Buying My First Car Essay Example for Free

Buying My First Car Essay A Bit of Memoir We rounded the corner and there it was, the stout, perfect looking black Jeep Cherokee that my dad and I had just driven and hour to look at. It looked like every other one that I had seen in pictures, but there was the feeling that this one could possibly be mine. The week before, I had been furiously searching Craigslist and Jeep Forum classifieds looking for a Jeep, particularly a Cherokee with low miles, little to no rust, and the right price, between the years 1997 and 1999. With the tight guidelines that I had for the car, it made it hard to find one. However, acquiring a Cherokee was only the first part; I had many plans once I had one of my own, plans to lift it and put some big mud tires on it, along with some other jeep essentials. My friend had his lifted Cherokee for a few months, and I had wanted one just like it for quite a while. After calling up multiple private sellers and used car dealerships, I had found one not far from me. A used car dealership had three Cherokees, all with low miles, and relatively fair prices. My dad and I decided to go check them out, with the hopes of being able to talk the salesman down a few hundred dollars. After driving a half hour or so, we arrive at the dealership, and there, parked in the front three spots were the jeeps. We made our way over and I was instantly checking them all out, making sure that I kept my cool. The salesman comes out, a big guy who looks like he could be on steroids, and he and my dad started talking. Instantly, like any used car salesman, he goes right into telling us about how awesome these Jeeps are, that they’re in perfect condition. We had narrowed down the three jeeps to one, and naturally we wanted to take it to a local mechanic. Most people would have no problem with this, but this guy did. After he refused to let us take it to our mechanic, we were turned off. In addition, he had given us a price on the phone, and then he told us a higher price when we were there talk ing face to face. At that point we were out of there. I was truly upset; I had mgotten my hopes up that I would be driving one of those Jeeps home. My dad told me not to be upset, and that we would find another one that same day. Still at the dealership, we were still sitting in our parked car; both of us on our iPhones looking up classifieds near our area. I find one that looks good, and it’s only a ferry ride away. This one was from a private seller and she had just listed it up that morning, so my dad called her up immediately. We told her we could come to see it that day, and she agreed. We raced to catch the next ferry, which we barely made. Driving off the ferry ramp, we headed to the address the lady gave us. We ended up in a somewhat rough neighborhood, but we decided we came too far to turn around because of some Mexicans with baggy shorts down to their ankles and flat brim hats. We finally got there, and there it is, sitting on the side of the road outside a small conventional house. The lady walked out her front door, and I was already looking under the jeep and checking it out. Everything is checking out, the miles were low, there were very little signs of rust, and I was getting excited. Eventually I was behind the wheel and out for a test drive. The engine ran a little rough, but it was nothing I couldn’t fix on my own. So my dad and I are sitting in the car on the other side of the block, and he asks me if I want it. I, of course, said yes, and we went back and worked a price out. Even though the lady only came down from her price a mere 50 dollars, we still ended up making the deal. Finally, my own car, and the exact one I wanted. I drove it all the way home with no plates, riding on the hopes that the police weren’t out that night. It was exciting to finally be driving the car that I would call mine. I was already imagining the I remember parking it on the ferry and looking at it from the upper deck of the parking garage. I got it home and everyone came out the front door of my house as I pulled down the driveway. It seemed as if my family was more excited about it then I was, which puzzled me. I felt proud of myself for finding the Jeep and being able to bring it home the exact same day. All the weeks of searching for a car had amounted to this one day, where it all happened in a matter of hours.

