Category: Family

Introduction

Domestic abuse is one of the central challenges faced by the social justice system. Therefore, there is a need for reviewing the most common issues related to it and reacting to the discovered problems by creating laws that would regulate this area of social relations. That is why it is essential to monitor changes in legislation. For this reason, the central objective of the paper at hand is to identify federal and state laws that were adopted as a response to domestic abuse and investigate their influence on the problem under consideration.

Identifying a Federal Law

One of the central federal laws created to address the problem of domestic violence in the 1994 Violence Against Women Act or simply VAWA. It was adopted in response to ignoring the existence of domestic violence. To prove this statement, it is essential to review the nationwide figures of forcible rate against women. It increased from 36.8 to 41.2% between 1980 and 1990 (Dematteis, 2016).

In fact, this law is a landmark pointing to the recognition of the concept of domestic violence at the legal level and acknowledging that it is a key problem of the society (Agtuca, 2014). The main purpose of this law is to protect women against violent crimes and set the foundation for creating state laws for coping with this problem. The law was reauthorized in 2000, 2005, and 2013 that points that it is constantly reviewed and updated in order to comply with the emerging social issues.

Determining a State Law

As mentioned above, VAWA is the foundation of state laws. However, in some cases, state laws are passed before federal. One of such examples is Domestic Abuse Act of Minnesota. It was adopted long before VAWA  in 1979. Its main purpose was to reform the state legal system and police operations in order to protect women against violence. Special attention was paid to domestic violence cases that were treated in the most scrupulous manner.

This law has been revised and reauthorized almost each year since its adoption in 1979, and the latest reauthorization was in 2016. The specificity of the law is the focus on determining the concept of domestic violence, identifying court jurisdiction and forms necessary for documenting a violence-related case, and determining fees applicable to violent crimes (518B.01 Minnesota Abuse Act, 2016).

Reviewing the Influence of Laws on the Problem of Domestic Violence

The overall influence of VAWA of addressing the problem of domestic violence is positive. It is associated with the decreased rape rate from 41.2% in 1990 to around 18% in 2014. Such a change is impressing. It can be explained by the comprehensiveness of the law and its focus on different aspects of the problem. Therefore, there are such provisions as funding of rape kits and violence combating local communities, special training for reviewing violence-connected cases properly, protection of minorities against domestic violence, and the introduction of victim protection orders.

As for the role of Minnesota Abuse Act, it helped to restructure the systems of social and criminal justice operating in the state and enhance their effectiveness. The main improvement is the increased number of those sentenced due to committing crimes related to domestic violence. This figure has increased from 229 to around 1500 convicted between 2003 and 2013 (Prather, 2015). Such a change points to the effective operation of the law and the whole system that is likely to be of extreme value for coping with the problem of domestic violence in Minnesota because criminals are pointed to the fact that their life choices (acts of domestic violence) are inseparable from bearing responsibility for committing them.

Examples of Cases Related to the Laws

Reviewing cases that fall under the purview of the identified laws is one of the ways to point to their efficiency. For instance, VAWA protects women against different forms of abuse, including verbal. This provision can be proved by pointing to Clagg v. Clagg case that was based on text messages showing no respect to womans dignity  accusing of constant lying  and ended with protecting this woman against her husband (Clagg v. Clagg, 2009).

As for Minnesota Abuse Act, it is associated with State v. Ness that is connected to one of the provisions of the law  no contact orders. It points to the challenges in understanding the processes of issuing no contact orders. However, because the Abuse Act identifies these orders as one of the ways to protect a victim of domestic violence, this case can be perceived as one falling under the purview of the selected state law (Servaty, 2014).

Conclusion

To sum up, regardless of some significant challenges in developing and applying legislation in domestic abuse area, there have been impressive changes in protecting women against domestic violence. As for now, there is an operational federal law  VAWA  and numerous state laws, such as Minnesota Abuse Act. Such a combination of legal acts is the effective foundation for coping with the challenge of domestic violence, especially keeping in mind the overall decreased rape rate and increased number of those convicted to responsibility due to their violent acts.

References

518B.01 Minnesota Abuse Act. (2016). Web.

Agtuca, J. (2014). Safety for Native women: VAWA and American Indian Tribes. Lame Deer, MT: NIWRC.

Clagg v. Clagg, 2009 Ohio 328 (2009).

Dematteis, C. M. (2016). Protecting the freedom for women to be free from violence: The Violence Against Women Act endures. Widener Law Review, 22(2), 267-280.

Prather, S. (2015). Domestic violence convictions up sharply in Minnesota. Web.

Servaty, A. N. (2014). In the heat of the moment: The implications of State v. Ness on criminal defendants tights in Minnesota DANCO Proceedings. Hamline Law Review, 37(2), 453-485.

The study by McCord (1991) seeks to identify whether there exists given factors related to child-rearing that have an influence on the childs likelihood of becoming delinquent. The author also seeks to know whether home environment, in general, is a good ground for associating crime with socialization conditions. Another important question that the author of this article seeks to answer is whether criminal tendencies seen at different ages are as a result of similar influences.

To answer these questions, McCord (1991) studied 232 boys from a treatment program which was instituted to curb delinquency. These boys had been recruited into the program through random sampling. It is important to note that the sample composed of both well-behaved and misbehaved boys. Case reports were taken by counselors after at least five years of frequent visitations; when the boys were between 10 and 16 years. From the counselors reports, various family variables that are related to a childs upbringing were derived to form a basis for data analyses. Such variables included family structure, family conflict, esteem of each parent for the other, parental supervision and disciplinary characteristics, parental warmth, self confidence, role, and aggressiveness (McCord 400). Data was collected by recording cases after frequent visits to the boys homes by counselors for a period of at least 5 years. This is enough time to establish patterns as far as the family variables are concerned and make good follow-up; thus strengthening the basis for making inferences. The various ratings on test variables were coded appropriately to allow for quantitative analysis.

Results from McCord (1991) indicated relationships between child delinquency and how competent the mother is in child-rearing, how the father interacts with his family and expectations of the family. To be specific, a higher likelihood of experiencing child delinquency was related to poor child upbringing. In families where mother competency was high, father interaction was good and family expectations were high; juvenile delinquency was very unlikely. This is unlike the case where incompetent mothers brought up their children in a family that had low expectations and father interaction was wanting.

