Normans And Middle English Essays - English Languages, Phonology

Normans And Middle English The year 1066 had a resounding impact on the course of English history. William the First, Duke of Normandy, conquered England and took it as a stronghold in his reign. The French rule over England lasted for several centuries and brought about innumerable changes to the English state, language, culture and lifestyle. William imported French rulers to take over English government and religious posts. The French were not only the new aristocracy in England, but the new society. The English amended their language and their culture in an effort to more resemble the French and to communicate with their new lords. The English language was more changed by the Norman Conquest than by any other event in the course of English history. Middle English is defined as the four hundred year period between the Norman Conquest and the time the printing press was introduced to England in 1476. This essay will explore the specific effects that the French had on Middle English morphology, phonology, syntax, semantics and lexicon. During the period of French rule in England the standing of English as a valid language dropped substantially as French took over as the status language. Because so much of the French influence has been nativized by present-day speakers, many do not realize the impact that our language took in the years following 1066. Not one aspect of English life went untouched by the Norman presence in England, notably, its language. Phonology In addition to introducing new words into the English language, the Normans also introduced some new sounds. The English had previously had no phonemic distinction between /f/ and /v/; /v/ was merely an allophone of /f/ that occurred between vowels. However, with the influx of French loans which began in /v/ and contrasted as minimal pairs in English, this distinction made its way into Middle English: French loans English vetch fetch view few vile file The French also influenced the adoption of several new diphthongs into English. Diphthongs are two vowel sounds which are pronounced as one. Diphthong Old French Old English /eu/ neveu neveu (nephew) /au/ cause cause /Ui/ bouillir boille (boil) point point / i/ noyse noise choisir chois (choice) The new English diphthongs were not exactly like they were in French - they were modified by existing English vowels to create brand new diphthongs. The stress pattern of Old French words differed from that of Old English words, and often both stress patterns were present. Germanic languages, such as English, tends to place primary stress on the first syllable, unless that syllable is an unstressed prefix. French, on the other hand, prefers to stress the heavy syllable (one containing a coda) closest to the end of the word. Middle English loans from French often retained their native stress pattern, however, in Present-Day English, the majority of these borrowed words have conformed to the Germanic pattern. Lexicon Irrefutably, the largest influence that the Normans had on the English language was on its vocabulary. From the time William usurped the English throne until the end of the Middle English period, our language was inundated with French vocabulary terms. In fact, of the 2,650 words in the epic English poem "Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight," at least 750 are estimated to be of French origin. Even in Present-Day English, some of our most commonly used words are of French origin; table, tax, religion, trouble and pray are all derived from French words borrowed into Middle English. Hardly one syntactic category was left untouched by French loan-words during Middle English, although the majority of English words borrowed from Old French tended to be nouns, verbs and adjectives. The following is a very brief sample of some now-common words which had recently joined English in the Middle English period: Adjectives: inequales ?inequal,' principalis ?principal,' naturales ?natural' Verbs: strive, please, waste, join, cover Prepositions: French contributed to the constructions of according to and during Interjections: gramercy ?thank you' Nouns: ancestor, cellar, dinner, garment, kennel, music, noun, plague, statute The French gave the English language many specialized words, such as those used in culinary or legal situations. Because the Normans had taken over judicial and aristocratic roles, their high-prestige vocabulary was passed on to the lower-class English who acted as their clerks and servants. Thus, many cooking terms such as broil, goblet, and beverage were passed on by masters to their servants. The French influence on the lexicon was nearly nonexistent in areas where the French masters would have had little or no contact with their servants, for example, in the field.

