Restricted by cult of domesticity ideology Essay

Restricted by cult of domesticity ideology - Essay Example In 1848, feminists held the Seneca Falls Convention, led by such thinkers as Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. In response to the cult of domesticity, this convention revised the Declaration of Independence into a Declaration of Sentiments, which contained a specific list of grievances held by women against men. This convention did not mark a sudden end to centuries of forced gender roles: in fact, 1950's television did much to usher in a newer era for the cult of domesticity, with its shows about model housewives who were able to vacuum, cook dinners, and handle minor household difficulties, all while smiling and wearing pearls. However, there is also a great deal of literature concerning the dissatisfied women that raised families under this line of thinking. Rebecca Harding Davis' novel Life in the Iron Mills and Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes are two examples of works that explore the restrictions placed upon women by this cult of domesticity, using rhetorical devices and images richly to show the harm of this paradigm. Both stories parallel in their consideration of family roles, mutual obligations, and the ways in which gender expectations carry a heavy toll. The women that are central to the novel toil under the sway of men who are too boorish to notice the harm that the rules of domesticity are having on those around them. Both protagonists are men with blue-collar jobs, who come from families that have just entered the United States. Hugh is the main character of Life in the Iron Mills, a Welsh furnace worker, whose cousin, Deborah, secretly loves him. Davis uses a wealth of imagery to describe Hugh's life - his last name is Wolfe, which is suggestive of the primal forces that drive workers at the lowest end of the economic spectrum - and his routine seems to revolve around "eating rank pork and drinking molasses with occasional nights in jail for some drunken excess." Deborah, though, clearly suffers under the idea that the female is in charge of domestic affairs: after long days of picking cotton, she then is supposed to bring his meal the foundry every night, nursing a love that he is too self-involved to notice. The main character of Angela's Ashes is McCourt himself, as a young child who just has returned from the United States to Ireland, because life in America did not live up to its promise. Note the use of juxtaposition to describe his mother Angela, seen as "a pious defeated mother moaning by the fire." Three of the images (pious, mother, by the fire) could be seen as nurturing, positive images; however, the insertion of the words "defeated" and "moaning" in between those other images undermines the warmth of the domestic scene, showing the turmoil that rakes at Angela's soul. It is truly sad to see the depths to which Angela falls, because her connection with Frank's father began with an ill-fated "knee-trembler" (or sex against a wall, gaining its name from the couple "straining so hard their knees tremble with the excitement that's in it"(15). Of course, this one night of dissolution leaves Angela pregnant. If she had

Essay Childhood Obesity Essay Example for Free

Essay Childhood Obesity Essay Childhood Obesity is a health issue, cause by having excess body weight as well as excess of body fat. This is a serious problem for the future of society especially now that our children are not getting enough physical activities because of technology and unhealthy eating patterns. Children who are obese are likely to be obese as adults. Therefore, this habits can take our children to have serious health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high cholesterol, and many others health problems. The environment in which we live is been also part of this problem. Children are surrounded by unhealthy commercials and bad influence from their parents. Beverages like sodas which contains approximately 400 calories, and unhealthy choices of meals have contributed to this epidemic cause. Leading our children by giving them examples of how to prevent this kind of problems could be a solution for a better lifestyle and future. It is important that parents support their children by helping them do a diet and physical activities. If your child look at you as a good example of how to stay healthy, they are more likely to be and stay active for their own. Instead of leaving them playing video games, take them to the park and have fun. Being able to spend more time with your kids and being part of their life, can take them to be better not only mentally, but physically. Childhood obesity is been an enormous problem for our society. Furthermore, it is our responsibility to help the future generations by giving them a good example of living and love for those who needs the most. Web, www.obesityaction.org, www.healthychildren.org

Reflecting on Individual Professional Practice with Gibbs cycle

