Howard’s End: A Brief Introduction Essay

Howard’s End is a famous novel, which is written by a great English novelist and a versatile short story writer named, Edward Morgan Forster. It has been published and broadly released in 1910. Forster’s novel mainly depicts a unique story of class struggle during the early days in England. The story of Howard’s End has captured the heart and mind of many readers, as it showcases a distinct narration of social complexity and dilemma back in the ancient days. Due to its broad success, James Ivory has made a movie adaptation of Forster’s novel in 1992, which mainly present the identical story and theme. Class Differences in Howards End (1992) The movie Howards End serves as a successful adaptation of the novel written by Forster, more specifically in the aspect of class struggle. Considering the many similarities of the book and the movie, one of the most apparent themes that surface among the rest is the concept of class struggle (Poplaski 64). The relationships between the classes, in relation to how it is presented in the book, are shown in the film through a variety of elements and scenes. The struggle of the characters to move and relate to one another is shown through the lenses of power, material possessions, and opportunities. Definition of Class Struggle and Class Struggle in Howard’s End Class Struggle is often characterized as the conflict of different classes in the society. However, the definition of class struggle varies from different kinds of perspective and ideology. From Marxism’s point of view, class struggle is defined as a conflict between the working class (the lower class) and the capitalist (the higher class) in terms of economic and political stability in a given type of society (Slaughter). Thus, Karl Marx further defines class struggle as difference between the business class, which he called as bourgeoisie, and working employees, which he referred to as proletariat (Slaughter). On the other hand, according to Geoffrey Ernest Maurice De Ste.  Croix, a well known and reputable British historian, class struggle is â€Å"fundamental relationship between classes and their respective individual members, involving essentially exploitation, or resistance to it† (44). De Ste. Croix believes that class struggle does not inevitably involve communal action by a given class and that it either has direct or indirect activity on a political surface. As for the story of Howard’s End, class struggle is characterized as social conflict among the different classes in the society. Thus, the central theme of class struggle in the story of Howard’s end progresses around the aspects of social stability, economic strength and wealth. The Wilcoxes reflect class struggle in Howard’s End in such a way that they have enormous superiority against the Basts, as they have greater financial prowess, more especially with the amount of businesses that they possess and control as the higher or business class of the society. On the other hand, the Basts mirror class struggle in a totally different way with that of the Wilcoxes, as they struggle and work really hard to further instigate their position and worth in the society. Unlike that of the Wilcoxes, the Basts are having more difficulties in terms of getting the respect and sympathy of most people, more especially those who belong in the higher or middle class of the society. Power In general, power can be observed based on two distinguishing factors. First, it is defined by the holder of power. Second, it is defined by the basis for possession of power. In the movie, power is concentrated on the upper echelons of the society and is structured as an inverted pyramid where it trickles down but becomes less for each level. When this is applied to the characters of the movie, the greatest amount of power is concentrated on the Wilcoxes and is followed by the Schlegel sisters. The Basts are given the least amount of power, which is sometimes tantamount to having none at all. The source of power for the Wilcoxes is their wealth accumulated from the businesses they own. As for the Schlegel sisters, their share of power comes from their intellect, their status as German descendants, and a respective amount of wealth. Consequently, the Basts are given little amount of power because they lack the needed wealth in order to earn a significant position in the society. Nonetheless, the Basts, especially for Leonard, have the wealth of knowledge but this remains insignificant as a tool for earning a portion of power. The concept of power plays an important aspect in the struggle between the classes. As shown in the movie, it is associated with the rights and privileges given to a particular class in the society. While it is difficult to argue whether power influences privileges or vice versa, the fact remains that the two are related. Likewise, it is used as a means to further oppress or extend privileges to those who have a lesser share of power. For example, the amount of power held by Mr. Wilcox is used in order to relinquish the sinful affair he had with Jackie ten years ago. Despite the negative stereotypes often associated with being a lover, Mr. Wilcox is able to release himself from the possible repercussions because he is associated with power and wealth. In fact, he is able to dismiss the thought without facing severe consequences. In another part of the story, a similar deed is found with the unexpected pregnancy of Helen that is further worsened by the fact that the father of the child is married to another woman. The society also has standards for the incident but the role of power on the issue is highlighted by the remarks made by Mr. Wilcox. The relatively lesser amount of power held by Helen is not enough for her to escape from the consequences of her condition, which is why Mr. Wilcox insists on finding a way. The interference from Mr. Wilcox shows that he realizes the need for the use of his power in order to save Helen from the situation. Material Possessions In the book, the author can resort to descriptive words that rely on the imagination of the readers in order to distinguish the struggle between the classes in relation to their material possessions. However, this is not the case for the movie, which makes use of visual representations to show the inherent differences between the classes. The distinct material possessions that served as the source of the class struggle are the shelter, food, and clothing, which are essentially the basic needs of mankind. In the movie, the Shlegels are faced with problems in relation to their house. They are forced to find another place to live in because their lease is going to end to give way to the construction of new infrastructures, which Meg referred to as houses similar to that of Mrs. Wilcox. In this particular instance, it is shown that those from the lower class can be deprived of their basic needs in order to provide more for those who belong to the higher level in the class system. As Meg and Helen finds a way to move to another house soon, Meg inadvertently seeks the help of Mr. Wilcox as she considers his capabilities for finding them a house. Sooner, Meg ends up marrying Mr. Wilcox. Questions related to her intention of marrying Mr. Wilcox shows that it is related to the class to which the latter belongs. As Santas mentioned â€Å"she likes the solid businessman in him, the money-making and enterprising tycoon whose kind have helped erect the pillars of the British empire† (161). To a certain extent, Meg used the marriage in order to reap the material benefits of becoming associated with the upper class. Food and clothing remains an insignificant factor for the Wilcoxes and the Schlegel considering the abundance of such for their consumption. Similarly, the occasional scenes shot at the house of the Basts show the worse housing conditions made available for their family. Likewise, food and clothing remain scarce for the Basts. The difficulties faced by the Basts in relation to these needs are further highlighted in the wedding of Mr. Wilcox’s daughter. As soon as Meg meets Helen, who brought the Basts to the wedding, she is immediately confronted with the fact that the couple is in a state of starvation. They are allowed to eat at the gathering with the help of Helen but their presence caught the attention of Mr. Wilcox’s son and daughter-in-law. Mr. Wilcox’s son, Charlie, questioned Jackie Bast whether she is associated with the bride or the groom in order to find out if she is really a guest. The behavior of Charlie and the rest of the family towards the presence of the Bast show the detachment of the upper class with that of the lower class. In opportunities provided to them, the members of the upper class would highlight the things that set them apart from the members of the lower class. Opportunities First, the opportunities for acquiring a job remains a big issue for those in the lower class while those in the middle- and higher-class enjoys a relatively wider set of opportunities. Throughout the story, the plight of Leonard Bast is shown in relation to his employment opportunities. His problems regarding work started when Meg asked Mr. Wilcox how he could be of help to a clerk who is working at an insurance company. Mr. Wilcox, after finding out the name of the company, said that the organization is rather unstable and Leonard should find another job. The Schlegel sisters consequently advised Leonard to do as Mr. Wilcox said but he immediately got terminated from his new job. Soon after, he faced difficulties looking for a new job as he tried from one organization to another. At a later scene, Leonard shared his perspective on why he is having a difficult time in getting hired. His explanation is highly associated with the class he belongs to and compares it with the upper class. According to Leonard, the members of the upper class can easily change and find a new job whenever they are in a situation similar to what he is in as of the moment. On the other hand, the poor, like him, have a difficult time after they lose their current job. Not only is this difficulty associated with getting employed but is also related to how they would avail of services or products that they need in order to survive. In relation to this, Mr. Wilcox did not take any personal responsibility over the mishaps of Leonard’s unemployment. Despite the fact that Helen continuously pointed out that it is his fault, he remained undisturbed by the incident and is not even bothered by the condition of Basts after the advice he made. Likewise, he refused to help Leonard despite his qualifications and the availability of jobs in his company. His refusal might be related to his inherent detachment with that of the poor. In fact, he once told Helen that she should not â€Å"take up that sentimental attitude over the poor† (Forster 193). Second, the opportunities of moving from one class to another proves to be difficult and is often taken negatively by the members of a particular class. As for the Basts, their only option for marriage is someone from their own class, which did not actually enjoyed ample focus in the movie. The relationship that is focused throughout a greater part of the movie is composed of members from two different classes. The people involved are that of Mr. Wilcox and Meg, who came from the upper class and middle class, respectively. The marriage between people from the middle class and upper class is not prohibited but is often rejected by members of the upper class. In the case of Mr. Wilcox and Meg, the children of the former did not fully accept the latter even after everything that has happened. Despite the kindness shown by Meg, the children of Mr. Wilcox remained insincere with the relationship they formed with her. Likewise, they casted doubt over the favors asked by Meg from Mr. Wilcox as they considered these favors as exploitation. The behavior of Mr. Wilcox’s children is a manifestation of the common disapproval held by the upper class towards the inclusion of a person from the lower class. While there are rooms for movement in between the classes, the barriers that have to be broken remain tough and difficult to handle. Summary and Conclusion The movie Howard End is a distinctive portrayal of class struggle as it brings life to the words laid out in the novel by Forster. The film successfully represents the concept of class struggle as it is used in the novel. Despite some differences from the novel, the movie is able to invest in the scenes and the elements of the story in order to create a similar portrait of class struggle with that of the book. More specifically, the class struggle is shown through power relations, material possessions, and opportunities. Throughout the film, the idea of class struggle existed from the beginning until the end. It can be said that the centrality of class struggle is related to the real-world experience that surrounds the novel at the time of its publication.

Prada Case Essay

From the financial point of view, the Italian luxury brand- Prada, which was known for its design innovation, can’t claim itself successful. Although it has the ability to keep its revenue over 1.5 billion euros for three consecutive years, it also contains more than 1 billion euros of debt maturing within 12 months sitting on its balance sheet. One of the best solutions for Prada to solve this problem is to raise capital in the stock market, which we could refer as IPO. Given the current market conditions, listing in Hong Kong might appears to be the best choice after all. But, before we go further in details about the pros and cons about listing in Hong Kong, we should first discuss the reasons why we choose IPO over Debt and Strategic partnership. Compare to issuing debt, an IPO will not add any more burden to the company’s balance sheet, which for Prada, was already showed a sign of insolvency and over leveraged. Another issue is that no firms in this industry have ever raised money in US bond market. Although â€Å"dim sum bond† – a Chinese Yuan denominated bonds issued in Hong Kong could be the best alternative to this situation, however, the short life and the exchange risk it involved are its most disadvantages. How about sale some portion of the firm to the private equity firms to raise capital? For this deal, it seems that they will not only offer a sizeable premium to the family, but also to offer some important positions on the board too. But, compare to IPO, it will not increase Prada’s publicity through this method. And also, an IPO in Hong Kong will give the company more opportunity to expand their Asia market, especially in China and Japan. Choosing a Strategic Partnership would be just like giving that huge potential profit away. So, the next question is how do we actually apply the IPO strategy?