Text Messaging Affects Language Skills English Language Essay

Text Messaging Affects Language Skills English Language Essay In recent years, there has been an enormous increase in the relativity of using cell phones to communicate. Cell phones have become the fundamental components of family life, especially for most teenagers. Appearance of unlimited texting plans offered by phone companies like Sprint, T-mobile and Verizon, texting is becoming hard to resist. IYO TXTng = Gd 4 or NME of Lang? (Text Message Dictionary) If you cannot understand the previous sentence, then you are most likely are not aware of the language of the text messaging. Who are the originators of this language? The answer is most of the teenagers in the modern society. The translation for the vague sentence above is: In your opinion, is texting good for or the enemy of language? Text messaging has provided our society with a quick means through which to communicate. It has taken out the need for capitalization, punctuation and the use and knowledge of sentence structure. However, this recent form of communication has become so promi nent that some educationists worry that it may be damaging teens literacy skills. Others, however, believe that teenagers are making their own language in the modern society and see no effect on their students language skills. I think that the one way text messaging affects language skills is that it leads to the downfall of communication. It aids the lack of intellect and flow of logic that humans possess when communicating with another human being. When I was in a McDonalds couple of days ago, I observed something that disturbed me; it also annoyed me a bit and this had to do with communication skills and texting. A table in a corner across from when I and friend were seated, there were three young people, ages that I can guess to be around 16. They each ordered drinks and French fries and they all had cell phones held in their hands. Couples had ear buds in their ears and probably listening to music that they enjoyed. They shake back and forth around in their seats to the beat when they were listening to their music and texting on their mobile phones. Every couple of seconds, one of them would eat fries and slurp his drink and they were all texting. They were seemingly texting each other from the snickering laugh and pokes I observed yet they were all sitting right there at the same table. The thing that irritated me the most was that there was literally no verbal conversation other than a casual grunt. Their communication was done on their cell phone with no face to face conversation with their friends who were sitting next to each other. Are we losing our ability to truly communicate or, use voices? When you are sitting at the same same table why werent you talking? Texting is not talking. Most teenagers in this society dont talk to other people face to face. There is no verbal communication. It is hard to make sense of the language because there is no tone, no expression, no feeling, no body language and it is easy to text about some issues rather than talk face to face. It is also easy to apprehend into a conversation which is not really there and make wrong conclusions, without fully understanding what is being communicated. I know people who not only freak out about having to give a public speech, but who worry about having a face-to-face conversation. Its a bit ridiculous. Texting lingo has already spread to speech, social networking sites and other areas of writing. Shorthand phrases such as LOL and OMG first appeared in messaging forums and transferred smoothly into text lingo. The same thing is happening in reverse. This is not a complication when youre texting or emailing your friends, but young people dont understand that you cant write LOL into an email to your boss. As American University linguistics professor Naomi Baron states, So much of American society has become sloppy or laissez faire about the mechanics of writing (Hauck). I agree with her. Check any popular forum and see for yourself what the bloodbath of spelling and grammar looks like. So when we are not forced to write out words, the rules of our language arent enforced. Recent research seems to support that texting has an adverse impact on peoples linguistic ability. Drew Cingle and S. Shyam Sundar conducted research at Penn State University. They published their research in the professional journal,  New Media and Society.  Both authors argued that the students who write in techspeak used shorthand phrases, homophones, essential and nonessential letters to compose a text message. They thought that writing in techspeak would prevent persons ability to go from techspeak to normal rules of grammar. They did research to find if text messaging affected students grammar skills. Based on their data from over 500 students from middle school, they concluded there is evidence of a decline in grammar scores. Cingle gives reader personal example from his two younger nieces. He indicates that their text messages were incomprehensible and that he had ask them what they were trying to get out of that message. The message was incomprehensible because the use o f shortcuts, he said (Cingle Sundar). Joan Lee did another study to find the impact of texting on language skills. She conducted her study for her masters thesis in linguistics. Based on her data, her results proved that the students who texted more were less open to new terminology. Her results also proved that students who read media were more open to expanding their vocabulary. Our assumption about texting is that it encourages unconstrained language, Lee argues, but the study found this to be a myth. Lee argues that reading print media exposes people to variety and  creativity  in language that is not found in text messaging used among youth (Lee). I think persons vocabulary expands upon first using communication device due to some unique words used in texting. However, the terminology size levels off as the person knows most of the words that are unique to texting. After that, the person will use same group of vocabulary over and over again. Lastly, teenagers in this society dont know exactly what listening is. They may look like they are listening, but things are going in one ear and right out the other. College students who frequently text message during class have difficulty staying attentive to classroom lectures and consequently are at risk of having poor results, according to a study by Fan-Yi Flora Wei, and his two colleagues Ken Wang and Michael Klaussner. They published their study in the journal  Communication  Education. They concluded that most college students believe they are capable of performing multitasking behaviors, such as texting during their classroom learning, but research does not support that proposition (Wei). Do I think text messaging is a bad thing? No, of course not, it is a good thing and certainly has a place in todays computer age society in a many different ways, it can even help to keep us safe and protect us but when do not use it properly, as it was meant to be used, it depletes our writing skills, cripples our communication skills, and has a negative impact on the other language skills as well. When we let computer age technology, texting become our obsession and allow it to take over our life to such an extent that we lose all our other living and language skills it becomes as dangerous as a gun in the wrong hands.

