Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances between the Executive and Term Paper

Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances between the Executive and Judicial Branch - Term Paper Example It will be argued that while there are some limitations in the Executive/Judiciary relation, these limitations are also anticipated and addressed by further checks and balances. The roots of the balance of powers, lies with the American father's concern with factionalism. The Federalist papers, which numbered eighty-five, were written as theoretical defense's of the amendments to the Constitution, and they represent the justification for the notion of a 'balance of powers'. Federalist paper number ten specifically deals with the question of "factions", and was written by James Madison (Epstein 102). The most concise definition of a faction, might be phrased as a group with a central and discernible purpose, who are perceived to threaten the structures and powers of that which is protected or enshrined in the Constitution. In particular, the largest threat is articulated in terms of the potential dangers of those who advocate the "abolition of debts, for an equal division of property, or for any other improper or wicked project" [Boller 71], which is what he describes as the "most common and durable source" of factions [Boller 69]. Because Madison thinks liberty ought to be protected, and because he claims that dissension is "sown in the nature of man" [Boller 69]-- that is, people who are contrary will always exist, Madison advocates that one cannot remove the "causes", but instead one can only "control the effects" [Boller 70]. That is, if the causes are liberty and one does not want to remove liberty, then, one cannot control the causes. And, if dissension or difference is natural in humans, and one cannot remove an aspect of human nature, then, one cannot in this sense remove this causal aspect either. By a Republic as opposed to a democracy, Madison simply implies that representatives of the people as opposed to the people themselves are those who control the political spectrum. And, as representatives he claims that these figures will (in theory) be those who embody "wisdom", "patriotism", and a "love of justice" [Boller 70]. The American form of government is that of a ‘republic’, and it is the principal means by which the constitutional fathers thought that single factions could be challenged. This is marked by a number of variables which are written into the American Constitution which ensures the ‘Balance of Powers’. In brief, the balance is broken down into the ‘executive’, ‘legislative’ and ‘judicial’ branches [Woll 4]. And, there is a balance between these branches with respect to passing or accepting legislative bills. In the United States, the President and every member of both houses is elected for a fixed term: the President for four years, the senators for six (one-third retiring every two years), the members of the House of Representatives for two [Schmidt, Shelley Bards and Ford 68]. The only way to get rid of a president before the end of the four-year te rm is to impeach him (her), which is very hard to do, and has never been done and only twice even attempted. As the President, the senators and the representatives are elected for different periods, it can happen, and often does, that the President belongs to one party while the opposing party has a majority in either the Senate or the House of Representatives or both. So for years on end, the President may find his (her)

Ducati Customer Perception and Brand Loyalty Essay

Ducati Customer Perception and Brand Loyalty - Essay Example The research has been divided into different parts and each part is important to achieve the research aim and objectives in a significant and desired manner. There is no denying that loyalty is dependent on satisfaction and when customers are satisfied, there is every chance of them becoming loyals making it easy for organsiations to retain them for a long period of time. The research aims at identifying the loyalty and trust of Ducati customers in a critical and logical manner along with understanding what exactly influence and impact their loyalty in the short as well as in the long run. The research covers different aspects of customer loyalty and customer perception with prime focus on Ducati as a brand appealing a number of customers across the world. Pomerantz defined perception as a process of attaining awareness or understanding environments by interpreting information. This statement is based on normal human psychology that can be related to the customer perception. Customer perception is a process that is based on the information collected from wide arrays of sources and resources. It can be the case that customers using the existing product or service may create awareness along with changing the level of perception about that particular product or service. Organisations need to understand the perception of customers in order to market their products and services along with offering them something that will exceed the level of perceived perception (Alan, Gary, 2011) The research aims at identifying the perception of Ducati customers through questionnaires in order to understand their views and opinions highlighting their loyalty and trust factor for the motorcycle brand. The research has been divided into different parts and each part is important to achieve the research aim and objectives in a significant and desired manner. There is no denying that loyalty is dependent on satisfaction and when customers are satisfied, there is every chance of them b ecoming loyals making it easy for organsiations to retain them for a long period of time (Jones, et al, 2002). The research aims at identifying the loyalty and trust of Ducati customers in a critical and logical manner along with understanding what exactly influence and impact their loyalty in the short as well as in the long run. The research covers different aspects of customer loyalty and customer perception with prime focus on Ducati as a brand appealing a number of customers across the world. 