The Australian Federal Government has proposed the mandatory filtering Essay

The Australian Federal Government has proposed the mandatory filtering of internet content, to make certain types of illegal content unavailable - Essay Example Through this, the people will know what they’re dealing with and will be able to create preventive measures on their own. Filtering of information can be considered as taking away a person’s right to get knowledge and learn from that information. With the filtering act, getting materials and information needed for studies and prevention, say for example child pornography and terrorism, will be limited, or even restricted. Access to the sites related to these extreme actions, including violence and sex, will allow people to figure out how to deal with these social problems and even eliminate it. Everyone has the right to know and learn, but if the public can only access limited information, people will crave for more to get the information and might result to more law violations and criminal acts. Even the rarest of the law that has ever been passed or implemented had violations on record, and since almost every person on earth is aware about the existence of internet and how materials for any reason can be accessed through it, people would still try to find a way to access it and obtain that information. With the technology nowadays, there are always means and ways to hack accounts. And the more restriction put into accessing certain websites would result to more incidents of hacking and infiltration. Aside from this, since the filtering act is a government project, the government may and can actually restrict information that would expose the bad side of the government. (Australia to Implement, 2008). Aside from television, radios and newspapers, the internet is also a reliable source to get information in current events. A lot of things happen in the government everyday and words spread faster in the internet. With the filtering act, the government can actually sort out information that they don’t want the

Act According to Your Real Nature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Act According to Your Real Nature - Essay Example One monkey pretended that it was about to faint, but in reality, its health condition was not that tragic. But another young monkey that began to cry, invited the attention of all. â€Å"I saw some flies land on my banana and I am sure that they are the agents of dengue. I suggest that we lodge the bananas in our mouth, one on each side, for the safety of our health. We are certainly not eating the bananas.† The suggestion was accepted and the monkeys complimented the young one for his foresight and concern. Some time passed by. â€Å"Since the health issue has cropped up, I need to say something,†. I stay on a tree adjacent to the private hospital of a reputed doctor. I have heard doctors often discuss with nurses and patients that the food items need to be chewed properly, to assist the process of digestion. Why not chew the bananas and keep the stuff ready to swallow, the moment the fast is terminated?† They chewed and chewed, and they did not realize when the food reached their stomach through the food pipe. The entire exercise was over in minutes, and all the monkeys, including the senior citizen, had a hearty laugh. â€Å"Never attempt anything that which is not in your real nature,† the senior citizen repeated the advice. I recall what Ronald R. Sims argued, â€Å"Human Resources management is particularly concerned with all the activities that contribute to successfully attracting, motivating, and maintaining a high-performing workforce that results in organizational success.†

Post War Developments of Pop Art and Consumerism

Post War Developments of Pop Art and Consumerism What were the most significant changes in consumer behaviour in America after 1945? In what ways did these changes have an impact on the production of art? INTRODUCTION The purpose of this essay is to outline the ways in which consumer behaviour changed in the United States after 1945, and the ways in which the production, and the content, of art reflected these times. These were the years following the Second World War, and advances in technology made during the war were now being used to change the ordinary way of life of American citizens during the new time of peace. National wealth had increased, and the population was very much looking to the future, which seemed more affluent, easier and more convenient than ever before. Buying and spending quickly became the main cultural preoccupation as corporations made use of war-time technology to bring consumers the products of the future today: television, processed food, vacuum cleaners, synthetic fabrics, and Tupperware. (www.ucalgary.ca) In this essay I will show how Pop Art developed in America, and how these newly fashionable artists drew on the consumerist culture of the time to create a kind of art that had not been seen before. CONSUMERISM IN POST-WAR AMERICA In postwar America, the public became more brand-conscious – advertising became much more advanced and was seen as crucial to business, and branding and company logos were part of the everyday landscape. There were technical devlopments in photography, broadcasting and the inventionof television. Sociology in the US was now more concerned with the masses, and pop art identified with this. (Alloway:1974:5) In 1960 the General Motors Corporation spent $66.3 million on advertising, the most of any corporation in that year, but in 1968 Proctor Gamble took the lead at $196.3 million a 200% increase in the top advertising budget in