Batik Essay -- essays research papers

Batik   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Elaborately decorated fabrics and patterns can be seen almost everywhere in the world today. Batiking is a type of decorated fabric, which usually depicts motifs of flowers, birds, butterflies and other natural objects, or simple geometric forms. These designs are rich in symbolic heritage and variety; to date there are over three thousand recorded batik patterns. To perform the art of batiking, one must know a little about its origin, the necessary materials, and the method of creating a batik.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The technique of â€Å"batik† itself is Indonesian in origin; the word â€Å"batik† is an Indonesian-Malay word that means â€Å"to dot.† The art of batiking is more than a millennium old. There are evidences that cloth decorated through a form of resistant technique was used early AD in West African, Middle-Eastern, and Asian communities. Over the past two or three centuries, batik has become one of the best means of expression, spiritually and culturally, in the values of Southeast Asia. This means of coloring and decorating textiles has even reached a higher degree of excellence in the island of Java. From Java, batik cloth has been exported to many other islands, spreading the batiking art around, which is how it is so well known, as are most of the items used to create it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A number of different materials are used when creating a batik. The primary requirements are cloth, wax, various colored dyes a...

Wolves Essay -- essays research papers

Wolves The wolf was once a much slandered animal. In the western world, people feared and hated wolves, and this legacy is reflected in stories such as Little Red Riding Hood and The Boy Who Cried Wolf. In these popular children's tales the wolf is made out to be a prowler and a killer of livestock and people. There is some basis for The Boy Who Cried Wolf, for wolves have killed cattle and sheep. But what of Little Red Riding Hood? There are no records of wolves killing humans in Canada or the United States. Yet, when wolves were spotted near rural communities, fear used to grip the populace, but over time this has become less prevalent. Today, many people know that scientists studying wolves have lived very close to dens where there were pups without being attacked. They have even taken pups from a den without being injured. The parents have usually run away, returning later to take their young to a more private den or to a rendezvous site (a place where the pack meets). In areas where wolves are hunted or trapped they fear people and are very wary. However, in remote places, such as in the Canadian Arctic, they show little fear and will often allow people to live near them. Two hundred years ago, Canis lupus, also known as gray wolves, were more widely distributed than any other mammal of historic times. They lived in large areas of North America, Europe, and Asia; the only places they could not occupy were deserts, tropical rain forests, and peaks of the highest mountain ranges. Wolves still live in large areas of the northern hemisphere; however, their primitive range has been greatly reduced due to changes in the landscape and people's efforts to exterminate them. In North America, wolves have been exterminated in the Atlantic provinces, Mexico, the United States (except Minnesota, Alaska, and some of the western states), and the heavily populated areas of southern Canada. They are still common in lightly settled portions of Canada from Labrador to British Columbia and in the Yukon and Northwest Territories. The red wolf was once common in the southeastern United States. It has been eliminated in the wild. However, through a captive breeding program, the species is being reintroduced into its former range. It is virtually impossible to describe the typical appearance of wolves. Wolves of many large arctic islands and Greenland usually appear sn... ...ibou numbers decline. Wolves have already been exterminated in many places. However, there may be less danger of such excesses in the future, as wolf control is increasingly based on biology rather than emotion. There is now a greater awareness among people that the killing by wolves of deer and other prey species, which we may want for ourselves, is not a sufficient reason for the extermination of wolves. Sometimes populations of game animals are critically low, so on biological grounds wolf control could be justified; however, control programs are always opposed by ever-increasing urban populations. Proposed wolf culls have become major political issues in many areas in North America. When controls are carried out, they need to be done to meet certain criteria, which are based on sound scientific information and stewardship of wildlife populations. In the wilderness scheme of things wolves play an important role. And from a human point of view, the great interest and value of having this intelligent animal as part of our wilderness heritage should be sufficient justification for allowing it to survive in a wide variety of wilderness and semi-wilderness areas all over the world.

