Windows -- Bernice Morgan
One would think that waiting for death in the bitter cold of late winter is about as grim as a life can be. But when you are depressed and dirt poor, living in a ramshackle old house that leaks cold air, with a daughter-in-law in the house that you dislike intensely -- and who wants you out of the house whenever possible -- things are seriously awful. For Leah, who has vivid memories of how life used to be in Estonia, her misery is compounded by her confused mind. Author Morgan does a splendid job of portraying Leah's misery -- and the reality of Leah's life beyond Leah's twisted approach to what life she has left -- through three main themes and symbols: colors, sounds, and death. Also incorporated into the short story is Leah's total lack of motivation, her cynical view of the people around her, the conflict she experiences -- which she no doubt exaggerates because Morgan does not provide any scenes that suggest the grandchildren and Ruth are really that annoying. In fact towards the end of the story Morgan lets readers know that Leah "…didn't really know much about her grandchildren." While the story is depressing in many aspects for the reader, at the end of the story there is a sense of hope, there are trees being planted and an old gray warehouse is torn down so the view from Leah's son's house is of the land and not just a boring, drab building next door.
Colors -- Light and Dark
The use of colors -- and of light and dark -- in this short story is an extremely effective use of theme and symbolism. In a short story that is only nine pages, the author needed to pack in as many effective images as possible through the creative use of language to maximize the impact on the reader's consciousness. In this story, color is frequently present in the narrative. Leah has just awakened on another cold winter's morning but the light of morning wasn't what woke her up because there wasn't much daylight available in her bedroom. In the second sentence of the story readers are treated to the ugly image...
(Braga, et. al, 1999). However, the problem is that the study did not directly examine the broken windows theory. While the police present in the study did engage in some of the social order restoration that is characteristic of broken windows policing, they also engaged in overt acts to reduce violent crime, such as removing weapons stashed by local drug dealers. (Braga, et. al, 1999). Obviously, reducing the likelihood
Broken Windows Perspective The world is a scary place. Many of us live in urban areas, where crime rates are reaching all time highs. Yet, still our phobias over crime may tend to be exaggerated. Still, it is clear through the broken windows perspective that allowing the physical space of neighborhoods to decay also results in the increase of crimes in the area; therefore, helping initiate cleaner streets helps hinder crimes,
Broken Window Theory The "broken windows" theory of crime prevention and control is perhaps one of the most widely discussed and least understood law enforcement paradigms, due to the relative simplicity of the theory and the ostensibly dramatic reductions in crime offered by the first studies of cities in which a "broken windows" policy was implemented. The policy was first proposed in the early 1980s, but it was not until the
Broken Windows, Damaged Gutters, and Police Supervision One of the primary obstacles that police reformers face when implementing a community policing philosophy is that it requires that officers, supervisors and communities work together in a 'team' oriented manner to accomplish the tasks at hand. As pointed out in the case study, Sergeant Strzykalski was at first very reluctant to participate in the community policing program in part because his work
Criminology The essence of broken windows theory is that "if a neighborhood or city doesn't fix its broken windows and graffiti, the environment will continue to descend into crime, chaos and violence," (Thompson, 2012). Environmental variables have an impact on crime rates, which is why it is important to pay attention to the foreclosure phenomenon and the phenomenal rate at which foreclosures are happening in certain neighborhoods. A vicious cycle can
Social and Cultural Differences As The Economist (2008) reports, the idea that graffiti and litter can lead to more crime is an old one that was first put forward in the 1980s. The Broken Windows theory of Wilson and Kelling (1982) argued that neighborhoods that are not taken care of physically and that let acts of vandalism go on without cleaning them up or that suffer from too many abandoned buildings
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