Close Relationships Sometimes Mask Poor Communication Essay

Close Relationships Sometimes Mask Poor Communication - Essay Example 3). One strongly believes that this phenomenon, the closeness-communication bias is significantly manifested in most close interpersonal relationships in contemporary times due to the preconceived notion that closeness is synonymous with understanding what the other person really intends to relate. In one’s personal experience, there is a feeling of complacency that closeness between spouses or friends is actually indicative of knowing what the other person needs or wants – even prior to communicating the message. However, one was surprised to find out from the study that this notion is untrue. When one searched further on the closeness-communication bias, the research study conducted by Savitsky, Keysar, Epley, Carter, and Swanson (2011) entitled â€Å"The closeness-communication bias: Increased egocentrism among friends versus strangers† and published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, the findings included the element of egocentrism, defined as â€Å"the philosophy or attitude of considering oneself the center of the universe† (The Free Dictionary, 2012, p. 1). The outcome of the study indicated that â€Å"egocentrism increases when one interacts with close friends—individuals who are assumed to be similar to oneself, and f or whom one may therefore relax efforts to correct an initial, egocentric default† (Savitsky, Keysar, Epley, Carter, & Swanson, 2011, p. 272). This is a surprising revelation because at it explains, taking one’s understanding that the other person knows more about oneself contributed to the perception that the other person actually understands more than what is actually being communicated. In response, therefore, to the following questions: (1) Have you ever had a miscommunication with someone close to you simply because you assumed that they understood you? What happened? The answer is yes. A close friend was usually assigned to do powerpoint presentations in academic projects. When

Final Exam American Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Final Exam American Government - Essay Example ing abortion, and his wanting to rescind job protection for medical professionals refusing to take part in abortions, may be the driving force pushing more people to the right side of this debate. Explain the â€Å"filibuster† and â€Å"cloture† as used in the United States Senate. What problems do these two practices create? Provide some recent examples. (American Government and Politics, 2009/2010) Filibuster or the use of unlimited debate as a blocking tactic has been around since 1790. Senate rule 22 invoked Cloture which shuts off discussion on a bill. In 1979 it was refined to state that a final vote must take place within 100 hours after cloture has been invoked. The problem these two practices create are prolonged debates ending in forced decision making. I am guessing that our deficit issue, with a deadline of August 2nd, is undergoing these very same practices and I can’t help but wonder if the result will be good for the American people. Gerrymandering was named for Governor of Mass. Elbridge Gerry back in 1812. It refers to the practice of reshaping a district in order to benefit a particular candidate. The original area reshaped was Essex County and when it was done, it looked like a dragon on paper. Painter G. Stuart thought it looked like a dragon and said something about being fit for a salamander and B. Russell, an editor said, â€Å"Better say a Gerrymander†, for E. Gerry the Governor. (American Government and Politics, 2009/2010) I think that the biggest consequence of â€Å"gerrymandering† would be the manipulation of our voting public. It isn’t fair or ethical to be able to hedge your boundaries one way or another to suit your needs and secure a victory. Not that politics is particularly fair or ethical, but it is suppose to be. Isn’t it? Social conservatives fight for the preservation of tradition values. They believe that the federal government should have limited involvement in the affairs of citizens and that the states and local

Cognitive Bias Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cognitive Bias - Essay Example Ability to recognize cognitive bias is of utmost importance in order to conduct any qualitative behavioural research. Cognitive bias can reduce or even spoil the findings of a research having a solid research design structure. While conducting cognitive bias it is important for the researchers to be aware of cognitive bias on both sides. The real course of concern is that the quantification of emotion using cognitive interpretation is likely to be flawed. Contemporary measurement methods like focus group, questionnaire surveys are used to ask questions to the respondents. But when a respondent is asked a written or verbal question, the chances of being exposed to cognitive bias is very high. Groupthink also known as herd behaviour or bandwagon effect occurs when the group members reduce the personal beliefs to maintain cohesiveness among the group. In a group a certain individual may feel out of the comfort zone if the personal point of views does not match that of the others. Theref ore the group’s member may go with the accord of the others. Another kind of cognitive bias is termed as the availability bias. When the participants are asked certain questions, the respondents are most likely recalling the recent experiences of such instances that come to mind very quickly.

Bank of America or McDonalds Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Bank of America or McDonalds - Case Study Example This is because they help the organization in achieving several objectives. This includes planning and executing functions such as marketing. Talent management program has aided the expansion of the bank in America. This has made the management of the bank tap the best talent from the market. According to Goldsmith & Carter (2010), the bank has been successful because their talent management plan facilitates the training of employees. In the plan, several principles have assisted in devising a comprehensive program for succession at the bank. Goldsmith & Carter (2010,) assert that the implementation of the program led to the growth of the bank. Indeed, the management engaged in consultations prior to designing programs that helped in equipping employees with skills necessary for enhancing growth at the institution. The bank devised a seven-point program that emphasized the importance of leadership at the helm of the organization. According to the plan, the transition of roles happens at the departmental level. This handled leadership dilemmas that led to the fall of competitor banks. The bank survived by recognizing diversity in populations when designing programs that tap talent. The institution believes that success is a combination of stratagem that taps the potential of different employees (Lawler, 2008). The human resource department designed phases for tapping talent into the firm. Initially, they recruited the best from the job market. Thereafter, they collaborated with firms that assisted in designing programs for recruiting the best. The management succeeded in their ventures because they sought advice from professional bodies and reputable recruitment agencies (Lawler, 2008). The selection process ensured that members selected to fit in the organization.

Consider the bases for motivation for terrorism. Discuss with Essay

Consider the bases for motivation for terrorism. Discuss with reference to a range of illustrative groups and action to counter violent political radicalisation - Essay Example responding are leading to a re-evaluation of what is needed to alter the affiliations with these specific groups and the agendas that they are working to fulfill. The more that is understood and analyzed about the groups, as well as the counter – actions that are taken, the more likely that the correct responses can be taken to change the rebellion against political and social arenas. The definition of terrorism is one that has grown in current years. The explosion of terrorism as a cultural affiliation began after the World Trade Centers in 2001, which caused destruction to the United States buildings and created a strong cultural and political response from America. The particular attacks led to the new terrorism, and have led to a rise in the amount of terrorist groups that are spotted around the world, especially since the 1980s. There are several definitions and identity concepts that are affiliated with this. Terrorists are known to consist of either a fanatical religious group or one that holds a political agenda. Fanaticism, rather than political interest, is usually at the base of motivation for terrorism. However, non – traditional terrorism, which consists of political agendas that are intertwined with religion, as well as the responses from groups, is prevalent. The rules for groups have led into more destruction and chaos that is created as we ll as the belief that self – destruction is honorable when being a part of war and terrorism (Morgan, 7, 2004). There are several types of terrorism that are a part of different focus groups around the world. Each has specific agendas and initiatives that are related to politics and society, as well as the need to achieve specific goals in relation to philosophies held by the groups. The new terrorism, which has developed as a part of the 20th century, has created a different understanding and analysis of terrorist groups and their agendas. The main focus of new terrorism is one that is not

Project paper on interpersonal communication theories and chosen book Essay

Project paper on interpersonal communication theories and chosen book - Essay Example Yet these two English speaking Caucasians can barely last seven days without confrontation amongst themselves and amongst their loved ones. Such is the downfall of language. People can understand the words, but it takes much more time and effort to understand the context in which people speak. This film essentially portrays the lives of two individuals in their unique journey to Japan. While it seems as though Bob is going through a mid-life crisis in conjunction with family problems waiting in the States, Charlotte appears to be having a crisis of her own at twenty years of age. She looks for sympathy in Bob Harris and receives something that borders on romance and heart-break. Not only an intense drama, but the film also portrays the life-styles of two different generations of marriage. Intimate relationships, especially marriages, are considered one of closest forms of relationships. Both participants are supposedly devoted enough to disclose very personal information to one another. Conversely, can that form of intimacy last? What if the discloser is no longer appreciated in a marriage? Bob Harris appeared to be going through such a scenario with his wife overseas. In a specific scene, Bob is speaking with his wife about some of the extraordinary people he has been meeting in Japan. To this end, Mrs. Harris mundanely expresses how happy she is that Bob is having fun. Of course, her voice and tone reveal that she could care less about Bob’s experience—even though he claims that Japan not fun, just â€Å"different.† Mrs. Harris’s lack of enthusiasm illustrates a marriage without intimacy. It is a marriage only held together by the devotion to their children. This film portrays very convincingly of the loss of such intimacies. Relationships can blossom so hastily only to fall just as quickly. A once exciting intimacy can degrade into jealousy