Stress Essay -- essays research papers

Stress   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Stress is the nonspecific response of the body to any demands made upon it; it may be characterized as muscle tension and acute anxiety or may be a positive force of action. Stressors are what cause stress. Stressors are specific or nonspecific agents or situations that cause a stress response in the body. There are five Categories of Stressors: Acute time limited stressors are anxiety-provoking situations such as having to talk in public or work out a math problem; Brief naturalistic stressors are more serious challenges such as SAT’s or meeting a deadline for a big project; Stressful event sequences like difficult consequences such as a natural disaster, or another traumatic occurrence such as a death of a spouse; Individuals know the difficulties will end at some point; Chronic stressors are ongoing demands caused by life changing circumstances, such as a permanent disability following an accident or care giving for a parent with dementia; Individuals do not have a clear en d point. Distant stressors like a traumatic experience that occurred long ago, such as child abuse, yet continue to have an emotional psychological impact. If you are used to thinking that stress is something that makes you worry, you have the wrong idea of stress. Stress is many different kinds of things: happy things, sad things, allergic things, physical things. Many people carry enormous stress loads and they do not even realize it. There are many different kinds of stress: emotional stress, illness, pushing your body too hard, environmental factors, the special case of tobacco use, hormonal factors, and allergic stress. Emotional stress may happen when arguments, disagreements, and conflicts cause changes in your personal life -- that is stress. Illness can be something small like catching a cold, breaking an arm, a skin infection, a sore back, are all changes in your body condition. Pushing your body too hard is a major source of stress you are overdriving yourself. If you are working or partying (binge drinking) 16 hours a day, you will have reduced your available time for rest. Sooner or later, the energy drain on your system will cause the body to fall behind in its repair work. There will not be enough time or energy for the body to fix broken cells, or replace used up brain neurotransmitters. Changes will occur in your body's internal ... ...ith changes that temporarily lower resistance. Levels of certain hormones may rise blood pressure may increase. The body quickly makes internal adjustments to cope with a stressor and return to normal activity. Resistance: If the stressor continues the body mobilizes its internal resources to try to sustain Homeostasis (the body’s natural state of balance or stability). An example of it is when a loved one is seriously hurt in an accident, we initially respond intensely and feel great anxiety. During the subsequent stressful period of recuperation, we struggle to carry on as normal as possible, but it requires a considerable amount of effort. Exhaustion: If the stress continues long enough we can not continue normal functioning. Even a small amount of additional stress may cause a breakdown. Work Cited: Stress. Retrieved September 8, 2005, from the World Wide Web: http://www.reutershealth.com/wellconnected/doc31.html What Causes Stress? Retrieved September 8, 2005, from the World Wide Web: http://www.beatstress.ndirect.co.uk/page4.html Theories Explaining Stress and Anxiety. Retrieved September 8, 2005, from the World Wide Web: http://mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap5/chap5k.htm

Gwendolen and Cecily in the Importance of Being Earnest Essay

