BOOK REPORT- HUMAN SEXUALITY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

BOOK REPORT- HUMAN SEXUALITY - Essay Example e problem is that these women often do not seek professional help, preferring to put up with their problems, while unresolved sexual issues can have serious consequences in a variety of health problems. Streicher is a qualified sexologist and gynecologist. Having a long experience in these areas, she is able to help all women better understand their body and thus recognize the signs of various sexual problems. That is what makes this book especially interesting for me and that is why I have decided to choose this book. Reading this book allows all women to have knowledge that can help solve numerous health issues and therefore significantly improve the quality of their sex life. In addition, the value of this book is that the author gives clear and evidence-based explanations for the various physical states and manifestations of various diseases. Every woman has the right to obtain pleasure in her sex life, and this book can be of great help in this regard by providing with practical and valuable

The Dubliners a collection of short stories by James Joyce Essay Example for Free

The Dubliners a collection of short stories by James Joyce Essay James Joyce wrote The Dubliners, a collection of short stories. One in particular called Eveline influenced the narrative seen in Far From Home Far From Home is written in the third person and is a character driven story. Free indirect discourse has been used to make the reader relate to the character. This technique allows the audience to gain insight into the characters thoughts feelings and dilemmas without using the first person narrative. Examples of when Joyce uses free indirect discourse can be seen in the third person narratives such as, Eveline, The Two Gallants and The Dead. In Eveline the main characters ambivalence is revealed at the beginning of the story: She tried to weigh each side of the question. The reader becomes aware of what Eveline is thinking and feeling about leaving home. This line describes almost entirely what the story is about the confusion and thoughtfulness Eveline is putting into leaving home. The protagonist in Far From Home is described using a third persons perspective. When the protagonists in Joyces stories are young or adolescent he uses first person narrative to direct the story. The stories Araby, An Encounter and The Sisters are written in this narrative. In order to identify the first person narratives pronouns such as I My or Me are used. When Joyces main character is an adult he writes in the third person narrative. Eveline, Counterparts and a Little cloud are written in third person narrative and to identify the narrative, pronouns such as He/She His/Her and It are used. Far From Home employs the third person narrative because Penny, like Eveline, is seen as an adult. This method in Far From Home shows that Joyces techniques are incorporated into the story. Local dialect and street names, as seen in Araby and The two Gallants, are also seen in Far From Home. In The Two Gallants street names are used regularly to convey a documentary style attachment to reality They walked along Nassau Street and then turned into Kildare Street. Far From Home refers to places like OlDive and street names such as Morrison Street. This also conveys a sense of authenticity. Slang terms such as on the turf, used in The two Gallants give the reader an informal approach to the story thus creating a sense of realism. Far From Home also incorporates this style by using chuck the bottle and colloquial dialect, authenticity is added to the narration. Far From Home resembles a storyline similar to that of Eveline. Penny, the protagonist in Far From Home, is paralysed by her fathers terrible drinking habits and aggression. Both characters know that their father may not survive alone. Penny lives with her father and finds it hard to cope with his drinking habits. Her father also has a girlfriend called Kristy who has two young children. Penny has an ill mother which she cannot see. This dilemma conveys a great deal of the frustration seen in the story. Similarly, Eveline feels trapped by her fathers drinking and violence, yet feels that father is too weak to survive by himself. Her father was becoming old lately, and he would miss her, suggests that Evelines father is weak. Pennys problems and thoughts drive the story, thus making it a character driven story. Far From Home intentionally develops Pennys character rather than focusing on conveying a detailed plot. This technique reflects Joyces use of minimal action in his stories, creating a sense of paralysis which engulfs his characters. Both stories show the characters as they are facing a life changing dilemma; both characters are unable to complete their escape from it. This is an example of how minimal action and lack of resolution work together to reflect the theme of paralysis. Far From Home also has a similar theme to that of The Dead. Penny feels that she has missed opportunities to love her mother and Gabriel feels he has missed the opportunity to love his wife in her youth. Penny resents the fact that she had stayed away from her mother for so long just because her father told her to. She realises that her mother will die soon and that they have missed a great deal of family bonding. The fact that both characters feel they have missed out on certain important events in their lives shows the similarities in the stories. In the sense that Joyce uses paralysis, Far From Home uses cynicism. In The Dead Gabriel patronises his family and friends make himself ridiculous by quoting poetry to them which they could not understand Pennys friend is also seen as been extremely pathetic. In the Two Gallants, The Dead and A Little Cloud, the characters are portrayed as been cynical or rejecting their home country. In The Dead Gabriel is called a west Briton; Little Chandler says minute vermin-like life Pennys cynical side is revealed by the way she patronises Sarah: Sarah was too dependent and weak in her eyes. and calls the children, screaming bundles of hate, Far From Home relates to the paralytic and cynical attitude