Human impact on climate Essay Example for Free

Human impact on climate Essay Abstract Climate change has long been a controversial issue among governments and world bodies. It is defined as the variation in the Earth’s global climate or in regional climates over time. These variations may be caused by a multitude of factors, some of which include geological changes within the Earth itself, changes in forces outside the earth, or human activity. When talking about this issue, two terms are often interchanged to refer to these variations in normal weather patterns, namely global warming and climate change. The two however, while similar, belong to different spectrums. This paper seeks to examine the role of human activities as a form of climate change. Overview Global warming simply pertains to the recent gradual warming of the temperature in different locations around the earth. Climate change, as defined by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), talks of variations in weather in general, but which are caused particularly by human activity. Although there have been steps taken towards curbing the destructive effects of climate change, there continues to still be a sense of apathy on the parts of some governments with regard to it. The continued burning of fossil fuels in power plants, vehicles and other machines are directly responsible for producing air particles that contribute to warming the earth’s atmosphere. The conversion of forests to farmland or real estate developments has also reduced the amount of trees overall, thus cutting down the chances of more trees mitigating the carbon levels in the air, as well as absorbing and acting as a natural control for floods. Effects of Climate Change Climate change will have many effects on the environment, some of them already visible while others are slowly already being experienced in different parts of the world. Currently, scientists project that the mean global temperature will rise about 3 degrees Celsius, assuming the amount of carbon dioxide in the air doubles due to continued use of fossil fuels. Another projection was the rising of the mean sea level by about 50 cm, a relatively significant rise in light of the fact that computer model estimates have shown that several low-lying states and countries may, in part or whole, be submerged by the rising water level. The warming of temperatures at the mid-continent levels, as well as those in higher latitudes, will also be greater as compared to other locations. It has therefore been predicted that a considerable amount of polar and glacial will melt, as well as the continued warming of the oceans. These two events will constitute for the most part the increase in water levels mentioned earlier. Also to be seriously affected is the ecosystem, along with the natural order of the environment. Due to the heat that would be generated, more tropical climates would be prevalent, thus the focus on migration as well as agricultural production and output would shift all over the world. For the wildlife, the changing ecosystems would directly affect their natural habitats and breeding places. As it is, researchers continue to forecast that global warming may cause the easier proliferation of disease due to the idea that disease-carrying insects and other animals may migrate to other locations due to the changing weather. The hydrologic cycle will also intensify, with changes in water supplies as well as weather seasons such as droughts and flood, which could then greatly affect crops and other natural sources of food. Lastly, the effects of climate change on the broad concept of international security cannot be discounted. With more poor countries potentially facing an environmental disaster of catastrophic proportions, masses of refugees could converge on those remaining industrialized and highly urbanized nations that remain only somewhat affected. Also, should fossil fuel use not be successfully curbed in time, the scarcity of it will only mean that nations who have remaining reserves will become more powerful and dominant in the world stage, with new influential nations possibly developing.

A Defense Of Individualism Based On Foydor Dostoevskys Novel:notes F E

Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel, NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND, has held many labels, such as being a case history of nuerosis or a specimen of modern tragedy. The most popular label it has obtained however, is being the author's defense of individualism. The novel is writen as a performance, part triad, part memoir, by a nameless personage who claims to be writing for hiomself but consistently maipulates the reader--of whom he is morbidly aware-- to the point where there seems to be no judgement the reader can make which has not already been made by the writer himself. The underground man is represenative as a product of individaul pathology or a biographical accident. He is "one of the characters of our recent past," part of a generation that is living out its days among us. Internal eveidence makes it clear that his generation is of the 1840s. He shows the fate of the isolated petty clerk and Dostoevkian dreamer twenty years after, surveying his wasted life in the new spiritual climate of the 1860s and at the same time finding justification for his own grotesque being in the simplistic views of the human nature now current. IN the first part of the novel, the underground man describes himself and his views, and attempts, as it were, to clarify the reasons why he appeared and is bound in our midst. The mention of his self and his views raise thequestion of how the two are related. Are we to understand his views as the product of his wasted life or independently? There...