only eight years. Likewise, the advertising revenues for magazines between 1958 and 1968 increased 150%, while the advertising revenues for television in the same period rose nearly 250%. (www.ucalgary.ca) Lifestyle advertising was conceived – instead of pre-war adverts which would have simply described the product and what it literally did, now advertisers wanted to make people think that if they bought a certain product it would be central in changing their life, making them better, happier, more successful. Advertisements promise such abstract desires as beauty, success at work, success in relationships, or the ability to be a better person physically, mentally, and socially. Social historian Christin Mamiya has argued that the changes brought  about in America by the increased industrialisation and urbanisation were those that made the public more susceptible to the media’s influence: In the alienation and non-communal world of urban society it became increasingly important to rely on outward appearances to define self-worth and success, the tools of which advertising provided. (www.ucalgary.ca) John F. Kennedy, elected as President in 1960, fully endorsed the new consumerist ethic through his policy. Kennedy’s government followed the work of British economist John Maynard Keynes, who in earlier decades had written that the key to a nation’s collective wealth lay in the individual spending of individuals. The more money citizens spent, the greater the national wealth would be. The Kennedy government was the first to implement this theory into both domestic and foreign economic policies, thereby officially endorsing and promoting mass production, mass distribution, advertising, and inadvertently, the idea of keeping up with the Joneses. (www.ucalgary.ca) As a result of the war, America felt a new patriotism which was reflected in the all-Americanness of branding products and celebrities. As the wealth of the country increased, and people were inclined to celebrate their status (personal status reflecting the greatness of the country – the American dream) and also to celebrate having life easy in comparison to the hardship and compromises of the war years, products were designed to save time and effort. Advertising was particularly aimed at women in the home – household products, food, housekeeping, clothes, also things that made bored housewives feel more glamorous. During the 2nd World War, Hollywood had also taken the idea of the movie star to another level. Celebrity-watching therefore became a more significant part of the public’s lives, and the faces of celebrities were ubiquitous. The most frequently depicted face in art during this time was that of Kennedy, as he, more than anyone, had realised early on the importance of media marketing and image-creation. The consumerist ideology was therefore perpetuated by the mass media, in radio, television, cinema and print media. POPULAR ART IN THE US This was reflected in art both in terms of the content, and the methods of production and distribution of art. Pop Art originated in New York in the late 1950’s/early ‘60s, and intentionally subverted critical ideas of what constituted ‘art.’ Household objects and celebrities faces were the subjects: Suddenly, T.V. dinners and canned spaghetti, department store dresses and blue suede shoes, tailfins and tires were the subject of paintings and sculptures gracing the window fronts of art galleries. (www.ucalgary.ca) Claes Oldenburg, Tom Wesselmann, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, and, most famously Andy Warhol were among the leading names of Pop Art. Most of the Pop Artists had previously worked in commercial advertising and printing. Printing presses were used to quickly produce hundreds of standardised images which could then be mass-distributed. Andy Warhol was one of the first to do this; instead of selling unique pieces of work for a high price, he preferred to produce multiple silk-screened copies which were sold for a low price but which together made up large profits. The ideas of mass and standardisation would be seen therefore both in the fact that one piece of art work contained dozens of cola bottles, and also that that piece was itself reproduced again and again. Therefore art became visible to greater sections of the population and to lower classes, because of its positioning – images were seen in conjunction with advertising and printed on clothing and accessories, instead of hidden away in galleries – and its content – where as traditional fine or ‘high’ art requires some academic learning for the viewer to know the correct ways of appreciating it, tins of baked beans were recognisable to all and needed little interpretation. Americanness had been expressed differently in the late 40s and 50s: Abstract Expressionism is characterised by splashes and rhythms of colours across the canvas, often with no subject other than the emotion that the finished image creates in the viewer. It celebrated the individual because it was highly personal. (www.ucalgary.ca) This art was critically acclaimed, but unapproachable to much of the general public, who found it difficult to understand and doubted its artistic credibility. Pop artists reacted directly against the assumptions made by the Abstract Expressionists; they believed that art should be ‘for the people,’ and so they celebrated every-day objects in a style of art that was easily approachable. Pop Art was first seen in a particular school of thought in Britain in the mid-50’s, invented by the Independent Group. This was a group of artists and intellectuals who were fascinated by the effect that post-war