Concepts of Community Health Nursing Essay Example

Concepts of Community Health Nursing Essay Concepts of Community Health Nursing Name: Course: Date: We will write a custom essay sample on Concepts of Community Health Nursing specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Concepts of Community Health Nursing specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Concepts of Community Health Nursing specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Concepts of Community Health Nursing Therapeutic Communication Interpersonal Relationship in Nurse-Client Relationship One of the main objectives intrinsic within community health nursing is therapeutic communication and interpersonal relationship between nurses and clients. Such aspects within the nurse-client relationship are in respect to the facers of the relationship, which include respect, expert intimacy, trust, power and empathy (Allender Warner, 2010). Regardless of the period and time of interaction and the role of the nurse as the basic or secondary caregiver, the components still form a basic part of the relationship. Nurses utilize various techniques of communication and interpersonal skills in the nurse-client relationship. The nurse ensures this by introduction of herself to the patient, addressing the client by the title he or she prefers and being aware of the communication style that the client uses in order to facilitate communication and relationship. Principles of Therapeutic Environment in the Recovery Process of Community as Client Therapeutic communities comprise gatherings that incorporate patients/clients who possess considerable power in making decisions. Therapeutic communities allow clients to endorse particular responsibility and as such, negate obstructive dependency on experts. Nurses need to create a therapeutic environment for therapeutic communities in order to facilitate recovery. One principle involves recognition and growth of a client’s health, which involves considering the positive and negative aspects of a client in facilitating recovery. Another principle involves endorsing interpersonal interaction in order to enhance communication skills and develop relationships between nurses and clients. Another principle is the client’s autonomy, which involves satisfying the client and the community’s needs together (Mauk Schmidt, 2004). Professionalism Caring in Dealing with Ill Clients, Families Community Healthcare Team Members Professionalism and caring can be demonstrated in dealing with sick clients, families and members of the Community Healthcare Team members in various ways. Overall, the nurse can offer health programs for the community that protect, prevent and lessen diseases for all members of the community. For instance, nurses can provide undeviating nursing care to sick clients through a problem resolution technique that is in conjunction with the policies and guidelines of the expansion of nursing practices to facilitate client care (Allender Warner, 2010). Additionally, the nurse can assist, implement and alter client and family education or teaching with respect to the needs and desires of the client and the respective family. For members of the community healthcare team, the nurse can provide resources that they cannot acquire. Legal and Ethical Principles in Dealing with Clients and Families of Various Cultural Backgrounds and Community Healthcare Team Members Nurses are tasked with application of ethical and legal principles to different healthcare stakeholders. For clients, nurses are required to value and protect the integrity and welfare of the patient consistently. As such, nurses must revere the human dignity in each client regardless of their background (Mauk Schmidt, 2004). For families with diverse cultural backgrounds, nurses must make sure that they respect the consent of families in advocating for procedures such as transplants in case the patient is deceased. In addition, nurses must ensure that they treat all persons with equality regardless of their different cultures. Critical thinking skills and evidence–based practice while utilizing nursing process to provide holistic care to the ill and their families at various stages of the life cycle Nurses require application of critical thinking and practice in the provision of care to patients in order to improve healthcare. As such, nurses can integrate critical thinking skills by questioning the information they receive regarding matters such as clinical situations. Furthermore, using clinical situations as an example, nurses can integrate the interpretation of situations involving patients by recognizing the deviating needs of the patient and family and using such evidence to create interventions based on the situation for mitigation. Concepts of community health education in teaching clients and families throughout the Wellness-Illness Continuum Throughout the Wellness-Illness Continuum, nurses can utilize concepts of community health education in order to facilitate education. For instance, nurses can ensure that they determine the cognitive processes of the learners in order to determine the techniques that they will implement in the continuum. More importantly, nurses can integrate educational techniques such as multimedia applications in the specific continuum in order to facilitate education for both patients and families. References Allender, J. A. Warner, K.D. (2010). Community health nursing: promoting and protecting the public’s health. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Williams Mauk, Kristen L., Schmidt, N. K. (2004). Spiritual Care in Nursing Practice. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Williams.

Musical Piracy essays

Musical Piracy essays The topic of this project is musical piracy. Everybody is familiar with the Napster case about copyright infringement. However, Napster isnt the only example of this, MP3.com, and other file sharing sources are targeted also. There is a diverse field of opinions about whether it should be legal or not. The arguments for legalization feel that the record labels are charging exorbitant amounts of money for compact discs, and the artists net pennies from the sales of their records. The argument for eliminating file sharing software is the record labels loss of revenue for recording, advertising, and distribution of the records. My two articles are both from the New York Times, and show both sides of the issue. They dont seem to be editorialized very much to me. The news sources are the musicians, consumers, and the corporation/record labels. They all seem to be saying the same thing but, they are framed the opposite way. Alec Foeges article is showing how the artists are held back by the record labels from making enough money to go out on their own. Courtney love, the singer of the band Hole, says that the corporations have all the copyrights and use the songs for commercials and the artists dont see a penny in royalties from it. She was fighting her record label, Geffen Records to end their recording deal, and artists were watching her case and would follow her if she succeeded. Sheryl Crow, a singer and songwriter, spoke at a congressional hearing and criticized the record labels insistence on owning the copyrights to most of her songs. Some artists have already left the labels and instead market their material to fans via the internet, by offering free downloads, concert schedules, and even sell their records online. Courtney feels that the labels are the gatekeepers, and thats where the money is because they have unlimited power. In fact, some independent record label ...

Compare and contrast the importance of using primary and secondary Essay

Compare and contrast the importance of using primary and secondary methods when conducting market research. Are secondary methods more advantageous when analysing results for a new product - Essay Example Significantly, each business venture at least has an organization it looks up to in terms of strategies; it also has a vision that acts as a guiding principle. Entrepreneurs conduct market research so that they can reduce the risks associated with their business, indentify more opportunities and predict current and potentially future problems. Such information will aid in making decision on whether to execute the new product or shelve for another time. The research also enables individuals to establish benchmarks that will assist the business not to collapse when they encounter uncertainties along the way. Methods of data collection when carrying out market research influence the end result. While both primary and secondary methods hugely contribute to informed data, one overrides the other one. This paper will focus on establishing the comparison and contrast of primary and secondary methods of market research. It will also determine whether secondary methods are more advantageous when analysis the market situation of a new product. Primary research methods refer to the original research carried out by the owner of the business or by a contracted company (Sumathi & Saravanavel, 2003, p. 154). The main aim of this research is to answer a specific objective. Before going into the field, a set of objectives and research questions are outlined. In addition, a clear hypothesis may be set so that at least the data obtained will measure it. With primary method, information compilation is done from scratch since it bases on what the respondents give. Despite the fact that the information provided by the respondents play a critical role, the researcher must have a set of expectation. In essence, the desired goal and the vision of the business inform the whole idea of market research. Primary research could lead to quantitative or qualitative data. This depends on the format

Business Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 20

Business Law - Essay Example This is quite apart from the enormous waste of a valuable resource such as oil, which the world can ill afford during a time of fuel scarcity. The incident invokes environmental law, because BP is a British organization whilst the major part of the environmental damage has been caused to the United States. With increasing globalization, international trade levels have also increased and the broad objectives of the GATT – General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade- have been to foster trade among countries and to reduce the restrictions that are imposed by individual nations in order to protect their own, narrow, regional interests. Multilateral agreements on the environment are those agreements made between various countries with the objective of preserving and protecting the environment. They may comprise two kinds of agreements: (a) agreements on the preservation of the environment through measures like preventing global warming, ozone depletion, rise in sea levels or other measures related to the environment and (b) agreements that link trade and the environment, wherein certain measures are included to discourage tr ading in those commodities that may be linked to unsound environmental practices or where the materials produced may be hazardous.2 Recent trends for the formulation of multi-lateral agreements to restrict trade in the interest of protection of the environment3 have received a mixed reaction from developing countries. While on the one hand, these agreements are welcomed because they help to protect the fragile environment, some developing countries also perceive these agreements as barriers to trade, which will hinder their competitiveness because they are already handicapped in their access to finance, technology and information.4 In the case of oil exploitation in particular, the potential threat to the environment

Operational Amplifier (Op-Amp) Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Operational Amplifier (Op-Amp) - Lab Report Example ed, high gain, voltage amplifier. They form the basis of a wide array of electronic circuits, including amplifiers, buffers, comparators, and analogue-digital/digital-analogue converters. An op-amp is represented in schematic notation by the following symbol: Figure 1 - Circuit Diagram Element Where V+ and V- are the differential inputs, VS+ and VS-, are the positive and negative supply voltages, and Vout is the output of the amplifier. While they are represented as a single element, op-amps are in fact composed of many circuit elements, and are conventionally sold as monolithically integrated silicon chips. 1.1 Origins and Development of the Operational Amplifier The operational amplifier can trace its origins back to fledgling telecommunications industry in the United States at the turn of the 19th century. With the invention of the telephone, there was demand to carry electronic voice communications over longer and longer distances. The challenge was to build signal repeating equi pment that minimized problems like distortion and crosstalk, so that multi-channel communications could be carried from one side of the country to the other. Advances in electronic equipment and amplifier design eventually led to the development of the first operational amplifiers at Bell Labs in the 1940s. Vacuum tube devices were essential to the development of amplifier technology, because they made possible for the first time the non-linear manipulation of voltage and current. â€Å"The Fleming Diode†, patented in 1904 by J.A. Fleming [1], was the first major breakthrough in this respect because it allowed for the rectification of current. Then in 1906, Lee De Forest [2] built upon this work with â€Å"The Audion†, a three-element triode vacuum tube that was the first device capable of signal amplification. Amplifiers built in the following years suffered from stability problems, as they used a positive feedback principle, and distortion due to the generation of ha rmonics by vacuum tubes. Harold Black [3], in 1927 while searching for a means of improving linearity and stability of currently-used positive feedback amplifiers, came up with the negative feedback amplifier principle. The idea of deliberately sacrificing gain in to improve stability ran counter to conventional ideas at the time, and it took 9 years for the original patent application to be accepted. Once implemented, however, the advantages of this approach quickly became clear. Within a few years the theory for stable amplifier design was formalized by Nyquist and Bode, two names now synonymous with fundamental electrical engineering principles, during their work at Bell Labs. At this

