He is My Hero - Essay about my Grandfather Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

He is My Hero - about my Grandfather - Essay Example He might never have caned me but his advice challenged me even at a very tender age. He would always be straightforward with me and warned me that he was not going to watch me turn into a wicked child. He was a very loving man, not only towards me but also towards my grandmother. My grandfather had a great heart, to be sincere, I have not known anyone with such a heart. His face always shone with a smile even when facing hard times. Most thought his life was ever smooth but we who were around him knew the many hardships he had faced. Even when he was sick and could barely raise his head, he always preached peace and love. He would call all of us, his grandchildren and tell us how important it was to be good to other even when they were not good to us. Being a great physician, he would always inspire me by the way he dedicated himself to ensuring that he gave his best to his patients. Sometime he would wake up in the middle of the night to go attend to patients even he was not in duty , particularly when he learnt that there were emergency case. I will never forget one incidence since it really touched me. It revealed to me something I had never known about my grandfather. I would often go to see him in the hospital when I was young since he worked a few metres from our house. While I was visiting him on one of the occasions there happened to be a patient who needed a liver transplant but had not found a donor even after making requisitions from several organizations that deal with organ transplant. However, it happened that my grandfather’s liver matched with his. Nonetheless, the hospital prohibited organ donation by the staff members. Irrespective of this, my father requested the surgeon in charge to arrange for him to donate part of his liver to the almost dying man. The surgeon was reluctant and reported the matter to the hospital administrator. When the administrator learnt of my grandfather’s plan, he threatened to sack him if he decided to g o on with his plan. Most thought that my grandfather would give up and forget about the whole issue but his personality could not let him do so. He demanded that he had to donate his organ, which he eventually did though he lost his job. Most of his workmates felt that he was irrational since he was helping a stranger at the expense of his job. Even the family members could not understand his actions. Several years later, I asked him why he had chosen to do this. What he told me made me realize he was a rare kind of a person. He was a bighearted hero and no one or anything could prevent him from doing what he was right. He told me that the best thing you can do is to follow your instincts if you felt what you were doing was right, since you only have one chance to live. Giving up a job to enable him donate his liver was one of the greatest sacrifices that a person could ever make. We knew he was noble and generous but not to such an extent. Those who knew him in the hospital thought he was just a physician like any other doctor, but he was more than that. You only needed to know him more to realize the kind of a person he was. When he lost his job, he decided to dedicate himself to charity work. Some thought he was ridiculous to spend his time working as a volunteer in hospitals that took care of less privileged. According to him, he was just doing the right thing. He was such a talented doctor, but he used his talent

How Can Health Care Professionals Effectively Deal Sociologically With Essay

How Can Health Care Professionals Effectively Deal Sociologically With Issues Of Domestic Violence In Pregnancy - Essay Example This essay stresses that surprisingly, and in contrast to previous research on women residing in domestic violence shelters, emotional support was not a significant predictor of mental health when severity of violence was controlled. Practical aid, however, predicted both anxiety and self-esteem. This finding is consistent with the only shelter study that compared emotional and practical supports. This paper makes a conclusion that there are several important intervention implications from this study. First, critical support plays a key role in the mental health of women who have violent partners. Thus, support for women in violent relationships must avoid criticism of their lives and decisions. Clearly, the ability to talk about the abuse in an empathic, non-critical environment is an important key to positive mental health for these women. Because homophily was related to criticism in this study, it may be that advocates, rather than homophilous peer support groups, provide the most effective interventions. In addition, practical aid, rather than emotional support, was related to positive mental health. Thus, concrete assistance with daily life hassles and challenges should be a high priority for agencies serving battered women. Finally, the positive relationship between nonhomophilous supporters and mental health suggests that agencies might assist battered women in locatin g new sources of support in order to develop a social network composed of more women who have not been battered

The Sole Proprietorship And Partnership Forms Business Essay

The Sole Proprietorship And Partnership Forms Business Essay When I doing this assignment I know that Business environment is that which surrounds a business. It affects a business. It is dynamic in the sense it keeps changing. Since it is composed of many factors, it is important for a company to study and monitor its environment carefully. This is so that the business does not go wrong in its planning process for its current and future plans. The changes in the environment may be good or bad for a particular business. They can affect the business in a positive or a negative way. It becomes essential to monitor the environment, especially the external, uncontrollable part of the environment. Since there are innumerable components that make up the total environment, a careful understanding of each and the implications of the changes of each factor need to be done. This facilitates the strategic planning process. Just as a human being take decisions based on his or his surrounding environment, example: parent, siblings, peer group, teachers, ro le models, health, attitude, socio-economic status. Other than that, when I doing this assignment I understand that Sole Proprietorship and Partnership. I also know that A business owned by a single owner is referred to as a sole proprietorship. The owner of a sole proprietorship is called a sole proprietor. A sole proprietor may obtain loans from creditors to help finance the firms operations, but these loans do not represent ownership. The sole proprietor is obligated to cover any payments resulting from the loans but does not need to share the business profits with creditors. Typical examples of sole proprietorships include a local restaurant, a local construction firm, a barber shop, a laundry service, and a local clothing store. About 70 percent of all firms in the United States are sole proprietorship. But because these firms are relatively small, they generate less than 10 percent of all business revenue. The earnings generated by a sole proprietorship are considered to be personal income received by the proprietor and are subj ect to personal income taxes collected by the Internal Revenue Service. Introduction of Business When I study this subject, I understand the importance of business. I know that, business can be defined as a person, partnership, or cooperation that seeks to provide goods and services to others at a profit. Besides that, this course can have a major impact on your career direction and future success regardless of whether you major in business, the sciences, or the liberal arts. Whatever you major may be, you are likely to end up pursuing a career in a business setting. For example, if you major in science, you may work for a biotechnology firm and can benefit from an understanding of business concepts such as managing an organization, working with employees, and managing employees. If you select journalism as a major, you may work for a media or publishing firm and, therefore, can benefit from an understanding of business concepts such as providing a product desired by consumers. Business concepts such as creating ideas, leadership, teamwork, and quality control are relevant to al most everyone, no matter what career is chosen. An Introduction to Business course provides the foundation of business knowledge that can enable you to utilize your talents in the business world. It also provides you with an overview of many different business worlds. It also provides you with an overview of many different business topics, allowing you to determine the specific field of business. Introduction of Business Environment Business environment is that which surrounds a business. It affects a business. It is dynamic in the sense it keeps changing. Since it is composed of many factors, it is important for a company to study and monitor its environment carefully. This is so that the business does not go wrong in its planning process for its current and future plans. The changes in the environment may be good or bad for a particular business. They can affect the business in a positive or a negative way. It becomes essential to monitor the environment, especially the external, uncontrollable part of the environment. Since there are innumerable components that make up the total environment, a careful understanding of each and the implications of the changes of each factor need to be done. This facilitates the strategic planning process. Just as a human being take decisions based on his or his surrounding environment, example: parent, siblings, peer group, teachers, role models, health, attitude, socio-econom ic status. 