Meaning for Life Essay Example

Meaning for Life Essay Meaning for Life Thomas Nagel and Richard Taylor represent diverging thoughts in the meaning for life. This disparity is well articulated in their books, Mortal Questions and Good and Evil respectively. Nagel argues for the absurdity of life in all its forms while Taylor talks about the meaning of life embedded in its subjectivity. In his book, Nagel questions Taylor’s standpoint on the meaning for life being derived by alluding to that which is objective and subjecting it to the law of relativity. Nagel disputes the very pillars that form the basis of Taylor’s argument on the meaning of life. This paper will compare and contrast the two opposing school of thoughts with the aim of shedding light to the phenomenon that is the meaning for life. We will write a custom essay sample on Meaning for Life specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Meaning for Life specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Meaning for Life specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer â€Å"The meaning of life is from within us, it is not bestowed from without, and it far exceeds the in both its beauty and permanence any heaven of which men have ever dreamed or yearned for† (Taylor 588). Richard Taylor articulates a meaning for life that goes beyond the very act that man does. The author aptly utilizes the analogy of the myth of Sisyphus to articulate man’s perspective of the meaning and purpose of life. He narrates of the character Sisyphus whom the gods sentenced to roll a stone up a hill. The substance of his punishment came about when the stone kept on rolling back and Sisyphus relentlessly pushed it back up, subsequently fuelling the vicious cycle. Taylor paints out the picture that the efforts of the mythological character bore no fruit in spite of his resilience. The author then uses this to draw parallels to the life of man that is filled with endless activities that deprive his life of meaning. This he expounds by arguing that though man wor ks to produce and bear fruit, his fruits are only temporary and influence the fanning of the process of endless and meaningless activities. â€Å"Where otherwise he might have profoundly have wished surcease, and even welcomed the quiet of death to release him from the endless boredom and meaningless, his life is now filled with mission and meaning and he seems to himself to be given an entry to heaven† (Taylor 584). Meaningfulness is introduced into the lives of human beings by subjecting the truth to the law of relativity. Richard Taylor paints out this picture by allowing the life of Sisyphus to experience individual fulfillment. This stands as the basis for Taylor’s argument on the meaning of life. He points out that although his situation remains constant and his life remains fruitless, an intervention by the gods to give him an uncontrollable desire to push stones would give his life meaning. An objective outlook will allow man to see the fact that the activities he does do not bear fruit. However, the introduction of a contrary outlook will allow him to see the satisfaction that he gets in fulfilling the desire to live life as he does. In essence, this represents a disregard of man’s actions and gives scrutiny to the state of mind that engulfs him as he carries out theses meaningless activities. â€Å"The meaning of life is from within us, it is not bestowed from without, and it far exceeds the in both its beauty and permanence any heaven of which men have ever dreamed or yearned for† (Taylor 588).Richard Taylor argues that the meaning for life comes from within an individual. The position of an actor defines the meaning for his life rather than the results of his action. This is to imply that meaningfulness exists when an individual is satisfied in the achievement of his desires. Taylor points out that though the actions in the lives of men may denote the lack of productivity, the denial of this productivity serves as the essence for the meaning of life. He uses the life of Sisyphus to show that his inability to build a temple through the stones that he was instructed to roll up the hill, would imply redemption from eternal boredom. Meaningless activities in the lives of man ensure that he is constantly engaged, contrary to the boredom he would have experienced if hi s actions bore fruit. The author recommends that man look beyond his actions and focus on the state of his mind and heart. The thoughts of Taylor and Nagel diverge at the point where Taylor believes that in subjectively taking up the objective standpoint of life, then life gains meaning. â€Å"In ordinary life a situation is absurd when it includes a conspicuous discrepancy between pretension and aspiration and reality† (Nagel 13). According to Nagel, the very essence of life’s meaninglessness exists when there is a discrepancy between that which is real and that which man desires to achieve. This thought might be one of the pillars that anchor the difference in ideologies between the two authors. In subjecting the truth to the law of relativity, Richard Taylor expresses the same disparity that Nagel attributes to making life absurd. The ideologies of Taylor advocate for a disregard to that which is the actual truth and settle for notions that cannot be verified. In light of Nagel’s arguments, one can infer that the actions of man remain futile. This is because they do not bear susta inable and eternal fruits. â€Å"Where otherwise he might have profoundly have wished surcease, and even welcomed the quiet of death to release him from the endless boredom and meaningless, his life is now filled with mission and meaning and he seems to himself to be given an entry to heaven† (Taylor 588). However, Taylor finds justification for these actions by arguing that they create meaning for life through the exclusion of eternal boredom and satisfying the desires for man to do those very actions. This therefore serves as the basis for Nagel’s dispute against Taylor’s ideologies. â€Å"Consequently, the absurdity of our situation derives not from a collision between our expectations and the world, but from a collision within ourselves† (Nagel 17). Nagel argues that the meaninglessness of life is because of the collision that occurs within an individual. Contrary to Taylor’s school of thought that argues that the very meaning of man’s life originates from the man himself, Nagel believes that man himself makes his life meaningless. This is because the world in which man lives cannot justify the rise of inescapable doubt. For this reason, the world cannot be blamed for failing to meet man’s demands for meaning. Therefore, the inhabitation of the world remains to be the sole reason as to why his life is meaningless. Nagel and Taylor seem to agree, concerning the relevance of time in the meaning of life. However, in this convergence there appears to be a disparity. â€Å"Whether what we do now will matter in a million years could make the crucial difference only if its mattering in a million years depended on its mattering, period† (Nagel 11). The disparity occurs when Nagel questions the relevance of raising concerns of whether an individual’s life will be of value in a million years to come. He argues that the very essence of life begins to show in the present time, and its meaningfulness can be projected and will be reflected, in the years to come. He therefore advocates for a focus in the course of one’s life instead of worrying whether the life in question will be significant in years to come. He imposes a realistic outlook to the nature of life instead of taking a presumptuous attitude. However, Taylor, on the other hand, isolates the value of life in the current time to its forecasted value. He even goes further to argue that the value of an individual’s life can be realized years after the death of the individual in question. Taylor articulates this by saying, â€Å"Activity, and even long, drawn-out and repetitive activity, has a meaning if it has some significant culmination† (Taylor 584). He illustrates this through the life of the larva of a cicada that burrows in the earth for seventeen years. The efforts that seem futile eventually culminate to the process of life. The philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche agrees with Taylor’s school of thought of subjectivity in order to find the value of life. He argues that there lies a correlation between the perception of reality and myth. The objective truth, with regard to the meaning of life, must therefore be interpreted through subjectivity. The correlation between objectivity and subjectivity in deriving the meaning of life is similar to that of Richard Taylor. Nietzsche goes further to argue that the perception of life is seen in the metaphor of art. He says that, ‘music struggles to show us about the nature in Apolline images,’ (Nietzsche 79). He uses the analogy of language to express that the diversity that exists in languages represents the diversity of truth and expression. Language therefore remains to be an incomprehensible creation for which it is not worth striving. In the same way, life seems vain but holds its meaning in its very complexity. The justification for the existence of life marks the conception of its meaning. Yuval Lurie argues that, ‘the question about the meaning of life seems to be directed escaping the flow of life and the familiar contexts of supplying practical information,’ (Lurie 2). Richard Taylor and Thomas Nagel both agree on the concept of a meaningful life but diverge on its occurrence. Nagel argues on the objectivity of life and criticizes the subjectivity that Taylor employs in arriving to the meaning of life. However, it is in the very subjectivity that Nietzsche agrees with and the subjective approach to life. The meaning of life cannot lie in the objective truth that its actions express, however such meaning should be derived from the state of the owner of the life. Work Cited Lurie, Yuval. Tracking the Meaning of Life: A Philosophical Journey. Columbia, Mo: University of Missouri Press, 2006. Print. Mencken, H L. The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Port Washington, N.Y: Kennikat Press, 1967. Print. Nagel, Thomas. Mortal Questions. Cambridge [Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1979. Print. Nietzsche, Friedrich W, Raymond Geuss, and Ronald Speirs. The Birth of Tragedy and Other Writings. Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Print. Taylor, Richard. Good And Evil. Buffalo NY: Prometheus books, 1984. Print.

