http://secapp.ucdavis.edu/docs/fees.pdf

Print form, mail fees.

The Merlin in "Le  Morte Darthur" differs  significantly from the avuncular wizard in  "The Once and Future King." Sir Thomas  Malory's  Merlin  is associated with the divine  and the infernal,  a duplicitous chracter that elides simple categorization.  At the  root of of understanding Merlin, then,  is  assigning  motive to the  enigmatic figure. After careful analysis, Malory's Merlin appears an active agent interested most in worldly power, in manipulating  characters and events to fit a  preconception of his on who should hold power. In fact, Merlin's attitude toward codes of honor, including chivalry and sexual fidelity, are that they can be altered or ignored when they are at odds with his vision for the distribution of political and military power.

The narrator and Merlin appear to be at odds about the morality of sexual infidelity. In an opening episode in the tale, when Ingraine rebuffs the advances of King Uther, the narrator says, "But she was a passing good woman, and would not assent unto the King"(Malory 3). The narrator uses the word "good" to convey that Ingraine's fidelity conforms to conventions of propriety for someone of her noble station: she is a "good woman." Since she will not "assent" to the advances of another man, despite his being "King," she expresses allegiance to an ideal over subservience to worldly power, exemplified in the political and military figure of King Uther. Merlin disrupts this ideal though, using his wizardry to deceive Ingraine into betraying her husband. Merlin explains to the king his reason for performing this deed. "So ye wil be sworn unto me, as ye be a true king anointed, to fulfil my desire, ye shall have your desire"(Malory 4). The "desire" of King Uther, of course, is one of lust for a gentlewoman he should not pursue. The "desire" of Merlin is to gain possession of the child that will result from the unholy union. Interestingly, Merlin uses the word "desire " to describe the agreement, as if to suggest that the transaction between them is motivated on either side by personal agendas rather than needs arising from nobler intentions.

In a startling turn, Ingraine abandons her loyalty to the duke, or any memory of him, and devotes herself to her new master King Uther. This transition contrasts sharply from what the audience would expect from a "good woman," Ingraine giving her allegiance to someone who deceived her and murdered her former husband. The narrator remarks upon the shift: "Then the queen made great joy when she knew who was the father of her child"(Malory 6). Ingraine is not a captive of King Uther at this point, though her initial abduction occurred through deception and force, but someone celebrating with "joy" about the under-handed events that led to the death of her husband and the conception of Arthur. Ingraine betrays  

Hi Barbara! Here are some of the dishes I have made in the past couple of weeks. I'm always refining my techniques and experimenting with new recipes.

 This is a mushroom marsala dish topped with Parmagiano Reggiano, the king of cheeses.

 Perhaps my favorite dish: mussels and spaghetti. The flavors of white wine, capers, parsley, and lemon meld together wonderfully.

 This is a recipe I learned from a local restaurant. It is caramelized artichokes topped with garlic, olive oil, and vinagrette.

 I couldn't resist putting up this photo of fresh anchovies I got last week. They are hard to find in America!

INTRODUCTION

Professor Alison Gopnik filmed her son Bunny at ages 22 months and 4 1/2 years as a way for her students to observe and trace the cognitive, linguistic, and social development of a healthily developing human. This essay will be divided into three parts, each addressing a specific aspect of development: 1) for linguistic development, the essay will discuss Bunny's use of grammar in his speech; 2) for cognitive development, the essay follow Bunny's progression from the sensorimotor to preoperational stages, as defined by Jean Piaget; and 3) for social development, the essay will show that Bunny attains different ways of relating to his mother and regulating his own social behavior. It will be clear through the examples that Bunny is developing toward greater and greater competence in these areas of his life.

LINGUISTIC

At 22 months Bunny exhibits a rudimentary use of grammar in his speech. While playing with his food, he accidentally drops a grape and he says "uh-oh" in a tone of mild disappointment. After his mother picks up the grape and returns it to him, Bunny intentionally flings the fruit to the ground and says "uh-oh" again. This time, however, his utterance sounds gleeful in contrast with the slight dismay the first time he said it.