1.2 The Economic and Legal Environment People are willing to start new businesses if they believe that the risk of losing their money isnt too great. Part of that risk involves the economic system and how government works with or against businesses. Government can do a lot to lessen the risk of starting businesses and thus increase entrepreneurship and wealth. For example, a government can keep taxes and regulations to a minimum. Another way for government to actively promote entrepreneurship is to allow private ownership of businesses. In some countries, the government owns most businesses, and theres little incentive for people to work hard or create profit. All around the world today, however, governments are selling those businesses to private individual to create more wealth. One of the best things the governments of developing countries can do is to minimize interference with the free exchange of goods and services. 1.3 The Technological Environment Technological factors sometimes pose serious problems. A firm that unable to cope with technological changes may not be survived. Further, the differing technological environment of different markets or countries may be called for product modifications. Besides that, Technology also is the most important elements of the macro environment. Furthermore Technology is the human being innovation and it literally wonder Technology helps to human being go to the moon, travelling the spaceships, other side of the globe with few hours. Advances in the technologies have facilitated product improvements and introduction of new products and have considerably improved the marketability of the products. The fast changes in technologies also create problems for enterprises as that render. Plants and product obsolete. Today adopt changers in technology to achieve successful in business and industry. Internet and telecom system also is the important part of technological development in the world. These things today changed whole world. It changes people and business operation. It leads to many new business opportunities apart from the many existing systems. Technological environment characteristics are outlined: The find of technological change Opportunities are arising out of technological developments. Risk and uncertain is the major feature of the technological developments. Research and development role to country Technology and business activities are to be highly considerable, interrelated and interdependent. Technology output/fruits available to society through business activities in this way improve the quality of life in the society. Therefore, technology nurtured by business. 1.4 The Social Environment Demography is the statistical study of the human population with regard to its size, density, and other characteristics such as age, race, gender, and income. The particularly interested in the demographic trends that most affect business and career choices. Managing Diversity has come to mean much more than recruiting and keeping minorities and women. Many more groups are now included in diversity efforts. For example, the list of 26 diversity groups identified by Federated Department Stores includes seniors, the disable, homosexuals, atheists, extroverts, introverts, married people, singles, and the devout. 1.5 The Global Environment The global environment may affect all firms directly or indirectly. Some firm rely on foreign countries for some of their supplies or sell their products in various countries. They may even establish subsidiaries in foreign countries where they can products and sell to them. Even if a firm is not planning to sell its products in foreign countries, it must be aware of the global environment because it may face foreign competition when it sells its product locally. Furthermore, global economic conditions can affect local economic conditions. It economic condition weaken in foreign countries, the foreign demand for U.S. products will decrease. Consequently, sales by U.S. firms will decrease, and this may result in some layoffs. The general income level in the United state will decline, and U.S. consumers will have less money to spend. The demand for all products will decline, even those that are sold only in the United States. Thus, even firms that have no international business can be affected by the global environment. 1.5.1 How Global Changes Affect You As businesses expand to serve global markets, new jobs will be created in both manufacturing and service industries. U.S. exports are expected to continue to increase under new trade agreements that will lead to expansion of the job market both in the United States and globally. Global trade also means global competition. The students who will prosper are those who are prepared for the markets of tomorrow. That means that you must prepare yourself now to compete in a rapidly changing worldwide environment. Conclusion Introduction of Ownerships When entrepreneurs establish a business, they must decide on the form of business ownership. There are three basic forms of business ownership: sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation. The form that is chosen can affect the profitability, risk, and value of the firm. The business ownership decision determines how the earnings of a business are distributed among the owners of the business, the degree of liability of each owner, the degree of control that each owner has in running the business, the potential return of the business, and the risk of the business. These types of decisions are necessary for all business. Sole Proprietorship A business owned by a single owner is referred to as a sole proprietorship. The owner of a sole proprietorship is called a sole proprietor. A sole proprietor may obtain loans from creditors to help finance the firms operations, but these loans do not represent ownership. The sole proprietor is obligated to cover any payments resulting from the loans but does not need to share the business profits with creditors. Typical examples of sole proprietorships include a local restaurant, a local construction firm, a barber shop, a laundry service, and a local clothing store. About 70 percent of all firms in the United States are sole proprietorship. But because these firms are relatively small, they generate less than 10 percent of all business revenue. The earnings generated by a sole proprietorship are considered to be personal income received by the proprietor and are subject to personal income taxes collected by the Internal Revenue Service. Characteristics of Sole Proprietors Sole proprietors must be willing to accept full responsibility for the firms performance. The pressure of this responsibility can be must greater than any employees responsibility. Besides of this, Sole proprietors must also be willing to work flexible hours. They are on call at all times and may even have to substitute for a sick employee. Other than that, their responsibility for the success of the business encourages them to continually monitor business operations. They must exhibit strong leadership skills, be well organized, and communicate skill well with employees. Many successful sole proprietors had precious work experience in the market in which they are competing, perhaps as an employee in a competitors firm. For example, restaurant managers commonly establish their own restaurant. Experience is critical to understanding the competition and the behavior of customers in a particular market. Advantages of a Sole Proprietorship Easy Organization Establishing a sole proprietorship is relatively easy. The legal