Usability Test Report

Question: Depict the points, method,results and assessment conversation of HSBC? Answer: 1. Points The fundamental point of this report is to characterize the re-model portable application for HSBC bank. In the versatile application of HSBC bank, designer included different functionalities as indicated by the client request, for example, cash move, overseeing account, data of record and so forth. This report expects to depict the re-model of versatile applications of HSBC bank where designers make another drop down catch in their application for the client. Through this catch, client of HSBC bank can get to their past beneficiaries. Aside from that, this catch permits client to survey about their record in any event one year with more control in structure. In any case, UI after re-model of the versatile application of HSBC bank decrease trouble so as to utilize different apparatuses where client locate all important data about the bank. Also, this report points in making an examination with the significant contenders after re-structured the portable application for HSBC bank as far as guaranteeing that re-model variant of versatile application for HSBC bank will give more prominent bit of leeway to the HSBC bank as opposed to their rivals, for example, Barclays, Citigroup Inc, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and so forth. 2. Technique 2.1 Experimental Design In this report, specialist distinguishes issues of existing versatile banking application for HSBC. In the wake of recognizing the issues of versatile banking application of HSBC bank, this report depicts the pertinent arrangements that help in giving better client experience to the client. So as to structure this report and make the chance of planning report, gathered information and record that data. So as to improve versatile banking application for HSBC bank, recognize the issues dependent on gathered data alongside the correlation of other banking application. In this report, portray the undeniable preferred position of re-model versatile application for HSBC that is functional base. Expert of this report presents jumbling factors with respect to re-model of portable application for HSBC bank as opposed to depicting misleadingly (Crowther and Lancaster, 2012). So as to help the attainability of this investigation, examiner completed the test outcome that referenced in the Append ix part. This is the key preferred position of this report since expert gives the great comprehension of the client of HSBC banking application that taken into the test (Hair and Money, 2011). Client additionally gives right data since they were met without going significant distance. This method forestalls the inclination data in this report. 2.2 Participants The fundamental members of this exploration were clients or clients of banking part in United Kingdom. Larger part of members that participated in the meeting program were 18 to 24 years age. The vast majority of the members are working low maintenance occupation and they utilizes bank benefits day by day for different reason, for example, purchasing things, revive in their cell phone, see status of their record, charge installment in the wake of purchasing items, and so on (Dul and Hak, 2012). Aside from that, those members generally utilize portable banking and web banking for every day uses and fundamental component that significant for the members were the executives of installments. 2.3 Tasks So as to test the versatile application for HSBC bank and re-model of it, following three errands are picked by the specialist, for example, Parity Checking (Answer: Successfully checks current record status) Exchange the board (Answer: Identify appropriately about the exchange esteem dependent on search rules) The board of installments (Answer: Successfully make installment for purchasing materials) 2.4 Metrics All together test the versatile application and revamping this portable application for HSBC 10 sorts of networks use in this report, for example, culmination rate, issues of convenience, task time, mistakes, desire, task level fulfillment, discussion and single ease of use lattices (SUM). 2.5 Materials So as to test the ease of use of versatile application of HSBC, various sorts of material utilized, for example, exceed expectations sheet of members data, surveys, Inc program, cell phone, video calling innovation, text informing, and so forth. 2.6 Procedure Following are the procedures of ease of use testing of versatile application for HSBC bank No. System Details 1 So as to keep the subtleties data that accumulated from members, specialist gives a one of a kind ID to every member that partakes into the test for versatile banking application for HSBC (Hesse-Biber, 2010). 2 As far as keeping up security of data that give by members and protecting, everything members are requested marking in an assent structure so as to realize that their own data will be utilized (Lancaster, 2010). 3 Telephone was furnished that incorporates with the portable application for HSBC to member (Leavy and Hesse-Biber, 2010). 4 So as to test the convenience of versatile application for HSBC bank, vis-à-vis meet was taken as far as close perceptions (Lodico and Spaulding, 2010). 5 For finishing the test, eyewitness will follow the required significant investment (Saunders et al. 2009). 6 Toward the finish of test, every members gives there survey about the versatile application of HSBC bank alongside upsides and downsides (Magilvy and Thomas, 2009). 7 After complete the test every members will be confronted a post polls by the meeting spectator with respect to ease of use trial of versatile application for HSBC bank (Riege, 2008). 3. Results 3.1 Summary for Overall Findings As indicated by member 1 named Harold, he was at that point took an interest in other ease of use test administration prior. He has a place from 18 with 24 years age and work low maintenance premise in various organizations, for example, ASDA, TESCO, ALDI, Toyota, T-Mobile, and so forth. The member utilizes bank benefits that utilized by them regular schedule for charge installment of purchasing items. The chose member is the record holder of various branch, for example, NatWest, Santander, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays, The illustrious bank, Citigroup and so on. The greater part of the members use the executives installment highlights of versatile banking application. Assembled data shows that dominant part of member utilizes web banking and versatile financial strategy day by day. As per the Boris, it has been recognized that the member have a place 18 with 24 years age and work low maintenance premise in an organization. He utilizes banking administration week after week. The client is the record holder of a bank that has a place with his locale north Europe. He utilized the web banking, phone banking and portable financial techniques for banking (Cooper and Schindler, 2010). The significant highlights that utilized by the member is oversee exchanges, oversee installments, change pin, demand duplicable explanations. As indicated by the member 3 named Rachel, he has a place 35 with 45 years age and independently employed. He utilizes bank administration week after week and he is the record holder of the bank administration of Santander and Halifax bank. Regarding exchange, he utilized strategy for web banking and versatile banking (Brody et al. 2009). Significant highlights that utilized by the member are oversee exchanges, the executives installments, change pin. From the perspective of client 4 named Abdul, he is working low maintenance premise and has a place 18 with 24 years age. He utilizes banking administration day by day for different purposes, for example, installment of purchasing items, account status checking, revive in telephone, and so forth. He is the client of Santander, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest and Halifax bank. Technique for banking that utilized by the member is web banking and phone banking (Decaro et al. 2009). He utilized two highlights, for example, oversee exchanges and oversee installment. 3.2 Performance Data Q1. Have you take an interest prior for ease of use test? Choices All out Respondents Reaction No. Reaction Rate (%) Truly 4 4 100% No 4 0 0% Q2. What is your age? Choices All out Respondents Reaction No. Reaction Rate (%) 18 24 years 4 3 75% 25 34 years 4 0 0% 35 45 years 4 1 25% 46 55 years 4 0 0% More than 5 years 4 0 0% Q3. What is your work status? Alternatives Absolute Respondents Reaction No. Reaction Rate (%) Full time 4 0 0% Low maintenance 4 3 75% Independently employed 4 1 25% Jobless 4 0 0% Resigned 4 0 0% Q4. How frequently you utilized financial assistance? Alternatives Complete Respondents Reaction No. Reaction Rate (%) Every day 4 2 half Week by week 4 2 half Month to month 4 0 0% Yearly 4 0 0% Never 4 0 0% Q5. Which bank administration you utilized? Alternatives Complete Respondents Reaction No. Reaction Rate (%) Santander 4 3 75% HSBC 4 2 half Lloyds 4 1 25% NatWest 4 1 25% Halifax 4 2 half Other (Please Specify) 4 1 25% Q6. What sort of strategy for bank administration do you like to utilize? Choices All out Respondents Reaction No. Reaction Rate (%) Web Banking 4 4 100% Versatile Banking 4 3 75% Phone Banking 4 2 half In-branch Banking 4 0 0% Other (Please Specify) 4 0 0% Q7. Which highlights of bank administration significance to you? Choices All out Respondents Reaction No. Reaction Rate (%) Oversee Transactions 4 3 75% Oversee Payments 4 4 100% Change Pin 4 2 half Solicitation Duplicable Statements 4 2 half Other (Please Specify)

Historical and Geographical Dynamics That Had Shaped China by the End of World War II