1.1: Research Background Customer perception decides their buying behavior to an extent. Considering the fact that good and valid perception about a product often creates a positive image that allures customers to get associated with that product or service in the short as well as in the long run. Customer perception can be considered as the first stage of buying behavior where there is a difference between the reality and perception. Until and unless, customers use the product; ascertaini ng the reality can be a cumbersome task offering irrelevant attention and importance to perception (Reichheld, 1993). Customers’ perceptions can be influenced through reference groups and opinion leaders but should offer desired and more than perceived results in order to create long term value and mutual benefits in the competitive business environment. Perception leads to interest and zeal that forms the foundation of accepting products and services. On the other hand brand loyalty is consumers’

E-waste Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

E-waste - Essay Example The technology that has been manufactured for the betterment of the society is now posing a threat as it is being dumped in larger quantities (Luther) This essay will revolve around the concept of E-Waste and how measures are being taken in order to minimize the threat that it poses to the world. E Waste is generally considered a part of the solid waste and is disposed off in the municipal solid waste along with the necessary precautions that need to be taken when disposing it off. This disposal creates a hazard for the society as these gadgets are made up of components that can be hazardous to the health of the individuals (Luther 1-3). The waste that is being disposed off consists of lead, mercury, selenium and other components which are known to be hazardous (Johri 3-4). As these products are being disposed off, the hazardous nature of E-Waste is taking a new leap and the state affairs are taking a keen interest in the aspect of recycling this waste. Many states have already implemented a strategy that forces the concerned authorities to recycle this waste rather than disposing it off. However this recycling has also caused an irk amongst the scholars as the products are being recycled and sent to the developing countries where the hazards of such material increases even further (Luther 1-3). E Waste forms around 0.01% to 1% of municipal solid waste in the developing countries. Televisions and computers that were being built previously consisted of an overwhelming amount of lead. If these computers and televisions are discarded at a ground, these dangerous elements can leak out in the soil and cause havoc. The computer chips and other circuitry are made up of other poisons that can contaminate the soil and this includes mercury which is known to be a cancer causing agent. It is thus very important for the concerned authorities to review the process of dumping this waste and

What Has Astronomy Done for You Lately Essay Example for Free

What Has Astronomy Done for You Lately Essay In the article â€Å"What has Astronomy done for you lately† it opens my eyes up to all the relative ways astronomy contributes to our society today. It is mentioned in the article that the funding for space launching and research for the program estimates around $8 billion. During these stringent economic times some question regarding the funding of these programs based of the actual need and benefit. Many people seemed to think that there was nothing that the universe actually contributed to our day to day lives. That idea stands to be corrected. In this article it points out several different ways that Astronomy and keeping it funded acts as an instrumental piece in many things that we rely on today. One way astronomy has made a contribution to our daily lives is the use of the GPS. Albert Einstein was an influential part of the creation and use of the GPS system that we know today, based on his theory. The first operational GPS system that was used was in 1978. Due to all the experimental success and the research put into the atomic clocks makes it what we now use today. In being in the era of technology we have done away with paper maps and now rely on GPS to get us to and from our destinations. The GPS has not only assist in saving lives but the industry is also estimated at half a billion dollars. Another attribute of Astronomy was the creation, discovery, and use of wireless internet. It started with a physicist by the name of Stephen Hawking and his predictions and research of the evaporation of black holes. Then after, others attempted to complete his research to find the evaporating black holes. Their attempts came with no success. John O’Sullivan, a physicist, joins a radio physics department after the failed attempt to detect exploding black holes. He and a team design a Fast Fourier Transfer (FFT) chip and receive a patent for it. The FFT chip is then used as a reliable basis of the wireless network. WIFI as we know of today was discovered due to failed attempts of tracking faint signals of exploding black holes. The treatment for cancer is another aspect on which astronomy research has contributed to. Studies were being conducted on how the Sun produces atoms and how various atoms block different wavelengths of light. In 1992 a team of collaborators studied how atoms in the layers of the Sun and other stars interact with the light trying to escape known as the Iron Project which succeed the Opacity Project. Later they discovered that with different wavelengths some atoms interact strongly with radiation especially in the X-ray region. Combining this observation with small amounts of the gold atom correctly placed could flood and kill cancerous tumors. This development could definitely make the treatment of cancer less painful. This article has provided me with a bigger appreciation on the contributions of Astronomy. Just because it isn’t up front and in your face doesn’t mean that it isn’t beneficial to us. From the GPS, Cancer treatment, and Wireless Internet Astronomy has made a large contribution on many aspects of life.