requirements are minimal. A sole proprietorship need not establish a separate legal entity. The owner must register the firm with the state, which can normally be done by mail. The owner may also need to apply for an occupational license to conduct a particular type of business. The specific license requirements vary with the state and even the city where the business is located. Complete control Having only one owner with complete control of the firm eliminates the chance of conflicts during the decision on the menu, the prices, and the salaries paid to employees. Lower Taxes Because the earnings in a proprietorship are considered to be personal income, they may be subject to lower taxes than those imposed on some other forms of business ownership. Total Decision-Making Authority Because the sole proprietor is in total control of the operations, he or she can respond quickly to changes, which is an asset in a rapidly shifting market. The freedom to set the companys course of action is a major motivational force. For those who thrive on the enjoyment of seeking new proprietors thrive on the feeling of control they have over their personal financial futures and the recognition they earn as the owners of their business. Disadvantages of a Sole Proprietorship The Sole Proprietor Incurs All Losses Just as sole proprietors do not have to share the profits, they are unable to share any losses that the firm incurs. For example, assume you invest $10,000 of your funds in a lawn service and borrow an additional $8,000 that you invest in the business. Unfortunately, the revenue is barely sufficient to pay salaries to your employees, and you terminate the firm. You have not only lost all of your $10,000 investment in the firm but also are liable for $8,000 that you borrowed. Since you are the sole proprietor, no other owners are available to help cover the losses. Unlimited Liability A sole proprietor is subject to unlimited liability, which means there is no limit on the debts for which the owner is liable. If a sole proprietors is sued, the sole proprietor is personally liable for an judgment against that firm. Limited Skills A sole proprietor has limited skills and may be unable to control all parts of the business. For example, a sole proprietor may have difficulty running a large medical practice because different types of expertise may be needed. Limited Funds A sole proprietor may have limited funds available to invest in the firm. Thus, sole proprietors have difficulty engaging in airplane manufacturing, shipbuilding, computer manufacturing, and other business that require substantial funds. Sole proprietors have limited funds to support the firms expansion or to absorb temporary losses. A poorly performing firm may improve if given sufficient time. But if this firm cannot obtain additional funds to make up for its losses, it may not be able to continue in business long enough to recover. Partnership A business that is co-owned by two people or more than two people is referred to as a partnership. The co-owners of the business are called partners. The co-owners must register the partnership with the state and may need to apply for an occupation license. About 10 percent of all firms are partnerships. Besides of this, in a general partnership, all partners have unlimited liability. That is, the partners are personally liable for all obligations of the firm. Conversely, in a limited partnership, the firm has some limited partners, or partners whose liability is limited to the cash or property they contributed to the partnerships. Limited partners are only investors in the partnership and do not participate in its management, but because they have invested in the business, they share its profits or losses. A limited partnership has one or more general partners, or partners who manage the business, receive a salary, share the profits or losses of the business, and have unlimited liab ility. The earnings distributed to each partners represent personal income and are subject to personal income taxes collect by the IRS. Disadvantages of Partnerships Lack of Continuity If one partner dies, complications arise. Partnership interest is often nontransferable through inheritance because the remaining partner may not want to be in a partnership with the person who inherits the deceased partners interest. Partners can make provisions in the partnership agreement to avoid dissolution due to death if all parties agree to accept as partners those who inherit the deceaseds interest. Control is shared The decision making in a partnership must be shared. If the partners disagree about how the business should be run, business and personal relationships may be destroyed. Some owners of firms do not have the skills to manage a business. Unlimited Liability General partners in a partnership are subject to unlimited liability, just like sole proprietors. Profits Are Shared Any profits that the partnership generates must be shared among all partners. The more partners there are, the smaller the amount of a given level of profits that will be distributed to any individual partner. Conclusion Of my opinion I would like to choose Sole Proprietors, because it is better than Partnerships. Besides that, it is lower taxes because the earnings in a proprietorship are considered to be personal incomes, they may be subject to lower taxes than those imposed on some other forms of business ownership. Other than that, Sole Proprietors make us easy and quickly do decision and making authority. Because the sole proprietor is in total control of the operations, he or she can respond quickly to changes, which is an asset in a rapidly shifting market. The freedom to set the companys course of action is a major motivational force. For those who thrive on the enjoyment of seeking new proprietors thrive on the feeling of control they have over their personal financial futures and the recognition they earn as the owners of their business. Other than that, Sole proprietors is much more better than Partnerships because of Partnerships much more disadvantages then Sole Proprietors. If one partn er dies, complications arise. Partnership interest is often nontransferable through inheritance because the remaining partner may not want to be in a partnership with the person who inherits the deceased partners interest. Partners can make provisions in the partnership agreement to avoid dissolution due to death if all parties agree to accept as partners those who inherit the deceaseds interest.

Grasshoppers :: essays research papers

Grasshoppers are herbivorous insects of the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. To distinguish them from bush crickets or katydids, they are sometimes referred to as short-horn grasshoppers. Species that change colour and behaviour at high population densities are called locusts. The Characteristics of a Grasshopper The Grasshoppers have antennae that are almost always shorter than the body (sometime filamentous), and short ovipositors. These species that make easily heard noise usually do so by rubbing the hind femurs against the forewings or abdomen (stridulation), or by snapping the wing sin flight. Tympana, if present, are on the sides of the first abdominal segment. The hind femora are typically long and strong fitted for leaping. Generally they are winged, but hind winds are membranous while front wings (tegmina) are coriaceous and not fit for flight. Females are normally larger than males, with short ovipositors. They are easily confused with the other sub-order of Orthoptera Ensifea, but are different in many aspects, such as the segments in their antennae and structure of the ovipositor, as well as Ensiferans have antennae with at least 30 segments and Caelifera have fewer. In evolutionary terms, the spilt between the Caelifera and the Ensifera is no more recent than the Permo-Triassic boundary (Zeuner 1939) Their Diverstiry and range Recent estimates (Kevan 1982, GÃ ¼nther, 1980, 1992, Otte 1994-1995 subsequent literature) indicate some 2,400 valid Caeliferan Genera and about 11,000 valid species described to date. Many un-described species exist, especially in tropical wet forests. The Caelifera are predominantly tropical but most super families are presented world wide. Families The suborder Caelifera consists primarily of five major families: ? Acrididae (field Grasshoppers and locusts) ? Emuastacidae (tanaocerids) ? Tetrigidae (grouse locusts, pygmy grasshoppers, and pygmy locusts) ? Tridactylidae (pygmy mole crickets) The most important family is Acrididae consisting of about 10,000 species. The family is characterised by the short thickened antennae and relatively unmodified anatomy, they are visually more striking than othe Caelifera, die to the adult?