Managing Political Risks Essay

A firm must be able to manage the different kinds of political risks that it may have to face by investing in a particular country. Firm-specific risks are defined as risks that affect the multinational enterprise at the corporate and/or project level. The most consequential firm-specific risk is referred to as the â€Å"governance risk,† which entails that there may be a conflict of goals between the multinational enterprise and the host government (Frenkel, Karmann, and Scholtens 5). Volatility of foreign exchange rates is another example of a firm-specific risk (Frenkel, Karmann, and Scholtens). Country-specific risks must also be managed. These risks affect the multinational enterprise at the corporate and/or project level, too. However, the difference between firm-specific and country-specific risks is that the latter originate at the level of the country. Institutional and/or cultural risks in addition to â€Å"transfer risks† are examples of country-specific risks (Frenkel, Karmann, and Scholtens 6). While the latter involves the issue of â€Å"blocked funds,† the former involves problems such as corruption in the country where the multinational enterprise intends to invest its funds (Frenkel, Karmann, and Scholtens 6). Lastly, the multinational enterprise must seek to manage its global-specific risks. These risks affect the enterprise at the corporate and/or project level but originate at the level of the entire globe. Poverty and terrorism are examples of global-specific risks (Frenkel, Karmann, and Scholtens). Indeed, it is possible for the multinational enterprise to manage the three types of political risks. There are three principles methods of political risk management: â€Å"limiting, diversifying, and hedging (Frenkel, Karmann, and Scholtens 20). † The first method refers to the investor’s effort to limit the exposure to the political risk by â€Å"putting a cap on the exposure vis-a-vis a particular country, often as a percentage of overall exposure or own funds (Frenkel, Karmann, and Scholtens 20). † Netting is involved in this procedure, as the investor must calculate the net exposure before â€Å"trying to derive a smaller overall position (Frenkel, Karmann, and Scholtens 20). † Following this political risk management procedure, a parent company may decide to limit the amount of funds that it transfers to its subsidiary that directly faces a particular type of political risk (Frenkel, Karmann, and Scholtens). Diversification is another useful method of managing political risks. A multinational enterprise, when faced with political risks, may decide to spread the exposure among various countries that are not perfectly correlated. If the enterprise is faced with corruption in the countries of two of its subsidiaries, it may choose two more countries where corruption is not a political risk. As a matter of fact, this method of managing political risks tends to be the easiest and therefore most commonly used (Frenkel, Karmann, and Scholtens). Hedging is yet another way to manage political risks, but is typically understood to be possible only with investment and/or export insurance. As an example, the multinational enterprise may obtain such insurance from the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency of the World Bank. The insurance may provide covers against civil disturbance, war, expropriation, in addition to currency transfers. National insurance companies – run by the government – may similarly be approached by the investor to obtain cover for risks that arise from non-payment (Frenkel, Karmann, and Scholtens). Regardless of the kinds of political risks facing the investor, therefore, it is possible to invest by managing the risks after choosing one or more methods of political risk management. Works Cited Frenkel, Michael, Alexander Karmann, and Bert Scholtens (eds. ). Sovereign Risk and Financial Crises. New York: Springer-Verlag, 2004.