Reflecting on Individual Professional Practice with Gibbs cycle For the purpose of this essay, I will use Gibbs (1988) Reflective Learning Cycle to reflect on an aspect of individual professional practice, which requires development in preparation for my role as a Registered Nurse. Gibbs (1988) Reflective Learning Cycle encourages a clear description of a situation, analysis of feelings, evaluation of the experience and analysis to make sense of the experience to examine what you would do if the situation arose again. To keep within the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Code of Professional Conduct guidelines (2008a) and to maintain confidentiality the use of names or places will not be used throughout this essay. Description Whilst on placement working on a general ward during my third year I was asked to research a drug I was unsure about by my mentor. On my way to research the drug I was approached by a health care assistant who asked me if I could assist her with a patient who was lying in a soiled bed. I chose to help the health care assistant as I thought this was priority as I could look up the drug at any point in the day as it was for my own learning and development and wasnt urgent. After I had helped the health care assistant, my mentor asked if I had researched the drug. I explained that I had gone to help the health care assistant and would now look up the drug, which I then did. My mentor then told me that I needed to improve on my time management, as I had not looked up the drug when she asked me to. She carried on explaining that when I become a Registered Nurse I would need to know drugs and what they are used for. This situation left me questioning which was the priority, the patients ne eds or my own professional learning and development. Feelings I automatically assisted the health care assistant in making the patient comfortable as I felt that this was the priority over researching the drug. I remember thinking that I could do this at home if the ward became busy. I felt annoyed with myself for not speaking up to my mentor about the issue as I had thought I had made the right decision to help the patient. I was concerned about the patients comfort and felt I could not justify leaving the patient lying in a soiled bed because I had to research a drug. Nurses need to be able to justify the decisions they make (NMC 2008a). After the incident, being told by my mentor that I needed to improve on my time management skills because I chose to assist the health care assistant confused me a little. This practice experience made me feel as though I needed to learn and develop more regarding my time management skills. I decided I would have to research into the meaning of time management as I thought that my time management skills were fine. I was always on time for my shift and I would make a list of the jobs I needed to do and prioritise them. This experience made me question how I was prioritising my workload at present. Evaluation I chose to assist the health care assistant in ensuring the patient was clean and comfortable and felt that this was the priority in this situation. As an accountable practitioner the NMC (2008a) states you must make the care of people your first concern, treating them as individuals and respecting their dignity which I did. I could understand what my mentor was explaining to me, that as a Registered Nurse I must be able to know what different drugs are and what they are used for. As an accountable practitioner, I must have the knowledge and skills for safe and effective practice when working without direct supervision, recognize, and work within the limits of my competence. I must also keep my knowledge and skills up to date throughout my working life and I must take part in appropriate learning and practice activities that maintain and develop my competence and performance (NMC 2008a). Post-registration education and practice (Prep) is a set of Nursing & Midwifery Council standards and guidance, which is designed to help you provide a high standard of practice and care. Prep helps you to keep up to date with new developments in practice and encourages you to think and reflect for yourself. It also enables you to demonstrate to the people in your care, your colleagues and yourself that you are keeping up to date and developing your practice. Prep provides an excellent framework for your continuing professional development (CPD), which, although not a guarantee of competence, but is a key component of clinical governance (NMC 2008b). Following this experience my concern was which is the priority and which was not and that if I had have researched the drug I would have been leaving the patient in a soiled bed until I had done it. Analysis As Individuals, we do not invent the concept of time, but we learn about it, both as a concept and a social institution, from childhood onwards. In the Western world, time has been constructed around devices of measurement, such as clocks, calendars and schedules (Elias 1992). A study by Waterworth (1995) explored the value of nursing practice from the viewpoint of practitioners, she identified that time with patients is important, but raises the question of how nurses manage their time. The importance of time management will strike me at some point in my career as a Registered Nurse. I will be inundated with work and I will need to evaluate how to manage my time effectively. Time management is a dynamic process. It is constant actions and communications between you and your goals and dealing with changing situations (Brumm 2000). Time management tends to go hand in hand with good prioritisation skills, which mean managing your time, deciding upon priorities and planning accordingly, this can be one of the most difficult skills to acquire (Hole 2009). Managing time appropriately will reduce stress and increase productivity. There are three basic steps to time management. The first step requires time to be set aside for planning and establishing priorities. The second step requires completing the