Soliloquy Essay - Two Soliloquies, One from Lady Macbeth and One from Macbeth :: GCSE Coursework Macbeth Essays

Analysis of Two Soliloquies - One from Lady Macbeth and another from Macbeth  Ã‚   On the level of human evil, Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth is about the character Macbeth's bloody rise to power, including the murder of the Scottish king, Duncan, and the guilt-ridden pathology of evil deeds generating still more evil deeds. Perhaps, the play's most memorable character is Lady Macbeth. Like her husband, Lady Macbeth's ambition for power leads her into an unnatural, phantasmagoric realm of witchcraft, insomnia and madness. But while Macbeth responds to the prophecies of the play's famous trio of witches, Lady Macbeth goes even further by figuratively transforming herself into an unnatural, desexualized evil spirit. Throughout the novel, there are moments when important characters are given the opportunity to express details of their character and reveal information that is otherwise not given, but vital to the development of the story. A soliloquy is a classical literary technique to allow a character to share his or her thoughts and feelings with the audience. I will now examine and attempt to interpret two of these soliloquies, one from Lady Macbeth and the second from Macbeth himself. As the scene opens, Lady Macbeth is reading a letter from her husband. The letter tells of the witches' prophecy for him, which is treated as a certainty, because "I have learned by the perfectest report, they have more in them than mortal knowledge". "The perfectest report" means "the most reliable information," so it appears that Macbeth has been asking people what they know about the reliability of witches. If that's the case, he has ignored the advice of Banquo, who is quite sure that witches can't be trusted. But Macbeth seems to trust the witches absolutely, because he is writing to his wife, his "dearest partner of greatness," so that she "mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing". That is, he believes that she has a right to rejoice because she will be a queen. However, Lady Macbeth doesn't rejoice. She is determined that he will be king, but she suspects that he doesn't have the right stuff to do what needs to be done. Speaking to him as though he were really there, she says: "Yet do I fear thy nature; / It is too full o' the milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way". Her reaction to the letter shows that Lady Macbeth is a woman who knows her husband very well, perhaps because she shares some of his instincts.

Animal Farm, by George Orwell :: Animal Farm Essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Animal Farm   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Theme. What is it? A theme is a central idea of a story that usually reveals something about human nature. A theme is usually unstated as are the themes in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. One theme that can be taken away from the story is weakness can be easily dominated through language and ignorance. This will be seen through the manipulative language of Squealer and the gullibility of the animals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One way in which this can be seen is through Squealer. In one situation all of the apples and milk will be given to the pigs a few animals disagree with this. â€Å"Comrades!† he cried. â€Å"You do not imagine I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike them myself. Our sole object is to preserve our health. Milk and apples (this has been proved by Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well being of a pig. We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organization of this farm depends on us. Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink the milk and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back! Yes, Jones would come back! Surely, comrades,† cried Squealer almost pleadingly, skipping form side to side and whisking his tail, â€Å"surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back?† The animals all are in agreement that they do not want Jones back, therefore; believing that the pigs health was the upmost concern (Orwell 820). Here one can see that the animals are easily deceived through a few big words and a lot of fast talking that can be easily confused if one does not pay attention closely. When the animals agree with the fact that they do not want Jones back they assume that they must also be saying that the pigs need the apples and milk to help keep them in health. Although this is not what they are saying, they are saying that they do not want Jones back, and they believe that the way to keep him away is to give the pigs the apples and milk because they stand vehemently against Jones. So now the animals believe that the pigs are entitled to special privileges in order to keep Jones from coming back. Time and time again the animals are deceived because by agreeing with one thing they believe that they are agreeing with everything.