Verifiable and Geographical Dynamics That Had Shaped China before the End of World War II Presentation Development is exceptionally loved on the planet since it shows significant changes that occur inside a given timeframe. It is a key part to a country’s financial, social, and political status. In China, the term advancement came into utilization after a harsh period when the European frontier powers had taken pre-greatness in most different states, in this manner controlling the financial, political, just as social angles. The apocalypse War II was made conceivable by the inception of the supposed advancement forms in the countries that had been engaged with the quick wars, i.e., the usage of strategies that would assist with consummation wars just as those which could forestall the event of other comparative wars. In any case, the advancement was conceivable due to the nearness of certain authentic and land powers that undeniably formed numerous countries toward the apocalypse wars. Recorded procedures are those that can characterize why certain realms/domains d eclined or slanted, the financial, political and social procedures that occurred at a specific opportunity to cause change, just as the significance of certain people who assumed significant jobs in the development.Advertising We will compose a custom paper test on Historical and Geographical Dynamics That Had Shaped China before the End of World War II explicitly for you for just $16.05 $11/page Learn More Geographical elements speak to the parts of the human environmental factors that for the most part rely upon time, which are affected by individuals in their exercises. What's more, they influence a similar individuals who impact them in one manner or the other. In china, there happened various procedures ever, which made it fall during the universal wars; yet a straightforward change in similar procedures caused significant improvements in all angles (Zhang, 197). The accompanying paper is composed with a goal of exploring into the procedures in history and geology that drove in the forming of the nation after the World War II. Moreover, it looks to set up the commitment of these recorded and land elements in arranging the stage for advancement. For a compact comprehension of the idea of hypothesis and advancement, it is additionally essential to examine the procedure into which China was consolidated into the worldwide economy during the period when the colonialists attacked and involved different domains, just as in the main portion of the twentieth century. Progressively finished, it is regarded urgent to set up the gatherings that practiced monetary and political predominance during the pilgrim time frame just as the impact they had on the prudent and political angles. At last, it will give an understanding of the sort of connections that existed between particular gatherings and classes that were available during the pioneer time frame just as the commitments of the connections assisted with reshaping the monetary, social and political perspectives in china (Zhang, 142). Chronicled and land elements that molded China before the finish of World War II The authentic and geological parts of a nation are essential in each type of advancement. The universal wars took gigantic ways that destroyed each sort of political, social, and financial association of China. The advancement procedure subsequently required the usage of very new procedures and arrangements that would absolutely change the period of the nation. China, having been an advancement cognizant nation even before the war decades was set to reestablish each financial, social, and political structure so as to make space for change and at last form into an incredible state. Improvement was subsequently formed by the interchange of various political, social, and financial powers that were in plenitude at the hour of imperialism just as during the period when the world war two was finishing (Riskin, 14).Advertising Looking for paper on history? We should check whether we can su pport you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The social powers at play during the frontier time frame and toward the apocalypse War II affected the country’s advancement. Some time before the universal war, China’s social framework was set apart by a sort of a slave society, with classes of individuals depending n the monetary and political status. There were those alluded to as the incredible elites, white collar class and low class, who generally were captives to the ones in power. Relations were very poor between the subordinate and incredible gatherings and the white collar class. People with significant influence were in control of the financial property, while there existed a class of individuals who were property less, in this way inclining toward the ground-breaking for straightforward occupations to a state of some turning out to be slaves. The pioneer time frame was likewise set apart by an infringement of culture among the individuals where the co lonialists attempted to ingrain their own way of life to the indigenous individuals (Zhang, 166). The financial powers were basically administered by widespread free enterprise. The amazing and the subordinate individuals possessed a great deal of property while the working class individuals claimed next to no to practically nothing. Moreover, property was possessed secretly and primarily constrained by the business people; henceforth, government perspectives had taken pre-distinction. The activity depended on a market economy that is free, where no administration control was in activity yet business people controlling it in all manners just as people with great influence particularly the colonialists. All including the money related foundations had a place with the industrialists, and no guidelines set up for the control of the economy. There was too no defined limit with regards to what degree the colonialists/settlers could control the land; however it was up to them since the in digenous government and its kin had been persecuted to a degree of giving up everything. Despite the fact that the economy was controlled, the Chinese government just as the residents was not as quiet since the universal war happened because of obstruction so as to clear path for improvement (Riskin, 14). The political powers that administered the nation impacted the Chinese employment and government. The indigenous political set up and structure was not, at this point useful due to imperialists’ attack at progress in the direction of the twentieth century. A chosen parliament on brought together premise was represented for the most part by industrialists, overlooking the absolutism thought. Overall testimonial had become an uncommon resource, however the vote based system dependent on free enterprise might be stretched out to the whole populace. Different techniques were utilized by entrepreneurs to control government acts in all manners, therefore damaging the countryâ€⠄¢s majority rules system in all perspectives (Howarth, 236).Advertising We will compose a custom paper test on Historical and Geographical Dynamics That Had Shaped China before the End of World War II explicitly for you for just $16.05 $11/page Learn More Contributions of the elements in setting the stage commitment with Development The thus talked about powers helped in making way for advancement in China toward the finish of World War II. The social disintegration that had existed made attention to the indigenous individuals that fellowship and solidarity was essential being developed. It had been trying in the way that social classes existed, yet this at long last became quality since before the finish of World War II, the Chinese individuals found the force in solidarity of a people, grasped communism, and disintegrated a class framework to get one. Unity empowered them to set up strategies that assisted with interceding in the pioneer rule and encouraged improvement in all man ners (Hershatter, 128). Also, the political elements where business people were in charge of the legislature had effectively a set up framework, which made it feasible for the mediation strategies to work best. The solidarity through communism empowered the Chinese individuals to catch the administration during the World War II and utilized the equivalent to advocate for advancement before setting up another. It was anything but difficult to overcome the colonialists, start their own procedures, and use them for advancement that couldn't be effectively destroyed by the colonialists. Increasingly finished, on the acknowledgment that it was conceivable to grow together, all the social classes annulled and this made a feeling of having a place with all in the land. The ground-breaking who had initially possessed gigantic property understood the significance of sharing, in this way improvement progressed in the direction of destroying the possibility of private proprietorship, to clear path for collective responsibility for. At first, workers were paid poor wages however this made it feasible for them to partake in the improvement procedure to guarantee the finish of abuse. It was additionally feasible for advancement in the market economy where it was not, at this point free, however in charge of the administration. The social, practical and the political set up during the subsequent universal war was significant in the recognizable proof of the flourishing shortcomings at that point, and made space for amendment. Absence of the powers would have prevented advancement in that it would not have been conceivable to recognize the shortcomings, which went about as the reason for improvement (Hershatter, 133) Integration into the world economy during the provincial time frame, and up through the primary portion of the twentieth century The pioneer time frame was vital for the nation, since it was workable for the nation to be coordinated on the planet economy, however it had negative impacts (Glass, 2).Advertising Searching for exposition on history? How about we check whether we can support you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Find out More The country’s characteristic assets turned into an instrument for advancement as they all anticipated endeavor them for their financial development and joining into the world economy. The Chinese individuals are constantly dedicated to the best outcomes, and simultaneously, the land has various exploitable assets that are of

Law Case Analysis free essay sample