Hume and Kant on Free

Hume and Kant on Free Will Essay Abstract This paper is an attempt to show how Kant’s ideas concerning practical and transcendental freedom of the will was a significant correction to the parallel theories of Hume. It starts out by clarifying Hume’s critique of free will, especially as it appears in An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. It draws the conclusion that Hume’s philosophy is espousing skepticism, and that Kant’s effort is to overcome this skepticism and restore trust in reason. The philosophy of Kant is outlined in order to make the last point. It is generally agreed that Kant supplied the definitive stamp to philosophy that ushered in the modern age. Hume, though enormously influential in his time, and a favorite in the French salons of philosophy, fell into disrepute in the Victorian era, and only since has become a subject of restored interest. Yet Hume is the philosopher cited by Kant as having stirred him from his â€Å"dogmatic slumbers’. He had espoused a philosophy of empirical skepticism, so thorough and devastating in its scope that it became impossible for Kant to remain in his settled certainties of Newtonian science. It was the spur that carried him on to compose the Critique of Pure Reason (1781), where reason is restored, and man is once more vindicated as a rational being. Just because he refuted and answered Hume’s skepticism does not imply that the latter philosophy is nullified. We must keep this in mind, that Hume’s skepticism is completely valid as far as sense experience is concerned, and Kant does not refute any part of this philosophy. What he does is posit a further dimension to human understanding, specifically, the synthetic a priori faculty of the mind, the existence of which Hume did not suspect. Only after this addition is the primacy of reason restored. So we cannot say that Kant has destroyed Hume’s philosophy, rather he has added to it. Central to Hume’s skepticism is his critique of â€Å"cause and effect†, which is spelled out to its most profound depths in chapter VII of the An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748). The preliminary task is to outline the copy principle. The premise to this is that all knowledge begins from sense experience. Among such we are able to distinguish between primary and secondary sensations. The primary sensations are extension, motion, inertia etc, which are indeed the concepts that physics tackles. Color, taste, smell etc are said to be secondary sensations, composed or derived from the primary ones. The copy principle says that the primary sensations, though not delivering complete information from the material object – which is more poignantly described as â€Å"the object in itself – nevertheless is a faithful copy of it. This is why primary sensations are distinct and forceful presences in our mind. Secondary sensations are in turn copies of the original copy, and due to this derivative nature they lose distinctness to us. We will examine the copy principle of Hume in a moment. For the time being we accept it as such and consider the consequences. For Hume’s purposes, it has allowed him to refer to objects and their motions with confidence, and not to be held back by the validity of these concepts. For without the principle we don’t know as yet that objects are objects, and motion is motion, and we would have had to deal with a chaos of sense experience, and nothing meaningful to refer to it against (1993, p. 12). So now, with the copy principle of Hume as foundation, we proceed to talk about objects in motion. Next, we observe interdependence between objects, carried out in space and time. We â€Å"know† that motion in one object is â€Å"cause† to motion in another. A billiard ball in motion strikes another, and after impact the second acquires a velocity too, and the faculty of our understanding tells us, without the least inkling of doubt, that the impact imparted by the first ball is the cause of the second ball gaining motion. This understanding is so refined that we can, with a little help from Newton’s mechanics, predict the exact trajectory of the second ball by analyzing the trajectory of the first. We know it, but how do we know it? This is the crucial question for Hume. For if we do not have the answer we are left with skepticism. After impact with the first ball the second could have taken any one of an infinite number of trajectories. But it takes only one, and indeed we expect it to take only that one. A physicist may come along and try to convince us that it could not have taken any other trajectory because the laws of motion stipulates that, with the initial conditions given, the path it takes is the only possible one. But this is not an answer to the observer of the billiard ball, because he doesn’t care what the laws of physics are. If nature had followed another mathematical law then another outcome would have been just as valid. The observer could then have framed his conundrum differently: Of the infinite possible mathematical laws why just that one? There is nothing in the inner logic of the situation that dictates that the first ball should produce exactly the prescribed trajectory in the second. Hume said this about the experimental set-up, that we may try an experiment ten times, and may arrive at the exact same result ten times. But this does not prove that the specific outcome is inevitable. Not even if we confirmed the outcome a million times, because we would still only have a statistical probability and not a proof. Hume’s conclusion is that there is no rational link between cause and effect. Yet we expect effect to follow cause, immediately and irrevocably. If this is so then, explains Hume, it is a feeling transmitted to us by custom. What exactly he means by custom is left vague. He could not have meant anything other than â€Å"observing over and over again†, even though this fails to take into account new experience. He himself supplies a famous counterexample in the Enquiry. Some one who has experienced all the shades of blue, except for a tiny strip of the spectrum, is expected to report a gap when looking at the full spectrum of blue. But the fact is that he does not observe a gap at all, and recognizes at once the full spectrum of blue, even though he is experiencing a particular shade on blue for the first time. The recognition was instantaneous, and the eye did require â€Å"accustoming† beforehand. This readily disposes the theory of â€Å"custom†. Hume, however, continues to insist that our convictions regarding cause and effect can have no other source than custom. That the inference to custom is a vague one is made clear when he comes to consider free will. The very act of consciousness, he says, testifies to the existence of free will. But coming to reflect on how it is possible that we are able to willingly set our limbs into motion, and to move and external object thereby, it appears nothing less than miraculous. The mystery in nothing less than how one immaterial body imparts momentum to another: For first: Is there any principle in all nature more mysterious than the union of soul with body; by which a supposed spiritual substance acquires such an influence over a material one, that the most refined thought is able to actuate the grossest matter? (Hume, 1993, p. 43) The upshot is that we cannot explain free will, just as surely as we cannot explain cause and effect. ‘Custom’ was hesitantly introduced to explain cause and effect, and the same comes to the rescue of free will. As constant observers of nature we come to expect an effect to always follow a cause, and the same analysis ought to be applied to the orbit of human will. In all times and in all places humans have shown a constancy in their day to day affairs, which points to a constancy in human nature. The speculation concerning the scope of free will is overdone by the philosophers, maintains Hume. The exercise of free will, when looked at through the vista of human history, does not display divergence as much as it displays constancy. Hume broaches on the distinction between freedom and necessity to make this point clear. Inanimate objects convey to us most clearly the quality of freedom. We may describe an inanimate object as indifferent to the rest of the material universe, and in that sense free. But this freedom also entails necessity. The object is subject to the necessary laws of causation, and indeed is bound entirely by them. This is the relationship that binds cause and effect to inanimate objects, and is a relationship that is composed of both freedom and necessity. Hume transposes the same analysis to the relationship between human beings and free will. The will is indeed free, but being so implies that it conforms to human nature. He proposes the following definition: By liberty, then, we can only mean a power of acting or not acting, according to the determinations of the will; this is, if we choose to remain at rest, we may; if we choose to move, we also may. (1993, p. 63) The notion of free will advanced here bears a crucial difference to the popular one, and begs to be spelt out. What Hume describes as free will is not a choice between course ‘A’ and ‘B’. Rather the choice is between ‘A’ and ‘not A’, the latter implying stagnation, not an alternative course. This is the entire extent of our free will. We choose either to move forward, or else to stand still. This is what Hume would describe as freedom to act. Free will, however, is in complete accordance with human nature, and therefore follows the laws of necessity, just as everything else in contingent reality. Free will urges us to act â€Å"freely†. With freedom to act we may respond to this urge, or we may desist. In the final analysis our understanding of free will hinges on custom, in the same way as does our understanding of cause and effect. The past is guide to the future in the probabilistic sense. Beyond probabilities we have no understanding of either, contends Hume. In order to enforce this skepticism he proceeds to dismantle the Cartesian theories that pretended to explain mind and matter interaction, especially the theory of occasionalism advanced by Father Nicholas Malebranche. In this theory God is made both motivator and executor of every act or incident that seems to be â€Å"cause†, while the circumstances which we call a cause are only occasions for God to act in such a manner. Hume complained that this not only made God a slave to his own creation, but it also eradicated free will, making everything â€Å"full of God† (1993, p. 47). By disposing summarily the Cartesian explanations of cause and effect Hume makes his skepticism complete. Kant overcomes this skepticism by revising the premise of Hume. The correction is made most forcefully in the opening to the Critique: Although all our knowledge begins with experience, it does not follow that it arises entirely from experience.   For it is quite possible that our empirical knowledge is a compound of that which we receive through impressions and that which our own faculty of knowing (incited by impressions) supplies from itself†¦ (1999, p. 1) To be fair to Hume, he does consider this possibility, and ponders whether there is a blueprint in the mind where all ‘causes’ and all ‘effects’ can be referred back. (1993, p. 44). But he dismisses this idea when he realizes that a static blueprint can never account for the dynamic reality. However, the faculty that Kant is suggesting is not static, rather dynamic and creative, and here lies the crucial difference. In the technical terms of Kant it is the synthetic a priori faculty of the mind. This is distinguished from the analytic a priori faculty, such as logic. The rules of logic are extant in the mind (a priori), but form a self-consistent system (analytical), and therefore do not depend on sense experience. On the first instance it seems impossible that the mind can have a faculty that is synthetic a priori, where synthetic implies that it is creative. It entails that order is created out of the chaos of sense experience, and order that was not there before. But Kant also provides proof that the mind is capable of synthesis. Mathematical propositions are synthetic a priori, he contended. The proposition â€Å"3 + 5 = 8† may sound like self-consistent logic, but it is not really so. â€Å"8† is a completely new concept, and is not contained in either â€Å"3†, â€Å"5† or â€Å"+†. If we know that â€Å"3 + 5 = 8†, it is due to a synthetic a priori faculty in the mind. As Kant relates in the Prolegomena, when he realized that mathematical propositions are indeed synthetic a priori, it led him to ponder on what other such concepts the mind uses to facilitate understanding, and it appeared to him, in due course, that â€Å"cause and effect† was a concept of understanding that derives from the same faculty. He does not at all concern himself with material reality as a â€Å"thing in itself†, that which the materialist philosophers were after in order to provide a foundation to Newtonian science. Like Hume he maintains throughout that an absolute material reality is beyond knowledge, and to speculate on its existence was futile. We only need to consider what we perceive and what we do. He also shows that Hume falters at exactly those points where he cannot dismiss material existence in itself. The copy principle is slavish to a material object in itself. The object does not deliver copies to our mind; rather the mind provides the concepts of space in which we are able to conjure up material objects from sensory data. Both â€Å"space† and â€Å"time† are pure concepts of the mind, contends Kant, and like â€Å"cause and effect† are the tools by which we come to understand contingent reality (Prolegomena, 2005, p. 26). As soon as it is made out that we are the responsible architects of our own reality, and are not passive bystanders to an absolute material reality beyond our control, we suddenly discover ourselves as moral beings. Therefore the subsequent direction of Kant’s philosophy, after the metaphysics of understanding has been established, is towards a metaphysics of morals. And so emerges the crucial distinction that Kant makes between practical and transcendental freedom. To say that we have practical freedom implies we are able to understand the world, and by doing so we direct the will accordingly. We will do so of course for practical purposes – survival, utility, convenience, happiness etc. this would seem to cover the entire orbit of freedom. But Kant went on to demonstrate, in his Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (1785), that such freedom is not actually freedom at all, and indeed is a binding. Thus far Kant is in concord with Hume. Now, the metaphysics of understanding, as spelt out in the Critique, is not the entire picture. The synthetic a priori faculty of the mind fashions understanding out of sensory experience. But such understanding does not lead to truth. As pure concepts of understanding space and time are both necessarily infinite. But because they emanate from the finite mind they are also finite. So in their very make-up space and time lead to contradictions. The same end must necessarily meet anything that takes place within space and time. So that matter is both infinitely divisible and also made up of concrete building blocks. As another example, we have free will, but at the same time everything is caused, so we don’t have free will. Such examples are put forward by Kant as pairs of â€Å"antinomies†. According to our understanding both consequences are valid, and yet they mutually contradict each other. All practical reasoning necessarily leads to pairs of antinomies. This must be so, because we reason by means of subject and predicate, where the subject is the cause of the predicate. But this subject is in turn predicate to another subject, and so on in an infinite chain of causation. If there was an ultimate subject at the beginning of this chain, we could have claimed to have discovered the final cause, and thereby have at hand a pronouncement of truth. But in contingent reality there is no such final cause. So whenever we try to make pronouncements of truth we must face contradiction. We cannot say that practical reason is false for this reason. Life is ruled by contingencies, and practical reason is to explain the contingent, or to facilitate such understanding. Absolute truth lies beyond all contingencies, and this is ruled by â€Å"pure† reason, explains Kant. It is not within the grasp of the human mind, yet it is the underpinning of the mind, and is the source of all innate faculties. The same analysis applies to practical freedom, which is but the corollary to practical reason. With practical freedom we choose our course according to practical reason, i.e. we are motivated by self-serving motives – happiness, honor, respectability, and so on. But in doing so we bind ourselves to those endless chains of contingencies, so that we are not really free. We chase material acquisition in order to be happy, and yet it always eludes us. The definition of freedom is to escape all contingencies, and yet by the application of practical reason we are mired more and more into contingent reality. Therefore we are not free. This is indeed a contradiction, one which Hume does not pay heed to. The very act of consciousness tells us that we are free, that out will is free. If practical reason does not embody this freedom, then surely pure reason must do so. By the same token, we are in possession of a transcendental freedom, which is a path that overcomes all contingencies, and is dictated by pure reason. Kant describes this path as the moral one. We recognize and follow this path from a sense of duty. To clarify what it is, duty is done for its own sake. There is no material motive whatsoever attached to it. Not for any particular good, it is done for the universal good. It is a categorical imperative, meaning that the very make-up of our being, or pure reason, dictates that we follow it. As an aid to identifying one’s duty Kant devised the following wording for the categorical imperative: â€Å"I ought never to act except in such a way that I could also will that my maxim should become a universal law† (Moral Law, 2005, p. 74). Kant is described as overcoming Hume’s skepticism. But it is questionable whether the latter is a skeptic at all. According to a contemporary, Hume’s philosophical paradoxes are delivered with a confidence that belies skepticism: â€Å"Never has there been a Pyrrhonian more dogmatic† (qtd. in Mossner, 1936, p. 129). A more recent reassessment of Hume is carried out by the German Neo-Kantian philosopher Ernst Cassirer, who opines, â€Å"Hume’s doctrine is not to be understood as an end, but as a new beginning† (1951, p. 59). The nature of this new beginning is well articulated by Hume himself. â€Å"Indulge your passion for science,† nature tells us, according to Hume, â€Å"but let your science be human, and such as may have a direct reference to action and society† (Hume, 1993, p. 3). If we listen carefully, the moral note that Hume is sounding is hardly different from that of the categorical imperative of Kant. Not for the person’s sake, but for humanity’s sake. Not for the particular good but for the universal good. This is the essence of Hume’s projected â€Å"science of man†, as it is also the heart of Kant’s metaphysics of morals. References Cassirer, E. (1951). The Philosophy of the Enlightenment. Trans. Fritz C. A. Koelln and James P. Pettegrove. Boston: Beacon Press. Hume, D. (1993). An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. E. Steinberg (Ed.) Boston: Hackett Publishing. Kant, I. (1999). Critique of Pure Reason. W. S. Pluhar (Trans.), E. Watkins (Ed.) Boston: Hackett Publishing. Kant, I. (2005). Kants Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing. Kant, I. (2005). The Moral Law: Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals. Translated by H. J. Paton. New York: Routledge. Mossner, E. C. (1936). Bishop Butler and the Age of Reason: A Study in the History Of Thought. New York: Macmillan.