What it takes to be a teacher

What it takes to be a teacher What It Takes To Be a Teacher Choosing a career is a challenging, exciting, and perhaps even a threatening task for most today (Morales, 1994, para. 1). â€Å"You may have a clear idea about a career youd like to pursue. Then again, you might not have a clue† (Mariani, 2011). In todays society there are thousands of careers to choose from. Woman, as well as men are open to career options from Computer Engineering to Teaching. As our society begins to advance there are many careers which can one day be taken over by more advanced technology, such as computers. Teaching however, is a career that will always be in demand. Teachers are responsible for teaching fundamentals which are needed in everyday life. Not only is teaching a promising career, it is also a rewarding and beneficial career. Pursuing a career as a teacher is very demanding, however, it can be a rewarding career. â€Å"Teacher: one whos occupation is to instruct† (Merriam-Websters, 1993, p. 1059). The teaching process can be broadly defined as the transmission of knowledge (Morales, 1994, para. 14). Teaching developed into a profession after the early 1800s when the first teacher training was founded in Europe ( The World Book Encyclopedia, 2011, p. 68). Since the 1800s, teaching has long evolved and become extremely important to society. Whether in elementary or high schools or in private or public schools, teachers provide the tools and the environment for their students to develop into responsible adults (U.S. Department of Labor, 2009). Teaching is a career which I have always found interest in. A puzzling question comes to mind: Why would anyone choose to teach in this day and age when there is such a wide range of careers from which to choose and when becoming a teacher is being made tougher and tougher? ( Morales, 1994, para. 3). For me the answer to this question is simple. Teaching is a rewarding, and beneficial career. There is so much more to teaching then showing students how to read, and write. According to the United States Department of Labor (2009) Teachers play an important role in fostering the intellectual and social development of children during their formative years†. The path to becoming a teacher will require years of schooling. The traditional route to becoming a public school teacher involves completing a bachelors degree from a teacher education program and then obtaining a license (U.S. Department of Labor, 2009). Aspiring secondary school teachers most often major in the subject they plan to teach, while also taking a program of study in teacher preparation (U.S. Department of Labor, 2009). Along with years of schooling, â€Å"Every state requires a public elementary and high school teachers to obtain a teaching certificate before teaching in that state† (The World Book Encyclopedia, 2011, p. 68). As technology continues to grow and people become more knowledgeable the requirements to becoming a teacher are gradually becoming more difficult. Evidence of tougher certification requirements is widespread. State legislators are mandating teacher accountability by passing laws that make it more difficult to enter the teaching profession ( Morales, 1994, para. 4). Being able to teach is not the only skill teachers need to have in order to land a teaching position. In addition to being knowledgeable about the subjects they teach, teachers must have the ability to communicate, inspire trust and confidence, and motivate students, as well as understand the students educational and emotional needs (U.S. Department of Labor, 2009). Although teaching may look simple there are many responsibilities a teacher holds. They plan, evaluate, and assign lessons; prepare, administer, and grade tests; listen to oral presentations; and maintain classroom discipline (U.S. Department of Labor, 2009). Teachers also hold another responsibility as stated by April Whatley, â€Å" Teacher educators are those individuals responsible for the development of future teachers† (2009). When one decides on becoming a teacher they must first realize there are certain job conditions they will be forced to work with on a daily basis. â€Å"Teachers may experience stress in dealing with large classes, heavy workloads, or old schools that are run down and lack modern amenities† (U.S. Department of Labor, 2009). A positive aspect of being a teacher is the hours and vacations you receive. Unlike any other job most teachers work normal 40 hour work week, but have two months of paid vacation. â€Å"Many teachers work more than 40 hours a week, including school duties performed outside the classroom† (U.S. Department of Labor, 2009). During the summer teachers have the advantage of a long vacation. â€Å"Most teachers work the traditional 10-month school year, with a 2-month vacation during the summer† (U.S. Department of Labor, 2009). Teachers salaries range widely depending upon where one works, how much they work and what degree they hold. â€Å"Median annual earnings of kindergarten elementary, middle and secondary school teacher ranges from $47,100 to $51,180† (Krasna, 2010). Throughout the day teachers deal with students who can often cause stress when they become disobedient. There are also other factors that teachers deal with on a daily basis that can cause stress, such as grading large amounts of work. â€Å"Teachers may experience stress in dealing with large classes, heavy workloads, or old schools that are run down and lack modern amenities† (U.S. Department of Labor, 2009). Throughout most of the day teachers are working with students. Teachers are sometimes isolated from their colleagues because they work alone in a classroom of students† (U.S. Department of Labor, 2009). Like any other career there are many positive and negative aspects to becoming a teacher. One large advantage is all the paid vacation time a teacher has. All the extra time a teacher has allows them to pursue other things. â€Å" During the vacation break, those on the 10-month schedule may teach in the summer sessions, take other jobs, travel or pursue personal interests† (U.S. Department of Labor, 2009). Being a teacher also has its disadvantages, â€Å"One challenge is that there isnt always a clear answer to the questions people face† (Krasna, 2010). In todays society it is becoming more difficult to land a job as a teacher. The credentials to become a teacher becoming more difficult. Although, it is getting more difficult to land a job as a teacher, teaching is a career that will always be needed, regardless of what time period one is in, or where they are located in the world. Schools in the United States and Canada hire new teachers each year. Some opportunities occur because experienced teachers retire or leave to pursue other career paths† (The World Book Encyclopedia, 2011, p. 68). There are many opportunities to increase you position as a teacher. â€Å"Master of education programs typically prepare their recipients to be elementary secondary or special education teachers and can offer courses in teaching methods , curriculum and instruction , classroom management and mathematics† (Krasna, 2010). According to the U.S. Department of Labor (2009) With further preparation, teachers may move into such positions as school librarians, reading specialists, instructional coordinators, and guidance counselors. Teachers may become administrators or supervisors. In some systems, highly qualified experienced teachers can become senior or mentor teachers, with higher pay and additional responsibilities. They guide and assist less experienced teachers while keeping most of their own teaching responsibilities. Being a teacher is an extremely beneficial career, although, it is definitely a career that is harder then it looks. Throughout all the research I have done, I have come to realize this is definitely a career I want to pursue and commit my studies to. There are many benefits to becoming a teacher. Teachers impact many lives and help many people. To attain my goal of one day becoming a successful teacher I will need to earn my degree in teaching. I hope to one day be able to lend the world my knowledge, and be considered a teacher. â€Å"Teaching offers inner rewards; a sense of having contributed to the betterment of humanity, a sense of having made a difference in this ever-changing world† (Morales, 1994, para. 14).

Reserve bank of India Essay

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is India’s central banking institution, which controls the monetary policy of the Indian rupee. It was established on 1 April 1935 during the British Raj in accordance with the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 Main functions Bank of Issue Under Section 22 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, the Bank has the sole right to issue bank notes of all denominations. The distribution of one rupee notes and coins and small coins all over the country is undertaken by the Reserve Bank as agent of the government. The Reserve Bank has a separate Issue Department which is entrusted with the issue of currency notes. The assets and liabilities of the Issue Department are kept separate from those of the Banking Department. Monetary authority The Reserve Bank of India is the main monetary authority of the country and beside that the central bank acts as the bank of the national and state governments. It formulates, implements and monitors the monetary policy as well as it has to ensure an adequate flow of credit to productive sectors. Regulator and supervisor of the financial system The institution is also the regulator and supervisor of the financial system and prescribes broad parameters of banking operations within which the country’s banking and financial system functions. Its objectives are to maintain public confidence in the system, protect depositors’ interest and provide cost-effective banking services to the public. The Banking Ombudsman Scheme has been formulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for effective addressing of complaints by bank customers. The RBI controls the monetary supply, monitors economic indicators like the gross domestic product and has to decide the design of the rupee banknotes as well as coins. Managerial of exchange control-The central bank manages to reach the goals of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. Objective: to facilitate external trade and payment and promote orderly development and maintenance of foreign exchange  market in India. Issuer of currency- The bank issues and exchanges or destroys currency notes and coins that are not fit for circulation. The objectives are giving the public adequate supply of currency of good quality and to provide loans to commercial banks to maintain or improve the GDP. The basic objectives of RBI are to issue bank notes, to maintain the currency and credit system of the country to utilize it in its best advantage, and to maintain the reserves. RBI maintains the economic structure of the country so that it can achieve the objective of price stability as well as economic development, because both objectives are diverse in themselves. Banker of Banks- RBI also works as a central bank where commercial banks are account holders and can deposit money.RBI maintains banking accounts of all scheduled banks.[30] Commercial banks create credit. It is the duty of the RBI to control the credit through the CRR, bank rate and open market operations. As banker’s bank, the RBI facilitates the clearing of cheques between the commercial banks and helps inter-bank transfer of funds. It can grant financial accommodation to schedule banks. It acts as the lender of the last resort by providing emergency advances to the banks. It supervises the functioning of the commercial banks and take action against it if need arises. Developmental role- The central bank has to perform a wide range of promotional functions to support national objectives and industries.[8] The RBI faces a lot of inter-sectoral and local inflation-related problems. Some of this problems are results of the dominant part of the public sector. Related functions-The RBI is also a banker to the government and performs merchant banking function for the central and the state governments. It also acts as their banker. The National Housing Bank (NHB) was established in 1988 to promote private real estate acquisition. The institution maintains banking accounts of all scheduled banks, too. RBI on 7 August 2012 said that Indian banking system is resilient enough to face the stress caused by the drought like situation because of poor monsoon this year.