The author established that instances of serious crimes committed during childhood were mainly associated with families where mothers competence was rated low as well as families that had little expectations for the participants. The relationship between likelihood of committing a serious crime as a juvenile and poor paternal interaction was established as a weak one.

In regard to the relationship between the effect of various factors involved in a childs upbringing and the likelihood of becoming a criminal during adulthood, varied findings were made. An outstanding factor in this relationship was the involvement of the father in the family whereby paternal family interactions greatly and independently contributed to criminal tendencies during adulthood. In cases where the father was rated as being aggressive, the likelihood of the boy turning out as a criminal during adulthood was found to be very high. In the same manner, a family where the father conflicted often with family members resulted into higher likelihood of boys turning out as criminals as adults. The competence of the mother in this case was very weakly correlated to adult criminality.

A positive relationship was established between juvenile delinquency and adult criminality. The adult criminality effect was found to be aggravated by other child-rearing factors such as poor paternal interaction. In other words, childhood delinquency and paternal interaction were identified as critical factors in determining adult criminality.

It is evident that some of the participants were lost to follow-up. The difficulty in tracking the participants, especially due to death and migration, is a good indication of follow-up hardships which weakens grounds for making conclusions. All in all, this prospective study was very effective in establishing relationships between the study variables. The true outcomes of the participants as far as the research variables are concerned may not have been reflected during the follow-up. For instance, it was evident that tracking the full criminal records for the participants was somewhat difficult. Even in cases where official records were identified, the author clearly states that these records may not have fully reflected the crimes committed by the individuals. The implication of this is that the findings of this study cannot be generalized without caution. This prospective design however helped in clearly indentifying that persons who commit serious crimes during childhood often turn out to be hardcore criminals during adulthood.

This study controlled for confounding factors by recruiting participants who had similar socioeconomic backgrounds. Failure to control for confounding variables gives erroneous findings since the influence of such factors is not accounted for. This study therefore proves to be more accurate in its findings since confounding factors were taken care of.

McCord (1991) made several conclusions from this study. Children who are brought up by competent mothers are insulated from childhood delinquency since these mothers offer leadership to their children, they discipline their children in a non-punitive manner, and they show affection to their children. If the family heaps high expectations on the child, competent mothers bring up a child who is even less likely to become delinquent or a criminal as an adult. This implies that where mother competence lacks, children are at a high risk of becoming delinquent (Carlson and Corcoran 780). While paternal interactions were found to be less significant in influencing childhood delinquency, they were identified as a critical factor in influencing a boys adult criminality tendencies.

Another important conclusion made by McCord (1991) is that good paternal interactions with the spouse lead to socialized behaviors. Poor paternal interactions with the spouse, however, have a great influence on the childs antisocial behaviors; and the child is more likely to turn out as a criminal during adulthood (Teachman et al 836).

The significance of this study in understanding criminality and childhood delinquency is portrayed by the author where she points out that the study shows weakness in prior schools of thoughts on criminal behavior. In particular, the author has weakened the argument that all crimes have a similar cause regardless of the age at which the criminal commits them. The argument that crime is simply a symptom of a certain disorder, whether the criminal is a child, teen or an adult was also put into question in this study.

Despite this study coming up with substantiated conclusions, it would be very unwise to generalize the findings of this study. This is because the sample is made of participants of one gender only. It is therefore not appropriate to assume that similar findings would be deduced if the participants were girls only, or a mix of girls and boys (Bloom and Covington 1).

Bias in data collection has been greatly eliminated by the authors decision to use direct observations as a data collection approach. If the researcher relied on responses from the boys or their parents, the likelihood of the participants providing false information would have been high. Observation as a data collection method is nonetheless criticized since the participants are likely to act in a given pattern (obstructive or to please the observer) once they identify that they are being observed. This, to some extent, weakens the credibility of the case reports recorded by the authors.

This study conducted a reliability test using the Scotts interater reliability coefficient, pi& on 10% random sample (McCord 403). Reliability measures the degree to which a research instrument yields consistent results and hence reliability highly influences the accuracy of data collected. The results in this study can therefore be regarded as reliable.

Quantitative data can be analyzed by three statistical data analysis tools: descriptive statistics, inferential statistics and test statistics. Inferential statistics helps the researchers to make conclusions and predictions in relation to the properties of a population using the information from the sample size. Descriptive statistics helps the researcher obtain information about central tendency, kurtosis, skew and dispersion of data. Inferential statistics also help the researcher to obtain information of on the relationship between variables (Taylor-Powell and Renner 5). The author has analyzed the data quantitatively after coding the variable measures accordingly.

In this study, McCord (1991) provided descriptive statistics such as percentages and frequencies to describe the characteristics of the sample. ANOVA was used as an inferential statistic to identify relationships among family factors and childhood delinquency. Chi-Square was used as a test statistic for indicating how strong the above relationships were.

Works Cited

Bloom, Barbara E. and Covington, Stephanie S. Effective gender-responsive interventions in juvenile justice: Addressing the lives of delinquent girls. Paper Presented at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology Atlanta, Georgia.

Carlson, Marcia J. and Corcoran, Mary E. Family structure and childrens behavioral and cognitive outcomes. Journal of Marriage and Family 63.3 (2001): 779-792. Print.

McCord, Joan. Family relationships, juvenile delinquency, and adult criminality. Criminology 29.3 (1991): 397-417. Print.

Taylor-Powell, Ellen and Renner Marcus. Analyzing qualitative data. Program and Development & Evaluation. University of Wisconsin-Extension. 2003.

Teachman, Jay, Day Randal, Paasch Kathleen, Carver Karen and Call Vaughn. Sibling resemblance in behavioral and cognitive outcomes: The role of father presence. Journal of Marriage and Family 60.4 (1998): 835-848. Print.

Introduction

The stakeholders in the case include the management, employees, and the owner. As the head of the Payroll Department, Janes interest entails dealing with employee salary and commission. Eddie is the general manager of R&S Electronics Service, implying that he is directly involved in the day-to-day operations of the company. Brad is the owner, implying that he too is directly involved in the daily company operations. Lastly, Greg is a service technician who also happens to be Eddies brother and who coincidentally earns high commissions compared to other employees working as service technicians (Anderson, 1992).

