David Cronenbergs A History Of Violence Film Studies Essay

David Cronenbergs A History Of Violence Film Studies Essay In my presentation about Cronenbergs A History of Violence I discussed the human relationships, the importance of recurring scenes and the question of genetics, parental example and conscious choice. Cronenbergs movie is extremely complex and there are still plenty of topics which can be further analysed, so this time I would like to examine topics like the question of identity or the nature of violence. Furthermore, as A History of Violence is said to be no typical Cronenbergian movie, I would like to compare it with one of his earlier, more characteristic movies, eXistenZ, and demonstrate with it the above statement. When we first meet the Stall family, we have no idea that violence will have something to do with one of the members. Cronenberg uses very professionally a kind of diverting action by introducing first the two mob guys whose appearance will have such vital consequences. The Stall family seems to be a model family with a happy life in a small town. Tom Stall is running a successful, little diner, has two model children and a beautiful, clever wife, with whom their relationship is just as content and intimate as it was 20 years ago in the beginning of their marriage. His wife is certainly satisfied with their life together and thinks that her husband is the best man in the world. Their life changes significantly as the plot develops. One evening the two mob figures, which can be seen in the first scene arrive in Millbrook and go into Toms diner. When they attack the staff, Tom Stall transforms in no time into a local hero and killing the two assaulters saves the lives of those present. Of course, these events put Tom immediately into the limelight; his picture appears in the newspaper and reporters arrive in Millbrook to make an interview with him. The family hopes that this curiosity will soon wane, however it rather leads to the turning point in their life. In a few days time some more mob guys appear in the diner under the leadership of a certain Carl Fogarty, claiming that they know Tom, who is indeed not Tom but Joey and is from Philadelphia. Although Tom denies everything they are not willing to take notice of it and get off the family even after the warning of the local sheriff. There is a turning point in Toms attitude when Fogarty and his man catch Jack after a quarrel between him and his father. They offer to let Jack go if Tom is willing to go with them to Philadelphia for a trip down Memory Lane. Although with Jacks help Tom manages to kill all the three mob guys, this is the point in the movie when it becomes clear both for Toms family and for the viewers that he must have been Joey once. Later we learn that most probably he was born into a gangster family and naturally he also became a violent figure, however when he grew older he decided to give up the way he lived before and spent three years becoming Tom. He decided to take on the name Stall, simply because it was available. It was his meeting with his future wife Edie that helped him to take leave from Joey and adopt a normal lifestyle. Tom seems to be able to draw a distinct line between the two periods of his life when he says that it was Joey who did those violent actions and never Tom. When we watch the events Tom has already spent almost as many years being Tom as being Joey. But is it possible to leave behind everything and become a completely new person from one day to another? Watching the film, it is, however i n Toms case it had an influence not only on his life but also on his familys. It is especially interesting to examine this question from Edies and the childrens point of view: What do you do when you discover that your husband or father has concealed everything about his early life? Was he lying to you, or protecting you? Did you love someone who didnt really exist? (Roger Ebert, 2005). Looking at these question the confusion and shock of the family is easily understandable, but on the other hand, we have to mention that on the evening when the two criminals showed up in the diner it was Joey who saved Tom. If Tom hadnt been Joey earlier, most probably he would have been killed in that incident. It is also interesting to observe how Tom transforms back to Joey when he returns to Philadelphia. The two characters are absolutely different: Tom is a classical, stoic American patriarch while Joey is an active, strong, effective anti-hero (Beaty, 2008.). Going back to Philadelphia and transform once again into Joey is necessary und unavoidable for Tom as he wants to protect his family from the fatal consequences of his brothers visit into Millbrook. This way, he has no other choice than to go but it is also important to mention that his only motif is to get back safely and repair his life with his broken family. It is well-known that A History of violence is not a typical Cronenbergian film, it is difficult to establish even its genre. It can easily be a thriller, action-movie, or a family drama containing horror elements. According to Beaty (2008), the movie is about disguises and a network of lies. Its core story is about a man masking his true identity. Tom Stall isnt what he first appears to be and the film isnt what it first appears to be.(p.12). This leads us to ask two main question during and after the film: 1. Who is Tom Stall? 