Why America Needs More City Parks and Open Space

The Benefits of Parks: Why America Needs More City Parks and Open Space BY Paul M. Sheerer Published by: 116 New Montgomery Street Fourth Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 (415) 495-4014 www. Tip. Org 02006 the Trust for Public Land – Reprint of â€Å"Parks for People† white paper, published In 2003. Table of Contents Forward: Will Rogers, President, Trust for Public Land 5 Executive Summary 6 America Needs More City Parks U. S. Cities Are Park-Poor Low-Income Neighborhoods Are Desperately Short of Park Space Case Study: New Parks for Los Angles The Public Wants More Parks 8History of America's City Parks: Inspiration, Abandonment, Revival The Decline of City Parks A Revival Begins Budget Crises Threaten City Parks 10 Public Health Benefits of City Parks and Open Space America's Twin Plagues: Physical Inactivity and Obesity Access to Parks Increases Frequency of Exercise Exposure to Nature and Greenery Makes People Healthier 12 Economic Benefits of Parks 14 Increased Proper ty Values Property Values in Low-Income Urban Areas Property Values at the Edges of Urban Areas Effects on Commercial Property Values Economic Revitalization: Attracting and Retaining Businesses and Residents TourismBenefits Environmental Benefits of Parks Pollution Abatement and Cooling Controlling Stemware Runoff 17 Social Benefits of Parks Reducing Crime Recreation Opportunities: The Importance of Play Creating Stable Neighborhoods with Strong Community 18 Conclusion 20 Notes 21 Bibliography 24 3 Forward At the turn of the 20th century, the majority of Americans lived in rural areas and small towns, relatively close to the land. At the beginning of the 21st century, 85 desperate need of places to experience nature and refresh ourselves in the out-of- doors.The emergence of America as an urban nation was anticipated by Frederick Law Limited and other 19th-century park visionaries, who gave us New Work's Central Park, San Franciscans Golden Gate Park, and similar grand parks in cit ies across the nation. They were gardeners and designers-but also preachers for the power of parks, fired from within by the understanding that they were shaping the quality of American lives for generations to come. In the view of these park visionaries, parks were not â€Å"amenities. They were necessities, providing recreation, inspiration, and essential respite from the city blare and bustle. And the visionaries were particularly concerned that parks be available to all of a city residents-especially those who did not have the resources to escape to the countryside. As population shifted to the suburbs after World War II, this vision of parks for all faded. Many cities lost the resources to create new parks. And in the new suburbs, the sprawling landscapes of curving CUL-De-sacs were broken mostly by boxy shopping centers and concrete parking lots.The time has come for Americans to rededicate themselves to the vision of parks for all the nation's people. As the action's leading conservation group creating parks in and around cities, the Trust for Public Land (TIP) has launched its Parks for People initiative in the belief that every American child should enjoy convenient access to a nearby park or playground. This white paper outlines how desperate the need is for city parks-especially in inner-city neighborhoods. And it goes on to describe the social, environmental, economic, and health benefits parks bring to a city and its people.TIP hopes this paper will generate discussion about the need for parks, prompt new research on the benefits f parks to cities, and serve as a reference for government leaders and volunteers as they make the case that parks are essential to the health and well-being of all Americans. You will find more information about the need for city parks and their benefits in the Parks for People section of Tap's Web site (www. Tip. Org/poor) where you can also sign-up for Parks for People information and support Tap's Parks for People wo rk.TIP is proud to be highlighting the need for parks in America's cities. Thanks for Joining our effort to ensure a park within reach of every American home. Will Rogers President, the Trust for Public Land City parks and open space improve our physical and psychological health, strengthen our communities, and make our cities and neighborhoods more attractive places to live and work. But too few Americans are able to enjoy these benefits. Eighty percent of Americans live in metropolitan areas, and many of these areas are severely lacking in park space.Only 30 percent of Los Angles residents live within walking distance mile. Low-income neighborhoods populated by minorities and recent immigrants are especially short of park space. From an equity standpoint, there is a strong need to redress this imbalance. In Los Angles, white neighborhoods enjoy 31. 8 acres of park space for every 1,000 people, compared with 1. 7 acres in African-American neighborhoods and 0. 6 acres in Latino neig hborhoods. This inequitable distribution of park space harms the residents of these communities and creates substantial costs for the nation as a whole.U. S. Voters have repeatedly shown their willingness to raise their own taxes to pay for new or improved parks. In 2002, 189 conservation funding measures appeared on ballots in 28 states. Voters approved three-quarters of these, generating $10 billion in conservation-related funding. Many of the nation's great city parks were built in the second half of the 19th century. Urban planners believed the parks would improve public health, relieve the stresses of urban life, and create a demonstrating public space where rich and poor would mix on equal terms.By the mid-20th century, city parks fell into decline as people fled inner cities for the suburbs. The suburbs fared no better, as people believed that backyards would meet the requirement for public open space. Over the past couple of decades, interest in city parks has revived. Gover nments and civic groups around the country have revalidated run-down city parks, built greengages along rivers, converted abandoned railroad lines to trails, and planted community gardens in vacant lots.But with the current economic downturn, states and cities facing severe budget crises are slashing their park spending, threatening the health of existing parks, and curtailing the creation of new parks. Strong evidence shows that when people have access to parks, they exercise more. Regular physical activity as been shown to increase health and reduce the risk of a wide range of diseases, including heart disease, hypertension, colon cancer, and diabetes. Physical activity also relieves symptoms of depression and anxiety, improves mood, and enhances psychological well-being.Beyond the benefits of exercise, a growing body of research shows that contact with the natural world improves physical and psychological health. Despite the importance of exercise, only 25 percent of American adu lts engage in the recommended levels of physical activity, and 29 percent engage in no leisure-time physical activity. The sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy diet of Americans have produced an epidemic of obesity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called for the creation of more parks and playgrounds to help fight this epidemic.Numerous studies have shown that parks and open space increase the value of neighboring residential property. Growing evidence points to a similar benefit on commercial property value. The availability of park and recreation facilities is an important quality-of-life factor for corporations choosing where to locate facilities and for well-educated individuals choosing a place to live. City parks such as San Notation's Riverview Park often become important tourism draws, contributing heavily Green space in urban areas provides substantial environmental benefits.Trees reduce air pollution and water pollution, they help keep cities cooler, and th ey are a more effective and less expensive way to manage stemware runoff than building systems of concrete sewers and drainage ditches. City parks also produce important social and community development benefits. They make inner-city neighborhoods more livable; they offer recreational opportunities for at-risk youth, low-income children, and low-income families; and they provide places n low-income neighborhoods where people can feel a sense of community.Access to public parks and recreational facilities has been strongly linked to reductions in crime and in particular to reduced Juvenile delinquency. Community gardens increase residents' sense of community ownership and stewardship, provide a focus for neighborhood activities, expose inner-city youth to nature, connect people from diverse cultures, reduce crime by cleaning up vacant lots, and build community leaders. In light of these benefits, the Trust for Public Land calls for a revival of the city parks movement of the late 19t h century.We invite all Americans to Join the effort to bring parks, open spaces, and greengages into the nation's neighborhoods where everyone can benefit from them. 7 The residents of many U. S. Cities lack adequate access to parks and open space near their homes. In 2000, 80 percent of Americans were living in metropolitan areas, up from 48 percent in 1940. 