Article Review The Magic of the Placebo by David Bjerklie

Imagine going to the doctor and being given medication to heal your pain. Now how would you feel if after taking the medication and feeling better you came to find out you were given a placebo? This may sound upsetting to some, however, â€Å" a recent survey of U.S. internists and rheumatologists found that some 50% regular prescribe placebos.† A placebo is defined as a false treatment without any significant chemical properties or active ingredient. The use of placebos as a primary form of treatment with any pathology is not happening anytime soon, but their positive impact and usefulness in the medical field is becoming hard to deny. In the article, â€Å"The Magic of the Placebo†, author David Bjerklie attempts to explain the growing change in†¦show more content†¦The author continues to demonstrate how the placebo effect works by comparing it to the famous biological study by Ivan Pavlov. In Pavlov’s experiment, dogs are conditioned to respond to a specific stimulus and eventually begin to respond to the same stimulus in the same way all the time. Bjerklie explains that, â€Å"as far as the placebo effect is concerned, we may as well be those impressionable canines.† What Bjerklie means is that the human mind has the ability to be conditioned to expect certain outcomes. The placebo effect builds on the human minds ability to be conditioned and an individual’s faith in the healthcare providers it choses to visit. Overtime the human mind has come to believe that if given a medication that is suppose to have a positive effect on a specific pathology, it will in fact have an positive effect. In the last section of the article the author explains the many issues that have arisen with the discovery of the placebo effect and the many challenges that the placebo effect faces before it is accepted as a common medical practice. One major issue the author brings up is the fact that the placebo effect is not the same for everyone. The author explains that not everyone can take a placebo and expect positive results. In order to explain this variability in the article the author cites Robert Trivers, an evolutionary biologist, of Rutgers University. Trivers explains

Minimum Legal Drinking Age Should Remain at the Age of 21...

Without a doubt, the United States has been facing serious national problems with underage drinking. Depending on personal ideologies, some people might not agree that the current minimum drinking age of twenty-one is based on scientific facts rather then ideology of prohibitionism. For example, since 1975 over seventeen thousand lives have been saved since the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) was changed to age twenty-one (Balkin 167). This shows that even over a short amount of time, a higher MLDA helps decrease the risk of teen suicides, accidents and overdose deaths. However, this widely debated topic has inevitably brought attention to the plethora of supporting and opposing viewpoints. The minimum legal drinking age of twenty-one†¦show more content†¦Simultaneously, accidents involving automobiles without a doubt are devastating. How would one feel if a loved one was killed in a collision due to an intoxicated driver? Wouldn’t the individual want to do somet hing about it? The death of the Candy Lightner’s daughter lead to her development of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and the 1984 National Minimum Drinking Age Act. This act gave full federal highway funds only to states that set the minimum age to purchase or consume alcohol at twenty-one years (Sanghavi). Once all states raised their MLDA to twenty-one years, drunk-driving accidents and deaths decreased. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the reduction in traffic fatalities due to the legal drinking age of twenty-one prevented 846 deaths in 1997 and prevented a total of 17,359 deaths since 1975 (Balkin 168). This single statistic shows that automobile accidents have substantially decreased in response to the authorization of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. In addition, the average teenager earns their drivers license at the age of seventeen. This being said, allowing a young driver with only one years experience (excluding a learner s permit) to legally consume alcohol would surely be an irresponsible decision. Most people knowShow MoreRelatedThe Minimum Drinking Age Act1700 Words   |  7 Pagesthe National Minimum Drinking Age Act made all 50 states raise the legal drinking age to 21(Dejong). The debate is on whether the age should be lowered or not. Statistically, having the age at 21 has been very helpful in keeping the nation safe. If there is not an issue with age now, would it make sense to lower the age and create unnecessary problems? In this case, the negative effects outweigh the positive. Simply because there is no good in lowering the age. The legal drinking age has been setRead MoreThe Drinking Age Should Remain 18 in Australia1563 Words   |  7 PagesThe Drinking Age Should Remain 18 Years Old in Australia The Drinking Age Should Remain 18 Years Old in Australia These days there are a number of social issues in the community, such as drug abuse, teenage pregnancy and alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse is rampant in today’s society, Australian Drug Foundation states that, â€Å"Alcohol is the most widely used psychoactive, or mood-changing, recreational drug in Australia.