Analysis of the Case

Ethics is always about making decisions, and some issues such as the one facing Jane in her managerial capacity are always challenging to resolve. Jane is clearly in an ethical dilemma as she is in a situation that concerns right or wrong, but the values are in conflict and it is therefore difficult to clearly identify them (Sims, 2003). The four areas of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and theories of ethics can be used in this case to come up with reasoned decision-making.

CSR, like ethics, generally implies that individuals and organizations must distinguish right from wrong and proceed to do the right thing. Jane, as the head of the Payroll Department, is obligated to make choices and take actions that will contribute to the welfare and interests of the community as well as the company (Hasnas et al., 2010). Below, the decisions are evaluated across the three domains of CSR as the philanthropic domain does not apply here.

Economic

It can be argued that the main objective of R&S is to extend its services to clients and maximize profits for its owners and shareholders so long as it stays within the rules of the game (Sims, 2003). Jane can therefore decide to expose the unethical practice of Willie and Greg as their engagement with this practice breaks set laws and regulations. Such exposure may have adverse effects on the general manager and Greg, but is a step in the right direction since it assumes that economic gain is not the only social responsibility for R&S.

Legal

Legal responsibility delineates what society deems as important with respect to appropriate corporate behavior in terms of the laid down ground rules, laws, and regulations that organizations are expected to follow (Sims, 2003). It is indeed true that R&S is expected to fulfill its economic objectives within a legal framework (rules and regulations) imposed by local, state, and federal agencies. R&S is culpable of breaking the law regarding the allocation of jobs for service technicians and therefore Jane, as an interested stakeholder, is right to expose Willie and Greg for ignoring their legal responsibilities without fearing that she will be sacked as she is protected by one of the exceptions of the employment-at-will doctrine. Although the doctrine implies that the employment agreement between the employer and employee may be terminated at will by either party with or without just cause, Jane can take refuge in the realization that employers and managers cannot claim that termination was lawful if it indeed violates a public policy exception (Smith, 1985). Charlie is asking Jane to lie under oath that she is not aware of the unethical business practice involving the general manager and his brother, thus terminating Janes contract for exposing the wrongdoing would be unethical and illegal in law.

Ethical

Ethical responsibility includes actions that are not necessarily codified into law and may not serve the organizations direct economic interests but should be made with equity, fairness, impartiality, and respect of stakeholder rights and freedoms (Sims, 2003). Using Kants categorical imperative theory, Jane should expose the wrongdoing of the two stakeholders based on the absolute, unconditional requirement that what they are doing is morally wrong and inherently unacceptable. In using the utilitarian approach, Jane will seek to maximize the greatest good for the greatest number of people by exposing the unethical act to ensure that other service technicians benefit from jobs with highly-priced commissions. Still, Jane can employ the moral rights approach to expose the unethical practice in the conviction that all service technicians have fundamental rights and liberties that cant be taken away by the individual decision of Charlie. In exposing the wrongdoing, therefore, Jane will have taken an ethically correct decision because exposure will maintain the rights of technicians that have never benefited from highly-priced service jobs. Lastly, Jane can use the distributive and procedural justice approach not only to facilitate similar treatment of technicians, but also to ensure fair, impartial, and a consistent administration of rules among them to curtail others from taking advantage (Sims, 2003).

Conclusion & Recommendation

In conclusion, Jane should go ahead and expose the malpractice involving the general manager and his brother in line with the discussed domains of CSR and ethical theories. It is highly recommended for Jane to entrench the elements of the justice approach in the rules governing the company to seal all loopholes that have enabled employees to benefit unfairly.

One of the reasons that reinforce this recommendation is that the distributive element of the justice approach will ensure that the treatment of service technicians is not based on arbitrary characteristics such as family relations; rather it should be based on standards of equity, fairness, and impartiality (Sims, 2003). The second reason is that this recommendation will enable Jane to clearly state the rules and impartially enforce them as the head of the Payroll Department to minimize such unethical practices in the future. Lastly, Jane is at liberty to take the action of exposing her superior for unethical practice since the employer is not free to terminate her under one of the exceptions of the employment-at-will labor law.

References

Anderson, A. (1992). Family business. Business Ethics Program.

Hasnas, J., Prentice, R., & Strudler, A. (2010). New directions in legal scholarship: Implications for business ethics research, theory and practice. Business Ethics Quarterly, 20(3), 503-531.

Sims, R.R. (2003). Ethics and corporate social responsibility: Why giants fall. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing, Inc.

Smith, R.M. (1985). Exceptions to the employment-at-will. Labor Law Journal, 36(12), 875-891.

Historical Biography

Meihui Huian was a woman born in the Ming and Qing period. Her first name Meihui meant beautiful wisdom while her last name Huian meant obliging and quiet.

In the context of her family background, she was born in a humble family of four children. She had two brothers and one sister. She was the elder of the siblings. This gave her several responsibilities among the family members. As a family, they used to live in the south part of the country. They were well up and were financially stable since her parents were educated and worked in institutions under the dynasty government.

During her childhood years, she underwent foot binding. Foot binding was a tradition in China where the feet of young girls were tightly bound in order to prevent the feet from growing further. Meihui happened to undergo this painful process. During the dynasty days, foot binding was considered a very important tradition. The society supported it since bound feet were perceived to be intensely erotic.

A woman who had bound feet was probable to make a prestigious marriage. Meihui was a beneficiary of the trait gained from bound feet. It was believed that women with bound feet had a swaying walk.

This was due to the tiny steps they took while walking. Many men found this effect very erotic. When Meihui underwent the process of foot binding, she did not like. However, after growing up and learning more about the process, she felt right concerning it.

In the context of marriage, she was married by a local resident. Her marriage occurred while in her late teenage. As she grew into a beautiful woman, the interest from men grew. The men came to home to inquire about her availability for marriage. However, her father valued her and felt that she will be married when she decided it was right. When time was right for her, she met a man that she felt love and affection for him.