1 The park space in many of these metropolitan areas is grossly inadequate. In Atlanta, for example, parkland covers only 3. 8 percent of the city area.Atlanta has no public green space larger than one-third of a square mile. 2 The city has only 7. Acres of park space for every 1,000 residents, compared with a 19. 1 acre average for other medium-low population density cities. 3 The story is much the same in Los Angles, San Jose, New Orleans, and Dallas. Even in cities that have substantial park space as a whole, the residents of many neighborhoods lack access to nearby parks. In New York City, for example, nearly half of the c ity 59 community board districts have less than 1. 5 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents. Low-Income Neighborhoods Are Desperately Short of Park Space Low-income neighborhoods populated by minorities and recent immigrants are especially short f park space. Minorities and the poor have historically been shunted off to live on the wrong side of the tracks, in paved-over, industrialized areas with few public amenities. From an equity standpoint, there is a strong need to redress this imbalance. In Los Angles, white neighborhoods (where whites make up 75 percent or more of the residents) boast 31. 8 acres of park space for every 1,000 people, compared with 1. 7 acres in African-American neighborhoods and 0. Acres in Latino neighborhoods. 5 This inequitable distribution of park space harms the residents of are costs alone are potentially enormous. Lacking places for recreation, minorities and low-income individuals are significantly less likely than whites and high-income individuals t o engage in the regular physical activity that is crucial to good health. Among non-Hispanic white adults in the United States, 34. 9 percent engage in regular leisure-time physical activity, compared with only 25. 4 percent of non- Hispanic black adults and 22. 7 percent of Hispanic adults. And adults with incomes below the poverty level are three times as likely as high-income adults to never be physically active. Even where the government or voters have allocated new money for park acquisition, there is significant risk that wealthier and better-organized districts will grab more than their fair share. The Los Angles neighborhood of South Central-with the city second-highest prove- The Trust for Public Land TTY rate, highest share of children, and lowest access to nearby park space-received only about half as much per-child parks funding as affluent West Los Angles from Proposition K between 1998 and 2000. Case Study: New Parks for Los Angles With 28,000 people crammed into its o ne square mile of low-rise buildings, the city f Manhood in Los Angles County is the most densely populated U. S. City outside the New York City metropolitan area. 10 Its residents-96 percent are Hispanic and 37 percent are children-are often packed five to a bedroom, with entire families living in garages and beds being used on a time-share basis. The Trust for Public Land (TIP) has been working in Manhood since 1996 to purchase, assemble, and convert six separate former industrial sites into a seven-acre riverside park.The project will double Manhood's park space. 11 Before TIP began its work, the future park site was occupied by abandoned arouses and industrial buildings, covered in garbage, graffiti, rusted metal, and barrels of industrial waste. Until the late asses, the parcels contained a glue factory, a transfer facility for solvents, and a truck service facility; one parcel was designated an Environmental Protection Agency Superfine site. 12 TIP is preparing to acquire the final parcel and has developed preliminary designs for the site.The completed park will invite Manhood's residents to gather at its picnic benches, stroll its walking trails, relax on its lawns, and play with their children in its tot lot. The Manhood project is a precursor of Tap's Parks for People-Los Angles program, an ambitious new effort to create parks where they are most desperately needed. The case for more parks in Los Angles is among the most compelling of any American city today. Only 30 percent of its residents live within a quarter mile of a park, compared with between 80 percent and 90 percent in Boston and New York, respectively. 3 If these residents are Latino, African American, or Asian Pacific, they have even less access to green space. TIP has set a goal of creating 25 new open space projects in Los Angles over the would be invested in undeserved minority communities. To accomplish this goal, TIP will help these communities through the gauntlets of public and priv ate fundraising, real estate transactions, strategic planning, and stewardship issues. Los Angles is also the site of Tap's first application of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to assess the need for parks.TIP launched the GIS program in late 2001 in Los 9 O The Trust for Public Land Angles and has since expanded the program to New York, Lass Vegas, Boston, Charlotte, Miami, and Camden and Newark, New Jersey. Tap's GIS system uses census, anemographic and other data to map out areas of high population, concentrated poverty, and lack of access to park space. With GIS technology, TIP can now pinpoint the areas of fastest population growth, study landownership patterns, and acquire key parcels before development demand drives up property prices or destroys open space.Further, GIS helps TIP create contiguous park space, protecting natural habitats and connecting larger parks with linear greengages, rather than create a patchwork quilt of open space. 14 Voters have repeatedly show n their willingness to raise their own taxes to pay for new or improved parks. In the November 2002 elections, voters in 93 communities in 22 states approved ballot measures that committed $2. 9 billion to acquire and restore land for parks and open space.Voters approved 85 percent of such referendums in these elections. 1 5 Voter support in 2002 increased from the already strong 75 percent approval rate for similar measures in November 2001. 16 History of America's City Parks: Inspiration, Abandonment, Revival During the second half of the 19th century, American cities built grand city parks to improve their residents' quality of life. Dubbed 19th-century pleasure grounds by ark historians, the parks include New Work's Central Park and San Franciscans Golden Gate Park.Municipal officials of the time saw these parks as a refuge from the crowded, polluted, stressful cities-places where citizens could experience fresh air, sunshine, and the spiritually transforming power of nature; a place for recreation; and a demonstrating public space where rich and poor would mix on equal terms. The new parks were inspired by â€Å"an anti-urban ideal that dwelt on the traditional prescription for relief from the evils of the city-to escape to the country,† Galen Crane writes.The new American parks thus were conceived as great pleasure grounds meant to be pieces of the country, with fresh air, meadows, lakes, and sunshine right in the city. † 17 The Decline of City Parks spending on city parks declined. The well-to-do and white abandoned the cities for the suburbs, taking public funding with them. Cities and their parks fell into a spiral of decay. Cities cut park maintenance funds, parks deteriorated, and crime rose; many city dwellers came to view places like Central Park as too dangerous to visit. 