The Basic Format of an APA Abstract with Examples

The Basic Format of an APA Abstract with Examples The first thing youll notice on an APA abstract is the running head, in all caps. Directly to the right of it, youll see the page number, which should be 2.This is because the running head and page number are required in all APA papers, and continued at the top right-hand side of the page in all capital letters, along with the page number denoting the second page of the paper, following the title page.Basic format of an APA abstractIn the basic format of an APA abstract, the word Abstract is centered and without additional font changes. Then the abstract content begins beneath it- all in one paragraph with no indentation and one-inch margins on either side.Here is an example of the basic format of an APA abstract:This is the format all APA abstracts should follow.Notice that the running title of the paper and the page number are at the header of the page. The abstract itself is beneath the title Abstract, which is centered and without additional format at the center of the page. Addi tionally, the keywords are included at the bottom- this time with an indentation and the word Keywords italicized. Each keyword is separated by a comma.The abstract, itself, should be correctly formatted. Specifically, it should be one paragraph that is NOT indented, and it should include the following information:An introduction to previous studiesThe main problems with the previous studies that are address in the new study.How the new study has been conducted.What the new study reveals that adds to previous studies.Conclusions of the new studies that add to the literature on the topic.Keywords related to the topic, indented, with the title of Keywords italicized and the keywords themselves separated by commas.Below is an example of a correctly formatted and written APA abstract.This is a sample APA abstract in the field of Education.This shows you the formatting required for an APA abstract, as well as an example abstract written. Notice how the opening sentence summarizes what th e paper explores. The second and third sentences state the problem in research that the paper aims to address. And the abstract closes with the final aims of the paper, along with the results of the study.Keywords are then included at the bottom. Notice how they are indented and separated by commas.Also notice the white space at the bottom of the page. This is what you should aim for when writing your abstract. An abstract that takes up an entire page is often an overwritten, wordy one- and one that goes beyond the recommended 150 to 250-word abstract.

Overview of Ryan Air Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Overview of Ryan Air - Essay Example In the years1990 and 1991, the firm had new management and this resulted into a complete overhaul. The firm adopted some practices of Southwest Airline and this made it to cut its routes to 5 from 19. By the year 1991, Ryan Air was in possession of 6 aircrafts, 350 workers, and besides, it carried about 700,000 passengers annually in the five routes and from the year 1991 to the year1997, the firm increased the fleets it had to 21, and besides, it increased the routes it followed. All through this period, the number of passengers continued to grow because of the low fares that were charged by the firm. The firm was prevented from expanding its market by strict regulations that were enforced on the European airlines. However, the year 1997 was a turning point for the airline industry in Europe and for Ryan Air; this was because the regulations that prevented the airlines form expanding their boundaries were lifted and the airlines had the opportunity of establishing newer routes so as to cover the whole continent of Europe; thus this made Ryan Air to expand its routes. By the year 2001, Ryan Air had the largest travel website in the whole of Europe and in a span of three months after the launch of the website in the year 2000; it got more than 50,000 online bookings in a week. The firm realized that passengers were in need of transportation which was very fast and also inexpensive and for the firm to offer the cheap transportation method, low costs as well as efficiency were vital. Therefore, Ryanair changed business within the industry by providing lower charges and despite this; they have managed to make consistent profits through reduced costs. Through the use of Southwest model of lower costs, Ryan air developed a strategy, which was different from the ones of Lufthansa, British Airways, as well as Air France, for instance Ryan air made use of one aircraft fleet that ensured there were economies of scale in planning as well as training its crews, stocking sp are parts and also maintenance of