Factors Which Affect Peoples Travel Patterns Tourism Essay

Factors Which Affect Peoples Travel Patterns Tourism Essay This essay will discuss the extent to which the form and structure of the city, along with its transport network influences individual travel patterns. The different types of areas within metropolitan Perth will also be taken into consideration. Due to the fact that the size of a city correlates with its density, the densest cities tend to also be the largest cities, which will in turn mean that people living in such a city are expected to embark on longer commutes. According to Brindle, there is a small but significant relationship between residential density and car ownership: a large increase in residential density is associated with a small decrease in car ownership. It can also be deducted that the primary determinants of car ownership in a home include the size of the household, income, and the number of workers per household. Transit availability is also a significant factoring determining car ownership. (Brindle R 2003) Recent research shows that peoples travel behavior is related to certain characteristics of the built environment. This kind of travel behavior which includes trip-making frequency, distance and time travelled havebeen studied for a variety of land use patterns, street networks and streetscape design features. Table 1gives a synthesis of past research on urban form and travel behaviour relationship. Broadly, it can beobserved that studies related to urban form and travel patterns originate from diverse sources andencompass a variety of geographic scale and locations. To add to this diversity, many differentcharacteristics of urban form too have been examined in these studies and travel patterns have beenmeasured in a number of ways. This section brings together the urban form indicators used and results ofrecent studies concerning urban form and travel patterns.Travel patterns are a result of individual choice to pursue activity at another location, choice ofdestination, choice of mode, choice of route and time (Munshi, 2003). Thus travel is a function ofcharacteristics of the base location (origin of the travel) and the environment surrounding the baselocation. The surrounding environment to the base location has been studied in various terms, e.g.through distance to opportunities, like distance to city centre or sub centres. Distance to the city centrehas been studied in relation to travel distance and transport energy consumption by (Naess and Sandberg,1996; Stead and Marshall, 2001; Mogridge, 1985). Another indicator of the surrounding environment tothe base location is related to the mixing of land use as this is assumed to affect the physical separation ofactivities in the environment surrounding the base location and therefore is a determinant of travel Page 3 XIII Back to menu Retour ausommaire 3 demand. It has been mainly measured as the job ratio and has been studied in relation to journeyfrequency in (Ewing, 1995) as well as in relation to proportion of trips made by non-motorized modes in(Cervero, 1989). The proportion of residential to non residential use has also been studied in relation to atransport mode index in (Zhang and Guindon, 2006). An aggregate measure of land use mix (termed asdiversity) was examined by Cervero and Kockelman (1997), who report a link between land use mix andtotal non-work travel distance. The provision of local facilities and services may clearly reduce traveldistance and increase the proportion of short journeys capable of being travelled by non-motorizedmodes. Winter and Farthing (1997) reported that the provision of local facilities in new redevelopmentreduces average trip distances. Hanson (Hanson, 1982) reports similar findings, showing that theproximity to local facilities is positively associated with average distance taking into account averagesocio-economic characteristics of the trip maker. The type of neighbourhood at the base location is alsoknown to affect travel as reported in Cevero and Kockelman (1997). They found that neighbourhoodswith high proportion of four-way intersection and limited on-street parking abutting commercialestablishment tended to have an average less drive-alone travel for non-work purposes. Factors which affect peoples travel patterns Humans are naturally built to move around and travel. As soon as a person starts growing and has the strength, the person begins to go to various destinations and starts crawling around the house or running around, or walking to a friends house. As adults we frequently hurry to vehicles to go off somewhere. According to their age and other socio-demographic factors, people travel to various places by many modes. As it is though, the environment in which we currently live is planned for and traditionally suited to automobile travel. This narrow transportation planning vision compromises all of our travel decisions, but increasingly so for children and the caregivers who must provide them transportation to their important activities such as education and social events (Beauumont and Pianca 20023.2 Transportation Mode and Spatial Learning Although studies carried out by cognitive mapping researchers point to a connection between spatial learning, and travel patterns, not much can be concluded about the manner in which existing transportation infrastructures affect peoples travel patterns and route selection. Recent research suggests that transportation infrastructure and modal networks such as transit routes, sidewalks, local streets, bike lanes, freeway networks and roads does have an effects on the travel behavior and the development of cognitive maps.The hierarchical nature of both transportation networks and land use systems in an urbanenvironment can affect the cognitive mapping process. In general, the more significant aparticular pathway or landmark is to an individuals navigation, the more it will dominate thecognitive map (7). The hierarchies of pathways in a region, such as highway and freewaysegments dominating arterial and main roads, which in turn dominate local community andneighborhood street systems, contribute to the hierarchical organization of cognitive maps. Infact, individuals will