Death of a Salesman Critical insights Essay

In a 2003 interview with his biographer, Christopher Bigsby, about the inherent structure of his plays, Arthur Miller explained, â€Å"It’s all about the language† (Bigsby, â€Å"Miller†). Miller’s declaration about the centrality of language in the creation of drama came at the end of his almost seventy-year career. He had completed his final play, Finishing the Picture, and a little more than a year later, he became ill and subsequently died in February 2005. Thus Miller’s statement can be seen as a final avowal about how language operates in dramatic dialogue, a concern that had obsessed him since the start of his career when he wrote his first play, No Villain, at the University of Michigan in 1935. Despite Miller’s proclamation, not enough critical attention has been paid to the sophisticated use of language that pervades his dialogue. Throughout his career, Miller often was subject to reviews in which critics mostly excoriated him for what they judged as a failed use of language in his plays. For example, in the Nation review of the original production of Death of a Salesman in 1949, Joseph Wood Krutch criticized the play for â€Å"its failure to go beyond literal meaning and its undistinguished dialogue. Unlike Tennessee Williams, Miller does not have a unique sensibility, new insight, fresh imagination or a gift for language† (283-84). In 1964, Richard Gilman judged that After the Fall lacks structural focus and contains vague rhetoric. He concluded that Miller’s â€Å"verbal inadequacy [has] never been more flagrantly exhibited† (6). John Simon’s New York review of the 1994 Broadway production of Broken Glass opined that â€Å"Miller†™s ultimate failure is his language: Tone-deafness in a playwright is only a shade less bad than in a composer.† In a June 2009 review of Christopher Bigsby’s authorized biography of Miller, Terry Teachout judged that Miller â€Å"too often made the mistake of using florid, pseudo-poetic language† (72). These reviews illustrate how, as a language stylist, Arthur Miller was underappreciated, too often overshadowed by his contemporary Tennessee Williams, whose major strength as a dramatist for many critics lies in the â€Å"lyricism† of his plays. As Arthur K. Oberg pointed out, â€Å"In the established image, Miller’s art is masculine and craggy; Williams’, poetic and delicate† (303). Because Miller has so often been pigeonholed as a â€Å"social† dramatist, most of the criticism of his work focuses on the cultural relevance of his plays and ignores detailed discussions of his language–especially of its poetic elements. Most critics are content to regard his dialogue as â€Å"colloquial,† judging that Miller best used what Leonard Moss described as â€Å"the common man’s language† (52) to reflect the social concerns of his characters. The assumption is often made that the manufacturers, salesmen, Puritan farmers, dockwork ers, housewives, policemen, doctors, lawyers, executives, and bankers who compose the bulk of Miller’s characters speak a realistic prose dialogue–a style that is implicitly antithetical to poetic language. This prevailing opinion of Miller as a dramatist who merely uses the common man’s language has been reinforced largely by a lack of in-depth critical analyses of how figurative language works in his canon. In his November 1998 review of the Chicago run of the fiftieth anniversary production of Death of a Salesman, Ben Brantley noted that, â€Å"as recent Miller scholarship has suggested again and again, the play’s images and rhythms have the patterns of poetry† (E3). In reality, though, relatively few critics have thoroughly examined this aspect not only of Salesman but also of Miller’s entire dramatic canon.1 Thomas M. Tammaro judges â€Å"that critical attention to Miller’s drama has been lured from textual analysis to such non-textual concerns as biography and Miller as a social dramatist† (10).2 Moreover, classroom discussions of Miller’s masterpieces Death of a Salesman and The Crucible (1953) mostly focus on these biographical an d social concerns in addition to characterization and thematic issues but rarely discuss language and dialogue. Five years after his passing, it is time to recognize that Arthur Miller created a unique dramatic idiom that undoubtedly marks him as significant language stylist within twentieth- and twenty-first-century  American and world drama. More readers and critics should see his dialogue not exclusively as prose but also as poetry, what Gordon W. Couchman has called Miller’s â€Å"rare gift for the poetic in the colloquial† (206). Although Miller seems to work mostly in a form of colloquial prose, there are many moments in his plays when the dialogue clearly elevates to poetry. Miller often takes what appear to be the colloquialisms, clichà ©s, and idioms of the common man’s language and reveals them as poetic language, especially by shifting words from their denotative to connotative meanings. Moreover, he significantly employs the figurative devices of metaphor, symbol, and imagery to give poetic significance to prose dialect. In addition, in many texts Miller embeds series of metaphors–many are extended–that possess particular connotations within the societies of the individual plays. Most important, these figurative devices significantly support the tragic conflicts and social themes that are the focus of every Miller play. By deftly mixing these figurative devices of symbolism, imagery, and metaphor with colloquial prose dialogue, Miller combines prose and poetry to create a unique d ramatic idiom. Most critics, readers, and audiences seem to overlook this aspect of Miller’s work: the poetry is in the prose and the prose is in the poetry. Indeed, poetic elements pervade most of Miller’s plays. For example, in All My Sons, religious allusions, symbols, and images place the themes of sacrifice and redemption in a Christian context. In Death of a Salesman, the extended metaphors of sports and trees convey Willy Loman’s struggle to achieve the American Dream. In The Crucible, the poetic language illustrates the conflicts that polarize the Salem community as a series of opposing images–heat and cold, white and black, light and dark, soft and hard–signify the Salemites’ dualistic view of the world. In A View from the Bridge, metaphors of purity and innocence give mythic importance to Eddie Carbone’s sexual, psychological, and moral struggles. After the Fall uses extended metaphors of childhood and religion to support Quentin’s psychological quest for redemption. The Ride Down Mt. Morgan connects metaphors of transportation and travel to Lyman Felt’s literal and figurat ive fall, and Broken Glass uses images of mirrors and glass to relate  the world of the European Jew at the beginning of the Holocaust to Sylvia and Phillip Gellburg’s shattered sexual world. That most critics continue to fail to recognize Miller’s sophisticated use of poetic elements is striking, for it is this very facility for which many other playwrights are praised, and the history of drama is intimately intertwined with the history of poetry. For most of Western dramatic history, plays were written in verse: the ancient Greek playwrights of the fifth century b.c.e. composed their tragedies in a verse frequently accompanied by music; the rhyming couplets of the Everyman dramatist were the de rigueur medieval form; and English Renaissance plays were poetic masterpieces. Shakespeare’s supremacy as a dramatist lies in his adaptation of the early modern English language into a dramatic dialogue that combines prose and poetry. For example, Hamlet’s â€Å"quintessence of dust† speech is lyrical prose. In the twentieth century, critics praised the verse plays of T. S. Eliot, Maxwell Anderson, Christopher Isherwood, and W. H. Auden. Even more baffling about this critical neglect is that Miller readily acknowledged his attraction to poetry and dramatic verse. His views on language, particularly poetic language, are evident in the prodigious number of essays he produced throughout his career. Criticism has mostly ignored this large body of nonfiction writing in which Miller frequently expounds on the nature of language and dialogue, the tension between realistic prose and poetic language in twentieth-century drama, and the complex evolution of poetic language throughout his plays.3 For example, in his 1993 essay â€Å"About Theatre Language† he writes: It was inevitable that I had to confront the problem of dramatic language. . . .I gradually came to wonder if the essential pressure toward poetic dramatic language–if not of stylization itself–came from the inclusion of society as a major element in the play’s story or vision. Manifestly, prose realism was the language of the individual and private life, poetry the language of man in crowds, in society. Put another way, prose is the language of family relations; it is the inclusion of the larger world beyond that naturally opens a play to the poetic. . . . How to find a style that would at one and the same time deeply engage an American audience, which insisted on a recognizable reality of characters, locales, and themes, while opening the stage to considerations of public morality and the mythic social fates–in short, the invisible? (82) * * * Miller’s attraction to poetic dramatic dialogue can be traced back to his development as a playwright, particularly his time as a student at the University of Michigan in the mid-1930s and the early years of his great successes in the 1940s and 1950s, when his views on dramatic form, structure, aesthetics, and language were evolving. Miller knew little about the theater when he arrived in Ann Arbor from his home in Brooklyn, but during these formative college years, he became aware of German expressionism, and he read August Strindberg and Henrik Ibsen, whom he often acknowledged as major influences on him. Christopher Bigsby has pointed out that Miller always remembered the effect that reading Greek and Elizabethan playwrights at college had on him (Critical Study 419). However, Miller was markedly affected by the social-protest work of Clifford Odets. In his autobiography, Timebends (1987), Miller describes how Odets’s 1930s plays Waiting for Lefty (1935), Awake and S ing (1935), and Golden Boy (1937) had â€Å"sprung forth a new phenomenon, a leftist challenge to the system, the poet suddenly leaping onto the stage and disposing of middle-class gentility, screaming and yelling and cursing like somebody off the Manhattan streets† (229). Most important for Miller, Odets brought to American drama a concern for language: â€Å"For the very first time in America, language itself had marked a playwright as unique† (229). To Miller, Odets was â€Å"The only poet, I thought, not only in the social protest theater, but in all of New York† (212). After Miller won his first Avery Hopwood Award at Michigan, he was sent to Professor Kenneth Rowe, whose chief contribution to Miller’s development was cultivating his interest in the dynamics of play construction. Odets and Rowe clearly were considerably strong influences on Miller as he developed  his concern with language and his form broke out of what he termed the â€Å"dusty naturalistic habit † (Timebends 228) of Broadway, but other influences would also compel him to write dramatic verse. The work of Thornton Wilder, particularly Our Town (1938), spoke to him, and in Timebends Miller acknowledges that Our Town was the nearest of the 1930s plays in â€Å"reaching for lyricism† (229). Tennessee Williams is another playwright whom Miller frequently credited with influencing his art and the craft of his language. He credited the newness of The Glass Menagerie (1944) to the play’s â€Å"poetic lift† (Timebends 244) and was particularly struck b y A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), proclaiming that Williams had given him license to speak in dramatic language â€Å"at full