Maria Full of Grace by Joshua Marston Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Maria Full of Grace by Joshua Marston - Essay Example Convinced that the job is easy and with great rewards, Maria flies to the USA with approximately sixty-tow pellets of cocaine that she swallowed, in her stomach. Nonetheless, not all the plans seemed to work as scheduled. Maria lands herself in a dangerous and deadly world where those who smuggle drugs face serious penalties including imprisonment or death sentence. Maria falls into the trap of Franklin who introduced her to the smuggling of cocaine. However, Franklin does not tell her directly regarding the smuggling of cocaine but, rather, gives her a business proposition involving traveling from one place to another. The traveling offered by Franklin is meant to give Maria some extra money to help catering for her family that has been depending on the meager salary obtained from the flower garden. Nevertheless, the traveling involved smuggling of drugs from one place to another in order to obtain the rewards promised by Franklin (Snyder 58). The fact that Maria gets pregnant from a man (Juan) she does not love compounds her problems. Even though she uses her pregnancy to avoid being X-rayed in a bid to finding out whether she is a drug mule following her suspicious movement, other mules find themselves in trouble, and this makes Maria escapes with Blanca. In the process, the traffickers kill Lucy as they open her up to retrieve the drug pellets (Snyder 89). When Maria and Blanca go to Lucy’s sister house to live there, they do inform her of Lucy’s death. Narrative Structure In a bid to pass his message, Joshua Marston creates a tension-filled drama of a woman who goes into smuggling of drugs due to poverty. The young energetic woman does all she can to pull herself out of the doldrums of poverty whilst also ensuring that every member of the family receives all the basic needs. Joshua Marston’s film does not spare the viewers of the frightening scenes and dimensions of being a drug mule. Such frightening scenes include swallowing of the 6 2 cocaine pellets, explosion of cocaine pellet in one of the co-workers leading to her death, as well as pressures from both drug dealers in the US and customs officers. In addition, the film director attempts to narrate the same ideas through bringing in death, dangers, betrayal, and violence that are common in societies (Snyder). Through Maria, Joshua Marston brings out the idea of courage and determination that every individual should possess. There is no doubt that Joshua displays a humanistic picture of a young woman’s solitary life that is ready to accomplish her mission, irrespective of the method applicable. According to her, the result justifies the means, contrary to the usual moral way of the society where the means should justify the result. The author narrates about such a life within the looming shadows of economic and cultural crises, with special reference to the United States of America. It is undeniable that a strong political statement is applicable in narr ating the whole story in which there is the creation of a universal plight of the main characters through bringing together the personal, social, and political aspects of the whole scenario. At the end, the film director dramatizes connections, as well as contradictions existing between political realities in the

Introduction to Microeconomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Introduction to Microeconomics - Essay Example This replaces Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) that was in force earlier. Tier II: Under this, skilled workers get entry in the UK, who have a ready job offer. This essentially replaces Work Permit rules granted to workers in UK. Tier III: This fulfills the need of lower skilled requirement of workers to meet temporary shortages in the labour market. This has now been tilted in favour of EU migrants only. Tier IV: This specifies the needs of students who want to study in UK and get enriched with skill and knowledge. Tier V: This is a general category as per the agreement with other countries to allow youth mobility and purely as a temporary work permit. Skilled migration has played a pivotal role to keep economy of UK buoyant and competitive. Doctors, engineers, scientists, MBAs, fall under the category of highly skilled individuals who were encouraged to immigrate and remain in UK since 2002. The problem arose because government imposed a cap which affects migration in this c ategory. From April 2011, the Government has decided to impose a permanent restriction on skilled immigration replacing Tier 1 (General) category with a new 'exceptional talent' visa. Currently the Government has stopped accepting new applications from the people outside of the UK. (Highly Skilled†¦) There have been serious concerns on levels of immigration after the worldwide economic downturn in 2008. The UK imposed no cap on immigration from the previous Eastern Bloc Countries that joined the EU in 2004. There has been a significant growth in Eastern European migration at the expense of non EU migration. Total immigration between the year 2004 and 2010 can be observed in below mentioned illustration. Surprisingly, it was highest in the year 2005. The year 2009 and 2010 do not show any drastic increase in immigration population so as to make any serious concern and any unemployment issue for locals cannot be seen having any linkages to any increase in immigrant population. To tal long-term international migration estimates, UK, 2000–2010 Source: ONS, Long-Term International Migration Statistical Bulletin–Migration Statistics, Page 5 In fact, non EU migrants have got the biggest hit owing to Government efforts to quell public concerns over immigration. Because of the EU Law, government is not in a position to restrict immigration from EU Countries and what UK needs is the migration of highly skilled workers from non EU countries. The UK Government has declared a permanent ceiling of 21,700 on skilled immigration to be applicable in April 2011. Further, investors, entrepreneurs, and 'exceptionally talented' individuals will get entry under Tier 1 and Tier 2 will be restricted to graduate level occupations. Entrepreneurs and investors will have no restriction whatsoever that can come to the UK with certain net worth. It will be pertinent to note that in 2009, UK issued 50,000 visas to non-EU citizens under Tier 1 category. Present cap of 21,70 0 visas in the highly skilled category is a substantial cut if seen from the perspective of visas issued in the year 2009. Shortage of Skilled Workers It will be interesting to see what business leaders say about the shortage of skilled workers. Ignacio Galan, the owner of Scottish Power Ltd has shown apprehension that UK’s plan to improve power-generation and to embark on renewable energy projects will be seriously hampered by the shortage of engineers.