Gender Roles in Harry Potter

Girls in young adult fantasy novels tend to fare rather poorly, especially in the light of Susan from the Chronicles of Narnia. When  Aslan  admits the  Pevensies  into paradise, Susan is barred because she has forgotten Narnia and is more interested in stockings and the real adult world, because she has dared to want to grow up. Jill Pole comments: aâ‚ ¬? She’s interested in nothing nowadays except nylons and lipstick and invitationsaâ‚ ¬? 1. C. S. Lewis presents a conservative view of girls in the fantasy genre, that they will be drawn into their own adolescent fantasies and will abandon the secondary world.Philip Pullman compounds this with his treatment of Lyra in the His Dark Materials trilogy where she is the protagonist in the first novel but cedes decision making and power to Will through the remaining narrative. Hermione Granger starts out challenging this conservative view but ultimately she is turned into a mother and sidelined from the world of action . Her role changes through the novel and this is not due merely to the maturation of the character as she ages but also the needs of the male dominated groups around her, from the school group with Harry and Ron to the Order of the Phoenix.A quick glance offers the view that between 11 and 15 she is more rebellious whilst between the ages of 16 and 17 she takes on a sisterly role before her final appearance as a mother. In the Harry Potter novels  Hermione  is variously a bookish individual who supports and guides Harry through her research and work. She is the dominant force in Harryaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s success until the sixth novel,  Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, where her role as Harryaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s educator is taken by  Dumbledore. Eliza  Dresang  sees Hermione as being far more successful than she is made out to be by  Farah  Mendlesohn.Hermione gains agency and is able to take more control of her situation than  Mendlesohn  gives her credit for thro ugh her own actions, finding aâ‚ ¬? evidence in the text to be considerably more optimistic about Hermione’s self-determination than does Mendlesohnaâ‚ ¬? 2  through her determination about being sorted by the Hat and aâ‚ ¬? refuses to be deterred from her purposes, whether it be learning, admonishing about rules or †¦ championing the underdogaâ‚ ¬? 3. Mendlesohn comments that aâ‚ ¬? Hermione is accepted in the social structure of the school only because she is Harry’s friendaâ‚ ¬?   and that aâ‚ ¬? [r]adicalism, as embodied by Hermione, is irrational, ignorant, and essentially transientaâ‚ ¬? 5. Though her attempts at freeing the house-elves are doomed, she is more successful at galvanising her peers and enabling Harry’s success through her contributions. There is another issue to consider though and that is one of genre. The first five Harry Potter books are clearly school stories. Motifs, such as the annual arrival via the ste am train and the term times with the enforced stay over Christmas, come from this genre.Instead of only competing in sports for honour such as Quidditch, house points are awarded or taken away for behaviour or acts of bravery. In the final two novels, the structure of the novels change to being a more conventional fantasy series wherein Harry must defeat  Voldemort in a final conflict. This switch to the fantastic, in particular a male dominated fantastic world, means that Hermione must change roles to remain in the world since we rarely see any lone witches who have not turned to Voldemort such as Bellatrix Lestrange. This change of genre changes the expectations placed on the characters by readers and the roles which they play.School stories, in the mould of Enid Blyton’s  Malory  Towers or  St Clare’s,  offer  the reader a tale of a group of children who go on adventures limited in scale by location, an isolated school, and time, terms end and the year i s punctuated by holidays. They offer a degree of  carnivalesque  expressed in the capers of the students which are tamed by the teachers but also a continuing discourse of maturation and acculturation to the wider adult world which must be entered. Parents exist at the edge of the story, referred to in letters or bringing their children to school.Once the anarchic time at school comes to an end, the parents represent the roles that the children will adopt. The fantastic world that Rowling constructs is one which begins as potentially subversive with Hermione challenging perceived wrongs and gaining a more powerful agency in the world through her knowledge. As she matures, the world is fully extended past Hogwarts and becomes deeply conservative and male dominated and Hermione has to