†(Healey, 2002, p. 11). Underage drinking and binge drinking are some of the problemsRead MoreThe Problems of Underage Drinking Essay526 Words   |  3 Pagescontroversy of underage drinking has been a serious and difficult issue for many colleges, communities, and parents over the past several years. Fifty states in the U.S have already set their minimum alcohol drinking and purchasing age to twenty one. Yet many people, especially teenagers, oppose this legal drinking age and want it to be lowered. Nevertheless, the legal drinking age should not be lowered from twenty one to eighteen because of three main reasons. The higher minimum drinking age can help reduceRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Of America977 Words   |  4 Pagesis, he asks me for a Guinness. He looked a little young to be drinking so I asked him for some id. He hands me the id and it reads that he is only nineteen years old. I had to explain to them that the legal drinking age in the United States was twenty one years old and I could see the look of confusion in their face. The father tried quarreling with me that the law was stupid and since they are allowed to drink their country, they should be allowed to drink here. Little did they know that this issueRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Should Not Be Lowered988 Words   |  4 PagesThe Legal Drinking Age Should Not Be Lowered There are copious amounts of people who believe that the legal drinking age should be lowered to eighteen. Others think the drinking age needs to remain the same. A few of those also conclude the legal age of adulthood should be raised to 21. The belief is if the adolescent brain has not matured enough to support alcohol use by age 21, it cannot make the responsible decisions required at 18 years of age. Voters should make the decision toRead MoreThe Minimum Drinking Age Act1692 Words   |  7 PagesNational Minimum Drinking Age Act. This act stated that all states must raise their minimum drinking age to 21. Individuals under the age of 21 would now be prohibited from purchasing or being in public possession of any alcoholic beverage. Though not every state was keen on this idea, they all jumped to raise the minimum drinking age due to the government threat that they would lose up to 10% of their federal highway funding if they ignored the request. However, since the N ational Minimum Drinking AgeRead MoreLegal Drinking Age : Should It Be Altered?1408 Words   |  6 Pages Legal Drinking Age: Should It Be Altered? The legal drinking age has been an ongoing controversy for decades, consisting of people who are for lowering, raising, or keeping the age with multiple reasons behind each side. It is commonly known that consuming alcohol can have life-threatening effects on the human body, but these effects can be much harsher at a younger age. Reducing the age for eighteen year olds may result in senseless acts from the drug. Statistics prove that maintainingRead MoreThe Effects Of Alcoholism On The American Society898 Words   |  4 Pagesoverridden. During the period following the repeal of prohibition the states were each given the task to assign minimal drinking ages for their state; however, this was not the correct decision. While federalism is great, the inconsistency between varying states was not working. This was a catalyst for the federal government establishing 21 as the National minimum drinking age. While President Reagan and his administration saw the drastic effects alc ohol has on society, some people disagree. MorrisRead MoreBinge Drinking vs the Drinking Age Essays829 Words   |  4 PagesEnglish 101 March 13, 2013 Binge Drinking VS the Drinking Age Presidents of college campuses around the nation face issues of underage drinking and binge drinking on a regular basis and realizes that it is a danger and a problem. â€Å"Alcohol consumption is the third leading cause of death in the U.S., a major contributing factor to unintentional injuries, the leading cause of death for youths and young adults, and accounts for an estimated 75,000 or more deaths in the United States annually† (WechslerRead MoreThe Smoking Age Should Be Legal Drinking Age1517 Words   |  7 Pagesrequiring you to be over the age of 21 to consume alcoholic beverages. This law has proved itself by saving many lives and overall just having a positive outcome in the community. People say that no matter what the age limit is kids will still drink? I completely disagree, believe it or not there’s endless ways in which it can be prevented while the drinking age remains 21. Parents make a big difference and can prevent this from happening and I have to agree 100% that the drinking age has saved hundreds of

