Free Essays on Societys Attitude Toward Smoking

In the wake of perusing two articles about smoking, I have been compelled to scrutinize my own feeling and society’s mentality toward smoking. Florence King’s article I’d Rather Smoke Than Kiss is a cruel contention pushing smoking. Ladies and Smoking in Hollywood Movies: A Content Analysis by Gina Escamilla, Angie L. Cradock, and Ichiro Kawachi is a logical assessment of the examples of smokers appeared in motion pictures. While King’s article expresses a more straightforward sentiment that smoking is an individual’s decision and smokers ought not be aggrieved for this decision, Ladies and Smoking in Hollywood Movies never expresses the authors’ explicit feeling. It only gives factual data that permits the peruser to shape his/her own assessment about media’s depiction of smokers. I’d Rather Smoke Than Kiss is an individual record of a smoker who is disappointed by nonsmokers who assault her dependent on her decision to smoke. Lord isn't at all embarrassed about her propensity, and she urgently attempts to shield herself. The exposition dives profound into why she accepts the scorn of smokers is the most famous type of wardrobe pessimism in America today (King 134). In contrast to numerous normal articles on smoking, King comprehends the dependence on cigarettes, and she feels life ought to be enjoyed as opposed to protracted (134). While King advocates smoking, Ladies and Smoking in Hollywood Movies attempts to give a fair-minded translation of measurements about smokers in the media. Likewise, it infers that youthful, effortlessly convinced individuals might be affected to smoke by observing smokers glamorized in the media. It centers around the conceivable effect of media on teenagers, and particularly female young people. While the two articles have extraordinary and solid perspectives, nor is essentially right under all conditions. In the event that both of their thoughts could be joined, at that point an increasingly complete perspective could be gotten. I feel that there can barely be actually one explicit view point that is corr... Free Essays on Society's Attitude Toward Smoking Free Essays on Society's Attitude Toward Smoking Subsequent to perusing two articles about smoking, I have been compelled to scrutinize my own assessment and society’s mentality toward smoking. Florence King’s article I’d Rather Smoke Than Kiss is a cruel contention pushing smoking. Ladies and Smoking in Hollywood Movies: A Content Analysis by Gina Escamilla, Angie L. Cradock, and Ichiro Kawachi is a logical assessment of the examples of smokers appeared in motion pictures. While King’s paper expresses a more straightforward supposition that smoking is an individual’s decision and smokers ought not be aggrieved for this decision, Ladies and Smoking in Hollywood Movies never expresses the authors’ explicit conclusion. It simply gives factual data that permits the peruser to shape his/her own conclusion about media’s depiction of smokers. I’d Rather Smoke Than Kiss is an individual record of a smoker who is disappointed by nonsmokers who assault her dependent on her decision to smoke. Lord isn't at all embarrassed about her propensity, and she urgently attempts to guard herself. The exposition delves profound into why she accepts the disdain of smokers is the most mainstream type of wardrobe skepticism in America today (King 134). In contrast to numerous basic articles on smoking, King comprehends the dependence on cigarettes, and she feels life ought to be enjoyed instead of stretched (134). While King advocates smoking, Ladies and Smoking in Hollywood Movies attempts to give an impartial translation of measurements about smokers in the media. Likewise, it infers that youthful, handily convinced individuals might be affected to smoke by observing smokers glamorized in the media. It centers around the conceivable effect of media on teenagers, and particularly female youths. While the two articles have extraordinary and solid perspectives, nor is fundamentally right under all conditions. On the off chance that both of their thoughts could be joined, at that point an increasingly complete perspective could be acquired. I feel that there can barely be actually one explicit view point that is corr...