recognize elements in the environment more quickly if primed by a cue Mondschein, Blumenberg, and Taylor6from the same portion of their regional hierarchy. Zannaras also found that the layout of a citysignificantly explained variations in the accuracy of wayfinding and location tasks (20). Sectorally-organized cities proved the more effective for remembering locations, whileconcentrically-organized cities made wayfinding and location tasks more difficult. Likewise,familiarity, or route learning, is clearly an important part of both route selection and modechoice because familiarity is dependent on repeated experience. Stern and Portugali highlighttwo aspects of route familiarity: [1] Familiarity with city structures, specific experience of a given locality in the city, and a general familiarity with the road hierarchy, signage, and traffic also affect peoples travel patterns. People who made use of different modes of transportation and travel tend to develop different degrees of familiarity with each transport system. This shows that individuals who use different transportation networks, will understand the same urban environment from differing perspectives. For example automobile users and transit users, will understand a given city in very different ways. Much of the scholarship on cognitive mapping has focused on drivers and the street andhighway network (22). This emphasis is likely due to the dominant role of automobiles as wellas the route flexibility associated with using the street network. Yet preliminary evidencesuggests that cognitive maps are differentially shaped by alternate transportation modes. Forexample, we know that individuals who rely on public transit or walking, on average, travelshorter distances and travel less frequently than those who travel by motor vehicle. Therefore,one can hypothesize that the scope of their spatial knowledge would be more limited anddifferently configured (by, for example, the network of transit routes) than those who rely onautomobiles and can travel longer distances at greater flexibility and speed. The quality and detail of spatial maps also may differ by mode. In a study of childrentraveling to school, active modes of travel, such as walking and biking, appear to contributemore to the development of spatial knowledge than passive modes of travel, such as beingchauffeured by an adult or riding in a school bus. Specifically, walking and cycling to schoolhave been found to increase knowledge of the environment in comparison to children who arebused (23). These results suggest that variation in transportation mode may result in verydifferent levels of functional accessibility for individuals from otherwise similar socioeconomicor cultural backgrounds. Finally, research also suggests that travel behavior is influenced by perceptions ofdistance which affect the decision to stay or goà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the decision of where to goà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦[and] thedecision of which route to take (24). Cognition of environmental distance is influenced bypathway features, travel time, and travel effort which are substantially different depending ontravel mode (25). The characteristics of travel by transit, which include indeterminate waiting attransfer points and walking trips between services, may add to cognitive distance in a way thatauto travel does not.Drawing on a path-based theory of spatial learning, differences in cognitive mapsbetween socioeconomic groups may also be explained at least in part by the different travelpatterns of those groups. Certainly, adults in higher income households are more likely to havereliable access to automobiles. In contrast, over one quarter of low-income households do nothave automobiles and are transit dependent (26). But transit use is also high among adults inlow-income households with automobiles since oftentimes there are too few vehicles toaccommodate the number of household drivers. In addition to the well documented role that cognitive maps play in explainingwayfinding and route choice, we hypothesize that travel by different modes in more or lesstransit- and pedestrian-friendly areas systematically manifests in individuals cognitive mapsstructured more by transit networks (i.e. transit lines, stations, and stops) than by the arterials,Mondschein, Blumenberg, and Taylor7collectors, and local streets that make up urban street networks. In other words, a modallyspecific wayfinding experience significantly and systematically influences the formation ofcognitive maps. And these maps, in turn, influence trip generation, trip distribution, and modechoice The impact of differences in socio-demographics on personal travel behavior Individuals generate extremely complex travel-activity patterns as they participate in daily activities at different times and in different locations many researchers have conceptualized this observed behavior patterns as the outcome of choices made within constraints. The preferred activity choices utility maximization is employed. Maintenance of an individuals schedule is the key service, this helps activities to be scheduled, the individuals all have an agenda and all negotiate with other individuals to schedule social activities more especially negotiating about participants, location and time. Individuals update their state after participating in an activity and this depends on their satisfaction with their activity and no doubt individuals will come across new people as a result of this activities Another important service happens to be the maintenance of a personal network because just as their activities are influenced by their social network, their network in turn is influenced by their activity participation; individuals may visit or learn about new locations, they will also keep track of these locations they are familiar with, they will likely share them with others which is a form of influence Interaction design: interaction between agents are an important component of agent- based applications. Agents have agenda, interact and negotiate with others to schedule social activities and it includes participants, locations and time, agents interactionx have several components, the