2. What really is this film? For the second question David Cronenberg gave the following answer: A History of Violence is a kind of inside-out version of what I normally do (Beaty, 2008, p.15). Last but not least, it is also important to mention that playing such a double character is no easy task. Viggo Mortensen made a very good job and it was not by accident that Cronenberg fixed his choice on him: I need a kind of eccentricity that is more typical of a character actor than a leading man and yet still has a leading man presence and charisma. (Beaty, 2008, p.21). David Cronenberg had to find an actor who could play with equal skill both a small-town man and a violent criminal and as Beaty mentions it was Mortensen who combined both traits of the leading man and the character actor (p.21). Violence Already the title of Cronenbergs movie contains the keywords of its story. The title A History of Violence lets the viewers to suspect a number of things about the film. This title can mean at least three things. It can refer to the historical custom of settling disputes by using violence (e.g. war, duals), but it can also refer to a person having a history of violence, that is, a past full of violent actions. In addition, it can refer to the fact that throughout the evolution violence was carried on from father to son, from generation to generation (Ebert, 2005). I think at least two of these topics can be found in the movie. Throughout the history of humanity, violence was always present. We are all naturally partial to violence even if in our day committing violence is no more acceptable except for some good reasons. Such reasons are, for example, when we want to defend ourselves, someone else or our property. In the US, for example, you are allowed to defend your property with a gun. Another acceptable however still controversial reason for committing violence is war and wartime situations and a third one is when we use violence as a punishment, although this is not everywhere an acceptable form of punishment (for example, death penalty is in practice only in some countries of the world). Even if acting violently is not acceptable in a number of situations, we cannot break away from it and more or less we all have a propensity for it. We watch it in the cinema, in television, there is a whole movie industry built on it with innumerable action, thriller and horror films (at this point I have to mention that A History of Violence is also one of them). Throughout the history before the emergence of the movie industry such events as bloody executions and torturing of convicts served as public entertainment. Warfare and duals were another examples. As Desson Thomson (2005) writes, A History of Violence forces us to confront this Pavlovian conditioning to violence. According to scientist, this attachment of ours to violence comes from our animal past, our need to find food and defend ourselves by killing the enemy if we want to survive. Genetically this propensity for violence is still in us and it is carried over from generation to generation (Baumgarten, 2005). However, even if violence is in connection with our animal past and animal instincts we have something else that makes us different from animals and this is the ability to make conscious choices and say no to our instincts. This ability together with a good family example can lead to the right path. As David Cronenberg put it: Genetically, I have to say yes, it is obvious that people have a propensity for violence. It comes from our animal past, our need to survive. But we also have that other thing, that imagination to abstract and say: well we can imagine a world in which we dont do these things that we find abhorrent by negotiation, by diplomacy, by compassion, by empathy. (OHehir, 2005) Toms/Joeys and Jacks example illustrates very well the above idea. From the movie it becomes clear that most probably Joey was born into a gangster family where violence was an everyday thing. On the one hand, this served as an example for him; while on the other hand, violence was also in his genes. This way, it was almost unavoidable for him to become just the same as his family. However, as he grew older he became able to make a conscious choice and decided to leave behind his previous lifestyle. As opposed to this, Jack, his son was born into a normal family and had a normal parental example. As a consequence, he could avoid becoming violent even if it was also in his genes via his father. But the importance of example is very well demonstrated by the events in the film if take a closer look on them. Jack is still very young and therefore easy to influence. So when he sees what a hero his father becomes after he kills those two criminals his attitude towards violence changes radically, although until then he tried to avoid confrontation and violent situations. This is what Cronenberg said about him and about the question of our propensity for violence in an interview: You have the story of the son who avenges himself against a bully () When we first meet him, the boy seems to be a pretty good politician. he can talk his way out of a violent confrontation. He uses his wits, he uses his humour and () therefore he avoids violence. () Then he sees the celebrity his father attains after his acts of violence and hes intrigued by that. () Are we talking about a genetic propensity to violence or is it a cultural one? He feels that he wouldnt mind some of that celebrity on his own level. Therefore, the next opportunity he has, he ends up committing violence. Hes unrepentant afterwards and does connect it to his father (OHehir, 2005). According to Beaty, Cronenberg used the violent scenes in a conscious way. It is not by accident that we see mutilated bodies and faces but rather because the director wanted the viewers to see the brutal consequences of violence. This is not characteristic of every action film. Cronenberg wanted us to realize what we see in those films is only half the truth, that action films build on our desire to see violence in an attractive way. As opposed to those films, Cronenberg wanted to show us what real violence looks like and what the real consequences of it are. As Renà ©e Rodrigues put it: he forces you to consider what it means exactly, to shoot someone in the face and how once that line is crossed, it becomes much easier to do it again (Beaty, 2008, p.7). As violence is a crucial point in the movie, mob figures have a very important role in it. The two such figures are Carl Fogarty, played by Ed Harris and Richi Cusack, played by William Hurt, both of them famous and highly acclaimed actors. Although they spend only very short time on screen, both of them have a critical role. According to Beaty, for the role of Richi Cusack Cronenberg did not need a typical gangster or a clichà © mob figure but a character that can be taken seriously. He had to be compelling, convincing, charismatic, scary, profound and ironic at the same time (2008, p.24). William Hurt was a perfect choice. A History of Violence versus eXistenZ, a typical Cronenberg movie If we take a closer look on the list of