Frankestein and his creature Evil Essay Example for Free

Frankestein and his creature Evil Essay He ate the berries and other small fruits that he found in the woods. He is good at this stage because He has seen how He was upsetting the family when He was eating their food; He realised this and started to chop wood to repay the family. He is aspiring to be like the family, He wishes to be friends with them and have friends of His own. There are a series of events, which leads up to the creature becoming resentful and violent. He first saw His reflection in a pond; His gaze laid eyes upon His ugly, repulsive reflection. He could not believe that His creator had made Him this ugly. When He saw the blind Grandfather alone one day, He decided He would approach Him because He thought the Grandfather would be more understanding as he was old and more wise. This was so but when the old mans daughter in law and Granddaughter returned, they screamed at the sight and the son came rushing home. The son thought the creature was attacking his father and so the son attacked the creature. The creature ran away and did not respond with violence. The creature did not lash out because He thought that if He did it would ruin any chance of becoming friends with the family. Later on in the week he over heard a conversation between the son and their landlord, the son said, My wife and sister will never recover from their horror. After the conversation the creature gave up all hope of befriending the once, happy, joyous and caring family. The family left the cottage out of fright; meanwhile the creature was angry and very upset. He went back to the empty cottage and set the wooden building alight. He watched the cottage burn and He enjoyed it. Later on in the creatures life He found Victors diary which contained notes on how His creator abandoned Him. In the front of Victors diary it had His home address of Geneva written in it. The creature was determined that Victor would feel His wrath. He set of to Geneva to get revenge. On His arrival in Geneva, he saw a small boy walking on the same lane that He was on. The creature hid in the bushes and wandered whether he should He reveal Him self to the child. He thought that if the child being young would understand His condition. He decided to reveal Him self. He took hold of the small boys arm, He wanted to protect and look after Him. The child screamed, the creature told the boy His intentions, that He wanted to be friends. The boy kept on screaming, He cried out, Monster! Ugly wretch! You wish to eat me and tear me to pieces, youre an ogre, let me go or I will tell my Papa. My father is Mme Frankenstein. You belong to my sworn enemy, Victor Frankenstein. After all the upset He has caused me, I will give Him something to be upset about. With that the creature picked up the small boy William and throttled Him. The creature gained enormous pleasure over killing William, He had the taste for killing and He wanted revenge. The creature met with Frankenstein in the remote mountainous regions of Geneva, no one around to disturb them. The monster did not attack Victor, he wished to talk; the creature wanted Victor to create another being, a female one this time. Victor was served with an ultimatum, if he would recreate another being they would retire to South America or Victor would feel his wrath, fired by hatred, self-pity and desire for a mate. The creature does have a right to a mate, He will go away and not disturb any one ever again or He will destroy Victor if He does not. Victor has reason not to create a mate, She could be even worse, she has not promised to be good, the creature could hate it, they could come back or they might desolate the world. When Frankenstein was on His death bed, He said, Examining my past conduct, nor do I find it blameable. He feels it is not His fault about what has happened and He feels He had done nothing wrong. He knows He had responsibilities but He ignored them thinking the duties towards the beings of my own species were more important. Victor said He was right about not building a new creature. He says the first one went wrong and killed his friends and family, so He will not create a partner for the creature that killed them. He said it was evil and He had to kill it. The creature is very upset, He admits to killing Victor by leading Him to the icy lands. He asked for forgiveness but He knows it will not change anything. It said He had put up with more anguish than Victor ever had, He had to do it even though he didnt want to do it. When Victor was about to be cremated on the ice fields, the ice cracked up, the monster swam across and lit the pyre, and He stayed there next to Victor while He burned. I think that Victor Frankenstein was not evil, He was very confused and completely adsorbed in what he was doing, he was sure he was right, wanting to get rid of death, apart from a violent on. The creature was good in that he helped the family in the winter when food was scarce. However he did turn to evil was towards the end of the book after he failed with living with him self, destine to walk alone for the rest of his life. Another aspect for being evil was that he killed his creator; the man he gave him his pitiful life, and his family.

Television And Cinema In Todays Context

Television And Cinema In Todays Context Communication has evolved from aural means (such as the example of Persian king Darius I, whom used his men to serve as communication tools by shouting messages at positioned heights) to inscriptions (as used by the Romans and Persians amongst others) to print in the beginning of the sixteenth century. The rise of print has also allowed new languages to flourish especially Spanish, French, Portuguese and English. These languages became the predominant vehicle of communication for the European colonial powers in numerous parts of the globe. The transplantation of communications system around the globe created a new hierarchy of language and culture in conquered territories (Thussu 2006, pp. 2). According to Carey (1999) the growth of communications in the nineteenth century had the practical effect of diminishing space as a differentiating criterion in human affairs. The development of telegraph has enabled rapid transference of information that of which only requires minutes when it would have taken months should post come via sea. This evolution of communication has aided people in terms of business opportunities and times of war which were numerous in that era. Western countries were quick to grasp the implications of new technologies such as printing presses and radio communication following their introduction. And to this day, western countries are the communication mammoths of the world. Radio was a popular tool for propaganda in both the First World War and Second World War such was the same for news agencies. Western countries the information rich were in a position to dictate terms to the information poor, creating a structure of dependency with widespread economic, political and social ramifications for the poor societies (Thussu 2006, pp. 31). This situation has favourably turned for the best in recent years. But it is seen that messages are dispersed and received to the public using mediums of communication be it print, radio or even word of mouth. According to Williams (1974) though there is a fundamental assumption that television and cinema has altered the world there is a division of opinions. First opinion, also known as technological determinism, is that the technology is accidental. It is a view that new technologies are discovered by an essentially internal process of research and development which then sets the conditions for social change and progress (Williams 1974, pp. 7). Which means to say that should the television or cinema have not been thought off, warranted events (cultural or social) would not have eventuated. Second opinion is that even though technologies are discovered by accident as a medium in a process of change, its intendment lies in its use which are held to be symptomatic of some order of society or some qualities of human nature which are otherwise determined (Williams 1974, pp. 6). Should cinema or television have not been thought off and yielded; this opinion would still run as the public would be manipulated in some other way. But nevertheless, these opinions are deeply rooted in social thoughts that it is essentially profound to think beyond them as histories of technology are written, unconsciously or consciously, based on assumptions. Cinema and television has exponential influence in todays world though it should be noted that they are not the only mass media mediums with the ability to have leverage on public. Cinema and television have altered the way in which beauty is perceived and paved away stereotype images. Women seen on the screens are often extremely beautiful to be appreciated as beautiful. This could be reversed for men; actors are often macho and handsome. Less than attractive people are often given the smaller or side-kick roles. This stereotype has led to the issue of body-image. Bulimia and anorexia are eating disorders that are rampant in todays teenage and young adults world. Individuals who withhold food from their body or whom willingly vomit to keep their bodies svelte and conform to todays definition of beautiful. A television show that is going against this norm is Ugly Betty which features a less than attractive female lead. The show ran for four seasons before ending in 2010. Other stereotypes that emerge from cinema and television are the perceptions that all Asians have small eyes, high school band members are nerdy, blondes are ditzy and dumb or men with shoulder length hair are surfer dudes. There is an increase openness towards sexuality: gay, bisexual or straight. Global giant and financial leader of television and cinema (Thussu 2006, pp. 121), Hollywood has made it possible for such characterisations to be made public in television shows such as The OC, Glee and Ugly Betty and movies such as Brokeback Mountain and Transamerica. It could not be said that the public is more tolerant of sexuality as this acceptance is based on individuals. The openness towards sexuality could also have a negative impact on the public as there are films and television shows that promote adultery and cheating. Television and cinema has minimized the issue of geographical distance. What people see on these two medium are relatable in their lives and could be applied to a situation that is similar to what an individual is going through no matter where they habit in. For example, if a Singaporean individual is confused about her sexuality, mediums that feature such a topic could easily be relatable to her and thus she could seek a sense of direction from them despite where they originated from be it America, United Kingdom or wherever else in the world . Television and cinema are exaggerated by nature to allow people to be more engaged. Thus what people see on these mediums are not the exact truths nor can they happen in real life. These mediums are developed yearly with increasing viewers appeal (more explosions, more sexually charged, more dramatic) to rake in more monetary profit for the distributors. Though at times hold truth such as the case of the movie Blood Diamond, a fictional story with real issues (the mining of diamonds in Africa) and real events. Though influences are not hard truth from reality of the world, majority of people could relate their reality to what they see on the medium. It is uncommon to hear comments in conversations that are tied to these mediums. For example: I had a Rachel Berry (reference to television show: Glee) moment. I literally word vomit (reference to movie: Mean Girls) my excuse to the lecturer. New social groups and communities are formed defined by their interest such as favourite movies and television shows. Television and cinemas are also influential not only in terms of characters but also in fashion and materialism product placement of brands that could be seen in the mediums. Lately, there is an increase in television shows and cinema that are adapted from books. Monetary appeal as distributors is able to franchise out into merchandises and sequels or prequels and soundtracks. Such as: Twilight, Harry Potter and Pretty Little Liars. In conclusion, television and cinemas has altered the way in which the public view the world. Though situations on screens are exaggerated, they are still influential and could leave a lasting impression on an individual. It should be noted that television and cinema are not the only mass mediums in the world. In todays times the synergy of mass mediums provides a bigger profit margin for distributors.