negotiation set ( the possible proposal) strategies, a rule to determine that the interaction is complete (Wooldridge, 2002) Fatima et, al (2002) explains three methods for dealing with issues in multi-issue negotiation: all issues discussed together, issues discussed separately or issues discussed one after the other. It has been shown that proposing complete deals at each step is computationally more complex because it has such advantage as pareto optimality (Fatima et al 2006). For the negotiation set, list of activity pattern has been developed including the activity purpose and location as well as indication of which acquaintances are likely to be involved and when interacting with colleagues likely during the week while weekend is for family visit In the model, it is difficult to decide issues independently eg the activity is likely to determine time, location etc and the order they should be discussed, should the activity or the location be decided first? However the choices sets for certain issues are decided independently. The protocol proceeds as follows the host proposes an activity to one or more of its acquaintances eg time and location could be there the respondent gives possible days and time they will be available, the host adjust the time to make it convenient for many to be available the respondent suggest location, the host creates intersection amongst those received, the host creates list bof potential activities, the respondent ranks them the host determinesa best activity based on every ones ranking and informs respondent of the details The effects of urban form and structure on personal travel behavior The relationship between city structure and travel behavior has been extensively researched by urban economists, geographers, and city planners. There has been a steady increase in the rate of car ownership and use in the twentieth century. There also seems to have been a steady decline in the use of transit and other modes, and the decentralization of both population and employment. Trends in travel and land use have complimented and re-enforced one another: growingcar ownership generated demand for highways, development of the highway systemchanged accessibility patterns, and population and jobs responded to these new patternsof accessibility (Jackson, 1986; Muller, 1981, 1995). By 1990, the suburbs of USmetropolitan areas were home to about 62 percent of the metropolitan population and 52percent of the jobs. At the same time, per capita car ownership and travel have reachedall-time highs (Pisarksy, 1996). 1 This section is drawn from Giuliano, 2000.2 See reviews by Giuliano, 1995; Anas, Arnott, and Small, 1998; Pickrell, 1999. From a broad perspective, city form, structure, land use and transportation trends are quite closely related. However, the historical record does not necessarily provideuseful evidence for understanding land use and transportation at a single point in time,and the empirical research on relationships between daily travel and land usecharacteristics is far less clear. Metropolitan Size and DensityExtensive research has been conducted on the relationship between metropolitandensity and modal split, commute trip length and total automobile travel. Newman andKenworthy (1989a, 1989b, 1998) conducted comparative studies of per capita gasolineconsumption and metropolitan densities. A comparison of cities around the worldyielded a non-linear relationship of increasing per capita gasoline consumption withdeclining density. Their work has been extensively criticized, primarily because percapita fuel consumption is an indirect measure of auto travel and because they fail toaccount for many other factors which affect automobile use, such as the employment rateor household size (Gordon and Richardson, 1989; Gomez-Ibaņ ez, 1991). Pushkarev and Zupan (1977) documented a positive relationship betweenpopulation density and transit use, using data from 105 urbanized areas for 1960 and1970. Gordon, Richardson, and Jun (1991) found that cities with higher average densitieshave longer automobile commute times than those with lower average densities. Notingthat density is a measure of concentration, the authors conclude that shorter commutesindicate greater efficiency of low density urban form: decentralization of both populationand jobs allows people to economize to a greater extent in selecting their job and housinglocations. The effects of various transport networks and service patterns on personal travel behavior. The personal travel environment can be described in terms of such dimensions as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Location à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Access to the central-place system of the region (Christaller, 1933) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Access to work, shopping and leisure facilities à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Provision of infrastructure facilities à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Public transport supply à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Settlement structure and density à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Topographybut also in terms of certain configurations, such as suburban structures, urban blocks or de-tached house-settlements. As an outcome of this differentiation and of the functional separa-tion in general, the individual environments offer different opportunities with regards towork, shopping or leisure activities.This paper analyses the interactions between these spatial dimensions, the individual charac-teristics of the travellers and the observed travel behaviour. The Personal Travel behavior of various individuals is affected by transportation network and service pattern in a city. This personal travel behavior which includes both the short-term and long-term travel choices of individuals in the city constitutes some central elements like car ownership and season tickets for public transportation, as well as destination, mode, activity and choice of location. Going by recent research and literature, there hasnt been any consensus reached about the effects of city spatial structure on personal travel behavior. Generally, there are differeing