Bunny's use of the word to express these two different ideas demonstrates the phenomenon of overextension, a process in which children apply verbal labels to broadly. In the example given, the first time Bunny said "uh-oh" is a customary use of the label to signal the occurrence of an unpleasant event, which, in this case, is the unintended dropping of the grape. The second time Bunny said "uh-oh" is an instance of overextenstion because the dropping of the grape was intentional.

There are several theories about why overextension is observed. One theory postulates that the amibiguity inherent in words leads to these deviations from general usage. As children gain familiarity with words through their experience, their own language conforms more closely to the established usages of their cultural group. Another theory argues that the single words represent simple sentences called holophrases. Each single-word utterance, according to this view, must be understood in conjunction with the gestures and facial expressions that accompany it. The verbal and non-verbal elements taken together represent a whole sentence.

At 4 1/2 years, Bunny possesses an understanding of many complex rules of grammar. He speaks in complete sentences now, no longer limited to one- or two-word utterances and uses a range of vocabulary. He can have conversational exchanges that resemble those between two adults. In one scene he tells his mother, "I don't want to eat macaroni and cheese." His mother replies, "Aren't you addicted to macaroni and cheese?" Bunny responds, "I'm trying to be addicted to macaroni and cheese, but I can't. I guess it's my destiny."

He demonstrates that he can form contractions ("can't") and also the past tense ("addicted"). In addition, he shows that he knows the subject-verb order of his langauge and that he knows verb agreement. Besides the semantic and grammatical content of his speech, Bunny demonstrates an understanding of the cooperative principle, the mater rule of ordinary conversation.

There are four maxims that comprise the cooperative principle and Bunny follows all of them: the maxim of quantity (Bunny responds to his mother's question succinctly); the maxim of quality (Bunny shares his true feelings about macaroni and cheese); the maxim of relevance (Bunny's response pertains directly to the question); and the maxim of clarity (Bunny avoids ambiguity in his speech). Whereas Bunny's speech at 22 months lacked many of the elements of conversation, his speech in middle childhood is characterized by expanding vocabularies, use of more sophisticated categories, and enhanced conversational abilities. These new features are typical of his age group.

COGNITIVE

At 22 months Bunny exhibits behavior that is characteristic of Piaget's sensorimotor level of cognitive development. His mother presents him with a task that demonstrate the extent of his cognitive development. Bunny is given three measuring cups of three different sizes: a large, a medium, and a small. The small fits snugly into the medium and the medium fits snugly into the large. The mother separates the three cups and tells Bunny to put the three back together. He tries to put them together, but rather than employ any logical strategy, Bunny haphazardly puts them together. The cups are stacked in the wrong order and Bunny start over. He puts them together in a different order, but he is not able to get the right order.

Bunny seems to understand that the cups all belong to the same category, as evidenced by his trying to put them together. Such categorizing is a hallmark of the sensorimotor stage of development. Further support this assignment is the fact that he experiments with different arrangements for the cup, which is an example of the type of "deliberate variation of problem-solving means" described in the textbook.

His inability to successfully complete the task suggests an absence of the abilities present in later Piaget stages of cognitive development. For now, Bunny's achievements consist mostly of coordinating sensory perceptions and simple motor behaviors. His interactions with the outside world are primitive, yet deliberate.

At 4 1/2 Bunny can engage in symbolic games that have a high level of sophistication. He understands that the video camera is able to record images of him from a distinct vantage point, a perspective different from his own. This detail prompts the mother and Bunny to discuss the similarities between the video camera and a man. Although Bunny clearly understands that the camera is not a man, he anthropomorphizes it. He pretends that it has arms, legs and other human features.