Law Case Analysis Material Facts and Source of Law The offended party William Shelensky was an executive who possessed a minority investor of Defendant Corporation called Chicago National League Ball Club, which worked Chicago Cubs. The Cubs had been experiencing working misfortunes direct baseball tasks from 1961-1965. The chief litigant Philip K. Wrigley who possessed 80% stock offers didn't introduce lights at Wrigley Field so the Cubs couldn't play around evening time when at home, despite the fact that the other 19 significant alliance groups planned night games. Litigant (Wrigley) guaranteed that baseball is a day sport and that playing around evening time would unfavorably influence the encompassing neighborhood. William offered a claim against the executive Philip K. Wrigley and different executives that their fumble of not building lights for night games was opposite and disconnected to business enthusiasm, causing deficient participation and friends budgetary losing. Oppositely, litigants contended that courts couldn’t meddle business choices except if there is extortion, wrongdoing or irreconcilable situation. The wellspring of law is case law where the guidelines of law reported in court choices. Mr. Equity Sullivan judge on this case dependent on past guidelines denied from other 10 confirmed cases. Explicit Legal Issues The instance of Shlensky versus Wrigley includes both inquiry of law and question of reality. It includes question of law since offended party and litigant have various situations in deciphering rules. The Plaintiff holds that extortion, lawlessness and irreconcilable situation are not by any means the only bases for investor to sue the chiefs while the respondent hold inverse position. In this manner, it needs judge to decipher and apply the law for this situation. It additionally includes the subject of truth, which is whether it loves plaintiff’s saying that defendants’ refusal of building lights for night games ascribed to the organization misfortune. Plaintiff’s Argument Plaintiff Shensky was upholding for the harms for botch of executives. The offended party likewise required the respondent to introduce the lights in Wrigley Field and calendar night ball games. The Plaintiff guaranteed that night games would help the companys budgetary condition, and that the deals from participation around evening time games would pay for the expense of the lights. In any case, chiefs wouldn't introduce lights in Wrigley Field in light of the fact that the individual view that night ball games would upset encompassing neighborhood. Have the executives been careless in neglecting to practice sensible consideration and judiciousness in the administration of the corporate undertakings by deciding, not out of a decent confidence worry for the organization, yet for individual perspectives. In this manner, The Plaintiff guaranteed that respondents were at risk for fumble since reasons of not introducing lights were opposite and disconnected to business interests. Defendant’s Argument Defendant Wrigley was supporting for that court couldn't meddle participate issues in the event that they didn't overstep the law and agreement. Respondent asserted that the explanation he demand not introducing lights is that baseball is a daytime game and night games would upset encompassing neighborhood. He additionally asserted that if night games played, the negative impact from neighborhood would diminish company’s notoriety. Notwithstanding, he was happy to play night games if another arena was worked in Chicago. The litigants contended that their concerning and acting didn't overstep the law, agreement and struggle intrigue. Along these lines, the court didn't meet all requirements for the obligation to pass judgment on them. Court’s Decision and Rationale The court at last disavowed the case and avowed defendants’ inability to plan night games didn't establish carelessness. Right off the bat, The court feels that except if the lead of executives verges on one of three components (extortion, lawlessness, irreconcilable circumstance), the court won't meddle the directors’ choice and conduct. Also, the plaintiff’s claims are deficient. Offended party can't demonstrate that the choice of not introducing lights would carry immense measure of benefits to the participation on the grounds that there was no claim that the night games played by different groups upgraded their money related condition. The offended party didnt even mull over the amount it would cost to keep up the lights. Additionally, the case of â€Å"Have the chiefs neglecting to practice sensible consideration and reasonability in the administration of the corporate undertakings by deciding, not out of a decent confidence worry for the organization, however for individual views† is likewise damaged. Since the impact on the encompassing neighborhood is something to be viewed as when settling on organization choices, as that influences who goes to games just as the estimation of the property. The worried of encompassing neighborhood is a decent confidence of worry for the organization and identified with company’s long haul intrigue. The legitimate standards utilized by the court incorporate many court choices from other comparative cases. For instance, the court depended on language found in Hunter v. Roberts, Throp amp; Co. , 83 Mich 63, 47 NW 131, 134, Courts of value won't meddle in the administration of the chiefs except if it is obviously made to create the impression that they are blameworthy of extortion or misappropriation of the corporate assets, or decline to pronounce a profit when the enterprise has an overflow of net benefits which it can. The Justice Sullivan applied this standard onto the instance of Shlensky. Exercises Learned from the Case After examining the Case of William Shlensky and Philip K. Wrigley, what I will detract from perusing the case is that courts ensure directors’ objective choices. These choices may not be truly beneficial or directly looking back, yet chiefs are shielded from risk insofar as there is no extortion, illicitness or irreconcilable situation of investors. It is a significant case to examination in light of the fact that the case shows something other than legitimate standards. By learning law in setting of real claims, on account of Shlensky and Wrigley, I figured out how questions emerge, how offended party and respondent convey the two contentions and how the appointed authority applies past case law choices into the present case to settle on a choice. The appointed authority chooses the case dependent on the genuine realities other than one party’s guaranteeing. Instead of perusing pages of conceptual explanations of law, the standard that court can't meddle lawful business choice are introduced all the more clearly by genuine issues including genuine individuals.

Pediatrics: Cranial Nerve Examination Essay -- Pediatric Examination

Oculomotor (III), trochlear (IV), Abducens (VI) cranial nerves Albeit every one of these nerves control separate extraocular muscles, they are regularly inspected together because of their nearby useful interrelationships. †¢ Look Like other cranial nerve assessment, start with investigation of the eyes. Take a gander at - The position of the head position: If diplopia is available, the head turned or tilted to limit twofold vision. - Inspect for ptosis and eye position. - Ask the kid to take a gander at an item around five feet away. Look at the students for size, shape, and evenness. Oculomotor nerve paralysis causes mydriasis. Thoughtful paralysis prompts miosis. Ciliary ganglion breakdown inside the circle produces Adie’s understudy with middilated students and poor reacts to assembly. †¢ Ocular arrangement The eyes are regularly equal in all places of look aside from assembly. Squints can be either crippled (paresis of one of the extraocular muscles) or non-disabled (flawed binocular vision). Inborn immobile squints bring about anomalous head stances, while the obtained ones reason diplopia. Non-crippled (accompanying) squints are not related with diplopia. - Looking at light: Sit before the youngster around 1 meter away. Sparkle a light source and request that the kid take a gander at the light. Watch the situation of the light reflexes on the cornea. Typically, the light reflex is balanced and marginally nasal to the focal point of every student. - Cover test is a decent trial of eye arrangement and is useful to decide the nearness of both show and idle strabismus o Unilateral spread test: Ask the youngster to focus on an item that is ten feet away as though â€Å"their eyes are stuck to the object†. For testing of the correct eye, spread the kid... ...mpare the nasolabial grooves, which are smooth on the feeble side) - Bell's wonder: Ask the kid close the eyes. In lower engine neuron VII nerve paralysis, the upward development of the eyeball is seen because of inadequate conclusion of the eyelid. †¢ Taste Sensation - Examine for taste on the foremost 66% of the tongue, just in those with facial paralysis. - Ask the youngster to distend the tongue and not to talk during the test. - Apply a little example of sugar, vinegar, salt and quinine arrangements (sweet, acrid, saline and harsh) with cotton buds to the other side of the foremost 66% of the tongue each in turn. - Ask the youngster to highlight the taste on a pre-arranged card to call attention to the reaction. - Rinse the mouth with water between every example. - Between each test request that the patient wash his mouth with water. - Repeat test on the opposite side of the tongue

Essay Writing - How to Write an Essay in a Day

Essay Writing - How to Write an Essay in a DayIf you have been struggling to write an essay, you will be glad to know that it can be done in a day. All you need is discipline and determination and you will find the essay writing process a lot easier than you thought it would be. With these tips, you will find writing an essay in a day easy to do.The first thing you need to remember is that you are not supposed to put too much pressure on yourself when writing your essay. Think of it as work, just as any other job. You will be putting together words and phrases that people will read and understand. If you over analyze every last word or phrase before you begin your essay, you will find that your efforts will get derailed.The second tip for writing an essay in a day is to pick a topic that you really want to write about. If you don't have an idea that pertains to what you want to write about, you can always search the Internet for some information. You can also join a class that specia lizes in writing about that topic.The next thing you'll need to know is that your time is valuable. Take the time to compose your essay well so that it is well written and you don't need to spend any extra time trying to make your essay readable. Remember that all people who will read your essay are not going to read all of it. Make sure that you only read the critical parts of your essay so that it flows easily and doesn't seem to take forever to read.This is also the part where you have to be prepared, as the most difficult part of writing an essay is writing it. You have to give it a good title, include the information that will help readers understand what your essay is about and decide which sections you will write on. The more information you include in your essay, the better your chances are of being accepted for an essay writing class or writing an essay for a college.It's also important to write a good essay. You can tell from how many of these it gets accepted for by the c olleges or job offers that come in. If you don't have a strong idea of what you want to write about, it is best to seek out a writing class or online reading for more information.Finally, make sure that your essay is well organized. Don't try to cram your thoughts into one long article. Have sections that are short and easily read, and give more importance to the longer sections.With these tips, you will have the skills needed to write an essay in a day, which means that you will be on a new level in your writing career. You may not see it now, but if you follow these tips, you will be amazed at how quickly you can move up from essay writing to essay writing for a living.