highest priority task whenever possible and finishing one task before you start another. In the final step the nurse must reprioritise what tasks will be accomplished based on new information received (Marquis and Huston 2009). We use planning in all aspects of our lives. In nursing, we often call it a care plan, and nurses use this process to guide their practice. The nursing process, or Assess, Plan, Implement and evaluate (APIE), can be used successfully as a time management tool. APIE is a systematic, rational method of planning and providing care but if you change, the meaning to read it is a systematic, rational method of planning and accomplishing a workable time management plan this can be a great tool for nurses to use to manage their time effectively (Brumm 2000). Assess/Analyze Collect and organise data and form a statement of actual or potential time management needs. Plan/Prioritize Formulate your plan. This involves devising goals and expected outcomes, setting priorities, and identifying interventions to help reach the goals. Implement/Intervene Put your plan into action. Evaluate Assess your outcomes and see how you measure up against your goals. There will be constant demands on my time and attention and it may be difficult to identify exactly what my priorities should be. In patient care, priorities can change rapidly and I will need to be able to constantly re-assess situations and respond appropriately. Priority setting is the process of establishing a preferential sequence for addressing nursing interventions. The nurse begins planning by deciding which intervention requires attention first, which second and so on. Instead of rank-ordering interventions, nurses can group them as having high, medium, and low priority. Life threatening problems such as loss of respiratory or cardiac function are designated as high priority. Health-threatening problems, such as acute illness and decreased coping ability, are assigned medium priority because they may result in delayed development or cause destructive physical or emotional changes. A low-priority problem is one that arises from normal developmental needs or that requires only minimal nursing support (Kozier et al 2008). The assumption is that priorities can be determined, and decisions made as to what is most important, and that this can be followed by appropriate nursing actions. To establish priorities is to question what will be the consequence if this is not done immediately. During this experience questioning what will be the consequence of not helping the health care assistant? The patient would have had to wait whilst I researched the drug and would have been left lying in urine and faeces. This could cause skin excoriation to the patient and they would have been left uncomfortable and undignified. I would not have been providing a high standard of practice and care as stated in the NMC (2008a) and I could be held accountable for this as a Registered Nurse. Urinary incontinence and faecal incontinence should be managed in a manner that is unobtrusive, reliable, and comfortable. The patient will need to be attended to quickly, in order to prevent skin damage, relieve discomfort and restore dignity. Nurses need to be aware of the potential skin problems that may result from incontinence (Baillie 2005). The presence of moisture from urine and sweat increases friction and shear, skin permeability and microbial load (Jeter and Lutz 1996). If a patient has been incontinent of urine and faeces, their interaction can result in the formation of ammonia, leading to a rise in pH and an increase in the activity of faecal enzymes that damage the skin (Baillie 2005). The importance of changing a soiled product promptly in cases of faecal incontinence to prevent skin excoriation has also been emphasised by Gibbons (1996). I must act at all times to identify and minimise risk to patients and clients (NMC 2008a). A research article and news story about student nurses and bedside care produced a phenomenal response on nursingtimes.net. The study authors Helen Allan and Pam Smith (2010) speak out  saying that given the current pressures, qualified nurses are unable to deliver bedside care. The perception is that technical care is valued over and above bedside care as a source of learning for students future roles, leaving them feeling unprepared to be registered nurses. Their research showed that students conceptualize nursing differently to qualified staff because of an intensified division of labour between registered and non-registered nursing staff. As students, we often observe health care assistants performing bedside care and registered nurses undertaking technical tasks. The absence of clear role models leads students to question bedside care as part of their learning and to put greater value on learning technical skills. In relation to my reflective experience my mentor suggested the technical task in researching the drug was the priority in relation to the bedside care of the patient therefore it is not surprising to find that student nurses are unclear as to what is a source of learning in preparation for our roles as Registered Nurses. Helping patients with personal hygiene is one of the most fundamental and crucial relationship-building skills available to nurses, regardless of their seniority and clinical experience, student nurses should embrace these opportunities while we do not have the other time pressures and we can then reflect on our experiences. These skills will prove invaluable in delivering, overseeing