Language Is A Virus :: essays research papers

Language Is A Virus A written work, whether it is a story, a poem or a song, can be as vague and indeterminable as a painting and given to many different interpretations. It gives an opportunity for the reader to use his imagination and his emotions in absorbing the writing and comprehending its meaning. The interpretation of written work varies with circumstances, such as different cultures, religions, historical times or just personal feelings. Folk tales and legends are stories that have been passed throughout generations and are being told in many parts of the world in different languages. These stories, originally written as local tales, pass the boundaries of their localities and become absorbed into the folklore of other religions and countries through publication in other languages. In many cases they are being altered to suit the tastes, customs and modes of behavior of the population to which the readers belong. In other instances the written works are absorbed in different localities, in their original forms, but even then their meaning varies in accordance with the cultural, religious and economical conditions of the country as a whole and of the reader as an individual. Obviously, a written work is a product of the period in which it is written. Unless it is a historical tale, the subjects, characters and events described, would be of a temporary nature or have a temporary outlook and appeal. Many writings are of a controversial nature and as such they appeal to some but can meet with a violent disapproval by others. Salman Rashdie has been lucky to survive the violent anger of the Muslim world. But at the same time he became popular with many segments of the population, not necessarily due to the greatness of his writing, but primarily because of the controversial subject he touches upon, the fact that he criticizes his own and that his criticism appeals to a non Muslim reader. Language is like a

Ghost Story of a Ghost Saving Her Baby :: Ghost Stories Urban Legends

A Ghosts Saves Her Baby I had just finished up lunch with a friend at around one o’clock in the afternoon. I was trekking back from the dining hall when I met the storyteller. She was a freshman who had just turned eighteen, and a moderately-devout Catholic. (â€Å"I’m into my religion but I don’t go to church as much as I’d like to.†) She was Filipino and born and raised Maryland. She was sitting on the lawn in front of the library, deeply immersed in a novel. When prompted by my question, â€Å"Would you mind helping me out with an assignment for class? I just need a ghost story or urban legend and interview you for a few minutes,† she cocked her head to one side and slowly shut her book. She said, â€Å"You know that one about a woman who dies in a car crash but her baby is still alive and she doesn’t want to leave it alone in the world?† I had a tape recorder with me, but she seemed a little put-off by that, so I simply took elaborate notes on how she presented her story. The following is as close to verbatim as I could remember and drawn from my notes: My cousin told me this. One evening, it was thunder-storming pretty badly outside. This lonely woman was sitting in her house watching television when someone knocked on her door. She got up to open it, and in front of her was this other woman who was just a wreck. She had blood and dirt all over her, not to mention all that rain drenching her. Pretty creepy sight. [She visibly flinched.] The woman outside goes, â€Å"Can you please help me? I just crashed my car and my baby is still in his car seat!† [The storyteller’s tone became empathetic here.] Of course, the lonely woman says, â€Å"Okay,† and the two go outside together. The rain picked up and things got really hard to see, but the lady led the lonely woman to her car, which had fallen into a ditch. Inside, there was the little baby sitting in his seat, still alive. The lonely woman reached in to get it, but then she gets all shocked, because you know who was in the driver’s seat? [I shook my he ad while she allowed her pause to linger.] It was the dead woman.

What is Operations Management?

Operation Management is concerned with any productive activity, whether manufacturing or service, in public sector or private sector, profit making or not profit making. It is concerned with ensuring that operations are carried out both efficiently and effectively. All mangers are operations managers since all functions within an organization are, presumably, productive activates it goes without saying that all function should be carried out efficiently and effectively. However the operation function is the hear t of all manufacturing and service enterprises, and unless this core operation is carried out effectively there is little hope that organization as a whole will be effective. An understanding of Operation Management principals can help any manger to manage more effectively , whatever function they are concerned with but it also leads to a greater understanding of the function of the organization as a whole and a greater appreciation for the issues which affect organizational performances. Definition of Operations Management. Operations Management is concerned with managing the resources that directly produce the organization’s service or product after going through a number of transforming Inputs Processes. The resources will usually consist of people, materials, technology and information but may go wider than this. These resources are brought together by a series of processes; so that they are utilized to deliver the primary service or product of the organization. Thus, operation management is concerned with managing inputs (resources) through transformation processes to deliver output (service or product). The following diagram explains the concept of Operation Management more clearly. (Appendix -1 –Pictorial representation of Operation Management) Example of Operation Management: Let us consider an example from our daily life to understand the concept of Operation Management more clearly. Consider an education institute, here, the student are a primary inputs. The transformation process is the learning that takes place. The main output is the educated students. For this operation to take place there has to be a proper timetabling, lecture and management of the whole activity. Scope of Operation Management: Expressed in this way it can be seen that the term ‘operations’ covers a wide range of organization. Manufacturing, commercial service, public service and other not-for-profit sector are all included within its scope. One way of defining operation function of the organization is to define what the end service or product actually is once this is clear, the people who directly contribute to the delivery of the end service or product, and the people who closely support them in this task, can be said to operational personnel of the organization. Read also Exam Operations Management Unfortunately, people who actually perform operational roles under this definition are not always called operational Mangers. This makes identifying the operation more difficult than, say, identifying the financial marketing or personnel functions. Job title such as hospital manger, technical director and store manger do not have the word operation in them, yet they are all Operations Management roles. Operations Management and its significance; Operations management concepts exactly help us to gain a better know ledge of things how they and perform around us. These concepts and theories have been developed by experts from different fields and published to share the knowledge to the publics. Operations management focuses on how the subtle routines and activities in your life can be systematically improved and makes our easy little by little. Operations management concepts use logic and practicalities to carry mare efficiency into everyone’s live and inspire other to bring out more ways to improve this world. Applying concepts to real situations: When the concepts and theories are produced by the great minds of the world, there are no real tangible benefits until it is actually used and applied in the real world. It is one thing to theorize that you can invent something that will take current way of living to the next level and another thing to actually do it and make everybody see that your theory is for real. The same rule applies to operations management concepts. They may be available to you and make you aware of how things around you work but if they are not used to improve the current status then they become useless. They become ere writings on paper and nothing more than that. If these concepts are to become relevant to society, people and government it should be used in such a way that their presence is felt in operations they are used. Once this is happen, then you can expect a wave of improvement every day from everyone which led to a greater improvement in the future. A relevant issue wherein operations management can be applied is in addressing flood damage problem. Today’s technology obviously does not have control over nature’s forces and the disaster that it may bring. The best way to deal with it then is through preparation and some sort of damage. It is in this aspect that operations management concepts can shine and really help in providing a boost to the current living conditions. Government applying operations management tools: An important part in addressing flood damage is the clean up that follows. This procedure is usually the most difficult and the most expensive of them all. After a major flood, everything is misplaced, infrastructure is ruined and slowly decaying and the area is usually in a state of disorder. If the flood damage cleanup programs are not well designed, it can take a very long time to get the area back on its feet. This means that people will not be able to get paid and it will hurt their way of living. As you can see, the most important things to be considered is how quickly flood damages can be cleaned up and in order to figure out the best possible way to do this, government turn up to use operations management concepts to settle things as soon as possible and which they were successful. The concepts will break down each process that is needed to cleanup flood damage and improve the little details to make everything better, faster and more efficient fullest extent for a better and quick result. Concepts and its applications †¢The first concept in operations management is project planning: the scope of flood damage cleanups usually covers a big area with varying terrains. To be able to work quickly, a very good plan must be set before everybody can get to work. In project planning, there is an emphasis on scheduling and process layout. If there is a set schedule for when cleanup crew are supposed to move in and their job, there will not be any wasted time or effort. It will also give supervisors control over inactive crew so they can be given work and be more productive. An example in terms cleaning up after flood damage is the different jobs that are involved. First, the area has to be cleaned up of debris so a specific cleanup crew will have to handle that. Only after they finish will the road repair crew be able to do their job. Basically, project planning process layout creates a sequence for the different jobs that need to be done and, again, lessens confusion as to what should be done first or not. The next important concept is TQM which stands total quality management: this idea states that there should always be constant improvement within each and every process no matter how miniscule the improvement may be. The logic behind this is that each small incremental improvement will eventually add up to something significant if it is done regularly. Obviously in term of flood damage cleanups, anything that can be done a little bit quickly wil l be beneficial in the long run. This is why each process, cleaning repairing, debris- removing and all other activities should always be done at the fastest pace possible without sacrificing quality and safety. More and more, faster times and more efficient procedures should be set out and eventually, there should be marked improvement over the original performance. †¢Another relevant concept that can b applied is capacity analysis: this takes a logical step in measuring how much capacity a given machine or worker can take. It allows foe downtime, mistake and other unpredictable events then chums out the data to make it relevant. This is important because it help the project planner to be attended to. Capacity analysis also give a good idea of how well equipped a flood damage teams are in regards to dealing with worst case scenarios. †¢The last concept that will be discussed is that of facility location planning: flood damage cleanup supervisors should be able to pin point possible trouble spot during bad weather and be able to situate headquarters nearby. Using this concept may help in determining the most favorable location for setting up of headquarters which will result in save of time and energy. Advantages from Operation Management Application: Although many of the operations management concepts have been discussed, you can see it is beneficial to apply these ideas. It may cost money but the advantages they give are limitless. More efficiency and faster routines are a win- win situation for flood damage crew, government and the residents of the area. Simply put through, operations management concepts real aim is to put organization in continually improvement and to make working condition easy and time saving. Basically, applying different operations management concepts can greatly help in different line of work.