opinions about thsis. Some studies suggest that the impact of transportation network and service pattern on personal travel behavior is rather small (Bagley and Moktharian, 2000; Schimek, 1996;Petersen and Schallabà ¶ck, 1995; Downs, 1992; Schmiedel, 1984). Some other studies lean towards the conclusion that at least some variables are dependent on the transportation network, spatial structure and service pattern obtainable in the city. (Ewing andCervero, 2001; Newman and Kenworthy, 1999; Wiederin, 1997; Holz-Rau, 1990; Sammer etal., 1990). Travel behavior is also affected by accessibility of facilities. this also goes to show the efforts of the surrounding residential area on individual travel behavior. If a person is able to reach a range of facilities within walking distance, then the probability of a locally oriented travel behavior with smaller distances will increase, as well as increased number of walking trips The reason for this contradiction is not a basic difference in the assumptions accepted, butrather the selected spatial variables and the approaches used. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Spatial structure: For example, some investigations concluding space- independence of travel behaviour characterise the spatial structure of areas only bythe number of inhabitants a variable known to have little explanatory power inother investigations, either. According to other studies the accessibility of facilities is one of the most important spatial variables (Kitamura, Akiyama, Yamamoto andGolob, 2001; Handy and Niemeier, 1997; Simma, 2000). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Approaches used: The question, whether the analyses are conducted at an aggregate or disaggregate level, has influence on the results. Mostly, the results at an aggregatelevel are more conclusive than the results at a disaggregate level. One reason for thisis that other factors influencing travel behaviour are normally not included in aggre-gate models. But especially these factors can be very important, as disaggregatemodels have shown (Bagley and Moktharian, 2000; Simma 2000).The remainder of the paper is organised as follows: First, the study area and the computationof accessibility measures is described followed by a description of the data source used forthe analysis. Then the modelling approach Structural Equation Modelling is briefly out-lined. The core of the paper is the discussion of disaggregate person-level models for twomain trip purposes (shopping and working). The results are summarised and interpreted in thediscussion. Based on this recommendations are given. 2. Study area: Upper Austria The general focus of the study the interactions between the spatial structure, personal char-acteristics and travel behaviour cannot be investigated without a specific spatial frame. Inthis case, the Austrian province (Land) Oberà ¶sterreich was selected for two main reasons. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Availability of suitable travel survey data: The provincial government of Up-per Austria conducted a very detailed and quantitatively rich travel survey in1992, whose data was available for the study. Additional spatial variables foreach municipality were added. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Small Austria: Upper Austria can be regarded as a scale model of Austria.All regional types which can be found in Austria also can be found in UpperAustria a big agglomeration from an Austrian perspective, alpine regions, in-dustrial areas and less developed rural regions. Page 5 2.1 General description Upper Austria is one of the nine Austrian provinces. It is located west of Vienna, east of Mu-nich and south of Prague. It has a size of 12000 km ² and about 1.3 million inhabitants. At avery general level Upper Austria can be divided into three parts into the Bà ¶hmische Massivin the north of Upper Austria, the Alpenvorland in the centre of the province and the Alps inthe south.The northern part of Upper Austria is disadvantaged in several ways. This area is neither wellsuited for agriculture nor for tourism. Additionally the border to the Czech Republic wasclosed for the five decades of the Cold War. As a result, the opportunities for industrial de-velopment after World War II were limited. The situation is different in the other parts of Up-per Austria. The Alpenvorland is the centre of agriculture and industry, including a number oflarge scale factory complexes in the main cities. Half of the population lives in the Alpen-vorland, and 13 of the 15 largest towns are situated here. The Alps, especially the Salzkam-mergut with its lakes and the skiing areas, are dependent on tourism, including second-homeownership.Upper Austria consists of 15 districts, three cities with district status (Linz, Steyr and Wels)and 445 incorporated municipalities. The respective district capitals are both centres of thelocal administration, as well as of shopping and industrial location for their area. Linz is thecapital of the province and by far its largest city. The 445 municipalities are very different intheir spatial, socio-demographic and economic characteristics. The provinces overall struc-ture can be characterised as follows (see Table 1 for a more detailed description of the spatialattributes). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Distribution of the inhabitants: 26% of the municipalities have less than 1000inhabitants, 40% of the municipalities have between 1000 and 2000 inhabitantsand further 18% of the municipalities have between 2000 and 3000 inhabitants.Only one municipality has more than 100000 inhabitants Linz. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Location of the municipalities: The location of a municipality can be describedby two distance-variables the distance to the relevant district capital and thedistance to Linz. For the districts along the border to the Land Salzburg, Salz-burg is the relevant main centre for employment and shopping. The distance toSalzburg replaces the distance to Linz for all municipalities, where more resi-dents recorded trips to Salzburg than to Linz. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Number of accessible facilities: The number of accessible facilities is a meas-ure for the supply of activity opportunities for a particular household. It is high,if a household can reach a shop, a supermarket, a bank, a post-office, a kinder- Page 6 garten, school, a pharmacy and a doctor in walking-distance (ten minutes). Itequals zero, if the household cannot reach any facility within this time. In everymunicipality there are at least some households which cannot reach any facilitywithin a reasonable walking distance. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Share of working women: Between 25 and 50% of the women in a municipal-ity are working. This variable is used in the models, because it characterises theimportance of the traditional nuclear family and the sex-specific division of la-bour within the municipalities. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Commuting: Because workplaces are mainly concentrated in Linz and the dis-trict capitals, people in the small villages often have to commute. In some mu-nicipalities more than 80% of the working adults are commuters. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Share of farms: In some communities, the agriculture is still dominant indicat-ing a relatively low state of development. The importance of the agriculture maynot only be shown by its share of employees, but also by the share of farmsamong all buildings. The latter variable is especially interesting because manyfarms are run by farmers on a part-time basis.Table 1Descriptive statistics for the municipalities of Upper Austria (445 municipalities) MeanStandarddeviationMinimumMaximumNumber of inhabitants308110530245208727Distance to district capital1710059Distance to Linz (Salzburg)46210143Number of reachable facilities (mu-nicipality level)2.61.407.2Number of reachable facilities(household)3.93.208Share of farms1912069Share of commuters62111584Share of working women3642550 These figures are calculated for each single municipality without considering the neighbour-ing municipalities and their attributes. Statements across municipal borders can be made byapplying accessibility-measures. Page 7 2.2 Accessibility measures There is a wide range of possible definitions for the term accessibility, such as the potentialof opportunities for interaction, the ease of spatial interaction or the attractiveness of anode in a network taking into Travel is derived from activities that involve people participating in things such as school, work, sport, shopping, social events leisure. Activities that is non-discretionary such as work and school can be explained in part by the travelers socio-demographic characteristics and generalized travel cost (Hackney and Marchal, 2007). Other things not easily predictable are long term decisions such as moving to a particular town, participating in other activities etc, the reported purpose for a large number of trips are social and leisure ranging from 25 to 40% for various countries (Axhausen 2006). Interest people in activities participation is as well driven by our changing use of information communication technology, the need for physically visiting places is drastically reduced by the use of internet for activities such as banking, shopping and participating in online communication or conversation and in overall, it affects peoples travel behaviors. People could change their activity schedules and their transport plans on the fly as a result of receiving information via a mobile phone whilst traveling or participating in an activity outside the home. A graphic representation of individuals and their relationship could be seen in social network, if these social networks are well understood it will lead to a better prediction of social activity schedules and forecast of travel patterns and demand for urban facilities more especially those that have to do with social and leisure activities. The understanding of these social networks comes in handy in influencing the urban design of residential areas and public spaces in order to encourage participation in social leisure activities in local communities. Trip destination is determined by the members of ones social network because that is where the social activities go towards. Mc Pherson et, al. (2001) defined homophile as principle that contact between similar people occurs at a higher rate than among dissimilar people, some of the attributes used as similar measures includes age, social class, occupation, abilities etc. distance plays a key role in the maintenance of relationships. McPherson et al (2001) claim that the most basic source of homophily is space because according to him we are more likely to have contact with those who are closer to us in geographic distance than those who are distant. People influence each other by providing information or observing behavior eg a friend tells you about a barbing saloon and you wish to go get a haircut there. Other factors that indirectly influence travel behaviors includes moving closer to ones workplace, family or choice of vehicle. Greater proportion of travel has to do with social/leisure purposes; there is every need to understand the reason behind these. Agent based modeling is commonly used for applications where the behavior and intentions of heterogeneous individuals as well interactions between individuals is required. Lists of attributes have been presented by Bonabeau (2002) and Macaland North (2006) that systems should possess in order for agent based modeling to be considered include; relationship form and dissolve, agents have dynamic relationship with other agents, agents have a spatial component to their behaviors and interactions . These are complex relationships and interactions between individuals and the individuals situated ness in an urban environment, each agent will have some level of satisfaction and will derive utility from sharing objectives, if along the line they are not satisfied with this current situation, then they will try to change it. The same applies to their involvement in the community, it depends on their needs The environment has a network representation derived from the actual road network. These links contain attributes for the actual distance and ideas of travel times for different modes. Nodes exist at a point in space and mostly contain location that represent where joint activities take place or can be undertaken; there are different types of location and each type has a set of attributes, the major distinction between private and public residence (eg museums, parks, restaurants, gyms etc) they have opening hours Personal social network defines each persons acquaintances, each pair has a type of relationship (eg friend, work etc) and can also tell how long they have seen each other, this model also contain neighborhood, here groups are formal and informal clubs that the individual is a member of eg special interest clubs, sports club etc, here the individual is effectively connected to many people, some connections may remain as friends even when the individual has left the club, t