18 The suburbs that mushroomed at the edges of major cities were often built with little public park space.For residents of these areas, a trip out of the house mea ns a drive to the shopping mall. Beginning around 1990, many city and town councils began forcing developers to add open space to their projects. Still, these open spaces are often effectively off-limits to the general public; in the vast sprawl around Lass Vegas, for example, the newer subdivisions often have open space at their centers, but these spaces are hidden inside a labyrinth of winding streets. Residents of older, low- and middle-income neighborhoods have to get in their cars (if they have one) and drive to find recreation space. 9 More recently, city parks have experienced something of a renaissance which has benefited cities unequally. The trend began in the asses and flourished in the asses as part of a general renewal of urban areas funded by a strong economy. It coincided with a philosophical shift in urban planning away from designing around the automobile and a backlash against the alienating modernism of mid-20th-century public architecture, in favor of public spac es that welcome and engage the community in general and the pedestrian in particular.Government authorities, civic groups, and private agencies around the country have worked together to revivalist UN-down city parks, build greengages along formerly polluted rivers, convert abandoned railroad lines to trails, and plant community gardens in vacant lots. The Park at Post Office Square in Boston shows how even a small but well-designed open space can transform its surroundings. Before work on the park began in the late asses, the square was filled by an exceptionally ugly concrete parking garage, blighting an important part of the financial district.Many buildings on the square shifted their entrances and addresses to other streets not facing the square. 20 Completed in 1992, the 1. -acre park is considered one of the most beautiful city parks in the United States. Its immaculate landscaping-with 125 species of plants, flowers, bushes, and trees-its half-acre lawn, its fountains, and i ts teak and granite benches lure throngs of workers during lunchtime on warm days.Hidden underneath is a seven-floor parking garage for 1,400 cars, which provides financial support for the park. 21 â€Å"It clearly, without any question, has enhanced and changed the entire neighborhood,† says Serge Denis, managing director of Lee Meridian Hotel Boston, which borders the park. â€Å"It's absolutely gorgeous. Not surprisingly, rooms 11 Yet despite such success stories, local communities often lack the transactional and development skills to effectively acquire property and convert it into park space.TIP serves a vital role in this capacity, working closely with local governments and community residents to determine where parks are needed; to help develop funding strategies; to negotiate and acquire property; to plan the park and develop it; and finally, to turn it over to the public. Between 1971 and 2002, the Trust for Public Land's work in cities resulted in the acquisition of 532 properties totaling 40,754 cress. In the nation's 50 largest cities TIP acquired 138 properties totaling 7,640 acres. 3 In the wake of the bursting of the economic bubble of the late asses, states and cities facing severe budget crises are slashing their park spending. With a projected $2. 4 billion budget shortfall in the two-year period beginning July 2003, Minnesota has cut its aid to local governments, hurting city park systems across the state. The Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, confronting a 20 percent cut in its funding through 2004, has been forced to respond by deferring maintenance, closing wading lolls and beaches, providing fewer portable toilets, and reducing its mounted police patrol program.The required program cuts â€Å"represent a huge loss to the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board and to the children of Minneapolis,† says Park Board Superintendent Mary Merrill Anderson. 24 When Georgians state legislature went into session in January 2003, law makers found themselves grappling with a $650 million budget shortfall. Part of their response was to eliminate the planned $30 million in fiscal 2003 funding for the Georgia Community Greengages Program, after appropriating $30 million per fiscal year in 001 and 2002.The legislature also cut the 2004 budget from $30 million to $10 million. The program helps the state's fastest-growing counties set aside adequate green space-at least 20 percent of their land-amid all the new subdivisions and strip malls. Most of the affected counties are around Atlanta, among the nation's worst examples of urban sprawl. For legislators hunting for budget-cutting targets, Georgians $30 million Community Greengages Program â€Å"was like a buffalo in the middle of a group of chickens,† says David Swan, program director for Tap's Atlanta office.The cut â€Å"makes a compelling argument that we need a dedicated funding source, so that green space acquisition isn't depending on fiscal cycles and the legislature. â€Å"25 The federal government has also cut its city parks spending. In 1978, the federal government established the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery (PARR) program to help urban areas rehabilitate their recreational facilities. The program received no funding in fiscal year 2003, down from $28. 9 million in both 2001 and 2002. 26 President Bush's budget proposal for fiscal 2004 also allocates no PARR funding.

The Different Styles of Narration

Narrators in Film and Novel In this chapter, Stam introduces the different styles of narrators in Novel. According to him, they vary from the first-person report-narrator to the multiple letter writers of epistolary novels, to outside-observer narrators of reflexive novels like Don Quixote and Tom Jones, to the once intimate and impersonal narrator of Madame Bovary, to the â€Å"stream-of-consciousness† narrators, on to the intensely objective/subjective obsessional narrators of Robbe-Grillet.What interests Stam is the fact that these different styles of narration cannot be really explained by the conventional terms that exist. That happens because language and grammar are the foundation of the traditional analysis of film and literature and in this context have leaded to a terminology based on them, a terminology such as first-person narrator or third-person narrator. This kind of grammar based terminology and approach, can create confusion and obscure facts like writers shif ting person and changing the relation between narrator and fiction.For Stam though, the most important issue is not the grammatical â€Å"person† as he says, but the control an author has over the intimacy and the distance and how he calibrates the access to a character’s knowledge and consciousness. Literary narration can be complicated through film because of the verbal narration (voice over/speech of characters) and the capacity a film has to present the different appearances of the world.Andre Goudreault says that filmic narration is more powerful than â€Å"monstration† (showing) and â€Å"narration† (telling) and that for him, editing and other cinematic procedures consist of the evaluation and the comments of the filmic narrator. This way films tell stories (narrate) and at the same time stage them (show). Stam explains that  «the film as â€Å"narrator† is not a person (the director) or a character in the fiction but, rather, the abstract instance of a superordinate agency that regulates the spectator’s knowledge ».In other words â€Å"le grand imagier† and the â€Å"meganarrator†, all names attributed to the narrator, can be considered as the conductor of an orchestra who uses the instruments of cinematic expression as musical instruments. The author (Stam) continues his chapter by explaining how a double play of forms can be made possible through sound cinema. Voice-over narration and monstration (showing) mutually reinforce each other like in Sunset Boulevard where the scene is supposed to be a visual manifestation of what Joe Gillis is saying. We will also come across that during my extract analysis.In more modernist films like India Song (1975) and Last year at Marienbad (1961) the two forms contradict each other, in a sense that what is told is not what is being shown. Since sound made its appearance in film, cinema has been as Chion says â€Å"vococentric†, it has an orientation toward the human voice, which, in the cinema, according to Stam can provide information and focus for spectatorial identification. A debate has started about whether a film can actually narrate. Film theorists believe that filmic â€Å"narration† is only a fiction of the human mind.They don’t argue of course about films being able to develop certain processes of â€Å"narration† but they state that these