CELLULAR PHONES essays

CELLULAR PHONES essays Each day something like 30,000 people in the United States sign up for and start using a cellular phone. With a cell phone you can talk to anyone on the planet from just about anywhere (80% of the U.S. has coverage). A cell phone is really an extremely sophisticated radio. A cell phone is a duplex device which uses one frequency for talking and a second, separate frequency, for listening. A cell phone can communicate on 1,664 channels and operate within cells. They can switch cells as they move around. Cells give cell phones incredible range. Someone using a cell phone can drive clear across a city and maintain a conversation the entire time. The way a cellular phone does this is the carrier chops up an area (such as a city) into cells. Each cell is typically sized at about 10 square miles (perhaps 3 miles by 3 miles). Cells are normally thought of as hexagons on a big hexagonal grid. As you move toward the edge of your cell, your cell's base station will note that your signal strength is diminishing. Meantime, the base station in the cell you are moving toward, which is listening and measuring signal strength on all frequencies, will be able to see your phone's signal strength increasing. The two base stations coordinate themselves through the MTSO, and at some point your phone gets a signal on a control channel telling it to change frequencies. This handoff switches your phone to the new cell. Roaming makes things a bit more interesting. In modern systems, the phones listen for a System ID (SID) on the control channel at power-up. If the SID on the control channel does not match the SID programmed into the phone, then the phone knows it is "roaming". The phone also transmits a registration request and the network keeps track of your phone's location in a database. This way the MTSO knows which cell you are in when it wants to ring your phone. As you move between cells, the phone detec ...

Islamism and Terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Islamism and Terrorism - Essay Example This paper seeks to refute this controversial claim by supporting that Muslims are not terrorists. Undeniably, there have been extreme cases of terror attacks in different parts of the world. Most of these terrorist attacks, if not all, have been associated to Islam. Islamic terror group referred to as al-Qaida supposedly did the infamous September 11 attack. However, controversy theories have refuted these claims and posited that the September 11 attacks were conducted out of the realms of Islam. Terrorism refers to acts of violence or otherwise that are meant to pressurize a ruling regime to act in favor of the terror instigators. Although the definition of terrorism varies widely, it can be generally agreed that terrorism has a political orientation. Most of the terrorist attacks that have happened in recent times have been directed towards political leadership regimes. Terrorism may be a physical act such as the September 11 attack or it may be non-physical such as cyber terroris m. Largely, physical terrorism has been associated with radical Islamism. Whenever there is a potential terror threat, Muslims are always the first prime suspects. Actually, a large number of Muslims have been questioned or detained in various parts of the world as being suspects of terror. On the other hand, the Muslim community has heavily contested involvement in terror activities claiming that it is in fact against their religious beliefs. According to the Muslim community, Allah is against killing of innocent people. Indeed, â€Å"Terrorizing innocent people is not acceptable in Islam, it is totally against the religion† (Abdullah, 2007). More notably, the jihad is also not holy although it is justified. They believe that the world is supposed to live in peace and harmony despite the differences in religious affiliations. Muslims contest that most terror instigators hide behind the curtains of Islamic religion to pursue their inhumane interests. Although they support mar tyrdom and jihad, they are solidly unified against terrorism. However, the characteristics of radical Islamism are quite similar to characteristics of terrorisms and perhaps the primary reason why the controversy over the relationship between Islam and terrorism exist so strongly. Therefore, differentiating between radical Islamism and Islamic terrorism becomes difficult. Despite the similarities between them, terrorism and radical Islamism are certainly different. Accordingly, radical Islamism is not democratic in nature and does not, in any way take advantage of political or democratic loopholes in the society to express their dissatisfaction. Instead, radical Islamism seeks to express their faith in religion by use of religious platforms and means. Their acts are religiously propelled and as such do not use terrorism as a means of communicating their dissatisfaction. This concludes us that neither Islam nor radical Islamism is synonymous to terrorism. Even the violent activities of radical Islamism do not count towards terrorism. The two oppositions on clarity of definition of the term terrorism make the issue complicated. However, there is overwhelming evidence supporting that Islam is indeed not synonymous with terrorism. More clearly, Islam is not associated with terrorism. According to leaders of North American Islamic organizations â€Å"As American Muslims and scholars of Islam, we wish to restate our conviction that peace and justice constitute the basic principles of the Muslim faith. We

Narrative Exposition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Narrative Exposition - Essay Example ds every single day, without knowing how much force they had in his life; simple things like taking the bus to work or to the library, cleaning up the dishes at home, everything was done in a very mundane manner because he was getting very bored with living his life. He wanted something new to be offered to him without realizing that only he could make the difference. Academics was something that his parents put a great deal of pressure upon; they had invested a great amount of money for the purpose of John’s education and thus wanted him to excel more than he personally wanted to. John was never good in studies, but he always spent time trying to make his parents happy by trying his best to get good grades. The high school he attended had a number of clubs and associations attached with its prestigious name and as students John and his friends were always encouraged to be a part of them. One fine day, an announcement was made regarding the elimination of a few clubs that did not have many members or donations to remain as part of the school and had to be scrapped off the list because of the decisions taken by a few faculty members who did not have time to invest in the same. This was a social service unit that did not have too many students as a part of it and thus the student body always urged students to join. The main aim of the club w as to help the special children or differently-abled children that lived in and around parts of the city. However, the club was never able to attract a lot of attention towards itself because not everyone wanted to become a part of a social unit designed for the welfare of differently-abled children. A few days later upon looking at the notice of this club, John and his friends went to a nearby cafe to spend some time and as they were happily sipping their lattes, John’s eyes happened to glance over a child on the street; the child seemed helpless and restless and his mother was scolding him. They entered the cafe and

Challenges of Social Integration Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Challenges of Social Integration - Assignment Example Further, some diseases need no resources to deal with them but to avoid the causing factor. Another issue discussed is the use of technology to advance the health status of the entire world. Most of the machines are built to suit the affordability by all country levels (Berwick, 2004). From my point of view, most of the issues highlighted in the article are right. The health status of the three world categories differs from one class to the other. The more economically grown countries have financed significantly in the health sector. Use of drugs causes some diseases. Cigarette Smoking causes illnesses such as lung cancer (Ladika, 2002). Liver cirrhosis is as a result of excessive consumption of alcohol. The diseases can be controlled by limited use of such drugs especially in the developing countries and also the developed countries. Developing countries have the minimum level of health followed by middle-countries, and the developed countries have the highest. The health sector can be advanced to a better situation by combined efforts of the government and individuals. The individuals are supposed to take charge of their health.one can take the appropriate measures to prevent one from getting infected. Individuals can also educate each other on health risk behaviors and so improving countries health since number of people getting sick will reduce (Kinkade and Verclas, 2008). The government can take part to nourish the health sector. It can increase the budget allocation for enhancing the infrastructure in health centers. It can also fund campaigns to create awareness on people on health related