throat† (Timebends 182). Moreover, Miller practiced what he had learned and espoused. In fact, he reported that when he was first beginning his career he was â€Å"up to [his] neck† in writing many of his full-length and radio plays in verse (â€Å"Interview† 98). When he graduated from Michigan and started his work with the Federal Theatre Project in 1938, he wrote The Golden Years, a verse play about Montezuma. In a letter to Professor Rowe, he reported that he found writing verse much easier than writing prose: â€Å"I made the discovery that in verse you are forced to be brief and to the point. Verse squeezes out fat and you’re left with the real meaning of the language† (Bigsby, Arthur Miller 155). Also, he explained that much of Death of a Salesman and all of The Crucible were originally written in verse; the one-act version of A View from the Bridge (1955) was written in an intriguing mixture of verse and prose, and Miller regretted his failure to do the same in The America n Clock (1980) (Bigsby, Critical Introduction 136). However, Miller found an American theater hostile to the poetic form. Miller himself pointed out that the United States had no tradition of dramatic verse (â€Å"Interview† 98) as compared to Europe. In the 1930s, Maxwell Anderson was one of the few American playwrights incorporating blank verse into his plays, and the English theater witnessed some interest in poetic drama in the 1940s and 1950s, most notably with Christopher Fry and T. S. Eliot. In reality, dramatic verse had been in sharp decline since the late nineteenth century, when the realistic prose dialogue used by Henrik Ibsen in Norway  was adopted by George Bernard Shaw in England and then later employed by Eugene O’Neill in the United States. Miller also judged that American actors had difficulty speaking the verse line (â€Å"Interview† 98). Further, Miller came of age at a time when American audiences were demanding realism, the musical comedy was gaining in dominance, and commercial Broadway pr oducers were disinterested in verse drama. Christopher Bigsby has pointed out that Miller was â€Å"in his own mind, an essentially poetic, deeply metaphoric writer who had found himself in a theater resistant to such, particularly on Broadway, which he continued to think of as his natural home, despite its many deficiencies† (Critical Study 358). Struggling with how to accept this reality, Miller accommodated his natural inclination to verse by developing a dramatic idiom that reconciled his poetic urge with the realism demanded by the aesthetics of the American stage. Thus he infused poetic language into his prose dialogue. * * * Let’s examine how some of these poetic devices–symbolism, imagery, and metaphor– operate in Miller’s masterpiece, Death of a Salesman. From the outset of the play, Miller makes trees and sports into metaphors signifying Willy Loman’s struggle to achieve the American Dream within the competitive American business world. Trees symbolize Willy’s dreams, sports the competition for economic success.4 Miller sustains these metaphors throughout the entire text with images of boxing, burning, wood, nature, and fighting to make them into crucial unifying structures. In addition, Miller’s predilection for juxtaposing the literal and figurative meanings of words is particularly evident in Salesman as the abstract concepts of competition and dreaming are vivified by concrete objects and actions such as boxing, fists, lumber, and ashes. Trees are an excellent illustration of how Miller uses literal and figurative meanings. Two references in act 1, scene 1, immediately establish their importance in the play. When Willy unexpectedly arrives home, he explains that he was unable to drive to Portland for his sales call because he kept  becoming absorbed in the countryside scenery, where â€Å"the trees are so thick, and the sun is warm† (14). Although these trees merely seem to distract Willy from driving, he also indicates their connection to dreaming. He tells Linda: â€Å"I absolutely forgot I was driving. If I’d’ve gone the other way over the white line I might’ve killed somebody. So I went on again–and five minutes later I’m dreamin’ again† (14). Willy’s inability to concentrate on driving indicates an emotional conflict larger than mere daydreaming. The play reveals how Willy often exists in dreams rather than reality–dreams of being well liked , of success for his son Biff, of his â€Å"imaginings.† All of these dreams intimately connect to Willy’s confrontation with his failure to achieve the tangible aspects of the American Dream. He is a traveling salesman, and his inability to drive symbolizes his inability to sell, which guarantees that he will fail in the competition to be a â€Å"hot-shot salesman.† The action of the play depicts the last day of Willy’s life and how Willy is increasingly escaping the reality of his failure in reveries of the past, to the point where he often cannot differentiate between reality and illusion. The repetition of the mention of trees in Willy’s second speech in scene 1 cements the importance of trees in the play as a metaphor for these dreams. He complains to Linda about the apartment houses surrounding the Loman home: â€Å"They should’ve had a law against apartment houses. Remember those two beautiful elm trees out there? When Biff and I hung the swing between them?† (17). However, these trees are not the trees of the real time of the play; rather, they exist in Willy’s past and, more important, in the â€Å"imaginings† of his mind, the place where the more important dramatic action of the play takes place. Miller’s working title for Death of a Salesman was â€Å"The Inside of His Head,† and certainly Willy’s longing for the trees of the past illustrates how dreaming works in his mind. Throughout the entire play, trees–and all the other images connected to them–are complicated symbols of an idyllic past for which Willy longs in his dreams, a world where Biff and Hap are young, where Willy can believe himself a hot-shot salesman, where Brooklyn seems an unspoiled wilderness. The irony is that, in reality, the past was not as idyllic as Willy recalls, and the play gradually unfolds the reality of  Willy’s failures. The metaphor of trees also supports Willy’s unresolved struggle with his son Biff. Willy’s memory of Biff and himself hanging a hammock between the elms is ironic as the two beautiful trees’ absence in the present symbolizes Willy’s failed dreams for Biff. Throughout the play, Miller significantly expands upon the figurative meaning of trees. For example, in act 1, scene 4, Willy responds to Hap’s claims that he will retire Willy for life by remarking: You’ll retire me for life on seventy goddam dollars a week? And your women and your car and your apartment, and you’ll retire me for life! Christ’s sake I couldn’t get past Yonkers today! Where are you guys, where are you? The woods are burning! I can’t drive a car! (41) Willy’s warning that â€Å"the woods are burning† extends the tree metaphor by introducing an important sense of destruction to the trees of Willy’s idyllic world of the past. Since the trees are so identified with Willy’s dreams, the image implies that his dreams are burning too–his dreams for himself as a successful salesman and his dreams for Biff and Hap. The images of burning and destruction are crucial in the play, especially when Linda reveals Willy’s suicide attempts–his own form of destruction, which he enacts at play’s end. We realize that since Willy is so associated with his dreams, he will die when they burn. In fact, Willy repeats this same exact line in act 2 when he arrives at Frank’s Chop House and announces his firing to Hap and Biff. He says: â€Å"I’m not interested in stories about the past or any crap of that kind because the woods are burning, boys, you understand? There’s a big blaze going on all around. I was fired today† (107). This line not only repeats Willy’s warning cry from act 1 but also foreshadows Biff’s climactic plea to Willy to â€Å"take that phony dream and burn it† (133). The burning metaphor–now ironic–also appears in Willy’s imagining in the Boston hotel room. As Willy continues to ignore Biff’s knock on the door, the woman says, â€Å"Maybe the hotel’s on fire.† Willy replies, â€Å"It’s a mistake, there’s no fire† (116). Of course, nothing is threatened by a literal fire–only by the figurative blaze inside Willy’s head. Once aware of how tree images operate in the play, a reader (or keen theatergoer) can note the cacophony of other references that sustain the metaphor in other scenes. For example, Willy wants Biff to help trim the tree branch that threatens to fall on the Loman house; Biff and Hap steal lumber; Willy plaintively remembers his father carving flutes; Willy tells Ben that Biff can â€Å"fell trees†; Willy mocks Biff for wanting to be a carpenter and similarly mocks Charley and his son Bernard because they â€Å"can’t hammer a nail†; Ben buys timberland in Alaska; Biff burns his sneakers in the furnace; Willy speculates about his need for a â€Å"little lumber† (72) to build a guest house for the boys when they get married; Willy is proud of weathering a twenty-five-year mortgage with â€Å"all the cement, the lumber† (74) he has put into the house; Willy explains to Ben that â€Å"I am building something with this firm,† something â€Å"you ca n’t feel . . . with your hand like timber† (86). Finally, there are â€Å"the leaves of day appearing over everything† in the graveyard in â€Å"Requiem† (136). Miller similarly uses boxing in literal and figurative ways throughout the play. In act 1, scene 2, Biff suggests to Hap that they buy a ranch to â€Å"use our muscles. Men built like we are should be working out in the open† (24). Hap responds to Biff with the first sports reference in the text: â€Å"That’s what I dream about, Biff. Sometimes I want to just rip my clothes off in the middle of the store and outbox that goddam merchandise manager. I mean I can outbox, outrun, and outlift anybody in that store† (24). As an athlete, Biff, it seems, should introduce the sports metaphor, but, ironically, the sport with which he is identified–football–is not used in any extensive metaphoric way in the play.5 Instead, boxing becomes the extended sports metaphor of the text, and it is not introduced by Biff but rather by Hap, who reinforces it throughout the play to show how Willy has prepared him and Biff only for physical competition, not business or eco nomic competition. Thus Hap expresses his frustration at being a second-rate worker by stressing his physical superiority over his managers. Unable to win in economic competition, he longs to beat his coworkers in a physical match, and it is this contrast between economic and physical competition that intensifies the dramatic interplay between the literal and the figurative language of the play. In fact, the very competitiveness of the American economic system in which Willy and Hap work, and that Biff hates, is consistently put on physical terms in the play. A failure in the competitive workplace, Hap uses the metaphor of physical competition–boxing man to man–yet the play details how Hap was considered less physically impressive than Biff when the two were boys. As an adult, Hap competes in the only physical competition he can win–sex. He even uses the imagery of rivalry when talking about his sexual conquests of the store managers’ girlfriends: â€Å"Maybe I just have an overdeveloped sense of competition or something† (25). Perhaps knowing that they cannot win, the Lomans resort to a significant amount of cheating in competition: Willy condones Biff’s theft of a football, Biff cheats on his exams, Hap takes bribes, and Willy cheats on Linda. All of this cheating signifies the Lomans’ moral failings as well. The boxing metaphor also illustrates the contrast between Biff and Hap. Boxing as a sports metaphor is quite different from the expected football metaphor: a boxer