Joyces characters are all ready in. In Far From Home grammar is occasionally used to create a dramatic effect. When Penny leaves her home and begins to make her way to the fields, Left down Morrison Street towards what looked like a dead end, a fragmented sentence emphasises the dead end at the end of the sentence. This is to subtly elaborate the paralysis in the story. To emphasise the situation at the beginning of Far From Home intentionally complex grammatical construction is used. Compound and simple sentences are regularly used for effect in James Joyces stories. He ties these techniques with a combination of many abstract sentences to create abstract ideas. Far From Home begins with an abstract idea for dramatic effect. The sound slowly emerging from the street, the raw talent of the local Charity for the Church band, calmed and slowed the frustrated breath escaping a hard chest. By using modifiers, words or phrases used to specify the nature of another, the abstract idea can be emphasised. The sound is modified by explaining where it is coming from. The sentence is abstract because of how it is constructed and modified. In The Two Gallants A shade of mockery..But Corley had not a subtle mind. is a combination of sentences introducing abstract ideas to make the reader think thoroughly about the situation presented. Far From Home is a fragmented narrative; this is to achieve effective characterisation as each fragment reveals a layer of depth to Pennys character. Fragmentation also reflects the confusion Penny has faced throughout her childhood and adolescence. This is further intensified through foreshadowing, which is a literary technique used to reveal a partial amount of the ending without revealing what happens, Far From Home employs this technique: could still feel the ghost of her mothers, soft, cold hands. This is because the story is a fragmented narrative and the foreshadowing adds emphasis on the upset state of mind Penny is in. The protagonists sense of frustration is intensified with the use of emotive lexis and pathetic fallacy. Modifiers and verbs such as frustrated, escaping and peace erupted all add to the theme running throughout Far From Home. In order to make the reader understand the build up of paralysis and frustration at the end of the story, the oppressive mood needed to run constantly throughout the story. To be successful the story begins with Penny calming down from a stressful situation calmed and slowed the frustrated breathFrom this point on Penny is faced with frustrating or annoying situations: the screaming amongst the peace erupted The children Penny has to look after are a lot to take on at such a young age and Penny finds she is unable to cope with them. The word clouded is used as a pathetic fallacy; to not only describe the feelings of the protagonist, but to also reflect the dull and confusing situation she is bound by. Another example used in Far From Home is the room felt icy and empty. It felt like her head. Pennys surroundings represent the emotions she is feeling. For dramatic effect, modifiers, with emotive connotations to convey the stressful or frustrating situations are used: the phrase the stench of the bottle rose reflects the disgust and hate Penny has for her fathers lifestyle. Stench is the word in this phrase which is most important as this is the word which conveys a disgusted tone. To continue the tone of disgust in the following paragraph other emotive words such as circled and disgust are used. Semantics reflecting frustration and paralysis are used at the beginning of Far From Home and repeated throughout the story. The opening words are selected to combine the idea of escapism from paralysis, confusion and frustration. Frustration quite obviously reflects the ongoing theme and hard chest emphasises the feeling of anger. The word hard is an emotive word to reflect the tension built up with anger. Escaping dramatically emphasises the tone of the story. The dramatic sentence at the beginning of the story establishes the paralysed tone reiterated throughout Far From Home. Alliteration is used when Sarah is introduced. stood, startled and shocked. The alliteration of this phrase reflects the attitude and thoughts Penny has for her. Sarah is obviously an unorganised and unstable woman; this sentence reflects her personality and disposition. Personification is another method of incorporating escapism from the paralytic lifestyle Penny is subjected to. Personification is used repeatedly throughout Far From Home it is used mainly to describe the moon as another person that Penny can relate to: The moon whispered to Penny, An example of personification can be seen in Eveline when Evelines hands are given human attributes: Her hands clutched the iron in frenzy. The connotations of the word frenzy emphasise and represent the state of Evelines mind and her feelings of confusion and fright. At the end of Far From Home the same technique is used. Frustration gripped her heart this reflects the ongoing theme of frustration and the emotions Penny feels for her lost mother. It was like a wave of warmth The use of this simile adds to the effect of Penny calming down and the mention of waves or referral to the sea is usually incorporated with Penny relaxing throughout the story. Araby; a story in which Joyce tackles the theme of the inadequacy of adolescence, employs an extended metaphor for the exotic surprises that we expect to discover in life and the disappointment experienced. The Bazaar represents the exotic, exciting lifestyle and the disappointment at the Bazaar represents the disappointment in life. To imitate the use of an extended metaphor in Far From Home, Pennys mothers illness represents the paralysis Penny is experiencing as a result of her lack of communication with her mother; Penny knows she can never share any moments of true bonding because her mother is too ill. The end of Far From Home displays the use juxtaposition of these two words small, strong Along with the use of modifiers such as mountainous, consumed and engulfed Pennys life seems to be represented by all that surrounds her in the hospital room with her mother. She is paralysed by life, because she is too small to fight it.