Common Core of Skills Knowledge for the Childrens Workforce

Common Core of Skills Knowledge for the Childrens Workforce The common core of skills and knowledge for the childrens workforce describes the knowledge and skills that people working with children and young people in the United Kingdom are expected to have. There are six areas of expertise involved in the common core of skills, and these six areas offer a single framework aimed at underpinning an integrated multiagency cooperation, training, qualification and professional standards across the childrens workforce. The common core of skills is inclusive of people working with children all the time, as well as those working with the children on a part time basis. It is also inclusive of paid staff as well as those working as volunteers on the childrens workforce. The common core of skills also sets out common values for childcare professionals, thereby promoting equality and challenging stereotypes, while at the same time respecting diversity. The common core of skills and knowledge was initially launched in 2005, with the goal of enabling professionals and volunteers working in the childrens workforce to carry out their duties more effectively in the interest of the children and young people being cared for. The common core was developed in an effort to underpin successful integration and multiagency cooperation in the United Kingdom. The Childrens Workforce Development Council identified six areas of expertise that are deemed to be essential for people working with children and their families. These include: 1. Effective communication and engagement with children, young people and families 2. Child and young person development 3. Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child or young person 4. Supporting transitions 5. Multi-agency and integrated working 6. Information sharing Each of these areas contains information about the required knowledge and skills for childcare workers. These basic requirements enable care providers to do their jobs well. Within the common core of skills, skill is defined as the ability to do something, usually through experience or training, while Knowledge is described as an understanding or awareness gained through learning or experience. (The Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Childrens Workforce) The common core of skills also sets out that providers should apply these skills and knowledge in their work and take account of the background and circumstances relevant to a situation. (The Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Childrens Workforce) Recently, the Childrens Workforce Development Council (CWDC) refreshed and published some new guidance which updates the common core of skills that childcare workers should possess in the United Kingdom. The last update of the common core of skills happened in 2005. In partnership with some other government organizations, the Childrens Workforce Development Council investigated the relevance of the contents of the common core of skills. Thus, the common core of skills was updated to ensure that childcare professionals possess a common set of basic skills and knowledge that would enable them to do their job in harmony with each other. The common core was also refreshed to ensure that childcare professionals can communicate effectively, so as to be able to support the children and their families better. Effective communication and engagement with children, young people and their families Effective communication is vital when working with children, their families, young people and other care providers. Good communication will help in building trust and encourages children in need of childcare services to seek advice and to utilize the care services provided. Appropriate communication is important for the establishment and maintenance of relationships, as well as being an active process which involves listening, asking questions, understanding issues and responding. Effective communication extends to involving children, young people, their parents and caregivers in the design and delivery of services and decisions that affect them. It is important to consult the people affected and consider opinions and perspectives from the outset. Another crucial element of effective communication is developing trust between the workforce and children, young people, parents and care providers as well as within different sectors of the workforce itself. (The Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Childrens Workforce) Child and young person development This area of the common core of skills and knowledge deals with the intellectual, social, linguistic, physical and emotional growth and development of the children and young people receiving care services, it is important to understand the changes that occur during development in children and young people, and how these changes affect the behavior of the children. Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child or young person People in the childrens workforce are responsible for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of these young ones. This is a very important responsibility which requires paying close attention to the needs of the children. It involves the ability to recognize situations in which a child or young person is failing to reach his or her developmental potential, or when a childs mental or physical health is impaired. Childcare workers are also required to b able to recognize when a child is displaying harmful or risky or behavior, or when a child is being abused or neglected. Care providers should also be able to identify sources of help for these children and their families. It is important to identify concerns and where appropriate take action as early as possible so that children, young people, their families and caregivers can get the help they need. Supporting transitions It is expected that the use of the common core of skills may vary according to the roles of childcare professionals and the sector involved. Thus, different organizations should be able to find the most appropriate ways of expressing the various areas of expertise indicated in the common core of skills. Those who work with children and young people all the time will use the common core in different contexts and to different levels of depth from those who come into contact with children and young people as only part of their job (The Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Childrens Workforce.) It is also expected that certain roles in the childrens workforce will focus more on certain areas of the common core. Childcare professionals who interact with children on a regular basis will utilize the common core to a different level of depth and in a different context from part-time or voluntary workers who work with the children and young people less frequently. It should be noted that not every practitioner will be regularly involved in supporting transitions, although all practitioners will have to understand at least the most important aspects of the sections of the common core of skills in a manner that is relevant to their work. Multi-agency and integrated working It has been observed that the common core of skills should be more clearly positioned to work in conjunction with the every child matters initiative, the National Occupational Standards and the common assessment framework, although there should be adjustments in order to take care of any future change in laws or programs related to the common core of skills. There is also the issue of initial training as relates to the common core of skills. This is because currently, the common core of skills applies only in England, and accredited qualifications are based on standards in the United Kingdom. A lot of people believe that the common core of skills should be incorporated into regulation and inspection in order for it to be accepted and embraced by everyone. This is evident in the responses and feedback from questionnaires, and studies carried out about the efficacy of the common core of skills. Information sharing In order to be able to deliver quality childcare services to children in the United Kingdom, it is essential to share information in a timely and accurate manner. Accurate sharing of information can actually help in saving lives, so childcare professionals should be able to work together and share information in a proper manner for the safety and wellbeing of the children. Information sharing also enables childcare workers to understand situations better, and more quickly. When interviewed, most parents were happy about the information sharing requirement of the common core of skills. They responded that information sharing among childcare professionals ensured that the caregivers and the parents did not have to keep repeating information many times over. Sharing information in a timely and accurate way is an essential part of delivering better services to children, young people, their families and care providers. Sometimes it can help to save lives. Practitioners at different agencies should work together and share information appropriately for the safety and well-being of children. It is important to understand and respect legislation and ethics surrounding the confidentiality and security of information. It is crucial to build trust with the child or young person and their family from the outset by clarifying issues and procedures surrounding confidentiality, consent and information sharing. Practitioners should adhere to the correct principles, policies and procedures for information sharing, ensuring that the child or young person, parent or caregiver understands the process. (The Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Childrens Workforce)

The Portrayal of Socially Destructive and Over-Ambitious Richard, in Sh

Richard, the main character of the Shakespeare’s play, Richard III is portrayed as socially destructive and politically over-ambitious. His destructive potential is depicted by the way he relates with the other protagonists in the play and also by what he confesses as his intentions. Richard’s political ambition is revealed through his strategic calculations based on the order of birth in his York family which puts him third away from the throne. Ahead of him is his elder brother, George Clarence, a barrier which will have to eradicate. His brother, King Edward, is another political barrier, by simply being alive, in power and equally by being the father of the two young princes . Richard’s creates a political mistrust between his two brothers without directly implicating himself to clear his way to power. The main objective of this essay is to show how well Richard fits the figure of vice character in the Shakespeare’s play. We are going to examine this aspect of Richard from two dimensions. First of all, through his expressed intentions, motivations and deeds. Secondly, through what other characters accuse him of and their attitudes towards him. It will not be possible for us to revisit each character and how he or she relates with Richard. However, Anne, Margaret, the Duchess of York, citizens, the ghosts and finally Richmond will be examined. Richard, the villain From the beginning of the play, the character of Richard is depicted as amiss. Thomas More’s account of King Richard states that King Richardâ€Å"was malicious, wrathful, envious, and, from afore his birth ever forward† (More, 2005:10).King Richard’s mother, the Duchesse of York is said to have had a hard labour at his birth. Richard is said to have come into the wor... ...ueen Margaret, England will remain in turmoil. Conclusion Shakespeare introduces to us a character who is evil according to the moral judgement of the moment. He does not respect the social values and norms. For him social taboos such as incest and crimes such as murder cease to be wrong once they become instruments of power. He is Satan incarnated, cunning, greedy and destructive. He has no respect for those who observe social, norms, family ethics and political loyalty. As a King, he governs with terror and assassinates those whose views differ from his. To us he is a dictator. The citizens are scared at the idea of being ruled by him. Their future is doomed with Richard in power. His own relatives and ghost shower him with curses and wants his downfall. Those who remain by his side are governed by fear lest they loose their lives and those of their loved ones.