relies completely on personal physical strength while fighting a single opponent, whereas in football, a team sport, the players rely on group effort and group tactics. Thus the difference between Biff and Hap–Hap as evoker of the boxing metaphor and Biff as a player of a team sport–is emphasized throughout the text. Moreover, the action of the play relies on the clash of dreams between Biff and Willy. Biff is Willy’s favorite son, and Willy’s own dreams and disappointments are tied to him. Yet Hap, the second-rate son, the second-rate physical specimen, the second-rate worker, is the son who is most like Willy in profession, braggadocio, and sexual swagger. Ultimately, at the play’s end, in â€Å"Requiem,† the boxing metaphor ironically points out Hap’s significance as the actual competitor for Willy’s dream, for he decides to stay in the city because Willy â€Å"fought it out here and this is where I’m gonna win it for him† (139). Biff’s boxing contrasts sharply with Hap’s. For example, Biff ironically performs a literal boxing competition with Ben, which juxtaposes with the figurative competition of the play. The boxing reinforces the emphasis that  has been placed on Biff as the most physically prepared â€Å"specimen† of the boys. Yet Biff is defeated by Ben; in reality he is ill prepared to fight a boxing match because it is a man-to-man competition, unlike football, the team sport at which he excelled. He is especially ill prepared for Uncle Ben’s kind of boxing match because it is not a fair match conducted on a level playing field. As Ben says: â€Å"Never fight fair with a stranger, boy. You’ll never get out of the jungle that way† (49). Thus the literal act of boxing possesses figurative significance. Willy has not conditioned Biff (or, by extension, Hap) for any fight–fair or unfair–in the larger figurative â€Å"jungle† of the play: th e workplace of the American economic system. Willy, too, uses a significant amount of boxing imagery, much of it quite violent. In the first imagining in act 1, Biff asks Willy about his recent sales trip, â€Å"Did you knock them dead, Pop?† and Willy responds, â€Å"Knocked ’em cold in Providence, slaughtered ’em in Boston† (33); when he relates to Linda how another salesman at F. H. Stewarts insulted him, Willy claims he â€Å"cracked him right across the face† (37), the same physical threat that he will later make against Charley in act 2 on the day of the Ebbets Field game. Willy wants to box Charley, challenging him, â€Å"Put up your hands. Goddam you, put up your hands† (68). Willy also says, â€Å"I’m gonna knock Howard for a loop† (74). Willy uses these violent physical terms against men he perceives as challengers and competitors. As with the tree metaphor, this one is sustained throughout the scenes with a plethora of boxing references: a punching bag is inscribed with Gene Tunney’s name; Hap challenges Bernard to box; Willy explains to Linda that the boys gathered in the cellar obey Biff because, â€Å"Well, that’s the training, the training†; Biff feebly attempts to box with Uncle Ben; Bernard remarks to Willy that Biff â€Å"never trained himself for anything† (92); Charley cheers on his son with a â€Å"Knock ’em dead, Bernard† (95) as Bernard leaves to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court; Willy, expressing to Bernard his frustration that Biff has done nothing with his life, says, â€Å"Why did he lay down?† (93). This last boxing reference, associated with taking a dive, is a remarkably imagistic way of describing how Biff initially cut down his life out of spite after discovering Willy’s infidelity. * * * Miller also uses images, symbols, and metaphors as central or unifying devices by employing repetition and recurrence–one of the central tenets of so-called cluster criticism, which was pioneered in the 1930s and 1940s.6 In short, cluster criticism argues that the deliberate repetition of words, images, symbols, and metaphors contributes to the unity of the work just as significantly as do plot, character, and theme. These clusters of words can operate both literally and figuratively in a text–as I. A. Richards notes in The Philosophy of Rhetoric–and, therefore, contribute significantly to the overall aesthetic and thematic impact. For example, in Arthur Miller, Dramatist, Edward Murray traces word repetition in The Crucible, examining how Miller, â€Å"in a very subtle manner, uses key words to knit together the texture of action and theme.† He notes, for example, the recurrent use of the word â€Å"soft† in the text (64). My own previous work on T he Crucible has examined how the tenfold repetition of the word â€Å"weight† supports one of the play’s crucial themes: how an individual’s struggle for truth often conflicts with society. Let’s examine an intriguing example of word repetition from Death of a Salesman.7 The words â€Å"paint† and â€Å"painting† appear five significant times in the play. The first is a literal use: at the end of act 1, Willy tells Biff during their argument, â€Å"If you get tired of hanging around tomorrow, paint the ceiling I put up in the living room† (45). This line echoes Willy’s previous mockery of Charley for not knowing how to put up a ceiling: â€Å"A man who can’t handle tools is not a man† (30). In both instances, Willy is asserting his superiority on the basis of his physical prowess, a point that is consistently emphasized in the play. The second time â€Å"paint† appears is in act 2, when Biff and Hap abandon Willy in Frank’s Chop House to leave with Letta and Miss Forsythe. Hap says to Letta: â€Å"No, that’s not my father. He’s just a guy. Come on, we’ll catch Biff, and honey we’re going to paint this town!† (91). Of course in this  line Miller uses the clichà © â€Å"Paint the town red† for its well-known meaning of having a wild night of partying and dissolution–although it is notable that Miller uses a truncated form of the phrase. Nevertheless, here the clichà © takes on new significance in the context of the play. Willy defines masculinity by painting a ceiling, but Hap defines it by painting the town with sexual debauchery and revelry, lording his physical superiority and his sexual conquests over other men. The third, fourth, and fifth repetitions occur in act 2 during the imagining in the hotel room when Biff discovers Willy with the woman. When the woman comes out of the bathroom, Willy says: â€Å"Ah–you better go back to your room. They must be finished painting by now. They’re painting her room so I let her take a shower here† (119). When she leaves, Willy attempts to convince Biff that â€Å"she lives down the hall–they’re painting. You don’t imagine–† (120). Here, painting is simultaneously literal and metaphorical because of its previous usage in the play–but with a high degree of irony. Willy’s feeble explanation that Miss Francis’s room is literally being painted is a cover-up for the reality that Willy himself has painted the town in Boston. Biff discovers that Willy’s manhood is defined by sexual infidelity–ultimately defining him as a â€Å"phony little fake.† * * * Another relatively unexplored aspect of Miller’s language is the names of his characters. Miller chooses his characters’ names for their metaphorical associations in most of his dramatic canon. Justin Kaplan and Anne Bernays’s 1997 text The Language of Names revived some interest in this technique, which is known as literary onomastics and is considered a somewhat minor part of contemporary literary criticism. Kaplan and Bernays examine the connotative value of names that function in texts as â€Å"symbolic, metaphoric, or allegorical discourse† (175). Although some scholars have discussed the use of this technique in individual Miller plays, most readers familiar with the body of Miller’s work notice how consistently he chooses the names of his characters to create symbols, irony, and points of contrast. For example, readers and critics who are familiar only with Death of a Salesman among Miller’s works have long noted that Willy’s last name literally marks him as a â€Å"low man,† although Miller himself chuckled at the overemphasis placed on this pun. He actually derived the name from a movie he had seen, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, in which a completely mad character at the end of the film screams, â€Å"Lohman, Lohman, get me Lohman† (Timebends 177-79). To Miller, the man’s cry signified the hysteria he wanted to create in his salesman, Willy Loman. Many critics also have noted the significance of the name of Dave â€Å"Singleman,† the eighty-year-old salesman who stands alone as Willy’s ideal. Despite Miller’s consistent downplaying in interviews of the significance of his characters’ names, an examination of his technique reveals how extensively he connects his characters’ names to the larger social issues at the core of every play. For example, the last name of All My Sons’ Joe Keller, who manufactures faulty airplane parts and is indirectly responsible for the deaths of twenty-one pilots, resembles â€Å"killer.† In previous work on the play, I have noted the comparison of the Kellers to the Holy Family, and how, therefore, the names of Joe and his son, Chris, take on religious significance. Susan C. W. Abbotson has noted how the first name of The Ride Down Mt. Morgan’s Lyman Felt suggests the lying he has lived out. She also has analyzed the similarities between Loman and Lyman, and has argued that Lyman is a kind of alter ego to Willy some forty years later. Frank Ardolino has also examined how Miller employs Egyptian mytholog y in naming and depicting Hap (â€Å"Mythological†). An intriguing feature of Miller’s use of names is his repetition of the same name, or form of the same name, in his plays. It is striking how in Salesman Miller uses the name â€Å"Frank,† or variations of it, five times for five different characters, a highly unusual occurrence.8 In act 1, during Willy’s first imagining, when Linda complains to Biff that there is a cellar full of boys in the Loman house who do not know what to do with themselves, Frank is one of the boys whom Biff gets to clean up the furnace room. Not long after, at the end of the imagining, Frank is the name of the mechanic who fixes the carburetor of Willy’s Chevrolet. In act 2, in the moving scene in which  Howard effectively fires Willy and Willy is left alone in the office, Willy cries out three times for â€Å"Frank,† apparently Howard’s father and the original owner of the company, who, Willy claims, asked Willy to â€Å"name† Howard. Willy also meets the bo ys in Frank’s Chop House and, in the crucial discovery scene in the Boston hotel room, Willy introduces the woman to Biff as Miss Francis, â€Å"Frank† often being a nickname for Francis. There are significant figurative uses of â€Å"Frank† too, for, although the word means â€Å"honest† or â€Å"candid,† all of the Franks in Salesman are clearly associated with work that is not completely honest. Biff uses the boy Frank and his companions to clean the furnace room and hang up the wash–chores that he should be doing himself. Willy somewhat questions the repair job that the mechanic Frank does on â€Å"that goddam Chevrolet.† Despite Willy’s idolizing of his boss, Frank Wagner, Linda indicates that Frank, perhaps, promised Willy a partnership as a member of the firm, a promise that kept Willy from joining Ben in Alaska and that was never made good on by either Frank or his son, Howard. Miss Francis promises to put Willy through to the buyers in exchange for stockings and her sexual favors, but it is uncertain whether she holds up her end of the deal, since Willy certainly has never been a â€Å"hot-shot† salesman. And, of course, Frank’s Chop House is the place where Stanley tells Hap that the boss, presumably Frank, is going crazy over the â€Å"leak in the cash register.