Sleep Essay - 2520 Words

Sleep â€Å"The worst thing in the world is to try to sleep and not to, then forcing oneself to stay awake for days on end must surely come a close second.† - F Scott Fitzgerald We spend one third of our lives doing it, and yet, some of us never seem to be able to get enough. People all over the world don’t receive enough sleep whether it’s from a medical condition like narcolepsy, or simply not having enough time in a day. The effects of getting a good night’s rest are essential and signs of sleep depravation are not as hard to spot as one may think. Sleep can be compared to quicksand, ignore it and you’ll find yourself trapped. It will take over you’re body and if you try to fight it, the more it wins. The effects of not†¦show more content†¦It is estimated that only 15 percent actually get these amounts (Kids Suffer from Sleep Deprivation). This is particularly important for students who wish to do well in school. Dr. Carl Hunt, the director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research, is spearheading a sleep campaign. Her philosophy is, â€Å"Sleep well, do well.† This is something that shouldn’t be taken to lightly. Sleep problems effect about 70 million Americans of all ages. Teens often have problems with daytime sleepiness. The old idea of early to bed, early to rise isn’t necessarily the best answer. Society is simply asking to much of teens (Sleep experts to teens). A combination of school, work, study and leisure, leaves very little time left for sleep. Being deprived o f sleep definitely has an effect on how well students do in school and may be putting their health at risk. College students who stay up all night to study for a test or write a big paper that’s due often have no choice because of the pressures to do well and succeed, but at what price do they pay? Our bodies are like batteries. If we don’t get sleep they can’t be charged and we’ll feel the effects. A toy with dead batteries isn’t nearly as fun as when fresh ones are used. Getting sleep everyday is important. The longest someone has gone straight without sleep has been 11 days by Randy Gardner in 1964 who was a sleep test patient. During thisShow MoreRelatedSleep : Sleep And Sleep867 Words   |  4 PagesSleep Analysis As we learned in lecture, sleep is an important component in improving a person’s overall health. Because sleep is vital for cognitive function and available time to spend sleeping is limited for college students, like myself, it is advantageous to change sleeping behaviors to maximize the benefits sleep can provide. After tracking my sleeping schedule for a week, I have noticed some patterns and behavior that may be affecting the quality of sleep I am getting. Based on my sleep journalRead MoreSleep And Memory Of Sleep Essay1222 Words   |  5 Pagesessential factor is sleep. Even though the amount of sleep people need differs from one individual to another, the fact is that eventually everyone needs to sleep. People know the importance of sleep, but due to the increased workload and the pressure of society people are getting less sleep. As a result, there has been an increase interest on the effects lack of sleep has on the mind especially the memory of a person. Many ques tions arose about the relationship between sleep and memory due to theRead MoreExercise, Sleep, And Sleep2738 Words   |  11 Pagesschedule for other commitments. Looking at my daily routine, how I eat, exercise, sleep, manage stress has helped me see how I can be more productive. My daily routine is constantly changing depending on my class schedule and work schedule. In the last month I have begun to work two jobs as well as take 18- units. So in all honesty my personal care has decreased. In this section I will look in-depth at how I eat, exercise, sleep, manage stress, and which areas I can improve on. Eating healthy can be aRead MoreSleep And Sleep : Sleep Schedule Look Like852 Words   |  4 Pagescomes back to your room at all hours of the night, this can severely affect your life as a whole. Sleep is essential to the human body performing in a variety of tasks. If you are constantly being woken up at various times throughout the night, it can have negative consequences on your impact to learn and your health. So what does a typical night’s sleep schedule look like? A typical night’s sleep is much more complicated than just closing your eyes and waking in the morning. As humans, we liveRead MoreSleep And The Brain : Sleep Deprivation950 Words   |  4 PagesSleep the Brain Sleep is the mysterious shift in consciousness that our bodies require every day (sleep council). Sleep scientists have explored these changes in depth, their definition of sleep is tied to characteristic patterns of brain waves other physiological functions (Harvard, 2008). There are many different risk factors that can come up if we do not get the sleep our body needs to function. One serious effect due to the lack of sleep would be sleepiness can cause accidents. AccordingRead MoreThe Effects Of Sleep And Variables On Sleep1457 Words   |  6 Pagescover the scientific study of sleep and variables which impact sleep by examining the five different stages of sleep, evaluating dreams and nightmares, assessing the causes and effects of sleep disorders and the various types of treatments, in addition to the effects of food and drugs on sleep. There are five stages of sleep, numbered one through four and REM (Rapid-Eye-Movement) sleep. Upon falling asleep, the brain and body goes through each stage to comprise sleep cycle which approximately hasRead MoreSleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation735 Words   |  3 PagesCover Page - Institute of Medicine Committee on Sleep Medicine and Research. (2006) National Academies Press. Washington DC: Colten H. R., Altevogt B. M., Sleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation: An Unmet Public Health Problem, Sleep Physiology. Rapid Eye Movement(REM) has been correlated with dreams and sleep physiology. It has been tracked by brain waves and muscle movements. Non-Rem(NREM) sleep is the first phase which occurs for 1-7 minutes and the easiest to be interfered with. The brainRead MoreMy Sleep On Sleep Patterns857 Words   |  4 Pagesyet I never analyzed my own sleep pattern. Never truly aware of what time I fell asleep, whether I dreamt every night, or the quality of my sleep. All I knew was that the older I got, the more lethargic I got, and the more caffeine I consumed. Now given the opportunity to monitor my sleep for five nights with the use of a sleep diary I have better knowledge of my sleep patterns. Basing my sleep patterns on concepts learned in class, I was able to understand my sleep, and apply different issuesRead MoreSleep And Slow Wave Sleep Essay1621 Words   |  7 Pagesdeclarative memory [3]. REM and slow-wave sleep (SWS) have been implicated in memory consolidation [3–5]. Lack of REM sleep is associated with poor recall of visual location [6]. Decline in declarative memory consolidation is correlated with a decline in slow-wave sleep [7]. Spencer et al. observed similar initial procedural learning in older and younger adults; however, the older adults’ performance did not improve following sleep, suggesting that sleep dependent memory consolidation decreases withRead MoreThe Effects Of Sleep On The Sleep Cycle1205 Words   |  5 Pageswe all need to sleep. C. I am going to present the different theories on why we sleep, the sleep cycle, a few of the different sleeping disorders, and how to sleep better. Transition: We know that everyone needs sleep but why is it actually important? II. Why is sleeping important? A. There actually isn’t any known facts on why we actually need sleep, but there is many theories. 1. According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), the research that has been done states that sleep is required for

The More Conservative Side Of The Two Major Branches Of...

