Review of American Beauty Essay -- Film Movie American Beauty Essays

Review of American Beauty The 1999 Academy Award winning movie American Beauty has many major plots and shows the reality of American life. This movie uses symbolism to get ideas across in many different situations and it shows the actuality of life, it is not always what it looks like on the outside. Lester and Carolyn Burnham seem like they have a perfect marriage and a perfect family life while in turn they are having a lot of marriage problems. Lester is going through a midlife crisis; he quits his high-paying job for a fast food service job at Mr. Smiley’s and he buys the car of his dreams. His wife, Carolyn, is so upset by his new â€Å"freedom† that she has an affair with one of her colleagues and is caught by Lester when she goes to Mr. Smiley’s drive thru with her colleague...

Thomas Jefferson: The Man, The Myth, and The Morality :: History

Thomas Jefferson: The Man, The Myth, and The Morality Thomas Jefferson was a man of the greatest moral character who has been excoriated routinely over the last 30 years by historical revisionists and presentists. His commitment to America and his vast contributions to the framing of society as it is today are overlooked in favor of base analysis of his character that, while not flawless, is that of a morally upright person who has deeply held convictions and lives by them. Jefferson was born to a prominent family of Virginia tobacco growers. Plantation life is based largely around the work of slaves, so Jefferson was surrounded by them from the time of his birth in 1743 until the day he died. One of the harshest criticisms of Jefferson comes from the fact that, while he vehemently opposed slavery, was indeed a slave owner himself. As historian Douglas L. Wilson points out in his Atlantic Monthly article â€Å"Thomas Jefferson and the Character Issue†, the question should be reversed: â€Å"...[T]his was of asking the question... is essentially backward, and reflects the pervasive presentism of our time. Consider, for example, how different the question appears when inverted and framed in more historical terms: How did a man who was born into a slave holding society, whose family and admired friends owned slaves, who inherited a fortune that was dependent on slaves and slave labor, decide at an early age that slavery was morally wrong and forcefully declare that it ought to be abolished?† (Wilson 66). Wilson also argues that Jefferson knew that his slaves would be better off working for him than freed in a world where they would be treated with contempt and not given any real freedoms. Another way that Thomas Jefferson shows his moral character is in his most famous achievement, the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. This document is probably the most important document in the history of the United States, and one of the most important in the history of the world. Jefferson writes that â€Å"all men are created equal† and argues that every man has the right to â€Å"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.† Jefferson’s document shows not only his strongly held beliefs in freedom, but his acceptance of and belief in the views of the Age of Reason. He believed himself to be a person who was doing what was morally right, not for the fame that would eventually accompany it. Thomas Jefferson: The Man, The Myth, and The Morality :: History Thomas Jefferson: The Man, The Myth, and The Morality Thomas Jefferson was a man of the greatest moral character who has been excoriated routinely over the last 30 years by historical revisionists and presentists. His commitment to America and his vast contributions to the framing of society as it is today are overlooked in favor of base analysis of his character that, while not flawless, is that of a morally upright person who has deeply held convictions and lives by them. Jefferson was born to a prominent family of Virginia tobacco growers. Plantation life is based largely around the work of slaves, so Jefferson was surrounded by them from the time of his birth in 1743 until the day he died. One of the harshest criticisms of Jefferson comes from the fact that, while he vehemently opposed slavery, was indeed a slave owner himself. As historian Douglas L. Wilson points out in his Atlantic Monthly article â€Å"Thomas Jefferson and the Character Issue†, the question should be reversed: â€Å"...[T]his was of asking the question... is essentially backward, and reflects the pervasive presentism of our time. Consider, for example, how different the question appears when inverted and framed in more historical terms: How did a man who was born into a slave holding society, whose family and admired friends owned slaves, who inherited a fortune that was dependent on slaves and slave labor, decide at an early age that slavery was morally wrong and forcefully declare that it ought to be abolished?† (Wilson 66). Wilson also argues that Jefferson knew that his slaves would be better off working for him than freed in a world where they would be treated with contempt and not given any real freedoms. Another way that Thomas Jefferson shows his moral character is in his most famous achievement, the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. This document is probably the most important document in the history of the United States, and one of the most important in the history of the world. Jefferson writes that â€Å"all men are created equal† and argues that every man has the right to â€Å"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.† Jefferson’s document shows not only his strongly held beliefs in freedom, but his acceptance of and belief in the views of the Age of Reason. He believed himself to be a person who was doing what was morally right, not for the fame that would eventually accompany it.