It was agreed that she has made the decision, and a marriage was set. She was married in a traditional Chinese marriage. The ceremonial ritual took place involving a marriage that was established on the basis of pre-arrangement between the two families. There were several factors that were considered before the marriage. This included religion, culture, reputation and wealth (Ebrey 35).

In the process of getting married, there were several traditional marriage rituals that were conducted. The key rituals were bride price, wedding gifts and the wedding ceremony. The marriage of Meihui was a ceremonial and colorful event. On the day of marriage, there was traditional band from Meihuis home to her husbands home. This included Meihuis sedan and her maids of honor sedan.

This was part of the wedding procession. They stopped at the door of her husband and ceremonies were conducted to welcome her into her new home. The ceremonies were a way of welcoming Meihui and her family to the brides home. The ceremonies include being offered wine and tea. All the wedding expenses were catered for by the grooms family. Then finally came time to exchange vows (Ebrey 70).

In her natal family, she played the role of training her siblings on the societal and cultural values. She was noticed to have good morals in her early teenage age hence her parents wanted her to pass these values into her siblings. She educated her siblings on the importance of being responsible and having good morals.

While growing and becoming mature, she believed that there were womanly qualifications for a woman to be an ideal woman and thus she had to have these essential credentials in her life. The womanly qualifications mainly reflected on the womans behavior, manners and character. She reflected on implicit obedience (Ko 143).

In her marital family, she played the role of a wife. She took the proper roles of a woman. She had a strong affection and selfless dedication to her husband. She had respect to her husband. She worked hard and was submissive towards her marital family. Towards her marital family, she played the role of a moral woman by displaying proper conduct, proper virtue, proper speech and proper countenance.

These virtues were viewed as morally upstanding qualities. They added individual greatness on the women who gained them. Through the knowledge she had, she maintained the precepts for women. These guidelines for women were mainly principles relating to the virtue, speech, manner and merit of a woman. All these were associated with the behavior characteristic of women.

Concerning her virtue, she was reserved and did not express her intelligence and outwardly beauty. Also, she did not outdo others with her skills. Towards her marital family, she showed respect to both the mother and father-in-law. She was obedient to the mother and father-in-law. She observed the role of the father-in-law and mother with full respect by obeying them (Ebrey 21).

During her marriage, she faced family tension. Though she observed key virtues that a woman must perceive, family tension was still evident. The family tension was mainly caused by her husband who at times did not show respect to her marriage. She also faced issues with her in-laws at times. Her family difficulties while in marriage were a challenge to her and her marriage (Ebrey 41).

In the target of coping with the family tension, difficulties and crises, she showed humility, whole hearted devotion and implicit obedience in her marriage. She practiced the value of having or showing respect towards other people. This described the positions between her and her husband. She considered being more humble while in her marriage and thus she reflected on her life and that of her husband.

She viewed the main role of a woman being a wife was to attend her husband. She believed that the woman was supposed to serve her husband in everything that he required and do all the activities that her husband wished to be accomplished. She alleged that respect and caution were key elements in marriage. As a wife, she showed full respect towards her husband. She offered respect and created a feeling regard towards her husband.

As a wife, she had full dedication towards her husband. She expressed her whole hearted devotion through love and loyalty to her husband. When she faced family difficulties with her in-laws, she viewed the father-in-law and mother as particularly eminent people to her and the family context hence she showed acknowledgement and submission to them (Ko 144).

She enjoyed her marriage a lot and was happy to be married despite her family tension and difficulties. She enjoyed being a wife and also the duties that were delegated to her. She adored showing her womanly qualities that gained her respect among many.

Explanatory Note

The biography I created is a reflection of Meihui Huian who was a Chinese woman character that I created. On reflecting on her as a woman and a wife, I believe that she had a solid idea and opinions in her life that could act as role models to other women.

She also created the precepts for women with the target of guiding herself to live properly. I chose to discuss her because she had a significant influence on the lives of other women and their lifestyle.

The significance about her story is that it is a unique inspirational story. The story about Meihui Huian reflects on having value as a woman and maintaining that quality. As a woman in the dynasty periods, she showed several sensibilities.

These sensibilities were both aesthetic and spiritual. She was seen to be intellectual in activities that she was involved. This was evident through her good morals and respect to all. She also had good ideas, thoughts and opinions in matters that concerned women and family (Ko 144).

Meihui Huian reflected on using conservative reaction in order to create peace in her life and marriage. Her lifestyle was intended at improving the perception of a woman. She wanted to show other people that living with certain qualities were fruitful and beneficial.

In her life, she showed that a woman was to be a being with womanly qualities in order to create a good impression concerning her. She was also involved in the well upbringing of her siblings since she was the one who gave them lessons on virtues and good morals.

Works Cited

Ebrey, Patricia B. The Inner Quarters: Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women in the Sung Period. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. Print.

Ko, Dorothy. Teachers of the Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in Seventeenth-Century China. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1994. Print.

Mann, Susan, and Yu-Yin Cheng. Under Confucian Eyes. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. Print.

Historical Biography

Meihui Huian was a woman born in the Ming and Qing period. Her first name Meihui meant beautiful wisdom while her last name Huian meant obliging and quiet.

In the context of her family background, she was born in a humble family of four children. She had two brothers and one sister. She was the elder of the siblings. This gave her several responsibilities among the family members. As a family, they used to live in the south part of the country. They were well up and were financially stable since her parents were educated and worked in institutions under the dynasty government.

During her childhood years, she underwent foot binding. Foot binding was a tradition in China where the feet of young girls were tightly bound in order to prevent the feet from growing further. Meihui happened to undergo this painful process. During the dynasty days, foot binding was considered a very important tradition. The society supported it since bound feet were perceived to be intensely erotic.

A woman who had bound feet was probable to make a prestigious marriage. Meihui was a beneficiary of the trait gained from bound feet. It was believed that women with bound feet had a swaying walk.

This was due to the tiny steps they took while walking. Many men found this effect very erotic. When Meihui underwent the process of foot binding, she did not like. However, after growing up and learning more about the process, she felt right concerning it.

In the context of marriage, she was married by a local resident. Her marriage occurred while in her late teenage. As she grew into a beautiful woman, the interest from men grew. The men came to home to inquire about her availability for marriage. However, her father valued her and felt that she will be married when she decided it was right. When time was right for her, she met a man that she felt love and affection for him.