The Victorian age is considered to be one of the most prudent ages throughout of history. It is mainly based on your appearance. This means that the most important thing back then was to present as much as perfect as you can. It is crucial for them to be very appreciated by other people. This age can be described as very hypocrite because no one is perfect so lying and pretending in order to present as a â€Å"saint† is absurd but in that age it meant everything. This essay will discuss the role of women in that age compared with this age. It will also show the vanity and insecurity of women and try to explain if that really remained even for today. Miss Gwendolen Fairfax is a member of upper class society and a perfect example of a beautiful, rich lady who is most likely bored by her life but she will try to make her best to look good in front of everyone. She needs to stay in fashion â€Å"Sugar? No, thank you. Sugar is not fashionable any more. † She is in love with Jack but in the beginning she is mostly concerned around his name because the name Earnest itself shows great honesty and decency. When she finds out that he is really named Jack she has some doubts around him which is absurd because name has nothing to do with the person itself and the love you show to each other. Yet, it is another meaningless but in the Victorian age very important fact. Cecily Cardew, also a beautiful, young lady who is a guardian of Jack is a contrast to Gwendolen. She lives at the country and she is not that obsessed with appearance. She has good manners but when compared to Gwendolen the conclusion can be that she has a bit of the wild side. She was very cheeky toward Gwendolen but it was all played in a polite way. Cecily thinks that she is in love with Jack’s brother, so called Earnest because she heard lots of stories about him which gave her an opinion that he is a very passionate and â€Å"wicked† person. This wickedness is what really attracts her which actually makes a distinction between her and Gwendolen – she is not that obsessed with finding a virtuous husband. She thinks that Earnest’s recklessness is very attractive and high spirited. The most important thing above all is the name Earnest which is also in her case essential for starting a marriage. This is the main link between her and Gwendolen. There is song called It’s a man’s world, and it was written and composed in 1966. It has been a long time since the Victorian era and it has also been a long time since this song was composed. The point is, although lots of things changed during the history one remained even for today – women are still not equal with men but men will always desire women. Men truly rule the world but only woman can give birth of even a better man. Maybe the men were afraid of the women so they were condemned on having a boring life (the lucky ones; the aristocrats). Things started to change just after the Hastings in 1870s and petition for women’s right to vote. Maybe it was not such a critical age for women when it is previewed from a different angle. Indeed, they had no rights, honesty and appearance, which was already mentioned as a crucial thing in the Victorian age, were important but they had also no high expectations of them. Women were treated as ladies. This term â€Å"lady† is much different than today. First, it has a title and aristocrat meaning but it also has a different meaning and it is – women are fragile creatures which should be supplied with all goods and they deserve a decent provider (husband) who will take care of them. Their only job is to be pure, always by their husband’s side and to take care of their children. Women today are expected to be pure but also to provide money, take care of the children and there is that constant pressure of competing with men and trying to find their place in a â€Å"man’s world†. How absurd to talk of the equality of the sexes! Where questions of self-sacrifice are concerned, men are infinitely beyond us. † The tensions between Cecily and Gwendolen are typical. Whenever woman feels threatened by another woman’s presence and beauty she attacks. The argument between the two of them is displayed on a polite way because they are after all ladies and ladies do not start a fight like men do. It would maybe be settled in a different way today because fashion in sugar, bread and butter seems trivial now but the concept is same. Women are either very friendly or they call each other every name in the book. â€Å"(†¦ ) they will be calling each other sister. Women only do that when they have called each other a lot of other things first. † The conclusion of this essay is that women were not satisfied when they had no rights back then and they are also not satisfied in this age. It will never change. Also, it is in woman’s nature to judge other women just so she could feel safe. This remained until today.

Why were Witches women?