Fuchsia Enterprises Trial Balance Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Fuchsia Enterprises Trial Balance. Answer: Audit Planning An Audit plan is considered to be specific guidelines to be followed when performing an audit. It helps the auditor in obtaining sufficient appropriate evidence for the situations, helps keep the cost of auditing at a reasonable level and also helps the auditor in avoiding misunderstandings with the client[1]. Audit planning is usually an important area in auditing that is basically performed at the beginning of the audit in order to ensure that sustainable attention is devoted to particular areas and potential issues are quickly identified. Before audit testing, the auditor usually plans to carry out an audit an effective and timely manner through designing detailed procedures in order to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence. This particular assignment entails planning of an audit for Fuchsia Enterprises after checking its preliminary Trial Balance[2]. This assignment also extracts information from the enterprises trial balance and identifies the accounts that are likely to require substantial attention, provide analytical procedures for each of the item and the possible recommendation for the audit procedure to be used in the auditing. According to Fuchsia Enterprises trial balance, the selected seven accounts for audit that require attention are; Items accounts 2016 2017 2015 2016 % Change 1 Interest income 48 50 4% 2 Bank Loan 181,525 187,450 3.16% 3 Miscellaneous 1,440 0 1,440% 4 Accumulated depreciation machinery 36,475 24,000 52% 5 Accounts receivables 131,820 103,585 27.26% 6 Depreciation 35,545 15,738 125.9% 7 Wages 62,570 53,000 23.72% Analytical review Generally, use of analytical reviews is considered to be one of the procedures for increasing the auditors efficiency[3]. Analytical procedures usually consist of an assessment of financial data prepared by the auditors of and the expected relationship between nonfinancial and financial data. Interest income Interest income is one of the areas in the enterprise trial balance that basically requires significant attention. The company revenues may be at risks. Interest income area requires great attention because it is more at risks by the misappropriation by the company management[4]. The interest income is usually am accessible funds by the management and thus making it more vulnerable to misuse. According to Fuchsia Enterprise's trial balance, the amount of interest income as at FY2015-2016 was A$50,000 and A$48,000 at FY2016-2017. According to the trial balance analysis, there is an indication that there is a 20% decrease in the amount recorded as interest income[5]. The decrease in the amount received should be scrutinized thoroughly to determine if there is any possibility of the fund's misuse by the management. The difference in the two amounts should be recalculated so as to check if proper evaluations were conducted so as to enhance its materiality. Basing on the riskiness of this item, I recommend that the auditors must recalculate interest income on note receivables to determine if proper formulas were used. Sales Sales is another item that basically requires special attention when planning for the audit. This is because the item is vulnerable to greater risks when the company is carrying out its business. According to the company, the business usually sells its products either in cash or credit terms thus making the item to be at risk. The riskiness of this particular item requires the auditors to carry out proper analytical procedures to determine its physical existence in the sales records. The company will also be required to provide a movement schedule that can be used to compare the amount of sales in the two accounting periods[6]. Fuchsia Enterprises trial balance indicates that during the FY2015-2016, the business had AU$187,450 and AU$181,525 as at FY2016-2017. This aspect demonstrates a 3.16% material decrease, the audit check should ascertain if its cash or credit sales and as well look on the amounts of accounts receivables and sales are accurate by verifying each of them and find possible misstatements. The variations between the two values should be determined to check the reasonableness of the variations. The auditors should check for existence in the stock records and ascertain the movement from store to client. Basing n the riskiness of this item, I recommend the auditor to test for controls of the enterprise set up for sale cycle in order to ascertain their reliability and existence in the movement schedule[7]. The auditor ought also to ascertain if the accounting records for accounts receivables and sales are accurate by basically verifying individual transactions for the probable misstatement. Accumulated depreciation on machinery This is another area that needs great attention that should be done to ascertain compliance and integrity of the financial statements. This particular item is selected because of its riskiness that may affect materiality of the financial statements. Audit procedures for accumulated depreciation on machinery are material so as to ensure that the recorded depreciation is free of material accounting errors[8]. The auditor should match the accounts balances to find out for potential accounting errors or even frauds from demonstrating in the financial records. The 52% increase from AU$24,000 in FY2015-2016 to AU$36,475 in FY2016-2017 should be determined, and that proper recalculation should be done to determine accuracy. Basing on the riskiness of the item, I recommend that the auditor must verify the historical value of the machinery, analyze the related accumulated depreciation accounts for completeness. The auditor should also recalculate the depreciation expenses and gains or losses on disposal of fixed assets to ascertain accuracy and completeness of the entire transaction[9]. The auditor should also attempt