and evaluating meaningful, holistic care (Bowers 2009). Registered Nurses hold a position of responsibility and other people rely on them. They are professionally accountable to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), as well as having a contractual accountability to their employer and are accountable to the law for their actions. The NMC (2008a) code states that As a professional, you are personally accountable for actions and omissions in your practice and must always be able to justify your decisions. The NMC (2008a) code outlines the standards that I must work according to, what is expected of me as a registered professional by colleagues, employers, and members of the public. It also outlines what my professional responsibilities and accountabilities are. I may sometimes be faced with situations, which will require me to challenge, and question things that they are asking me to do if I feel that these things are unsafe or are not in the best interests of the patient or organisation. It is well recognised that it can be difficult to address these issues due to factors such as fear of the consequences, embarrassment, and lack of support like in my experience as mentioned above. Semple and Kenkre (2002) point out that the UKCC (2001) [now the NMC] reported the research of Moira Attree, which highlighted that fact that nurses are often reluctant to raise concerns about standards of care because they feared either inaction or retribution from employers. Nurses may also be inhibited b y fears of being ostracised by the team if deciding to speak out against poor practice. This is another aspect of my individual professional practice, which requires development, and I will try to question situations in the future if I feel they are not in the best interests of the patient. Being overwhelmed by work and time constraints will lead to increased errors, the omission of important tasks and general feelings of stress and ineffectiveness. Time management is a skill, which is learned and improves with practice (Marquis and Huston 2009). Literature on time management in nursing is mainly unreliable, providing a number of tips on how to manage time, along with descriptions of processes or strategies. The order for thinking about the process varies, ranging from setting objectives as the first step to working out how time is being used with the aid of time logs (Waterworth 2003). Determining the importance of tasks or priorities is part of the process, although the stage at which this should occur varies between authors. The main theme in literature is that nurses need to think about their own time management, with the main message being that individual nurses can manage their time. The reality of time management in nursing practice has been subject to experimental investigations, although studies on nurses work organization have found time management problematic, with nurses compensating for lack of time by developing strategies in an attempt to complete their work (Bowers et al. 2001). Conclusion Time management is a dynamic process and tends to go hand in hand with good prioritising skills. If you cannot prioritise you, will waste time and be inefficient. This can cause stress to yourself and your fellow team members, as well as causing potential harm to your patients. An efficient way to organising your time can be to use the nursing process as explained in the essay to Analyze, Prioritize, Intervene and evaluate. After my research into time management and prioritising, I believe that my mentor was wrong to question my time management skills. I had thought about which was the greater priority in this situation and I still believe that the patient was. The patient would have been at risk from skin excoriation and would have been left uncomfortable and undignified. As a Registered Nurse, I will be accountable for my actions and in the future, if the same situation arose again I feel that I would not do anything different other than to speak up and justify my decisions. I identified and minimised risk to that patient and as a Registered Nurse, I will hold a position of responsibility and other people will rely on me. Although saying this, my priorities as a Registered Nurse may be different to those as a student nurse and my continuing professional development will be extremely important. I must make the care of my patients my first concern at all times, treating them as individuals and respectin g their dignity (NMC 2008a). Action Plan With the increasing emphasis on efficiency and effectiveness in health care, how I manage my time will be an important consideration. Time management is recognized as an important component of work performance and nursing practice. As a newly qualified Registered Nurse, I will have to have excellent time management skills and be able to prioritise care appropriately. To achieve this I will: Break down my day to find out how long it takes me to do certain tasks. Using the nursing process as a tool, I will write a list in priority order and cross of tasks as they are completed and I will keep evaluating my list during the shift. I will delegate tasks to other members of the team where necessary. Through the reflection of this experience, I am now aware that I also need more development to challenge and question things that I feel are not in the best interests of the patients. To achieve this I will: I will speak up and justify my actions at all times. I will research more into assertiveness and confidence skills. Word Count: 2867.