Cronenbergs previous films, it is clear that A History of Violence is not a typical one. Before 2005 Cronenberg made mainly abstract, weird films, the topics of which dealt with scientific, psychological, medical or virtual issues. Although a slight minority of the viewers praised loudly these films, most of them were no box-offices. In a way, this is understandable as these films were not the typical Hollywood movies. They were difficult to apprehend, had multiple layers and needed the viewer to think hard if he wanted to understand the message. Of course, this is also characteristic of A History of Violence, in which we can find a number of topics relevant for discussion, for example the nature and the consequences of violence, genetic heritage, the changing nature of personal relationships, the question of identity or the importance of parental example, just to mention a few. Cronenbergs 1999 movie eXistenZ is a very good example for his earlier and more characteristic style. There are huge differences between eXistenZ and A History of Violence. eXistenZ is taking place in a dark future where people are no more contented with their real life, instead they are obsessed with playing virtual games. These virtual games are not the nowadays fashionable mechanical computer games, but instead organic virtual reality games. According to Howe (1999), In this society, people get bioported, so they can plug in to the largest game system of ecstatic hyper-reality. They tap directly into their nervous systems, by connecting their bioports to flesh-textured pods (containing the game software, as it were) by means of an umbilical-like Umby-Cord'. In this near future there are two big video game companies competing with each other and Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh) became a kind of superstar by inventing the latest world famous game, called eXistenZ. The opening s cene of the movie takes place in a church where a small group of people is testing her game, when Allegra is attacked and has to flee with the help of security guard Ted Pikul (Jude Law). The movie becomes weirder and weirder when they find out that Allegra was shot with an organic pistol made of bones and teeth and this is why it wasnt detected by Ted. A bit later Allegra discovers that most probably her pod containing the only copy of her game was damaged. She wants to test it by playing the game with Ted when he admits that he has no bioport saying: I have this phobia about having my body penetrated surgically. After Allegra convinces him that getting bioported will change his life they head to a gas station where a service station operator performs the bizarre procedure (Howe, 1999). After overcoming some more difficulties there is nothing to prevent them from playing. From this point it becomes more and more difficult to decide what is reality and what is game and in the virtua l world Ted and Allegra discover new characteristics of their personality. At the end of the film it becomes clear that the viewer was intentionally mislead when we find out that we have seen the world of the virtual game right from the beginning. The world of eXistenZ is altogether different from the world of A History of Violence. Not knowing it as a fact, the unsuspecting viewer would never presume that both of these films were directed by one person. While A History of violence mainly concentrates on issues like violence, identity and the family in a moment of crisis, eXistenZ examines the individual in transformation and the question What is reality?. (Beaty, 2008) As opposed to eXistenZ, A History of Violence is taking place in these days, the events follow each other in strict chronological order, it shows the real world and we do not have to suspect what is reality and what is not. Compared to eXistenZ, the plot is easy to follow and understand. There are major differences in visual and sound effects, too. On the one hand, while in A History of Violence music plays an important role in many decisive scenes (like the closing one), it is not characteristic of eXistenZ. On the other hand, while the first is characterised by colourful, clear images, the second one has mainly dark and dim pictures as a lot of events happen at night. But why is A History of Violence so different from the characteristic movies of Cronenberg? As I have already written above, even if some people praised his earlier works, these became almost never box-offices. By 2005 already two decades passed since his last big success and according to Beaty (2008, p. 19), Although critics and film festival audiences were more and more fond of his work the commercial cinema audience turned away from him. By this time Cronenberg was very short of money and he knew that he was desperately in need of a hit to raise funds. Basically, that is why he decided to direct A History of Violence. I needed the money- he said. (Beaty, 2008, p. 19). A History of Violence is a radical break from the past (Beaty, 2008, p. 11). Compared to eXistenZ, it was made in Cronenbergs most realist style and according to Beaty, it is not only Tom Stall/Joey Cusack in the film who is playing a role but also David Cronenberg who is playing the role of a Hollywood filmmaker: In the end we are left with a film in which a maker of some of the most grotesque films in history suppresses the grotesqueries of the plot in order to tell the story of a man who is suppressing his true (and rather grotesque) nature. It is striking that, in playing to Middle America, Cronenberg hided his true self in a film about a man hiding his true self in the middle of America. (Beaty, 2008, p. 12). Conclusion In my essay I wanted to demonstrate that Cronenbergs A History of Violence is a very complex film, having many topics fit for discussion and debate, of which I wrote now extensively only about three: the nature of violence, identity and the differences between A History of Violence and other films of Cronenberg. I hope that with my presentation and my essay together I could illustrate that although David Cronenberg is not a common film director, he deserves to be called one of the most important Canadian film directors, whose aim is not only to entertain but also to raise significant topics and make his audience think about them.