to compare depreciation expenses so as to determine any possible misstatements. Accounts receivables Accounts receivables is another risky item that basically requires significant attention when planning for the audit. This is because most of the firms management may collude with some of the debtors and record wrong entries into their names so as to gain funds. Some firms may also post some amounts of trade receivables that actually do not exist and thus may lead the company losing significant amount of revenues. Enterprise trade receivables should be examined for existence and accuracy assertions. This aspect is vital since some trade receivables may be understated or overstated and thus affecting the company revenues. When planning to audit trade receivables, debtors circularization should be carried out, so s to ascertain the existence of debtors and also to confirm the amount owed to the business. According to Fuchsia Enterprises trial balance, the 26.27% increase in the accounts receivables from AU$103,585 in FY2015-2016 to AU$131,820 in FY2016-2017 need to be ascertained so as to make sure that proper controls and strategies were employed by the company in order to check the reasons for the increase[10]. When planning for the audit, I recommend tracing the trade receivables in the company general ledgers. The auditor must request for a period end trade receivables with details from which they will assist in outlining the totals in the trial balance and those in the ledgers. I also recommend the auditors to confirm the accounts receivables existence by basically calling the debtors and asking them for personal details and the amount each owes the company. This will also be done by contacting the business debtors and requesting them to confirm their amounts of unpaid accounts receivables as of the end of the reporting period being audited for the possible misstatement. Depreciation Another item that needs significant attention is depreciation. This is a risky item that needs to be majorly examined because managers may employ wrong calculation methods to misappropriate some of the company funds[11]. The basis used to evaluate the amount of depreciation should be checked to ensure that it is basically free from any manipulation. Planning for the audit should also ensure that depreciation amount has been recalculated again in order to ascertain the accuracy of the amount posted in the trial balance. The 125.9% increase in the amount of depreciation should be re-evaluated and that the company should provide reasonable support to the assets depreciated. The increase of depreciation amount from AU$15,738 in FY2015-2016 to AU$35,545 in FY2016-2017 has a bigger margin. Recalculation should be emphasized so as to ascertain the accurateness and correctness of the stated amount[12]. Due to the riskiness of this item, I recommend that the auditor must check the method used for depreciation and the actual cost of the assets being depreciated so as to determine any possible misstatement in the trial balance. Wages Another item that needs significant attention is wages. This item is considered to seek greater attention because of its materiality in the financial statements. Wages can be misstated by firm managers who may seek to misappropriate the funds. When planning for an audit in wages, the auditor should verify the payroll and compare the amount of wages paid to the trial balance and the payroll systems. The number of employees on the payroll should tally with the amount being paid by the company. The auditor should find the appointment letters to verify the amount of salary that each employee is being paid by the company for the services rendered. The amount should be calculated manually to ascertain if there is any case of misappropriation[13]. The 23.72% increase in the amount of depreciation should be re-evaluated and that the company should provide reasonable support to the assets depreciated. The increase of depreciation amount from AU$53,000 in FY2015-2016 to AU$62,570 in FY2016-201 7 should be audited to substantiate the increase. The auditor should also confirm the number of new employees employed in the latest financial period and compare with the payroll and the appointment letters. Due to the nature of the item, I recommend that the auditor should use verification analytical procedure to ascertain the materiality in the difference of the amount of the company trial balance[14]. Miscellaneous Miscellaneous is another item that needs much attention because as compared with the previous financial period, Fuchsia Enterprises did not have any miscellaneous expenses. The AU$1,440 in the company trial balance should be accurately examined so as to determine if the mount was used for business purposes or personal purposes. If this particular amount were used by managers for personal business, then the amount should not be included in the company trial balance. This item needs substantive examination to ascertain the reasonableness of the expense[15]. The auditor should check the company records to check to ascertain if they are in line with what is considered ordinary by the company. The auditor should ascertain existence by reviewing the receipts documents that will basically show the purpose of the spent amount[16]. I recommend that the auditor randomly chose invoices and ask to see all the original paperwork