Free College Essays - Self-discovery in Shes Come Undone by Wally Lamb :: Shes Come Undone

She's Come Undone: Self-discovery  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb emphasizes the importance of self-discovery to one's life. Dolores has several epiphanies throughout the course of the novel, including her realization that all of her failed relationships are not solely her fault. She learns she is worth loving and is capable of surviving on her own. With each discovery about herself, Dolores learns to love herself a little more and blame herself a little less. Dolores' first realization is a sub-conscious one. Right before she tries to commit suicide she telephones her mother's childhood friend Geneva (Lamb 249). This is a cry for help and is her first step towards recovery. Dolores' next discovery comes after a long period of therapy, paid for by Geneva. Dolores' therapist, Dr. Shaw, attempts to rewrite her childhood from the time she was in the womb on. He takes on the role of her mother (268). As her negative childhood memories are replaced by positive ones, Dolores gains a new sense of self-esteem and confidence. She loses all of her extra weight (269). Dolores funnels her energy into creative pursuits like Etch-A-Sketching rather than self-destructive behavior. Eventually she is able to leave Dr. Shaw's care and go into the real world to provide for herself (283). Perhaps Dolores leaves the care of Dr. Shaw too soon. Shortly after getting her own apartment she begins dating Dante. Ashamed of her past, she creates a fictional life story for herself. She lives a lie the whole time she is living with Dante. She writes to her grandmother and falsely describes her marriage. When she catches Dante sleeping with one of his students, she finally wakes up. She realizes that no man is worth the pain of losing her identity, and she also realizes that her identity cannot be defined by the man she is with. After her grandmother's death she finally reveals her true self to Dante. In frustration and anger she tells him all of the events of her past, from her weight problems to her rape to her time spent in a mental institution. She feels completely free for the first time. Dolores' final stage of self-discovery comes with her relationship with Thayer. She realizes that he is what she has truly wanted for her entire life. It is the first time she has found luck and happiness in love.

Reaction on the Prestige Movie Essay

Reaction: Contentment. This is one thing that the two lead characters in the movie do not contain over themselves. They both made sacrifices just to be able to have the title of the one who has the greatest magic trick. They sacrificed their friendship, their families, even their lives. Before they started their rivalry, they both have good relationship with each other, good family, a good life. But what happened after they tried to uncover each other’s secret? Because of greed and personal motive, they both lost everything. The story looked like a tragedy, horror, and dramatic movie for me. It’s like an exaggerated version of how we live our lives, sometimes. Even though we don’t admit, but sometimes, there is some part of us that want to be on top of someone because we don’t feel satisfied and we can’t accept the fact that there is someone better than us. Here in the story, the secret is the symbol of what we want to get from someone. And what the two characters did in the story are examples of our actions in real life. One makes the attack and the other one makes the defense. Robert, who was the one making the offense, wanted to know Alfred’s secret, not just because he did it for revenge, but also because he wanted to own the prestige that Alfred had. He did everything that would put Alfred down. On the other hand, Alfred was the one making the defense. He sacrificed everything that he had in order for him to get a hold of his fame. In the end, both of them didn’t make it to their goal. Instead, they became losers of their own games. The characters are the epitome of human greed. Greed that we cannot pull out of our being human. It seems impossible for a human to be able to escape this kind of bad attitude. But as we grow older, as we mature, we learn how to build up goodness in ourselves because we realize the true meaning of life. We realize that there are things that we cannot achieve, obtain and maintain. Even our own life is not permanent. Nothing is permanent in this world except our soul. Now, as we think of this, we will be able to get the  idea that the most important things in this world cannot be seen. But it can be felt. We’re fortunate that God has provided us the greatest give anyone could ever get. And the best way to give back to our Father, I think, is to be grateful enough, and learn how to appreciate the things that we have, nothing less.