Children and Video Game Violence :: Entertainment Papers

Video game systems are the basis for much discussion and argumentation in today’s society. They have been around since the 1970’s and have allowed children to pass the time with an interactive way to leave this world and enter a new realm of imagination, where the creators of the games set the only guidelines. Children are allowed to see themselves as characters with amazing powers and the ability to do many things. Many critics, however, worry children are not physically capable of understanding that games are not reality, and, therefore, cannot realize, in the real world, one cannot commit the acts they do while playing video games. Violence, for example, is found in more than half of all video games. People worry that children who constantly view violence in this manner will learn to see violence as a proper action without any consequences. My paper is organized in a manner which allows you, the reader, to view and understand the points of many authors and their works without having to read them in a boring, straight information, textbook form. First is the dinner meeting, in which all of the authors of my sources came to my house for dinner and discussed much of their thoughts about these games. Following the dinner is my summary and analysis of their works, and, finally, my input and beliefs on the subject of the negative effects of video games on children. The table was set, and the food was out. The lights were low in my dining room as the chairs were set around my hardwood, darkly stained table with a burgundy tablecloth. The light reflected off of the side of the turkey breast, and the light rays bounced around inside the glass bowl containing green beans. No, it is not Thanksgiving dinner, but a nice meal for the writers of several sources on the topic of the effects of video games on children. Although the dark green walls of my rectangular dining room do not echo any sounds now, I know the room will soon be filled with loud debates and harsh discussions on a topic with which I am becoming more familiar. As the guests began to arrive, I did not know what to expect. The representatives from ABCNews were dressed like reporters: the women in business suites and the men in ties.

Citra Terranova

Citra was just a teenage girl when she was selected to become a scythes apprentice. She didn't want to kill, but she had to or else her family would be cursed. Of course, she did not want harm upon her own family, she loved them, therefore she became a scythe. This is my personal opinion about Citras future and you don't have to agree. So, with that being said, let's get started. Citra Terranova will grow up to remember that she's a killer, but she only did it to save her family. She will grow up to be a very successful pharmacist and will be a married mother with three loving, beautiful and smart kids. The oldest, Gerald, who is fifteen and wants to grow up to be a doctor. Gerald has autism and is the smartest out of the three. Anne is twelve and is an amazing gymnast and is practicing a double-back on flat, but she has learning problems and has dyslexia. The youngest is Logen who is eight years old, has skipped two grades and is the smartest kid in the fifth grade. Citras name originates in Indonesia, translated to English it means imagery. Her last name, Terranova, means southern Italian. Therefore, her ancestors must have some Italian in them. Citra will make lots and lots of new friends, she is a black belt in karatà ¨ and loves her job as a pharmacist. Her husband, Quinten, is a highly trained firefighter and has saved many people's lives. Citra and Quintin met after the 5/3 Bank collapsed into flames about twenty five years ago, at that time, Citra was working two jobs and is so stressed that she only gets about three hours of rest every night, four if she's lucky. Citra and Quintin are a perfect match because they are both determined to succeed and be the very best that they can be. But, the married couple didn't always get along as they wanted to. Quintin had a severe drug addiction and gambling obsession. Citra obviously hated this and wanted to get him the help he needed, but Quintin wouldn't do it. She doesn't want here kids to turn out like him so she moves into a new house, leaving Quintin and his problems. Soon after that, Citra demands a divorce with Quintin and a few months later, Citra is a single mom of three. Citra having to work two jobs now leads to a babysitter, the babysitter also gets them on and of the bus.