Deep Breathing Exercises for Nicotine Withdrawal

Deep Breathing Exercises for Nicotine Withdrawal Addiction Nicotine Use Nicotine Withdrawal Print Deep Breathing for Nicotine Withdrawal By Terry Martin facebook twitter Terry Martin quit smoking after 26 years and is now an advocate for those seeking freedom from nicotine addiction. Learn about our editorial policy Terry Martin Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Sanja Jelic, MD on January 21, 2020 Sanja Jelic, MD, is board-certified in sleep medicine, critical care medicine, pulmonary disease, and internal medicine.   Learn about our Medical Review Board Sanja Jelic, MD on January 21, 2020 More in Addiction Nicotine Use Nicotine Withdrawal After You Quit How to Quit Smoking Smoking-Related Diseases The Inside of Cigarettes Alcohol Use Addictive Behaviors Drug Use Coping and Recovery From the discomforts of nicotine withdrawal to the thoughts of smoking that come up now and then as we move through the first year of smoking cessation, recovery from nicotine addiction is a process that can be difficult to maintain control over. Deep breathing is an invaluable tool that, when mastered, will help you shift gears when nicotine withdrawal makes you edgy. Think of deep breathing as a compass that will help you find your smoke-free way and relax you at the same time. Id like to introduce you to Leslie. In this article, Leslie shares the techniques she uses to control her breathing, along with the benefits that deep breathing has had for her personally. As of this writing, Leslie has 9 smoke-free months under her belt and is feeling stronger with every passing day. From Leslie: Breathing. Something so natural, so intrinsic and invaluable an activity, so...common. The average person takes 12 breaths per minute, but its barely something were aware of. With yoga having become as mainstream as sliced bread, we are now given tools to learn how to breathe more deeply, more to the core. If youre into yoga, that is. I always thought it was a romantic concept -- standing still and quiet, arms clasped together in reverence, salutations to the sun. So I bought a DVD on it set in a calming desert surrounded by gorgeous colors and set to exotic and peaceful music. MAN, was it hard! I know that yoga is a form of exercise that takes commitment and practice, but I could never quite wrap my head around it -- not to mention my body -- although I would love to try it again sometime. All attempts aside, one thing I found absolutely invaluable was being taught the awareness of breathing, of lifes sweet breath. Breathing properly is an absolutely crucial tool in the first days and weeks of smoking cessation. I recently read a forum members post describing how, in order to get the most nicotine out of a sickorette, we breathe more deeply than we do otherwise. This may explain in part some of the sense we get as smokers that we are relaxed when smoking. When we first quit, we tend to take far more shallow breaths, the opposite of what we should be doing in order to stay focused and calm. It is amazing how profoundly and immediately a deep breath will calm ones nerves. During the beginning of this process, I found Ians script (another reformed smoker) on how to breathe deeply. It was instrumental for the early times when I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin, so Id love to share it with you. This method works for so many situations: Place your tongue on the roof of your mouth and breathe in through your nose. Keep breathing in until your lower stomach starts to rise. (This is also known as diaphragmatic breathing, and really helped me as an asthmatic). Then, put your lips together as if you are blowing up a balloon. Blow all the air out slowly in a controlled manner until it is all gone. Breathing out should take almost twice as long as breathing in. Now for the magic. When you have practiced this breathing technique and understand what to do, you will start to feel a change in your body. It is important that you take notice of thisâ€"the drop of the shoulders, the loosening of the face, and any other feelings you may have. When you have mastered this, each time you take a deep breath, you can say a word. It can be any word, such as RELAX, CALM, PEACE, QUIET, or anything else that has meaning for you. The word should be repeated over and over again in your mind as you breathe out. Very shortly, all you will have to do is say the word and your body and mind will instantly return to that calm state. You can do this anywhere and at any time and no one will even know you are doing anything differently. The control of breathing is important. The faster one breathes, the more oxygen is being taken from the brain and the more anxiety is felt. Control your breathing and you will release the brains own feel good chemicals called endorphins. With practice, you will be able to change your mood whenever you want. In a way, smoking is like a negative deep breathing exercise. You say the word cigarette and your body reacts by becoming tense and anxious. You light a cigarette, and by taking that first deep breath, you are doing exactly the same as taking a deep breath without a cigarette, though as a smoker, you attribute the change in feeling to the cigarette itself, which actually hasnt done anything. Note from Terry Martin: Much of the relaxation that we associate with smoking has to do with replenishing the dwindling level of  nicotine in the bloodstream. We think of it as smoking enjoyment or stress relief, but it in truth, the only relief we get from smoking is that of a junkie getting a  fix. Nicotine is an extremely addictive drug, and  we get edgy and uncomfortable when the nicotine level in our bodies dips below what were used to receiving. This next one is one of my very favorite exercises, and never fails to take the edge off of whatever stressful or tense day I may be having in life. Stand up. Right now, go on, you can do it (or if you cant, then sit up straight with both feet firmly planted on the ground). Lift your arms as high up as you can. Now close your eyes and think of something you love, something or someone that tickles your soul; a child, a puppy, a warm summer day in a wheat field. Now, breathe it in. Breathe in all of that sunlight and warmth and love and preciousness and feel it infuse your entire being and pool at your feet. Isnt it marvelous to breathe? Leslie How you choose to react to thoughts of smoking can either increase or decrease their power over you. The next time a smoking urge hits, try a little reverse psychology. Instead of tensing up for a struggle, relax and mentally lean into the craving. Let it wash over you while you focus on your breathing. The urge will run its course and pass. Practice makes perfect with this technique. Youll get the hang of it with time and will find it empowering.

Folklore in Their Eyes Were Watching God - Literature Essay Samples

Zora Neale Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God in seven weeks while she was in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, researching the country’s major voodoo gods and studying as an initiate under the tutelage of Haiti’s most well-known Voodoo hougans (priests) and mambos (priestesses). However, while many scholars have explored Hurston’s interest in and study of voodoo in her ethnographical texts, such as Mules and Men (1935) and Tell My Horse (1938), only a few have explored the relationship between voodoo and Their Eyes Were Watching God. Close analysis of the novel reveals that voodoo imagery and symbolism is integral to the development of the predominant themes of Hurston’s second novel. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston explores the natures of black women and black men; the ways in which their natures are shaped by their individual and collective experiences within American and African American cultures; and how their experiences inform their self-knowledge, their connection with the world around them and their relationships with others. More specifically, Their Eyes Were Watching God is concerned with a young black woman’s quest for self-discovery beyond the false values imposed on her by a society that allows neither women nor black people to exist naturally and freely. Through her female protagonist, Janie Crawford, Hurston critiques the status of black women and the roles available to them within American and African American cultures; and she offers them an alternate frame of reference for their unique experiences within the world and an alternate path to self-determination and autonomy. That path is Voodoo, a religion which Hurston describes as à ¢â‚¬Å"the old, old mysticism of the world in African terms . . . a religion of creation and life† (Tell My Horse 376). Voodoo is a syncretization of African and European religious beliefs and practices, through which its devotees strive for personal and communal power by achieving harmony with their respective individual natures and with the world in which they live. According to scholar of voodoo, Alfred Mà ©traux, the religion has â€Å"no national church, no association of priesthood, no written dogma, no code, no missionization† (Mà ©traux 13). Consequently, it is a religion that can be and has been adapted—through the integration of new symbolic materials—to address the changing social and political circumstances of the cultures that practice it. It is the adaptability of the religion and the religion’s historical and social relevance to the unique experiences of black people (especially women) upon which Hurston draws in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Employing voodoo as an intertext for her novel, Hurston has at hand a system of beliefs and practices replete with powerful female deities, female leaders and female adherents. As a religion which reflects the desires and aspirations of its followers, which functions as an alternate form of power for those that might otherwise feel powerless, and which privileges women’s lives in ways other religious traditions do not, Voodoo is an effective vehicle through which to explore the role and status of black women within modern African American culture. Through the integration of voodoo imagery and symbolism, Hurston provides an alternate path by which women can transform and transcend the socio-cultural pathologies and existential constraints