Toward Effective Emotional Intelligence Simulation Essay -- Psychology

The ability to understand the emotions of others is critical for successful interactions among humans (Dias & Paiva, 2009; Kazemifard, Ghasem-Aghaee, & Ãâ€"ren, 2010). The psychological theory of emotional intelligence (EI) proposes four categories of relevant abilities (Mayer & Salovey, 1997): (1) identifying emotions, (2) understanding emotions, (3) using emotions in thought processes, and (4) managing emotions. This research focuses on emotion understanding, the cognitive activity of making inferences using emotional knowledge about why an agent is in an emotional state (e.g., unfair treatment makes an individual angry) and which actions are associated with the emotional state (e.g., an angry individual attacks others). Such emotion understanding in humans develops through their experiences with other agents. How might such learning in humans inform a model to enable artificial emotional agents to develop emotion understanding? Our approach to answering this question proposes a model of emotion understanding that combines psychological theories of episodic and semantic memory with ...

Montessori’s Observations Essay

†¢ Children make a match with mom/parent. This is the reason that consistency is such a key issue in early childhood development. Children feel comfortable with routine because they know what to expect †¢ Children need order. As above, when the environment has inherent structure and order, children feel safe. Children need to feel safe to explore their environment. †¢ Children have an innate desire to learn. Our brains are hard-wired to learn. Children will learn spontaneously. Our role is to facilitate this as much as possible without interfering in the natural learning patterns of each individual child. †¢ Children have a drive for spontaneous activity. Any person who has been near a young child knows this is true. In a Montessori environment, children are free to move about the classroom within the guideline of being respectful to others. †¢ Children must be active to gain self-discipline. When a child chooses a work from a shelf, does the work to the best of their ability and returns the work to the place that they found it. This is a completed work cycle. Adults often marvel at the child’s ability to focus on a task with such deep concentration. This is because they chose the work. It called to something within the child. No adult, parent or teacher could ever coach this concentration. It is innate within the child. Through the choosing of works and full completion of tasks, the child becomes self-motivated, self-disciplined and self-directed. †¢ Children learn through imitation and trial and error. This was not a new concept even one hundred years ago. However, Montessori utilized the principle. In a Montessori environment, the teacher/guide shows the child how to do the work. She then invites the child to do the exercise. The child may repeat the exercise as many times as they like. The way in which the child does the exercise gives the guide clues abou t the child’s development. †¢ Children learn best in a multi-sensorial environment. There is a lot of discussion these days concerning what kind of learners we are: i.e. auditory, visual, or kinesthetic. Most of us learn in a variety of ways. Montessori set up a multi-sensorial environment where she utilized didactic materials to â€Å"educate the senses† that were originally designed to test the senses. Montessori children learn to not only look, but see, not only listen but hear. Since all learning comes to us from our senses, this multi-sensorial approach enables children to comprehend at a deeper level. †¢ Children learn best when they get to put their â€Å"hands on† the materials. Rather than have a child sit at a desk and be lectured, Montessori felt that children would learn best if they were able to touch and manipulate the materials. This of course combines with the other observations that she made about how children learn. †¢ Children learn best in multi-age group settin gs. â€Å"Gifted and Talented† classrooms are beginning to make use of this model. Montessori noticed that children imitate and learn more easily from older children. Montessori classroom are set up in three-year cycles so that a child will come into a classroom as the younger child and progress to being the older child. As the younger child, they will learn more quickly, trying to emulate and keep up with the older children. As the older child, they become strong leaders. They will learn how to assist the younger child. This not only boosts their self-esteem and self-worth, but also gives them an opportunity to repeat exercises that they have already done and in doing so, gain a deeper understanding. †¢ Children have â€Å"sensitive periods† for learning. Human brains are designed to learn specific things at specific ages. A three-year -old child can become trilingual (by absorbing the languages in their environment) without difficulty. They will be able to keep the languages separate. This is not possible for the adolescent, who must work hard to gain a second language. (Most language programs do not begin until junior high school.) Each Montessori classroom, Infant/Toddler, Primary, Elementary and Adolescent are prepared with developmentally appropriate works. Montessori’s observations concerning the â€Å"windows of opportunity† for the development specific areas of abilities in language, math, cultural, social, physical continue to be corroborated by brain research. Dr. Montessori recognized that children have specific needs, the need to experience order, independence, movement, language, discipline, love and security. With true cooperation of school and home and a clear understanding of how to meet the child’ s needs, a healthy child will emerge.