Greek Mythology: Naricissus relevancy to today Essay

Numerous stories have been recounted Narcissus, the child of a divine being who tumbled to his hazard because of his own vanity and love for himself. The story is advised by The Mythology Guide, and this is the manner by which it goes: Narcissus was pitiless not in the situation of Echo alone. He disregarded the remainder of the fairies as he had done poor Echo. One day a lady, who had futile tried to draw in him, articulated a supplication that he may some time or other feel what it was to love and meet no arrival of friendship. The avenging goddess heard and allowed theâ prayer. There was a reasonable wellspring, with water like silver, to which the shepherds never drove their herds. Nor did the mountain goats resort to it, nor any of the monsters of the woods; nor was it damaged with fallen leaves or branches; yet the grass became new around it, and the stones protected it from the sun. Here came one day the young exhausted with chasing, warmed and parched. He stooped down to drink, and saw his own picture in the water; he thought it was some delightful water soul living in the wellspring. He stood looking with profound respect at those brilliant eyes, those locks twisted like the locks of Bacchus or Apollo, theâ rounded cheeks, the ivory neck, the separated lips, and the gleam of wellbeing and exercise over all. He became hopelessly enamored with himself. He brought his lips close to take a kiss; he plunged his arms in to grasp the darling item. It fled at the touch, yet returned again after a second and restored the interest. He was unable to tear himsel f away; he lost all idea of food or rest, while he drifted over the verge of the wellspring looking at his own picture. He conversed with the alleged soul: â€Å"Why, delightful being, do you disregard me? Without a doubt my face isn't one to repulse you. The fairies love me, and you yourself look not aloof upon me. At the point when I stretch forward my arms you do likewise; and you favor me and answer my beckonings with the like.† His attacks the water and upset the picture. As he saw it leave, he shouted, â€Å"Stay, I beg you! Let me in any event look at you, on the off chance that I may notâ touch you.† With this, and significantly more of a similar kind, he treasured the fire that expended him, so that by degrees he lost his shading, his force, and the excellence which once in the past had so enchanted the fairy Echo. She kept close to him, in any case, and when he shouted, â€Å"Alas! Alas!† she addressed him with similar words. He pined away and passed on; and when his shadeâ passed the Stygian waterway, it hung over the pontoon to get a look of itself in the waters. The fairies grieved for him, particularly the water-sprites; and when they destroyed their bosoms, Echo destroyed hers moreover. They arranged a memorial service heap, and would have consumed the body, yet it was mysteriously absent; yet in its place a bloom, purple inside, and encompassed with white leaves, which bears the name and jam the memory of Narcissus.(paraphrased from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book III, Narcissus and Echo, lines 477-745) Vanity and the requirement for outward excellence must have consistently been an issue in the lives of people for this account of Narcissus to sound accurate even today. The Merriam Webster word reference characterizes magnificence as, â€Å"The quality that offers delight to the psyche or faculties and is related with so much properties as amicability of structure or shading, greatness of imaginativeness, honesty, and originality.† Interesting definition considering what people take a stab at in what they accept to be wonderful. The web, magazines, TV and the films mention to us what we ought to resemble and what we ought to make progress toward. What all the insanity toward flawlessness has implied is billions of dollars went through with in the realm of plastic medical procedure. An individual that is disappointed with their outward appearance can without much of a stretch have any part worked on, or loaded up with fat, or infused with silicon or collagen and viola, flawlessness! Well not actually, in reality a great many people that have plastic medical procedure need more. As indicated by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, â€Å"43% of all patients have two and three techniques done inside the initial three years of their first procedure.