its planes (Leocha). The firm also transitioned from B737-200s as well as B737-300s, which was bought by the firm as second hand to newer B737-800s. The firm reduced maintenance costs by introducing newer aircraft and besides, the productivity as well as the efficiency of the firm also improved through the use of no-frills methodology. Customary, in-flight services like seat allocation, complimentary drinks, meals and provision of newspapers were eliminated by the firm, rather, the company got a lot of profits from the minor services through charging passengers for in-flight services as well as additional travel expenses like travel insurance. Besides, workers were always compensated when sales were made and therefore, Ryan Air benefited through increased profits as well as efficiency. The passenger base of Ryanair grew to 23.1 million in the year 2003 down from 6.1 million in 2000. During this period, the profits made by the firm greatly increased to â‚ ¬226.5 million from â‚ ¬72.5 million. The competition within the airline industry in Europe was changed by low-cost-low frills strategy of RyanAir and this made a number of other low-cost operators to amalgamate to counter competition. The objective of Ryanair is to establish itself firmly as the leading low-fares airline in Europe through persistent improvements as

Gender Discrimination in the workplaceDifferences in earnings Research Proposal

Gender Discrimination in the workplaceDifferences in earnings - Research Proposal Example In earlier times, the gap between the pay of men and women was large. In recent times, this gap has narrowed to a great extent. What is this gap This is when men and women earnings are measured, a woman's earnings is always less than that of a man. Men earnings are used as a standard to measure female pays (Facts on Working Women, 2004). In 1992, women's median hourly earning was 79.4 percent of men's. While the female median wage or salary rate was 75.4 percent of their male equivalents. Annual women earnings in 1992 were 70.6 percent of men earnings (Facts on Working Women, 2004). These figures (adapted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics) prove that women are paid less. They were paid even less 40 years earlier than 1992. In these years, from early 1950s, women earnings have grown by 1.3 percent each year while men earnings have only grown by a 1.1 percent annually. This shows that the earnings gap narrowed in these 40 so years and continues to do so. The widest gap in earnings was found in sales job in the late 1990s. Only one out of every ten women was employed in such an occupation (BLS, 2008). The following graph is adapted from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It shows women's earnings as a percentage of men earnings over the last 28 years, by age. The graph shows that women's earnings as a percentage of men's has generally increased over the last thirty years. The earnings gap has narrowed for all age groups. However, we must remember that employment patters consistently illustrate that women largely occupy lower-paid jobs than men, even after providing for changes in tastes and productivity. This paper will revolve around the question of discrimination in the workplace. Are women paid less than men The paper will discuss which gender is paid less in the workplace and is discriminated against. First, this will be illustrated by giving statistical information about differences in earnings. After this, reasons for such differences will be discussed and it will be evaluated why there is discrimination in the workplace. Discussion According to an economist's definition, discrimination in the workplace is when two people have equal productivity but different outcomes. These people are most likely to be a part of different groups. Like I mentioned earlier, it is a well known fact that women have been a target of discrimination in the workplace. Evidence of discrimination in the workplace is subtle. They can be analyzed by either direct testimonies or by studying statistical employment patterns (Jacobsen, 2007). Some people say that because of this discrimination they are also paid less in earnings than the men in same or similar organizations. But we must understand that men, obviously, are stronger; physically and sometimes, even mentally. Men are good in crisis. Most men have the attributes of natural leaders, for example, strong mindedness etcetera. Besides that, many women wish to spend more time with family and less time at work. They may not be as willing as their male counterparts to travel around the world to get promoted to higher positions. They might not be so comfortable with the idea of having to shift their homes in search of better job opportunities. Women might be more willing to take more time off from work and longer breaks to deliver and/or look after their babies. These are also some of the reasons