Ethical and moral grounds Essay

From a moral point of view, the truth of the above statement seems so convincing that it would be very difficult to make an argument against it. Victor Frankenstein’s creation of the monster and subsequent rejection of him is questionable on both ethical and moral grounds so we feel that surely he is responsible for his creation’s crimes – and it is the issue of responsibility that goes to the heart of the question of who is the ‘true’ murderer. However, over the course of the book, we see the monster evolve from a child-like creature without any understanding or language into one who becomes sensitive, eloquent, cruel and violent. Consequently it could be argued that with this change came moral awareness and therefore the true responsibility for the murders. By examining the events that lead to the deaths of William, Justine, Clerval and Elizabeth, this essay aims to establish who bears the ‘true’ responsibility for the murders rather than just whose hands committed the crime. The death of Frankenstein’s younger brother William is perhaps the most appalling, as William is only a child, and the monster’s excitement at what he has done shocks the reader even more: ‘I gazed on my victim, and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph'(p117). This reaction to the death of a child seems unbelievably evil – yet the monster’s joy is not really in William’s death – it is actually in the realisation that he can hurt and therefore revenge himself on Victor: ‘I, too, can create desolation; my enemy is not impregnable’ (p117). Also, although the reader would expect to feel no sympathy whatsoever for the assailant of such a crime, Shelley uses it to show the extent of prejudice even in society’s youngest members which has the effect of catching the reader off guard. Desperate for human company, the monster incorrectly reasons that the ‘little creature was unprejudiced, and had lived too short a time to have imbibed a horror of deformity’ (p117). This has the unexpected effect of making the reader feel sorry for the monster as well as the victim, because by now Shelley has developed him into a thinking, sensitive being who has still been completely rejected by all – even a child. Although the reader is horrified by the murder, the monster’s intention to abduct William ‘to educate him as [his] companion and friend’ is at least as pathetic as it is wrong, and therefore somehow also human and mitigating. Nevertheless, William’s murder was not portrayed as being premeditated but it was definitely a deliberate and reasoned act of vengeance: ‘Frankenstein! You belong then to my enemy†¦ you shall be my first victim’ (p117) and so it seems to make holding Victor solely responsible for it extremely difficult. The death of Justine however is not only the most damning for Victor, because he withholds information about her supposed crime for the most selfish of reasons, but for the monster as well. Under the pretext of fearing he will be dismissed as a madman, Victor remains silent about the monster. Yet since he is already thought to be ‘mad’ this is hardly a convincing reason. Nearer the truth is his fear of being abhorred by mankind for creating the monster, and it is for this weakness that Shelley ensures we feel less sympathy for Victor. The monster too is at his most despicable and calculating as he deliberately plants the incriminating evidence of murder on the innocent Justine and we feel that there is little to choose between him and Victor. However, it is significant that Victor himself sees Justine’s trial as some kind of judgement on his arrogance in creating the monster in the first place and even acknowledges that the true responsibility for both William’s death and Justine’s eventual execution should be his: ‘It was to be decided whether the result of my curiosity and lawless  devices would cause the death of two of my fellow-beings: one a smiling babe, full of innocence and joy; the other far more dreadfully murdered†¦ ‘ (p61). In failing to save Justine from execution, Shelley is drawing attention to Victor’s failure to resolve the moral dilemma he is in, which conveniently protects him as well as the monster. Also, she is drawing attention to the corruption of the courts and the church in accepting a confession from Justine extracted under the threat of withholding her last rites. The murder of Clerval reveals how sophisticated the monster has become in psychological torture. Although William’s murder happened after a chance meeting, Clerval’s, and later Elizabeth’s, is part of the monster’s premeditated plan to revenge himself on Victor and he knows that the best way to destroy him is by attacking those he loves. Unlike the unplanned murder of William that left the monster feeling exhilarated and powerful, he describes the ‘anguish’ he felt and how his ‘heart was poisoned with remorse ‘ (p. 188) after Clerval’s death. These painful recriminations show that the monster is capable of remorse and compassion as well as cunning, and yet condemn him all the more. This is not the picture of an ignorant or backward monster who could not help himself, but one of someone who could perhaps have chosen differently. Even more incriminating is Elizabeth’s death, where the monster’s threat to Victor that he will be with him on his wedding night again makes it difficult to hold Victor solely responsible, even though he left her alone and open to attack. This murder is not just to punish Victor for abandoning him, but is the monster’s revenge for cruelly destroying the female companion he so desperately needed. Thus we can see that although the monster may literally do the killing and is therefore clearly culpable, he is not solely and directly responsible for the murders. For this very reason it could be argued that neither is it completely satisfactory to say that Victor is the true murderer because he did not literally commit them: ‘I, not in deed, but in effect, was the true murderer’ (p72). It is impossible to address the question of who the ‘true’ murderer is in a literal way. For instance, Victor could never be held legally responsible for the murders because he did not physically commit them. The only way the question of responsibility can be answered is on ethical and moral grounds, but the problem with assigning blame and responsibility based on these considerations is that they are almost meaningless without a social context. In other words, it could also be argued that the ‘true’ responsibility for the murders goes beyond either Victor or the monster to society as a whole because once people start rejecting and alienating an individual they create outsiders. And once social rules and responsibilities cease to apply to an individual they are free to behave as monstrously as they like. However, if we believe that as members of society we are responsible for our actions, then we have to believe that Victor was ultimately responsible for all the deaths. If he had not been so arrogant as to obsessively pursue the mastery of nature and life over death, the monster would never have come into being. This was definitely a flaw rather than a strength in Victor’s character because Shelley shows him being punished by remorse and regret almost as soon as the monster is created, ‘I had gazed on him while unfinished: he was ugly then: but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived’. This description of ugliness is extreme, and at the same time prevents us from sympathising with Victor because we do not understand why he continued with his experiment knowing others would certainly feel as repelled – if not more so. We wonder why an intelligent man didn’t anticipate society’s reactions to a creation as ugly and unnatural as he was making – or even his own reactions to such a creature, and realise that if he, its creator, could not love it then why would anyone else? The only logical answer is the morally questionable one of supreme arrogance and self-indulgence at the expense of all others: Society, family, and colleagues. Victor was totally repelled by the ugliness of the monster – and so was everyone else that set eyes on him, which resulted in his alienation and isolation. Yet it is more accurate to say that Victor didn’t actually create the monster by ‘making’ him, but by rejecting him. Only after being constantly rejected and driven out by everybody was he ‘wrenched by misery to vice and hatred’ (p188). It was neglect and the basic need of companionship that he craved that drove him to being a monster. Shelley does show the monster developing awareness of right and wrong, but also of mankind’s prejudice and intolerance of those who are different. She seems to be saying that being educated, from however noble a source, is not a substitute for being nurtured by a parent or society and that those who fail to give this nurture, like Victor, are the real monsters. In other words, Victor is the true murderer because he is the true monster.

Ct- 183 †Principles of Providing Administrative Services

CT- 183 – Principles of Providing Administrative Services Understand how to make receive telephone calls 1. 1 Describe the different features of telephone systems and how to use them To using telephone is more easily to pass message to others when you need to, without going to their house or workplace. It is very good to be use in a business employment. For example: if you working in a Reception, then you will always need to pass message around to others staff.You cannot be available go around the building to tell them, because you will always need to be in the reception. Telephone would be the most easily way for you to pass the messages to them, or you can also use e-mail, if they not available to answer the telephone. You need to make sure you deliver the message as soon as possible to others, because it would be some important information or messages they has been waiting for all day.You will always need to make sure you take the correct messages, listen carefully when you on the phone to customers, or anyone that needs you to pass any messages. You need to make sure that the messages you pass to others are up to date, basically is when you taking message thought the telephone, make sure you put the time and all the details you need to know down. If these if privacy message, make sure there’s no one next to you when you on the phone.Telephone is a point to point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people talking to each other whenever they are. It would be in a different city or country. There is the hold button; you can press it to put someone on hold. Then there is call waiting, caller id, call forwarding, speed dial, group connections. The group connections are mostly for businesses. You can leave voice message to other people. 1. Describe how to follow organisational procedures when making and receiving telephone calls To follow organisational procedures when making and receiving telephone calls is very important , make sure you got the correct numbers when making a call, otherwise it can’t not connect to the person you wanted to call, it will also cost you fees for the call you made. If you working in a Reception it is very important for you to follow organisational procedures, when use transfer, make sure you connect to the right person that caller wants, because it would be a very important call. . 3 Explain the purpose of giving a positive image of self and own organisation The purpose of giving a positive image of self and own organisation is to give you a polite efficient and professional image meaning opening and closing the calls properly, having a pleasant but business-like manner and using appropriate words and phrases in this way everyone will see my organisation in a positive way. Understand how to handle mail 2. 1 Explain the purpose of correctly receiving, checking and sorting incoming and outgoing mail or packages . 2 Identify different internal and external mail servic es available to organisation 2. 3 Describe the methods of calculating postage charges for mail or packages Understand how to use different types of office equipment 3. 1 Identify different types of equipment and their uses 3. 2 Explain the purpose of following manufacturer’s instructions when using equipment 3. 3 Explain the purpose of keeping equipment clean, hygienic and ready for the next user Understand how to keep waste to a minimum in a business environment 4. Explain why waste should be kept to a minimum in a business environment 4. 2 Identify the main causes of waste that may occur in a business environment 4. 3 Identify ways of keeping waste to a minimum in a business environment Know how to make arrangements for meetings 5. 1 Identify different types of meetings and their main features 5. 2 Identify the sources and types of information needed to arrange a meeting 5. 3 Describe how to arrange meetings Understand procedures for organisation travel and accommodation ar rangements 6. explain the purpose of confirming instructions and requirements for business travel and accommodation 6. 2 outline the main types of business travel or accommodation arrangements that may need to be made and the procedures to follow 6. 3 explain the purpose of keeping records of business travel or accommodation arrangements Understand diary management procedures 7. 1 explain the purpose of using a diary system to plan activities 7. 2 identify the information needed to maintain a diary system Understand the purpose of delivering effective customer service and how to do so