Most important inventions Essay

One of the most prominent features of the present century is the progress of science and its effects on almost every aspect of social life. Nowadays, more and more new things invented to make our life more comfortable and convenient. It is difficult for us to point out which inventions changed human’s life the most, but in my opinion the three most remarkable inventions changed the world the most are the creations of electricity, aircraft and computer. Firstly, electricity actually becomes necessary in human beings’ life, it has contributed much in manufacturing, curing and operating machines. If the power of electricity had never been existed we wouldn’t have even a fraction of what we have in the world today. No electricity also means that there is no TV’s, no computers, no air conditioning†¦ Indeed, we cannot even imagine how we would live in absence of electricity in modern times. In addition, many diseases are treated by electric treatment today. Surgeons will not be able to carry on their instruments and machines without electricity. For example, X-ray machine which enables the doctor to take the photograph of the internal parts of the body can be operated only with its help. This is an industrial era. Many big and heavy machines are used to generate foods, goods, clothes†¦.Nonetheless, such machines works only with the help of electricity. In some progressive countries, like Japan, electric power is used in almost all the factories, a power cut in one day could lead to the deadlock. For this reason, electric power is really useful in production as well as the growth of industries. The second invention I believe that it has great impacts on our social life is the creation of computer. It would actually be difficult to say when the first computer was made but Charles Babbage was the first one to conceptualize it. He called it ‘The Analytical Engine’ though he never could build it. In fact, computer is the extremely important Invention because it helps us to display and save information; this invention is also applied in almost all fields. In olden times, storing information had many  disadvantages. You had to write information on the papers and then store them a certain place. As a matter of fact, the data could be lost after a long time due to old paper, wood-borer †¦. However, today it becomes easier and more convenient with computer. You just type the information you need, save it and it is done. You do not need many shelves to save data anymore. On the other hand, you can edit them as you like and you can save them as many files as you want. PC actually is utilized in almost all fields such as studying, working and entertaining. For instance, people can use computer for presentation, planning a project, playing videogames, watching TV and listening to music. The last but not least is the invention of aircraft. All of us cannot deny the creation of aircraft has changed the way of our traveling. The airplane is not only one of the greatest inventions in the 20th century, but also one of the most wonderful scientific creations of the human history at large. This mean of transport made it possible for people to work in places miles away. The existing of aircraft has turned long and exhausting journeys into a trip completed within hours. Also, the people from divergent parts of the world could travel from one region to the other quickly, thereby exchanging different aspects in social and cultural experiences. It is one of the crucial factors that help business expand to global market. Furthermore, children can attend school in distant countries. In the past, this was impossible. Hence, the children of today are better educated than those of the past. Thanks to the creation of aircraft, human beings became more dynamic, they are able to do business in foreign lands and visit various countries all over the world. Scientific inventions have made this world worth living. They help our life become more comfortable and convenient. And three of the inventions modifying deeply the way we live are the creations of electricity, computer and aircraft. We can sure that these changes will not stop there, these inventions have just built the foundation for the future scientists to create more and more inventions, and we cannot ima gine how our life would change in the next few years.