Poverty Porn Essay Example for Free

Poverty Porn Essay Fundraising is a noble and selfless deed. However, an ethical issue has risen concerning the process of raising funds for poverty-stricken communities. Often, visuals of the harsh lives people in poverty face are portrayed when raising funds. The exploitation of such visuals to increase donations or support a cause is known as poverty pornography (Collin, 2009). Poverty pornography is effective in raising funds but it is incorrect due to the unethical way it is carried out that degrades the poverty-stricken communities. Poverty pornography is widely used by charitable organisations because it is an effective method of collecting donations. Research has shown that negative stimuli which evoke emotion can easily capture an individual’s attention (Murphy, Hill, Ramponi, Calder Barnard, 2010). Images of children as well as those which bring about negative emotions also tend to generate more donations (Burt Strongman, 2005). Thus, the disturbing visuals of dying children and women as well as their harsh living conditions portrayed in poverty pornography is effective in grabbing attention and generating feelings of sympathy. These feelings are then converted into actions whereby donations are increased. Therefore, poverty pornography plays a role in helping poverty-stricken communities as it easily grabs people’s attention and encourages them to increase their donations. However, its method of exploiting visuals that degrade the poverty-stricken communities makes poverty pornography unethical. The exploitation of biased visuals depicts poverty-stricken communities in a negative manner. Common examples are severely malnourished African children staring at the camera, waiting to be â€Å"saved† (Osa, 2010). While it is true that there are malnourished children, there are healthier children too. However, poverty pornography is biased as it does not represent this side of poverty-stricken communities. Although taken for a good cause, a distorted image of them is painted (Opoku-Owusu, 2003). This is unethical as the partial representation degrades them, leaving the impression that they are helpless individuals, waiting for their lives to be taken away and unable to do anything. On the other hand, some charitable organisations try to incorporate positive images into their advertisements by showing the after-effects of our donations. For example, they may show visuals of happy, smiling children as a result of our aid. However, such images indirectly degrade the communities as it gives us the impression that without our assistance, they are unable to survive. In 2001, a poll conducted in United Kingdom discovered that 74% thought that â€Å"Developing countries depend on the money and knowledge of the West to progress† (Voluntary Service Overseas, 2002). From this, we can deduce that many have the perception that poverty-stricken communities are weak and vulnerable as they are highly dependent on our help. However, this may not be true because in reality, they are the most â€Å"strongest willed, most tenacious people one could hope to meet† (Cowdroy Evans, 2010). Thus, the misrepresentation creates a false impression that poverty-stricken communities are weak and cannot survive without our aid. This false impression may also create an environment of self-pity which may lead to self-fulfilling prophecies. The self-fulfilling prophecy, introduced by Merton (1948), refers to circumstances whereby an initial false claim later turns into reality. The exploitation of negative visuals pertaining to the lives of poverty-stricken communities has led to a stereotype that they are â€Å"uneducated, incapable of freeing themselves from poverty, lacking in competence, and miserable† (Clark, 2004). This stereotype may cause people to hold negative expectations on the poverty-stricken communities (Madon, Jussim, Eccles, 1997). Although these negative expectations may not be true initially, the poverty-stricken communities might adhere to them thus leading to a self-fulfilled prophecy. Therefore, the use of poverty pornography to assist them may backfire as incorrect claims can become true. Nevertheless, many organizations unremittingly use poverty pornography. Does this make poverty pornography a necessary evil? Poverty pornography is definitely not a necessary evil. It is unethical to degrade or stereotype the poverty-stricken communities, even if it is for a noble cause. Moreover, poverty pornography can instead contribute to the  poverty cycle as the negative assumptions about the poverty-stricken communities may become self-fulfilling prophecies. Thus, instead