American consumerism was having on British culture. Therefore they focused on the trappings of a materialist, brand-conscious culture. The objects depicted in their art were often cheap and defied traditional notions of good taste. British artist Richard Hamilton is regarded as the first to expressly define Pop Art. He characterised it as: Popular (designed for a mass audience) Transient (short-term solution) Expendable (easily-forgotten) Low Cost Mass produced Young (aimed at youth) Witty Sexy Gimmicky Glamorous Big business. (www.ucalgary.ca) It has been argued that the work of the Independent Group probably did not influence the American Pop Artists as they started creating work later in the decade. American artists would likely be unaware of this small and avante-garde movement in Britain. If this is the case, it is evidence of the widespread influence of post-war consumerism and advertising, that people on both sides of the Atlantic begun to develop similar ideas about art. Critics were deeply offended Pop Art, believing that it was of no real artistic merit. No progress was made, they argued, in the use of colour or materials, and the subject matter was frequently in bad taste or simply banal. Unlike Folk Art, pop culture is created on a huge scale to please the mainstream. It is those emblems and messages that we all understand, meaning that we have one shared culture that obliterates other more local or personal cultures. (Alloway:1974:4) But Pop Art was light-hearted, quirky and tongue-in-cheek, even blasà ©, which appealed to a nation of people who after years of war and economic depression, did not want to be too reflective or melancholy. Thus, it was oddly ambivalent. Pop Artists played to these popular needs/desires, and yet bitterly criticised them at the same time. The tone of Pop Art in general was humorous, but artists seemed to be satirising a culture that had ‘dumbed down,’ becoming obsessed with convenience, speed, instantly recognisable iconic images and brand names. For instance Rosenquist painted images of rockets alongside plates of spaghetti, to draw attention to what he saw as the absurdness of modern concerns. Lichenstein painted huge versions of cartoon strips, using the stock themes of romance and violence, and the style of using hundreds of coloured dots to make up the impression of an area of block colour, in order to show how formulaic and non-individual this popular form of art w as. Warhol criticised the mass media in his work, such as his prints of Marilyn Monroe’s face, made after she committed suicide in 1962, which echoed what Steven Madorff describes as the â€Å"repeated, endless manufacture† of the celebrity. Similarly, Warhol created a print of repeated images of a crashed car and mangled corpses, in criticism of the way he believed news reports could reduce a terrible tragedy to a single throwaway image. He produced the painting 129 Die In Jet, after an article about 129 American tourists who were killed in a plane crash over Paris-Orlis. The book draws on Susan Sonag in saying that the more you see pictures, the less real the actual event is. (Museum Ludwig Cologne:1996:474) CONCLUSION The Pop Artists made their art out of drawing attention to the consumerist nature of American culture. To Art critics dismay, household objects such as tinned food, icons of the mass media and such low art conventions such as comic book drawing now became the subjects of high art. Pop Artists had correctly identified the things that were important to the average American citizen, and the content, means of production, and location of their art all reflected this. In many ways Pop Art seemed satirical, wry and at times outright critical. The images made at this time have immortalised an image of post-war America as superficial, image-obsessed and unconcerned with any real depth or subtlety. However the means of production meant that artists were reaping the benefits of this culture. Instead of labouring over an oil painting for months, artists now could print a simple image hundreds of times – money could be made for every print sold, and also galleries would now accept paying high prices for a piece of work that had taken very little time to complete. It was as though artists were portraying Americans as ignorant and lazy, but celebrating and taking advantage of just that. References Alloway, Lawrence (1974) American Pop Art, New York: Collier. Lippard, Lucy (1966) Pop Art, London:Thames Hudson Museum Ludwig Cologne (1996) 20th Century Art, Taschen. http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/popculture/PfourT.html

Wedding Speech - Best Woman or Maid of Honor :: Wedding Toasts Roasts Speeches

Wedding Speech – Best Woman or Maid of Honor I just want to tell Paula how honoured I am today to stand by your side on this special day.. On behalf of the bridesmaids and myself I just want to say how beautiful and radiant your look today, it truly has been a special day for all of us. Paula and I have been friends for a number of years now. Over the years, she has taught me the valuable lesson that friendship is the most important thing next to family. We have supported each other through good times and bad. I have many memories of wonderful times spent with Paula, as we all have. And will cherish them forever. The fondest memory I will now have is watching Paula marry her best friend, the love of her life and companion. I love you both very much, you are two very dear friends to me. In the past year I have seen you both grow as individuals and flourish as a couple. Separately you both are very special, remarkable people, but together you are complete.