† The main method in the Unites States in 2003 was Rhinoplasty, which is the reshaping of the nose. 300,000 Americans had this typeâ of medical procedure, with Liposuction running a nearby second taking 300,000 twenty individuals having their fat sucked out from various regions of their bodies. Leaving bosom inserts, stomach tucks and eye cover lifts coming in next with more than 800,000 medical procedures done per year. A fourth of all bosom inserts are later evacuated as a result of inconveniences or worry of future confusions. Huge numbers of the individuals talked with express that they need these medical procedures so they can rest easy thinking about themselves, however more frequently then not it appears that it is progressively about what others think. This carries us to media and the weight for excellence that is channeled into our parlors every day. Network shows, for example, The Swan, as far as anyone knows takes, self-declared â€Å"ugly ducklings† and they are given the novel chance to understand their fantasies on an unscripted arrangement that transforms a fantasy into the real world. In its first season, THE SWAN turned into the No. 1 makeover appear on TV among Adults 18-49. THE SWAN vows to take ladies who are trapped in an endless cycle and revives them by uncovering their magnificence and certainty. It offers them an amazing chance to experience physical, mental and passionate changes and finishes them the procedure. This arrangement comes full circle in a marvelous expo in which one lady at last is delegated â€Å"The Swan.† Each candidate is alloted a group of experts †a mentor, specialist, coach, corrective specialist, and dental specialist †who cooperate to structure the perfect separately c ustom fitted program for her. The group helps the competitors in a general change that isn't just about physical change. Two hopefuls, who go after a spot in the exhibition finale, are included in each scene. The uncovers of their individual changes are particularly sensational on the grounds that the ladies are not allowed to see themselves in a mirror during the three-month process. Therefore, in addition to the fact that they find out who has been chosen to contend in the Swan Pageant and who will return home to her family, however they see themselves again just because. This sounds so innocuous while being extraordinary. Are these ladies extremely odd ones out and as indicated by who? The portrayal of the show seems like it may be really helping individuals rest easy thinking about themselves. It is the procedure and rivalry that makes the entire thought somewhat unappealing to such a significant number of not toâ mention narcissistic, for toward the finish of each show the ladies at long last get the opportunity to see themselves following three months of slimming down, work out, plastic medical procedure from head to toe, tooth dying or facade, hair shading, trimming, and make-up, to uncover, â€Å"I’m so pretty† and afterward a significant number of them state to the host of the show that they can not quit taking a gander at themselves. They are appreciating the outside appearance that has quite recently taken a colossal change. At that point at long last there must be one Swan and obviously the other sixteen finalists are left to feel like they were sufficiently bad or lovely enough to be picked, and all however they rethought themselves they have been dropped down to be washouts once more. Like The Swan is a makeover appear on MTV called I Want a Famous Face, where individuals have plastic medical procedure to resemble their preferred big name. Shows, for example, these accidentally train individuals that it is adequate to change their bodies so other will be more joyful with the manner in which they look, thus that they can adore themselves for the principal times in their lives. In nowadays of plastic medical procedure to rethink ourselves there would not be a parity known to man without a mental analysis for these sorts of practices. Merriam Webster’s Dictionary portrays Narcissism as, â€Å"excessive love or reverence of oneself, or a mental condition described without anyone else distraction, absence of compassion, and oblivious shortfalls in confidence. Some narcissism could be sound, â€Å"an individual’s presence would be in danger if some narcissistic qualities were absent. These characteristics shield the conscience from extreme harm caused by others.†(7,Vankin) For this situation it tends to be defensive to have some self esteem and in general it is essential to have a sound mental self portrait. Vankin proceeds to additionally clarify what genuine narcissism is, an example of qualities and practices which mean fascination and fixation on one’s self to the prohibition of all others and the vain and merciless quest for one’s satisfaction, predominance and aspiration. As indicated by Vankin, most narcissists (75%) are men. Sam Vankin, Ph.D. has composed a book regarding the matter of Narcissim, entitiled, Magnificent Self Love, in this book he depicts narcissism as a character issue with discernable attributes. Feels pretentious and affected (e.g., misrepresents accomplishments and abilities to the point of lying, requests to be perceived as predominant without proportionate accomplishments) Is fixated on dreams of boundless achievement, acclaim, fearsome force or transcendence, unparalleled brightness (the cerebral narcissist), substantial magnificence or sexual execution (the physical narcissist), or perfect, everlasting, all-overcoming affection or energy Immovably persuaded that the person is one of a kind and, being exceptional, must be comprehended by, should just be treated by, or partner with, other uncommon or one of a kind, or high-status individuals (or establishments) Requires exorbitant reverence, worship, consideration and insistence †or, bombing that, wishes to be dreaded and to be infamous (narcissistic flexibly) Feels entitled. Anticipates absurd or exceptional and great need treatment. Requests programmed a