of eradicating poverty, it may worsen the conditions of poverty-stricken communities. However what other methods can we adopt to increase awareness on the needs of the poverty-stricken communities without degrading them? Instead of exploiting biased images that generate feelings of sympathy, programmes that create feelings of empathy and responsibility can be created. One such event is the inaugural 30 Hour Famine Camp in Singapore held by World Vision. In this camp, youths are given a feel of life in poverty by taking part in activities that simulates lives of children in poverty. The youths also make a stand to end global poverty by fasting for thirty hours. This camp generates empathy which encourages youths to not only donate but also to think of more ways to assist by allowing them to realise that they have the ability and responsibility to help end poverty. To portray full representation of their lives, some have embarked on projects like ‘Perspectives of Poverty’ which â€Å"expose[s] this bias [poverty pornography] and present people in a light of dignity† (McNiholl, n.d). Even though it may not help in raising funds, by presenting poverty-stricken in a better light, it balances off how degrading poverty pornography has been and slowly alters people’s perception on poverty-stricken communities. This can help remove stereotypes on them thus avoid self-fulfilling prophecies. Poverty pornography has proven to be effective. However, its unethical methods have undermined the usefulness of helping poverty-stricken communities. Instead of assisting, it strips them of their dignity, their ability to help themselves and contribute to the poverty cycle. Even though poverty pornography cannot be eradicated in the near future as it is widely used, the two methods presented above are examples of how we can slowly break away from poverty pornography. People in poverty are human beings too. Thus, in the process of assisting them, we must create a full representation of them and treat them as dignified human beings. To achieve this, poverty pornography must be eradicated. REFERENCES Burt, CDB. Strongman, K. Use Of Images In Charity Advertising: Improving Donations and Compliance Rates. International Journal of Organisational Behaviour, 8(8) 1, Retrieved from http://www.usq.edu.au/extrafiles/business/journals/HRMJournal/InternationalArticles/Volume%208/Burt%20Vol%208%20no%208.pdf Clark, D. J. (2004). The production of a contemporary famine image: The image economy, indigenous photographers and the case of Mekanic Philipos. Journal of International Development, 16, 693–704. DOI: 10.1002/jid.112 Collin, M. (2009). What is ‘poverty porn’ and why does it matter for development? Retrieved 16 July 2011 from Aid Thoughts website: http://aidthoughts.org/?p=69 Cowdroy, J. Evans, H. (2005), Poverty Pornography. Retrieved 16 July, 2011 from The Global Poverty Project website: http://www.globalpovertyproject.com/blog/view/238 Madon, S., Jussim, L., Eccles, J. (1997). In search of the powerful self-fulfilling prophecy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(4), 791-809. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.72.4.791 Merton, R.K. (1948). The self-fulfilling prophecy. The Antioch Review, 8(2), 193-210. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Murphy, F. C., Hill, E. L., Ramponi, C. C., Calder, A. J., Barnard, P. J. (2010). Paying attention to emotional images with impact. Emotion, 10(5), 605-614. DOI: 10.1037/a0019681 Opoku-Owusu, S. A. S. (2003). What can the African diaspora do to challenge distorted media perceptions about Africa? London: AFFORD. Osa, E. (2010). The starving baby syndrome is hurting Africa’s image. New African, (501), 72-73. Retrieved from EBSCOhost Scale E. (2010), WaterAid UK And Poverty Porn. Retrieved 16 July, 2011 from The Global Poverty Project website http://www.globalpovertyproject.com/blogs/view/262 Voluntary Service Overseas, (2002). The Live Aid legacy: The developing world through British eyes – A research report. London, UK: Voluntary Service Overseas.

Feminist Ideas the Screwball Comedy Film Genre Essay -- Feminism Essay