processes can only be considered as cheap copies of a â€Å"narrator†. This logic though can also be valid for novelistic narrators. Theorist like Christian Metz, consider film to be a deployment of â€Å"impersonal† narration in which case the narrator is both the one that provides the fictional world and the one that comments on this same world. Stam chooses to stand on another important matter of narratology, the relationship between the events told and the temporal standpoint of the telling.For example, whether the telling if the story is takin g place after the events of the story, which is called a retrospective narration, or prior, in which case, as he explains, we have an oracular or prophetic narration. In some cases, the telling and the events are simultaneous or even interpolated, meaning that they take place during the intervals between the moments of the main action. For Stam, the question is how all these different settings of time manage to be translated within adaptations. There is the case of â€Å"embedded narration†, where a story contains another story inside it, in a narrative mise-en-abyme.This is the case of the extract I have chosen to analyze. These substories go by the term of hypodiegesis. This occurs when a story contains a sub-story. For Genette, the term â€Å"diegesis† refers to three things, the time and space, the participants, and the events in a narrative. Around this term he creates terms such as â€Å"autodiegetic† (when the narrator generates and tells his own story), â€Å"homodiegetic† (when the narrator is part of the story but is not the protagonist) and â€Å"heterodiegetic† (when the narrator is not part of the story at all). â€Å"Autodiegetic† comes from the greek word â€Å" †, â€Å"homodiegetic† from â€Å" and â€Å"heterodiegetic† from â€Å" †. â€Å" † means â€Å"narrative† and â€Å" † has the meaning of â€Å"itself†. â€Å" †means it has a resemblance with something and â€Å" † that it is something different. So when the narrator is autodiegetic it means he is narrating himself, when he is homodiegetic, he narrating about something similar with him and when he is heterodiegetic he is narrating about something different that him. Stam adds that the narrator can be single or collective, a group narrator and that off screen narrators can be single, multiple or even contradictory like in the case of Citizen Kane.He also makes a distinction between living and dead narrators. A dead narrator would be when at the time the narrator is talking it has been known to us that he is already dead in the story. So the narration would probably take place after the events. Stam continues his analysis by referring to reliability. Narrators can be completely suspect (like Leonard in Memento, the movie I have chosen to analyze) ,more or less reliable, or serve as dramatized spokespersons for the implied author. The modern period has a taste for changing narrators and unreliable ones.This is the case of the bildungsroman, a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood and in which character change is extremely important. Sometimes, also, the reliability of a narrator as the governess in James’s Turn of the Screw can cause difficulty for literary interpretation. Cases of â€Å"lying narration† are also offered in the cinema. What is challenging for Stam, is to find a way to reproduce in a way all the ambiguity and readerly decipherment of the text, on a cinematic register.Self-obsessed neurotic narrators like Humbert Humbert in Lolita, tend to be relativized by adaptation in a severe manner. While the narrator in the novel is â€Å"autodiegetic†, in the film he switches to â€Å"homodiegetic†. The problem is that the discursive power an unreliable narrator possesses is drastically reduced by film because of the multitrack nature of the film. In a novel, there is only one track available and that is the verbal track, which is of course controlled by the narrator.In a film though, even if the narrator can partially control the verbal track by the use of voice-over or character dialogue, that same control remains subject to a great amount of constraints such as the presence of other characters, voices, objects etc. While it’s not impossible to portrait an unreliable first-person narration in the cinema, all the problems mentioned above lead us to understand that it would be extremely difficult and could only be succeeded by relentless subjectification in almost all the cinematic registers.Point of View This chapter of â€Å"The Theory and Practice of Adaptation† tries to answer questions concerning focalization and point of view which is a term that has been regarded as problematic. â€Å"Point of view† can either refer to an ideological orientation, an emotional stance or even to the angle from which a story is told. Unlike literature, this term in cinema is always literal because of the camera set-ups that are required. Nevertheless, it can be figurative too at the same time, through the use of cinematic means.For Stam, an authorial point of view can be sensed in films. He explains that the film’s multitrack and multiform nature are to be seriously considered if we want to understand the cinematic point of view since each and every filmic track and procedure can convey one. Next, Stam takes interest in the relationship between the knowledge of the character and that of the narrator, something that has been referred to as â€Å"focalization†. According to Todorov, three were the possibilities: narrators could either know more, less or as much as the characters.Of course, one might argue that quantity is not always the case, since the two can also know differently. Gennete chooses to make a distinction between narration (who speaks or tells) and focalization (who sees) and then separates this last term into three sub-terms. â€Å"Zero focalization† refers to narrators who know much more than the rest of the characters. â€Å"Internal focalization† occurs when events are filtered through a character and is subdivided into â€Å"fixed† for when it is limited to a single character or â€Å"variable† for when it’s passed from character to character.Finally, â€Å"external focalization† takes place when the rea der cannot access to point of view and motivations and can only be a simple observer of external behavior. Andre Goudrault and Francois Jost argued that the term of focalization can create problems when it comes to the visual medium of cinema since the sound film has the ability to show what a character sees and say what he thinks at the same time. They proposed a separation of these two functions by the use of two terms. The first term is â€Å"ocularization† and refers to the relation of what the camera shows and what the character is supposed to be seeing. Focalization† was used by the two narratologists to characterize the cognitive point of view adopted by the story. Stam also examines how â€Å"point of view† intersects with â€Å"style†. Adaptations have been considered less modernist than their sources but that is not the case with adaptations like the one of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando by Sally Potter in 1992 or Bunuel’s That Obscure Ob ject of Desire, where, in the contrary, the novel’s modernism is amplified. The author chooses to conclude this chapter not by answering questions, but rather by asking them.He is interested in the handling of temporality and wonders if instances of Genette’s â€Å"pause† take place in the novel and the adaptation, as montage sequences or as static close shots without action. He mentions Cristian Metz’s eight syntagmatic types in the cinema (one-shot sequence or autonomous shot, parallel syntagma, bracket syntagma, descriptive syntagma, alterning syntagma, scence, episodic sequence, ordinary sequence) and asks how these types are useful and wonders about the existence of any correlations with temporality in film and their nature.He questions the role of description in novel and film and wants to know if there is a possibility of pure (unnarrativized) description in any of these two mediums and finally sets the question of stylistic equivalences across the m. MEMENTO [pic] Memento is a film directed by Christopher Nolan and released in the year 2000. He wrote the story with his brother Jonathan Nolan, based on a short story published by Jonathan called Memento Mori. The whole film can be divided in 22 colored and 22 black and white sequences plus the opening sequence which runs backward and is shown in slow motion.In order to understand the analysis of the sequence chosen (1. 22. 58 – 1. 48. 