It was agreed that she has made the decision, and a marriage was set. She was married in a traditional Chinese marriage. The ceremonial ritual took place involving a marriage that was established on the basis of pre-arrangement between the two families. There were several factors that were considered before the marriage. This included religion, culture, reputation and wealth (Ebrey 35).

In the process of getting married, there were several traditional marriage rituals that were conducted. The key rituals were bride price, wedding gifts and the wedding ceremony. The marriage of Meihui was a ceremonial and colorful event. On the day of marriage, there was traditional band from Meihuis home to her husbands home. This included Meihuis sedan and her maids of honor sedan.

This was part of the wedding procession. They stopped at the door of her husband and ceremonies were conducted to welcome her into her new home. The ceremonies were a way of welcoming Meihui and her family to the brides home. The ceremonies include being offered wine and tea. All the wedding expenses were catered for by the grooms family. Then finally came time to exchange vows (Ebrey 70).

In her natal family, she played the role of training her siblings on the societal and cultural values. She was noticed to have good morals in her early teenage age hence her parents wanted her to pass these values into her siblings. She educated her siblings on the importance of being responsible and having good morals.

While growing and becoming mature, she believed that there were womanly qualifications for a woman to be an ideal woman and thus she had to have these essential credentials in her life. The womanly qualifications mainly reflected on the womans behavior, manners and character. She reflected on implicit obedience (Ko 143).

In her marital family, she played the role of a wife. She took the proper roles of a woman. She had a strong affection and selfless dedication to her husband. She had respect to her husband. She worked hard and was submissive towards her marital family. Towards her marital family, she played the role of a moral woman by displaying proper conduct, proper virtue, proper speech and proper countenance.

These virtues were viewed as morally upstanding qualities. They added individual greatness on the women who gained them. Through the knowledge she had, she maintained the precepts for women. These guidelines for women were mainly principles relating to the virtue, speech, manner and merit of a woman. All these were associated with the behavior characteristic of women.

Concerning her virtue, she was reserved and did not express her intelligence and outwardly beauty. Also, she did not outdo others with her skills. Towards her marital family, she showed respect to both the mother and father-in-law. She was obedient to the mother and father-in-law. She observed the role of the father-in-law and mother with full respect by obeying them (Ebrey 21).

During her marriage, she faced family tension. Though she observed key virtues that a woman must perceive, family tension was still evident. The family tension was mainly caused by her husband who at times did not show respect to her marriage. She also faced issues with her in-laws at times. Her family difficulties while in marriage were a challenge to her and her marriage (Ebrey 41).

In the target of coping with the family tension, difficulties and crises, she showed humility, whole hearted devotion and implicit obedience in her marriage. She practiced the value of having or showing respect towards other people. This described the positions between her and her husband. She considered being more humble while in her marriage and thus she reflected on her life and that of her husband.

She viewed the main role of a woman being a wife was to attend her husband. She believed that the woman was supposed to serve her husband in everything that he required and do all the activities that her husband wished to be accomplished. She alleged that respect and caution were key elements in marriage. As a wife, she showed full respect towards her husband. She offered respect and created a feeling regard towards her husband.

As a wife, she had full dedication towards her husband. She expressed her whole hearted devotion through love and loyalty to her husband. When she faced family difficulties with her in-laws, she viewed the father-in-law and mother as particularly eminent people to her and the family context hence she showed acknowledgement and submission to them (Ko 144).

She enjoyed her marriage a lot and was happy to be married despite her family tension and difficulties. She enjoyed being a wife and also the duties that were delegated to her. She adored showing her womanly qualities that gained her respect among many.

Explanatory Note

The biography I created is a reflection of Meihui Huian who was a Chinese woman character that I created. On reflecting on her as a woman and a wife, I believe that she had a solid idea and opinions in her life that could act as role models to other women.

She also created the precepts for women with the target of guiding herself to live properly. I chose to discuss her because she had a significant influence on the lives of other women and their lifestyle.

The significance about her story is that it is a unique inspirational story. The story about Meihui Huian reflects on having value as a woman and maintaining that quality. As a woman in the dynasty periods, she showed several sensibilities.

These sensibilities were both aesthetic and spiritual. She was seen to be intellectual in activities that she was involved. This was evident through her good morals and respect to all. She also had good ideas, thoughts and opinions in matters that concerned women and family (Ko 144).

Meihui Huian reflected on using conservative reaction in order to create peace in her life and marriage. Her lifestyle was intended at improving the perception of a woman. She wanted to show other people that living with certain qualities were fruitful and beneficial.

In her life, she showed that a woman was to be a being with womanly qualities in order to create a good impression concerning her. She was also involved in the well upbringing of her siblings since she was the one who gave them lessons on virtues and good morals.

Works Cited

Ebrey, Patricia B. The Inner Quarters: Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women in the Sung Period. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. Print.

Ko, Dorothy. Teachers of the Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in Seventeenth-Century China. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1994. Print.

Mann, Susan, and Yu-Yin Cheng. Under Confucian Eyes. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. Print.

When it comes to biographies of famous people, there is hardly a single detail of a celebritys that goes unnoticed by the crowd, yet there is an obvious and nonetheless strange gap of knowledge concerning the rest of the family members or the celebritys closest relatives.

It is as if all famous people were manufactured right before they gained world recognition and had no relative attached. The same can be said about Woodrow Wilson Guthrie, known as Woody Guthrie, an American folk singer-songwriter. However, despite his family was not as famous as him, Charles and Nora Guthrie deserve just as much respect.

One of the most fascinating things about Woody Guthries family was that each of its members had a very unique personality and the features of character, which, quite honestly, would, probably, be completely incompatible in any other person.

As the existing records say, Woodys father, who was known among the neighbors and his fellow citizens as a politician, taught his son the charm and secrets of the Indian and Scottish music. Other sources, however, point at other influences that Charles Guthrie had on his son, some of them leaving much to be desired.

For example, it is a notorious fact that Charles Guthrie was a racist and that his son supported his political viewpoint (Kinchen). However, there are other peculiar facts that even this sad bit of information out.