† Thus Miller clearly uses the name Frank with a high degree of irony, an important aspect of his use of figurative language in his canon. Of course, all this business dishonesty emphasizes how Salesman challenges the integrity of the American work ethic. Miller’s careful selection of names shows that he perhaps considered the names of his characters as part of each play’s network of figurative language. As Kaplan and Bernays note, â€Å"Names of characters . . . convey what their creators may already know and feel about them and how they want their readers to respond† (174). Thus, in his choice of names, Arthur Miller may very well be manipulating his audience before the curtain rises, as they sit and read the cast of characters in their playbills. Finally, being aware of Miller’s use of poetic language is crucial for  however we encounter his plays–as readers who analyze drama as text or as audience members in tune with the sound of the dialogue. It is, indeed, â€Å"all about the language†Ã¢â‚¬â€œthe language we read in the text and the language we hear on the stage. Notes 1. Although some critics have examined Miller’s colloquial prose, only a few have conducted studies of how poetic devices work in his dialogue. Leonard Moss, in his book-length study Arthur Miller, analyzes Miller’s language in a chapter on Death of a Salesman, a section of which is titled â€Å"Verbal and Symbolic Technique.† In an article titled â€Å"Death of a Salesman and Arthur Miller’s Search for Style,† Arthur K. Oberg considers Miller’s struggle with establishing a dramatic idiom. Oberg judges that Miller ultimately â€Å"arrives at something that approaches an American idiom to the extent that it exposes a colloquialism characterized by unusual image, spurious lyricism, and close-ended clichà ©Ã¢â‚¬  (305). He concludes that â€Å"the play’s text, although far from `bad poetry,’ tellingly moves toward the status of poetry without ever getting there† (310-11). My 2002 work A Language Study of Arthur Millerâ₠¬â„¢s Plays: The Poetic in the Colloquial traces Miller’s consistent use of figurative language from All My Sons to Broken Glass. In other studies discussing individual plays, some critics have noted poetic nuances in Miller’s language. In â€Å"Setting, Language, and the Force of Evil in The Crucible,† Penelope Curtis maintains that the language of the play is marked by what she calls â€Å"half-metaphor† (69), which Miller employs to suggest the play’s themes. In an article published in Notes on Contemporary Literature, John D. Engle explains the metaphor of law used by the lawyer Quentin in After the Fall. Lawrence Rosinger, in a brief Explicator article, traces the metaphors of royalty that appear in Death of a Salesman. 2. Thomas M. Tammaro also points out that the diminished prestige of language studies since the height of New Criticism may account for the lack of a sustained examination of imagery and symbolism in Miller’s work. Moreover, Tammaro notes that Miller’s plays were not subjected to New Critical theory  even when language studies were prominent (10). In his new authorized biography Arthur Miller: 1915-1962, Christopher Bigsby clearly recognizes Miller’s attempts to write verse drama, but this work is largely a critical biography and cultural study, not a close textual analysis. 3. Most notable among these works are the following: â€Å"The Family in Modern Drama,† which first appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in 1956; â€Å"On Social Plays,† which appeared as the original introduction to the one-act edition of A View from the Bridge and A Memory of Two Mondays; the introduction to his 1957 Collected Plays; â€Å"The American Writer: The American Theater,† first published in the Michigan Quarterly Review in 1982; â€Å"On Screenwriting and Language: Introduction to Everybody Wins,† first published in 1990; his 1993 essay â€Å"About Theatre Language,† which first appeared as an afterword to the published edition of The Last Yankee; and his March 1999 Harper’s article â€Å"On Broadway: Notes on the Past and Future of American Theater.† 4. For a more detailed discussion of these metaphors, see â€Å"Death of a Salesman: Unlocking the Rhetoric of Poetic Power† in my 2002 volume A Language Study of Arthur Miller’s Plays. Also, in â€Å"Figuring Our Past and Present in Wood: Wood Imagery in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and The Crucible,† Will Smith traces what he describes as a â€Å"wood trope† in the plays. 5. When Biff discovers Willy with the woman in the hotel room in act 2, she refers to herself as a football (119-20) to indicate her humiliating treatment by Willy and, perhaps, all men. 6. Frederick Charles Kolbe, Caroline F. E. Spurgeon, and Kenneth Burke pioneered much of this criticism. For example, Spurgeon did groundbreaking work in discovering the clothes imagery and the image of the babe in Macbeth. Kenneth Burke, in The Philosophy of Literary Form, examines Clifford Odets’s Golden Boy as a play that uses language clusters, particularly the images of the â€Å"prizefight† and the â€Å"violin,† that operate both literally and symbolically in the text (33-35). 7. In his work Arthur Miller, Leonard Moss details the frequent repetitions of words in the text, such as â€Å"man,† â€Å"boy,† and â€Å"kid.† He notes that forms of the verb â€Å"make† occur forty-five times in thirty-three different usages, ranging from Standard English to slang expressions, among them â€Å"make mountains out of molehills,† â€Å"makin a hit,† â€Å"makin my future,† â€Å"make me laugh,† and â€Å"make a train.† He also notes the nine-time repetition of â€Å"make money† (48). Moss connects these expressions to Miller’s thematic intention: illustrating how the American work ethic dominates Willy’s life. 8. In â€Å"`I’m Not a Dime a Dozen! I Am Willy Loman!’: The Significance of Names and Numbers in Death of a Salesman,† Frank Ardolino takes a mainly psychological approach to the language of the play. He maintains that â€Å"Miller’s system of onomastic and numerical images and echoes forms a complex network which delineates Willy’s insanity and its effects on his family and job† (174). Ardolino explains that the name imagery reveals Biff’s and Willy’s failures. He sees the repetition of â€Å"Frank† as part of Miller’s use of geographical, personal, and business names that often begin with B, F, P, or S. Thus the names beginning with F â€Å"convey a conflict between benevolence and protection on the one hand and dismissal and degradation on the other† (177). Benevolent Franks are Willy’s boss, the boy Frank who cleans up, and the repairman Frank. Degrading Franks are Miss Francis and Frank’s Chop House, which contains the literal and psychological toilet where Willy has his climactic imagining of the hotel room in Boston. Works Cited Abbotson, Susan C. W. â€Å"From Loman to Lyman: The Salesman Forty Years On.† â€Å"The Salesman Has a Birthday†: Essays Celebrating the Fiftieth Anniversary of Arthur Miller’s â€Å"Death of a Salesman.† Ed. Stephen A. Marino. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2000. Ardolino, Frank. â€Å"`I’m Not a Dime a Dozen! I Am Willy Loman!’: The Significance of Names and Numbers in Death of a Salesman.† Journal of Evolutionary Psychology (August 2002): 174-84. ____________. â€Å"The Mythological Significance of Happy in Death of a Salesman.† The Arthur Miller Journal 4.1 (Spring 2009): 29-33. Bigsby, Christopher. Arthur Miller: A Critical Study. New York: Cambridge UP, 2005. ____________. Arthur Miller: 1915-1962. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2008. ____________. A Critical Introduction to Twentieth-Century American Drama, Volume Two: Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee. New York: Cambridge UP, 1984. ____________. â€Å"Miller and Middle America.† Keynote address, Eighth International Arthur Miller Society Conference, Nicolet College, Rhinelander, WI, 3 Oct. 2003. Brantley, Ben. â€Å"A Dark New Production Illuminates Salesman.† New York Times 3 Nov. 1998: E1. Burke, Kenneth. The Philosophy of Literary Form. 2d ed. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1967. Couchman, Gordon W. â€Å"Arthur Miller’s Tragedy of Babbit.† Educational Theatre Journal 7 (1955): 206-11. Curtis, Penelope. â€Å"Setting, Language, and the Force of Evil in The Crucible.† Twentieth Century Interpretations of â€Å"The Crucible.† Ed. John H. Ferres. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1972. Engle, John D. â€Å"The Metaphor of Law in After the Fall.† Notes on Contemporary Literature 9 (1979): 11-12. Gilman, Richard. â€Å"Getting It Off His Chest, But Is It Art?† Chicago Sun Book Week 8 Mar. 1964: 6, 13. Kaplan, Justin, and Anne Bernays. The Language of Names. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. Krutch, Joseph Wood. â€Å"Drama.† Nation 163 (1949): 283-84. Marino, Stephen. â€Å"Arthur Miller’s `Weight of Truth’ in The Crucible.† Modern Drama 38 (1995): 488-95. ____________. A Language Study of Arthur Miller’s Plays: The Poetic in the Colloquial. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2002. ____________. â€Å"Religious Language in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons.† Journal of Imagism 3 (1998): 9-28. Miller, Arthur. â€Å"About Theatre Language.† The Last Yankee. New York: Penguin, 1993. ____________. â€Å"The American Writer: The American Theater.† The Theatre Essays of Arthur Miller. Ed. Robert A. Martin and Steven R. Centola. New York: Da Capo Press, 1996. ____________. â€Å"Arthur Miller: An Interview.† Interview with Olga Carlisle and Rose Styron. 1966. Conversations with Arthur Miller. Ed. Matthew C. Roudanà ©. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1987. 85-111. ____________. â€Å"Death of a Salesman†: Text and Criticism. Ed. Gerald Weales. New York: Penguin Books, 1967. ____________. â€Å"The Family in Modern Drama.† The Theatre Essays of Arthur Miller. Ed. Robert A. Martin. New York: Viking Press, 1978. ____________. â€Å"Introduction to the Collected Plays.† The Theatre Essays of Arthur Miller. Ed. Robert A. Martin. New York: Viking Press, 1978. ____________. â€Å"On Broadway: Notes on the Past and Future of American Theater.† Harper’s Mar. 1999: 37-47. ____________. â€Å"On Screenwriting and Language: Introduction to Everybody Wins.† The Theatre Essays of Arthur Miller. Ed. Robert A. Martin and Steven R. Centola. New York: Da Capo Press, 1996. ____________. â€Å"On Social Plays.† The Theatre Essays of Arthur Miller. Ed. Robert A. Martin. New York: Viking Press, 1978. ____________. Timebends: A Life. New York: Grove Press, 1987. Moss, Leonard. Arthur Miller. New Haven, CT: College and University Press, 1967. ____________. â€Å"Arthur Miller and the Common Man’s Language.† Modern Drama 7 (1964): 52-59. Murray, Edward. Arthur Miller, Dramatist. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1967. Oberg, Arthur K. â€Å"Death of a Salesman and Arthur Miller’s Search for Style.† Criticism 9 (1967): 303-11. Otten, Terry. The Temptation of Innocence in the Dramas of Arthur Miller. Columbia: U of Missouri P, 2002. Richards, I. A. Richards on Rhetoric: I. A. Richards–Selected Essays, 1929-1974. Ed. Ann E. Berthoff. New York: Oxford UP, 1991. Rosinger, Lawrence. â€Å"Miller’s Death of a Salesman.† Explicator 45.2 (Winter 1987): 55-56. Simon, John. â€Å"Whose Paralysis Is It, Anyway?† New York 9 May 1994. Smith, Will. â€Å"Figuring Our Past and Present in Wood: Wood Imagery in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and The Crucible.† Miller and Middle America: Essays on Arthur Miller and the American Experience. Ed. Paula T. Langteau. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2007. Spurgeon, Caroline F. E. Leading Motives in the Imagery of Shakespeare’s Tragedies. 1930. New York: Haskell House, 1970. Tammaro, Thomas M. â€Å"Introduction.† Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams: Research Opportunities and Dissertation Abstracts. Ed. Tetsumaro Hayashi. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1983. Teachout, Terry. â€Å"Concurring with Arthur Miller.† Commentary 127.6 (June 2009): 71-73.