re-ascertain her social standing on the edge of the group, her enabling agency now of no direct use to Harry.Hermione matures in the series changing from the shy, bookish outsider to being, in effect , a big sister character to Harry and Ron but at the cost of her own agency and talents. As she matures into this role, she changes from being an inquisitive person, pushing her own bounds of knowledge and even her sanity, to being slightly calmer but clearly not of equal standing with Ron and Harry who are allowed to take active roles into world. When we first meet Hermione on the train going to  Hogwarts, Rowling presents her an unkempt, exploring child unafraid to make new friends or to go up and visit the train driver.She is described as having aâ‚ ¬? a bossy voice, lots of bushy brown hair and rather large front teethaâ‚ ¬? (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, p 79) and already wearing the school colours. She interrupts Ron and Harry who are tucking into a carriage way feast of sweets. Curious, she challenges Ron to show him the magic trick which he is attempting. As the train approaches the station, she encourages the two boys to don their robes and questi ons whether they have been fighting already. Her drive towards perfection is shown in her encyclopaedic knowledge of the school drawn from reading the history.Already knowing the reason for the enchanted ceiling, she attains a position in the newly formed social triumvirate as the knowledge repository. Hermione comes back from the school holidays a day early whilst the friends are trying to find out who Nicholas  Flamel  is and is aâ‚ ¬? torn between the horror at the idea of Harry being out of bed†¦ and disappointment that he hadn’t at least found out who Nicholas Flamel wasaâ‚ ¬? (Philosopher’s Stone,  p158). Her curiosity and good behaviour are at odds since she is aware that the answer may well lie in the forbidden section of the library but that entry  transgresses  the school rules.Although it is Harry who discovers Flamel by accident on the back of the collector’s card he got on the train, it is Hermione who links him to the Philosoph er’s Stone through a book she got aâ‚ ¬? out of the library weeks ago for a bit light reading aâ‚ ¬? (Philosopher’s Stone, p. 161). Ron’s only comment, aâ‚ ¬? Light? aâ‚ ¬? (Philosopher’s Stone, p. 161), a suggestion that knowledge is not highly prized in Hogwarts as opposed to  Quidditch. It was Hermione who noticed that Fluffy was standing on the trapdoor (Philosopher’s Stone, p120), a fact that both Ron and Harry missed. Yet her achievements come at a social price.Hermione’s adherence to the school rules is shown inPhilosopher’s Stone  after the finding of the trapdoor at night. When Harry receives a new broom after the destruction of his old one, her comments aâ‚ ¬? So I suppose you think that’s a reward for breaking rules? aâ‚ ¬? (Philosopher’s Stone  p. 123). Her forthrightness about the midnight incident is tempered by the argument with Ron and Harry. She is clearly upset by their reaction which is made worse by Ron’s careless comment about her not having any friends. Rushing past Harry, he notices that she is crying (Philosopher’s Stone  p. 127).When the troll is announced, both boys realise that it has gone to the girls’ toilets where Hermione is trapped. When Professor McGonagall enters, Hermione lies to protect them all and claims that she wanted to tackle the troll herself. Although this means that aâ‚ ¬? from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friendaâ‚ ¬? (Philosopher’s Stone, p. 132), she can only do so by lying to a teacher and so overturns her previous rigid adherence to rules. She has to adopt the boys own world view. In  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Hermione offers to make the Polyjuice Potion to see what Malfoy knows about the chamber’s opening.She tricks  Lockhart  into signing a slip for ‘Most  Potente  Potions’ to fool the Librarian (Chamber of Secrets, p. 124). Wh en Ron says that they will need to steal from Professor Snape’s private stores, she retorts: aâ‚ ¬? Well, if you two are going to chicken out, fine†¦Ã‚  I  don’t want to break the rules you know. aâ‚ ¬? (Chamber of Secrets, p. 125). Hermione is aware that they have already obtained a permission slip that Lockhart has signed without realising what it is (using his own arrogance), that the recipe relies upon illicit goods and that the boys cannot discover Malfoy’s perceived role without trickery.Despite her protestations about the rules, she is aware that these will need to be broken to be successful. When they come to making the potion, the group need parts of their victims and Hermione is too hasty in taking some hair from Millicent  Bulstrode  in Wrestling and accidentally turns