Location and its effect on success or failure essays

Area and its impact on progress or disappointment expositions The Amish of Lancaster Pennsylvania (and Indiana) depended on the accessibility of good farmland for their prosperity. At the hour of their settling land was promptly accessible and in enormous tracts. Despite the fact that a significant part of the land should have been freed from trees and shakes the Amish were acclimated with hard physical work so this was not an issue. They had the option to build up an effective cultivating activity, both grain and domesticated animals. Their way of life was prohibitive so their nearness to bigger populaces in the good 'ol days was not so much as an issue. Today then again, their homesteads have gotten halfway situated inside the state because of the proceeded with improvement around them. They do at present own enough land to act naturally adequate and fruitful. The chance to sell overabundance products and their exceptionally rumored aptitudes and work as manufacturers and experts has added to their prosperity and permitted their locale to ext end to different regions of the nation. Today, only 18 miles from my home there are a developing number of Amish living today. They work a profoundly effective dairy activity and a wood factory. They additionally sell heated merchandise from a side of the road stand found only east of Rockville on the south side of US 36. My better half and I anticipate visit Saturday morning excursions to purchase new prepared pies, cakes, treats and best of all bread. They have embraced not very many present day comforts, yet figure out how to thrive in the present society while as yet holding fast to their customary lifestyle and love. I express greeting to the Hoosier Heartland!!! The following of the networks I might want to talk about is the Oneida Community, situated in upstate New York. Despite the fact that their locale flopped because of various reasons, their geographic area must be marginally dependable. The way that the neighboring networks, and the East Coast New England region all in all were generally viewed as rather preservationist, this prompted a ton of r ... <!

Abortion - Man Cant Be Rightly Disposed of by Man :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Premature birth - Man Can't Be Rightly Disposed of by Man   Temporal life lived in this world isn't related to the individual. The individual has as his own a degree of life that is increasingly significant and that can't end. Substantial life is an essential decent, here beneath it is the condition for every other great. In any case, there are higher qualities for which it could be authentic or even important to be eager to open oneself to the danger of losing real life. In a general public of people the benefit of all is for every individual an end which he should serve and to which he should subordinate his specific intrigue. In any case, it isn't his last end and, starting here of view, it is society which is at the administration of the individual, on the grounds that the individual won't satisfy his fate aside from in God. The individual can be conclusively subjected distinctly to God. Man can never be dealt with basically as a way to be discarded so as to get a better quality.  With respect to the common rights and obligations of the individual and of society, it has a place with moral educating to edify still, small voices; it has a place with the law to indicate and arrange outside conduct. There is exactly a specific number of rights which society isn't in a situation to give since these rights go before society; yet society has the capacity to safeguard and to uphold them. These are most of those which are today called human rights and which our age brags of having planned.  The primary right of the human individual is his life. He has different products and some are all the more valuable, however this one is principal - the state of all the others. Consequently it must be ensured over all others. It doesn't have a place with society, nor does it have a place with open expert in any structure to perceive this ideal for a few and for nobody else: all separation is underhanded, regardless of whether it be established on race, sex, shading or religion. It isn't acknowledgment by another that comprises this right. This privilege is predecessor to its acknowledgment; it requests acknowledgment and it is carefully unreasonable to reject it.  Any separation dependent on the different phases of life is not any more legitimized than some other segregation. The privilege to life stays total in an old individual, even one significantly debilitated; it isn't lost by one who is hopelessly wiped out.