that distinguish the African American female experience. Despite the apparent absence of a unified social or ideological superstructure, Voodoo has a body of basic beliefs and practices that characterize the religion throughout the world (Mà ©traux 13). Central to the religion is the existence of loa or mystà ¨res, spirits or deities that personify the experiences, hopes, and aspirations of their devotees or followers and upon whom followers call for the remedy of ills, the satisfaction of needs, and for hope and survival. When summoned in a voodoo ceremony, the loa ‘mounts’—as a rider mounts a horse—or ‘possesses’ his or her servant and then speaks and acts through his or her ‘horse,’ addressing the specific circumstances for which s/he has been summoned. There are two classes of voodoo loa: the rada and the petro. The rada loa are considered â€Å"high and pure† (Tell My Horse 441). They are gentle gods who do only good things for people. They may exercise violence to punish a Vodouisant, but never—like certain petro—out of sheer spite. Petro loa are more implacable and violent than their rada alter ego. There is a category of petro loa known as gà ©-rouge or â€Å"red-eyes† that are, without exception, evil and even cannibal. While the petro loa are known as evil, they can also be made to do good things. However, the petro work for an individual only is s/he makes a promise of service. When someone swears her- or himself to the petro, s/he must pay for the debt; or the petro will exact revenge. Central to Hurston’s narrative is her female protagonist, Janie Crawford-Killicks-Starks-Woods, as the embodiment of Erzulie (or Ezili), the loa that governs the feminine spheres of life. The figuration of Erzulie entered the religion during a time when slave owners sexually exploited their female slaves and separated families at will (â€Å"Erzulie† A-muse-ing Grace). In her rada and petro manifestations (Erzulie Freda, Erzulie Danto and Erzulie Gà ©-Rouge), she represents the ideality of love, the sanctity of motherhood, women’s innate strength and creativity, their ability to endure and survive adverse circumstances and their determination to fight for what is most dear to them. Through her characterization of Janie-Erzulie, Hurston explores a more complex subjectivity for African American women beyond that of sexually-exploited slave and tragic mulatta (two of the earliest female character types to appear in African American literature); and she inscribes a new archetype into the pantheon of African American female selves: a heroic African American ‘Everywoman’ who masters her world and claims her place within it as a fully-integrated, autonomous and creative self. Through her seamless integration of voodoo, Hurston challenges and subverts the predominant stereotypes of voodoo as ‘primitive magic’ and ‘witchcraft,’ legitimating what she fervently believed to be an authentic, African spiritual path and establishing its viability as a medium of empowerment for those without power. She also challenges and subverts the predominant myths and stereotypes that perpetuate the condition and treatment of women, in general, and black women, in particular, within American culture; and she re-elaborates existing archetypal patterns of the African American female socio-cultural experience, loosening the constraints under which black women exist. The result is a narrative of ‘mythic’ status and import. Just as myths transcend the limitations of common life and imbue daily actions with universal (i.e., archetypal) significance, Hurston uses voodoo imagery and symbolism in Their Eyes Were Watching God to create a modern American myth—grounded in the African diasporic tradition—that transcends what is expected and accepted as historically and culturally plausible for black women within the prevailing social order. She valorizes a tradition through which black women can achieve selfhood that integrates both their public and private selves and that reflects agency and authority over their own lives and their own stories. Hurston relies on the stages of the archetypal quest paradigm, which comprise the foundation for the monomyth of the hero’s journey, to structure her novel. Each culture has its version of the monomyth. However, in all cultures, the quest is traditionally cyclical and can be divided into three major stages, as follows: (1.) Separation (Call to Adventure); (2.) Initiation (the Journey); and (3.) The Return (â€Å"Ageless Wisdom,† Divine). Each section of Hurston’s novel represents a different stage of Janie’s quest toward selfhood. However, Hurston uses imagery and symbolism from both voodoo and black American folklore to adapt and transform the conventions of the paradigm and to situate the text within a tradition that is identifiably African American and female. Also, the novel is a frame narrative. Janie’s story of her journey to selfhood, recounted in her own voice, is framed and aided by that of a third-person omniscient narrator, who possesses the folk wisdom and knowledge of the black experience for which Janie is questing and can, therefore, represent the minds and speech of all of the characters from a timeless perspective that Janie’s direct discourse alone cannot. The distinctive blending of spiritual and folk imagery and symbolism, coupled with Hurston’s use of both direct discourse and an omniscient point-of-view which functions to â€Å"present past and fictional present as if each is present time† (Pondrom 201) contributes to the mythic status of Janie’s story. As the novel begins, Janie’s quest is completed, and she returns to Eatonville, the place from which she embarked on her journey, to narrate to her friend, Pheoby Watson, the manner in which her identity has been revealed to her. Hurston establishes an immediate connection between African-Haitian and African-American southern cultures in her description of the residents of Eatonville: It was time for sitting on porches beside the road. It was the time to hear things and talk. These sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long. Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins. But now, the sun and the bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful and human. They became lords of sounds and lesser things. (1) The description of the townspeople as â€Å"tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences† recalls Hurston’s description of zombies in Tell My Horse. Zombies, according to Hurston, are individuals who have died and whose bodies have been, following their burial, taken from the grave and given an â€Å"antidote† that â€Å"resurrects† them. The antidote restores the body’s vital signs, allowing the body to move and act, but leaves the victim with no memory, no willpower, unable to speak or hear, and with â€Å"dead eyes† that stare without recognition (Tell My Horse 469). In this state, zombies can be easily used as field laborers, as ‘beasts of burden.’ In her description of the townspeople, Hurston links the experiences of African diasporic people and alludes to the dehumanizing effects of slavery as the possible genesis of the figuration of zombies in the Voodoo religion. She alludes, as well, to the perpetuation of this aspect of slavery in the lives of poor southern African Americans beyond the Reconstruction era. Also, in her description, Hurston points to the restorative capabilities of the community. Once they are removed from the authority of â€Å"the bossman† and are safely ensconced within their own community, the townspeople reclaim their strength and humanity; and it is the community’s potential for individual and collective self-possession and self-expression with which Hurston is ultimately concerned. However, Hurston makes it clear from the beginning of the novel that while communal self-determination plays a significant role in the novel, it is â€Å"the woman†Ã¢â‚¬â€as Janie is referred to for the first three pages of the novel, reinforcing her archetypal persona—who is the central focus of the narrative. Janie returns to Eatonville wearing overalls, with her long hair swinging in a braid down her back; and the townspeople sit in appreciation or judgment, according to gender, upon her return: The men noticed her firm buttocks like she had grapefruits in her hip pockets; the great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume; then her pugnacious breasts trying to bore holes in her shirt. They, the men, were saving with the mind what they lost with the eye. The women took the faded shirt and muddy overalls and laid them away for remembrance. It was a weapon against her strength. ( 2 ) Janie is the essence of Erzulie Freda in physical appearance, carriage and demeanor. Erzulie Freda is the rada loa of love, beauty and elegance; she is the potential lover of all of the men of Haiti and the rival of all of the women. In Tell My Horse, Hurston describes her as a mulatta—as is Janie; she is the product of her mother’s rape by her white schoolteacher—with long dark hair, â€Å"a beautiful woman of lush appearance [with] firm, full breasts and other perfect female attributes† (384). In fact, Hurston’s description of Janie closely resembles Alfred Mà ©traux ‘s description of Erzulie Freda in Voodoo in Haiti: â€Å"At last, in the full glory of her seductiveness, with hair unbound to make her look like a long haired half-caste, Ezili makes her entrance . . .. She walks slowly, swinging her hips† (111). Like Erzulie Freda, Janie stirs the lust of the men and evokes the envy of the women. However, while she physically resembles Erzulie Freda, Janie’s overalls recall the petro aspect of the loa, Erzulie Danto. While Erzulie Freda is â€Å"a city girl of refined tastes and desires,† Erzulie Danto is a hard-working, industrious country woman who can become overbearing, aggressive and acerbic in her aspect and who is frequently envisioned wearing the blue denim of a Haitian peasant woman (Filan 1). In integrating the two figurations of Erzulie, Hurston indicates that Janie has succeeded in integrating all aspects of black womanhood in her journey; and upon her return, she shares with Pheoby the specifics of the adventures through which she has achieved this integration. Janie begins her story at the point at which her â€Å"conscious life† (10) began—at the age of sixteen, when she lay under a blossoming pear tree in her back yard. As she watches a bee pollinate a bloom on the pear tree, Janie experiences her sexual awakening. She identifies with the pear tree (â€Å"Oh to be a pear tree—any tree in bloom!