For over three centuries, early modern Europe was largely dominated by witchcraft persecutions, the scale of which such atrocities had never been witnessed before. These persecutions arose from various significant instabilities of the times. Tens of thousands of executions were carried out, especially within Central Europe and the vast majority of deaths were attributed to women. This is what was most remarkable about this period; the fact that so many women were recognised as practitioners of witchcraft. I shall be closely following the reasons for such large-scale prosecutions within the early modern period. In particular, I shall be looking at the different sub-categories concerning reasons for such a rise in the nature of witch prosecutions. These categories will be broken up as follows; the Church's view on maleficia, whom the witches were, the effect society had on the arrival of witchcraft, literature's perspective, natural thought and freethinking, and the confessions of witches. The Church was integral to the whole belief system within modern day Europe and was the main, driving component for social, economic and religious conformity. However, the Catholic Church as a unit had been threatened through ‘The Reformation' and theological perceptions and ideas were changing. People's interpretations and prior beliefs were now being challenged, criticised and there was now total religious uncertainty and unbalance within society. ‘This consequently led to the powerful ‘Counter Reformation' in which the Catholic Church began an attempt to not only counter the Protestant Reformation, but also to eliminate corruption, educate clergy and inspire faith in the common people'- (B. P. Levack, 1995). The combination of these two ecclesiastical revolutions induced the inevitable religious disorder, which in turn would spur the rise and development of more numerous and more extreme witch-hunts. In addition, these two reformed religions placed a renewed importance upon individual morals. ‘This issued many with the desire to place the burden of sins upon someone else, and in effect to acquire a scapegoat'- (B. P. Levack, 1995). Throughout history, such scapegoats have generally been the rejects of society, the loners, the sick, and the poor. This age was no different and in their search for a victim, someone to hold responsible, they found the witches. This period of great religious, social and economic transformation combined with the prevalence of epidemics and natural disasters now had a target on whom to lay all the blame upon; a physical embodiment of the evil that had been endured. Furthermore, as well as Martin Luther and Jean Calvin highlighting and condoning the burning of witches as ‘whores of Satan', the Church as a whole was responsible for accepting witchcraft as part of society, essentially forming the moral backing needed for such large-scale atrocities. So then, in 1485 the Catholic inquisition authorities published ‘Malleus Maleficarum'. This was essentially a book, confirming women as those responsible for witchcraft, as those capable of evil and temptation. ‘Women are by nature instruments of Satan†¦ they are by nature carnal, a structural defect rooted in the original creation' The bible also condemned witchcraft, or so people thought. Within Exodus 22:18 it orders, â€Å"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live†. It is then this mixture of Church and theological backing that gave the people of Europe the authority to act upon the ‘witches' within society, and to destroy anyone suspected of witchcraft. ‘It is interesting to note then that this period of witch-hunting was most intense within Germany, Switzerland, Poland, and Scotland, where the countries were religiously heterogeneous'- (G. Geis, 1997), comprising a mix of numerous Protestant and Catholic believers. Moreover, the witch-hunts themselves have long been seen as part of a ‘war against women', conducted overwhelmingly by men and particularly, by those in authority. Infact, Deborah Willis notes that â€Å"more polemical† feminist accounts â€Å"are likely to portray the witch as a heroic protofeminist resisting patriarchal oppression and a wholly innocent victim of a male-authored reign of terror designed to keep women in their place. † – (D. Willis, 1995, in web page). Holistically speaking, the Church's contribution to witchcraft fears and prosecutions led to the general belief within society that demons actively interfered upon the Earth and that witches were hugely prevalent concerning the interactions with and/or the dealings with such forces upon the Earth. In general, there was a greatly intensified and invigorated belief in the supernatural. For those who did not believe in such ideas, it still remained a plausible and effective tool for shifting the blame onto the women within society. It is now important to fully recognise whom these witches were and to discern the types of women victimised for such ‘crimes against humanity'. In general, it was the women from the lower sections of society who were seen as those who had the opportunity to commit harmful acts. Those who were widows and so were therefore able to conceal things and to hide within the cloak of darkness; to practice their magic and to meet with their familiars and even with the Devil himself, were often susceptible to prosecutions. In addition, these women were seen as ‘vessels of nature' and much closer to the environment and conditions of nature than men, and so more able to dominate the elements. The number of unmarried women was also increasing and this was another cause for fear within society. These women were considered a burden on society. The other group vulnerable to witchcraft accusations were midwives. One of the ostensible practices of witches was the execution and cannibalism of infants, especially those who had not yet been baptised into the Christian faith. Therefore, it is of no surprise that this particular group was especially focused upon in terms of prosecutions. It was essentially a way for grieving families to be able to lay blame upon the midwife for the death of their child, particularly within times of increasing infant mortality and occasional infanticide. The general view however was that witches were often cited as those ‘outsiders of society', reliant upon community relief and benefits, draining the land of it's wealth. Additionally, women were often cited with sorcery because of their traditional roles as cooks, nurses, midwives and keepers of the home. Witches were often associated as those who were in league with the Devil and as those who would meet at ‘Sabbats' to create spells, curses, practice killings and take part in lewd sexual acts with one another and with Satan himself. Single women were particularly focused upon for prosecutions concerning sexual abominations, as they were seen as more easily seductable and by far more sexual by nature. Indeed, the fact that the Devil was depicted as being the very form of a man highly extenuated the belief that women did take part in such acts. Society also saw women as being weaker in every sense of the word. They did not have the political power or physical capabilities to defend themselves. Therefore, they were thought to use magic to defend themselves and additionally make pacts with the Devil to achieve various things against their enemies. However, ‘the great witch hunts of the medieval period were long depicted as a ‘war against women', conducted mainly by men, especially those in central authority' (Willis, Malevolent Nurture, p. 12). The reason for this was ostensibly that men wanted to keep women in their rightful place within society, largely pacified and subdued. This came with the great fear of feminist accounts, which started to take place within this period. The subject of women projected as witches was widely held in belief within local communities and often formed the deciding factor in disputes within local communities. So if a particular person has had a bad harvest, or their child has dies in the night, the climate of Early Modern Europe was conducive to such accusations and provided the ammunition with which to prosecute. The times of the period were one of extreme economic turbulence and poverty. Across Western Europe in particular, the gulf between the rich and poor was consistently growing and there was a general decline also in the living standards of much of Europe. These conditions may however have persuaded people to contemplate using magic to help themselves and to achieve monetary or land gains, but on the other hand, it also maintained that accusations would be at a new high. Below is a table showing the relevance of monetary/land/food disputes within local communities and the effect being a widow within society would have concerning such disputes and jealousies in Essex, 1564-89: Kinship Relationships Husband and Wife * 4 Unspecified Quarrels (2) Sexual Jealousy (1) Broken Marriage Contract (1) Stepfather and Stepchild 1 Over Inheritance Grandmother and Grandchild 1 Obligation to collect wood Total 6 Neighbourly Relationships * (Object of dispute) * Food/Drink * 12 Animals 4 Money * 8 Implements 4 Unspecified loans 3 Boundaries/Land * 4 Children 3 Total 48 The difference shown in number between kinship quarrels and disputes within the community is substantial. It demonstrates the heightened debates and tension with local communities and supports the view that widows were particularly attacked within these times as defenceless, unimportant people of the community. Another crucial part of women being persecuted as witches, developed through another mind controlling and prevalent technique within this time period. This was the use of literature, so covering everything from the bible and Church readings to pamphlets and novels written within the time. It is not surprising that the ‘Malleus maleficarum' had such an influential effect upon the rise of women as victims of mass witch prosecutions. Shakespeare also wrote within this time period and included a wide range of texts, often shadowing events and topics within Europe at the time. One of the key texts he wrote was that of ‘Macbeth', where Macbeth and his wife gradually murder various people in line to the succession of Kingship for their own gratuitous ends. The central factor towards their warped ideals and evil dealings was that of the witches within the moors. These of course were depicted purely as women, with similar characteristics to those generally seen as witches within this same period. The very fact that Lady Macbeth had to effectively become a man and get rid of her female characteristics in order to succeed, parallels the social view of women within this time and further extenuates the likelihood of women as victims. Indeed, it