that includes the contracts if it exists, invoices and signatures in order to find mistakes. Bibliography Arens, Alvin A., Randal J. Elder, and Beasley Mark.Auditing and assurance services: an integrated approach. Boston: Prentice Hall, 2012. Arens, Alvin A., Randal J. Elder, Mark S. Beasley, and Chris E. Hogan.Auditing and assurance services. Pearson, 2016. Balaniuk, Remis, Pierre Bessiere, Emmanuel Mazer, and Paulo Cobbe. "Risk based government audit planning using nave bayes classifiers." InAdvances in Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems. 2012. Bergquist, Sophia, and Sandra Elofsson. "The collaboration between auditors and IT-auditors: The effects on the audit profession." (2016). Cohen, Jeffrey R., Lori L. Holder-Webb, Leda Nath, and David Wood. "Corporate reporting of nonfinancial leading indicators of economic performance and sustainability."Accounting Horizons26, no. 1 (2012): 65-90. Elder, Randal J., Mark S. Beasley, and Alvin A. Arens.Auditing and Assurance services. Pearson Higher Ed, 2011. Hammersley, Jacqueline S. "A review and model of auditor judgments in fraud-related planning tasks."Auditing: A Journal of Practice Theory30, no. 4 (2011): 101-128. Hammersley, Jacqueline S., Karla M. Johnstone, and Kathryn Kadous. "How do audit seniors respond to heightened fraud risk?."Auditing: A Journal of Practice Theory30, no. 3 (2011): 81-101. Rahim, Siti Rohaya Mat, Fauziah Mahat, Annuar Md Nassir, and Mohamed Hisham Dato Hj Yahya. "Re-thinking: Risk Governance?."Procedia Economics and Finance31 (2015): 689-698. Knechel, W. Robert, and Steven E. Salterio.Auditing: Assurance and risk. Taylor Francis, 2016. Messier Jr, William F., Chad A. Simon, and Jason L. Smith. "Two decades of behavioral research on analytical procedures: What have we learned?."Auditing: A Journal of Practice Theory32, no. 1 (2012): 139-181. Titera, William R. "Updating audit standardEnabling audit data analysis."Journal of Information Systems27, no. 1 (2013): 325-331. Vona, Leonard W.Fraud risk assessment: building a fraud audit program. John Wiley Sons, 2012. [15] Balaniuk, Remis, Pierre Bessiere, Emmanuel Mazer, and Paulo Cobbe. "Risk based government audit planning using nave bayes classifiers." InAdvances in Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems. 2012. [16] Knechel, W. Robert, and Steven E. Salterio.Auditing: Assurance and risk. Taylor Francis, 2016.

The Colour Purple Essay Example

The Colour Purple Essay From reading the novel it could be said that the first half is concentrated on how men hold the power over women. This view is supported by Stuart who highlights the exploitation of black women by black men. However I do not agree with this view. I dont think the focus is jus on gender itself although it does play a part, but I think their sex and colour was also brought up. During the novel we see that males dominated females and white families were classed as more important than black families. This was caused by the time in which the novel was set in, slavery had been abolished however it was still in peoples minds and we see it still carried on in some areas of the novel. One example of this is when Alphonso is almost selling Celie. He barters by adding a cow to the deal and points out her positive sides, she aint no stranger to hard work, and she clean. Celie has the power to move on and almost start life again, partly through gaining financial power. This is portrayed to us when Celie leaves with Shug and sets up her own business making pants for women, which had only started as a hobby. We will write a custom essay sample on The Colour Purple specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Colour Purple specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Colour Purple specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer However Celie made it work for her, she started making money and became independent as she was making her own money now. I am as Mary O Connor quoted an extract by Gates, Celie writes herself into being. This shows a change amongst Celie showing she believes in herself whereas before at the beginning of the novel she crossed I am out and replaced it with I have. Celie making trousers may have given here this power because they are often looked at as a symbol of freedom for women. Within the context of the time period in the novel, women wearing trousers would have been looked upon as rebellious which itself gives that person a form of power. This however was not true for Albert; after Celie left him he became a mess. He locked himself in the house and Harpo had to go and get him out. Albert, probably shocked that Celie had actually left him later became a changed man who Celie began to like as he was into all kinds of new things like nature. We also find Albert used to sew with his mother, something Celie and Albert now have in common. He says people used to laugh at him and Celie said, well, nobody gon laugh at you now here help me stitch in these pockets. We now see that Albert has started to respect Celie and doesnt just look at her as his own property, took me long enough to notice you such good company. Mary OConner says that Alphonsos exhortation towards Celie at the beginning of the novel gave her a way out. He threatens Celie that she cannot tell anyone what he had done to her apart from god. He tells her she can tell god but no one else or