†); and as she leans over the gate post, â€Å"waiting for the world to be made,† she commits herself to finding â€Å"a bee to her bloom† (Their Eyes 11, 31). The recurring metaphors of the blossoming pear tree and the horizon (the world) frame and help to unify Janie’s quest. The pear tree symbolizes unpossessive, mutually affirming, passionate love—the idyllic union of equals. In using organic imagery to symbolize Janie’s dawning awareness of herself as a woman, Hurston elevates her protagonist’s sexual awakening above the profane stereotypes imposed on black women’s se xuality by society; and she legitimates passion and sexual desire as natural, rather than aberrant, aspects of black womanhood. The horizon symbolizes the life experiences that are necessary to achieve a complete awareness of self, including meaningful participation in the traditions of the black community (Hemenway 239). The imagery symbolizes the inner (spiritual) and outer (material) aspects of life, respectively; and the successful integration of the pear tree vision and the horizon signifies the telos of Janie’s quest to selfhood. Voodoo imbues the imagery with another level of symbolic significance. The tree and the horizon are both symbols connected to the loa Legba, who, in keeping with the ceremonial order of the Voodoo religion, is the first loa ‘summoned’ in the novel. Legba, like the tree, symbolizes the connection between heaven and earth, the spiritual and material worlds. He is the gatekeeper, the lord of the crossroads, who provides â€Å"the way to all things† (Tell My Horse 393). As the bridge that the Vodouisant uses to transverse into the spiritual realm of the loa, Legba aptly represents Janie’s spiritual awakening. Along with Legba, Erzulie Freda, the loa of ideal dreams, hopes and aspirations, is invoked in Janie’s pear tree vision. It is said that â€Å"Erzulie looks into mirrors and dreams of perfection† (â€Å"Erzulie Freda,† Sosyete); and as Janie—who is described as having â€Å"glossy leaves and bursting buds† (11)—loo ks into the mirror of the pear tree, she dreams of the perfect union of equals. With her dawning awareness of self, Janie is poised to accept the Call to Adventure of the archetypal quester. However, before Janie can embark on her journey to the horizon in her quest to actualize the pear tree vision, her quest is indefinitely deferred by her grandmother Nanny. Nanny, whose world-view establishes the contrast between the ‘real’ or ordinary world and Janie’s vision, witnesses Janie kissing a neighbor boy over the front gate and immediately declares Janie â€Å"a woman† (12). As a former slave who was raped by her master and bore his child, Janie’s mother, Nanny embodies society’s conventional notions of black women as â€Å"mules,† â€Å"work oxes,† and â€Å"brood sows† (15). She tells Janie, â€Å"Ah wanted to preach a great sermon about colored women sittin’ on high . . . fulfil[ling] dreams of what a woman oughta be and to do† (15). However, Nanny’s life experiences enable her t o testify only to her racial and sexual oppression as a black woman. Nanny wants to see Janie safe in life, and safety for her means a life that mirrors as closely as possible the material stability and social status of the white middle-class. Consequently, she has arranged a marriage for Janie; and she has chosen Logan Killicks, a widower much older than Janie who has the only organ in the town and owns sixty acres of land (22). Janie, incapable at this point of expressing her own desires, refuses her Call to Adventure in exchange for security and seeks a way to meld Nanny’s vision with her own. She reasons that with the legal union of marriage comes love: â€Å"Husbands and wives loved each other and that was what marriage meant† (20). However, living with Killicks on the back road isolates Janie from the larger community, and Killicks ultimately attempts to turn her into the ‘mule’ Nanny sought to prevent her from becoming. Consequently, Janie realizes that the institution of marriage does not guarantee the love she envisions; and with this realization, â€Å"she became a woman† (24). It is the first significant lesson of Janie’s adult life. Disappointed in her first attempt at love, Janie turns her attention to the horizon. She meets Joe Starks, a stylishly dressed man from the city who is traveling through town on his way to Eatonville, Florida, where he plans on being â€Å"a big voice† (28). Janie is initially skeptical of Joe because â€Å"he doesn’t represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees;† however, he does â€Å"speak for far horizon . . . for change and chance† (28). The prospect of fulfilling her dream of the horizon renews Janie’s hope for fulfillment of her dream of romantic love, and she leaves Logan to accompany Joe to Eatonville. In her marriage to Joe, Janie channels Erzulie Freda. Like Freda, who prefers sweetened drinks and sweet food, Janie, when she initially meets Joe, tells him that she drinks sweetened water (27). In fact, Joe’s relationship with Janie resembles that of the Haitian male devotees of Erzulie Freda, a kept woman who does not work and who eschews menial labor. As the wife of the storekeeper, postmaster and mayor of Eatonville, Janie has material comforts and enjoys a social status that sets her above and apart from the common townspeople. In this respect, Janie’s marriage to Joe perpetuates Nanny’s vision of material stability and respectability. Joe â€Å"classes off† (107) Janie; he isolates her from the community, forbids her to engage in the daily store porch conversations with other townsfolk, and he excludes her from the observances of the town’s rituals and traditions. He reasons that as the wife of Eatonville’s â€Å"big voice,† Janie should be satisfied to sit silently and submissively on her social throne. However, the potential power of Janie’s voice is indicated when she publicly compliments Joe on the way he handles a community dispute, and one of the men comments: â€Å" Yo’ wife is uh born orator, Starks. Us never knowed dat befo’. She put jus’ de right words tuh our thoughts† (55). Janie’s voice has the potential to build and affirm the community, while Joe’s â€Å"big voice† seeks submission and imposes divisiveness. Janie, in her effort to transform Joe into a â€Å"bee for her bloom† (31), initially submits to Joeâ₠¬â„¢s control, allowing him to place her on a pedestal. However, she soon realizes that she has, again, equated marriage with her pear tree vision and that her ideal has, again, been debased. As Joe continues to deny Janie’s freedom of expression and participation in the community, the organic imagery is revived; Janie discovers that she has â€Å"no more blossomy openings dusting pollen over her man† (68). The revival of the pear tree imagery indicates the progress of Janie’s developing self. After twenty years of marriage, she is much more aware of the differences between women and men and of how these differences negatively influence the status of women within their relationships and within the community. She continues to make an outward show of obedience to Joe while she nurtures and protects her innermost self. She realizes that â€Å"she was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen. She had an inside and an outside now and suddenly she knew how not to mix them† (67). This new stage in Janie’s self-discovery is foreshadowed when Joe orders Janie to tie her hair up in a head rag so that she is less attractive to the town’s men. Having to wear the head rag is a serious point of contention for Janie and marks the beginning of her fighting back against Joe. The conscious defiance on Janie’s part conjures the figuration of the petro loa, Erzulie Danto, who is sometimes envisioned wearing a moshwa, or head scarf (Filan 1). Danto, a fearsome defender of women, gives her female devotees the strength to endure and to overcome adversity and the confidence to stand up for themselves, which is exactly what Janie does in compartmentalizing the inner and outer aspects of herself. The invocation of Erzulie Danto also heralds Janie’s coming to voice. When Janie makes a mistake measuring a quantity of tobacco in the store, Joe uses the incident as an opportunity to attack her womanhood in a way he hasn’t before: â€Å"A woman stay round uh store till she get old as Methusalum and still can’t cut a little thing like a plug of tobacco! Don’t stand dere rollin’ yo’ pop eyes at me wid yo’ rump hangin’ nearly to yo’ knees† (74). Janie’s bitterness and resentment boil over; and for the first time ever, she stands in the middle of the store in front of all of the men and responds: â€Å"Naw, Ah ain’t no young gal no mo’. . . . But Ah’m a woman every inch of me, and Ah know it. . . .Talkin’ ‘bout me lookin’ old! When you pull down yo’ britches, you look lak de change of life† (74-75). Janie’s attack on Joe indicates her awareness of and increasing confidence in her femaleness. In confronting Joe she publicly exposes the ineffectiveness of his masculine authority, which goes to the very core of his being; and she speaks herself down from the pedestal upon which he has set her as an outward sign of his status and power. As a result, she and Joe are permanently estranged. The damage to Joe’s psyche contributes to his already failing health, resulting in his death. After Joe’s death, Janie, in keeping with the quest paradigm, takes stock of herself. She confronts those social conventions that have restricted and limited her growth; and she finally rejects Joe’s and Nanny’s value system, which privileges material possessions and social status over spiritual freedom and romantic love, and the imitation of white success over the celebration of the lives of black folk. She reflects: She had been getting ready for her great journey to the horizons in search of people; . . . But she had been run off down a back road after things. . . . Nanny had taken the biggest thing God ever made, the horizon . . . and pinched it into such a little bit of a thing that she could tie it about her granddaughter’s neck tight enough to choke her. She hated the old woman who had twisted her so in the name of love. (85) With Joe’s death, Janie becomes an active agent in her own life and is finally poised to