Reaction Paper of World Economic Forum Essay

Child labor refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labor. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries. Child labor was employed to varying extents through most of history, but entered public dispute with the advent of universal schooling, with changes in working conditions during the industrial revolution, and with the emergence of the concepts of workers’ and children’s rights. This definition is from the Wikipedia. Why does this exist? To whom will be the blame be given? Is it the parents, who raised their children to work, or the children themselves who decided to work to overcome hunger and thirst for survival? Is it the government that has to be responsible to this or this is all because of the inevitable poverty we are now experiencing today? For me, I have to blame all because in each problem of the society we encounter, it is not always that it is only a problem of one but rather it is a problem of all. We tend to forget that the ones affected to this kind of problem are also of our kind, Filipinos. We should always remember this statement, â€Å"One for all, and all for one.† I have mentioned above that are the parents to blame for this kind of problem. I say yes, a big yes for me. Why? It is simply because the parents are the first people that the child may know and they are the one who nurtures the child. Moreover, the parents are the one responsible if ever their children have nothing to eat and wear for everyday living. The parents in the society are expected to provide all their children needs for the bore them not to be slaves in the family. The parents are expected to give the right to education for their children to earn knowledge and not send them to factories that would bring them sickness just to earn money. But now, all the expected things turned out wrong. Some parents even do not mind if their children are already at the streets asking alms, some are into drugs, and some engage to crimes such as robbery and prostitution. If I were the parent, I had rather just send them to DSWD and see them eating and playing than watching them earn a living at the young age. I do not say that putting the child to DSWD is another irresponsible act the parent had made but it will be the best alternative answer to the problem. Are the children also to blame? I can say that the children have also something to deal with this. Even if the child is only four years old and has no sense of maturity yet, the child has something to play with this. Sometimes, it is the children’s decision to work for their families. They are working not because they want to eat, but rather gave the money to their parents, hoping that this money results to something that is good for their stomachs. In some cases, the children also are the ones that decide to leave the family because they see that the family cannot give the happiness they are asking for. So, the children have no choice but to leave independently and find their own living. The worst is that the children may engage into crimes such as killing, stealing, and prostitution. This is really happening in the society today. I can share an experience of one of our maids of our family. I admit that we hired her at her minority age. She was only 15 when she entered our home. After months of working in our house, we had already given her our trust. One day, we invited her to come into our lola’s house for the fiesta. She agreed to come rather than staying at home alone, and we wanted her to come because maybe she will be stealing anything from the house without our knowledge. We cannot give all our trust to a certain person right? Anyways, we had the time to go to the beach. The tide was so low that the sea was very far from the shore. Our maid never knew that the water was shallow. The dived and end up with bleeding wounds in her face. We immediately went home to cure her wounds. When we went home to back in Tacloban, she was not feeling easy. I think that the scars in her face made her actions limited and a little bit more conservative. After 3 days after the said incident, she left our house without any permission. We immediately reported this to her parents. Time passed but still no news was heard. We have now a new maid but of legal age. Years passed, and suddenly our roads had crossed each other. I have seen her near the seawall in the city but the thing that stunned me most is that she was already carry with her a child. This story is just one example of what can happen to children in our society. Is the government part of the problem? I’ll answer this question with a yes again. The government is expected to implement laws for this and make sure that these laws are nationwide followed. The government should play as the provider of the needs that the households cannot provide. It is sometimes reasonable that the government cannot provide them all but at least they will show that they are concerned to this problem. I can see that some policemen maltreat these children. Better if we just leave them alone and just catch them if they are now doing beyond the limitations. I’m disappointed to those government officials who did not do an effective action to eradicate this problem in our society. I am not an anti-government individual but I guess this is reality. Man is a power-seeker according to Thomas Hobbes so man really has the tendency to retain his power when he is in power and the outcome is that the poor will always be poor. Lastly, the poverty we are facing is the best reason why the children are into this action. Poverty is the reason why the parents cannot send their children to school, where the children are expected to learn and to socialize with our children. Poverty is also the main reason why the parents cannot provide the quality of happiness each child is longing for. The conception of poverty because of overpopulation is quite wrong. It some points it is true that this overpopulation can affect the way of living in a family but what now for China that contribute a big fraction to the world’s population. China is a big country in both economy and population. If China can make a difference why cannot we? As a conclusion, I am really against to this kind of problem in the society and besides who are happy watching children working not for themselves but to others. I am really thankful to my parents that I was raised efficiently, providing me anything that could bring to a better outcome. Time will come that I will be a parent. I am hoping that somehow there will be changes in our society that is concerned to this problem. It is still not the end for this. The solution is just there. All are aiming that this can be totally eradicated in the future.