Benefits and Risks of Vaccination Essay

Benefits and Risks of Vaccination Essay Benefits and Risks of Vaccination Essay Example Benefits and Risks of Vaccination Essay Example Vaccination refers to administering antigenic substance to stimulate the immune system of a person and initiate adaptive immunity to a given disease causing pathogen (Fiore, Bridges, Cox, 2009), and either eliminates or reduces the tendency of an infection to kill. The earliest documented vaccination attempts were made in India and China in the 17th century whereby substances obtained from wounds of small pox infected people were used as a vaccine. In the 18th century, it was realized that people who had previously suffered from a less lethal cowpox were immune to smallpox after Edward Jenner administered stuffs from a cow pox infected person to another individual and then injected smallpox causing pathogens to the latter. To his surprise, the second individual never contracted smallpox and this prompted Jenner to devise a way of creating the vaccine by extracting liquids from the pimples of vaccinated people. This led to the discovery of small pox vaccine which was the unique of it s kind (Plett, 2006). Despite controversy between medical professions and religious leaders, the vaccine gained popularity and by 18th century over 100,000 people had been vaccinated (Gross Sepkowitz, 1998). This marked the beginning of the global spread of vaccines applied under given regulations. Merits of Vaccination Smallpox used to be contagious and lethal and killed 20-26% of infected adults as well as 80% of infected children (Riedel, 2005) prior to the invention of the first vaccine in 1976 (Plett, 2006). However, vaccination has been controversial in the scientific, political, medical, religious and ethical fields, and the opposition can be traced from as early as the 19th century. Among the reasons for objection are; belief that vaccines are dysfunctional, doubt in the safety of the vaccines and the feeling that government policy on immunization is intrusion to people’s private health lives (Wolfe Sharp, 2002). When rumors were propagated about the safety of a vaccine, people were easily convinced that it was not fit for them and it took a lot of time to change their views (Bonhoeffer Heininger, 2007). With vaccinations being a current affair, politicians are likely to use it as a stepping stone to promote their political gains by spreading farfetched information about the vaccine so that people can recognize it. In many countries, rumors spread that the government is on a population control mission, and therefore, engaged in sterilizing women in disguise of vaccination. Religious leaders also played a role in frustrating vaccination campaigns arguing that diseases were Heavenly-sent to punish the sins and that it was therefore satanic to prevent them (Bazin, 2001). There has also been a fear that vaccines cause diseases like diabetes and epilepsy among others as well as transmitting viruses like hepatitis and HIV. Mainly, a controversy behind vaccines revolves around the components of vaccine and its side effects. This paper therefore seeks to discuss the merits and demerits of vaccination, so as to ascertain whether the demerits outweigh the merits. Reduced Mortality Newborn babies as well as children below 5 years are highly vulnerable to infections that are fatal. However, vaccines have eliminated a number of diseases and this has reduced the death rate of children unlike it used to be in the past when vaccines were not in place. Examples of deadly diseases that have been eliminated are; smallpox and measles while a total of 25 diseases have also been successfully managed through vaccine (Riedel, 2005). Small pox has the capability of killing 80% of the affected children hence if the disease strikes a village, more than 80% of the children are wiped out. By controlling the said 25 diseases all of which have different mortality rates, vaccines have therefore brought a remedy for deaths caused by such illnesses. Apart from children, adults were also vulnerable to disease outbreak and smallpox, for instance, could kill 26% of the affected people. A good example of the essence of vaccines is the elimination of polio in the United States of America. Polio wreaked havoc in the United States where many deaths and cases of paralysis used to be reported but polio vaccine has proved to be a panacea to that problem (Riedel, 2005). Failure to vaccinate a child therefore exposes the child to the risk of mortality. Effectiveness and Safety Vaccines are administered after a thorough research by doctors, scientists and other professionals concerned with medical services. Vaccines may have side effects like pain and tenderness of skin on the injected spot but considering the loss associated with the diseases that these vaccines prevent, the latter proves to be better because fatal cases resulting from vaccines are very rare. In case of polio, the affected may become paralyzed while tetanus may lead to amputation. Considering the effects of such illnesses, side effects of vaccines are therefore better and more bearable. The World Health Organization and independent experts have stated that vaccines are safer as compared to medicines used in treatment therapies (Zhou et al., 2003) and this is because the latter has been found to have more side effects. It has also been claimed that the harmful substances introduced to the body by a vaccine are fewer than the ones acquired in day to day life either through eating, inhaling o r skin contact. Refusing to immunize children under the fear of side effects therefore places them under a threat of more severe effects of diseases. Facilitating Mobility and Save Travel Modern times are characterized by cross-border mass travels by road, air and sea. The risk of the transmission of diseases from one country to another is high due to mass movement of people abroad. Polio, rabies, hepatitis B, measles, typhoid and cholera among others are examples of diseases that have been transmitted by travelers (Klaber 2002). Therefore, vaccination against this secures both the traveler and the residents of the destination headed by the said traveler. In cases of large international human gatherings in the world such as the Muslim Hajj among others, the host authorities require and recommend various vaccinations for participants (Ahmed, Arabi, Memish, 2006). People who are not vaccinated against certain diseases are therefore prone to travel restrictions imposed by the authorities of the intended destination for the purposes of preventing the spread of diseases according to their jurisdiction. This restriction also helps the traveler to avoid contracting contagio us diseases while on tour of the area. Children who are denied vaccination are therefore made vulnerable to diseases that are spread through travelling. Saving Time and Money Immunization is pre-empting or ameliorating a disease as opposed to treatment/medication, hence it is considered an investment. The vaccination practically costs less money and takes less time as compared to treatment that might take years and ultimately result in death even after treatment, leave alone the work time loss. In many learning institutions, it is mandatory for children to be immunized before admission and therefore an immunized child does not have to waste time during admission. Since both the household and the national economy are dependent on the health of individuals, a vaccinated community has the capability of working and spending less money on medication of preventable diseases. This promotes the alternative use of money on developmental activities hence boosting economic growth (Shearley, 1999). Immunization is associated with monetary costs in the short run, but the costs are insignificant and save more long-run costs of hospital bills as well as drug costs incur red while contagiously treating diseases when they strike. The risk of unimmunized child to contract diseases and bring losses to the family is therefore high. Protection of Others as Well as Oneself Vaccination prevents infection of an individual as well as the spread of diseases across a community. In cases where someone cannot be vaccinated due to allergic reactions to the vaccine, the fate of the person lies in the hands of the others who are capable of being vaccinated. Once an individual is vaccinated, the chances of him/her contracting and transmitting the disease are eliminated hence the vaccine protects both the individual and the community at large. In a society, the poor are to a greater extent burdened by diseases that they cannot even afford treating. Vaccination therefore, helps the poor to protect themselves from such diseases and therefore makes them less vulnerable just like the rich people. Children who are not vaccinated are therefore exposed to a risk themselves, and also pose a threat to other children. Protection against Bio Terrorism In the contemporary world, the tactics of war and terrorism has shifted from the traditional ones that involved the use of guns and bombs. The current trend has led to introduction of biological weapons such as viruses and bacteria that terrorists drop in the target area to cause an outbreak of diseases like small pox. These weapons are more destructive as compared to physical ones. Vaccination against such diseases prevents the diseases from wiping out the target community hence immunization is desirable. Vaccination therefore, is a tool for state security against the external or internal threat of bio terrorism as it neutralizes biological weapons in the form of disease causing agents hence making the population less vulnerable to terrorism. Failure to vaccinate children therefore makes them susceptible to bio terrorism. Prevention of Resistance to Antibiotics Vaccines pre-empt infections therefore reducing the prevalence of disease causing agents and the necessity of taking antibiotics. Vaccination further prevents the development of drug resistant strains of viruses and bacteria hence keeping the disease in question manageable. Creation of new vaccines against disease causing agents where there is a threat of antibiotic resistance is a long-term method of solving the problem of resistance (Lieberman, 2003). This is because persistent use of antibiotics makes pathogens develop mechanisms of resistance to those drugs in the long run. It is therefore better to use antibiotics only when necessary, at the right time and for the right purpose. If pathogens persistently develop resistance to drugs, this will be a disaster hence prevention is better than response. A child who is not immunized is therefore at a high risk of drug resistant strains of pathogens. Protecting Future Generations Vaccination of pregnant mothers helps to protect their unborn babies from potentially harmful diseases that could either cause deformities upon birth or even death. Vaccination also helps to eradicate diseases that might affect the future generation. For instance, smallpox was eradicated in 1979 (Koplow, 2003), and were it not for the vaccine, the disease could have been a menace even in the current world. Therefore, current generation does not have to be vaccinated against small pox because the disease has been eliminated by vaccines. It has been noticed that American women who were immunized against German measles at a young age had less chances of spreading the virus to their infants and the unborn babies, hence reducing the percentage of birth deformities like heart problems, mental disabilities and hearing and vision loss among others. Failure to immunize a child is therefore a disregard to the health of future generations. Demerits of Vaccination Infringement of Constitutionally Protected Religious Rights Constitutions of most countries uphold religious freedom of their respective citizens. Some religions have beliefs that tend to oppose medical services arguing that diseases are acts of God and therefore followers of the said religions tend to oppose vaccination because of their opinion that it is evil. However, when the governments come up with vaccination policies, they do not exempt followers of such religions from compulsory vaccination. This is therefore a violation of rights of such people on matters of health yet those rights are guaranteed by the Constitution (Bazin, 2001). Rejection to immunize children therefore protects their religious rights. Government Intervention in Personal Medical Choices Human rights activists argue that people have sovereignty over their own bodies by virtue of being free citizens and therefore the government should not forcefully vaccinate people (Wolfe Sharp, 2002). Parents are assumed to play a role of deciding what medical service is good for their children and therefore the government should not only consult them before planning vaccination campaigns, but also allow them to decide on whether the vaccine is necessary or not. However, there are tough situations that call for tough measures and therefore use of force is warranted if a country is to save its population from a deadly disease. Parents of unimmunized children therefore have full control over decisions concerning their lives. Harmful Consequences of Vaccines There is scientific evidence of vaccines causing severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) (Bonhoeffer Heininger, 2007). Vaccines administered through injections are associated with redness of the skin, warmth and swelling. Chicken pox vaccine in particular is said to cause harmful effects like pneumonia and meningitis. Vaccine viruses are also associated with eye infection or even loss of eye sight as a result of its reaching the eyes. Unimmunized children are therefore protected from harmful consequences of vaccines. Vaccines have benefits that outweigh the risks because they have led to eradication of diseases like small pox that used to be deadly as compared to the allergic reactions that have been found on vaccines. Out of the number of vaccinated children, only a small fraction have been negatively affected by immunization as compared to those who have not been harmed and this therefore gives credit to vaccines. Vaccination is a medical procedure just like any other and therefore it has its own risks as well. The few cases of injuries and undesirable side effects are not as disastrous as the consequences of diseases that these vaccines pre-empt hence the risk is bearable compared to the loss of lives as a result of