For instance, the notorious fire, which gave Charles Guthrie severe burns, left a truly shocking impression on his son; as Woody Guthrie would say later on, this event would make him appreciate more not only the people whom he was close to, but also what these people shared with them.

Thus, Woodys fascination with music began owing not as much to his fathers stories, as to the chain of events that led woody to appreciating these stories.

Despite the obvious strong influence of Charles Guthrie, Woodys mother, Nora also changed her sons life considerably with her passion for art and the willingness to share this passion with him. Unfortunately, Woody found out very soon  in fact, too soon, for a young child,  that his mother was suffering from a terminal disease, known as Huntingtons syndrome.

Allowing Woody to understand how fleeting the moments of sharing love with his parents are, the boys first acquaintance with the fact of inevitable death, which sooner or later attacks anyone, including his closest relatives, his relationship with his mother can also be considered as an important factor in defining Woodys further life and the ideas that he would communicate through his songs.

These relationships between Woody and his mother, however, turned even complicated as the boy realized that the disease, which his mother was suffering from, affected their relationships greatly, seeing how it changed his mother irreversibly. Though it was not proven completely, it was believed that the fire mentioned above was set by Woodys mother during one of her fits (Reineke 7).

The impressions that shaped Woody Guthries vision and talent of a musician were not restricted to the influence of his parents, though. Apart from his loving, though definitely not quite happy, parents, Woody also built very close relationships with his uncle, which would later on be reprinted not only in his songs, but also the way in which the musician would write his songs.

Jeff Guthrie not only taught young Woody how to play the guitar, but also supported him in his darkles days, helping him get over the tragic death of his parents and the fact that his family was literally falling apart.

As for Jeff being the influence for Woody as a future musician, it will be reasonable to admit that at this point, the future folk star needed not spiritual guidance in his search for the music that he wanted to play  it was pretty much clear by then that Woody was into folk  but learning how to play the instrument.

This was when Jeffs old guitar came in handy; thrown aside when Jeff no longer had time for getting in contact with his artistic side, it was finally put to practice. Guthrie started learning to play the instrument and started performing, slowly starting to understand that his hobby was more than a fad.

When watching Woody cross the threshold of his house, Jeff could hardly think of who his nephew was going to become pretty soon, as well as what part he would play in this transformation (Sanders).

The parents of a musician who made folk and country music a complete craze in the USA, Charles and Nora Guthrie might not have been as well-known as their son, but they surely led very decent and nonetheless interesting lives.

In addition, it is obvious that Woodys siblings have also contributed to his vision and shaping of his personality, which would later on be reflected in his songs. Inspired by his outstanding, though inordinately modest, family, Woody had all rights to be proud of not only the long way that he went through, but also of the people who helped him to start his journey.

Works Cited

Kinchen, David M. Book Review: Woody Guthrie, American Radical Explores Transformation of Legendary Oklahoma-Born Singer Famous for This Land Is Your Land. n. d. Web.

Reineke, Hank. Arlo Guthrie: The Warner/Reprise Years. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. 2012. Print.

Sanders, Craig. Ten Facts: Woody Guthries Childhood. 2009. Web.

When it comes to biographies of famous people, there is hardly a single detail of a celebritys that goes unnoticed by the crowd, yet there is an obvious and nonetheless strange gap of knowledge concerning the rest of the family members or the celebritys closest relatives.

It is as if all famous people were manufactured right before they gained world recognition and had no relative attached. The same can be said about Woodrow Wilson Guthrie, known as Woody Guthrie, an American folk singer-songwriter. However, despite his family was not as famous as him, Charles and Nora Guthrie deserve just as much respect.

One of the most fascinating things about Woody Guthries family was that each of its members had a very unique personality and the features of character, which, quite honestly, would, probably, be completely incompatible in any other person.

As the existing records say, Woodys father, who was known among the neighbors and his fellow citizens as a politician, taught his son the charm and secrets of the Indian and Scottish music. Other sources, however, point at other influences that Charles Guthrie had on his son, some of them leaving much to be desired.

For example, it is a notorious fact that Charles Guthrie was a racist and that his son supported his political viewpoint (Kinchen). However, there are other peculiar facts that even this sad bit of information out.

For instance, the notorious fire, which gave Charles Guthrie severe burns, left a truly shocking impression on his son; as Woody Guthrie would say later on, this event would make him appreciate more not only the people whom he was close to, but also what these people shared with them.

Thus, Woodys fascination with music began owing not as much to his fathers stories, as to the chain of events that led woody to appreciating these stories.

Despite the obvious strong influence of Charles Guthrie, Woodys mother, Nora also changed her sons life considerably with her passion for art and the willingness to share this passion with him. Unfortunately, Woody found out very soon  in fact, too soon, for a young child,  that his mother was suffering from a terminal disease, known as Huntingtons syndrome.

Allowing Woody to understand how fleeting the moments of sharing love with his parents are, the boys first acquaintance with the fact of inevitable death, which sooner or later attacks anyone, including his closest relatives, his relationship with his mother can also be considered as an important factor in defining Woodys further life and the ideas that he would communicate through his songs.

These relationships between Woody and his mother, however, turned even complicated as the boy realized that the disease, which his mother was suffering from, affected their relationships greatly, seeing how it changed his mother irreversibly. Though it was not proven completely, it was believed that the fire mentioned above was set by Woodys mother during one of her fits (Reineke 7).

The impressions that shaped Woody Guthries vision and talent of a musician were not restricted to the influence of his parents, though. Apart from his loving, though definitely not quite happy, parents, Woody also built very close relationships with his uncle, which would later on be reprinted not only in his songs, but also the way in which the musician would write his songs.

Jeff Guthrie not only taught young Woody how to play the guitar, but also supported him in his darkles days, helping him get over the tragic death of his parents and the fact that his family was literally falling apart.

As for Jeff being the influence for Woody as a future musician, it will be reasonable to admit that at this point, the future folk star needed not spiritual guidance in his search for the music that he wanted to play  it was pretty much clear by then that Woody was into folk  but learning how to play the instrument.

This was when Jeffs old guitar came in handy; thrown aside when Jeff no longer had time for getting in contact with his artistic side, it was finally put to practice. Guthrie started learning to play the instrument and started performing, slowly starting to understand that his hobby was more than a fad.