Chapter 30 The Pensieve

The door of the office opened. â€Å"Hello, Potter,† said Moody. â€Å"Come in, then.† Harry walked inside. He had been inside Dumbledore's office once before; it was a very beautiful, circular room, lined with pictures of previous headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts, all of whom were fast asleep, their chests rising and falling gently. Cornelius Fudge was standing beside Dumbledore's desk, wearing his usual pinstriped cloak and holding his lime-green bowler hat. â€Å"Harry!† said Fudge jovially, moving forward. â€Å"How are you?† â€Å"Fine,† Harry lied. â€Å"We were just talking about the night when Mr. Crouch turned up on the grounds,† said Fudge. â€Å"It was you who found him, was it not?† â€Å"Yes,† said Harry. Then, feeling it was pointless to pretend that he hadn't overheard what they had been saying, he added, â€Å"I didn't see Madame Maxime anywhere, though, and she'd have a job hiding, wouldn't she?† Dumbledore smiled at Harry behind Fudge's back, his eyes twinkling. â€Å"Yes, well,† said Fudge, looking embarrassed, â€Å"we're about to go for a short walk on the grounds, Harry, if you'll excuse us†¦perhaps if you just go back to your class -â€Å" â€Å"I wanted to talk to you. Professor,† Harry said quickly, looking at Dumbledore, who gave him a swift, searching look. â€Å"Wait here for me, Harry,† he said. â€Å"Our examination of the grounds will not take long.† They trooped out in silence past him and closed the door. After a minute or so, Harry heard the clunks of Moody's wooden leg growing fainter in the corridor below. He looked around. â€Å"Hello, Fawkes,† he said. Fawkes, Professor Dumbledore's phoenix, was standing on his golden perch beside the door. The size of a swan, with magnificent scarlet-and-gold plumage, he swished his long tail and blinked benignly at Harry. Harry sat down in a chair in front of Dumbledore's desk. For several minutes, he sat and watched the old headmasters and headmistresses snoozing in their frames, thinking about what he had just heard, and running his fingers over his scar. It had stopped hurting now. He felt much calmer, somehow, now that he was in Dumbledore's office, knowing he would shortly be telling him about the dream. Harry looked up at the walls behind the desk. The patched and ragged Sorting Hat was standing on a shelf. A glass case next to it held a magnificent silver sword with large rubies set into the hilt, which Harry recognized as the one he himself had pulled out of the Sorting Hat in his second year. The sword had once belonged to Godric Gryffindor, founder of Harry's House. He was gazing at it, remembering how it had come to his aid when he had thought all hope was lost, when he noticed a patch of silvery light, dancing and shimmering on the glass case. He looked around for the source of the light and saw a sliver of silver-white shining brightly from within a black cabinet behind him, whose door had not been closed properly. Harry hesitated, glanced at Fawkes, then got up, walked across the office, and pulled open the cabinet door. A shallow stone basin lay there, with odd carvings around the edge: runes and symbols that Harry did not recognize. The silvery light was coming from the basin's contents, which were like nothing Harry had ever seen before. He could not tell whether the substance was liquid or gas. It was a bright, whitish silver, and it was moving ceaselessly; the surface of it became ruffled like water beneath wind, and then, like clouds, separated and swirled smoothly. It looked like light made liquid – or like wind made solid – Harry couldn't make up his mind. He wanted to touch it, to find out what it felt like, but nearly four years' experience of the magical world told him that sticking his hand into a bowl full of some unknown substance was a very stupid thing to do. He therefore pulled his wand out of the inside of his robes, cast a nervous look around the office, looked back at the contents of the basin, and prodded them. The surface of the silvery stuff inside the basin began to swirl very fast. Harry bent closer, his head right inside the cabinet. The silvery substance had become transparent; it looked like glass. He looked down into it expecting to see the stone bottom of the basin – and saw instead an enormous room below the surface of the mysterious substance, a room into which he seemed to be looking through a circular window in the ceiling. The room was dimly lit; he thought it might even be underground, for there were no windows, merely torches in brackets such as the ones that illuminated the walls of Hogwarts. Lowering his face so that his nose was a mere inch away from the glassy substance, Harry saw that rows and rows of witches and wizards were seated around every wall on what seemed to be benches rising in levels. An empty chair stood in the very center of the room. There was something about the chair that gave Harry an ominous feeling. Chains encircled the arms of it, as though its occupants were usually tied to it. Where was this place? It surely wasn't Hogwarts; he had never seen a room like that here in the castle. Moreover, the crowd in the mysterious room at the bottom of the basin was comprised of adults, and Harry knew there were not nearly that many teachers at Hogwarts. They seemed, he thought, to be waiting for something; even though he could only see the tops of their hats, all of their faces seemed to be pointing in one direction, and none of them were talking to one another. The basin being circular, and the room he was observing square, Harry could not make out what was going on in the corners of it. He leaned even closer, tilting his head, trying to see†¦ The tip of his nose touched the strange substance into which he was staring. Dumbledore's office gave an almighty lurch – Harry was thrown forward and pitched headfirst into the substance inside the basin – But his head did not hit the stone bottom. He was falling through something icy-cold and black; it was like being sucked into a dark whirlpool – And suddenly, Harry found himself sitting on a bench at the end of the room inside the basin, a bench raised high above the others. He looked up at the high stone ceiling, expecting to see the circular window through which he had just been staring, but there was nothing there but dark, solid stone. Breathing hard and fast. Harry looked around him. Not one of the witches and wizards in the room (and there were at least two hundred of them) was looking at him. Not one of them seemed to have noticed that a fourteen-year-old boy had just dropped from the ceiling into their midst. Harry turned to the wizard next to him on the bench and uttered a loud cry of surprise that reverberated around the silent room. He was sitting right next to Albus Dumbledore. â€Å"Professor!† Harry said in a kind of strangled whisper. â€Å"I'm sorry – I didn't mean to – I was just looking at that basin in your cabinet – I – where are we?† But Dumbledore didn't move or speak. He ignored Harry completely. Like every other wizard on the benches, he was staring into the far corner of the room, where there was a door. Harry gazed, nonplussed, at Dumbledore, then around at the silently watchful crowd, then back at Dumbledore. And then it dawned on him†¦. Once before. Harry had found himself somewhere that nobody could see or hear him. That time, he had fallen through a page in an enchanted diary, right into somebody else's memory†¦and unless he was very much mistaken, something of the sort had happened again†¦ Harry raised his right hand, hesitated, and then waved it energetically in from of Dumbledore's face. Dumbledore did not blink, look around at Harry, or indeed move at all. And that, in Harry's opinion, settled the matter. Dumbledore wouldn't ignore him like that. He was inside a memory, and this was not the present-day Dumbledore. Yet it couldn't be that long ago†¦the Dumbledore sitting next to him now was silver-haired, just like the present-day Dumbledore. But what was this place? What were all these wizards waiting for? Harry looked around more carefully. The room, as he had suspected when observing it from above, was almost certainly underground – more of a dungeon than a room, he thought. There was a bleak and forbidding air about the place; there were no pictures on the walls, no decorations at all; just these serried rows of benches, rising in levels all around the room, all positioned so that they had a clear view of that chair with the chains on its arms. Before Harry could reach any conclusions about the place in which they were, he heard footsteps. The door in the corner of the dungeon opened and three people entered – or at least one man, flanked by two dementors. Harry's insides went cold. The dementors – tall, hooded creatures whose faces were concealed – were gliding slowly toward the chair in the center of the room, each grasping one of the man's arms with their dead and rotten-looking hands. The man between them looked as though he was about to faint, and Harry couldn't blame him†¦he knew the dementors could not touch him inside a memory, but he remembered their power only too well. The watching crowd recoiled slightly as the dementors placed the man in the chained chair and glided back out of the room. The door swung shut behind them. Harry looked down at the man now sitting in the chair and saw that it was Karkaroff. Unlike Dumbledore, Karkaroff looked much younger; his hair and goatee were black. He was not dressed in sleek furs, but in thin and ragged robes. He was shaking. Even as Harry watched, the chains on the arms of the chair glowed suddenly gold and snaked their way up Karkaroff's arms, binding him there. â€Å"Igor Karkaroff,† said a curt voice to Harry's left. Harry looked around and saw Mr. Crouch standing up in the middle of the bench beside him. Crouch's hair was dark, his face was much less lined, he looked fit and alert. â€Å"You have been brought from Azkaban to present evidence to the Ministry of Magic. You have given us to understand that you have important information for us.