Avoiding Alignment Trap Essay Example for Free

Maintaining a strategic distance from Alignment Trap Essay This case investigation talks about the discoveries in the article ‘Avoiding the Alignment Trap’, where despite the fact that most organizations know that IT must be lined up with business methodology as far as adjusting IT costs with income development, over 11% of organizations that adjust IT to business technique spend over 13% on normal on IT costs with a subsequent of under 14% normal in income development. The target of this case examination is to suggest an administration game plan that will lead most organizations that are presently have less powerful IT arrangement with business arrangement to IT-empowered development where the expense of IT more than repays with the income development of the organization. The proposal is to receive a Duopoly administration course of action where both the CEO and CIO decide, structure a board to manage IT choices and business system choices made by these pioneers, and guarantee sufficient dynamic and observing of execution dependent on IT and business-related choices. The ISO 38500 can be utilized as a structure to screen these choices and assess IT choices dependent on their adequacy, arrangement with in general technique and the worth they bring to the association. CURRENT SITUATION As indicated by the article, pretty much every organization knows that IT and business systems must be adjusted so as to increase upper hand in their industry. This implies their IT going through must be coordinated with their development systems. To test this idea, the writers of this article reviewed 452 organizations and got 504 reactions. The study decided the organizations IT going through and 3-year deals exacerbating to decide yearly development rate. In their overview, they have discovered the accompanying: 1.74% of these organizations don't adjust IT to their business methodologies. Organizations allot enough assets to their IT important to keep the frameworks running. It isn't intended to enhance the business. Accordingly, their development rate is 2% underneath on normal on a three-year range 2.11% of these organizations have profoundly adjusted IT to business methodology, however not exceptionally powerful. Their IT spending was 13% higher than normal and their income development rate was 14% beneath averageâ 3.8% of these organizations burned through 15% lower than normal on IT that brought about a 11% better than expected income development rate. 4.7% of these organizations burned through 6% lower than normal on IT that brought about over 35% better than expected income development rate. To apply these discoveries against the distinctive administration models, the 74% of organizations that don't adjust IT to their business systems have a Federal Model of Governance Arrangements. Government Models are choices made by pioneers from various utilitarian offices and in this kind of Governance Model, they generally give more consideration on Business Application Needs and less on IT Principles, IT Architecture Infrastructure Strategies. 11% of organizations that are exceptionally adjusted but bring about more spending than income development tumble to the Business Monarchy Governance Model . In this kind of administration courses of action, choices are made by senior business pioneer. In the Charles Schwab model in the article, their administration course of action is IT Monarchy. Their choices were made by IS pioneer and put more accentuation on IT Architecture, Infrastructure techniques and have brought about most noticeably awful business application needs. Rules To place an association in an IT-empowered development quadrant, an association ought to receive a Duopoly Model of administration game plan where senior business pioneers and IS pioneers settle on choices mutually. At the end of the day, the CEO and CIO must work intently together to detail the best IT standards and adjust it to the firm’s business system all in all. Likewise, they should execute data innovation that is less intricate. In the expressions of Leonardo Da Vinci per the article ‘simplicity is a definitive sophistication.’ By decreasing unpredictability, the organization fabricates rearranged, normalized foundation instead of broad altering of data innovation. With these 2 set up, it can bring about successful IT administration which will empower development in income later on. Choices and Recommendations Concerning the article, the 85% of the organizations that tumble to the less successful quadrant in IT administration can begin receiving a Duopoly Governance Arrangement where both the CEO and CIO cooperate and make decisionsâ jointly. With Duopoly, a board of trustees can be shaped to administer IT choices, rate the IT initiative by the CIOs consistent checking chiefs inside the association in their dynamic oversight. Be that as it may, a few associations don't receive a duopoly administration game plan because of its size. Subsequently, the following administration course of action that can be embraced by the associations is the Business Monarchy where choices are made by