Negotiation in Management Decision Making Essay

Having been approached by The Director of the Cowley Council Council (CCC) regarding an industrial dispute with their refuse collectors, a report has been prepared to give insight into the field of negotiation and aid the council in their talks with the refuse collectors. The dispute is primarily concerned with CCC’s plans to change working practices but there are also a number of other issues regarding pay, shift patterns and recent cuts in the training budget and expenses. The refuse collectors are threatening to go on strike if their demands are not met, an action that the council would undoubtedly like to avoid. According to Rubin and Brown (1975), negotiation refers to a process in which individuals work together to formulate agreements regarding an issue or issues in dispute. An agreement will only occur if the offers made are accepted by both of the parties (Neale & Northcraft 1991) and should lead to order and stability, foster social harmony, increase feelings of self-efficacy, reduce the probability of future conflict, and stimulate economic prosperity (Rubin et al 1994). Getting the negotiation game right is ever important for managers â€Å"as the global economy expands, as the service sector grows, as corporate restructuring continues and as employees continue to be concerned with managing their own careers† (Neale and Bazerman 1992: 3). The initial stages of the report will cover theory and research on the decision-analytic approach to negotiation and discuss its relevance and potential use for CCC regarding its dispute with the Cowley refuse collectors. I will then identify potential biases and pitfalls that can act as barriers to effective negotiation that CCC should try to avoid. Finally I will conclude and outline suggested proposals for CCC to consider with the aim of assisting and improving their negotiations with the refuse collectors. The decision-analytic approach to decision making is a more pragmatic alternative to the dominant psychological and economic perspectives, which contain a number of limitations. The individual-attribute literature fails to measure dispositions adequately, the situational literature does not consider the importance of the negotiator’s perceptions in interpreting situational characteristics (Neale and Bazerman 1991: 20) and the game theory unrealistically assumes â€Å"impeccably rational, supersmart people† (Raiffa 1982, 2001). What differentiates the decision-analytic approach is its focus on â€Å"how erring folks like you and me actually behave† rather than on how we would behave if we were â€Å"smarter, thought harder, were more consistent, were all knowing† (Raiffa, 1982: 21). Previous psychological and economic approaches have focused on describing how people make decisions or prescribing how to improve decision making. However, â€Å"very little interaction has occurred between the descriptive and prescriptive camps† (Neale and Bazerman 1991: 20), and it is Raiffa’s (1982) avocation of an â€Å"asymmetrical† prescriptive/descriptive relationship that makes the decision-analytic approach stand out, â€Å"creating a prescriptive need to descriptively understand how negotiators actually make decisions† (Bazerman et al 2001). Many scholars hold the view that the prescriptions gained from this model are more valuable than those offered by more traditional approaches (Lax and Sebenius 1986). Raiffa’s framework for approaching effective negotiations distinguishes three sets of information, a combination of which determines the structure of the negotiation game: each parties alternative to a negotiated agreement, each parties set of interests, and the relative importance of each parties interests. â€Å"To develop agreement, people need to get a good understanding of their own preferences and priorities, to communicate those to their counterpart, and to integrate information about other’s preferences and priorities into their own understanding of the problem at hand† (De Dreu et al 2000). Before CCC enter into any negotiations with the refuse collectors, it is imperative to determine a Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA), â€Å"the standard against which any proposed agreement should be  measured† (Fisher, and Ury 1981). Negotiations can be greatly improved by identifying a BATNA and â€Å"carefully evaluating the negotiated agreement against that alternative† (Ertel 1999). This helps negotiators fix a reservation point, a lower bound, which is crucial to monitor throughout the negotiation. Agreements that provide more value than the BATNA are preferred over impasse; likewise any agreements that provide less than the BATNA should be rejected. A potential BATNA for CCC would be to look into other refuse collection companies opening up the possibility of privatisation. The privatisation of refuse collection is a serious consideration in many areas of the UK and a â€Å"major debating point for the city council† (Birmingham Mail 2013) in Birmingham. Waste Concern, a private refuse collection company, claims that 17% of council tax goes towards refuse collection and that privatisation would lead to a cheaper, more frequent collection service, and a more efficient recycling system (edieWaste 2010). If CCC values the current refuse collectors, despite the current dispute, and they are reluctant to consider such an ultimatum, they could consider a more strategic change by introducing the proposed changes incrementally, or by altering the amount of changes being made. It is crucial for negotiators to understand each party’s key interests and how they align (Reardon 2005 : 28). Fisher and Ury (1981) emphasize the importance of the distinction between a parties’ position, and their interests, with a position being the stated requirement that a party demands from the other side, whist an interest is the underlying desire of the negotiator and the motives for their position. It can however be difficult to understand ones interests and those of the other party. CCC’s primary interests are increasing productivity and decreasing costs, whilst the refuse collectors’ interests are concerned with their financial rewards. It is however important to try and understand all of the parties’ interests. The Personnel Director may be under pressure to cut