Short Story on Entrapment. 8:00 Sharp

Salina Kumbu English Coursework Zahra Fontenelle 8:00 Sharp 10 seconds to go…5…4…3…2…1…8:00. Every room in the orphanage lit up with the echoing 8:00 chime until the house fell silent. I lay on my bed slowly sinking into the silence until a great bang woke the house. Scratching, growling and panting noises grew louder and louder from the top of the hallway, from The Red Door; the door no one ever used. However even though it scared me, I was not surprised; every night we had to be in our rooms by 8:00 sharp for fear of running into the monster. The orphanage owner, Ms Kravon was a small, chubby woman. She constantly smelt of wet dog, which was weird because we were not allowed pets. She told us daily she was protecting us but every night I felt more trapped than ever. Girls had gone missing in the night. No one knew what the animal looked like; all we knew was that we would go to sleep with its roars ringing in our ears. “Everybody up NOW!” howled Ms Kravon. Her sudden outburst woke me up instantly. With a sigh, I stumbled out of bed. Another day at the orphanage. I walked to the old wardrobe and picked out my everyday checked dress that only got washed once a fortnight. After getting changed I stumbled downstairs to the cramped dining room full of 15 of us girls all wearing the same grey checked dresses. I had been the first orphan to be

  • Word count: 1675
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"Explain why it was Stalin rather than Trotsky who succeeded Lenin as ruler of the USSR"

The Succession of Lenin - Stalin or Trotsky 24th January 2004 "Explain why it was Stalin rather than Trotsky who succeeded Lenin as ruler of the USSR" After Lenin's death in 1924, there was a struggle between the leading Bolsheviks to succeed Lenin as leader of the USSR. In the end, it emerged as a contest between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. There were several reasons why it was Stalin rather than Trotsky who succeeded Lenin, and it is these I shall be exploring in this essay. Trotsky seemed like the obvious successor, and consequently he became inactive. He was over-confident, arrogant, and failed to take any threat seriously, least of all the quiet Stalin and so did nothing to try to discredit Stalin or reverse the damage Stalin did to him. In late 1923, when Trotsky needed to be at his most active, he became ill with a malaria-like disease. He also failed to use his popularity in the Red Army to his advantage or to stop his removal from the Politburo or office of Commissar for War. Trotsky's inactiveness resulted in people thinking Stalin was better than him. Trotsky was unpopular in the party because of his inactiveness in increasing his popularity within the party. He couldn't rely on the vote from other party members as he regularly offended leading Bolsheviks like Zinoviev and Kamenev. A series of arguments with them heightened by Trotsky's 'The Lessons of

  • Word count: 795
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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"Fishing in the EU maritime area is increasingly unsustainable." Discuss this statement with reference to the Common Fisheries Policy.

European Union Essay "Fishing in the EU maritime area is increasingly unsustainable." Discuss this statement with reference to the Common Fisheries Policy. Sustainability of fishing is the ability to continue the practice of fishing indefinitely. This means that the amount of fish removed, are naturally replaced. Not only does fishing contribute to the depletion in the amount of fish available, but also factors such as pollution and the destruction of natural habitats/ resources will cause lower amounts of fish to naturally occur. In the EU fishing is becoming more unsustainable, and evidence of this is clear as in 1985about 1750 thousand tonnes of cod, haddock and hake were caught in the EU, within five years this had fallen to just 1050 thousand tonnes, and ever since 1990 it has reached no higher than 1150 in 1995. One of the biggest problems that fishing faces is the fact that the seas are not owned by any one particular country. This means that the amount of fishing in a sea is not easy to control as a result. For this to occur one body which can control many countries has to set out regulations which must be kept to and monitored. The reason for this is because without control fishing will grow out of control and cause fish numbers to deplete to such an extent that it cannot be regenerated. This can not occur without the agreement of several countries because if for

  • Word count: 1034
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Politics
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"Foreign success; domestic failure." How fair is this summary of Bismarck's governance of Germany