Styles and Themes of Samuel Richardson

Styles and Themes of Samuel Richardson Samuel Richardson wrote his novels using the epistolary novel style, in which all the books are made up of letters. These letters are meant to be written during the time that the stories take place by the main character. They either described a scene or dialogue within the scene (Brophy 245). The stories used the themes of female dominance over the emotions of a man, and male dominance over the physicality of a woman. Also, many women in his stories are put under a great amount of distress, which takes up most of the plot of the novel (â€Å"Richardson Criticism†). Little is known of Richardson's early years beyond the few things that Richardson was willing to share. Although he was not forthcoming with specific events and incidents, he did talk about the origins of his writing ability; Richardson would tell stories to his friends and spent his youth constantly writing letters. One such letter, written when Richardson was almost 11, was directed to a woman in her 50s who was in the habit of constantly criticizing others (Brissenden 2). â€Å"Assuming the style and address of a person in years†, Richardson cautioned her about her actions. However, his handwriting was used to determine that it was his work, and the woman complained to his mother (Harris 68). The result was, as he explains, that â€Å"my mother chides me for the freedom taken by such a boy with a woman of her years† but also â€Å"commended my principles, though she censured the liberty taken (Brophy 245). † Pamela was immediately and extremely popular with the reading public. Richardson initially also enjoyed critical acclaim and was considered one of the most important English novelists. His contemporaries focused almost exclusively on his moral teachings, and most praised the author for his judgment and honesty. Richardson's stated purpose in his works was moral instruction and thus when his sincerity was eventually questioned, and his work attacked by Fielding in parodies including Shamela, Richardson defended himself with explanations and revisions, particularly in the third edition of Pamela. Fielding ridiculed Pamela's obsession with chastity and her tendency to measure the rewards of virtue in material terms (Harris 87). Fielding's interpretation of Pamela established the opposition between â€Å"Pamelist† and â€Å"anti-Pamelist† which has persisted to the present day (Brissenden 32). Richardson's popularity rapidly diminished in the nineteenth-century until he was generally neglected. However, critics would on occasion mention him as historically important for advancing the epistolary form. William Hazlitt perceptively wrote that his works combine the romance of fiction with the â€Å"literal minuteness of a common diary. † Twentieth-century critics have emphasized Richardson's concept of self (Brissenden 12). His character's extreme self-awareness can be read at different levels; according to both Richardson and critics, the characters are not as bound to the truth as they continually claim. Elements of Richardson's work have often been praised in spite of their author; critics suggested that the depths of his work were present unconsciously or even by accident (Brissenden 32). Scholar A. D. McKillop argued convincingly to the contrary, that Richardson was a skilled, deliberate craftsman conscious of his work, its layers, and its meanings. Further rehabilitation to Richardson's reputation was gained from W. M. Sale's painstaking bibliographic study and Ian Watt's discussion of background and technique. Richardson is studied today as a psychological novelist and as a social historian for his descriptions and insight in regard to the relationships of the sexes in a patriarchal society, and to sexual themes in general (Brissenden 32).. While working for Wilde, he met a rich gentleman who took an interest in Richardson's writing abilities and the two began to correspond with each other. When the gentleman died a few years later, Richardson lost a potential patron, which delayed his ability to pursue his own writing career. He decided to devote himself completely to his apprenticeship, and he worked his way up to a position as a compositor and a corrector of the shop's printing press. In 1713, Richardson left Wilde to become â€Å"Overseer and Corrector of a Printing-Office†. This meant that Richardson ran his own shop, but the location of that shop is unknown. It is possible that the shop was located in Staining Lane or may have been jointly run with John Leake in Jewin Street (Brophy 245). In 1719, Richardson was able to take his freedom from being an apprentice and was soon able to afford to set up his own printing shop, which he did after he moved near the Salisbury Court district close to Fleet Street. Although he claimed to business associates that he was working out of the well-known Salisbury Court, his printing shop was more accurately located on the corner of Blue Ball Court and Dorset Street in a house that later became Bell's Building (Brissenden 12). On 23 November 1721 Richardson married Martha Wilde, the daughter of his former employer. The match was â€Å"prompted mainly by prudential considerations†, although Richardson would claim later that there was a strong love-affair between him and Martha. He soon brought her to live with him in the printing shop that served also as his home (Brissenden 14). One of Richardson's first major printing contracts came in June of 1723 when he began to print the bi-weekly The True Briton for Philip Wharton, 1st Duke of Wharton. This was a Jacobite political paper which attacked the government and was soon