The Battle of Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad was fought from August 23, 1942 to February 2, 1943. Hitler’s attempt to capture the city ended when the Soviets trapped the 300 000-German 6th army under General Friedrich Paulus. The destruction of the mighty 6th army gave the Soviets a psychological lift and military initiative.For the Germans, the battle signaled the end of the Russian conquest; that is, from a war of conquest to a war of survival. Background On August 1938, Hitler shocked the world by signing a non-aggression pact with his most hated enemy, the Soviet Union.Both powers agreed not to attack each other for a period of 10 years. A secret protocol called for a division of Eastern Europe between the two powers. Confident that the Soviets would not intervene with his military plans, Hitler proceeded to attack Poland. On September 1, 1939, German armored formation, supported by the Luftwaffe, smashed into the Polish borders, trapping thousands of Polish soldiers before they could organiz e a general retreat into Eastern Poland. Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany. Two weeks later, Soviet forces occupied Eastern Poland, as part of the Nazi-Soviet Pact.Poland was obliterated from the map of Europe. Hitler now turned his attention to the West. After eight months of interregnum, German forces aided by the powerful Luftwaffe, struck at France, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands. The British were trapped at Dunkerque. French forces were defeated in a matter of four weeks. With France defeated, Hitler now turned his attention to his hated ally, the Soviet Union. On June 22, 1941, three German army groups, numbering about 3. 1 million men struck at the Soviet Union. The Soviets were caught by surprise.On the first day alone, 1 million Soviets were either killed, capture, or injured; 1400 aircraft were destroyed, 500 guns were either destroyed or captured. After three days, the Soviets lost almost 80% of their armored formations in the East. Four Panzer armies drove towards Moscow. The arrival of the so-called ‘Siberian units’ (numbering about 1 million men) and the harshness of the 1941 winter finally drove the Germans from the outskirts of Moscow. Both sides rested. Hitler, however, planned another campaign in the Southern sector of the front. Operation BlueOn May 1942, German forces smashed across the Southern sector of the Eastern Front. Again, Soviet forces were caught by surprise. The Germans drove into the river Don, and prepared a massive assault on the river Volga (where Stalingrad was located). Two German panzer armies took the Caucasus on the following month. The 2nd and 4th Romanian armies as well as the 8th Italian army aided the German Sixth army in the crossing of the river Volga. By the 1st of August, additional armor was transferred to the 6th Army for the final capture of the city of Stalingrad.Marshal Georgy Zhukov anticipated this and ordered Soviet forces to encircle the 6th Army. Sett ing the Stage for the Battle In the Southern sector of the front, Hitler possessed superior forces. German forces numbered about 1. 7 million men, or about 76 divisions. Operation Blue called for the use of 3 panzer armies; two of which would drove into the Caucasus. One panzer army would drive straight into Stalingrad (refer to map1). On the eve of Blue, Germany still retained the element of surprise. For the Soviets, the defense of Stalingrad and other key cities around the Volga rested on the newly formed Soviet army reserves.Much of the Don steppes (refer to map2) were ideal for armored maneuvers. Field Marshal Fedor von Bock once argued to Hitler that the best way to destroy the Soviet army is to launch a massive attack around the river Volga. Hitler, however, insisted that the main thrust of the attack should be around the Caucasus Mountains. Much of the strength of the Soviet army laid on its newly formed armored formations and the reserve armies, and of course, the channels of defenses around key cities in the Volga region (refer to map 3). Stalin allocated only about 20% of the whole Soviet forces to the Southern sector, expecting an attack around Moscow.At the start of Blue, 10 Soviet armies were hastily sent to the South to counter the 3 panzer armies and the 7 German infantry and satellite armies. It can be argued that whilst the Soviet held the upper hand in the northern and central sector of the front, in the south, the German initially outnumbered the Soviets by almost 3:1. At the start of the battle of Stalingrad, all Soviet reserves were thrown into Stalingrad in a bid to encircle the German 6th army. When the German 6th Army entered the city on August 23, about 5 Soviet tank armies were massing around the river Volga.Only the 4th Panzer Army was in proximity to support the 6th Army in case of a major Soviet offensive. Most of the armor were allocated to the army group in the Caucasus region. The Battle The first phase of the battle of Staling rad involved the direct assault of the German 6th Army and the German 4th Panzer Army to 8 Soviet armies of the Stalingrad front (refer to map4). Fighting in the Don steppes reached its height on the end of July when 2 Soviet tank armies tried to outmaneuver both the 6th Army and the 4th Panzer army. It would take 4 weeks before the German army could liquidate the 2 tank armies.The Soviet army retreated into the interior of the Volga region in preparation of a massive German attack on the Stalingrad. Stalin now reorganized the Stalingrad front. Two infantry armies were reassigned as tank armies. The second phase of the German drive into Stalingrad involved the crossing of the river Volga. The Romanian and Hungarians armies provided the flanks of the 6th Army. The 4th Panzer Army provided the spearhead of the attack. Some armored formations were reallocated to the 6th Army from von Kleist’s 1st Panzer Army. The Soviets retreated to the outskirts of Stalingrad.Consequently, Sta lin ordered the Soviet armies to hold the 6th Army in Stalingrad. He allowed no further withdrawal of the Soviet forces. Between the Don and the Volga, a huge salient was formed occupied by the 62nd and 64th Soviet armies. On August 29, 4th Panzer Army smashed into the southern junction of the 64th Army and headed towards Stalingrad. The 6th Army drove into the northern junction of the 62nd Army (refer to map5). The pressure made by the Soviet 4th Tank Army in the north slowed the progress of the 6th Army, enabling the two Soviet armies to escape encirclement (refer to map6).The third phase of the battle involved a major German assault on the southern sector of the city. The Luftwaffe dropped thousands of bombs in the city. Paulus ordered the 6th Army to make a frontal assault of the city (which was now surrounded on three sides). German artillery pounded on the Soviet defenses on the Volga. Meanwhile, Soviet reserves continued to pour on the Stalingrad front allowing Zhukov to moun t local counterattacks against the 6th Army. As the fight for the city intensified, Stalin reorganized the Soviet fronts, creating the Southwest and Don fronts.Zhukov’s plan for a major counterattack was simple yet ambitious. Three Soviet armies from the Southwest and Don fronts would drive towards the left flank of the German 6th Army. Two Soviet armies from the Stalingrad front would drive towards the junction of the 6th Army and the 4th Panzer Army (refer to map7). This strategy was designed to trap the 6th Army in Stalingrad. On October 1942, storm was unleashed on the Romanian and Hungarian armies (which served as flanks of the 6th Army). They were easily destroyed. The Soviets pounded the city into rubble.Although Hitler promised to airlift supplies to the 6th Army, only 100 tons reached daily, far from the 400 tons daily supplies promised by Hitler. From December 1942 to January 1943, the Soviets reduced the Stalingrad pocket by 50%. Hitler’s insistence for the 6th Army to hold out added to its own destruction. Paulus never ordered a major break out of the 6th Army. On February 1943, the headquarters of Paulus was captured by the Soviets. Paulus surrendered to the Soviets on the day of his promotion as field marshal. Weapons/Advantages/AlliancesMost of the German armor used in Blue and the battle of Stalingrad were Mark III and Mark IV, equipped with 50 and 80 mm. guns. Armor ranged from 80 to 100 mm. The famous 88 mm gun was used both as anti-tank and anti-aircraft gun (it was the only anti-tank gun that could destroy the mighty T-34). German airpower relied on two famous aircrafts: the bomber Junker and the Messerschmitt Bf109 (a powerful fighter). German soldiers were highly trained, far from their Soviet counterparts (also in comparison with Germany’s allies: Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Italy).The Soviet tank armies relied on two powerful tanks: the T-34 (with its 75 mm gun) and the KV100 (a heavy tank). The T-34 tank was su ited on all types of weather and could reach a speed of about 70 miles an hour. The Soviets also employed the IL28, a powerful fighter that could in some cases outfought the mighty Bf 109. The advantages of the Germans were as follows: 1) the efficiency and effectiveness of the German General Staff in operational and strategic planning, 2) the level of training of individual German soldiers, 3) the close coordination of German mechanized units and the air force, and 4) flexibility in command structure.The advantages of the Soviets were as follows: 1) the large size of the Soviet reserve armies, 2) its powerful tank designs (T-34), 3) determination, almost fanatical, of the Soviet armies in defending key cities, and 4) high production of armaments. Situation Report The defeat of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad signaled the end of Hitler’s war of conquest in the East. It initially destroyed the capability of the German to launch another massive operation (except at Kursk). In essence, the defeat gave the Soviets a psychological lift; that is, it was possible for the German army to be defeated.The strategic victory of the Soviets at Stalingrad allowed Stalin to press for a major Allied counterstrike at North Africa. German pressure in the East was partially relieved. Hitler was now faced a war on two fronts, which he initially prevented by signing the non-aggression pact with Stalin. On the area of operations, much of the German activities after the battle of Stalingrad focused on minor offensive posture, in contrast to the Soviets which could mount major operations (Bagration for example).In any case, the battle of Stalingrad shifted the favor of war to the Allies, as did in the battle of El Alamein in North Africa. Bibliography Battle of Stalingrad. BBC. PolyGram Video International, 1994. Beevor, Antony. Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege 1942-1943. New York: Viking, 1998. Irving, David. Hitler’s War and the War Path. London: Parforce, 2002. Seaton, Albert. The Russo-German War, 1941-1945. New York: Praeger, 1971. Toynbee, Arnold. A History of the World. London: London Publishing House, 1964. Wells, Herbert. The Outline of History. London: Garden City Books, 1956.

Analysis of the American Reality, Possibility, and Dream found in “Nickel and Dimed” and “The Outsiders”