† Karkaroff straightened himself as best he could, tightly bound to the chair. â€Å"I have, sir,† he said, and although his voice was very scared, Harry could still hear the familiar unctuous note in it. â€Å"I wish to be of use to the Ministry. I wish to help. I – I know that the Ministry is trying to – to round up the last of the Dark Lords supporters. I am eager to assist in any way I can†¦.† There was a murmur around the benches. Some of the wizards and witches were surveying Karkaroff with interest, others with pronounced mistrust. Then Harry heard, quite distinctly, from Dumbledores other side, a familiar, growling voice saying, â€Å"Filth.† Harry leaned forward so that he could see past Dumbledore. Mad-Eye Moody was sitting there – except that there was a very noticeable difference in his appearance. He did not have his magical eye, but two normal ones. Both were looking down upon Karkaroff, and both were narrowed in intense dislike. â€Å"Crouch is going to let him out,† Moody breathed quietly to Dumbledore. â€Å"He's done a deal with him. Took me six months to track him down, and Crouch is going to let him go if he's got enough new names. Let's hear his information, I say, and throw him straight back to the dementors.† Dumbledore made a small noise of dissent through his long, crooked nose. â€Å"Ah, I was forgetting†¦you don't like the dementors, do you, Albus?† said Moody with a sardonic smile. â€Å"No,† said Dumbledore calmly, â€Å"I'm afraid I don't. I have long felt the Ministry is wrong to ally itself with such creatures.† â€Å"But for filth like this†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Moody said softly. â€Å"You say you have names for us, Karkaroff,† said Mr. Crouch. â€Å"Let us hear them, please.† â€Å"You must understand,† said Karkaroff hurriedly, â€Å"that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named operated always in the greatest secrecy†¦.He preferred that we – I mean to say, his supporters – and I regret now, very deeply, that I ever counted myself among them -â€Å" â€Å"Get on with it,† sneered Moody. â€Å"- we never knew the names of every one of our fellows – He alone knew exactly who we all were -â€Å" â€Å"Which was a wise move, wasn't it, as it prevented someone like you, Karkaroff, from turning all of them in,† muttered Moody. â€Å"Yet you say you have some names for us?† said Mr. Crouch. â€Å"I – I do,† said Karkaroff breathlessly. â€Å"And these were important supporters, mark you. People I saw with my own eyes doing his bidding. I give this information as a sign that I fully and totally renounce him, and am filled with a remorse so deep I can barely -â€Å" â€Å"These names are?† said Mr. Crouch sharply. Karkaroff drew a deep breath. â€Å"There was Antonin Dolohov,† he said. â€Å"I – I saw him torture countless Muggles and – and non-supporters of the Dark Lord.† â€Å"And helped him do it,† murmured Moody. â€Å"We have already apprehended Dolohov,† said Crouch. â€Å"He was caught shortly after yourself.† â€Å"Indeed?† said Karkaroff, his eyes widening. â€Å"I – I am delighted to hear it!† But he didn't look it. Harry could tell that this news had come as a real blow to him. One of his names was worthless. â€Å"Any others?† said Crouch coldly. â€Å"Why, yes†¦there was Rosier,† said Karkaroff hurriedly. â€Å"Evan Rosier.† â€Å"Rosier is dead,† said Crouch. â€Å"He was caught shortly after you were too. He preferred to fight rather than come quietly and was killed in the struggle.† â€Å"Took a bit of me with him, though,† whispered Moody to Harry's right. Harry looked around at him once more, and saw him indicating the large chunk out of his nose to Dumbledore. â€Å"No – no more than Rosier deserved!† said Karkaroff, a real note of panic in his voice now. Harry could see that he was starting to worry that none of his information would be of any use to the Ministry. Karkaroff's eyes darted toward the door in the corner, behind which the dementors undoubtedly still stood, waiting. â€Å"Any more?† said Crouch. â€Å"Yes!† said Karkaroff. â€Å"There was Travers – he helped murder the McKinnons! Mulciber – he specialized in the Imperius Curse, forced countless people to do horrific things! Rookwood, who was a spy, and passed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named useful information from inside the Ministry itself!† Harry could tell that, this time, Karkaroff had struck gold. The watching crowd was all murmuring together. â€Å"Rookwood?† said Mr. Crouch, nodding to a witch sitting in front of him, who began scribbling upon her piece of parchment. â€Å"Augustus Rookwood of the Department of Mysteries?† â€Å"The very same,† said Karkaroff eagerly. â€Å"I believe he used a network of well-placed wizards, both inside the Ministry and out, to collect information -â€Å" â€Å"But Travers and Mulciber we have,† said Mr. Crouch. â€Å"Very well, Karkaroff, if that is all, you will be returned to Azkaban while we decide -â€Å" â€Å"Not yet!† cried Karkaroff, looking quite desperate. â€Å"Wait, I have more!† Harry could see him sweating in the torchlight, his white skin contrasting strongly with the black of his hair and beard. â€Å"Snape!† he shouted. â€Å"Severus Snape!† â€Å"Snape has been cleared by this council,† said Crouch disdainfully. â€Å"He has been vouched for by Albus Dumbledore.† â€Å"No!† shouted Karkaroff, straining at the chains that bound him to the chair. â€Å"I assure you! Severus Snape is a Death Eater!† Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. â€Å"I have given evidence already on this matter,† he said calmly. â€Å"Severus Snape was indeed a Death Eater. However, he rejoined our side before Lord Voldemort's downfall and turned spy for us, at great personal risk. He is now no more a Death Eater than I am.† Harry turned to look at Mad-Eye Moody. He was wearing a look of deep skepticism behind Dumbledore's back. â€Å"Very well, Karkaroff,† Crouch said coldly, â€Å"you have been of assistance. I shall review your case. You will return to Azkaban in the meantime†¦.† Mr. Crouch's voice faded. Harry looked around; the dungeon was dissolving as though it were made of smoke; everything was fading; he could see only his own body – all else was swirling darkness†¦. And then, the dungeon returned. Harry was sitting in a different seat, still on the highest bench, but now to the left side of Mr. Crouch. The atmosphere seemed quite different: relaxed, even cheerful. The witches and wizards all around the walls were talking to one another, almost as though they were at some sort of sporting event. Harry noticed a witch halfway up the rows of benches opposite. She had short blonde hair, was wearing magenta robes, and was sucking the end of an acid-green quill. It was, unmistakably, a younger Rita Skeeter. Harry looked around; Dumbledore was sitting beside him again, wearing different robes. Mr. Crouch looked more tired and somehow fiercer, gaunter†¦.Harry understood. It was a different memory, a different day†¦a different trial. The door in the corner opened, and Ludo Bagman walked into the room. This was not, however, a Ludo Bagman gone to seed, but a Ludo Bagman who was clearly at the height of his Quidditch-playing fitness. His nose wasn't broken now; he was tall and lean and muscular. Bagman looked nervous as he sat down in the chained chair, but it did not bind him there as it had bound Karkaroff, and Bagman, perhaps taking heart from this, glanced around at the watching crowd, waved at a couple of them, and managed a small smile. â€Å"Ludo Bagman, you have been brought here in front of the Council of Magical Law to answer charges relating to the activities of the Death Eaters,† said Mr. Crouch. â€Å"We have heard the evidence against you, and are about to reach our verdict. Do you have anything to add to your testimony before we pronounce judgment?† Harry couldn't believe his ears. Ludo Bagman, a Death Eater? â€Å"Only,† said Bagman, smiling awkwardly, â€Å"well – I know I've been a bit of an idiot -â€Å" One or two wizards and witches in the surrounding seats smiled indulgently. Mr. Crouch did not appear to share their feelings. He was staring down at Ludo Bagman with an expression of the utmost severity and dislike. â€Å"You never spoke a truer word, boy,† someone muttered dryly to Dumbledore behind Harry. He looked around and saw Moody sitting there again. â€Å"If I didn't know he'd always been dim, I'd have said some of those Bludgers had permanently affected his brain†¦.† â€Å"Ludovic Bagman, you were caught passing information to Lord Voldemort's supporters,† said Mr. Crouch. â€Å"For this, I suggest a term of imprisonment in Azkaban lasting no less than -â€Å" But there was an angry outcry from the surrounding benches. Several of the witches and wizards around the walls stood up, shaking their heads, and even their fists, at Mr. Crouch. â€Å"But I've told you, I had no idea!