Grow Little Cell Grow! Investigating Neurogenesis Essay -- Biology Ess

Grow Little Cell Grow! Investigating Neurogenesis Neurogenesis, the production of new nerve cells, has been a revolutionary finding as nerve formation has always been thought to end with adulthood. It has not been until recently that such dogma has been contradicted as research findings report that neurogenesis continues in the hippocampus throughout most of the adult life of mammals and primates (1). Recent correlations have been further made between neurogenesis and depression as the latter depletes neuron cells in the brain while antidepressive drugs have demonstrated to increase neuronal growth (2). Neurons are the building blocks of the nervous system as they are responsible for the input, processing and transmission of information. Neurons are derived from stem cells as the latter differentiate into specialized cells and make progenitor cells which are responsible for the formation of neuron and glial cells. Although the majority of neurons are formed during the pre-natal and perinatal stage of development, neuron formation continues in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus (2). The hippocampus, which lies beneath the cortex is a major factor of learning and memory formation and can indirectly influence emotion. Progenitor cells which are present in the sub ventricular zone of the hippocampus are responsible for such growth as they produce daughter neuron cells through division (2). In the 1960s, Joseph Altman from MIT reported that new neurons were being produced in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus of adult rat brains. Although such findings were groundbreaking, they failed to create the stir that Elizabeth Gould's 1998 study caused . The Princeton University neurobiologist demonstrated that the marmoset b... ...is is a complex issue with an array of possibilities for the future. Further investigations will have to answer some of the questions and issued raised. Sources (1)The Scientist Magazine , Human neurogenesis. Group demonstrates that adult human brains grow new cells after all. http://www.the-scientist.com/ (2)American Scientist Magazine, Depression and the Birth and Death of Brain Cells. http://www.sigmaxi.org/amsci/articles/00articles/Jacobs.html (3)National Depressive and Manic Depressive Association, Antidepressants and Brain Cell Growth. http://ndma.com/web05/web9152.htm (4) Neuroscience for Kids, New Neurons in Neocortex? New Study Says NO! http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/newneu.html (5)National Institute of Mental Health, Learning From Songbirds About Adult Brain Generation. (6) The Scientist Magazine. http://www.the-scientist.com/

Rhetorical Analysis on JFK’s Inaugural Address Essay

Majority of the people know the eminent line â€Å"ask not what your country can do for you- ask what you can do for your country† (Kennedy). That is indubitably one of the most well known segments of his speech, however, there are other parts that made it memorable. He knew he was not only speaking to America, but other countries as well. His speech keeps the audience both focused on what is important and understanding of the point he is trying to make. He sought to send a message to the nation about the Cold War and his hope for peace along with his desire to inspire the nation. Throughout his speech, President John F. Kennedy uses parallelism, ellipsis, and antithesis to display to the audience that he was ready to be president and take on its challenges. Of the many rhetorical devices that President JFK used in his speech, parallelism was perhaps the most effective. The repetition of â€Å"Let both sides† amplifies his wants for unity and peace. His first use of â€Å"Let both sides† begins with talking about unity not division. As Kennedy repeats this for the second and third time, he includes how all countries should come together rather than to stand alone and take part in wars against each other. The world should succeed and prosper as one. President John F. Kennedy focuses on the idea of unity and peace throughout his speech. With those two factors, the world can undertake great things without the need for war, tension, or other harmful actions towards opposing countries. In the beginning of his speech Kennedy is willing to â€Å"pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardships, support any friend, oppose any foe†. This shows his willingness to fight for what he wants for the country: liberty, peace, unity. There are numerous forms of parallelism in JFK’s speech; however, there are few which have become infamou s and recognizable immediately. Kennedy’s speech is short and to the point, making it very effective. JFK had moral intentions and wanted to help his nation along with the rest of the world. This is clear by his use of ellipsis when he says â€Å"This much we pledge- and more† (Kennedy). By saying â€Å"and more†, President Kennedy expects the people to accomplish and partake in more than the ideas that were listed. Not listing numerous ideas made his point clear and effective. It allows his audience to think about what else can be done for the country. Kennedy makes it clear that he intends to do anything and everything in his power for peace and liberty. He is telling the audience  that what he said was not all that can be done, and that they were just examples of what should be done to reach that goal. Kennedy uses ellipsis when he mentions â€Å"a celebration of freedom- symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning- signifying renewal, as well as change† (Kennedy). By strengthening his statement on the celebration of freedom, it confirms that with this freedom comes a new beginning alongside change. President Kennedy states this in the first sentence of his speech, which fortifies the idea of freedom and what needs to be done in order to attain it. By the use of antithesis, JFK makes his speech memorable by inverting his sentences. Kennedy goes on to say that America should â€Å"never negotiate out of fear. But let us ever fear to negotiate† (Kennedy). This statement outlines the entire purpose of President Kennedy’s speech-spreading peace and assuring the success and survival of liberty. Kennedy’s most famous line â€Å"ask not what your country can do for you- ask what you can do for your country† (Kennedy) creates an idea that is still used tod ay. The idea it generates is that citizens should be giving more to the country than they expect to receive in return. It incorporates the audience into his speech, which makes the listener feel as if they can also make a great impact on the world. It shows that America is not afraid to fight for what is right and the country is not afraid of working for what the entire world should be aiming for. Most inaugural addresses are quickly forgotten, but using the correct rhetorical devices in a proper and effective way can make any speech memorable. President John F. Kennedy’s speech is a prime example of a speech that stuck with people and is still be referred to time to time. Kennedy’s speech has stuck with the country for over four decades and will continue to have a great impact on the world. Kennedy knew what to say and when to say it through his own style and grandiloquence. He uses many different rhetorical devices to achieve the main goal of his speech. That being America is not afraid to fight for what is right and let the enemies know that America is not afraid of its enemies. Pres ident Kennedy uses parallelism to emphasize the key points and make sure that his message is given clearly.

