...A Friendly Neighbour The ability to think is partly what has gotten man to the top of the food chain. It is hard to imagine a world in which no one is able to think ahead; predict what is going to happen. Yet, what would happen if our thoughts became our only reality? That is exactly what happens to Roger in Adam Johnson’s short story ‘A Friendly Neighbour’ from 2004. Roger lives in a typical neighborhood with his family and seems well off with a swimming pool. Unfortunately, Roger has had some disagreements with one of his neighbors, Frank, in the past: “I never could stomach Walker… (p. 1 l. 1),” which had led him to the belief that Frank is pedophile and violent towards his family. Roger loves his family more than anything else, and with Frank that close, he feels threatened and wants to protect his family – at all costs. Consequently, he has to keep the doors shut and the kids inside. The frustration accumulates, and Roger ends up killing Frank and his family in an insanity of fear. In Roger’s head, the act was fully justified: “It is human nature (p. 3 l. 14).” Nevertheless, no matter how many good excuses Roger comes up with, it is an explicit sign that something is completely wrong with him. Roger is possessed by thoughts; actually, most of the story is just Roger thinking. Roger is aware that he thinks too much, and something deep within him actually briefly tries to recognize this: “No, no, no, I was thinking, not acceptable (p. 1 l. 11).” That is Roger’s...
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...Essay on ”A friendly neighbour” Revenge and violence have always been a part of our everyday normal life, but is it becoming worse, and actually even starting to take overhand? A friendly neighbour, don’t know if we can say that. Walter is living in what sound like an all normal neighbourhood, he just got one problem with his certainly violent neighbour Roger. Walter seems kind of innocent in my opinion, as you don’t really get to know what he actually was doing in his underwear at Roger’s house. Roger really don’t seem to like Walter, and finds him very provocative, and can’t go one day without thinking what Walter is going to do to him, and his family. Roger seems very paranoid, and is taking this whole situation to a whole other level. He don’t really know himself what happened the day Walter was in he’s house, he just assumed right away that he was doing something bad. We are getting everything from Roger’s point of view, which makes Walter look really bad, and like he deserves to be “wonked” all the time. (And as he says on page 2, 18. After he “wonked” Walter in front of he’s kids: Great now they hate me, like I’m the bad guy in this) Throughout this story Walter is getting really pissed, even though he seemed like a nice person in the start, he starts to look with these evil eyes at Roger, like he want to do something bad too him. All this drama makes this a bad environment. Because as it looks like a normal family neighbourhood, now just with these men creating...
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...“A Friendly Neighbour” by Adam Johnson, 2004 I never could stomach Walker and then one day he’s standing in my kitchen, in his underwear. Facing in the direction of my kids’ room! So I wonk him in the back of the head and down he goes. When he stands up, I wonk him again and down he goes. Then I roll him down the stairs into the early-spring muck and am like, If you ever again, I swear to God, I don’t even know what to say, you miserable fuck. Karen got home. I pulled her aside. Upshot was: Keep the doors locked, and if he’s home the kids stay inside. But after dinner I got to thinking: Guy comes in in his shorts and I’m sitting here taking this? This is love? Love for my kids? Because what if? What if we slip up? What if a kid gets out or he gets in? No, no, no, I was thinking, not acceptable. So I went over and said, Where is he? To which Lynn said, Upstairs, why? Up I went and he was standing at the mirror, still in his goddam underwear, only now he had on a shirt, and I wonked him again as he was turning. Down he went and tried to crab out of the room, but I put a foot on his back. If you ever, I said. If you ever again. Now we’re even, he said. I came in your house and you came in mine. Only I had pants on, I said, and mini-wonked him in the back of his head. I am what I am, he said. Well, that took the cake! Him admitting it! So I wonked him again, as Lynn came in, saying, Hey, Roger, hey. Roger being me. And then he rises up. Which killed me! Him rising up? Against...
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...person narrator, also the voice of the short story. He lives in a house located in a normal upper middle class environment with his wife Karen and his two little kids Melanie and Brian. He is a man with prejudices and an angled view on life, and therefore a completely unreliable narrator. The reader stays trapped in his point of view throughout the story, and is therefore forced to gain an experience of all characters by what they say and do. Fear and paranoia control Roger’s life; he cannot distinguish light and darkness. He is frightened by his own shadows, and cannot any longer decide what is right and wrong. When your world has gone small and scary, the only thing you can focus on is to survive your worst enemy. Roger regards his neighbour Walker as his enemy. The biased point of view pictures Walker as an unstable, dangerous pervert, and there is, according to Roger, no limit to what this maniac could be up to. Roger is scared, and all other feelings than fear, insecurity and the overriding will to protect his dearly loved family...
