In the early stages of civilization there was a small city-state called Babylon in what is now called Mesopotamia that developed the first set of written laws. These laws were based on the idea of an eye for an eye, meaning that a crime was punishable by an infliction of the effect of the crime on its perpetrator. The adage is still visible today, although in a different context, through the idea that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This idea of an equal and opposite reaction is very prevalent in the short story Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk by Nikolai Leskov, in regards to the actions of the stories central figure, Katerina Izmailova. In Lady MacBeth Katerina is guilty of committing a number of sins, some of which she initially gets away with. Katerina is not allowed however, to put her misdeeds behind her as she is punished in the end, both by the state and the author, in a way that provides an equal and opposite reaction to those of her actions that went against the prevailing religious and moral standards of her day, most of which Leskov had a wholehearted faith in.
In Lady MacBeth the main character and woman alluded to in the title of the story is Katerina Lvovna Izmailova. Katerina is the bored housewife of a wealthy merchant who owns a large estate with his father. To work this estate Katerina’s husband employed a number of men who came from a low rank of Russian society. While these serfs worked the land of the estate, Katerina’s husband, Zinovy Izmailov, and her father-in-law, Boris Izmailov, were often away on business, leaving Katerina alone on the estate with the serfs. It was while Zinovy and his father were on such a trip that the troubles of the story begin. Being bored Katerina took to wandering around the estate in order to pass the time when her husband was away. On one such walk Katerina met a man named Sergei who worked on her husband’s estate. Sergei was a handsome and charming man and because of this and the loneliness she felt while her husband was away, Katerina was drawn to Sergei.
From this chance encounter an improper relationship developed between the two of them that saw Katerina break her marital covenant and Sergei follow the path that had gotten him fired from his previous job. Their fulfillment of lustful desires through their improper relationship was soon discovered by Katerina’s father-in-law, who locked Sergei up and planned on informing his son of his wife’s infidelity upon Zinovy’s arrival back at the estate. This development of her father-in-law’s awareness left Katerina with the option to end her relationship with Sergei and go back to being the bored housewife or take drastic measures and maintain her enjoyable relationship with Sergei. Katerina chose to take drastic measures in hopes of being able to continue her relationship with Sergei. These drastic measures Katerina took put her on a path that would end with an ironic twist, as Katerina would suffer through the same pains she put her victims through. These pains, in keeping with theme of an equal and opposite reaction, differed for each of the sins she committed to reflect what it was that she was guilty of.
The first sin she committed was the breaking of her marital covenant. For this she was punished much as she punished her husband after he learned of her affair. When Zinovy returned from his trip he confronted his wife about her affair with Sergei. At this accusation Katerina initially became indignant and denied the whole encounter. But once it was obvious there was no denying their relationship, Katerina began to flaunt the intimacy of the relationship to Zinovy and even called Sergei into the room. This display had a devastating emotional affect on Zinovy, but Katerina was not done with attacking her husband. She then began a physical assault, in addition to the emotional assault she had cast upon Zinovy. This physical assault left Zinovy dead and with Katerina having committed another sin in addition to the sin of adultery. Unfortunately for Katerina the punishment she was to receive for these sins very closely mirror the abuse she directed upon her husband.Critical essay
The punishment took place after Katerina was sent with Sergei to Siberia for their murderous crimes. During their imprisonment Sergei lost all desire for Katerina and started a relationship with another female convict. Sergei initially tried to keep this new relationship a secret but realized it was useless, so instead of hiding the relationship he began to flaunt it. This act by Sergei seems to have caused Katerina emotional damage very similar to that which she inflicted on her husband that night in their bedroom. So at the hands of Sergei, Katerina was punished, by the author, for the breaking of her marital covenant in a manner very similar to the way in which she caused her husband emotional pain. Katerina also murdered her husband that night, and in keeping with the pattern of the book, deserved some sort of punishment that fit that crime. For murder the only equal reaction would be for death to embrace Katerina, and ironically it does in much the same way it did her husband. Katerina’s physical attack on her husband was fueled by her relationship with Sergei and ironically the actions that led to her own death were fueled by her desire to not let Sergei at any price. So instead of dealing with the loss of Sergei she took her own life and balanced the equation she began with the murder of her husband.