The Screwball comedy is a film genre that found its way onto the screens in the early 1930s and lasted till the early 1940s. They were a consequence of the newly adapted censorship law in 1934 that restricted addressing adult content on screen. They therefore incorporated more comedic and creative ways of symbolizing topics such as sex and homosexuality. Screwball comedies were mainly based on plots that had conflict between social classes as their many premise and always had a happy ending which was almost always marriage. This consistent maintenance of the status quo of marriage is a major aspect of feminism depicted in screwball comedies (Heather 26). While advocating for marriage, screwball comedies highlighted the shift in the foundations of marriage and greatly highlighted the growth of feminism in light of a shift in roles and expectations surrounding this institution. Feminism is motivated by the need to establish equality between the genders since most feminists attribute women’s problems to inequality between the two genders. Therefore, by way of a collection of political movements and social theories, feminists seek to curb this inequality between men and women. It is important to note that the equality sought after by feminists is not just economic and political, but also social equality. According to Heather Gilmour, The institution of marriage during the pre-modern era or the Victorian era was based on inequality as the roles to be fulfilled by both genders for the success of the marriage were essentially different (Heather 26). As the roles kept changing over time due to different circumstances, so did the expectations of marriage and along with that, the rise of feminist movement. Screwball comedies such as It... ...r to be pragmatic and cautious when drawing lessons from screwball comedies. Works Cited Gilmour, Heather. â€Å"Journal of Film and Video.† Different, except in a Different way: Marriage, Divorce, and Gender in the Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1998. 26 – 39. Print. It Happened One Night. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf. Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable. Columbia Pictures. 1999. DVD. Shumway, David, R. â€Å"Cinema Journal.† Screwball Comedies: Constructing Romance, Mystifying Marriage. Texas: University of Texas Press, 1999. 7 – 23. Print. Willet, Cynthia. â€Å"Cultural Critique.† Baudrillard, â€Å"After Hours†, and the Postmodern Suppression of Socio-Sexual Conflict. Minnesota: University Of Minnesota Press, 1996. 143 – 161. Print. Woman of the Year. Dir. George Stevens. Perf. Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn. MGM. 1997. DVD. Feminist Ideas the Screwball Comedy Film Genre Essay -- Feminism Essay The Screwball comedy is a film genre that found its way onto the screens in the early 1930s and lasted till the early 1940s. They were a consequence of the newly adapted censorship law in 1934 that restricted addressing adult content on screen. They therefore incorporated more comedic and creative ways of symbolizing topics such as sex and homosexuality. Screwball comedies were mainly based on plots that had conflict between social classes as their many premise and always had a happy ending which was almost always marriage. This consistent maintenance of the status quo of marriage is a major aspect of feminism depicted in screwball comedies (Heather 26). While advocating for marriage, screwball comedies highlighted the shift in the foundations of marriage and greatly highlighted the growth of feminism in light of a shift in roles and expectations surrounding this institution. Feminism is motivated by the need to establish equality between the genders since most feminists attribute women’s problems to inequality between the two genders. Therefore, by way of a collection of political movements and social theories, feminists seek to curb this inequality between men and women. It is important to note that the equality sought after by feminists is not just economic and political, but also social equality. According to Heather Gilmour, The institution of marriage during the pre-modern era or the Victorian era was based on inequality as the roles to be fulfilled by both genders for the success of the marriage were essentially different (Heather 26). As the roles kept changing over time due to different circumstances, so did the expectations of marriage and along with that, the rise of feminist movement. Screwball comedies such as It... ...r to be pragmatic and cautious when drawing lessons from screwball comedies. Works Cited Gilmour, Heather. â€Å"Journal of Film and Video.† Different, except in a Different way: Marriage, Divorce, and Gender in the Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1998. 26 – 39. Print. It Happened One Night. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf. Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable. Columbia Pictures. 1999. DVD. Shumway, David, R. â€Å"Cinema Journal.† Screwball Comedies: Constructing Romance, Mystifying Marriage. Texas: University of Texas Press, 1999. 7 – 23. Print. Willet, Cynthia. â€Å"Cultural Critique.† Baudrillard, â€Å"After Hours†, and the Postmodern Suppression of Socio-Sexual Conflict. Minnesota: University Of Minnesota Press, 1996. 143 – 161. Print. Woman of the Year. Dir. George Stevens. Perf. Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn. MGM. 1997. DVD.

