. According to a Crime Statistics 2006 report, by the then Home Secretary of State Charles Clarke, even though there is a lengthy history of reported and recorded crime statistics, that were used to judge police performance, the statistics, for a while now, have been documented as having a number of weaknesses (Clarke, 2006, p. 7). He went on to outline three main weaknesses in the statistics from the CSEW. He stated: First, there have been regular claims that the police adjust their crime statistics to improve measured reported performance (Clarke, 2006, p. 7), meaning that the statistics recorded by the police are not exactly, as they have been adjusted so that the police look more credible and it looks as thou gh they have high performance. Second, the processes and categories used by local police to record crime have historically had a significant degree of local variability; this has made it difficult both to make comparisons among local forces and to form aggregates to provide a meaningful national picture (Clarke, 2006, p. 7). This suggests that the categories that police use to categorise the crimes, are only clear to the local police who have created these statistics, as the statistics are mainly based on the crime in their area, which makes things very ambiguous in the grand scheme of things, when a bigger picture of crime rates in England and Wales. Third, the picture that emerges from recorded crime is potentially distorted by the unknown and uncontrollable variability in the publics reporting of crime to the police (Clarke, 2006, p. 7). This weakness proposes that when the crimes are recorded, the statistics are not entirely accurate because it is not possible to distinguish how many people from the public reported a crime, and how many of the statistics have been adjusted by the police like the first weakness. However, the then home secretary did state that whilst the problems we have remain, there have been several attempts made over the years to address these perceived problems that are there in the Crime Survey for England Wales. These weaknesses are a big factor in the statistics we have for rape, as they came from the CSEW. As the weaknesses mentioned in the report exist, our statistics for rape may not be entirely accurate. This leads us to believe that there may have been more rapes reported by the public but not recorded by the police, and of those that were recorded, only a few maybe accurate as the others may have been adjusted to make the police look more efficient. A further problem this creates for the statistics we have is that, like the second weakness mentioned above, some rape statistics may not have been recorded in the survey by the police as they may not have fell into any of the categories that the police were using to define rape. This could possibly have had a major impact on the statistics we have, hence, impacting the graphs that have been used above to illustrate the trend of rape. To summarise, this essay has looked at the overall trend of rape over the last 120yrs and compared it to the trend of Criminal Damage statistics over the last 120yrs, to show the trend of rape over this period. This essay then delved deeper into the main statistics and broke them down into figures of rape over the last 20 years and then went even further and showed the trends of rape of females of different ages, for example under 16s and under 13s. After that, this essay looked at reasons as to why the statistics are showing what they showed and then went onto discuss the location of where the statistics were found and outlined the problems with the CSEW. Because of these weaknesses, the essay finally looked at how the weaknesses impacted on the rape statistics that we had and used to illustrate the trend of rape from 1898 to 2014/15 which has increased. References   Clarke, C. (2006). Crime Statistics: An Independent review. London: Home Office. Retrieved March 19, 2017, from http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110218135832/http:/rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs06/crime-statistics-independent-review-06.pdf Criminal Justice and Public Order Act. (1994, November 3). Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Retrieved March 13, 2017, from The Government Legislation Website The National Archive: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/33/section/142 Hale, S. M. (1736). Historia Placitorum Coronae: The History of the Pleas of the Crown (Vol. 1). Oxon (Oxfordshire): Professional Books Ltd. Hanmer, J., Saunders, S. (1984). Well-founded fear : a community study of violence to women. London: Explorations in Feminism Collective (Great Britain). Merriam-Webster. (2017). Rape. Retrieved February 27, 2017, from Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rape Sexual Offences Act. (2003, November 20). Sexual Offences Act 2003. Retrieved February 27, 2017, from The Government Legislation Website The National Archive: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42 Thornhill, R., Palmer, C. T. (2000). A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

Classical Music Essay -- Music Musical Classical Essays