Why has it been difficult to obtain peace in Northern Ireland?

There is a large variety of social, political and religious reasons why it has been hard to obtain peace in Northern Ireland; there have also been many events that occurred in Northern Ireland that seriously hindered peace progress talks. These are four events that seriously effect peace in Northern Ireland right up to the current day, the Civil Rights Movement, Bloody Sunday, Hunger Strikes and Peace Movements. All these events will be described in my piece of work, I will identify why they happened and who was involved. I will also explain how a power sharing agreement took so long to be put into place because of the impact these events had on the prejudice between Catholic Nationalists and Protestant Unionists. The Civil Rights Movement was a series of Nationalist Catholic marches held between 1967 and 1972 in Northern Ireland, these marches were organised to protest against the discrimination Catholics faced at that time. This discrimination came in many forms for example Catholics found it harder to get houses and some families were on the waiting list for years while single Protestants were placed in homes before them. They also found it hard to get their children good education, or even get themselves a job because many employers would only take on Protestants. It even effected voting as not every Catholic was aloud to take part in the election campaign. So the Nationalist Catholics organised many marches demanding equal rights and to stop prejudice against them. Though these marches were organised with peaceful intent they often turned into mass riots and conflict between Catholic and Protestant civilians. Sometimes it was suspected terrorists had infiltrated peaceful marches and caused violence that often escalated into riots and these caused innocent people to get seriously injured. One of the most famous riots was the Battle of Bogside; this riot took place in Derry and lasted from 12-14 August 1969. The riot saw over five hundred women and children evacuated out of the area and caused over 1000 casualties. It was clear the Irish police and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) alone could not deal with mass violence on this scale so to try and stop the riots the British Government sent paratroopers in to try and obtain peace. The paratrooper's main objective was to try and destroy the IRA which was quickly reforming. But many Irish people saw the paratroopers as occupational forces and because of this they where largely hated by Catholics. This led to a lot of tension in and around the country and even led to a slight collapse in the Northern Irish government as they only half met the demands of the people involved with the Civil Rights Movement. This caused uproar as Nationalist Catholics still felt discriminated against so they continued to act out violently in public protests, this lead to one of the most tragic days in the history of Northern Ireland, Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday was the 30th of January 1972, it began as a march Londonderry organised by the Civil Rights Movement to protest against internment. Internment began in 1971, this was a law passed by the British Government allowing suspected terrorist in Northern Ireland to be arrested and imprisoned without charge. Catholic Nationalist was strongly against internment as most of the people arrested where Catholic, when there where almost equal amounts of terrorist on both sides. Some of the Catholics that were imprisoned became subject to torture like lack of sleep, this lead to national outrage. Pre-organised marches at this point by British Government 15,000 Catholics still congregated in the middle of the city on the 30th of January 1972 and began a protest march. But later that day violence began as Catholics began to throw rocks and other objects at British paratroopers who responded by opening fire on a crowd of unarmed civilians and killed thirteen of them, some of which were shot in the back. This did not help the peace process at all; the nation was again outraged, the little trust between Nationalist and paratroopers had now been totally destroyed and the deaths of those thirteen civilians were considered murders, the people that died were considered martyrs to the Nationalist cause. This strengthened the IRA's cause and they began to get funding and weaponry from other countries, such as the USA, they seemed to many to have proven their point that they needed to attack the Unionists and paratroopers and not just defend the Nationalist. It also affected power sharing talks between Nationalists and Unionists, Nationalist Catholics across the country saw the paratroopers as murders, and what added insult to injury was the fact that the paratroopers were not disciplined in any way for they had done, so hatred between Catholics and paratroopers and Catholics And Protestants (who by many were blamed for the deaths on Bloody Sunday) severely escalated. Catholics began to say there was no way they would ever share power with murderers, how could they ever trust the Government and Protestants to not make the same mistakes, how could they be sure there would not be a second event as catastrophic as Bloody Sunday, this meant any peace agreement between Nationalists and Unionists would be delayed. If one was put into place just after the Civil Rights Movement it would have lead to a national outrage as the hatred and violence between Nationalists and Protestants