he will kill her mother, you better not never tell nobody but god. Itd kill your mammy. Through the threat from Alphonso, Celie may feel he has power not only over her but also over her loved ones as her mothers life is at risk, as shown by O Connor speaking would be an act of murder, a matricide. By giving Celie the right to write to god he had given her a way out and saved her from becoming insane or mentally ill. Although she cannot tell another person, she has someone to confide in and to share her problems with. The threat from Alphonso supports Stuarts perception that men are mostly troublesome, sometimes cruel. Alphonso here has shown a psychological strength because by threatening her, hes forced her into not speaking to other people about any of her problems and teaching her to keep all her problems to herself. However he is not aware that Celie writing to god allows her to offload and share her problems with someone other than herself. O Connor says that Celies existence to be denied this explains that in her rape experience and also in the fact that she has a lack of voice she is therefore not able to share her bad experience with anyone. However I think she is able to express her feelings through writing so is therefore giving herself a voice and existence which goes against what O Connor states. Walker shows Alphonsos psychological power over Celie in the beginning of her writing letters. Celie crossed out I am. This is almost as if she is crossing herself out. She changes it to, I have always been a good girl. It seems that Celie is taking the blame for what Alphonso has done to her. This is the first time we see an authority figure abuse Celie which reinforces male dominance in her life. The rape not only shows physical power strength and power but also emotional authority, due to Celies naivety, for his own pleasure. Another time in the novel in which we see Alphonsos power over Celie is when he is trying to get rid of her by marrying her off. However its more like he is selling her as they barter, he even throws in a cow. This again relates back and shows how black females in this time period were still being treated as slaves. O Connor tells us her feminist analysis is interested in the voices, as its a male dominated conversation where Celie only gets in a few words on a highly important decision which can affect her whole life. Here Alphonso shows his total power over Celie and the fact that not only does he control her life now, but he also controls her future and how or who she will spend it with. The fact that she cannot decide herself who she wants to marry takes all control away from her. Throughout this Celies voice is absent, and even when its important decisions about her own life she still seems to have no voice. Religion to the lives of the people in the novel was not the sanctuary it might have been according to Mary OConner, Alphonso gave Celie one way out perhaps the result of some dialogical residue of his Christian culture. However Celie received a beating after church, cause he say I winked at a boy in church. The colour purple itself is a symbol of violence which runs throughout the novel as its the colour of bruises. However it can also portray authority as its the colour of royalty. Walker symbolises power through this quote, womanism is to feminism as purple is to lavender. This tells us Walker thinks womanism as a stronger form or feminism as the colour purple is brighter than lavender. Shug tells us that the colour purple is everywhere and that God has used this colour to portray beauty, I think it pisses God off if you walk pass the colour purple in a field somewhere and dont notice it. It can also be said that Gods love for this colour made black people in this complexion as in one of Netties first letters to Celie when she arrives in Africa she talks about the Senegalese peoples skin, So and so is blacker than black, hes blueblack. Celies getting married and it looks as if shes getting away from Albert and also from the abuse and suffering. However we find its going to be the same life for her its just a different set of males throwing and shouting abuse at her, The children be outside the room peeking through the cracks. It all I can do not to cry. I make myself wood. I say to myself, Celie, you a tree. Thats how come I know trees fear man. We can see how unhappy Celie really is, she explains she trys to make herself like wood so that they cannot affect or hurt her anymore. Another section of power in the novel is the physical domination of the women. Celie being a black woman is disadvantaged as not only is she looked upon as a slave but she is also dominated by the male authorities in the novel. She suffers at the hands of men. We can therefore argue that the emancipation proclamation of the post civil war era freed men but not the women because the male authority then saw the woman as their slave which is how Celie is treated by both Albert and Alphonso, we see this when Albert does not get off his horse to meet Celie but also speaks about her in third person, Hes still on his horse. He look me up and down. This shows us his power over her. Alphonso treats Celie like a slave. He shows no respect towards her, from this we can learn that men are not in Celies heart which is why I agree with what Andrea Stuart says, Rather like the weather, men are part of womens (usually) hostile environment, a perennial force to be dealt with daily, but not the centre of their emotional existence. Another male figure that dominates over Celie is Albert. The main and the most obvious way we can see Albert dominates is that Celie does not call him by his name, she calls him Mr. This gives us evidence Albert controls the relationship. This again links back to slavery as slaves would not call their master or owner by their first name. When Albert went to see Celie he did not get down from his horse showing more power due to the fact he is higher and therefore in a higher position than she is, He still on his horse. He look me up and down. Another view of Celie as a slave is the fact that no loving relationship exists, it seems like Celie is there to cook, clean, look after the kids and Alberts needs, so therefore he just uses her, Mr clam on top of me, do his business. She says do his business. From this we see its for Albert and that Celie is being used like a piece of meat and gets no pleasure out of it, He abuses her physically and verbally, humiliates her publicly, and is responsible for her decades-long separation from her much loved sister Nettie. Celie doesnt say anything she lets Albert get on with it, Mary OConnor says, Celies voice would seem to be absent from this account of male voices around her. I also agree with Mary O Connor at this point in the novel, I think Celie had lost her voice from the time Alphonso had told her to write to God but not to tell anyone. However later in The Colour Purple we find that Celie with help from Shug regains her voice, takes a stand and calls Albert by his name and threatens him. She later leaves with Shug and her full confidence back. Albert acts totally different in the two relationships he is in, with Celie he dominates and controls the relationship however in the relationship Albert and Shug share he is the opposite. Shug controls what happens and Albert does anything she tells him to. This also shows us the difference in character of Celie and Shug, Celie is easily controlled but Shug is a strong character. One critics view is some women wear pants; and some of the men wear dresses. Mary OConnor is telling us that in some relationships women can rule and have the men listening to what they say and do as they tell them, this is defiantly true for Shug. We also see that when Albert is with Celie he wears the pants but when hes with Shug he would appear to be wearing the dress. Another relationship where the woman dominates is between Sofia and Harpo. Sofia has total control over their relationship, she holds the power and it seems Harpo hates this. On the other hand it may not be that he hates it but the pressure from society forces him to act in certain ways. Tony Brown says, Love has been drained out by the brutality of a society panic-stricken over black masculinity. This gives us the idea that culture is the main reason for the need to hold power. Harpo is an example of this violence in society, for example when his mother was killed by her boyfriend in front of him. He associates being dominant as a way of asserting himself. He wants the power in the relationship because he has seen the way his father holds the power in his relationship with Celie. We know Harpo wants the power as Sofia tells us once he git on top me I think bout how thats where he always want to be. Harpo confides in Celie and asks what he should do, Celie tells Harpo to beat Sofia to gain control. This advice is surprising but coming from Celie can be understood because she has suffered abuse all her life and she is used to it. Its all she knows and therefore she believes its normal. Power and the placement of it is also shown in the African part of the novel and it is through these tribes we are able to compare Celie with the traditional African way of life. The Olinkas, one of the main tribes that are introduced to us, hold the power of life and death over their wives. The men are also looked upon as better than women in the tribe. The structure of power in that who holds it and who doesnt in the tribe is also shown in Celies life through her being raped and that fact she is not able to enjoy sex with her partner Albert, I know what he doing to me he done to Shug Avery and maybe she like it. The fact that she cannot enjoy it may be cause by Celies feelings and emotions towards males as she has been abused by them all her life. This is supported by Stuarts view that men are never the source of emotional sustenance or long term happiness for women. However this is does not seem true for Shug as she looks happy with her male partners, this may be because she always seems to have control over her relationships. In conclusion I can say that in the beginning of The Colour Purple it is the men who hold all the power, however as new characters are introduced it is slightly more balanced as Shug and Sofia speak there mind and stand up to any man. Also later Celie and Squeak both stand up for themselves, they take control of the situation but also take away the power from the men and hold it themselves. At the beginning of the novel Celie writes to God, she then starts writing to her sister Nettie, this shows a change in her and in the end all her hopes pay off as she breaks away from her abusing husband and lives with her family; her sister Nettie and her kids with Shug.