† Bagman called earnestly over the crowd's babble, his round blue eyes widening. â€Å"None at all! Old Rookwood was a friend of my dad's†¦never crossed my mind he was in with You-Know-Who! I thought I was collecting information for our side! And Rookwood kept talking about getting me a job in the Ministry later on†¦once my Quidditch days are over, you know†¦I mean, I can't keep getting hit by Bludgers for the rest of my life, can I?† There were titters from the crowd. â€Å"It will be put to the vote,† said Mr. Crouch coldly. He turned to the right-hand side of the dungeon. â€Å"The jury will please raise their hands†¦those in favor of imprisonment†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Harry looked toward the right-hand side of the dungeon. Not one person raised their hand. Many of the witches and wizards around the walls began to clap. One of the witches on the jury stood up. â€Å"Yes?† barked Crouch. â€Å"We'd just like to congratulate Mr. Bagman on his splendid performance for England in the Quidditch match against Turkey last Saturday,† the witch said breathlessly. Mr. Crouch looked furious. The dungeon was ringing with applause now. Bagman got to his feet and bowed, beaming. â€Å"Despicable,† Mr. Crouch spat at Dumbledore, sitting down as Bagman walked out of the dungeon. â€Å"Rookwood get him a job indeed†¦.The day Ludo Bagman joins us will be a sad day indeed for the Ministry†¦.† And the dungeon dissolved again. When it had returned, Harry looked around. He and Dumbledore were still sitting beside Mr. Crouch, but the atmosphere could not have been more different. There was total silence, broken only by the dry sobs of a frail, wispy-looking witch in the seat next to Mr. Crouch. She was clutching a handkerchief to her mouth with trembling hands. Harry looked up at Crouch and saw that he looked gaunter and grayer than ever before. A nerve was twitching in his temple. â€Å"Bring them in,† he said, and his voice echoed through the silent dungeon. The door in the corner opened yet again. Six dementors entered this time, flanking a group of four people. Harry saw the people in the crowd turn to look up at Mr. Crouch. A few of them whispered to one another. The dementors placed each of the four people in the four chairs with chained arms that now stood on the dungeon floor. There was a thickset man who stared blankly up at Crouch; a thinner and more nervous-looking man, whose eyes were darting around the crowd; a woman with thick, shining dark hair and heavily hooded eyes, who was sitting in the chained chair as though it were a throne; and a boy in his late teens, who looked nothing short of petrified. He was shivering, his straw-colored hair all over his face, his freckled skin milk-white. The wispy little witch beside Crouch began to rock backward and forward in her seat, whimpering into her handkerchief. Crouch stood up. He looked down upon the four in front of him, and there was pure hatred in his face. â€Å"You have been brought here before the Council of Magical Law,† he said clearly, â€Å"so that we may pass judgment on you, for a crime so heinous -â€Å" â€Å"Father,† said the boy with the straw-colored hair. â€Å"Father†¦please†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"- that we have rarely heard the like of it within this court,† said Crouch, speaking more loudly, drowning out his son's voice. â€Å"We have heard the evidence against you. The four of you stand accused of capturing an Auror – Frank Longbottom – and subjecting him to the Cruciatus Curse, believing him to have knowledge of the present whereabouts of your exiled master, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named -â€Å" â€Å"Father, I didn't!† shrieked the boy in chains below. â€Å"I didn't, I swear it. Father, don't send me back to the dementors -â€Å" â€Å"You are further accused,† bellowed Mr. Crouch, â€Å"of using the Cruciatus Curse on Frank Longbottom's wife, when he would not give you information. You planned to restore He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to power, and to resume the lives of violence you presumably led while he was strong. I now ask the jury -â€Å" â€Å"Mother!† screamed the boy below, and the wispy little witch beside Crouch began to sob, rocking backward and forward. â€Å"Mother, stop him. Mother, I didn't do it, it wasn't me!† â€Å"I now ask the jury,† shouted Mr. Crouch, â€Å"to raise their hands if they believe, as I do, that these crimes deserve a life sentence in Azkaban!† In unison, the witches and wizards along the right-hand side of the dungeon raised their hands. The crowd around the walls began to clap as it had for Bagman, their faces full of savage triumph. The boy began to scream. â€Å"No! Mother, no! I didn't do it, I didn't do it, I didn't know! Don't send me there, don't let him!† The dementors were gliding back into the room. The boys' three companions rose quietly from their seats; the woman with the heavy-lidded eyes looked up at Crouch and called, â€Å"The Dark Lord will rise again, Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban; we will wait! He will rise again and will come for us, he will reward us beyond any of his other supporters! We alone were faithful! We alone tried to find him!† But the boy was trying to fight off the dementors, even though Harry could see their cold, draining power starting to affect him. The crowd was jeering, some of them on their feet, as the woman swept out of the dungeon, and the boy continued to struggle. â€Å"I'm your son!† he screamed up at Crouch. â€Å"I'm your son!† â€Å"You are no son of mine!† bellowed Mr. Crouch, his eyes bulging suddenly. â€Å"I have no son!† The wispy witch beside him gave a great gasp and slumped in her seat. She had fainted. Crouch appeared not to have noticed. â€Å"Take them away!† Crouch roared at the dementors, spit flying from his mouth. â€Å"Take them away, and may they rot there!† â€Å"Father! Father, I wasn't involved! No! No! Father, please!† â€Å"I think. Harry, it is time to return to my office,† said a quiet voice in Harry's ear. Harry started. He looked around. Then he looked on his other side. There was an Albus Dumbledore sitting on his right, watching Crouch's son being dragged away by the dementors – and there was an Albus Dumbledore on his left, looking right at him. â€Å"Come,† said the Dumbledore on his left, and he put his hand under Harry's elbow. Harry felt himself rising into the air; the dungeon dissolved around him; for a moment, all was blackness, and then he felt as though he had done a slow-motion somersault, suddenly landing flat on his feet, in what seemed like the dazzling light of Dumbledore's sunlit office. The stone basin was shimmering in the cabinet in front of him, and Albus Dumbledore was standing beside him. â€Å"Professor,† Harry gasped, â€Å"I know I shouldn't've – I didn't mean – the cabinet door was sort of open and -â€Å" â€Å"I quite understand,† said Dumbledore. He lifted the basin, carried it over to his desk, placed it upon the polished top, and sat down in the chair behind it. He motioned for Harry to sit down opposite him. Harry did so, staring at the stone basin. The contents had returned to their original, silvery-white state, swirling and rippling beneath his gaze. â€Å"What is it?† Harry asked shakily. â€Å"This? It is called a Pensieve,† said Dumbledore. â€Å"I sometimes find, and I am sure you know the feeling, that I simply have too many thoughts and memories crammed into my mind.† â€Å"Er,† said Harry, who couldn't truthfully say that he had ever felt anything of the sort. â€Å"At these times,† said Dumbledore, indicating the stone basin, â€Å"I use the Pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one's mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one's leisure. It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when they are in this form.† â€Å"You mean†¦that stuff's your thoughts?† Harry said, staring at the swirling white substance in the basin. â€Å"Certainly,† said Dumbledore. â€Å"Let me show you.† Dumbledore drew his wand out of the inside of his robes and placed the tip into his own silvery hair, near his temple. When he took the wand away, hair seemed to be clinging to it – but then Harry saw that it was in fact a glistening strand of the same strange silvery-white substance that filled the Pensieve. Dumbledore added this fresh thought to the basin, and Harry, astonished, saw his own face swimming around the surface of the bowl. Dumbledore placed his long hands on either side of the Pensieve and swirled it, rather as a gold prospector would pan for fragments of gold†¦.and Harry saw his own face change smoothly into Snape's, who opened his mouth and spoke to the ceiling, his voice echoing slightly. â€Å"It's coming back†¦Karkaroff's too†¦stronger and clearer than ever†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"A connection I could have made without assistance,† Dumbledore sighed, â€Å"but never mind.† He peered over the top of his half-moon spectacles at Harry, who was gaping at Snape's face, which was continuing to swirl around the bowl. â€Å"I was using the Pensieve when Mr. Fudge arrived for our meeting and put it away rather hastily. Undoubtedly I did not fasten the cabinet door properly. Naturally, it would have attracted your attention.