senior business pioneer. With this model, the business chief can request the budgetary manager’s help to recognize the sorts of data and framework the association needs, perform money saving advantage investigation, assess alternatives dependent on need setting and needs appraisal and decide what’s significant and update as advantage. The greater part of all, there must be sufficient correspondence all through the association of the choice. The article recommends that to accomplish a compelling IT administration, organizations must keep their IT condition straightforward. In spite of the fact that accomplishing a straightforward IT condition and normalizing it inside the association requires venture of time and cash, later on this can prompt lower costs. Despite the fact that intricacy can even now sneak in, it is proposed that the organization have an early-cautioning pointer that will monitor IT going through with item advancement. In the event that this proportion begins to expand, it is an indication that it’s time for another rearrangements. Not far off, organizations can arrive at the IT-empowered quadrant where expenses are less and income development is more. Hazard MANAGEMENT PLAN To evade the arrangement trap, the best administration course of action that can enable an association to change its status from being caught in adjusting IT to business methodology to IT-empowered development is to adjust a Duopoly administration game plan where senior business pioneers and IS pioneers settle on choices mutually meaning the CEO and the CIO work intently together. Both these leaders can frame a board of trustees to administer IT choices and guarantee chiefs are checked in their dynamic and oversight. They should likewise adjust a basic IT application; wipe out additional items and supplanting heritage frameworks. For direction in dynamic by the board of trustees, the associations can receive ISO 38500 where the accompanying 6 standards centers around 3 primary undertakings. These 6 standards are: 1.Responsibility †everybody associated with theâ committee ought to get obligations and have the position to meet those duties 2.Strategy †adjusting IT Strategy Organizational Strategy and breaking down the present and future circumstances of the association and consider both the necessities of association and those that should be possible inside its own IS office 3.Acquisitions †can be made after both cautious and sound examination. The obtaining choice must be straightforward and legitimized 4.Performance †data frameworks are actualized with the end goal that administration levels and quality levels meet the organization’s needs both now and later on 5.Conformance †consistence with guidelines enactments 6.Human Behavior †guarantees regard for current and advancing needs of all people included The 3 fundamental errands are: 1.Evaluate present and future needs consistently †centers around ceaseless improvement fuses the standards above both now and later on 2.Preparation and Implementation of venture plans †the board of trustees needs to ensure that obligations regarding plans and approaches are unmistakably being alloted 3.Monitor execution and conformance to approaches against the plans †urgent in observing expected assistance levels being met. On the off chance that this isn't done appropriately, at that point there won’t be fitting data for dynamic. Arriving at the IT-empowered quadrant isn't simple and it includes a major interest in improving the IT utilized inside the association. This is the reason most associations centers briefly around adequacy of IT executions inside the association more than arrangement of IT with authoritative technique. This implies surrendering explicit applications tweaked on a specific division so as to accomplish its ideal execution and incorporating and disentangling a decent piece of the IT work.

Yes, eat all our shirts!

Yes, eat all our shirts! Yesterday one lucky prefrosh got to be hosted by me through the MIT overnight program. Be sure to sign up early and sign up often, to increase your chances of getting to meet me and Mitra! You could see such amazing sights as my bunny hat, my $3 airplane jacket, and Mitras 14.41 midterm. Anyway, Adam 10 (I hope no creepy stalkers to go after him without his consent) arrived at 9:00 and made pleasant conversation with me about MIT until 2 AM, whereupon I started my problem set and studying for my German I midterm. Turns out Adam is from Beaver, PA andyes, before you askhis high school math teacher dated Amber Brkich. That was kind of exciting. The next day Adam took my German I examI mean, he took it along with me, not that he took my exam and then handed it in. Of course, that would have actually worked out really well for me because Adam is in his sixth year of German, whereas Im in my sixth week of German. He had a very pleasant and fluent conversation with Frau Bittner of which I understood about six words, and then corrected my answer to the last question (how the heck was I supposed to know what Ihrer meant? its in some crazy case or mood or something) Later, we headed to my second 3.091 lecture. One semester