Computer Integrated Manufacturing and Management

American steel industry fell behind the Japanese industry, so changes had to be made in the processes of manufacturing. Nucor Steel opened in 1989 in Indiana and made a revolution in steel industry. Keith Russe is the general manager of the plant. The Nucor plant is rather small, but they produce 800,000 tons of steel each year. The reason of high productivity is the computer integrated manufacturing and management. Team work is also very important. The computer system integrates business information, process control, and the machines. It uses 1100 databases, 500 programs that create unlimited possibilities. Orders are placed from the very beginning into the computer, and it is process totally by the computer as well. Nucor uses pull system that connects the purchase order to raw materials, manufacturing process, and shipping. From scrap yard, the workers feed scrap into furnaces, where it melts into steel lava, and it is then moved into continuous caster, then to computer controlled gas premise, and then to the finishing room. Tags are put on the finished coils. Computer screens tell what each customer wants. As a result of the success, another plant was opened in Arkansas. With the help of new technologies, procedures, and computer integrated manufacturing, the American steel industry managed to gain the market share. American steel industry fell behind the Japanese industry, so changes had to be made in the processes of manufacturing. Nucor Steel opened in 1989 in Indiana and made a revolution in steel industry. Keith Russe is the general manager of the plant. The Nucor plant is rather small, but they produce 800,000 tons of steel each year. The reason of high productivity is the computer integrated manufacturing and management. Team work is also very important. The computer system integrates business information, process control, and the machines. It uses 1100 databases, 500 programs that create unlimited possibilities. Orders are placed from the very beginning into the computer, and it is process totally by the computer as well. Nucor uses pull system that connects the purchase order to raw materials, manufacturing process, and shipping. From scrap yard, the workers feed scrap into furnaces, where it melts into steel lava, and it is then moved into continuous caster, then to computer controlled gas premise, and then to the finishing room. Tags are put on the finished coils. Computer screens tell what each customer wants. As a result of the success, another plant was opened in Arkansas. With the help of new technologies, procedures, and computer integrated manufacturing, the American steel industry managed to gain the market share. American steel industry fell behind the Japanese industry, so changes had to be made in the processes of manufacturing. Nucor Steel opened in 1989 in Indiana and made a revolution in steel industry. Keith Russe is the general manager of the plant. The Nucor plant is rather small, but they produce 800,000 tons of steel each year. The reason of high productivity is the computer integrated manufacturing and management. Team work is also very important. The computer system integrates business information, process control, and the machines. It uses 1100 databases, 500 programs that create unlimited possibilities. Orders are placed from the very beginning into the computer, and it is process totally by the computer as well. Nucor uses pull system that connects the purchase order to raw materials, manufacturing process, and shipping. From scrap yard, the workers feed scrap into furnaces, where it melts into steel lava, and it is then moved into continuous caster, then to computer controlled gas premise, and then to the finishing room. Tags are put on the finished coils. Computer screens tell what each customer wants. As a result of the success, another plant was opened in Arkansas. With the help of new technologies, procedures, and computer integrated manufacturing, the American steel industry managed to gain the market share. American steel industry fell behind the Japanese industry, so changes had to be made in the processes of manufacturing. Nucor Steel opened in 1989 in Indiana and made a revolution in steel industry. Keith Russe is the general manager of the plant. The Nucor plant is rather small, but they produce 800,000 tons of steel each year. The reason of high productivity is the computer integrated manufacturing and management. Team work is also very important. The computer system integrates business information, process control, and the machines. It uses 1100 databases, 500 programs that create unlimited possibilities. Orders are placed from the very beginning into the computer, and it is process totally by the computer as well. Nucor uses pull system that connects the purchase order to raw materials, manufacturing process, and shipping. From scrap yard, the workers feed scrap into furnaces, where