accept the quester’s Call to Adventure. It is Verigible â€Å"Tea Cake† Woods who will facilitate Janie’s physical journey and around whom all of the imagery of the novel comes together. Tea Cake embodies the organic union of Janie’s pear tree vision; he is â€Å"a bee to a blossom—a pear tree blossom in the spring† (102). He also embodies Erzulie Freda’s ideal of the perfect lover. Just as Freda craves sweets, Janie wants â€Å"things sweet† (23) in her relationship. Tea Cake’s name indicates that Janie’s desire is satisfied in her union with him. Perfumes and flowers are traditional offerings to Erzulie Freda; Tea Cake â€Å"seems to be crushing scent out of the world with his footsteps† (99). Tea Cake also speaks for horizon. His last name, Woods, connects him with the symbolism of the tree and thus with Legba, the spirit of the fields, the woods and the general outdoors. Tea Cake is, for Janie, the â€Å"Son of Evening Sun† (169), which is also an allusion to Legba, who has been described as â€Å"the Orient, the East, the sun and the place the sun rises† (â€Å"Vodoun,† The Mystica). Janie and Tea Cake’s relationship symbolizes the melding of African American southern folklore and Haitian Voodoo. Also, Janie physically resembles the mulatta goddess Erzulie Freda, while Tea Cake has the black skin of Erzulie Danto. Their union foreshadows the integration of the two aspects of the loa in Janie’s life. Janie and Tea Cake’s relationship indicates the culmination of the mythology surrounding Erzulie Freda. Just as â€Å"troubled dreams† (Tell My Horse 387) are a signal that a man has been called as a devotee of Erzulie Freda, Tea Cake tells Janie that his sleep has been troubled by dreams of touching her long, thick hair, an attribute she shares with Erzulie Freda. Janie begins wearing the color blue—Erzulie’s color—because Tea Cake loves her in blue. Erzulie is considered a triple goddess. As such, she has three husbands: Damballah, the sky god; Agwe, the sea god; and Ogoun, the god of fire and iron. Janie’s wedding to Tea Cake, at which they both wear blue, is Janie’s third marriage, mirroring Erzulie Freda’s three husbands. Through her relationship with Tea Cake, Janie enters into communion with the world. Tea Cake takes Janie dancing and to the movies; he teaches her to fish, to hunt, to play checkers and to drive. Within the context of the quest paradigm, Tea Cake is Janie’s mentor and helper. He helps Janie to gain confidence and insight, and he accompanies her on her journey as an equal partner in confronting the journey’s trials. Tea Cake also, channeling Legba, facilitates Janie’s â€Å"crossing of the threshold† from the ordinary or everyday world (Eatonville) into the â€Å"world of adventure,† when he and Janie move to the muck on the Florida Everglades. Janie’s pear tree vision is actualized in her marriage to Tea Cake, and their idyllic union flourishes on the muck. However, Janie tells Pheoby before she and Tea Cake leave Eatonville, â€Å"Ah wants to utilize mahself all over† (107). In order to achieve this level of agency and autonomy, there are aspects of Janie’s identity that must still be developed, aspects that invoke the figuration of Erzulie Freda’s alter ego, Erzulie Danto. Janie begins to embrace these aspects of herself when she and Tea Cake move to the muck with its â€Å"rich black earth† (125), an image which evokes Erzulie Danto’s black skin. The description of the workers who settle on the muck reflects Janie’s introduction to the working-class folk identity that characterizes Erzulie Danto: â€Å"Skillets, beds, patched up spare inner tubes all hanging and dangling from the ancient cars on the outside and hopeful humanity, herded and hovered on the inside . . .. Pe ople ugly from ignorance and broken from being poor† (125). Janie immerses herself in the life of the folk and becomes an accepted participant in the community. While Joe required her silence and submission, Janie and Tea Cake are peers and co-workers. They work side-by-side on the muck, picking beans. Janie learns to shoot and becomes a better shot than Tea Cake. She develops her story telling skills and adds her voice to the others on the muck. Their house becomes the center of the community. On the muck, which represents the poor, working-class folk that Hurston loved so much, Janie and Tea Cake accomplish what Hurston herself aims to accomplish with her novel: a redefinition of the black community that acknowledges and privileges the unique gifts of all of its members. This act of communal re-creation is explicit in Janie’s and Tea Cake’s befriending of the Bahamans or â€Å"Saws† who work on the muck and perform their drum rituals and fire dances in secret, away from the scornful eyes of the Americans. Rather than demanding that the â€Å"Saws† relinquish their practices and traditions in order to gain acceptance, Janie and Tea Cake assimilate the Bahamans and their unique cultural expressions into the community that they have created on the muck. However, the idyll on the muck cannot last. Just as the archetypal quester must confront trials and tests along his or her journey, Janie must ultimately confront those societal—and natural—forces that proscribe her journey to selfhood. Ironically, while Tea Cake facilitates Janie’s quest, he ultimately problematizes its successful completion. This stage of Janie’s quest finds its context within the mythology surrounding Erzulie Freda, who embodies all that is good and noble about love as well as all that is unattainable or painful about it (Collins 148). The Haitian rituals honoring Erzulie Freda begin with gaiety, as the loa’s ‘horse’ greets and flirts with the men; however, they typically end with inconsolable weeping, as the loa recalls a past betrayal or disappointment (Collins 138). Derek Collins explains: â€Å"Erzulie Freda is . . . intrinsically unable to be satisfied by, or truly able to satisfy another in love. Although she may offer men the most bounteous and perfect love, it is fleeting, perhaps because such a full and overflowing love is beyond the capacity of men to keep† (148-49). This aspect of the mythology surrounding the loa manifests when Tea Cake discovers that Mrs. Turner, who operates a diner on the muck, plans to fix Janie up with her brother. Although Janie has given no indication that she is receptive to Mrs. Turner’s plans, Tea Cake gives in to his male insecurities and slaps Janie around in order to show Mrs. Turner and the people on the muck â€Å"who is boss† (141). This incident signals the beginning of the end of Janie and Tea Cake’s idyllic union and sets in motion the events that will culminate in the supreme ordeal—the central life-or-death crisis (â€Å"Ageless Wisdom,† Divine)—of Janie’s quest. Tea Cake’s actions indicate a need for an outward show of his possession, which places him in the same league with Joe Starks. However, while Janie’s treatment at Starks’ hands brings her to voice and self-awareness, her love for Tea Cake is â€Å"self-crushing† (122). She seems satisfied to subordinate her life to Tea Cake’s. Hurston culls this situation from her personal experience. When Hurston’s lover, who inspired Their Eyes Were Watching God, hit her in the heat of an argument, Hurston did not retaliate, nor did she immediately end the relationship. However, as she relates, her uncharacteristic passivity made her realize that â€Å"she had lost hold of herself† (qtd. in Boyd 275). The realization frightened her, and she soon left her lover in order to regain control of herself and her life. Similarly, Janie has lost hold of herself in her relationship with Tea Cake; and Hurston realizes—even if Janie does not—that Janie will have to proceed on her journey without Tea Cake if she is to reclaim herself. The dilemma for Hurston is to devise a way to set Janie back on the path to self-realization, autonomy and independence while preserving the integral aspects of Janie’s identity that she has gained as a result of her ‘perfect’ union with Tea Cake. Janie, satisfied that she has achieved the ultimate treasure of womanhood in her marriage to Tea Cake, is reluctant to leave. Consequently, just as the reluctant quester may require supernatural forces to urge him or her on, Hurston draws on the forces of nature—as they manifest in Voodoo—to set Janie back on the path of self-actualization. By physically abusing Janie, Tea Cake has allowed the insecurities of the ordinary world to disrupt the paradisiacal world of the muck; he has also offended the sensitive temperaments of the loa. Mà ©traux states: â€Å"In Haiti the sensitivity of the loa is as raw as that of the men. The least little thing offends them. . . . They even object to imprudent words spoken by their devotees in an access of rage† (98). Hurston demonstrates the severity of Tea Cake’s offense in her invocation of the petro loa, Erzulie Danto, the defender of women. According to anthropologist, Karen McCarthy Brown, â€Å"Ezili Danto makes her angry presence known. She is connected with water; a gentle rainfall signals her presence and a deluge signals her rage† (231). Erzulie Danto’s anger at the violence against Janie transforms the rada loa into Erzulie Gà ©-Rouge, and her ire manifests in the hurricane that attacks the muck. As the hurricane brews, Tea Cake compounds his transgressions and, as a consequence, seals his fate. As the Native Americans, The Bahamans and all of the animals leave the muck for high ground, the Americans, with Tea Cake as their spokesman, ignore nature’s signs. They choose, instead, to follow the example of the white landowners, who â€Å"oughta know if it’s dangerous,† and remain on the muck to make seven and eight dollars a day picking beans (146, 148). Janie—who, as a young girl, was in harmony with nature to such an extent that she understood the language of the trees and the wind (23)—ignores her instincts and defers to Tea Cake in his decision to remain on the muck. Her deferral to Tea Cake indicates the extent to which she has lost touch with her innermost self. By choosing to follow the boss man’s example, Tea Cake and his friends capitulate to white authority, privileging the materialistic values of the ordinary world. In so doin g, they upset the delicate balance between the material and spiritual (natural) worlds as represented by Legba. When the hurricane unleashes its violence on the muck, Janie, Tea Cake and their friends are