Does “Assassin’s Creed” Influence a Teen’s Mind Essay

Imagine a world where everything that happened was secretly controlled by a large organization of people. Every day you are constantly recorded and monitored. Everything that you do is secretly planned out in advance, yet you think that everything you’re doing is by your own free will. Everyone including your family, your friends, and the government are all controlled by this organization, and you can’t even tell. While you blithely and involuntarily follow the path planned out for you, another organization is secretly and quietly trying to put a stop to the evil plans of the organization that wants to control your every move. This is the plotline of a very popular videogame known as Assassin’s Creed. Assassin’s Creed is a great game that has influenced and challenged people’s view on government and democracy. The game Assassin’s Creed influences people’s minds by making them think more outside the box, and by aiding there curiosity of conspiracy theories. Assassin’s Creed take places in 2012, following the life of Desmond Miles, a bartender who is a descendant of several Assassins. Although Desmond was raised as an Assassin, he fled his nomadic family to seek out a more common lifestyle. While enjoying his freedom he is kidnapped by an evil company known as Abstergo Industries, the modern-day face of the Knights Templar who are aware of Desmond’s ancestry. Templars want to control everyone, and they believe in absolute order similar to totalitarianism. Desmond is forced to use a device known as an â€Å"Animus† which allows him to experience his assassin ancestral memories. Abstergo is seeking to discover the location of several artifacts, known as â€Å"Pieces of Eden,† in order to obtain great power and control mankind and alter its fate, bringing humanity into a single unified group. Later Desmond escapes Abstergo due to the help of some modern-day Assassins who he later ends up working with. Desmond uses their version of the Animus (Animus 2.0) to continue to re-live the memories of his ancestors and discover the locations of the Pieces of Eden before Abstergo can do so. Desmond relives the events of his Assassin ancestors who live in worlds full of chaos, injustice, and indirect captivity. Doesn’t this seem similar to the way the world is today? Several countries have yet to establish a government system where people have a say in what they want the government to do for them. There are even more countries that have yet to abolish their governing laws on slavery. Our own government is hiding secrets from us (trying to protect us), yet causing more accidents and tragedies that could be avoided if only we had access to their classified information. Assassin’s Creed is a completely made up story, but it has a lot of interesting and intuitive facts to its plot. In fact, the majority of it seems plausible, and many others within my age group seem to think the sa me after playing this game. Along with the several games that my peers play that can relate to Assassin’s Creed, there are also several books that are similar. Assassin’s Creed got its inspiration from the novel Alamut written by a Slovenian writer Vladimir Bartol, which is what inspired most of the first game’s plot. Another story very similar to the plotline of Assassin’s Creed is The Traveler written by John Twelve Hawks. The book takes place in the future and lays out a world where the power lies not with people or governments, but in the hands of a secret organization who call themselves â€Å"the Brethren.† Their enemies refer to them as â€Å"the Tabula†. The Tabula are an ancient secret society who thinks that control and stability are an absolute necessity, similar to extreme Utilitarianism. The Tabula gets the majority of their influence from the ideas of philosopher Jeremy Bentham. The Tabula wish to enforce a Virtual Panopticon which is a society where all i ndividuals become accustomed to being watched and monitored and they act at all times as if they are being observed; making them more afraid to do immoral things. The Tabula’s sole objective is to kill all Travelers. Travelers are people with the special ability to â€Å"cross-over†, which is often inherited from an ancestor. Crossing-over can be defined as your spirit leaving your body and going off to another realm, and then returning. Upon this return, most Travelers would have experienced a different perspective of our world. Many Travelers become religious prophets, or enemies of the Tabula who have hunted them almost to extinction. Harlequins are a warrior group sworn to defend the Travelers from the Tabula. The Harlequins are opposed to the Tabula, and the two sides spent centuries fighting over control and power which allowed the Tabula to gain control and almost completely exterminate the Travelers and Harlequins. Despite the nobility and self-sacrifice of their cause, the Harlequins are cold and cruel figures who dedicate their lives to fighting and killing without remorse or hesitation. Sound familiar? Due to its graphic, plausible, and suspenseful storyline, Assassins Creed has become a big hit to gamers, historians, and conspiracy theorist alike; causing them to have a current series of five games in all, selling millions of copies worldwide. The series has been a big success and has won a number of awards. All of the Assassin’s Creeds make an adolescent see the world they live in differently. I wouldn’t even have considered governmental control, Templars & Tabula, or Assassins & Harlequins as being realistic, but now I’m starting to have second thoughts (I also know of several friends in the same state as me). Reading books similar to The Traveler and playing videogames similar to Assassin’s Creed makes one think a little more outside the box and take into cons ideration other conspiracy theories and stories.