of chemistry is a general institute requirement at MIT, and 3.091 was once, very accurately, described to me as chemistry for people who have had enough chemistry. Students looking for a more rigorous introduction to chemistry for, say, a chemical engineering major, usually take 5.112, where you derive the Schrodinger equation, qualitatively draw molecular orbitals, and learn more about the degrees of freedom than you could ever want to. In the Fridays 3.091 lecture, Professor Sadoway delivered a really fascinating history lesson on the life of Henry Moseley, juxtaposing an explanation of atomic number and its implications at the atomic level with a narrative of Moseleys life, explaining how he coined the term atomic number while still a graduate student at Manchester, performed hundreds of x-ray diffraction experiments perfectly for Rutherford, and finally died at Gallipoli in World War I. Professor Sadoway concluded the stor y with this great wisdomNiels Bohr loved Moseley. Moseley was very likable. The lecture concluded with a discussion of X-ray spectroscopy, including its application to Jean-Francois Millets Angelus: According to Professor Sadoway, famous crazy man Salvador Dali found this painting to be quite curious, so he asked for it to be examined by x-ray spectroscopy. Analysis revealed that the sack of potatoes lying on the ground might have actually been a small, child-sized casket that Millet painted over before presenting the painting to the Boston insurance company that commissioned it. Also, he coordinated the opera aria he played as students walked into the lecture hall with the month of Moseleys landmark paper on periodicity. Thats hardcore. Adam and I also headed over to the Coop to see if there were any shirts or other paraphrenalia that I could put my 15% student discount to good use on. We didnt end up buying anything, but I did find these interesting: I originally misread this (order of operations, duh) and thought it said, I plus or minus heart math, which made no sense to me at all. Then I realized that it just said I heart math, which was a little more reasonable. Still, if youre in the target audience for a math shirt, youd probably go for something a little more complicated: Heh. This one is sold at the end of every fall and spring by Course 18: Mathematics. Other cool course shirts include 14 (economists do it with models.) and 16 (actually, I am a rocket scientist.) But still, none of these can really claim the title of my favorite MIT shirt: Think about it.

Sin and Redemption - Literature Essay Samples

In the Bible, as in The Master and Margarita, the reader has grown accustomed to despising Pontius Pilate, the infamous procurator of Judea. In both texts, it is Pontius Pilate who sentences Yeshua Ha-Notsri—a harmless, wandering preacher—to a painful death on the cross. Even more despicable, perhaps, is the fact that Pilate himself is plainly aware that Yeshua has done no wrong besides a minor technicality in a speech regarding Caesar. Although Pilate ultimately has the choice of letting Yeshua go, he fails to do so out of fear for his own political welfare. Yet, despite this arguably unforgivable moral failing, after reading the novel, the reader is nevertheless able to sympathize with the procurator. Through Bulgakov’s artful retelling of the Biblical story, the reader can better understand Pontius Pilate’s situation and the rationale with which he ultimately makes his fateful decision. Furthermore, Bulgakov extends the story beyond the scope of that in the Bible, revealing Pilate’s subsequent tormented regret and desperate attempts to right the wrong he had committed. The one-dimensional story character we encounter in the Bible is much easier to hate than the man we meet and come to know intimately in The Master and Margarita. Granted that Pilate’s confirmation of a completely undeserved death sentence is not exactly morally infallible, the reader must also examine the context in which he eventually came to make this decision. Right upon encountering Pilate in the novel, we find out that he is suffering from a massive, blinding headache. The crippling pain from this physical ailment grows to an extent where Pilate, at one point, hallucinates a cup of dark poison, yearning for a means of ending his agony, and, at another point, even has a vision of the head of Caesar replacing that of Yeshua. The situation is made no better by sunlight beating down on the courtyard. Bulgakov makes it clear that anyone in Pilate†™s physical condition would have a little trouble acting completely rationally in order to fulfill his political duties. As if the physical torment of a severe headache were not enough, Pilate must also deal with the emotional voids in his life. He is a Roman procurator assigned to fulfill his duties in a far-off, foreign land. Having only a dog for company, he is even worse off than his biblical counterpart, who at least had a wife. Pilate’s only human companions are his sycophantic secretary, his brutal soldiers, and the condemned men whose death sentences he has the weighty decision of confirming or vetoing. In addition, if we were to look