forced to humble themselves and to depend on the benevolence of a power and an authority greater than that of the white landowners and even that of the loa—God. God’s providence is not antithetical to Voodoo. According to Mà ©traux, in the Voodoo religion, the idea of God is â€Å"the idea of a vague and impersonal power, superior to that of the loa. It would seem to be something like what we understand . . . by the word ‘fate’ or ‘nature’† (83). It is this concept of God upon which Hurston draws as she describes the group sitting in their shanties, â€Å"asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His,† with â€Å"their eyes . . . watching God† (151). However, the wheels of nature have been, literally, set in motion. The lake crashes through the dikes and begins to flood the muck. As Janie and Tea Cake try to make their way to safety, Legba, for whom the dog is said to be sacred ( â€Å"Antibon,† Sosyete), joins his anger to that of Erzulie Danto. Janie is threatened by a rabid dog; and as Tea Cake comes to her rescue, the dog bites him. Janie and Tea Cake survive the hurricane; however, the stage is set for the supreme ordeal of Janie’s quest. Tea Cake’s seeming ‘madness’ at disrupting the celebration of love, life and community on the muck physically manifests when he is ‘possessed’ by the rabid dog and subsequently contracts rabies. As his illness progresses, he is transformed into a â€Å"strange thing† (Their Eyes 173), exhibiting the behavior of the mad dog that bit him. According to Mà ©traux, madness is nearly always a supernatural punishment (99), which would seem to confirm Tea Cake’s illness as the consequence of angering the loa. When Janie realizes how ill Tea Cake really is, she confronts the inevitability of his death. Tea Cake represents all that Janie dreamed about under the pear tree; her greatest fear is losing him. She looks to God for a sign but receives none, which indicates that she will have to draw on her own inner strength to make it thr ough this ordeal. The first sign that Janie is returning to self-awareness is her concern for her safety when she discovers that Tea Cake has placed a pistol under his pillow. Relying on her natural instincts for the first time in a long time, she removes several bullets from the chamber of Tea Cake’s pistol; she also places a rifle where she can easily reach it. Janie’s premonition proves correct; Tea Cake, in a rabies-induced fit of violence, aims his pistol at her and pulls the trigger three times. As he aims and fires for the fourth time, Janie grabs the rifle and kills Tea Cake with a shot through the heart. In the supreme ordeal of Janie’s quest, she has been compelled to choose between her roles as a self-sacrificing wife and as an autonomous person protecting her own life. In choosing her life over Tea Cake’s, Janie affirms her autonomy and agency. Because Tea Cake’s death is ultimately the inescapable consequence of circumstances set in motion by forces beyond his or Janie’s control, Janie also retains her capacity and desire for unconditional love and acceptance, which their union symbolized. When Janie leaves the muck to return to Eatonville, she takes a packet of seeds in remembrance of Tea Cake. The seeds symbolize the knowledge that Janie has acquired as a result of her ordeal: Memory and imagination confer the power to triumph over the finality of death. Just as the flowers that grow from the seeds will bloom and die and bloom again in the cycle of nature, Tea Cake will live on in spirit and be perpetually reborn through Janie’s memory and ima gination. With her quest completed, Janie is poised to re-cross the Threshold of Adventure and return to the ordinary world with the elixir, or reward, which awaits the quester at the end of a successful quest. In Janie’s case, the elixir is an illuminated knowledge of love, self and community. Janie returns to Eatonville as a complete woman who personifies the melding of black gentry and black folk cultures. She has nine hundred dollars in the bank, property and social status. She also possesses a respect for and a loyalty to the lives and experiences of the black working-class folk. Her achievement of wholeness is reflected in the integration of the dual aspects of the voodoo loa Erzulie. She is, as she returns to Eatonville, the embodiment of the sensuality, grace, beauty and capacity for unconditional love which characterize Erzulie Freda and the industriousness, perseverance, fierce loyalty, capacity for self-expression and autonomy which characterize Erzulie Danto. While the town’s earlier acknowledgement of the power of Janie’s voice holds the promise that she will eventually be able to share her boon with them, she realizes that there are people in Eatonville who are not ready to benefit from the knowledge she has acquired. Consequently, Pheoby becomes Janie’s ‘horse,’ the medium between Janie and the community. Janie tells Pheoby, â€Å"You can tell ‘em what Ah say if you wants to. Dat’s just de same as me ‘cause mah tongue is in mah friend’s mouf† (6). According to the archetypal quest paradigm, Janie and her story have come full circle. Just as Janie’s quest began with the pear tree and the horizon, these visions are implicit in the lessons Janie shares with Pheoby about the two most significant aspects of life: love and self-determination. In regards to love, Janie tells Pheoby, â€Å"love ain’t somethin’ lak uh grindstone dat’s duh same thing everywhere and do the same thing tuh everything it touch. Love is lak the sea. . . . It takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore† (182). Her lesson about the importance of self-determination is, â€Å"you got tuh go there tuh know there. Yo’ papa and yo’ mama and nobody else can’t tell yuh and show yuh. . . . Everybody’s got tuh . . . go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves† (183). Pheoby’s response, â€Å"Ah done growed ten feet higher fro m jus’ listenin’ tuh you† (183), confirms the importance of storytelling to the growth and empowerment of women and the community; it reinforces, as well, Janie’s inner growth and her potential power as storyteller to redefine and to expand the collective consciousness of the community. Their Eyes Were Watching God is a transcendent story of love, creation, survival, and self-discovery; and Voodoo, which stands in the novel to reinforce the value of self-expression and the necessity for self-determination, is integral to the story’s shaping and telling. Voodoo is believed to have played an integral role in the revolution in which Haiti won its independence from France. Consequently, the integration of voodoo imagery and symbolism throughout Their Eyes Were Watching God reflects Hurston’s belief that self-determination and autonomy for African Americans (especially women) lies not in their emulation of and capitulation to European values and standards of thought and behavior, but in their understanding and adaptation of a body of beliefs and practices which carries a legacy of African diasporic people’s successful resistance to those social, political and economic forces that threatened to subjugate them. Hurston demonstrates, as well, the legiti macy and value of using language, imagery, symbolism, and legends that are grounded in ancient African tradition as a context within which to address issues and concerns about modern black American life (class, gender, inter- and intra-racial conflicts, social and cultural change) and about the universal human condition (the rite of passage from adolescence to womanhood, humanity’s relationships with nature and death). With her seamless integration of Voodoo, Hurston succeeds in actualizing the improbable. She crafts a mythic story of a seemingly ordinary black woman whose journey to self-discovery takes her beyond the common and expected experiences of her gender and her culture, and whose courage to speak and to live by her own inner truths ultimately gains her knowledge and agency that is transformative and empowering. Through the characterization of Janie as the embodiment of the voodoo loa Erzulie, Hurston offers an alternate path to selfhood for black women, one that transcends the stereotypical representations of black women as sexual objects, mules and breeders who are destined for tragic ends. She shapes an image of black womanhood which reflects self-expression, autonomy, imagination and creativity as fundamental and accepted aspects of existence; and she succeeds in writing her protagonist into a heroic subjectivity which resonates for African American women and ultimately for African Am erican culture. Works Citedâ€Å"Antibon Papa Legba.† Sosyete Dumarche. 19 May 2008 . â€Å"Archetypes on the Path: Ageless Wisdom and the Hero’s Journey in Story and Myth.† Divine Paradox. 29 June 2008 . Boyd, Valerie. Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston. New York: Scribner, 2003. Brown, Karen McCarthy. Mama Lola. Berkeley: U of California Press, 1991. 231 Collins, Derek. â€Å"The Myth and Ritual of Ezili Freda in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.† Western Folklore. 55:2 (Spring 1996) 137-154. â€Å"Erzulie.† A-Muse-ing Grace Gallery: The Magical Art of Thalia Took. 19 May 2008 . â€Å"Erzulie (Ezili).† Chattel Dance. 19 May 2008 . â€Å"Erzulie.† Mystic Voodoo: Where Art, Psychology, and Mythology Collide. 19 May 2008 . â€Å"Erzulie Freda.† Sosyete Dumarche. 19 May 2008. . Filan, Kevin. â€Å"Ezili Danto: Single Mother with a Knife.† Widdershins: The Northwest Pagan’s Choice. 2006. 19 May 2008 . Hemenway, Robert E. Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography. Urbana: U of Illinois Press, 1980. Hurston, Zora Neale. Mules and Men. 1935. rptd. in Hurston: Folklore, Memoirs and Other Writings. ed. Cheryl A Wall. New York: Library of America, 1995. 1-267. . Tell My Horse. 1938. rptd. in Hurston: Folklore, Memoirs and Other Writings. ed. Cheryl A Wall. New York: Library of America, 1995. 269-555. .Their Eyes Were Watching God. 1937. New York: Harper Row, 1990. Lamothe, Daphne. â€Å"Vodou Imagery, African-American Tradition and Cultural Transformation in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.† Callaloo 22.1 (1999): 157-75. Mà ©traux, Alfred. Voodoo in Haiti. 1959. New York: Schocken Books, 1972. Pondrom, Cyrena N. â€Å"The Role of Myth in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.† American Literature 58:2 (May 1986), 181-202.