Arvay’s Epiphany in Hurston’s Seraph on the Suwanee Essay -- Hurston’s

Arvay’s Epiphany in Hurston’s Seraph on the Suwanee In the middle of Chapter four, we find Jim and Arvay in the middle of a journey to the courthouse; the reader, halfway through the journey from the top of the page encounters an interior journey as Arvay travels within herself. This four-line passage serves as a milestone marking the beginning of the narrative, which is a journey across the landscape of the life of Jim and Arvay’s relationship. The passage begins with â€Å"The elements opened above Avery and she arose inside of herself†(57). The first clause of this sentence has a poetic eye focusing on an atmosphere, or an aura rising and expanding around Arvay’s form, perhaps circular, like the break in clouds whereby a ray of sunshine appears, suggesting even further, the halo, or the circle of seraphim as described in the words of the prophets. The coordinating conjunction â€Å"and† begins the second clause, implying the synchronous relation between the outer sky change, and the inner event of rising â€Å"inside of herself.† In this sense her experiences, her conversation with Jim, her anxieties about her â€Å"secret sin,† her religious drive converge and for a brief space are unifying, interlocking, affirming and redeeming. The mystical language employed reveals a kind of â€Å"interpenetration.† That this epiphany comes at the moment when she is discussing her own rape with the man that raped her shows the way in which she thinks about her experiences. Also, this passage shows how Jim speaks to her in ways that produce thoughts and feelings that she cannot seem to find words for annunciation. Her mystical language contrasts sharply with Jim’s straightforward sentences, recalling the title of the novel, Seraph on the Sewanee. After reading... ... complex allowing no passage to Jim or anyone else. The epiphany resulting from her sacrifice â€Å"under the mulberry tree† exemplifies how Jim talks to her, but she cannot respond in ways that he can understand, leaving her helpless to the world around her while Jim is continuously carrying her off over further horizons. Throughout the book she continues this movement upward and outwards into the world, though with the limits of her tongue. In the end, as she becomes reconciled with the world she discovers the â€Å"Resurrection† where â€Å"Human flesh was full of mysteries and a wonderful unknown thing†(350). If the epiphany at the conclusion of the novel marks point Omega, then the Alpha point comes in this passage in the middle of Chapter four at the moment she tries to place her relationship with Jim, and the suffering from the rape within her understanding of the Cosmos. Arvay’s Epiphany in Hurston’s Seraph on the Suwanee Essay -- Hurston’s Arvay’s Epiphany in Hurston’s Seraph on the Suwanee In the middle of Chapter four, we find Jim and Arvay in the middle of a journey to the courthouse; the reader, halfway through the journey from the top of the page encounters an interior journey as Arvay travels within herself. This four-line passage serves as a milestone marking the beginning of the narrative, which is a journey across the landscape of the life of Jim and Arvay’s relationship. The passage begins with â€Å"The elements opened above Avery and she arose inside of herself†(57). The first clause of this sentence has a poetic eye focusing on an atmosphere, or an aura rising and expanding around Arvay’s form, perhaps circular, like the break in clouds whereby a ray of sunshine appears, suggesting even further, the halo, or the circle of seraphim as described in the words of the prophets. The coordinating conjunction â€Å"and† begins the second clause, implying the synchronous relation between the outer sky change, and the inner event of rising â€Å"inside of herself.† In this sense her experiences, her conversation with Jim, her anxieties about her â€Å"secret sin,† her religious drive converge and for a brief space are unifying, interlocking, affirming and redeeming. The mystical language employed reveals a kind of â€Å"interpenetration.† That this epiphany comes at the moment when she is discussing her own rape with the man that raped her shows the way in which she thinks about her experiences. Also, this passage shows how Jim speaks to her in ways that produce thoughts and feelings that she cannot seem to find words for annunciation. Her mystical language contrasts sharply with Jim’s straightforward sentences, recalling the title of the novel, Seraph on the Sewanee. After reading... ... complex allowing no passage to Jim or anyone else. The epiphany resulting from her sacrifice â€Å"under the mulberry tree† exemplifies how Jim talks to her, but she cannot respond in ways that he can understand, leaving her helpless to the world around her while Jim is continuously carrying her off over further horizons. Throughout the book she continues this movement upward and outwards into the world, though with the limits of her tongue. In the end, as she becomes reconciled with the world she discovers the â€Å"Resurrection† where â€Å"Human flesh was full of mysteries and a wonderful unknown thing†(350). If the epiphany at the conclusion of the novel marks point Omega, then the Alpha point comes in this passage in the middle of Chapter four at the moment she tries to place her relationship with Jim, and the suffering from the rape within her understanding of the Cosmos.