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...Examine the argument that neighbourly relations are characterised by friendly stance. In this assignment it will be a chance to examine friendly distance, which is when neighbours are friendly without being too intrusive, or too close. The examples that this essay will talk about is; Jovan Byford’s experience of neighbourly interaction on the doorstep, it will explore Evan Stokoe’ study of neighbourly disputes when boundaries are crossed and Stanley Brandes visit of a Spanish community. The first example, of neighbourly relations are characterised by friendly stance, Is the doorstep conversation between Jovan Byford and a neighbour? The scenario occurred after a parcel was misdelivered to a wrong address, 15 Cherry Avenue, and is kindly hand delivered by a neighbour to Jovan’s address, 15 Cherry Grove. Although it is a brief interaction between the two neighbours, it does show the behaviours and actions in a social situation. (Byford: 2009, p254) mentions that, Crowe talks about A neighbour is supposed to be ‘available in times of trouble’, friendly’ and ‘a bit of a giver’, but they should also ‘mind their own business’ and not to be ‘intrusive’. This is displayed between Byford and the neighbour as it is friendly, performed on the outside (front of house) and respects the neighbours boundaries. The interaction was basic and shows the roles that each of the neighbours plays. The lady is part of the friendly stance, apologising for bothering Mr Byford, as this is an ‘occasional...
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...Examine the argument that neighbourly relations are characterised by friendly distance. The practice of being a neighbour is a complex one. There are unwritten rules and expectations of what being a neighbour constitutes. We as a neighbour tend to grow up being a neighbour, and as such we are expected to know how to behave, as a neighbour should. Various studies have given us an insight into to what is actually expected of a good neighbour. The following piece of work examines the argument that, neighbourly relations are characterised by friendly distance. It will also attempt to explain the unwritten rules and guidelines which we live to, in order to live together and yet at the same time live apart. Studies over the years in different settings show widespread agreement on what people in the neighbourhood want from those that live around them. Studies in the 1980s found that the main characteristics that people questioned highlighted were. Friendliness and helpfulness, and distance (Abrams and Brown, 1984). These characteristics appear not to be exclusive to the United Kingdom. Studies in the USA also found that neighbours were expected to be friendly but without intruding on one’s privacy (McGahan, 1972, p, 402). Kate Fox (2004) also suggests in her book that interaction between neighbours is primarily in public spaces and on the boundaries, these being defined as ‘gardens or hedges, driveways’. These spaces constitute a division between public and private places and it...
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...A friendly neighbour “A book may be compared to your neighbour: if it be good, it cannot last too long; if bad, you cannot get rid of it too early”. A neighbour war is a relatively common phenomenon nowadays. Even though everybody most likely has experienced a friendly fight between neighbours, it is seldom that it goes as far as it does in “A friendly neighbour” by Adam Johnson from the year of 2004. In this short story there is a first person narrator, which you can already tell by the very first word “I”. When a first person narrator is used, it makes it more easy to relate to the main character. In this particular story we quickly become convinced that what Roger is doing is completely okay, because we can read between the lines that Walker seems like a paedophile. Besides that, if we saw it from Walkers point of view, we would sympathize with him, but still think that his actions are wrong. The narrator in the story is unreliable, because he is a part of the story and we only see the story from his perspective. The story is written in past tense, but he tells the story as if the memories are still fresh, which you can conclude by seeing that he still remembers what he was thinking at the time. With that information you can also conclude that he took part in the story. The title is very ironic, as no one in the neighbourhood could really be described as ‘friendly’. They want what is best for themselves, and don’t think of other peoples needs. The story takes place...