† â€Å"I'm sorry,† Harry mumbled. Dumbledore shook his head. â€Å"Curiosity is not a sin,† he said. â€Å"But we should exercise caution with our curiosity†¦yes, indeed†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Frowning slightly, he prodded the thoughts within the basin with the tip of his wand. Instantly, a figure rose out of it, a plump, scowling girl of about sixteen, who began to revolve slowly, with her feet still in the basin. She took no notice whatsoever of Harry or Professor Dumbledore. When she spoke, her voice echoed as Snape's had done, as though it were coming from the depths of the stone basin. â€Å"He put a hex on me, Professor Dumbledore, and I was only teasing him, sir, I only said I'd seen him kissing Florence behind the greenhouses last Thursday†¦.† â€Å"But why. Bertha,† said Dumbledore sadly, looking up at the now silently revolving girl, â€Å"why did you have to follow him in the first place?† â€Å"Bertha?† Harry whispered, looking up at her. â€Å"Is that – was that Bertha Jorkins?† â€Å"Yes,† said Dumbledore, prodding the thoughts in the basin again; Bertha sank back into them, and they became silvery and opaque once more. â€Å"That was Bertha as I remember her at school.† The silvery light from the Pensieve illuminated Dumbledore's face, and it struck Harry suddenly how very old he was looking. He knew, of course, that Dumbledore was getting on in years, but somehow he never really thought of Dumbledore as an old man. â€Å"So, Harry,† said Dumbledore quietly. â€Å"Before you got lost in my thoughts, you wanted to tell me something.† â€Å"Yes,† said Harry. â€Å"Professor – I was in Divination just now, and – er – I fell asleep.† He hesitated here, wondering if a reprimand was coming, but Dumbledore merely said, â€Å"Quite understandable. Continue.† â€Å"Well, I had a dream,† said Harry. â€Å"A dream about Lord Voldemort. He was torturing Wormtail†¦you know who Wormtail-â€Å" â€Å"I do know,† said Dumbledore promptly. â€Å"Please continue.† â€Å"Voldemort got a letter from an owl. He said something like, Wormtail's blunder had been repaired. He said someone was dead. Then he said, Wormtail wouldn't be fed to the snake – there was a snake beside his chair. He said – he said he'd be feeding me to it, instead. Then he did the Cruciatus Curse on Wormtail – and my scar hurt,† Harry said. â€Å"It woke me up, it hurt so badly.† Dumbledore merely looked at him. â€Å"Er – that's all,† said Harry. â€Å"I see,† said Dumbledore quietly. â€Å"I see. Now, has your scar hurt at any other time this year, excepting the time it woke you up over the summer?† â€Å"No, I – how did you know it woke me up over the summer?† said Harry, astonished. â€Å"You are not Sirius's only correspondent,† said Dumbledore. â€Å"I have also been in contact with him ever since he left Hogwarts last year. It was I who suggested the mountainside cave as the safest place for him to stay.† Dumbledore got up and began walking up and down behind his desk. Every now and then, he placed his wand tip to his temple, removed another shining silver thought, and added it to the Pensieve. The thoughts inside began to swirl so fast that Harry couldn't make out anything clearly: It was merely a blur of color. â€Å"Professor?† he said quietly, after a couple of minutes. Dumbledore stopped pacing and looked at Harry. â€Å"My apologies,† he said quietly. He sat back down at his desk. â€Å"D'you – d'you know why my scar's hurting me?† Dumbledore looked very intently at Harry for a moment, and then said, â€Å"I have a theory, no more than that†¦.It is my belief that your scar hurts both when Lord Voldemort is near you, and when he is feeling a particularly strong surge of hatred.† â€Å"But†¦why?† â€Å"Because you and he are connected by the curse that failed,† said Dumbledore. â€Å"That is no ordinary scar.† â€Å"So you think†¦that dream†¦did it really happen?† â€Å"It is possible,† said Dumbledore. â€Å"I would say – probable. Harry – did you see Voldemort?† â€Å"No,† said Harry. â€Å"Just the back of his chair. But – there wouldn't have been anything to see, would there? I mean, he hasn't got a body, has he? But†¦but then how could he have held the wand?† Harry said slowly. â€Å"How indeed?† muttered Dumbledore. â€Å"How indeed†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Neither Dumbledore nor Harry spoke for a while. Dumbledore was gazing across the room, and, every now and then, placing his wand tip to his temple and adding another shining silver thought to the seething mass within the Pensieve. â€Å"Professor,† Harry said at last, â€Å"do you think he's getting stronger?† â€Å"Voldemort?† said Dumbledore, looking at Harry over the Pensieve. It was the characteristic, piercing look Dumbledore had given him on other occasions, and always made Harry feel as though Dumbledore were seeing right through him in a way that even Moody's magical eye could not. â€Å"Once again. Harry, I can only give you my suspicions.† Dumbledore sighed again, and he looked older, and wearier, than ever. â€Å"The years of Voldemort's ascent to power,† he said, â€Å"were marked with disappearances. Bertha Jorkins has vanished without a trace in the place where Voldemort was certainly known to be last. Mr. Crouch too has disappeared†¦within these very grounds. And there was a third disappearance, one which the Ministry, I regret to say, do not consider of any importance, for it concerns a Muggle. His name was Frank Bryce, he lived in the village where Voldemort's father grew up, and he has not been seen since last August. You see, I read the Muggle newspapers, unlike most of my Ministry friends.† Dumbledore looked very seriously at Harry. â€Å"These disappearances seem to me to be linked. The Ministry disagrees – as you may have heard, while waiting outside my office.† Harry nodded. Silence fell between them again, Dumbledore extracting thoughts every now and then. Harry felt as though he ought to go, but his curiosity held him in his chair. â€Å"Professor?† he said again. â€Å"Yes, Harry?† said Dumbledore. â€Å"Er†¦could I ask you about†¦that court thing I was in†¦in the Pensieve?† â€Å"You could,† said Dumbledore heavily. â€Å"I attended it many times, but some trials come back to me more clearly than others†¦particularly now†¦.† â€Å"You know – you know the trial you found me in? The one with Crouch's son? Well†¦.were they talking about Neville's parents?† Dumbledore gave Harry a very sharp look. † Has Neville never told you why he has been brought up by his grandmother?† he said. Harry shook his head, wondering, as he did so, how he could have failed to ask Neville this, in almost four years of knowing him. â€Å"Yes, they were talking about Neville's parents,† said Dumbledore. â€Å"His father, Frank, was an Auror just like Professor Moody. He and his wife were tortured for information about Voldemort's whereabouts after he lost his powers, as you heard.† â€Å"So they're dead?† said Harry quietly. â€Å"No,† said Dumbledore, his voice full of a bitterness Harry had never heard there before. â€Å"They are insane. They are both in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I believe Neville visits them, with his grandmother, during the holidays. They do not recognize him.† Harry sat there, horror-struck. He had never known†¦never, in four years, bothered to find out†¦ â€Å"The Longbottoms were very popular,† said Dumbledore. â€Å"The attacks on them came after Voldemort's fall from power, just when everyone thought they were safe. Those attacks caused a wave of fury such as I have never known. The Ministry was under great pressure to catch those who had done it. Unfortunately, the Longbottoms' evidence was – given their condition – none too reliable.† â€Å"Then Mr. Crouch's son might not have been involved?† said Harry slowly. Dumbledore shook his head. â€Å"As to that, I have no idea.† Harry sat in silence once more, watching the contents of the Pensieve swirl. There were two more questions he was burning to ask†¦but they concerned the guilt of living people†¦. â€Å"Er,† he said, â€Å"Mr. Bagman†¦.† â€Å"†¦has never been accused of any Dark activity since,† said Dumbledore calmly. â€Å"Right,† said Harry hastily, staring at the contents of the Pensieve again, which were swirling more slowly now that Dumbledore had stopped adding thoughts. â€Å"And†¦er†¦Ã¢â‚¬  But the Pensieve seemed to be asking his question for him. Snape's face was swimming on the surface again. Dumbledore glanced down into it, and then up at Harry. â€Å"No more has Professor Snape,† he said. Harry looked into Dumbledore's light blue eyes, and the thing he really wanted to know spilled out of his mouth before he could stop it. â€Å"What made you think he'd really stopped supporting Voldemort, Professor?† Dumbledore held Harry's gaze for a few seconds, and then said, â€Å"That, Harry, is a matter between Professor Snape and myself.† Harry knew that the interview was over; Dumbledore did not look angry, yet there was a finality in his tone that told Harry it was time to go. He stood up, and so did Dumbledore. â€Å"Harry,† he said as Harry reached the door. â€Å"Please do not speak about Neville's parents to anybody else. He has the right to let people know, when he is ready.† â€Å"Yes, Professor,† said Harry, turning to go. â€Å"And-â€Å" Harry looked back. Dumbledore was standing over the Pensieve, his face lit from beneath by its silvery spots of light, looking older than ever. He stared at Harry for a moment, and then said, â€Å"Good luck with the third task.†