The Ruwanwelisaya Temple in Sri Lanka Theravada is considered to be the more conservative side of the two major branches of Buddhism. Theravada Buddhism developed from the sect called Vibhajjavada that was established in Sri Lanka in the 3rd century BC. Sri Lanka is the oldest continually Buddhist country in the world. Theravada is also the dominantly the main religion in this country, officially introduced in the 2nd century BC by Mahinda the son of the emperor Ashoka. This religion is also in spread throughout Southeast Asian countries that include: Thailand, Myanmar/Burma, Cambodia, and Laos. During the 1st century during the reign of Vatta Gamini Buddhist monks assembled in Aloka-Vihara and wrote the Tripitaka (The three baskets of†¦show more content†¦This form of Buddhism also focuses on the individual’s enlightenment to become an Arhat which means â€Å"worthy one†. An Arhat is a person who realized enlightenment to be freed from the cycle of life and death (Buddhism in Sri Lanka). Standing 300 feet tall and 950 feet in circumference the Ruwanwelisaya is regarded as one of the most important stupas in Sri Lanka, and one of the most sacred places for Buddhists. In 161 BCE the Ruwanwelisaya was built by king Dutugamunu. Sadly the king did not see the end of the stupas construction. The stupa has a statue of the kind outside its doors in memory of king Dutugamunu that began its construction. Latter, Buddha’s relics where sent to the Ruwanwelisaya that include: Buddha’s alms bowl, right collar bone, hair relic, and tooth that is still used for ceremonial purposes in the stupa. This ceremony is called The Festival of the Tooth which is only held on a full moon in August. Until the festival the relics are not to be seen, but covered by beautiful gold shrines with many caskets protecting it. Buddhist monks, and guards keep the relics of Buddha safe from any threat (Buddhism in Sri Lanka) This tour of the stupa was virtual because it is in Sri Lanka. The Ruwanwel isaya is a circular drum on a square base with a long square succession off of the top of the dome. This structure is very sacred to Buddhists around the world because it architecturally entails Buddha’s teachings. Its dome