"Foreign success; domestic failure." How fair is this summary of Bismarck's governance of Germany It is not fair to state that Bismarck failed domestically, however it is true to some extent that his foreign policies, in terms of success and to some extent importance, did overshadow his practically and theoretically limited domestic policies. It could be argued that these limitations were not because of Bismarck's political mismanagement but because of the social and political situation Germany held at the time. Bismarck was confronted by several impediments. The fact that Bismarck was faced with a religiously and socially disjointed federal state, holding several different political parties within the Reichstag, offered only hardship for domestic control. His position was further weakened due to his absence from Berlin, as a result of his poor health, reducing his control of the every day decision making. After 1871, Bismarck was persistently thwarted in his efforts to shape the domestic developments of the Reich. Bismarck's main domestic aim was to achieve unity within Germany. There was urgency for the need of legislation to establish an economic and legal framework for the Empire. Bismarck's influence over William gave him an immensely strong position, which he exploited. Bismarck ensured that other ministers were little more than senior clerks, carrying out his orders.

  • Word count: 3830
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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"Contextualising the play" - Top Girls, by Caryl Churchill

Contextualising The Play 'Top Girls' was written by Caryl Churchill in the early 1980s and was first performed in 1982. The play is set around this time and focuses on the lives of a number of women, each affected by the pre-1980s status quo and vast, rapid changes of the ensuing decade. These surrounded Churchill herself, and in this way the social and historical background- including politics, the second wave feminist movement and the class divide- has clearly coloured the play in many ways. There is strong historical context to the play, not least in the famous opening scene. Marlene, herself having just received a promotion at a time when the workplace was a male-dominated environment, is hosting an imaginary celebratory dinner party. Her five guests are all women, each considered 'successful' of their time. There is Lady Nijo, the twelfth-century Japanese courtesan to the Emperor and Isabella, the Victorian Scotswoman who endured terrible physical pain and illness yet travelled the world as no other woman had before her. Pope Joan of the eighth century disguised herself as a boy to gain an education and eventually rose to the head of the Catholic Church. Dull Gret of the 'Brueghel painting' (page v) led a crusade of women into hell itself to 'pay...out' 'the evil' (page 18) which had torn apart her family and Patient Griselda from The Clerk's Tale within The

  • Word count: 0
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Drama
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"Geological activity is responsible for hazards which produce some extreme impacts in terms of loss of life and damage to property. If the consequences of such hazards are to be reduced, then appropriate management is necessary".

"Geological activity is responsible for hazards which produce some extreme impacts in terms of loss of life and damage to property. If the consequences of such hazards are to be reduced, then appropriate management is necessary". With reference to either volcanoes or earthquakes discuss the above statement. In your answer you should refer to examples and * briefly describe how geological activity produces such extreme impacts * show how the impacts of earthquakes and volcanic activity vary with the scale of the hazard and other factors * discuss the management strategies used to reduce the impact of volcanic eruptions or earthquakes * assess the success of such management strategies. The vast majority of earthquakes occur at plate boundaries because that is where sufficient stresses build up. The most powerful are at destructive plate boundaries where continental and oceanic plates converge e.g. the pacific and Philippine plates are being sub ducted under the Eurasian plate. They can also occur at mid plate too and are often triggered by human activity such as subsidence associated with deep underground mining or abstraction of underground water leading to sudden pressure changes. The impact depends on many factors strength of the earthquake, wealth of country ect. If the earthquake is high on the Richter scale then it has more of an impact. A shallow focus will cause

  • Word count: 770
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Geography
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"Government spending is the enemy of employment in two ways. First government borrowing is inflationary which destroys confidence in the private sector. Secondly, government expenditure "crowds out" private expenditure" Discuss.