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...Helpful Neighbours I was pondering how some people can be clueless towards the existence of their neighbours even after living in that particular apartment for many years. It’s an irony since we were taught to co-exist in a community where we depend on each other to achieve a more meaningful living environment. Being friendly and helpful are just some of the traits neighbours should display willingly towards others. Helpful neighbours are rare in recent times but those who are out there are gems we should treasure. They are neighbours who expect favours in return, neighbours who help out of goodwill and those with the intentions of being meddlesome and invasive. These neighbours are just a door or few away to come to our rescue at any time of the day. As we have heard numerous times, good things don’t come easy. Some might need to observe you struggling on both hands with bags of groceries, only to ask but not offer help. While some willingly offer to collect and safe keep your daily papers sent at your doorstep knowing you are going out of town. However, not all of these are purely act of kindness. Some come with hidden agendas of their own. There’s a saying which goes, “There’s no free lunch in the world” to remind us to always be mindful towards others extreme kindness. Are helpful neighbours purely helpful? Some of them expected us to return favours for those help they rendered. They seemed like service providers expecting to get paid for the services they provided...
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...do a little bit at our end to bring about a change? After all, it starts with you. Here are 9 simple things you can do to help bring a change in our country. A change for betterment. 1. Stop littering around. Yes, we should learn from the Swach Bharat campaign! There was a reason we needed it in the first place. The fact that even the new PM of the country addressed the issue on such a gigantic level proves that we, as a country, are in dire need of cleanliness! Things as simple as throwing garbage in the bin and not spitting on the streets can make a huge difference. 2. Be environment-friendly. If you've been following the news, you'd know that it's been said that Delhi currently has the filthiest air, almost the same level as Beijing. In such conditions, being environment-friendly can have a huge impact on making our country a better place with better air. Plant a tree, use eco-friendly materials in your daily life, use public transport or carpool, get your vehicles checked for pollution control. There's so much you can do for this cause with such little effort. 3. Help support a child's education. If you’re at a comfortable financial position in your life and career, you could take out a nominal amount to help a poor kid’s education. It would help the country’s future in a big way if every well-earning person would contribute. The overall literacy could definitely improve in our country. 4. Stop participating in corruption. Don’t accept bribes and don’t give bribes....
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...Lies Summary: Josephine is a 10 year old girl, who is living with her father Joe and her mother Ettie. Her best friend Joanna lives next door with her single mother Maxine. One Sunday at lunch, her father’s brother Roger visits and moves into their house, as he is tired of being in the navy, and would like an office job like his brother. Josephine’s father arrange that his wife should help Roger gaining better manners and a better English, and when she doesn’t hear it, he winks and recommend Roger to ask out their neighbour Maxine, whom he personally assures is a real lady. The mother and Roger are sitting together on the porch every day as she teaches him manners, and he manages to make her laugh, even though she usually just smiles. One day Josephine comes home from school and finds her mother alone, while hearing Roger laughing at Maxine’s porch. The mother asks weather Roger has ever taken liberties with her, and to please her mother Josephine says yes, and also states that she would like him to leave. To help her parents get rid of Roger, she tells him that her mother is pregnant, and he leaves shortly after. After a while the mother gives birth to a baby boy which they name Terence, and Josephine tells her father that the child belongs to Roger. At school, she writes an essay about her family and how things changed after Terence was born, and she is called to the teacher who wants her to admit that she story is a lie, and she tells him she made it all up. Character...
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...Neighbourhood is defined as a group of houses or buildings that are together in area or that grouped together as a unit where people living around are considered neigbourgs. The aim of this assignment is to examine the argument that neighbourly relations are always characterized by friendly distance. By examine and exploring the relations between neighbourgs and also by identifying the key concepts and by looking into the construction and reconstruction of the relations between neigbourgrs and whether these relations are always characterized by a friendly distance, or whether different forms of neighbouring are cultural specific. By discussing and also by providing tangible qualitative evidence that will support the definition of the question; “What makes a good neighbor?’ In doing so, rules governing appropriate conduct in the neighbourhood are not contained instead, what people have is culturally specific knowledge about how to interact with those living around them, they acquire and develop this knowledge through socialization, practice of being neigbourg. (Jovan Byford, 2009, chapter 6, making social lives) Research had been carried out by social scientists on Neighbouring in Uk in relation to the question asked by people ‘What makes a good neibourgs?’ After many studies over the years, social scientist found a common agreement with view to what residents in the neighbourhood want from those living around them. Each individual relationship with his neighbourg depends on...