it melts into steel lava, and it is then moved into continuous caster, then to computer controlled gas premise, and then to the finishing room. Tags are put on the finished coils. Computer screens tell what each customer wants. As a result of the success, another plant was opened in Arkansas. With the help of new technologies, procedures, and computer integrated manufacturing, the American steel industry managed to gain the market share. American steel industry fell behind the Japanese industry, so changes had to be made in the processes of manufacturing. Nucor Steel opened in 1989 in Indiana and made a revolution in steel industry. Keith Russe is the general manager of the plant. The Nucor plant is rather small, but they produce 800,000 tons of steel each year. The reason of high productivity is the computer integrated manufacturing and management. Team work is also very important. The computer system integrates business information, process control, and the machines. It uses 1100 databases, 500 programs that create unlimited possibilities. Orders are placed from the very beginning into the computer, and it is process totally by the computer as well. Nucor uses pull system that connects the purchase order to raw materials, manufacturing process, and shipping. From scrap yard, the workers feed scrap into furnaces, where it melts into steel lava, and it is then moved into continuous caster, then to computer controlled gas premise, and then to the finishing room. Tags are put on the finished coils. Computer screens tell what each customer wants. As a result of the success, another plant was opened in Arkansas. With the help of new technologies, procedures, and computer integrated manufacturing, the American steel industry managed to gain the market share.

The Arab-Israeli Conflict - 1427 Words

The Arab-Israeli dispute is among the centermost issues facing the Middle East today. The conflict itself has spawned a number of wars, myriad militant skirmishes, and several embargos, as well as a lasting peace between Israel and a number of its former opponents. The conflict today is waged primarily between Israelis and the Arab Palestinians that inhabit Israeli territory. The Arab-Israeli dispute is rooted in the separate movements of Zionism and Arab-nationalism. Zionism is an historical movement of the Jewish people to return to what they regard as their traditional homeland, Eretz Israel. According to Jewish custom, this Land of Israel is a territory promised to the Jews by God, wherein they are destined to found a Jewish nation-state. Zionists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw in the creation of such a state an opportunity to escape the widespread antisemitism (prejudicial and discriminatory attitudes toward Jewish people) that characterized those periods of time. Zionism is thus a nationalist movement: a banding-together of people who share the same culture, history, and/or ethnicity toward one end. The land of Israel, as described in the Old Testament, consists of a region located between the Mediterranean sea and the Jordan river. Prior to 1922 this area was known as Palestine, populated by the ethnically Arab Palestinians and ruled by the Ottoman Turk Empire. Turkish supremacy had bred nationalist ideas amongst their Arab subjects. WhenShow MoreRelatedThe Arab Israeli Conflict Essay1263 Words   |  6 PagesAccording to an apocryphal story, Pope John Paul once said that he believes there are two possible solutions to the Arab-Israeli conflict, the realistic and the miraculous. The realistic being divine intervention, and the miraculous being a voluntary agreement by both parties. On September 13th, 1993, it looked like the miraculous had happened when the Oslo Accords were signed by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat on the White HouseRead MoreThe Arab Israeli Conflict883 Words   |  4 PagesMy chosen s ubteam for this negotiation is based on a Fundamentalist Christians opinion. As I had the chance to learn previously, Christians fully support the relocation of Jews in this conflict. This is because one of the main roots of the Arab-Israeli Conflict starts by  the Movement of Zionism. The Bible is interpreted by many religions in many different ways, however the Christian Zionists belief in a series of Biblical Philosophies and Prophecies. Some of this prophecies are events that have alreadyRead MoreThe Conflict Of The Arab Israeli Conflict1420 Words   |  6 Pageswords have been devoted to the topic of Israel and the underlying causes of the Arab-Israeli conflict; all of which seek to discern the culprit and contrive a remedy. The story behind this age old conflict is, as quoted by Israeli historian Illan Pappe, â€Å"the simple but horrific story of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine† (qtd. In â€Å"The Catastrophe†). As such, thorough review of the causes behind this ethnocentric conflict is vital in understanding the