Classical Music n : traditional genre of music conforming to an established form and appealing to critical interest and developed musical taste [syn: serious music] Classical music, as the name suggests, is a well-established kind of music, at least in the West. Classical music concerts take place in every cultural center, and they take many forms, from a solo to large symphonic orchestras, from a sonata to an opera. This kind of music has many fans, especially among circles of intellectuals. But how did this great kind of music start? What made the great composers compose? And how was this all used before the time of recorded music and portable mp3 players? These are the questions we are going to examine today. Music historians place the beginnings of classical music in Europe during the 1730s, though there is not a clear cut-point, since it gradually evolved from the Baroque style that was dominant before. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Christoph Willibald Gluck are considered to be the founders of classical music. But what triggered this new kind of music? Ask a physicist, and the answer is quite clear: The new ideas of "natural philosophy", proposed in the late 17 th century by Sir Isaac Newton, suggested that the universe has a clear structure, well founded in axioms, articulated and orderly. These ideas were reflected in the music of the 18 th century, but also in architecture, literature, and the arts in general. This new style in the arts is referred to as "Classicism". Back in those days, music was not as common as it is now. One could not carry thousands of songs in one's pocket. Music was rather a privilege of the royalty and their court. For example, one of the most impor... ... it can be heard in parks, parking lots, train and underground stations. It can be found even in the pockets of people carrying mp3 players around. Young people listen to it, old people listen to it, babies listen to it. Classical music is not only a kind of music; it's a way to concentrate, to relax, to worship. Classical music is a way of life. Sources http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_music_era http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Newton.html http://www.classical.net/music/links/musiclnk.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/422644.stm http://www.freenewmexican.com/artsfeatures/10701.html http://www.healingproducts.com/sound_health_series.htm#concentration http://www.freenewmexican.com/artsfeatures/10701.html http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/clipserve/B000001GDR001001/0/104-1287315-5901551

A Comparison between Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and Vladimir Paral’s Essay

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s classic, Crime and Punishment, and Vladimir Paral’s Lovers and Murderers describe a world of murder, dejection and profound human unhappiness. The two authors explore moral abjection and the destiny of mankind, as ruled by lust, jealousy and immoral instincts. As it shall be seen however, the two novels differ considerably in the way in which they treat the subject of crime, as well as in their point of view and the tone of the narrative. Thus, Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment is centered on the idea of moral ambiguity. The Russian author uses an omniscient point of view in order to recount Rodyon Raskolnikov’s experiences before and after he commits the murder. The tone of the narrative is serious and meditative, as questions of morality and justice are interspersed throughout the events and dialogues in the novel. Vladimir Paral’s Lovers and Murderers treats the theme of murder in conjunction with that of love. The narrative enters a world full of promiscuity and violence, focusing on a great number of characters and the interactions among them. Unlike Dostoevsky’s book that focuses on the portrait and experiences of the main character, Paral’s work is concerned with the plurality of voices. Moreover, the point of view shifts frequently from the omniscient narrator to the first person narrative, sometimes within the same phrase. Lovers and Murderers is a grotesque mosaic, with a discontinuous narrative and a satiric tone. While Dostoevsky’s work raises questions of morality and social justice, Paral’s novel represents the spectacle of human life with resignation. There is no ethical conclusion to Paral’s analysis of human life and character: he chooses to describe the dynamic of humanity in its bleakest and most ironic aspects. For Dostoevsky, human life is also full of coincidences and accidents. Although, the limit between right and wrong is relative, ultimately, the novel emphasizes the belief in punishment and redemption. In Paral’s novel, there is no clear delimitation between innocence and guilt: the characters are all fanatics, consumed by passions, jealousy and greedy cravings. Significantly, love and violence intermingle throughout the novel, marking the majority of the relationships among different characters. Paral shows therefore that human interaction is never completely innocent: people devour and are devoured sadistically by destructive relationships. Instead of ending in union and harmony, each affair ends in destruction and crime. In Crime and Punishment there is the possibility of salvation and the triumph of love. Lovers and Murderers shows murder to be the companion of love, with no possibility for moral cleansing. Both novels therefore analyze morality in the context of the dynamics of society, emphasizing the interactions among different characters but with different conclusions. Sin and morality are seen as paradoxes in Dostoevsky’s work, but, ultimately sins can be redeemed after having been committed. Paral’s novel illuminates the tableau of human relationships and the relativity of moral principles very differently: all the characters are fallen men and women, who abuse or are abused by others. Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment is concerned primarily with moral paradoxes, exemplified through the stories of various characters. The central story, that of Raskolnikov, is paradoxical. The protagonist is an extremely poor student, who struggles with his enormous debts to his landlady and with constant hunger and misery. A proud and noble character, Raskolnikov is tormented by his unjust and humiliating social standing. Despite his intelligence, he lives poorly and is constantly besieged by material concerns. As the novel opens, Raskolnikov has already developed the philosophy that would lead him to murder: he muses that there are superior men who should be able to punish others for their sins. Interestingly therefore, the murder is intended as a punishment of the mean pawnbroker, in the name of social justice. The first part of the novel captures Raskolnikov’s inner tension as he struggles to discern right from wrong. There follows the critical moment of the actual, double murder and afterwards his punishment and final redemption. The cyclical nature of his experience is symbolic: Dostoevsky points here to the paradoxes of morality. Raskolnikov’s act of murder is in itself meant as a punishment and may seem right in its context. To enhance the ambiguity however, Dostoevsky arranges for a double murder: the circumstances force the protagonist to kill Lizaveta as well, the pawnbroker’s innocent sister. The novel offers yet other instances of moral ambiguity, such as the saintly and innocent Sonia who is forced to become a prostitute in order to earn money and save her hungered family: â€Å"And then I saw, young man, I saw Katerina Ivanovna, in the same silence go up to Sonia’s little bed; she was on her knees all the evening kissing Sonia’s feet, and would not get up, and then they both fell asleep in each other’s arms †¦ together, together†¦ yes †¦ and I †¦ lay drunk† (Dostoevsky 30). Her mother in law, who had previously maltreated her, is now grateful and reverent towards the girl. Sacrifice and generosity are therefore accepted and appreciated in the novel. Her father, Marmeladov, is another example of moral equivocalness: a hopeless drunk, he is a good man who loves his family yet cannot conquer his own vice in order to save them. Marmeladov’s employer also acts generously, although he does so in vain: he offers him his job back, despite his dependence on alcohol, out of pity for his family. Throughout the novel, morality is questioned, but there is sufficient evidence of the existence of good alongside with evil. The ambiguity that Crime and Punishment describes is one of form rather than substance. In Paral’s Lovers and Murderers morality is permanently mixed with sin. Women and men, coming from the dregs of society as well as from its highest ranks, live in utter disorder and promiscuity. Innocence and guilt are neither relative nor circumstantial. Significantly, the book is divided in numerous fragments bearing two alternative titles: â€Å"Conquerors† and â€Å"Besieged†. In Paral’s vision, the world is not divided in right and wrong, but rather in abusers and abused. These basic roles are moreover easily interchangeable. The relationships seemed to be weighed on a scale, which always tips in favor of one of the partners. The relationship between Alex Serafin and Dasa is a relevant example: Alex conquers and even enslaves the rich woman but he is eventually rejected by the same woman that seemed totally dependent on him. The world of the inhabitants of building 2000 is devoid of moral principles and reasoning. The men and women are driven only by impulses of self-gratification. Their affairs are violent and each partner, either abused or abusive, derives selfish pleasure from the communion. Love is rapacious, lustful and possessive: â€Å"Love is prey and everyone longs for his own destruction – let’s not want them to expose the necks themselves†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Paral 187). If Raskolnikov’s world is marked by sin and punishment, Paral’s characters pursue their own pleasure and interests without having to pay for their deeds. Raskolnikov murders the two women in his pursuit of justice, without deriving any personal gain from the deed, despite having found a considerable fortune in