The above sequence is an ironic twist that fits the equal and opposite reaction idea discussed in the introduction. This idea of an equal and opposite reaction was however, not used only in response to Katerina’s actions in her bedroom on the night she killed her husband. It was also used to punish Katerina for the greed she exhibited after her husband’s death. This greed was centered on Katerina’s young nephew Fyodor, and the fortune she believed she was entitled to after her husband’s death. Fyodor laid claim to Zinovy’s fortune because Zinovy’s father had borrowed money from young Fyodor to finance some of the estate’s business. This enraged Katerina because without anyone knowing what she had done to Boris and Zinovy, everyone thought Katerina was entitled to take over the estate. But with Fyodor she and Sergei would have to share, and this did not sit well with Katerina. So like before when she killed her husband to keep her relationship with Sergei alive, Katerina was again willing to do whatever it took to satisfy her desires, this time for wealth. For the sin Katerina would commit to keep her hold on her husband’s estate Katerina was sent to jail, but this was only punishment for the act of killing young Fyodor. The punishment the author sentenced Katerina to for her greed was delivered again at the hands of Sergei, the same man who instigated her to commit all her sins. This punishment, which again occurred during Katerina’s imprisonment in Siberia, was based on a pair of stockings. Sergei requested the stockings from Katerina saying that he needed them to protect his ankles and Katerina, in a bid to win him back, obliged his request. But the stockings requested were not for Sergei, they were for his new love interest. Here Katerina’s greed and lust for the man drove her to try everything and sacrifice everything she had in order to get what she wanted. She obviously failed and now not only had to deal with the emotional pain that Sergei had inflicted on her through the knowledge that he had abused her for his own gain, much as she had abused Fyodor for her own gain. But also with the physical pain that came from the sores and blisters she would develop without the proper foot protection.
In each of the situations described above Katerina’s lover Sergei was both the inspiration for the sin and the deliverer of the punishment the author saw fit to be delivered as a result of the sin. This ironic twist was a blow to Katerina that came in addition to the punishment she received based on her breaking of the state’s legal code. With each punishment Katerina received, the idea of an equal and opposite reaction was enforced. Leaving Katerina a broken woman that in the end favored death over the pain associated with seeing the one she risked so much for taken from her.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
Cuban Economy
The centrally planning policy started in Cuba many years ago. When Fidel Castro in July of 1953 started the revolution with Ernesto “Che” Guevara they started what in a few years will become a centrally planned country. This revolutions itself was an “attacked planned revolution” and for this we can see that the signs of a centrally planned system started to appear. In this investigations we will see the characteristics of Cuba when emerging as a socialist country with a very clear economic system and also the development of the main policies carried until now.
When Fidel Castro assumed the leadership of the Revolutionary Government it was clear that a new socialist system was going to implanted in Cuba. The Revolutionary Government (1959-1963) confirmed the first signs of going towards a centrally planned system when their first action during their government was to redistribute much of the land and material wealth of the country. For many people in the lower class they was being seen a sign of improving but nevertheless the middle and upper classes suffer due to this new economic policy. Heavy subsidies and monetary injections from the Soviet Union led the Cuban people to experience a per capita average growth rate of 2.8%. Also more than 2.25 million acres once owned by United States investors were turned into large state-owned farms. With the nationalization, the nature of the Cuban economy was fundamentally altered. Today, Cuba continues to lag far behind the rest of Latin America in economic performance.
A clear characteristic that tells us about the existence of the centrally planned system in Cuba were the first reforms that Castro applied during the revolutionary government. Most of them were quite successful due to the intervention of the USSR and the great strategy settled up by Castro. In economic terms, the first reform that shows us the centrally planned economy was to buy heavy machinery for the state ( this new technology was bought from the USSR) This new machinery helped the Cuban economy due to the dependence on the sugar production was reduced.
Another sign of the centrally planned system were the following steps taken by the leader of the Cuba. After buying new machinery, in course of the years 1960 and 1961 he nationalized foreign enterprises. Although he offered long terms bonds in return he didn’t respect the human right of ownership (a clear sign of the idea that the government should be the organizer of the economy) After sometime this brought problems with the United States of America due to many American sugar mills were also nationalized.