"Government spending is the enemy of employment in two ways. First government borrowing is inflationary which destroys confidence in the private sector. Secondly, government expenditure "crowds out" private expenditure" Discuss. Government borrowing can be inflationary because the government borrows from banks, which increases the money supply. Banks assume that consumers will not take more than 10% of their savings out and on that basis are able to lend to the government. This increases the money supply because the government has borrowed from the bank but the consumer's savings stay the same and therefore there is more money in circulation. According to monetarist beliefs an increase in the money supply will directly increase inflation. Inflation can lead to unemployment, as people demand less due to higher prices and therefore demand for labour maybe decreased. Inflation also creates uncertainty for entrepreneurs, cost curves increase and revenue can decrease thus squeezing profits. Also when inflation is in the mind of the entrepreneur it can escalate easily as they will take inflationary actions like automatically increase prices and therefore it is imperative government spending/borrowing is controlled. Although government borrowing does increase the money supply, the monetarist view of a direct link between money supply and inflation is wrong, as proved when Britain

  • Word count: 852
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Economics
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"Great-power politics rather than principles dominated the Vienna Settlement of 1915." Discuss

"Great-power politics rather than principles dominated the Vienna Settlement of 1915." Discuss It is hardly surprising that the Settlement was dominated by the Great Powers for it was they who, at great cost, had defeated Napoleon and only they who had the strength to bring the turmoil that he had created to an end. So the most delicate negotiations and the key decisions took place, outside the formal sessions of the Conference, between the statesmen representing the victorious powers. The scheming of Talleyrand won France a place in the inner discussions but the representatives of the lesser nations were kept away from the decision-making. The Settlement is often studied through a survey of Great Power representatives, motives, tactics and rewards. At the end of this essay it will be argued that this situation does not necessarily mean that principles had no part to play in shaping the settlement of Europe. A lot may depend on how one defines a principle. The territorial arrangements arrived at offer a clear indication of the significant part played by Great Power politics. The Tsar Alexander pursued the traditional Russian policy of expansion westwards in order to provide deeper defences for the heart of his kingdom, securing both Finland and Poland for his pains. Hardenberg of Prussia had great ambitions to obtain all of Saxony... What the Great powers wanted in the

  • Word count: 917
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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"Guilty men" - how responsible were Chamberlain et.al for World War Two?

Guilty men Neville Chamberlain was 68 years old when he succeeded Baldwin as PM on 28th May 1937. It was a post for which he would never fight a general election. As he was being groomed as future PM, he became more critical of policy decisions, sure that he could do better on foreign matters, and his diary recorded a constant lament. He felt that Hitler was the 'bully of Europe', and decided to hope for the best, and plan for the worst. Chamberlain embarked on a policy of deterrence and appeasement, searching for 'decency even in dictators'. Chamberlain saw war as the ultimate absurdity, and he desired peace at all costs. However, he believed in the principle of the 'vital cause', one which if you went to war for, and won you could say 'that cause is safe'. Chamberlain's view that Britain was 'a very rich and a very vulnerable empire' was supported by the idea that Europe was divided between two ideologies. He believed that it was up to Britain to defend itself, holding France and the league of nations in low regard, with similar views towards the US. He was always quick to refute support for certain ideologies, claiming total indifference to Nazism, Fascism and Bolshevism. Chamberlain believed that a nation should not make threats unless it can back them up with action, and that foreign policy is dictated by circumstances. The criticism of Chamberlain came strongly,

  • Word count: 854
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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"Guilty," freedom, strength, relief.

Joanne Alldritt "Guilty," freedom, strength, relief. As soon as the judge said this single, amazingly powerful word, these forgotten feelings rushed through me. I had finally got my revenge. The confusion lead me to let out tearful sighs of joy and sudden outcries of relief. The man who had made my adult life a misery and ruined my teenage memories didn't have any domination over my thoughts or feelings anymore. From going ahead with the prosecution I felt satisfied that no other innocent teenager or harmless child would have to worry about this particular evil, pathetic man ever going near him or her again. It had taken twenty years for me to work up the courage to prosecute but it was worth it. My personality is now like it was, I'm outgoing, less sensitive and I've learnt to trust people. I just hope no one has to go through what I did. When my mother sent me to Lowood boarding school after "average results" in my first year at a state school, I found it difficult to make new friends because firstly the clothes that my mother insisted I wore at weekends were not the most fashionable and the fact that I was the weakest academically in my class resulted in low self esteem. So I was thirteen and had few friends so to speak of. I could only assume that it was because of the "introvert personality," my mother always said I had. She implied that my shortage of friends

  • Word count: 1276
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Sociology
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