Whereas Bunny seemed unable to perform well in the simple task of putting measuring cups together at age 22 months, he is now capable of dealing with much more complex tasks. His symbolic play shows that he can represent reality to himself through the use of symbols, including metal images, words, and gestures. He can express, for example, that he thinks a video camera resembles a man in some ways, even though he knows that the camera is not a man. He uses words and gestures to convey what he thinks to his mother.

Symbolic play of this sophistication is found in Piaget's preoperational stage of cognitive development. This stage occurs between the ages of 2 and 6 and is accompanied by such other cognitive phenomena as centration, the tendency to focus on the most salient aspect of whatever one is trying to think about. In the video camera incident, Bunny showed a strong tendency to focus on the human resemblances of the object. Other characteristics of this age include confusion of appearance and reality and illogical thinking.

SOCIAL

At 22 months Bunny possesses the social development to interact with his mother in a new and more complex way than he could in the first months of his life. When his mother hands him some mixing bowls to play with, Bunny holds one of them at the edge of his baby seat in preparation to drop it. As he holds the bowl at the ledge, he looks intently at the face of his mother who says, "Don't drop it." He has a mischievous look on his face and his mother grabs the bowl from him and places it securely on the table. Immediately Bunny takes hold of the bowl again and holds it at the edge of the table. All the while, he is looking at his mother with the same impish expression. After a few seconds, he drops it. Shortly after, Bunny receives other objects which appear to be plastic measuring cups. He deliberately drops two on the floor, despite the discouragement of his mother.

It is clear that Bunny understands her wishes and intentionally disobeys her. The reason he looks at his mother as he drops the objects is because he is engaging in a form of behavior called social referencing. In social referencing, babies look to their care-givers for some indication of how they should feel and act. Around the age that Bunny is at, babies intentionally act contrary to their parents' orders, a fact that inspires the expression "terrible two-year-old."

Social referencing is part of a broader phenomenon called secondary intersubjectivity, which is a new form of connection between babies and their caretakers and begins around 10 months of age. Secondary intersubjectivity is a form of psychological sharing because the infant and the mother share feelings about a third object.

At 4 1/2 years Bunny is more independent in his social interactions. He is not as reliant upon his mother's response to situations as he was during the period of social referencing. For example, he can be more directive, as he shows when he tells his mother to read a book to him. While reading the book, the mother frequently interrupts the story to ask Bunny questions. He cringes his face in annoyance and begins to whine and aggressively swing his toy snake around, accidentally hitting his mother once. Nevertheless, the mother continues to ask her questions and, even though he is irritated, Bunny stops his previous behavior and acts in a more socially appropriate way, shifting restlessly on the couch.

By altering his aggressive behavior, Bunny demonstrates socioemotional competence, which is the ability to behave appropriately in social situations that evoke strong emotions. He was able to read the hurt and annoyance on his mother's face after his toy snake hit her in the face and adjust his behavior accordingly. His adjustment of behavior requires a variety of skills including an "awareness of one's own emotional state and the emotional state of other, the capacity for empathy and sympathy, and the realization that outward expressions do not necessarily reflect inner emotions." (p383)

Emotional and behavioral self-regulation are an important theme in the social development of children in early childhood. For Bunny to inhibit his actions requires effortful control, or the inhibition of an action that is already underway. It is difficult for young children, but they have strategies such as active engagement, in which they reorient their attention or behavior in such a way to lessen the difficulty of self-inhibition. Bunny is learning about basic social roles and learning to act in accordance with the expectations of his care-givers.

CONCLUSION

From ages 22 months to 4 1/2 years, Bunny showed normal development in his linguistic, cognitive and social capacities. He went from uttering one-word holophrases to expressing complex, grammatically correct sentences. He went from being unable to completely understand the idea of different sizes to being able to symbolically represent inanimate objects as animate ones. He went from a social being that referred constantly to his mother and cried whenever upset to a more autonomous child able to self-regulate his behavior. These achievements are significant because they represent the abilities of not only Bunny, but the vast majority of those in his age group.