herself into a cat much to Myrtle’s delight, aâ‚ ¬? Wait till everyone finds out you’ve got a  tailaâ‚ ¬? (Chamber of Secrets, p. 169). Whilst Ron and Harry have used her Sleeping Potion to knock out  Crabbe  and  Goyle, Malfoy’s henchmen, Hermione’s own attempt has backfired and so she is unable to help get information from Malfoy.Her overachievement turns her into a figure of fun. Although she is able to assimilate Harry and Ron’s worldview into her own perceptions, she is unable to fully join their world although she is the enabler for their plans through the potion and the linking together of the clues in  Philosopher’s Stone. Her overachievement comes to a head in the  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of  Azkaban  when she is given the use of the Time-Turner. In Snape’s Potions class, Neville is aided by Hermione to perfect the Shrinking Solution but when Ron and Harry turn to challenge her after the deduction of points, she disappears only to reappear a few minutes ater with her bag falling apart through weight of books. When she brushes off Ron’s challenge about the contents, he muses aâ‚ ¬? Do you get the feeling Hermione’s not telling us something? aâ‚ ¬? (Prisoner of Azkaban, p. 99). Clearly Hermione is unable to tell the boys about Professor  McGonagall’s  gift of the Time Turner. In the Defence against the Dark Arts exam, Hermione comes into contact with the  Boggartand after aâ‚ ¬? a minute inside it [the  Boggart's  trunk], she burst out again, screamingaâ‚ ¬? (Prisoner of Azkaban, p. 234).The Boggart, which presents worst fears, has suggested to her that Professor McGonagall will fail her in an exam, so her fears of academic and also personal failure come to the fore. Ron is still inclined to laugh at Hermione’s fear since he will not excel academically. Despite their close bond, Hermione’s academic achievements have always separated her from the boys. It is only when the situation demands that time is altered that she is able to tell Harry. When they fail to saveBuckbeak  the first ti me,  Dumbledore  suggests to Hermione that the situation can be saved by going backwards and Hermione confesses to Harry, aâ‚ ¬?I’ve been using it all year to get to all my lessonsaâ‚ ¬? (Prisoner of Azkaban, p. 289) but she still cannot work out why Dumbledore has suggested going back three hours. It is up to Harry to formulate the plan to save the  Hippogriff  and Sirius. Once again, Hermione’s mental achievements enable Harry but she is unable to complete the reasoning for the shift in time. Hermione proves herself via her academic prowess and enables Harry and Ron to complete various challenges. She is the person to whom the boys go when they have difficulties with the homework. Lupin praises her  as the aâ‚ ¬? inest witch of her ageaâ‚ ¬? (Prisoner of Azkaban, p 253)  in the Shrieking Shack  as she becomes hysterical at his perceived betrayal of her loyalty, aâ‚ ¬? I didn’t tell anyone†¦ I’ve been covering up for you aâ‚ ¬? (Prisoner of Azkaban, p 253). Her need to prove herself academically is challenged and Ron’s reaction is to want to laugh. Despite her achievement and regular help for Harry and Ron, it is only the teachers who really prize her accomplishments. She is the character most likely to fail through overachievement. Her role is clearly defined in the school story as the swot.The school story genre allows her this room as a defined role but it she must adapt when the genre changes to a conservative high fantasy wherein gender roles are somewhat different. During the  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, she reverts to the quiet studious Hermione of the first novel when Harry gets the  magicked  version of the potions book. As Harry falls under its spell and useful marginalia, she becomes increasingly exasperated at his lack of work or effort in the class commenting aâ‚ ¬? Well, it wasn’t exactly your own work, was it? aâ‚ ¬? (Half-Blood Prince, p 182). She and Ginny are protective of Harry and test the spell book which he has picked up, though they do not see the inscription claiming it is the property of the Half-Blood prince. With the aid of Ginny Weasley, she also defends him during the setting up of the self-help Dark Arts group, the  acronymed  DA, in  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Gathering the curious students together in the Hog’s Head, she comments aâ‚ ¬? well I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands†¦ And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just in theory but doing the real spellaâ‚ ¬? Half-Blood Prince, p 303). Though she is instrumental in gathering the class, she immediately reverts to her supporting role and allows Harry to discuss the events at the end of  