When watching Woody cross the threshold of his house, Jeff could hardly think of who his nephew was going to become pretty soon, as well as what part he would play in this transformation (Sanders).

The parents of a musician who made folk and country music a complete craze in the USA, Charles and Nora Guthrie might not have been as well-known as their son, but they surely led very decent and nonetheless interesting lives.

In addition, it is obvious that Woodys siblings have also contributed to his vision and shaping of his personality, which would later on be reflected in his songs. Inspired by his outstanding, though inordinately modest, family, Woody had all rights to be proud of not only the long way that he went through, but also of the people who helped him to start his journey.

Works Cited

Kinchen, David M. Book Review: Woody Guthrie, American Radical Explores Transformation of Legendary Oklahoma-Born Singer Famous for This Land Is Your Land. n. d. Web.

Reineke, Hank. Arlo Guthrie: The Warner/Reprise Years. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. 2012. Print.

Sanders, Craig. Ten Facts: Woody Guthries Childhood. 2009. Web.

Cold war is the period of tension between America and the Solviet Union which lasted from 1945 and 1980. Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by an atomic bomb marked the end of World War II and the beginning of the cold war.

It developed after the world war two, and this was due to mistrust between the two states. America was a communist state, and feared the Solviet Union which was an anti-communist state, slowly coming into America (Farber, 1994). There was a widespread belief among the American people that worldwide control by the Russians was a reality.

It was a period when weapons of mass destruction were a major concern and Americans were feared of owning the most powerful in the world (Marilyn & Robert, 2002). The cold war period was characterized by an intensified tension over a long period of time; in 1949 the United States and USSR had already acquired nuclear capability.

Due to the external military threat by the communists, there was a dire need to give Americans enough protection. National politicians started to warn the citizens of the threat. They were, therefore, told to be vigilant against the communists. These warnings were even accelerated by other levels of society including the media, pastors, opinion makers and community leaders (Harrison & Thomas, 2008).

Citizens had a role to play in protecting communism as citizen soldiers by building a cold war home front. In addition to this, there was an increased promotion of codes of conduct and enacting of public policies by the politicians to boost the American homes. There was a heightened sense of fear and insecurity among the Americans impacting the society to a great extent.

Most of the American people were in agreement with their leaders that the best ways to avert the dangers of the cold war were through family stability (Harrison & Thomas, 2008). These beliefs transformed the American society are vividly beyond the expected boundaries.

There was an immense rush in the society towards marriage and child bearing thus; lowering the age of marriage for both men and women (Elaine, 2008). It reduced the class lines and increased racial divisions. The white middle and working class remained prosperous due to their ability to access suburban good life. The black Americans were excluded from suburbia by racial division that remained camouflaged in the aura of unity.

Bonding helped the families feel at ease and protected against dangers of the outside world. As a family issue was becoming a major issue, couples had limited things in their lives, which included some consumer goods, their sexuality and privacy. Furthermore, divorce cases declined sharply as compared to other years (Harrison & Thomas, 2008). Couples who divorced remained long enough together amid the security crisis and their family roles remained in place.

Since young people had started marrying at a very young age, there was an increment in birthrates as compared to the last hundred years which had recorded a decline (Elaine, 2008). Baby boom was recorded that lasted for more than two decades.

Although home was seen as a refuge and hope of freedom, economic hardships had ripped most of the families. Union of many families during the period helped them to have a sense of security. The danger of nuclear threat was universal and could not be avoided. The best I could do to protect my family is giving them sense of love and protection so as to ease their minds.

I would ensure that my family is knowledgeable about the situation, and I could have advised them to take the suitable cover against the threat presented to them. It is a matter of fact that unity is the best remedy during hard times; I would have ensured that my family is united and peaceful.

In conclusion, although the cold war was different from any other physical war, it impacted extensively on American society. Society had to change in realms of population growth and numbers of divorce cases. Perhaps a question that crosses our minds is why did the young generation resort to early marriages?

References

Elaine, T. (2008). Homeward bound: American families in the Cold War era. New York: Basic Books

Farber, D. (1994).The Age of Great Dreams: America in the 1960s. New York: Hill and Wang.

Harrison, C. & Thomas R. (2008). Power and Society: An Introduction to the Social Sciences. London: Thomson Wadsworth.

Kyle, A. (2005). Manhood and American political culture in the Cold War: Cultures. Routledge. Hardcover, Routledge

Marilyn, B. & Robert, B. (2002). A companion to the Vietnam War, Blackwell companions to American history. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Introduction

A family is one of those small things that make the entire society. It is said to admit the family model has changed a lot since the 1950s. Needless to say, the values and beliefs of the US society changed immensely, though the main question still has to be answered what the family model will be like in several decades? I think answering that question should be delayed a bit because to know the historys spans in advance one should know the past of a specific country. One of the marvelous works made in this field of research is by Stephanie Coontz  an author, historian, and faculty member at The Evergreen State College. It is an honor to investigate her work and cite previous statements she made about American society. In this essay, I will be examining the relevance of everything she said toward my current life, family, and values.

What We Really Miss About t h1950s Unveiled

Stephanie Coontz, in her essay called What We Really Miss About the 1950s unveils some points of the social order that occurred about sixty years ago. Surprisingly, but some of the families nowadays really would not think of the arguments she laid out. This is not because some families really lived and live nicely today, they have no idea of those times difficulties because the government took real good care of the societys lack of knowledge. So, Stephanie Coontzs main idea to convey to the reader was that the 1950s in America were not the brightest times to boast of or to continuously mourn over.

Of course, just as in every society of every country on this planet, the United States of the postwar period was divided into classes. WWII did its job to make people understand that you have to be happy with every moment of living, thus the desire for the American dream did outburst even more. However, in this context, Stephanie Coontz says that there were those discriminated classes living in the US who simply did not have the same rights as other Americans did. Therefore, it is hard to denote the 1950s society as the most liberate or advanced in terms of interrelations. Everything Stephanie Coontz does is just explaining why people are being so much nostalgic about the midst of the previous century. Along with that the author explicitly explains other facets of the American society features of those days and why we should not consider those times so fantastic as many of our parents do.