censored for printing â€Å"common libel (Brophy 245). However, Richardson's name was not on the publication, and he was able to escape any of the negative fallout, although it is possible that Richardson participated in the papers as far as actually authoring one himself. The only lasting effect from the paper would be the incorporation of Wharton's libertine characteristics in the character of Lovelace in Richardson's Clarissa, although Wharton would be only one of many models of libertine behavior that Richardson would find in his life. In 1724, Richardson befriended Thomas Gent, Henry Woodfall, and Arthur Onslow, the latter of those would become the Speaker of the House of Commons (Kinkead-Weekes 667). In 1733, Richardson was granted a contract with the House of Commons, with help from Onslow, to print the Journals of the House. The twenty-six volumes of the work soon improved his business. Later in 1733, he wrote The Apprentice’s Vade Mecum, urging young men like him to be diligent and self-denying (Brophy 245). The work was intended to â€Å"create the perfect apprentice. Written in response to the â€Å"epidemic Evils of the present Age†, the text is best known for its condemnation of popular forms of entertainment including theatres, taverns and gambling. The manual targets the apprentice as the focal point for the moral improvement of society, not because he is most susceptible to vice, but because, Richardson suggests, he is more responsive to moral improvement than his social betters. His tota l staff during the 1730s numbered 7, as his first three apprentices were free by 1728, and two of his apprentices, Verren and Smith, died soon into their apprenticeship (Brophy 245). The loss of Verren was particularly devastating to Richardson because Verren was his nephew and his hope for a male heir that would take over the press (Kinkead-Weekes 67). Work continued to improve, and Richardson printed the Daily Journal between 1736 and 1737, and the Daily Gazetteer in 1738. During his time printing the Daily Journal, he was also printer to the â€Å"Society for the Encouragement of Learning†, a group that tried to help authors become independent from publishers, but collapsed soon after. In December 1738, Richardson's printing business was successful enough to allow him to lease a house in Fulham. This house, which would be Richardson's residence from 1739 to 1754, was later named â€Å"The Grange† in 1836. In 1739, Richardson was asked by his friends Charles Irvington and John Osborn to write â€Å"a little volume of Letters, in a common style, on such subjects as might be of use to those country readers, who were unable to invite for themselves. † While writing this volume, Richardson was inspired to write his first novel (Brophy 245). Richardson made the transition from master printer to novelist on 6 November 1740 with the publication of Pamela: or, Virtue Rewarded. Pamela was sometimes regarded as â€Å"the first English novel. † Richardson explained the origins of the work (Brophy 245). In the progress, writing two or three letters to instruct handsome girls, who were obliged to go out to service, as we phrase it, how to avoid the snares that might be laid against their virtue, and hence sprung Pamela†¦ Little did I think, at first, of making one, much less two volumes of it†¦ I thought the story, if written in an easy and natural manner, suitably to the simplicity of it, might possibly introduce a new species of writing, that might possibly turn young people into a course of reading different from the pomp and parade of romance-writing, and dismissing the improbable and marvelous, with which novels generally abound, might tend to promote the cause of religion and virtue (Kinkead-Weekes 47). After Richardson started the work on 10 November 1739, his wife and her friends became so interested in the story that he finished it on 10 January 1740. Pamela Andrews, the heroine of Pamela, represented â€Å"Richardson's insistence upon well-defined feminine roles† and was part of a common fear held during the 18th century that women were â€Å"too bold. † In particular, her â€Å"zeal for housewifery† was included as a proper role of women in society. Although Pamela and the title heroine were popular and gave a proper model for how women should act, they inspired â€Å"a storm of anti-Pamelas† (like Henry Fielding's Shamela and Joseph Andrews) because the character â€Å"perfectly played her part (Brophy 243). † Later that year, Richardson printed Rivington and Osborn's book which inspired Pamela under the title of Letters written to and for particular Friends, on the most important Occasions. Directing not only the requisite Style and Forms to be observed in writing Familiar Letters; but how to think and act justly and prudently, in the common Concerns of Human Life. The book contained many anecdotes and lessons on how to live, but Richardson did not care for the work and it was never expanded even though it went into six editions during his life. He went so far as to tell a friend, â€Å"This volume of letters is not worthy of your perusal† because they were â€Å"intended for the lower classes of people. In September 1741, a sequel of Pamela called Pamela's Conduct in High Life was published by Ward and Chandler. Although the work lacks the literary merits of the original, Richardson was compelled to publish two more volumes in December 1741 to tell of further exploits of Pamela, the title heroine, while â€Å"in her Exalted Condition. † The public's interest in the characters was waning, and this was only furthered by Richardson's focusing on Pamela disc ussing morality, literature, and philosophy. After the failures