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...* Is there a misrepresentation? * What kind of misrepresentation is it? * What remedies are available? State Misrepresentation occurs when the party makes a false statement. There are 3 types of misrepresentation, fraudulent, Negligent and Innocent. Fraudulent is where the statement has been knowing made falsely, negligent is when the statement was made without reasonable belief and a special relationship was present as said under the misrepresentation act and Hedley Byrne. Innocent misrepresentation is where the party making the statement honestly believes it to be true. For a misrepresentation to have been made it must contain 6 elements: 1. Statement of material fact as in Bisset v Wilkinson where an estimation was given and as was just a mere opinion did not count as a misrepresentation. 2. Cannot be made by a 3rd party as in the case of Peyman. 3. Must not have been made after the contract was formed as in the case of Roscorla v Thomas where the promise was not made before the contract was agreed to. 4. Must have induced the contract unlike in the case of JEB fasteners in which the accounts would not have induced the contract as they were not fundamental. 5. The statement must have been false 6. The statement must not have intended to be legally binding as in couchman v hill in which the cow’s pregnancy did not lead to misrepresentation. However there are other elements that will determine if a misrepresentation was made or not. In...
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...Canada ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● The Canadian Mindset Characteristics of Society Lifestyle & Aspirations The Essentials (10 Key Tips) Working with the Canadians Making a Good Impression Business Etiquette Business Meeting Culture Motivating Others Effective Presentations Managing Relationships The Canadian Mindset Canadians are friendly and open with a practical cast of mind which befits a people who inhabit one of the largest - and in many places one of the most physically challenging countries on earth. They are traditional in their thinking and habits, modest and low key in attitude but enjoy a good sense of humour. They pride themselves on being honest and direct and are not given to prevarication or displays of rhetoric or emotion. With one of the most multicultural societies in the world, Canadians are tolerant and egalitarian in outlook. Despite their innate conservatism, they are also very progressive on some controversial social issues. Although they enjoy the trappings of success, Canadians are not ostentatious by nature. Canadians are sensitive about being taken for Americans. While enjoying a warm relationship with their neighbour, with whom they share a vast boundary and vigorous trade links, they are proud of the differences between the two countries and their peoples. They are often more subdued and measured than Americans. The majority of Canada is English-speaking although in the eastern part of the country, French is widespread and the fracophone Quebec...
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...MALAYSIA – SINGAPORE RELATIONS: THE SECURITY DILEMMAS INTRODUCTION ‘It's impossible to be friendly with Singapore because of the neighbouring city states’ unfriendliness towards Malaysia. Singapore gets into that kind of mood that they reject anything that comes from Malaysia. We try to be as friendly as possible but it's impossible’.[1] Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad Former Malaysia Prime Minister “…we fear that at some time or other there could be a random act of madness like cutting off our water supplies, which they had publicly threatened whenever there were differences between us… we have to be prepared for all contingencies”.[2] Lee Kuan Yew Former Singapore Prime Minister Singapore became a part of Malaysia in 1963. On the part of Singapore, such was a welcomed move as Singapore lacks the depth, mass and resources deemed necessary for development and survival. On the part of Malaysia, however, it started-off as a half-hearted decision, with Tunku Abdul Rahman fearing that the Chinese population in Singapore would, after the merger, upset the Malay majority in Malaya. In May 1960, he told Malayan students in London that “(The) Chinese-educated and new immigrants will always be loyal to China and they are less Malay-minded,” and that the inclusion of the 1.3 million Chinese would confuse Malayans and ruin the calm atmosphere of the Federation[3]...
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...Introduction to the Philippines Separated from its Southeast Asian neighbours by the West Philippine Sea, the Philippines has always been a little different. As the only Asian nation colonized by the Spanish, this lush archipelago of dazzling beaches, year-round sun and warm, turquoise waters remains predominantly Roman Catholic, and culturally – a blend of Islamic, Malay, Spanish and American influences – it ofen feels light years away from the mainland, with a string of elegant colonial towns that have more in common with Latin America than the rest of Asia. It’s an enticing mix: all over the archipelago you’ll discover tantalizing food, friendly people and exurberant festivals. And the variety is astonishing: you can surf, islang-hop or dive pristine coral reefs in the morning and in the same day visit mysitical tribal villages, ancient rice terraces and jungle-smothered peaks. Indeed, the Philippines is often underrated and misunderstood by travelers and its Asian neighbours, casually, dismissed as a supplier of maids, tribute bands, mail-order brides and corrupt politicians, epitomized by the gaudy excesses of Imelda Marcos. Don’t be a put off: while poverty and corruption remain serious problems, the Philippines is far more complex –and culturally rich –than the stereotypes suggest. The Filipino people are variously descended from early Malay settlers, Muslim Sufis from the Middle East, Spanish conquistadors and friars, and later Chinese traders. It’s an old cliché, but...
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