Ready Player One By Ernest Cline Essay - 1510 Words

Imagine a world where women had to hide their gender while attending a Baseball game, just to avoid being harassed by men around them. That situation may sound ridiculous to and can upset a majority of the population. One should not feel the need to hide their real gender just to attend a baseball game. So why should women feel the need to hide their gender in online gaming? According to a Tedx Talk speaker Stirling Little, sixty-eight percent of women playing video games have reported hiding their real gender for fear of harassment. If someone were to identify themselves as a woman online, it would be unavoidable to receive sexist comments from other players. As a society we have accepted the idea of harassing women as a social norm. In the novel Ready Player one by Ernest Cline, [basics of the book/summary] we are introduced to examples of characters hiding their genders online in order to be taken more seriously. We can compare Ready Player One to today’s society w hen it comes to gender issues. In both the novel and society, women have limited job opportunities, are objectified for their sex, and are associated with feminine phrases used by others to insult someone. The public has to start caring about how they treat women online because they make up more than half of the gaming population. If people really want their games to stop following the gender stereotypes, they need to look at themselves as a whole and change the way they think. When a woman playsShow MoreRelatedReady Player One By Ernest Cline889 Words   |  4 PagesTechnology and the economy of today is growing and getting more advanced than ever, yet the world can go completely upside down in 29 years from today. In the book Ready Player One, Ernest Cline states that the world is in the year 2045, the future is absolutely corrupt and everyone is living in a dystopian world. Almost everyone uses OASIS, an online gaming program, and is ultimately many people s escape from their reality. The creator, James Halliday, sent out an alarming announcement interruptingRead MoreReady Player One By Ernest Cline984 Words   |  4 PagesSpace is an important influence in Ready Player One. Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline, is a science-fiction novel centered around a hunt for a fortune that the founder of a virtual world has left that can be unlocked by clues winning games. The winner will have massive power fortune. The influence of space is great because of how the OASIS world affects Wade, how the Playstation virtual world affects me, how gender codes affect you. In Ready Player One, the main character, Wade Watts, isRead MoreReady Player One Is Made By Ernest Cline1776 Words   |  8 PagesReady Player One is made by Ernest Cline is his first novel made in 2011. Ernest Cline says that he is a screenwriter, spoken-word artist, and full-time geek and he currently lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and his daughter. Throughout the book s journey, he had many different variations of the story. Speaking of the story, in the year 2044 the world isn t a great place to live. The energy crisis is a large threat, people are starving, and many people are in poverty. Even though theRead MoreAnalysis Of Ready Player One By Ernest Cline856 Words   |  4 PagesThe novel, Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline, follows Wade Watts, or Parzival, and Nolan Sorrento, two very different characters, Wade Watts, or Parzival, and Nolan Sorrento. Using a structuralist critique, Parzival and Sorrento differ in the amount of knowledge each possesses on James Ha lliday and how much violence each will use to obtain the egg, yet they both share a strong determination to discover the egg. Nolan Sorrento will kill innocent people in order to obtain the egg, while Parzival doesRead MoreLiterary Analysis : Ready Player One By Ernest Cline1794 Words   |  8 Pagesthis intention, literature glorifies the oversimplification of reality to a great extent as readers become enticed by the prospect of living a less complex life. Notably, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, examines the challenges and benefits of physically living in one reality while mentally living in a virtual reality. Cline introduces the virtual reality OASIS, as the primary reason to why the protagonist, Wade, continues to exist. However, by dedicating his life to OASIS and deciding to oversimplifyRead MoreComparison Of Technology In Fahrenheit 4511151 Words   |  5 PagesTechnology is on the rise which has changed people’s lives. Today’s technology a positive improvement which has grown over the past years. Today everyone uses technology, from old to new. Both Ernest Cline and Ray Bradbury present worlds that are run by technology.The technology in ready player one and Fahrenheit 451 is both bad and good. Fahrenheit 451 is all about a fireman called Guy Montag who does the opposite of what fireman do, starting fires instead of putting them out. The society in FahrenheitRead MoreReady Player One Paper3266 Words   |  14 Pagesand different, I was really able to make a connection of how identical his description was to the one that took place in Ready Player One. After comparing the similarities between the two, I was also able to make the connection of how different everything is today compared to the lifestyle back in the 1980s. Before I interviewed my dad, I informed him that I just read a book called Ready Player One and that a lot of the information was based from the 1980s thus I needed him to be as specific asRead MoreGender Identity And Gender Oppression1839 Words   |  8 Pagesmother, having â€Å" two full-time OASIS jobs as a telemarketer, [and] the other as an escort in an online brothel, [giving Wade] earplugs [to wear] at night so [he] wouldn’t hear her in the next room, talking dirty to tricks in other time zone† (Cline, 2011,16). Cline seems to oppress Wade’s mother as a lowlife who has a decent paying job. On the other hand, Wade’s father was depicted as a dying hero, because he scavenged for food before the world officially went to shit. His aunt was clearly no saint,Read MoreDystopian Fiction : Dystopian Novel1559 Words   |  7 Pagessuccess of dystopian fiction, being well-written stories is not the only goal. This paper will detail various reasons why dysto pian fiction continues to be popular and successful with all audiences, using The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Giver, and Ready Player One as examples. In order to fully understand why dystopian fiction is important, the term dystopia needs to be defined. According to dictionary.com, dystopia is a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowdingRead More1984 Dystopian Literature1924 Words   |  8 PagesThe backdrop of Children of Men, directed by Alfonso Cuaron, is based on the infertility of humans. As a result of this premise, it has caused societies to collapse, and the population rate to plummet. Thus, the authoritarian government of Britain, one of the remaining functioning governments, imposes oppressive immigration laws on refugees and illegal immigrants. It achieves this by controlling the opinion of the people, through government propaganda (and brutal military/police enforcement). By consistently