of the Pamela sequels, Richardson began to compose a new novel. It was not until early 1744 that the content of the plot was known, and this happened when he sent Aaron Hill two chapters to read. In particular, Richardson asked Hill if he could help shorten the chapters because Richardson was worried about the length of the novel. Hill refused, saying, You have formed a style, as much your property as our respect for what you write is, where verbosity becomes a virtue; because, in pictures which you draw with such a skillful negligence, redundancy but conveys resemblance; and to contract the strokes, would be to spoil the likeness (Kunitz 60). In July, Richardson sent Hill a complete â€Å"design† of the story, and asked Hill to try again, but Hill responded, â€Å"It is impossible, after the wonders you have shown in Pamela, to question your infallible success in this new, natural, attempt† and that â€Å"you must give me leave to be astonished, when you tell me that you have finished it already. † However, the novel wasn't complete to Richardson's satisfaction until October 1746. Between 1744 and 1746, Richardson tried to find readers who could help him shorten the work, but his readers wanted to keep the work in its entirety (Kunitz 60). A frustrated Richardson wrote to Edward Young in November 1747: What contentions, what disputes have I involved myself in with my poor Clarissa through my own diffidence, and for want of a will! I wish I had never consulted anybody but Dr. Young, who so kindly vouchsafed me his ear, and sometimes his opinion (Brissenden 32). Richardson did not devote all of his time just to working on his new novel, but was busy printing various works for other authors that he knew. In 1742, he printed the third edition of Daniel's Tour through Great Britain. He filled his new few years with smaller works for his friends until 1748, when Richardson started helping Sarah Fielding and her friend Jane Collier to write novels. By 1748, Richardson was so impressed with Collier that he accepted her as the governess to his daughters (Brophy 243). In 1753, she wrote An Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting with the help of Sarah Fielding and possibly James Harris or Richardson, and it was Richardson who printed the work (Kunitz 60). But Collier was not the only author to be helped by Richardson, as he printed an edition of Young's Night Thoughts in 1749. By 1748 his novel Clarissa was published in full: two volumes appeared in November 1747, two in April 1748 and three in December 1748. Unlike the novel, the author was not faring well at this time. By August 1748, Richardson was in poor health. He had a sparse diet that consisted mostly of vegetables and drinking vast amount of water, and was not robust enough to prevent the effects of being bled upon the advice of various doctors throughout his life. He was known for â€Å"vague ‘startings' and ‘paroxysms'†, along with experiencing tremors. Richardson once wrote to a friend that â€Å"my nervous disorders will permit me to write with more impunity than to read† and that writing allowed him a â€Å"freedom he could find nowhere else (Brissenden 32). † However, his condition did not stop him from continuing to release the final volumes Clarissa after November 1748 (Brophy 243). To Hill he wrote: â€Å"The Whole will make Seven; that is, one more to attend these two. Eight crowded into Seven, by a smaller Type. Ashamed as I am of the Prolixity, I thought I owed the Public Eight Vols. n Quantity for the Price of Seven† Richardson later made it up to the public with â€Å"deferred Restorations† of the fourth edition of the novel being printed in larger print with eight volumes and a preface that reads: â€Å"It is proper to observe with regard to the present Edition that it has been thought fit to restore many Passages, and several Letters which were omitted in the former merely for shortening-sa ke (Brophy 243). † The response to the novel was positive, and the public began to describe the title heroine as â€Å"divine Clarissa. It was soon considered Richardson's â€Å"masterpiece,† his greatest work, and was rapidly translated into French in part or in full, for instance by the Antoine Francois Prevost, as well as into German. In England there was particular emphasis on Richardson's â€Å"natural creativity† and his ability to incorporate daily life experience into the novel (Brissenden 32).. However, the final three volumes were delayed, and many of the readers began to â€Å"anticipate† the concluding story and some demanded that Richardson write a happy ending. One such advocate of the happy ending was Henry Fielding, who had previously written Joseph Andrews to mock Richardson's Pamela. Although Fielding was originally opposed to Richardson, Fielding supported the original volumes of Clarissa and thought a happy ending would be â€Å"poetical justice (Brissenden 34). Others wanted Lovelace to be reformed and for him and Clarissa to marry, but Richardson would not allow a â€Å"reformed rake† to be her husband, and was unwilling to change the ending. In a postscript to Clarissa, Richardson wrote: If the temporary sufferings of the Virtuous and the Good can be accounted for and justified on Pagan principles, many more and infinitely stronger reasons will occur to a Christian Reader in behalf of what are called unhappy Catastrophes, from a consideration of the doctrine of future rewards; which is everywhere strongly enforced in the History of Clarissa (Brissenden 36). Although few were bothered by the epistolary style, Richardson feels obligated to continue his postscript with a defense of the form based on the success of it in