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Firewhere he met the revived Voldemort. Her tenure as Prefect in  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix  shows her stopping the  Weasley  twins from recruiting junior members of the school to test their joke wares,  saying aâ‚ ¬? I told you this morning, you can’t test your rubbish on students! aâ‚ ¬? (Order of the Phoenix, p 229) whilst Ron, her fellow Prefect, looks on from the side.Although she is active in keeping the more extreme elements of the carnivalesque from taking over the school in the form of the Weasley brother’s joke wares, it does mark the apogee of the progression from swot to Prefect in the school novel. Though these roles are usually played by various characters in the school story genre, Rowling has rolled them into one person who exemplifies the qualities of Hogwarts and, in particular,  Gryffindor. Though Hermione is keen on the maintenance of the status quo, she becomes increasingly vocal against the abuse of power in two areas.She has mixed success but it allows her to retain her role in the social cohesion of the friendship group and to begin organising ot hers in the school. Firstly she challenges a perceived abuse of the house elves by the  wizarding  classes and sets up the Society for the Protection of Elvish Welfare, SPEW. This act comes after  Dobby  is freed by Harry in  Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets. Hermione starts knitting hats to free the elves from their slave positions at Hogwarts inOrder of the Phoenix  and when challenged about this by Ron, exclaims aâ‚ ¬? Of course they want to be free! aâ‚ ¬? (Order of the Phoenix, p 230).Whilst it may mirror  Rowling’s  own time working for Amnesty International, she undermines Hermione by having Dobby pick up all the hats as the elves are offended by them. Though she gains the partial support of Dumbledore as he explains to Harry that he had encouraged  Sirius  to treatKreacher  with kindness  (Order of the Phoenix, p 733),  Ron and Harry dismiss her efforts. To an extent, she loves hopeless causes and sets out to free the elves despite t heir reluctance to change their positions. Secondly, she attacks the misuses of authority by teachers, such as Severus Snape and Dolores  Umbridge.In  Prisoner of  Azkaban, Snape takes over Lupinaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s classes while he recovers from his change. Ignoring the class protests he begins to set them work which will provide clues to Lupinaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s condition and Hermione protests  (Prisoner of Azkaban, p128) which encourages Ron to defend her and receive detention. She becomes increasingly agitated by  Snapeaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s  manner and challenges him through questions. Though she has been able to answer the questions that he puts to the class since the first book, earning his contempt, she now uses these as a challenge to his authority through passive disruption.In  Order of the Phoenix, Dolores Umbridge attempts to run a school based on the traditional school model of learning the theory of Defence against the Dark Arts rather than practical lessons. Hermione listens to  Umbridgeaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s  long speech which sets out the rationale for the coming changes. During the first Defence against the Dark Arts lesson she immediately questions  Umbridgeaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s  passive stance through using Umbridge’s insistence on pupils raising their hands to ask questions (Order of the Phoenix, p 217-218). Asking the question, she repeats herself when the answer is not forthcoming.Hermione continues this with the creation of the Dark Arts or  Dumbledoreaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s  Army group. As Umbridge tries to crack down on any nascent dissent against the Ministry of Magicaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s policy, Hermione comes up with the plan of setting a group to rectify the lack of practical training. Facing the belief that Harry killed  Cedric,  fuelledby the Daily Prophet, she motivates the students to come together and to learn practical defence. As she does this she comments aâ‚ ¬? d’you know †¦ I think I’m feeling a bi t  Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ rebelliousaâ‚ ¬? (Order of the Phoenix, p 559).Rather than continuing her challenge to misplaced authority, once the school story ends, she moves towards the role of the sister. Whilst on the run from the Ministry of Magic in  Harry Potter and the Deathly HallowsHarry confesses to Ron that Hermione is aâ‚ ¬? like a sister,aâ‚ ¬? he went on aâ‚ ¬? I love her like a sister and I reckon she feels the same