The Lottery (critical Analysis) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Lottery (critical Analysis) - Essay Example There is a great deal of irony in this story, situational irony, produced at the end of the story which leads to an unexpected turn of events. Throughout the story, Shirley continues to reinforce the quality and dimensions of relationships between the townsfolk, emphasizing how casual and well-acquainted everyone is with the dynamics of their family and personal lives. The author is setting the stage for the reader to make them believe that the final outcome of the lottery would be something insignificant, thus building dialogue that shows lack of concern about its meaning and a sort of indifference about the whole process which has apparently gone on for decades. The author uses foreshadowing in the story, especially early on when the children are gathering stones and piling them carefully, further guarding them in a protectionist method. Though it does not provide the type of symbolic cues necessary to determine what actually is involved with the lottery process, it does give subtle cues that the stones will somehow be involved in further dimensions of the story line. There is a great deal of symbolism used in the story, from well-detailed descriptions regarding the faded box, an object of scorn by some and seemingly unimportant to most. Though the box reinforces how long this lottery has been an active part of society, the disregard shown for the box attempts to make the reader believe that the lottery is something very minor in the town which explains its lack of upkeep over the years. Some of the dialogue between townsfolk also seems to indicate that they participate in the lottery as a form of obligation and through tradition, again fooling the reader to believe that the process will end with rather insignificant results. Using point of view from townspeople within their dialogue, the lottery is something with very minor consequences. â€Å"The most important quality of good fiction is the truth it tells – about humans and struggling

Emergency operations plan for New Orleans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Emergency operations plan for New Orleans - Essay Example United States had experienced a disaster of almost the same magnitude during the September 11 attacks, but the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that the country’s emergency response was focused mainly on mitigating terrorism disasters at the expense of public health emergencies. Several weaknesses were apparent in the response to the Katrina disaster in New Orleans. The response was so uncoordinated and thousands of victims starved waiting for help almost a week in the flooded city. The National Response Plan provides firm guidelines for fighting terrorism and national leadership but it has three remarkable administrative weaknesses that jeopardized efficient response to the Katrina disaster (Haddow & Bullock, 2007 p31). The first weakness is that recommendations from the federal public health do not have the force of law. The federal public health agencies are charged with the responsibility of coordination and disaster preparedness while the state has overwhelming authority on public health matters (Haddow & Bullock, 2007, p 37-39).... health authorities’ dilemma on whether to enforce disaster preparedness measures on all hazards or to bioterrorism attacks still exist in the country (Haddow & Bullock, 2007 pp 69-70) Countering bioterrorism attacks in United States has been the government’s top priority resulting to biasness in distribution of funds and other resources on preparedness of other disasters (Haddow & Bullock, 2007 p127). In the case of the Katrina disaster, the government was not prepared to address broader humanitarian disasters in the country. The aforementioned weaknesses caused several problems during Katrina disaster. Firstly, the victims were not well informed during evacuation and there were no adequate provisions to cater for people with special needs. Secondly, returning evacuated persons back to their home was problematic, there was weakness in application of reverse lane operations and finally, provision of care to animals was not adequately addressed. Emergency operation plan f or New Orleans should address the following pressing issues. They include saving lives, protecting property and restoring the community back to normal after the disaster. However, before the occurrence of a hurricane disaster, it is important to enhance the capacity of the residents and the emergency workers by putting in place adequate disaster preparedness measures. Disaster preparedness in New Orleans entails working closely with relevant departments of health and security in the state to enhance a coordinated response to the emergency. The departments and other stakeholders would ensure that training, leadership, training, technical and financial support in addition to exercise support are provided to the communities and emergency workers as they prepare for disasters, mitigate their effects ,