Review on the Novel Atonement free essay sample

McEwan takes the innocence of childhood and juxtaposes it with despicable crimes and unchangeable mistakes, thus creating a protagonist the reader despises. Just as political conflicts start to unravel towards World War Two, so does Atonement begin. Briony, an aspiring writer, is preparing to produce and preform her first play, The Trials of Arabella, just in time for her older brother Leon, home from University, to see it. Attending along with her older brother is her elder sister, Cecilia, the Tallis life long family friend, Robbie Turner, some friends of Leons from school, and three cousins. She demanded perfection from herself and yearned attention for it. Her desire for perfection can be read as a need for control, which she finds within the depths of her imagination and thus the act of writing itself. It is during the hours before her play that Briony allows her imagination to escape the limits of pages and ultimately manipulate the reality of the people around her. Inherently frightened and confused by what she does not understand, Briony witnesses a flirtation between Robbie and Cecilia, and from there, makes decisions that change all their lives. And so a young girl who thought herself the heroine of her own drama, will find she is the villain of someone elses. The transition from childhood to adolescence can feel isolating and uncontrollable, which is precisely why McEwan wrote Briony among these years. Briony witnesses not only a seemingly intense flirtation between her sister and Robbie, but also, that night, her cousin being sexually assaulted. Stumbling in on the crime scene, she becomes the chief witness and must speak on her cousins behalf who is too shell-shocked to recall any details. This all occurs before The Trials of Arabella could be preformed and after Briony intercepts a very convicting love letter from Robbie Turner to Cecilia. With each sibling being ten or more years older then Briony, she has grown up precocious and righteous, a girl â€Å"possessed to have the world just so† (4). Briony did not need to think twice about the shadow that was the perpetrator; with all the control she could create exactly the story she wanted to, allowing her imagination to thrive. She accused Robbie Turner of the crime. Her interpretation of that letter had led her to believe it to be so r was it just too enticing of a twist? Too surprising and heartbreaking? Exactly the story she wanted? McEwan uses hubris to create the character that is Briony. This heightens the catharsis that the reader feels when Robbie is indeed wrongly convicted and sent to prison and then, ultimately enlisted in war, leaving his and Cecilia’s love thwarted. The remainder of the novel deals with how Briony seeks atonement for her â€Å"mistake† but realizes she will never receive forgiveness nor forgive herself for that ill-fated day. It is this opinion that the reader also adopts. The heavy sense of regret is prevalent throughout the rest of the novel, which appeals to a universal fear of mistakes and their repercussions. Furthermore, McEwan takes this pathos of fear and integrates it into a childhood character resulting in not just regret, but life-long regret. The reader travels forward in time, several years after the incident, when the accusations could no longer be revoked, and the relationships became irreparable. Briony is working as a war nurse and has estranged herself from her family, just as her sister has done someplace else in war torn England. Robbie Turner is trying to survive each turbulent day in war with thoughts of Cecilia as motivation. McEwan describes World War Two brilliantly by creating scenes of unthinkable death and suffering whilst threading hope and love to convey the complexities of war. Its during these pages that the reader realizes the full consequence of Brionys actions. Briony herself, witnessing the horror and carnage of war in the hospital, is distraught as ever about the incident. She has stopped writing thus imprisoning the same imagination that destroyed so many relationships. Cecilia defended Robbie against her family, and in doing so cut them off entirely, the foremost being Briony. This only intensifies the readers distaste for Briony and the effect she let herself make. Her internal conflict evolves for the worse with time, and even with the sacrifices she makes, it is clear atonement is far off in the distance from herself, her family, Robbie, or the reader. McEwan takes what is ethical and distorts it using the relationships between the characters. He uses some of the most sensitive relationships, such as sisters and lovers, to evoke questions in the reader: what mistake could lead to a loss of family? Of love? Family is often a symbol of eternal love, but in Atonement, that symbol is shattered. The bonds of family love cannot always be healed with apologies. McEwan integrates the unchangeable law that an action must have a reaction, some of which, can never be appealed or revoked. It is in this truth that Briony must live out her life. In the last segment of the novel, we are introduced to Briony, aged fifty years and entering her final days of life. We discover the voice and tone of the story all along has been that of Briony herself. The animosity we feel for Briony throughout the novel is because the voice has been bias; she does not seek the readers forgiveness, but rather their judgment. The reader is immersed in a delineated reality where verisimilitude is difficult to grasp just as the separation of reality from imagination is not easily understood by a child. McEwan uses this parallelism to bring the story full circle. Yet, with all the ambiguity of truth and time, both voices in the novel (McEwans and Brionys) ensure that the reader is receiving clearly, the unrequited opinion of the Protagonist. Briony is able to reflect in the last pages of the book, on the novel she created, fully confronting her character. â€Å" How can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God? There is no one that can forgive her. No atonement for God† (350). It was the novelist and the creator within her who lied and condemned the love and lives of her sister and Robbie. Briony creates the novel to console her uncertainties of the past- yet still will not fabricate the one fact she knows to be true: that she will never find atonement. Work cited McEwan, Ian. Atonement. New York Anchor Books, 2001