about meaâ‚ ¬? (Deathly Hallows, p308). To some degree she follows the path of  Lyrain Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy where the she develops her challenges early on but end up giving up independence.Before she meets Will, Lyra is free to challenge the authority figures around her but after the meeting, when Will is cooking an omelette, he commands aâ‚ ¬? ’Find a couple of plates’ he said, and Lyra obediently did soaâ‚ ¬? (The Subtle Knife  p 25). After the defeat of Voldemort, we see her and Ron on Platf orm 9 A? s waving their children off on the Hogwarts express. The action occurs around Harry and Ron with Hermione chiding them when they see Scorpius, Draco’s son, with aâ‚ ¬?Don’t try to turn them against each other before they’ve even started schoolaâ‚ ¬? (Deathly Hallows, p605). She is keen to maintain stability in the world for the children. As she develops into adolescence, she moves away from her rebellious side straight into motherhood, so avoiding Susan’s fate in the ‘Chronicles of Narnia’. Though she moves into adolescence, she is faithful to Ron, declaring her love for him in the  Deathly Hallows. Despite Lupin’s proclamation of her talent, we finally see Hermione taking her children to platform 9 A?.She avoids Susan’s banishment from the magical world because she cares for her friends and, ultimately, children and is not selfish as Susan is implied to be by Aslan in the quotation at the beginning of this essa y. Yet it seems a poor fate for all her achievements. The boarding school genre allows Hermione to excel academically and be an equal to Harry and Ron. She develops and is capable of taking on teaching duties and, it would appear, likely to follow  Minerva  McGonagallas the archetypal spinster teacher. She is the archetypal swot who becomes Prefect as she gets to the end of her school years.Her insistence upon hardwork and her dislike of cheats, even if they are her friends, show Hermione’s dedication to maintaining order, though not at any price. She also takes on what appear to be hopeless causes, the release of the elves and then challenges against misused authority, despite the ridicule of her peers. Hermione stands against inequality and tries to effect change. Dumbledore is the only person who backs her stance, and this is only very partially, as he explains to Harry. Dealing with her own social group, she is more effective in galvanising her peers into forming the Dark Arts group.Yet she is on the edge of the social group. On the train to Hogwarts, it is Harry who accepts her into the nascent group and then more firmly once the troll is defeated in the bathrooms. Once the  OWLs  have been taken, Hermione moves away from being the bright academic, her role in helping with Ron and Harry finishing their homework redundant, to being involved in maintaining the group with Ron and Harry through her caring for both boys. It is only Hermione who can cope with the real world of Oxford Street before they manage to get into more magical territory.The school narrative allows Hermione to blossom as an individual as the closed world of Hogwarts bars the real world and gives her space as a person. Once the real world begins to encroach, she begins to move away from her academic achievements and into the big sister role. At one level Rowling sees Hermione as a caricature of her school memories but at another, the Harry Potter series fails to address the idea that girls can do more than become mothers or spinster teachers. In Narnia thePevensie  children are either kept in childlike paradise away from ever growing up or they are ejected from paradise for thinking of the adult world.In ‘His Dark Materials’, Lyra moves from challenging the misplaced authority of Mrs  Coulter  and Lord  Asriel  to leaving Will to make all the decisions. Hermione’s own contributions to the group come through enabling Harry to complete tasks with the requisite knowledge that she can find or discern. Once the fight against Voldemort moves into Harry’s own history, only Dumbledore can help Harry. Whilst on the run in  Deathly Hallows, it is Hermione who tries to keep the group together and to work out Dumbledore’s final clue in the book of fairy tales. She is a catalyst for those around her and remains sidelined.Whilst she shows that she can develop herself against  Mendlesohn’s  analysis through her own talent,Dresang’s  assertion that Hermione gains strength through empowering others is shown to only be partial; she sacrifices her individual power and role to help recreate a safe world. Once she has enable Harry, Rowling moves her into a maternal role, her highest honour. It short changes the Witch that Lupin described as the brightest of her age. 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