illnesses. Vaccination has also played a role of mitigation against bio terrorism whereby disease causing pathogens are used as a weapon. The role of vaccine has therefore extended to encompass security purposes and this has added a lot of weight to its significance. In the modern world that is dynamic, travelling is part and parcel of day to day life hence it is unavoidable. Vaccines have facilitated safe cross-border travels hence reducing the rates of transmission of diseases that are rapidly spread through travelling. All this is enough to prove that vaccines are important hence vaccine campaigns should be intensified to make the world safer and compromise should be avoided as long as safety of immunization is guaranteed. Immunization Policy Immunization is considered the 20th century public health achievement approach that reduced child mortality rate in a cost-effective manner (Conis, 2014). In the United States and around the world, immunization has offered protection not only to children, but to the larger population. Individuals with immune system disorders have also benefited hugely from the immunization programs. The state of public health has played a significant role, coming up with sophisticated immunization policies. Over the past few decades, the policy has had an effect on the life of Americans, increasing life expectancy to almost 30 years (Conis, 2014). The improvement occurred due to the increased usage of vaccines and other antimicrobial agents. Vaccination is one of the significant approaches of care delivery that has saved society through routine immunization of children in the country. Even though health activists have over the years highlighted that the vaccination policy has diverse effects on a chi lds life, the essay elucidates its success and importance to Americans. Significance of Vaccination Conis (2014) heralds immunization policy as one of the imperative methods the government has ever adopted to address premature deaths among children due to diseases such as typhoid and measles. The policy has proved to be of great magnitude since vaccination emerged as a very safe and effective way of preventing severe diseases that occur due to infectious organisms and viruses by increasing the amount of antibodies. Vaccination is administered through drops in the mouth or injecting an individual with a modified disease causative agent. As such, the person develops immunity to that disease since his or her antibodies would be strengthened. It is significant to assert that when all individuals in a given community are vaccinated, the spread of a disease can be curbed, and infection cannot be transmitted from one individual to another. Thus, the exact target of the immunization policy is to assure that every member of the community is immunized against deadly disease. Immunization has been successful in relation to eradication of diseases such as polio and smallpox, which have been significantly wiped off the face of the country. However, to ensure the defeat of diseases through vaccination during their inception, it is considerable to have an immunization policy in place that would oversee the increased percentage of Americans are immunized against various medical conditions. The goal of the vaccination policy is to get rid of diseases and discontinue its existence on earth. The policy has particularly emphasized on the common diseases, such as malaria, polio, measles, mumps, and smallpox, directing its efforts towards their eradication (Stratton, Wilson, McCormick, Institute of Medicine (U.S.), Institute of Medicine (U.S.), 2002). Enforcing the vaccination policies, the Center for Disease Control makes certain that it produces immunity, especially to preventable diseases. However, the vaccination policy does not only focus on an individual, but also on community as a whole, which has a herd immunity. The significant notion behind herd immunity is to make it hard for pathogens to spread to the larger part of the population. The move will allow to protect individuals that cannot access personal vaccination due to aspects such as allergies, age, and health reasons. Success of Immunization Immunization is one of the success stories and major achievements by the Department of Health in the 20th century. The increasing use of the vaccine in the country has led to the elimination of two devastating childhood diseases, which are polio and smallpox. In addition, over the past few decades, vaccination has helped reduce the spread of other critical diseases such as diphtheria, Measles, whooping cough, tetanus, and Haemophilus influenzae type b disease. Immunization policy has been successful through different immunization programs introduced to the mainstream population. In the United States, there are four vaccines introduced during the late 90s that have successfully offered protection to the population (Stratton et al., 2002). The four vaccines programs highlighted in the U.S. immunization policy, which have played a leading role in minimizing the spread rate of certain diseases in the country, are as follows. First, the Hepatitis B vaccines offer protection against the causative agent of liver cancer and chronic liver disease. The vaccine has been effective, especially in minimizing the cases of cancer. On the other hand, varicella vaccine offers protection against complications that are associated with chicken pox, which includes the severe group A streptococcal disease. Moreover, the conjugated 7-serotype pneumococcal vaccine offers protection to children from infections such as bacteremia, pneumonia, and meningitis. The U.S. immunization policy has been successful in protecting individuals from diverse illnesses as a result of the spread of viruses. For the past few decades, programs aimed at adults, adolescents and children have decreased the spread of organisms that are responsible for various deadly diseases. The flexibility of the policy allows the Ministry of Health to add additional vaccines in each program in response to the emergence of a disease that might result in the death of children. For instance, in the past decade, the childhood immunization program added influenza virus infection vaccines and respiratory syncytial virus vaccines, which had resulted in the hospitalization of children. Parents and health pundits have argued that the vaccination programs have adverse effects on the health of children. However, serious adverse effects have yet to be reported. Furthermore, it is clear that discontinuation of these vaccines will lead to increased death rates due to deadly diseases. According to Wang, Clymer, Davis-Hayes, and Buttenheim (2014), discontinuation of measles vaccine in the country would lead to the occurrence of more than three million cases of measles, as well as close to 1800 deaths annually (Wang et al., 2014). As a result, the policy on this issue has been clear and has offered alternative approaches in case of side effects due to vaccination [see vaccine safety section]. The United States immunization policy is flexible, allowing each state to implement a variety of exemptions and administrative rules (Wang et al., 2014). Exemptions throughout the country vary from one state to another due to certain medical reasons. For instance, almost all states make exemptions due to religious beliefs of a certain faction except West Virginia and Mississippi. In addition, particular states consider philosophical reasons as an exemption. State Programs Many states depend on the federal government to access vaccines and vaccination programs. Nevertheless, the federal programs are not satisfactory; as a result, diverse states have embarked on purchasing vaccines for their population. Universal Purchase By the year 2014, different states demonstrated universal purchase policies whereby they had the initiative to purchase vaccines for children, including the insured ones. These states included New Hampshire, New Mexico, Indiana, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Washington. In addition, there were two other states, namely North Dakota and Florida, which have had general purchase policies covering public providers. It is significant to acknowledge that despite having a common immunization policy, each state have tailored it to their capabilities since the national government cannot meet the demands of all states at once. However, the policies tailored to each state should conform to the national policy. Insurance Requirements The Affordable Care Act included in the policy clearly requires insurance policies and new health plans to offer coverage for certain preventive services without cost sharing. Preventive services, according to the policies, include immunizations that are recommended by the National Advisory Committee (Kim, Bridges, Harriman, 2015). The committee consists of members that are appointed by the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services who recommends immunization schedules for children, adolescents, and adults. The policy is clear and is based on regulations emphasized by the secretary that insurance policies should offer preventive services to any vaccination program. However, flexibility of the federal policy allows states to decide which childhood immunization to cover, either that recommended by the Advisory Committee or the one suggested by American Academy of Pediatrics (Kim et al., 2015). Moreover, there are other states that have sought to embrace an immunization mand ate into their ‘well-child’ coverage. On the other hand, other states in the country adhere to the federal immunization policy without considering any amendments. Vaccine Safety Both the state and policy makers, as well as vaccine manufacturers, government agencies, the medical community, and guardians share a common vision, which is to keep children healthy and safe. As a result, vaccine manufacturers and the relevant government agencies have engineered vaccines for adults and children in the safest way possible (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2015). However, vaccines are not hundred percent safe as there are some side effects that they can cause to an individual. As vaccination becomes efficient, many parents tend to forget the symptoms of the disease and are more concerned about the side effects. Due to ignorance, some of the parents may begin to think that the risk of having a reaction due to vaccination is greater compared to contracting an incurable disease. This immunization policy is clear since its main purpose is to offer programs that address the situation at both the state and federal level. Federal Safety Programs Highlighted in the Policy The policy acknowledges the need to have a safety program to address the rising concerns of vaccine side effects. According to the policy, when a child or an adult experiences adverse reactions, it can be reported to the Vaccine Averse Event Reporting System (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2015). The system is coordinated by the Centre for Disease Control and Food and Drugs Administration, serving as a warning method to address problems that might be related to immunizations. The Center for Disease Control plays a significant role in the immunization policy to make sure that every American is safe and free from any adverse effect related to vaccinations. In addition, the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program run by the federal government allows members of the public to file a claim because of a side effect caused by a vaccine. The program assists families that suffer from side effects of vaccines to access financial assistance, and decreases lawsuits against vaccin e manufacturers (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2015). Thimerosal and Mercury Stratton et al. (2002) defined thimerosal as a type of preservative, which contains a certain form of mercury. The preservative was present in small amounts in a number of vaccines and offered protection against bacterial contamination. However, thimerosal was connected with health problems, such as autism. The Centre for Disease Control asserted that small amounts of the preservative had minor effects, such as redness and swelling, on the infected site. As a result, the new vaccination policy has put this into consideration. In July 1999, the federal government, being the policy maker, directed vaccine manufacturers to eliminate the preservative in any vaccination product that is available in the market. Since then, thimerosal is not a preservative, especially in childhood vaccinations. In addition, several states, including Delaware, Illinois, Washington, Missouri, and Iowa, have banned or limited the use of the preservative in childhood immunization (National Conference of State L egislatures, 2015). Adult Immunization Adult immunization differs from children immunization in several ways. For instance, when compared to that of children, there are unique requirements, and not all facilities have the infrastructure that supports adults’ vaccination. There is no federal program that helps adults that might not have access to medical care, especially adults aged 65 and above. The policy has put in place Adult Immunization Schedule. The schedule includes vaccination for conditions such as tetanus, varicella, and Hepatitis B. The program covers certain adults that are at risk of getting the above diseases in certain populations. In addition, the policy focuses majorly on pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations for older adults (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2015). If immunization policy highlighted that vaccination was compulsory, different diseases would have been contained during their early stages. Religious belief and fear have emerged as the main concerns, sometimes occurring as impediments towards mandatory immunization. Nevertheless, the immunization policy is considerate since it acknowledges the rights of minority groups that do not buy the concept of vaccination in every state. Vaccines are not hundred percent safe because they may have some side effects, but even some drugs that are used by these factions also have side effects. The right attitude towards vaccination will help parents to have control over the life of their children, and contribute towards the eradication of deadly diseases. Policy makers will then have ample time to propose a comprehensive immunization policy that will contribute towards curbing the spread of deadly diseases.