Miss Lonelyheart and the Depression Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Miss Lonelyheart and the Depression - Essay Example West illustrated such aspects of life evolved during the depression era in his novel Miss Lonelyhearts. The novel is of relevance today as the global economy showing a sign of depression, which may in turn lead to the great depression II.Even though the events and circumstances described in the novel are from a period of a century ago, the theme of the novel has relevance in this modern age. â€Å"Miss Lonelyhearts† the son of an England priest, is involved in giving advice for reader’s distressing letters.These hurting stories which he receives are depressing and eventually he also becomes depressed by reading the painful letters. He started heavy drinking and occasional bar fights.William Shrike, editor of the New York newspaper where Miss Lonelyhearts works, uses the column to boost up the circulation. The characters of this novel do not possess moral qualities, or they do not have any strong spirituality, which may be the result of depression era. They are not reall y concerned about social values (Martin, 1970). For example, Miss Lonelyhearts was not sincere as a columnist. At the beginning Miss Lonelyhearts started as a columnist in a style existing at that time with a superficial way of analysing and solving problems of individuals in society. In the society of that time where people suffered from financial and economic problems, actual religious and spiritual values did not affect them. When Miss Lonelyhearts received hundreds of letters from people of all walks of life describing their individual problems of many types he became astounded on going through the actual life problems. The letters contained plights of diverse people. For example, the novel describes a letter by a 16 year old girl who was born without a nose. Her life was pathetic because her parents felt guilty and shamed of their daughter, and this girl wanted Miss Lonelyhearts to tell her if she should commit suicide. When Miss Lonelyhearts understands the problem, he gets a sense of shock, which is a clear contrast to the attitude that the editor William Shilke shows. This contrast is very true of the media in the modern world. Over the years, media has become insensitive and focuses more on getting the sensational news out just to get more publicity and increase their profit. Just like Shilke, many media houses put immense pressure on the journalists to compromise on their ethics and values, just to get more attention from the public. This results in a breakdown at some point, just that Miss Lonelyhearts faced in the novel. Therefore, the approach of the editor to exploit the current situation is very similar to the way in which media sensationalizes the news in today’s era. In addition, in today’s society, depression is often taken out by certain methods that are not moralistic, such as getting involved in extra marital affairs or taking refuge in drugs. For Miss Lonelyhearts, he chose to overcome this depression by indulging in an extr a marital affair with one of his readers and with the wife of the editor. Only a very drastic situation, such as an encounter with the crippled husband of Mrs Doyle can bring out repentance in Miss Lonelyhearts. In real life too, only a very tragic instance gets the people to come out and remorse as most people do not understand their mistake unless the situation is very grave. Even though this work is a piece of fiction, it is very reflective of the current situa

Economic Performance of UK Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Economic Performance of UK - Coursework Example UK's economy is experiencing slower growth as during 2007, it recorded a real GDP growth of 3.1% however, and the same has been recorded at 1.0% due to sharp increase in inflation. (Economist.com 2008). UK's inflation touched 3.8% in 2008 whereas its budget balance also widened to negative 3.8% suggesting the fact that all is not well for the UK economy. Many critics believed that in order to arrest the rising inflationary trends in the country, the monetary authorities in the country shall increase interest rates whereas some believed that in order to reduce the impact of recession, UK's monetary authorities shall lower interest rates so that economy can be put on right track. This paper will discuss both the options i.e. increasing or decreasing the interest rates to control inflation or avoid recession and will present a comprehensive analysis of both the options in order to provide a conclusive recommendation of which option to exercise. The economy of UK is second largest economy in EU after Germany and fifth largest economy in the world. ... The key economic indicators suggested improvement as UK economy thrived on increasing consumer spending however, due to increasing spending; UK economy witnessed growing increase in its consumer price index. IMF, during 2007, revised its economic forecasts for the UK economy due to its improved performance and termed it "impressive" as during last five years i.e. 2003 to 2007, it recorded an average real growth rate of 2.8%. (BBC.com 2007). The economic growth however is mostly dominated by the service sector with major contribution being made by financial services, food chains, healthcare as well as real estate. Further, the Agriculture sector is also significantly contributing towards the GDP of the country as it meets almost 60% food demand of the country. (Economywatch.com 2008) It is also however important to note that the performance of GBP Pound sterling is also declining over the past few years, mainly due to strong performance of Euro against major currencies and the fact that most of the trade within EU region is dominated by Euro. The recent developments, especially in the later half of the year 2008 however suggest that all is not well with UK's economy as it is experiencing serious challenges ahead due to the spread of subprime mortgage crises originating from US. The housing sector in UK thrived on the loose regulatory environment which allowed lenders to make lending into areas which were not considered as bankable under normal circumstances. UK also experienced the same economic bubble in its housing sector as not only the prices of the housing units dramatically increased but also the overall flow of credit to the housing sector increased too. This not only made bankers