In April of 1961, Castro announced that the revolution was officially a socialist one. Then he took the model of the Soviet Union to be applied it into Cuba. Castro shows us that he applied a centrally planned economy due to he first started a heavy national educational program which involve giving free education for all the potential students in Cuba ( the majority of the Curriculum was analyzed by the government) Also in the year 1962 he improved the health system in Cuba and increased the quality of life of the lower classes at that time.
Another sign that shows us the centrally planned system in Cuba was its relation to the United States of America. As usual this two economical system were confronted because of the different characteristics of their economies. President Kennedy (after a failed invasion to Cuba) got a lot popularity for taking a “strong stand against Communism” . In the other hand the international relations that Cuba had with other communist system are also a prove that this system was applied in this country. Castro improved the relations with China (also a centrally planned country) and therefore adopted many of the reforms that were applied by the Chinese government in that country.
In the mid 1960 Cuba increased it sugar production by the reform of the government that decided to set up an specific target. As any other centrally planned country, Cuba set up its target and the sugar production increase to 8.5 tons in 1970. Because of this Cuba started to assume a leadership role among Third World countries.
Other characteristics of the Cuban economy that can show us the centrally planned systems are the way in which Castro reformed the centrally planned economy in the 1970s. He noticed that the Cuban economy was weak and decide to look up for improvements in the centrally planned economy. The signs of this improvements in the economy are when decided to direct the system to the masses. As in any centrally planned economy the population was brought into a more important level. Castro emphasized the incentives to the workers and introduced practical ideas such as giving memberships to the population to form part of “government-controlled mass organizations”. During these year Castro stretched his relations with the Soviet block and this help him to improved the economy by reducing the shortages in the markets.
Castro showed a lot of preoccupation for the educations of the children towards building into them socialist values. He encouraged many policies to build up new schools and published books that focused on the loyalty towards the revolution. Despite this, in the 1980, Castro decide to open a little bit and experiment with economic liberalism. This is going to start a slow transition to a mixture of a centrally planned economy and a free market one.
In the 1990’s , after the dissolution of the USSR and the unfavorable policy against Cuba settled up by Bush , Castro knew that he had to set up really hard centrally planned policies if he wanted to maintain the Cuban economy in good conditions. He applied many restrictions towards food, energy and public services ( main characteristics in a centrally planned country). Moreover he added a little of economic liberalism in the economy by re-opening the enterprise of tourism and also the international trade between the state-controlled enterprises. Despite the good intentions of this measures they didn’t work and resentment started to growth against the government.
By 1995, the Cuban economy had begun a process of recovery but I has been un-even and the economy has not returned to the pre-crisis level. Cuba’s economy has suffered due to the economic slowdown of 2001. Castro has said that in order to strengthen again the Cuba’s economy human development has to be emphasized , expanding and diversifying exports should also be carried out.
In conclusion , we can see that Cuba is a very clear example of how the centrally planned economy is carried out. We can see that the government itself it’s the one that manages all the resources and impose laws. Fidel Castro’s government had had many advantages for the Cuban economy but as we have seen after loosing the support of the Soviet Union he had to introduce some liberalism to the economy. Despite this we could say that the economic system right now in Cuba is a mixed one. Another conclusion that we can arrive is that a centrally planned economy suffers a lot if others factors in the economy of other countries change drastically as in the economic slowdown of 2001.
When Fidel Castro assumed the leadership of the Revolutionary Government it was clear that a new socialist system was going to implanted in Cuba. The Revolutionary Government (1959-1963) confirmed the first signs of going towards a centrally planned system when their first action during their government was to redistribute much of the land and material wealth of the country. For many people in the lower class they was being seen a sign of improving but nevertheless the middle and upper classes suffer due to this new economic policy. Heavy subsidies and monetary injections from the Soviet Union led the Cuban people to experience a per capita average growth rate of 2.8%. Also more than 2.25 million acres once owned by United States investors were turned into large state-owned farms. With the nationalization, the nature of the Cuban economy was fundamentally altered. Today, Cuba continues to lag far behind the rest of Latin America in economic performance.