Advantages and Disadvantages in the Lake District National Park

This is an essay about the advantages and disadvantages that arise in and about National Parks, focusing on the Lake District National Park. The Lake District is shown on the map below. As you can see the Lake District is situated in Cumbria in the North West of England. The Lake District National Park is the largest National Park in Britain. It was established in 1951 and covers an area of 2,292 sq. km. It is home to the largest lake in Britain -lake Windermere which is an amazing 16.9km long, 2km wide and has an area of 16sq km-quite a lot of water! It is also home to Scaffel Pike which is the largest mountain in England rising to a very tall 966m. Both of these features, along with many more, encourage people to visit the park. The Lake District is one of the National Parks in Wales and England, the others being Exmoor Dartmoor The Pembrokeshire Coast The Brecon Beacons The Yorkshire Dales Northumberland Snowdonia And The North York Moor 7% of all the land in England is National Park Land and 20% of the land in Wales in National Parks. A National Park is defined as an area of scenic beauty. National Parks have two main aims A) To preserve and care for the beautiful environment may it be coast or mountains and all the wildlife/plants in them B) To provide a place for recreation, relaxation and enjoyment open to everyone. You would think it would be easy to provide a pretty, safe place for people to visit/live/work. You must think again! National Parks are at the centre of much controversy and arguments-as you are about to find out yet still manage to have many, many advantages. One of the advantages of a National Park are that they are a great place for people to come and relax. Anyone can enjoy a visit to a National Park-families, individuals, the elderly and so on. Some parks (although not the Lake District) are also used by the army as part of their training process. Obviously, there are farmers on the land too who depend on it to make a living. The Lake District is a place where you can do a number of activities- * Walking * Outdoor Pursuits (e.g. Canoeing, climbing etc) * Going on a leisurely boat ride on the lakes (especially Windermere) * Having a nice picnic or day out in some of the specially developed areas or on the mountains themselves. * Camping * Water skiing * Angling * Bird watching /general nature looking * Power boating * And generally relaxing and having a great time! Here is a map of the Lake District itself. Note all of the high land (brown bits) and lakes (blue bits) DISADVANTAGES As with every national Park there are some disadvantages. These are usually roughly the same in any National Park and there is not positive way of getting rid of all the problem without banning people to go to the National Parks which kind of defeats the object. Traffic Congestion is a major problem. The small, narrow steep, winding country roads just can't cope with the volume of traffic which is passing to get to the park. As most of the visitors to the National Park travel by car it is indeed a serious problem. In the Lake District the main problems are at Great Langdale, Borrowdale and Kentmere. There is also another big problem-car parking facilities. These are restricted causing some people to leave their cars parked at the side of the road causing further traffic problems affecting the local people who just want to get on with their day to day business. As there are more vehicles about this leads to more air pollution, which makes the area less pleasant to visit. As said before there are few solutions to this problem. You could build big two-lane roads to replace the small ones but this would cause a number of problems A) it would be very expensive B) it is probable that there will not be room to expand the roads C) It would spoil the scenic beauty and quaintness of the place and the villagers won't be happy. These are just some of the many hundreds of possible problems so this option is not really an options(it you get me). The NPA (National Park Association) along with the Cumbria County council and Countryside Commission came up with a plan in 1995 to try to reduce traffic congestion. It involved restricting access along the very popular routes, closing some roads all together and encouraging the use of public transport. Walking and cycling rather than cars once inside the national Park. For this to be successful the public transport facilities would have to be greatly improved. All of this would mean, perhaps, fewer visitors thus bringing less money into the area. The locals who make a living out of this trade would lose out. Footpath erosion is a major problem in the Lake District like the Brecon Beacons in South Wales and indeed many other National Parks. The amount of walkers using the paths cause them to gradually erode becoming unsafe and unpleasant. As the designed paths are no longer suitable to walk on people are resorting to wandering off the paths and uncovering tree roots, trampling on plants and things like that. This problem can be sorted by completely banning the use of offending footpaths and replacing them with others. There are many disadvantages to this including lack of money, people wanting to ‘wander' as the please and directing people to use the new footpaths. A problem that is related to this is soil compaction. This is when the footpaths are damaged either by being compacted or in other ways so that greenery cannot grow and cannot soak up excess moisture etc. Along with damaging the National Park footpaths, tourists often go onto farmer's land, leaving gates open, creating noise, letting their dogs foul the area and unintentionally distressing farm animals. All of the above things are usually done without intent but never the less it is still aggravating and expensive for the farmer. The local people who often enjoy the trade of the tourists also may feel very annoyed by them. I myself have a personal comment to add here. Fifteen to twenty years ago my Mum and Dad use to visit Lake Windermere and the Lake district every summer to do walking. My Mum said it was very beautiful, unspoiled land which was very quiet, quaint and friendly. When we visited last summer my Mum said she could hardly recognise the place. Apart from the ever-beautiful mountains and lakes it was tourist haven with every other shop being either a tearoom or a gift shop. It was jam-packed, noisy and very different ( well, according to my Mum it was!) The Brecon Beacons seemed very unspoiled and quiet compared to Lake Windermere. Yes, the facilities such as shops, car parks, hotels, leisure facilities and toilets were much better and I am sure the locals earned a small fortune by it in the Summer Months but I am afraid to say it resembled more like Disneyland in Paris that