43) a brief introduction to the movie’s plot is necessary: Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) is a former insurance investigator whose wife was killed during an assault in their home. During that assault he sustained a head trauma and now suffers from a memory dysfunction which makes him unable to create any new memories after the incident. He remembers of everything prior the incident though like who he is, what his job was and everything about his life with his wife.But each time he wakes up he can’t remember where he is, why he is there or what he did and who he met the day before. He cannot trust anyone and his whole life is one big constant puzzle solving. There is only one thing that motivates him and that is to hunt down and kill his wife murderer. To collect the facts needed to avenge his wife he has developed a strategy that consists of taking polaroid pictures of everyone he meets, of the place he lives in and so on while also getting tattooed on his body every important information he comes across. pic]Leonard’s tattooed body In his investigation he is helped by two persons, Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) and Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss). The viewers of Memento find out pretty fast that a mentally ill character like the one of Leonard Shelby is an extremely unreliable narrator. Nollan gives us hints about the unreliability of human memory . [pic][pic] We can also see Leonard being manipulated by others and making mistakes while collecting information on his wife’s murderer. [pic][pic] We can see here that he mistakes the I of the license plate for a 1What is very interesting in the revenge story In addition to Leonard’s revenge story is the embedded story of Sammy Jankis and his wife which we will encounter in the sequence I have chosen to analyze. [pic] EXTRACT ANALYSIS Introduction The selected movie extract (1. 22. 58 – 1. 48. 43) is a sequence shot in Scope like the entire film is and in black and white as half of the movie’s sequences are. Those sequences were shot that way in order to be separated from the colored ones. Black and white sequences are shown in a chronologically forward order whilst the colored ones are shown backwards and don’t have a linear narrative structure.In this specific extract, Leonard Shelby narrates part of Sammy Jankis’s story, probably the most important one because it describes how he killed his wife by giving her an overdose of insulin. As it is explained to the viewers earlier in the film, Sammy suffers of the same condition as Leonard. Leonard investigated his case when he was still healthy and working for the insurance company and refused Sammy’s insurance claim by proving it was a psychological condition rather than a physical one. Relation between Stam’s text and the Memento sequenceStam refers in his chapter Narrators in Film and Novel to the case of â€Å"embedded narration† and how embedded narratives generate hypodiegesis. Hypodiegesis occurs when a substory is embedded within stories. In the case of this extract, the story is the one of Leonard’s hunting down his wife’s killer while dealing with his condition , and the substory , the one of Sammy Jankis’s condition and how his wife tries to deal with it. In the sequence Leonard is speaking on the phone with someone yet unknown to the viewers who is supposed to be a police officer.During their conversation, â€Å"Lenny† talks about his condition while comparing it to Sammyâ €™s and decides to speak about what happened to him and his wife. This is when hypodiegesis occurs. [pic] Once this embedded narrative begins we are the scene is no longer situated in the same place and the characters have changed. As Leonard narrates the camera serves as a visual manifestation of what he is describing. We see him in a room with Sammy’s wife crying just after we hear him speaking about how she came to see him in his office.Then he talks about how, persuaded he could â€Å"snap out of† this mental condition, she put him through his final exam. [pic][pic] Then we are transported back to the Jankis’s home where Leonard does not describe the fact that she tricks her husband into giving her three consecutive insulin shots (as it is shown) but only talks about how she found a way to test him hoping she would call his bluff. As Stam says â€Å"a voice over narration gradually gives way to direct monstration, yet we somehow take what is monstrated to emanate from the initial narrative†.What makes this substory so interesting is the fact that the story of Sammy Jankis may in fact be the story of Leonard Shelby. Perhaps this whole parallel story wants to show the viewer that Leonard's own wife was killed not by a murderer but by Leonard himself. There are several hints that point out the lack of the character’s reliability and lead us to conclude that his substory is a fabrication of his own subconscious. Reliability is actually a very interesting issue for Stam and in this case our narrator belongs to â€Å"those who are almost completely suspect† as they are called in Stam’s text.There are three important moments in the sequence that help us understand Leonard’s unreliability. The first one is when he takes in his hands a picture of himself (which later we learn it was took the moment he killed his wife’s murderer) and turns it the other way so that he doesn’t see it anymore. At the same time he says â€Å"It’s completely fucked because nobody believes you, it’s amazing what a little brain damage will do for your credibility. I guess it’s some kind of poetic justice for not believing Sammy†. [pic][pic] The fact that he hides the picture shows the viewers that he does not want to see it.He does not want to see himself while he tells Sammy‘s story, because he wants to forget that it is actually his story. He is lying to himself and wants to believe his lies. His words have also great meaning. He says that nobody believes him and that he has no credibility. He is again talking about himself because it is he that does not believe himself and he knows that he is not credible. His subconscious is projected to the viewers, we can see how deep inside he knows he is lying and he is fighting to believe these lies.As he says he didn’t believe Sammy, or, maybe he didn’t believe himself? The second hint is given to the sp ectators when he looks at one of his tattoos which is â€Å"remember Sammy Jankis† and at the same time says on the phone â€Å"Like Sammy. What if I‘d done something like Sammy? †. [pic] In this case, a doubt is raised, both in our minds and in Leonard’s mind. What if he had done something like Sammy? What if he had killed his wife without knowing it? The ending will show that he actually did kill his wife exactly how Sammy is supposed to have.The tattoo reminds him of Sammy, he needs that tattoo, he needs to be reminded of Sammy, otherwise there would be no meaning for him to continue on leaving. He needs to mask the facts in such a way so that he’ll have a purpose to go on. Remembering Sammy Jankis means to forget about what he did. The last moment that points out to Leonard’s lack of reliability is the most visual one. While Leonard describes how Sammy was put in a home after the death of his wife, we can see Sammy sitting in a chair at t he exact home. The camera starts to zoom in on him, when, at a certain point, a doctor passes in front of him and we have a cut.When the action starts again, the doctor gets out of the way and we can get a glimpse (for exactly 2 frames) of Leonard sitting in that same chair instead of Sammy, just before the scene ends. It is obvious that Nolan wants the viewers to see that Sammy and Leonard are the same person and that Leonard is actually describing his own story. [pic][pic] Conclusion Memento is a film with unique narrative structure. The story behind it is rather simple but the narrative structure is extremely elaborate and constant attention from its spectators is needed.The lack of short memory of the protagonist and and the chaos following him and his attempts to put together the puzzle of his wife’s murder are linked to whole storytelling in a very intelligent way. The fact that the main plot’s narrative structure is backwards and that its conclusion is revealed in the opening sequence, along with the mix of color and black and white sequences, can sometimes confuse the spectators as much as the main character. The spectators are this way driven to identify themselves in Leonard, sharing with him the confusion and the feelings of each revelation, as well as those of the disappointing truth.