Tropical Rainforest Regions

Tropical Rainforest Regions Tropical rainforests mainly occur in the Worlds equatorial regions. Tropical forests are restricted to the small land area between the latitudes 22.5 ° North and 22.5 ° South of the equator - between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer (see map). They are also located on major separate continental forests which preserve them as independent, non-contiguous realms. Rhett Butler, on his excellent site  Mongabay, refers to these four regions as the Afrotropical, the Australian, the Indomalayan and the Neotropical rainforest realms. The Afrotropical Rainforest Realm Most of the tropical rainforests of Africa exist in the Congo (Zaire) River Basin. Remnants also exist throughout Western Africa which is in a sorry state due to the plight of poverty which encourages subsistence agriculture and firewood harvesting. This realm is increasingly dry and seasonal when compared to the other realms. The outlying portions of this rainforest region are steadily becoming desert. FAO suggests this realm lost the highest percentage of rainforests during the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s of any biogeographical realm. The Australian Oceanic Pacific Rainforest Realm Very little of the rainforest is located on the Australian continent. Most of this rainforest is located in Pacific New Guinea with a very small portion of the forest in the Northeast of Australia. Actually, the Australian forest has expanded over the last 18,000 years and remains relatively untouched. The Wallace Line  separates this realm from the Indomalayan realm. Biogeographer Alfred Wallace marked the channel between Bali and Lombok as the divide between two great zoogeographic regions, the Oriental and Australian. The Indomalayan Rainforest Realm Asias remaining tropical rainforest is in Indonesia (on scattered islands), the Malay peninsula and Laos and Cambodia. Population pressures have dramatically decreased the original forest to scattered fragments. Southeast Asias rainforests are some of the oldest in the World. Studies have indicated that several have existed for over 100 million years. The Wallace Line separates this realm from the Australian realm. The Neotropical Rainforest Realm The Amazon River Basin covers some 40% of the South American continent and dwarfs all other forests in Central and South America. The Amazon rainforest is roughly the size of the forty-eight contiguous United States. It is the largest continuous rainforest on Earth. The good news is, four-fifths of the Amazon is still intact and healthy. Logging is heavy in certain areas but there is still debate over the adverse effects but governments are involved in new pro-rainforest legislation. Oil and gas, cattle and agriculture are major causes of neotropical deforestation.