the ladies’ flat. In Paral’s novel, murder is only perpetrated as a crime of passion. In the case of Borek and Zita, murder is even gratuitous. The comparison between their story and that of Julien Sorel and Madame de Renal in Stendhal’s Red and Black, is extremely significant. While in Stendhal’s morality is extensively explored, Borek and Zita’s affair is devoid of any compunctions of guilt despite the fact that Zita is a married woman. The line between love and murder is very thin: one of the partners is always the hunter who chases his victim. The moment when Borek finally conquers Zita and possesses her body is very relevant. The man feels that, instead of loving thoughts he develops murderous ones, without being able to discern between the two categories anymore: â€Å"I realized I was standing there like a murderer, insane because as a murderer I could not act otherwise, even though I had come as a lover, like a murderer or a lover, insane because I no longer saw any difference† (Paral 188). If Crime and Punishment discusses moral ambiguity, Lovers and Murderers comments on the ambiguity of love and murder. Sexuality is always mixed with sadism and violence in Paral’s novel, so as to emphasize the fact that love is in fact abusive and possessive rather than disciplined and saintly. Marriage itself is a failure in the novel. An early scene in the novel points to the ultimate moral degradation of the characters. Thus, the poor working woman Madda pays a visit to Frank in his rich and sumptuous apartment. When he asks her to put on a wedding dress as part of the ritual of lovemaking, the woman muses on her previous sexual degradation: â€Å"†¦and you don’t have to apologize for madman anything, my earlier lovers wouldn’t even take my clothes off, or even their own, a white wedding dress to church; I’ve made love with the dirty strap of contemptible overalls between our bodies† (Paral 32). Ironically however, her romantic hopes are bitterly deceived by her heartless partner. Instead of offering the wedding dress as a symbol for love and purity, he uses it as part of a humiliating trick: when Madda is dressed and kneeling before him, Frank’s wife enters the room and it becomes clear that the woman was only used as amusement by the rich couple. In Paral’s world the beautiful dreams disintegrate very fast. Lovers and Murderers shows that moral choices and principles have to be settled among people and thus no intention or action is definitely pure. Raskolnikov acts in the name of a higher principles, which he sees as commanding: â€Å"I didn’t kill a human being, but a principle! I killed the principle, but I didn’t overstep, I stopped on this side†¦. I was only capable of killing† (Dostoevsky 389). Raving with a guilty conscience, Raskolnikov tries to convince himself of the moral justifications of his deed. He didn’t kill another human being, his violence was directed solely against an erroneous principle. Besides Raskolnikov, the novel abounds in generous characters. For instance, Dounia, Raskolnikov’s sister is willing to sacrifice her own happiness in a marriage she does not desire, in order to help her family. When the same Dounia is accused of trying to attract her employer and make him commit adultery, she escapes by her own generosity and nobility. Moreover, it is the employer’s wife that actually mends the girl’s reputation after having marred it, by showing the proof of her innocence to the world. There is no redemption and generosity in Paral’s novel. The characters act upon their personal interests, without considering each others’ feelings. The life that the characters lead is the life of a jungle, where there are no rules other than personal survival and gratification: â€Å"They live only for the fulfillment of their eternal appetites: like animals running free in a jungle. For pleasure alone: like the courtiers of Louis XV† (Paral 164). People are not concerned with judgments of value and with ethical principles. Paral introduces his readers to the psychological jungle of humanity, where people follow only their instincts. In Crime and Punishment, on the other hand, Dostoevsky explores sin and crime from a religious and ethical perspective. As critic Alfred Bem notes, Dostoevsky proceeds from the idea of a feeling of the original sin present in all minds: â€Å"To understand Dostoevsky’s thought one must allow for the presence in the human psyche of a feeling of sinfulness as such, independent of the existence of any concrete crime–what we might call the feeling of original sin. †¦ We can assume, then, that the feeling of sin, of guilt can be present in the psyche unaccompanied by any consciousness of crime† (Bem 59). Hence comes the moral ambiguity of the characters: however saintly in their morality and character, they can succumb to sin because the seed is already planted in the human psyche. Paral’s world is also dominated by sinfulness, but, in this case, the characters lose their nobility. They are all fallen, abject people, who live by their instincts rather than by principles. Moreover, Raskolnikov performs an experiment more than an actual murder. He wants to