Pamela. However, some did question the propriety of having Lovelace, the villain of the novel, act in such an immoral fashion. The novel avoids glorifying Lovelace, as Carol Flynn puts it, But Richardson still felt the need to respond by writing a pamphlet called Answer to the Letter of a Very Reverend and Worthy Gentleman (Peden 236). In the pamphlet, he defends his characterizations and explains that he took great pains to avoid any glorification of scandalous behavior, unlike the authors of many other novels that rely on characters of such low quality (Brissenden 32).. In 1749, Richardson's female friends started asking him to create a male figure as virtuous as his heroines â€Å"Pamela† and â€Å"Clarissa† in order to â€Å"give the world his idea of a good man and fine gentleman combined. † Although he did not at first agree, he eventually complied, starting work on a book in this vein in June 1750. Near the end of 1751, Richardson sent a draft of the novel The History of Sir Charles Grandison to Mrs. Dunnellon, and the novel was being finalized in the middle of 1752. When the novel was being printed in 1753, Richardson discovered that Irish printers were trying to pirate the work (Brissenden 32).. He immediately fired those he suspected of giving the printers advanced copies of Grandison and relied on multiple London printing firms to help him produce an authentic edition before the pirated version was sold. In Grandison, Richardson was unwilling to risk having a negative response to any â€Å"rakish† characteristics that Lovelace embodied and denigrated the immoral characters â€Å"to show those mischievous young admirers of Lovelace once and for all that the rake should be avoided (Brissenden 32). † At the same time as he was associating with important figures of the day, Richardson's career as a novelist drew to a close. Grandison was his final novel, and he stopped writing fiction afterwards. However, he was continually prompted by various friends and admirers to continue to write along with suggested topics. Richardson did not like any of the topics, and chose to spend all of his time composing letters to his friends and associates (Peden 236). The only major work that Richardson would write would be A Collection of the Moral and Instruction Sentiments, Maxims, Cautions, and Reflexions, contained in the Histories of Pamela, Clarissa, and Sir Charles Grandison. Although it is possible that this work was inspired by Johnson asking for â€Å"index rerum† for Richardson’s novels, the Collection contains more of a focus on â€Å"moral and instructive† lessons than the index that Johnson sought. Richardson was a skilled letter writer and his talent traces back to his childhood. Throughout his whole life, he would constantly write to his various associates (Peden 236). Richardson had a â€Å"faith† in the act of letter writing, and believed that letters could be used to accurately portray character traits. He quickly adopted the epistolary novel form, which granted him â€Å"the tools, the space, and the freedom to develop distinctly different characters speaking directly to the reader. † The characters of Pamela, Clarissa, and Grandison are revealed in a personal way, with the first two using the epistolary form for â€Å"dramatic† purposes, and the last for â€Å"celebratory† purposes (Peden 236). In his first novel, Pamela, he explored the various complexities of the title character's life, and the letters allow the reader to witness her develop and progress over time. The novel was an experiment, but it allowed Richardson to create a complex heroine through a series of her letters. When Richardson wrote Clarissa, he had more experience in the form and expanded the letter writing to four different correspondents, which created a complex system of characters encouraging each other to grow and develop over time (Kunitz 60). However, the villain of the story, Lovelace, is also involved in the letter writing, and this leads to tragedy (Brissenden 32). Leo Braudy described the benefits of the epistolary form of Clarissa as, â€Å"Language can work: letters can be ways to communicate and justify. † By the time Richardson writes Grandison, he transforms the letter writing from telling of personal insights and explaining feelings into a means for people to communicate their thoughts on the actions of others and for the public to celebrate virtue. The letters are no longer written for a few people, but are passed along in order for all to see (Brophy 243). Works Cited Brissenden, R. F. â€Å"Samuel Richardson. † British Writers. Ed. Ian Scott-Kilvert. Vol. 3. New York: Scribner, 1987. Print. Brophy, Elizabeth Bergen. Samuel Richardson: The Triumph of Craft. Knoxville: U of Tennessee P, 1974. Print. Eaves, T. C. Duncan, and Ben D. Kimpel. Samuel Richardson: a Biography. Oxford: Clarendon, 1971. Print. Harris, Jocelyn. Samuel Richardson. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1987. Print. Kearney, A. M. Samuel Richardson. London, Routledge & K. Paul: Northumberland Limited, 1968. Print. Kinkead-Weekes, Mark. Introduction. Pamela. By Samuel Richardson. Vol. 1. London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1962. Print. —. Samuel Richardson: Dramatic Novelist. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1973. Print. Kunitz, Stanley J. , and Howard Haycraft, eds. â€Å"Samuel Richardson. † British Authors Before 1800: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: H. Wilson, 1952. Print. Peden, William. â€Å"Samuel Richardson. † Critical Survey of Long Fiction. Ed. Carl E. Rollyson. Vol. 6. Pasadena, CA: Salem, 2000. Print. â€Å"Samuel Richardson Criticism. † ENotes – Literature Study Guides,