a beautiful National Park in the North of England. But this is only my view (although I am certain some of the locals feel the same way). If it wasn't for all the interest in National Parks the Lake district would be barely visited and a kind of waste of space. Another disadvantage everywhere where tourists go, whether it be a National Park or not is that all work is seasonal. While the shops and services thrive in the warm summer month's trade begins to reduce to the local people when the weather turns cold. This means that some shops can't survive and have to shut. In the summer some services can be so full the local people can't use them but in the winter the services are not needed and shut down. Crime and Vandalism, noise pollution, litter, poaching and other things like that are a major problem in all National Parks and the Lake District is no exeption. Car crime is very high in Car parks and there are some very inconsiderate people about. The Park Ranger is partly in charge of this area but he can't be everywhere at once and this DOES take place-maybe even putting people off visiting the park altogether. Having Second Home owners in the area can put many noses out of joint. Second Home owners are like tourists, they only come when the weather is fine leaving services/shops to suffer when they are having a nice time back at home. They can ‘revamp' their second homes to make them not in keeping with the area. They can also bring their own town influences into the countryside and raise house prices. In other words-Second homeowners are big problems in the Lake District. As with any area-people can take things too far. On Lake Windermere the planners have decided to set a 16-km/h speed limit on the lake. This is because the noisy speedboats and water skiers are spoiling the quietness of the lake and spoiling the enjoyment of others. They also make more air pollution. Other lakes on the park such as Ullswater, Coniston Water and Derwent Water(see map on page2) have had this ban imposed and it seems to be working well. But this is bound to ruffle a few feathers and arguments are taking place about whether the ban should take place or not. Some arguments are that tourists already have miles and miles of quiet land to enjoy, why not let this little bit of water be noisy? They also brought up the point that some lines of trade will suffer when people go elsewhere to use their water ski's/power boats. Now, I have gone on for ages about how awful National Parks are. You must be thinking ‘ Why one earth do we have National Parks if they cause all of this trouble?' As you are now going to find out, National Parks have many advantages too. ADVANTAGES One of the main advantages of a National Park, any national Park, is the money that tourists bring with them. In 1995 the UK had an amazing 23.5 million foreign visitors who spent and astounding à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½12 billion! That is an awful lot of money! Tourist also employs 1.5 million people in places such as hotels, cafes, pubs, travel agencies etc. Okay, so lots of these visitors didn't visit National Parks and didn't spend money in them but tourism in National Parks is big business. In Windermere and Keswick-big places for tourists to visit in the Lake District (see page two map)- half of the workforce are employed in the tourist industry! That is an awful lot if you can compare that to the 6% nationally. In 1995 tourists spent a great à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 446 million in Cumbria alone-most of it being spent in the Lake District. Some ways tourists spend money are: * Accommodation- hotels, campsites, holiday cottages etc * Food and Drink-restaurants, cafes, pubs, food shops etc * Leisure- this is HUGE business from outdoor pursuits to boat trips to museums and so on * And so much more little things such as gifts and general shopping The services in the Lake District National Parks have increased due to the extra visitors. This is good news for the locals. If the area hadn't been changed to a National Park it would just be plain, rural land with very few services. Public transport had improved dramatically with more connections leading out of the Lake District so that tourists can easily get there but also letting the locals get out and about easier. The amount of shops are the same as services, there are more than there would have been had it not been for the National Park. As the national Parks welcome everyone people have a lovely, beautiful place to visit. If the land weren't a national park it would be at risk to developments being built on the site which would spoil the scenic beauty. If people visit the Lake District and see how beautiful it all is they may be extra careful and be inspired to take better care of the environment. They may also realise that they need to protect the land for generations to come. Litter and Pollution may also be reduced as they realise that there is no need to spoil the natural world. The Park Ranger and the people who care for the Lake District do a great job of protecting the environment in the Lake District. It is a nice, usually safe place for animals, birds and plants/flowers. People from the large town and cities have an opportunity to see the beautiful British wildlife that they wouldn't find in the towns and cities. The park Rangers in the Lake District also encourage tree planting. We all know that we depend on trees to give us oxygen so that we can breath so this is a great thing especially as so many trees are now being cut down to provide space for houses. Park Rangers and workers in the National Parks all over Britain does a number of great things including * Refuse permission for unsuitable buildings/developments that would spoil the park * Arrange talks and guided walks to educate the people about the park * Monitor and clean up pollution * Encourage suitable developments and so much more. * Some National Parks are home to some rare plants/flowers and the Lake District is no exeption. Now I have looked at all the information I now have to see whether or not the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. If you see what I have written you will discover I have written more about the disadvantages than the advantages. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. In my view I think anything that preserves the natural beauty of our world if a good thing. With all the overcrowding, noise and pollution of this world we need a place where we can just go to relax without too much noise, big buildings or offices. Yes, there are disadvantages but I think that people can put up with a bit of inconvenience if it means that we make this world a nicer place to be-don't you?

Dealing with Oppression in Life - 856 Words

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