A clear characteristic that tells us about the existence of the centrally planned system in Cuba were the first reforms that Castro applied during the revolutionary government. Most of them were quite successful due to the intervention of the USSR and the great strategy settled up by Castro. In economic terms, the first reform that shows us the centrally planned economy was to buy heavy machinery for the state ( this new technology was bought from the USSR) This new machinery helped the Cuban economy due to the dependence on the sugar production was reduced.
Another sign of the centrally planned system were the following steps taken by the leader of the Cuba. After buying new machinery, in course of the years 1960 and 1961 he nationalized foreign enterprises. Although he offered long terms bonds in return he didn’t respect the human right of ownership (a clear sign of the idea that the government should be the organizer of the economy) After sometime this brought problems with the United States of America due to many American sugar mills were also nationalized.
In April of 1961, Castro announced that the revolution was officially a socialist one. Then he took the model of the Soviet Union to be applied it into Cuba. Castro shows us that he applied a centrally planned economy due to he first started a heavy national educational program which involve giving free education for all the potential students in Cuba ( the majority of the Curriculum was analyzed by the government) Also in the year 1962 he improved the health system in Cuba and increased the quality of life of the lower classes at that time.
Another sign that shows us the centrally planned system in Cuba was its relation to the United States of America. As usual this two economical system were confronted because of the different characteristics of their economies. President Kennedy (after a failed invasion to Cuba) got a lot popularity for taking a “strong stand against Communism” . In the other hand the international relations that Cuba had with other communist system are also a prove that this system was applied in this country. Castro improved the relations with China (also a centrally planned country) and therefore adopted many of the reforms that were applied by the Chinese government in that country.
In the mid 1960 Cuba increased it sugar production by the reform of the government that decided to set up an specific target. As any other centrally planned country, Cuba set up its target and the sugar production increase to 8.5 tons in 1970. Because of this Cuba started to assume a leadership role among Third World countries.
Other characteristics of the Cuban economy that can show us the centrally planned systems are the way in which Castro reformed the centrally planned economy in the 1970s. He noticed that the Cuban economy was weak and decide to look up for improvements in the centrally planned economy. The signs of this improvements in the economy are when decided to direct the system to the masses. As in any centrally planned economy the population was brought into a more important level. Castro emphasized the incentives to the workers and introduced practical ideas such as giving memberships to the population to form part of “government-controlled mass organizations”. During these year Castro stretched his relations with the Soviet block and this help him to improved the economy by reducing the shortages in the markets.
Castro showed a lot of preoccupation for the educations of the children towards building into them socialist values. He encouraged many policies to build up new schools and published books that focused on the loyalty towards the revolution. Despite this, in the 1980, Castro decide to open a little bit and experiment with economic liberalism. This is going to start a slow transition to a mixture of a centrally planned economy and a free market one.
In the 1990’s , after the dissolution of the USSR and the unfavorable policy against Cuba settled up by Bush , Castro knew that he had to set up really hard centrally planned policies if he wanted to maintain the Cuban economy in good conditions. He applied many restrictions towards food, energy and public services ( main characteristics in a centrally planned country). Moreover he added a little of economic liberalism in the economy by re-opening the enterprise of tourism and also the international trade between the state-controlled enterprises. Despite the good intentions of this measures they didn’t work and resentment started to growth against the government.
By 1995, the Cuban economy had begun a process of recovery but I has been un-even and the economy has not returned to the pre-crisis level. Cuba’s economy has suffered due to the economic slowdown of 2001. Castro has said that in order to strengthen again the Cuba’s economy human development has to be emphasized , expanding and diversifying exports should also be carried out.
In conclusion , we can see that Cuba is a very clear example of how the centrally planned economy is carried out. We can see that the government itself it’s the one that manages all the resources and impose laws. Fidel Castro’s government had had many advantages for the Cuban economy but as we have seen after loosing the support of the Soviet Union he had to introduce some liberalism to the economy. Despite this we could say that the economic system right now in Cuba is a mixed one. Another conclusion that we can arrive is that a centrally planned economy suffers a lot if others factors in the economy of other countries change drastically as in the economic slowdown of 2001.
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