Joy Luck Club Essays (568 words) - Chinatown, San Francisco

Joy Luck Club In the novel "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan, the ignorance, the disregard of, and the necessity of love are all introduced as the characters tell their life stories and memories. The characters in "The Joy Luck Club" take love for granted. By ignoring love, concentrating more on material possessions, and hiding their true identities, the characters don't realize love's importance. One character that takes love for granted is Harold, Lena St. Clair's husband. This occurs when Lena leans over to him in their car and states "I love you." He responds by asking Lena a question about his car, which seems to be more important to him than his relationship with her. Harold does not realize the importance of love. He only thinks about material possessions. Since Harold does not revealing his true nature, he reveals that he has a lack of love for himself as an individual. The love you have for yourself is a necessity in life because it provides self-respect; if one respects oneself, one will respect and love others. The story of Lindo Jong provides insight into the concept of revealing your true nature. To "keep everything inside" as does Lindo Jong, provides for not being able to experience love to its fullest. Lindo Jong hides "under a red marriage scarf" in attempt to shield herself from the outside world. Her "hiding under the scarf" demonstrates that to be able to love, you must be able to first reveal your true nature. Ying-Ying St. Clair stands as an example of the desire to remain hidden as she says, "All these years I kept my true nature hidden, running along like a small shadow so nobody could catch me." The image of the shadow relates directly to the red marriage scarf. They both attempt to provide the concealment of their true natures, because the result of revealing your true self may be that of "pain". The importance of love goes unnoticed as the characters take love for granted and expect it to naturally come to them. The ceasing of taking love for granted does occur later and has its results and consequences. The characters realize that they are taking love for granted when they feel meaningless and uncomfortable, and stop doing so by either ending the relationship or confronting the problem. By not taking love for granted and realizing "there's absolutely nothing left to save" in her marriage, Rose Hsu Jordan recognizes that she must divorce her husband. Rose Hsu Jordan does not feel comfortable with her life and feels that she is living under false pretences. She comprehends that she is not what she continually pretends to be. Therefore, she stops taking love for granted and ignoring it, and instead moves on to a better, more comfortable life with a feeling of being needed. Lindo Jong compares love to a hill and as to heaven. This hill symbolizes the steps that she must take to truly attain love and enter heaven, her comparison to happiness and a comfortable lifestyle. Love proves hard to attain but Lindo Jong learns to embrace it and accept it as best she can. The "pained feeling" at the "beginning of love" provides insight into the revelation of the true nature of the character. This pained feeling, the lifting of the scarf or the shadow, opens the door to the true nature of the character. This love provides better understanding and a better love of your own character. It makes the people more comfortable with themselves and makes them feel important, needed, and loved. Bibliography Joy Luck Club . Amy Tan. 336 pages. IVY books NY.1989

History of the Intelligence Community

History of the Intelligence Community The United States Intelligence Community (IC) is believed to have been brought into existence by the challenges of intensification and expansion of the Cold War between 1950 and 1960. However, several factors such as the need to gather, produce and disseminate intelligence information as well as support for military’s special activities led to the formation of intelligence bodies in the early 20th century.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on History of the Intelligence Community specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is worth to point out that the US intelligence began with the formation of the republic. The latter was widely used in the late 19th century by General George Washington’s spy rings and agents through a secret correspondence. It also gathered and analyzed intelligence information on the movement of British forces. T he early 20th century saw the establishment of the Justice Department o f Bureau of investigations in 1908 that later expanded to domestic intelligence (Finley 1995, 310). Nonetheless, it lacked the capability to provide foreign intelligence that was critical for supporting military operations and shaping policies. Brown and Rudman (1996, 118) observe that when the First World War began, the US government had realized poor coordination of its intelligence system. The German and British intelligence units were so sophisticated that the US had to rely on the intelligence of the latter to declare war against Germany. The authors note that due to the gap â€Å"the first U.S. signal intelligence agency was formed within the Army†¦ and the agency was charged with decoding military communications and providing codes for use by the U.S. military† (Brown and Rudman 1996, 216). This was later made a State Department after the First World War. It worked with other intelligence bodies (such as the Justice Department Bureau of Investigation).  There wa s growing aspiration by the US government to gather more intelligence on events that were taking place before the beginning of the Second World War. Hence, President Franklin Roosevelt used Human Intelligence to gather information regarding the activities of the Italian dictator Mussolini and the developments in Britain. By 1942, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) were formed â€Å"to coordinate and develop methods of subterfuge and covert warfare† (Brown and Rudman 1996, 29). The former was significant in providing intelligence capacity required to support the US fighters.Advertising Looking for critical writing on government? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The Cuban missile crisis and the Iraq War on WMDs share vast similarities and differences. It is worth noting that just before the onset of the war against Iraq in 2003, the agenda for the conflict went beyo nd Iraq’s possession of WMDs (Finley 1995, 192). The former Washington deputy Pentagon chief Paul Wolfowitz outlined that President George Bush’s team had agreed to address the problem holistically. The main agenda would be to dislodge President Saddam Hussein from power because he was alleged to be a direct actor in the manufacture of WMDs. In addition, Saddam Hussein acted as a clear platform for supporting terrorism across the globe (Finley 1995, 197). The war on Iraq was further justified through intensive demand to liberate the Iraqi people. Therefore, Operation Iraq Freedom was carried out by a combined force of the US and UK troops without the consent of the United Nations (Krizan 1999, 65). Hence, the aftermath of the war was not put into consideration at all. It is also crucial to mention that â€Å"the intelligence agencies knew so little about Iraq’s nuclear plans†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Finley 1995, 329). The latter was apparently a major setback in the inte lligence gathering system of the US authorities. References Brown, Harold, and Warren Rudman. 1996. Preparing for the 21st Century: An Appraisal of U.S. Intelligence. West Port: Greenwood Publishing Group. Finley, James. 1995. U.S. Army Military Intelligence History: A Sourcebook. New York: U.S. Army Intelligence Center. Krizan, Lisa. 1999. Intelligence essentials for everyone. Washington DC: Books for Business.