Sensation Exhibit essays

Sensation Exhibit essays The Brooklyn Museum of Art's "Sensation" exhibit redefined that art in any form is and always will be the highest form of expression. The exhibit, in my opinion, is strangely interesting and the diversity between individualism is very apparent. The many works proved the exhibits name "Sensation" to be just that. The images stay consistent of mutants, preserved sea monsters, human blood, genitalia, and an abundance of death. I was left pondering over the vivid imaginations and distorted thoughts of the young artists', and especially Chris Ofili. Jake and Dinos Chapman's "Great Deeds Against the Dead" showed great similarities to that of Francisco Goya's "Saturn Devouring One of His Sons". Both works imply horrific torture in the form of cannibalism, and the beauty of it lies in the disbelief that it could never happen, when in reality forms of cannibalism do and have existed. I found the Chapman's "DNA Zygotic" and "Tragic Anatomies" to be very strange, but at the same time it made me think about the possibility of something like this ever coming true, considering science has been in a sense playing God with their continued experimentations with cloning. Marc Quinn's "Self", a life-size sculpture of his own head, and created out of nine pints of his own frozen blood is what I consider to be taking right to expression a little far. Is Quinn someone who gets pleasure out of pain, or is his intention focused on the fact that he is the art. The "Plan", by artist Jenny Saville, is a painting of a nude woman that is not the nor m for my generation's idea of sensuality. I found it to be alot like that of Sandro Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus", because Venus is portrayed as a divine goddess, which wasn't measured physically but on a spiritual basis. Ron Mueck's "Mask" showed beautiful detail in the face of the apparently aggravated man, but it can never size up to the enormously life-like image of "Dead Dad". I couldn't take m...

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Managerial Decision Making Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Managerial Decision Making - Research Paper Example cognize the importance of ethical conduct in its regular business practices and has initiated policies to assure that the organization conducts and manages its business in an ethical manner. Right at the start of 2014, the management at Wells Fargo initiated an internal ethical review spanning over the next 2 years (Reckard, 2013). To conduct this internal ethical review the organization did contrive an Ethics Program Office (Reckard, 2013). The primary objective of this review was envisioned to be to examine in detail the business conduct guidelines underlying Well Fargo’s more than 80 business lines, which pertain to the issues and problems like insider trading, the conflict of interest and receiving and giving gifts. This ethical review is a self initiated effort initiated by the management at Wells Fargo, aimed at suggesting recommendations for bolstering the ethical practices and conduct within the organization. It is a known fact that in the past two years, Wells Fargo has accrued much criticism for subjecting its employees to unreasonable sales pressure that not only makes the employees engage in unethical business practices, but has also accrued much criticism and complaints from the customers and business watch experts (Reckard, 2013). Many of the former Wells Fargo employees have acknowledged and confessed that the organization does subject them to unethical sales pressure that makes them engage in unethical practices like selling multiple accounts to same customers, and charging the customers for an array of ad on services that they actually do not need. These unethical practices have not only jeopardized the employee morale, but have also led to much harassment and overcharging of the customers. It is a fact that the internal ethical review initiated by Wells Fargo in January 2014 did ensue from such ethics associated complaints and media coverage. However, the thing is that instead of approaching the issue on a piecemeal basis, the management at

Restrictions in Accessibility of Entertainment containing Violence Essay

Restrictions in Accessibility of Entertainment containing Violence - Essay Example Violence is relayed in various forms. They can be seen from the televisions, heard on radios, read over the magazines, viewed from the internet, or even experienced it from real life. They are found in various forms such as cartoons, movies, advertisements, comics, words and many more. Access of violence from entertainment media is easy. Children can access them readily. They are exposed to them unintentionally due to its easy accessibility. Violence to some degrees has some effects to children. What they see can influence their psychological state thereby intervening their proper growth and conduct. The proper upbringing of children to make them good citizens for the next generation depends upon their environment. The greatest factors contributing in their growth start from homes, then in their educational institutions, and their community. People around them especially their parents and guardians must be aware on how to mold them. It is vital to take care of children. They should b e protected from the harsh world for their proper upbringing. The influence of violence coming from media entertainment must have some restrictions for children for them to be protected from violence. These can be done hand in hand by the government, the direct people in the homes and the whole world. The world is now on the digital technology era. There is no stopping the various machines and other digital innovations from making men slaves of technology. Man is uncontrollably under the influence of machines making the whole humanity dependent on computers and other gadgets to go through their daily lives. Digital technology has made man’s work easy and fast. It has provided entertainment that is easily accessible through various modes such as television, radios, computers, internet, video games, cell phones, and many more.