tumultuous power struggle in Israel and the violentRead MoreArab Israeli Conflict 883 Words   |  4 Pages1.1 WHAT IS THE ARAB ISRAELI CONFLICT? The Arab-Israeli conflict is a hotly contested issue both in the Middle East and the broader global community.1 The modern conflict is essentially a dispute over the area known up until 1948 as Palestine, which is considered holy to all three major monotheistic religions.2 The primary parties in the conflict are Israeli (formerly Zionist) Jews and Palestinian Arabs (who are predominately Muslim).3 It is one of the unresolved problems bequeathed to the regionRead MoreThe Arab Israeli Conflict And Arab Palestinian Conflict3221 Words   |  13 PagesThe  Arab–Israeli conflict  is the political and military conflict between the nation of Israel and specific Arab countries. The Arab–Israeli conflict began in the late 19th century as a result of the rise of Zionism and Arab nationalism. The two sides have fought over land that both parties regard as their holy land. The Jews looked to reclaim the land promised to them by God after their escape from slavery in Egypt. The Arabs, who already resided on and owned the land, looked to maintain their ownershipRead MoreThe Arab Israeli Conflict Of Palestine Essay1198 Words   |  5 PagesThe Arab-Israeli conflict began in 1948, when the British Mandate over Palestine ended. Resulting in the proclamation that established the Jewish state in Eretz Israel. The conflict was a struggle between the Jewish state or Israel and the Arabs of the Middle East concerning the territory and control over Palestine. The geographical area and political status of Palestine has changed dramatically over the years, but the region as always been considered Holy Land. This Holy Land is sacred among theRead MoreThe Arab-Israeli Conflict Essays649 Words   |  3 Pages The current conflict in the Middle East between the Israeli Jews and the Palestinian Arabs has many historical roots. Several events in the history of this conflict have been very important and also have a strong connection with the current situation between the two sides. One of these important events was the Nazi Holocaust. During the Second World War the Jews were persecuted by the Nazis and sent to concentration camps. By the end of the war in 1945 6 million JewsRead MoreThe Arab-Israeli Conflict Essay1856 Words   |  8 Pages Your Name Pol 340-01 March 20, 2008 Term Paper The Arab- Israeli Conflict The Arab- Israeli Conflict is a conflict between the Arab and Jewish people in the Middle East over Israel and Palestine. This conflict has led to wars and millions of displaced people. This particular conflict has historical origins in the lives of the Arab and Jewish people. â€Å"The beginning of Zionism and the Arab-Israeli Conflict explain the basic principles of this complicated dispute†(Frankel 17)Read MoreArab-Israeli Conflict Essay717 Words   |  3 PagesWestern media outlets play a huge role in the public’s understanding of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The way people gather their news is very diverse now. The Reuters Institute for Study of Journalism Digital News Report (2017), have shown that the majority of millennials receive their news from Facebook, and social media. The issue with receiving news intel from many news outlets today, is the articles are often bias. Facebook has algorithms, that often caters different news to your own opinions,Read MoreArab -Israeli Conflict Essay1762 Words   |  8 Pages Arab-Israeli Conflict During the First World War (1914-1918), Britain met with problems concerning promises made, yet not being kept. Britain, knowing that it needed all the help it could get against the German allies, promised land to people who desperately wanted it. However, as it was revealed Britain had no intention of honouring their word. The first promise to be made was to the Arabs, in a desperate attempt to overpower one of the countries the British were

To Kill a Mockingbird Summary

Published in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the most influential novels of the 20th century. It tells a story of racism, moral courage, and the power of innocence that has influenced several generations’ ideas about justice, race relations, and poverty. Part 1 (Chapters 1-11) To Kill a Mockingbird is narrated by Jean Louise Finch, a 6-year-old girl usually referred to by her nickname, Scout. Scout lives in Maycomb, Alabama with her brother Jem and her father Atticus, who is a widower and a prominent attorney in town. The novel opens in 1933 when the town—and the entire country—is suffering the effects of the Great Depression. A young boy named Dill Harris arrives with his family for the summer and immediately forms a bond with Scout and Jem. Dill and Scout agree to get married, but then Dill spends more time with Jem than her, and Scout begins to regularly beat up Dill as a way of forcing him to honor their betrothal. The three