Hotel Rwanda Essays

Hotel Rwanda Essays Hotel Rwanda Essay Hotel Rwanda Essay The movie Hotel Rwanda was about Paul Rusesabagina who was the hotel director of Hotel des Mille Collines. In this movie. he was set in a clip and an environment where there was so much internal force and struggle between cultural groups or communities in Rwanda between the Hutu and the Tutsi. Paul was seeking to run his hotel amidst all these contentions and dangers skulking around him. his household and his fellow countrymen. He was well-aware of these jeopardies being placed right in the center where he would meet people from both cultural communities while being a portion of one. This movie presented the dismaying event that changed and set the state of Rwanda in the map of the universe as a topographic point where some of the worst atrociousnesss of world had been committed. where about 800. 000 people were killed in short span of three months. Amidst these dismaying fortunes. Paul stood up to salvage non merely his household and friends but his fellowmen making everything he could to salvage the lives around him. European invitees and staff at the hotel are flown out of the state. and Paul is left in charge. He finds that his scruples won’t allow him to watch as the inexperienced person are slaughtered. and before long. the hotel has become a well-found refugee cantonment. Some sees Paul as a treasonist seting his life in danger. The quandary of his guests grows more unstable every twenty-four hours. but despite good purposes on the portion of a journalist ( Joaquin Phoenix ) and a UN peacekeeping colonel ( Nick Nolte ) . the remainder of the universe is non eager to step in and halt the slaughter. For me. the chief subject of this film is composing a incorrect that is so awful in nature that everybody is merely unwilling to take a base. The incorrect is so unabashedly violent and righteous that everybody is willing to take a measure back and delay for person to manage it. In this movie’s instance. all hope was on the UN. However. merely the foreign subjects ab initio got the assistance of the UN. The subjects were left to calculate things out on their ain. In this instance. Paul Rusesabagina became the improbable hero. Making the right thing at that clip proved to be unsafe on himself and his household. It would hold been easier for him to sell his psyche instead than travel against the bulk motion. And yet. he did travel against the tide and did the right thing by utilizing his cool mind and unagitated mode of covering with his staff. the military. the activists and the remainder of his household members and neighbours. Sing decease being done is bad plenty. I can merely conceive of how annihilating that can be. However. I understand his emotions when he saw his boy traumatized by the state of affairs. As a parent myself. I would non desire any of my boies to witness such barbarous Acts of the Apostless of humanity on another homo. allow entirely the force that was done to the male child. excessively. Although Mr. Rusesabagina acted cool and composed in the movie. I can non assist but inquire if. so. he was composed during the full clip he was still in the state. The ambiance of the full film came across to me as harsh. That is. the scenes were unforgiving in their scratchy. splanchnic force. The discordant scenes of killing and adult females being abused and disrespected were forceful. The movie strived to be sincere and honest in the word picture of this inhumane race murder that affected the universe. While watching the movie. I was reminded of Hitler’s move to extinguish Hebrews from the universe. This was WWII. It was and still is a atrocious manner of thought. Yet. Hitler still found people to sympathize with his vision and ideal universe. 50 old ages subsequently. this race murder happens in Rwanda. Horrible. And yet. this incident did come to go through and it’s a true narrative. How can people handle their fellow human existences in this mode? Why act like barbarians when we have the capacity for love and compassion? What is it that drives such a crooked point-of-view to derive impulse? I’ve thought about this the whole weekend. The lone reply I can come up with is that God gave mankind the gift of free will with our mind and humanity. It is truly up to us to utilize these gifts to the best of our ability. The pick to make right and incorrectly will ever be upon us. Therefore. the effects of our determinations and the foregoing actions that ensue because of these determinations will determine our lives. As such. the race murder that happened in Rwanda can non be undone. But. we can larn the lessons needed to go better people. As with Paul Rusesabagina. his pick to contend passively with resolved purpose of acquiring his household and friends safely out of the state helped these persons continue a life on this Earth. For merely this trait. I salute him non merely for standing on his belief and rules but for allowing love and compassion identify the life force within him and holding him interpret this into the economy of human lives.

Any Nursing Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Any Nursing - Research Proposal Example Some health care workers have died of occupationally acquired human immunodeficiency virus infection and drug-resistant tuberculosis (Radford, 2004). Extensive illness results from many other occupationally acquired infections (Philips, 2004). Rather than receiving displays of public sympathy, however, health care workers with occupationally acquired diseases may be ignored or ostracized, their health care benefits imperiled (Greenberg, 2005). This study would help assess the student nurses who are engaged with their related learning experiences at the clinical areas. This study certainly promote health by practicing the preventive measures that are learned in school. Furthermore, the study would promote awareness on the detrimental effects that may precipitate when their compliance to the universal precautions fall short. Consequently, this study would provide health awareness to the

Chapter 8 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Chapter 8 - Essay Example The author here is asserting that, from the time we enter this world, none of us has the guarantee of leading a life free from suffering. Suffering and pain do not discriminate between the rich and the poor, the powerful and the common man, young and old, or male and female. However, Kushner also gives hope to his readers by stating that at least we can have faith in a higher power that provides us with the strength and courage we require to bear the numerous challenges and obstacles that life is constantly throwing at us. In my career as a nurse, I constantly encounter patients suffering from various incurable diseases or devastating injuries, which make many of them, lose the motivation to continue pushing on with their lives. Many of them slide into depression, and just as many develop suicidal tendencies. Empowerment and support provision are two essential nursing concepts which enable nurses to provide patients with the desire to persevere through their challenges, and to acquire the urge to live a normal life once again. A nurse is the most accessible healthcare professional that patients can access in a healthcare setting which has the capacity to cater to terminally ill patients. Therefore, the nurse has to be someone that terminally ill patients can obtain inspiration from when they have lost hope of recovering. Many patients belong to a mainstream religion, which could be Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or other little known religions. Thus, when afflicted with incurable diseases or those that are difficult to cure, they tend to turn to their religious beliefs in search of faith healing. A nurse can do a lot to relieve them from their suffering by reinforcing their religious beliefs and assuring them that suffering does not choose its victims but rather, it is God’s will and purpose. As Kushner asserts, the various ways through which God works are beyond human understanding, but through faith, we believe that all of it is