Analysis of the American Reality, Possibility, and Dream found in â€Å"Nickel and Dimed† and â€Å"The Outsiders† Every American is familiar with the concept of the American Dream. It is the social myth at the very core of the nation’s identity. Unlike other countries, the United States is not rooted in a shared ancestry, history, or language. Instead, Americans find their unity in a common aspiration—the hope of a better future for themselves and their children in the Land of Opportunity. This is the vision that drove the Puritans to brave the sea, inspired the founding fathers to sign the Declaration of Independence, and continues to bring immigrants teeming into the country. The American Dream is deeply rooted in the culture and psyche of the United States and its citizens. It is a common theme in literature as American authors struggle to interpret the social myth in light of reality. One of the most beloved discussions and deconstructions of the American Dream is a novel written by Susan Eloise Hinton when she was only sixteen. The Outsiders chronicles the story of seven boys and their struggle to overcome the stereotypes forced on them by their community. Through the eyes of adolescence, Hinton analyzes the American Dream by addressing the gulfs that separate the Dream from reality, and the reality from the possibility of achieving the Dream. Another book with a similar purpose is Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America. Unlike The Outsiders, Nickel and Dimed is a nonfictional account of Ehrenreich’s experiences as she attempts to support herself by working various blue collar jobs. Ehrenreich accuses America of abandoning the working poor who, she argues, are unable to support themselves on current minimum wage salaries. Furthermore, her expos? shows an economic system that encourages the abuse and dehumanization of its low-income workers. Even while she stresses the importance of financial stability to the fulfillment of the American Dream, Ehrenreich spends a large portion of the book illustrating how a lack of humanity, in the system and between the classes, is the root cause of the large gap between rich and poor. While Hinton and Ehrenreich approach the American Dream from two very different perspectives, both conclude that a mutual respect and understanding between all pe ople, regardless of class, is essential to fully restore the Dream for all Americans. The United States of America was founded on the notion that â€Å"life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness† should be available to every citizen. The belief that these rights are available to every citizen is a great American myth. In his book The American Dream: The Short History of an Idea that Shaped a Nation, Jim Cullen calls this â€Å"idea that individuals have control over the course of their lives†¦ the very core of the American Dream, the bedrock premise upon which all else depends† (10). Hinton and Ehrenreich both attack the validity of the myth that equal opportunity is a reality in America and identify it as a source of prejudice and misunderstanding between the classes. Ehrenreich’s opinions about poverty, before she began her undercover journalism research, correspond strongly with the way average middle and upper class Americans think. She describes how she â€Å"grew up hearing over and over, to the point of tedium, that ‘hard work’ was the secret of success† (Ehrenreich 220). When she attempts to support herself as a blue collar worker, however, she finds that â€Å"you [can] work hard—harder even than you ever thought possible—and still find yourself sinking ever deeper into poverty and debt† (Ehrenreich 220). In his book, Beyond the American Dream, Charles Hayes describes how the disconnection between the myth and reality stigmatizes the poor: The higher the level of social position reached†¦ the more the people on that level seem blinded by the relative advantage of their position. For example, the middle class expects the bottom level to simply go out and get a job, failing to see the dist inct advantage they themselves maintain through quality education and social connections. The typical middle-class businessman†¦ sees himself as deserving while he sees those at lower economic levels as being lazy and undeserving. (18-19) During her experience as a temporary member of working class America, Ehrenreich found the work exhausting, both physically and emotionally. Working as a maid, she describes the â€Å"exercise† as â€Å"totally asymmetrical, brutally repetitive, and as likely to destroy the musculoskeletal structure as to strengthen it† (Ehrenreich 90). Many of her coworkers work through pain, malnutrition, or pregnancy in order to keep their jobs and because they can’t afford to take unpaid days off. Several of the maids have injuries, treated and untreated, due to their work. Despite the prevalent idea that the poor can break free from poverty simply by working hard, Ehrenreich’s coworkers endure body-breaking work without having the opportunity to save enough to change their situation or seek out a different job. Like Ehrenreich, Hinton also argues that equal opportunity is a myth that contributes to prejudice. In The Outsiders, Ponyboy, the narrator, lives in a world divided by social class. The poor kids living on the East side, labeled â€Å"greasers† by the rest of the community, endure a multitude of stereotypes and stigmas. Ponyboy, and the other boys who make up his adopted family, or gang, know the labels well. On their way to a fight, they â€Å"embrace the stereotypes† (Inderbitzen 360), chanting: â€Å"‘I am a greaser†¦, I am a JD and a hood. I blacken the name of our fair city. I beat up people. I rob gas stations. I am a menace to society. Man, do I have fun O victim of environment, underprivileged, rotten, no-count hood!’† (Hinton 144). Despite their willingness to unite under these stereotypes, however, Ponyboy’s account of events brings the reader to a different understanding of the greasers. One member of the gang, in particular, allows the reader a fresh perspective on these dehumanizing stereotypes. Dally, who has â€Å"spent three years on the wild side of New York and had been arrested at the age of ten,† is the hardest kid of the group: â€Å"tougher, colder, meaner† (Hinton 19). Even Ponyboy, though he respects Dally, doesn’t like him. The tough fa?ade rapidly crumbles, however, when Johnny, Dally’s friend, dies from injuries sustained while rescuing children from a burning building. â€Å"‘That’s what you get for tryin’ to help people, you little punk,’ Dally blurts at Johnny’s body, ‘that’s what you get†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬  (Hinton 157). Dally’s own life circumstances have taught him that selflessness, such as Johnny’s heroic efforts, results only in personal disaster and pain. Since his childhood, Dally has learned to meet the world with a cold detachment in order to survive the harsh, inner-city streets. Whe n he loses the only person who had slipped past his defenses and grown close to him, the pain overwhelms Dally. He pulls an unloaded gun on the police, forcing them to shoot him. Though Dally embodied many of the stereotypes forced onto all greasers, ultimately he was just a child trying to protect himself in a world where no parent had ever cared for him. The great tragedy of his death is that Dally still had the potential to be an extraordinary person. In him, Johnny saw a strong, â€Å"gallant† hero (Hinton 84), someone to look up to. Dally’s efforts to save Johnny from the fire at the risk of his own life provide a glimpse into the person he might have become had the circumstances been different. Unlike the labels suggest, Dally was not ruined beyond repair or redemption by his environment. He was still a human being, and, as such, he still had the ability to choose who he might have become. The myth, therefore, perpetuates stereotypes that prevent empathy and guid ance from being given to kids because they are viewed as already beyond help. Despite the myth of equal opportunity, the American Dream is still carried in the hearts of poor and rich Americans alike. Ehrenreich and Hinton each comment on what the Dream looks like through the eyes of the poor and compare it to the Dream as interpreted by the middle and upper classes. After examining the Dream of each class, both authors conclude that the Dreams are complimentary, not antagonistic. In Nickel and Dimed, the viewpoints of those struggling with poverty come in the form of interviews with Ehrenreich’s coworkers. Near the end of her job as a maid, Ehrenreich asks the women who she was working with how they felt about the owners of the houses they clean, â€Å"who have so much while others, like themselves, barely get by† (118). Answers two of the women give shed light on a commonality in the Dream held by each person struggling with poverty. Lori responds, â€Å"All I can think of is like, wow, I’d like to have this stuff someday. It motivates me and I don’t feel the slightest resentment because, you know, it’s my goal to get to where they are† (Ehrenreich 118). Colleen’s answer is somewhat different: â€Å"I don’t mind, really, because I guess I’m a simple person, and I don’t want what they have. I mean, it’s nothing to me. But what I would like is to be able to take a day off now and then†¦ if I had to†¦ and still be able to buy groceries the next day† (Ehrenreich 119). Though Lori and Colleen have different Dreams, the need for economic security is common to both. Without enough income to begin saving, the poor are trapped in their current situation without hope of escape. Even the ability to find a higher paying job is severely limited by lack of time, energy, and transportation. The smallest disaster could push their delicately balanced lives over the edge and leave them without either a job or money. The Dream of the rich, as expressed in Nickel and Dimed, comes from the author’s own perspective. Both Ehrenreich’s desire to research and write the book, as well as comments she makes about her own state of mind, reveal her own, middle-class Dream. Reflecting upon her â€Å"savior complex,† Ehrenreich admits, â€Å"Even my motives seem murky at the moment. Yes, I want to help Holly and everyone else in need, on a worldwide basis if possible. I am a ‘good person,’†¦, but maybe I’m also just sick of my suddenly acquired insignificance. Maybe I want to ‘be somebody,’†¦, somebody generous, competent, brave, and perhaps, above all, noticeable† (Ehrenreich 99). The need to matter is one she constantly wrestles with while preforming the menial tasks required of her from the various blue collar jobs she works. In order to cope with each of her jobs, Ehrenreich either finds meaning in it or creates meaning from pure fanta sy. In what she calls a â€Å"psychic flotation device† (108), Ehrenreich pretends, â€Å"I am not working for a maid service; rather, I have joined a mystic order dedicated to performing the most despised of tasks, cheerfully and virtually for free—grateful, in fact, for this chance to earn grace through submission and toil† (108). Unlike those who risk going hungry day by day, with no foreseeable route of escape, Ehrenreich is not really in any danger of starvation. Her basic needs are met and her current situation is only a charade. Her Dream focuses much more heavily on the upper levels of Maslow’s hierarchy: belonging, esteem, and self-actualization (â€Å"Need-Hierarchy Theory†). It is, in fact, these needs that have driven her to spend time living as one of America’s working poor. By temporarily giving up her privileged position, Ehrenreich is fulfilling her own Dream of doing meaningful work and being somebody who matters. In The Outsiders, the Dream of the lower class is expressed through the narrator. Like Ehrenreich, Ponyboy also shares with the reader his own fantasy: I loved the country. I wanted to be out of towns and away from excitement. I only wanted to lie on my back under a tree and read a book or draw a picture, and not worry about being jumped or carrying a blade The gang could come out on weekends, and maybe Dallas would see that there was some good in the world after all, and Mom would talk to him and make him grin in spite of himself†¦ She could talk to Dallas and keep him from getting into a lot of trouble. (Hinton 56) Like Colleen and Lori, Ponyboy also desires a certain amount of economic stability and freedom, but his Dream goes much deeper than that; he also wants peace. In his neighborhood, torn apart by social class, the greasers cannot even walk alone without fear of being jumped by the socs, kids from wealthy families who â€Å"had so much spare time and money that they jumped [greasers] and each other for kicks, had beer blasts and river-bottom parties because they didn’t know what else to do† (Hinton 51). Ponyboy’s idyllic version of the country represents his Dream for the world: a place where nobody has so little money that they are â€Å"hardened beyond caring† (Hinton 67) like Dally or so much money that they have nothing left to work for, like the socs. In his Dream, he is once again cared for by his parents. He is allowed to enjoy his childhood rather than wrestling with adult problems in an adult-less world. The Dream of the upper class is related by the soc Cherry Valence who confides in Ponyboy, telling him that being rich isn’t all it’s made out to be: ‘We’re sophisticated—cool to the point of not feeling anything. Nothing is for real with us. You know, sometimes I’ll catch myself talking to a girl-friend, and realize I don’t mean half of what I’m saying †¦ Rat race is a perfect name for it,’ she said. ‘We’re always going and going and going, and never asking where. Did you ever hear of having more than you wanted? So that you couldn’t want anything else and then started looking for something else to want? It seems like we’re always searching for something to satisfy us, and never finding it. Maybe if we could lose our cool we could.’ (Hinton 46) Cherry’s Dream, ironically, is to have a Dream—something to strive for. Like Ponyboy, she lives in a world consumed by money, only, rather than having too little, she has too much. The class culture she grew up in demands she meet social expectations, never letting her true self shine through. In talking to Ponyboy, she is able to make a genuine connection with another human being because she does not have to worry about keeping up appearances or fitting into cultural stereotypes. Just as Ehrenreich was able to fulfill her Dream of bettering the world and doing something meaningful by entering into the world of the working class poor, Cherry also found her Dream fulfilled when she stepped outside of her own social class and befriended a greaser. For both Hinton and Ehrenreich, the only way to restore equal opportunity to America and allow each individual the possibility of living the American Dream is through mutual friendship and respect between social classes. Works Cited Cullen, Jim. The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea That Shaped a Nation. New York: Oxford, 2003. Print. Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. New York: Henry Holt, 2002. Print. Hayes, Charles, D. Beyond the American Dream: Lifelong Learning and the Search for Meaning in a Postmodern World. Wasilla, AK: Autodidactic Press, 1998. Print. Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders. New York: The Viking Press, 1967. Print. Inderbitzin, Michelle. â€Å"Outsiders and Justice Consciousness.† Contemporary Justice Review. 6.4 (2003): 357-352. Web. 29 Dec. 2011. Need-Hierarchy Theory.A Dictionary of Psychology. Oxford Reference Online. Web. 25 Jan. 2012.