children spend their days and nights pretending and playing games. Dill becomes interested in the Radley Place, a house on the Finch’s street where the mysterious Arthur Boo Radley lives. Boo does not leave the house and is the subject of much rumor and fascination. When the summer ends, Scout must attend school and does not enjoy the experience. She and Jem walk past the Radley house every day to and from school, and one day Scout discovers that someone has left presents for them in a hollow of a tree outside the Radley house. This continues throughout the school year. When summer comes around again, Dill returns, and the three children pick up where they left off, play-acting the story of Boo Radley. When Atticus realizes what they’re doing, he tells them to stop and to think of Arthur not as a figure of fun, but as a human being. The children are chastened, but on the last night before Dill goes home again, the children sneak into the Radley house. Nathan Radley, Arthur’s brother, is enraged and shoots at the intruders. The children scramble to escape and Jem loses his pants when they become caught and torn. The next day Jem goes to retrieve the pants, and finds they have been sewn and cleaned. Jem and Scout return to school and find more presents in the tree. When Nathan realizes that Boo is leaving them gifts, he pours cement into the hollow. One evening their neighbor Miss Maudie’s house catches fire and the community organizes to put it out. As Scout stands shivering to watch the flames, she realizes someone has slipped behind her and put a blanket over her shoulders. She is convinced it was Boo. A terrible crime rocks the small town: a black man with a crippled arm named Tom Robinson is accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Atticus Finch reluctantly agrees to defend Robinson, knowing that otherwise he will not get anything close to a fair trial. Atticus experiences anger and pushback from the white community for this decision, but refuses to do less than his best. Jem and Scout are also bullied because of Atticus’ decision. At Christmas the Finches travel to Finch’s Landing to celebrate with relatives. Calpurnia, the family cook, takes Jem and Scout to a local black church, where they discover that their father is revered for his decision to defend Tom, and the children have a wonderful time. Part 2 (Chapters 12-31) The next summer, Dill is not supposed to come back but rather to spend his summer with his father. Dill runs away and Jem and Scout attempt to hide him, but he is soon compelled to go home. Atticus’ sister, Alexandra, comes to stay with them to look after Scout and Jem—especially Scout, who she insists needs to learn how to act like a young lady and not a tomboy. A mob of angry people come to the local jail intending to lynch Tom Robinson. Atticus meets the mob and refuses to let them pass, daring them to attack him. Scout and Jem sneak out of the house to spy on their father and are there to see the mob. Scout recognizes one of the men, and she asks after his son, who she knows form school. Her innocent questions embarrass him, and he helps to break up the mob in shame. The trial begins. Jem and Scout sit with the black community in the balcony. Atticus puts up a brilliant defense. The accusers, Mayella Ewell and her father Robert are low-class people and not very bright, and Atticus demonstrates that Bob Ewell had been beating Mayella for years. Mayella propositioned Tom and attempted to seduce him. When her father walked in, she made up the story of rape to save herself from punishment. The wounds that Mayella suffered that she said Tom inflicted would not be possible because of Tom’s crippled arm—in fact, the wounds were inflicted by her father. Bob Ewell is surly and angry that Atticus has made him a fool, but despite these efforts, the jury votes to convict Tom. Tom, despairing of justice, tries to escape from jail and is killed in the attempt, shaking Scout’s faith in humanity and justice. Bob Ewell feels humiliated by Atticus, and begins a campaign of terror against everyone involved, including the judge in the case, Tom’s widow, and Scout and Jem. On Halloween, Jem and Scout go out in costume and are attacked by Bob Ewell. Scout cannot see well due to her costume and is terrified and confused. Jem is badly injured, but Boo Radley suddenly rushes to their assistance, killing Bob Ewell with his own knife. Boo then carries Jem to the house. The sheriff, recognizing what has happened, decides that Bob Ewell tripped and fell on his own knife, declining to investigate Boo Radley for the killing. Boo and Scout sit quietly for a while, and she sees that he is a gentle, kind presence. Then he returns to his house. Jem’s injury means he will never be the athlete he hoped to be, but will heal. Scout reflects that she now can see Boo Radley as Arthur, a human being, and she embraces her father’s moral view of the world despite its imperfections.