costs in order to stick to a budget so her personal interests may have more focus on performing her job in order to maintain it. The interests of the refuse collectors also concern HR aspects such as, work life balance and training and development. These interests are motives behind the position of their threat of strike, and further scrutiny may offer CCC potential areas to focus on during negotiation. Focussing on deeper interests can provide a more reasonable bargaining platform and a creative and practical solution to a negotiation. Once the interests of each party have been established, it is important for negotiators to try and value the relative importance of each party’s interests. This then allows the parties to effectively trade-off less important issues to gain more important issues. If CCC can establish that, for example, the refuse collectors desire a better work life balance as well as sufficient financial benefits, there may be potential for a medium ground to be reached offering a certain amount of each. The importance of interests often comes down to economic factors, thus job security is frequent consideration. In this instance the job security of the refuse collectors is at risk as there is a chance of redundancies if they do not cooperate. This information provides â€Å"the building blocks for thinking analytically about a negotiation† (Bazerman and Moore 2009:154) and prepares the parties for the two primary tasks of negotiation: creating and claiming value (Lax and Sebenius 1986). It is crucial for negotiators to establish the reservation points of both parties. That is the worst possible outcome they will accept before a negotiation is impasse. With both reservation points established, a positive bargaining zone is created, which allows negotiators to â€Å"aim for a resolution that is barely acceptable to the other party† (Bazerman and Moore 2009: 156) by getting as close to their reservation point as possible. It is however, also vital for both parties to try and cooperate in creating value in the negotiation, as there is often â€Å"opportunity to considerably enlarge the pie before cutting it into shares for each side to enjoy† (Raiffa 2002: 91). Lax and Sebenius (1986) stress that differences must be seen as opportunities, as opposed to barriers, that can be explored to find the most efficient solution rather than just ‘satisficing’ (Simon 1956). According to Schmidt and Tannenbaum (1960) â€Å"differences can help to increase the range and variety of alternatives suggested† and even potentially â€Å"enrich ones own goals, ideas, and methods. † So CCC must capitalise on the differences in the party preferences (Pruitt 1983) by evaluating the  position of the refuse collectors, and looking into finer detail at the interests behind these positions, before attempting to develop â€Å"novel alternatives† through â€Å"creative problem solving† (Neale and Bazerman 1991: 24). Negotiation then depends fundamentally on parties’ ability to trade issues against each other (Froman & Cohen 1970) and â€Å"place demands and formulate concessions to foster agreements that meet their own goals, while avoiding that the counterpart leaves the situation† (De Dreu et al 2000). CCC could for example offer certain alternative benefits to the refuse collectors if the changes are implemented. Perhaps an investment in more efficient equipment and machinery would be appealing. There are certain tools that negotiators can use in order to aid their efforts in collecting information and subsequently increase the probability of creating value. It is certainly the case that deception is often used in negotiation (Schweitzer 1997) and can be an effective strategy for increasing one’s own outcomes (O’Connor and Carnevale 1997). However in this instance, both parties must also note that building trust and initiating a â€Å"free flow of information is critical to finding and integrative agreement† (Johns and Saks 2011)). In heated negotiations this is far easier said than done, as neither side wants to give away too much information on their stance on particular issues. However, CCC is in the position to try and create a trustworthy relationship in order to improve their informational position. The director could inform the refuse collectors of the councils’ pressures and financial limitations that are the driving factor behind the need to change the working practices and make cuts. If no suitable solution is agreed upon, then there may have to be redundancies, as the council cannot overspend. Another tactic could be to strategically disclose some information. As behaviours in negotiation are often reciprocated (Lewicki and Litterer 1985), this may prompt the refuse collectors to open up and start revealing information which may facilitate the negotiation process. CCC must also ask a lot of questions to increase the chances of ascertaining critical information. According to Bazerman and Moore (2009: 162) â€Å"asking questions and listening actively are the keys to collecting important new information from the other side† but it also important for negotiators to remember that information can be gained from what is not said, as well as  what is said. An alternative to trading issues would be for CCC to arrange some kind of contingency contract to verify weather their plans to change working practices is fair or weather it is being rightly disputed by the refuse collectors. CCC could assess a weeks worth of collection rounds and together with the refuse collectors, formulate weekly targets in terms of time and productivity. A weeks trial on this type of contingency contract could easily establish weather CCC’s planned changes are justifiable or not. There are a number of ways in which contingent contracts can benefit the outcomes to negotiations as outlined by Bazerman and Gillespie (1999). Firstly organising the implementation of a contingency contract can identify bluffs by insincere parties. This will aid CCC initially with regard to their uncertainties over issues such as the number of staff needed on each collection round, shift patterns and pay. Contingency contracts are also a useful tool in incentivising performance. It may provide more motivation for the refuse collectors to start working at or above the levels specified in the contract.