that many did not see peace as an option and many would refuse to stop the violence. The Civil Rights Movement and all its marches, including Bloody Sunday still have a big impact on peace today. Even though in 2007 a power sharing agreement was reached there is still a lot of prejudice and anger between the Nationalist and Unionist. Nationalists look back at events such as Bloody Sunday or the Battle of Bogside with hatred towards Unionists and Unionists will do likewise, it is very difficult for the people involved to forget the past and forgive their opponents. People still do not trust the British Government after the paratroopers murdered those thirteen men and this has made it difficult for the British Government to make any major decisions influencing Northern Ireland as they would widely be discredited and not accepted. Another factor that has made it difficult to obtain peace in Northern Ireland is the Hunger Strikes of 1980-1981. Members of the IRA that had been imprisoned were treated like everyday criminals, but they wanted to be recognised as prisoners of war. Prisoners of war were treated differently than normal prisoners, they got to wear there own clothes, aloud to organise their own activities in the prison, they would have freedom of association, they would serve less time for their crimes then a normal prisoner and they would not have to participate in prison work. The members of the IRA that were inside the prison believed they should be know as prisoners of war and get their privileges for a variety of reasons, for one they were jailed from a court without a jury, they felt the situation in Ireland was a war whether the Government would admit it or not and also members of the IRA that had been in the jail before them had these privileges but they were taken away as time progressed. But the British Government refused to grant them these privileges and did not allow them to be known as prisoners of war, this caused uproar with the IRA members that were imprisoned and other splinter groups. A while before the hunger strikes were put into place members of the IRA in the jail went on a thing known as the ‘Dirty Protest' this is were prisoners would cover the walls of there cell with their own excrement, though it caused extra work for the prison workers and made the jail generally filthy it did not have a large effect on the outside world. It did not bring much attention to the prisoner's situation and it was clear a larger demonstration would have to come to place to have a big enough impact to affect the outside world, the prisoners felt hunger strikes were the best way to achieve their goal. The leader of the very first hunger strikes was called Brendan Hughes, but he was not seen as a good leader at the time and made a vital mistake by calling the strike of when he thought the British Government would give in to their demands but they did not. So weeks after the first attempt at a hunger strike Bobby Sands took over as the leader and developed a plan were a new person would go on strike every week, this was so there would be roughly a death a week if the British Government did not give up to their demands, a death a week would have the ultimate shock factor on the public. Even when the hunger strikes began and Bobby Sands, who opted to be the first strikers, was about to die Margaret Thatcher refused to intervene, she did not want to admit to the situation in Northern Ireland as being a war and that meant not allowing the prisoners on strike to be know as prisoners of war, she also did consider there crimes any different as the crimes of the over prisoners, she famously declared ‘crime is crime is crime; it is not political. This sparked outrage across Northern Ireland as there was huge support for what Bobby Sands and the other hunger strikers were doing, such support that Bobby Sands was elected as an MP while he was starving in jail. When Booby Sands was announced dead May 5, 1981, he was aged 27 and was on strike 66 days, he was known as a martyr for the Nationalist cause and for the IRA. The national outcry that occurred after his death resulted in more people joining the IRA and a big increase in their activity. The British Government and Unionist were once again considered murderers by the majority of Nationalist people. Over 100,000 people attended Bobby Sands funeral, which was over one fifth the Catholics population in Northern Ireland at the time. The media coverage of Bobby Sands death sparked a wave of support and sympathy around the world for him, the other hunger strikers, and what the IRA were trying to achieve. There were huge protests on the street and violence around the country in support of what the strikers were doing. The Unionist and British response to the hunger strike was reactionary, they tried their best to stop the hunger strikes by trying to half meet the prisoners demands but they did not solve the root of the problem, the peoples pride and passion and their believe that they were correct. Eventually ten prisoners died as a result of the hunger strikes and the British Government proposed that prisoners from the IRA and other terrorist organisations were given many advantages that prisoners of war were given but they still had to participate in prison work and were not presented with the term prisoners of war. After the hunger strikes Margaret Thatcher boasted that that they had not cave in to the demands of the hunger strikers and it was a victory for the British Government. But