is the prophecies of the witches that initiate the murder, corruption, greed and lies that manifest with Macbeth. The famous line of ‘is that a dagger I see before me' spoken by that of Macbeth represents the conjuring of illusionary magic, produced by the witches of the time. Furthermore, the witches and his wife are inextricably linked together, in that they both influence Macbeth, and so the social view of women being manipulative, a natural temptation (as referred to in the Malleus maleficarum), a necessary evil etc is evidently shown within the literature of the time. The Catholic Church concentrated specifically upon the natural sin and evil within the individual and as mentioned previously, people saw the ‘witches' as scapegoats, a group to blame for their sinful nature. The bible in particular was another greatly recognised and taught book within society and the very story of creation within Genesis demonstrates the sinful, easily tempted and generally weak nature of women. Also, within Revelation (the concluding chapter of the Bible), the sinful woman of ‘Babylon†¦ he Great Prostitute', was also another indication of the weakness of women and showed this to be the case from the very beginning of creation to the very end. In general, the people of Europe saw the massacre of the ‘witches' as a religious war of enacting justice on those directly against the will of God. One notion spread throughout literature was that of witches contacting and serving Diana, the ‘Goddess of the Moon'. Women were hence seen as the most likely persons to communicate with ‘Diana' as a league of women joined together. Some confessed to actually riding with Diana and taking part in various activities, however they were later recognised to be delusional. Overall, the introduction of the printing press and the generally increasing availability of literature to the masses, allowed for more rapid transfers of elite beliefs in witchcraft and especially women as active participants. The trials of women within this period serve to reinforce and validate the beliefs transmitted through popular literature. One of the most confusing and baffling aspects of the ‘women as witches' theme is that many actually confessed to charges against them. This of course did not help the assumption that ‘women were witches' and served to just heighten the prosecutions and fuel the killings. Many ‘witches' claimed that their experiences had been worthwhile and showed virtually no remorse whatsoever for their supposed actions. This was the case all over Europe and not just England, even though the killings were much more prevalent and torture much more extreme on the continent than in England. However, P. Levack described this fact as less surprising when various other considerations were taken into account. Such as the ‘women often being brought up to believe that they were indeed instruments of Satan and that they were the only imperfection within God's creation' (P. B. Levack, 1995). This however was simply society's effort to instil such beliefs so as to relieve the worry of female independence and to of course resume the scapegoat it had found within the period in question. It is particularly interesting to note that many women actually testified against others within the community. They made up 43 % of witnesses against other women. Briggs' notices that ‘women were active in building up reputations through gossip, deploying counter-magic and accusing suspects' (Briggs, 1995). Women were completely surrounded by each sector of society and it was virtually impossible for them to escape punishment of some sort if they had first been accused of witchcraft. Ecclesiastically, the whole Church acknowledged the position of women as witches within society; and this simply gave the general public the opportunity to lay the blame for all the famine, disease, deaths and religious intolerance within previous years. The elite simply kept maintaining this strongly held belief in witchcraft and furthermore sustained the prosecutions and provided the literature and ethics with which to support these beliefs. What is key to this topic is that most prosecution cases actually refer directly to traditionally female aspects, such as the home, the kitchen, and the nursery; and on ‘culturally defined female tasks or occupations such as feeding (poisoning), child-rearing (infanticide), healing (harming), birth (death)' (Christina Hole, date unknown). Furthermore, women within society were very much pacified throughout this time and this meant that they were easy targets for attack. These poor victims of attack simply existed within a delicate age of uncertainty, confusion and anger. Society believed in the existence of witchcraft and in the exponents of maleficia, the women of the times. On a more local scale too, communities widely looked to the accusation of witchcraft as a means to a specific end, whether it concerned land disputes or money disputes etc. These were very testing times, times of extreme economic struggles and religious disputes. In conclusion, it is interesting to note that as standards of living vastly improved and religious irregularities disappeared, prosecutions decreased dramatically and people suddenly began to notice that most prosecutions were actually highly nonsensical and irrational. Society gradually came to accept that it had indeed made many mistakes.