Of course, the 1950s were the years of rapid economic growth. Therefore, the model of the family was mostly the one working male parent and a housewife with their children. Whether it is considered amazing because contemporary mothers do not like to work or because this way we see that salaries were higher than now, I want to say that todays society is much more developed in terms of family models. We do not have to be afraid of censure and today people are more freely doing whatever makes them happy though within legal boundaries. However, many people today consider the twenty-first century to be the worst for raising children because the 1950s was the first decade out of 100 years when the divorce rate fell. Unfortunately, this was not because peoples minds were somehow changed. The only reason for that, as Stephanie Coontz states was total control of the social beliefs by the government. People merely had no choice rather than following the rules through censorship and coercion. Ultimately, this made almost everybody believe in better and brighter times in the future. And, This confidence that almost everyone could look forward to a better future stands in sharp contrast to how most contemporary Americans feel, and it explains why a period in which many people were much worse off than today sometimes still looks like a better period for families than our own (p. 40)

Easily Accomplishable Mistaken Nostalgia

So, basically people consider 1950s to be better times for living and raising children just because of total ignorance in terms of what was really going on in the country. Besides, it is ridiculous how government today is talking about how it would be wonderful to see the family models of 1950s today, whereas they do not provide even a half of social support families back in the days. Among the counterarguments for the 1050s ideal society and family models is that government used to shorten the rights for ethnic minorities and, of course, there was not even a talk about the sexual minorities in the United States of 1950s. So, I say it is unbelievable how the nation was actually suppressed without even knowing it. Though a better half of the nation lived nicely, still I think that the cost was high. However, we always tend to glorify only good things and moments. That is why I think Americans still warship those days when kids were playing in the yard behind the white fence. This is just, I suppose, a selective memory ability to remember happy times. What I am trying to convey is that the model of the family that existed in 1950s was invented way before. Gary Colombo states: what we call the traditional family, head by a breadwinner-father and a house-wife mother, has existed for little more than two hundred years, and the suburbs only came into being in teh1950s  (p. 18)

Now let me provide you with some good characteristics of our age. As per Stephanie Coontz a womans chance of getting married at older age has grown in comparison with the 1950s and 1960s(Coontz, p. 7) whereas the women of 1950s had to be fully absorbed with the youngest while simultaneously maintaining passionate sexual excitement with the husband (Coontz, p. 9). It seems to me that period was remarkable for hybrid ideas which were nonsense. By the way , if we peak about the historical heritage our society have held throughout ages, it has to be noticed that just like some people think of love and marriage today, very long ago true love was actually thought to be incompatible with marriage as remarked by Stephanie Coortz in her book Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage ( p. 14).

Conclusion

Well, as such let me fully agree with the historian Stephanie Coontz and say that we cannot long for harmony or derive certain models from the past until we understand the actual meaning of everything we had in the history of the US. Thus, every young woman having kids of different ages will be happy to whatever she has when she comes back tired of work at night. I mean we cannot underestimate the historical value of the past of the United States society, though we can be completely objective to say what we really do not want to repeat. Thereby, my wish is to see a harmonious American model family no matter if it coincides with other views or the views of the government.

Works Cited

Colombo, Gary., Cullen, Robert. Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing.New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. Print.

Coontz, Stephanie. Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage. New York: Penguin (Non-Classics), 2006. Print.

Coontz, Stephanie. The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap. New York: Basic Books, 1992. Print.

Coontz, Stephanie. The Way We Really Are: Coming To Terms With Americas Changing Families.New York: Basic Books, 1998. Print.

Abstract

This paper discusses a blog about an occasion in which a child in a womb was diagnosed with an impairment that might have led to her death soon after her birth. After expressing some thoughts on the issue, the author of the paper views the case via the data supplied in the textbook and considers it from a biblical point of view. It is concluded that the determination of the spouses and certain coping mechanisms helped the family to successfully give birth to the baby.

Introduction

In certain cases, families are faced with serious problems with the health and development of their children. In this paper, one such case is considered from the author of this paper, as well as through the prism of information provided in Parritz and Troy (2013), and from the biblical perspective.

The Authors View

The blog presents several letters that a woman wrote to her daughter while still being pregnant with her (Letters to Catherine, 2008). The girl was diagnosed with congenital diaphragmatic hernia via ultrasonography, and it was likely that she would not live for long after the birth. It is possible to assume that, once the mother became aware of the diagnosis, the letters started working as one of the coping mechanisms that the mother employed to deal with the psychological stress that she experienced because her baby, one that she wanted to have very much, might die.

The Perception Based on Parritz and Troy (2013)

According to Parritz and Troy (2013), families play a significant role in the development of a child (p. 20-21). Although it might be hard to talk about the development of the baby in the presented case, for the blog provides information mainly about the period during which the child was in the mothers womb, it is clear that the family (mainly the husband) supplied the mother with the support necessary to endure the situation and to successfully produce the baby.

The girl may be classified as belonging to the at-risk category, particularly to the category of children facing a specific risk (Parritz & Troy, 2013, p. 35). However, it is possible to assume that the profoundly beneficent family environment (which appears to be such from the blog) might have had a positive influence on the childs further development, possibly safeguarding her from the health risks she was to face in the future.

A Biblical Perspective

The Bible reads that children are a heritage of the Lord (Psalm 127:3 King James Version). Therefore, it is possible to assert that the decision of the family to produce the baby despite the possibility that she might die soon after the birth (Letters to Catherine, 2008) was the right decision, according to the Bible. It is also stated that she shall be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety (1 Timothy 2:15); so, the fact that the family lived in harmony, mutual support, and faith provided a beneficent atmosphere that assisted in dealing with the health condition of the baby, in this case offering strong psychological assistance.

Conclusion

Therefore, it might be assumed that the letters to her child served as a coping mechanism for the mother in the discussed case. Taking into account what has been written by Parritz and Troy (2013), it is possible to state that the family environment significantly helped to achieve a positive outcome. Finally, according to the Bible, the right decision of the family to produce the baby might also have assisted in this situation; in particular, the determination might have offered strong psychological support.

References

Letters to Catherine. (2008). Web.

Parritz, R. H., & Troy, M. F. (2013). Disorders of childhood: Development and psychopathology (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.