at Yeshua’s case in a purely legal and political perspective, we see that Pilate does not have much choice in respect to letting this preacher live. For one, Yeshua has certainly committed the unforgivable offense (and unhesitatingly attests to it) of speaking out against Caesar and his power to rule. There is only one way pres cribed to deal with such an offense: death. A decision to spare Yeshua would come with some costly consequences. It is no coincidence that Pilate encounters the vision of Caesar’s head replacing Yeshua’s; he knows very well that any disobedience to Caesar would unquestionably carry detrimental results to his career, if not his life. Placed in this uncomfortable position where the wrong choice could mean life or death, it is clear that most, if not all, readers would have acted in exactly the same way. Although Pilate eventually is forced to confirm the death sentence, the reader can observe that he does take measures beforehand to try to save Yeshua. During the hearing, it is evident that Pilate does not wish for the innocent man’s death. He initially finds nothing meriting punishment and is even about to overturn the sentence before he reads the charges that Yeshua has spoken against Caesar. When addressing this particular issue, he attempts to signal to Yeshua by strategically drawing out the â€Å"not† in â€Å"Did you or did you not?† when he asks him if he had ever said anything about Caesar. Pilate even warns Yeshua plainly before he makes his statement that anything said against Caesar would result in a painful death. Even when Yeshua has begun his confession, Pilate attempts again to save him by strategically asking him if he had perhaps forgotten what he had said to Judas about Caesar. When this measure fails and Yeshua is condemned to die, Pilate makes one last attempt to save him, appealing to Kaifa to have Yeshua freed instead of Bar-rabban, reasoning that Yeshua’s crimes are not nearly as heinous as those of Bar-rabban. Thus, the reader cannot justifiably ignore the fact that Pilate did make repeated efforts to save him. During the course of the execution, it appears that Pilate still has not forgotten about Yeshua. Pilate arranges for a cup of anesthetics be offered to Yeshua shortly before the ordeal and when the executioner ends Yeshua’s suffering with a spear wound to the heart, telling him to praise â€Å"merciful Hegemon,† the reader cannot help wondering if Pilate had ordered the quick death, as well. Up to the last moment in Yeshua’s life we see that Pilate tries to minimize his suffering and bring him a quicker, less humiliating death. After the execution is over, Pilate makes a covert order to have Yeshua’s betrayer, Judas of Kerioth, killed. He makes this order under the guise that Judas is to be â€Å"saved† from his enemies (presumably, other friends of Yeshua) who are going to kill him that night for having betrayed Jesus for a few coins. One interpretation of this initiative on Pilate’s part (the â€Å"mercy killing theory) is that he would also like Judas to have a quick death, as opposed to a death by his enemies. He thus orders his men to do it efficiently to reduce suffering, as Yeshua probably would have wanted it, if dea th was the only choice. Yet a darker interpretation of this killing is that Pilate is, in a way, taking revenge upon Yeshua’s betrayer himself, having his own men deal out justice to him. In this way, he lashes out at the one other person to be blamed, attempting to reconcile himself with Yeshua’s undeserved death. In either instance, the reader sees that Yeshua’s death still clings to Pilate’s conscience, an unexpected thing for a man who must have sentenced so many others to an equally painful death. That night, Pilate’s remorse and desperate regret manifest themselves. He is initially unable to sleep at all, having only his dog Banga to be there for him. When he does finally settle into an uneasy doze, he sees himself walking with Banga and Yeshua. In this dream, he and Yeshua are debating lofty matters with one another but both agree that the execution had been a â€Å"misunderstanding† and had never really happened at all and that cowar dice is one of the worst vices. However, Pilate is shortly awakened, tormented by the light of the moon and Banga’s howling. He comes to realize that he has indeed executed an innocent man, a great man, and the only man who was able to understand him and help him. He comes to the realization that his cowardice and subsequent failure to stand up for what he knew was right has resulted in the loss of a friend and guide as well as the imposition of an everlasting burden on his conscience. In reflecting upon Pilate’s failure to stand up for what he knew was right, the reader initially finds it easy to regard him with animosity. However, through Bulgakov’s story of Pilate’s perspective, we see more clearly into the circumstances surrounding his decision. We also have the opportunity to see Pilate’s painful regret and the gestures he makes to make up for—if not right—his wrongs. Indeed, it is significant that he has sinned; it is more signi ficant, however, that he has tried to redeem himself.