apply his philosophical theory to reality and see its effects. Dostoevsky captures here the essence of humanity and its inherent rejection of murder. Ultimately, Raskolnikov is unable to commit his crime in complete cold bloodedness, despite the solidness of his arguments and theory: â€Å"Perhaps no work of literature presents so graphically a man testing and living, psychologically and even physiologically, a theory. Raskol’nikov’s theory, it will be remembered, is that crime is accompanied by sickness, by a loss of willpower and self-control, unless it is committed for sufficient reason by an ‘extraordinary man,’ in which case it is ‘no crime. ’† (Shaw 142). It is not so with Paral’s murderers: they virtually live in a jungle, where, besides instincts and passions, there is only pathos without real substance. The point of view and the tone chosen by the two authors are also relevant. Raskolnikov’s story is told objectively, from an omniscient perspective. This narrative technique does not obscure the character’s inner turmoil, however. Dostoevsky pairs his omniscience with indirect speech, a device which helps to reveal the hero’s thoughts and emotions. Raskolnikov often speaks to himself and, in this way, Dostoevsky gives us access to his unmediated reflections. For instance, he muses on his motivation for committing the murder, wavering between the feeling of guilty and the excuse he finds for his behavior: â€Å"I am putting my little brick into the happiness of all and so my heart is at peace. Ha-ha! Why have you let me slip? I only live once, I too want†¦. Ech, I am an ? sthetic louse and nothing more,’ he added suddenly, laughing like a† (Dostoevsky 389). Raskolnikov is indeed a criminal and an aesthete at the same time. While his crime is horrendous, his purpose gives it meaning to a certain extent. As Julian Connolly remarks, the way in which Dostoevsky decided to use the point of view in the novel is very significant: â€Å"Dostoyevsky had originally intended to write an account of murder from the perspective of the murderer himself. As he worked on the project in November 1865, however, he concluded that such a perspective might be too limited, so he chose an omniscient, third-person narrative mode instead. Yet traces of the original design remain: much of the novel offers direct insight into Raskolnikov’s impressions and experiences. † (Connolly 144). Thus, the author’s decision to mingle omniscience and first person narrative shows that he was preoccupied to investigate the moral dimension of his characters as well as the psychological one. His technique ultimately merges psychology with philosophy. In Paral’s case, the frequent shifts of viewpoint, allow for a curious exploration of the stories from the inside and outside simultaneously. Moreover, Paral’s story is told fragmentarily, with an alternation of voices and points of view. The narrative shifts from the author to an interior monologue of one of the characters without warning, in the course of the same phrase. This provides readers with marks as to actual events and also to the thoughts of the characters at the same time. The novel features a great number of different narrative voices, as each of the characters introduced is also given a monologue. This technique enhances the novel’s mosaic structure and its grotesqueness. The characters’ interior monologues moreover show them to be egoistical and impulsive. Most of their speeches are delirious and self-centered. The tones of the two works also differ and influence the reader’s perception of the stories. Dostoevsky’s tone is serious and restrained, focusing on the events, the psychology of the main character and the numerous implications of the experiences described. Paral, on the other hand, uses irony, black humor and pathos is order to describe the events in his book. Lovers and Murderers is therefore written as a black comedy, transmitting the author purpose of satirizing humanity in its pettiness and abjection. The two novels deal with the common themes of murder and punishment, but do so in very different ways. Crime and Punishment investigates ethical, religious and psychological consequences of a crime, with an emphasis of humans’ liability to sin and moral ambiguity in the context of a society. Lovers and Murderers, on the other hand, emphasizes the human world as a grotesque spectacle, driven by the uncontrolled instincts and petty interests of men. Dostoevsky’s work analyzes and questions, while Paral’s observes and mocks. Works Cited: Alfred L. Bem, â€Å"Guilt in Crime and Punishment. † Readings on Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Ed. Tamara Johnson. Trans. Robert Louis Jackson. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1998. 58 64. Connolly, Julian. â€Å"An Overview of ‘Crime and Punishment’. † Exploring Novels. Gale, 1998. Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment. New York: Vintage Classics, 2008. Paral, Vladimir. Lovers and Murderers. Trans. Craig Stephen Stevens. New York: Catbird Press, 2002. Shaw, J. Thomas. â€Å"Raskol’nikov’s Dreams. † Slavic and East European Journal 17, no. 2 (1973): 131-45.