Please, Please Do Your Homework Before Pitching

Please, Please Do Your Homework Before Pitching Frequently I receive emails from prospective writers asking what I seek for FundsforWriters. Some go as far as to ask what I pay, how I pay, and how quickly I pay without so much as a hint to what they propose to write. While I know cultures change from country to country, even state to state, the fact is its rather presumptuous to ask how youre going to get paid before you demonstrate youre a writer. If you wish to pitch a magazine, website, newsletter, anthology or prospective client, please do the following first: 1) Read up all you can on the entity before you make a connection. If its a magazine, study the ads, the old articles, and the masthead to see how many articles are usually written in-staff versus freelance. And if they have guidelines, 2) Have a website or blog that demonstrates who you are and what you are capable of doing. 3) Know what youd like to pitch to the publication after understanding what they need. When you pitch, do NOT say the following: 1) You are a new writer seeking to break in. 2) You want to know how and when youll get paid. 3) You want the editor to tell you what to write. 4) You cannot find the guidelines. 5) You are retired, a student, a stay-at-home mom, disabled, a PhD candidate, etc. unless that has everything to do with what you are pitching. Its all about the article and your experience in writing THAT article, not your lifes history or ID. When you pitch, the editor absolutely wants the following: 1) A memo to them personally, not the team, or the editor, or to whom it may concern. 2) A pitch for a story that matches the publication perfectly. 3) Enough

Buboonic Plague essays

Buboonic Plague essays No one - peasant or aristocrat - was safe from the disease [bubonic plague], and once it was contracted, a horrible and painful death was almost a certainty. The dead and the dying lay in the streets abandoned by frightened friends and relatives (482). This certainly paints an accurate and horrifying picture of the fourteenth century during the plague. The bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death or The Plague, (Hindley 103) was one of the major scourges of the Middle Ages. It killed indiscriminately without remorse or thought of consequences. Because the plague was so widespread, theories about causes, blame and a variety of supposed cures abounded. Most of these were without basis or fact and relied on myths and rumors. Theories for the causes and blames came from ignorance and hate, two horrible things married by fear. Some of the cures were not much better than the plague itself. The plague was transmitted to humans by fleas from infected rats that nested in people's roofs (Matthew 154). Fourteenth century man had no concept of how the disease was spread or how it could be stopped. The plague was transmitted to western Europe from China along trade routes (Matthew 154). Once the plague had reached the coast of Europe, it was soon transmitted to the countryside through the commercial trade networks (Matthew 154). The first cases of the plague occurred in a European colony called Genoa (Blum, Cameron and Barnes 38). It was "besieged in 1347" by mongols, who flung plague riddled bodies over the walls of Genoa. This was considered "an early form of biological warfare" (Blum, Cameron and Barnes 38). According to Matthews, "Experts could do nothing to cure or explain the plague" (154). The people of this period had no idea what they were dealing with. Even if they had known what caused the plague, their medical technology was almost nonexistent, so they could not have invented a cure (Matthew 154). Though the doctors of the tim...