the political effect of the hunger strikes was huge, the British government and what they stood for were resented hugely again by the Nationalist in Northern Ireland, people saw them as murders and lyres and with the events of Bloody Sunday still on peoples mind the British and Unionist were hated more then ever by Catholics. This effected peace in the long run as well power sharing was not accepted for so long because of events such as this and the passion behind them. Nationalist do not want to share power with the murders of one of there heroes Bobby Sands, and do not want to share power with people that they considered caused through there unfair democracy such violence and disorder in Northern Ireland for so many years, that caused so many lives to be lost. There have been many peace talks based around Northern Ireland over the years, most were to do with power sharing but many broke down because of events like the Civil Rights Movement and hunger strikes. The first major peace talk was the 1973-1974 power sharing executive; this was agreed between the major political parties and William Whitelaw the Northern Ireland secretary. The power sharing executive, known as the Sunningdale Agreement, suggested that a new power sharing assembly was elected to govern Northern Ireland and that a power sharing executive represented the main political parties and guaranteed to share power between the Republic and Northern Ireland. Although this agreement was well received by most parties, the DUP opposed the agreement and refused to join. A general strike was organised in May 1974 by the Unionist Ulster workers council brought Northern Ireland to a halt. This caused the power sharing executive to resign and as a result of this direct rule from Westminster returned, the Sunningdale Agreement had failed. The next attempted peace agreement was the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement; this was between Margaret Thatcher and the Irish Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald. They agreed to an intergovernmental conference that would be held regularly, they would keep cross border co-operation on political legal and security matters, the British Government accepted the possibility of a united Ireland in the future, but only if the majority of Northern Ireland consented and the Republic of Ireland accepted the existence of partition and the principle of consent. Nationalist across Northern Ireland were divided in their reactions, the SDLP saw it as a big chance for progress but Sinn Fein saw it as enforced partition and did not approve. Unionist resented this agreement and would not coincided with what it was saying, big strikes and demonstrations followed the release of the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the violence of the people and paramilitaries was worse then ever, the agreement had little effect and therefore failed. One of the most major peace talks was the 1998 Good Friday Agreement; also know as the Belfast Agreement. It was signed in Belfast in April 1998 by the British and Irish governments and was approved by most Northern Ireland parties, the only major party to disapprove of the agreement was the DUP. It was though approved by most of the voters of Northern and the Republic of Ireland. The final Agreement was posted to every household in Northern Ireland and put to a vote in May it included plans for a Northern Ireland assembly with a power sharing executive and new cross border structures involving the Republic of Ireland. There were also controversial plans on paramilitary's giving up their weapons and the early release of paramilitary prisoners. A vote was also held in the Irish Republic, the result was staggering with 71% of people in Northern Ireland and 94% in the Republic voted that the agreement should be accepted. Throughout the first three years of the agreement, Unionists said the Government and major Nationalist parties were failing to live back up the rule for decommissioning of arms, as many paramilitaries such as the IRA were simply not handing over their guns. Moreover, Sinn Fein said the British Government did not demilitarise quickly enough, they stated they could not force anyone to give up arms and that the agreement only stated that the parties should use all their power to make paramilitary's give up their guns, they had discovered a bit of a loophole and arguments quickly started. Eventually after much debating a power sharing agreement has been signed recently in 2007 that the Republic and Northern Ireland are both happy to consent to, it took so long to come to a power sharing agreement that all parties are happy with because of all the complications along the way, a lot of these from the ‘battles' Unionists and Nationalist have fort with one another down the years, this caused a lot of hate and prejudice between Catholics and Protestants which lead to events such as Bloody Sunday and the hunger strikes that represented what the Irish people stood for at the time and there pure passion for what they believed in. All these events left such an aftermath that people would not consent to any peace agreements or power sharing until the situation had cooled down, we can only hope that the 2007 agreement brings peace to a troubled Northern Ireland and the civilians that live there. But will the peace last, and will all the political parties and paramilitaries be able to keep peace and settle down, we can only wait and see what the future holds for Northern Ireland.